El Goonish Shive III - Totally Adorkable!

[The Mormegil]

Man I know the pace for this date seems to be going decently slow (Or at least it seems that way to me) but I just love the Ashley/Elliot interactions. Awkwardness for all

They are adorable. Just adorable. So awkward. So cute. The more Elliot stays with Ashley the more I can find him tolerable. Which is a big plus.

[Lord Raziere]

.....and with monday's comic I just realized:

there are technically as of this moment four different lesbian couples in El Goonish Shive:
fem-Elliot and Ashley
fem-Tedd and Grace
Ellen and Nanase
Rhoda and Catalina

now you may argue, that Elliot is straight, but at the moment she seems to not have much of a problem with kissing Ashley while in female form, and Tedd is gender-fluid. this comic is already the gay singularity that Homestuck wishes it was.

[The Mormegil]

Before today's update, I would have agreed with previous poster that the date, while cute, didnt have great momentum.

At this point, however, I find it hilarious.

Even if the most recent developments are sure to stir all kinds of things up, I'll admit that it was a while ago we had something like the dramatic climax of the battle with not-Tengu or Susan's confrontation with Tom. I realise that it can't be like that all the time, but right now it feels exceedingly mellow.

I mean, except for RIGHT NOW right now. How about that, huh?

This whole chapter is great for me. I am fine with not getting epicness out of everything, if the things we get are good. I wasn't fine with the MtG tournament arc going nowhere for about half a year, but it wrapped up nicely at the end (I'd still have cut like half of that stuff, especially Larry).

This arc, however, is comedy gold. It's awkward, cute, funny and ridiculous. And I'm ok with that

[Lissou]

I actually loved the MTG arc and I'm not really interested in either of the stories going on right now (or any of the 3 stories, really, if you include current Newspaper comics. I enjoyed the Sarah arc while it was running though).

I'm waiting for the current stories to pay off or be over, whichever comes first, and for the strip to get back to stuff I'm more interested in :P I guess we have opposite tastes.

[Rater202]

And that's okay.

Personally, I'd like to see a bit more of Sam, see where that goes.

[Lissou]

And that's okay.

Personally, I'd like to see a bit more of Sam, see where that goes.

Now I'm thinking about his date with Sarah, and the fact that Sarah now has a power... How is she going to use it during their date?

[Silva Stormrage]

Now I'm thinking about his date with Sarah, and the fact that Sarah now has a power... How is she going to use it during their date?

Oh wow thats temptation, might be hard to use though without getting up to use the restroom or something like that. Otherwise Sam will be seeing Sarah just closing her eyes concentrating on something for like a minute or so

[AGD]

.....and with monday's comic I just realized:

there are technically as of this moment four different lesbian couples in El Goonish Shive:
fem-Elliot and Ashley
fem-Tedd and Grace
Ellen and Nanase
Rhoda and Catalina

now you may argue, that Elliot is straight, but at the moment she seems to not have much of a problem with kissing Ashley while in female form, and Tedd is gender-fluid. this comic is already the gay singularity that Homestuck wishes it was.

What does gay singularity mean.

[Lord Raziere]

What does gay singularity mean.

I dunno, thats just something Hussie said.

Quoth Hussie:

homestuck will eventually reach a gay singularity. mark it down. it will make korra look like republican propaganda.

he has a long way to go before he even reaches El Goonish Shive levels- he has only one gay relationship going (RosexKanaya), he just broke up the second (MeenahxVriska) so he is now down to 1/4 the levels of lesbian that EGS has.

[halfeye]

Sidesaddle? sidesaddle?

Sidesaddle is about protecting the hymen from accidental breakage. I'm not saying that Sarah isn't a virgin, but even so, is the physical object that important to her?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Sidesaddle? sidesaddle?

Sidesaddle is about protecting the hymen from accidental breakage. I'm not saying that Sarah isn't a virgin, but even so, is the physical object that important to her?

I suspect that a broom or pole would be exceedingly uncomfortable when ridden in the "traditional" position (on a horse, you have a saddle. Even on a bike you get a bit of a wide area to rest your weight on, insufficient as that area usually turns out to be). IIRC, Harry Potter actors did not enjoy filming Quidditch green screen. Side saddle might be a less uncomfortable way to sit on one of those, regardless of any other considerations.

Grey Wolf

[Rater202]

I'm not sure that's a Forum appropriate topic.

[halfeye]

I suspect that a broom or pole would be exceedingly uncomfortable when ridden in the "traditional" position (on a horse, you have a saddle. Even on a bike you get a bit of a wide area to rest your weight on, insufficient as that area usually turns out to be). IIRC, Harry Potter actors did not enjoy filming Quidditch green screen. Side saddle might be a less uncomfortable way to sit on one of those, regardless of any other considerations.

Grey Wolf

Yeah, except you could grip with your legs if you were rolling off, which it seems to me is an idea which deserves some consideration even when flying straight and level. Some sort of saddle might well be good, and wouldn't be difficult to devise, bicycle saddles should be adjustable to fit for example.

[Forrestfire]

Occam's Razor regarding the pose: as stated in the description, based off of this image

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[Lissou]

I figured it was based on the image but had the same though. For balance reasons, I would sit the normal way on this, no sideways. And that has nothing to do with hymens, as far as I know. This way of riding was developed when women wore long dresses/skirts, which means they had to lift them and reveal their legs if they rode the normal way. Since showing one's legs was indecent, this way of riding was developed. When it became obvious that it led to many more accidents due to lack of balance, women were allowed to wear pants but only for horse-riding in many places. Those laws are sometimes still in place although not enforced.

Since the character is already showing her legs, this way of riding makes no sense except for aesthetic reasons, i.e. it's considered sexier.

[Silva Stormrage]

Hold on, maybe I am being stupid here but why is Elliot freaked out that Tensaided is calling him? He already showed him that he "knows" Cheerledra. I don't see any reason why he would be calling now.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Hold on, maybe I am being stupid here but why is Elliot freaked out that Tensaided is calling him? He already showed him that he "knows" Cheerleadra . I don't see any reason why he would be calling now.

I think the implication is that the Cheerleadra moment has not yet happened at the time of this date with Ashley (all those silent stills happened "at some point during the summer" not necessarily concurrent with the storyline). If so, he's freaked out because he can't answer with a girly voice, and because he's just been reminded he still needs to go through with the (implied) promise to have Cheerleadra and Tensaided meet.

Edit: yeah, thinking about it, that doesn't quite work - this has to be happening after school is back in session, so either he forgot to do the Cheerleadra thing before start of school (and therefore, it is still pending, and the still moment didn't happen during the summer, despite its title), or he did do the Cheerleadra thing, and Tensaided is calling because he needs Superhero help, and the last panel of today's comic is a misdirection. Maybe. Or of course other possibilities I'm missing.

Grey Wolf

[Silva Stormrage]

I think the implication is that the Cheerledra moment has not yet happened at the time of this date with Ashley (all those silent stills happened "at some point during the summer" not necessarily concurrent with the storyline). If so, he's freaked out because he can't answer with a girly voice, and because he's just been reminded he still needs to go through with the (implied) promise to have Cheerledra and Tensaided meet.

Grey Wolf

What? No, the Cheerledra meeting moment happened during the summer in the "Previous summer moment" section. It is winter already. The Cheerledra moment definitely happened already unless I am totally misremembering what happened and when.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

What? No, the Cheerledra meeting moment happened during the summer in the "Previous summer moment" section. It is winter already. The Cheerledra moment definitely happened already unless I am totally misremembering what happened and when.

Yes, sorry, I realised that after I posted (see edit above). I've tried finding an up-to-date timeline, but the wiki I've seen stops short of the summer.

GW

[Calemyr]

What? No, the Cheerledra meeting moment happened during the summer in the "Previous summer moment" section. It is winter already. The Cheerledra moment definitely happened already unless I am totally misremembering what happened and when.

I don't think you're misremembering. It's clearly winter (all the pre-date commentary on coats vs dresses), and that event was established as happening during the summer.

It is very likely that we're about to see more of that event now, and that Tensaided's perception is better than we give him credit for - enough that if Elliot answers with a female voice it will be proof enough to completely convince him that they're the same person.

I gotta say, as adorkable as Elliot/Ashley may be, Dan is going to some effort to show a very strong chemistry in play.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Are those people in the background of panel 4 running? If they are, and they are running away from/towards some big event near Tensaided's video rental store, it might reinforce the "Tensaided needs superhero help" hypothesis of mine. I still don't see how that meshes with the double "oh-crap" face moment, though.

GW

[Calemyr]

Are those people in the background of panel 4 running? If they are, and they are running away from/towards some big event near Tensaided's video rental store, it might reinforce the "Tensaided needs superhero help" hypothesis of mine. I still don't see how that meshes with the double "oh-crap" face moment, though.

GW

If you're reading it right, the double oh-crap seems well deserved if you look at it.

* He can't answer the phone with a female voice or Tensaided will know for sure.
* He can't jump to help because Ashley doesn't know about him being Cheerleadra yet.
* He can't get Ashley to screen his call because, again, she doesn't know about it.

Elliot is in a very tight position if something is going down at the video store. He can't leave Tensaided hanging, he can't leave Ashley wondering what happened, he can't get back to male form out in the open, and he can't rely on Ashley because she doesn't know about it all.

Of course, the point of this would be to force Elliot to tell Ashley about Cheerleadra, placing him in a position where the only way out is revealing the secret. I doubt he has much to worry about, though. Given Ashley's easy adaption to Elliot being a gender shifting, slime igniting, internet celebrity, super martial artist, I don't see how she'd take Elliot being a superhero as well as being anything but another "so cool" aspect to him.

Wow. I just said that. This comic is weird.

[Radar]

Sidenote: Elliot still has the phone, but does it originaly have a heart on it?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

If you're reading it right, the double oh-crap seems well deserved if you look at it.

• He can't answer the phone with a female voice or Tensaided will know for sure.
• He can't jump to help because Ashley doesn't know about him being Cheerleadra yet.
• He can't get Ashley to screen his call because, again, she doesn't know about it.

All that justifies the current "oh crap" face (although I'm unsure if he has had time to think through the whole scenario - Ashley has looked back at where those people are running to, but Elliot is looking at his phone the whole time). However, I still don't see how that connects to the last panel "oh crap" face. That one is definitely a "Elliot has forgotten he still needs to do something difficult", with "forgotten" seemingly the key component due to the "What are you" bit. I'm not sure how that connects to the current situation - what is he suddenly realising he has forgotten to do, just from a phone call from Tensaided?

Grey Wolf

[memnarch]

If you're reading it right, the double oh-crap seems well deserved if you look at it.

* He can't answer the phone with a female voice or Tensaided will know for sure.
* He can't jump to help because Ashley doesn't know about him being Cheerleadra yet.
* He can't get Ashley to screen his call because, again, she doesn't know about it.

Elliot is in a very tight position if something is going down at the video store. He can't leave Tensaided hanging, he can't leave Ashley wondering what happened, he can't get back to male form out in the open, and he can't rely on Ashley because she doesn't know about it all.
...

He totally could. Just because you've got your phone, doesn't mean you're in a position to answer it. Some situations include driving, swimming, noisy environment, can't get through layers of winter clothes, etc.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

He totally could. Just because you've got your phone, doesn't mean you're in a position to answer it. Some situations include driving, swimming, noisy environment, can't get through layers of winter clothes, etc.

...Playing "Doctors" with your date in a changing stall...

[Calemyr]

All that justifies the current "oh crap" face (although I'm unsure if he has had time to think through the whole scenario - Ashley has looked back at where those people are running to, but Elliot is looking at his phone the whole time). However, I still don't see how that connects to the last panel "oh crap" face. That one is definitely a "Elliot has forgotten he still needs to do something difficult", with "forgotten" seemingly the key component due to the "What are you" bit. I'm not sure how that connects to the current situation - what is he suddenly realising he has forgotten to do, just from a phone call from Tensaided?

Grey Wolf

The flashback "oh crap" is to tell us that the Cheerleadra event hadn't happened at that point, and that it's likely to happen soon. Elliot forgot about it and suddenly realized he really should do something about that ASAP. We're going to see Tensaided and Cheerleadra meet, and Tensaided's going to say or do something that makes Elliot very cautious around him.

He totally could. Just because you've got your phone, doesn't mean you're in a position to answer it. Some situations include driving, swimming, noisy environment, can't get through layers of winter clothes, etc.

He could, yes, but then he wouldn't be Elliot. Elliot is a very responsible and empathetic young man. This isn't about how Elliot looks to others, it's about how he sees himself. The idea of knowingly leaving Tensaided in a state like he would be in (in this crisis hypothesis), it would tear the guy up. Jumping into action would be an acceptable alternative, but that would require abandoning Ashley in the middle of a very successful first date with no explanation. That's not cool, either. So he's in a pinch created by his own personal morals - hurt Ashley, leave Tensaided unanswered, or reveal something to Ashley much earlier than he'd otherwise feel comfortable doing so.

The crisis could quite probably be tied to the cloak monsters the gang are researching now, turning into a tag team between friends who are officially unaffiliated against a magical foe. This would explain why the two events are happening concurrently.

[Silva Stormrage]

Ya with the people running in the background (I didn't notice them at first) I am betting for Tensaided needing heroing assistance. More than likely dealing with the cloaked things wandering around. Cue Ellen and crew getting a text and arriving on scene fairly quickly

[Lizard Lord]

"

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Well, I believe that sufficiently explains the "Oh crap" reaction as well as framing it like he forgot something important.

[Weimann]

Well there goes all pretense of secrecy. I think Elliot prefers that anyway.

Also, one hell of a first date.

Ashley's reaction to this will be very interesting. On the one hand, Elliot is literally an embodiment of a fantasy she's had since she was a child, and also a superhero. On the other, is that kind of inequality really good for a relationship? Compare with Susan, who found herself not ready to be involved with Elliot even knowing of his powers. I wonder if Dan will address this, or if it'll just be "best boyfriend ever!"