Erfworld thread V: Baddie Will Not Post In Thread

[Ravens_cry]

I hope Xin does return. The art of late has been . . . very adequate. It did the job, but didn't exactly have much soul.

[AgentPaper]

As often as not, soup is as good or better the next day, when the flavors have had a chance to blend in the fridge.

Any soup with pasta in it isn't as good the next day, so I guess I'm not surprised it's an Italian saying.

[Radar]

Any soup with pasta in it isn't as good the next day, so I guess I'm not surprised it's an Italian saying.

Since AFAIK you don't cook pasta directly in the soup, it shouldn't be a problem anyway. Aside from that, there are some interesting dishes, which traditionaly should be cooked for a few days to properly mix all the flavors. Some cakes also taste better, if you simply leave them be for a few days after baking (gingerbread most notably).

[Seerow]

Any soup with pasta in it isn't as good the next day, so I guess I'm not surprised it's an Italian saying.

I beg to disagree. Unless egg noodles don't count as pasta, at least. Chicken Noodle Soup always tastes better the next day.

[Porthos]

Xin might come back as the head of an Erfworld artistic team.

Emphasis on "head of" and "might". Also, to keep the food theme going, the more cooks there are in the kitchen, the more the food might get spoiled.

If you have a writer/letterer (Rob), a penciler (Xin), an someone else or two inking and coloring that introduces even more variables into possible lag time.

For a project like this, having four artists (including Rob) might be for the best. But make no mistake, with four cooks at the table, the dishes might get delayed, even if they are all on, to mix metaphors, the same page.

[tomaO2]

I love Xin's art, but there is no way she can get two updates a week, I don't care how many assistants she's got. She never managed that sort of thing with any consistency, even before her family issues showed up. Given that being a day late means you lose out on one of your bi-weekly paychecks, that is a serious thing.

Also, I'm surprised no one pointed out that Rob is also considering another kickstarter to bring Xin back.

I'm getting upset again. He got 100,000$+ from the kickstarter and was making over 1,400$ a week before this mishap, and with the latest change he's moving to being over 2,000$. I mean, yea, it counts as in store credit, but how many people are actually buying stuff? The store has almost nothing in it and they can't even buy the books because any fan that is willing to do the Patreon thing is also one of the people that is likely to donate to kickstarter and will buy the book that way. I cannot fathom why he doesn't have enough money. Especially when I see other webcomics that update more, with good art and story, that don't make a fraction of that amount. It's just really hard for me to feel sympathy for him.

This idea of thinking Xin can be the lead artist for Erfworld and be able to consistently get them out on time smacks of the over-promising Rob is known for, that is unlikely to actually be delivered, just before asking for even more money. It's like every failure is rewarded by his fan base. I just don't get it.

Then again, I don't get how anyone could sign up to the patreon page of that guy that writes "Gone with the Blastwave". Who is the worst updater ever and yet look at this.

214 patrons are pledging $910.25 per month
https://www.patreon.com/posts/85349

That's INSANE. I don't understand the mindset. If I compared Rob to this chuckle-head I would have to say that Rob should be making ten times the amount and is a model webcomic author.

[Kantaki]

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Okay, I have no idea what is happening in Lilith's head right now. Demon-Wanda and Angel-Maggie are fixing her, but why does the landscape look that tron-liney now?

They are carrying the fight to Charlie? I really want to see that. We will see when this continues.

[Reverent-One]

I'm getting upset again. He got 100,000$+ from the kickstarter and was making over 1,400$ a week before this mishap, and with the latest change he's moving to being over 2,000$. I mean, yea, it counts as in store credit, but how many people are actually buying stuff? The store has almost nothing in it and they can't even buy the books because any fan that is willing to do the Patreon thing is also one of the people that is likely to donate to kickstarter and will buy the book that way. I cannot fathom why he doesn't have enough money. Especially when I see other webcomics that update more, with good art and story, that don't make a fraction of that amount. It's just really hard for me to feel sympathy for him.

$10000+ from a kickstarter where most of it went to taxes, fees, and book/figure printing. A significant portion of what's left has gone to David's salary already (the kickstarter budgeted for 200 pages, and we've had 94 so far). And $1400 a week (which he hasn't been making all through book 3 as they haven't hit every update) isn't that much when benefits, most notably health insurance, isn't included. Even at $2000 a week, it's still not likely enough to support something like 2-4 people, which it would have to going forward in this scenario, as it would be Rob + 1 or 2 potential art team members not named Xin + Xin for the extra pages not included in the budget for the kickstarter. It's really plausible he doesn't have the money for pay the extra expenses out of pocket.

[Yuki Akuma]

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Okay, I have no idea what is happening in Lilith's head right now. Demon-Wanda and Angel-Maggie are fixing her, but why does the landscape look that tron-liney now?

They are carrying the fight to Charlie? I really want to see that. We will see when this continues.

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I am almost positive those are G-strings.

[Aquillion]

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Okay, I have no idea what is happening in Lilith's head right now. Demon-Wanda and Angel-Maggie are fixing her, but why does the landscape look that tron-liney now?

They are carrying the fight to Charlie? I really want to see that. We will see when this continues.

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My reading: This is how they see this world, since they're essentially hacking into it.

Anyway, the thing is, we know this can't possibly work, because Charlie isn't going to die here. That means that GK is probably going to have to pay the penalty for breaking the non-aggression treaty... though possibly, if Lilith counts as repatriated the moment the cord is cut, any attack on her could force Charlie to pay the price, too.

In fact, while I was going to say they're genre-unsavvy, shouldn't Wanda know this can't work? Charlie is fated to be beaten by Parson; this has been made abundantly clear. Since Parson is barely involved in this particular gambit, Wanda should realize as an article of faith that Charlie can't die here.

[Kantaki]

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I am almost positive those are G-strings.

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That are those thingys the Thinkamancers percieve minds and stuff as and that they manipulate for their telephone-spells and other stuff, right? That sounds like it makes sense. The sudden transition from normalish landscape to Tron-lines was just very weird and confusing.

@Aquilion: I agree that a attack can only go wrong and that Wanda (and Maggie) should know this. However, I doubt Wanda is sane enough to let knowledge get in the way of vengeance.

[eschmenk]

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Okay, I have no idea what is happening in Lilith's head right now. Demon-Wanda and Angel-Maggie are fixing her, but why does the landscape look that tron-liney now?

They are carrying the fight to Charlie? I really want to see that. We will see when this continues.

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I think the idea is that we are seeing the representation of the link between Maggie and Wanda now. (Earlier we were in Lilith's mind space.) The green line represents Wanda's necromancy-based connection to Lilith. (Other necromancy connections are going off Wanda and the arkenpliers to other decryped people.) The blue represents Charlie's connection to Lilith. Both should simply terminate in the Castle, without connecting. At first there was a cross connection between the Charlie/Lilith connection and the Wanda/Lilith one. This was evidently how Charlie was able to turn Lilith's defenders blue. Wanda connected the necromancy connection directly to the arkenpliers and pinched or cut Charlie's using the arkenpliers. (I think she cut it. In panel 2 it looks as if the arkenpliers can cut wires, but in panel 4 it looks like it can't, so I'm not sure.) With Charlie's connection to Lilith wrecked, he had to withdraw. Now the arkenpliers are bolstering Lilith via the necromancy connection.

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@Aquilion: I agree that a attack can only go wrong and that Wanda (and Maggie) should know this. However, I doubt Wanda is sane enough to let knowledge get in the way of vengeance.

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Parson gave Maggie the order that if she thought it would work, she should try. Maggie may think they can get the Archons and Charlie before the Archons outside can react. Maggie isn't genre savvy enough to know about plot armor. Having said that, I think it's Maggie talking in the 6th panel and perhaps 7th panels. She should know that they can't stay in Lilith's mind turn after turn, but if they bolster Lilith's will, she might think that was adequate to keep Charlie out in future turns. But I think they joined minds, so it's a joint decision.

Speaking of genre savvy, why didn't Wanda/Maggie say "We can bolster her will. We have the magic. We can make her better than she was." (Six Million Dollar Man) Stuff like that has been missing from the comic lately.

https://wiki.erfworld.com/Hvs.tCF_28:

(Eyebook) CharlsNChrg: All you can infer from that is that I have higher priorities than my war with you.

(Eyebook) CharlsNChrg: But if you mess those up for me, then you'll jump to the top of my list.

(Eyebook) CharlsNChrg: You don't ever want to be at the top of my list, Parson.

Maybe Parson is at the top of the list now?

[Chromascope3D]

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Okay, I have no idea what is happening in Lilith's head right now. Demon-Wanda and Angel-Maggie are fixing her, but why does the landscape look that tron-liney now?

They are carrying the fight to Charlie? I really want to see that. We will see when this continues.

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I guess it's implied to be the inner framework of the mind, deeper than the superficial making they were just in. On that same note, it's cool to see exactly what the pliers represent, and why they do what they do.

[eschmenk]

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I guess it's implied to be the inner framework of the mind, deeper than the superficial making they were just in. On that same note, it's cool to see exactly what the pliers represent, and why they do what they do.

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I think it corresponds very much to this page. I don't see a blue string there, though. Maybe only Maggie sees it.

Although the strings aren't shown, this page has a similar representation of the background.

Maggie and Wanda are both shown differently, though.

I checked the wiki for mentions of the meaning of the cyan and red strings. I didn't see anything there, though. Anyone know?

I'm not sure why we aren't seeing Lilith's red and cyan strings. They might be going into the castle out of frame, but I'm wondering if Charlie corrupted one or both of them and turned it/them into the blue one.

[AgentPaper]

Seems like this isn't really a gambit to kill Charlie, so much as it is a way to deny him the prisoner. Charlie's archons will be forced to kill the prisoner since she is a threat to Charlie, after all. It's also a nice way to get a bit of revenge, and is a moral victory (as much as that makes sense in this context) because it gives them an excuse to un-do whatever mindrapey stuff Charlie did to the prisoner.

[Aidjn]

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Well, from my reckoning, Charlie violated the terms when his archons tortured Lilith. But who knows how it was defined, exactly?

[The Glyphstone]

It looks like they are forcibly repatriating her at a distance, since she definitely has her rainment back in the last two panels despite being bound to the table.

And Charlie looks like Darth Vader from behind in that bottom panel, which is pretty good Signamancy in its own right. Darth was also crippled and dependent on machines for life support, which Charlie appears to be.

[Aquillion]

Something I just noticed:

Why does everyone have two threads going into their head?

We can figure out what most of the threads mean. The green threads go from the Arkenpliers to the Decrypted, and connect the Arkenpliers to Wanda. The dark blue thread is obvious. But the light-blue and red helix that goes into everyone's head seems important -- why two threads? What do they signify?

[Stegyre]

I'm just happy to see an update, under the circumstances.

Did Rob post the source somewhere? I'm just wondering if this was a last gasp from David, an emergency fill-in by Xin, what?

It's nice to see, though.

And good catch on the repatriation and now-she's-clothed-again: I had missed that in my initial read.

[AgentPaper]

And Charlie looks like Darth Vader from behind in that bottom panel, which is pretty good Signamancy in its own right. Darth was also crippled and dependent on machines for life support, which Charlie appears to be.

Is that actually Charlie though? I thought that was his hand with the red glove on the right.

[Yuki Akuma]

Something I just noticed:

Why does everyone have two threads going into their head?

We can figure out what most of the threads mean. The green threads go from the Arkenpliers to the Decrypted, and connect the Arkenpliers to Wanda. The dark blue thread is obvious. But the light-blue and red helix that goes into everyone's head seems important -- why two threads? What do they signify?

I'd guess one is Duty and the other is Loyalty. Those are Natural Thinkamancy, remember.

[HalfTangible]

I'd guess one is Duty and the other is Loyalty. Those are Natural Thinkamancy, remember.

I thought it was Maggie and Wanda's link.

[Mando Knight]

I thought it was Maggie and Wanda's link.

Yeah, that's what's been used as the visualization of a Link in Thinkamancy-space before.

[Stegyre]

Yeah, that's what's been used as the visualization of a Link in Thinkamancy-space before.

Except if you look at the other examples that eschmenk linked in post 824, above, everyone has them: like Ansom though he is clearly not part of a link and not even a caster. If one wants to argue that it's the Thinkamancy connection, I'd have to ask why we don't see them connecting to each other (i.e., Wanda's connecting to Maggie's) instead of all going "off screen."

I don't know, but I favor the Duty/Loyalty theory, or something similar. (In which case, I suppose these threads would run to a side's ruler?)

We'll wait and see, I suppose.

EDIT: Mm, looking again at this one (originally identified by eschmenk), I'm wondering if there's a connection between the red and cyan comments and the like-colored threads in question. Y'all probably discussed that at the time, and I just haven't been sufficiently religious in following the comments.

[The Glyphstone]

Is that actually Charlie though? I thought that was his hand with the red glove on the right.

Well it's certainly not an Archon, and the resemblance to Vader in Episode V is striking. But more explicitly, Charlie's hand had a black glove on it when we saw his hand. The hand with the red glove is an Archon.


Though someone on Erf pointed out he also looks like Professor X using Cerebro...and his name is Charles (Xavier)...

[memnarch]

Well it's certainly not an Archon, and the resemblance to Vader in Episode V is striking. But more explicitly, Charlie's hand had a black glove on it when we saw his hand. The hand with the red glove is an Archon.


Though someone on Erf pointed out he also looks like Professor X using Cerebro...and his name is Charles (Xavier)...

I suppose it sort of looks gloved, but I think it's more of a lighting trick on bare skin.

[halfeye]

The way I read the end of this update is that Maggie wants to withdraw, has a countdoen to withdrawl going, but Wanda wants to fight and isn't complying.

Do people here really not agree with that reading?

[Kantaki]

The way I read the end of this update is that Maggie wants to withdraw, has a countdoen to withdrawl going, but Wanda wants to fight and isn't complying.

Do people here really not agree with that reading?

I agree on Wanda being the one who wants to fight, but I assumed the countdown was Charlie.

[Yuki Akuma]

The countdown is definitely Charlie. It's in the slightly-faded text that Charlie speaks in.

And the person who says "We will fight him in worldspace" is obviously Maggie. She's responding to Wanda's last speech bubble in panel five. The darker text in panels six, seven and eight are part of the same response.

[Bird]

Seems likely to me that moving the fight to worldspace will be the thing that breaks the contract.

I'm just happy to see an update, under the circumstances.

Did Rob post the source somewhere? I'm just wondering if this was a last gasp from David, an emergency fill-in by Xin, what?

It's nice to see, though.

And good catch on the repatriation and now-she's-clothed-again: I had missed that in my initial read.

It's David; the plan was for him to finish this last update that couldn't go out on Monday.