Is Parson Shrinking?

[Tolkien_Freak]

I've noticed that in the first comic with Parson, he towers over Stanley and Wanda, but in the last few comics he's been about the same size, enough that Misty the Lookamancer's head nearly reaches his, and he can fit into the teddy quilt on his floor.

Any thoughts?

[jindra34]

Well Stanley is a bit shorter than average and PAarson never towered over wanda... so i would say no...

[Demented]

enough that Misty the Lookamancer's head nearly reaches his

I meekly and humbly suggest that you read that particular strip again, Lord.

[Legendary]

The angle is different in most, and they're sitting in the last panel. There's ONE panel which shows them standing together without looking down from behind Parson.

[Moechi_Vill]

I agree with close to all arguments, there's angle and comparison, but he's still getting a little smaller. I wouldn't hold it against Jamie if affirmed. He was towering, huge, gargantuan at the start - towering over Wanda.

[factotum]

I've noticed that in the first comic with Parson, he towers over Stanley and Wanda, but in the last few comics he's been about the same size, enough that Misty the Lookamancer's head nearly reaches his, and he can fit into the teddy quilt on his floor.

Any thoughts?

Misty the Lookamancer's head nearly reaches his when he's sitting down AND she's standing on a box...I'd hardly call that a near equivalence in height!

[Welf]

We never could compare Parson's and Stanley's size directly, but from Panel 2 and 3, page 29, I assume that Parson is about 2 oder 2.2 times higher than Stanley. From Panel 4, page 46, I assume that Parson is about 1.8 time higher than Misty. Maybe there is a shrinking effect, but I think not, because Stanley seems to be quite small, even compared to other erfworlders.

[Moechi_Vill]

I would have judged Stanley to be somewhere around 3.0 - 1 to Parson at the start... it just seems he's getting closer to the others (to me and the OP(?)).

[spite48]

In the comic in question, Misty barely reaches Parson's elbow.

The Teddy quilt is a heavy. When you look at ansom's column, the teddy units tower over normal troops.

All signs point to "no"

[H-Bar]

Apparently his height is fluctuating in both directions.

Look at panel 2, page 20. Stanley seems to reach the lower end of Parson's gut. In 26 we see the same thing. Today we see Misty reaches about the middle of his gut. That's consistent if Misty is a little bit taller than Stanley.

But as Welf pointed out, in 29 Stanley only reaches Parson's belt. In 19 it's hard to say, but it looks about the same as 29. In the last panel of 24, Stanley is only a little taller than Parson's knee.

So that's Tall(19) -> Shrink(20) -> Grow(24) ->Shrink(26) -> Grow(29) ->Shrink (46).

If this is intentional, I can see at least three possibilities.

1. The magic holding Parson in Erfworld isn't very stable. Use a cheapo spell and an unqualified caster, and things are bound to go a little bit wrong.
2. Erfworld doesn't have stable Euclidean geometry. (We already know it doesn't have conservation of matter.) Instead of exact numbers, height might be represented by general categories - tiny, small, medium, large, huge, etc. But Parson's eyes can only see an exact height. So like the collapse of a quantum wavefunction, each time Parson observes a unit its height is randomly chosen within its category.
3. (joke answer) It's a subtle hint that this is all a hallucination. Caffeine-induced sleep deprivation is deeply screwing with Parson's head, or the stress of being unhappy with his living situation finally sent Parson into a psychotic break.

[jindra34]

Apparently his height is fluctuating in both directions.

Look at panel 2, page 20. Stanley seems to reach the lower end of Parson's gut. In 26 we see the same thing. Today we see Misty reaches about the middle of his gut. That's consistent if Misty is a little bit taller than Stanley.

But as Welf pointed out, in 29 Stanley only reaches Parson's belt. In 19 it's hard to say, but it looks about the same as 29. In the last panel of 24, Stanley is only a little taller than Parson's knee.

So that's Tall(19) -> Shrink(20) -> Grow(24) ->Shrink(26) -> Grow(29) ->Shrink (46).

If this is intentional, I can see at least three possibilities.

1. The magic holding Parson in Erfworld isn't very stable. Use a cheapo spell and an unqualified caster, and things are bound to go a little bit wrong.
2. Erfworld doesn't have stable Euclidean geometry. (We already know it doesn't have conservation of matter.) Instead of exact numbers, height might be represented by general categories - tiny, small, medium, large, huge, etc. But Parson's eyes can only see an exact height. So like the collapse of a quantum wavefunction, each time Parson observes a unit its height is randomly chosen within its category.
3. (joke answer) It's a subtle hint that this is all a hallucination. Caffeine-induced sleep deprivation is deeply screwing with Parson's head, or the stress of being unhappy with his living situation finally sent Parson into a psychotic break.

My votes 1. this world is very orderly (everything is quantified) so number 2 does not quite fit and well i think this is not a dream or what not so three is out

[Zephra]

I thougt so to. or at least getting thinner.

[Demented]

Oh, definitely getting thinner. Efdup has no elevators. The horror!

As for height, the perspective in the strip varies incredibly, and I think that's more to blame than inconsistencies in Parson's height.