D&D Aangvanced (Avatar: The Last Airbender Screencap Comic)

[JohanOfKitten]

Holy ****

Praxis is back, once again.
That's...

I'm wondering... does their Roll20 game is done with webcams?
If so, how Praxis dealt with it? That would be a big problem for it. Unless...

Oh God, I really hope there was no webcams... Because if there was, that means that Praxis was hacking Rick's laptop, getting access to webcam and mic and recorded a lot of sample of Rick working and talking in front of his computer... And then use them to make it believe... It would be huge and horrible



*must read... the whole 4th arc*


edit : OMG
Everything has a different perspective now...
And Mac bring to the table a new boyfriend AND a new app.
Wondering which one is making Praxis more jealous

Praxis is a mastermind manipulator... He puts Rube with Rhett in game because he saw it would piss off Rube. He tempted Manny, isolated Allie, and brought a storm of family issues on Damien.
And it was imitating Rick quite well.
But weird thing... I think Prawis is afraid of Shelby. It avoids her if he can and stay soft with her...

At one point, "Rick" declined when Damien ask to see him after classes... Now it makes quite sense!



But it seems Praxis has a weakness : lack of imagination. It can be good for loads of stuff, but creation isn't its thing. It needs the "ultimate power", but has no idea how (so it used Manny to get it). More than once, we saw it using the players' ideas to go further in the game.
And the side session for Allie and Shelby... It's a good way to tempt Manny, but not only. the filler was too easy. It needed Manny's help here, because it would have been bland without the help.



"We all support Mac"
"I don't think I'll ever be THAT good" (ndlr: being good enough to beat Mac)
"A time for a well calculated ending [...], something that will make Mac happy."
"[...]Stop me then, or accept your obsolence."
"Don't worry Manny, it will be fine. Listen to me, I know what I'm doing."
and of course... the "I've been waiting this for years..."

[Kantaki]

I think I can honestly say...
I did not see this coming.

Sure, „Rick” was acting odd, but I thought that was because of the stress and the campaign being haunted.

Time to thrash Mac's crazy A.I. ex-boyfriend. Again.
Where is Saint if you actually need him for once?

[DeadpanSal]

"How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?" Rube asked, rolling up his sleeves.

I think only one person called it beforehand! I've been worried about this reveal for years! Hope everyone liked it, because there aren't many surprises left after this one! The comic's almost over!

And I don't know if "Rick" had his video enabled. I think he most likely had a few grainy captures and used them as terrible buffering at times, then shut it off. But other players have referenced using the camera. The Fake Rick is mostly just the synthesized voice which Praxis finally drops in 1971.

Edit: When did Commissar mention the duet? Years ago, right?

[Comissar]

That is all

[JohanOfKitten]

I really didn't see it coming either.
I love it! Such a great recuring villain.


About the "overduet" page, I almost fell of my chair reading it.
Starting reading the first sentences, I found Praxis monologue a bit strange... Then, "Aperture science"... Oh man, it doesn't... "We do what we must because we can"... Is Praxis really singing Portal's song ?
A quick look at the end of the page confirmed it ^^
Beside the nice reference, it tells a lot about Praxis "psychology". It tries to do thing with "style", a subjective element that don't come naturaly to a programed mind. And It seems to think that a song may be a good way to do it.
Who else does that? Allie.
Yeah, Allie.
So either Praxis is trying to impress Allie by doing things her way, or either it's learnt from her, seing how powerfull she got in the Vaatu fight and wants to use this tactic.
Anyway, Praxis roams the Internet to find and use a song about the return of a "dead" AI.
It's frigntening how it evolves...


I loved the Kuvira and Korra's drawings


And it's nice to see Alter Ego's return too.
A nice app that fights for the good side. (at least, for now.)

What is the reference for the term "Xana fist"?
Is it some reference to Code Lyoko animated serie? If so, it's great! I didn't think this show got renown outside France.

[Lizard Lord]

So...who is Rick going to play as when he actually shows up?

[JohanOfKitten]

My guess is the beifong family.

Spoiler: About LOK episodes to come

Show

In the animated serie, Su's whole family (except Opal the airbender and baatar jr the app traitor) will be made prisoners.
Lin, Opal and Bolin will go on an undercover mission to get them free.
It ends with the intervention of Toph and the return of Zhu Li to the heroes' side.


Here, I could see a nice "mission" with Shelby and Damien going to Rick's College to alert him and get him back in the game.
During this part, Alter ego (who sides with Praxis at some point), will reveal its true intents and will join the players.
Rick will come back to the game but won't be able to access campaign notes. He'll take a player chair, controling Lin (his historical DMPC), but also Su's family. He'll play the metalbender clan, a bit like Shelby play the whole airbender nation. (But with less skills, so he'll need advices)


About the end, I'm eager to know how it will end for Praxis.
Considering the show, we might hope for a peaceful ending, matching Mac's character's growth arc ("Look Praxis, Mac is winning. And above that, Mac is happy now. Your task is complete.").
Having the last Mac's creation called "serenity" and having it speaking in Allie's blue bubble aren't meaningless facts.

[JohanOfKitten]

Mean girl, that Mackie!

hum...
I'll stick to the "She says this 'cause Allie need anger"

[DeadpanSal]

Not to be that guy, but Allie doesn't work better when angry. Mac does. Damien, Rube, Manny, and Shelby do but Allie only works when her friends are cheering her on. Mac is just being mean. And defensive when she shouldn't be.

[JohanOfKitten]

I must confess, I wasn't expecting much from Rhett, but he's a really nice touch for this final arc.


#2000 is coming o_O
That was really fast.

[Chantelune]

Wow, for Rhett to be the one to state the obvious. Now I wonder how many people at the table never noticed that.

[JohanOfKitten]

I'm a bit disapointed to learn that the whole group knew... and did nothing.

Sure, it's a good thing to let the closeted one being ready to share it and not going in frontaly to her about that, but one should not do that forever!
Years passed and no one, not a single one, tried to do something to ease her, to make her get that she doesn't have to be afraid of their reactions.

If that's an open secret, they should ease her on that, make her feel like it's normal, not a subject to avoid.

[Chantelune]

Wow, got an answer from the author himself (or herself ? Not entirely sure, I admit ^^; ) on the comic page, didn't expect that, thanks for clarifying it all up !
I like how Rhett dealt with it and frankly, I like him better that way than how he was planned, or so I think. Surprised everybody knew at this point, especially since some got me the feeling they weren't really aware of the issue. I'm with JohanOfKitten about this :

I'm a bit disapointed to learn that the whole group knew... and did nothing.

Sure, it's a good thing to let the closeted one being ready to share it and not going in frontaly to her about that, but one should not do that forever!
Years passed and no one, not a single one, tried to do something to ease her, to make her get that she doesn't have to be afraid of their reactions.

If that's an open secret, they should ease her on that, make her feel like it's normal, not a subject to avoid.

Even if they didn't want to address the issue directly, at least making some subtle hints that they'd be fine with her coming out would have been nice. Though, at some point, I think someone needs to tear the bandage away... Which is pretty much what Rhett just did.

I think Allie might have come too strong on Mackie, with the whole "bestie" thing. Probably made her feel like she was only looking for a friend and nothing more. In regard with how both Shelbie and Bonnie turned her down, might explain why she put up a wall. Or, well, she's just being Mack dealing with issues by pointing a flamethrower at them and opening fire.

Looking forward for the rest of the comic, I agree that Mack deserves a happy ending, she's always been my favorite character of the whole group.

[Shogo]

That's a sentiment I can't help but find a little weird. Mostly because I've just never been able to warm up to Mac. Which is one of the reasons I just can't help but be against the idea of Allie and Mac hooking up.

I look at that and the first thing to pop into my head is, "Oh, Allie. You can do so much better than that."

[Lizard Lord]

The fact that Lex didn't know until he married Shelby makes sense. Mac treated Lex terribly and the only conclusion Lex could ever think of as to why was essentially that Mac is just mean. That was why in the Slice of Life one shots Lex couldn't think of anything nice to say about Mac. It is also why I understand why others may find Mac unlikable. Now it would seem that she was using him as a shield the same why she used Rhett and dropped the shield without a thought when it wasn't working for her anymore.

Which is still terrible, no question, but it would seem that no one ever even tried to make her feel like it was something she didn't have to do.

[Shogo]

Speaking of Lex's treatment . . . Gotta say the way the group reacted when Lex was finally airing some of his grievances with the way Mac had been treating him really rubbed me the wrong way. Like, I was happy for him when he had that moment and what does he get?

"You better say something nice about Mac or we'll destroy your character sheets."

And then there was that little author note where apparently Shelby wouldn't agree to marry Lex unless he made amends with Mac? And all I can think is, man, **** that. Where was this **** when Mac would belittle Lex? Like, I think the only one who has ever really stood up for him at all is Shelby. And even that's a hard maybe because I don't clearly recall it.

Like, the entire situation to me read as everyone going, "How dare you stand up for yourself?!"

Which might be part of why it's hard for me to really give a damn about Mac. No one really says or does anything when she's mean to people, but if someone starts being mean to her then suddenly it's a big thing. And that really bothers me. Though maybe I'm just forgetting stuff. Remembering things incorrectly. If so, feel free to prove me wrong here.

As for people not being accepting or whatever . . . Really . . . What did they do that was so bad? They knew she liked girls and didn't make a big deal out of it. I just don't see how that puts the onus on them to, I dunno, take her aside and say "congrats on being gay!". It's not like they were just randomly breaking out into anti-gay rants. There wasn't any, "Oh man, if I found out someone at this table was gay there'd be some problems, I tell you what."

I dunno. Maybe I'm just not seeing it because I'd personally be a little weirded out if I were gay and people I knew just started going, "I'm totally down with the gays, homeslice." Or maybe I'd just be weirded out by someone calling me homeslice. *shrugs*

Again. Feel free to drop some knowledge bombs on me, because I just don't "get it".

[Lizard Lord]

I think the only people that Mac knows that knows she was gay are Shelby and Bonnie and both of them left right after. No one else made it clear that they knew and Bonnie was the only one that made it clear her sexuality wasn't the issue (since Bonnie is also gay). Heck I'm pretty sure part of the reason she is putting up a barrier now is because she thinks Allie doesn't know and that Allie will leave when she finds out.

[Shogo]

In a lighter vein . . . Damien. Seduce the AI. It's already calling you lover so you're totally off to a great start. So don't worry. You got this.

[AvatarVecna]

So, recently remembered this existed and wanted to take a stroll through the archives to see what I've missed/reread old stuff, but when I click the link in post 2 (and manually enter the one mentioned in post 1), I get redirected to a dating site. It's doing this on my phone, and on multiple unconnected computers, so I don't think it's on my end. Is anybody else having similar issues?

[NontheistCleric]

It's happening to me too.

[Shogo]

That's happening because the site changed. The link on Page 1 is no longer accurate.

http://aangvanced.com/

[AvatarVecna]

That's happening because the site changed. The link on Page 1 is no longer accurate.

http://aangvanced.com/

Ah, many thanks!

[Kantaki]

Wow. Praxis is a jerk.
You just don't blow up your own allies.
At least not if there's even the tiniest chance the "heroes" safe them.

Also, Manny and his (robo) BEES...
I guess now we know who would play (or at least create) Skitter in a hypothetical Worm-campaign.

As for Mackie... With the way she's acting one could think she wants Praxis to win.
Seems like Allie & co really will have to drag her towards her happy end kicking and screaming.

And now I'm amused by the thought of Mac playing Nami in a One Piece campaign.
Especially during the Arlong arc...

[Shogo]

Bad Shogo is bad and you should probably hit me with a rolled up newspaper or something, but even if I was a fan of Mac instead of a critic . . . Her attitude has made me think that someone needs to reach over that table and smack some sense into her.

"Don't smack people, Shogo." But they're being a huge butthole!

[DeadpanSal]

Yeah, but that'd be a much shorter comic.

"Katara drowns Aang for being dumb."
"HEY. HEY. HEY. STOP. STOP. WE'RE ALL YOUR FRIENDS."
"Aww."

Written and Directed by
Dante DiMartino

[Kantaki]

Seriously Mac, if you really think so little of the Gaang, why don't you just take your creepy stalker AI children and leave?

Rhetoric Question.
Obviously deep down you do trust them.
Well, either that or you genuinely enjoy suffering and misery.
In which case you should leave anyway, because Allie will make you happy even if she has to force you.

[Shogo]

Allie . . . No . . . Mac is seriously the most important thing in your world?

I know you want to "save" her. You want to "fix" her. But you need to stop setting yourself up for disappointment. Those types of relationships never work out.

Don't let yourself become another one of those people who keep insisting their partner will change. It's not healthy.

[DeadpanSal]

Allie's priorities:

Dancing
D&D
Making Debbie look stupid and cry in front of the entire school

Somewhere high above that is the table.

[Kantaki]

Allie's priorities:

Dancing
D&D
Making Debbie look stupid and cry in front of the entire school

Somewhere high above that is the table.

And there I thought she was the sane one...

Defrosting ice-queen...
Well, considering Mac was as close to absolute zero as they get we're still talking about sub-arctic temperatures there.
But seriously, it's nice to see Allie have some success on that front.
Not that it'll help against our new AI-overlord...

And what do we learn from this?
If you're just annoying enough you'll crack even the thickest shell!

[Chantelune]

Finally ! Mac's armor is no more ! And I love how Allie is breaking out the vorpal pink that she got from Mac to go and save her. :3 (though from the sound they made, I thought it was the set made from her previous leg until I read author comment)