El Goonish ShIVe: Damn It, Dan, Stop Teasing Us!

[Calemyr]

That was Noriko. Tedd's and Van's mom.

We're talking about Nanase's mom, Mrs. Kitsune.

To quote a famous technicolor American: D'oh!

My bad. Yeah, we don't have any hard indication on Ma Kitsune, except that exposure to magic is a path to awakening. I seriously doubt any family that could create Noriko wouldn't result in Ma awakening. Her disconnect with magic strikes me as more an opposition of what her sister stood for rather than lack of ability. She certainly knows about the magical world, enough that Cranium is forthright with her after the battle with Abraham. She saw magic turn her sister into egocentric monster who actively rejected her own son because she thought he couldn't do magic, then abandon both said son and a (presumably) loving husband for the sake of furthering mothering a powerful wizard. As a result, she flipped the magical world the bird* and then doubled and tripled down on being the best mother and wife she could envision. (Love her or hate her, you have to admit Ma Kitsune throws everything she has into making sure her daughters are given all the guidance, motivation, and attention they need to thrive.)

* I believe the spell is named Bigby's Expressive Digit.

Who's Cohen again?
Also, I agree with everything you've said in that post.

About the last comic, I think pizza-girl missing room 211 is an indication that Magus put some kind of spell on his room to avoid detection.

Matt Cohen, the student president of the school, part time pizza delivery guy, and quintessential nice guy. He asked Susan out on a date, apologized when he overheard how uncomfortable the offer had made her, and then felt compelled to go back and urge her to at least date someone because high school is a one time experience and it would be a shame to squander it. Susan, having just dealt with Bad Tom, was flabergasted by the appeal and struggled to cling to the idea that it was self serving in some way.

As for Magus and the Pizza Girl, yeah. That looks like some straight-up SEP-field shenanigans. That said, it was kinda weird to see the pizza girl get that flustered by what, technically, is Elliot's body. I mean, I know he hides pretty solid physique under those dark shirts of his, but the closest anyone has come to calling him attractive is Diane's review of him when she first saw his show

[Grey_Wolf_c]

That said, it was kinda weird to see the pizza girl get that flustered by what, technically, is Elliot's body. I mean, I know he hides pretty solid physique under those dark shirts of his, but the closest anyone has come to calling him attractive is Diane's review of him when she first saw his show

Well, yes, we do know that he has some impressive abs, but I don't think that's what flustered her - I think that the briefs he is wearing are not sufficient to hide what is flustering her. There was recently one of those reddit compilations making the rounds about "tales from the pizza deliveries" and to hear them tell, shirtlessness is not the problem, outright nakedness is.

Grey Wolf

[Fyraltari]

Matt Cohen, the student president of the school, part time pizza delivery guy, and quintessential nice guy. He asked Susan out on a date, apologized when he overheard how uncomfortable the offer had made her, and then felt compelled to go back and urge her to at least date someone because high school is a one time experience and it would be a shame to squander it. Susan, having just dealt with Bad Tom, was flabergasted by the appeal and struggled to cling to the idea that it was self serving in some way.

Oh right. That guy.

As for Magus and the Pizza Girl, yeah. That looks like some straight-up SEP-field shenanigans. That said, it was kinda weird to see the pizza girl get that flustered by what, technically, is Elliot's body. I mean, I know he hides pretty solid physique under those dark shirts of his, but the closest anyone has come to calling him attractive is Diane's review of him when she first saw his show

He is, also, in his underpants.

[Lizard Lord]

I believe we have seen more than a fair share of Scetchbook/NPS art of people being flustered by Elliot's shirtlessness. I believe Justin also gets flustered by it, he is just better at hiding it.

[Calemyr]

I believe we have seen more than a fair share of Scetchbook/NPS art of people being flustered by Elliot's shirtlessness. I believe Justin also gets flustered by it, he is just better at hiding it.

Well, yes. You might get a little flustered if the person who's you're number one crush, who saved your life when you were at the depths of near-suicidal depression, and gave you new focus, was standing shirtless in front of you. Heck, "standing in front of you" might well be enough.

[Lizard Lord]

I mean I am pretty sure all of the characters that we know of and know are attracted to men have been or would be flustered by a shirtless Elliot.

Except for Grace but I am not counting that on account of the fact that she's Grace.

[Celestia]

I mean I am pretty sure all of the characters that we know of and know are attracted to men have been or would be flustered by a shirtless Elliot.

Except for Grace but I am not counting that on account of the fact that she's Grace.

I don't think Grace is attracted to men. I think she's attracted to Tedd.

[Rater202]

Grace stated back int he Birthday Party arc that she's attracted to males regardless when female and females regardless when male, but that she's attracted to Tedd due to their emotional connections at all times and to a greater degree than what she's otherwise atracted to at the time.

Girl Grace is more attracted to Boy Tedd and Boy Grace to Girl Tedd, but she loves and is attracted to Tedd regardless of which forms they happen to be in.

This is because of her Uryuom DNA, as romantic relationships among the Uryuom are based entirely on empathetic bonds.

Re: Friday Comic: Does anyone think that Ellen's Spellbook suddenly having way fewer pages has something to do with Magic's realization that "The Spellbooks are difficult to understand?"

Also, and tying into a previous argument: I was right! The Spellbooks don't have a set number of pages, pages appear or vanish as you gain spells!

[Vinyadan]

I don't think Grace is attracted to men. I think she's attracted to Tedd.

Teddsexual.

http://www.egscomics.com/comic/2003-12-19

[Ibrinar]

Totally plausible spellbook theories:
1. It has been switched to draconic which is much more compact than human languages (if you have to write with giant claws efficiency is key) though she can't read it.
2. Class change means you start again at lvl 1 and she is reduced to starter spells like dragon punch and dragon roar.
3. Magic took the opportunity to modernize and each page is an ebook display now!

[Drascin]

Most likely option is probably "magic realizes the spellbooks are indecipherable when Tedd points it out, tries something a little less complex".

Course, remains to be seen whether what an immanent semi-divine force of nature considers "less complex" is actually any more understandable to normal people.

[Qwertystop]

Or "The removal of restrictions in the system-change left the spellbook-making process more able to understand colloquial language".

[BRC]

Spellbooks are now ikea-style visual guides to the spell's effects.

[Forum Explorer]

Spellbooks are now ikea-style visual guides to the spell's effects.

hahahaha, oh that would be brilliant

[Rater202]

Hopefully, whatever it is, it takes away the excuses people make to not read the freaking manual.

[Celestia]

Hopefully, whatever it is, it takes away the excuses people make to not read the freaking manual.

I know, right? There's, like, four characters in this story with spell books, and three of them don't regularly read it. That's annoyed me to no end. If I was in that situation, I'd look that thing over every day. It's magic. it's literally magic. I'm not going to ignore it just because it might be tough to understand.

[John Cribati]

They can't all be Hermione. I would ignore the most interesting story ever written if reads too much like a textbook.

[Rater202]

It's not a story though.

It's an instruction manual for your constantly evolving superpowers.

I think most people would like to know if their spells can't affect yellow things or if certain glowing rocks make them frail and sickly in their flying brick form.

I don't care how technical the manual gets: Anybody who chooses the "Greatest American Hero" route of their own free will is being stupid.

[Celestia]

They can't all be Hermione. I would ignore the most interesting story ever written if reads too much like a textbook.

That is a rather irrelevant comparison in this setting. There are no Harry Potter style wizards here, and you don't gain power from studying. The bookish nerd is no stronger than the meathead jock. All reading does is tell you how to use the powers you already have.

And if we're talking about this from a story perspective, it's still annoying. Having characters who never read their spell books means that they can pull out whatever powers are most plot convenient at any time without having to answer the question of why they never did that before. It's pure lazy writing, especially when most of the characters do it. Now, I don't expect much from most webcomics, so I'm not going to fault this one for doing such a thing. I still love and enjoy it. However, I would love it more if it had better writing. That's why I rank El Goonish Shive below other, better comics, like Order of the Stick.

[Ibrinar]

You know if new spells actually add pages you could probably rig up an alarm for changes assuming it can press stuff on top of it upwards.

[Celestia]

You know if new spells actually add pages you could probably rig up an alarm for changes assuming it can press stuff on top of it upwards.

That would be a nifty trick.

[Fyraltari]

You know if new spells actually add pages you could probably rig up an alarm for changes assuming it can press stuff on top of it upwards.

Or put it on a scale.

[John Cribati]

The thing is that spell books read like manuals, and hardly anybody reads manuals, no matter what it's for, unless something goes wrong. Hell, I have over 12 game cartridges for my 3DS, and have yet to read any of the manuals that come with it.

Now, should they be reading their spell books some more? Yes. Do I understand why they aren't? Also yes.

[Celestia]

The thing is that spell books read like manuals, and hardly anybody reads manuals, no matter what it's for, unless something goes wrong. Hell, I have over 12 game cartridges for my 3DS, and have yet to read any of the manuals that come with it.

Now, should they be reading their spell books some more? Yes. Do I understand why they aren't? Also yes.

Video games are different. Most include in-game tutorials to explain the controls, and even for those that don't, most games control the same. Regardless of which game you pick up, you can be fairly confident that the control stick is for movement, for example.

Spells are different. Casting one doesn't tell you how it works beyond regular trail and error, and understanding one spell gives you no information about another. There's no way to even know you have new spells without reading it.

The reason most people ignore manuals is because most people are smart enough to reasonably figure out how things work without them. That doesn't apply to spells.

[halfeye]

The reason most people ignore manuals is because most people think they are smart enough to reasonably figure out how things work without them.

FTFY

[Celestia]

FTFY

Touché.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Guns and cars come with manuals. Ample experience with humanity tells me that, despite both being potentially death dealing machines, a vanishingly small amount of people read either's manuals.

Spells are tailored to what you want or need, and you can cast the spells instinctively. The (old) manual gives you fine tuning control, and occasionally new spells, but the basic spells you already know is, in many cases, all the person wanted to have in the first place. Checking the manual day after day and having to slough through ponderously loquacious instructions, with most days giving you no better resolution than a headache, would get boring fast.

GW

[Mith]

If the spellbooks came with an index that would solve most of the issues.

[Rater202]

Guns and cars come with manuals. Ample experience with humanity tells me that, despite both being potentially death dealing machines, a vanishingly small amount of people read either's manuals.

Spells are tailored to what you want or need, and you can cast the spells instinctively. The (old) manual gives you fine tuning control, and occasionally new spells, but the basic spells you already know is, in many cases, all the person wanted to have in the first place. Checking the manual day after day and having to slough through ponderously loquacious instructions, with most days giving you no better resolution than a headache, would get boring fast.

GW

Problem: Several knowledgeable in-universe sources and Elliot's parents have stated that people are being stupid and irresponsible for not reading their spell books.

People in the real world being stupid and irresponsible for not reading the manual does not mean that these people who are canonically stated to be stupid and irresposnible for not reading the manual are not being stupid and irresponsible for not reading the ****ing manual.

[Mechalich]

The worst part is not that people aren't making detailed reading of the spellbooks to try and parse the complex and cumbersome mystic legalese they are apparently written in, it's that many of the characters - including seemingly responsible people like Susan - aren't even checking them to the point of keeping up with whether they have new spells or not. That's really bad, since all it would probably take is five minutes a week to do.