Things You Never Noticed VI: The Undiscovered Detail

[Quebbster]

I never noticed that Elan sneakily hands Amun-Zora a sword when she is released from her cell. I suppose she wouldn't be much threat against Nale unarmed though. The "Clang! Clang!" sound effects in the last frame should have tipped me off too...

[Mad Humanist]

I never noticed that Gauntlet reference in #224, until I replayed Gauntlet Dark Legacy with a friend this month. When the announcer said "Blue warrior needs food badly!" it clicked, and I ROTFL'd.

This one went completely over my head as I don't play video games.

However I try to maintain a geeklist of references to games in OOTS and this one comes in as the seventh.

EDIT: I have a vague impression I've missed a reference to American college football but I have no idea which strip except it would have been a conversation between Roy and Eugene.

[hamishspence]

EDIT: I have a vague impression I've missed a reference to American college football but I have no idea which strip except it would have been a conversation between Roy and Eugene.

You may be thinking of this strip - with the "devils" alongside Cedrik (orange archfiend) in the picture:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0640.html

being college football mascots.

[Mad Humanist]

You may be thinking of this strip - with the "devils" alongside Cedrik (orange archfiend) in the picture:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0640.html

being college football mascots.

No I wasn't. And I think that might be sufficiently tangential I can ignore it anyway. And it might be a reference to Halloween anyway.

I think somewhere there was a comment about Eugene not having attended Roy's college games. Maybe it was in the Origins book.

[hamishspence]

I think somewhere there was a comment about Eugene not having attended Roy's college games. Maybe it was in the Origins book.

In Start of Darkness, Eugene being late to Roy's school soccer game, is a plot point.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

This one went completely over my head as I don't play video games.

However I try to maintain a geeklist of references to games in OOTS and this one comes in as the seventh.

EDIT: I have a vague impression I've missed a reference to American college football but I have no idea which strip except it would have been a conversation between Roy and Eugene.

You may want to peruse my annotation for more games. And if you find one from your list isn't in there, by all means submit them!

[Mad Humanist]

In Start of Darkness, Eugene being late to Roy's school soccer game, is a plot point.

Ah thanks. Well I'm only documenting games in the core comic. I can't very well link to paper from boardgamegeek, though I you'd think you'd be able to link to cardboard.

[b_jonas]

However I try to maintain a geeklist of references to games in OOTS and this one comes in as the seventh.

#1107 also references a card game.

I can't very well link to paper from boardgamegeek, though I you'd think you'd be able to link to cardboard.

You can link The Giant's official description page for Start of Darkness, and it's also available for sale in digital PDF form.

[Mad Humanist]

#1107 also references a card game.

That's already on the list: second page. If you want to suggest an entry please do check the list first.

[bc56]

The gladiator who hated Belkar was named Evisceratus. There were also two gladiators named Notseenicus and Offpanelio

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0782.html


Also, Elan's ideas of Holy Words are all things with holes in them.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0806.html

[b_jonas]

That's already on the list: second page. If you want to suggest an entry please do check the list first.

Sorry, totally my fault. I didn't realize that there was a second page or that the list was roughly sorted by appearance in comic, and I didn't think to check after I saw an entry for "Traditional card games" with multiple references to it on the first page, but these are not good enough excuses.

Second try: #517 panel 2 references the traditional game Pattycake.

[bc56]

I never noticed Haley's joke about Limbo in #1117

(Which incidentally is another game reference)

[nabcif]

I just noticed that in Good Deeds Gone Unpunished, we get an explanation for something else in the main comic,

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why the valley with Xykon's back-up fortress had become occupied in the previous (as Xykon says), "like, 30 years": it had almost certainly been a result of the Supreme Leader's planned expansion that we see mentioned

somewhere near the end of How the Paladin Got His Scar.

[hamishspence]

I just noticed that in Good Deeds Gone Unpunished, we get an explanation for something else in the main comic,

Spoiler

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why the valley with Xykon's back-up fortress had become occupied in the previous, like, 30 years: it had almost certainly been a result of the Supreme Leader's planned expansion that we see mentioned

somewhere near the end of How the Paladin Got His Scar.

At most 12 years (and possibly as little as 7 years) lapse between the end of How The Paladin Got His Scar and the start of No Cure For The Paladin Blues - but yes, that would probably explain why the valley is occupied.

Given that Xykon says he's not been there for "a few decades"

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0191.html

it's possible that he left the tower abandoned as much as 30 years ago, though.

[KrankenWagon]

In comic 501 (I'd post a link, but the I'm to new here for the forum to let me), the third nation the Azurites go to looks like the nation from the In the Realm of the Dragon short from Snips Snails and Dragon Tails. The character they talk to appears to be in an ice cave and looks exactly the same (down to his baggy eyes) as the adviser who was chomped in half

[hamishspence]

In comic 501 (I'd post a link, but the I'm to new here for the forum to let me), the third nation the Azurites go to looks like the nation from the In the Realm of the Dragon short from Snips Snails and Dragon Tails. The character they talk to appears to be in an ice cave and looks exactly the same (down to his baggy eyes) as the adviser who was chomped in half

Makes sense.

In How The Paladin Got His Scar :

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The Realm of the Dragon is described as being ruled over by an evil red dragon, and in extremely tense diplomatic relations with Azure City - they're not at war, but close to it.

Part of the reason O-Chul is sent to solve the diplomatic crisis with the hobgoblins, is that they're afraid that if things get any worse, they will be in a war on two fronts.

I would guess that the Red Dragon died, the White Dragon took over, relations improved significantly (hence the Realm being called an ally) - and the advisor is killed by the white dragon at some point between the events referenced in 501, and the present.

[nabcif]

At most 12 years (and possibly as little as 7 years) lapse between the end of How The Paladin Got His Scar and the start of No Cure For The Paladin Blues - but yes, that would probably explain why the valley is occupied.

Given that Xykon says he's not been there for "a few decades"

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0191.html

it's possible that he left the tower abandoned as much as 30 years ago, though.

Ah, sorry; that

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(the "like, 30 years ago")

was a direct (albeit unmarked) quote from the strip I linked to. I have little idea why I didn't put quotes around it, but at that point I'd probably already spent 45 minutes revising my post (mainly to have grammatically correct sentences with and without the spoiler tag).

[hamishspence]

Ah, sorry; that

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(the "like, 30 years ago")

was a direct (albeit unmarked) quote from the strip I linked to. I

Good point. So we know Xykon was in the valley around 30 years ago, and he probably abandoned the fortress not long after that time.

I would speculate that the abandonment date coincides roughly with the time he joined up with Redcloak - he "set it up just in case", he went on a trip - he ran into that paladin swamp fortress Redcloak was attacking - and the rest is history.

His last trip there was probably after retrieving Serini's diary:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0196.html

which, it would appear from his reaction in Start of Darkness:

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"There are other gates?!

took place after the Battle of Lirian's Gate.

So he found the diary, he deciphered one location,

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0197.html

left the diary there, and abandoned the fortress.

[danielxcutter]

I didn't notice that the title of the last thread was a pun at first...

Also, "Grand Martial" is probably a pun on "grandma".

[Peelee]

I didn't notice that the title of the last thread was a pun at first...

Also, "Grand Martial" is probably a pun on "grandma".

Grand Marshal --> Grand Martial.

[hamishspence]

On re-checking Start of Darkness:

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Xykon "disappeared" 6 years before DCF (hunting down Serini's diary) - and reappeared 3 years before DCF (having found the diary and translated one location).

His comments about the valley having been abandoned for "like, 30 years" and about not having "been here in decades - who knows what might have moved in" suggests he went straight in and out the library (possibly flying in through a window, since it's warded against teleportation?) to drop off the book without having bothered to do any looking around the rest of the tower.

[drazen]

Thing I just noticed today: all the strips ending in 37 are fairly talky and expository. Not really any battling or anything happening in them. Except 437, which was during the battle for Azure City. Even the one when V is fighting the dragon is mostly the fiends chatting!

A lot of people pick 37 when asked for a random number, maybe this is to make hooks without giving away any crucial plot twists?

Also, rereading it today, somehow I had overlooked some panels of Roy's studies at Fighter College in On the Origin of PCs.

[Ron Miel]

I didn't notice that the title of the last thread was a pun at first...

Also, "Grand Martial" is probably a pun on "grandma".

Nope. A Grand Marshall is the leader or a central figure of a parade or ceremony. Fighting with a sword is Martial arts.

Taking the phrase Grand Marshall, and substituting the word Martial makes a pun. Nothing about grandmas is intended.

[Fyraltari]

By the way can someone explain to me the pun in "I take issue with your tone"? (second-to-last quip by Tarquin).

[Ron Miel]

Because one meaning of issue is "son and heir." The reason for all of Henry VIII's marriages was seeking issue, that is a legitimate male heir to ensure a line of succession.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_(genealogy)

[Fyraltari]

Thank you.

[ASCIInerd73]

I just noticed that Belkar's flashback on strip #807 replaces Enor and Ganji's heads with those of Belkar and Mr. Scruffy.

[facw]

Until today, I had never noticed that the big splash panel in 841 is bigger in the print copy of the book. It gets a thicker border instead of the standard panel frame used in the web version, but also adds some art to the top and bottom that isn't seen online. Not significantly different, but it doesn't cut off the illustration of the dragon on the wall, making it even more obvious.

hamishspence quoted a post by Porthos in the page count thread that mentioned that this comic was missing a 1/4 page, so I was curious as to what ended up filling that space. Now I'm curious as to what went into the decision to crop the scene differently online vs. in print.

[Lord Torath]

I didn't notice that the title of the last thread was a pun at first...

A pun? I'm seeing an allusion (to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), but I'm not seeing a pun.

[Kish]

Last. "Things You Never Noticed V: Your Familiar."