OOTS #1300 - The Discussion Thread

[GMantis]

It seems confusing at first, be he is actually upside-down in the last two strips. Makes it seem like the horn is on the wrong side but it isn't.

No, the broken horn has really been changed. From Calder's point of view it's on the right side up to 1298 and on the left after that.

[Vikenlugaid]

So at this point Calder’s horn-swap must be…something? I’d be surprised if it’s just an artistic oversight though.

Exactly
Seriously, in the last strip I thought it was an error, but now... Could this be another epic ilusion like Girard's? We saw Redcloak with the wrong damaged eye too.

[Turin_19]

I don't play D&D - I thought that, once Anti-magic was on Bloodfeast, he'd be permanently back to his 'real' dino-form.

So I was completely wrong.

[brian 333]

V is prepping to down a potion as Sunny bounces past. Anyone know what that green potion is likely to be? Healing potions are red, right?

Isn't it one of the many potions of Heroism V bought from the potion vendors who were selling them below cost, intending to make up the difference in sales volume?

I rather expect an Antimagic Ray from V, cast upon Bloodfeast, for some surprise Extremination just as Calder is about to swallow the lil guy.

[Lord Torath]

Exactly
Seriously, in the last strip I thought it was an error, but now... Could this be another epic ilusion like Girard's? We saw Redcloak with the wrong damaged eye too.

I'd chalk it up to art error. When Bloodfeast first latched on, he was underneath Calder, and the top of his head was facing us. The two rotated as they fell, but we still see the top of Bloodfeast's head, rather than the bottom of his jaws.

I really don't care, though. It gets the idea across. I wouldn't read too much into the wrong horn being broken.

[Souhiro]

When I saw that there was a new comic, and a chance to see BloodFest the Extremeinator, I just switched to Youtube, and put some cool music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXAQCYgPCOI
The old Darkstalkers anime ending. Fitting for somebody out of a heavy metal cover art, don't you think?


Because BloodFest can be easily now the most charismatic member of the entire cast!! A pity that he's back to his tiny form, but otherwise, he would steal the show :D



Thanks, Giant

[137beth]

Well Sunny is safe(r) now, so maybe Serini will be able to more easily focus on the fight?

[Gift Jeraff]

Lien will save the day by exploiting Calder's only weakness.

[Ghosty]

No, the broken horn has really been changed. From Calder's point of view it's on the right side up to 1298 and on the left after that.

This is my paranoia speaking, but could the Order be fighting an illusion/simulacrum? (As vikenlugaid noted, a few posts upthread. We don't do upvotes, so take this Brofist.)

I mean, it's probably an art malf (and one that, as well done and involved as this scene is drawn, won't be trivial for the Giant to fix. One more reason to buy the book when it comes out!)

But there is that nagging little voice wondering...

[brian 333]

When I saw that there was a new comic, and a chance to see BloodFest the Extremeinator, I just switched to Youtube, and put some cool music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXAQCYgPCOI
The old Darkstalkers anime ending. Fitting for somebody out of a heavy metal cover art, don't you think?


Because BloodFest can be easily now the most charismatic member of the entire cast!! A pity that he's back to his tiny form, but otherwise, he would steal the show :D



Thanks, Giant

When is Bloodfest and how does one observe it? Is there an associated phlebotamist's convention?

Also: BloodFest the Exanguinator

Well Sunny is safe(r) now, so maybe Serini will be able to more easily focus on the fight?

So far she has not done any fighting.

[Mordar]

They're both highly capable melee combatants. Calder, being a dragon, has tons of HPs, and decreasing those HPs is about the only way to defeat him. Having two more people with strong melee attacks would seem to be incredibly useful in this situation. Paladins get the same to-hit tables as fighters, so even if they don't have weapons on the same level as Roy's, they'll still be a significant asset to fighting against a dragon.

Nearly bare-donkey nekkid O-Chul was about 0.25 seconds from killing Redcloak with a iron bar he ripped from a cage with his bare hands. Yeah, I think he can lay some hurt on Calder. I bet Lien's spear will work nicely as well.

Man, people always doubting the Paladins...

- M

[Alex Warlorn]

"Normal people don't have minions!"
"Who wants to be normal?"

[diplomancer]

I got a horrifying image of Calder biting down on Bloodfeast... but as he has his full hit points, it will be more like chewing gum.

[Psychronia]

Curse you, spherical violence!

It's funny how I'm way more worried for Bloodfeast than Belkar. Though part of me is excited to see what protective instincts Caulder swallowing the lizard or something can do. Would or Durkon be able to dispel the polymorph on our pal within a dragon's stomach?

Empirical evidence suggests dragons are vulnerable to abrupt abdominal reptilian enlargements.

[enh]

V is prepping to down a potion as Sunny bounces past. Anyone know what that green potion is likely to be?

That color and bottle shape have been used uniquely for Heroism in previous strips. Possibly V is about to lay down some smack.

Or possibly V had planned to repeat their previous move from the desert, and pour the potion down Bloodfeast's throat "while simultaneously blocking out all thoughts concerning pharmaceutical dosage specifications". Now? Dunno.

[Zancloufer]

I'm confused now... It's been two strips since Calder has been replaced by his opposite twin (notice how the broken horn has switched from right to left side) who may or may not be Trigak's mate looking for vengeance. But then where does that leave us with Fyron's son? Not to mention Redcloak's niece.
I'm poking fun at it but this is an amazing strip. Thank you immensely, Giant.


My brain broke for a second after reading this but I'm still quite confident in saying that this isn't how geometry works.

No, the broken horn has really been changed. From Calder's point of view it's on the right side up to 1298 and on the left after that.

Looking through the last four comics I appear to have been incorrect. His Left horn starts unbroken, but then is swaps to his right in comics 1299 and 1300.

Also it's most likely not a decoy/simulacrum as he has been in an AMF for most of the time his horn's been on the right side

[Sky_Schemer]

I don't know if anyone had said this before but... Why does Calder have the left horn broken instead of the right in the last two strips?

Clearly, the image of him with the right horn broken was an illusion, and Sunny's anti-magic ray suppressed it so now we see that it's really his left horn that is broken.

[Liquor Box]

I wonder which situation is better for Calder. Meleeing the order in the anti-magic field. Or trading spells (as well and meleeing) outside of it.

That's one hell of a lot harder hit than i thought on the first panel of it. Also, are the paladins going to hitch a ride on Sunny? I think the paladins are totally going to hitch a ride up on Sunny.

We know Sunny can lift them by telepathy, one at a time. There was a big debate about how heavy the paladins probably are.

And all told, Calder isn't even looking that much worse for the wear. Not good for the party. He looks hungry for dino nuggets, too.

You think? To me he looks to have the most wounds of everyone. Although I don't know how his size relates to this.

[Ruck]

After reviewing the recent strips following the discussion on this last page or so, my conclusion is that whichever of Calder's horns is closest to the camera is the intact one.

[Peelee]

After reviewing the recent strips following the discussion on this last page or so, my conclusion is that whichever of Calder's horns is closest to the camera is the intact one.

Panels 6 and 8.

[Ruck]

Panels 6 and 8.

Didn't review closely enough, I guess.

And even some sort of reason involving flipping the asset in Illustrator (or whatever Rich uses) doesn't really fly, because whichever direction Calder is facing in #1298, the broken horn is still on his right.

I guess it could be an art error, but it's a strange one to make consistently through two strips after having it so consistent in the previous strips.

If it's supposed to indicate something about Calder, I don't know what.

[danielxcutter]

Just because Calder's not two hits away from bleeding out doesn't mean that damage isn't significant. Even if he chose Heal as one of his 6th-level spells, he certainly isn't going to be healing more damage than the Order can do in a round or two themselves.

[Peelee]

Didn't review closely enough, I guess.

I wondered the same thing (like a Roy's Boot type thing) yesterday, which was how i knew offhand about those two panels.

Just because Calder's not two hits away from bleeding out doesn't mean that damage isn't significant.

Agreed.

[brian 333]

Well Sunny is safe(r) now, so maybe Serini will be able to more easily focus on the fight?

After reviewing the recent strips following the discussion on this last page or so, my conclusion is that whichever of Calder's horns is closest to the camera is the intact one.

Didn't review closely enough, I guess.

And even some sort of reason involving flipping the asset in Illustrator (or whatever Rich uses) doesn't really fly, because whichever direction Calder is facing in #1298, the broken horn is still on his right.

I guess it could be an art error, but it's a strange one to make consistently through two strips after having it so consistent in the previous strips.

If it's supposed to indicate something about Calder, I don't know what.

It is not an error. The observant will note that Roy still, 1200+ strips later, does not know which foot the big boot goes on.

It would really be funny if a character mentioned the switch up and the dragon says, "I've never looked in a mirror; I don't know which one has been broken."

[Ruck]

It is not an error. The observant will note that Roy still, 1200+ strips later, does not know which foot the big boot goes on.

Peelee already covered that:

I wondered the same thing (like a Roy's Boot type thing) yesterday, which was how i knew offhand about those two panels.

This isn't a situation where the intact horn is whichever one is closer to the "camera," like Roy's boot is. From #1295 through #1298, the intact horn is on the left side of Calder's head, no matter how he's positioned or where he's facing. In #1299 and #1300, the intact horn is on the right.

(Sunny's drawing, presuming it's of Calder, also shows the intact horn on the left.)

edit: I could still see it being an error though and I certainly don't have any explanation for it that's better than that.

[Liquor Box]

Just because Calder's not two hits away from bleeding out doesn't mean that damage isn't significant. Even if he chose Heal as one of his 6th-level spells, he certainly isn't going to be healing more damage than the Order can do in a round or two themselves.

I guess the question is though, whether he can tank another round or so of the Order wailing on him, to give himself the opportunity of turning things in his own favour.

[No good @ names]

Regarding the horn, good spotting peeps, but I’m with his lordship on this one.

I'd chalk it up to art error. [snip]I really don't care, though. It gets the idea across. I wouldn't read too much into the wrong horn being broken.

[Agi Hammerthief]

I got a horrifying image of Calder biting down on Bloodfeast... but as he has his full hit points, it will be more like chewing gum.

I got an image of Blodfeast beeing swallowed whole and the anti magic getting switched on again.

[DougTheHead]

While V might be using those potions for an offensive purpose, it seems like Bloodfeast would be a pretty good asset to preserve. Would Calder be able to harm Bloodfeast if he was in a Forcecage or a Resilient Sphere?

[ratfox]

I'm very worried for Bloodfeast. Especially after this big full-size action scene, I can't imagine he will do a similar full-size action scene against Xykon. I hope that's because he retires and lives happily ever after.

I'm sure he will live at a nice farm upstate... with Belkar

Calder consistently has a broken right horn until 1298, no matter which way he's facing. Then broken left horn from 1299, while facing right.

By the way, I love the idea that Sunny is bouncy, and I imagine it sounds like a basketball. I mean he's the right color, so it has to.