Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXVI: No, Mr Deegan, I Expect You To Scry

[spectralphoenix]

Welcome to the ongoing series on Dominic Deegan. Join us as Dominic searches for Celesto in the one place the King would never think to look: at his sort-of-ex-boyfriend's sports event!

Snark Chronology (Snarkhronology)

Thread I (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26550) - Oct 31 2006 to Aug 9 2007 - 77 pages, the first half of which actually contained praise yet. Then Snowsong came about...
Thread II (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53160) - Aug 8 2007 to Jun 10 2008 - the epic one, 301 pages, OVER NINE THOUSAAAND posts. Here the foundations of Domiology - our snarky fanon - were created.
Thread III (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82855) - 10 Jun 2008 to Aug 12 2008 - 63 pages of snarky goodness, first one to contain the archives in the first post.
Thread IV (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87587) - Aug 12 2008 to Sept 20 2008 - 50 pages, the one that carried us through the first half of the horrid Vacation Arc and brought the first actual fans into our threads (of course, their resolve starts to falter by now :smalltongue:)
Thread V (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91533) - Sept 20 2008 to Oct 18 2008 - 50 pages, the Vacation Arc continues to our unimaginable horror.
Thread VI (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94191) - Oct 18 2008 to Nov 11 2008 - 50 pages, the final part of the vacation. So much to be learnt about walls and limbs; knowledge that Mookie, unfortunately, shall never possess.
Thread VII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96181) - 10 Nov 2008 to Dec 1 2008 - 50 pages, finally the Plot Creature caught up - but what has Mookie done to Celesto and TIM?
Thread VIII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98206) - Dec 1 2008 to Dec 23 2008 - 51 pages, wherein Dex rises from the dead and we are introduced to Sn'gl'euth'u, the cutest extradimensional Lovecraftian being since Hello Cthulhu.
Thread IX (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100412) - Dec 23 2008 to Feb 20 2009 - 50 pages, which taught us that orcs not only have despicable traditions, they are also completely insane.
Thread X (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105160) - Feb 20 2009 to Apr 5 2009 - 50 pages, which taught us that orcs are not only completely insane, they are actually crazy enough to make Cthulhu roll Sanity checks!
Thread XI (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108632) - Apr 5 2009 to May 1 2009 - 51 pages, in which the orcs are at their height of insanity (going one step beyond), Luna is the designated Messiah of Everything and that tusks make you speshul.
Thread XII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110535) - May 1 2009 to Jun 6 2009 - 50 pages, where the orcs, after reaching the height of insanity previously, find ways to fly to entirely new planes of mind-crushing madness, sufficient to warp their plain to the size of a backyard and time to freeze, as nothing interesting happens at all.
Thread XIII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113899) - Jun 6 2009 to July 9 2009 - 50 pages, where the orcs continue to plumb the bottomless depths of inanity. Oh, and insanity too. Meanwhile, Luna discovers a new Sue power: inflicting the worst monologues ever on hapless readers. Also, Jacob is evil.
Thread XIV (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117735) - July 9 2009 to Aug 6 2009 - 50 pages, where we are still occupied with Orcs. Orcs. Orcs, everywhere! Oh gods, is this arc not going to end ever?! I repent, Mookie! I repent! Just make it stop! Make it stooooop!
Thread XV (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120700) - Aug 6 2009 to Sept 7 2009 - 50 pages, with Orcs, who do Orc things and KILL THEM, KILL ALL THE ORCS, EXTERMINATE THEM, SO THIS HORROR CAN END!
Thread XVI (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124177) - Sept 7 2009 to Sept 26 2009 - 50 pages. Do I have to tell you what it was about at this point anymore? You have three guesses. And the first two don't count.
Thread XVII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126357) - Sept 26 2009 to Oct 20 2009 - 51 pages. The Orcs are still insane, and in this thread, they managed to temporarily infect us. Among the results are a debate about relativism and many pictures of various cute, funny, and weird animals. There also was a decapitation. It was metal.
Thread XVIII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128950) - Oct 20 2009 to Nov 19 2009 - 50 pages, in which the March Through Maltak continues against logic, reason, good taste and sanity. Also including attempts at a non-lethal battle and awesome plot twists(Dominic fixes everything!)
Thread XIX (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132191) - Nov 19 2009 to Dec 15 2009 - 50 pages. The Battle At the Bikta Sanctuary is trudging along, with consistency and logic being casualties.
Thread XX (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135156) - Dec 15 2009 to Jan 14 2010 - 50 pages, where many lessons are learned: Never trust a bard, rain solves everything, and a stunning revelation by a necromancer so important it's the next thread title.
Thread XXI (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138491) - Jan 14 2010 to Feb 25 2010 - 51 pages. Now that events have been set into motion that may affect the destiny of the entire world, we get to see Nimmel and his crazy college shenanigans!
Thread XXII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143382) - Feb 25 2010 to Mar 31 2010 - 51 pages, where Nimmel fully ascends into the First Caste, donning the Mantle of Sue that he might make us all immune to boobs.
Thread XXIII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147387) - March 31 2010 to May 9 2010 - 50 pages. After Talking to one tentacled creature about another, Mamma Deegan returns home, and Greg starts a band.
Thread XXIV (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151903) - May 9, 2010 to June 9, 2010 - 50 pages. Greg's band is so meh it's un-****ing believable.
Thread XXV (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155528) - June 9, 2010 to July 22, 2010 - 51 pages. The strange ecology of the Wild Edge Territory, and the stranger behavior of the Callanians living there. If there's a keyword, it's "random". Also, inappropriate names for creatures.
Thread XXVI (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161259) - July 22, 2010 to Sept. 6 2010 - 50 pages. Stunt's stunts in the Wild Edge show a stunting of character and such stunted emotional capacity that he probably suffers from stunt. Also, Celesto meditates naked.
Thread XXVII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167391) - Sept. 6, 2010 to Oct. 6, 2010 - 50 pages. The comic goes to hell. Again. Siegfried returns and shouts a lot.
Thread XXVIII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170984) - Oct. 6, 2010 to Oct. 27, 2010 - 50 pages. Curly has exploded at the end of the War in Hell just like a soul. Now, on to a trial.
Thread XXVIIIS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174904) - Nov. 6, 2010 to Nov. 7, 2010 - 1 page. Wherein a true fan who has made it as far as Storm of Souls, makes a thread.
Thread XXIX (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173658) - Oct. 27 2010 to Dec. 2, 2010 - 50 pages. The "trial" is just a veiled excuse to have Bulgak grow wings on his head and look into goalposts that show him important events in his past.
Thread XXX (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178126) - Dec. 2, 2010 to January 1, 2011 - 51 pages. Bulgak goes boom. Filler. Then nothing happens except Curly's marathon readthrough of Maltak.
Thread XXXI (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181831) - Jan. 1, 2011 to January 21, 2011 - 50 pages. Dominic and Luna finally show up, and then we get an arc about plastic surgery.
Thread XXXII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184423) - Jan. 22, 2011 to Feb. 18, 2011 - 50 Pages. Luna is great. So great. Also: Snuggly joins the Loony Toons.
Thread XXXIII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187872) - Feb. 19, 2011 to Mar. 24, 2011 - 50 pages. Snuggly is allergic to shellfish. Facebath returns to sing songs about how Luna is so great.
Thread XXXIV (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192305) - Mar. 24, 2011 to April 19, 2011 - 50 pages. Snuggly kills an all-powerful archmage and no one is too concerned about it. Also, we met King DJ.
Thread XXXV (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195911) - April 19, 2011 to May 23, 2011 - 50 pages. Dominic must find Celesto for no reason in particular. The Battlecasters are spying on all Second Sight, everywhere.

And our sister threads:
Strip Slays, the best thread ever (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37014)
Strip Slays 2: the best thread strikes back (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91628)
Strip Slays 3 - Someone Is Going To Slay For This Outrage. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108763)
Strip Slays 4: A Slay On Words. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176043)
If the madness of this thread does not suffice to bring your SAN rating down, those will. For sure. :smallcool:
[DD Snark]Maltak: The Unsuckening (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168703) - Art by Domochevsky, Writing by Oracle_Hunter, edited by us. A parody of the longest arc done in the style of Hiimdaisy's comic strips, now with snazzy new (non-sucky) link! (http://hiimdaisy.livejournal.com/)
Dominic Deegan - The Second Coming (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99280) - the now dead Dominic Deegan rewrite, where everyone could contribute! Assuming it was still alive.

For more information, check out the Encyclopedia Dominica (http://encyclopedia-dominica.wikidot.com/), our all-encompassing archive of knowledge! It's a wiki!

If you're wondering why we snark, check out Why We Snark (http://encyclopedia-dominica.wikidot.com/why-we-snark) on the wiki!

For further reading, there's The Descent of Man (into Madness and Mookie) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4177568&postcount=7472) by Johnny Blade.

And there is also the Dominic Deegan game: Punchy's Brilliant Adventure: Ley Line Scramble (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/565899), courtesy of TamerBill!

MORE FUN STUFF:

Snarky Flowcharts (Flowsnarks)
Turcano's Chart of Arc Hope
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/5959/flowchart.pngHelanna's Chart of Thread Trends
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr97/DeathDragon92/DominicDeeganFlow.png
guttering_flame's Cycle of Life and Death (Spoiler: It All Leads to Maltak)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z280/corkyball/Dominic%20Deegan%20Slays/theChart2.jpg
Snark Art (Snart)

Dominic Deegan's art is garbage. However, some people may at times believe, possible after being exposed to it for way too long a time, that it's not that bad.
Well, here's something to guide the lost souls back to the light.

Domo's Beef:

http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_1.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_2.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_3.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_4.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_5.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_6.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_7.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_8.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_9.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_10.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_11.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_12.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_13.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_14.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_15.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_16.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_17.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_18.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_19.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_20.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_21.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_22.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_23.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_24.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_25.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_26.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_27.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_28.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_29.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_30.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_31.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_32.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_33.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_34.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_35_p3p4.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_36.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_37.png
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_38.png

Domo's Reenvisioning (of the Melna vs Taran fight scene and Luna's entrance at the Bikta camp):

http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/ReenvSketch.png

http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/ReenvSketch_2.png

http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/ReenvSketch_2b.png

http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/ReenvSketch_3.png

Silverblood

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs49/300W/i/2009/218/7/3/Choose_Wisely_by_Flynn_the_cat.jpg
Pay close attention, you may notice a little surprise.

Garland

BEHOLD! MUSTACHE!
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7472/warlordmustache.jpg

SNARKSERVICE
http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/8283/dwarfpunch.jpg

Maltak: The Unsuckening

8 out of Unknown parts done so far. (http://domochevsky.deviantart.com/gallery/26587220)


Domo's commentary on werewolf society:
http://nudecreator.org/Domochevsky/Mookster_41.png

TamerBill's animations:
Nimmel Running (http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1267665559)

Dominic Deegan the Animated Series (http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1267829477)

Cowmarel Dansen (http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1271529167)

Magical Nerd Lyrical Nimmeloha (http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1268157930)

Battle For Barthis 2 (http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1271266948)

Joro's good old days:
In an alternate universe, Dominic Deegan: Surly Jerk With a Fish on His Head is a well regarded webcomic.
http://i30.tinypic.com/2vbo782.png
Crud, I think I drew his nose off center.

Jacob used to be somewhat cool. What happened? Curse you, Maltak.
http://i29.tinypic.com/2qizrr4.png
Glass Mouse:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z250/GlassMouse/DomPuppeteer.gif

Averagejoe's One Panel (Sn)Arcs
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u282/teddifunken/onepanel3.jpg

[Darkmyst]

OK! Who's up for guessing what page this thread will be on by the time we see Snuggly or King DJ again?

Let's at least pretend that the answer isn't "50" :S

[Saint Nil]

Sneaky Gate (http://www.dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110524.gif)

Future Link (http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-24)

Its in the last thread, but for new comers so they don't have to keep switching to comment.

[Humbug]

What's that? It's time to stall until Cliffhanger Friday then? Well, alright.



:smallannoyed:

[Lachesis]

It's hard to believe I've been following this thread for 2 and a half years

I think my brain's trying to guage time on how much has happened in Dominic Deegan. Maybe that's why. :smalleek:

[Darkmyst]

It's hard to believe I've been following this thread for 2 and a half years

I think my brain's trying to guage time on how much has happened in Dominic Deegan. Maybe that's why. :smalleek:

How is that even possible? Wouldn't something have needed to happen in the comic for this to be a workable system of measurement?

[Castel]

Szark goes for his best SmuGreg impression in panel 4, and then his best YounGreg impression in the following panel, now that's dedication that transcends time!

Also, he didn't have that sickly blush when he was a kid, so it really is linked to the demonic wound he got later, so, now that said wound is gone, why the hell (...) is that sickly blush still there? It makes no sense! :smallmad:


It's hard to believe I've been following this thread for 2 and a half years

I think my brain's trying to guage time on how much has happened in Dominic Deegan. Maybe that's why. :smalleek:

Now I'm trying to remember what was going on back then... If my math is correct, it would've been the beginnings of *shudder* Maltak. :smalleek:

[BlackDragonKing]

Aw, we decided not to use the Offscreen Detectives title?

http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/Generation_Zero/Lulz/Gerald.jpg

To be fair, a lot happens in the comic, people are just taking issue that nothing gets DONE as a result of things happening.

[random11]

Do you know the feeling that when you drop an expensive vase, there is one second that you see it's falling down, you know it's going to break and there is nothing you can do about it?

That's more or less the feeling I have now.
I see how an epic arc with a monster, mage-king and circle of mages is going to focus on some kids training with swords, and I'm just waiting for the "CRASH" sound.

[Lyesmith]

I...what are they even supposed to be fencing? It looks like an Epeé, but he's holding it wrong. Sabres have handguards.

I'd suspect foil, because it's for wimps, but he's still holding it wrong.

On the upside, this might be quite good for strip slaying.

ALSO, whatever happened to Runcible Spoon!?

[Cen]

What is based completely on the truth is Dominic's huge glasses, acne and horrible mullet. Those were mine. Getting through my younger years with those was tough, but you know what they say... that which does not kill you makes you nerdier.

Aaand we now know officially that DD is Mookies dream fulfillment and revenge on jocks

[Johnny Blade]

Bu-bu-but I thought Donovan was the one based on Mookie...

Now I'm all confused. Somebody explain this to me, please...

[Lyesmith]

Oh, nerds. You never stop being amusing.

[Cen]

Bu-bu-but I thought Donovan was the one based on Mookie...

Now I'm all confused. Somebody explain this to me, please...

Ah, it's easy - First Caste is one collective mind. THink about it - can you tell one difference between first casters? no? neither do I. They all have one "always right" personality. They are all Mookie.

[Darkmyst]

Aaand we now know officially that DD is Mookies dream fulfillment and revenge on jocks

Well, that's "Mookie doesn't care about his comic" and "DD is nothing more than a nerd's wish-fulfillment/revenge fantasy" confirmed in two days. Tune in to "Horrible Revelations" tomorrow, when we reveal photographic evidence of Mookie snorting the crushed hopes of his few remaining fans!

[random11]

Well, that's "Mookie doesn't care about his comic" and "DD is nothing more than a nerd's wish-fulfillment/revenge fantasy" confirmed in two days. Tune in to "Horrible Revelations" tomorrow, when we reveal photographic evidence of Mookie snorting the crushed hopes of his few remaining fans!

That was done about two weeks ago.
The part with Quilt and the bubbles was actually a complex metaphor for creating hopes for an interesting story line and then bursting the bubble.

[TheArsenal]

You know. Looking back....Bland arc was better than this. At least bland arc had a point. A HORRIBLE TERRIBLE GOD AWEFULL one but still a point.

From The Return of Dom-Currently I pronounce it all as "Bland random Magic rule killing arc".

[Welf]

What they don't tell you is that Heart apparently also contains the ability to read minds and control animals. Maybe not that useful against zombies, but in other situations... you better beware. >_>

My knowledge about that series mostly derives from the memes. The only episode I halfway remember is when two of them (Ma-Ti and some other guy) entered Cyberspace or something. Ma-Ti suddenly had the ability to create force fields, and the other guy could destroy them. I remember that particular episode because I was annoyed that Ma-Ti didn't use her new ability even once.


Gasp! Dominic used to be... a jock! What a tweest!

No, he wanted to be a jock. But he didn't have it in him, so he turned into the Destroyer of Jocks out of revenge.



Bu-bu-but I thought Donovan was the one based on Mookie...

Now I'm all confused. Somebody explain this to me, please...

My theory: Donovan is how Mookie is as a person, Dominic is the wish fulfillment.

[Turcano]

My theory: Donovan is how Mookie is as a person, Dominic is the wish fulfillment.

Wait, if that's the case, the wish fulfillment is suckier than the straight avatar.

[Garland]

What's that, Gerald? This non-plot is stupid you say? It makes you feel angry? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThatMakesMeFeelAngry)

http://imageshack.us/m/541/5479/angrygerald.jpg

[Mr. McGician]

I was annoyed that Ma-Ti didn't use her new ability even once.

Isn't Ma-Ti a guy?

[Welf]

Isn't Ma-Ti a guy?

Really? Huh. In my defence: They gave him a female voice actor in the dubbing I saw.

[Kizor]

The heart knows no boundaries.

[Ghill]

Meh, I feel the irrelevant need to reply everything that is being complained about here.

@DarkMyst, some time in thread XXXVII. Which is lame...

@Humbug, it's a little early to assume that. I mean, it is a safe assumption but still.

@Lyesmith, alternate world and Mookie isn't a fencer. I think it is safe to assume that it is some form of sword native to Callan; likely one designed to channel magical energy for the user, though Szark's is probably traced tainted with anti-magic metal or something to stop it from being directly enchanted. Don't want it to get stone-weighted down, no professional fighter would ever go without a weapon immune to magic interference in Callan, that would be stupid. :smallbiggrin:

@Cen, most characters are just variations on the person writing them. I have never been able to (nor have I really tried to) write a character that wasn't a modified version of myself. There is a lot of flexibility in an actual human, picking an element of yourself gives you a base to work with that you can understand.

@TheArsenal, any completed DD arc is better than any other arc because then some semblance of story can be made out. I think that is why we always say that each arc is worse than the arc before it, because we are comparing a developing and horrible incomplete arc that doesn't yet have a story to one that is completed and has been sufficiently retconned into making sense.

@Welf, wait a dub? I thought that "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" was an American show, and in English. I know Ma-Ti had a quiet kid voice but I didn't think he had a female voice actor in the original...

In other news, we are still waiting for Runciple McChaos Spoon! He was previewed before Maltak started! Mookie keeps giving the appearance of long-term preparation and then NOT. It makes me want to RAGE FACE.

Mookie, justify yourself!

Sometimes foreshadowing is just...foreshadowing.

AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.. .

[Welf]

@Welf, wait a dub? I thought that "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" was an American show, and in English. I know Ma-Ti had a quiet kid voice but I didn't think he had a female voice actor in the original...

Well, yes, which is why I watched a dubbed version. :smallwink: I'm an non-native English speaker.

[tonberrian]

Well, yes, which is why I watched a dubbed version. :smallwink: I'm an non-native English speaker.

What was your first language? Manglish?/notserious

[Gez]

I once read that the voice actors for most little boy characters are women; because they have an easier time finding the proper pitch for a child than a post-puberty male. (And of course, you can't always rely on actual little boys since children are generally terrible actors and they peskily tend to age faster than the characters.)

[Tavar]

Also, child labor laws obviously don't apply to them, which can be a decent boon.

[Fangly]

We talking about Dominic Deegan and Captain Planet?



Then it's time for a blatant repost!



CAPTAIN PLANET
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b12/unicornkiller/slays/cp2.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b12/unicornkiller/slays/cp.jpg

HE'S A HERO
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b12/unicornkiller/slays/cpslay.gif


GONNA TAKE POLLUTION DOWN TO ZERO

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b12/unicornkiller/slays/cpgoat.gif.

HE'S OUR POWERS MAGNIFIED

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b12/unicornkiller/slays/cpmess.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b12/unicornkiller/slays/cpmess2.gif

AND HE'S FIGHTING ON THE PLANET'S SIDE
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b12/unicornkiller/slays/cpargue.gif

[Welf]

What was your first language? Manglish?/notserious

Actually yes. My family made worked for generations in a laundry service. /alsonotserious ;)

[Darkmyst]

@TheArsenal, any completed DD arc is better than any other arc because then some semblance of story can be made out. I think that is why we always say that each arc is worse than the arc before it, because we are comparing a developing and horrible incomplete arc that doesn't yet have a story to one that is completed and has been sufficiently retconned into making sense.

You make a sound case, but I'm not entirely convinced. Could you please cite an example of a DD arc that is unambiguously better than the ones that came before it? Bonus points if you can stick to ones that don't require extensive archive-diving to remember.

[BlackDragonKing]

Wait, if that's the case, the wish fulfillment is suckier than the straight avatar.

This is news to you? The person that's just you in comic form tends to be much more interesting than the person that's you indulging in some fantasies.

Dominic as wish fulfillment just gets to be right all the time like people tend to wish they could be. Donovan gets to ham it up and do things entirely because he finds it amusing at the time, like Mookie. Which is the more desirable character trait, and makes for a character more fun to read?

[Kris Strife]

You make a sound case, but I'm not entirely convinced. Could you please cite an example of a DD arc that is unambiguously better than the ones that came before it? Bonus points if you can stick to ones that don't require extensive archive-diving to remember.

The fish-on-the-head arc. Not the part where he goes looking for a cure, just where the fish keeps falling on his head. :smallbiggrin:

[Garland]

There's a recurring theory that the whole deeganverse is fictional (well it obviously is, but I mean in-universe!), a delusion of poor crazy Dominic (or sometimes Luna). But what if all of it is in Donovan's mind, and Dominic is just his self-insert in his bard songs, and the son he never had? Miranda doesn't exist either, she's just based on Donovan's school crush. Everything happens in Donovan's dreams.

[TheLaughingMan]

There's a recurring theory that the whole deeganverse is fictional (well it obviously is, but I mean in-universe!), a delusion of poor crazy Dominic (or sometimes Luna). But what if all of it is in Donovan's mind, and Dominic is just his self-insert in his bard songs, and the son he never had? Miranda doesn't exist either, she's just based on Donovan's school crush. Everything happens in Donovan's dreams.

Elanovan was really killed by Karnak in Matlak, and the comic is his dying dream.

A bit creepy on how fixated he is on Luna, though....

[Mr. McGician]

You make a sound case, but I'm not entirely convinced. Could you please cite an example of a DD arc that is unambiguously better than the ones that came before it? Bonus points if you can stick to ones that don't require extensive archive-diving to remember.

Every arc this year has been better than Court of Karnak.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Every arc this year has been better than Court of Karnak.
*clears throat* There will be no redemption featured in this arc

EXPLOSION! SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM! SIGGY EVOLVES INTO NOT-SIGGY! CHAINWHIP! EXPLOSION! I AM A GOOD MAN! BEAMSPLOSION! KA-ME-HA-ME-HA! You tired of this? Don't worry, I'll turn into a good-man-bird and fly away, while still being a good man. FU- NO! MOAR BEAMSPLOSIONS! FOOTBALL REDEMPTION NUCLEAR BOMB GO! NOT-SIGGY USES PATRICANNIBALISM. (It's super effective)

*whew*



Which reminds me, someone needs to update the arc-in-a-panel thing!

[Trazoi]

Every arc this year has been better than Court of Karnak.
YMMV with Altered States - that one really ticked me off. Although now I think about them side by side, I think I agree. Court of Karnak only seems bearable because of all the slay material and the Objection! meme.

[Zaq]

This was funnier in my head. If anyone wants to riff on it and make it better, I won't be offended.

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/5111/quickszarksaveslay.png

I think it's missing something in the middle, but p.6 of today's comic just didn't have the right transitional feel. Thoughts?

[Palmer]

Sneaky Gate (http://dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110525.gif) confirms my worst fears.

Future Link.
(http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-25)

It's great that Dominic isn't above childishly making fun of a kid's name. Specifically his last one. The one his parents didn't get much say in.

[Trazoi]

All I was thinking was "That name is a godsend to Dominikudigan".

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/3852/20110525dk.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/20110525dk.gif/)

[Bobikus]

The thing that really annoys me here is that what's showed about Szark's teaching shows that he just makes the apparent self-esteem issues of his lesser students worse through his 'lessons'. The new strawjock here is probably just the only one of his students that don't drop their swords when Szark beats them down.

EDIT: Or realize how ironic it is complaining about the kid's ego when two comics ago Dom was being smug about having a chance to show off his amazing scrying powers.

[Palmer]

All I was thinking was "That name is a godsend to Dominikudigan".

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/3852/20110525dk.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/20110525dk.gif/)




That last line is almost too perfect.

[Zaq]

Oooh. We haven't had a new strawjock in a while. Who was the last one? Did Prejutits count?

Also, is this kid Urban Eddie reborn, Urban Eddie's son, or just a worshiper of Urban Eddie with a lot of access to the creepy kind of alterism? Because he's Urban Eddie.

[Mr. McGician]

Also, is this kid Urban Eddie reborn, Urban Eddie's son, or just a worshiper of Urban Eddie with a lot of access to the creepy kind of alterism? Because he's Urban Eddie.

He's probably related to him somehow, because the jocks always seem to be related to each other in some way. Maybe Urban Eddie and his gang took over the academy and he's the one forcing Szark to pick Masters.

[Penquin47]

Dominic, it could be worse. One of my favorite quarterbacks was called "Chance Mock".

[Darkmyst]

Every arc this year has been better than Court of Karnak.


YMMV with Altered States - that one really ticked me off. Although now I think about them side by side, I think I agree. Court of Karnak only seems bearable because of all the slay material and the Objection! meme.

... Fair call. I enjoyed AS less than CoK, but agree that this was probably due to the snark potential that the stint in Hell generated.

I'd also put forward that "Blast Border" could be seen as worse than CoK; It killed Snuggly as a credible threat, was utterly inconsequential despite having the potential to be significant, and the less said about omnipotent space lobsters the better.


A comic with nothing to do with Celesto, Snuggly, King DJ, The impending threat to the multiverse, characters we give a toss about, etc.

It's too late in the week to hope for a scene shift. Maybe next Friday?

[Humbug]

Wow, our "heroes" are so great, mocking another person's name like that. Ignore for a moment that Chance is a strawjock, this pretty much makes Dominic a shallow jerk. Come to think of it, he's always been a shallow jerk, but people don't call him out on it, they think he's the most amazing guy evar, a paragon of Good and Balance. Bleargh. :smallyuk:

Also, where the hell are we going with this tangent here? I don't see how picking a representative for the Fencing Academy is going to help find Celesto.

[random11]

Also, where the hell are we going with this tangent here? I don't see how picking a representative for the Fencing Academy is going to help find Celesto.

Celesto? Who is Celesto?

Oh, you mean the previous plot line, that is, like, so yesterday... :smallamused:

[Darkmyst]

Also, where the hell are we going with this tangent here? I don't see how picking a representative for the Fencing Academy is going to help find Celesto.

Remember, the entire point of Dom being in Prontus at all is staking out the tournament in case Celesto shows up to watch the thing in person. All this hanging about with Szark is purely because Dom has nothing better to do with his time. An author with a better sense of pacing might have dealt with this by a time skip.

Still maintaining that the students are being set up to get killed later. Perhaps if we send Mookie a written guarantee promising that we'll at least pretend to care when it happens, he'll take the hint and get a move on with the story.

[Trazoi]

Still maintaining that the students are being set up to get killed later. Perhaps if we send Mookie a written guarantee promising that we'll at least pretend to care when it happens, he'll take the hint and get a move on with the story.
My hunch is that Masters is being introduced to rat out Dominic to the king, as there weren't any other surviving eeeeevil jocks to fulfil that role. And the thought that a Second Caste would turn traitor against the Dominus to their own king is unthinkable.

And now we've got to watch Karate Kid, except with sabres. How much time does Dominic need to kill again? Couldn't he recruit Stunt and/or Bumper to break into the castle the old fashioned way? It's not as if it's under siege or anything - it shouldn't be that hard to think of an excuse to get in. But I guess that would involve someone who wasn't Dominic.

[Zaq]

This is a very "80's underdog moment" in this storyline. I promise, however, that there won't be any training montages, crazy last-minute comebacks to beat the "evil" team, or the whole school coming around and seeing how cool the nerd was all along.


Also, there will be no redemption in this arc.

[Humbug]

This is a very "80's underdog moment" in this storyline. I promise, however, that there won't be any training montages, crazy last-minute comebacks to beat the "evil" team, or the whole school coming around and seeing how cool the nerd was all along.
Uh huh, it's not like Mookie has never contradicted his own newspost before.

[TheArsenal]

"evil" team

Writting a one sided evil team? Why certianly you jest. Mookie NEVER writtes boring one sided characters.

[Kris Strife]

Writting a one sided evil team? Why certianly you jest. Mookie NEVER writtes boring one sided characters.

That's because he's mastered the art of zero sided characters. :smalltongue:

[rocketpony]

My hunch is that Masters is being introduced to rat out Dominic to the king, as there weren't any other surviving eeeeevil jocks to fulfil that role.

Celesto could do it. 'cuz, y'know, he likes chaos and stuff. Not betraying your allies in order to gain the Beast's power for yourself? Predictable.

The saving roll would be "Oh, that was just a pretense to get Dominic into the palace," because probably the best place to keep enemies of the state is in the same building as the king, and not in some off-dimensional hole.

On the other hand, I don't think Celesto was imprisoned in-palace, just in-city.

Anyway, bonus points if Dominic takes time out of his busy schedule and scries on the kid's past specifically to find something out to destroy him. Like, a crippling phobia of mustaches or something, and Heliner wears a mustache on the day that the representative is being decided, and it just turns the kid into a flailing mess.
SUPER bonus points if despite Dominic's heavy-handed interference, Heliner is actually not chosen, and instead one of the other kids is chosen.

[Trazoi]

Celesto could do it. 'cuz, y'know, he likes chaos and stuff. Not betraying your allies in order to gain the Beast's power for yourself? Predictable.
Celesto secretly working with the king would a) close a lot of plotholes and b) be interesting, so we can discard that as a plausible theory.

[Traab]

Yay! My thread title idea was chosen! I feel like im 7 different kinds of cool! I also wanted to add, to all of you screaming over how incorrectly the swords are drawn and held. You DO recall that this is a dominic deegan comic, right? Nothing is drawn well or properly. What, did you get tired of yelling about how the perspective sucks, the faces are all the same, any action shots involve body part placement thats stupidly impossible, and everyones noses could be used as lethal stabbing implements?

[Darkmyst]

What, did you get tired of yelling about how the perspective sucks, the faces are all the same, any action shots involve body part placement thats stupidly impossible, and everyones noses could be used as lethal stabbing implements?

Essentially, yes. Bad art in DD is a given, whereas it's been a good while since folk have had the opportunity to grizzle specifically about poorly drawn swords, swordery and swordification. Gotta take what little variety is offered; at any moment we could be thrown back into another arc where there's literally nothing new to criticise, and if we've already run out of generic art complaints...

[Traab]

Essentially, yes. Bad art in DD is a given, whereas it's been a good while since folk have had the opportunity to grizzle specifically about poorly drawn swords, swordery and swordification. Gotta take what little variety is offered; at any moment we could be thrown back into another arc where there's literally nothing new to criticise, and if we've already run out of generic art complaints...

Hmm, good point, its just, people actually sound surprised that mookie cant draw a guy holding a sword correctly, when he has already proven he cant draw a guy holding a freaking CUP correctly! And honestly, even if he was a good artist I wouldnt hold improper sword etiquette against him, its not exactly a common thing he should know about. Nor is it honestly important enough to get worked up into a lather over. If it was dominic deegan SWORDSMAN for hire, then you would have a reasonable expectation that he could draw proper weapons and stances.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Gee, Szark sure doesn't like that Chance Masters. It's too bad that he isn't the boss of his school or he could do something about it - like kick him out.

Traditionally, when you have an Evil (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkJock) Heir to the Dojo (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeirToTheDojo) you have to make a reason to keep him around. Y'know, he's the actual son of the Master, or the Master thinks he can keep him in line, or he needs him to win the tournament. But here, all we see is that Szark hates this kid and that the "Academy Masters" are forcing him to enter him in the contest. Well, why hasn't Szark done something about the kid's ego before now? Train it out of him or kick him out!

There are reasonable ways to go about doing this, but Szark's dialogue here doesn't suggest any of them - aside from another bizarre "I can't kick anyone out of my school because of Law" situation.

[random11]

I don't really care about the art itself in forms of accuracy or realism, I'm more concerned with the question if the author manages to express himself with the art.
Can he use the comic media form to manipulate the sense of time?
Can he use the images to express emotions, or create certain atmosphere?

After all, we're in a forum of a comic that uses freaking stick figures and manages to express itself in a much better way.

As for things like how to hold a sword, I've seen what happens when an author researches a subject and wants to show his fans what he learned.
Trust me, it's usually not a pretty sight and certainly isn't something that improves the story...

I prefer to file these sort pf problems under "nitpicking" and wait for real issues, and I don't have to wait long.

[Traab]

Gee, Szark sure doesn't like that Chance Masters. It's too bad that he isn't the boss of his school or he could do something about it - like kick him out.

Traditionally, when you have an Evil (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkJock) Heir to the Dojo (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeirToTheDojo) you have to make a reason to keep him around. Y'know, he's the actual son of the Master, or the Master thinks he can keep him in line, or he needs him to win the tournament. But here, all we see is that Szark hates this kid and that the "Academy Masters" are forcing him to enter him in the contest. Well, why hasn't Szark done something about the kid's ego before now? Train it out of him or kick him out!

There are reasonable ways to go about doing this, but Szark's dialogue here doesn't suggest any of them - aside from another bizarre "I can't kick anyone out of my school because of Law" situation.

Sounds to me like chance has some connections if these academy masters are putting pressure on szark. It may just be one of those situations were, sure you could kick the son of the governor out of your class, but expect to have a great deal of trouble getting permits and such approved from then on. Same thing for publically humiliating him or even just in your dojo, he whines to daddy, who whines to someone in power, who gets you into trouble.

[Garland]

This "jocks versus nerds" thing doesn't happen a lot in schools where I come from. Sure, there are some bullies, but rather than the sports people it's the more criminally-aligned ones, so they do it just 'cause they're mean. And well, because some small kids are just plain evil sometimes. I dunno if it's too much of a problem in the USA or if writers tend to exaggerate it, but it never ceases to amaze me just how much Mookie hates jocks on the inside... I mean every single villain is jockified and smugfaced, he doesn't even attempt to hide it. I assume they must have made his life hell for him to still want to have "revenge" on them this way.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Sounds to me like chance has some connections if these academy masters are putting pressure on szark. It may just be one of those situations were, sure you could kick the son of the governor out of your class, but expect to have a great deal of trouble getting permits and such approved from then on. Same thing for publically humiliating him or even just in your dojo, he whines to daddy, who whines to someone in power, who gets you into trouble.
I'd be nice if that turned out to be the case, but why the heck didn't Szark just say so? I mean, he clearly doesn't care of Chance's parents but if they were behind the damn thing why not just say so?

Oh, if we're lucky Mookie will say that very thing tomorrow. I don't bet on it, but I'm willing to withhold further opprobrium until then.

[Mewtarthio]

There are reasonable ways to go about doing this, but Szark's dialogue here doesn't suggest any of them - aside from another bizarre "I can't kick anyone out of my school because of Law" situation.

It suddenly occurs to me that Law and Chaos are functionally identical in this world. "White fire doesn't banish me because CHAOS DEMON!" "I have to fire Dex because OBSCURE TAX CODE!" "My magic automatically wins because ACIBEK'S PRINCIPLE!"

[Gez]

And don't forget "I'm the Messiah because TUSKS!" :smallamused:

[Darkmyst]

It suddenly occurs to me that Law and Chaos are functionally identical in this world. "White fire doesn't banish me because CHAOS DEMON!" "I have to fire Dex because OBSCURE TAX CODE!" "My magic automatically wins because ACIBEK'S PRINCIPLE!"

Are those interchangable? I'd love to see someone win a magic duel because of an obscure tax code :smallbiggrin:

[Fangly]

But here, all we see is that Szark hates this kid and that the "Academy Masters" are forcing him to enter him in the contest. Well, why hasn't Szark done something about the kid's ego before now? Train it out of him or kick him out!

That's an excellent point. Szark hasn't even given this kid fantasy detention. I suppose this is so Dommie can swoop in and save the day with his amazingness, but seriously Szark. Try to have the semblance of independence; it makes it look even cooler when Dominus solves everything.



This "jocks versus nerds" thing doesn't happen a lot in schools where I come from. Sure, there are some bullies, but rather than the sports people it's the more criminally-aligned ones, so they do it just 'cause they're mean. And well, because some small kids are just plain evil sometimes. I dunno if it's too much of a problem in the USA or if writers tend to exaggerate it, but it never ceases to amaze me just how much Mookie hates jocks on the inside... I mean every single villain is jockified and smugfaced, he doesn't even attempt to hide it. I assume they must have made his life hell for him to still want to have "revenge" on them this way.

Yeah, this always kind of rang falsely with me too, not just in Dominic Deegan, but in a lot of media. I was kind of a nerd with nerd friends and you know who picked on me? Other nerds. Because who else knew me or cared? Classic highschool archetypes just seem horribly outdated to me. So why does this keep popping up? Is this happening at every other school or something?



It suddenly occurs to me that Law and Chaos are functionally identical in this world. "White fire doesn't banish me because CHAOS DEMON!" "I have to fire Dex because OBSCURE TAX CODE!" "My magic automatically wins because ACIBEK'S PRINCIPLE!"

That's because they are both CHEAP PLOT DEVICES.

[Artevoi]

I don't care what you say, I don't care what Terriccanio says, I definitely don't care what Dominic and Szark say. "Chance Masters" is an awesome name.

[Welf]

Gee, Szark sure doesn't like that Chance Masters. It's too bad that he isn't the boss of his school or he could do something about it - like kick him out.

Szark is a gay, possessed serial killer. He probably needs every paying customer. And considering what kind of parents would send their children to such a teacher, the new pupils would have an genetic preposition for stupidity and/or jockitude anyway.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I don't care what Mookie claims in his newsposts, I am already humming Montage from South Park/Team America just because the darsh's name is Chance Masters. That's like the ultimate 80's evil jock name.

Actually, a montage would improve the pacing a lot here.

Show a lot of things happenin' at once
Remind everyone of what's goin' on!
And with every shot show a little improvement -
To show it all would take too long!

That's called a montaaaaaage
(Montage!)

Then again, that would have required Dominic to have to improve at something.

[Traab]

I'd be nice if that turned out to be the case, but why the heck didn't Szark just say so? I mean, he clearly doesn't care of Chance's parents but if they were behind the damn thing why not just say so?

Oh, if we're lucky Mookie will say that very thing tomorrow. I don't bet on it, but I'm willing to withhold further opprobrium until then.

Maybe because its such a freaking common trope that it goes without saying? I mean, there must be SOME reason he cant kick the smug bastard jock boy out. Either that, or he is afraid chance will kick his very hetero ass.

As far as evil jock kings in high school, I never saw it. There was never that one guy or girl that seemed to rule over the place. Everyone had their own cliques and there was a solid amount of crossover. For example, I lettered in three sports and was a member of the chess club and knitting club. So I was a part of several groups and there was never any real problem with it. There were no revenge of the nerd scenarios where the band geeks had to get together and concoct an elaborate plot to get revenge on the evil dumb jocks.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Maybe because its such a freaking common trope that it goes without saying? I mean, there must be SOME reason he cant kick the smug bastard jock boy out. Either that, or he is afraid chance will kick his very hetero ass.
No, no - you see, invoking a Trope doesn't just explain everything. This is what Mookie does wrong, by the by. He never explains why things happen a particular way, nor does he try to justify it with any sort of world-building. Things just happen, and it's galling.

Other works of fiction? They use Tropes to put a story together, but then they craft a coherent narrative in order to make it a story, and not just a string cite of TV Tropes links.

And if Chance Masters can defeat Szark then Szark is doing the whole "teaching people things" wrong :smalltongue:

[Castel]

And if Chance Masters can defeat Szark then Szark is doing the whole "teaching people things" wrong :smalltongue:

Ah, but Chance has the power of evil bigoted hate-speech, which he will use to cause Szark distress and, thus, cause his downfall.

That's where Helanis Helinis Halenis Hansen Ponytail Kid steps in, giving a rousing idealistic speech which will destroy Master's evil bigoted soul, earning ponytail guy a clean and morally-correct victory.

[mwchase]

Let's see... Back when I was in high school (three years ago), I was aware of a few groups that I was involved in or associated with. Heavy overlap, except between theatre and other stuff, so far as I know. Simply did not care about the majority of students. Was completely unaware of sports, except for the mandatory pep rallies (I'M READING A ****ING BOOK. DOES THAT CONTRIBUTE MORE TO THE ATMOSPHERE OF SCHOOL SPIRIT THAN IF I JUST DIDN'T SHOW UP? I MEAN, REALLY?), and the fact that one of the members of Anime Club had to duck out for football practice.

OTOH, most of the people who went to my high school were overachievers. It's a cultural thing.

Of course, I don't know how applicable my experience is to what seems to be a one-man, small class-size dueling academy, but I'm not sure the eighties are a good guide, either.

Here are some things I don't know: are they doing this instead of getting a more general education, or are they taking dueling classes in addition to their regular education (whatever that happens to be)? Are there groups of students who knew each other beforehand, and decided to enter together, or is learning a sport not seen as an opportunity for socialization? If the latter, why not? Going along from that, are any two students friends, even if they weren't before?

The feeling I'm getting is that Mookie views the typical process of sports-learning as some kind of mad struggle for supremacy. And that's not productive. The easy way to be best in the school is to throw off everyone else's game, but the effort that's trivial to invest for the five-or-so students Szark seems to have doesn't scale to dueling at large.

By the way, flip between panel 2 (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-01-19) and today's panel 4. It's hypnotic.

[TheLaughingMan]

All I was thinking was "That name is a godsend to Dominikudigan".

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/3852/20110525dk.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/20110525dk.gif/)


It says something that Chance Time's garbled space dialogue is more insulting than its real counterpart.

And seconding Palmer. That's one of the few times I legitimately LOLed. :smallbiggrin:

[Kageru]

That's an excellent point. Szark hasn't even given this kid fantasy detention. I suppose this is so Dommie can swoop in and save the day with his amazingness, but seriously Szark. Try to have the semblance of independence; it makes it look even cooler when Dominus solves everything.

Don't forget he is straight and dominic's bff, he knows that dominic likes being the problem solver, solving the problem himself would be just rude. It's basically a reunion gift:"Hey dom I know you are stressed since snuggly teamed up with someone without a lobster phobia, so you can mess with this annoying kid to relax a little. Oh and you will totally solve a problem for me, I will be really grateful.*wink*"

[Bobikus]

Gee, Szark sure doesn't like that Chance Masters. It's too bad that he isn't the boss of his school or he could do something about it - like kick him out.

Traditionally, when you have an Evil (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkJock) Heir to the Dojo (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeirToTheDojo) you have to make a reason to keep him around. Y'know, he's the actual son of the Master, or the Master thinks he can keep him in line, or he needs him to win the tournament. But here, all we see is that Szark hates this kid and that the "Academy Masters" are forcing him to enter him in the contest. Well, why hasn't Szark done something about the kid's ego before now? Train it out of him or kick him out!

There are reasonable ways to go about doing this, but Szark's dialogue here doesn't suggest any of them - aside from another bizarre "I can't kick anyone out of my school because of Law" situation.

Because Szark appears to be a terrible teacher and having one pupil that's actually good is what's letting him pass off his school as legit.

[Garland]

Because Szark appears to be a terrible teacher and having one pupil that's actually good is what's letting him pass off his school as legit.

I mean, the guy makes his students train with real, sharp swords. Someone has to close that fencing school.

[Bobikus]

I mean, the guy makes his students train with real, sharp swords. Someone has to close that fencing school.

And then humiliates his students as a lesson.

[Lyesmith]

Honestly, I would have picked on mookie. Mercilessly. And I'm not even a jock.

[Palmer]

Another Sneaky Gate (http://dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110526.gif)

The plot's flopping around like a fish on land.

Though Luna sure looks to be hard at work, DUUUURRRR.

Future Link. (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-26)

[Bobikus]

Sneaky Gate (http://dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110526.gif)

Future Link (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-25)

"Why could the Academy want to be represented by their most gifted student?"

[mwchase]

Wait, so, his plan is to scry on Celesto using Szark's exhibition as a cover?

I... I... how does this even happen? I swear, Mookie's going to wake up one morning, and think he's a couple weeks behind, before he realizes that he updated without thinking.

[Garland]

Urghh, again, this and the previous comic could have been just one. I suppose Mookie is stalling for a non-cliffhanger again. My grasp of the english language is piss poor so someone else has to come up with a word for these lame cliffhangers.

[Deme]

Well, hey. We appear to have an explanation for something that actually makes it make more sense! It is like a miracle!

[Bobikus]

You'd figure being out of school for a decade would be enough for Mookie to get over his jock grudges.

[TheArsenal]

Doesn't chance masters sound like a porno name?

[mwchase]

Oh, wow, I just realized something. DD's game mode has regressed from CRPG to merciless IF. Dominic only knows that he has to TELE PRONTUS, TALK TO SZARK ABOUT SCRYING, TALK TO SZARK ABOUT SWORD, TALK TO SZARK ABOUT EXHIBITION, GO TO ACADEMY, and TALK ABOUT STUDENTS because he's playing from a command-by-command walkthrough.

(I am assuming that he used the teleport network(???) or maybe that spell he ganked from Greg's mind, because it seems laughable to suppose that he travelled there conventionally without highly detailed and objectively impossible depictions of horses and carriages.)

Let me see... in a typical cliffhanger, the idea is that the hero is in clear peril (hanging from a cliff), and the readers wonder how he'll get out of it. Instead, the readers are wondering how Mookie will attempt to portray peril. It's as if we're watching a cruddy facade come together. I suggest "matte paining", but that's because I'm pretty much 0k with inflicting terrible puns on people.

[Trazoi]

"How dare they insist you pick the most skilled student for the tournament! Can't they see I don't like him?! And he's got a stupid name!"

And of course all of this 80s sports film filler has to be delivered through talking heads, and obviously we're not going to have any explanation yet of why Dominic is doing this crazy sword scrying thing in the first place.

Dominikudigan continues to get more creepy and bizarre the longer Szark appears in it:

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/9052/20110526dk.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/830/20110526dk.gif/)

[Humbug]

Wait, what? Was Celesto's plan for Dominic to go to the tournie and use the swords there as a scrying focus? I thought that Celesto was going to pay them a visit or they maybe find a clue to his whereabouts. Are we going to do the whole "crystal bubble" spiel all over again?

Where did this radical shift of plot come from? :smallfurious:

[mwchase]

Where did this radical shift of plot come from? :smallfurious:

Like I said, I think Mookie has fallen asleep at the wheel. He's going to wake up in a few days, and go "Whuh? Who's Chance Masters, and why does he look like the kid who was picking on Luna in her Altered States flashbacks?"

[Zaq]

First, credit where credit is due: I think it's cute that Dom's mending his scarf in panel 6. I'm impressed that Mookie (1) remembered that it got sliced up and (2) isn't going to just magic it better.

Now that that's out of the way . . . ugh, I swear Mookie's stalling for the Friday Cliffsnoozer gets more transparent every week. Is it even possible that he's actually putting less effort into this than he used to?

Meanwhile, in panels 1 and 2, you can see the Cousin It version of a face-meld.

[Trazoi]

Wait, what? Was Celesto's plan for Dominic to go to the tournie and use the swords there as a scrying focus? I thought that Celesto was going to pay them a visit or they maybe find a clue to his whereabouts. Are we going to do the whole "crystal bubble" spiel all over again?

Where did this radical shift of plot come from? :smallfurious:
I thought exactly that too - the plan was simply for Dominic, Luna or Quilt to be there and they'd either be contacted by Celesto or he'd let them know where to find him. Instead we've got this whole sword thing out of nowhere.

The biggest thing (amongst many) that is bugging me about this arc is how Dominic and pals are all acting like they know an awful lot more then they could possibly know given the situation. How do they know what the battlecasters are doing? How do they know this is the method to contact Celesto? They just do. And of course they're going to be right, because it's impossible for Dominic to be wrong about something like that. :smallannoyed:

[Garland]

Like I said, I think Mookie has fallen asleep at the wheel. He's going to wake up in a few days, and go "Whuh? Who's Chance Masters, and why does he look like the kid who was picking on Luna in her Altered States flashbacks?"

Hmm, so, it's like Mookie has some sort of autopilot of badness?

He just wakes up to do the extra ***tty ones.



...Ok, now Dominikudigan is starting to weird me out :smalleek: ... there are dark forces at work there.

[Darkmyst]

Szark isn't (exclusively, at least) a teacher at the fencing school. He has actually been hired by the Masters' as Chance's private tutor in both swordplay and murder. The other students in his class are just there as victims, being given just enough training so as not to suspect that they're just in a holding pattern until the next "accident".

I wrote rather a lot of paragraphs explaining and defending that viewpoint. And then promptly deleted them. If Mookie isn't going to put any care or effort into his damned strip, I fail to see why anyone else should have to. Easier just to say "This is the way it is because murmurmumbleobfuscatingnonwords OH LOOK DOM IS DOING SOMETHING COOL PAY ATTENTION TO THAT."

This comic is so horribly enervating. :smallfrown:

[Humbug]

So, chance for Friday Cliffhanger is looking extremely high, I bet it'll be something like this:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4641/domcliffsnoozer.jpg

[Zaq]

At this point, we only really need to check the comic on, well, Mondays. Sometimes.

Part of me wants to just find the last dozen or so Monday strips and string them together, seeing how much sense they make if you just ignore the intervening material. Maybe even get an outsider to read 'em and see if they can make sense of 'em. The only problem is that doing so would take effort, and this comic is the anti-effort. Hell, just look at Mookie.

[Trazoi]

So, chance for Friday Cliffhanger is looking extremely high, I bet it'll be something like this:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4641/domcliffsnoozer.jpg
You don't have to have an artist's eye to know that Friday's comic will in fact look nothing like that. :smalltongue:

(For one, yours has actual noses).

[random11]

I thought exactly that too - the plan was simply for Dominic, Luna or Quilt to be there and they'd either be contacted by Celesto or he'd let them know where to find him. Instead we've got this whole sword thing out of nowhere.

It's a pity that such an idea was ruined (again).
Used correctly, the concept of using something casual like a sword fight tournament to scry while blending in the crowd could have been a great idea if that was the intent from the beginning.
But since all the chain of event before that do not support that both from the story and world building angle, it looks like an ass-pull a lot more than a clever idea.

[Turcano]

As for things like how to hold a sword, I've seen what happens when an author researches a subject and wants to show his fans what he learned.
Trust me, it's usually not a pretty sight and certainly isn't something that improves the story...

I don't know about you, but if it leads to the author not drawing swords like they're made from leaf springs with the wrong edge sharpened and understanding which weapons do piercing/slashing/bludgeoning damage, I would call that an improvement.

[Mr. McGician]

Szark's sword has the same bizarre shape as Jockson's Jaxon's sword. And it looks equally stupid here.

[random11]

I don't know about you, but if it leads to the author not drawing swords like they're made from leaf springs with the wrong edge sharpened and understanding which weapons do piercing/slashing/bludgeoning damage, I would call that an improvement.

Two examples I can think of.
The first of them is one on the Xanth novels.
Piers Anthony probably read something about game theory, so it entered one of his chapters, in a strange form of a part lecture part story, and looked really out of place.

I don't remember the name of the second book, but its author must have read about art, so it contained pages after pages of detailed description about pictures and statues in a room.

Considering what we know about DD, do you even dare to imagine the sate of this comic with slower pace and more off-topics in the story?
And yes, it CAN get worse.

[Welf]

Considering what we know about DD, do you even dare to imagine the sate of this comic with slower pace and more off-topics in the story?
And yes, it CAN get worse.

I guess it would become so slow that it reversed time, making Mookie the next winner of both the Nobel Prices for physics and literature.

[Glass Mouse]

So, chance for Friday Cliffhanger is looking extremely high, I bet it'll be something like this:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4641/domcliffsnoozer.jpg

We'll be lucky if Friday's cliffhanger looks anything like that :smalltongue:

[ninja_penguin]

We'll be lucky if Friday's cliffhanger looks anything like that :smalltongue:

Bonus points if what he's seen is the beer bear.
Beer bear! Catch the beer!

[Traab]

So it looks like I guessed the trope right. Szark cant do much because Chance's parents are big spenders on the dueling academy and they cant risk pissing off the golden egg laying geese. Hmm, I just had a thought. Celestro turned braxis inside out as a "gift" to dominic to even the scales. Lets take bets on chance masters exploding or something, in order to signal to dom that celestro is nearby.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I guess it would become so slow that it reversed time, making Mookie the next winner of both the Nobel Prices for physics and literature.

But one reverses time by going faster. If anything, the pace will slow to Absolute Zero, freezing the entire internet in an Ice-9-like phenomenon.

[Traab]

But one reverses time by going faster. If anything, the pace will slow to Absolute Zero, freezing the entire internet in an Ice-9-like phenomenon.

Superman reversed time by going really really fast. Still not sure of the mechanics of that. Somehow he flew around the earth so quickly that he was able to halt then reverse the rotation of the planet, and instead of making the earth tear itself apart in tectonic fury, it reversed the flow of time. Im.... honestly not sure how many ways that whole thing was impossible, but I know its at least 4.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Superman reversed time by going really really fast. Still not sure of the mechanics of that. Somehow he flew around the earth so quickly that he was able to halt then reverse the rotation of the planet, and instead of making the earth tear itself apart in tectonic fury, it reversed the flow of time. Im.... honestly not sure how many ways that whole thing was impossible, but I know its at least 4.

The Earth moving backwards was just a representative special effect. I always assumed, and I think a director interview confirmed, that Superman went back in time by moving faster than light speed, which is one potential method of time travel.

I mean, that's still impossible for a lot of reasons, but...Superman.

[Shogo]

Ice-9?

Does the term All-Ice mean anything to you?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Ice-9?

Does the term All-Ice mean anything to you?
Ice-9 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-nine), for reference.

[Garland]

Wouldn't that make him move forward in time, just faster? No wait, I don't know anything about time travel actually so nevermind (and neither did the writers apparently).


SO... according to Mookie himself, we're going to have a lot more "alternate scrying methods" in the future! A LOT MORE. He hopes we're liking them so far. If that threat isn't a confirmation that he's trolling us, I dunno what is.

I wonder how Dominic, being the biggest scrying nerd in the kingdom, sort of knew that there were these alternate methods and books, yet had never researched them until now. Or he did?

[Traab]

Wouldn't that make him move forward in time, just faster? No wait, I don't know anything about time travel actually so nevermind (and neither did the writers apparently).


SO... according to Mookie himself, we're going to have a lot more "alternate scrying methods" in the future! A LOT MORE. He hopes we're liking them so far. If that threat isn't a confirmation that he's trolling us, I dunno what is.

I wonder how Dominic, being the biggest scrying nerd in the kingdom, sort of knew that there were these alternate methods and books, yet had never researched them until now. Or he did?

He didnt need to. Why bother when the crystal ball works fine? Until he ran into luna and started up all these zany madcap adventures, he never really had any issues with his scrying. Its only now that he is worried about avoiding the notice of potentially hundreds of battlecasters all looking for people who are scrying that he has needed to find a workaround.

[Garland]

I thought of that too, but I could still (and this is nitpicking, I admit) say that since he's a scrying scholar and certified to teach about history and practice on the subject (if only 'cause his mum hired him), maybe he could have researched these methods already, just for scientific curiosity.

[random11]

SO... according to Mookie himself, we're going to have a lot more "alternate scrying methods" in the future! A LOT MORE. He hopes we're liking them so far. If that threat isn't a confirmation that he's trolling us, I dunno what is.


And from what we've seen so far, it will explode with originality!

Scrying through crystal balls.
Scrying through water.
Scrying through soap bubbles.
Scrying through mirrors.
Scrying through swords.
Scrying through coins.
Scrying through buttons.
Scrying through rabid infested squirrels. (actually, this could be interesting)
Scrying through necklaces
Scrying through envelopes
...
...

[Welf]

What about scrying through a window?

[Shogo]

Oh, I know what Ice-9 is. It was more of an "Ice-9, you say? Interesting." then a "What is Ice-9?" deal.

I was curious if Nerd-o-rama knew about All-Ice just so I'd know if the original source was being referenced, or the source through which I became aware of Ice-9.

999.

[Darkmyst]

SO... according to Mookie himself, we're going to have a lot more "alternate scrying methods" in the future! A LOT MORE. He hopes we're liking them so far. If that threat isn't a confirmation that he's trolling us, I dunno what is.

:smallfurious:

He... hopes... *twitch*... we're liking this.. so far... and is going... to do even more... of the SAME.

...

I have been staring at the screen for half an hour since typing those dots. The rage is not dying down. I actually want that insufferable cretin to feel pain. Physical. Not the soul crushing emptiness of creating a meritless artwork (he seems to be immune to that anyway :smallfurious:), but something tangible like a broken rib or crushed testicle.

Credit to Mookie though... even abject hatred is a step up from the complete lack of care I felt for him or his void of a strip earlier.

[mwchase]

I'm pretty sure the only worthwhile thing to do now is to speculate about future story/game genre combinations.

Maltak is a messiah myth/CRPG, Visions of Badness* is eighties sports movie/early IF.

I'm guessing we're due for, I dunno, Star Wars ripoff/chesslike next.

*Using this as the placeholder title for this arc

[T-O-E]

Wouldn't that make him move forward in time, just faster? No wait, I don't know anything about time travel actually so nevermind (and neither did the writers apparently).

I read somewhere (credible source, I know) that time itself moves at the speed of light. So reaching speeds close to light would slow it down, with equaling or exceeding it reversing time. This is probably wrong. It's all theoretical anyway.

[Shogo]

It's something like, the faster you move the slower everything else is in relation.

To the point that everything seems to stop moving.

And I guess some people think if you can go even faster than that . . . Stuff goes in reverse?

---------------

Personally I prefer stuff that just punches a hole in time and oh hey, is that a time portal?

[Nerd-o-rama]

It's something like, the faster you move the slower everything else is in relation.

To the point that everything seems to stop moving.

And I guess some people think if you can go even faster than that . . . Stuff goes in reverse?

---------------

Personally I prefer stuff that just punches a hole in time and oh hey, is that a time portal?

You've got it roughly right, although the "whys" for all that are far more complicated.

And yes, wormholes are much cleaner, narratively speaking.

[TheArsenal]

:smallfurious:


Goooooooood.

You will no longer be known as darkyst but as...Umm...Darthmyst?


Anyway Just returned from a soulcrushing (But realy good) play that made me question my own mortality but fortunatly thanks to ignorance the pain is going away:

Thanks Snarker thread!

[Hiro Protagonest]

Goooooooood.

You will no longer be known as darkyst but as...Umm...Darthmyst?

No! Down that path lies the dark side and bad prequel movies! :smalleek::smalltongue:

[TheArsenal]

No! Down that path lies the dark side and bad prequel movies! :smalleek::smalltongue:

No they where good.....if you squint......while drunk......



Between Luna & Quilt's "crystal bubbles" and Dominic & Szark's "sword scrying" I'm having a lot of fun drawing these new methods of second sight. I hope you folks are enjoying them, too, because over the course of this quest against the king there's going to be more of it.


Anyway, here it is in its full glory:

I love the "Fun to Draw" (If your drawing was worth the paper it was drawn on then maybe) and "Ques-PFFFFFT sorry, that one made me laugh. The NOTHING.

[BlackDragonKing]

Hm...

Universal dislike and distrust for rich, smug athletes, things happening mostly because it would be cool, protagonists dipping into rather amoral behavior at times, the main quest getting sidetracked again and again...

...This is a game of D&D. All of it. :smalleek:

[T-O-E]

More like a game of life.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Hm...

Universal dislike and distrust for rich, smug athletes, things happening mostly because it would be cool, protagonists dipping into rather amoral behavior at times, the main quest getting sidetracked again and again...

...This is a game of D&D. All of it. :smalleek:

And Mookie is running his very first game, with a bunch of newbie players in a very sandboxy game.

[rocketpony]

I have no problem with Mookie going ahead and drawing art differently to show magic is happening. That's fine! Breaking out of the rigid two-by-four structure is a sweet metaphor for moving outside of mundane experience. So he wants to draw folks steppin on sunshine? Fine! And I hope he has fun drawing it! If he wants to do this as a distraction from plot actually moving, well, that's a little harder for me to chew on.
It's like pyrotechnics! You can set up some pretty sweet explosions, and even a clumsily executed explosion can be pretty fun to watch (see: all the videos on youtube of blowing up stumps with ANFO). But if you're watching a romantic comedy, explosions get old real fast.

Leaving that aside, though, and venting my spleen, somebody tell me how you can swing a sword so it leaves an arc like Szark has done. I can think of one way, and it involves the shoulders separating from the trunk of the body as the arm pivots around a point.

[Bobikus]

Hm...

Universal dislike and distrust for rich, smug athletes, things happening mostly because it would be cool, protagonists dipping into rather amoral behavior at times, the main quest getting sidetracked again and again...

...This is a game of D&D. All of it. :smalleek:

The comic is basically a 9 year old fanfic of his first D&D self-insert character. Like that's literally what it is.

[Welf]

Fun fact: The oh-so-good-orcs are a home-brown race Mookie developed for one of his D&D rounds.

[Garland]

Leaving that aside, though, and venting my spleen, somebody tell me how you can swing a sword so it leaves an arc like Szark has done. I can think of one way, and it involves the shoulders separating from the trunk of the body as the arm pivots around a point.

Man, if I wasn't drawing something else at the moment I'd totally get into making that an animated gif!

[Trazoi]

Fun fact: The oh-so-good-orcs are a home-brown race Mookie developed for one of his D&D rounds.
I knew about Dominic and Nimmel being D&D characters, Snowsong being from City of Heroes, the strong rumours about Jayden being based on an ex-girlfriend and Lynn's Brook being a literal representation of Mookie's hometown - but that's a new one. If they're for D&D, why did he bother calling them orcs? :smallconfused:

[Hiro Protagonest]

oh-so-good-orcs

Good orcs? Gasp, what is this?! Everyone knows that orcs are irrevocably chaotic evil and that they only serve as things the PCs know they can kill without negative consequences! [/sarcasm]

[Trazoi]

Good orcs? Gasp, what is this?! Everyone knows that orcs are irrevocably chaotic evil and that they only serve as things the PCs know they can kill without negative consequences! [/sarcasm]
Sarcasm tag? Have you read DD? Don't you know about the great hero Warlord Moustache? Away with you, heathen!

Now let all us true Callanians rise for the singing of the national anthem. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gCgluVD0Aw)

[Hiro Protagonest]

Sarcasm tag? Have you read DD? Don't you know about the great hero Warlord Moustache? Away with you, heathen!

Now let all us true Callanians rise for the singing of the national anthem. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gCgluVD0Aw)

I'm talking about orcs in general, not just DD.

[Traab]

I thought of that too, but I could still (and this is nitpicking, I admit) say that since he's a scrying scholar and certified to teach about history and practice on the subject (if only 'cause his mum hired him), maybe he could have researched these methods already, just for scientific curiosity.

Yeah but thats the thing, he DOES know the classic styles of scrying. But he needed something obscure enough to not likely be tracked, or designed so it would be harder to spot. From what I gathered, he was going through the books to see if he had forgotten something that could help. As far as I can tell, all scrying works more or less the same way, but this "sword scrying" takes place too quickly to be spotted, tracked, and followed to its source before it ends and the next new scry begins. If he is bouncing around from blade to blade, I can see the justification for the battlecasters not being able to trace it.

[TheLaughingMan]

And Mookie is running his very first game, with a bunch of newbie players in a very sandboxy game.

It all works, too.
*Dom is the DMPC.
*Luna is the Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend. She has no idea how to play the game, but the DM shovels her enough power so that even her 1's have a good chance of subduing most foes.
*Greg is the DM's little brother, who quickly grows out of fantasy, and wants to be a superhero, and then a rockstar.
*Siegfried's player pissed off the wrong DM, and is now stuck playing as Szark (who he forcibly made straight after much shouting).
*Pam/All the other female characters are probably played by someone's sister, who is taking up character acting. After she moves away, the DM has to take control of her characters, and has no idea what to do with them.
*Mother Deegan is probably the result of the players calling the Dm out on his BS, and thus said DM creates a walking solution to all his problems.

[Mr. McGician]

Sneaky gate. (http://dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110527.gif)
Future link. (http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-27)

Of course they got cut off, Dominic. I thought the whole point of this stupid exercise was a scrying method that only lasts for brief moments. Or were you just pointing that out for sake of the terrible pun?

[Castel]

Wait, what the hell? Didn't they want this to be undetectable?

Oh, well, Luna said it was a very good method, so I guess it is!

[Trazoi]

Or were you just pointing that out for sake of the terrible pun?
The entire arc was built around that pun.


Wait, what the hell? Didn't they want this to be undetectable?
That bugged me too. Hey Dominic, if Luna can see you it's not very stealthy now is it? :smallannoyed:

And in Dominikudigan today, Luna talks about her favourite songs while Dominic calls for the censorship of the stupid.

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/2454/20110527dk.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/580/20110527dk.gif/)

[Zaq]

*facepalm*

He forgot again.

Mookie forgot.

Mookie forgot what the entire point of this stupid Szark-scrying method is. He forgot already.

I'm beginning to think that Mookie is a group of people, working very loosely together. They don't really communicate at all, and they don't take very good notes.

[Bobikus]

The entire arc was built around that pun

Just like how Storm of Souls was built around the chance to use the phrase "eye of the storm"

[colonelslime]

Did I just read the worst "For Better or For Worse" strip ever?

Also, is or is not scrying a magical version of a video phone? Mookie keeps flip-flopping.

[Palmer]

HEY DOMINIC, I SEE YOUR SCRYING IS GOING WELL

Suddenly the entire arc is invalidated.

[TheLaughingMan]

HEY DOMINIC, I SEE YOUR SCRYING IS GOING WELL

Suddenly the entire arc is invalidated.

Bah, they're all dumb jocks anyways.

[Darkmyst]

Oh WELL DONE Mookie.

I just knew that if you tried hard enough you could overcome your addiction to Friday-based plot advancement! Granted, making friday as bereft of content as the rest of the week isn't... *twitch*... quite what we were hoping for, and using this technique as a means of two way communication is so far beyond the realms of stupidity that new words may have to be created for... No... no... Calm... he's TRYING... we're sure he's trying... yes?

Here Mookie! Have a celebratory pony pic for your... improvement.

http://ponibooru.413chan.net/_images/66fe449b7f8eab72368b11475cc15959/9658%20-%20angry%20pinkamena_diane_pie%20pinkie_pie.jpg


Goooooooood.

You will no longer be known as Darkmyst but as...Umm...Darthmyst?

Anyway Just returned from a soulcrushing (But realy good) play that made me question my own mortality but fortunatly thanks to ignorance the pain is going away:

Thanks Snarker thread!

Heheh. Implying that there is any further that I can fall. Cute :).

Also, why would you question your mortality? I wasn't aware that there was any mystery on that front: At some point between now and 2100 you are going to die. Nothing is going to prevent this.

[TheLaughingMan]

Oh WELL DONE Mookie.

I just knew that if you tried hard enough you could overcome your addiction to Friday-based plot advancement! Granted, making friday as bereft of content as the rest of the week isn't... *twitch*... quite what we were hoping for, and using this technique as a means of two way communication is so far beyond the realms of stupidity that new words may have to be created for... No... no... Calm... he's TRYING... we're sure he's trying... yes?

Here Mookie! Have a celebratory pony pic for your... improvement.

http://ponibooru.413chan.net/_images/66fe449b7f8eab72368b11475cc15959/9658%20-%20angry%20pinkamena_diane_pie%20pinkie_pie.jpg

And I thought that there wasn't anything left but depression in you. :smalltongue:

[Darkmyst]

And I thought that there wasn't anything left but depression in you. :smalltongue:

Same :smallwink:. I guess misery is just my response when there isn't any rage-fuel in the tank. It'll be interesting to see how long this lasts.

[Garland]

Szark: oops!

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x479/vhoyosm/oopsie.jpg

edit: does the image show, or it was just that uninteresting? :smallfrown:

[Oracle_Hunter]

I knew about Dominic and Nimmel being D&D characters, Snowsong being from City of Heroes, the strong rumours about Jayden being based on an ex-girlfriend and Lynn's Brook being a literal representation of Mookie's hometown - but that's a new one. If they're for D&D, why did he bother calling them orcs? :smallconfused:
Damnit, Trazoi. I spent like a half hour digging up this gorram link (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2009-03-03).

The Kelsheen were originally a collection of human nomads known for their horsemanship, with each tribe achieving one additional adjective. Apparently Mookie was tasked with developing a portion of a world for a D&D game that was never played, and this is what he came up with. When he put them in his own comic, he made them Orcs because... he likes Orcs.

[Zaq]

Oh, now I remember what Szark's weird sword-swings remind me of! They're like those oversized bubble sticks for blowing the really super-huge bubbles.

http://bellsouthpwp2.net/a/s/aspaster/images/long-bubble-1.jpg

. . . Wait, I just realized we're back to crystal bubbles again.

I think I'm just gonna stop now.

[Trazoi]

Damnit, Trazoi. I spent like a half hour digging up this gorram link (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2009-03-03).

The Kelsheen were originally a collection of human nomads known for their horsemanship, with each tribe achieving one additional adjective. Apparently Mookie was tasked with developing a portion of a world for a D&D game that was never played, and this is what he came up with. When he put them in his own comic, he made them Orcs because... he likes Orcs.
A tribe of horse-riding nomadic humans would have been a pretty decent addition to the Dominion. But obviously orcs are mandatory and horses are hard to draw so we end up with Maltak.

[BlackDragonKing]

...

I've been trying to put together an explanation for the way this arc has been going so I can keep rolling along without deciding I hate every panel as it happens, but I'm going to admit it.

I'm completely lost now. ._.

[Castel]

...

I've been trying to put together an explanation for the way this arc has been going so I can keep rolling along without deciding I hate every panel as it happens, but I'm going to admit it.

I'm completely lost now. ._.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UiAmpCeM1IE/TaBR0ClcG9I/AAAAAAAABDQ/bJ9QMa-9zcU/s1600/EmperorPalpatine6.jpg

The progression to the snark-side is complete...

[Humbug]

I think the belief that Mookie has a general plan for his arcs is out the window now. The guy can't even keep his bloody narrative straight. Dominic is supposed to be looking for Celesto, but he's currently sidetracked with trying to find ways to spy on his King. And do we know why? No! Coz Mookie hasn't bothered to tell us. I guess he will eventually once people moan enough, but that's not how writing works damnit! :smallannoyed:

And people have already pointed out how easily detectable Dom's new scrying method is. I bet he still thinks it'll be a great to use on the King. *sigh*

[Ghill]

I missed a discussion on relative time against the speed of light? How come all the cool stuff happens when I am not paying attention???

When did they decide to use the tournament for a seeing session? How did I miss that?

Pretty tame this week. Almost Friday. I don't see how we can get a cliffhanger out of this, unless it is another "Oh no it's -*gasp!*" "*ungasp* Somebody we wouldn't recognize anyway!"

[Fangly]

Oh you guys. Dominic's scry is undetectable... to people not in the first caste. Obviously Luna is good enough to spot Dommie's scry when he wants her to, cause she's good at magic or something. Doesn't she do magic research or... something? Did she resign to become the orcs' chosen one?

Maybe she's doing that at night or something. You know, offpanel. Where all the important stuff happens.




Also, why would you question your mortality? I wasn't aware that there was any mystery on that front: At some point between now and 2100 you are going to die. Nothing is going to prevent this.

I'm uploading my consciousness to my speak'n'spell.

[TheArsenal]

http://bellsouthpwp2.net/a/s/aspaster/images/long-bubble-1.jpg


****ing Bubbles!



Heheh. Implying that there is any further that I can fall. Cute :).


You can add darth to your name?


Also, why would you question your mortality? I wasn't aware that there was any mystery on that front: At some point between now and 2100 you are going to die. Nothing is going to prevent this.

But there is this inner preventitive that REALY prevents us to think deeply into this. We can never realy fully go into the idea "How am I going to die" and what is going to happen to all those people I knew. This play was filled with great actors and such.

It was about russian WW1 veterans in a retirement home. In a way you see them marvel things that we dont pay much attention too, and thier so happy...yet its so sad in a way of what these dreamers have been reduced too.

[Turcano]

Did I just read the worst "For Better or For Worse" strip ever?

No, that would be the one where Elizabeth gets sexually assaulted.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Y'know, I don't think Mookie has ever lost me before, narrative-wise.

Even in Maltak I had a pretty good idea of what plots were ongoing and what was going on. Here? I have no clue what anyone is doing, or why. I expect that on Monday Mookie will explain how this last week was pointless and - next Friday - he'll explain what everyone is up to. It won't make any sense, but that's par for the course.

[Bobikus]

I was starting to just not care enough to get angry, but someone on SA posted a bunch of comments and bios and stuff from one of the DD books, which ignited plenty of new anger.

[BlackDragonKing]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UiAmpCeM1IE/TaBR0ClcG9I/AAAAAAAABDQ/bJ9QMa-9zcU/s1600/EmperorPalpatine6.jpg

The progression to the snark-side is complete...

No...no, that's not true!

THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! :smalleek:

[M84]

No...no, that's not true!

THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! :smalleek:

Search your feelings, you know it to be true...

(really wish I had a Darth Vader emoticon)

[BlackDragonKing]

Search your feelings, you know it to be true...

(really wish I had a Darth Vader emoticon)

...:eek:

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/comics/20101207.gif

:confused:

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110303.gif

...:annoyed:

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110429.gif

...:mad:

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110527.gif

...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NO! :furious:

[Kris Strife]

I'm beginning to think that Mookie is a group of people, working very loosely together. They don't really communicate at all, and they don't take very good notes.

Mookie is White Wolf's Exalted writing staff? :smallamused:

[Welf]

Damnit, Trazoi. I spent like a half hour digging up this gorram link (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2009-03-03).

The Kelsheen were originally a collection of human nomads known for their horsemanship, with each tribe achieving one additional adjective. Apparently Mookie was tasked with developing a portion of a world for a D&D game that was never played, and this is what he came up with. When he put them in his own comic, he made them Orcs because... he likes Orcs.

Thanks for the affirmation, I already thought I had imagined that thing.


Oh WELL DONE Mookie.

I just knew that if you tried hard enough you could overcome your addiction to Friday-based plot advancement! Granted, making friday as bereft of content as the rest of the week isn't... *twitch*... quite what we were hoping for, and using this technique as a means of two way communication is so far beyond the realms of stupidity that new words may have to be created for... No... no... Calm... he's TRYING... we're sure he's trying... yes?

No one can say that Mookie doesn't change his style or is unable to surprise us. He always finds that turn that puts on a new spin on something old we thought we knew.

[Darkmyst]

20-10-2010
I enjoy Dominic Deegan unironically...



16-12-2010
There are certainly worse webcomics out there than DD, and at its worst, DD is still at least enjoyably bad...



13-4-2011
I didn't think a number of these arcs were that bad... I'd have left a long time ago otherwise.



27-5-2011
I've been trying to put together an explanation for the way this arc has been going so I can keep rolling along without deciding I hate every panel as it happens, but I'm going to admit it.

I'm completely lost now. ._.

Arise, fellow snarker. Your journey is complete.

Edit: Garland, that was lovely :smallbiggrin:. Honestly wouldn't mind if that was the actual ending to the strip.

[rocketpony]

It's already been said, but for sake of completeness -
Okay, so, there's scrying, and there's visions. Scries are directed remote viewing. Visions are undirected, but still basically remote viewing. The magical discipline is remote viewing. You're extracting information from a scene without being physically present.
And then there's apparently magic videophone calls.

Look, you know what would have been okay? If this wasn't Luna. If this was the King. Or Celesto. Or Celesto and the King. Or Battlecasters. Or the Beast! (no, not Snuggly, he's not meant to be scryable) It could have even been the archmagi in my fanfiction where they're actually working with the King. And they could have been saying things, things like "Sir, we've got some intell-" "-e's going to be in-" "-minic Deegan, enemy of the sta-" "-ding the secret police to -- his pet witch-". And we wouldn't have this wallbanging "This scry is so undetectable that an amateur mage can treat it like a magical videophone," and we'd be on the whole "Gotta stop the king" plot, and there'd be some indication that the king has some kind of plan, and we could even keep the punchline.

On the other hand, it occurs to me that this arc (that the sword is leaving, not this narrative arc) could work if Szark was spinning around as he did all this. He doesn't need to have shoulders that separate from the trunk and an arm that freely pivots around an unattached point.

[Glass Mouse]

Heeey, we got another one! :smallbiggrin:


Szark: oops!

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x479/vhoyosm/oopsie.jpg

edit: does the image show, or it was just that uninteresting? :smallfrown:

:smallamused:

[Shogo]

. . . . Yeeeeah.

What Szark is doing isn't really swordplay in any sense of the word.

Szark is a rhythm gymnast. He's not swinging a sword around. He's playing with a streamer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_(rhythmic_gymnastics)

[TheArsenal]

Maybe he needs full sentances to hear what the mages are saying?

BLEEEEUGH. Ugh, I just defended this crap.

It still questions how luna is seeing this.

[Traab]

Maybe he needs full sentances to hear what the mages are saying?

BLEEEEUGH. Ugh, I just defended this crap.

It still questions how luna is seeing this.

Same way the battlecasters are? I think he is testing it to see how long he can scry for without getting caught.

[Wraith]

Then it's a colossal failure, as Szark's sword only moved about 6" before Luna started talking to them.

On a similar note, Luna has described it as "very good". Reason enough to abandon it, burn your notes and bury the ashes under a large rock, no?

[Castel]

On a similar note, Luna has described it as "very good". Reason enough to abandon it, burn your notes and bury the ashes under a large rock, no?

What do you mean? Luna's the awesomest magical researcher to have ever lived! Not to mention a orc princess chosen one of the orcs!

[Traab]

Then it's a colossal failure, as Szark's sword only moved about 6" before Luna started talking to them.

On a similar note, Luna has described it as "very good". Reason enough to abandon it, burn your notes and bury the ashes under a large rock, no?

True, but it took awhile for her to start tracking his location through it. Which I think was the whole point really. And he wasnt talking to her, so it may be that she was just yammering on to him about the results she was getting from trying to trace his sword scrying. Not actual two way communication.

[Castel]

True, but it took awhile for her to start tracking his location through it. Which I think was the whole point really. And he wasnt talking to her, so it may be that she was just yammering on to him about the results she was getting from trying to trace his sword scrying. Not actual two way communication.

I don't know, being traced in only (apparently) 7 scries by someone who isn't even an expert in scrying doesn't seem terribly promising.

Oh, and there's the whole "detected pretty much the second he started scrying" deal...

[Traab]

I don't know, being traced in only (apparently) 7 scries by someone who isn't even an expert in scrying doesn't seem terribly promising.

Oh, and there's the whole "detected pretty much the second he started scrying" deal...

Yeah I dunno really, im hoping the basic gist of it will be that somehow skipping from sword to sword will allow him to scry without being traced, even if they do spot it. Also, there may be a difference from scrying someone directly like happened with dom and luna, and scrying something else while other people are looking for scrying attempts. Thats the best I can come up with, and its probably better than what the actual outcome will be.

[Welf]

Look, you know what would have been okay? If this wasn't Luna. If this was the King. Or Celesto. Or Celesto and the King. Or Battlecasters. Or the Beast! (no, not Snuggly, he's not meant to be scryable) It could have even been the archmagi in my fanfiction where they're actually working with the King. And they could have been saying things, things like "Sir, we've got some intell-" "-e's going to be in-" "-minic Deegan, enemy of the sta-" "-ding the secret police to -- his pet witch-". And we wouldn't have this wallbanging "This scry is so undetectable that an amateur mage can treat it like a magical videophone," and we'd be on the whole "Gotta stop the king" plot, and there'd be some indication that the king has some kind of plan, and we could even keep the punchline.

Actually, it does make sense that he first tests the new scrying method on a known target.

[Bobikus]

Actually, it does make sense that he first tests the new scrying method on a known target.

Except that the point of the alternate scrying was to find methods that wouldn't be detectable or traceable as easily. This sword method isn't really succeeding in that regard if Luna's able to treat the scry as a cell phone call with somewhat bad reception.

[BlackDragonKing]

Except that the point of the alternate scrying was to find methods that wouldn't be detectable or traceable as easily. This sword method isn't really succeeding in that regard if Luna's able to treat the scry as a cell phone call with somewhat bad reception.

Indeed. Given that the point isn't to establish communication but to scry without battlecasters noticing, why would they talk?

Mind you, I'm still confused as to why they're doing this at all. Celesto was going to contact them IN PERSON, wasn't he? Did I miss something?

Also, shouldn't Luna or somebody be at the other event Celesto might be at? Just saying.

[Bobikus]

Indeed. Given that the point isn't to establish communication but to scry without battlecasters noticing, why would they talk?

Mind you, I'm still confused as to why they're doing this at all. Celesto was going to contact them IN PERSON, wasn't he? Did I miss something?

Also, shouldn't Luna or somebody be at the other event Celesto might be at? Just saying.

Maybe she is, it's hard to tell where anyone actually is when the background is almost always white voids. Luna being able to communicate through the method though means that Battlecasters or anyone specifically searching for traces of scrying should easily be able to notice it if he tries any extended scrying.

I think Quilt's scry bubbles were far more practical, but of course, no one's allowed to upstage Dom when it comes to scrying.

[Mr. McGician]

I just noticed that Luna is wearing yet another one of those bizarre detached-sleeve shirts. Does she always wear those?

[mwchase]

Unless she's wearing leather jackets, I think so.

FANTASY!

[Trazoi]

I think Quilt's scry bubbles were far more practical, but of course, no one's allowed to upstage Dom when it comes to scrying.
The arc makes more sense if that's the main justification behind Dom's current actions. "How dare that zombie outstage me at scrying techniques!"

[Bobikus]

The arc makes more sense if that's the main justification behind Dom's current actions. "How dare that zombie outstage me at scrying techniques!"

Yeah, almost everything in DD seems to make a bit more since if you think of Dom as a conceited anti-hero or borderline villain.

[Wraith]

Of course, if I were a Battlecaster and I wanted to find someone who was 'invisible', I'd just sit and watch the two or three people that were the most acquainted with them (in this case, Celesto) on the off chance that they were still in contact with him.

Like, say.... Dominic? Or Szark? Or Quilt? The latter two of whom having little-to-no expertise of the psychoplane and would have no idea that they were being watched?

Having said that, I'm not so sure that Mookie will avoid an "You have led us right to him!" sort of moment in the not-too-near future. It's just hammy and cliché enough to be prime DD material. :smallwink:

[Trazoi]

Having said that, I'm not so sure that Mookie will avoid an "You have led us right to him!" sort of moment in the not-too-near future. It's just hammy and cliché enough to be prime DD material. :smallwink:
I'm leaning towards a "Masters overhears Dominic and Szark talking and dobs them in" resolution. That way it's all the eeeeevil jocks fault and will justify his future bloody death.

[Fangly]

Of course, if I were a Battlecaster and I wanted to find someone who was 'invisible', I'd just sit and watch the two or three people that were the most acquainted with them (in this case, Celesto) on the off chance that they were still in contact with him.

Like, say.... Dominic? Or Szark? Or Quilt? The latter two of whom having little-to-no expertise of the psychoplane and would have no idea that they were being watched?

Having said that, I'm not so sure that Mookie will avoid an "You have led us right to him!" sort of moment in the not-too-near future. It's just hammy and cliché enough to be prime DD material. :smallwink:


You know, if Chance or Heinlein turned out to be a Battlecaster in disguise that would go a long way for me. Particularly if it was Heinlein and Dommy/Szark did their best to make him champion despite the fact Chance was better.

[Helanna]

Well, I'm back from a week's vacation! Let's look at what I missed:

The last strip I read. (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-20)
The most recent strip. (http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-27)

. . . well, that wasn't exactly unexpected. For comparison:

Last strip I read from Gunnerkrigg Court. (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=884)
Most recent. (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=887)

Look at that major plot revelation, in just three strips. Or:

Last strip I read of Girl Genius. (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110520)
Most recent. (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110527)

Man, more happened in just one of those pages than in the last week of DD.

How about the last (http://yafgc.net/?id=1818) and most recent (http://yafgc.net/?id=1825) for Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic? Oooh, plot revelation!

Last (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1928) and most recent (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1935) for Questionable Content? Half a mini-arc completed!

Okay, okay, I won't run through my entire webcomic list. Dominic Deegan has pacing problems, is the point. :smallyuk:

[Trazoi]

Okay, okay, I won't run through my entire webcomic list. Dominic Deegan has pacing problems, is the point. :smallyuk:
It's gone beyond pacing problems. The big issue with DD at the moment is no-one knows what's going on. Dominic seems to only care about perfecting his new sword scrying technique and no-one knows the reason why.

BTW could someone let me know when Girl Genius Volume 10 comes out? I don't read the comic on-line, I buy the books and read them as a contained mini-story. But it means I'm out of the loop when it comes to the release of the latest volumes. :smallsmile:

[Garland]

I think I just solved Dominic's problem. Just install a mirror in any rotating mechanism and give it a spin. Same result, less idiotic sword-swinging.

Heck, just buy a mirror and cover it with a window blind, open and close quickly, then scryyyyyyyy! What fun!

But hey, we've been promised more wacky alternate scrying. Maybe that's what he'll do next week.

[Lillith]

Well according to someone in this thread a while ago, Mookie clearly stated that the only reason he does this is to have fun for himself. Not the readers, not anybody, only him. With other words, if Mookie decides that he doesn't feel like continuing the 'kill the king' plot, then he won't do it. Doesn't matter how bizarre it is storyline wise. If he wants to focus on bad puns and weird stories then he can and will because it's his story. Truth be told it feels like I'm reading someone's notepad doodles then a webcomic. It's boiled down to me reading it only once a week now. :smallannoyed:

[TheArsenal]

It's boiled down to me reading it only once a week now. :smallannoyed:

Which is WHY you listen to your audience and get a editor.

The amount of People that eat garbage is much less than those that don't. So Stop making garbage and fealing good that bums eat it (Nothing against those that genuinly like DD).

[Humbug]

Sure, it's great for him to do whatever the hell he wants and have fun for it, but geez! This is his job! And he's getting paid to do this piece of crap. So where's his ****ing professionalism? I like to have fun and wish-fulfillment with my characters too, the difference is it's all in my head, no-one else is supposed to know of them because I know it's ****ty.

I'm not getting paid for it, but hell, I like to look professional. :smallannoyed:

[Darkmyst]

It's gone beyond pacing problems. The big issue with DD at the moment is no-one knows what's going on. Dominic seems to only care about perfecting his new sword scrying technique and no-one knows the reason why.

Maybe it would help if Mookie just tossed this whole sub-arc aside and did something Bort-related over the month or two it'll take for him to figure out where the actual story is going. It wouldn't move the plot along any less than we're currently going, and Mookie's calibre of writing/art seems less incongruous in the wild edge.

Also it will remove Szark and his fodder students from the spotlight. This can only be a good thing.

[Welf]

It's gone beyond pacing problems. The big issue with DD at the moment is no-one knows what's going on. Dominic seems to only care about perfecting his new sword scrying technique and no-one knows the reason why.

I think that is the problem. My theory is that the Maltak disaster mortally hit the myth arc of the strip. At the end several pieces weren't where they are supposed to be and the Snuggly plot didn't get the development that was supposed. Then Mookie had to revise the whole plot but couldn't find a way how to bring the thing to the intended end.


Maybe it would help if Mookie just tossed this whole sub-arc aside and did something Bort-related over the month or two it'll take for him to figure out where the actual story is going. It wouldn't move the plot along any less than we're currently going, and Mookie's calibre of writing/art seems less incongruous in the wild edge.

We had a whole year of breather arcs/filler in 2010. If he doesnt know by now then another month or two won't give the strip the direction it lacks.

[Traab]

I have to say ive noticed a disturbing trend lately. Its quickly descending from snark to hate. Its gone from mocking things like bad art, to basically saying,

"God this whole thing sucks and so does mookie!"

You guys gripe and moan about his intention to only do it for himself, not for us the readers, and yet instead of doing the normal thing and NOT READING IT ANYMORE, you continue to read it and get more and more pissed off! What is making you people keep reading a comic you clearly despise?! All you say is over and over again,

"It makes no sense."

"The story has no direction."

"The pacing is terrible"

"The humor is forced and terrible."

"The art is just plain BAD!"

Basically, is there ANYTHING you like about this comic? Anything at all? You people cant even claim to like it ironically anymore, and claiming to read it to see just how much worse it can get seems to be doing nothing but making your blood pressure rise. He has no reason to alter how he does things. None at all. The reason why isnt even because of his stated "doing it for myself" line. Its because you people continue to click on his site, read his comic, and come back day after day. It doesnt matter that you hate it, you keep reading it, and thats what counts in the end.

[Humbug]

I'm staying because of the snark community, if I was just reading it for myself, you'd bet I would have been gone years ago.

[Wraith]

I have to say ive noticed a disturbing trend lately. Its quickly descending from snark to hate. Its gone from mocking things like bad art, to basically saying,

"God this whole thing sucks and so does mookie!"

Firstly, I refuse this statement.

While we may have progressed from "This is badly written" to "Mookie is a bad writer" we have never insulted Mookie directly, have actively gone out of our way to remain objective of him as a human being and have even chastised those amongst us who have crossed that line.

The GitP Community likes Michael Terraciano and not one of us wouldn't like to share a beer with him at a Con if we ever had the chance, and I'd challenge you to find a statement otherwise that a) disproves this, and b) is not also backed up by a logical link to his work in a snarky, non-hating manner.

Secondly, so what?

Yes, we think Dominic Deegan is a showcase of how to write a webcomic badly, and yes we keep reading it anyway. Yes, the things we see often annoy us and yes we keep saying so in the same way in every thread.

And yet we find that amusing. Its a minor distraction through out day that takes 30 seconds of reading the comic and turns into 10 minutes of discussing it and being silly amongst ourselves. Why is that a bad thing?

[TheArsenal]

I have to say ive noticed a disturbing trend lately. Its quickly descending from snark to hate. Its gone from mocking things like bad art, to basically saying,

"God this whole thing sucks and so does mookie!"



Because its special. Its no longer JUST a bad webcomic, but its one of THOSE special ones, that showcase what can go wrong. DD is about lazyness and ignorance and what they can do to a work of art.

Pretty much Im here because im actualy VERY interested in how its going to be ****ed up next. So in a way, Mookie has my suspence.

[Darkmyst]

"Stop being hateful", "If you don't like DD, why are you still here?" and "Everything Mookie is doing is your fault, collectively".

With more words, and an unsubtle subtext of "you lot are pathetic".

Personally, thread addiction. It's not healthy, but I haven't been able to quit. T'would be easier if the people here were less likable, but they aren't, so what can one do?

*Bit that was to be edited out, but Traab was too quick on the reply*
As for the rest of your screed: Eh. You're probably right. We are being critical of this webcomic without extoling its myriad virtues, ones we have obviously been too blinded by entrenched loathing or woe to recognise. Best to call in a mod and have the thread locked, lest we poison the fandom further with our vitriol.


The GitP Community likes Michael Terraciano and not one of us wouldn't like to share a beer with him at a Con if we ever had the chance, and I'd challenge you to find a statement otherwise that a) disproves this, and b) is not also backed up by a logical link to his work in a snarky, non-hating manner.

Erm, may I be excused from this? I only tend to like people I have a reason to like, and my opinions of Mr. Terraciano, while variable, have never drifted north of indifference. I would never personally attack the man if given the opportunity, but at present one wouldn't really wish to meet him either.

[Traab]

Personally, thread addiction. It's not healthy, but I haven't been able to quit. T'would be easier if the people here were less likable, but they aren't, so what can one do?

As for the rest of your screed: Eh. You're probably right. We are being critical of this webcomic without extoling its myriad virtues, ones we have obviously been too blinded by entrenched loathing or woe to recognise. Best to call in a mod and have the thread locked, lest we poison the fandom further with our vitriol.

You know, the only part of the entire made up quote you assigned to me that I agree with is, "If you hate it so much, why are you reading it?" If you want to assign yourself a feeling of being pathetic, thats your right, but dont put words into my mouth and say that I called you that, I didnt. I find it silly to be so full of vitriol towards this comic that every single aspect about it is met with scorn and derision, and yet you continue reading it even though there isnt anything about it you like, not pathetic.

As for its many virtues blah blah blah you decided to spew out, im reading it because I want to see how it ends, thats about it. It takes a whopping 10 seconds of my time to read it each day and it doesnt cost me anything. Im hardly going to claim that its very good. You seem to be under the mistaken impression that my last post was some sort of "LEAVE BRITTNEY ALONE!!!!" type deal where im some huge fan who hates seeing his precious mookie-kun attacked by you horrible people. Im not, im just saying that this thread seems to have drifted away from snark and into active dislike and hate.

[T-O-E]

I don't think the comic actually makes any of us angry. It's just exaggeration, you know?

[Darkmyst]

He has no reason to alter how he does things. None at all. The reason why isnt even because of his stated "doing it for myself" line. Its because you people continue to click on his site, read his comic, and come back day after day. It doesnt matter that you hate it, you keep reading it, and thats what counts in the end.

"Everything Mookie is doing is your fault, collectively" is how I interpreted that part. Apologies if that was not the intended meaning, but it's how the message came across, to me at least.

Fair cop on the other bit though. Normally raising the issue of increasing levels of hate on the thread is a passive admonishment and a suggestion that things be brought back on track... it was wrong to assume such was the case with your statement.


You seem to be under the mistaken impression that my last post was some sort of "LEAVE BRITTNEY ALONE!!!!" type deal where im some huge fan who hates seeing his precious mookie-kun attacked by you horrible people.

Sorry for giving that impression. To be perfectly honest I was actually assuming that it was just another trolling attempt like switching your avatar to SmuGreg or ending every post with "That's all from me now, Rock on".

[M84]

The line between Snark and Hate is truly thin indeed.

Anyway, I'm wondering how many scrying methods Mookie is going to introduce until Dominic finally finds Celesto. Will it also take a week to introduce each one? Or will the whole thing be sidetracked by the 80's underdog vs. arrogant ace B-plot with Chance Masters?

We are now at a point where the question is "what flavor filler?" and not "will there be filler?"

[Traab]

"Everything Mookie is doing is your fault, collectively" is how I interpreted that part. Apologies if that was not the intended meaning, but it's how the message came across, to me at least.

Fair cop on the other bit though. Normally raising the issue of increasing levels of hate on the thread is a passive admonishment and a suggestion that things be brought back on track... it was wrong to assume such was the case with your statement.



Sorry for giving that impression. To be perfectly honest I was actually assuming that it was just another trolling attempt like switching your avatar to SmuGreg or ending every post with "That's all from me now, Rock on".


Perhaps I misphrased it, what I meant was, Mookie has absolutely no reason to ever want to change since despite all complaints, everyone keeps reading his comic anyways. If people stopped visiting his site, buying his products, and otherwise supporting the comic that is widely looked upon as garbage on every conceivable level, he would have two choices. Either fix it, or quit writing it. Why should he make it any better if this continues to bring in the visits?

Yeah he says he doesnt much care what people think, but he might start to if suddenly he loses half his readership or more over the course of a week. Even more so if many of them wrote an email stating why they were stopping. He may just not care because despite everyone disliking it, they still read, so he wins.

[mwchase]

That depends on whether the goal is advertising dollars, or an audience. Mookie hasn't made more than... I don't know, twenty bucks a day, at the outside, over the last month in advertising. Unless shipping is ludicrous, book sales ought to be where it's at for him, anyway.

Conversely, the PW ads also give us some referer [sic] data. Between the last thread, and this thread, Mookie has gotten no more than 1000 clickthroughs from giantitp. Looking at the number of unique pageviews, we make up about 0.1% of his readership. And every other snark community has descended into anemic inactivity.

Put simply, snark is actually a vanishingly small fraction of Mookie's readership, unless there are hundreds of silent snarkers all using adblock.

I can't psychoanalyze anyone from the data I'm looking at, but one thing is clear: we are not numerous. We are vocal.

[Wraith]

Erm, may I be excused from this?

Very well, but we will require a note from your mother. :smallwink:

[Oracle_Hunter]

I can't psychoanalyze anyone from the data I'm looking at, but one thing is clear: we are not numerous. We are vocal.
If this wasn't true, I'd be terrified :smalleek:

When the Snark/Hate Community is a significant portion of your readership, you've already lost. These people aren't buying you merch and they sure as hell aren't going to give you the positive reinforcement you need to keep doing a creative work. Money's nice, but it plays hob with your muse.

Still, looking at how objectively bad Dominic Deegan is these days, my mind boggles at the idea that he has people who still enjoy his comic and buy the merch. Does he get new readers? Where do they come from? Do they live on any particular forum?

I understand that the Internet is broad and terrible, but what do these new readers like about this comic, and how have they not formed a forum community somewhere? :smallconfused:

[Welf]

I understand that the Internet is broad and terrible, but what do these new readers like about this comic, and how have they not formed a forum community somewhere? :smallconfused:

It's a free comic that takes about 30 seconds to read. And at the end is a pun, which usually is more entertaining than looking at drying paint.
And for the forum users, those are us. It's just that all active poster are converted to snark. Having only one out of 1000 viewers commenting is not that unusual. OotS has several 100.000 readers and afaik "only" several dozens are commenting regularly on new comics.

[mwchase]

I understand that the Internet is broad and terrible, but what do these new readers like about this comic, and how have they not formed a forum community somewhere? :smallconfused:

Actifforum: closed
Yuku: inactive
Keenspot: slow, but prone to moments of mad genius (http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u156/ewe0/szarkuguuuuuu.jpg)
DomiNATION: not as slow as Keenspot, but not especially speedy
LJ: inactive
TvTropes thread: polarized and slow. Has about as many posts as this thread, but started back in CoK.
SA: may be bigger than us, looks similar in tone
Gaia: not sure what the deal is, but it looks inactive
Everything else: BLUH I HAVE MINUSED SO MANY THINGS FROM MY SEARCH, TOO LAZY TO LOOK MORE.

But yeah, I legit cannot find any active discussion besides here and SA. And that's completely ridiculous.

Ninja: true, I didn't discuss it any before I converted. There just wasn't much to say.

[Oracle_Hunter]

And for the forum users, those are us. It's just that all active poster are converted to snark. Having only one out of 1000 viewers commenting is not that unusual. OotS has several 100.000 readers and afaik "only" several dozens are commenting regularly on new comics.
But that's the thing - even if you just look at the "new comic!" thread, you can get over a hundred posts in less than a day for OotS. Fans like to congregate and share their opinions, even if it is no more than "OMG First Post!" If DD has readership, where do they communicate their fandom? :smallconfused:

It could be that they've all got a Bunker Mentality. They look on the Internet and see Snark/Hate wherever they go - so they tuck their head between their knees and wait for the Hateocalypse to blow over. They don't feel safe to air their fandom because they fear it will be obliterated by those who do not share their views.

IMHO, this is not a good sign for a fandom. If you like something, you should not fear the voices of those who dislike it. After all, you like it for your own reasons, no? What does it matter what anyone else says?

That said, the Power of the Snark in regards to DD is scientifically proven. Perhaps DD is no more than a grand illusion; a situation where ignorance really is bliss. I'm not certain in that regard, but there is a reason why I always argue against "invading" other forums with Snark - or shouting down fans who show up here.

[TheLaughingMan]

Yeah, I probably expected the facts to end up this way. There are a lot of people with no taste, as confirmed by the success of Transformers 2*. Part of me wants to beat them over the head with something in arm's reach and make them understand how much a free internet comic drawn by some guy no one's heard of has caused us pain, but another part of me knows I'd probably end up in prison for it, and I have a lot more whining at Mookie to do before that happens. :smallwink:

*Fun fact: I originally wrote that as "TF2" before realizing my horrible mistake and the flames it'd lead to. :smalltongue:

[Garland]

There's someone who gets genuinely angry at this? Because.. wow, that'd be kind of sad. It's just a stupid comic, is all.

I mean, there is another comic (or rather author) who could drive me mad, yet it doesn't. You see, at least mookie makes a crappy webcomic with crappy means (he just uses some pencils i guess)... he doesn't get a lot of money for it, and he definitely doesn't use one of the best drawing tablets I could ever hope for to friggin copy-paste his horrendous misshapen, pre-drawn characters in his disgusting comic with an offensive "plot". Mookie's only real fault is being lazy and not even showing the will to improve. You can't really get mad at him for that, but you surely can mock his horrible webcomic and feel good about it :smallwink:

Why get angry when we can have some fun? For those weekends when it gets unbearable, you guys just used to shift into sandwich discussing or haiku... good times to be had!

[Castel]

Obviously, the rest of the readers are people from the future. They travel back to study Dominic Deegan, just as we said they would. This explains why they don't form forums, since it would give away their secret.

You may be asking yourself: "Why would they have to travel to the past to study the comic? They would have the complete thing in the future, so why would they time-travel on a daily basis to read the strips?"
These are good questions, so let me try to give you good answers: They have to time-travel because of The Great Internet Crash of 2012; you see, in this date, the magnetic poles of the earth were switched because of the Mayan Trolls, Masters of Mystic Magnetism, this caused the electronic information of the internet to become ruined. Only by 2019 were they able to begin to decipher the then corrupted data. By this time, the people of the earth were so deprived of their beloved Internet Culture that culture overall began to dwindle... without the harsh—but fair— criticism provided by the internet, bad writers, actors, artists, directors and other such plagues roamed free to destroy what little entertainment the future had without internet.
Sure, some critics tried to save us in newspapers, magazines and a few talk shows, but without the personal involvement and global unity that the internet provided, those defences were useless; the only answer left was a new, in-development technology that became available thanks to the Mayan Trolling of the magnetic fields: Internet Time Travel! Now, I don't know how this works, and couldn't even explain it because everything scientific changed with the Mayan Trolling, but it allows us to use the old—present, rather—internet for a few minutes, and it can only be used once a day, due to the amount of energy required. With such harsh limitations, the plan was clear: study the most dauntingly bad media (and its criticism) of the golden era of the internet, so as to gain a better understanding of how bad media itself is created, and, thus, destroyed!

Oh, and they aren't able to warn us about it because they can only look, not directly interact.

[Darkmyst]

There are a lot of people with no taste, as confirmed by the success of Transformers 2*.

Whoa there... I thought the success of Transformers 2 was due to people being easily conned by flashy trailers, or having a disinclination to heed reviewer warnings until it's too late...

If folk exist who actually enjoyed the thing I may have to turn my misanthropy up a couple of notches :smallannoyed:.

[TheLaughingMan]

Whoa there... I thought the success of Transformers 2 was due to people being easily conned by flashy trailers, or having a disinclination to heed reviewer warnings until it's too late...

If folk exist who actually enjoyed the thing I may have to turn my misanthropy up a couple of notches :smallannoyed:.

Well, there's Confused Matthew... but then again, that's Confused Matthew for you.

At least one of my older sister's friends claims it was their favorite movie of that year, if that means anything to you.

[TheArsenal]

Well, there's Confused Matthew... but then again, that's Confused Matthew for you.


I agree with him on 2001 (Only when he explains his point) but everywhere else he mostly misses the point by a mile "Hey a young kid being self centered? NHOOOO thats Imposible!"

[Bobikus]

DD is like watching a train wreck in incredible slow motion for me. It's like reading a long guide on how not to write a comic. As for Mookie, I don't hate the guy or feel angry about the comic, just a mixture of disgust and pity. Eventually he's going to try to marry that girl he keeps talking about, and they're going to have some weird looking little kid, and the money he'll be making from whatever little fanbase he has left by then isn't going to be enough to support a child, assuming he even has the time to keep updating while dealing with a kid, and any real comic publisher is going to laugh him out of their offices the moment they see DD. He'll probably be completely forgotten about 5 years from now, being 35 and working some menial job because he wasted a decade refusing to improve his work enough to even attempt to become a respectable artist despite spending every day writing comics.

[Fangly]

He may just not care because despite everyone disliking it, they still read, so he wins.

This is a competition?


Come on Traab. We're chilling on the internet, having good times. We're all winners. Including Mooks. Cause without him, this thread wouldn't exist, and this thread is fun. You should try it. Having fun. Be internet bros with us.



Perhaps DD is no more than a grand illusion.


grand illusion.

And now that song is stuck in my head.



Although, the lyrics: "Deep inside we're all the same" could totally apply to DD.


Whoa there... I thought the success of Transformers 2 was due to people being easily conned by flashy trailers, or having a disinclination to heed reviewer warnings until it's too late...

If folk exist who actually enjoyed the thing I may have to turn my misanthropy up a couple of notches :smallannoyed:.

My friends do. They hijacked me when I fell asleep in their car and took me to the drive through. And then got pissed when I snarked on it the whole time.

We do not watch many movies together anymore.

[Welf]

But that's the thing - even if you just look at the "new comic!" thread, you can get over a hundred posts in less than a day for OotS. Fans like to congregate and share their opinions, even if it is no more than "OMG First Post!" If DD has readership, where do they communicate their fandom? :smallconfused:

It could be that they've all got a Bunker Mentality. They look on the Internet and see Snark/Hate wherever they go - so they tuck their head between their knees and wait for the Hateocalypse to blow over. They don't feel safe to air their fandom because they fear it will be obliterated by those who do not share their views.

I think it's a mixture of the Bunker Mentality and the supply. I think there has to be a core of fans that post regularly to attract lurkers and spare posters. And since there are no friendly forums, the lurkers feel not encouraged to show themselves. And those who do and start talking sooner or later get converted.


You may be asking yourself: "Why would they have to travel to the past to study the comic? They would have the complete thing in the future, so why would they time-travel on a daily basis to read the strips?"

Well, no. I already explained that Mookie will develop time travel and get two Nobel prices.


[...]and any real comic publisher is going to laugh him out of their offices the moment they see DD.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I've recently watched Linkara's reviews on DC's "Countdown to Final Crisis" and Marvel's "Ultimatum". His writing is good enough for mainstream.

[Lillith]

A little late but I have to ask. What is this about?

And in Dominikudigan today, Luna talks about her favourite songs while Dominic calls for the censorship of the stupid.

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/2454/20110527dk.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/580/20110527dk.gif/)

[Castel]

A little late but I have to ask. What is this about?

I hope you mean (ex)Dr. Dominikudigan. It's just the text in the strip after a trip trough the magical lands of internet english-to-japanese translators and then back to english.

I'm not sure what translator Trazoi's using now, though.

[mwchase]

I hope you mean (ex)Dr. Dominikudigan. It's just the text in the strip after a trip trough the magical lands of internet english-to-japanese translators and then back to english.

I'm not sure what translator Trazoi's using now, though.

No, see, it's translationparty, which runs the translation back and forth until the english version is the same both times.

[Shogo]

I'm pretty sure every single forum that deigns to deal with DD is either a Hate Forum, Snark Forum, or dead because the dead ones were able to just walk away.

I don't think any positive DD forum exists.

[BlackDragonKing]

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I've recently watched Linkara's reviews on DC's "Countdown to Final Crisis" and Marvel's "Ultimatum". His writing is good enough for mainstream.

In a year or so, I predict Dominic Deegan will be over and Mookie will move onto another project to support himself (the endgame lights couldn't be any bigger or brighter, really, so I feel confident predicting Mookie's working towards DD's finale unless he's more like Tite Kubo than I feared). Maybe the new comic will give Mookie a chance to show what he can do more positively, maybe it will ignite a little ambition in Mookie on account of being exciting and new rather than the same old world for the last ten years, maybe not. Dominic Deegan will be remembered as having a pretty good opening that trailed off into mediocrity and stalled there until the end as pacing and direction got lost.

In a year or so, DC and Marvel will still be going, and their continuity will still be a confusing, inacessable nightmare of retcons, grandfather clauses, writers and editors with their own, often very stupid agendas for a character fighting it out behind panels, and a chart depicting the scale of quality that can be represented by a tidal wave hitting the grand canyon.

Sorry, I just don't have a very warm, fuzzy view of the comics industry. ._.

[Kris Strife]

Whoa there... I thought the success of Transformers 2 was due to people being easily conned by flashy trailers, or having a disinclination to heed reviewer warnings until it's too late...

If folk exist who actually enjoyed the thing I may have to turn my misanthropy up a couple of notches :smallannoyed:.

It has boobs, a ballshot joke and explosions. I have no interest in seeing it, but I can see why it did well. :smallsigh:

[Trazoi]

I like pointing out the silliness so I'm enjoying this arc so far. There's going to be too much dwelling on pointless flashy scrying techniques which will be a chore, but otherwise it's prime snarking material. Dominic's ignoring his main objective, there's a new jock in town, it's looking good.

Most of the time I lash out it's not hate but more frustration at a potentially half-decent idea going to waste. Occasionally it's when my expectations of DD are lowered another notch, like when I realised there was no plan behind Maltak. I think the only time I felt genuine anger towards the comic was back when only half a strip was dedicated to Pam dumping Greg, back when I was young and green and thought DD actually cared about character development.

Plus I've got the feeling that DD is wrapping up soon and I'd like to see how it ends.

[Garland]

I -love- transformers and even I couldn't get bothered to go to the cinema and pay to see it. I think I saw a bit of it in TV some months ago, at most.


I like pointing out the silliness so I'm enjoying this arc so far. There's going to be too much dwelling on pointless flashy scrying techniques which will be a chore, but otherwise it's prime snarking material. Dominic's ignoring his main objective, there's a new jock in town, it's looking good.

I agree, this has some potential... but it's still on th "boring bad" rather than the "hilariously bad" side of the meter. Things like Melna/Stonewater were on the top of the offensively hilarious meter, and stuff like groinpuncher and evolving pokemon bulgak were unintentionally funny.

[Trazoi]

I agree, this has some potential... but it's still on th "boring bad" rather than the "hilariously bad" side of the meter. Things like Melna/Stonewater were on the top of the offensively hilarious meter, and stuff like groinpuncher and evolving pokemon bulgak were unintentionally funny.
I'm entertained in DD whenever something is happening*, so I'll be happy even if it's Nerds vs. Jocks #57. The fly in the ointment is that Mookie is on an alternate scrying binge right now, which will lead to further weeks of pointless filler as talking heads drone over broken panels on an empty page.

The thing is, stuff like scrying in bubbles or the swing of a sword could be cool if it was casually brought up as part of a larger plot. When it's the sole focus of the strip for two whole weeks as everyone talks about how awesome it is, then it's as dull as hell Maltak.

* Unless it's solely Mary Sue puffery like all of the Altered States arc. That's just annoying.

[TheLaughingMan]

then it's as dull as hell Maltak.

Now now, let's give Lucifer credit. Hell was at least as boring as a few months of Matlak.

[SiuiS]

Well according to someone in this thread a while ago, Mookie clearly stated that the only reason he does this is to have fun for himself. Not the readers, not anybody, only him. With other words, if Mookie decides that he doesn't feel like continuing the 'kill the king' plot, then he won't do it. Doesn't matter how bizarre it is storyline wise. If he wants to focus on bad puns and weird stories then he can and will because it's his story. Truth be told it feels like I'm reading someone's notepad doodles then a webcomic. It's boiled down to me reading it only once a week now. :smallannoyed:

It wouldn't be so bad if he was up front about it either. And I read... Every two weeks now. If that.


I have to say ive noticed a disturbing trend lately. Its quickly descending from snark to hate. Its gone from mocking things like bad art, to basically saying,

"God this whole thing sucks and so does mookie!"

You guys gripe and moan about his intention to only do it for himself, not for us the readers, and yet instead of doing the normal thing and NOT READING IT ANYMORE, you continue to read it and get more and more pissed off! What is making you people keep reading a comic you clearly despise?! All you say is over and over again,

"It makes no sense."

"The story has no direction."

"The pacing is terrible"

"The humor is forced and terrible."

"The art is just plain BAD!"

Basically, is there ANYTHING you like about this comic? Anything at all? You people cant even claim to like it ironically anymore, and claiming to read it to see just how much worse it can get seems to be doing nothing but making your blood pressure rise. He has no reason to alter how he does things. None at all. The reason why isnt even because of his stated "doing it for myself" line. Its because you people continue to click on his site, read his comic, and come back day after day. It doesnt matter that you hate it, you keep reading it, and thats what counts in the end.

Well, the most recent splash image of Szark doing ribbon twirls is nice. It was good enough to impress me immediately.


I don't think the comic actually makes any of us angry. It's just exaggeration, you know?

Oh, no. I actually got very, very heated about the way things were going. See, I went through a convoluted thought chain that culminated with "Mookie is stealing hours of my life because I am too worried about offending him to stop it from happening". So I quit. Now I just read Dominikudigan, and find it surprisingly insightful.

And it's alll thanks to a certain Moustachio'd Lord of War. Thanks for bringing my psychotic rage back down to disinterested snark, Welf.

[Welf]

Thanks for bringing my psychotic rage back down to disinterested snark, Welf.

Don't thank me, thank the Moustache. :smallwink:

And I guess a lot of us have been really angry at the comic or even Mookie at one time. I had my moment of rage at the end of CoK and I directed my anger at Mookie, not the comic. Fortunately the forum rules kept me from hateful posting that nourished my anger and I calmed down after a while.

[Thufir]

the endgame lights couldn't be any bigger or brighter,

Oh I don't know, there could be maybe some indication that we were actually moving towards that endgame instead of stalling endlessly.

[BlackDragonKing]

I have to say ive noticed a disturbing trend lately. Its quickly descending from snark to hate. Its gone from mocking things like bad art, to basically saying,

"God this whole thing sucks and so does mookie!"

You guys gripe and moan about his intention to only do it for himself, not for us the readers, and yet instead of doing the normal thing and NOT READING IT ANYMORE, you continue to read it and get more and more pissed off! What is making you people keep reading a comic you clearly despise?! All you say is over and over again,

"It makes no sense."

"The story has no direction."

"The pacing is terrible"

"The humor is forced and terrible."

"The art is just plain BAD!"

Basically, is there ANYTHING you like about this comic? Anything at all? You people cant even claim to like it ironically anymore, and claiming to read it to see just how much worse it can get seems to be doing nothing but making your blood pressure rise. He has no reason to alter how he does things. None at all. The reason why isnt even because of his stated "doing it for myself" line. Its because you people continue to click on his site, read his comic, and come back day after day. It doesnt matter that you hate it, you keep reading it, and thats what counts in the end.

I'm not mad, I'm just...disappointed.

This last arc's just felt so unfocused and lacking in direction that I'm not able to follow along with what the characters are doing and why anymore. That...that's never happened before. Not even during Maltak, whose primary flaw (in my opinion) was that it was too slow. I've been able to follow things pretty well up until now, and I've been interested by most of these plots (except Facebath, who can die in a fire) but I think everyone's been really annoyed lately because it seems like Mookie's not entirely sure where he's going with this, either. It hasn't even been as funny as usual, lately, which is kinda unusual for me, since I tend to smile once or twice when I read the new updates. :smallfrown:

Also, there has been a depressing lack of Rilian for an epic set-up, which makes me very sad. Rilian immediately makes everything 100% cooler.

EDIT: Although if people are getting mad, I found my sense of humor about this arc has been helped immensely by thinking of it as a comic expression of this song (http://youtu.be/GI6CfKcMhjY), with Mookie's story being Lonely Island and Mookie's Inclinations being Michael Bolton. :smallbiggrin:

[Bobikus]

The fact that Mookie still tries to give out writing advice at cons is the only thing that really makes me angry to any extent.

[Welf]

Also, there has been a depressing lack of Rilian for an epic set-up, which makes me very sad. Rilian immediately makes everything 100% cooler.

You know what made DD even cooler?

Rainbow Rilian Dash!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SgT3mT0uJa8/TeKlMF_ezHI/AAAAAAAAAbE/s0sf8t1dWDM/s288/120%2BPercent%2BCooler%2B1.1.png

[Zaq]

You know what made DD even cooler?

Rainbow Rilian Dash!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SgT3mT0uJa8/TeKlMF_ezHI/AAAAAAAAAbE/s0sf8t1dWDM/s288/120%2BPercent%2BCooler%2B1.1.png

Would you go so far as to say it makes it . . . say, 20% cooler?

Oh come on, we were ALL thinking it.

[BlackDragonKing]

You know what made DD even cooler?

Rainbow Rilian Dash!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SgT3mT0uJa8/TeKlMF_ezHI/AAAAAAAAAbE/s0sf8t1dWDM/s288/120%2BPercent%2BCooler%2B1.1.png


Would you go so far as to say it makes it . . . say, 20% cooler?

Oh come on, we were ALL thinking it.

...This is something that's going to suddenly become a lot funnier once I've watched a couple episodes of My Little Pony, isn't it? :smalltongue:

[Zaq]

Yes. Do it. Do it now.

[Bobikus]

Well, more like 14 episodes I think if you watch in order to catch the reference.

[Welf]

Would you go so far as to say it makes it . . . say, 20% cooler?

Oh come on, we were ALL thinking it.

That might have been the idea... :smalltongue:

[FatJose]

Heh heh heh...All her sentences were cut off...

[Darkmyst]

...This is something that's going to suddenly become a lot funnier once I've watched a couple episodes of My Little Pony, isn't it? :smalltongue:

To be honest? Not really. It's just a line amongst others in what was a pretty good episode.

It's useful though. Saying that something "needs to be about 20% cooler" isn't a widely used phrase outside the brony community, but it's not something incongruous enough to normal conversation that someone will call you on it. So it serves as a dogwhistle to other fans of the series without needing to out yourself as someone who enjoys watching a cartoon about pastel mini-horses.

RillianDash always dresses in style :D

[Garland]

I conjure a SNEAKY GATE (http://dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110530.gif) upon you!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Future (http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2011-05-30)


...well, at least he managed to get some semblance of plot back in motion, AND kill the jock in one strike! Nothing can go wrong with this plan.

[BlackDragonKing]

...Does anyone find it vaguely ominous that The Beast is now pulling a copycat killing on Celesto?

Like, that's not a coincidence, right? :smalleek:

[Humbug]

Signal Celesto? What... WHY?! That's not a good enough explanation as to why we're doing this alternate scrying ****, when Dominic was pointed to the tourney, there was absolutely no mention of him needing to do a scry, that's why we're given the impression the Celesto will be the one contacting him, not the other way around.

Also, it's a bloody scry! He could do it at his own house, why does he need to be at the tourney? Arg! :smallfurious: