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View Full Version : X'd-out eyes, emotional reactions.


Darth V.
2012-09-04, 01:35 AM
Something I'd noticed by the end of my first read-through of this comic: the mere sight of a character with x'd-out eyes triggers an emotional response somewhere between shock and regret. It doesn't matter who, even the sight of a random hobgoblin with the x'd-out eyes sends me into a minor funk about the finality of death, futility of war etc. etc.
It really impresses me that even deaths of minor characters or extras with no characterization at all are conveyed so well in this comic that such a simple device can get this reaction.
Has anyone else noticed this? Am I just a sissy?
Sir Conkey
2012-09-04, 02:17 AM
Not for all minions in my case. But certainly for many of the minor characters, especially those with names.
Minus pretty much (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0435.html)anyone Belkar has killed (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0611.html), with an important exception to THAT being Solt Lorkyurg (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0539.html), who shall remain forever in my heart.
Gift Jeraff
2012-09-04, 11:26 AM
I feel like it's the reverse. The X's in the eyes turn most deaths into punchlines for me. There are a few exceptions like Therkla and Thanh (I never saw any tragic qualities in Roy's death; it always felt pretty humourous).
ti'esar
2012-09-04, 11:48 AM
I feel like it's the reverse. The X's in the eyes turn most deaths into punchlines for me. There are a few exceptions like Therkla and Thanh (I never saw any tragic qualities in Roy's death; it always felt pretty humourous).

Ditto. Quite a few deaths in OOTS have moved me, but it's in spite of the characters getting X's for eyes, not because of it.
Bulldog Psion
2012-09-04, 11:51 AM
It's just a shorthand for a dead character. I never really found it either moving or humorous -- only the circumstances around it.
ManuelSacha
2012-09-04, 09:41 PM
It's just a shorthand for a dead character. I never really found it either moving or humorous -- only the circumstances around it.

Yeah. Same.
Ninjadeadbeard
2012-09-05, 12:48 AM
I always feel some regret nowadays when any character dies onscreen in any medium. Even people who deserve what was coming. It's like, those little X's represent the END. The end of something. Every single one of those Hobgoblins had feelings, dreams, memories, friends. I can't help but be moved when someone of so-called "little importance" like an extra or a mook dies. How is any character "not important"? :smallmad:

Then again I'm the kind of guy who sits down to read the Tear Jerker (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TearJerker) archives on tvtropes.

:smallfrown:
Finagle
2012-09-05, 01:02 AM
Has anyone else noticed this?
No.


Am I just a sissy?
Well, if you have to ask...
Funmerchant
2012-09-05, 05:11 AM
last two panels (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0487.html)
TerrickTerran
2012-09-05, 04:36 PM
Three deaths made me sad...Miko (so misunderstood) Therkla (so tragic) and Tsukiko (so unfair)

Otherwise, they don't tend to bother me.
Darth V.
2012-09-05, 08:43 PM
I always feel some regret nowadays when any character dies onscreen in any medium. Even people who deserve what was coming. It's like, those little X's represent the END. The end of something. Every single one of those Hobgoblins had feelings, dreams, memories, friends. I can't help but be moved when someone of so-called "little importance" like an extra or a mook dies. How is any character "not important"?


Yeah that's pretty much what I was getting at.