My 1st Ever OOTS Prediction

[Lheticus]

Well, I'll be honest with you guys, I never thought the day would come where I'd be dumb enough to try to predict anything Rich does--it's virtually impossible save for sheer dumb luck as far as I've figured. But here goes:

Bloodfeast will eventually be un-polymorphed--and at least one strip where it/he/she/whatever is being useful either as a getaway mount or for kicking butt in the future will be titled "Everybody Walk The Dinosaur". XD

Rich, whether or not you're actually going to do that, I'd freaking LOVE if you did. :D

[Vinsfeld]

I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.

[Qaanol]

All right, I’ll join the fun and make my own first-ever OoTS predictions:

Thog is permanently dead, but he will never reappear on-panel. Rich is deliberately subverting the “characters that die off panel aren’t really dead” trope by having Thog actually be dead. The readers may or may not ever actually find out for certain.

Julio will survive his current duel with Tarquin and return to the Mechane. In fact, Julio will not die on-panel. Rich is again subverting the mentor death trope.

Bloodfeast will indeed get the polymorph dispelled, though it will happen prior to the next face-to-face showdown with Xykon. And the strip it happens in will not have whatever title the OP suggested.

The flumphs will play an important role, possibly at Kraagor’s tomb, with direct involvement not just providing a cushy landing spot.

Either MitD will eventually be revealed as an obscure creature which about a quarter of forum-goers will recognize, or MitD will not be revealed in the comic at all. (I know, weak prediction, I should just pick one…okay MitD will get revealed.)

And now I’ve taken that stance, I’ll say Rich will drop more and more clues about MitD as the reveal gets closer, to the point that a substantial number of forumites will figure it out 1 or 2 strips beforehand, but at least half the forum will disagree and argue against them right to the last moment. After the reveal, a small number of forumites will mention how they had figured it out dozens of strips earlier, and a few of them will have in fact been promoting the correct identity in the MitD thread for a good length of time. There will also be several forumites who argue that some of the clues don’t really fit.

Roy will not use his grandfather’s feat on Xykon, though he may use it on Redcloak.

Durkon will eventually get staked and buried in his ancestral tomb.

I can’t bring myself to make a prediction on the Xykon-Redcloak falling-out, except that it will happen.

[ChristianSt]

I recently thought that I should have posted my prediction, with 930 I wanted to start a thread proposing that Julio will distract Tarquin so that the Order can get away - but was occupied IRL and hadn't much time to think about :smallfrown:. And now it seems that this is exactly that was is happening right now.



I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.

Seeing how the whole conflict with Team Tarquin went I would be kinda surprised if they would arrive there soon.

Team Evil is a whole other league than Team Tarquin. While the Order was handicapped in the whole process and had no time to rest in between, someone who wants to defeat Team Evil should be able to steam-roll Team Tarquin. [I know that Team Evil may maybe turn against each other, but the Order doesn't know this]

My prediction would be, that before facing Xykon they will learn much more about the Gates by making contact with one member of the Scribble (I would put my money on Serini, but Kraagor wouldn't be impossible, especially if Rich decides to throw them trough the rift).


Bloodfeast will eventually be un-polymorphed--and at least one strip where it/he/she/whatever is being useful either as a getaway mount or for kicking butt in the future will be titled "Everybody Walk The Dinosaur". XD

Rich, whether or not you're actually going to do that, I'd freaking LOVE if you did. :D
I wouldn't bet any money on the strip-title, but I think that Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator will not stay a lizard, too :smallwink: [and there isn't any chance that a dinosaur wouldn't make some really awesome stuff like butt-kicking]

[Jay R]

Team Evil is a whole other league than Team Tarquin. While the Order was handicapped in the whole process and had no time to rest in between, someone who wants to defeat Team Evil should be able to steam-roll Team Tarquin. [I know that Team Evil may maybe turn against each other, but the Order doesn't know this]


That's not how stories work.

The Death Star is a whole other league from sand people. Luke had trouble with sand people, and needed help from Obi-wan. Then he defeated the Death Star.

Sauron is a whole other league from orcs. Frodo ran from orcs and defeated Sauron.

Voldemort is a whole other League from Draco Malfoy. Harry had trouble from Malfoy book after book before defeating Voldemort in the last one.

Yes, they all had just the right tool for the final encounter, but Roy has a sword with properties against undead, as well.

Heroes face ever-growing challenges, and are in danger from them all.

[Bird]

I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.
I don't know whether Bloodfeast, in Allosaurus form, is an ectotherm.

But either way, if they're heading North, then Durkula should be prepping Endure Elements in some of his first level spell slots. He could easily spare a spell for Bloodfeast. :smallsmile:

[The_Tentacle]

That's not how stories work.

The Death Star is a whole other league from sand people. Luke had trouble with sand people, and needed help from Obi-wan. Then he defeated the Death Star.

Sauron is a whole other league from orcs. Frodo ran from orcs and defeated Sauron.

Voldemort is a whole other League from Draco Malfoy. Harry had trouble from Malfoy book after book before defeating Voldemort in the last one.

Yes, they all had just the right tool for the final encounter, but Roy has a sword with properties against undead, as well.

Heroes face ever-growing challenges, and are in danger from them all.

SPOILERS!!!!!!

But yeah, this seems rather accurate. Keep in mind that the OotS wasn't ever at full strength while fighting Tarkie and Co. Plus, they've been preparing to combat Xykon for months and have moves planned and special abilities ready. It's a very different comparison. Similar to how someone might run from an ambush by goblins but dive onto battle against... let's say an Owlbear.

[King of Nowhere]

I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.

Maybe not in the long run, but a creature that big is going to take several hours to cool down enough to be disabled. So they could polymorph it again after the fight, and keep it in a warm pocket

[Kish]

That's not how stories work.

The Death Star is a whole other league from sand people. Luke had trouble with sand people, and needed help from Obi-wan. Then he defeated the Death Star.

Sauron is a whole other league from orcs. Frodo ran from orcs and defeated Sauron.

Voldemort is a whole other League from Draco Malfoy. Harry had trouble from Malfoy book after book before defeating Voldemort in the last one.

Yes, they all had just the right tool for the final encounter, but Roy has a sword with properties against undead, as well.

Heroes face ever-growing challenges, and are in danger from them all.
Indeed, well put.

I think one thing we can be very certain of about the rest of the comic, is that it will not consist of "the Order levels up until Xykon is a level-appropriate challenge for them."

Or...how did Rich put it? http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14838233&postcount=54

[Ionathus]

I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.

If this world has spells like "protection from sunlight" and "celestial tree sloth attack" (yes I know it's an illusion), it's a safe bet they'll have a "protection from cold" spell for Bloodfeast. Heck, I bet they'll run into at least half a dozen reptilian monster types at Kraagor's Tomb alone.

[Ron Miel]

I predict that Belkar will leave Bloodfeast as a protector of the Azurites. O'chul shall ride him to victory when they retake the city.

[The Dark Fiddler]

For anybody who wants to put their money where their mouth is, there's the Demon Roach Betting Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=302014).

[Perseus]

SPOILERS!!!!!!

Really?

I'm pretty sure the statue of limitation on spoilers has passed for all those stories.

P.S: Young Simba has problems with the hyenas but at the end of the movie he takes on Scar with very little trouble (obviously hot coals to the face posed a problem).

[Bulldog Psion]

I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.

I thought that whole "dinosaurs are reptiles" thing went out the window a few decades back? :smallconfused:

[Tiiba]

SPOILERS!!!!!!


The hero won!!!!!!

[Jay R]

I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.I thought that whole "dinosaurs are reptiles" thing went out the window a few decades back? :smallconfused:

Yup. Now we consider them to be like many species that fly south for the winter.

The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow,
And what will poor Bloodfeast do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm
and hide his head under his wing, poor thing.

[Snails]

A measly Endure Elements will protect the beastie against normal environmental hazards.

[Bird]

I thought that whole "dinosaurs are reptiles" thing went out the window a few decades back? :smallconfused:
It depends on how you define things. Dinosaurs are a subset of reptiles, and birds are a subset of dinosaurs, but when we say "reptiles" that doesn't include birds. No, that doesn't make any sense.

From a genetic perspective, dinosaurs are indeed descended from reptiles (and thus, are reptiles); birds are indeed descended from dinosaurs (and thus, are dinosaurs, and are reptiles, too).

The issue is that when we refer to groups of organisms, we semi-arbitrarily exclude certain members of that group. For example, when we say "animals" we often mean "non-human animals," even though humans are animals, are descended from animals, never stopped being animals.

Anyway, referring specifically to whether dinosaurs were endotherms ("warm-blooded") -- it's long been thought that they were, though that remains a point of contention. Certainly, birds are endotherms, and it stands to reason that at least some non-bird dinosaurs were as well. Although, here too, definitions get complicated. :smalltongue:

[Snails]

Anyway, referring specifically to whether dinosaurs were endotherms ("warm-blooded") -- it's long been thought that they were, though that remains a point of contention. Certainly, birds are endotherms, and it stands to reason that at least some non-bird dinosaurs were as well. Although, here too, definitions get complicated. :smalltongue:

Part of the reasoning is that creatures of that size would inevitably generate plenty of heat if they moved, and they lack the surface area to trivially carry away that heat. Likewise, they cannot lie on a warm rock like a garden lizard to warm up for the day because they are too darn big.

So, they have to be "warm-blooded" in some fashion. (It is less clear about the smaller critters.)

Ultimately it is a question of tuning. Proteins have a specific temperature range over which they are the most effective at their job. Change the temperature range, and the a slightly different amino acid chain becomes the better "choice". So actively managing your body temperature has a big advantage: your body can do more work with less stuff, less cost. More reliable protein configurations exist, but you need to lug more meat around.

[Vinsfeld]

It depends on how you define things. Dinosaurs are a subset of reptiles, and birds are a subset of dinosaurs, but when we say "reptiles" that doesn't include birds. No, that doesn't make any sense.

From a genetic perspective, dinosaurs are indeed descended from reptiles (and thus, are reptiles); birds are indeed descended from dinosaurs (and thus, are dinosaurs, and are reptiles, too).

The issue is that when we refer to groups of organisms, we semi-arbitrarily exclude certain members of that group. For example, when we say "animals" we often mean "non-human animals," even though humans are animals, are descended from animals, never stopped being animals.

Anyway, referring specifically to whether dinosaurs were endotherms ("warm-blooded") -- it's long been thought that they were, though that remains a point of contention. Certainly, birds are endotherms, and it stands to reason that at least some non-bird dinosaurs were as well. Although, here too, definitions get complicated. :smalltongue:

You should know. You ARE Bird.

[Bird]

Part of the reasoning is that creatures of that size would inevitably generate plenty of heat if they moved, and they lack the surface area to trivially carry away that heat. Likewise, they cannot lie on a warm rock like a garden lizard to warm up for the day because they are too darn big.

So, they have to be "warm-blooded" in some fashion. (It is less clear about the smaller critters.)

Ultimately it is a question of tuning. Proteins have a specific temperature range over which they are the most effective at their job. Change the temperature range, and the a slightly different amino acid chain becomes the better "choice". So actively managing your body temperature has a big advantage: your body can do more work with less stuff, less cost. More reliable protein configurations exist, but you need to lug more meat around.
That is an admirably clear explanation.


You should know. You ARE Bird.
*stops pecking at keyboard*

What?

[CombatOwl]

I wonder how the dinosaur will survive in the cold, assuming they go straight to Kraagor's gate.

Well, in real life there is some debate about the thermophysiology of dinosaurs, they probably didn't equate to anything still existing.

In game terms, it would maybe get a penalty in combat, but not hp damage so it would be fine.

[BobTheDog]

So they could polymorph it again after the fight, and keep it in a warm pocket pokeball

Though maybe that would require Belkar to take 5 Paladin* levels.

* Slaughter variant, thus settling once and for all the "Belkar's CN" debate. :smallcool:

[frighowler]

I always think of this when discussing dinosaurs.

http://xkcd.com/1211/

[Sloanzilla]

since we are (kind of) on the subject of Belkar's alignment, is there a detailed thread devoted to Belkar's morality arc? Was looking for a good list of signs of improvement (caring about Bloodfeast, appearing to feel bad about Durkon's death and "hurting people is what I do best") and so forth, along with steps in the wrong direction.