Please oh please do not follow the romantic comedy template (spoiler)

[One_Wolf]

Haley's brief bout with her conscious and Elan's bad feeling make me think that OOTS will be following the ever nausiating Romantic Comedy template.

You know:

Boy meets girl

Misunderstanding causes girl to hate boy

Boy does something "romantic" (a.k.a. cheesy) and everything is all better.

Happily ever after.

When Haley is finally reunited with Elan if she blames him for leaving her behind I will puke several times and loudly.

-One Wolf

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I think that was the point of Haley giving Self-Doubt Haley the "Get Lost" look. :smallbiggrin:

Haley is also stronger within herself, and realizes that this separation wasn't Elan's choice, it was thrust upon them by Fate.

[Porthos]

Yeah, the "Beat it" look was a recognition of Haley's new found inner-strength. Oh Haley might do a token "face slap for leaving" scene. But only because Elan would be disapointed if he didn't get one (being the proper dramatic scene and all :smallwink: ).

But the chances of Haley actually thinking that Elan abandoned her? Slim to none, IMO. :smallsmile:

[Mr.Ace]

I completley agree. :smallsigh:

It'd be a shame if OotS came into a true Cliche' like that.

-Ace

[NerfTW]

Yeah, I don't see Haley being the type to not understand the reason they had to flee.

Her elimination of self doubt kinda sealed it. She knows there was a tactical reason, and she needs to stop questioning every action.

[Rethorn]

Rich is too good of a writer to fall into that, I think.

[ag30476]

Haley's brief bout with her conscious and Elan's bad feeling make me think that OOTS will be following the ever nausiating Romantic Comedy template.

You know:

Boy meets girl

Misunderstanding causes girl to hate boy

Boy does something "romantic" (a.k.a. cheesy) and everything is all better.

Happily ever after.

When Haley is finally reunited with Elan if she blames him for leaving her behind I will puke several times and loudly.

-One Wolf

Yeah that whole


Heroes meets villian

Heroes destroy villian

Villian comes back to pester heroes

Repeat ad naseum.

was so lame.

There's nothing wrong with using tropes. (http://tvtropes.org/) Cliches don't make a bad story. Bad writing makes a bad story. Luckily Rich is very good writer. And this last is just further evidence.

[SPoD]

Haley's brief bout with her conscious and Elan's bad feeling make me think that OOTS will be following the ever nausiating Romantic Comedy template.

You know:

Boy meets girl

Misunderstanding causes girl to hate boy

Boy does something "romantic" (a.k.a. cheesy) and everything is all better.

Happily ever after.

When Haley is finally reunited with Elan if she blames him for leaving her behind I will puke several times and loudly.

-One Wolf

I think you are completely misreading what is happening in the 2nd and 3rd panels of the second page.

Haley's Self-Loathing, which has consistently been filling her head with negative thoughts, implies that Elan left on purpose and that she is thus not good enough for him (sentiments Haley herself voiced earlier in the strip). However, before she can even finish, Haley shuts her up and banishes her back to the depths of her subconscious with a single glare. Then, rather than giving in to depression and wallowing, Haley bucks up and takes command of the situation.

In essence, this is the postscript to the Haley aphasia-Self-Loathing arc, showing how Haley has grown stronger as a character due to her love for Elan and (more importantly) the honesty that it brought to her life. She now can immediately squash that little voice that tries to get her to freak out over what Elan thinks of her, because now she knows the truth: Elan loves her. She doesn't doubt it anymore, which means that the words of Self-Loathing fall on deaf ears. By owning up to the truth about her feelings, she has the security of knowing the truth about Elan's, and that truth can keep her calm and focused even when they're separated.

In short, about as far from the romantic comedy cliché as possible.

[Baru]

Make predictions. I'm sure the plot will dodge them all. It always has.

[ag30476]

Make predictions. I'm sure the plot will dodge them all. It always has.

Xykon will get stopped from taking the next gate and then they will move on the last gate. Dodge that one Rich.

[Ave]

Xykon will get stopped from taking the next gate and then they will move on the last gate. Dodge that one Rich.

How many gates are remaining?

[ag30476]

How many gates are remaining?

What gates?

[factotum]

How many gates are remaining?

Assuming you're not joking...two. Girard's and Kraagor's.

[Wolfman42666]

unless someone (Hinjo) rebulids his/one of them before Xykon gets to Kraggor's.

[The 6th Side]

Yeah, but there are a lot of examples where rich doesnt stick to the norm. If the comic was full of cliche's then Roy would have summoned cilia, Tsiko would have zombified Miko etc

[Roderick_BR]

I agree with what people said about Haley kicking off her self-loathing image. It's unlikely she'll blame Elan for anything.
Most of jokes about this are about the girl completely forgetting that it's not the guy's fault (like a huge war, for example), but Haley knows better. She dirty looking at her self-loathing is a sign of it.

[ag30476]

Yeah, but there are a lot of examples where rich doesnt stick to the norm. If the comic was full of cliche's then Roy would have summoned cilia, Tsiko would have zombified Miko etc

Those are examples of Rich following the expectation of specific readers, the wishes if you will of particular fans. That he didn't does not mean that he won't fulfill the expectations of readers in general. As readers we want to see Roy alive again. Is it bad writing if he fulfills that wish? No. Our hero dies, But wait, he's not dead. Real life? No. Cliche? Yes. A joke on D&D? Yes. But notice that the characters and the readers do care about what happens to Roy.

He uses cliches all the time. You have too. Sometimes he uses them straight out of the book, sometimes he makes fun of them. Archetypes, cliches, tropes, what have you, it's all good if the writing is good. A good place to start on the use of tropes is here (http://tvtropes.org/).

[Holy_Knight]

I agree with what people said about Haley kicking off her self-loathing image. It's unlikely she'll blame Elan for anything.
Most of jokes about this are about the girl completely forgetting that it's not the guy's fault (like a huge war, for example), but Haley knows better. She dirty looking at her self-loathing is a sign of it.
Plus, even if part of her did blame Elan for leaving, once they're reunited Vaarsuvius and Durkon would tell her that Elan had to be restrained from going back on his own to save her, so she couldn't think that for long.

[silvadel]

Yeah, but there are a lot of examples where rich doesnt stick to the norm. If the comic was full of cliche's then Roy would have summoned cilia, Tsiko would have zombified Miko etc

There is still plenty of time for Miko to be zombified... I do not see the goblins burying any corpses and they are too good a resource for the bad guys to burn.

[One_Wolf]

I think you are completely misreading what is happening in the 2nd and 3rd panels of the second page.

Haley's Self-Loathing, which has consistently been filling her head with negative thoughts, implies that Elan left on purpose and that she is thus not good enough for him (sentiments Haley herself voiced earlier in the strip). However, before she can even finish, Haley shuts her up and banishes her back to the depths of her subconscious with a single glare. Then, rather than giving in to depression and wallowing, Haley bucks up and takes command of the situation.

In essence, this is the postscript to the Haley aphasia-Self-Loathing arc, showing how Haley has grown stronger as a character due to her love for Elan and (more importantly) the honesty that it brought to her life. She now can immediately squash that little voice that tries to get her to freak out over what Elan thinks of her, because now she knows the truth: Elan loves her. She doesn't doubt it anymore, which means that the words of Self-Loathing fall on deaf ears. By owning up to the truth about her feelings, she has the security of knowing the truth about Elan's, and that truth can keep her calm and focused even when they're separated.

In short, about as far from the romantic comedy cliché as possible.

Upon reflection I have to agree with you. I just hate romantic comedies. :smallbiggrin:

Just as a note. I meant this thread to be light hearted and funny. Maybe it didn't translate that well, or I'm just not funny. :smallwink:

-One Wolf

[comicadv]

Oh he's going to do it just to annoy everyone you know he will.