El Goonish ShiVe: Look! Squirrel!

[Lamech]

Wait, so is Diane just being super perceptive and accepting Tedd or does she actually not know Tedd is usually (sometimes?) a guy?

[Fyraltari]

The latter probably. They’ve never met and Tedd is unambiguously féminine for once, so she’s probably assuming that she’s remembering wrongly the few times somebody used male pronouns about them near her.

[DeTess]

Wait, so is Diane just being super perceptive and accepting Tedd or does she actually not know Tedd is usually (sometimes?) a guy?

It could really be either. Diane is pretty perceptive most of the time, and she knows that there's magic stuff involved there, so she might have just figured it out there, but she also might not have.

[Lizard Lord]

I think Tedd assuming that Diane doesn't know just proves that she does.

[Southern Cross]

And she's seen Elliott transform into Cheerleadra with her own eyes, remember.

[RowenMorland]

The commentary says that the glasses are legit but Ted also feels that glasses make her face look less girly so maybe she is enjoying having someone who only sees her as a girl while wearing something that was used for the opposite purpose back when she was... less liberated in her choices.

[Calemyr]

Aaannndd... This is the moment where Diane starts gagging at the absurdly saccharine display.

I mean, seriously...

[Fyraltari]

As far as I can tell, "capillum muto" translates to "I change hair"; "hair change" (as in "the change of the hair") would be "capilli mutatio".

"Change, hair!" meanwhile would be "muta capille".

So, Dan has safely reached his goal of "amateurish use of latin", I think.
This is all I have to say.

[Celestia]

As far as I can tell, "capillum muto" translates to "I change hair"; "hair change" (as in "the change of the hair") would be "capilli mutatio".

"Change, hair!" meanwhile would be "muta capille".

So, Dan has safely reached his goal of "amateurish use of latin", I think.
This is all I have to say.

I mean, "I change hair" still works. It's an odd way to name your spell, but it's not grammatically incorrect.

[Fyraltari]

Well yes, but according to the commentary, Dan was aiming for "amateurish rendition of "hair change" ".

[Gez]

We were warned before that it was "Internet-translated Latin".

And the code phrase itself has no inherent magicness, Tedd just chose to use (amateurish) Latin because it's culturally the language associated with magic tricks, and mostly because it's quite unlikely anyone would spontaneously say that while holding the drumwand without intending to cast the spell.

[Ibrinar]

Well yes, but according to the commentary, Dan was aiming for "amateurish rendition of "hair change" ".

True though since it isn't stated that that was his characters goal too we can't quite say whether it fulfills the goal in comic.

[Kish]

True though since it isn't stated that that was his characters goal too we can't quite say whether it fulfills the goal in comic.

...huh?

I'm pretty sure Tedd was not supposed to be, or ever suggested to be, deliberately mangling Latin (unlike Dan). The characters aren't real and no one but Dan actually has goals for the comic.

[Lissou]

True though since it isn't stated that that was his characters goal too we can't quite say whether it fulfills the goal in comic.

It certainly fulfills the role of "Internet translated Latin", which makes it even less likely to be spontaneously said by someone, as people who speak Latin would use it properly, and people who look it up could get a completely different translation based on what they translate it with or whether the program/website updated its accuracy.

[Ibrinar]

...huh?

I'm pretty sure Tedd was not supposed to be, or ever suggested to be, deliberately mangling Latin (unlike Dan). The characters aren't real and no one but Dan actually has goals for the comic.

I will just quote the relevant text

That's supposed to be Latin for "hair change", basically. I'm not trained in Latin, and neither is Tedd, so it's okay if mistakes are made, but she and I are both trying to do an okay job of it.

Unless we wind up doing too well, because at least one of the spells has gotta have a mistake in it. These are SUPPOSED to be amateurish uses of Latin, darn it, so we'd best mess up somewhere, or we're going to have to mess something up on purpose, and for all I know we'll get it right by mistake if we try that.

[Gez]

Also: http://egscomics.com/comic/party-072

We were warned long in advance that Bad Latin was incoming.

[Vinyadan]

...

OK, I am now promoting Ashley to Second Tedd.

[GiantFlyingHog]

I feel like either later in the party or after it Ashley and Elliot are going to have a very interesting conversation.

[Radar]

I feel like either later in the party or after it Ashley and Elliot are going to have a very interesting conversation.

You can see a pattern there, yes. Apparently personal size is of particular interest for her.

[Vinyadan]

I see two ways to explain what's happening.

One is that Ashley, being a wizard, can influence spells cast on her through her disposition.

The other one is that the being in the closet is influencing magic.

Well, that, and Ted could have made a mistake.

[GiantFlyingHog]

I see two ways to explain what's happening.

One is that Ashley, being a wizard, can influence spells cast on her through her disposition.

The other one is that the being in the closet is influencing magic.

Well, that, and Ted could have made a mistake.

I'm fairly sure Ashley is neither literally nor figuratively in the closet. That door is just being used as a mirror, not enclosing them in a closet, and she's been pretty open about her sexuality, so neither literally nor figuratively being "in the closet" would seem to apply. As for disposition, I can't find it, but there is a comic where Tedd explains how someone liking a spell can increase its duration, even if the person affected has no magic. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that the same principle could apply to the effect as well as the duration, especially if the person being affect is a wizard.

Side note: How does Dan keep findings ways to make Ashley more adorable? I mean, just look at her expressions while transforming. It's frickin ridiculous.

[Vinyadan]

Ah, by "being" I meant "thing". The thing in the closet that is rattling the door handle might have influenced the spell.

(Assuming that's a closet; it could be a door to another room, the stairs, or the outside, I guess.)

[Douglas]

I'm guessing it has something to do with the door that they're using as a mirror. The doorknob clicked for no apparent reason in panel four, right after the spell took effect.

[mucat]

Ah, by "being" I meant "thing". The thing in the closet that is rattling the door handle might have influenced the spell.

(Assuming that's a closet; it could be a door to another room, the stairs, or the outside, I guess.)

It's none of the above, though. Scroll back a few strips; it's an unattached door, which Eliot and Justin carried in from another room and leaned against the wall.

[Calemyr]

I figured the size issue was part of the not-change of magic. Tedd is operating off of old-rule assumptions Edward has gone on about at length. It would make sense that magic, trying to be simpler and easier to understand, might just make the switch between 80% Scale/50% Volume and 50% Scale/13% Volume. Has anyone bothered to check in the last week if every single law of magic still holds to old doctrine? This also means that "shrunk = durable" may not be as safe an assumption as Tedd assumes?

As for the door... well... that's beyond my ability to predict. The stairs are open-air, so it's not likely to be someone coming back into the room, but this is EGS so the options for what it could be are pretty limitless. More AU shenanigans? Immortals looking to visit with a mundane flair? Some old reactivated automaton from the room-of-old-crap-Noriko-didn't-pick-up-after-the-divorce*, triggered by such a large conglomeration of magic users in one space? An occult dingo drawn by a toddler-sized wizard? Don Knotts? Hey, it could happen if Dan got caught up in a Scooby Doo marathon.

*That's the assumption I'm using for where the mirror's been languishing until know. I imagine both Edward and Tedd would have left any reminders of Noriko safely mothballed away rather than actually face them.

[Gez]

It's none of the above, though. Scroll back a few strips; it's an unattached door, which Eliot and Justin carried in from another room and leaned against the wall.

Yes.

However, there's a whole panel devoted to showing its handle rattling. So this means that some apparently trivial questions (why is this mirror mounted on a door in the first place?) start to become narratively relevant. This door may just be propped up against a wall, but it's going to open anyway. It's a door and a mirror (two items strongly associated with magical travel) and this is a magic party about magic and if the chapter still doesn't have its proper title, it's because the title is a spoiler, and that means there's more to the plot for it than just getting the ever-increasing cast socializing in a basement.

I mean it's a door-mirror that they didn't even remember having. Do you keep a few spare doors in your basement? There's just more and more red flags going on about this door the more I think about it.

[GiantFlyingHog]

I know it won't happen, but I would love it if Noriko just casually walks through the door.

[Vinyadan]

I personally was thinking of Nioi.

[GiantFlyingHog]

I personally was thinking of Nioi.

That actually might be possible. After all, as Ellen has pointed out, she is long overdue for a visit.

[Rater202]

Box: "Hi. I'm alive. I've lost 99.9% of my power and every memory that isn't vital to my core identity and current self-image but I'm alive... I'd have visited Adrian first but I don't remember where his house is."