|
It's pretty fitting that Tarquin doesn't think Elan lost anything. Elan lost plenty. He lost his brother, who he still wanted to redeem in a part of his heart. He lost a large chunk of his innocence, having been shoved face first into just how insidiously banal evil can be, after dealing with it writ large in Xykon and others. He gained a father not only to lose them all over again, but in a way that indicates that he would have been better off in many ways never knowing what happened to Tarquin, and he has to live with that horrible fact. Durkon lost who he was, and will have to rediscover it, and to someone kind and caring like Elan, that's as much his loss as Durkon's. Elan can never go back to who he was before the Empire of Blood. But of course, Tarquin can only see all the broad strokes and can't grasp the subtle details. Tarquin: A Study In Aspergers.
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 09:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 17:14 |
|
|
Please please please let Laurin and/or Sabine pop in to knife Tarquin in the back right now. Suck meaningless death, rear end in a top hat!
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 10:14
|
|
|
CapnAndy posted:Please please please let Laurin and/or Sabine pop in to knife Tarquin in the back right now. Suck meaningless death, rear end in a top hat! I was on that bandwagon until this very page. Let him eat poo poo alone without his ending. It hurts him more than any death would.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 10:35
|
|
|
Its funny that Julio straight up TOLD him about Elan's "wouldn't it make a cool story to defy STORIES THEMSELVES!?" but Tarquin still doesn't get that because of his desire for a perfect story, this lovely ending is actually the best ending of all.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 10:53
|
|
|
Robviously posted:I was on that bandwagon until this very page. Let him eat poo poo alone without his ending. It hurts him more than any death would. I'm still on that bandwagon, except I'm hoping that instead it's a complete story-epilogue page where a guy with a caravan finds Tarquin's skeleton dressed in the tattered remains of his outfit in the middle of the desert, shrugs, and walks past, possibly with some comment about escaping slaves getting lost in the desert. Realistically, though, we still have to wrap up Laurin's favor so Tarquin still isn't completely out of this yet, probably. Unless Rich subverts it and reveals that having Tarquin lost and dying in a desert is more important than whatever the favor was.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 12:03
|
|
|
I want Sabine to get vengeance on Tarquin. That's a loose end that can't be left hanging.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 12:09
|
|
|
This was fun and a very good ending. also excellent character defining moment for Elan for reasons other have pointed out. The thing I notice most in the posts above me is that people assume that Tarquin is gone for good now? I don't really believe that, I actually expect hm to take the place of the linear guild. Wouldn't relentlessly chasing Elan and trying to stop him from fulfilling his mission so Elan can focus on giving Tarquin a proper ending be more fitting for him? It's also something of a reversal since he used to be in full control(or at least thought he was), but if he spends his time chasing Elan to control his destiny he becomes the follower instead. Xykon could kill him offhandedly really giving him an insignificant death.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 12:10
|
|
|
Laurin's a tertiary character at best. Whatever her favor was it isn't important. It was just an illustration of how they barter with one another.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 12:21
|
|
|
I really want to take the last panel as the wallpaper for my handphone, it's just so good. The sight of Tarquin completely ragged screaming that it's not a good ending is one of the best conclusions I've seen.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 12:52
|
|
|
I can't help but read in a little meta-commentary on the strip itself when Elan mentions how he helped Nale earlier - Elan hasn't just matured and changed, the comic has a lot as well.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 12:54
|
|
|
greatn posted:Laurin's a tertiary character at best. Whatever her favor was it isn't important. It was just an illustration of how they barter with one another. In any other comic I'd agree, but I'd have said the same thing about Nale before this arc and that didn't stop Burlew bringing him back. Eeepies posted:I really want to take the last panel as the wallpaper for my handphone, it's just so good. The sight of Tarquin completely ragged screaming that it's not a good ending is one of the best conclusions I've seen. Yes absolutely. I'm actually going to be very disappointed when he inevitably reappears further down the line.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 13:22
|
|
|
This strip was perfect.  Let's see if Rich has something to... Rich posted:
Well, that explains a lot.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 13:52
|
|
|
Can someone point out to me the font difference that Rich is so agitated about? All I see is the difference between gif and png, with the new png looking a hell of a lot better  Edit: I think there's some differences in kerning, particularly aroung the letters 'i' and 't', but again the new one looks a lot better. DoctorTristan fucked around with this message at 14:18 on Jan 4, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 14:14
|
|
|
DoctorTristan posted:Can someone point out to me the font difference that Rich is so agitated about? All I see is the difference between gif and png, with the new png looking a hell of a lot better Didn't you read? It's "a nightmare". Yeah, I don't see it either. Apparently Rich and that other guy have the ability to detect tiny differences in fonts -- worst superpower ever.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 14:26
|
|
|
my dad posted:Because of that change—and how much I didn't like it—I've been clinging to a woefully outdated version of Illustrator for 8 years or so. One million dollars to cover all possible costs, everyone.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 14:28
|
|
|
I'm just liking the many uses of multishot. Underpowered my rear end.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 14:34
|
|
|
The Order of the Stick by Rich "ulillillia" Burlew.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 14:35
|
|
|
Tarquin & Co will very likely show up again. They do have control of the desert breach, and if anyone will be throwing random soldiers into it it will most certainly be him, hell, they might even build a ship to explore the drat thing once they're sure it is possible to survive going in. Anyways, that was an amazing ending and Elan's greatest line.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 15:53
|
|
|
It really speaks for the comic that I can't really predict what will happen next. Tarquin showing up to harass the group in the North is a possibility, but so is Sabin showing up and icing him , just to drive home the point that not everybody behaves according narrative rules. I can even see his friends abandoning him, since his obsession has become to much of a liability to there long term operation. Apparently they decide such things by majority vote and I am not certain that the rest of the group sees Nale as important.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:04
|
|
|
"I'm not a twin anymore." That's one of the best lines this comic has had in a while, and that says a lot.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:26
|
|
|
"You get back here and give this plotline a satisfying resolution!" - um, he just did, Tarquin. Also, that fall cost T a lot of hit points. e: vvvv - Artists and creative types are often really particular about their tools and don't like changing them up every 18 months just because something new comes along. You'd be surprised by the number of successful writers who moan about how hard it is to keep things like Xywrite and WordPerfect 5.1 running. FMguru fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jan 4, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:35
|
|
|
TINA TURNER posted:One million dollars to cover all possible costs, everyone. Gonna spoil it for you: A lot of actual professional businesses do this because having to adjust to new versions of software is often more frustrating than anything else. There are tons of companies using Windows XP (or older), and even more using old, outdated or just plain no-longer-supported versions of software, some of which they can't even use on new versions of Windows. This is incredibly common in all businesses and even businesses that have really good reason to upgrade often are significantly behind because the don't want to deal with new software and the foibles and quirks that come with it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:41
|
|
|
ImpAtom posted:Gonna spoil it for you: There's also a simple matter of preference. I can't really complain about someone preferring an 8-year-old program when I'm sitting here using an expensive version of a 30-year-old keyboard.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:51
|
|
|
I thought I vaguely recognized the "you'll live" line from earlier in the arc, so I decided to flip through and see if I could find what it was a reference to. Turns it out was seven comics ago. In my defense, that comic is nearly two months old.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:53
|
|
|
He fell so hard, it ripped his cloak. That was a long fall.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:57
|
|
|
Manic_Misanthrope posted:I'm just liking the many uses of multishot. Underpowered my rear end. Yeah, Rich's ability to make fantasy almost believable is astounding! The D&D nerd in my sees Tarquin catching two arrows and thinks "huh, that makes Tarquin an epic level character." Then the D&D nerd in me thinks "Fighters really such since catching two arrows is something only epic level fighters can do." Hypocrisy fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Jan 4, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 17:59
|
|
|
Laurin has dark skin and black hair, right? So does a certain shapeshifter. I know what ending I have in mind for Tarquin 
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 18:10
|
|
|
Elan having no emotion on his face when he states that he isn't a twin, and the fact that Tarquin will live is kinda disturbing. Also, Hailey is pretty smart. It's a good payoff to the fact that they know Tarquin can catch arrows.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 18:16
|
|
|
Go Elan! (And Haley. Multi-shot with a broken arm!)
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 18:26
|
|
|
"You're not the real villain." That right there is the line that broke Tarquin's heart and shattered his worldview.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 18:43
|
|
|
CommaToes posted:Elan having no emotion on his face when he states that he isn't a twin, and the fact that Tarquin will live is kinda disturbing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 18:52
|
|
|
CommaToes posted:Also, Haley is pretty smart. It's a good payoff to the fact that they know Tarquin can catch arrows. They used it before in the pyramid, with the smoke-bomb arrow. Still a good resolution to get him off the ship without having Elan shove him off. Haley has all the reasons anyone needs to make sure Tarquin's dead.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 19:09
|
|
|
This strip had some really great lines but I think the best one was Tarquin's "I don't know what happens next!". He's lived his life according to the rules of storytelling and drama - but the story isn't about him, and it's dawning on him right now.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 19:56
|
|
|
CommaToes posted:Elan having no emotion on his face when he states that he isn't a twin, and the fact that Tarquin will live is kinda disturbing. Using someone's badassery against themselves is pretty awesome. This whole arc was kind of a really nice meta-commentary on trope usage in story construction. Tropes are tools. You need more than a trope to make a story; you need heart and soul. Tarquin has no empathy so he just doesn't get that…he never could. For all that Tarquin is authoritarian and insists nobody resist him, he also doesn't realize that it's when people are resisting his direction that it gets interesting. Kind of like, oh, the narrator in the Stanley Parable: following his direction results in the shittiest ending: no conflict resolution, no information, nothing. Things only get good whenever you disobey, but he's too much of a prima donna to realize that. Tarquin is his own worst enemy and everything he's done to enforce his vision has only blown up in his face. And of course any good story needs to have conflict; more than a "controlled" conflict, too. Stories may have plots laid out like an elaborate puzzle or mosaic but if the characters are like automatons fulfilling roles instead of doing something to give themselves life, then it's a pretty lovely story. Cornwind Evil posted:It's pretty fitting that Tarquin doesn't think Elan lost anything. Elan lost plenty. He lost his brother, who he still wanted to redeem in a part of his heart. He lost a large chunk of his innocence, having been shoved face first into just how insidiously banal evil can be, after dealing with it writ large in Xykon and others. He gained a father not only to lose them all over again, but in a way that indicates that he would have been better off in many ways never knowing what happened to Tarquin, and he has to live with that horrible fact. Durkon lost who he was, and will have to rediscover it, and to someone kind and caring like Elan, that's as much his loss as Durkon's. Elan can never go back to who he was before the Empire of Blood. But of course, Tarquin can only see all the broad strokes and can't grasp the subtle details. Tarquin: A Study In Aspergers. I was totally with you until the last sentence. I think that might be the wrong label to apply here. Heh. But yeah: Elan's lost a lot.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 20:08
|
|
|
Tarquin's arc is basically demonstrating that you can make 10,000 edits to tvtropes and still have no idea how stories or art or literature work. Life (and stories) are more than just a collection of genre beats and cliches.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 20:13
|
|
|
FMguru posted:Tarquin's arc is basically demonstrating that you can make 10,000 edits to tvtropes and still have no idea how stories or art or literature work. Life (and stories) are more than just a collection of genre beats and cliches. Someone needs to tell Hollywood this.  ColdPie posted:I thought I vaguely recognized the "you'll live" line from earlier in the arc, so I decided to flip through and see if I could find what it was a reference to. This is a problem. I know there are reasons, and I've defended Rich's pace in this very forum. And yet... And yet, at ~300 strips per book, at one strip a week it's going to take six more years to finish the last book! That's just not sustainable in the long run.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 20:24
|
|
|
FMguru posted:Tarquin's arc is basically demonstrating that you can make 10,000 edits to tvtropes and still have no idea how stories or art or literature work. Life (and stories) are more than just a collection of genre beats and cliches. I think you're being too reductive by boiling it down to "hah, TV TROPES FAILS YOU TARQUIN". It's not about that-- it's about Tarquin being narcissistic to the point of near solipsism. In the guy's mind, he's not a villain; he's the villain. He's the only game in town, the only thing that matters. Even his own eventual death and Malack's eventual ascension could only be framed in his mind by how it would all be because of him. The dude cannot consider a world where he isn't the fulcrum on which it turns. Everything that matters somehow must involve him, must be about him, must eventually lead to him. That is the guy's downfall. The narrative jokes are just that: jokes. At best, they're the lens through which his absolutely biblical self-centered narcissism is made apparent.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 20:34
|
|
|
I think the comments about the font are mostly in regards to the last panel. I love the panel, but the poor typesetting on that speech bubble really pulls me out of the moment.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 20:59
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:And yet, at ~300 strips per book, at one strip a week it's going to take six more years to finish the last book! That's just not sustainable in the long run. Why? There are plenty of comics that update once a week or worse and plenty of web comic artists who suck it up and get a real job if the comic doesn't pay the bills. It stinks that he's slower than ever now and if I were a kickstarter backer I'd be a little annoyed at all of the delays but its not going to destroy anything.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 22:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 17:14 |
|
|
Cliff Racer posted:Why? There are plenty of comics that update once a week or worse and plenty of web comic artists who suck it up and get a real job if the comic doesn't pay the bills. It stinks that he's slower than ever now and if I were a kickstarter backer I'd be a little annoyed at all of the delays but its not going to destroy anything. Because the first four books took ten years, so to take six years for the last one is ridiculous? Because he doesn't have a "real job" and this is his job? Because his primary source of income is book sales and I don't think a six year gap between book five and six is sustainable for him? Because if he's so slow that he endangers his books sales the way I fear he will, he may indeed have to get a "real job" in which case the strip may go to once a month or go on hiatus? Oh, and I am a Kickstarter backer and I reserve the right to be annoyed at all of the delays!
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 22:57
|
|