Book 2 – Page 93

[balder]

New One is up.

[kagato23]

Awwww.

Man, why those Golems giving him such weird looks? You think they'd be happier Ace was coming along.

[Lamech]

Because they're all going to burn to death and be raised up by Wanda. I'd be giving him funny looks too if he was about to join the enemy.

[Brucester]

Worth waiting for.

Those cloth golems look mighty flammable and they're up against a stack of Reds.
I still can't quite see how the deadlock in the MK kingdom will be broken but it looks like Rob is setting up a face to face (probably tragic) meeting between Parson and Slately.

[Whispri]

An appalling display of mortism in the third panel.

Where is that throne room anyway? It's obviously an intact chamber, but the tower look completely ruined. Against that, they seemed to think Cubbins will be near the throne, or at least in the general area. Perhaps there's an intact area on the ground floor of the Tower? Hasn't seemed to be in the overhead shots though. I mean, not with a ceiling, which archer seemed to be under.

[Crazyterran]

Interesting that Tramennis is going against his father's order to attack the portal room and kill Parson, and is instead retreating.

[sheepfly]

Those cloth golems look mighty flammable and they're up against a stack of Reds.

It's going to be hilarious.

Ace joining the climactic fight, in retrospect, has been set up quite painstakingly. If not for the facts that:
1) Ace is a man of action who has never had much chance to show off his skills,
2) Ace is best buddies with Cubbins,
3) Cubbins went down with the tower in violation of the order to fly with the king,
4) Cubbins survived going down with the tower but is unable to escape,
5) Ace recently proved his worth and proved Slately wrong about the proper applications of Dollamancy,
6) and Slately has finally lost his resistance to adopting new strategies,
this would not make quite so much sense, even with the rationale that the cloth golems will benefit from his bonus. But it's still unclear what Jetstone can possibly do about healing Cubbins unless they win the battle.

...which sets Parson up for some excellent leverage in possibly turning both Cubbins and Ace (alive) if GK wins this battle. We know that GK had some healomancy scrolls with them. Offering to heal Cubbins in exchange for Ace changing sides and then convincing Cubbins to join his friend in glorious service to Lord Hamster is a tantalizing possibility, though it requires a few more strategic plot twists.

[It's been mentioned before that Stanley, Rockwell, and Wanda are all brand names of tools. By Erf logic, Ace might well be fated to join their cause.]

[TheTuna]

Interesting that Tramennis is going against his father's order to attack the portal room and kill Parson, and is instead retreating.

He's not.

"The king fights alone. It is his will."

Oh man, if GK gets Ace AND Cubbins...hell frickin' yes.

We have, after all, yet to discover what happens if a caster is Decrypted, something which was hinted back all the way at the start of Book 2.

[Cubbins]

Gets me, you say? Well, I'm sure I don't know...

[elecampane]

First, art here is awersome.
Second, has Ace burned Slately's body, or has he forgotten because he became ditracted by the necessity of saving Cubbins? The town will be burned soon anyway, though.

[Messenger]

Ace, I disliked you for being so self-important in your first appearance, but you've proven yourself truly admirable and noble. I salute you.
Truly, this is another Crowning Moment of Awesome this webcomic has racked up.

[LTDave]

Also - Holly Shortcake - perhaps the previous dollamancer, who preceded Ace?
If so, this explains why the cloth Golems are all super sweet care bear style creatures, rather than GI Joes.
If the King was fond of Holly, and she cwoaked, he might not have been so happy with her replacement - and neither might the Golems themselves, who are giving him very sour looks.

[hajo]

Oh man, if GK gets Ace AND Cubbins...hell frickin' yes.

Both Sizemore and Ace can do golems, so they would have much to talk about.
That might give Sizemore the insight still missing to reach master-class

Also, the potential for new tri-mancer-links boogle the mind

[BCCroaker]

Ace is wearing the jetpack so he can rescue the wounded Cubbins and carry him to Trammenis's group where he can be healed.
Also, if the cloth golems are made of cotton don't count on them bursting into flame when the reds hit them. At work we are moving back to cotton labcoats instead of polyester mixes because of its flame resistance and oven gloves are made out of it. Of course, in Erfworld cloth may be weak against flame because that is the way the Titans made it

[joosy]

Well, drat, there goes my hope that Slately will be decrypted by Wanda. I don't think Ace CAN 'forget' to burn the body if it was since it was ordered. Ace could choose not to if he thought it was in the best interest of his side or if he was delayed by enemy actions or by a countermanding order. Per Stanley's rant at Parson when he 'forgot' to manage the city, Ace would automatically disband if he did not follow an order unless he thought it was in the best interest of the side.

So.. what is Parson going to do with Wanda and the 'Pliers, a out of juice Jack, and an out of control Sylvia and a bunch of grounded decrypted dwagons? Hopefully we will find out before Thanksgiving!

[joosy]

Also - Holly Shortcake - perhaps the previous dollamancer, who preceded Ace?
If so, this explains why the cloth Golems are all super sweet care bear style creatures, rather than GI Joes.
If the King was fond of Holly, and she cwoaked, he might not have been so happy with her replacement - and neither might the Golems themselves, who are giving him very sour looks.

It doesn't read! Why doesn't it read?!?!

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[0beron]

Awwwwwwwww the Ace/Cubbins thing is getting me choked up. Further proof that Cybbins is too cute to croak...if he does then Ace would cry...and Rob won't let super-manly Ace cry :p

[Kaed]

Trem is affected by the strongest sadamancy ever.

Though after waking up briefly in the middle of the night to read this, I had a dream. I dreamed that when Trem actually began leading the troops out, he forced on his cheerful joviality facade again.

That was even more sad. :c

[0beron]

Also speaking of Ace/Cubbins....I may be a biased fanboy for saying this, but I have a bit of a request. So far the comic has kinda taken the typical internet slant of "ooooooh sexy lesbian action!" while ignoring the gays. So could we maybe get a little something? A kiss, a flashback in a text update? Just a little something similar to Wanda/Olive and Wanda/Jillian to make the gaymers cheer.
No-One kinda mentioned it in a thread over here so if the readers have opinions on the lesbian/gay imbalance, maybe we should discuss there instead of the main thread.

[Sieggy]

Awesome art, awesome writing. And what I find REALLY interesting is that Ace allowed his friendship for Cubbins to override direct orders from royalty. Yes, he's rationalizing that the bonus he gives the golems is more important than his retreating with Trem, but still . . . HE'S DISOBEYING A DIRECT ORDER AND NOT AUTODISBANDING! It might be a case of 'for the greater good', as when Wanda refused to appoint just another pretty boy as CWL, but still . . .

I wonder if the 'autodisband' function only works of you believe it and feel you actually deserve it - if disbanding is as much a matter of faith as anything else. Piers Anthony had something like this in one of his books, where Satan had the power to destroy / disband demons, but the greatest secret (that the newly appointed Satan had to discover for himself on order to secure his position) was that he could only do so because if he couldn't, the power structure of hell was meaningless. So all of hell went along with the illusion that Satan had that power. And even though they knew it was bogus, if he ordered them destroyed, they were destroyed because it was better than hell going to hell . . .

And I note that it takes stress and pressure to bring about independence of thought and action . . . and that may be Parson's true purpose. To war so terribly, to place such stresses on Erfworld because of the innovations he brings, that other units are forced to become more than mere units. In order to deal with HIS thinking outside the box, they are forced to as well. And thinking outside the box makes them realize that there IS a box . . . First, the high level ones, but eventually to where all of Erf are bound to duty not out of a loyalty stat, but a true choice of free will. The end of Book One may encapsulate the entire arch - where final victory and fulfillment of prophecy is when all of Erf can throw away their swords and tell the Titans "FUCK YOU!'.