Book 2 – Page 97

[Nakedkali]

Anyone understand the "dookeda" bit?

I'm with Efftagius here. I've spoken english all my life and in that half century I have never used "dookeda" as a drumroll onomatopoeia. It's weird enough that I supposed that it was a pun, the words to a spell, or a reference to something Stupidworldish that I didn't know about.

[bladestorm]

Anyone understand the "dookeda" bit?

I'm with Efftagius here. I've spoken english all my life and in that half century I have never used "dookeda" as a drumroll onomatopoeia. It's weird enough that I supposed that it was a pun, the words to a spell, or a reference to something Stupidworldish that I didn't know about.

What do you use for a drumroll onomatopoeia?

[splexis]

What do you use for a drumroll onomatopoeia?

Da da da da da da da.

Dum dum dum dum dum.

Da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum.

[wrecan]

So...famous Seans who are drummers?

Sean Mattox. He's not a drummer. He's a kickstarter contributor.

[elynne]

What's the effect-sound in the second-to-last panel? "PARCH"?

[BLANDCorporatio]

What is meant by B.C. that our zatanna-alike is saying?

Given the context in which "B.C." is said, I have a theory but it is too tinfoil for this margin to contain.

I wonder what impact there would be on Jeftichew if he found out that his once-beloved, now-decrypted, fate-cheating Lady Sylvia was on the other side of the portal. Would he be reluctant to send Parson through, knowing that Sylvia's fate might assist in assuring Parson's survival, or would he rejoice, knowing that anyone around Sylvia has an extra big displacement target on them?

Excellent update. Now to await the next infusion of pink flower.

Sylvia as bad luck charm. Awesome. I wonder, if only Parson knew, how he'd game that.

[effataigus]

What's the effect-sound in the second-to-last panel? "PARCH"?

I think it's Rob's official sound effect for turning to dust:

http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F118.jpg

On the offchance you don't know this, it also means "To become very dry."

Show us the tin, BLAND!

So...famous Seans who are drummers?

Sean Mattox. He's not a drummer. He's a kickstarter contributor.

So much for my theory about initials... beats me!

[BLANDCorporatio]

No.

I do wonder though, whether in the mix of meanings that are put into B.C. (it's obviously a command or an appelative), there's a reference to the comic strip of the same name. Don't know why that would make sense though, just throwing it in.

[BLANDCorporatio]

So much for my theory about initials...

Not necessarily.

[elynne]

I think it's Rob's official sound effect for turning to dust:

http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F118.jpg

On the offchance you don't know this, it also means "To become very dry."

Ahah! Yeah, I knew the definition, and guessed at the connection, but that panel confirms it, thank you.

[Zeku]

As a guy who owned nearly every paperback BC, Wizard of Id, Garfield, Charlie Brown, (my valued possession, which I passed on to a grubby nephew) and many others, I can tell you that "Hey, BC!" was one of the very early, if not the earliest paperbacks for BC. It was the one with the unusual art style, that all cartoonists have early in their career, before they settle on a style they like.

This is almost certainly, 'be cool,' given her hand being on Sean's shoulder, as well as an overt reference to this specific comic book.

The christian references and messages in both BC and Charlie Brown are a kind of powerful but non-invasive communication that you simply don't see anywhere else. No one has the talent, knowledge, courage, or the support on the ground, to specifically teach good moral principles through art, at least, not without using a sledgehammer. So in my mind, these books are priceless.

[Itoh]

I assumed B.C. stood for be cool - telling him not to fly off the handle, to wait and see what happens.

[YRM_DM]

It's all pretty obvious that Charlie is going to screw Parson yet again and he'll be stuck in enemy territory leveling up, no way to get home, limited army, maybe no Wanda to help. It's been setting up for this for ages. Parson has been at the portal for almost 2 years of real time.

But wouldn't it be cool if somehow, something unexpected actually does happen? What if Slately fails to secure the throne? What if Charlie manages not to totally break rules to eff over Parson for once and something not-obvious happens?

Not sure how that'd work out story wise but my fingers are crossed. Two years after Parson started running down the tunnel, he's finally going to walk through. Hopefully some stuff we're all not expecting ends up going down.

[Zeku]

To be fair to Rob (and the totally free content) we've gotten a lot of story, more than we did when Erfworld first started. But the fractured nature of it, and the portal roadblock, has been tedious. I'll be so happy when this particular plot point is resolved. It definitely feels like too much expository setup with no actual plot progression. Parson is unquestionably a main character, and the character who is one of the least interesting, Jillian, has been getting endless attention.

I think more than anything else, we need to see Parson in control again. The inexplicable stupidity of his journey through the MK, and the rather obvious nature of the trap being laid for him, is simply uncharacteristic for him, regardless of his feelings about war. I'll be satisfied if it's revealed that he has a specific plan in mind upon breaching the portal. I think we also need clarity about who Parson is. He can't be a Sylar, turning good or bad based on the necessities of his situation or what time of day it is. He either needs to embrace his callous role as a Perfect Warlord, or embrace humanity, and start doing strategically useless things.

This is the critical moment. He's just gotten a lot of key confirmations about the players at work here, what's going on in Erfworld, and who and what Charlie, the hippiemancers, and the thinkamancers are. Regardless of good or evil, he as an individual must choose what he believes in, what he's fighting for, and pursue it with the skill and precision he's known for. I definitely get the feeling that Rob has been drawing from the forum posts, to determine what's going on in Erf, and that can't happen this time. What's happens next will be based on who the individual characters actually are.

Charlie is established as a killer, he will destroy a stupidworlder to maintain 'the Royals,' which we infer to mean his own supremacy. Pason does not know this. The thinkamancers see Charlie as a threat, but it's not revealed exactly what it is they don't like about him, other than his ubiquitous nature. The hippiemancers are 100% hypocritical, but we're assuming for now that this is an essential part of being a peace lover in a world built for endless war.

If Rob is going for a Gainax ending (nothing makes any sense) or a CLAMP ending (the Big Bad is actually the Savior of the World) then anything goes for any character. But if he's playing things straight, we know for sure who the good guys and bad guys are, and it's time to start resolving things. It's time for Parson to make his choices.

[drachefly]

I'd bet Rob has the main events planned out in advance, and only tweaks things in response to us. Of course, we could never really settle the bet, but seriously. Do you think he's done all THIS and is then going to let us lead him around by the nose?

[bladestorm]

To be fair to Rob (and the totally free content) we've gotten a lot of story, more than we did when Erfworld first started. But the fractured nature of it, and the portal roadblock, has been tedious. I'll be so happy when this particular plot point is resolved. It definitely feels like too much expository setup with no actual plot progression. Parson is unquestionably a main character, and the character who is one of the least interesting, Jillian, has been getting endless attention.

I think more than anything else, we need to see Parson in control again. The inexplicable stupidity of his journey through the MK, and the rather obvious nature of the trap being laid for him, is simply uncharacteristic for him, regardless of his feelings about war. I'll be satisfied if it's revealed that he has a specific plan in mind upon breaching the portal. I think we also need clarity about who Parson is. He can't be a Sylar, turning good or bad based on the necessities of his situation or what time of day it is. He either needs to embrace his callous role as a Perfect Warlord, or embrace humanity, and start doing strategically useless things.

This is the critical moment. He's just gotten a lot of key confirmations about the players at work here, what's going on in Erfworld, and who and what Charlie, the hippiemancers, and the thinkamancers are. Regardless of good or evil, he as an individual must choose what he believes in, what he's fighting for, and pursue it with the skill and precision he's known for. I definitely get the feeling that Rob has been drawing from the forum posts, to determine what's going on in Erf, and that can't happen this time. What's happens next will be based on who the individual characters actually are.

Charlie is established as a killer, he will destroy a stupidworlder to maintain 'the Royals,' which we infer to mean his own supremacy. Pason does not know this. The thinkamancers see Charlie as a threat, but it's not revealed exactly what it is they don't like about him, other than his ubiquitous nature. The hippiemancers are 100% hypocritical, but we're assuming for now that this is an essential part of being a peace lover in a world built for endless war.

If Rob is going for a Gainax ending (nothing makes any sense) or a CLAMP ending (the Big Bad is actually the Savior of the World) then anything goes for any character. But if he's playing things straight, we know for sure who the good guys and bad guys are, and it's time to start resolving things. It's time for Parson to make his choices.

It's time for the holidays. The schedule is gonna get screwy again, unless the thankless masses in the forum demand that the writer and artist forsake their holidays for our own entertainment. My view is that this has gone on for so long that another few episodes is not going to make a lot of difference. Forumites have been complaining about how long this has taken to resolve after the first three episode pause. There's something in store, and it requires certain players to be in place for it all to happen. Also, after this much build up, the release is going to have to be well time and well worth it. One or two episodes of resolution is gonna be like waiting two years to score with a really hot chick, and then blowing everything after ten seconds.

If book 1 is any indication of how things are going to progress, we have at least two dozen episodes before a lot of action takes place. The last two episodes indicate that we are already ahead of that.

As for the Jillian storyline, there has to be some parallel between Olive and the current hippymancers. There is going to be more tie-in than just using familiar characters in a before-time story. It's either going to connect to the start of book 1, or lead into book 0.5. My guess for Book 0.5 would be Wanda's life at Faq, leading up to the Fall of Faq, and covering events such as Stanley finding the Hammer, Jetstone finding the Pliers, further development of Charlie, the aftermath of Haffaton, and exposition of more caster types. ).5 would be less focused on Jillian and more on Wanda, Jack, Marie, and possibly Sizemore in his role under King Saline. Book 0.5 would also be a good source for info about the fall of Saline and Stanley's rise to power. Maybe run Stanley's story in parallel to Wanda in Faq's story, until they unite with the fall of Faq (which then leads straight into the start of Book 1, with a few dozen turns left out that we can piece together exactly what happened).

[Goshen]

Oh mi, bad luck Red. Perhaps fate is getting back at you for needing to save your stupid ass repeatedly.

Word!

[hurfburf]

The 5-month portal standoff feels like it's dragging a bit.

[tgriff02]

Oh, and look, guys! Sylvia got dismounted! And she didn't dust from the horrible deadly fall. Amazing!

Y'know, I know you think you're being sarcastic, but you raised a good point:

Getting KNOCKED off a mount is one of those situations where you have a huge real-life chance of incapacitation or death - it counts as one of those "crazy" in-game situations where you might be croaked from a 3 foot fall. (http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -06-12.jpg)

This is overanalyzing, but the detail in the panels might be important because there are three things that could be happening in panels 11 and 12 -

1) Sylvia dismounts voluntarily when her mount is hit (her legs appear to be on the same side of the dwagon, as if she were jumping down; could just be trick of perspective)

2) Sylvia has been "dismounted" by either the impact or her mount croaking

3) Rule of Funny - the mount dusts beneath her, dropping her to the ground (might count as a dismount, or might not)


BTW - when I first saw panel 11, my first thought was that the Sylvia-haters had got their wish and that she had died in an unceremonious Montey Python style "SQUISH". And it was funny.

Sylvia = Fate Armor

[Salvage]

I think everyone is making a false assumption about what it takes to be a "perfect warlord"
The idea seems to be that because erfworld gave Parson a Sword of Ruthlessness that he needs
to be more ruthless in a long term sense, generally more of a unit and less of an earthling.

I would argue that the sword was needed to
a) get Parson thru the BfGK alive
b)teach him somtimes your actions must be determined by results in battle
and c) as an obstacle to overcome in his path to true warlord perfection

Ruthlessness does not a warlord make, or at least not a very good one.
The perfect warlord gets the most from its units and in erfworld morale and
emotions have calculable manipulable effects on and in combat. Morale alters
how effective a unit can be. Ruthlessness breeds mistreatment of your people
by overusing the units that make those people, like Sizemore. I also feel if Parson is
Really a Hippiemancer then Ruthlessness would be counter productive, look
at the problems Olive is having in text updates.