02/20/09 [DMFA #974] - vowing

[Jairus]

Honestly, speaking as one who sees "stopping points" everywhere, I don't see it.  There are far too many plot threads that have built up, with "why did Dan take up adventuring?" not even having one of the top spots. 

Other signs of this not being the end include:
1. The fact that the site is being upgraded
2. The wallpaper war for the skins on the comic site
3. The fact that some chump paid about $2000 for a cameo in an upcoming arc...

Some other chump would have willingly beaten that chump if the other chump could have afforded it...

[Baal Hadad]

If not for Kria's punchline at the end, I would think this particular update could serve as a (very cruel) ending to DMFA.  I know it won't be, and I'm glad, but it's going to feel like that until the next update....

Honestly, speaking as one who sees "stopping points" everywhere, I don't see it.  There are far too many plot threads that have built up, with "why did Dan take up adventuring?" not even having one of the top spots.  Not to mention how abrupt it would be. (Among other things, we just met Regina within the same arc, and recently at that.  That usually isn't a great way to resolve the great end-all question of the story.)

Or did you mean cruel to the readers?  I'm flashing back to A Series of Unfortunate Events now...

I did mean cruel to the readers, and I was referring to the comic itself, rather than in context with the rest of the comic....

...which basically means that what I said made no sense at all, and is to be disregarded.

(Maybe what I meant was that it was a good time for a commercial break--they always put those in the worst places imaginable....)

[e_voyager]

Some other chump would have willingly beaten that chump if the other chump could have afforded it...

that sounds about right. wow i was not expecting the price to be that high.

[Tapewolf]

Oh come on, you can't use a 50's theme song. Everybody knows that if someone's got wings and tentacles and is shirtless, you need a bunch of screeching powerchords.

I was going for keyboards, brass and choir.  And tubular bells for that 'absolutely doomed' feeling...

QED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq5LIb9TUws

[SpottedKitty]

Nice soundtrack, but when the "action theme" started it totally blew away the dialogue — if I didn't know the script, I wouldn't have known what they were saying. And it sounded a bit fuzzy, is this a general problem with the extra compression YouTube adds? I was sure the other downloaded files I have sound a lot better.

Despite that, though, the whole thing sets the mood perfectly. I like it!

[Tapewolf]

Nice soundtrack, but when the "action theme" started it totally blew away the dialogue — if I didn't know the script, I wouldn't have known what they were saying. And it sounded a bit fuzzy, is this a general problem with the extra compression YouTube adds? I was sure the other downloaded files I have sound a lot better.

It was a different audio mix. People seemed to prefer the distorted version for some reason, so I went with that.  The original, un-YouTube'd version can be had here if anyone's interested:
http://tapewolf.wildernessguardians.com/video/Regina.mov

Despite that, though, the whole thing sets the mood perfectly. I like it!

Thanks.

[SpottedKitty]

The original, un-YouTube'd version can be had here if anyone's interested:
http://tapewolf.wildernessguardians.com/video/Regina.mov

Sounds a lot less fuzzy, so that's probably a YouTube artifact. I can still hear almost none of the dialogue (apart from Dan's shouting) over the music track, though.

Hmm. Just noticed, the two little "level meter" graphics in QuickTime (still using v7.0.4) almost go up to 11 as soon as the music starts. Doesn't that indicate it's a bit loud? It's supposed to be called "background" music, after all...

[Tapewolf]

Sounds a lot less fuzzy, so that's probably a YouTube artifact. I can still hear almost none of the dialogue (apart from Dan's shouting) over the music track, though.

Honestly?  The centrepiece of the video was Dan, so I didn't take as much care over the rest of it.

Incidentally:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq5LIb9TUws&fmt=6
...improves the soundtrack quality, but knackers the visuals.

Hmm. Just noticed, the two little "level meter" graphics in QuickTime (still using v7.0.4) almost go up to 11 as soon as the music starts. Doesn't that indicate it's a bit loud? It's supposed to be called "background" music, after all...

Dunno what you did there - it's looks just shy of peaking on mine (7.6).  'Too loud' is when the whole thing is a solid block, though I take your point that the sound mix could be improved.  Call it dramatic license.

It's kind of odd - when I record songs, the vocals are always too high, and when I record a radio series, the score is always too high.

[SpottedKitty]

It's kind of odd - when I record songs, the vocals are always too high, and when I record a radio series, the score is always too high.

Maybe related to the epidemic of "backgroundmusic-itis" that's afflicted affected most A/V media in recent years — e.g. I'm frequently tempted to call the local radio station and tell them I like the news and urgent weather and traffic reports, but there seems to be someone talking over the music...

Maybe you've heard someone's comment on the new remake of "Minder"? Re-watching one of the old 70s episodes, every word is clear as a bell. In one of the new ones, it's almost impossible to make out what people are saying. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, maybe my hearing's starting to go (both true, I suppose) but if there's dialogue it's nice to be able to hear it without checking my hearing aid batteries.

[Tapewolf]

Looks like format 18 gives the best audio and video quality.  e.g:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq5LIb9TUws&fmt=18

...though it doesn't fix the audio balance in the recording itself, obviously!

[e_voyager]

nice work i like

[Terrion]

That video was friggin AWSOME! 

Great... Now I feel like a big fat panda...

Anyway, now I have YouTube video archives to dive into! 

[Tapewolf]

Some people (Janus, Jairus etc) have pointed out that Dan is liable to feel like crap in the morning when he comes down from his 'Cubi high, as it were.   Normally I'd agree, but now I'm starting to wonder.

Strip 868 is the interesting point.  I think someone else mentioned this in passing, but it bears repeating.  In this strip, Dan confronts Biggs, to try and find Destania (that it's really her is irrelevant here).  Maybe he hasn't thought of it in terms of a slippery slope, but this marks the turning point - he's deliberately and premeditatedly decided to utilise his 'Cubi powers to gain advantage (as opposed to the headwing-hiding which basically did what the patch did anyway).

From there, I see it as only being a matter of scale as to whether he uses those powers to find his mother or fillet Regina.  The point is, he's already taken the plunge.

Maybe he'll still feel crappy because he went further than he'd intended, but I'm no longer quite as convinced.  I think what we're seeing is a bit more like the swords in 552, where he's starting to realise that there's stuff to it that an adventurer would find cool.

[Janus Whitefurr]

Maybe he'll still feel crappy because he went further than he'd intended, but I'm no longer quite as convinced.  I think what we're seeing is a bit more like the swords in 552, where he's starting to realise that there's stuff to it that an adventurer would find cool.

There is a difference between using your abilities when still in full control of all your faculties - Dan consciously makes the decision to use his incubus abilities, out of a "well, I guess I should try sometime" mindset, when he reads Biggstania's mind (and gets punched for it).

However, in these comics, Dan is clearly in a rage. Someone who's violently and emotionally yelling that he's going to destroy someone is not in full control of themselves. Hence he's using the abilities reflexively, not consciously. He didn't think "oh I might use these powers", he's just straight out augmenting his ability to fight with them on instinct.

Which is why the belief is out there that when he comes down from his combat/emotional high, he may or may not realise that while he was berserkering about, he looked very much like the monster he doesn't want to become. Posterchild for 'losing control', as it were.

Also, mind-reading and violent (however justified it may be) killing are very different matters of scale - that argument is slippery in itself.

[Tapewolf]

However, in these comics, Dan is clearly in a rage. Someone who's violently and emotionally yelling that he's going to destroy someone is not in full control of themselves. Hence he's using the abilities reflexively, not consciously. He didn't think "oh I might use these powers", he's just straight out augmenting his ability to fight with them on instinct.

That's something I'm not wholly clear on, i.e. to what extent he's lost it.  IMHO the proof of that is what happens when someone else tries to intervene - if he starts slashing at Lorenda or Abel when they try to drag him away from Regina etc, then no question, he's out of it and he'll feel awful in the morning.  I guess it's something we're liable to find out when the strip resumes.

Then again, there's an argument that having his tentacle-heads bopped by a reinforced door is enough to shock him out of what he's doing.  Again, we'll know a lot more next time he appears.

Which is why the belief is out there that when he comes down from his combat/emotional high, he may or may not realise that while he was berserkering about, he looked very much like the monster he doesn't want to become. Posterchild for 'losing control', as it were.

On balance you're probably right, I just don't think it's quite as open-and-shut as it could be.  As for poster-children, I think Aniz-vs-Hennya still holds that position... Dan sees to have more awareness of what he's doing, IMHO.

Also, mind-reading and violent (however justified it may be) killing are very different matters of scale - that argument is slippery in itself.

Give him the benefit of the doubt - Regina's still alive.  In fact, she doesn't have a scratch on her at the moment.  For all we know, he's trying to scare the crap out of her, though I'll admit that seems a trifle unlikely given what he did to the pillars.  (Though the pillars themselves may prove your wider point, i.e. Dan's lost it)

[Pagan]

Regina is still alive because Regina ran. If it were Dan's choice, I'm sure she would be dead by now. And cremated.

[Tapewolf]

Regina is still alive because Regina ran. If it were Dan's choice, I'm sure she would be dead by now. And cremated.

You raise an interesting point.  Dan would have heard her think "Piddle self, Run!".  Why isn't she dead?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Regina is still alive because Regina ran. If it were Dan's choice, I'm sure she would be dead by now. And cremated.

You raise an interesting point.  Dan would have heard her think "Piddle self, Run!".  Why isn't she dead?

Comedic irony. Narrativium. The needs of the story.

Or, if he can read "run" out of her thoughts, he's still got to process it, realise it, and react. It may just be that the processing takes a fraction of a second, realising it takes another fraction, and reacting takes another fraction... by which time she's taken to her heels.

Just my 2p, of course.

[Tapewolf]

Comedic irony. Narrativium. The needs of the story.

Plot device, in other words.  A fair point.

[Psy-Kosh]

I'd say he did hear. She started running as she thought it perhaps, and he right away started giving chase. Unless I'm completely missing something here, doesn't seem like there's much contradiction here at all.

[inuhanyo]

Throwing in my 2 pence worth.

Dan did not make the vow he's yelling about just recently.  Not since he found out he's an incubus, not since the comic began.  He it made back when Regina escaped six years ago, probably only minutes afterwards, certainly not more than days later.  In a sense, as far as Regina (and only Regina) is concerned, he has been a mine set to go off.  For years. 

The difference his being a 'cubi has made, is that he was a lot more awesome when it happended.  For Regina, read terrifying.  And that most likely saved her life.  From their encounter six years ago, she was scared enough of him that she didn't want to face him without a weapon.  (Which is impressive, if you think about it.  What does a demon need a weapon for?) 

If he didn't have his 'cubi powers, she probably would have been able to circle around and get a hold of a weapon and face him.  And he would have killed her.  Regina seems to have had no conception of how much more dangerous Daniel had become, just as a Being adventurer.  He took down Dark Pegasus, twice.  An opponent over seven centuries older than Regina.  She'd have been toast.  And Dan, who has been prepared for this encounter for years, would have no regrets.

And when she discovered "that adventurer's son" she fought six years ago had grown into an incubus,  she abandoned the idea of fighting him,  fled (arguably in terror), and locked herself into a reinforced room.  The correct decision, for her.  The only way she would have survived this encounter. 

Dan's mistake was, when she turned and ran the second time, he didn't follow immediately after his stretching attacks missed.  He stood and yelled at her, giving her the precious seconds of time she'd need to open and close that door behind her.

Dan was certainly wrathfull, his voice balloons when he first saw Regina and again at the columns were drawn like Albion's when Albion was laying the Fae curse bangles on Jyrras  But Dan was never berserk like Aniz was when Aniz killed Hennya.   Of course, Aniz never wanted to kill Hennya, while Dan has planned to kill Regina on their next encounter for years.