#1221: "Witnesses to our victory!" [Archive] - Page 2

Kurosen

02-23-2010, 11:22 PM

Also, methinks the author doth protest too much. For not caring you sure say it often and publicly.
Once on the forum to directly address the concern and once where other people with the same concern can see it is "often"?

I'm sorry, but I find it ridiculous there's people who, in their words, "refuse to believe" I did what I did. As if it's an unheard of feat to know how a story will end when you start it.

Bob The Mercenary

02-23-2010, 11:25 PM

We all know you winged it. No sense hiding it.

Aldurin

02-23-2010, 11:26 PM

How I Killed Your Master, Warbot, Atomic Robo, and Marvel Gig aren't new enough?

All of those (except the last) were here when I joined. I don't consider them new at all. And the "Marvel Gig" better be some kickass movie or something to make up for . . . essentially . . . doing the unforgivable. Ending 8-bit theater.

Kurosen

02-23-2010, 11:26 PM

We all know you winged it. No sense hiding it.
Noooooooooo, my secret shame revealed!

I don't consider them new at all.
That's a shame, because they are all new.

tshadowdrag

02-24-2010, 12:05 AM

Noooooooooo, my secret shame revealed!

Actually as funny as that might be it's not really a shame in having it turn out that way. The only thing that comes to mind is you must be a sadist around christmas time or any holiday that involves "giving". You're that much of a secret keeper that one can only wonder exactly what to get and it's completely not what they're expecting.

You don't try to destroy the populous with fruitcakes do you on off days?

joshedis

02-24-2010, 12:11 AM

You don't try to destroy the populous with fruitcakes do you on off days?

Of course not. the cake is a (Soon to be censored) lie. He just tries to destroy it with muffins. Or cupcakes. Would cupcakes just be a sub group of muffins? We will need a committee to discuss this pastylogical singularity.

Still Brian, I think what they meant was a new 8-Bit web series. I think you should send the Light Warriors into a new game. But that's just me. Seeing as they are all low leveled, it would be just like starting a new game!

Bob The Mercenary

02-24-2010, 12:21 AM

Still Brian, I think what they meant was a new 8-Bit web series. I think you should send the Light Warriors into a new game. But that's just me. Seeing as they are all low leveled, it would be just like starting a new game!

That might sound like a good idea, but after what will be nearly 1300 episodes...do we really need more Light Warriors?

The artists and writers I enjoy most are the ones who know when to quit. Not continue the same story until it's old and warn out. I promise you that if he did make a continuation of this story, it would have lost some of the spark.

I think he is making a smooth and gradual transition to all Robo all the time, which I would have absolutely no problem with. I think 8-bit was really just a stepping stone. A beginning point meant to eventually lead to his novel being published, and now an established comic career. Down the road, long after 8-bit is buried in some archive in some corner of the internet, we'll all still remember it as one of the best. And it will be because he knew when to quit.

Xshu

02-24-2010, 12:35 AM

How I Killed Your Master, Warbot, Atomic Robo, and Marvel Gig aren't new enough?
None of the have quite the same style of humour as 8-Bit, though. Warbot is a joke on the reader, but in a more depressing and less infuriating way. Not to say it isn't entertaining.

PyrosNine

02-24-2010, 01:16 AM

I swear, the comic's not even over yet and we've got people signing up just to bitch about being happy it's over because they hated it, the usual crazies trying to flame up on those that wish it would continue, and of course those who wish 8bit would continue. People, just be happy with what you're getting...

...The likelihood of a printed compilation. Or the mother of all Ebooks, that could be encoded to make retconical changes once you've read to a certain point to allow future readers to get certain jokes. Or at least an 8bit themed game, as we now know where the story goes and ends.

The only thing I truly desire after 8bit ends, is that, Mister Clevinger, for certain characters to reappear at least in spirit, in other mediums. Even if for one episode of Atomic Robo, a childish meathead walks directly in front of Robo, who is followed by an infuriatingly correct psuedoscientist, and an unscrupulous regal war profiteer, almost as if they were walking in line while arguing about silly things.

Meister

02-24-2010, 03:42 AM

Well folks, here's the confirmation that we're really honestly getting close to the end and not moving towards a new after-Chaos storyline
Usually a confirmation is something that tells you something you didn't already know for certain.

As if it's an unheard of feat to know how a story will end when you start it.
Or to end a story. Seriously folks this "8BT is ending what a catastrophe" shtick has been wearing thin since about two or three years ago.

Mirai Gen

02-24-2010, 04:08 AM

Again.

8BIT THEATER HAS REALLY GONE DOWNHILL SINCE IT ENDED

Veho

02-24-2010, 06:05 AM

8BIT THEATER HAS REALLY GONE DOWNHILL SINCE IT ENDED

You mean...? (http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/12/11/episode-1070-what-were-you-expecting/)

Inst

02-24-2010, 06:31 AM

White Wizards at top level in FF1 can case Fade, which is Pearl or Holy in later games. It's supposed to be as powerful as the Nuke of the Black Wizard.

Kurosen

02-24-2010, 07:40 AM

None of the have quite the same style of humour as 8-Bit, though.
Nothing ever will. 8-bit is what it is. Nothing else will be.

MSperoni

02-24-2010, 08:14 AM

None of the have quite the same style of humour as 8-Bit, though.

Considering HIKYM isn't a comedy comic I think that goes without saying..

Silverwalker

02-24-2010, 09:07 AM

Love it, Brian. Chaos is defeated! White Mage is back! And more little cute characters too.

I didn't remember that Nintendo magazine, but the strip was nice anyway. Looking in the forum thread here I saw it was a reference to something, but it took me forever to find the strip it referred to, because NO ONE would post a link to it. This link:

http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/20/episode-007-kamehameha-or-something/

And by the way, when I first read that strip I did not get ominous bells going off in my mind like some others say they had. Having read later strips before I started from the beginning many years ago I knew White Mage was a girl, so I just assumed that "Four White Mages? It will never work." referred to a foursome, which seemed totally in line with what Black Mage would like to read about.

Anyway, despite not making an immediate connection to strip no 7, and getting what obviously was a mind-blowing experience to some, I enjoyed the strip for the defeat of Chaos and just the ordinary way the characters act. Which is unique for 8-Bit Theater, and the best part of the comic after all. Good job as always, Brian.

Edogaa

02-24-2010, 10:03 AM

:| Brian i have come in to say, you are the evilest, vilest, cruelest, and most sadistic comic writer in all of history. D:

BTW, I had black mages exact reaction as the comic ended that way :|

Well, okay I didn't say GOD DAMMIT IT, but I did think it outloud!

Also, you have two its at the end there :|

FIX IT D: *grammar nazism* or should it be spelling? >_>

Also, for those saying its the end, I doubt its completely over now, I suspect at least 2 or 3 more comics :\

Aldurin

02-24-2010, 10:52 AM

Maybe Square Enix will offer to make an 8-bit theater themed FF remake for DS. It would be so freakin' awesome!! I would buy it.

Aeon221

02-24-2010, 01:02 PM

Are we done with the filler? Get back to King Steve.

Pendy

02-24-2010, 02:21 PM

I just read this yesterday and I have to say wow. That was awesome. It's dissapointing this comic will soon come to an end but it was fun while it lasted.

Mirai Gen

02-24-2010, 02:41 PM

Are we done with the filler? Get back to King Steve.

The King Steve comics are about 20% of 8bit Theater...

malakite

02-24-2010, 04:13 PM

Well,now that I've recovered enough breath to type.
(from,you know, laughing)

AWESOME!!!!!

Except now I feel insufficiently worthy to praise the artist.

Neni

02-24-2010, 04:31 PM

Maybe Square Enix will offer to make an 8-bit theater themed FF remake for DS. It would be so freakin' awesome!! I would buy it.

I would buy it. And play it. And probably love it.

It would be like M&L. Only better. And more awesome. And more extreme.

...Or it would be completly lame, but you never know. :p

Silverwalker

02-24-2010, 05:18 PM

That might sound like a good idea, but after what will be nearly 1300 episodes...do we really need more Light Warriors?

The artists and writers I enjoy most are the ones who know when to quit. Not continue the same story until it's old and warn out. I promise you that if he did make a continuation of this story, it would have lost some of the spark.

I think he is making a smooth and gradual transition to all Robo all the time, which I would have absolutely no problem with. I think 8-bit was really just a stepping stone. A beginning point meant to eventually lead to his novel being published, and now an established comic career. Down the road, long after 8-bit is buried in some archive in some corner of the internet, we'll all still remember it as one of the best. And it will be because he knew when to quit.

It's comments like this one that make it clear that those who take the time to sign up to forums for a comic in general are not the least bit representative for the average reader. The average reader takes a few seconds to read the comic and smiles. He has things to do. He doesn't need to feel important by always talking about how comics get worn out, the jokes are too old, the writer isn't doing it right, blah blah blah. You see these complaints in every comic forum, always the same things. Those who act like this have no life.

The Simpsons really nailed it with that fat, loser comic-book guy whose claim to importance is to pull down stories he gets to enjoy for free. "Worst episode ever!" You know that's a real phrase from a Simpsons forum? The writers thought it was so typical that they included it in the show.

Bard The 5th LW

02-24-2010, 05:25 PM

BloodyMage

02-24-2010, 05:36 PM

I don't even think he was talking about the reader. He was talking about the writer, in this case Brian. There clearly is an end date to this comic which means that plot and story are all going to wrap up at some point. Maybe not neatly, I have no idea, we'll see how it goes, but the point it, it will come to a conclusion, and a conclusion that has been planned.

What you're suggesting is that Brian keeps going after this conclusion, which would require a whole new plot and story for the characters to interact with. But that plot and story might not be as good, and Brian might not want to write it and people will start to say that the comic has gone down hill, or that it's jumped the shark. You the reader might not get worn out from reading it and talking about it, but the story will get worn out because instead of being apart of the original story, it's a forced extension just for the sake of it.

If Brian had a plot and story with which to continue this, then that'd be all well and good, but he clearly intends to end this. Forcing him to continue (though it's not like it's something we can do anyway) would wear out the story and the characters, not the reader.

Donomni

02-24-2010, 05:45 PM

Yeah, but then he wouldn't be working on a Final Fantasy sprite comic that is also for free.

It doesn't matter what he does or says, people are just gonna want more, despite the fact he totally doesn't want to do anymore right now.

It's like reasoning with a brick wall. Not possible.

I'm not really insulting people who'd want more Final Fantasy spoofs, since I'd like him to do another such project sometime, but if the guy says no, you really just need to drop it.

Lost in Time

02-24-2010, 05:50 PM

Maybe now he'll finally getting around to Atomik Age?

mad2physicist

02-24-2010, 06:31 PM

It's comments like this one that make it clear that those who take the time to sign up to forums for a comic in general are not the least bit representative for the average reader. The average reader takes a few seconds to read the comic and smiles. He has things to do. He doesn't need to feel important by always talking about how comics get worn out, the jokes are too old, the writer isn't doing it right, blah blah blah. You see these complaints in every comic forum, always the same things. Those who act like this have no life.

Actually, you see this all the time from those who appreciate fine art. Just because most people denigrate comics as a low-brow medium does not mean that they are. True art knows when the artwork is complete and does not add to it just for the sake of keeping things going.
Bill Waterson, one of the best cartoonists of all time, agreed, and that's why he quit doing Calvin and Hobbes after just 11 years or so.

The Simpsons really nailed it with that fat, loser comic-book guy whose claim to importance is to pull down stories he gets to enjoy for free. "Worst episode ever!" You know that's a real phrase from a Simpsons forum? The writers thought it was so typical that they included it in the show.

First, 'enjoy for free?' If so only because he pirated them. We have to pay for the Simpsons by paying for cable or buying the DVDs. They sell it to the tv networks, who sell to the cable companies, who sell to us. NOT free entertainment. Secondly, the Simpsons have written some monumentally bad episodes. I love the show, but they have definitely had some of the worst moments on TV as well.
Also, the Simpsons fans generally object to cases where the writers obviously care less about character and consistency than a peacock.

On a completely different topic, I do apologize to Brian! I didn't realize just how early the 'four white mages' joke had been mentioned. At the time when I read that, I had thought it was just a little side-joke, not a setup, and then I forgot about it. So I thought that this joke had been only set up from like episode 300, not episode 7.

GrandMasterPlanetEater

02-24-2010, 07:30 PM

Longest setup? Eh, I dunno. I'd call that less of a setup and more two separate jokes referring to the same thing. Still funny.

AngelFoodBB

02-24-2010, 09:46 PM

Once on the forum to directly address the concern and once where other people with the same concern can see it is "often"?
The front page, yes. That's the indicator that you actually care. Normally when people don't care they don't care enough to tell people more than once they don't care. So it seems either you made the ending up not long before the comic, which isn't very likely, or you actually do care if people believe you did.

Nuklear Waste

02-24-2010, 10:29 PM

Longest setup? Eh, I dunno. I'd call that less of a setup and more two separate jokes referring to the same thing. Still funny.
Well, Black Mage says 4 white mages would never work, and then, lo and behold, it did. It's definitely more than just two jokes referring to the same thing--I think that would be both jokes mentioning 4 white mages and only being connected through the reference, rather than one joke following up on the other.

Yeah, a "true" setup would probably be like throwing something into space and then, 9 years later, it lands on a character, but I think it still qualifies.

Kurosen

02-24-2010, 10:34 PM

The front page, yes. That's the indicator that you actually care.
I said I don't?

As I've explained, I find it ridiculous that people think it's sooo outlandish to set up something and then deliver the pay off...which consists entirely of "waiting." It's not particularly hard to do. I find it extra ridiculous because I do things like this all the time. That this one is so unbelievable to some seems silly.

stapler942

02-24-2010, 10:49 PM

I agree. Didn't we just witness a similar payoff to a joke made near the beginning a bit ago? I'm thinking of the "it's never nighttime around here until we stay at the inn" gag.

UndrDog

02-24-2010, 10:49 PM

Sorry about this, but here comes a butt-load of separate thoughts.

I distinctly remember that comic and thought it could have a baring on the end of the comic. However I thought BM read "Four Mages" and not "Four White Mages". If I wasn't so sure that Brian had this planned from the beginning I would think he pulled a red ninja on us.

I think the people who "want something new" after 8-Bit are anticipating the loss of the nostalgia factor that 8-Bit brings us three times a week. Personally I love Warbot but 8-Bit inherently has running gags and character interaction that Warbot can't emulate. HIKYM is a completely different genre. Atomic Robo is amazing! But harder to get a fix three times a week.

In short I can understand why people are upset. I'm upset too, but all good things must come to an end.

Everyone here should go back and replay FF with all White Mages. ^_^

...however in a desperate attempt to get future 8-Bit without a huge commitment from Brian... How about little side stories for Fighter, BM, RM, Thief, WM, and Black Belt. The length of the Trickster and King Steve segments maybe?

Last thing. Anyone read the latest bit of news on the main page? Did anyone else read "A comic store in O-Town" and immediately think of "Rocko's Modern Life"? Tell Heffer "Hi" for me Brian!

/end of rambling.

Solid Snake

02-24-2010, 10:53 PM

Hint to Brian: By responding so frequently and almost exclusively to those who foolishly question the integrity of your narrative (or however you'd like to phrase it,) you're merely fueling the fire of those who are criticizing you. (The vast majority of whom are trolls trying to irk you for the lols.)

I mean I'm just sayin', I think you're far better off not saying anything at all. Those who appreciate your work will tend to give you the benefit of the doubt by default (or at least offer you constructive criticism with actual merit), but regardless of what you say, plenty of others will line up to take potshots. Never mind the fact that they couldn't write anything half as successful as 8BT if they tried. (Well, that's true for me as well, but we'll ignore that point.)

If you keep givin' 'em cookies, they'll keep asking for glasses of milk.

stapler942

02-24-2010, 10:57 PM

As a side note, it occurs to me (and this is just speculation) that part of what made comic 007 such a great setup was how little it drew attention to itself. What do I mean by this? Well, readers might have been inclined to remember 007 as the debut of BM's Hadoken, a staple of the entire series (as with the comic that introduced sword-chucks). Buried under the most obvious development is a one-liner that you would never expect to be mentioned twice.

Bob The Mercenary

02-24-2010, 11:06 PM

Okay, this is really getting on my fucking nerves now.

You know the first 8-bit flash animation they made? Yeah, the "four white mages" line was in that.

Do you really think Brian is enough of a scumbag to go back, change a comic to fit a joke, and claim not only in the title of the comic, not only several times in this thread, but on the front fucking page that it was planned from the start? And even if he did modify #7, what degenerate antisocial shut-in would actually care enough to take him to task on it? Even further than that, who would care if he cared?

It's always been a theory of mine that there is no such thing as stupidity, just various stages of ignorance. This thread, however, is putting my theory to the test.

Kurosen

02-24-2010, 11:09 PM

Hint to Brian:
I know. But I've always had a weakness for demonstrating to people when they're being kinda stupid.

Aldurin

02-24-2010, 11:42 PM

It's always been a theory of mine that there is no such thing as stupidity, just various stages of ignorance. This thread, however, is putting my theory to the test.

Your theory holds, stupid is simply the superdense ignorance in the form of action or thought. Everyone has some to varying degrees.

I like to be one of those people who think of it as a resource instead of a waste product, and use it to be weird and (on random occasions) funny. 8-bit theater was probably one of my biggest mentors in that field, and I thank Brian for that.

Now, back to listening to the Silver City theme in Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando for the 15th time today.

P.S. I declare my text to be green from this point on.

MSperoni

02-24-2010, 11:51 PM

I've always had a weakness for demonstrating to people when they're being kinda stupid.

*grumbles* Camels! (pay no attention to that, everyone else)

About the setup thing: 8-bit's a comedy, and Brian's a comedian, and the 4 White Mage joke is a punchline. A really really long punchline but still a punchline. Part of delivering a joke is setting things up. That's how comedy works. That's really how writing works in general. If you're an aspiring writer and you think what he did in 8-bit isn't plausible, maybe you ought to practice the ol' craft some more.

Also I think that if he really had no idea what was going to happen and pulled it out of thin air, I would think, based on what other bizarre shit has happened in this comic, that it would be MORE bizarre. I mean, really, this outcome could have been predicted. Sure, you'd have to really make a big guess, but it's a plausible outcome. White Mage has said forever that she wants to stop Chaos, she was never dead (Red Mage cured her, remember?), and was inexplicably gone for awhile. The only oddities are the 3 buddies she has with her (Is a big 'Team White Mage vs Chaos' wallpaper called for?)

I think an ending truly from left-field would be like.. "Oh here's a fire arrow and *crush* goes down Chaos via the Giant Cannon." or "Hey here's Dragoon again." or "Chaos slips in King Steve's shit and falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his neck."

Aldurin

02-24-2010, 11:55 PM

(Is a big 'Team White Mage vs Chaos' wallpaper called for?)

HELL YES!!

Eldezar

02-25-2010, 12:06 AM

P.S. I declare my text to be green from this point on.

The cool thing about this is that if you stare at the text for a little bit, then quickly highlight all of it, it momentarily looks green.

Archbio

02-25-2010, 12:20 AM

At first I thought that it seemed probable that the punchline was devised after the set-up. I mean, it's just didn't seem like that big of a thing (comedically, thematically or any way that I could look at it), and I couldn't remember any build up. I also didn't think it was a big deal, like the lynchpin of the entire webcomic.

Now it seems like it was made into a big deal, and I'm just left scratching my head. Everybody's arguing what the author's intention was, and I think it just kind of highlights how problematic that can be.

As for the author being too insistent about the question: if people think that you're liable to lie to get your work look just a little tiny bit more clever, then they're not going to believe you the second, third or even fourth time. It's not like it's that outlandish of proposition, either. Pettier things have happened.

But this is just so out of proportion. It is what it is, regardless of the author's intention.
If the joke's place in the comic is that of this extremely clever masterstroke, and that it doesn't match this expectation for a reader: then that's ground enough for criticism. If something in a work of fiction that was invented at the very end of writing, but fits just as well as if it had been in mind from the beginning, then it really doesn't matter now, does it? What's important is what on the page, there's really not much of a point in referring to the workings of the author's mind directly. Criticism can relate to an author's intention, but indirectly.

Never mind the fact that they couldn't write anything half as successful as 8BT if they tried.

That really doesn't seem like something that should be minded, you're right.

Random Ninja

02-25-2010, 12:20 AM

Has anyone pointed out he misspelled Priest yet?

mad2physicist

02-25-2010, 12:51 AM

Your theory holds, stupid is simply the superdense ignorance in the form of action or thought. Everyone has some to varying degrees.

I must disagree. Stupidity can have two forms: ignorance and irrationality (unless that is what you mean by ignorance in action). I have seen ample evidence that both hold in epidemic proportions amongst college students, from which I infer that they probably hold in the world at large.

Brian did not change the comic. Go back and look at the eBook versions or the flash version as someone pointed out. Find someone who has an eBook version from some time ago if you think he would have changed all these as well? And, why would anyone be randomly questioning his thought processes, and why would he randomly claim to have come up with this in a fallacious way? I have no doubt that his tale of how he developed this setup is correct in its essential points.

BTW, is Speroni's signature quote a criticism that came from Brian, or from a fan?

MSperoni

02-25-2010, 12:53 AM

"Am I drawing a crock of shit? Tell me something, is this comic called How I Killed Your Crock of Shit?"

That? That's just a modified version of something Dr. Sanchez (the guy who used to be in my avatar) says in the show Darkplace :)

The original quote is "Am I holding a crock of shit? Tell me something, is this hospital called Saint Crock of Shit?!"

Archbio

02-25-2010, 12:57 AM

"Am I holding a crock of shit? Tell me something, is this hospital called Saint Crock of Shit?!"

Was it called that? I'm dying to know.

PsychicKid

02-25-2010, 01:03 AM

This may be pointless to ask, but I'm assuming 8bit theater's archives will stick around indefinitely after it ends, right? Sometimes when I get bored or need a mega-dose of nostalgia, I go and re-read it over a weekend with a nice big bag of Doritos.

God I need to get out more.

MSperoni

02-25-2010, 01:17 AM

Was it called that? I'm dying to know.

Naw, the hospital was called "Darkplace Hospital (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkplace)". A hospital set, "over the very gates of Hell," in Romford, East London.

Meister

02-25-2010, 05:31 AM

This may be pointless to ask, but I'm assuming 8bit theater's archives will stick around indefinitely after it ends, right?
Well if you want to be absolutely sure you should probably download the CBZ or PDF versions ("indefinitely" is a pretty strong word when computer files are involved) but I don't think Brian's going to take them down on his own accord anytime soon.

I mean, really, this outcome could have been predicted. Sure, you'd have to really make a big guess, but it's a plausible outcome.
That's why no one ever predicted it.

Green Spanner

02-25-2010, 05:51 AM

Naw, the hospital was called "Darkplace Hospital (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkplace)". A hospital set, "over the very gates of Hell," in Romford, East London.

I went to Romford last week. I got a cough and it won't go away.

Also, I would like to reaffirm my belief that Brian remembering the four white mages thing in comic 7/having the time to go through the archives searching for a joke to use and/or edit past comics considering all the shit he has to do nowadays is waaaaaay more of a stretch than him having plannned what is a pretty simple (albeit unpredictable) plot twist from the start? Especially as he has a track record of doing stuff like this.

Kirby Pufocia

02-25-2010, 02:05 PM

I think episode 8 or 9 was the most recent one when I first found this thing, "back in the day," so I can attest to the Nintendo Power (now brick) joke having been there from the beginning. Not that I should have to, as the whole allegation seems to stem from middlin' to severe brain damage anyway.

Or maybe I'm part of the conspiracy, a secret cabal sworn to protect the public from the terrible truth of Brian's comic-altering ways. I mean even if it was true, it's his goddamn comic, shut up, that's stupid and you're stupid.

Veho

02-25-2010, 02:53 PM

These archive-changing comics give me an idea. How about a comic featuring time-travel, where any time travel and changing of the past actually changes the whole archive from the moment the character travelled to to the current comic (or up to some point where his influence stops interfering with the past or the two timelines become identical again despite his meddling, if that is the case). The whole new timeline would have to be drawn in advance, so that the entire stretch of the archive could be replaced at once. Following it would be hell. Trying to turn it into a book format would be a living nightmare.

But it would be interesting.

GrandMasterPlanetEater

02-25-2010, 03:02 PM

I distinctly remember that comic [...]. However I thought BM read "Four Mages" and not "Four White Mages".

And I could have swore that Black Mage referenced it again with the words "Four White Mages? No way!" (sexual innuendo) when they were all looking at magazines in bed. And I recall that the desert in the original Legend of Zelda was located on the far west side of the map. And I remember Conan the Destroyer being a decent movie. As a species, our memory SUCKS.

Zinos

02-25-2010, 03:58 PM

"Four White Mages? It'll never work." (http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/20/episode-007-kamehameha-or-something/) is the first thing i thought of when i read this one.

MatadorBID

02-25-2010, 05:39 PM

Hence the title, "Episode 1221: Longest Set Up In Webcomic History" [-D

UndrDog

02-25-2010, 06:02 PM

And I could have swore that Black Mage referenced it again with the words "Four White Mages? No way!" (sexual innuendo) when they were all looking at magazines in bed. And I recall that the desert in the original Legend of Zelda was located on the far west side of the map. And I remember Conan the Destroyer being a decent movie. As a species, our memory SUCKS.

Yep, but that doesn't mean I don't have to be disappointed in myself. =P Besides, an all Red Mage team is a pretty common party make-up.

But anyway, this doesn't mean we can stop predicting future releases just because the comic's almost over. (and because Brian's too radical to predict.) Has anyone ever suggested that White Mage may be true Chaos? I mean she did take his role of creator of the universe from him. And it would offer a different explanation for BM's lust for her.

Funka Genocide

02-25-2010, 06:28 PM

I knew it was going to be anticlimactic but wow.

I didn't even laugh, I'm pretty sure it wasn't even funny, but for some reason there's this sense of rightness to it. I am not disappointed, in fact I don't know how I feel.

I wish it had a campy ending theme song to go along with it.

mad2physicist

02-25-2010, 08:06 PM

I would have laughed, but I didn't get it at first, because I over-thought it.
See my assumption was 'oh, it was four white mages! Of course! Chaos probably takes damage from heal spells, so four white mages is the logical way to beat him!' Hence I thought it was just the most likely people to have killed him, in retrospect.
THEN I realized that this was a reference to the 7th comic (after seeing Brian's news post) and found it hilarious.
Hopefully Brian will find his 9 year joke worth it to make one person amused, at least, and cause a massive flame war.

Hetsurin

02-25-2010, 08:40 PM

Does it really matter if it was set up or not? (I personally believe it was, but that's just me.)

This is a comic, there was a joke, laughs were had, bastards were called magnificent, next strip please.

MSperoni

02-25-2010, 09:48 PM

I agree w/ Hetsurin.

Mondt

02-26-2010, 12:26 AM

For some reason, this is the hardest I've ever laughed at an 8-Bit Theater strip.

Well-played, Brian. Well-played.Nothing will ever top wooden stake for me.

Honestly, I've become so used to Brian's anticlimax that I didn't even laugh. Like, this is really funny and i recognize that but I just can't laugh.

My soul.

It's gone.

Damn you, Brian Clevinger.

Meister

02-26-2010, 03:35 AM

But anyway, this doesn't mean we can stop predicting future releases just because the comic's almost over. Has anyone ever suggested that White Mage may be true Chaos?
Yes it does and you're grasping at straws in the vague hope that you might be right by sheer chance. It's like you're watching Fight Club and a minute before the ending you go "okay listen: maybe Marla is the narrator too!"

UndrDog

02-26-2010, 03:51 AM

Well yeah, but it's only a matter of time when there will be nothing left to speculate on! Let us cling to something Meister! Let us cling like baby Koalas to their mamas!

Meister

02-26-2010, 04:13 AM

Never and that analogy is very weird!

Hetsurin

02-26-2010, 08:08 AM

Never and that analogy is very weird!

Not if you live in Australia, to us it's like Morning Breakfast.

Veho

02-26-2010, 08:20 AM

Do you know who I remembered first when I saw the four White Mages standing there? The Real Light Warriors. They were supposed to save the world, but were foiled every step of the way by the LWs. Getting somewhere only to find someone else had already killed the bad guy, looted the place for any valuables and burned through supplies (sometimes literally). Well this time it happened to the LWs. I don't know what to call it, foreshadowing, telegraphing, irony, but there it is.

I can see how the idea for this ending might have occured to Brian. I mean, there must be several groups on similar quests in the overworld, and for every group that finishes a quest there's bound to be several that arrive minutes/hours too late, only to find an empty lair and a victorious group that beat them to it. It's not a stretch to imagine the main characters getting there too late. And to be beaten to it by the most unlikely group imaginable would be an even greater humiliation for them. And this comic is all about humiliation to the LWs. I can see Brian getting this idea, deciding to end the comic this way, and then setting it aside for years, until the comic reached the conclusion and it was needed. Having BM claim such an ending impossible is in line with a lot of things BM was wrong about.

You could say it was terribly convenient that just when the LWs were supposed to battle Chaos horribly de-levelled and insanely outclassed, another group happened to walk in and defeat him, but one could also say it's pretty convenient for the Real Light Warriors too, because it was their destiny to defeat Chaos, and a day before the battle some utter bastard nicked all their insanely overpowered weapons leaving them quite helpless.

UndrDog

02-26-2010, 08:52 AM

Athas

02-26-2010, 09:37 AM

How I Killed Your Master, Warbot, Atomic Robo, and Marvel Gig aren't new enough?

Your avatar was perfect for this message.

---------------------------------

Dunno how I feel about this twist. Got the joke.

nyttyn

02-26-2010, 12:15 PM

...I've been reading this comic for close to 2 1/2 years now, and all I have to say is
1. Oh goddamnit.

2. Kudos brian on having the longest setup brick joke for possibly ever.

Tev

02-26-2010, 12:30 PM

But really, how would Team White Mage be able to kill Chaos if Chaos is all knowing? Shouldn't he have seen this coming? I'm totally geared for a brain breaker on the next release.Well, being Chaos, he may have chaotically chosen to let it happen. He also could have turned the world into a form of cake.

Particleman

02-26-2010, 08:26 PM

...I've been reading this comic for close to 2 1/2 years now, and all I have to say is
1. Oh goddamnit.

2. Kudos brian on having the longest setup brick joke for possibly ever.

Don't you mean 'Oh, goddammit it' ?

timemonkey

02-26-2010, 08:26 PM

And I'm not even Aussie!

But really, how would Team White Mage be able to kill Chaos if Chaos is all knowing? Shouldn't he have seen this coming? I'm totally geared for a brain breaker on the next release.

Maybe he saw them coming to kill him and just didn't think they could do it. He is a god after all, one of considerable power, even as gods go. Thren they blasted him with holy and he was dead before he could do anythin. I believe way back White Mage said that white magic was about restoring the natural order of te universe hich would be the antithesis to Chaos and his power.

Aldurin

02-27-2010, 12:22 AM

New theory, white mage will proceed to blast black mage with white magic to try to kill him, since he did do all of that bad stuff. It will only cure him of his dark magic and there will be a scene where he drops the dagger mid-stab during one of his "arguments" with fighter. BM will be good, marry white mage, have kids and secretly train one of them to be evil since BM will have a "I'm a good guy, please make it stop" attitude.

RM and TF and FT die at the hand of BM junior. Who proceeds to kill the dark warriors, dragoon and every other loose plot-line available.

MSperoni

02-27-2010, 12:42 AM

My theory:

We find out that Black Mage was really the ghost of Chaos Sarda this whole time. Onion Kid was Black Mage as a child, tormented by himself, so he grew up to be Sarda.

When Sarda absorbed the powers of the orbs and then Black Mage's helldoken and then got "killed" by Chaos, the now evil soul of Sarda somehow went back in time, became Black Mage, and the cycle continued..Or he went back in time on purpose to "try again". Which would then mean Black Mage is his own worst enemy, also the one who created himself and the one who is trying to destroy himself. Which is pretty Chaotic.. then we realize Black Mage is also (or is really) Chaos and the cause of the time loop thing.

White Mage, being of Order that she is, decides to break the cycle by erasing Black Mage, and then pulls Onion Kid out of Wizard School so he can't grow up to be Sarda, etc.

Link_991

02-27-2010, 02:59 AM

Tree

02-28-2010, 12:44 AM

Has anyone noticed Priest is spelt as Preist?
It's I before E except after C unless sounded as Eh as in NEIGHBHOR.
GAWSH.

Hetsurin

02-28-2010, 01:03 AM

Has anyone noticed Priest is spelt as Preist?
It's I before E except after C unless sounded as Eh as in NEIGHBHOR.
GAWSH.

You're doing (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/neighbour) it wrong. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/neighbor)

EDIT:

Prediction time: The comic ends in less than 10 strips after this one. No one learns a damn thing.

Nightshine

02-28-2010, 10:01 AM

Maybe Square Enix will offer to make an 8-bit theater themed FF remake for DS. It would be so freakin' awesome!! I would buy it.

Knowing Square, they'd sue.

RIP Chrono Break and Chrono Resurrection.

Sliths

02-28-2010, 10:34 AM

Has anyone noticed Priest is spelt as Preist?
It's I before E except after C unless sounded as Eh as in NEIGHBHOR.
GAWSH.

I noted it in the first reply! I'm special!

edit: second reply. I'm still special!

Kurosen

02-28-2010, 10:47 AM

I'm aware how to spell Priest. Sometimes typos are made.

ASTONISHING.

If I'd had access to my PC since this comic went up, I'd have made the corrections. And posted more comics.

BitVyper

02-28-2010, 10:51 AM

I'm aware how to spell Priest. Sometimes typos are made.

ASTONISHING.

If I'd had access to my PC since this comic went up, I'd have made the corrections. And posted more comics.

But I've set you up on a pedestal as my example of the ideal human being because I like your comic(s)! If you can't live up to my ridiculous standards, then what do I have left to believe in!?

Aldurin

02-28-2010, 11:39 AM

But I've set you up on a pedestal as my example of the ideal human being because I like your comic(s)! If you can't live up to my ridiculous standards, then what do I have left to believe in!?

Pizza, and beer, and women, and the next FF release, and all of that other stuff.

Grognor

02-28-2010, 02:12 PM

This tomfoolery has gone on long enough.

Bard The 5th LW

02-28-2010, 02:21 PM

This tomfoolery has gone on long enough.

He is right. Before the series ends, we must right one last chapter of CoM,CoL.

So... who's going to step up to the plate. Who has it in them to write the concluding chapter?

Green Spanner

02-28-2010, 03:33 PM

He is right. Before the series ends, we must right one last chapter of CoM,CoL.

So... who's going to step up to the plate. Who has it in them to write the concluding chapter?

Unfortunately, I made an off-hand comment involving Dragoon and the Golden Chocobo on the moon a while back, and Mirai said "make it so".

Goddamnit.

Meister

02-28-2010, 03:39 PM

"Oh baby... let's see if we can breed an even better one."

Green Spanner

02-28-2010, 03:42 PM

"Oh baby... let's see if we can breed an even better one."

"Want to see my spear? It is a pleasant colour..."

A Zarkin' Frood

02-28-2010, 03:48 PM

You just made the guy who gave White Mage a dick ill.
Congratulations. Now I can eat today's meals again unless I want to be tired tomorrow due to malnutrition.

Wolfwood

02-28-2010, 04:36 PM

Actually, you see this all the time from those who appreciate fine art. Just because most people denigrate comics as a low-brow medium does not mean that they are. True art knows when the artwork is complete and does not add to it just for the sake of keeping things going.
Bill Waterson, one of the best cartoonists of all time, agreed, and that's why he quit doing Calvin and Hobbes after just 11 years or so.

First, 'enjoy for free?' If so only because he pirated them. We have to pay for the Simpsons by paying for cable or buying the DVDs. They sell it to the tv networks, who sell to the cable companies, who sell to us. NOT free entertainment. Secondly, the Simpsons have written some monumentally bad episodes. I love the show, but they have definitely had some of the worst moments on TV as well.
Also, the Simpsons fans generally object to cases where the writers obviously care less about character and consistency than a peacock.

The Simpsons are on Network TV and always have been. Sunday evenings on Fox, check your local listings.

Hetsurin

02-28-2010, 06:08 PM

"Want to see my spear? It is a pleasant colour..."

Introducing the Golden Dragoon... you don't WANT to know what makes it so special... or why it has chocobo wings and human legs.

Sliths

03-01-2010, 04:48 PM

I'm aware how to spell Priest. Sometimes typos are made.

ASTONISHING.

If I'd had access to my PC since this comic went up, I'd have made the corrections. And posted more comics.

It's taunting you, isn't it? Like a little tickle in your ear, it just won't go away, and everyone can see the scratching.

I wish there was an emoticon to show me running away now.

Art of Hilt

03-01-2010, 05:17 PM

You just made the guy who gave White Mage a dick ill.

I... am... curious as to what this refers to.

Kyanbu The Legend

03-01-2010, 10:06 PM

tshadowdrag

03-01-2010, 10:08 PM

My prediction
Comic ends with White Mage having consensual sex with Black Mage. Now that would be the most unexpected ending ever, barring something completely random and unrelated to anything to ever happen in the comic, except that wouldn't be so unrelated or unexpected considering the comic in question

Except we learn later that BM was unconscious the whole time and dreaming it as he's on the floor holding alcohol (paint thinner, again) and WM is rejoining the group after spending the time with Fighter instead.