NOTICE: Page has been fully colorized and inked, but for some reason Drunk Duck won't let me change the graphic. This is very frustrating. Sorry, folks.
Okay, how many of you saw this coming? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But this WAS the most definitive way to disarm Elizabeth, plus Sarin's a perv. I'm told that there's an anime out there about a magician, “Negima” or something, who also has a regular occurance of this kind of magic. I think I need to see that sooner or later. Full version soon, as always.
I used to use something like that back in my old D&D days. It was a cleric spell ostensibly used to remove armor, clothing, and "impediments" prior to binding wounds. Yeah, that's the ticket... It was quaintly called the "strip spell". It wasn't quite as rough on clothing and stuff -- it removed clothing, armor, and gear, cleaned, pressed, and folded the clothes, cleaned, polished, and gently oiled the armor, and neatly arranged the gear in a nice pile 2 meters behind the target. This allowed the cleric, who might not have a full healing spell or ability, access to wounds without moving the body and making injuries worse.
It was also quite good at disarming nasty thugs and embarrassing them into running away screaming in the night.
@Darius: *agreeing grunt* Yeah, I think we've exhausted the topic to the limit of our present understanding. Let's enjoy the comic until more information becomes available.
@ M Northstar: True, but alot of my assumptions follow logic. You don't become a criminal with that level of skill at disguising people and not use your powers. My other assumptions are basically on the most effective way for transformation abilities to be used in a heist.
That said, my arguement was pretty much that it's perfectly understandable for "Elizabeth" to make the mistake she did. I feel that I have argued that point as much as necessary, and have nothing else to say on that arguement.
@Darius: You make a lot of assumptions with little evidence. We don't know anything about what Elizabeth's experience is, except that she's a pretty powerful alterist. Come to think of it, we don't even know that altering criminal's faces was what she did, that was just Goro's suggestion; Elizabeth may have specialized in some other area of criminal endevour not requiring human disquises, like "salted mine" type scams, and that may be why she messed up.
@TwinMirror: Your points are well made, but Elizabeth seemed pretty well up on the nitty gritty of Goro's situation - off the top of her head, no less - so even if she didn't expect to meet him at the hospital, it's obvious she has been studying at least Goro in some depth. And if she is unused to field work (I can't find the place where she says so), she must be a natural, because she's set up a very good operation, executed it with competence and precision, and when things started going sour, she responded with perseverance and cool disciplin. In the end, all you and Darius are doing is just finding excuses for what I was protesting against, the rather jarring transformation of a tough opponent into an incompetent fool.
@Speed: Aha. I actually wondered if that was the case, but I forgot to mention it in my last post. I wonder what principle it works on, though, to bypass what must be akin to a dead man's switch. Perhaps a reverse anti-life field that destroys anything not alive. Would that make organic weapons immune to it?
I see I was not the only one to notice a similarity with Mahou Sensei Negima's spell "Flans Exarmatio".
Aside from that, I guess that without the spell, Sarin could probably have won by turning Aki into something impervious to bullets (such as hard metal or goo) and attacking at the same time, making the gun go off before Elizabeth could change Aki back.
Man, Aki's getting the short end of the stick this time. I'm seriously worried about how this and everything around it will effect her relationship with Goro. I'm pretty sure that Goro will come through all right, but every time he (I still think of Goro as a guy and oddly enough, Mori as well. Kili and Sarin are definitely girls in my book though.)touches her, can she help but feel that gun pressed against her head?
That works quite well.
Elizabeth could conjure "her gun" did this mean she had a specific gun (now destroyed) that she could summon, or can she make magical guns out of thin air? And if so, does she have a backup?
Nah, probably not!
Just have to toss out this bit of logic for the people thinking that the latest screw ups for Elizabeth are of character, I don't think so. three reasons actually.
first, they did not know goro was there going in, or that the dragon doctors would be involved. It was a quick grab and dash plan.
secondly, although she is clearly aware of the dragon doctors at least by reputation. since she wouldn't have expected to run into them she likely wouldn't have done research and preparation needed to flawlessly assume one of there identities, or there tactics, skills, and ability levels. her disguise was enough to fool the police and scans, which is all she was preparing for at the time.
and thirdly, she admitted a few pages back that she doesn't usually do field work. rather selling her skills to others who need to hide. so her planning may be less solid when things start falling apart and she needs to think quickly.
Just a note about the hostage gun not going off: It would have, if it wasn't disintegrated in an instant. Elizabeth's not prepared for this particular response because the Equipment Failure spell is a relatively new one that Mori developed.
I can heartily recommend Negima as well. It's the manga Ken Akamatsu made when he wanted to make an action manga, but his publishers only wanted him to make a harem manga. Thus, he disguised his action manga as a harem manga. While there are plenty of cheesecake moments, it's an action manga at heart and since Negi is physically incapable of being sexually attracted to any of the characters, it allows him to be at the centre of wardrobe malfunctions and other awkward situations while still maintaining his innocence.
Also Ken has managed to write some pretty respectable female characters in Negima and I quite enjoy seeing them develop and overcome obstacles. Definitely a "must read" for me.
Be wary of the anime though as there's three of them, one that's crap, one that's closer to what the publishers wanted (i.e. harem anime), and the last (Ala Alba) is as far as I know closer to the manga source than either of the other two (but I can't say for certain).
...oh, and great comic by the way.
@ M Northstar about Negima: My mistake.
@ M Northstar about Opinion: I have no problem with your view, but will argue against your argument (FOR FUN!). She is an alterist, which would allow her to see the same herself, so that part's fine. However, I think that there are a few things you haven't taken into consideration:
1, Making a fake past form would be harder than hiding your old past form, and tend to be seen as proof that a person has been transformed. As such, "Elizabeth" wouldn't have experience with that.
2, When transforming criminals, it would usually be more effective to change into people that don't exist, so to make hiding easier. As such, transforming into people with known past forms is something that wouldn't happen often, and "Elizabeth" would have little experience with doing that.
3. "Elizabeth" is human, or at least shares human sentiency traits. As such, she would do one of the most common things that humans do, and accidentally miss things she's staring right at.
kaitia at 2:07PM, July 12, 2010
I think I would like Sarin's teacher..or being Sarin's student :)
Odinsonnah at 5:09PM, July 9, 2010
Resolidifying Sarin as my favorite character in your webcomic.
Tobimaro at 10:06AM, July 3, 2010
@ ArdRhi: That is most likely a No Smoking sign.
ArdRhi at 9:28AM, July 2, 2010
Is that a "no doobie smoking" sign on the wall?
ArdRhi at 9:26AM, July 2, 2010
I used to use something like that back in my old D&D days. It was a cleric spell ostensibly used to remove armor, clothing, and "impediments" prior to binding wounds. Yeah, that's the ticket... It was quaintly called the "strip spell". It wasn't quite as rough on clothing and stuff -- it removed clothing, armor, and gear, cleaned, pressed, and folded the clothes, cleaned, polished, and gently oiled the armor, and neatly arranged the gear in a nice pile 2 meters behind the target. This allowed the cleric, who might not have a full healing spell or ability, access to wounds without moving the body and making injuries worse. It was also quite good at disarming nasty thugs and embarrassing them into running away screaming in the night.
Kaeoz Crimson at 6:14PM, July 1, 2010
Do you even need any other spells once you have that one?
Tobimaro at 2:50PM, July 1, 2010
We love that spell as well. Time for the clean-up to begin.
M_Northstar at 1:25PM, July 1, 2010
@Darius: *agreeing grunt* Yeah, I think we've exhausted the topic to the limit of our present understanding. Let's enjoy the comic until more information becomes available.
nekosune at 5:14AM, July 1, 2010
I am certinatly hoping the people in previous comments are wrong about Elizabeth changing goro into a piece of clothing to hide her now
Darius Drake at 1:14AM, July 1, 2010
@ M Northstar: True, but alot of my assumptions follow logic. You don't become a criminal with that level of skill at disguising people and not use your powers. My other assumptions are basically on the most effective way for transformation abilities to be used in a heist. That said, my arguement was pretty much that it's perfectly understandable for "Elizabeth" to make the mistake she did. I feel that I have argued that point as much as necessary, and have nothing else to say on that arguement.
Stig Hemmer at 4:14PM, June 30, 2010
I love Sarin.
M_Northstar at 4:08PM, June 30, 2010
@Darius: You make a lot of assumptions with little evidence. We don't know anything about what Elizabeth's experience is, except that she's a pretty powerful alterist. Come to think of it, we don't even know that altering criminal's faces was what she did, that was just Goro's suggestion; Elizabeth may have specialized in some other area of criminal endevour not requiring human disquises, like "salted mine" type scams, and that may be why she messed up. @TwinMirror: Your points are well made, but Elizabeth seemed pretty well up on the nitty gritty of Goro's situation - off the top of her head, no less - so even if she didn't expect to meet him at the hospital, it's obvious she has been studying at least Goro in some depth. And if she is unused to field work (I can't find the place where she says so), she must be a natural, because she's set up a very good operation, executed it with competence and precision, and when things started going sour, she responded with perseverance and cool disciplin. In the end, all you and Darius are doing is just finding excuses for what I was protesting against, the rather jarring transformation of a tough opponent into an incompetent fool. @Speed: Aha. I actually wondered if that was the case, but I forgot to mention it in my last post. I wonder what principle it works on, though, to bypass what must be akin to a dead man's switch. Perhaps a reverse anti-life field that destroys anything not alive. Would that make organic weapons immune to it?
Skulljack17 at 3:36PM, June 30, 2010
*POW!* Critical hit on clothes! Even got the curtain behind them. Hope there wasn't any expensive medical equipment in the way! WOO!
ecchi_kitty at 3:35PM, June 30, 2010
Heh. Not exactly what expected, but holds to the general gist.
gullas at 1:03PM, June 30, 2010
I approve this method...
Medinoc at 12:48PM, June 30, 2010
I see I was not the only one to notice a similarity with Mahou Sensei Negima's spell "Flans Exarmatio". Aside from that, I guess that without the spell, Sarin could probably have won by turning Aki into something impervious to bullets (such as hard metal or goo) and attacking at the same time, making the gun go off before Elizabeth could change Aki back.
Mr Kaos at 11:07AM, June 30, 2010
Loving that page. xD i wish there were a ten point system. but for now you can get a 5 for sure. :)
Elaine at 11:02AM, June 30, 2010
Man, Aki's getting the short end of the stick this time. I'm seriously worried about how this and everything around it will effect her relationship with Goro. I'm pretty sure that Goro will come through all right, but every time he (I still think of Goro as a guy and oddly enough, Mori as well. Kili and Sarin are definitely girls in my book though.)touches her, can she help but feel that gun pressed against her head?
Canuovea at 7:58AM, June 30, 2010
That works quite well. Elizabeth could conjure "her gun" did this mean she had a specific gun (now destroyed) that she could summon, or can she make magical guns out of thin air? And if so, does she have a backup? Nah, probably not!
TwinMirror at 5:49AM, June 30, 2010
Just have to toss out this bit of logic for the people thinking that the latest screw ups for Elizabeth are of character, I don't think so. three reasons actually. first, they did not know goro was there going in, or that the dragon doctors would be involved. It was a quick grab and dash plan. secondly, although she is clearly aware of the dragon doctors at least by reputation. since she wouldn't have expected to run into them she likely wouldn't have done research and preparation needed to flawlessly assume one of there identities, or there tactics, skills, and ability levels. her disguise was enough to fool the police and scans, which is all she was preparing for at the time. and thirdly, she admitted a few pages back that she doesn't usually do field work. rather selling her skills to others who need to hide. so her planning may be less solid when things start falling apart and she needs to think quickly.
Speedball at 5:11AM, June 30, 2010
Just a note about the hostage gun not going off: It would have, if it wasn't disintegrated in an instant. Elizabeth's not prepared for this particular response because the Equipment Failure spell is a relatively new one that Mori developed.
Tssha at 5:03AM, June 30, 2010
I can heartily recommend Negima as well. It's the manga Ken Akamatsu made when he wanted to make an action manga, but his publishers only wanted him to make a harem manga. Thus, he disguised his action manga as a harem manga. While there are plenty of cheesecake moments, it's an action manga at heart and since Negi is physically incapable of being sexually attracted to any of the characters, it allows him to be at the centre of wardrobe malfunctions and other awkward situations while still maintaining his innocence. Also Ken has managed to write some pretty respectable female characters in Negima and I quite enjoy seeing them develop and overcome obstacles. Definitely a "must read" for me. Be wary of the anime though as there's three of them, one that's crap, one that's closer to what the publishers wanted (i.e. harem anime), and the last (Ala Alba) is as far as I know closer to the manga source than either of the other two (but I can't say for certain). ...oh, and great comic by the way.
noseman79 at 4:43AM, June 30, 2010
This is one of my favorite pages in DD
zorro362 at 4:28AM, June 30, 2010
hahahaha I agree love that spell!lol
Darius Drake at 3:58AM, June 30, 2010
@ M Northstar about Negima: My mistake. @ M Northstar about Opinion: I have no problem with your view, but will argue against your argument (FOR FUN!). She is an alterist, which would allow her to see the same herself, so that part's fine. However, I think that there are a few things you haven't taken into consideration: 1, Making a fake past form would be harder than hiding your old past form, and tend to be seen as proof that a person has been transformed. As such, "Elizabeth" wouldn't have experience with that. 2, When transforming criminals, it would usually be more effective to change into people that don't exist, so to make hiding easier. As such, transforming into people with known past forms is something that wouldn't happen often, and "Elizabeth" would have little experience with doing that. 3. "Elizabeth" is human, or at least shares human sentiency traits. As such, she would do one of the most common things that humans do, and accidentally miss things she's staring right at.