Dominic Deegan Fansite
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| | 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? |    |
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LadyMacbeth
Honor and Virtue
Joined : 31 Mar 2007
Posts : 4279
 |  Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic?  Wed May 30, 2007 6:15 am | |
| The cola theory explains why he's usually hyper.
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|  | | [Banned by request]
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 6:48 am | |
| The sad thing about this is, much like the lame response to the Rocky critiques (ie, "Why didn't he help rebuild Barthis?"), there was a perfectly good scotch-tape explanation that would've done just fine. Hell, I can think of two:
1: "Funny thing. Greg's hair is actually a very dark red, appearing black naturally. However, even when he was infected by the blight, and his white magic was suppressed, his power was so strong that it was almost leaking out of the hair follicles, artificially 'brightening' it to a shade of red."
2: "Yeah, it's wierd. There's some evidence, however, that magic with a strong elemental leaning--such as Gregory's--can influence physical appearance. The sudden absence of white fire in Greg's body has reverted him to his natural color."
Oh, and for bonus points:
"The stubble? Well, that's easy--as Greg's been pumping up his body for so long, he literally thickened his own skin. The reversion has caused the follicles that were already there to become visible. In other words, that's Greg's four-month shadow."
These could have then been followed with, "These are strange, but magic does have strange side-effects; while they aren't always predictable, they can be analyzed and understood after-the-fact. Magic is magic." This would then lead back to the "little brothers are little brothers" line. |
| | | | LadyMacbeth
Honor and Virtue
Joined : 31 Mar 2007
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 6:53 am | |
| Freemage, you rock.
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| | | | Luke Atmey
Joined : 07 Apr 2007
Posts : 1953
Location : Old Canada, a land which I never shall lampoon.
| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 9:53 am | |
| It's still a plot hole because Gregory had his White Fire off constantly for the entire first three years of the goddamn comic except for three times (Banishing TIM, fighting Jacob, fighting the slaughterballers.) and he looked pretty much the same as he did afterwards, except less bulky.
Still, Freemage, congratulations for trying ten times as hard as Mookie.
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| | | | hazardswake
Joined : 10 Apr 2007
Posts : 147
| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 10:02 am | |
| Yeah, Freemage, that was nice.
As for me, I don't understand where Mookie's going with this at all. I really don't think he'd permanently redesign a character so drastically, but I guess we'll see. And the hand-waving "A Wizard Did It" logic seemed more than a little off.
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| | | | Denzo
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 10:11 am | |
| I also think that any of Freemage's explanations would be more acceptable then "sometimes it doesn't make any sense".
One of few ways to save this would be for Dominic to later admit that he had no idea why the change occurred but didn't want to admit it in front of Luna and Gregory out of pride/arrogance and/or concern that they might begin to worry needlessly.
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| | | | MathiasTolerain
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 12:20 pm | |
| The whole thing against closing the academy is that there are aspects of science that don't make sense. That does not mean a BS in biology, chemistry, or physics is useless. Saying that one event that seems to make no sense to characters at this point invalidates the "science" of magic in the strip is kinda like saying that one thing that does not follow the "laws" of science invalidates the entire field, and we should all wear health crystals... And bear claws... OH! And some of that hemp... Clothing... Yeah, use it for clothing...
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| | | | PinkSpider
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 12:41 pm | |
| No, it's more like having a top biologist see something that shouldn't happen in biology, and instead of making any attempt to explain or rationalize it just says "Well, it's BIOLOGY! Sometimes it just doesn't make any sense."
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| | | | Fre3sia
Age : 24
Joined : 13 Apr 2007
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Location : California
| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 12:52 pm | |
| Still, I wonder how similar it is to astronomers and this dark matter. "Hey, it's physics! Sometimes it doesn't make any sense." I think, though, what they really mean to say is that there are rules, they just don't understand all of them yet.
Just my one gp. |
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 1:36 pm | |
| | MathiasTolerain wrote: | | The whole thing against closing the academy is that there are aspects of science that don't make sense. That does not mean a BS in biology, chemistry, or physics is useless. Saying that one event that seems to make no sense to characters at this point invalidates the "science" of magic in the strip is kinda like saying that one thing that does not follow the "laws" of science invalidates the entire field, and we should all wear health crystals... And bear claws... OH! And some of that hemp... Clothing... Yeah, use it for clothing... |
Mathias: Pink Spider got it in one. It's not 'this is unexplained' that's the problem. It's the characters' (and more precisely, Dominic's) response to the notion that there's no explanation currently.
Yes, there are still things that are unknown in the sciences. We call those, "Areas for further investigation," and "Problems to be solved". In other words, anyone with any scientific curiousity would look at a similar phenomenon and try to explore the reasons for it, come up with a plausible hypothesis, and test, test, test. This is precisely how magic has been displayed to us in the strip for several years now, to the point that Dominic in all ways resembles a science-geek. It's precisely why you would have a magical 'Academy' (with a research lab, papers being written, and so forth) rather than a bunch of one-on-one student-hermit master relationships.
This blows it away, and does so for no reason. Were my counter-examples perfect? No--they were quite blatantly scotch tape with a bit of magical technobabble thrown in for good measure. White Fire was used as little more than Applied Phlebotinum. My point is, that's all that was required in order to protect the series' overall feel and tone. Instead, Mookie tossed out a bs line that undermined a great deal of the setting in one big stroke.
And I think part of the reason this bugs me is because Mookie is so clearly interested in building a grand world of epic fantasy. One of the things you MUST do in order to attempt such a work is pin down the 'rules' of your world--particularly the ones you can't borrow from reality.
PS: In the interest of fair warning, following the link in this post will lead to the loss of at least one day of your life, and possibly to a new all-consuming obsession. |
| | | | Dread Pirate Halpo
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 2:07 pm | |
| Curse you Freemage. I wasn't originally going to follow your link, but then your disclaimer intrueged me, and I did.... oooh, they have lovecraftian stuff.
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| | | | Myusollo
Age : 23
Joined : 25 May 2007
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 3:57 pm | |
| I'm kind of surprised that everyone's taking this lapse in logic so seriously. I think it's kind of refreshing that a storyline involving a follower of chaos throws the established laws of magic into the wind just once. I'm sure Mookie has an explanation, and I doubt Dominic is ACTUALLY dismissing something this startling.
Besides, the comic's not really about how the magic works, in my opinion. It's more about the sense of humor. The comic's more about this to me:
Magic's just the icing on the cake.
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| | | | tenderisthebestsexmachine
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 4:01 pm | |
| | I still don't understand that talking cat nonsense. |
| | | | [Banned by request]
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| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 4:54 pm | |
| | Myusollo wrote: | | I'm kind of surprised that everyone's taking this lapse in logic so seriously. I think it's kind of refreshing that a storyline involving a follower of chaos throws the established laws of magic into the wind just once. I'm sure Mookie has an explanation, and I doubt Dominic is ACTUALLY dismissing something this startling. |
We'll see; I'm taking Dominic's statements at face-value, which means he doesn't care. And even more than the 'logic lapse', what bothers me is the vast shift in the way Dom reacts to a magical puzzle. The best(?) option might be that the color-shift is actually caused by something serious--and he's trying to keep Greg and Luna from worrying while he works it out. That would be the cautious, curious, investigative and slightly arrogant seer we've all come to know and expect.
| Quote: | Besides, the comic's not really about how the magic works, in my opinion. It's more about the sense of humor. The comic's more about this to me:
Magic's just the icing on the cake. |
Again, it's not about the magic, but about the characterization of the main character, who is suddenly portrayed as having all the intellectual curiousity of the average turnip. While obviously not "Marmaduke rapes Dottie" bad (reference to a certain Websnark column that outta be well-remembered round these parts), I'd put it on a par with "Charlie Brown casually asks out the little red-headed girl." Even if Schulz had written such a strip, and even if it had been funny, it would've been a vast break from the character of Charlie Brown.
Characterization is especially important when the humor itself is so dependent on us caring about these fictional people. Gregory acting like a doofus is fine--he's always been the carefree one of the Brothers Deegan. But Dominic shrugging and not bothering about it makes him seem like someone other than the guy we've been reading about for several years, now. So why do we care if Gregory is harassing some random pod-person with Dominic's face? |
| | | | SciVo
Grammar Police
Joined : 17 May 2007
Posts : 146
Location : Portland, Oregon
| | Subject: Re: 5/30/2007: Magic is just magic? Wed May 30, 2007 5:21 pm | |
| | Myusollo wrote: | | I'm kind of surprised that everyone's taking this lapse in logic so seriously. I think it's kind of refreshing that a storyline involving a follower of chaos throws the established laws of magic into the wind just once. I'm sure Mookie has an explanation, and I doubt Dominic is ACTUALLY dismissing something this startling. |
I'm hoping that it was just Dominic's way of saying "chaos magic is involved". That, or Mookie lost a bet and let a friend write a strip.
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