Topic: Alice Grove MCDT - NEW COMIC! - October 2014 (Read 401620 times)

BenRG · « **Reply #300 on:** 21 Oct 2014, 01:27 »

Regarding the poll, it's difficult to judge so early into the story. However, I'm already getting a 'Marten' vibe from Jack that suggests he is going to be our POV. He's the everyman caught in an extrordinary situation who is just dumb enough that he can also serve as a Watson, the guy who needs in-universe common knowledge explained to him so we get it too.

Alice's body language and style so far... Makes me think of Hermione Granger. Intelligent, skilled but not particularly well socialised. She'll end up offending people just because she doesn't have much in the way of patience and sometimes comes across as a know-it-all.

NilsO · « **Reply #301 on:** 21 Oct 2014, 11:16 »

Alice obviously has skills. The natives regard her as a witch (any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic). But the wind turbine indicates she is a Good Witch, her magic is for the benefit of the people.

Jack, btw, looks quite stupid, and it is not just because of lack of education. He is a simple guy with little imagination.

Can we foresee an "opposites attract" situation between Alice and Jack?

bhtooefr · « **Reply #302 on:** 21 Oct 2014, 11:30 »

And, now we have shipping.

Kugai · « **Reply #303 on:** 21 Oct 2014, 14:14 »

*Looks through Periscope*

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #304 on:** 21 Oct 2014, 17:16 »

Quote from: bhtooefr on 21 Oct 2014, 11:30

And, now we have shipping.

It's s waaaaaaay to soon for that, for all we know, Ardent could still explode, leaving only a charred Alice inside a crater...

Carl-E · « **Reply #305 on:** 21 Oct 2014, 18:18 »

She does have a knack for surviving, it seems.

Eternal_Newbie · « **Reply #306 on:** 22 Oct 2014, 05:18 »

Quote from: ysth on 14 Oct 2014, 18:35

Quote from: NilsO on 14 Oct 2014, 00:01
This looks like a very rural setting. I guess the nearest coffee shop is very far away.
FWIW, https://opendata.socrata.com/Business/All-Starbucks-Locations-in-the-World-Heat-Map/nt5z-pju4

For some reason that map thinks there is a Starbucks at the windfarm in the Thames Estuary. Coincidence?

Pilchard123 · « **Reply #307 on:** 22 Oct 2014, 10:20 »

Wrong sort of beans.

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #308 on:** 22 Oct 2014, 12:11 »

Quote from: ysth on 14 Oct 2014, 18:35

Quote from: NilsO on 14 Oct 2014, 00:01
This looks like a very rural setting. I guess the nearest coffee shop is very far away.
FWIW, https://opendata.socrata.com/Business/All-Starbucks-Locations-in-the-World-Heat-Map/nt5z-pju4

Zoom out on that map to show the whole US and it looks disturbingly similar to CDC projections of certain epidemics...

Zebediah · « **Reply #309 on:** 22 Oct 2014, 12:23 »

Randall Monroe said it best:

(click to show/hide)

Skewbrow · « **Reply #310 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 07:10 »

I guess I'm the only reader who had to look up the meaning of `vicissitude`. I don't know what, if anything, I should read into that

He has the ability to adapt to any surrounding? Including changes to his own anatomy if need be? Some other sci-fi?

DSL · « **Reply #311 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 07:20 »

And there are/have been at least 16 of him.

BenRG · « **Reply #312 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 07:30 »

Quote from: DSL on 23 Oct 2014, 07:20

And there are/have been at least 16 of him.

Yeah, the "XVI" bit could as easily be a clone number as a generational reference.

MooskiNet · « **Reply #313 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 10:04 »

Yeah, the XVI bit threw me - if you were speaking, you'd say 'the sixteenth,' unless 'XVI' means something specific besides the number sixteen.

Pilchard123 · « **Reply #314 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 10:16 »

Perhaps he's telling them his preferred editor? He likes Emacs, though he's used another one in the past.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #315 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 15:21 »

Quote from: MooskiNet on 23 Oct 2014, 10:04

Yeah, the XVI bit threw me - if you were speaking, you'd say 'the sixteenth,' unless 'XVI' means something specific besides the number sixteen.

It just means his ancestors didn't feel like thinking of a name.

Mlle Germain · « **Reply #316 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 15:30 »

These past three comics, more specifically Ardent and also Jack, strike me as rather silly. We'll see how it goes on.

ysth · « **Reply #317 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 16:26 »

I submit that "Ardent Gemini" is a title and his first name is Cardamom.

Zwammy · « **Reply #318 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 22:28 »

Ardy don't like Alice, no he don't.

BenRG · « **Reply #319 on:** 23 Oct 2014, 23:24 »

Yep, I was right! Alice is a Hermione - Sceptical and rational almost to the point of self-parody!

I'll have to think about the implications of her words. Is she a self-exile from the First World, looking for a 'simple life'? That might explain her defensiveness now the complexity of the universe has caught up with her!

Jack, when asked if you know girls, he's asking if you know them well and they like you in return. Something tells me that this is a much lower number.

DSL · « **Reply #320 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 10:01 »

Quote from: ysth on 23 Oct 2014, 16:26

I submit that "Ardent Gemini" is a title and his first name is Cardamom.

Or he's really, really enthusiastic about having been born between May 21 and June 21.

FunkyTuba · « **Reply #321 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 13:41 »

I haven't seen anything that would exclude this being earth so I'm leaning away from "immigrant planet" as the setting.

This is smelling more and more post-apocalyptic all the time, especially with the "witch" characterization.

Or it could just be way out in the boonies.

Kugai · « **Reply #322 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 13:42 »

'e don't take kindly to bein' called a liar, no 'e don't

Mlle Germain · « **Reply #323 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 16:02 »

Quote from: FunkyTuba on 24 Oct 2014, 13:41

This is smelling more and more post-apocalyptic all the time, especially with the "witch" characterization.

Yeah, I agree! Maybe it is a future where there is still advanced technology, but also very rural areas where people have gone back to a lifestyle with less technology, especially communication technology.

Orkboy · « **Reply #324 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 16:30 »

I like how, according to the poll so far, the poking stick is the most popular.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #325 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 17:35 »

Do not doubt the poking stick.

DSL · « **Reply #326 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 17:57 »

Quote from: Mlle Germain on 24 Oct 2014, 16:02

Quote from: FunkyTuba on 24 Oct 2014, 13:41
This is smelling more and more post-apocalyptic all the time, especially with the "witch" characterization.
Yeah, I agree! Maybe it is a future where there is still advanced technology, but also very rural areas where people have gone back to a lifestyle with less technology, especially communication technology.

It's not too difficult to find spots where technological availability or the desire for such varies widely over a small area. Finding a two-hole outhouse and a microwave comm tower within sight of each other, was, until very recently, not all that unusual in my neck of the Northwest Ohio woods.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #327 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 19:31 »

Wow, Alice, you're really shitty to strangers!

BenRG · « **Reply #328 on:** 24 Oct 2014, 23:50 »

@MoM,

As I've already posted, I'm wondering if Alice is projecting. She's happy in her rural, simple idyll and she doesn't want some scam artist ruining it!

BTW - Whether or not Ardent is really an alien doesn't impact on whether he's a scam artist!

Skewbrow · « **Reply #329 on:** 25 Oct 2014, 00:22 »

Quote from: DSL on 24 Oct 2014, 10:01

Quote from: ysth on 23 Oct 2014, 16:26
I submit that "Ardent Gemini" is a title and his first name is Cardamom.

Or he's really, really enthusiastic about having been born between May 21 and June 21.

Or he has a dispassionate twin brother.

Alice may have been careful in only introducing technology that helps the locals get their life necessities. Now she sees Ardent as a dude who would pull out a full range of Futurama gear out of his pockets just for the heck of it - or to impress girls.

The pockets are larger in the inside (like Hermione's tote bag).

Half Empty Coffee Cup · « **Reply #330 on:** 26 Oct 2014, 19:50 »

I bet Ardent is about to raise hell. Ardently, of course.

Storel · « **Reply #331 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 13:46 »

I'm wondering if perhaps Alice is a con artist who doesn't want some other con artist moving in on her con.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #332 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 14:17 »

A con artist...who's invulnerable?

BenRG · « **Reply #333 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 14:44 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 27 Oct 2014, 14:17

A con artist...who's invulnerable?

Or a con artist who is able to make herself look invulnerable!

Zebediah · « **Reply #334 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 14:46 »

The best way to appear invulnerable is to actually be invulnerable. All the other ways are too much work.

MooskiNet · « **Reply #335 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 15:56 »

Quote from: Zebediah on 27 Oct 2014, 14:46

All the other ways are too much work.

Never mind the odd 'test' you might get every now and then by your friend with the drill.

Kugai · « **Reply #336 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 18:06 »

MooskiNet · « **Reply #337 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 18:13 »

Okay, the bullet to the eye thing - that hurts just thinking about, invulnerable or not.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #338 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 18:52 »

One of these days, Superman's going to be too cocky and it'll turn out to be a kryptonite bullet.

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #339 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 19:14 »

"Weird dog!"

How does an alien know what a dog is?

Zebediah · « **Reply #340 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 19:16 »

"Nouns!"

DSL · « **Reply #341 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 19:30 »

So little blue guys aren't in and of themselves all that unusual in whatever locale this is.

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #342 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 19:39 »

"Currency!"

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #343 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 19:50 »

"Police officer!"

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #344 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 20:30 »

That Argent. What a laaaadies man.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #345 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 20:39 »

Quote from: SubaruStephen on 27 Oct 2014, 19:14

"Weird dog!"

How does an alien know what a dog is?

To be fair...he doesn't.

Kugai · « **Reply #346 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 22:30 »

"Jail!"

OK, nice town. It's Post Apocalyptic Northampton!

Loki · « **Reply #347 on:** 27 Oct 2014, 23:55 »

Quote from: Pilchard123 on 23 Oct 2014, 10:16

Perhaps he's telling them his preferred editor? He likes Emacs, though he's used another one in the past.

I know I am a couple pages late, but:

*groan*

BenRG · « **Reply #348 on:** 28 Oct 2014, 00:21 »

I'm still favouring my "Interstellar/inter-dimensional tourist" theory for Argent. His actions just seem to fit into the "rubber necked tourist" stereotype. I'm guessing that he is going to cause a lot of trouble and then try the "I'm sorry; I'm new in town" excuse. I also think a lot of his trouble will be caused by overestimating his effect on ladies!

So, the general feel of the town is early Victorian or Frontier West. This makes the turbines anachronistic and makes trying to figure out the setting actually a bit simpler. If it's Earth, Alice is a time traveller. Alternately, this is a The Long Earth scenario and Alice is an aid worker from a parallel Earth here to help bootstrap this one to closer to average inter-dimensional technology levels. Read Terry Pratchett and Steven Baxter's books if you need more details.

If this is such a scenario, then the chances are that Argent is human but from a distant parallel where evolution took a few different turns.

Storel · « **Reply #349 on:** 28 Oct 2014, 00:29 »

Yes, he has a tourist mentality. Insterstellar/interdimensional/time-traveling, I'd say, just to cover all the bases. He's got to be one of those.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

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Author Topic: Alice Grove MCDT - NEW COMIC! - October 2014 (Read 401620 times)