[1664] Something bad happened...

[Daedalus]

I've always wondered about that.

Interestingly, this implies that Andrew has some control over the strength of his powers.

[zirka]

I love Smitty so much. He knows he's got the most useful superpower in the world and he chooses not to abuse it.

[Gotolei]

So is it canon to just simply call it "luck" now?

SPOILER: Click to show

and damn that's a misleading thread title if ever i saw one

[erunion]

Apr 29, 2016 7:00:44 GMT Daedalus said:

I've always wondered about that.

Interestingly, this implies that Andrew has some control over the strength of his powers.

Considering that his power is basically control, that doesn't really surprise me. 

Also - snuffle: determined stride of curiosity. 

[arf]

Someone's been reading the Xanth novels*.

I'm wondering whether Parley will start bulking up as much as Eglamore?

*Short story: the character Bink was initially banished from the land of Xanth (for his own safety) because he exhibited no magical powers whatsoever. It turned out that he could evade harm from magic, a powerful talent that proved to be every bit as damaging to causality as Smitty's.

[noone3]

Apr 29, 2016 7:02:41 GMT zirka said:

He knows he's got the most useful superpower in the world and he chooses not to abuse it.

Yup. Forget about flying, and common sense. The power half of the internets craves the most: to make a (potentially wild) girlfriend appear, and disappear. Just. Like. That. —> Bip!

[Nepycros]

I can understand the sentiment. Forcing order out of disordered situations has its pros and cons. It's more effective if he applies his talents in scenarios he has better degree of certainty over the consequences of. Flicking a deck of cards won't usually create an 'ordered' destructive scenario, while compelling a para-physical phenomenon to occur at indicated times can be much more distressing.

I can't help but wonder to what extent he limits his own activities. He's disrupted "recreational" exercises, managed to effectively synchronize his "guessing" with his girlfriend's timely jumps, and all sorts of other displays we aren't privy to. It sounds so... confined, what he can do without risking everything over what happens when order arises out of a neutral chaos.

[dard]

Snuffle walking off on her own is NOT a good idea in this environment!

[hellohello]

Apr 29, 2016 7:13:05 GMT arf said:

Someone's been reading the Xanth novels*.

I'm wondering whether Parley will start bulking up as much as Eglamore?

*Short story: the character Bink was initially banished from the land of Xanth (for his own safety) because he exhibited no magical powers whatsoever. It turned out that he could evade harm from magic, a powerful talent that proved to be every bit as damaging to causality as Smitty's.

I dunno, that's a pretty common trope in wish/genie type stories. (Want to be warm? Congrats! You're warm. And on fire.) And Wizard of Earthsea starts off with a wizard who rarely uses magic due to the dangers of unforeseen consequences. Putting a deck back in order or one of those 3D puzzles is relatively small potatoes compared to saying BAM and then there's a reason Parley comes back from whereever. Like Psychonauts though, it seems a bit of harmless showing off, or when it's really funny is just fine.

Also, months! That's forever practically!

[calpal]

I guess you could say there is an order to all of this... ^{I really did not give myself enough time before waking up to make these kinds of attempts at puns.}

[foresterr]

Man those eyebrows are mightier than ever.

[haspen]

So a girl that was gone for months' worth of training, and which Smitty is having a relationship with (and considering Coyote's and Renard's sniffing, possibly *very close* one), is now cutting the trip short because something happened, but no one (including her boyfriend) knows why, which implies secrecy or private matter of some sort.

...would it be too extreme to call that Parsley miiiiight be pregnant? As much as I believe that Smitty and Parsley are responsible teens, accidents do happen :V

[fatexx544]

Apr 29, 2016 10:07:35 GMT haspen said:

So a girl that was gone for months' worth of training, and which Smitty is having a relationship with (and considering Coyote's and Renard's sniffing, possibly *very close* one), is now cutting the trip short because something happened, but no one (including her boyfriend) knows why, which implies secrecy or private matter of some sort.

...would it be too extreme to call that Parsley miiiiight be pregnant? As much as I believe that Smitty and Parsley are responsible teens, accidents do happen :V

If I read the page correctly, I believe she is returning as scheduled. Smithy's comment is about the possibility of causing her to teleport to him at any time, instead of waiting months to see her.

[Sauzels]

This is a really cool exploration/explanation/extrapolation of Smitty's powers. Also he looks really cute in panel 4.

Apr 29, 2016 11:39:45 GMT fatexx544 said:

Apr 29, 2016 10:07:35 GMT haspen said:

So a girl that was gone for months' worth of training, and which Smitty is having a relationship with (and considering Coyote's and Renard's sniffing, possibly *very close* one), is now cutting the trip short because something happened, but no one (including her boyfriend) knows why, which implies secrecy or private matter of some sort.

...would it be too extreme to call that Parsley miiiiight be pregnant? As much as I believe that Smitty and Parsley are responsible teens, accidents do happen :V

If I read the page correctly, I believe she is returning as scheduled. Smithy's comment is about the possibility of causing her to teleport to him at any time, instead of waiting months to see her.

Yeah, he's explaining a hypothetical situation of what might occur if he were to make a "lucky guess".

[Trillium]

I'm impressed that Smitty has given his ability so much thought. Annie could use more examples of how to think things through before acting. Annie has pretty good instincts but she is very impulsive. As fellow mediums these two should compare notes more often. 

[preus]

Can we focus on the really important thing here: HE CALLS HER GEORGIE!

[fish]

Apr 29, 2016 12:46:28 GMT preus said:

Can we focus on the really important thing here: HE CALLS HER GEORGIE!

He called her Gergie in Totem, so it's old news.

[ohthatone]

Apr 29, 2016 8:05:23 GMT Nepycros said:

I can understand the sentiment. Forcing order out of disordered situations has its pros and cons. It's more effective if he applies his talents in scenarios he has better degree of certainty over the consequences of. Flicking a deck of cards won't usually create an 'ordered' destructive scenario, while compelling a para-physical phenomenon to occur at indicated times can be much more distressing.

I can't help but wonder to what extent he limits his own activities. He's disrupted "recreational" exercises, managed to effectively synchronize his "guessing" with his girlfriend's timely jumps, and all sorts of other displays we aren't privy to. It sounds so... confined, what he can do without risking everything over what happens when order arises out of a neutral chaos.

Yeah, makes me wonder how far he's tested it. Has something happened where he had to learn the hard way to limit his ability?

[ctso74]

Watch where you point those things, Carver. They might go off.
He said, "I have to be careful how much I tip things into my favor." That sounds awfully ominous. Has he done that in the past? What happens? Did it effect him or someone else? Did his eyebrow grow larger?

Ninjaed by ohthatone

[l33tninja]

with great power comes great responsibility. I think Toby MacGuire should play Smitty in the GKC live action movie, so he can ruin another character for me.

[fish]

I think we saw a bit of this when Smitts threw the blinker stone (RIP blinker stone) into the ravine and it hit a bird for maximum accuracy.

Not sure if Tom's just casually exploring the repercussions of this power or if this is foreshadowing some major cataclysm in the future. I'd be content with both.

[freeman]

Apr 29, 2016 10:07:35 GMT haspen said:

So a girl that was gone for months' worth of training, and which Smitty is having a relationship with (and considering Coyote's and Renard's sniffing, possibly *very close* one), is now cutting the trip short because something happened, but no one (including her boyfriend) knows why, which implies secrecy or private matter of some sort.

...would it be too extreme to call that Parsley miiiiight be pregnant? As much as I believe that Smitty and Parsley are responsible teens, accidents do happen :V

You know, I've been entertaining myself with this thought several times, about how Smitty's powers play with contraception? Would it mean perfect 100% reliability rate "tipping the things in his favor", or more interestingly, as was said all the way back in chapter 17, "subconsciously create order where there is none". What would "order" mean in that case, I'd be bould to guess 100% fertility rate!

Also, possibly, maybe, a very happy girlfriend.

Ah yes Carver, you know exactly what is going on here.
This is the second time she's making these sort of remarks; the way she interacts with Smitty and Parley reveal interesting bits about her persona. Hard to dress into words, but let's just say "surprisingly mature". Maybe all those dead people she met as a child had an adivice or two to tell?

Can we not YES discuss this matter?

Seriously though, this guy's powers are frightening, like Zimmy level world altering. Hadn't he been caught into carefully monitored court breeding and habituation program, what level of havoc he would have caused in the open world?

[grahamf]

I wonder if the reason why he thinks that might happen is that because of his power he KNOWS that would happen? I don't think causality awareness would be outside the scope of his power.

[rama]

Apr 29, 2016 16:22:31 GMT freeman said:

Seriously though, this guy's powers are frightening, like Zimmy level world altering. Hadn't he been caught into carefully monitored court breeding and habituation program, what level of havoc he would have caused in the open world?

They're worse. Far worse.

Zimmy seems to alter the perception people have about the world around her. That's scary, but manageable. And it seems to have a strict range limit.

We don't really know the limit to Smithy's powers yet, but if one takes that ominous last line at face value, things can get horrific at a speed not yet seen in GC.

Imagine if there is no limit. That the world will just keep shuffling stuff around until it makes whatever Smithy wants, or tries to do, happen.
That means that if it takes Eglamore dying for Parley to jump home early, guess what, he's dead. Doesn't matter how it happens or if it's even within the limits of statistic plausibility, it's going to happen. Remember the cards?

Is that effect limited to one person at a time, or does mass extinction fit into that picture somewhere?

Luckily, Smithy has shown himself to be a very responsible and cool person overall, so he's unlikely to start toying with fate for his own gain.


Unless, of course, that last line is spoken from experience, not foresight...

[l33tninja]

Apr 29, 2016 21:36:37 GMT rama said:

Apr 29, 2016 16:22:31 GMT freeman said:

Seriously though, this guy's powers are frightening, like Zimmy level world altering. Hadn't he been caught into carefully monitored court breeding and habituation program, what level of havoc he would have caused in the open world?

Imagine if there is no limit. That the world will just keep shuffling stuff around until it makes whatever Smithy wants, or tries to do, happen.
That means that if it takes Eglamore dying for Parley to jump home early, guess what, he's dead. Doesn't matter how it happens or if it's even within the limits of statistic plausibility, it's going to happen. Remember the cards?

What if Jones' entire existence is actually based on Smitty's power? That is, Smitty at some point or another determined that his friend Annie needed Jones to be real to help her and so it just so happens that an indestructible entity that has existed since the beginning of the earth is around for Annie. How about that for statistical improbability?

[Daedalus]

Apr 29, 2016 7:03:14 GMT Gotolei said:

So is it canon to just simply call it "luck" now?

SPOILER: Click to show

and damn that's a misleading thread title if ever i saw one

The thread title was not unintentional

I also personally prefer the term "probability manipulation", but it's not any more precise than "luck".

[Per]

If something bad is happening to the protector, someone's got to tell the medium. That's why we have a medium!

[zbeeblebrox]

Haha oh god, Smitty is his own evil Genie.

[Darkfeather21]

Apr 29, 2016 22:02:37 GMT l33tninja said:

Apr 29, 2016 21:36:37 GMT rama said:

Imagine if there is no limit. That the world will just keep shuffling stuff around until it makes whatever Smithy wants, or tries to do, happen.
That means that if it takes Eglamore dying for Parley to jump home early, guess what, he's dead. Doesn't matter how it happens or if it's even within the limits of statistic plausibility, it's going to happen. Remember the cards?

What if Jones' entire existence is actually based on Smitty's power? That is, Smitty at some point or another determined that his friend Annie needed Jones to be real to help her and so it just so happens that an indestructible entity that has existed since the beginning of the earth is around for Annie. How about that for statistical improbability?

This makes a hell of a lot of scary sense.

[hellohello]

Apr 29, 2016 23:32:31 GMT Daedalus said:

Apr 29, 2016 7:03:14 GMT Gotolei said:

So is it canon to just simply call it "luck" now?

SPOILER: Click to show

and damn that's a misleading thread title if ever i saw one

The thread title was not unintentional

I also personally prefer the term "probability manipulation", but it's not any more precise than "luck".

Ya ever read the Alex Verus series?