[1589] He's my friend

[CoyoteReborn]

*rolling on the ground laughing*


I have a thousand eyes, but even with a million I never could have predicted this!

[Refugee]

Nov 6, 2015 8:34:41 GMT darththulhu said:

[Tony is showing his] indescribably epic Ice King powers. Silently saying, "Clearly. Quite understandable. Here you go. You're welcome"

The odd thing about this strip is that Annie seems deflated at the end. I think it's more than just not getting to deploy her carefully constructed argument--it's that she really does want to engage with her Father, to connect with him again.

I don't think Anthony is scared of his daughter, exactly, nor even of Coyote. The man has faced indescribable demons; he's cut off his own arm in the hopes of saving his wife. He's made of stern stuff indeed, despite being thoroughly unlikeable.

But he's had Reynard for days, maybe weeks, and has gotten nothing from him, hasn't even gotten Rey to transform out of stuffed-toy form.

It's useless to hold on to Rey any longer, and unnecessarily provokes his daughter, and Coyote, and possibly the Court.

===

And now, Annie is faced with the prospect of apologizing to Reynard. As mentioned several times here, will she have to have Kat release him back to her for real?

I am hoping that if she does, she and Kat arrange things so he is no longer bound to anyone, save by friendship.

As it says in my current sig, "Win his love. That is, in binding dangerous things, always wisest."

[Refugee]

Nov 6, 2015 8:50:59 GMT Gotolei said:

..aand edit.

Dang it, I had the original version cached--and forgot to save it.

[imaginaryfriend]

Antimony dressed like an adult (or responsible young adult) person in this comic.

[aline]

Nov 6, 2015 8:55:45 GMT philman said:

Also to repeat everyone elses sentiments: Setting up that chekhov's gun of letting Renard defend himself against any harm, then just pulling the rug out from underneath us after all that... What?

An author has the right to be misleading. A lot of the narration around Tony was misleading. Remember how we all thought he wanted Renard for some experiments or in order to deliver him to the Court, or whatever. All red herrings.
Also, that conversation between Kat and Renard served to show us some important facts, namely that Kat and Annie were no longer an unbreakable team working together. Kat broke a promise made to Annie by doing that. She lied to her, claiming to abide by Annie's conditions so she would get ownership of Rey, and could ensure his safety. That was an important bit of characterization.

[warrl]

There is something else Annie should have said before the door closed.

"Thank you."

[darththulhu]

Nov 6, 2015 9:22:54 GMT warrl said:

There is something else Annie should have said before the door closed.

"Thank you."

Also: "I love you".

Give her time. Her father is quite far from neurotypical, and she is quite far still from relating to him as anything other than Her Detached Father.

She'll get there. Have faith.

[Gotolei]

Nov 6, 2015 8:59:09 GMT philman said:

Also... She's wearing normal clothes again!

I was wondering if there was any significance to that. Especially since she generally likes to wear blue it seems, so the brown accentuates the change?

Nov 6, 2015 9:09:18 GMT Refugee said:

Dang it, I had the original version cached--and forgot to save it.

not sure why you'd want it but ok

[setrain]

Nov 6, 2015 9:22:54 GMT warrl said:

There is something else Annie should have said before the door closed.

"Thank you."

You don't have to thank somebody for giving back what they had no right to take in the first place.

[Gotolei]

Also a few passing observations. Not sure how much time has passed since the previous chapter, but she's still not wearing her usual ensemble of necklaces and makeup.

[darththulhu]

Nov 6, 2015 9:39:41 GMT setrain said:

Nov 6, 2015 9:22:54 GMT warrl said:

There is something else Annie should have said before the door closed.

"Thank you."

You don't have to thank somebody for giving back what they had no right to take in the first place.

No, you don't have to. "Having to" is utterly beside the point

[aquamafia]

This was amazing oh my god.
Literally just went WAT.

I thought it was an April fool's joke at first.
Maybe that's when he drew it.

[ih8pkmn]

I... have no idea how to feel about this. On the one hand, after four straight chapters filled with non-stop drama (sometimes even melodrama), it's good to have a little bit of levity. On the other... it feels hollow.

Let me explain: Tom has built up to this moment since we found out Renard would be taken away from Annie. And now that this plotline has suddenly resolved... I'm getting the feeling that Tom just does not care anymore about what his audience thinks of the comic. I mean, it's not uncommon for webcomics to do one-page chapters to dick with the readerbase- back when it was around, the Gmod comic Concerned (which was pretty much Half Life 2 with a completely different protagonist) skipped over the entire Nova Prospekt segment by pretty much saying Gordon Frohman didn't have an appointment to get turned into a Combine.

The difference between this and that? The buildup to the No Prospekts chapter was humorous, using situations from the game and a much more unintelligent protagonist to create humor. For many, the last several chapters have just been a slog to read through, to me, this just falls flat- I feel like we deserve more than this after seeing Annie get kicked through the mud for the past eight months. What a bloody anticlimax.

[Tenjen]

had to log in even though i havent posted in the forum since the early april 2014. (but have been lurking and following the webcomic). Reading the posts of the previous chapter in hindsight is just hilarious now

Her father knows she will get him back if she wants and refusing her will only make her come up with a ridiculously elaborate plan that might cause trouble for him and/or with the court for them but she'll get renard back no matter.

So he just handed Renard over. Cut out the middleman (or middle-events)

[Refugee]

Nov 6, 2015 10:05:08 GMT ih8pkmn said:

I feel like we deserve more than this after seeing Annie get kicked through the mud for the past eight months. What a bloody anticlimax.

Much like Annie herself feels, I expect.

Personally, I think it's brilliant. This says volumes about Annie and Anthony both.

Because of course Annie did want something else. And in getting Renard back with a simple request, she's inadvertently closed off the opening she'd planned to use to engage with her Father.

Now she's going to have take that up directly, and it's going to be a long, slow, fitful, and frustrating process.

This was the perfect opening scene. This is everything Annie now faces.

Careful what you wish for, Annie. You just might get it.

[gwydion]

Shouldn't the Reynard Doll have a mark of Neptune or something?

[arf]

Scenario for the extras page:

- Annie rings the doorbell again.
- Tony answers 'Yes?'
- Annie: 'I wish to resume my year 10 studies.'
- Tony: 'Of course. Anything else?'
- Annie: '... WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY FATHER?'
- Door closes. Tony stands inside, feeling his whole limb and muttering in wonder 'Master has given me a new hand!'
(Coyote laughter drifts into panel.)

Edit: Master Tom has now done so, of course! But was that Siddell, or Rid-dle?

[aline]

Nov 6, 2015 10:05:08 GMT ih8pkmn said:

For many, the last several chapters have just been a slog to read through, to me, this just falls flat- I feel like we deserve more than this after seeing Annie get kicked through the mud for the past eight months. What a bloody anticlimax.

I strongly disagree. It was surprising, yet inevitable. The mark of very strong storytelling.

Why should getting Renard back be the climax anyway? The climax all this is building up to, is the repair of the relationship between Annie and her father. We thought (Annie thought) that claiming Renard back would lead to just that. That was it. She was going to face him. She was going to be angry. Showdown. 

Except Anthony didn't play along. You can see her disappointment when he asks if ther was something else she wanted... he closes the door on her, and she has her friend back, but not her father. He's running away from the entire thing. That just means she'll have to get him from another angle.

Nov 6, 2015 10:16:37 GMT gwydion said:

Shouldn't the Reynard Doll have a mark of Neptune or something?

Baring one or two exceptions, Renard only wears his owner's mark in his wolf form, not in his doll form.

Hetty even complains about it, when she asks him to revert to his doll form because she doesn't like the mark on his forehead: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1221

[justcurious]

Ooh! One of the funniest and most surprising pages in the comic and one of the best anti-climaxes I've seen in a comic. As others have said you magnificent bastard Tom. You really led us up the garden path especially with the title page for the chapter.

[gwydion]

Nov 6, 2015 10:34:01 GMT aline said:

Nov 6, 2015 10:16:37 GMT gwydion said:

Shouldn't the Reynard Doll have a mark of Neptune or something?

Baring one or two exceptions, Renard only wears his owner's mark in his wolf form, not in his doll form.

Hetty even complains about it, when she asks him to revert to his doll form because she doesn't like the mark on his forehead: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1221

Oh cool then that could eliminate the possibility of a "doppelgänger" doll so it could be the real Reynard.   Or perhaps Tony could be a very talented Seamstress and had a copy....

[noone3]

Whoa! Whoa, Tom!
Sometimes you just overdo the harshness of perils she has to undergo, to reach her goal.

[madragoran]

Dun! Dun! Dun! So if the conflict will not be provided by Annie setting daddy on fire, where will the conflict be? Oh yeah...

Rey has been ordered to shut up by Annie. And he was betrayed by Annie. He was passed around like chatel...

Then there is Kat. Who tried to help. And was repulsed by robot Annie.

Hmmm ladies and gentlemen pick your targets.

[Gulby]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~~~

That is SO good ! I can't believe it. I'm waiting impatiently to see what will happen next chapter. Well, two pages to wait, again. That is SO SO SO GOOOOD.

[Druplesnubb]

wat

[imaginaryfriend]

Nov 6, 2015 9:42:00 GMT Gotolei said:

Also a few passing observations. Not sure how much time has passed since the previous chapter, but she's still not wearing her usual ensemble of necklaces and makeup.

I think it's interesting the colors she chose for her outfit (not the usual mimicry of what she wore at the hospital). But she didn't go as far as to wear the makeup. She put some thought into her appearance and the speech she didn't get to deliver but probably not much time has passed since the previous chapter.

Too bad she didn't think to ask for more, though holding onto an inert Renard probably made Anthony feel a little foolish. After things settle down will he be as likely to concede?

[Ophel]

Let's face it. This is probably one of the most epic things. Be that epic hilarity, epic turn-of-events, epic brevity, etcetera.

I for one shared my actual laughing out loud.

This was great. Well-played Tom.

[Ophel]

Nov 6, 2015 8:08:14 GMT eightyfour said:

Nov 6, 2015 8:05:02 GMT KMar said:

Almost correct, but suppose this warrants cookies nevertheless.

I hereby hand over the "got it right" crown and ALL the cookies associated with it to l33tninja.

*bows*

To l33tninja!

SPOILER: Click to show

[Jelly Jellybean]

Props to l33tninja for being the one, but eventually one of the one-page chapter predictions was going to come true.  There are a lot of holes in the wall around that dart board.

I guess this could be a dream sequence and we should know one way or the other next week.  But I can also see the next chapter being Annie and Kat discussing what each has learned, including filling in some of the questions left by this sussinct chapter.

[legion]

I don't know what to say except

*badum psh*

[spoonr]

Best! One page chapter! Ever!