[2162] Which Annie

[Futurismo]

Neither of the two Annie's we've been following should be in this timeline. Once again, Tom keeps us guessing.

[arf]

So where's *this* Court's Annie!??

[bicarbonat]

Nobody tell Anthony. The man is suspended by a deeply-concealed single thread when it comes to losing firehead girls.

[Angry Individual]

*puts on tinfoil*

Loup has this timeline's Annie, and is holding her hostage/against her will.

So, in order not to suspect anything is wrong, he made TWO separate timeline Annies so that if they got killed/hurt, he'd still have HIS Annie that he "loves".

He risks nothing but gains everything.

[manabi]

Jun 17, 2019 7:13:15 GMT Angry Individual said:

*puts on tinfoil*

Loup has this timeline's Annie, and is holding her hostage/against her will.

So, in order not to suspect anything is wrong, he made TWO separate timeline Annies so that if they got killed/hurt, he'd still have HIS Annie that he "loves".

He risks nothing but gains everything.

Having a third Annie to threaten would work well to get one (or both) of the other Annies to be certain to return to the forest, but it relies on them finding out that they're shifted and neither is supposed to be in this timeline.  That seems tricky to arrange them learning, unless he somehow knew Saslamel was going to show up and Clippy would explain it.

[philman]

Jun 17, 2019 7:13:15 GMT Angry Individual said:

*puts on tinfoil*

Loup has this timeline's Annie, and is holding her hostage/against her will.

So, in order not to suspect anything is wrong, he made TWO separate timeline Annies so that if they got killed/hurt, he'd still have HIS Annie that he "loves".

He risks nothing but gains everything.

Doesn't seem tinfoily to me at all, that seems exactly like something that Loup would do!

There is a 3rd Annie out there somewhere, who has probably been manipulated and/or brainwashed by Loup in the forest.

[Angry Individual]

Jun 17, 2019 7:20:47 GMT manabi said:

Jun 17, 2019 7:13:15 GMT Angry Individual said:

*puts on tinfoil*

Loup has this timeline's Annie, and is holding her hostage/against her will.

So, in order not to suspect anything is wrong, he made TWO separate timeline Annies so that if they got killed/hurt, he'd still have HIS Annie that he "loves".

He risks nothing but gains everything.

Having a third Annie to threaten would work well to get one (or both) of the other Annies to be certain to return to the forest, but it relies on them finding out that they're shifted and neither is supposed to be in this timeline.  That seems tricky to arrange them learning, unless he somehow knew Saslamel was going to show up and Clippy would explain it.

Honestly, I bet Loup never expected them TO learn about her.

She's probably frozen in time right now, just like all the other folks in the forest currently are.

Or she got blipped out of existence due to Loup shenanigans (maybe THIS Annie was taken by another Loup, for the exact same reason).

Time stuff hurts brain!

[antiyonder]

Actually haven't had enough reason to think back to the Spider-Man Clone Saga for awhile. Last page and this one makes it hard not to.

1. Previous strip suggesting time shift. Yeah originally the Clone Saga would end with Peter being killed by one of the characters called Scrier, with Ben Reilly offering anything to bring Peter back. Scrier complies by zapping Ben which causes him to gain memories of the events of what Peter experienced since the first Clone Saga.* Turns out Scrier would originally be revealed to be Mephisto who deaged Peter by 5 years, sent him five years into the past and that he would go on the journey to become Ben Reilly. Thus making both of them the real deal.

Rejected on the basis that keeping Peter married was more acceptable than using Mephisto (aka Marvel's version of Satan and major antagonist of the Silver Surfer) to resolve a Spider-Man storyline.**

2. Recent strip, having someone telling the lead characters than neither are the original or in this case of this timeline. Minor, but one of the major Clone Saga villains, The Jackal? Told Peter and Ben that neither of them was the original and that the real Peter had been kept in a stasis tube for 5 years. He was trolling them, but I chose to grasp at straws here.

*Much more simple storyline which pretty much consisted of The Amazing Spider-Man #140-150 which sees Spider-Clone Ben Reilly making his debut in #149.

**Something the editorial behind OMD didn't take into consideration. If I strongly disagree with that storyline, so what?:-)

[theonethatgotaway]

Oh boy, the plot thickens!

[Jota]

Does this imply that all Annies in all timelines co-owned Reynardine's present body? Since apparently neither of these Annies were there original owner in this one.

[csj]

'actually, you're a walking 403 error'

[noone3]

Sooo... Loup accidentally ate Annie, and then shifted her from different timeline to cover it up. Twice for good measure.

Mystery solved.

[imaginaryfriend]

I think the key to understanding all this is how little has changed to everyone and everything except Antimony.

[zaferion]

Five or six years later and Tom can still gotcha me. Goddamn I love this comic

[madjack]

Perhaps this is another reason Loup's frozen the Forest? Create another reality to steal an Annie, then a third for whatever reason, all with a constant anchor point?

[imaginaryfriend]

Jun 17, 2019 8:47:30 GMT madjack said:

Perhaps this is another reason Loup's frozen the Forest? Create another reality to steal an Annie, then a third for whatever reason, all with a constant anchor point?

I think the current situation(s) is/are the consequences of "Loup" duplicating Antimony; he wanted her to be in two places at once and so caused that to happen but the main point of divergence (where the differences became manifest) between the timelines is the fact that one left the area of frozen time months later than the other.

[madjack]

I've just decided I really hate trying to think this stuff through.

[blackouthart]

At some point later in the chapter Tom announces a partnership with Mattel, because we’re just gonna drown in Annie’s from here on out Sandman: Overture style and he wants to capitalize.

[csj]

Jun 17, 2019 9:18:29 GMT blackouthart said:

At some point later in the chapter Tom announces a partnership with Mattel, because we’re just gonna drown in Annie’s from here on out Sandman: Overture style and he wants to capitalize.

Action Annie^tm - the greatest uh... student of them all? wait no that doesn't work. _{Dangit, I thought I was onto something here by referencing 90s doll ads.}


Shortly followed by the Annieverse as Tom extends the comic by telling the stories of all the parallel universe Annies, each with their own special uniforms (sold separately).

[coastal]

Very inconvenient, indeed.

[somebunny]

Oh geez.

"Are you saying there's a timeline out there where annie never comes back from the forest?"

"Yes, and you're in it."

[jda]

Well it seems that neither of them should be here
-what?
Oh yes, they are supposed to be in Karmatron Dynamics III on this period.

[sotha]

Jun 17, 2019 8:57:39 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Jun 17, 2019 8:47:30 GMT madjack said:

Perhaps this is another reason Loup's frozen the Forest? Create another reality to steal an Annie, then a third for whatever reason, all with a constant anchor point?

I think the current situation(s) is/are the consequences of "Loup" duplicating Antimony; he wanted her to be in two places at once and so caused that to happen but the main point of divergence (where the differences became manifest) between the timelines is the fact that one left the area of frozen time months later than the other.

Didn't Courtnie say that she didn't even get to see Loup? She got turned away at the edge of the forest?

[todd]

One really big drawback (from a narrative point of view) is that, if neither of these are the Annie who belongs in this timeline, then that Annie will have missed out on all the crucial developments and revelations of the past few chapters, and, short of having them magically imprinted into her memories when she does return to the story, this is likely to make things extremely awkward thereafter.

I hope Tom's not putting this development in purely for the sake of surprising the readers, without thinking out the long-term consequences.

[netherdan]

Jun 17, 2019 12:31:01 GMT sotha said:

Didn't Courtnie say that she didn't even get to see Loup? She got turned away at the edge of the forest?

Turned away by "Ysengrin"

[ctso74]

Jun 17, 2019 7:37:37 GMT antiyonder said:

Actually haven't had enough reason to think back to the Spider-Man Clone Saga for awhile.

Is there ever enough reason? *rimshot*

There seem to be serious narrative drawbacks from having a third "frozen" Annie, that's out of the action. Plus, how can they both be the "original owner" for Rey's contract, if there both from another timeline? Everything Clippy's saying is confusing me. It's like he's using the phrase "timeline" for something else, rather than what I think it means.
Things will seem clearer in a few pages, I imagine.

[shadow3]

NANIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII?!

[ohthatone]

ok, so there is a theoretical 3rd Annie. I think the Forest is the nexus point of all these timelines, so if all the Annies were to enter the Forest to complete the mission one way or another, it's possible only one Annie would come back out, all of them having been merged.

[clover]

Aha! So,

Courtnie
Frannie
Annie

[darlos9d]

Jun 17, 2019 12:43:06 GMT todd said:

One really big drawback (from a narrative point of view) is that, if neither of these are the Annie who belongs in this timeline, then that Annie will have missed out on all the crucial developments and revelations of the past few chapters, and, short of having them magically imprinted into her memories when she does return to the story, this is likely to make things extremely awkward thereafter.

I hope Tom's not putting this development in purely for the sake of surprising the readers, without thinking out the long-term consequences.

I still cringe at a certain... event from another particular... webcomic - if you can call it a webcomic - where something like that happened on a grander scale and I found it incredibly unsatisfying. Though that was less because it happened and more because its potential repercussions weren't really explored well. Unless you count the epilogues, which is a bit too late in my opinion.

If Tom DOES dig into the repercussions more thoroughly, this could be interesting.