Comic for Monday, October 17th, 2022
Oct18
Comic
Polls
2024 Santa Hat Poll - Who will claim the Christmas Crown this year?
- Naomi Atarah (11%, 38 Votes)
- Fluffy (11%, 38 Votes)
- Kally Summers (11%, 38 Votes)
- Ila F-10 (9%, 31 Votes)
- The Consul (7%, 26 Votes)
- Miko (6%, 21 Votes)
- Avi Atarah (6%, 20 Votes)
- Kor's World Soldier (5%, 16 Votes)
- Mari Kepler (3%, 11 Votes)
- Dr. MIR (3%, 10 Votes)
- Rovak Stas (3%, 9 Votes)
- Camilla Canthi (2%, 8 Votes)
- Magnolia Dai (2%, 8 Votes)
- Nathan Summers (2%, 7 Votes)
- Lisa (2%, 6 Votes)
- Arron Kepler (2%, 6 Votes)
- Dr. Martin (2%, 6 Votes)
- Tyler Weber (2%, 6 Votes)
- Saria (1%, 5 Votes)
- Vium (1%, 5 Votes)
- Amy Selah (1%, 5 Votes)
- Kyle Kepler (1%, 4 Votes)
- Maia Ethi (1%, 4 Votes)
- Arkady Arduni (1%, 3 Votes)
- Elizabeth (1%, 3 Votes)
- Ryn Koko (1%, 3 Votes)
- Ashvalt Ardunni (1%, 2 Votes)
- Control (1%, 2 Votes)
- Tamara (1%, 2 Votes)
- Artem Arduni (0%, 1 Votes)
- Alex Fairway (0%, 1 Votes)
- Ashley Thomas (0%, 1 Votes)
- Lucy Harper (0%, 1 Votes)
- Biana Beyer (0%, 1 Votes)
- Gate (0%, 1 Votes)
- Jayce Myer (0%, 0 Votes)
- Ikirium Avon (0%, 0 Votes)
- David (0%, 0 Votes)
- Nick Otte (0%, 0 Votes)
- Joid (0%, 0 Votes)
- Yoav Cao (0%, 0 Votes)
- Varilem (0%, 0 Votes)
- Gelon Level (0%, 0 Votes)
- Marc Idunni (0%, 0 Votes)
- Blake Shoreman (0%, 0 Votes)
- Regin Enkari (0%, 0 Votes)
- Nelson Otte (0%, 0 Votes)
- Toshe (0%, 0 Votes)
- Frank Marsh (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 115
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The page is coming as I don’t want to skip 2 weeks, but I don’t think I’ll finish tonight, so probably tomorrow early afternoon (or w/e I decided passes for that).
Panel 6: “Maybe they DO taste different, but you cannot eat both to figure it out.”
Maybe Fluffy could just LICK them both?
Fluffy has asked several times about eating someone but has anyone actually ever been eaten? The dragon has been seen biting but has it ever swallowed the removed body part?
I do not believe he’s ever consumed anything.
One time Kally seemed concerned that maybe he would require food. However the dragon started that he did not, and only talked about eating things because people talked about eating things.
And then cut back to exactly this moment and dialogue? Unlikely. Anyway, if there will be a scene change, I shall hold you responsible for suggesting it in the first place.
Uh uh. No way. Not unless I can start holding accountable those who tell Past missing an update is okay!
Speaking of which, our eyes on the ground report things are coming along well this week. I don’t want to go saying that this might be the best comic yet, but…..
We have another few days before we hear the doctor’s response to Peter’s question. Goinbg back to Comic for Monday, August 22nd, 2022, Kally noticed some people in the buildoing were armed and others appeared to be tech or doctors. Perhaps that explains the children asking Peter to help the doctor. The doctors may be forced to do bad things at gun point.
Next, anyone have a guess about the third party who has knocked out the cameras? My first thougt was Rovak. On second thought, not Rovak since nothing has been blown up. Hmmmmmm…
Couple of days?!? We’ll be lucky to see that by Christmas!
Look, this is a perfect time to cut back to check on the Counsel, and we’ve not seen what Mium is doing lately, and where is Naomi and crew??
No no no. We’ve got a lot to do in the next few seconds before we hear that answer.
But what if Past runs with your suggestion only with a supercharged twist. He could cut back to Vium and Mr Murder, then Nathan wherever he is, then the old reincarnating geezer that Fluffy bit to death, then Elmon wherever he disappeared to, then Dr Mir’s first cyborg operation, then Doctor Martin creating M.Y.M., then Kor’s world invading Central, then, then …. AARRGGHH!!!!
Eh, it could be years before that doctor answers!
…So, I really didn’t plan for this every other week thing become a thing, but we are indeed going to be missing this week, so on every other week again.
Despite some other things, I thought I’d have the comic ready today, but all three days I could work on it, some other stuff ended up coming up (so to the person who might be reading this and said I’d blame them if I skipped, I’m giving them 1/3 of the blame…).
Ultimately I’ve just been a little busy and distracted with a handful of things recently. I’m giving some thought how to get things on a better schedule or do more content on this side of things, but at the end of the day I just spend a lot less time drawing then I used to, and it’s hard to reliably get the comic done.
There’s plenty of room to optimize my schedule with better planning, and I may just have to try to figure out a way to not assume I’ll do the comic over the weekend, but I also think weekends will get less busy once summer is official dead and buried as that’s been the root cause of the unreliability these last few weeks.
We should get a page next week.
Is that “once Nathan Summer is official dead” or “once Kally Summer is official dead?”
Pretty sure I don’t wish either of them to be official dead!
Well this went dark fast. I didn’t even know they were sick.
I think in this instance they are only (sic), not sick. “Nathan Summer (sic) … or … Kally Summer (sic)”
I’m hoping Past is talking about Nathanial Summer, the *former* Fifth Warden of Evron. They’ve kind of been holding on for years despite health issues that forced them to give up their post while their kids were fairly young adults.
since it’s Halloween, are you gonna place a Halloween Picture, in exchange for a comic Page?
Here’s something we missed. In the last panel, there appears to be a mana dot just below Peter’s left shoulder against the coat sleeve.
Anyone know what this is?
https://pastutopia.com/unknownlandspaintingwallpaper/
Looks like a giant worm with teeth. It is unknown if the image has anything to do with this comic but there are gods, monsters and magic.
unknownlands.thecomicseries.com/
Huh. Maybe it is Past training one of his giant purple worms?
Now having read the comic, there are no purple worms or anything even close. Haven’t got a clue now.
I read some of it. Hard not to notice that it updated once in the last two years. Seems like a decent story line. Definitely not related to the picture though.
Tough to know. Unknown lands can cover a pretty wide spectrum. It’s literally unknown. I just thought maybe someone would recall something I’d missed.
In the meantime, I’m sticking with my “Past training one of his pets” theory.
Perhaps Past was dreaming about Dune?
*gasp* Could it be that at the far side of utopia there lurks a giant purple worm?
That would explain a lot. Tie up a lot of loose ends.
Just two ends per worm, I hope. Let’s hope for a 1-dimensional (long in one dimension) worm in 3-space. I don’t know how knots work in other dimensions.
We never see Fluffy’s side of the conversation in any of the comics. Is the Fluffy construct sentient or are all of the conversations imagined in Kally’s mind?
This has been left intentionally ambiguous, I think.
My own opinion is that the longer Fluffy is operative, the closer Fluffy gets to being fully sentient, but that that is not how Fluffy began.
I thought the last time we saw Fluffy fully materialized we could hear both sides of the conversation?
I tried to find that conversation, right before Kally promised to bring Fluffy back and then unsummoned him. I failed to locate it.
I’m thinking of a project for this winter since I don’t expect to get out much. Start with the first comic and write a one line description for each comic. Another line with character names. Add to the Wiki maybe by year 2014-2022.
Past, do you have anything like this already? Maybe add to Patreon only.
It wasn’t the last time or even especially close. Several materializations have occurred in the last nearly three years without hearing Fluffy’s side of things. But you were right that it happened!
http://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-monday-october-27th-2019/
I think you’re missing a key word: This was (or so I believe) the last time we saw Fluffy *fully* materialized. (Compare the palettes.)
Yeah, Fluffy has green eyes when he’s fully materialised. And has a more depth to his “red” colour palette. Also he’s solid (light doesn’t pass through him).
We’ve seen Fluffy a few times (seven instances by my count):
(1) When the Kors World tanks are dropped on the Magic School
[c] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-monday-september-20th/
Here Past establishes Kally can simply just “summon” Fluffy (i.e. it’s fast). And that in ethereal form, tank rounds/shells are stopped by Fluffy (penetrate his form, but stop).
(2) The IDS Goons blow up Peter’s house and try to apprehend Naomi (the “vexing wankers” arc!)
[c] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-friday-december-8th/
Here we see Fluffy engage with a null caster and breathe fire! I assume who wins depends on who gets the jump on who (Fluffy throws the null caster, but the null caster does something pink and passes through & shatters Fluffy’s tail (which immediately reforms)).
(3) Kally takes to the skies to stop H.V.W. round. Go Kally!
[b] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-thursday-december-21st/
(4) Peter stabs his arm. Kally learns she has monsters to fight. When we see Fluffy, he’s got green eyes! (Fully materialised!!) Makes sense: Kally knows she taking out Atter who is now has a spirit beast (looks like a dragon) as his newest fanciest shell.
[a] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-thursday-march-14th-2019/
After taking out Atter, Kally decides it’s time to “destroy some rain clouds”. Wisely decides burning aways Sophie is not the best solution, and goes to skulk about on a rooftop.
[a,b,c] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-monday-october-27th-2019/
Look closely! We see Fluffy at three levels here:
[a] fully materialised (green eyes, richer reds)
[b] solid (red eyes, dark red highlights)
[c] ethereal (red, translucent)
(5) Kally helps Naomi check on a “Nine Eight Four”. Dragon credentials are required when dealing with family heads. Luckily for Kally, unluckily for Saraine, Ashvalt arrives to sort things out.
[c] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-monday-february-1st-2021/
(6) Dragon shaped clearance pass was required. Lab gets wrecked.
[c] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-monday-may-2nd-2022/
(7) This comic! I wonder what (if any) witty banter between Peter and Fluffy we’ll get to enjoy this time. Will it involve eating people?
[c] https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-monday-october-17th-2022/
The comic where Kally dismisses Fluffy from being fully materialized also shows the break point of when we can hear him. I actually think there are about 5 steps though through out, and the 3 phase page is skipping from 5, to 3, to 1, to gone.
The eyes turn green at what I’ll call stage 4. When she’s going to fight Atter, the dragon’s eyes turn green, but we still cannot hear the dragon talk. During that fight is actually the first time we see the Dragon talk, and he’s outline turns black for the first time (instead of dark red).
This moment here, specifically.
Right before that, Kally gave him a huge burst of power as the demons were mobbing him.
We also saw that after that, Kally needed to actually spend power to dematerialize him again.
My guess is that Fluffy basically always exists, and Kally is just materializing him into the world at stages 1 to 5:
-1 Light Red
-2 Toned Red
-3 Dark Red, No Longer See Through
-4 Green Eyes
-5 Black outlines, fully Materialized.
And 5 is where we can see him talk.
To add one more wrinkle to the equation though, as we saw in the Dragon Shaped Clearance Pass, Fluffy is only at 1 or 2, and Peter may have been able to hear Fluffy. Either that, or just was able to predict what Fluffy was saying well enough Kally (who could hear Fluffy) wasn’t sure if Peter could him hear or was just guessing.
That was impressive for someone without a database. You missed exactly one appearance. During interlude 3, Dragon popped up solidly for one update to explain exactly how Kally delivers arrest warrants.
[b] https://pastutopia.com/comic/intermission-3-minus-years-2-page-5/
When I talk counts it comes up with a different number because I’m generally counting updates. Most of your appearances spanned several updates.
That’s it, Josh. That’s the one I was thinking of. I can’t believe it was three years ago. I couldn’t find it, but that’s the one I recalled.
And you’re right Sidhekin, I missed the “fully” aspect.
As a side note, I took a little time to search for ‘Sidhekin’ on case it was a cultural reference I missed. It didn’t surprise me too much to find Perl-esque references to your handle.
I think it is safe to say that the conversations are not _entirely_ in Kally’s mind. Possibly they emanate from a subconscious aspect of her personality?
I don’t think we can state 100% that Fluffy is completely independent, as there never seems to be any concern that Kally has less than perfect control. However the sapience or lack thereof is very nuanced, and Fluffy can absolutely be heard by third parties on occasion.
Be well!
My take is that Fluffy that is basically Kally’s imaginary friend, that she is manifesting into the world. It basically acts as a semi-independent extension of her will.
Like here, she doesn’t ask it to move her over to the window, it just does. Likewise, we never see her explain her plan to it or direct it to do something specifically, but they seem to operate in sync.
I feel like it’s basically a magical weapon shaped like a dragon that gained some degree of sapience because Kally is lonely and wanted something to talk to, and is ridiculously powerful enough mage that real vs. imaginary isn’t a big deal and what she wants tends to get willed into existence over time.
The interesting question to me is how that ties into the other demons, and if that’s the origin story of most demons or spirits. Like, if Kally someday died, would Fluffy keep existing now that he’s been created?
It is possible that Fluffy is just a “new” demon, while people like Sophie or Elliana are just recycling existing demons rather than making their own.
Of course, that’s just one theory, and not the one I think is the most likely. And, knowing this comic, it’s almost certainly more complicated than that, and several of them will end up being true along with several I never thought of.
Fluffy should get “Fluffy” not “Dragon”
you know, just sayin’ 😀
I thought the same thing.
Even more heart breaking? Both ‘Dragon’ and ‘Fluffy’ link to a single comic each. I’m pretty sure Fluffy has been in close to as many comics as Aaron.
% utopia_count dragon fluffy arron
43 arron 15 dragon
%
I’ll admit I’ve been busy lately and have not yet included the last 20 comics in the database. But even if Dragon had been in every one of them and Arron was in none of them, that’d still put them 8 updates behind Arron. I’m pretty sure Dragon has not been in every one of them. This “Fluffy” character isn’t in the database because Dragon’s been pretty clear about their name.
Just sayin, so you know.
Sigh. In the period I’d neglected to file properly, Arron showed up twice, Dragon once. I ran my program after updating.
% utopia_count dragon fluffy arron
44 arron 15 dragon
%
Ugh.
I looked into it, and the bug was frustrating. The method I was using to test to see if something was actually a valid comic only works like I expected in an array context. In boolean context, it does something magical that in my particular case fails roughly half the time.
Corrected values:
% utopia_count.pl dragon fluffy arron
87 arron 31 dragon
%
What??! Is EVERYONE here an old perl hacker?
I’d like to see the code. And probably the data format.
Isn’t hacking perl how we got old?
Does anyone know any YOUNG perl hackers?
That Camel Book should come with a warning label.
“Dragon” really isn’t the best name. Even if we don’t get “Fluffy”, it should at least be “Kally’s Dragon”.
Not that there has been another one yet, but just “Dragon” is boringly generic of a name.
(yes I see the other guy is listed as Shitty Demon no I’m not going to say anything more on it)
I would normally agree with that assessment if we were talking about a hypthetical.
But it’s not a hypothetical. TFSoU may just be a comic, but Dragon is already a character in it. Dragon is the authority on Dragon’s name, and Dragon specified they are Dragon. I’m not about to argue with a dragon.
Don’t argue with an actual dragon. That there is sold advice.
There has been mention that it would not be good idea to call the dragon Fluffy to his/her face. Hmmm … is Fluffy a he, she, it, their, nonbinary, etc?
I propose the following when talking to the dragon:
Fluff the Magic Dragon
or better …
Fluff the Magnificent
So, it seems we finally get to see the origins of all those “innate abilities” that people on this planet have. Splicing out the associated DNA sequences that demons use to empower themselves in order to sell them as upgrades for your kids wouldn’t have been my first guess, but here we are… apparently.
At least, that is what it is looking like at this point.
Maybe, but this feels more like version 2.0 of designer kids than what’s currently in vogue.
I’m still not convinced that demon summoning was a thing prior to contract with Central, and I’m pretty sure designer children predate contact with Central.
Designer children seems like it is a roll the dice sort of thing and pretty expensive. This maybe is an attempt to get improved results?
If the recent appearance of Atter was a new, unknown level of summoning on Palindra (constructs seem to have been known before), than it would make a lot of sense that someone local tried to find out how to summon a demon themself. And they – if among the survivors, at least – were pretty lucky that someone from Central who knows how to get rid of a demon, was around…
My old mind doesn’t get the impression that demon gene splicing is going on. There are three factions in the storyline at the building. Peter, Kally and Fluff The Magnificent (sounds impressive ) are one faction. People running the facility are another. Then there is the unknown faction that disabled the security cameras. The two children are very supportive of the injured doctor. Seems like he may have attempted to protect patients/children from the demon and whoever did the summoning.
My guess is this is a company that is attempting to compete with the designer kid business, rather than how designer kids are normally made. Also, they’re doing it kind of wrong. But they’re going after the “so you want to improve your existing kids” market, which the designer kid business doesn’t touch.
I’m uncertain if this is Egenus or some other company. But I’d guess Egenus, simply because we don’t know that many companies and it feels like it’s time for someone besides AVon to be horrible.
Egenus certainly feels right, and then the rest of the story fits.
Side thought. I realize this also might explain why Peter suddenly decided to intervene when he heard someone screaming if they sounded like a kid.
Demon murdering scientists that were experimenting with demon summoning? Peter probably doesn’t care. Demon murdering children? Peter isn’t a sociopath, as much as much as he might act unaffected sometimes.
“My magician”… Kally telling herself there, but I guess that ship is pretty much full speed ahead at this point anyway, the only question is how much Peter is aware he’s on board.
That Peter and Kally get their relationship advice from an Artificial Intelligence and a Dragon respectively probably explains a lot about their relationship.
You can add that they each created to the bit on sources of relationship advice.
One created their source of relationship advice and it would rather not advise him on relationships. The other created their source of relationship advice and sounds more interested in what relationships taste like.
Relationships aren’t even simple to start with, and what they have for advice……how is their relationship probably the most normal thing about them?
I suspect that Kally is in denial about her mood. But I love the dialog with Fluffy, for all that we only hear her half of it.
I’m curious about “those old geezers in the society” – who they are and what it is. While I would love to hear what they would have to say, too, I think it is more likely we get the backstory than that we ever get to see them learn who Peter is now.
And I’m not betting on that part of the backstory coming our way!
Thank you for the comic today, Past! Good stuff.
And never mind a mage, Peter may become a detective one of these days…
Probably refers to the Ervon Magical Society?
I don’t know if we have any details on them, besides that Kally’s brother is a member of it (potentially an important one?). I believe it was a pre-Incursion magical secret society that was the one that taught the IDS about magic once shit hit the fan, but I could be forgetting some details there. I don’t think we have seen any of its members besides Nathan.
Well Nathan holds the Seat of Summers as I recall, suggesting that Kally’s family is more than tangentially involved. And yes, Ervon Magical Society. Maybe Kally has had familial pressure to date someone with, you know, magical aptitude?
And Nathan wields the Big Important stick. Which is potentially only really interesting in it being one of the very few artifacts we know about. Maybe it is the most powerful in the game. Maybe Grandpa Summers makes one for all the grandkids, and Kally just doesn’t find it useful enough to cart around?
Which makes me wonder all the more about that crowbar.
The crowbar is cold iron. A substance in most magic schemes that resists influence. We have seen it used by Tom in that scenario previously. It could simply be special to Tom because most crowbars are steel and not iron. Iron would make a poor actual crowbar because iron while strong is also brittle.
Actually, iron itself is somewhat weaker than mild steel but crazy ductile (and feels like putty when hit while it’s hot); not brittle at all. what’s strong but brittle is “cast iron”, which is more like steel that’s had so much carbon put in that you get little flakes of graphite precipitating out in it. Historically a lot of the time you tried to avoid actually melting the iron you were making from ore, so that you would get something workable (wrought iron) instead of cast iron (the carbon dissolves into the metal better when it’s liquid), so “cold iron” probably is closer to pure iron than steel or cast iron.
In my experience, steel and iron are pretty interchangable as far as magic is concerned. I think it’s more concerned about how much ferum is there rather than whether there’s a bit of carbon blended with it at the molecular level.
At least, I’ve never managed to ensorcel either of them to an appreciable degree.
That said, it at least feels like I’ve come closer with magnetized iron/steel. I’m not sure if there’s something going on there, or if it’s all in my head.
Of course, this stuff probably works a bit differently on Palindra.
I feel like we need to compare notes, maybe get us both further along.
Since then we have gotten a clue as to what the crowbar can do in the 3 way confrontation between Dendrin, Tom, and Vim. Tom compares it as similar but less Lethal to Nathans big stick. Vim says he would have to nullify what Tom was threatening Dendrin with thus implying an active magic. Then he says he could kill Tom, take the crowbar and map and use it to kill Nathan then nuke centrals station. I think it Rips open a portal under someone or thing and with the map can then be used either to maroon or direct them somewhere lethal.
New mysteries unfold. Peter has deduced that a patient became the shitty demon and that the doctor may know something. We also find out that at least some of the patients are children. We already figured out that Fluffy might get the shitty demon via the window that Peter fragged. Kally’s speculation about Peter follows my thinking that there is more to Peter than just a mundane non-magic human. Does Peter have an autocaster or two in his pockets or is he learning a form of magic?
Peter really does know magic. An autocaster alone is not enough. We saw this with Miko.
Plus, fooling demons and red constructs is, as stated here, very much not something anyone could do.
Peter is perhaps pioneering a new school of magic. Less mysticism, more science. A sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws
My bet is at least one autocaster per pocket and he’s learning magic, but via a technological path.
I’m seriously beginning to doubt the use of a carried autocaster. We know he has at least some cybernetics, so there are many possibilities. Many many possibilities.
Possible, but when Query hacked Peter’s Dad’s implant he noted that’s why Peter didn’t like them. Plus, Miko noted that she’s harder to kill than Peter, implying that he doesn’t have an implant for MYM to access in an emergency.
I took it (and a remark about weaponizing kids that I don’t find at the moment) as a hint that Peter got an implant as a child but deactivated it later. So, perhaps he does use it again, but in a different, unexpected way.
Just had a thought. As good as Peter is at tech, perhaps he has built a better autocaster or two. He does seem to have his hands in his pockets often.