2.2.29
on August 7, 2024
at 3:00 am
erin probably doesn’t do this all the time because he knows how much of a pain in the ass it is for me to draw this many stacked glow effects. very considerate
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
Extremely considerate
Anyways wow that looks awesome
That is not the face of someone who just did something trivial
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: who doesn’t have enough hands NOW
Image source: trivial
Tumblr text: simplicity itself!
Kendal slowly pushes himself up, grimacing. Then he stops, staring at Erin in the bow of the ship, arms up, glowing. The rain hangs still around them, the world frozen.
“Hnh,” Erin says, face in a grimacing smile. “Trivial.”
…Yeah Erin is definitely going to faint sometime. I’m imagining all those elements are currently wreaking havoc in his soul channels right now while he tries to minimize the damage and keep them flowing. This is really bad. Given that things always go the worst way possible in stories (usually), he’ll get some sort of elemental corruption from this.
I hope they get to the monks soon. The gang will probably need their help fixing whatever will happen to Erin.
Twitter Text: you should see me when I’m trying
Maintaining the skybeam before their eyes
Erin scoffs: “Trivial.” as his cape waves and flies
Oh no. Oh nononono. I do not like the look on his face right now.
That is 1000000%%% an “I AM ABOUT TO GO CRAZY/EVIL” look. I hate it. But I also love it.
“oh no”
yes, that accurately describes the situation and my concerns as well as (at least) those of the two of you
i don’t think he’ll go full on villain bc that would be a large shift but i am very concerned that **nothing** good can come next page
I feel like his face and his speech bubble stem shape are betraying that this is not, in fact, trivial
(he is posturing to himself)
Erin does not look all right. I can’t wait to see how horribly this turns out
I’m commenting because I absolutely love how this is drawn, I mean the art’s always awesome, but especially this page and especially the last panel.
I give it even odds he’s unconscious by the next update. Better if we say by the end of next week; boy’s about to experience an acute case of the hubris.
On one hand, this is badass Erin at his peak.
On the other hand, I just know he’s going to be so out of commission by the end of this. Anyone here fancy a Heroic RROD? Because we’re about to get one.
RROD?
Red Ring of Death~
In which a hero pushes themselves physically or mentally to a point of exertion, rendering them useless for varying amounts of time. In some cases, it means the character’s exertions are killing them! This phenomenon is named after the xBox360 “feature”, in which the LED around the power button lights up red, warning of catastrophic hardware failure ala overheating and the like.
Yeah, he’s got this.
Says that with while dying inside lol.
Kendal need to do the anime thing where he just punches really hard and all the rain goes away
This made me laugh to hard omfg
I mean, his sword is known to destroy storms with massive attacks. This isn’t necessarily too fantastical.
So far, every time Erin had a very badass moment, it was soon interrupted by consequences. The fact we see Kendal waking up first (besides making sense as he’s the sturdiest one) doesn’t look good for our favorite elemental magus. I guess, as Red called it on Tumblr once, his god senses are tingling. At the very least its not good that they’re facing each other and Kendal can see what’s behind Erin.
Prediction: Kendal calls out to Erin to look behind him.
You just hit on one of my main nitpicks with this comic: That Erin has gotten maybe one genuinely cool moment to be awesome (against Shrike) and that every other time its just hubris -> humbling. Erin’s powerful, but he’s stuck playing second fiddle to Kendal and Alinua, so his power can’t be what actually solves the plot (a Vegeta sort of situation). I just want him to get some cool moments (and I agree with you that this probably isn’t it).
That’s the “glass” part of “glass cannon” unfortunately. I think since we’ve touched on everyone else’s backstories and given them moments to shine, the next part is going to be Erin-centric and I, for one, am looking forward to it.
I think you’re right, I’ve also been a bit disappointed at Erin’s lack of badass moments, although I’d add the first time he zapped the Void Dragon in the caves and much later saving Falst from void corruption to the list of good, uninterrupted moments.
Every other time he had a chance he either fell victim to another, more important plot point happening (life’s first appearance, Kendal summoning Vash, Dainix’ crucible form, Kendal’s growth…), or the age old storytelling advice “if we hear about the plan before it happens, something will go wrong”. Erin both loves making plans and telling people all about them, which means all of them must fail.
Um, what do you see that’s behind Erin? Because I can’t see anything.
Nothing we can see yet, but I think there might be something next page
The strain, and using his pride as a shield to convince himself, “No, this doesn’t hurt a bit–why do you ask?” I see a fry-out coming. And I think Kendal does, too. Will Erin get them to some form of safety first?
Me after unloading the dish-washer
This made me laugh out loud
Queer vision activate
Ah, I see Mr. Mchubris is back at it again. Wonderful. At least he has the decency to look ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE whilst doing so.
I like the iridescent color wheel for his irises. 🙂
Also, that looks painful. Can he blow himself apart doing this?
Above the deck on which Kendal lies
Now floats radiant Erin.
Hands and eyes sixfold glowing, “Hnh. Trivial,”
He says with a strained grin.
Such a cool callback to 1.4.6., when he walked into The Storm…then, a little smirk on his face, shoulders relaxed, one hand up, and here, his body rigid, hands like claws, teeth gritted in an almost disturbing rictus grin of effort and possibly pain.
I’m still not 100% sure what he’s done. It almost looks like he just made everything…stop. Holding it suspended, to give himself time to think. It’s beautiful and more than a little terrifying. Would be an absolutely terrible time for one more thing to show up and absolutely shred the last threads of his control.
Yes! It almost reminds me — if you’ve watched ATLA — of the scene in the Southern Raiders where Katara stops the rain mid-air.
I was just thinking about where we last had “Trivial” That is a great callback!
tbf the stacked glow effects do look very cool
You are flying too close to the goddamn sun again, idiot!
I mean it isn’t like he has a better option at the immediate moment. this doesn’t as as much as “time for me to do a hubris” but more “okay I need to stop that now.” Then he does so. it still is hubristic, but this isn’t a self image thing at it’s core is it?
Alinua: “T-posing to assert dominance over all six primordials at once” is *not* a valid problem solving technique Erin!
Erin:*visibly barely holding his soul together* but… I look… SO COOL!
hmmm when he lets go, they’re going to get sucked under aren’t they
I was confused at first, at a glance it looks like they’re in the trough of a TITANIC wave but I think that dark teal void is the sky and the purple and white swirl of clouds is where he punched a hole in the storm above them on the last page.
Bro, I’m barely even trying, bro 😥💦
i have a feeling were gonna get to see some elemental sickness, seeing hes using pure unstructured magic on such a large scale
This chapter looks so AWESOME!
I feel like maybe we can still recover! If Erin drops the stone and the healing parts of whatever spell he’s using, and then tess lets him drop the lightning, maybe he can focus enough to recharge the lacrimas.
I don’t think that’ll actually happen, because that’s not how stories work, but still.
good thing he knows how to deal with elemental corruption now, huh. Anyway I imagine in theory this is in theory actually very doable, considering how easily he handled the storm, but I’m also very much looking forward to the quencies, esp how Tess will react!
On the one hand, this is such an epic moment narratively and visually, and Erin has secured a moment of reprieve from the elements for his friends! Well done!
On the other hand: Erin needs to put all that down (carefully) before he hurts himself (more). He is so clearly under duress and bluffing. Trivial, my foot.
Exactly.
O Erin, your arms are too short to fight the entire universe, even if you have all element at your command. Hell of a commanding figure though.
he is Going to Explode
I sense incoming void dragon…. idk.
I wonder about that. In Zuurith, the Dragon waited until Alinua had pulled Erin mostly back together before he showed. I’m assuming that even if Erin is unconscious, the Dragon won’t appear if his host is too weak — attempting to use Erin’s powers immediately after THIS would likely cause further damage to his host.
Erins hubris truly knows no bounds. Please stop before you hurt yourself buddy😬 also, is Kendal okay??? We’ve seen him get hurt and/or tossed around before, and the way he’s reacting now (trembling, grimacing, slowly getting up) seems disproportionate to the fall from earlier. Also, two pages ago, someone pointed out that Kendal was clutching at his stomach. I don’t think it’ll be much longer before we see the collector again..
Erin, you’re doing it again, trying to fix everything on your own…
that… can’t be good
this isn’t looking good.
YOOOO HE’S SO COOL
LET HIM BE BADASS
Also he’s SUCH an academia student lmao, using literally any excuse to say “trivial”.
I get the feeling that channeling this many elements is a bad idea.
Hey, maybe we can get a trope talk for “Heroic Red Ring of Death”
Nah it’s fine bro’s eyes always look like the comic’s logo wdym?
Oh my god they do
God, I adore Erin. Need ten more of these hubris-ridden archmages immediately.
this looks awesome but he sounds very void dragony right now and i’m scared
The dragon doesn’t talk like that
….Oh Erin!… Red designed a T-shirt JUST for you! => Pulls out the ‘My Hubris….’ shirt.
I think part of Erin’s actions come from guilt. Clearly he did not have a lot of power when he was younger and he feels bad that he could not protect others like Tess and Al, and that they suffered for his sake. Now that he does have control over his power, he is going to use that to its fullest extent to protect his friends. I think that is why getting through this storm unscathed is so important to the guy, and why Falst and Alinua’s misgivings in his abilities have been especially hurtful. Now that he has power, protecting people should be trivial. If the outer shell of arrogance and pride he has in his abilities were ever to crack, doesn’t that put him back to square one and reveal a weak little kid needing to use others without giving anything back?
Are you sure about that.
hmm, doesn’t seem like Erin’s using life magic to heal Kendal. Wonder where that power is going?
I think he’s healing himself from the damage of using that much UNLIMITED POWA!
This is looking like it could be really good, or really bad. Knowing the tropes, it’s probably gonna be really bad.
pardon my opinion-based rant here, but god i LOVE erin as a character SO DAMN MUCH. he’s so well written!! he’s such an interesting take on the concept of hubris. he clearly doesn’t THINK he can fix everything, he just WANTS to be able to fix everything. his “greatest flaw” of pride is genuinely just his own insecurities, and i really love the way red’s written him to be so compelling. he doesn’t think he’s above everyone, he just hopes he’s more powerful than everyone, because that’s the only way he thinks he can be safe. “i can’t be safe until i have a solution for any and every problem.” lots of characters who act prideful because of their insecurities really come off as self-centered dicks, who’s pride is just them lashing out at everyone, but erin’s not like that. he’s a lot like falst, except where falst prides himself on his endurance, erin prides himself on his versatility. kind of like a really juiced up jack-of-all-trades. he has control over all seven elements, making him the most well equipped person in the world to solve all his problems with magic, so if he CAN’T solve all his problems with magic, what excuse does he have? like it’s just so well written i love it so much!! i love all these characters, and i relate to falst the most (i, too, have an exceptionally high pain tolerance and i often don’t realize how injured i actually am) but i’m most interested in erin’s personal arc over anyone else’s, just because of how he’s written. so yeah!! he’s my blorbo. my silly guy. 🙂
I completely agree. I love his character so much.
Absolutely! That’s why the Hubris-comments have begun to grate on me. We’ve already seen that there’s so much more to Erin’s character than pride, and even that doesn’t come from a place of superiority. The opposite, if anything.
Same! Hubris is too thin a take on Erin. He’s far more complicated than that. Hubris is the belief that one can take on the world.
With Erin, it’s insecurity that’s driving him. Falst collaring him earlier, causing him to imagine whatever it is in his past that made him feel weak and incapable, brought out those insecurities in full force.
Cue his dark friend/symbiote to make him useless?
I don’t think so
The bot?? I thought Red blocked you!
This page is absolutely the coolest, but I am fearing so much what’s going to happen next. Erin could either end up overexerting himself, or end up going Void Dragon.
Okay color wheel pop off
I’ve just been going back through the comic and I realized how different Kendal looks from Vash, even though they’re in the same body. It’s not just the eyes, though that does help; I think Vash… holds himself differently? I mean, he is a god. No mortals can hurt him, so it makes sense he would be more confident. But… idk.
And also, Red’s drawing has really improved; you can tell if you go back to, like, the first chapter. It looks way better here.
Elemental corruption? Don’t know her!
Is he trying to blast the storm clouds away?? That’s one way of dealing with the problem
TL;DR: Bragging time!
I remember reading somewhere that life magic sinks into water so maybe Erin is using that to have more power to control the water
Really appreciating the color organization of the runic tattoos right now- I love that it’s warmer colors and cooler colors together. I also love that the colors aren’t just red through purple, I think they go together better than if they were just the rainbow. That rainbow eyeshine is wonderful tho!
But although this is epic, I have a feeling it will NOT end well for Erin. Or the rest of the crew. Someone probably noticed that giant skybeam, and I don’t think Erin will be in any condition to fight Michael if the consequence for this is collapse, do not pass go, and do not collect $200.
“On paper, there are many ways I could stop a storm.”
“I could force it back with water magic. Hold every raindrop perfectly suspended, never coalescing into a flood.”
“Until my concentration wavered and the water fell all at once.”
– Erin, Page 1.16.11
Ah! I was re-reading that part today. definitely a bit worrisome.
Yes! That was the first time I remember thinking Erin didn’t just have access to all six (seven) elements, he had the power to back it up, as I assume holding every raindrop suspended or reshaping the entire valley is NOT the first solution most mages would come up with.
But this would be an absolutely catastrophic time for one of the other Chekhov’s Guns to fire. Not least because all that weather coming back down would suck…but I’m also not sure if it’s possible to experience a magical backlash if a mage loses control.
Super easy, barely an inconvenience
ok but this page goes HARD tho??? like??? i’m not sure how many other times he’s done this throughout the comic but it reminds me of Erin’s intro where he deflected the lightning and went “Trivial.” Really cool!
Time for the Void Dragon? Or maybe The Collector?
And with the rise of his ego, comes a bigger shadow for the Void Dragon to creep into…
Arriving at the precipice of pride, fall in 3… 2…. 1…
That is very, VERY epic. But suddenly, he looks very much his age.
Also, Kendal looks amazing in that second panel.
This is giving real “I lied, I’m dying inside” vibes
“See, Falst! I have enough hands to do anything!!” *passes out*
He looks so young… but oh wow, so badass.
Trivial. Erin raves armbound
Runes
Illuminate. Waves beat
Vessel shakes off daze
Incredible
Aseran mage stands
Lonely in his gaze
Sorry this one is so late but hopefully one day I’ll be on time to join the poetry club