Why does this reminds me of FMA:B part where Central soldiers are fighting Roy Mustang’s forces and he does his best to only wound them and scare them off?! I mean, when your enemy is trying his best not to harm you, that’s the point you should stop, rethink your life choices and start being strategic, right?
Of course, in the very next episode, soldiers of Briggs enter the fray and they are nowhere near as forgiving as Mustang so the real mook horror show begins. Should have quit while you were ahead, Central leadership.
I’m watching FMA:B for the first time at the moment (I just passed Envy vs Mustang) and it’s been funny seeing the similarities between Ed and Falst:
Short, quick temper, absent father he has issues with, dead mother due to magic shenanigans that he personally witnessed at a young age (with Ed he watched the failed human transmutation die, not his actual mother, but the dark house and the lanky undead-looking creature parallel each other), incredibly smart and figured out a magic system through hard work. I imagine they’d find each other infuriating.
“I imagine they’d find each other infuriating.” Probably… but you made me imagine the exact opposite, and I got quite a kick out of it:
Ed and Falst meet for the first time in the middle of a big fight against a common enemy. Their first, momentary reaction to each other is, “Who the hell is THIS loose cannon, now, and how is he gonna change the tactical situation?” before they both quickly realize, simultaneously, “OH, FINALLY, someone who GETS IT!” and they team up and kick major ass together, in perfect synergy, without ever saying another word to each other.
Suddenly Alphonse and the Floof Squad find themselves on the sidelines, feeling superfluous but discussing how to rein the two in, if it becomes necessary…
Ive actually thought about the two of them before, and at the time I came to both of your conclusions: if they met in a fight they would get on well, if they met outside of one they wouldn’t xD
Daaamn, Rakhn looks so awesome here! Just chilling on the edge of an active volcano with his pipe, eyes glowing in the darkness, unbothered and schooling some Paladins.
Though I’m really not a fan of how nonchalant they are about angering the in-universe equivalent of Krakatoa. Sure, they have overwhelming manpower and eclectic magic on their side, but as Tynan so helpfully illustrated, they’re up against a GOD – in his domain, no less. Even with a Dragon on their side, that can’t amount to too much, if Kendal was any indication. But they’re just so calm about it.
Rakhn wasn’t attacking them in this page. That little lava vein was just a warning. This is actually a much more complicated situation than “Volcano VS Army” and this is how they’ll negotiate.
Rakhn probably could devastate or repel the Paladins on his own, but doing so would endanger both the Floof Squad and the Ignan population. If he were to flood the island with lava, Kendal (who already earned his favour) and his friends would likely perish. Even escaping into the sea would be so much more dangerous. So I don’t think he’ll do that.
And as for the Ignans, they might be safe from Rakhn’s fury, but they’re also collateral for the Paladins. The Ignans may be great warriors, but this is an army, trained, organised, equipped, and accompanied by a fleet of dragons (some of which are resistant to fire). The Paladins could probably wipe them out if they tried, and Rakhn wouldn’t be able to protect them without sacrificing the Floof Squad.
So Rakhn is warning Stefan: “Leave me and my people alone if you know what’s good for you.” And Stefan knows it. In fact, given his station and his attitude, I imagine he’s navigated angry local gods many times before and he knows how to handle it.
The fact that nobody except the Floof Squad ever seem to be AFRAID of the Paladins backs this up… We’ve seen a lot of terrifyingly single-minded behavior, a lot of self-justification, but there’s been no indication that there’s any scary out-of-control zealotry going on. It’s just that religious fanatics are a common bogeyman in real life, so we’re primed to jump to such a conclusion.
If you’re sending squads wearing heavy armor and vision-restricting helmets into a mountainous forest, you’ve more or less already conceded that they’ll get ambushed whether you advise them against it or not.
The map Stephan is looking at is titled RAKHN, with what looks like a compass to the left of the title. To the west of the island, the EASTWARD CURENT (sic) is labeled, with WYRM BAY to the north, and the center of course labeled CALDERA.
Deciphered runes, top to bottom, left to right:
N (north, it looks like a compass rose in the upper-left corner)
RAKHN
Wyrm Bay
Northern Current
Caldera
I agree, Rakhn not only looks epic, but is also about to have a very good time. (Whether in combat or just watching the paladins run around for a guy who ain’t even on the island, or his three fastest best friends remains to be seen)
The person Lord Stefan is speaking with (the bald one with a lot of glowing stuff) looks like some elf, the ears are pointy, and they seem like some comunication monk (very not sure, just a gues)?
Not much else to say for this panel.
Yeah, it’s a reference, i make a lot of those. I actually picked this name because i thought silksong music would go great with aurora (the choir for tam, etc) and started recommending tracks. Also, check out hallownest vocalized and pale court. They’re some great mods that go well with the base game. I’ve actually made some voice recommendations based off hallownest vocalized such as the radiance’s voice for the light dragon because you have the full majestic god echo but she also sounds kind of angry and scared all at once. Check it out!
It’s official: I think the Collector is going to show up.
The Collector knows about Kendal now. An indeterminate quantity of time has passed since she interrogated Zuurith. I don’t know how she plans to track down Kendal, but I do know that Kendal and Erin both have psychic connections to the Singing Caves, and can sense the entrances. Given The Collector’s abilities, I wouldn’t be surprised if she could do something similar with Life Magic.
And Tess is about to smash open one of the Singing Caves, which is exactly what you would do if you were a Reborn Vessel trying to rescue a Captured God. And since the Floof Squad are fleeing the island anyway, the Collector would raise the emotional stakes for Kendal and Alinua specifically without changing the direction of the story too much.
Her chimeras would clash with the Paladins, distracting them while the Floof Squad make their escape and introducing the two antagonists to each other. She might confront or be confronted by Rakhn, which will probably be the last time we see him in the comic (I don’t see us coming back here). And we would get payoff for Kendal’s “SHE’S COMING” dream on 2.2.19 (which was almost TWO YEARS AGO).
I’d say your theory is reasonable, the collector has been brought up too many times in the beginning to have a delayed payoff. And I also think red would do that, and that would be an elegant tying up of plot threads, but I don’t know how this’ll unfold, I mean is she just gonna pop out with her chimeras and be halted by the paladins or something and just miss kendal? I also think that there are too much stuff at play here, that adding the collector to the equation might not be the call? Like the falst situation, alinua is still to be found, tess is gonna blow a hole in that rock and maybe encounter some paladins, kendal’s on alinua search maybe, and erin and dainix are gonna submarine their way to all their gear, now we have to consider the merfolk and of course, forty dragons. But I’ll be happy to see how red makes this work, becuz she is gonna.
That would be really bad for the Ignans living in the caldera, which is a gapping fresh wound on stone’s body. It couldn’t be used to capture Rakhn since he’s not a city god, but still, it would be good leverage.
The collector targeted nature gods first, actually, with the same method of healing parts of their domain. Mending the volcano would probably hurt Rakhn significantly. I don’t think she’s going to turn up here though
If true, it’s going to literally be everything at once, everywhere. Massive chaotic cluster problem… that’s REALLY ambitious in a comic. I bet that instead of following that too closely, we’re gonna get some Falst time, this might even be a good time to resolve Falst’s mysterious Light-powers arc, what with Paladins everywhere…
i still think we are going to wait until helm until we see the collector again
i dont think the collector can sense entrances to the singing caves, the reason why kendal and erin can is because vash and walter are in the singing caves the collector doesnt have an equivalent to that, not only that but if she could sense whenver the floof squad opened a entrance in the singing caves she would have sensed it during the end of arc one when alinua and erin opened an entrance to save falst and dainix from the glort
adding on to that the collector has no real way of knowing the floof squad is in rakhn,last time we saw her she was in zuurith, given her didnt ask where kendal went i can assume she guessed the next point after Zuurith would be argist given their relation to vash, once there she can probably find a way of learning of their next destination:Helm
the collector being in helm would also line up with a few other things:Helm is currently being set up as a massive story point for several characters, its where erin plans on trying to sever his connection to walter and where Dainix supposedly can learn about other crucibles, its also where the soul shaper monks live wich is obviously something that interests the collector
Imagine it’s another northern wyrm situation. Alinua is healing some routine injury and suddenly she sees the collector coming over the horizon with a white-hot glow of concentrated life magic like a warped parody of a sunrise.
I was skeptical… until I recalled that this is Red’s MO: always change the matchup.
Vash thinks he’s going to be fighting monsters. He ends up facing The Collector. We think it’s going to be Kendal vs. Dainix… then Tynan shows up. We think there’s going to be a Tynan-Zuurith throwdown. Zuurith is fried in three seconds. We think the Floof squad’s going to fight Tynan… then it becomes Tynan vs. The Dragon, then Dainix vs. The Dragon, then Vash–
–you get the idea. Something wicked this way comes, and I’m not placing any bets that it’s predictable. Don’t forget the gods are planning to fight The Collector, and are completely overconfident about their chances.
“Advise them against getting ambushed next time” — cut to Falst figuring out that he can intercept their light magic telepathy and forewarn the party of their every move.
I cannot wait for Erin and Dainix to go underwater, meet up with Alinua, for them to explain what’s going on, and for her to rise out of the ocean like Scylla in all those Epic the Musical animatics going “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY PARTY”`
For (x days since zuurith) we’ve suffered every punishment and pain from thr wrath of gods and primordials and (basically everyone) almost getting slain. I come back to see my teammates separated and unsure,
worst of all i hear you dare surround and HURT THEM EVEN MORE
I. Have had. Enough.
(cue crazy lfe powers)
Couldnt find a better rhyme than more and unsure, but hey it fits the syllables more or less so i’ll take it 😛
Always fun to find fellow winions in the wild! Greet the world with open arms
*Suddenly, baldness!* in a comic where, I think, literally everyone else has had an abundantly full head of hair. Except *Cave-Crawlers.*
Idk I found that mildly amusing.
Will the Paladins successfully placate Rakhn? Can Tess successfully draw the enemy’s attention with her distraction? Will Walter leave the Floof Squad to their own devices? Is that guy a cloud elf? Will that become relevant when Alinua finally comes to deliver the most backhandiest of slaps to Stefan? How will the Paladins respond when, on top of everything else, they see that enemy numéro un is being accompanied by what they will only assume is an unexploded chimera bomb? Will they fall back to their secret strategy of challenging it to a game of crokinole?
Tune in Next Week to Find Out!
Am back after several months of waiting for a backlog to accumulate. Always a delightful experience when I finally decide it’s time to catch up again.
I feel like this is foreshadowing.
Also, Rakhn is awesome in that last panel!
chilling on my big volcano
#mybigvolcano
Comment of the month!
chilling on my big myself
#mybigme
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: well you’re gonna good and goddamn get ’em at this rate
Image source: factors
tumblr text: Meanwhile…
Bluesky text: you don’t have to be a volcano to have your own built-in dramatic lighting, but it helps!
Nothing says “not getting the god angry” like looking literally down on them
Why does this reminds me of FMA:B part where Central soldiers are fighting Roy Mustang’s forces and he does his best to only wound them and scare them off?! I mean, when your enemy is trying his best not to harm you, that’s the point you should stop, rethink your life choices and start being strategic, right?
Of course, in the very next episode, soldiers of Briggs enter the fray and they are nowhere near as forgiving as Mustang so the real mook horror show begins. Should have quit while you were ahead, Central leadership.
Well, central leadership thought they were going to get immortality at the end, and they didnt care at all about the lives of anyone in amestris
I’m watching FMA:B for the first time at the moment (I just passed Envy vs Mustang) and it’s been funny seeing the similarities between Ed and Falst:
Short, quick temper, absent father he has issues with, dead mother due to magic shenanigans that he personally witnessed at a young age (with Ed he watched the failed human transmutation die, not his actual mother, but the dark house and the lanky undead-looking creature parallel each other), incredibly smart and figured out a magic system through hard work. I imagine they’d find each other infuriating.
“I imagine they’d find each other infuriating.” Probably… but you made me imagine the exact opposite, and I got quite a kick out of it:
Ed and Falst meet for the first time in the middle of a big fight against a common enemy. Their first, momentary reaction to each other is, “Who the hell is THIS loose cannon, now, and how is he gonna change the tactical situation?” before they both quickly realize, simultaneously, “OH, FINALLY, someone who GETS IT!” and they team up and kick major ass together, in perfect synergy, without ever saying another word to each other.
Suddenly Alphonse and the Floof Squad find themselves on the sidelines, feeling superfluous but discussing how to rein the two in, if it becomes necessary…
Ive actually thought about the two of them before, and at the time I came to both of your conclusions: if they met in a fight they would get on well, if they met outside of one they wouldn’t xD
Daaamn, Rakhn looks so awesome here! Just chilling on the edge of an active volcano with his pipe, eyes glowing in the darkness, unbothered and schooling some Paladins.
Though I’m really not a fan of how nonchalant they are about angering the in-universe equivalent of Krakatoa. Sure, they have overwhelming manpower and eclectic magic on their side, but as Tynan so helpfully illustrated, they’re up against a GOD – in his domain, no less. Even with a Dragon on their side, that can’t amount to too much, if Kendal was any indication. But they’re just so calm about it.
Rakhn wasn’t attacking them in this page. That little lava vein was just a warning. This is actually a much more complicated situation than “Volcano VS Army” and this is how they’ll negotiate.
Rakhn probably could devastate or repel the Paladins on his own, but doing so would endanger both the Floof Squad and the Ignan population. If he were to flood the island with lava, Kendal (who already earned his favour) and his friends would likely perish. Even escaping into the sea would be so much more dangerous. So I don’t think he’ll do that.
And as for the Ignans, they might be safe from Rakhn’s fury, but they’re also collateral for the Paladins. The Ignans may be great warriors, but this is an army, trained, organised, equipped, and accompanied by a fleet of dragons (some of which are resistant to fire). The Paladins could probably wipe them out if they tried, and Rakhn wouldn’t be able to protect them without sacrificing the Floof Squad.
So Rakhn is warning Stefan: “Leave me and my people alone if you know what’s good for you.” And Stefan knows it. In fact, given his station and his attitude, I imagine he’s navigated angry local gods many times before and he knows how to handle it.
The fact that nobody except the Floof Squad ever seem to be AFRAID of the Paladins backs this up… We’ve seen a lot of terrifyingly single-minded behavior, a lot of self-justification, but there’s been no indication that there’s any scary out-of-control zealotry going on. It’s just that religious fanatics are a common bogeyman in real life, so we’re primed to jump to such a conclusion.
Oh, that’s a great point!
I agree with Veggie, they’ll be scared of him if/when they have to actually fight him. Right now they just got politely invited to talk.
If you’re sending squads wearing heavy armor and vision-restricting helmets into a mountainous forest, you’ve more or less already conceded that they’ll get ambushed whether you advise them against it or not.
“Skill issue. I would simply not be ambushed” — Lord Stefan
The map Stephan is looking at is titled RAKHN, with what looks like a compass to the left of the title. To the west of the island, the EASTWARD CURENT (sic) is labeled, with WYRM BAY to the north, and the center of course labeled CALDERA.
Deciphered runes, top to bottom, left to right:
N (north, it looks like a compass rose in the upper-left corner)
RAKHN
Wyrm Bay
Northern Current
Caldera
Correction: EASTWARD Current
I agree, Rakhn not only looks epic, but is also about to have a very good time. (Whether in combat or just watching the paladins run around for a guy who ain’t even on the island, or his three fastest best friends remains to be seen)
That was a warning shot.
Rakhn (Toph’s Mellonlord voice): So, I get to chuck burning rocks at people? Sweet!
The paladins are ignoring Rakhm’s gentle hint that they are trespassing and that this is not appreciated.
The person Lord Stefan is speaking with (the bald one with a lot of glowing stuff) looks like some elf, the ears are pointy, and they seem like some comunication monk (very not sure, just a gues)?
Not much else to say for this panel.
I think this is the Locquor Suressa that was mentioned by Stefan in the first page.
Meanwhile, Rakhn is up there like “for me! You shouldn’t have.”
EXACTLY! Rakhn would probably rather watch the show than smite it!
“advise against getting ambushed” reads the same as “just don’t get hit by the boss” to me lmao
“Tell our mooks to git gud.”
Stars seem to be alive, so an “are we going to fight the sun” joke might not be out of place.
Radiance reference? I just started playing hollow knight and got hooked by the lore vids(and the game once i started) I saw somewhere.
Yeah, it’s a reference, i make a lot of those. I actually picked this name because i thought silksong music would go great with aurora (the choir for tam, etc) and started recommending tracks. Also, check out hallownest vocalized and pale court. They’re some great mods that go well with the base game. I’ve actually made some voice recommendations based off hallownest vocalized such as the radiance’s voice for the light dragon because you have the full majestic god echo but she also sounds kind of angry and scared all at once. Check it out!
I feel like if he HAS done something like this before, he’s gonna ask himself “how can I do this differently this time?”
KIKIIKII( TENMEMEMMEME
angry gods? nah rakhn isnt angry
a god that craves entertainment? now thats what you should be afraid off
Stephan plays Overwatch?! 😂
It’s official: I think the Collector is going to show up.
The Collector knows about Kendal now. An indeterminate quantity of time has passed since she interrogated Zuurith. I don’t know how she plans to track down Kendal, but I do know that Kendal and Erin both have psychic connections to the Singing Caves, and can sense the entrances. Given The Collector’s abilities, I wouldn’t be surprised if she could do something similar with Life Magic.
And Tess is about to smash open one of the Singing Caves, which is exactly what you would do if you were a Reborn Vessel trying to rescue a Captured God. And since the Floof Squad are fleeing the island anyway, the Collector would raise the emotional stakes for Kendal and Alinua specifically without changing the direction of the story too much.
Her chimeras would clash with the Paladins, distracting them while the Floof Squad make their escape and introducing the two antagonists to each other. She might confront or be confronted by Rakhn, which will probably be the last time we see him in the comic (I don’t see us coming back here). And we would get payoff for Kendal’s “SHE’S COMING” dream on 2.2.19 (which was almost TWO YEARS AGO).
I’d say your theory is reasonable, the collector has been brought up too many times in the beginning to have a delayed payoff. And I also think red would do that, and that would be an elegant tying up of plot threads, but I don’t know how this’ll unfold, I mean is she just gonna pop out with her chimeras and be halted by the paladins or something and just miss kendal? I also think that there are too much stuff at play here, that adding the collector to the equation might not be the call? Like the falst situation, alinua is still to be found, tess is gonna blow a hole in that rock and maybe encounter some paladins, kendal’s on alinua search maybe, and erin and dainix are gonna submarine their way to all their gear, now we have to consider the merfolk and of course, forty dragons. But I’ll be happy to see how red makes this work, becuz she is gonna.
I am 100% prepared to be wrong. That’s the great thing about thinking something bad is going to happen. I almost WANT to be wrong.
That would be really bad for the Ignans living in the caldera, which is a gapping fresh wound on stone’s body. It couldn’t be used to capture Rakhn since he’s not a city god, but still, it would be good leverage.
The collector targeted nature gods first, actually, with the same method of healing parts of their domain. Mending the volcano would probably hurt Rakhn significantly. I don’t think she’s going to turn up here though
If true, it’s going to literally be everything at once, everywhere. Massive chaotic cluster problem… that’s REALLY ambitious in a comic. I bet that instead of following that too closely, we’re gonna get some Falst time, this might even be a good time to resolve Falst’s mysterious Light-powers arc, what with Paladins everywhere…
i still think we are going to wait until helm until we see the collector again
i dont think the collector can sense entrances to the singing caves, the reason why kendal and erin can is because vash and walter are in the singing caves the collector doesnt have an equivalent to that, not only that but if she could sense whenver the floof squad opened a entrance in the singing caves she would have sensed it during the end of arc one when alinua and erin opened an entrance to save falst and dainix from the glort
adding on to that the collector has no real way of knowing the floof squad is in rakhn,last time we saw her she was in zuurith, given her didnt ask where kendal went i can assume she guessed the next point after Zuurith would be argist given their relation to vash, once there she can probably find a way of learning of their next destination:Helm
the collector being in helm would also line up with a few other things:Helm is currently being set up as a massive story point for several characters, its where erin plans on trying to sever his connection to walter and where Dainix supposedly can learn about other crucibles, its also where the soul shaper monks live wich is obviously something that interests the collector
Imagine it’s another northern wyrm situation. Alinua is healing some routine injury and suddenly she sees the collector coming over the horizon with a white-hot glow of concentrated life magic like a warped parody of a sunrise.
I was skeptical… until I recalled that this is Red’s MO: always change the matchup.
Vash thinks he’s going to be fighting monsters. He ends up facing The Collector. We think it’s going to be Kendal vs. Dainix… then Tynan shows up. We think there’s going to be a Tynan-Zuurith throwdown. Zuurith is fried in three seconds. We think the Floof squad’s going to fight Tynan… then it becomes Tynan vs. The Dragon, then Dainix vs. The Dragon, then Vash–
–you get the idea. Something wicked this way comes, and I’m not placing any bets that it’s predictable. Don’t forget the gods are planning to fight The Collector, and are completely overconfident about their chances.
Rakhn looming over the edge of the mountain all “I don’f recall inviting you to camp on me.”
I feel like a bored god is more of a concern than an angry one.
That was just a polite reminder of whose house they’re playing their little game of Risk in…
Not like he’s a hothead or anything. No need to worry about him blowing his top.
“Advise them against getting ambushed next time” — cut to Falst figuring out that he can intercept their light magic telepathy and forewarn the party of their every move.
See also:
Hey Pauladins, Message from the big boss/BBEG of this chapter?; we advise you to not get ambushed. No pressure though.
luv, GlowyElf8647
Hey Pauladins, a message from the big boss/?BBEG of this chapteeeer?; we advise you against getting ambushed. No pressure though.
luv, GlowyElf8647
See also:
Have you considered, not getting ambushed?
What? The comment didn’t go through, but when I resent it, it’s back?
OH FOR-why do my comments keep disappearing?!
GGAAAAAAHHHH
Why do you look so calm in the face of an angry god?
geeking out over the pipe with the “imminent eruption” smoke
Rakhn: Yeahhh sorry, I like these scrappy little guys. You can’t have ’em. Fireball.
I’m really enjoying Rakhn as the wildcard. They’re on the sidelines, watching the show… until someone steps outta line. Who will it be?
I wonder if Rakhn will get to talking to the champion. If they do it would be neat if Kendal’s nature came up since apparently the Lady has no idea.
Floof Squad: Fighting for their lives
Paladins: Fighting for the fate of the world
Rakhn: Aura farming
LOL
I cannot wait for Erin and Dainix to go underwater, meet up with Alinua, for them to explain what’s going on, and for her to rise out of the ocean like Scylla in all those Epic the Musical animatics going “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY PARTY”`
For (x days since zuurith) we’ve suffered every punishment and pain from thr wrath of gods and primordials and (basically everyone) almost getting slain. I come back to see my teammates separated and unsure,
worst of all i hear you dare surround and HURT THEM EVEN MORE
I. Have had. Enough.
(cue crazy lfe powers)
Couldnt find a better rhyme than more and unsure, but hey it fits the syllables more or less so i’ll take it 😛
Always fun to find fellow winions in the wild! Greet the world with open arms
Rakhn be like, “Gentle reminder: You are in MY HOUSE.”
Plort
WAIT ALINUA’S COMING BACK YEAHHH
I miss that floof
Our men’s tracker got them ambushed
Tell ‘em skill issue and keep at it
*Suddenly, baldness!* in a comic where, I think, literally everyone else has had an abundantly full head of hair. Except *Cave-Crawlers.*
Idk I found that mildly amusing.
PLORT.
Will the Paladins successfully placate Rakhn? Can Tess successfully draw the enemy’s attention with her distraction? Will Walter leave the Floof Squad to their own devices? Is that guy a cloud elf? Will that become relevant when Alinua finally comes to deliver the most backhandiest of slaps to Stefan? How will the Paladins respond when, on top of everything else, they see that enemy numéro un is being accompanied by what they will only assume is an unexploded chimera bomb? Will they fall back to their secret strategy of challenging it to a game of crokinole?
Tune in Next Week to Find Out!
Am back after several months of waiting for a backlog to accumulate. Always a delightful experience when I finally decide it’s time to catch up again.
Yesss new runes (:
Haven’t seen any since I caught up with the comic almost a year ago.
“Advise against getting ambushed next time.” 🤣
That is both one hell of a line, and a very telling sign of what type of commander this guy is.