June 25th, 2013... Simplifying the equation...

[starburst98]

i think it's rather obvious the only way to 'beat' him is to let him 'win'
gt him into the victory circle and then teleported back out of the maze. the maze resets, and then our party repeats the maze until something like "i can't believe we are the last ones to beat the maze, out of INFINITY!"

[Occams Meataxe]

Psimax definitely seems to be a one-trick pony when it comes to killing people.

"The fox has a thousand tricks. The hedgehog has just one. One good one."

[Jon Snow]

Psion powers are limited but I don't think he is using them. He's using the machine in some way which is unlimited. PsiMax is too smart and he wouldn't have gone into the final melee unless he could deal with anyone and everyone. It would have been in his calculations.

Kin's taking out the machine is one way, but seems way too obvious at the moment. Thunt has something else for sure.

[Liesmith]

I like the title of this thread. It's much better than the one I would've picked: "It's raining alts. Hallelujah."

This update may have given us some clues about Psimax, or maybe not. The big effect that it'll have, I think, is that it will force the remaining alts to react differently, rather than just charging in.

I would giggle if Blondmax guessed Psimax's true name and brought him under his thrall. Talk about "out of the frying pan, into the sun".

[shard19456]

This. This! THIS! This is why I never let anyone play Psionics in my games. They're too damn powerful and wind up being "Game Breakers" as they can become far more powerful than the rest of the group members. Ugh. I really can't wait to see PsiMax die a horrible death. Prefferably by being thrown into one of those holes of non existence, though that could create an even bigger paradox, since then without him ever having existed, he wouldn't have created those temporal fractures in the first place.

[DuIstalri]

Prefferably by being thrown into one of those holes of non existence, though that could create an even bigger paradox, since then without him ever having existed, he wouldn't have created those temporal fractures in the first place.

That's not an issue. Thunt has stated that the Oblivion holes aren't true oblivion, only 'pseudo-oblivion'. They erase something from existance, and remove all memory of it, but it still existed and what it did still happened. For example, Minmax erased his pants from existance. That doesn't mean he had been walking around without pants all this time, only that he, Kin, and Forgath remember it that way. If he HAD actually wiped his pants from time, Forgath would have just made him buy a different pair of pants in Brassmoon.

[cdstephens]

This. This! THIS! This is why I never let anyone play Psionics in my games. They're too damn powerful and wind up being "Game Breakers" as they can become far more powerful than the rest of the group members. Ugh. I really can't wait to see PsiMax die a horrible death. Prefferably by being thrown into one of those holes of non existence, though that could create an even bigger paradox, since then without him ever having existed, he wouldn't have created those temporal fractures in the first place.

To be fair, I don't think Psimax is a good representation of the average psion considering a) he's probably a few levels higher than his opponents and b) exploiting some game rules by using literal wording in some of his ability descriptions or using his psi machine. It's like looking at Kore and saying that Dwarven Paladins are OP.

Also, throwing Psimax into a hole wouldn't create a temporal paradox, as it seems like the holes circumvent them by just wiping the person/thing out of everyone's memory, rather than erasing them from all existence, past, present, and future, because the holes don't represent "true" oblivion.

Whether or not falling into a hole means you can't respawn when the maze resets, or if a maze reset will get rid of the oblivion holes remains to be seen. If the maze reset worked analogously to a system restore on a computer or something where it remembers the variables beforehand and resets the pocket universe's variables to those values, then it would depend on how much damage Psimax did to the internal structure of the thing and how permanent it is.

I reckon the Kins could figure out how the machine works to force the universe to do whatever. They could for example if they were smart enough program it so that anyone who enters automatically wins so that no one has to go through this again. They could also fix any damage Psimax did while erasing him. Or maybe they could delevel Psimax so that he's a normal Psion such that Minmax can take him.

[GathersIngredients]

Prefferably by being thrown into one of those holes of non existence, though that could create an even bigger paradox, since then without him ever having existed, he wouldn't have created those temporal fractures in the first place.

That's not an issue. Thunt has stated that the Oblivion holes aren't true oblivion, only 'pseudo-oblivion'. They erase something from existance, and remove all memory of it, but it still existed and what it did still happened. For example, Minmax erased his pants from existance. That doesn't mean he had been walking around without pants all this time, only that he, Kin, and Forgath remember it that way. If he HAD actually wiped his pants from time, Forgath would have just made him buy a different pair of pants in Brassmoon.

...
but, but
...
wouldn't that mean, that even IF Psimax could create TRUE oblivion, and then entered it, that him going in there would not only completely erase his existence (that's what he is aiming for) but also everything he had ever been, experienced and DONE (most importantly him creating true oblivion in the pocket dimension of the MoM), and by that undo the true oblivion he had created, therefore plopping him out in a paradox into existing again?

*mind boggles*

[DuIstalri]

wouldn't that mean, that even IF Psimax could create TRUE oblivion, and then entered it, that him going in there would not only completely erase his existence (that's what he is aiming for) but also everything he had ever been, experienced and DONE (most importantly him creating true oblivion in the pocket dimension of the MoM), and by that undo the true oblivion he had created, therefore plopping him out in a paradox into existing again?

*mind boggles*

That's why he can't just erase himself, he has to erase the whole maze. The maze is the only reality he is affecting in this timeline, because the maze is in its own timeline. While I'm not sure what the impacts would be on his existance back in his native reality, by eliminating the entire Maze of Many he eliminates the entire paradox, because there is nothing for his non-existance to contradict.

[Liesmith]

wouldn't that mean, that even IF Psimax could create TRUE oblivion, and then entered it, that him going in there would not only completely erase his existence (that's what he is aiming for) but also everything he had ever been, experienced and DONE (most importantly him creating true oblivion in the pocket dimension of the MoM), and by that undo the true oblivion he had created, therefore plopping him out in a paradox into existing again?

*mind boggles*

That's why he can't just erase himself, he has to erase the whole maze. The maze is the only reality he is affecting in this timeline, because the maze is in its own timeline. While I'm not sure what the impacts would be on his existance back in his native reality, by eliminating the entire Maze of Many he eliminates the entire paradox, because there is nothing for his non-existance to contradict.

I've always gotten the impression that true oblivion would only affect the Maze. For instance, if FMK was truly obliviated, then here's how it would look from the point of view of someone outside the Maze: FMK enters the Maze, and never comes out. Everything they did before the Maze still happened.

This hasn't been stated explicitly in the comic, but it's implied by the fact that Psimax can only create his Oblivion Engine within the Maze because the Maze is a pocket universe.

[Krulle]

But in the last panel, is that a "Now, I'm pissed look", or a "Now, I just shot my load and am running dry" look?

For me that's a "Who did that?" kind of look, although that would be really weird, as I know of no-one yet available to do that.

They spun when levitating the other alts, and we never saw Psimax levitating anyone until after he set up his Divide By 0 machine (he merely splishes his 'friends'). Perhaps he can only levitate people via the machine, and the Kinparty can disable it?

It does not look like levitation to me, more like he reversed/eliminated gravity (by using the gears manipulating gravity constants) for a short time, everyone flew, also the drops from the floor. That gave him time to splishk them all, as they could not attack him anyway (not touching the floor - no traction to rush him).
(Panel 4: drops are lying flat, panel 5: drops go up)
Reversing gravity by changing the gravity constants surely uses less energy, as the energy for doing that is already stored in the psionic gears for these constants.

[Unlucky-for-Some]

I am SO hoping that when this is over the Kin-dred use the power of the Reality Engine to create themselves a Tardis (which they will obviously name the Kinship) and set off through time and space to live a life of zany adventure

[Bad At Jokes]

Looks to me like Psimax should not have had that second bowl of chilli.

[Zay]

The last panel really looks like Psimax is thinking "Crap, I changed too much variables"

[Krulle]

Looks to me like Psimax should not have had that second bowl of chilli.

BwaHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Can't unsee that!

[Morrack]

Aw, even Gathchet is dead... Now he'll never be an inspector!

And man, PsiMax is way too friggin' overpowered... Such an annoying opponent. Really hoping he's drained now and dies pretty soon.
Then again, kudo's for Thunt for making me hate this guy so much, means he did his job of creating an unlikeable villain well, hehe.

[HennaGaijin]

Much as I hate Psimax, he does look pretty awesome in an 'ew there's splishk everywhere' kind of way in panels 4 and 5! Also in panel 5, love the alt-Forgath's face! He looks like one of those little fuzzy ball things with googly eyes ( http://www.justmar.net/samplepackbox.jpg <-- these guys!), but with a helmet on!

Given Psimax's arms and his surprised/what the f- look in the last panel, it could be that the kins have already done something to the machine to affect his powers. Or just that he's running out of power by himself like everyone's said - I hope it's one of the two anyway, bug off already Psimax!

[Lionday]

Would even killing him work? Wouldn't he just reset whenever anyone wins? (Granted we don't know what the O-holes will do.)

[Free Radical]

I wonder if Psimax has taken into account that single-handedly slaughtering the eleven minor variables in such a showy manner is going to attract the attention of many of the remaining alts, and that Kin can simply repeat the same story to them as soon as they're listening. If his arm changing colour is an indication of his power being used up, he isn't likely to want to fight all of the remaining alts no matter how overpowered he is.

That said, I wonder if his expression in the last panel is realising how many other minor variables have just been altered by his actions, or realising that GoldMax and BlueMax are going for the Cutting The Gordian Knot solution and trying to kill Minmax to prevent him from being able to summon the sword Psimax needs.

[Rooks]

This. This! THIS! This is why I never let anyone play Psionics in my games. They're too damn powerful and wind up being "Game Breakers" as they can become far more powerful than the rest of the group members. Ugh. I really can't wait to see PsiMax die a horrible death. Prefferably by being thrown into one of those holes of non existence, though that could create an even bigger paradox, since then without him ever having existed, he wouldn't have created those temporal fractures in the first place.

To be fair, I don't think Psimax is a good representation of the average psion considering a) he's probably a few levels higher than his opponents and b) exploiting some game rules by using literal wording in some of his ability descriptions or using his psi machine. It's like looking at Kore and saying that Dwarven Paladins are OP.

Also, throwing Psimax into a hole wouldn't create a temporal paradox, as it seems like the holes circumvent them by just wiping the person/thing out of everyone's memory, rather than erasing them from all existence, past, present, and future, because the holes don't represent "true" oblivion.

Whether or not falling into a hole means you can't respawn when the maze resets, or if a maze reset will get rid of the oblivion holes remains to be seen. If the maze reset worked analogously to a system restore on a computer or something where it remembers the variables beforehand and resets the pocket universe's variables to those values, then it would depend on how much damage Psimax did to the internal structure of the thing and how permanent it is.

I reckon the Kins could figure out how the machine works to force the universe to do whatever. They could for example if they were smart enough program it so that anyone who enters automatically wins so that no one has to go through this again. They could also fix any damage Psimax did while erasing him. Or maybe they could delevel Psimax so that he's a normal Psion such that Minmax can take him.

Agreed. Our DM let a guy play a Psion in one of our campaigns back in the day, and it was terrible. It broke so many things that the DM was trying to do it wasn't even funny. Basically got the point where the DM had 2 options, PK us with some uber monsters, or give up.

[Gurkenglas]

It looks like the blade of the weapon of that Forgath in the last three panels is made of unsplishkable material. Might come in handy...

[Krulle]

If his arm changing colour

I think the arm changing colour is due to the splatters from PiercingMax which have a certain colour. The colour of PsiMax's arm returns when he inverts gravity with the clogs, as the droplets of gore start flying upwards...

It looks like the blade of the weapon of that Forgath in the last three panels is made of unsplishkable material. Might come in handy...

Blade? You mean "leg"? And it's gone too in the last panels...

[spiderwrangler]

If his arm changing colour

I think the arm changing colour is due to the splatters from PiercingMax which have a certain colour. The colour of PsiMax's arm returns when he inverts gravity with the clogs, as the droplets of gore start flying upwards...

It looks like the blade of the weapon of that Forgath in the last three panels is made of unsplishkable material. Might come in handy...

Blade? You mean "leg"? And it's gone too in the last panels...

The arm color change is in the last panel. His left arm is purple at the shoulder, fleshy upper arm, then purple again on forearm/hand.

By blade, they are talking about the blade in the last panel too. I don't think it's unsplishkable, just that the handle was what was splishked... much like I don't think that Brow's fingers and beard braid are 'unsplishkable' here... http://www.goblinscomic.org/06112013/

[ThroughTheWell]

And if he DID liquefy everyone, well...that's...that's just not fair. There are RULES, you can't just...

Carefull T-Rex, I've heard there is a special hell for those who die while complaining about the rules.

[Chessrook44]

With a trick like that one, do you need any more?

Against a foe who is literally made of water, or else a foe made completely of stone and the like and thus cannot be "splished" into liquid parts, yes, you do need more.