July 6, 2013 With math!

[Dendr]

Being personally immune to Psimax's powers doesn't mean he won't kill you - he could levitate a boulder and throw it at him, or make the ground below Goldmax turn into a puddle... indirect attacks are just as deadly as direct ones.

But it takes PM's time to realize this. Doesn't it? And he is torturing MM-156 yet.
Moreover, don't remember that Goldmax is also Guessmax (Intelligence or Luck, huh? What is his class btw?). He will know the best time for attack.

Haha, there's so much to love about this page
Saphire saying "He'd chew him up like a Mouse!"

Is there a joke there which I missed?

Well... Yuan-ti eat mice.

I like how Thunt works with perspectives. Firstly I was going to complain about the wrong Kins' relative positions on the different panels. But afterwards I changed my mind, it's all correct!
And I still have a strange feeling about this... MM-156 will grab Oblivious after his armor color has changed. But what's the reason of the latter now?

[JustRight]

Those two Kins' grins look awesome! They remind me of every time I had this brilliant idea and was able to finally focus and work on something knowing exactly what I was doing. Anyone else get those moments?

Rare and wonderful moments. Math girls are so sexy.

[brnforce]

And still, the Minmax we saw in the altsplanations, the one who tortured Goblinslayer to avenge his Kin and Forgath, has not appeared.
Hey, what if that's Goldmax? Sure, Grinnorarcen wasn't mentioned in the flashback, but then, he wouldn't be, cause he'd give too much away.

While that is a possibility, and it is backed up by the fact that 38's Kin and Forgath are nowhere to be found, I don't think so due to the fact that TortureMax was specifically stated to have a sword, while GoldMax wields a naginata type weapon. While it is possible he picked it up in the Maze and exchanged his sword for it, the skill with which he wields the naginata in the panels where he's fighting Forgath lead me to doubt it.

Though, honestly, knowing Minmax...

Ok ok ok ok ok...........

So, (in the torture universe) MM no longer has a Kin or a Forgath for starters. He then tortures and kills GS in Brassmoon. So, we are looking for a reality that has MM and then some other partners. They could be goblins, or other monsters as they would be the remnants of the Brassmoon battle. Who else could he be working with? I think the only solo one we saw was the one in a fedora, which isn't Torturemax.
Shoot, where's the link to the starting hall when I need it.

[stevedj]

Not a math person but is there some reason they couldn't use either zero, a negative number, or an imaginary number? Something numeric that would relate to Oblivious? Or would that be impossible?

Oh... now I'm trying to remember stuff from those high school math classes so long ago...

Anyone remember what the square root of -1 is? Well, since no number multiplied by itself can result in a negative number, an imaginary number is used, represented by i. Hmmm, sounds very Oblivion-y, doesn't it?

[stevedj]

Now for my real comment...

Why does a MM have to do the killing? Do all of the three Kins not know their own reality number?

Here's how I thought it could pan out: They find yet another reason why a number they want to use (38 in this case) isn't workable. So, they set it to the reality of one of the three Kins. Then, they get on the PA system again, basically taunting PsiMax with something like "Hey, Psion! We're messing with your machine...!"

I'm sure he'd teleport back so fast... only to be, shall we say... Eaten like a mouse!

[Happy Demon]

Actually, on the topic of GoldMax as TortureMax.

Didn't TortureMax use an orb to see what Goblinslayer had done? Could he have used it to find out a Demon's name?
MinMaxes doesn't appear very weapon specialized, so when he finds a better weapon (maybe on other FMK groups), he could just use that instead (seriously, furniture profiency).

[AccursedBiscuit]

Anyone else notice in panel 8 the Kin tails seem to be mushing together?

[friedkitty]

I think oblivious would be represented by any number divided by 0. This would be too hard to figure into the machine. It's much easier to change it to, easy number like 38. They could change it to any number but it could affect other calculations and make it harder to do. They are using the KISS method.

[Pneumo]

Did anyone else notice panel 7 is Onyx is missing green lips?

Last panel Psymax is missing pink arms too

[RidcullyJack]

Now for my real comment...

Why does a MM have to do the killing? Do all of the three Kins not know their own reality number?

Here's how I thought it could pan out: They find yet another reason why a number they want to use (38 in this case) isn't workable. So, they set it to the reality of one of the three Kins. Then, they get on the PA system again, basically taunting PsiMax with something like "Hey, Psion! We're messing with your machine...!"

I'm sure he'd teleport back so fast... only to be, shall we say... Eaten like a mouse!

Hmmm, he surely already knows that Kin is messing with his machine - but he doesn't know that the 3K are messing with it too, and keeping that a secret seems like a good idea. One genius might not be able to use the machine for much; he'd be much more worried if he knew four geniuses were fiddling with it, and might stop their efforts prematurely.

Our FMK know their reality number because Psimax told them; same as Goldmax, he told them it in passing. Psimax has has the time to figure out each reality's universal constant, but the 4 Kins would need to take more time (that they don't have) figuring out their other reality numbers. This could turn out to be a waste of time, if they found that their numbers were primes (gasp).

[OverdrivePrime]

Just registered to say that I think it would be totally appropriate and excellent for our MinMax to kill PsiMax by using GoldMax as a weapon. Just swing Goldie around by the ankles and cave in that psion's head with GoldMax's thick skull!

[SamWiser]

Just registered to say that I think it would be totally appropriate and excellent for our MinMax to kill PsiMax by using GoldMax as a weapon. Just swing Goldie around by the ankles and cave in that psion's head with GoldMax's thick skull!

I'm imagining this now, and I think it would make the greatest page of the comic ever!

[WhispersToSquirrels]

I wonder why Thunt doesn't use metric? Since he's Canadian?

I was thinking that maybe Herbert is American. But then 

As a Canadian: most Canadians use feet and inches for the height of human beings

 so maybe not.

Oblivious doesn't exist, so there's no number that relates to it.

NaN

Edited to add: Also, although Sapphire doesn't know it, her reality number is either 54 or 12.

Oooh. And she's an archer!

[RocketScientist]

My Dad always was a patron of mathematics, always believed that teaching math to everyone would open endless possibilities and allow for great achievements to be made for the world. Unfortunately, as he grew up, he was always frustrated with how very few people would see the importance of math, instead they were generally more into sports or skipping out of school or... art... Over the years of his time in school, his frustration grew until, one day, he vowed he would show the world how math could be the most important thing in this world, thus this page. This, everyone, is the whole reason he went into drawing and, therefore, the reason this comic exists, was to sucker you all into this important lesson: Knowing your math can save the universe, kids. Or dominate it, he really doesn't care either way....

...totally messing with you all, by the way!

Or ARE you...? <dun, dun, duuuuuunnnnnn....>

[The Rotting King]

Actually, on the topic of GoldMax as TortureMax.

Didn't TortureMax use an orb to see what Goblinslayer had done? Could he have used it to find out a Demon's name?
MinMaxes doesn't appear very weapon specialized, so when he finds a better weapon (maybe on other FMK groups), he could just use that instead (seriously, furniture profiency).

Those are very good points. However. There is another reason I think GoldMax is not TortureMax...GoldMax seemed like a very big coward. TortureMax seemed like he really did not give a crap anymore. I mean...he saw some hardcore stuff. He seems like he'd be more of a hardcore player.

Plus, TortureMax is Reality 98.

[WearsHats]

I'd be tempted to propose Psimax as TortureMax, but he would have had to have been built with a high int from the start. Really, I don't think the Altsplanations pages are anything more than backstory on incidental background characters, most of whom haven't appeared for more than a couple of panels. But Thunt came up with a story for all 218 FMK parties. Those pages were a good way to make use of that work and give Thunt a break in his schedule, but I don't think he'd planned to do them. So I don't think they contain any spoilers.

[Kamos]

Actually, on the topic of GoldMax as TortureMax.

Didn't TortureMax use an orb to see what Goblinslayer had done? Could he have used it to find out a Demon's name?
MinMaxes doesn't appear very weapon specialized, so when he finds a better weapon (maybe on other FMK groups), he could just use that instead (seriously, furniture profiency).

Those are very good points. However. There is another reason I think GoldMax is not TortureMax...GoldMax seemed like a very big coward. TortureMax seemed like he really did not give a crap anymore. I mean...he saw some hardcore stuff. He seems like he'd be more of a hardcore player.

Plus, TortureMax is Reality 98.

Aside from that I would imagine he would have to be an extremely solemn person. He's basically broken emotionally to ruthlessly torture GS.
Goldmax is rather expressive of a wide range of emotions.

Anyone else think Torturemax might have a really hard time with the Maze seeing as how he is alone and isn't necessarily OP like Psimax or other solo variants(Firemax or Mutantmax(20130319)).

[willpell]

I'd be tempted to propose Psimax as TortureMax

You're forgetting that Psimax arrived in the maze with his own Forgath and Kin, and has killed them repeatedly.

[Questions]

This will be interesting...

Can we let torturemax do something after Psimax is beaten? 'Course...he may be dead at that point.

[WastesTime]

Ok, who guessed that BlondMax is gonna play such an important role in the Maze of Many arc? Because I sure as hell did not. Nice one, Thunt.

[Krulle]

Hmm,

I think we all remember that Minmax swore to kill PsiMax twice (panel 2).
What if Minmax has the Kins alter the MoM to reset the MoM with Minmax in PsiMax starting room (or vice versa) and kill PsiMax the moment he is reset? Twice?

We'll see if Thunt put this on purpose there.
Or whether it's just one of many intentions Minmax does not follow through (as killing the monster for XP, killing Names (might still happen), killing PsiMax twice, ...)

[redeemedviking]

Haha, there's so much to love about this page
Saphire saying "He'd chew him up like a Mouse!"

Is there a joke there which I missed?

Well... Yuan-ti eat mice.

Only just noticed that comment, thanks for the link - Seems Yuan-ti prefer not to chew usually though (live mice aid digestion )- Maybe chewing them up implies something extra in Yuan-ti culture!

[ChuckNorris]

Actually, on the topic of GoldMax as TortureMax.

Didn't TortureMax use an orb to see what Goblinslayer had done? Could he have used it to find out a Demon's name?
MinMaxes doesn't appear very weapon specialized, so when he finds a better weapon (maybe on other FMK groups), he could just use that instead (seriously, furniture profiency).

Those are very good points. However. There is another reason I think GoldMax is not TortureMax...GoldMax seemed like a very big coward. TortureMax seemed like he really did not give a crap anymore. I mean...he saw some hardcore stuff. He seems like he'd be more of a hardcore player.

Plus, TortureMax is Reality 98.

I think Goldmax is anything but a coward, as he hasn't exactly done anything cowardly so far, though TortureMax would still be more death-seekery. With regards to the orb, didn't he guess Not-Walter's name? Someone's True Name doesn't seem like something you can just find out with a scrying orb

[Caseyorourke]

Being personally immune to Psimax's powers doesn't mean he won't kill you - he could levitate a boulder and throw it at him, or make the ground below Goldmax turn into a puddle... indirect attacks are just as deadly as direct ones.

But it takes PM's time to realize this. Doesn't it? And he is torturing MM-156 yet.
Moreover, don't remember that Goldmax is also Guessmax (Intelligence or Luck, huh? What is his class btw?). He will know the best time for attack.

Haha, there's so much to love about this page
Saphire saying "He'd chew him up like a Mouse!"

Is there a joke there which I missed?

Well... Yuan-ti eat mice.

I like how Thunt works with perspectives. Firstly I was going to complain about the wrong Kins' relative positions on the different panels. But afterwards I changed my mind, it's all correct!
And I still have a strange feeling about this... MM-156 will grab Oblivious after his armor color has changed. But what's the reason of the latter now?

Maybe Minmax will say something like "you just BLEW it big time .

[willpell]

Since nobody else seems to have mentioned this, I really liked the line "You want to rewrite basic logic? That'd take at least an hour!"