28th October, 2013 - Human!

[mightclark]

Damn minmax, waita destroy everything.

http://www.goblinscomic.org/10272013/

[Tarnagh]

http://www.goblinscomic.org/10272013/

When the serpent becomes your prey,
friends will become enemies and love will fuel hate.

MinMax isn't going to be able to let this go. He's going to follow her. Friends just became enemies and his love no matter how hard he tries is going to fuel her hate.

To be revised the next time something godawful happens.

[Simon]

Well.... at least Minmax was sorry about it. Not sure what else to say

[Quild]

Kin will prepare the tea so MM and Forgath leave and she doesn't have to go through a maze reset with them even if Ruby&co want to be able to go through a reset without losing their memories.

[AntMac]

Well, I have a tiny tiny slightly hopeful feeling. It is very small. And not much hope. But, I see that he did try to understand her pain and he patently felt own his sin horribly . . . he obviously did think very hard before he spoke telling her take the leash, as if he was agonising over how best to diminish his further "order" and make it as little like "Him giving her an order" as he possibly could. And he resisted the opportunity to try to use the leash to "make up for" his fault like some posters though might be a good idea.

And Kin is smarter than me. If I see that he did all that, she will too.

And she pretty obviously did care for him before he grabbed the leash.

He might just come out of this without her hating him absolutely. Which would be benediction more than he ought to expect.

If that damned rat Ruby can JUST KEEP HER MOUTH SHUT NOW . . . Kin and even MinMax might just come out of this without any more trauma.

[Simon_Jester]

Hm.

Well, I don't perceive this as making the situation materially better or worse.

Kin is, predictably and justifiably, outraged and is retreating from the situation. I consider it a tossup whether she tries to poison Minmax's tea, frankly. The Kin-group will probably interact with her before Forgath or Minmax does so.

Minmax was not stupid enough to compound his earlier stupid with even more stupid by, say, rambling on about the situation while holding the leash, thus exposing Kin to gods only know what random magical orders. Thaaat would have made things even more worser.

If I'd had to give a weighted average of all the things I might happen, weighted by their probability, this would be... about that average. No sudden brilliant schemes to reverse everything (c'mon, a brilliant scheme from Minmax?), no further disasters beyond the two that have already happened.

[Tarnagh]

If that damned rat Ruby can JUST KEEP HER MOUTH SHUT NOW . . . Kin and even MinMax might just come out of this without any more trauma.

Here's the thing though - even Ruby won't remember that she dropped the "Kin" necklace into an oblivion hole. So there's nothing (that she's aware of) to keep her mouth shut about.

[RidcullyJack]

Well, I have a tiny tiny slightly hopeful feeling. It is very small. And not much hope. But, I see that he did try to understand her pain and he patently felt own his sin horribly . . . he obviously did think very hard before he spoke telling her take the leash, as if he was agonising over how best to diminish his further "order" and make it as little like "Him giving her an order" as he possibly could. And he resisted the opportunity to try to use the leash to "make up for" his fault like some posters though might be a good idea.

And Kin is smarter than me. If I see that he did all that, she will too.

And she pretty obviously did care for him before he grabbed the leash.

He might just come out of this without her hating him absolutely. Which would be benediction more than he ought to expect.

If that damned rat Ruby can JUST KEEP HER MOUTH SHUT NOW . . . Kin and even MinMax might just come out of this without any more trauma.

Yeah, but he didn't have to stand there like a dickhead holding on to the leash for so long. Even if he didn't know it was a magic leash (which seems unlikely to me), he should have just dropped the leash as soon as he realised he'd ruined everything; he didn't have to 'order' her to "take the leash".

I'm still hopeful that Ruby, Sapphire and Onyx are elsewhere, all enthralled by playing with the psionic gears, didn't see any of this, and won't until the tea is brewed and used. Not that I want Minmax to get away with being an arse, but I just want this story arc to end and to see the what happens when Minmax, Forgath, Complains, Thaco, Big Ears and Fumbles unite to confront Kore.

[Quild]

I'm thinking about something. If Ruby brews the tea and stays in the labyrinth with her memory, how would she go through the first test alone?
Would she have to wait for the others kins to come with here?

What about Sapphire? She forgot her MM and Forgath after their death due to her tatoos, won't the reset be weird to her?

Or do they intend to start in the same room from the beginning?

[AntMac]

I'm thinking about something. If Ruby brews the tea and stays in the labyrinth with her memory, how would she go through the first test alone?
Would she have to wait for the others kins to come with here?

What about Sapphire? She forgot her MM and Forgath after their death due to her tatoos, won't the reset be weird to her?

Or do they intend to start in the same room from the beginning?

Yeah, that is confusing, I can't understand how they can actually be a team after the reset, either.

If that damned rat Ruby can JUST KEEP HER MOUTH SHUT NOW . . . Kin and even MinMax might just come out of this without any more trauma.

Here's the thing though - even Ruby won't remember that she dropped the "Kin" necklace into an oblivion hole. So there's nothing (that she's aware of) to keep her mouth shut about.

Yeah, that is why I made a sad face.

She don't know nothing about it now, except what she already thought she "knew" with complete certainty . . . all human males ought to be retro-actively aborted. Our Kins going to rock up and say what happened, Ruby is going to say, "I KNEW IT, my goodness, and we treated them with such careful, exceptional fairness . . . Let's Kill'em !".

[PeterM]

After re-reading the last few strips, I gotta say I think Forgath's thingy is definitely a hammer. No question.

I'm also with those who don't buy that the loss of the necklace would have that big of an effect on Kin, so this all just doesn't work for me as well as it probably should. If I take it as on faith that it did, in fact, affect Kin that much then it all works well and makes sense and such. But I don't think that, so what can I do.

[WastesTime]

No matter how we look at it...KinMax is done (or MinKin? No, that sounds wrong). That's a bittersweet way to finally return to the Goblins.

EDIT: On the other hand, there is a look of sorrow on Kin's face in the last panel. Maybe she still loves Minmax but is too heartbroken to stop and think...

[AntMac]

If the situation was perfectly reversed, a human couldn't say "SNAKE !" with more disgust and feeling.

Kin being unhappy makes me sad.

[GuessesWildly]

So here is my take on what will happen now:

Minmax and Forgath will exit the maze and go on to meet the GAP + Kore. But we won't actually see that yet.
Onyx, Sapphire, and specially Ruby, will persuade Kin to stay with them. And we'll see a few more pages of them before talking and getting everything ready before resetting the maze.
Ruby is the only one who knows about the KEN necklace, and I believe she will screw up and accidentally mention something, and Kin will catch on that Ruby did something with the oblivion holes regarding Minmax and her.
Kin will then force it out of her by grabbing Ruby's leash, revealing everything as it really happened.
There will be a dispute between the Kins, but 'our' Kin will exit the maze to go find Minmax and set things right.

[AntMac]

So here is my take on what will happen now:

Minmax and Forgath will exit the maze and go on to meet the GAP + Kore. But we won't actually see that yet.
Onyx, Sapphire, and specially Ruby, will persuade Kin to stay with them. And we'll see a few more pages of them before talking and getting everything ready before resetting the maze.
Ruby is the only one who knows about the KEN necklace, and I believe she will screw up and accidentally mention something, and Kin will catch on that Ruby did something with the oblivion holes regarding Minmax and her.
Kin will then force it out of her by grabbing Ruby's leash, revealing everything as it really happened.
There will be a dispute between the Kins, but 'our' Kin will exit the maze to go find Minmax and set things right.

What is this KEN necklace you refer to?. I asked around, and it is as if it went into an oblivion hole, no one knows nothing about it.

[RidcullyJack]

So here is my take on what will happen now:

Minmax and Forgath will exit the maze and go on to meet the GAP + Kore. But we won't actually see that yet.
Onyx, Sapphire, and specially Ruby, will persuade Kin to stay with them. And we'll see a few more pages of them before talking and getting everything ready before resetting the maze.
Ruby is the only one who knows about the KEN necklace, and I believe she will screw up and accidentally mention something, and Kin will catch on that Ruby did something with the oblivion holes regarding Minmax and her.
Kin will then force it out of her by grabbing Ruby's leash, revealing everything as it really happened.
There will be a dispute between the Kins, but 'our' Kin will exit the maze to go find Minmax and set things right.

How can Ruby know anything about the KEN necklace? When it went in the oblivion hole, it came to be that it never existed. She can't remeber destroying something that never existed. She just put her hand near Kin's neck, then went near an oblivion hole for a short time for an unclear reason. Most Kins don't have a KEN necklace, there's no reason for anyone to suspect that our Kin once did (sort of).

Also, Kin would NEVER grab another's leash.

If Kin needs to find out about the KEN necklace, then it might happen when they reset. We don't know what happens with things that went into oblivion holes, they could well be regenerated on reset.

[Mueca]

I must say this resolution feels kind of relieving, but it's probably only due to the fact that any resolution would do so after such a dramatic climax.

I think Minmax realizing what he has done and being terribly sorry is far more believable than all the theories the last page sprouted -including mine, of course- of him cutting the leash or fixing this in any way. This proves he did act irrationally (no surprises there) and tried to clumsily fix it as soon as he could. Of course, it was too late, for he never should have gotten hold of Kin's leash in the first place.

As terrible as this sounds, Kin's anger towards Minmax and this whole page don't feel as heartbreaking as the last one. Minmax just had it coming.


On a totally unrelated note, I just realized all the forum icons have Goblin ears. I just thought they were all shrugging.

[willpell]

This page marks the moment at which I become completely disgusted with this entire segment of the storyline. First Thunt contradicts his own previous statement about how the O-holes work, then he has Kin and Minmax act in a completely out-of-character fashion because of their memory lapse, and now this. It's just utterly fucked up on every level, and I expected so much better of Thunt. If there isn't some positive resolution down the line (eg the maze reset brings back the necklace and Kin realizes what happened), it'll mean all the character development we've seen this whole time was retroactively just a waste, and I don't think I'll ever forgive Thunt for poisoning the very well he dug in such a fashion.

[kida]

Still many things are left open...
Will have to wait a few updates to see how things end up.

Also what happend to purple tears in panels 7 & 10.
Probably a coloring error.

[wordelo]

this is when minmax should be like. "OK I deserve that. and any other malice you have toward me. Out of respect for you I'll just leave." (insert minmax's super sad face)

[willpell]

this is when minmax should be like. "OK I deserve that. and any other malice you have toward me. Out of respect for you I'll just leave." (insert minmax's super sad face)

Except he can't leave. Kin took the Teapot and slithered away; if MM doesn't go after Kin, he has to at least go after the Teapot and use it himself (or more likely have Forgath do it) so that he can leave the maze. Otherwise, he has nowhere to go; he just has to sit around until the Kins reset the maze.

I still don't buy Kin's reaction here at all. Hitting him, sure, and running away, but calling him "Human!" as an insult in-between? When just a second ago she was calling him a wonderful human being? It's like Ruby is actually a demonic shapeshifter with mind-control powers or something. I completely don't accept it.

[RidcullyJack]

... but calling him "Human!" as an insult in-between? When just a second ago she was calling him a wonderful human being? ...

Minmax did rather convincingly prove to Kin that she was completely and utterly wrong in thinking he was a wonderful human being.

[Maur]

Cant say i am surprised. Maybe a bit about the way Kin went all back into human hate, it is as the comic went back to its roots (humans are monsters).

http://www.goblinscomic.org/10272013/

When the serpent becomes your prey,
friends will become enemies and love will fuel hate.

MinMax isn't going to be able to let this go. He's going to follow her. Friends just became enemies and his love no matter how hard he tries is going to fuel her hate.

To be revised the next time something godawful happens.

For the love of Cthulhu, the prophecy is about Forgath dying at the hands of another dwarf. I cant see any other dwarves there. Can we please stop bringing up the bloody prophecy in every thread?

Sorry for the rant.

[Maur]

Yeah, that is confusing, I can't understand how they can actually be a team after the reset, either.

They mentioned they will do it by manipulating the psionic gears, IIRC.

EDIT: On the other hand, there is a look of sorrow on Kin's face in the last panel. Maybe she still loves Minmax but is too heartbroken to stop and think...

Of course she does, love doesnt disappear in a moment. But it doesnt necessarily mean she will want to have anything to do with him anymore.

This page marks the moment at which I become completely disgusted with this entire segment of the storyline. First Thunt contradicts his own previous statement about how the O-holes work, then he has Kin and Minmax act in a completely out-of-character fashion because of their memory lapse, and now this. It's just utterly fucked up on every level, and I expected so much better of Thunt. If there isn't some positive resolution down the line (eg the maze reset brings back the necklace and Kin realizes what happened), it'll mean all the character development we've seen this whole time was retroactively just a waste, and I don't think I'll ever forgive Thunt for poisoning the very well he dug in such a fashion.

Well, Goblins is closer to tragedy, so i dont think that the destruction of their relationship is a waste anymore than Oedipus finding out the truth and not living happily ever after meant the play was terrible.

I still don't buy Kin's reaction here at all. Hitting him, sure, and running away, but calling him "Human!" as an insult in-between? When just a second ago she was calling him a wonderful human being? It's like Ruby is actually a demonic shapeshifter with mind-control powers or something. I completely don't accept it.

Remember that Kin thought all humans were evil, (experience of Brassmoon), and Minmax is the sole exception she was exposed too. That part isnt weird.

[Sutremaine]

And we're back where we were a couple of strips ago, with Kin wanting to leave to brew the tea and Minmax being confused and unhappy. :/