2014/07/14 - Whale Of (A) Time

[IceKitsune]

The issue I have with that is, the game and beating each other up are the same thing. Except in the interim you screw with mortals for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

This way, they can focus on the strategy requirements of the game instead of having to get their metaphorical hands dirty. They also (in theory) do not get directly hurt.

At least the other way it wouldn't involve needlessly messing with mortals. Heck it would have given Pete a more likely chance to win because, if we are going to talk strategy then as I said before Pete lost that part of the game to the point were I don't know why anyone would want him to be a leader of anything. This fight would be pointless if anyone cared about strategy in this plot line, and the arc would have ended years ago. Plus the other game is about fighting demons or something, how would any practice here fighting and manipulating mortals even remotely help with that? Any human (or anything else for that matter) would want to help fighting against demons, and if they needed manipulating into it, they aren't going to be much help in the long run anyway. Its not like they are practicing their individual goals that they want to see which is better or more attainable or something like that; heck we don't even know what they are.

Really since this is about leadership of the group then were are the other two players? Shouldn't they have some say in this? Why would they want to follow Pete after this anyway, all but maybe one plan (if he even got rid of Baileys family in the first place) worked. He then promptly screwed that up by letting his one likely backup that could help him (King) go away; or he just never bothered to bring one at all. Even if he wins the fight it will be though luck (a.k.a plot convenience) as he has shown himself to be really incompetent next to Dragon. All evidence points to this being all about the two of them duking it out the whole time nothing more. Also if you recall Dragons original plan was to just keep Pete locked into his temple until he gave up, that is not really a good way to go about focusing on strategy when your other game is likely fighting demons and what not.

[Argent]

Really since this is about leadership of the group then were are the other two players?

Other two players? Do you mean Kitsune and Dragon? I didn't get the impression that there were only the three players in the group.

[IceKitsune]

Really since this is about leadership of the group then were are the other two players?

Other two players? Do you mean Kitsune and Dragon? I didn't get the impression that there were only the three players in the group.

In the other game that started the duel in the first place. In trial in Heaven Pete said that there should be four more people on the stand if the game was illegal. He was referring to Kitsune, Dragon, and the two other players from the game in the other Universe. Those other two players were who I was referring to, if he is going to lead them then wouldn't they have some say on if they want to even let him do it or not, based on his pretty terrible performance here.

[Argent]

Ah, good eye.

[valerio]

It's all a state of the mind, Kitsune, just a state of the mind. Any moment now, King will be waking up in the shower with Bailey and everything will be alright...

[gamepopper]

It's all a state of the mind, Kitsune, just a state of the mind. Any moment now, King will be waking up in the shower with Bailey and everything will be alright...

Part of me says it will, but the other part doubts that it will be that easy. :/

[ConvoyWolf]

It's all a state of the mind, Kitsune, just a state of the mind. Any moment now, King will be waking up in the shower with Bailey and everything will be alright...

Ohhh how i wish you were right.

[Argent]

Don't be silly, dogs hate baths.

[ConvoyWolf]

Don't be silly, dogs hate baths.

I meant right in a sense that this was all another dream and that once King learns whatever it is Baha wants him to lean hell tell him to wake up and hell be back with Bailey in bed.

I know thats not what it is but a wolf can dream.

[Argent]

I guess wolves can dream, I know dogs can, I've seen mine trying to run in her sleep.

[SmileWolf]

I dunno, I think King still tends towards a little self-pity sometimes, or at least self-centeredness. "I want my rights!" is a cry I have heard before, usually from people who are all about what they "deserve" and not at all caring of how others feel. For a fictional character reference, see/read "The Dark Knight Returns" where there is a character that, after the cold-bringer bomb renders Gotham without power, and Batman comes on horseback to take control, is all about what his rights are, and how he doesn't have to listen to him or help, and all he cares about is what he wants. Happily he gets puts in his place pretty quick.

For King, at least, it isn't all about him, it's about Bailey too, which salvages his character.

Unlike King, Bailey's emotions are definitely pure, and I think King knows that, and that is why Bailey being in this situation is driving him crazy - he knows he is responsible for her being in that situation and he feels that it isn't fair she is; maybe he feels a little like he has led an innocent into a situation she never should be in. But her purity makes her like Sir Galahad, the pure knight and the only one who could obtain the Holy Grail. Perhaps therefore she has always been destined to be where she is now.

[ConvoyWolf]

It has been discussed that Bailey may have been the target all along for Pete or that perhaps a backup plan.

[valerio]

It has been discussed that Bailey may have been the target all along for Pete or that perhaps a backup plan.

I'd more inclined towards backup
And thinking again about heavenly time, the 7,000 years planning he talked about may well have been the time that it took for him to get Bailey since King wasn't available.
Which leads to one dangerous ground for Pete: Did he actually recourse to Weird time junk to peek into the future and make sure that his plans worked to the last details?

[Argent]

Didn't the game start in 5000 BC?

[valerio]

Didn't the game start in 5000 BC?

Whops

[ConvoyWolf]

Whats happening now is a duel between players to settle an arguement. Definitely the laws of celestial mechanics at work.

[Ryusuta]

Don't be silly, dogs hate baths.

You're thinking of cats. :3

[Argent]

Don't be silly, dogs hate baths.

You're thinking of cats. :3

Maybe your dogs like baths. I can only speak for mine.

[IceKitsune]

It has been discussed that Bailey may have been the target all along for Pete or that perhaps a backup plan.

I'd more inclined towards backup
And thinking again about heavenly time, the 7,000 years planning he talked about may well have been the time that it took for him to get Bailey since King wasn't available.
Which leads to one dangerous ground for Pete: Did he actually recourse to Weird time junk to peek into the future and make sure that his plans worked to the last details?

Actually Bailey is actually a second (maybe third depending on how you take Trial in Heaven) backup. Remember Grape was his first choice that we knew of, its possible that he also had planed to go after Peanut as well, if Grape failed, which is why Tarot/Dragon interfered. King was his other backup which failed and Bailey was the other backup.

[deepskycyan]

Really digging bahamut's eye glow. Scary stuff, really dramatic.

[More Dakka]

Sorry but I’m calling interesting banana on the whale right there…

‘Many things must be permissible’… Like what? What else is permissible? The cosmic nerds just blew up the whole planet in a previous panel, will nothing come of that? Please explain, slowly, why they are allowed to play with sentient beings like they are nothing but a cheap board game. Because at the moment it sounds like the only reason is because the whale says they can and if that's true then what gives it the right to arbitrate such things? Might doesn't make right.

[WhoElseButQuagmire]

Sorry but I’m calling interesting banana on the whale right there…

‘Many things must be permissible’… Like what? What else is permissible? The cosmic nerds just blew up the whole planet in a previous panel, will nothing come of that?

They didn't actually blow it up, that was just a visualization of what would have happened had Dragon been allowed to make her move.

And welcome to the group.

[ArcWolf]

I don't think we're asking the right questions.

I'm aware most of you are ignorant to the recent space whale infestation.

[More Dakka]

Sorry but I’m calling interesting banana on the whale right there…

‘Many things must be permissible’… Like what? What else is permissible? The cosmic nerds just blew up the whole planet in a previous panel, will nothing come of that?

They didn't actually blow it up, that was just a visualization of what would have happened had Dragon been allowed to make her move.

And welcome to the group.

Ah, well then that’s one question down, which just leaves three to go. And thanks for the welcome.

[Hedronal]

[ Whale Of (A) Time ]

Title Text: you'd think space-whales wouldn't have to worry about morality but they do so more than most

It would appear King just cannot escape Joel's criminal (or just plain bad) history.

Not fair. He's already been punished for it. He even let Fox beat him up, AFTER he served his time for kidnapping him.

He was taken by Pete on the day of the trial, and hence has not technically been able to serve his time.

The issue I have with that is, the game and beating each other up are the same thing. Except in the interim you screw with mortals for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

This way, they can focus on the strategy requirements of the game instead of having to get their metaphorical hands dirty. They also (in theory) do not get directly hurt.

At least the other way it wouldn't involve needlessly messing with mortals. Heck it would have given Pete a more likely chance to win because, if we are going to talk strategy then as I said before Pete lost that part of the game to the point were I don't know why anyone would want him to be a leader of anything. This fight would be pointless if anyone cared about strategy in this plot line, and the arc would have ended years ago. Plus the other game is about fighting demons or something, how would any practice here fighting and manipulating mortals even remotely help with that? Any human (or anything else for that matter) would want to help fighting against demons, and if they needed manipulating into it, they aren't going to be much help in the long run anyway. Its not like they are practicing their individual goals that they want to see which is better or more attainable or something like that; heck we don't even know what they are.

Really since this is about leadership of the group then were are the other two players? Shouldn't they have some say in this? Why would they want to follow Pete after this anyway, all but maybe one plan (if he even got rid of Baileys family in the first place) worked. He then promptly screwed that up by letting his one likely backup that could help him (King) go away; or he just never bothered to bring one at all. Even if he wins the fight it will be though luck (a.k.a plot convenience) as he has shown himself to be really incompetent next to Dragon. All evidence points to this being all about the two of them duking it out the whole time nothing more. Also if you recall Dragons original plan was to just keep Pete locked into his temple until he gave up, that is not really a good way to go about focusing on strategy when your other game is likely fighting demons and what not.

Nothing has been confirmed about the two unknown players beyond their existence, they could have some conceivable reasons to want Pete as a leader (ex. he'd favor them, or he'd be better at it than what we've seen indicates). They could also not want him as a leader, but not be in a position to do anything about it, at least anything that we would see.
The purpose of this duel has never been said to be practice, it is simply to decide who the leader becomes, regardless of whether a duel is a good method to judge leadership qualifications. In theory, it would at least show who is better at playing the game than the other, showing who would be more likely to make intelligent choices in it.
On Pete's lack of backup for Bailey, she does not have it sure, but neither does she necessarily need it. We have yet to be given the full natures of any of the cosmic nerds' plans, or the rules and properties of their U&U game, so their strategies could still all be somehow well-thought-out, or worse than they seem.

[valerio]

The purpose of the Game, as Pete said, is not to win something, but to avoid losing and being turned into a mortal for a full lifetime -which, for a being living on a subjective time with a gigaton of power, is like being sentenced to lifetime jail.

[Argent]

Not fair. He's already been punished for it. He even let Fox beat him up, AFTER he served his time for kidnapping him.

He was taken by Pete on the day of the trial, and hence has not technically been able to serve his time.

And The Sentence Was Going To Be Time Served Too.

[Obbl]

Time served does not necessarily mean he has served the full time, merely that the time spent in custody awaiting trial will be subtracted from his total sentence.

[Argent]

If the sentence was going to be time served that means that's the entire sentence. If time served doesn't cover the whole sentence, the sentence will read something like "reduced by time served". This is common and standard legal terminology.

"Time Served" doesn't mean you don't get punished. It means you were already punished. It also means you get a criminal record and in many jurisdictions "time served" sentences can't be expunged. That isn't such a big deal for Joel, since he already has one, but it's really the biggest cost of serving a nominal sentence.

Look, I know you're down on the "King Fever", but from everything we've seen Joel was fundamentally not a "bad person". Everyone has things they're ashamed of and regret, actions they don't want to be punished for, the fact that he fears the verdict of heaven doesn't mean he's a hardened criminal.

[Obbl]

Ah, yes, you are correct.
And I don't think King is a hardened criminal. On the contrary, I think he's a great guy who went down the wrong path. King has always been one of my favorite characters. As I mentioned previously, if it appears I have it out for King, it's mostly because there are many people painting King as a near saint in order to make the Cosmic Nerds appear worse by comparison. It helps to inject a healthy dose of perspective in these cases, and since they've been so frequent, I've had to do it a lot recently

[Argent]

The thing is, he doesn't seem actively malicious, and the Cosmic Nerds (Pete in particular) do.

[Obbl]

If you've already got a reason why you think the Cosmic Nerds are bad, that's one thing. It's when people feel the need to scew the facts in order to justify their position that I feel they need a reminder of reality.

[zdflion96]

Well, as I finished reading, I've got this phrase in mind, so I'll put here both in English and Spanish:

English: "Moral: Let he who is without blame cast the first stone."
Spanish: "Moraleja: El que esté libre de pecado, que arroje la primera piedra."

Another fact of life showed by this comic Amazing.
Really.