2019/12/20 - The Joke Is Violence

[NHWestoN]

Well, lotsa "loops" remain unclosed. If Badger and THE COIN are responsible for Marion's transformation (let alone Lois's), how do we get from Badger in the treehouse to Marion at home in bed asleep as a human and waking up as a squirrel?

Falstaff and Truc, maybe? No, badger's never released THE COIN.

Maybe Karishad is making a coffee table with a decorative doorknob.... and it was a nice tackle, Fox. Guess Badger is "too proud to dig" (another New Testament ref.).

[Vertigo Fox]

Falstaff and Truc, maybe?

If it was them, then Marion definitely wasn't the intended target.

[Frank]

Well we do know Fox had an excellent teachnique before, but getting his weight up really gave his tackles the edge

You mean he's had to eat donuts?

[dr_eirik]

Falstaff and Truc, maybe?

If it was them, then Marion definitely wasn't the intended target.

Nor did they know what they did, since they weren't apparently interested in what they might have done since they never mention it even one night later.

[Nobody]

Well we do know Fox had an excellent teachnique before, but getting his weight up really gave his tackles the edge

You mean he's had to eat donuts?

I think he was referring to Fox, not Kevin.

[Cesco]

Whoa! Fox must have done a great sprint and run very fast. Or maybe, it's Steward who's a slow runner. Very nice tackle, too. Eheh, why Karishad is carrying the entrance door? So, it broke easily. The golden coin fell off, where is it now? Anyway, we need to know a lot from his interrogatory...

[NHWestoN]

Falstaff and Truc, maybe?

If it was them, then Marion definitely wasn't the intended target.

Nor did they know what they did, since they weren't apparently interested in what they might have done since they never mention it even one night later.

Well, they do have remarkably short attention spans....

[Ash Greytree]

Karishad is a big help, grabbing the door like that. And I guess I underestimated Fox’s speed and forget how fast dogs can run in general; it should be easy for a dog with proper training and muscle to run down a slightly pudgy badger.

The coin in the second WHAM panel looks to me like it got sent flying thanks to Fox’s takedown. Probably to, as Fenrir pointed out, get swiped by some shady character.

Steward’s face in the first panel looks legit distressed. Frank, Fenrir and Eirik brought up real good points about how his fleeing and that face make it unclear whether or not he’s the one behind the transformations. I’m still in the “Steward is a red herring” camp for the time being. As I said previously, Steward seemed flustered with the Treehouse denizens in a concerning way, and the manner in which he walked away from Marion at the end of Part 2 felt more jaded and sad than villainous. He’s definitely gotta answer for his crimes against Keene and his family, but I just can’t see the guy being responsible for Marion & Lois’ transformation. Any which way, we’ll learn over the course of the next two strips what happens to him, most likely.

[fenrirblack]

Steward’s face in the first panel looks legit distressed. Frank, Fenrir and Eirik brought up real good points about how his fleeing and that face make it unclear whether or not he’s the one behind the transformations. I’m still in the “Steward is a red herring” camp for the time being. As I said previously, Steward seemed flustered with the Treehouse denizens in a concerning way, and the manner in which he walked away from Marion at the end of Part 2 felt more jaded and sad than villainous. He’s definitely gotta answer for his crimes against Keene and his family, but I just can’t see the guy being responsible for Marion & Lois’ transformation. Any which way, we’ll learn over the course of the next two strips what happens to him, most likely.

As much as I hate to admit it, he really doesn't look like much of a mastermind criminal bent of conquering the world or even instilling chaos for a small chance at becoming human again. He looks like a sad old man who has had his life ruined by something stupid. That ruins all of my Steward theories. If keene or someone else takes the coin then there isn't anything more for Steward to do plot wise. Unless Keene does take mercy on him and gives him a second chance with the ECP (I've said it before its possible as long as Steward is far far away from the Milton Manor and the Milton's finances.) The real question right now is what is going to happen to him and the coin. Will some shady character take it now, will someone take it later, is Steward a red herring who never had a purpose for the plot, were we lied to this entire time? Either way, Steward is done at this point. Even if he was guilty, he's going to locked in the ferret dungeon or "fungeon" and even if he wasn't he lost the coin. He has as much point as Thomas now or as much as a role as he did back when he was human. That is not to say that he couldn't still team up with the true mastermind behind this scheme as a goon but that still takes away the significance he could have had.

That is still not to say he still couldn't be partly responsible. I'm basing a lot of this on a look but even a criminal can give the object of his crime a dirty look. Clearly he's working for/with someone. I wonder if he's going be a narc and rat them out or does he know who it was. Like very covert and only communicate through a burner phone. That would be a fun confession.

Continuing my Lana theory, I'd say Keene is going to take the coin to be locked away and then Lana is going to take it from the vault or whatever (Keene might just hand to her and tell her to "take care of it"). Then that would be a perfect excuse to keep using whatever means she had been using to transform people. OR she was using Steward and now that he is out of the picture has to find a 'plan B'

Let me try to put my thoughts in order.
There are several possibilities of where this could lead based on whether or not Steward is guilty or not.
Steward is Guilty
Steward was working with/for someone and still could be
Steward wasn't working for someone but someone will take up the mantle of transforming humans in a Jigsaw type approach
Steward still becomes a henchman for the true antagonist of the story

Steward isn't Guilty
Steward was a red herring all along and was never important
Steward still becomes a henchman for the true mastermind

All we know for sure is that someone else is either apart of this or will be. We spent 7 months on this so its not over just because Steward was tackled to the ground. It would be anti-climatic for it to be the end of the mystery just because Kitsune gave some vague hints, Marion remembered Steward, and Fox tackled him to the ground.

[dr_eirik]

[quote="fenrirblack" The real question right now is what is going to happen to him and the coin. Will some shady character take it now, will someone take it later, is Steward a red herring who never had a purpose for the plot, were we lied to this entire time? Either way, Steward is done at this point. Even if he was guilty, he's going to locked in the ferret dungeon or "fungeon" and even if he wasn't he lost the coin. He has as much point as Thomas now or as much as a role as he did back when he was human. That is not to say that he couldn't still team up with the true mastermind behind this scheme as a goon but that still takes away the significance he could have had.
[/quote]

I think saying that we were lied to is a bit strong. The story since Marion first appeared has been almost exclusively from his perspective, and when it wasn't it was usually from Lois's. The only reason that we think we know what's happening is that we know the cast of characters that they interacted with. So we were never privy to details of significance that either didn't see. It's not like there is a page of Steward discussing his plans for transforming people. He was just flipping the coin in the air.

All the suspects and theories that we've seen have been spun up out of what we think are clues. There may have been few actually dropped.

I think we are going to find out that Steward ran because he spotted Keene and thought he was about to go to jail (or whatever you'd do to a badger) for his white collar crimes. He is a sad man who did have his life destroyed with really no one to blame but himself.

I also think that Keene will likely decide he's been punished enough at some point. It wouldn't surprise me if Breel appeals to his better nature and pushes him to help the badger. I just don't think we're going to see that until some future arc.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I have to admit that I am so very impressed with Fox! He is the whole package! He is muscular, smart, brave, fast and very clever. He must have been training a lot to run that fast! This is good for me because I like him even more now and good for a certain squirrelsune who seems to like his butt. xD

[Startrekfan47]

Tiger's gonna be upset that Pap wasn't revealed to be the evil mastermind behind all this.

[Amazee Dayzee]

How in the heck is Tiger even involved in any of this at all?

[fenrirblack]

The real question right now is what is going to happen to him and the coin. Will some shady character take it now, will someone take it later, is Steward a red herring who never had a purpose for the plot, were we lied to this entire time? Either way, Steward is done at this point. Even if he was guilty, he's going to locked in the ferret dungeon or "fungeon" and even if he wasn't he lost the coin. He has as much point as Thomas now or as much as a role as he did back when he was human. That is not to say that he couldn't still team up with the true mastermind behind this scheme as a goon but that still takes away the significance he could have had.

I think saying that we were lied to is a bit strong. The story since Marion first appeared has been almost exclusively from his perspective, and when it wasn't it was usually from Lois's. The only reason that we think we know what's happening is that we know the cast of characters that they interacted with. So we were never privy to details of significance that either didn't see. It's not like there is a page of Steward discussing his plans for transforming people. He was just flipping the coin in the air.

All the suspects and theories that we've seen have been spun up out of what we think are clues. There may have been few actually dropped.

I think we are going to find out that Steward ran because he spotted Keene and thought he was about to go to jail (or whatever you'd do to a badger) for his white collar crimes. He is a sad man who did have his life destroyed with really no one to blame but himself.


I also think that Keene will likely decide he's been punished enough at some point. It wouldn't surprise me if Breel appeals to his better nature and pushes him to help the badger. I just don't think we're going to see that until some future arc.

That is even more of a slap that we lied to ourselves. Because there was never any real significant clues or evidence that pointed to Steward. Steward as a character has never been important beyond a glorified accountant for the Miltons. Sure he helped Thomas but most of his actions were off panel anyway. He makes the perfect red herring because it was so easy to infer his potential guilt based on a very few panels (two) and what we assumed would make a better story. He had the coin and a potential motive but that was it. And that is only circumstantial evidence at best. If Steward isn't guilty then his character is as its always been which is about as significant as Terrance as far a plot which is fine because there is no rule that says that he ever needed to be important especially because he never was.

I always figured Steward wasn't guilty but I at least thought he was important in some way (or had the potential to be an antagonist again). The way this is looking he might be as innocent and insignificant as Mrs. McGillicuddy.

IMPO the best story outcome is that Steward is guilty and working for some devious mastermind *cough Lana* to boost the ECP by flooding it with therianthropes by using the coin in a unholy exchange for Steward to escape Jess's treehouse and return to a semi-human lifestyle. This way Steward is less of a red herring and more of a scapegoat but at least he had a more significant role for the plot not to mention Rick essentially throws the reader a bone. This way the first part of the Marion arc wraps up nicely with the bad guy caught, everything Marion did wasn't just for nothing (being kicked out of his home and going to Jess's), changing Steward into a badger and giving him the coin wasn't just to throw the reader off, and still leads for more mystery elements to be solved farther down the line when we pick this story up again in the future especially if the coin falls into the masterminds paws.

[VeryAngryDeer]

The real question right now is what is going to happen to him and the coin. Will some shady character take it now, will someone take it later, is Steward a red herring who never had a purpose for the plot, were we lied to this entire time? Either way, Steward is done at this point. Even if he was guilty, he's going to locked in the ferret dungeon or "fungeon" and even if he wasn't he lost the coin. He has as much point as Thomas now or as much as a role as he did back when he was human. That is not to say that he couldn't still team up with the true mastermind behind this scheme as a goon but that still takes away the significance he could have had.

I think saying that we were lied to is a bit strong. The story since Marion first appeared has been almost exclusively from his perspective, and when it wasn't it was usually from Lois's. The only reason that we think we know what's happening is that we know the cast of characters that they interacted with. So we were never privy to details of significance that either didn't see. It's not like there is a page of Steward discussing his plans for transforming people. He was just flipping the coin in the air.

All the suspects and theories that we've seen have been spun up out of what we think are clues. There may have been few actually dropped.

I think we are going to find out that Steward ran because he spotted Keene and thought he was about to go to jail (or whatever you'd do to a badger) for his white collar crimes. He is a sad man who did have his life destroyed with really no one to blame but himself.


I also think that Keene will likely decide he's been punished enough at some point. It wouldn't surprise me if Breel appeals to his better nature and pushes him to help the badger. I just don't think we're going to see that until some future arc.

That is even more of a slap that we lied to ourselves. Because there was never any real significant clues or evidence that pointed to Steward. Steward as a character has never been important beyond a glorified accountant for the Miltons. Sure he helped Thomas but most of his actions were off panel anyway. He makes the perfect red herring because it was so easy to infer his potential guilt based on a very few panels (two) and what we assumed would make a better story. He had the coin and a potential motive but that was it. And that is only circumstantial evidence at best. If Steward isn't guilty then his character is as its always been which is about as significant as Terrance as far a plot which is fine because there is no rule that says that he ever needed to be important especially because he never was.

I always figured Steward wasn't guilty but I at least thought he was important in some way (or had the potential to be an antagonist again). The way this is looking he might be as innocent and insignificant as Mrs. McGillicuddy.

IMPO the best story outcome is that Steward is guilty and working for some devious mastermind *cough Lana* to boost the ECP by flooding it with therianthropes by using the coin in a unholy exchange for Steward to escape Jess's treehouse and return to a semi-human lifestyle. This way Steward is less of a red herring and more of a scapegoat but at least he had a more significant role for the plot not to mention Rick essentially throws the reader a bone. This way the first part of the Marion arc wraps up nicely with the bad guy caught, everything Marion did wasn't just for nothing (being kicked out of his home and going to Jess's), changing Steward into a badger and giving him the coin wasn't just to throw the reader off, and still leads for more mystery elements to be solved farther down the line when we pick this story up again in the future especially if the coin falls into the masterminds paws.

You're right.


Buuuuuuut... I want to see a Steward redemption arc, and him being responsible to Marion and Lois' predicament would pretty much destroy any hope of that, turning him into another Thomas. We already have a Thomas.

I guess that what I want would put Steward in a similar situation to King (character does bad thing, gets transformed, learns to be a better person) but there'san important difference - King absolutely does not want to be involved in anything Celestial related, and while he has helped Marion a little, I doubt he could act as any kind of mentor figure while the shadow of magical forces is hanging around our current protagonists. Steward has already attempted to help Marion by trying to persuade him to join the ECP (whether he was sincere in his altruism or not we don't know yet) and provided sage advice. He doesn't have a crippling fear of Kitsune. And he doesn't exactly have anything better to do, while King has a family to look after.

I like seeing characters get fleshed out, and I think this would be a good way to do it. So, we have two options: Make a self-contained story that makes sense, has adequate forshadowing, and a satisfying conclusion... or we can make a side character more complex at the expense of dragging out the story.

... on second thoughts, I'm enjoying the Marion And Lois Show. Making this story drag on is not a downside from my point of view.

[fenrirblack]

Buuuuuuut... I want to see a Steward redemption arc, and him being responsible to Marion and Lois' predicament would pretty much destroy any hope of that, turning him into another Thomas. We already have a Thomas.

I guess that what I want would put Steward in a similar situation to King (character does bad thing, gets transformed, learns to be a better person) but there'san important difference - King absolutely does not want to be involved in anything Celestial related, and while he has helped Marion a little, I doubt he could act as any kind of mentor figure while the shadow of magical forces is hanging around our current protagonists. Steward has already attempted to help Marion by trying to persuade him to join the ECP (whether he was sincere in his altruism or not we don't know yet) and provided sage advice. He doesn't have a crippling fear of Kitsune. And he doesn't exactly have anything better to do, while King has a family to look after.

I like seeing characters get fleshed out, and I think this would be a good way to do it. So, we have two options: Make a self-contained story that makes sense, has adequate forshadowing, and a satisfying conclusion... or we can make a side character more complex at the expense of dragging out the story.

... on second thoughts, I'm enjoying the Marion And Lois Show. Making this story drag on is not a downside from my point of view.

I agree that a Steward redemption could be interesting BUT he would need something more important to be redeeming for. If he's not guilty of transforming Marion and Lois then his only crime was a failed embezzlement attempt. White collar crime is not the most exciting narrative and coming back from that is less interesting. He tried to steal money from a billionaire. Robin Hood did the same thing and became a folk hero. A situation of "this is your mess, you clean it up" while trope-ish would be more entertaining especially if he himself got screwed by the mastermind and now is out for payback.

[Nobody]

That is even more of a slap that we lied to ourselves. Because there was never any real significant clues or evidence that pointed to Steward. Steward as a character has never been important beyond a glorified accountant for the Miltons.

Except, you know, the evil silhouette.
The mystery, I think, was all in our minds. We wanted it to be more complex than it obviously was because the cynical entertainment industry has trained us to expect plot twists even when one is both unnecessary and harmful to the plot. This plot didn't outsmart us, we outsmarted ourselves.
Except me. I've maintained it had to be Steward all along for thematic reasons and I still stand by that.

[fenrirblack]

That is even more of a slap that we lied to ourselves. Because there was never any real significant clues or evidence that pointed to Steward. Steward as a character has never been important beyond a glorified accountant for the Miltons.

Except, you know, the evil silhouette.
The mystery, I think, was all in our minds. We wanted it to be more complex than it obviously was because the cynical entertainment industry has trained us to expect plot twists even when one is both unnecessary and harmful to the plot. This plot didn't outsmart us, we outsmarted ourselves.
Except me. I've maintained it had to be Steward all along for thematic reasons and I still stand by that.

Right now I keep flip flopping between is he guilty or innocent? Would it a be a better story if he was guilty or innocent?
The way I see it, if he's innocent then Part 2 was insignificant and Part 3 to a lesser extant. The entire point of Part 2 was meet Truck and Fals, get a pie from Mrs. McGillicuddy to earn their trust, get to Jess's house, and meet Steward. The entire purpose of Part 2 was to involve Steward. If Steward was never guilty then why would it matter that Marion saw him with the coin because the coin wouldn't have been responsible. He could have learned about the coin from Thomas. If that was the case, then we could have done literally anything else after Marion was found in that treehouse. He could have been found by the pets and gone on an adventure in the neighborhood to find Lois or her house.
If he's guilty then Part 2 establishes Steward as a potential suspect, foreshadows his guilt, establishes his motive and means, and allows for the callback where Marion remembered the coin.

[Nobody]

Right now I keep flip flopping between is he guilty or innocent? Would it a be a better story if he was guilty or innocent?
The way I see it, if he's innocent then Part 2 was insignificant and Part 3 to a lesser extant. The entire point of Part 2 was meet Truck and Fals, get a pie from Mrs. McGillicuddy to earn their trust, get to Jess's house, and meet Steward. The entire purpose of Part 2 was to involve Steward. If Steward was never guilty then why would it matter that Marion saw him with the coin because the coin wouldn't have been responsible. He could have learned about the coin from Thomas. If that was the case, then we could have done literally anything else after Marion was found in that treehouse. He could have been found by the pets and gone on an adventure in the neighborhood to find Lois or her house.
If he's guilty then Part 2 establishes Steward as a potential suspect, foreshadows his guilt, establishes his motive and means, and allows for the callback where Marion remembered the coin.

I've gone on at excessive length as to where I stand. Honestly, a fumbling attempt leading to immediate capture is rather befitting a man who's biggest experience with plotting is embezzlement. The question now remains: are we gonna get the details of the how? And I guess the why, because his exact motives are not clear. He wants someone inside the ECP. Does he want them as a mole to find out more so he can sabotage, or does he want to help the ECP because helping them helps him? His motives are clearly selfish, what we don't know is exactly what he intended to do.
And if Trinket was involved, as some have suggested - though the evidence for that is shaky - remember Trinket knows how to pick locks and has gotten Cory out of the animal control van at least once that we've seen and probably more than once off-panel, so Steward may escape to . . . I don't know, something. Honestly, there are enough directions to go with this that I don't want to suggest something now. There's still two pages left for me to be proven totally wrong, but I'm fairly certain I won't be. I think I'm satisfied with the overall way this plot has gone.

Although, unless Rick is really masterful with the last two pages, or said pages are larger than average sized, I still have no idea how this arc can be resolved in two pages without feeling like it's got a rushed ending. I mean, I don't want to forecast doom, but I'm already gearing up to be somewhat disappointed with that aspect.
On the positive side, either my expectations will be met, or I will be pleasantly surprised. Neither of those are bad outcomes.

You know, unless something stupid like a shocking twist that it was really Peanut all along and he's been playing us since the very first strip, all with the end goal of making this moment come about, but I don't think we have to worry about this. Peanut's a character in the story, not the person writing it.

[fenrirblack]

I've gone on at excessive length as to where I stand. Honestly, a fumbling attempt leading to immediate capture is rather befitting a man who's biggest experience with plotting is embezzlement. The question now remains: are we gonna get the details of the how? And I guess the why, because his exact motives are not clear. He wants someone inside the ECP. Does he want them as a mole to find out more so he can sabotage, or does he want to help the ECP because helping them helps him? His motives are clearly selfish, what we don't know is exactly what he intended to do.
And if Trinket was involved, as some have suggested - though the evidence for that is shaky - remember Trinket knows how to pick locks and has gotten Cory out of the animal control van at least once that we've seen and probably more than once off-panel, so Steward may escape to . . . I don't know, something. Honestly, there are enough directions to go with this that I don't want to suggest something now. There's still two pages left for me to be proven totally wrong, but I'm fairly certain I won't be. I think I'm satisfied with the overall way this plot has gone.

Although, unless Rick is really masterful with the last two pages, or said pages are larger than average sized, I still have no idea how this arc can be resolved in two pages without feeling like it's got a rushed ending. I mean, I don't want to forecast doom, but I'm already gearing up to be somewhat disappointed with that aspect.
On the positive side, either my expectations will be met, or I will be pleasantly surprised. Neither of those are bad outcomes.

You know, unless something stupid like a shocking twist that it was really Peanut all along and he's been playing us since the very first strip, all with the end goal of making this moment come about, but I don't think we have to worry about this. Peanut's a character in the story, not the person writing it.

It all boils down to this, if Steward is innocent then the overall "My Life as a Teenage Squirrel" was just okay. Rick would have spent a excessive amount of time establishing Steward as a red herring when he could have done it in a shorter amount of time, removed a lot of unnecessary scenes, and cut this story time in half. It would have been a fairly descent mystery that is still unsolved but could have been better. If's he guilty then the story was well crafted without too much waste and still allow for the potential for the remainder of the overall story.

[NHWestoN]

Partially to your point, Fen, young Marion has appeared in 78 strips, more than Pete, Breel, Great Kitsune, Kevin, or many other long standing cast members. The "Characters" list has him at #20 in frequency of appearance, put of about 130 actors total. It's been quite the epic and is yet to finish.

But the intrigue remains !!!

[VeryAngryDeer]

-snip-

I agree that a Steward redemption could be interesting BUT he would need something more important to be redeeming for. If he's not guilty of transforming Marion and Lois then his only crime was a failed embezzlement attempt. White collar crime is not the most exciting narrative and coming back from that is less interesting. He tried to steal money from a billionaire. Robin Hood did the same thing and became a folk hero. A situation of "this is your mess, you clean it up" while trope-ish would be more entertaining especially if he himself got screwed by the mastermind and now is out for payback.

It was apparently important enough for him to deserve being turned into an animal, and effectively having his life destroyed. Whilst prison might have done the same thing, he would at least still have his bodily integrity, and the potential to rebuild his life after serving his sentence.

At the same time, if you make him too evil, why would I want him anywhere near the protagonists for a prolonged period, in a mentor role? If he is guilty of transforming Marion and Lois, why would they want anything to do with him? He'd be the last person they'd want to take advice from. His speech about not always getting what you want loses completely falls flat as advice if he is responsible for the situation. It doesn't become untrue, but it removes any moral authority he could have had from him, and any reason M&L might have had to listen to him.

Its a balancing act between making a character have done something bad enough that they can't just be forgiven, but also making it not be so bad that they should be irredeemable.


Compare with the situation of King and Fox. Had Fox known King's true identity from the start, he never would have become friends with King, because he would hate him. It doesn't matter that King's crime was a failed kidnap attempt, and therefore not particularly high in the heirarchy of evil actions (higher than embezzlement, but still,) it was personal for Fox.

[NHWestoN]

Random thought, Deer. Given his experiences with King/Joel, wonder how Fox might react should Stewart/Badger's transformation come to light? Might he find some mitigating circumstances in his situation - especially if THE COIN can be relocated?

...And we still haven't clearly tied Badger and THE COIN to Marion and Lois yet.

[GameCobra]

You know, looking at the way his mouth is drawn, I initially thought it was an evil smirk at first. missed the cheek frowning.

Still, though ~ I'm going to keep the theory the coin is going to cause more trouble after this, but I think the other thing that might happen here is that Monday's comic is going to be a similar break down to how Joel broke down when he was arrested by Fido.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I definitely could see it going that way. And maybe we will get actually tears from someone being arrested this time.

[Nobody]

I definitely could see it going that way. And maybe we will get actually tears from someone being arrested this time.

I don't know, Steward always seems too dry for that. Even now, face down in the dirt, his immediate response is to be sarcastic. I'm half-expecting him to plead the 5th.

[Gbr23]

The only reason I can think of why Steward might be innocent is his coin.

His coin didn't gender bend him nor Thomas.
The one that transform Marion and Louis did.

Different coins maybe?

[NHWestoN]

I definitely could see it going that way. And maybe we will get actually tears from someone being arrested this time.

I don't know, Steward always seems too dry for that. Even now, face down in the dirt, his immediate response is to be sarcastic. I'm half-expecting him to plead the 5th.

Housepets characters are notorious for their poise in stressful situation and a talent for an apt sarcasm even in the most harrowing situations. Even transformed accountants. So where did THE COIN land and who will find it?

[VeryAngryDeer]

Random thought, Deer. Given his experiences with King/Joel, wonder how Fox might react should Stewart/Badger's transformation come to light? Might he find some mitigating circumstances in his situation - especially if THE COIN can be relocated?

...And we still haven't clearly tied Badger and THE COIN to Marion and Lois yet.

I'm not sure. I don't think Fox has had any interactions with Steward before, positive or negative. The "commit a crime" and "get transformed" situations are similar, but the crime itself is entirely different. Steward's embezzlement is not going to remind Fox of the times he was kidnapped.

He has no reason to beat up Steward like he did to Joel when his identity was revealed. But he also never made friends with Steward. At most he'll have a professional interest as to how it relates to the police dealing with Steward, and might go "huh, that's kind of similar to what happened to King" and then go on with a neutral position.

[Ash Greytree]

For me, the quality of the arc doesn’t really hinge on whether or not Steward was guilty of transforming Marion & Lois or helping the character who did. I think My Life As A Teenage Squirrel has been great. We were introduced to a couple of new characters outside of the typical species range of the regular cast (mostly domestic dogs and cats), those new characters have gotten some neat development in the relatively short time they’ve been around, made new acquaintances along the way who could eventually become good friends, and they also seem to be getting set up to get even more compelling arcs in the future.

As well, speaking of things getting set up, one of the main thrusts of this overall arc has been, at least to me, to set up the ECP as an organization central to future arcs. Part 2 saw Steward acting as an ECP advocate with Jess and the other animals not necessarily opposed but indifferent, in spite of encroaching civilization. Part 4 saw Keene wanting to induct more ferals (including prey species) into the program alongside wanting to make Marion a “thing” (and those two could still be one and the same), wild rumors swirling about the ECP which point to it facing scrutiny in the future, and it also had Thomas looking to try and sabotage the organization. Part 5 had Lana on the phone and saying some stuff arousing suspicion of her involvement in some shady dealings, King talking about the ECP getting a brand new boarding house, and quite possibly the cursed coin in the hands of the ECP if they manage to find it in the woods.

This can set up arcs for fun, for character development and plot advancement, and more. Marion and Lois coaching new program members on the ins and outs of human society and making friends with the new ferals. Jess and the Treehouse denizens contending with that encroaching civilization, with Kix deciding to enroll her family into the program for her kids’ safety and Craig & Draig eventually interacting with Olive, Rook & Ace. A potential Steward redemption arc. A court case being brought against the ECP after more transformations invite paranoia and scrutiny.

So yeah, I think this arc has been good for what it’s set up for potential payoffs and what could happen in the future. Even if none of what I’ve guessed at for future arcs comes true, but we still get compelling arcs that deal with the fallout and continuity from the events that’ve occurred in MLaaTS, I’ll call that a win.

[Nobody]

Random thought, Deer. Given his experiences with King/Joel, wonder how Fox might react should Stewart/Badger's transformation come to light? Might he find some mitigating circumstances in his situation - especially if THE COIN can be relocated?

...And we still haven't clearly tied Badger and THE COIN to Marion and Lois yet.

I'm not sure. I don't think Fox has had any interactions with Steward before, positive or negative. The "commit a crime" and "get transformed" situations are similar, but the crime itself is entirely different. Steward's embezzlement is not going to remind Fox of the times he was kidnapped.

He has no reason to beat up Steward like he did to Joel when his identity was revealed. But he also never made friends with Steward. At most he'll have a professional interest as to how it relates to the police dealing with Steward, and might go "huh, that's kind of similar to what happened to King" and then go on with a neutral position.

Also, as Fox has had no relationship with Steward up to this point, he has no emotional investment, which means any connection the two would have has no emotional weight storywise. Fox is just here because it's his job and that's as far as it's going to go. Now KING might have some way to become emotionally invested. He can understand Steward's situation. But the plot would still have to build that up because the two have also never met. It all depends on where Rick wants to go with Steward's character at this point, which is still completely up in the air.
Honestly, if you ask me, I think Marion and Lois have the most potential for a connection to Steward, and even Thomas. It's wouldn't start as an "I care about them as people," but more "I know what they're going through and it's not right that this happened to them." Marion and Lois could ultimately see this as Keene's fault because he didn't tell them about the curse on the gold, which would have prevented this from happening and consider it an incredibly unfair punishment for their crimes - Steward would have spent a few years in prison and then been let off, while Thomas only ever managed to commit breaking and entering and tresspassing, which don't even earn prison sentences. Instead, they've both had their lives irreversibly altered and Thomas was put on display in the most egregious form of public humiliation imaginable - easily unconstitutional in the US under the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the bill of rights. Keene is also on the hook for that, legally, since he didn't make any attempt to explain the situation to the police and just let it happen.
And right now, the law doesn't have the capacity to judge the situation. Animals aren't people and therefore aren't treated as such under the law. Humans turned into animals is completely unprecedented and has no legal context. The whole thing is a legal nightmare that would take years in congress to straighten out, or even decades if this world's congress is just as incompetent as our own. At this moment, Steward can't even be sent to prison, since an animal can't be charged. If he were proved to be a physical danger, he could be put down, but Steward's too calm and rational for that. There's not even grounds for animal control to relocate him, because he hasn't at any point provably encroached on human land. The law kinda can't touch Steward, so an unusual resolution is going to be needed, at least temporarily.
But all this is way too much to cover in two pages, so even the questions have to be put off until a future arc. Which for most of what i just prattled on about is fine. At this point, the only question that needs to be answered is the why, which doesn't seem like too big an order until you consider that the why has to be presented in a way that impacts the audience, carries thematic weight, and doesn't leave a hanging action. I can think of many ways to do that, just not in two pages. :/

And I want to be clear, none of this makes the story overall bad. Just not as strong as I feel it could be.

[fenrirblack]

As well, speaking of things getting set up, one of the main thrusts of this overall arc has been, at least to me, to set up the ECP as an organization central to future arcs. Part 2 saw Steward acting as an ECP advocate with Jess and the other animals not necessarily opposed but indifferent, in spite of encroaching civilization. Part 4 saw Keene wanting to induct more ferals (including prey species) into the program alongside wanting to make Marion a “thing” (and those two could still be one and the same), wild rumors swirling about the ECP which point to it facing scrutiny in the future, and it also had Thomas looking to try and sabotage the organization. Part 5 had Lana on the phone and saying some stuff arousing suspicion of her involvement in some shady dealings, King talking about the ECP getting a brand new boarding house, and quite possibly the cursed coin in the hands of the ECP if they manage to find it in the woods.

I will say this about Part 4, it was the most important one in the saga. We saw first hand that A. the ECP is now readily excepting therianthropes into the ranks and now has an real system. B. the police (or at least the k-9) knows about this human-animal phenomenon. C. The high school and most likely to a greater extent the River Ridge population is aware of the phenomenon even if some choose not to believe it. D. We saw first hand how the greater population reacts and got a glimpse at the real world struggles that the therianthropes will have to face. E. We saw that there are those humans who would "voluntarily" transform given the opportunity. That alone has HUGE implications for the future if Rick chooses to go down that route.
Honestly we should have started Part 1 in June. Rounded out Year 11 with a minor arc for giggles (maybe picked up with Gale and Pueblo) then started Year 12 with Marion and that way Rick wouldn't have had to add so much filler to ensure that it ends right on Christmas.

[Nobody]

Honestly we should have started Part 1 in June. Rounded out Year 11 with a minor arc for giggles (maybe picked up with Gale and Pueblo) then started Year 12 with Marion and that way Rick wouldn't have had to add so much filler to ensure that it ends right on Christmas.

Based on what he's said on his twitter, I think that was a coincidence, not an aim. I think this just kept running on longer than he expected and when he got to the point of where it wrapped up, he realized what day it would end on and decided to tie it into Christmas.

[NHWestoN]

Random thought, Deer. Given his experiences with King/Joel, wonder how Fox might react should Stewart/Badger's transformation come to light? Might he find some mitigating circumstances in his situation - especially if THE COIN can be relocated?

...And we still haven't clearly tied Badger and THE COIN to Marion and Lois yet.

I'm not sure. I don't think Fox has had any interactions with Steward before, positive or negative. The "commit a crime" and "get transformed" situations are similar, but the crime itself is entirely different. Steward's embezzlement is not going to remind Fox of the times he was kidnapped.

He has no reason to beat up Steward like he did to Joel when his identity was revealed. But he also never made friends with Steward. At most he'll have a professional interest as to how it relates to the police dealing with Steward, and might go "huh, that's kind of similar to what happened to King" and then go on with a neutral position.

Also, as Fox has had no relationship with Steward up to this point, he has no emotional investment, which means any connection the two would have has no emotional weight storywise. Fox is just here because it's his job and that's as far as it's going to go. Now KING might have some way to become emotionally invested. He can understand Steward's situation. But the plot would still have to build that up because the two have also never met. It all depends on where Rick wants to go with Steward's character at this point, which is still completely up in the air.
Honestly, if you ask me, I think Marion and Lois have the most potential for a connection to Steward, and even Thomas. It's wouldn't start as an "I care about them as people," but more "I know what they're going through and it's not right that this happened to them." Marion and Lois could ultimately see this as Keene's fault because he didn't tell them about the curse on the gold, which would have prevented this from happening and consider it an incredibly unfair punishment for their crimes - Steward would have spent a few years in prison and then been let off, while Thomas only ever managed to commit breaking and entering and tresspassing, which don't even earn prison sentences. Instead, they've both had their lives irreversibly altered and Thomas was put on display in the most egregious form of public humiliation imaginable - easily unconstitutional in the US under the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the bill of rights. Keene is also on the hook for that, legally, since he didn't make any attempt to explain the situation to the police and just let it happen.
And right now, the law doesn't have the capacity to judge the situation. Animals aren't people and therefore aren't treated as such under the law. Humans turned into animals is completely unprecedented and has no legal context. The whole thing is a legal nightmare that would take years in congress to straighten out, or even decades if this world's congress is just as incompetent as our own. At this moment, Steward can't even be sent to prison, since an animal can't be charged. If he were proved to be a physical danger, he could be put down, but Steward's too calm and rational for that. There's not even grounds for animal control to relocate him, because he hasn't at any point provably encroached on human land. The law kinda can't touch Steward, so an unusual resolution is going to be needed, at least temporarily.
But all this is way too much to cover in two pages, so even the questions have to be put off until a future arc. Which for most of what i just prattled on about is fine. At this point, the only question that needs to be answered is the why, which doesn't seem like too big an order until you consider that the why has to be presented in a way that impacts the audience, carries thematic weight, and doesn't leave a hanging action. I can think of many ways to do that, just not in two pages. :/

And I want to be clear, none of this makes the story overall bad. Just not as strong as I feel it could be.

As to Fox, I was speculating that his previous experience might give him some empathy with Badger's "Transformant" situation. The "Reversability" issue has yet to be resolved but, since the whole point of Marion's quest is to return to humandom, well, it's gonna be somehow.

The legal situation is highly contentious, as you indicate. In a world where animals assume basic human behaviors, it is easier to see a transformed human as now an animal rather than a victim (like a patient who had the wrong limb amputated by an incompetent surgeon). Animals can apparently get fines, parking tickets, and face other penalties including arrest. Could Steward, like Thomas, be sent to the zoo? (Did Thomas "volunteer" to live in the zoo - with - Sophie - or did someone else force him there against his will?) Well, a badger is not a camel. Does he get to keep THE COIN? We know animals have personal property rights. Are animals in adoption shelters ever "put down"?

I don't think your concerns constitute any kind of belittling or disappointment in the story, Nobody. They're valid issues, though. I'm just assuming they'll get answered eventually, if not in this epic, then a later saga.

[Nobody]

As to Fox, I was speculating that his previous experience might give him some empathy with Badger's "Transformant" situation. The "Reversability" issue has yet to be resolved but, since the whole point of Marion's quest is to return to humandom, well, it's gonna be somehow.

The legal situation is highly contentious, as you indicate. In a world where animals assume basic human behaviors, it is easier to see a transformed human as now an animal rather than a victim (like a patient who had the wrong limb amputated by an incompetent surgeon). Animals can apparently get fines, parking tickets, and face other penalties including arrest. Could Steward, like Thomas, be sent to the zoo? (Did Thomas "volunteer" to live in the zoo - with - Sophie - or did someone else force him there against his will?) Well, a badger is not a camel. Does he get to keep THE COIN? We know animals have personal property rights. Are animals in adoption shelters ever "put down"?

I don't think your concerns constitute any kind of belittling or disappointment in the story, Nobody. They're valid issues, though. I'm just assuming they'll get answered eventually, if not in this epic, then a later saga.

Most of what I brought up I do expect to be addressed later, if at all. No one would try to do all of that in the time remaining. It's not a case of belittlement, though. It's a question of how good can a story get. Everything is imperfect, but there's always the question of are the major important points done correctly. Does it have that final, emotional impact that makes it stick with you, and is there proper build-up to justify the resolution.
The build-up's there, no question. We've all wanted answers, we all want to know. But the payoff seems like it's about to get rushed and that always weakens a story. The answers might be satisfying, they might be what the story needs, but the execution is where you make the audience feel all that. It's the difference between reading a synopsis and reading the actual novel. You get the story either way, but only by reading the actual novel do you feel the impact, provide the author did his job correctly.
As long as I've been following the comic, there isn't a chance that I'm going to call the arc bad, however it wraps up. There's enough good-will built up to overcome a lot. But a rushed ending would make me go, "That could have been better." It's a bit like stumbling right as you cross the finish-line. You don't fall flat on your face, and you still finish first, but everybody sees you stumbled a little bit right there at the end. Everybody cheers anyway, because it was a good show.
It's all academic at this point. The final pages have probably already been scripted - I don't know how far in advance Rick actually draws them, but by this point, the direction of the plot is set. And there's always the possibility that I'm totally wrong. I don't pretend to know what is going to happen exactly. I can't render final judgement on what hasn't been completed yet. But it looks like a rushed ending looms, especially compared to how much time was taken to reach this point. And it only looks like that because the concluding date has been arbitrarily set to coincide with a holiday that, in universe, is around three-quarters of a year away, which is more frustrating.
This is how I engage with stories and these are the points I bring up when I discuss them.

Still, could be wrong. If you can figure out exactly what the important points are and can find just the right words to use, you can distill a very complex situation down to a few brief and punchy sentences that do their job perfectly. I don't know what that would look like here, but we could get it. That would be amazing.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Not to mention it would give us a full unadulterated view of the talent that Rick has.

[Champion Wallace]

This arc has been super exhausting to get through for how slowly it progressed and now that it's almost over, all I can think is, "No, it can't be over yet!"

Life. Go figure.

It's not too surprising when you realize both sentiments are coming from the same place. It felt like it progressed slowly because there wasn't as much new information per strip as you wanted and you don't want it to be over yet because you don't have as much total information as you want, because of the new information per strip ratio.

Nice job on the tackle, Fox! I do find it interesting that Steward was eyeing the coin in the first panel...although with the tackle, I wonder if he lost the coin then.

Because Steward had his hand open (to look at the coin) he lost hold of it when he was suddenly tackled. You can see the coin flying through the air in the second panel.

Well we do know Fox had an excellent teachnique before, but getting his weight up really gave his tackles the edge

You mean he's had to eat donuts?

I think he was referring to Fox, not Kevin.

Kevin was referring to Fox in Bino On The Run, but the Kevin one-off ilistraits when a dog needs to get fat, like when they need more mass so their tackles have more force, they have the "chore" of eating donuts.

Marion's body came with some instincts, such as going up the tree before he even realized what he did. And I vaguely recall one of the prose stories mentioned that King had corgi instincts, though I'm not sure what those would be other than biting your ankles.

It wasn't instinct per se so much as using his body correctly. "He was a dog right from the start; there was no fumbling over his paws or re-learning how to speak with the added three or four inches of muzzle protruding from his face, just dog."

[LunarFox]

This is pure speculation, but my thought is that the arc isn't going to be over on Christmas. Marion's part of it, maybe, but who's to say that the torch won't end up getting passed on to someone else?

[Amazee Dayzee]

I think by what Rick meant by that when he said it was that the arc would end up shifting to other characters.

[LunarFox]

I think by what Rick meant by that when he said it was that the arc would end up shifting to other characters.

That's what I thought too, Dayzee, but a lot of people are thinking, from what I've read, that we're going to be completely done with Marion and Lois after Christmas.