Troll’s reaction was all the confirmation necessary. If he made an actual working serum, there wouldn’t be this hesitation, he’d be prepared to respond to the news of Analog’s death and would likely gloat over D-Pad’s incompetence. Since what he injected wasn’t intended to be anything but water with colorant, he’s surprised that Analog’s power was gone, he had no explanation for it and needed to make up something on the fly.
Next page (page 24, so the last in the issue): D-Pad comes home, kills Ethan in a cliffhanger.
Next comic: Ethan doesn’t immediately respawn.
Smart trolls just don’t let you figure out their trolling ways.
Tim
1 month ago
The problem with this kind of doubt and this kind of “proof” is that now you go from “it is unlikely that the serum is legit” (like 50/75%) to “it is very unlikely that the serum is legit” (like 95%).
But as Tim had said once about a game I don’t remember : “we both know what your 95% is worth”.
Because it hurts so much more those stay in memory better than when it does hit, I have same relation to dice games. One game I was cussing my bad luck and GM was that yeah but they aren’t doing any better at which I had to point out that in order to hit myself I need a nine or better out of 20, before rage, so I should have had at least 50/50 on the bandit.
Still impossible to draw any useful conclusion from it though.
Even if we accept Trolls reaction as genuine (probable, but he is capable of faking emotion), it’s still unclear what he’s shocked/surprised about.
It could be ‘Wait, that actually worked?’ (in which case it’s probably safe). It could also be ‘Wait, he actually went and got himself killed instead of quitting? What about my fun?’.
While I fully agree, it is easy to overthink it as a reader. Lucas might have enough to trust Ethan still has his powers. They were never certain that his powers always worked in the first place. Maybe he has a set amount of lives. In a world of uncertainty, having confidence that things will work is sometimes enough.
i could see it working like this. his “infinite” lives are just no longer glitched and he still has a stockpile. how big it is and if he is aware of how many once he loses one would be a question.
That’s assuming conclusion was the point. Lucas is a smart guy, I feel like he knows that a read like this isn’t guaranteed but it is literally the best he can possibly get.
So he’ll tell Ethan and they’ll proceed, still not completely sure.
My guess for the full confirmation is a situation where Ethan throws himself in harms way to save someone, knowing it might be the literal end. This strip just makes it so that Lucas is comfortable getting back into their efforts patrolling to set that moment up.
There’s also the possibility that Lucas is intentionally trolling the troll, because there’s nothing worse to a troll than to not get a rise out of someone. And you can tell from the troll that he was seriously psychologically hurt by Lucas flying away without a word. 😅
He had already murdered someone in cold blood before. So that’s not it.
However. His face could also mean “Wait? It actually worked?” Because there’s a chance that it does work but he wasn’t sure if it really would.
Acher4
1 month ago
Oh yes!
Good news everyone! 😀
ZheTroll
1 month ago
Would be quite a twist to find out that yes the serum was bullcrap but because Ethan hasn’t used his powers for so long they have no expiried (atrophied)… well, only one way to find out. Stabbitystabberdistab it is!
Darkhorse
1 month ago
Story beads:
Lucas sees the momentary reaction of the Troll. He knows enough. He thanks the Troll, not listening to the answers. Lucas flies home and murders his partner. Happy ending!
When a (true) troll starts with direct insults, he has clearly lost is game. That second of doubt…tch tch
JozMk.II
1 month ago
To me, broccoli head looks genuinely surprised. I think it’s likely that he’s surprised the serum actually “worked,” as his intention all along had been to troll and torment Analog, whether the serum he got worked as advertised or not. An alternate possibility is that he knew it worked all along and is surprised and shocked that Analog took the risk anyway and got himself “killed,” but I think it’s the less likely possibility since we all know the Troll absolutely loves tormenting Analog; To have intentionally done something that he knew would guarantee the mortality of his favorite plaything… Read more »
Or, heck, maybe it was some random concoction he made himself that he knew wouldn’t work, but only intended all along to mess with Analog on a purely psychological level.
This is the answer.
Daniel
1 month ago
As everyone says, it’s not a total proof. But after all, Ethan is back on the streets anyway. I wouldn’t return to “let kill myself for mild inconvenience”, but it’s definitely make the risk lower
ears
1 month ago
Okay, I was overthinking it, Lucas’ plan was to look at the first reaction, that’s it. There was no step 2 to the plan because it was not needed.
Last edited 1 month ago by ears
Reader
1 month ago
So, let’s consider that murder is punishable by a death penalty in this place where they reside. Let’s consider that the Troll doesn’t want that for himself. If the Troll was truly suicidal (in a death by police sort of way) then he would have reacted with more of a ‘it’s about time’, looking forward to his ultimate punishment. His reaction was more of a, ‘OMG’ quickly replaced by snarky jokes to hide his true, nervous feelings.
James
1 month ago
The problem here is that he could be faking his reaction. Or his surprise isn’t that he died, but rather that he still went out and died a hero. Both scenarios, either surprise it worked or surprise at being wrong about Ethan character, would be a fitting reason for that pause and attempt at banter. People like the troll often don’t handle being wrong about the people they feel justified trolling very well
Dr DoobieDo
1 month ago
It’s also possible that he put down a listening device.
LazidMD
1 month ago
Now, the rough part will be to convince Ethan to “try” it somehow? Even with the odds of still having his powers super high, what can they do with that information, concretely? It not like Ethan will be all “oh yeah! Let’s try it out right away, chop my head with an arrow like the first time!”. And Lucas can’t just take the call and kill Ethan outright just to prove it to Ethan, there’s got to be consent. The question is what will Ethen do with that consent?
That doesn’t fall into Lucas’ moral code. Also, on the off-chance that he doesn’t respawns, Lucas couldn’t live with that.
Ben
1 month ago
So a lot of us are waiting for the other shoe to drop. For this to be a trick, or something like that. But this comic might be going another way- maybe the Troll just… isn’t that capable? I mean, sure, he manages to entertain a few fellow deranged people, and because of how much they helped him he put on a good show, but it was ALL a show. Caught unprepared, without backup or a plan or tools? He couldn’t even manage a poker face. The best he could do was slip into his usual venom-spewing, and even that… Read more »
I can’t decide. Most trolls are pretty brittle IRL. They aren’t that hard to break and they just get genuinely enraged. This guy is a super powered troll though. I’ve seen tons of real life ones that we’re far more committed than this guy. The Troll could be doing all of this just to make them think that it was fake, when perhaps, somehow, it was real and the ultimate goal is to get Ethan to kill himself, possibly comedically.
When you put it that way… that describes trolls in general, doesn’t it?
Crestlinger
1 month ago
So time for a defibrillator litmus test. His powers are pretty fast at respawn timing so one minutes then BZZT if not Should be enough of a window. Sign a waiver for the Pepper X consumption as way to induce it!
Your heart being stopped doesn’t mean you are dead, just dying. That said said, We’ve seen ethan respawn before brain death would have really occurred in the past, so who knows. I suspect there’s a much less mundane resolution planned though.
On that note (and I can’t remember if it was ever brought up), I imagine Ethan might have some interesting stories to tell about the experience. What it’s like to ‘go towards the light’, if he even experiences that.
Bain
1 month ago
The troll was clearly flustered enough to accidentally complement analog on his dick size. So my moneys on this no powers thing being bullshit
Jay
1 month ago
Hard cut to Lucas walking into the apartment and just capping Ethan right between the eyes before he even realizes what’s happening to demonstrate that he still has his powers.
I know it won’t happen like this, but it would be kind of logical but mostly hilarious.
Cmd1095
1 month ago
Heh, clever Lucas. I wouldn’t count this as 100% confirmed it didn’t work cause you never know, the Troll could’ve accidentally made a working serum. But even so this is a big point towards Ethan is fine
Locke7x
1 month ago
What is so crazy about it all is that his powers are respawning to a point where the odds of him dying on a nightly basis is actually helpful to his cause of being a hero. Most heroes don’t go out thinking they will die, to Ethan it became a regular occurrence to where the vice of immortality became a thing. Fear of death is something that heightens senses and makes the body and mind capable of great things. Since he stopped fearing death does he now become better because of that fact?
Kasaix
1 month ago
I’d say that’s too easy but the Troll’s expression looked too sincere. Then again, right there at the end, his last lines could be interpreted as “all according to plan.”
The Riddler
1 month ago
Ultimately what I’m hoping is that this ends up making Ethan a lot more ‘dangerous’ as a crime-fighter. So far as a super hero he really hasn’t accomplished anything. It’s Lucas that has all the super power and Ethan just ends up being a distraction, or kind of annoying, but not ultimately any sort of threat. But Ethan’s brush with his mortality made him more careful. He’s wanting to use armor, and hopefully knowing he’s immortal, while also being careful, will make it so he is more than just a guy who swings on a rope and dies a lot.… Read more »
Last edited 1 month ago by The Riddler
Greevar
1 month ago
It’s very unlikely that the serum was ever real to begin with. We already know that their blood does not look any different than “normal” blood. For some random chemist to get some of his blood alone and figure out how to take away his powers, without having any idea as to how they work in the first place, was extremely unlikely to make a functioning serum to take powers away. Such a thing is far too complex to manufacture without very extensive study of the subject and his powers.
The troll’s reaction is confirmation of his bluff.
Derfman
1 month ago
Well, I think the best way to look at this is now we have to worry less about Ethan getting killed, but still, it should not ever be part of a plan that he purposely gets himself killed. Of course this should have been the case all along, since they could never be sure how many extra lives he has. Which is why this whole arc makes very little sense to me. He NEVER should have taken his extra lives for granted.
Last edited 1 month ago by Derfman
Nightdagger
1 month ago
See, the problem here is, even if there’s a 95% chance now that the serum was bogus, there’s still that 5% chance that the Troll just trolled Lucas by acting shocked, and any good D&D player knows how often a natural 1 can come up when you’re really counting on anything but.
ThatGuy
1 month ago
We may not have the full answer, but Lucas might. Dude’s pretty damn smart. But is he smart enough to get the full-on answer for that serum or does he just have an inkling, like the rest of us do.
Urazz
1 month ago
Yeah, the Troll’s reaction in the first panel said it all. It did look like he recovered admirably but if Lucas wasn’t faking about Ethan dying and was genuinely pissed off, then he would’ve probably missed it I imagine.
Duff
1 month ago
Is the troll supposed to be our version of the DC Clown, deformed, dropped by our protagonist into I think what we’d say sewage, but I’d think was the Deleware river on a good day…Wow I’m slow.
Boof
1 month ago
Looks like it worked!
Even if there’s not 100% surety, he’ll rest easier about Ethan on the streets, being really darn sure.
GUNnibal
1 month ago
To be honest, I feel like D-Pad’s plan may include more steps than just this interaction. Let me explain the basis for my thinking before I state my theory. As many fellow readers have already pointed out, this conversation does not provide any definitive answers. It further strengthens the theory that the whole serum thing is BS, but it does not prove it. So why did Lucas end it with a “thanks”? Well, I think the purpose was to disturb the Troll. Basis all done, now on to the actual theory. When Lucas pressed the Troll against the window, they… Read more »
william
1 month ago
problem with trolls is when you know they going to troll you can read their words better. this was epic of lucas and really tipped the trolls hand nicely.
24
Seems the Troll isnt so smart after all.
He was unprepared.
He was ready to taunt Analog and didn’t even have a nickname for D-Pad. (That Douchepad and Dickpad are obviously work in progress).
They were originally “Anal Log and Douchepad” on his billboard in Issue 3.
Troll’s reaction was all the confirmation necessary.
If he made an actual working serum, there wouldn’t be this hesitation, he’d be prepared to respond to the news of Analog’s death and would likely gloat over D-Pad’s incompetence.
Since what he injected wasn’t intended to be anything but water with colorant, he’s surprised that Analog’s power was gone, he had no explanation for it and needed to make up something on the fly.
Next page (page 24, so the last in the issue): D-Pad comes home, kills Ethan in a cliffhanger.
Next comic: Ethan doesn’t immediately respawn.
OOF.
Then starting on Wednesday, Star-Caster, with a side of The Campaign and a tall glass of Console Wars.
Don’t give Tim these kinds of sadistic ideas!
Guess there’s only one sensible thing to do: Ethan and Scott need to play videogames during every thunderstorm from now on until they get powers.
well… he is a troll. Trolls arent smart.
Smart trolls just don’t let you figure out their trolling ways.
The problem with this kind of doubt and this kind of “proof” is that now you go from “it is unlikely that the serum is legit” (like 50/75%) to “it is very unlikely that the serum is legit” (like 95%).
But as Tim had said once about a game I don’t remember : “we both know what your 95% is worth”.
F’n XCOM, king of the rugpull 95% hits that feel more like 95% misses.
Because it hurts so much more those stay in memory better than when it does hit, I have same relation to dice games. One game I was cussing my bad luck and GM was that yeah but they aren’t doing any better at which I had to point out that in order to hit myself I need a nine or better out of 20, before rage, so I should have had at least 50/50 on the bandit.
Sounds like 5e
Well. Now imagine that for Ethan, he have to stab himself in the neck. On a 1 he never comes back.
As someone also replied. Xcom – game of trolling. Jam a shotgun point blank up someone’s nose and you still have a 5% chance to miss.
As Todd Howard would say: “It just works!”
That’s XCOM, baby!
Gotta work on that poker face.
Still impossible to draw any useful conclusion from it though.
Even if we accept Trolls reaction as genuine (probable, but he is capable of faking emotion), it’s still unclear what he’s shocked/surprised about.
It could be ‘Wait, that actually worked?’ (in which case it’s probably safe). It could also be ‘Wait, he actually went and got himself killed instead of quitting? What about my fun?’.
While I fully agree, it is easy to overthink it as a reader. Lucas might have enough to trust Ethan still has his powers. They were never certain that his powers always worked in the first place. Maybe he has a set amount of lives. In a world of uncertainty, having confidence that things will work is sometimes enough.
…he has a set amount of lives, and ones they’re exhausted you need to put another nickel inside his.. er.. inside him
I’d wager that they’ve thought of this and he regularly eats quarters.
I’m now imagining him choking on a quarter, dies and respawns, and that’s how he finds out his power still works…
I take it upon myself to complete the thought. … coinpurse.
don’t kink shame
i could see it working like this. his “infinite” lives are just no longer glitched and he still has a stockpile. how big it is and if he is aware of how many once he loses one would be a question.
“put another nickel in, in the nickel-o-Ethan…”
the ass-crack bandit strikes again
That’s assuming conclusion was the point. Lucas is a smart guy, I feel like he knows that a read like this isn’t guaranteed but it is literally the best he can possibly get.
So he’ll tell Ethan and they’ll proceed, still not completely sure.
My guess for the full confirmation is a situation where Ethan throws himself in harms way to save someone, knowing it might be the literal end. This strip just makes it so that Lucas is comfortable getting back into their efforts patrolling to set that moment up.
Honestly? Probably not a bad idea on his part.
Unless it’s a double reverse troll uno card
so , it MAY be fake, but would you chance it?
guess that was all the confirmation that was needed to know the whole anti powers serum was BS lol
Or he reacted to the thought that he actually caused someone’s death.
Yeah, tbh, I read the comic and couldn’t decide what Lucas actually took from this encounter.
According to the comments, most people seem to think that the troll was bluffing, but I really don’t know.
There’s also the possibility that Lucas is intentionally trolling the troll, because there’s nothing worse to a troll than to not get a rise out of someone. And you can tell from the troll that he was seriously psychologically hurt by Lucas flying away without a word. 😅
He had already murdered someone in cold blood before. So that’s not it.
However. His face could also mean “Wait? It actually worked?” Because there’s a chance that it does work but he wasn’t sure if it really would.
Oh yes!
Good news everyone! 😀
Would be quite a twist to find out that yes the serum was bullcrap but because Ethan hasn’t used his powers for so long they have no expiried (atrophied)… well, only one way to find out. Stabbitystabberdistab it is!
Story beads:
Lucas sees the momentary reaction of the Troll. He knows enough. He thanks the Troll, not listening to the answers. Lucas flies home and murders his partner. Happy ending!
…wait
Story b….beads?
Not beats?
Bees!?
I’m allergic to bees!
Me too!
Bees. My god.
There’s more…
Make sure you remove them one at a time.
Oh beats or uncomfortably pulled beads, who cares?
(I’ve only ever heard the phrase spoken and it isn’t my mother tongue XD )
which partner?
When a (true) troll starts with direct insults, he has clearly lost is game. That second of doubt…tch tch
To me, broccoli head looks genuinely surprised. I think it’s likely that he’s surprised the serum actually “worked,” as his intention all along had been to troll and torment Analog, whether the serum he got worked as advertised or not. An alternate possibility is that he knew it worked all along and is surprised and shocked that Analog took the risk anyway and got himself “killed,” but I think it’s the less likely possibility since we all know the Troll absolutely loves tormenting Analog; To have intentionally done something that he knew would guarantee the mortality of his favorite plaything… Read more »
This is the answer.
As everyone says, it’s not a total proof. But after all, Ethan is back on the streets anyway. I wouldn’t return to “let kill myself for mild inconvenience”, but it’s definitely make the risk lower
Okay, I was overthinking it, Lucas’ plan was to look at the first reaction, that’s it. There was no step 2 to the plan because it was not needed.
So, let’s consider that murder is punishable by a death penalty in this place where they reside. Let’s consider that the Troll doesn’t want that for himself. If the Troll was truly suicidal (in a death by police sort of way) then he would have reacted with more of a ‘it’s about time’, looking forward to his ultimate punishment. His reaction was more of a, ‘OMG’ quickly replaced by snarky jokes to hide his true, nervous feelings.
The problem here is that he could be faking his reaction. Or his surprise isn’t that he died, but rather that he still went out and died a hero. Both scenarios, either surprise it worked or surprise at being wrong about Ethan character, would be a fitting reason for that pause and attempt at banter. People like the troll often don’t handle being wrong about the people they feel justified trolling very well
It’s also possible that he put down a listening device.
Now, the rough part will be to convince Ethan to “try” it somehow? Even with the odds of still having his powers super high, what can they do with that information, concretely? It not like Ethan will be all “oh yeah! Let’s try it out right away, chop my head with an arrow like the first time!”. And Lucas can’t just take the call and kill Ethan outright just to prove it to Ethan, there’s got to be consent. The question is what will Ethen do with that consent?
He killed him by accident the very first time, could pretend the same situation.
That doesn’t fall into Lucas’ moral code. Also, on the off-chance that he doesn’t respawns, Lucas couldn’t live with that.
So a lot of us are waiting for the other shoe to drop. For this to be a trick, or something like that. But this comic might be going another way- maybe the Troll just… isn’t that capable? I mean, sure, he manages to entertain a few fellow deranged people, and because of how much they helped him he put on a good show, but it was ALL a show. Caught unprepared, without backup or a plan or tools? He couldn’t even manage a poker face. The best he could do was slip into his usual venom-spewing, and even that… Read more »
I can’t decide. Most trolls are pretty brittle IRL. They aren’t that hard to break and they just get genuinely enraged. This guy is a super powered troll though. I’ve seen tons of real life ones that we’re far more committed than this guy. The Troll could be doing all of this just to make them think that it was fake, when perhaps, somehow, it was real and the ultimate goal is to get Ethan to kill himself, possibly comedically.
When you put it that way… that describes trolls in general, doesn’t it?
So time for a defibrillator litmus test. His powers are pretty fast at respawn timing so one minutes then BZZT if not Should be enough of a window. Sign a waiver for the Pepper X consumption as way to induce it!
Your heart being stopped doesn’t mean you are dead, just dying. That said said, We’ve seen ethan respawn before brain death would have really occurred in the past, so who knows. I suspect there’s a much less mundane resolution planned though.
The ol’ Flatliners routine.
On that note (and I can’t remember if it was ever brought up), I imagine Ethan might have some interesting stories to tell about the experience. What it’s like to ‘go towards the light’, if he even experiences that.
The troll was clearly flustered enough to accidentally complement analog on his dick size. So my moneys on this no powers thing being bullshit
Hard cut to Lucas walking into the apartment and just capping Ethan right between the eyes before he even realizes what’s happening to demonstrate that he still has his powers.
I know it won’t happen like this, but it would be kind of logical but mostly hilarious.
Heh, clever Lucas. I wouldn’t count this as 100% confirmed it didn’t work cause you never know, the Troll could’ve accidentally made a working serum. But even so this is a big point towards Ethan is fine
What is so crazy about it all is that his powers are respawning to a point where the odds of him dying on a nightly basis is actually helpful to his cause of being a hero. Most heroes don’t go out thinking they will die, to Ethan it became a regular occurrence to where the vice of immortality became a thing. Fear of death is something that heightens senses and makes the body and mind capable of great things. Since he stopped fearing death does he now become better because of that fact?
I’d say that’s too easy but the Troll’s expression looked too sincere. Then again, right there at the end, his last lines could be interpreted as “all according to plan.”
Ultimately what I’m hoping is that this ends up making Ethan a lot more ‘dangerous’ as a crime-fighter. So far as a super hero he really hasn’t accomplished anything. It’s Lucas that has all the super power and Ethan just ends up being a distraction, or kind of annoying, but not ultimately any sort of threat. But Ethan’s brush with his mortality made him more careful. He’s wanting to use armor, and hopefully knowing he’s immortal, while also being careful, will make it so he is more than just a guy who swings on a rope and dies a lot.… Read more »
It’s very unlikely that the serum was ever real to begin with. We already know that their blood does not look any different than “normal” blood. For some random chemist to get some of his blood alone and figure out how to take away his powers, without having any idea as to how they work in the first place, was extremely unlikely to make a functioning serum to take powers away. Such a thing is far too complex to manufacture without very extensive study of the subject and his powers.
The troll’s reaction is confirmation of his bluff.
Well, I think the best way to look at this is now we have to worry less about Ethan getting killed, but still, it should not ever be part of a plan that he purposely gets himself killed. Of course this should have been the case all along, since they could never be sure how many extra lives he has. Which is why this whole arc makes very little sense to me. He NEVER should have taken his extra lives for granted.
See, the problem here is, even if there’s a 95% chance now that the serum was bogus, there’s still that 5% chance that the Troll just trolled Lucas by acting shocked, and any good D&D player knows how often a natural 1 can come up when you’re really counting on anything but.
We may not have the full answer, but Lucas might. Dude’s pretty damn smart. But is he smart enough to get the full-on answer for that serum or does he just have an inkling, like the rest of us do.
Yeah, the Troll’s reaction in the first panel said it all. It did look like he recovered admirably but if Lucas wasn’t faking about Ethan dying and was genuinely pissed off, then he would’ve probably missed it I imagine.
Is the troll supposed to be our version of the DC Clown, deformed, dropped by our protagonist into I think what we’d say sewage, but I’d think was the Deleware river on a good day…Wow I’m slow.
Looks like it worked!
Even if there’s not 100% surety, he’ll rest easier about Ethan on the streets, being really darn sure.
To be honest, I feel like D-Pad’s plan may include more steps than just this interaction. Let me explain the basis for my thinking before I state my theory. As many fellow readers have already pointed out, this conversation does not provide any definitive answers. It further strengthens the theory that the whole serum thing is BS, but it does not prove it. So why did Lucas end it with a “thanks”? Well, I think the purpose was to disturb the Troll. Basis all done, now on to the actual theory. When Lucas pressed the Troll against the window, they… Read more »
problem with trolls is when you know they going to troll you can read their words better. this was epic of lucas and really tipped the trolls hand nicely.