Well, that went pretty much as this sort of thing usually does.
Next step in the playbook: “Oh, Lucas said that? He’s trying to drive a wedge between us, you can’t trust him, for your own happiness time to cut toxic people out of your life.”
Nuuh, I don’t believe that. Ethan with all his quirkiness will not “tell on Lucas” and not to Emily of all people. I’d rather believe he’d go to Scott.
I have a theoretical social life, and I am not that naive.
People who see others make forward steps in their growth, will subconsciously wonder “Why can’t I?” So when they get to make the same steps, they will latch on like a leech, because they are trying to answer that subconscious question.
This will drive Ethan away from Lucas for a while. He is blind to the situation he is in, because we see it from a clinical perspective, but Ethan is blinded by the desire to fit in.
He won’t see it as “tell on him”. Communication in relationship is surely important, right? When he’ll feel uncomfortable he’ll finally try to express his doubts to her, while she’ll immediately go “Who told you to feel that way? Don’t trust him. He’s a threat”
Darkhorse
20 days ago
Ethan and Lucas are too tightly woven together. Nicole can’t possibly destroy it in such a short time. It’s mostly Ethan’s loneliness and pain talking here.
It’s not harmless, but I have a hard time thinking this will break the relationship.
I understand the sentiment, but people like Nicole are experts at isolating and gaslighting. You’d be surprised how little it can take to give reasonable excuses to unreasonable requests. Now Lucas faces the dilemma of pushing harder and maybe playing into Nicole’s plans, or backing off and maybe playing into Nicole’s plans.
It’s not that I disagree, but I feel it is much harder to break than normal friendships. The closer people are, the higher emotions can go before it truly breaks. Lucas and Ethan have been friends forever. They game together, live together, run a shop together and have secret alter ego’s during which they shared many hardships and victories together. In many ways they are closer than many lovers. Ethan has many hurts, but it’ll be difficult for Nicole to truly put a wedge between them. That will take a lot of time and careful pressuring of Ethan. Not a… Read more »
ooh boy. I promise I’m not saying this to be insulting but that is not how life works. Plenty of “best friends for life” have been driven apart by a new boyfriend/girlfriend.
You’re right, but also remember that comics are like TV shows… gotta have drama!
DahrAmahr
20 days ago
Oh setup and pay off…I checked on the previous panel he already had those pants. So you had that all planned out!
I mean sure, it’s not a finale to a year long mystery… but still fun.
Daniel
20 days ago
As expected. Yet, not matter how toxic and manipulative Nicole will be, she can’t truly isolate Ethan from Lucas and Scott. Having a shared business aside, their friendship is just too strong: Ethan forgave Lucas for keeping a bomb in his robot friend’s head, for god sake. Not to mention the alter ego she doesn’t know about and cannot reach (yet!)
I mean… the keeping a bomb in his robot friend’s head… which Lucas knew about… may play into Nicole’s thing. “You can’t trust Lucas, he’s trying to drive a wedge between us.” “Nah… I’ve always been able to trust Lucas. Except for that time when…”
John
20 days ago
No one is able to teach you except for yourself.
says me trying to learn electrolyte norms for nursing lol cough
Sodium (Na) is 135-145 Potassium (K) is 3.5 – 5.0 I remember these two together because the low end of sodium is 135, which contains the numbers 3 and 5 in that order, which is also the low end of potassium at 3.5. Calcium (Ca) is 8 – 10 I remember this because Ca is also the abbreviation for California, which on a scale of 0-10 should be rated anywhere from 8-10 because it’s such a great state. Magnesium (Mg) is 1.5 – 2.0 I remember this because the abbreviation for magnesium (Mg) looks like it would be an abbreviation… Read more »
Austin Mills
20 days ago
I feel like at the end of this Ethan is going to admit Lucas was right, and he’s just going to add a tally to a board they have together of all the times he was right and all the times Ethan was right (Ethan’s side of course having very few). Then he’s going to give him a controller for some Helldivers.
That or she tries to kill him and afterward, Ethan, with his quirky insanity, will say something like, “Hey Lucas! You were wrong, she wasn’t trying to control me. She was trying drive a wedge between us so she can kill me.”
“killed me” … given that it wouldn’t stick, and as such be a ‘neat way’ to get him into a situation where he figures out that the troll didn’t disable him but trolled him (who’d’ve thunk)
nsimic
20 days ago
In other news, Sony is planing to slowly move away from hardware business. Is this the end of console wars?
Anyone who had followed the game industry on the technical side has seen this coming.
If you notice, in the last 3 generations, it has been an incremental boost in resolution, where it is less noticeable at the high end, but the floor has been raising steadily. (Hell, the Switch vs Switch 2 is the best example of this.)
We are fast approaching the point where it isn’t “how good can it look” and more “how fast can it be rendered” versus “how big can the HDDs/SSDs be for how little a price point”?
As I made long posts on the subject previously, (Final Console wars comics have a few of mine), I won’t make another long drawn-out post now. However, Sony has been eyeing the off ramp away from hardware for a few years now.
ChaosSepher
20 days ago
At least now that Lucas has said something it will be in Ethan’s head and he might actually give some thought to Nicole’s controlling behavior and see what happens when he pushes back.
Last edited 20 days ago by ChaosSepher
Jamie
20 days ago
I really appreciate that you still manage to inject some brevity into these heavier scenes. That last panel made me chuckle, despite everything before it. Love the squeaky pants!
I assume you mean levity, because whatever else this comic is it sure ain’t the soul of wit.
Phire
20 days ago
Yeah, this is why you just let people crash and burn for themselves. Everyone always has to learn the hard way, humans simply aren’t smart enough to figure stuff out beforehand.
Never try to help anyone that might potentially not want to hear it right now because it might affect YOU negatively!
/s
FITCamaro
20 days ago
Hope he’s got a lot of baby powder in there.
ThatMageGuy
20 days ago
I think people who believe this can’t actually drive a deep wedge between Lucas and Ethan fail to realize this isn’t just about Ethan’s loneliness.
It’s also about his trauma of “failing” Emily. That can push a person to do things they wouldn’t. He’s clearly still trying to atone for that.
Obviously Lucas and Ethan will be okay in the end, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this ended up being a long journey.
Chris
20 days ago
That’s why you don’t immediately tell them that the other one is controlling them. You start softly with other topics, like why are they letting someone else stop them from their favorite activities, but don’t even mention the other party, just the activity itself. Like “why are you not doing your favorite things anymore”, and “it doesn’t seem happy to avoid playing your favorite stuff”. Mentioning the other party if they are of this exact controlling quality is setting them up to put your friend against you by saying “see, they are against our happiness”, or similar such tactics.
Crestlinger
20 days ago
Yep. About the only thing you can say to someone in ‘Lucas-to-Ethan’ position is ‘Prove it. I Dare you to go against exactly One of their choices already done. Just One. If no issues all is well, but if this One Thing is a no go, please take my view under serious consideration.’
coolbeans
20 days ago
he’s right. screw lucas. he needs an unbiased opinion from a no nonsense loner. scott
foducool
20 days ago
oh god, can he even sit with these?
Giggity Goo
20 days ago
I know it rarely works like this in the real world, but I think rather than Lucas trying to point out “Nicole bad” (which – I agree – highly toxic) a better tactic would be “Ok… you’re right. You need to be willing to try new things and compromise to make a relationship work. What new things has she tried or what compromises has she made?” Allow him to see it rather than force him to.
Marty
20 days ago
That last panel had me laughing for sure.
Mog
20 days ago
Well, Lucas tried
DPB
20 days ago
Oh my God, I had a really dark prediction:
What if when Ethan tries to break away from Nicole, “something happens” and finds out his powers still work.
I mean, I’m being vague, but I’m pretty sure Nicole is a super as well, and “accidents” happen. (Especially with scary controlling people.)
Dom
20 days ago
Testicles go *crunch crunch crunch*
Lincoln
19 days ago
Remember how Ethan doesn’t yet know whether his regeneration-from-death power is still in force?
Remember how various hypothetical situations were put forth as how Ethan would find it proven that he still had his powers?
What would be the most unexpected way for him to find that out?
Perhaps this is all a set up for that.
As shocking in its mundanity as the death of Tara in Buffy.
Vampire serial killer who isolates her victims before killing and draining them.
*pop respawn*
Steigs
18 days ago
So…
Nicole is going to turn out to be some kind of vampire serial killer who isolates her victims before killing and draining them?
Gotta think the respawn will be one hell of a surprise eh?
Del Cox
18 days ago
All Lucas needed to do was ask when was the last time Nicole tried something new for Ethan.
24
Well, that went pretty much as this sort of thing usually does.
Next step in the playbook: “Oh, Lucas said that? He’s trying to drive a wedge between us, you can’t trust him, for your own happiness time to cut toxic people out of your life.”
Nuuh, I don’t believe that. Ethan with all his quirkiness will not “tell on Lucas” and not to Emily of all people. I’d rather believe he’d go to Scott.
I have a theoretical social life, and I am not that naive.
People who see others make forward steps in their growth, will subconsciously wonder “Why can’t I?” So when they get to make the same steps, they will latch on like a leech, because they are trying to answer that subconscious question.
This will drive Ethan away from Lucas for a while. He is blind to the situation he is in, because we see it from a clinical perspective, but Ethan is blinded by the desire to fit in.
He won’t see it as “tell on him”. Communication in relationship is surely important, right? When he’ll feel uncomfortable he’ll finally try to express his doubts to her, while she’ll immediately go “Who told you to feel that way? Don’t trust him. He’s a threat”
Ethan and Lucas are too tightly woven together. Nicole can’t possibly destroy it in such a short time. It’s mostly Ethan’s loneliness and pain talking here.
It’s not harmless, but I have a hard time thinking this will break the relationship.
I understand the sentiment, but people like Nicole are experts at isolating and gaslighting. You’d be surprised how little it can take to give reasonable excuses to unreasonable requests. Now Lucas faces the dilemma of pushing harder and maybe playing into Nicole’s plans, or backing off and maybe playing into Nicole’s plans.
It’s not that I disagree, but I feel it is much harder to break than normal friendships. The closer people are, the higher emotions can go before it truly breaks. Lucas and Ethan have been friends forever. They game together, live together, run a shop together and have secret alter ego’s during which they shared many hardships and victories together. In many ways they are closer than many lovers. Ethan has many hurts, but it’ll be difficult for Nicole to truly put a wedge between them. That will take a lot of time and careful pressuring of Ethan. Not a… Read more »
ooh boy. I promise I’m not saying this to be insulting but that is not how life works. Plenty of “best friends for life” have been driven apart by a new boyfriend/girlfriend.
You’re right, but also remember that comics are like TV shows… gotta have drama!
Oh setup and pay off…I checked on the previous panel he already had those pants. So you had that all planned out!
I mean sure, it’s not a finale to a year long mystery… but still fun.
As expected. Yet, not matter how toxic and manipulative Nicole will be, she can’t truly isolate Ethan from Lucas and Scott. Having a shared business aside, their friendship is just too strong: Ethan forgave Lucas for keeping a bomb in his robot friend’s head, for god sake. Not to mention the alter ego she doesn’t know about and cannot reach (yet!)
I mean… the keeping a bomb in his robot friend’s head… which Lucas knew about… may play into Nicole’s thing. “You can’t trust Lucas, he’s trying to drive a wedge between us.” “Nah… I’ve always been able to trust Lucas. Except for that time when…”
No one is able to teach you except for yourself.
says me trying to learn electrolyte norms for nursing lol cough
Sodium (Na) is 135-145 Potassium (K) is 3.5 – 5.0 I remember these two together because the low end of sodium is 135, which contains the numbers 3 and 5 in that order, which is also the low end of potassium at 3.5. Calcium (Ca) is 8 – 10 I remember this because Ca is also the abbreviation for California, which on a scale of 0-10 should be rated anywhere from 8-10 because it’s such a great state. Magnesium (Mg) is 1.5 – 2.0 I remember this because the abbreviation for magnesium (Mg) looks like it would be an abbreviation… Read more »
I feel like at the end of this Ethan is going to admit Lucas was right, and he’s just going to add a tally to a board they have together of all the times he was right and all the times Ethan was right (Ethan’s side of course having very few). Then he’s going to give him a controller for some Helldivers.
That or she tries to kill him and afterward, Ethan, with his quirky insanity, will say something like, “Hey Lucas! You were wrong, she wasn’t trying to control me. She was trying drive a wedge between us so she can kill me.”
“killed me” … given that it wouldn’t stick, and as such be a ‘neat way’ to get him into a situation where he figures out that the troll didn’t disable him but trolled him (who’d’ve thunk)
In other news, Sony is planing to slowly move away from hardware business. Is this the end of console wars?
Tim already mentioned the series was on it’s way out. This only solidifies it.
Yeah there’s even gonna be more Sony games on Nintendo now
Anyone who had followed the game industry on the technical side has seen this coming.
If you notice, in the last 3 generations, it has been an incremental boost in resolution, where it is less noticeable at the high end, but the floor has been raising steadily. (Hell, the Switch vs Switch 2 is the best example of this.)
We are fast approaching the point where it isn’t “how good can it look” and more “how fast can it be rendered” versus “how big can the HDDs/SSDs be for how little a price point”?
Yeah, this comes as no surprise.
As I made long posts on the subject previously, (Final Console wars comics have a few of mine), I won’t make another long drawn-out post now. However, Sony has been eyeing the off ramp away from hardware for a few years now.
At least now that Lucas has said something it will be in Ethan’s head and he might actually give some thought to Nicole’s controlling behavior and see what happens when he pushes back.
I really appreciate that you still manage to inject some brevity into these heavier scenes. That last panel made me chuckle, despite everything before it. Love the squeaky pants!
Strong Bad: Check out mah squeaky-pants dance! SQUEAK-SQUAW SQUEAK-SQUAW!
I assume you mean levity, because whatever else this comic is it sure ain’t the soul of wit.
Yeah, this is why you just let people crash and burn for themselves. Everyone always has to learn the hard way, humans simply aren’t smart enough to figure stuff out beforehand.
that is the worst advice ever
Well let’s see.
If Lucas had just let Ethan be, Ethan would still eventually find out the hard way, but their friendship would be fully intact.
Now, Ethan is STILL going to find out the hard way, but their friendship is strained.
Yeah, explain how the advice is bad again?
Never try to help anyone that might potentially not want to hear it right now because it might affect YOU negatively!
/s
Hope he’s got a lot of baby powder in there.
I think people who believe this can’t actually drive a deep wedge between Lucas and Ethan fail to realize this isn’t just about Ethan’s loneliness.
It’s also about his trauma of “failing” Emily. That can push a person to do things they wouldn’t. He’s clearly still trying to atone for that.
Obviously Lucas and Ethan will be okay in the end, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this ended up being a long journey.
That’s why you don’t immediately tell them that the other one is controlling them. You start softly with other topics, like why are they letting someone else stop them from their favorite activities, but don’t even mention the other party, just the activity itself. Like “why are you not doing your favorite things anymore”, and “it doesn’t seem happy to avoid playing your favorite stuff”. Mentioning the other party if they are of this exact controlling quality is setting them up to put your friend against you by saying “see, they are against our happiness”, or similar such tactics.
Yep. About the only thing you can say to someone in ‘Lucas-to-Ethan’ position is ‘Prove it. I Dare you to go against exactly One of their choices already done. Just One. If no issues all is well, but if this One Thing is a no go, please take my view under serious consideration.’
he’s right. screw lucas. he needs an unbiased opinion from a no nonsense loner. scott
oh god, can he even sit with these?
I know it rarely works like this in the real world, but I think rather than Lucas trying to point out “Nicole bad” (which – I agree – highly toxic) a better tactic would be “Ok… you’re right. You need to be willing to try new things and compromise to make a relationship work. What new things has she tried or what compromises has she made?” Allow him to see it rather than force him to.
That last panel had me laughing for sure.
Well, Lucas tried
Oh my God, I had a really dark prediction:
What if when Ethan tries to break away from Nicole, “something happens” and finds out his powers still work.
I mean, I’m being vague, but I’m pretty sure Nicole is a super as well, and “accidents” happen. (Especially with scary controlling people.)
Testicles go *crunch crunch crunch*
Remember how Ethan doesn’t yet know whether his regeneration-from-death power is still in force?
Remember how various hypothetical situations were put forth as how Ethan would find it proven that he still had his powers?
What would be the most unexpected way for him to find that out?
Perhaps this is all a set up for that.
As shocking in its mundanity as the death of Tara in Buffy.
“Wait… Like THAT?”
Vampire serial killer who isolates her victims before killing and draining them.
*pop respawn*
So…
Nicole is going to turn out to be some kind of vampire serial killer who isolates her victims before killing and draining them?
Gotta think the respawn will be one hell of a surprise eh?
All Lucas needed to do was ask when was the last time Nicole tried something new for Ethan.