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I got the strong impression that they were reaching back from deep time, a good twenty or thirty years from now.
You all caught onto "Alice Whippetminge" and missed this?
Maybe I just lack perspective. -
Warren,
If I understand this correctly, you've just turned Russian roulette into an actively beneficial form of trepanning. As counterintuitive cures go, this ranks as a fairly straightforward "duhwwwwaaaah?" Bloody well played, that man.
Bloody. Well played.
Accidentally skipped the splash of Luke in the light and the twelve ascendant Angels the first time I read this, and it was still magnificent (sorry Paul - it was the most wonderful surprise second time round, though).
I think - and this is utterly ungrounded speculation right here - that Luke has got to be wrong about something. He may have nailed most of it, but one detail just didn't quite fit for me. He estimated the uber-Angels were from twenty or thirty years in the future, but I'd wager they're *much* further than that. If the package becomes more potent with each 'lethal event', I'd bet twenty to thirty years is just how long it takes them to get beyond physical bodies and time.
These guys live pretty fast, after all. Plus, if its their *individual* deaths that cause the package's expansion, I don't think they'd all reach beyond at the same time - unless they all decided to link hands and punch Time in the face (which is conceivable).
Then again, we may get a more detailed picture of the 'inter-life' scenario that proves me wrong. If word gets out about the suicide count jackpot, what's to stop the more maniacal FA's (i'm looking at you, Mark) self-prescribing death - whilst resurrection seems so cheap.
This also answers my personal quizzling about why the Angels didn't seem all register Luke's 'death' at the time - something I found odd given their other communal communicative abilities. Surely a death in the vicinity would cause a ripple of some kind, no? However, if this episode's revelations are basically true, then the reason they didn't register it is because he wasn't really dead - which I can live with. Mark was an exception, but we can now safely assume that his increased power came from a post-mortem package boost, and that he probably used that to hide himself, what with not being the most popular man at that time.
Aaah Luke, this episode I learned the thing I like most about him: you can hate him all you want for being the monumental cuntbag he is, the type of cuntbag this world could do very well without - but you have to admit, he *is* the smartest.
Smart people connect dots others don't even see. -
@ConTrick says:
Smart people connect dots others don't even see
And crazy people. -
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CommentAuthorAdam Lucas
- CommentTimeJun 4th 2010
They're Saiyans! I knew it! Once you defeat them they only get STRONGER!
Ka - Me - Ha - Me HAAAAAA!
First FreakAngel to commit suicide wins!
Loving it.
Love Luke. -
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CommentAuthorJP Carpenter
- CommentTimeJun 4th 2010
Bloody brilliant, and loads of lovely visual touches -
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I wonder if that hole won't ever heal. Eventually the bleeding will slow to a trickle, occasionally spurt if more blood is made, but that's it. No healing because the body is just the vessel - a broken one in Luke's case. the package keeps him moving & talking, not his physiology. His head will always be as torn as his t-shirt.
I base this on Arkady being um... I don't know, a space case? She was definitely much more together and coherent - and mature - before the punch. It's hard to pin down exactly when her OD was, but I'm given to thinking it was after the punch. If the drugs damaged her physical brain matter it could account for her personality change. But *sigh* so could the psychonaut adventures she puts herself through.
I kind of hope it doesn't heal. In the first place it's *something* in the way of a disadvantage and in the second, it's the best "LOSER" sign one could hope for Luke.
Other thing I've been pondering: "Luke you're still a wanker." The tense of the sentence, given it's a quote, keeps me going back and forth. The 'Angels may be speaking to Luke from the future and telling him that even in the future he hasn't changed much. OR...there might have been something in the past that 'Angels don't realize, like where they looked into the future, saw a drowned London and saw that Luke had gone from prat to utter prick. In which case, they were saying it to themselves, more than to Luke. *shrug* Again, I'll take the narrative at face value. But keep in mind that the person narrating this episode is a complete wanker. -
@razrangel
http://www.freakangels.com/?p=31&page=5 second panel
http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23
Arkady ODed when she was 15, and they broke the world when they were 17
however much fun speculating is, we just have to wait and watch as the story progresses. Warren has already stated that events through volume 6 have been outlined, so we still got a while before ALL of our questions are answered (and even then im sure people will come up with some more) -
I'm enjoying this so far, but I can't help thinking what you might call the Kryptonite problem is just over the horizon.
Superman could do anything. Logically, he was undefeatable, and it turns out that drama comes from the risk of failure. So they had to invent a rock that he was vulnerable to just to bring drama back into the story.
If the FreakAngels can't be killed, what's next? Of course, there are the vulnerable people of Whitechapel to worry about, but they've pretty much been extras so far; I can't say their fate moves me much. I'm afraid the "baby farm for food" failed to shock me, because I can't believe in it. (A pregnant woman needs food or she miscarries and dies; why not just eat what they were feeding to the victims?)
My main interest in following this story has been watching Alice gradually slot in to the FreakAngels' world, but she seems to be absent in Luke's and Arkady's visions of the future. -
Actually, I'm more interested to find out what happens when their bodies get burnt up.
Does their electromatic field of conciousness regenerate an entire body from the DNA in the ashes, or are they now lost and have to possess things to move about?
That will be so invincible - imagine a cloud of moving ash, Luke shaped, walking about. imbal.. You can hit it, shoot it, and it will just go right through him. =(
Or possessing objects at will - like the God in Lain - all those snaking wires - whoohoo.
Imbal.
There has got to be a weakness, somewhere. Hm. -
Well, your brain is basically just one big glob of data and electrical impulses, right? What if they just have such control over that, that even if they die or their brain shuts down or what-have-you, it just maintains a sort of image of what was there. They still need their bodies as vessels, they're not going to spout a magic leg if one gets cut off, but it still makes them a whole lot harder to kill.
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CommentAuthorwarrenellis
- CommentTimeJun 4th 2010
Superman could do anything. Logically, he was undefeatable, and it turns out that drama comes from the risk of failure. So they had to invent a rock that he was vulnerable to just to bring drama back into the story.
Superman is never two-thirds through the entirety of his story.
FREAKANGELS is. -
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CommentAuthorGreasemonkey
- CommentTimeJun 4th 2010
Hmm. Looks like the original push created a naked singularity that punched through into the future and screwed up the local laws of physics. -
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Superman is never two-thirds through the entirety of his story.
FREAKANGELS is.
I just have to say, this makes me sad. I don't ever want it to end. Ever. But I understand that it must.
Also, great episode. Timing on everything was what impressed me this time around. That pause on the first page is fantastic.
I don't know if Luke's got it right, but it seems as plausible an explanation as anything. I wouldn't mind it if they shot him again to test his theory. Although his rant has been entertaining, he is still a bloody wanker.
It was interesting seeing them all together and omniscient like that. My thought was, what killed them? I mean, if they all had to die to gain these powers, something had to happen that was pretty intense. And something big has got to be coming that would make them choose to spend their time together, pulling their past selves out of trouble. -
If this fits any mold of traditional storytelling, there is a loophole.
What if it doesn't fit any mold of traditional storytelling?since things are going so near how many have predicted so far, i cant help but expect Mr Ellis to throw in a curve ball very shortly to prove us all wrong (or atleast play with our minds a little longer)
So what if Warren is using these Whitechapel forums in real-time to generate the story line. OK, unlikely, given what he's said about having the story line blocked out up through the sixth volume...
The idea of real-time audience-generated (unbeknownst to the audience) content is similar to a fun mind-game that goes well along with lateral thinking puzzles: get someone (or a group?) to try to figure out a dream you had (or a vague riddle or whatever) only by asking only yes or no questions, but rather than actually relating back to a dream you've had, just answer each question "randomly" according to some rubric (for example, if the last letter of the last word they ask is within 'a' through 'm,' yes, if it ends between 'n' and 'z', answer no). Especially if done after similar yes-no-question riddles or other lateral-thinking puzzles, the game can go on for quite some time. "My friend's" dream ended up being about how he killed the devil and god, among other things... not sure what that says about my psyche, but I digress.
So if Warren were doing this, what if it were "the third feasible suggestion in any thread for a future event must be written into the story." He would have quite a backlog of content (up through the 6th volume?) by this point... and that would be the sort of twisted technologically-advanced art idea Warren might like... and he did start this whole story in medias res, so he could be making up the back-story and the future as he goes...
As I say though, this whole idea is unlikely re: FreakAngels, so if he's not toying with us that deeply, I hope someone does some day. I mean, what if the future included..."What if it's just nigh-invulnerability? Dismemberment/beheading seems pretty permanent to me.
Although the idea of a floating shouty Luke head gives me all sorts of giddy nightmares."
:-} -
reading speculations about Warren's story telling methods is almost as fun as reading FA. xD
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CommentAuthorJeff Owens
- CommentTimeJun 5th 2010
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but I get the feeling the white background when it shows Luke has something to do with the fact that he has died and had a vision (or whatever happened). Like looking into our flat world from the fifth dimension, or something of that sort. I'm sensing a breaking of the fourth wall. Or maybe it's simply a style choice.
Either way, it looks great, and these have been two of my favorite episodes. As Jay and Grant, the Ghost Hunters would say, "On to the next!" -
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- CommentAuthorCitizen Freak
- CommentTimeJun 5th 2010
My guess: They have to find an island and protect it. Just kidding.
Great episode, I like how (and by whom) we finally get some solid information about the package. Now, with the tension of them killing each other and being killed by others gone, how will their story evolve? -
Random stab of speculation: What if dying and 'levelling up' isn't the gift it first appears? What if each death brings them closer to subliming, being trapped in the ether, with only themselves for company, for all time? What if the future FA's can only communicate with their past selves, but without any real ability to alter or influence the past beyond that? What if they become lonely gods, trapped outside of time, watching their past selves fail to save the world they ruined? That could be the real threat here.
Well, it won't be, but I do love a spot of second guessing and tinfoil hatting :) -
Superman is never two-thirds through the entirety of his story.
FREAKANGELS is.
Do you have some other ideas in mind for this format? Experiment aside, was the free online to purchased paper model able to bring in enough money to justify its continued use for other stories? -
- CommentAuthorMiranda's Eyes
- CommentTimeJun 5th 2010
So if you can't keep a rogue Freakangel in check by physically killing him or her, then Kait at least will wonder what can you do when a Freakangel crosses a moral/ethical line. Try to overcome that person with gentle persuasion?
Also, is it just death or near-death experiences that will cause the package to kick in with a Freakangel 2.0 (or higher) upgrade? I guess that means that Jack wasn't close enough to dying back in Book One to get a power boost, unless he's doing the poker player thing and keeping his new powers under wraps. Aside from that, shades of Luther Arkwright!
That aside, the past week has been rough primarily financially, which bled over way too quickly into emotionally. No miraculous recovery today, but at least the hints of a way forward to wherever have presented themselves. Talking to a couple of good friends have helped. Also a great morale booster is the very longshot possibility that a piece I wrote may be read by Steven Spielberg.