Poor, Brandi; I guess that Bud was Brandi’s rock, as it were. She looks inconsolable, right now. The calendar machine might have been “fixed”, but something else was broken in the process.
Haven’t we said/implied in the past days that she has the portal cloth with her — so she’ll come back thru that via Shelly’s tattoo, and then they’ll turn that doorway off too somehow. Hopefully that part will be explained tomorrow. (And that Bud will be back by Friday’s strip, with something really nice in tow.)
Bud has already been able to put the tattoo on “lock” mode before (see the post-party “emergence” of Tina). It wouldn’t be so difficult for Shel to have that happen to her.
One needs to remember that Bud and the others are actually incredibly powerful monsters who could wipe out the human race without a care. Despite their good nature of late, their past actions as ancient agents of mass destruction would indicate the world would be a whole lot safer if all 3 were gone for good. They are like nuclear weapons. Mild and unassuming while contained, but devestating if unleashed. Worse yet, they’re intelligent WMDs. Thank goodness they don’t suffer from PMS. I’ll take Monica over potentially rampaging laviathans any day. Of course, where the strip is concerned, it would be a shame to lose any of them.
Possibly Jin in her golem form, or Jin’s mom, who after all is responsible for this whole mess.
I’m waiting for it to percolate tinto Jin’s damaged psyche that the Calendar machine didn’t reset, she’s not human again, she may never regain her humanity, and if not she’ll go on forever, never aging or dying, until the end of time.
Nah. Bud was very confident – methinks she knows something we haven’t considered, and has a plan for the parts we do know about. Like Checkov’s Portal over there on Shelly, that hasn’t gone off in quite a while.
No, Shelly has the portal tattoo and Monica ‘was’ a portal to the demon world. The portal was something that was done too Shelly, the door to the demon realm is something Monica is.
Well, was, when the key was in her. But it’s been locked and sealed, broken off, and finished as a one-way demon vacuum for those demons that tried to evade the law.
There’s a lot of hints to this if you read with it in mind. But we don’t need to assume that her saying she’d be back meant she’s going to die. She could, actually, be back. XD
Not to mention that Bud is tending to some Unfinished Business. She is not gone, but quite literally, in the words of The Last Starfighter, “Fighting Evil in another dimension.”
Uh, I don’t think Monica can breathe at the moment….
Monica’s stomach area is so small, it’s amazing everyone aims for that when using her as a doorway. If her whole body is an entrance, it would seem everyone would aim for her largest feature(s).
Bud said (two or three strips ago) that she’s coming back. I think the quote is “See you later babes”, which doesn’t sound like a suicide/sacrifice to me.
Yeah, but what’s “later” to these guys? Next week, or several lifetimes from now? Later could mean she will see the gang on their third reincarnation from now.
As was mentioned…since we already know that Shelly has a working portal via her tattoo, there remains the possibility of Bud using that particular doorway. We still haven’t seen Jin’s expression/reaction since her demons were sucked into Monica, I’m waiting to see her reaction/freak-out/ segue into another chapter of this situation.
As I recall, Shelly’s boiler room may be currently ‘locked down’, but entry can be gained ‘with permission.’ I’m betting Bud already has that. And any doubt that even Jin’s rogue demon queen will have trouble getting by a certain little girl and her scissors?
You know, this is so like real life: the solution to a problem may be as bad as the problem. In this case, not as bad, but bad enough. And the aftermath may be messy and prolonged.
sniff Bud’s my favorite. I sure hope she is right about being back.
OTOH, sometimes when you have _TWO_ problems (or more), you can combine them in inventive ways so that their bad bits cancel out and you discover a solution that is even better than you could have invented taking each singly.
A flipped out Brandi is scary, esp. since she’s always been so togetyher. I wonder what was Bud’s task in the demon realm? She’s showing herself to be too smart not to have an escape plan 🙂
Well, a couple of us have been saying that perhaps she’s looking for the one thing that might help to de-crazy Jin.
And i don’t believe that we’ve been told she went to the “demon realm” – rather that she went wherever Jin’s Doubt and the calendar machine were sent.
Which may well be the place (for want of a better word) where everyone who was in the room when the calendar machine was started up were thrown when they were “ripped from the world”.
Man, could things get more tense? Brandi’s freaking out because Bud is gone, the Other is freaking out something is coming for her and Agatha’s about to be electrocuted to save Tarvek & Gil, and Orion’s freaking out because some shadow thing is attacking his mind. Phew. Thank goodness for XKCD!
Wonderful.
The most stable of the Three freaks out.
Through great love also comes great madness.
Poor, Brandi; I guess that Bud was Brandi’s rock, as it were. She looks inconsolable, right now. The calendar machine might have been “fixed”, but something else was broken in the process.
Wait… was there any previous strips regard Bud’s concern with the Demon Realm? I’m drawing a blank…
Bud is given 6 pages from Brandi’s book and told to confide with Shelly (or Michelle, or Janet) what’s in them but to NOT confide in Brandi.
So … yes, the source of Bud’s concern has been shown, but we, the readers weren’t given the details.
I’m thinking a “Noodle Incident” – that is, the reader’s imagination is likely wilder than the author could devise.
Though, given past experiences here, I have my doubts that I could ever come up with anything so weird.
Haven’t we said/implied in the past days that she has the portal cloth with her — so she’ll come back thru that via Shelly’s tattoo, and then they’ll turn that doorway off too somehow. Hopefully that part will be explained tomorrow. (And that Bud will be back by Friday’s strip, with something really nice in tow.)
Bud has already been able to put the tattoo on “lock” mode before (see the post-party “emergence” of Tina). It wouldn’t be so difficult for Shel to have that happen to her.
I think we know why Brandi wrote the last pages of the book the way she did – she wanted to forget what happened.
Oh, wait, Brandi doesn’t know anything about the tapestry, does she?
It is never a happy sight when the most stable one goes wonko.
I hate to say it but I’d sacrifice Monica to get Bud back, without hesitation.
One needs to remember that Bud and the others are actually incredibly powerful monsters who could wipe out the human race without a care. Despite their good nature of late, their past actions as ancient agents of mass destruction would indicate the world would be a whole lot safer if all 3 were gone for good. They are like nuclear weapons. Mild and unassuming while contained, but devestating if unleashed. Worse yet, they’re intelligent WMDs. Thank goodness they don’t suffer from PMS. I’ll take Monica over potentially rampaging laviathans any day. Of course, where the strip is concerned, it would be a shame to lose any of them.
*. . . they don’t suffer from PMS.*
What? Pre Monica Statues? {giggle}
Well LOGICALLY, yes, of course. But character-wise, I’d rather have Bud.
Wow, I’d like to see your opinions on abortion doctors, jeeze.
No you wouldn’t.
Sarcasm. 🙂
wonder what else is so dangerous?
Possibly Jin in her golem form, or Jin’s mom, who after all is responsible for this whole mess.
I’m waiting for it to percolate tinto Jin’s damaged psyche that the Calendar machine didn’t reset, she’s not human again, she may never regain her humanity, and if not she’ll go on forever, never aging or dying, until the end of time.
That could be… bad.
When Bud shows up with her mother in tow (if that’s where Pablo is going) – what then?
Another vote for the Shelly Tattoo portal…. soon to be locked/removed by… Bud?
Called it! As much as I/we’d hate to see her go, this may be the last of Bud.
…
Maybe that’s why the figurine just went on sale…
Notice that the figurine is wearing the same ass-kicking boots Bud was wearing in this sequence.
Are not all three just clay dolls?
No – we’re talking about the figurine of Bud that was/is available for order.
Bud didn’t seem to think so…
Nah. Bud was very confident – methinks she knows something we haven’t considered, and has a plan for the parts we do know about. Like Checkov’s Portal over there on Shelly, that hasn’t gone off in quite a while.
OK, I’m confused. Yesterday I was told that Shelly, not Monica, had the tattoo. Don’t they both have portal tattoos?
No, Shelly has the portal tattoo and Monica ‘was’ a portal to the demon world. The portal was something that was done too Shelly, the door to the demon realm is something Monica is.
TTFN
Well, was, when the key was in her. But it’s been locked and sealed, broken off, and finished as a one-way demon vacuum for those demons that tried to evade the law.
I definitely can relate to what Brandi is feeling.
Please, Acacia, come back. :'(
Oooooh dear.
Bud can’t come back . . . through Monica.
key words are “through Monica”.
In the words of Yoda – “There is another.”
Bud suddenly decides to sacrifice herself for some poorly defined reason. Not cool wrap up. There’s got to be more to it.
There’s no real indocation that Bud “sacrificed herself”.
There’s a lot of hints to this if you read with it in mind. But we don’t need to assume that her saying she’d be back meant she’s going to die. She could, actually, be back. XD
Who said it’s the wrap up? Paulo already said we weren’t done when the machine was fixed. Stay tuned!
Aaaand we’re down to two GGG’s.. (snif)
Huh. not sure what I quite think of this development yet.
Not to mention that Bud is tending to some Unfinished Business. She is not gone, but quite literally, in the words of The Last Starfighter, “Fighting Evil in another dimension.”
Uh, I don’t think Monica can breathe at the moment….
Considering how strong Brandi is, I’m surprised Monica isn’t incurring lethal injuries at this point.
But she’s the last link to Bud, at least as far as Brandi could see. She’d want to preserve that.
Monica’s stomach area is so small, it’s amazing everyone aims for that when using her as a doorway. If her whole body is an entrance, it would seem everyone would aim for her largest feature(s).
At least using her stomach means the portal has proper protection from rain…
Bud said (two or three strips ago) that she’s coming back. I think the quote is “See you later babes”, which doesn’t sound like a suicide/sacrifice to me.
We’ll see later.
Hopefully, we’ll see Bud later.
Yeah, but what’s “later” to these guys? Next week, or several lifetimes from now? Later could mean she will see the gang on their third reincarnation from now.
It was also said “Bud can’t come back . . . through Monica.“
I miss Dietzel.
…aim more carefully and keep your head down pn the follow-through…
As was mentioned…since we already know that Shelly has a working portal via her tattoo, there remains the possibility of Bud using that particular doorway. We still haven’t seen Jin’s expression/reaction since her demons were sucked into Monica, I’m waiting to see her reaction/freak-out/ segue into another chapter of this situation.
… anybody realizing brandi totally has the power to ram that through monica’s wittle skull to open her again?
Also
Where is our little alcohol deity?
And it’d be funny if Bud popped up via Tina somehow, our little rogue demon squadron.
Worse yet, on her way back (if via shelly) she meets/talks to the little girl and gets along @_@
That’s just it, with all her power, Brandi could drive that thing through the planet and it would never come in contact with the blade.
As I recall, Shelly’s boiler room may be currently ‘locked down’, but entry can be gained ‘with permission.’ I’m betting Bud already has that. And any doubt that even Jin’s rogue demon queen will have trouble getting by a certain little girl and her scissors?
You know, this is so like real life: the solution to a problem may be as bad as the problem. In this case, not as bad, but bad enough. And the aftermath may be messy and prolonged.
sniff Bud’s my favorite. I sure hope she is right about being back.
OTOH, sometimes when you have _TWO_ problems (or more), you can combine them in inventive ways so that their bad bits cancel out and you discover a solution that is even better than you could have invented taking each singly.
Jin has been absent these last strips of late (except for “WEEE!”)
Gotta wonder what she’s thinking about all this. If anything at all? I hope so. From her interactions with Alan, she’s not COMPLETELY crazy.
And poor Brandi. And poor M. Her head is being squashed like
A flipped out Brandi is scary, esp. since she’s always been so togetyher. I wonder what was Bud’s task in the demon realm? She’s showing herself to be too smart not to have an escape plan 🙂
Well, a couple of us have been saying that perhaps she’s looking for the one thing that might help to de-crazy Jin.
And i don’t believe that we’ve been told she went to the “demon realm” – rather that she went wherever Jin’s Doubt and the calendar machine were sent.
Which may well be the place (for want of a better word) where everyone who was in the room when the calendar machine was started up were thrown when they were “ripped from the world”.
Whoops – i r a nimno. Brandi says it’s the demon realm Right Up There.
I Feel Dumm.
Man, could things get more tense? Brandi’s freaking out because Bud is gone, the Other is freaking out something is coming for her and Agatha’s about to be electrocuted to save Tarvek & Gil, and Orion’s freaking out because some shadow thing is attacking his mind. Phew. Thank goodness for XKCD!
Here for the day; gone for the week…