That may be advise for the future. Tina may need to learn to keep better control of her gut reactions as she may face something like Phix, but much more sinister. An encounter in which her quick paranormal reading skill will be crucial.
Is it Phix’s parting anything? Her body language suggests that she’s about to walk out the door, but if she’s ordering tea, she would stay to be served. She didn’t say, “…what I would have ordered.”
You don’t need to read auras to know Tina’s answer to “Understand?” is “No.”
She said, “So, were you going to predict my order?” – as in, “You silly demon, you were going to try to read my ‘aura’ and guess what I wanted to have to drink, but you didn’t realize just who I was, did you?”
I interpreted yesterday’s page as saying that Tina understood her place relative to Phix instinctively. That’s what I inferred from Friday’s page, too. I think Phix wanted Tina to be able to read her aura and in apparently wants Tina to be able to do the same in a similar circumstance in the future. That’s why the coaching and the “excellent” when Tina succeeds.
I interpreted the “So, were you going to predict my order” as a reminder. “Go ahead, then.” Also, it was a signal that Phix was satisfied with the way Tina responded in yesterday’s strip, so that matter was closed.
I think the whole thing was similar to the way Monica and Shelly were treated when they visited the library. First Phix tried to scare the heck out of them, then she evaluated how they reacted, and finally she was helpful (often cryptically.)
So Phix likes to scare then riddle. Does asking Tina to predict her order count as asking a riddle? If it does, is it on par with Bilbo asking Gollum to guess what is in his pocket?
The way I interpreted it, Phix was once something like a top-level predator in the demon world. Which would explain why Tina is instinctually terrified of her (they have no memories before the car crash after all.)
However, since Phix doesn’t want to be seen as a killer anymore, she instead helps Tina overcome her fears.
,I interpreted that last scene as Phix understanding the true value of Tina’s situation.
Not everyone gets a “do-over”. She has a fresh start to do something good for a change & if she doesn’t screw it up by falling back into old habits she won’t have to worry about running afoul of someone like Phix.
Or strap a a few sticks of dynamite to her. I doubt she could come back from a near vaporized state.
Though she is dedicated to the shop. We might see her there the next day with a huge tube of glue, still putting back pieces of the jigsaw puzzel that was Tina-exploded. Puts me in mind of “Death Becomes Her.”
The other day someone posted a link to a spot in the archive showing Tina reclining at home. In the background were some newspaper clippings on the bulletin board. Among them was ‘young girl to testify against drug kingpin’ or something very similar. I have thought since first reading that way back when, that it might be thecause of Tina’s ‘condition’ (i.e., death). #*cked-up brakes, courtesy of a drug boss, folllowing a bus too closely in traffic, etc., etc. Possibly she was entirely normal before that (in this loop) and the only ones who would have memory (in this loop, and previous ones) would be the demons – who might have interacted with Phix in some of the prior loops. but apparently demon memory doesn’t carry over, ’cause they don’t – dirrectly – remember Phix.
In short, I’m stumped. Need more data.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for clearing up that pivot point in the plot in one go! I’d been aware of the interactions but not clear on some of the details.
See, this is why Phix is one of my top three favorites out of all the Wapsi girls (my other two being Tina and Bud, in no particular order! … Okay, Tina’s first). As powerful as she is, and as much as she knows, she never treats anyone condescendingly. She’s got that whole matron/teacher thing going, and it’s just so endearing.
i hope tomorrow we get a pic of what tina saw!
tho that was interesting.
I know the golem girls were the most powerful til we met phix.
Seems like that sentence opened it out for more – WAY more powerful beings who will be showing up. Least…if there weren’t why would Phix warn tina that?
And yea i class it as a warning as the more powerful critters might get offended at someone freaking out at them.
We really don’t need to see Phix in TinaVision™; Tina’s reaction says everything we need to know. Besides, if left on our own devices, our fevered imaginations are likely to come up with some serious fan art.
Anybody wanna get a contest going?
Subject: Phix in TinaVison™.
Maybe we can get Paul to judge!
I’m not at all sure Phix is more powerful than the GGs Or even nearly as powerful. She’s awesome to behold and can strangle you, but, so far, that’s about all we know.
“Someone like me…” that means there are other?
Maybe others that WILL try to mess with Tinas concentration or even with her abillitiy to give advice to M?
I agree, this is what came to my mind when I saw this: There are more Sphinxes? Or maybe more beings at Phix’s power level. Still, Tina’s already encountered the GGG, who can tear the Earth apart by sneezing too hard; and while her first meeting with Bud freaked her out (and vice versa), she’s gotten used to them since. As long as she’s not taken by suprise, you’d think Tina would be more unflappable.
And I’m not quite sure what to make of her expression / stance in the final panel…
Well, some more powerful entity is implicit in some variations of the Sphinx mythology, in which Phix was bound to the gates of Thebes,and placed under a geas to ask her deadly riddle.
On the other hand, she’s older now, and wiser by far, and in the Bibliotheki would be copies of every recipe of successful magic, every technique of arcane skill that was committed to paper, and Phix had thousands of years to study.
It was an ironic reference to Monica explaining odd noises at her house to cops (not to mention why she yelled “Quit licking my leg!” while talking to the cops in question) as being her “pet cat”.
Let’s see, Phix’s library now has a direct link with Tina’s coffee shop. Book reading and coffee drinking together has become all the rage. Consider the probable visitors to Phix’s library…. Yeah, there could be some interest clients coming to Tina’s coffee shop.
Yes, but consider what would happen if Phix set up a link in Tina’s shop: Access to every book or scroll ever made, even the ones lost to history, AND your beverage of choice, besides!
I have visions of people running on caffeine trying to use what they’ve learned from books about arcane magic. I guess it would be better than if Tina served alcohol, though.
Dude, she’s Captain Picard!
Wow, I actually feel kinda sorry for our sinister barista.
You wouldn’t be the only one.
Man I hope Phix’s last statement comes back to bite her.
I wonder if this is going to be one of the back stories that would become the basis for a Wapsi Square book?
Tina’s eyes are … almost … back to “normal”.
And i like Phix’s parting shot.
That may be advise for the future. Tina may need to learn to keep better control of her gut reactions as she may face something like Phix, but much more sinister. An encounter in which her quick paranormal reading skill will be crucial.
That, and giving the wrong answer to a sphinx tends to have consequences.
Phix has been working on her mellow, but there is still such a thing as reputation.
“And i like Phix’s parting shot”
Is it Phix’s parting anything? Her body language suggests that she’s about to walk out the door, but if she’s ordering tea, she would stay to be served. She didn’t say, “…what I would have ordered.”
You don’t need to read auras to know Tina’s answer to “Understand?” is “No.”
She said, “So, were you going to predict my order?” – as in, “You silly demon, you were going to try to read my ‘aura’ and guess what I wanted to have to drink, but you didn’t realize just who I was, did you?”
I interpreted yesterday’s page as saying that Tina understood her place relative to Phix instinctively. That’s what I inferred from Friday’s page, too. I think Phix wanted Tina to be able to read her aura and in apparently wants Tina to be able to do the same in a similar circumstance in the future. That’s why the coaching and the “excellent” when Tina succeeds.
I interpreted the “So, were you going to predict my order” as a reminder. “Go ahead, then.” Also, it was a signal that Phix was satisfied with the way Tina responded in yesterday’s strip, so that matter was closed.
I think the whole thing was similar to the way Monica and Shelly were treated when they visited the library. First Phix tried to scare the heck out of them, then she evaluated how they reacted, and finally she was helpful (often cryptically.)
So Phix likes to scare then riddle. Does asking Tina to predict her order count as asking a riddle? If it does, is it on par with Bilbo asking Gollum to guess what is in his pocket?
The way I interpreted it, Phix was once something like a top-level predator in the demon world. Which would explain why Tina is instinctually terrified of her (they have no memories before the car crash after all.)
However, since Phix doesn’t want to be seen as a killer anymore, she instead helps Tina overcome her fears.
@Sitnalta – Here’s a cookie.
,I interpreted that last scene as Phix understanding the true value of Tina’s situation.
Not everyone gets a “do-over”. She has a fresh start to do something good for a change & if she doesn’t screw it up by falling back into old habits she won’t have to worry about running afoul of someone like Phix.
Inside, Tina is going, “I’m alive?! I’m a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!”
But she’s not……………..
Which makes me wonder, what would it take to kill her? I guess a gunshot would only disfigure her. Would even decapitation work?
Unless it’s an anti-decapitation choker.:)
Cut off head.
Stuff mouth with garlic, wolfbane, mistletoe and salt.
Bury head at one crossroads.
Bury body (with stake through heart) at another.
Pre-interment mark holy symbols (cross, Star of Davis, Solomon’s Seal) on both parts with consecrated oil.
Pray a lot.
Or strap a a few sticks of dynamite to her. I doubt she could come back from a near vaporized state.
Though she is dedicated to the shop. We might see her there the next day with a huge tube of glue, still putting back pieces of the jigsaw puzzel that was Tina-exploded. Puts me in mind of “Death Becomes Her.”
Wow — 6 foot 6 and three inch heels? Sheesh!
I wonder what Tina will be asking Monica the next time M stops by for a cup!
Phix . Such a brick-hoooooouse .
Looks like my girl Tina still has it .
Well done Paul!
…but I still don’t like that grin from Phix…
Her smile says, “I let you live this time. This time…”
She’s a Sphinx. That’s the only smile she knows.
LOL
Someone should tell Phix that sneering isn’t attractive.
OK, you tell her. I’ll be watching from a safe distance. Through a telescope.
That’s not really sneering, so much as talking through a confident, somewhat parental/boss’ smile at an odd angle.
I think it would have been better carried off with Phix’s mouth closed, but that’s just me.
some would suggest that the awkwardness of the sneer as well as phix’s posture embodies the interaction between them both.. haha.
I think – yes, that’s the jangle of rattling nerves I hear in the last panel….
Rattling? Her nerves are three symphonies worth of percussionists and diamondbacks on the San Andreas fault. And a windchime.
You win the Overextended Metaphor of the Day award!
Overextended? That poor metaphor is herniated, I tell you!
The other day someone posted a link to a spot in the archive showing Tina reclining at home. In the background were some newspaper clippings on the bulletin board. Among them was ‘young girl to testify against drug kingpin’ or something very similar. I have thought since first reading that way back when, that it might be thecause of Tina’s ‘condition’ (i.e., death). #*cked-up brakes, courtesy of a drug boss, folllowing a bus too closely in traffic, etc., etc. Possibly she was entirely normal before that (in this loop) and the only ones who would have memory (in this loop, and previous ones) would be the demons – who might have interacted with Phix in some of the prior loops. but apparently demon memory doesn’t carry over, ’cause they don’t – dirrectly – remember Phix.
In short, I’m stumped. Need more data.
Tina’s demons had their memories wiped for hurting someone who was not a host. The person she hurt was Monica. As far as we know, Tina was perfectly normal, but her demons helped drive Monica in front of the bus and helped crash Tina into it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for clearing up that pivot point in the plot in one go! I’d been aware of the interactions but not clear on some of the details.
I get the feeling that Tina’s life (er, “existence” may be more accurate) has just finished flashing before her eyes.
Does the Earl Grey have anything to do with Captain Picard Day?
And here we see the crew enjoying Captain Picard Day.
See, this is why Phix is one of my top three favorites out of all the Wapsi girls (my other two being Tina and Bud, in no particular order! … Okay, Tina’s first). As powerful as she is, and as much as she knows, she never treats anyone condescendingly. She’s got that whole matron/teacher thing going, and it’s just so endearing.
Phix’s calves should be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
In other news, will the upcoming adventure turn out to be a Phix arc? One can only hope…
“Phix’s calves should be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.”
Because they’re intoxicating, addictive and deadly?
Pretty much. They might even qualify as a Weapon of Mass Distraction.
Yep .
i hope tomorrow we get a pic of what tina saw!
tho that was interesting.
I know the golem girls were the most powerful til we met phix.
Seems like that sentence opened it out for more – WAY more powerful beings who will be showing up. Least…if there weren’t why would Phix warn tina that?
And yea i class it as a warning as the more powerful critters might get offended at someone freaking out at them.
We really don’t need to see Phix in TinaVision™; Tina’s reaction says everything we need to know. Besides, if left on our own devices, our fevered imaginations are likely to come up with some serious fan art.
Anybody wanna get a contest going?
Subject: Phix in TinaVison™.
Maybe we can get Paul to judge!
I’m not at all sure Phix is more powerful than the GGs Or even nearly as powerful. She’s awesome to behold and can strangle you, but, so far, that’s about all we know.
Out of everything, I believe Phix still partially enjoys getting those sorts of reactions. I mean… she’s a girl after all.
She’s a gril who’s part cat.
Very big cat.
“What about us grils?!?”
“Someone like me…” that means there are other?
Maybe others that WILL try to mess with Tinas concentration or even with her abillitiy to give advice to M?
I agree, this is what came to my mind when I saw this: There are more Sphinxes? Or maybe more beings at Phix’s power level. Still, Tina’s already encountered the GGG, who can tear the Earth apart by sneezing too hard; and while her first meeting with Bud freaked her out (and vice versa), she’s gotten used to them since. As long as she’s not taken by suprise, you’d think Tina would be more unflappable.
And I’m not quite sure what to make of her expression / stance in the final panel…
Well, some more powerful entity is implicit in some variations of the Sphinx mythology, in which Phix was bound to the gates of Thebes,and placed under a geas to ask her deadly riddle.
On the other hand, she’s older now, and wiser by far, and in the Bibliotheki would be copies of every recipe of successful magic, every technique of arcane skill that was committed to paper, and Phix had thousands of years to study.
Multiple thousands.
The Library was outside the cycle.
“Whoo-ha! I survived!”
I think it’s, “What the hell did that mean?”
It strikes me as one of those classic whiping the sweat off your brow things, followed by “Whew! That was close!”
That’s how I read it.
Well, that too. But I think there is some confusion as well. “I’m safe!. But wait! What was that last bit about?
Shodan, my question exactly–is someone like Phix going to be stopping by?
That may be Tina’s question, too. Also, how do I not let them rattle my nerves?
I can’t help but think of how panicky Tina got when she saw the little girl inside Jin. I don’t know how that would be like Phix, though.
I remembered that fairly early on Tina kept talking about the GGGs collectively as being similar to a cat. That still doesn’t feel right, though.
It was an ironic reference to Monica explaining odd noises at her house to cops (not to mention why she yelled “Quit licking my leg!” while talking to the cops in question) as being her “pet cat”.
I love Phix. And I love Earl Grey.
Patrick Stewart, however, apparently hates it.
Sweet irony.
…and the fanboys and -girls insist on serving it to him at every media convention he attends.
And he’s very polite…
Ohhh!
Let’s see, Phix’s library now has a direct link with Tina’s coffee shop. Book reading and coffee drinking together has become all the rage. Consider the probable visitors to Phix’s library…. Yeah, there could be some interest clients coming to Tina’s coffee shop.
Actually, the entrance that Phix was talking about is (theoretically) in a completely different part of Minneapolis from Mucho Mocha.
Yes, but consider what would happen if Phix set up a link in Tina’s shop: Access to every book or scroll ever made, even the ones lost to history, AND your beverage of choice, besides!
I’d never leave…
That would probably be worthy of it’s own strip!
“Demon Barrista” — The adventures of an un-dead demon collective with the world’s knowledge at her fingertips — and mocha latte!
I have visions of people running on caffeine trying to use what they’ve learned from books about arcane magic. I guess it would be better than if Tina served alcohol, though.
*Whew*!
Still want more backstory…
Phix may be hawt as HELL but she’s still a deadly entity; BELIEVE IT!!!
I’m perfectly OK with that. I like danger.
Even Phixy taste in shoes is awesome.
Damn you, Paul Taylor! I’ve got a crush on a comic character. >_<
Does a sphinx count as a furry?
Not that there is anything wrong with that . . .
She doesn’t look very furry to me, at least when she visits M/SP.
But those are some seriously knobby knees.
Implications of more Mythics out and about, aside from Phix, Tepoz, and Kukulcan?
Or, is Tina getting oracle-ish advice on dealing with Jin?
yeah just because she can destroy you with the wink of her eye is no reason to be nervouse
That’s an excellent full-body drawing of Phix.
ohthankyouthankyouthankyou I’M NOT SPHINX FOOD!!!
I think most of the comments I thought of while reading these past few comics have already been made . . . except one.
I must say that Phix has fabulous posture; http://wapsisquare.com/comic/a-good-kid/
*Clings to Tina, who is clinging to her* We just dodged a HUGE bullet right there, didn’t we?