July 27th, 2021
27 Jul 2021 · page 1072 of 1306
Getting the villain to monologue before the third act is a pretty sly move, you gotta admit.
Cast: Lei Feng, Pemberton Pryce, Thea Pryce, Tim Chiang
Comments (78)
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Actually, that sounds like a really good idea. But honestly, there’s no reason to insult Mr O’Malley like that, just because he wouldn’t go along with your plan.
A friend's dad recently cyberstalked me and then once he had my information, asked my friend for my number to call and talk to me. (As we are all adults, this isn't even slightly justified.)
I feel like he and Pryce are cut from the same cloth.
Is Pemberton planning to send the magic across those cable lines the ship was sailing along?
Or is he.. naw, he couldn't be thinking of moving the Anchor with teleportation... could he? O.o
Americans are quite certain they're the center of the world...
And we're right.
Brits are too, with much less justification.
Oh yes there is a great deal of that to go around. I figure we probably inherited it from the Brits
I'm starting to get the feeling that whatever Pryce is planning to do with the anchor will one day result in safeguards being set up in Widdershins to prevent technology from working in city limits.....
Moving it is what I'm thinking. I'm concerned.
Especially for Chomolungma. But also... also just in general.
Arpana's going to be tilted (figuratively, and possibly literally) if Pemberton does try that
Thea witch theory continues 👀
She isn't the witch, but Pryce is going to try and MAKE her the witch. Interesting to see how the other witches respond if he succeeds. (Thea would fit thematically too, she wears green and the other three are associated with blue (O'Malley), yellow (Mountain witch) and red (Nyree))
Also now I want the "witch creation" method to go wrong and accidentally make Doris the witch instead, if only because then we will definitely see more of her.
Considering that Lei has performed magic at an anchor before, her becoming the witch is a more likely twist.
"Sorry, Lei, you can't be a witch; we already have a witch that wears red."
Tim is wearing green...
:O I didn't even think of the colour thing. Hope you're right lol that's cool
Or it can go really wild and, hear me out, Patience can be the witch. Instead of sight or smell for her spirit-o-vision it can be the sense of touch, and she experiences people's spirits by punching them.
please i want this so bad XD
Tim is ALSO wearing green, I note.
...actually, you know what, I wonder if not being formally trained in magic might be a thing for witches. The training and structured thinking precludes it, sort of thing.
...you know, there's a person with some capacity for magic on this page with minimal formal training.
Getting a bit concerned that he's sharing so much. This is starting to feel like a "you're not going anywhere with this knowledge" situation.
What's there to hide exactly ? If he's gonna make a fortune doing transportation throught the anchors, people will necessarily know
Depends on if what he's doing is legal, I'd say. Might be looking to smuggle to get an unfair advantage over the competition.
Being on a boat in the middle of the ocean means they can't go anywhere in any case, and Pryce probably figures that once they get back to land his plan will already have been put into action.
Certainly right. Just depends on if the knowledge of what they're doing might harm him once they get back. He's already threatened people at gunpoint, I don't think he's exactly on the up-and-up with this.
I also suspect he is the prime provider of certainty for his engine, and there is plenty more where it came from.
Panel four - I think that's supposed to say "Once this thing is active".
quite right! fixed!
Hi folks, Buggeruptober (aka Widdershins Fanworks Month) is starting August 1st which is this Sunday! [You can read about how it works and see all the prompts here :)](https://buggerup-busters.tumblr.com/post/657485750897704960/buggeruptober-2021-now-in-august-by-popular "https://buggerup-busters.tumblr.com/post/657485750897704960/buggeruptober-2021-now-in-august-by-popular") Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!
(Sorry if this posted twice, it looked like the first time I tried didn't work)
for some reason disqus decided you were spam, very offensive of it!
edit: lmao it did it twice? cool your jets disqus, jeez
lmao is it the word bugger because it doesn't want swearing on this good christian webcomic disqus thread ??
ahaha maybe?! it might be that plus the link actually!
There is a proper term, you know!
It's because anything with an external link is likely to be tagged as spam.
im going to give everyone computer virus that makes u write widdershins fanfic >:)
Sharpe has created a new spell that alters people's spirits to make them write fanfic!
It would serve you right if you had to read my fanfic!
While I live, you will never be the worst Widdershins fanfic writer.
Thea Pryce seems less than thrilled about the whole thing
She looks like she's thinking "How did I get into this mess?!"
More like "Why did she went onto this galley ship?"
Dastardly American.
This doesn't even feel like villainous exposition, he just thinks he's amongst likeminded people who are all aboard with his great plan.
A sound business model with societal benefits. What’s not to like? The main risk is that the anchor will benefit Mexico more than the US, which could scupper the Americans’ plans to acquire Texas and California.
It doesn't seem like he's contemplating hurting anyone, even Jack, so I'm onboard with this thus far... as far as it goes. I'm sure Phase 2 will be suitably horrifying though.
Appropriate that they're on a ship.
He wants to weigh anchor!
"See, that's why have these pylons here. The South A is getting jack sheit of OUR anchor!"
"That's... Very... American of you..."
Ooh, Thea's not having fun...
She reminds me of Harry's sister Nora.
I really want to see Thea free and blooming.
...and screaming defiance from the top of the tallest mast.
To me, she looks like I do when I've released a program to be used, and I know I've checked every possible issue except... did I? What if there's something I overlooked? What if someone does something I couldn't have anticipated? What if there was something fundamentally wrong with my logic that just completely escaped my notice?
I think she needs a hug. Or several. Just in general.
Ah, Pemberton, you were born before your time. About ten years, to be specific: if this was 1844 you could just sell your teleporter to the US War Department.
What exactly did Pryce expect Mal to do, anyway? A witch is bonded to their own anchor, so it's not like Mal would have been able to activate this one.
Pryce may precisely have believed that any witch would do.
Utilitarian set of mind. Anchors are just tools. Witches and other human beings, too.
It always comes back to money.
And when there's money on the line, American thievery rears its ugly head in the guise of "ingenuity."
That's a rather ironic assertion to make on a story set during the rise of the British empire.
if it helps i am quite happy to vouch for the fact that england also absolutely sucks
I agree that England sucks but I think the US sucks more, that's why I live in the UK!
Pryce has risked a considerable amount of his own money in a project that will bring enormous benefits if it works. I see no reason for him not to receive a return on his investment.
So if the anchors are on opposite sides of the world, would "moving" the fourth anchor also move one of the other anchors?
Oh, interesting thought! According to Eliza's globe experiment, the antipode to this anchor is the mountain one, which seems kind of hard to move...
I'm getting interested in Thea so went back to look at pages she's in. Some things we know about her:
She's a wizard, and according to her father a great one, with amazing circles, which she downplays, but apparently it's her circles that are part of what allows the ship to transport itself.
Her father calls her "Petal" and brags about her, but doesn't take time to listen to her when she says she needs to talk to him.
Her mom does not seem to be around.
She doesn't say much and seems very shy and generally worried and uncomfortable. Vee calls her a wet hen.
She enjoyed Lei and Tim's magic performance and laughed.
She is sometimes writing or drawing furiously in a book - particularly when Lei is around? Her father says she is always doodling but won't show it to anyone.
I am interested to see what might develop between her and Lei.
Also interested in what might happen if her father's self-interest collides with his care for his daughter. I don't think he is very perceptive about her, but if his greed put her in clear and present danger, what would he do?
And on the other hand, what would Thea do if she felt a moral obligation to disobey her father?
Nice analysis! Thea's become one of the characters I'm most drawn to in this chapter, and I really hope we get to see more of her.
Of course it's okay for Pryce to monologue after all "In the game of confidence either you win or... who cares, we're definitely gonna win." - from a Dance of Smoke and Mirrors by JRRM
Lets hope he's not going to try and move the anchor. Because, the whole point of an Anchor is that it is fixed and anchors something. Move the anchor, and things will start to drift...
Thea's brain right now:
Thea, that is not the confident face of everything going according to plan.
More like someone winging it and thinking... "What the hell do I do now?"
Or maybe it's going according to plan so far, but it's not her plan and it's a plan that worries her....
I now can only hear Pryce's dialogue in the voice of Walt Disney.
Hans Conreid
Apologies if this theory was posted before and I missed it.
Once it the anchor opens it will need a witch.
A family member who will do what she's told would be best. Even if she's not sure it's such a good idea.
You know, if you plopped the certainty engine right in the middle of an anchor I wonder what it could do.
As an American, I'd love to call BS on Pemby's attitude... except we have something of a surplus of people like this, both then and now. :-/
so do we, unfortunately.....
I'd say that it has something to do with speaking English.
But then there's the French...
Mr Pryce really seems to have been waiting a loooong time to get a chance to brag to someone, anyone, about this scheme.
Which is why he's spilling his guts to the hired help magician and his assistant.
Like, c'mon Pryce, shouldn't you at least be monologuing at Verity? At least she's the, er, "007 stand-in" at the moment, even if she's a poor second to Harry. (Don't tell Verity I said that.)
Other reasons to tell them (nearly) everything:
1. He's just verified that his device works (this part of it, at least).
2. He has found some people who (in his mind) think enough like him to understand and admire his device and his plans for it.
3. They are both at hand and obviously harmless.