page 696 – SMASHBASHKILL
Yes, one MORE page of Stilez smashing things. I know, I know, three pages in a row is kind of pushing it. Honestly, last Tuesday’s page could have been dropped. This page and last Friday’s are basically the same thing, only better. Too bad the Temporal Prime Directive forbids me from going back in time and fixing the past, huh? Besides, I can get a splash page done a LOT faster than the plot stuff that’s kicking in later, and since this page needed to get done before Ichibancon, fast is good.
Also, the past two pages pretty much kept their violence off-screen or otherwise implied. We gotta have at least ONE page of Stilez killin’ stuff right front and center, right?
And speaking of Ichibancon, I should be working on the Conventional Wisdom update as you read this. The fact that I was able to get this page online before I left SHOULD help that task along immensely, and HOPEFULLY will also mean there’s a fresh Voting Incentive by the time this goes online. I mean, I’m writing this almost a week before you read it, so for all I know something could come up… but let’s face it, if I CAN’T come up with a new Voting Incentive, I won’t leave this ambiguous message up. So, if you’re reading this, that means there’s a new one up. Yay!
(Historical Notes: Every time anyone talks about how adorable Stilez is, my mind always flashes directly back to this page. It doesn’t even really contradict that sentiment, it’s just the first thing I think of.)
As I just said in the previous page, Stilez looks incredibly angry for someone who’s literally doing this just to have 5 minutes of fun.
EXACTLY
Honestly, this feels to me more like it deserves a Maniacal Laugh from Stilez than the enraged snarl it has.
I’m going to guess that part of her behavior is determined by the fun-loving attention-span-deprived battle-maniac Stilez, and part of it is determined by her Genetically Programmed Supersoldier persona. Once she actually switches into battle mode, some of the programming meant to terrify the smeg out of her enemies takes over to a greater extent, regardless of what her original intent was.
Incidentally, it seems somewhat implied that what Ichabod has noticed is that since Stilez has joined up with Tax, there’s more of the Stilez persona and less of the programmed Supersoldier persona over time, or something along those lines. Whether that is part of a mysterious Tax effect or merely the effect of actually having friends for the first time is yet to be determined. Although if it’s the latter, then Ichabod himself is at least partially responsible for initiating the change, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.