Wapsi Square Forum

lake_wrangler wrote:Meanwhile, what OTHER power is being displayed on that first link?

Sarcasm.

Or, something which you could say is telepathy, or perhaps so deep an understanding of another person that you can predict their thought processes accurately enough to complete even their unspoken sentences for them.

Clearly, Jin and Bud have been married for a very long time.

Dave wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:Meanwhile, what OTHER power is being displayed on that first link?

Sarcasm.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Bonus point if you can provide two more examples of the "power of sarcasm"...

Dave wrote:Or, something which you could say is telepathy,

YES!

Dave wrote:or perhaps so deep an understanding of another person that you can predict their thought processes accurately enough to complete even their unspoken sentences for them.

Clearly, Jin and Bud have been married for a very long time.

That's not impossible, but I don't think they are quite that close.

Still, the answer I was looking for was indeed telepathy, as demonstrated also in the following strips:


http://wapsisquare.com/comic/makesunshine/ with this follow-up: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/wisdomnuggets/

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/mostlikely/ (Yes, it is only happening in Monica's mind, but she knows enough about the golem girls to know that Brandi would indeed be able to know that she was thinking of destroying the tape, and would react that way, regardless of where she was originally...)

And this is the one where we see a telepathic conversation between Jin and Monica:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/imaginethemhappening/

Given that Dave has found the last power I was looking for, and that he had provided a good many answers earlier too, for the same question, and given that he also linked examples, as per the question's requirements (as opposed to jwhouk, who gave several good answers, but without links, and later gave links, but without the actual correct answer), I will give this to Dave.


So take it away, Dave!

Kewl... thanks!

Since you have taken high honors in the "rather open-ended question which takes many people to answer" category, I think I might follow in your footsteps. This one is open-ended and subjective, so there aren't any absolute answers... I'm just interested to see how many there are which make sense to somebody,

This one also gives me a chance to nerd out a bit.

A progressive-music band I followed with interest during my high-school-through-college years is an outfit which went by the name of Gentle Giant. They're the only band I know of, to ever hang up a big neon sign reading "PRETENTION" on stage when they toured.

So - the question for you folks - give an example (or examples) from within the Wapsi Square story-line, which matches the title of one of Gentle Giant's studio albums. It can be an incident, or a situation, or a character which you feel exemplifies the title, or a strip in which the word is used or referred to. Some of these are easy, some may take a bit of digging.

The albums in question:

• Gentle Giant
• Acquiring the Taste
• Three Friends
• Octopus
• In a Glass House
• The Power and the Glory
• Free Hand
• Interview
• The Missing Piece
• Giant for a Day!
• Civilian

For extra credit, do the same with the names of their live albums, compilations, or bootlegs, or a song on one of any of their albums (which you'll have to research for yourself).

The winner will be the person who comes up with the most not-utterly-ridiculous correlations. Links to the strips are required for all answers, in order to qualify.

Interesting...

OK, the easy one first: Octopus: Stinky

Moving on.

Gentle Giant: Euryale ("Who's your statuesque friend?") - although some people might consider her hugs to be somewhat less than gentle... (to the point of saying anything to get out of getting one...)

In that light, does Shelly count as a gentle giant?

Is Nudge considered gentle? She says she measures 9', in her regular form...
Phix is taller, but I would not consider her "gentle" in any way...


Three Friends: The golem girls, of course...
Also, Monica, Shelly and Amanda, three long-time friends.


In a Glass House: Where Katherine finds inspiration for her rooftop garden (in a roundabout way, you'll still be indoors. Damnit!)



I'm on a roll! (It helps that I have off tomorrow, so I don't have to worry about going to bed late...)

Giant for a Day!: Atsali, at the beach island


Civilian: Phix chews out Monica and Shelly for their paranormal shenanigans in front of civilians
There's also the time Shelly was going to fly Justin to the hospital, and they flew by a bunch of people waiting outside (I'm guessing they were waiting for a bus, or something...)



Well, those were the more obvious ones (to me, anyway). I'm going to bed, leaving the harder ones for others to find (ain't I a stinker... )



Oh yeah:
Interview: Monica was lied to during her interview for the job at the museum... she was told to not expect much recognition, and to expect mostly anonimity.

I figured out another one:

Acquiring the taste: The omelet with cactus paddles and jalapenos
Also, and more directly related: Lapsang Souchong


All we need to figure out now are these:

• The Power and the Glory
• Free Hand
• The Missing Piece

Missing piece:
Submission #1, the mirror ball, introduced to Monica just as she says she feels more answers are going to fall into her lap...
Submission #2: Monica's facelight, which she didn't know she could do
Submission #3: a key, and the determination to actually use it as a weapon
Submission #4: the last minute realization that Monica is to be used as a sacrifice
Submission #5: Bud's mission, post calendar exit to demon realm, in order to bring someone back.
Submission #6: the hammer Phix gave to Shelly
Submission #7: the location of the calendar machine, as discovered by Monica's G'Pa, and then hidden again by Jin


All these, in my opinion, are pieces which fall into place, one at a time, and it always seems that there is no moving forward until the previous piece has been attained, so that they're always the "missing piece" which prevents them from continuing until they find it.

So... is anyone else playing this?

The Free Dictionary.com wrote:free hand
n.
Freedom to do or decide as one sees fit.
free hand
n
1. unrestricted freedom to act (esp in the phrase give (someone) a free hand)
adj, adv, freehand
2. (done) by hand without the use of guiding instruments: a freehand drawing.
free′ hand′
n.
unrestricted freedom or authority.

So,

Free Hand: The fact that the golem girls now have the freedom to choose their own actions

And now, for an ironic answer:

The Power and the Glory: Monica's poiting ability and the lengths she goes to in order to use it while staying out of the limelight...



I'd be curious to see what someone else might find for this one, as well as for the "missing piece"...

lake_wrangler wrote:And now, for an ironic answer:

The Power and the Glory: Monica's poiting ability and the lengths she goes to in order to use it while staying out of the limelight...

I'd be curious to see what someone else might find for this one, as well as for the "missing piece"...

Actually, I'd say for "The Power and The Glory" it'd be more this and this.

jwhouk wrote:Actually, I'd say for "The Power and The Glory" it'd be more this and this.

I like your answer...

Hey, it fits, right?

As far as I can tell, yes. Mine was more of a throwaway answer, because I couldn't think of anything else, and that was ironically funny enough to somewhat fit. Besides, in his post, Dave hints to the fact that he expected to see some utterly ridiculous correlations, so who am I to disappoint him...


Now that I think about it, "Acquired Taste" may also include all the drinks that are said to put hair on your chest...
Manhattans and Martinis
A mid-winter ale served at Gerogette's sister's pub (shown prior to the purchase, when Jill was merely working there...)

lake_wrangler wrote:So... is anyone else playing this?

The Free Dictionary.com wrote:free hand
n.
Freedom to do or decide as one sees fit.
free hand
n
1. unrestricted freedom to act (esp in the phrase give (someone) a free hand)
adj, adv, freehand
2. (done) by hand without the use of guiding instruments: a freehand drawing.
free′ hand′
n.
unrestricted freedom or authority.

So,

Free Hand: The fact that the golem girls now have the freedom to choose their own actions

I'll have to say you have the game won hands down. I respect/envy your focus on the story.

For Dave, I was exposed to Gentle Giant through the "Album Cover Album" book. The "Octopus" album was included on one of the pages. I saw it in a used record shop and bought it out of curiosity. I'm sure I listened to it at least once, I'll have to give it a second try.

Back when I was skooling, I thought it would be a sweet gig to be an album cover designer. Wound up being an Engineer (nerd type, not train driver). I do have the poster version of Yes's "Tales from Topographic Oceans" cover by Roger Dean hanging in my office at work. It does garner attention.

I thought of another one:

The power (third panel) and the glory (first two panels)

And the third panel is "Retribution".

So I'd have to think it's your question, now, LW - and perhaps we should go with some easy ones this time around?

I agree, lake_wrangler's dedication and diligence gives him the win. Many of those were references I'd sorta had in mind myself, and others are ones I hadn't thought of.

I'll just suggest a couple of others, from the "extra credit" section... songs where the lyrics or music seem appropriate to the characters.

A live version of the lovely and wistful after-love ballad Think Of Me With Kindness - for Monica and Kevin, of course.

And, somehow, between the auto shop, her vision-quest experience, and the years of fear in the Time Forest before she came into her true power, The Runaway seems right for Shelly. If you've never heard Gentle Giant, this isn't a bad place at all to start.

Take it away, lake_wrangler!

jwhouk wrote:And the third panel is "Retribution".

Unfortunately, "Retribution" does not seem to be either an album title or a song title for that group, so no bonus points for that.

On the other hand, having now looked up their albums and song titles to a certain degree, I can now claim bonus points for this song title from one of their albums:

"I Lost My Head"

jwhouk wrote:So I'd have to think it's your question, now, LW - and perhaps we should go with some easy ones this time around?

You might be right... the last few questions took a while to answer, apart from the one about Shelly's cold...

Dave wrote:I agree, lake_wrangler's dedication and diligence gives him the win. Many of those were references I'd sorta had in mind myself, and others are ones I hadn't thought of.
[...]
Take it away, lake_wrangler!

Thank you, thank you... I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitress!


Now, for the reason we're here:
Q: Who is either afraid of, or at the very least thoroughly dislikes, spiders?

lake_wrangler wrote:Q: Who is either afraid of, or at the very least thoroughly dislikes, spiders?

Shelly (one of several instances... just the easiest to find.)

C'mon, LW, that was too easy... and you'd just mentioned Shelly in your previous post! I'm going to decline winner's privilege and hand it back to you... could you give us one that's at least a bit obscure?