MegaTokyo Forums

This is reminding me of Kanon. Ayu is in a coma as well, but she is able to form a physical presence and interact with other people. So similar mechanic maybe? Although I am wondering why Largo isn't seeing it. So is this a closed communication between the girls, or is Largo deliberately not seeing them interact? I wonder what a video recording or photo would show?

Roborat wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 02, 2019 3:25 pm

This is reminding me of Kanon. Ayu is in a coma as well, but she is able to form a physical presence and interact with other people. So similar mechanic maybe? Although I am wondering why Largo isn't seeing it. So is this a closed communication between the girls, or is Largo deliberately not seeing them interact? I wonder what a video recording or photo would show?

https://forums.megatokyo.com/viewtopic.php?p=7316#p7316

Start from there

Invisigoth wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 02, 2019 1:23 pm

Naw, Largo just wasn't invited to the meeting. Also what Moeko is doing is every bit as real as it gets and that's why she's such a danger as she could potentially end reality

Kinda reminds me of an old comic article in "Heavy Metal", where there is a girl whose telekinetic ability is so powerful, she could literally erase reality if she even thought about it...

…..everyone tried to end her life to save the universe, but it just didn't quite work out.

Rapierman wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 02, 2019 10:03 pm

Kinda reminds me of an old comic article in "Heavy Metal", where there is a girl whose telekinetic ability is so powerful, she could literally erase reality if she even thought about it...

…..everyone tried to end her life to save the universe, but it just didn't quite work out.

Or possibly "It's a Good Life" episode 73 of the original The Twilight Zone. Based on the 1953 short story "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby and is considered by some, such as Time and TV Guide, to be one of the best episodes of the series. It originally aired on November 3, 1961.

But Billy Mummy was not in a coma.

In today's world, it would be a player with a machine so powerful that the game engine decided It could run a dedicated server on it... Which the player has haxxed and turned into a private sandbox. Or something kinda like a private sandbox in F*nite...

Just because you are "in a coma" does not mean you are unaware - sadly, there is medical evidence of this, which is kind of scary (see "locked in syndrome" but if Meoko had this then the hospital would be aware, 100%). That's the exception though and normally a "coma" is an inability to respond to stimuli in an external fashion beyond basic reflex - the nerve signal goes to the CNS but does not produce a response beyond that. E.g. if you pinch a coma patient's hand they may pull the hand away but they would not attempt to slap you with their other hand or cover their hand. A coma can be due to drugs (medically induced) or brain injury and generally lasts for a few weeks. If it goes on for longer than that the assessment is normally changed to "persistent vegetative state", not "coma" but the two terms may be interchangeable, even in the long term. Coma does suggest that the state may be left at some point and awareness restored.

And none of this fits with what we are seeing from Moeko! The closest fit is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis_lethargica, as featured in the film "Awakenings". In which case she wouldn't awaken without being given medication (L-Dopa).

So - most likely - this is Erika projecting an awareness onto Moeko and acting out a hallucination. Or it's MT magic, in which case all bets are off.

Yes mistersaxon, it’s magic

Not to be a prude, but It feels like the comic is turning into an HBO series.

McTrooper wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 03, 2019 9:34 am

Not to be a prude, but It feels like the comic is turning into an HBO series.

And this would be a problem...why?

Invisigoth wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 03, 2019 10:19 am

McTrooper wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 03, 2019 9:34 am

Not to be a prude, but It feels like the comic is turning into an HBO series.

And this would be a problem...why?

Well for one thing, I don't get HBO.

lol

Game of Thrones is just another ripoff of Endgames, right???

g.o.t. started in 1996 so I would not go there tho...

Some of the old strips took on new meaning with Moeko's revelation.

For example, in strip 202 Kimiko mentioned off-hand that she figured making her costumes hard to remove would keep Erika out of trouble. The natural assumption was that it was directed at Erika's amply demonstrated propensity for violence, but it seems now that Kimiko was talking about a different sort of trouble.

Strip 397, where Erika suggested keeping a fan-drawn picture away from food. Mayhaps events in her self-destructive phase informed her low opinion of fans?

What about all the times Erika went out of her way to avoid being in Largo's debt? Were they just Hayasaka being Hayasaka, or were they hints to how exactly things unraveled in the events leading up to Kimiko's broken nose?

Bingo Aube!

That's exactly what all of those strips were pointing toward, I suspect we haven't seen the end of revelations either.....

Invisigoth wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:34 am

Yes mistersaxon, it’s magic

Well okay then, as long as we're clear

That last panel has left me VERY worried. If as has been said here, she has reality-warping powers, what's to stop her from switching bodies with Erika? She may have the power and certainly does have motive. She also strikes me as being a bit unconcerned with the welfare of others.

I don't think she'd switch bodies as that'd basically put Erika in a coma from which she'd have no outlet not being and MG and then Moeko would have an unfamiliar body to deal with. Now she may well ride Erika like a Loa but I don't think she wants to actively possess her even if she can which may not actually be possible.

She does seem to have been able to experience Erika the same way that Miho was experiencing Kimi and Piro's intimacy and Moeko only seemed to have become upset at the prospect that Erika didn't do all those things that she did in fact do.

The most dangerous thing is that she wakes up...and I fear that she may well wake up

So the question really is, does she WANT to wake up...?
There is little doubt now, that she COULD if she WANTED to...

cidjen wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:30 pm

So the question really is, does she WANT to wake up...?
There is little doubt now, that she COULD if she WANTED to...

I think it's pretty clear from [1541] that she would like to wake up but cannot.

paarfi wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:58 pm

cidjen wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:30 pm

So the question really is, does she WANT to wake up...?
There is little doubt now, that she COULD if she WANTED to...

I think it's pretty clear from [1541] that she would like to wake up but cannot.

Yeah, There's still something I don't get... MIHO made her the magical girl? What kind of system is this? Miho makes Moeko. Moeko is popularized by Erika who lives her life. Erika goes off the rails and Miho "jumps the queue" to the end spot, but it goes badly. And now Kimiko is linking in "ahead" of Miho? Or is the system non-linear, with arrows going everywhere? And Gameru gets drunk and goes on rampages. (Unrelated but why not?)

Feedback? Tribulation for going against the Dao? Who knows? (Aside from Fred.)

EDIT: Oh my. I just realized I've been misreading 1541 all this time. I thought it said, "You have so much life, you GIVE some of it to me!" Imperative, a demand. But it's "...you GAVE some of it to me!" Declarative. Statement of fact. That changes the scene tremendously. The implication is that if Miho hadn't connected to her somehow, Moeko would still be unaware.

Other questions that occur to me. How long has Moeko been in a coma? Obviously not her whole life. From her apparent age in 1540-1541? Would explain her apparent age and carrying of a teddy bear. Although her connection to Erika has influenced her somewhat (use of slang, aggressive about her nudity, take-no-sh*t attitude), her mental self-image is still the child she was (might have been?) when she went into the coma.

Ubu wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:13 am

Feedback? Tribulation for going against the Dao? Who knows? (Aside from Fred.)

Often Fred doesn't know until the characters tell him.

Ubu wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:13 am

Other questions that occur to me. How long has Moeko been in a coma? Obviously not her whole life. From her apparent age in 1540-1541? Would explain her apparent age and carrying of a teddy bear. Although her connection to Erika has influenced her somewhat (use of slang, aggressive about her nudity, take-no-sh*t attitude), her mental self-image is still the child she was (might have been?) when she went into the coma.

in 1500 Ririka tells Erika that Moeko has "Been in a coma since before you gave her a voice."

It’s kinda strange to me... everyone’s freaking out about Moeko’s powers as though she was going to turn into some kind of eldritch horror. But, despite not being very nice, what’s the one thing we’ve seen her do with her power? Step in at the last moment, and ask Miho not to give up and die. And also to give Yaku’s presence and feelings more weight.

I think the manifestation of her power is unnerving people because we don’t understand it. She seems to be inserting herself into people’s meta-realities. I guess? I don’t really understand it either. But aside from Largo’s threat assessment and the vague one-liner at the end of the page, Moeko has been no more intentionally threatening than her teddy werebear. Ririka would have a good idea of what kind of person she was before the coma, and she’s the one who sent them her way.

Also, side note, I get the feeling the people who are hung up on Erika’s sexual activity wouldn’t feel the same if her character was a man. People have sex. And when they’re craving intimacy, sometimes they have a lot of sex. Safe, consensual sex is not self-destructive, nor is it shameful. Not even if you happen to be a woman.

Edit: This isn’t based on any facts, but I get the feeling that even if Moeko took Erika out for a joyride, it’d be to eat ice cream and whack Miho a couple more times. Not to destroy reality as we know it. Now, would that be a side effect? I dunno.

Selvius wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:30 pm

I think the manifestation of her power is unnerving people because we don’t understand it.

Sort of like 2d people wouldn't understand a 3d character suddenly appearing in their world... yeah.

To me it looks like Stability/Order Faction does think she's a threat. Hence the sensors and tags and alarms. They think, that she's with the Chaos side. She might be Good Chaos, like Largo, but still Chaos. Maybe that's why Largo isn't sensing her.

Chaos and Order are not applicable to Moeko and the very nature of her powers constitute a tangible threat. She isn't like Raven in Snowcrash who happens to own a nuclear warhead that no one can figure out how to neutralize, Moeko can warp reality to say, make everyone in the TPCD be her friend and all be deeply personally indebted to her.

She has the capacity to end reality and substitute her own should she come out of her coma.