22nd October, 2013 - Don't go!

[willpell]

But I will never read another story written by THunt.

I'm not aware of him having plans to write any more.

[Unlucky-for-Some]

I waited a week before posting to see if I still feel the same.

I do.

After this incredibly awful update (the complete killing of the MinMax-Kin relationship), I still plan to finish reading Goblins (since I've already spent so much time on it). But I will never read another story written by THunt. I'm fed up with authors who think the only-way or best-way to provide drama is to kill key characters and/or relationships that are favorites of the readers. It's become quite the trend in recent years, but it's unnecessary. It's so common now that I see it as more of a cheap cop-out than a useful dramatic story-telling technique. I'm done with all authors who feel compelled to bring this technique into their storytelling.

Trend? What if it just that this is the story Thunt wanted to tell? The way you say it, it sounds like you think this some fad bandwagon that Thunt is jumping on in an effort to be cool. Maybe the MinMax/Kin relationship was always doomed in the story Thunt had planned out.

[DrinksTooMuchCoffee]

I was also thinking that "MinMax 'rescues' Kin from Goblinslayer and the two of them live happily ever after" isn't much of a story, and shorts Kin's character, IMO.

[Unlucky-for-Some]

Also, if you are going to put a challenge in front of the relationship, in order for it to be a "real" challenge, it can't be obvious to the readers from the outset that overcoming the challenge is a foregone conclusion. Otherwise it is a bit of a waste of time. In order for it to be dramatic the readers have to be able to believe that the relationship could actually fail at this point. As indeed it might.

[willpell]

I was also thinking that "MinMax 'rescues' Kin from Goblinslayer and the two of them live happily ever after" isn't much of a story, and shorts Kin's character, IMO.

Well yeah if you do it just like that, but that's not a problem with happy endings, it's a problem with lazy storytelling. The process can be infinitely more complex and interesting, but come to the same overall conclusion.

[Davis8488]

So, I started watching the original Star Wars trilogy this week. I just finished Empire Strikes Back, and damn George Lucas, I 'm not watching return of the Jedi! Why would he let Han and Leia fall in love, only to separate them? And the rebellion is all but crushed. That's the worst ending I've seen since 3:10 to Yuma, and I am done with the series!

[Mad Mick]

Yeah, the same thing happened to me when I read Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. D'Artagnan goes to so much trouble to rescue Constance Bonacieux, and

► Show Spoiler

Milady kills her!

OK, I thought, that's a downer, but I'll give Dumas another chance, so I picked up The Count of Monte Cristo. Dantes is about to marry to the perfect woman, Mercedes, and

► Show Spoiler

he ends up getting locked up in prison for 14 years, and his fianc├®e marries his rival!

I was so disgusted that I stopped reading at that point. What kind of an author does that to his audience?

No, of course, I kept reading, because Monte Cristo is a fantastic story. Still, we're not always guaranteed a happy ending.

[RedwoodElf]

I was also thinking that "MinMax 'rescues' Kin from Goblinslayer and the two of them live happily ever after" isn't much of a story, and shorts Kin's character, IMO.

Well yeah if you do it just like that, but that's not a problem with happy endings, it's a problem with lazy storytelling. The process can be infinitely more complex and interesting, but come to the same overall conclusion.

Schmendrick's quote comes to mind: "There are no happy endings, because nothing ends."

[willpell]

Perhaps he had not heard of a little thing called "death"....?

[BuildsLegos]

As with every end, death is also the beginning of something else.

[thinkslogically]

Perhaps he had not heard of a little thing called "death"....?

I think the point is more that 'happy endings' are only a product of where you stop telling the story, not because everything will always be ok for everyone in the story forevermore. And besides, death is only an ending for the person who dies. The rest of the world and its inhabitants keep going There are more elegant quotes describing the same sentiment, e.g.

ÔÇ£There is no real ending. ItÔÇÖs just the place where you stop the story.ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Frank Herbert

ÔÇ£And will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live.ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Stephen King, The Dark Tower

ÔÇ£I am hopeful, though not full of hope, and the only reason I don't believe in happy endings is because I don't believe in endings.ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

[harlequin]

This has probably been mentioned, but I'm glad that Kin has realised the true seeing link between her and minMax (her shocked expression looking at his bloody hand while cradling her own pained hand), it's just a shame it only happened as he was leaving.

[willpell]

As with every end, death is also the beginning of something else.

True. Whether it's a good something, however, remains unknown.

[Centurion013]

I waited a week before posting to see if I still feel the same.

I do.

After this incredibly awful update (the complete killing of the MinMax-Kin relationship), I still plan to finish reading Goblins (since I've already spent so much time on it). But I will never read another story written by THunt. *snip*

Just thought I would drop in and give my two cents. I am not a 'shipper in any sense of the word, as I am not online often enough to be something like that. But I know a story that has gone off the rails for me, personally, when I see it.

The last few updates in the Maze of Many location are the equivalent of someone grabbing the steering wheel and wrenching it while you're driving down the highway. Mind you, there doesn't seem to have been much to the Kin-Max relationship, since it fell apart like a Play-Doh sculpture at the first tremor. But I thought the sudden wrench was clumsy and yes, I *AM* one of those people who does not see life-long suspense as a reward, but in fact believes "getting the girl" (or the guy, for Kin) is what constitutes the happy ending of one arc and the beginning of another.

Real life may not turn out that way all the time, but the fact that it does much of the time - and that a good number of us expect and desire after something like that, regardless of our culture - assures me that my reaction is not amiss.

I have decided (once again) to drop Goblins from my bookmarks. The storyline is... well, its people are not behaving like real people anymore, and I can't stand that in a movie. Or a novel. You can mock me and point out this is 'just a comic about fantasy characters', but the fact remains, it is a story about people, as are all good stories, and I think this one has gone off the rails. I will be back to see how things develop in a couple of years.

Jeez, Tarol. Your comic is full of gore, hatred and misery from one end to the other. You couldn't leave one flower intact to brighten up the place?

[YardMeat]

[Unlucky-for-Some]

well said YardMeat, well said indeed

[Wolfie]

well said YardMeat, well said indeed

Cept we are no where near the end of the comic... yet. There are so many plot points that need to be resolved that I'm sure things will even out later on.

Stopping reading here is like getting to page 107 of Fellowship of the Rings and being irritated they aren't in Mordor yet. (BTW, anyone who's read Tolkien, knows they don't get out of the Shire til 108 or 109).

[YardMeat]

well said YardMeat, well said indeed

Cept we are no where near the end of the comic... yet. There are so many plot points that need to be resolved that I'm sure things will even out later on.

Stopping reading here is like getting to page 107 of Fellowship of the Rings and being irritated they aren't in Mordor yet. (BTW, anyone who's read Tolkien, knows they don't get out of the Shire til 108 or 109).

I just meant that's where we are for the KinMax romance arc, though I'm sure there will be more peaks. The people who are giving up on the story seem to think that what we've just seen is the end, rather than a climactic moment.

[Wolfie]

I was agreeing with you... and just adding that weren't near the end of the comic. The picture you posted generally refers to the main plot and not the many side plots that often occur. (If they were shown, the graph would look like a Mandelbrot fractal)

[Madfox11]

Stopping reading here is like getting to page 107 of Fellowship of the Rings and being irritated they aren't in Mordor yet. (BTW, anyone who's read Tolkien, knows they don't get out of the Shire til 108 or 109).

More than enough people I know who do exactly that Personally I am also a bit of a stickler for a good end, having recently read a few too many stories were the hero never gets to enjoy his work (which makes sense from a realism point of view, but I don't read stories for realism ), but it is not as if there is no hope. I do realize it will be some time though before we see it resolved... and that can be a bit of a pain and unlike with Tolkien I cannot just flip over a pages of boring travel description

[Liesmith]

I started reading The Amazing Spiderman, and I was really liking this Peter Parker character. Then, he gets bitten by a spider! They're just going to kill him off; I am done with this franchise.

[vonpenguin]

Not sure if this has been mentioned in the 19 previous pages but... It's fully possible that Minmax grabbed the leash by accident when he was really going for her forearm. Kin's reaction is still 100% understandable and appropriate but I think it at least takes some of the "what the hell hero" away from Minmax and increases the odds of a reconciliation.

[RedwoodElf]

I started reading The Amazing Spiderman, and I was really liking this Peter Parker character. Then, he gets bitten by a spider! They're just going to kill him off; I am done with this franchise.

I was OK with the spider, but then they had to go and kill Uncle Ben! (Whups...sorry for the spoiler!)

[Wolfie]

I started reading The Amazing Spiderman, and I was really liking this Peter Parker character. Then, he gets bitten by a spider! They're just going to kill him off; I am done with this franchise.

I was OK with the spider, but then they had to go and kill Uncle Ben! (Whups...sorry for the spoiler!)

No more rice??? I loved his rice...

[Kamos]

Well you know what they say. With powerful rice comes tangy spicy responsibility.