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OKAY, so I think I need to explain what happened right here…but I’m not going to, so feel free to speculate. TAO MANIPULATION, it’s a thing, maybe!

So, UGH, I really want to go back to twice a week update schedule, but I need to prove to myself that such a feat is possible. I’m going to try to build up a buffer of pages and make sure it’s possible for me to get two done a week. I could possible adopt a ‘two pages every other week’ schedule, although that would be a more unorthodox approach. We’ll see what happens!

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  • endplanets

    No! No way we have strain from the path. Now come on, there are so many more doctors to punch and taxi drivers to not pay.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      The Tao demands more fists to faces!

  • Scott Henry

    Wouldn’t people notice a BLACK man wandering around Japan in modern day clothes? he would stick out like a sore thumb. Come on man. At this day and age black people were still slaves and servants. Not free men. And even if the were, Japan wouldnt be really used to them.

    • KungFuKlobber

      Well, nobody seems to notice that everyone else is white …

      • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

        OH SNAP!

      • endplanets

        I feel the need to reference Takao Ozawa v. United States here. I know everyone is white, but is everyone WHITE?
        Except for Ricardo Bartello and maybe Matrix.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      There are several possible explanation to this, I’m not just not sure what they are.

      • Mike

        He’s using the SEP field of course.

      • Jonathan B

        I’ve personally assumed that he and his competitor had the ability to choose whether they were visible to the ordinary humans or not. Neither of them exactly blend in, so it would explain a lot.

    • endplanets

      Freaking cosplayers!

    • SeanMcTiernan

      Um, I’m sorry, thus far, we’re in a feudal Japan that has hot dog carts, gyro vendor, matchlock rifles, and advanced trick swords that are completely convincing as real weapons as a common thing. I think we sort of left historical accuracy and realism a ways back, man.

      • Scott Henry

        Nah a few things added doesnt mean all of a sudden everything about the period of history is gone and sorry, a black man dressing like that would be noticed.

        • SeanMcTiernan

          Unless the taoists have eyes in the back of their heads, then the only people he would need to worry about noticing him aren’t an issue. As well, it clearly shows that he just sort of pops into scene. I get the impression that him and Red can somewhat control their visibility.

          Otherwise, the long red-haired woman with a large rack and height equivalence to said black guy would likely be making a huge stir, and that’s not happening.

          And it isn’t a few small things. Gyros are greek, and no one seems weird about what gyros are. Hot dogs are American, and for the time frame (That being during Japan’s run of isolationism), they are a huge anachronism. Hell, I don’t think hot dogs actually even existed as such at that point in history.

          Then, of course, you failed to comment on red and white’s shades and duster, which are, with matchlocks being about two centuries before the duster, rather out of context as well. Plus, you know, the whole teleportation thing says they’re not really playing with historically accurate, so if you’re calling for accuracy, you’re way, WAY late to the party. And don’t try to pass that off, they’re not doing jutsus, or prayer scrolls, they just blip in and out.

    • SeanMcTiernan

      Oh, also, Blacks in the 1400s-1600 were *not* slaves and servants. In point of fact, the slave trade as you know it didn’t get rolling until *after* the Thirty Years War. In point of fact, as far as it goes for the time period, the Moors of the time were actually lauded for their advanced medicines, and learning.

    • Neska

      Eh, foreigners all look alike . . . /sarcasm

  • Sunwu

    Tao de Jing chapter 1: The path that is the path is not the true Path….

    • charles81

      Matrix Tao: There is no path

      • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

        Whoa…

      • SeanMcTiernan

        There is only the path that you forge.

        • Speedy Marsh

          The path is a forgery?

  • Sunwu

    I must say as a Taoist myself I hope we get to see either Cho or the brothers summon those hopping vampires and use wooden swords to slay demons

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      China has the best zombies!

  • charles81

    On schedule: the buffer will likely help you more than anything. Most artists styles (possibly not yours) benefit from doing multiple pages at a time rather than a single page. So rather than sketch out a single page you sketch out three then line them all, base colour and shade. Can increase productivity amazingly. So once you have a buffer up just switch to trying several pages at once with the knowledge you have several weeks of buffer to hold you while you work on that many.

    The only thing is… This can be a difficult system for artists who need a deadline right in their face to keep them on the ball. You finish three or six pages and you think you can sit back with three weeks until the next set are due.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      The truth is that I’m plenty motivated! I Think the biggest obstacle isn’t the art as much as the script. Although Joe and I have a story outline, all the dialog we write on a near weekly or biweekly basis. That makes it more difficult to write far ahead of the curve so that pages can be mass produced. Even when we do write several weeks or months ahead, we usually end up changing the script as it gets drawn! So basically what I’m saying is that to go to a two page a week update, I just have to bother Joe a lot more. I was actually doing three pages a week while working on the Hoopfighter project because the script was pre-written and all I had to do was draw it (granted, three pages a week was murder).

      • SeanMcTiernan

        There’s likely a happy medium in there, somewhere. I mean, you guys should be getting to a point with the characters that you essentially know how they’ll react to things.

      • Talewinds

        Dialog?
        Surely you mean Taolog!

        • John Smith

          Tagalog! (Native to the Philippines)

  • IDPounder

    Brother Wu, Brother Tang…meet Undercover Brother.

  • Lampros Liontos

    Huh. Now I thinkI see why he’s not worried about Matrix meddling. It allows him to meddle as well. I can’t help but wonder if the “Prophecy” is a part of their bet, or if it’s a wildcard he’s using to distract Yori’s allies.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Matrix clearly didn’t think through that change of stipulations!

  • Hfar

    Oh, you two are on a path alright. Don’t know if its the path you were thinking though.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      oh OH, you mean psychopath! I took me a minute.

  • Da’Zlein

    “Tao, where must we go?!?!”
    *point* “That way”
    “The Tao has spoken! We must go!”
    “Uh guys, I’m right behind you…”
    “We must not look back, lest the Tao punish us for our doubt!”

  • TheGreatEater

    http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Yin_%26_Yang_Manipulation

    or even

    http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Origin_Manipulation (which fits this a bit better in a way).

    Yes. Tao Manipulation is a thing. Although depends on if you mean manipulation of Tao as a universal, interconnected metaphysical force (Orgin Manipulation), or the manipulation of Yin and Yang energies (Yin-Yang Manipulation). Or possibly both.

    Still those links could give you some good inspiration for some awesome Taoism powers maybe?

  • MoveAlongCitizen

    I still say he’s the bad guy. I mean, look at all that White he’s wearing. Totally Bad Guy outfit right there.

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