Page 1489…
Hi all!
So… a strange thing happened yesterday.
One of you donated $250 towards a new computer.
Yikes.
I really wasn’t planning on running a drive or anything towards that (though, of course I desperately need new computers).
I spoke to this person and explained things…but was told that they were a fan and wanted to help.
Can I say again how AMAZING you guys are?
Anyways. So… THIS is the computer I was looking at getting.
CLICK THE IMAGE TO GO TO THE URL
It’s an amazing deal for only $999 and should be MUCH faster than the machines I currently have.
Ideally… I need 3 of these. But for now…if we could get one…it would help me a lot.
This was YOUR idea, folks. I’m just following your lead here.
Okay?
I’ll update this as we get more donations.
Again. If we hit $1,000… I’m totally cool with that.
Now… I offered this generous reader a painting of their choice. And they accepted.
I really don’t feel comfortable with donations. I never have.
So… if anyone donates over $100… please let me send you a painting.
Seriously.
And for everyone else who donates…please let me know what I could do in exchange.
More desktops. Sing a song. Something.
Here’s the link to donate.
And…I guess that’s it. Right?
Let me know your thoughts.
And thank you again.
Scott
Oh… and I painted Ron Weasley…
A technical issue, Scott. Looks like yesterday’s page was replaced by a copy of today’s one.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall show me the king and queen of the elves….. or someplace within Dreamland.
I hope you get your computers and great big hugs or thumbs up if you don’t like hugs to eveybody who is donating towards helping Scott.
Great comic as always 🙂
We’re good mermaid again, I see… and still no reaction from either Alexander I the Silent or the sword.
Oh, well, on to the TWC daily post. #7 with 8,516 votes. #6 has 9,490. Looks like the gap is closing little by little. Keep it up, fellow Dreamies, keep voting!
Niviene, Niviene… Néver sell a skin before the bear is shot… You are a bit tóo sure of Your interpretation of Dreamland’s rules.
The sword chose Alex. Question is: was that because he was the only one of the twins that was available, “chose a king by proxy” or was there more to it?
Still not loving the mermaid and the bolding in her statement about the true and rightful king.
Maybe that’s just me
It is not just you. I think she’s jealous.
Agreed.
True dat!
And Alex is suspiciously quiet. I wouldn’t be too surprised that, given his habitof actually wanting to “help”, he is already pondering a way to get Niviene and Merlin together somehow. He could be thinking about asking Dan, I guess.
One good piece of advice:
Sellers usually try to charge extra for pre-installed software. I would personally refuse to pay even a CENT extra for that crap package Microsoft Office (Word, Excel etc).
Why, you ask?
1: There are many fully compatible FREE versions available today, like Google docs, OpenOffice and LibreOffice (spellcheck that last one).
2: I don’t see why you would be using any of these rendering machines for writing love letters to Hollywood producers – you can still use your old can for that.
So if you want to save even more money, such “full licences” are usually some $100-150. Try to rid that from these machines, and you’re down to maybe $750 per machine!
I was thinking in the lines of LuckyWeasel above.
Scott:
If the Pool of Auryn was able to find Alex’s home, couldn’t they ask the pool to show Nastajia’s parents? Even if they are not close to an open natural body of water, they would get a hint of where to look for them.
(Tip if that would crash your plot: they may be hidden by magic, so the pool cannot find them.)
For a moment there,I thought Niviene was going to split Alex and Nastajia apart or will she?
Yikes. Thank you.
Fixed.
Okay…
I just woke up and found over $900 in NEW donations already!
(I had to double check 3 times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming).
STUNNED
Looks like I’m picking up the first computer today. Thank you all!
Yay!
Meaning: more detailed grass, flowers, leaves, bigger and better skin textures, real fur for Felicity (although the velours-like texture You used on the bigger renders looks pretty darn good) Oohh.. Shiney..
Yup!
I just ordered the comp. It might take 10-14 days to build and ship.
Shipping and Tax was another $115.
I had $7 left over…ha ha.
This will help SO much.
Awwww gosh, if you weren’t a state away I could build you that system for a couple hundred dollars less! I’m a bit of a Dell downer because my HP bias always shows through, but that does look like a good system and if you’re not a PC guru like me, Dell has some of the best warranties in the industry.
I’ve received a few emails from helpful readers who are smarter than me in building a computer.
Here’s what I’ve been replying with:
“I’m no computer expert for sure.
But I’ve purchased a lot over the years.
A couple of reasons why I went with this one are:
1) Dell. They’ve been very good for me…and have replaced parts and such for free in the past
2) Costco. They’re very good about returns and such
3) The storage space (2TB) as some scenes in Dreamland are over a gigabyte each (that’s per frame on a page).
I have about 1.5 Terrabytes of Dreamland right now.
4) The ram definitely is a must.
5) Believe it or not. I just wrote my first prose novel…on a free trial of Microsoft Office.
The literary agent needs me to work in Microsoft word.
So the addition of that is actually a plus.
6) The Blue Ray burner should be a wonderful way of backing up files
7) The $300 off made the deal irresistible.
:)”
Really? For me, 1488 and 1489 are still the same…
OK, fixed. I wish Firefox was better at accepting updated pages tho. >:/
I gotta say I agree. Niviene sure seems in an awful hurry to get Alex out and Dan in. I’m sort of wondering if Alex might be thinking about this too. Bet he’ll bounce all this off Dan and Nicole next time he’s awake, though Nicole’s impartiality may be compromised now.
Finally! Now we’re getting somewhere. Find out what she knows and then tell crab queen where she can stick that magic staff.
hmmm. Pushy much? besides, there is that curse that prevents his brother from dreaming. have they mentioned that to her?
Who doesn’t like hugs?
Doesn’t seem like it. Someone mentioned the possibility of an off-screen explanation, but I’m not really seeing anything that points to it, so I’m going to assume Niviene’s still blissfully ignorant.
I’m attributing the moodswings between pushy and helpful to the fact that she was supposed to be tail-dragging tired many panels ago. She must have slugged some Red Bull or N0s or something because now she seems as energetic as ever.
Try Ctrl-Shift-R. This should make any Mozilla browser reload all page elements even if they’re stored in your local cache (and if you’re using a proxy, it’ll also force the proxy server to fetch the current version.)
You might want to look into the Dell outlet which usually has great computers at a lower cost plus there are always coupons (typically 20% off) for the outlet.
Still dislike Niviene. A lot. Hoping that they find a way to let adults into Dreamland besides the king. Solve a lot of issues. Looking forward to leaving the mermaid asap.
I don’t know about the rest of you but hey, I’m sold.
I think there’s a reason adults aren’t allowed in Dreamland. It’s a children’s magic realm. Adults would just mess it up.
I think this could be resolved with grace, if there becomes a way that both brothers can enter.
Scott has always bolded words…I don’t think it’s necessarily a random thing, but the bold words don’t always feel like a natural emphasis of speech, so maybe it’s not intended for Niviene to sound that way?
Cheers for Microsoft Word! 🙂 I understand that some people really don’t like the Office package, but if you have to have files that are compatible with most users…Microsoft it is! (Plus, I like the familiar. Learning something new is reserved for when that new thing is an astronomically better product that still is workable by other people.)
A good point. There is a strong possibility that if Dan took a nap with the sword pendant, that it just wouldn’t choose him. Just like it did with Nicole. The King of Dreamland has been chosen.
Frankly, the selection of bedtime jewelry makes as much sense for a basis for a system of government as strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords from some farcicial aquatic ceremony!
The only reason Dan can’t come is because another option for the throne is there – Alex. But if Dan comes and Alex leaves, then Arthur could never come back, which means Merlin wouldn’t be able to either. Am I right? Can’t wait to see how this turns out!
There isn’t a curse keeping Dan out. Scott has already explained to us that Dan was only kept out because he was the rightful heir, and for all intents and purposes, Arthur wasn’t “gone”. The law of Dreamland states that so long as the king is still there, the next successor cannot enter (it was created that way to prevent wars of succession). Once Alex took the Sword of Kings, Arthur was released, and the ban on Dan (if you will) was removed. Now, all Dan has to do to enter Dreamland, is go to sleep with the sword necklace on. Problem is, if he does that, Alex will not be able to use the necklace to get back in ever again.
That was certainly what Nic thought…though in the end he was pretty intent on keeping kids out, too.
It’s not as if the Sword had much choice at first. Alex was apparently the first one in the thousand years or so since Arthur was put into his coma who entered the Crypt and pulled it out of the slab. By sheer good luck, he was close enough in bloodline to the real King to become King in Dan’s stead. Since then and his return to Dreamland, it’s been trying to forge him into kingly material. However, with Nic gone (for now) and Arthur passed on, IF the Sword wanted Dan, it could ask Alex to give it to him. It’s not doing so.
Niviene should perhaps consider that.
Scott, what about the software that you use? What benefit would you get from upgrading/replacing that?
Even if you have a support plan to get regular updates, those subscriptions cost money.
Yay for opening up for donations! 🙂
(Boo for Word Press thinking I’m posting too quickly! 🙁 I had to try three times to get this comment up.)
Posted this in the wrong spot, so duping here.
Scott, what about the rendering and other software that you use? What benefit would you get from upgrading/replacing that?
Even if you have a support plan to get regular updates, those subscriptions cost money.
Keep in mind that Niviene is old school. Older than old school. She expects everyone else to see the world the same way she sees it. Old people can get calcified with their values. “I gave up Merlin, you have to give up Alex.”
Unless she’s good at playacting and manipulation, her actions are wrong for jealousy. I think she’s sincere in believing Dan should be King, no matter how much emotional pain it causes.
The software is 3D Studio Max.
http://usa.autodesk.com/3ds-max/how-to-buy/
Yes…it’s $3,500
No…I can’t afford the latest.
I have a MUCH older version that seems to work fine.
To be perfectly honest…yes. It would help. But NO…I’m not going to look into buying it anytime soon.
You’re all too wonderful as it is.
Check the Donations graph above.
We’ve already ordered the first comp.
Thank you so much!
I love it. I check at 10:30 and your post says, “If we reach $1,000.” The meter’s almost as $1,500 already!
Perhaps Nivene has some hidden agenda. Maybe in the 1000 years or so, she has been corrupted by the nightmare realm and is just play nice until she can make her move. It tends to be a fairly common plot element. 1k years of lonelyness and bitterness of loosing her love makes her more susceptable to becoming tainted, only to be redeemed in her last moments, etc. I’m curious to see how this plays out, cause she dosn’t seem to be letting her point go, which indicates she is in some kindof rush, etc.
One suggestion.
The current version “Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012” is available for 30 day free trial download. Try it on one of the new machines and decide if it is faster/has useful features, etc.
I personnally like Comp USA for my computer stuff. Ive tried Best Buy but i found out thier geek squad doesnt do much to fix computers. I asked one of them what was the difference between some of the video cards and the only thing they could tell me what was on the box. Altho they do have some great deals on other stuff.
I DID try it a few months ago. Was incredible.
But again…it’s thirty five hundred freaking dollars!
Yikes!
Yeah, I dunno about this whole spin on the situation in the comic… Even if Niviene is right, this whole thing about her talking to Staj to decide what happens next, like Alex is just a prop as opposed to a real live person participating in a conversation? It’s rather obnoxious of both Niviene and Staj.
I think it would work extremely well if we had _something_ in here like an interleaving page of Alex saying he knows Dan would be a great king and wishes it were possible, but it doesn’t seem like it is possible. Then have Niviene say they’ll find a way.
But as it is, it just comes across as “duh I’ll just sit here silently while these chicks decide to end my relationship AND my entire role here.”
Merlin’s inaccessible because he’s stuck in a tree. Well, more accurately, he went off into the Between the two worlds, through the tree, to try and solve whatever’s going on. Perhaps he’s how the sword necklace finally made its way to the twins.
For the life of me I cna’t figure out what those yellow ribbons are in the background. o.O
My dreams always had tons of adults running around. if the adults didn’t know it was ” real” and just thought ” oh, this dream again” it might be ok.
Also, I think the $3500 version is just “one seat.”
I don’t know if you would need 3 copies, if the other PCs could be run at virual machines without a “seat,” or if they would be a discount if you had to get 3 copies.
They are decorations.
http://thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/chapter-17/page-1420/
I like office because I’m familiar with it, both good things and bad. OTOH, I’ve had problems with OpenOffice WP’s spell checking shutting off after about half a page of text is typed.
Well, Scott has already said that if Dan uses the necklace, he will be able to get to Dreamland. It just means that Alex will be shut out from Dreamland. So there is the brothers’ conundrum.
Thanks for reiterating this so well, Julie. 🙂
Alex will continue to be a prop until he asserts himself as a leader. Until he believes he can lead, he will stay in the background. He can fight. He slayed a dragon. But he has yet to actually step up and take the lead. He’s still letting everyone else (Dan, Nastajia) make the decisions. Until he stops doing that, all he will be is a prop.
He doesn’t believe in himself yet. That is his trial and his “hero’s journey.”
I just have to say this…
<3 Thank you, Mr. Sava. For running such a great comic, and for being so kind to all us fans.
Actually, Scott has clearly stated that Dan can come to Dreamland. All he has to do is use the necklace. However, if he does so, Alex will be forever blocked from Dreamland.
Here! Here!
The main reason adults are not allowed into Dreamlands is probably related to the impact adult dreams would have on the comic’s rating.
Can I just pop in and say how ridiculously happy this comic makes me? Not only is this a fantastic, family-friendly comic, which is rare, but the community here is amazing, and so is Scott. To see feedback and interaction like this, and fans supportive and kind enough to donate so readily, is really amazing. And Scott for being so thoughtful to his fans and for making such a great comic to begin with. I love all you guys, and I would donate myself if I had any way to pay online.
[CountVonCount]
VON! Von upgraded computer! Ah ah ah…
[/CountVonCount]
go to the blue dream studio banner,wright a email and ask Scott for the number of his bank,or ask a friend who is able to pay online ,to donate and pay the friend{that is what i have done}or……where a will is there is a way ,is a saying here in Holland
Me. I hate hugs.
I’m pretty sure that covers the network rendering for a small studio like mine.
Thank you.
I guess we’re one big happy family.
🙂
I love making this story…and it seems a lot of you enjoy reading it.
But over the last 6 years…the community of readers have become more like friends and family. I’ve met several of you. Introduced you to my family. And you’ve shared so much with me.
Just updated the chart again.
I changed the goals to match the actual cost after tax and shipping.
We’re almost at the price of a SECOND computer!
This is just amazing!
Looks like you have lots of fans who want you to have the equipment you need to continue to create this story.
Or she’s channeling her feelings into her decisions, so she feels that it’s the right thing for Dan to be king to her. In my mind she’s simply not even giving Alex the time of day because he doesn’t fit her image of the last (and only) king of dreamland she saw or his adviser (Arthur and Merlin) and her disappointment is driving her decisions more than logic.
+1 to BMonk for stating the facts. 😀
Not to be the harbinger of bad news, but…according to the link from the picture of the computer, it’s sold out!
Am I the only one who likes Niviene and how Scott has written her? I find her a more complex character than most others, because she seems to have darker flaws and bigger hurts. And the fact that the reader just isn’t sure which side she’s on makes her an interesting character. I put her right up there with Nic on my “favorite characters” list.
Oh, COME ON!
REALLY?
REALLY?
LOL! That’s just insane.
Funny, I haven’t had an issue with Open Office yet, and you can save files in Word 97 / 2003 format which can be opened by even the most modern Microsoft Word to date.
The only issue I can think of is the typesetting gets a little funny when you switch between the two programs, but beyond that my experience of working with files in both systems is flawless (I tend to need OOo for things like copying web tables into spreadsheet cells, and with a little bit of care OOo can do that in spades, Excel doesn’t offer that functionality whatsoever from what I’ve experienced.)
Assuming the sword will let Dan in mind you…
As a character she’s well developed, but at the same time, her stance against the protagonist is what’s driving the negative criticism, rather than any lack of depth of character.
I think Mord Sith just beat me to what I was going to say. (Curses! Foiled again!) So instead, I will quote myself and say…
“My short definition of the two terms is that a protagonist, the reader wants to see succeed against the plot problems in a story while an antagonist, the reader wants to see thrown into an active volcano. Doesn’t mean they’re not interesting characters, just not very sympathetic ones.”
Hmmmm, it’d be nice to see what the full room looks like some time. I bet it’s pretty neat looking!
I hear that. If I don’t know you, keep outta my personal space. A step back is the most polite response your likely to get.
Not too much of a worry. You can get a comparable system on Ebay and just add what you need. This one is about $1100 and has all but the Blu-Ray drive and the Office SW. Sometimes the Office SW will allow you to load onto 3 boxes (my store bought Office Home and Student 2007 lets me do this).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200747758225
I didn’t see the specs on the CostCo unit. Was the Blu-Ray drive a “combo” that read Blu-Ray but could only write DVD-R/RW? Or was it a full Blu-Ray reader and burner?
Oh, I know that and I agree — but the point is they’re TREATING him like one by talking over him. And not just about the kingship… they’re talking about the end of his relationship here, too.
Scott has already said that it will.
Agreed. And once he stops allowing them to speak over him, they will back off. It’s in Alex’s hands.
And what a boring story it would be if everything went our hero’s way. Thank Scott for Niviene! Honestly, folks. She’s just telling it like it is.