Page 978…
Well. What a momentous week. Right?
Alex has finally learned to fly. And now we’re on our way to newer things.
Orion will now explain things. His motives.
Alex is on to bigger and better things. I promise.
For those of you who missed the live streams…here’s the link.
You can see the videos which will start instantly. Or you can go under ON DEMAND below the video screen to select a different one.
http://www.livestream.com/thedreamlandchronicles
And on that subject. Donna and a bunch of you were talking during the live stream and wanted to exchange recipes.
Well here’s her blog link.
http://ohdededear.wordpress.com/
Stop by and say hi.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week. And look forward to showing you more on Monday.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Scott
FIRST COMMENT! I win!
Geez, he went through all of that just so he could decide he wanted to fly so he wouldn’t die and leave Nastajia alone again? *sighs and rolls eyes* Boys have issues.
Great work, Scott! Keep it up, I can’t wait to see more!
hehehe… that proves Orions point right there, and that is just SO Alex!!
Thanks for all the fun and laughs Scott; u rock!
dude, most of the people here are really well tempered, but seriously, NO ONE CARES who gets the first comment; only that no one says ‘first’. Just read the great comic that Scott’s given us to enjoy, and don’t be overly immature. Thanks.
As dense as ever.
What are you trying to win? It doesn’t make any sense… Besides, I’m not sure if anyone else cares that you got the first comment…
If you would like to gloat about being able to say you are first to comment, please include something of substance to say. Win what anyway?
Almost as dense as Retaya.
I take that back… today’s the kum ba yah moment.
Good ol’ Alex. He’ll change for the better but he’ll always be himself.
🙂 first comment is totally a win, especially when they’re on an awesome webcomic!
I’m pretty much with Alex in that last panel. I know if I was falling off a cliff I would be terrified and probably not very successful in that moment at “overcoming fear and doubt.”
I love Alex’s dialogue with other characters, it just shows how simple he is compared to the others, which is just great and hilarious. I love his down-to-earth style of talking and attitude, it easily connects with me, ha-ha
Reading your comment makes me think, maybe teaching Alex to fly was actually easier than teaching any other adult to fly. As orion just said, Alex needed to be innocent/youthful/like a child…wonder if it helped that he was a simple guy to begin with?
Maybe that wasn’t a very strong argument… but let’s imagine for a second that Nicole managed to come back to dreamland and they try to teach her to fly >.>
As an adult myself, I know exactly what you mean. I’m not “simple” by any means but I do retain more… child-like wistfulness than your run-of-the-mill grown-up. I think it takes a certain kind of grown-up to still see some things in a child-like way.
Me, I looked for Narnia in my closet last week. ~_^
GROW A BACKBONE, ALEX
I don’t know, but Orion’s explanation sounds to me like someone with, shall we say, greater mental faculties would be able to intellectually understand the fact that their dream-self is separate from their physical self and therefore the same limits do not apply. This would then mean they’d be able to learn to fly via that route rather than what Alex just did. It seems to me Orion initially tried to go with the “understanding” approach, and switched to the “innocent, child-like” approach once he saw that wasn’t working.
I do agree that with some adults (e.g. Nicole), trying to get them to accept their environment at all would be the greatest challenge. And it seems that would be a prerequisite before you can learn to fly.
Of course, I’m no expert; I’ll leave it to Scott to confirm whether I’m wrong or right. 🙂
I think that Orion got it wrong. It was not being childlike or innocent that help Alix fly, it was his determination not to let Nastajia down.
He doesn’t need to, he has that super-tough elf armor…
Do they have really low entry requirements for colleges in the US or something? I have trouble with the concept that Alex managed to get into University at all, he’s so stupid and unmotivated! 0_o;
“you’re simply incapable of understanding the mechanics of controlling your dream-self”
… and obviously incapable of understanding the insult of that comment, or else he would have reacted… XD
(maybe it wasn’t meant as an insult, but it certainly comes across as one. or am I just paranoid? 😀 )
I imagine orion sighing after the last panel. 😉
or maybe he’s not (all that) stupid in academic matters. maybe he’s just in over his head with all the fantasy stuff. that and his social short-comings. 😉
/Sigh
*thinking cloud* How am i going to explain this… I know, lets do it again! *thinking cloud end*
Wait, what are you doing?!? would be my best guess for Alex his reaction when trown over the edge again.
I have the same argument there. If anything this experience made him come in touch more with his grown up self than anything else.
I like that last line of the conversation though; Alex will probably never change. 🙂
My question is: Which half of the explanation did he understand and which half went over his head?
AAAAAND so we see that the Wise Centaur is a lying weasel, too. He *DID* throw Alex off a cliff. Alex was RIGHT ALL ALONG.
But he had to forget about that discussion and have the fall be a surprise (and, of course, have Nastajia foremost in his mind when it happened). Now he just has to get the mechanics clear in his head so he can fly at will rather than whenever he happens to be in JUST the right frame of mind.
That will go a long way towards equalizing things with Nicky, too.
worst case: he got only the “be like a child again” part and will continue to act accordingly. 😉
Agreed. LOL
Congratulations on winning today’s prize. You are labeled as “The Moron” from now on. Dumbass.
Geez people.
Let Retaya have some fun.
Why call him/her names?
DLCFan just mentioned people here are well tempered.
Let’s show it.
There’s nothing offensive about someone shouting FIRST COMMENT!
I think the proper response is.
YAY! Congrats!
Let’s keep it light and fun here please.
Good Morning all!
which half, Alex?
cuz I got it all! ^^
I’m not entirely certain how throwing someone off of a cliff and forcing them to live for someone beyond themselves kindles child-like emotions.
There’s more to Orion’s point. I promise.
yeah – Alex progresses on a slow slope… I for one am looking forward to him maturing a bit and taking on more responsibility and generally being less of a dimwit
Exactly. DC is a fun place. Name callers will be booted in the rear end by Orion’s Hoof of Reprimand! 😀
Yaaay! I love this comic!
I can kind of sympathize with Alex as I’m the half of a married couple that refuses to read directions and just dives headlong into a project…. usually with disasterous results. O_o I’m not sure why, but often times when reading instructions it’s almost like my brain shuts off. Don’t get me wrong I have Bachelor’s Degree in English lit so you’d think reading directions would be a piece of cake, but noooo. Instructions = brain overload. 😀
So I can more of less understand where Alex is coming from.
haha and he still is my favorite loser!!!!!!!!
Okay, fair enough. Mostly I’m just defensive on Alex’s behalf. I may be a geek, but I’m a slacker geek, so I can side with both brothers. 😛
Two words – athletic scholarship
Is there any chance of getting the link to the forums back on the mainpage?
Wait a sec… Two pages ago, you said that, quote, “This is the day that Alex really becomes a man.” And now Orion’s saying that he had to become like a child.
…So he became a man by becoming a child?
*sudden mental image of adult!Alex singing ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ in his armor*
OH ORION.
OH YOU.
YOU SILLY.
It is quite a paradox isn’t it.
It’s like Douglas Adams explained. 😉 Alex wasn’t intellectual enough to tell himself he ‘couldn’t’ miss the ground. So when he forgot he was supposed to hit it, he didn’t. Flying. 😀
He’s not really that stupid. When he’s in familiar waters he’s actually pretty quick on the uptake and can solve problems fairly quickly and he has the redeeming trait of being willing to listen to good advice.
Alex’s problem isn’t stupidity. His problem is that he can’t grasp ideas when they’re explained. Most people have that problem, although few have it as bad as Alex. That would be why teaching aids try to tackle all the different ways of learning in order to get through to the Alexes of the world..
OMG LOL Nicole would go off the cliff about the twentieth time she used the word “impossible.” which would take about minutes.
Not buying that. There’s been no evidence of Alex doing anything athletic in college.
My guess is he was an OK student in high school and the college he went to isn’t one of the most picky or prestigious ones. Also his mom seems to be the kind that would push her boy through high school but he doesn’t have that in college.
Not really. It’s all in the difference between “childish” and “childlike.”
Alex WAS childish. Suspicious, dependent, indifferent to instruction.
Orion wants Alex to BE childlike. Trusting, earnest and possessing enough faith to do what needs to be done without a lot of explanation.
Or dropped off the cliff by Orion. 😛
Way to go, Retaya! Congrats!
‘sigh’, Alex, Alex, Alex… tsk, tsk, tsk…
Beautiful backgrounds, Scott.
Yeah. I was kinda hoping that he wouldn’t fly. I wanted him to continue to fall all the way down. I wanted to see if he would bounce.
Cause that would just add to the COOLNESS of the armor. (His armor is seriously cool.)
Awww. I love this comic. I really do.
But I can’t be the only one who HASN’T dreamt about flying before? Falling sure, but I haven’t dreamt about flying.
I feel sad now. 🙁
But awesome comic. 🙂
Well, it depends on how you count being super-light and able to bounce off the ground with a small push, but I don’t think I’ve ever flown in my dreams per se.
Alex is not stupid… he is lazy when it comes to doing the “mature” things like study, be serious and so forth
GRR ARRGH NOBODY CARES THAT YOU GOT THE FIRST COMMENT GRRRR…but we care enough to get mad and yell at you about it…..wait what? People need to chill the heck out.
What you said right there, Imgran, I just don’t get it.
— Alex.
I love the full circle here… Just a few pages ago, Alex guess he’d be thrown off the cliff!
I think Nicole would say, “Oh, I get it, Lucid Dreaming!” And then proceed to fly rings around Alex.
I don’t know, I feel just as innocent and youthful as a child when I play with my kids. I don’t have any room in my head for doing anything but having fun with them!
Maybe he tests well but doesn’t pay attention in classes. All hail the almighty all-night cram for the next day’s tests!
Well, in the Alex and Nastajia pair, we sure know who the brains of the outfit is. 🙂
So what exactly does Nastajia see in Alex? Obviously she’s pretty limited in her selection of human males, but what qualities in him does she find so attractive, besides their times together as kids?
Ladies, your insights?
I agree. Alex strikes me more as a people person, a person who learns by experience more than theory. Look at how even Orion’s explanation of why he did what he did goes over Alex’s head. Now imagine what the explanation of flight would be like!
But compare that to how quickly and decisively he acted when Felicity needed help. That sort of thing is where Alex’s genius lies.
She would keep using that word but I’m not sure it means what she thinks it means.
It isn’t just cause they were friends as kids; Alex is familiar to Nastajia and he will always be in her memories and somehow she has that emotional attachment to him like, let say, your first puppy.
However many time that puppy pees on the floor and runs into your legs, you still love that darn cute face of its.
Also Nastajia is having a tough time and Alex is kind of comical relief. He is her counter part.
Plus Alex has well cool armor. Always a thumbs up. 🙂
Wow, you’re the first person I’ve ever seen to put a positive spin on “First comment!”
**SNERK!**
Sorry. Reading your note, I got this picture in my head of Nastajia wagging her finger at Alex after he peed on the Palace carpet.
You do make a point. Alex having a cute butt in that tight fitting elven armor is certainly a plus.
I’m just wondering what Nastajia sees in Alex besides potential. I know some girls love that, but Nastajia seems like a practical sort.
Hey, Rataya,
Last comment! I win!
Hey Scott. Your archives section could be improved if it showed proper thumbnails for the pages instead of full pages downsized by the browser – This makes archive pages very slow to load for some of us! Please tell your webdeveloper if he doesn’t know yet ^^
It could be as simple as Alex being someone she can trust. When we first met Nastajia in the comic she was very repressed, emotionally. To the point where she felt she wasn’t allowed to cry. Alex allows her to be a normal person for a little while. As he steps up and takes more responsibility for the direction of the party I expect he’ll be that for her more often.
No ya don’t ;3!
I’m glad Orion explained it to Alex ’cause even if he doesn’t get it, the rest of us do, and that what matters, right? *sigh* If only you were smarter Alex, then you would have saved us of a week of you being dangled and thrown off a cliff.
Our comments were light and fun about Retaya, Scott. That person needs to understand us.
I vote for JakesDad as the winner!
LOL!
It loads really fast for me.
Are you on dial up?
Are any of my readers?
Still waiting for Tyler to do that.
Yes–it may be a community college or a state school. They pretty much let anyone go to those places. Doing well enough to stay there is another question sometimes…
I may not be a lady, but I would hope that Nastajia sees Alex as someone she can trust, as Imgran said, someone who she cares about deeply, someone who was there when she needed.
If Orion had thrown Alex off the cliff when Alex had mentioned it he surely would have died.
Argument with Nastijia, the note to Dan, the knowledge that the sword really does travel between realities, and the note between Felicity and Nicole were preception shattering results for Alex. They tied the two worlds together in his mind.
Not to mention that it was Alex that realized and explotied the connection between the two worlds to help Felicity, an in that also helped Nicole. That was proof that Alex had finally made the connection between Himself and his Deam-Self, even if he didn’t realize it.
That’s how Orion knew Alex could fly. Before all that Alex wouldn’t have had the motivation nor conviction to over come his fear.
Orion said and did what was needed for Alex to fly, nothing more and nothing less.
I have IE 6. I see that the thumbnails are only 100 x 150 in size, so they should not take long to load. Unfortunately, in IE6, they are displayed as 100 x 50 so a bit squashed. Looking at the source, I’m guessing this is a CSS Class issue.
Agreed. That being said, Blargleshiestikone
Yes, we are often that stupid. I like to think of it as our saving grace. Women occasionally need a brick headed guy. If they didn’t… well, I am sure by now woman could easily clone every single part of a guys genetic code for (insert appropriate age group term here for reproduction) to no longer need most guys. I fear what may happen if we lose our occasional general stupidity.
So you are both saying that Alex can’t grasp theories quickly enough for it to be practical, but give him a physical problem and he is willing to charge at it and do what he can to solve it. I would have to agree with that, mainly because I kind of do alright, not great, at both sides of it. I can get by, but barely. Alex is more focused and so can do better than I can normally with one type of problem. I envy him that.
Remember that Alex might have managed to get in but he was about to flunk out. That was why he tried to pick up some extra points by volunteering for Nicole’s experiments and why when he tried to withdraw from that study she was able to threaten to make sure that he did flunk out if he didn’t continue to let her wire him up.
I wouldn’t say that it was his determination that made him fly. I would say its because of (I am going to be called a child for this by at least one person, guaranteed) his love towards Nastajia. The laws of Dreamland were slightly altered just for him. Determination does push a person a good length towards doing some thing of a similar scale, but it doesn’t have quite the same “punch” as love does if most romantic authors are to be believed. So based upon that relatively flimsy argument, I am saying that Alex flew because of love.
Yes, I’m on dial-up. I wouldn’t trust any of the high speed providers in my area as far as I could throw Paddington.
Three words: SAT and ACT. Some colleges will accept students based primarily on that alone. There aren’t many, but there are some. The SAT and ACT tests are relatively easy if you can remember what you are taught through out high school, middle school/junior school, and elementary school. That being said, he probably had some help during high school from Dan who strikes me as the sort of guy who takes more notes than any one else.
Orion wouldn’t throw him over the edge again, he might ask Paddington to do it, but he wouldn’t. Besides, Nastajia, Felicity, Paddington, and Kiwi will want to see him fly any ways, so Alex will jump over the cliff and freak them out, then come back up and fly circles around Paddington with Kiwi. Or at least thats what I expect will happen.
To bad no one has realized that teaching a college course about how to read directions would be the most immediately valuable class. If some one does make that in to a college course, I would probably need to take it. I am literally unable to decipher how your supposed to even hold the instructions so that you can read them! DX
I have had plenty of dreams of falling. So far none of falling and missing the ground (aka flying). If I was able to though… I hate not dreaming of flight now… Curse my awesomeness when I am dreaming!
I would have to agree that is the most likely reason. The memories of times when they were younger also strengthens the trust between them, to the point where they apparently can’t imagine loving any one else in the same way. I would also like to point out that Nastajia has kind of had a crush on him since they were both children (see flashback of the time that Alex, Paddington, and Kiwi were playing in the stream near the palace and they ended up splashing Nastajia’s parents, the King and Queen of the Elves after pulling Nastajia in as well).
“Not to mention that it was Alex that realized and explotied the connection between the two worlds to help Felicity, an in that also helped Nicole. That was proof that Alex had finally made the connection between Himself and his Deam-Self, even if he didn’t realize it.”
It was more significant than that even.
Do you realize that that’s the first time Alex actually developed and carried out a plan of any kind on his own? Usually he just reacts to stuff or follows Nastajia around.
He doesn’t do it very well, but now at least he IS thinking.
Hey, Scott, I would also add to that how I wish I didn’t need to know the date the page was released in order to type in a link and navigate to a specific page. However, I understand that may not be possible to do as you have this website set up in a “blog” format, which requires that pages be classified by date and title, as opposed to just assigning it a title. But, just a thought for possible improvement! Otherwise, I think you know how much I love the site considering how often I comment! 😉
I think I like Lurker’s idea better. 😀
“I got about half of what you said, Orion.”
Which is EXACTLY why he chucked you off the cliff, Alex. *sigh*
To add Imgran’s comment, I have found in my experience that the true definition of maturity is that maturity is knowing when it is appropriate to act “immaturely.” 😉
Did you find it?
wouldn’t your closet need to be made out of a tree grown from a seed from Narnia???… wait… am feeling incredibly geek like right a now…
Um… why a HUMAN male??? what happened to the Elven males????… can imagine some elven warrior dude pretty hacked off at Alex right now…
My respect for you has just gone WAAAY way up. You’re awesome.
And just to set the record straight. I’m a girl.
same here guys, but its not my choice nothing else is available to me where i live.
Yet another reason Scott is adored by his cyber-family (which is everyone here, but could never replace his real family, as we love them too! ^.^)
Cheers!
~Prince Demitri
I think it’s encoded into our DNA really… If not for guys, who would provide girls with entertainment? Well… besides puppies…
… and kitties…
… and horses…
… and… wait… I need to stop before I give too many alternatives… ^.^
Well Retaya MUST have won… Because you’re both acting like losers. How about lightening up and letting the fun return, yeah?
And Retaya… You win girl! ^.^
ROFL!
That would be a wardrobe mate… For a closet, it only needs to have a green or yellow ring some where inside to be stumbled upon.. 😛
I tried to teach that class, but none of my students could find the classroom, so it was canceled by the college. I totally agree, so I’m gonna try teaching it again next term! ^.^
Really? I thought everyone flew in their dreams… I have for as long as I can remember. Still do in many dreams, along with a full host of other “dream powers” (fantasy-like powers we have while dreaming, such as flying, becoming invisible, having an awesome flaming sword just appear in your hand, phasing thru the roof of a building to land inside, running super fast, etc.)
I’m genuinely sorry if you haven’t experienced using dream powers before. 🙁
Well we have both a bookmark tool and an archive.
Do neither of those work for what you need?
*feels same way as alex said in last panel* orz
I wonder what is wrong with the education system he went through… It actually let him pass without knowing anything. He probably doesn’t even know what calculus is and he is in college.
When you have authority over a whole people, maybe you feel you need to go outside that people for a relationship that’s really founded on equality.
I dunno. Just throwing that out there.
He knows what calculus is. Boring mathy stuff that only a very, very few people actually use outside homework assignments.
the snobbery of using familiarity with obscure math as a sign of intelligence is staggering.
Alex isn’t stupid because of the stuff he doesn’t know. He’s stupid because of his impatience and unwillingness to take the time to learn things. If that problem was fixed the other would solve itself.
I went to art school. But in high school I never got past Geometry.
Most colleges pretty much allow for you to “find yourself” while in college.
I’ve always found it odd that people didn’t know what they wanted to major in at that point. But a good majority simply haven’t figured it out at that age.
Alex is a bit less “stupid” and a bit more “immature” if you ask me.
ok… not sure where to post this but is it just me or is the shadow on the banner (of the city) come from different directions? the balloon suggests it comes from the left (west?) but the castle as well as the wall?(dead center) suggest from the right (east).
maybe its me??
SilentMech–I was one of those voluminous note takers. In one or two classes, three of us would get together afterwards to make sure we had all the words right–and between us, we usually had probably well over 95% of what was said…
Ooo, good eye. Shadows don’t quite work on the banner do they? Balloon shadow clashes with city shadow. Unless Dreamland has two suns, one casting the large ray of light near the balloon, the other lighting up the houses on the other side of the balloon. Still doesn’t work well there.
Never really flown never got the handle on that. I’ve levitated a few times and sorta hovered a bit. But I think I have only flown once and I may be wrong even about that. I am however wicked telekinetic in my dreams so there’s that. the funny thing is I never realize I’m dreaming till that point and my first thought is almost always. “Oh boy I’ve finally found out how to do this while awake!”. (sigh, but I’m always disappointed)
Except, ya know, not really the last comment. >.>
Saw Dreamland’s book review over at Unshelved. Awesome, Scott. Pride and Prejudice though?
Thanks.
My wife’s favorite book.
🙂
wow. alex’s idiot level just went down to 0.
Hmmm, so now I’m getting the picture that you’re Alex and your wife is Natashjia (I’m sure I spelled that wrong). So, who held you over a cliff until you could fly? 🙂
i know it’s starting to freak me out i want the old alex back
Inconceivable!
😉
I am very much with you there.
I have flown in every conceivable way (and maybe a few inconceivable ways! 😉 ), from levitation to “bouncing” to “superman” style, and even growing wings and flapping like crazy. The most common, though, is the levitation/”superman” type.
When I have one of those dreams, I can feel the “mental muscles” used to fly. I usually wake up totally convinced I can duplicate the effort in real life. I try – and find out that those “mental muscles” just aren’t there to flex when I’m awake.
(I wonder if this is why I sleep through my alarm clock so often?) 😉
Orion: “I told you exactly what you needed to hear. Alex, sooner or later you need to realize there’s a difference between knowing the path, walking the path, and flying the path.”
Last panel made me facepalm. I hurt my nose.
Methinks we should be a bit careful about having too many dimwitted heroes (or heroines) in movies, TV and comics. I worry about airheads becoming universally admired, lest it become fashionable to act like one…
Personally, I preferred it when Alex showed some intelligence. And I often cringe when he acts or talks like he’s stupid. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy Dreamland Chronicles. But it seems clear that Alex fits the Dumb Blond stereotype, and not the Hair of Gold trope… unfortunately.
Also, I have to wonder:
If Alex and Nastajia ever do have children… will they have the same learning disorders?
I was almost certain 🙂
I was scrolling down andni saw your user name and laughed for literally five minutes. Literally.
Orion: it’s okay, i’m mostly just explaining for the audience.
Alex: what?
Orion: well if you look up a bit you may see a face or two peering outta the windows up there.
A: windows? what windows? GAH!
Scott: i am your creator guys, no need to panic. just need to… there all done!
A: the hell?
O: it happens.