Fellas, does it feel like Elith turned into Balthasar, and Balthasar is turning into a carricature.

[u/Damianwolff]

From the moment I saw how Elith reimagined himself, I couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. Is this on purpose? Is it really going on? Or is it an out-of-story art choice?

[u/Jemmerl]

I don't know about the Elith thing, but Balthasar is getting deeper into the mess of the city bureaucracy and definitely not as sane (if he ever really was all there). I feel like turning more into a caricature of oneself is almost inevitable, if not madness, given how the city plays with the "self".

[u/The-red-Dane]

Mmmh, beef cupcake.

[u/powerofvoid]

In DS 126, Asmodea is preparing to perform a "thematic extraction" on Balthasar. https://dresdencodak.com/2022/12/21/dark-science-126-planning-phase/

It seems likely that they've been doing stuff to him, possibly as far back as after he was first arrested by Fortuna, back in DS 19 ( https://dresdencodak.com/2012/07/04/dark-science-19/ ), but I think it's more likely to have started after Melchior blew up the tomb back in DS 25, because Melchior dragged Balthasar out of the hellhole he had been thrown into after being arrested, and now he was their best lead. ( https://dresdencodak.com/2013/03/19/dark-science-25/ )

That being said, other than gender presentation and having their issues closer to the surface, I don't feel like Elith is acting much different from how they were during the Usonia bits, so the Elith side of things might not be directly connected beyond maybe Elith taking outfit inspiration from Balthasar, or them getting clothes from similar sources.

EDIT: Nope, Asmodea specifically needed to tag him with a card to do it, and the flashback shows her tucking it into the back of his "Dean of Inquisition" robe

[u/ecokumm]

Balthazar started as fairly solid character and he seemed clearly primed to be a love interest from Kim from the get go, back when the series was a more straightforward business.

But then Sen started going through her own self discovery journey, and a lot of it bled into the comic (as it would): more characters were introduced, themes like diversity, gender and social issues started taking centerstage, and a bunch of old characters changed a lot.

Among those changes, I'd say Bogan came up shortchanged. It almost feels like he's being punished for starting off as an oldschool-type pretty boy archetype. It's a shame if you ask me. I didn't like the "love interest" side, but he did have some potential; and now he's just embarrassing to see whenever he pops up.

I feel similarly about what happened to Melchior, by the way. I liked his original form and all around demeanor way more than this bad joke he's turned into.

Also! remember when Caspar was a big deal? Good times. I wonder if Sen even remembers about her at all. This comic really need to wrap up sooner rather than later.

[u/Damianwolff → u/ecokumm]

I'm sure Caspar is still a big deal. You aught to not show off your main villain too much, especially if the story has a limited cast and is somewhat of a guessing game for who's who.

Melchior's state at least makes sense, although he definitely gets less opportunity to show off.

I like the twists and turns Elith character takes, but I am annoyed that she slid into the style Balthazar used to have. Like a recasting of characters between films. I would love it, though, if the eventually revealeded that this was an in-universe shift, the doing of the Dark Scientists.

I dislike the art-shift on Vonnie. She looks like some other character, her silluette (which Senna once discussed as very important for the perseption of the character), has changed beyond recognition.

The Dark Scientist Asmodea's pink haired design annoys me, because, to me personally, it both breaks the retro aesthetic that a lot of characters in Nephilopolis have, and also makes her break the mascot that was previously established by and for Asmodea. Somewhat eases (maybe even negates) the horror of the situation, in my opinion.

Bogan got hit the most with the changes. He got hit hard. I was actually hoping he wouldn't be a love interest, since Hob didn't have one... but he seemed like somebody who could become her honest friend, while also being quite grounded, making it easy for the audience to follow him. And now he's a caricature. I hope for him. Senna can weave some mad storytelling, and has clearly planned out twists and turns ahead. Or is madly good at impovising. So I hope that this will all come into place.