I'm going to do a little Ellie Approval Rating amongst her sisterkin. This will lead into Chapter 6. I will have stretches of comics where this isn't applicable, so it wont be included. But for now, she better get some of those numbers up. She gonna need them. Also apologies if you saw the site down this morning. Site5 is saying they had server issues, and it was rebooted. 
Buyer’s Market
73 thoughts on “Buyer’s Market”
Wow, it’s Tuesday! And there’s a new comic! The art is lovely, the plot is proceeding apace, and it runs with the regularity of a SWISS train schedule!
If I put any more exclamation points into this post, I’m gonna rupture something. So bravo, sir, bravo, and it’s as wonderful as it ever is.
I appreciate that. Next comic is Friday. Coloring is already started
All this AND ominous foreshadowing! She’s gonna need her sisters’ approval soon, but to what end? And it’s a bad time to be needing sisterly approval after you just called them all for help; how can she recover having no room to help them?
Huh, I thought it was the other way around – Ellie’s approval *of* her sisters. Juniper’s being competent while Tarra went for property damage and brought in Loose Cannon.
Will know as it goes forward a few more strips (especially if he does the RPG thing of “+1 Respekt” over someone’s head when they do something.
“amongst her sisterkin” suggests this is their rating of Ellie. I’m a little surprised that Ginger’s is as high as it is, frankly.
Ginger is probably more aligned with their mother in that Ellie is showing competency at her job. Plus, she got her out of the house and more than likely can only blame herself for the sunroof.
At first I thought like Anonymous, with Ellie changing her opinion of each sister according to how they handle this lovecon. But now I don’t think so. If it were like that would make sense that Tarra, Ginger and Pumpkin had very high values from the start while Cinn would be quite low, but they’re not so far apart. And Juniper would have an almost empty bar… (of course she’s used to emptying them.)
But with an evaluation of Ellie according to the other sisters it makes sense the values aren’t too far apart. They all see the same Ellie after all.
I’d go with a Norwegian train schedule. There’s a YouTube channel, HinduCowGirl, she’s an engineer.
But the Swiss make the clocks. So you know that’s close scheduling.
Well the Swiss are located between Germany and Italy which both have an extensive history of trains running on time.
How well do they compare with the Japanese train schedules?
Well, I haven’t seen a cab p.o.v. of the bullet train plowing through snow at some level of decent speed, so I’m more inclined to lean towards Hindu cowgirl and the Norwegian’s train network. Especially when their are comments from the continent saying that European trains stop after two inches of snow.
Woo Hoo…Juniper has it going on. Way to go girl. Work the crowd for Ellie and make sure they all renew.
I know! Competent Juniper! Where’s THAT been literally everywhere before now?
That’s because she’s in her element.
“Juniper, what is best in life?”
“For men to buy you drinks, for you to drink them, and to hear the lamentations of those to broke to pay.”
This guy gets it.
That’s gotta’ be depressing for the rest of the sisters, to find themselves in Juniper’s element along with her.
Fam because they’re family. Ayyy.
Wait. Something is wrong here. Juniper is the low drama, sensible one in this storyline? All that I’ve known is a lie.
I know….I’m scared too!
I don’t know if I’d go as far as low drama, it seems to me more targeted to her skillset and she’s just basking in being the champ.
It’s just occurred to me that the sister with the longest hair (second only to Tarra) is Juniper. Juniper? How long before one of the other sisters has a go at her after her triumph?
Also, where’s the tracker for loose cannon? Or emoji witch?
They’re not sisters; what would that matter?
Because Loose Cannon and Emoji Witch, I thought I was quite clear ?
Quite.
Man, I bet the reputation grind for each of the sisters is insane.
Right? I expected Juniper to be like, WAY out in front with that but she’s barely ahead of Pumpkin who rage quit and left.
She probably had a negative balance
“YOU MUST FETCH ME…A SHRUBBERY!”
Would you even want that shrubbery after it has been fetched? Depending on which sister fetches, you might not even get something back that resembles one.
You could do a fun betting pool that way. Tell Anise to fetch you a shrubbery and everyone lays odds on what she’ll return with.
She brought back a Santa Claus plushie, who had money a a Santa Claus plushie? No, a Santa Claus cardboard cut out doesn’t count…
A stop sign, wonder where she got that from…sounds like north, so plan your routes home accordingly.
I think I’d run the game with the first X people have to choose out a “complete set”-type category (like animal/vegetable/mineral) and if no one gets it on the nose it rolls over and they get 25% of the pot with the other 75% going to the next round.
“Anise, what the hell is this?”
“It’s called a mogwai! I found it in some mysterious shop in Chinatown!”
“One, there’s no Chinatown in Lakeland. Two, we’re looking for a shrubbery. Three…WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??”
I think it’s safe(ish) to say that Juni has found her true calling in life.
A room full of hundreds of desperate men and a bar.
Wow, Juniper is the real MVP here.
Not sure about that one. If it weren’t for Tarra, her assassins, and their assassins, this event would be seriously lacking. Juniper’s offer would have brought in maybe 10 percent of that 300 total; most of the rest would see it as a fool’s game.
I think the degree Tarra’s assassins turn out to be a net gain or net loss will depend upon if they’re on the hook for damages to the hotel in any way and if Tarra discovers D52 and doesn’t decide to let it pass.
The cannon’s are loose!
Wait, is that Ellie’s approval of her sisters or their approval of her?
Their approval of her, I believe.
Okay, I’m kind of getting some of the sister approval ratings. Some, not so much. Might be nice to have a little more objective scale because those bars are kinda hard to count.
Pumpkin rage-quit the scene, so she’s low.
Cinnamon has been forcibly shown the truth of her disgusting nature, so she’s only a little off Pumpkin.
Juniper is feeling competent for like the first time in the strip, so she’s up.
Anise might still be smarting over the loss of her pet vampire, so she’s a bit down.
Tarra is likely still seriously torqued about Ellie’s thunder-thievery, so that’s an all-time low.
Ginger hasn’t been called on for much here besides a few references and might be enjoying the sight of Responsible Ellie, so that’s marginal.
By the looks of it, Tarra might be grabbing one of the swords for a little hair-cutting, just to put Ellie in her place. The hand in the face was only the first salvo.
From what we have otherwise with the timeline, Pumpkin might still be a bit torqued off at Ellie about the whole Quinn thing from the first originally Patreon arc (now completely in this site’s archives) too, so that might be lowering her somewhat.
It’s weird, but no one seems especially happy with Ellie. Everyone’s under half, even Juni.
Wow..that’s..uh..
That’s pretty smart there Juniper.
Smart or cunning? I’m thinking more cunning.
Can’t she be both?
Clever Juni is clever.
I hope he helped you with your anxiety. Heaven knows you don’t need more stress. Excellent work, as always!
So what exactly is this system rating? Ellie’s approval of her sisters? Their behavior? Their success at helping her out?
Is it the rest of the sisters rating Ellie? Is it some other metric?
I NEED DETAILS!!!
I’m not sure, I originally thought it was how much approval Ellie had for her sisters, but it could be how much they each approve of her.
I think you could be right. Look at their eyebrows and expression. Juniper is the only one that looks any sort of pleased.
You mean to say that eyebrows are a common occurrence?
I would certainly hope so.
I’m just saying there are slight eyebrow variations that indicate mood. Maybe it’s just me overthinking it.
No I think that’s definitely a thing. Tarra looks angriest and I think Ginger’s got motherly concern.
Tarra is just mad because she’s the only one who ended up stripping down to her sports bra.
Dude, no…FORMAL TANKTOP. Besides, it might well be working, who knows?
Working!?!? The Fr!×$€&£ fabric of space and time are formally being put through the wringer providing her with support that Victoria wishes she had the secret to.
SHUFFLEVERSE TWC vote
We broke 40, but we’re back. As you were soldiers, and keep voting.
The link can normally be found under the Patreon previews located on the right side of the screen, or find the link here. http://topwebcomics.com/vote/14850/default.aspx
KEEP VOTING, SHUFFLERS!
Everyday!
Every day I’m shufflin.
I just SHUFFLED!
*shuffling intensifies and the floor catches fire*
OuOX
Well that is one way to keep them online.
Juniper’s gone from Worst to Absolute Best Sister… she actually did Ellie a solid with all those apps. Her boss will be thrilled.. plus she just pushed a button, which led to a chain reaction of like, a gazillion different gals for all those lovely guys to talk to..
Now, I guess she’ll go home to her freaking dumpster.
Juniper has always been my favorite sister, I think. You wonder about the potential behind that drunken haze, and what makes her tick.
I’m also fond of Ginger (it’s not very glamorous to be the straight man/the responsible one, but she is still a badass).
And Cinnamon’s storyline has been interesting to follow…I’m really curious what direction her character takes next.