That's what I'm wondering too. I wonder if the reason there are so many black panels. Is at some point we will see the same thing but without the black out panels so we know what happened.
I assume so theres a lot of black panels before the Ally and Obtuseangelo panels and it would make sense from a creative and story telling standpoint if we gradually get those black panels filled in.
Original Pasqualo travelled for eons just to give Aurora a chance to live, remade the world to be a better place for her, and it still wasn't enough.
Right in the feels, man
nonononono i'm not ready for this bring back the sol GOB BRING BACK THE SOL
I'm leaning no, or at least by the time she learns, it won't effect her much. Like, this blackout is already going to have dramatic effects on her life, and we're going to spend a long time with her just handling the situation and coping as is. Introducing that revelation after however long is just going to frick up whatever progress she's made and basically have wasted our time between then and now.
Original Pasqualo travelled for eons just to give Aurora a chance to live, remade the world to be a better place for her, and it still wasn't enough.
Right in the feels, man
Pasqualo fricked up, man.
Turns out merging a being that exists to give love with a being that exists to receive that love doesn't result in fulfillment, but the exact opposite.
She was literally made to make him happy. Pasq had normal issues that he could've fixed but it is impossible for Aurora to be happy without a Pasqualo on a fundamental level. Whether she's just aurora slapped into the role or an actual fusion of both Pasqualo can't love himself without long term, serious mental health but Aurora will never confront that bit because she still subconsciously knows she's meant to be helping others to obtain happiness but none of them are The One.
>She was literally made to make him happy
Which means that Pasquaurora was literally made to make herself happy. She's doing a terrible job at it though.
Ok, so what the frick just happened?
I have questions. >can anybody decipher pic related? >what's the deal with Ally? >why is Pasqualo BALD if she only passed out from not sleeping? She still had her hair when we last saw her, it looks more like she had a brain surgery. >did she kill her dad?
-I think that might just be actual gibberish
-She probably went to Ally's house to vent out everything that has been happening to her but Ally didn't know how to properly respond/whatever she said wasn't good enough of an answer
-she hasn't taken a bath and her hair's been burnt, most likely got more concussions on her head and the Doc probably had to shave it off
-Either she did, someone else did or Dad killed himself to not have to deal with Miss Penguin's bullshit anymore, he looked pretty miserable with her moving in and what not
>Either she did, someone else did or Dad killed himself to not have to deal with Miss Penguin's bullshit anymore, he looked pretty miserable with her moving in and what not
On the one hand, suicide by stabbing yourself a bunch and chopping your own head off sounds like the kind of thing he'd do, on the other it sounds more like something he'd like people to think he'd do but deep down is too pussy to actually do
He could probably invent some way to do it that was completely painless.
Dad would also probably leave some clues pointing to Pasqualo, just to be a post-humous prick.
>She probably went to Ally's house to vent out everything that has been happening to her but Ally didn't know how to properly respond/whatever she said wasn't good enough of an answer
I'm honestly most terrified about this because there is a very good chance whatever Pasqualo said to Ally might have seriously damaged their friendship. Not knowing what she did in that timeframe is absolutely killing me.
Ally already seriously damaged it by hooking up with Tubsy and hanging off of him 24/7 and when she's around Pasqualo basically doing nothing but gushing about how great Tubsy is. Pasqualo's downward spiral really started back when she got "fixed" and hooked up with Tubsy leaving Pasqualo to feel like she was starting to lose her best friend and that she was now the third wheel in Ally and Tubsy's relationship and both Ally and Tubsy seem largely flippant and ignorant of what they're doing.
"Fixed" Ally is such a shitty, dull character that I kind of think it has to be on purpose and she's going to reach a point where she realizes she's been neglecting her best friend but I don't know, maybe Josef and Gob feel like she actually is better. At this point, Katie, Patience and Melanie are probably better friends/closer with Pasqualo than Ally is and that's kind of sad.
I have a sinking feeling that Ally being fixed and growing distant to Pasqualo is itself the message: that sometimes friends, even really good friends, can grow apart and simply stop being friends.
I honestly thought at first that Allison being fixed was going to turn out to be the result of brainwashing. I think it's a real problem that depressed people with no self-esteem can have. You've got someone you're close with and you feel like they understand and accept you despite being such a useless, broken-brained frick up and are there for you. But if it starts to feel like they're paying you less attention and not just that, but blowing you off to hang around with other people where they seem like they're having more fun and are happier, it causes those negative feelings and resentment -- both towards them and yourself -- to build up.
The relationship with Tubsy fundamentally changed Pasqualo and Ally's relationship for the worse and Ally being fixed has kind of made her a shittier person. Whether she intends to or not, she's kind of condescending to Pasqualo with her "oh, just go get help like I did, look it fixed me" attitude and not really trying to understand Pasqualo or why she's spiralling down.
Go back to the end of It Hurts. The thing that causes Pasqualo to give up is when Tubsy and Poop are killed in Hell and Katie and Ally subsequently forget about them while Katie's just like "Pasqualo, you sound crazy. I think you just need help". There's a whole big flashback to Pasq and Ally during the apocalypse about how Pasq was worried that they'd be separated at some point. Pasq can survive as long as he/she has his/her friends, especially Ally, but without them Pasq feels completely lost and hopeless.
Maybe Pasq needs help but what she needs more is her best friend and currently she doesn't have that.
>"Fixed" Ally is such a shitty, dull character that I kind of think it has to be on purpose and she's going to reach a point where she realizes she's been neglecting her best friend but I don't know
Having been in Ally's position she's a perfect depiction of being powerless to stop a loved one's downward spiral.
But it's not just simple powerlessness. The Christmas comic is the biggest example of showing that the biggest impediment in their relationship right now is Ally dating Tubsy, that it's making Pasqy feel like a third wheel in her own friendship and that this is a massive blindspot for Ally who can see that something is wrong but not that her relationship and her deemphasizing her best friend for her boyfriend is the problem.
https://gobolatula.com/pfm/comic/149-simply-having-a-wonderful-christmastime/
I wonder if the panel with Allison in the most recent comic was about that.
It'll be interesting to see who killed Pasqy's dad and why.
2 years ago
Anonymous
no, ally knows exactly why, she's not moronic. You think she'll drop her own hard earned happiness?
2 years ago
Anonymous
She doesn't know why, that's the problem, she thinks Pasqualo is just randomly going fricking nuts and thinks it's the same problems she had, which is why her insistence that Pasqualo get mental help like she did and she'll be cured 😀
But Ally, at least in this universe, isn't really crazy, she was just a young girl that was adopted into a family that didn't really mesh well with her, and had trouble fitting in with them and the rest of society in general, becoming more and more wild until somebody put a stop to it to get her the help (and attention) she needed
Pasqualo, on the other hand, is fundamentally broken, and nothing she or anybody around can do will be able to fix her, because she is constantly depressed, brain damaged, has lived in a broken home her entire life (in other words, wouldn't even recognize a good family/group of friends/authority figure if it bit her in the ass), and the one thing that could possibly help her will never show up, because he peaced out for the last time to give this life to her
she's like a tiger in an enclosure in the zoo, she knows that this isn't her real home, even if it's the only one she knows, and all she can do is pace back and forth, never getting a chance to truly let herself loose, except for the few times that a stupid kid falls in (in this case, the various problems she tries to fix for her friends and community) and everybody tries to get her not to attack it, but it's literally what she was built for, fixing problems and being happy and nice
2 years ago
Anonymous
>is fundamentally broken,
this is assumption.
nothing she's done so far says anything beyond "kid hates her home life, blames it on herself and copes by being nice"
irl kills have blown their brains of for less m8. allyson is in the same situation, with a bipolar mom absentee dad and a sister who bullies her.
I think allison understands at some fundamental level that her change began pasquora's downward spiral. she gets told don't' blame yourself, hell
2 years ago
Anonymous
>nothing she's done so far says anything beyond "kid hates her home life, blames it on herself and copes by being nice"
bro I think the comic is saying way more than that about her
2 years ago
Anonymous
>kid with abseentee father issues is afraid of abandonment
what else it can say?
we MAY speculate on universal constants but there's no guarantee there WILL be universal constants.
2 years ago
Anonymous
I wasn't commenting on the nature of her damage, but on its scope
Sure her issues are understandable for a teenager in her situation, but their gravity is way beyond what is normal to experience. She is extremely mentally unwell.
2 years ago
Anonymous
>but their gravity is way beyond what is normal to experience.
of course her entire behaviour is not realistic, it's hyperbolized for laughs, but emotional meltdown from your father outright hating you is a pretty common thing.
2 years ago
Anonymous
If she knows then it makes her worse because she's effectively telling Pasq that at Tubsy > Pasq on her list of priorities and isn't making an attempt to try and balance things so Pasq isn't feeling left behind despite the fact she clearly needs her and is feeling like shit because she feels like she's losing the one person who understands her and has been there through all the shit she's endured.
But I don't think she does completely get it given the "I have two best friends" line and then inviting Tubsy to something that was just supposed to be for them. There's also an unintentionally condescending element to her attitude where she comes off as "I got help, so why can't YOU". I think Pasqualo can endure a lot so long as she (or he in the previous universe) has Allison. But without her, Pasqualo completely falls apart. Maybe without Obtusangelo around, though, Pasqualo can start to really deal with things, realize that she does have good friends willing to help her like Katie, Patience and Melanie. Then Aurorasqualo can finally start to become her own person and find what makes HER happy, not just be Aurora shoved into Pasqualo's shitty life.
Maybe there's still an element of the old Pasqualo around and the title refers to a lingering sense of regret over the situation Pasqualo placed her in. But I think the point of PFM is for Aurora to become her own person for real, free from the empty feeling that comes with having to please someone who no longer exists. Pasqualo's a constant and special being across every incarnation of reality but he's also unique in being able to defy fate. Aurora, by learning and confronting the truth, will likewise be able to defy fate by becoming her own wholly individual being, instead of merely playing a role that she was (unintentionally cruelly) shoved into.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Sure is a lot of hope you got there considering that Paz doesn't have any living parents left.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Is Pasqualo's mom dead? I don't think her mom has been confirmed for anything yet, other than NOT being Jenny Penguin, especially her being alive or dead
2 years ago
Anonymous
I think the main thrust of the series is to make and explore Aurora as her own person. I kind of feel like most of the early stuff was, in a sense, there to play with the reader; to reinforce the idea in them of "Aurorasqualo" where you don't think of her as Aurora but as Pasqualo with a few Auroraish traits. As it leads up to Pasqualo's breakdown though and her clearly worse state, you start to reexamime things and wonder WHY and it starts to become clear that the view of her being Aurora shoved into Pasqualo's life is both right and wrong. Because in essence that's what she is and that's what's messing her up at a fundamental level. It's to screw with your own perception of the character and stop viewing her simply as "Aurorasqualo" but as Aurora, someone with her own wants and needs that might not align with Pasqualo's.
And I think that's where the problem comes from in story too. Aurora is so fricked up because she quite literally doesn't know who she his. She's a weird mishmash of two fundamentally different beings. Aurora exists to please Pasqualo and that's it. But there's no Pasqualo to please so she tries to please everyone else because she's trying to fill a void but doesn't know how to.
All Pasqualo wanted was for Aurora to live and have a chance at happiness and I feel like the point is for Aurora to realize and come to terms with who she is. Not as the old Aurora or a fill in for Pasqualo but as her own person. What makes HERA happy? What does SHE want? In a way, it's still dealing with depression but a more existential type. The kind where you feel empty, wondering just what it is you want out of life. The kind of ennui where you look at yourself and go "Is this it? Is Is this who I am? Is THIS my life?".
2 years ago
Anonymous
Nah, man. It's pretty clear from the get-go that this new character is mostly Aurora with a few Pasqualo traits added, but I don't think PFM is written with IH as mandatory reading, or with the intent that Aurora (the fragment of abstract harmony) will ever fully resurface. Knowledge of the prior universe just isn't in the text, and it doesn't really contribute that much when PFM goes out of its way to show Paz's complete mismatch of personality, desires, and circumstance in a fairly realistic way given the goofiness of the setting.
(I'll continue shortening the new Pasqualo's name as Paz because it's easier, sounds feminine, and is distinct from Pasq.)
2 years ago
Anonymous
Pasq was completely fricked up way before tubsy and ally hooked up, you can't put that on her
Being nice to her won't fix her, and it would probably not even calm down the symptoms.
There is a point where Pasq talks about how she sees herself in the future, or rather how she doesn't see her own place in it alongside Ally. The relationship between Ally and Tubsy symbolized Ally moving on towards the future that Pasq was afraid of seeing, the one where she lost the closest person she had in her life. Ally is maturing and Pasq simply cannot catch up with her, she is slowly being left behind. Pasq is also unable to love anyone so she won't be able to share or relate to Ally's experience.
Most likely it was either suicide or Jenny Penguin murdering him, with Pasqualo coming in to find his corpse, the most likely reason she was screaming in the first place
>the most likely reason she was screaming in the first place
In pic rel??
But his head is still on, and the visible parts of Pasq's dad look unstabbed, so I guess he's still alive?
I was thinking this was before the decapitation, and his stab wounds were in the back
Like she came in after the murderer stabbed him in the back, and while they went off and got a chainsaw or an axe or something, she broke in (can you break into your own house?) and found him laying on the floor or something
I don't know, he could've been alive, it's just the way he looks in that panel, he looks somewhat limp, and his eyes are pointing in opposite directions, plus he would allow her to manhandle him like that
what would actually be surprising is if it turned Pasqualo actually did kill him, and in his final moments, he started crying and pleading like a b***h
>the most likely reason she was screaming in the first place
In pic rel??
But his head is still on, and the visible parts of Pasq's dad look unstabbed, so I guess he's still alive?
It seems like Dad might be dead there already (eyes going in different directions, limp body and all), though it might be possible that Pasq completely lost her shit and then stabbed/beheaded the body?
I don't. I'm wondering what is the point of these hidden sketches and what they represent (especially the last one, no idea what's that supposed to be.)
that just looks like an unrelated sketch, I was expecting a lightened image or change in contrast, or perhaps a defining feature to be circled on the original image
he's right actually, it's the 7th black panel after Pasqualo shouts gibberish at the hobos, and it's very faint, I had to highlight it to see barely see it, you'd probably have to do shit with the contrast to fully see it
Okay, I highlighted it on the website and took a screenshot, now it's pretty easily visible.
It's probably just a sketch Gob or Josef did when they were planning out what she did while blacked out so they can come back and use it for reference later, except they didn't totally black it out like all the other panels
I'm thinking the gazebo might be something that Ally and Pasqualo treasure, like it's the place where they first became best friends
You stopped reading a LONG time ago
It Hurts!! ended a while back, and it ended with the heat death of the universe and Pasqualo being given the seed of a new universe to make a new one, and in his most selfless act, he gave Aurora (who was dead and gone permanently) his place in the universe, and now she's Pasqualo, although she has no idea about any of this and is just a "normal" (read: fricking psychotic) teenage girl
>with the heat death of the universe and Pasqualo being given the seed of a new universe to make a new one We homosuck now >is just a "normal" (read: fricking psychotic) teenage girl >he gave Aurora (who was dead and gone permanently) his place in the universe Frick, including his dad? Who wouldn't turn psychotic with that piece of shit as a father?
>Frick, including his dad? Who wouldn't turn psychotic with that piece of shit as a father? IH Pasqualo is an idiot. He didn't think his decision through.
when he finally finds his dad in heaven at the end of the comic he shits on him for liking anime, then Pasqualo flips his shit at him and literally eats his top hat. Yup, that's the tipping point. Ironically though, that's when his dad shows the closest he ever got to actual approval of him.
PFM Pasqualo was far more aware of her dad being an actual piece of shit and showed actual resent towards him.
2 years ago
Anonymous
>when he finally finds his dad in heaven bruh, I won't even ask
2 years ago
Anonymous
He never touched his penis.
2 years ago
Anonymous
you absolute bufoon, why are you still here getting spoiled instead of reading the whole thing?
He never touched his penis.
one of the highlights for me, i think i was in literal tears the first time i got to that page
2 years ago
Anonymous
>one of the highlights for me, i think i was in literal tears the first time i got to that page
"Why would I touch my dick? That's gay."
>Frick, including his dad? Who wouldn't turn psychotic with that piece of shit as a father?
Pasquallo had a superhuman ability to tolerate pieces of shit he never realized no one else had
>superhuman ability
He was raised in an abusive environment and his best friend had some fricked up issues of her own. It's more likely that he grew up assuming that it was something normal as he lacked a proper alternative to compare it to, interpreting his father's butthole behavior as a twisted expression of affection up until the very ending. Pasq's whole character surrounds his desire to be loved, as he never got that experience from his parents.
>We homosuck now
Yeah, basically. This feels a LOT like going from Homestuck's cool kids to Homestuck's later stuff. As in, going from a fantastical story to a story about lame characters having lame personal issues.
It did, but honestly I would've preferred if we could've actually been along for the ride instead of this being a Blackout for Narrative Convenience.
Hopefully Chapter 16 will continue with us being treated to a Hangover style retracing of steps to make up for not being able to see all the chaos first hand, but I imagine that it's instead going to become even more grounded and dramatic since that's the overall tone of the story thus far. The desire for a cathartic break is integral to the drama of the comic, even if it only exists on a meta-level.
We don't know how much of this is actually real, considering we got the wave hallucination as part of this. Very likely anything where Paz isn't wearing the yellow and blue rags is false.
>Blackout for Narrative Convenience
It will be more fun to put the pieces together over time. I am sure that Pasq will go out of her way to figure out just what happened and we will get to discover it alongside her.
>What the frick did I miss?
All the happenings that we've been missing for the past year or so has finally come at us full force. And it is simultaneously awesome, horrifying and heartbreaking. Also Dad is dead.
So hang on, if apocalypse is guaranteed whenever Pasqualo and Aurora get together, and in this universe Aurora got merged with Pasqualo, is apocalypse guaranteed?
This world seems to be perpetually post-apocalypse. A lot of stuff that only appeared after the world ended in the original universe is just out in the open in this one.
In It Hurts, we can identify the binary separation of whether or not the world is in an apocalypse:
Before Aurora = NO
After Aurora = YES
According to Harmony, these are constants, intrinsic to Aurora's nature, and her meeting Pasqualo would always flip the switch. Now, because Pasqualo gave Aurora his spot in the universe, this binary switch is stuck right in the middle, and the universe in an apocalyptic state is firmly at YES/NO. I would posit this slapdash merging of souls has created a world that is slowly but surely coming apart at the seams, where many things that should not happen ARE happening, and many things that should be happening are NOT happening.
I'm going back and reading some old comics to try and see if I can figure things out. I think Horley Shorley's words, especially in his last appearance, are intended to be prophetic (and not just referencing the comic Pasq would draw later).
One thing I'm 100% certain of is that Melanie is intended to be a Very Important Character and not just a goofy absentminded ditz with a sad backstory and mental trauma. She's really only shown up in two story arcs but one was the Horley Shorley one (where Horley insisted that she had to be the one to fry that rat leg or whatever it was) and the other was the Maggie arc where she was the one who got Pasq involved with the pregnant girl whose dad Maggie killed. She's only shown up twice outside of those two storylines. One was in a crowd scene with every other character at the start of the Dread Bear arc but the other was in comic 88 (around 50 before the Horley arc) where she shows up in one panel. Might seem insignificant but this is also the first comic with "fixed" Ally and the Horley arc is where the Pasqualo's problems with feeling like she's drifting away from Ally really start getting brought up.
Pasq is surprised she's never seen Melanie at the animal shelter, everyone in town seems to go out of their way to prevent Melanie from reliving and remembering the trauma of her dad's death, Melanie keeps showing up and playing important roles in story arcs that are also significant for Pasq's problems and now the two of them are members of the Dead Dad Club. I'm not sure what her actual role and purpose in the story is yet but I don't see it as being merely coincidence either. I think she has some kind o incredibly important purpose that we've yet to see or nobody's figured out.
Maybe I'm just hoping she's important because she's my favorite character.Also, I ship her and Pasq because I'm weird.
Ah frick I forgot, both Pasq and Melanie mask their traumas in unhealthy ways. Pasq through refusing to admit that anything is wrong and never trying to get help, Melanie through her general odd behavior that's encouraged by everyone around her... and both are just lucid enough to know they're screwed up.
>Now, because Pasqualo gave Aurora his spot in the universe, this binary switch is stuck right in the middle, and the universe in an apocalyptic state is firmly at YES/NO.
Huh, I hadn't considered that. The whole idea is that Aurora triggers the apocalypse by getting close to Pasqualo, but when she IS Pasqualo she is simultaneously as close as she can be and is not even close at all.
Cooo, but why not now? With a page like this to end the storytime on, the story will engage a lotbof people right? It's kinda wat got IH! rolling with the page 100
Gob and Josef lurk on Cinemaphile. I remember being in many threads where Gob was active back during the IT HURTS days.
The situation is that PFM hasn't had an outstanding moment like IT HURTS did with the apocalypse hitting the world or other emotional motions. Something that readers are expecting nonstop and continues to be disappointed that those moments haven't really happened yet. >Pasq being almost killed by the bear >Maggie killing the guy >Pasq's reactions to story elements overall
All have been good, but not great, compared to IT HURTS.
I still think people are overestimating Neo-Pasqualo's problems as needing to be caused by her fundamental nature and not her incredibly shit life leading her to develop different coping mechanisms than the original
No, but it's not bad. Page 100 in the moment it's shocking and completely different than what your used to but this had some build up to it. You knew something like this was coming. It not being revealed in it's entirety is really cool though.
I legit still don't understand what these comics are going for, I read them because they were pretty funny to me, but there's these long stretches where they try to be serious and I'm at a complete loss what the author thinks the tone of the comic is.
I just finished IH like a week ago and I liked it. Should I start on PFM or hold on till more things happen since everything I have heard is that nothing happens and I don't want to taint my IH experience on boring shit.
Dammit Ally don't frick this one up.
Also, is Pasqualo psychic or something? Or did he project his dreams onto the new universe so they ended up coming to pass?
>Pasq has dreams of stuff >creates a new world >subconsciously makes dreams reality
Alternatively, it could be the same reason why we saw previous world Pasqualos in the end of the world theater sequence.
pfm's only been running for four years
i don't really remember anything in ih that didn't get tied up, though there are some things in it you'd expect to appear in pfm but haven't yet
imagine if the series ends with the cast just recognizing pasquallo was an butthole
To elaborate on it he was a complex character, I can't believe I'm saying that given the goofiness of the stuff here but, where he was guilty of many sins including being emotionally abusive towards his friends because he couldn't manage his own mental health problems in a healthy way not do I think he couldn't given how hated he was by his father (no counseling even if free) and young he was.
I don't blame him for the apocalypse because he had no way of knowing what would happen but I do blame him for how increasingly dystopic he was becoming.
After all that we saw how he had the biggest torments imaginable by his loneliness in his voyage to the next universe so I don't think he deserves more punishment I mean even hell is not as bad as he went through (for most sentient beings he's special because he'll remember all of his friends who permadie so actually if he stayed in hell it would have been worse)
At the end of his journey he realized that there's so Buddhist like cosmology and also there's an ever increasing infinite list of people above himself, Satan, God, chaos and harmony. It just so happens that existence is not fair to his human sensibilities and maybe even fair as perceived by anyone forever.
It's just a great big tragedy but he made the best he could at the moment.
There's always room to improve and we don't know the mechanics of how much active and conscious involvement he had in the new universe.
There's a lot of selfishness because he didn't respected Aurora's wishes but he also wasn't happy that she's fundamentally tied to creating so much suffering to others and it's missing a key feature of all other sentient beings.
Sorry for the rambling, cheese forgive me.
If I was her u wouldn't hate Pasqualo, unless he purposely made me the daughter of Triangilini.
I would be really mad that he didn't respected my decision for him to be happy
Hey Gob, love what you an' Josef have done with the comic so far. Hopefully it didn't burn you out too bad, I know how much of a strain huge updates like that can be.
Thank you. I'm feeling a bit sluggish and I ran out of a comic buffer, but I'm trying to get back to work. I tend to feel a little blue after I finish a big thing.
Hey Gob, I'm curious: without spoiling anything, has anyone in any of the theories in these threads even come close to what you guys have in mind for PFM?
To be honest, I haven't been around in a little while. Been pretty dang busy. That said, back in It Hurts days, there have been a few times where people have guessed things that happen. There have also been times where fans come up with theories that I've really liked, even if they aren't what we originally intended.
Love you man. Someone a while ago described you as an okay artist and a great cartoonist, I think I agree.
I'm sure it helped that you finally left alt-text behind. By the way, did that go over okay? Alt-text didn't get violent that you were leaving them and you had to call the police, right?
Hey Gob, love what you an' Josef have done with the comic so far. Hopefully it didn't burn you out too bad, I know how much of a strain huge updates like that can be.
Hey Gob, I'm curious: without spoiling anything, has anyone in any of the theories in these threads even come close to what you guys have in mind for PFM?
Gob, you and/or Josef should check out the manga Suicide Girl. You guys would probably enjoy it and it has a very IH/PFM vibe, like a magical girl series starring Pasqualo.
here's one
[...]
Thank you. I'm feeling a bit sluggish and I ran out of a comic buffer, but I'm trying to get back to work. I tend to feel a little blue after I finish a big thing.
[...]
To be honest, I haven't been around in a little while. Been pretty dang busy. That said, back in It Hurts days, there have been a few times where people have guessed things that happen. There have also been times where fans come up with theories that I've really liked, even if they aren't what we originally intended.
[...]
Shucks, thank you so much <3
>To be honest, I haven't been around in a little while. Been pretty dang busy. That said, back in It Hurts days, there have been a few times where people have guessed things that happen. There have also been times where fans come up with theories that I've really liked, even if they aren't what we originally intended.
Is there anything ITT that's come close to guessing things or that's not correct that you like?
Also, are the newer characters in the series that weren't in IH creations of Josef, you, or both? I always feel like shaking dynamics up like that can be challenging but Patience, Melanie and the like are all really great and fit in really well with the rest of the cast such that I kind of wish retroactively they'd been in It Hurts as well.
Lorewise, did any of them likely exist in IH and we just never saw them or were they created with new universe?
With regards to theories posted here in this thread, I'd rather not say one way or the other whether they're on the right track. I'm happy to see people theorizing about stuff that might happen and I'd rather leave things left to fans to guess about. Sorry to be vague. <3
I'll take a look at Suicide Girl one of these days! 🙂
The new characters are made up by both of us. Patience is Josef's character, but I think she was only meant to be a background character. I thought she would be funnier if she was featured more. Melanie is pretty much my character, but Josef helped me come up with her backstory, for internal lore purposes and whatnot. We may or may not showcase more of her past.
As for whether they existed in the IH universe, that's a good question. I don't know how Josef feels, but a big part of me thinks that they're unique to the PFM universe. That's just how I personally feel ATM. Josef and I may have talked about it before, but I forget what conclusion we came to lol.
You guys ever notice how the number of exclamation marks in the title is directly linked to which iteration of the universe we are in? >God Dammit! >It Hurts!! >Please Forgive Me!!!
😉
I'm sure it helped that you finally left alt-text behind. By the way, did that go over okay? Alt-text didn't get violent that you were leaving them and you had to call the police, right?
I got in a wrestling match with alt-text and ended up breaking a coffee mug over its head. Alt-text is in Coffee Hospital now.
Also, it was really nice to see Kim get a starring role in a story and I've liked seeing Stephanie too. Maybe Christy will actually get some focus at some point too. But it's nice seeing a wider variety of characters.
I love Kim.
I gotta get going to work now. Unfortunately I can't post on my phone while I'm there for some reason, so I wish you all a fabulous day, week, month, and year. Maybe 2 years. 3?
>Melanie is pretty much my character, but Josef helped me come up with her backstory, for internal lore purposes and whatnot. We may or may not showcase more of her past.
That's cool, she's my favorite character in PFM right now.
It's the man himself!
Thanks for your and Joseph's work.
It's honestly one of the few things created by humanity that I would consider to be worth preserving.
You guys ever notice how the number of exclamation marks in the title is directly linked to which iteration of the universe we are in? >God Dammit! >It Hurts!! >Please Forgive Me!!!
Also, it was really nice to see Kim get a starring role in a story and I've liked seeing Stephanie too. Maybe Christy will actually get some focus at some point too. But it's nice seeing a wider variety of characters.
Part of me is convinced that the new rules are that people who like anime and can name at least three of the civilian names of the Sailor Scouts get to go to heaven, and everyone else goes to hell.
Did she do it?
Being Pasq continues to be suffering
That's what I'm wondering too. I wonder if the reason there are so many black panels. Is at some point we will see the same thing but without the black out panels so we know what happened.
I assume so theres a lot of black panels before the Ally and Obtuseangelo panels and it would make sense from a creative and story telling standpoint if we gradually get those black panels filled in.
nonononono i'm not ready for this bring back the sol GOB BRING BACK THE SOL
I don't know why that picture scares me so much, like I'm legit terrified he's going to appear irl or scream at me
Benito Mussolini wasn't a particularly nice person, so that helps.
Was Franco worse?
It was that pregnant b***h.
>You killed my dad, I'll kill yours
checks out
A likely culprit, but I have another proposal.
What happened to the lesbian from the early arc?
I'm leaning no, or at least by the time she learns, it won't effect her much. Like, this blackout is already going to have dramatic effects on her life, and we're going to spend a long time with her just handling the situation and coping as is. Introducing that revelation after however long is just going to frick up whatever progress she's made and basically have wasted our time between then and now.
Original Pasqualo travelled for eons just to give Aurora a chance to live, remade the world to be a better place for her, and it still wasn't enough.
Right in the feels, man
Anon, no.
He just gave her his place.
Being Pasqualo is suffering
Pasqualo fricked up, man.
Turns out merging a being that exists to give love with a being that exists to receive that love doesn't result in fulfillment, but the exact opposite.
She was literally made to make him happy. Pasq had normal issues that he could've fixed but it is impossible for Aurora to be happy without a Pasqualo on a fundamental level. Whether she's just aurora slapped into the role or an actual fusion of both Pasqualo can't love himself without long term, serious mental health but Aurora will never confront that bit because she still subconsciously knows she's meant to be helping others to obtain happiness but none of them are The One.
>She was literally made to make him happy
Which means that Pasquaurora was literally made to make herself happy. She's doing a terrible job at it though.
>Pasqalora's job is to make herself happy
That would be an absolute adorable and sweet twist.
also familiar shades
I'm just glad she got some sleep. The concussion arc was getting genuinely distressing.
...what the frick just happened?
Also thank GOD she finally got some sleep.
Snippets from Pasqualo going insane from lack of sleep before passing out somewhere.
>he freed them all
Indeed Pasqualo
You know, that was genuinely unsettling to watch. Or read.
Holy fricking cow
I need to catch back up.
Ok, so what the frick just happened?
I have questions.
>can anybody decipher pic related?
>what's the deal with Ally?
>why is Pasqualo BALD if she only passed out from not sleeping? She still had her hair when we last saw her, it looks more like she had a brain surgery.
>did she kill her dad?
-I think that might just be actual gibberish
-She probably went to Ally's house to vent out everything that has been happening to her but Ally didn't know how to properly respond/whatever she said wasn't good enough of an answer
-she hasn't taken a bath and her hair's been burnt, most likely got more concussions on her head and the Doc probably had to shave it off
-Either she did, someone else did or Dad killed himself to not have to deal with Miss Penguin's bullshit anymore, he looked pretty miserable with her moving in and what not
>I think that might just be actual gibberish
Perhaps, but I almost can read some parts at the beginning:
"And that's why"
>Either she did, someone else did or Dad killed himself to not have to deal with Miss Penguin's bullshit anymore, he looked pretty miserable with her moving in and what not
On the one hand, suicide by stabbing yourself a bunch and chopping your own head off sounds like the kind of thing he'd do, on the other it sounds more like something he'd like people to think he'd do but deep down is too pussy to actually do
He could probably invent some way to do it that was completely painless.
Dad would also probably leave some clues pointing to Pasqualo, just to be a post-humous prick.
>She probably went to Ally's house to vent out everything that has been happening to her but Ally didn't know how to properly respond/whatever she said wasn't good enough of an answer
I'm honestly most terrified about this because there is a very good chance whatever Pasqualo said to Ally might have seriously damaged their friendship. Not knowing what she did in that timeframe is absolutely killing me.
Ally already seriously damaged it by hooking up with Tubsy and hanging off of him 24/7 and when she's around Pasqualo basically doing nothing but gushing about how great Tubsy is. Pasqualo's downward spiral really started back when she got "fixed" and hooked up with Tubsy leaving Pasqualo to feel like she was starting to lose her best friend and that she was now the third wheel in Ally and Tubsy's relationship and both Ally and Tubsy seem largely flippant and ignorant of what they're doing.
"Fixed" Ally is such a shitty, dull character that I kind of think it has to be on purpose and she's going to reach a point where she realizes she's been neglecting her best friend but I don't know, maybe Josef and Gob feel like she actually is better. At this point, Katie, Patience and Melanie are probably better friends/closer with Pasqualo than Ally is and that's kind of sad.
I have a sinking feeling that Ally being fixed and growing distant to Pasqualo is itself the message: that sometimes friends, even really good friends, can grow apart and simply stop being friends.
I honestly thought at first that Allison being fixed was going to turn out to be the result of brainwashing. I think it's a real problem that depressed people with no self-esteem can have. You've got someone you're close with and you feel like they understand and accept you despite being such a useless, broken-brained frick up and are there for you. But if it starts to feel like they're paying you less attention and not just that, but blowing you off to hang around with other people where they seem like they're having more fun and are happier, it causes those negative feelings and resentment -- both towards them and yourself -- to build up.
The relationship with Tubsy fundamentally changed Pasqualo and Ally's relationship for the worse and Ally being fixed has kind of made her a shittier person. Whether she intends to or not, she's kind of condescending to Pasqualo with her "oh, just go get help like I did, look it fixed me" attitude and not really trying to understand Pasqualo or why she's spiralling down.
Go back to the end of It Hurts. The thing that causes Pasqualo to give up is when Tubsy and Poop are killed in Hell and Katie and Ally subsequently forget about them while Katie's just like "Pasqualo, you sound crazy. I think you just need help". There's a whole big flashback to Pasq and Ally during the apocalypse about how Pasq was worried that they'd be separated at some point. Pasq can survive as long as he/she has his/her friends, especially Ally, but without them Pasq feels completely lost and hopeless.
Maybe Pasq needs help but what she needs more is her best friend and currently she doesn't have that.
>"Fixed" Ally is such a shitty, dull character that I kind of think it has to be on purpose and she's going to reach a point where she realizes she's been neglecting her best friend but I don't know
Having been in Ally's position she's a perfect depiction of being powerless to stop a loved one's downward spiral.
But it's not just simple powerlessness. The Christmas comic is the biggest example of showing that the biggest impediment in their relationship right now is Ally dating Tubsy, that it's making Pasqy feel like a third wheel in her own friendship and that this is a massive blindspot for Ally who can see that something is wrong but not that her relationship and her deemphasizing her best friend for her boyfriend is the problem.
https://gobolatula.com/pfm/comic/149-simply-having-a-wonderful-christmastime/
I wonder if the panel with Allison in the most recent comic was about that.
It'll be interesting to see who killed Pasqy's dad and why.
no, ally knows exactly why, she's not moronic. You think she'll drop her own hard earned happiness?
She doesn't know why, that's the problem, she thinks Pasqualo is just randomly going fricking nuts and thinks it's the same problems she had, which is why her insistence that Pasqualo get mental help like she did and she'll be cured 😀
But Ally, at least in this universe, isn't really crazy, she was just a young girl that was adopted into a family that didn't really mesh well with her, and had trouble fitting in with them and the rest of society in general, becoming more and more wild until somebody put a stop to it to get her the help (and attention) she needed
Pasqualo, on the other hand, is fundamentally broken, and nothing she or anybody around can do will be able to fix her, because she is constantly depressed, brain damaged, has lived in a broken home her entire life (in other words, wouldn't even recognize a good family/group of friends/authority figure if it bit her in the ass), and the one thing that could possibly help her will never show up, because he peaced out for the last time to give this life to her
she's like a tiger in an enclosure in the zoo, she knows that this isn't her real home, even if it's the only one she knows, and all she can do is pace back and forth, never getting a chance to truly let herself loose, except for the few times that a stupid kid falls in (in this case, the various problems she tries to fix for her friends and community) and everybody tries to get her not to attack it, but it's literally what she was built for, fixing problems and being happy and nice
>is fundamentally broken,
this is assumption.
nothing she's done so far says anything beyond "kid hates her home life, blames it on herself and copes by being nice"
irl kills have blown their brains of for less m8. allyson is in the same situation, with a bipolar mom absentee dad and a sister who bullies her.
I think allison understands at some fundamental level that her change began pasquora's downward spiral. she gets told don't' blame yourself, hell
>nothing she's done so far says anything beyond "kid hates her home life, blames it on herself and copes by being nice"
bro I think the comic is saying way more than that about her
>kid with abseentee father issues is afraid of abandonment
what else it can say?
we MAY speculate on universal constants but there's no guarantee there WILL be universal constants.
I wasn't commenting on the nature of her damage, but on its scope
Sure her issues are understandable for a teenager in her situation, but their gravity is way beyond what is normal to experience. She is extremely mentally unwell.
>but their gravity is way beyond what is normal to experience.
of course her entire behaviour is not realistic, it's hyperbolized for laughs, but emotional meltdown from your father outright hating you is a pretty common thing.
If she knows then it makes her worse because she's effectively telling Pasq that at Tubsy > Pasq on her list of priorities and isn't making an attempt to try and balance things so Pasq isn't feeling left behind despite the fact she clearly needs her and is feeling like shit because she feels like she's losing the one person who understands her and has been there through all the shit she's endured.
But I don't think she does completely get it given the "I have two best friends" line and then inviting Tubsy to something that was just supposed to be for them. There's also an unintentionally condescending element to her attitude where she comes off as "I got help, so why can't YOU". I think Pasqualo can endure a lot so long as she (or he in the previous universe) has Allison. But without her, Pasqualo completely falls apart. Maybe without Obtusangelo around, though, Pasqualo can start to really deal with things, realize that she does have good friends willing to help her like Katie, Patience and Melanie. Then Aurorasqualo can finally start to become her own person and find what makes HER happy, not just be Aurora shoved into Pasqualo's shitty life.
Maybe there's still an element of the old Pasqualo around and the title refers to a lingering sense of regret over the situation Pasqualo placed her in. But I think the point of PFM is for Aurora to become her own person for real, free from the empty feeling that comes with having to please someone who no longer exists. Pasqualo's a constant and special being across every incarnation of reality but he's also unique in being able to defy fate. Aurora, by learning and confronting the truth, will likewise be able to defy fate by becoming her own wholly individual being, instead of merely playing a role that she was (unintentionally cruelly) shoved into.
Sure is a lot of hope you got there considering that Paz doesn't have any living parents left.
Is Pasqualo's mom dead? I don't think her mom has been confirmed for anything yet, other than NOT being Jenny Penguin, especially her being alive or dead
I think the main thrust of the series is to make and explore Aurora as her own person. I kind of feel like most of the early stuff was, in a sense, there to play with the reader; to reinforce the idea in them of "Aurorasqualo" where you don't think of her as Aurora but as Pasqualo with a few Auroraish traits. As it leads up to Pasqualo's breakdown though and her clearly worse state, you start to reexamime things and wonder WHY and it starts to become clear that the view of her being Aurora shoved into Pasqualo's life is both right and wrong. Because in essence that's what she is and that's what's messing her up at a fundamental level. It's to screw with your own perception of the character and stop viewing her simply as "Aurorasqualo" but as Aurora, someone with her own wants and needs that might not align with Pasqualo's.
And I think that's where the problem comes from in story too. Aurora is so fricked up because she quite literally doesn't know who she his. She's a weird mishmash of two fundamentally different beings. Aurora exists to please Pasqualo and that's it. But there's no Pasqualo to please so she tries to please everyone else because she's trying to fill a void but doesn't know how to.
All Pasqualo wanted was for Aurora to live and have a chance at happiness and I feel like the point is for Aurora to realize and come to terms with who she is. Not as the old Aurora or a fill in for Pasqualo but as her own person. What makes HERA happy? What does SHE want? In a way, it's still dealing with depression but a more existential type. The kind where you feel empty, wondering just what it is you want out of life. The kind of ennui where you look at yourself and go "Is this it? Is Is this who I am? Is THIS my life?".
Nah, man. It's pretty clear from the get-go that this new character is mostly Aurora with a few Pasqualo traits added, but I don't think PFM is written with IH as mandatory reading, or with the intent that Aurora (the fragment of abstract harmony) will ever fully resurface. Knowledge of the prior universe just isn't in the text, and it doesn't really contribute that much when PFM goes out of its way to show Paz's complete mismatch of personality, desires, and circumstance in a fairly realistic way given the goofiness of the setting.
(I'll continue shortening the new Pasqualo's name as Paz because it's easier, sounds feminine, and is distinct from Pasq.)
Pasq was completely fricked up way before tubsy and ally hooked up, you can't put that on her
Being nice to her won't fix her, and it would probably not even calm down the symptoms.
Katie has always been Pasqualo's "better" friend, in every world
The hell ark showed otherwise.
There is a point where Pasq talks about how she sees herself in the future, or rather how she doesn't see her own place in it alongside Ally. The relationship between Ally and Tubsy symbolized Ally moving on towards the future that Pasq was afraid of seeing, the one where she lost the closest person she had in her life. Ally is maturing and Pasq simply cannot catch up with her, she is slowly being left behind. Pasq is also unable to love anyone so she won't be able to share or relate to Ally's experience.
Until proven otherwise, I'm under the assumption that that's the lyrics to All Star piled on top of one another.
>Hey now, you're a wars star
Most likely it was either suicide or Jenny Penguin murdering him, with Pasqualo coming in to find his corpse, the most likely reason she was screaming in the first place
>the most likely reason she was screaming in the first place
In pic rel??
But his head is still on, and the visible parts of Pasq's dad look unstabbed, so I guess he's still alive?
I was thinking this was before the decapitation, and his stab wounds were in the back
Like she came in after the murderer stabbed him in the back, and while they went off and got a chainsaw or an axe or something, she broke in (can you break into your own house?) and found him laying on the floor or something
I don't know, he could've been alive, it's just the way he looks in that panel, he looks somewhat limp, and his eyes are pointing in opposite directions, plus he would allow her to manhandle him like that
what would actually be surprising is if it turned Pasqualo actually did kill him, and in his final moments, he started crying and pleading like a b***h
>and in his final moments, he started crying and pleading like a b***h
We all want it, but that ain't happening.
>turned Pasqualo actually did kill him, and in his final moments, he started crying and pleading like a b***h
no way this happens,
Fug forgot picrel.
It seems like Dad might be dead there already (eyes going in different directions, limp body and all), though it might be possible that Pasq completely lost her shit and then stabbed/beheaded the body?
why would he kill himself though?
fun thing to do on a saturday night, and it's free
bump uglies and get married? YES
>bump uglies and get married? YES
You think her dad would accept that or is that too sinful?
To spite his wife and child.
if anything, Pasqualo is now free of what was probably her biggest burden
Yeah but still, imagine not being able to see the ocean anymore. Even if you don't like it
>can anybody decipher pic related?
I believe it says "Make Peggy Real 2K12"
Really though, no. It starts of as 'So I t' overlaeyed with 'and an', but a third line introduced makes it undecipherable
I'm currently trying to decipher Pasqualo's schizo rant, so far it seems coherent enough to actually tell the sentences/words apart.
Anyone else notice the gazebo you can barely see in one of the black panels?
Also thank frick something actually happened.
>Anyone else notice the gazebo you can barely see in one of the black panels?
No.
I can't see it either, but now I know that the chapter was 112 panels long.
Unsure if that's relevant.
i stopped reading a long time ago because honestly it was not as interesting as It HURTS!!, what is happening, quick recap please?
Pasq's life has been spiraling out of control and is now recovering from a sleepless bender. Oh and Dad's dead.
Kinda disappointed to see, it seems the only important comic was the latest one and the rest was actually not interesting.
Ah well
Magma spider came in the comic. She's a beautiful darling who also killed someone.
wrong
The downward spiral of the cutest schoolgirl i've ever read
Literally nothing more than "Pasq goes crazy over time" and "Magma Spider exists, but gets arrested for murder".
Is that a cigareete in an extender?
wouldn't be much of a raoul duke cosplay otherwise
I never noticed his cigarette was in that. I'm getting mandela effected
So the real important question in all of this: did Patience and Watience... you know...
Holy fricking shit, this one hit like a fricking train.
here, between pasq talking gibberish with the hobos and her screaming at her dad
>It's real
If you take the page with Pasq screaming at her dad and boost brightness and contrast, that sketch shows up.
Here's panel one of the all-black page after "no need for thanks, citizen!"
And the last panel of the page with Pasqualo screaming from inside the wave.
Ok, maybe I should go through these, since just right clicking in paint gives a much clearer image.
Yep, it was just those three.
What are these?
You have eyes to see and yet you still doubt.
I don't. I'm wondering what is the point of these hidden sketches and what they represent (especially the last one, no idea what's that supposed to be.)
you're going to have to do better than that
what do you mean?
that just looks like an unrelated sketch, I was expecting a lightened image or change in contrast, or perhaps a defining feature to be circled on the original image
he's right actually, it's the 7th black panel after Pasqualo shouts gibberish at the hobos, and it's very faint, I had to highlight it to see barely see it, you'd probably have to do shit with the contrast to fully see it
Okay, I highlighted it on the website and took a screenshot, now it's pretty easily visible.
It's probably just a sketch Gob or Josef did when they were planning out what she did while blacked out so they can come back and use it for reference later, except they didn't totally black it out like all the other panels
I'm thinking the gazebo might be something that Ally and Pasqualo treasure, like it's the place where they first became best friends
>Pasq
>she
stopped reading it a long time ago, but how?
Is he a troony now?
Did you not see the end of It Hurts?
New universe and some soul-swapping shenanigans (with disasterous results).
You stopped reading a LONG time ago
It Hurts!! ended a while back, and it ended with the heat death of the universe and Pasqualo being given the seed of a new universe to make a new one, and in his most selfless act, he gave Aurora (who was dead and gone permanently) his place in the universe, and now she's Pasqualo, although she has no idea about any of this and is just a "normal" (read: fricking psychotic) teenage girl
>with the heat death of the universe and Pasqualo being given the seed of a new universe to make a new one
We homosuck now
>is just a "normal" (read: fricking psychotic) teenage girl
>he gave Aurora (who was dead and gone permanently) his place in the universe
Frick, including his dad? Who wouldn't turn psychotic with that piece of shit as a father?
>Frick, including his dad? Who wouldn't turn psychotic with that piece of shit as a father?
IH Pasqualo is an idiot. He didn't think his decision through.
He still thought his dad loved him until the end? Man that's fricking sad
when he finally finds his dad in heaven at the end of the comic he shits on him for liking anime, then Pasqualo flips his shit at him and literally eats his top hat. Yup, that's the tipping point. Ironically though, that's when his dad shows the closest he ever got to actual approval of him.
PFM Pasqualo was far more aware of her dad being an actual piece of shit and showed actual resent towards him.
>when he finally finds his dad in heaven
bruh, I won't even ask
He never touched his penis.
you absolute bufoon, why are you still here getting spoiled instead of reading the whole thing?
one of the highlights for me, i think i was in literal tears the first time i got to that page
>one of the highlights for me, i think i was in literal tears the first time i got to that page
"Why would I touch my dick? That's gay."
>Frick, including his dad? Who wouldn't turn psychotic with that piece of shit as a father?
Pasquallo had a superhuman ability to tolerate pieces of shit he never realized no one else had
>superhuman ability
He was raised in an abusive environment and his best friend had some fricked up issues of her own. It's more likely that he grew up assuming that it was something normal as he lacked a proper alternative to compare it to, interpreting his father's butthole behavior as a twisted expression of affection up until the very ending. Pasq's whole character surrounds his desire to be loved, as he never got that experience from his parents.
>We homosuck now
Yeah, basically. This feels a LOT like going from Homestuck's cool kids to Homestuck's later stuff. As in, going from a fantastical story to a story about lame characters having lame personal issues.
Anybody tried playing around with the contrast/brightness and other stuff in the panels? There might be hidden stuff in those.
Now I'm reading the thread, and there was! Pretty cool.
what the frick is happening?
I haven't followed this in forever Did shit Truly hit the fan?
It did, but honestly I would've preferred if we could've actually been along for the ride instead of this being a Blackout for Narrative Convenience.
Hopefully Chapter 16 will continue with us being treated to a Hangover style retracing of steps to make up for not being able to see all the chaos first hand, but I imagine that it's instead going to become even more grounded and dramatic since that's the overall tone of the story thus far. The desire for a cathartic break is integral to the drama of the comic, even if it only exists on a meta-level.
We don't know how much of this is actually real, considering we got the wave hallucination as part of this. Very likely anything where Paz isn't wearing the yellow and blue rags is false.
i suspect they're all real, but some are different pasqs
after the whole fairy thing I legit though she was gonna cause the apocalypse via wish
>Blackout for Narrative Convenience
It will be more fun to put the pieces together over time. I am sure that Pasq will go out of her way to figure out just what happened and we will get to discover it alongside her.
What the frick did I miss?
Last time I saw anything was her creeping around Phantom of the Opera style
>What the frick did I miss?
All the happenings that we've been missing for the past year or so has finally come at us full force. And it is simultaneously awesome, horrifying and heartbreaking.
Also Dad is dead.
That actually wasn't her. She's been wandering in a concussed stupor for 5 days and causing mayhem.
So hang on, if apocalypse is guaranteed whenever Pasqualo and Aurora get together, and in this universe Aurora got merged with Pasqualo, is apocalypse guaranteed?
This world seems to be perpetually post-apocalypse. A lot of stuff that only appeared after the world ended in the original universe is just out in the open in this one.
In It Hurts, we can identify the binary separation of whether or not the world is in an apocalypse:
Before Aurora = NO
After Aurora = YES
According to Harmony, these are constants, intrinsic to Aurora's nature, and her meeting Pasqualo would always flip the switch. Now, because Pasqualo gave Aurora his spot in the universe, this binary switch is stuck right in the middle, and the universe in an apocalyptic state is firmly at YES/NO. I would posit this slapdash merging of souls has created a world that is slowly but surely coming apart at the seams, where many things that should not happen ARE happening, and many things that should be happening are NOT happening.
This would explain the really weird shit like horley shorley appearing out of fricking nowhere.
I'm going back and reading some old comics to try and see if I can figure things out. I think Horley Shorley's words, especially in his last appearance, are intended to be prophetic (and not just referencing the comic Pasq would draw later).
One thing I'm 100% certain of is that Melanie is intended to be a Very Important Character and not just a goofy absentminded ditz with a sad backstory and mental trauma. She's really only shown up in two story arcs but one was the Horley Shorley one (where Horley insisted that she had to be the one to fry that rat leg or whatever it was) and the other was the Maggie arc where she was the one who got Pasq involved with the pregnant girl whose dad Maggie killed. She's only shown up twice outside of those two storylines. One was in a crowd scene with every other character at the start of the Dread Bear arc but the other was in comic 88 (around 50 before the Horley arc) where she shows up in one panel. Might seem insignificant but this is also the first comic with "fixed" Ally and the Horley arc is where the Pasqualo's problems with feeling like she's drifting away from Ally really start getting brought up.
Pasq is surprised she's never seen Melanie at the animal shelter, everyone in town seems to go out of their way to prevent Melanie from reliving and remembering the trauma of her dad's death, Melanie keeps showing up and playing important roles in story arcs that are also significant for Pasq's problems and now the two of them are members of the Dead Dad Club. I'm not sure what her actual role and purpose in the story is yet but I don't see it as being merely coincidence either. I think she has some kind o incredibly important purpose that we've yet to see or nobody's figured out.
Maybe I'm just hoping she's important because she's my favorite character. Also, I ship her and Pasq because I'm weird.
Ah frick I forgot, both Pasq and Melanie mask their traumas in unhealthy ways. Pasq through refusing to admit that anything is wrong and never trying to get help, Melanie through her general odd behavior that's encouraged by everyone around her... and both are just lucid enough to know they're screwed up.
>Also, I ship her and Pasq because I'm weird.
someone post that adult sasha and kid marcy crackship
>Now, because Pasqualo gave Aurora his spot in the universe, this binary switch is stuck right in the middle, and the universe in an apocalyptic state is firmly at YES/NO.
Huh, I hadn't considered that. The whole idea is that Aurora triggers the apocalypse by getting close to Pasqualo, but when she IS Pasqualo she is simultaneously as close as she can be and is not even close at all.
just reminding everyone that i’m storytiming ih and pfm in august, will provide firm dates in future pfm threads
Sweet
sounds good. i can tag in as need be
Cooo, but why not now? With a page like this to end the storytime on, the story will engage a lotbof people right? It's kinda wat got IH! rolling with the page 100
Because I storytimed it last August.
Actually after thinking it over I can confirm that it'll start on August 13th.
>"Oh, you think PFM is boring, huh? You want happenings? WELL HOW ABOUT THIS SHIT, MOTHERFRICKERS?!" - Gob and Josef, probably
Gob and Josef lurk on Cinemaphile. I remember being in many threads where Gob was active back during the IT HURTS days.
The situation is that PFM hasn't had an outstanding moment like IT HURTS did with the apocalypse hitting the world or other emotional motions. Something that readers are expecting nonstop and continues to be disappointed that those moments haven't really happened yet.
>Pasq being almost killed by the bear
>Maggie killing the guy
>Pasq's reactions to story elements overall
All have been good, but not great, compared to IT HURTS.
I want to have sex with Gob
why
stfu josef
I still think people are overestimating Neo-Pasqualo's problems as needing to be caused by her fundamental nature and not her incredibly shit life leading her to develop different coping mechanisms than the original
So is this happening as intense as page 100?
No
No, but it's not bad. Page 100 in the moment it's shocking and completely different than what your used to but this had some build up to it. You knew something like this was coming. It not being revealed in it's entirety is really cool though.
I legit still don't understand what these comics are going for, I read them because they were pretty funny to me, but there's these long stretches where they try to be serious and I'm at a complete loss what the author thinks the tone of the comic is.
Kind-of like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JROdHUjJ_94
I love these 3 morons.
I just finished IH like a week ago and I liked it. Should I start on PFM or hold on till more things happen since everything I have heard is that nothing happens and I don't want to taint my IH experience on boring shit.
Now seems like a fine time to start, or you could wait a few weeks for that anon to do his irregular storytime.
Melanie is Aurorasqualo's Aurora
for god's sakes lesbians are not the answer to everything.
Well seeing as Aurora is what causes the apocalypse in every other timeline, duh.
So I guess Pasqualo's breakdown on Ally is what will lead to their friendship breakup that was foreshadowed in IH?
Lesbionicness.
I hate that I ship it.
God I simultaneously want this and absolutely DO NOT want this.
Dammit Ally don't frick this one up.
Also, is Pasqualo psychic or something? Or did he project his dreams onto the new universe so they ended up coming to pass?
>Pasq has dreams of stuff
>creates a new world
>subconsciously makes dreams reality
Alternatively, it could be the same reason why we saw previous world Pasqualos in the end of the world theater sequence.
>my brain was clearly heteronormative during that dream
Man, they really nailed the cringe worthy male feminist dialogue.
Holy shit kino. Time to catch up on the last 100 comics.
Anyone else got a feeling the comic doesn't have much too long left? It's clear it won't reach the number of strips IH had
I dunno. There's a lot of weird background shit that hasn't paid off yet.
I don't really see any indication that we're nearing a conclusion.
Will
>gob forgot
become the
>araki forgot
of Cinemaphile?
There's about a decade of material that morons are expecting some sort of pay-off for.
pfm's only been running for four years
i don't really remember anything in ih that didn't get tied up, though there are some things in it you'd expect to appear in pfm but haven't yet
>pfm's only been running for four years
>four years
I just want Aurora to finally be happy.
Haven't read gobs comics since somewhere in hell during it hurts, why is pasqualo a girl now?
Low-spoiler explanation: this is a sequel comic set in a new universe that was created at the end of It Hurts!
This is a different Pasq. The universe was reset
Reminder that Aurora never wanted any of this
imagine if the series ends with the cast just recognizing pasquallo was an butthole
Pasqualo original? He was and everyone knew that
To elaborate on it he was a complex character, I can't believe I'm saying that given the goofiness of the stuff here but, where he was guilty of many sins including being emotionally abusive towards his friends because he couldn't manage his own mental health problems in a healthy way not do I think he couldn't given how hated he was by his father (no counseling even if free) and young he was.
I don't blame him for the apocalypse because he had no way of knowing what would happen but I do blame him for how increasingly dystopic he was becoming.
After all that we saw how he had the biggest torments imaginable by his loneliness in his voyage to the next universe so I don't think he deserves more punishment I mean even hell is not as bad as he went through (for most sentient beings he's special because he'll remember all of his friends who permadie so actually if he stayed in hell it would have been worse)
At the end of his journey he realized that there's so Buddhist like cosmology and also there's an ever increasing infinite list of people above himself, Satan, God, chaos and harmony. It just so happens that existence is not fair to his human sensibilities and maybe even fair as perceived by anyone forever.
It's just a great big tragedy but he made the best he could at the moment.
There's always room to improve and we don't know the mechanics of how much active and conscious involvement he had in the new universe.
There's a lot of selfishness because he didn't respected Aurora's wishes but he also wasn't happy that she's fundamentally tied to creating so much suffering to others and it's missing a key feature of all other sentient beings.
Sorry for the rambling, cheese forgive me.
If we get a chance to see Pasqualo and Aurorasqualo interact, I guarantee the latter is going to go on a fricking tirade against the former.
plot twist: they frick
Mindfrick of the ages. She'd hate what Pasq did, but also she'd still love Pasq unconditionally. It'll be the ultimate YES/NO, ON/OFF condition.
If I was her u wouldn't hate Pasqualo, unless he purposely made me the daughter of Triangilini.
I would be really mad that he didn't respected my decision for him to be happy
It's been a while. I hope you're all well. <3
Hey man! Been enjoying it so far, and especially looking forward to where it goes from here.
hello, will we filling the blanks on this latest strip immediately or will it be drawn out
here's one
Thank you. I'm feeling a bit sluggish and I ran out of a comic buffer, but I'm trying to get back to work. I tend to feel a little blue after I finish a big thing.
To be honest, I haven't been around in a little while. Been pretty dang busy. That said, back in It Hurts days, there have been a few times where people have guessed things that happen. There have also been times where fans come up with theories that I've really liked, even if they aren't what we originally intended.
Shucks, thank you so much <3
I'm sure it helped that you finally left alt-text behind. By the way, did that go over okay? Alt-text didn't get violent that you were leaving them and you had to call the police, right?
<3
Hey Gob, love what you an' Josef have done with the comic so far. Hopefully it didn't burn you out too bad, I know how much of a strain huge updates like that can be.
Thanks for everything, Gob. I'm not going to be cheesy and say they've changed my life or anything, but IH and PFM are two good fricking comics.
Hey Gob, I'm curious: without spoiling anything, has anyone in any of the theories in these threads even come close to what you guys have in mind for PFM?
i love you gobber
Love you man. Someone a while ago described you as an okay artist and a great cartoonist, I think I agree.
Gob, you and/or Josef should check out the manga Suicide Girl. You guys would probably enjoy it and it has a very IH/PFM vibe, like a magical girl series starring Pasqualo.
>To be honest, I haven't been around in a little while. Been pretty dang busy. That said, back in It Hurts days, there have been a few times where people have guessed things that happen. There have also been times where fans come up with theories that I've really liked, even if they aren't what we originally intended.
Is there anything ITT that's come close to guessing things or that's not correct that you like?
Also, are the newer characters in the series that weren't in IH creations of Josef, you, or both? I always feel like shaking dynamics up like that can be challenging but Patience, Melanie and the like are all really great and fit in really well with the rest of the cast such that I kind of wish retroactively they'd been in It Hurts as well.
Lorewise, did any of them likely exist in IH and we just never saw them or were they created with new universe?
With regards to theories posted here in this thread, I'd rather not say one way or the other whether they're on the right track. I'm happy to see people theorizing about stuff that might happen and I'd rather leave things left to fans to guess about. Sorry to be vague. <3
I'll take a look at Suicide Girl one of these days! 🙂
The new characters are made up by both of us. Patience is Josef's character, but I think she was only meant to be a background character. I thought she would be funnier if she was featured more. Melanie is pretty much my character, but Josef helped me come up with her backstory, for internal lore purposes and whatnot. We may or may not showcase more of her past.
As for whether they existed in the IH universe, that's a good question. I don't know how Josef feels, but a big part of me thinks that they're unique to the PFM universe. That's just how I personally feel ATM. Josef and I may have talked about it before, but I forget what conclusion we came to lol.
😉
I got in a wrestling match with alt-text and ended up breaking a coffee mug over its head. Alt-text is in Coffee Hospital now.
I love Kim.
I gotta get going to work now. Unfortunately I can't post on my phone while I'm there for some reason, so I wish you all a fabulous day, week, month, and year. Maybe 2 years. 3?
Take care <333
>Melanie is pretty much my character, but Josef helped me come up with her backstory, for internal lore purposes and whatnot. We may or may not showcase more of her past.
That's cool, she's my favorite character in PFM right now.
just when I think Im getting tired of this series you pulled me right back in
i cant believe you made ally a fricking normie.
GOBU-SAN KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
i hope you can put the rest of erik the juiceman on youtube soon. if it's like a music problem, you could just replace it.
It's the man himself!
Thanks for your and Joseph's work.
It's honestly one of the few things created by humanity that I would consider to be worth preserving.
Nice
You are amazing! I'm going to get all the books once I get some more scratch.
Godspeed, Gob.
I hope u r 2 bby
Y-you too.
Thanks for the awesome art in my collection of your stuff, Gob.
You guys ever notice how the number of exclamation marks in the title is directly linked to which iteration of the universe we are in?
>God Dammit!
>It Hurts!!
>Please Forgive Me!!!
Yes.
But it's always a fun revelation to revisit.
Bye!!!!
Yes. We also noticed that put together it sounds like the ramblings of someone who is being tormented as retribution for something they did wrong.
Also, it was really nice to see Kim get a starring role in a story and I've liked seeing Stephanie too. Maybe Christy will actually get some focus at some point too. But it's nice seeing a wider variety of characters.
This single panel changed me as a human being.
For the better, I believe.
For me it was the noncanon? But we're Pasqualo makes Trisssh act like a kawaii tbh ne girl
For me, it was this one.
Honestly one of the best dialogues in IH!!
The fact that he is still mad that people liked his kid's cringy rap act makes it.
The fact that years later, and in fricking Heaven to boot, his dad is still seething about the talent show is fricking 24 karat gold.
IH Jennifer was great. Jenny Penguin isn't the same.
Do you think Dad is in heaven now, or did Pasqualo Prime have enough common sense to change how heaven and hell works?
What do you honestly think? He probably gave Dadsqualo a heaven with all the porn DVDs, sledgehammers and no buttholes named Bill he could want.
Part of me is convinced that the new rules are that people who like anime and can name at least three of the civilian names of the Sailor Scouts get to go to heaven, and everyone else goes to hell.
Shit, there's... Usagi Yojimbo... Umm... Haruhi Suzumiya... and... uhh... Chibi Usagi?
What if the person can name them but only the dub names?
They go to super mega extra hell.
Amy, Serena, uh Jackie Chan?
did you put an advertisement in a .gif
I didn't watch the whole gif, i just saved it from google
Ray, Amy, Serena, Lita?
Usagi, Ami, Rei?
Hey cool I can post on my phone
cool drawing
I hope she'll become an empress again in this timeline
filthy phoneposter
At least in 3G I wasn't getting horrible ball cancer that made my nuts glow-in-the-dark and out me when hiding in the girl's locker room.
I still can’t believe we’ve lost superior spiky messy hair Ally to a still cute but inferior Afro Ally.
My sweet daughters! I just want to see her smile Cinemaphile! I want Papa Satan to show up and make the hurt go away.
Damn
Oh right I forgot this existed for like the last 3 years.
Save her Cinemaphile
I'd say how I would, but I don't want Gob to know I find her attractive.
>I don't want Gob to know I find her attractive.
I do.
You hear me, Gob?
Yeah you do.ndrks
I binged 300 pages in an afternoon only to find out that the kino pages that baited me (op image) in was the peak of the comic
Those pages wouldn't be nearly as kino without the buildup, it was the same with It Hurts!!
HOT
Came straight here after I read the new page
HOLEEEE SHIT I knew Pasqy was off her rocker, but the mf actually done did it!