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Out-of-Placers
A story of inconvenient changes
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OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
Leave it
Shading: Koof
OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
Well! Zhat answers zhat question! Zhey become de ~living dead~ ooOOooOOO!!!
Mental note: Try and stay on de Good side of de Baxxid elders. We don’t know how long one of de fallen lasts, and dey might need a replacement!
With the way their eyes have no gloss and they seem to barely be able to speak, it seems like something is done that cuts them off from the rest of Baxxid-speak. Like they can hear, but barely be heard, if at all. Frankly it also looks like their eyes may have been removed outright. And that resignation in the last few panels, while the elders say there’s nothing of value there; they’ve been interred in hell alive, and know there’s no escape.
their eyes aren’t gone, they’re just lightless. you can see that in page #268: https://www.valsalia.com/comic/out-of-placers/oops-268/
Look at it zhis way, if “coalescing” requires zhe same zhing zhat does de Baxxid-speaking zhen burning zhat out would prevent coalescing, no?
I think it’s less that something special is done to cut them off and more that they lose the ability as a result of disuse since nobody is allowed to speak with them. We see a similar thing with humans who go long enough without speaking to anyone else.
Day are crippled from lack of interaction? I don’t zhink so. But opinions are like having an asshole, yes? For evidence, I point to Kalgkur’s reaction. I zhink Baxxid zhanks to dat part of zhem which does de coalescing can sense each ozher if zhey focus on zhat Baxxid. Kalgkur is freaked out so, so much when zhere is such a damaged connection zhat de black one is like what we’d call a zombie (minus for the brains eating part, mostly) somezhing zhat is alive, yet horrifyingly not so in a noticeable way. So maybe not a undead per-se, but un-alive also, razher de opposite of baxxid in de plant stage, where zheir bodies shut down, but minds can be touched and communicated wizh.
There it is again, Kalgkur’s indescribable sound of fear from seeing the black-flag baxxid… I have a feeling that’s the baxxid equivalent of panicked gibberish.
Also notice that the soulless baxxid is emitting wordless sound as well, but it’s likely a mindless sound, like they’re making a sound of meaningless croaking and clacking… perhaps they’re trying to say something, but they can’t… Perhaps they look down and bonk their head against the wall as they’ve regretted their life decisions… or maybe they’re just so mindless that they’re not even fully aware of what they’re doing… either way, it’s a horrifying fate for the ones who fail the test…
They aren’t trying to make a word. On the page where they said “follow”, all the tiny particles were bits and fragments of the English word “follow”. Here, they’re just dashes.
I think that was just the equivalent of the elder propping the broom against the wall so it didn’t fall over.
So, they lobotomize baxxid who disagree with the status quo. Terrifying. It’s probably not actual lobotomy as we perform it, but instead some focused ultrasound from multiple baxxid working together to effectively gelatinize their brain into mush.
Do remember what de Trademaster did to zhat dimwit dat decided to sell ValSalia’s emergency rations? And how Brakka (De Yinglet responsible for “Zhat Zhing” entering de story) introduced himself to Kass? It is a hard, hard world, where even small mercies are known widely due to zhier rarity. I am just hoping zhat de black Baxxid aren’t also sold as prostitutes in de Baxxid world.
Yeah, seems like they’re lobotomized. I almost feel sorry for them.
So now we know what the black flags symbolize and why they are not to be engaged; it’s a symbol of those who are punished. They are intentionally being ostracized.
I’m also guessing the lack of horns and bumps is that they have been shaved off to remove their identity.
I think it’s less that they’re being intentionally ostracized and more that they’re little more than living zombies. They’re too mentally damaged to respond to anything. You saw how difficult it was for the black flag baxxid to say a simple word to Kalgkur.
I’m pretty sure you have it right about their identity being removed.
Fail the murder test and you have to stand in the corner for the rest of your life.
The ones that fail are mind broken,
Walking shells.
We, don’t know. I think you may be underestimating just how weird zhat Baxxid can be zhough. Is de mind broken, or simply put into a dormant state? I could easily see dose Black bannered Baxxid being released from zhat state after “passing” de test, making de condition like Baxxid Jail perhaps?
Or could be exactly like a lobotomy, where de brain is damaged intentionally beyond recovery. We just don’t know, but I’m betting on zhe weirdness of de Baxxid being part of de answer regardless.
Don’t know, but it looks pretty bad. Even the mouth-parts always dangle down, if you look closely. There is no affect, in the psychological sense: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/affect#Noun
*nods* Yeah zhe mouzh “pods” are kind of expressionless, even back in OOP 241 dey are so. So we have a winner for zhe title of de comic “A story of inconvenient changes”, yes? Kass got changed into a sexy Yinglet Feemale, and has ying-zhought issues, Elim got stabbed, Brakka has a concussion, and zhat wazzizname baxxid Voldemort or whatever lives chained to a rock. But de Black bannered Baxxid just might have it worse zhan any of zhem, even de Baxxid who fell over in de plant stage, and whose plant grew in crooked!
“Approximate average” in years, rounded to millionths of a year. Either they have REALLY long years on that planet, or the baxxid concept of “approximate” isn’t anything like the human concept! :þ
Aye, seeing how zhe entire story of OOP has not yet covered even half a year, time does seem to crawl by, no?
Baxxid are also huge brainiacs. It’s similar to asking Spock or Data the same thing.
2917 years / 450 trials = 6.482222(repeating) years per trial. Could also be interpretted as 291.7/45.
I see sadness, loneliness, and maybe even regret in those last panels, not someone who’s brain dead.
De question I have is if de fallen/black Baxxid can’t use Baxxid-speech, why do dey not use humani speech? Is it some kind of rule zhat dey don’t speak when in private using their lungs, even if dey sound like what a bagpipe farting would sound like. Baxxid are bilingual (all de ones we have seen in OOP at least) so if de fallen baxxid are still mentally aware, would dey not also be able to use humani speech?
Yes, I do too. Something has been removed from the body, but not the whole person.