everyone is going on about how pete controled joel/king’s memory, or what he said, but I don’t think he did, in any way… firstly, joel wasn’t like “oh I’m a dog” straight off, he had to realise that he was one, secondly, the collar probably somehow made him feel like he wasn’t naked anymore, as I’m sure Grape could probably relate to you very easily (tying together many different parts of a story, even for one little strip, is fun ) and lastly, I believe that look and question at the end there, as swell as the answer, was because pete hadn’t done anything.
freudian slip… joel subconsiously likes the name king, may even consider himself higer that the others without realising it, so king, while he was reading it right there on his collar, was the first name that came to mind.
now either he’s now assuming that pete controled his thoughts for that split second, which could be completly wrong, or he actually has forgotten his real name, which I doubt, because doing that to a human, playing with such a FUNDAMENTAL part of their memory, could cause them to go into a state of long lasting shock, and make him not even care about everything that happened to him as a dog by the end of all this, if it does end
what I mean is that it would cause him to question if he is willfully doing this, or if he is being forced, because if he decides he was forced, he can dismiss everything as being unnatural and not the way things would of occurred.
also, pete is magical, for all we know he could currently be bending time, that’s how those stupid christmas stories always played out. he’d wake up in that huge room, with his lawyer shaking him, a reformed man, win his case by a landslide, maybe have nothing more than community service to do,and due to his current attachments to babylon gardens, introduce a new character into the gardens for us… maybe a hyperative little welsh springer XD
I love springer spaniels… did you know that most species of springer see the world in full color? just like we do? another excellent reason for Joel to have been turned into a springer, if you ask me, Pete’s been pretty nice so far, and as joel no doubt probably knows a fair bit about dogs, he wasn’t using his body changes as a reference as to weather he had been turned into a dog, he was expecting his vision to suddenly change to the limited color spectrum most breeds of dogs see.
wow… hadn’t realized my comment had gotten so long O.O… addon: still waiting on this whole “jerk” thing… you know… maybe it’s just the part where Joel wakes up in a cell at the end of all this , which unbeknownst to him, actually saves his skin for skipping out on court… they just somehow hadn’t noticed he was there the whole time. which wold baffle anyone, but the court would have no choice but to go with it, having no other plausible explanation.
As for the name thing, yes he is in shock in the last panel, and the implications of taking people’s names away have been explored in works of fiction such as “The Prisoner” and “Spirited Away”: people usually accept the new name, no questions asked, until something happens that makes them realize how unnatural that is. It’s like ID numbers, I think. We never question having to identify ourselves by our Social Security Number, Student ID number, or whatever other number we get assigned; despite using our names would be so much easier.
As for your rant on Springer Spaniels, I thought it was pretty firmly established yesterday that he was a Welsh Corgi
But what of the reverse … i.e. online identities? Where you pick an entirely different name for yourself in most situations.
I’m left wondering about the implications of when (usually) women get married and change surnames. That’s got to have some kind of strange effect. Apparently my mother’s nickname at work is based on her surname. Thing is, she’s always been known to them by her married name… which she’s kept after divorcing my father. o_O
Oh, and nicknames which may or may not be anything to do with your real name. Which sometimes transition into online handles….
What i don’t get is that Tarot said Pete was a jerk.
He looked all evil like when they were looking for Zachy but now he seems like Karma.
Anybody else feel da same way??
He kinda is a jerk in that, he’s all powerful and chooses to mess with people with his power. I mean, while some people would like being turned into a dog, he found someone who not only wouldn’t like it, but would absolutely hate it. He’s being a pretty big jerk to Joel. But hey, that’s what we like about him now isn’t it?
I agree that he is a jerk for doing what he did, but could it be possible that Pete and Tarot had a fling and broke up, hence why Tarot calls him a jerk? Or secretly Tarot might be evil and Pete her mortal enemy O.o But I think the first one is more plausible.
Yeah. He would probably just shape shift to look like Grape and cause pandemonium. That seems more his style as I’ve seen so far. And yes he is FAR nicer then ethy. Ethy makes Pete look incredibly tame.
Ooh! Ooh! King me! KING ME!!! (sorry, I couln’t resist)
So far, Pete seems to be more Chaotic than Evil so far, but this could all be part of his nefarious plot to take over the world. I believe that the best way to take over the world is slowly and quietly, rather than with a hostile takeover, cause then they start rolling in the tanks and stuff.
Poor King, not only has he just been given the name of King, which will likely lead to some sort of superiority complex, but he is likely going to have to handle Bino in a match for biggest ego.
It’s a Griffin; he’s only a bird from the top half of his chest to the top of his head. His bottom half is all Lion. Check up your mythology (or see last Friday’s strip)
I think they were just calling him a bird to be simple, not necessarily because they didn’t know he was a griffin. But anyway, he might not even be a griffin what with the new fact he can change forms. He might just be some all powerful being that likes taking the form of a griffin most commonly or something. Who knows what is or is not. All we know is that he is Pete and he is a magic man.
Rock-A-Doodle joke at the beginning, how nostalgic.
I bet he’ll start looking at female dog’s a little differently; if Gaspar has anything to do with it.
And If he complains.”Well if you want to look at male dog’s a little differently..?NO!”
“Johnny, why didn’t you come to school yesterday?”
“I was turned into a dog, you can ask Pete”
“Er, right. Did you do your homework?”
“I did, but I ate it”
“You ATE your own homework?”
“Didn’t I just tell you I was a dog yesterday?”
Ok, maybe I need to work on my impromptu jokes. This one sounded better in my head
Who else think King may be the only dog to accept Tiger as a friend?
And on that note, who else wants Fox to be the first to figure out King’s true identity?
Entertainment indeed! It would be so frustrating for Fox if he knew something he was magically stopped from telling anyone, wouldn’t it? We know he likes to point out the obvious and use big words.
Frank: And we come back to the Miyazaki references again …. Howl’s Moving Castle, this time? (Though to be fair that WAS based on a book by another author – one who, if not Welsh herself, DEFINITELY has about the most Welsh name surname you can get without it actually containing an over 3:1 consonant-vowel ratio or a work role construct such as “The Coal”)
Maxwell: Don’t let anyone see you playing with that junior music-box “record” player, not unless you want to be arrested for Child Phonography…
I think Tiger and/or Fido may recognize his scent, but being he IS a dog now, who knows, it must be somewhat different. I’m hoping not entirely, but it would be interesting if they were suspicious of him. But more fun if they can’t actually figure it out. An endless game of cat and mouse. “Who is he? Why is he familiar… It’s on the tip of my tongue… … and now it’s not… WHO IS HE?!”
I’m so, so glad someone else answered this before I had to either ask, or spend an hour traipsing through 40+ results on the wiki disambiguation page alone… So, he’s a Guru of Time, is he? Could mean that when all this is done, Joel gets zapped back to his old identity – and his starting time/place, just before the attorney arrives – but with all the memories intact. Ding, guilty plea… and 80 hours community service parole in an animal shelter / airport quarantine wing?
Also be careful if he goes to meditate as the entire strip might crash.
Also also also, anyone else get the feeling that the little text in Petespar’s 2nd speech bubble in panel 2 is more Rick talking directly to us through him, rather than staying within the 4th wall and talking to Joeking?
Wait, by “someone special” you don’t mean something like “Daisy might findally get a boyfriend”, do you? I mean, wouldn’t that count as inter-species romance?
Well King is a dog now right, he wont be human for a while come on now his life sucked, he was kidnapped by his own pets when he was young his adult life is going nowhere but grief and misery, reality can be quiet harsh, so yeah he might accomplish something good that he couldn’t accomplish in his human form, so why not hm?! Why not an inter-species relationship. King could live with Peanut and Grape and see how an animals life is or with the wild animals in the forest with Pete it wouldn’t hurt for him now that’s he’s an animal. Hell I would do the same if I was in King’s paws! But then again he might lose his memories and be turned back to his original state! 0.o
I’m taking a new stance: this is already a dream. My main argument? There are certain things which don’t work in a dream, such as pinching yourself, getting coherent readings from a clock, trying to perform simple math, or saying your own name. If you manage to do any of these things, you wake up. (The short explanation is that all these activities require parts of your brain that get shut down to allow your body to do, all the things it needs to do, while you’re sleeping)
Oh sure, other people in the dream can use your name to give you that sensation that someone’s calling you, but you’re not allowed to say your own name.
My secondary argument is that, prior to this week, we only knew for certain Pete had one power, and this was sending dreams to people. Joel is nervous about the trial, and his dream got mixed up with what Pete sent him, producing this hilarious story arc.
No, no, no, no. All these “rules of dreaming” people constantly come up with don’t exist. They may *usually* work, but there is no single foolproof way to identify a dream state. THough if you believe in these rules yourself they are very likely to work *for you* simply because dreams tend to follow your expectations (while reality doesn’t).
I can – and have done – some pretty non-trivial math in dreams (multiplication +addition to obtain result, and clearly remembered doing it, *and* checked my answer after I woke up – I was right!). I have looked at clocks and gotten times consistent down to the second. And I have definitely said my own name (usually while introducing myself to people in dreams). This last rule seems especially bizarre, where did you hear this?
I have pinched myself in dreams (again, where did you hear this?) and in fact inflicted severe bodily damage to myself (and yes, you can feel pain in dreams).
I’ve also died in my dreams. Multiple times. And used light switches which worked perfectly (another supposed sure-fire way to check if you’re dreaming is that lgiht switches won’t work).
The only “rule” that seems to have worked so far for me is that after reading a passage of text in a dream, when I tried to read it again it was slightly different – I haven’t been able to find consistency in text more then a few words long. But I still doubt this works 100% of the time.
You must have a “super brain.”
I have never been able to pinch myself, do hard math prob’s, or kept track of time durring a dream.
-I guess it could be a mind-over-mater choice though.
Try this: I’ve kicked myself awake. >.>
THAT was painful…
I’ve also said my name while asleep, beaten the crud out of someone else while taking “hits” myself, and even done some negliable math work (Negliable because my dreams typically don’t involve math work. XD )
Huh, I’m impressed even by people who can TRY to do these things in dreams. I wonder even if having the proper self awareness to do so means something’s not working quite right in the sleep centres (or perhaps it’s a sign of it working fine and it’s my brain that’s wonky). It’s a proper hypnotic state for me, whatever bizarrity happens, including the odd out-of-body angle or all manner of preposterous setups, I quite happily go along with, as if nothing’s wrong. Or if it IS “wrong”, then it’s in a way which doesn’t lead to questioning such as “is this real or am I dreaming?”. And yes I’ve tried that thing of asking yourself the same question several times a day… lucid dreaming was once a goal. Never mind the outcome of pinching, light switches (I imagine that “shouldn’t work” as all the things you’d interact with in the dream sequence only exist in memory as properly lit images, and the existence or otherwise of magic imaginary photons can’t change that) or what have you, I wouldn’t even think to try it.
The wierdest thing is slightly waking up from a nice one (and once, bizarrely, an epic nightmare), realising it was actually just a dream sequence, and happily sliding back into it and relinquishing full control once again because I was enjoying the fully immersive 3D movie, with virtual-body puppetry, that it represented. Hmm.
*pin-pon* Ah, I’ve got a medium exception for a Mr or Mrs ‘Pie’?
Yes, the “rule” of reading a passage repeatedly and noticing changes somehow indicates dream state doesn’t apply for me. Anything I usually read or write usually stay the same when I read them over.
As for the other rules, I know I’ve done simple derivatives in a dream (Calculus test), felt pain, flicked switches, and said my own name many, many times, died quite a few times, and rather than pinching myself to try to wake up, I’ve taken to finding the nearest wall and repeatedly slamming my head against it. (Not sure if the clock one applies — I’ve never ever dreamt a clock before, for some reason)
Honestly, the most surefire way for me to realize that I’m in a dream state is to stick me in a place where I’m honestly risking my life, such as the front lines on D-Day or a B-movie science horror space station. That’s when I realize, “Hey! What the heck am I doing here? I’m a bleedin’ coward! I shouldn’t be here!” Commence head-slamming.
I suppose it depends mostly on the person, really.
You can’t die in a dream. If, after you “die” in a dream, you stay focused on your body, then you didn’t die; you actually had the perspective of a third person watching a death. If you go on to experience the afterlife, then the dream wasn’t about you dieing, but about you exploring the spirituality of your soul “or some other new-agey junk”. If your senses stay with you (say you fell to your “death” and after your “death” you dream of your face being stuck into the ground) then let’s just say you must’ve watched too many cartoons when you were little.
I think you’re confusing Lucid Dreaming (when you know you’re in a dream but it’s entirely out of your control) with Hypnagogia (that state where you don’t know if you’re asleep or awake, but the fact that you’re nearly awake means you can take control of the thing as if it were something you are writing; which will probably wake you up, turning the dream into a daydream). And yes, it did take me all day to look up what the names for these concepts were.
I actually found these little by little on my own. Later, I started noticing them referenced in movies, websites, etc. When I repeatedly asked my classmates about this years ago, they were all like “oh yeah” and “of course you can’t” and “everyone knows that”. So many people seemed to have the same “restrictions”, it seemed safe to generalize; even more so after reading up on the much debated “reason” for sleep.
Hence, my post, and my approach to responding as trying to find a loophole that would ensure the “rule” still held
Funny… that’s back to front with how I learned it and most other sources describe it.
But as Captain America has previously pointed out, it is possible for the entire world to be wrong, and then all you can do is hold fast with your proof and whatever strength you can muster to try and change their minds.
Ummm… hmm. I’ve heard some of these before, but have never tried them. I seem to know when I’m in a dream, even though it feels like reality. One moment I’m going about what ever business I’m going about, and all of a sudden it hits me that I’m dreaming.
I can’t recall ever dieing in a dream, only sustaining severe injuries, never looked at a clock as far as I know, have never needed to say my own name (as far as I know), and I hate math, so why would I EVER need to do it in my ESCAPE from reality.
In fact, I usually hate waking up from dreams, unless they are nightmares, which I don’t usually get very often. I prefer to be in my dreams because I am a better version of myself, most often. I am indifferent to what most people think of me, could say things I never can in real life without getting in trouble and not have to face consequences, and am much happier in general.
One other reason I know that I’m dreaming is because everything is blurry. I can’t make out any clear details. I have very bad eyesight and very thick glasses, and since I don’t wear them when I sleep, I don’t wear them in my dreams either. Hence the blurry vision.
One last thing, I have heard that it is possible to sustain “phantom” injuries from dreams. If you get hurt badly enough in your dream, you may wake up with an unexplainable cut or bruise somewhere on your body. Can anyone tell me if they’ve heard of this before? I may have just, in all seriousness, dreamed it up.
Well, if you dream you thrust your arms upward and hit them against a low-hanging lamp, or something, if it really is a dream you may complain, but aren’t actually in pain. If you do feel pain, you’ll probably wake up and realize you thrust your arms up for real, only to hit the head of the bed. I think it’s things like that are what cause these “phantom” injuries: you did it to yourself, but you didn’t think you were doing it for real.
I have heard of this theory before. In horror movies, especially. And a bit transformed in “The Matrix”.
The only time I have been really hurt in a dream was when I woke up after a nightmare, the back completely bowed cause I have dreamed I was backstabbed.
Anyway, what I was going towards is that the storyline will probably end when Joel is reminded of his real name (perhaps through a “wanted” poster), and tries to say it aloud. Under the “rules-for-dreaming theory” (as iLikePie seems to have so aptly named them) he would have to wake up if he does manage to say his name aloud.
I do. Those who keep saying that it’s supposed to be Gaspar of the Biblical Magi are wrong. None of them looked like the Gaspar at the End of Time from Chono Trigger.
Arg… As cool as it is to have extra free time on the weekends, and have friends around… It’s not cool to have to wait two days for a Housepets update now! Not now! So much going on! I can’t wait to see how this turns out! And yet… I have a feeling the Monday comic is gonna be a switch back to the other pets to catch up with them…
I wanna see King’s & Pete’s new house… The collar looks quite elegant… though not necessarily expensive… Though it could be… Pete’s new form looks like a gentleman who would likely have a lot of money… Can Pete magic up a ton of cash? Or maybe he’s just tricking the landlord’s mind into believing he’s paid them a great sum for a nice house or something. Regardless, I wanna see how this turns out!
I’m looking forward to King learning exactly what he isn’t supposed to do as a pet. We’ve had a vague sense that there are a lot of things pets are expected to do despite the humanized features such as playing the Wii like the owners children or getting an allowance. At the same time, we’ve seen pets sleep in pet beds and a “restaurant” setting based around eating out of the garbage. This could be a good way to see more of the pet life the other pets and owners take for granted.
joel might have to stay as king if this is real.
because now he has more crimes on his record:
kid/petnapping (whatever you wanna call it)
resisting arrest
and now he’s ‘escapeing’ from prison
Has anyone noticed that King coughs at the *poof* in the second panel, and yet the *poof* that changed him into a dog went completely unnoticed? Seems hard not to notice and he certainly couldn’t ignore it there… Kinda odd…
the poof that changed joel into king was around him so the smoke was moving away. when pete poofed , king was close by and the smoke hit him and caused him to cough. same reasoning for why the collar didn’t make him start coughing.
btw did anyone else notice how the comments are getting more serious and discussion like. i kinda like it.
I’ll say! This is almost academic. I didn’t expect my little assertion last night at 8:43 (CST) would get such a response! Now, how can we encourage this kind of sapient debate in places where it’s actually needed?
I think it’s mostly for the comedic effect. Stage magic requires smoke and mirrors because, to put it simply, it’s a show! Why would real magic require so much smoke? How much smoke is too much? We probably have too many “poofs” in this storyline; the audience might get tired of them.
I think it’s an excelently-used joke-opportunity. Well done, Rick! Don’t pay too much attention to all this nit-picking
I think I recall seeing somewhere that coughing/reacting in the presence of smoke is caused as much by psychological expectation as by actual irritation of the air passages. That if you see smoke surrounding you, but it’s of a kind that doesn’t feel any different from normal air, you’d still be liable to cough, because your brain is telling you that you need to do so.
Joel’s obliviousness to his transformation in the last strip is still a stretch, however. Forget the presence/absence of coughing—you think he would’ve *seen* it!
Well in cartoons, Wile E. Coyote can continue running, even when there’s actually nothing supporting his body – until he notices anyway. So I imagined that Rick is going with that sort of cartoon humor here. Joel *ought* to notice the transformation, but doesn’t – which is what makes it funny.
Plus – like Wile E. – he’s too focussed on what he’s doing (ranting, here, rather than running) to actually pay attention to his surroundings* until the problem is either pointed out or becomes unignorably severe.
Plus the amount of smoke Pete’s transformation produces looks quite heavy (there’s a lot more mass to convert / body volume to be replaced with air than for Gryphon > Human than for Human > Corgi) and has the distinct noticeability advantage of happening right in front of Joel/King, instead of _to_ him.
(If I could edit, I would have put that it’s an old trope…. like someone growing a tail or whatever… its a rather drastic occurrence, to their own being, but it’s only noticable** to outside observers at first…)
* Why yes, Batman Begins WAS on TV last night, why do you ask?
** No, I have no idea what the proper spelling of this word is, and I’ve seen it both ways enough times to not be able to infer it.
Knight would be a pretty cool name to have… but I guess King was chosen because it’s pretty cheesy, yet believable… and Queen would have been just a bit too much all at once.
Finally there’s always Bishop if you’re a Ridley Scott fan
Horsey, Castle and Prawn if Grant-Naylor is more your bag.
And pawns can be exchanged for Kings under the right circumstances, can’t they? Or was that Queens…
everyone is going on about how pete controled joel/king’s memory, or what he said, but I don’t think he did, in any way… firstly, joel wasn’t like “oh I’m a dog” straight off, he had to realise that he was one, secondly, the collar probably somehow made him feel like he wasn’t naked anymore, as I’m sure Grape could probably relate to you very easily (tying together many different parts of a story, even for one little strip, is fun
) and lastly, I believe that look and question at the end there, as swell as the answer, was because pete hadn’t done anything.
freudian slip… joel subconsiously likes the name king, may even consider himself higer that the others without realising it, so king, while he was reading it right there on his collar, was the first name that came to mind.
now either he’s now assuming that pete controled his thoughts for that split second, which could be completly wrong, or he actually has forgotten his real name, which I doubt, because doing that to a human, playing with such a FUNDAMENTAL part of their memory, could cause them to go into a state of long lasting shock, and make him not even care about everything that happened to him as a dog by the end of all this, if it does end
what I mean is that it would cause him to question if he is willfully doing this, or if he is being forced, because if he decides he was forced, he can dismiss everything as being unnatural and not the way things would of occurred.
also, pete is magical, for all we know he could currently be bending time, that’s how those stupid christmas stories always played out. he’d wake up in that huge room, with his lawyer shaking him, a reformed man, win his case by a landslide, maybe have nothing more than community service to do,and due to his current attachments to babylon gardens, introduce a new character into the gardens for us… maybe a hyperative little welsh springer XD
I love springer spaniels… did you know that most species of springer see the world in full color? just like we do? another excellent reason for Joel to have been turned into a springer, if you ask me, Pete’s been pretty nice so far, and as joel no doubt probably knows a fair bit about dogs, he wasn’t using his body changes as a reference as to weather he had been turned into a dog, he was expecting his vision to suddenly change to the limited color spectrum most breeds of dogs see.
wow… hadn’t realized my comment had gotten so long O.O… addon: still waiting on this whole “jerk” thing… you know… maybe it’s just the part where Joel wakes up in a cell at the end of all this
, which unbeknownst to him, actually saves his skin for skipping out on court… they just somehow hadn’t noticed he was there the whole time. which wold baffle anyone, but the court would have no choice but to go with it, having no other plausible explanation.
As for the name thing, yes he is in shock in the last panel, and the implications of taking people’s names away have been explored in works of fiction such as “The Prisoner” and “Spirited Away”: people usually accept the new name, no questions asked, until something happens that makes them realize how unnatural that is. It’s like ID numbers, I think. We never question having to identify ourselves by our Social Security Number, Student ID number, or whatever other number we get assigned; despite using our names would be so much easier.
As for your rant on Springer Spaniels, I thought it was pretty firmly established yesterday that he was a Welsh Corgi
Bingo, Number 6…
But what of the reverse … i.e. online identities? Where you pick an entirely different name for yourself in most situations.
I’m left wondering about the implications of when (usually) women get married and change surnames. That’s got to have some kind of strange effect. Apparently my mother’s nickname at work is based on her surname. Thing is, she’s always been known to them by her married name… which she’s kept after divorcing my father. o_O
Oh, and nicknames which may or may not be anything to do with your real name. Which sometimes transition into online handles….
It’s a big ol’ psychological mess innit.
Yup, he was indeed controlled, no self-consciousness involved here
are you sure about that?
All of that MAY have been correct, IF he were an actual human being with a complex thought process and not a fictional character part of a plot..
What i don’t get is that Tarot said Pete was a jerk.
He looked all evil like when they were looking for Zachy but now he seems like Karma.
Anybody else feel da same way??
He kinda is a jerk in that, he’s all powerful and chooses to mess with people with his power. I mean, while some people would like being turned into a dog, he found someone who not only wouldn’t like it, but would absolutely hate it. He’s being a pretty big jerk to Joel. But hey, that’s what we like about him now isn’t it?
I agree that he is a jerk for doing what he did, but could it be possible that Pete and Tarot had a fling and broke up, hence why Tarot calls him a jerk? Or secretly Tarot might be evil and Pete her mortal enemy O.o But I think the first one is more plausible.
He is neither of good nor evil, but brings random chaos to mundane order…
Or somethin’
Neutral from twokinds?
I think he’s a LOT nicer than Ephemural. He also isn’t trying to take over Grape’s body (no joke, read Two Kinds web comic).
Side note:
FINALLY!! Tom’s brought back Scythe! Hooray for epic wolfyness!
Hey! Two Kinds fans! *Hugs!* Sorry, Rick. XD
Yeah. He would probably just shape shift to look like Grape and cause pandemonium. That seems more his style as I’ve seen so far. And yes he is FAR nicer then ethy. Ethy makes Pete look incredibly tame.
HA! Ephi makes Pete look like [database error]. Completely useless except for fighting IN THE NAME OF MEANINGLESS BATTLE!!
Yeah, I went there…
Ooh! Ooh! King me! KING ME!!! (sorry, I couln’t resist)
So far, Pete seems to be more Chaotic than Evil so far, but this could all be part of his nefarious plot to take over the world. I believe that the best way to take over the world is slowly and quietly, rather than with a hostile takeover, cause then they start rolling in the tanks and stuff.
You do make a good point.
P.S.
no offense, but the new avvy looks kinda weird.
How much time does Pete have, though? Akkadian became a dead tongue about 100 AD, which means Pete is probably 1900 years old
Poor King, not only has he just been given the name of King, which will likely lead to some sort of superiority complex, but he is likely going to have to handle Bino in a match for biggest ego.
I know the bird is supposedly “evil”, but I still can’t help but like him.
It’s a Griffin; he’s only a bird from the top half of his chest to the top of his head. His bottom half is all Lion. Check up your mythology (or see last Friday’s strip)
I think they were just calling him a bird to be simple, not necessarily because they didn’t know he was a griffin. But anyway, he might not even be a griffin what with the new fact he can change forms. He might just be some all powerful being that likes taking the form of a griffin most commonly or something. Who knows what is or is not. All we know is that he is Pete and he is a magic man.
Pete’s one of the Q from Star Trek!
Hehe it DOES look like Jamie from Mythbusters… Great comic, it really made my friday better =)
looks at walking stick*
ooh ooh ooh, tapdance!
TAPDANCE!!
Rock-A-Doodle joke at the beginning, how nostalgic.
I bet he’ll start looking at female dog’s a little differently; if Gaspar has anything to do with it.
And If he complains.”Well if you want to look at male dog’s a little differently..?NO!”
I *LIKE* this gryphon. This is a fellow after my own heart, indeed.
Every town needs one like this.
Definitely. This town would be sooo much nicer if we had Pete around to do things like this.
Every town, you say?
“Johnny, why didn’t you come to school yesterday?”
“I was turned into a dog, you can ask Pete”
“Er, right. Did you do your homework?”
“I did, but I ate it”
“You ATE your own homework?”
“Didn’t I just tell you I was a dog yesterday?”
Ok, maybe I need to work on my impromptu jokes. This one sounded better in my head
You ate the homework? Just “Woofed” it down, did you?
Seems good enough to me ^_^
Who else think King may be the only dog to accept Tiger as a friend?
And on that note, who else wants Fox to be the first to figure out King’s true identity?
Pete would just wipe Fox’s mind if he figured it out.
Or not, for maximum entertainment.
Entertainment indeed! It would be so frustrating for Fox if he knew something he was magically stopped from telling anyone, wouldn’t it? We know he likes to point out the obvious and use big words.
i.e. Fox: “Total felinophile.”
Bino: “I’ll pretend I know what that means.”
Frank: And we come back to the Miyazaki references again …. Howl’s Moving Castle, this time? (Though to be fair that WAS based on a book by another author – one who, if not Welsh herself, DEFINITELY has about the most Welsh name surname you can get without it actually containing an over 3:1 consonant-vowel ratio or a work role construct such as “The Coal”)
Maxwell: Don’t let anyone see you playing with that junior music-box “record” player, not unless you want to be arrested for Child Phonography…
I think Tiger and/or Fido may recognize his scent, but being he IS a dog now, who knows, it must be somewhat different. I’m hoping not entirely, but it would be interesting if they were suspicious of him. But more fun if they can’t actually figure it out. An endless game of cat and mouse. “Who is he? Why is he familiar… It’s on the tip of my tongue… … and now it’s not… WHO IS HE?!”
I THIN JOEL THE LOOKS CUTE IN A DOG COLLAR!
I think king and fox would make great friends
Ahh, a chap (Jamie) in a bolder! -so coolz.
I TOTALY GET THE REFERENCE!
No…lie.
I had to look it up.
http://chrono.wikia.com/wiki/Gaspar
But itz soo cool looking!!!1!!!
I’m so, so glad someone else answered this before I had to either ask, or spend an hour traipsing through 40+ results on the wiki disambiguation page alone… So, he’s a Guru of Time, is he? Could mean that when all this is done, Joel gets zapped back to his old identity – and his starting time/place, just before the attorney arrives – but with all the memories intact. Ding, guilty plea… and 80 hours community service parole in an animal shelter / airport quarantine wing?
Also be careful if he goes to meditate as the entire strip might crash.
Also also also, anyone else get the feeling that the little text in Petespar’s 2nd speech bubble in panel 2 is more Rick talking directly to us through him, rather than staying within the 4th wall and talking to Joeking?
Something tells me that Joel..I mean King will want to remain as a dog not a human anymore and he may find someone special in the end!
Wait, by “someone special” you don’t mean something like “Daisy might findally get a boyfriend”, do you? I mean, wouldn’t that count as inter-species romance?
Well King is a dog now right, he wont be human for a while come on now his life sucked, he was kidnapped by his own pets when he was young his adult life is going nowhere but grief and misery, reality can be quiet harsh, so yeah he might accomplish something good that he couldn’t accomplish in his human form, so why not hm?! Why not an inter-species relationship. King could live with Peanut and Grape and see how an animals life is or with the wild animals in the forest with Pete it wouldn’t hurt for him now that’s he’s an animal. Hell I would do the same if I was in King’s paws! But then again he might lose his memories and be turned back to his original state! 0.o
Everyone deserves a little love, right?
Love is like an earthquake: unpredictable, a little scary, but when the hard part is over you realize how lucky you truly are!!!
Enough said….;)
Agreed, though I was expecting someone would say something funny about the “cat-lovers” story arc
I’m taking a new stance: this is already a dream. My main argument? There are certain things which don’t work in a dream, such as pinching yourself, getting coherent readings from a clock, trying to perform simple math, or saying your own name. If you manage to do any of these things, you wake up. (The short explanation is that all these activities require parts of your brain that get shut down to allow your body to do, all the things it needs to do, while you’re sleeping)
Oh sure, other people in the dream can use your name to give you that sensation that someone’s calling you, but you’re not allowed to say your own name.
My secondary argument is that, prior to this week, we only knew for certain Pete had one power, and this was sending dreams to people. Joel is nervous about the trial, and his dream got mixed up with what Pete sent him, producing this hilarious story arc.
No, no, no, no. All these “rules of dreaming” people constantly come up with don’t exist. They may *usually* work, but there is no single foolproof way to identify a dream state. THough if you believe in these rules yourself they are very likely to work *for you* simply because dreams tend to follow your expectations (while reality doesn’t).
I can – and have done – some pretty non-trivial math in dreams (multiplication +addition to obtain result, and clearly remembered doing it, *and* checked my answer after I woke up – I was right!). I have looked at clocks and gotten times consistent down to the second. And I have definitely said my own name (usually while introducing myself to people in dreams). This last rule seems especially bizarre, where did you hear this?
I have pinched myself in dreams (again, where did you hear this?) and in fact inflicted severe bodily damage to myself (and yes, you can feel pain in dreams).
I’ve also died in my dreams. Multiple times. And used light switches which worked perfectly (another supposed sure-fire way to check if you’re dreaming is that lgiht switches won’t work).
The only “rule” that seems to have worked so far for me is that after reading a passage of text in a dream, when I tried to read it again it was slightly different – I haven’t been able to find consistency in text more then a few words long. But I still doubt this works 100% of the time.
You must have a “super brain.”
I have never been able to pinch myself, do hard math prob’s, or kept track of time durring a dream.
-I guess it could be a mind-over-mater choice though.
when ever something happens in a dream to me, like pinching my self or getting hit, my body goes tense in that certain spot.
Try this: I’ve kicked myself awake. >.>
THAT was painful…
I’ve also said my name while asleep, beaten the crud out of someone else while taking “hits” myself, and even done some negliable math work (Negliable because my dreams typically don’t involve math work. XD )
Huh, I’m impressed even by people who can TRY to do these things in dreams. I wonder even if having the proper self awareness to do so means something’s not working quite right in the sleep centres (or perhaps it’s a sign of it working fine and it’s my brain that’s wonky). It’s a proper hypnotic state for me, whatever bizarrity happens, including the odd out-of-body angle or all manner of preposterous setups, I quite happily go along with, as if nothing’s wrong. Or if it IS “wrong”, then it’s in a way which doesn’t lead to questioning such as “is this real or am I dreaming?”. And yes I’ve tried that thing of asking yourself the same question several times a day… lucid dreaming was once a goal. Never mind the outcome of pinching, light switches (I imagine that “shouldn’t work” as all the things you’d interact with in the dream sequence only exist in memory as properly lit images, and the existence or otherwise of magic imaginary photons can’t change that) or what have you, I wouldn’t even think to try it.
The wierdest thing is slightly waking up from a nice one (and once, bizarrely, an epic nightmare), realising it was actually just a dream sequence, and happily sliding back into it and relinquishing full control once again because I was enjoying the fully immersive 3D movie, with virtual-body puppetry, that it represented. Hmm.
*pin-pon* Ah, I’ve got a medium exception for a Mr or Mrs ‘Pie’?
Yes, the “rule” of reading a passage repeatedly and noticing changes somehow indicates dream state doesn’t apply for me. Anything I usually read or write usually stay the same when I read them over.
As for the other rules, I know I’ve done simple derivatives in a dream (Calculus test), felt pain, flicked switches, and said my own name many, many times, died quite a few times, and rather than pinching myself to try to wake up, I’ve taken to finding the nearest wall and repeatedly slamming my head against it. (Not sure if the clock one applies — I’ve never ever dreamt a clock before, for some reason)
Honestly, the most surefire way for me to realize that I’m in a dream state is to stick me in a place where I’m honestly risking my life, such as the front lines on D-Day or a B-movie science horror space station. That’s when I realize, “Hey! What the heck am I doing here? I’m a bleedin’ coward! I shouldn’t be here!” Commence head-slamming.
I suppose it depends mostly on the person, really.
I have no problems with light switches in dreams. They work just fine.
And I’ve died in dreams, as well. The most freaky dreams are the ones where the dream doesn’t stop after I die…
You can’t die in a dream. If, after you “die” in a dream, you stay focused on your body, then you didn’t die; you actually had the perspective of a third person watching a death. If you go on to experience the afterlife, then the dream wasn’t about you dieing, but about you exploring the spirituality of your soul “or some other new-agey junk”. If your senses stay with you (say you fell to your “death” and after your “death” you dream of your face being stuck into the ground) then let’s just say you must’ve watched too many cartoons when you were little.
It’s just part of how the mind works
I think you’re confusing Lucid Dreaming (when you know you’re in a dream but it’s entirely out of your control) with Hypnagogia (that state where you don’t know if you’re asleep or awake, but the fact that you’re nearly awake means you can take control of the thing as if it were something you are writing; which will probably wake you up, turning the dream into a daydream). And yes, it did take me all day to look up what the names for these concepts were.
Frank: I know what lucid dreams are, having had them many times. All the examples I gave were from “normal” dreams that I remembered.
I still don’t know where you learned about these rules. They may work for you but beware of generalizing your own experience to others.
I actually found these little by little on my own. Later, I started noticing them referenced in movies, websites, etc. When I repeatedly asked my classmates about this years ago, they were all like “oh yeah” and “of course you can’t” and “everyone knows that”. So many people seemed to have the same “restrictions”, it seemed safe to generalize; even more so after reading up on the much debated “reason” for sleep.
Hence, my post, and my approach to responding as trying to find a loophole that would ensure the “rule” still held
Funny… that’s back to front with how I learned it and most other sources describe it.
But as Captain America has previously pointed out, it is possible for the entire world to be wrong, and then all you can do is hold fast with your proof and whatever strength you can muster to try and change their minds.
Ummm… hmm. I’ve heard some of these before, but have never tried them. I seem to know when I’m in a dream, even though it feels like reality. One moment I’m going about what ever business I’m going about, and all of a sudden it hits me that I’m dreaming.
I can’t recall ever dieing in a dream, only sustaining severe injuries, never looked at a clock as far as I know, have never needed to say my own name (as far as I know), and I hate math, so why would I EVER need to do it in my ESCAPE from reality.
In fact, I usually hate waking up from dreams, unless they are nightmares, which I don’t usually get very often. I prefer to be in my dreams because I am a better version of myself, most often. I am indifferent to what most people think of me, could say things I never can in real life without getting in trouble and not have to face consequences, and am much happier in general.
One other reason I know that I’m dreaming is because everything is blurry. I can’t make out any clear details. I have very bad eyesight and very thick glasses, and since I don’t wear them when I sleep, I don’t wear them in my dreams either. Hence the blurry vision.
One last thing, I have heard that it is possible to sustain “phantom” injuries from dreams. If you get hurt badly enough in your dream, you may wake up with an unexplainable cut or bruise somewhere on your body. Can anyone tell me if they’ve heard of this before? I may have just, in all seriousness, dreamed it up.
Well, if you dream you thrust your arms upward and hit them against a low-hanging lamp, or something, if it really is a dream you may complain, but aren’t actually in pain. If you do feel pain, you’ll probably wake up and realize you thrust your arms up for real, only to hit the head of the bed. I think it’s things like that are what cause these “phantom” injuries: you did it to yourself, but you didn’t think you were doing it for real.
I have heard of this theory before. In horror movies, especially. And a bit transformed in “The Matrix”.
The only time I have been really hurt in a dream was when I woke up after a nightmare, the back completely bowed cause I have dreamed I was backstabbed.
Anyway, what I was going towards is that the storyline will probably end when Joel is reminded of his real name (perhaps through a “wanted” poster), and tries to say it aloud. Under the “rules-for-dreaming theory” (as iLikePie seems to have so aptly named them) he would have to wake up if he does manage to say his name aloud.
I don’t know about any of the stuff you guys are talking about. I am just giddy over the fact that Pete likes Chrono Trigger.
Also, I am appalled at the fact that none of you seem to know what Chrono Trigger is.
I do. Those who keep saying that it’s supposed to be Gaspar of the Biblical Magi are wrong. None of them looked like the Gaspar at the End of Time from Chono Trigger.
Are you by any chance named after a certain “Renard” ’s alias?
You sir, are my hero for making such a reference.
Does Anybody else get the name of the Joel Is also the name of the really Evil guy from Concession? I thought about it, and was like !!! a reference!?
Arg… As cool as it is to have extra free time on the weekends, and have friends around… It’s not cool to have to wait two days for a Housepets update now! Not now! So much going on! I can’t wait to see how this turns out! And yet… I have a feeling the Monday comic is gonna be a switch back to the other pets to catch up with them…
I wanna see King’s & Pete’s new house… The collar looks quite elegant… though not necessarily expensive… Though it could be… Pete’s new form looks like a gentleman who would likely have a lot of money… Can Pete magic up a ton of cash? Or maybe he’s just tricking the landlord’s mind into believing he’s paid them a great sum for a nice house or something. Regardless, I wanna see how this turns out!
He’s so much CUTER, like this!!! ^ω^
Hahah King is fast on the way to becoming the most ‘avatar’d’ character of all time! XD
I have four distinct avatars of him already!
Pete is a jerk and a justice bringer at the same time!! His nickname should be Jerkustice!
Also. King/Joel/Sourpuss/Whoever is soooooooo cute!!!!!!
I’m looking forward to King learning exactly what he isn’t supposed to do as a pet. We’ve had a vague sense that there are a lot of things pets are expected to do despite the humanized features such as playing the Wii like the owners children or getting an allowance. At the same time, we’ve seen pets sleep in pet beds and a “restaurant” setting based around eating out of the garbage. This could be a good way to see more of the pet life the other pets and owners take for granted.
joel might have to stay as king if this is real.
because now he has more crimes on his record:
kid/petnapping (whatever you wanna call it)
resisting arrest
and now he’s ‘escapeing’ from prison
I’m sure Pete made people forget about him. I’m sure it’ll be fine. ’sides, why would he wanna turn back? He’s so much better now!
Has anyone noticed that King coughs at the *poof* in the second panel, and yet the *poof* that changed him into a dog went completely unnoticed? Seems hard not to notice and he certainly couldn’t ignore it there… Kinda odd…
the poof that changed joel into king was around him so the smoke was moving away. when pete poofed , king was close by and the smoke hit him and caused him to cough. same reasoning for why the collar didn’t make him start coughing.
btw did anyone else notice how the comments are getting more serious and discussion like. i kinda like it.
I’ll say! This is almost academic. I didn’t expect my little assertion last night at 8:43 (CST) would get such a response! Now, how can we encourage this kind of sapient debate in places where it’s actually needed?
I think it’s mostly for the comedic effect. Stage magic requires smoke and mirrors because, to put it simply, it’s a show! Why would real magic require so much smoke? How much smoke is too much? We probably have too many “poofs” in this storyline; the audience might get tired of them.
I think it’s an excelently-used joke-opportunity. Well done, Rick! Don’t pay too much attention to all this nit-picking
[insert joke about nits and gnats here]
I think I recall seeing somewhere that coughing/reacting in the presence of smoke is caused as much by psychological expectation as by actual irritation of the air passages. That if you see smoke surrounding you, but it’s of a kind that doesn’t feel any different from normal air, you’d still be liable to cough, because your brain is telling you that you need to do so.
Joel’s obliviousness to his transformation in the last strip is still a stretch, however. Forget the presence/absence of coughing—you think he would’ve *seen* it!
Well in cartoons, Wile E. Coyote can continue running, even when there’s actually nothing supporting his body – until he notices anyway. So I imagined that Rick is going with that sort of cartoon humor here. Joel *ought* to notice the transformation, but doesn’t – which is what makes it funny.
Plus – like Wile E. – he’s too focussed on what he’s doing (ranting, here, rather than running) to actually pay attention to his surroundings* until the problem is either pointed out or becomes unignorably severe.
Plus the amount of smoke Pete’s transformation produces looks quite heavy (there’s a lot more mass to convert / body volume to be replaced with air than for Gryphon > Human than for Human > Corgi) and has the distinct noticeability advantage of happening right in front of Joel/King, instead of _to_ him.
(If I could edit, I would have put that it’s an old trope…. like someone growing a tail or whatever… its a rather drastic occurrence, to their own being, but it’s only noticable** to outside observers at first…)
* Why yes, Batman Begins WAS on TV last night, why do you ask?
** No, I have no idea what the proper spelling of this word is, and I’ve seen it both ways enough times to not be able to infer it.
omg! corgi! he’s so cute! i love your art style! keep up the good work!
Again another 200 comments
Aiiee-yaaaahh indeed
!!
Ah, transformation story arcs—the sweeps week of the furry world ^_^
hehehe., King..
Avoid the bucket on the left.
Funny, I would have expected his name to be pawn since that’s what he obviously is now.
… o.0; …
Whahahaha!! XD
Nice one!
Never saw that coming…
Agreed, “King” is on the wrong end of the leash… =)
On the other hand, who would beleive “pawn” is a dog name? King is much more beleivable
I think Rook sounds best personally.
Knight would be a pretty cool name to have… but I guess King was chosen because it’s pretty cheesy, yet believable… and Queen would have been just a bit too much all at once.
Finally there’s always Bishop if you’re a Ridley Scott fan
Horsey, Castle and Prawn if Grant-Naylor is more your bag.
And pawns can be exchanged for Kings under the right circumstances, can’t they? Or was that Queens…