If King ever was turned back into a human, the fans would burn Rick's house down. So I dunno, maybe he will "go native."

Since when does Rick do what the fans tell him to do?

I still say that King was most likely going to be turned back into a human at the end of Dog Days of Summer as his reward. However everyone was already really angry at the arc in the first place and Rick knew if he did that people would have left the Comic in droves.

Your right! She only misses the other two heads.

I have a good theory in my spoiler here, so please beware:

Not if Joel became human again and the incarnation of King was still around, albeit with tampering of Joel's soul. It's very possible this could happen in my opinion also since this may someday fix Joel's issues in life while at the same time not causing any turmoil with the mysterious disappearance of King.

I'm going with coincidence right now unless other clues pointing to that conclusion come up.

I wouldn't, I can't decide whether King is best as King or as Joel.
If he turned human, he might have some more capabilities...

And how do you suggest he explain himself to the legal system if he DOES turn back? Even if THAT'S out of the way, he'd be barred from BG forever: a fair amount of the population may not want him there.

That is heavily based on Fox. I no doubt believe the things that happened to Fox will not be easily forgiven, but most of the anger towards Joel is no doubt based on what happened to Fox.

Fox is the one that's the most logical reason to not trust Joel, and Joel's decision is heavily based on Fox. therefore, if Fox were to someday find out King is Joel, then the decision to punish him will no doubt heavily be based on Fox's reasons after getting to know King. Whether this will be a good enough reason to leave Joel alone when the (hypothetically speaking) big day comes depends on Fox.

9_9) *puts torch behind back*

Well, whether or not King becomes human again or doesn't, you think Fox will ever discover King was at one point human? That would be interesting to see!

... *puts down baseball bat*

Never thought about the idea of Fox not discovering the Joel/King connection either. @_@ But i just can't shake this feeling that Joel/King never was lucky in that sort of department.

Wow I didn't think of that
... *puts down flamethrower* okay Where do these keep coming from!

Fox will eventually find out, starting perhaps with the question "why did you want the watch so bad?".
I'd prefer him in jail over torn apart, considering how Fox is to Bino if he did something wrong:
http://www.housepetscomic.com/2011/06/01/enters-the-hero-take-iii/

But Bino tends to act like a jerk, and King has never done anything (as King) that has caused Fox to react like that. In fact, this now seems to be a regular thing, Fox disapproving of Bino's actions.

Joel has mentioned several times that he was a loser in his human form, so i think he'll eventually decide to stay a dog

I agree, wouldn't that be a surprise if he chose human =_=

I'm sure this 'relaxing' visit to the countryside will be interrupted soon.
Probably by one of King's many great cosmic destinies.

Namely the one where he can't ever have a good time without something bad happening.

Corgsky? Sound like a potential "new" breed. Or "designer" dog.






Wow, just wow.

And King is totally zoned out, not aware that he is being used as tug toy. lol. (Fourth Panel)

arghhhh
Monday is so far away!!
It's not fair!

He'd choose to stay dog for sure, if Fox would forgive his actions.
But as long as the stress of the secret is there, he'd have the worst time
choosing, because of the rock and the hard place.

Well, I think that Fox's discovery of King's true form is inevitable. It would make a great arc and I think Rick should do something epic with it.

Yeah, if it happens in any arc it'd probably be this one.

Or maybe just a BIT later.

He probably already suspects it. Fox is a smart guy. He knows about the watch. He'd probably be capable of connecting the dots on his own.

You assume he knows about the possibility of transformation. As far as he knows, it was just a watch, and all he knows is that King was determined to get Joel's watch, specifically that watch. He doesn't necessarily know that King IS Joel, just that they're connected somehow.

Magic exists in this universe, but it's not exactly well-understood. Especially considering how little contact he has with Sabrina and Tarot, I don't even think Fox would've imagined a human would turn into a dog.

May I point out something? Okay. First of all. Joel is King against his own will. Now, if Joel wasn't King against his own will, he may, in fact, forget everything and relax a little bit. However, because it's against his will, the only thing that is on Joel's mind, is getting back in Joel's own will. The last thing he wants to be worried about are possible attachments. Now, if it wasn't against his own will, that might've been a different story.

I'm sure Fox suspects they are connected some how, possibly thinking hes Kings former owner (one before Pete of course) or something along those lines. Fox seems smart enough to come to that sort of conclusion.

I'm sure of that too--but there's a difference between that and suspecting that King actually IS Joel.

King may be King against his own will, but I suspect he may want to be human again simply BECAUSE that is the case, to restore the status quo. I have never seen him try and explore what he REALLY wants. He seems to just "go along with things" most of the time, not really worrying about what HE wants.

So, the question is, then: Joel, King, whoever you are, what do you REALLY want?

In a way this could almost be seen as symbolic: Joel's never really bothered with what HE wanted, and so his identity has been malleable. That being the case, then, his transformation could be seen as a literal illustration of that malleable identity of his. He's gone along with what others have done, and so he has acted more like a pet being handed over from one "master" to another than like a human being who makes his own decisions, hence the transformation into a dog is a good analogy for that.

I don't say that Rick intended that interpretation, necessarily, but it could be taken that way.

Then the question becomes "WHO do you want to be? If you DO become Joel again, THEN what?" as well. This is kind of upsetting, if he's lived like this his whole life. What DOES he want?

Let's try this again. Say, for instance, you or I would be suddenly yanked out of our lives and suddenly shoved into this same situation in which we had no control over? I'd want to be back in control of my self. That's what (at least I think) Joel wants. To be back in control.

Edit: Yay it posted this time!

But he was never IN control in the first place, remember? First he couldn't stop his parents from abusing his pets, then he couldn't stop them from turning on HIM, then he had a criminal record, then he couldn't stop his PETA supervisor from kidnapping Fox, then he was in PRISON, and that's pretty much all he can look forward to if he becomes human again barring some unforeseen deus ex machina--at least as far as he knows, it won't be any different. He even said as much--his current condition is "the same thing as prison". Not worse, not better, "the same thing".

At what point was he in control, at least until he got the watch at the end of the last arc? Because as far as I can see that was the first time in his life that he ever WAS in control.

What Chewy said! By that, then if King becomes Joel again, he will eventually be caught and confined again. And then he will have control over NOTHING. -_-



And somehow, I doubt Rick would make it so easy.

The magic in this universe is somewhat tricky to understand. And the fact that Babylon Gardens is a staging area for a huge game of D&D doesn't really help simplify things. But, from what we know so far, Pete does not have indefinite control over Joel. Only if he hypnotizes him. So, there's a strong chance that, given Joel's crummy and somewhat negative past, he will chose to stay a dog because it reminds him of the "good times (when he had them)." I think that Rick's latest strip really stresses this controversy over wether or not Joel wants to remain a dog by creating the character Bailey.

I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HOW THIS ALL PLAYS OUT!

Best web comic evur!

But here's the thing if he doesn't become Joel again all that will allow him to do is run away from his responsibility (of paying for his crime). I think that being a dog will show him that he can take control of his life and one of the big things that taking control of your life means is owning up to your mistakes and facing the consequences of them. He will become Joel again because he has to he can't run away from his life and what he did by being a dog.

He will learn how to control his life though this but I think in the end he will choice to be a human again and go to jail. (The nerds most likely doing something to make it like he never ran) He will get out and then be a much better person for it over all.

in that case, why can't choose to go back to being human when he's done living as King and have it as if he never ran at that point?