I may have overstated

I'm not mad people are interpreting what Keene says as meaning what it is

I am annoyed that some people in this thread are using that to make broad sweeping comments about me and my personal judgement before they know exactly how it shakes out, pretending they already know all the details like this is all I'm ever saying on the matter

Of course my judgement has been constantly questioned and prematurely condemned this entire dang arc so I guess I'm just late to the party

Maybe Fox and Mungo will drag Keene off the stage, Duchess will proclaim a coup, and ......... Naw....

You're very right, TheOne. Enjoyment is what the comic's for, first and foremost. Trying to second-guess a storyline is kinda interesting, but I don't want to run my fingernails too fast across the storyteller's blackboard.
Heck, chums, it's only Monday....

....and where in Pawtucket is Duchess, anyway?

Regards.

Yeah, it can be like that. I find this all quite interesting, but I, personally, like to wait for a completed arc, before making any sort of judgement on it. It feels like a better reflection of the story's progression that way.

I think one reason that everyone's tail feathers get in a bunch is that they focus on the length of the arc and not on the actual content. A lot of people seem to forget that you aren't necessarily writing this comic for the sake of drawing cute little fuzzy animals, but that you are trying to tell a story. Most people aren't focusing on what is happening and are more concerned with how it is being done. Some look past everything good that is coming from the arc, such as character development, imagine how boring it would be if the characters never changed and never grew? It would be very repetitive, are Peanut and Grape the same characters as they were 9+ years ago? Not really, they've grown and changed and that is what makes them so interesting. Good things come from these long arcs, and a lot more planning and time has to go into them than a short 5 page arc. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

Well, to be honest, Rick my speculation on why you might be dropping this plotline; again I was assuming there was no twist at the end which I highly suspected even then there is; is based on how this whole arc has felt so far as I said and the fact that you have dropped things before that you feel don't fit the comic. However, perhaps it was out of line of me to do so and I honestly didn't mean anything bad by it.

While I do criticize this arc I honestly don't hate the majority of it. Most of my dislike of this arc is based on the fact that it's overly long, which even you admitted to on Twitter, and that a lot of the characters in it feel pointless or redundant. Like outside of the epilogue part Tarot was essentially doing exactly what Breel was doing, trying to get Keene to not use the Mana, and with Breel there she becomes kind of redundant. She didn't do anything really important until after Breel was upset and the mana was pointless to Keene. Oh and then Res made her draining the mana pointless anyway. Res's plot feels like it could have easily been its own separate arc unconnected to Temple Crashers 2 and what he did, in the end, could have been handled by several other characters that were already in the other teams. Everything else in the arc though I honestly enjoyed.

Next strip, the Rocky theme comes on behind Keene. He's rejuvenated. Cut to King hiding behind the curtain with a boombox.

Gonna Fly Now or Eye of the Tiger? This is important.

Gonna Fly Now, of course! There can be only one!

Yeah, so can we speculate as to what Keene is going to do after retirement, or what ideas he might have in mind? Things that are actually fun to speculate about as opposed to how this seems like a bad ending to Keene's arc?
It's fine if people want to be realists about things, but part of being a realist (to my mind) is acknowledging that Rick has a great track record of delivering unexpected and interesting continuations on a theme. Which is why I would expect this strip to generate discussion like, "Huh, this is an unexpected statement for Keene to make. I wonder what Rick is planning with this. <insert speculation on the possible interesting directions this could take>" And some of that speculation exists in this thread, but it's a little buried in all the other cruft.
So by all means speculate away. But if your speculation already assumes that this is not going to end well, then kindly keep it to yourself unless and until your speculation comes to pass.

Edit: Or if you're really stumped as to how this could possibly go well, how about, "I can't see a positive continuation for this. Can someone help me to look at some ideas I might have missed?"
Which, by the by, would be these:

Edit Edit: Even the discussion about why Keene might be giving up was a fine way to respond. It needs more love in this thread too.

personally I believe he's saying "I'm gonna let my people do the legal battles while I snuggle my angel" camp.

I get the feeling he's making a donation. Still wondering who the donation is going to. Would laugh if it's Maxwell on the grounds he won the contest. x3

On a funny note ~ we could always get shirts that say "I survived Temple Crashers" with the temple falling apart on the front of it :3

"I survived Temple Crashers and all I got was this lousy T-shirt, for which I have no use."

Maxwell's probably worn out his welcome at Milton Manor (except, maybe, with Jeeves), but I like the idea of him winning something that doesn't backfire on him.

Congratulations, you have won a year's supply of catnip!
...(whispering)
(whispering back) What do you mean we can't do that?
...(whispering)
(whispering back) Okay, but only this one time.
...
Congratulations! You've won a year's supply of Myowser Myx!

Poor Maxwell... I'm starting to feel sorry for him...

Well, that feeling passed quickly.

Hey, Max has had a hard life! It's not his fault he's dating someone who was meant for someone else!

That's a weird way to spell 'Res'.

no i think he means res should date joey.

Why must you mock my Gres dreams. T_T

I dunno! I just used the most obvious portmanteau I could think of.

Wrong, she was meant for Rex.

And then, from the mountains of Grapenut shippers, appeared the illusive Gres shippers! (and all of the other shippers, but I'm too lazy to list them all)

Well, I mean

Res is the cutest character.

This is an undeniable fact.

I am denying your fact.

Puppy Peanut is cheating in the cuteness contest.

Um, what? Res isn't even particularly cute. Not compared to King, Zach, Truck, Squeak and Spo, Tarot, Custom Ink and Tiny Tum, Sasha, Fox, Rufus, Spring and Summer, ...

Whoa... Didn't mean to ignite the "Shipping Wars" again, chums....

Graxnut?

What? Who says stable relationships are limited to two?
Just need to deport Tarot to the moon...

And we just went MLP on this thread.

Jes' gettin' to Friday by now.....