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PANEL 1

LAAMPROS

YOU HAD BUT A FRACTION OF THE POWER YOU HAVE NOW, AND YOU TURNED A SMALL, INNOCENT CHILD INTO A SCARRED MONSTER FOREVER.

(cont)

THOSE FEW HUMANS DARED TO CARE FOR YOU — AND YOU BURNED THEIR WHOLE WORLD TO THE GROUND.

PANEL 2

CAPTION

LOOK AROUND YOU NOW AT YOUR SO-CALLED “FRIENDS” — ALL BURNT, BROKEN, AND DYING.

(cont)

WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO BE HERE? WHO WAS IT WHO PROVIDED THE KEY THAT FREED ME?

PANEL 3

LAAMPROS

YOU DID THIS. BECAUSE YOU CHOSE TO LET GO, TO EMBRACE YOUR POWER WITHOUT LIMITS. ALL SO YOU COULD SATISFY YOUR LUST WITH THAT MAN.

(cont)

EVEN THOUGH YOU KNEW EVIL WOULD RESULT.

PANEL 4

CAPTION

“LIE TO YOURSELF ALL YOU WANT, BUT DEEP DOWN, YOU’VE ALWAYS KNOWN THE TRUTH ABOUT “YOUR” FLAME.”

PANEL 5

CAPTION

“YOUR POWER WAS NEVER MEANT TO SAVE HUMANITY, MY SON.”

PANEL 6

LAAMPROS

IT WAS MEANT TO DAMN IT.

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The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Chapter 5—Page 39

March 3, 2017 Alex Woolfson 106 Comments

Good talk, Dad.

So! Laampros is putting the suffering of all his friends right at Kyle feet. What effect will this have on our firebending hero?

Tune in this Wednesday to find out! Hope to see you then! 😀

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106 Comments

Ouch! Dig the pain deeper, why don’t you?

Come on Kyle! I believe in RedHot, I do, I do!

Laampros is SUPER good at motivational speeches.

Laampros is really laying it on thick.

Laampros knows how to give alternative facts.

(Sorry, couldn’t help it once the thought stuck. I’ll show myself out xD )

But, but, you’re a Moderator . . .
What would we do without our Wolfie?
🙂

Haha.. Good thing I used a swingdoor then. Came right back 😉

This is reminding me so much of Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider. He was cursed by the devil in the same way, but Johnny decided to make it a blessing.

Anyway, just a thought. Fight on, Kyle!

‘I burnt all your friends and I’m planning to scorch the earth, but it’s all your fault’

Jeez dad of the year here folks *sarcasm*

Hey, I was the original voice for Gendo in “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” I never thought I’d find reason to think he was a better dad than anyone. I stand corrected.

This is kind of like a Lifetime family movie. Sex=harm and/or death just because the protag had sexy times.

Sexy times with a wanted worldwide criminal. I mean, he couldn’t have known world ending stuff would happen but nothing good long term would come from that. Short term could have been fun but definitely bad no matter what long term.

Have you never seen a Lifetime movie? Highly questionable decisions are part of the formula.

80’s slasher style justice, huh? You had sex, you did drugs, you took off your top, now die in the woods!

We now return to “Men Are Bad and Will Hurt You Because This is Lifetime” on Lifetime

Is Laampros a member of the current federal administration? He sure reasons like he is–“I caused all this death and destruction, and it’s all your fault!”

For about a year and a half, I had boss who was duplicitous like Laampros. (I finally got so fed-up with his back-stabbing ways, I called him an arse-kissing weasel to his face and was traded to another division in a few weeks.)

You’re my new hero 🙂

So what happens when this is all over? Feels like we are nearing the end.

We are getting near the end, but much to happen between now and then 🙂

After that we either get a new story, or as Alex say: “maybe a new arch if there’s enough interest”. Which there so is, in my opinion. I would love an arch with Spooky or Mitch, and we have gotten enough ‘teasers’ via bonus comics (and prose stories on Patreon) that it’s possible.
If the next (do we need to say possible anymore?) arch is Mitch, I hope we still get Spooky prose story.

Honestly, I think we need a Tsunami focus most of all. Clearly stuff went down in his past to make him as he is today and I think it’d be important to see that in order to understand his character.

I would love to get an arc for all of them. They all got background that that could be a great arc. Since this site is M/M themed then Mitch being gay, and Spooky being bi, means they’re best guesses.

Ah, but Tsunami’s past might involve other gay/bi characters we haven’t met yet.

Could be a way to go, though I still think Alex would go for a gay/bi main character. But it would be a way to give Tsu his own arc.

I’m easy to please. I’ll settle for any new story.
Possibly even a sequel to ARTIFICE.

Oh yes. I love TYP and I’d be happy for a new arch but I’m dying to see what happened to Deacon and Jeff. Miss these guys.

Crossover!

All because he wanted Annihilator to treat him like a red hot candy and suck on him a while.

You know, you can’t just bite into those things and all.

I’ll admit to being disappointed to seeing Red Hot being put on the back foot by Laampros’ speechifcation. At this point I would have honestly thought that our anger-filled firebender’s attitude would been “Screw you!” and re-double his efforts.
However, we’ve seen Red Hot try trickery against Laampros before. I’m willing to entertain the idea that he’s just pretending to weaken in order to get close enough to burn out Laampros’ other eye.

While that may ultimately be Kyle’s response, similar to what we’ve seen before, it is hardly to his discredit that he responds feelingly to Laampros’ version of his—dare I say existential?—predicament.

Did you say “firebender”? I’m afraid you are lost, you need to turn right on the next stop, it’s the only traditional chinese house in the neighbourhood, you can’t miss it, opening the door will teleport you to the universe you’re looking for.

Tell the Firelord I said “Hi”

😉

Tell that to Alex, he uses the term on every page

I’m remembering the old Tom Hold novel ‘Earth, Air, Fire and Custard’, and now I really want a custardbender to turn up in the Avatar universe simply to see the reaction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8TUwHTfOOU

It’s okay kiddo, my mom didn’t like my friends very much either. 🙁

Ok, who doubted that Laampros was guilting Kyle again? He does seem to understand basic human psychology, although whether he chose to lie that Kyle made a conscious decision to bring him in the world or Duncan told him Kyle agreed, is unclear.

[waves hand] Meee!
I’m honestly still undecided as to whether Laampros is guilting him or not. It’s a really subtle point of characterisation (and may be me overthinking things, again), but I can see the possibility that Laampros honestly thinks Red Hot’s innate nature is to be destructive and demonic, and that if he can just explain things then Red will give up on this ‘humanity’ business that he’s picked up by being raised on Earth. And because Laampros is a demon lord, he doesn’t have particularly good interpersonal skills and it comes across as villainous speechifying.
I suppose the final test of this idea will be after Laampros is defeated, and whether he reacts with anger or bafflement to Red Hot siding with the humans rather than with him.

His choice of words really screams conscious guilting to me, but okay 🙂

Grrrrrr!!!!!!!
…….oops, did I growl out loud? XP
Now THAT’S evil, using his guilt and emotions against him.
I love the colour difference between their flames 🙂

White Hot is more like it.

I like it 🙂

Well… as long as we’re wishing, why not aim high?
Maybe Laampros will make the mistake of using the power of fire to heal his eye in front of Kyle, and then Kyle will realize he can cure everyone!

Just because one person has a power doesn’t mean everyone gets it.

And there goes fallacy expert Dr timemonkey, ruining everyone’s wishful thinking with cold and harsh logic.

*salutes*

He has a point though. In addition, Laampros is a demon, a creature of fire, just because fire can heal a demon, doesn’t mean the same applies to humans.

it’s not the size of the power that matters. it’s how you use it.

NOOO! Kyle, don’t you fall for that nonsense!
… I feel like this is a Tinkerbell moment.
Everybody clap their hands?

Clap!

*claps furiously*

I think Laampy made two big mistakes here.

First, he describes what happened with Duncan as an act of lust, which suggests that he doesn’t understand love.

And second, reminding Kyle of that scene might also remind him of the discussion he had with Spooky afterwards. IN particular, this bit:

http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/typ/ete-ch3pt1-page-29/
http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/typ/ete-ch3pt1-page-30/
http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/typ/ete-ch3pt1-page-31/

Not to mention the utterly RIDICULOUS idea that fire is “meant” to do ANYTHING. Fire isn’t good or evil. Fire just IS. It’s what people do with it that can save or damn.

Kyle and Duncan have spent less than a day together. Hell, probably less than three hours together. Why would love be included at all?

Because Duncan was a manipulative bastard who preyed on Kyle’s naivete?

Even without that, even if Duncan had been entirely sincere it still wouldn’t have been love. They didn’t know each other well enough for love to have merged.

The situation basically boiled down to “Hey, we both like guys, I’m fireproof and apparently not so bad, wanna fuck?”

Just because it happend quick, or didn’t last doesn’t mean Kyle didn’t feel love. Like people — and superheroes — love comes in all kind of shapes and sizes, don’t you think?

You can’t love someone you just met and don’t know.

Well, I fell in love with my partner in three days, so . . .

well technically all fire ever does is destroy, it can provide warmth at the same time but one can’t have fire with out destroying something in return.

wow- those pages are 3 years ago this month-

There are slightly over 500 pages in the story so far…

“Feel no shame for what you are…” …because it’s what you DO that’s important.

Rule Number 6 on the “Evil Overlord List”
I will not gloat over my enemies’ predicament before killing them.

To be fair though he doesn’t see his son as an enemy, he sees him as a child who simply hasn’t grown up yet and is opposing him because he ‘fell in with a bad crowd’. So right now he’s simply busy doing the responsible demon parent thing instructing his son on how to be a proper demon. He has quite a bit in common with Elan’s father from Order Of The Stick in that regard.

I have to go look for “Order of the Stick”

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1066.html

Rule #46 in the “Evil Overlord List”
If an advisor says to me “My liege, he is but one man. What can one man possibly do?”, I will reply “This.” and kill the advisor.

An old friend of mine actually contributed two items to that list. Neither of them apply here, yet. 😀

I’m having trouble following some of this. Laampros seems to be suggesting that he somehow foresaw that having a fire-using child of his on Earth would, years later, provide him with his own passage to Earth. Sure, it may have been possible for Laampros to foresee that Kyle would have difficulty controlling his power during sex or masturbation and additionally surmise that Kyle would be driven to seek out ways he could “satify his lust” regardless of the dangers. But it’s a little far-fetched to believe that Laampros also expected that Kyle would eventually be seduced by someone intent on visiting Hell using Kyle’s fire as a means of transportation.

Even if Laampros somehow leaked-on-purpose the “visit Hell using living flame” spell to Sircea years ago, how could he be sure she’d use it or she’d consider using Kyle for it?

Laampros is a manipulator and a mindfucker. There’s no need to believe he foresaw all the details he’s now using against his son.

That said, Alex’s demons and hell kings are consistently portrayed as seeking ways to escape hell and establish dominion on earth. Why else, except tangentially perhaps for the “lust” that Laampros seems to think of as trivial, would he have impregnated a human woman, except to create an escape conduit, details (ahem) be damned?

While it’s probable that Laampros had the outline of the plan, I think the fact that Laampros was able to read Red Hot’s mind earlier in the chapter is the real reason he’s able to claim such detail and precision.
I mean, its possible that he’s used divinations to see the future, or that he’s such a genius-level demon lord that he used something akin to Asimov’s psychohistory to extrapolate the future with inhuman accuracy. But on the evidence we have it seems far more likely that he’s simply faking it to appear omnicompetent.

Your point about how Laampros could know that someone would make use of Red Hot’s flame powers to visit his realm is well made. Here I can only speculate. One possibility is that Laampros anticipated that Red would make his way to hell one way or another but did not know or care how. An option I am still seriously considering is that Laampros genuinely thinks that Red’s innate nature is to be destructive, tyrannical and generally ‘evil’, and that all he has to do explain and Red will inevitably put aside this childish ‘human emotions business’ that he’s been acclimatised into as a result of being raised on Earth. If so, then Laampros may have thought that Red would seek his heritage on his own, as he sought a way to establish his own tyranny on Earth.
A second option is that Laampros was not sure that Red would not be a useful pawn in this regard, and seeded Earth with several children in addition to Red Hot in order to get better odds.

I really appreciate the way flames are drawn in this comic. You give them so much texture, gesture, and expressiveness!

(Un)Holy crap! “Everyone you love is dead or dying all because you wanted to experience physical intimacy with a man!” In the words of the Golden Girls, “well, excuse me, Anita Bryant!” Textbook parental manipulation.

“JOIN ME! We can end this destructive conflict and rule the universe as father and son!” Laampros may want to tap his inner Vader, but remember how it ended for out Dark Lord of the Sith.

Yes, lust was involved, but come on, Kyle: everyone feels lust now and then. It’s a natural, healthy urge. Did Duncan use it against you? Yes. Did you know evil would result? No. You feared it, but Duncan lied to you, told you it would be all right. Daddy’s clearly trying to distract you because he knows you’re going to hand him his ass. So do it already!

I cannot help but feel Laampros it trying to help Kyle get over his emotional traumas and guilty and shameful feelings (accidentally hurting that girl and the shame that many feel for being gay). Yeah, it a screwed up way to help him, but
I still cannot help feel that getting some serious father/son time is the true reason he wanted to come to Earth at this time. It’s when Kyle “needs” him the most before these issues become permanently ingrained in his personality. Basically he’s Laampros, the hard love type therapist.

Laampros told Duncan that he and PP didn’t understand his reasons for wanting to come to Earth. They just assumed he wanted to take it over. But since the world walls are failing all on their own, he can wait. He’s an immortal king of hell after all. He plays the long game. And by not staying now, he prevents PP plan to draw upon tons of demons and their energy to restore the world walls. Once they fall, even she alone cannot remake them.

At most he should just send a few lieutenants to “mark” his territory for when the walls fall on their own and leave Duncan and PP to try to protect the Americas (their territory) from the other kings of hell.

sorryihaven’tcommentedinawhilebuticouldn’tthinkofanythingtosayuntilnow
there’s something i really like about this page, about this little monologue Laampros is having here
i just like moments like these, does that make me a bad person lol
it’s been winding up and down thru these pages of having little bits of hope and then having no hope at all for things to turn out ok (or at least much smaller bits of hope)
i can imagine just hearing the burning fire, some slow music of some kind playing in the background, and just Laampros voice all loud and clear and it’s just all very chilling
this page just gives me chills, really

Now would be a nice time for Flyboy to pick the gate up and drop it over Laampros, effectively sending him back.

Another nice thing would be Duncan waking up and knocking Laampros back through the gate.

A third nice thing would be if the military showed up.

I say get your good game on Kyle!!

“Golly, Dad, I never thought about it that way!” “Here Son, have a Lifesaver…”

That’s some pretty heavy shit Laamps. Why you gotta bring up all Kyle’s personal biz in front of his friends?

Fucking parents, man.

This situation is so depressing. Alex give me some comic relief or something. Or better yet, fix the problem!

I say end Big Daddy!!

This is clearly Laampros’ first child.

Teenage backlash in 3….2….1….

SHOT YOUR MOUTH!!!

Hmmmm…..been a while back…..but as I recall…..Kyle was used as a tool…..by another to open that gate….so “papa” I hate to say it but you’re WRONG!

Being used as a tool doesn’t make what his father’s saying automatically wrong, they aren’t mutually exclusive things. He’s right that Kyle was so driven by his lust and the thought of a partner that would be safe from his flames that he was willing to bed not just a super-villain but one in the top-ranks of super-villainy of his world. At some level he had to realize that it was wrong but he was just too desperate and eager for a partner to not go along with it.

On the other hand he did some research and found that Duncan had never killed anyone on purpose, and had not done anything criminal (that made the news) for six years. Six years is a very long time when you are 18.

Ok Laampy. Few things. Kyle shouldn’t be held responsible for an accident he had in his youth, given he didn’t know the result of his teenage experimentation. Similarly he didn’t ‘choose’ to burn their world, any more than he chose to hurt his friends. You did that Laampy, not Kyle.

Kyle’s presence may have been instrumental, even necessary, to summon you, Laampy, but that wasn’t the deal Kyle was offered. He was deceived. Sure, he’s owned the fact he was guillible, and will work to correct it, but he didn’t choose to damn his world. Everything he’s down in his life has been to protect it. Whether the wider world or his little slice of it.

So, soznotsoz, when you say ‘his power was meant to damn the world’. You’re… just… wrong. His power is HIS to decide the use thereof, and he has clearly dedicated it to a purpose other than damnation. So get yer head out your big red scaly behind. Those horns look decidedly unhygienic.

Hi Campers…
I finished reading Neil Gaiman’s NORSE MYTHOLOGY. An easy read but in the end, bleak. It is fascinating and such an easy read.

And I brought French Vanilla Gelato laced with root-beer fizzies to Camping. I’m hoping someone has sprinkles.

Great. It’s Orientation Week playday at the library, and I’m on the board games section teaching new students to play things like Tsuro, Quirkle, Resistance, and Exploding Kittens.

That sounds like fun.

Patreon rumbles. Start watching for the new page.

New page is up:
http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/typ/ch5-page-40/

Don’t listen to him, Kyle! You got this!

Will someone please stick something in his other eye? Or, better yet, his mouth.

During this whole Laampros/Kyle father son dynamic, I was getting some serious Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker vibes. Father trying to get son to turn to the Dark Side, son trying REALLY hard to not…then realizing just how powerful the Light really is and kicking Daddy’s ass.