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The Viscount has just realized he's not the smartest person on the team.

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  • Level 14: #27

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‹‹ First ‹ Prev Comments(52) Random Next › Last ››

Level 14: #21

Chapter: Level 14 — The Mother of Invention
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Discussion (52) ¬

  1. RandomPassrby
    September 17, 2025, 11:39 am | # | Reply

    “The Python can be used on itself?”

    “It didn’t, until I used it on itself.”

    Also Robot Dude, it’s been established that you dismiss variables you consider irrelevant without investigating their actual relevance. I question your math.

    17
    • Athaic
      September 17, 2025, 12:03 pm | # | Reply

      “I question your math” – I would not be surprised if they have the annoying habit of rounding down Pi, when they find it convenient.

      12
      • BadRoad
        September 17, 2025, 6:28 pm | # | Reply

        You really don’t need more significant figures in pi than you have in your measurement, and there are always limits to how precise a measurement can be.

        3
        • Jessica J
          September 19, 2025, 10:35 am | # | Reply

          Three ought to be good enough for most purposes, right?

          4
          • BadRoad
            September 20, 2025, 12:15 am | # | Reply

            I’ve memorized eight digits, which is almost always overkill.

        • Mary Catelli
          September 20, 2025, 12:40 pm | # | Reply

          You shouldn’t, in fact. This may lead you to rely on data that is not so precise as you think

          1
      • 627235
        September 19, 2025, 5:03 am | # | Reply

        22/7 is a perfectly fine substitution for most practical purposes.

        4
    • Just some guy on the internet
      September 17, 2025, 9:25 pm | # | Reply

      He questioned his math, up until he used the Python of Mersshaulk on himself.

      12
    • Brandon
      September 22, 2025, 4:36 am | # | Reply

      Maybe he was programmed in Python?

      7
  2. Eguzky
    September 17, 2025, 12:07 pm | # | Reply

    Wait. If you can use the Python on itself; Why not use it on itself to give it the power to delete castles?

    If it can be used on itself to make it from not being used with repeaters to being used with repeaters, why not ‘Can’t delete castles’ to ‘can delete castles’?

    Methinks the robot is not as smart as he thinks he is.

    7
    • divgradcurl
      September 17, 2025, 10:18 pm | # | Reply

      He was precisely as smart as he thinks he is, until he used the Python on himself, and now he is not. It remains to be seen if this was an upgrade or a downgrade.

      11
    • TBeholder
      September 17, 2025, 10:34 pm | # | Reply

      Well, if you define the set of possible qualities like this, it’s almost infinite. The artifact’s controls probably can cover only a tiny part of it.

    • Dreadaxe
      September 23, 2025, 3:36 am | # | Reply

      It was capable of giving itself that power, but then he used it on itself and now it isn’t.

  3. Demarquis
    September 17, 2025, 12:15 pm | # | Reply

    So… evil versions of the protags episode coming up? Or Cowardly ones? What would be most helpful to team Bad Guys?

    4
    • hewhosaysfish
      September 17, 2025, 2:09 pm | # | Reply

      My prediction: each person in the castle will have one different quality/property flipped. One might be good>evil, one might be brave/cowardly, one smart/stupid.
      We might see some pair swaps; I am imagining based on the set-up so far that Presti will trade in her Wizard levels for Fighter levels and that Mama Perkins will become a Wizard.

      14
      • Another Chicken Head
        September 17, 2025, 10:40 pm | # | Reply

        What if we randomly got some bad qualities reversed to good. Mimic becomes understandable. The Doogans become responsible. Roxy starts forming detailed battle plans that work…

        8
      • Lymdn
        September 20, 2025, 12:49 am | # | Reply

        We have seen Presti with Popeye arms before…

        4
    • Meris
      September 23, 2025, 7:09 am | # | Reply

      The Python works great with binary values, but as noted by the Viscount, it would also require a lot of power (a sliding scale) to disappear a castle, and Rusty ate the vamp’s amp, so they’re having to make do with what they’ve got.

  4. NonCredible
    September 17, 2025, 12:31 pm | # | Reply

    OOH, is Anti-Madeline getting her own team?

    5
    • Helge
      September 18, 2025, 11:32 am | # | Reply

      Madeleine and Anti-Madeleine will just switch places.

      1
  5. Philadelphus
    September 17, 2025, 12:44 pm | # | Reply

    I love the callback to level 6 with the Python!

    https://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-51/

    10
  6. C T
    September 17, 2025, 1:25 pm | # | Reply

    Anyone on Team Evil trying to attack the castle will be in the cone of the device. This could make the robot more humble and could make the bullywugs more effective, but I foresee unanticipated, interesting results.

    4
    • Beni-kujaku
      September 18, 2025, 8:05 am | # | Reply

      The repeater is slow-acting. A single attack will not yield any adverse side-effect.

  7. Grendelkin
    September 17, 2025, 1:59 pm | # | Reply

    0_0 … That robot (or modron, or something?) is much scarier than I had originally given it credit for.
    I was a little disappointed when I found out this wasn’t the Grinner returned to wreak more havoc, but this guy is probably a lot more dangerous. Instead of having one solid plan, it has a ton of them!

    4
    • Beni-Kujaku
      September 18, 2025, 8:06 am | # | Reply

      It’s most probably an Inevitable. But you know what they say, “better a single good plan than a thousand bad ones”.

      4
      • Scarlet Knight
        September 19, 2025, 6:53 am | # | Reply

        *Whirr click* 2301 bad ones….

        2
    • MerlinoftheTower
      September 22, 2025, 3:49 pm | # | Reply

      Mike has to use homebrew characters because of copyright, so whatever this robot is, you won’t find it in D&D. If anything that makes this character more terrifying – we have no idea what this robot’s stats or abilities would be.

      That makes it more interesting to my mind, and stretches Mike as a creator, which is good for us!

  8. Oldarmourer
    September 17, 2025, 3:23 pm | # | Reply

    One might become lefthanded
    Another one might become right handed
    One might start to dislike their favourite food
    A tall one might grow short
    A short one might grow tall
    Stabs might start to prefer cutting instead of stabbing
    The Princess might stop smoking

    4
  9. Oldarmourer
    September 17, 2025, 3:25 pm | # | Reply

    So the python after being used on itself is now an Ouroboros ?

    1
    • evileeyore
      September 17, 2025, 5:27 pm | # | Reply

      More like “I used the Reversal Artifact on itself so of course there are no unintended consequences…”

      “I used the Python on itself” is the stupidest thing I’ve heard uttered by a villain in this comic and Sir Malevolus had himself a wholeass arc once…

      0
      • Beni-Kujaku
        September 18, 2025, 8:07 am | # | Reply

        I mean, at first it wouldn’t have worked with no unintended consequences, but these he used the Python on itself, and now it does. He’s done the math!

        2
      • Mary Catelli
        September 19, 2025, 10:56 pm | # | Reply

        It’s the second time it’s been done, at that.

        1
        • evileeyore
          September 21, 2025, 12:35 pm | # | Reply

          Exactly! And the Count should know how well that all went.

          1
  10. WearsHats
    September 17, 2025, 4:19 pm | # | Reply

    Bottom left panel: Using the Python so much seems to have converted its into it’s.

    1
    • Puppeteen
      September 17, 2025, 4:27 pm | # | Reply

      And converted the period after “Viscount” in the bottom right panel into a non-period.

      1
      • Mike R.
        September 17, 2025, 4:36 pm | # | Reply

        Both issues have been fixed.

        3
  11. Elyeli
    September 17, 2025, 5:01 pm | # | Reply

    So… how did he they the python back from YT? Is she okay? Is she back on team evil? You would think her people would have learned by now to keep it safe

    2
    • Mary Catelli
      September 17, 2025, 11:50 pm | # | Reply

      In Level 8-191, the Viscount brought the Python back to the Rhyming Demons. Since this was before her adventure with Maddie and Rusty, YT is still on Team Good.

      How they got it is still unclear, IIRC.

      4
  12. Mr. Boring
    September 17, 2025, 7:59 pm | # | Reply

    So, he put the Python on a tripod, so now it’s a Mounted Python? Now for something completely different!

    On a more serious note, that might explain why Madeline did not immediately put the bucket on her head and exclaim something like “Wow! A Helm of Telepathy!”

    9
    • Scarlet Knight
      September 19, 2025, 6:57 am | # | Reply

      “Mounted Python? Stop it! Stop it! This is a very serious comic and there will be no display naughty bits!”

      3
  13. Yarrun
    September 17, 2025, 9:52 pm | # | Reply

    It is extremely funny to see ‘No, but I used the Python on itself and now it does’ come from someone who isn’t a self-absorbed hipster

    5
  14. Mary Catelli
    September 17, 2025, 9:57 pm | # | Reply

    At least in one area of expertise. It’s possible the Viscount can do better in other areas.

  15. TBeholder
    September 17, 2025, 10:36 pm | # | Reply

    «I used it to make the castle not solid anymore. Hmm, it appears to become mobile as a side effect.»

    1
  16. HeroicJay
    September 18, 2025, 1:25 am | # | Reply

    “Well, I rendered the Python moot. I changed it so that it now makes a single quality of the target remain the same.”

    “You can neutralize the Python?!”

    “You could, but I used the Python on itself, and now you can’t.”

    0
  17. Envisioner Will
    September 18, 2025, 8:48 am | # | Reply

    There’s obviously at least one joke about Python repeaters that I’m not getting, given my lack of familiarity with guns, westerns, and/or programming languages.

    5
  18. Stephen
    September 18, 2025, 10:42 am | # | Reply

    so when does the Marquis try to betray General Maintenance and find out that 1987 of those plans involved the Marquis’ skull being used as a bowling ball?

  19. Nerva
    September 18, 2025, 11:35 am | # | Reply

    Uh oh. Uhhh… guys I think we’re neglecting a big, big problem.

    The castle, *itself* is alive, in a sense. Oozanka’s basically wearing it like a hermit crab shell. She is basically occupying the *entire* AoE of the Python Repeater. Given that, she may be the first, and most strongly, affected by it.

    What if her trait of being harmless to the castle’s occupants gets reversed?

    7
  20. idanbhk
    September 18, 2025, 11:38 am | # | Reply

    Wait…
    Is THAT what made the princess so verbose? I knew there was something suspicious about her speech!

    5
  21. Kenshin Ryuu
    September 19, 2025, 12:21 am | # | Reply

    Wait… does that mean everyone in the castle who is good is going to sprout a goatee????

    And what if using the Python on itself changed it from a normal artifact into an intelligent one that is just playing along until it can turn the tables on the construct. Possibly by making him illogical and irrational so he gets rusted.

  22. TB Tabby
    September 19, 2025, 3:48 am | # | Reply

    The multiverse does not allow for paradoxes, except in the universe where it does.

    2
  23. Lorenzo La Greca
    September 19, 2025, 6:10 am | # | Reply

    Very easily.
    Everyone inside the castle is a “defender”. Specifically, a “Defender of the Castle”.
    Flip it. Done.
    “Offender of the Castle”.

  24. Brandon
    September 20, 2025, 10:42 am | # | Reply

    Smartest =/= wisest

    2

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