I think once before I mentioned that El Goonish Shive is my favorite webcomic by far, and I hold on that front. The problem with the series is that it starts out kinda meh, and takes a while before it gets awesome. So this is why I am making this, the EGS Initiative. The point is to summarize the comic up to certain points, those points being place you could start at and reasonably enjoy. It's going to be a big process, but I hope it will be a useful and fun one as well. I'm going to try and sum up things as they happen, then go into the characters. The first story arc, Introductions, will be skipped as literally nothing important happened. Before we start the real first story arc, we have to introduce the main characters. I'm going to be talking about each character has who they have become, not who they were at the beginning.
Elliot Dunkel is a goody-two-shoes. He has a bit of a dark past, but not overwhelmingly so. He studies Anime-Style Martial Arts, and is the second best student there. He can't stand bullies. He sucks at perversion.
Tedd Verres is a mad scientist. He is a pervert, and has a major fetish for transformations. He is also a complete nerd. He doesn't actually need glasses to see, his face is incredible girly and he hides it with them. He has been called 'gay' by bullies his entire life.
Sarah Brown is very normal. She's an artist, and always trying to improve her skill. She's a very casual nerd. She is envious of other characters for their powers. Surprisingly brave. Up until the Hammerchlorians Arc she was able to summon giant hammers.
Arc 1-The Goo: Elliot and Tedd are in science class. The assignment is to make goo, and Tedd's becomes alive. Tedd repeatedly claims he was not responsible, nobody believes him. They're forced to stay after school to catch it. The goo grows huge and monstrous. They try activating the sprinklers, but their principal didn't actually install real ones, because they'd be too costly. Instead Elliot blows it up.
Arc 2-Shade: Elliot and Tedd end up in the newspaper for the events of the previous arc, and a mysterious woman wonders if they could help her. Elliot, Sarah, and Tedd go to the movies, and when they return they find a woman waiting for them. Her name is Grace, and she wants to stay with Tedd and his father for protection. Tedd's father knows her already, but by the name Shade Tail. Grace and Sarah go shopping for clothes, and when a mugger attacks Grace turns into a anthropomorphic squirrel. That scares off the mugger. She reveals to the group that she and her 'brothers' were the result of a secret operation. They were trying to make super assassins by making part animal people that could morph between full human, half animal, and full animal. The experiment ended when a being named Damien killed the scientists and took the experimental children as his warriors. Grace is a pacifist, and escaped. They agree to help Grace.
Grace Sciuridae is a half-squirrel teenager. She's had easily the most art and character change, but at her core she has stayed roughly the same. She is a naive, kind, and caring girl. She knows nothing of social customs, having grown up in a lab. She is a pacifist, though when the time comes that she's enraged enough to fight she goes absolutely berserk. She is adorable.
Edward Verres is Tedd's dad. He's also a high ranking member of the FBI, and his job is keeping Aliens and Magic a secret from the public. He's also one of the strongest wizards alive. He's gruff, but cares for his son. He overreacts to many things. When you are allowed to hear about what he has to say, getting him to stop may be tough.
Arc 3-Relations: Elliot realizes Sarah is interested in him, and invites her to his martial arts class under the pretense of her almost getting mugged. Tedd and Grace start dating. Sarah goes to the class, and meets Elliot's martial art friends Justin and Nanase. Elliot talks with his teacher, Sensei Greg. He sets up a sparring match between Elliot and Nanase, the two highest ranking students. Sarah and Justin watch. If I may take a critical aside, the fight is very well done, the fighting looking cool and being funny in it's parodying of anime fights. Nanase wins, and kisses Elliot. He brought Sarah there to make her understand that he is dating Nanase. Sarah runs out crying, and when Elliot tells Nanase that he brought Sarah to tell her about the situation, not show her, Nanase rightly smacks him. She tells Elliot that since he and Sarah have known each-other for a long time, and she reacted that way, this isn't some crush to let down, and he should talk with her. They do, and Sarah reveals she loves Elliot. She walks away, and when Elliot tells Nanase she breaks up with him so they can be together. Plus, it was mostly a 'friends with benefits' relationship anyway. (The following is technically another story arc, but it's related enough to count it as part of Relations.) Sarah shows up at Tedd's to find that Tedd's Transformation gun can add more forms to Grace, and that now she has cat and hedgehog/cat hybrid forms. Grace has nightmares that night, and Tedd comforts her. (Not in that way. Pervert.) Tedd reveals that he's been bullied a lot in his life. He and Elliot met when Elliot beat the crap out of a bully tormenting Tedd.
Justin Tolkiberry is a nerd who is somewhat good at martial arts. He's also gay. That is barely relevant to his character, and the only way it is is that he really likes Elliot. Who is straight. He works at a comic book shop. His only real development is pretty recent, so I won't cover it in this initiative, or at least not for a while.
Nanase Kitsune is a badass. She is easily the strongest of the mane cast, as well as the best magically. She is intelligent, and very kind. Her mother controls most of her life, trying to get her to go down a certain path. She has very major development, but I'll get to that somewhat soon. She's also Tedd's cousin.
Sensei Greg is the founder of the Anime-Style Martial Arts style. He discovered it after being dumped, by watching anime for an insane amount of time. He combined his knowledge of the medium with his already extensive martial arts training to create his own style, that suprisingly works. He doesn't show up much because at his power level he's basically a walking Dues Ex Machina.
I'll be back tomorrow to cover the Sisters Arc. Laters.
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