'Not A Villain' Webcomic - Kleya and Danni will get new outfits. Paddy wants to know if Danni knows a famous ballet dancer.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 225

If you haven't heard of someone in a while, it's common to assume they didn't survive the Ending.

And new outfits! At last! Kat will no longer have mitten hands! Check out the vote incentive to see a concept sketch of her new design!

And hey! NAV could be in a webcomic popularity tournament over at ComicMix if it gets enough votes during this seeding round. I think it'd be fun to see how far we could go but it depends entirely on you, my awesome fans, and your voting prowess. So go and vote if you're so inclined! Thanks!

58 Comments

Wow, Danny was really popular!

And I like the sketch of Kat’s new design!

PS. And voted at ComicMix!

Okay, Dani was once a ‘famous’ ballerina, didnt see that coming. I’m guessing that she is now a quadraplegic, or disabled in some way, and is only able to ‘live’ by using a kido, which explains why the admin wanted to kick her out if she wasnt making money.

Also, why to I have the feeling that Paddy will dress he up in one of her old Ballet outfits?

Also, love panel 4, Dani’s “people think i’m dead?” look. Always funny to see people with that look.

She might also be an A.I. that believes it is the real thing.

Possible, though I doubt it, notaa only is the integilence of
A.I s still limited (as evidensed by the twins), and not allowed in the game, Dani’s personality and motivation are too complex, as well as her actions

It all depends on what kind of brain mapping tech exists. If they could copy a person’s memories and convert it into data as part of the A.I., then it wouldn’t be that difficult.

Allow me to be the first to say…

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!! (insert dramatic chipmunk)

So, apparently, Katt/leya isn’t the only one that keeps secrets. Basically, we got the supposed leader of the world’s most dangerous hacker organization, a famous dancer thought dead, Saisuke, and Katt/leya’s mother, in the same group alongside a good, old, and possibly hot Afro-Guatemalan shaman and her Tolkien-loving husband.

Now, the bets are: who’s Saisuke? Bandit, or the Dude? I bet it’s the Dude, because nobody expects the L.i.f.E inquisition!

P.S.: should I keep with Katt/leya, K(att)leya, or simply Kattleya?

thats highly goofy. which makes me smile a bit. and your assuming that Saisuke has to be someone on the team. no such evidence exists.

on a side note, what should the L.i.f.E. Inquisition should look like? I vote pink as one of the colors.

Please, call her Kleya, it’s her name after all. Don’t be offended, but all your propositions are just painful to read.

I don’t know if Danni is hiding anything. After all, her avatar looks like her true self (she said so herself), she’s using her real name and make dance-based moves. If she intended to keep it a secret, she’s quite lousy at it. But maybe she’s lying about her true identity.

I like your idea of The Dude being Saisuke, that would prove that he is an awfully good actor. For the few things we actually know about Saisuke, he seems like a very “knightly” person, maybe even a bit emo: the opposite of The Dude. But who would be Bandit ? He knows (and protects) Kleya’s secret, And The Dude doesn’t look like he really cares. And who is he looking for if not for THEE Hacker ?

And I agree with Tre, L.i.F.E Inquisition should wear pink, the colour of true evil.

Actually, we can be reasonably certain that Kleya is NOT her name….

I’ve thought all along that Bandit might be Saisuke, since we know Bandit was a newly created persona and he’s obviously a very experienced player, despite being supposedly new to the Game. It’s a bit too much of a coincidence that Saisuke is “on hiatus” at the same time. But then, that seems a bit obvious….

that is well reasoned. I will grant your arguement has enough merit to keep until new information arises. and as for the obviousness of it…often hiding in plain sight is the most effective means of hiding. its because people don’t even think about it, doesn’t rise in thier consciousness as a question in the first place. so while the link is still thin so far, so long as we don’t go overboard with it then its worth considering.

The idea is natural.

First, a name such as “Kleya” is far too abnormal, considering that pretty much everyone around has so far normal names: Danni/ella, Mae, Sandra, Mina… the one exception may be Dr. Grace, but even that’s within reasonable limits. On the other hand, her game avatar is called “Katt”, and while the reference is obvious (she’s trying to look like a nekomata, which is essentially a cat-person), it may just hide something else. Also: note how everyones’ handles, if written completely, often rarely exceed from 11 letters (a reference to old-school RPGs and how they had limited letter slots because of the kana/kanji to Roman alphabet exchange cut some of the space), so its possible that Katt/leya’s true name, or attempted handle, may be too big for the game to identify, so she shortened it to “Kleya”. Heck, just look at the description for the flower, and see if some things make sense; then again, if the whole idea is Jossed afterwards, at least it makes for an interesting coincidence.

As for Saisuke being the Dude, I’m aiming for “the one who you least expect”. It would be TOO obvious to link Bandit with Saisuke, because of all the coincidences (him disapearing from the game just liek Bloody Mary did, suddenly having Bandit and Jane appear at the game, both sharing their signature traits one way or another), and with Jane being an obvious ringer for Bloody Mary (even if everyone INSISTS on denying it), that would be even more obvious. Thus, I wager on the author’s talent for surprise, and suggest an alternate interpretation: there’s a very specific reason why the party appears just as-is. Five people, with one of them being the world’s most sought hacker and another being a dead ringer for a creepy player… It would seem their meeting is destined: Danni may end up being the oddball of the party, or the Dude. However, perhaps that may not be the thing: Jake (again, a common name) is looking for someone else (perhaps Katt/leya’s mother?), and the Dude ends up being Saisuke because he’s playing against character and having someone draw up the comparison so that he ends up being completely incognito. The Dude may end up being the most competent member of the group.

It may also end up that Saisuke…ends up being BOTH the Bandit and the Dude. Or, perhaps, he’s almost like Katt/leya: the Dude may just end up being an AI just like D, and considering how NPCs work in the game, and the relationship between the twins…the bets go off. It can end up that the Dude IS Saisuke playing against character (a laid-off guy, almost unseeming, yet nobody reading the comic has ever seen him in action aside, and there’s also the fact that Saisuke’s motivations are unclear beyond “I must seek her”. Does he seek her to protect her or to kill her, or perhaps he’s not seeking for the legendary hacker at all, but perhaps the one who can solve the problem in the world, or in L.i.f.E.?

As for Jane being Katt/leya’s mother, that can be one heck of a curveball. Think of Darth Vader and how the revelation, at its time, was mind-blowing; now have Jane drop the creepy undertones and have her end up being creepy just as a protection measure so that everyone gets some distance, but you can expect her to open up to the party for specific reasons. Note that Sandra has already said she’s “taking care of her children”; something tells me that either Katt/leya has brethren, or she’s running an orphanage and using the funds from L.i.f.E. to keep it working. Being a mother, it allows a specific chance that the reason she works up keeping an impromptu orphanage is because of a past shame, which may not be a shame at all. Who knows; maybe on her mad rantings she says something about “her children killing her”, so she ends up psyching everyone.

That’s the beauty of a webcomic that’s in-development and that’s just entering its second phase: wild mass guessings are a bit more open, and based on the development, you may end up getting them right. Or not, but hey; that’s half the fun of reading a web-comic. And if you don’t get anyone…you’re (well, in this case, I’m) thinking a lot about the comic, and that’s excellent because it means the story is good enough for you (and me, and everyone) to spend time thinking about how it’ll progress.

I did say I liked your idea, didn’t I ? Because, just like you, I love the oddballs… But we have to admit, all the hints are pointing to another conclusion. There is, alas, none to feed ours. For now, anyway.

Bandit and the Dude being one and the same ? Why would he want to bicker with himself in a PRIVATE room with no witness ?

And just like you, I’d love to see if Jane is putting an act to be left alone or if she’s really crazy. And why did she decide to “kill” her former teammates ? what did they do to deserve her wrath ? Are the dolls the representation of her daughters ? What if Jane’s really crazy and her children are actually dolls resembling her dead kids ?

On the other matter, call her Kat, or Kleya, or Leya if this is what you fancy, but stop with Katt/leya, it’s plain ugly. And wrong: there’s only one “t” in Kat.

Myself, I don’t care if Kleya is her real name because it’s the one she has chosen as her new identity. For a lot of my friends, the username they have chosen in several forums and games is the same, and they’d rather be called IRL by this username. I’ll make a wild guess and respect the same rule with Kleya as long as it’s not proven otherwise. If it appears she despises this name, I’ll use Kat, or any announced prefered choice of hers.

I will eat my pants if Saisuke isn’t Kleya’s father/brother (who says it had to be her father in the picture?). Well, I’m not really THAT sure, but as I mentioned once before, her family member seems to be the CEO/President of TENka, and who better (and sneakier) to serve as a false public icon than the leader himself?

But then again, the lack of Saisuke while the bandit is around is, as Elizabeth said, a bit TOO convenient.

Ooooh, the plot. It thickens. =D

Mind = Blown

Yay for backstory reveal!

Also, go vote, everyone! 😀

I love the sketch for Kat’s new look! Does she get a tail to go with her kitty ears? 😀
And wow…we knew Danni was a dancer but it’s really cool to find out that she really was a famous ballerina.

Could someone kindly tell Paddy that if he was aiming for fat, he overshot and landed on pregnant.
Also no offense to him but, the line between his beard and his cheeks makes his look like he’s wearing a fake beard.
This is the first character who’s art has bugged me. I think it’s because the rest of him looks so good but for those details.

I think he purposely made a “joke” avatar so it was meant to look jokey.

Well then, telling him he looks pregnant could be just the thing then.

he has a pot belly. which I admit would look rather odd regardless. but if Paddy’s fashion sense moves him to look like he should be playing a banjo and eat craydads, then well we should be support his decision. 😀

Also remember that these are supposed to be digital avatars. Those don’t always look like the product of a world-class animation studio, especially if customizable. And since you draw your own, maybe that’s just how he draws?

Wow, wonder how old that makes Danni then.

Famous dancers tend to be on the young side – I’d probably say that with the ending two years ago, probably no more than mid-late twenties.

Some of you were waiting for the twist, where THERE it is.

Nice twist for Danni. 🙂 Kat’s concept art is good, but it looks like there’s a cape… NO CAPES! 😉

I would suggest kitty claws, but I’m sure Kleya would veto them. A tail would be fun, but if done properly would give away more of her emotional state than she would want. Digigrade feet would take too much effort to get used to.

Assuming she’s staying with pink, stripes could still work. White would work better than yellow as a contrast color on the stripes. Leg Warner’s are fairly classic….

I voted at ComicMix, but you’re up against some tough competition! I think it’s great that you’re in the starting list, and we’ll see how far we can go, as you said.

I love the backstory!
And I absolutally adore the fact that Danni and Kleya are going to get new avatars! I’ve actually been hoping that would happen. But then I told myself “no, it won’t, Kleya wants to draw her own avatar, she will have to learn to draw than…”
Actually, was D not able to create an avatar for Kat, if she wanted him to?
And I’ll go vote right now!

TAIL FOR KLEYA! *SQUEE~*

Ooh, I hope so.

Maybe D could serve as Kat’s tail. I’ve often theorized that cats’ tails are really a separate entity, only partially allied with the rest of the cat. It would explain so much, e.g. why cats often look surprised when they see their tails, why they chase them and even fight with them, why they have to pin them down to wash them, and why they wiggle so much when the rest of the cat is trying hard to keep still. 😉

good points there : )

while absurd, that was well reasoned enough to be highly entertaining. we must make a sound track to how epic you were when you wrote that. and set off fireworks while playing it. there should be awards for hitting comedic gold like that.

No need to be snarky about it…. It’s just a running joke around our house that I thought I’d share while we wait until Friday.

not being snarky, I just don’t always use emotes. I was being honest. and yes, I really am that over the top.

Ok, my apologies for taking it wrong, and may I suggest the short book by Robin Wood titled “The Theory of Cat Gravity”? I think you’d find it entertaining. 🙂

I’m loving Kat’s new avatar concept!

Possibilities:
1)Her parents named her after that Daniella Moretti and she happened to develop an interest in ballet.
2) The rumours of her demise were greatly exagerated.
3) It’s an A.I. who thinks it is the real thing.

4) So many people died and so you just assume she’s dead.

Doesn’t that go under possibility 2?

Difference between 2 and 4 is that 2 involves multiple people spreading/discussing the rumour. 4 only involves a single person assuming. At least, that is why I said 4. But they are pretty similar.

I am siding with 2 myself, with 4 being the reason why people would think to be true. remembmer, she is so severly crippled by what happened that she needs life support. so since she can’t dance or even be seen regularly anymore… 🙁

But she has implied that she can leave and interact with the real world. If she were crippled to that extent it would mean she’s either delusional or instead of leaving this virtual space she is transferred to another virtual space that she thinks is reality. The same would be true if she were an A.I. with copied memories; some sort of illusion of reality would need to be created for her.

who says when she interacts with the real world she doesn’t have tubes, wires and lots of parental assistance? she doesn’t have to be moving under her own power to get around in the real world.

Paddy could be lying about being a fan. Danni might not be paranoid enough to suspect that, but Kleya is…

Why would you lie about being the fan of a supposibly dead ballerina?

Flattery, to get on her good side.

But Paddy didn’t know it was actually her until now. I suppose that mentioning it could be an attempt to appeal to her tastes, but there’s no reason to assume that he is trying to manipulate Danni.

He already knew she was going by ‘Danni Moretti’; pretending he thought she was only paying homage would be part of the ruse.

I think he’s probably telling the truth, but I thought I should mention the possibility of deception, since it’s not that implausible.

Kleya needs a tail! Also, I LOVE the small cape. and everything.:)

Seriously. No capes.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317705/quotes?qt=qt0361985

lol! Actually, Kat v7 was supposed to have a cape. It’s in all my concept sketches. But when I got around to drawing her in the comic, I forgot the cape!! 🙁

The cape shall return! And maybe we’ll see how Kat handles getting sucked into an jet turbine or a vortex 😉

You should encourage your readers to improve NAV’s TV Tropes page. Most of the webcomics I follow get a significant number of visitors from TV Tropes; one of the ones you’ve placed ads on gets over 3000 daily. Its a good way to get new readers, and I personally think you deserve to get them!

Aw, thanks! And you’re right; TV Tropes is a great source for new readers. However, I was always under the impression the TV Tropes page had to be done spontaneously by fans with little pressure from the creator?

Also, I think the bulk of the traffic comes not from the subject’s TV Trope page (such as NAV’s) but from being listed in the webcomic section in the individual trope pages (such as Witch Hunt or Sore Loser).

Edit: Haha! I think you inspired them yourself. The NAV page has changed drastically since I last checked it. Hurray! Thanks everyone!

It’s OK to edit your own work’s page; what’s not OK is expecting to have more control than any other troper. (And authors should be careful about non-objectivity, although they’re probably no worse about that than fans.) So go ahead. There must be obvious important tropes missing.

I’m betting that Dani doesn’t have a say in her avatar anymore…nor should she have any cause to object with the final product.
//Torrenal

You made it through the comixmix seeding round. Congrats!

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 225