Comic for Friday, Jun 1, 2018

Commentary

Posted June 1, 2018 at 1:00 am
Kevin was extra awake after suddenly being activated, but it's for the best that he mostly sleeps. I like Kevin, but I imagine too much of him would turn him into Scrappy Doo.

Like, literally. And then Hanna Barbara would be after me.

Of Arthur and your local artifact market

It makes sense that something created by Arthur that did not work, but did give off some magic vibes, would wind up in that exact warehouse. Short of simply destroying Keven (GASP!), that's exactly where a failed experiment by someone like Arthur, located where he's been in the states, would go.

A question was asked of me, I believe in the interest of making the world feel bigger and more inclusive, as to why Kevin couldn't have been made by someone in Europe (or I suppose other countries, but I recall Europe being specified).

Beyond various story reasons why Kevin's creator sort of needs to be Arthur (Arthur's say-so is necessary for Ashley to keep Kevin, and he would NOT be asking Ashley to hang on to Kevin if he had no personal attachment to Kevin (yay nepotism)), there are reasons why it makes sense for Kevin to be a local creation.

It's one thing for much older artifacts to be from other continents. As people immigrated to America, so could any number of artifacts, and those artifacts could have originally been from all sorts of places. Facilities like the PTT-yadda-yadda have specific needs, and several could have been picked specifically for it from anywhere in the country when it was first built.

The more recent an artifact, however, the stranger it would be to find it in the PTT-whatevs without it being somewhat local.

For one thing, Keven being from across the pond would require a recently created artifact from another country somehow winding up in a warehouse in the Midwestern United States.

For another, the PTQ-place is for artifacts that are deemed non-functional, useless, or simply more useful as bait than anything else. So in addition to someone from the USA getting their hands on an artifact while in another country, it would have to an artifact that's one or more of those things, and yet still managed to get an American agent's attention somehow.

"I have found something innocuous, and keeping it would be considered theft. I MUST TAKE IT."

There is the option of someone bringing it with them to the states, but that remains a bit odd, because now we have someone bringing non-functional or relatively useless magic items with them across an ocean, and those items nonetheless catching the attention of someone who would confiscate them.

For that and other reasons, Kevin is locally created. Unlike various vegetables, he does not take pride in this, for he doesn't know why he should.

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