Green babies? Yes, Shrek & Fiona now have three, apparently, plus Donkey's weird, adorable flying mule-dragons.
Therefore, if Benny does have kids, they will be unique and full of awesomeness.

Also, for all we know about the Bloodrage culture, Cale could well be considered Benny's conquest, and something that earns her honor.

If the next comic doesn't have richard catching cale and benny i will cut my hand off and replace it with a fork

I think Cale deserves to have one thing not be ruined by Richard for once.

well, go right ahead...

today´s page confirms my suspicions that the matter will not be adressed again (anytime soon).

Are you joking? This page shows a subtle touch of romance to me - Benny's reaction to Richard berating Cale or being late all the time.

well yeah... but it is subtle as in "blink and you´ll miss it". honestly, would you have thought about it twice if we hadn´t had the "tree episode"?

Yeah, maybe Sohmer's worried about offending the romance haters so he won't feature it as a real plot point...yet.

that´s what i thought. a compromise of sorts. and, as usual, a compromise leaves everyone unsatisfied...

No! Never compromise! Not even in the face of a fandom-backlash!

Personally I think it was more of a lets do something so out there that they go wtf?
And of course have to keep reading
It's more shock value me thinks
But totally awesome at the same time

Perhaps it is low-key out of pure necessity? It really isn't like either of their characters, or even with the setting of what is going on in their lives at the time to be outwardly affectionate (as well as being respectful of everyone around them not wanting to see PDA).

Add to that they're surrounded by the dead currently lying at their feet.

I do agree (or disagree, with some, I guess) that Krunch won't care much because he had respect and loyalty to Cale long before Benny even did. Her Uncle has also pledged loyalty to him and as Cale has proven himself quite the leader perhaps it would be more of a feeling that Cale is a good enough man to deserve Benny?

Those are just my personal thoughts, though.

Also, I don't know exactly why Mr. Sohmer and Mr. Desouza do whatever they do, but I guess I personally feel like none of the things they've added in have been for shock value at all; rather I feel they have been more about character development, and actually letting the characters do what they would do realistically rather than wanting to keep things one way or the other because that is what is asked for by the readers.

Only my opinions (which aren't worth a lot, I know).

^ This
I think the relationship upgrade was necessary to keep Benny relevant, otherwise now that the Sword of Truth plot has more or less petered out the one thing that keeps her from devolving to the team medic is the fact that she's now involved with Cale and as such can do some emotional heavy lifting and provide for a chance for some much needed god-damned Cale backstory to seep out. Seriously an insane amnesiac Warlock has more backstory than Cale does!

You have a point there about Benny.

Even if she was raised by the Bloodrage and has been shown to be able to take care of herself, especially in her first appearance, she has more recently taken on a less active role in the battle situations. In fact, even in one of her more important moment, the fight with Rojave, we saw that she wasn't strong enough to do it on her own.

With a war coming, just being the medic wasn't going to be enough. Her relevance might have waned as she just became someone they needed to protect in those situations, downgrading her to DID, damsel in distress, status. Benny doesn't deserve that.

Granted, these recent events still allow for that to happen. Indeed, it almost seems like it would scream for the cliche. However, under these new circumstances there is a deeper call and emotion under it.

Originally I think perhaps Sohmer intended Benny to be the Group's Healer/Bruiser but with Krunch's introduction her role as the physically strong one was dropped. I mean hell, Richard the ten-pound Warlock can do more than she can in hand to hand.
Hopefully somewhere down the line Cale gets hurt in battle and we get to see Benny proving her Bloodrage status with a juicy rampage through a whole damn palanx of Legaran soldiers.

Given that Krunch was introduced very soon after Benny, I doubt he detracted much from her intended role. If anything, Pella was the final straw in Benny not being much of a physical threat to her enemies.

Yeah, Pella definetly took Benny's tough "i'm good at killing things role"

I don't know... A cleric/priest pushed too far can be a very dangerous foe indeed. Healing powers/spells can be perverted and/or reversed if the healer is angry enough not to care that it hurt people instead of healing (and thankfully you usually have to push a healer very far before that happens).
Basically, everything a cleric can cure, they can also cause. Think about that for a moment and/or look up a book on diseases and viruses...

Which means that Benny probably is capable of giving bleeding ulcers to a troop of charging soldiers, or turn their bones so brittle they snap from walking, or clogging up the arteries and giving them a heart attack, or heck, just messing with their stomachs enough to give them an emergency case of puking their guts out or the runs.

I would really really recommend that you don't piss her off.

That's true but remember when Rojave broke her shield, that showed that she doesn't have too much power,right?

I always thought that the shields were only as strong as her will and her fear of death made the shields waver. Or maybe Rojave was strong enough to break them, I mean he was still alive long enough for Richard Overkill to take effect.

Either her staff focus/amplifies her powers (she doesn't have it as he beats down her shield), or like Jonath said, she was affected by emotion.
I mean, she had no problem fending off several arrows before that, and an arrow has more kinetic energy behind it than a sword swing in addition to concentrating that power into a smaller point.
Also, she can literally bring people back from the dead so I'd say 'lack of power' isn't her issue. How she uses it may be though.

Suntiger, your forgetting that kinetic energy is a measure of mass x velocity. The arrow delivers more kinetic energy to a single point allowing for greater penetration, however a trained swordsmen swinging his weapon could do so at a speed of upwards of fifty to seventy five miles per hour. By comparison a medieval arrow could travel upwards of one hundred miles per hour. (modern bows can produce a speed of twice that or more)

If your talking total kinetic energy impacted to an object the sword has ALOT more.

An arrow certainly has better penetration but if it doesn't have enough force to completely pass through the object it doesn't do much good. One of the main purposes of just a plain medieval shield, Was to deflect missile weapons. The arrow hits at say a 45 degree angle as opposed to dead on, losing much of its hitting power. It took a very high powered missile weapon to penetrate a shield and still strike the target, this was due to the entire shaft would have to pass through the object giving much more time for resistance.

In the case of Benny's shield its your basic magical barrier and functions on the simple premise of it blocks any and all incoming objects until destroyed. Those barriers are never penetrated in fiction they are simply broken by the force of the attack. She can block arrows forever because they don't have the power necessary to destroy an object, a sword that inflicts a much larger wound onto a target however does.

You're completely right about arrows loosing much of their impact when hitting at an oblique angle. I forgot to take that into account. [insert blushing smiley of embarrassment]
There's also the difference between a material shield and a magical one.

I disagree that she can block arrows forever though. They would have to hit at a 90 degree angle (or close to), but if they do, they'd shatter/break and transfer the kinetic energy to the shield, thus weakening it.
A glancing blow with a sword would also have less effect, but I agree that a sword is a better weapon to break down a shield than an arrow is (unless you can fire 20 or 30+ arrows at once). And a mace or hammer would likely be better than a sword.

Anyway, I think Benny's shield fail more due to her emotional state than lack of power. She is a powerful healer, so a reverse healing against an opponent might be more effective than shielding herself. Provided she have the time to cast it. A shield is often very quick to cast as I understand. And she might be unable to shield and "attack" at the same time.

Heh, thread derailment.
Oh well, she do have the others as backup. And then she can patch them up after they have neutralized the threat, so it's a mutually beneficent partnership.
And now Cale gets a bonus in addition to that.

Magical wards are different from most shields, and barely any 2 are the same
Benny uses a power-word shield, which has a damage quo
some spells, like those of a mage, reduce % dealt to self, or exchange one depletion for another
While others simply create a barrier, like a shaman, or richard working through cale

Yeah...I don't think her spells abide by your rules....

At least i research before posts
And BTW, i dont sniff the thinner, i drink it

What are you talking about, if you had researched anything you would have known WoW and all its rules and lore mean nothing in the context of LFG. Benny's never outright said what type of spell her shields are. Besides this topics been derailed...again. It's not about Benny's shield, its about her relationship with Cale.

well she has declared herself to be a Novice priestess, meaning she had devoted herself to the light in the art of helping and healing (dual talents, Discipline and holy) as seen in the first storming of mechastone (using mental attacks that aoe) and also healing when needed (richard many times over) PW shield is a holy move, while several of her other moves use discipline, or holy wrath styles

BTW her top is held up by:
1. The clasping action (notice there never any creases like cloth, its spring loaded or like a hair band snapper)
b. the area of her midriff
III. something else

Ugh. Its not WoW and this isn't a topic about Benny's shield or her top.

*CRACKS WHIP*

Back to topic.

Now, I've been writing a bit of fiction concerning these two, hopefully I'll have it up at the end of the week. It feels so good to have one of my ships actually sail.

I think the relationship was very much needed because it gives Benny more of a role to play then just that hot green chick who heals.

Plus, the group has been traveling for gods know how long....fighting of many a bad guy, going through terrible drama of possible death of team members, family or allies....it's very stressful....and through stress bonds are formed to those who comfort and bring hope....as she kind of stated on page 270...she started to delevope a bit of a fondness for cale when he told her her father wasn't dead and helped save her uncle.

I agree with those who said this relationship is better off in the background. My reasoning is a bit different though.
I'm actually a fan of BennyXCale, but I think subtler relationships are far more interesting to read.
As for giving Benny a new role to play, anyone else think she's bring set up ultimately for the role of queen?

Maybe Queen... Or perhaps instead King Cale'anon Vatay I's Royal Doctor with benefits.

Think Benny has become the Staff Chick, Girlfriend healer.

She was always the Staff Chick from the beginning. Cale's switched between bow and twin swords many times but the staff has rarely ever left Benny's side.

She hasn't been the girlfriend healer before, though.

As far as we know, nothing says they haven't been shagging off screen and it was never mentioned till now.

yeah, but benny is missing the 'pacifist' part HARD.

Infact, benny isnt anything if not vengful

but as far as we know, cale COULD have been kissed by her, and accidentally hurt her getting free of the tree.
and you thought i was gone
YAY FOR MORE EGGS!!! ROUND 2!!!

Its possible. But if that is true, they should have kept it that way, well, at least now it seems they are.

Ready! *throws eggs*

/snerks.






_{(>_> just teasing ya, you made it too easy )}

Why even have a relationship if you can't use it as subject matter? Contrary to your belief the relationship has far more potential than just mere fodder for Richard non-sequitirs. Until now there have been only two dimensions to the comic (really there are still only two dimensions) Richard jokes and generic fantasy stuff. Romance introduces a much needed third dimension.

It may have potential to be other things. But Richard joke fuel is its only VALUABLE use. I would also hardly call it two dimensional. There is enough Character Development (even from Richard at brief period) and the story is interesting enough for it to be considered more than 2 dimensions. Otherwise you wouldn't be reading it would you?

Not true. I read/watch lots of things that have no real literary merit or real entertainment value. Now LFG is entertaining but mostly because I want to see where the story is going and not necessarily the quality of the writing which ranges from excellent to terrible at any given time.
And I explained what I meant by 2 dimensions. Really that's all there was. Either you read a Richard joke or you saw some generic fantasy thing happening (blah blah blah prophecy blah blah blah restore the honor of my people blah blah blah we must bring down the evil Empire describes the plot up till now)
And then something I genuinely wanted to see (Benny/Cale) happened and now my interest (which I can assure you was waning after seeing it take 2 whole damn months for Richard to cause a Volcano to erupt. I mean WTF it didn't even explode!) has returned.

Well. Isn't the relationship between a healer chick and the prophesied ruler of the new world a cilche in itself?

If it is its a cliche I can get behind.

Well, to each his own.

One day you and I will agree on something. And then the Apocalypse happens.

People will welcome the fire and brimstone that comes then, seeing as to how hell will have frozen over.

i fear the day. (Even though it may never come )

THAT DAY IS MAH BIRTHDAY,
also, i wish that they would not use such indirect material, as to cause rumors around these fourms.