Shadow086

What's with the way these vampires treat their kids? I'm starting to think Greg's barony used to be a refuge for the former Baron and all the like-minded creeps and freaks he could find. Greg's going to have his hands full cleaning up this mess. His ascension to kingship can't come soon enough. I'm guessing Greg can tell the twins apart because one of them is a noble, or they're a different rank so he can tell from their eyes.

While that's true, I think that would go against Greg's sense of justice and he'd be unhappy with either outcome. He needs to learn to talk more like a politician and say vague things like "I'll be consulting my Council and taking appropriate measures to ensure this doesn't happen again" instead of whatever it is he's doing. This is even more important now that there's a very strong possibility that he's the absolute ruler of all vampire. If he keeps making these laws and having to walk them back, it's going to undermine his authority. The way I see it, his job is to set policy directions and let his more knowledgeable advisors figure out the details of those policies that fall into their purview. Greg means well, but he's going about it all wrong.

Great chapter, not surprised to hear the previous Baron was doing fraud on top of everything else. My guess is the Viscounts and Counts are also doing it and they don't want this new Baron who has the Prince's ear to blow the cover on their whole scheme. One thing that's bothering me is that Greg needs to stop making these half-baked decrees. I get where he's coming from and wanting to do the right thing, but he needs to realise that his word have the force of law now and he needs to consult with his council before making these vague declarations that have unintended consequences. I guess he won't learn until his own laws force him to hand out an unjust punishment.

It seems obvious to me that Greg is no mere Baron. He can do things that most other nobles can't, Jake's silver eyes, and a Count he just met suddenly starts addressing him with honorifics that suggest he thinks Greg outranks him (thanks Wikipedia!). I think there's a chance Greg could be the long-lost King, and George decided to make the surprise announcement.

I always get this visceral anger and need to re-litigate Growing Up Charlie every time it gets brought up, but Rick let her drive that wedge. He saw her mask slip off more than once and did nothing when he should've kicked her to the curb. My grossly oversimplified view is that everything is Rick's fault in some capacity and he deserved what he got. As far as Justin goes, I would say there were signs since chapter 1, but those signs didn't point to anything nefarious until a bit later. That's what it felt like to me, anyway.

I think Diego's been introduced already, I'm waiting to see if he's going to be just a co-worker, or maybe some mentor-type role. I barely even saw Brenda as a villain, I was too busy screaming at Rick every time she showed up. I did fall for Justin's act at first and gave him the benefit of the doubt until it became untenable, and I feel stupid for doing that, but c'est la vie. I would have been curious to see Charlie's reaction if he thought Caleb was in any kind of 'Justin Danger'.

Oh, do I have my opinions on that! I honestly only care about Ry and Charlie, the rest of them can go to hell after what happened.

Part of what really upset me with Growing Up Charlie in particular is that Team Ry could ever catch a break in that story, it was just one thing after another until I almost dropped it because it felt so hopeless.

It's really hard not to be Team Ry, they all did him dirty and I'll never forgive them for it. I'm really interested in how Diego fits into that timeline. In Caleb's situation I'm not really seeing the parallel with Charlie's situation, I mean, Calvin's a selfish prick, but Justin was on a whole other level.

I'm really looking forward to Ry and Billy's conversation about that, there's so much to unpack there (to keep things simple and spoiler free, but I will never not be Team Ry on this). Go Caleb! Definitely the better of the two Cals there. He's resourceful for sure. I can't even get upset with him because I keep thinking, what if it wasn't Calvin, but some random kidnapper who would really try to kill him? If I look at it that way it starts to sound like a smart decision rather than an extreme reaction to being in a car with a relative you don't like (and he's more of a stranger to Caleb to begin with). This should be the immediate end to any custody battle, no ifs or buts about it. The judge would have to be an idiot to give Calvin any visitation rights after this, and Calvin would have to be an absolute moron to keep trying to get either of the boys. I mean, he dropped Bryan for throwing a glass at him, which is mild compared to what Caleb did. This 11 year old (allegedly) tried to kill you with his shoelaces, why would you want him to live in your house full of knives and blunt objects he can get his hands on while you're asleep? Come on... I also love how Billy knew Calvin would do this and had everything in place to take care of it (I'd almost say he gave Calvin enough rope to hang himself, but that might be a poor choice of words 😆)

I've always had a soft spot for Scotty Lynch and his infectious energy. He's cute and earnest and I love his go-getter attitude, he'd be a lot of fun to be around. So I guess that would be my pick. But it could be any of his characters, really. One of the things I really loved about Comsie's writing is that all his characters had that 'something real' that made them relatable. It's hard to pick just one because I've had that "I wish he was real" moment about ALL of them, whether it's wanting to give Zack or Billy Chase or Drew from 'On the Outside' a hug and let him know it's going to be okay, to just wishing I had a friend like Sam or Richie, to wanting to have a hot night with Deme and Jamie Cross (or punch AJ in the face, that would be satisfying ). But the character I really wish was real, is his self-insert 'Comicality' vampire character in GFD, because that would mean Comsie would still be with us.

The fact that none of what Evans did was illegal makes you wonder how depraved the top of vampire society actually is. I think George knows what's going on and is being rather clever here. My read on it is he agrees with Greg on this issue but can't do anything about it because he's too high rank to break 'tradition', so he's using Greg as a proxy to push much needed reform, while giving himself plausible deniability by not answering their calls. More than likely if he knew what Greg was planning he would've had to stop him from going through with it. The only weird thing about this for me is when Greg declared himself the new Baron Pittsburgh. I must have missed/forgot the part where he can just claim a Barony after killing the previous Baron.

Yes and yes. I know the topic makes it sting more than any other would, but in a way, it's probably the closest we'll ever get to knowing his thoughts and feelings on what he probably knew was coming. So to me it's something that should be posted, but I'll understand if you all decide otherwise.

I get that feeling. I've only known him for the last 7, almost 8, years, but it felt like I've known him all my life. I think it's normal to have regrets. We always think we have more time tomorrow or the next day or the next week, next year. And it's only when tomorrow doesn't come for some of us that we realise 'later' is too late.

You know I was actually scared the first time I emailed him? I was so worried that I was just taking up his valuable time and he was too busy to care about yet another reader. I was so shocked when he emailed back and sounded genuinely happy to hear from me. I kept emailing him a few more times, the usual "Hey, I loved the latest chapter of GFD!" and he'd always reply (fashionably late, but that's just the Comsie way). Then he started emailing me first and I was like "What's going on here???" and he'd just send me links to Youtube videos and random things like that, and before I realised it he'd started calling me his friend and even years later I still don't know how that happened. I never got to know him as well as you did, but there were a few occasions where I felt he let me see behind the mask and help however I could. That meant so much more to me than being friends with THE Comicality of moderate internet fame.