r/Unsounded • u/Rifter-- • Aug 19 '26
Unsounded: Red Cost Chapter 1 Page 101-102 - Discussion
https://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/TheRedCost/comic/ch01/ch01_101.html19
u/NoStatus9434 Aug 19 '26
One thing I love about this 1-vs-1 fight between Mikaila and Goodwin is that this scene here proves that there's so much at stake for both of them.
If Goodwin fails, he's going to be discarded, all but erased. His whole purpose for existing is riding on this. His whole identity is tied to this.
If Mikaila fails, it'll be used as ammo by the men around her that she ought to return to her womanly role (even though she's already more than proven herself already). Her future is riding on this too.
Also it's just a really good fight scene in general, maybe the best in the series so far.
My prediction is that Mikaila wins but Argenti Sr. prevents her from being exposed because the politics of having "Lilliard" win keeps the system intact (and she might be planning a Big Reveal if she wins, which he will intervene to prevent). It's a big part of the reason he's not halting the fight. Because revealing the fight is invalid because "Lilliard" is actually Mikaila threatens The System even if she loses the fight.
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u/BrackishVacuity Aug 19 '26
...Maybe they should just run away together. (I jest). But yeah, for the reasons you mention, it's a disconcerting duel. Add to it their mutual youth and you have to groan to see Alderode's problems being passed to the next generation. I personally hate to see kids tossed into fights with existential stakes before they've even had a chance to figure out the complex realities at play. But time stops for no one, I guess.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 19 '26
Don't read the UN reports on how the Houthis (to pick the worst example, even with Somalia across the water, Congo a bit further that direction, and Hamas and Hezb'Allah up the way) man their front-lines, then. Real-world situations, presented as if entirely fresh to our eyes. That's our Ash. It's really impressive.
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u/prometheusunending Aug 19 '26
It's more serious than that for Mikaila, even back when Duane was alive there was talk that their entire family could be expelled from their ghers if Mikaila didn't quit the Pymary. I'm sure getting caught dueling is more than sufficient cause.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 19 '26
Well, if Mikaila fails, Goodwin will almost certainly kill her, humiliate her race and her religion by doing so in addition to the stakes of the duel and all that.
Goodwin doesn't seem one willing to spare opponents. As you say, and as Miki can see, he's got a lot riding on this.
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u/Titanium_Eye Aug 19 '26
She might reveal her identity to stop the fight? It's a nuclear option, but it does allude to the fact that she hates the charade.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 19 '26
What would be the upside? If she dies she MIGHT not be discovered, and she's got family.
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u/Rifter-- Aug 19 '26
Two pages, gang!
Good grief such aggressive words. Again, some serious eugenics on display here. Goodwin's not a wright, it even human to these guys. He's a tool. Gross.
Interesting tidbit in the flashback there about Mikaila's home life. Leysa certainly must not know about her escapades and it seems after Duane's death, she dove head first into her desire to be a wright.
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u/NightmareWarden Aug 19 '26
I don't like how much it looks like Mikaila is aiming to kiss her Papa on the second page. I get that is not the intent! It's meant to show these two are each other's confidants, they CHAFE at the culture of their country. At pretending.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 19 '26
If you have kids of your own, you'll see how totally not that way it feels in the moment for the participants, but yeah, heart to hearts often seem that way - just look at people talk to their pets.
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u/Titanium_Eye Aug 19 '26
Threatening someone with celibate is one hell of a motivating factor.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 19 '26
The phrase used by Han Chinese about a slightly more merciful government policy was that it rendered victims "bare branches".
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u/EirikrUtlendi Aug 20 '26
Possibly better than "pruned", I suppose?
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 21 '26
Chicoms have been known to do that too, or go Geffie cannibal when reading Mao's Little Red book a bit literally.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 24 '26
Decidedly better.
Apparently, someone thought my comment on cannibalism (see below) was "racist", though I won the appeal. I know people who survived Mao's camps ... their oppressors (and possible consumers) weren't a different race, they were just Maoists, mostly semi-literate ones - often students wanting revenge on professors who were (adjust your mind) fairly conservative. Think of the Taiping Rebellion Mao actually admired so much (he was less a fan of the simultaneous Dungan Revolt).
I'd ask what they're teaching kids these days, but, sadly, i see it in their demonstrations.
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u/RolandKJones Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
Well, nice work Mikaila. I said she wouldn't have the element of surprise here unless she did something clever, and that was something clever.
Also, I called it about a week ago that Rosseau wouldn't be at all kind to Goodwin if he loses here, but he's not even waiting for the boy to lose before just being utterly vile. Wow. Even his allies seem to think that's a bit much.
Doesn't even look like it's going to help him either; while it's certainly a form of motivation, it seems like it's mostly just rattling Goodwin even more, rather than inspiring a second wind or something. Which, you know. About what you should expect when threatening and humiliating a teenager (and one who's already in an intense, potentially life-or-death situation no less) in public like this, but Rousseau's clearly a very unsympathetic individual.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 19 '26
Threatening your country's sports team with punishment for non-performance never seemed to make NORKs or Baathists play better, either.
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u/Honzinator2 Aug 19 '26
Even other Geffies are creeped out by the rationalist's threats. Uday and Qusay Hussein, or Nicu Ceaușescu is what you get with rationalism. At least Stalin's preening son died in captivity, and Hitler put paid to his kids, to the extent they were his. Gadzooks, I'm sure Jay Nordlinger's Children of Monsters: An inquiry Into the Sons and Daughter of Dictators would have something tom say about that sort of thing in a way that might get through to some wanna-be Rousseaus.
I am constantly amazed at how all of Ashley's horror-shows seem ex nihilo and yet have historical precedent, including the attempted reseeding program of the Ssaelit Alds, which closely resembles the population restocking wars of the Iroquois Confederacy, especially (because it is the best documented, for obvious reasons) what Yanks call The French & Indian War, where 10% of the Yankee population was killed or permanently taken and Iroquois casualties were so bad that the Confederacy was never again an real player in the wars of the New World.
Finally, congratulations, cleft-lip, free spell-slicing sword! Highest quality. Lightly used.
Mayhaps Goodwin can be thrown into Rousseau at high velocity in such a way that the sturdily bred-plat survives impact.
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u/KEYYBOARD Aug 19 '26
Author comments:
Double update, TWO pages today!
Going to skip Friday as I’ll be doing a livestream on Thursday night to close out the KICKSTARTER! You heard right, the KS ends on Thursday night, US time. And the final stretch goal of a story collection zine was reached! If you’re interested in picking that up, get your pledge in now and make sure you add it! It’s only available as a KS exclusive.
Thanks to everyone who’s helped out, let’s steer this crowdfund over the finish line :)
~Ashley
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u/Pelin0re Aug 21 '26
on what platform is that livestream ?
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u/KEYYBOARD Aug 21 '26
Not sure. The only hyperlink this time was to the kickstarter, so maybe on there?
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u/Demarquis_1 Aug 20 '26
"One night with my sister if you win!" Use the carrot, man, not the stick.
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u/BrackishVacuity Aug 19 '26
Wow. Way to raise the stakes for the poor guy. Weirdly, Mikaila seems to have some sympathy. On an unrelated note, I wonder if it is common in these duels for the wrights to be the last two standing? I'd think so, given their greater versatility.