So handsome…

The red really brings out his giant, expressionless eyes

My thoughts exactly…

He is a handsome boi and they just told me "buddy ya got 5 minutes don't make me look bad!

If only getting work-presentable in the mornings was as easy as gluing a towel to your head

I was just wondering why those dont fall off!

Wait, you mean that isn't normal?

...Brief...?

It's just for a few days, not a fulltime job!

If my memory serves, this is a "punishment grandiose in name but harmless in the execution" for screaming at the top of his (big), lungs for having a beetle walk on him at like 6 in the morning giving a lot of people (humans) a lil scare because their screams are terrific and uncommon.

Don't ask me on what page this happen, but yes its temporary and not his real job.

Thank you for piecing this together.

Conscripted for duty

I still cannot believe how in just a single page I have such an immediate and intense connection to these characters. You're truly one of the best comic makers on the whole internet.

Haha, thanks! This is definitely one of those "connect with the players before the play begins" pages, so I'm glad it's accomplishing its purpose.

I actually love the Baxxids so much!

Lets see how Guard duty goes!

"Guardingly"

Moreover, how the giant bone worm monsters can be clearly differentiated as "awkward newbie" and "boisterous old-timer" merely through body language, despite having exactly zero points of facial articulation XD

Yesss glad that's pick-uppable

It's amazing how much of a point of commonality "having a spine*" is.

* (Or structural equivalent...?)

With lines and colors and things!!

More rockworm people :D

They are them!

awe so lovely.

He's not lovely he is a BIG BOY.

The situation is lovely, I said nothing about how big of a boy he is now. **nods sagely**

Hi, OOPsoids! I'm here to remind you yet again that there's a place called "Top Web Comics" https://www.topwebcomics.com/?home=3 that compiles comics from various places. There's a bunch of cool stuff there. They have monthly votes, so you can support OOPs there. You can vote once a day per device, so your PC, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.
I've noticed that you can sometimes even get in extra votes from different IP addresses, or if you're disconnected from your IP and open up again later.

OOPs closed out last month at around 58th place and around 912 votes. It's currently at 652 votes and 58th place. The highest it's reached is 36th place, and the top vote getters seem to end up with something close to 20,000 votes.

Vote early, vote often! Help OOPs get noticed!

Thanks as always for your public service announcement!

De Nada.

Love this. I feel like baxxid talk kinda like MOJO jojo from the power puff girls. Always talking in a hyper detailed manner

Must just be a big-brain thang

"Punitively-scheduled appearance"

Is being a guard a punishment? Or is it a punishment for this particular individual? I would be hesitant to push potentially dangerous duties on an unwilling person. Also, I want to give Kal a hug or the Braxxid equivalent, looks like they could use it

I think it's because the Baxxid are naturally peaceful despite how they look and hunt. Kal is just super nervous about this because (if I was guessing) the possibility of having to go against their nature.

It's the other baxxid that's referring to this as punitive, and also mentions in a later panel that this was apparently thrust upon Kal and not something he would have chosen willingly

Kalgkur is being punished, as part of an ongoing side-plot. (These aren't all of Kalgkur's appearances, just ones that mention/relate to the punishment.)

Page 41 - Kalgkur screamed because a bug jumped on him, waking everyone up and being a nusiance.
Page 49 - Viracroix states he will "issue a punishment that is grand in name, but toothless in design" to appease townsfolk.
Page 129 - Kalgkur mentions he has been assigned guard duty for two weeks.
Page 130 - Kalgkur complains it is "the work of a brute", Kuldra teases him about guarding "a certain human trinket-maker".
Page 166 - Kalgkur mentions that he will be "doing the Low Work" while talking to Mushroom McGee (not a canon name).

is what I get for not paying attention

Oho, super useful, this!

Way back in Oops #41 Kalghur woke up half the city by screaming when a skittercrab got on him. It caused enough of a ruckus that it was decided that he would serve a term as a city gaurd as "punishment" in Oops #49.

Sorry, didn't read the responses.

Is Stivv'kr not confident in Kalgkur's abilities?

It's like having some indoorsy 20-something show up at a police station to be an "honorary cop for a day"

Certainly not a terrifying thought or anything.

The way Stivv'kr talks, he seems almost like someone wanting to show him the work in hope to recruit him to a later date. Kalgkur is maybe not naturally inclined to the job or talented but this is something that can be teach and trained into him. Nobody is born for a job in particular, situation happen that lead you to one. Seeing the stigma of the job, I bet Stivy'kr got most of his guardians through special circumstances.

So Kalgkur's having a ride-along.

Not only is it very easy to tell what these alien critters are feeling, but you do a remarkably good job of humanizing them. They're quite endearing, the eager, nervous n00b and the veteran Guardmaster taking them under their wing. (Even if that last comment about "Brief" was a little sus?)

You even translate what I assume are pheromone signals.

"What measure is a non-human?" As far as the Baxxid go, they seem pretty valuable and productive members of this mixed society. They're bugs that you don't fight a war against, you fight a war with, and praise Ivenmoth for their presence.

It's "brief" because Kalgkur is only assigned to guard duty for two weeks, as punishment for screaming so loud he woke up "about a quarter of the city". ^_^

(These aren't all of Kalgkur's appearances, just ones that mention/relate to the punishment.)

Page 41 - Kalgkur screamed because a bug jumped on him, waking everyone up and being a nusiance.
Page 49 - Viracroix states he will "issue a punishment that is grand in name, but toothless in design" to appease townsfolk.
Page 129 - Kalgkur mentions he has been assigned guard duty for two weeks.
Page 130 - Kalgkur complains it is "the work of a brute", Kuldra teases him about guarding "a certain human trinket-maker".
Page 166 - Kalgkur mentions that he will be "doing the Low Work" while talking to Mushroom McGee (not a canon name).

So this is actually a long running sort of Brick Joke, Kalgkur and his "Low Duty." Great catch there!

He may find that he actually likes it after a couple of weeks under this particular boss, and Viracroix once more proves he's as far-sighted as Havelock Vetinari.

Kal's always been lurking around behind the scenes!

And on occasion, in front of them

I now have a mental image of Oops as a postwar style comedy TV show made centuries after the the events depicted in the comic with sets and goofy outtakes. The Yinglet actress playing Kass is actually a famous primadonna everyone else has to walk on eggshells around. And the actor playing Kal keeps blundering into sets, especially in scenes he isn't in.

I like this take.

He seems nice^^

(Also, “<despised life-errors>”.)

He's just callin' em like he sees 'em!

I mean, *anyone* would feel safe around a friendly Baxxid.

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a baxxid is a good guy with a baxxid

It's not enough to be a criminal scum. Some scum are <despised life-errors>, mistakes in the filing process that should probably go back into the queue to be reincarnated under factory conditions. Alas, this is a manual sorting process which sometimes requires the input of a baxxid redflag. And his stabby hands.

Baxxid got opinions about those sorts

Baxxid cops, the only kind I'd respect. They actually care!

Silma really likes her job, doesn't she?

I wonder what the white hand on her shoulder means. Maybe it's the mark of a baxxid's assistant? Their "hands" as it were?

I imagine that people in her profession are very well attenuated to reading Baxxid body language and anticipating their needs, so they can be a more effective pair of hands.

Kind of like a butler crossed with a helper monkey.

This, pretty much!

sub 'attenuated' for 'attuned'

autocorrect is a mf'er

If everyone you meet seems to be a <despised life-error>, then you might be the <despised life-error>

That last line would make me cringe, rather a lot... Marvelous shift of perspective, you make that look so easy. It's not.

No worries, it's only going to be brief because he's only been assigned two weeks of Guard Duty, as punishment for screaming so loud he woke up about a quarter of the city.

(These aren't all of Kalgkur's appearances, just ones that mention/relate to the punishment.)

Page 41 - Kalgkur screamed because a bug jumped on him, waking everyone up and being a nusiance.
Page 49 - Viracroix states he will "issue a punishment that is grand in name, but toothless in design" to appease townsfolk.
Page 129 - Kalgkur mentions he has been assigned guard duty for two weeks.
Page 130 - Kalgkur complains it is "the work of a brute", Kuldra teases him about guarding "a certain human trinket-maker".
Page 166 - Kalgkur mentions that he will be "doing the Low Work" while talking to Mushroom McGee (not a canon name).

Thank you for that assiduous and comprehensive response! Now I've got to see if he was the one shouting in the 'cemetery.'

He was the one talking to the Baxxid in the Sun Thirst area, if that's what you mean. Pages 163-167. That's the closest I remember to a "cemetary". ^_^;;

You're on it. This fellow would seem to be the Don Knotts of Baxxidom.

I got only the best perspectives! Bought fresh daily from locally-sourced markets

Must be the Baxxid version of Patrick Warburton.
"Ah, don't you worry, buddy. Stick by me and everything is roses. Whaddaya' say? I'll buy you a beer."

This. I love this.

He's got that kinda energy, very much!

I think I like Shtivv'kr already

He is a jolly individual! No matter how much blood is on his claws at a given moment

... I wonder how you Baxxid-ify "Well hey there little buddy!"

Shtivvkr is just all kinds of awesome.

I dunno, there's probably *some* kinds of awesome that he isn't

Liking this.

nnoooooOOOOOOOO

"Despised life-errors" indeed! Is that a swear word or something else hard to translate? XD

The wordification of a pretty loaded sorta concept of theirs!

butbutbut I LIKE it here...

NOT FOR LONG YA WON'T

Oh so there are things out there that can wound a Baxxid. Scary.

There was a war with the Baxxid in the past so so they can be killed by regualr humans but likewise no armour is gonna save a human from their powerful claws so it must have been pretty brutal.

One human against one baxxid I would bet on the baxxid. All humans against all baxxid would be an extinction level event for the baxxid. Just as a rhino would kill a human easily but they are an endangered species. And the baxxid know this…that is why they punished that warmonger so severely.

Weren't the baxxid actually running away/driven out from something else before and that is why they were attacking Val Salia?

(Can't remember the number of page of the comic it was mentioned on. )

I am getting multiple levels of shade being expressed here.

"Hierarchically-subordinate greetings" - I should use this on my boss tomorrow and see what weirded out expression she makes.

Now that is one dapper baxxid

Ahhh I love these cragly fellas! I want to see more of their culture and alien traditions!

You know.. if you focus on the first pair of eye....orbs? They look very derpy and cute actually

Val lives in central USA. I noticed he usually posts at night or wee hours in this area.

Should go well.

my, such eloquence!

They are Cordyceps! Also, you got this Kal. <^\/^>

that last image somehow screams to me: "yis, i finally has fren, les go!".

These guys are the best. I would befriend so many of them. ;w;

Be the best guardy boi you can be!

I would love to see kalgkur end up in the circle of kassen people like some event that happen to him while kalgkur is on protection duty to meet kass, i love baxxid they are pretty cool

*looks at the battle scars and missing horns on Shtivv'kr*

"Uhhh..." *gets up* "Thank you for your service."

*leaves, then bolts, locks, barricades, braces, and chains the door, then slides the viewport shut*

Turns out he's actually just devastatingly clumsy

I ship it

Think it's so awesome that this comic has creatures like this, that are thinking, feeling, and communicative. While so many other medias would have them as mindless swarms of destruction.

That's something I've wanted to see more of in stories! And hey, ya gotta be the change you want to see in the world, right?

I disagree; I think you should be the very thing you swore to destroy and complete your villain arc.

despised life-errors.

Classy.

Had a similar orientation being hired in retail during Black Friday.

God save you.

I am donating the strips to the Memory of Mankind time capsule in Austria.

Haha, thanks!

FOR ALL MANKIND

And our 50,000 greats grandchildren may thank you.

SEMPAI ARC INCOMMING!!!

Sempai is a loaded word I tell ya

Baxxids: Val Salia's mightiest protectors

Yeah, I don't really have anything else to add : /

"despised life-errors"
Baxxids go hard against criminals.