So I spoke with @fanartcity (not really), about where the series will go after that gut-wrenching comic we were last left with, and here is an OFFICIAL (UNOFFICIAL) panel from the next comic! :D
See, Super M crawls out of the Vault and is discovered by Anthony and Alaelys, who conveniently happen to be in town to trade some goods! Alaelys patches up Super M, and a day later they wake back up and tell Anthony and Alaelys what happened.
Anthony offers to escort Super M back to their friends, free of charge. Actually, I guess the charge (PUNishment) ended up being having to listen to Anthony’s crappy jokes.
“But Anthony, how did Asshat Jones get there?!?”
Well, that’s an excellent question! Remember the perk “Mysterious Stranger”? Yeah… Anthony has the reverse version of that, to where his poor luck makes a random person appear out of nowhere, to do him harm. Thus, why Alaelys doesn’t seem too phased by the current turn of events…
But is it truly bad luck, or cosmic justice for being “Antilla The Pun”?
THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW!
But seriously, this was so much fun to create, and I’ll probably never get tired of doing these “Draw The Squad” memes! I can’t draw to save my life, but having references to work with makes things 1,000,000x easier! Also, TWO VERSIONS! One in color, and one in black and white, to stick with the usual comic style.
The parallel of Lucy shooting all the enemies in the ass at the beginning of the series and the Ghoul shooting Hank in the ass when he saves Lucy.
Lucy's little step forward when she sees the Ghoul.
Coop's family not being in the cryopods.
Norm living.
Maximus's character development. I've seen other people mention how his arc is the best one this season, and I agree.
The commencement of the experiment in vaults 32-33.
Dax spotted! In the end credits scene.
The use of the congresswoman's head to be the personality for the drones.
Some things I didn't like, but aren't /bad/:
Hank mentioned that the drones with the minichip will be undetectable, but without the head giving them personalities, aren't they all going to act like robots now? Won't they be obvious?
Bud's Buds. I didn't like them, and they were no good for information or character progression. All they might have done for the story is introduce Claudia, which they could have done some other way. Them all dying to roaches was a useless ending to a useless plot device.
The postcard in Barb's cryopod. It necessitates that Barb was there at some point and left the card without anyone noticing, after the point the second season ended. I would've preferred a more subtle clue. But this season doesn't do subtlety well.
Lucy's entire character. I was waiting for her to have some sort of epiphany, or telegraph to the audience the direction for her character, but she is all over the place.
I would've liked if she had more dialogue with the congresswoman, and maybe come to the conclusion that killing is sometimes the best option. And then have that conclusion challenged by Hank later when he's trying to get her to spare him.
Some of the moments in Max's battle with the deathclaws didn't seem earned. Why did the weapons suddenly come on and he seemed surprised (is this a game thing)? Thaddeus helping was cool, but then he didn't help again, making it kinda pointless. There were easy fixes for this: maybe the barrel gets too hot for his toes, or his toes fall off or something. Him struggling with a bullet for ten minutes seemed like a plot-convenience.
Speaking of convenience, the NCR. It's not a bad idea to have them there (especially with the season 3 set-up), but the execution was a bit underwhelming.
All of Lucy and Hank's conversations could have hit harder.
Basically, throughout most of the episode I found myself not caring, but I think I could have cared if the writing were a bit stronger.
My headcanons for season 3 (or beyond):
With Max and Lucy, I'd rather them either be together romantically and endgame, or only friends (no messy friends with benefits or on-and-off stuff). I hope they get time to re-learn each other: Max is more morally stable and hopeful, Lucy is now morally grey and defeated. I want Max to be disappointed in Lucy, and then help her find herself.
The Ghoul's arc for next season will be re-establishing the importance of connection. They hinted at it this season with the supermutant, and the Ghoul is primed for it after his "I'm a human" speech and his time with Lucy.
I hope he misses her, and that opens him up to being kinder to people he meets while he's alone.
Obviously Max and Lucy reconnect with the Ghoul. Ideally they do so willingly: I'd like it if Lucy tries to find a reason to stay with him (she promised to help him find his family, and she's going to keep her promises, dang it!).
If they do find Coop's family in season 3, only Janey is alive, and an adult now. She lives in a small, peaceful commune her mother helped set up. Barb is seen as a hero of the community: whether she continued to be the person Coop married or redeemed herself later in life, I don't know. Baseline, Coop gets to reunite with Janey and maybe she comes with them!
ALTERNATIVE: After the bombs go off, Barb for whatever reason doesn't want to go into cryo-sleep: maybe guilt, maybe distrust, maybe grieving Cooper's loss. She instead decides to take Janey's cryopod to their ranch in Colorado. She somehow survives the bombs, and sets up a little community with only one goal: protect Janey until her dad comes to get her.
Barb dies before he gets there, but when Coop arrives the community has taken their duty of protection seriously and Janey is still asleep and safe. Along the way Cooper is given hope (by Lucy and Max?) that the Wasteland can be changed for the better, so after finding Janey he leaves her in the pod, vowing to come back when things are better on the outside.
Something horrible happens in vaults 32-33. Something to really contrast with the ideal life they lived before. Norm returns and saves the survivors, maybe after learning more about how to survive on the surface.
I don't really care what happens with the Legion, Enclave, or Brotherhood (outside Dane), but that's kind of the point? All of them are fighting useless powers for a world they can't fix?
I do want more Dane, though. I want them to be part of the main team and meet Lucy, I think that would be fun.
And I don't think Lucy and the Ghoul should get together, even though I ship ghoulcy in fanon. He is too complex for Lucy: sure, she can teach him some things by being around him, but she's not doing so intentionally. She's too inexperienced in life and he is too secretive. For their dynamic to work onscreen, both parties need to be intentional and informed, and I don't see that happening for ghoulcy anytime soon.
HOWEVER, I do want Lucy, the Ghoul, and Max to be a team with complicated emotions. I want Lucy to find out the Ghoul is Cooper and have a confusing crush on him while simultaneously being annoyed at him a lot. I want Max to look up to the Ghoul and the Ghoul to like him despite himself. I want Lucy and Max to gang up on the Ghoul with their positivity. I want them to not be family, but friends, a team! Hopefully that starts next season and grows, like an RPG party.
