https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBNxGZP49ls

I really enjoyed this comic. A ten!

That was excellent. I'm so glad things didn't end horribly.

Aww forget what I said, this ending is surprisingly sweet. I'm glad Mindes went out of his way to seek help, it takes courage.

Makes me wonder why the main comic ended so abruptly tho...

ExtraTHICC said:
Aww forget what I said, this ending is surprisingly sweet. I'm glad Mindes went out of his way to seek help, it takes courage.

Makes me wonder why the main comic ended so abruptly tho...

The title card for the main comic is also off putting considering how it ended too

...

This is decidedly not what fuels me.

Overall I'd probably give this a 10/10 for the absolutely amazing plot with its dark twists but I'm gonna have to go to an 8/10 weak-sauce campy ending. This feels more out-of-place than what happened in the main comic. Almost like some cheap cop-out for all the weenies in the audience who kept shitting their pants the first times Mindes did anything even remotely off-putting.

This is my opinion and I will defend it until I die.

Man you made a comic that could extend its story and take years to finish (such as TwoKinds comic), but made it into a short and meaningful comic.

Nicely done!

Fuck it. I'm gonna be down voted to hell for this, might as well go in-depth.

This side-series was a darker take on an already dark plot. It was a deeper look at Mindes and what made him into who he was vs how he'd impacted Ambus. It wasn't some 'everything can be fixed' storyline, it was an 'either I specifically do not have the tools to fix you or you're just too broken' deal. This light resolution, though likely intended to balance out the dark subject matter, really distracts from the overall message of the story. 'Not everyone can be fixed' unintentionally becomes 'Everything is good now that you said sorry' and just throws out all of the lasting impact of Mindes's actions. We don't see Ambus's struggle to mend himself or Six's journey with him in doing so, we see an apology and get a 'and all of the ghosting, abuse, and psychological agony was gone with him' speech. The story didn't need or deserve this ending. It was better off with a more ambiguous 'But does he REALLY get better? Does any of this fix itself?' cut off. I mentioned in my prior comment that it felt like this was some sort of compensation to the people who flipped out when the story got dark. I stand by that. People don't seem to be able to handle a realistic ending to what was a realistically dark take on unhealthy relationships. This feels like a sort of trophy for those people vs an actual ending to the story. Go ahead, bite my head off. It's still my opinion and I'm still defending it until I die.

Salted_Salts said:
Fuck it. I'm gonna be down voted to hell for this, might as well go in-depth.

This side-series was a darker take on an already dark plot. It was a deeper look at Mindes and what made him into who he was vs how he'd impacted Ambus. It wasn't some 'everything can be fixed' storyline, it was an 'either I specifically do not have the tools to fix you or you're just too broken' deal. This light resolution, though likely intended to balance out the dark subject matter, really distracts from the overall message of the story. 'Not everyone can be fixed' unintentionally becomes 'Everything is good now that you said sorry' and just throws out all of the lasting impact of Mindes's actions. We don't see Ambus's struggle to mend himself or Six's journey with him in doing so, we see an apology and get a 'and all of the ghosting, abuse, and psychological agony was gone with him' speech. The story didn't need or deserve this ending. It was better off with a more ambiguous 'But does he REALLY get better? Does any of this fix itself?' cut off. I mentioned in my prior comment that it felt like this was some sort of compensation to the people who flipped out when the story got dark. I stand by that. People don't seem to be able to handle a realistic ending to what was a realistically dark take on unhealthy relationships. This feels like a sort of trophy for those people vs an actual ending to the story. Go ahead, bite my head off. It's still my opinion and I'm still defending it until I die.

holy fuck, after finishing my measly lil’ sentence you decide to plop down an essay.

Salted_Salts said:
Fuck it.

Personally I believe not all is as happy as it seems. While Ambus naively believes everything is fixed, Mindes is not smiling in that last panel. He may say that things have been better, but it's never truly fixed. Ignorance is bliss; Mindes cut himself off from Ambus before he could get into Mindes' mess again, for his own sake. Ambus could not fix Mindes, Mindes sought help from someone who could help him fix himself (read: not have someone else do all the fixing, but to learn how to do it himself).

Ambus was willing to forgive and forget, but Mindes will never forget, nor forgive himself for what he put Ambus through. He doesn't want to see him anymore, see the disappointment on Ambus's face anymore. So he left, and with that left a seed of hope for Ambus to have him believe that he's getting better, when in reality, it will take a lifetime to heal. I think you're a bit too cynical and/or quick to bite the bullet on that with your opinion. Instead of reading subtext. Mindes may have also went to jail, based on the page where people were being chased by police. That page isn't random. There is significance behind it. No good writer adds random shit for the hell of it.
You're right, some people can't be fixed, and that was main comic Mindes. This alt comic Mindes, he's trying to be fixed.

why does this last page feel like a punch in the gut?

Graham-Wolf said:
why does this last page feel like a punch in the gut?

Glad I'm not the only one who felt like that

Pretty sad (but understandable) that he just walks away. He got the help he so desperately needed, but has immense guilt as a result and can never face him again.

This whole comic has been a rollercoaster of emotions, from start to finish, i guess it could have ended worse, wish i could have gotten to see ambus happy more often than not

Quick question, how do you blacklist specific pools?

onegai said:
Personally I believe not all is as happy as it seems. While Ambus naively believes everything is fixed, Mindes is not smiling in that last panel. He may say that things have been better, but it's never truly fixed. Ignorance is bliss; Mindes cut himself off from Ambus before he could get into Mindes' mess again, for his own sake. Ambus could not fix Mindes, Mindes sought help from someone who could help him fix himself (read: not have someone else do all the fixing, but to learn how to do it himself).

Ambus was willing to forgive and forget, but Mindes will never forget, nor forgive himself for what he put Ambus through. He doesn't want to see him anymore, see the disappointment on Ambus's face anymore. So he left, and with that left a seed of hope for Ambus to have him believe that he's getting better, when in reality, it will take a lifetime to heal. I think you're a bit too cynical and/or quick to bite the bullet on that with your opinion. Instead of reading subtext. Mindes may have also went to jail, based on the page where people were being chased by police. That page isn't random. There is significance behind it. No good writer adds random shit for the hell of it.
You're right, some people can't be fixed, and that was main comic Mindes. This alt comic Mindes, he's trying to be fixed.

You made the ending, bitter sweet as is, a little better

Salted_Salts said:
Fuck it.

Sorry for my bad grammar English isn't my first language.

I've read over the comic again, and i agree with you. I'm disappointed in how the artist talked about how he was going to tell a story of the struggles of unhealthy relationship, but ended up speeding through it. The ending was good, but it should have happened after we where showed ambus heartbreak, and more of mindes past not the past from I trusted you.

Hmmm, i wonder who the Lady is. A girlfriend? His therapist? perhaps just a friend? Rather curious.

aww,hopefully well see this two again in the future ;) Really cute characters. 10/10 do you have a patreon ?

Alex1 said:
aww,hopefully well see this two again in the future ;) Really cute characters. 10/10 do you have a patreon ?

Yes

kinda wish that this ending wasn't so clear cut, maybe it would work better if Ambus saw mindes but couldn't catch him. It's still more lighthearted than the original end but the only in the sense it confirms that Mindes is still kicking around.

Alex1 said:
aww,hopefully well see this two again in the future ;) Really cute characters. 10/10 do you have a patreon ?

https://www.patreon.com/grimart

Whenever you want to find out if someone has a patreon, your best bet would be simply typing the artist's name behind the dash. Most people name their patreon after their art name.

sorenxoras said:
Hmmm, i wonder who the Lady is. A girlfriend? His therapist? perhaps just a friend? Rather curious.

What lady? Who are you talking about?

Graham-Wolf said:
What lady? Who are you talking about?

The lass asking the question in the fist panel, you can tell it's a female in the 4th panel pretty easily.

Graham-Wolf said:
why does this last page feel like a punch in the gut?

That's the taste of a bitter sweet ending, my dude.

Was a good history

autumn_leafa said:
This whole comic has been a rollercoaster of emotions

That just ran straight into a brick wall..

sorenxoras said:
The lass asking the question in the fist panel, you can tell it's a female in the 4th panel pretty easily.

That "lass" asking the question in the first panel is Six, a guy. And the only person in the 4th panel is Ambus, also a guy. You seem a bit confused, mate.

This is an accurate, bittersweet ending.

As said before I've had my own experiences with abuse, and the gods honest truth is this: You can never completely fix yourself.

You can always pick up the pieces, learn to deal with what happened in the past, and move on, but a part of you will always be stuck in the past and a part of you will always be missing. You're never 100% [then again who is?]

But you can be 90%, or 95%, you can learn to take it in stride and live while learning to carry that weight. Thats what Mindes did. People say he doesn't really look happy in the last panel, and maybe he isn't happy, but maybe seeing Ambus brings back uncomfortable or shameful memories, or maybe he just has Resting Bitch Face like a lot of people do.

This ending is sudden and bittersweet because that's how life is, sometimes you just..Gotta learn to let go. Whether or not you wanna see someone again ultimately won't change what happened in the past, and being with that person may bring back painful memories or cause undue stress upon the other person or yourself, god knows I've pushed myself away from people that cared from me simply because I didn't want to burden someone with the shit that needs to be done to help me, shit which required a lot of therapy [which, ultimately did fuck-all because I wasn't able to tell my psychologist the truth thanks to my mother breathing down the back of my neck.]

This is an extremely long-winded comment, but overall this is one of the most accurate, best representations of how life is at times for people going through abuse and those who either love them or are simply related to them. A wonderfully bittersweet ending that may leave you numb means that you're now sharing Ambus emotions, it's up to you to not let it get to you and simply..Move on.

https://youtu.be/8N_PXTGdlGw For me, this comic has been a...Catharsis of sorts, unlike other media which tries to predict the process of going through and moving on from abuse, this didn't sugarcoat it at all and finally it felt like I could relate to a character the whole way through, no cheap gimmicks, no badly written twists, just pure goodness the whole way through. Being someone who's been in both Ambus and Mindes shoes, I can say both portrayals are accurate to a T.

Grimart, thank you for this. This has been a wonderful, if dark, experience from beginning to end.

Either way, I’m happy this side one went off on a better note, not everything is how I wished it to be, but it definitely beats the others ending

Salted_Salts said:
Fuck it. I'm gonna be down voted to hell for this, might as well go in-depth.

This side-series was a darker take on an already dark plot. It was a deeper look at Mindes and what made him into who he was vs how he'd impacted Ambus. It wasn't some 'everything can be fixed' storyline, it was an 'either I specifically do not have the tools to fix you or you're just too broken' deal. This light resolution, though likely intended to balance out the dark subject matter, really distracts from the overall message of the story. 'Not everyone can be fixed' unintentionally becomes 'Everything is good now that you said sorry' and just throws out all of the lasting impact of Mindes's actions. We don't see Ambus's struggle to mend himself or Six's journey with him in doing so, we see an apology and get a 'and all of the ghosting, abuse, and psychological agony was gone with him' speech. The story didn't need or deserve this ending. It was better off with a more ambiguous 'But does he REALLY get better? Does any of this fix itself?' cut off. I mentioned in my prior comment that it felt like this was some sort of compensation to the people who flipped out when the story got dark. I stand by that. People don't seem to be able to handle a realistic ending to what was a realistically dark take on unhealthy relationships. This feels like a sort of trophy for those people vs an actual ending to the story. Go ahead, bite my head off. It's still my opinion and I'm still defending it until I die.

Yeah I'ma go with no it wasn't all "Sunshine and rainbows" At the end just because they both didn't wind up killing themselves (or something equally as grim). Yeah min can be seen as arguably better, but there was no easy way for him to fix himself, and in the end they both lost something so it wasn't just some easy fix as you put it.
Your critique seems to only follow a narrow view of "Realism" that requires everything to be or end 100% grimly when reality can often be more than that.

Graham-Wolf said:
That "lass" asking the question in the first panel is Six, a guy. And the only person in the 4th panel is Ambus, also a guy. You seem a bit confused, mate.

Really? Huh, my mind must have read it wrong then. Oh well, people make mistakes. Looked closer (while not tired this time) and noticed some detail i missed last time.

Graham-Wolf said:
why does this last page feel like a punch in the gut?

Yea... I guess the utter power of Mindes just destroying Ambus with that...

I sincerely applaud this comic. It is a work of pure genius and art. I ask that you do more as at the moment your art is one of the only main reasons i am on this site, so thank you Grimart.

I was having a good time untile i read both endings and now im sad, im talkin suoer bummed out now. Great story tho, i actually that Mindes was a female in the beggining

Roland_and_Walter said:
That's the taste of a bitter sweet ending, my dude.

Yeah, and it hurts god damnit I'm not sure wether I'd be happier if I just read the cannon ending or this one.

This comic has be a real trip. It took some turns I wasn't entirely ready for and brought some old emotions bubbling back up. I had to take a few hours and a nap to process what I just read and how it relates to me. How past abuse affected me. Changed me. Changes each of us, really. My heart aches for the life I once had. For people I lost. Or may never see again.

This final interaction in particular reminded me of more than one past relationship. How I've hurt others. How I've been hurt, myself. How it will never really be ok. I wonder if staying in their life... or out of their life in another case... is really the best thing for us. This ending fills me with that same melancholy: wanting it to go on when I know it's over. When I know it needs to stay that way.

I suppose this was a long-winded method of me saying "ow, right the feels." I just thought it might be relevant how close this hit to home.

Honestly this story was difficult for me to read, mostly because I really wanted him to not be this messed up person who was into these dark things, who didn't have a messed up past. But all characters have a flaw.

I wanted to hope so much that I was upset wiwith the end. Don't get me wrong, I loved the story and the end. I was afraid it would go from a love story to a horror very quickly and almost stopped reading, but my curiosity got the best of me.

Glad I read it to the end and in some ways I relate to the main character and this ending really hit home, too familiar.

This has been a TRIP and a half. I must say, this is really well done, and I love the characters. I feel this ending leavea quite a bit to be desired, but I’m not one to pick things apart endlessly.
I do wish Mindus didn’t leave so abruptly, it really threw me off, but I suppose if it adds to the “I never saw him again, and that was ok” thing, I guess it’s ok?

I'm emotionally confused in a good way.

Congrats Mindes from the alternate ending comic, you get the "not as much of a jerk as you could've been" award

This definitely gave more insight on to who these characters are. The original ending makes more sense but this was just like a best possible ending for the characters, but the original is was happened and what makes the most sense. Ty for this alt, it's nice getting more of these 3.

TLDR: good fucking writer

I don't know why, but that fucking hurt when Mindes just turned and said farewell

Best furry comic I've ever read. I always come back every couple to years to read this masterpiece again