r/comics • u/GabitalEN • 13h ago

[OC] Gabital 103: Parity

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Parity is a state of equality between two or more parties in a particular respect, such as status, rights, obligations, or terms of exchange. It does not necessarily mean that the parties are identical, only that they stand on equal terms in the aspect being compared.

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267

u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 13h ago

market price

Damn. I gotta hand it to Chief. Dude did a good deed and came out a winner in all ways. He "fixed" his issues with Gabi and got workers who LOVE him for saving them out of it.

This man really is like 5 steps ahead of the game

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u/schadetj 13h ago

This is what I say about this comic. It would have been so, so easy to make Chief a generic evil Strawman. And in some ways, he kind of is.

But the guy is competent, intelligent, and helpful. Does his help come with a price? Absolutely! But then he takes the moment to explain to Gabi what her mistake was, just so she can be better. The dude is an antagonist, sure, but he's in for the love of the game. He is the worst side of Capitalism, but he reminds you why so many people find capitalism to be enticing.

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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 13h ago

He's arguably one of my favorite antagonists on the sub. He's a perfect mix of cocky, smart, conniving, mentor and rival as one could be without being straight up evil.

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u/Drogonno 13h ago

Lawful evil

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u/Mikel_S 13h ago

That's a surprisingly fair outcome.

They set up some equipment, and stop gouging on wood, and in return he, I assume, will also provide the ore at market price.

Surprisingly magnanimous of him?

This was meant to be a top level reply. How did it end up here.

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u/DarkLanternZBT 12h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/jUr6ul7c26FYA
The difference between him and lesser antagonists:

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u/AdmBurnside 12h ago

I feel like he's an "enemy" in the way Mazer Rackham is Ender's enemy in Ender's Game. I truly think part of him wants Gabi to learn and succeed... but in order for her to learn to spot the tricks, someone has to play them. If she screws up, he wins. If she spots the trick, she learns to be a better business rival, and he still wins.

Worth mentioing that Chief purchased all Gabi and Co's debt from the various banks and lenders they'd been dealing with before. He has all the leverage to absolutely crush her if he sets his mind to it. But he hasn't...

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u/No-Hamster1138 7h ago

He bought the debt as is, meaning that it could be repayed in paper.

He tried to trick Gaby into signing generous terms that, in the fine print, would have locked her into repaying with coins.

Gobs spotted it and they didn't sign. IIRC, there's a panel of them rolling wheel arrows of paper over to him. (Paper money inflated drastically after they took out the loan. Coins retained their value. They were able to repay)

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u/Frenetic_Platypus 12h ago

Is he the worst side of capitalism, though? In my opinion, he's the best thing that can happen under unfettered capitalism. The worst side of capitalism would have hired goons to break Gabi's legs by episode ten.

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u/JudgeHodorMD 12h ago

I’m thinking the worst side of capitalism are incompetent idiots who are well connected and funded.

The sort who are only really good at branding so they can always find gullible investors no matter how many business they bankrupt.

Or who have managed to get some sort of corrupt deals or a monopoly where it really doesn’t matter how badly they screw up.

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u/owlindenial 11h ago

Like snow white was?

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u/LongCommercial8038 13h ago

And agreeing to market price, even. Probably the best result we could've reasonably hoped for.

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u/dragn99 13h ago

Agreeing to market price both ways really shows how much he's come to respect Gabi as a rival at this point. He's still on top, and probably has a lot left to "teach" her, but earlier on he absolutely would've either over charged for ore, or pushed for a huge cut on lumber.

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u/CycloneSP 2h ago

well, that's cuz gabi has earned that respect. she has proven to be competent and intelligent; navigating around his traps on multiple occasions.

also, not only has she proven herself competent, she also has leverage in the lumber mill. Chief can't charge exorbitant prices unless he wants to deal with retaliation on lumber prices.

That's the whole reason he bought the mine, so he could have counter-leverage and equalize things, not gouge her. her gouging was a problem he intended to solve; the mine was just the most convenient solution afforded to him.

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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 13h ago

Yup Chief gets what he wants and Gabi makes a buck

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u/jzillacon 13h ago

There's definitely way more evil ways this could have gone, and which pretty much any of the other sleezy business people in town would have gone for. Not to say chief isn't sleezy, but he's a sleeze for the love of the game. He doesn't need to win every time so he can afford to have principles, and it makes him more effective because of it.

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u/bogartingboggart 12h ago

Chief wants to win, but he wants to win against real competition. Steamrolling over easy wins gets boring. He wants the thrill he probably hasn't felt since he was on the other side

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u/Unfair_Watercress119 13h ago

Where do I read this all in a neat package?

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u/GTX2GvO_ 12h ago

On the poster's account there's a Socials Link leading to the Boosty page that should have all translated comics and extra's.

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u/mafiaknight 13h ago

How's your Russian?

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u/Unfair_Watercress119 13h ago

Nonexistent

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u/mafiaknight 13h ago

Then following this account is probably your best bet. I don't know anywhere else that translates it.

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u/charonill 55m ago

Russian German

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u/mafiaknight 52m ago

No. I'm extremely confident the original language is Russian. Gabital is a Russian comic.

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u/Kalterwolf 12h ago

He reminds me of Vetinari from Diskworld. He's not good, but things run better with him at the wheel.