Oblivious Wand Waving

El Goonish Shive Newspaper Story Arcs
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Oblivious Wand Waving is the twelfth story arc in EGS:NP. It opened on September 8th, 2008, and closed on October 14th, 2008, for a total of 15 comics.

Possible Name Change

The name of arc in navigation select is currently Oblivious Hand-Waving and was such at least since 2009, but on the images itself the title is Oblivious Wand Waving. This may mean Dan decided to rename the story ... or, more likely, made typo when setting up the navigation.

Summary

Tedd, while shopping for a toothbrush at the mall once again, came across a totally unfamiliar face in the form of an old woman selling magic items. From her he bought a wand with the odd ability that it seemed to do nothing. Tedd waved the wand around multiple times, making multiple humorous transformations that were only "viewable" to the reader as different from the previous state. Several consequences of these changes also played out.

Through Tedd's/Tess's wand, this arc seemed to create another story universe. In fact, the case may be that with every change the universe was changed to one where the changed element was always in that state which would explain why the changes are not acknowledged in universe, or rather in multiverse.

Changes seen

• Part 1 - A guy in the background turned into a girl (in scant clothing) after drinking ....something.
• Part 3 - With a "vwish" of the wand, Tedd reversed the situation of a nerdy guy trying to interest a girl, turned an emo guy into an emo cat guy, and changed a macho man into a cheerleader-type girl. He also transformed himself into Tess.
• Part 4 - There are no transformations seen here, though a cat-girl walks by in the background.
• Part 5 - Two boys ogling over manga are transformed into girls whose clothes seem to rip off as easily as they do in the manga.
• Part 6 - Another guy is transformed into a girl in the background. It's also revealed that Elliot and Tess are a couple.
• Part 7 - Again, no changes are seen, but here it's revealed that Sarah (who has been turned into a male) and Grace are a couple.
• Part 8 - Spoofing the idea of the arc, Susan is seen to be completely herself, as opposed to being transformed into being part armadillo as the arc's narrator was expecting. There is a sign on her wall that reads "plot-free zone".
• Part 9 - The two girls who follow Diane, namely Rhoda and Lucy, have their bodies shapes switched.
• Part 10 - Raven, who is as aware of the arc itself as Susan was, tries to argue with the beginning of a "vwish" sound effect he sees, only to be turned into a female wearing a fishnet-based outfit. She declares "this means war" (presumably addressing the narrator).
• Part 12 - No changes shown on-panel, but we learn that Tess's parents are still together (or at least, Tess and Elliot interact with both on a regular basis). We also learn that Tess's mother often wears skimpy apparel in public, but doesn't like seeing her daughter do the same.
• Part 14 - Not technically a change, but a reversal to the main universe's regular flow: Amanda has a weakness for growth soda, while the professor has shrinking gas.