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The Dawn is the eighteenth story arc in the main canon of EGS. It opened February 4, 2013 and ended March 7, 2014 and was 269 pages long. It followed right after the first major timeskip of the comic (although, the last story line deals with few moments during the timeskip).

On launch, both Family Tree and Identity were just single story line. Later they were split to 7 and 11 parts, because Dan though they are too long.[1]

End Of An Era

The Dawn started on December 23, indeed about six months after the end of the previous arc (not counting its last two panels), with Elliot and Susan, Susan in a Starfleet uniform, reviewing one of the Star Trek: The Next generation movies. Susan noted how these movies were not considered canon in the Star Trek community and Elliot put emphasis on on how he had managed to find a plot hole.

As Elliot and Susan were watching this review on the couch in Tedd's basement together with Justin, the three talked about how the Starfleet uniform Susan was wearing came from Next Generation rather than the original series. Susan said it would have been alright for Elliot to tease her about that during the review, accidentally misspeaking in a way that made Justin suspicious about the nature of their relationship.[2]

Nevertheless, Justin quickly changed the subject to Susan's 18th birthday on New Years Day. Susan explained that she didn't want to celebrate this event, mainly because people would already be partied out after Christmas and New Years.

Elliot showed his disbelief over the fact that Ellen and Nanase got invited to a party with college students. It was implied that the two girls had been solving mysteries ever since the There Be Whales Here storylines.[3]

As the conversation returned to the topic of Susan's birthday, Elliot said that it simply wouldn't be right to celebrate "the Earth's birthday" and not that of Susan. He then came up with the idea of eating cake and singing birthday songs shortly after the ball had dropped.

They asked Tedd, who would be hosting the party, but he had not been paying attention and changed the topic to Nanase's magic, wondering whether her magic was lying dormant on purpose for the sake of having extra power when it activated again. He then revealed that he still worried about magic-using "tourists" with ill intent coming to Moperville, but said that he wasn't quite sure about the whales anymore, as he hadn't sensed them at all during the six months since and his father had ridiculed him for mentioning them. However, he had also confirmed the unusual amount of ambient magic in Moperville.

A flashback was shown in which Tedds father promised Tedd he would never lie to him or feed him misinformation, but told him that the whale-story is absurd, confirming that he had no knowledge of such creatures existing.

Tedd asked the group to prepare in case "magic jerks" ever would show up. The comic then moved to Ellen and Grace ready to spar, with Greg as the referee. Ellen shot transformation beams at Grace, which she gracefully blocked. Ellen fired a strong one and Grace got hit by the full blast, turning her into her Venus-form.

After turning her figure back to normal, Grace asked Greg whether it would be a good idea to go into battle completely flat-chested. Needless to say, Greg didn't have an answer to this question and quickly fled the scene.[4] Grace then revealed that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to do the blocking when flying, walking or moving at all.[5]

Sarah and Nanase were sitting in a restaurant. Sarah revealed that she didn't want to be in a relationship with Elliot anymore, but wanted to stay friends with him. She said that Elliot was a gentleman and a great friend, but that he was simply too "passive" in their relationship. He never did anything new and Sarah felt the relationship wasn't going anywhere.

Nanase explained Elliot's abstinence by speculating about his feelings on teen pregnancies.[6] Apparently, Elliot's mother was still in school when she got pregnant with her son (revealed back in a 2003 comic[7]), and that may have had an effect on Elliot's view on such things.

Sarah said it would be great if Susan could "take Elliot over" if she ended their relationship (though doubted that Susan was even interested in Elliot), then Nanase casually replied that this was basically what happened when Nanase broke up with him so Elliot and Sarah could be together. Sarah, shocked that it hadn't been Elliot who ended their relationship, got mad that he hadn't even managed to take the initiative in such a central part of his life.

Sarah and Nanase concluded that Elliot was just such a nice guy, something that only made it harder for Sarah to end their relationship. She also wanted to wait until after Christmas and New Years, so as to not ruin the holidays for him.

Diane overheard this conversation and was pleased to hear that Elliot would be single again soon. This was the first time Diane had shown interest in Elliot.[8]

The comic switched focus to Elliot and Ellen. At night, as they were about to go to bed, Elliot tried to settle on a standard form to use for his nightly burn-off of energy. Ellen revealed that since she went out of town for a short while (to solve The Mystery of the Were-Goat), her energy build-ups were over.[9] Elliot, however, refused this solution, claiming to hate traveling, and mentioned that he was already used to periodically switching sexes, so he didn't really mind it anymore.

They talked about how they would be watching old Christmas specials with Grace and Tedd the next day, since Grace had never seen any of those. Ellen expressed hope that Susan would come as well, as she would like some snarky commentary to go with the movies. Elliot explained that she would have to work that day, however, and mentioned that it kind-of felt like "cheating" on her when he watched movies without her.

Ellen told Elliot he needed to be more introspective and figure out why he felt the way he did, despite his discomfort thinking about such things. Elliot tried this, first pondering whether his past violence was really justified by his noble intent. However, he soon started to dream about Susan in Counselor Troi's uniform justifying his actions, telling him he was maturing and coming close for a... kiss?[10]

Suddenly awake, Elliot jumped up from his dream, mad at himself for thinking that way about Susan. He blamed his hormones for it (not thinking there might be something more behind it), but still felt like he had cheated on Sarah. Ellen implied that Elliot might have a thing for Susan and that, at the very least, he owed it to himself and his girlfriend to figure out his own feelings.

She then started talking about how 'they' never really loved Sarah in a "true love" kind of way, but stopped as she realized that she was telling Elliot how to feel, rather than letting him figure it out himself.

Later, as Elliot was showering, he realized he really might just have a thing for Susan.[11] This gave him much to think about and made him reevaluate his relationship with Sarah. In the next page he told Ellen how confused he was about all this, and during this conversation he made it clear that he had considered Ellen family from the first time he saw her.

End Of An Era Pt 2

As the time of the Christmas special party drew near, Sarah—already in Tedd's basement together with Grace[1]—obsessed over how she would need to act normal around Elliot despite her new feelings. Luckily, Grace managed to supply her with a much needed distraction just by being her bubbly self.

As Elliot came in, he immediately hugged Sarah, stating that he "just really wanted to hug [her]." Grace noticed something was going on and asked Ellen about it, but she merely pointed out that the two of them would need time to sort it out on their own. Grace then quickly changed the topic by yelling out to start the party.

The first movie Grace wanted to watch was Die Hard, not having realized that it isn't really a Christmas movie in the traditional sense. She explained she wanted to watch something violent in which the main character triumphed without guilt, despite her own non-violent nature. Once he had heard her explanation, Elliot immediately and enthusiastically agreed, as it matched his earlier introspections.[2]

A few days later—December 26, to be specific—Justin and Susan met up in a chatroom. Justin's avatar was dressed up like Vault Boy from the Fallout series, while Susan's avatar was dressed up like Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph (including skirt!).[3] After having chatted a bit about how their respective Christmases had been, Justin asked a rather personal question: whether Susan was attracted to Elliot.

Susan confirmed this, although only due to her being a heterosexual woman and Elliot being the only heterosexual man, other than Tedd, she spent any significant amount of time around. Basically, she blamed her attraction on hormones, much like what Elliot had blamed his feelings on earlier. She went so far she even created list she should avoid to not seduce Elliot accidentally ... with dressing up as Counsel Troi included.[4] She also explained that she did not want to risk their friendship or betray Sarah, though her reaction to the question of what she would do if Sarah and Elliot would ever break up was ambiguous.

At the same time, Diane was visiting Rhoda's house and Rhoda told her about Elliot's (and Susan's) review show. She mentioned Susan being a friend of Catalina, to which Diane replied that she had yet to meet Catalina.

They watched an episode of the review show together, which was the first time Diane actually saw Elliot, and she found him good looking. Rhoda tried to make clear how much Susan looked and sounded like Diane, but Diane didn't buy it at all.[5]

Diane shared her dreams about wanting to meet and marry the perfect man, one that would be "rich and handsome, kind and compassionate, independent and assertive, and do everything [she told] him to do." She didn't expect Elliot to be that man, but she believed that dating him would be a good experience. As Rhoda expressed her own, more traditionally romantic, views on how to find one's life partner, Diane declared them to be "adorable".

From this point forward, Diane became a fan of the series, enjoying every video, usually watching them in bed on her phone.

On December 27, as Tedd and Elliot were playing videogames together, Elliot asked a question that had been bothering him for the past few days: What is love?[6] Being unsure of what the line is between friendship and love, he wanted to know what it was like for Tedd and Grace.

Tedd explained that, at first, it had just been him being nice to her and she being... Well, a girl in his house. It just grew out to something "amazing." Tedd then asked why Elliot was asking about this, but immediately realized the answer to that question himself.

Put on the spot, Elliot eventually confessed that he might want to break up with Sarah, because he didn't really love her in a romantic way. Worrying about what it would do with the group, Tedd got a traumatic flashback to his mother leaving him, and then Elliot stated that he loved him (quickly adding that he didn't mean it romantically), to which Tedd replied quite emotionally.

In the following scene, Elliot explained how Sarah is "artistic, fun, familiar, cute" and "like a sister"[7] to him, the latter being the moment that he realized why he wasn't romantically interested in his oldest friend.

Absolutely shocked, Elliot called Ellen to ask whether she felt the same way, to which she replied that she did. Elliot hung up the phone, still making exactly the same shocked face. Elliot stated that he had to break up with Sarah now, but didn't know how to go about with it. Tedd suggested asking Nanase, seeing as she was experienced in breaking up. Elliot, however, decided not to ask for help and took the initiative for once.

Shortly after, once he was back home, he called Sarah to ask her to meet him somewhere. Sarah quickly realized that he might be wanting to break up with her and decided to come over right after a quick shower. During this shower, however, she started to wonder why he wanted to break up with her, which broke her spirit.

Once Sarah had arrived at Elliot's house, he again took the initiative, telling her that they had to break up. When Sarah, looking rather sad, asked why he felt this way, he explained how she was more like a sister to him. Sarah didn't take this well, but thinking about it for a bit, she quickly realized that it actually made a lot of sense.[8] She then revealed that she had been planning to break up with him as well, for her own reasons. This was also the point where Elliot realized he wasn't really a bad guy, as he wasn't angry at Sarah in any way.

Sarah and Elliot decided to stay friends, now joking about how no one would ever believe that their break-up went so smoothly, and how they should tell people that Sarah was throwing stuff at Elliot, at least a couch, possibly multiple couches.

Later, a potential customer in the Video Rental Store asked Susan about her being in a relationship with Elliot, which she denied. Just after this conversation was finished, Sarah came in to tell Susan that she broke up with Elliot.

Later, and without potential customers listening in, Susan brought up the possibility that Sarah had also started to become less attracted to Elliot because he reminded her more of her sister since he'd begun transforming. Sarah, however, emphatically did not want to consider this possibility.

As Elliot told his sister about the break-up, Ellen asked whether he was planning to ask Susan out, but Elliot didn't think that was a good idea as he didn't want to settle again that quickly. He then explained that he wanted to take a "break from himself" and transformed into his Heidi form, simply to play videogames.[9] Ellen noted that using a mind-bending transformation to relax may not be wise, but agreed to multiplayer.

The parting shot showed everyone lying in their beds: Elliot (still in Heidi form) and Sarah sleeping well, Susan not being able to sleep at all and Diane, watching a review video of Elliot, stating "You will be mine, oh yes. You will be mine"

Family Tree

Usually, when they helped solve "mysteries", Nanase and Ellen received little but a "thank you".[1] After the Mystery of the Haunted Lockerroom, however, Rhea invited them to a New Year's Eve party—as was mentioned earlier.[2] Nanase's mother agreed to it, on the strict condition that neither of them drink (and that they run away if they see drug use), something Nanase herself didn't mind promising but Ellen only grudgingly accepted.[3]

Family Tree Part 2 - Arrival

They arrived early—actually first not counting Rhea, her roommates and sister, who, surprisingly, turned out to be Diane. They found out that she had been adopted AND that it was her birthday; she was born 10 minutes before midnight.[1] Considering they had already found Susan and Diane surprisingly similar-looking, finding out they were born 20 minutes from each other (which is totally possible for twins) convinced them that the two were sisters. Diane complained about not being allowed to drink, before leaving for an internet chat room.

Talking with Rhoda (who had Catalina as part of her avatar), she found out Ellen was Elliot sister. Meanwhile, prompted by a piece of Christmas decoration, Nanase explained some details about her guardian form spell to Ellen.[2] Diane returned and changed the subject to Elliot, talking about the review show. Ellen didn't get it immediately, but realized in time how dangerous an encounter with her might be so close after Elliot's breakup.

Then two hosts arrived, Rick and Elijah. Elijah, being a big fan of "the teen girl detectives", wasted no time getting to know the two of them, while Diane went back to the computer, this time trying to get advice from Lucy. Lucy recommended forgetting about Elliot, saying he wasn't so special, whereupon Diane admitted that she may want a real relationship for once, something that surprised her even more than Lucy. Meanwhile, Charlotte made a brief appearance downstairs, mostly to say hello, and mentioned that it was she who had recommended them to Rhea. Upon learning that Ellen and Nanase wouldn't be drinking, she offered them "sanctuary" in her room upstairs before withdrawing. As soon as more guests had arrived the drinking games started.

Family Tree Part 3 - Par-TAY

Nanase and Ellen went upstairs, remembering Charlotte's offer to keep them company instead of the the other guests with their drinking games. Diane tried to secretly get to the punch, but was stopped by a student with a Santa's hat, who claimed to owe her sister a debt.[1]

Meanwhile, Charlotte played Mario Party with Nanase and Ellen, talking with them about the possibility of real supernatural elements. She mentioned having one of Nanase's fairy dolls (one of those created in Sister II), and that she had been discussing stuff on forums, learning about guardian forms... and correctly guessed that it was an attack, that the attacker was after Ellen and that Nanase was the guardian. Then she explained that she simply wanted to know whom to call if she noticed something "truly spooky". Ellen confirmed that she could call them and that they would either be able to solve it themselves or contact someone who could—probably hinting at DGB.

As the party continued, Rhea seemed to not drink quite as responsibly as she had thought... and in the background people started to change, most obviously boys to girls.[2]

Family Tree Part 4 - Weirdness

Diane came down to get some soda and a slice of pizza, but as she talked with Rhea she noticed that there was something weird with the guests... then she realized that some of them whom she knew as boys were now girls. Already frightened by this, she became outright scared when first Rhea seemed to accept anything she said, calling her "my lord", and then everybody else mindlessly obeyed her command to cluck like chickens. She quickly ran upstairs and tried the same on Nanase, Ellen and Charlotte, and was immensely relieved when it didn't work.

She then asked Nanase if she could fix it with her magic, proving that she hadn't always been very discreet, but Charlotte explained how Nanase didn't have magic at the moment. Nanase responded that what they should do was call her uncle Edward, and picked up her mobile phone—only to find out there was no signal. Internet was also down, and there was no landline phone. In the following discussion, Diane mentioned the guy in Santa's hat owing her sister a favor, which made Nanase remember Jerry.[1]

Ellen suggested they go out into the snow to search for a spot with better reception. When she also mentioned that staying inside a house full of people who were apparently getting under control of some non-friendly magic user might be even more risky, the others easily agreed. Everyone got Mr. Verres' phone number added to their phones, and they went downstairs to leave. This time, the party guests were not only all female, but obviously looking very similar to Nanase in everything except hair and clothes.[2] Diane mentioned how she considered Nanase the coolest person ever and that this had to be someone who had a grudge against her.

Family Tree Part 5 - A Troll

While walking to Nanase's car, Ellen noticed two snow angels without any footprints around. Then a flying monster landed before them, talking about Noriko Verres. Charlotte recognized him as a visitor to her message board, using the nick Tengu,[1] and criticized his form for not looking like an actual tengu. Nanase noticed Diane had disappeared, so she tried to keep the conversation going in order to give her more time. Not-Tengu confirmed that he had transformed the party guests and casually mentioned that killing him would free them, but then pointed out that he would not attack them unless they attacked him first.

Nanase quickly assumed that he didn't want to attack because he feared the defensive power of her guardian form. The moment being suitably dramatic, she got her magic back[2] and quickly turned into said form, explaining that since its purpose was about protecting others, rather than self-defense, she could use it offensively as well. At this, Not-Tengu laughed, replying that it had actually been manipulation, because he was more confident about facing a guardian form than a magic user of unknown capabilities who might have any kind of nasty surprises up her sleeves. (Of course, if he had known her spells, he might have thought otherwise.[3])

Remembering the two snow angels, Ellen decided to help Nanase by using her copy beam spell on her. Although things like this had not been mentioned in either's spellbook, it worked:[4] Ellen first changed to Nanase and then to the guardian form. The two of them noticed they shared some sort of telepathy and agreed that their combat instinct were telling them not to attack. Not-Tengu was not attacking either; he assumed the guardian forms wouldn't last long. After a silent conversation about ambient magic energy, Ellen got the idea that they needed to make Not-Tengu chase them so that the three of them together would use up all the ambient energy in the immediate area, which would reverse the transformation of the party guests.

The strategy worked: they kept flying and evading Not-Tengu, who chased them getting more and more angry, threatening to kill Noriko, her ex-husband, her sister, her children (suggesting that Tedd might not be her only child)... Unfortunately, neither Nanase nor Ellen could hear him over the rush of wind past their ears.[5] He continued the chase until his flying stopped working and he fell down, hitting the pavement of the parking lot several times.Barely conscious, he tried to get up, just to see Grace in tri-tail form (but no horns) and Uryuom work suit trying to threaten him.[6] Then he fell unconscious.

Family Tree Part 6 - Banhammered

Elliot in Cheerleadra form arrived next, surprisingly not affected by the low temperature despite her (usuall scanty) clothes. Nanase and Ellen talked to them, then powered down the guardian forms, both burned out with Ellen having blonde hair.

Next, Charlotte and Diane returned. Diane suggested killing "it", quickly surprised by Not-Tengu's form wearing off and revealing it to be a transformed human. She then commented on their hair, concluding that neither of them had magic at the moment, and went to stand by the superhero, rather confusing Elliot who hadn't met her before.[1]

Finally Mr. Verres also arrived, followed by Agent Wolf and Agent Cranium. Cranium identified Not-Tengu (without saying his name), making Wolf surprised they had been able to defeat him—as, he explained, the last time he had been defeated it had been by "a legendary monster hunter with a long family history of fighting monsters and evil wizards"... at the mention of which, both Mr. Verres and Cranium looked at him rather crossly.[2] Then Wolf emphasized the need to keep all this secret. Mr. Verres confirmed this and when Nanase objected, took her aside and explained how secrecy was the only thing keeping the world from being overrun with people like Not-Tengu. As a rejoinder, Nanase asked him somewhat pointedly about Tedd's mother being a legendary monster hunter, to which he reacted by cautioning her not to mention that fact to Tedd—because doing so might make him so withdrawn as to appear mute, as had apparently been the case when they were younger.[3]

Once Cranium had used an observation-from-a-distance ability of hers to confirm that everything was back to normal in the apartment, Diane rushed home; Nanase, Ellen and Charlotte followed at a more sedate pace after Cranium fixed Ellen's hair color. They talked about the experience, Charlotte commented that it was good to have a couple angels to call on, and Ellen coined the phrase "Charlotte's Angels". A teenaged Jerry, sitting on a roof top, gave some closing remarks, tying up some of the loose threads, but in the end realized that this was not enough to fulfill his promise to Susan at the end of the Hammerclorians storyline[4]

Family Tree Part 7 - Hangover

The next day, Nanase got a wake-up call from her mother, who asked her about the party, but after considering what she now knew about her aunt Noriko and their family history, as well as her mother's already previously expressed worry, she decided not to tell her anything about what had happened. As she told Ellen the day after that, either her mother knew full well and had a reason to pretend she didn't, or she had no idea and then Nanase didn't know where to start. This of course didn't mean that she was happy about their "web of selectively not shared information", and the two talked about what hey ought to tell whom. In the end, they decided that they wouldn't tell Susan about her sister immediately, but wait for her mother to do it, possibly talking to Susan's mother first to give her a final chance to tell her daughter before they did. They didn't agree about Tedd; Nanase suggested trying to persuade Edward into telling him about his mother, while Ellen believed Edward's explanation.

Having had her magic returned a second time after the minimum waiting period of a day, Nanase spent the whole discussion in fairy form (and most of it flying).


Q&A 6

Next question and answer sections started with Amanda showing Lisa new feature: green screen. Including Amanda wearing green shirt.

First question is why Agent Cranium used magic to change Ellen's hair back to (almost) normal but didn't for Nanase? Answer is that Nanase was expected to be burned long time, so keeping the enchantment going would have beein impractical. We also get new information: that it's hard to predict exact enchantment duration for anyone with higher than "normal" resistance.

Second question is what would happen if Ellen used her copy spell on Nanase's fairy doll. We get new informations about the fairy doll: when Nanase is not using it, it's inanimate object (and therefore can't be copied) - it's like a common doll with a Nanase-like head, when Nanase is using it, its physiology is exactly like a tiny Nanase with wings and tail. Then Amanda points that Ellen's spell supposedly doesn't work on summon, so she couldn't copy Nanase's "Fox" duplicate ... but Lisa ask if fairy doll really count as summon, considering Nanase occupies doll she already made. So the final answer is "not sure".[1]

Third question references a point brought up by an Interdimensional Whale: Spell catalysts that small (as Tedd's magic watch) should require a lot of energy to use.[2] Amanda explains that in addition to letting someone cast spells, spell catalysts can store energy, meaning that caster doesn't need to use as much of their own energy. Capacity of catalysts depends on size, material and quality, but Tedd's watches have basically zero capacity.[3]

Fourth question explains enchantments and Uryuom: Grace was not canceling enchantment when she reduced her breast size after Ellen hit her,[4] because she never was enchanted. Uryuom magic (and Ellen's beams) don't actually enchant Uryuoms and Uryuom hybrids (although it transform them). Also, while Uryuom enchantments replace each other, on Uryuoms the transformations stack and you can get combined result that way.[5]

Fifth question is what will happen if Grace and Elijah met and agreed that something was adorable. The answer is maybe the world would explode.

Sixth question return to enchantments again: Elliot's magic is his own and his forms are not replaced or canceled out by TF gun beams, and he can't cancel TF gun transformation using his magic. Ellen's V5 beams, however, are like the TF gun: they will replace different Uryuom magic morphs and cancel out identical ones.[6]

Seventh question is what does Susan think of the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies. Lisa is not sure if it's safe, considering those put women back in skirt uniforms. Susan replies that while the skimpy female uniforms seem off from modern perspective, the show was groundbreaking in it's era in terms of equality and representation. So she have a soft spot for the original series that includes it's uniforms. Regardless, she doesn't like the reboot movies.[7]

Eight question is how much control Grace have over individual parts of her body. The explanation is that TF gun can be programmed with partial morphs that result in small changes, and she can mix them up with no known limit. Tedd and Sarah both helped with deciding on and programing such morphs and Grace now can dramatically change her appearance using just combinations of those.[8]

Ninth question is if Not-Tengu was aberration and if not why. He wasn't ; we are given the basic common points for aberrations (see the aberration page) and Not-Tengu doesn't match them. He had a monster form and didn't seem to care much about other people's feelings, but still, aberrations are WORSE.

On next page, Nanase explained that Aberrations are universally difficult to harm with physical attacks, but are weak against magic weapons. In French. Apparently, neither Amanda nor Lisa know French.

Tenth question is how Justin thinks of the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies. Justin started with some nitpicks, but then admitted he love them: they fail as Star Trek, but they're entertaining and fun and have Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto and Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) ...

Eleventh question is if there will ever be shrinking in the main story to smaller than the current limits of the TF Gun. Amanda says "yes" and when Lisa protests that it's spoiler, Amanda objects that it's been foreshadowed all over the place and that it's very non-specific confirmation. Then goes on with "example" consisting of apparent Elliot-Justin shipping. Lisa comments that saying that would almost guarantee it will not happen, but it wasn't all that likely anyway.

Twelfth question is about limits of the TF Gun. Answer of "could it make someone inanimate" is huge no. It also can't really change people into something other than mammals - it won't make target cold blooded or give him hollow bird bones. But it can be used to give someone scales or feathers. Tedd comments that he didn't wanted to use that because it's not comfortable. Amanda (in lizard-like form) answers that lizards are cool, while Lisa (with wings and feathers) confirms that it feels weird.[9]

Final question is how did Amanda's date with (Adrian) Raven go. Amanda answers that it's personal, but it did go well, and there was dancing. Then she continues with how weird is dating out of continuity and mentions Lisa asking some girl. Lisa tries to stop her because of running gag that Amanda is not aware of Lisa liking girls, but then admits that the joke is long dead anyway.

Identity

Identity started with end of another of Elliot and Susan's reviews, for some not so good movie. Elliot then mentions that he broke up.[1] Sarah appears and throws obviously fake couch on him.

Then we see Tedd and Grace with Sarah, Elliot and Susan apparently looking at that review. Sarah mentioned that the couch was SUPPOSED to look fake, and was not sure if they needed to add the disclaimer that hey really broke up and remained friends. Susan assured her that it is. Grace was apparently nervous from idea it could happen to her as well.[2]Susan then mentioned they have little over one thousand subscribers. Everyone except Elliot is surprised and Sarah got retroactive stage fright. Tedd commented that people can watch the reviews without being subscribers and that the subscribers are likely not evenly distributed and many of them may be their classmates. Elliot got retroactive stage fright.[3]

Identity Part 2 - Reactions

We are then shown few people reacting to the review, including Ashley (not yet named at this point) and Diane. Two men watching it together approached Sarah next day in school, one introduced himself as Cecil and they talked a bit. Susan is surprised that noone approaches her due to the show. Sarah claimed that it was just random and that Cecil knows her from the art class, then one girl who watched the review approaches her.

Elsewhere, Elliot talked with Tedd about the stage fright. He said that show is around for months and people will not suddenly start noticing him. Tedd opposed him that even without the show, people are noticing him and there are dozens of rumors about him. As example of why, he pointed out how Elliot just returned a dropped phone to some girl ... by jumping over some people and bouncing from wall.[1] Then he reminded him several stuff we know about - his stance against bullies, the Goo incident, the Bloodgrem ... and that he helped a griffin find Avalon. Elliot tried to downplay it saying that she was just asking for directions.[2]

Elliot sighted that he couldn't get away with spending the rest of the day transformed and anonymous, noting that he doesn't like being the center of attention. Tedd calms him that it's not that bad, that people know about him but he wouldn't get more attention.

Sarah was still being approached by people, mostly boys, who saw the review and they want to talk about "geeky stuff" with her (comics, video games, video editing). She talked with Susan about it, mentioning that she's trying to stay positive about it, but that she suspect most of them are flirting with her because they know she's geek and single.[3]

Identity Part 3 - Cat Attack

On lunch pause, Catalina glomped Susan. Sarah asked why she never glomps Susan and Catalina said she wants to live. Then she congratulated her how she handled the break with Elliot, but gets confused when Sarah mentions the couch throwing. She said that she didn't saw the review, but that she heard that Elliot realized he is gay. Sarah though about it and said that it would make sense, while Susan complained that it doesn't. They talked about it over lunch. Sarah explained that while it sort of make sense to her, it wasn't the reason for the breakup mentioned in the review, while Susan searched the review comments for where this rumor started. She's very surprised when she found it: it's long comment with lot of long words and no spelling or punctuation errors.[1] It sounds very smart, but by revealing the "secret" shows that the author is actually dumber that they think or they're self-serving jerk with an ego to stroke. The screen name of author is Ronin and some numbers, and his avatar is some anime guy with a sword. But Susan also found someone who argues against Elliot being gay, someone just as articulate and going after this rumor like a mongoose going after snake. Susan said that she doesn't know who that is, but she will send them a thank you. (We are shown that it's Diane).

Catalina wanted to redeem her part in spreading the rumor by helping stopping it ... and she did it by glomping Elliot in front of full hallway of people and talking about him as her lower. Not everyone was buying it, Sarah commented that it's like train wreck and she can't look away, and Susan was blushing. Elliot himself is surprised and conflicted about it (as illustrated by five Elliots, two of them woman, arguing about it, then sixth one appear and alert them that both Sarah and Susan are watching it).[2]

Elliot asked and Catalina explained there is rumor that he's gay. Instead of playing along, he said that's ok, then explained that he's not, but if people want to think it, it's their business. Unless they're gay-bashing. People around heard that explanation, and while not everyone believed it, generally the plan worked, to Sarah's surprise. Elliot thanked Catalina and said that her girlfriend is a lucky woman. Catalina panicked, as she forgot, and said she must come up with the most ultimate apology plan ever. Elliot recommended be honest and explain it. Sarah and Susan updated Elliot and Tedd.

Identity Part 4 - Detective Sarah

Sarah started thinking that the rumor might've been attempt to get to her good side (although, as Susan commented, not GOOD attempt).Sarah then asked the boys various questions trying to find out who might be the Ronin.[1]

Meanwhile, Susan was thinking about why she found Catalina and Elliot kissing sexy and was pretty confused by it. Just when she thought about this being another reason why people not like her, someone told her people like her. He then explained that her willingness to fiercely stand up for her beliefs is intimidating - so Susan is not approached so much because she's likeable, but scary. He introduced himself as Tom, mentioned the reviews and that he likes Star Trek. Then he started leaving, but Susan calls him back and they agreed to meet online. Ashley saw this and made a grumpy face.[2]

Identity Part 5 - Basement Chat

At home after school Grace told Elliot that she could imagine Elliot kissing Tedd and then clarified that she was thinking of herself transformed to look like Elliot.[1] After Tedd and Justin arrived Justin told the others that Grace had told him about the rumor that Elliot is gay and Grace told them that Rhoda told her even though she doesn't usually reads internet video comments. After Elliot told the others that Catalina kissed him Grace became angry on Catalina's girlfriend's behalf.[2] Meanwhile Catalina apologised to Rhoda, who forgave her.[3]

After Elliot said that he didn't care if people thought he's gay and Justin talked about how he was bullied in the past Grace asked them why some are bothered by homosexuality.[4] When Elliot told her that homophobia doesn't make sense he became so angry that Tedd asked Grace to hug her.[5] When Justin asked him why became so angry he explained that he had lost a friend over homophobia.[6] (There are hints later in the storyline that the mentioned friend is Tony[7]).

Identity Parts 6 to 11


Summer Moments

Summer moments are not "classical" storyline, but a sequence of one panel summer moments that happened during the time skip[1] and are 100% canon, but low on context.[2]

First titled "Bad Influence" and contains Grace laughing evilly during card game with Mr. Tensaided. George is also present with evil grin. Justin doesn't approve.

Second is titled "Guess Which Of Us Is Who". It contains Tedd and two persons: one is Sarah with Grace color scheme, other is Grace with Sarah color scheme. Presumably, one of them is Grace, one is Sarah, but which is which ...

Third is titled "At The Movies". It contains movie audience of Rhoda and Catalina (kissing), Mr. Tensaided, Ashley and Liz (goth), Rick and Elijah, George, four more college party guests,[3] Susan, Elliot and Sarah.[4]

Fourth is titled "A Perfect Plan" and contains Cheerleadra and Mr. Tensaided in the Video Rental Store. It is not apparent if the Cheerleadra is Elliot or if the plan involved someone else posing as Cheerleadra.

Fifth is titled "Hazards Of Clone Form Pranking" and features a Tedd figure kissing one Grace figure and a second Grace figure behind a curtain, both Grace figures appearing somewhat surprised. It is left unspecified which of the three figures is actually Sarah, but considering the "Hazards" title, it is likely to be the one being kissed.

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