What's the difference between an illithid and a plaintiff's IP lawyer? One is a Lawful Evil aberration with a penchant for thought control and the other is a squid-thingy.
Cast[]
- The Order of the Stick
- Mr. Jones ▶
- Phil Rodriguez ▶
- Squid Thingy ◀
- Sunny (initially unnamed but later confirmed)▶
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
The mind flayer continues to eat Roy's brains, "slurp slurp". Two men in suits enter from the left.
Roy: No, seriously, guys
Mr. Jones: Everybody freeze!
- Panel 2
Roy: Who the hell are you?
Phil Rodriguez: We're magical knights!
Mr. Jones: No, we're lawyers.
Belkar: Crap!
- Panel 3
Phil Rodriguez: The spoooooky wizard sent us!
Mr. Jones: Yeah, the spooky wizard who lives by the coast, if you get my drift.
- Panel 4
Phil Rodriguez: And we're on a quest to—
Mr. Jones: Phil we're not going to blend here. Just cut it out.
- Panel 5
Mr. Jones: My name is Mr. Jones and this is my colleague, Mr. Rodriguez. We're here to serve you with a Cease and Desist order.
Phil Rodriguez: A spoooooky Cease and Desist.
- Panel 6
Mr. Jones: That monster right there is Product Identity. It was never released to the SRD, and your encounter with it constitutes a violation of my client's intellectual property.
- Panel 7
Roy: What, you mean the Mind Fla[cut off]
Roy's speech bubble is cut off by Mr. Jones' speech bubble.
Mr. Jones (interrupting): DON'T say it! It's trademarked.
- Panel 8
Lawyers leading the Mind Flayer off stage left
Mr. Jones: OK, buddy, you're coming with us.
Phil Rodriguez: To see the wizard!
Mr. Jones: Shut up. Phil.
- Panel 9
Mr. Jones pops back in
Mr. Jones: Oh, and Blondie: Try to keep your clothes on. Kids play this game.
- Panel 10
A Beholder appears stage right holding a book titled: "OOTS Script #33"
Beholder: So, uh... does this mean you're not going to need me?
Haley: We'll call you.
D&D Context[]
- The "spooky wizard who lives by the coast" is a reference to the Wizards of the Coast company, and the complex copyright issues concerning concepts names and beings among the RPG merchandise.
- Most D&D monsters are classic fantasy monsters, like dragons and chimeras, and therefore Wizards of the Coast would have a tough time claiming trademark on them. However, certain monsters like the Mind Flayer and Beholder (seen at the end of the comic) were created by D&D's writers and can be claimed by Wizards of the Coast.
- The SRD (System Reference Document) referred to by Mr. Jones is a set of role-playing mechanics released under an open game license by Wizards of the Coast. Many, but not all, of the D&D 3.5 mechanics were released in the SRD.
Trivia[]
- "To see the wizard" is a reference to a song from The Wizard of Oz
- This is the first appearance of the two lawyers.
- This is the final appearance of Squid Thingy the mind flayer.
- The Beholder who briefly appears in the strip is Sunny. (Confirmed in Batter's Eye.)
- In the PDF edition of Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, Belkar's "Crap!" speech balloon on the second panel is rendered in the old font (Comic Sans), even though the rest of the book has been converted to the new font (CC Wild Words).