Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

Is it the angle or is she toughening up already?

It seems to me to be a combination of the angle and the fact that she doesn't seem to even be addressing the goblin - she's talking over it, rather than bending down.

The angle of her face gives her the appearance of a frown, or even a scowl, which belies the polite request for entry.

I suspect that if she's toughened up already, then this arc will need a different punch line than we have expected it to have.

It may be that she didn't need to toughen up. She just needed a reason to show the bedrock beneath the flowerbed -- such as being forced to slog through who knows how much muck and wet forest to get to what you expect to be a place of refuge.

It probably helps her situation that she looks like Something that came out of the Dark right now. The Goblin certainly seems impressed.

As I said in anouther thread a few days ago, some spoiled princesses break when their luxuries are taken away, others become so insenced by it they become unbreakably stubborn.

She looks pretty scary now.

I wonder if we have seen this castle before?

Probably not, given that we haven't spent much time in the South. An oversight our Most Royal Artist is clearly getting ready to rectify.

The Goblin may think that Goldie is some kind of hag right now... Won't he be surprised if he reports to his superiors that a powerful monster is demanding entry, only for her to take a bath and come out looking all rosey?

Goblin commander: "That's supposed to be a hag?"
Goblin guard: "She must be using a glamour to lure us into a feeling of false security!"
Goblin commander: "Crap, she must want to take over the place! Give her whatever she wants within reason, then turf her out in the morning. Nobody upset her!"

the last panel is only perfect if imaginated with the omnious lightning in the background as punctation

And maybe a brief crescendo of the soundtrack?