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Throwing my hat into the Elaine discussion, while I have loved every single one of her appearances, I always enjoyed her character the most when her being a competent badass also did not take too much away from LeChuck's credibility as a legitimate threat. While the end of Secret was great because it took what was the typical damsel in distress trope and turned it on its head, it also made LeChuck look like a buffoon, which perhaps was the point. That being said, I think the real payoff was LeChuck's character in the sequel; the fact that not only does he not seem to care about Elaine, but the fact that he doesn't even mention or reference her, not even indirectly, once is actually really disturbing. There is something so disturbing and personal going on just beneath the surface of LeChuck's Revenge, that the ending truly feels earned. LeChuck being Guybrush's brother always felt more than just a blatant Star Wars ripoff, because of the personal nature their battle became during the course of that game. Going back to Elaine though, I think I loved her portrayal in Tales the most because of how it weighed her intelligence and resourcefulness against LeChuck's malice, and Guybrush's effectiveness as the protagonist, a little more evenly. While Elaine was always still partially two steps ahead, I always found it made sense that she would never believe a human LeChuck was good because she also knew him before he became undead; he was evil even back then. Despite that though, LeChuck still gained the upper hand and we later learn it partially had to do with a voodoo trust charm he was using. It was oddly satisfying to see LeChuck become such a credible threat to the point that the entire world and the afterlife were at stake by the end. Tales did so much right from a story and character perspective in my opinion, but I truly loved what it also did for LeChuck as a villain. It showed his ambitions extended far beyond Elaine and revenge; he also wanted power, riches, and to conquer everything. He was just despicable in the last chapter of that game. How he so overtly abused Elaine just showed his obsession for her was nothing more than an extension of his need to control everything and everyone he lusts for. I loved the crazy escalation in Tales; the stakes have never been so high to the point that everything was burning and LeChuck was even taking over the spiritual dimension. It made perfect sense that Elaine just by herself couldn't stop him. She was far from helpless, but it took everyone in the end to finally take down LeChuck. I found that a perfect balance for everyone's character. The fact that Dave helmed the project with Ron's input really validated it for me. Sorry, that was a little bit of a tangent for my love of Tales. Going to Elaine's relationship with Guybrush, it actually always made a lot of sense to me. I think to call Guybrush just a dork misses the entire point of his character. Yes, he's a dork but he also has a razor sharp wit that enables him to overcome impossible odds. Him managing to infiltrate Elaine's mansion and go toe-to-toe with a disguised LeChuck probably really made him stand out to Elaine, along with the mutual physical attraction. One of the reasons Guybrush is such a great character is that when he does have a moment of badass, it's so disarming and satisfying. Maybe that's what Elaine sees in him lol.

I don't think Elaine is underused in 1 and 2 at all. In SoMI you are right, she is an important character to the story, but only because Guybrush puts so much importance into rescuing her. He is acting as this is the most important thing of his life. But when you reunite with her in the church, she is like "Er, what are you doing here?". I love this because, while Guybrush only had her on his mind throughout his whole rescue mission, she never even thought of him. He is just a guy she met shortly before she got "kidnapped". (I'm not suggesting Guybrush is not important to her around that time, but he has nothing to do with her own goal of dealing with LeChuck at that time). In Monkey 2 it's even stronger: Elaine lives her new life on Booty Island, and Guybrush primarily sees her as an obstacle on his quest for getting a map piece. Her little role in this game works because there is a big distance between the two, and none of them are interested in getting back together (or, at least it's not their top priority at the time). All these things work for me so well is because the writing for Elaine suggests she is having a life off-screen, with own goals and desires that she is not sharing with Guybrush (and the player). So, I think the lack of Elaine is not a lack of writing. She just busy.

Done! I've updated the previews above and added a link, and I'll add them to the opening post eventually. This looks like a very minor cleanup, but filtering out this heavy halftone was tricky. Plus a lot of work painting out 99% of dust, dirt and scratches. Thanks @Jake for great scans and a suffering wallet.

I haven't watched this yet, but here's Adam Savage looking at one of the original Grail Diary props (which will be going up for auction in a few days!):

TEH HUEG NEWS There's a galley, and a ship, and a lamp, and a soup, perhaps even a vichyssoise, and and and ... a Guybrush! Seriously folks, interactive lighting effects in a Monkey Island game, I feel good about this. Might help Mr. Brush to reveal all those pirate symbols on that dozen islands that we're going to visit. Also! Dave tweeted that roughly half are Dominic's lines, and of course hilarity ensued. So, 8,357 dialog lines in CMI, and about 5,000 of those were LeChuck explaining his evil plan. Sounds better and better for Return to Monkey Island.

Very true. Elaine didn't have too much of a personality until the end of SOMI. She's basically nothing more than a reason for Guybrush to go to Monkey Island. It's all very deliberately campy though. Very silly and cartoonish. (Elaine was only named "Elaine" after someone put a reference to The Graduate into the dialogue. Presumably she was Girlbrush until then!) Of course my 12 year old self thought their courtship was all very realistic and set my expectations for future relationships 😥

https://mixnmojo.com/news/Tami-Borowick-interviewed-by-another-more-professional-website Sharing this on the forums because I have no time to watch this just now, but am dying to know if there are interesting Monkey Island tidbits! 😅

Then again, we're supposed to identify the parts that Ron wrote himself when the characters suddenly get all grumpy.

That looks fantastic!

Elaine from Seinfeld is a no-no for me, even though I'm a huge fan of the show. She's way too self centered and petty for MI Elaine though. Since we're in sitcom territory, how about Jane Leeves in Frasier? She and Niles develop a similar relationship! And she has the accent down!

American: Laura Dern in Jurassic Park could pull it off. She doesn't take bullshit and gets things done, but has a side to her that's warm and kind. British: Can't think of a specific performance but something in the region of Emily Blunt?

Hi all! My name ie Benjamin and I come from Belgium. I have a side project to recreate the original manual of Monkey Island 1 in HD version. Why ? Because I found the manuals on the web not in a real good shape and I have a personal project based on the Big box of Monkey Island. If someone tells me it exists, my ears are opened So I have started to recreated it from scratch using the right fonts and the right dimensions. (It might be a bit larger here because I'm on a A5 template). I'm using Affinity Publisher. I have already created 5 pages of it and I'll share the final HD version of it if someone is interested ! Just let me know. And if someone wants to give a help, just drop me a MP. I'm a computer scientist not a designer so any help in creating it or cleaning the images from the manuals I've (adjust contrasts, lights, etc) might be interesting for the project. Stay tuned ! Have a good night ! EDIT 14/06/2022 Here are the link for the latest files and latest online version to comment Link to shared files https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1y2MQqnaUTx6K2VM611F09XCTwLzVyv5b?usp=sharing Link to comment latest version https://assets.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:799b14d4-5e4b-4bab-b703-5a42ad104a64?view=published

Hi all, small updates done: * Mispellings * Comments added * Some missed bold typo * Small leaves moves from 7 to 8 pt and has been moved to a nearly perfect position I have added the updated links for shared files and comment review on first post and will do so if I creates another version. Time to go to bed !

Oh, right. It's that scene that I completely missed, like, my first five runs through TSoMI because I always solved the idol task last. 🥇❌ 🥈⚔️ 🥉👩‍🦰

The more I think about it the more I think that Elaine really hasn't had a decent outing in the series except for Tales. In 1 she has a couple of short scenes with Guybrush, one of which doesn't even happen if you do the thievery trial last. In 2 she gets a brief appearance in the intro, a short conversation and then another couple of lines at the end of the flashback. In the context of that, it's little wonder that the later games weren't too sure what to do with her. She's barely there. In 3 she basically gets a bit of dialogue in the intro, then a brief conversation with Guybrush. In Escape she finally has a larger role but also seems to undergo a radical personality change.

True about Meathook, but the tables were more than turned later. ("Excuse me, Guybrush. Does the word 'keelhaul' mean anything to you?") Re: Elaine's line, I took it more to mean, "That fool's monkeying around with a nuclear weapon!"

You can see that the game speeds up, because the animated fires in the background speed up as well. (I wonder if that's why the animation was removed in the VGA talkie version.) Edit: Oddly enough, it seems that (arguably) glitch was worked around in the non-interactive demos.

Until he visits Meathook. Rude! That, or she tries to stop him from doing something bad with the treasure. (Although, that doesn't cancel out your point, she still could care for his safety at that moment.)

Guybrush goes through a fairly significant personality change with each outing. He's a likable combination of nebbish and plucky in MI1, and becomes more of a blowhard and a jerk by the events of MI2. He's more humbled and easygoing in CMI, almost like the trauma of Big Whoop restored some perspective or something. In EMI he reemerges as "first gentleman" Guybrush, a role he seems to take to pretty enthusiastically, even while he spends the whole game being emasculated as a punch line. There's something Spongebob-like about this version of Guybrush, where everybody seems to find him stupid/insufferable and he just barrels forward unfazed. Then the game ends with he and Elaine recognizing that the two of them aren't meant to be the landed gentry, and they return to a more rough-edged piratey life, which is where we find them in TMI. Elaine's trajectory is also interesting because as some have noted, Guybrush's feelings for her in MI1 weren't necessary requited in a totally unambiguous way, and in MI2 she seems over him -- and yet, she has feelings enough for him to sail all the way to Dinky Island to try to bail him out of his latest mess. How we find her in CMI is a bit jarring though it could be read that her thinking Guybrush was dead clarified her feelings for him. There seems to be a bit of lost time between MI2 and CMI in which much can be read.

True, but to me this was Elaine simply looking for a one-night stand, and nothing serious (at that moment at least). I can see their relationship crumble not long after the credits of SoMI, when Guybrush won't shut up about how great he is. It is not a huge stretch to me either, that she would eventually fall in love with that dork. But it bums me out because the last time she saw him he was such a huuuge asshole. Since this is all I know about the two, it makes me yell at the screen "Nooo! You deserve better, Elaine! Find someone else, girl!". To me her love for Guybrush in Curse doesn't feel like lazy writing though, it just sounds like the game skipped a whole chapter where the two (and we) learn why they like like each other. Man, I wish we could learn what really happened after the end of Monkey 2...

The line read that makes me want to carve my face off is the very beginning of MI2SE:

It’s worth noting that MI1 is where we first saw Elaine doting on Guybrush with very little reason to do so. She almost immediately flips from being quite standoffish to wanting his clothes off and inviting him back to her place. The hot/cold nature of the relationship was established in those two games, so it doesn’t seem a crazy stretch to me that she’d be feeling loved up again months/years after losing him to Big Whoop (I forget if the game said how long).

@BillyCheers, let me just say that it looks absolutely gorgeous. Truly. I have been travelling in the last few days, once I'm back home and at the computer, I will make a suggestion for the track list. Would love to have everyone's input of what the ideal track list would be like. Thank you for doing this

Escape from Monkey Island has the best Guybrush design, and the red suit is iconic

Yeah, it always felt more like a mic drop than a setup to me. I thought it baffling when Ron started publicly pushing the idea that he imagined the saga as a trilogy, with a third game paying off the mysteries. I am not surprised he walked that back. When Ron alludes admiringly to the ending of Blazing Saddles, he suggests an intention that I find way more convincing than anything supportive of a "master plan" idea. I would also contend that there's nothing coincidental about the fact that MI2 should be developed at a time when Twin Peaks was at the height of its influence. Dreamy/ambiguous/middle finger punchouts have always been a thing, but they were kind of in vogue at that time in particular. Examples like Barton Fink or Raimi's original ending to Army of Darkness come to mind. By no means does the early 90s have a monopoly on these Deal With It type endings, but they certainly seemed to be "in the air" for a while there.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks manual!