Quote Originally Posted by Morgaln View Post
We can't really judge what was a "late addition," since we have no idea where the story is even going. No one in the comic has an actual goal or plan what they want to do. Well, apart from Big Ears, who wants to get rid of the axe in a way that saves the world. Of course the axe breaking has happened so long ago and has been ignored by pretty much everyone to the point where it just doesn't feel important at all, let alone urgent. Of course that's not all that surprising; the goblins have long ago handed the reins of main character over to Minmax, and he doesn't care about the axe.
There are so many things going on with the axe that don't make much sense from a writing perspective...

Number one is Ears interacting with it. It's like his mental acuity ebbs and flows at random times. The most recent attempt to get Complains to grab it is super weird, since it would make the world go to hell faster.

If we concern ourselves more with writing than with the characters, Ear's decision to go down to hell was oddly placed. Goblins is choke full of posturing, and Ears does have some big ham moments; but the problem is that the whole thing is done at a moment when there is no way for Ears to actually go down there. And yet he speaks with absolute certainty, as if the readers wouldn't be more perplexed than impressed by the whole situation.

Another weird writing decision is the reason why the axe broke. Ears understands that it happened because he was fighting Fumbles, who is good. Fumbles has a weapon that destroys magical bindings, but Ears doesn't know it yet, so he creates an articulate explanation for why hurting Kore was evil. However, when the nature of the staff is revealed, no one seems to make the connection. And it worries me that Ears may have been right, in spite of the fact that his explanation boils down to "we should not have helped Chief and, once we did, I should have left myself and my friends die, and abandoned the axe to Kore", because the writing simply doesn't care about Fumbles's staff, as far as the axe is concerned (either that, or Ears' epiphany is being postponed beyond any reasonableness).

Then we have the placement of the axe breaking within the overall story: the Goblins are simply running away and trying to reach their village. Strictly speaking, they don't need to fight Kore, and they should aim for losing him, but that is probably beyond them, so they need to try to avoid him while preparing for a new confrontation. Then the axe breaks, but their practicable objectives don't change at all. They just randomly meet some added popcorn demons they can easily kill.

And, finally, the weird way the camera is being used. Showing the village would have given the readers a reason more to care about the GAP getting there; but it also would have allowed to show what is happening around the realm. In other words, is Brassmoon being destroyed by demons? What about the village, or random civilians living on the countryside? How urgent is this axe thing, on a planetary scale?