Bringing the Thunder by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)

My 34th submission to DYOS X: [[link]](https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/draw-your-own-story-x-the-avatar-wars.244426/page-44#post-7081881)
Special Musical Guest: ["Weird Al" Yankovic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw)

The last "canonical" page for the original Avatar Wars story arc. By now I can't recall if it was something decided by official consensus or just a mutual inference; either way, it was the first time we'd actually achieved a proper bookend. The thread continued, of course—I think I'd set up λftermath as an open-ended springboard, though after a brief anarchy it soon became Act I of the Gem Saga.

Whether I'd intended the Purple Box to hold Thunderfall's soul from the outset is a question lost to the mists of time; I know by the time of his rescue I'd settled on the plot device and instructed @GenMarshall as such. This was still when DYOS was basically to each his own, and the purpose of the twist was tacked on in post-facto exposition—a wasted opportunity if ever there was one. How Toyoda managed to acquire it is one of the great mysteries of DYOS lore. ;)

To my knowledge, this is the first comic to feature an Easter egg in the form of an embedded link to off-site music. Other contributors started to pick up on it toward thread's end, and as early as the sequel some people (myself included) were even foregrounding 'official' accompanying soundtracks. Now it's at the point I'm brainstorming whole albums for the climactic battles in X.ii and XII...

The opening panels allude to this; the final line is cribbed from a Frantics sketch. "Makes Ben-Hur look like [One] Day in the Life of Ivan Densiovich" is from a film review around that time; for the life of me I can't recall which one.

Operation Flashpoint/ArmA: Cold War Assault © Bohemia Interactive

[Originally submitted to DeviantArt October 2017.]