Comic for March 28, 2017

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Cpt.Obvious
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#31 Post by Cpt.Obvious »

NiWo21k wrote:
CrRAR wrote:The more interesting question this begs is, when and what did a squirrel (or squirrels) ever do to Maren to make her hate them so much? Aren't squirrels universally loved creatures!?
Maybe they never let her groom their fur and always jumped around her :wink:
CrRAR wrote: Now I'm just imagining a reality where Maren was on a never-ending defensive against a squirrelly onslaught at her inn. :squirrel:
The Taverndatter sisters in - "Squirrel Attack on the Inn"
A lot of people refer to squirrels as tree rats and consider them unclean and disgusting, only a step above the winged rats that I've occasionally heard referred to as "doves"...

While I personally have nothing against squirrels and actually like having them around I know people who have had problems with them. A neighbor put a tux out on the balcony to air it out. An hour later it lacked an arm as a squirrel had figured out it would make a nice rug for it's den. My neighbors never had the warm and fuzzies for squirrels after that.

Personally I think they are aliens. There is no way they can run up and down walls and cliffs like that without some kind of anti gravity generators... They may be aliens, but they are cute and funny aliens so that's OK... :mrgreen:

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Dadrobit
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#32 Post by Dadrobit »

More shenaniganry discourse! :mrgrin:
BadFoMo wrote:Would it help my argument if I stated that before he uploaded those pages he was having trouble trying to stay on schedule with the normal comic, yet he somehow found the time and energy for that prank?
Spoiler!
No, not really. Tom has certainly had times where the writing seems to more or less completely cease, but since 2008, Tom has maintained an alright average over the three month period of March-May at roughly 16 over that period. In the three month period of 2014 in particular, he actually put out 17 comics in total. The same as 2008 and more than we got in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016.

His record worsts are 13 in 2010 and 13 and a filler in 2012.

2013 saw a spike up to 22 due to the 2012 Kickstarter project where he promised a 2x per week update "for the foreseeable future". That future as we all recall lasted only until 2014 where it again dropped to roughly once per week.

Here's a visual representation of that.

Image

He was indeed having trouble keeping up that year simply because he was totally burnt out trying to keep up with a workload he hadn't been able to achieve in five years while maintaining a record high in quality. So good for him that he tried making his job fun again for himself.

Even though he did fall off of the 2x per week update schedule, it was still very much par for the course what we had seen him put out since 2008. But really, you're complaining that he was putting time and energy into trying to enjoy his work again after burning himself out?
BadFoMo wrote:
Spoiler!
I'm not saying that he shouldn't have any fun, I'm just saying that it must remain in its proper time frame.


I'm not sure if I can speak for others, but the reason I was upset with it was…

During: …because it came so far out of nowhere and (even though we are talking about a comic with magic happening all over the place/things that we have not seen or have explained to us yet) didn't seem to fit with the rest of the comic. Although not as bad as when Fox Fire Chronicles took the main protagonist from an already established setting on Earth (as well as conveniently write out his companions without killing them so the story could focus more around him) and placed him into a fantasy world which needed to be explained every so often, I felt like my favorite comic was going to be driven into the ground and now have all sorts of goofy/random things popping up everywhere and/or prematurely ended.

After: …because once I finally came to terms with the idea, finally started thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad and that it could fit in with the rest of the comic, it was all revealed to be an elaborate prank. A prank which I felt wasted a couple good updates worth of pages, and claiming that it was real in the news section should have had ‘bad idea’ written all over it.
Spoiler!
Please refer to my previous argument regarding his consistency of only posting April Fools jokes ~on~ April Fools Day. I do not think it just "came so far out of nowhere."

Posted April 1st
Posted April 1st
Posted April 1st :mrgrin:
Posted April 1st
Posted April 1st
Posted April 1st

You may notice that there are several years he hasn't made an April Fools Day joke. That's because he simply doesn't make one if it's not April Fools Day, and he has ~never~ posted a normal canon comic on April Fools Day either.

You have this idea that there's some secret mandate that makes it ~straight-up unlawful~ to have fun outside of "its proper time frame," and I don't personally see where he's done anything wrong. All he did was post an April Fools Day comic saga that at least ~started~ on April Fools Day like he has done every single time he has ever made a prank comic. Yeah, he took it further than most folks were expecting, but so what? We could have had 4 more story comics. Big whoop. Hell we could have had well over a hundred more by now if Tom kept to his Kickstarter promise for more than a year.

But to complain about a ~single~ month's silly updates for three years after the fact? To demand that Tom stop doing things that he likes to do just because one time years ago he did something that didn't jive with your own imaginary lawbook?

What are you doing man?
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SirJahar
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#33 Post by SirJahar »

Personally, the 2014 April fools wasn't his best, and the news post certainly only added to the confusion. I wasn't that invested in the comic yet at the time, so I wasn't mad like some people, but I was more scratching my head than laughing.

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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#34 Post by Warrl »

CrRAR wrote:Aren't squirrels universally loved creatures!?
A guy I know on another board definitely loves squirrels... and will happily share recipes for them.

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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#35 Post by RowanEx »

Tom might never had realized this, but he has two stories and if he doesn't have the will to focus on one, just switch! It's cool!
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Loveknowsbest
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#36 Post by Loveknowsbest »

Ok. I'm not familiar with April Fool's day 2014. But I feel that some authors would stop working on things if they become no longer Fun to do. This is his thing if he wants to have fun on the one day of the year he can then let him. Who did the Keith and Alaric thing? Because it almost fooled me? Funny. My advice to Tom is to keep having fun with his comic. It would e ashame if you became complacent in your passion.

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Cyon
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#37 Post by Cyon »

SirJahar wrote:Personally, the 2014 April fools wasn't his best, and the news post certainly only added to the confusion. I wasn't that invested in the comic yet at the time, so I wasn't mad like some people, but I was more scratching my head than laughing.
Yeah, it was slightly confusing at first, but once I understood that it was a joke and re-read it, I was laughing for quite a while!
BadFoMo wrote:
Spoiler!
I'm not saying that he shouldn't have any fun, I'm just saying that it must remain in its proper time frame.


I'm not sure if I can speak for others, but the reason I was upset with it was…

During: …because it came so far out of nowhere and (even though we are talking about a comic with magic happening all over the place/things that we have not seen or have explained to us yet) didn't seem to fit with the rest of the comic. Although not as bad as when Fox Fire Chronicles took the main protagonist from an already established setting on Earth (as well as conveniently write out his companions without killing them so the story could focus more around him) and placed him into a fantasy world which needed to be explained every so often, I felt like my favorite comic was going to be driven into the ground and now have all sorts of goofy/random things popping up everywhere and/or prematurely ended.

After: …because once I finally came to terms with the idea, finally started thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad and that it could fit in with the rest of the comic, it was all revealed to be an elaborate prank. A prank which I felt wasted a couple good updates worth of pages, and claiming that it was real in the news section should have had ‘bad idea’ written all over it.
Spoiler!
True, it did take up time that could have been used to make other pages, but pretending for it to be part of the real comic made it more believable in my opinion, something that would have been harder to believe if it had been flagged out as a prank from the start.

There's got to be some time for the joke to be taken in before it is debunked, otherwise where's the fun in it all?

Also, if it was posted on April the 1st, why did you believe it in the first place? A little backthought could have been enough to realise it might be a joke
Who even looks at signatures anyways?

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Hayate
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#38 Post by Hayate »

I personally love April Fools day stuff like that, and this if that's what it turns out to be xD. I don't think people have much reason to get bent out of shape over stuff like that. I'm not much of a fan of physical pranks and stuff though... Not when I'm involved in them anyways xD. Anyways, I'm looking forward to see where this is going haha
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Architect_Blasen
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#39 Post by Architect_Blasen »

Ok, just had an odd random thought... what if she's Nora in disguise? :o

Warrl
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#40 Post by Warrl »

Architect_Blasen wrote:Ok, just had an odd random thought... what if she's Nora in disguise? :o
There have been at least two previous forum discussions of Mrs. Nibbly's nature and origin - one of them quite recent. So far neither this thread nor this comic page have presented any ideas not in at least one of those discussions.

But that's okay. Unique ideas are not required.

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amenon
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#41 Post by amenon »

Warrl wrote:There have been at least two previous forum discussions of Mrs. Nibbly's nature and origin - one of them quite recent. So far neither this thread nor this comic page have presented any ideas not in at least one of those discussions.

But that's okay. Unique ideas are not required.
I feel like baby dragon specifically is a new take, but it's more than possible that I've just forgotten. Did anybody have that down?
]]> Twokinds search (search the comic based on art or text!)
     
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SirJahar
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#42 Post by SirJahar »

Looks like "No", from a search.

Cpt.Obvious
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#43 Post by Cpt.Obvious »

Loveknowsbest wrote:Ok. I'm not familiar with April Fool's day 2014. But I feel that some authors would stop working on things if they become no longer Fun to do. This is his thing if he wants to have fun on the one day of the year he can then let him. Who did the Keith and Alaric thing? Because it almost fooled me? Funny. My advice to Tom is to keep having fun with his comic. It would e ashame if you became complacent in your passion.
The problem with the 2014 Aprils joke was that it was dragged out over something like 3 or 4 strips, and it during the buildup it wasn't clear it was supposed to be a joke.

The way Tom made it look like he was going to throw away a lot of the story so far and break up at least on couple had people up in arms, and when some people started to troll the most rabid posters it turned into an ugly flame war. Personally I was on the sidelines just observing, at least that's how I want to remember it, I'm not going to wade through the crazy in those threads again to make sure I didn't make a fool of myself. But I remember thinking it looked as if Tom had lost his mind with these strips, however I was prepared to wait it out and see where it was going before taking sides...

Tom didn't have any idea that his elaborate joke would cause the calamity it did, or that so many people were taking his little fun comic so seriously. It got so bad that he posted a comment to the effect that he would not make another April first joke in the comic ever again. I think he didn't post one for 2015, but I seem to remember something being posted last year. The one thing changed was that it was a single strip with no buildup and it was an obvious joke.

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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#44 Post by MuonNeutrino »

Cpt.Obvious wrote:The problem with the 2014 Aprils joke was that it was dragged out over something like 3 or 4 strips, and it during the buildup it wasn't clear it was supposed to be a joke.

The way Tom made it look like he was going to throw away a lot of the story so far ... I remember thinking it looked as if Tom had lost his mind with these strips
My two cents on the 2014 april fool's thing...

I personally fall on the side of not really liking this 'holiday' to start with, mostly because it seems that a lot of people take it as a license to act like jerks in the name of so-called comedy. I'm not saying Tom was being a jerk, mind you, but that's background for my attitudes.

As for the particular events in question, as I said at the time, I would have had no problem with it at all if it had consisted of only the first two strips that were actually posted on the day in question, particularly if it had ended (as the 2013 one did) with an acknowledgement of the joke. In fact, the 2013 one is a good example of the sort of april fool's joke that I don't mind - not just in the context of twokinds/webcomics, but in general. It was a lighthearted, funny aside that basically just used the day as an excuse to be silly and make a joke, and didn't attempt to screw with people, inconvenience them, interrupt their day, or break their stuff or cause them harm. (Seriously, I have no idea how some people can think that it being april 1 can excuse the sort of malicious harmful 'pranks' that ought to get someone arrested.)

The problem came with the subsequent follow-ups, posted well after the date in question, carrying explicit assurances from the author that they were not jokes, and continuing a plotline that would have been harmless as a joke into something that seemed to threaten to seriously derail the comic's story to its detriment. It's the continued attempt to seriously deceive the readers into believing that a joke whose consequences they found distasteful was true, particularly by flat-out stating after the date had passed that they were not april fools jokes, that breaks it for me.

Going a bit beyond the event itself, though, I have issues with the apparent viewpoint that nobody is allowed to dislike something Tom does because 'it's his comic' or similar. Yes, of course, it's his comic and he can do whatever he wants with it. Nobody disputes that. However, that doesn't mean people aren't allowed to have opinions! And if they think that something Tom is doing would represent a detriment to the comic and its story, they are allowed to say so. And while he is, of course, under no obligation to do everything the readers tell him to, acting as if they are somehow not allowed to have a reaction to what they read is silly.

Twokinds is a story that many of us love dearly. If it wasn't, we wouldn't be here spending so much time and effort discussing it! People get emotionally invested in the characters and events of this tale and world that Tom's spinning for us. It doesn't give us ownership of those characters and events (which is where fans of a property can go too far), but we still feel like we have a stake in what happens - not because we own them, but because we enjoy experiencing them and don't want to lose that. And so, when something happens that seems like it threatens to change a thing we enjoy into a thing we wouldn't, it's a perfectly legitimate reaction to be distressed at the prospect. It's *that* that's at the root of the unhappiness people felt. It's not "grr how dare this author do something I don't like, this is MY story!", it's "I like this story, and I would be very sad if it changed into something I wouldn't like anymore". It's not that we think we own Twokinds and should dictate what happens, it's that we *love* Twokinds and don't want to lose it.

Tom would, of course, have been completely within his rights to continue on with that storyline if he chose do to so. But the readers would equally have been completely within their rights to think it was a bad storyline that grabbed a story they enjoyed and took it in a direction they didn't. It doesn't give them the right to forbid it from occurring, but telling people that they're not allowed to feel unhappy at the prospect of losing something they enjoyed is... off-putting, to say the least.
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SirJahar
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Re: Comic for March 28, 2017

#45 Post by SirJahar »

Honestly, the 2014 joke just doesn't seem as well executed as some of the others. The fact that it came so far out of left field should have been a giveaway, but he played it straight, up until the punchline. That may be a big part of what got him so much backlash, nobody was in on it even BEING a joke. And frankly, it wasn't that funny. Even looking over it again, it gets a small, confused laugh at the end, and a lot of head shaking.
If we are going to see something this year, at least we're not going into it expecting to read it seriously.

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