Penny Arcade - Comic - Right Round

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Penny Arcade - Comic - Right Round

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

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Wenxiox

Man, that Spong surely knows how to spin a story...

Ravelle

I had no idea what figet spinners were, I saw a sign on the windows of a toystores and to google it.

poipoigirl

One of the kids on my bus ( I work on a bus ) had one. It looked interesting enough that I got myself one.

Djiem

I think those "dig at the news" strips are even funnier with those realistic, serious-looking characters.

El Fantastico

The convenience store in front of my work has started selling these. For $13.99. The guy at the counter said he'd sold 25 yesterday.

It does absolutely nothing practical! Give me your 15 bucks, I can get a few Happy Meals with that at least.

Djiem

Well, I mean... It's just this generation's pogs. We had some stupid, useless shit in our days that every kid had because of marketing hype.

Skull2185

Woah woah woah.... pogs were the shit! Some stupid spinny satan disc.

patrizl001

I saw on twitter apparently someone choked on one, so yeah...

Swainwalker

Spong had better watch his back; Randy Pinkwood takes a backseat to nobody.

Train Dodger

Fidget Spinners represent everything I hate about our society. For one thing, the typical design is wasteful. A lump of injection-molded plastic, with four bearings in it, only one of which is actually used as a bearing. The other three are flyweights. The weights could be anything, even chunks of metal rod embedded in there, but they used three bearings. Wasteful.

Secondly, they're a distraction. They were invented by a woman who saw Palestinian kids throwing rocks at Israelis, and thought they needed something else to satisfy their urges. Maybe if their political representation and their wellbeing were seen to, they wouldn't be throwing rocks at people.

The good news, though, is that you can use them to destroy your enemies. Get a metal one and sharpen it on a belt sander. Then, spin it up with a portable air reservoir and cast it forth like a throwing star. The jugular-slitting never ends.

Mackenzier

Djiem wrote: »

I think those "dig at the news" strips are even funnier with those realistic, serious-looking characters.

Absolutely, yeah. The art and tone is spot on for this one!

Swainwalker

Train Dodger wrote: »

Fidget Spinners represent everything I hate about our society. For one thing, the typical design is wasteful. A lump of injection-molded plastic, with four bearings in it, only one of which is actually used as a bearing. The other three are flyweights. The weights could be anything, even chunks of metal rod embedded in there, but they used three bearings. Wasteful.

Doesn't putting bearings in the outer holes allow you to spin it asymmetrically?

Secondly, they're a distraction. They were invented by a woman who saw Palestinian kids throwing rocks at Israelis, and thought they needed something else to satisfy their urges. Maybe if their political representation and their wellbeing were seen to, they wouldn't be throwing rocks at people.

Of course they're a distraction, they're toys.

Call Hasbro, tell them we're pulling their R&D personnel and sending them to diplomatic talks in the Middle East.

Linktm

Fidget Cube > Fidget Spinner

Fight me.

Skull2185

Skull2185 wrote: »

Woah woah woah.... pogs were the shit! Some stupid spinny satan disc got nothing on pogs.

Edit: I apparently posted half a thought... finished my sentence!

Edit 2: Fuck I quoted instead of editing. I'm on a roll this morning...

Ravelle

Djiem wrote: »

Well, I mean... It's just this generation's pogs. We had some stupid, useless shit in our days that every kid had because of marketing hype.

Slapping cards was a big thing at my school.

Jam Warrior

Train Dodger wrote: »

They were invented by a woman who saw Palestinian kids throwing rocks at Israelis, and thought they needed something else to satisfy their urges. Maybe if their political representation and their wellbeing were seen to, they wouldn't be throwing rocks at people.

WTF? Where the hell did you pick up that vile little story?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/03/fidget-spinner-inventor-patent-catherine-hettinger

Lucascraft

I've got a friend at work who has had a fidget spinner for like 6 months. Well before this kids craze has been going on. I asked him what it was, and he told me that it was specifically designed to hold the attention of ADD and ADHD people. Watching the spinner spin helps him focus and concentrate. Or anyway that's what he told me it was for.

Jam Warrior

Lucascraft wrote: »

I've got a friend at work who has had a fidget spinner for like 6 months. Well before this kids craze has been going on. I asked him what it was, and he told me that it was specifically designed to hold the attention of ADD and ADHD people. Watching the spinner spin helps him focus and concentrate. Or anyway that's what he told me it was for.

See above article. They've become widely used for what you say, but were first invented purely as a simple kids toy.

Oddfish

patrizl001 wrote: »

I saw on twitter apparently someone choked on one, so yeah...

Why would you try to eat it? It's not food.

I have no sympathy here. This device is not food nor does it resemble food.

Until I read a news story about rampant deaths by asphyxiation associated with this widget I'm going to chalk that up to getting Darwin'd and move on.

I'm sure there have been kids who've choked on the tiny gameboy cartridges, too. But they're not food, either. I think those stories go by the wayside because everyone agrees not to tell people it was a cartridge.

"How'd Timmy die?"
"Fuckin' huge eagle ripped him in half."
"Word."

And that's Timmy's story ended. No mention of the Geometry Wars 2 cartridge lodged in his esophagus.

TiamatZ

Jam Warrior wrote: »

WTF? Where the hell did you pick up that vile little story?

A few sites apparently. Just from a quick google search...

http://nypost.com/2017/05/05/woman-who-invented-fidget-spinners-isnt-getting-squat/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-11/how-the-fidget-spinner-origin-story-spun-out-of-control
http://forward.com/fast-forward/371118/fidget-spinners-were-created-to-stop-palestinians-from-attacking-israelis/

Enlong

KalTorak wrote: »

Spong had better watch his back; Randy Pinkwood takes a backseat to nobody.

Oh, you'd be surprised at how well he takes the backseat.

Skull2185

Oddfish wrote: »

patrizl001 wrote: »

I saw on twitter apparently someone choked on one, so yeah...

Why would you try to eat it? It's not food.

Kids be putting non-food items in their mouths all the time. I used to suck on pennies when I was a young boy. I liked how the metal zinged my tongue. Then I accidentally swallowed one and that's how my mom found out about my penny hobby and got super mad at me. I also used to play a game with paperclips and powerstrips. The paperclips were keys, and the outlets on the strips were locks...

Not sure how I didn't die as a kid...

Jam Warrior

TiamatZ wrote: »

Jam Warrior wrote: »

WTF? Where the hell did you pick up that vile little story?

A few sites apparently. Just from a quick google search...

http://nypost.com/2017/05/05/woman-who-invented-fidget-spinners-isnt-getting-squat/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-11/how-the-fidget-spinner-origin-story-spun-out-of-control
http://forward.com/fast-forward/371118/fidget-spinners-were-created-to-stop-palestinians-from-attacking-israelis/

Bizarre. Not come across that aspect before. What a very odd story to link your idea for a kids toy.

dennis

Train Dodger wrote: »

Maybe if their political representation and their wellbeing were seen to, they wouldn't be throwing rocks at people.

So... would this be injection molded, or die cast, or what?

Swainwalker

Skull2185 wrote: »

Oddfish wrote: »

patrizl001 wrote: »

I saw on twitter apparently someone choked on one, so yeah...

Why would you try to eat it? It's not food.

Kids be putting non-food items in their mouths all the time. I used to suck on pennies when I was a young boy. I liked how the metal zinged my tongue. Then I accidentally swallowed one and that's how my mom found out about my penny hobby and got super mad at me. I also used to play a game with paperclips and powerstrips. The paperclips were keys, and the outlets on the strips were locks...

Not sure how I didn't die as a kid...

apparently as a toddler I enjoyed eating sand at the beach.

I still have a weakness for salt

Darkewolfe

7-11 has these things. I was wondering if I'd find it $5 worth of entertaining or not.

wallywest

Had to Google, never heard of 'em.

The comic is spot on however, in terms of how the media operates. It's not even much of an exaggeration.

Gyral

My wife is a teacher and she told me about the infestation of these in her classes. She swears up and down that they actually help some of her students who have attention deficit issues focus on their classwork.

Preacher

I had never heard of these things until like two weeks ago in chat, and now they are everywhere. MADNESS!!!

El Fantastico

Djiem wrote: »

Well, I mean... It's just this generation's pogs. We had some stupid, useless shit in our days that every kid had because of marketing hype.

Pogs?

Back in my day, we had those plastic/cheap painted, not-rubber pacifiers that people wore around their necks.

And before that (or maybe around the same time), were these dumb clacking toy things.



Basically, these new-fangled kids toys can get off my lawn. And I'm not even a retired home owner yet!

Skull2185

Click-Clackers wern't dumb either, shut up!

*sits in bath-tub full of pogs and gets the click-clacker to go like... maybe twice before falling out of rhythm*

Train Dodger

Back when I was a kid, we had Lego, K'nex and Lincoln Logs. Toys that invited you to think, to create, not to stare into the center of a spinning bauble while it hypnotizes your problems away.

Djiem

Click-clackers were absolutely fucking stupid!

I had one and loved it.

At least the fidget spinner doesn't produce headache-inducing noise.

Skull2185

All those things still exist too, isn't that neat?

Tofystedeth

Djiem wrote: »

Click-clackers were absolutely fucking stupid!

I had one and loved it.

At least the fidget spinner doesn't produce headache-inducing noise.

What about that thing with the 2 U shaped rails and the magnetic wheel?

Skull2185

Tofystedeth wrote: »

Djiem wrote: »

Click-clackers were absolutely fucking stupid!

I had one and loved it.

At least the fidget spinner doesn't produce headache-inducing noise.

What about that thing with the 2 U shaped rails and the magnetic wheel?

It's entirely dependent on if the magnetic wheel has flashing lights or not.

jothki

Oddfish wrote: »

patrizl001 wrote: »

I saw on twitter apparently someone choked on one, so yeah...

Why would you try to eat it? It's not food.

I have no sympathy here. This device is not food nor does it resemble food.

Until I read a news story about rampant deaths by asphyxiation associated with this widget I'm going to chalk that up to getting Darwin'd and move on.

I'm sure there have been kids who've choked on the tiny gameboy cartridges, too. But they're not food, either. I think those stories go by the wayside because everyone agrees not to tell people it was a cartridge.

"How'd Timmy die?"
"Fuckin' huge eagle ripped him in half."
"Word."

And that's Timmy's story ended. No mention of the Geometry Wars 2 cartridge lodged in his esophagus.

Nintendo actually decided to go out of its way to make Switch cartridges taste terrible.

Hahnsoo1

Train Dodger wrote: »

Back when I was a kid, we had Lego, K'nex and Lincoln Logs. Toys that invited you to think, to create, not to stare into the center of a spinning bauble while it hypnotizes your problems away.

Umm, there was no shortage of shitty popular toys during those times, either. Slinkies, Cup and Ball, Paddleball, etc.

zaitcev

Skull2185 wrote: »

Oddfish wrote: »

patrizl001 wrote: »

I saw on twitter apparently someone choked on one, so yeah...

Why would you try to eat it? It's not food.

Kids be putting non-food items in their mouths all the time. I used to suck on pennies when I was a young boy. I liked how the metal zinged my tongue. Then I accidentally swallowed one and that's how my mom found out about my penny hobby and got super mad at me.

Welcome to the club. I did the same when I was in the 2nd grade, but I swallowed a large coin (it was a 5 kop. coin -- a bit smaller than a silver dollar, I think, but significantly larger than modern U.S. quarter). It became stuck in my esophagus. I reported the event to my teacher, who then got my mom. I ended in a hospital in the capital of the country. The surgery team stuck a probe in my throat and tried to grab the coin. BTW, it wasn't one of those flexible ones: the probe was a metal pipe, through which surgeons drove the tools down. And now you know that it's possible to stick a straight pipe through a person's mouth all the way into the stomach, by twisting the neck in a certain way. You're welcome. Long story short, they were unable to extract the coin, so they pushed it down into my stomach. They kept me under observation for a few days in the hospital, in case the coin lodged itself in the intestines. But apparently it mostly dissolved in the stomach.

dennis

Train Dodger wrote: »

Back when I was a kid, we had Lego, K'nex and Lincoln Logs. Toys that invited you to think, to create, not to stare into the center of a spinning bauble while it hypnotizes your problems away.

Yeah, tell me about it. These days all we have are programmable caterpillars, circuits that 5 year olds can build, virtual reality paint studios and games that you can write elaborate mods for. I mean, where's the lernin'?!