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PA Comic: Friday, March 2nd - Pro-Antagonism

StericaSterica YesRegistered User, Moderator mod
edited March 2012 in The Penny Arcade Hub
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Sterica on

Posts

  • FandeathisFandeathis Registered User regular
    This is also how I feel about the show to be honest.

    You fuck wit' Die Antwoord, you fuck wit' da army.
  • Maz-Maz- 飛べ Registered User regular
    They've mostly hit the nail on the head.

    ESPECIALLY regarding Lori.

    Dear god.

    Fuck that bitch goose.

    The show has definitely gotten better again after the mid-season break but it's definitely still got issues. They really need to work on the people / zombie ratio.

    Add me on Switch: 7795-5541-4699
  • FandeathisFandeathis Registered User regular
    Yes, the last 3 episodes after the break have been better, but every single character just seems to make the most moronic decisions. Shane and Andrea are the worst offenders IMO, but even likeable characters like Rick, Glenn, Dale, and Daryl have their unbearably dumb moments.

    You fuck wit' Die Antwoord, you fuck wit' da army.
  • SaraLunaSaraLuna Registered User regular
    that chair does not appear to be in optimal position for comfortable tv viewing

  • HuxleyHuxley Registered User regular
    It's been turned away in disgust.

  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    Watching Walking Dead just makes me more glad that Mad Men starts again in 3 weeks.

  • BobbleBobble Registered User regular
    Javen wrote: »
    Watching Walking Dead just makes me more glad that Mad Men starts again in 3 weeks.

    Can we have zombies in Mad Men? Or perhaps a few zombies in Walking Dead could show up wearing suits.

  • Robot FeverRobot Fever gets the blood flowing Registered User regular
    Where's the joke? All I see is a laser-precise description of Walking Dead.
    But if the survivors shouted advertising pitches as they killed zombies...it could be the best cross-over ever.

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    I wanna be the guy who goes "Typo!" this time.

    There's a missing word in the first panel!

    Okay I'm done. And I've never watched the show. However, when it comes to how many zombie themed thing there are for the last ten years, I'm comfortable with letting the zombies win now.

    Edit -
    that chair does not appear to be in optimal position for comfortable tv viewing
    Huxley wrote: »
    It's been turned away in disgust.
    Awesome.

    Henroid on
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    I've only read the comic, but the characters seemed likeable to me...

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  • FandeathisFandeathis Registered User regular
    The show is nothing like the comic.

    You fuck wit' Die Antwoord, you fuck wit' da army.
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    I have never watched this show, I keep meaning to. Now I have some misgivings.

  • kingworkskingworks Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    I enjoy the show. I enjoy the comic - for different reasons. Yes, the people can and do get on my nerves (in both mediums), but I persevere.

    Full disclosure, I stopped reading it after the 4th hardcover (end of the Governor arc).

    kingworks on
  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    I wanna be the guy who goes "Typo!" this time.

    There's a missing word in the first panel!
    Yep. There's also a typo in the second panel. In this case it's an extra word. Maybe they're supposed to cancel each other out.

    There were also two errors in the newspost, so maybe this is just Tychpo Friday.

  • SaraLunaSaraLuna Registered User regular
    I got the season 1 dvds when they were $10 somewhere.
    ep 1: this is kinda cool
    ep 2: this is ok
    ep 3: bored now
    never bothered watching beyond that.

    Felt like the early story could've made a better movie than series.

  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    At some point, there needs to be a zombie series with an ongoing civil war between the shambling zombies that want to hunt down the living, kill them, and eat their brains and the shambling zombies who want to hunt down the living, kill them, and leave their bodies alone so they'll become more zombies.

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    This is my exact sentiment about the game Dead Island. Good lord, I was rooting for the zombies by the end of the game. The protagonists are both stupid (not as in "I disapprove of them" but actually mentally deficient) and terrible human beings. It's still a fun game in co-op, however, but most co-op games are.

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  • milk ducksmilk ducks High Mucky Muck Big Tits TownRegistered User regular
    kingworks wrote: »
    I enjoy the show. I enjoy the comic - for different reasons. Yes, the people can and do get on my nerves (in both mediums), but I persevere.

    Same. I enjoyed the comic, and I enjoy the show.

  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    I've only read the comic, but the characters seemed likeable to me...

    I liked the comic for the most part, and I've seen a few episodes from season 1. The show succeeds in some things (the zombies consistently look great, for one thing), but based on my small sampling there were some problems with creating meaningful characters.

    random season 1
    one-dimensional misogynistic southern hick who beats his wife basically only existed so the audience can cheer him getting eaten by zombies.

    Also in the season finale, when the woman stays behind with the CDC doctor to die in the explosion, I didn't care. There didn't seem to be a reason to care that she died, and none of the characters seemed to care much either, despite the fact that it was apparently supposed to be this dramatic decision. It got even more undercut by the blonde woman also deciding to stay, and the old guy making a stand and eventually persuading her not to.

  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    *twitch*

    Star Chamber... it's been dead to me for a while.

    Especially after they finally released the Mac client for it, got bought by SOE, and then discontinued it a few months later.

    It was cool that one of their employees was keeping it up to date in his spare time, but I think I figured if the company itself wasn't going to support it, why should I put any more money into it?

    Fuck SOE. They basically killed that company.

    PMAvers on
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    COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
  • Victory63Victory63 Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    I love these random banter strips between Tycho and Gabe. Sure this is something that's been happening for the past 13 years but it's still something I enjoy.

    On a random note, the hoodie with the SWTOR Dark side icon which Gabe was wearing in the comic "Side Effects May Include" is being turned into an official shirt by J!NX:
    http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20120302

    Victory63 on
  • The Good Doctor TranThe Good Doctor Tran Registered User regular
    Javen wrote: »
    Watching Walking Dead just makes me more glad that Mad Men starts again in 3 weeks.

    LoL & Spiral Knights & MC & SMNC: Carrington - Origin: CarringtonPlus - Steam: skdrtran
  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    edited March 2012
    The show needed a better set up than what they gave. Starting with the "straight man" waking up to a zombie infested world is done to death. It's also entirely what's wrong with people who want to "do zombies". Zombies aren't done to death, in fact they're rarely done at all. Everything about what makes zombie movies, and zombie books, and zombie games earn the descriptor "Zombie" is two words; Survivalist....Mentality. Zombie media is zombie media because it revolves around the basic instinct of the characters to survive and more-so because it revolves around the protagonist's efforts to survive zombies. It focuses on the downfalls and upswings of humanity due to the protagonist's drive to survive and it brings the "us and them" conflict of surviving a great resurgence within society into a greater context. It takes an undead hammer to society and humanity so that we can look at the pieces and determine what it is. THAT is zombie media, and it's only possible to convey if the antagonist is relate-able or at least identifiable as human

    The reason zombies aren't "done to death" is that no one is actually "doing zombies", they remove the whole "survival" part of the zombie genre and instead use the physical zombies as a vehicle to deliver whatever they want. It's no more a "Zombie" product than Frankenberry cereal is a "Science Fiction Horror" cereal.

    Dawn of the Dead (the 2000s remake) was not a zombie movie. It was an anti-consumerist movie that happens to have zombies.
    Resident Evil (any of the movies or the games) aren't zombie media. It's an action/survival game with zombies in it.
    Walking Dead isn't a zombie TV show. It's a drama that happens to have zombies.

    If, at any point, you can replace the monster with a Sharktopus it's not a zombie movie. It's a monster movie that wants to use zombies as the gimmick.

    I think the only movies to get the genre right recently are, ironically, the ones that mock the genre. Zombieland was about survival, dealing with survival, and used the survivalist mentality to allow characters to have growth that was only possible once normal society collapsed. It hinged around survival and the characteristics of zombies.
    I give Shaun of the Dead a pass because even though it used zombies as a vehicle to show the zombifying effect of everyday life, it still hinged around the characteristics of zombies to give us the definition of "zombifying", and used to them to a T. Wholly because of the fact that it relied on our knowledge of what zombies are to compare them to modern life, but the reliance on zombies (specifically and only zombies) as the antagonist makes it qualify just as well.


    Alright, the Walking Dead.
    It needed to start with Rick getting shot. Then cut to the initial outbreak of zombies showing Shane and Rick's family, going through their initial interactions of the outbreak in the first episode. Then on to escaping the zombies with Rick's family and surviving the initial panic in the next three episodes. Then showing the dwindling aftermath of the panics with people meeting up and moving together in the last episodes of the season. The last few minutes of the last episode of the first season should have been a cut to Rick's hospital bed, his fingers twitching and then his eyes slowly opening. The benefits of this are that you get to start out the first episode zombie heavy with lots of introduction, but also lots of drama. Everyone is immediately faced with the zombified loved ones and acquaintances in their life. There's dramatic tension solely based around the essence of what a zombie is, and it allows the build up, growth and introduction of the main characters. You get to see how everyone's relationships evolve and why Shane is banging Rick's wife. This way, when Rick wakes up, it's not a case of Shane's a douche and Rick's a nice, but slow, leader guy. It's a case of actual dramatic tension between Shane's relationship with Lori and Rick's relationship with Lori, and both relationships are completely legitimate.

    Starting with Rick waking up makes us feel nothing for Shane, and even less for his relationships. In the regular show, he's just a goose with no redeeming qualities, and the only reason that's the case is because the writers/directors/producers completely failed drama 101. In that, we feel nothing for something with no build up. Yeah, we had maybe an episode to build up "oooh, someone's been cheating", but we feel nothing for either Rick's relationship with his family or for Shane's relationship with Rick's family. It's just a void and It's just bad writing.

    Dedwrekka on
  • Ori KleinOri Klein Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Tycho wrote:
    So, maybe that game is pretty old. Maybe you shut a server like that down? But how much processing does a game like that take? I understand that it’s more a matter of service and support, but what I’m saying is that these are processes that can easily be replaced with community enthusiasm.

    Cosmic Rift and Infantry have been on virtually non-existent service & support since the former's inception and the latter's bringing onto SOE. So this never was an issue.

    For the most part, back when SOE tried to turn them Pay 2 Play they both died. Cosmic Rift did to a much larger extent than Infantry.
    After they turned them back to F2P several years later, Infantry gained some players back.
    By the time of this shutdown, the 'server' (it's more like a tiny process sitting somewhere on a giant EQ server, barely bothering anyone) is a ghost town.
    Infantry still had a few players, but not more than a couple hundred at best, I imagine.

    The saddest part of it all is that had SOE opened the modding tools to the community much earlier than it did (in the last few years, at the game's death throbs), as the community kept asking for since the very beginning, it would've likely been a very lively game as it had a deep untapped potential (some of it manifested in the off-shoot 'illegal' short-lived FreeInfantry shards).
    Back when it had many active, talented, players who were more than willing to contribute content and improve the game.

    Their older 'sister', SubSpace, is still existing, ironically, after much turbulence throughout the decades (a '95 game) and many power struggles within its community and losing many server hosts.
    By contrast to SOE's operated games, it's continued survival is mainly due to being player-ran, since the server/map editor was distributed freely with the game at retail (and post VIE/Interplay's abandonment of the game due to their bankruptcy, kept being operated by players).
    The, seemingly, only current surviving host is one provided by Priit Kasesalu (Kazaa/Skype), who also programmed the currently used client for the game (dubbed "continuum").

    It has been a fun ride.

    Ori Klein on
  • Form of Monkey!Form of Monkey! Registered User regular
    I have not tried to get into The Walking Dead, but if it follows the typical zombie arc of presenting a series of annoying characters who then get methodically killed off by zombies, then I might be down with that.

    Is the comic a liar with pants on fire?

    Will I enjoy the first season, at least, and then at some point in the series, completely understand the complaint that is being illustrated?

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    I have not tried to get into The Walking Dead, but if it follows the typical zombie arc of presenting a series of annoying characters who then get methodically killed off by zombies, then I might be down with that.

    Is the comic a liar with pants on fire?

    Will I enjoy the first season, at least, and then at some point in the series, completely understand the complaint that is being illustrated?
    The first series is good except for the silly ending. Nothing has happened yet in the second series following the first episode or two, except for people moaning about how terrible everything is. I mean it is pretty terrible, so I suppose they've got a point, but nobody really wants to watch it.

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • vagabondagevagabondage Wakka wakka wakka Maryland, USARegistered User new member
    edited March 2012
    I honestly only watched the first three episodes of the TV series and felt exactly the same. Have yet to read the graphic novel series, but anything is better than these lifeless characters in the show... Though you must admit, the special effects make up is quite fantastic at times.

    vagabondage on
  • Cthulhu CalamariCthulhu Calamari Toronto, CanadaRegistered User regular
    Yes! Thank you! Everyone I know is all about this show, but I had to force myself to make it through the first few episodes before I started groaning audibly with every piece of character or plot "development," and just gave up entirely!

  • NeliNeli Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Acting sucks, casting sucks, writing sucks, pacing sucks

    The comic the show is based on is a lot more entertaining

    Neli on
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    I have stared into Satan's asshole, and it fucking winked at me.
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  • PoolCuePoolCue Registered User regular
    Ori Klein wrote: »
    Tycho wrote:
    So, maybe that game is pretty old. Maybe you shut a server like that down? But how much processing does a game like that take? I understand that it’s more a matter of service and support, but what I’m saying is that these are processes that can easily be replaced with community enthusiasm.

    Cosmic Rift and Infantry have been on virtually non-existent service & support since the former's inception and the latter's bringing onto SOE. So this never was an issue.

    For the most part, back when SOE tried to turn them Pay 2 Play they both died. Cosmic Rift did to a much larger extent than Infantry.
    After they turned them back to F2P several years later, Infantry gained some players back.
    By the time of this shutdown, the 'server' (it's more like a tiny process sitting somewhere on a giant EQ server, barely bothering anyone) is a ghost town.
    Infantry still had a few players, but not more than a couple hundred at best, I imagine.

    The saddest part of it all is that had SOE opened the modding tools to the community much earlier than it did (in the last few years, at the game's death throbs), as the community kept asking for since the very beginning, it would've likely been a very lively game as it had a deep untapped potential (some of it manifested in the off-shoot 'illegal' short-lived FreeInfantry shards).
    Back when it had many active, talented, players who were more than willing to contribute content and improve the game.

    Their older 'sister', SubSpace, is still existing, ironically, after much turbulence throughout the decades (a '95 game) and many power struggles within its community and losing many server hosts.
    By contrast to SOE's operated games, it's continued survival is mainly due to being player-ran, since the server/map editor was distributed freely with the game at retail (and post VIE/Interplay's abandonment of the game due to their bankruptcy, kept being operated by players).
    The, seemingly, only current surviving host is one provided by Priit Kasesalu (Kazaa/Skype), who also programmed the currently used client for the game (dubbed "continuum").

    It has been a fun ride.

    I had some GREAT memories of infantry back in its prime

    it really was an awesome game.

  • NeuroskepticNeuroskeptic Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    The problem with the Walking Dead Season 1 is that it doesn't have a plot. What happens? Some dudes survive a zombie outbreak, they form a little town, then they... just live there and wank around back and forth for like 4 episodes. OK, in the final two episodes they do actually decide to hit the road, pity the ending was bad, but at least they were doing something. It's like the people who should have been writing the plot just got distracted by... I'm not sure what, they weren't writing the dialogue or characters either. Maybe they were in charge of the buckets of fake blood?

    I still watched the whole first season, it's not actively offensively bad, and I did enjoy the dressing-up-as-a-zombie bits and the rooftop scenes. But it left me with no desire to watch any more or read the comics etc.

    Neuroskeptic on
  • NeuroskepticNeuroskeptic Registered User regular
    jothki wrote: »
    At some point, there needs to be a zombie series with an ongoing civil war between the shambling zombies that want to hunt down the living, kill them, and eat their brains and the shambling zombies who want to hunt down the living, kill them, and leave their bodies alone so they'll become more zombies.
    Or... fast zombies vs slow zombies! You could have two different zombie virus strains released from the same secret bioweapons lab.

    Actually, has there ever been a zombie movie where the zombies just don't distinguish between zombies and humans, and are happy to fight each other? That would mean that after a few days, only the real badass zombies would be left. Former martial arts experts and Marines, that kind of thing. So you'd have fewer zombies around but you'd know that each one was really dangerous.

  • ZzuluZzulu Registered User regular
    It's supposed to be a character driven show but the characters and writing suck so it doesn't work

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  • Chainsaw WabbitChainsaw Wabbit Rogue Academic Level 12 are not what they seemRegistered User regular
    Just for the love of all that is holy LET THEM LEAVE THE GODDAMN FARM.
    That. Is. All.

  • KoopahTroopahKoopahTroopah The koopas, the troopas. Philadelphia, PARegistered User regular
    I actually don't have any problems with the show. I hope that sentence doesn't reduce your view on my intelligence. The characters & acting, okay you got me. There are bad parts, really bad parts. But I love Rick, I love his smoking wife, I love Glenn, I love Daryl,
    and I loved Dale
    . I hate Shane, I hate Andrea, I really really hate Carl. I have no real feelings for the rest of them.

    I still feel something for all the characters at this point though. First season, not so much. You're right, I completely forgot about that woman who stayed behind in the exploding CDCC. At the time I was like "oh wow that sucks", but looking back I really don't care.

    I mean all these realistic gripes on characters and their actions are fundamentally flawed at the start...It's not reality, it's TV. Yelling at the TV trying to communicate that going into that door alone is not only stupid but would never happen, is entertaining and half the fun of the show.

    The special effects are fucking awesome for a TV show. I really like them, and I have no problems with zombie movement, hordes, or the amount left in the world.

    If you're wondering why I like the show, it's probably cause I haven't read the comics.

    Big gripes from last night's episode:
    Why the fuck didn't Carl get eaten? Why use him as a plot device to kill one of the few likable characters? Why did Carl have to be such an asshole then not tell anyone that he was an idiot? ....Fuck.

    I'm enjoying the show a lot so far, but I can understand why people don't like it.

  • HamjuHamju Registered User regular
    I tried watching this show and managed to get through the first season, but everything Tycho has said is spot on. The characters are just.... infuriating. I can't enjoy it.

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  • StorkStork Registered User regular
    I'm pretty surprised by the number of folks here saying they liked the comic, it started off interesting but turned into a bunch of abloobloo soap opera stuff pretty quickly. The show seems to be a reflection of that to me.

  • FandeathisFandeathis Registered User regular
    Yes, the comic and the show both eventually become a soap opera. The show just does it faster and does a worse job at it.

    You fuck wit' Die Antwoord, you fuck wit' da army.
  • DestinPsDestinPs Registered User regular
    Speaking of server shutdowns...
    I think I was most upset about the shutdown of the Shadowbane servers.
    I followed that game since fruition, and although I was inactive in the ending days; I would occasionally step back in and drink deep from the politically charged map doused with player cities.
    The way the world was an open sandbox laid out for a PvP centered player community was done well. Erecting(heh) your city for your guild and protecting it on a late night 3 AM Bane from a group of foreign(literally) conquerors was the height of my journeys in that game...

    Even when the emulated server starts up sometime this summer, I don't think I will be able to relive those days, at least not in that specific game.

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