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Penny Arcade - Comic - Shitcom

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Shitcom!

Penny Arcade - Comic - Shitcom

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

Read the full story here

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Posts

  • OverkillengineOverkillengine Registered User regular
    Dad Dragon doesn't know where it goes;

    But Bad Dragon does.

  • Johnny17Johnny17 Registered User regular
    edited August 2022
    I'm planning the ultimate culture shock comedy featuring matter and antimatter people. It's called Family Antimatters. There are problems in the beginning but they all cancel each other out.

    Johnny17 on
  • PyrianPyrian Registered User regular
    Johnny17 wrote: »
    It's called Family Antimatters. There are problems in the beginning but they all cancel each other out.
    Stay tuned for the explosive climax!

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    The Song of Ice and Fire / Westeros / Game of Thrones world is an interesting one, and has the potential for more interesting stories to be told within it.

    Sadly, season 8 of the HBO show ended so terribly that they might have permanently damaged the entire brand, and they might have completely killed public interest in the IP, despite its continued potential. That seems to be what this comic is alluding to. Does not sound as if Mike or Jerry have any interest in House of Dragons. I share the sentiment. I do not plan on watching, at least not unless I hear some outstanding word of mouth testimonials about it.

  • GrendusGrendus Registered User regular
    Not to mention HBO got bought by Discovery, and they're axing everything people were interested in. The stuff they can't justify killing (like "Our Flag Means Death") is getting moved back to cable. Because people who subscribed to HBO Max are totally going to go back to cable, instead of taking to the high seas.

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    I think only the Walking Dead has had such a drop from cultural touchstone to "oh god they are doing ANOTHER SHOW?" Then again there are like 4 walking dead spin offs, and this is the first GOT one

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    now that's what I call... Dragon Around!

  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    KalTorak wrote: »
    now that's what I call... Dragon Around!

    I've heard of dragon your feet, but this is ridiculous!

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    walking dead felt like it ran it's course naturally; it was popular and then got over-exploited (as is the way of things) and people got bored. GoT by contrast crashed and burned in the space of about three weeks.

    leaving aside the damage they did to their brand in S8 the new show has all the usual prequel problems, not the least because I feel like the targ dynasty was pretty well covered in GoT. We already know how the story ends and that takes a lot of the fun out of wondering how this crazy royal family will all fuck and/or kill each other

    NREqxl5.jpg
    it was the smallest on the list but
    Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited August 2022
    walking dead felt like it ran it's course naturally; it was popular and then got over-exploited (as is the way of things) and people got bored.

    There were grumblings during different parts of TWD, but I feel it really crashed when the thing with Glenn happened (early/mid-S6) and then Negan arrived and did his thing in the S7 premiere. They really lost people after that point, and never could figure out a way to make up for it.
    r8fnx05596151.png?auto=webp&s=403246d9137e05afee00bf50daea02ab9b55e5c8
    Edit: If you look at the ratings, TWD really crashed and burned in the space of one episode (S7 E01). After that, a lot of fans were just completely done (myself included).

    dennis on
  • LtPowersLtPowers Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    The Song of Ice and Fire / Westeros / Game of Thrones world is an interesting one, and has the potential for more interesting stories to be told within it.

    Not if you ask Jerry, apparently.


    Powers &8^]

  • ironzergironzerg Registered User regular
    I reread the news post, and he seems unnaturally angry about this. There's a significant amount of venom in that post.

    I don't understand why. It's a TV show. A lot of people will probably both watch and enjoy it. And good for them. But it doesn't have to be an absolute blockbuster or cultural phenomena.

    There's no reason to spit such vitriol. It's just a show. Unless hating on something like this is good for clicks on a website. That could be it, too. I'm sure there's something somewhere about how crapping on the new Game of Thrones show is a rocketship for engagement. There's probably a chart lying around somewhere.

    But otherwise, I'd encourage people to break the cycle. Stop getting mad about stuff like this. And especially stop trying to get other people mad alongside you.

  • DjiemDjiem Registered User regular
    edited August 2022
    ironzerg wrote: »
    I reread the news post, and he seems unnaturally angry about this. There's a significant amount of venom in that post.

    I don't understand why. It's a TV show. A lot of people will probably both watch and enjoy it. And good for them. But it doesn't have to be an absolute blockbuster or cultural phenomena.

    There's no reason to spit such vitriol. It's just a show. Unless hating on something like this is good for clicks on a website. That could be it, too. I'm sure there's something somewhere about how crapping on the new Game of Thrones show is a rocketship for engagement. There's probably a chart lying around somewhere.

    But otherwise, I'd encourage people to break the cycle. Stop getting mad about stuff like this. And especially stop trying to get other people mad alongside you.

    I haven't watched GoT, but from what I've heard about it (from its fans praising it, mind you, not from detractors), it sounds absolutely abhorrent. It's like if LotR was written by an edgy teen to have incest and tits and more violent deaths. Woo.

    What I'm seeing in Tycho's post is anger over the fact that drivel is getting all the attention when there exist superior books and stories that are being ignored.

    It's the whole L.H. Franzibald happening in real life.

    Also apparently some anger over season 8 which I'm told is a crime against humanity.

    I mean, I agree with you, nerds are too hyperbolic in general, but I don't think it's necessarily wrong to hate on something when you feel it ruined a genre (or rather, a genre's shot at mainstream or widespread popularity), or is damaging opportunities for better things to come out by monopolizing the scene.

    There's a reason I'm ambivalent about certain MMOs but genuinely hate World of Warcraft for what it did to the MMO genre.

    Djiem on
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    There's a little anger (I'd characterize it as more intense annoyance) in the post, but I mostly just read jokey jokes. I mean, he says - in a seemingly serious tone - that the makeup makes Matt Smith look like he regularly fucks his sister. That's a knowingly made joke about the actual incest in the show.

    But you've been here for quite a while, ironzerg. You know Jerry brings out the cranky old man voice often when he thinks there's an injustice in the world (in this case money funneled to what he feels is an inferior IP). I think we all remember what happened when Gabe dared to mock a superior IP that one time.

  • LttlefootLttlefoot Registered User regular
    There is an incredulity mixed in. He’s shocked that it should be commercially better to be known for crashing and burning than to be unknown

  • LttlefootLttlefoot Registered User regular
    What do you mean regarding mmos? What do you think they would’ve been like if not for wow?

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    walking dead felt like it ran it's course naturally; it was popular and then got over-exploited (as is the way of things) and people got bored.

    There were grumblings during different parts of TWD, but I feel it really crashed when the thing with Glenn happened (early/mid-S6) and then Negan arrived and did his thing in the S7 premiere. They really lost people after that point, and never could figure out a way to make up for it.
    r8fnx05596151.png?auto=webp&s=403246d9137e05afee00bf50daea02ab9b55e5c8
    Edit: If you look at the ratings, TWD really crashed and burned in the space of one episode (S7 E01). After that, a lot of fans were just completely done (myself included).

    I'm glad I tapped out when it seems like the audience did too. Season 6 was dire and I had no stomach for season 7 despite liking Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

    I heard there was a spin off show with Negan and maggie and holy shit I can see why their ratings are in the toilet.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited August 2022
    Preacher wrote: »
    dennis wrote: »
    walking dead felt like it ran it's course naturally; it was popular and then got over-exploited (as is the way of things) and people got bored.

    There were grumblings during different parts of TWD, but I feel it really crashed when the thing with Glenn happened (early/mid-S6) and then Negan arrived and did his thing in the S7 premiere. They really lost people after that point, and never could figure out a way to make up for it.
    r8fnx05596151.png?auto=webp&s=403246d9137e05afee00bf50daea02ab9b55e5c8
    Edit: If you look at the ratings, TWD really crashed and burned in the space of one episode (S7 E01). After that, a lot of fans were just completely done (myself included).

    I'm glad I tapped out when it seems like the audience did too. Season 6 was dire and I had no stomach for season 7 despite liking Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

    I heard there was a spin off show with Negan and maggie and holy shit I can see why their ratings are in the toilet.

    I think they could have brought viewers back around in S7 if they had played Negan - one of the biggest characters of the series - right. But boy did they not. And then
    bringing back Glenn from the stupid fakeout death, only to kill him again for reals
    felt like viewer abuse.

    That's why you see the huge dropoff in the S7 premier and the rest of the season. There was still a lot of people that wanted to give the show a chance to make up for faltering in S6. But they blew it.

    Of course, I quit out on the comics, too. I realized "oh, right, they can never have any kind of lasting happiness in this story because it would derail the drama, so it will just be a continuous cycle of things falling apart." The whole point is to get you emotionally invested in characters before yanking the rug out from under you. Over and over and over.

    dennis on
  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Hearing where the comic just ended felt like the ultimate "Yeah fuck you too" From the writers.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited August 2022
    ironzerg wrote: »
    I reread the news post, and he seems unnaturally angry about this. There's a significant amount of venom in that post.

    I don't understand why. It's a TV show. A lot of people will probably both watch and enjoy it. And good for them. But it doesn't have to be an absolute blockbuster or cultural phenomena.

    There's no reason to spit such vitriol. It's just a show. Unless hating on something like this is good for clicks on a website. That could be it, too. I'm sure there's something somewhere about how crapping on the new Game of Thrones show is a rocketship for engagement. There's probably a chart lying around somewhere.

    But otherwise, I'd encourage people to break the cycle. Stop getting mad about stuff like this. And especially stop trying to get other people mad alongside you.

    Another thought occurred to me in the same vein: Transformers movies. While I'm not to the "vitriol" level (and I don't think Jerry was, either), I can't deny that their continued financial success doesn't annoy me. I'm not going to make videos or write essays on it, but it's really hard to say "don't have an emotion."

    dennis on
  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    Meanwhile, I'm like... why can't we get more shows adapted from one of the many great space opera series? IDK. I still haven't watched a single episode of GoT, doubt I'll be watching this prequel series either as I'm not too interested in watching high/epic fantasy.

    But going back to the mine for prequels for both GoT (and LoTR) 'verses when there are plenty of other 'verses out there is just... eh? If anything I'm curious to see how well this one will be received with the general audience though, since GoT did manage to pull in a ton of people before season 8 happened.

    “I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Going for prequels/sequels of things that made them truckloads of cash is disappointing, but unsurprising. It's the easiest sales pitch in the world.

  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    And sometimes it pays off

    See: Better Call Saul

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    better call saul is the exception that proves the rule though

    NREqxl5.jpg
    it was the smallest on the list but
    Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    also I do think there's a level of performative vitriol in a lot of tycho's posts but like... GoT made six ish seasons of really good to great television, and then lit themselves on fire in a dumpster. It's all well and good to say don't get mad about popular media but man, it was frustrating and it sucked.

    NREqxl5.jpg
    it was the smallest on the list but
    Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    And it's not like other stuff is never tried. Wheel of Time, Shannara, Foundation, Outlander, The Magicians, Altered Carbon, NOS4A2, Locke and Key, American Gods, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: these are all unique universes that were greenlit to show up as series, to greater and lesser success. I doubt any of them got the kind of cash GoT got when it first hit HBO. But then, not everything can. And that might be why it became so successful, after all, which then led to the prequel because of obvious reasons pointed out before.

  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    And it's not like other stuff is never tried. Wheel of Time, Shannara, Foundation, Outlander, The Magicians, Altered Carbon, NOS4A2, Locke and Key, American Gods, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: these are all unique universes that were greenlit to show up as series, to greater and lesser success. I doubt any of them got the kind of cash GoT got when it first hit HBO. But then, not everything can. And that might be why it became so successful, after all, which then led to the prequel because of obvious reasons pointed out before.

    How could you not include The Expanse in this list? :P

    The enthusiast sphere and actual viewersphere don't always line up, so it's entirely possible that this prequel series may carry some water on a close scale to the original run as it approached its peak?



    “I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
  • RatherDashing89RatherDashing89 Registered User regular
    edited August 2022
    I don't know if this has anything to do with Jerry's grievance, but for me the reason GoT goes beyond just "people like thing I don't like" is that its very existence seems like defiance or insult to the stuff I actually like. Now, the books/show shouldn't be blamed for obnoxious fans talking about how much better GoT is because there's no heroes or quests or virtue (basically all the stuff I like in fantasy). But then GRRM himself dunking on Lord of the Rings, coupled with the whole general feeling that the story is written to make a point: that the things I like are dumb and should be mercilessly slaughtered. Way back when Harry Potter was first rising, I had this feeling too: partly from JKR throwing shade all over Narnia, and partly from just how mean spirited Harry Potter felt to me.

    I guess this goes back into the point of "fantasy is becoming popular but it's all going to look like this now". But it's a bit more like, we who enjoy actual fairy tales and felt sort of weird for it before, now see fantasy entering the mainstream: and it proceeds to bully us too, in its very themes which tell us that those fairy tales are dumb kids stuff and real fantasy doesn't have any of that heroism crap.

    RatherDashing89 on
  • LttlefootLttlefoot Registered User regular
    Isn’t Harry Potter basically the same as Narnia?

  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    Lttlefoot wrote: »
    Isn’t Harry Potter basically the same as Narnia?

    No not really

  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    V1m wrote: »
    Lttlefoot wrote: »
    Isn’t Harry Potter basically the same as Narnia?

    No not really

    The Chronicles of Narnina is about how Christianity is great.
    Harry Potter is about how being a rich athlete is great.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited August 2022
    The bad guys in the Narnia series are trying to cast down an aspect of Jesus, and they ultimately come close enough to success that Jesus armageddons the entire reality.

    The bad guys in Harry Potter are trying to cast down a student of mediocre academic achievement, in a setting where academic achievement is the primary weapon. And they fail.


    Aside from falling into the incredibly broad isekai category they don't really share a lot of details.

    Hevach on
  • RatherDashing89RatherDashing89 Registered User regular
    Given that the distinction between Narnia and Harry Potter that was relevant to my point is extremely clear in my post, saying the two are basically the same has basically nothing to do with the topic and the only possible reason I could think to toss that out there with no other comment is to troll. "Haha, you said you like one thing and not another, but they are both actually the same."

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    I fast forwarded through some GoT episodes to look for women's boobs for awhile, but the interface was so bad I just went back to the Internet and dropped HBOMax after watching Dune.

  • LttlefootLttlefoot Registered User regular
    I mean, Harry is supposed to be the virtuous hero. E.g. not wanting to be in slytherin, hunting down quirell and the chamber of secrets himself. I’m wondering more what JKR’s angle against Narnia is given that she copied it

  • CrimeRobotCrimeRobot Registered User regular
    You're gonna have to cite more similarities than just a "virtuous hero" to claim that Harry Potter copies Narnia. You might as well claim that it copies the Epic of Gilgamesh.

    "We programmed him to think only of crime!" - Enrico Matassa
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Star Wars was a pretty blatant Narnia ripoff, I guess.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Just straight up copying Beowulf

  • PyrianPyrian Registered User regular
    Narnia repeatedly themes that heroics are secondary to faith.

  • Emperor MegamanEmperor Megaman Registered User regular
    I have no opinion whatsoever about Got or the fact that they're making a prequel of it.

    I can, however, unironically say that I'd watch Gabe's dragon sitcom idea and am disappointed that networks aren't giving him millions of dollars to make it.
    (Though rather than a friendly dragon in a sweater, I'd give him the appearance of you typical badass high fantasy Dragon. Just for the contrast of having a serious looking dragon being a struggling but well meaning dad in everyday situations)

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