Live Blogs The Great Nitpicky Live Blog of El Goonish Shive

MrAHR

Gilphon:

Of course, Susan isn't meant to be particularly sympathetic at this point. She's kind of a… well, I can't quite call her a comic relief character; I guess she's a gimmicky character at this point if that makes any sense.

Incidentally, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Susan's pose in that last panel there. It's the hammer gag, but given a kind of… well I realize this might not be the best choice of word, but it has a kind of grace here that it never had before I don't believe ever had again.

AHR:

I do like her poses as well.

As for the thing with sympathetic characters, I'd be more willing to let it go if she was treated less as a friend and more as well, an antagonist bait-and-switch style.

AC Drawings:

What? you don't wear Pajamas, AHR?

Hmmmm

AHR:

Not really. I don't think anyone in my house does. We're more of an undershirts boxer family. That's why I asked.

AC Drawings:

It's just different people do different things, my family wears Pjs.

Sal Fish Fin:

I wear P Js in the winter, but in the summer, it's a wifebeater and underwear.

Goggle Fox:

Fist-drawing? Ack... how do you get any control drawing with a closed fist?

AHR:

Do you wear long sleeved pjs like that? Cause that's what weired me out the most.

AC Drawings:

Yes. Especially during the fall and winter and since the beginning of the story takes place in the colder months, it would make sense.

Cakman:

First of all, I'm not sure why you call it "slave labor." I've volunteered to do the strip before you several times and every time I'm met with "BAWWWWW BUT IT'S MYYYYYY BLOOOOOOG." It's a lot easier, as I don't need to keep checking back to make sure I'm not just reiterating exactly what you said. The only laborious part is the entering of "concept" "Art" and hotlinking over and over again. Anyways:

121

• Grace's retinas are melting.
• I'm not sure I get the point of this strip. Is it supposed to be a big revelation? Why is Grace so surprised? In first person, she can still SEE Tedd's eyes beneath his glasses. It's always due to a glare that we can't see them. Otherwise the glass would always be opaque, and would be useless.

122

• Is Grace SO helpless that she wouldn't be okay for the thirty seconds it took Ted to get his glasses?
• The fifth panel seems to be a first person shot from Ted's point of view. Wouldn't his vision be obscured? Isn't that why he's leaving in the first place.
• DAHAHAHAH! TED LIKES FUCKING WOMEN! THAT'S INSANITY
• Look at Grace's right eye in the last panel. Shive messed up a pen stroke and it looks like it's popping out of her skull.

123

• ...
• Wat.
• Okay, first of all, even the blindest of people (who wear corrective lenses) would get up out of the bed and go bolting if a family member started screaming. Just because he didn't wear his glasses to come check on Grace in the middle of the night doesn't mean she would automatically assume that he doesn't need them.
• The back-story makes little to no sense either. Tedd doesn't look like a girl in the flashback picture.
• And even if he did, EVERY BOY looked feminine at that age.
• And even in El Goonish Shive logic, the first comic made it clear that Tedd is still looking androgynous.
• And once again, TED DOES NOT WEAR TINTED LENSES. They are thick. Not tinted. And if they WERE tinted, the school would constantly be telling him to take them off. Jesus, I had transition lenses in school and they would get mad at me for them. They would never let some kid wear tinted lenses for COSMETIC reasons.

124

• Because you know how many 4th Graders get in fist fights.
• And once again, of course Elliot would be there to RESCUE THE WEAK AND DEFEAT THE BULLY!
• Also, these◊ are professional night-vision goggles. these◊ are infared goggles (which are traditionally used for metal work, like welding, so I'm pretty sure that Shive meant "thermal," and THIS◊ is a fucking x-ray machine. There is no such thing as "x-ray goggles," and even if there were, ''they would be emitting harmful amounts of radiation whenever he used them. Think about when you get an x-ray at the dentist. You ever wonder why they put that heavy vest on you before they take it, or why the dentist always steps out of the room before they do it? It's because x-rays are harmful to the human body! And while we're fucking at it, what would the problem be with x-raying people, theoretically, if there was no risk of radiation to them? What's he going to see? Bones? Cavities in teeth? I can't recall the last time I jerked off to a picture of someone's hairline fracture, so why does Grace get angry?

125

• Meh. Got nothing on this one.
• Though Grace looks like the girl from Kanon◊
• I usually know when AHR is pulling that move because her AIM window will suddenly just close when she's in mid-conversation with me.

126

• Wat the fack is point.

127

• First of all, why would they be worried about that? Wouldn't the baby just transform along with her? And who the fuck would be impregnating her, anyways?
• By the way, I probably should plug the artist whose work I keep using's name. His name is (literally, this is his name): "Nobody In Particular" and he specializes in femdom and futanari art. And he seems to enjoy El Goonish Shive. Google him if you'd like. I can't help but love the fact that his fan-porn is more well-drawn than its source material.

128

• Oi vey. The implications.
• The implications.
• Is Tedd insinuating that he's going to bring a gun into school?
• And wouldn't changing someone's gender be considered completly and utterly illegal?
• And isn't the worst possible thing you can do when you're being bullied attempt to bully the person back, because then you become exactly what you hated?
• And why does Tedd say "I'm not a girl."? First of all, this is the first we're seeing of him getting made fun of, and second of all, the guy would stop if Tedd acted like it didn't bother him.
• AND TEDD DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A FUCKING GIRL IN THE FIRST PLACE.

129

• "129" is the extension you need to push to get to my Mom's room when you call the school she works at. Just wanted to let you all know.
• No backgrounds, as the school is located within a cloud.
• Okay! Now it's time for me to explain how this joke COULD have been funny:

Shive already explained in the previous comics that ALL females have the power to use the hammers. THIS is a properly done lampshade. THIS is a funny joke. But it makes no sense now because ALL women are suppossed to know how to use it. So did Susan teach all of them? Did she teach the scientest's assistant as well? And I'm honestly angry now, because all of the pieces are in line for a good joke: The fact that Susan uses dual hammers is even chuckle-worthy in and of itself. BUT IT WAS ALREADY FUCKING EXPLAINED. ALL OF MY FUCKING HATE.

• It should also be noted that no one talks like that. No one calls themselves a "cat" unless they're into anthropomorphism.
• Also Ultra-feminism≠strong female character.
• And note in the second panel how he has to tell us what time of day it is for no reason.

130

• Wait... Didn't... But...
• Am I missing something? Tedd knows about both Nanase and Sarah. SARAH CAME TO HIS FUCKING HOUSE afterwards! WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT?!

Ughh. I am growing increasingly annoyed with this god damn comic.

126: I assume it was supposed to be dramatic, which makes Grace looking like she's jumping on the bed or hunting rabbits or something really out of place. Also yeah, if you ignored Ellen and pretended that he'd done a better job on Sarah this would look like they were all exploring several rows of hedges... except try figuring out how Ellen fits into that picture. It's like the picture of a fork with two or three prongs depending on how you look at it, except done on accident and sloppily drawn. And with eyes that look like a sticker pasted to her head Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey style.

128: Cakman, you... do realize that people generally respond in suboptimal ways to situations like this, right? And that the people who didn't respond to bullying would stop being bullied in a very swift version of the Anthropic Principle, right? Reacting like that is not smart but it's not exactly unrealistic. Shoot, I couldn't even count the number of times people got me to try to hit them in elementary school, and I certainly knew better (hell, I was such a good teacher's pet that I should have been in very nearly the most optimal position imaginable to respond in a way that didn't involve me breaking any rules, and yet I still ate lunch in the principal's office for, like, probably half a year's worth of days over the course of seven years. I am so glad I'm no longer past me; past me would probably have loved to be Tedd by comparison).

130: It's like he wanted to advance the plot in a series way and move things along, but then he chickened out because what would it mean if he released a strip without a joke? It might be a shift in tone that he could never take back! So he decided to interrupt his plot advancement with the most stupid thing you could ever imagine doing so with.

123

• What school did you go to, AHR? Kids judge other kids based on physical appearance all the time. Which is why you have so many stories with "don't do that" as a moral.

124

• Somehow I doubt Elliot is gonna stop hanging out with Tedd because he looks slightly more androgynous with his glasses off. He seems to think he kidnaps girls, and that doesn't scare him away.

127

• Why not just tell him not to have sex with her and leave it at that, instead of giving the cast pervert ideas?
• Hmm...excuse me, I need to Google something.

128

• Technically, Tony's right. Grace is a furry person with a tail in that picture.
• I thought Grace's existence was supposed to be a closely guarded secret. So why is he sketching her in art class?
• Well, homicide is probably the worst thing you can do to deal with a bully, but mad science is pretty high up on the list.
• Cakman: From my experience, no. Responding to bullying makes it worse. Ignoring it just makes you look like a easy target. I never figured out a way to get it to stop. Just studied as hard as I could until school was over.

129

• Oh, yes, I remember her now. The uber-feminist. Thankfully I haven't come across too many people like this.

130

• He doesn't know. He just said he talked to Elliot on the phone, and only knows what he told him. What I wonder is why the school has a pay phone for kids to use at their leisure.
• Save us, two mysterious strangers!