about live blogs add a live blog
The Great Nitpicky Live Blog of El Goonish Shive
Mr AHR

[table of contents]
Strips 296-300 (Stupid Socialization)
Strip 296

Art:
  • So, that third panel...
  • Well, it proves that despite the ray supposedly not changing it clothes, it apparently changes proportions. Yay for plotholey-ness.
  • And it also makes me semi-disturbed, since it seems to make their torsos a LOT smaller too.
  • According to the wikipedia picture of human anatomy (NSFW), torso difference is not that big.
  • Unless Shive knows something I do not.
  • Scully has asian eyes. Is Scully asian?

Content:
  • And here we see some inconsistency. Green-haired asian. That means something out of the ordinary for Ellen to specify. Which means Claire would stick out like a sore thumb. And if Hedge and co are looking for someone they KNOW can shape shift...
  • So, are weird colors normal or not? They are clearly not an artistic license, since people are aware of their existence, but no one ever seems to call them out on it. You would think someone would at least would yell at them and tell them to stop dyeing their hair or something.
  • At least in actual manga this is never commented on (and assumed to be normal) or commented on, and justified. Shive is in the middle, and that's just terrible.
  • Mr. Verre's line is clunky and awkward. Merph.
  • Heh. It's funny cause Tedd will have to masturbate as a female now.
  • Is Tedd bigendered or just in PSL? Becaues if he is bigendered, OK, this makes sense, but then he should not be so annoyed with being feminine. Well, OK, he could be, but at the same time, there is somehing off about the portrayal. I suppose how it's played for comedy and how everyone has a right to make fun of him because it's perverted. I mean, yeesh. Does no one stop to think that MAYBE Tedd has some gender issues? As in, the same way you have orientation issues?
  • It really makes me worried, in a way. But then again, Tedd is portrayed semi-positively, but he's still portrayed as an oddity or something. Kinda reminds me of that Ranma, where they try to get the lesbian to go on the right path and start dating males. Don't know why, it just does.

Strip 297

Content:
  • After that implication-heavy strip, this one is pretty light. Crappy joke that displays how Ellen became a pervert in the process of becoming a girl, and Grace has all the social graces of a spoon.
  • This strip is pretty pointless, unless you count exposition.
  • Oh. One other thing. Why are they waiting to go to school? Shouldn't they be applying as soon as possible?

Sketchbook Strip 032103

I understand this is supposed to be funny, but I can't help but get a bit of a douche vibe from this strip. It's odd because I just finished rewatching one of Linkara's power rangers review, where he ranted about people who did the whole "updateupdateupdate" thing, but I thought he was completely justified.

I am not sure what it is, and maybe it is because I am prejudiced against Shive, but if I had to guess, I'd honestly say it's the joke.

Linkara was dead serious, scolding, and verbose. Shive was short, and had a bad punchline. I seriously feel that the very nature of that joke is what made me strongly dislike this strip.

Does that make much sense? Maybe not, but I think it gives a good idea about why being funny is not always a good thing.

Sketchbook Strip 032303

I hate Ellen. You know why? Because there is Author Appeal, then there is THIS.

There is drawing your characters with little clothes on and in bed.

Then there is bastardizing their character for your personal wet dreams.

You're pretty much shitting upon any angstage or depth Ellen had, for the sake of your masturbation fantasies, and the ones of the readers. As a fellow writer, that is the most perverse, most disgusting thing I have EVER seen someone do. You disgust me Shive. You really do.

Strip 298

Content:
  • Don't you love those games that serve as a metaphor for your current mental state?
  • More importantly, don't you love pointless filler that does nothing at all, not even developing the characters you are supposed to be relating to, and instead makes a vapid pointless joke?
  • Yeah. Me too.

Strip 299

Content:
  • ...
  • Someone
  • Anyone
  • Fetch me the Picard Facepalm jpg.

Strip 300

Content:
  • Ellen, Ellen, ELLEN. HELLO. Best friend since elementary school. Guy who turned your (former) girlfriend into a cat once. Guy who turned you into a girl. Can you PLEASE act like you're the LEAST bit uncomfortable having boobs?
  • Or, I don't know, be uncomfortable with the idea that you're ACTING like a stereotypical girl?
  • Or, how about being uncomfortable with not ONLY having boobs, being in a body that is not yours in the slightest!
  • Or how about acting like, y'know, Elliot. The guy you're a carbon copy of in every way and thus would logically be acting like him, except slightly tweaked due to experiencing trauma.
  • But NOOO! Because that wouldn't be sexy, now would it?

comments
Goggle Fox:

Strip 299: Emphasizing nearly every point against this comic.

Hate to nitpick the nitpicker, but you switched from European to American style date markings in your last post, and it was a little confusing for a second (especially since it was right after an "Update!!!" sketchbook and I was curious to know if we'd gotten to the Days Of I'll Update When I Do).
Cakman 20th Dec 10
Gilphon:

Y'know, I actually agree with you on every point here. He's trying to give Ellen some characterization to make her a distinct character, but it's not characterization that makes a lick of sense and is buried until psuedo-fanservice. This sequence is a clear drop down in terms of writing, and no two ways about it.
Cakman 20th Dec 10
Cakman/AHR:

@Goggle: Oh snap. How'd I manage that goof-up? To the edit machine.

EDIT: Well, this is awkward. At Cakman's house, on his computer, thought I had logged into mine. Guess not. Havta edit it when I get home. Sorry bout that.
Cakman 20th Dec 10
TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy