Live Blogs The Great Nitpicky Live Blog of El Goonish Shive

MrAHR

:3 ...Eh. I'm pretty much coblogger now, so I think I can stop with the colon threes.

Also, I suppose I should ask this because A_H_R is too shy to: How many people are reading this blog as we post? If you do regularly read it, could ya give us a notice in the thread? We like to know that people are reading.

37

• Check out the hamhocks on Grace in the second panel. Fatso.
• Why does Grace look angry at what Elliot says? I thought she was supposed to be Starfire-ish. Shouldn't she just be adamant that she isn't a robot and not angry?
• Why hasn't Tedd asked her where she came from yet?
• Oh, is there something SPECIAL about Tedd's cat too? Why is no one ever just an ordinary joe? That's the thing I despise about a lot of web-based series. The authors need to make their characters "stand out", so they give them all remarkable traits, make them the best at everything, give them crazy hair, AND THE CAT IS WACKY TOO!

38

• Wow. What a ham-fisted videogame reference. So basically, Shive was playing the game that day and decided that the game MUST be in the comic.
• Why hasn't Tedd asked Grace where she came from yet?
• The conversation is also awkward. Like, if Grace had been a more established character, he might have SOMETHING, but she just met Tedd. Why would she be talking about this now? Isn't she terrified of whoever is chasing her?
• Also, let's take something into consideration: If we assume for a moment that Tedd's father actually DID give him a lab, wouldn't the computer-station be top-of-the-line? Why is the monitor one of those bulky cathode-ray-tube ones?
• Also, once again, we got the joke, Shive. The title isn't needed. And even if people don't get the reference, they can still understand the joke.
• Also, A_H_R, I ain't no PC gamer. Cause I can't afford one. I also only know of Black and White by name and concept. It was a Peter Molyneux game in which you played a God.

39

• What is twisted? Showing up in a trenchcoat? YOU STILL HAVEN'T MET! YOU KNOW A NAME! THAT'S IT!
• Good call on the joke ruining with the title, A_H_R.
• Why hasn't Tedd asked Grace where she came from yet?
• THAT CRAZY TED! I BET HE DID SOMETHING INSANE LIKE SPYING ON THE WOMEN IN THE DRESSING ROOMS!

40

• Okay, the titles to these fucking comics are beginning to annoy me. They reek of egotism and assumptions about what people are getting out of the comic. No, Dan, I never thought Sarah was the normal one. I thought she was a typical, generic woman who played "The Hole" of the series, always there to be stuck-up and bitchy. And it still seems like I'm correct. But don't worry! We have Grace to play the OTHER role that females are allowed to play- stupid ditzes! Hooray for equality!
• That is an excellant point. Why doesn't Elliot take her? He's not banned.
• Jesus, piling on unexplained wacky things that Ted did in the past. All of my hate.
• Why hasn't Tedd asked Grace where she came from yet?

AHR said:

Grace's character fluctuated. A lot. Same with Sarah.

Elliot slightly less so, Tedd, barely.

Also, fuck you.

Endark Culi:

Well, I'm regularly reading. And I should admit that I'm finding this banter between the two of you to be just as, if not moreso, entertaining as the comments themselves. It's like a classic comedy routine, with AHR as the straight man and Cakman as...the other guy, whatever he's called. I can only wonder how things will develop as you slowly approach the more modern-day strips...

Gilphon:

/raises hand

I'm reading it, and have no plans to stop doing so anytime soon.

AC Drawings:

Normally I'd be replacing Cakman as the straight-man to AHR's overly-indulgent complaints, But I don't feel like deconstructing every single one of her arguments, it's being pedantic over pedantics.

Cakman:

Well, originally, I would just AIM her remarks about the liveblog and post :3s, describing how her jokes went over and whatnot, but I actually find it remarkably therapeutic to do it on my own.

e X:

Of course I am reading it, I was the one who requested it in the first place and I am enjoying it very much, especially since we are getting finally to the actual comic, means no more less filler and joke strips and more plot and, sadly, characterization.

Also, on the comic itself, I finally realized what I dislike Grace so much. Well, I do detest all of the characters, but all for different reasons. Except Elliot, maybe.

So on Grace, and by extension Tedd, the problem with her characterization is the lack thereof, besides her attraction to Tedd.Thats it, she likes Tedd. Even after the introduction of her siblings and Damian, it never gets anymore complicated than that. Yes, we don't even get a reason why she actually likes him.

So, what Shive actually did, he recreated the female main character from any romcom and harem anime there is. The girl whose whole motivation is to be with the main character, despite having an awesome array of special powers. Why? Because she is in love with him. What does she loves about him? Well... . We never get a real reason for her affection to Tedd, neither, and maybe more important, do we get one why she is only interested in him. The only other trait she ever displays is that she is a Cloudcuckoolander. Otherwise, after the Damien arc, she has little influence on the plot at all, even her own party.

The counterpart for this is Tedd/Elliot, your typical harem anime main character, just split into two. One gets the Straight Man tendencies this character usually displays towards the whole situation he is in, the other gets the Accidental Pervert part. In the beginning anyway, both of them actually do get Character Development. Actually, you could call Tedd a Pino, a pervert in name only, because he never actually does anything "perverted", outside of the Sarah-Bikini filler, he only talks about it. You could assume thats because he has Grace now, but he continues to act in the same way. One of his most annoying character traits.

Fusionman:

I'm reading regularly. You need the nuts one to your group? Cause I'm here.

37

• Wow, even Tedd's best friend thinks he's a rapist.
• I assume Grace is angry because Elliot is insulting someone she cares about, despite having just met him. She cares so much, in fact, she won't tell him who she is.

39

• "Men, shopping for clothes? What will they think of next?"

40

• I'm beginning to think nobody in this comic is normal. It's just a bunch of aliens and their attempts at emulating human behavior.

Yeah, Grace is basically a Magical Girlfriend (not to be confused with a Magical Girl, who is usually the main character of the story, rather than playing second fiddle to some guy). Stop me if you've heard this one: an ordinary teenage boy meets a strange girl. She is usually supernatural or alien in nature, ignorant of normal human social behavior, and utterly devoted to the male protagonist. Her sole purpose is to make his life more interesting, for better or worse. Bonus points if she's naked when they first meet.

As to why he doesn't ask who she is or where she came from? I don't know. He's probably thinking she'll start crying again and about how would that look with Elliot and Grace around.

...with Elliot and Sarah around. Sorry.