The Order of the Stick

You don't think that's the only way the strip works, or you don't think that's the direction this arc is going?

Both options makes sense to me, really. Like, I have no problem with dismissing this strip as nothing more than a botched punchline, but I also think it's a bit early to look at where stuff like that is going.

The way I read it, Durkula's cadence does make the sentence sound like, "Hell no! Thor won't go". His speech bubble at the end shows how he means it - the prayer is deliberate obfuscation.

The joke is still dodgy, though. In terms of kind-of-forced jokes, better than Larry Gardner, not as good as Fruit Pie the Sorcerer.

I think otherwise. I actually liked Larry Gardener, but Fruit Pie Sorcerer falls completely flat for me, even more than this one.

Which one was Fruit Pie Sorcerer again?

Proof That I am Deeply Disturbed. (And before you ask, that's the name of the strip.)

I love the Fruit Pie the Sorcerer one, because I read comics and remember those old Hostess ads.

Hostess Fruit Pies are the greatest superhero ever known to man.

edited 2nd Sep '14 7:19:26 AM by TobiasDrake

Not very funny, but not terrible either.

For me, at least, "Fruit Pie the Sorcerer" doesn't work simply because I lack the reference for it: I have no idea where the joke is, because I don't think that I've ever seen one of the referenced ads(?) to which it refers.

(I think that someone once explained it to me, but if so I seem to have forgotten said explanation.)

As to Durkula's chant, I get that, it just comes across as horribly forced to my mind's ear.

Delicious Fruit Pies

I didn't know the specific reference when I read the fruit pie strip, but it still worked for me because I was at least familiar with "anthropomorphic snack food saves day by giving snacks to people" advertisements. Sugary breakfast cereals used to do when whenever they weren't doing the "children attempt petty theft from cereal mascot rather than go to the grocery store or vice versa" one.

Sorta like how this comic still worked for me despite having never played D&D up until a couple months ago because I was still familiar with general RPG and fantasy tropes through other sources.

I'm sort of familiar with the joke since I remember a parody from Dexter's Lab, but it's still not exactly funny. It didn't fall as flat as this joke, though, because this one was just too unnatural.

I find it funny because I've seen fruit pies like that for forever.

Yes, the pies last forever.

@The Hero (appropriately enough :P): Aah, I see—thank you for the explanation. ^_^

@Wryte: Strangely, I'd be surprised if there hadn't been at least some commercials along those lines—cereal in particular—over here, but my memory isn't managing to dredge up a good reference for one.

31083: What makes it bad is Rich waiting 2+ weeks (?) and this is all we get; also, even for Roy, the cadence is too off.

edited 3rd Sep '14 9:23:18 AM by ACW

Could be that Durkula is intentionally saying it with a rhythm that makes it sound like what Roy concluded. I mean, if you're already willing to make that convoluted wording...

Then the text bubble is screwy.

Honestly, I'd just write it off as text bubbles "sounding" like whatever the plot needs them to sound like. (See: every comic-based case of Samus Is a Girl ever.)

I noted that this isn't a trope we have in another thread, so someone really ought to take it to YKTTW.

I personally find it difficult to conceive that Roy would even know about Hel; even if the stresses on the words sound strange to him, he'd probably have heard it as 'hell', anyway.

Considering that Roy has no ranks in Knowledge (Religion), this can be seen as the result of a badly failed untrained skill check, combined with what seems like deliberate obfuscation on Durkula's part.

I figure his chanting is a kind of droning, monotonous "go-hel-know-thor-won't-go-hel-know-thor-won't." If Roy came in in the middle, it would be easy enough to hear it how he did.

As to the 'this took 2+ weeks' bit, I'd like to believe that's because he's trying to knuckle down on some the Kickstarter PDFs.

Alternatively, it could be one of those good old 'I still can't come up with anything good, but it's gotten to point where I simply don't have time to think about it anymore' writer's block problems.

Rich admitted to suffering a bit from work overload in a recent backer update.

Now that you mention it, the whole party has had pretty shitty Listen scores since Dorukan's Dungeon too.

edited 3rd Sep '14 12:46:25 PM by TobiasDrake