Far Side cartoon - what do we do?: Empty Piles Of Clothing

This is the ultimate test of what we want to do about Gary Larson's stated preference to not have his cartoons posted online.

The original is four sections; this only uses two. Therefore, it doesn't violate the "complete work" test that is pretty solidly an auto-pull.

I personally think it'd be within our "rights" to keep it, but considering that we know what Larson would like, it would be kind of dickish.

Whaddya all think?

PS: Oddly enough, the Google search preview shows all four sections. Weird.

I've got my DV Ds of Baccano right next to me. It uses this trope plenty..... although the action that leads to the trope is quite spoiler-ish and not easy to be shown if a single-panel of the clothes themselves isn't good enough to work.

edited 29th Jan '12 12:05:10 AM by DRCEQ

I don't think that really matters: [1]. But I think that could be easily improved on, anyway. Suggestion?

edited 29th Jan '12 12:28:44 AM by rodneyAnonymous

Ahh yeah, Dragon Ball Z uses this trope with Cell...

I immediately thought of Cell upon reading the thread title

I prefer the DBZ one to the current one.

Though I found this◊ one as well.

The DBZ or the RL pic would work...is there one of the DBZ pics that has more sets of clothes or shows the actual disappearing?

The actual disappearing is only really shown once.

and

Here are pictures from the scene where the guy gets absorbed. (The second 2 should be in reverse order, obviously) Unfortunately, they aren't nearly as clear as the first one I posted. The shot of the street full of clothes isn't too bad though.

Anyway, from the trope description:

"The cause may be anything (disintegration, a Shrink Ray, Baleful Polymorph, Caught Up In The Rapture etc.) but this may or may not be obvious to the characters or the audience."

So it seems like we don't want to actually show the person being absorbed, since it might just make the trope seem narrower than it is. The important part is the empty set of clothes, not how they got there.

edited 29th Jan '12 12:09:14 PM by abk0100

Just for the sake of thoroughness, all the other shots I could find. That first one is edited together, you can see the seam if you look closely.

The (first) dinner table I don't like as much because the clothes aren't obviously in a pile, may be an invisible man inside or something. The exercise gear on the floor in front of the TV and the second dinner table are pretty awesome.

I prefer the second dinner table. I know it's somewhat of a stretch, but the exercise gear one kind of looks to me more like it was tossed onto the floor than like the person dissolved out of it. I think because of the position it's in.

That works.

That one or this work best for me.

edited 29th Jan '12 3:07:43 PM by Willbyr

I should have just stopped after the first picture. Now we're going to have to pick which one is the best, and there's no clear winner.

edited 29th Jan '12 3:28:06 PM by abk0100

The empty piles of clothes at the dinner table say "something happened suddenly, and left those piles while they were in the middle of something" more clearly than the piles in the street / Value Village explosion.

Any more suggestions, or just start a crowner and get it over with?

Might want to start a crowner. These are all so great. (Where are they from?)

I forgot all about this thread. They're from Dragon Ball Z.

Made a crowner here.

The one from 16 works best for me. It conveys the "something happened" part to me, rather than just looking like clothes randomly lying around.

We've got a pretty clear leader...go ahead and call it?

I'd say yeah. Call it.

Called; the new pic is up, potholed, and tagged. Caption or no?