Someone posted this comic's April Fools' Day strip on another thread. Noticing it was a webcomic about kids and monsters, at first I thought it was something like Pokémon and decided to check it out. It was nothing like Pokémon, as it turned out, but it was just enough to keep me interested enough to binge it thorough the day. I'm not here to complain about it, but I do mean just enough. Let me try to explain... (including to myself)
It's... a weird webcomic. In more than one way. The more obvious way, er, I mean, it's a webcomic about kids who have monsters which are actually their organs, that remain working outside their bodies. That's the kind of weird I like.
But there's something else I found weird about it. The characterization, maybe? It felt... off? The serious and, if not realistic, not idealistic take of how people would actually react in the situations present is something to enjoy about it (otherwise, it'd be akin to dislike an horror movie because it's scary, which is totally valid stance but isn't a comment on the quality of the work, usually). Maybe it's because I don't like how it seems every chapter a different character gets all depressed about it, improves at the end, and yet a few arcs down the story repeats itself. I assume that's how people recovering/living a traumatic phenomenon would behave in real life, but in terms of a story isn't something I enjoy reading that much. Apparently.
Furthermore, besides their cynicism, the main cast's (or maybe everyone's, Idk) characterization is weird. For the main cast, I understand they're all children/teens, so they can be very emotional and flip-flop all over the place because they're still developing themselves morally. It still makes me go "seriously?", "uh... okay...", "not what I expected, but, er, I guess that makes sense...ish?", etc.
Overall... I believe it's a very interesting story, regardless of my preferences. So I'm avoiding making a judgement call on its quality. I'm excited to see what's going to happen next! For real, instead of the monsters turning into motorcycles. The deep mysteries of this webcomic have yet to be explained.
Editor of Posts
Could you give an example of the story "repeating itself"? The closest thing I can come up with is how long after chapter 16 it took Bina to actually tell her dad about what's going on. But once she did they were pretty direct about it.
Maybe "repeating itself" wasn't the correct way to describe it. I don't remember exactly what I was complaining about then, but I guess it's some characters arcs I thought had been resolved but hadn't. My response to that was just "you're still bothered by that? ... Well, okay then," but after watching the main cast be depressed and cynical for so long I go "can't they just be happy for a while? For a little bit longer than last time?"
Think of the mooks!
A few things.
One, the kinds of issues that several of them are dealing with (West's increasing alienation, particularly from his parents; Abel's survivor guilt as well as his guilt from inadvertently killing his sister; oh yeah, that whole "my body part has become an autonomous monster" issue) are not the kinds of things that are just magically solved with one or two storylines. It takes time to work through those issues.
Two, they're all on the cusp of puberty - not a point in a person's life known for being able to easily handle, well, anything.
Three, There Are No Therapists. Nobody actually qualified for helping them through their issues (if anyone even could be qualified for some of them) is present.
I think the problems they have and the pace at which they're tackled and developed makes a bunch of sense. Things are developing for the characters at a reasonable pace, IMO.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Yeah, I didn't say it was unrealistic (although I can't say it's realistic because, well, it's triggered by unrealistic phenomena, I can say it's as close as it could get). And I wasn't talking about the Myth Arc of dealing with having an external living being that's literally an overdeveloped unnatached organs. Realistic or not, reading about people being depressed isn't necessarily engaging, or exciting. Drama was never one of my favorite genres. What I'm trying to get at here is less complain about the webcomic and more expose my opinion on it, because at this point the argument is similar to "one dislikes a horror movie for its horror elements", which are included on the premise.
I don't know if I'm making much sense here :S It's late and these have been very long days...
Anyways, I could form a better stronger opinion on it with a reread.
Editor of Posts
Panel five might just be my favourite panel in the entire comic.
Chaotic Greedy
Yeah, it's a good panel.
edited 20th Apr '16 4:06:28 AM by Medinoc
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Editor of Posts
Honestly, the only thing surprising about Shell shutting down is that it didn't happen way sooner, seeing how all the test subjects keep escaping all the time.
Chaotic Greedy
Courtesy Link.
Again ಠ_ಠ.
This big boss and the woman are surrounded by impulsive, incompetent idiots...
edited 27th Apr '16 4:09:46 AM by Medinoc
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Think of the mooks!
Oh, damn. Damn. That's some powerful knife-twisting, Rjinder. Though I wonder if it was really his idea...
Oh, and a very important question is, is Rjinder as right about that last point as he sounds?
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Chaotic Greedy
Look at her smile! She's cracking under the pressure again.
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Oh, wow. This is not a bad idea. This is a horrible idea, I can't even fathom how she could be considering it.
^Because of guilt, despair and desperation?
Yes. Apparently, even common sense was thrown out the window.
Chaotic Greedy
Wow, she's really gone off the deep end.
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Think of the mooks!
Nothing like when you can pinpoint, to the panel, when the jump off the slippery slope happened.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Think of the mooks!
I'm a bit unnerved by Rjinder in that last panel. Is he trying to smile? Is his monster trying to smile? Which would be worse?
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Editor of Posts
Rjinder has finally found a friend who understands him
edited 6th Jun '16 5:43:50 AM by Druplesnubb
Think of the mooks!
Congratulations, Rjinder, you finally found a way to make it such that your skin isn't your creepiest attribute.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Editor of Posts
I'm starting to like these guys. I wouldn't mind if they wound up being a second team of main characters.
edited 15th Jun '16 3:05:14 PM by Druplesnubb
Think of the mooks!
Well, there's a reasonable chance that at least some of them are Trapped in Villainy (although I have my questions about Ray and Enid). It's a lot easier to like them when at least some are legit non-evil.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
ARMA creature motorcycles are best motorcycles.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.