Sunday, February 28, 2010

Comic 707: Killing the Joke

who even says that
oh god. I don't think this comic deserves very much of my time. It's just so stupid. He makes an abhorrently cliched old joke, then he, ha ha ha, acts like he wasn't kidding. He is still kidding, of course - absent any other information at all about these people we have to assume that they are run-of-the-mill xkcd losers, and they don't kill people (unless someone is wearing a hat), they just act sarcastic and self-important all the time.

So basically what we have is a stupid old joke, where someone pretends it isn't a joke, and that in itself is a slightly less old, slightly less stupid joke - but not by much. It's like saying "speaking of giant whores, you know who's a giant whore? your MOM" and then waiting to the (hopefully brief) laughter to subside, and then saying "no but seriously, your mom is a whore, and I paid her to have sex with me. Frequently." It's like taking a stupid joke and saying "nope, i'm not just going to say this stupid thing and move on, I'm going to double down on it and pretend i really think the circumstances of the joke are true. Love me."

Ugh, and in addition to everything I just wrote, panel 3's wording just pisses me off: It should be 'I mean, sooner' or even just 'sooner.' The repetition of words 'kill you' makes it a lot worse, a lot more cumbersome with no benefit. Actually, xkcd did recently have an example of a half-decent final panel. In both cases, the last panel should be used to finish a sentence that we had thought was already over. The last few words are added to subvert the meaning of the first part. It works well in the g spot comic, in this one, by starting a new sentence Randall loses out on the benefit that phrasing could have given the comic.

Like most things in life, it reminded me of the simpsons, specifically, Season 4, episode 1, Kamp Krusty:
 In their subfreezing cold cabin, the children lie in their bunks
while the counselors head across the lake to ``meet some tail.''

Lisa: I feel like I'm gonna die, Bart.
Bart: We're all gonna die, Lis.
Lisa: I meant soon.
Bart: So did I.
Obviously that version doesn't suck.

Jay, are you posting next time? I don't even know what is going on anymore.

------------
Have I mentioned that MS Paint Adventures is still really pissing me off? I think we've talked about this before, but the intermission is over and it is still true. The story is so convoluted and now is jumping around between so many people, so many times, and so many different interactions that I just want to give up. Maybe I will.

101 comments:

  1. Whenever mspaintadventures pisses me off, I just read Problem Sleuth again. It's always great.

    CAPTCHA: stome. I feel like driving to Boston and throwing stomes through Randall's window for this atrocity of a comic.

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  2. How ironic that Carl would point out a cliché by essentially saying "Simpsons did it!"

    ZING! TAKE THAT SUCKAH!

    But for serious, the Simpsons example is actually appropriate. A joke like XKCD did there is really only appropriate in some sort of context with good flow. There is no 'context.' Its like #705. Why bother with artistic setup when you just assume that the readership should create their OWN setting! Why aren't readers pulling their own damn weight, eh?

    Secondly, MSPaint needs to focus on one person at a time. You can't bounce around like that.

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  3. god who even gives a shit anymore. is this the kind of thing randall gets up to? sex dice?

    well, it's not like i know anything about sex, so maybe people really DO use sex dice.

    man whatever so lame.

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  4. I think Randall's just mocking us at this point.

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  5. Yes, people DO use sex dice. Doesn't make the joke any less old, obvious or lame. But at least now it was further ruined by stilted dialog and post-punchline shit.

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  6. The worst part about this comic is, first you read it and don't laugh. Then you read the alt text which makes you think there's a reference you're missing. Then you realize there is no reference, but the alt text adds insight that makes you realize the characters are even lamer than you thought.

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  7. The perspective seems way off in panel 2, although I could be wrong. Also in the last panel I'm not sure how they could not notice the die is wrong until after they roll it.

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  8. well anon 9:36 I think the same can be said for our fornicating couple in the first panel, how the fuck did they not notice that one die had numbers on it and the other cleary had letters in the form of words?

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  9. well I'm SUPPOSED to do the next one but I don't think I want it

    do you?

    I mean

    it is a sacrifice I am willing to make

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  10. 708: Are these two events supposed to be going on at the same time? If so, this can only make me think of a mom and dad getting it on while the kids play board games. What group of people would share a game cupboard other than a family?

    This makes it... rather creepy. Even creepier because Randall's shitty artwork makes them all look relatively the same age. And like they're happening within close proximity.

    The alt-text is dumb as hell too. "Wow, do you ever take it?" Who talks like that?

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  11. jesus christ how many of you have even heard of sex dice?

    cue the posts saying I must be a pitiful virgin etc, yes you're very clever

    seriously, is this something more than like 5 people do?

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  12. Okay 707: the art sucked, and the joke isn't too original.

    but on the plus side for xkcd, the joke is SIMPLE. I mean it borders on too simple because of how lame the cartoons are. But it's straight to the point. It would be better without the repetition of "kill you," but I still don't think it was that bad.

    I feel like this joke is an improvement for Randall. It's like he's been reading this blog and going "wow maybe I should try being concise!" and produced this.

    If he could go rewrite his old comics and make them this concise, a lot of his older jokes would be funnier. So even if it didn't work -here-, I give him points for effort.

    And I would add some hopeful "maybe this is the beginning of an upward trend for xkcd?" but I read the sex dice comic. no hope left.

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  13. You know Carl, me personally I like what you're doing here, I like knowing there's other people who know how crap xkcd is. But it seems like your posts of late are not as enthused as the others. This is probably due to the fact that Randall's just been churning a big barrel of shit and plopping a portion out of it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday like my elementary school lunch lady on burrito day.

    So what I'm getting at is that I wouldn't blame you for shutting shop on this blog from day to day. The only reason I really end up reading the new xkcd comic is to figure out what you're talking about when you analyze it. And it must be terribly boring for you to get up every morning, type in xkcd.com, read a shitty comic, and then have to write about it. Also I think it does more credit to Randall than his comic deserves to have someone write about it.

    And jesus christ, Anon 10:08, I just got what was going on in 708. At first I thought after they found the sex die, they called over two friends for some kinky games. I must admit your interpretation makes a lot more sense.

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  14. My wife and I own sex dice. I laughed; she laughed. No, you never use them except maybe once. Best xkcd in a couple of weeks, not that that's saying anything. It had an actual punchline.

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  15. (they were a wedding present, by the way; no one buys sex dice for himself/his S.O.)

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  16. @Jay 10:05
    The wording, grammar, and pacing of your post totally reminded me of Dinosaur Comics. I dunno, just point of interest I guess.

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  17. Yeah I've heard of sex dice and the comic was worth a chuckle, which does indeed make it the best XKCD of recent times.

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  18. not even a grapple joke
    SHAME

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  19. Gamer2k4: thanks. uncoincidentally, I am a dinosaur.

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  20. This comic was so bad that it made my friend, who normally says that "XCKD isn't that bad", give up and throw his hands up in frustration exlaiming that "goddamnit, Munroe doesn't care anymore."

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  21. I thought the sex dice one was funny, even though I'd change the last panel

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  22. The alt-text would have probably been a better last panel for the dice one.

    As for MSPA, Problem Sleuth went through the same thing for a bit, about the time the female counterparts were added. But since most people (that I know of) only picked up MSPA towards the end of the Problem Sleuth arc, what feels like a neverending dry spell now was like, just a portion of your afternoon.

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  23. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the implication in the new one is that the couple is in the bedroom with one of the sex dice, while at the same time people are in another room (downstairs?) with the other one playing D&D.

    Which...I can't think of any living arrangements in which such a scenario would possibly occur. Also who would store D&D stuff in a game cupboard?

    And how did neither group of people realize "Hey one of my dice isn't the right one" before they rolled? Hell I check my dice thoroughly before I play to make sure they're all part of the same matching set. I would certainly notice that one of them had words on it.

    Yeah, this comic is stupid.

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  24. I feel sorry. These days I happened to think "wow, it's been quite a while since we last had a sexkcd. Randall must have got dumped and hasn't recovered yet", and now we get this.

    At least it's not an atrocious strip, but I didn't laugh; mostly because I'm undecided on whether the true punchline is the awkwardness of the situation or the "lol D&D+sex is like SO AWESOME".

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  25. R., you win 5 internets for that comment.

    Now, firstly... Carl, I was expecting RAGE for this comic 707. Dang it, it's revolting. REVOLTING, I SAYS! Now, to 708...

    The setup is weird. I mean, so you have a house where, while a couple is playing kinky "games", a group of people is playing RPG. What the heck is this place? Also, Nate has a point: who keeps this stuff in cupboards? All the players I know (me included) keep their stuff, especially dice, in locations of their own.

    Also, how the heck did then not notice the dice were wrong? I get that the first couple might not have seen the dice until rolling(it was inside that weird cup thing), but the players... look, I'm an RPG player, I know we have this habit of treating dices as magical things. Thus, we always chose our dices carefully, because everyone knows there is such a thing as a cursed dice, mark my words! So, logically, they SHOULD have noticed there was something wrong BEFORE rolling. Unless they are playing a joke/kinky gme, but that's not what it seems.

    Finally, this also reminds me of The Simpsons, though I'm not gonna remember which episode. I know that Marge got a pair of sexy dices such as that, and Homer kept getting stupid things like "Fondle Eye" and "Bite Hair". Well, what do you know, Simpsons did a better joke than xkcd AGAIN!

    And that's all. Mole out.

    CAPTCHA: thewee. Aw, COME ON!

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  26. 708 is horrible because girls don't play D&D, among other reasons.

    707 make me want to punch babies.

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  27. no sir, i am not a fan

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  28. Why isn't there any indication of writing on the other sides of the sex die?

    My family's internet went over its bandwidth limit before Homestuck had all those updates. I might read Problem Sleuth now.

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  29. "Which...I can't think of any living arrangements in which such a scenario would possibly occur."

    Your typical sexkcd there. What the hell, who needs reason if you can go for something wacky and sex-related?

    "I get that the first couple might not have seen the dice until rolling(it was inside that weird cup thing), but the players..."

    Look, if the RPG players really didn't know about the sex dice (which they don't seem to) then clearly they were stored in another box or whatever so as to hide them from other people. So, clearly, the joke is that someone (possibly one of the non-fondling players) exchanged the dice before so as to fool anyone else. Clearly.

    Regarding MSPA, you're just too stupid or not in the target audience or some other cuddlefish-reason, I don't know. Seriously though, I had no problem with any of the recent developments, but then again I got into the comic during or before HS Act 2. (I indeed didn't read Problem Sleuth yet.)

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  30. Maybe turning The Simpsons off when making the comic for the next day would be a good idea. Seriously, are we to believe that the Simpsons (much better) joke with sex dice was pure coincidence?

    At least he got his gag from The Simpsons and didn't wait until The Cleveland Show was on.

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  31. I thought the dice comic was good, too, but I'd never heard of these dice - is that seriously something people get into? My girlfriend had some coupon book that came in this little free kit she got around valentines day, but the idea of reading and following some printed instructions was a complete turn-off for me. I can't even imagine how intermittently stopping and rolling dice could ever improve sex.

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  32. Speaking of bad sex jokes, is anyone else disappointed with SMBC lately? Not only that, but their video clips are consistently AWFUL... I don't think I've seen one good one yet.

    Well, the superman one was pretty good... that's the only one I can think of.

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  33. Jay, I think I can handle the Dice one. You get Wednesday's, then. Man, this system is not really as simple as I had imagined.

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  34. ya, the dice one was pretty funny (I thought anyways). But the previous one made me wonder what he does with all of his time. I mean QC cranks out brilliant comics 5 days a week (okay, maybe not all brilliant all the time) and Randall pushes out mediocrity 3 times a week.

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  35. @uncivlengr: How did you make an SMBC reference without remembering to point out ON THE SAME DAY they are doing a dice/D&D reference? Zach and Randy may be closer than we knew.

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  36. @uncivlengr - Yes, I totally agree. SMBC is usually where I go for the funny, but the past few comics have been lame. I'm not going anywhere near the video clips, it just sounds like they would be terrible.

    707 was TERRIBLE. Setup was generic to the point of awkwardness, and the joke was hackneyed and unfunny. To top it all off, the suspension of disbelief you need for this joke (seriously, how many people actually work in an environment where you don't know what's going on in another project) goes unrewarded.

    708 actually made me chuckle a bit, but I had to hide it out of shame. That, and I didn't want anyone to notice and go "HAY I LUURVE XKCD TOO!!!" Still, as others have pointed out, the setup is a bit unrealistic, but I'm willing to overlook it. I've given up on reading the alt-texts altogether, so no comment there. Bottom line: 708 is a step in the right direction.

    Speaking of RPGs - anyone here know where I can find an mIRC group for Battletech or Mechwarrior:RPG? I love tabletops, I just can't stand most people who play them.

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  37. SMBC's comic is good 90% of the time, I'd say. SMBC theater was gold early on, but I think it has gone downhill. They started playing around too much with special effects, as well as too frequently inserting their own political beliefs and it just became annoying. Also the fat guy overacts. And he's in every video. But I liked today's (the time-travelling geek).

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  38. If you require Bob Dole's help at all let me know.

    i know a guy that knows a guy. The second guy being Bob Dole.

    Eh, i might just write one for fun regardless.

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  39. I mean QC cranks out brilliant comics 5 days a week (okay, maybe not all brilliant all the time)

    They're never brilliant any of the time.

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  40. Mal, I have to disagree with that.

    http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1020

    http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1068

    http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=64

    are all brilliant. Granted, the middle one requires you to know the context, but still, the other two are quite brilliant.

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  41. You're messing with our heads, aren't you, Mike?

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  42. haha it's funny beacuse they're all moroons and we can feel superior at htem

    and the third one is such an easy target that it's far from brilliant that jacques managed to do a tolerable job of hitting it.

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  43. "...and they don't kill people (unless someone is wearing a hat)..."

    I can't seriously be the only one who actually likes Black Hat Guy's bloodlust, can I?

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  44. 1st one: lol, internet. lol, "lol". lol, "lol, 'lol'". etc.

    3rd one: HAY GUYS I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WOMEN HOW BOUT YOU

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  45. @Fred:
    >_>
    Maaaaaaaaybe. Okay, yes, fine, the comic's rather balls, but I like it anyway. :p It's still better than XKCD or Ctrl-Alt-Del (not that's that is particularly hard to achieve, amirite?)

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  46. Whether or not you enjoy it, you have to at least notice that QC at least is done by someone who consistently tries to put out the best comic that he can, especially in regards to the drawn artwork. Unlike, say, xkcd.

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  47. Lostman put it best.
    "It doesn't matter if it was drawn now or seven years ago, it's a visual abomination."

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  48. QC is pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel. The only reason I don't hate it more than XKCD is because enough people see QC as the unfunny indie snobfest that it is.

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  49. http://www.goatkcd.com/229/

    Dude, this is funnier than every xkcd ever put together.

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  50. @Hauptjaeger
    Really? I know almost literally nothing about anything indie, and I still manage to find snickers enough to not stop reading. So, I'd like to know, why do you consider it so bad? I mean, the guy's art style has evolved over time, which is good. His characters are (mostly) consistent within themselves. The writing isn't unbelievable. Since I manage to follow it well enough, indie knowledge can't be *that* much of a prerequisite. So, apart from a difference of opinion on "funny," why's it "bottom of the barrel" rather than "mediocre?"

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  51. I think Randall is engaging in some kind of comedic brinkmanship to see just how low his fanboys will stoop.

    RANDALL: Lower than either of us would be conformable knowing.

    I enjoyed 706, mainly because I had never heard the joke before. 707 wasn't terrible. sex dice, though. oh mans.

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  52. Its ok, I like QC too, I don't think it is anything that good, I find it just good enough to waste 5 minutes of my time.

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  53. What's with people saying 707 wasn't horrible? I thought 707 was the most terrible ever. I admit it doesn't really carry with it anything that would make me rage, it's just sort of very dull, but very quaint - but it is so exceptionally dull. This is a joke, sure, but it's a stock joke. This is a man who supports himself on income from this comic, and has tens of thousands of fans, and he may as well have put out a comic comprised of that boo-who knock knock joke.
    Fuck you Randall, fuck you.

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  54. Obviously the different perspectives on the new xkcd tells us that.....? I dunno, but it's funny reading it.

    "Hmm, this one was pretty good for a long time."
    "Goddamnit, munroe doesn't care anymore."
    "It wasn't terrible."

    I guess art is subjective.
    (yes I read rob's post)

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  55. noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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  56. @Scott: No, 707 was pretty bad. Look, I like XKCD, I actively state this. I've been saying that as long as I don't notice a comic's humour is rehashed or simple or whatever, while I'm reading it, I don't mind. This one, was SO lazy... I couldn't help but notice it while I was reading it. This comic, seriously, may be the laziest comic ever posted on XKCD (I am open to argument on this point!)

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  57. 706 and 707 are both pretty simple. They're very . . . I don't want to say newspaper-comics, but it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine. The jokes are old and lazy and simple and don't require any sort of thought.

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  58. 708 was yet another highly contrived setup for a cheap joke involving high school nerdity and sex. It might have been actually funny, except that Randall violated the 30 degree rule in the last panel, confusing the hell out of me. I thought the brunette woman in panel 4 was the one from panel 3 and was wondering why she was talking about a castle guard all of a sudden. Then, I examined the panel in depth (note: a punchline should not be dependent of visual information below it--we read from top to bottom,and information in a comic should be placed accordingly) and noticed that the figures were different. Still, since the men and brunette women all look the same, I was too busy trying to determine if the people in panel 4 started a game of D&D or if it was going on in parallel to the sex fiasco. I really would have liked to laugh at this comic, despite how flimsy and immature it is, but it was so poorly constructed that I kept finding obstacles to my enjoyment of it, ultimately precluding me from finding it even the tiniest bit funny or enjoyable.

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  59. I think I meant 707 and 708.

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  60. "Die" is singular.

    "Dice" is plural.

    "Dices" is a verb.

    Sussed.

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  61. I can understand where the QC fans are coming from. I haven't read QC, nor do I intend to, but I do read PvP which I'm sure is a much worse comic than QC. And yet, I still read it. I dunno.

    I try to make up for my transgressions by reading good comics like Dinosaur Comics and Toothpaste for Dinner. I would put Chainsawsuit on that list but it's definitely not as good as it used to be now, and hasn't been for a while.

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  62. @Betty: "die" and "dice" can also be verbs. But yeah.

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  63. alright, 708 - another example of randy making a n00b joke while trying to look casually nerdy (i bet every single owner of sex dice made a similar observation within half hour of purchase - insider joke fail AGAIN randy).

    but the main FOR FUCK'S SAKE I AM ANGRY AT THIS thing for me was panel two.

    look at the dice. LOOK AT THEM!

    WHAT.

    THE.

    FUCK.


    look, i don't know about you, but if i was drawing a comic that revolved around a dice-joke, and in the second panel i drew the dice in question, and they were repuslively non-ubic on shape, i'd at least say "huh i should redraw that, it'll take two minutes tops".

    to either a) not redraw them, or b) not even notice is - and this sounds exagerratedly angry but i mean it and i'd like you to think about why i mean it - offensively poor work from a supposed professional. fuck you randall.

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  64. @Leonard:
    You make a good point about comic structure. I had the same problem as you when I was reading it. I wasn't immediately sure if it was the same couple who were now playing DnD or if it was some other group of people.

    I might be on my own here, but I actually think the concept for 708 was pretty good. Situationally speaking, I find the idea of someone trying to play DnD, throwing a set of dice, and having one mysteriously be a sex die to be a funny idea for a punchline. I just... think the punchline itself could have been better written.
    ...
    And the setup to reach that punchline could have been more clear.
    And the lead-up TO the Setup of the punchline could have been funnier.

    ...

    [edit: And the Dice could have looked less stupid]

    Fuck, this website has ruined my enjoyment of XKCD. You're all bastards.

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  65. muenster we are, yet muenster we become

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  66. You know, going through the list of webcomics I read, I realize now that many are likely mediocre, but still entertaining to me, and I don't think any of them fall in the the traps that XKCD always does. Here's my list, feel free to mock me:
    Girls with Slingshots
    Something Positive
    Multiplex
    Evil Inc.
    Gunnerkrigg Court
    8-Bit Theatre
    Order of the Stick
    Help Desk
    Real Life
    Looking for Group
    Least I Could Do
    Questionable Content
    PvP
    Penny Arcade
    Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
    Diesel Sweeties.

    There's a few that if they keep on how they are, I'm likely to stop, since I'm mostly just going on momentum and the fact that it only takes about 20 seconds to read one.

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  67. Rinnon, the problem with that punchline is that they'd notice it's not a numbered die before rolling it. It just doesn't work for me. Also, the bewilderment over the outcome is also... weirdly stupid.

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  68. Ha ha, a nerd blog that's only here to talk about a nerd comic? This is pathetic squared.

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  69. holy hell:

    a google search for sex dice puts the day-old xkcd comic first, the digg link to the comic fifth, and another blog linking to the comic ninth. every page of results has at least two xkcd links in it.

    XKCD IS DOMINATING SEX DICE SEARCHES.

    p.s. i found some free online sex dice, and the first result i got when throwing them was "squeeze" and "neck".

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  70. Weird, sex dice (poster above me), that's the same dice OJ Simpson rolled one fateful night...

    Oh yes, bringing back the 90s.

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  71. Anyone taking part in this colour survey? I think I might be colour blind after all - could have sworn that beige looked purple.

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  72. Last panel of Sex Dice actully made me laugth. Just for the idea that someone would point out out that fondeling still did 6 damge as if this made it ok. Problem is This would ahve made me laugth with out any of the stuff before it, and then would have been less weird and creepy. Also would probaly have made more sense. You's atleast just assume they were palying some really weird boradgame or whatever.

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  73. @Mike:

    Hmm, I used to read 8-Bit Theater but I dunno, it just got kind of old after a while. I'll always enjoy the earlier ones with stuff like King Steve's Kickass Bridge but I think I quit around the time Black Mage went to Hell or whatever.

    I guess I don't have the right to mock other people's webcomic tastes so I won't rag on you for LICD but ugh, I can't stand that comic.

    For the record, my list is as such:

    Dinosaur Comics
    Wondermark
    The Book of Biff
    PvP
    Penny Arcade
    Sheldon
    Dr. McNinja
    Chainsawsuit
    Toothpaste for Dinner
    Hark A Vagrant
    xkcd
    Brawl in the Family

    I already mentioned PvP. Book of Biff is surreal, and I don't normally laugh at it but I find it amusing and clever. Sheldon fluctuates between being amusing enough and horribly awful (right now it's in the horribly awful phase). Of course Kellett's art is pretty good and it's a daily comic, so it's a lot harder to be consistently funny. I'm willing to forgive a bad comic more often than not from him.

    BitF I find to be usually decent, but occasionally fantastic (I love his Waluigi comics, dunno why, they just appeal to me). The last few aren't very good though, especially the Pokemon one that more or less rips off a similar VG Cats comic.

    Rinnon, the problem with that punchline is that they'd notice it's not a numbered die before rolling it.

    Like I said, being an avid D&D player, I know how to handle dice, and I always check to make sure I'm using the right set. I would absolutely see a die with words on it, if not for the words, then for the fact that "Hey this die isn't the right color." That ruins the joke for me, he should've noticed.

    Also, the bewilderment over the outcome is also... weirdly stupid.

    Also this. What would happen would probably go more along the lines of, "Hey, this one says fondle, ha ha." "What are you sure? Shit. Must've gotten the wrong one. Should I reroll them both or just that one?"

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  74. Wow, sex dice make for an exxcellant goatkcd.

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  75. This goatkcd thing got old really fast - it's a guy's asshole, get over it.

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  76. @Webcomic discussion: I tried to get into Hark A Vagrant and Diesel Sweeties a couple times, but no luck. As for QC, I don't know that I find it laugh out loud funny much, but I also fall into the camp of knowing absolutely nothing about "indie" and I don't get pissed at it even on the rare occasion that the humor relies on esoteric knowledge. I dunno, I find the comic/characters fun personally.

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  77. @Nate
    8-bit theatre is wrapping up soon, so once it does, I'll retire it, just like I did Bob and George, and just keep it around for when I'm *reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaally* bored. And yeah, LICD is one I'm thinking about dropping reading. LFG too, though I suspect if one recovers, so will the other. I used to read Book of Biff, but I lost it in a reformat, so thank you for reminding me.

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  78. http://www.goatkcd.com/706/ - that is fucked up ...

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  79. Goatkcd never gets old. It is just so perfect.

    Also, LICD is one of the worst comics ever. It is much worse than XKCD and only slightly better than CAD. People who like it should be ashamed of yourselves. LFG also looks like a pile of crap.

    Here are some comics that rule: Nedroid, Unwinder (when it updates), Wonderella, White Ninja. These are pretty much consistently funny. I also read a bunch of story-based comics which are not supposed to be funny. And a bunch of comics that I'm not sure whether they are funny or not. But yeah, you all should read the ones I mentioned.

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  80. Okay Timofei, in the spirit of the blog, same challenge to you about LICD and LFG that I put out about QC. Why is it such shit? No saying "the jokes aren't funny," it's got to be actual honest critiques if you're going to put them worse than XKCD. I'm not going to defend them or anything, since I really am getting tired of them, but still, I'd like to know why the vitriol. No one's ever actually given a reason, like they do with CAD.

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  81. Sohmer is a dick. Guy makes too much money for those pieces of shit. Sohmer can't write.

    LFG:
    Not funny. Not dramatic. Mary-Sue. Cookie cutter characters and fantasy world. Shifting tone. Crammed panels. Erratic plot. Richard is the only character allowed to be funny. Richard is too powerful. Richard doesn't make sense with the logic of the world. Richard has no concrete power level. That elf who angsts while killing people. No thought put into the world or plot. Boring characters. Unclear actions. Bad pacing.

    LICD:
    Not funny. Racist. Sexist. Childish. Formulaic. Mary-Sue. Sohmer beats you over the head with his (usually dumb) opinions.

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  82. The blog ate my other comment...

    Sohmer's a dick who can't write and gets paid too much. Beats you over the head with his idiotic opinions.

    LFG: Bad pacing. Elf who angsts while killing people (long as it's not a kid it's perfectly ok.) Erratic plot. Richard is a Mary-Sue and the only character still allowed to be funny. Doesn't make sense in the comic world. Richard Rapidly shifts power level. Richard is too powerful. No thought put into the world. Cookie cutter plot, fantasy world and characters. Bland characters. Plot is a vehicle for the joke. What the fuck is going on. Bad drama. Not funny. Richard never gets called out.

    LICD: Sohmer's already mentioned problems. Not funny. Childish. Formulaic. Sexist. Racist. Rayne Summers is a blatant author avatar of Ryan Sohmer. Almost never gets called out.

    Richard is basically Rayne only with a murder obsession instead of a sex one.

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  83. Some reviews on Bad Webcomics Wiki are bullshit, but these IMO are pretty much to the point: Least I Could Do, Looking For Group.

    Also, I was once pointed to the TED arc in LICD, and that was pretty much the stupidest thing I've ever seen in comics. And the anti-vaccination arc. And the WEBCOMICS SUCK arc (well, at least something we agree on - this particular webcomic does indeed suck). Basically, whenever I get linked to LICD, I really want to punch the author in the face. Yeah, I'm not very good at critiquing things that send me into a fit of anger when I see them.

    Also the art is really boring, with copy-pasted mouths and all.

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  84. Timofei, those are pretty much bullshit reviews you linked to, in terms of supporting your case. "The original artists sucked! But, uh, the new guy's pretty good, and getting better... But the writing's horrible!... though it's getting better too... Fuck 'im anyways!" I can accept that you dislike it, that's fine. Like I said, I'm nearly there too. But the hyperbole of stating it's as bad as XKCD doesn't do anyone any favours.

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  85. Lostman put it best.
    "It doesn't matter if it was drawn now or seven years ago, it's a visual abomination."


    Eh?

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  86. Here's the beginning of the TED arc. Don't say I didn't warn you: http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090921

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  87. Jesus Christ... he just sets it up as a TED talk for no other reason but to say, "look, I'm really smart and what I have to say is important".

    Mind-boggling, I can't even describe how pretentious that was.

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  88. At the end of the first one, I thought simply "and?"
    After the second one, I blinked about half a dozen times to make sure I wasn't seeing things.
    At the end of the third, I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it involved eye spasms.
    After the fourth, I actually managed to stay calm, but decided I needed some angry music to keep that calm going.
    The fifth didn't so much disgust me as a poor comic, but simply irritated me as an obnoxious argument, and, noting that I'd put on one of the Devin Townsend albums I haven't bought, I just quickly went over the stupidity of it in my head. Nothing special.
    The sixth... was this whole trip through annoying, humourless self righteousness a set up for this incredibly lame punchline?
    Although I suppose the completely stupid opinions, one of which seems to suggest persuing a life we enjoy is simply burrying our heads in the sand, were all supposed to enlighten readers or something.

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  89. http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090924
    https://secure.leasticoulddo.com/store/home.php
    https://secure.blindferret.com/lfgstore/home.php

    ...
    ahuh

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  90. Obviously the lesson is that all the stuff you consume is meaningless and unimportant, but you should still pay for it.

    ...and I can't even imagine how to fit the bit about not being "afraid" into that.

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  91. *sigh*

    Does anyone else REALLY miss Perry Bible Fellowship? Or is it just me?

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  92. I think most people miss PBF.

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  93. Rinnon, I miss it a lot. Especially because I only got to know it when it was veeeeeery near to its end.

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  94. Hey, interestingly enough, that's when I got to know it as well! I think that since I found it, it's only been updated with 2 or 3 new comics at most. Sometimes I go back and re-read them though, they're always just as funny as the first time I read them! I think I'll do that right now...

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  95. hey, what's the target audience for LICD any ways? Because if the author is trying to state that he is "smart" in the sense that he has a Phd in astrophysics or something, then he minda fails with all his sex talk.

    Seriously, wtf is with the internet's obsession with displaying sexual humour and people continuing to claim that they have had it?

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  96. @Cam

    Because they don't have it

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  97. I had a large comment here explaining:
    how "Rayne/Richard is a Mary-Sue" is not an applicable criticism as that's one of his intentional premises.
    how being a Mary Sue does not mean the character is an author insert.
    how weird plot shit and character insertions is one of the basic premises of MSpaint Adventures, and that it's a genuine case of "if you don't like that, you shouldn't read it instead of just complaining".
    and how blanket comments about a comic series like "it's racist" need to be backed up, and ones like "it's formulaic" also need to be coupled with a reason why that's a bad thing (eg: anyone who complains about Garfield, a cartoon suited for little kids, being formulaic is a dumbass)

    Then the Commentbox effed up. So instead you get a cruder, snide summary of what I originally said. Bleh.

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  98. Aye, but when the majority of print comics are dumb/formulaic/bash you over the head with politics in hopes of being funny, it's kind of hard not to be annoyed about Garfield's formulaicness. Or it wasn't until webcomics came along, at least.

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