Erin and Hobbes #2

Canadamus Prime

Robot in Disguise
Jun 17, 2009
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Atmos Duality said:
canadamus_prime said:
What I really have to shake my head at is when people make excuses as to why they lost. "Oh that character's overpowered", "HAX", "fucker campers," that sort of thing. If you (generic) were really had any skill worth mentioning you wouldn't have to make excuses as to why you lost. One thing's for sure, no one ever makes excuses for why they won. You don't hear the winners complaining about hax or overpowered characters or campers or whatever. It's only the losers who can't accept the fact that there just might be someone better than them. And that's what makes them truly losers in my mind.
When I get lagged out, I blame my ISP, not the person who is winning (and having lived with 56k up until 2009, yes, that was a common occurrence). It's the net. Shit breaks, it lags. It's not infallible.
Well that's legitimately something that's beyond your control, isn't it? Although I don't think bitching about it is going to change anything.
As for "cheap strategies", I can see anyone getting bored with them after a time (a lazy victory feels hollow), but if you're playing to win, identifying the dominant strategy is in fact, playing the game as intended. So anyone bringing "skill" into the argument is already shooting themselves in the foot.
Then perhaps one should find a way to counter the "dominant strategies" instead of whining about them. Because whining about them just makes one look like a sore loser.
 

Imp_Emissary

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Grey Carter said:
Imp Emissary said:
Grey Carter said:
Scorpid said:
Well I know you guys wouldn't put out a comic that would get you sued, but it just dawned on me, between all the characters you use from popular games like Kratos and Zelda why aren't you being in danger of being sued?
Technically we're covered under the fair use doctrine on account of our work generally being parody. That wouldn't stop people from trying to sue us though, and if they did we wouldn't have the money to fight back. Really, the reason we don't get any legal threats or anything is because we're very small fish in a very large pond. The more popular you get, the bigger a target you become. See Penny Arcade and Strawberry Shortcake for an example of that.
o_0 The Strawberry Shortcake people sued Penny Arcade?!

>_> Hmmm...
They threatened legal action if Penny Arcade didn't remove a strip. Fun for everybody.
Ha ha ha. Fun read.

Thank you Grey. Hope that never happens to you or Cory.
 

Terramax

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Jan 11, 2008
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Krantos said:
No.

No, No No No No.

See this is the problem I always have with people "Revisiting" classic cartoons. They always feel they have to make it darker. Like having Charlie Brown kill Lucy for pulling the ball away. Or Calvin's parents putting him on anti-psychotics.

The old strips' innocence is what made them good. Well, C&H was also good because of the way Calvin and Hobbes would tackle existential questions, but that's another story.

People using the characters like this is just stupid. It's basically saying "hurr, hurr, Hobbes is Swearing!"

The only time I've seen classic characters used well were those Bacon and Hobbes strips.

These Erin and Hobbes strips come across as the writers just saying "Hey LOOK! We're Using characters from another cartoon! Like Us because you like them! Do you like us yet?"

...then again, that's kind of what Crit Miss has been doing ever since Erin's hallucinations started. hmm...
I have to agree with this. Firstly, Calvin and Hobbes was well known for fairly deep humour at times which, I fear, these strips aren't going to reach that standard.

Secondly, this may be a silly question, but is it legal to have C&H in another comic strip? I'm assuming The Escapist hasn't had permission to do so, and I've read before that the creator is very protective of the C&H series.
 

Imp_Emissary

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SpiderJerusalem said:
Susan Arendt said:
Wow. The amount of overreacting in this thread is fascinating.

*gets popcorn*
Almost as fascinating as the Escapist handing out warnings over people criticizing the comic strip.
You mean WARNING.

Eh, the person kind of had it coming. Saying the comic was unoriginal is fair enogh, but going on to say that the comic was made to validate the person's sad life? Not so much.

Also, the tone of the comment seemed very hostile. Not really something you use for a good criticism.
 

The Wooster

King Snap
Jul 15, 2008
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SpiderJerusalem said:
Susan Arendt said:
Wow. The amount of overreacting in this thread is fascinating.

*gets popcorn*
Almost as fascinating as the Escapist handing out warnings over people criticizing the comic strip.
People are welcome to criticize the comic strip, the Escapist just draws the line at personal insults.

Terramax said:
Secondly, this may be a silly question, but is it legal to have C&H in another comic strip? I'm assuming The Escapist hasn't had permission to do so, and I've read before that the creator is very protective of the C&H series.
Yes. Oddly, this question has never come up with any other characters.
 

Susan Arendt

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Jan 9, 2007
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Copper Zen said:
Cory Rydell said:
Krantos said:
These Erin and Hobbes strips come across as the writers just saying "Hey LOOK! We're Using characters from another cartoon! Like Us because you like them! Do you like us yet?"

...then again, that's kind of what Crit Miss has been doing ever since Erin's hallucinations started. hmm...
Weve got another in the works that may change your mind, its going to be a mini arc.




I happen to be one of the (apparently few) vile and demented regular readers who enjoyed the previous hallucination arc. I'm looking forward to this next one.



Susan Arendt said:
Wow. The amount of overreacting in this thread is fascinating.

*gets popcorn*
"Fascinating" isn't the first word that came to my mind. There's a vibe here similar to the one some people made about George Lucas "ruining" their childhood...

By the way, Susan: Why did SnakeoilSage's post earn him a warning? Did what he said qualify as a direct insult to Grey?
Pretty much, yep. Commenting on the content is one thing. Commenting on the creator is another.
 

Susan Arendt

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Jan 9, 2007
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Imp Emissary said:
SpiderJerusalem said:
Susan Arendt said:
Wow. The amount of overreacting in this thread is fascinating.

*gets popcorn*
Almost as fascinating as the Escapist handing out warnings over people criticizing the comic strip.
You mean WARNING.

Eh, the person kind of had it coming. Saying the comic was unoriginal is fair enogh, but going on to say that the comic was made to validate the person's sad life? Not so much.

Also, the tone of the comment seemed very hostile. Not really something you use for a good criticism.
Bingo. Very well summarized.
 

Basement Cat

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Jul 26, 2012
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Grey Carter said:
Scorpid said:
Well I know you guys wouldn't put out a comic that would get you sued, but it just dawned on me, between all the characters you use from popular games like Kratos and Zelda why aren't you being in danger of being sued?
Technically we're covered under the fair use doctrine on account of our work generally being parody. That wouldn't stop people from trying to sue us though, and if they did we wouldn't have the money to fight back. Really, the reason we don't get any legal threats or anything is because we're very small fish in a very large pond. The more popular you get, the bigger a target you become. See Penny Arcade and Strawberry Shortcake for an example of that.
One of my other favorite webcomics,[footnote]Yes, Critical Miss is one of my favorites. Don't let it go to your head, Grey.[/footnote] Manly Guys Doing Manly Things [http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/], must be a prime target for that sort of thing--being in danger of being sued, I mean--given that its writer/creator has been using video game and comic book characters as a central theme since day one.

You might e-mail Coelasquid (if you don't know her already) and pick through her brain to find out if she's got the low-down on parody vs piracy laws, Grey.
 

Atmos Duality

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canadamus_prime said:
Well that's legitimately something that's beyond your control, isn't it? Although I don't think bitching about it is going to change anything.
I only "whine" when people keep bitching at me about it. Generally speaking, I employ the /ignore or some equivalent function if available, when the whining gets out of hand.

Then perhaps one should find a way to counter the "dominant strategies" instead of whining about them. Because whining about them just makes one look like a sore loser.
That's the idea.
"Metagaming" is exactly that. Finding what works, and looking for gambits around it.
 

tautologico

e^(i * pi) + 1 = 0
Apr 5, 2010
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NinjaDeathSlap said:
Is Hobbes the Nerd equivalent of the Prophet Mohammed or something? Is it heresy to draw him out of character or make fun of him in any way?
Heh, that was a good analogy :) You can't mess with C&H, it seems. Any other characters from anything else are fine.
 

triggrhappy94

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Apr 24, 2010
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Nile McMorrow said:
Scrub Cannon? What on earth is that?
Urban Dictionary said:
In online gaming a scrublord will tend to create their own "moral rules" by which they believe others should play. They will generally make judgement calls about other peoples sanity, mental health, life chances, family history and social connectedness based purely on how closely they adhere to these moral rules.
These rules are often formed under the guise of "honour" or "fair play". They also may include statements such as "I only play for fun" or "I don't care, it's just a game".
Or "Scrub" for short. I take that "Scrub cannon" is some variation on this.

From what I can tell it's an insult used more commonly in the fighting game community
 

Imp_Emissary

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SpiderJerusalem said:
Grey Carter said:
SpiderJerusalem said:
Susan Arendt said:
Wow. The amount of overreacting in this thread is fascinating.

*gets popcorn*
Almost as fascinating as the Escapist handing out warnings over people criticizing the comic strip.
People are welcome to criticize the comic strip, the Escapist just draws the line at personal insults.
So, does that mean that this extends to the staff as well? Cause there's quite a few occasions that normal readers are given way harsher judgements over their posts than anyone else.



Susan Arendt said:
Imp Emissary said:
SpiderJerusalem said:
Also, the tone of the comment seemed very hostile. Not really something you use for a good criticism.
Bingo. Very well summarized.
So this:

MiracleOfSound said:
Never have I seen so many drama queens all getting their underpants twisted in one thread over something so trivial.
is then contributing to the thread enough that no such warning considerations were had?
All that is getting into kind of a subjective area.

Is saying that people getting mad about the comic are being "Drama Queens" an insult? Yeah, it is a bit.

But can you really say it's on par with claiming that a person is trying to leech off the success of another's creation in a desperate attempt to show that their life has value?

Being a bit insulting is one thing, but going out and attacking an individual's character is something else completely.

Also, to the point about adding to the thread. You can argue that the comment about people being drama queens (people overrecating) to be false. And you could back such an arguement up with reasons. Doing so will make Gavin have to either;

1. Not respond to you. (Meaning of course the talk goes nowhere.)
2. Give reasons why it is true that the people getting upset are overreacting.
3. Concede that they are not overreacting.
4. Say something along the lines of, "Shut up ya DRAMA QUEEN!!!11". (The last one giving him at least a warning because he was directly attacking you character with an insult.)


:/ Then again, I'm not the one who hands out warnings, so maybe someone just hit the wrong key?
Probably not.
 

Imp_Emissary

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SpiderJerusalem said:
Imp Emissary said:
Fair points all. And I do agree that this is probably not the best possible place for this discussion, but it was on my mind and since the Admins seemed to join in, it sparked up the topic. Mostly because I've seen more and more over the past year (or so, ever since the Extra Credits debacle) a situation where some of the staff are given more and more leeway over what they say and how, and others are punished more and more easier for things that could in no way be attributed as being malicious or mean.

So it's more of a general line of questioning, not just this single situation. (Do I honestly think that calling someone a drama queen is enough for a warning? Pfft, heck no.)
Vell well S.J.

I can't really comment on the subject because I have not experienced such goings on, and as ya said this isn't the best situation for the talk.

Anyway, have a nice day.
 

Dansen

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Mar 24, 2010
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Nooners said:
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! DON'T DO THIS! THIS IS NOT NEEDED!
Look at what Krantos said. He's right. Although I don't mind Erin's video-game hallucinations, I do greatly mind watching my old innocent friend Hobbes turn into the worst stereotype of an XBox Live player.

Don't. Do. This.
Not to mention the fact that his reaction completely goes against his personality. The dialogue here is something that Calvin would say, Hobbes wouldn't care about a stupid game. I never read these since I don't find them funny, but I clicked because of Hobbes. I saddened to find that the writers never understood the character and just crammed him in here.
 

Something Amyss

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Lunar Templar said:
o.0
I don't think there's enough profanity for such an unholy combination ...

>.>
<.<

who wants to try and get LoL on XBL JUST to watch the fireworks, cause I do
You have roused my curiosity. It must be done...For SCIENCE!
 

Krantos

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Jun 30, 2009
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For those who are unfamiliar with C&H, I ran across this gem that illustrates part of the reason people love the strip so much:


C&H managed to thread the line between funny, innocent, and thought provoking. The only strip that I personally think has anything approaching C&H's timelessness is Peanuts.

That, combined with Watterson's very firm statements that he does not want the strip or characters used by other people is why these strips have been bothering people.

Still, comments from the artist (Cory) have made me interested to see where these strips go.

Here are two more gems:



Love them.