General Chat: The Smashening

I think the reason why many people enjoy them is that the "with powers" comics usually focus more on the characters and their relations then just on the fighting, as many "superhero" comics do. I also think that stories where (more or less) normal people discover or gain their powers allow the readers to better identify with the characters, while still giving us the "power dreaming" we get from superheros. In fact, the more normal the person is before they get their powers, the easier it is for the reader to imagine "Hey yeah, that could totally happen to me, too". With characters like Superman, many dream of being like them but are well aware that they'll never be able to. With characters like John, we can see ourself in these characters and hey, who of us hasn't played a weird video game before? That's why it is easier to fantasize about the same happening to you.

As for why it's often kids or adults, I think that might be because that's what most of us want to be. Teenagers often want to be adults, young adults often feel nostalgia about how much more simple it was to be a kid. I don't think that's an entirely new phenomenon but it might be a modern one.

Johnny is a work of art contained in a short spiky redheaded asshole.

mario kart 7 does not in fact have bikes

This makes me sad
regardless, shy guy is best driver

Just Johnny? What about Eightfold? Or Boss Leader?

But yeah, Johnny is great.

Nope. Boss Leader is hammy and funny, yes, but not hilariously so, she's just funny, like the other characters. Eightfold's cute and creepy but just another member of the cast.

But Johnny's a work of art.

He's almost SBAHJ-like in sheer abstract, surreal humour.
I love that guy.

Hmm, I can kind of see your point. Honestly, that comic has just loads of awesome characters in it.

Ohh Paranatural! I, too, read that particular webcomic. And Ava's Demon, though I agree that the updates are usually a bit unsubstantial for my taste and hence I enjoy Paranatural (and all of its various expressions) somewhat more.

No love for Spender?

Hanky Panky wrote:mario kart 7 does not in fact have bikes

This makes me sad
regardless, shy guy is best driver

Shy Guy is best driver in 7. Waluigi is best driver period.

Spender is neat and I'm sure I'll only grow to like him more as the comic continues. Unless he turns into an ass but I doubt that.

My feelings on Mr. Spender can be summed up in the following image.


Seriously tho, he acts on like the same level of emotional maturity as a group of twelve-year-olds and i think that's hilarious

my R trigger on my new(ish) 3DS (the purple one, second 3DS system i've owned) is getting wonky. specifically, when i try to drift around corners, i end up bunny hopping into the wall/off the level. the switch isn't registering for some reason. probably gonna have to send the console in.

this makes me sad because there's no way i can actually back up me being cocky about mario kart 7 for a while.

It is four am for me, because on the current Skinhorse comic was a comment that made me check something in Narbonic real quick and then I sort of accidentally reread half of Narbonic. Again. I think that's the third time that happened to me just with Narbonic...

Sorry, we were talking about awesome webcomics and I just had to meantion it.

Speaking of awesome webcomics, anyone else read Moképon or Cucumber Quest?

Never heard of the first but HELL YEAH CQ!

((Also, in case it wasn't clear, I'd strongly suggest both skinhorse and Narbonic to everyone))

EDIT: I took a quick look and Mokepon looks pretty awesome

Actually, I highly recommend Moképon to everyone here on the Quarantine, since it's Pokémon-related. Basically, it follows Atticus Brent, a 14-year-old slacker from Palette Town who's just been forcibly evicted by his parents to go on his Pokémon journey across Kanto. It's loosely set in the same canon as the anime, but something bad's happened to both Ash and Gary some point well before the comic started. Atticus doesn't really have any clue what he's doing as a trainer, but of course that's not stopping anyone else from assuming he does. The first page is here, if y'all want to read it (I'd link to the main page, but it's currently displaying some very spoiler-y content).

Hey guys! Really interesting article here:

http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/keeping-an-eye-on-the-game/

Game Freak talks Competitive. And they actually use the term "competitive battling" too and there are DEFINITE nods towards adult competitive culture. I think they're finally catching on.

Also the fact that Talonflame is the most used Pokemon among Gamefreak staff and the fact they were surprised by the advent of non-physical Aegislash (to be fair, everybody initially predicted, and went with, Physical Aegislash) is pretty great.

Wait, non-physical? Huh...

Well, its offensive stats are equal, so its movepool is really what's keeping it predominantly Physical.

Yeah, I guess I just never thought about it

I always figured it was Sacred Sword that made it biased towards the physical side, that and the fact it's... well... it's a sword... it's going to hit you physically. But without Sacred Sword you've got Iron Head, Head Smash, and Shadow Sneak, none of which are particularly unique, though Swords Dance is a big thing to have. But Shadow Ball is just too good NOT to use; best offensive typing and a great move to boot off a 150 base Sp.Atk? Iron Head can read it and weep. I've never liked full Physical sets; Mixed or Special is where it's at.

Although really, when it comes for the bias now shifting to special attacker Aegislash, it's...
Mostly burn.
Burn is scary.



P.S COOL NEWS:

The Smogon Dex will be ready in a couple of hours! Not that the analyses didn't exist anyway in WIP form, but I think they're doing some "cool new stuff" too. I am glad.

All i really gleaned from that article is that one of the staff members uses Barbaracle.

The article wouldn't load for me on my phone, so I haven't read it yet.

I'm a little irritated that the sidebar's icons don't all fit on screen, and there's no way to scroll it. Also, it's about time that they got it done.