Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Inspiration
Hey there, friend! Glad you could make it. Been awhile, huh? I bet you thought I was dead. Truth is, that’s what I wanted you to think! It was all part of an elaborate life insurance fraud, and now, I’m fleeing Earth with my group of alien banditos with at least $16 hard cash and a half empty can of pringles. Just try and stop me.
I guess I don’t really need to explain myself, because you know well enough at this point that you could probably sing along: Procrastination, no comics, delayed comics, wahey! Video games, getting sick, other projects, wahey! It goes without saying that any ambition I once had to provide comics and updates in a timely manner is gone, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. So I’d like to take a moment to discuss the word of the day: inspiration.
The inspiration to come up with an idea is always alive and well in me. I’m more than happy to crack open a wordpad and jot down a script for a comic, or write down any thoughts I don’t feel like sharing with the world, or even work on something that has more meaning than a badly drawn cartoon on the internet, which will be seen by a number of people you could count on both hands. But the problem for me is, holding onto that inspiration can be difficult. Sometimes, it passes before I can make anything of it. Worse is when I see the long road ahead of me, and realize that it would take a lot more time and effort than just a couple of words.
Take this explanation, for example. I like doing things like this. I love to type, and I love to rant, but this stuff is trivial. Even for how shit the quality of these comics are, it still takes a fair amount of time and dedication to squat one out and add dialogue bubbles. But, like these long-winded typing sessions I do from time to time, all I need to do is start on one and I can see it through. I just need that first push–that inspiration, as it were–but for a long time, I didn’t have that.
You know what is inspiring, though? Hopping on TeamSpeak with a bunch of people you haven’t talked to in years, and having them immediately remember you based on what you did. That’s where I am, now. And that’s why I have some new comics to upload.
#012: The Short Cut (Halloween 2013)
It’s only late January. Halloween is still topical, right? To be honest, I never actually came up with a name for the comic. The file name was “Halloween 2013,” and as you can tell, I kind of scrambled to make it. Another fun fact: this was the short version of the comic. I had a longer version (The Long Cut) planned, in which Metal XII beheads other characters from Photon Art before finally concluding on the line of “I guess I got A-HEAD of myself,” and a comical tap-dancing scene, but as you could guess, this was way too much effort for such a stupid joke. The Long Cut remains in the graveyard of unfinished ideas, but at least it finally gave me a name for the Halloween 2013 comic.
Also, I just realized that comic #12 wasn’t some wacky throwback. It’s just a number.
#013: Arks Economics
The Arks Economy can be a bit confusing, at times. Why do they impose a 5% tax on everything bartered between its members? Why is cake so expensive? Why is there a shifty guy who pays you to run Time Attacks? And why, above everything else, do they allow someone so god damn incompetent at their job, to a point that they offer no refund nor compensation for failed results, to run a service that is integral to the Arks goal of exploring and colonizing various planets. If you are unfamiliar with him, he is the devil incarnate.
I’ve often questioned where Klotho gets the money to pay thousands of Arks for running a simulation. This comic expresses my theory, and honestly? It makes sense. So does my theory that the Arks are the villains of the PSO2 continuity, actually. The world is not yet aware of my genius, but I’ll show them. And then they’ll laugh. And I’ll laugh. Then we’ll run some TAs.
#014: Tubular Turnpike
Okay, look.
I understand what Sega was trying to do. They wanted to do what most good video games do: create variety between stages. So, naturally, we had to have an industrial, city-esque stage in Sonic Adventure 2. And for what it’s worth, City Escape was handled surprisingly well. Yes, the loop-de-loop down that one building didn’t make much sense, but it wasn’t so bad.
Cue Radical Highway.
I don’t know what kind of sick fuck thought that this was a good outlet for transportation, but it’s not. There are bottomless pits, loop-de-loops everywhere, speed boosters and ramps, and to top it all off, the damn place is still under construction. What exactly are they trying to accomplish with Radical Highway, other than to build a playground for fast moving anthropomorphic hedgehogs? In short, why isn’t my Sonic game realistic? I’m going to complain about this on the internet, posthaste!
As always, I can’t promise frequent updates, but for once, I can give you guys something new. As long as at least one person enjoys these, I can always say “I’ll get around to making a new one.” Infrequent as they are, I have no intent on quitting any time soon.