|
Post by tyler on Nov 14, 2009 16:38:12 GMT
It's as if this sort of thing has never appeared in any sort of artwork before!
|
|
|
Post by Robo Alchemist on Nov 14, 2009 16:48:26 GMT
ok guys, you're beatin up a dead horse here...
|
|
|
Post by Casey on Nov 14, 2009 17:15:14 GMT
I bet other authors don't get their shiny-cheek-dots inspected from all possible angles. Quoted for truth, and I think, as Rasselas said, it's an indication -not- of there being a problem with Tom's art, but rather, an indication of the depth of Tom's writing. By that I mean with the level of symbolism and the intricacy of the story-weaving, there -are- things that seem innocuous that turn out to be important, so some people are naturally inclined to thereby seek out the important in everything innocuous. I also think that fandom of GC has reached a sort of fervor, and so many people want to be involved or feel like a part of it, that folks are hoping to "hit the winning lottery ticket" by being the one to point out something innocuous that actually does turn out to be important. Therefore every innocuous detail gets pointed out. For examples, the slope of Kat's shoulders must mean she's related to Jeanne! Or the pattern in Sky Watcher's eyes must mean he's receiving an encoded message from the painting! Both of these things seem very silly and preposterous... and yet, there exists the -possibility- that either of these things -could- turn out to be true. I think if we change our perception of what it means to be a fan, and instead of trying to be the one that points out the Golden Nugget first, instead try to be the one who supports the artist and the community with our positive comments, promotion of the comic outside the forums, and -rational- discussion of the comic within the forums, then the community, the fans, and Tom would all be better off. This is my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by sandjosieph on Nov 14, 2009 20:34:43 GMT
If we are going to be pointing out such things, I would have to say that Kat is displaying her ambidexterity again.
Also, if Smitface is such a wimp, how can he be manlier than the internet?
|
|
|
Post by Snes on Nov 14, 2009 21:53:22 GMT
I'm with Casey. The temptation to receive the elusive "Cookie of Astute Observation" has driven many away from appreciating the comic as a whole. I'm not saying I'm above making such observations or anything, but we'd all do well if we kept it within a certain limit of reasonably.
Tom, nobody here thinks your art is bad in any way. Your writing is just so deep it makes some of us plot-paranoid, you know? Don't be so hard on yourself.
|
|
|
Post by Rasselas on Nov 14, 2009 22:07:28 GMT
Well, I like the cookie hunting, not because it makes me look smart or whatever, but because it's fun and exhilarating to try and guess what's next in store for us in the comic. Don't begrudge people their fun just because it's not your cup of tea. I don't think any of us really need to be right when we're speculating - I just want to come up with something new and unexplored, uncover some hidden aspect and meaning. I mean, that's the whole point of mystery, to keep you figuring things out and thinking about possible solutions.
|
|
|
Post by Casey on Nov 14, 2009 22:55:18 GMT
Well I for one am not against anyone enjoying the comic in their own way, and I don't think what I said should be interpreted as such. I can't speak for Pyro on that. However I do think that there is a difference between logical introspection and spray-and-pray guessing. Some people's speculations are clearly based on something, be it a logical inference or a gut passionate feeling, or whatever. But some speculation tends to look like speculation for speculation's sake, and comes from so far out of left field that a reasonable average person is left to think that the poster must be just trying to throw random darts in the hopes of incidentally hitting a bullseye. Case in point, Rasselas, you say you like trying to figure out what's coming next but even you recognized that speculation about the white dot on Annie's face was beyond reason. Your post sounds to me sort of like you're poo-poo'ing anyone who in any way poo-poo's any speculation. I suspect that that isn't what you meant, though, in the same way that that wasn't what I meant. To wit: no one is "begrudging people their fun", they are not asking for all speculation to cease. They're asking for the cessation of what a reasonable person, such as yourself, would deem (and have deemed) baseless shooting in the dark. On The Other Hand...I do think, and have posted as such in the past, that there is a place for baseless speculation in terms of "oh wouldn't it be cool if the story went like XYZ", such as... oh actually I can't think of an example at the moment but if I feel motivated I'll go digging through the Wild Spec thread. What I'm referring to here though is someone just taking a theme of the comic and running with it to explore some alternate realities or otherwise "play" in the universe that Tom has created. And perhaps it is this that you are referring to, in terms of coming up with something unexplored. The difference though is in these cases we are just presenting them as neat scenarios and exploring the texture of the virtual world... not presenting the ideas as submissions to the Cookie Dispenser. Ah, case in point, actually, would be my own Wild Spec on the Comprehensive Theory of Everything. I created it for fun and exploration, and if it turns out to be true I'll be as shocked as anyone. But I created it for the reasons you mentioned... exploring possibilities, etc. I did not in any way create it actually thinking or hoping that I would turn out to be right. And therein lies the difference. I suppose a short and succinct way of putting the whole thing would be to say that lately, EVERY thread has become a Wild Spec thread... and people are serious about it on top of that! Anyway.
|
|
thor
Junior Member
Your personal text will be displayed underneath your avatar.
Posts: 58
|
Post by thor on Nov 14, 2009 23:27:23 GMT
The purpose of a webcomic's discussion forum is to offer a forum for discussion of the webcomic. Period. The art, the story, the intricacies, and the future are all fair game.
Not being deliberately insulting to the artist is also a good rule, but that's just basic politeness.
|
|
|
Post by Rasselas on Nov 14, 2009 23:43:10 GMT
Case in point, Rasselas, you say you like trying to figure out what's coming next but even you recognized that speculation about the white dot on Annie's face was beyond reason. No, I actually thought it was either a new fan who wasn't in the loop, or an outright troll mocking the over-speculation of insignificant minutiae. That's why my first response was explanatory. When they wouldn't let it go after the explanation, I figured that it's a troll.
|
|
|
Post by wynne on Nov 15, 2009 0:49:46 GMT
This is kind of random, but I don't think it's big enough of a deal to deserve its own thread and I didn't know where else to put it, but I think about it every time Tom posts something. How on Earth did he manage to get well over 16.5 million posts?
|
|
Pig_catapult
Full Member
Keeper of the Devilkitty
Posts: 171
|
Post by Pig_catapult on Nov 15, 2009 1:10:01 GMT
This is kind of random, but I don't think it's big enough of a deal to deserve its own thread and I didn't know where else to put it, but I think about it every time Tom posts something. How on Earth did he manage to get well over 16.5 million posts? By being awesome. Also, the admin control panel lets you adjust users' post counts.
|
|
|
Post by wynne on Nov 15, 2009 1:16:48 GMT
Ah. The joys of moderating. You learn something new every day.
|
|
|
Post by Casey on Nov 15, 2009 3:05:01 GMT
Case in point, Rasselas, you say you like trying to figure out what's coming next but even you recognized that speculation about the white dot on Annie's face was beyond reason. No, I actually thought it was either a new fan who wasn't in the loop, or an outright troll mocking the over-speculation of insignificant minutiae. That's why my first response was explanatory. When they wouldn't let it go after the explanation, I figured that it's a troll. I'm sorry if I didn't make my meaning clear. What you just described, that's what I meant by "beyond reason".
|
|
|
Post by Mylian on Nov 15, 2009 3:16:16 GMT
If we are going to be pointing out such things, I would have to say that Kat is displaying her ambidexterity again. Also, if Smitface is such a wimp, how can he be manlier than the internet? Because George Parley is manlier than Smitty. It's an order of magnitude thing.
|
|
|
Post by todd on Nov 15, 2009 3:23:54 GMT
I've noticed that a lot of the wild speculations over what turns out to be a minor artistic detail without any deep significance seem to come in the early parts of the chapters, when the story's still getting started. For example, remember that "Annie looks older" discussion back in Chapter Seventeen, where what made her look older was simply the way she'd gotten her hair caught in her sweater? The chapter was still in its early stages at that moment (and the plot advancement on that page - Jones taking Annie to medium class - was something that we already knew was going to happen from the end of Chapter Fourteen, so nothing new to us there).
I think that once we're fully plunged into the story for this chapter, a lot of the "crazy theories stemming from what's simply Tom's art style changing" will die down.
|
|
|
Post by Casey on Nov 15, 2009 3:38:43 GMT
It's as if this sort of thing has never appeared in any sort of artwork before! BTW, seriously, this girl looks like she has a rash or she got stung twice or something. Make the horrible creepy girl image go awayyyy!
|
|
|
Post by tyler on Nov 15, 2009 3:44:49 GMT
It's like Groundhog Day, sometimes, reading these forums.
|
|
|
Post by Aris Katsaris on Nov 15, 2009 5:13:07 GMT
...and now I've got to wonder what would happen if Shadow 2 got attached to Punxsutawney Phil, and as a result the groundhog saw two shadows.
Would we have 12 more weeks of winter rather than six?
|
|
|
Post by nikita on Nov 15, 2009 11:46:43 GMT
This is kind of random, but I don't think it's big enough of a deal to deserve its own thread and I didn't know where else to put it, but I think about it every time Tom posts something. How on Earth did he manage to get well over 16.5 million posts? 16,777,215 = 2^24 - 1 If the post count is an unsigned 24bit number, then 16,777,215 is the highest post count possible.
|
|
|
Post by the bandit on Nov 15, 2009 22:43:35 GMT
Have you ever heard of the phenomenon wherein bereaved mothers smother their living child in order to make up for the irretrievable time lost with the dead one? Reading significant meaning into a cheek highlight is like that. It really is a compliment to the writer, but definitely not one to fill the heart with warm fuzzies.
todd makes an astute observation that the crazy speculations take up a larger proportion of the set during the initial pages of a chapter. Certainly in the age of Twitter we should not be surprised that having nothing to say doesn't stop people from saying anything.
|
|
|
Post by todd on Nov 15, 2009 23:13:31 GMT
I didn't even notice the little white spot on Annie's cheek until people started talking about it. (Then again, I seem to miss a lot of the art details that way; I'm so focused on the main action that it just slips past me, I suppose.)
I miss nearly all the pop culture references as well, since I'm almost as ignorant about most of them as Annie herself is. (That may be one reason why Annie's my favorite character; I identify more with the solitary girl at home with mythical creatures but almost totally clueless about video games and pop music than I do with the far more tech-savvy and exuberant girl with a zest for pop culture.)
|
|
|
Post by wynne on Nov 15, 2009 23:38:41 GMT
I always assumed it was just a tear or something, from either the cold or her sadness over George and Parley's willingness to jump on each other.
|
|
|
Post by Robo Alchemist on Nov 15, 2009 23:48:54 GMT
ok guys, you're beatin up a dead horse here... ...beaten into the ground, and fired rockets at it...and then set it on fire
|
|
|
Post by Snes on Nov 16, 2009 0:44:33 GMT
ok guys, you're beatin up a dead horse here... And the only thing worse than beating a dead horse is betting on one.
|
|
|
Post by Robo Alchemist on Nov 16, 2009 2:55:28 GMT
well you know what they say, don't count your dead horses before you look them in the mouth.
|
|
|
Post by spoonvonstup on Nov 16, 2009 5:51:21 GMT
If we are going to be pointing out such things, I would have to say that Kat is displaying her ambidexterity again. Also, if Smitface is such a wimp, how can he be manlier than the internet? Tom's comments have led me to believe that his opinion of the internet is not very high. Kat's clamp is purple! (to match her hair ties??) Where did she find something so awesome? On a more serious note, however, even though it's really cold outside, the colors seem much warmer (beige-y and such) than inside the work hanger. That's probably because of shadow, but I like how the warm/cold colors are matched so well to the two girls. Kat is all dark hair and blue overalls in her purple and blue lab with her purple hair ties and purple clamp. Antimony is all red/pink hair and beige coat coming in from the sunny beige outside. Then again, Kat has that bright red exclamation mark, and Antimony has her blue eyes and purple eye shadow. All in all? Really nice color play and balance going on here in this scene. EDIT: Anybody know what the symbol on Kat's overalls means? If it's been mentioned before, I would appreciate a link. If not, well... ?
|
|
Pig_catapult
Full Member
Keeper of the Devilkitty
Posts: 171
|
Post by Pig_catapult on Nov 16, 2009 7:36:58 GMT
well you know what they say, don't count your dead horses before you look them in the mouth. Would you like your internet shaken or stirred?
|
|
|
Post by todd on Nov 16, 2009 11:37:05 GMT
Tom's comments have led me to believe that his opinion of the internet is not very high. Perhaps with some reason; he does seem to be mildly exasperated with the multitude of people reading too much into minor details (and has hinted at least once that the reason why he has to approve the remarks on the comments page is because occasionally someone makes some inappropriate remark about Annie - which is worse). I wonder, for that matter, how he must have felt about things like the readers' Number One question about Chapter Twenty being, not, "Why did Coyote invite Annie out into the woods?", "What will Annie learn from him there?", or "Why is Reynardine so alarmed at Annie going to visit Coyote?", but "Why isn't Annie wearing trousers?"
|
|
|
Post by Ulysses on Nov 16, 2009 19:12:51 GMT
Tom's comments have led me to believe that his opinion of the internet is not very high. I suspect a 51% share of the internet is complaints about the internet. Tom's not alone.
|
|
|
Post by Mr Pitchfork on Nov 18, 2009 21:43:13 GMT
Tom is the worst artist I've ever seen. I mean, really. What kind of an artist adds texture and detail to his art, with interesting expressive concepts and completely original graphical ideas? A horrible one, that's what.
|
|