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VGCats #244: Surprise! It's not funny!

Spirit of Jazz said:
Really? Turret voice sounds like it's playing peek-a-boo (not funny alone as Phoenix proved) which leads to baby death (hi-larious and continuitous)
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No, see, the humor from Phoenix's revision comes from the fact that the turret is acting against it's nature. We expect it to open fire once it spots the baby, so when it does, it's unsuprising and unfunny.

When the turret spots the baby and simply acknowledges it, we're surprised by the uncharacteristic benevolence of the weapon. Contrast is funny. Then we're forced to consider the circumstances that would lead to a turret playing peekaboo with a baby. Absurdity is also funny.

In the original script, there really is no joke. It's simply "here is a device from a videogame...it is going to behave exactly as it should." An attempt at humor is forcibly crammed into it by having the turret kill a baby instead of the player. It's a very obvious and cheap attempt at shock humor that simply isn't funny because it's so, well, expected.

Bravo, Phoenix!
 
davepoobond said:
where's alistair??
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Hello.

VGADRENALECTOMY.gif
 
HAL_Laboratory said:
Every time a new VG Cats comes out, a new thread is made about how unfunny it is. Not that I'm entirely in disagreement, but it makes me sad to see this kind of thing. I mean here we have this guy who makes his living writing/drawing/painting, hoping that his efforts will pay off, and all of GAF shits on his work consistently.

Tough crowd, I guess.
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Not really. Just look at the first few responses to the comic, either they're all real dimwits or they're just trying too hard to dismiss it. Sure, the series uses more panels than necessary but this particular comic was straightforward and sensible.

It's about Portal, it uses the phrases of the child like turrets, and it associates it with peek-a-boo with gory results.

It may not be the highlight of comedy but its good enough for what it intends to do. It's a cheap laugh. The criticisms are usually half-witted 'I don't get it' which sometimes is worsened by the vague choice topics (especially anime that isn't widely popular) but in this case if you haven't heard or seen of Portal then you're the shut in hermit of the VG community, which is pretty bad considering some VG'ers ARE shut in hermits.

I also question why this is here even considering every single thread about it generally results in 'I don't get it', 'Moar Panels' and photoshops. Since it's especially singled out, it seems to be more GAF meme than anything.
 
twinturbo2 said:
The title is LOL-worthy.
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Oh man, i didn't notice it! Thank you for explaining the comic and yet not crushing the funny that might have been there.


Edit: Oh dear god! Alistairw, what have you done.
 
Odrion said:
VVV I don't take this strip as implying the baby will die. But it takes a sentry turret and turns it into a babysitter.
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Which is perfect, because it's still dark that the mother would leave a lethal weapon as a babysitter - it's just not BLAMBOOMDEADBABYLOL.
 
Some good shops... it's pretty obvious what had to be done to make it funny. At the very least the first and last panels can be removed for easy comedy plus-points

The actual joke of the baby hide-and-seek is pretty funny IMO. The comedy comes from leaving it hanging after the "there you are" line.

the alistairw shop is GENIUS
 
A Link to the Snitch said:
Awesome comic alistair, you managed to keep the panels low too. Scott could learn something from you!
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Yeah, I figured I was pretty safe from criticism as long as I kept it under 7,000 pixels.
 
Mac the KNife said:
Reminded me of this for some reason:

6lcdvgg.jpg
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Bingo; this must be Gabe and Tycho mulling over lesser comic creators who trade terrible and badly-told jokes to sycophants that lap it up. P-A seems immune to that, thankfully.
 
The original comic is certainly better than Scott's usual fare, though it's typical that he ruins the punchline. Phoenix 2.0's version is great, with a friendly joke. One could add the turret firing panel and you would have the "dark" version without the needless gore. Jarosh also improves the strip. Alistairw gives a great commentary on both Scott's style (too many panels) and the game of Portal itself.

I think Scott is a fabulous artist, but these photoshops have been the best examples to date to show that he needs help with the writing.
 
avatar299 said:
Really? You're an idiot
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I also didn't get it until the edit. The turret looks for the baby, finds the baby, and kills the baby. It's so straightforward that it didn't occur to me to actually look at the baby.
 
ZealousD said:
I take it you've never heard of a dead baby joke?

"What's worse than four dead babies in a trash can?"
"A dead baby in four trash cans."
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The gimmick there is that the baby's already dead, not that the baby gets killed. The PA comic is spot-on.

Jarosh and alistairw: awesome.
 
Alistairw and Jarosh won this thread. Kudos and respect.

avatar299 said:
Really? You're an idiot
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Thank you very much. How kind.
Before hitting Reply to tell me such gratuitously nice words, did you stop a minute to think that maybe I simply meant the joke was hidden by the same usual unnecessary stuff this comic keeps getting packed with, and the few funny ideas the author has once in a while often risk to be missed in that whole mess, especially if you read it in a hurry?
Oh well, why did I write this again?
 
BobJustBob said:
I also didn't get it until the edit. The turret looks for the baby, finds the baby, and kills the baby. It's so straightforward that it didn't occur to me to actually look at the baby.
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I think it's also hampered by the layout. It becomes abundantly clear with your standard 3-panel layout.
 
When I played Portal and heard the voice of those turrets, this is exactly what I thought of, "playing peek-a-boo with a baby." This one is a winner.
 
ZealousD said:
I take it you've never heard of a dead baby joke?

"What's worse than four dead babies in a trash can?"
"A dead baby in four trash cans."
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There are some lines not meant to be crossed in web comics.

20040816h.jpg
 
Phoenix's version is much, much better. Heck, the final panel can even have the turret opening the guns, if someone wanted to keep the "worst babysitter ever" idea that the original had.

However, the VG Cats version was really, really, REALLY close to being truly funny. Conincidence that there are no anthropomorphic animals in it?
 
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