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[RedSwirl]

Man, maybe threads like this only bring out the people who hate something and that's why I find myself wondering if I'm weird by continuing to like something after a long time.

I'm totally fine with the current art style, and find the strips at least occasionally funny. The only difference now I think is that PA has gotten a lot bigger as a company (they run multiple PAX cons a year) and maybe that made it less "cool" or less "in" with the more on-the-ground elements of the gaming community.

Who knows. Anyway, Awkward Zombie has been consistently funny in my experience.

 

[ZiZ]

I've been reading Penny Arcade for more than a decade.
I like the new art style.
I still think they are funny every now and then.

 

[Leafhopper]

Are "Web Comics" in general, as popular as ever these days? I don't think so.

I was gonna say this.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Loved all the 3 games, but I found this funny

I love this one. Highlights the absurdity of the logic revolving role playing games.

The force Unleashed was so incredible over-the-top. This was really on point.

Not everyone are good at content creating. Not everyone should make custom levels, characters and maps. #SorryNotSorry.

It remains the most relevant and timeless strip they've ever made. It's as relevant today as it was back then. Peoples meltdown over scores. Smeh.

Warhammer is a rip off of Warcraft.

We've come along way in the last decade with regards to F2P games. F2P games used to be so restrictive that it was unbearable, and Hellgate was a perfect tone deaf example of that.

Nobody is ever really going to be happy about their dialogue options in Bioware games.

 

[Phased]

I still think they're funny every now and then, but they've definitely just been coasting for the last few years. I don't visit regularly like I used to but that's probably more because I grew out of it rather than them changing.

Never saw the big deal with all the various drama things, and between Child's Play and PAX I think the amount of good they've done far outweighs whatever negatives people see in them (I also think they're at the point where the comic is just a small extension of the PA Empire at this point)

 

[Reckless Abandon]

A laugh-out-loud comic is few and far between now but I still check it regularly. It didn't tank as bad as Ctrl+Alt+Delete did (for me anyways). It's one of 2 webcomics I still regularly check (the other being xkcd).

Seems like they still do all right. PAX are huge now and they do good work with Child's Play. But yeah, the humor isn't as good and consistent as it once was.

 

[tiva]

comic isn't funny anymore now that i'm past the age of 12

also i think the art style is fuck ugly, that's subjective though

 

[Quadraphonic]

Gabe has always been self-conscious as an artist. He hated how he drew females early on and worked on trying to improve that.

That's fine. Artists improve by recognizing where they don't do well. Except they were fine.

He was also a HUGE fan of the Ren & Stimpy guy, John Kricfalusi. So his art style eventually went to emulating that.

By that point, they got a shitload of money from all their fans and became the bullies that they hated themselves growing up.

The fact that Gabe (Tycho had been quiet for years and really good at keeping his mouth shut) kept re-opening the dickwolves wound is fucking stunning.

I also found their Kickstarter campaigns to fund the site really egregious. They didn't need the money and just sort of ran it anytime they wanted to get some more funds for no reason at all. But I guess if their fans felt like giving them money, good for them?

It's also worth mentioning that they've pretty much distanced themselves, because of dickwolves shit, from all the PAX operations.

https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2014/01/01/resolutions

During the Q&A at PAX Prime we actually talked about slowly removing ourselves from the show over the next few years.

 

[MrDaravon]

Holy shiiiiiit I forgot Megatokyo even existed, wow that actually takes me back.

More on topic seems like most folks here I also followed it daily but fell off for largely the same reasons as others:

-The whole dickwolves thing along with them being whiny/thin-skinned/unable to take anything resembling criticism in general
-While it's still subjective the artstyle is absolutely terrible IMO
-Them blindly defending games they've run ads for (see the AC stuff on the last page as an easy example)
-The whole intern position fiasco
-It just stopped being funny for the most part

Also beating a dead horse again here but I agree with the sentiment that times have changed and webcomics don't really have the same place they do now as they did 10 years ago. I wonder how PAX does for them in terms of if it's the main thing that makes them money now or what.

 

[Corpekata]

Oh yeah the Kickstarters, forgot about those. Definetly felt a bit weird.

 

[Madame M]

Why does their hair keep getting bigger?

The people the characters are based on don't have any hair.

Must be some kind of sad fantasy for them.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

* Wierd mutated Golden Years artstyle that is distractingly bad.

* The two want to diversify to other comics; this has been a thing since that fantasy scout troop and robot discrimination noir ones.

* Fatherhood

* Backlash from hubris.

* Interest in the aftereffects of their comic's success: PAX, charities, etc.

It's sad though, they were one of the few consistantly funny consistant VG comics out there for over a decade then yeah.

Are "Web Comics" in general, as popular as ever these days? I don't think so.

They're just not "new" any more, but some good ones continue on or begin from time to time.

 

[Spukc]

Still have their game it was awsome

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Used to be a fan and visited there regularly. I got tired of Tycho's writing style - you'd think the guy was getting paid per syllable. Brevity is the soul of wit, man.

 

[Beartruck]

Why does their hair keep getting bigger?

The people the characters are based on don't have any hair.

Must be some kind of sad fantasy for them.

Except they've stated multiple times that the characters originally were something entirely different and they kept getting told "hey, this is you" so they just rolled with it. Jerry holkins isn't into beastiality either, but its a running joke that Tycho is. Jerry has also stated that he gives zero fucks about being bald. If you called him bald, his response would be "Yeah, and...?"

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

The dickwolves saga happened (and then they reopened it like two years later), transphobic comments from Gabe (and doubling down), their ridiculous Kickstarters, and all sorts of other unforced errors.

They went full asshole and doubled down on that audience. Folks who weren't part of that audience up and left.

(And yeah, that current art style is awful; the mid 2000's style was great)

 

[jooey]

Jerry has also stated that he gives zero fucks about being bald. If you called him bald, his response would be "Yeah, and...?"

wow he's so cool

 

[Turin Turambar]

As other has said, they got older.

They were before pretty on top of things in the gaming industry, always giving their hot take on the latest news. In the last years they have made more and more comics about general life, parenting and what not, and the gaming comics has been sometimes pretty meh or just came 'late'.

After 20 years it's normal, they couldn't be on the top of the mountain forever. A decline is expected.

Also, things are different now. From memes to twitter, it isn't the 90s anymore. News and humor are more... decentralized now. They aren't as needed as they were before.

 

[Chumley]

I grew up posting on their message boards but lost interest in the comic before I turned 18 (a decade ago)

 

[Madame M]

I think that would be the response of most people being told that they were bald and were well aware of the fact.

 

[Beartruck]

wow he's so cool

Wow you're so edgy? How dare that guy deflect petty insults about his appearance.

 

[-COOLIO-]

they're still great. i read every new comic that comes out.

 

[Turin Turambar]

They still make some good ones. from the last 12 I like these ones:

So... 5 of 12.

 

[mango drank]

After 20 years it's normal.

.......................................... Christ I'm old.

 

[Lupin the Third]

There isn't one here either, though.

It was never an inherently bad idea to have all the off-topic chat in Social Entropy++, but the fact that every other sub-board still got a chat thread on top of SE++'s continued existence was a real slap in the face to people who frequented the Games & Tech board.

It also wasn't a bad idea to eliminate megathreads like it is discouraged here, although I'd argue better suited the slower pace of P-A's boards where you could go literal hours before seeing a new thread reply in a semi-popular thread.

 

[Kasper]

I never cared much for PA, but I always liked VG Cats, as infrequent as it was.

 

[smurfx]

the people who were really into their site eventually grew up and moved on to other sites. same thing that has happened to many other sites and will continue to happen.

 

[Mr_Appleby]

Wtf is that thing on his head. I can't be hair. I've seen hair, and that's not it.

I read every single comic for years and years.

Nothing really happened so much as I just kind of got out of the habit of reading it. I don't really read any other webcomics either, save for every time I remember Oglaf exists.

Shit, now I gotta go catch up on Oglaf.

 

[Human Trashcan]

Warhammer is a rip off of Warcraft.

I think you missed the entire point of that comic my dude

 

[NewGame]

The unfunny grew to a critical mass and eventually created a black hole of nonhumor.

 

[tenderbrew]

/shrug

I still check it at least once a week. Those posting that one comic are kind of being purposely disingenuous. Like all comedy there are a variety of hits and misses. They never, even at their best posted all greats. Art seems fine to me as well.

But agree that they definitely don't have the presence they once had which I'd agree with most saying that web comics in general are kind of a gone by era.

 

[jay]

Probably their audience grew up and realized something referencing a thing you know and understand isn't automatically funny.

 

[FyreWulff]

Their forums are what? You're from there too.
I lost interest in the comics, but the community is still cool.

Yeah, I post there still. I still have one of the few remaining rotating avatars. In the og Club PA forum and Rock Band thread only. It's funny how they got rid of all the chat threads that were toxic but now every other thread in G&T is megathread because at some point they went all in on the insularness.

I once tried to get into the Destiny community there and it's toxic as shit. The old Halo community moved on.

Not really "from" there, though. I've always posted tons of places.

the people who were really into their site eventually grew up and moved on to other sites. same thing that has happened to many other sites and will continue to happen.

That too. Some people want more adult content like Oglaf (NSFW) and consume more video. Even other webcomics started making animated versions to catch on to the streaming/video based internet.

 

[Beartruck]

But agree that they definitely don't have the presence they once had which I'd agree with most saying that web comics in general are kind of a gone by era.

I agree. Webcomic artists were the old e-celebs, then it was youtubers and now its streamers. I think thats largely a byproduct of increasing internet speeds. Streamers couldn't be a thing in 1997 when PA started.

 

[TheSun]

Well shit, once again I'll have to ask: transphobia?

That's a big line crossing for me. Of all the dumb shit they pulled from what I read here that's a big no no from me.

 

[Strimei]

Good lord, Megatokyo still exists?

Not only does it still exist, but I think he's still working on that visual novel/dating sim kickstarter.

 

[TheVampire]

I still find them funny over time

Some random ones I really like

 

[FyreWulff]

Well shit, once again I'll have to ask: transphobia?

That's a big line crossing for me. Of all the dumb shit they pulled from what I read here that's a big no no from me.

Mike pulled the old "well men have dicks and women have vaginas and that's just how it is" routine.

And then said his excuse for going off even harder was because he was called tranphobic, basically "i hurt people even more for calling me out for being hurtful".

quote from Mike:

Wanna be a guy or a girl or a fox or whatever and I will be happy to treat you that way.

But I think that is very different from the physical reality of your human body.

I think you're awesome and super talented. I have no idea what your body parts are and I don't want to know. I will treat you as a woman if that's how you present yourself to me.

I hate the idea that because I think boys and girls have different parts I am "transphobic" that pisses me off it makes me angry and so I lash out.

which is hypocritical as fuck from the guy that made a living using webcomics and industry person's visages in disparaging/violent/humiliating situations.

 

[Iksenpets]

Their artstyle got awful, the actual jokes failed to grow up with the audience, and they alienated huge chunks of their audience with repeated instances of dickishness. They seem to mostly be focused on other stuff now, and PAX seems like it's success has been in part because of how they've detached themselves personally from it. You forget that it's even a Penny Arcade event at all when you think about it most of the time.

 

[DrSlek]

The art style and jokes increased in quality over the years until they both reached their zenith...then both started going downhill.

Around here would be shortly before things took a bad turn.

 

[Jackpot]

I grew out of it.

Also in any anti-consumer controversy they always side with the publishers.

 

[yanipheonu]

They had kids. I do appreciate their podcast where they go through their creative process. I'm a big Tycho fan though, love his love of words.

They sorta moved onto a more parental and slightly out of touch part of their life. Which I'm cool with, but it's not for everyone.

 

[DealWithIt]

Particularly, I really dislike their current art style. It puts me off terribly - to the point that I might even have lost cool strips due to just not reading them anymore.

I don't really get this. I think the art is the best it's ever been. Joke-wise they are hit and miss, like all comics.

I do think that the age of webcomics is largely past and they make the lion's share of their money on other ventures.

Edit: here's my favorite of all time:

 

[mlclmtckr]

People keep talking about the art style but the writing is trash too. The 'recent good ones' posted on this page are all painfully unfunny half-assed almost-jokes.

 

[OmegaX]

Not only does it still exist, but I think he's still working on that visual novel/dating sim kickstarter.

People gave him almost $300k to create a visual novel based on his shitty weaboo comic (no, I won't call it manga). I've lost my faith in humanity.

 

[DealWithIt]

Here's one of their most recent strips. With this quality it's no wonder VG cats ate their lunch.

I think you are joking, but I'm not sure. This is extremely stupid.

 

[grandjedi6]

YouTube replaced webcomics in general

 

[WillyFive]

Having kids ruined their outlook and ability to create humor.

Also, thanks to this thread I can't stop noticing the size of their hair. It's now bigger than their faces.

 

[nephilimdj]

Lets see

Dickwolves
All Males who dress in female clothes are "its"
Jessca Nigri has boobs and not allowed dress sexy at PAX

They had so much drama like 4-5 years ago in a short span

 

[zenspider]

I still like it :/