Toonbots message board: Dec. 1 spoiler

Michael Sat Dec 2 15:23:08 2000 Re: Dec. 1 spoiler > Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (takes a breath) Heh, heh, heh. > Regarding character features, though. It would be interesting to see, but > frankly, I rather like Bot as he is. Personally, I think the simplicity is > part of this strip's unique (though admittedly probably limited) appeal. Yeah, but you said that about staying a caption-only strip, too. > Personally, I'd rather see more character development, as the > personalities of Dot and Bot are slowly becoming more concrete. Oh, well, we'll see. It's not like I really decide what comes out. It just kinda happens on its own.

Lord Emsworth Sun Dec 3 21:37:34 2000 Re: Dec. 1 spoiler > Yeah, but you said that about staying a caption-only strip, too. Ahem. Well, I suppose I'm just a hidebound traditionalist who's leery about change. Honestly, though, I really have enjoyed the many changes and advancements in Toonbots thus far, so I suppose whatever you decide to donext should prove interesting.

Michael Sat Dec 2 15:39:50 2000 Talking heads > Having recovered from the shock of seeing floating heads in place of the > bounding blocks representing Al and Dubya, I have to once again compliment > the esteemed meta-cartoonist on his work. Frankly, I think the blocks > worked better on a metaphorical level, but by only displaying their heads, > you are still indicating how both seem to have their minds lost in the air > and are somewhat detached from reality. Yes, political commentary at its > best (or at least its strangest.) Well, I'll tell ya. I'm trying to get straight some of these ideas about character definition, and images are easy to draw (just a single command to paste an image, versus coordinating a lot of shapes and lines to make a figure or eyes or even a mouth.) So that's why Al and Dubya have made this transition. I've got a couple of snapshots of both of them, and I'll be representing each as an aspect of the same character, so that aspects can be correlated with, say, emotive features or something. Direction. I'm still not sure yet -- there's a lot to get right even for a crude implementation. On Bot and Dot -- Dot will stay the same. Bot will get features, but probably not all the time, just when it's funny. That's kind of what I have in mind. Then I'm going to introduce more characters -- Al and Dubya aren't going to be around forever. I'm thinking stick figures called Hick and Chick. Lots of nice Seussian possibilities spring to mind already, eh?

Lord Emsworth Sun Dec 3 21:35:22 2000 Re: Talking heads > Then I'm going to introduce more characters -- Al and Dubya > aren't going to be around forever. I'm thinking stick figures called Hick > and Chick. Lots of nice Seussian possibilities spring to mind already, eh? Hick and Chick, and each is a stick? Hmm... Yes, that might be interesting. From "Chick," though, is this merely a name, or will these charaacters actually be gender specific?

Napoleon Mon Dec 4 03:25:29 2000 Re: Talking heads > Hick and Chick, and each is a stick? Hmm... Yes, that might be > interesting. From "Chick," though, is this merely a name, or > will these charaacters actually be gender specific? If they're gender-specific that way, I'd hafta defenestrate Michael, just on principle. It would be a nice defenestration, though, because after all, he IS the Meta-Cartoonist, that from which all Toonbottiness flows. And stuff.

Lord Emsworth Mon Dec 4 07:42:53 2000 Re: Nice defenestration? > If they're gender-specific that way, I'd hafta defenestrate Michael, just > on principle. > It would be a nice defenestration, though, because after all, he IS the > Meta-Cartoonist, that from which all Toonbottiness flows. And stuff. I hope the gracious High Chancellor will pardon my ignorance, but what exactly would constitute a "nice" defenestration? I suppose the push or throw might be a little more gentle, the window might already be open at the time, and there might be a safety net or soft mattress or such below, or am I thinking of something else entirely?

Chris Mon Dec 4 15:22:19 2000 Re: Nice defenestration? > I hope the gracious High Chancellor will pardon my ignorance, but what > exactly would constitute a "nice" defenestration? I suppose the > push or throw might be a little more gentle, the window might already be > open at the time, and there might be a safety net or soft mattress or such > below, or am I thinking of something else entirely? I believe that is what is known in the trade as a "sissy" defenestration. A "nice" one is where you don't drag the victim back up the stairs to a higher floor (by the feet, natch) and do it over again.

Napoleon Tue Dec 5 00:12:16 2000 Re: Nice defenestration? > I believe that is what is known in the trade as a "sissy" > defenestration. A "nice" one is where you don't drag the victim > back up the stairs to a higher floor (by the feet, natch) and do it over > again. Close. A nice defenestration is one performed with the utmost respect, friendship, good feeling, etc, etc. That does generally preclude the dragging bit, but not always. And actually, sometimes the nice variety is more drawn-out and probably much more painful than the other. I wouldn't know, seeing as I'm not actually the TARGET of said defenestrations.

Michael Mon Dec 4 11:16:02 2000 Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and otherwise > If they're gender-specific that way, I'd hafta defenestrate Michael, just > on principle. Start doing your stretches, then. Or think of two rhyming gender-descriptive terms that you prefer.

Napoleon Tue Dec 5 00:06:35 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > Start doing your stretches, then. Or think of two rhyming > gender-descriptive terms that you prefer. Whee! Windows ahoy!

gopher Tue Dec 5 01:40:41 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > Whee! Windows ahoy! When I read this, at first I thought you were advocating the use of Microsoft products. To avoid confusing the High Priest, we need to reclaim the word "Windows" from the Evil Empire using any means necessary. This abuse of the English language cannot be tolerated any longer. Or maybe the High Priest needs to quit talking in the third person and go to bed. Hm... Quite the dilemma... Aren't elipses fun....?

Napoleon Tue Dec 5 02:17:30 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > Aren't elipses fun....? ... ... Yup!

Pooga Tue Dec 5 02:42:14 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > ... > ... > Yup! This doesn't make much sense once you remove the quoted part. Or it could be that it's so late at night. Actually, in a Toonbots sort of way, it fits. Wow! I haven't posted in about a week, but I'm still in 4th place? Methinks the post count hasn't been updated in a while...

Michael Tue Dec 5 11:44:03 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > Methinks the post count hasn't been updated in a while... Methinks you thinks right. My attempt to hang it on the bulletin board for automatic summarizing didn't work too well. Eh. I'll update it soon.

Michael Tue Dec 5 11:44:58 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > Start doing your stretches, then. Or think of two rhyming > gender-descriptive terms that you prefer. Hmm. Maybe Sue and Stu.

Napoleon Tue Dec 5 18:51:21 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > Hmm. Maybe Sue and Stu. Hick and Chick are funnier, though! Plus Stu makes me think of characters from very very long Stephen King books.

Michael Tue Dec 5 22:49:23 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > Hick and Chick are funnier, though! Plus Stu makes me think of characters > from very very long Stephen King books. Who, East Texas? Man, I loved that book. See, I read really fast. Usually I try to slow down so I can stretch my paperback book dollar, but with Stephen King I don't have to. He writes like I read -- on and on and on. I love it. Except it was too short, of course. I mean, what happened *after* they got back to Boulder? It drives me crazy. Did they go out and colonize Europe? What about fifty years later, did everybody lose their psi powers after the population started to recover and there was all that background noise again? Or was it just something that stuck around, and the new civilization was vastly different from our own? Did they maybe find a city where some mad genius had wired all the automatic factories together to perform self-maintenance? That would be cool. (My personal Stand-based fantasy; if everybody in town died, what would *you* do? Bear in mind that if you want electricity you're going to have to make it yourself... But think of all those computer clusters on campus, mine, all mine!!)

gopher Wed Dec 6 00:06:32 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > But > think of all those computer clusters on campus, mine, all mine!!) Yeah! You could crack the RC5-64 challenge in *minutes*! Oh, wait. Never mind.

Napoleon Thu Dec 7 16:15:34 2000 Re: Gender-descriptive terms, pejorative and other > (My personal Stand-based > fantasy; if everybody in town died, what would *you* do?[...]) I don't want to think about how many hours I've spent planning that out. Of course, then I had to go and *move*, so now I need a whole new gameplan in the case of mass death. Blah.