Toonbots archive - episode published 20021004
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The metacartoonist returns to the old metacartooning standby of plot metaexposition. The ineffable refinement of this vehicle of humor
can be ascribed to the careful enumeration of the old-school precepts of minimalist cartooning combined with the joie de vivre of the
neominimalist school. The casual reference in passing to the music of Falco simultaneously evokes other Austrian music (Mozart and Strauss
leap to mind) as well as the entire metasymbology of psychoanalysis, illuminating as it does the essentially cognitive nature of the
platonic ideal of Joke. The notion of giant spider pirates, of course, needs no further exposition.
The metacartoonist's subtle use of the wolverine meme is a powerfully resonant thematic element which runs through the entire Toonbots
oeuvre; the wolverine represents the joyfully destructive tendencies in us all. The playful persistence of the metacartoonist's
failure to draw actual physical wolverines is naturally a veiled comment on this universality of the Wolverine within the psyche of the
Zeitgeist -- if universal, what need to draw it? This would simply be oafish and heavy-handed -- far better the ethereality of the
undrawn state.
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The script used to make this toon:
<cartoon height="1200" width="1000" rowformat="2"> <panel> <character name="dot"/> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">Dot, I need some help planning. How many storylines do we have in progress at the moment?</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom middle">Well, I guess it starts with Commie Con 2001, and then ...</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">Hmm, we finished the Dubya-Ho Chi Minh-Scooby Doo thing?</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom middle">Yeah, that interrupted Mao's recount, but then we started Lenin's Cereal Massacree.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">Right! We only got as far as the pile of garbage and vague promises by mouse about me being Officer Obie...</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom middle">Then you went on hiatus.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">Well, I was already on hiatus when mouse submitted her three eps.</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom middle">Or haitus, depending on how much sleep you get.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">Speaking of criticizing my spelling, we never resolved the whole N.A.P.O.L.E.O.N. thing and the D&[letter] corporate takeover ...</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom middle">... or even whether you're really on hiatus or not ...</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">So I'm kind of stymied here. Should I start from scratch?</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom middle">I personally value my continued existence, so I vote no on that one.</caption> <character name="dot" action="leaves"/> </panel> <panel> <character name="mao"/> <character name="dot"/> <caption fgcolor="red" location="top left">HEY, FRED.</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="top right">Oh, and there's the whole<br/>Mao-controlled-by-penguins thing, too.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="red" location="top left" size="10">I COULD GO FOR SOME SEAFOOD.</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom right">He used to be more useful.</caption> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top right">(sigh)</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="top right">Then there have been the occasional witty one-offs you could build on.</caption> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="bottom middle">I'm kind of hankering for some Seussian rhythm again.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="top right">Oy. If you drew me larger, you'd see my eyes rolling.</caption> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="bottom middle">Well, sorry, I think Dr. Seuss is one of the great masters of the English language. So sue me.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="top right">You could do some more music-video adaptations of your Winamp playlist.</caption> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="bottom middle">Falco can only take you so far in America, you know.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="red" location="top left" size="8">DIE GANZE WELT<br/>DREHT SICH UM MICH</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="top right">Giant spider pirates are always a good standby.</caption> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="bottom middle">Hmm... We've got a giant spider left over from Frank's vision in the Framed!!! Great Escape.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="red" location="top left" size="8">DENN ICH BIN NUR<br/>EIN EGOIST</caption> <character name="spider"/> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="black" location="top right">Oi, guv'na, wotz all this then?</caption> </panel> <panel> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="top middle">Lacks a certain....</caption> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="bottom middle">Yeah.</caption> <character name="spider" action="leaves"/> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">Emsworth wants me to draw wolverines. I've been putting him off since early 2001. Maybe it's time?</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom middle">You know, all this would be more effective if you'd get around to fixing the archives.</caption> </panel> <panel> <caption fgcolor="orange" location="top middle">(sigh)</caption> <caption fgcolor="blue" location="bottom right">NEXT: ARCHIVES!</caption> </panel> </cartoon> |
