Episode 726 - Ego!?
Feb 10, 2025
Do you have a big ego? Do you know someone who has? This Quackcast is about utilising egos for comic characters for comedic purposes, to humanise character, or to make villains more unlikeable and or funny. Big egos are a sign of poor self esteem, people inflate their egos to cope with feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. For examples of that we have a certain prominent politician and also a tech billionaire as perfect representations of every facet of that concept. :)
Topics and Show Notes
Personally I LOVE a protagonist with a big, inflated ego, especially if it's also illustrated that it's undeserved, and often shown punctured. It's pretty uncommon for protagonists to have big egos though unfortunately because people see that as weakness in their character and status rather than making them more interesting. Big egos are far more common in villains, mostly because it's seen as a negative trait, but also because it's an easy way to show how weak and pathetic they are, they're also a goldmine for easy laughs. The latter is the reason that the characters with the biggest egos in fiction are often not the main villain but the villain's lieutenant.
My favourite protagonists with big egos are Tank Girl, George Costanza from Seinfeld, Duckman (played by the same actor as George. Jason Alexander), Flashman from the books by George MacDonald Fraser, Space Dandy, Basil Faulty from Faulty Towers, Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping up Appearances, and Meg from the series Drifters. I'd love to name more but it's not a common trait, though you can point out a million villains with massive egos.
In the Quackcast I examine Conan the Barbarian as a story about ego: Conan acquires a massive ego as a reaction to being kidnapped as a child and living as a slave, then being trained as a gladiator and lauded with praise and women. That only increases when he gets his freedom, joins his friends and becomes a successful thief. He's then tasked with rescuing a princess from a cult and returning her to her father. His ego is so big he eschews the help of his friends and tries to do it alone. He's captured by the villain, Thulsa Doom, the same man who killed his mother and enslaved him. Thulsa lectures him on the strength of ego and manipulation before crucifying Conan on a tree. As he dies, Conan's ego dies with him. His friends find his body and take him back, reviving him without ego. In then end Conan defeats Thulsa Doom, Thulsa expects his ego to dominate Conan and save himself but Conan kills him the same way Thulsa killed his mother, and does it totally without ego. As a last gesture he burns down Thulsa's temple and his cult disbands: the last two symbols of Thulsa Doom's over inflated ego.
Do you agree with my take on Conan the Barbarian? Do you like characters to have a big ego? If so, what are your fave examples?
Gunwallace was kind enough to give us a theme inspired Therion Inside of Me - Rocky, raw, groove with a godly chorus of cool backup singers. Let this one burn into your consciousness and enjoy!
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
Midcard - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/feb/04/featured-comic-midcard/
Featured music:
Therion Inside of Me - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Therion_Inside_of_Me_/ - by Denverjem, rated A.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
VIDEO exclusive!
Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks!
- https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck
Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts!
Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
Episode 723 - Changing tech and design
Jan 20, 2025
We're talking about how technology and design changes so much over the years and how that can change things with plot in story and it can also help pinpoint the date of something sometimes better than other things like fashion. The biggest one we talked about were phones, which have changed so much over the last few decades. Universally connected smartphones mean huge story changes- characters can all look up whatever they need at any time, communicate with people instantly, entertain themselves, take photos and videos etc. That can massively affect plots!
Episode 721 - A plot B plot
Jan 4, 2025
A standard thing in stories is to have multiple plot lines. In short stories or when you're just starting out as a writer you tend to have a single line, the A plot, but as soon as you get a bit more experience and write longer stories you'll find the plots tend to branch and multiply, even if you don't always fully intend it. The usual is to have the A and B plots: the A is the main one that drives the story and the B is where you put other interesting junk like character development, villain stuff, comic relief, love interests etc. But it can get a LOT more advanced than that and you can have far more than simply A and B.
Episode 719 - Merry Christmas!
Dec 22, 2024
Happy Christmas eve! In this penultimate Quackcast of the year we decided to have a free day and just chat about any subject that interested us at the time. Next week will be our final cast of the year when we'll do a year in review. We even went back to our roots and did some silly accents, mine were of course A-mazing! (they were pretty crap TBH)
Episode 717 - Stories out of order!
Dec 7, 2024
Non-linear stories are a different way of telling a tale. There are many famous examples (Pulp fiction, Mulholland Drive etc), where the sequence of events isn't in strict chronological order. This style has gained a false reputation of being superior or more advanced or challenging to an audience than linear stories.
Episode 716 - Identify with characters?
Dec 2, 2024
Is it important to Identify with characters? This question occurred to me as I was watching a rather banal sitcom, Rules of Engagement. I love two of the stars, David Spade and Patrick Warburton, but it's not really that engaging a show, the humour is anodyne and a lot of it is based around traditional gender roles and expectations, but I forced myself to watch it anyway just to see more of the aforementioned stars. The only way I was able to get into it was because I somewhat identified with David Spade's character- being a small blonde guy with long hair and a bit of a perv, haha!
Episode 715 - Apocalypse
Nov 25, 2024
This is the third in our weapons trilogy and it's about what happens AFTER the ultimate weapons have done their work: Apocalypse! The end of all things… This term comes from the bible, with the Book of Revelations which talks about what happens during the end of the world, but aside from the myth it's a pretty real concept- there are a LOT of ways the world can end and has indeed ended for various civilisations throughout history.
Episode 714 - Future Weapons
Nov 18, 2024
Last week we had an overview of weapons throughout history and how it's a constant game of balance and oneupmanship. Now we're looking at future weapons and Scifi stuff! There's a lot of potential and a lot of interesting ideas you can use in comics and stories. We talk about a few of these and some of our faves, as well as our own inventions.
