Episode 550 - Gaming
Sep 27, 2021
We decided to chat about games. Video game and computer games. They're now a huge part of pop-culture entertainment and they've influenced us in many ways creatively throughout our lives. There are many different kinds of games out there, but one of the really cool things about them is that they're able to deliver a kind of interactive narrative experience that takes things further than Film or comics can easily do. Games were also instrumental in the early days of the first big popular wave of webcomics with gamer comics (PVP, Ctrl Alt Dlt, and Penny Arcade) and sprite comics (8 bit fantasy), being some of the most popular.
Topics and Show Notes
For me, the look of game characters like Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), was a big influence for my comics, and the play style of military games like Battlefield 2 helped me get a good look for my military based comic (Pinky TA). Just the imagery and visual of games these days is inspiring enough, but even back in the day with simple side scrolling platformers, 2D fighters and top down anime style JRPGs the interactive nature of the games could still suck you in and inspire you. I remember I did fan art of the characters from Golden Axe back in the day and I used to draw the weapon loadouts for the JRPGs that I'd play. I don't play games very much at all now because they're far too addictive and I end up wasting hours on them, but even though they're not that creative (well Minecraft is!), they're still a great form of escapism, a good way to deliver a complex story, and a great way to hang out with friends and meet people.
What are your fave games and why? What games were most inspiring to you?
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme to The Last Aviatrix: The first early morning rays of sun peek over the distant horizon, brightening the sky from grey to blue… The cold silence is shattered by an aeroplane swooping low overhead. Frenetic energy, speed, action, a whirlwind of active momentum and fury as the sounds carry us along at a great rate of knots and then fade away…
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
Giant Bee and Friend - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2021/sep/21/featured-comic-giant-bee-and-friend/
Featured music:
The Last Aviatrix - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Last_Aviatrix/ - by BusterCagle, rated T.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
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Episode 549 - Love stories
Sep 20, 2021
In today's cast we're chatting about LOVE stories! This isn't a subject we get into much but it's a huge genre so we thought we'd tackle it. We thought none of us even WORK in that genre till I belatedly realised that Banes and I sort of DO with Bottomless Waitress hahaha! There's all sorts of love in there… Sorry for the sound quality with this one I've no idea what went wrong.
Episode 547 - Franchise fail
Sep 2, 2021
There seemed to be a lull for a while after the 1990s and the massive sequel craze of the 80s, but nowadays we're back in full swing again with sequels, reboots and reinvisioning of film and TV franchises. Banes noticed a distinct pattern of behaviour that occurred around bad or failed franchises: The makers would chose to go against what existing fans liked about the property in the fist place, usually in order to appeal to new fans. When both new fans and old ones dislike what they do, they attack the fans and blame the fans for failure of their version. Then they'll search and find a new franchise to mess up. It's rare that people own up to or admit to failures anymore, it's usually always the fault of the fans for being too “toxic”.
Episode 542 - Anthology team interview!
Aug 1, 2021
Mal (aka Bluecuts), Alice (aka DameHelsing), and Pitface are all together in the Quackcast to chat about all the things involved in making the DD anthology! They get a bit kinky with their symbolisim and analogies haha! So be warned. The language gets a little spicey… It makes a fun listen!
Episode 539 - Schemers
Jul 11, 2021
Schemers can be part of some great stories when they're done well! When they're done badly though they're very annoying! Schemers, plotters and planers have become a super annoying trope in anime: at the end of the first or second episode a person will show up in the shadows and say that they're amused how things are all going as predicted and planned…. They'll appear again at the half way mark of the series and again 3 episodes before the end in the run up to their climactic battle with the protagonist. It's a trope and a formula. Sometimes it works, often it doesn't.
Episode 536 - #heroesdon'tdothat
Jun 21, 2021
There was ALL sorts of kerfuffle on the internet centred around the phrase “Heroes don't do that”. It began with an interview of two people involved in the production of the Harley Quinn TV animated series. According to them there was a sex scene between Batman and Cat Woman, including a scene of cunnalingus. They claim that a representative from DC told them to cut that scene, saying “Heroes don't do that”... But what is the REAL story?
Episode 530 - What is SciFi?
May 10, 2021
So what IS SciFi? Well it's a pretty wide umbrella term and contains a lot of different things. In some senses it's just an imaginative fiction story where science replaces magic. SciFi can simply be a sciencey setting where genre stories take place (romance, adventure, nior, horror). It can be a magical fantasy space opera with a futuristic skin (Star Wars), it can be “hard SciFi” where the story is set in the future but the science is completely plausible, it can be written with strong themes that examine philosophical questions and make interesting points about the nature of humanity, and it can be so many more things too. It's a broad church!
Episode 520 - Fans!
Mar 1, 2021
Today we're talking fans! Isn't it great to have them? We're all fans of something, but as webcomicers having fans means they're a dedicated audience who care about your creative output and send their love and appreciation to you- this really helps you stay motivated and inspired to keep on creating and producing new work. Here we talk about our experiences with fans and of BEING fans. It helps that we're fans of each other. But we also chat about some of the things we're fans off. What are your fan experiences and what are YOU a fan off?
