09-01-18 Frog splash

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09-01-18 Frog splash

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Spidrift »

Okay, so Lynn handles disappoint okay after a drink or two - she seems like a woman with her head screwed on right - and Maura is too distracted by the funny to notice this coincidence. The likely subsequent sequence, though, is Tess and Maura discovering each other's deceptions, getting annoyed with each other for a while, and then making up when they both admit that they've been as bad as each other.

Good facial expressions on Lynn and Tess, but I have to say that Maura is gurning a bit weirdly.
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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Valkog »

Can't stand either of these roasties. Why are so many of the femoids in this comic so vapid?
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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by LegendaryKroc »

Well, Valkog, I'm guessing it's because the writers know stupidity is a cheap and easy source of laughs, and someone being a complete eejit is an easy way to get someone to do or say something dumb without having to constantly explain why. Have a character do enough feather-brained, imbecilic things and eventually audiences will react to them engaging in something really stupid with, "Yep. That sounds about right."

Also, in case you didn't notice, the males of this comic are a bunch of dunderheads too. Like I said, low-hanging fruit.

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by worldshaking00 »

Lynn appears to be able to hold her liquor well too. She doesn't seem flushed, nor does it appear that the glass of scotch is on the table... maybe she switched back to wine or water? Either way, she certainly seems to be better at handling alcohol better than the majority of the women in the comic. Also agreed, that she seems to be handling Maura's letdown's well. Lynn doesn't seem like that bad of a person; she definitely is confident in herself. She's 'talking shop' with Maura, and like Gary talking about comics/geekdom, it make her seem more human and less 'stiff'.

Typing those two names in the same sentence got me thinking, though, as to what Gary actually knows of the wrestling world. Does he know of Annie? Would he spaz out at seeing her? He hasn't shown anywhere near the level of enthusiasm towards wrestling (read: passing fancy) as compared to his other hobbies. Not sure if it is intentional or a plot hole needing to be filled... but probably the former considering the time frame left in the webcomic.

As much as I am interested in seeing how Tess & Maura handle bumping into the other at the restaurant, I think I'd much like to see a shot of Annie wearing Mojo from the wrestling match-gone-awkward she described in the strip. Poor Mojo has gotta be tranq'd or exceptionally well trained in order to not freak out at being a live prop/wardrobe accessory in an actual wrestling match. Squeezing on for dear life off of the top rope indeed. I think that the wardrobe malfunction joke is going to lead us into the punchline for how Tess & Maura are going to react to one another's dates.
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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Fairy Glade's Fairy »

Maura keeps thinking about Tess...

"Oh I wish Tess was here to help me!" when her date faces her with a difficult riddle... "Oh I can't wait to tell it to Tess!" when her date makes her laugh with a funny story...

in a normal romantic comedy all these would be telltale hints that Tess is her true love (the one who's always in her mind!) but in Ma3 we savvy readers know they are just red herrings and no romance will happen between them evar... or, if it happens, it will be swiftly crushed, just like all the other couples that existed in the story till now.....

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Spidrift »

worldshaking00 wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:40 pm
Lynn appears to be able to hold her liquor well too. She doesn't seem flushed, nor does it appear that the glass of scotch is on the table... maybe she switched back to wine or water?
One double scotch, possibly topped up by a glass or so of wine if that’s what’s on the table, she’s a healthy woman who’s presumably somewhat accustomed to alcohol, and she’s not drinking on an empty stomach... She may not be legal to drive, but there’s no reason why she’d be falling-down blitzed yet. She’s being outgoing and chatty, and telling stories about dumb stuff that happened to her, which sounds about right.

Sandra hits the bottle like a maniac, and the times we’ve seen Sonya, Zii, and DiDi smashed were explicitly after a hard evening’s drinking. Peggy got drunk enough to make a pass at a stranger after apparently drinking to deal with the ongoing collapse of her old relationship, but she sobered up fast when stuff got serious. Gary is the only cast member who’s got spectacularly smashed seriously fast, that I recall, and he was unaccustomed to booze at the time (and even he could still perform). So I think the writing is reasonably realistic and reasonably consistent on this.
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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Vitocap »

Fairy Glade's Fairy wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2018 3:27 pm
no romance will happen between them evar... or, if it happens, it will be swiftly crushed, just like all the other couples that existed in the story till now.....
*Sigh* That's probably right, yes.
Romantic/sexual couples in this comic simply don't last. The floor is littered with the crumbled remains of past relationships. The only official existent couple right now is Zii/DiDi, and everyone is taking bets how long it'll take them to break up.
Fairy Glade's Fairy wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:33 pm
Vitocap wrote:
Wed Jan 03, 2018 2:16 pm
OllieOrOlly wrote:
Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:11 am
Before your comment, one person complained without having any constructive or basic criticism, and that means everyone is a grouchy ghost?
Read my sig. This place is as dead as the Sinfest forum. For similar reasons, too, as True Avery explained before -- a frenzy of moderation gone too far.
what's the sinfest forum?
Sorry it took me so long to reply.

Sinfest is a webcomic. For many years, it was the most popular comic online. The author wrote about sex and culture and religion and public affairs in an extremely funny, provocative, politically incorrect way. Readers loved it, and the Sinfest forum was one of the most active forums around. Then, one day, the author had an epiphany and converted to radical feminism of the Dworkin-MacKinnon profession. He started preaching his new gospel in his comic -- which, as a result, turned into pure undiluted crap. Readers who complained in the forum were mass banned. Today, the Sinfest forum is pretty much dead.

Unlike Sinfest, Ma3 is still true to itself. The themes and the style of the comic haven't changed. The forum, however, has changed. Fans of different characters and shippers of different couples used to have heated debates after every strip, often filling dozens of pages with messages. Moderators thought this was a problem, and solved it the Sinfest way: banning everyone who was too disputatious. The forum as it is today, a sorry shadow of its former self, is the result of that.
We, the old ghosts of Pizen Bluff, who still roam about this dead forum screaming imprecations at the characters and whatnot.

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Mandy »

I think the forum dialed back here because this comic has been going on for ten years. The more time people have to dedicate to reading a comic archive, the less likely they are to actually read all of it. You're not going to retain all of your fans. You eventually end up with a net loss.This comic peaked in popularity long ago.

There were some people banned, but the mods here don't halfhazardly ban people right and left. It was over-the-top terrible forum goers that got banned. Letting one really malicious person stick around scares away a bunch of decent people.

A lot of the best posters just left on their own; they didn't need to be banned.

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Spidrift »

Sounds about right. There was a brief surge of bannings when one plotline brought out a weird burst of slut-shaming (I mean, in a discussion of this comic?), but the mods are generally quite light with the ban-hammer.

And a lot of the old regulars are still around, just a bit less active. Look at the old threads and then track through to people’s latest posts. It’s understandable; one does eventually come to feel that one has said one’s piece on the standard subjects, and new posters bringing them up again just provoke eye-rolling.

I predict some minor outrage storms over the comic’s last few strips, though. Whatever the character arc endings, some people are going to hate them.
Last edited by Spidrift on Thu Jan 11, 2018 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Vitocap »

Mandy wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:21 pm
I think the forum dialed back here because this comic has been going on for ten years. The more time people have to dedicate to reading a comic archive, the less likely they are to actually read all of it. You're not going to retain all of your fans. You eventually end up with a net loss.This comic peaked in popularity long ago.

There were some people banned, but the mods here don't halfhazardly ban people right and left. It was over-the-top terrible forum goers that got banned. Letting one really malicious person stick around scares away a bunch of decent people.

A lot of the best posters just left on their own; they didn't need to be banned.
Keep in mind that I've only been a forum member for a year and a half. I wasn't around when those events (droves of people leaving, getting banned, etc.) happened, so I can't really argue the point -- only report what other members, who were here at the time, have said before.

In any case, the forum right now is as dead as a Norwegian Blue parrot. Look at this thread: a really funny strip, two of the zaniest characters in the comic in a situation that can only lead to a tangle of misunderstandings, the imminence of an epic quarrel with perhaps the revelation of many hidden feelings, and we got what? Nine replies. Ten with this one. And half of them are generic talk about the health of the forum and have nothing to do with the strip.

If it weren't for writers like Spidrift who work hard at keeping the forum in a state of artificial animation (25% of the posts are from him, and another 30% are replies to him), it would be curtains for this place.
We, the old ghosts of Pizen Bluff, who still roam about this dead forum screaming imprecations at the characters and whatnot.

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by OllieOrOlly »

Spidrift wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:06 pm
Okay, so Lynn handles disappoint okay after a drink or two - she seems like a woman with her head screwed on right - and Maura is too distracted by the funny to notice this coincidence. The likely subsequent sequence, though, is Tess and Maura discovering each other's deceptions, getting annoyed with each other for a while, and then making up when they both admit that they've been as bad as each other.

Good facial expressions on Lynn and Tess, but I have to say that Maura is gurning a bit weirdly.
Yeah, that does seem the most likely.

Unlike Zii, who usually becomes paralysed with self-pity, Lynn takes rejection in stride; got to give credit to Lynn for trying to enjoy the not-date, while regaling Maura with anecdotes, thus ensuring they both continue to enjoy the encounter - despite it not going the way Lynn had schemed. Although, perhaps Lynn has merely changed tactics and is attempting to seduce via humour? That said, she normally seems to attempt seduction with more *direct* methods, and wooing by comedy doesn't really seem like her kind of thing.

I agree with the facial expressions, although, I found Maura's overflowing joy appropriately "over-the-top."

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Mandy »

@vitocap. Part of the problem with this strip specifically is the characters involved. The forum-goers get a little more excited about the long-standing cast members. The most popular strips in recent history were when big changes were happening to the main cast.

@Spidrift. No doubt about people storming the forums at the end. There will be a lot of people feeling like characters haven't had karmic due. This has always been a comic about people with questionable morals though; I don't know how people got this far in and still feel quite so offended by that. I can see mild frustration but some people get so emotional over it.

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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Spidrift »

OllieOrOlly wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:50 am
Unlike Zii, who usually becomes paralysed with self-pity, Lynn takes rejection in stride; got to give credit to Lynn for trying to enjoy the not-date, while regaling Maura with anecdotes, thus ensuring they both continue to enjoy the encounter - despite it not going the way Lynn had schemed. Although, perhaps Lynn has merely changed tactics and is attempting to seduce via humour? That said, she normally seems to attempt seduction with more *direct* methods, and wooing by comedy doesn't really seem like her kind of thing.
I assume that she’s taking things as they come. If she does get through to Maura eventually, great; if not, well, she’s just had a very nice dinner with a pleasant view across the table. It’s all good. Unlike Zii, she doesn’t define herself as a hot seducer-chick, so failure in that doesn’t challenge her self-image.
Mandy wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:57 am
No doubt about people storming the forums at the end. There will be a lot of people feeling like characters haven't had karmic due. This has always been a comic about people with questionable morals though; I don't know how people got this far in and still feel quite so offended by that. I can see mild frustration but some people get so emotional over it.
That’s what I’d expect. Of course, the writers may have some weird last-minute surge of moralism and start punishing their own characters — in which case, I’d have to restrain myself from getting irritated. But it seems unlikely.
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Re: 09-01-18 Frog splash

Post by Don Alexander »

Vitocap wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:47 pm
The forum, however, has changed. Fans of different characters and shippers of different couples used to have heated debates after every strip, often filling dozens of pages with messages. Moderators thought this was a problem, and solved it the Sinfest way: banning everyone who was too disputatious. The forum as it is today, a sorry shadow of its former self, is the result of that.
Cosnidering I am THE Mod you are talking about, I have to take umbrage at this characterization. I will admit there was a point a few years ago (exactly as spidrift mentions) where something like half a dozen people suddenly got into slut-shaming, and after quite a bit of discussion with Giz, Dave and T, we decided to a "no tolerance" rule, and I banned them. I daresay the forum is a better place for it. People get banned here for breaking forum rules which are not in any way out of the ordinary, I'm sure most other forums don't let forumites attack others on a personal basis or similar things.

The number of threads which hit "several dozen pages" is vanishingly slim. Yes, it used to be many threads reached one hundred posts or so, but I still think such a reduction hardly qualifies this as "dead". Winding down? Sure.

Finally, let me state that a lot of regular posters left BECAUSE certain forumites were behaving horribly, and banning those people did not make them come back, they just had enough.

You yourself admit to only being on the forum for 18 months, so maybe be a bit more careful in the future when forumsplaining to others why this is "dead." /:)

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