An Artist's Work is Never Done 02/12/09

Snow sculptures! Those... would be really hard to make. How long has Liz been outside at this point? She's gonna catch cold despite her nuclear hoodie!

Not that long. You'd just need a couple ticks for internal support.

How about that? Not only is Liz the master of the paint, and pencil sketches but she is also the master of snow statues.

The master of many medias: Snow, comics, paints, cupcakes, coffees (and the many ways to hide it). Liz is the ultimate artist, great with many things, but too forgetful and loaded with sugar to make it useful.

I'm just waiting for Max to "accidently" drop a hair dryer near the leg of that knight.

What happened to the story arc?

Pandora wrote:What happened to the story arc?

It went out to enjoy the snow.

Taking a break to enjoy wackiness. Snow is only an aspect of wackiness.

I want the story arc back. I'm not really amused by this to be honest. I was enjoying the discussion of what the potential results of the story arc could be. ...Aside from that, what happened to the mafia lizards arc? It kind of feels like Liz has left behind two arcs for "wackiness" as you call it. I'd like to know what's going to happen with those.

*Casually dumps a truckload of snow on Pandora*

Chill, girl. There'll be plenty of story.

*Climbs out, rips Master a new one* Don't touch me ever again. EVER.

Besides, can't I voice my opinion on the comic? That's what this section of the forum is for. My opinion is I'm not amused by the in-between wackiness and the drawing away from two story arcs that had been set up in the past.

Well, the mafia newts did end. "End." Liz introduced them at the grocery store so that she could play with the characters later.

As for the Sylver story line, I'm glad we're taking a break from it, for two reasons. First reason, I like wackiness better, it's just my thing. I like the character development, but I enjoy fun more. Second, it is a good plot device (Not a broken one (rimshot)) in writing to interrupt things with what went on elsewhere in the past or present. Not only does that leave the reader want to keep reading in order to find out what is happening in the original story line, it answers the readers that ask what was going on with the other characters at the time. I myself was wondering that very thing during the Sylver story line.

I think if you stick to given story line without breaking it up a little, the reading becomes tedious, be it webcomics or be it novels.

It didn't end...what about the donkey guy? Gaimen Washe? That wasn't an end...

Personally, I think that breaking up the actuall story line to put in goofy fillers makes a distraction. I don't really care what's going on with others during a story arc, unless what they're doing has something to relate with said story arc. Otherwise it's just jumping around.

That's a matter of opinion, as readers. I wondered what was going on with Liz and others, while you were more concerned with the characters at hand.

Pandora wrote:It didn't end...what about the donkey guy? Gaimen Washe? That wasn't an end...

Well, 'twasn't a true end in the sense that the character and story is closed. It was an introduction of the character for later use. Besides, where was Liz supposed to go with the Mafia newts/donkey guy leader after the grocery store? I predict shenanigans later with them, possibly as revenge for how they were treated by Max, but that was a good place to stop talking about them for a while. Just as we're not talking about Phil because he's not important right now.

Phil's arc reached a conclusion. It was explained who he was, why he's there, and why they shouldn't really worry about him because he's a bad ninja. That effectively drew in a new character and closed his introduction so that he could be used in the future. She didn't do that with Gaimen Washe. She left it hanging, filled in some stuff, then started a new arc without touching on the previous one. Now another story arc has been introduced, played along, and left unfinished. If she gets too far away from something that she started, it just leaves things hanging. If she wanted to do what she did with Phil, eventually have him as a side character to meddle with the main ones from time to time, she should finish the arc she started and conclude it like she did with Phil.

You are not a professional writer, are you?

I can already see where this about to go, anybody who knows about powder kegs can too.

Lets just leave it at this:
Its Liz's comic, let her do as she pleases if you enjoy it great, if you don't, great.
There's no point in complaining about something you cant control.

This comic is so cute. And yay! I've coined a term! Mafia Newts!

Great name for a rock band.

Masterweaver wrote:You are not a professional writer, are you?

No, but that doesn't matter. However, if you really want to know, I was put in Advanced Placement English classes in the 8th grade as well as my junior and senior years. I had already finished college-level English by the time I graduated, as well as passing the AP English Language and Composition tests. Now I don't need to take any more English classes unless I want to repeat everything I already did.

I prefer not to flash that around, but since I could see where you were trying to go with that, I thought it was necessary.

Even if I didn't have all that, I can still have a literary opinion on the things I read.

I can already see where this about to go, anybody who knows about powder kegs can too.

*sigh* Y'know, Ive noticed that every time I start some kind of discussion with someone, be it heated or not, you have to come along and say something like this. Would you knock it off? Grey and I are not arguing, we are sharing our views. No one here is arguing, no one here is flaming, no one here is trolling. There is no potential powder keg. If you and anyone else can have opinions on this, then so can I and I will no matter what anyone else thinks. I would like to do so without someone poking in and saying I need to drop my discussion and let everyone else have theirs. If I have to drop my opinion, then so should everyone else. If everyone else gets to have their opinion, then so do I. If Grey wishes to continue talking to me about this, then he can go ahead. I prefer this kind of discussion to one-liner posts that all agree with one another. Then there's no discussion at all.

There's no powder keg unless you bring one yourself.

Pandora wrote:Phil's arc reached a conclusion. It was explained who he was, why he's there, and why they shouldn't really worry about him because he's a bad ninja. That effectively drew in a new character and closed his introduction so that he could be used in the future.

Ah, but we haven't seen any more Phil-Zig interactions. Come to think of it, we haven't seen the pervy robot in a while either. I don't consider that a closed arc; it seems to me like it's an ongoing arc that again, we've taken a break from.

Indeed, but it did explain where he came from and why he was there for Zig.

I suppose that I feel that the mafia newts don't need much explanation; they're the mafia. That random guy playing pokemon was t3h leader. I understand. Does not need anything else really.

But why were they there? Why do they attack grocery stores and have such a need for shrimp? Didn't they report back about Maxine? There's a lot of things left unanswered.

There was a valid point raised earlier even if it was misapplied - any halfway successful webcomic artist ultimately makes their comic for themselves. It is impossible to please every reader, so the best person for webcomic artists to please is themselves (though family and close friends are also good candidates), and that in turn shapes their audience. People with similar preferences are likely to find and follow the comic while most everyone else will ignore it.

I say all that not to imply that reader opinions aren't valid but to direct attention to what Liz's goals are. On the About page, Liz says "Broken Plot Device is a geek-centric comic which pokes various aspects of nerd culture - science fiction, fantasy, video games, comics, movies, tabletop games, roleplaying, furries, and more - with a +5 stick of Parody." As such, she's focusing on the funny parts of the plot and leaving most of the pure drama off camera. She also has a lot of characters to play with which allows her to easily change scenes when a specific storyline is losing its humor potential. I've seen much the same tactic used by Amber Panyo a.k.a. Miss Mab of DMFA. Liz had the start of a webcomic once before with just her reptilian counterpart in it, but it never went far. I suspect that was due to her need for a concept that wasn't as restrictive (and derivative) as 'artistic, geeky lizard girl sitting at her computer'. It was fun while it lasted, but BPD is many times richer for the diverse cast.

Why do I think what Liz did works? Boring, semi-serious analysis follows*:
We saw the mafia newts when they were being pathetically inept because that was funny, and we got to see them get their act together enough to make Max briefly concerned (mainly for Sunny) because that was funny too. Doc Washe's introduction was just long enough to let Liz play with the corny stereotype of villains in dark rooms so she could do something silly with it. From that final panel, though, it was pretty clear that he wasn't going to say or do anything funny or interesting for a while, so Liz changed scenes.

We had a silly New Year's resolution strip then we transitioned into the scene where Liz gets her nuclear hoodie. Sid was in that comic which helped hold the feeling of continuity when the next strip showed him and Sylver arguing about their interests. That in turn allowed the story to move smoothly into the Sylver and Inix arc. There was some nice plot mixed with amusement (at Sylver's expense) during that arc, but then that last scene was completely serious - no punchline.

Liz has said she wanted to show a little about how Sylver thought, and that strip let her do it. Additionally it let her show that yes, Sylver is going to go along with Inix's plan anyway which was something many of us fans were wondering about. When presenting a story, you shouldn't reveal everything at once, but you have to answer certain things or you'll lose your audience when the plot goes a different direction for a while. Striking a balance is hard and ultimately ends up a case of YMMV, but keeping in mind Liz's focus on humor, I think she struck a good compromise. Why didn't Liz keep going? Well, it could be any combination of the following:

1) The conversation between Sylver and Sunny as Liz envisions it happening won't be consistently amusing/interesting enough to watch.
2) The conversation or its results will be at least as funny if not funnier when it comes up later on in the comic whether in conversation or as a brief flashback covering the highlights.
3) Liz wanted to create some mild dramatic tension without straying entirely from humor.
4) Liz's muse has ADD and wanted to draw someth- ooh, shiny!

I personally think its 'All of the above'. Besides, the snow arc is fun and ties back in to the earlier scene with her getting her hoodie. If nothing else, this proves that the story has continuity - if something happens, it will continue to affect things later in the comic. We can be sure that Doc Washe and the Sylver/Sunny arcs will be revisited because there's no reset button that will make anything un-happen...at least not unless Zig builds one...

*Remember kids, it's not a coincidence that the word 'analysis' starts with 'anal'.
(^.^)

tl;dr

Actually I did, but yet again I believe you have more than over-analyzed it. Though this time I think you did a pretty good job.

Pandora wrote:

Masterweaver wrote:You are not a professional writer, are you?

No, but that doesn't matter. However, if you really want to know, I was put in Advanced Placement English classes in the 8th grade as well as my junior and senior years. I had already finished college-level English by the time I graduated, as well as passing the AP English Language and Composition tests. Now I don't need to take any more English classes unless I want to repeat everything I already did.

I prefer not to flash that around, but since I could see where you were trying to go with that, I thought it was necessary.

Even if I didn't have all that, I can still have a literary opinion on the things I read.

I can already see where this about to go, anybody who knows about powder kegs can too.

*sigh* Y'know, Ive noticed that every time I start some kind of discussion with someone, be it heated or not, you have to come along and say something like this. Would you knock it off? Grey and I are not arguing, we are sharing our views. No one here is arguing, no one here is flaming, no one here is trolling. There is no potential powder keg. If you and anyone else can have opinions on this, then so can I and I will no matter what anyone else thinks. I would like to do so without someone poking in and saying I need to drop my discussion and let everyone else have theirs. If I have to drop my opinion, then so should everyone else. If everyone else gets to have their opinion, then so do I. If Grey wishes to continue talking to me about this, then he can go ahead. I prefer this kind of discussion to one-liner posts that all agree with one another. Then there's no discussion at all.

There's no powder keg unless you bring one yourself.

And there's your problem, Pandora. You seem to think you're always being attacked.
If I wanted to direct something like at you, it would've been more along the lines of "Lets stop before Pandora flips out."
Im not subtle when it comes to verbal attacks.
Even if I had been referring to you, could you blame me? My first interaction with you was quite the argument and I've seen you and Masterweaver get out of hand as well. I just find it weird that when the stuff hits the fan you're usually one of people in the middle it, think it rash and rude as you will, I'm just callin em as I sees em.
But it all honesty, I admire you aggressive will to establish dominance in situations. Not many people have the guts to do that. You're like Revy from Black Lagoon minus the barrettas and ultra high shorts.


I was speaking of the situation that was building up when I said "anybody who knows about powder kegs can too" because when it comes to debates on trivial things as such, a big argument seems to flare up between you two. I'm not trying to silence you Pandora, I never have, so do me a favor and quit playing the victim every time I come around and cry bomb when I can see the wires. Though I cant help, but notice you've done a good job in proving me wrong this time, I think I've found the perfect social countermeasure.

In any case, Disaster averted.