2610 Where A Woman-Child Can Be A Kid.

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Mc Donald’s used to have the McDonaldland stuff for decades when it catered to kids a lot more. There’s a lot of backstory as to why that was, why it changed, and everything else. I miss the blatant pandering and whimsical aesthetic of the old stuff though. I was very little when the early McDonaldland stuff was still branded on most things in the restaurants. The HR Puffenstuff era that got them sued by the Krofts. I guess it’s just nostalgia but I miss that kind of ridiculous boldfaced pandering. It was more fun than the post irony pandering of the Starbucks era. Businesses hiding their evil with stupidity was way more fun than hiding it with faux activism. In some ways the characters are trying to update the stupidity rather than pain over it in my comic. Updated, streamlined, ridiculousness. I doubt it would work IRL, but we can pretend in this fake world I made up. A little magical realism, if you will.

Anyway, on the run up to Xmas I expect I’ll just keep on posting comics as usual. We’ll be having guests but I don’t expect it to disrupt things so much that I can’t work. I’ve worked through so much worse at this point that it’s like whatever. Plus, people don’t hang on comic updates the way they did in 2007. You all seem to visit whenever you remember, or are taking breaks at work, or whatever. You don’t need to post at midnight on posting day the way you were expected to when I started.I still try to do that because it gives my life one point of structure I can always keep to. The second I don’t continue to take this whole circus seriously, at least in that respect, is the day it starts to fall apart. So, I’ll see you on Friday sometime, and on Monday, when you’re partying with baby Jesus, I’ll be there too, when you have a moment. So, stay safe if you are traveling. I’ll be here when you decide you want to visit.

33 Comments

From what I’ve seen, if you want it:

you can find a lot of over-the-top pandering to kids…plus Mcdonaldland-type commercialism, in theme parks like: Disneyworld, and Six Flags.

The kid’s, TV channels- Disney channel, + Nickelodeon, also do a great job of Mcdonaldland’s-like [pandering to kids], as well.

Burger King’s, + Mcdonald’s, + other fast food places’, “happy meals plus toys”, do a great job of that pandering, too.

There are also, aimed-at-adults type, Mcdonald’s Happy Meals [tm]- for the adults who collect fast-food toys, and “Happy Meals” boxes.

Or…you can just watch the ads on Nickelodeon, for three hours straight. (Heh, heh!) :D

I, too, miss days of yore when the pandering was open, blatant, and part of the charm. We all know all the bright mascots painted on the kid’s meals are there to try to convince the kids to beg us for the greasy treats, but at least some of them were endearing. Trying to pretend you care about their health is the thing in vogue these days, and I don’t appreciate them lying to my face.

Besides, I have fond memories of park benches with statues of Ronald McDonald on them, in case you for some reason wanted a photo op in an era where going to the mall was a social activity, or needed to sit with your groceries and complain to the clown about the dozen minor things that never go quite right while you tried to figure out which bag you put your phone in.

Also: I miss the skill challenge thing at Taco Bell. The plastic thing you could put a quarter in, and you won a free burrito if it landed on the bottom slat. I think the coins went to charity, or perhaps to tips? It wasn’t about the burrito, it was about showing off your dexterity, and perhaps your ability to spend a quarter on sheer competitive spirit at lunchtime.

I think Taco Bell is currently offering a virtual version of the coin drop on their app. Probably not as much fun, but I can’t say for sure since I’ve never tried either one.

Can’t tell if vicki’s in a state of glee over maddie or about ready to assassinate reggie over his insolence, lol

As far as updates are concerned, you have been considerate enough to provide an RSS feed, so I just see them (a little after) they drop. The disadvantage of relying on this is that it can take me several months to realise that a webcomic (not yours) has stopped updating.

Think a lot of people have said that all along. No one freaks out if you’re a couple hours different in one direction or another. Sure, if there’s nothing on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday and no notice, then people get concerned. But that’s the sheer regularity talking. But we’ve all seen enough webcomics go weeks, even months or more without update of any sort to know how this game is played.

And yes, Merry Christmas to one and all, whether to you it’s the celebration of the savior’s birth or a federally-recognized national holiday. Whichever.

I had wondered why the play places and such got scaled back. I was there when the McDonald’s I used to work at removed its ball pit.

Apparently kids often wet themselves (or worse) in it anyways so it was just a big biohazard mess.

I get that there is a thrill to posting that first comment at 12:00:01 in the morning but my days of hanging out online until 2 am are long past me. I generally read comics with my morning coffee. I’m not going to bet butthurt if a comic isn’t on time. There are dead comics I check in on every once in a while just to see if the author has come back. Having a deadline, or at least a target does help with productivity. Speaking for myself, it is way too easy to get sidetracked if the task doesn’t have a little structure.

So, couple of things. One, Maddie is about to attract a whole different clientele to Beary Fine Pizza. Thick, vaguely brown (or is she just tan?) girl in a tight suit? The owner might offer her a mascot position! Two, I can’t tell if Victoria is in absolute glee or just lost her ish seeing Maddie in the costume. Finally, about the updates. I have some kind of trauma response or something with checking webcomic updates. I check almost any day that I touch my PC because I used to follow two webcomics, yours and one other. I don’t keep track of days well, so I have kind of figured your schedule was M-W-F, but the other comic was always sporadic, so I checked both everyday anyway since it hurt nothing to check and see if you had posted at the same time I was checking his. Then his posts got rarer and rarer, and he and his wife moved to Texas, which was cool at first because I’m from Texas, so I was excited because they moved close enough to me that I might have run into them. Then the posts slowed. From twice a week to once, to twice a month, to once…until we sat on the same panel for over six months while this dude raked in almost $2000 a month in Patreon subs. I quit checking his stuff for a while, and then when I went back, he had posted that the site was now closed, and the story would continue as Patreon only. I’ve looked in on his Patreon a couple of times, and he hasn’t posted a story chapter in months. I had already stopped supporting his Patreon during the six-month dry spell, but I know people that still pay for it for some reason. Turned out he had taken the money from Patreon that was meant to be used for reinvesting into the comic and bought a bunch of stock in some alternate to Discord tech startup that he and his wife had gotten into when he started acting like a lunatic on his Discord and gotten himself, his wife, and their lead moderator permabanned. All that to say that I check in regularly and am sorry for dumping all that information on you. Also, that having a consistent part of my online life is really appreciated. Thanks Jackie.

Why do I feel like this is Shotgun Shuffle despite not paying attention to…any of the drama related to that comic?

Frankly I didn’t know if anyone else in the comment section here would know SS. Yeah, that was the comic. The whole thing devolved into a shitty situation for pretty much everyone that was a fan of his stuff. And if anyone is still a fan of the guy, please don’t come at me. I WILL just ignore the comment section if I have to. I don’t even hate the family that was doing it. I just feel like they got caught up in a bunch of craziness and didn’t handle it AT ALL well, then as so many people do, kept doubling down instead of admitting their mistakes. Frankly, I hope they can get their collective lives back someday, though the comic is dead and a lot of people, myself included, are unlikely to go back at this point. That whole debacle did show me just how great Jackie is as a creator, though. Constant, consistent updates can be more important than the over-the-top visuals that Chris was starting to go for, and being just a generally good guy trying to get by is so underappreciated in the artistic sphere. So, thanks again, Jackie.

Also, talking about it made me wonder what their Patreon has been up to. No updates since June. Glad I quit following, honestly.

Yep, yeah, uh-huh. I used to follow SS too semi-regularly, not particularly invested in its baffling storyline, but the ever-lengthening gaps in posting and then the DRAMA… Welp. I noped out.
Between that and the oddly similar post-conversion disappointment of my number one fandom, this is one of the few webcomics that I still visit regularly (and the only one I have on my Patreon). I like these characters, I like Jackie’s style, and it makes me chuckle.
So, merry greetings and a delightful summer break to all. (Heh.)

Yeah, Jackie and a small time game dev that I beta test for are the only reasons I still have a Patreon, although my donations are pretty thin lately. I’m hoping that the college degree I’ve been working hard on for a while now will fix my money issues pretty soon.

I think this is why, before TV was invented, that [live circuses] were popular with a lot of people:

the kids enjoyed seeing the: clowns, animal acts, and acrobats, while the Dads + other men enjoyed seeing the acrobats…acrobats, that had a lot of- fit, pretty women…in tight leotards, in their ranks. Hm.

Off topic:
I apologize for an OT topic, but- is anyone out there [really] into films + film trivia?

I saw a film from the 1980s, + I can’t remember it’s name.
It was about: two, American cowboys, who were thieves + safe crackers…I guess?

While doing a crime, they get caught by cops, + are then drafted into the army…in WWI. They are sent to Europe.
Their favorite weapon is using one stick, or many sticks, of dynamite.
Their main villain is a crazy, German guy who has a metal/ bulletproof blimp. The film might be British.
It had a title like: air pirates, or sky raiders, or something. Does anyone know what film that is? Please tell me if you find out. Cheers.

I generally read the week haul on Friday or Saturday, so it doesn’t really impact me, but I think it’s vital for the comic to have a disciplined update schedule, like M-W-F.

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