2981 Chew Toy.

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Well, clearly you guys are passionate about webcomics. Some of you have shaky reading comprehension too, but I also misread things from time to time so a little grace is probably in order. I saw a lot of familiar titles that have fallen away over time. Many of you read some of the same comics I did in the before times. Years before I started Between Failures I read a short lived comic that took place in a Gamestop. The character designs had gigantic ears. It was very accurate to the corporate culture of Gamestop, which is extremely toxic. Since I was working for them at the time it felt very relevant to me. I’ve never been able to recall the name, or find any trace of it online. That sort of strip was dime a dozen in those days so people always suggest other comics, like CAD, or Penny Arcade. Unfortunately I think it’s simply lost forever. There are a few comics like that. I actually spoke to one creator on Drunk Duck for a while who made a comic that I think is now lost. I can see it in my head, but can’t remember his name, the comic’s name, or much of anything other than I know I have a button he sold at one point somewhere in my junk. Sometimes things are just gone forever and pass out of living memory. When I’m gone the only memory of these comics may go with me. Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that the loss of everything to time is something that I think about a lot. Impermanence is probably my greatest fear in some sense. I’ve been that way since I was old enough to form memory and it has been the great torment of my life.

A few of you asked for specifics about my problems with other creators and their works. I wrote out an explanation, but when I got to the end I felt like it would somehow be uses against me regardless of what I had said. So you’ll just have to deal with not knowing exactly why my problems are. I will say this much about David Willis though: I think he is a bully, and I don’t much care for how he treats the Transformers franchise as if he owns it.

This is only tangentially related to that, but I didn’t have any extra money for many years until the Patreon took off a little bit. When I was in retail I got to enjoy my hobby of collecting Transformers even though I wasn’t making a lot of money. I had to give it up for a very long time and that was just one of the many sacrifices I made in pursuit of making Between Failures. Eventually I got to a point where I could start collecting again with careful budgeting. Just by chance I happened to get back in at the perfect time to enjoy the toys from the Netflix trilogy. The writing of the show was abysmal and got worse over time, but the figures were exquisite. Such artistry on display. Plus the packaging art was a joy to behold. Since everyone was locked up for covid I built up a little money to keep things going well into the Legacy era and Studio Series. I forget the exact order of the line names, but they did all the G1 hits. I have definitive versions of many characters, so I never need to buy them ever again, unless a new version comes along that really knocks it out of the park. Plus the popularity of the Bayverse characters gives me breaks to save up a little between waves now, which is good. I don’t usually talk about collecting since I always feel like I’m not supposed to ever feel happy about things. People often react negatively when I express any kind of joy so I tend to hold back, especially here. The fact of the matter is that my patrons make these simple pleasures possible for me though, and I really appreciate it. I trained to be a sculptor and never made use of that learning, but I love looking at it. Holding the finely crafted work of another human in my hand is one of my greatest pleasures. I don’t have a lot left over after my expenses, but it’s enough to indulge in this hobby. So to those of you who are patrons I genuinely thank you. Not that I don’t appreciate people who can’t be patrons mind you. I certainly understand not having extra money, but paying me to make this comic for you is the clearest expression of success I have. It’s why I never think about site numbers and stuff anymore. You guys like my story enough to keep it, and me, alive. It would probably be more sensible to appreciate having health insurance, but it’s never as much fun as giant robots…

I’ve collected a lot of things over my life. Star Wars figures were a huge thing for me in the 90s. I got back into them with the Black Series for a while but the sequel trilogy functionally killed Star Wars toys for the better part of a decade. I got some dribs and drabs for a bit, but now I generally only pick up deep discount figures. I Got into Marvel Legends at one point before the MCU was huge. I still pick up comic inspired ones from time to time. Or Marvel VS Capcom stuff. Street Fighter has had a resurgence recently and the figures have been reasonably priced or clearanced quite a few times. Obviously I got into Lego in a big way for a long time. Especially with he Minecraft sets. You could get piles of them on clearance at the end of a production run for a while. I’ve been mostly out of Lego for some time now. Although I did dip in for Animal Crossing and the minifig sets if they were creative. I’ve done a fair bit of MOTU stuff. Especially Origins since it crossed over with the WWE. I’m basically out of it apart from the little bit of Origins stuff they do now.

Anyway I guess none of that is all that important. I will say that I am curious about what sort of hobbies you all have. I have some idea because of the discord, but the comic commenters and the discord crowd don’t cross over very much anymore. Warhammer, guns, Magic The Gathering, video games and TTRPGs seem to be the main Discord hobbies. That’s not unexpected considering my subject matter. Anyway, whatever, I should just let you go. I hope Wednesday finds you well. I’ll see you on Friday with more page and whatever else spills out of my head. Until then, till all are one.

41 Comments

Bridgette makes the first move, will Victoria make hers? Will John accept their feelings? Find out next time, same time ! (In best dragon ball narrator voice) XD

I have several hobbies. Drawing/sketching, sewing gear, building Lego, particularly the 80s-90s Space theme. I like anime and manga, obviously webcomics. Love going camping and hiking when I can. People watching is another thing I do, particularly when working with my brother at his sales booths. When I had working hearing aids, I would listen to a lot of music. I am deaf; and insurance has been an ass about my hearing. I have my wife and kids to occupy most of my time so I don’t have much time to devote to hobbies, but the kids are included with Lego building and playing, even if they’re a little young.

Heh. Along the same lines, I was thinking Kaguya-sama:Love is War for the narrator. When is Daddy Daddy Do time?

Kaguya-Sama was one of the great manga, though it probably should have ended with year 2 rather than year 3 (because things got a bit too serious in year 3).

I do still remember the page when President leaves Kaguya to go to America and she cries up a storm, goes crying by private car to the airport, gets on the private jet while crying, and meets up with him at Stanford. OK, that was funny. It’s the world we live in.

I misremembered some of the details but this was in Chapter 267 and a lot better than what I told you above. Kaguya-Samaaaaaa!

My biggest hobby is working on cars. I have a soft spot in my head for old Turbo Mitsubishis, Diesel VWs, and other weird and unique cars.

Got back into Transformers and like Jackie, it was the War For Cybertron lineup that drew me back in.
Got rid of most of them for Masterpiece, Alternators and G1 Jetfires. So many Jetfires.

Buy broken ones off Ebay and Frankenstein them back together. My Wife says I have a Jetfire problem.

Also 1/60 Macross VF-1 Valkyries an interest.

Oh shit. Victoria, you gonna take that or make your move? John isn’t looking much like a side character here.

William Gibson introduced me to the term “otaku,” not in the western sense of a weeb but in the sense of this basic inexplicable irrational obsession with some thing. My otaku obsession is with computers, and I feel very grateful to have such an easily-monetizable interest. I work in software but I really love collecting and building PCs, laptops, and little ARM handheld devices. Also woodworking and (less so now due to health) biking and indoor climbing.

Neither one of them was being subtle. They just might re-enact page 291 at this point.

Hey, I’m a longtime reader, first time poster. Since you’re talking about hobbies, I’ll bite. I don’t have to many hobbies anymore. I used to say that I was a musician, but life got in the way of that for the most part. Now, I mostly indulge in cooking. I’m trying to get a gym habit back going, though.

Actually, I didn’t know much or care for transformers outside those Bayverse films I didn’t much enjoy growing up, until I started reading your comic and the toy collecting jokes and decided to learn more about Transformers so I could better understand the references. Even that was pretty surface level, but last year I introduced my wife to the series after she failed to understand why I enjoyed them and now she is absolutely obsessed and collecting the figures. We started watching with Armada since Starscream is her favorite character. Its been really lovely to see her fall in love with the characters and toys and it is of no small bemusement to me that it is directly your influence for giving me a new perspective on the franchise, so I thank you for that.

Hobbies… TTRPGs, MtG, video games of those you mentioned. I never got into Warhammer, but mostly because that’s a financial black hole even worse than Magic.

Books. I read a lot of fiction. Fantasy, sci-fi, romance, detective stories… anything with a good, engaging plot. Most of my fiction reading for the past fifteen or twenty years has been web-based serials in one form or another. Fanfics, original works on sites like RR or SpaceBattles, translations of Chinese fantasy novels (Wuxia, Xianxia, Xuanhuan)…

I have mobility issues so I have a lot of sedentary hobbies; video games and reading are the obvious ones, though I haven’t picked up a new book in years. Sanderson was my last major author for a while, but his work has gotten increasingly… therapy couch. Mistborn and the early Stormlight novels were great, but they started creeping up on a hundred chapters, and so much of it was just… plodding through moping and misery, dealing with the consequences of backstory that kept getting pulled out of the back pocket. I haven’t even read the most recent one, Rhythm of War was just so… bloated. I’ve shifted over mostly to manga and the half-dozen or so webcomics I’m still following. I should go pick something up and see if its all as bland and soulless as I fear it’s become.

Something else I really enjoy doing is driving. Not cars. I couldn’t care less whether I’m driving a Kia or a Mustang. I just like driving and going places, like, as in hour plus long trips, but that’s a proportionally expensive hobby if you don’t actually do anything on the other end of the trip. It’s a bit paradoxical.

There’s probably a lesson there:
1] if you strike out with a cute, smart woman- then see if she has friends, and then-

2] if you keep hanging out with her, her cute + smart friends might notice you + ask to date you,…I guess.

I’m actually wondering if Victoria was playing a role here in having Bridgette fall into a teasing manner, especially given that she was the first to lead with it and is playing Wingwoman to facilitate Bridgette in confessing to her crush.

Which makes me wonder how Maddison will react to this.

In fact, I’m now expecting Maddison to come bowling in, kissing in a similar manner and leaving John with many confusing feels.

Still into videogames mostly, picked up a new hobby called 3D Printing, which feels more like a sadomasochistic tendency than a hobby.
I used to play football/soccer as a hobby (basement league, basically: nowhere near proficient enough to make it a job) and started bowling (also nowhere nearly good enough to do national tournaments for cash prizes) a little over 10 years ago.
In my high school and college days I was deep into Magic The Gathering, like almost every guy in school was at that time (1996-2002-ish)but I stopped when people started collecting rather than playing. I had boxes full of cards that would make a fair dime if I would’ve stored them properly but I didn’t :(

Discord and Comic comments could mix if there wasn’t a way for us to comment right here, but it could work with a section for Comic Discussions.

On topic of the comic: CALLED IT!!! Sorta… Victoria could still one up Ms. Baxter (I forgot her first name and I can’t find her on the cast page) by planting one on the lips, but I don’t know if she’s ready to enter the race with her friend when she just lost the race to Alex when nobody knew they were racing in the first place.

Or just read the other comments before you post and you can find out it’s Bridgette…

To be devil’s advocate… reading others’ comments isn’t a prerequisite for posting one’s own comment. Some people only have five minutes’ lunch-break to quickly read the comic and post their thoughts on it. Why ‘gatekeep’? It’s hardly the end of the world the guy doesn’t know a minor character’s name, is it?

Hobbies Reading, games, Here, Webtoons, collecting various things: rocks, MTG before the area closed up here, swords and other medieval gear, book sets, etc.

Noting sculpting training and site, have you ever thought of 3d printed merchandise? Or would the fumes be too much?

Seems the night (and this particular story string) is winding down; way to go to Bridgett for shooting her shot, and now we await Victoria and John’s reactions and actions.

On the Hobby Homefront it’s mostly reading and walking/hiking these days; gaming and writing used to be higher up but since COVID/WFH I spend so much time looking at screens that, combined with brain fog, I’ve found myself spending less time on digital in free time and more time with physical books or just being out in nature and letting my mind wander and deal with life as it does.

One of my major hobbies is building replica Star Wars and Doctor Who replica droids/robots and taking them to conventions. I have Chopper, BT-1, BD-1, and K-9. It has been the most rewarding hobby. It pays back in smiles from both young and old.

That sounds really cool! Any links or pics to share?

I’ve got a really old Tumblr that isn’t up to date but has my droids and other hobby stuff on it like my cars: https://thegeeksgarage.tumblr.com/

If you want to know more about droid building in general this is where I (and every droid builder ever including the guys behind the latest movies) started: https://astromech.net/

After looking at your tumblr page, I’d just like to say:
the droids and props you make are AWESOME!
Those are cool!
:D

I came in too late for the webcomic conversation. Most of the ones I followed are long gone. The only ones still hanging on that I check on the regular is this one, Rich Morris’s YET ANOTHER FANTASY GAMER COMIC, and VOODOO WALRUS. The last one started as a surreal joke-a-day strip and eventually morphed into an ongoing story about two comic creators trying to tear down reality. The writer died a few years ago, but the artist is still keeping on with no drop in quality. Strongly recommend!!

I like Bridgette’s overt moves. I was given a T shirt that says “If you’re flirting with me, please let me know.” Since I don’t expect it to happen to me, I miss the clues.

My hobbies are ham radio, antique electronics (especially television) and reading. Lego entered my life only 18 months ago when I was given a botanical set on 2 separate Christmases. I can see the appeal but it’s too fiddly to be more than a pastime. I owned a few simple old foreign cars in the past (Fiat 124 spiders, Goggomobil TS400) but sort of outgrew them.

Radio nerds unite!

I actually perused you site awhile ago and it’s pretty interesting. I am “I remember our family’s TV having vernier VHF tuning” years old

I pick up textile hobbies like they’re pokemon cards. Leatherworking, embroidery, felting, I recently picked up cross stitch, and I dabble in sewing. My nephew recently got hard into Kirby and Aunty foolishly promised to make him a sleeping hat Just Like Kirby! And then remembered she is rubbish at sewing. So we will see how it goes.

My hobbies are guitar and cannabis both of which I started in 1966. Both are legal here in Canada. I used to also be an endurance athlete but arthritis has stolen that from me.

Ctrl+Alt+Del aka CAD most likely, the other guess would be Player v Player.

I’d look up the relevant Badwebcomicswiki article, but they took a super toxic site and made it a toxic site that looks like ass. TV Tropes has an entry.

My main hobbies were hiking and reading and gaming. I had to give up the first two for health problems, and gaming, well, gaming has become sort of a joke, and it’s hard to really find stuff worth the time investment anymore. I take long walks now (I can do that on flat, even ground, I just can’t do rocky trails and inclines anymore), which I enjoy, and I am really glad crazy-long and detailed YouTube videos have become common. Otherwise I play old games, watch old shows (like, stuff even older than I am), and generally live like some sort of young grandfather.

John is either in great danger or exactly where he wants to be, perhaps both.

On topic of hobbies, personally reading, both books and webnovels, is my typical passtime, along with gaming, though usually tabletop these days, less videogames.

I play Softball socially, but it’s hardly competetive or serious, more just a reason to get out and have a beer with some friends while being active.

Recently gotten back into wargaming and modelling with Turnip28, which has been a lot of fun.

Feel like the older I get, the more important it is to pick up hobbies where I feel I’m actively doing something and not just passing the time.

I read every day, that’s easily my biggest hobby. Then probably video games, or maybe “making stuff”. I probably play video games more consistently, but on the whole I probably sink more time into fixing or making stuff, just in bursts. I do woodworking, and some electronics stuff (like pi board stuff or just wiring cool lights into something I made), and I fix things whenever I can. I’m a shade tree mechanic, which I do more for financial reasons than entertainment, but I do love doing it. I also exercise regularly. Like working on cars its not really a hobby, but I still enjoy it a lot. It feels like very few people do it for the reasons I do (my long-term health and general ability to move) instead of a specific athletic pursuit, or like bodybuilding.

:33 < oooo! finally got some time to catch up on this! i like roleplaying, cosplaying, video games, and of course reading webcomics!

More hobbies than money. Like a lot of folks here, I like to read. Remote control airplanes and a little sports car that I have been messing with since the 1980’s

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