Well, THIS one won’t take long to write. At least, the intro bit about the character won’t, ‘cos I don’t really have anything to say. The Kid was introduced in the Christmas 2020 comics as a figure of totally mystery: a little girl in a trenchcoat and fedora who seems to have strobing Homestuck powers and inexplicably intimidates everybody. Who is she? Where did she get her blinky seizure powers? Why do all the rest of the Nitpickers treat her like this mysterious figure? What’s eve...
2021-10-27 09:56:13 +0000 UTC
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Okay, before we go any farther, I have to vent my DEEP frustration with YouTube and The Internet in general, because I couldn't find a full post of the actual music video on YT. There's a CLIP of the video, but I kind of need the whole song for the blog to make sense. And there IS a post of the full video on bilibili, but I can't embed those on Patreon, so you're stuck with this lyrics video. &nbs...
2021-10-27 06:15:00 +0000 UTC
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...because, you know, normally the Far Out There universe operates under TOTALLY RATIONAL AND SENSIBLE RULES!
Also, if you're amazed that this Madlib series STILL isn't done yet, keep in mind that you $5 and up Patrons could ALSO be voting on the future of Conventional Wisdom's weekly anime comics right now!
2021-10-22 02:17:12 +0000 UTC
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See? SEE? I wasn't lyin'! Of COURSE the episode with THE BIG CARD was gonna get two pages drawn about it! And not JUST as a meta-mockery of the way episode 31 repeatedly reused animation from the first episode, either!
And don't forget: there's currently a vote on to decide whether I stop the Cardcaptor Sakura comics at the end of season one or plow on to the end! $5 and up patrons get...
2021-10-20 19:40:56 +0000 UTC
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Okay, I was incredulous that nobody else on the internet seems to have thought to do the Meiling/Asuka thing before me, but I will be absolutely ASTONISHED if there has ever at any point been a crossover between Cardcaptor Sakura and The Evil Dead before this.
And if you're familiar with episode 31 and are surprised I didn't make a joke about something else, you're in luck! For the first time in a WHILE, I'm going to double dip and do TWO pages on this episode. Yes, there IS...
2021-10-15 02:08:50 +0000 UTC
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Man, I can think of SO many times in my life where this would have been super useful...
2021-10-08 17:43:11 +0000 UTC
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Yeah, yeah, I know. Talking is a free action and all that. I've seen Dragon Ball Z, I know this is FAR from the worst way a plot can grind from a halt. It's just really funny to have this kind of dialog-based slowdown at the climax of an episode where THE WHOLE PLOT is about how this card is all about speed.
Also, this episode inspired not one but TWO really 2021-10-08 11:34:30 +0000 UTC
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Not Pictured: “4. Get annoyed because the internet went down right as you finished what you were working on and now you can’t post it.”
But seriously, this at one scene with the burned cake resonated with me WAAAAAY more than it should have. Heck, this episode had another really uncomfortable scene between Rika and Mr. Don't Stand So Close To Me, which totally would have been the subject of the comic in any other episode. But no, I STILL had to go with the importance o...
2021-09-30 09:52:26 +0000 UTC
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Okay, I don’t normally do this sort of thing, but I’m gonna start this particular blog off with a warning. Not a content warning or anything like that, or at least, not in the usual Parental Advisory sticker sense. If anything, I’m starting this off with something even more out of character: a trigger warning. Again, it’s not for anything lyrical, I didn’t put together a twenty-song tribute to self harm or something like that. It’s just… Chelsea-Lambda’s soundtrack sounds SAD....
2021-09-30 02:08:46 +0000 UTC
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We’ve been pretty light on the Metal for the majority of this series. Sure, we had Seikima-II in the blog before last, but even the great Demon Kogure can only last me so long, and I wanted to slip in at least one more RAWK song. Or, be more specific: more 80s Metal. Or to be even more maddeningly specific: 80s Female-Fronted Metal. Look, half the rock vocalists in 80s Hair Metal bands tried to hit notes that nature only intended for females anyway, so it’s just the fair thing to let the ...
2021-09-26 01:52:48 +0000 UTC
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AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS THRILLING CONCLUSION?
(Don't worry, this isn't the end. There's still SOME kind of payoff coming for all this nonsense.)
2021-09-26 00:19:32 +0000 UTC
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This message about supporting the official release brought to you by Miffy: The Merchandising Mascot (I really should have added that into the actual comic)
But yeah, I'd actually forgotten about the whole "Evil Stick" thing. I was just going to make this a generic joke about anime bootlegs in general, and Googled "Cardcaptor bootlegs" for inspiration, and then suddenly remembered every clickbait article about cursed toys I'd ever seen.
On a less Cracked article-related note...
2021-09-22 20:18:25 +0000 UTC
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"Space/Time Colandentinuum" one of the stupidest phrases I've written in a while, and it is therefore my new favorite. Originally, the colander/continuum mash-up was going to just be "colantinuum," which is much more natural and easier to say, but then I typo'd an extra syllable into the middle, which made everything way more clunk and awkward... and therefore much funnier.
2021-09-17 00:10:23 +0000 UTC
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I'm sure the actual answer is that The Return actually affects the PERSON being sent into the past rather than the time frame around them, so they're technically not doing the same thing... BUT COME ON! It doesn't matter what in-universe explanations you can come up with, if you introduce a card called "The Time," I'm gonna assume that all time-based shenanigans in the show are gonna fall under the jurisdiction of that card! That's just logic!
2021-09-15 19:16:36 +0000 UTC
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Look, I get the need for your main character to have recognizable catchphrases and vocal tics, it's an important tool in building your own mythos. It's just... I dunno, something about the first few minutes of episode 26 just pushed me over the edge and into "GEEZ kid, learn a new exclamation!" territory.
2021-09-09 17:29:16 +0000 UTC
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Oh, Tomoyo-chan. You so creepy.
...but seriously, I'm honestly a bit surprised episode 25 didn't end with some version of this joke. Like, obviously they wouldn't adopt this TONE, but it still seems like a really obvious Tomoyo joke (then again, I know that the Mirror card comes up again later on, so maybe I'm just vaguely remembering a joke from later on?)
2021-09-02 00:16:53 +0000 UTC
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"...I mean, it's taken us, what, NINE pages already and we're still not there? This is crazy!"
2021-08-31 20:55:39 +0000 UTC
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Okay, now we’re back to bands I’m pretty sure nobody other than me even remembers. Advantage Lucy was one of the many bands I blindly stumbled upon when first scrounging YouTube for Japanese music. Formed in the mid-90s as part of the same Shibuya-kei offshoot that produced the previously mentioned Cymbals, Advantage Lucy were a pleasant little indie combo that leaned much more heavily on a gentle, twee acoustic guitar sound than the stylishly kitschy sampling of artists like Pizzicato Fi...
2021-08-28 04:44:32 +0000 UTC
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531 Maunu is a character with pastel pink/blue hair and shades, a light suit and t-shirt combo straight off of Sonny Crockett, and the solid white skin of a Patrick Nagel character. If you don’t think she listens to 80s music, then ONE of us is doing something wrong. That said, even somebody who totally gets the decade right might get the entire feel of this soundtrack wrong. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that the whole root of Maunu’s character came from marathoning a big ol’ chunk of
2021-08-27 21:34:10 +0000 UTC
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I suppose this is technically a spoiler... for this show that's several decades old by this point. But then, Kero actually SAYS he's normally bigger than this back at the start of the show, so I still feel like this could be counted as a sly tease to the handful of people paying attention.
2021-08-25 18:06:15 +0000 UTC
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It like when the first act of a monster movie is dedicated to the characters trying to figure out the mystery of what could be smashing everything. WE SAW THE MONSTER IN THE TRAILER! IT'S NAME IS RIGHT THERE IN THE TITLE! STOP ACTING LIKE THERE'S A MYSTERY HERE!
2021-08-18 21:24:31 +0000 UTC
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"Where did you learn to do this mad science?"
"You, alright?! I learned it by watching you!"
2021-08-13 06:05:59 +0000 UTC
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It’s been one of the oldest clichés of movie-viewers for multiple generations at this point: “Oh man, that movie was so bad, it ought to be on Mystery Science Theater 3000!” Even among people who’ve never actually watched MST3k, most fans of trashy genre film at least know what that jumble of letters and a number means when it’s brought up. This movie’s so bad, it deserves to have people make fun of it. There’s more to it that that, of course. Any gang of dumb...
2021-08-12 06:23:36 +0000 UTC
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My first instinct was to have the gag for this comic be ME sleeping because "LOL Schedule Slip." That was especially tempting since I was only half-way paying attention to this episode anyway, the Queen City Anime Con schedule had gone public right before I started watching episode 22, and I wasn't smart enough to leave one until I'd finished the other. (see "LOL Schedule Slip") ...buuuuuuut then the Paranoia Agent reference came to mind, and I remembered how lately I've been the fact t...
2021-08-12 03:11:43 +0000 UTC
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Step 1: Google random Alchemy terms
Step 2: randomly copy/paste some words without really knowing what they mean
Step 3: ???
Step 4: COMIC!
...also, I just want to confess that these dot backgrounds make me dizzy if I stare at them for too long.
2021-08-08 10:46:52 +0000 UTC
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I mean, I guess I sort of get it. The marathon sequence works better with music as the focus rather than dialog, and the fact that they run past familiar landmarks and characters does sort of "greatest hits" feel... but come on! I'm just too conditioned by anime to assume that the presence of the theme song means something BIG! It feels reeeaaally weird to hear it play in just a random episode with no real long-term significance.
2021-08-04 22:34:05 +0000 UTC
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No, seriously, I looked. I can't find any fanart of Meiling as Asuka. How is there ANY combination of anime things that The Internet hasn't already done to death? Especially this particular mashup, because it seems REALLY obvious to me.
But yeah, turns out I was right about Meiling being fun to draw. By the way, we've started watching Cardcaptor Sakura at anime night, but haven't quite caught up to where I am with these comics yet. Watching episode 20 made ...
2021-07-29 23:17:24 +0000 UTC
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Reading the last several music blogs I’ve done might give someone the impression that I don’t care much for Heavy Metal. I talk so much about retro 60’s revivalists and mellow Adult Contemporary and straight-up elevator music that I clearly must be wussy lamewad who can’t handle true RAWK. In big picture terms… yeah, kinda. But that doesn’t mean I NEVER listen to any kind of metal, I just have to be in a very particular kind of mood (and have a very particular level of caffeine in...
2021-07-29 01:52:01 +0000 UTC
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Okay, I teased this before, but now it’s time to finally do it! As I’ve mentioned SEVERAL times by now, most of those new Nitpickers introduced in the Christmas 2020 comics were actually created soundtrack first. I went ahead and made short playlists around various musical themes, then drew up characters I thought would listen to them. And at long last, I’m gonna start unleashing those playlists on you, the unsuspecting reader!
To kick things off, we have Helmut Von Cannon: a swea...
2021-07-28 19:52:00 +0000 UTC
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Oof. One of the reasons I was so excited by this MadLib submission was because we so rarely get a chance to see Tabitha and her Dad interact on their own, it's interesting to see what a different side of her comes out under those circumstances. But man, I didn't expect to feel so sorry for ol' crazy Dad here.
2021-07-28 15:59:33 +0000 UTC
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