The joke is a little weak, one of those occurrences where it was funnier in my head before I spend 3 hours drawing it all out. Just thought I could squeeze out another joke about the Weird Kid & the female owner “playing” together.
Zorphbert & Fred by Dawn Griffin
Aliens, disguised as dogs, making fun of .. well.. YOU.
 Z&F Volume 1:
Prepare to be Analyzed $20.00View in Store |
 Z&F Volume 2:
Marriage Runs on Coffee $20.00View in Store |
 Z&F Volume 3:
Anger is So Mainstream $20.00View in Store |
 BRAND NEW Z&F Volume 4:
Beam Me Up, Zorphie $20.00View in Store |
Find even more goodies like ebooks, tshirts, mugs, stickers & more in the Z&F STORE!
In Cahoots With:
While I do like what you’re *trying* to say, I’m still getting the vibe that “boys’ toys are cooler because they do stuff.” It’s just the impression I get from the characters’ actions. I’m certainly not a consensus representation of any demographic, be it male, adult, brony, or what have you, and am admittedly subject to biases of my own, but in trying to view the comic from a more central perspective, seeing the boys’ toys proponent chasing the brony around with a sword while the latter flees in terror seems to indicate pretty clearly whose preferences put them in the better position in the Z&F universe.
Then, I suppose it’s impossible to counteract the effects of thirty years of teasing for being a girl who likes “boy’s toys” and to try to deny you your pound of flesh, however you want to obtain it.
well, boys toys ARE cooler cuz they do stuff. LOL…. well, that’s myself as a child speaking. If anything, I thought the 3rd panel just implied that Thundercats is a violent series, whereas MLP just wants peace and friendship. The prior strip, the kid was “fighting” Lion-O with the unicorn horn, so this is demonstrates how it’s getting out of hand. Anyway, trying to prove that boys toys are “better” wasn’t the intent, but yes.. you may see my own personal bias towards them in between the lines. Not a lot I can do about that.
What’s your take on the “outrage” on the new LEGO girls line, derelict? (or anyone who wants to weigh in) —> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/lego-friends-girls-gender-toy-marketing_n_1206293.html
I fall somewhere in the middle (*sigh* Dawn “switzerland” Griffin)… some people are freaking out over it when it’s not that big of a deal in the grand scheme, I’m against gender-specific marketing to try to herd boys towards one type of toy and girls towards another, and LEGO was always a nuetral toy back in the day. Now it seems they are pushing the regular line towards boys (far more male figures, Legos placed in the “boys” section of the toy store, boys featured in commercials, etc) and thus had to create a new pink-and-purple girly line with small less complicated sets in settings like salons, malls, pools and more sexualized figures. They’ve tried similar things before and it failed miserably. I don’t think this new “Friends” line needs to be done away with per se, but maybe include girls in the marketing for the regular line too.. don’t make it a black-and-white separation. The Friends line could be more neutralized too– include male figures in the same sculpted style, toss in some other settings like school, fire house, police station, etc… more like the old “City” line but more grown up & modern. I’d bet some boys would like that, too. Hell, get a partnership and call it “LEGO Sims” LOL. Thoughts?
Advertising and marketing people don’t want the general populace to think for themselves; it makes their job harder. If everyone can be neatly sorted into groups and demographics, they can be sold what they’re expected to like (if not outright told what that is in the first place) as efficiently as possible. Expecting some sort of social responsibility from people whose entire profession is centered around manipulating perceptions to make money is naive and foolish.
People should like what they like without worrying about what society thinks. Society is an idiot.
yup, it is kinda sad, the shape our society has molded itself into. Individualism is a scary or uncomfortable notion to many. We are closer than ever to the Brave New Wolrd era of clones and robots, and the death of creative expression. It’s no wonder Hollywood is the celebrity mecca and the once “famous cartoonist” prestige is a thing of the past. huh, who knew I was aspiring to be “retro”? LOL
Ha! I love it. Dawn I think if everyone had a Thundercats Sword at their disposal more arguments would be settled a lot quicker. Really love how the color pops in the first two panels. Accenting the panel with just a smaller oval behind the characters really pushed them to the fore front. Looks awesome. Great job.
On a side note. It’s been nice seeing more of the Weird Kid again.
as always, thanks Todd. Weird Kid gets far more love than I anticipated in the very beginning, really.
I loved today’s strip. A friend of mine is a die hard Thundercats fan and she likes a lot of the “boy” shows. I like most of them as well, but I like some of the “girls” shows. Atomic Betty, Kim Possible, etc. – though not “My Little Ponies.” Oddly, I’ve seen several My Little Ponies story lines recently in comics, including one that would make it into the darkest, most violent show on earth.
As for the Lego, Disney tried that with its cable channel and ended up getting girls watching the boys shows to see the teen heart throb. If it sells, why not? If it doesn’t, then they will take it off the market. I think it is silly to try it, but a company often does things I think are dumb, and make money at it. Ah well…
Thanks Ying-Ko, does your friend like the new Thundercats, or the old one, or both? So many conflicting opinion on the new one, but I think it’s good. I hate the “oh whiskers” catch phrase though, annoys me.
You never know what type of of demographic you’ll get with a new show, toy line, or even comic. MLP is a great example… as is Z&F! I figures I’d bring in sci-fi fans, but instead I get tons of anthro or “furry” fans. who knew?
She hasn’t seen the new show yet, and both of us thought it had a good chance of being bad; however, she has heard good things and I recently bought Volume 1 DVD for her. I am waiting for her to have time to watch it. I hadn’t heard of the, “Oh, Whiskers.” I have heard that Snarf doesn’t speak in the new one, but don’t know it that is true, is it? If not, SNARF!
Oh, as for the “terror” on the Weird Kid’s face. Have you never watched kids play? One kid will chase the other and then they turn around and the hunter becomes the hunted. My cats do the same thing, thundering down the stairs, around the kitchen, and into the living room with our male doing the chasing. They will tussle and then break off, sit and look at each other, and then the female will start chasing the male and they will retrace their steps with her in the role of hunter. Sometimes when they are sitting a yard apart they will bap at each other, for no reason, and with no chance of making any contact.
I love the new Thundercats toon! I already have a couple action figs from it. So I’ve got Cheetara on my comp next to Twilight Sparkle and Apple Jack. *lol*
I remember the original Thundercats a little bit. I was more into Transformers, He-Man, Gummi Bears, TMNT, and Care Bears tho. Now I hate the new Care Bears stuff (a cyborg bear villain?! Come on! I want No Heart and Cold Heart! And don’t even get me started on Oopsy Bear…ugh!), kinda like Transformers Prime, love the new Thundercats and MLP FIM….and am eagerly awaiting the new TMNT series…