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Megatokyo Still Exists, eh?

RymRym
edited June 2010 in Everything Else
So, I flipped through the most recent thirty or so pages of Megatokyo (out of sheer curiousity) last night. For the life of me, I can't tell what's going on, and I don't recognize really any of the characters.

Would someone be so kind as to afford me a one-sentence summary of what the bloody fuck it's on about now? ;^)
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Comments

  • CremlianCremlian
    The long side into "who the fuck cares" as your audience slowly drifts away and you are unable to get new people to read your comic because it sucks (and always has).

    //Haters gotta Hate
  • GreatTeacherMacRossGreatTeacherMacRoss
    edited June 2010
    So, I flipped through the most recent thirty or so pages of Megatokyo (out of sheer curiousity) last night. For the life of me, I can't tell what's going on, and I don't recognize really any of the characters.

    Would someone be so kind as to afford me a one-sentence summary of what the bloody fuck it's on about now? ;^)
    Repressed lolicon and robots.
    I didn't even have to look at the page.
    EDIT: I looked at the current page. My guess is that Piro finally acted on his repressed loliconism. Hence, the prison.
    Post edited by GreatTeacherMacRoss on
  • AprecheApreche
    Ah, don't make me remember this shit!

    Remember THE BLUR???
  • RymRym
    Remember THE BLUR???
    Oh shit.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Some girl is in the hospital for reasons that aren't made clear and Largo blows stuff up.
  • RymRym
    edited June 2010
    Man. The Blur was an unreferenced pointer in my memory. Now remembered, it has opened a vast array of forgotten data from my past. That was another life, apart from this current, so much the intervening time has been filled with the memorable and the remarkable.

    I remember club space. I remember eboard meetings. I remember Otakons from nearly a decade ago. I remember the slaughter of children. I remember social nights and club days. An entire life at RIT.

    Remember "those days?"
    Post edited by Rym on
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited June 2010
    Summary of megatokyo

    - That girl who found piro's sketchbook turned out to be a magical girl
    -Largo is still an oblivious twat, but is now sorta dating that ex-idol that works at the comic shop
    -Some idol game non-reality thing is happening with Miho, that goth chick largo thinks is a zombie
    - Ping is kinda still around sort of.
    - Dom and his mate are still around, pop up now and again
    - Just started a new storyline, or at least, started getting into the meat of it.
    - Piro updates about once a month, now, if that. He's too busy rolling around in his giant money bin to actually draw.

    I have nothing against the bad summaries - I read it reasonably regularly, and I still have no idea what the fuck is going on.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • AprecheApreche
    He's too busy rolling around in his giant money bin to actually draw.
    How much money can he possibly have made? He's not a millionaire by any stretch. Where does he live? I bet he just has a normal amount of money, but lives in a place with a very low cost of living.
  • RymRym
    I am also dubious of any pile of money. Megatokyo has hardly any presence at conventions, and they can't be selling that much merchandise.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    They have an online store.
  • AprecheApreche
    They have an online store.
    So do a bunch of other web comics such as Dr. McNinja, Axe Cop, etc. Only Penny Arcade is really making huge bank, the others are making moderate bank.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    I know, I was really just having a jab at Rym.
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    They have an online store.
    True, but you can only exploit your existing fan-base for so long before you need to either start bringing in new readers or you flame out and die. Introducing new merch to the store only goes so far in exploiting the existing and any possible incoming new fans. Fred gives a recap page as kind of jumping-on point for new readers, but it's weak-sauce compared to getting the actual story yourself, so it boils down to an option of either wading through the archives to get yourself up to speed or buying the books. Existing readers who have been away for a while (such as Rym) are going to be left scratching their heads and saying "WTF?"

    Sadly, I think that MegaTokyo is existing totally on momentum these days (much like Scott would describe Otakon). Fred has a devoted fanbase which he built up early in the game and I get the feeling that most of them fall under the "Marvel Zombie" level of fandom. They'll defend what they are fans of to the ends of irrationality, when in reality the storylines are dragging due to Fred's lack of productivity. The three-a-week updates he used to do are long since gone and at his current production rate we'll be lucky if we see the end of the story before 2065. Now don't get me wrong, I understand that being married, having a family, and running an online store (plus dealing with all the BS that goes on behind the scenes for getting licensed merch produced) takes an obscene amount of time. But seriously, the man needs to learn how to delegate that shit and get his ass in gear on the production of the comic. If artists for the mainstream comics world can crank out a page of pencils a day, he damn well ought to be able to get a page penciled, inked, and up on the web at least three times a week.
  • AprecheApreche
    Wait, so the reason he has no time to do the comic itself is because he's managing the store itself? Call fuckin Topatoco and get that shit done.
  • NeitoNeito
    Wait, so the reason he has no time to do the comic itself is because he's managing the store itself? Call fuckin Topatoco and get that shit done.
    You're under the assumption that Fred is sane and intelligent.
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    edited June 2010
    so the reason he has no time to do the comic itself is because he's managing the store itself?
    That's one of the excuses he's repeatedly given in the past - problems dealing with the store. My take on it is that when you've got one job, and that is to produce the comic that goes on the website that brings in your monthly paycheck, then you'd better damn well get that job done. When people like Scott Kurtz, Gabe & Tycho, Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza, and any number of other web comic producers can crank out a regular update schedule, Fred has no excuses other than his own apathetic drive to produce content and his inability to properly manage his brand. If he's got a store to run and a website to manage, he should get someone who can properly manage them to do it and do what he knows - producing comics.
    Post edited by Techparadox on
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    Largo was my favorite character and I only remember this about him:
    He speaks only in English and 1337.
    His rule regarding clothing and building computers is genius.
    How he turned the comic book shop into an obstacle course is genius.

    Other than that, I've always thought the comic was pretty meh.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Wonder what happened to his sidekick, who Largo was based on, I saw him at the convention right before he left the comic and he seemed pretty burned out.
  • AprecheApreche
    edited June 2010
    Wonder what happened to his sidekick, who Largo was based on, I saw him at the convention right before he left the comic and he seemed pretty burned out.
    https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Rodney_Caston
    Also, he wasn't the sidekick. He was the original writer, and he got Fred to do the art. Then eventually Fred just took over, because when you hold the artistic talent you hold all the power. Mike could do the same thing to Jerry, but not the other way around.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    edited June 2010
    He left a while ago, I don't think he liked where his partner was taking the comic.

    EDIT: "We had creative differences, I was creative, he was different."
    Post edited by George Patches on
  • CremlianCremlian
    I'm amused he has since run for office, wonder what is with former web-comic writers and failed political campaigns :-p (though I came a lot closer to winning then he did :-p)
  • Li_AkahiLi_Akahi
    I find it kind of amazing that yesterday I had the same thought as to whether or not MegaTokyo still existed. I didn't bother to go check as I really don't give two flying fucks anymore about the webcomic.
  • NerdcoreWannabeNerdcoreWannabe
    edited June 2010
    *looks at his signed copy of megatokyo volume 1....looks at the thread....hasn't a leg to stand on*

    Seriously, though. It was cool until Largo (irl) bounced. WIthout testosterone to balance Piro's moeisms, MT jumped several sharks. Art's still on point, though.
    Post edited by NerdcoreWannabe on
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Really? The fact the art has stayed as rough as it is has been one of the sticking points for me over the years.
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    edited June 2010
    *looks at his signed copy of megatokyo volume 1....looks at the thread....hasn't a leg to stand on*
    Hey, for what it's worth, I own the Dark Horse editions of books 1-3 and the CMX version of volume 4. I'll freely admit I used to read MT on a regular basis. Every once in a while I drop by the site to see how long it's been since the last page was published, but I don't keep up with it like I used to. Fred's erratic publishing schedule highly contributes to that.
    when you hold the artistic talent you hold all the power
    Not necessarily. If the artist can't write his way out of a paper bag but thinks his work is comparable to the works of Shakespeare and decides to go on an ego trip, the writer could effectively say "fine, you're off the project" and find himself a new artist - if the writer owns all the rights to the characters and the story. If you look at the waaaaay old archives of Least I Could Do, that's somewhat like what Sohmer did - he went through two artists before he and Lar got connected. Sohmer and the earlier artists parted ways for whatever reasons, Sohmer kept the characters and kept the strip going with a new artist.

    In the unfortunate case of MT, Fred (Piro) and Rodney (Largo) were joint owners of the IP and joint writers, so either one could have screwed the other one over. Since Rodney wasn't the artist, he was in a lesser position of power. Fred wanted the story to go in one direction (basically all shojo/moe-manga with byzantine plotlines), Rodney wanted it a different way (to be more self-contained with less dangling plotlines), and in the end Fred said "either it's going to go my way and you sell out to me or we close up shop". If I had been Rodney I would have just been like "fine, shut it down", but he sold it out and now we have the lumbering monster that is MT. And Fred keeps the money rolling in thanks to publishing deals with CMX and Kodansha in addition to the merch store while his story plods along.

    The story of MT is a good example of why you shouldn't go into business with your friends when there are potential creative differences in the background.
    Post edited by Techparadox on
  • CremlianCremlian

    The story of MT is a good example of why you shouldn't go into business with your friends when there are potential creative differences in the background.
    If you read into the background it's pretty clear they were not really "friends" in real life before the comic. They just appeared that way because of the aspect of "buddy" adventures between the two.
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    Rodney's explanation of the split. Ok, so maybe they weren't friends in real life, but the fact of the matter still stands that when two people own equal shares in something creative and there are creative differences that can't be resolved, one or both of them is going to end up getting shafted in the end.
  • theknoxinatortheknoxinator
    I stopped reading several months ago, cause it had gotten to the point where I had been reading for two or three years, and had no idea what was going on anymore. This is definitely one of those things where you probably just have to read it all in quick succession to remember anything. But even more than that, the stereotypical anime tropes just broke me down.
  • DiddgeryDiddgery
    I stopped reading Megatokyo years ago for the same reasons everyone else did: no idea what was going on, ridiculous generic anime stuff all over the place, difficulty telling characters apart... there's a serious problem when two characters look exactly alike, to the point where they need to be captioned so you know who's who.

    What's funny is that a very early comic showed what would happen if Piro took over the comic (also what would happen if Largo took over). Surprise! That's exactly what happened.
  • CremlianCremlian
    What's funny is thata very early comicshowed what would happen if Piro took over the comic (also what would happen if Largo took over). Surprise! That's exactly what happened.
    how prescient.
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