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Plus most people get by in their lives without needing superpowers, it's mainly spectral stuff he's worried about.
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Apr 25, 2014 18:08
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Hm. Isabel's dad in that panel looks an awful lot like a young Mr. Garcia. He's got the right nose, right shade of hair color, and similar, but more...youthful? facial hair.
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Apr 25, 2014 19:42
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She's going to be hunting demons and such when she grows up? Rad super-mystic soldier in a shadow war behind the veil of everyday reality, facing factions of bizzare, sometimes invincible monsters? Yeah, I don't have a problem with Gramps expecting different things from her now then when she was 5 and afraid of dogs. e: Actually, seems like it was more recently than that? I wonder how long she's had the book.
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Apr 25, 2014 19:43
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Mystic Mongol posted:... Just last page, Eightfold said they've been friends for "years".
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Apr 25, 2014 22:34
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MikeJF posted:Plus most people get by in their lives without needing superpowers, it's mainly spectral stuff he's worried about. Hmm, has Zack ever commented whether on whether or not Spectral Energy can affect solid matter if the person trains enough? It would make sense, considering that spirits can "poltergeist" things if they try hard enough, but it doesn't seem that spectrals can do the same based on their need for possessed-targets.
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Apr 25, 2014 23:36
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Doctor_Blueninja posted:Hmm, has Zack ever commented whether on whether or not Spectral Energy can affect solid matter if the person trains enough? Even Grandpa needs ghosts in the targets to affect them with his attacks, though, so I would imagine that pure spectral energy can only affect spirits no matter how hard you try. That being said, if you can get into a situation like Issac's where his power directly manipulates a physical thing (in this case, the weather) then it might be possible. Lots of spirit energy = real fire? I dunno.
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Apr 25, 2014 23:46
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DreamShipWrecked posted:Even Grandpa needs ghosts in the targets to affect them with his attacks, though, so I would imagine that pure spectral energy can only affect spirits no matter how hard you try. Which ironically makes Max's powers better against physical opponents than it is spirits, as other than the bat itself everything it manipulates will probably be normal bits of metal. It's nigh-useless against almost every spirit, at least without another tool that's also made of metal and is solely being used as a weapon, (or perhaps against a metal ghost) but it can really, really hurt most mortal beings.
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Apr 26, 2014 00:14
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Roland Jones posted:Which ironically makes Max's powers better against physical opponents than it is spirits, as other than the bat itself everything it manipulates will probably be normal bits of metal. It's nigh-useless against almost every spirit, at least without another tool that's also made of metal and is solely being used as a weapon, (or perhaps against a metal ghost) but it can really, really hurt most mortal beings. Sounds like he needs to beat up a lot of little spirits and get them to turn a couple hundred nails into minor tools.
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Apr 26, 2014 00:27
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DreamShipWrecked posted:
Tool/medium powers can all interact with real things, I think.
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Apr 26, 2014 00:30
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It depends on the individual power. Max's magnetism, Isabel's paper, and Isaac's lightning have a physical component and can affect physical objects, but Ed's ink is purely spiritual and can't.
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Apr 26, 2014 01:13
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Desuwa posted:Sounds like he needs to beat up a lot of little spirits and get them to turn a couple hundred nails into minor tools. I mean if you're going to have a super villain power you might as well go all the way
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Apr 26, 2014 01:36
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Captain Redbeard posted:It depends on the individual power. Max's magnetism, Isabel's paper, and Isaac's lightning have a physical component and can affect physical objects, but Ed's ink is purely spiritual and can't. Not so sure about that. Panel 1. EDIT: nope, wait, they're all possessed according to a later comment by Zach. Okay, so far most tool powers can interact with the real world.
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Apr 26, 2014 04:12
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Mystic Mongol posted:She's going to be hunting demons and such when she grows up? Rad super-mystic soldier in a shadow war behind the veil of everyday reality, facing factions of bizzare, sometimes invincible monsters? yeah you see there are ways to help your child to get over past trauma and telling their sparring partner to do their best to recreate it and then humiliate her in front of her peers is pretty close to the shittiest ways to accomplish that
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Apr 26, 2014 08:37
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A big flaming stink posted:yeah you see there are ways to help your child to get over past trauma and telling their sparring partner to do their best to recreate it and then humiliate her in front of her peers is pretty close to the shittiest ways to accomplish that Are you telling me that deliberately triggering people isn't the same thing as therapy because I think we might have to stop this psychology train if you're gonna be talking crazy like that
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Apr 26, 2014 10:52
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Dr. Buttass posted:Are you telling me that deliberately triggering people isn't the same thing as therapy because I think we might have to stop this psychology train if you're gonna be talking crazy like that
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Apr 26, 2014 13:47
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A big flaming stink posted:yeah you see there are ways to help your child to get over past trauma and telling their sparring partner to do their best to recreate it and then humiliate her in front of her peers is pretty close to the shittiest ways to accomplish that That's how Gramps did it and if it's good enough for him then it's durn well good enough for his heir.
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Apr 26, 2014 15:20
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It took me forever to realize that she was scared of dogs because the "dog" her partner created looked exactly like a dragon. So I thought she was scared of dragons, which was odd.
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Apr 26, 2014 19:57
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Darth Windu posted:It took me forever to realize that she was scared of dogs because the "dog" her partner created looked exactly like a dragon. So I thought she was scared of dragons, which was
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Apr 27, 2014 00:51
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Fear of dragons is a perfectly natural fear to have, though, they are terrifying!
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Apr 27, 2014 13:11
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I don't think it was mentioned, but Zack is doing another Paradox Space story: http://www.paradoxspace.com/prototyped It's cool if we post Zack's stuff from PS in this thread, right? Also, this happened:   https://twitter.com/paranaturalzack/status/459765985273479168 https://twitter.com/paranaturalzack/status/459766066575863808  Fanart:  http://ellwiche.tumblr.com/post/83031889518/are-you-trying-to-scare-me-thats-going-to-be
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Apr 27, 2014 17:06
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Nick_326 posted:I don't think it was mentioned, but Zack is doing another Paradox Space story: He has to cater to the internet why?
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Apr 27, 2014 17:37
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Len posted:He has to cater to the internet why? The internet is the source of all of his readers.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:39
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Len posted:He has to cater to the internet why? How dare an artist try to create art that people want to see.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:41
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Tenebrais posted:How dare an artist try to create art that people want to see. So people would rather he try and shoehorn new characters that aren't part of his current story into it? Because that sounds efficient and is a good way to handle your story.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:46
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Len posted:So people would rather he try and shoehorn new characters that aren't part of his current story into it? Because that sounds efficient and is a good way to handle your story. I don't think Zack said he'd put in new characters for the sake of diversity, just that when he introduces new characters they won't be white dudes.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:50
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Looks like it's a design choice he's making because he wants to rather than being forced to "cater to the internet."
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Apr 27, 2014 17:52
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SoupyTwist posted:I don't think Zack said he'd put in new characters for the sake of diversity, just that when he introduces new characters they won't be white dudes. I can imagine a situation where he wants to introduce one of the many sides/brotherhoods/adversaries/whatever and they're all minorities. That'll go over well on ~~The Internet~~.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:52
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Len posted:So people would rather he try and shoehorn new characters that aren't part of his current story into it? Because that sounds efficient and is a good way to handle your story.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:54
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While making the cast more diverse is good, that always struck me as a more "behind the curtain" thing if you deliberately decide to diversify. Like, it's better not to mention it and let the cast become more diverse naturally rather than making it an intentional Power Rangers sort of thing. The problem is that talking about the issue overtly results in some awkward discussions. People worry about tokenism and pandering and the like. If you just do it without announcing it, though, it makes it seem like that was the intent all along.
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Apr 27, 2014 18:01
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pik_d posted:I can imagine a situation where he wants to introduce one of the many sides/brotherhoods/adversaries/whatever and they're all minorities. That'll go over well on ~~The Internet~~. No see he left himself an opening, he can make the bad guys FAT white dudes.
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Apr 27, 2014 18:08
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Nick_326 posted:Fanart: Goddrat.
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Apr 27, 2014 18:17
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reignonyourparade posted:No see he left himself an opening, he can make the bad guys FAT white dudes. So what you're saying is, we're going to be seeing the Activity Club fight the Cult of the Goon?
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Apr 27, 2014 20:12
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I really would rather not argue about affirmative action and webcomics, but I thought that since this is an argument about statistics, it might help if I just run some quick statistics on the demographics of the cast page. The biggest minority group is spirits at about 13%, but they don't really count for the purposes of this, so here are the percentages excluding them:code:Dr. Zarei is separate because I have no real idea what to list her as race-wise, and there isn't an equivalent listed on wikipedia either. The biggest minority here are the mysterious people who you never see the faces of, followed by hispanics. Whites are just barely below the US average of 72%, although if you run the stats without the mystery people, whites come in at 79%. All of the other races are below national average, although it sort of depends on where Mayview is. If it's in Maine, for example, then it's suspiciously diverse, if it's in South Dakota there's a weird lack of native americans, and if it's in California then the demographics are all wrong. I kind of wonder if you could pick out a state with similar demographics to Mayview, but that would take too much effort. HOWEVER, race is not the only thing Zack mentioned! He also mentioned skinny people! Let's plug some other statistics in: code:code: and :numbers:
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Apr 27, 2014 20:32
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It's an interesting breakdown, but I think one of the reasons why people are interested in seeing diversity in fiction is to capture some of the diversity that's missing from their experiences the real world. Storytelling is often a means to promote ideas and worldviews, after all, and making a particular point of telling stories that involve minority groups who might normally be overlooked if we followed a strict statistical breakdown is commendable. Of course this can run into problems if it comes off as forced, which is why I mentioned it seems like the sort of thing you'd want to do quietly rather than announce it, it'd seem more organic that way. Then again writers are people too, and if Zach is coming around to this way of thinking now then it's only natural he's going to want to talk about it and people are going to want to discuss it too.
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Apr 27, 2014 20:49
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Dr Zarei looks Indian (so, Asian) to me. Twitter person requested more girls, too, so more living human cast stats: Adults M/F: 6/3 Kids M/F/U: 10/5/1 So if we exclude R.J. who wants to be gender-neutral, we have exactly twice as many men and boys as we have women and girls. Oh, and for spirits and ghosts: Eightfold is female; Forge, Doorman, P.J., Lefty, and Isaac's spirit are male. M/F: 5/1.
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Apr 27, 2014 20:49
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Len posted:So people would rather he try and shoehorn new characters that aren't part of his current story into it? Because that sounds efficient and is a good way to handle your story.  If you notice a lot more of the background/side characters aren't just skinny white people so he's already been 'shoehorning' and you didn't notice nor had a problem with it so stop being a big ol' Goon
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Apr 27, 2014 22:26
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:
Okay thank you for your contribution  .Just let Zack do what he likes with his story, geez.
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Apr 27, 2014 22:37
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Dolash posted:While making the cast more diverse is good, that always struck me as a more "behind the curtain" thing if you deliberately decide to diversify. Like, it's better not to mention it and let the cast become more diverse naturally rather than making it an intentional Power Rangers sort of thing. I donno. Like, for starters exactly what is the mechanism by which "let the cast become more diverse naturally" works? Do you just let more characters drift into your brain like plankton through a sponge, and hope less of them are white people? Or do you just mean "sneak it in when no one's looking" or something like that? This is kind of, it's not really a "wait it out" kind of thing. You sort of have to make an effort because it has to do with changing how you think. I think it's good that Zack is acknowledging that he was not as good about this kind of thing in the past and that he will be trying to do better about it in the future. And you kind of have to talk about the issue overtly. Yeah, okay, some of the conversations are awkward and no one, nowhere, is going to do one hundred percent perfect ever, but if you don't talk about it the issue doesn't get fixed. Saying, "Gosh, these conversations are so awkward and they always make me look bad. Let's just throw them a bone or two so we look like we're trying," is literally how tokenism happens. If you're overt about it you can ask people to please tell you when you're loving up and then you can stop loving up.
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Apr 27, 2014 23:10
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I see what you mean and certainly agree, I was trying to say something a little different but it's really hard to put into words. I mean, obviously if you want to make your story more diverse it has to be a conscious effort. It's also an issue that's often worth audiences and critics bringing up, but it's usually more important when a writer fails to recognize it as an issue. I can't figure out how to word this, I just feel like if I saw a diversity issue with something I was writing, I'd try to solve it behind the scenes without revealing that it was motivating changes. There's something about fans influencing writers at play here, I think - in the same way that it'd strain a story if the writer rewrote a story to give it a happy ending after their audience was bummed by the original ending and asked them to change it. You might make changes to your story from outside influences, but to preserve suspension of disbelief you avoid admitting as much. I don't know if that makes sense, maybe someone who knows more about literary theory can take a crack at it.
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Apr 28, 2014 04:24
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If "I am trying to be a better person overall and with specific attention to how I write my stories" ruins your suspension of disbelief I think you have some poo poo of your own to work out before we get into other peoples' decisions about their own work.
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Apr 28, 2014 05:02
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