|
Bad Machinery is BACK with the Case of the Missing Piece. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MAIN COURSE BAD MACHINERY Bad Machinery is the current main focus of Englishman John Allison. It started off in 2009 as a continuation of his previous comic, Scary Go Round. It follows a group of youths as they solved mysteries in the fictional town of Tackleford, England. Most of the mysteries have a supernatural element of sorts to them, which is something the Tackleford residents are used to at this point. Current case: The Case of the Missing Piece Blossom Cooper goes nuts and trounces a member of school faculty, the marriage of Shauna's mother and adoptive father brings her convict brother out from prison, and Linton rages with hormones. What is the missing piece connecting all these threads??  SCARY GO ROUND Old-school Scary Go Round is what preceded Bad Machinery, and its name is still relevant for the sake of making the best use of a good domain name. It started in 2002 and finished in 2009. Scary Go Round has the same supernatural stylings and setting as Bad Machinery, but the main focus is initially on a group of young twenty-somethings being hip and silly. With the introduction of The Boy, a group of secondary school students gets thrown into the mix; Lottie Grote of Bad Machinery is the younger sister of one of these students. About half the cast of Bad Machinery hails from Scary Go Round in some manner.  BOBBINS Bobbins precedes Scary Go Round, and dates from 1998 to 2002. It's essentially a primordial version of Scary Go Round without the supernatural trappings; all of the cast at the start of Scary Go Round hails from Bobbins. John Allison brought Bobbins back in 2013. Initially, this comeback featured stories taking place in the time period that the 1998-2002 strip occurred, complete with cast members that were retired by Scary Go Round; confusingly, Bobbins also refers to strips that feature Scary Go Round alumni in an office setting in Bad Machinery's time period. New Bobbins concluded in March of 2015; Bobbins and SGR alumni have essentially gone into semi-retirement.  BABS MCCHINERY This long-lost piece of Tackleford history is about the adventures of Shelly Winters and her office supervisor, Babs McChinnery. Shelly no longer wishes to work with Mr. John Allison, and it's up to Babs to convince her underling to return to the realm of webcomics; as of Winter 2013, it looks like she succeeded.   BABS MCCHINERY IS REAL. (http://destroyhistory.com/) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've never read any of these comics before, where should I start? In the webcomics thread, John Allison was cited as saying new readers should start from the beginning of Bad Machinery; even if half the cast is from Scary Go Round, most were minor characters there and prior knowledge of either Scary Go Round or Bobbins is necessary to enjoy Bad Machinery. If you're caught up with Bad Machinery and want to see how Allison evolved as a comic artist, scroll down to where the main page says “old comics” and click on Scary Go Round. Read old-school Bobbins if you want to be reminded of how painful the '90s could be. Some of these minor characters in Scary Go Round seem familiar in a way, where are they from? Hugo Rodriguez shares his name, ethnicity, and personality with the troubled youth from Jeff Rowland's Wigu. Red Robot hails from a couple of Dumbrella strips; most will probably remember him from Diesel Sweeties. Will Desmond Fishman ever be seen again in webcomics? Allison's answer to this was “no” for the longest time, but he returned in a modern Bobbins strip. Now we'll probably never see him again. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Sep 1, 2015 |
#
¿
Sep 23, 2014 23:07
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 01:31 |
|
|
SIDE PROJECTS Expecting to Fly Expecting to Fly features prominent characters from Scary Go Round during their secondary school days (1996). Ryan becomes friends with Shelley for the first time by request of the school headmaster for the sake of comforting her after a traumatic event in her life. Can Ryan protect Shelley from the horrors of Tim Jones' libido?  Giant Days Esther de Groot gets her own storyline for the very first time in Giant Days. Fresh out of secondary school, Esther has to face the challenges that strike dread in the hearts of college freshmen – odd roommates, long distance relationships, drinking alcohol from the first time, worshiping devils, etc. At least somebody gets a famous – if crappy – car out of the whole deal.  Murder She Writes (write-up by Yvonmukluk) A storyline focused primarily upon Shelley Winters, Murder She Writes is the story of Shelley attending a writers' retreat in a remote lodge in Wales, only to find it turning grisly when one of the other authors is found dead. It falls to Shelley (or, to be more precise, her new intern/assistant/sidekick, Lottie Grote of Bad Machinery fame), to solve the mystery in a highly precocious manner. Is apparently getting a sequel after Expecting to Fly concludes, which is apparently about space. Currently not available to read online, but can be purchased on Comixology or in dead tree form.  THAT (write-up by Yvonmukluk) Another Shelley-focused storyline, THAT sees her in small-town USA on a book tour, only to wander directly into a B-Movie as the town she's visiting is attacked by giant moths. Joining forces with the eccentric townsfolk, they desperately attempt to stave off the moths until dawn. Is also available on Comixology or in the printed form. There would be an image here, but unfortunately 'That' isn't a very good search term and the story's no longer archived online. Scareodeliria Scary Go Round started off as a comic made with vector graphics program Adobe Illustrator, as per continuation of Bobbins' aesthetics. Allison would occasionally upload hand-drawn comics onto the website as Scareodeliria. Many of these are either lost in time or difficult to find due to Allison finding his old hand-drawn style embarrassing. As time would go on, actual Scary Go Round storylines would alternate between Illustrator-made and hand-drawn comics; eventually, Illustrator was ditched completely, leading us to Tackleford's modern visual style.  ------------------------------------------------------------ IMPORTANT SGR ALUMNI NOT FEATURED ON “ABOUT” SECTION Shelley Winters Shelley Winters is an ex-law school literary mastermind. She's always had a passion for journalism, which can be seen from the music/movie/television reviews she's done since 1991, and finally landed a position in the field in Tackleford after a series of odd jobs, including assistant to the mayor. Her penchant for silliness used to be considered the defining characteristic of SGR's writing, which can be seen in guest comics, parodies and affectionate tributes. Was practically the primary protagonist of SGR, which shocked readers when JA announced she would not be featured in Bad Machinery at all. Returned to Tackleford as of the start of the 2014-2015 Bobbins run. Has a squeaky voice, and has died twice. Now houses Tim Jones and is carrying his second daughter.  Tim Jones Inventor, once-mayoral candidate and beastly loverman. Tim's inventions used to be the catalyst for many SGR storylines; he has created bipedal robots, helmets that affect the user's disposition and even managed to invent a teapot capable of traveling its holder(s) through time. Tim's marriage to Ryan's sister led to him eventually being phased out of the comic, as she got him exiled from Tackleford by way of rigging an inventor's challenge of sorts. Recently returned to become separated from his wife and daughter, as well as sleep with Shelley. Coerced to live with Shelley after she destroyed a hell portal he was harvesting energy from out in the woods. His mad science days are over.  Eustace Boyce (The Boy/Le Garçon) The Boy first debuted as a youth with a seemingly incurable crush on Amy Chilton. He got over it once two girls from his school started to show interest in him; he jilted one, dumped the other, and got back together with the first for a little while. Everybody stopped calling him by his given name once foreign exchange student Élodie called him “le garçon” instead of Eustace. Was best friends with self-confessed ladies man Milford, and out-manned him constantly despite being a bit of a milquetoast. He loves being strong. Got sawed in half by a demonic webcam as a result of trying to Skype with the once-again hellbound Erin. He became reincarnated as Eustace "SCIENTIST" Horce, Mordawwa's trusty steed.  Esther de Groot (Dark Esther) Esther is a girl with dark inclinations, which didn't leave her upon her transition to college. Her knowledge of the dark arts has helped her aid in the performance of an exorcism and become a heavy metal queen. She once almost became the bride of Jack Crowley, but he turned her down once he found out she lost her virginity in a caravan in Wales. She was rarely seen without Sarah Grote (went off to separate college; big sister of Lottie) and Big Lindsay (became a statistic). Dated the Boy for a long while, but the relationship ended when he found out she cheated on him.  Erin Winters Shelley's little sister. Used to be good friends with Esther and The Boy until they shagged in a caravan behind her back. Grew into a She-Hulk after drinking a growth formula after mistaking it for antacid. Jack Crowley made her his bride and took her into Hell with him, which led to her being completely forgotten by her friends and family. Ditched Crowley and made her way back to Earth, where she attended the same college as Esther and attempted to once again court The Boy. Erin became MORDAWWA, QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD in Hell. The human side of her broke free and returned to Earth only to ultimately be sacrificed for the sake of saving a mortally wounded Boyce. Mordawwa took her place on Earth from then on; somehow, this spurred Shelley to remember the existence of her little sister and the two reunited briefly. Returned to Hell after ending a cataclysm; came back to Earth for a day for the sake of showing off her new steed and acting as a pregnancy test.  ---------------------------------------------------------------- THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH Due to taking place in England and being made by an Englishman, Bad Machinery & Friends occasionally features terms, phrases and cultural references that are alien to foreign readers. This section is largely under construction since I can't think of many off-hand. Tupping liberty – “Tup” is slang for copulation. Basically the equivalent of “loving Christ”; seems to be nothing more than a Tim Jones-ism. Give/flip the vee – The English version of the middle finger (although I'm sure the middle finger would be recognizable to the average Briton). Differs from the peace sign in that the back of the hand faces the recipient. Flip it to Clapton cause he only knows three chords huh huh huh. Fray Bentos - Brand of scary foodstuffs. The Father has eaten a Fray Bentos meat pie every Friday since the first week he pushed aside his mother's breast. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Special thanks to Yvonmukluk for write-ups on Murder She Writes and THAT! Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Mar 29, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2014 23:11
|
|
|
muscles like this? posted:Anyone else think the reveal of what happened to The Boy after the end of SGR was kind of depressing? Everyone else was in a better place in life, except for him. Erin's family and friends forgot her because she went to Hell, so she may have him beat. At the very least she intends to make the both of their lives a bit happier  Jackard posted:
It's been around for more than ten years by this point I think. Actually, Allison is on good terms with Jacques and has even defended QC on occasions, which really threw everyone for a loop when Dark Esther mocked characters resembling Marten and Faye. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Sep 24, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Sep 24, 2014 03:13
|
|
|
Yvonmukluk posted:
Was going to reserve things about that for the second post. Actually, I'm not all that well-versed on some of that; I can comment on Expecting to Fly, Giant Days, Scare-o-deliria and Ghosts (own a copy circa 2007), but not much else. If there's anything floating around on the main website that I missed, or if you have a write-up on Murder She Writes/That/Her etc., I'll give you mad props for helping make the second post more informative. Going to put info about characters that aren't featured in the "about" section there, too. I'm curious as to if we'll see Ms. Pickering-Chilton in Expecting to Fly; I know Amy probably isn't going to be around since she was technically introduced to everyone in 1998-era Bobbins revival, but Len is a pretty well-known figure around Tackleford and we're seeing people like Shelley's dad for the first time, so there's some sort of precedent toward seeing Len's second (I think?) ex-wife. edit: The second post has content now. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Sep 25, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2014 20:04
|
|
|
Excellent work! Both of your write-ups have been integrated into the side projects section. vvvvvv That's going to be the plot of the sequel to Murder She Writes. In space, though. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Sep 26, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Sep 26, 2014 01:26
|
|
|
Speaking of Ryan always wanting to be a cowboy, I've always found it really difficult to imagine him having a British accent. I usually tend to read everyone's lines in my head with a somewhat snarky American accent anyway, but it's easier to visualize the British accents on everyone else, probably because Ryan always says "dang" all the time. I would say I had the same problem with Hugo except that it's quite likely he's not originally from England to begin with.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 29, 2014 16:07
|
|
|
Yeah, that prediction seemed to be right on the money. Should start a betting pool on who's going to show up next. Odds on Fallon are 1:10, Holly 1:20, Hugo 1:50 and Rich 1:100. (since a fair few people in this thread claim that Safeway went out of business, don't hesitate to correct anything wrong with the "Queen's English" section, for I am nothing but an ugly American. It's small now, but there's bound to be errors there in the future)
|
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2014 14:54
|
|
|
Bell_ posted:But she hasn't been in this arc. This might be the origin story about how Shelley Winters became Shelley Winters. This is what I'm thinking too - her whimsy may have developed as a defense mechanism, and was influenced by Ryan's earthy wisdom.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 7, 2014 13:49
|
|
|
In other news, Ryan's earthy wisdom comes at the price of a loose grasp on biology.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2014 01:36
|
|
|
I wonder how accurate those prices in the upper left-hand corner are for '96 exchange rates. I would think the pound would be worth more than that...
|
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2014 13:57
|
|
|
Rincewind posted:The rugby teacher in the last panel of today's comic shows up again in Scary Go Round when Ryan goes to the afterlife. That particular storyline is notable for being when Allison ditched Illustrator for good. Reading these old ones makes me realize just how much he's improved in making each panel look more dynamic - you rarely see the "standing and talking in 3/4 view" pose anymore, and the camera angles vary a whole lot more now. 
|
|
#
¿
Oct 22, 2014 00:20
|
|
|
Autonomous Monster posted:I think I like Amy's way of putting it better: D'aww, she drew his name in a heart That arrow is pointing right toward her name on the sheet, too; I recall Allison saying after finishing SGR that he had planned early on for Ryan to end up with either Amy or Shelley, and it seems like he had made his decision by this point.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2014 16:10
|
|
|
Updated OP with a relevant ELO song. Predicting the victim of the sequel to Murder She Writes will be Babs McChinnery.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2014 18:23
|
|
|
 Uh... sure, Mr. Allison.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2014 17:55
|
|
|
Eustace loves being strong.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2014 15:33
|
|
|
Jonesy went into the woods unprepared if he went without this hallowed tome.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2014 18:11
|
|
|
drat, I'm slow. I just made the connection between the droppings and the devilbear. Seems Jonesy is better-versed in woodshitting than I thought.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 4, 2014 15:02
|
|
|
gently caress I gotta update the Hype Box again
|
|
#
¿
Dec 5, 2014 01:17
|
|
|
Where was Tim exiled to all those years ago again? Is it Wales? Wales is OK. Edit: Of course it was Wales. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Dec 13, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2014 04:05
|
|
|
Especially if it's a bomb-rear end sandwich capable of rivaling Hugo Rodriguez's best.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 14, 2014 21:41
|
|
|
Josef bugman posted:
Rachel Dukakis-Montaforte originated in Bobbins and was meant to be the main character of Scary Go Round. She hated Shelley and tried to get her killed once; this resulted in her being chased by bikers, having her nose enlarged by Her best friend, Tessa Davies, faded out of the plot as the result of Rachel's immolation. Neither character seemed relevant enough at this point to put in the first post (although I'll certainly put this there because why not). Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Dec 19, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2014 22:26
|
|
|
Here's to hoping Eco-Force will show up after this storyline as a SCARY GO ROUND COMICS GROUP feature.howe_sam posted:Now all Boycey needs is a caravan and he'll be set. awwww yeaaah
|
|
#
¿
Jan 27, 2015 02:50
|
|
|
ZearothK posted:There was also the time she was shot up by the Hell's Angels and hung out in the afterlife with Ryan's French ex (you know, the one murdered with a terrorist orangutan by the church group of those ladies who run Amy's rival store) until getting bored of it. Damned if I can find the link to that story. Count My Toes: http://scarygoround.com/sgr/ar.php?date=20040509 It's one of my favorite Illustrator-era storylines.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 29, 2015 16:15
|
|
|
I love how you can see Tim changing from being rigid with anger to just feeling pity for Holly.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2015 03:48
|
|
|
Kind of doubt he's dead, I seem to remember Allison saying he didn't want to kill off any major characters anymore in a blog post or something, so Eustace could very easily be hobbling around on one good leg. Then again, my memory isn't infallible and Allison has been known to do things like bring Des Fishman back after saying he would no longer appear in webcomics...
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2015 11:46
|
|
|
Wyld Karde posted:I wonder if Allison is pining for the old Scary-Go-Round crew and is working to get them back together, or if he's just rounding them up into a single spot so he can kill them all off in one go and be done with it? Nah, this is a return to form due to the return of the Scary Go Round label. If he's gonna kill off a group of characters in one fell swoop, it's going to be Bad Machinery's main cast.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 16, 2015 04:39
|
|
|
Slim Jim Pickens posted:Actually, the explanation for everything is very simple. You know, earlier today I questioned if Fallon was written off when she was sent to the island The Prisoner took place on. After reading a few strips past the one you posted, I found out that is not the case. Whatever happened to Fallon Young?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 18, 2015 02:47
|
|
|
British Magical Realism.Roach Warehouse posted:I completely forgot this happened and that Fallon existed, and I'm pretty sure that's the reference that got me into SGR. I blame Esurance for Fallon being phased out.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 20, 2015 10:33
|
|
|
The Boy Who Lived... but at what cost?  In other news, Len Pickering confirmed to be a freemason. SlothfulCobra posted:I keep on getting tempted to read the old Scary Go Round archive, but when I go to read it, my brain can't keep track of anything. I can't tell any of the characters apart, and they keep dying and coming back to life. I kind of feel usage of Illustrator confined Allison's ability to make each of the characters distinct from each other; if you keep going until the hand-drawn strips become the norm, you may not have problems telling anybody apart. Everybody will stop dying and coming back to life not too long after that point as well.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2015 03:34
|
|
|
Recently, I've wondered at times if John Allison would ever run out of steam with the same universe... and here we are. At least we're ending on a fairly high note rather than having the strip peter out all of a sudden, or have the ending be the result of creator breakdown. Still... drat, I pretty much grew up with SGR. This'll be the hardest transition yet.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 6, 2015 17:14
|
|
|
Rich Tweedy has ceased to exist; all is right with the universe.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 9, 2015 19:08
|
|
|
Let's all have an erotic bath.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 14, 2015 23:57
|
|
|
ZearothK posted:I am quite sure Allison released that statement about wrapping up the Tackleverse in the middle of this storyline in order to keep us tense with the very real possibility of all characters being eaten by a dimensional vortex. I think what Allison is doing is more along the lines of retiring the characters that have been around since Bobbins instead of completely abandoning the Tackleverse. I get the feeling he's got a whole more stories left when it comes to The Boy's generation and Lottie's generation; after all, we are getting more GIant Days comics. Autonomous Monster posted:It is weird seeing Esther as drawn by not!Allison. The writing feels different, too; can't tell if that's a side effect of somebody else drawing the characters or if Allison is deliberately shifting the tone for what's more of a "mainstream" publication. Thought about the ages of the Bobbins cast since Shelley said Holly was "FORTY, HAUGHTY and THRIVING"; seems Shelley, Tim et al. are around 33-37 based on Expecting to Fly taking place in 1996. RIP Jesper Bloem
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2015 00:12
|
|
|
Pope Guilty posted:So are the Bad Machinery kids sticking around then? What does all this mean to somebody who's only read from the start of Bad Machinery? If it's just the Old Bobbins alumni who are retiring, we'll probably see another story about Lottie and the gang sooner or later; Ryan and Amy probably won't be making many appearances. I just get the feeling Allison can't shake the Tackleverse for good, even if he starts up something radically different in April; he's been known to give in to temptation and do things like bring Shelley and even Desmond Fishman back, even after Des was said to have "retired from webcomics for good" after SGR ended.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2015 01:26
|
|
|
Wow, uh ummm guess everybody's probably dying after all 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2015 05:13
|
|
|
This story is happy end 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 28, 2015 05:16
|
|
|
Fried Chicken posted:The two disrupting characters who are atrocious to everyone else and each other, got the reward, a bunch of other people who did no wrong ended up dead. Merely wanted to quote this because I'm retarded.  This story is bittersweet end.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2015 01:18
|
|
|
Yvonmukluk posted:Should the OP be updated to reflect the change in status? NO NEVER
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2015 22:13
|
|
|
Saoshyant posted:But... Wales, man. Wales. Wales is OK.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2015 20:00
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 01:31 |
|
|
7c Nickel posted:John Allison is a native of Britannia. The new royal baby is named Charlotte. Coincidence?! We'll know for sure if the next royal baby ends up being named "Des Fishman."
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2015 06:03
|
|