I was going to say, surely he knows some Beast Wars fans, but, uhh, I guess the main cast is like 18-19. I’m sure some saw it, but it’s not going to be most of them, he might have better luck with one of the other series.
Beast Wars was cancelled in 1999, so we’ve already hit the point where Ethan can’t possibly remember watching it on TV, it wouldn’t even have been in syndication. His first exposure to Transformers that he can remember would’ve been Transformers Animated or reruns of Transformers Armada.
On the plus side, in a few years of floating timeline magic, Ethan would’ve been able to watch Beast Wars as a kid on YouTube.
Think of the perks though: two incomes means more money past food/shelter needs and you get just as much access to their existing collection. (…and always having someone you can talk to about said comics, I guess.)
Trust me, both my parents were comic geeks before they met, and the resulting hoard was more than worth the sharing.
Trust: IT DOES. Neither my ex nor I were huge comic people, but we both read and purchased books, movies, and TV box sets LIKE MAD. We de-duplicated our libraries about 18 months before breaking up (5 months in) and splitting stuff up was more annoying than actually ending the relationship.
No see, the dream is to find another nerd whose interests are completely different from yours, so you can talk at each other in turns without devolving into dumb fandom arguments. Or at least, it’s working out well for me anyway
They do, from both of us, but we also end up learning a good bit about each other’s hobbies–to the point where I’m conversationally fluent in waaaay more popular video games than I’ve ever played. Hmm, now I’m curious what he’s picked up from me.
yeah – I know way too much about LoL, and birding, and stuff. my husband… well, I taught him a bunch about git? fuck, I don’t even remember my own hobbies I’ve been sick so long 😛
My boyfriend and I have many common fandoms (D&D, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, etc.) and then we have fandoms we’ve gotten each other into (Redwall, Steven Universe, Prison Break, Descendants, Ever After High, etc.) and then we also have things we’re into but the other isn’t (like 90% of the books I read, I like looking up different degrees and courses, he’s into gaming, etc.)
I got lucky with my wife, while she didn’t share any of my interests, she tolerated and accepted them, and was willing to look into them with an open mind. I did manage to partially convert her to my love of cartoons and quirky movies, and she will watch some of my anime. I did manage to convert both kids however, so the nerd lives on into another generation.
I’m sure this has been pointed out already this week, but it’s funny: thanks to the sliding timescale, Amber and Ethan’s most likely first exposure to Transformers is the Michael Bay movies, the first of which came out when they were 7.
Ethan has an attachment to the Beast Wars franchise, but the animated series concluded ten years before he was born.
Oh right, my bad. So it ended right before Ethan and Amber were born, then. And if I remember right, it wasn’t really getting reruns anymore by the time Ethan and Amber were old enough to watch cartoons. I guess they could have had a DVD or something.
All Ethan has to do if he wants a boyfriend is to silently hang out with the rest of the main cast constantly until one of their childhood friends who has under gone a sexual awakening shows up. I mean it worked for Dina.
For Ethan it is find someone who has a moderate to passing your interest in transformers(relative to Ethan’s level of intrest) and will listen to him debate the merits of why soundwave was a better leader then starscream though is still not as good as Megatron.
Side note I thought a some point soundwave was briefly the leader of the decepticons. I dont know correct me if I am wrong.
So, clearly I am not a part of the cool kids group. But take pity on the outsider and help me understand who or what a ‘tailgate’ and ‘getaway’ are.
Last tailgate I spoke of was at a college football game. Last getaway I was involved in, well, the statute of limitations has not yet expired so I’ll just keep that to myself for a few more months…
the one that ilicits hatred is More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light/Robots In Disguise, the current comic continuity, which also has ties to the “Combiner Wars”, “Titans Return” and “Power of the Primes” toylines and cartoons.
If anything I’m probably going to die alone too and I’ve accepted it, because at times I wonder if romance is just a distraction from my life goals…. or maybe that’s just me saying that to cope with it all.
You know if you wanted a boyfriend you could just do thing were you lower your high ass standards. The next guy your into doesn’t haft to be a Jewish nerd around your age who’s gay but any nerd a around your age who’s gay.
and.. where on earth does the ‘jewish’ thing come from? when has he ever expressed the slightest interest in anyone’s religion? he dated amber (atheist/agnostic?) before he knew he was gay, and then he tried to date joyce who’s christian, and he would’ve gone for danny (another atheist?) if they weren’t worried about upsetting amber…
Yeah, considering that was right before he started dating Joyce he seems to have been focused more on dying unhappy and alone rather than anything relevant. Which does kind of fit in here
What standards? Ethan doesn’t know how to talk to boys (and is very much afraid to), that’s nothing to do with standards.
He just discovered the thing about extreme nerdyness: it doesn’t make you interesting or powerful to be the only one who knows some obscure fact. It might make you a person who doesn’t know how to talk about other things and that makes you lonely.
I don’t think he can go any lower than ‘queer’ which has been more the standard he has been applying recently. And I don’t think anyone should lower their standards if they know they won’t be happy with less.
I just turned 40. One thing I’ve learned is that you need to be outspoken about your interests. Otherwise it’s impossible to find people who share them. It seems obvious in retrospect, but I spent a lot of time being embarrassed by the things I love, and not wanting to talk about them with people who -probably- -in my mind- would think they’re totally stupid.
But people without interests are hard to understand and relate to. I have a friend at work who is depressed and down on himself for being a boring person. He’s a professional cook who studies anthropology and loves playing bluegrass. Just like that -BAM!- he’s interesting. There’s a lot of meat there to dig into and talk about. But he can’t see it. He’s ashamed to share anything about himself. He’s embarrassed by his interests because he thinks they’re lame.
My teenage son likes to brood around in dark hoodies. One time he brought his rubiks cube with him so he would have something to do at a boring function. Little did he suspect that a brooding teenager is boring and ignored, but a teenager who can solve a rubik’s cube in 15 seconds is amazingly interesting. Everyone wanted to talk to him, to see him solve the cube.
Interests are never lame. Enthusiasm is infectious and powerful. That’s why some people make jokes or mock – because they feel threatened by the Interesting Person and the attention they’re automatically getting.
Heyyy Ethan don’t worry, I’m on the same boat, I’m going to die alone and unloved. At least you get to bang your long time friend?.
Seriously, fuck being unsocial AND a nerd. the few times I try to reach otu to people nobody gets what I’m talking about. Especially in a third world country where the culture is mostly based on “FOOOOOTBAAAAALLLL”
Random question: What is the proper pronoun for a gender-neutral person?
Futurama makes me want to say “Shklee” could work, but I think people may be offended by it, altough I’m not sure.
Always default to singular ‘they’ unless they specifically request otherwise or you’re around/speaking to people they are not out to. Some people may still prefer he/she regardless. If all else fails, just ask what pronouns they want you to use and when.
Yeah, Beast Wars was 96-99. It’d probably predate any college freshman out there right now.
Not that it’s entirely impossible to have grown up with it in your life. I grew up in the 90s with the original G1 cartoon as well as Rocky and Bullwinkle (59-61) thanks to the magic of home video, but it’d certainly put you out of range of most of the toys.
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“You won’t be alone! You’ll have Dinobot!”
Even if it is just a movie monster!
I dunno, that $5 offer is out there…
Loneliness awaits the man who sells his friends
Damn that’s deep. +1
With money you can buy many friends!
Each more worthless than the last, but more expensive.
Friendship really is a diminishing return game.
This sounds like the wisdom of Faz
Dina and Danny are best friends forever
Ah, Ethan. It’s sad when no one shares your nerddom in a specific topic.
It’s okay, Ethan, you can teach others to appreciate Beast Wars.
don’t worry about it danny. just enjoy your life and have fun with your boy until you find someone you can be serious about.
or should i say can be serious about you?
Or find someone who just appreciates the way you attach value to those trade-marked intellectual properties.
I was going to say, surely he knows some Beast Wars fans, but, uhh, I guess the main cast is like 18-19. I’m sure some saw it, but it’s not going to be most of them, he might have better luck with one of the other series.
Beast Wars was cancelled in 1999, so we’ve already hit the point where Ethan can’t possibly remember watching it on TV, it wouldn’t even have been in syndication. His first exposure to Transformers that he can remember would’ve been Transformers Animated or reruns of Transformers Armada.
On the plus side, in a few years of floating timeline magic, Ethan would’ve been able to watch Beast Wars as a kid on YouTube.
Sod that, I am not marrying anyone I have to share my comics with…
Think of the perks though: two incomes means more money past food/shelter needs and you get just as much access to their existing collection. (…and always having someone you can talk to about said comics, I guess.)
Trust me, both my parents were comic geeks before they met, and the resulting hoard was more than worth the sharing.
That was my take – you’re not marrying someone you have to share your comics with, you’re marrying someone who will share their comics with you.
Of course, it could get messy in a divorce.
Trust: IT DOES. Neither my ex nor I were huge comic people, but we both read and purchased books, movies, and TV box sets LIKE MAD. We de-duplicated our libraries about 18 months before breaking up (5 months in) and splitting stuff up was more annoying than actually ending the relationship.
Yes Ethan, you are the only person with your interests
No see, the dream is to find another nerd whose interests are completely different from yours, so you can talk at each other in turns without devolving into dumb fandom arguments. Or at least, it’s working out well for me anyway
I’m imaging these conversations involving a lot of polite nodding and generally vague statements of agreement
They do, from both of us, but we also end up learning a good bit about each other’s hobbies–to the point where I’m conversationally fluent in waaaay more popular video games than I’ve ever played. Hmm, now I’m curious what he’s picked up from me.
yeah – I know way too much about LoL, and birding, and stuff. my husband… well, I taught him a bunch about git? fuck, I don’t even remember my own hobbies I’ve been sick so long 😛
My boyfriend and I have many common fandoms (D&D, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, etc.) and then we have fandoms we’ve gotten each other into (Redwall, Steven Universe, Prison Break, Descendants, Ever After High, etc.) and then we also have things we’re into but the other isn’t (like 90% of the books I read, I like looking up different degrees and courses, he’s into gaming, etc.)
So far it’s working.
I got lucky with my wife, while she didn’t share any of my interests, she tolerated and accepted them, and was willing to look into them with an open mind. I did manage to partially convert her to my love of cartoons and quirky movies, and she will watch some of my anime. I did manage to convert both kids however, so the nerd lives on into another generation.
I’m sure this has been pointed out already this week, but it’s funny: thanks to the sliding timescale, Amber and Ethan’s most likely first exposure to Transformers is the Michael Bay movies, the first of which came out when they were 7.
Ethan has an attachment to the Beast Wars franchise, but the animated series concluded ten years before he was born.
Beast Wars ended in 1999 (or 2000 if you count Beast Machines), not 1989/1990.
Oh right, my bad. So it ended right before Ethan and Amber were born, then. And if I remember right, it wasn’t really getting reruns anymore by the time Ethan and Amber were old enough to watch cartoons. I guess they could have had a DVD or something.
All Ethan has to do if he wants a boyfriend is to silently hang out with the rest of the main cast constantly until one of their childhood friends who has under gone a sexual awakening shows up. I mean it worked for Dina.
“…who has under-gone a sexual awakening shows up.”
That describes Danny, so, mission accomplished?
Not quite yet, but many of us are hoping. 🙂
‘Ethan, this is my childhood friend Buckets of Blood Guy, who has recently undergone a sexual awakening.’
Ethan’s the best.
No Dina, if he does that, the relationship will dissolve due to proscribing different values to that intellectual property.
whoop, Ethan won the dork war
Dying alone is, apparently, the prize.
perfect opening for Danny to say something nice.
…will he dan it up? 😉
Aww, c’mon, he’s a whole New Danny!
He can New-Dan it up, and in new and exciting ways!
Panel six ” I am gonna die alone”
For Ethan it is find someone who has a moderate to passing your interest in transformers(relative to Ethan’s level of intrest) and will listen to him debate the merits of why soundwave was a better leader then starscream though is still not as good as Megatron.
Side note I thought a some point soundwave was briefly the leader of the decepticons. I dont know correct me if I am wrong.
So, what’s so special about Tailgate and Getaway? Amber writing more slashfic about them or something?
Basically, Getaway in the current run is a bag of dicks topped with asshole salsa.
…”asshole salsa” is a terrible, terrible turn of phrase
Sounds like the end result of a Taco Bell run…
Seriously. I’m with Amber. Fuck Getaway, the sociopathic rat bastard.
Only if you’re Jeffrey Daumer.
Tailgate, meanwhile, is small and cute.
So, clearly I am not a part of the cool kids group. But take pity on the outsider and help me understand who or what a ‘tailgate’ and ‘getaway’ are.
Last tailgate I spoke of was at a college football game. Last getaway I was involved in, well, the statute of limitations has not yet expired so I’ll just keep that to myself for a few more months…
https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Tailgate_(G1)#IDW_Generation_1_continuity
https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Getaway#IDW_Generation_1_continuity
I just want you to know that I was super happy to see a ref to the comics, and yes, TAILGATE IS THE BEST.
Tailgate (Captial T) and Getaway (Capital G) are Transformers characters.
Sure, why not? After all, Dina found another dofus who attached value to dinosaurs.
No but seriously, fuck Getaway.
Like seriously!
there is not a suitable level of suffering for him.
Oh, man—I remember Chris Mcfeely for his Digimon Encyclopedia from waaaay back when. (Oh good, now I’ve made myself feel old.)
Don’t feel bad; I’m right there with you.
Dina in the last panel is just the sweetest.
The solution to this is to get other people interested in your nerdy interests.
NOBODY LIKES YOU GETAWAY
Don’t listen Getaway! Rev likes you!
….. wait, which continuity is this?
the one that ilicits hatred is More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light/Robots In Disguise, the current comic continuity, which also has ties to the “Combiner Wars”, “Titans Return” and “Power of the Primes” toylines and cartoons.
So, given the relative timeline speeds, McFeely puts out one Basics episode every ten minutes in the Dumbiverse?
Nope. It just happens that, for some reason, the newest one changes its title between every take it’s talked about by the comic’s characters.
In the Dumbiverse, The Basics isn’t a series, it’s just a twelve-hour recording of Chris McFeely rambling.
CliffJumper is a stupid ass name by the way just saying.
It’s definitely no Murderking AKA Killmaster anyways.
so who else read the alt text and thought of the postman from Mr Rogers rather than some other dude?
Aww, I want to hug Ethan now
…And maybe eventually become a slipshine with him
There’s nothing wrong with dying alone. Often times the only alternative is dying with company that annoys you.
If anything I’m probably going to die alone too and I’ve accepted it, because at times I wonder if romance is just a distraction from my life goals…. or maybe that’s just me saying that to cope with it all.
You know if you wanted a boyfriend you could just do thing were you lower your high ass standards. The next guy your into doesn’t haft to be a Jewish nerd around your age who’s gay but any nerd a around your age who’s gay.
lower?
he’s currently snogging *mike*.
and.. where on earth does the ‘jewish’ thing come from? when has he ever expressed the slightest interest in anyone’s religion? he dated amber (atheist/agnostic?) before he knew he was gay, and then he tried to date joyce who’s christian, and he would’ve gone for danny (another atheist?) if they weren’t worried about upsetting amber…
He seemed to think it was important in this strip: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/02-choosing-my-religion/primal/
I don’t know if depression talking is the thing to listen to.
Yeah, considering that was right before he started dating Joyce he seems to have been focused more on dying unhappy and alone rather than anything relevant. Which does kind of fit in here
What standards? Ethan doesn’t know how to talk to boys (and is very much afraid to), that’s nothing to do with standards.
He just discovered the thing about extreme nerdyness: it doesn’t make you interesting or powerful to be the only one who knows some obscure fact. It might make you a person who doesn’t know how to talk about other things and that makes you lonely.
I don’t think he can go any lower than ‘queer’ which has been more the standard he has been applying recently. And I don’t think anyone should lower their standards if they know they won’t be happy with less.
Time to go on Grindr or whatever the Walkyverse version is.
The roof of Galasso’s Pizza and Subs?
Aw! Now Dina’s being kind and sweet right back at Ethan!
I just turned 40. One thing I’ve learned is that you need to be outspoken about your interests. Otherwise it’s impossible to find people who share them. It seems obvious in retrospect, but I spent a lot of time being embarrassed by the things I love, and not wanting to talk about them with people who -probably- -in my mind- would think they’re totally stupid.
But people without interests are hard to understand and relate to. I have a friend at work who is depressed and down on himself for being a boring person. He’s a professional cook who studies anthropology and loves playing bluegrass. Just like that -BAM!- he’s interesting. There’s a lot of meat there to dig into and talk about. But he can’t see it. He’s ashamed to share anything about himself. He’s embarrassed by his interests because he thinks they’re lame.
My teenage son likes to brood around in dark hoodies. One time he brought his rubiks cube with him so he would have something to do at a boring function. Little did he suspect that a brooding teenager is boring and ignored, but a teenager who can solve a rubik’s cube in 15 seconds is amazingly interesting. Everyone wanted to talk to him, to see him solve the cube.
Interests are never lame. Enthusiasm is infectious and powerful. That’s why some people make jokes or mock – because they feel threatened by the Interesting Person and the attention they’re automatically getting.
Thank you for this.
Righteous.
Ethan, there’s people that make gay porn about old school transformers. You will be fine.
/me continues to pout at the lack of Billie and Walky.
Heyyy Ethan don’t worry, I’m on the same boat, I’m going to die alone and unloved. At least you get to bang your long time friend?.
Seriously, fuck being unsocial AND a nerd. the few times I try to reach otu to people nobody gets what I’m talking about. Especially in a third world country where the culture is mostly based on “FOOOOOTBAAAAALLLL”
Random question: What is the proper pronoun for a gender-neutral person?
Futurama makes me want to say “Shklee” could work, but I think people may be offended by it, altough I’m not sure.
Default to singular “they”, but there’s also xim/xir and probably some others. It depends on the individual, but singular they should be fine
Always default to singular ‘they’ unless they specifically request otherwise or you’re around/speaking to people they are not out to. Some people may still prefer he/she regardless. If all else fails, just ask what pronouns they want you to use and when.
The (probably fairly obscure game) Choice of Robots gives the option for robots to have the pronouns “rhe”, “rer”, and “rhim”. The more you know?
Ideally, ask the person in question what to use. If that’s not possible, “they” usually works well.
You aren’t, and they aren’t hard to find.
Learn to Internet! Discover your people! Get in flame wars!
…. okay, you’re going to die alone.
Remember, “locked in mortal combat” is not alone!
OT: Is it just me or is gunnerkrigg offline?
It’s 5:15 est and it’s up and updated.
And damn. O_o
Thanks.
Strange, so why do I get a “Server quit responding” message?
I’ve got to say that I’m enjoying this catch up with the group that seems to radiate around Amber.
I was going to say “Then you should totally date Amber, ya dummy!” and then I remembered the whole gay thing. XD
I always forget they used to date.
You and me both, Ethan ol’ buddy, you and me both.
Oh, Ethan. We ALL die alone. It’s what we do in the meantime that defines our lives.
Get thee to a Con, Ethan.
Don’t worry Ethan, all you have to do is start a webcomic and marry one of your fans!
Yeah, Beast Wars was 96-99. It’d probably predate any college freshman out there right now.
Not that it’s entirely impossible to have grown up with it in your life. I grew up in the 90s with the original G1 cartoon as well as Rocky and Bullwinkle (59-61) thanks to the magic of home video, but it’d certainly put you out of range of most of the toys.
Danny: Teach me, Senpai
What are Amber’s feelings about Drift?
Alone? Probably not. The constant revisited fight in the couple being about shelf space allotment? Yeah…. That will definitely be a thing.
Go away, Getaway.
Get away, Goaway.
This is why I’m a Star Wars fan.
More dating options.