Heheh. Sorry about today's comic - Dressin' Junpei like in l33t gear... (sigh) have we no shame? No, not really. :) Besides, it's all largo's fault anyways. At any rate, we're about to dive headlong into a pretty long story arc, got a lot of ground to cover in the next few months.

Developing a story for a comic like Megatokyo is a complex, but not unheard of problem. Novels, movies and short stories usually have a fairly simple structure that they follow - there is a beginning, a middle and a ending. Serial comics like Megatokyo don't have the right fabric for this structure. What you end up with in comics are 'story arcs' and an 'overall plot' that meanders along till either the fans get bored and stop reading it, or someone does the world a favor and murders the comic artist in his studio. Remember when Excel jacks the manga-ka dude in 'Excel Saga'? heheh. For some reason I foresee myself in that situation. I still have nightmares about it.

The advantage to this structure, and why I like it, is that it's much more organic. The stories can flow and roll along like life itself. You have a few weeks where nothin much happens, and you are bored. Then you have a few weeks that are a whirlwind of activity, good or bad. Then things settle down again. Yet it's all connected in some weird funky way.

Sometimes, this isn't good. I can think of several examples where the first major story arc, the one where the situations and the characters are all developed, is fantastic. Then, all the story arcs that follow are terrible, which is very disappointing. Hopefully MT won't turn out to be a comic like that. There's enough grist for the mill with this strip, and enough demented material floating around our collective heads that I'm not really worried about it yet.

Well, i hope y'all had a nice holiday. It will probably be a slow week for most of you. Even I ended up taking a personal day yesterday to catch up on some things (like, getting over this cold and getting some rest). The reaction to our 'Fairy tale in New York' comic has been favorable, and I'm glad you all liked it. I'm originally from New York myself, and Sarah and I have been singin this song to each other for years now. I'm still a bit freaked out at the loss of the young lady who sang the woman's lines in the song, Kirsty MacColl. I had no idea that this had happened when i decided to pencil the strip. I suppose in some ways it can be seen as a tribute to her and her fans. Like I said yesterday, the song just wouldn't be the same without her.

Oh, and several people have pointed out that the lines should read 'Merry Christmas your arse', which is indeed true. I took the liberty of changing it based on the fact that Seraphim herself sings it that way. I think it's that much more insulting from a north American point of view, and you know how you flub the words in Karaoke every once and a while. Oh, and the missing verse - i left that out intentionally due to the space limitation in the comic (it would have added one panel, which would have awkward.)

The question and answer session on the #megatokyo channel over on Undernet on Saturday was a lot of fun. Frankly, i don't think i said a 1/4 of what i was thinking of saying, and I never even let people see some of the screenshots and pictures of my cats I was planning on sharing. About half way thru the interview the server i was on dropped me and, well, it took me a good 15 min to get back in. I'll let you all know when the log is available for everyone to read. Thanks to all those who attended, and foraipaar 90- 6324wura09

ack. my cat just came up and curled up on my hands on the keyboard. Makes it kinda impossible to type.

Where was I? Oh, a word of thanks to all who attended and to the guys who overcame all the technical problems with the chat itself. I've never been on THAT side of a chat like that before. Very odd feeling.

Ah, yes, the screenshot. That's Moi-san from Risky Safety, a rather adorable little animated shorts (about 10 minutes a piece) for the Omishi Magical Theater. Risky is a little devil/shinagami who is trying to gather enough souls to become a full fledged demon. Her counterpart (they occupy the same body, it seems ^_^) is Safety, a adorable clumsy little angel who is blind as a bat without her glasses. The show is adorably cute, and doesn't really appeal to everyone, because it has a very slow pace, but i love it.

Finally, before i go to bed, I want to ask a favor. I am in need of two quake models. I am recognizing the fact that the day may never ever come that I will be able to have the skill to make the RuriQuake model I've been talking about for years. If there is anyone out there who has some modeling skills and experience with making quake models, i'd like to hear from you. Lets just say I have an idea i am perusing, and I need two quake 3 models to make it happen.

I'm gonna go play some Bauble Puzzle.