Mental note - when tired, don't do your thinking online and in the forums. Sheesh.

That's one of the problems with Megatokyo becoming as, er, popular as it is. Whenever i start grumbling around about something that's irritating me in regards to the story or something else about MT I have got to learn to keep my trap shut till i work thru everything and THEN announce what i'm planning on doing. Otherwise i end up with a storm of emails and tornado paths thru the forums.

Anyways, let's recap. The 'similarities to chobits' issue has been something that's been irritating me for the past few weeks, partially fueled by emails and other comments, but you have to keep in mind that the reason for the irritation wasn't the fact that i was getting emails, its that these similarities were getting in the way of what i am trying to do in the comic. If people look at Ping and see Chii, it changes what i'm trying to do, and it's irritating because it is something I have little control over. At first, i thought it was just superficial similarities between the shows that was the problem. What's curious to me is that people get worked up about the similarities between Ping's ear pods and Chii's, but the truth is they are far closer to Nuku Nuku's ear pods and Multi's ear pods than Chiis. I think i'll actually draw a detail drawing some time of the pods and what they do and the reasons for them sometime, just because i really did think it out.

I wrote my comments in my last rant just to let people know what was on my mind when i was writing all this, and commented that I developed Ping long before Chobits came out. The problem here is that I made two errors, and understanding these errors helped me understands WHY i was getting the feedback i was getting.

First off, Chobits did come out around the same time Ping first appeared in the comic. Even though the truth of the matter is that I personally didn't know this, there will always be people who say I got the idea from Chobits. I should have checked before saying that. I apologize for that, my bad.

Secondly, I now understand why i was getting the feedback i was getting in the volume I was getting it. There is a scene in Chobits where Chii wants to download information on how to bathe. I haven't watched enough Chobits to see this episode, so i was completely unaware of the similarities between the two scenes. In my defense i'd like to think that the outcome of my scenario (which no one out there actually knows yet unless i actually continue it) is far different than the Chobits one, but it does raise the issues that I would never have done such a direct spoof without it being more obviously a spoof. In short, i'm embarrassed to have made such a goof. I didn't think the idea was 100% original of course, but in light of knowing what happened in chobits, it really does seem 'lifted' from the show. I would never do that, but it doesn't change the fact that it certainly appears that i did - regardless of the facts.

So, that raised the issue (which i started mulling over while sitting at the computer tired, zoning, and recovering from my chicago trip) as to what to do. Some of the critisims was pretty snide, and one reaction i had (and it's a valid one) is to remove Ping from the story in some way. I've done it before, but there's no question that it would be a knee jerk reaction and certainly not fair to Ping fans. The second option was to change ping in some way that would result in avoiding all these comparisons that were bringing all these preconceived notions and comparisons to her character that I don't want - i don't want people constantly thinking Chii/Ping, i really don't. There are a lot of things i could do, but it would gut Chapter 4 pretty bad, and i don't know if i want to change things that drastically.

Third option would be to go back in history, change the two comics that had the joke/references that caused the direct comparisons. It seemed like the best option, even tho it involved having to go back and rethink some things. That was, i felt, one of the best ways to resolve the issue (please note that i did not remove the comics or take them down). Even so, i wondered if this was a good tact.

The fourth option, and it's probably the one that makes the most sense, is to not change the most recent comics, but look at how i can work with this close comparison to Chobits can be used in a productive way in the story. All the characters in MT are changing and evolving in some way as things move on, and this will in some ways effect how Ping turns out, but it's like anything, you don't really know exactly where it will go - perhaps this will be a good thing in the long run. But it's pretty obvious that whether I intended it or not, the comparisons to the Chobits story and characters are there and I have to deal with it, and even tho it wasn't my intent, i have to work that into what I am doing.

So, ping fans, relax, i'm not going to remove Ping the way i removed tsubasa, i like Ping too much to do that anyway, it just means that I'll have to subtlety work around this issue and maybe in the end it will make for a better story. There's a lot about ping none of you know about, and i am sorry it's taking so long to get there, maybe over the course of chapter four most of you will see why the chobits comparison is rather moot when it comes to Ping and her character - or maybe it isn't, who can tell? Maybe i need to finish watching the show now... ^^;;

(skitters off to pick up the dvds...)

I'll have an Acen report up for wednesday, complete with pictures and other things. As always, if you have pics from Acen and you want to share, please email them to me :)