Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
Convention appearances:
Calgary Expo Calgary, AB: April 26-28
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Multiplex
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
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Well, we can’t doubt that Ethan is a man.
He’s got his priorities straight.
Oh, come on! Who actually REMEMBERS phone numbers any more? Most people program them into their phone, and spend more time trying to figure out a ringtone than actually looking at the number itself. Is Drew TRYING to start something?
Some of us don’t play with little, toy phones. It’s important to remember things. It stimulates the brain.
Yeah, I stopped playing with little toy phones and now have my own WearComp unit and Eyetap.
Oh, you meant you’re still in the stoneages of memorizing things instead of attaching meaning to things to connect them?
I’m sorry, you can go back to your “Unga Bunga” now.
Well that’s certainly… quaint.
I make it a point to memorize people’s phone numbers. It’s a mental exercise, and it’s good to know your parents’/boyfriend’s/sister’s/friend’s numbers off-hand, if you get stranded from your phone. Plus there’s none of that silly facebook “hey what’s your number!” when you change phones.
While it is odd that Ethan remembers the toy code, remembering a lot of numbers is difficult. I can’t remember more than two. I figure I’m abnormal on that, but it’s hard to remember all those numbers. Even if it’s no more than five that you have to.
That’s why I keep a little notebook to write all my contact info with me, and keep an index card with the important ones in case I’m ever stranded somewhere.
Oooh, I want that poster.
They were exclusive to the BotCon 2001 semiformal dinner.
Deeep Geeeking.
Deeeeep Geeeeeeking.
I wish there had been some way to work that knowledge into the comic, because before it was just funny and “OH SNAP“-inducing, but now it’s a work of frakkin’ genius. This is why I love geeky fandom, for this kind of thing.
Whether Willis will admit it or not, Ethan is totally his stand-in. So that means Drew is a stand-in for Maggie.
It is true that I do not know my wife’s phone number.
Also that I recalled this DPCI number from memory. (For the Target-exclusive deluxe two-packs.)
… I totally thought I’d checked the comments for this before commenting below. Oh well.
But you found your wife and keep her home, unlike the toy.
DPCI’s are odd where you come from.
At my Target, you would write it 087-06-0456.
DUDE! thats my social security number!!!
Mine is xxx-xx-xxxx. My name is John Doe, and my birthday is mm/dd/yyyy.
Partly because I worked at Target for too long, DPCIs really aren’t that difficult to remember. All of the “boys” toys are department 087, so it’s really down to class and unique item number, which is six digits. Phone numbers are seven plus area code [in DC/MD, either 301 or 240, which gets me confused with an Olive Garden].
Holy crap! I worked at a Target in MD, too!
dang, i was gonna punch this number in at work tomorrow to see what it was but you had to go and say it. *ruin all my fun* well…i guess you were supplying the fun anyway so its yours to take away
The cell phone remembers. Does anything else matter?
>Psst< Ethan… It's 415. Quick, make out with Drew before he fully had time to get annoyed.
I do the same thing. I can remember random things in vivid detail, but when my boyfriend asks me what his phone number is I completely blank out. I have his phone programed, so I never bothered to memorize it. He remembers my number however, which make me feel bad.
But honestly, I'm wondering how much longer Drew and Ethan will be together. I just don't entirely think that Drew appreciates Ethan's quirks. I mean, he got freaked out by the toys, and now you know he's annoyed Ethan doesn't remember his phone number.
I dunno, I guess it just seems like Drew doesn't get Ethan. Maybe if we can get an idea about something he's obsessed with or maybe his insane quirks…
He doesn’t seem annoyed, he’s just asking. My fiance can remember stupid Superman facts but then he might forget how old I’m going to be on my next birthday. But I don’t get upset over it, who cares? I pretend to cuz it’s funny to joke about. We’re both pretty scatterbrained so it’s a miracle that either of us remember anything.
And as far as phone numbers go, I only remember them cuz I have a thing for numbers but I only bother remembering a few. That’s the cell phone’s job.
I know my wife’s phone number, but she doesn’t know mine.
Or the date of our anniversary.
Or how old she is, on her birthday. This year I did the math and reminded her when she asked.
Oh, thank god, there’s someone else out there who forgets that. I thought I was alone in being unable to consistently remember my own age. (I’m only… uh… twenty-something, fer christsakes!)
did that work?
How about now?
Yeah, but I’ve watched friends who do this same thing, and then they stew about it and get angry. Not all couples are understanding, and then begins the passive-aggressiveness that makes things awkward. Not saying it happens to everyone, but it does happen surprisingly often.
I’m usually not one to give people a hard time about their art, cause I know that’s always a groaner. But you really should have blocked this scene at an angle, instead of straight on. Or at least thrown in a panel between the last two, silently showing Robin and her sister on opposite sides of the picture frame.
Because you completely lose Robin in the second panel, and while there’s enough information to figure out the joke, it’s not as clear as it really could have been.
I also thought the same thing. I had to read three or four times to understand the visual gag.
I disagree the small amount of orange showing (small triangle) showed me exactly where she was at that time… and lets be honest i saw what was going to happen from the first sceen.. its a comedy classic when trying to have two characters in the same area not know each other are there.
I like that this strip subtly affirms the fact that Robin continues to fail noticing Roz is living there.
Sneaky & funny, I only noticed on my second read.
Here in the Philly area, we have area code overlays, so we have to remember all 10 digits – and dial all 10 even if calling next door!
Many people in Philly have a 215 home number and a 267 cell phone. I have that backwards – my cell is a 215 and my landline is a 267.
Not only do we have to deal with that, the western and far northern suburbs have the 610 area code with a 484 overlay, which we can call without dialing “1″ first. West of that is 717.
Our setup here reminds me of the Bay Area, too – you guys have 415, 510 and 707!
We have more area codes than that – you’re missing 925, 650, and 408 – but none of them are overlaid; California tends to do splits instead of overlays (although that’s changed in recent years in the LA area). The Bay Area is effectively 10-digit-dialing because the area codes are small, and most people have cell phones with out-of-area codes because of number portability anyway.
The entirety of Alaska is 907, however any call you make outside of your immediate city area is long distance. Plus there’s not really an Alaskan cell phone company so everyone’s cell numbers have area codes from whatever state they’re originally from (almost nobody is originally from AK. If they are, they have Seattle area codes.)
My mom was able to remember one of my phone numbers (and I did as well) mostly cause the last 4 digits were my birthdate. Srsly. And no, I don’t live there anymore.
I’m the same way with my current phone number – the last 4 digits are the year I was born, and the year my mother was born.
You and your mother were born in the same year?
That sort of thing always happens when you time travel. It’s nearly inevitable.
Yeah, it’s the time travel thing. We’re Gallifreyan.
(Actually, it’s the ‘last two digits of the year’…I’m still a Time Lord, though.)
Oh, NOW I get it.
I should’ve known it’d be time travel.
I remember my cell phone number specifically because it makes me think of green. If I get it wrong, it goes either red or blue, depending on which error I made.
Are you synesthetic? One of my best friends is a synesthete!
The Internet tells me that Ethan was checking for Transformers Deluxe 2 Packs (Bumblebee/Thrust, Arcee/Tailwhip, Sideswipe/Barricade, and Skids; Mudflap/Sideways).
Willis, you nerd.
Heh – I tried to look up the DPCI number on the Target website, and it pulled it up (very incorrectly) as a Laser Blast Buzz Lightyear… I thought Ethan had gone over to the dark side… or at least to infinity and beyond…
(runs away – mostly to change into his red and khaki for work *sigh*)
I think Robin is supposed to disapear for the joke to work. She is behind the poster. I had to look to find her.
Wait, why are they holding that up in the middle of the room, anyway?
my guess, to find a spot on the wall to put it.
Do not look for motivation for the physical gag set-up. It makes the Three Stooges cry.
That’s not the middle of a room. Notice the white background? This is a Blank It crossover.
I assumed they were holding it up to take a picture. Presumably part of a plot to show up the hated Willis.
Why did it take the two of them to hold that up? Drew can obviously hold it on his own.
I assume they’re holding it up to put it on the wall. Two people can hang things evenly more easily than one.
If we want to be picky, though, nobody ever hangs up a picture by holding it up from behind, for pretty obvious reasons. Of course, that being the case either we’d be seeing the back of the picture frame, or we’d be seeing the backs of their heads. And neither option is palatable – so instead we get what we got.
XD my gf is deaf… so i cant call her anyway, i have to go FIND her
Doesn’t her phone have vibrate?
Hmm, maybe she has to carry it in her purse.
I just totally realized that Robin and Roz walked right by each other without seeing each other. This is far more humorous than the obvious joke in the comic now that I’ve seen it.
Re-reading the storyline, i’m realizing that Ethan and Drew’s toy conflict, as well as the unhealthy nature of Ethan’s relationship with toys, is seeded way earlier than I realized.
Well foreshadowed.
Incidentally, I tend to remember numbers I use the most. Only managed to memorize my social security number by writing it on a million college applications, and I currently have my library card number X-XXXX-XXXXX-XXXX memorized because I go to my library’s website every day.
510?