I’m on my honeymoon right now (woo woo!), so here’s a bunch of “hacked” Shortpacked! strips from 4chan that I found and saved to my hard drive about three years ago.
As a 4chan lurker I know who wrote this comic, and he still to this day shits up the board with the same missives about what a tragically untapped well of business acumen he is (“they sell well but they could sell better!” is one of his roughly million catchphrases), and how it’s not unreasonable at all for him to think that he knows more about this stuff than anyone at Hasbro.
In short he’s pretty much the exact kind of person your comic regularly makes fun of!
Dave said “about 3 years ago”, I’m pretty sure /toy/ did not exist then.
To Ruth’s comment, 4chan’s posting quality has been deteriorating steadily since its inception; 3 years ago, a lot of nice, smart, creative people hadn’t completely blown off the site and/or sought alternatives.
But fuck 4chan. Its userbase is too infatuated with its notoriety to admit it sucks
I’ve seen predictions that the demise we all know is going to happen is going to happen soon.
Basically the aforemantioned infatuation with its notoriety is causing more and more dumbasses to flock there thinking it makes them cool and edgy. This, in turn, pisses off the ever dwindling number of people who hate the people flocking there, causing them to jump ship.
It’s a good thing I never gave a shit about 4chan.
Eh. It sounds reasonable despite the poor editing, but it doesn’t really have anything useful to say. “Toys that appeal to kids sell well, but could sell better it they appealed to the same number of kids, and adults as well?” No shit.
It’s trying to counter an argument that Willis never made. In the original version of that strip, he’s not TALKING ABOUT people who like toys that appeal to both kids and adults. You know who those people are in Shortpacked? Ethan and Amber.
Presenting the worst aspects of toy fandom is not the same thing as saying toy fans are all entitled morons. But fans like the one portrayed in the original strip exist. And Islamophobe Bat-fans DEFINITELY exist.
4chan was never good. It just used to be better at pretending.
Just because stupid people exist doesn’t mean that you should focus your arguments on them. That’s what a strawman is, it’s having a dumb character take a position (which may or may not be dumb) and make dumb arguments in favor of that position while failing to represent more nuanced and intelligent arguments in favor of that position and also failing to represent them fairly.
So yeah, just because people just like a strawman exist doesn’t make it not a strawman.
A strawman is someone who makes bad, easily pierced arguments against the author’s position, so that the heroic debater can easily win the argument and seem to prove that position.
To call a character a strawman, you have to know what the author’s position is.
According to this version of the strip, the position is that toy lines should be made “childish.”
Yet many of Willis’ other strips show adult enjoyment of toys in a fairly positive light. So I think the strip mischaracterizes his position.
I believe Willis’ position is, instead, that some toy fans– SOME– fall into a position of self-centered entitlement without realizing it. Not saying they’re all as dumb as this guy, but at some point debate tactics have to end and comedy begin, if it’s going to be a funny strip.
I do think that “saying a whole lot of nothing” pretty well sums up the author’s entire body of work. Most people who hang around 4chan’s /toy/ board know who this guy is because he’s been inundating the board with this exact same hollow rhetoric since its inception.
I won’t be surprised if there’s a comic in this batch involving the “soft, semi-translucent plastic” Hasbro uses that, according to him, is the reason why so many Transformers “look so Playskool”. It’s pretty much his favorite talking point ever.
Yay for content generators! =p
RULES 1 AND 2
only apply to raids.
Hooray for classics.
Fun!
Nice.
Why do I get the feeling this should come with a Hasbro vs Fansproject blog column?
This describes those horrible 5-inch Dark Knight figures to a tee.
LOL STRAWMAN
This is…actually fairly intelligent.
And you found it on 4chan, you say?
Interesting. Very interesting.
No kidding. I didn’t think anything good besides lolcats could come from 4chan. I’m impressed.
Is this strip canon?
Don’t judge 4chan by /b/. /co/ is fun, /toy/ is middling, /x/ is cool…
Correction: /x/ is hilarious.
/mu/ is meh but has its moments. /tg/ can be okay.
What’s good about lolcats?
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Ruby_Quest
4chan’s /co/. It’s worth some time, sometimes.
Well, FWIW, congrats on getting to the honeymoon.
As a 4chan lurker I know who wrote this comic, and he still to this day shits up the board with the same missives about what a tragically untapped well of business acumen he is (“they sell well but they could sell better!” is one of his roughly million catchphrases), and how it’s not unreasonable at all for him to think that he knows more about this stuff than anyone at Hasbro.
In short he’s pretty much the exact kind of person your comic regularly makes fun of!
And it’s so surprising that intelligent content can be found on /co/?
I know…it’s another 4chan board, but when it’s not being overrun with cancer and /b/tards, there are some interesting threads.
Is it /co/? This seems more like /toy/’s area.
Dave said “about 3 years ago”, I’m pretty sure /toy/ did not exist then.
To Ruth’s comment, 4chan’s posting quality has been deteriorating steadily since its inception; 3 years ago, a lot of nice, smart, creative people hadn’t completely blown off the site and/or sought alternatives.
But fuck 4chan. Its userbase is too infatuated with its notoriety to admit it sucks
These comics are from the first few months that /toy/ existed.
To paraphrase a very old /b/ meme,
“Remember when 4Chan was good?”
“4Chan was never good.”
I’ve seen predictions that the demise we all know is going to happen is going to happen soon.
Basically the aforemantioned infatuation with its notoriety is causing more and more dumbasses to flock there thinking it makes them cool and edgy. This, in turn, pisses off the ever dwindling number of people who hate the people flocking there, causing them to jump ship.
It’s a good thing I never gave a shit about 4chan.
Ah, the power of really good hacks off of the old Image Board of Choice. And a funny one to boot.
After last Friday’s strip, this is a relief.
I find it a lot better than the Friday strip.
Didn’t you get married roughly forever ago? Did you just put your honeymoon off until now?
Yes they did.
I was just thinking that that Imaginext Batman stuff is some of the most fun-looking toys I’ve seen in a while.
Eh. It sounds reasonable despite the poor editing, but it doesn’t really have anything useful to say. “Toys that appeal to kids sell well, but could sell better it they appealed to the same number of kids, and adults as well?” No shit.
It’s trying to counter an argument that Willis never made. In the original version of that strip, he’s not TALKING ABOUT people who like toys that appeal to both kids and adults. You know who those people are in Shortpacked? Ethan and Amber.
Presenting the worst aspects of toy fandom is not the same thing as saying toy fans are all entitled morons. But fans like the one portrayed in the original strip exist. And Islamophobe Bat-fans DEFINITELY exist.
4chan was never good. It just used to be better at pretending.
Just because stupid people exist doesn’t mean that you should focus your arguments on them. That’s what a strawman is, it’s having a dumb character take a position (which may or may not be dumb) and make dumb arguments in favor of that position while failing to represent more nuanced and intelligent arguments in favor of that position and also failing to represent them fairly.
So yeah, just because people just like a strawman exist doesn’t make it not a strawman.
A strawman is someone who makes bad, easily pierced arguments against the author’s position, so that the heroic debater can easily win the argument and seem to prove that position.
To call a character a strawman, you have to know what the author’s position is.
According to this version of the strip, the position is that toy lines should be made “childish.”
Yet many of Willis’ other strips show adult enjoyment of toys in a fairly positive light. So I think the strip mischaracterizes his position.
I believe Willis’ position is, instead, that some toy fans– SOME– fall into a position of self-centered entitlement without realizing it. Not saying they’re all as dumb as this guy, but at some point debate tactics have to end and comedy begin, if it’s going to be a funny strip.
I do think that “saying a whole lot of nothing” pretty well sums up the author’s entire body of work. Most people who hang around 4chan’s /toy/ board know who this guy is because he’s been inundating the board with this exact same hollow rhetoric since its inception.
I won’t be surprised if there’s a comic in this batch involving the “soft, semi-translucent plastic” Hasbro uses that, according to him, is the reason why so many Transformers “look so Playskool”. It’s pretty much his favorite talking point ever.
Wow I thought you married that ponies chick a long time ago. Awesome
Enjoy mooning ALL that honey.
I agree with Wackd
Me too.
I know twelve, ten, and eight year olds who buy “Hasbro Marvel Stuff”, and most of it is a kids’ line.
Funny timing. Is this David’s response to last strip’s mess or pure happenstance?