Gordon McAlpin (Multiplex) convinced me to try serving up the comic a little bigger, and I had enough wiggle room in the site design to be able to do it without redesigning anything, so, well, there you go. The strip is now 550 pixels across instead of 500. You may thank him.
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
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Hijinks Ensue
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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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©2005-2013 David Willis | Powered by WordPress with ComicPress | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑
SWINGERS
wait
Maybe if she gets Drew an Optimus Prime costume, Ethan will be cool?
Or a Bat-pole.
Well, I guess “best at everything” includes st-striping… Oh God! I can’t get it out of my head!
Why would you want to?
heh, batmans fair game for straight guys too, right?
*wipes away drool*
anyhoo, i think ill try focusing on something else before i embarrass myself
Not just stripping…
And people wonder why this comic is awesome.
b/c there is nothing suspicious about talking over someone
I love that T Campbell said pretty much exactly this yesterday.
I would be just a little weirded out if my friends bought me a sex swing… but maybe that’s just me.
Yeah, me too. It’d just be…creepy.
Yes, it’s just you. I have a female friend(just a friend, that is very clear), who would like nothing more than lingerie for her birthday from me. Some people are more open than others.
my friend once got me a dildo for my birthday, so in retaliation i got him a bigger one, so he got me some gay porn and so on and so forth, and it has really gotten out of hand. but damned if i’m going to be outdone!!
So, who was the first one to hire an escort for the other one?
no escorts yet, but i did hire a male stripper for him on his birthday
Heh. ‘Yet’.
Probably best…it’ll be hard to top that one when one of you finally does make the leap…
Your closet has glass doors, friend.
… and that’s when I bought the horse a hooker.
I love this guy!
Shoulda got Mike to get someone’s Mom for the horse. Then it’d only cost a nickel instead of the dollar you spent.
Maybe Joyce will come work here for a while. However Amber is getting more gutsy. Maybe she’ll tell Mike to “Bugger Off”.
Amber is blackmailing Mike into having the relationship in the first place. I doubt her getting more gutsy is going to end it.
*was. She said she’d release him from it and he said he loved her. Do keep up. :p
So basically, Amber feels guilt over something that, although it is not her “fault” or a moral issue, could hurt Ethan’s feelings. Whether she deserves to feel guilty or not (she doesn’t), she is handling this in a mature and adult way, and showing kindness to her friend.
DAMN YOU, WILLIS!
I wonder if Drew is up to the challenge …
I’m glad that Ethan is such a non-stereotypical gay man that they can actually use the “girl stuff” excuse. Most other comics/shows/movies would of had him eager to go shopping with them.
I recall an instance in which in order to convince Amber and Robin to go toy-hunting with him, he had to promise to swing through the clothes/shoe section as well…he was exceptionally bored as they cooed over various shoes…
Links, or it didn’t happen.
She-ra… my little pony… ethan covets not these things. Unless they’re part of a batman crossover
Ethan likes My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Then again, so do a lot of straight manly men…
Ahem.
http://youtu.be/1bxAyP6uJ4k
Ethan used My Little Pony to get Amber into toy collecting too
I’m glad that Willis didn’t use the stereotypical gay=excited about shoes. We don’t all go gaga over shoes or fashion (watching Project Runway from time to time doesn’t count).
Amber will swing for this.
I see what you did there. If that was intentional anyway.
No, it seems Drew or Ethan will do the swinging…
Mike will want to break the swing in before giving it to them.
Just so he can reveal he did so after they’ve been using it for a week.
And he’d call Ethan’s mom to help too since she already has Mike’s phone number.
Instead of being honest with your close friend, try to manipulate his emotions so he won’t care instead? That’s crossing my moral event horizon with Amber.
At this point, I’d really like for someone to get pissed with Amber, for well, being a jerk to the people around her (there’s a difference between assertive and a jerk) or a character to appear that disliked her, just as a consequence of the way she just keeps pushing and doing things that are well, mean. I know it won’t happen, because Amer being forward about what she wants is what everyone likes, but…
Man, I just feel that’s so unfair of her to do to Ethan. (Not becoming Assistant Manager, but hiding it from him and being manipulative about it instead)
Okay. Get mad at me all you want.
Okay!
Nah, I’m not really mad. But I can picture David tearing his hair out right now.
There sure is a difference between being assertive and being a jerk, and Amber’s been on the bright side of the border since at least her initial refusal to take Robin in.
I’ll admit that sometimes the new Amber has a disturbing edge to her: “You WILL promote me” is probably just her attempt to speak to Galasso in his own language, but something about it provokes a chill. That’s a phrasing her father might use.
That said, I have a hard time seeing the fault in– well, anything she’s done lately. Demand a promotion? Sometimes you gotta draw a line with the boss, and it turns out she only did even that with Leslie’s encouragement. Forget to schedule Robin away from Leslie? Didn’t have a choice. Let Leslie pressure her into justifying the story title? Yeah, I hate it when my friends think seriously about doing what I want them to.
Worry about her best friend’s feelings and try to find the gentlest possible way to break delicate news, even if that means putting it off in the short term (“I don’t want to tell him YET”)? If there’s a planet where this makes people “jerks,” then I want on it.
I was pretty much okay if uncomfortable up until the final panel with the “So we’re going to make sure he gets lot of sex so he doesn’t care.” because that’s just being manipulative.
Nothing else has bothered me this week more then anything else that’s happened (though I did try to answer Willis question the best I could), but actual manipulation in an act of self-preservation, that’s a little far for me. ^_^; Although I do know Amber cares about Ethan, just at the same time, she seems unwilling to accept the consequences that it will hurt Ethan and is trying to avoid them through said manipulation.
See, from the context, I don’t take it as she’s trying to manipulate him with sex so that he won’t care, I take it as a sarcastic joke being said between two friends. I don’t think Amber is literally trying to distract Ethan, I think she and Leslie are just joking around, and that Amber is hoping that because Ethan seems happy with Drew right now, this means that he won’t care about the assistant manager position, something which isn’t so much manipulative as it is (possibly) stating a fact.
I guess my problem is I don’t see it as joking. ^_^;
Btw, it’s been a day, and I still love your reply. It’s very thought provoking, gave me a lot to mull over, and I like that.
No, I definately see what you’re getting at. I think there have been conversations popping up every once in a while about how Mike may be a bad influence on Amber, but it’s starting to show that maybe she didn’t need any influence at all.
My first instinct is to defend her by saying “she’s a woman who’s been pushed too far,” but I refuse to believe Willis would create a character with such a movie-tag-line bio (okay, a main and non-foil character anyway). It may be that she has developed into a truly… I don’t want to say evil, she’s far from that, but definitely something much less innocent than the shy customer services clerk from page 1. I really would like to see a character that genuinely doesn’t get along with Amber; I think we could get some real fun scenes out of-
GODAMIT! This is a comic about goofy hijinks in a toystore! Why are we psychoanalysing the characters! More Faz!
Exactly how is “My friend might be uncomfortable with my success. It’s not a moral issue, but I don’t want to hurt him, so let’s not tell him for a little while so he can ease into it” an evil, selfish thing?
Oh, right. Because it’s Amber, and how dare a woman succeed over a man!
(well, maybe it’s more Amber-hate than chauvinism)
I have boobs, a vagina, and was driven out of a small college due to extreme bullying from men who thought I talked to too much and too intelligently, and needed to learn my place. I’m really not a shining example of sexism.
If Amber, were, I dunno, Aaron, I’d still be upset because she’s going beyond hiding it from him, and being manipulative. Even if it’s for ‘his good’–friends don’t manipulate friends they care about, especially try to manipulate their feelings behind the scene.
I think the biggest problem with the mix of drama and humor Shortpacked! has is that sometimes it’s hard for some people to understand what’s supposed to be dramatic and character building and what’s supposed to be funny.
However: sticking tongue out in concentration is generally a good sign that it’s supposed to be more humorous than serious. Also, if you haven’t noticed, everyone at Shortpacked! has a tenuous grasp on morals.
Wait, so she blackmails Mike into being her boyfriend, but feeling guilty about getting promoted because her friend (once) wanted the position and trying to keep him happy so his feelings aren’t hurt is what crosses the moral event horizon for you?
Oooookay then…
I like how no one is reading what bothers me, and instead projects there version of the situation on me instead. I love the internet.
There’s no point in reasoning with someone who doesn’t even read deeper then *some else whining about Amber even though she clearly cares about Ethan soooo much* but here. I’ve been willing to make excuses for Amber (Mike wouldn’t let himself be blackmailed) and such, but I only could.
It’s not the feeling guilty. The fact that’s she not being totally honest and hiding things from Ethan makes me uncomfortable, and then I personally see what follows not as ‘keeping him happy’ but being manipulative. She wouldn’t buy Ethan a sex swing unless there was a pay-off for her–which she is hoping for. And that really fucking bothers me. You don’t do that to your friends. You just don’t.
That’s just my personal viewpoint. No one has to agree with me. But it’s weird when people are “You think it’s awful that Amber is being respectful of Ethan’s feelings?” I wouldn’t think that’s awful, if that’s all what was going on, but I don’t see that as what’s she doing. There MORE and OTHER things going on that bother me.
You know, I have to say, SHAME ON ETHAN.
“Oh, just stupid stuff. You know, shoes.”
Really, what kind of a neanderthal is he to dismiss everything women talk about as “Oh, shoes and stuff. You know, when women talk, I just think about fishing until the noise stops.”
Or maybe he just took Amber’s hint that it was something she didn’t want to talk about. Maybe.
Ha ha, projecting much? Amber is the one who said it was “Stupid, girly stuff like shoes” what was Ethan supposed to respond with? “No, girly stuff is extremely important and even if you were talking about shoes, I find that topic intellectually meaningful and thus respectfully re-request interest into the conversation!” How is Ethan a neanderthal for receiving a not-very-well-done brush off? Get over your gender issues :\
Interest = entrance, doh
Look at the last line of the post:-P
She better also order him a Bat-Gimp suit, just to be sure.
I just pictured that in my head as a Batman cowl that covers his full face and has a zipper across the mouth. And that, along with a belt that was just a string of condom packages wrapped around the waist, was the complete Bat-Gimp costume.
And now I can’t get the picture out of my head.
Yeah Amber, you gloss over the part where he got betrayed and fired and you left him to rot alone for weeks (or was it months?) because your self esteem was slightly boosted in the meantime. Once again, proving Amber’s AWESOME POWERS OF FRIENDSHIP.
Amber’s powers aren’t awesome.
They’re AMAZING.
amazing, you say? are you trying to hint that amber is really…. SPIDER-CAR?!
In this continuity it’s firmly established that Amber is Amazigirl – it’s only in the DoA continuity that we have no clue whatsoever as to who that masked avenger might be.
>_< It was a joke. Reference to an earlier comic, where everyone was trying to find out who spider car was. Either way, I laughed.
Oh man, I so did not need to read the phrase “wiggle room” right after reading the phrase “sex swing”
Yeah…you don’t really want wiggle room in a sex swing…that’ll cause chafing.
Hmm. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I really like Amber. The origin of her hookup with Mike…yeah, it was squicky, but I don’t get this whole ‘ascribing evil intent to everything she does’ kick that everyone seems to be on lately.
Wow. I have a half-written final paper due in about 8 hours and I’m debating webcomics on the internet. This might be my first official “Damn you, Willis” moment.
Yeah, she blackmailed Mike into it in the beginning, but the results speak for themselves. She is no longer blackmailing him as she felt bad about it and he respects her and loves her for the way she manipulated him. It’s the same in any relationship, you speak to the other person’s interests and tastes to gain thier affection.
Regardless of whether people believe Mike is capable of loving Amber or just being an asshole, he’s shown it several times in the course of the strip, especially in the arc in which they went to meet his parents. and it’s also been shown, albeit rarely, that deep down, Mike isn’t as much of an asshole as he shows so naturally. In the dark of the night and when he’s alone, he has his tender, soft moments
The only reason she blackmailed Mike is because she knew he would find blackmail romantic.
Friends trying to distract me from their own success (which I wouldn’t mind, not having any real ambition of my own anymore) by ensuring I have lots of sexing with my loved one?
How dare they?
How dare they NOT!!!
My friends would never do this, My friends SUCK.
And not in the FUN way >:-(
Bigger comics definitely aren’t a bad thing so long as they aren’t too big.
After all, easier readability is a must!
Mine were at 650 px for the longest time, now they’re at 700.
Resourceful Amber is resourceful.
I could see this turning into a very interesting coversation for Drew and Ethan. I mean, how do you respond to your boyfriend’s best friend buying you a sex swing, which lets be frank, aside from being a rather personal gift, isn’t exactly something everyone is into (of course Drew dressed up like Batman for Ethan so…)
Which begs the question… Why a sex swing? Seems like a rather specific sex recommendation on Amber’s part.
Good. She has a plan.
500 … 550 … it’s not the size of the comic, but what you do with it that I enjoy.
Theno
I knew something was different about today’s comic but I couldn’t put my finger on it, then I read the blurb at the bottom…I like the large size even if it is just a slight adjustment.
I need friends like her
I thought the comic looked a little embiggened while I was reading it. I like the expansion. 550 is a good size.
It’s perfectly cromulent.
I hope Amber is ordering from Slumber Parties. They have the best sex swings.
(Runs away before the rotten vegetables start getting thrown for the product plug)
So what happened to the drama tag storyline and Robin creating world peace but then someone else trying to sabotage it? Are we just forgetting about that?
The drama tag storyline never ends. The tag has been pulled, the drama will last until Willis ends the strip in a two year serial arc that wraps up every loose end and kills 95% of the cast.
World Peace was defeated by Sidney Yus, and everything went back to the way it used to be. That global peace is a really fragile thing it turns out.
There was world peace and then Sydney Yus came along and ruined it… eventually, it will be hell on earth which leads to the conclusion that Sydney Yus is the anti-christ! Dun-dun-dunnnnn…
Or just the anti-Robin. Her chest fruit are not as sweet and succulent as Robin’s.
Wait, Ethan is gay?
550 pixels? A completely cromulent change.
Mr. Willis, this is unacceptable. I refuse to continue reading your webcomic until you decrease the size of your webcomic.
Also my RSS app can’t handle your website because it sucks.
The app I mean, not the website.
550 is much too big, I demand you change to 525
MY WORK HERE IS DONE.
God I fucking hate Drew.
I like to talk about shoes.