I’m not Kawaii, I’m Manly as Hell
Because I know someone is going to jump the gun and get angry about this, I just want us to acknowledge the difference between actual gay people and what yaoi fangirls think gay people are.
A little backstory here. Volt Krueger is one of my favourite characters in anything ever. I can’t really explain it because the Bouncer wasn’t really anything special, was poorly received and kind of went out with a fizzle. But the advantage (or not) of having such a small fanbase is that it’s really easy to consume every piece of creative material your fellow fans have made. I’ll admit I can’t shake my soft spot at the idea of Kou and Volt together, if only because they remind me so much of Kenner and Johnny in Showdown in Little Tokyo. And while an individual or two has managed to pen some decent in-character interaction between the two, I have seen some comically awful fanfiction involving them. I think the worst fanfic I’ve ever read to date involves a whole interlude of Volt crying on his kitchen floor and smudging up his eyeliner at the thought that something might happen to Kou, and then taking out his piercings in an excessively drawn out segment of “describing Volt washing his face” narrative and looking “like an angel” (Remember this is the guy with transdermal horn implants) as described by Kou’s Astrally projected soul who is hanging out and spying on him in his apartment.
It really was a gem, I’m disappointed seems to have disappeared from the face of the internet.
People get the idea that I make fun of things I don’t like. Not at all, I make fun of things that make me tear up with laughter while I sit alone with my computer at some ungodly hour. I never want to lose that. I still count the horrible Bouncer doujinshi my old roommate brought me back from Japan among my most prized/hilarious possessions.
Anyway, this page was probably just an excuse to make you all think of Volt’s voice actor saying the words “Super Kawaii”, you probably know him better as the hostage negotiator in Robocop and like half the Dwarves in Orzammar.
And hey, since the comic was late you can have this bonus Bouncer comic I posted over on my Tumblr while I was trying to remember what exactly happened in the Bouncer.
Discussion (349) ¬
*SNORT* Nomura Syndrome. The name says it all. XD
Nothing wrong with a little yaoi every now and then, but yeah, there is a distinct difference between real gay people and the yaoi industry’s image of them. :P The younger crowd is exceptionally prone to romanticizing that image.
Awwww, Volt. I had wondered about the eyeliner. The piercings do a great job; you can barely notice the physically impossible hair! :D
Definitely had to look up who Testuya Nomura was, but…yeah. (I’ve never owned a Sony system)
http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire4/5432a83669271109a89d81bb9d03c49e1244543385_full.jpg
This should enlighten you to what is expected.
Hehe, this is hilarious.
God bless you, sirormadam Bluesophia. That comic was freakin’ awesome.
…Not as awesome as Coelasquid’s, of course, but we cannot in all fairness hold all comics to that high a standard.
Oh, gods – it looks like Hiroshi Yamauchi nailing Adolf Hitler. That mental image isn’t going to leave me.
XD Oh god, it does look like Hitler a bit. But that is effing hilarious.
Bless this post.
Well that was somewhat traumatizing
Oh man that link was absolutely HILARIOUS thank you for making my day, I think I cracked my ribs xDDD
Im not sure ANY hair is impossible…after all, the mohawk is possible…(those things defy gravity)
*points at Goku’s hairdo* I fukken dare you to say that thing is possible.
Anything is possible with enough glue
Have you SEEN any Yu-Gi-Oh?!? Maybe if you had a whole can of starch to work with, and about three different hair dyes . . . and some wire . . .
Ha! Yugi wakes up at 5am so he and his hair can be ready by noon.
As a gay guy half the yaoi fanfiction I read just boodles the mind. Some of the fan girls dont even do any research and dont get me started on the hole Seme/Uke permanency and stereotypes
Try the Bara genre. It has real men (not those wimpy bishounens), in realistic(ish) relationships and none of that uke and seme crap. Manly relationships, about manly men who love manly men.
I may be heterosexual, but you got to appreciate something that manly.
Is there an equivalent genre for lesbians?
Well, depending which audience it’s for, Yuri works. Some is obviously meant as straight-men entertainment, but a lot is written with a lesbian perspective in mind, with honest relationships rather than bouncing breasts… though, there ARE bouncing breasts. Because, hey, breasts! Yuri in fact was originally a term used by lesbians, and later got picked up as a more general genre.
I recommend Lililicious to check out a good selection of styles and story types.
SPOILER: I am a lesbian
I’ve dabbled in Yuri in the past but never been able to find much that I liked (too many deaths or too much fanservice in place of plot), so I was curious if it was a genre thing or just me not looking hard enough. I’ll definitely check out Lililicious, though! Hopefully I’ll be able to find something with that.
Spoilers: I am too too /brofist
Yumedream is a great epic webcomic that’s pg13 that should fit your bill. More adventurequest in dreamland with people stealing your soul. But nothing is overgendered. Except that one gay guy, but he’s a highschooler. He can be camp.
boodles?
No, Bara genre. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BaraGenre?from=Main.Bara
Yes! Bara all the way baby!
For anyone who likes bishounen, that’s fine. Liking something is a personal matter but my boyfriend and I are a couple of MEN and we like bara style man bumping.
Number one reason why this comic has me in stitches lately. Although worried stitches. The commander was HAWT! Missing that woofy bear of a man.
I think he means “boggle”
Boggle, Bog, Bole, Gob, Gel, ect………. :p
I like Boodles.
And I like your name.
Since when is perverted fiction realistic? It’s like a prerequisite of erotic fiction (especially fanfiction) to be absolutely terrible and unrealistic…
No it’s not. It’s just like all other media on the net. A sea of poor quality with around 10% being great.
Plus there’s erotic fiction of all manner and tastes. Some like it closer to reality.
Yes! I love the Bouncer! Despite the ragdoll physics and the fact it was only an hour long or however stupidly short it was… I remember just being really amused when I saw Kingdom Hearts for the first time, because Sion IS Sora.
lol. but finally an explaintion. will they be normal in the end?
They weren’t normal to start with, but back the way they were? The punchline is masochism not pretty-boy-ism.
*machismo XD. Masochism is something else entirely.
I dunno about anyone else, but I would deeply enjoy a strip or two where the punchline was masochism.
the punchline is ALWAYS masochism.
Only with Marv
“The punchline is masochism” oh christ the mental images… can’t stop thinking of Jared in a gimp suit. Dear lord why.
Oh god… this was made ten times more mind breaking by the fact that I know what a gimp suit is…
Everyone who watched Pulp Fiction does :P
Anyone who hasn’t watched that movie offends my delicate morals.
Also if anyone hasnt the store has plenty of copies.
I have never been able to finish it. But there are a lot of movies that many people think are excellent and I’ve not been interested in sitting through them. Forest Gump. Most comedies or romances. Black Hawk Down. Walked out of one of the comic book remakes, which is of the genre I usually support, but only ever one.
Very glad it is the sort of world that offers lots of opportunities for me. You. And that person over there.
shame.
I already knew what a gimp suit was before i got “pulped” but thats my own fault for having a taste for pyshco gfs. Oh, by the way coela i think your little virus is spreading to youtube. thanks so much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=wkXT7-osncE&NR=1
Spreading?! NS is SPREADING?!?!?!?
RUN FOR YOUR MANLY LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is it strange if I find that video arousing?
Me Gusta
This would be a perfect time in the comic for some sadistic pervert to dress everyone in gimp suits :D
I’d be into that
Jared in a gimp suit.
Oh God, I died. xD
Yes, please, back the way they were. i’m another one that is scared of those swoopy magical goggles.
i love you gothamgirl, “the punchline is masochism” actually made me laugh out loud. and we all know how over-used that line is.
Where as my goal is to make a comment that starts people talking, my goal is never to do it by typos.
DAMN YOU AUTO CORRECT!!!
Now Coela has more fuel… I just hope that she uses it in a manner that’s tasteful as always (Although the beef-ponies terrified me from the filler…)
Coming soon:
The Punchline is Masochism
The Punchline is The Boobs Are Too Big
The Punchline is Late
The Punchline is a Punchline
The Punchline is String Theory
The Punchline is a Lie.
I’d read a few of those. The last one in particular. :p
“I took it as a challenge.”
Excellent.
That’s called the Teddy Roosevelt mentality
^This
Next we need to cover the Andrew Jackson mentality; illustrated by Guts losing an arm, an eye, and fighting off the unholy hordes of hell with nothing more than a massive chunk of horn.
*cue rock n roll montage of manly making power*
**Sings along with Frankenfurter** “In just seven days / I can make you a maaaaaaaaaaa-aa-aa-aa-aaaaan!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V06DISKajss
why DID you send me… this guy… WHEN I ASKED. FOR SOOOOONS!
oh wow didnt even click the link. mad props, laughing target =)
And six long nights!
…please, please, PLEASE tell me that the “Neko Jin” in the link in the post was trolling or something.
I love well-written…well, anything fic, including yaoi/slash, but…man. Sometimes yaoi fangirls scare me.
Your comic, however, is always wonderful and awesome. And seeing the Commander like this is STILL a shock, even though I know it’s coming.
Dear god I’m not even gay and I wanted to smack that girl… not only was she stupidly ignorant of real homosexuals, but this kinda crap is exactly what the artist means about the emasculation of men in our time, too.
it aint any different from girl on girl.
Which does not justify either.
I kind of have a saying:
“Solaris OS is a lot like Lesbian Sex. Sure, it seems pretty and nice to look at. However it is extremely frustrating in actual practice.”
Unfortunately, the only people who enjoy that saying are the people who enjoy girl on girl porn and think Solaris OS is a good idea for an OS to run. Which totally misses the whole point I’m trying to get at here.
The machines I access at my uni to run simulations are Solaris. It ain’t pretty. Reminds me of Windows 3.1, and I can’t upgrade it.
Are you sure you had much of it? Cause I find it rather satisfying.
Poe’s law in full effect: Note sure if Parody, or just simply Extremism.
To be fair, she was probably like, twelve, when she wrote that, so while it’s true none of us would have said something so awful even then, it’s nonetheless possible that she’ll grow out of it, and is not in fact a horrible person, just kind of a horrible tweenager.
Tell me about it… It reminds me of the Catherine Tate sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooWIoSwEsZo
But… yeah… some women like to think of gay men as their pets… it’s rather quite horrifying.
reading it, i actually got sick to my stomach. this is not a thing that happens when i read normal bigotry.
I actually know where that comment is from, it’s from one of the many yaoi comics on Smackjeeves. I had no idea what yaoi was at the time so I decided to check out one of them, and I checked the comments and just saw that. Actually most comments on the yaoi comics on SJ are like that, it’s awful.
Oh my god. I love your for this sentence: “I just want us to acknowledge the difference between actual gay people and what yaoi fangirls think gay people are.”
Love. Love. Love.
Yaoi is as false an image of gay men as the “lesbian” porn aimed at straight men is of lesbians. There’s an interesting discussion to be had about why the stereotypes in each appeal to their audience but I am feeling lazy and don’t want to start it up here.
That said, it’d be funny if bara ever caught on in the West. (Bara is the Japanese equivalent of Tom of Finland– MANLY gay guys being manly with each other.)
The simple version is that men want to look at things, and women want to talk about things. Yaoi gays are very emotional, sub-dom heavy melodramas because the female brain is generally wired to look for emotional vulnerability (which indicates a potential for long-term loyalty) in men. Two men being vulnerable together is like crack for girl brains. Men on the other hand are primarily visual and prefer to look at estrogen features (T&A) bouncing around, so a double dose of boobies is all it takes to rivet male interest. This is why most men can become aroused by still images while most women can’t (we’re less visually driven) and why women can become aroused by reading stories while most man can’t (they’re less emotionally driven.)
Sex psychology is very interesting.
And mostly tripe.
The hilarious part is:
(a) This is why Yaoi and Yuri fanfiction writers and readers are mostly tween girls who have little to no experience.
(b) This is why Futanari fans are mostly tween boys and teen boys who have little to no experience.
Once you get a certain amount of experience with sex, relationships and all that ilk… your ability to enjoy most of these items kind of disappears. It becomes something silly and childish you just laugh about every now and again for silliness reasons.
I think your analogy is slightly off. If i’m not mistaken, it’s been proved that females can be sexually aroused by almost anything, it’s part of the primal reproductive ugre and there for a reason.
“urge” gawd.
reproductive ogre? i think it’s time for some shrek yaoi.
You must be looking at some pretty boring images because I and every other woman I know gets aroused at visual images. And my boyfriend is an erotic writer with a decent fan following of gay and bi men.
He’s speaking in generalities, not universalities. It’s been more or less proven that women on the whole tend to be more inclined toward writing/reading erotic material than men, whereas men tend to gravitate more toward the visual. It’s why women are the primary consumers of romance novels and men are the primary consumers of porn movies.
It’s certainly not a given that such is always the case; many romance novels are written by men under a female pseudonym, and many women enjoy erotic films. On the whole, though, both have fairly firm demographics.
Dorp wasn’t speaking in qualified terms. Regardless, generalities are largely useless and are based more on reinforcing “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” bullshit, where “studies” involve people self-reporting the very things they’re repeatedly told they’re supposed to like. They say that women aren’t visually stimulated, and yet it ignores that muscular actors taking their shirts off in movies is often pandering to women viewers and it works! The idea that most men can’t get aroused by writing is particularly ridiculous; Penthouse letters aren’t there for the enjoyment of female readers. And saying men are less emotionally-driven is silly, too, and just plays into the stereotype this comic regularly lampoons.
Is this a sign that the Commander’s change is here to stay? I really hope not.
Still wondering if his voice changed with his appearance or not.
I like to imagine his voice cracks now.
I read a lot of yaoi, and know a lot of gay people. I don’t think yaoi is gay simply because it really isn’t how most gay men act. It’s just raw and uncharacteristic sex.
Save for the few High-Mode shounen-ai i have- they’re completely and brilliantly in character (okay save for Malik and Bakura having their own bodies separate from their hosts and maybe a little “friendly” with each other), completely hilarious and PG. Apart from the language.
Speaking of the difference between actual gay people and what yaoi fangirls think gay people are…
I’m just gonna leave this here:
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2002/differencebetweenyaoian.jpg
403 removed
I think they’re referring to this image: http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire4/5432a83669271109a89d81bb9d03c49e1244543385_full.jpg
“You fools! This is the truth!”
from where is that
?
Hilarious comic, one suggestion though… When you get too many words into one panel it’s good to break the text into more word balloons.
Alan Moore’s system of maximum 18 words in each balloon, max 28 words on each panel, really really works. It’s a drag at first, but it only benefits your already great storytelling skills.
Keep up the great work!
Oh, I’m well aware of the rule, but when you’re working in webcomic fomat where every page has to be a joke and a story-progressing revelation, and one extra panel means a whole extra row, sometimes you don’t have that luxury.
One of the things I like about this comic is the way you blend large amounts (for a webcomic) of text with quality artwork. I think you do a great job.
Also, I fucking love Volt. He’s a badass, and Bouncer was great.
Yeah, true. Actually I was actually hard-pressed to find a layout that could actually work with the same page size myself. Sometimes you just have to break the rules, I guess.
Completely unrelated question: If I remember correctly you once said you make animations for a living, which program would you suggest to make something resembling eighties Filmation cartoons, the latest version of ToonBoom or the latest Flash? I seem to get dichotomized opinions…
Anyway, have a great day!
I work with Flash, but it’s tricky because I’ve found anything after CS3 to be basically useless. They’re trying to streamline the software for programmers and have managed to completely break the animation part of it. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Toon Boom, it’s certainly more animation-friendly and a more powerful program, but it takes a little more effort to learn and might kind of be overkill if that’s all you’re planning to do with it.
I’ve never pulled a tl;dr on this comic, I never even noticed the word count! Good job! XD
I love this web comic… Though some times it’s like you guys are speaking a whole other language.
And I’m a little afraid to google: yaoi
It’s not a different language, just a different vocabulary of yet another part of civilization. Kinda fun to keep learning about people in our infinite varieties. And yet I feel that way too, E, and am googling a lot of things I don’t know. Lots and lots of character names! Suddenly my son and I have something to talk about.
We don’t talk about the yaoi fanfic, maybe, but the games, sure.
I would suggest, if you decide to google Yaoi, don’t do it at work or where small children may see the screen. As was said earlier and at the top of the comments section, it boodles the mind.
googling yaoi is a one-way trip. do it at your own risk
A very related article on Kotaku about the Bouncer:
http://kotaku.com/5888952/is-this-mostly+forgotten-square-enix-game-worth-revisiting?utm_campaign=socialflow_kotaku_facebook&utm_source=kotaku_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
For some reason I can’t remember why the bouncer was such an ill recieved game, yes it was short and some of the bosses tended to cheat but it was still one of the earliest free motion consol battle arena games that had any kind of decent physics engine. That aside the characters were extremely memorable, I can still remember volt and Sion just by looking at them once and every time I see a volt cameo I’m just like pfftXDXDXDXD….. because he’s such a hillariously out there concept rolled up into a tekkan+Son’s of Anarchy design structure and gets away with it constantly.
As always Excellent job on the comic and I fully understand the “lot’s of text” debate, I used to help my friend with his story boards and discussed it at length because he would ALWAYS but too much text even when it wasn’t necessary.
I like it when bosses cheat. Games these days dont have hard enough bosses. When im able to go back to college and get my degree, i’ll make a game with tons of cheating bosses.
Wait, if they find a cure does that mean he’ll turn into Volt-Hulk?
Maybe the cure is a Rocky Balboa montage with Volt as the trainer?
I think you could cure just about anything with that.
I think, not unlike some kinds of Asthma, there’s a certain threshold of physical exercise that can put you above the problem. It’s not so much that he has a hulk form as that he got so manly the disease stops altering him.
But say for the sake of argument that it is still affecting him. That a cure will make him more manly.
Wouldn’t you say that with that much exercise, he’d be prone to being…. huge? Perhaps twice as broad as normal non-bish commander? Twice as broad as normal Canadian Guy?
Say, that reminds me. We still haven’t seen bish CG. I’m kinda afraid of it now, but still….
Maybe the only remaining effect is a lack of body hair?
And your search on tumblr all makes sense now…
aw lawdie this one killed me.
I guess I’m fortunate that my circle of friends realized a long time ago (back in the FF VII days, in fact) that yaoi is not gay fiction, it’s porn for girls. Not that this speaks for a lot of the more rabid/deluded sorts out there, but at least I don’t have to deal with that nonsense directly.
^ ‘yaoi is not gay fiction, it’s p0rn for girls.’
completely agree :) I’m someone who enjoys it for entertainment, but it’s unfortunate most people have only encountered the silly girls who don’t know the difference.
HAHAHA! I totally called it. Brilliant. You’re amazing, Coelasquid.
Ahaha. I’ve seen that crazed yaoi fangirl comment before. It’s from Smackjeeves, and I’ve met the user. They’re not trolling at all. -.-
Yaoi seriously scares me. And it blows my mind that some of my gay friends aren’t offended by it. @_@
Your gay friends who aren’t offended by Yaoi choose not to be offended for the same reasons certain women choose not to be offended by women with ridiculously enormous breasts in anime doing something silly like use them to gather water (booby buckets I think is what they called it). They see it as stupid but harmless or they enjoy it too much to care.
That reminds me of the smoking den post where they all assumed Hannibal dropping would be the sign to get into the air.
There is a certain amount of bouncing bewbs that just have me grasping my own chest, and doubling over in empathy pains of just watching it.
I’m just going to toss that out there as well.
I have friends with double Ds that get pissed when they see big boobed women running without a bra. This is a magical land where big boobs don’t cause back problems or chest pains. In the real world they contemplate reductions while trying to shop for bras that don’t have tiny ass straps that cut off shoulder circulation.
If your bra has ass straps, the designer Did It Wrong.
No… no… that might solve the lower back issues… now that I think about it.
I run too quickly up the stairs, and my tiny ass C Cups feel a world of pain.
Well, maybe not a world of pain…. but it feels the exact polar opposite of pleasant.
Those videos with the bouncing bewbs? Have me grabbing my chest the whole time… I’ve only had one friend say “mission accomplished” at this little thing.
I have gotten seasick watching Ganaxing breasts in Highschool of the Dead.. I never thought that was possible
Because we have better things to worry about than being offended by something so trivial, specially with bigger problems in the world. I even read the things sometimes, always a nice surprise when you find one that’s actually well written and with a grasp of gay =/= effeminate. Lately I’ve been noticing less Uke/Seme crap too.
As a gay man, yaoi doesn’t appeal to me because it’s mostly bishonen in cliched male/female roles. I much prefer the hairy, beefy guys in bara, especially the works of Go Fujimoto and Jiraiya.
If anyone is curious about bara, there’s a bunch of translated scans to check out at comiz.net.
In case you didn’t figure it out by my opening sentence’s phrasing I’m a gay guy too. Additonally I like bara too, but again it’s not a strong interest in either yaoi or bara. Was just kinda saying it’s nice when you find one that doesn’t do that.
My gay friends don’t give a damn about me watching/reading/writing yaoi, just like I don’t give a damn about my straight guy friends watching two “lesbians” make out and shizz. The majority of people know that that’s not how homosexuals act. It’s just done to entertain people. And I know that gay guys are usually not bishie (some are, I’ve been blown away by how pretty some guys are), just like others know that girls don’t do ridiculous stuff with their breasts and that boobie physics in anime are not the same as boobie physics in real life.
Then you get some really stupid people (of both genders) thinking that that’s how it works. Some guys even seem to think that girls will use any time alone to “explore” each other -_-‘ That I pity.
Woah, wait… Does this mean that Volt, in his own way, has achieved manliness that exceeds the Commander’s own? My awe, it is inspired.
8|
So it’s really true… there really is always going to be someone more than you……
More rich, more manly, more talented….
Even if it’s not obvious.
But…. More manly than the Commander?! No, I can’t believe it. But… I guess it could be….
YOU HAVE BOUNCER DOUJINSHI?!
SCANPLZ ;A;
I fore see a all out brawl where the infected manly men try to put up their manliest fight despite being hindered.
I might be an idiot but why does he have an anti-cactaur jacket?
“No running away” (cactaurs are infamous for running away.)
Please tell me I wasn’t the only one who started to geek out at just seeing the back of Volt’s jacket and instantly linking it to The Bouncer?
Neko Jin scares me, hopefully in the 5 years since that post she has grown and come to learn better and hasn’t had a child and is trying to force them to be a homosexual just for her own shits and giggles. The horror she will have to face when her son washes off the bishie make-up and takes off the effeminate clothing and announce, “Mom sorry but I’m straight, I have a girlfriend, so please stop making me watch your Sex & the City boxsets, stop dragging me to Twilight, and please no more True Blood nights. It’s a good show but you don’t have to Tivo the gay parts and replay them.”
well i’m watchin’ true blood now.
There is not such a thing a “actual gay man” we are all different…
Which is why I didn’t put in an example for “actual gay guy” and left the audience to assume it means they don’t like to be their mothers’ objectified fanfiction sex-puppets.
we Bisexuals are pretty much all the same.
Course i only met the ones in reno, might be a regional thing.
i have no idea what the joke is.
I feel like this comic might have worked better if I had ever seen Volt Krueger before.
The only explanation I can give is that Volt is a manly man living in a bishounen world.
Just leaving a note to say that not EVERY yaoi girl is like that…girl…fucking hell DUCT tape?! >-<
I mean, seriously. Bears are good to, butch men!
Anyhow, great comic! Love the one with pyramide head lol
Oh man, it has been so long since I played The Bouncer. I didn’t recognize him at first.
His last line made that response perfect.
I’m just not gonna get over that last line for a while because that was simply perfection. Way to man up Volt, you’re a credit to “pretty boys” every where XD
Still can’t wait for Commander Badass to go back to his Badass status…is he just stuck in “Bad” right now?
no hes stuck in ass
oh my god, this made my day.
This is making me extremely sad since I have no idea what The Bouncer is.
To the internet with you!
In all honesty, Commander Badass’ new clothes would be excellent if it weren’t for the fact that it’s bishieBadass wearing them. In fact, I think I’ve narrowed down the exact thing that makes it look so incredibly ridiculous (besides that collar/those shoulder pads). It’s the length and narrowness of his neck/face. They’re so out of proportion (and I know that Coela designed them to be intentionally so) with his shoulders and chest that every time I look at CB I wonder who replaced him with a weasel.
Aaaand now that I’m done being a random nitpicker…Yay comic! Lolvolt. I remember The Bouncer. Etc.
I read the link of that yaoi fangirl…. I… I… well… holy shit. My jaw is still 2 centimeters away from the ground while I’m writting this…. just…. woah… Just when I think I’ve seen enough f-ed up people on the internet, th-… THIS shows up.
Oh, and the comic’s great too.
YESSS VOLT. I was hoping you’d bring him back at some point. <3 I remember The Bouncer so fondly.
I enjoy this, i really do. But, even at fifteen i’ve been able to bench more than my body weight. twice. … i refuse to be all angsty over someone elses failure.
Depends, how much was your weight at 15 and how much is it currently? ;)
Ah, yaoi. Got to admire a genre with a name that literally means “No story”.
Well, strictly speaking it’s an abbreviation for a sentence that translates to something like “No meaning, no climax, no point”.
I appreciate the people who can tell and can write the difference between yaoi, m/m, gay or slash fiction and fan-fiction. It is eye-rolling annoying when people don’t.
well theres no meaning or point but there’s certainly a climax ;)
ba dum tish :P
Anyone else notice the repeated “us” in the first frame?
Ah, dammit, I caught that and fixed it when I was pushing around word balloons, but ended up going back to an earlier text layout and must have reset it.
You always introduce me to good/or at least interesting stuffs. I love you for this.
I think I used to read a comic called AOI House or something once which totally picked on the yaoi stereotype.
Anyway, the Tumblr thing made me LOL. Bonus points!
They’re revamping that! It’s pretty funny, yeah. :) It could also be subtitled: “Everybody’s An Otaku!”
Also, this page may be relevant. http://fivehouses.smackjeeves.com/comics/1325944/fh-084/ :)
Can I just say that i hope the commanders hair never changes back? I am just too amused by it’s gravity defying swirl.
I’m rather mesmerized myself, lol.
@_@ If this storyline is going the way that I think it’s going, this may be the reason why Coela has left out Sephiroth in previous comic. She said that she was saving him for something, and this may be it! D= It’s called Nomura Syndrome! OMG I’m so excited. >.<
Back to the current comic. XD Love the link to some hot Dolph Lundgren action. I love that man! And it's always a pleasure to see Volt in this comic. :) I love you more and more with every passing week Coela!
As a bisexual man, I find yaoi ridiculous. I can’t say I’m offended by it, but it is by no means what an actual gay relationship is actually like, and I wish more yaoi fans could understand this. A gay relationship is a relationship between two MEN, not two women who happen to have penises. That is something completely different, all together. Yaoi has always been a real eye-roller for me, but I will admit I take pleasure in reading it on occasion (and I’ve played through my fair share of boy-love visual novels). Sometimes it’s just too fun.
All that said, the fanbase is definitely the worst part of yaoi. I know there are some crazy people out there, but I had no idea it reached the extent of the example used here. This is… Legitimately horrifying.
Trued but I must admit I never had any encounter with one of those crazy yaoi fangirls, but there is plenty of obsessive fans in almost anything once I got death treats messages because I criticized a youtube video xD
Anyway imagine By the way does commander’s new haircut as an specific name? It looks familiar but I cant remember where I saw it before.
death treats sound DELICIOUS
As a Male To Female Transgender, the remark that a lot of Yaoi is pretty much two women with penises actually speaks a fair amount to me.
I try telling people that I cannot really tell the difference between Yaoi and Yuri apart because of this. Fans of Yaoi tell me that it is boys in Yaoi… I keep telling them, “those are not boys… those are not anything like boys”
Yet for some reason, no fans of Yaoi get what it is I am trying to tell them, on this matter.
“Some MANLY Men have vaginas… some women don’t.”
Either way, it is quite offensive that these Yaoi writers don’t just base their ideas of Gay people on these stupid ideas… but they also suggest that a woman is merely a vagina with some limbs attached… I mean, men are only a penis with some limbs attached. I’m not certain I could phrase this in a way that is not offensive… BECAUSE IT IS FUCKING OFFENSIVE.
Its not just offensive towards Gay People… it has no limits on what it is offensive towards.
And now… Justin Beiber has high record sales… is there some way we can spay all the girls into Yaoi? So they stop reproducing?
As someone who has enjoyed yaoi in the past, and still does on occasion, I can tell you that most of them grow out of it. They move on to different fantasies, either involving actual women or actual gay men, and are able to laugh at what is intended to be an outrageous fantasy. Many of them are more gay-friendly for it.
Tl;dr: Don’t look at us, Bieber wasn’t our fault!
Honestly, I’m mostly working from the angle:
If they act and work like two girls… just because they have pen0rs does not make them men.
That just gets me a bit miffed about this.
To be fair, when I was into yaoi two women with peens was exactly what I wanted. I got into it in puberty (around 14) at that awkward age of wanting sex all the time but finding the thought of actual sex (and actual dudes) way too intimidating. I didn’t want to read about realistic people at all, I was barely beginning coming to terms with my own sexuality and all the ramifications of it. Eventually I grew up and out of it and into other things. I still find homoeroticism hot and I don’t begrudge people who find it erotic; not everyone wants their kinks to be based in reality.
That said, I can’t speak for everyone who reads/read yaoi and I do think yaoi as a whole can have a lot of pretty disturbing fetishization going on, particularly towards rape. Eek.
Yeah, I’ll definitely agree on that point.
I tend to like m/m stuff. I don’t know if it falls in as Yaoi because I don’t go for manchicks. I like actual men who act like men and like sleeping with other men. Does that still get defined as yaoi or is it just slash? Or maybe i just doesn’t matter?
At any rate, I’m FTM/bi/whateverelse, but I kind of like for men to act like men and women to act like women in my fantasy writing. What the do IRL is their own damn business, and I try not to paint reality based on my weird fantasies. Just like I know Transformers didn’t actually happen. Well, not 2 and 3 anyway. First one was totally based on a true story.
Well, considering most hetero fanfic isn’t exactly accurate to real heterosexual relationships, I’d say it has far less to do with the content and far more with the people writing it. I mean, yes, most yaoi stories are a huge departure from reality, but I wouldn’t say any of the other types of erotica are all that much better. Seriously, I read a heterosexual lemon once where the author seriously believed that women peed out of their anuses.
Well, we don’t have a penis to pee out of, and we couldn’t pee out of our vaginas, that would be just gross. *eyeroll*
Wow. I knew how little boys peed by the time I was six, and I don’t even have any brothers.
The fact that you love The Bouncer characters is just the most amazing thing ever, all of my friends are always like wtf is “The Bouncer”? It’s such a cult classic. <3
So thank you for being amazing. :D
RE: “I took it as a challenge.”
This man is a baddass among badasses.
I had the same reaction when they told me I was gonna be in a chair by the time i was 25. 32 and only a cane bitches!
It reminds me of Courage Wolf. “Told you can’t bench press your own weight? Take as a challenge!
Or for Vulpe: “Get told you’ll be in a wheelchair? Feed chair to doctors forcibly!”
God. I freely admit upon my years as a yaoi fangirl. My best friend and I drew and wrote yaoi fanfiction/comics. But at the same time I hated hated HATED talking to other fangirls, because while yes, it’s fun and funny to entertain yourself with the “IF they were gay” fantasy, it’s an entirely different thing to believe (and obsessively insist), AGAINST all canonical evidence, that straight characters actually were secretly gay together. Any random and platonic interaction was forcibly peppered with crazy subtext and hidden meanings. It was exhausting and infuriating. Having a fun time with characters in your own head is one thing, but there’s a time to pull oneself out of that delusion and realize that the characters (and real people, ultimately) are not actually like that.
You are the very first yaoi fangirl I have ever met that knows full well the characters are not designed/made/created to be gay.
I am honored and also saddened. XD
I mostly use these fan girls rules on how these dynamics work, to quite openly mock their opinions and ideals.
Nothing is more fun then watching a twelve year old or eleven year old girl when you used their mechanics for “proof of the perfect” relationship, to completely destroy their entire fandom by proving a crack pairing as more effective than their true pairing. Well, not extreme crack pairing.
When they cry, I imagine I’m also getting a lap dance from them.
I also deny any allegations of being a reader of the web comic Something Positive. I haven’t read it in nearly two weeks now. So, yeah.
I see somebody’s been taking Randy lessons. *grin* You, my friend, are awesome.
High five, my buddy. I totally know what you’re talking about. I still can’t talk to the younger crowd about yaoi–it makes my teeth hurt. Doesn’t help, admittedly, that Japanese comics looooove to put those ship teases in, but still. Like you said: there’s a difference between playing what-if and investing large portions of your love for that particular fandom based on something you yourself made up for it.
Yea, that last point hits it right on the head. I could never understand the idea that many fangirls claim to love certain shows or characters for something they don’t even have. It’s like saying you love a certain food for an ingredient that’s not in it.
There is no such thing as alternate character interpretation.
There certainly is such a thing as “so heavily reinterpreted it resembles the original in name only”.
And the story continues. :D
Volt looks kinda attractive. If he get rid of all those annoying piercings that is
You’ve got no taste.
Agreed bland and tasteless
Gotta admit those piercings would be a real detriment to the profession of bouncing, some guy wants to start shit with you and all he needs to do to get the upperhand is grab a fistful of rings.
Ouch.. Really it would be a problem in any kind of fight.
shit that would hurt. course i’m pretty sure we were discussing his attractiveness.
Or bring a magnet.
Nah, you grab a guy like that by the piercings, and he’s gonna break ALL your limbs…as opposed to just the most necessary ones.
Yeah, guy like that, ripping out the piercings won’t incapacitate, just piss off.
So I have a question. I’ve seen references to the game The Bouncer and to the movie The Bouncer. Are they related in some way?
Thanks.
And now that the Commander’s hair is in a gelled up-do, how long is it in the back?
Probably longer in the front than the back. Likely not much longer than it was when he was still Beefshank McLargehuge Commander, just combed forward instead of back.
Annnnd I don’t think they’re related at all. The Bouncer was a launch title for the PS2, about that one guy Tetsuya Nomura always draws and two bouncers acting out the Metropolis anime.
K. I can’t watch The Bouncer, the movie, on Netflix anyway. This character Volt will remain a mystery unless he is fleshed out here; not that he’s done badly at building himself up.
The Commander’s hair is very sweet – Pantened and gelled aside, it’s nice. And a counter-point to the sweep of his jacket’s new skirt.
Will his hair just stay like that? Will he be compelled to re-gel and spray and whatever every morning?
wait hold up when his ex-wife called him B did it stand for beefshank?
Beefshank McLargehuge? Lady, I’m going to giggle like an idiot at work tonight thanks to you!
I think ill refer to the commander as Beefshank McLargehuge from now on.
Brain went immediately to the Longarm western series from the 80’s….nothing ever changes.
WE FIGURED OUT HIS NAME YAY.
“And WHOOSH! that’s canonical now. See my power!!!”
— Steven Moffat, lead writer/producer for Doctor Who, in a tweet
Oh god HE WOULD. XD I love that man.
A man who was made partially out of all-American Steak is named “Beefshank”.
How very creative. Like naming a natural-born child Spermy.
im so happy you put volt btw are you going feature Kazuma Kiryu
I find it absolutely hilarious that Volt was also back on this page hehehe
http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/899
lol, the implications of reading yaoi fanfiction while pregnant. It’s true, some of that stuff is just TOXIC. Ladies, please use responsibly.
Anyway, I like to think most of the annoying fangirls are just underage and don’t know any better. So far, I haven’t met any adult yaoi fans (myself included) that think real gay people are like their anime porn-fantasies. Maybe I’m just lucky.
Most of us do grow up and learn to appreciate a little more reality. After all, guys of all shapes and sizes are hot. But trust me: finding that one outlier who keeps clinging to ‘omgkawaiiboysformyamusement’ is kinda horrifying. You have indeed been lucky.
How many conventions do you go to? I haven’t been in several years, but I tell ya; peeking into a yaoi panel and seeing just how many grown women are in there squealing right alongside the preteens is really disturbing. XD
XD Well, yelling and squealing with titillation is one thing; shrieking that Naruto and Gaara’s love is forever and DEATH TO ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE is definitely another.
Agreed! I’ve had instances that made me “melt” or even (God help me) “squee”, but I know how to separate canon and fandom. Those nut-jobs that get legit mad over shipping or speculation are the ones you need to avoid.
Okay with regards to your bonus comic, I am living with that every day of my life. I can’t remember if half of what I know of different books/shows is from the original material, or some fanfic I read at 5am when I was cracked out on Mountain Dew.
And man I had completely forgotten about The Bouncer.
I’m just laughing my head off here–in a good way, naturally.
I smell…epicosity. And here’s two dollars for the Epic Jar.
I tried giving The Bouncer another chance about a month ago, but… ugh. I think what I hated the most about the game was its terrible experience-point system, that only rewarded you with XP (sorry, BP–BOUNCER points!) when you delivered the finishing blow to an enemy.
So that means you could be fighting a boss, do most of the damage, and one of your teammates runs up, kicks him in the shin, AND YOU GET NOTHING.
I’m hoping that when fan comics time comes up again nobody snags my idea of just after the Nomura Syndrome ends, they all get a virus that turns them into abstinent pacifist vampires who sparkle in the sun.
The only proper conclusion is Commander Badass talking somebody out of sucking the barrel of a gun while pulling the hammer.
Kratos: “I… sparkle… in sunlight!”
Command B.: “Look, there is no problem here.”
K: “I… sparkle… in sunlight!”
CB: “This will get better…”
K: “I. Sparkle. In Sunlight!”
CB: “We’ll work through this, there’ll be nothing wrong.”
K: “I! SPARKLE! IN! SUNLIGHT!”
CB: “Right… uh… notice anything else?”
K: “I have this strong urge to stalk underage women, write whiny poetry and act like an impotent fool in front of people…”
CB: starts wrestling the gun from Krato’s face, “Okay, maybe that was a bad way to go…”
Dude, you don’t need a new storyline for that! I’d say just use Kain, while under these horrifying effects! That would be the funniest thing I’ve seen all week!
I _MUST_ see a comic with Kain in such a sparklicious manner!
@CoelaSquid you must make this! I will do anything for you if you do!
Well done Miss, you win EVERYTHING.
Huh, I almost would’ve guessed it’d be called Amano Syndrome instead of Nomura … but hey, maybe Amano’s a more severe form of it, with increased pouting and anemia.
Amano syndrome is more akin to Youngblood’s Disease in that its most noticeable trait is unrelated to secondary sexual characteristic deformation.
In the case of Amano Syndrome, the primary symptom is becoming blurry, as if somebody smeared Vaseline on the lens looking at you.
I have just realised something… There is no mention whatsoever of Jayne Cobb anywhere in this comic… This needs to be fixed…
I think my son’s safe, I didn’t start reading yaoi and yaoi fanfiction until after he was born . . .
Without knowing who Volt is, I got the context enough to find it hilarious :D I looked up ‘Nomura’ and laughed even more, then looked up The Bouncer. And then became smug in my new glut of knowledge.
love your comic, Coelasquid :)
I’m a total yaoi fangirl. And the “worse”, less-realistic it is the better! I actually totally love the girly girly men in it because it feels so much like gender blending to me. Like really the characters could be any gender, they just happen to have penises in this situation. I like that because its easy to enter yourself into the situation and fantasize etc. (Don’t judge, we all got kinks.)
The more manly the men the more I feel left out of the whole story. Cause I’m not a man. So it gets harder and harder to identify with the characters. And that’s just frustrating.
That being said, it is VERY VERY important to distinguish between real-life and fantasy. And I find it kind of creepy that that girl is essentially using porn as a model for how she wants her son to turn out….
This. ^
I’m a straight guy, and my porn is almost completely unrelated, and I can STILL agree with this wholeheartedly. My porn and my real perceptions need to be kept faaar away from one another.
So you can’t identify/ immerse yourself unless the characters are androgynous? Wouldn’t it just be simpler to find some hetero-hentai with female appeal (i.e. non-Gainax boobs, etc)? (granted I’m not an expert on the subject so this is pure conjecture)
Ah yes, yaoi/yuri vs. real life… I’ll let these two comics speak for me:
http://humon.deviantart.com/art/Yaoi-Boys-269590809
http://humon.deviantart.com/art/Fanboy-Lesbians-272833397
For some reason I think of Stephen
Oh, uh, warning: I’m not 100% certain if that link is worksafe.
A few things;
A: If it’s any comfort to you, I did a Google Search (SafeSearch off) and found no Manly Guys Doing Manly Things yaoi. You are safe…for now.
B: I agree completely, and the yaoi fanfiction/reality dichotomy applies on the yuri side as well. I’ve got a couple of lesbian friends, and if I showed them half of the yuri hentai I see, they’d puke.
C. Great comic, as usual.
Granted, hentai is hardly a representative sample of the yuri idea, but I just think girl/girl is hot. I couldn’t care less about the relationship-development stuff in fanfiction.
Agreed, these fanfiction stuff usually shows idealizations and fantasies, very further from reality. In yaoi, men do all this romantic stuff, poses, touches, eyes, and things you need to hit a guy with a stick to remind them it exists, and in yuri, women are horny and want to have sex without foreplay all the time.
Except when yaoi is writen by men, and yuri by women, then it all turns around.
Ahaha, I honestly wouldn’t care if there was, once I was at a convention and a guy asked me for Commander/Jared Slash so I drew them in the “Gone With The Wind” cover pose with Commander wearing the billowy shirt and all that. One of my Broest Canada bros drew me a picture of Commander and Sten Making out once and I laughed forever. I don’t have the link on hand, but it was somewhere on Tumblr.
I thought I saw something suspiciously similar to the commander making out with sten on tumblr… I just passed it off as a coincidence
I’ll just take your word for it. For God’s sake, don’t post the links; there may be yaoi artists (the pornographer types, not the…uh…”realistic” ones) that could use your pictures as inspiration, and before you know it, it’ll be spreading like a virus.
I know a lot of lesbian yaoi fangirls, myself included. I guess it’s because the characters are girlier than most yuri’d characters?
When are women going to think of the children? Fetal Nomura Syndrome is not funny. Where is the surgeon general on this?
My brain is now giving me an awesome 80s training montage to show Volt overcoming all obstacles to emerge from the cocoon of his affliction like the manliest butterfly ever.
Thanks, now I can’t get that image out of my mind. xD
Okay fangirl moment but I love your username and if that’s in any way related to your real name then I just might implode with glee. Tamora Pierce fan: yes or no?
This must happen. Now.
On one hand, that comment you linked worries me, because coming out is a really confusing time in a guy’s life. The last thing he needs is someone he loves and trusts trying to fit him into some sort of goddamn fantasy mold while he’s still trying to define what gender and masculinity mean to him.
On the other hand, now that we are warned, we can observe. If there’s ever a slim chance for her to breed, we can just force her to go to a bear meet-up and tell her “This is what real gay men look like.”
Then we just wait for her to do a Scanners impression.
Thanks for reminding me of The Bouncer, I actually loved that game…gonna go off and play it for a while now.
So, if Volt didn’t have it, he would be ugly like Marv?
As a gay man I absolutely love and endorse your humor. I find it really weird looking at most yaoi. It’s like someone taking your life and fabricating it to such extraordinary extremes that it’s almost unrecognizable. I’ve run into a few of the more extreme yaoi fangirls, thankfully most I’ve met aren’t as nuts, and they’re always perplexed that I’m not really that over the top girly. It’s even funnier if my boyfriend is with me cause he’s a bigger, hairier guy with a beard. Some of them actually thought we were playing a joke and not really a gay couple. Needless to say, the world has some very ignorant people in it.
I wonder if his mom hates him now, since he is no longer “Super Kawaii”
He did run off and join the mob at some point…
Maybe it’s just me or the horribly monitor screen I have here, but in Panel 3 it almost looks like the Commander is crying. (I guess it’s just the light between the shadow and sideburns, though).
Good ol’ Nomura, patron saint of bishounen-creators everywhere.
Anyway, I totally agree with you on the subject of yaoi fangirls.
I know people who write good yaoi fanfiction, with a plot (*gasp!*) and IC characters instead of random people with the characters’ names slapped on and all. But for every one story I find that’s good, there are a hundred that make me want to introduce my forehead to a nice big wall.
The good ones are almost impossible to find; the forehead-to-wall ones are a dime a dozen and have bonus berserk-button-pressing like auto-mutilation and abusive parents and whatnot.
That forum post you linked to? As a bisexual female, that hurt my soul.
Go forth, Coelasquid, brave, brave warrior. I salute you. Good luck.
YOU FOUND ONE WITH PLOT!?
If you’re okay with the flagship of “zomg pwetty bishies” Kingdom Hearts, go search for “Binary” by Lost Forevermore on fanfiction dot net.
The majority of Good Omens Aziraphale/Crowley fic could count too, if you’re willing to give philosophical debate a pass as plot.
Could you take a shot at explaining the fan girl fascination with idealized gay folks?
I’ve heard theories that by making romance (or porn) featuring two heavily emasculated, effeminate men, you capture the attention of young women lacking experience with men or relationships who might otherwise be intimidated by the idea of sex. The characters all have non-threatening good looks and there are no actual women there to make the reader feel threatened by the competition (which may sound ridiculous, but just think of how many times you’ve seen a fangirl of something get frothing angry about other people trying to stake claims to their favourite character or declare how much they hate said character’s canonical love interest for no particular reason beyond “she female and she’s with my bishie”).
Nah that ain’t it I’m as depraved as hell and still like it
Nice theory but this is mostly a cultural factor, stories of beautiful man their value and relations exist in ancient Japanese literature also in the stories of the male consorts of Chinese imperial court of course china is now very homophobic and japan of course exploited the whole thing until it degenerate into something completely ridiculous.
But yea to understand the “weird” aspects of a culture one most look into their history, their literature, their habits and even their religion. Personally I found this both disturbing and fascinating.
P.S. Sorry for my poor English.
Because they are young and stupid I used to hate them but then I remember that I also used to like and believe stupid things when I was a teen.
For example the story of how Lord Long Yang cried when he thought in the possibility of his lover would replace him for someone more beautiful sounds like something out of a yaoi doujinshi but is actually a very old tale.
You know, I can’t really remember what happened in that game either. All I can remember is the name “DAURAGAN C MIKADO >8(” and a lot of uppercut spamming.
Also that Volt is weak against robots.
because he’s wearing a punk-like jacket and most punks have an “anti-nazi” patch sewn on it. The cactuar looks like a swastika :p
nazi cactuars… now we’re really fucked…
unless you’re blonde and blue eye though.
You also hav e to be part cactus
OH! MY! GAWD!
What a pinnacle of manliness this Volt is. I would like to arm wrestle him, in respect.
I would not, for my arms would break. Even the one I wasn’t wrestling with.
There’s no closet here, gay people are professing everywhere..and I believe I have an obligation to as well.
My sis loved yaoi and it sickened the hell out of me. I gotta say I’m not the manliest man in existence- anemia, years indoors video gaming, and general distaste for the people I live near making me more small framed and pale. But in no way am I dressing up like a girl, throwing myself at other men, or pointlessly taking off my shirt for dramatic moments.
That Neko Jin person almost made me throw up. WHIPS? FUCKING DUCT TAPE? SHOPPING? I imagine it’d be hell for her kid, and hope to god she only has girls (or that she doesn’t reproduce, ever)
Hey don’t knock whips and shopping that’s my livelyhood man
Haha, this is the first time I’m commenting but I wanted to say I love this webcomic, it’s one of my faves. I would love for this to be a cartoon, I think that would be awesome. Anywho, as a gay guy i can promise that there is a HUGE difference between gay men and what yaoi fan girls think gay men are. Man i really hate yaoi fan girls.
I’m so glad you took this direction with the comic after those snipes about thin anime guys being manly. It was missing machismo for a bit, but Nomura just made up for it 100%.
Now, as a straight male, I am comfortable with my sexuality to express my opinion on whether or not another male is attractive.
I love bishonen characters and I also love manly characters. However, I want my bishies kept bishie and my macho men kept macho. Any change is a perversion of their characters. Good on you, Coelasquid! Shame on the others who blindly hate.
Well said, sir.
….. I just realized they did not turn into women, just bishonens. I’m not sure which is worse.
There isn’t really that much of a difference unless you check under the hood.
Women are not the true reason the Twilight books were made, but the bloody bishonen. So there’s a huge enough difference, women are nice and soft, Bishonen want to make me gouge out my eyes.
Sadly, a yaoi fangirl tried to bishonenize me. I saw her working on it. 6’4″ 320 pounds of fury, hair, and sweet tooth and she tried giving me sparkles. Twas a horrible day.
I’m just saying *IF* I were to want to watch gay men sexing each other up, I’d want to see big, burly, super masculine guys doing it- not little girly bishis. I’m also creeped out at how LONG the faces of most bishounen are. It’s really creepy to me. And
As it is, I’m a female sort of person who likes big, burly hefty Kinda-Like-Scottish-Highlanders with that little chubby tummy thing kind of guys, so seeing two of them together might make me go *squee* but it would also make me sad because gay and into one another= not sexually interested in little ol’ me.
<_< That said, I'd really like this kind of disease for women. I hate having big boobs and an apple shape regardless of how much I exercise and diet.
I hope this “Neko Jin” person gets her tubes destroyed in some sort of an accident.
That yaoi fangirl’s comment is making me laugh so hard right now!
Hey, I enjoyed the Bouncer. Although Volt was one of my worst characters…
Just a thought: Poison. Her genetics read off as male still. She could contract Nomura Syndrome and how do you bishonen someone that looks like a woman with breasts?
In a word, CLAMP.
XD yesssssss
Oy if I had a nickel for everytime somecame in with that exact question…
Oy if I had a nickel for everytime somecame in with that exact question…
It occurs to me that Kenshiro from “Fist of the North Star” isn’t featured in this comic. Why not?
I’ve bankrolled a couple of my conventions by advertising live yaoi shows- starring myself and some of my close friends. The right outfits, a sign on the message board… overflowing tip jar, and some fun among friendly lovers to boot! ^.^;;;
And right entertaining you must have been. XD Not gonna lie, I love those. Everybody has fun with those as long as shipping wars don’t start over which pairing is better. (And if the schadenfreude is right, those can be hilarious too.)
Wow… that is a surprisingly good idea.
Now if only I could legally do the same with “Live Futa Shows” and I’d be set =P
OMG! i could not remember the name of that game! i can’t believe you know what that game is. It’s actually given me some of my ideas for my projects in the past, but the game got lost amongst a multitude of house changing. That game was awesome, takes 7 play throughs to max everyone out, i remember that much. It was Square’s answer to the fighting genre. (well, one of them anyway) thanks for reminding me the name of the game, so i can go look up a let’s play to get acquainted with it again. =)
See, I will enjoy the occasional yaoi fanfiction if written well. Sadly they get few and far between, as for the whole “If I had a boy-“message; I’d be amazed if there would be any of these yaoi fangirls who believe relationships-hetro or homosexual would be like whats written in fanfiction would actually be in a relationship or even allowed to breed.
Sounds like I’m trolling here but my peeve is butchering characters people have worked their arses off creating.
I’m in love with this storyline just a fabulous bit of fun, there needs to be more fun poked at fan stereotypes. :)
“It really was a gem”
You wrote it didn’t you? I bet it was you. That’s why it’s not on the face of the internet.
On a more (less?) serious note, I need to see Showdown in Little Tokyo. That looks terrible in the best way possible.
Showdown in Little Tokyo is pretty much the best movie ever. Dolph Lundgren, Brandon Lee, Tia Carrere and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. I would link to more of it to get everyone excited but all the ‘best of’ bits from youtube have spoilers so just watch it right now. RIGHT NOW.
As a fan of yaoi, I do take a little bit of offense to the stereotype that we’re all terrible-Japanese-spouting, foaming-at-the-mouth, fangirls who act like yaoi is proof that God exists. Not all of us are that stupid. True, there are some special snowflakes out there that think that yaoi is seriously how gay males’ relationships work, but they’re honestly just as annoying to the rest of us as Twilight fans are to anyone who reads. There are many, MANY series, fanfictions, and characters out there who are written by females who actually know how the hell a male would act in said situation, or even by males themselves (it’s true!).
Not that I take offense to the line in the comic, I think it’s funny; I am a tad pissed at the author comments tho. I was hoping you’d be a little less prejudiced than that. Please don’t lump the intelligent folk in with the cat-eared “kawaii desu~” crowd. It’s insulting and borderline offensive. Thanks.
I think hotboxing cigars should be the cure. It must be.
That’s just gonna make hannibal pssout
I’ve countered zealots from both camps, their main traits are enforcing certain tropes, condemning any het pairings (try mentioning YunoNano or YunoFate in a Nanoha forum and watch the rage erupt.)
I’ve notice there is a particular formula for both, with common traits being the opposite gender being marginizlied for whatever reason, some sort of close/tense dynamic between the target characters, and general prettiness.
From what I’ve heard from Yuri fanboys is this notion of purity that only girl loving a girl could bring. Pretty twisted if you ask me, good thing such folk consider their own dicks evil and thus won’t reproduce.
i admit to having no knowledge about yuri besides that its girl on girl, but ive always seemed to get that the point of lesbian porn was porn without dicks in, purity optional.
Finally! I find out who spiky-forehead-man is! I have been looking
*point*
Should be “therapy” not “thrapy”
“Shot in the head” canon came from the booklet included in the game packaging. I don’t remember if it was actually mentioned in-game or not. But it’s not fanon.
But you probably already figured that out or were told by someone else.
I’m glad I’m not alone in my love of Volt and Kou. That game would have been 10x better without whats-his-name-the-predecessor-to-the-protagonist-in-Kingdom-Hearts.
And I still say Zell Dincht is Kou and Volt’s love child. Or maybe that’s what Volt looked like before he was done with all his lifting.
Also, if I ever find someone who can give me Volt’s style of transdermal horns, I’m leaving the Navy and my hope at ever having a job anywhere but a piercing shop or a porn store and getting those babies put on my forehead.
Or I could try to sell my artwork. But that hasn’t worked so far.
I got some horns for ya
It was mentioned in the game, in one of those loading screens with text dialogue. That’s why he got the horns, to cover the bullet marks.
“transdermal horn implants” Oh man I just had flashbacks of “catman”
http://i39.tinypic.com/352rd5j.jpg
Forget about the Tvirus if unbrella get his hands on the Nomura Syndrome we are all screwed.
Before I started reading this comic, I had no idea what bishies, yaoi, or yuri were. Now that I know my soul is twisted with anguish knowing that a bishie version of wolverine is on the web. I could accept anyone except wolverine being turned bishie. My innocence is now officially gone.
P.S. I really like the comic, just cannot like bishies, they creep me out. Not hating on anyone that does though, thats their business.
I had to go see Wolverine turned bishie! Amusing. Then I found Sauron and was amused all over. From there searched for “Legolas bishonen” and guess what! Lots of pictures of Orlando Bloom! (no surprise there.)
So it got me thinking. Back in the day, this is one way that the elves were drawn. Speaking purely of the visual presentation, I’m seeing differences in the hair (sometimes), the stance, the clothes often. Artists did not have the same ability to share so freely in the 60’s and 70’s, and yes, it’s been a few years and the memory may be faded. But these characters look a lot like I remember the elves stuck trying to blend into modern society were drawn.
I don’t really want to get into a discussion of sexual preferences over this, mostly I am interested in hearing what artists have to say about the history of their craft. and also, how do you capture the soul of someone and put it on ‘paper’ and be able to say ‘this is a bishonen’ or ‘this is an elf’ and have that image stand on its own without captioning.
I maybe haven’t had enough coffee yet so let me know if this not respectful. Having been led into a new section of the world by this comic and the people who come here to talk, I’m learning stuff and that also means shoving it up against stuff I’ve already learned and comparing and considering. Sometimes that process drives me to say things the wrong way.
Had to look it up. When I saw this, I thought “Oh that doesn’t look that bad! Everyone’s overreacting!” …But then I saw this… I have no words other than “I’m sorry”.
Damn, I nearly woke up half the flat at the mention of ‘Nomura syndrome’ and the realization that working from home has turned me into a hermit and I now seriously read too many comics, play too many games and should really make some offline friends; the kind that go outside.
Having said that, I have been gleefully following your comic for some time now, but never read the comments. Backtracking from the beginning, it seems you have gathered quite the variety of readers. This in itself is brilliant. Also, you seem to stay true to what you think is hilarious, which is actually quite refreshing. Perhaps I have too little scruples left from my job, but I think you’re almost too polite about it. I am almost jealous.
NB: your art makes me jealous too.
The new anime wolverine is all bishi….. also terrible so very terrible.
I kind of want a “No Cactaurs” patch now.
Just found your comic because it was linked to on Dueling Analogs, and now this is one of my favorites!
I would understand if you would just write this off as a nit picky thing, but the cactus lacks continuity within the panels. The image on the sleeve has one arm over the red line in one panel and under the line in another, and the back one has a much greater spacing to the edge of the cycle then the one’s on the side.
I’ve got to say this is a hilarious arc and I’ve been enjoy every last panel. I always thought the idea of a bishonen plague was a hilarious idea if it could be executed right, and boy oh boy, you’ve nailed it. I hope to see more spanning arcs in the future of this comic. Keep up the good work. :)
I just came across this….http://9gag.com/gag/3060589
THEY BISHIEFIED TONY STARK WTF
Lol that is not bishification is just a sailor moon/ironman parody is obvious that the intention of the artist was to make something funny.
Kind of like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ5ziNOtoMU
Oh god, Nomura Syndrome made me bust a gut so bad, and the frame with Volt confessing he’s been living with it all his life did not help at all. Help, I’m in paaaain
And oh man, the Bouncer. It was SO BAD, but I just couldn’t help but love it, it was so hilarious and entertaining in its badness (and hey, it’s not like there weren’t some good things in it as well – like Volt and Mugetsu). I’m truly sad that there are so many people who have never even heard of the game and don’t know the characters. In fact, I think I’m going to go and play it right now, it’s been a while since the last time.
Ahahah…yaoi fanfiction. Yaoi tropes bug me, about on the same level harlequin romance tropes bug me. Partially because of the strict gender roles, but also because of the unrealistic way relationships are portrayed(particularly if there are nonconsensual moments involved). And in yaoi fanfiction, it’s often the case of trying to hammer square pegs into the round holes of ‘typical seme’ and ‘typical uke’. There are good m/m writers out there, but fanfic isn’t the first place I’d look.
I’m pretty much the same as you. Love me some slash. But oh god, there’s so much hilariously bad and WRONG stuff out there that you can’t help but make fun of it.
And pfft. Nomura Syndrome is so apt. I do like my bishies, but seeing them everywhere lessens the appeal.
Oh god that Yaoi fangirl just… reminded me what I upgraded to actual porn and erotic books over Yaoi Manga. xD And you know, the occasional slash.
What’s sad, is she’ll probably never grow out of that less-than-mature outlook. -sigh-
OH WELL. Love your manly men doing manly things comic. It’s hilarious gold. Nomura Syndrome – can’t get funnier than that.
Looking forward to where this goes!
… and getting the old ‘B’ back. xD
Never grow out of it? Why do you believe that?
http://www.vice.com/read/power-couples-425-v17n5
On the note of what most people’s mental imagery of what a gay couple or person looks like, here’s a photoset of a few couples. Some pictures are a bit nsfw but if you can, you should take a look. Found it while stumbling through the internet and thought it kind of appropriate.
just to enlighten me and stop me from being ignorant, could someone give me a link to a picture of volt in his natural habitat?
this comic is becoming a soapbox to smack down all the worst kind of fandoms. I LOVE IT DO MORE.
That is pretty much what happens with every webcomic as the purpose of any form of art is to express emotions and ideas is not rare that the artist uses it to express what they dislike and you either agreed or not.
As for me I am waiting patiently to see more about Commandeer and Jared (two of my favorite webcomic characters) and a little less of the east Vs west thing.
OMG! I just saw the Street Fighter vs Tekken ending with Zangief and Rufus. No seriously, look it up on Youtube. My mind was blown!
I notice the Commander wearing GURREN LAGANN sunglasses. Is he going to find Kamnia and Simon and find another route out of Nomura syndrome is OVERWHELMING MANPOWWWWWWA!
Personally, I can understand why “the Bouncer” was so poorly received. The combat mechanics were simply… poorly done. Volt in particular was a grappler who could throw his targets. That SHOULD mean lots of slamming them into walls and other foes for massive damage, right? Nope – if he slams them into a wall he drops them and the move is negated. So he’s slow AND weak. Also, it was single player IIRC, so you couldn’t even bring a friend along for a game that involved multiple characters.
As for the bishounen/yaoi thing, I do know a friend who deliberately went for the bishounen look for a time. There’s nothing wrong with it at all. I, on the other hand, am a very large, muscular male who does one armed pushups. And there’s nothing wrong with that, either. There’s no one standard of beauty – big strong manly men are attractive, and so are slender yummy toyboys, and so are curvaceous full figured women, and so are slender willowy nymphs.
Of course, that being said… I am LOVING this. Though now I’m wondering: Kain was affected by the Nomura Virus. Are we going to see… Raziel, affected as well?
This is the best story arc of anything ever
Why on earth doesn’t Commander say “You’re awfully well informed, Volt” in the fifth panel?
That’s the one thing I hate about the yaoi-fanatics (but not all of them), they look for any excuse to force any two straight characters into romances with each other.
The only yaoi pairing that I’d endorse would be between Edward and Jacob, and that’s only because it would make the plot a LOT more interesting.
As a slash fan, I am ashamed of my compatriots. Is it too late to get a divorce from the yaoi fandom?
From now on, I’m only playing Volt in this game. I don’t care if you can’t throw robots.
I was a huge fan of your stuff around 3 years ago when I actually spent any time on dA and you participated in those comic battles with Blue and Dagget. It took a friend posting a link to one of your pages for me to start reading the comic and even then I didn’t realize it was you until you posted a link to your tumblr and I recognized the name. Way to make me nostalgic.
On the one hand, I want to plead “not all yaoi fans are like that!” since I’ve been in those trenches, and there really is good stuff to be found. On the other hand, I’ve also been *out* of those trenches, and I’ve come to recognise that there’s yaoi fans and then there’s slash fans who like anime. And its’ exclusively the slashers I look up to.
Well I guess with all the yaoi and slash I read my kids will have this too someday hahahaha
Also, just to say, there is nothing wrong with liking bishi guys. Considering how many guys in real life are slim and skinny and cute I don’t see the big problem. I also like big muscular dudes too (Got me some Hellboy crushin up in her), and it gets annoying when people act like people who like bishi guys are less than them, or are horrible people or something.
i really like this page because it makes reference to the kind of “bushido pretty boys” that you’ve (kind of) made fun of before, but in a way that’ respectful (i guess??). Volt has the prtty man disease, the comic acknowledges that, but at the same time says he’s managed to beat it at it’s own game. i hope that was coherent…
Man, I read one of your earlier comics and was like “dang, is that a beautifully drawn Volt from The Bouncer?!” this explains it!
I liked him too… I should mention here that Dante deserves further consideration as a manly man and not a bishie – evidence being, his DMC4 design. Nero becomes the Nomurian, Dante becomes this stubbly sex god.