Spoofy Randomness

Chapter: – On a Side Note

  • Coincidence

    Coincidence

    Woo, another arc down! I enjoyed showing off the side characters over the past month, but next month will be back to focusing on the main cast.

    I like how Matt turned out in this strip. I think that he has really captured the Eleventh Doctor’s persona well. The Eleventh Doctor likes to get in people’s face, ramble, and then grin and act like nothing happened, often being accompanied with a slap on the cheek. Plus he tends to whip out the sonic screwdriver for EVERYTHING. Poor Ichabod nearly messed himself when the Doctor accidentally got it right. I also really like the quote (from the Doctor Who Christmas Carol episode of Christmas 2010) because it can be applied to the side characters that might get forgotten otherwise while referencing a character in today’s strip. My complaint on this comic is that Holly appears combative in Panel 2 instead of inquisitive.

    Have fun!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~

  • Alien Interests

    Alien Interests

    Ref: Matt Smith

    Poor Matt… He has no idea what he’s dealing with. The spaceship that he is attempting to replicate is, of course, the TARDIS. Obviously, his is not a working model. This is also comical in that it’s an alien who Matt thinks is human talking to Matt, who wishes he was an alien Time Lord.

    I like this comic for the little details, such as the glimpse of Matt’s suspenders, the lights, and Chad walking past wondering about Ichabod’s clothes. Ichabod clearly doesn’t understand everything about which clothes are appropriate for what; it’s a good thing Nikki always wears similar things or he’d really be mismatched.

    Have fun!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~

  • Controversial Topics

    Controversial Topics

    All right, brace yourselves. This is gonna be a long one. Like Dan Shive long (not that it’s a bad thing).

    Peanut Butter and Jelly

    I feel guilty that we haven’t seen these two in almost a year. PB&J’s Ice Cream was one of the first aspects of Spoofy Randomness (appearing in the first storyline), and was intended to be a local off-campus place for students to hang out. Nikki and Chris are good friends of the comedically named Peanut Butter and Jelly, and as a result the rest of the main cast has been seen there, but other students, such as Sally, have been known to frequent the place as well. They began their business last fall, and last winter added a video game section. Judging by this comic, it has been successful.

    In addition, the ice cream shop was my first Google SketchUp. I finished the exterior way ack then, but the interior was left blank until now. I FINALLY finished! It is happy dance time.

    Timothy and SR: Scouting

    That’s right, for On a Side Note, we REALLY went on the side, bringing in a character that has never appeared in Spoofy Randomness before, but has often frequented Spoofy Randomness: Scouting. SR: Scouting actually takes place a few years before the main comic. In that comic, Timothy is a Lodge Chief in the Order of the Arrow; by this time he has worked his way all the way up to Section Chief. Interesting note: Sally is a Venture Scout (as has been shown), and both Chris and Chad have earned their Eagle Scout (although Chris has not earned it yet in SR: Scouting). Timothy also has his Eagle Scout.

    Demons & Dwellings

    And Spoofy Randomness just went political again! Well, as political as D&D can get. I originally was having trouble scripting this; the original draft involved Sally having a crush on them both, but I couldn’t figure out who she’d be talking to aside from Nikki, and I couldn’t work PB&J in there too well. The answer came to me as a result of my Wendesday D&D: Encounters session. I recently wrote a review of the new Fortune cards (which can also be found on my blog) that I had the opportunity to test run at my local Encounters gathering (they’ll be officially out in February). The two views here are two of the common views I’ve heard vocalized (although, as my review shows, neither is what I personally consider to be the biggest issue).

    Also, I don’t really fear trademark infringements, but it is kinda fun to come up with alternate names.

    Technical Difficulties

    Aside from the scripting issue noted above, there were other problems with this comic. I’d been on painkillers all week from getting my lower wisdom teeth out, so getting stuff done was difficult. I was finally going to make it Friday morning after scooping the driveway AGAIN…and then my mother insisted that since my swelling hadn’t gone down that I see the dentist again. He told me that all was well (as I knew), but there was my morning gone and I was busy in the afternoon. To top it all off, these painkillers make me forgetful, and I left my power cord for my laptop at my friend’s house. I was going to get it after he got off work Saturday…and then it snowed AGAIN and the roads got really bad, so I just bumped Friday’s comic to today. So yeah, hopefully no more missed comics in the near future!

    Have fun!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~

  • Combination

    Combination

    Ref: Nikki’s Room

    And Ichabod winds up discovering he has a new power by accident! The irony of this being it was completely unnecessary; with either form he would have achieved the same result. He just doesn’t understand nudity fully yet (but at least realizes he needs to cover up now).

    This comic isn’t my best work, I realize. After having my lower wisdom teeth out on Monday, I’ve had a headache and the meds make me sluggish, so the fact that I even got this done is impressive.

    Also, if you missed my Tweets and Facebook postings, Louis (who has been very generous with fan art over the past year) has started a webcomic with another one of my friends. It is based off of Pokemon, so Chris approves (plus yours truly will make a few cameos). Check it out at Dumb Pokemon Comics.

    Have fun!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~

  • Santa’s Hidden Motives

    Santa’s Hidden Motives

    And now I’ve scarred your childhood memories of the jolly fat man. It could be worse; when coming up with John’s rationale, I compared Santa giving out coal to the gulags. I decided that probably should be cut from the script.

    I’ve wanted to do a scene with these two brothers for a while now. As I’ve said before in commentaries, John is one of my favorite characters, and I love the old stereotypical police officers in movies and books. The two characters that probably inspired Sheriff Whitebucket the most are Buford T. Justice from Smokey and the Bandit and Bo Tully from Pat McManus’s mystery novels. The combiniation of the Commie-fearing man and the sheriff just works so well. Looking at the last panel, I realized how amazing it would be to have a puppet show involving these two teaching kids about how amazing America is and the evils of Communism.

    Have fun!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~

  • Canadian Pirate

    Canadian Pirate

    Ref: Chad (1) (2) (3) | Sally (1) (2) (3)

    Chad

    I’ve been looking forward to making this part of comic continuity for about a year now. First of all, for those of you who don’t remember (and I certainly wouldn’t blame you), that is Chad. I don’t believe that his name has ever actually been said in comic, though. Chad is your do-it-all guy on campus. He’s already been shown as playing a role on the student activities council and admissions (see links above). Apparently he’s shaved his beard off since then. Now he’s running for Student Congress President. I should note that he is a junior at this point, putting him one year ahead of Percy and co. Chad was somewhat based off of myself (I was quite active on campus, but not quite to this extent), but has since deviated.

    And now for the pirate thing. Last year on my whiteboard in my dorm, I would have the Spoofy Randomness Character of the Week drawn on it. One month was dedicated to side characters, and Chad was posted. One of my friends decided that it would be quite comical to add in an eyepatch and hook (by college standards, such additions were extremely appropriate compared to the typical additions…). This probably would not stuck if it were not for the Prairie Winds Chapter of the Golden Sun Lodge. On one of their drives, they were having fun with a GPS navigational system’s language settings. Somehow, the meme got started of a Canadian pirate saying “eh, yargh, don’tcha know”, and it stuck for a very long time. Thus, Chad became a Canadian who enjoys dressing up as a pirate. AND NOW YOU KNOW.

    Sally

    Sally is Nikki’s somewhat disorganized roommate and also somewhat skilled at video games, as shown in the links. She is the type who would be active in campus debates and the like, and does serve on the Student Congress. That’s all I’m going to tell you about her for now. Originally, I was going to leave Nikki out of this comic since the arc is focused on side characters, but I realized that Sally probably would ahve brought Nikki with her.

    Have fun!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~

  • The Things Kids Learn

    The Things Kids Learn

    There are a couple reasons why Percy told Megan to keep it quiet. This reaction is one of them; he was protecting her. On a side note (no pun intended), pfeffernüsse is a type of small sweet biscuit that my mother and sister typically make around Christmas. I quite enjoy them, plus they’re fun to say!

    I started a Googke SketchUp of an elementary school classroom, but I realized that I really didn’t have much for a background for black and white, so all I wound up using was the chair. It seems all the simpler having just come off of the colored arc.

    Have fun!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~

  • On A Side Note

    On A Side Note

    As you can probably guess from this splash page, this next arc is going to focus on the side characters a little. My main cast apparently decided to form a union and demanded a break, so yeah, here we are. This should be a fun deviation from the largely plot-based strips I’ve been making lately.

    Also, note that I did remember to put “© 2011” right away this time, instead of realizing two months into 2010 that I hadn’t changed it yet!

    Have a happy new year!

    ~Stretch Longfellow~