Welcome to another edition of TF Flashback, where we revisit some old content from our early years on the web. In this series, we’re reposting issues of an old webcomic we used to do that “chronicled” John, Moe and Hilden’s year of living together in college.

1125 Fremont #2-By the Boo

From the original blog post that accompanied this comic on TeamFremont.com:

…At any rate, I had fun with this one. It lets me introduce one of the more interesting characters we’re going to have on 1125.

Dave was one of our music major friends and he had some interesting personality quirks. One in particular that I’m taking extreme pleasure in exaggerating. They’ll be more to come. Oh, yes. More to come.

As I look back on this series of comics, I find that Dave became more than just an “interesting character”. The guy became a MAJOR aspect of the comic and I have to embarrassingly admit that the gay humor we derived from Dave may be the centerpiece of the whole 1125 Fremont series. Most of the Dave jokes that come later were derived from the funny idea that Dave wasn’t gay but he continued to do “gay-type things”. As we would sit around talking about the stories and jokes for the comic, we’d just hit on another funny and over the top thing that fit the Dave character and it made us laugh so much that we just kept using them. I guess they were easy jokes because we used them a ton over the 50 issues.

I remember showing one of Jennifer’s gay friends the series of comics when he was over, not thinking that they were in any way focused on a singular topic. As I was giving him a synopsis of the various issues, I remember finding myself repeating the same line of “here’s another one about Dave…who’s gay…but not gay. It’s funny”. As I kept stumbling on more Dave comics and laughing (alone I might add), I suddenly started feeling guilty and embarrassed. Like I’d stupidly gone too far into crass-land without thinking about it, only to come to the realization way later while showing the comics off to my wife’s gay best friend. Not one of my finer moments.

About the title: I was in the early stages of dating my future wife at the time of this comic. She had a roommate and a gay friend (not the one from the paragraph above) who had a sort of second language. When the three of them got together, I seriously needed a decoder ring to translate all their abbreviations and inside slang. For instance, the phrase “By the way” got transformed into “By the boobs” for whatever reason. Not content to leave it at that, and having a penchant for abbreviating everything, the phrase morphed one more time to “By the boo”. I found that particular phrase so absurd and strange that I ended up using it as Dave-speak.

And I still find the clenching ass line hilarious.

 How do you make an epic game even better?  Just ask BioWare as their latest installment in the Mass Effect trilogy takes everything you liked about the first game, and turns it up to eleven!  Like many folks I know, Mass Effect was one of the first games I ever finished that I immediately started a new play-through; I simply couldn’t get enough of the world of the Commander Shepard and the Normandy, and I was curious what a Renegade play through would feel like.  I was pleasantly surprised that simple changes in choices could have significant impacts on story and game play.  So when BioWare announced before E3 that they would be releasing Mass Effect 2, I was very excited.  I just didn’t anticipate just how good it was going to be.  

The first Mass Effect wasn’t without its faults.  The combat system was pretty clunky and I often wondered what my AI companions were up to.  There were also long sequences of traveling around in the Mako land vehicle looking for story arcs and getting chased by large worms (I hated those guys).  Happily, all of these things have either been upgraded or eliminated in this latest installment.  From a character modeling standpoint alone, we can see vast improvements in an already polished game. For example, in the original Mass Effect, Commander Shepard had twenty animations for cover.  In Mass Effect 2 there are over two hundred animations for cover; quite the difference.  

Gone are your long treks in the Mako, but they are replaced with a dynamic planet surveying option.  In the former, game collecting resources consisted of simply pressing the X button while in orbit of the planet, and there really wasn’t any compelling reason to do so.  In Mass Effect 2, the resources you collect help you research and upgrade your weapons and armor, so you’ll want to do it.  Instead of pressing the X button over a planet, you have to scan the planet manually and when your scanner bars rise, you launch a probe.  The better you are at scanning for resources, the more resources you will receive.  It’s one of many puzzle experiences that BioWare has intricately weaved into your game experience, and dare I say I found it quite fun!  

Also gone is the intricate and somewhat annoying inventory system.  In Mass Effect I would have to carefully kit out my team, deciding everything from heat syncs to ammunition type.  The kitting system is far simpler now and characters can swap out ammunition based on skill sets and not gun type.  Instead of only four weapon types, there are now nineteen weapon types that are divided into sub-types.  Guns no longer overheat, but ammunition is limited.  This inevitably means that I find myself switching guns for the situation as I watch my ammunition levels.  They removed the grenades from the first game and replaced them with new “heavy weapons” like rocket and grenade launchers.  Trust me, nothing feels better than blowing away a pack of Collectors with a grenade launcher.  
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Article By: Tribix

Hilden’s Note: My appologies to Tribix for the late post on these. I’ve had a whole series of these kick ass Dr. Who reviews sitting in my inbox forever. With the whole server shitstorm, my head’s been a bit out of the Robot Panic posting mode. Look forward to more of these reviews in the coming weeks!

If you have never seen any episodes of classic Doctor Who (see my note at the bottom, *about Doctor Who), Robots of Death is a great place to start. I say that not only because it came about when the show was at its very height in terms of cast and crew, but even among the stories of that period it’s a highlight. ROD is a 4 part serial story which first aired from 1.29.77 to 2.19.77 (right before Star Wars premired). Fans of classic Doctor Who are often in the position of having to apologize for poor sets, poor effects, poor model work, and poor monster costumes, but ROD is one of the more solid stories where most of these elements are at least okay, and some elements, like the robot design, are really inspired.

The story opens as the Doctor (Tom Baker) and Leela (Loise Jamison) land on a large scale mining vehicle, with a human crew of less than a dozen, and many more robots who perform most of the work, especially when the crew takes to lounging in luxury. Soon the human crew start dropping like flies, and, surprise, the Doctor and Leela are suspected to be behind the deaths.

Drawing from a number of different literary sources: Agatha Christi, I Robot, and Dune come to mind, ROD is also it’s own, totally original story, where these influences, though transparent, really do provide background ambience to a larger aim. As was often the case in classic Doctor Who, the supporting guest cast are all quite good (well, mostly), especially the ones who get the most screen time, thankfully. There is a moment when one female character reads a letter and feigns a cry which is wince inducing, but that’s the only really bad acting standout. The model work is okay in this one. The miner is a very original design of a vehicle, but it could do with greater detail to sell it’s scale better, also, there are a couple of composite shots with it and the live actors which don’t work well at all on account of some depth of field issues with the cameras (I had a hard time figuring out what these were supposed to be the first time I saw them). The sets are pretty good, no real complaints there. The robot design is a treat, but the other costumes are a bit over-the-top for a mining crew. They suggest that these people spend more time lounging than working, which would go with later revelations in the plot, so I suppose that was the intended effect. There are few ‘effects’ but they are mostly pretty good, not realistic, mind you, but not distracting either.

As I said before, if you have never seen a classic Doctor Who, this is a good one to start with. It’s a very interesting story, mostly well produced, and very enjoyable, one of the very best stories of classic Doctor Who.

*About Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show which aired from 1963 – 1989 and again from 2005 to the present. In the UK, it is ubiquitous, watched by boys and girls, men and women, ages 9-99, most people, even if they are not watching, know what’s happening in the show each week. It typically airs in the early evening on Saturdays, right after the sports finish up.

Doctor Who in America is a bit more divisive. Some fans love it, while a lot of people in the genre community can’t stand it. It’s easy, even for fans, to understand this schism, because the show has a lot of rough edges, on account of low budgets and quirky temperament.

In Doctor Who, the main character, the Doctor, wanders the universe through time and space, in a telephone booth called the Tardis, which is larger on in the inside. He cannot completely control the Tardis, and often doesn’t know where he’s going or where he is. He is usually accompanied by a companion or more and they are usually female, though some have been male and/or robotic.

Originally it was to have been a time traveling educational show for kids, but the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert, keen on making a career for herself with a ‘hit’ show, gave it her own spin, downplaying the historical aspect, upping the sci-fi, and gearing it towards all audiences, instead of just children. This tradition continues today.

-by Tribrix

Article by: Andrew Wallace

It seems appropriate for me to begin with a startling, chilling confession. It pains me to admit that on occasion, I have downloaded copyrighted games from unauthorized sources. That’s right, I am a pirate. Despite the fact that the piracy moniker simply glorifies my crimes and paints me as rebel of the cyberseas, I believe that I owe an explanation for my transgressions. My smarmy introduction may not serve my argument well, but I do feel that amongst the gaming community and industry there is a great deal that is misunderstood about game piracy and distribution of games in general. I wish to defend the indefensible. I strongly believe that in many cases piracy is a necessary evil in order to enjoy some games, and that it is ultimately beneficial for the games industry.

It is important for people to first understand that there is a fine distinction to be made between the pirating of digital content and theft itself. Despite the message of those commercials before movies and the fiery rhetoric of industry leaders, piracy is not the same as theft. I will use a simple example to demonstrate the difference. If I go into a clothing store and take a pair of jeans without paying for them, that is theft. I have not only taken a product without compensating them for it, but I have also deprived them of the ability to sell that pair of jeans to a legitimate customer. If instead I went into that same store with a magic pants copying machine, copied the jeans and left without compensating the store that would be more akin to piracy. Now the comparison isn’t exactly perfect with intellectual property like games and media, but the main point remains. Theft is depriving a seller of a legitimate sale, whereas piracy is not. While that doesn’t make media piracy legally or morally acceptable, it remains an important to understand that difference. Whenever game companies make statements about their content being pirated they consider the illegal downloads as theft, as if they were discs swiped from store shelves or if cash had been heisted from their coffers. While these unauthorized downloads are unfortunate, those pirated games are not directly taking money from the game developer and publisher.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people who create content deserve compensation for their work. Game developers should be paid for the games they create. The problem is that already many consumers are able to buy games without a single cent going back to the respective creators. Have you ever used an EB/Gamestop Edge Card? How about an import from eBay? Ever bought a game from the classifieds or a garage sale? If you can answer yes to any of those questions, then you bought a game without compensating the developers. While this seems obvious when you think about it, I want you to really dwell on that fact. Look at the shelves of your local EB or Gamestop the next time you are in a mall. Think about how many games you or others have bought used in order to save some money. While those may be legitimate retail transactions, when it comes to the developers there is no difference between those purchases and someone going to The Pirate Bay.
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SHOWNOTES

00:00-Show Intro
04:37-Drunk Dials
17:01-Mailbag
34:24-No More Heroes 2 Review (Wii)
49:07-Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii)
1:00:55-Retro Review: World Driver Championship (N64)
1:08:69-Five Things
1:36:18-The Last Shot
1:37:11-Show Close

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DGR: 01.29.2010

Back in 2008, when John asked me to submit the occasional article to Robot Panic, he did so because they were looking for the voice of the new, young generation. A cool, hip guy who can speak to the demographic with the most purchasing power: Late teens and twentysomethings.

“Mitch, I’ll be frank: We’re old fogies. We want someone who can really get a lot of clicks from America’s youth. Sure, we have a pretty dedicated following, but advertisers don’t care about them, and frankly, we only like the people the advertisers like. Get us some college kids! Bring us late teens! The more emotional and vulnerable, the better!”

At least, that’s how I remember it. Honestly, I’m too busy shredding electric guitar and doing sweet skateboard tricks to remember the details of that conversation. Either way, I’m about to inject some lightning bolts and cartoon cheetahs into the bran cereal commercial that is RobotPanic.com. So with that said, here are a few albums from the past ten years that you may have missed because you were too busy listening to Miles Davis and soaking your feet. Wake up, gramps!

Say Anything – “…Is a Real Boy” – In 2004, Say Anything released one of the most intriguing records of the decade. To some, it was a shameless, impeccably produced pop record. To others, it was a twisted look into the diary of a man losing his grip on reality. In a sense, it is both. During the process of writing and recording the album, frontman Max Bemis struggled with severe bipolar disorder and delusions brought on by extreme anxiety that eventually led him to be admitted to a mental institution. The result was …Is a Real Boy, a revealing look into the psyche of a man struggling to create in the face of a loosening grip on his own mental state. The music sounds like a Foo Fighters album after a long heroin bender; Its cheery, up-tempo beats are offset by random bouts of feedback and abrupt shifts in key or time signature, many songs mutating completely halfway through. Even the album’s most danceable track, “Alive With the Glory of Love” is a rumination on love in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. One of the high points of the record is “Yellow Cat (slash) Red Cat,” which deals frankly with Bemis’ attempts to hold onto a sense of self in the face of past failures, while at the same time being consumed by fear, anxiety, cynicism and sexual frustration.  It’s an album seething with insecurity, rage and desperation. It chronicles a musician driven to the brink not only creatively, but also emotionally and mentally.

Motion City Soundtrack – “Commit This to Memory” – To most people, it seems, the phrase “pop punk” is associated with poor, sloppy musicianship. In actuality, the common pitfalls of the genre seem to be that of a lack of restraint. A large majority of pop punk bands are talented technically, but they are often unwilling to sacrifice fast, punchy instrumentals for the common good. This was the case with I Am the Movie, the debut album by Minneapolis natives Motion City Soundtrack. Although it is widely beloved, (even by myself) it is clear that many of the songs on the album were written around melodic keyboard parts and over-complex drumming. Despite its rough sound, it still showed immense promise: promise that payed off on the band’s sophomore album Commit This to Memory. Under the guidance of Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus in his first outing as producer, the band made several modifications: First, they reigned in their songwriting. This time around, it felt as though the band actually wrote the songs collaboratively rather than combining lead parts on each instrument. Their debut was also, as many first albums are, a collection of songs in the band’s repertoire released in album format. But with Commit This to Memory, it was clear that great care went into developing the actual track listing. The album has a discernible arc, opening with the punchy “Attractive Today” and culminating with the gorgeous “Hold Me Down,”–a track that transforms from a fairly simplistic tune to a loud, booming anthem that brings the album to a poignant close–and many valleys in between. It’s this kind of care and respect for the experience of listening to a full album that is becoming far too rare in today’s age of a-la-carte music sales, and stands as a testament to the “old” way of recording an album. Commit This to Memory is a joyous testament to the absolute highs of a genre that many people deem to be strictly for adolescents. It is proof that pop punk music isn’t merely a genre dominated by untalented musicians, but a genre mastered by those with respect for it.
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Seven or so years ago John, Moe and I created a website called TeamFremont.com. Some of you who read Robot Panic may have been around during that time, but chances are even better you have no idea what I’m talking about. TeamFremont had a number of different things that were regular features for awhile. None of them lasted very long but what managed to get put out had its moments.

In our last episode of After Hours, some stories about our year together at 1125 Fremont St. were told and somewhere in there we referenced a webcomic we used to have up on the site called 1125 Fremont. Its purpose was to share some of the stories of our college days in a funny and exaggerated way. Thanks to Brian Pederson, John started browsing through some of those old comics the other day and called me up with the idea that it might be fun to post them here.

So, once a week, I’ll post up a comic from the 1125 Fremont series. It runs about 49 comics in all and as a fun end to the run, I’ll create and post the Issue 50 that I had always planned but never put out. In addition, I’ll give you some thoughts on the comics now as well as what I was thinking then. Could be fun. At the very least it’ll be fun for us and isn’t that why we do this thing anyway?

1125 Fremont #1-Deep Thoughts

This comic was supposed to set up the fact that I was a much more innocent and low-key person before I started the year at 1125 Fremont. I thought that a series chronicling my gradual change from the “quiet kid” to the loud an obnoxious guy you all know from Drunken Gamers Radio would be fun and a decent way to structure things. It also set the potty humor style that would continue through the series and become the Drunken Gamer standard. Joe needing help finding his pants really wasn’t that far off from reality. It really was a bit of a shock for a guy like me. But the shock didn’t last too long and I managed to fit in after awhile.

The only thing I can remember in making this is trying to figure out how it would look. I remember hitting on the whole grey background thing and thinking it was an interesting visual touch. Mostly, it was rather quick and easy to do. I used to do another comic over at GamingWorldX.com that had full-on painted backgrounds and I always hated the time it took to do those. I never liked how it looked either so this ended up working. Over the years, I ended up using some shading and different shares of grey to give the background more depth and interest. For what it’s worth.

Oh, and that tiger robe was 100% real. Joe actually did wear one all the damn time.

Anyway, it’s a pretty typical beginning to a webcomic series and they get a little more interesting from here. I think.

In this episode of After Hours, we go back to the beginning of our friendship that started in a house on 1125 Fremont St. in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

While the episode starts with a series of stories about our then roommate, Dave, the tale eventually turns to a group of women who shared the house with us and their effect on all of us. But especially John.

The tales start to converge and the episode ends with a classic DGR story of the defining moment when Hilden turned into the man you know now.

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DGR: After Hours: She Deserved It

I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack. And I did this for you, dear readers. While waiting to pay for my comics at the local comic book shop, I decided to grab a little something to drink. And in the impulse-buy cooler located conveniently next to the check-out counter, I spotted these two little beauties:

How could I resist the temptation?

So I coughed up the two bucks each, threw the drinks in my bag, brought them home and chugged them down. And now my heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest. And it’s no wonder, look at the color of this shit:

For those wondering, it’s hard to say which one tasted better…or worse. Both the Megaman E-Tank and the Pac-Man Bonus Fruit Energy Drink tasted like some sort of sugar/fruit explosion and the flavors were unrecognizable thanks to the burning sensation it left as it seared down my throat.

So I just saved you four bucks and blood in your urine. You’re welcome.

Sigh.

John says I did a “pump fake” in regard to posting this latest After Hours. I have to sadly say that I agree with that statement. I was all full of piss and vinegar when the idea for this After Hours struck John and I after a phone call we shared. While we are, indeed, full of piss and vinegar in this episode, I held back out of fear that we may have come off as…..less than open minded.

After much thought, however, I have to say that at the very least, we tried our best to present a middle of the road perspective on a topic that seems to have NO middle ground these days.

As I state in the opening: BE WARNED. The topic that is the center of this week’s After Hours has the potential to piss you the fuck off. We talk about one of the things you’re just not supposed to discuss with other people you care about and that would be POLITICS. We realize we have some strong opinions on this show. We realize you may and probably WILL not share some or all of them. That’s fine.

See, the point is not to cram our political agenda down your throats. The point is to “vent our spleen” on the fact that our world is being run by fucking morons. On BOTH sides of the political aisle. Our cry is one of common sense. It’s a cry for decency in our elected officials and those that support them. It’s a rebel yell for folks to think and investigate before they open their mouths.

For that, I don’t feel the need to apologize because I believe that what is at the heart of this conversation is important. So much so that I’m willing to piss a few people off who may not be able to listen past the raised voices and passionate ideas expressed by three morons in an attic with audio gear.

So, I guess the only thing I’m willing to apologize for is the lack of funny and for waiting so long to post this episode of After Hours.

As always, LISTEN AT YOUR OWN RISK.

You’ve been warned.

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After Hours 23: Xenophobia