Episode 573

Read the comic here.

I doubt I really need to explain this, but here's a link to the "other" TSA.

 To be fair, I've never had a problem in my interaction with TSA agents. (Although there are plenty of horror stories to go around.) I just object to idiotic rules and restictions based on a culture of fear.  But I'm wacky like that.

Episode 572

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What? You didn't think he'd get invovled willingly this year, did you?

Episode 571

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Happy Thanksgiving to my readers in the USA!

For those who don't recognize it, the card is from the classic Monopoly game. (Thematic, as that's a game we often played at my house while waiting for Thanksgiving Dinner to be ready!)

Episode 570

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Frogs are practiced martyrs. I think it comes from having to eat insects all the time.

Episode 569

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Episode 568

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Episode 567

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Episode 566

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Episode 565

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The Wizard Jeb walks a fine line between making a pun and speaking the truth.

Episode 564

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A classic problem with Festivals set up to mimic the realities of Medieval England - they had neither ATMs, nor phones, nor Port-o-sans.

On the other hand, who would want to go to a festival without those modern conveniences?

Episode 563

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The Fish-On-A-Stick is a part from the new 2009 Pirates line. I found a few of the smaller sets at Toys R Us on Sunday morning. As you can see, I couldn't wait to incorporate it into the strip. Because, come on, fish on a stick!

For my non-American readers, the State Fairs in the US have a history of producing a varitey of "foods on sticks" for the fairgoers to enjoy. I've seen everything from corn to pizza to, yes, fish.

Episode 562

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I live in fear of the Pun Police.

Episode 561

Read the comic here.

This catches me back up to my normal update schedule. Thanks for your patience.

Episode 560

Read the comic here.

Episode 559

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For my Non-US readers, Detroit has a reputation of being a "less than pleasant" area to live in. I currently live in the Detroit suburbs, and I can vouch for that description.

Hope to have a double comic post tomorrow to catch back up.

Episode 558

Read the comic here.

Episode 557

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I'm on the road and may not have FTP access to the site until this evening. Until then, this post is the only way "in" to today's strip. I figured you guys would rather see things on-time, even if the normal links weren't functional.

Just another perk for those of you who check the blog...

Episode 556

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A small dig at Ian for making me wait so long to find out who shot Tryant.

Episode 555

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Episode 554

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Episode 553

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I nearly left off the part of the caption dealing with Scotch's wardrobe, but realized someone would bitch about it if I didn't explain why his outfit was suddenly different.

It was nice to return to an already-built set for this scene. Also note that Donut has his Sonic Martini out again.

Episode 552

Read the comic here.

Happy Halloween, indeed.

Episode 551

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Episode 550

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Episode 549

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That's not the same door that's been in the background - this one clearly has a strip of lights along the top and a bouncer. Looking back, I probably should have tweaked the design a bit more.

Episode 548

Read the comic here.

And now you know where Ian was going with Scotch in the previous couple of episodes. Kudos to those of you who noticed the background action.

Episode 547

Read the comic here.

After doing some digging, I learned the comment issue that appeared yesterday is a new blogger upgrade in-the-works. Details are here. Mine was one of the blogs that it was accidentally enabled on. What do you regulars think? Now that you know a bit more about it, is it a feature you'd like me to activate?

Episode 546

Read the comic here.

Episode 545

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Episode 544

Read the comic here.

Episode 543

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Again, for those of you who refuse to see the films: Trinity.

It's sad that the best catchphrase my strip has to offer is "Has anyone noticed that phone before?"

Episode 542

Read the comic here.

Note the classy tattoo on the dancer's back. I had built this figure a long time ago (although with a different hairstyle), back in the days when I didn't have a baggie of plain yellow torsos on hand. So I swapped the arms on a classic space torso and called it
"good enough".

Episode 541

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Yes, that's a different dancer. They do swap them out from time to time. I had this young lady dancing elsewhere in the club in earlier strips, but she never actually made it into shot. Oh well.

We could accuse Ian of being a big spender, but the "100" is the smallest denomination in LEGO cash. He doesn't really have a choice.

Episode 540

Read the comic here.

For the record, the guys *did* think of this - they were trying to change Morpheus back when Neo decided to Chili-Up. Then the wheels came off, and they were off on to other plans. (See strip 485)

This scripting style is based on "Real Life", as anyone who works in an office environment with more than one manager can tell you.

Episode 539

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The dialog for this strip was finalized around the same time I was getting nearly daily blog-comments about "I've lost the plot. What are they doing?"

Here, Ian vents my own frustration at the convoluted mess the backstory has become.

On the other hand, the archive is there for a reason. The story reads a lot better in big chunks. Try it and see.

Episode 538

Read the comic here.

Another new set. This one turned out a bit sleazier looking than the last. Oh well.

Episode 537

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When I started writing the "Boys in Wonderland" arc I had such a wholesome storyline in mind. And yet, somehow, I ended up with this.

Episode 536

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A super power almost anyone can acquire.

Episode 535

Read the comic here.

No, I'm not mad at Ian. That's just the booze talking.

Episode 534

Read the comic here.

For those of you who don't follow Ian's webcomic, the Adventures of the S-Team (and why don't you? It's great stuff.), Tiny is a height-challenged villain who chased Ian off his own set.

And here you thought my characters treated me poorly.

Episode 533

Read the comic here.

Yes, I know you all figured out this was Ian the moment he appeared. But remember Whiskey has never seen him before in person - much less in LEGO form.

Episode 532

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There are days that I wish this strip was a radio play, just so you could hear the character's voices as I hear them. Today is definitely one of those days.

Episode 531

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That is one BIG hot wing.

Before anyone asks, the Jester Hat is from this year's Castle Advent Calendar.

(Yeah, I cheated a bit. Before LEGO offered the shop-at-home deal to US customers a friend of mine in the UK had already arranged getting a couple to me. To save on shipping, I got one boxed, and one loose. So I have all these cool parts in a ziploc bag...the temptation to use them "before their time" was just too great.)

Episode 530

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Yep, another new set. I didn't think this one through very well - I ended up having to take apart parts of the stage so that I could photograph the boy's faces. It made for some interesting shots, though, like the one in panel four.

Oh, and Whiskey's love of Hot Wings was established back in Episode 19!

Episode 529

Read the comic here.

Those heart shaped pieces are "Clickits" - an abandoned LEGO make-it-yourself jewelry line. I didn't realize the blue pins used to hold the transparent ones up would show so badly in the final photographs. Oh well.

This set, my "ye olde strip mall", was a quick scratch build just for today's strip.

Episode 528

Read the comic here.

No, you don't want the recipe.

Episode 527

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Now that we're past yesterday's "shocker", I just wanted to say that aside from poking some fun at Blog-Geoffrey's posting history, Geoffrey the Troll is meant to be his own character, not an in-strip avatar.

To quote the bard: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" - this is a Storybook Character...that he has a name we recognize is a *cough* complete coincidence.

Anyway, a grateful nod to Blog-Geoffrey for taking the ribbing in the lighthearted way it was meant.

Episode 526

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*whistles innocently*

Episode 525

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That's what I like to call a MOUSE. (Minifig Of Unusual SizE)
Personally, I don't think they exist.

Episode 524

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Ah, finally Whiskey loses that jacket. I was getting really tired of touching up the neck color every strip. (And, yes, I'm sure I missed some along the way.)

Episode 523

Read the comic here.

It's awfully tricky to show something as "stopped moving" in a still image without labeling it as such.

Episode 522

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Today's strip points out just one of the many eerie connections between the worlds of Dr. Who and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Others are left to the reader to discover as an exercise.

Also: There's no software, cooking, or engineering problem a giant pipe wrench can't solve.

Episode 521

Read the comic here.

"Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble" is actually a (deliberate in this case) misquote from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The real line is "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble." Here's the context for the interested.

The system error is a parody of the classic error "Abort, Retry, Fail"

Episode 520

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Donut's humor falls flat because, as we all know, Castle is one of the HUGE themes as far as fans are concerned. Curtis scores a point in that many on-line LEGO communities look down on the Bionicle line, despite the ginormous fanbase it enjoys. They really are two seperate worlds most days.

By the way, I bet Curtis is a big fan of the long-vanished Western theme.

Of course, you have to start talking about LEGO Webcomic authors before you get *really* niche.