Needs more Chuck Norris.

Honestly the black/white sketch art is a big turnoff, and it needs a bit more comic-like structure. Try making templates for the borders of your comic, it'll make it prettier if you really are trying to go for the whole White Ninja-style thing.

well, I would color it, but I really dont want to use paint to do it, and Im about as good at coloring as I am at drawing. If I can find a way, I will color them, and redice the massive size as well.

Photoshop (or if you're not into piracy/buying software) the GIMP.

Also: RID may look broke-ass, but that's a figment of your imagination. Please adjust your monitors and give me the hour or so neccesary to fix, I mean, for your monitor to readjust.

It doenst seriouysly need more CN does it, I really hate that guy. Also, yeah, I will use GIMP to color from now on, wbut waht about the humor?

Suggestion, maybe you should take this discussion to PM or get Mirai to post in your own thread.

Right now, we're straying a bit from the subject at hand.

Sorry bout that. Wont happen again.

As you know from my postings on your DeviantArt account, I do enjoy your comic, Mirai. However, I do have some constructive criticism, with Penny Arcade episodes to provide examples.

Example 1

Allow me to contrast the nudity in your Transformers, Robots Out of Disguise comic (hope you like my title for that one. :p) with this Penny Arcade episode.

See, the problem with that episode of your comic was that we all saw that joke from a mile away. Yes, it is a funny joke (I mean, transformers porn? I'll admit, I've, well, I've purused DeviantArt for some less-than-savory pictures, OK? So I've seen things that would make 'Nam vets cringe, and yet Transformers Porn has got to be the wierdest thing I've ever seen, without exaggeration), but it was obvious from the first panel what was going to happen.

However, in the PA comic, we don't expect a professional TV journalist to suddenly appear nude, let alone on-camera, peering into somone's home. The unexpected nature of it, and the inherent absurdity of it is what makes it funny.


Example 2

Similie is your friend.

"Like some fucked up Escher painting, 'The Perfect Eternal Jackass.'"

Adjectives are cool and all, but simile, metaphor ("You are the Dalai Lama of retards" was a good one from a fairly recent PA episode, I believe), and comparison are really where your creativity and originality can shine -- it's where you distinguish yourself from the pack. I mean, look at this forum; this forum can be pretty damn hilarious, and usually Fifth or Krylo can be found somewhere at the root of said hilarity. Reason? They're both extremely talented at concoting some of the most descriptive, absurd, and just plain outrageous similies and comparisons that I've ever read (not to mention profane and scatalogical).


Example 3

I guess we can call this "punch." (Hence the term punchline). The first line, uttered by Gabe, kind of just knocks the unfunny right out of you. Shit-fucking is always kind of funny, but especially when spoken of so directly, so matter-of-factly. Many times, that same kind of direct, unexpected, punch-you-in-the-testicles kind of delivery can really add humor to a joke.

Example 4

Visual humor. There's a reason Shiney uses this as his avatar. You are somewhat limited in this by your photographic medium, but so far I think it's still been drastically underused in your strip. It might be worth trying to come up with some sort of drawing style -- you could still do transformers, but a WACOM and PS just gives you so much more damn feedom than toys.

Example 5

Honestly, I really could've used any funny comic strip for this example. Why? Because my whole point here is just about absurdity. I mean, really, that's what humor is all about. So, I guess all I'm saying is really try to push the limits of your creativity -- ingest potentially leathal amounts of Rockstar and stay up for six days straight if you have to, or actually think about Advent Children's plot, basically, just try to loosen up your sanity for a little while, and see what oozes out.

But to think about something doesn't it have to... you know... exist?

See!

Funny!

Thinking about the absurd, the impossible, the mind-bending, it's all great material.

Ergo, I am a fucking genius.

I agree, but you have to realize that Penny Arcade carries that flavor of 'I wish I had thought of that first', because Tycho is a brilliant writer, and trying to be as good as him is simply shooting too damn high. I'm trying, but I need to do a bit of practice first. I'm a fantasy writer first and foremost, and I'm using this to force my comedy side into growing up.

Plus, there's the added effect that I'm not doing an art comic. If I was drawing this thing by hand - along with, y'know, being a good artist - I would have alot more freeform stuff to work with (since I could really do just about anything I wanted). Having action figures and Photoshop and Google Images really limits my ability to do things, alot more than you might believe. And meshing action figures and art together...especially my art...just sounds like Disaster City, Florida.

Plus, I'm trying to be less like Penny Arcade. Sure, I'll have the occasional offbeat tiddy-boom humor, but I'm going for short story arcs as a main source of the comicry. Meanwhile Tycho refers to it as 'dreaded continuity'. Most of the one-shots I'm going to use are still going to tie into the main 'story' anyway.

I'm completely taking your advice into account, but I just want you to keep in mind that this isn't trying to be Penny Arcade 2, and to attempt that would be folly of the highest degree.

While using PA more current comics, can be a good measure (although, for me some of the comics weren't all that funny, because the dialogue got just a bit too abstract or the picture didn't convey enough of the funny), it isn't completely fair to expect that his comic should be at that level, now.

I mean, have you seen some of PA's earlier stuff? After reading Attack of the Bacon Robots (or whatever its called) I was seriously disappointed w/ some of their earlier stuff. Plus, I'm not always a fan of everything PA to begin w/, and I find them a bit more of a hit & miss.

As for Mirai use of toys, well that's a low blow. You might as well complain to Brian that he uses sprites. His use of toys is at least up there w/ Alien V. Pred, at least in the poses of the figures themselves. Yes, he could do w/ more props (and should learn to start living at the Dollar store, and at least visiting Wal-Mart's craft section), but props cost money, and for something that's a potential bottomless pit of spending, that's asking a bit much. Especially for something that hasn't even considered making a profit...

Frankly, the thing this comic needs most is experience. And that's something you can't just give, or borrow from elsewhere. It requires experimentation, and a few more comics under the belt. Mirai needs to settle on a pattern, and finish working out his main cast (because if you haven't noticed, he's still in the intro phase).

SWB

It's funny how I can try and defend myself, yet other people can put it in better words than I can.

Oh, I wasn't trying to say that you must be as good as Penny Arcade, right this fucking second!

Nothing of the sort!

Of course, most comics start out a little rough -- just look at some of Brian's earliest stuff! Of course developing the characters and just plain old experience will come in handy, and no, I don't expect you to be like PA right off the bat.

I was more just trying to give advice on what to shoot for. And I think there's nothing wrong with aiming to be as good as Tycho -- it's all about practice, really. Aiming to imitate isn't a good thing, nor is expecting to be that good off the bat, but there's nothing amiss about having that level of craftsmanship as a goal to work towards.

Fact is, practice matters more than innate talent, and always has, in most every domain of human endeavor (physical activities probably holding the most exceptions to this general rule). So, no, I'm not trying to hold you to some arbitrary and unreasonable standard, and I'm sorry if it came off that way -- I was just trying to maybe help provide some tips and framework that might aid you in your growth as a comic strip artist.

And as to PA -- I could have used 8bit, Least I Could Do, VG Cats, Questionable Content, Dr. McNinja, or any number of other funny-ass web comics. I just happened to use PA because I was already browsing their site at the time, and I had a few favorites that I thought were just good for illustrating my points. Obviously you want your comic to be distinct, and original -- I actually tried to keep my advice fairly general for that reason. Maybe I didn't do such a good job of that, but that's what I was going for.

Keep up the good work man -- It's only going to get better.

Theres also the fact that this comic has the same roommates feel as penny arcade (I forget whether you mentioned this in an early post, or whether this is my own thinking, too lazy to check) That will also lead to some similarities.

Which was very much the intent.

I'm trying to steer towards Penny Arcade, but have a little more character in the actual characters (as opposed to, say, CAD).

But, I mean, apparently Grimlock can spooge all over the keyboard. Physical practicality is a big gaping hole in my comic.

I see know problem with that. I mena, just becasue something is original, doesnt make it entertaining. Why not borrow successful ideas? As long as your not making a carbon copy, a clone, it seems prefectly fine. I could care less if he borrowed my ideas and used them, if it was funny, I really wouldnt mind all that much. If you have to, borrow, as long as its entertaining, it shouldnt matter.

Roomates can always be made funny.

Also, this isnt meant as inflamatory to people referencing the fact there are similarities to other things.

I wasn't saying it was a bad thing, I just was pointing out that I thought I remembered Mirai saying it would be similar. Penny Arcade is funny, so no arguement from me.

I didnt mena it in a angry way. I just figured Id say yhat borrowing ideas is okay. That want mena to be getting snippy at people refefncing the similarities, sorry for the misunderstandings I may have caused.

Buh. Sorry, but I'm not seeing it. Bumblebee & Grimlock's personalities just don't strike me as anything like Tycho & Gabe. Plus, while I'm no avid reader, but most of the comics seem to suggest that their living conditions don't matter much. I mean, I've never read a comic where rent was discussed, or they even talked to their landlord.

Their comic seems more of a vehicle for their various veiwpoints, rather than an integral part of the story.

I mean, I could see more of an influence from the Least I Could Do comics, or maybe The Odd Couple/Friends.

I think Mirai's earlier post about taking something of a similar approach as PA, was to state that BB & Grim would occasional offer viewpoints & such on events, much in same was as PA does. 'Cept with a tad less requirements for insider knowledge.

I do think some of you are reading too much in his PA comparison, and thinking that suddenly it has to equal PA, with toys.

Kevin

Honestly, with what I'm going for, I was seeing more similarities in Alien Loves Predator than anything else. I use ALP as source material for when I do the aesthetic touches on the comic, and I do have the same stream of thought as they do (Roommates that aren't human hanging out in a totally foreign environment, daily life and such things are normal despite this, etc).

The difference is, the appearance of actual background between Abe and Preston is as blurry as it gets; Grim and BB are slightly modified personalities, filtered through the lens of Crude Humor, and placed in a humorous setting. I really do address the whereabouts of all of the other Autobots and Decepticons, and it really is 'mainstream' continuity.

The only problem is trying to make the website look pretty enough to attract readers. Grim, BB, Knockoff, Megs, and the up-and-coming Hotrod practically write themselves. I'm also trying to find the right size of toy for generic humans.

Lego mini figs?

Personally, I like the fact that the backgrounds look realistic. You don't want to take away from that by using legos.

I am hoping we see an anti-transformer racist somewhere. What... I think it would be an interesting dynamic. Seeing atleast one person finding something wierd with robots living in an apartment

I was hoping for something in equal height - I don't want to go buy an autobot chick just because I feel like I need to have the other gender in the comic.

In a week or so I'm going to travel to Toys R Us in a nearby large city and look for something close (and possibly start my obligatory Beast Wars collection.)

I have a few story arcs (once I start making episodes again) that I'm going to be integrating, and anti-Transformers is one of them. I just need to finish some of the website coding first.

Sounds to me like you might be served w/ something at the scale of Sky Commanders, M.A.S.K. or Exo-Squad. (Of the three, Exo-Squad has the best articulation, with bending knees & elbos).

Not sure if any toys take advantage of the scale at the moment, but I think Titan A.E. did, and Xyber-9. Might be worth a post on Allspark to find out if anything is currently being produced.

You should also look into finding if a Big Lots is nearby, for at least some of your human figures. No reason to go all out. (At least, for your generic human males. Generic human females are usually harder to come by.)

Also, this is a good resource, and I especially like their Visual Guide to toys.

Another reason why you might have a problem introducing an Autobot fem, is that only Energon Autobot Arcee (and her re-colors) is really worthwhile. For Decepticon, the best mold that I've seen is Thunderblast. (Not to say that her toy is not without issues.) Aside from that, you've got bots & cons w/ female names, but very male proportions.

I mean, you could also see if you could get your hands on the fan-made Cyberfembots. I not sure if that model is currently available for purchase, and even when it was, I think it wasn't entirely cheap. I think they're working on a female Decepticon seeker down the line, but I haven't seen anything yet.

SWB

I love it! The idea is kickass and the first comic is sweet.
I like the idea of a racist guy, it reminded me of the black dude from the boondocks who is racist against black people. Maybe a self hating robot?
Anyway, I hope to see more.

Well, the website's up and running, and it updates Tuesday and Friday. More comics are coming this next week, I've been busy experimenting with the design, but I suck at HTML.

EDIT: Holy shit this is tough. Does anyone know how to program a decently sized newsbox? Something like Dueling Analogs', for example?

For those who are not aware, RID has updated.

Yay, finally a comic we haven't seen before.

SWB

Flying through the roof would probably be too high tech for the comic. By the way SWB, the link in your signature is MIA.

*Sniff* I know...

Finishing the story arc, then a little off-topic humor.

Something's wrong, at least at my end, because the last two episodes are coming up blank.

SWB

I'm getting the same thing, but on the subscription reply notification email, they showed up as links.

Now, today's comic isn't working for some reason. I checked the FTP client, and it's in the archive and everything. I think it's just Keenspace.

The problem should fix eventually. I hope.

EDIT: Damn. Anti-hotlinking. What a pain.

Well at least its fixed.

SWB

Due to some pretty hefty confusion on dates by my part, I'm making Roommates In Disguise update Wendsdays and Saturdays, giving me Tues, Thurs, and Fri to do the comic.

Also: Tell your friends. I could use the traffic.

Go show your love.

The Game from last year, or the year before. It makes Grimlock even more dumb.

I've disciplined myself to making sure I submit all comics to Kevin for a look-over before I put them on the site.

My relaxation of my update schedule to Wendsday/Saturday makes this an easier task to accomplish.

Careful Mirai, last thing we need is another Mega Tokyo

Or Press Start To Play or Alien Loves Predator.

I hate it when perfectly good webcomics get inconvenienced by life.

Life? I tried that game once, didn't like the graphics.

Meh, it only takes me a few seconds to do what I do for the comic, and I'm not slowing anything down. All I usually do, is mix up the text.

And Mirai usually only needs my help when he tries to use something G1 specific. Having actually grown up with G1 (damn I'm old) I've got more of an affinity with the stuff. Anything with gaming or regular stuff usually needs no input from me.

He also needs a bit more help w/ plot points/characters I suggest. Apparently, he hasn't gained the ability to read my mind or think like me. (Frankly, that's something I recommend he does his best to avoid.)

Take the latest comic, had I the opportunity, all I would have suggested is that Grimlock be a little less verbose in one bit. And he end the comic by calling Swoop a poop-head.

Nothing big.

SWB

I threw the idea to SWB back when it was just in my mind, back when I just had a name and a couple of Classics sitting around. He's been involved ever since, and my less-than-polished comics (When Megatron makes his big intro, for example) just haven't felt the same without his word.

Well, I'm enjoying it so far. Pretty solid humour, and the timing seems good.

I like the way you write Grimlock. He seems somewhere between his cartoon and comic portrayals.

New banner and advert.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/4...ef3574c8a0.jpg


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/168/4...678fbcb19d.jpg

Tell your friends! I'm almost at 5k hits!

Lies, your newspost is full of LIES!!! First of all CB, (and I'm not going to use his full name here,) isn't in the Armada/Energon/Cybertron Trilogy (also known as the Unicron Trilogy). He's a toy-line exclusive, sorta Transformers: Universe figure, where they re-color an existing mold & give him/her some sort of fancy backstory in hopes that will sell the toy sans TV (in this case he was a re-color of Cybertron Red Alert).

Another lie, Arcee isn't from Armada, but Energon (the 2nd series).

I bet your name isn't even really Julian, because that is also some sort of huge LIE!

SWB

Very funny. Nice PS jobs.

I know I'm coming in here really late, and that you already have a site, but since you said you wanted to do this as professionally as possible, I just wanted to suggest you consider getting a site with Dreamhost.

And if you do get professional hosting, be it with Dreamhost or another company, I would suggest you keep your Comic Genesis account active to mirror your comics. (I believe I saw a thread saying that you were planning on moving your comic.) More importantly, you'll still be able to take advantage of the newsbox. (Hey, it's free promotion.)

After that's all taken care of, I would suggest you set up an account (If you haven't already done so, and that you have a Paypal account and a bit of spare change.) at Project Wonderful to promote your comic.

Good luck.

For note: Project wonderful isn't up and running fully yet. you have to wait quite a long time before you get an ad box from them. I've been waiting and have had a code request in for almost a month now with no response. Makes life difficult.

Let me know when to move over to Parker Comics, Nikose.

Doesn't load for me.

Yeah, it does take awhile, but you can place ads on other sites as soon as you sign up.

I apologize for the lack of updating on the website. The update schedule for ComicGenesis has been jammed at 3764 in queue just about all day.

It should update eventually. I have no idea what the problem is. Once I move to Parker Comics - RID shall remain uninterrupted - this won't happen anymore.

Now it loads.

Apparently Sortelli was having the same problem with Elf Only Inn, and Virus was as well for EX Now.

Looks like CG crapped itself. I am so looking forward to moving to Parker Comics.

Do you plan on giving out Wallpapers Mirai?

At this point I'm just trying to keep a regular enough update schedule with making the comic, move to Parker Comics, find a way to make a decent comic layout, and find out how to advertise for RID without making myself go crazy.

Maybe over the summer when I have some more spare time. But I'm not sure. Even Brian resorts to fanart when making wallpapers more often than not.

And they'll probably be donation gifts. I just wish I knew how to set that up.

Get a Paypal account.

E-mail wallpapers to those who donate.

Just found your comic. Hilarious. Good job. Though I must admit I am horribly horribly biased with my transformers love and all.

More or less what I'm counting on. SWB and I are working on a way for him to advertise for the comic while he goes to BotCon.

What's a good way to get people into your TF based comic? Go to the convention for TF love.

If you want Mirai, I'll walk you through setting up your donation wallpapers. :P it's quite easy to do.

Hey Mirai I think I fixed your uploading problem but if not I need you to either set me up an account through the script with configuration access and pm with the login information or access to the main admin account which has configuration access by default. With that I can figure out what else might be wrong.

Actually, I can do that. XD I'll send you the info now.

Roommates in Disguise has moved!

And it looks great now! I owe Sidarth and Nikose big time on this one. Some of the links don't work and the comic isn't updated fully, but I'll fix that later.

Needs a dropdown.

Anticipating a request a drop down menu has been added. Its a single line of php right in the banner div and very easy to remove/move if so desired.

Edit: Also archive link works now.

MARVEOUS.

Damn Sidarth. Go get a Paypal account so I can donate to you. You haven't even asked for anything. Least I can do is buy you lunch.

Really there is no need. I've got Dreamweaver on my computer so messing around with pages is no harder than playing around in Photoshop. In some ways its actually easier. Plus I'm always trying to teach myself more about web design and there is no better way to do that than actually doing it. Besides the NPF Member Archive has some of the really hard coding. Like if I printed out the code I used to make the drop down list and comic both movable and return to where you moved them after you left the page it'd be at least 2 if not 3 pages long.

I'd have thought that you'd make this announcemnet after all the archives were finished being transferred, and maybe after you at least had a placemarker on all the Links/Extras stuff.

Still, it is nice that you've got a new home, but I'm wondering if it could use a repeating background image. Then again, that might make it look a bit too cheezy.

SWB

Well, I'm making this announcement now. I just finished updating the archives.

...and good riddance! Comic Genesis is a pain in the ass.

Links and Extras will be dealt with once I actually have things to put there. They're just placeholders.

Yeah, any of Keenspot's branches are.... okay, so Comic Genesis used to be Keenspace, a sub of Keenspot, which in itself is just an eCompany that only cares about making money from it's webartists (which is why Blank Label Comics was started by Willis, Troop, and others). Keenspace was an experiment to find new talent to keep the thing going. It didn't work. Keenspace broke off, became Comic Genesis, and has never found its footing.

The comic is quite good Mirai. Do you have plans on expanding into forums soon, or are you just gonna kick around here for the time being.

I'm going to kick around here for a while. I don't think the comic is popular enough to possibly warrant me building up a forum. It would be pretty funny to say, "Yeah, I don't have a forum for RID, but, if you want to chat with me, I'm a member at NPF!"

And BM, your avatar means the world to me.

Good idea.

Psst Mirai you might want to change the link in your sig. Also, I remembered I forgot to link you banner to your main page so I fixed that. Now you can click it to return to the main comic page.

Oh, and you do have your own forum- The Parker Comics forum has had an "RID" section since you said "Sign me up"

I'm only slightly surprised that I didn't do this forum first. I even did Allspark before this, for christ's sake, where are my priorities?

You really need to truncate your site. Maybe make the links smaller and put them under the title, and the dropdown on the side?

I kind of like it the way it is now. I don't like tiny buttons on webcomics like ALP or 8bit's main interfaces. Are the big buttons that much of an eyesore?

Also: would it help to shrink the comic? It'd be a strain on getting dialogue correct and making it still look nice, but I could do it.