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Strip Search - Elimination #7
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But Lexxy? She made me laugh my ass off with her comic. First out loud laugh since Maki's mermaid guitar. Yeah, she gets lots of haters because she keeps a cool calm exterior on, and yes, her banter with the creators wasn't as funny, but her comic made me laugh. And she has the business of making art skills. But now that she has a 80k kickstarter successfully funded, I won't feel as bad if she loses.
At this point, every elimination is going to hurt.
Skates that are dinos and bite you. ok. And frankly, I think the ending proposed by another commenter would have been much funnier, them apprehensively saying "thank you". Maybe its because roller skating isn't a joke to me like to most people, my wife plays competitive Roller Derby?
I feel like literally anyone could have made that comic, whereas I agree that Monica's was straight up amazing, and gets better the farther you get from it. That's worth more than any dick or fart joke to me, no matter how hard I laughed at it. /shrug
My first impression of Lexxy's art in both elimination strips was not very favorable. My second impression was that it was really awesome, especially the clown strip. It just takes a little more of a look than the brief one the video gives.
Monica; Much
Also anyone who is still doubting Lexxy's ability to cartoon after her two elimination strips is kidding themselves. And speaking as someone who has been drawing dinosaurs since I was 4... her dinosaurs RAAAAAAAAAWK!
Which is why the eliminated her in the first place, right?
I mean, her first comic was very good. If they had no intent to give anyone else a chance then why wouldn't they give her the initial win as well? This conspiracy theory is very poorly thought out...
Maybe it is time to realize that the subjectivity of art makes plenty of room for disagreement?
Ultimately the victory came down to pacing. Lexxy's comedic timing and escalation was perfect, and kept carrying it just a little bit farther each panel way past expectations. Monica's comic was really good, but I think instead of being ambiguous in a good way it ended up being a bit obtuse. The art quality from both was really good, with the sheer quantity of content from Monica and the rich expressiveness and blocking from Lexxy.
Both themes were actually fairly tired memes. I was personally less engaged by Monica's because it's been done so often in exactly that same way; nothing was unique compared to any other expression of that concept, and I'm probably just older and that's become more of a cliche than reality to me. Lexxy went off the rails with hers and every panel of it was really fun.
I don't think Mike was hurt at all by Monica's comments, but that he felt bad for ribbing Monica into a shell. He was obviously uncomfortable in trying to patch things up at the end, and I think his apology was genuine, not just trying to get her to address the things she said. He's really sensitive to artistic spirit and things that could get in the way of it, so I think him seeing Monica like that affected him more than anything else. I think Jerry missed that completely.
As far as the more muted house reaction, I think they're seeing the competition escalate. It's getting down to the wire, and Lexxy's now a serious contender who bested a really funny, spontaneous personality and could very well stomp them all. She's almost achieved Katie status now, having been in two eliminations and still being in the house (though having only won one). I'm really glad the editing kept in Lexxy's speaking so positively of Monica to the remaining artists. Plus, less people means less crowd momentum in cheering, and everybody's missing Monica, too.
Abby agreed about the tangent. It was just the arm/boob masking she said didn't need fixing; she did that intentionally and thought it was the best balance.
Come on people, stop asking for rigid "objective" rules on judging. That's pointless in the pursuit of the show's goals, and would have made the show worse as well. There are no rules and no scoring in the elimination, only judgment.
I'm pretty sure the rules go as follows:
1) Mike and Jerry pick the comic they think is best.
2) Oreos.
EDIT: Not so sure about (2), on reflection.
I totally didn't "get" it on the first read-through, but after mulling over it, Monica's comic is the first one that I'm actually considering buying as a print.
@ahdok, your post is awesome. I think your explanation of the comic is perfect, and shows just how much is there.
Someone noted that Monica's strip would have worked equally well if it had been about mermaids and ukeleles instead of dinosaurs and rollers skates. On the one hand, I agree -- but on the other, there is just something so perfectly ridiculous about the combination of dinosaurs and roller skates that I don't think it would have had quite the same punch in any other context. Like Calvin & Hobbes, sometimes it takes something as gigantic as a t-rex on roller skates in a fighter jet to make you really appreciate the nuances of a situation. And leaving a perfectly good job in this kind of economy to pursue something as crazy as this is such a perfect thematic mashup...
...I dunno'. Like I said, I don't "do" comic prints, but this is one I would like to purchase.
I thought this YouTube comment said it well:
while I think "that was probably because of how it was edited" is going to become a forbidden phrase at some point and it's all subjective, I can see her comic having to be explained.
at a glance the first portion doesn't quickly communicate that the dino was a professional rollerblader and was packing his dream career away so much that it shows a dinosaur packing stuff in boxes who happened to be sad because he lost some unspecified job (or maybe he was moving?)... and then decides to go rollerblading at night because he's so upset and unsure about his new job that he can't sleep.
it took the second glance where I made that connection. could just be a matter of perspective, idk.
also... can you explain to me what was funny about the comic? I don't think she was going for black humour...
I agree that Monica's banter got uncomfortable.
I would have liked to see them actually destroy the comic though, mainly because it was a hilarious setup.
He beat out the person who got resurrected later, so he might actually seem like the biggest threat right now. Of course both Lexxy and Katie must seem pretty intimidating as well. And Abby took down Erika whom everybody seemed pretty threatened by... so I think from the perspective of those in the house, not having seen any of the eliminations, they might conclude that Maki is the "weakest link". Plus, he's pretty quiet behind that beardwall.
I wonder if the next person who gets to pick will go for 2 people who haven't been up twice yet? ie, Maki, Tavis or Abby. Of course if it was one of those three and they gave that as their reason, they would totally be setting themselves up for the next one. So maybe not. But Katie would have every reason to pick that way.
PS (edit): What I started out trying to say, is that he's not all that likely to get picked to go into the next elimination. No more than 40%, anyway.
PS2: Not that I mean to say I think Tavis deserves to go out next. I didn't like his first elimination comic, but I don't think it was indicative of his work, either. I just want to see more.
I like Lexxy a lot, love her art style, contributed to her kickstarter. She's clearly a talented artist and humorist, but I think Monica did better in this challenge.
Mike and Jerry have picked what they thought was the funniest comic every time. Monica's was excellent, but the point of it wasn't really about being funny. If you're not trolling, you've paid about zero attention to how they select winners, because I don't think this pick came as a surprise to anyone who liked Lexxy's comic. If you did like Lexxy's, then it didn't matter what you thought of Monica's, there was almost no way she came out of this with the win.
That is a VERY silly thing to say...
Yep. Gut.
Monica's comic needed a second look, because on first reading you are waiting for a punchline that doesn't come. Once you get it, it's awesome, but second looks seem to be a cardinal sin with the judging.
Lexxy's comic was (IMO! Please don't kill me!) bad. I'm not going to exaggerate and say it was super-terri-horri-awful, but if there was an objective scale of comicry which placed 0 as "bad" and 10 as "good," I'd place it somewhere on the wrong side of 5. The joke was obvious and hackish, and the art was mediocre.
The faux-trolling banter was hilarious as always. I'm down to the point where I skip the social challenges, watch the art challenges half-heartedly and greedily lap up the elimination episodes. This one didn't disappoint.
Please note! I am neither an artist or a comic writer. I just thought I would try it this time while watching them and this is what I came up with.
Also note, my handwriting is atrocious, that's why I typed it in afterwards...
i.imgur.com/cbYaCeE.jpg
It took a while 'getting' Monica's strip, but it wasn't helped with the way it was shown to us. i.e. scrolling down slowly. Making me have to pause and read and then play and then pause...Once I read it I knew it wasn't meant to be funny I pretty much knew she wouldn't win.
Ultimately, I think you're wrong.
Mostly, I object to the fact that you think she was eliminated because she wasn't a guy. Maki, Tavis, Lexxy, Abby, and Katie. That's 3 girls, 2 guys. They have eliminated high concept art from both genders. I think you are completely off base here, and just by watching the show, even without seeing how the PA guys treat people in general, would show that to be the case.
Also note, that the two times that Mike and Jerry opted NOT to destroy a piece, both pieces were done by ladies.
Now, I love Monica's strip. However, it was not as clear at getting its point across as it could have been. Sure, some people seem to have gotten it immediately, but it took me a while. The execution fell flat to have a good first impression.
The background of the Dino is muddled - either you catch the trophies in panel 1, or you miss them. The packing isn't clear whether he's taking them out or putting them away.
The second half of the comic is pretty awesome though, in that, while it is still ambiguous what exactly is happening, it's ambiguous on purpose, I think. It's supposed to leave us wondering about the future of that Dino, and whether he's secretly still skating at night, or that if he's just dreaming that he is, or that he's just hiding his passion from his loved ones.
I would whole heartedly buy a print of Monica's strip, but I think, it stumbled a bit in the setup.
Lexxy's strip, on the other hand, knew what it wanted to say, and it clearly illustrated and lead you to that point, with tons of tiny details to help reinforce and support that final idea.
In the end, I think that was the deciding factor. As beautiful and touching as Monica's piece was, it tripped over itself to start. It required a re-read not because it was so deep, but because some of the initial art wasn't clear. Lexxy's, sure, was a "gag" strip, but it was funny, well drawn, and perfectly executed.
I think it's like a perfectly cooked and accompanied burger versus an average steak dinner. Sure, a burger may just be a burger. But there are burgers that transcend the description to be something more. And steaks...well, even when you start with an awesome cut, sometimes it just isn't cooked well enough to properly sing.
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DeviantArt
Meh... as much as I like Lexxy, part of me wanted her to lose because I knew there would be people saying nonsense like this.
I was not expecting the ageism angle though, so kudos on that... but really if a bunch of people are joking around and one person acts like she did, I'd apologize because I would assume maybe they were more offended than amused too.
@overloaded: As a fan of the old show Dinosaurs, I don't think the idea of one rollerblading is absurd! They had everything until one of the saddest series finales that I've ever seen. But I get you now. :P
This right here. I don't understand the people saying Lexxy's art is unimpressive at all. It's like there not being big flashy colors means shitty art to them or something?? idk man
With that said, Lexxy's comic was great and man did I laugh.
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I didn't laugh. It's a joke I'd expect from a group of 5th graders asked to draw a comic. To me (and all humor is somewhat personal, so obviously others are free to disagree), it was unimaginative and boring, and not particularly well-drawn. I'd immediately put it up as a candidate for the worst we've seen in the elimination challenges.
I can understand the argument that Monica's comic failed it's execution and Lexxy wins by default, but for my money, her comic was the equivalent of bidding $1 on the Price is Right.
Still, I think it would have helped immensely if the artists had been given the minimal directive "make us laugh". Whether or not you agree that certain artists (such as Monica) would have produced winning or at least better comics if they had known this, it still leaves great potential to lose out on someone who could have been great, simply because they didn't know what Mike and Jerry really wanted. (Then again, I would love to have seen a rubric laid out and actual scores given... but I recognize that this is probably a minority opinion and am willing to suck it up on that.)
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edit: I did not like her strip, either. You could have done the same gag with anything not rollerskates and/or dinosaurs (like, a human and, I don't know, professional gaming). Which is boring and lame and means she didn't actually rise to the challenge at hand. Lexxy's, on the other hand, really only works with the challenge given, and is, you know, actually funny. Monica pretty clearly deserved to go home here.
PA us a private enterprise. If all they wanted was to give Lexxy a fucking job, you don't think they could just
hire her without the pretext of rigging an I'm-sure-not-inexpensive reality series to do so?
On a completely unrelated note, what's this "spirit animal" thing that the new poll is talking about? I feel like I missed something somewhere... :-(
Spoiler-sensitive way to say 'ping-pong partner'.
And yeah, I secretly would have liked the quiet person to prevail in the end with awesome work, but I think they have an affinity for Lexxy.
They do another double elim and bring back Monica.
Undestroyed strips = return-able artists.
Yes, this is the weird, I-lack-sleep prediction that won't come true but would be funny if it did.