The current story arc started with this strip: Two Pieces of Cake.
- Cloud: Here we are. Do you have an idea where we should start searching?
- Larisa: !
- Sandra: Well, if the gangsters hid their loot here somewhere, they certainly didn’t do it in the director’s office.
- Cloud: True that. Let’s just look around for a start. But quietly. We don’t want to draw unnecessary atten–
- Larisa: Oops.
- Cloud: –tion.
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I’m not sure if Larisa’s push ‘to the front’ is a positive thing for the comic, given recent evidence since the newspost about her entertainment value for the writer.
Mm, hard to tell. Give it time, but I feel she disrupts the dynamic of the comic in a manner that detracts from it’s entertainment value.
rabid_fox says: I’m not sure if Larisa’s push ‘to the front’ is a positive thing for the comic, given recent evidence since the newspost about her entertainment value for the writer.
This is a very unspecific complaint so all that I can say in this regard is that I’ll add some more depth to her character later in the storyline. You really can’t start an adventure story with an inner monologue about the futility of existence. 😉
rabid_fox says: Mm, hard to tell. Give it time, but I feel she disrupts the dynamic of the comic in a manner that detracts from it’s entertainment value.
That also sounds a bit alarming considering that several of the latest strips before this one (which is – admittedly – not terribly original) were among the strips that got the most positive feedback in the comments and ratings at IsItFunnyToday. For example Two Pieces Of Cake and The Departure, both featuring Larisa.
I’m a rather frequent reader and oddly enough I agree with Mr. Fox. Not to say that the strips with Larisa aren’t good quality…it’s just her character that I dislike. She seems oddly unrealistic and just detracts from the comic overall in my opinion.
Maybe..given more time… I don’t know.
I reckon that the situation has to do less with her character than with how her character is deployed than anything else. Essentially, Larisa is, as intended, chaotic, due to cause levels of disruption that ought to leave the reader unsettled and surprised – the problem being that since she was opted as a leading entity in the comic you’ve literally described her as “not terribly original” in that last comment.
I’m a huge fan of Sandra and Woo, so much so that I walk around regularly wearing the merchandise. You’ve seen the pictures, drat it. That’s why I bother.
The thing is that if a “chaotic” character is being described as “unoriginal” (lets not pretend otherwise, the last two strips have ‘starred’ Larisa) since she was pushed to the fore, there’s an issue with the character as far as the overall delivery of the strip goes. I mean, you drew parallels between her ‘long sentence’ and the Penny Arcade ‘Tycho Rantmachine’ strips – but consider the reactions of the other characters. In the Penny Arcade, Tycho marches ever closer to Gabe, eyes glowing in an over-the-top exaggeration of rage, but what does Gabe do? He weeps. It’s comic. When Larisa rants, what do the other characters do? Cloud looks bored, Sandra looks mildly perturbed and then dismisses her. I feel that’s the issue here, either Larisa is dull or easily dismissed – neither befit the attention she’s getting.
Though to be fair, it’s not like I know much about this sort of thing, I’m not an artist or a writer. I’m a fan. I’d like to know…more about this. Right now I’m feeling switched off and given how I have caught myself sitting up to catch the update, I’m not enjoying that sensation as a fan.
I bet following comments will largely involve “Well stop watching,” then, but if there’s one thing I’ve noticed about this place it’s the honesty of the creative force behind the comic.
Zeta says: I’m a rather frequent reader and oddly enough I agree with Mr. Fox. Not to say that the strips with Larisa aren’t good quality…it’s just her character that I dislike. She seems oddly unrealistic and just detracts from the comic overall in my opinion.
Maybe..given more time… I don’t know.
She’s certainly an extreme character and there are not many real girls in this world with a personality similar to her. She’s also not a “good girl”. Therefore it is understandable that some readers don’t like her that much. I think some of them will like her more after the end of this storyline. But there’s no way pleasing everyone all the time and I’d rather write a good joke featuring Larisa than a boring one featuring Woo.
rabid_fox says: The thing is that if a “chaotic” character is being described as “unoriginal” […]
Read my comment again: This STRIP is not terribly original.
rabid_fox says: I mean, you drew parallels between her ‘long sentence’ and the Penny Arcade ‘Tycho Rantmachine’ strip
No. I said that our strip was inspired by it. That’s something different. It is also unfair to compare arbitrary strips with ones that are widely regarded as true classics.
rabid_fox says: but consider the reactions of the other characters. In the Penny Arcade, Tycho marches ever closer to Gabe, eyes glowing in an over-the-top exaggeration of rage, but what does Gabe do? He weeps. It’s comic. When Larisa rants, what do the other characters do? Cloud looks bored, Sandra looks mildly perturbed and then dismisses her. I feel that’s the issue here, either Larisa is dull or easily dismissed – neither befit the attention she’s getting.
This is a really unintelligible complaint and I can’t take it seriously.
I see. Fair enough.
irony is a form of comedy and it works very well here (larissa being a bull in a china shop). one question, though…what was it that larissa threw out the window and crashed to the ground? it doesn’t look like a safe (looks like it was made of wood)…perhaps some kind of cabinet?
firedome says: …perhaps some kind of cabinet?
Yes.
Ah, how I love that the commenters here can take a strip about children throwing cabinets out of windows and turn it into political commentary on the very nature of comics and storytelling. 😉
I don’t mind Larisa’s character or how she is being used at the moment. Then again when it comes to these things I am easily pleased. Or at least I am when I have grown attached to a comic.
And sure the strip isn’t exactly original, but it is classic use of irony. Irony is good (except when it happens to you). So I still find it funny.
How in the world did she do that in only 15 seconds.!? While this strip might not be terribly original, it is still fun to make the story progress this way. And, unless I’m mistaken, how she get a cabinet bigger than the window to go through it? I… will just have to wait and see :). I don’t mind that how you are using Larisa’s character either.
How did it fit through the window?
Well, that’s one way to open a locked cabinet…
This somehow reminds me to a few animes… One Piece for example ^^
But here, Larissa is Luffy XD
Everything is ok as long as she isn’t setting the buildings on fire XD
And I have a feeling that at least something similar will be the end of the storyarc.
Damn. I miss playing D&D with such characters! XD
But I wonder which class Larissa would be… possibly a chaotic neutral Bard? or a Rouge?
(…both, multiclass…)
@Gwaruno
Much more important: How did she actually manage to lift that thing and throw it out??? oÔ
Random says: How in the world did she do that in only 15 seconds.!? […] how she get a cabinet bigger than the window to go through it?
Someone says:Much more important: How did she actually manage to lift that thing and throw it out??? oÔ
We all like to know, but I’m not sure if she will tell us. 😉
I personally love how Larisa injects a little chaos into the story when she’s around. Everyone had a friend like her at one point in their life, I know I did, at least twice, one of which I met in college(How I survived that, is still a mystery). I personally would love to see her more in the comic, she is Sandra’s best friend who is a girl after all.
Wow. If there’s anything that this strip teaches us, it is to never underestimate Larisa. Not only can she scale three stories in the time it takes to say three sentences, but she can accidentally push a cabinet (and a rather large one at that) out of a window by herself.
And personally, I like Larisa’s character. She’s funny and unpredictable.
Now to see if a faun comes out…
I half expected the cabinet to “accidentally’ burst into flames after crashing to the ground.
Clouds hair looks rad in panel three. He should have had his hair that way for the “The Woo” poster instead. Just make all the dull points of his hair sharp, and there you go. Just my opinion.
You really can’t start an adventure story with an inner monologue about the futility of existence.
Huh. I thought that was the beginning of every good adventure 😉
What I wanna know is where did Woo get to? Larisa isn’t the only one who can get into major trouble if left unsupervised!
As for Larisa, love her! She is such an awesome character for me! I am eagerly looking forward to seeing what else this little bundle of fire gets up to in this story arc. ^_^
firedome says: larissa being a bull in a china shop
nice, I learned a new English idiom. We have roughly the same in German featuring an elephant. Same in French and Spanish i think, also the latter features an horse as well.
btw: it’s not fair to the elephant, because it moves very cautious and would only destroy any china, if the shop’s aisles were to narrow or it paniced for some reason. (I don’t know how about bulls or horses)
novil says:
Random says: How in the world did she do that in only 15 seconds.!? […] how she get a cabinet bigger than the window to go through it?
Someone says:Much more important: How did she actually manage to lift that thing and throw it out??? oÔ
We all like to know, but I’m not sure if she will tell us. 😉
All of this is probably based on artistic freedom (the “fitting through the window”-thing could as well be a case of perspective, but I doubt it)
I don’t know if this is a correct feeling, but Larissa pretty much reminds me of Little My from the Moomin series. Which could be a good thing, because Little My is one of my favourite characters. I’ll wait and see. So far I don’t object!
(After all, at this moment yours is the only webcomic I read regularly. So I must really like it.)
Oh, and the saying with the elephant in china shop is in Czech, too.
I’m just wondering if everybody is getting the title reference, because the film and the US book version is named “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” rather than “Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow” (UK book title).
Larisa, Sandra, and cloud all remind me of the PERSONALITIES of the characters from the Nikelodeon show, iCarly, Larisa & Sam having almost equal personalities and such
Having read all the comments about Larisa, I have to say I found the criticisms unjustified. I like her and think she adds to the quality of the strip. She has too much energy and enthusiasm to be anything but chaotic, and she likes to set fires, but when Sandra told her she couldn’t set fire to the building, she grudgingly agreed. That means that she’s going to keep that promise, otherwise she wouldn’t have minded making it so much. I feel like I know quite a lot about her character.
And, a hypothesis about her getting the cabinet out the window: I imagine her finding it and thinking “Wow! That would burn great! Damn! I promised I wouldn’t….” and in frustration giving it one mighty push…. and we saw the rest.
Of course I’ve been driving a car with personalized license plates that say CHAOS for… um… quite a while. I might just be a bit biased in favor of a chaotic character. 😉
MacareuxMoine says: I’m just wondering if everybody is getting the title reference, because the film and the US book version is named “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” rather than “Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow” (UK book title).
Well, yeah, maybe not. But not everything has to be targeted towards the audience in the United States. We have readers in other parts of the world, too.
To all those musing over the fact that Larisa managed get up there to push a cabinet larger than her (and possibly the window) in the time it took to say three or so sentences…
NEVER underestimate the ULTIMATE power of irony. Never.
And that is totally awesome. Good day/night everyone.
I’m a new reader, just found the strip a week ago, and I have to say: I love Larisa. I empathise a lot with her character, down to the rampant pyromania. 😉 There are some people in the world who’s purpose is to be a force of entropy and change, and I think she’s one of them. =)
Hmmm, it appears gravity isn’t affected by chaos. Good to know!
@novil: I didn’t mean to critizise your choice of a title, I just wanted to give the original film title (it’s english despite the film being a danish/german/swedish production), because i thought it to be more familiar with people all around the world (not only US), than the non-original UK book title (original is danish). I assume that I could have chosen a more appropriate wording in the first place, to avoid misinterpretations.
Btw: I am from some other part of the world as well, namely the same part as you
MacareuxMoine says: @novil: I didn’t mean to critizise your choice of a title, I just wanted to give the original film title (it’s english despite the film being a danish/german/swedish production), because i thought it to be more familiar with people all around the world (not only US), than the non-original UK book title (original is danish). I assume that I could have chosen a more appropriate wording in the first place, to avoid misinterpretations.
Btw: I am from some other part of the world as well, namely the same part as you
I did not perceive your post as criticism and my own post was intended to be completely neutral as well…
What part of not attracting attention did Larisa fail to grasp?
@rocket
She was already on the top floor before cloud said the word 🙂
Been reading awhile, but this is the first time I’ve ever really felt compelled to comment.
I’m not truly sure where some of you are coming from when you talk about Larisa’s character detracting from the entertainment of the story. Yo be honest, if anything, she is my favorite character. I find her behavior (and the subsequent reactions) hysterical. I know some people similar to her–have some questionably close tendencies myself–so perhaps that is how she seems more realistic to me than to you? I don’t know.
I realize that her age may play a factor in the disbelief surrounding her demeanor, but just go out and look at some of the kids her age running around. There are plenty that act the same way, save for maybe the more matured dialogue; but if that were your problem, then why don’t you complain about Cloud and Sandra as well?
Maybe it’s just me, but I really enjoy the strips featuring her as at least a side character a lot more than many of the others; I’m glad she’s getting more “screen time”, as it were.
Gave rabid_fox’s first comment a thumbs up just so it wouldn’t be Hidden Due To Low Rating any more. Guys, please thumb down for BAD comments, like insults or spam, and not for comments you simply disagree with.
3rd panel is where cloud becomes a super saiyan from a burst of adrenaline.
Larissa is one of those characters you can love in a comic, that you would hate in real life. Kind of like Bart Simpson. Seriously, if you a kid like him in real life you’d want to pull a Homer too.
The veil of humor is a wondorous thing and I for one love Larissa and the random chaos she brings. And I also love the fact that Sandra and Cloud are so non-chalant about her chaos because it shows us just how close they all are. You’d have to be around her a LOT to be able to just brush off some of the stuff she pulls by shaking your head and laughing.
?! What?! How the devil did she get up there so fast!
Every time I see that last panel, I think Larisa tossed a magical door out the window.
I don’t even know how she accidentally lifted the cabinet to fall from that floor.
I’m liking her more and more.
Heh. Now they aren’t burglars or robbers, they’re gangsters. She really doesn’t know what she’s talking about, does she? Oddly, I find that strangely adorable.
How did she get up there?!?
Welp the chances of this adventure ending in the back of a police vehicle just shot way up.
She is fast.
How did she do that when the window is smaller than the cupboard…?