#1139; The Earthworm Bucket, Part 4 (of 4)

Comic Transcripts

[[Gax approaches the debater from the previous comics.]]
Gax: Are YOU the guy who argues with everyone?
Gax: I like anyone who makes a habit of picking useless fights!
Debater: People are too comfortable, I usually assume.

Gax: See, I think that’s NOBLE! Free speech REQUIRES an individual to systematically debate everyone with any conceivable objection to their stated position. Anything less is CENSORSHIP, somehow!

Gax: Being obnoxious is a grand, human tradition, responsible for much progress in the world. I applaud you.
Debater: Well, ACTUALLY
Debater: It’s not always as effective as you’d think. BERATING someone’s beliefs usually just makes them defensive, instead of open to change.
Debater: As a species, humans tend to be great at crafting intellectual rationales for our existing prejudices.

[[The debater has started floating in the air. He begins to vibrate violently.]]
Gax: Did you just argue with me… AGAINST the idea of arguing?
Debater: On the contrary!
Gax: Dude, if this were an 80’s movie, this would be the point where your ears started smoking and then your head would explode!
Debater: On the contrary! On the contrary! On the contrary! On the contrary!…

{{header: come around to WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: Gax has either been here since the 80’s, or he’s watched a lot of Saturday-afternoon local TV. }}

#1139; The Earthworm Bucket, Part 4 (of 4) transcribed by in

Gax: See, I think that’s NOBLE! Free speech REQUIRES an individual to systematically debate everyone with any conceivable objection to their stated position. Anything less is CENSORSHIP, somehow!

{{header: come around to WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: Gax has either been here since the 80’s, or he’s watched a lot of Saturday-afternoon local TV. }}

#1139; The Earthworm Bucket, Part 4 (of 4) transcribed by in

Gax: See, I think that's NOBLE! Free speech REQUIRES an individual to systematically debate everyone with any conceivable objection to their stated position. Anything less is CENSORSHIP, somehow!

Gax: Being obnoxious is a grand, human tradition, responsible for much progress in the world. I applaud you.
Debater: Well, ACTUALLY
Debater: It's not always as effective as you'd think. BERATING someone's beliefs usually just makes them defensive, instead of open to change.
Debater: As a species, humans tend to be great at crafting intellectual rationales for our existing prejudices.

[[The debater has started floating in the air. He begins to vibrate violently.]]
Gax: Did you just argue with me... AGAINST the idea of arguing?
Debater: On the contrary!
Gax: Dude, if this were an 80's movie, this would be the point where your ears started smoking and then your head would explode!
Debater: On the contrary! On the contrary! On the contrary! On the contrary!...

{{header: come around to WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: Gax has either been here since the 80's, or he's watched a lot of Saturday-afternoon local TV. }}

Gax has either been here since the 80's, or he's watched a lot of Saturday-afternoon local TV.

#1139; The Earthworm Bucket, Part 4 (of 4)

— July 3rd, 2015

[ Tags: annoyances, anomalies, gaxians ] Permalink: https://wondermark.com/c/1139/

(Read this storyline from the beginning.)

Buy a Print

The past few weeks have been a frenzy of assembling the very laborious, very bespoke first print run of NOODLE BATTLE, the puzzle game I am releasing this weekend at PAX West in Seattle!

PAX has an event called the PNW Tabletop Game Market (Saturday night ONLY), which is a curated selection of short-run games from local designers. As I’ve mentioned in this space before, I applied for a space in this fall’s event mainly as a way to force myself to finish a new game. And here it is!

The drawings are all by Jason Poland, good pal and cartoonist of My Dad Is Dracula. Jason played an early version of this game at Alaska Robotics Comics Camp this spring, and really liked it!

So I said, “Do you want to help me make it?” And so he has! It was his idea to make all the characters fun little animals, and I think it adds a ton of charm.

Because this edition is limited-run, it has been incredibly labor-intensive to make! The boxes and cards were made by a game factory in the usual fashion, but separately. The blank tiles were made by a woodworker dude out of Connecticut. For each game, we have had to:

Cut a piece of plastic and install the box window
Paint all the tiles, hundreds at a time
Apply a sticker to both sides of every tile
Apply stickers to the box (we couldn’t get the box back printed in time, so the whole back side of the box is a sticker too)
Apply the “Nutrition Facts” sticker, which was a late suggestion by my kid that I just had to run with
Fold up the rule sheet (they come from the printer as big strips of paper)
Put all the components into the box and seal it all up

I knew it would be a lot of work and would require some inefficient, expensive compromises AND I WAS RIGHT. But the final product is turning out great, which is the important thing!!

I will have 50 copies with me (if all goes well) at PAX, and then between now and the holidays we will be putting together additional copies to round out this first edition.

I will announce additional copies on Patreon first, once they are available online!! And here too, naturally, before long.

You can also sign up here if you’d like me to email you once the game is available online!

Comic Transcripts

#1139; The Earthworm Bucket, Part 4 (of 4)

— July 3rd, 2015

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