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MegaTokyo, 17 years later

@Tomboy_Supremacist dredged up some core memories and I suddenly remember reading a lot of MegaTokyo when I was a young weeb.

For anyone unfamiliar it was a webcomic started in 2000, and like most webcomics of the time it was for nerds and about g*mers. This is the first panel:

https://i.rdrama.net/images/16990426791953466.webp

They got off the ground when penny arcade threw them a link, and soon amassed an army of young weebs. Most of us thought Fred aka Pyro was in or freshly out of college, but it turns out he was 35 god darn years old when he drew that first comic.

The story was endearing at first, but after a few years the writer left and gave Fred full creative control. The themes veered away from gaming and went full tilt into proto moe.

Fred, who would have certainly :marseytrain2:ed out, was a mega weeb. He learned japanese to play dating sims before these were ported regularly. His influences were girly anime by CLAMP, specifically Chobits.

Nothing happened in the story since 2006. The plot synopsis is here:https://megatokyo.com/story and it's incredible light on any kind of story.

He makes $2500/month on patreon and has been delivering an average of 5 comics a year, backgrounds not included:

https://i.rdrama.net/images/16990426793531795.webp

The story was supposed to be about 2 guys stuck in Japan, which turned into a wish fulfillment underage dating comic for Fred. In about 17 years maybe a month of in-comic time appears to have passed, and his art seems to have regressed after peaking in 2005 or so.

What 20 years if experience looks like: https://i.rdrama.net/images/16990426796005304.webp

I was hoping there would be forums and subsequent drama but the forums are hella dead. Anyone else read this trash??

60
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They got off the ground when penny arcade threw them a link

https://i.rdrama.net/images/1699044248345593.webp

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lmbo

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What are they trying to say? :marseyconfused:

I see the punchline but what is the first panel supposed to mean?

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this is set at PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo, which the webcomic author owns and runs

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Really? :marseyshook:

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they were at Sakuracon (GIRUGAMESH!!) https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/04/23/a-matter-of-life-and-death

The Sakuracon provides an ego regulation service that has become increasingly necessary as the site has grown. I will admit to you that I sometimes feel like a bad-butt, which is patently insane. What do I do, really. I ramble to people I don't know with a familiarity I haven't earned. I need events like this one, ones where we are absolutely incidental to the culture, to take me down a couple pegs. Yesterday I sat in the foyer, hunched forward, musing about how presumptive it is for me to bring merchandise to something like this. When my blood began to feel viscous I knew that the Sakuracon was engaged in its holy work.

These events are about Fred Gallagher, also known as Piro. He writes and draws Megatokyo, which is a phenomenal success and tuned with precision to the cravings of the Japanese culture enthusiast. I'm not saying that he has invented a machine to snare those people, anymore than we are able to attract those who play games. I think he likes this stuff and it comes out. I used to maintain a fire in my heart about the split between him and Largo, his old partner on the site, and I had manufactured a Piro persona I could loathe readily. When you meet the guy, it's really, really hard to hate him. Believe me, I'm good at hating. I've got a degree in that shit. But he seems to detest himself in actuality.

For a long time I thought of this as a construct, emblematic of a deep cynicism and cleverness. This may have been projection. At any rate, I can tell you that it's quite genuine. Please do not stop your forum threads about how his site has gone downhill - those will always provide me succor as his erstwhile competitor - but do not doubt for a moment that his artistic paralysis represents a genuine malady. His body language communicates an encyclopedia of vicious self-assessments. He can't maintain eye contact. He looks away, as though the faces of other people somehow constitute a bright light.

So, I'm going over where he is today to receive my adjustment. Perhaps I will see you there.

:marseylongpost: :marseylongpost: :marseylongpost: :marseylongpost: :marseylongpost: :marseylongpost: :marseylongpost: :marseylongpost: :marseylongpost2: :marseywords: https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2004/04/26/here-he-goes-again-on-his-own

"Monday's comic might be kind of mean, Fred - I'm just letting you know," I said. He laughed and told me that was fine. He hadn't seen it, though.

What a change in that guy. What I said on Friday hasn't ceased being true, but it's true such a small percentage of the time that it's worth making a point of it. What the painfully shy or socially awkward among our number would be comforted to know is that interpersonal skills can improve through use to a startling degree. I know it's no comfort right away - there's fear associated with managing the variables in any conversation. It is as though I told you that the more you tame lions, the less likely you are to be devoured. But there is a type of "muscle" involved whose function can be improved through use, and I think that Piro's backbreaking con schedule has shaped him into a person quite capable of the work that comes with this strange territory.

A fair number of people came by expressly to soothe us, which was appreciated - but I think we're over the hump as far as Anime Con discomfort goes. Last year, I believe I said I felt like an invading force, a splinter or somesuch. There were some this year that went out of their way to make me feel like that. I felt more like an Ambassador this time around, from some imaginary place concerned primarily with gaming, like our booth was a kind of embassy for expatriates to confess their sins against the motherland.

I'm often asked to come to this room or that room at the conventions I attend, but I usually don't have the opportunity. This year, I made it my focus. It turns out that one can construct quite the efficacious Tycho trap with only a few cups and some Parrot Bay rum.

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That's a lot :marseyshook:

I never read Penny Arcade so I don't know much about them and their drama

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It was easily the best 2000s g*mer comic, and in all fairness the artist guy has actually sought to improve his style and craft. It's ugly as sin, but it's a big step up technically from their earlier comics

One of the first tremors of g*mergate too, they almost got cancelled for their r*pe wolves comic. That moment is probably a good marker for the cultural turning point

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2010

https://i.rdrama.net/images/16990645159064455.webp

2023

https://i.rdrama.net/images/16990644329548993.webp

Jesus christ what happened? What an absolutely fricking abominable art style he's mutated it into.

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Oh no oh no

I had no idea he kept changing it

Somewhere between those two he should have stopped. Maybe when the game came out??

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I just checked, it started getting worse after 2012, and in 2013 it's like he flipped the frick-ugly-switch over the course of just a few strips

From this

https://i.rdrama.net/images/16990658016865869.webp

to this

https://i.rdrama.net/images/16990656073196576.webp

to this

https://i.rdrama.net/images/1699065801747073.webp

In five strips. :marseyyikes:

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That's horrifying. I haven't seen any PA stuff since about 2012 and I figured it wouldn't have done this

It's technically not a regression, his characters and expressions are more dynamic but stylistically what the frick

Like fairly oddparents drawn by John Kricfalusi

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I liked it a lot more when the art looked like the Clerks cartoon and not like whatever it looks like now

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