4koma Project!

C-Chan · June 23, 2008, 02:50:23 PM

I do share Aurora-hime's gratitude that this project has been restarted after a 2-year hiatus. This was the first time during my tenure that I attempted a collaborative work -- and although it wasn't immediately successful, it certainly inspired me to pursue other collaborations, for better or for worse. -.-

I'd like to contribute another storyboard, whipped up in about 20 minutes. Won't say anything more since I'm banking that pictures, no matter how crappy, are still worth a thousand words. -.-

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Aurora Borealis · June 24, 2008, 08:07:50 AM

It seems that eating habits get increasingly bizarre from generation to generation! But how the heck was Vistan able to almost eat CE-tan and DOS kitty?! 0__0

NejinOniwa · June 24, 2008, 09:48:11 AM

Quote2008

Well played, sempai, well played.

Aurora Borealis · June 24, 2008, 10:48:40 AM

Aha! MS DOS-tan and DOS kitty went back in time to escape the insanity of their family!

(just kidding! I see a faded '8' in there. I know it's supposed to be 2008)

C-Chan · June 24, 2008, 02:37:39 PM

QuoteIt seems that eating habits get increasingly bizarre from generation to generation! But how the heck was Vistan able to almost eat CE-tan and DOS kitty?! 0__0

Well with the kind of appetites you're talking about, clearly every hand in the house is needed to gather the necessary ingredients (2 tbsp of SDRAM, a quart of SODIMM, a pinch of DDR2, etc.).

DOSKitty and CE-tan were doing just that,... but in the chaotic shuffle, nearly ended up as ingredients themselves. ^^;

This is actually taken from an old picture idea I had eons ago, and in fact would've featured MS-DOS-chan as a main character.

QuoteWell played, sempai, well played.

QuoteAha! MS DOS-tan and DOS kitty went back in time to escape the insanity of their family!

(just kidding! I see a faded '8' in there. I know it's supposed to be 2008)

Ahh, I take it you two spotted the very subtle gag with the 8, eh? ^^

========

BTW, I'm a bit pressed today, so I'll have to stop by later to continue my Epic Response Marathon if you want to call it that.

Have fun, oh, and please say hello to Techno-san for me, as a little bird told me he's back and is experimenting with a very AWESOME program (wonder which one...). ^.^

*C-chan trots off*

Bella · June 24, 2008, 06:06:10 PM

Haha! That's a great concept! I almost want to work on this a bit...dunno if I have the time though, I can't say I'd be able to finish it. Course, I could always post my work and let someone else have at it...

I don't get the 200/2008 thing though

CaptBrenden · June 25, 2008, 01:20:05 AM

closer inspection reveals that Doskitty and dos-tan are eating the 8... it took me forever to figure out what it was that they were eating...

Im pretty dense and dont really get it exept that its funny to see them eating more in each frame

please to be enlightening? ;_;

NejinOniwa · June 25, 2008, 05:33:11 AM

Something like, too much RAM = Overweight, MS-DOS tells the girls it's bad for their health, the years go on and the OS'es crave more and more RAM, lulz ensue.

Something like that. I suck at explaining sometimes.

iDarbert · June 25, 2008, 06:12:26 AM

Quote from: "CaptBrenden"closer inspection reveals that Doskitty and dos-tan are eating the 8... it took me forever to figure out what it was that they were eating...

Im pretty dense and dont really get it exept that its funny to see them eating more in each frame

please to be enlightening? ;_;

It represents to the stereotype that more advanced Operating Systems consume increasing ammounts of RAM.

C-Chan · June 25, 2008, 12:42:26 PM

Stereotype,... cute. ^.^
Nevertheless, more or less OS-tan canon at this point, as nicely illustrated here:

In fact, aside from the inclusion of unusual canon characters, my storyboard isn't particularly original -- just more of the same Win jokes.

As for the other points, DOS-chan and DOSKitty are in fact eating the number 8, and yes Nejin's synopsis is pretty much on the ball (right down to the "lulz ensue part").

Now then, I'm going to engage in OSC Geek Mode,... so non-OSC Geeks please avert your eyes quickly or else you risk being engulfed in our weird and wacky Deculture.

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PANEL 1

- This panel references some early Windows history discussed over at OS-tan Theories. This is why NT-san, while still very friendly, should be dressed in an older battlesuit not unlike the one Inu-T uses here:

http://ostan-collections.net/imeeji/albums/userpics/11364/Inu-T_Battlesuit.png

...as she, like 95-tan, was actively fighting/training during that era (her weapon of choice being the rapier).

- Fortunately. 3.1-sama's lilac dress would makes its debut post-1990, so she would not look any different from her present-day self.

- Since she still exerted some influence in the Windows Family at the time, DOS-chan is still dressed in her old 1980's regal attire, as shown here (pending some slight adjustments to her hair, face, shoes, etc):

http://ostan-collections.net/imeeji/albums/os-tans/DOS/dos09.png

She also has more self-confidence, and is not adverse to "coach" the younger girls on many things, including the virtues of good programming and healthy RAM consumption.

- The fact that she appears bigger (in terms of depth-perception) in this panel is intentional -- the final sketch should follow through, since its important to establish that she has the greatest presense in her family at this point.

PANEL 2

- No need for history lessons here, as all the attire at this point is 100% present-day.

- ME-chan and 2K-tan should be pretty self-explanatory, but DOS-chan, while not looking completely pitiful yet, certainly starts to realize that her words aren't carrying the same weight, as both girls are consuming almost 2 years worth of food (in her mind) in one serving. Suffice to say, she starts being her timid self around this point....

http://ostan-collections.net/imeeji/albums/os-tans/DOS/dos01.jpg

- Drawing the keyboard is optional. Who knows if she really lugs that thing around at home anyway....

PANEL 3

- Yes, I fancy the +Nijiura+ version of Vistan -- although feel free to swap with Vistake for more comic potential.

- I don't think I need to explain this, but the "CENSORED" banners are not there because the girls somehow take joy in eating "nekkid" [sic] -- but rather, the eating frenzy is SOOOOO gruesome, it's just too terrifying to air even in an R-rated film. The final sketch might better emphasize this if there are unidentified flying food particles and liquids squirting about.

- XP Pro-tan is indeed eating a giant stick of RAM. I think of this as the equivalent to pizza.

- Originally I had wanted Vistan to hawk done a whole cauldron's worth of RAM soup, but I switched to a glass of RAM juice in order to help make the helpless DOSKitty and CE-chan more visible.

- MSDOS-chan should be drawn at her smallest at this point -- it might also help to make her pale white, since that would make the proposed pajama easier to draw.

- Speaking of pajamas, the scene of the two girls pigging out is not as terrifying as the fact that this is technically a midnight snack for them. ;P

PANEL 4

- This is meant to be a breather from the previous action, of course.

- In our discussions, we theorized that DOSKitty once belonged to MSDOS-chan (and PCDOS-chan), but was gifted to 3.1-sama when she was born. So even if she does spend 99% of her time on 3.1-sama's head, occasionally she enjoys a quiet moment with her old friend DOS-chan. DOS-chan is certainly the one who would feed her whenever 3.1-sama is not around.

- The consumption of the "8" was really just a mindless visual gag -- but it's also meant to attract inappropriately-serious discussion about its meaning.

- If you really really REALLY want to get deep into it, it can be interepreted in at least three different ways (and the final sketch should account for either accordingly):

- The punchline should be the only spoken phrase ever uttered in the comic (even the "lecture lecture lecture" thing should be illustrated as noise rather than words). The phrase I threw in is a generic one, though -- many kudos would go to anyone who could think of something funnier/cuter.

FINAL THOUGHTS

- Of course, the purpose of this exercise is to just have fun and inspire participation, so the final geek note I have is to just toss all the other geek notes you've just read, and approach this with a clean slate and an open mind. Chances are it will evolve into something more organic and more "OSC"-like than the original storyboard, as long as it's not bound by a rigid plan (but simply marginally-influenced by one).

CaptBrenden · June 25, 2008, 01:35:55 PM

first off:

katana:

rapier:

Just wanted to clear up that little bit...

Some thoughts:
As where I can appriciate your geekery, I think that the most recognised versions of each character should be used and should remain uniform. A lesser educated reader might mistake the many versions of DOS for differnt characters. Same with NT.. I dont even know what battle suit you speak of. I would be more inclined to either have the motherly pink dress NT or even Inu-T since there are alot of fans for her in the frame.

Next, as where they are known for eating RAM, I cant recall them ever litteraly eating ram, so I think regular food should be substituted, simply putting RAM written on the side of the glass or whatever like the comic reference that was put up.

For the thrid frame, I can imagin possibly changing it so that Vistan and XPtan are fighting over the food (like Lina and Gorry in slayers) Id like to leave out the doskitty and CE random placement, as it takes to much spectualtion as to how they got there. 4koma is a simple joke, complex jokes and heavy thinking are more suited for the main manga.

In the final frame, Im thinking instead of the speculitive joke with the 8, just having DOS on her hands and knees in that "utterly defeated" pose saying she needs a vacation, her lecture notes spread messily around her.

Ill see if i can whip up a sketch real fast.

C-Chan · June 25, 2008, 01:56:47 PM

Well looking at it again, I suppose it really is more of a broadsword....

But it's a moot point anyway... your proposed changes are fine (and I love the food fight idea) and certainly would help make it easier to draw (although I think it'd be nice to have DOSKitty at least consoling the defeated DOS-chan).

I should probably note that omitting the actual physical RAM might detract from the "cuteness"...

...but I'm sure there are other clever ways to work with regular food -- for example, the "RAM" lettering.

In any event, I think my job here is done. Can't guarantee that I'll come up with similar ideas/storyboards later on,... but I'm banking on the hope that I won't have to. With so many members, the volunteering of ideas, especially for a more traditional project such as this one, should come in more regularly.

CaptBrenden · June 25, 2008, 02:58:43 PM

ah, missunderstood your post, I though you were talking about 95. Its funny bit of speach there so I didnt quite follow

anyhow Im in the middle of a rough sketch to get my changes across

btw, anyone up for creating a web comic style web page that can be attached to the forum for these? If they become a regular basis we should have a place to post them for the web comic readers to visit (i dont think average web comic readers want to sift through our forum posts.

Added after 51 minutes:

okay here it is, this is how I invision that 4koma:

As its your idea C-Chan, what would you care to name it?

Added after 7 minutes:

I just noticed in each frame the characters in the foreground got bigger as dos got smaller...

I swapped out NT for Inu-T due to her popularity, and cus i wanted to draw one of those cartoon hunks of meat.

I put ME-tan into a full state of freese, and made 2k look annoyed about it.

I thought haveing XP and Vista lock "blades" in a battle of epic purportions to be fitting, and the pose lent perfectly for having a paniced DOS in the background.
and as you wanted to see, I put a DOSkitty consouling DOS-tan.. sorta. Nya~

iDarbert · June 25, 2008, 03:43:34 PM

Quote from: "C-Chan"Stereotype,... cute. ^.^
Nevertheless, more or less OS-tan canon at this point, as nicely illustrated here:

Well yes, but OS-tans are largely based on stereotypes actually.

Nice job by the way, the 8 detail was great ;010

C-Chan · June 25, 2008, 03:50:01 PM

@Captain

Very good job, I think this is brilliant and precisely the kind of evolutionary humor I was shooting for (especially with the food fight). Thank you for adding DOSKitty in the end,... she does lend a nice touch, and also encourages a bit of DOS solidarity that we rarely see anywhere.

The only change I might suggest is to drop the years altogether. Aside from the fact they don't appear in the other half of the 4koma, Inu-T (or at least the version of NT she unofficially represents) was not around in 1993. The whole comic is general enough to be set in the present day, as a kind of "day-in-the-life-of" scheme for poor DOS-chan. While MSDOS-tan is not a popular character herself, she can be one with enough starring roles such as these -- my philosophy on her is, with enough attention and exposure, she can easily be transformed into the next Chiyo-chan.

The tentative title I give to my storyboard was "RAM Watchers", a very bad pun on "Weight Watchers". If no one else can think of anything wittier, I suppose I'll have to stick by that.

@iDarbert
Thank you. -v-