Official Goblins (comic) Thread

Will Chief ultimately survive this encounter?

  • Yes, Chief will survive

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • No, Chief will not survive

    Votes: 10 76.9%
  • I can close this poll now?

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • When did we get that?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .

GasBandit

Staff member
What if they're both? I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this wasn't a data loss issue. I can imagine that, if Thunt lacked adequate backup procedures, that something like a lightning strike could have caused enough loss to cause the downtime.
Eh, I think there'd have been something said earlier than this. There's too much cryptic mystery and silent delay for it just to have been a "my hard drive died and I lost everything!" issue.
 

Dave

Staff member
Yeah, though now that just worries me all the more. What do the shredded comics in the background mean?
People on their website have identified both of the comics in the background. They are the deaths of characters - Fluffles (owlbear) & Hava (not sure who this is) - so if the comics themselves have any meaning...
 
People on their website have identified both of the comics in the background. They are the deaths of characters - Fluffles (owlbear) & Hava (not sure who this is) - so if the comics themselves have any meaning...
Hava's a goblin who was also taken prisoner by the Viper clan, and forced to work on digging into the dungeon. He died when the hobgoblins attacked the Viper clan.

(In another interesting note, Hava's full name is Piss Off I Have a Headache. His clan's fortune teller is very bad at names.)
 
My personal guess at the moment is stillbirth/miscarriage. Except it doesn't make a lot of sense that his wife would manage to make a short post saying his longer one will be around soon.
 
So he's talking about it on Twitter... sounds like he's had a breakdown and is getting panic attacks. I know what that's like so I'm just going to say that I hope he can find a way to manage it better than I did.
 
Man, that sucks.

I wouldn't mind if he slowed down his update schedule to give himself a break. Updating every five days isn't worth it if it costs you your sanity and health.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Man, that sucks.

I wouldn't mind if he slowed down his update schedule to give himself a break. Updating every five days isn't worth it if it costs you your sanity and health.
Of course, we are talking about a webcomic artist already infamous for his slow update pace. Heck, look how long it's taken him to get us information on why work on the comic has stopped? I don't think it's the pace of his work output, there's something else going on.
 
Of course, we are talking about a webcomic artist already infamous for his slow update pace. Heck, look how long it's taken him to get us information on why work on the comic has stopped? I don't think it's the pace of his work output, there's something else going on.
I'm inclined to agree, although if a respite from his webcomic-related stress will help him, then I for one would be all for it.

The story of Minmax, Kin, Forgath, and the GAP can wait. Go get your head straight and your life in order, then come back and resume your tales.
 

Dave

Staff member
Just hope he gets better before he goes to their forum. Some of the people there are harshly cruel idiots.
 

Necronic

Staff member
I dunno if this makes me an ass, but I can't tell if I prefer this or the way Achewood's departure was handled. With Achewood he was going through a divorce, and got to a point where he didn't think the comic could work anymore, so he just stopped writing it for over a year. I only found out about the reasons why way later, he never discussed it, he just left. It sucked but I got over it, mostly. I just sort of forgot about it. But with this he's like....dangling the answer in front of our face and then pulling back and saying nuh uh! It's sort of aggravating. Just wait until you can post something then post it. Or don't post anything and just take care of your business and do the comic when you can.
 
O-kay then. What the hell IS that thing, why does it remind me of Fingers, why is the mannequin bleeding and most importantly, why are eight pages of character deaths stuck to the wall?

Chief, the Orc, Klik, Saral Caine, Dellyn Goblinslayer, Hava, the Owlbear and K'sellis

Wait, no… I missed the two in the bottom-right corner, some of the earliest deaths in the comic.

On the plus side, the counter's back. Guess that means he's gotten better… hopefully.

Oooh! Sneak Peak! Wait, why is Forgath reacting like that to his face? What is he seeing, dammit?!
 
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It sucks that we get a constant tease Of an explanation with no real info being given. If he'd even just said the comic is on hiatus and that he'll update when he updates, that would at least make a bit more sense than what's been going on.
 
He keeps repeating the excuse of "no matter how many times I write it, it still makes me look like an asshole".

...well, not posting it doesn't really make the perception any better. I mean, I get it if it's panic/anxiety attacks, it's difficult to function, but to do nothing for 2 months and just tease at something without being honest and up-front about it is not helping anything.

The extreme skeptic side of me wonders if he just wrote the story so far into a corner that he ran out of things to do with it. Maybe he doesn't have any more unexplained ass pulls with which to save the characters, since they've gotten themselves out of 10-12 logically impossible situations already with every form of impossible scenario already coming into play.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Having read the summary of his communications on the goblins comic forum, it's apparent that Thunt has had a complete mental/emotional breakdown and is now barely functioning as a human being, having multiple panic attacks, "lost 40 pounds in 5 weeks" etc etc etc.

I think it's safe to just put this one on our "on hiatus" lists and stop checking it. Someone will no doubt pipe up if and when it starts updating again. But it smells very Allie Brosh to me (as in, how many times has hyperbole-and-a-half updated since she had her depression meltdown? Answer: 8 times in 4 years. Where was the oft-trumpeted book she was working on? etc).

If nobody else, you can probably count on me to notify of the update - I've got goblins' RSS in my feedly. Hell, I still have Megatokyo in my feedly, though I've long stopped giving a shit about it because, though ostensibly being "back" after its seemingly interminable hiatus, it still only updates about once every 40 days, more than enough time for me to forget all about everything between every single comic.
 
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I'm about done with the comic. I love the story, but this Lucy and Charlie Brown act has left a sour taste in my mouth. Pull the fucking trigger already.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Wow, you guys are fickle....
I don't think so. I'm not saying the comic isn't good, and my gripe has always been it updates too slowly. Slowly has become not at all for months. It's only natural to lose interest. If it starts updating again, I'll start reading again.
 

Dave

Staff member
I agree. If he were here we'd give him all the help he needs. Would you react differently if he had a heart attack and couldn't draw? Mental illness is still a physical affliction, even if it's one you can't see. I know you aren't saying anything to be mean and that you understand - I totally get your point. But when he comes back I will as well.
 
I agree. If he were here we'd give him all the help he needs. Would you react differently if he had a heart attack and couldn't draw? Mental illness is still a physical affliction, even if it's one you can't see. I know you aren't saying anything to be mean and that you understand - I totally get your point. But when he comes back I will as well.
Bolded for emphasis. I'll come back in a year to see if he's updating again. For now, though, it's frustrating to go there with a "Update soon" for the last week.
 
Well, I do think he should take all the time he needs to get well (enough to draw again :p), and continue when he feels up to it.
And I'm indeed not really checking his site until I hear from this place it's updating again. Not out of ill will, but because, frankly, I have plenty of webcomics in my "check once in a blue moon when I'm bored" folder. It'll go right in there for now. When I'm checking comics, I want comics - not the same "sorry, not to day" message months in a row. I absolutely understand and don't bear him any bad feelings, on the contrary - I hope he gets better soon, finds a new start, and is happy once more. Perhaps one more goblin might survive. I don't "owe" him allegiance in a I'll-check-his-site-once-a-week-for-his-advertisement-money way, though. If a TV channel isn't broadcasting a show I like, I don't feel obligated to watch their commercials either.

Still, a "it'll be a few more weeks at least, months probably, sorry" message - with no further info for all I care - would've been nice, and honestly, Danielle could've posted that.
 
Still, a "it'll be a few more weeks at least, months probably, sorry" message - with no further info for all I care - would've been nice, and honestly, Danielle could've posted that.
I agree with the rest of your post, but just want to point out that it's easy to say in hindsight how long it'll take to clear things up and move on, but a lot harder to make an accurate estimate before that point. If they didn't know it would be weeks and thought Thunt was closer to normal than he apparently was, it doesn't make much sense for them to make that announcement instead.
 
I agree with the rest of your post, but just want to point out that it's easy to say in hindsight how long it'll take to clear things up and move on, but a lot harder to make an accurate estimate before that point. If they didn't know it would be weeks and thought Thunt was closer to normal than he apparently was, it doesn't make much sense for them to make that announcement instead.
True...But, well, I've been there (perhaps not as bad as he has it now, perhaps not even the same thing - I don't follow the forums there so I don't know much), but...well, ok, I thought I'd be fine in a few days, weeks tops, too... Friends and families saw from a loooong way off that it'd take me more than "a few weeks" to bounce back. Of course you don't post "hiatus 'till further notice" after one day of not feeling up to it. After two weeks or so I'd imagine either he himself, or someone close, would've been able to say, either "ok, this is going the right way...Perhaps a few weeks more" or "oh boy, we're a long way off - this is a problem - it'll probably be months". Of course an exact estimate is nice - if you're going out of town for a vacation, you can say with relative certainty when you'll be back. A "don't get your hopes up, it won't be for this week or the next" would've been polite, is all.
 
Well, the comic is finally on hiatus, as was reasonable.

In the 'next update clock':
The comic is
again on hiatus
for the time being.
Tarol is still
dealing with his health
issues, so please be
patient for now.
Dukey~

On twitter:
Tarol pushed himself back out into the world a bit too fast. When he does come back, he hopes you'll still be there. -Danielle
 
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