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Loving this run of PA, especially the "bro" in the track suit and Tychos response to him

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/

Bro in tracksuit? What are you talking about? I can only see part one.

escushion said:

Bro in tracksuit? What are you talking about? I can only see part one.

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Same. There is only part one.

Part two got taken down, will probably be tomorrow's comic. I saw it though.

*gasp* Espy, did you... you...


YOU SPOILED PENNY ARCADE!!!!!!

AAAre those warmachine figs in the background?

Yeah, the PA guys have been obsessed with Warmachine for the past few months.

...I have more recently.

I hear it is a good game, just haven't had the chance to try it out yet. I've been interested in playing Malifaux though.

escushion said:

*gasp* Espy, did you... you...


YOU SPOILED PENNY ARCADE!!!!!!

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HOSHIT THERE GOES THE FORUM!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/1/14/

Ok guys, here's the Penny Arcade featuring the tracksuit wearing bro that Tycho reacts to.

Espy said:

HOSHIT THERE GOES THE FORUM!

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NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Krisken said:

I hear it is a good game, just haven't had the chance to try it out yet. I've been interested in playing Malifaux though.

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I've been hating myself for saying this the past month or so since we discovered Warmachine, but I don't feel like I can go back to 40k now.

Haven't tried Malifaux myself, but it looked interesting.

As for the comic, now that part 2 is up: I understand part one now--he wouldn't hate going there if it wasn't for the guy who owned it. My hobby shops never had "bro" species or subspecies running them, nor jerks. Love Tycho's face though.

Not sure how a place with an owner who was that big a jerk to his customers would stay open for long.

Nerds and geeks need their fix.

Krisken said:

Not sure how a place with an owner who was that big a jerk to his customers would stay open for long.

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I think... it's a joke. You know... that they only have one place to buy from and the guy... is a... jerk...

I see... what you mean. I guess... I was a little... stuck... in the real world. My bad.

thats been my experience with almost every game shop except for one very large one. the people generally looked at me as insignificant and a nobody. it was true of a few places that specialized in anime and other Japanese cultural stuff. but yes, none of those lasted long.

I can see why.

Never had that problem with a specialty place. But then, I've only been going to them for the last three years, so it's possible that after seeing their peers go out of business, the ones I've visited have learned to value their customer.

Krisken said:

I see... what you mean. I guess... I was a little... stuck... in the real world. My bad.

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Heh.

The hobby store I went to didn't have a bro but it did have an old guy who only stocked the RPG stuff because he knew he could make money off it since no one else sold it in our town. He hated that fact though and hated everyone one of us who came in to buy it.

There's a comic store nearby that has RPG people coming in all the time for stuff, but all they have are Magic the Gathering and some dice sets. They had D&D books very briefly, which sold out right away, but the owner doesn't want to get more because they sell comics there.

Well, they don't sell that many comics, and he's really not paying attention to where comic book stores have gone in the last few years. Not to mention, geeks tend to cross mediums. Selling comics is great, but he'd likely get more business with a little expansion. They could make room by moving those $200 Marvel and DC hero statues that have been sitting there ever since they moved in, unsold.

there was one thats major deal was model planes, trains, and such they had a small section fot table top stuff and every time i came in to look and buy i ended up feeling unwelcome. eventually the mans son took over the shop and his response was much warmer.

escushion said:

They could make room by moving those $200 Marvel and DC hero statues that have been sitting there ever since they moved in, unsold.

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I think every comic shop has that shelf of way overpriced superhero statues that no one ever buys.

The problem with my local gaming shop was never that the guys there were jerks, but that the place always felt like I was shopping in some guy's garage sale. Dust was on everything, there was no carpet, the whole shop had a funny smell to it, and everything was attached to a hook on the wall.

They've been in business over 20 years like that.

From Tycho's post today:

I want to emphasize that when you lay eyes on the entity in today's strip, really take him in, that he is a real person and we are not making him up. This is a documentary! This is like Mutual of Omaha, but with polyhedrons.

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Am I the only one with a very friendly, welcoming FLGS? The married couple who run it are very nice, especially the wife.

My friend James and his ex Jen were fantastic FLGS owners. I've never run into the Bro owner.

the guys the run the one MAJOR shop in the eastern twin cities, called THE SOURCE, are all very nice...when i was a new dm, I asked the guy frankly what I would need in the way of gameware and books, told him to be honest and sell me what I would need, put my trust in him. he sold me a few pounds of dice, the mondomat, markers for it, the 3 main dnd books, and some real basic mat marker pieces.

The one big name in Finnish geek stores is Fantasiapelit ('Fantasy Games'), which operates a sizeable miniature/comic/RPG/LARP store in most major Finnish cities. I frequent mine a lot these days, checking out WoD books, comic books (purchased my set of Walking Dead from there) and other geeky paraphernalia. They also run miniature games, and more often than not you can either see a big battle going on or some people playing Magic the Gathering. The staff is quite geeky as well, which I think is a plus - as long as you don't mind a bit of greasy hair and rumpled clothes.

All in all, I like my local geek store.

I've recently looked around as I was thinking of getting into reading comics... and there are literally 0 geek stores of any kind in my whole city. The nearest one is a 40 minute drive away. I'd consider looking into the viability of OPENING one, except for the fact that we DID have comic/gamer stores and they all shut down, which leads me to believe there just isn't enough interest where I live to keep stores like that open.

We have three geeky shops around here, one of which specializes only in minitures and D&D.

The other two are just chock full of awesome things...but I prefer one over the other because thestaff will actually talk to you. They are friendly and make recommendations...and they are clean cut and nice looking. The other shop...well...the owner sits behind the counter, never looking up, never speaking unless directly asked something. It's just uncomfortable. I feel like I'm being intrusive.

There's also to much stuff for the space they have. It's impossible t see everything they have.

David said:

I've recently looked around as I was thinking of getting into reading comics... and there are literally 0 geek stores of any kind in my whole city. The nearest one is a 40 minute drive away. I'd consider looking into the viability of OPENING one, except for the fact that we DID have comic/gamer stores and they all shut down, which leads me to believe there just isn't enough interest where I live to keep stores like that open.

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If I ever win the lottery I'll come open a store there. I might lose money but I wouldn't care.

Our local store is like the latter one you described, Little Sin, but I actually kind of like that. We found the place and were struck with awe after the comics store disappointed us, and it was nice to just wander the place seeing what we wanted and liked without having a staffer come up asking if we needed help or anything. When we did need help, the guy behind the counter immediately dropped what he was doing, and actually was willing to haggle with Dream over the price of some old art books.

I can understand choosing one store over the other, but keep in mind in the event that you had to go into the store where the guy sits behind the counter--he's getting paid for you to bother him. Keep him having a job .

I don't really get this story arc. Really sounds like they're just angry that a hobby store could be run by a non-stereotype geek.

They're angry because the guy is a D-bag. It's really not hard to follow.

Edit: Sorry Covar, that was a little snarky. I don't think it's so much that he's not "ONE OF THEM", but that he's entirely not interested in serving his customer base despite having the only store in the area which caters to their needs. It would be like an auto dealer telling their customers they don't have time for them.

I get the storyline; I just don't get the point. This guy ain't gonna change, and if he were out of business, then what would they do, go a few towns over?

Not to mention, I find it hard to believe there's only ONE gaming/hobby store in all of Seattle. It's not like they live in a middle-of-nowhere town; it's a city.

EDIT: Within an 11-mile radius I see seven gaming stores that are not Games Workshop around Seattle.

Dave said:

If I ever win the lottery I'll come open a store there. I might lose money but I wouldn't care.

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You would be a folk hero to the geeks of the high desert valley of California.

Covar said:

I don't really get this story arc. Really sounds like they're just angry that a hobby store could be run by a non-stereotype geek.

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I don't get why it required three comics.

Gusto said:

I don't get why it required three comics.

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That too. I was surprised there was a third part today.

Krisken said:

They're angry because the guy is a D-bag. It's really not hard to follow.

Edit: Sorry Covar, that was a little snarky. I don't think it's so much that he's not "ONE OF THEM", but that he's entirely not interested in serving his customer base despite having the only store in the area which caters to their needs. It would be like an auto dealer telling their customers they don't have time for them.

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didn't seem that snarky to me.

IDK, just not feeling this "arc."

I will note that Tycho mentions in the accompanying news post about how shy he is so this is just the expected passive-aggressive nerd rage.

Then unfortunately he's bringing some of it on himself if he doesn't put the guy in his place by letting him know who has the money and who wants the money in this situation. I don't advocate blaming the victim, but sometimes you gotta stand up for yourself. "I'm the fucking customer. Deal with it."

He SHOULD saunter in and say, "I'm not sure you understand, but I'm a tastemaker in my field"

Well, the "sorry, we are Ladies" sign made me smile, even if it even makes less sense when written as a sentence.

Joe Johnson said:

He SHOULD saunter in and say, "I'm not sure you understand, but I'm a tastemaker in my field"

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You know, if they brought Kurtz with them, the guy wouldn't give them any guff. Not because Scott's tough or anything, but he can be loud and abrasive, and I'm sure he's picked up some level of forward personality just from living in Texas so long that the bro wouldn't be prepared for considering his usual customers are probably of the shy nature like Tycho.

Tinwhistler said:

I think the point is finding humor in the anachronism.

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But what would Tinwhistler do?

Krisken said:

Not sure how a place with an owner who was that big a jerk to his customers would stay open for long.

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My cousin owns a hobby/comic book store, and yeah he can be a jerk to the mouth breathers that hang around and don't buy anything. That's not to say he doesn't enjoy some chit-chat about comics etc... But let's face it, if you're hanging out and not buying shit, people don't want you there. You're not their buddy, you're a customer.

I've never met a "dude" comic book shop owner. EVERY single one I've ever met was more like "Comic Book Guy" from the Simpsons.

pfft, My comic book shop owner inspired "Comic Book Guy."*







*not really.

My FLGS owner used to resemble Comic Book Guy but then he went on a diet and started working out and now he looks better than ever....


I'm not doing this right am I?