Before I start this review, I must admit that in my early teens and possibly before, I had this thing for transformations. I liked seeing certain episodes of Gargoyles and Batman in which people changed their form, either by choice or having it forced upon them (preferably the latter, as well as the transformee being female). The reason for this was because this symbolized some sort of radical change in story, as well as giving me a sense of wonder as to how someone would feel if they actually were physically transformed. I suspect there was a deeper reason to all that as well, as transformation, especially if forced upon someone, was a symbol of dominance over nature and humanity, and dominance kinda turns me on. I guess I still hold onto a little of that from my earlier days, as I enjoy scenes in video games and RPG's where the villain takes on a more powerful form through some improbably process. There's nothing incredibly unusual about all this, but it's not the kind of thing that most people would just keep to themselves, as it would make others look at them sideways. I only mention this because it is somewhat pertinent to this whole review, given that
DAN SHIVE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO CONCEAL HIS CREEPY FETISHES.
Anyway, I guess I should write this now, and I'll try my best not to swear.
Plot
Dan Shive has a furry and transformation fetish, and he just HAS to let out all of that pent-up sexuality somehow. Given that he has about a 5% chance of getting laid in the next five years, and given that he has at least enough dignity not to draw anthro-porn (I certainly hope not, anyway. Who knows what's not on the internet?), he decides to draw a webcomic about it. It doesn't matter that he can't draw too well, or doesn't have enough human interaction to know how people converse, or any knowledge of making a compelling story structure outside of Anime, or that he couldn't understand layout for the life of him. He perseveres, despite all of these roadblocks, and in the end churns out a webcomic that is a better form of self-gratification than masturbation, but not much else.
And what's the comic about? Far as I can tell, it's about people constantly switching species and gender and all of the high-larious results of said transformations. Oh, and sex jokes, Anime jokes and nerd jokes.
Art
Below average. Characters have very similar designs, clothes, faces, hair, etc. Often I couldn't tell them apart, especially after they all started changing shape. Strangely, the anthro designs are better-drawn than the human designs, but then they're just weird for the most part.
Dearth of backgrounds. Action scenes are very stiff. Shoddy linework. Boring use of colors in certain strips.
Characters
Elliot: Jerk
Tedd: Nerd pervert
Sarah: Confused bitch
Grace: Naive squirrel-girl
Ellen: Elliot's 'sister' that was made after Elliot was turned into a girl, so he touched this magical diamond that seperated them and they became two different people. Plausible, I know.
Writing
UGH! Stiff as a board! This guy has no sense of how people actually talk in real life. People talk in recaps and exposition that often fills up half a page full of info that I already know, I don't care about, and could be greatly reduced. An example in the most recent comic I've read has the line "Since when are you into grunge music from the early nineties?" That whole line can be reduced to "Since when did you like grunge?" That would have made the line slightly more funny, but it still wouldn't make me laugh.
Which brings me to the jokes. They are weak. Unfunny. Flat. In-jokes that refer to furries, Anime, transformation and the comic itself. I only laughed at one joke in the entire thing so far, and I'm too lazy to look for it again. It involved a unisex bath house. The problem with all these jokes is that Dan Shive expects the funny to just write itself, as transformations are odd enough to be funny on their own. The problem here is that not only is the first transformation done with a serious tone, but the whole thing is done to death, making transformations lose any sense of oddity and just become lame.
A larger problem with the comic's writing, though, is the story structure. Pacing is god-awful, as sometimes events are sped up (like the first goo story) in order to get to the 'interesting' parts, which move at a crawl (Like Sister, which took forever and was an absolute mess). Worse still are plot twists that come out of nowhere, such as an alternate-dimension Tedd contacting Grace through internet video or Grace's brother Hedge showing up in West Bumhole, AZ to give Tedd and Elliot a ride back to Moperville. Most of the characters also have unimaginative superpowers that they have for little or no reason. Twists such as these made my arm fall off the desk a couple of times, as my mind and body just stopped functioning in order to properly process all of the inanity. Its bad because just as I'm about to finish swallowing another crap sandwich Dan Shive served me and accept whatever dumb twist he came up with, he serves me another one.
And then the drama. THE DRAMA! Enough angst to make several angst sandwiches. Is any of this supposed to be taken seriously? It's hackneyed, overwrought, unrealistic and, given the ludicrous nature of the comic, impossible to take seriously.
And finally, the transformations themselves. I firmly believe that a something so life-altering as a changing of one's physical form should have big practical and emotional ramifications or at least lead to a boss fight, not just be some silly afterthought. Thanks for killing another bit of my childhood, Dan Shive!
And stop being so freakin' self-referential! No one likes the characters mentioning they're in a comic, or the author commenting on the comic within the strip. Fourth-wall breaks are only tolerated when the strip doesn't take itself seriously at all, or it's some kind of avant-garde project, of which this obviously isn't.
BARF!
Weak humor, stupid drama, random plot twists, overlong exposition, horrible pacing, wooden dialogue, so-so art, general inanity and a thin layer of creepiness make this one of the worst comics I've ever read. This is Dragon Ball Z with more chicks and angst, and somehow less interesting fights. A strong contender with Gene Catlow. Oh, and it SO wants to be Sluggy Freelance.
Now, excuse me while I make myself a beef milkshake. |
