Questionable Content XVI: Yes, Butt

[Cikomyr2]

Awwww Elliot, you are so cute when you panic

However, it's a big no-no for me to hang out at someone's place of work *during their shift*. Even when invited.

[Traab]

Awwww Elliot, you are so cute when you panic

However, it's a big no-no for me to hang out at someone's place of work *during their shift*. Even when invited.

Keep in mind like half to 2/3 of this comic seems to take place hanging out at the coffee shop where half the cast seems to work. So the idea would hardly be anathema to clinton.

[Thufir]

Awwww Elliot, you are so cute when you panic

However, it's a big no-no for me to hang out at someone's place of work *during their shift*. Even when invited.

I don't particularly see it as an issue in this instance. Like, a lot of jobs it would be bad because your friend has to be focusing on the work they're doing, but as a bouncer Elliot's work is primarily just to stand there looking big and potentially threatening so it's easy to mix some friendly conversation into that.
Not to mention we've seen people just hanging out with Elliot while he's working before, so it seems weird to get up in arms about it now just because they're planning it in advance.

[Wraith]

I mean, if a cute girl took ME out for coffee and invited me to play Magic....

[Coretron03]

Incredibly pedantic quibble, you can’t really “pick up” a core set. Core sets are generally just sets that you buy boosters for, like most other products. I guess Jeph is going for something like precon decks, which you could buy two to play Magic with.

[Wraith]

Arguably he meant a Core Set Booster Box - over $100 for 36 booster packs seems like a big commitment just for a coffee meet-up, but they don't call it "cardboard crack" for nothing, I guess.

[Rodin]

Jeph could just be showing his age. When I first introduced to Magic it was with a 5th edition starter pack - 60 cards randomly chosen from the set in a single box. We played by shuffling the deck and dealing 30 cards each. Eventually we did what this dude suggested - I bought a starter pack of my own and we both picked up a few boosters to supplement our decks with. I kind of miss that low level play that's a step above drafting but not using anything close to the optimized craziness of a full card list.

[Eldan]

Aren't there learn to play sets anymore? We had those for... sixth edition? Seventh? Whatever that was back then. Two pre-made (and pretty bad) 30 card decks plus a rulebook, to set you up for your first game. Plus two shiny promo rares and a random booster.

And yeah, that's how we played. We being the six or so people at my school who played magic. You bought boosters and played what was in them. I remember when, after about two years, one of the guys came to school and was like "Guys. I found this website where you can just buy the cards you want and build any deck you like. Like, you can just buy four of the same rare."

Minds were blown. All our rares had always been singles.

[Keltest]

Aren't there learn to play sets anymore? We had those for... sixth edition? Seventh? Whatever that was back then. Two pre-made (and pretty bad) 30 card decks plus a rulebook, to set you up for your first game. Plus two shiny promo rares and a random booster.

And yeah, that's how we played. We being the six or so people at my school who played magic. You bought boosters and played what was in them. I remember when, after about two years, one of the guys came to school and was like "Guys. I found this website where you can just buy the cards you want and build any deck you like. Like, you can just buy four of the same rare."

Minds were blown. All our rares had always been singles.

I know this almost certainly isnt how it works, but i like to imagine that the serious hard core industrial card collectors and traders just have pallets full of useless common cards sitting around like stacks of dollar bills in the bank that theyve obtained through buying boosters and just in bulk trades with other collectors.

"I will trade you one pallet load of red land for [insert moderately rare card here]."

[Yuki Akuma]

I know this almost certainly isnt how it works, but i like to imagine that the serious hard core industrial card collectors and traders just have pallets full of useless common cards sitting around like stacks of dollar bills in the bank that theyve obtained through buying boosters and just in bulk trades with other collectors.

"I will trade you one pallet load of red land for [insert moderately rare card here]."

Honestly they probably do. You only get one rare or mythic rare per booster, and those are usually the only ones that sell for any decent amount. Meanwhile, you also get fourteen other cards per booster - 1 basic land, 3 uncommons and 10 commons. You can sell commons and uncommons too, of course - some people just don't bother with buying boosters and buy an entire deck of individual cards - but most commons don't end up selling until a few years after they're out of print.

So, if you buy a full case of boosters - six boxes of thirty-six boosters - you will have 216 Rare or Mythic Rare cards (approximately 189 Rares and 27 Mythic Rares, in most sets), 216 basic lands, 648 uncommons and 2,160 commons. Those have gotta be stored somewhere.

And nobody who's into professional card trading buys just one case.

[tyckspoon]

So, if you buy a full case of boosters - six boxes of thirty-six boosters - you will have 216 Rare or Mythic Rare cards (approximately 189 Rares and 27 Mythic Rares, in most sets), 216 basic lands, 648 uncommons and 2,160 commons. Those have gotta be stored somewhere.

And nobody who's into professional card trading buys just one case.

Most of the game stores and convention vendors that I've seen have a giant bulk box of Commons because of this, usually sold at like 10 cents a card or 'Buy this deck-box and you get to fill it with Commons' or similar. Some of the more dedicated ones even take the time to sort them by release block or build full playsets so you can just buy Every Common from (insert your favorite expansion here.)

[Kish]

Jeph could just be showing his age. When I first introduced to Magic it was with a 5th edition starter pack - 60 cards randomly chosen from the set in a single box. We played by shuffling the deck and dealing 30 cards each. Eventually we did what this dude suggested - I bought a starter pack of my own and we both picked up a few boosters to supplement our decks with. I kind of miss that low level play that's a step above drafting but not using anything close to the optimized craziness of a full card list.

Yes, this. I haven't played Magic the Gathering in decades, and it would never have occurred to me to guess that they've gone from "you buy a starter deck, and then you buy booster packs to optimize it" to "you buy booster packs and don't ask what they're boosting."

Someone could argue that he should have done at least a little research for even such a brief and unimportant reference, but that someone would not be me, especially considering he can just wave his hand and say "in my world, there are sapient AIs and also the company never discontinued starter decks."

[John Cribati]

There are still starter decks for sale as far as I know. I see them in Walgreens all the time. But I guess I shouldn't assume that they'd get sold the same way at actual game shops.

[Coretron03]

Yeah, starter decks still exist, it’s just that the comic refers getting a product called “core sets” when it seems like it should say starter decks, which is why this was a pedantic minor quibble. Picking up starter decks and modding them with boosters seems exactly what the new dude is going for.

[Shadow of the Sun]

Big stores will buy bulk cards by weight because in a couple of years commons and uncommons might end up being worth a couple of dollars.

So yes, the trading pallet loads of cards is pretty realistic.

[Morquard]

Jeph could just be showing his age. When I first introduced to Magic it was with a 5th edition starter pack - 60 cards randomly chosen from the set in a single box. We played by shuffling the deck and dealing 30 cards each. Eventually we did what this dude suggested - I bought a starter pack of my own and we both picked up a few boosters to supplement our decks with. I kind of miss that low level play that's a step above drafting but not using anything close to the optimized craziness of a full card list.

Or it could be Dan showing HIS age? If he hasn't played Magic in 10-15 years, then maybe he's not aware of what changed and still uses terminology he's familiar with from back then? You know, just like you claiming Jeph doesn't know.

[Willie the Duck]

Or it could be Dan showing HIS age? If he hasn't played Magic in 10-15 years, then maybe he's not aware of what changed and still uses terminology he's familiar with from back then? You know, just like you claiming Jeph doesn't know.

We are lead to believe that these characters are not 10-15 years from their high school days (although we don't really have clear numbers or anything).

[Wraith]

Clinton and Brun are supposed to be the same age, and he's 21/22. This sounds about right since Dan implies that he has gone through college and out the other side, which puts him a little bit older than 21 and they were all at school together. None of them have been out of High School for longer than 4 years, if that.

[Morquard]

Clinton and Brun are supposed to be the same age, and he's 21/22. This sounds about right since Dan implies that he has gone through college and out the other side, which puts him a little bit older than 21 and they were all at school together. None of them have been out of High School for longer than 4 years, if that.

Then are we assuming its 2020 and today's knowledge applies and they left school in 2016. Or did they leave school in 2000 and its maybe 2005?
Because the latter would mean his outdated knowledge still applies.

Or maybe, it's an alternate universe with talking AIs and spacestation robots, where time flows weird and strange and does not actually abide by all our pop culture?

[Wraith]

All the characters have smartphones and that there was a strip referencing the death of Ronnie James Dio in 2010, as well as specific time-skips for seasons/Hannelore going on vacation/Faye working at the skatepark. It looks like 2019, given the lack of pandemic.

I think it more likely to say that the comic is always taking place "now", whenever "now" happens to be on the day its published. That means that Brun and Renee graduated high school in around 2016, but in 5 years times IRL then they will have graduated in 2021. Try not to think too hard about it

[Max_Killjoy]

Dan will turn out to be in a relationship, or gay, or in a gay relationship, or...

Either that, or this will turn into a stable adult relationship and Renee will disappear from the comic.

[Wraith]

He said that aliens haven't visited us. That leaves room for him to imply it wasn't a visit and that they live here full time! They walk among us! THEY WALK AMONG US! CONFORM! CONSUME! OBEY!

But apart from that, he does seem to be far too sensible and have his life together in a way that normally excludes people like him from QC.

[Keltest]

He said that aliens haven't visited us. That leaves room for him to imply it wasn't a visit and that they live here full time! They walk among us! THEY WALK AMONG US! CONFORM! CONSUME! OBEY!

But apart from that, he does seem to be far too sensible and have his life together in a way that normally excludes people like him from QC.

Im pretty sure they definitionally arent aliens if they live here.

[Willie the Duck]

Dan will turn out to be in a relationship, or gay, or in a gay relationship, or...

Either that, or this will turn into a stable adult relationship and Renee will disappear from the comic.

Dan is kind of Jeph's audience's perfect guy -- high school nerd/loser who grows up to be cool guy (and cool guy is apparently a fluid dynamics engineer) and is so cool he can realize his nerdy activities weren't loserish and he can still do them. I kind of assumed it would be a case of '****ty Dan turns out to be great, and Renee screws it up somehow/he decides she's not also great (and that makes her reflect on some aspect of her personality, leading to character development)' but if things are actually 'going well' as indicated today, perhaps something else will happen.

[Radar]

Im pretty sure they definitionally arent aliens if they live here.

They could still be Englishmen in New York?

[Darkone]

She has some redeeming moments, but Renee can really be a LOT sometimes. Wtf was with that comment

[Keltest]

She has some redeeming moments, but Renee can really be a LOT sometimes. Wtf was with that comment

Eh, i have occasionally slipped into D&D-tongue when talking to coworkers who dont play, and it really is something that people... dont hate exactly, but dont appreciate either. Its like speaking a language at somebody you know isnt fluent. Even if they understand what you mean, its still kind of disrespectful.

[VoxRationis]

Yeah, but showing that one feels utter disdain for another person's passions and that their physical attractiveness is (implicitly only just) making up for it is extremely impolite, at a minimum.

I would argue that her previous comment, implying that "date" hadn't been in the cards before and that Dan had therefore mildly overstepped, to be worse, considering that 1) she noticed him and initiated contact owing to his improved physique, 2) their coffee meet-up already had very date-like components in her body language, terms used, and venue, and 3) she had just asked him out to dinner, which is very much in the vein of dates. "It's a good thing you're hot" is, though rude, an off-the-cuff quip, while gaslighting him to make him think that she hadn't initiated things is a deliberate and calculated deception that is likely (and one assumes, intended) to deflate his sense of confidence and security in their dynamic.

[Yuki Akuma]

Gaslighting? Come the **** on. She's smiling when she says that. It's a joke. She is teasing him.

[Mordokai]

Eh, i have occasionally slipped into D&D-tongue when talking to coworkers who dont play, and it really is something that people... dont hate exactly, but dont appreciate either. Its like speaking a language at somebody you know isnt fluent. Even if they understand what you mean, its still kind of disrespectful.

That's somewhat like if, after you did all the work and sai to the coworker, "Cool, I rolled a natural 20 on intelligence check!", and they would say, "It's a good thing you do all the work, so I don't have to, looser.". That wouldn't be acceptable and neither is Renee's comment.

So yeah, I'm slowly coming around to not liking her.

Plus, you know... what VoxRationis said.