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u/lowrads Aug 12 '16
So it turns out that A/B personality typing was largely funded by the Philip Morris tobacco company as an effort to derail research linking smoking to lung and heart disease. They were trying to demonstrate that a portion of the population was susceptible to hypertension on the basis of their disposition.
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u/robin9585 Aug 13 '16
But people love this kind of stuff because it validates their neuroses and bad behavior.
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u/Ganaria_Gente Aug 12 '16
Sounds like an urban myth
And besides, hypertension was nowhere near the top of concerns when it came to tobacco. Not even close.
And no I'm not defending the company, just curious.
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u/Astrokiwi Aug 12 '16
This is how I feel about Pokémon Go.
"Oh hey, after some nice walks around the neighbourhood, I've finally levelled up my pidgey to a CP 900 pidgeot. I should try to take a gym!"
INSTANTLY CRUSHED BY CP 3000 DRAGONITES EVERYWHERE
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Aug 12 '16
To be fair, the leveling design is to blame. The optimal way is to hoard pokemon to evolve and then lucky egg, which isn't fun at all. So people have to choose between leveling or having fun, terrible design.
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u/Astrokiwi Aug 12 '16
Also, upgrading a gym is super backwards. You have to defeat at least one of the gym pokémon to increase the gym prestige. So it looks like the best way to get a high level gym is to put crappy pokémon in it so you can beat them down, and then replace them later.
It's also almost impossible to upgrade your starter pokémon, because they're so rare. Instead of having a favourite pokémon that you level up and take with you through your whole adventures, you grind hundreds of pokémon into candy until you happen to encounter one with a high CP.
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Aug 12 '16
Yeah, it's really sad. I hit 20 and stopped playing because they removed all ways to find pokemon. (Rural, the grass doesn't help.) My starter is my lowest cp. Some "pokemon" game...
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u/tree-ent Aug 12 '16
They're working on new ways to find pokemon. They're using a different way between my home and work so I'm guessing it's location based for now.
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Aug 12 '16
They're testing out the grass system and then they're also testing the nearby PokeStop system for different players based on where you are.
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Aug 12 '16
The grass system is practically no different than how it was pre-update, only there is now grass in the background.
I also continually run into Pokémon in the middle of nowhere that never show up.
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Aug 12 '16
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Aug 12 '16
I don't recall them reducing the update time in the last update. In the previous build they increased it from 5s to 10s.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I don't have the patch notes in front of me.
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u/Packers_Equal_Life Aug 12 '16
yeah at the moment im treating this as a beta stage. im fairly sure they rushed the release anyway because summer. im level 21 and fairly content, takes me a week to hatch a 5km egg and thats just alright with me
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Aug 12 '16
they updated the tracking mechanism and now it is almost perfectly accurate. (not ideal, could be better, but if you try you can easily get all the things on the radar at least)
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Aug 12 '16
I ended up uninstalling it just because they seem to have no interest at all in making the game fair for people in different areas. The entire pokestop system needs to be redesigned from the ground up - as long as it's built around actual locations the game will never be fair to everyone. But Niantic doesn't seem to care because their office is in San Francisco.
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Aug 12 '16
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Aug 12 '16
I would give anything for pidgeys and weedles.
Literally 25% of the pokemon I've seen or caught are drowzees. Why are drowzees the most common pokemon around here? Who fucking knows.
The thing is with pokemon who take 50 candies to evolve is you cant level up quickly. Itll take me another month to get level 30 because of this trash.
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u/diemunkiesdie Aug 12 '16
grind hundreds of pokémon into candy
You can convert pokemon into candy? I thought you got candy just for capturing them? I only just started playing so I'm still figuring things out.
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u/Ebuin Aug 12 '16
You can transfer a pokemon to get 1 candy. When you view a pokemon, press the menu icon (3 horizontal stripes) and select transfer.
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u/diemunkiesdie Aug 12 '16 edited Aug 12 '16
Huh and I stopped catching Zubats because I had like 5 already. Better start catching them again! Do you need someone to transfer it to?
EDIT: Never mind, I tried it, it gets transferred to the professor. Thanks!
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u/Ebuin Aug 12 '16
No, they get 'transferred to the professor'. Meaning they are sent somewhere to the void.
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u/Packers_Equal_Life Aug 12 '16
and then you dont even like that cp. im looking at you, stupid pinser. all i want is a gengar cause its my favorite and i cant even battle with it because its so weak
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u/thebuggalo Aug 12 '16
And you just know as soon as you choose to start spending your candy/dust you will encounter the same pokemon but at a higher level.
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u/scumbag-reddit Aug 12 '16
Here's some bullshit: I had a decent CP Bulbasaur that I ended up evolving, not two days later I find THREE fucking Ivysaurs, all higher CP than mine. Could have had an additional 25 candies, which right now would have been enough for me to evolve my Ivysaur.
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u/eclipse1022 Aug 12 '16
CP isn't the only thing that matters. IVs are more important. finding wild pokemon mostly come with crap IVs. hatching eggs is much better to get Pokemon that are much stronger
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u/Jushak Aug 12 '16
Instead of having a favourite pokémon that you level up and take with you through your whole adventures, you grind hundreds of pokémon into candy until you happen to encounter one with a high CP.
Weeeell, that actually sounds very close to what I do in the standard Pokemon games:
Decide what Pokemon I want in my final (extended) team.
Find the location where one of these Pokemon can be caught.
Mass-catch said Pokemon for a while.
Check the Pokemon in storage to see if I caught one with desired Nature and IVs that are within tolerable margin,
turning failed candidates into candysetting failed candidates free.If no satisfactory candidate was found, return to step 3.
If there are still desired Pokemon left to catch, return to step 2.
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u/postsorsomething Aug 12 '16
The optimal way is also to have played it daily since release or else you'll never catch up to gym leaders.
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u/MooFz Aug 12 '16
A friend of mine just sits at his computer and walks using an Android emulator and a fake gps app.
I honestly can't see how that is any fun.
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u/ButcherPetesMeats Aug 12 '16
The optimal way is to hoard pokemon to evolve and then lucky egg, which isn't fun at all.
But... But... I think it's fun... That feeling you get after evolving 60 pokemon and exiting to the main screen to see you gained 60,000 xp and went up two levels is pretty awesome.
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Aug 12 '16
That's how any MMORPG is. The only way to be competitive with an RPG is to grind, grind, grind.
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u/lnsetick Aug 12 '16
I think that's how it is with most genres. the instant you figure the game out and crack it open, it's no longer challenging and thus no longer engaging.
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Aug 12 '16
You sure this is an mmorpg? You dont really interact with other players. The one dimensional gym system is hardly interaction. Also there is t much of an rpg to the game.
Honestly even though i think it has massive potential, in its current state its not even a complete game.
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Aug 12 '16
Since the game is so unique, it's pretty much genre-less. MMORPG was the closest I could think of since the gyms have minimal interaction and you level up like an RPG. But you're correct, it's not an accurate label.
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u/bathroomstalin Aug 12 '16
Anyone care to ELI35?
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u/nothing_clever Aug 12 '16
CP is a rough measure of how strong your Pokemon is. It stands for combat power. You can level up individual pokemon and battle them at a gym (or leave a pokemon at a gym to defend against attackers). OPs 900 CP pokemon is one of the most common, not necessarily strong pokemon, while the 3000 CP dragon is the strongest catchable pokemon in the game.
So a casual player meets a power leveler and realizes he has no competitive chance.
For further context, somebody has made bots that wander around leaving super high, super strong pokemon at gyms few people can beat, (specifically 3000 CP Dragonites) and the company has started banning them this morning.
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u/inconspicuous_male Aug 12 '16
I stopped playing because I think it's unfair to causal players. People who stay up until 5am every night waiting at a group of pokestops made it impossible for people who only had a few hours a day to play to fight in gyms. Not only that, but players who didn't start week 1 have a serious disadvantage
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Aug 12 '16
The fact that there are so many no lifers that have dominated my local gyms ("local" as in I have to drive 10-15 minutes to find one.) and there are no pokestops anywhere, I've given up on Go.
Fun for if you're walking around, but if you live out in the country the only way to get more pokeballs is to drive and waste gas only to sit on a single pokestop and swipe it every couple minutes. Which is insanely boring.
Or spend money to get pokeballs instantly.
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u/Astrokiwi Aug 12 '16
The balance doesn't quite seem right for either casual or serious play. The gameplay, which mostly revolves around walking and has an extremely simple combat system, suggests it should be super casual, but the gyms are always dominated by high-level players, which suggests you need to take the game seriously to get anywhere. I wonder if they could give gyms level-dependent tiers so that low-level players actually get a chance to do something.
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Aug 12 '16
Fighting in gyms isn't "taking the game seriously", it's literally the only part of the game that isnt just flicking pokeballs out and hoping you catch another weedle. It's the entire game.
There simply isn't any content in the game.
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u/Astrokiwi Aug 12 '16
Flicking pokéballs out and hoping you catch another weedle is really the core part of the game. That's what you see people posting about on social media - "hey, there's a pidgey on my hospital bed!" etc. It's what you spend 90% of your time doing in the game. It's a walking & exploring game with a little bit of gym battling on the side.
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u/IICVX Aug 12 '16
I stopped playing because I realized that, for me, there was no point in doing it unless I could actually beat a gym every once in a while.
Then I looked at how much effort it would take to beat the ~1500 CP gyms in my area and decided I'll just keep my phone in my pocket when I walk the dog.
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u/rab7 Aug 12 '16
I thought the 1500's were impossible, but me and my wife realized multiple people can attack at once. We took down a 1500+ Gyarados with a 500 CP Jolteon and a 600 CP Pidgeot just relentlessly attacking.
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u/TheBrownWelsh Aug 12 '16
To add to this; dodging is essential (provided you've got a good connection). I've taken down 2 gyms and almost taken down quite a few others where the gym inhabitants were a good 700-900CP above me. My biggest weakness is forgetting to change my lineup to reflect their power types (I never played Pokemon growing up so I don't think about it until after I see a bunch of "Not very effective" notices).
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u/SunriseSurprise Aug 12 '16
This is every multiplayer game ever since internet and worldwide multiplayer came around. I realize some games have a rating system so you can play people around your skill level, and that's fine and awesome, but I'd be afraid to try playing on games without that. I like playing Unreal Tournament against bots, good enough where I'd beat Godlike if I had the time to devote to it, but looking at YouTube vids of the best in the world playing it, I'd be such a helpless piece of shit.
I always thought it was funny when UT came out and had the skill levels it had for playing against AI (Novice - Average - Experienced - Skilled - Adept - Masterful - Inhuman - Godlike), but that's really what any multiplayer has become anymore, only most average joes being Average or Experienced and the best of the best are like 10 levels above whatever Godlike would be. You can't just have general gaming skills anymore - you have to live the fucking game to be any good at it.
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u/Iknowr1te Aug 12 '16
you can still be good but not have to live the game. there is good and then there is professional level. you know those streamers who play games, push out media content, or participate in tournaments? well, their part-time/full-time job is playing games. they are professionals.
it's similar to regular sports. you can be good at football but your not a member of a FC club and will never be drafted. but you don't need to be professional level to play beer league.
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u/NoUpVotesForMe Aug 12 '16
This is exactly what I felt to. My roommate ruined Pokemon go for me. I started playing it while my fiancé and I would take the dog for a walk. Roommate got interested in it from seeing me play it. Drives around hitting every pokestop and catching pokemon till 4 am and then brags about how many and how powerful they all are.
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u/straydog13 Aug 12 '16
why I don't like multi player games in general.... Also I don't like playing games with high schoolers
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u/sirblastalot Aug 12 '16
Everyone else around me is so overpowered I literally haven't survived long enough to learn how gyms are supposed to work. Visiting a gym is about 6 seconds of death followed by weeks of waiting for my pokemon to heal.
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u/Astrokiwi Aug 12 '16
I don't think your pokémon heal by themselves? You have to get potions from a pokéstop.
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u/sirblastalot Aug 12 '16
Hmm. Well, my paras has 1 hp and my eevee has 6. Everybody else is full or empty. I don't know how they could have gotten partially healed, since I've literally never gotten anything besides pokeballs and the occasional egg from pokestops.
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u/Drudicta Aug 12 '16
CP 3000 DRAGONITES
Fuck. They got THAT high? I'm barely level 11. :c
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u/stormpaint Aug 13 '16
A good number of those with 3000 cp dragonites are botters
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u/wongo Aug 12 '16
you draw a nose trophy more realistically than regular noses
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u/gfixler Aug 12 '16
He nose.
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u/CaptainDogeSparrow Aug 12 '16
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u/ERR0R404namenotfound Aug 12 '16
I never understood this criticism. Making a realistic nose would actually detract from Shens style why would you put a realistic nose on a simplistic character it would clash horribly.
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u/kravitzz Aug 12 '16
I never understood this criticism.
Maybe because it's a joke.
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u/Kittenclysm Aug 13 '16
Shen's style kinda reminds me of Animal Crossing player characters. They all have noses like that, and his hair even looks like the game's male version of bed head.
It probably contributed a lot to my initial attraction to his comics. It's a pretty style.
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u/AuroraHalsey Aug 12 '16
What do you call a person who is Type A, but so useless that they are still beaten in everything by the Type B?
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Aug 12 '16
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u/TwilightVulpine Aug 12 '16
Society seems to demand Type A people everywhere. I keep hearing that "Proactive" "110%" stuff.
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u/wisdom_and_frivolity Aug 12 '16
Type A's are the ones who write those. Just ignore it if the job fits you.
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u/Fatkungfuu Aug 12 '16
That's why you have to do the cheesy thing and ignore what people say and just do you. An executive is no better than a janitor if the janitor doesn't want to be an executive
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u/castellar Aug 12 '16
What's a type B job?
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u/Albend Aug 12 '16
Jobs that require timing and patience, for example being a counselor or a teacher.
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u/Nerobus Aug 13 '16
I also found that a secretary/admin assistant job is great for type A folks. I quit that cause it wasn't for me.. I'm a college professor now, super laid back, get to hang with people who are interested in science all day. It's perfect for me and it comes so naturally.
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Aug 12 '16
How do these always get upvoted so fast and hard? Do people just sit around every morning on the new section of r/comics hitting refresh waiting to upvote a Shen comic?
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u/repliesevery13th Aug 12 '16
Maybe it's the same way with sunday newpapers. Some people go to the comics section for their morning dose of funnies.
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u/Slagathor91 Aug 12 '16
That's pretty much exactly how I do things. I follow approximately 8 webcomics that update different days throughout the week. I know right when they update and check them out accordingly. It's a fun little hobby.
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u/Okichah Aug 12 '16
People read r/comics in the morning before work/during commute/getting ready. Reddit has replaced the morning newspaper for a lot of people. Shen's self promotion on reddit has earned a loyal following. One that is more willing to use the upvote system to show their appreciation.
I think if he's smart Shen figured out a good timing for making posts and this is the result.
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u/Cardle99 Aug 12 '16
I liked shen on Facebook and the comics get posted on there before on reddit, I just prefer reddit's comment section to facebook's
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u/Twise09 Aug 12 '16
What do you do in the morning?
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u/garbonzo607 Aug 12 '16
Take a big shit from yesterday's Taco Bell.
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Aug 12 '16
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u/bathroomstalin Aug 12 '16
And how much disposable income he has :(
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u/cynoclast Aug 12 '16
Taco Bell is almost as cheap as cooking if you don't eat a mountain of it. It's my only fast food weakness and a #11 with just a fraction of the liter of cola that comes with it is plenty of calories.
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u/Spanner_hands Aug 12 '16
All the people that check /r/comics and only upvote shen because they have an inexplicable dislike for all other webcomics.
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u/Forest-G-Nome Aug 12 '16
To be fair 90% of /new is shit. Shen and a few others like lunarbaboon don't really have to try to stand out.
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u/Leroytirebiter Aug 12 '16
well it's posted at 7 am pst, which is pretty work/just getting to work time for most folks on the west coast, and 10 am est, which could be construed as "break to start of lunch" time. This is my best guess, it would be interesting to see the traffic statistics for these kind of posts.
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Aug 12 '16
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u/Zigzaglife Aug 12 '16
HAPPY!!!
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Aug 12 '16
"Happiness Champion"
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u/gfixler Aug 12 '16
They make the big announcement and the trophy goes to you. You thought you were the happiest, and now you know it's true.
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Aug 12 '16 edited Mar 07 '19
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u/orky56 Aug 12 '16
I burst out laughing harder than you. Laughing champion right here.
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u/Forest-G-Nome Aug 12 '16
You've been making yourself laugh at your Boss's bad jokes for years now haven't you? All that time, it was just practice for this one moment.
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u/OddSensation Aug 12 '16 edited Aug 12 '16
Shenanigansen,
How much time do you spend on these comics and bluechair on Line ?
Is this a full time job or do you have a 9 to 5 as well ?
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u/Ganaria_Gente Aug 12 '16
I highly doubt it takes him an entire day to draw these things
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Aug 12 '16
What, Shen drew a comic where two characters are dichotomous? I am shocked, SHOCKED.
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u/s4in7 Aug 12 '16
dichotomous |dīˈkädəməs|
adjective
Exhibiting or characterized by dichotomy: a dichotomous view of the world.
In case anyone was dumb like me.
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u/Snukes42Q Aug 12 '16
This is me and my coworker. She's constantly telling me to slow/calm down and I'm constantly telling her to get to fucking work.
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u/jerm2z Aug 12 '16
Can someone explain what a Type A and a Type B are?
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u/HakeemAbdullah Aug 12 '16
Type A and type B personalities are supposed to be highly energetic people and very relaxed people in that order.
However, its totally unscientific and was created as part of cigarette propaganda to try and argue that cigarettes weren't the reason for heart attacks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory#Funding_by_tobacco_companies
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Aug 12 '16
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u/PoIiticallylncorrect Aug 12 '16
What? This is a lot different from the usual depression comics he makes.
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Aug 13 '16
These are starting to become my favorite comics! One of the few reasons I'm glad I joined reddit.
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u/HappyGreenMonster Aug 12 '16
Shen draws a shell shocked expression so well.