4 ms·

Oglaf is still around!? I have a lot of catching up to do.

Freak_NL 7y ago
They are, and I envy you for getting to read a bunch of their comics you've never read. I find Oglaf intriguing in how its backdrop is essentially a mediaeval fantasy world, in which the authors (Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne) manage to consistently present a world where diversity and sexual diverseness are a given, without coming across as forced or overtly political. From skin colour ranging the whole gamut, to physical characteristics (boobs in different sizes including A-cups, hair styles both above and below the fold), to sexual attraction (gay, straight, dead, and everything else), it's all there, and yet it never really jars or gets in your face. I find that quite an achievement and inspiring.
- tialaramex 7y ago
  These days I give them money through Patreon, but back in the day the usual way to support comics was merch, and since I wear T-shirts most of the time it's no trouble to buy merch from most comics I read. I'm wearing one right now which says "Jetpacks are impractical and dangerous". But Oglaf seemed to go out of its way to make it difficult to find anything sane to buy. I own the Sithrak shirt, and almost bought the Derp Fox recently, but "I'm telling!" is a sufficiently unsubtle joke that I'd have to actually think about where I might wear it, and likewise "Steak and Bitches". These days they have a few more options I may buy one day, but definitely when I was last looking it was harder than it has any right to be, for a comic that is often much Safer For Work than it has any right to be. Take last weekend's "Fog of War". You could make a shirt of that (not the entire comic but you get the idea). Most D&D players would laugh at the joke even without knowing what Oglaf is. But nope, there's more chance Trudy will decide to do a joke shirt about medieval architecture or something. Not complaining, they should do whatever they want, but it's weird is all.
  - Freak_NL 7y ago
    I've just bought their new mediaeval architecture joke T-shirt a month ago: https://topatoco.com/collections/oglaf/products/og-upright https://topatoco.com/collections/oglaf/products/og-upright I like it. Subtle, droll.
- analPegging 7y ago
  the authors manage to consistently present a world where diversity and sexual diverseness are a given, without coming across as forced or overtly political. I don't think the equation is difficult to parse. In fact, they dance around it with two or three simple actions. First, they never place the premise of the racial diversity into the dialog of the script the characters speak. It never appears in the talk balloons. Furthermore, the medieval period and fantasy genre roll the date back to eliminate the American slave trade from being addressed, and deflect it with the ancient premise of Roman slavery and dungeon bondage. Second, the sexuality is always part of the gag, thus the sexual diversity is built in, and beyond the reach of criticism. It's not approached as a pejorative, and thus the power differential of the comedy itself is innately inverting social norms as part of the joke. The roles for the person doing the fucking, versus the person getting fucked is always flipped around (the opposite of the painful norms often found in real life) as deliberate aspect of the punchline. Third, the comic only really appeals to people who CAN laugh at such a joke. Don't believe me? Consider that the comic is patently NSFW by default. Bring the same humor into a SFW setting, and you'll quickly locate all of the intollerant personalities that would not enjoy the sensibilities of the comic. It's actually operating in a zone (creating a distorted echo chamber of sorts) that side steps ever being noticed by most of the individuals that would notice and take issue with exactly the things you, yourself, would so quickly celebrate (a-cups, obesity, pubes, anal exploitation, laughing at rape, etc).

They are, and I envy you for getting to read a bunch of their comics you've never read. I find Oglaf intriguing in how its backdrop is essentially a mediaeval fantasy world, in which the authors (Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne) manage to consistently present a world where diversity and sexual diverseness are a given, without coming across as forced or overtly political. From skin colour ranging the whole gamut, to physical characteristics (boobs in different sizes including A-cups, hair styles both above and below the fold), to sexual attraction (gay, straight, dead, and everything else), it's all there, and yet it never really jars or gets in your face. I find that quite an achievement and inspiring.

tialaramex 7y ago
These days I give them money through Patreon, but back in the day the usual way to support comics was merch, and since I wear T-shirts most of the time it's no trouble to buy merch from most comics I read. I'm wearing one right now which says "Jetpacks are impractical and dangerous". But Oglaf seemed to go out of its way to make it difficult to find anything sane to buy. I own the Sithrak shirt, and almost bought the Derp Fox recently, but "I'm telling!" is a sufficiently unsubtle joke that I'd have to actually think about where I might wear it, and likewise "Steak and Bitches". These days they have a few more options I may buy one day, but definitely when I was last looking it was harder than it has any right to be, for a comic that is often much Safer For Work than it has any right to be. Take last weekend's "Fog of War". You could make a shirt of that (not the entire comic but you get the idea). Most D&D players would laugh at the joke even without knowing what Oglaf is. But nope, there's more chance Trudy will decide to do a joke shirt about medieval architecture or something. Not complaining, they should do whatever they want, but it's weird is all.
- Freak_NL 7y ago
  I've just bought their new mediaeval architecture joke T-shirt a month ago: https://topatoco.com/collections/oglaf/products/og-upright https://topatoco.com/collections/oglaf/products/og-upright I like it. Subtle, droll.
analPegging 7y ago
the authors manage to consistently present a world where diversity and sexual diverseness are a given, without coming across as forced or overtly political. I don't think the equation is difficult to parse. In fact, they dance around it with two or three simple actions. First, they never place the premise of the racial diversity into the dialog of the script the characters speak. It never appears in the talk balloons. Furthermore, the medieval period and fantasy genre roll the date back to eliminate the American slave trade from being addressed, and deflect it with the ancient premise of Roman slavery and dungeon bondage. Second, the sexuality is always part of the gag, thus the sexual diversity is built in, and beyond the reach of criticism. It's not approached as a pejorative, and thus the power differential of the comedy itself is innately inverting social norms as part of the joke. The roles for the person doing the fucking, versus the person getting fucked is always flipped around (the opposite of the painful norms often found in real life) as deliberate aspect of the punchline. Third, the comic only really appeals to people who CAN laugh at such a joke. Don't believe me? Consider that the comic is patently NSFW by default. Bring the same humor into a SFW setting, and you'll quickly locate all of the intollerant personalities that would not enjoy the sensibilities of the comic. It's actually operating in a zone (creating a distorted echo chamber of sorts) that side steps ever being noticed by most of the individuals that would notice and take issue with exactly the things you, yourself, would so quickly celebrate (a-cups, obesity, pubes, anal exploitation, laughing at rape, etc).