A place to discuss the world of Wapsi Square
http://forum.wapsisquare.com/
Dave wrote:Also known as a "bootlegger turn". It's the intellectual and emotional equivalent of driving along a highway at 80 miles an hour, only to find that with no warning at all the road turns 90 degrees to the left and heads straight up a hillside and then down into a gully. You can drive it, certainly, but you'll get jolted around quite a bit. And, oh, by the way, as you come around the blind curve on that hillside you're going to find a dragon staring at you and drooling.Kingmaker wrote:What's a whipsaw plot twist?Atomic wrote:Welcome Kingmaker! Enjoy your archive crawl, just be sure you have a neck brace handy for whipsaw plot twists.
You have been warned!
Most of us have been through several episodes of this sort of "whiplash", while reading the strip or diving through the archives.
Pablo (Paul Taylor) has a solid reputation for being able to surprise us, his readers. Sometimes it's with a plot twist... a new character, or a surprising revelation that all is not how we thought it was. Very frequently, we find that the clues for such plot twists were actually revealed weeks or months or years before, sometimes in quite subtle ways. Paul is very good indeed at "laying the groundwork" for future surprises, with something as subtle as a Shwoosh! There's a literary tradition known as Chekhov's Gun (in a Chekhov play, if a gun is seen on stage you can figure it will be used at some point) and Paul is a master of the technique.
As plot twists go... well, Shelly has been focal in several of them. The "visit to a sand-bar" sequence during the first few months of 2011 is one such... let's just say that when you've read your way through to May 13th (no peeking now!) you're likely to find yourself feeling very rattled, and then (shortly thereafter) rather amazed.
Sometimes the whipsawings are on an emotional level... having the strip go from a light, humorous mode to deadly serious (sometimes heart-wrenchingly so) in an instant. Monica and Brandi had a very interesting conversation in October of last year (again - for your own enjoyment, don't peek!), in which we learn more about Brandi's character and her history... and I know from the (now-unavailable) comments discussion that week that a lot of us were shaken and in tears at what we learned.
Wapsi Square is a rich, challenging strip - it takes a bit of work to follow along (and this forum and its predecessors have been invaluable in helping me figure out what the heck has been going on!) and it's definitely worth the effort!
So - welcome, and enjoy!
I would think that as long as you follow the proper Date/Name convention as the usual topics it should be fine to bring up an older strip that has not been used on the forum before.Kingmaker wrote: Dave,
Thank you for the explanation and the welcome. I am seeing some of these Whipsaw twists and they are sudden and unexpected. All I can generlay say is WOW!
Now I wonder, will it be a problem if I open a discussion on an older strip in the discussion forum since I'm so far behind everyone else? Should I ask a mod?
THen I shall do so (not for every single one, but for those I need some help explaining or something...)Mark N wrote:I would think that as long as you follow the proper Date/Name convention as the usual topics it should be fine to bring up an older strip that has not been used on the forum before.Kingmaker wrote: Now I wonder, will it be a problem if I open a discussion on an older strip in the discussion forum since I'm so far behind everyone else? Should I ask a mod?
I would agree, this seems to be quite reasonable. Just do a search first to see if somebody has already created a thread for that day's strip, or (perhaps) for a nearby day that's in the same part of the story line... if so, it'd probably be best to post a comment onto that thread rather than starting a new one.Mark N wrote:I would think that as long as you follow the proper Date/Name convention as the usual topics it should be fine to bring up an older strip that has not been used on the forum before.Kingmaker wrote: Dave,
Thank you for the explanation and the welcome. I am seeing some of these Whipsaw twists and they are sudden and unexpected. All I can generlay say is WOW!
Now I wonder, will it be a problem if I open a discussion on an older strip in the discussion forum since I'm so far behind everyone else? Should I ask a mod?
Welcome to the insanity...erm...I mean party!Theodemus wrote:Whoops. I just discovered that as a new registree I'm supposed to demonstrate my non-spambot-ishness by introducing myself here.
Well, can do. I'm from Germany, male, 38 years old by now, and my spare time revolves around an ancient asian board game (Go), reading a lot (mostly english language fantasy literature, but absolutely not constricted to that), archery (recurve) and online gaming (World of Warcraft).
I have been reading Wapsi Square a few years back, but somehow lost it from view for a time. Now that I've rediscovered it, I have been catching up to date and intend to stay around again.
Insanity? This is WAAAAAPSIIII!MerchManDan wrote:Spoiler alert: She means "insanity."
In the Wapsiverse, the pun jar owns you!Kingmaker wrote:Insanity? This is WAAAAAPSIIII!MerchManDan wrote:Spoiler alert: She means "insanity."
Ok, I guess I owe the pun jar now?
Nah, wasn't a pun, really. The SCP tomatoes didn't even twitch.Kingmaker wrote:Insanity? This is WAAAAAPSIIII!MerchManDan wrote:Spoiler alert: She means "insanity."
Ok, I guess I owe the pun jar now?
Intoxicating isn't it? Common reaction when someone finally catches on to what's going on around here. We go back to the beginning and read for hours or days. I try to describe this strip in a couple of sentences and always fail. Enjoy the ride, and welcome aboard.DilyV wrote: ... spent every waking moment over the next two and a half days reading the strip from the beginning to the end... I was floored! I love the way the characters and the art itself has a progression... it just keeps getting better and better.
Dily
Busty, neurotic Latina Minneapolis museum curator finds herself both pawn to and guide for mythic beings of legend, saving the world and each other - repeatedly!RunningBull wrote: I try to describe this strip in a couple of sentences and always fail. Enjoy the ride, and welcome aboard.