IT’S AUGUST! OBSCURE CHARACTER MONTH!!!
Patrons voted for their favorite obscure characters. Vote to see the results!
VOTE TO PULL THE GEMS FROM OBSCURITY!!!
In other news…
First, this comic is brought to you again by the good people who support me on Patreon, with a special shout-out to The Lurker, Paul Gabbard, Jeremy, and alphanor, who ALL became Mayor of Pucksburg for this month! It’s a title that comes with rewards, including actual original comic art getting mailed to you. If you’re interested in keeping the Puck comics flowing, and maybe gaining some fun perks, CHECK OUT THE PATREON!!!
As for this comic…
Many readers knew this was coming. It wasn’t a surprise. And I am aware that true understanding of this strip requires a passing familiarity with a TV show that is now almost half a century old. Not very accessible for the zoomers, I suppose. But no one under the age of forty is reading this comic anyway, I assume.
Um … cloak of audacity? I mean, no one will believe they’re trying to be covert, right?
Hide in plain sight. And loudly!
and miranda´s adorability will difuse all suspicion they could be up to something….i mean, only a crazy person would bring a toddler (in dungarees!) to a heist, right?
seriously, this is so outa there, it could actually work for no one can prepare for this kind of madness
NO ONE can prepare for OUR madness! NO ONE!!!
That’s one of Papa Schnorf’s girlfriend, isn’t it.
Nah, she was the social committee chair at the prom.
36 and reading this comic. But Millennials have picked up a surprising amount of pop culture from years before we were born.
Mostly through early seasons of The Simpsons.
I will give my generation this: our collective refusal to give up on the cultural hallmarks of our childhood has aggressively forced successive generations into at least a passive understanding of who, say, Marty McFly is.
Great Scot! This is heavy.
I’ve often felt that nerd culture transcends generations. All the great Sci Fi movies and series are known. Monty Python is continually referenced. It was my boomer mother who introduced me to Star Wars and Doctor Who.
It transcends generations, but it has limits. The big properties continue, mainly due to a love for money, but the memory of lesser figures like, say, Buck Rogers fade into the background.
Sadly, Buck Rogers should. Oy, that was bad.
I’m a mid-range Boomer. We picked up a surprising amount of 1930s and ’40s pop culture from Looney Tunes, the Stooges, and old movies on after-school TV. So I’d say the Millennials are on solid ground with The Simpsons. 😀
I’m a young Gen-Xer and I STILL picked up a lot of 30s and 40s pop culture. Then again, I was the only stoogeophile in my high school, so I guess I was the weirdo.
What’s weird about that? It was cheep so they put it on T.V. They did it with a lot of stuff. Batman, I Dream of Jeanie, The Danny Thomas Show, Superman (George Reeves), Blondie, Denise the . . .
But I was OBSESSED. I recorded every episode I could on VHS. I keep written, tabulated records of every episode I’d collected. I bought books. I bought COLLECTOR’S PLATES. I still have the NES video game.
“But I was OBSESSED. I recorded every episode I could on VHS. I keep written, tabulated records of every episode I’d collected. I bought books. I bought COLLECTOR’S PLATES. I still have the NES video game.”
Of the Danny Thomas Show?
Re: Frank H. I liked Uncle Toonoose, if that’s how he spelled it.
If you have a problem and no one else and you can’t afford thr A-team you could hire the D-team.
It’s Colin. Gotta be the C-Team. Maybe too high a rank for him, though. And also, the C-Team was what the chipmunks were called in that one episode guest starring Mr. T.
I figured D-team for Daphne because she’s clearly the Hannibal of this crew.
So want to see her, Colin or Puck say, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
It’s got’a be Daphne. Her or Puck.
Probably gonna happen.
Robot Chicken also covered this. If your credit isn’t good enough for the A-Team, you get the B-Team:
Noah “*$$man” Hathaway, GD “Generally Displeased” Barabus, FN “F**ing Nuts” Matlock, and Handyballs. Got that name working undercover in Hanoi. Don’t ask why, and he won’t tell you.
The C-Team is a bunch of surly little people. (Which.. I guess could be misremembering the Chipmunks)
I forgot about that skit. Good one.
Now THIS was a surprise to see in this comic. A replica of the iconic A-team van. That and Miranda saying Mr. T’s iconic catchphrase is just icing on the sweet surprise.
Now, it must be noted that Mr. T never really said “I pity the fool” in an episode of the A-Team. (That line came from Rocky 3.) But hey, it’s too iconic NOT to use!
“No one under the age of 40…”
Excuse you, I’m 35 and I’ve been reading this comic since I first found it several years ago.
I still got the reference, mind you.
If you’re reading the comic, you’re already an honorary 40 year-old. Sorry about that.
So where did Colin steal that van from?
He rented it. From a place that Cy sourced. That’s why he went to the nerd store.
It occurs to me that the bad guys will see them coming and say “Oh look, the decoy team has arrived. Let us look for the real threat and ignore these idiots.”
As George Carlin noted, the concept that “It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch” is mostly false. Nine times out of ten, the threat comes from the dude who is screaming, “I’ll kill every last one of you!” Not sure the Cabal knows this, though.
I’m zoomer (27, started reading sometime during the end of Puck’s pregnancy, a bit before the babyshower arc) and I’ve never seen the show, but I still got the reference. Just in case that gives you hope.
Pregnancy arc?!? That arc ended in 2013!!! That was twelve years ago! You’ve been following this webcomic for almost half your life? Wow. I am honored. I think.
Now, they just need cool code names= Daphne is Hannibal, Tyler is Face, Colin is Murdock, Puck is B.A.
All kinnnnds of B.A.
Awesome, this resonates deeply with me. I think I should feel… shame?
And well you should. I’m in the same shame boat, of course.
Gosh Kosh dungarees. If you are going to make product placement that aggressively cute, you should get some corporate support.
How may of your readers own the collected PUCK book? Has the thought of a second collection been a remote consideration?
I would guess that under ten people probably have that book. I have had thoughts about redoing that book and adding more volumes. But if I did that, I would want a real printer, and it’d need a real print run, and it’d be an interesting challenge. And probably also require a Kickstarter campaign or something similar, and I just don’t think enough people care about print media to want that. I might be surprised, but we’ll see.
After having subscribed to the print editions of Heavy Metal, Metal Hurlant, Creem, Bluegrass Unlimited, and Dulcimer Player News – and not being the only one to do so….
I think there may be room in this world for print.
Internet and cloud tech and streaming becoming less a boon and more a poisonous nine-headed hydra on a wasteland of lies might be a harbinger of things needing change.
I celebrate your devotion to print. But there are fewer of you out there with every passing day.
Amazing. I’ve replied twice to this post and its not posting. Lets see what happens with this one….
That’s funny, When I posted on how many print magazines I’ve subscribed to – five in the last year – I couldn’t get the message posted.
I also described the landscape of the internet, social media, and podcast journalism as a fetid landscape of lies. Surely I didn’t offend the AI gods, did I?
Mayyyyyyybe?
I restored the comment from the ashes. Some word was triggering my spam filter. No offensive words, just maybe talk of magazines looked like spam? I dunno. It’s back now.
I do. The format is…disconcerting.
I love the alliteration. I feel for training a toddler. Have you tried that? Are they still working on it or have they moved on to their own things?
Oh, Collin, you big beautiful ball of goof. I hope Miranda takes after her auntie.
Maybe Miranda will be the recessive genes baby and be nothing like either parent. That … would be a good thing.
I don’t know. Both Puck and Colin havr good aspects to their characters. When Puck is in, she’s in. All the way, and no matter what. How she expresses that can be problematic, but you can’t have everything.
And Colin’s so supportive. And he’s a teacher! That counts for a lot!
They are endearing. If flawed.
Sorry, I respectfully disagree. The future Empress of Earth has beauty, power and long life from Puck, humour, endurance and resilience from Colin. She also has friends on the other side, thanks to her aunties Phoebe and Tracee. Miranda will control the horizontal, she will control the vertical, applaud her now and avoid the rush!
Such respect.
There was also a 2010 movie, though being well north of your cutoff line, I grew up on the original.
Don’t get me started on the 2010 movie. DON’T. I have SO many thoughts.
What a great cast, just willfully and horribly squandered.
Liam Nielson is he best Hannibal.
Was he Hannibal?
Yes. They poor man had to learn to smoke agai–hold on a moment————Yes, he was.
I am surprised she is behind the pikachunk.
That type of fan always is always made fun of in cosplay.
Hey, man. Bethany is cute. Obnoxious, but cute.
I love it when a plan comes together.
True, but Mr. T has uttered the line just about constantly ever since, so much so he trademarked it and tried to launch another TV show around it. I doubt if there is anyone who has not heard it.
I will say I actually cackled out loud when I read “I pity a pooh,” so good one on you for that.
Which is why I went for this line. When it’s a punch line, it’s gotta be accessible. Still, I am guessing that those younger than forty might not know who he is.
I went into a bagel store a few years ago wearing my Mr. T shirt. The young guy working the counter (who, for the record, was probably around twenty-five years old and black) pointed at my shirt and said, “Hey, it’s that … that guy! That guy! I know that guy!”
“Mr.T,” I provided.
“Yeah! Mr. T! Now THAT is a Halloween costume I gotta remember for next year.”
So that’s how Mr. T exists for the youths today: a vague cultural memory, barely remembered.
I pity a pooh that forgets Mr. T.
Miranda has the enthusiasm if not the verbal skills yet. First things first!
Enthusiasm is inherent. Language can be learned.
I honestly thought the a-team was a comic, but I’m also technically still a teenager, so I don’t bother trying to understand any references. Finally checked who Mr. T was, though, so I’m learning all sorts of things
It was a TV show from the early 80s. Very dumb but fun. Worth watching a few episodes if you find it on some streaming service. (You don’t need to worry about which episode you start with because it wasn’t serialized so ANY episode can be your first.)
I suppose, given the fact that I was a very small child when that show came out, that I am one of the youngest people to have fond memories of the A-Team’s original run. And I am, well … old. There is NO real reason any teen today should ever know about the A-Team. But now you are one of the few.
I am 60, if there are points being given. I know all of the references! Yay! No dementia yet, probably!
We celebrate your senior knowledge here.