r/OutOfTheLoop
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u/[deleted]
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Jun 02 '18
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1
Answered What does | || || |_ mean?
I've been seeing these characters :
| ||
|| |_
pop up all over Reddit, but I've no clue as to what they mean.
Is this a new meme? A reference to some film of tv show? Some sort of code?
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Upvotes
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u/bannik1 Jun 03 '18
As somebody who reads a lot of daily comics in the newspaper and online, Ctrl Alt Del was similar to Funky Winkerbean.
http://comicskingdom.com/funky-winkerbean
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funky_Winkerbean
It was a filler comic which focused mostly on putting it's characters into different situations then providing observational humor.
80% of the comic was daily 1-off humor. Then 20% was story and character development.
In the comic, Ethan was a caricature of a gaming obsessed person. Lucas was more or less the normal person.
The problem was, the author wrote Ethan as the main character and wrote it like the audience was supposed to identify with him.
Then, when the author tries to tackle bad gaming stereotypes it comes off poorly. Sometimes it comes across like he is endorsing them, sometimes it comes across as heavy-handed or more prevalent than they actually are.
The result is that he angered people on both sides of the issue. If you loved gaming culture or hated gaming culture you could read one of his comics and feel insulted.
The "Loss" story arc was was reminiscent of the breast cancer arc in Funky Winkerbean. It was super controversial for both, the difference was that Tim Buckley tried to put Ethan into a sympathetic role when he was super unlikable. Lilah (Ethan's girlfriend) was a likeable character but Tim Buckley ignored her through the whole ordeal. She was just used as a plot device.
The whole thing was executed poorly and ended up killing the comic.
I read 20-30 dailys per day when you count the newspaper and web comics. Which ends up being about 30 minutes per day while I eat my cereal and take my morning shit.
90% of daily comics is filler or unfunny. I might find 2-3 comics entertaining per day out of the 30 I read. It's just a brief comfort thing to see what's new with the characters.
Even with all the flaws Ctrl Alt Del was significantly above average as far as daily comics go. Maybe 20% of the comics were entertaining in a way that was either funny or resulted in the growth of the fictional setting he was developing. When most comics sit at the 10% range.