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See? Nerd’s action figure is okay (I think some of you were more concerned with that :) It’s just depreciated in value a little. I don’t know why the wart hogs are smoking, it just seemed appropriate somehow. They already go through life with ‘wart’ in their names and I had to make mine look extra scruffy and sinisterish, with a side of lung cancer. My province recently enacted some cigarette packaging laws they’d been talking about for awhile and I’m not sure what the delay was about (I’m not even sure if it’s national?? Any fellow Canadians less ignorant than I please chime in!) but now all packaging has to be at least 75% (up from 50% I think) covered in big ugly photos of cancer ridden lungs and other gross stuff with various health warnings supposed to make the potential buyer decide that they really don’t want to smoke that pack and hopefully dissuade young people from starting. Considering all cigarettes have had to be hidden from view in retail outlets for a long time now the only people that are seeing these packages are smokers and I don’t know how effective a slightly bigger picture of black lung is going to be.
I’ve never smoked and the smell sometimes gives me a headache if I’m around it too long and I really, REALLY don’t understand the appeal and in a country where our taxes pay our medical bills and we’re heading into a potential disaster with a huge aging population I do kind of resent the drain on the system created by treating people for entirely preventable cancers and heart conditions. But our taxes also pay our government who dither on debating silly and ultimately meaningless things like the amount of packaging that should be covered with cancer bits… we must have better things to do.
Whew, I got kind of serious there… so, PENGUINS! IN TOQUES!
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January 10th, 2011 at 12:03 am
nooooo! take it out of the box?? How could you?
YOU FIEND!
January 10th, 2011 at 12:05 am
awesome!
January 10th, 2011 at 12:14 am
Those monsters! Poor Nerd, what did her ever do? Oh well, I’m really looking forward to some Voodoo revenge. If anyone can take those Polar bears down a peg or two, it’s Evil!
January 10th, 2011 at 12:23 am
The hogs are getting owned by the Polars. And Evil did not make this easier.
January 10th, 2011 at 12:43 am
They opened the box!??? Nerd needs to go get his club.
January 10th, 2011 at 1:20 am
I don’t usually comment but as I work with cigarettes and know many smokers I just felt compelled today. I’m canadian too so I understand the healthcare issue but laying blame on smokers in general is problematic. I am an adamant non-smoker with a capital NO! However I fully support the use of my tax dollars for the care of aged, sick, smokers. My mother was a heavy smoker all her life, she tried many times to quit and it’s harder than hell to do, she passed away in August from lung cancer, it was very sudden and complicated and with no life insurance it’s been expensive enough, I cannot thank luck enough that we live in Canada and my poor father doesn’t have medial bills to pay. What does get me upset is the young people I sell cigarettes to, the ones who absolutely know better but make a conscious choice to embrace an addiction that is detrimental to society. I’m sorry to get all up and excited about this but it’s an important issue to me.
The package changes I don’t know tons about, I know alot of brands that have switched designs and such in the last couple months and that in our store atleast the sale of flavoured cigarellos and kinda novelty, fruity tobacco products is banned. I have one customer that will wait for me to dig out a pack with an acceptable picture on it because she cant stand the sight of the tarred lungs.
January 10th, 2011 at 2:24 am
Nooo!!! The Humanity!! Somebody give Nerd a hug, stat!
January 10th, 2011 at 2:46 am
Hahaha it’s all so awesomely drawn but the bears’ faces in panel 7 are particularly hilarious.
Can you imagine if they did that to Gay? He would have gone berserk just like the Mr Hyde version of Prozac!
January 10th, 2011 at 3:10 am
Well that explains why he wants use voodoo… these Polar bear types really cost-ed Nerd a lot of money, and destroyed a huge investment.. Im surprised he is not asking evil to use the old ice-cream scoop on them….
Ohhhh Alison, can evil use the ice-cream scoop on them, Pretty please!?
January 10th, 2011 at 3:13 am
Evil. Stop laughing. Now. Remember what Nerd did when you broke his trek model?
@Ratapoil fyi, The fandom has dubed the “Mr. Hyde version of Prozac” Prohulk. Just for future refrence. (I also apoligise if I sound like a dick typing that. It’s been a long day at work…)
@ Admin. I never knew about the larger picture thing, but I do know that, in British Columbia at least, smokers are now allowed fewer places to smoke. They have been kicked out of parks, beaches, and other public areas, and in the Yukon, that also includes having to walk farther from the door.
And, up here, where it gets below -30*C without wind-chill regularly in December thru February, that is a major smoking deterent.
okay wall of text is over now.
January 10th, 2011 at 3:31 am
As to reply to you your question on if the bigger picture thing on cigarettes is a national thing, it is.
They just unveiled the ugly things in Quebec and Ontario, so I am guessing thats all provinces are doing it as well.
And like kitsunekage, its too bloody cold to smoke in the winter. The no someking closer then 9 feet from any public doorway and sub-freezing tempatures are your best bet.
I’m in France at the moment (which would explain the very early message) and dear god, EVERYONE smokes here. Just fallowing someone on the street is wallowing in their smoke. And the only anti-smoking mesure they have here is no smoking in a public place. So everywhere you go doorways are crowded in smokers. Even must teenagers smoke, which is sad.
January 10th, 2011 at 4:01 am
Aww poor Nerd… the paint tho was not what I was expecting. I was expecting them to bleach him.
January 10th, 2011 at 4:08 am
Sorry for the double post.
But I am all for those pics on cigarettes. I think an even further step would be an increase in price. Now I’m not going to be one sided I do every now and then have a cigar (but its not all that often maybe once every 3 months if that.) I do find cigarettes ungodly disgusting.
January 10th, 2011 at 4:20 am
oh NO! How could they do such a cruel and cold thing TAKING IT OUT OF THE BOX???? They may as well have destroyed it! I can relate. I foolishly let someone borrow my Dark Knight Returns only to have them returned with blatant evidence that…that he *takes a deep breath* rolled the pages to the back as he read them….. ruining the spine*twitch*
January 10th, 2011 at 4:36 am
Warthogs also have to bend their front legs to be able to eat (which makes them really silly). They do look mean though… …even in real life.
Removing an actionfigure from the box, but that’s EVIL! Those polar bears deserve to go with the ice caps. Ah, the days when toys were toys…
Why do people smoke? The same reason people do a lot of other things that are dangerous, because people think it’s cool. And cigarettes are addictive, very badly so… I smoked for a year or so, about 15-20 years back, and whenever I’m near smokers it still smells satisfying. But, having bigger pictures on boxes intended to scare people into not buying cigarettes is completely useless if you do not have postersize billboards displaying the blackened lungs (hope that does’t give people any ideas).
While we do not have the great government based healthsystem anymore (it cost too much, so now people pay around 90 euros a month, where it used to be around 30) I do agree that it seems unfair if people take more risks with their health, they should pay more (we have very high taxes on cigarettes, I assume Canada does too (and if not they really should start)). Serious rant over!
January 10th, 2011 at 7:44 am
Nerd looks a bit like Crack in the last ones. Also: you take it out the Box? YOU INHUMAN… well… Animals?
January 10th, 2011 at 7:52 am
Yeah, that new ciggy pack rule is federal (Health Canada set it); it applies across the country, not just here in the O-2-the-N-2-the-Terry-O.
No one needs to worry about what this cost Nerd; he’s financing his hobbies via credit card fraud, remember? Maybe rubber cheques if he gets desperate. :) And it had to be paint; he left white footprints coming into “the Chambre of Evil” and Evil remarked bleach would have been more permanent. I didn’t see spray paint coming, though… I figured it would be more like Evil dumping a bucket of white paint over Nerd like in the 4th of July drawing… “red, purple, and blue” wouldn’t do, and I guess Evil figured he himself was too grey.
Wow, Nerd sure has a whole lot of scruff going on there in panel 3. Must be nice to be that loose. :)
January 10th, 2011 at 8:47 am
kitsunekage: Ah, fond memories of that ass kicking
Thou polar bears have commited the greatest sin to trekkies: taking the figure out of the box. Thus, Nerd will strike down upon thee with great vengence and furious anger those who attempt to destroy those figures. And they will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengence upon thee! (constantly stabs voodoo doll)
January 10th, 2011 at 10:45 am
The Poler Bears are SOO HOT! XD
January 10th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Endure the mocking laughter, Nerd. It will be worth it.
And spray paint…I didn’t think of that. Quite smart, actually. Dries pretty fast, covers well.
Poor Nerd.
January 10th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Bad evil ! Bad !
January 10th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Covers well, and can be poisonous… Just like smoking! Weee!
Don’t worry about your serious side in the post. I have similar views so I don’t mind. I have a question for you. What program do you use on your computer for doing your art? Adobe likely but which one? Also, do you use one program for inking or do you like ink in Illustrator and color in Photoshop? The lines are always so clean:) And that penguin picture is adorable!
January 10th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Oh, and no one seems to have mentioned the electronic cigarettes. I’ve seen them in action and don’t mind their use anywhere, anywhen. And I abhore cigarette smoke. ABHORE IT, I say! Just ask my husband, Trevor Black.
January 10th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Isn’t a toque a chef’s hat?
(Excuse my ignorance :) )
January 10th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
They’re tuques, not toques XD
And the packaging has had pictures for years in Quebec.
January 10th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
on the cigarette issue… the government is more addicted to the tax revenue they get from cigarettes than the smokers are addicted to the cigarettes themselves! they could cover 95% of the package and it still wouldn’t be a deterrent… i’m a former smoker who is even allergic to smoke… and i still wish that the *evil*, “holier-than-thou” non-smokers would take a step back (or a valium)… making a terminally ill patient in a hospital or hospice to go outside in sub-zero weather just to have a smoke is truly evil… and the law that makes an outdoor smoking area illegal to have 4 sides and a roof is insane! i still have some friends who smoke and most of them don’t even notice those “deterrent” photos… the ones that do just put their smokes in a metal or plastic cigarette case…
January 10th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Evil! This is a sad situation!
January 11th, 2011 at 5:06 am
I’ve never commented before, but I felt the urge when I saw panel 2 –it sort of looks like the Polar bear is cuddling Nerd the same way an evil scientist pets his lap!cat and now I have the distinctly fannish idea that one of the Polar bears is hiding a big nerd crush on Nerd, which is all levels of disturbing until you think about how dis-functionally cute it might be. And thus, an OTP is born.
ME
January 11th, 2011 at 9:02 am
@Mena: I totally agree with you on the young people smoking :(
@Sam: ugh, that would drive me insane
@Batjustice: the bastard!
@Jeroen: What country are you from? I would not be adverse to paying say $30 a month extra to help our burdened health system. I do think it should be a tiered system where smokers/drinkers/etc. do have to pay more. Canada definitely has lots of taxes on cigs which is likely why the government would never take the obvious step and just outright ban them… but there’s still too many people addicted and I suppose that would be very harsh.
@JS: I’ve never seen Ont referred to as “O-2-the-N-2-the-Terry-O.” lol
@Jade: I draw and ink by hand but the colors and letters are done in Photoshop
@Beachbody: it is indeed! It’s also a term for a close knit brimless hat primarily worn by women in… Victorian England I think? Which became the quintessential Canadian winter head gear.
@Circeus: You can spell it both ways actually
@catc10: What’s an OTP?
January 11th, 2011 at 9:28 am
@admin: It means “One True Paring”. This is for the fans who think a certain 2 people of a fandom should be together. For example: Gay and Lech may be someones OTP. Hope that helps
January 11th, 2011 at 11:08 am
Gay…and Lech? *head explodes*
January 11th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Those penguins are wearing TUQUES and not TOQUES.
January 11th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
@catc10: Who, Steven? Although that would be funny, I seriously dought Alison would have a polar bear copping a feel towards Nerd (at least not this early). However, I have goofed around and said one of the 3 might be gay. It’s hard for me to imagine only one gay animal in the zoo when most schools (especially mine) usually have a good 20 that are open with it.
January 11th, 2011 at 10:20 pm
It’s like a nerds number 1 achilles heel.
January 12th, 2011 at 2:04 am
Dude, that warthog looks insanely bad ass
January 12th, 2011 at 3:24 am
@ Blacky Blackerson (First post) Amen.
Antother OTP could be Gay and Gimpy…… Just sayin’.
January 12th, 2011 at 3:41 am
Ooooohhhh…. my avatar doesn’t seem to be working…..
January 12th, 2011 at 7:44 am
I live in Quebec and I do admit get quite annoyed with smokers. With all the baby boomers getting old and sick now and that 85% of them are smokers….I dont see things getting any better financially for the province. The depaneurs sell cases so usually people will buy a pack and if they don’t have a case, they buy one to avoid the ugly pictures….which I find ridiculous. Why make a budget for advertising to deter smokers if they can buy a casing to avoid looking at pictures?! I heard that they are going to pass a law to avoid parents from smoking in cars with young children present….and to avoid people throwing their cigarette butts into the streets. I have friends who smoke with young children, the two year old is already coughing on a regular basis….how sick is that? Even the doctor said they should try and avoid smoking around the children….i was wondering why the doctor didnt take it a step further to make sure my friends really do stop.
January 12th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
@cat10: He might just be getting a grip on Nerd’s scruff, since in the next shot that’s what he’s holding him by.
January 12th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Cigarettes will never be taken off the market just because the government makes a huge amount of money from tobacco sell. Just like electric cars will never replace gasoline cars until we run out of oil. Its all about the money, thats the way to world work these days. There is a rumor that a cure for cancer exist but that if they get it out the pharmaceutical industry will lose a lot of money. Anything to make the world better but makes less money will be put in the trash…
January 12th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Well I’m kind of upset. I saved last Friday’s voting incentitive (mainly because it was hilarious) and when I recently logged back on, it was gone. Guess my computer is Anti-Gay.
January 13th, 2011 at 2:14 am
@ Blacky Blackerson *In best Gay voice possible* Computers can’t be homophobic, silly!
Hmmmm. Maybe you should have put that as your Avatar, then see how far the computer can run away from ya!
January 13th, 2011 at 6:27 am
Less smokers would mean less money for the government from tobbaco market AND (at least there should be, with decrease in the need) healthcare system taxes, so these kinda measures (useless packaging, increasing tax, restricted areas) are no surprise, really. Its like that in my country too.
January 13th, 2011 at 11:41 am
@kitsunekage Funny attempted voice. Anyway, my computer must of had a coma or something because all my stuff is back even the pic. Although I’m personally not gay, I find it amusing (and pretty creepy) when guys try to femmy themselves up. I’m pretty excepting of peoples sexual prefferences and even used to have a gay friend. I hate when people try to dehumanize them.
January 13th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Oooh – I would love the vote incentive as a ladies t-shirt or a print! Too cute!
January 13th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Why does nerd have a hotdog on his chest?