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I had a cat do this once. I think she was hit by a car and managed to crawl under our hedge before she died. Our dog found her a few days later. It makes me a little sick to think she was under there alone and in pain and I hope she didn’t suffer. Now I inflict suffering on my cats by being one of those weirdos who takes them out on a leash. If I don’t go in the direction Toaster wants she just flops over and won’t move. She’s either really embarrassed or really upset she can’t climb that tree.
Bad news for you guys: BN is dropping back to just Mondays for now, well likely until the twins are home and settled. I need to build up a buffer for my wonderful upcoming hospital stay so twice a week is just not doable right now. I also haven’t forgotten about poor Sir Lechalot but I likely won’t get to that for a bit. I’m hoping I can work on stuff in the hospital, I don’t need a lot of room to write and thumbnail stuff and I think I’m going to need to keep myself busy. On the upside we’ve finally agreed on boy’s names so no more infighting about that (Jim decided it was his turn to pick and he was leaning toward Loki and Colorstick… there’s been lots of arguments).
Good news for Nerd: this is NOT canon or anything, this is an original character from a BN fanfic but the commission turned out so sweet and poor Nerd doesn’t usually come out ahead so I had to share this: nerdy love :)
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March 22nd, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Yes! Beer brand beer! My favorite!
March 22nd, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Awww. I love Tanked! I can’t help but feel a little sympathy for the little bear. :(
Not that I’m a lush… but I can understand! Also, I just want Gay to makeover Tanked again because he was SO CUTE.
March 22nd, 2011 at 3:13 pm
@centkin: Suicide, no matter what took place before, usually leads to a bad afterlife (if you believe animals have souls or anything)
Anyone who is concerned, Tanked won’t die. Why would Alison kill off a highly loved character; if she did, a mob would be outside her house ready to maul her. Not to mention this is only the 3rd book out of 12. Killing off a important (and well liked) character would be playing a FMA (refering to Maes Hughes death) and I for one don’t want to see that. Let’s just call this a dramatic character development. (sorry Kato; your dream will not come true anytime soon).
Alison could make a similar character like the one in the incentitive and make it canon (or a origin character). She could be an old flame or something. Nerd in a relationship is just too good of an idea to stay un-canon.
March 22nd, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Nerd… has… a Girlfriend *-*
March 22nd, 2011 at 5:27 pm
@Blacky Blackerson
“Suicide, no matter what took place before, usually leads to a bad afterlife”
God complex much? O_o
March 22nd, 2011 at 5:45 pm
A’www! Nerd looks so cute with his girlfriend!
I’m sorry to hear you’re scaling back for a while, but it’s totally understandable. Your family comes first, of course.
March 22nd, 2011 at 6:06 pm
@Blacky — Well, humans are animals, after all. We’re just the ones who run the zoos. Somebody’s gotta make sure Steak Day happens! :)
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:34 pm
omg! i love this arc! was this evils doing? did he get rid of all tank’s beer? he looked strangely unevil in this arc
March 22nd, 2011 at 11:59 pm
@starfur: Hi! Evil and Lech put vodka into the snowcone machines and made all the kids at the zoo sick. So the zoo banned alcohol, thereby depriving the bears of snitching any. So Tanked’s gone dry, but that wasn’t Evil’s intention.
March 23rd, 2011 at 2:07 am
about the voting art, otter is boy or girl (looks like a boy) ^^’
March 23rd, 2011 at 2:39 am
Probably female. Bad selfinsert ocs usually are.
March 23rd, 2011 at 5:54 am
@Zoe: Naw! To imperfect to have a God Complex. People with God complexes are basically selfish people who think they can accomplish more than they can achieve. I just made a general opinion. I find it a little offensive when the first thought that comes to your mind when you saw that statement was God complex. Now Vanity, he’s the one with a God complex.
@Sterling Rodd: Touche! Can’t argue with logic. It’s sad though that some of the people who make Steak Day happen are sometimes dumber than the animals we’re feeding.
March 23rd, 2011 at 7:10 am
What? End? Where was the solution? surely there is another chapter in this ark.
March 23rd, 2011 at 8:42 pm
@Everyone: Well, think of it this way. If Alice is gonna update on mondays, the least we could do iz see all of her previous comic pages. Think of it as a little uhh… Marathon, Ya’know?
March 24th, 2011 at 2:06 am
Epic fail meets cliffhanger. I like.
March 24th, 2011 at 2:23 am
@Blacky Blackerson
Well, since I take offense when people express their religious sentiments as factual statements, outside of their appropriate religious setting, let’s just call it even.
March 24th, 2011 at 6:48 am
Well, I guess we won’t get Elizabeth Taylor to do Tanked cameos like I wanted after all. RIP, Liz. Hope you and Dick are whoopin’ it up Cleopatra style today.
March 24th, 2011 at 10:42 am
I know. It’s sad about Liz.
@Zoe: Heh! Well I get offended when people express that my religious views are myth-based. But I don’t worry about it. Their opinion doesn’t have to change my beliefs and that works both ways. By the way, what is your avatar a picture of? A hedgehog?
March 25th, 2011 at 2:12 am
@Nicole
It’s fine; I don’t begrudge anyone their religious views, and I even share the sentiment that suicide is probably not going to get you extra points in the afterlife. But it’s generally socially appropriate to make an acknowledgment that your religious opinion is an opinion, instead of stating it as though it were an immutable fact. It shows that you’re considerate of others, and their beliefs. Doing the opposite seems… exceedingly rude, to me.
Hehe, and yes, it’s the happiest hedgehog ever. http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/happyhedgehog.jpg
March 25th, 2011 at 4:50 am
I can see it come Monday: Tank survives the fall…cars screeching to stop and avoid him and collide with each other. Beer Truck winds-up on its side and the doors break open as Tank reaches it only to find…an empty truck or if the bears’ zoo is in a province/state with a recycling program a truck full of empty containers.
March 25th, 2011 at 6:37 am
@Moxie Man — I don’t think we’ll see the outcome of the spill on the hill on Monday. My feeling is Alison’s going to make us sweat a while on that while she tells us instead a little about who Tanked is and where he came from — makes us care about him all the more, in other words — before showing us what happens next. I could be wrong, but I’ll take odds on it. ;)
And unless gas has recently been 91¢ a gallon in the US in the past year or two, it’s a province. Specifically, Ontario, where Sandbanks Provincial Park (with its campground) is found on Lake Ontario (reference for both). :cool:
March 25th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Tanked is my least favored and most redundant in a bad sort of way bear — It wouldnt really bother me if he bit it here after what he has done. The whole scene shows he can never manage to improve himself from complete stupor while eating stuff off the carpet. He is utterly 2 dimensional.
Death >> Evil > Prozac > Lech > Gimp > Gay > Nerd > Crack > Vanity > Tanked
March 25th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Actually lets delve into whys a bit. Death is simply a deep character with lots of internal turmoil. He means well and is distanced from everyone due to his power. Lots of meat here. Evil beyond all of his antics is actually growing. He is seeing that there are limits that he would not have seen before and there is the hope of eventual redemption. Prozac is the erstwhile leader of the group and the group wouldnt survive well without him. Lech is actually going down the evil road. I think he needs to start growing horns. This is a road of discovery for him. Gimp is another always means well, empathic character. Gay we havent seen enough of to make much of a decision as to where to place him. Nerd has such tied up anger that if Evil REALLY wanted a cohort for truly evil deeds, nerd would be the best choice. I have lost a lot of sympathy for Nerd over time. Crack is merely reactive at the moment but could someday grow. Vanity doesnt really seem to have a place in the group.
Actually From thinking about this I would shift lech and prozac on the > thing.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Hmm, yes Tanked is two dimensional, however I think that is going to change. The next story is probably his origin. Also judging from the last few panels on this page he is capable of more then his usual role as comedy relief.
March 25th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
As the old saying goes, there’s no accounting for taste. What we get out of Bear Nuts, as in anything else, is subjective. If you say you don’t get much out of Tanked, nobody can tell you you’re wrong. They can only tell you what they see.
Tanked doesn’t provide much in the way of protagonist direct action, that’s true. His role in most of what we’ve seen is to react to events and provide them with an emotional shape; defuse tension with his antics; provide notes of pathos, and so on. He can be a catalyst for action, if not actually its instigator, as in the rescue of Evil from the wilderness: Prozac, and thus the other bears, was prompted to action by Tanked’s silent plea on his behalf. It should be noted that Tanked does play a crucial role in the action in one of the “hidden” stories available only to those who’ve purchased the Bear Nuts books. But it’s clear to me that Tanked’s principal role in the saga, at least so far, is to provide a sort of anchor to the domesticity of the other bears: he’s a vulnerable innocent who needs protection, and thus generates fellow-feeling and affection in the other bears (Nerd in particular) that’s probably beneficial to them all (although he’s had occasion to surprise us, as when he came out on top of the fight for control of the TV by biding his time and moving decisively). That role has been in abeyance for the past few weeks, and may, or may not, be due to change at the outcome of the current arc. We’ll see.
I don’t think it’s the case that Death is distanced from the other by his power. It’s clear they respect him for it, but I don’t get the impression he’s shunned by them. It seems to me it’s the contrary: he’s not very interested in spending time with the others, and tends to find them annoying. For myself, I’ve found it hard to relate to the popularity Death enjoys among the fans. He’s absent from most story lines, his personal interaction (and thus, character development) with the other bears has been Spartan, and aside from a few flashes of humour and friendliness, there isn’t yet much of a sense of who he is – and thus, how we should relate to him – that would, to me, justify his popularity. He’s mature, competent, capable of rising to the occasion when he must, and is clearly an able, if reluctant, lieutenant to Prozac (sorry, Lech). Admirable, but not really intriguing in and of itself. I tend to put the interest in him down to the “woooo” factor: he’s mysterious, he’s dark (literally) and brooding, and he has an inexplicable and sparingly-used power that makes him seem larger than life. I don’t really mean to be condescending, but that’s the kind of thing that makes a character interesting mainly while you’re fairly young. If you’re a little older, it tends to be off-putting. Now I’m not saying that Death’s an empty vessel and dispensable. What I’m saying is that the focus on his development as a person, rather than a phenomenon, is still largely something we have to look forward to.
I’ve felt similarly about other characters, notably Crack. But I find Crack increasingly intriguing as time goes by; he’s a bit like a new planet you think you’ve figured the orbit out for, but it keeps straying from it. Even after each adjustment, you realize you still haven’t gotten it right. Crack keeps not quite being Crack. He’s a coward, but he pulled Nerd off Evil. He’s ineffectual, but he shanghaied Evil. He’s tortured by the vicissitudes of existence, and yet underneath it all he must trust in the ordered creation implied by his belief in Hell. I used to think Crack was just a sort of firecracker with little other purpose but to wind up the other characters or foil their patience and good moods, but there keep being these subtle, interesting little glimpses that there’s more to him underneath, and I really look forward to them now. That said, Gimpy’s another character who really doesn’t get to deviate from expectations much, but it’s obvious he must have a fascinating story to tell and so he can get away with being fairly static… we know big things lie ahead for him!
So I think what we’re in for right now is something impressive and compelling about Tanked that’s going to change the way all of us look at him and how we think about him from now on. I have a feeling in a couple of months, you won’t believe you used to think he was forgettable and better off dead. Wait and see. :)
March 25th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Holy cow! You guys are amazing with your character analysis. I love it! :)
I will say that I like Death best because I identify with him. I’m one of those people who only rejuvinates with “alone time.” Living with these bears would literally drive me nuts. Heh. Nuts. And, Sterling, you’re right. It’s really his scarcity and the fact that we don’t know much about him that makes him intriguing. Gimp is intriguing in the same way.
@Zoe: Thanks for the additional reply! That makes total sense. And I love the happy hedgehog!
March 25th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Lol you did that to a cat it got hit by a car then she crawled under a hedge to die omg ,… YES !
( i love cats really i do and i know how bad you felt but that is funny as hell ! )
March 25th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
^
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^ I see that once a week updates give the a**holes more time to post about dead animals.
March 25th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
@cheezedog: he does call the Cintiq his other baby…
@Fazzey: I love Xander, it was on my short list but ultimately didn’t make it
@Katsudoo: ugh, I think that would haunt me too!
@Bosn: lol, I would never kill off T-bear, he’s my “special” child
@Blacky Blackerson: sorry! beats me going on a complete hiatus though right?
@Sterling: I’m a sucker for a cute butt x And I hope you’re not building up this Tanked arc so much that I ultimately fail to impress you ie. Lost’s last season :)
@Bucket: I’m so sorry! I’ve lost 3 cats now and that one in the story was only 2 when she died. :(
@Nicole: so it’s not just me! I also saw a woman walking a bunny on a harness once. That thing seemed to heel properly and everything.
@DoggyGal & Pecan: I can’t I’m sorry. It was sent to me in a very nice package so I don’t have a text file to link.
@Kath: I’m sorry about your ferret. They are so cute. I find dogs are too much work myself. We can go away for the weekend and the cats are fine with food left out… not so with a dog.
@Kato: Sorry, never going to happen. He’s my favorite to draw, and I think Evil causes waaaay more trouble.
@Ashcrexl: It’s low in calories too!
@Shadow: It’s a girl.
@K: Not sure what you mean by that?? The fanfic was written by a guy too.
@sax87ton: there certainly is!
@Anthony: I don’t know man, the ‘Alice’ thing isn’t growing on me (I’m not a big Wonderland fan)
@VAMPE1LADY: ooook, I’m not sure how you can love cats and find that hilarious but to each his/her own
March 25th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
@Alison — I blush to confess I never really cottoned to Lost. I hope I’m not dating myself too much when I say that as long as Gay doesn’t wander into the bathroom a la Pam Ewing to find Tanked in the shower (or under a fountaining can of beer?), I think we’re okay. :)
March 25th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
@Sterling – BOBBY???
March 26th, 2011 at 12:09 am
Woo archive binge! I don’t even remember how I got linked here now…
March 26th, 2011 at 5:53 am
@Nicole — “Good morning! :)”
“Oh, Tanked — I dreamed Evil and Lech spiked the snow cones and you couldn’t get any booze and you became all mean and nasty to everyone and finally when you couldn’t take it anymore, you fell off a cliff into traffic and were killed!”
“Hey, take it easy, I’m alright. And look, there’s plenty of beer. Here, have a cold one.”
“But it all seemed so real! Prozac was there, and Gimpy, and Vanity, and Nerd’s credit card…”
“Well, dreams are like that. Notice I’m talking?”
“…Crap! This is a dream!”
POOF!!
March 26th, 2011 at 9:15 am
@Alison: You know, waiting until Monday hasn’t been as hard as I thought. Mainly because I’ve been keeping myself busy with Cowboy Bebop, Lonely Island, and Richard Pryor. Speaking of Lonely Island, why is it that I can see those 3 polar bears doing The Creep XD?
@Sterling Rodd: Although not my favorite, I like Death as a character. I think his popularity came from his mysterious nature and loner type attitude. Sure he seems to overdue the loner thing and not show up around the others all the time, but that makes you want to learn why (and sadly makes it harder to wait until probably the end to find out why). The biggest thing I want to learn about Death is what was he doing with that scythe in Crack’s 1st arc? Little things like that keeps people invested and that’s why I think his popularity is off the charts. Oh and don’t worry about the whole Lost thing. I never got into the series because when I tried to watch it I was quite literally lost (didn’t help that I started at season 2). Lost and Heroes seemed to be those shows you had to watch from the beginning.
@Nicole: Gimp has no choice but to be intriguing. When you dress in garbs and leather and carry around a paddle and a horse crop standing out from the other bears, you better had be an interesting character.
March 26th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
@Sterling Rodd
Although you may be right that Tanked has some depth I really can’t see it, As for his back story…
To be honest I would love to see why he ended up as the wreck he is, but as he is now he does nothing for me, I get that he drinks alot and its more or less such an addiciton he dies without it or loses his will to live, But its just that annoyance factor that has gone too far, As it is now I can only see a few jokes that work with tanked and even if he makes it through this, I would not feel any more for him
But I guess the important thing is that everyone likes some character, I prefer Death and Prozac alot more
I can’t say that if Tanked dissapears from the comic I will be more happy, but I certainly will be less annoyed
I can understand why none of the characters would die, I respect it alot and to be honest, I like Tanked slightly, but thats mostly cause he is kinda of a meat shield, It is VERY true how royally Evil can mess things up but he has his usefull sides aswell, His backstory is compelling and if I saw something that really made me think different of Tanked in the future, I probably will be thinking different, but from what I’ve seen now, its just not gonna happen
@Nicole Well, I don’t like Evil that much either, But then again, There wouldn’t be much of a comic if we removed two characters XD I just think that Tanked should at least get hurt and maaaybe learn something from this, If he even can learn, I’m kinda unclear of how abiltiy to think, mostly cause of panel 5!
March 26th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
I actually identify most with the death bear — and if I ended up being one of the bears from the strip — that would be the one.
The thing with tanked is he never even tried. I do not know if it was intended for him to be so very maniacal with no redeeming features at all — but if he even had the slightest moment of fight in him during the DT period it would have been far better. As it was he simply turned it all outward and in very concerted ways. I mean he was in gays clothes — not prozacs. He destroyed nerds stuff. He defiled gays. He did horrible things to crack. I am sorry but that is not someone with any redemptive potential. Even evil wouldnt do what tanked did. All this when all the other bears ever did was help him. I mean there were many times where nerd protected tanked and that was what he got for it. Since tanked went dry the only panel where he showed anything was the one where he paused before committing suicide.
April 6th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
hey. got into this a few weeks back. just noticed the last publish date. hope everythings ok and look forward to seeing more BN
April 24th, 2011 at 11:40 am
I bet Tanked is in beer heaven right now
December 27th, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Heehee.. Poor Tanked.