Original Commentary

Lounge Guy #1 is watching a quiz show while Lounge Guy #2 is watching some sort of reality TV show... I hope it's obvious what the other one is watching - Isabel

Yes, this is Relationships: part three. I had originally decided to do short stories about all the characters' relationships. Part two went on for longer than I had planned, but that's fine. I had originally planned on this being about the lounge guys and Lola, but no. It's about the lounge guys and their TV.

Yes, I wrote this quickly because I needed something to run right after I-Con. I don't think I'll be up for writing during or after it. I've got about a week but I'm not sure what'll run because I don't think these guys can support a whole week on their own. They're good background characters but I'm not sure about foreground. They're kind of like Richard & Sinclair were in Unlike Minerva, that way - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Funnily enough, The Bachelor is still running. And even if it weren't, there are a variety of other dating shows that it inspired.

But to reiterate, this is what these guys do: hang out in the apartment's lounge, watch TV static, and interact vigorously with the three different programs they see in it. - Terrence

Original Commentary

For the life of me I could not recall if the guys at the lounge had a color TV or a black and white one. Since I'm doing this all before I head to New York (before I-CON), I really don't have time to go searching through all the comics for every time the TV has been shown. So, to make it easier on myself, I just made whatever it is they were watching black and white. -Isabel

Modern Commentary
Regarding the original commentary, we didn't add the tag system until 2012 so we couldn't just search for all the comics that have the Lounge Guys in them.

And to clarify, the Masked Crusher lost his metaphorical right to have fingerprints. It's not that his hands were injured or scarred. He just lost a title vs fingerprints match.

After the match, an official came down, fingerprinted him, and declared that his fingers were blank and he no longer had any prints.

It was kinda ridiculous and our Lounge Guy there is probably the only person who believed it - Terrence

Original Commentary

Today's comic was written and drawn about 20,000 feet up in the air. Inked around the floor though.

Yes, a couple of the Lounge guys moved around from the last comic. I figure they were playing a panicked game of musical chairs and the one with the rabbit ears won (well, technically, he didn't get to sit down, but he ended up talking with Lola, which in their terms makes him the winner). -Isabel

Modern Commentary
The "You're doing it wrong, let me try" instinct is universal. It's strongest in situations where the interface is simple enough that other person can't possibly be doing it wrong, like elevator buttons.

But yeah, Lola is a very nice landlord but she's not a very good landlord. There's a lot of things that just don't get done around there... - Terrence

Original Commentary

The comic was scripted for only two panels, but for some reason I read it as three panels (the cabin pressure in the plane must have been heightened). Terrence had to re script things a little to make it work, but it does now. Hooray! -Isabel

The other reason it needed to be re-scripted was because I forgot which lounge guy was which and mis-numbered them in the original script - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Yeah, I can't keep track of which Lounge Guy is which. The whole point is that they're an indistinguishable collective. We learn a little bit about them as individuals later on, but they're just a gaggle of weirdos who bring out the weirdest in each other - Terrence

Original Commentary

Isabel always does those television/phone word bubbles so much better than I do. In the previous two versions I did, they looked far too much like snake tails. Anyhow, from Wednesday onwards was written on the flight home. I had different scripts for these days, originally, but I didn't like them very much, and Isabel wanted to get them drawn on the plane (she printed her scripts out before we left; I didn't) so I wrote new ones - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Their life details aren't plot-relevant. I'm not sure they're canon. It's funnier if there isn't a reason why they're here and they're just three guys who watch static.

Meanwhile, the previous storyline was full of potentially significant details. So that's kind of a change that maybe I could've signalled more, but I mean, I did call this one "filler" in the title - Terrence

Original Commentary

The TV channels completing each others' sentences? I saw it in a MAD Magazine sampler years ago. They carried it on for about 20 pages. Me? I figure three panels is good. I was thinking of having something break the TV and set it back to staticky, but that'd take too much time. And I figure I can go back and do something with these characters later on, either set things back or show what they can do when they're free of their anchor. Did we cheat on the art? Yes, but it was late and ND was nine panels - Terrence

Modern Commentary
MAD Magazine did it better. So much better. Their bits formed actual coherent sentences instead of just fitting together structurally. I kinda wish I had put a little more into this, but the real joke is how easily these guys get discouraged. They're pushed out of their rut and nudged back into it.

And yes, non-anthropomorphic caribou. Because you're not getting any other kind of mating ritual on the antenna channels - Terrence