EDR: MT - 001 - Pacing and Development

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Excercises in Destruction and Reconstruction: Megatokyo begins! After a brief delay, of course. It this the curse of Megatokyo? That all its comics will invariably be late? I cannot say. What I can say is that this comic is a fusion of comics 832 and 833, which were, by definition, two horrible trainwrecks of plot and character development (Not to mention dialogue!). First, unnecessary information was edited out (30% of the text!), then the remaining text was edited out into something more manageable, and finally a new ending was written (Because, let's face it, both 832 and 833's endings are really weak for a three-times a week comic). Other things were changed, in order to give a greater insight into the characters (Or rather, my vision of them) and to accentuate the fact that Largo is a hardcore gamer and a Gaijin in Japan. The art is obviously my own, though this is only because I seriously dislike Fred's art (In particular the way he draws hands... They look small, like a 6-year old's!), and because I needed to make all characters look different enough (LOL!).
Let's talk about the characters, shall we? In this vision, Largo is pretty much the most hardcore gamer you'll ever find. He's so hardcore, he knows the secrets inside most gamer's minds (Both the good and the bad), and so he can comment on things that are gaming related. In this instance, Largo, upon hearing her comments, immediatly felt that Erika's ex-boyfriend was just like all those people who use cheats against other players, who would rather lie about their own abilities and win, than lose, learn and grow on their own. He also notices that she's not like that, and tries to be sympathetic while drinking some booze... If that were booze, of course. There are cans of coffee in Japan! And Largo is not the most observant of these kind of things. He sees a machine with cans that look nothing like soda, and thus believes them to be beer. Unfortunate coincidence! Instead of swallowing it, he reacts poorly and actually spits as much coffee as possible. He expected beer, and got coffee... He has now learned that vending machines also have coffee.
Erika, on the other hand, is just poring her heart out. In the original comic, Largo interrupted her frequently. Here, she gives him no chance to do so at all, until she starts questioning why he lied about his family, why he ran away like such a coward. Largo's explaination, while ackward, does satisfy her in a way, and for a brief moment she silently wonders why would he say that... He sounded almost like a sage, some sort of western wisdom giver or something. It was the right answer at the right time, and this brings up her mood a little. In the end, she realizes that this man is still a silly fool, but abstains from making any further outspoken comments.
Anyways, this is only the first part. There will possibly be 4, maybe 5 comics on this vein, exploring Megatokyo, its flaws and how they can be somewhat remedied.
Quick Extra Note: If I were to re-write all of Megatokyo, I'd totally:
a) Write out that girl who wants to learn how to draw.
b) Write out all the angels and devils.
c) Write out Dom and... That other guy. Ed? Yes.
d) The Goth girl would be an Android (Makes more sense anyways), and would only be a circumstancial part of the story (She only appears in relation to Largo and Piro, and much less frequently... We may see more of this in future EDR:MT's).
e) Write out 90% of the Useless Secondary Characters (Such as the l337 guy and many, if not all schoolgirls from Largo's class)
f) The setting would be altered dramatically: The two main girls live in the top floor of the store, which means they have to be neighbors with Piro and Largo (More inter-character development, more punchlines about Japanese lifestyle), or maybe even live with them (OMGWTF).
g) Somebody DIES by Volume 3. Or earlier.

There may be a post on Saturday, focused on character design. Or in this case, character re-design! Focused on the two leads of MT, Kimiko and Erika! (Had to check Wikipedia to get the names right!)