Well, people, what do you think of the relationship between Benny and Cale?
Has it gone too far? Too fast?
Has LFG jumped the shark?



(My vote was that I'm not a happy camper. If that isn't clear from my other rants.)

You need to seriously chill out about this. I don't see how it's gone too far or too fast considering that after just two pages of romance we cut to the Sisters and the war at hand.
What exactly is your reason for hating this other than the fact that it means when you write your fanfics you now have to figure out a way to kill Benny off so Cale can be with your OC?

..wait and see what actually happens, it's not even sure if they're a couple. Could just be sex to ease Cale's concious as she said.

I agree, you seriously need to take a chill-pill.

1. Its NOT your story. It´s Ryan Sohmers.
2. You´re a reader, not some Literature-Critique, who´s word is heard and believed by millions.
3. Ryan Sohmer is in no way bound to deliver what YOU like in HIS comic.
4. What Jonath said.
5. Its an Online Comic, for heaves sake. It´s not like your significant other is cheating on you.
6. If you don´t like it, don´t read it.

*shakes head about how infantile some people can get over a simple story*

CU
SaM

This isn't so much about fanfics as about the fact that
1. Sex seems TOTALLY out of character for Cale. (at least at this point)
2. It was completely out of nowhere.
3. It happened over the course of two comics with zero warning.


Why are you acting like I'm trying to control it/trying to get what I want/being all big and egotistical?

I'm just trying to figure out who else isn't happy with the totally-out-of-nowhere sex...

Deus Sex Machina, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

2 and 3 would still apply for ANY characters in this comic if they had been in the same situation.




Edit to reply to something:
The first part I'm somewhat "meh =/" about, but really it's the second sentence that is causing this reaction in me. It was like "story story story kiss SEX".


So, everyone, stop acting like I'm an egotistical hater who only dislikes this because of the pairings. Sure, for a couple days, I was a little upset about that, but no biggie. It's the wtfSEX that irks me.

For me i find spontaneous sex perfectly understandable. For goodness sakes they have been travelign for years, interacting with one another, their growing feelings have been referenced one or two times, sexual tension is bound to build and needs to be 'released' *snicker*

I myself, while not happy with the pairing, am 'okay' with it as long as it remains a small part of the story and doesn't end up taking away from everything else. Basically, i want it to be the least important aspect of the story from now on, or a very minor one, and then i amfine, well... i can live with it. But seriously LFG, take a chillpill. Not something to get into too much of a realy tizzy about. Just focus on Richard an everything will be alright.

I would somewhat agree with you if the pair was anyone other than Benny/Cale but the fact is that it was foreshadowed and it wasn't out of the blue. Benny has come to respect and trust Cale over their travels together. And as for Cale having sex being out of character? Really? Yeah he's probably too chivalrous to have ever said "hey nice tits!" to Benny but I'm sure he thinks of her as attractive and really he owes her a lot for all the times she's healed and rezzed him.

I'm sorry if I came off as rather harsh but you seem to believe that a small percentage of fans who dislike the pairing qualifies as a shark-jumping moment.

As for the suddenness of it, yes it was quite sudden and while not shocking was still quite surprising and I think that's a sign of good writing that Sohmer was able to make me take a step back and reflect on what just happened instead of most strips where I'll just read them and think "Oh its a comic, there's a Richard pun, hey look some plot development, that's exiting, I'm exited."

Again I don't think you're being egotistical so much as a bit over-reactive and stubborn.

Have you seen that thing? It's like the rejected freak grandson of Godzilla, crossed with a 'special' frog. Disgusting.

Also didn't think Cale was gay, but I'm not really surprised, de aru~

Are you talking about Benny? I don't know about you but I consider green to be a very hot color. Are you just denying the fact that she makes your pants tight by calling her ugly?
And seriously "Cale is a girl, lesbian relationship...tee hee hee" stopped being funny a long time ago.

The green one is female? When did this happen?!

I knew some frogs can change gender, but I expected to be TOLD about it happening, de aru =3=

For me its more the fact she has three fingers and has tusks that throws me off.

But my best suggest to anyone who dislikes this set up like i do is to focus on everything else but the relationship. Just ignore it and focus on the other parts. And maybe only pay attention to it when Richard makes a joke about it.... its only good use.

Careful the might of your witticisms may just make my head explode.

Four words: Your Mileage May Vary.

I like it, but it happened too fast for me, their relationship. To quote Fire, "story story kiss SEX". Though there WAS buildup and I respect that, it still felt very sudden. Before, it seemed more like a relationship made up of respect and understanding. I respect and trust a lot of people I don't have a romantic intrest in.

As for what Fire said...

1. Sex seems TOTALLY out of character for Cale. (at least at this point)
Eh, kinda.
2. It was completely out of nowhere.
Not completly as there was the trust and such, but yeah.
3. It happened over the course of two comics with zero warning.
Yeah.

I agree and lets just leave it at that.

What sort of warning would you have expected? By nature romance derives its dramatic effect from being a twist. It's supposed to make you go a little.

Of all people in this argument, I am in agreement with BoLE.

These are beings with sexual organs. Such organs are known to release hormones into the body with some regularity. To the best of out knowledge, none of these characters have had sex or any other sort of release of those hormones since the beginning of the journey.

And I'm not even saying that would be a lone contributor. A being with the capacity for sex will have it on mind from time to time, even someone so chaste as Cale. He can't be completely naive and we have been told he is losing his innocence for some time now.

To put it in another way, when most people start dating, they hold off on jumping into bed because they need to go through the "Getting to know you" phase. With as long as these 2 have been traveling together and keeping each other out of harm's way, I don't find it so unreasonable to skip that phase. Though there may be more to deal with on the matter later, this initial coupling poses no problem to me.

That said, if it creeps into everything, then I can see where problems might come in.

Just need to grind your teeth with it for a while and bare with it!
Its looking like its getting good!

but i voted on : "only if its takes over the comic" cause i still has faith dam it!

I was actually disappointed when they panned away from Benny and Cale to the sisters.

Oh, you just wanna see Benny without that physics defying top.

Uh... really? Where did this come from? I'm pretty sure LFD just asked a question about what everyone thought about their relationship which, last I checked, alot of people were talking about it. I think YOU need to seriously chill out about this and accept that some people like it, some people don't, and just because you like it doesn't mean someone else is wrong for not liking it.

I wish I had seen this thread sooner to back LFD up (even though I disagree with her opinion, heh. Benny<3Cale4EVAH!)

I think one of the problems is the people on either side of the issue who are so damned militant about it. LFD admits to her ranting against the matter. People like Jonath have been arguing in favor of the relationship just as much and, at times, just as harshly.

Both sides seem to have heard enough on the matter, what with as much as its been tossed about lately, but I doubt we'll get the proper treatment for that ailment, keeping the topic starter out of sight, since the development will likely have some for of consequence or response in the near future.

That said, everyone needs to calm down about this.

I agree completly with Ronin Drakes above statment.

Lets just accept we have different opinions on the matter. They will likely only change depending onwhat way the story goes with it, and probebly never from this little debate and that is that.

I'm not saying the discussion is bad. Lets just try to keep it civil and respectful. Boy, i never thought i would see the day when i'm the one saying this.

Anyway. I like to take the moer flexible standpoint of, if they overdo it= bad, if they keep it minor and focus on the comedic aspect of teh relationship= good.

Hello all; I've been reading for quite some time, just never really found a reason to register and post. 'Till now. Mainly, I have nothing else to do and there's a couple of comments here I just have to reply to.

Those of you saying that it happened to fast, that it was two comics with zero warning and whatnot... what the hell did you expect? It's a romantic, spur of the moment thing! These "developments", so to speak, are best when not planned, and it's just the right moment and it... happens. Where is your sense of romance?

B'sides, what did you want them to do? Talk it over in an awkward conversation, set a time and date and hope someone didn't show up and try to kill them on that particular night? Just wait and see where it goes.

I was simply quoting what Benny already had said in the comic.. *shrugs*

Meh, I wouldn't say the comic's jumped the shark, partly because it's too early to call it that. You comment that sex is out of character for Cale, well that would be true if he had been the one making the proposition, seems to me more like rape, including tentacles no less. So far we've seen no changes to the cast, the characters, or the plot related to it, and you're more blind than I am about these things if you honestly didn't see this coming, (I.E. I was honestly shocked when Harry snogged Ginny.) even I thought it was obvious the trorc had the hots for the gender ambiguous elf for quite a while.

Look at it this way, it could have been worse, it could have been Richard.

No no, you're confusing worse with better, common mistake really.

How would they kiss? He's kind of got clothes in the way.

Posthumously of course, as the shock of gazing upon Richard in his full naked glory would cause her face to melt, sort of like the ark of the covenant, only more awesome.

Her? I thought we were talking about Cale!

I thought you meant the Trorc. Although Cale, like all elves, is ambiguously gendered so she is just as accurate as he.

speculating about LFG jumping the shark at this point is making a mountain out of a molehill, really. it´s not like we´ve had six chapters of "i wuv you!" or something. sex is had between two main characters, and off-screen at that. so far, nothing more. i wonder how anyone can think that sohlar will suddenly turn this into mush - where does this idea come from?
and even if cale and benny end up a couple - which i doubt at this point -, romantic relationships are a fact of life and story-telling. from what i´ve seen of sohlar´s work so far, i have every reason to beleive that if they choose to involve romnace, it will be every bit as funny and original as the rest of their comics.
´nuff said.

^This
People seem to think I'm attacking LFD but really I'm just a little put off by her suggestion that two measly pages of implied romance qualifies as a shark jumping moment.

Of course it very well could be, but we'll have to wait and see on that. In order for the comic to have jumped the shark, it'll have to all go down hill from that point on, so far it still seems like LFG to me, Richard's still Richard, and to be honest that's all that matters.

Yes but until the quality declines the comic hasn't jumped the shark. Dragon may hate the new development but I thought the scene she thinks is a shark jumper was one of the better written scenes in a while. I was getting bored of LFG until now, something new happened and my interest has been restored.

He's quite stupid if you think this will bring THAT much change...

This sums up my thoughts pretty good.

I just think its a little unfair that people are telling LFD that she can't be passionate about her opinion. So what if she thinks its a shark jumping moment? If I remember correctly, B.O.L.E. was ranting about the apocalypse when the kiss first happened (in my opinion, a slightly more exaggerated claim than shark-jumping) , and no one jumped on the threads to tell B.O.L.E. how to express his(?) opinion. I have no problem with people sharing their views, I have a problem with people telling other people how to share their views. You are more than welcome to say that this new development is not a shark jumping moment, the point of these boards is for everyone to share their opinions and debate in a friendly manner. If we're going to point out other people and say how very wrong they are, then I'm going to take the opportunity to say to B.O.L.E. that an apocalypse is highly unlikely (You get singled out because you turned off my internet connection for a week )

An important difference between BoLE and LFD in this circumstance, in my opinion.

As you said, BoLE was rather apocalyptic about the direction of this comic right after the kiss. However, as you may have seen earlier in this thread, he has mellowed out on the issue and even expresses a cautious optimism.

To still be so upset over the issue several weeks after the fact is more than just "this is change and I don't like it" or "that was a surprise, what do I do". To still be saying that something like that will bring doom upon this comic or act as a herald to its apocalyptic end (ie. jumping the shark) at this point is to have more invested in the alternative than should be considered normal.

*poke* ..i said similar to those like BOLE going apocalyptic over the kiss that they should wait and see.

Has LFG jumped the shark?

No.

Next question.

An opinion is fine but treating your opinion as something that everyone should agree with is what grates on me.
Littlefiredragon should take a page from BoLE and wait before jumping the gun and saying "It's ruined!"

I would like to remind some people that the guys who do Looking for a Group also do Least I could do. I believe this has been forgotten subconsciously by some. The guys doing this comic know how to include romance in a story and make it funny. Saying this comic has jumped the shark for including a romance between the main characters is like saying Jackie Chan's career has jumped the shark for doing a Kung-Fu movie.

Lastly LFG, is a parody of numerous fantasy RPG games, films and books. By those rules a romance between the two lead characters is a requirement

I also agree with a good number of the final posts here. Folks, it's okay to feel passionate about something, but to be obnoxious about it, accuse people of not understanding and being rude when they don't share the same opinion is not. Some of you are walking a very fine line.

My thoughts: I saw it coming. If you didn't, perhaps you should re-read the comic from top to bottom. Let's see....most recent would be how Benny reacted to her uncle being found alive and well to Cale.


Of course, I'll also play naive devil's advocate here....everyone has assumed that just because "It sounds liek he's hurting her" that they were having sex. Highly probable? Yes. But guaranteed result? No. No where was it stated they had sex, it was just heavy implication. For all we know they could have been fighting something that came up on them while making out.

Was it shark jumping? No. Definitely not....if you need to see shark jumping in action, go watch some canceled anime's.

What the hell does jumping the shark mean ?

Jumping the shark is a moment regarded by practically everyone (not just a small segment of the fanbase) as the moment when a show/series of books/franchise/comic/whathaveyou stops performing well and starts going down hill fast. It was named after the episode of Happy Days where the Fonz literally jumped some sharks with water skis.

If you watch the Highlander series, season 5 into season 6 is a great example of it

Jumping the Shark refers to one of the last "Happy Days" shows, where Fonze has to attempt the ridiculous stunt of doing a waterski jump over a shark pool (in swim trunks and his classic leather jacket no less). It is used to refer when a show or story veers from the norm to an extreme/absurd change: Random birth, death, loss of character, sex between two characters where the chemistry and lack of fulfillment was a main and resounding theme, using alien abduction to change the plot a bit, etc.

I don't think this is one of those situations, as there wasn't a long, outstanding unfulfilled heat between Benny and Cale.

Along with jumping the gun, we seem to be having a theme of jumping over dangerous things. I wonder if candlesticks fit into this somewhere...

But no, this isn't the downfall of LFG, unless you're still watching power rangers on Saturday mornings and still believe in cooties. Then there's something to worry about.

It's better for the story IMO, since when you think about it so many things could sprout from it. You know, like how many jokes Richard can make, influence on major choices Cale may have to make later on, the amusement for the readers about how if Benny and Cale procreate how lost their child will be in figuring out what it is...

Besides, they still haven't found that darn sword that seems to have gone out of the picture for the longest time. There HAS to be more ideas and plot after this point that are worth reading.