Episode 84: Explosive Lunar Year
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
One of the spectacular things about Chinese New Year is the display of fireworks, especially during the eve of Chinese New Year. I’ve always taken into account the duration and density of the fireworks display year after year. One thing I’ve noticed is that as of lately, at least where I live, the fireworks spectacle didn’t even last past 30 minutes after midnight. I found that this downhill trend has been going on since the last few years. Every year it seems to get lesser and lesser compared to 10 – 15 years ago when fireworks would go off unrelentingly till an hour or more. I jokingly said that this trend was a sign that the economy wasn’t getting any better, and that perhaps people are becoming more prudent about their finances. Well I don’t know about other places. If you live in a country where Chinese New Year is celebrated as a public festivity, how was it for you this year?
VIRUZXP:
I’ve been playing alot of Saints Row The 3rd and some Borderlands 2 recently. Well, looks like my days off are over. Time to drag my ass back to work. lolXD!
Episode 83: Call Off Duty
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
Nothing much from me. Just enjoy this week’s episode!
VIRUZXP:
Nothing here from me too except that I played a lot of Black Ops 2 recently. XD!
Episode 82: New Year Trolling
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
It took us quite a while before we could post our first episode this 2013. This was due to a recent overhaul that we decided to make on this webcomic. Anyways, happy new year to everyone! If you have any resolutions for this year, all the best to you all! Enjoy!
VIRUZXP:
Well, this is awkward wishing you guys a happy new year and all since we’re about 3 weeks in on 2013. Anyway, I hope things are going well so far for you guys. XD!
Merry Christmas 2012
Art by : ELEMENTJ21 (aka. Julian Faylona)
Link to the artwork: SANTA’S HEYDAY
ELEMENTJ21:
As usual, it’s my tradition to make something for Christmas every year. So here’s my piece for this year’s Christmas. I hope ya’ll enjoy, have a great time with family and friends, and knowing that the world didn’t end a few days ago, have a blast and have a wonderful celebration this holiday season!
VIRUZXP:
Merry Christmas, folks! XD!
Episode 81: Disgruntled Santa
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
It’s only 2 more days before 21st December 2012. And the greatest experiment of the 21st century will have reached its conclusion. I won’t be surprised if there’s gonna be a spike of suicides on that day or maybe closer to that day (depending on which timezone you live in). Now I don’t mean to make such morbid jokes and certainly I don’t wanna discuss about what would really happen on that day. I’ve fed myself enough information from all kinds of sources about this issue. For me, I’ll live it like any other day, and not to mention I have to go downtown because I have an entire Christmas Caroling group to lead and coordinate! Speaking of Christmas, yes I’m really looking forward to Christmas this following week! Even if I wake up to a Fallout wasteland outside my window, at least I can have some irradiated mutant beef for dinner! LOL
VIRUZXP:
Balls of yarn… lolXD!!!
Episode 80: Assassin’s Problem
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
Can’t help but realize that the whole Assassin’s Creed plot was centered on obtaining the Pieces of Eden. So much trouble was made throughout history all for pieces of machines left behind by an advanced alien race tens of thousands of years before. But it turns out that there’s more to the story than just the Pieces of Eden and their creators. Oops! Spoiler! Anyway the Assassin’s Creed series is perhaps one of the best games I’ve played so far since the Halo series. I really love the twists and turns in the plots, and how it incorporates real history behind it. I’ve been following this series since Assassin’s Creed 1 and all the subsequent games listed in the comic strip above. And after all these years, the story arc of the whole series will meet it’s culmination in Assassin’s Creed 3. Just hope I do so before 21st December 2012. I need to know how to save the world! LOL!
VIRUZXP:
EJ has been a fan of the AC series. I was a late bloomer and still is since I barely even touch the 1st game yet. Yes… touch… XD!!!
Episode 79: Secret Stash
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
So we’ve been playing Borderlands 2 lately. It’s a great co-op game to be honest. I’m glad that the developers kept the humor in the game just like they did with the first one. Overall I’m pretty much satisfied with the game. So here we are again, going for countless hours of fun co-op experience. If you haven’t tried Borderlands 2, I really recommend getting it! It’s worth every penny for its content.
VIRUZXP:
Looting in Borderlands 2 can be fun. lolXD!
Episode 78: Happy Thanksgiving 2012!
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
So what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? If I were to list out what I’m thankful for, it’d be too much to express here. Basically everything is worth giving thanks. Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone in the Western Hemisphere and to everyone living everywhere else! Hope ya’ll have a great time!
VIRUZXP:
Happy Thanksgiving folks and have a great week ahead. XD!
Episode 77: Diablo 3 Logic
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
Something funny we thought up a while ago. If you’ve played Diablo 3, you know how some elite monsters are able to create barricades or walls. And the most annoying part is that not only you’ll have to go around them, but you also can’t shoot through them and most of your abilities will be stopped right at the wall. However, it’s still funny that the Wizard is able to call down a meteor or a hail storm from the sky, all the way down to the lowest depths of a dungeon. Only in the Diablo universe. LOL!
VIRUZXP:
I read somewhere that they’re going to make an expansion for D3. Honestly, I have a mixed feeling about this. XD!
Episode 76: On Today’s Music (Ultimatum)
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
Nothing much from me today. Just wanna say I’m no longer as excited about mainstream music these days. Anyway, enjoy this weeks episode!
VIRUZXP:
EDM, Dubstep and rock songs from the olden days for me. XD!
Episode 75: Ripped Off!
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
The iPad mini has just been announced recently. Honestly I wasn’t really excited about it perhaps due to the fact that I already own an iPad 2. I was particularly amused about how owners of the iPad 3 or iPad HD were enraged by the fact that the new iPad 4 or iPad Mini, was fitted with an A6 processor while the iPad 3 only had the A5X. Lots were saying that the newer A6 processor should have been put into the iPad 3 and because of that, many felt that the iPad 3 was like another appetizer just to keep customers busy while Apple prepares the main course. Some say that the iPad Mini is the true 3rd Generation of the device and quite many feel that they’ve been ripped off. Boo hoo! Well I guess that’s a the price one must pay for jumping too soon off the diving board. But I’m glad I made the right choice to buy myself an iPad 2 and save money rather than buying an iPad 3. At least I wouldn’t feel the pinch about the money I spent.
UPDATE: okay I think I made some mistake here, the iPad Mini has an A5 processor while the A6X is fitted into a newer batch of iPad 3s. Regardless, I think this is what’s making lots of early adopters of the iPad 3 pretty pissed off about the new upgrade.
VIRUZXP:
There’s a difference between being a fan and also being a sensible fan. I’m not an iFag but seriously, some people really need common sense whenever they spend their mullah on gadgets. Cheers! XD!
Episode 74: No You Pay!
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
Remember that time when you’re out for dinner with friends? At the end of it, when it’s time to pay up, everyone will be insisting that they be the one to pay for the whole table. But I’m sure there’s that one or two person who will put up a convincing show about them insisting to pay up, but in truth, they don’t want to. They’re only doing that for the sake of courtesy. After several times being declined, they’ll happily put back their money in their wallets and pretend everything is alright. I’m sure we all may have done this one way or another once upon a time.
VIRUZXP:
Ah, this is a familiar scene. *trollface.jpg* XD!
Episode 73: Blood Suckers
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
This probably old news but I’ve just decided to try Skyrim’s DLC called, Dawnguard. It’s either you join the coven of vampires or become the hunters. If you love burning extra hours playing Skyrim past its main storyline, then I recommend trying it out. As of lately, we’ve been struggling to keep up with our weekly episodes due to other commitments. Plus I do have my own personal struggles I’m dealing with at the moment which I’m not privy to mention here. But the very fact that this webcomic is on going every week is a sign that we’re trying our best to get on with our lives as much as possible despite all the hurdles we’ve been facing. It’s still my passion to do stuff like this and I ensure that goes on.
VIRUZXP:
Enjoy ze comic and have a great week, folks! XD!
Episode 72: Camping
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
One of the biggest dilemmas I have whenever I travel out of the country, is not having a laptop with me. Whenever I go back to my home country, the house where I leave in which is isolated from civilization many hours away. Most of the time, the only entertainment I have there is going out into the woods, raking dead leaves, swimming in our large fish pool, and basically staring at the ocean from our home atop the hill. It’s totally about nature and the outdoors back there. But sometimes I do get so bored that I wish I had a laptop with me to play some games. But nevertheless, I enjoyed my yearly visits back to my hometown. It’s the only time I could get away from all the stress of life, and forget about everything of my routine and just enjoy the serenity that our surrounding area has to offer.
VIRUZXP:
I’ve made through my college days without even owning a laptop to a point that I actually don’t feel like I need one. That is until recently, there are situations that do require me to own a laptop at times which is strange because in my lifestyle, I don’t really go out a lot and my only portal to the net is my desktop at home. I might get one in the future but maybe not at the moment.
Episode 71: Hypocrite Much!?
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
So apparently a few people got a little bit smart and decided to create a group in Facebook, which is dedicated to shaming bad, irresponsible, and inconsiderate users of the road. It was such a hit that everyone who has ever been behind the wheel has joined the group. I heard it was a funny group and so I joined in too. Well till now, I never actually bothered to post up anything or even comment on anyone’s post. I’m just a typical silent observer of the group. Personally if you ask my opinion about the group, I guess it’s simply a group for disgruntled, angry, insecure, and -sorry I have to say this- self righteous people to vent out their frustrations about other road users. I mean come on! If you’ve never did offences like parking out of the box, turning without signalling, and so on during your whole life as a driver, you deserve to be whacked with a flat screen monitor on your face for being such a blatant liar. Okay I have to admit some of the offences I’ve seen posted there are just too much. But some people are abusing the group by suddenly going all crazy snapping every single effin car they see outside who they consider to be an offender for every single little thing! It’s like the Medieval Witch Hunt all over again. My word of advice, if you’re a part of such a group, you might wanna be careful of what you post up there. As if we’ve never learned the lessons of the dangers and dark side of Facebook? It may sound like fun at first. But when you start getting into trouble because of what you put up there, you’ve got no one else to blame but yourself. You know the river may have crocodiles, still you dip your arms in the water. I hope you get the analogy… just saying… cheers!
VIRUZXP:
I think we should make a Facebook group dedicated to shaming people with bad Engrish cause we have a lot of ‘em here from where we’re from. lolXD!!!
Episode 70: Moonwalkers
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
As a tribute to one of modern history’s greatest hero, we decided to do something different for this episode. Neil Armstrong, was one of those who pioneered space exploration on behalf of all mankind. He was the first to walk the barren plains of a land outside the boundaries of the Earth’s atmosphere. It was because of him, he brought the limitless wonders of the heavens down to the grasp of all mankind. It is through his life as an astronaut that has and will inspire and captivate the imaginations of people of all walks of life, big or small, regardless of color and place on Earth. He was among the first enter the veil of what was called as the Final Frontier of humanity. That is space and beyond. I am thankful that I knew Armstrong as a kid. For it was because of him I became interested in Astronomy when I was just 5 years old. And it was also because of him it became my childhood dream to become an Astronomer one day. And if it wasn’t because of my interest in Astronomy at a young age, I wouldn’t have had the interest in science in all its forms. Armstrong is a true hero of our time. Thank you for your invaluable contributions to humanity and science. May he rest in eternal peace and may his spirit roam the shoreless wonders and mysteries of the universe and beyond; free and liberated of his earthly vessel. Rest In Peace Armstrong. *Hats off*
(PS: if you don’t get the episode, the title gives a hint to what similarities Neil Armstrong and Michael Jackson shared in their life. If you still don’t get it, then there’s something awfully wrong with you…)
VIRUZXP:
That’s one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind! He did said it wrong but give the man a break. Rest in Peace, Spaceman!
Episode 69: Slaves
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
If you took the time to study history, you’d notice that every ancient civilization from the Egyptians, Sumerians, Romans, and the Chinese, just to name a few, had Social Classes not so different from one another. Back in the days, people who possessed the talent to generate ideas like artisans, architects, scientists, philosophers, and poets, were regarded highly in the social class. They were considered as free men and women, they were considered as the elites. Then as you go down the social class, there you have the builders, stonemasons, contractors, engineers, soldiers, etc, are regarded as lower classes even though they work the hardest because they are the ones who turn the invisible ideas of the “upper class” into visible and tangible objects. And even more unfortunate is that the lower you go down the classes, the work gets harder and the pay gets lesser compared to those who idle in posh palaces idling for hours in search of ideas. Even today we see this kind of thing happening in the working field. Yes it’s unfair, so has it been for thousands of years. These so called “upper classes” will always be treated well and paid higher because they “illuminate” others with their minds and yet those who work under the sun to realize their ideas gets the least recognition and pay. I find this very true actually.
My work as an artist and designer pays WAY more than what others do. Can you imagine, someone else may slave 8 to 9 hours everyday for a 4 figure salary every month, while I’m able to earn that same amount of money in just a day for less than 5 hours of work. The adage saying that the harder you work, the more it pays is not true actually. It’s a matter of perspective. I’m not bragging, but this is a truth that I lived through myself as a designer.
VIRUZXP:
So we’re back after a few weeks of hiatus/rest(not really). I recently just got a new job just to fund my freelance career with my buddy here that includes getting out of this country I’m living in and also to fund this comic whenever there’s something we might need. Like funding for trips to conventions and not forgetting paying rents for booths if we’ve decided to do that. Plus, there are personal things which I’m not keen to get into. Anyway, this is how I feel about the working environment not just in my country, but everywhere around the world. Idealists get paid the most while those thousands of people busting more than their asses making that idea a reality only get paid less and some even very less and with no benefits as well. I also feel that most industries from where I’m currently am, is no fun working with because most of them are construction, medical and other boring corporate industries. Arts and gaming industries are really really rare over here and do not pay much as well because from my experience working with the gaming scene here, it’s a paid by event only and there’s not much big gaming events every year. Only 1 to 2 or 3 the most.
Plus, getting local clients here for graphic designs is not really a good idea here because there are no people who appreciate artist/designers around here. You charged them a certain amount of money for your services, they’ll complaint like a fucking Chinaman. Oh and by the way, I’m a Chinese and I hate most, if not all, Chinese with this Chinaman mentality. It’s a wonder to me when I see most graphic designers here are able to live getting by monthly with a low paying salary. With the amount of money I got paid before doing a freelance gig with EJ21, I don’t see the need to really bust my ass of from 8am-5pm working from Monday to Saturday and getting paid about the same amount of money. But the market here for our freelance profession is really poisoning.
Ok! Enough with my rant, enjoy ze comic and hope you guys have a great week ahead.
Episode 68: Rage Against The Machine
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
If you don’t know what latency means, basically in a simpler way of explaining it, when you play online games, there’s always a latency meter somewhere. The lower the number means the smoother your gameplay will be without all the lags and delays. The higher the number becomes, the more lag and delays you’ll get and usually it can be very annoying. Well we experienced that a lot with Diablo 3. Certain areas are pretty bad and the most annoying part is you getting killed just because of the lags. In fact, it’s worse when you’re doing a boss battle; a low latency is the last thing you’d want at times like that.
VIRUZXP:
<cue in Rage Against The Machine – Wake Up>
From where we’re from, our ISP is a piece of shit where their services are biased against their customers who are not subscribing to their most expensive packages so called, UniFucked. Not forgetting overpriced too if compared to Comcast from America.
Episode 67: Lord of Lies
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
I have to admit, Diablo 3 is pretty addictive as the previous ones in the series. One could actually spend hours in the game without knowing what time already it is. Thankfully Blizzard was nice enough to actually include a small digital clock at the top right corner of the screen to let you know how much time you’ve burned in trying to kill digital demons. Just be careful when playing it especially when you have an appointment with anyone. Well, unless you have the intention of not going… XD!
VIRUZXP:
We have to reschedule our usual gathering a few times because of this. lololXD!!!
Episode 66: Diablo 3 Pet Peeve
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
I’d say after 12 years of waiting for this, I’m pretty much enjoying every little bit of what Diablo 3 has to offer. Basically I have no complains about the game except for 1 thing. And I realized that this complaint is among one of the most commonly mentioned in the Battle.net forums. I enjoyed the coop part of the game, but it was when people who are 10 or more levels higher than I am, who joins my game UNINVITED, is where the coop turns from being fun to absolutely annoying. There are times when I just want to farm my way through the game for gold and especially experience, this is when I don’t want anyone joining me. Why I say so? Because more than likely, that person is going to rush the game for you especially if he or she has gone through that part you’re playing, going ahead of you and killing the hordes of monsters for you all the time, leaving you with nothing. Basically that person is stealing experiences that you should be getting and perhaps achievements and bonuses that comes along with them. It will make you feel rushed and it’s not something you’d enjoy especially if you want to take your time exploring every single nooks and crannies of the game. At one point, I got pretty annoyed that I decided to shut off the “Quick Join” option to prevent anyone from joining my game at all without my permission! Maybe it’s just me, but this has been my gameplay style since Diablo 2.
The gap in terms of strength and power between a character who is 10 levels higher than you is pretty much noticeable especially in Normal mode. Heck even a character 4 or 5 levels higher than you is already stronger in many aspects (especially boosted with magical or rare items) and most likely that person has already progressed further than you as well. I don’t know if you agree with me, but I think players with a hero of level 40 and above, or those who have completed Normal mode (I assume the highest level you could attain in Normal mode is from 1 to 35 more or less), shouldn’t come back playing with anyone who have yet to complete Normal mode! It’s not only pointless but a killjoy!
One tip, if you want to join someone else’s game, perhaps your friend’s, make it a point to ask if it’s okay for you to join in. Don’t jump in unannounced! Another thing is, if you played Normal mode at least once, don’t bother joining your other friends who have yet to complete Normal mode. Let them experience and enjoy the story. Seriously, you think you may be helping by being with them in-game, but truly you’re only a competitive disadvantage on their side. Same goes if you’re still on the same difficultly level but has gone way far ahead, don’t rush your friend throughout the game, making him/her skip conversations with NPCs and other story elements. Don’t be an ass by robbing them the fun that you had as well. If you can’t stand all the waiting while your friend takes his/her sweet time, then just leave.
As for those who share my concerns, I know you may be lamenting about how you wished Blizzard gave players the ability to hide their online status. Well, I wish the same too and I don’t understand why Blizzard left out such an option. Regardless, you can always disable Quick Join in the options menu.
Okay putting my rants aside, VXP and I are finally done with Normal mode and would perhaps move on to Nightmare mode. There’s so much to do especially selling and buying stuffs from the Auction House. Anyone wanna tag along? You can drop your battle tags in the comment and we’ll add you. We do hope to have a good time playing the game with others too. Well, just don’t do the No-No’s I mentioned above. XD!!
VIRUZXP:
Done with Normal mode. Time for some farming before going to Nightmare. XD!
Episode 65: Jesus Says (Relationship Status)
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
No we’re not Atheists if you’re wondering. We’re just pretty open minded people who thinks very differently from the uptight religious bunch around us. I guess I’ll let this episode speak for itself. If you find it offensive in anyway, then you’re not getting the message! XD!
VIRUZXP:
Like EJ21 says, we’re just a bunch of open minded Catholics. Haters gonna hate, bitches gonna bitch. I think I should write more of Jesus Says episodes in the future! lulz!
Episode 64: Specific Instructions
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : ELEMENTJ21
ELEMENTJ21:
Recently while having tea time, a friend asked me what color is off-white because that was the color he was instructed to wear for an upcoming event. I immediately knew that it would be sarcastic of me to say, “Off white? Which one exactly?”, because off-white has many variations and some of them go all the way to the hues of brown, yellow, and gray. And so to make things easier for him I just told him to wear white cream color just to be extra safe. Honestly sometimes I feel that some people give the weirdest instructions ever. Wouldn’t it be easier to say “white” instead of “off-white”? I mean, simply white is easily understood as not everyone is linguistically accustomed to hearing off white all the time. As a person very particular with words, I would’ve taken the instructions literally and wore hues of brown, gray, yellow, and orange, because they are all parts of off white, even though I perfectly knew that the preferred color was plain white and anything relatively near to plain white. If asked I would simply answer, “Well you said white! This is off white!”. This is a perfect example of how careful you must be when you say things to others. The outcomes may differ depending on how others understood your words.
VIRUZXP:
Nekkiiiiid!!!! XD!!!
Episode 63: Death Comes
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
Recently I’ve been digging a lot into the 8-bit survival horror game called, Lone Survivor. The 8-bit look of the game inspired me to test out similar renders for Call of Idiots Webcomic. So far so good. This is just one of our latest implementations apart from introducing more quirky characters into Call of Idiots. Stay tuned for more!
VIRUZXP:
Keeetteeeeeeehhh!!!!! XD!!!
Episode 62: Our trip to MGCCon 2012
Art by : ELEMENTJ21
Written by : VIRUZXP
ELEMENTJ21:
The Malaysian Games and Comics Convention 2012, was the first of it’s kind that we’ve attended here in Malaysia. All I’m gonna say is that it’s SUPER AWESOME! Lots of cool stuff and lots of great people we met! Anyways the experience is too long for me to explain in detail here. If you want to know more about it please visit my blog post about this event at the following link: MALAYSIAN GAMES AND COMICS CONVENTION 2012
VIRUZXP:
Here’s to another great convention in our country next year. In ze mean time, DERP! XD!!
