Page Commentary No. 230

Psu: Oh god it's a tall one.

Gunwild: It deserved the extra real estate. You bring a character like Nimoo low, it's a pleasure raising him back up from there.

Psu: How did we come up with this page? I like it a lot but I don't remember the exact genesis. Was the santa joke, yours?

Gunwild: Can you tell? Yeah, it actually kinda plays off of the mention of Santa in the Vanaalendar we made, where they express and awareness of Santa.

Psu: The Santa is an important figure in Earth cultures. The proper rituals must be observed so one is not burdened with ancient fuel sources.

Gunwild: In my fluff text they didn't seem to see the problem with getting some carbon rock, there's nothing inherently wrong with carbon. It's not salt! Anyway I brought some things into this one but you went for giving Nimoo that icon on his collar. I had not previously thought much about how he didn't have one, honestly.

Psu: I remember like... thinking we weren't going to see the Vanaa for a while. The storyline we were gonna be on was potentially a very long one, and we didn't really have a place for the Vanna in it. So I think we ended up agreeing that we needed to get at least Nimoo to a better place. It is kinda funny though. We really didn't have a big plan for why Nimoo didn't officially have the Gleb symbol. I think we sorta pictured him as the fun human loving intern. Even though he's the icon of our comic, he's kiiiiinda a minor character. But I think his outsized representation in the story comes from the fact that both Gunwild and I maybe... like characters that are genuinely curious about other cultures. I think it's endearing and in a way Nimoo embodies our comic's adventurous spirit.

Gunwild: Yeah, like if you or I were able to seek out new life and new civilizations, we'd probably not care that much about, I dunno, analyzing the gravimetry of tidally locked dwarf planets or whatever. We'd want to know what people do for fun, and if they've invented any snacks.

Psu: I know SOME people would love to figure out how moons with a geosynchronous orbit create a locked ocean swell. But yeah, I think if you see me getting to travel around the country again, I'm gonna look at the menu for things I've never had. I'm curious about what's on local tv. I'm gonna ask about the dessert. On the visual side of this page, this was another time when I thought "Oh it's just a bunch of Vanaa, I can knock this page out quickly." And then it ended up being kinda tough. Look at all the subsurface scattering and raytracing I had to simulate! And then capturing all the nuances in their subtle acting, especially in the silent panels. The voosh effect in panel 10 though, that was easy. I just referenced the scene in the Transformers movie when Hot Rod touches the matrix.

Gunwild: Enough relevant information. I heard somebody say they enjoyed snow peas on pizza, what's your take on that?

Psu: I... must maintain that I believe all pizzas are a valid form of pizza but I can only be pushed so far...