Episode 438: Don’t Stop Now

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Dave

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Zombie Cliche Lookout: Toughen Up

There’s a notion out there, particularly among manly men, that the best way to teach something is to use “tough love”. This is essentially a technique whereby you teach by being gruff and mean, which suits me just fine. Of course, some jerks use this to justify being jerks, but I guess that’s just  jerks being jerks. Jerks.

Ahem, sorry about that.

At this point you’re probably wondering what in the hell this has to do with zombie stories. Consider it a motivational technique. In zombie stories, characters generally cover a pretty wide range of characteristics, from brave, strong, and forthright, to cowardly, weak, and conniving. This is important because interpersonal conflict is one of the driving forces in a zombie plot (the other part involves zombies, obviously). Survivors like to stick together. There is strength in numbers, after all. To do this, they need to get everyone moving toward the same goal, which is often difficult because people all have different motivations. The tough love comes in when Character A uses it to bully Character B into following direction. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires violently.

About this Episode:

I’m really happy with the last two panels. I had a very clear image in my head of Abe’s body language, which is often very difficult, if not impossible, to reproduce with LEGO® minfigs. Happily, it worked quite well here.

And there was much rejoicing.

Discussion Question: Best Motivator

As you can probably suss out from my write-up, I like the idea of “tough love”, but don’t think it works terribly well in practice. I’m sure it works for some people, though. So that brings me to you guys: what do you think is the best way to motivate someone? Also, what about when time is a factor? If you have to motivate them quickly, does that change your approach?

20 thoughts on “Episode 438: Don’t Stop Now”

  1. Typo alert: Discussion Question, first sentence, after the second comma: it’s–>it 😀

    • Thanks! On it.

  2. Would it surprise anyone if there’s a sudden zombie interruption to this flashback sequence, most likely involving zombies? 😀

    • Hah, you never know.

      • I’m thinking something along the lines of one of Abe’s staff (what do you call them, Dave?) will come in with a report of zombies mysteriously breaking in somehow! 😀

        TVtropes probably has lots of flashback interruption types if you’re looking for inspiration! 😉

  3. Pretty sure that reward or promise of reward is the best motivator. At work, as a reward for sweating over the grindstone, you get money. At a sporting event, you win and you get a medal or trophy. As reward every now and then in a relationship for being caring and thoughtful; you get… well…you know.

    If I was the leader of a group, or colony, I would make it a reward of coming back with the most supplies by letting that person keep the soda. Or something like that. The only problem would be sometimes people put themselves at unnecessary risks to get a prize. I wanted so bad to get the swimmers medal for grade 9 that I practiced swimming so much that one time I passed out from exhaustion, and I was going about 50 laps a day.

    People do stupid things at the promise of reward, but it is an incredible motivator. Now offer critiques and criticism on this post and you get a COOKIE!

    • Oh man, a cookie sounds pretty good.

  4. Dammit, Dave. This has been driving me crazy. What kind of brickarms rifle is Abe carrying?!?!

    • That would be the M1 Carbine, Superblok. The wire-stock version.

      • thank you so much. I couldn’t get a clear view on it and it was driving me insane.

  5. I AM LEGOMAN 400 NO MORE!!!!! sorry about that.
    Oh God, its been like, a month since i got back here, right?

    • Welcome back!

  6. There was so much work, i thought i would slam my face against my desk or something!

    • So much work with what?

  7. I was literally going mad in school.

    • Ah, gotcha. School can be pretty stressful.

  8. It was like Hell… LIKE HELL!!! And now my first test week is coming up.

  9. The teachers would only give you only 2 to 4 days to recover from the test apocalypse.. and BAM!! Dates for next month’s tests are back.

  10. I’m pretty sure the original line for Colonel here was “Grow some balls” and then”Go on”.

    As for the question: I think the best way to motivate someone is by awards or threats. Any of those would make you work, either it be in a good or bad mood.

  11. Fear is one of the best motavators because it gets the blood pumping!