Zombie Cliche Lookout: Expert Opinion
They say that everyone is good at something (debatable, but let’s go with it), and while the insane level of specialization we now enjoy likely won’t work in the zombie apocalypse, you never know who might be able to help you out. Case in point, while Vicky might not be able to handle stress terribly well, she does seem passionate about decorating and fashion, so who better to seek out when you need a better set of clothes for surviving a zombie outbreak?
About this Episode:
In the comments for Monday’s episode, we talked quite a bit about the flooring choices in Ted and Vicky’s house. In this episode, you can clearly see the difference between the bedroom, which features tan carpet, and the hallway, which features blue carpet. I built these sets quite a while ago, but I’m fairly sure that I went with the blue floor in the hall because I didn’t have enough tan plates without constantly switching back and forth between sets, which is a huge pain.
Discussion Question: Zombie and Contrast
In this episode and the last, we’re talking about Barb changing into more practical clothing. While her nurses uniform has worked so far, she’s going to want something more comfortable in the long term. The other reason we’ve discussed this is that fact that her uniform is bright white, and stands out like a sore thumb. Other living people would certainly notice it, but the question is: would zombies?
Obviously, the way zombies work varies pretty considerable from one story to the next – and occasionally within the stories themselves. That said, knowing what you know about the zeds in Bricks of the Dead, do you think that highly contrasting colors would grab their attention and make a potential victim stand out that much more?
Typo alert: “clearly see the different between” different–>difference 😀
Only one for today, Dave! 😉
Fixed! Not bad.
A fair discusion question, one I have not thought about. Zombies in this story seem to have the senses of their human counterparts, IE no super sense of smell or hearing. So at a glance they would be attracted to what ever humans are attracted to.
On the other hand they seem more attracted to noise and motion over everything else. How they identify what is a zombie and what isnt is still a mystery since they have attacked infected but still living lego people.
Also hospital scrubs are comfy man D8 but still probibly not practical for survival situations. Afterall, zombies may not care about colors, but bandits and thieves certainly will…
Excellent response. I’ve actually long been jealous that I can’t wear scrubs to work every day. It’s like wearing pajamas with pockets, which is just awesome.
As for the zeds in BotD, I’m fairly certain they would be going for what attracted their attention first. Usually, this is a noise followed by catching sight of someone or something moving. I’m not entirely certain they would worry about color information from their eyes, although Dave hasn’t really dabbled a lot in whether they actually retain any color information or high-level processing capabilities after becoming zombies.
Therefore, if the zombie isn’t blind before having turned into a zombie, I would guess they would react on what they can see after they find a noise that leads them to potential prey. They then would proceed to evaluate potential targets as they see them.
Dave has always said he wants his zombie to be relentless and never tiring, but they seem to have some remarkably human qualities, abilities, and sensory perceptions! 😉
Another great response.
Here’s what I’m thinking on contrast: I don’t think the zombies would notice the color per se, but I think they would likely notice if it was highly contrasting to the surroundings. I don’t think that would make them aggressive, but it would make them take a look and see if there’s a potential food source there.
The Discussion Question also brings an interesting question of the kinds of people that could get turned into zombies, where eyesight is concerned. For instance if a zombie formerly couldn’t see two inches past his nose without glasses, then obviously they’re going to have a lot more problems finding potential prey. And let’s say they’re deaf, too, because they were an aged person before becoming a zombie. Further, let’s say that the other mindless zombies see this deaf, near-blind zombie wandering around, and start to follow it around, in the instinctive hopes they’ll be led to potential victims.
I guess with this kind of zombie there’s a small amount of potential for zombies that can see better to become the herd leader of a mass of zombies, but there also seems a large amount of potential for all these zombies to get stuck behind a useless zombie. Therefore, in a zombie apocalypse scenario, survivors would be well-advised to check what the zombies are doing, and if they seem to be following a zombie that is rather blind, they should probably steer clear of that zombie and let the entire herd follow it into potential obstacles they can set up to get rid of a large number of zombies fairly easily. 😀
Interesting thoughts. If I, for instance, turned into a zombie, my sight-based hunting would be severly inhibited. Not only am I quite nearsighted, I’m also colorblind.
Observant readers will note that although the gun Barb was using isn’t visible, there appears to be a hint of it being there, as it is visible in the edge of one shot in Strip 719! 😀
Right you are. She leaned it against the nightstand.
We can argue that some people are good at messing things up…
I think that the recent episodes are a desperate attempt by the writer to touch the female audience by bringing fashion and decoration in this Zombie Apocalypse LOL. I’d say that’s pretty smart, a bit far-fetched but still a good move.
The previous comment was more a desperate attempt by me to sound funny than some European macho behavior 😛
Hah! Good stuff.
To be fair though, the decorating stuff is all me. I don’t really care for decorating in general, but I get a kick out of some of the vintage styles you see out there. I used to live in a house that was built when black and pink were a really big color scheme to use. Needless to say, it didn’t age particularly well.
Most of the zeds so far have followed the: “hear, see, follow” pattern. Therefore color may not be an issue. Instead durability most of the zeds had regular shirts and I’ll call the Lego legs jeans, even though there are cargo and shorts. Those in plain clothes got torn up.
People naturally look for things they recognize. This means any friends are looking for the nursing uniform. It also means enemies too. This means dressing in layers appropriate to the weather, which we haven’t seen a lot of that come into play.
The weather thing is definitely something I want to play with, there just hasn’t been a lot of time passing in the comic yet. I’m flirting with the idea of jumping ahead a bit for exactly that reason.
Show a bit of “where the things might of come from” from a past perspective and slowly blend it into the future, almost “operation bite mark” status.
That’s a pretty cool idea.