Episode 843: Settle Down, Man

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Dave

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Zombie Cliche Lookout:

Today’s episode is a shameless ripoff, but not of a zombie story. Instead, it comes from Aliens (one of my favorite films), in which Ripley manages to save some of the marines with her quick thinking, but needs to be forced to calm down after wrecking the armored car she was driving. While Cheryl’s actions are not quite so heroic, both represent characters pushing themselves to their emotional peaks in order to save their fellow people. Ripley was saving lives, where Cheryl is simply dealing with a problem – what to do with the bad guys – without forcing the rest of the group to take part. You could make a compelling argument that Cheryl is being selfish, or that she is being selfless in doing the awful thing she believes needs to be done, and thus saving the others from having to do it.

About this Episode:

Okay everyone, this is the penultimate episode of Bricks of the Dead. For Monday’s finale I’m going to dispense with the standard write-up format and just talk about the history of the comic, my goals, how things ended, and what I would have changed along the way. As the comments have suggested of late, many of you feel the ending has been rushed. I’m very sorry if that’s the perception, but it certainly wasn’t my intent. I’ve had this ending written up for a couple of months, and reviewed and tweaked it regularly prior to shooting the last few episodes. Originally, this was the ending (with a different final panel), but I added Monday’s episode to act as a sort of coda.

This, then, is the last standard Zombie Cliche, About, and Discussion Question you’re going to see. I’m sure this hits you all right in the feels.

Discussion Question: What Would You Change?

For Monday’s comic I’ll talk a bit about what I wish I had done differently in the comic, but I know you all have similar thoughts. So lay it on me. What things should I have done differently during Bricks of the Dead that would have made it a stronger story overall? And, yes, I know everyone wanted 1,000 episodes.

17 thoughts on “Episode 843: Settle Down, Man”

  1. I would add more foxes.

    Because everything is more awesome with foxes…

    And also Lego Movie chars coming into save the day…

    Otherwise I thought it was a cool comic. The heroes were normal peoples, you always had that foreboding sense of danger, like propper suspense stories, not delving into R Rated ‘zombies eat your face just because rawr’ slasher flicks.

    You will be missed 🙂

    • Hah, thank you. And foxes are pretty cool.

  2. Well, being the penultimate episode, I’m pleased to report that the write-up has no typos! 😀

    I will be checking the coda episode on Monday for any typos I can find although I have no idea yet what will be found. 😀

    843 standard episodes plus 1 coda episode seems okay for a total of 844 episodes. It’s an even number, at least! 😀

    I still look forward to Dave revisiting BotD some day in the future.

    I personally like to try and at least have a fairly polished look on my replies and try to be thorough in trying to make them at least have some sense in them, even if some aspects are wrong some of the time.

    Whatever path Dave chooses next, I hope it’s a good one! 😀

    • I really have faith that he will revisit Botd. Legos and Zombies are in his blood. 😀
      They will come calling. Pulling him back. He’ll be saying “I gave that up.”
      Buy he’ll come back. They always do. 😉

      • Hah, you never know. It’d probably be fun to come back and do a limited series or something like that.

    • Wow, that’s pretty shocking. Well Monday’s episode write-up will be a little longer than normal. Lots of potential for typos there.

      • Lots of potential for you to go proofread it again! 😀

        I do wonder what Dave will do though if he suddenly gets tied down in front of his LEGO collection by something! 😀

        • Struggle futilely?

        • Possibly but I was wondering why that zombie had a neck collar, a piece of rope, and a heavy weight, and was last seen heading towards the area you keep your LEGO collection in! 😀

  3. This is definitely hitting me in the feels. No kidding. I’ve been complaining a bit about the comic ending, lately. And I am upset, but I am still so thankful for the years of entertainment you have provided for us. Not just the comics, but the write-ups too. A lot of online comics I’ve read don’t even make 100 episodes. The creator either loses interest, or life gets in the way. So I salute you, Dave, for your dedication. Not only to your comic but to the readers. The interaction between you and your audience is wonderful! 🙂
    I love this place! I love this story, and I love the people here. Never had a bad time here.
    Except, of course, when you killed off one of my favorite characters, Gene. Lol. But I still love that scene. One of my faves! 🙂

    How would I change things?
    Well, first of all, make it to 1000 episodes. Lol! 😀 Jk. 🙂
    You’ll get there. 😉

    But for real. There’s not much I would change. Sam seemed to get over the death of his wife pretty quick. I mean, the next day,he was watching the news at his friend’s house. I’m sure he was pretty upset, but its hard o tell with lego. Maybe he’s just a bad actor. Lol Also, that guy from the tv station who got bit. Him going out in a blaze of glory, with a chainsaw, was a little silly.
    Also sam killing that one family. But that was okay. It was unpredictable. That’s what I loved about Botd. Twd always lays everything out. It can be SOO Predictable! I am rarely shocked. But with Botd, I rarely know what’s gonna happen next!
    Gene was shot! Clark shot Ted, AND HE ACTUALLY DIED!!! Brent was bit! (Still mad about that. Lol. Another one of my favs.) And Stew died!? WTF! It is so unpredictable.
    And its not like you’re throwing in crazy twists to make it unpredictable.
    It feels so natural. These are things that would Actually happen! There would be friendly fire. People would get randomly bit. Even lou getting paralyzed, that would happen. I’ve never seen that anywhere else!
    There has rarely been any Bs in the comic. Everything made sense. These were real characters. Everyday people, making realistic decisions. Natural development. They aren’t superheroes. And they aren’t making stupid decisions,or having crazy character changes out of nowhere.
    If I want a story I can trust, I come here!
    🙂
    I’m really gonna miss you, Dave. I’m really gonna miss Botd.
    I’m definitely going to continue this story on my own. Hunt down the pieces to make all the characters! 😀
    This gives me a great idea! We don’t need Dave! We can all continue the comic ourselves! It can be a spin-off. “FearBotd” 😀 Lol. But for real, would love to see one of the talented people here continue the comic! At least get to 1000 and clean up some of the loose ends.
    Maybe it could be a contest. Have people write their own ending. Best one wins Stew, or something. Lol. Or Scrimshaw! Haven’t seen him in a while. Lol.

    Okay. I’m rambling. Just want to say botd has brought me so much joy over the past few years. Ive read it, re read it. Re read it again. Re read my favorite parts. And read em again. And I’m definitely going to read em all again, sometime soon!
    I wish you the best! And id say imma follow everything you do, but I really dont give a duck about vikings. Lol
    Thank you for everything, Dave!
    You’ve made something real special, here! 🙂

    • Wow, I honestly don’t know what to say. Thank you for your kind words, that was really nice!

  4. Man, what can I say after reading the comment of Pepper! This really was special, not only for the comic, but also because of the Z-community you created here. I always admired not only the comic, but even more so the write-ups, that’s what kept the people engaged too.
    What would I have done differently? I don’t know really… this is your style and it worked. Sometimes maybe the pacing was a bit slow… but you always compensated with the write-up or the slow pacing was meant to create the Zombie-cliche… it was functional, so I wouldn’t change that either… So what to change… nothing!
    Life seems to be getting in the way of a few long-standing comic-creations, and I’m really going to miss this one. I am not much of a comments-kind of guy, but never missed an episode… or the interesting comments for that matter 🙂
    There are a few ongoing Lego-comics out there, but this one is special, this is the one that was the inspiration to start my own comic. So thank you for that too Dave!
    Hope to see you back

    • Wow, thank you!

  5. Well, I’m going to miss BotD. I’ve really enjoyed reading it and watching the story progress. I’ve not commented a lot at all but most times, my thoughts have already been expressed. Thank you Dave, for all you’ve done 840 odd episodes can not have been easy to do. I know I couldn’t have done it. I’ve not got enough bricks in a single colour for starters lol.

    Anyways, you and your story will be deservedly missed. I hope to see some special episodes in the future. I guess I’m going to have to find a new brick comic to obsess over lol.

    Good luck with the future Dave.

    • Much thanks!

  6. You did a great job. I hate to say anything negative with the comic, but I feel it isn’t ending, just stopping. I’m not left with a feel of conclusion with this just a point where all the actors stopped talking.

    I’m sorry if it came off as negative, but that’s how I feel. I will most defiantly read anything new you make as the vast majority of the work was wonderful, and I’ll probably reread it many a time over.

    • Hey, that’s fair. Again, I get that how I’m ending things won’t work for everyone.