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Psycho Dogs and Carbonated Beverages, often referred to as PDaCB and also known as Barnicles until Comic 188 was a comic series initially started by The Editorialist (T-E), ~The Pakari Collector~ (who came up with the name, along with his "Pak Man" nick name during the process). They later hired SpiderFreak (possibly the least known author, but one of the original three). The series depicted the humorous adventures of characters such as Sprite, Raymondoman8D, Litoru, Pohatu: Toa of Electronics, Guppa, Kiwi, and others. It was one of the most popular comic series on all of BZPower, and has inspired many others to delve into the comic realm as well.
History
The Beginning
Barnicles #15, showing how the comics originally started off with low quality
Originally, T-E had his own series "Barnicles" and Pak had his own series "Adventures of Weku" T-E approached Pak and asked if he wanted to start a topic together, and so was the birth of PDACB. SpiderFreak was added to the team, but at one point simply stopped posting (Leading to a joke later one that he had went insane and was in prison) Later on Litoru, Tapaio, and many others were added to the crew.
Past 100
Psycho Dogs and Carbonated Beverages #186, the first official PDaCB comic
Once reaching the one hundredth comic, the series seemed to have taken its rightful place in comic maker history. T-E's panels for the 100th comic were huge, and the comic overall still kept the wonderful humor. After that, the panels returned to size, and with backgrounds that were of a blue sky, grass (though not grass brushes), and a yellow sun. Rayg was used sometimes, but kept true to Razor. After the "third season" the comic just about fully switched to Rayg (making a special animated comic about it, Comic #118).
Psycho Dogs and Carbonated Beverages #257, demonstrating the unique humor
Seasons Four and Five
Come season four he made almost 200 comics. This was around the time his comics became part of Psycho Dogs and Carbonated Beverages, the idea coming from good friend and co-founder Pak-Man. This stemmed from the fact that two of the series' most popular characters were the aforementioned Sprite and Pak's pet Guppa, who was a rabid Bionicle-themed dog that would usually end up eating a character or two, resulting in his stomach becoming comically bloated. Together the team stuck with the title, and grand influence to many comic makers.
200 comics
Come 200 comics, they had became extremely well known. T-E and the rest started using impressive studio backgrounds with gradient backgrounds, however the text remained somewhat poor. They went on to GS and PGS many well know comic makers/spriters, such as Dented Ruru, Cee-estee, Akano, and more. They kept the same characters, and continued up to 300.
Authors
PDaCB was definitely not limited to T-E, amongst the team were co-founders Pak Man and Spiderfreak. Later Litoru joined the team as a full member and the ranks slowly began to grow with additions such as Akano and Tapaio. Raymondoman8D (usually shortened to Ray) was also considered the series' mascot, though became a full fledged partner of the team later. The full list includes:
- Pak Man
- Raymondoman8d
- Litoru
- Akano
- Tapaio
- Cee-estee
- Dented Ruru
- Raka
- Dr. Bionicle
- Pohatu: Toa of Electronics
- Franz Ferdinand
- SpiderFreak
Characters
- The Editorialist / T-E's Good Side / T-E's Bad Side
- Sprite
- Xahky
- Fred
- Voothy
- Kiwi
- Shade (Chao)
- Ben
- Pak Man
- Moolah Muva
- Guppa
- Raymondoman8D
- Pohatu: Toa of Electronics
- Weku
Final Days
T-E reached over 300 comics, and by this time secured a spot in comic making legacy. He was well known for his unique humor and amazing effects. By this time, his backgrounds were that of a pro. He announced in his 350th comic that he would be retiring after his 400th comic. But he never made it, therefore after the 381st comic by The Editorialist, the series was abandoned with T-E retiring and moving on to another community.
It was during this point that Pak Man lost his internet, and has not gotten it again since, but still tried to upload comics when he could, but was able to do so less and less as time went on.
Other comic makers slowly retired as well, with Ray being banned from BZP at one point, Litoru shortly beforehand leaving the series after nearly four years as a member. PToE, Dented Ruru and Franz Ferdinand also vanished, whereas Tapaio still visits but doesn't post in BZP. Akano resumed with his own comics, Cee became involved in Rayg Sprite Maker and later became inactive. Raka was eventually banned in 2008 after getting fed up with BZP and posted an explicit BIONICLE drawing.
The rant.
Rant
T-E made a large rant about comics, and how people should give constructive criticism, and how about comics should be about humor, and how it is made (jpg, poorly drawn) does not matter. It can also be implied that T-E's comics were about making people laugh. Given he did make amazing effects, he always kept the humor. Many comic makers started there comics in the wave of T-E with the same objective as he had. Some believe this has pasted, as it is why the memory of PDaCB has not been forgotten.
Style & Humor
A typical PDaCB comic would be six panels and usually includes an extra joke outside of the panel in the white space. Most comics are set in the studio and it is the first in its genre, a studio comic.
Psycho Dogs and Carbonated Beverages #335, featuring the famous Ta-Koro Inquisition joke
PDaCB was always famous for its unique humor ranging from jokes on everyday life to surreal humor. A good example of the humor is Comic #325, an animated comic showing what would happen if Microsoft took over BIONICLE (comic can be seen here).
It has also referenced themes which are often made fun of such as Barney the Dinosaur and has poked fun of comic stereotypes such as cheese in Comic #204 (can be seen here).
One of the most famous jokes in the entire comic's history was Pak losing his head over and over again due to a number of reasons: Whether it was a prank, act of violence or even no reason at all, merely a set-up to cause grief to the comic co-founder.
Ray also being abused repeatedly was a constant running gag, being featured as a simple, yet surreal and innocently unstable member of the group of friends. Examples include him being baked in a cake, being hit by Pak's head or even being buried alive. True to the character and real life member's nature though, he took it in good stride. He was easily one of the most lovable characters in BZP comics.
Much of the comic violence was caused by one of the resident artist/writers, Tapaio. Known as the "Toa of Insanity" he was frequently the reason behind many if not most of the incidents that resulted in the cast members either being injured or traumatized within a strip. His unique brand of humor, teamed up with Pak's, was a success and they helped further reinforce the comic's unique position as one of the site's favorites. A perfect team, due to Pak constantly in some sort of pain, and Tap loving to cause pain of others. They were the chocolate and peanut butter of comics.
Another famous joke (included in Season 7) is in which T-E doesn't show up when there's a guest star, during this time someone will mention the word "expecting", and he appears seemingly out of nowhere saying "No one expects The Ta-Koro Inquisition!" or sometimes "Spanish Inquisition". This joke was based on a Monty Python sketch.
An example of surreal humor would be in Comic #195 where PDaCB is taken over by Raymondoman8d or the comic in which we see Sprite's World.
Awkward Moments in the Cave
These comics were prominent in Season 6 and 7 (and very few in Season 8) and usually involved humorous events between Teridax and his Rahkshi. The Rahkshi usually referred to him as "Daddy" and asked him questions such as "Where do Kraata come from?". A notable AMitC comic can be seen here.
Guest Stars
Guest Star Abuse was featured in PDaCB, though nowhere near as much or extreme as a lot of other series. People who have guest starred include Akano, Cee-estee, Dokuma (Doxieherd back then) Caboose, Dr. Bionicle, Raka, Krakua Toa of Sonics and more.
Psycho Dogs and Carbonated Beverages #347, guest starring Caboose
As mentioned before, the Ta-Koro inquisition joke was prominent in Season 7. A notable one was in Comic 346 when Tirou catches the crew preparing for sleep and T-E says "Noo Bunny Inspects the Spanlish Indigestion".
In an Easter special Raka is seen wearing a giant egg costume, much to his displeasure.
Legacy
The comics are legendary and remain one of the most famous comic series on BZPower and often the subject of nostalgia from many comic makers. It has inspired a lot of people to delve into the world of comics. The Editorialist is often considered one of the greatest comic makers of all time (and by some, the greatest).
T-E's last appearance was on January 30, 2008.
Psycho Dogs and Carbonated Beverages #381, the last PDaCB comic before T-E's retirement.