Today’s strip is the first in a mini-storyline where we get to take a peek into jefbot’s dreams. Namely, his lucid dreams. You know, when you suddenly realize you’re dreaming and you’re able to take control of the dream? Yes, just like Dreamscape, only for reals. One of my best friends and I in high school used to practice lucid dreaming all the time, and we set up a system of training and experiments to try and control it. It worked really well, too, until the practice started messing with my brain. In the next strip, I’ll show you one of the ways I was able to begin lucid dreaming regularly, so you can start losing your grip on reality too!
Oh, and, uh: today we hit 250 strips! WOO! 😀
First~ And it seems like Jb is taking out all his anger built up lately from the CF in his dreams
congrats, Kerosus! 😎
better to cut your friends in your dreams rather than in real life, methinks. 😉
damn i missed it T.T great strip bot. what ever happened to the fanart section?
thanks, dj! FANart section will be up in the next day or two! i just need to create a pulldown list for the BOTstuf button and it’ll be ready to go. 🙂
Damn dude. I was just saying “snarf” not even 2 minutes ago. Are we on the same wavelength here, or what?!? This made me laugh out loud, because I had just woken from a zombie killing spree dream. It was kick-ass. The 3rd panel was what made me laugh the hardest, because CF still had the same expression on his face as when he had the spoon to his mouth in the 1st panel. (Sorry CF, but it’s funny.) Pure gold! 😀
we’re totally riding the same wavelength, Spanky! maybe i’ll have a zombie killing spree of my own if i can get any sleep tonight!!!
glad you liked that 3rd panel – i was trying to give the sense that the Cornfather was like a prop in jefbot’s dream, so that’s cool that you noticed he maintained his expression, even after getting sliced.
SNARF! 😀
PS: Congrats on 250 strips! Only 50 more before 300; my how time flies!
PPS: You should make a new wallpaper out of that 2nd panel!
Its a good detail but I dont know about making it a wallpaper. It would need to be bigger for it, me thinks, and that might ruin the feel of it.
thanks for the congrats and for being on the journey with me and this webcomic for so long, Spanky!
hmm… i like that idea about the wallpaper. we’ll see how many Thundercats fans there are reading the strip. I’d have to modify the artwork and draw some more stuff to make in interesting, but if there’s enough response, i’ll do it! 🙂
Thundercats, Thundercats, Thundercats are Looose!
Congrats on 250! And going strong!
WOO! thanks, Kev!
*geek girl SQUEE of joy!*
THUNDERCATS! I wanted to be Cheetara SO bad! Screw being one of the lil kids, I wanted to be tall and sexy, not short and thin…*sigh* And look at me NOW ! *shakes fist at fate and genetics*
I love the look on CF’s face in the last panel. Kind of like he’s thinking “Note to self: LOCK bedroom door tonight.”
And JB in the 3rd panel all nonchalant and junk as he’s cutting off CF’s eating arm. Too funny!
OMG just 50 more?! Let’s see…at two comics a weekthat would be ummm…wait don’t tell me….Ummmm *get the calculator* on or around the 3rd week in December….if all stays on track. *gets ready to decorate*
THUNDERCATS, HOOOOO!
i agree, Pixie – i never “identified” with any of the young characters in cartoons the way i’m sure the producers would’ve liked (e.g. thundercat kids, scrappy doo, spike witwicky), either. i always wanted to be one of the cool characters that actually do things besides get in trouble!
glad you liked the expressions – took some effort for me to get bot’s mouth just right in that 3rd one!
you say i’ll hit #300 in december sometime? hmmm… i might just have to plan something big for the site on that date!
“Thundercats” fan? Check.
“Dreamscape” fan? Check. (Although I was one of those people who saw “Dreamscape” before I knew who Bruce Lee was or what “Enter the Dragon” was, so I don’t think I got quite the same experience of that movie that others did.)
Lucid dreaming? Check, although I’m not able to induce it all the time. My favorite use of lucid dreaming is turning the tables on a nightmare … like that time I was being chased by Freddie Kruger and was able to slice and dice him once I summoned a very special sword (kinda like a light saber crossed with Illyana’s soul-sword from “New Mutants”).
Anyway, wonderful comic strip. And congrats on 250.
reading your comment, i think we must be of the same generation, JM. 🙂
yeah, i didn’t get the Enter the Dragon references in Dreamscape when i was a kid, either. i just thought summoning the nunchucks was AWESOME (and that’s all that really mattered back then, heheh).
i totally had a lightsaber i’d carry around in my lucid dreams, too! more of a traditional one than a mash-up with Illyana’s New Mutants sword, which would just be badass, by the way!
thanks for the kudos & the congrats!
How about built-in MP3 player? Check this out:
ha! i need to build me one of those. 🙂
Thundercats Hoe!!!!! oh wait,t hat’s just Cheetara.
congrats on 250 man! I remember celebrating your #100, ahh memories, seems like only yesterday.
ha! or maybe one of them was good at gardening? 😉
thanks for the congrats, jh3, and thanks for supporting the strip for so long! #100 really does seem like it came out just recently. time is flowing by WAY too quickly!
Did you read that OMNI Magazine article when you were younger, too? I don’t know when it came out, but this seems like a decent synopsis of the article that I read back in the 80’s on Lucid Dreaming. It was actually almost an entire issue on the subject, but being in the pre-Internet world, I’m not sure how easy it will be to find the original source material.
http://wuzzle.org/cave/dream.html
it’s possible i read that article in OMNI, SQLGuru – i did have a subscription to that magazine, or at least my dad did – but i don’t remember it. most of my techniques came from an article in one of my sister’s Psychology Today mags, and the rest through trial and error.
ooh! thanks for the lucid dreaming link – i *love* trying out new techniques!
Congrats on 250! You’re catching up with us 😉
heheh. thanks, man – almost there! 😉
But, here’s to us always being a few strips ahead! You better not switch to 3 strips a week before we do 😉
awesome! 250! Mazel Tov!
….lucid dreaming. had a couple of that. weird weird weird. dreamed i was holding a gun, woke up feeling like I just held a gun. bizarre.
your “mazel tov” is much appreciated, Jaeh!
holding a gun!? yikes. every so often, dreams intrude on my reality, too. 🙂
Congratulations! I’m still here, enjoying every strip. Looking forward to the book! 🙂
thanks! glad to see you’re still reading the strip, #1JF! my hope is to have the book done by the end of the summer and printed soon after that. 😀
Ha, lucid dreams creep me out. I know more or less how to get into them, but it’s not really like in Waking Life. I kind of prefer to just be in my dreams and see what my mind has in store for me this time, without breaking the immersion.
i do the same thing – just observe and see what my mind cooks up when i start lucid dreaming, Sharra. sometimes when i try and do too much or control too much, it either wakes me up or i forget i’m dreaming.
Thundercats rock! I know they’re going to have to remake that into a movie, I mean come on, they’ve remade The Smurfs for goodness sake!!! THUNDERCATS HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
i’ve heard they’re working on a live-action version of Thundercats, ESQ! not sure whether or not to get excited about that, though – the cartoon was cool but cat-people in real life might be creepy. kinda like the Na’vi in Avatar, but less blue (except for Panthro!) and furry. 🙂
Yo’ ‘bot ~
Got to say, I’ve been reading this comic essentially since day one, and I was waiting for some sort of milestone like 250 to tell you I am completely impressed with how you’ve grown as an artist and writer. It’s been completely awesome sticking with you while you’ve found your stride. You do consistently good work, rarely miss updates, and create what is a basically rad comic. It’s a real pleasure, and thanks for all your hard work!
Love and stuff,
Myth
hey, big thanks, Myth! that’s awesome that you’re such a longtime reader! yeah, it’s kind of astonishing for me to go back and look at some of those early strips where i’m trying to find the art and writing style of JEFbot. now that i’m putting a book together collecting all the strips, part of me wants to go back and “George Lucas” all those early comics and update them to my current style – but don’t worry, i won’t! i actually love going back through my old Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts and Garfield collections and see exactly how the artists evolved over time, and i like to think that some of you readers may enjoy seeing that process in my work, too.
thanks for all the love and kudos! 😀
Hilarious! The artwork is beautiful! My favorite is your eyes in the last frame…
HAPPY 250th! You’re a rock star Jefbot! Keep the brilliance coming!
thanks, Funnyshaffer! i’ll try and keep rocking through the next 250 strips!
Wow, I chuckled a good while on this one. 🙂 Interesting concept and great delivery. 😀 Grood work. Grood=Great+Good.
ha! thanks for the “Grood,” Ahero! since you’re digging the concept, i hope you like the next few strips where i explore it a bit further. 🙂
I havent had a lucid dream in years… A shame realy. Got some kicks out of them at the time.
PS: Thanks for the healing vibes, but I preffer Kolto.
i don’t have lucid dreams much anymore either, Maryz – they messed with my brain too much when i was having them regularly. now i don’t actively pursue them and am just happy to have one every so often.
and sorry – i’m out of bacta and kolto. how’s the healing going?
I have been having those a lot.
But I wonder, what side effects were you getting from messing with them?
if i say it out loud, the men in white coats might come for me again, Z.
i have to say i am very excited to hear your technique. and to try it myself. and to lose my grip on reality.
no guarantees it’ll work on everybody, Jed, but if it does – prepare to have your reality destroyed!!! or at least shaken pretty severely. heheh. or maybe you’ll just have some cool dreams. 🙂
Sword of omens! Give me sight beyond sight! I see… one hell of an awesome reference! Thundercats was the BOMB man! I always wanted Lion-o’s sword. That thing was just epic… I might try to see if I can’t get his thundercat’s ho on my cellphone now. Or at least onto my computer.
Damn 250 strips? Really? Damn. Doesn’t seem like it. What a ride… lol
glad you dug the reference, Steve! i was just watching the Thundercats opening again on YouTube, and man, that is one of the best openings for any cartoon ever!!! made me want to go back and watch some full episodes! (it’s been awhile.) good idea on getting the “HOOOOO” for your cellphone. i might have to do that myself. 🙂
yep, 250 strips! i feel the same – doesn’t seem like there have been that many but the Archive doesn’t lie!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!
THUNDER BOTS! GOOOOOOO!
pssst….it’s Thunder Cats. I think you got the Thundercats and the GoBots confused.
I still miss Voltron!
Ok I just got this joke. Pay no attention to that Pixie behind the curtain!
hee. 😉
ThunderBOTS!!! HA! if i had more free time i’d make a wallpaper with the JEFbot cast (jefbot, Cornfather, cel, Mombot, Xinda, Lor, Popbot, Coolhand, Musashi, Abraxas, et al.) as the Thundercats, Zachlight! 😀
Just when I thought the Jefbot strip couldn’t get any more surreal, there you go and get all Dali on us, bot. What a well done strip, man. I love the sword and the motion of the slice. I can hear my arm getting sliced off. Oh and while we’re on that subject, why if you have “control” of your dreams, would you cut off MY ARM?!?!?!? :-0 Anyway, I submit the above strip as evidence in case I end up losing a limb. 😉
you know, I was thinking the same thing. it must say something about the bots personality (personality disorders?) that upon finding an awesome sword his logical thought process is “Ooh! Awesome sword! What to do with it? Mutilate buddy, of course!” 😀
i was way more bloodthirsty in high school when i first started lucid dreaming, Jed, and not nearly as zen as i am currently. i only think about mutilating the Cornfather on rare occasions, now. 😉
ha! well, jefbot didn’t realize he was dreaming until after he sliced off your arm… uh, that isn’t really a better excuse, is it? 😀
Seems to me like Jefbot is getting revenge on the Cornfather for letting his cereal get soggy, and then later drinking the milk from the bowl.
Or maybe he wanted to make sure that the Cornfather could never “jacket off” again.
PIMP! Wow that’s like 3 references in one comment….FTW!
yes! at least jefbot’s subconscious got revenge on the Cornfather, Alexander! heheh.
and i agree with Pixie – totally “pimp” that you got so many references in one comment. you get the equivalent of Marvel’s “no prize” for that. congrats! 😀
That Sword looks RAD!
Another great strip man. :]
thanks, Joenis! the Sword of Omens is one of the all-time great swords. (fun to draw, too!) 🙂
Dude…Cornfather looks terrified in that last panel. I can totally relate to Bot’s dream though. I’ve had more than a few like that with my friends…and a couple about zombie Sasquatches…whoa…I just got the chills thinking about that dream…
Great strip Bot!!!
ooh, “zombie Sasquatches”!? i’m gonna have to summon some of those in my dreams, Eptha! (i just hope i have the Sword of Omens with me, then. heh.) i used to have a recurring dream when i was a kid where Godzilla would bust out of the mountain behind my parents’ house. and he wasn’t the friendly Godzilla, either. wish i could lucid dream back then. 😉
thanks!
OK, so I had to Google the Sword of Omens, but check out the pic on the first link I went to: http://www.thundercatswiki.net/thunderpedia/index.php?title=Sword_of_Omens It is totally panel 2 (except with Lion-O instead of JefBot)! This is awesome! And awesome random slicing thru Cornfather’s arm. 😉
I can’t say I ever really watched Thundercats, although I was a kid when it was on TV. I was more of a Scooby Doo kind of gal.
And Happy, Happy 250th strip! Wow! Quite an accomplishment. 😀
ooh – that Thunderpedia’s a cool site, Shanna! if you haven’t seen the opening for the show, check it out on YouTube here. it’ll give you a brief glimpse of what the show’s about (also where i got the references for the drawings). 🙂
and thanks for all the happy wishes for the 250th strip!
Nice, very nice. it looks likes a shortsword, or is it the point-of-view?
good eyes, Af! the Sword of Omens starts out as a kind of short sword (like in the first panel), but when activated, morphs into a longsword (like in the last panel). 🙂
it comes from spending two days straight playing oblivion… mt. dew was practically my blood. heh, hehehhehehehehe
When you two appear on SPIKE’s “Deadliest Warrior”, my money is on Jefbot. Speed, agility and cunning. Gotta give it to the ‘bot.
HA! dude, i LOVE that show! the Cornfather is kinda acting like one of those gelatin test dummies when he gets his arm lopped off. heheh. I WIN!!! 😉
sorry i’m late! computer troubles. maybe snarf can be the medic!!!
SNARF, SNARF! hope your computer troubles are behind you, t_d. being without a computer or internet truly sucks these days. 😛
*Points at the title* I spot a pun.
Who wouldn’t be mad at you after you hack their arm off in a dream? This means Jefbot’s been considerin’ the murderin’.
Either that or CF’s mad his dream-self didn’t get cool abilities to counter the slicing…
yep! you know i can’t resist a punny title, Rinthia!
i think you’re right that the Cornfather has a right to be mad – after all, jefbot only realized it was a dream after he did the slicing. still, can one be held accountable for something done in a dream? hmm. moral implications, processing…
You know, I’m starting to wonder what kinds of swords could have been used instead. What if it were Cloud’s Buster Sword? Or Link’s Master Sword? Or, dare I say it, Richard Rahl’s Sword of Truth?
ooh, all awesome swords, NeoDarklight! i can’t believe i haven’t drawn any Final Fantasy characters in the strip, yet. i might have to rectify that error soon. 🙂
read something recently about gamers being better at Lucid Dreaming, because they’re used to being in control of completely ridiculous situations and escaping unscathed. Need to find link…
i saw that article recently, too, 11TN. checking… here it is. might just have to incorporate some of the theories into the current storyline. 🙂
You forgot to say Thunder
“THUNDER!!!” 😀
in the dreams that i relize its just a dream they tend to become horrible nightmares sortly after as usualy everything wants to kill me and take my place
wow. that’s pretty scary, Drakeye. now i’m totally afraid i’m going to bring that thought into my next lucid dream. *whimper*
I can kinda lucid dream, though I can’t 100% control it. “(v.v) It especially sucks when you dream your bio teacher is a vamp….I blame my bff and Twilight!
I rue the day that book, if you can call it that, was written.
Ditto. Sparkling vamps? Ew. A disgrace to the vampire genre
I lost the game.
sword of omen? lolz. i thought u were about to scream thundercat hooooooo. hahaha. wish i could have total control on my dream always. though there are sometimes when i know that im dreaming and i manage to control it. u dont want to know what i did. the downside of this whole controlling dream is that when you wake up and finally realize that it was all a dream.
wish u cut off CF’s head just to see his expressions though. no hard feelings CF. a little bit of violence is a good thing. lol.
wow jb. have i been reading ur webcomic for more than a year? how time flies by. was feeling nostalgic so i reread ur webcomic from the beginning. its amazing to see ur progress. CF was a lot bigger with small head. still cracks me up especially the part about ur 30 minutes hair ritual.
This is quintessential Jefbot. I’d choose this strip to be read first by those new to Jefbot. It’s hilarious!
This will be buried and never seen, BUT! I am re-reading, and I remember when this storyline came out, it was the first time I’d heard about lucid dreams. I ended up having one sometime later! It’s a great memory too! I got to swim without having to breathe and fly in the air. Thanks for teaching me!
firstly, that’s awesome that you’re reading through the archive, liongirl4444 – like i mentioned before, i started doing the same, but unfortunately had to take a break due to some work deadlines. secondly, it’s even MORE awesome that you had a lucid dream after reading this storyline! i actually haven’t had one in a LONG time, myself – definitely out of practice. maybe i’ll get back into some dream-training again after this job. 🙂