I’m sure we’ve all experienced it, but I find it amazing just how much suspension of disbelief we’ll accept when we’re dreaming. I’ve been on other worlds, in different times, fighting monsters while being an entirely different person, and for some reason, I’ll completely buy it. Now, once you start questioning reality all the time, these outlandish types of dreams are the kind that can signal to you that you’re dreaming and you can start going “lucid.” Even so, you’ll have to concentrate or you’ll slip right back into a regular dream state again.
Today’s comic was one of the most text-heavy strips I’ve done in a long time, but I wanted to get most of the techniques I’ve practiced for lucid dreaming out there so those of you who haven’t experienced it can give it a try. I can tell you: it does work. It might take a while – it took me over a month of practicing before I could start controlling my dreams – but if you keep up with the techniques jefbot outlined, it should happen for you in a few weeks time, if not sooner. And you don’t even need a “Veilcracker” to do it. I used a rubber band I’d keep on my wrist, and sometimes a ring. For a while I was just drawing an eye on my hand with a ballpoint pen and that was all I needed to see to keep reminding myself to question my surroundings. Hopefully, some of you will give it a try and let me know if you get any results. I haven’t actively done the technique in years, but while I’m working on this storyline, I’m thinking of getting back into it. Who knows, maybe one of my dreams will find its way into the strip (or vice versa!).
Hahahaha–HP Lovecraft would be proud of the last panel, Jeff.
ha! totally, JM! Cornthulhu, perhaps!? heheh.
wow, first again! here’s your shades: 😎
Oh yeah, and first AGAIN! Haha!!!
if you keep this up i’m just going to have to give you the sunglasses permanently, Jeff. 😉
Damn you and congrats Jeff Manapace.
You make a fine Naga Jefbot. I kinda wanted to smash that theory of ours but you did it yourself. Well done.
The Adventures of NAGAbot and Cornthulhu has a certain ring to it, don’t you think, Maryz? now i’m gonna have to make another spinoff (as soon as i finish the Chubman and Scrawn series.) 😉
thanks! glad you liked today’s strip.
TENTACLES!!!~~~~
Oh, I got confused for a moment
anywho
I have mentally gotten myself to the point, that during most dreams, especially nightmares, that I can tell myself “You’re dreaming, stop” and I can force the dream in another direction. I learned about this in college. Doesn’t always work, but it’s helped me be the heroine more than the victim in my most scariest of dreams 😀 Then I become “Super-Girl-Who-Kicks-High-With-Rockin’-Body” LMAO!! (Add THAT to Chubman and Scrawn, walkon character hahahahahaha)
yes, TENTACLES! i love ’em, ESQ. can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get ’em into the strip. heheh.
knowing when you’re dreaming and changing its direction is crucial to lucid dreaming – you’re already way ahead of the curve! i used to be able to do it all the time but i’ve fallen out of practice.
hmmm… if Chubman and Scrawn need a sidekick, i’ll keep “SGWKHWRB” in mind. 😀
Controlling dreams is fun 😀
And funny thing, Jeff I thought of the same thing, that Cornfather is Cthulhus face. 😀 you should make a strip about these too, NGAbot and Cornthulhu in “The eye of the Veilcracker” , that would be a great story 😀
i would seriously love to do something along the lines of The Eye of the Veilcracker side story, Eddie! i’m putting it on my pile of ideas for the future. 🙂
You know you can start the summer special
awesome strip bot. love the colors on this one.
buuuuuutttt
where are Cel and the animals T.T?
that.. is a very good question. xD
and we shall continue asking it until it is ANSWERED!!
And that is why the ninjas are needed
He better need this new dreaming power to stop the UFOs, or I’m hiring more Ninjas.
i haven’t forgotten about cel and mu, DJ (and the rest of yous!) – once i wrap up this storyline and the television arc, i’ll be ready to get back to them!
OMG this reminded me about the episode of American Dad where Steve knew if he saw a red ball, he was dreaming and could control it. Til he upset his sister and they got a red ball, tossed it into the living room and totally messed with him. The episode was HYSTERICAL! Then again, I think Seth is a genius.
My word Jeff! Aren’t we the Chatty Cathy this morning? I’m impressed! And you explained lucid dreaming so clearly. You go boy!
Why is it in certain dreams, even when you know you are dreaming, you can’t seem to change it? Like the “running down the ever elongating hall” dream? I can never reach that GD door!
Umm usually when I see Tentacles I think of…well, something else… Wow look at the time. Gotta go do some more writing before the block sets in. Stoopid writers block!
Awesome facial expressions in the last panel. Love JB looking indignant and CF looking disbelieving.
glad you brought this up, Pixie! i don’t watch American Dad, so never saw the episode. was planning on a strip where the Cornfather messes with bot’s Veilcracker, but might just take it out if it’s too similar.
ha! not sure why i wrote so much in the blog for this one. was trying to write something short so i could get to bed (i think it was around 3:30am) and ended up writing an epic.
as you master control over your dreams, changing things gets easier. but sometimes i think your brain just doesn’t want you messing with stuff; occasionally i can fly like a superhero in my dreams, but usually i’m more like the Greatest American Hero. 🙂
just tell me you don’t associate tentacles with anything anime, Pixie. tell me!
thanks!
Noooo I would never associate tenticales with anime *crosses fingers* Squidward on Sponge Bob…Ummm Cephalopods….Yeah…that’s it!
Controlling dreams is fun. xD Once I realize it’s a dream, I could muck around in it. Sometimes I even force myself not to wake up… although, that might not always be such a good thing…
that was my first challenge, Jaeh – when i began the practice of controlling my dreams, as soon as i realized i was dreaming i would wake up. but once i started being able to chill in the dreamworld, yeah, it was fun “mucking around” in there!
I don’t think he even needs the bracelet. He could just look down and see if his shirt says “3” or “6” 😛
Anyway, interesting concept. I’ve never been able to control my dreams, even when I realized I was dreaming. Then I would get frustrated and just open my eyes, wake up, mutter, “do over,” and roll over in bed.
But hey, that’s just me
i was wondering when someone would bring this up, GMT! while it won’t always be true, yes, the lack of the “6” on jefbot’s shirt is an instant tip-off (to readers if not to bot) that he’s in the dream world.
try to do something small at first in your dreams, like, pick up a stone and then throw it. or just look around at your surroundings. eventually, you’ll become better at manipulating more of the world.
Great strip bot. Love the colors on this one
BUUUUUTTTTT
Where are Cel and the animals T.T?
soon, DJ. soon.
I have a feeling we could get into some serious Descartes material with this arc.
ha! totally, Jed! while i can tell you this storyline won’t get very heavy as it’s only meant to introduce lucid dreaming into the JEFbot Universe, i do plan to get a little deeper with this concept in the future.
bot, have you been playing with the big boys chemistry set again? and by ” big boys” i mean the one that messes with uranium 234 and genetics.
i haven’t, but i think my parents did years ago, Animie fan. 😉
This is a cool strip. The last panel is priceless. You two look awesome! (I’ve gotta go Google Naga tho.)
if you liked the last panel of this strip, Shanna, i think you’re gonna love what happens in the next strip! 😀
I can’t say I’ve had a dream where I was a naga…although when I went to the ER for my broken face and they shot me up with pain meds I had a dream that I was Julia Roberts. I’ll have to admit that that was kinda wierd even for me
a broken face, Eptha!? wow. i think i’d dream i was julia roberts if i was filled with pain meds due to a broken face, too. 😛
OH GOD! CORNFATHER IS CTHULHU!
And you a…..a……SNAKE MAN!
yes! he’s Cornthulu, Z! and since jefbot’s body is indeed serpentine, Maryz’s observation of him as a naga seems accurate. a NAGAbot, if you will. 🙂
Hey its the weird dreams that make sleeping fun. I love Jeff’s face in the last panel. Great job Jeff. (:
i agree, Nat! sometimes even scary dreams are cool. at least once you wake up. heheh.
LOVE the reveal! So funny! Excellent job Jefbot!!!
thanks, Funnyshaffer! i’m happy you loved it!
The only time I’ve ever had a lucid dream,
as soon as I started controlling it everything became unrealistic,
and it wasn’t the same. D:
try again, Spaarfor! i remember one of the first lucid dreams i had, everything looked hyperrealistic! like, totally hi-def. was awesome!
This totally isn’t a late response at all. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Well the other night I was aware that something was not right. I was in my boyfriend’s house, but hanging out with his neighbor/my friend, as if it were her house, and he came to visit as if he were the neighbor. I got really confused, even in dreaming. I guess I’m getting there.
that you were aware that something was “not right” while dreaming is your first step into a larger world, Spaarfor!
Huh, your technique is different from the one I learned. If I want to lucid dream, I let myself begin to fall asleep while meditating. That’s the part that creeps me out, actually; I can feel my body start to become inert and not under my control anymore. But I’ll start to dream while fully aware that I’m asleep and dreaming.
i read a technique for that method too, Sharra, but i could never get it to work. dreaming while fully aware sounds pretty awesome, though. i might have to give it another try. 😀
I can’t get it to NOT work. I get anxious and I would like to be able, sometimes, to use meditation to shut my mind up long enough for me to sleep. But it always takes me into a lucid dream. I use the Zen method of meditating, in case you’ve never tried it. It’s incredibly simple; just counting breaths up to ten and then starting over at one and counting up to ten again, while trying to focus so wholly on the number you’re on that everything else ceases to exist.
Well, that last part isn’t so simple, I guess.
I tried the techniques for lucid dreaming, but never managed it 🙁 Also, it’s so true what you accept whilst your dreaming. I had a weird moment where I dreamed I was going to the Opera, but I didn’t have my glasses on. Dream me thinks “Where did I put them, what’s happened to them?” Then dream me rationalises: “Oh, I took them off before I went to bed, so that’s OK.” And I just continued with the dream. It was a little bit strange!
yeah, the brain must do something to suppress your rational mind because i’ve had some far out dreams that i’ve had no problems accepting, Maia!
give the lucid dream techniques another try; it took me a while to do it, but it’s so worth it. 🙂
maybe it’s not a dream and that’s the way the are in real life and when they’re dreaming ,they’re human!
what???
heh. if that’s true than maybe i should just have NAGAbot and Cornthulu star in the next 250 strips or so, t_d. 😀
You call it whatever the heck you want to call it jeffbot, I’m gonna call it hallucinating man….
if dreams are hallucinations, then so be it, Steve!
Awesome name for a charm bracelet. Also Nagas FTW
thanks, IDTMRB! if jefbot’s gonna wear one, he might as well give it a cool name. heheh.
I once tried to lucid dream. The result was having a very odd and badass dream involving Ogame and Star Wars, where the two different Deathstars were duking it out against each other. The entire time I had no body and was flying around thinking “Holy****holy****holy****” over and over in a rapid pace. It was an epic dream I’ll never forget.
that’s a totally epic dream, NeoDarklight! if i had that dream, i’d be trying to lucid dream again all the time! ;D
I just caught the difference between dreaming and awake Jefbot! I’ll leave it to the other readers to figure it out on their own. (Hint: look at Jefbot’s shirt)
yep! as i mentioned to GooManTyler though, that method can’t be completely trusted, but for now, it’s true!
When I was little if I had a nightmare I knew it wasn’t really that bad because, and this happened for every nightmare if it got to this point, a certain thing would happen in my dream allerting me “It’s about to get really bad and you wont be able to wake up!!” It was really wierd. I’d randomly start falling, and there would be pounding in my ears. If I didn’t wake up during this part, I was screwed. I only ever didn’t wake up once I think. It ended up being a graveyard and ailens from Mars Attack (which still scare the bejessus out of me.) And cauos for my poor self would ensue.
I think it might’ve been similar, the boundary between: being able to control my dreams, but not knowing, and not being able to. A little warning flag. But I’m gonna try this. It’d be amazing, I love most dreams, even though they’re so wierd.
btw, I’m not new, but I posted my first post awhile back, and I don’t think you saw it. I hope you see this one, even though it’s kinda long. :/ Sorry.
Thanks for the strips! I love them so far. Especially whenever you do softer coloring. 😀
interesting. sounds like your mind has an effective built-in warning system, CK! funny how we always hear, “if you die in your dreams, you die in real life.” that’s bogus. i’ve died in my dreams so many times and i’m still here. at least i think i am. maybe i’m in a coma ward somewhere dreaming? *shudder*
definitely give lucid dreaming a try. try to do the techniques constantly, for at least a month and let me know if you make any progress.
make your comments any size you’d like, CK – i love ’em all!
and thanks for reading and glad you like the strip (especially the soft-colored ones!) 😀
F-ing HILARIOUS!!! I’ve found the longer I live, the more I realize that when I remember dreams, that I discover that most of them have been long-recurring dreams. You’re right about the whole suspension of disbelief thing, since it’s amazing what wacky laws of physics and society I’ll be fine with in my dream that would make me wig out in real life. I think that’s why I’m so fascinated by movies and stories like “Dreamscape” and “The Talisman” (I’ve grown weary of Stephen King books, but I still think the premise for this book was great).
thanks, Stan! i have a ton of recurring dreams and a bunch of recurring “sets” i visit, too – places i don’t think i’ve ever been to in real life. i always wonder how my brain came up with them.
and yeah, i love both Dreamscape and The Talisman – that’s definitely one of my favorite Stephen King books. i’ve been meaning to read its sequel for some time now.
See, I started ignoring Stephen King by the time the sequel came out — I didn’t even know there was one.
It always seems odd to me, I can have a dream where I am fighting in a massive war where everyone is fighting with swords and laser guns or dreams where I have some super powers. Yet the ones that I realize are dreams before I wake up tend to be dreams about me looking at a pile of games that I happen to want but not own, or watching a movie type that normally I would not like.
ha! funny what our brains pick up on as “going too far,” Zolen. i tend to go “lucid” when doing mundane things in my dreams, too.
It’s been a while since I’ve had alucid dream but it seems like they’re the opy ones I can remember when I wake up. I’ll have to try some other methods of falling asleep and see if that helps …
Well awesome comic as usual keep doin’ what you do
thanks, N64! glad you’re enjoying the strip!
i tend to remember the dreams i have right before i wake up, so usually ones that happen in the morning. the ones i have in the middle of the night, i kind of remember, but i have to grasp at them, and they are fleeting.
See, this strip (and the one before it) remind me of a gal who called herself Link’s Queen. A bane to everyone who actually likes the Legend of Zelda games…she had a long series of lucid dreams where she and Link got together, had weird bonding rituals, and had children who could read, write and talk coherently at the age of four months. How do I know this? She WROTE IT ALL DOWN and posted it as a series of bad fanfiction. I read the MSTs, not the original…the original is too full of screamy author notes and whining to handle without a good slug of whisky or snarky commentary.
BTW, the last panel made me laugh.
those “Link’s Queen” stories sound way weird and kinda creepy, Tiana! i may never play The Legend of Zelda games the same way, again. 😉
i’m happy you dug that last panel – we haven’t seen the last of bot and the Cornfather in their beastie forms!
Oh believe me, there are times I’m playing Phantom Hourglass on my DS and have to put it aside to whimper a little as something onscreen reminds me of the LQ stories. They were featured on the old Godawful Fanfiction website for a while, before the crash. And I hardly touched on the weirdness of this chick. Check it out sometime!
Hehehe…beastie forms. I tend to know when I’m dreaming, because things go the way I actually want them to, or the ten plagues from Exodus are being re-enacted in modern times. There have been a few times when I wasn’t sure, though…maybe I’m dreaming now…
“It worked really well, too, until the practice started messing with my brain.” please elaborate JB. and now for a way to ensure that i can always have a dream. Hehehehe. BTW i cant wait for the next strip.
nothing too messed up, jf#300 – i just started feeling tired and hazy all the time. could’ve been because i started developing insomnia in junior high/high school but i have a feeling it was all that lucid dreaming i was doing!
oh yeah, and i was hallucinating a little at night. seeing weird creatures and stuff crawling up on my bed, but that’s all.
now i really want to see a strip with u both being creatures of hp lovecraft. a spinoff would be nice. have u been working on a spinoff on scrawnboy and chubman? a tshirt themed around this idea would also b nice.
been slowly forming an adventure for the Chubman and Scrawn, yes, jf#300! t-shirts to come, most definitely!!!
I don’t suppose this trick works with those of us who never remember their dreams… or would it?
Actually, I guess it’s moot either way, since I wouldn’t remember it later. :3
hmmm. i’m not sure, Mychyl. i have a feeling you’d remember your lucid dreams, since you’re really aware while you’re doing it. it’s like you’ve woken up inside your brain. if you give it a try and it works, let us know what you experience!
The last panel is SO true! When I wake up, I always think, ‘How could I possibly have believed that to be reality?’ The absurdity of my dreams should have tipped me off, but they never do.
“they never do” – until NOW, sis! we’ll have to start your training at the next family dinner. 🙂
I’ve had frequent dreams about zombies(many different types of zombies) for a couple of years. I think they may have been anxiety dreams once upon a time, but now seeing zombies tips me off that it’s a dream and I use super powers to defeat the zombies. I have lucid-dreamed a few other times, too usually after a short bathroom break and somehow plunging back into the same dream. ^.^
having a dream, waking up, and then going right back into it is pretty cool, jjmblue7. i’ll do that every so often if i hold onto being semi-conscious and not waking up too much.
zombie dreams, ftw! haven’t had one in a long time, but i’m always up for busting some undead! 😀
All of a sudden, I remember the very first dream I have ever had in my entire life. It is kind of odd and creepy in retrospect, only because of timing. I’d say I was 3 or 4 at the time, and after the dream is when my memories actually begin, and it begins with me having no body and floating towards what looks like the head of the original megazord. I fly up to my body, though I’m not sure if I recognized it as mine at the time, and dove into the head, setting off a strange event where the movie countdown went in reverse and counted up until eternity where I woke up. This was before I’d EVER seen Power Rangers. And it’s also where my entire memory begins. Also, I used to have a nightmare about talking dinosaurs that tried to eat me. Only happened twice, and the second one was a direct sequel to the first, and they both happened shortly before I’d seen each of the first 2 Jurassic Park movies when they came out on VHS. Creepy or what?
I think I’m dreaming as I write this reply. Wait a minute, I don’t have tentacles. This must be reality. Which is great, bot, cause I wanted to make sure I said in the “real” world how much I enjoyed this strip. I love how not only it’s beautiful color and exquisite technique but it’s extremely informative as well. I don’t know if I even have dreams anymore. I think that’s because my reality is so surreal all the time. You know one minute I’m Iron Man, the next minute I’m in drag running a wig shop in Las Vegas.
Anyway an outstanding strip, bot. I especially like our tentacles. I’m just glad I don’t have them in real life. I’d have to buy all new pants.
I have lucid dreams, I didn’t realise you could ‘train’ yourself to have them. I know I’m dreaming and I don’t have to have ‘sign’ I just know… I can’t do the control thing though, my dreams are like movies and it’s like the movie reel has to play all the way to the end. Not so cool if I’m having a nightmare.
Yep…Broken face. There was a fight with a drunk guy. There was a mag light involved (mine). Now I have several fractures on the left side of my face… I’m still prettier than the other guy…
ooh. my face hurts just thinking about it. damn drunk guys!
bot, have you seen inception? 😀
yes, and loved it! thank the gods i did this storyline before that came out or people would just think i was taking ideas from that.
What are these “dreh-ems” you speak of? I gather they supposedly occur during sleep… Whats that? Sociopaths dont dream? Err, I mean, of course I have fantastical “dreams”… I really almost never remember my dreams.
hoah! This strip reminds me of my professor who was so fascinated in lucid dreaming (along with mythology, sci-fi and other things).
Anyhoo, i think lucid dreaming is most useful in changing a nightmare into something less… nightmare-y. Heh. It’s kind of tiring though if you spend too much time controlling and lurking in a lucid dream.
My Engineer’s Ring ought to work as a sign . . . I have this paranoia that it might slip off my finger, so I constantly check to see if it’s still there. But this has yet to trigger a lucid dream. Once, I simply dreamed that I was wearing it (interestingly, that dream required me to give it away to somebody). In another dream, I checked for it, found it missing, and immediately woke up. Thinking vaguely, “I need that ring for my dream,” I got up, put it on, then returned to bed and fell asleep. I don’t remember having any more dreams that night.