By Tim Stone on October 19th, 2008 at 9:37 am.
An edited version of this cartoon appeared in PC Gamer UK #183.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Strafe Left: The Formative Years #52
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A great Strafe-Left.
It will soon be approaching the 1st year anniversary of Strafe-Left appearing on RPS!
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/27/strafe-left-the-formative-years/
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Edited in what way?
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The one which includes the star of David?
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There are some ones there which might be regarded as (in?)sensitive, like for example the enola gay one.
The ghandi one made me laugh out loud though.
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My PCGAMER STILL HASN’T ARRIVED!!! :( :( :(
That was a good strafe Left.
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@ Yak Jazz: Yup, and the last line was cropped off.
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Wow. One of the best.
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Sensitive? There is no such thing on the internet.
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So was it this one, well, the censorship of this one, that led to the end of Strafe Left?
Brilliant comic, this one.
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@ Rob: Yes.
Here’s the censored version for anyone curious.
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@ = pwn
George Orwell @ Uk. (CCTV cameras, state controled email spy, etc..)
Postmodernism @ Positivism.
Internet @ all science fiction writters (ciberpunk includeds)
Now that I think about it.
Georwe Orwell @ all
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City Workers @ Family Heirlooms
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This is possibly my very favourite Strafe Left, purely for the gag density.
Such a shame it was the last one.
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Heh the first time I saw that I never even noticed the timeline on the side.
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@Man Raised by Puffins
Oh the shame, I even posted in that thread. What has video gaming done to my memory … (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it)
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Ow, yes. I can see why this one got censored, what with the Star of David one.
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Love surrealism (pipe) surrealism.
You’re a wonderful man, Tim.
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I’ve always loved strafe left. Not just funny but clever too. I hope we get to see more someday soon.
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Wasn’t this the one that resulted in Tim removing Strafe Left from PC Gamer over censorship?
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Love the Kerouac one.
And who’s to say SL can’t continue on this here site?
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@FunkyLlama: Already answered by Puffins above. Yes, it was, and Puffins links the censored version of this that appears in the mag (the ‘Hitler (gas) [star of david]‘ is missing, and the last line is cropped out) and the comment in which Tim acknowledges that this is the last Strafe Left ever published in PCG.
And the best Strafe Left I think I’ve ever seen.
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Genius I think.
Strafe Left very obviously has a spiritual home on RPS. Lets home it keeps popping up every now and then.
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Ohhhhh, controversial.
Though it’s pretty interesting to see people complain about it, when most of the computer games you play are based around the more troubling aspects.
Rod Hull’s Tower Defence here I come!
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I do hope that Strafe Left might get a rebirth here, it certainly deserves it.
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That is my favourite SL ever.
Also: the subsciber’s cover of the new PCG is fucking awesome.
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@Steelfist:
Yeah PipBoy for the win.
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I’m not particularly sensitive about this issue (what with my nationality being Indian, etc), but the correct spelling would be Gandhi. Unless SL’s talking about someone else entirely.
Otherwise, very amusing.
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Pretty sure that’d just be an ironic Internets Username mis-spelling.
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Never seen this before… It’s really, really good!
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reminds me of the legendary
http://borkweb.com/story/if-ww2-was-fought-by-gamers
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Speaking as someone I suppose that censor thought would be offended (being an Israeli), I would have probably been more troubled had the holocaust not been mentioned in a history of the 20th century (however humorous it is).
Good job Tim, hope you find a new home soon.
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The Willard/Kurtz one warms my heart.
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kulax=gulag?
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gulags where tools he used, why would he dominate a gulag?
Surely gulags dominate people? Oh i don’t know.
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He’s going for Kulaks, rich peasants rather unpopular with Stalin and his merry band of Communists.
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Simply awesome. Pity about the censors having their funnybones amputated.
I wanna strafe further to the left!
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This is cartooning at its best. The funniest and cleverest in a great series.
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Hey Tim how about putting new versions of strafe left onto RPS?
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I haven’t seen some of those kill icons in TF2 – how do you get the radiation one? Or is it fake?
Any timeline that mentions South Park as a historical event on a par with the Polio vaccine gets my vote.
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Lets continue with XXI…
Taliban (dinamite) Buddha Demolition
PC Gamer (knife) strafe left
Jihadish (knife) world trade center
Bush (carpet bombing) Afganistan
Bush (carpet bombing) Irak
Taliban (dinamite) Comic’s
Sony (delay) LPB release date
It seems whe are at a cold war against freedom of speech, and losing.
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CHRIST
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Yeah, you make a good point, Tei, but I’m with Andrew on this.
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Missing ‘kills’ are the Holocaust and the bottom line including South Park and Rod Hull.
Yes, the bigger insult is that the Holocaust is *removed* from history, even if it’s a joke version of history. It’s especially insulting to me because my grandfather died in Beslan. He fell out a watchtower.
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Was it a clumsy, painful death?
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This is pretty much the last SL in my locker. Besides a couple of Christmas cartoons (which I’ll post on Jesus’ next birthday) and one or two embarrassing misfires that really aren’t worth archiving, that’s it.
Thanks for all the kind words over the last year. If anyone knows of a site or mag in the market for expensive, poorly drawn PC gaming cartoons with an English lilt, please get in touch.
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Strafe Left is excellent, and this was probably the best of them all.
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*sniff* Thanks for the comics Tim, I miss them.
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Really great.
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Tim, draw for RPS! I am sure the Hivemind can work a deal with you… :D
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This is, by far, my favourite Strafe Left. I’m constantly laughing my ass off – thank you!
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No one seems to have mentioned this, but that middle one on the bottom line is about the Columbine massacre, perhaps being the reason that line was removed.
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Hurrah! Wondered what the full-length version of this had in it.
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I don’t get it. Why is the blob with the star of David more censorship-worthy than all the other ones?
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Still love the Kerouac one most- every time i see the graffitti stencil of Kerouac someone’s placed by my house I think of that line…
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Genuinely brilliant.
I could actually hear the sound effects in my head as read these, hilarious!!!
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@MeestaNob!: Stalin is dominating kulax… dadada DA-da!
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I really like this, an excellent one I must admit. I hope to see new ones once this run is over, it utterly is brilliant (even if I don’t comment on each one :) ).
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Also; any chance of a few of the best (or all?) being put up in wallpaper-sized versions? This one would go great on a desktop, as would several others. :D I don’t think the current resolution does it justice on a 1680×1050 screen, it’s so tiny :(
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Optimiaxmimal.
No, it was quite deliberate. Some sod climbed up with a cloaked nanosuit and threw him off. I’m sure he thought it was hilarious. My grandfather is now remembered as a pioneer of ‘ragdoll physics victims’.
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That was just beautiful.
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Best strafe left. Evar. Love the wolf3d reference
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Definitely an excellent Strafe Left.
@ CrashT
That would be Vault Boy.
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der Fuhrer *pistol*
Pure comedy gold.
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I’ll admit it.
I’m geek enough to tell Tim I would pay good money (concert t-shirt money) for a t-shirt with this on it. :)
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I love how the “holocaust” one was too offensive, yet Stalin’s mass-murdering of the kulaks apparently isn’t.
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Thanks for the compliment. I’ve straddled the state line a few times while enjoying a nice cool beverage at the FloraBama. It’s on my list of faves.
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