Talk:Goblins

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Some Thoughts

  • Some points I think are worth making about this comic-
  1. I don't know if this is intentional but Fumbles isn't "wacky" he's full on retarded. Not like an insult. I mean like literally. The charater seems to suffer from serious mental retardation. I don't know if he meant if for it to be like that but I found it to be really gross and creepy.
  2. He doesn't shade anything
  3. The comic is borderline torture porn.
  4. Someone told me the guy pretty much paid for his house using the money he made from donations for the comic.
  5. There was the stupid dlapfight he had with the girl who makes Bittersweet Cnady Bowl. It was mostly her fault, but it's worth mentioning. I wrote about it in the BCB review.

Hope some of this will be helpful. Busey.pngoddguyBusey.png 16:20, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

  • To address your points:
  1. I don't think it's intentional, but it's definitely getting a mention in the writing section (which I'm really dragging my ass on because I really don't want to do an archive trawl). "Wacky" is in scare quotes for a reason.
  2. Nowadays, he releases the unshaded version on the deadline and his wife does the shading a day or two later. I still don't understand why.
  3. No kidding. Again, that's probably going to be mostly in the writing section.
  4. I've heard that rumor too, but I'd like to find a source for it.
  5. I heard about that and it's in, but it needs to be integrated a bit better, probably in a list of Thunt's other passive-aggressive bullshit. (Also, I noticed you in the forum thread.)
I'll work on the writing section at some point when I have the time and inclination to do that goddamn archive trawl. Turcano (talk) 00:28, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Kore missing

Um...you DO know that Kore (one of the villains you mention in your "Humans are monsters" is also not human, right? He's a dwarf. Which isn't a human, even though you claimed he was. There has only been one human villain in the comic so far, not counting alternate versions of Minmax. Redwood Elf (talk) 05:40, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

  • I did not get Kore's race wrong; go back to the Story/Plot section if you don't believe me. "Man is the real monster" is a stock phrase, and using "Man/Elf/Dwarf/Gnome/Halfling" would have made it unwieldy, so I left it as it is for the sake of expediency. I can add a footnote if it makes you feel better. Turcano (talk) 08:10, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

First off, I am a fan of Goblins, just to declare my bias. What RedwoodElf is referring to is this quote: "The only non-human major villain so far was basically forced into becoming one due to humanity's prejudice a la Frankenstein", which ignores Kore, the Dwarven Paladin who did the child killing and the torture and the relentless hunting down. In fact, let's look at antagonists as a whole, discounting short-lived ones (such as Ruby and the three Drow), and dungeon or random encounters (yellow musk, Mr. Fingers, et.c.) :

  • Minmax (human)(currently reforming)
  • Forgath (Dwarf)(has reformed, sort of)
  • Goblinslayer (Human)
  • Saral Caine (Human)
  • Duv (Goblin)
  • Junior (????)
  • Kore (Dwarf)
  • Psimax (Human)

It looks pretty even on humans vs. non-humans, though I admit that I could have missed some. Counting groups as one, it becomes more tilted away from humans:

  • Minmax & Forgath
  • Goblinslayer & Saral Caine
  • Duv & Viper Clan
  • Junior
  • Kore
  • Psimax

Again, I may have missed some, and please point these out. But so far, antagonists are a mixed bunch, and frequently share species with protagonists (in fact, all of the ones that I've listed do, if you count Minmax & Forgath).

Glemp (talk) 18:18, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

  • Okay, that's a bit easier to fix. Turcano (talk) 08:25, 27 February 2014 (UTC)
  • You're missing the point that elves, dwarves and all these "civilized" fantasy races are pretty much just various idealizations of humanity. You are arguing over a technicality, not a central issue. Just mentally replace "human" with "civilized race" and "non human" with "monstrous race". Sigmoid (talk) 15:11, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

Buying a house

Just wanted to provide some background regarding Thunt's buying of a house with donations.

In the beginning of 2011 he was told to leave the house he was renting because it was to be sold. Thunt wrote a whiny blog post [1] in which he said that although he might be able to do a donation drive to buy the house, he is too noble to do it. Of course, a couple of months later he allowed to persuade him to do the donation drive [2]. I don't remember how much exactly did he raise, but it must have been at least $35000 he needed (edit: according to the Wikia article he raised $37151) (edit2: ok, found the proof: [3]). Although his mortgage application was denied, he kept the money and later bought another house (couldn't find a post mentioning this).

You might have thought that Thunt actually did draw the comic he promised to draw during the donation drive. Of course, you would be wrong to think so. Obviously Thunt decided that $35000 was too low a price for 5 comic pages, so he still (as of February 2014, 2,5 years later) didn't finish them. Instead he wrote another whiny blog post in which he promised to deliver even MOAR pages. As you might have already guessed, he didn't do it either. --Noorlow (talk) 10:58, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Update: here's the end of the house buying story: in February 2012 Thunt found another house and bought it with the money he raised during the donation drive (it was a downpayment for a loan, of course). --Noorlow (talk) 12:09, 27 February 2014 (UTC)


  • HAHAHAHA This is some A+ info. Trucano, I trust you will add this to the review. Busey.pngoddguyBusey.png 14:45, 27 February 2014 (UTC)
  • Done and done. Turcano (talk) 06:54, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

I think you are all being to harsh.

Goblins is, like all art, subjective, I have found the way Tarol Hunt draws movement and action to be absolutely fascinating. Knowing I open myself up to all of the most base acts here, I find his innovation to be similar to what Picasso was attempting with three dimensional space. But this review isn't really about the art.

The premise that "goblins" the disposable race in Dungeons and Dragons, have feelings, rights, humanity, beyond just being monsters is intriguing, and using the basic rule of the role play game has amused me and I really do not know them very well at all. But again this review isn't really about the premise.

I think the followers of Goblins like the plot, story lines, pacing, and characters. After all they do read it. But this review isn't really about the plot ....

This is an attack on the creator of the comic. The review is not badly written and does cover many valid points but Turcano your review fell into a trap there are occasional forays into an actual synergistic report, but they are overall lost in the bitterness and hostility of your tone. You have given a good review, but a great one can not become personal.

And just one more thing what happens with the donations is only between Tarol Hunt and the donors.

artist84

  • 1) Yes, it is true that opinions about art are all subjective. This review, like all reviews, is subjective. If your subjective opinion is that this comic is good than it really shouldn't bother you what we think.
  • 2) The premise isn't bad. The execution of converting it into a comic is.
  • 3) All our reviews are personal. If you don't like this review for that reason then you won't like any of our reviews because our opinion on what is good or bad in this matter is fundamentally different. These differences are irreconcilable so there is no point in arguing because, regardless of what either of us say, we will never see eye to eye on this. However, this review contains several lengthy and detailed sections about various flaws in the comic which you have elected to ignore, and one section about the author's character. So just as you accuse us of writing this review because we are bias against Tarol, I believe you are bias against the review because you like the comic and are blind to (or refuse to admit) its flaws.
  • 4) What happened with the donations is not between him and his fans because it was done in public and in plain view. Even if it wasn't so, I don't see how committing donation fraud is a privet issue.

Busey.pngoddguyBusey.png 11:55, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

  • Calling it fraud is probably going a bit too far. From where I stand, the main issue with the whole house thing is not that he spent the money on a different house than he originally intended, but the fact that he can't be assed to deliver on a promise to his fans, even though it would be incredibly easy to do so. Turcano (talk) 03:55, 2 March 2014 (UTC)


  • I think collecting donations and promising to do something if it reaches a certain goal and then not doing it is fraud in some way. Maybe there is some other term for it but whatever it's called it's completely fucked up and bordering on criminal. Busey.pngoddguyBusey.png 11:28, 2 March 2014 (UTC)
  • Fair enough. The moral obligation is certainly there; I just don't know how actionable it is. Turcano (talk) 06:48, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
  • It might just be me, but it's a bit awkward to try to justify Thunt's fraud or theft or whatever it'd boil down to semantically by saying it's just "between Tarol Hunt and his donors". Because it really isn't. That's like saying a burglary is just between burglar and home owner.
Best case scenario in that case is you enable Thunt to continue to commit fraud, by expecting interested parties to keep quiet. Because his next marks (and when you are as demanding and greedy as Thunt there will be a next mark) aren't going to know his history.
Worst case scenario by enabling him is you create an environment with the Internet and webcomics where people expect being ripped off is the norm. And trust me, no legitimate artist living on their craft should want that. The Internet itself is one of the largest growing place to do convenient business and there are still people afraid to even get on it because they presime the whole place is them 2 seconds from being robbed. Imagine how much that would stall if the perceived assumption was that if you get online at all you're going to be robbed and that nobody is even going to fault the criminal.
If somebody can scam $30,000 out of their fans for something that isn't really even that hard to do (5 pages of a side comic with no need for a continuing plot) and we're supposed to expect that it won't even get done we might as well pack up the idea of making a living online now.
To put this in perspective he took 3+ years to do this task. This was 5, 10 days of work, tops. At full time that would give him 4680 work hours to do this task. If paid minimal US wages for all 4680 hours he would had made 33,000 dollars. To account for all the time he spent "working" (not doing crap), the Internet effectively employed him for minimal wage for 3 years (4680 man hours) to draw 5 comics. And he couldn't do it.
For the 80 hours (liberal estimate in his favor) it should had taken him to do this task, he got paid 375 dollars an hour. And he was like "nah".
He got paid to live in this beautiful home in this Edenic wildernesses and couldn't cough up 5 plotless pages of potato man suspenseless gore porn, because you know and knew Tempts is gonna see a problem, smirk and ease his way effortlessly passed it, per page, like the Mary Sue he is.
And Thunt, he was like, "lol nope" and couldn't even live up to that half of the bargain.
That ain't counting for the "real" comic that just straight up dried up when it wasn't moving at a glacial pace, still paying for himself, a wife and two special needs kids. He had a constant web stream. You could watch him not doing crap but picking fights and trying to get his fans to attack people for like 12 hours a day.
And then on May 9th he had the nerve to write this giant post about how people want too much out of him and how bad his guilt is and how he's gonna "quit" his fans, as far as giving a crap what they think. All I could do was think.. "I'm pretty sure you stopped caring when they bought you a house in paradise and you couldn't squeeze out anything remotely near the bare minimal of effort back".
Also, it's pretty telling when he lists "guilt" as a negative trait in what passes as a filler for the last 4 months it apparently took him to write a letter to his fans telling them to go f*ck themselves. It says a lot.
It's like, Thunt, maybe you don't feel guilt because of some neurological problem you claim to have. Maybe you do because you're a thief and a bully, and you should feel guilt. And it's a good thing and should influence your actions. Lol nope who am I kidding, it's his fan's fault.
If you get robbed its between the donors and the 40 page letter on the front of his website telling them Tarol Hunt is out of f*cks to give. Damien (talk) 13:49, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

Goblins: Alternate Realities

It looks like the $177850 worth collectible card game isn't going to be finished and the money has basically vanished. Well, I think it's not really surprising.

I think it should be added to the review.

Btw, it is funny how Goblins fans support Thunt even in this case. --Noorlow (talk) 17:41, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

  • Wow. Fucking wow. Busey.png oddguy Busey.png 17:52, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
  • Added an extensive breakdown of the G:AR fiasco. Good call, Noorlow. --SmashLampjaw (talk) 04:45, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
  • Update on the topic, straight from Tarol's Blog. I suggest adding it to the review! --Xeen (talk) 23:20, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

Maybe I am nitpicking, but about the violence...

I believe that the review is way too harsh on the subject of violence. Yes, the violence is a bit over the top for the standards of comics that we find on the web, but is it over the top for a violent medieval fantasy setting? Is it over the top for the setting's (d&d that is) standard's? I would think not, just pick up a d&d adventure book or splatbook with even mild mature overtones and see for yourselves. I actually find it quite realistic that the comic does not shy from showing bloody and gory shots instead of going with the goofy bloodless carnage many comics of this kind go with. Now the reason for Thunt feeling like showing us all of that may be something more than realism, but that's a different matter.

Money Begging, Again

After failing to deliver satisfactorily (or even at all) on pretty much anything he's begged for money for in the past, Tarol Hunt has now decided to head back to the old (apparently infinite free) money pit that is his fan base to beg for $465,000 for an Goblins Animated Kickstarter. So they can watch the torture porn comic that's had like 8 updates in 8 years come to life, I guess. Which will totally happen and not have Thunt get upset at people asking basic questions about it before just disappearing into the night with a half a million dollars. One of these things is more likely than the other.

And again. Because their fanbase seems to be willing to fund theit living and unfulfilled projects ad infinitum Ellips is asking another 15000 to fund their cosmetic surgeries. At least this time there aren't any promises about any kind of compensation, it is just because publishing a webcomic that updates 1-2 times/month doesn't cover these operations.