As much as I like pairing Ronald with Scouse, I get the most joy out of writing Ronald’s interactions with Mr. Wobbly Droid. This faithful robot Friday thinks nothing of trying to de-pants Ronald the minute he enters the house wearing wet clothes.

Now, the thing with Ronald – if I’m being honest – is that during the comic’s early years I threw him into too many simultaneous, ongoing storylines. The Hamburger Hatch, the time travel shenanigans, the mental merge with Scouse – they’re all among my favorites plotlines to write, but it is A LOT for one character, and it’s hard to juggle them, hence the time travel being put on hold due to “mechanical difficulties.”

Meanwhile, Schwartz and Galanos, the supposed main characters, aren’t really the active protagonists in any storylines. This of course is part of the joke – Schwartz works hard at not working, and drags Galanos along with him. They tend to touch many of the stories without taking the lead. I didn’t really mean for this to happen; I think it just evolved out of Schwartz’s character. It’s given me problems when I attempt to write prose versions of these stories, as I want Schwartz to be the lead, but he’s not as active and interesting as he should be in short story or novel form. Also, many readers of sci-fi stories tend to expect more serious characters and just wonder why I’d focus on such an idiot. Maybe the humorous tone doesn’t work as well outside a LEGO comic. In prose, I started making Schwartz more obviously capable and heroic when he needs to be, while still shirking work and having his generally immature attitude. In the comic, I do plan for Schwartz to have more of an arc where he DOES something. I think that’s just part of who he is, and he’s getting there slowly. (Remember the whole “future president” reveal?) I might have handled it differently had I plotted out the comic from the beginning, but I just try to roll with the choices my earlier self made.

In any case, one more comic to go in “All the Hail the Thunderbird” and then we move along…

— This is not an official LEGO comic. This is a tribute.
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