Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for October 14, 2020

If Marigold can learn to translate “rawr” and “blart”, it can’t be too hard for her to figure out “glorp”.

What’s to miss? It’s still just ones and zeros. Disks are a lot easier to move around in.

The VCR; what nostalgia it brings.

I still have a functioning VCR. Finding blank tapes for it is another matter.

Suddenly I’m reminded of when I had to explain to my 18-year-old coworker what a Walkman is. I’m only in my 30s, but I felt old after that.

At least he isn’t missing 8 tracks.

That and record player. I use to have a Mr. Rogers record too.

But does his true desires fall to Betamax or VHS ?

Yeah, I totally miss low resolution video and having to rewind tapes when I wanted to rewatch it, and limited lifespan before the tapes became unreadable. Who needs these blu-rays with their superiority in every way?

What happened, Glorp? Did Todd fall into a well too narrow to flap his wings to fly out or climb out?

Oh no… I was sure Phoebe’s dad was a cool geek. But missing VCR… that’s really sad.

(wonders about the “reasons” mentioned in the last panel of the cartoon)

I don’t know why you’d MISS a VCR exactly, except for the ease with which you could record shows. That seems to be moot right now in the age of streaming, though. And there are some movies and shows which never became available on DVD or streaming. I have TV shows and movies on my old VHS tapes that I’ve never seen anywhere else.

I know how Phoebe feels. My parents used to always talk about the thing they called a Wreck-ord player.

My folks still have a VCR/DVD combo player, but only because they still have a few things still on VHS they need it to play on. But with every year the number of DVDs replacing the VHSs get more and more, and the VCR part getting used less and less.

That and the VCR part is clearly dying.

I myself still have two videos on VHS, but only because there are no DVD equivalents to use instead (and one only because of technicality—it features a cut scene that’s not any DVD releases [though I can readily find it on YouTube, so…]), but I have no VCR to play them on…and haven’t been in too big of a hurry to find one to play them on, admittedly.

A Cards Against Humanity card that reads “A Japanese tourist that wants something very badly but can’t communicate it” suddenly comes to mind.

Perhaps Glorp will turn out to be someone who was magically transformed into that odd creature and needs help to change back. (Hopefully not accidentally changed by Phoebe in Marigold’s body).

Oh, god, I’m as old as Phoebe’s father

Why isn’t she using the translation spell?

Cast a translation spell!

VCRs?! The man should be old enough to remeber Laser Disc and CEDs.

VCR’s? I remember missing shows and thinking you would never get to see that particular episode, ever.

I still have a functioning VCR and plenty of VHS tapes. Some things are rather hard to find on dvd. Especially things I taped from tv.

VCR was at least as good as DVD… Try watching a good VHS of 90s anime (for example) on a VCR that cost $400 in 1997 on pretty much any modern teevee. It’s fun, and it looks and sounds great! (maybe the color space is a little bit washed out)

Blu-Ray has it for the best format, to date, but you know, in Japan they had HD Laserdiscs and HD VHS in like 1994.

the fact is, most people these days would sacrifice quality to have every show, movie, and album ever recorded in their pocket…

I should get a VCR