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Blobby looks a little weird, but who cares about the outside? They're really cool on the inside and that's what matters. This little creature is trustworthy, supportive, and refuses to put up with BS. No wonder 465k people follow them.

But if you still haven't heard about this adorable mush, we can introduce the two of you. They're a fictional character who stars in their own comic series called Blobby and Friends.

It's a project that focuses not only on wholesome everyday life but important social issues, like homelessness and racism as well. What's even more impressive, the stories also manage to squeeze a chuckle out of readers.

More info: Instagram | Facebook

To learn more about Blobby and Friends, Bored Panda had a chat with Zack, a member of the team behind the comics. "I personally started with toy design and puppets, but was looking for an outlet to let me talk about things I care about," he told us. "To be honest, we didn't expect things to go the way they did and I am full of love and gratitude towards our audience."

Zack describes Blobby as "the magical best friend you always wished you had."

"[Other folks] who appear in the comics are Lily, their human friend (and I really relate to her character a lot, I'm not sure why), Ashley, who is Lily's crush, and Charlie / Punk Kid who can come off as intimidating but is really the most soft and wholesome character we've ever come up with. That's why Charlie is modeling our underwear," Zack said, laughing.

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Quote from the American Psychological Association: "Research has shown that 3-month-old babies prefer faces from certain racial groups, 9-month-olds use race to categorize faces, and 3-year-old children in the U.S. associate some racial groups with negative traits. By age 4, children in the U.S. associate whites with wealth and higher status, and race-based discrimination is already widespread when children start elementary school." Anyone who argues young children can't understand race or shouldn't be taught about race is grossly uninformed. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2020/08/children-notice-race

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Many online comics stay away from difficult topics. A little pun here, a corny line there, and that's it. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this concept. There's certainly an audience for it. I just mean that Blobby and Friends stands out from its competitors. Even though the series looked a lot like that in the beginning, too.

"I don't know if there's one thing that inspired me to start the comics in the way that it exists today. We actually started with something really simple, with funny and cute gags that were more at the surface level. As the account grew, we realized we had an opportunity to use Blobby to speak up about more serious topics," Zack explained.

"Listening to the reactions from our followers also made a huge difference for us. I can speak only for myself but I really feel like I’ve personally grown with this world we've created."

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More directly, it's your tax dollars funding architecture to exclude and torment people. Are you really okay with this? If not, reach out to your city planners, city governments, and city parks departments and let them know.

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Nannerdog
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe if enough of us actually do this something will really change :)

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Devil's Advocate
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This needs to be top, treating the homeless the way we treat pigeons (or sometimes worse) is immoral and inhuman

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Máté Jancsek
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No. I do not want to live in a society where the homeless just goes to the undergrounds s**t on the floor, and they sleep just wherever they pleased with they smelly and dirty clothes. If you think that is normal, let them into your house and take care of them. I want to live in a system, where these people dont have to be in the streets in the first place. Where everyone has a chance to work, live, earn money. Where even the most helpless has place to go to find help. Whether it is shelter, a job or a safe house. Its not normal to live in the streets, not healthy, and regardless what you lie to yourself, they are disgusting. Give them chance, instead of a place on the bench, where they can piss themselves while asleep.

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D S
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The worst part is that we have more than double the houses than we do homeless people (at least in Europe) and we seem unable to help them but instead of trying, we´re makind efforts on promoting hostile architecture...

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Nadine Bamberger
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Revolutionary thought: house them, it worked in communities that tried that approach. Not for everyone, but for many.

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Sarah Grape
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it's not as bad as the comic; nothing prevents the 'unhoused' from sitting on them too, and i cant see it being for their humiliation. but it prevents them from sleeping there, and that's what i don't get. they'll sleep somewhere else. just because they're not THERE doesn't mean that they're not somewhere else. it closes people's eyes to a situation they do not wish to acknowledge.

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Chloe *Leah* Pheonix
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This reminds me of this one picture of a person who put an entireatress on sidewalk spikes and slept on it. It's hilarious but sad that he had to do that

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Chimmels
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe if landlords didn’t create housing shortages and people would hire poor people they could afford houses

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Becky Moore
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can we not call them homeless anymore? Is calling them 'unhoused' meant to make their situation any better?!

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Um, this is a comic. No one is policing your language. That being said. Unhoused is more accurate than homeless. First, unhoused is an adjective, and homeless is a noun. Your housing situation is just part of your life. It doesn't define you or your worth. Second, lots of unhoused folks have homes. They live with community in tent cities, shelters, parks, etc. "Homeless" erases all of that. It's important for housed folks to understand that unhoused folks may have homes and communities; they just don't have houses.

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TM McKeny
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2 years ago

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So why don't liberals all donate THEIR OWN money to build a big homeless shelter so none of these people have to sleep outside??

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Andy Acceber
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Um, you know liberals pay taxes too, right? Liberal taxes and conservative taxes are being used to build hostile architecture. That's not okay.

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Jaded Queen
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2 years ago

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Easy . Every homeless person should go sterilization & after which they should be provided with food & lodgings for some predestined time until they can find there footing. U get population down & people r in a better conditions. Stop hurting the environment & urself

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Truth Monster
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2 years ago

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On the other hand, the unhoused can also not only be a nuisance but a health hazard to not only themselves but wherever they encamp. I heartily agree there needs to be more robust services for the homeless/unhoused. However, the hostile architecture is to try to keep the unhoused from making public spaces unusable. Wherever the unhoused encamp, there is trash, human waste and often biohazard waste in the form of needles.

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Samantha Lomb
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So giving them access to counseling and sanitary living spaces seems like a better solution than putting up giant spikes

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It takes courage and skill to drift away from the classic feel-good vibe and still produce compelling strips. However, Zack and the rest of the team manage to consistently pull it off. And that's because of luck. Rather, dedication to the process. "We always stop to think about what kind of message we're putting out there. Whether people can feel represented or understood or can find joy in our stories," he said.

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Donkey boi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Ireland, West Indies, Jamaica, Poland, Slovakia ... all had migrants and refugees come to the UK and all were treated with equal contempt. When my family first came to England, I was too young to understand, but the most common sign you'd see read 'No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs' (Some were worse and said dogs welcome). Xenophobia doesn't care about your skin colour, It doesn't care if home was destroyed, it doesn't care if you were asked to come and work on the infrastructure.

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"We try to do that without being overly wordy or coming off too flippant about it. And it's not easy! Partly because we have only four panels to work with, but also because we feel a lot of responsibility towards our audience."

"I feel that at the end of the day, we are all very emotionally invested in this," Zack added. "Some people find that surprising but it’s true. We have a lot of love for our characters, and I hope we’re able to bring people together through that."

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This! I had someone try to argue with me this week that hard work is all that matters because millionaires who responded to a survey said they made their fortunes through hard work. *facepalm* OF COURSE, they would say that. That doesn't make it true.

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Nannerdog
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hahaha! Love this! The nicest compliments I've ever received on my appearance have come from other girls. I return the favor by complimenting other ladies often :) It's a win-win!

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Diddlybop
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Of course all lives matter but using that slogan meant to replace black lives matter isn't right. That is the campaign we are using to help that minority, so we shouldn't belittle it for not helping everyone. There are many campaigns for stop brown hate and women's rights and LGBTQ. This is just the one for black people

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Jayne Kyra
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you cannot finish the drink (and have no people around you trust), it may be best to get a fresh one after the restroom break. No drink is worth the however remote possibility of it being spiked.

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you think you're not like other girls, ask yourself where you picked up and internalized misogyny.

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ugh. Tbh, this is still annoying. "Cute couple" is great! When someone tells my partner and I that we have "courage" though, that's weird. It's a definite reminder we stick out.

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Psst: It's really cool when you nerd out about something. If you've found anything at all that you're passionate about, talk about it! Life isn't a competition. It's fun to talk to people who are excited about something.

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Jayne Kyra
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"My nose is so big so I can smell all the BS coming from people like you." Could be an appropriate reply to any stupid comments.

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Andy Acceber
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This post is similar to the "courageous" queer post. It's weird to single out your queer friends' relationships as "courageous." Mellow out, y'all.

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