When Bikes Argue 2

When Bikes Argue 2 is a short webcomic and also a short video by Dozerfleet Productions' divisions Dozerfleet Comics and DozerfleetTV, first conceptualized on December 13th of 2005. It was converted to a video to YouTube on June 23rd of 2008.

Plot
As the story opens, Ackro is disappointed that Colly refuses to talk to him after he tried unsuccessfully to convince her that bikes don't have civil rights in the eyes of human beings. Barry, a Chevy Lumina parked in the driveway of the bike's home pole barn, offers to lend some listening to Ackro's complaints. However, Barry's advice to Ackro proves to be of no use, since Barry can only see things from a car's point of view and he is obsessed with the idea of a couple having sex in his back seat.

Ackro decides to see what Hilo is up to, only to be greeted by Hilo having a meeting with Bludger the Snow Blower and the lawn mower/tractors Clove and Baron. Hilo tries to defend his latest paranormal fantasy for destroying Saudi Arabia, while telling Ackro that they have a battle map already made for them on the floor of the pole barn. When Ackro argues that there's no way the grease smudges can be a battle map, he is met with an absurdist explanation for how he's "all wrong." Hilo, as usual, accuses Ackro of being a communist and a pacifist for not towing the "party" line. Frustrated with the stupidity of the others, Ackro exits the pole barn and goes to talk to Barry some more.

While the men are all doing their thing, Colly and the pink child's bike Betsy discuss whether or not to go outside. Colly argues that they have to go outside in order to defend female bikes' rights and not be "sold down river." Betsy dismisses Colly's paranoid fantasy, and argues that them being bikes means they will likely rust some day anyway, regardless of whether or not they're sold.

Colly decides that convincing Betsy is hopeless, and tells her to talk to Ackro, whom she also is annoyed with. Betsy misunderstands Colly's suggestion as though Colly suggested that she flirt with Ackro. After Betsy objects, Colly explains that she didn't mean to imply that Betsy flirt with anyone.

New Characters
The following are new characters that feature in this piece that were not seen in the first story of this series.


 * Bludger is an elderly snowblower who is revealed to be the source of Hilo's indoctrination into believing that the vehicles of the pole barn have a responsibility to drop nukes on Mecca. He is even more delirious than Hilo, and is proud of his positions and beliefs.  He gives off a grandfatherly aura around the other vehicles.
 * Clove and Baron are lawn mower/tractors inside the pole barn. Clove (the green lawn mower) is a fanatical supporter of the War on Terror, while Baron (the red lawn mower) just wants to tow the line to keep the others happy.
 * Barry is a 1997 Chevy Lumina parked in the driveway. He is obsessed with the idea of his backseat being used for romantic purposes, and talks about everything in terms of how a car can make someone look more attractive to a human female.  He is regarded in this way by the others as having a one-track mind.  He is delusional, believing he is a sexy car in spite the others reminding him to the contrary.
 * Betsy is a small, pink bicycle that cares more about convenience than causes. She cannot understand Colly's fanatical obsession with "fighting for rights," and has a logical assessment for every situation, similar to Ackro.  She is not friends with Ackro yet; but according to Colly, she should be, given her similar personality.

History
See this section for more.

The snapshots for this short piece were made on December 13th of 2005, with the comic itself being completed on January 30th of the following year. In keeping with the creation of When Bikes Argue, the idea came forward that WBA could end up as a series, rather than just a single production. The idea for an ongoing series was scrapped when the Huffy Snake Rock playing Ackro lost its rear axle. Nevertheless, WBA2 was made as a Christmas special to coincide with the first one being a 4th-of-July special.

The idea was to use the same props as the last story; but to expand upon the worldviews and the lifestyles of the sentient bikes. The sequel expands their world, demonstrating the origin (and intensity) or Hilo's insanity and Ackro's insecurity. Betsy's apathetic attitude provides a foible for Colly's impassioned feminism.

It was decided that the tractors would serve as reinforcement for Hilo's insane plans to nuke the Middle East, providing for more conflict for Ackro to have to resolve. The camera used was the same camera as was used to shoot the last story, a camera that would cease to function by late 2006.

Aftermath
This would be the second-to-last webcomic made in the Cormorant era in which the code standards were for HTML 4.0 Transitional. After that, coding for DSHW's would be altered to match XHTML specifications. The bike playing Ackro would lose its rear axle, meaning the end of what would have been an ongoing series.

Video distribution
The original When Bikes Argue was released as a video in January of 2008, synchronizing with the production at that time of Ciem 2. However, planning the Service Personnel episode of Who's Who at FSU? meant the Dozerfleet founder had to put production of both Ciem 2 and When Bikes Argue 2 on hiatus to work as a producer and director for studio production class projects. Production of When Bikes Argue 2 was not resumed until June. Production of Ciem 2 would not resume until the middle of July.

Video production
Images from the DSHW were converted from the 400x300 "full" format for DSHW to the 640x480 standard size for television. They were imported into Premiere and synced as close as possible to the audio. Conversion went from JPEGs to an AVI file to a WMV file and then finally to an FLV file after the piece was uploaded to YouTube. YouTube shrank the footage back down to a 400x300 form.

Audio production
As with the last production, there were considerable problems trying to record the voices of the bike characters. Ackro was the easiest to convert, but his voice when from the "black" accent undertones previously present to a more warbly voice that was similar to the one used for Volkonir.

Colly's voice was more consistent in quality in this version than in the last one, but her whiny voice still had tone similarities and whine ranges consistent with the voice used for Polly Mindoche of the Trapezoid Kids. Betsy's voice, new to the production, wound up sounding an awful lot like the voice for Humdrum Mindoche. Bludger, the snow blower responsible for Hilo's anti-Muslim diatribes, wound up having a voice similar to that of Enclo Mindoche. Hilo's voice maintains a lot of the "Texan" accent flavor expected of him, but also still sounds like that of Mutt Mackley.

Reviews
There are yet to be any official written reviews of this movie anywhere, but so far verbal response has been positive.

Trivia

 * This video uses an alternate logo for Dozerfleet Comics.


 * The 2005-era message at the beginning is a discussion of the so-called "2005 closet," referring to all Dozerfleet program ideas that were contrived in 2005. This includes most Dozerfleet DSHW's and a few videos.  Examples include the When Bikes Argue series and The Gerosha Chronicles.
 * In contrast to the 2005 closet is the "2004 closet" (which includes the Meshalutian Trilogy) and the "2002 closet."


 * Since When Bikes Argue was originally meant to become a series, an explanation is provided at the end of the video for the cancellation of this plan.


 * The dedication at the end of the video is to Ka Pang Lee, a graduate of Ferris State University and a friend of the producer of WBA2 via instant messaging. The founder was considering pursuing her as a girlfriend, but she ultimately settled for someone who shared her study field in college.  Brokenhearted, the Dozerfleet founder nevertheless decided to dedicate the video to her as a belated birthday present.