VeeFriends Issue 06 Explained: Leif Loserson, Shipwreck, and the Challenge of Versatility

When I am asked about my least favorite issue of VeeFriends Comics I always default to saying Issue 06. Why? Not because I actively disliked it. Quite the contrary. I was excited to learn about Leif Loserson in VeeFriends Issue 06 after he was foreshadowed as being the ancestor of Garry Loserson and family in VeeFriends Issue 05. That means Motivated Monster is a direct bloodline descendant of Versatile Viking. So why then is it my least favorite issue? Because it's too much of a tease for me. I like everything about it and then it abruptly comes to a halt. That is the tension for me. It is not that the issue fails. It is that the issue succeeds at making me want the bigger version of itself. The fact that this is the last short comic issue before they decided to make every comic after this bigger and longer leads me to believe that my sentiment of "not enough" was felt by the team internally.  

Diving into the issue, we see a dolphin, but remember, it's just a regular dolphin if the issue doesn't name the character as Determined Dolphin, which is one of the official VeeFriends characters. The opening message of this issue is about how "Your past does not have to define your future." We already know this issue is in the past compared to VeeFriends Issue 05 given that Versatile Viking is Motivated Monster's ancestor. So does the message refer to how our ancestral past does not decide the future of our bloodline? Does it refer to how our personal pasts don't define our personal futures? Or is this another "And" not "Or" moment? We'll choose "And" given that Gary Vaynerchuk is known for the tagline "It's ALWAYS and not or."

We see a boat as we are reminded that everyone has the free will to chart a new course. A course to where?  How about embracing the calling to find one's true self. Again, the meaning is both literal and figurative. You can literally hop on a boat and chart a literal course to a new life like Versatile Viking or you can make behavioral and situational changes in your life to set you on a new path as a person, without physically uprooting your home to cross the ocean. 

If you read VeeFriends Issue 03, the theme or motif of "Find Your True Self" should be familiar to you as it's the tagline on the Balanced Beetle World Tour QR scan flyer that transported Ann into VeeWorld. Finding one's true self is also advice given by D. J. Coffman who has found his own true self as a comic book creator. It's not "woo-woo" it's genuine life advice from a man who has followed that advice is now a living example of its success. I am certain the experience is identical for Gary Vee. 

It's explained that if you are lucky in your journey to find your true self, you'll also find or be found by friends to help you through the challenges. Yes, this makes it sound like the aquatic animals helping to guide the boat to a safe landing on a mysterious island through the raging storm could be VeeFriends, but we cannot conclude that unless they are named in the issue. We can suspect it but we cannot confirm it. They could still just be friendly non-VeeFriends animals. 

We are warned that changing one's life comes with challenges. In other words, change can bring challenge. Interestingly enough, another tagline of the VeeFriends Universe is that, "The challenge brings the change," which is the inverse. My take is that they are both reciprocally true. When you seek to better yourself it's more of an obstacle course to complete than it is just flipping a switch. So the change brings the challenge. But rising to that challenging and completing it is indeed what locks in or brings about the expression of those changes taking permanent effect in a person's life. 

Ultimately Versatile Viking, also known as Leif Loserson, washes up on the shore of an island in VeeWorld. The way the panel shows it reminds me of an intro to a television show where the narrator speaks until the title credits roll and then after that is where the story actually begins. This plays well in the animated versions of each VeeFriends comic that the team creates for users to enjoy online at no cost. However I do think it's an unconventional choice for a print version and I have not seen this choice repeated in other issues. 

Versatile Viking is in some sort of deep sleep or coma state when he arrives on the island. The crab and the cockatoo are able to communicate with each other effortlessly. I wonder if that implies they speak English and that Versatile Viking will be able to hear and understand them too? Or if they can understand and hear each other but it still sounds like animal noises to humans. Then again, this is no ordinary crab and cockatoo, according to the VeeFriends official website.

It's confusing because from what I understand, the brand isn't in full alignment and decision transparency or consistency about how they are handling character appearances. This continues to bother me because character appearances are an incredibly large topic of discussion in the comic book community. I understand that fans can always form their own opinions and debate. That doesn't mean we don't deserve an explanation about how we are supposed to know the dolphin is NOT Determined Dolphin but the Crab IS Creative Crab? 

Additionally, the website still does not provide ultimate clarity. For this issue, it informs us that the crab, hermit crab, and cockatoo, are Creative Crab, Happy Hermit Crab, and Courageous Cockatoo. But does this count as their first appearance? Maybe not. For example the official VeeFriends website lists Mojo Mouse as being featured in but despite that Mojo Mouse isn't considered to have his first appearance until VeeFriends Issue 13. Looks like we will need to continue staying adaptable as we read these issues. Maybe the clarity we seek and demand exists in the future. 

The animals realize that after days of sleeping Versatile Viking will be starving when he wakes up so they gather food and place it around him. 

When Versatile Viking wakes up, he is surprised to be alive after the storm he endured. Surrounded by a glorious feast, he's not even certain whether he actually is dead or has arrived in Valhalla. For those of you unfamiliar with Valhalla, it is similar to a Viking version of heaven that one can only enter from having died in battle. Would dying while battling a storm count? I'm not sure. Instead of me looking this one up, I invite you to do so for yourself and drop a comment to let us know! Regardless, Versatile Viking digs in and devours the feast that surrounds him. 

He mentions that the island he finds himself on now was not on his map. Questioning whether or not this is a new world entirely, Versatile Viking sets out to explore and finds enormous, iconic Hollywood sign style, letters spelling out VEE. He wonders whether or not it is a warning sign but either way, it makes it clear that someone else has already discovered this island.  

While the idea of other island inhabitants is intriguing, Versatile Viking realizes that he must hustle to create a shelter for himself if he is going to survive on this island, which is clearly not Valhalla. So, he repurposes his wrecked ship into a functional home. 

Well, a sort of functional home. Looks like it will require a bit of adjusting before he gets it just right. Well-Rounded Warthog can't help but laugh, mocking Versatile Viking's failure. While Well-Rounded Warthog isn't named here, we know from the screenshot of the official VeeFriends website above that he is featured in this issue. 

Well-Rounded Warthog is a giant but Versatile Viking isn't intimidated. To the contrary, he tries to lure Well-Rounded Warthog in, making sure he doesn't scare it. He doesn't see a threat he sees food to keep him alive for at least a week. Launching his net, Versatile Viking misses and Well-Rounded Warthog escapes. 

He breaks away from Versatile Viking and slips into a nearby cave. As he does, a rock door with a mystical looking Beetle insignia on it closes behind him. 

Versatile Viking does everything he can to see if he can open that door but it's of no use. 

Behind the mystical cavern doorway, Well-Rounded Warthog reports back to Balanced Beetle. If you read VeeFriends Issue 01, you should already know the role Balanced Beetle plays in the VeeFriends Universe. If you didn't or forgot, Balanced Beetle has a quantum supercomputer and the ability to observe alternate future timelines in potential superposition of existence before they solidify into their timeline's reality. By doing this, he is able to identify moments where it is beneficial for the VeeFriends team to intervene in the lives of certain individuals. 

The exact wording on the page matters. Well-Rounded Warthog says Versatile Viking cannot hear them, or even comprehend what is going on. That means Versatile Viking is not consciously participating in a lesson. He thinks he is surviving. Balanced Beetle and Well-Rounded Warthog know he is being evaluated.

Balanced Beetle makes it clear that without the help of the VeeFriends, Versatile Viking would never have made it through that storm alone. In context of what we know, this literally means that Balanced Beetle observed a version of time where Versatile Viking actually dies in the storm and never makes it to the island. Seeing that undesirable future, Balanced Beetle made the decision to intervene, creating not just Versatile Viking as a VeeFriends character, but also Motivated Monster. Who knows what other ripple effects stem from the decision to save Versatile Viking's life. It will be interesting to see how Balanced Beetle uses this island and its trials to mold Versatile Viking into becoming who he will be. We know only that he will be versatile. 

In Closing

VeeFriends Issue 06 works because it is not really trying to prove that Versatile Viking is versatile by showing us every skill he has. It does something more interesting. It drops him into a place he did not choose, under rules he does not understand, after a storm he barely survives, and then watches what he does next.

That is the actual test. Versatility is not just being good at many things when life is clean and organized. It is what happens when the map fails, the ship is gone, the food is unfamiliar, the shelter needs to be rebuilt, and the first creature you think might feed you runs into a door you cannot open.

That is why the issue being a tease is also part of what makes it matter. It feels like the beginning of something bigger because, structurally, that is exactly what it is. VeeFriends Issue 05 tells us the Loserson family will eventually produce Motivated Monster. Issue 06 turns backward and shows us the earlier ancestor who may explain how that bloodline ever became something more than a punchline.

Leif Loserson does not become important because he has everything figured out. He becomes important because Balanced Beetle sees a timeline where he dies in the storm and chooses to interfere. That means Versatile Viking is not just surviving by accident. He is being placed into the VeeFriends system on purpose, under observation, at the exact moment when his future can still bend.

That also changes how I read Well-Rounded Warthog. At first, he feels like an island obstacle or a potential meal. By the end, he is part of the evaluation. He is not simply being chased. He is reporting back. The island is not just a setting. It is a testing ground.

So when the issue says your past does not have to define your future, it is not only speaking to Versatile Viking personally. It is speaking across the Loserson line. One ancestor survives the storm. Generations later, one descendant becomes Motivated Monster. In between those two points, the family name keeps carrying the question of whether identity is inherited, chosen, buried, or rebuilt.

That is why Issue 06 is frustrating in the right way. It is short, abrupt, and absolutely leaves me wanting more. But the incompleteness is not emptiness. It is setup. It gives us the shipwreck, the island, the hidden observer, the first test, and the bloodline connection back to one of the wildest VeeFriends origin stories so far.

Versatile Viking is not fully explained yet.

But now we know the test has started.

After The Issue 

If what resonated here wasn't just the review, but the way identity, intent, and character traits were treated as forces that shape reality, that same line of thinking didn't stop with this article.

Inspired by how VeeFriends treats character traits as forces that shape reality, I created Alien Traits: a 1-of-1 NFT series interpreting each of the 251 core traits. No repeats. Each visual piece also includes a written definition of the trait it represents in OpenSea's "About" section. 

It isn't VeeFriends art. It's a parallel conversation with the ideas underneath it.

Explore the full Alien Traits collection here: https://opensea.io/collection/alien-traits

Easter Eggs

1. To make matters even more confusing about what is and isn't a first appearance, first cameo appearance, or first full appearance, the Building Character page inside this issue tells us that this is not Viking's first comic appearance. But Versatile Viking was only referenced in VeeFriends Issue 05. So when they say it was a first appearance do they mean first cameo appearance like Mojo Mouse in VeeFriends Issue 02? Surely Issue 05 cannot count as a first full appearance for Versatile Viking? But the fact that VeeFriends Issue 06 itself saying it is not Versatile Viking's first appearance without clarifying with the words "first cameo" or "first full" before appearance makes it hard to take a definitive stance. On this same page we see sketches of Versatile Viking riding Well-Rounded Warthog. In this issue he tried to eat him but perhaps this is foreshadowing they will later team up to form an epic duo. 

2. The same Building Character page gives the cleanest source-backed explanation of the issue's thesis: Failure isn't fatal. The page says a mighty Viking set sail, left his past behind, sought to find his true self, and ended up shipwrecked on the strange shores of VeeWorld. That is basically the entire article in miniature.

3. The brainstorm note is also important. The page says Gary's first big creative summit sparked the idea to make Well-Rounded Warthog giant, like Battle Cat big. That confirms the Warthog was not just a random animal choice. He was built as a huge physical challenge for Viking.

4. The page asks, "What was he running from? What is Balanced Beetle up to here?" Those are the two questions Issue 06 leaves open on purpose. The story answers enough to confirm this is a test, but not enough to explain the full reason Balanced Beetle needs Versatile Viking yet.

Up Next

If you enjoyed VeeFriends Issue 06 Explained, the comic itself points straight at NOTORIOUS. Next up is VeeFriends Issue 07 Explained, where the story moves into legacy, inheritance, and the rise of Notorious Ninja.