No Excuse 2013-09-16

[Aleister Crow]

Not sure where people are seeing Anger. Panels two and three are both Guidance, aren't they?

EDIT: Oops, never mind. She's taking care of Goopy. Maybe I'll read the strip one day instead of just looking at the pictures.

[txmystic]

OK, so I totally mis-read Friday's...I thought the offstage voice was telling *Monica* to get off, as if it was seeing something different...instead, it was Guidance talking to the "tar".

Tar is actually an apt representation of pure sexual aggression. I wonder what anger is doing to reign it in, and what methods are being used...

I wonder if one week will be enough to complete the tour of Georgette's inner realm.

[Fairportfan]

Is it just me, or has this transferred from a dream realm to an astral realm?

Pretty much the same thing, right?

And clarity ensues!

Clarity being a relative term of course.

"Obviously, this is some definition of the word 'safe' with which I am unfamiliar."

[Fairportfan]

"Anger" seems to be a Venus-de-Milo torso in a picture T-shirt....That symbolism hasn't yet parsed for me.....

Looks to me more as if her body is made of Bud's plasma.

[MerchManDan]

Ever since we found out that Tina is a collection of demons piloting a human body (and caught a few glimpses of Mons demons exiting/entering her), I've wondered, "What's it LIKE in there?" Looks like we're about to catch a view of Life Inside.
Regarding the demons themselves, it's telling that Anger & Guidance wear (or perhaps ARE) masks of 'Jets face but Lust is now shapeless; could be that if the "real" 'Jet is alive & still in there somewhere, she's ashamed of that aspect of herself. As for Guidance, I'm not really sure why she seems to be some kind of automaton; maybe 'Jet finds her too stiff & formal.
Honestly, I have no idea - just throwing stuff at the metaphorical wall.

[ActionKermit]

Interesting that Guidance called it "the" Tar instead of just Tar. Brandi's Nü Gui was referred to as "the Hate", indicating that it's something foreign and other than a typical demon. Sounds like Jet has a metaphysical parasite problem.

[Aleister Crow]

Ever since we found out that Tina is a collection of demons piloting a human body (and caught a few glimpses of Mons demons exiting/entering her), I've wondered, "What's it LIKE in there?" Looks like we're about to catch a view of Life Inside.
Regarding the demons themselves, it's telling that Anger & Guidance wear (or perhaps ARE) masks of 'Jets face but Lust is now shapeless; could be that if the "real" 'Jet is alive & still in there somewhere, she's ashamed of that aspect of herself. As for Guidance, I'm not really sure why she seems to be some kind of automaton; maybe 'Jet finds her too stiff & formal.
Honestly, I have no idea - just throwing stuff at the metaphorical wall.

I still think those are both Guidance, and Anger is off-camera, so to speak.

[Sidhekin]

I dunno ... panel three is definitely angry ...

... but three and four do have the same face.

Then again, even the Tar looked like Jet. M's demons don't look like her. Tina's demons don't look like her. Jin's demons don't look like her. Hmm ...

Okay, Connie looks like young Shelly, but Connie's known to be a special case.

We have another on our hands, don't we?

[jwhouk]

I can't really see Love as being a demon.

Love isn't a demon. Love is God.

[jwhouk]

OK, so I totally mis-read Friday's...I thought the offstage voice was telling *Monica* to get off, as if it was seeing something different...instead, it was Guidance talking to the "tar".

Yeah. The off-screen voice should probably be read in three separate speech bubbles:

"Monica! Where are you?" (pause) "MONICA!!" (pause) "Get off of her! She said 'No'! Get away from her!"

[MerchManDan]

I still think those are both Guidance, and Anger is off-camera, so to speak.

I thought so too, I was only going with what the majority said.

[KnightDelight]

I think there is too much pigeon-holing going on here. Trying to make Georgette the other group of demons Phix was referring to. After all we also thought it was Connie who was the other one before this. Paul tends not to repeat himself with plot devices. I also I think Tina would have said something about it while she was reading Georgette. Not to mention the fact it would have been more a job for Tina to handle than Monica if it were a matter of her also being a demon group without a soul. Takes one to know/help one. Paul doesn't think small. This has to be about a lot more than just trying to help Georgette work through some personal problems.

As I see it, the demons are not just some human "concepts." They are tangible individuals who have existed long before humans came along. They can exist apart as individuals, each with their own agendas. Some even go rogue. Well, rogue as far as the sphinxes are concerned. As far as the demon is concerned, she is simply doing her own thing and screw the rules. I think they have common names only for purposes of relating to their host and because sphinxes need specific names and descriptions for everything. If they can't put something into a specific category, they can't handle it. Were there suddenly no humans, the demons would simply move on to find another species to harass, fitting in with their culture in whatever way is needed to cause the most chaos. But only so far as allowed by the sphinxes who, eventually, arrive on the scene to rein them in. Before the sphinxes get there they can have their way with the hosts, and their way is disastrous/deadly to them. Left to themselves, they're wild animals who take pleasure in torturing the hosts to death.

[starkruzr]

I don't think people without demons are emotionless shells. Monica had about 5 seconds to experience life without demons and the entire experience was colored significantly by Doubt.

[Atomic]

I don't think people without demons are emotionless shells. Monica had about 5 seconds to experience life without demons and the entire experience was colored significantly by Doubt.

Hence the concept of Daemon as Motivator. No motivation, no life, just existence - drab and plain.

Damn it, Bones, you're a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can't be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They're the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves. I don't want my pain taken away! I need my pain!

[Julie]

Nice to meet you Guidance! Please do give M some clothes, so I can stop worrying about getting in trouble for reading this while at work.

EDIT: Here is the previous reference I made to the possibility of Jet being a covey of demons... Looks like I'm correct: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1189#p23312

I don't think this necessarily proves that Jat is a covey of demons. She has demons...but it could be argued that a lot of people have demons. M just happens to be a rare person who can communicate with and to an extent control hers. We've only seen Tina's demons because they're all that's left in the body...but we haven't seen Shelly's demons...or Kat's demons...or Amanda's demons...or Kevin's...or any number of the other characters who aren't golems or mythical creatures (though I guess Shelly's mythic now...and Kat's not quite normal human). This may well be our first introduction to the demons living inside another human...someone who doesn't see or interact with them beyond hearing the little voices in her head...

And as for the idea that the demons are holding Jet together...well that seems plausible. I don't think they're "running the show" necessarily (I agree with KnightDelight that Tina would surely have said something), but I'd bet that Guidance has to work very hard to keep Jet from going to dark places in her mind given the traumatic history Tina unveiled for us.

Interesting that Guidance called it "the" Tar instead of just Tar. Brandi's Nü Gui was referred to as "the Hate", indicating that it's something foreign and other than a typical demon. Sounds like Jet has a metaphysical parasite problem.

That's an interesting idea. It will be enlightening to see where this goes...

[Dave]

Tar is actually an apt representation of pure sexual aggression. I wonder what anger is doing to reign it in, and what methods are being used...

Stuffing it so full of dire wolves and saber-tooth cats that it can't move any more, and just has to lie there in a pit, La Brea style?

[DilyV]

I don't think this necessarily proves that Jat is a covey of demons. She has demons...but it could be argued that a lot of people have demons. M just happens to be a rare person who can communicate with and to an extent control hers. We've only seen Tina's demons because they're all that's left in the body...but we haven't seen Shelly's demons...or Kat's demons...or Amanda's demons...or Kevin's...or any number of the other characters who aren't golems or mythical creatures (though I guess Shelly's mythic now...and Kat's not quite normal human). This may well be our first introduction to the demons living inside another human...someone who doesn't see or interact with them beyond hearing the little voices in her head...{/quote]

And as for the idea that the demons are holding Jet together...well that seems plausible. I don't think they're "running the show" necessarily (I agree with KnightDelight that Tina would surely have said something), but I'd bet that Guidance has to work very hard to keep Jet from going to dark places in her mind given the traumatic history Tina unveiled for us.

Interesting that Guidance called it "the" Tar instead of just Tar. Brandi's Nü Gui was referred to as "the Hate", indicating that it's something foreign and other than a typical demon. Sounds like Jet has a metaphysical parasite problem.

I would venture to say that if Kath had a demon, it would be called fear and she's got that demon pretty well under control now. As far as Tina sensing Jet's demons, that's assuming that Tina can sense other demons all the time. I wonder if its possible that some demons have the ability to mask themselves?

Action Kermit brings up an interesting point. I wonder if 'the tar' isn't a demon at all... but a malevolent manifestation of lust, greed, desire... all the wanty, needy, gimme gimme emotions... clingy and cloying, hard to scrape off like glue. Maybe these aren't Jet's demons per se'... maybe they're the physical manifestations of her emotions.

[dex drako]

I can't really see Love as being a demon. As far as I can see, Demons are negative emotions, Anger, Lust, Doubt, Fear, etc. Needed, but not nice. In fact it has been said they would tear humans apart for their own amusement were it not for the sphinxes. They aren't evil as such any more than electricity is evil, they just "are". But they are beings in their own right and not simply manifestations of some abstract concepts. Within limits they can still get their rocks off torturing people or satisfying their own desires, so they are willing to go along with the rules. Emotions such as love, hope, kindness would be from somewhere else, assuming they also exist as beings. But who knows in the Wapsi World.

who is it the principal of the school seems most the good kids or the bad?

we've seen negative emotions most because they're the ones that no one lissions to. if there are good demons like love then no one questions fights that voice not even monica but the ones we see are the ones that have to fight for attention.

[NOTDilbert]

"Anger" seems to be a Venus-de-Milo torso in a picture T-shirt....That symbolism hasn't yet parsed for me.....

It makes perfect sense for Venus de Milo to be the image of anger. Wouldn't you be pissed off if you had no arms?

That also might imply 'impotent rage' - angry but unable to act effectively on the cause. She therefore might feel helplessly angry a lot.....

[Yamara]

Tar is actually an apt representation of pure sexual aggression. I wonder what anger is doing to reign it in, and what methods are being used...

Stuffing it so full of dire wolves and saber-tooth cats that it can't move any more, and just has to lie there in a pit, La Brea style?

I like the way you think.