Still around 2014-11-21

[jwhouk]

A minor thought: One of the main things touted about Monica's powers as Jaguar Girl is that she "controls" the Golem Girls.

Now, we've already established that Monica is the one that left the relationship with Kevin from today's strip. But, let us exercise a little mental gymnastics here.

Monica "controls" the Golem Girls.

Bud is - as we all know - one of the three Golem GIrls.

If Bud were to start dating Kevin... what would happen to her?

Nothing? Unless/until Monica found out about it?

Did what Monica said back in 2006 free Bud from Monica's "control" - as far as relationships with others is concerned?

Could Monica literally "forbid" Bud from seeing Kevin - and Bud wouldn't be able to do a thing about it?

Just a thought for a long weekend as we wait for Monday's installment.

[Dave]

A minor thought: One of the main things touted about Monica's powers as Jaguar Girl is that she "controls" the Golem Girls.

Now, we've already established that Monica is the one that left the relationship with Kevin from today's strip. But, let us exercise a little mental gymnastics here.

Monica "controls" the Golem Girls.

Bud is - as we all know - one of the three Golem GIrls.

If Bud were to start dating Kevin... what would happen to her?

Nothing? Unless/until Monica found out about it?

Well, personally, based on what I see of Monica's state of mind right now, I tend to think that nothing would happen to Bud even after Monica found out (which she would, I don't doubt).

• For one thing, Monica is already aware of Bud's attraction for Kevin. Has been, for years... IIRC, she pointed out to Kevin that Bud has a crush on him.
• For a second, Monica's stated reason for breaking up with Kevin is that he deserves better in a relationship than she can provide (or has been providing).
• For a third, Georgette has already broached the suggestion to Monica, that he really ought to be with Bud. "Yes, Kevin loves you, but you don't love him. You just keep him. And, you're too self absorbed to see the one person who does notice him, and who could love him."

It's quite possible that Monica's powers as a Glyph reader would still allow her to command Bud to stay away from Kevin. That power long-predated her elevation to Jaguar Girl status, but as far as we know she didn't lose it. And, Shelly seems to believe that Monica still possesses the power of command over the Golem Girls.

But, unless Monica does a really serious "What the hell have I done?!?" 180-degree turnabout and decides that she truly wants Kevin back and is willing to restore and "clean up" their relationship, I really don't see her doing so.

She's a Jaguar Girl, not a dog in the manger. And, I think a lot of her friends (assuming she still has any at the time ) would really give her What For, if she started playing the "I don't want him any more, but you can't have him either" game.

[Swedish Chef]

Last panel is interesting. Kevin is showing his back to Bud, obviously moving away in the snow, akin to old cowboy movies, if that isn't a parting, I don't know how to call it. Kevin is going to lick his wounds for a time, but the klutz line means he hasn't lost some sense of self-targeted humour, which is a good thing.

Whatever Bud's feelings here, I don't see Kevin interested in her as anything else but a friend. The 'Vulture' comment yesterday was undeserved, maybe, but Kevin just had a knee up the tenders, metaphorically speaking, and some lashing out had to be expected. But I see their conversation as old friends trying to figure out the best way to deal with an outcome affecting one of them personally.
Jin and Alan already went through their relationship fire hoops, Shelly and Justin are still fresh (for Justin part at least, even if as a Titan, he may have a different outlook. But it may be that, willingly or not, this whole mess may still create more ripples,


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2 posts in a week!. Mommy dear, mommy dear.

[lake_wrangler]

Is it me, or does Bud's face in the second panel look more like Monica's? She doesn't have that usual elongated, somewhat wider at the top, shape to her head that she usually does...

[jwhouk]

Just you. You can pretty much tell it's Bud.

My summary.

[Hansontoons]

Is it me, or does Bud's face in the second panel look more like Monica's? She doesn't have that usual elongated, somewhat wider at the top, shape to her head that she usually does...

Well, yes and no to the Monica observation. Face is not as long, but differences remain. Compare to Nov. 17 Stand Back, Bud in first frame. Almost identical profile/angle to this scene. Compare Bud in first frame with Monica in the second. Mon has fuller lips, forehead prominent. But yes, very similar features.

Call it "the way the artist chooses to draw the character that day". Think how the art of the strip has evolved through the years. Things change. I compare this to my signature, years back you could discern most letters in my name. Now it is mostly an illegible scrawl.

[lake_wrangler]

Her features aren't quite as angular as usual, and the face is slightly rounder, with slightly wider cheek bones than usual, which is, to me, reminiscent of Monica. It doesn't help that the wind is blowing, so her usual "hair of hay" is not as evident...

I'm not saying it can't be recognized as Bud, just that it looks more like Monica than the usual facial features that associated with Bud.

[Yamara]

I wonder... how much does Kevin know about Bud's nature and history? There could be a whole other round of nervous disclosures and trust-building waiting in the wings... and it seems to me that Bud is much more overtly powerful than Monica. Kevin's time with Monica might make him comfortable with the idea... or, he might draw back and say "no more paranormal drama, give me a nice human girl from Idaho!"

Well, that's the 12,500 annum question. The other day I posted to the comic where Kevin discovers the ashes of the Golem Girls. (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/winecellar/) Now that the way is open explicitly for Bud, I feel I can be more explicit: That's the first moment Kevin sees Bud. As her violated corpse.

We have never been told where the hell that damned thing came from. Who put it there? Jin? The Nu Gui?

Or was it Bud, ever too forthright for her own good, just sticking it out there to say Here I am. This is me. This what happened to me.

Pleased to meet you! I'm Bud.

...

So, honesty and trust.

Came across this guest strip by Duella from six years ago:

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/duwapsi/

Thus, I've penned an up-to-date response in the fan art section. If I drew faster than Zeno's Arrow flies, I'd have made it a one-page. But words it must be...

Happy Turkey Week, everyone....

[Catawampus]

A minor thought: One of the main things touted about Monica's powers as Jaguar Girl is that she "controls" the Golem Girls.

Now, we've already established that Monica is the one that left the relationship with Kevin from today's strip. But, let us exercise a little mental gymnastics here.

Monica "controls" the Golem Girls.

Bud is - as we all know - one of the three Golem GIrls.

If Bud were to start dating Kevin... what would happen to her?

Nothing? Unless/until Monica found out about it?

Did what Monica said back in 2006 free Bud from Monica's "control" - as far as relationships with others is concerned?

Could Monica literally "forbid" Bud from seeing Kevin - and Bud wouldn't be able to do a thing about it?

Just a thought for a long weekend as we wait for Monday's installment.

Well, if you're going to assume that Monica can control Bud, then what's to say that Bud's latest actions aren't her acting under Monica's influence right now?

[TOMIB]

Sorry, still not trusting Georgette. Yes, I'm willing to believe that she and M do, at this moment, need each other. But I'm not entirely sure that this "need" necessarily takes the form many are ascribing to it.

It's clear what Georgette thinks it is. M slightly less so (in my eyes).

I see two little girls who were horribly violated and who see shadows of themselves in each other. Mutual healing, not necessarily a romantic future together, though. I suspect that they (or at least M) will outgrow this new thing fairly quickly.

Maybe I'm just too sentimental, and lord knows that I'm horrible at predicting the futures of the Taylor Brothers' plotlines, but I still have hope that M and Kevin will cross the finish line.

Also, as to whether Monica will exercise power to quash any potential/incipient Bud-Kevin romance, I just don't see that sort of thing in her makeup, regardless of mood or pique.

[TazManiac]

I'm with Muad'Dib,... er TOMIB, on this one.

But there's some rough road to bump over in the near future...

[illiad]

Dave, you seem to be forgetting some things...

For one thing, Monica is already aware of Bud's attraction for Kevin. Has been, for years... IIRC, she pointed out to Kevin that Bud has a crush on him.

yeah, good enough for 'gossip' , but Normally it 'takes two'...
I dont think Kevin wants a relationship with *anyone* at the mo, he has declared that he will be there for M when she is ready, time for her to do something about it!

For a second, Monica's stated reason for breaking up with Kevin is that he deserves better in a relationship than she can provide (or has been providing).

That's a typical girlie cop-out!!
... I have seen plenty of silly girls 'waiting for prince charming' and still being 'on the shelf' due to stupidly high standards!!!

I am sure Kevin thinks M is the Best, worth waiting for.. You need to see "Bridget's diary" - girl goes out with charming, rich, sexy guy... and finds out how wrong she is..

For a third, Georgette has already broached the suggestion to Monica, that he really ought to be with Bud. "Yes, Kevin loves you, but you don't love him. You just keep him. And, you're too self absorbed to see the one person who does notice him, and who could love him."[/list]

I don't think that was Georgette, more like her 'lust' demon and Monica's 'doubt'.. and Georgette is getting carried away with them, just like Bridget... :/

Any Adult that is mature enough, knows what the answer is, but are the 'players' and the 'audience' mature enough to know??? Only the author knows... :p

M had the same problem too, until she learned...(in the next few strips.. )

Oh, BTW.. If you think M can 'control' the GGGs, you need to read this old strip carefully...

It looks like she has as much control as you would have over your RL best friend...

[jwhouk]

I personally think Kevin threw that last part in as both a parting shot and a "leave 'em thinking" toward Bud.

Pablo could torment the lot of us by leaving us with pinups and one-shots for the rest of the week - or by going back to Gryphon High and seeing what shenanigans are going on there with Atsali and this "Jacob" kid.

By the way: my money is on Jacob being a werewolf. It just HAS to be.

[TazManiac]

Jacob = were Cat, who'll cover the action?

[jwhouk]

The Pun Vault is ood for it.

[Wdot]

Well, my thoughts on the matter of Monica being able to control the Golem Girls is, yes she can. She chose not to and let them be autonomous as long as they behave themselves. She considers them friends (especially Jin), not slaves or servants, even though as guardians they feel responsible for her safety. It's now a cushy assignment because Monica is essentially immortal.

The question is whether Monica would interfere with a relationship between Kevin and Bud. I don't believe so. Monica has known Bud has had a crush on Kevin for a long time. If she broke up with Kevin, she has essentially given a 'green light' to Bud to act on that crush. Of course if Bud is wise, (my bet is she is, due to thousands of years of experience before being put in storage) she will not want to catch him on the rebound; but because Bud is young, that may just be what she is looking for a fun fling that won't last. It could go either way or she could just be a FWB which in some ways can be better than a SO and last longer. Time and Paul will tell. *Crawls back to the Confusion Cafe and orders a coffee and éclair.

[Catawampus]

It's never been explicitly spelled out just what Monica's influence over golems is. But we can work out a little bit of it for ourselves, I think.

Monica's power over the golems is apparently connected to her ability to use the glyph language. Presumably, then, the control ability has something to do with the glyphs; giving an order to the golems in the glyph language apparently somehow enters the order into their programming, forcing them to do whatever it is. The only time that Monica obviously used glyphs to directly order one of the golems (Bud in this case) to do something, Bud had to do it even though she was very unwilling. Apparently the command was something along the lines of “remember your past” or “tell me about how you were made”.

Shortly before that incident, Monica had mentally “spoken” the exact same command, which seems to be what caused those skeletons to manifest in her wine cellar in the first place. Since Monica had some sort of mental connection with Jin at that time, then the reason for those skeletons appearing might have been Monica unknowingly telepathically commanding Jin to reveal the past to her.

Then there's this strip, in which Monica carelessly mutters something in glyphs. This is almost immediately followed by the first reappearance of the golem girls. Perhaps whatever she said in glyphs was unintentionally taken as a command to the golems.

A few other times, it's been shown that writing things in golems in glyphs is how their programming is changed.

So it's clear that commands in glyph have special control power over golems. What's less clear is how much control power Monica (or other glyph readers, for that matter) have over the golems in non-glyph speech. They can clearly argue with Monica when she orders them in English to do something, rather than having to automatically do as she commands. On the other hand, they still always seem to end up doing what she directly tells them in English to do, even if it does sometimes take them a little while and a bit of fuss to get around to it. It's not clear, though, whether this is due to them being compelled to give in to her, or just them deciding to do as she says.

It might also be worth noting that when they got to the point of working on the calendar machine and confronting the rogue demon “queen”, when they intentionally needed to make Monica think that they were going to kill her so as to rile up the demon, they did it when all of the people who Monica could control were paralysed by the calendar machine. The only person in that room at the time who still had free agency of action was Shelly, who Monica had no direct power over. This might have been due to how the calender had to be fixed, but it also might have been planned out by Bud and Shelly to be sure that Monica couldn't throw a spanner into the works by simply ordering (in whatever language) one of the golems to stop everything. If the latter, then that would suggest that Monica has enough influence over the golems to make them do things that they know are harmful to themselves and to the person giving the orders, which would indicate a very strong ability to control them.

[kingklash]

This Monday: Dinky Dietzel and the Giant Pizza!

[illiad]

Well, my thoughts on the matter of Monica being able to control the Golem Girls is, yes she can. She chose not to and let them be autonomous as long as they behave themselves. She considers them friends (especially Jin), not slaves or servants, even though as guardians they feel responsible for her safety.

yeah, but your best mate or even you mum/ dad / SO have that same 'power'... "do that, and say goodbye to your allowance" and other bribery...

And yeah, M is not a bad person, there is not much bad she can do with 'drunk students'...

Note M is very much a 'learner' - May is the real expert.. And the calendar machine is more powerful than them all...

[Wdot]

It's never been explicitly spelled out just what Monica's influence over golems is..

The way I see it, Monica is the keeper of the Golem Girls according to Tepoz they chose her. Keeper implies implicit control, like a zoo keeper has control of the animals in a zoo. As you can see, the added code line gives Monica exclusive control over the Golem Girls due to her meeting the safety protocol of dying momentarily. So in effect she's been given the keys to the kingdom... she knows the programming language and and is the only one that is recognized to use the command override except perhaps Mayahuel. Monica could reform the Chimera and turn everything into a glass parking lot. If you believe Tepoz. Paul has said characters lie and/or don't know everything. However, Shelly said to Monica that she controlled the Golem Girls and since she is the Sage of the Forrest, I'm inclined to believe her. But, like I said, we will find out in time. *Orders another coffee from The Confusion Cafe.
*editing to make sure people that are interested read the comic I posted. Also, I want to add that controlling free thinking self aware "people" is a lot more difficult than it seems. A certain Bowman's Wolf got around her remote...