Covered 2019-02-10

[TheCollector]

So I'm probably just over thinking things here, but last night I was rereading the pages of Shawna and Castela from the talk on the bench to now. And when I reached where she was saying all that stuff about the room I started to wonder, what if all that stuff Cass was saying, was basically like a metaphor, or just an allusion, to herself. Cause we know full well that Cass doesn't have the most positive view of herself and feels she's a mess.
But what if in saying those things about how bad the room is, she was basically, subconciously or not, like testing the waters with Shawna, or trying to see if any of it would scare her off. Like, her going, if this room is to much of a mess for Shawna then so am I and she deserves better then that. And that's what brought on the crying and what Scarlet realized maybe, she was saying all these things, basically about herself and what a mess she is, but Shawna didn't run away or leave, or find any of it to much, she just stayed positive and sweet and Cass' emotions couldn't handle that, hence crying.

[ziggy78eog]

I think Scarlet is about to explode in a mass of glitter, and rainbows. Or, glittery rainbows; so hard to tell, at this stage. Unfortunately, there is going to be a sad component to this, and that is Hiroshi; that should be Wedsnessday's strip. Where Scarlet is all happy, Hiroshi, who also saw this, is at the very least, bitter-sweet about the situation. Hopefully he can still be friends with the both of them.

[TheCollector]

I think Scarlet is about to explode in a mass of glitter, and rainbows. Or, glittery rainbows; so hard to tell, at this stage. Unfortunately, there is going to be a sad component to this, and that is Hiroshi; that should be Wedsnessday's strip. Where Scarlet is all happy, Hiroshi, who also saw this, is at the very least, bitter-sweet about the situation. Hopefully he can still be friends with the both of them.

I kinda doubt it. I mean Hiroshi has never been all enthusiastic about either of them romantically wise. I mean he pretty much only made that date with Shawna cause she wanted it. He doesn't really seem to comprehend a number of things as we've seen. So I don't think there will be any hard feelings there.

[FreeFlier]

He's a teenage boy. He'll have hard feelings . . . though he doesn't seem the type to carry a grudge.

--FreeFlier

[Dave]

He's a teenage boy. He'll have hard feelings . . . though he doesn't seem the type to carry a grudge.

I'm not entirely sure whether that particular bit of wordplay requires you to make a donation to the Pun Jar, FreeFlier.

Perhaps you should contribute to Hiroshi's condominium fund?

[Thor]

I wonder if Shawna knows just what shes about to get into?

Looks like she might get into a bit of a Pickle.

[TazManiac]

There's Sweet Pickle & then there is Sour Pickle- hard to know which one comes out of the jar...

[Opus the Poet]

He's a teenage boy. He'll have hard feelings . . . though he doesn't seem the type to carry a grudge.

--FreeFlier

His ex literally turned him into a butterfly, I think he'll see any kind of breakup that leaves him with all the same type and number of body parts going out he came in with as a success.

[GlytchMeister]

“New teeth! That’s weird...”

[FreeFlier]

He's a teenage boy. He'll have hard feelings . . . though he doesn't seem the type to carry a grudge.

I'm not entirely sure whether that particular bit of wordplay requires you to make a donation to the Pun Jar, FreeFlier. . . .

It's a double entendre, not a pun.

. . . Perhaps you should contribute to Hiroshi's condominium fund?

That, OTOH . . .

--FreeFlier

[TheCollector]

Oh hey, bit of remembrance from the sleepover arc, but Cas is a very lucky girl considering what Shawna wears to bed, lol
I could have probably worded that better but you get what I'm saying.

[Bookworm]

That hurt this one's ears.

. . . Canids can hear you on Maui when you do that . . . possibly on Mars.

Indeed. I think it set off an avalanche.

--FreeFlier

On Io.

[Akeche]

He's a teenage boy. He'll have hard feelings . . . though he doesn't seem the type to carry a grudge.

--FreeFlier

His ex literally turned him into a butterfly, I think he'll see any kind of breakup that leaves him with all the same type and number of body parts going out he came in with as a success.

See, his ex being a vengeful fae is why I was rooting for the Castela x Hiroshi relationship. The odd dynamic of him having fae blood as well (I guess he's an elf, maybe?) and Castela literally being partly made of something created to kill Fae would have been an interesting angle on top of the relationship.

What we're getting is... Okay? I've sort of resigned that Paul has made it clear, male main characters don't have a place in the comic and are at best a springboard for the same-sex relationships for the girls/ladies in the comic.

[Thor]

I've sort of resigned that Paul has made it clear, male main characters don't have a place in the comic and are at best a springboard for the same-sex relationships for the girls/ladies in the comic.

You make that sound like that's something other than the very best thing we all know it to be.

[Akeche]

I've sort of resigned that Paul has made it clear, male main characters don't have a place in the comic and are at best a springboard for the same-sex relationships for the girls/ladies in the comic.

You make that sound like that's something other than the very best thing we all know it to be.

It kind of stops being such when it's happened two, possibly three times already.

And no, male characters having no real place in the story is not a good thing. Whatsoever. There is a reason that a running joke about male characters being put on the bus exists, after all. The comic has always had a focus on women, but as its progressed it almost seems like men are either hand-waved away and not even in the background. Or worse, their only appearances are as foils or "villains".

[TheCollector]

I've sort of resigned that Paul has made it clear, male main characters don't have a place in the comic and are at best a springboard for the same-sex relationships for the girls/ladies in the comic.

You make that sound like that's something other than the very best thing we all know it to be.

It kind of stops being such when it's happened two, possibly three times already.

And no, male characters having no real place in the story is not a good thing. Whatsoever. There is a reason that a running joke about male characters being put on the bus exists, after all. The comic has always had a focus on women, but as its progressed it almost seems like men are either hand-waved away and not even in the background. Or worse, their only appearances are as foils or "villains".

Oh and that's so different from the countless shows and comics and pretty much everything in the world of media where there's maybe one or two female characters and several dozen men.

Or the numerous wlw relationships that are just used as a bit of queer baiting before having replacing them with the wlm endgame romance. Which just off the top of my head happened in Bones when despite saying Angela was her only muse Roxy broke up with her after a month, leading to the eventual Angela/Hodgens endgame. Or The 100 where they killed off Lexa for pointless shock value in the same exact episode where she and Clarke finally got together. Or most recently, The Purge series, where despite the wlw relationship being loving, and the wlm relationship being toxic where the man doesn't trust the woman and is constantly suspicious of what she's doing, they end up having the one woman kill the other cause apparently she loves the guy more even though the show thus far basically showed the exact opposite.

So yeah, you're literally complaining about something being done to often in one of the FEW things that actually does it when everything else does the opposite.

[Akeche]

I'm not familiar with any of your examples, and it should not feel like an offense that I'm personally frustrated over something about a comic I've been reading for, well, fifteen years. I am unconcerned with what other media does whether they're webcomics, comic books, movies or tv shows.

I am allowed to make the rather obvious observation mentioned in my post. The comic started already with a woman focused cast of characters, with either a guy friend or boyfriend here or there as the story progressed. You seem to be reading something in my words that isn't there. I'm not complaining that the themes of the comic should be flipped to be male focused, what I'm complaining about is we've gotten to the point where male characters are basically window dressing at best, or less than that. I cannot even entirely recall whether Gryphon High has any male faculty at this point, even.

Edit: So I dug through all the pages labeled with the school. One male faculty member and he was a temp so never seen again. As for students, there was at least six boys way back when Atsali was still attending and this includes the boy she dated once who turned out to be gay. Other than their single appearance, we never really see any of them again except for one, named Boz and then we only see him twice.

Obviously Timmy has been there since forever, but that didn't help Owen or Daren. We have been introduced to both Hiroshi and Mohan, but I am not confident about either of them being present much.

If I'm honest? This might just be more of a critique of Paul's method of storytelling in the end. The characters are there, but we'll either never see them again or it takes ages for it to happen. This is a critique which can be applied to most characters in the comic, honestly. I feel like the school years for Atsali were very rapidly skipped through and I would be surprised if after Castela and Shawna hook up we don't have another major time skip to her rebellious punk phase.

[ziggy78eog]

He's a teenage boy. He'll have hard feelings . . . though he doesn't seem the type to carry a grudge.

--FreeFlier

His ex literally turned him into a butterfly, I think he'll see any kind of breakup that leaves him with all the same type and number of body parts going out he came in with as a success.

See, his ex being a vengeful fae is why I was rooting for the Castela x Hiroshi relationship. The odd dynamic of him having fae blood as well (I guess he's an elf, maybe?) and Castela literally being partly made of something created to kill Fae would have been an interesting angle on top of the relationship.

What we're getting is... Okay? I've sort of resigned that Paul has made it clear, male main characters don't have a place in the comic and are at best a springboard for the same-sex relationships for the girls/ladies in the comic.

So long as you ignore the already established hetro couples;
- Jin/Alan
- Owen/Lakshimi
- Bud/Kevin
- Daylla/Mohan
- Daylla (AU)/Dustin (AU)
- Scarlet/Timothy

Just because they are not front and center of every story arc, does not mean that they do not have a place in the Comic. You need to get over this, right quick.

[Akeche]

His ex literally turned him into a butterfly, I think he'll see any kind of breakup that leaves him with all the same type and number of body parts going out he came in with as a success.

See, his ex being a vengeful fae is why I was rooting for the Castela x Hiroshi relationship. The odd dynamic of him having fae blood as well (I guess he's an elf, maybe?) and Castela literally being partly made of something created to kill Fae would have been an interesting angle on top of the relationship.

What we're getting is... Okay? I've sort of resigned that Paul has made it clear, male main characters don't have a place in the comic and are at best a springboard for the same-sex relationships for the girls/ladies in the comic.

So long as you ignore the already established hetro couples;
- Jin/Alan
- Owen/Lakshimi
- Bud/Kevin
- Daylla/Mohan
- Daylla (AU)/Dustin (AU)
- Scarlet/Timothy

Just because they are not front and center of every story arc, does not mean that they do not have a place in the Comic. You need to get over this, right quick.

I will get over it on my own time, or not at all. Thank you.

As for your examples... Alan has not been seen in the comic since 2011, Jin hasn't been seen since 2016. Owen and Lakshmi... well, there is the source of the Bus Joke. Both last seen in 2005. Kevin has been out of the picture since 2016, Bud has been vaguely there as one of Castela's mentors. We've seen Mohan in two pages back to back, I am not yet convinced of a relationship. I had to look this one up, the AU Timmy? Might not ever see that stuff again. And yes, Timmy's been around for a long time.

With the edit I'd made above, as I mentioned, perhaps the feeling is that we're just not seeing much of a lot of people. But that it can especially feel barren for male cast who already were seldom seen. I'm not going to lie I was never much for the sudden change to High School Misadventures and for a long while there I thought we'd never see Monica ever again either.

Edit: I think my point has some merit because we both didn't even think about Shelly/Justin.

[ziggy78eog]

See, his ex being a vengeful fae is why I was rooting for the Castela x Hiroshi relationship. The odd dynamic of him having fae blood as well (I guess he's an elf, maybe?) and Castela literally being partly made of something created to kill Fae would have been an interesting angle on top of the relationship.

What we're getting is... Okay? I've sort of resigned that Paul has made it clear, male main characters don't have a place in the comic and are at best a springboard for the same-sex relationships for the girls/ladies in the comic.

So long as you ignore the already established hetro couples;
- Jin/Alan
- Owen/Lakshimi
- Bud/Kevin
- Daylla/Mohan
- Daylla (AU)/Dustin (AU)
- Scarlet/Timothy

Just because they are not front and center of every story arc, does not mean that they do not have a place in the Comic. You need to get over this, right quick.

I will get over it on my own time, or not at all. Thank you.

As for your examples... Alan has not been seen in the comic since 2011, Jin hasn't been seen since 2016. Owen and Lakshmi... well, there is the source of the Bus Joke. Both last seen in 2005. Kevin has been out of the picture since 2016, Bud has been vaguely there as one of Castela's mentors. We've seen Mohan in two pages back to back, I am not yet convinced of a relationship. I had to look this one up, the AU Timmy? Might not ever see that stuff again. And yes, Timmy's been around for a long time.

With the edit I'd made above, as I mentioned, perhaps the feeling is that we're just not seeing much of a lot of people. But that it can especially feel barren for male cast who already were seldom seen. I'm not going to lie I was never much for the sudden change to High School Misadventures and for a long while there I thought we'd never see Monica ever again either.

Edit: I think my point has some merit because we both didn't even think about Shelly/Justin.

You point has about as much merit as those who complained about Jane Foster as Thor, or Miles Morales as Spiderman, or Kathy Kane's coming out as a Lesbian. In other words, hardly any. It is about representation, and giving a voice to groups who have been largely ignored, for decades. I for one am GLADD (see what I did there) that these groups are finally having their stories, as it enriches the genre, as a whole. Gone are the days where only one view point of world (male dominated same sex couple) is the sole voice in our media.