More Complicated 2015-03-10

[shadowinthelight]

and a head-fake by a webcartoonist is nearly a truism.

Of course Pablo would never do that.

[Gyrrakavian]

Well, it seems that ship is sinking (if it hasn't already sunk).

[Jay-Em]

...someone got friendzoned, me thinks.

Or, a more convoluted solution to Naddie's crying: she got posesssed by one of the lab-inhabitants' spirits, hence her knowledge about the way to escape- and that posessive spirit is -finally- able to express her grief about completely losing her people,her society, her everything...
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.
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Nâh. Getting Friendzoned is more than enough reason to sob, clutching one's knees. The unfairness of love, life and reality can be pretty overwhelming.

It's sour for Naddie, but if someone, Sali in this case, is infatuated with someone else (satyr-boy, or whatever legendary creature he is) even trúly liking and being in love with that someone isn't going to help. We've all been there, especially when confronted with those "feelings" for the first time. There's a reason I prefer being single
Added to that, being a seer has -probably- shown Naddie that there was no future in that aspect for her and Sali. I wouldn't be surprised that Naddie has-indeed- seen this precise outcome.

Think about the desperation you would experience, if you "see" something about something very sensitive an personal, and thàt what you saw materializes exàctly the way you saw it, and knówing it's going to be like that for the rest of your life...... *shiver*.

There's a reason that seers of legend, are -more often than not- absolute recluses, and a tad loopy.

And Atsali? Well, to me it seems pretty clear that she's as clueless as it gets.

[Akeche]

(insert epic takedown of Jacob here)

Dude, are you a lawyer or something? because the spin is strong with you.

You presented your case, backed it up with evidence, and compared said evidence to another situation, all in the name of obliterating poor little Jacob.

Jeebus.

(Also: WOO! Post # 200!)

Do keep in mind that Thor had a hate-boner for Jacob the second he saw the poor kid, I still can't understand why. As for the comparison between Atsali's first appearance and Jacob's... entirely unfair. Atsali was meant to be a new foundation to the cast, albeit probably not intended as the replacement main character after Monica's relationship breakdown. Unless Paul decides to pull an Owen with him and actually make Jacob another member of the new Main Cast, he'll just be window dressing anyway.

Of course Pablo would never do that.

This still annoys me.

[eee]

Oh dear. As Bilbo said once, "Don't adventures ever have an end?"

[zachariah]

I am disappointed in Kathy though.

"Your daughter deliberately avoided MIB and put both of them in deadly danger, which they managed to escape only because they rode the outside of a rocket launched out of the complex. When the rocket failed, and self destructed, they jumped off the side and Sali flew them to the earth. Luckily they escaped physical injury but not by very much. The entire complex was reduced to a pool of lava as they escaped and fled an antimatter explosion."

If I was told that my kid had done that it would not have been shrugged off by saying I guess I'm a bad example! Being a bad example is no excuse for this level of unthinking behavior. This makes it seem like Kathy is not worried that Sali can do something get herself killed; and if she does, no biggie.

[zachariah]

Nadette is crying because she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Or would that be with her hands on the cookie jar?

Drops some oreo's in the pun jar.

[Warrl]

Nadette started getting interested in Atsali and got a vision telling her that she'd get to completely wrap herself around the siren, touching all the intimate areas, no clothing in the way.

She assumed sexy times as part of a successful romance.

But now she realizes it has already happened, and there wasn't any romance.

[DilyV]

Nadette is crying because she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Or would that be with her hands on the cookie jar?

Drops some oreo's in the pun jar.

Legs and Arms and feet and fingers and toes...

Atsali: "Your so cute I wanna wear you like a suit, yeah you look pretty good on me..." hehehe

This...

[Grantwhy]

random questions:

1) is Atsali in the first panel looking a little more 'blank' than usual? Zoned out? Processing data = blank face? other?

2) what does Lily mean by "zero personal collateral"? (zero personal collateral damage? = Atsali didn't get hurt?)

3) third panel has Nadette with no background. Does this mean Nadette has withdrawn into her mind/'sear zone' and is crying there?

4) while Katherine is much better at interacting with people, does the way she is leaning back suggests she's not 100% comfortable with people getting into her 'personal space'? (while worrying about those important to her)

and, at a guess,

There are a few reasons that Nadette is crying...

2. She's decompressing after the stone tape running though her. She saw the tragic end of at least one Ethetian... Now she has time to think about that and it's affecting her the way the loss of the entire civilization affected Atsali. Reason: Sense of senseless loss.

while it's not as bad as Atsali (having the madness/grief of a civilisation worth of minds running through her's ) I suspect it's worse than 'senseless loss' that for Nadette.

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/happening-right-now/

Nadette was not looking at past events through the eyes of someone who was there, Nadette was seeing (and feeling and acting) as if she *was* that person (perhaps the senator?)

Even with Nadette being focused back in the "now", with the memories/emotions of the person she was channelling (for want of a better word), it's not the loss of *a* civilisation she is feeling, it is the loss of *her* civilisation and whatever (the senator's?) guilt she might have.

and that makes me hope I'm wrong and it's 'just' a broken heart from being 'friendzoned'
(but, with her 'knowledge' of Atsali & Jacob's non-romantic future, and how that 'helps' Jacob you'd think she would know enough about Atsali's future to know if friendzoning was in her future?)

[Dave]

random questions:2) what does Lily mean by "zero personal collateral"? (zero personal collateral damage? = Atsali didn't get hurt?)

"Collateral" means "tangible physical property". I'm thinking Lily is saying "She got out of the situation, but lost absolutely everything she had with her, including all of her clothes right down to her underwear. She just barely escaped with her skin intact."

[jwhouk]

Of course Pablo would never do that.

This still annoys me.

And the story arc before this one sure as hell didn't help, did it?

[jwhouk]

Nadette started getting interested in Atsali and got a vision telling her that she'd get to completely wrap herself around the siren, touching all the intimate areas, no clothing in the way.

She assumed sexy times as part of a successful romance.

But now she realizes it has already happened, and there wasn't any romance.

The curse of being a seer. Yeah, you see things - but not everything.

[Dave]

Do keep in mind that Thor had a hate-boner for Jacob the second he saw the poor kid, I still can't understand why.

Thor seems to have expressed a dislike for Jacob's very existence as a character in Wapsi Square, dating back to well before Jacob ever appeared in person.

I won't try to guess the underlying causes of Thor's dislike for Jacob, other than to say I think Thor would win the award for "Reader most likely to express a negative interpretation for every possible thing that Jacob might do, say, not do, not say, be, not be, look like, or wear."

(I'm not sure what the award would be. Maybe a small, withered bunch of sour grapes?)

[lake_wrangler]

I am disappointed in Kathy though.

"Your daughter deliberately avoided MIB and put both of them in deadly danger, which they managed to escape only because they rode the outside of a rocket launched out of the complex. When the rocket failed, and self destructed, they jumped off the side and Sali flew them to the earth. Luckily they escaped physical injury but not by very much. The entire complex was reduced to a pool of lava as they escaped and fled an antimatter explosion."

If I was told that my kid had done that it would not have been shrugged off by saying I guess I'm a bad example! Being a bad example is no excuse for this level of unthinking behavior. This makes it seem like Kathy is not worried that Sali can do something get herself killed; and if she does, no biggie.

I think that if Katherine had been told things in those words, she would indeed be reacting differently... But Lily is apparently deliberately glossing over a lot of stuff, to keep it tame. "Neutralize a thread, in a manner of speaking?" That's the understatement of the year... or is it the understatement of 6 millenia or so?

It looks to me like Lily is playing down the seriousness and the severity of what took place. I wouldn't be surprised if it is to spare her daughter some emotional stress, since there's nothing she can do about it now.

I can't help but wonder, though, if aside from her initial adventure with Atsali, Katherine has done anything else that would warrant her statement about being a poor role model. Although technically, there is some form of precedent for that kind of seeming detachment: "*sigh* Worst. Mom. Ever." I think Katherine is still learning how to be a parent, and maybe too easily blaming herself when something happens/goes wrong. She has mastered certain aspects of parenting. But she used to be such a recluse, she may still see herself as not quite up to the task.

So without enough details from Lily to realized how close to danger Atsali really was, it's probably not very far-fetched for her to blame herself for not being the parent she needs to be, rather than be worried about what might have happened to Atsali.

[Akeche]

Nadette started getting interested in Atsali and got a vision telling her that she'd get to completely wrap herself around the siren, touching all the intimate areas, no clothing in the way.

She assumed sexy times as part of a successful romance.

But now she realizes it has already happened, and there wasn't any romance.

Yeah this seems far more likely, given how her visions probably work out. Nothing is exact, and so she can simply... assume things.

Of course Pablo would never do that.

This still annoys me.

And the story arc before this one sure as hell didn't help, did it?

It didn't, no. I can understand some people disagreeing with me, but I just don't see the Monica/Jet relationship as being neither stable nor healthy. In the end, someone is going to get burned badly there and I'm doubting it's the curly haired model.

[Thor]

Do keep in mind that Thor had a hate-boner for Jacob the second he saw the poor kid, I still can't understand why.

Thor seems to have expressed a dislike for Jacob's very existence as a character in Wapsi Square, dating back to well before Jacob ever appeared in person.

I won't try to guess the underlying causes of Thor's dislike for Jacob, other than to say I think Thor would win the award for "Reader most likely to express a negative interpretation for every possible thing that Jacob might do, say, not do, not say, be, not be, look like, or wear."

(I'm not sure what the award would be. Maybe a small, withered bunch of sour grapes?)

Dudes, that's ancient history. As of now, I made an off-hand remark in passing, then I was asked to elaborate, so I did. If you two want to continue to slag me, go ahead, knock yourselves out. I won't even fight back.

[Dave]

Now the question is, why is Nadette crying? It could be because Atsali flipped out on her, or because Atsali said "I don't like you like that"....

I'm sorta suspecting that it's the other way around. It could be a crisis of conscience.

A lot of what Lily said to Nadette was rather accusatory... basically, "Young lady, you have been taking improper liberties with my grand-daughter." It's possible that Nadette has been thinking this over, and reviewing her behavior towards Atsali... and now agrees with Lily.

Nadette may have allowed her personal desires towards Atsali, to overstep what she now feels was right. She may feel that she violated the bounds of Atsali's friendship, took advantage of her youth and relative innocence, and betrayed her trust.

She may feel that she hasn't just lost a (potential) romantic partner, but has ruined a friendship with someone for whom she clearly cares a lot.

That would certainly be cause for misery and tears. Or, as Cricket said about her own actions, "I fucked up! I fucked up bad!"

[Mark N]

The first panel makes me think that whatever is happening it is not anything that upset Atsali, she seems to be oblivious to anything being wrong. It has to be something that is affecting Nadette directly. It could be emotional backwash from her merger with the dead Senator or the realization that she may have just taken advantage of her friend by manipulating her into shredding her clothes and having to wear her as a bodysuit or even a mixture of the two.

[Thor]

Now the question is, why is Nadette crying? It could be because Atsali flipped out on her, or because Atsali said "I don't like you like that"....

I'm sorta suspecting that it's the other way around. It could be a crisis of conscience.

A lot of what Lily said to Nadette was rather accusatory... basically, "Young lady, you have been taking improper liberties with my grand-daughter." It's possible that Nadette has been thinking this over, and reviewing her behavior towards Atsali... and now agrees with Lily.

Nadette may have allowed her personal desires towards Atsali, to overstep what she now feels was right. She may feel that she violated the bounds of Atsali's friendship, took advantage of her youth and relative innocence, and betrayed her trust.

She may feel that she hasn't just lost a (potential) romantic partner, but has ruined a friendship with someone for whom she clearly cares a lot.

That would certainly be cause for misery and tears. Or, as Cricket said about her own actions, "I fucked up! I fucked up bad!"

I like your hypothesis. It feels right for some reason. It would also explain Atsali's no-real-expression face if when they got back, Nadette just ran off suddenly. Atsali might have been oblivious to how Nadette was acting toward Lily's accusations, but Lily might have caught it (having instigated it). It's still tremendously hard to say one way or the other, because it feels like Mr. Taylor has gone out of his way to not give the audience the information that it wants.

Oh well, we'll find out in about 5 hours . . . hopefully.