Wapsi Square Forum

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/only-individual/

Only Pickle, huh? Interesting.

Edit:
Still wondering about my guess of Social-Emotional Agnosia. Maybe just a slight form of it?

Well, you have to keep on your toes around the little skunk cabbage.

Aunt Monica looks happy... Pickle's smile is extremely infectious...

Is Castela different enough that she gets around Atsali's face reading deficit? Does she give off other pheromone/psychic/ect signals that help Atsali make the connection? So many possibilities with a unique Whatsit.

At least Pickle and aunty (M? Bud?) are enjoying the day at the pool.

Poor Atsali.

Opus the Poet wrote:At least Pickle and aunty (M? Bud?) are enjoying the day at the pool.

It's Mon. Bud is wearing black.

This makes it seem like Atsali has some other sort of neural deficit rather than autism. She doesn't really display any other autism signs, and if she was as much of a high-functioning autist as she seems to be, practicing would have helped. Prosopagnosia can't be it, as she can recognize people, but perhaps there's some variant or other sensory disorder. Magic is also on the field, so it's possible all bets are off (a wizard did it).

Cheesy1 wrote:Still wondering about my guess of Social-Emotional Agnosia. Maybe just a slight form of it?

That does sound like the best human match for what Atsali is showing. I am betting she got hit with a double whammy for being a hybrid and is worse off than she would have been were she either a full blooded siren or succubus.

MerchManDan wrote:

Opus the Poet wrote:At least Pickle and aunty (M? Bud?) are enjoying the day at the pool.

It's Mon. Bud is wearing black.

… are you joking?

… or did the art change before I got around to it?

At least my question about Sali being able to read Pickle got answered. lol.

This makes sense if this is a conserved trait for sirens. Not being able to read expressions or facial ques means they will not be letting prey go just because they look terrified. Even soft hearted sirens need to eat! Its a way to turn a mental malfunction into an asset.

elanora wrote:This makes it seem like Atsali has some other sort of neural deficit rather than autism. She doesn't really display any other autism signs, and if she was as much of a high-functioning autist as she seems to be, practicing would have helped. Prosopagnosia can't be it, as she can recognize people, but perhaps there's some variant or other sensory disorder. Magic is also on the field, so it's possible all bets are off (a wizard did it).

Hence my bringing up practicing expressions yesterday

At this point, only Paul knows for sure

Sidhekin wrote:

MerchManDan wrote:

Opus the Poet wrote:At least Pickle and aunty (M? Bud?) are enjoying the day at the pool.

It's Mon. Bud is wearing black.

… are you joking?

… or did the art change before I got around to it?

Monica also has her hair in a ponytail while Bud's hair is let down.

Also, there's also the size difference between the two. Mon is way closer to Pickle's height.

From my view that's the final clue that is is a trait of either the siren or the succubus or both. I would bet on it being a siren trait though myself since it is cannon that her song does not effect anyone she loves. So it would make sense that they could read family members as well since those are the only ones that are not in the food category.

oldmanmickey wrote:From my view that's the final clue that is is a trait of either the siren or the succubus or both. I would bet on it being a siren trait though myself since it is cannon that her song does not effect anyone she loves. So it would make sense that they could read family members as well since those are the only ones that are not in the food category.

... so if she cannot read your face... you're toast... or breakfast...

AHA!!! If she cannot read your face, her song will affect you... but if she CAN read your face, her song has no affect?

Yep, we have officially reached "that point" in the comic.

Even the fans don't recognize the MAIN CHARACTER anymore.

shadowinthelight wrote:

Cheesy1 wrote:Still wondering about my guess of Social-Emotional Agnosia. Maybe just a slight form of it?

That does sound like the best human match for what Atsali is showing. I am betting she got hit with a double whammy for being a hybrid and is worse off than she would have been were she either a full blooded siren or succubus.

The incubus/succubus in her probably had an "unintended consequence" of ramping up her siren abilities - thus "needing a bra by morning" and "clueless about reading people's faces."

jwhouk wrote:Yep, we have officially reached "that point" in the comic.

Even the fans don't recognize the MAIN CHARACTER anymore.

I was trying to not say anything, but how could anyone mistake Monica for Bud when other than Atsali she's the bustiest character in the comic?

Sgt. Howard wrote:

oldmanmickey wrote:From my view that's the final clue that is is a trait of either the siren or the succubus or both. I would bet on it being a siren trait though myself since it is cannon that her song does not effect anyone she loves. So it would make sense that they could read family members as well since those are the only ones that are not in the food category.

... so if she cannot read your face... you're toast... or breakfast...

AHA!!! If she cannot read your face, her song will affect you... but if she CAN read your face, her song has no affect?

thats my line of thinking yes.

For me the jury is still out on what her particular disability is, I've reread the archive from her introduction till today, and I can't really tell 100%.

It could be some form of Autism (Aspergers/High Functioning in particular) but since every case is different it's hard to tell, mostly because we haven't seen all aspects of her personal life that would help to identify it.

From what I've learned myself about me, and what I've been told by my therapist about other Aspergers cases, there are some indicators, like her having trouble with reading facial expressions and body language, her somewhat odd formal way of speaking, even the fact that she can only "read" Castela, I for instance can only read my parents really, and that's because I spent the most time with them, the same could go for her with Castela.

But like I said, I don't want to nail it down just to those factors, Aspergers differs from person to person, for instance, because of the inability to read facial expressions most become unsure and introverted around strangers, often not facing them, looking at the floor or over the shoulder of the person they are having a conversation with, not actively participating in conversations, but there are also some who actually talk up a storm to a perfect stranger, my therapist told me about an other client of hers who just started conversations with total strangers over how his day went, whether they were interested or not, and because he couldn't read facial expressions and body language, he couldn't tell people were not interested in what he had to say till they actually said so verbally.

I also am missing some clear tells, like the limited amount of interests that most, if not all, aspies have, but that might be because we haven't seen all of her life and hobbies/interests, also things like how scheduled or not her life is, us Aspies tend to live the day by a very set mental schedule.(note: tend to)

And finally, I don't want to say it's this or that disorder, because Atsali is 16 year old fictional incubus-siren hybrid girl, I'm a 34 year old normal human guy, not everything applies, I have poor understanding of what girls go trough in their teens, so everything I thought that pertained to that was left out of my analysis.
My own Aspergers was identified when I was 31 years old, now while looking back it did explain a great deal about me, and why I'm the way I am and not more "normal" , but hell if I know everything from my teens and what odd thing could be pointed out as particularly Aspergers, or just being an hormonal teen, only the really clearly big things stand out as "ya that's probably Aspergers, and that's probably normal odd teen", so even my own understanding of myself during my teens is vague at best.

One wonders if Sali has told Kath this kind of important interaction information. "Mom, I can't read your expressions so if you're giving me the death glare I can't decipher it." Which would force Kath to be very clear verbally with Sali, which is good thing when dealing with Parent to Teen communication.

Also the signing not affecting people isn't "the ones I love", but "the ones that love me." Sali has no say in who her song does and does not work on. If they already love (strong positive feelings for) her the song doesn't work. If they don't love her, the song makes them. It's why daddy-Sali and mommy-Sali hooked up, cause daddy-Sali was immune to the song which meant he was already in love with mommy-Sali. I'd be fairly sure Kath is immune, given how strongly she felt/feels for Sali (strongly enough to adopt a strange teenage paranormal bird girl). Not that Sali is going to put that to the test.

DilyV wrote:Aunt Monica looks happy... Pickle's smile is extremely infectious...

Happy children are infectious. Especially when you let yourself go and just enjoy the moment of them living the moment.