Questionable Content 14: "I Deserve A Fancy Butt Emblem."

[Max_Killjoy]

And that sounds like when you say "discuss whether it actually was," you mean "unanimously agree that the r-word shouldn't be used without the permission of someone who is definitionally not here."

No, it means that we aren't the ones who decide where the line is from thread to thread here, and I'm not going to risk accidentally crossing it.

(That is, I think it's an objective question, and that we COULD discuss it, but the question is whether in this particular venue we'd be able to discuss it.)

[Mith]

Are you wearing purple and claiming land in the name of King George each time you park your car?

QC had already had something about exotic third generation Steve's girlfriend. From my point of view asking about provenance is a fairly normal thing to do, if there is an accent. If there is no accent, then that person has probably grown in the same land as you, and there is little reason to ask immediately. It will probably come up later, though.

Of course, this guy was evidently objectifying Brun, and hitting on her while in his hookup's presence, who also seems to be very protective of Brun, while possibly doing a more or less deliberate parody of how Renee and him ended up there.

I am not so sure that he was oblivious to what he was doing. Some people do enjoy causing displays of jealousy/irritation, if they are a display of interest towards them.

I do agree that audio is different from visual here, but it's still a bit of an eyeroll at times when you know that the actual natives of the those lands in question do not sound like you.

Also, I drive around in Canada. The Immortal Queen Elizabeth already owns this land.

This isn't to say I am not guilty of asking such questions. But I'm always interested in collecting stories, and stories through family lines can end up being really cool.

That being said, this is all far removed from the actual situation in the comic of hitting on someone because they are exotic.

[Fawkes]

And that sounds like when you say "discuss whether it actually was," you mean "unanimously agree that the r-word shouldn't be used without the permission of someone who is definitionally not here."

In fairness to Max, he's correct that I am not qualified to make that judgment, but I believe the line has been well-established by this point.

[eee]

I don't know, there seemed to be real chemistry between Brun and Palmer, I'm sure he'll be back.

Hopefully not as a stalker.

Philbert: "Come on, baby, didn't you feel the attraction between us?"

Brun: "Who are you?"

[Vinyadan]

Hopefully not as a stalker.

Philbert: "Come on, baby, didn't you feel the attraction between us?"

Brun: "Who are you?"

"I am you, but weirder."

[Coretron03]

This whole exotic thing sounded famliar to me, so I did a quick look through earlier comics. Meena (Otherwise known as Morgue chick, briefly dated Steve, suddenly married someone) was talking about someone who refered to her as exotic. So the whole thing seems like a huge call back to 822 https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=822

That or its a conincidence but its probably intentional.

[Kish]

Exoticizing is well-known enough that I think it's really unlikely Jeph meant the second instance of it in his comic to be an explicit reference to the first.

[Traab]

Exoticizing is well-known enough that I think it's really unlikely Jeph meant the second instance of it in his comic to be an explicit reference to the first.

Agreed, I wouldnt be surprised if he actually forgot all about that first occurrence. I mean its been 34 years since that comic was written.

[Max_Killjoy]

I misread the comic the first time, and didn't catch that he was hitting on Brun.

Renee's reaction might be as much from the fact that he was just there sleeping with her and now he's putting moves on Brun (I'm no expert on hookup culture, but still seems quite jerky to me), and her rather marked protective streak when it comes to Brun, as it is to that specific question.

[Keltest]

Meh. Even setting aside Renee being generally obnoxious, I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who get burned on random internet hookups.

[mucat]

Meh. Even setting aside Renee being generally obnoxious, I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who get burned on random internet hookups.

Thank you. I was actually wondering just that: "Who does Keltest lack sympathy for, despite the fact that they're not actually, y'know, harming anyone?"

[Shadow of the Sun]

Eh, sometimes you just want to get laid without having too much of an emotional thing. I feel like internet hookups are fine.

I just can't get any myself. :P

[Morquard]

Gotta say as much as I dislike Renee, she was doing alright in this one.

[Vinyadan]

I don't get this page. It's just Renee retelling what happened the previous page.

[Kish]

Brun doesn't understand basic, obvious things without having them spelled out for her. That's at least 30% of the humor involving her.

[John Cribati]

Brun doesn't understand basic, obvious things without having them spelled out for her.

That is simplified to the point that it's inaccurate and offensive.

Brun has difficulty parsing most social situations. This is one that she's never encountered before. She wanted to know exactly what Pumpernickel did to make Renee respond the way that she did.

[Kish]

Oh, was "you need insurance for your business" a social situation?

I stand by my phrasing; it's not inaccurate, and for "offensive," I can only guess you're thinking Brun maps to some specific group of real-world people, which you'll need to spell out.

[Cazero]

Brun doesn't understand basic, obvious things without having them spelled out for her. That's at least 30% of the humor involving her.

It's still not clear what happened.
Was Pavel honestly hitting on Brun without thinking it would cause issues since Renee is "only an internet hookup", trying to burn bridges with Renee to never see her again for some reason (unles she's as terrible in bed as she is as a person, it seems like a pointlessly stupid thing to do with your internet hookups), or making a piss poor joke like he claimed to? Nobody knows.

[Wraith]

It's still not clear what happened.
Was Pavel honestly hitting on Brun without thinking it would cause issues since Renee is "only an internet hookup", trying to burn bridges with Renee to never see her again for some reason (unless she's as terrible in bed as she is as a person, it seems like a pointlessly stupid thing to do with your internet hookups), or making a piss poor joke like he claimed to? Nobody knows.

This is one of the things about Renee that I wish Jeph would elaborate on, or even just outright clarify.

She is clearly protective of Brun. She knows that Brun has difficulty in social situations, especially ones that involve interacting with strangers and/or under stressful situations, so she (often proactively) intervenes to prevent any threat to her friend's well-being. Good on her, that's fine.

At the same time, she's also quite happy to know this and also have semi-naked strangers wandering around the apartment without even so much as warning Brun that they are there until she walks in on them in the bathroom. Even with room-mates who do not have social anxiety or similar disabilities, its good manners to leave out a sign that there's company over; the metaphorical hat hanging from a doorknob or something.

In this case, Renee's protectiveness of Brun only reared when the guy ceased paying attention to her after their casual hook-up and started paying attention to Brun. Though his attempts were clumsy and not reciprocated, that came across to me more as Renee's jealousy than genuine concern, taking offence on Brun's behalf and deciding for her that she wasn't allowed to do the thing that Renee had just done (ie, a one-and-done encounter with a jackass).

I think that Jeph is going for a character who is slightly too protective of her friend, but her otherwise horrible attitude and hedonistic tendencies actually appear to be more manipulative than benevolent. Either interpretation would be fine traits for a character, but treading the line between the two makes her look only like an unpleasant hypocrite.

Hell, have her just be a hypocrite. Doing what she pleases and telling Brun otherwise; That is also a perfectly reasonable characterisation, if it gives everyone something to bounce off. Having her flip uncertainly between 'protective friend' and 'meddling jerk' just makes it looks like a toxic relationship.

[Shadow of the Sun]

Oh, was "you need insurance for your business" a social situation?

I stand by my phrasing; it's not inaccurate, and for "offensive," I can only guess you're thinking Brun maps to some specific group of real-world people, which you'll need to spell out.

Brun is kind of obviously autistic. As an actually diagnosed high-functioning autist, I like her because she actually seems like a character that has had some thought put into her.

The "renter's insurance" thing is dumb, but I feel like that's more of a Jeph problem than a Brun problem.

[Kish]

That's very much not my impression of her (and I think your second sentence contradicts your first one), but I don't want to be offensive to autistic people, so I'll refrain from talking about Brun in the future.

[Wraith]

Brun is kind of obviously autistic. As an actually diagnosed high-functioning autist, I like her because she actually seems like a character that has had some thought put into her.

With respect, I think Jeph has very wisely refrained from stating specifically what her issues are. While autism seems like it would be a likely diagnosis, there's a variety of different issues that could also apply and it's smart of Jeph to imply them rather than to just make her into a deliberate stereotype.

[Shadow of the Sun]

With respect, I think Jeph has very wisely refrained from stating specifically what her issues are. While autism seems like it would be a likely diagnosis, there's a variety of different issues that could also apply and it's smart of Jeph to imply them rather than to just make her into a deliberate stereotype.

Yeah, that's fair enough.

I think Jeph probably just designed a character, liked her design, and slotted her into his "quirky female" squad. It's just that this one is a touch more realistic than some of the others - although Hannelore is a surprisingly accurate portrayal of OCD. It's everything else about her that's the issue.

[Traab]

It's still not clear what happened.
Was Pavel honestly hitting on Brun without thinking it would cause issues since Renee is "only an internet hookup", trying to burn bridges with Renee to never see her again for some reason (unles she's as terrible in bed as she is as a person, it seems like a pointlessly stupid thing to do with your internet hookups), or making a piss poor joke like he claimed to? Nobody knows.

Im thinking renee had it right, he was one of those dudes who loves burning bridges after he gets his rocks off. Im trying to think of his name, there was this black guy who played an afro having courvoisier drinking love "expert" character where he gave out I think radio advice to callers. "Yeaaaah, that was great, its time to go now" or something along those lines. They even made a really awful movie about him. For the life of me I cant remember his character name or the comedian who played him. I can see his face but, ah well. If you know who im talking about you know the type of person I mean.

[Willie the Duck]

Im thinking renee had it right, he was one of those dudes who loves burning bridges after he gets his rocks off. Im trying to think of his name, there was this black guy who played an afro having courvoisier drinking love "expert" character where he gave out I think radio advice to callers. "Yeaaaah, that was great, its time to go now" or something along those lines. They even made a really awful movie about him. For the life of me I cant remember his character name or the comedian who played him. I can see his face but, ah well. If you know who im talking about you know the type of person I mean.

The Ladies' Man

[Traab]

The Ladies' Man

THERRRRE we go!

[Cazero]

So they actualy exist, heh? Perk number 1 of not going out : I don't have to associate with that sort of scumbag.
...I really don't get it though. That's being a prick for no reason. That's the sort of stuff you enjoy before learning basic empathy.

[Max_Killjoy]

So they actualy exist, heh? Perk number 1 of not going out : I don't have to associate with that sort of scumbag.
...I really don't get it though. That's being a prick for no reason. That's the sort of stuff you enjoy before learning basic empathy.

On the scale of learning empathy, some people in their 20s and 30s are still at about 2 or so.

[Beelzebub1111]

I mean...he was an online hookup. She got hers, he got his. Why did this have to explode and cause a public disturbance.

Also, nice job perpetuating toxic masculinity by equating a man's value with his sexual prowess, Renee. I'm sure insulting the size of his genitals will make him redact his ways and reevaluate his life.

[PhantomFox]

So they actualy exist, heh? Perk number 1 of not going out : I don't have to associate with that sort of scumbag.
...I really don't get it though. That's being a prick for no reason. That's the sort of stuff you enjoy before learning basic empathy.

Rule of Retail #2 also applies: "The answer to the question 'Is anyone dumb enough to do X?' is always 'Yes.' Work long enough and you'll eventually meet them."