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

[Kish]

It does not appear that Vinyadan cares.

[rooster707]

Actually, it isn't. Jeph is his name.

Wikipedia, so, y’know. But...

[Kish]

I don't think the perspective "it's what it says on his birth certificate, so it's what I'm going to call him, what he wants to be called be damned" is in any way a defensible position, but, again, Vinyadan clearly doesn't care, so there seems little point in debating the "it is/isn't his legal name" clause.

[The Glyphstone]

I didn't know he got remarried.

[Rodin]

Yeah, this is how I feel about the comic a lot recently. Which is why I prefer comics like today.



I like filler. This one might be a bit crude but it's funny enough.

Most of the comic used to be so-called filler. I liked those days where actual character drama was the change-up from "people sitting around and snarking at each other", rather than the other way round.

[mythmonster2]

Oof, I know Beeps's situation pretty hard.

[georgie_leech]

Oof, I know Beeps's situation pretty hard.

Except for the out loud part. Mostly that's my internal critic screaming at me, not the external one. External critics make everyone around you feel awkward and that reinforces the need to apologise, which gets recursive fast.

[Kato]

Most of the comic used to be so-called filler. I liked those days where actual character drama was the change-up from "people sitting around and snarking at each other", rather than the other way round.

I don't dislike arcs per se either, but I dislike the two most recent ones. (not completely but in large parts)

Also.. I guess I'm dumb but I never got the 'this is how event relates to my experiences = I'm making this about me' argument.
I mean, I guess it can happen but it seems like many people feel it's rude to talk about your connections with other people's problems.

[Wraith]

I mean, I guess it can happen but it seems like many people feel it's rude to talk about your connections with other people's problems.

I honestly wondered if Beep has a British accent. That sort of spontaneous guilt over displaying an emotion feels very much like one of our stereotypes (albeit one that is now falling out of fashion)

That, or she's Canadian.

[Willie the Duck]

I never got the 'this is how event relates to my experiences = I'm making this about me' argument.
I mean, I guess it can happen but it seems like many people feel it's rude to talk about your connections with other people's problems.

It's not so much that disclosing a personal connection to a sufferer's problems is inherently bad*, so much as feeling the need to do so isn't actually helpful. 'I know you're suffering, but I want you to know that I genuinely do understand what that suffering is like, because _____' isn't actually helpful to the sufferer, regardless of what fills the _____ (be it you have a personal connection or you've simply counseled a lot of people with this problem previously). Making it about oneself isn't necessarily the real problem, so much as not making it about (/addressing the situation of) the sufferer. 'I know you have problems with your body, but there are people dying in warzones and famines and natural disasters' would be another type of comment that would also not be helpful, but isn't about the person saying it.
*Although anyone who watches sitcoms have definitely seen some examples where it is bad. Something in the 'I know how you must feel having your mom die, because I've had a goldfish die on me' vein.

[Kish]

Also.. I guess I'm dumb but I never got the 'this is how event relates to my experiences = I'm making this about me' argument.
I mean, I guess it can happen but it seems like many people feel it's rude to talk about your connections with other people's problems.

Certainly, if you're doing it enough that "how event relates to my experiences" blots out "how event relates to person currently experiencing event."

[Beelzebub1111]

I tend to take such things as "i also went through this terrible thing" as giving comfort amd empathy. "Yes I also felt this way and it sucks" helps.
It let's you know that other people also get through that thing.
It's not from a position of pity but one of mutual understanding.
It let's advice be taken from a place of experience rather than 'I read in a book that this helps' or 'my psych professor says..'
It helps form an empathetic bond. It's why we feel sad about stuff in the first place.

[Lethologica]

It's fine as long as it doesn't take over the conversation. Which is exactly what Beepatrice was apologizing for at the end, so.

[eee]

Nobody's going to talk about how Nelson has a Pintsize type chassis and may therefore be an ex-military AI?

OK.

[Max_Killjoy]

Beeps believes in other stuff, but not super-scary AIs hiding in the network... good for her.

[Keltest]

Nobody's going to talk about how Nelson has a Pintsize type chassis and may therefore be an ex-military AI?

OK.

Maybe that's how he got to be employee of the month nine times?

Having said that, im pretty sure Pintsize's appearance is not exclusive to the military version of the chassis.

[Beelzebub1111]

I don't think it's a good idea for these two to live together. They have different priorities, different needs, different schedules. This is a friendship killer.

Renee is seeming awfully selfish here, I'm sure there's a happy middle ground between cave and surface of the sun.

[Felius]

Sigh... Yes, Jeph, we know, you are all very progressive and your webcomic is full of representation, you don't need to drop a blatant line to establish yet another background character who is likely to be in the webcomic for all of half dozen pages as a lesbian/bisexual. I generally don't mind those gratuitous drops so long they don't harm the flow of the story, but this one was just so damn blatant and gratuitous.

Seriously, unless you were trying to draw attention to possible unprofessional behavior engaging in nepotism to hire their own spouse, which isn't really even relevant as far as Brun and [jerk girl I forgot the name] are concerned, the only reason to do so was to make sure we know 100% that yes, this character is, in fact, LGBT. Which is even sillier given his webcomic and general trends, given that, as it currently stands, any character presented unless they are explicitly made to be a jerk or the like, it's safe to assume that they are at least somewhat bisexual.

[Lethologica]

I don't think it's a good idea for these two to live together. They have different priorities, different needs, different schedules. This is a friendship killer.

Renee is seeming awfully selfish here, I'm sure there's a happy middle ground between cave and surface of the sun.

We haven't even seen Brun's prospective bedroom, but I would hazard that it is indeed somewhere between cave and surface of the sun, all the more so with blackout curtains (which do work - I have experience in that regard).

And hey, it may turn out to be a bad idea. But the characters have clearly expressed reasons for pursuing that idea now, so they're acting appropriately as characters.

[Wraith]

I disagree - it would only be a bedroom if there was a bed in it.
Unless this is a specific Americanism, such as using "bathroom" to refer to "toilet", in which case they're still wrong and talking funny.

In before Brun and Renee are mistaken for a romantic couple by their would-be landlords. Renee gets flustered and embarrassed, Brun makes it worse by being deadpan and failing to deny in a specifically suggestive way.

Landlady: "So, how long have you two been together?"
Brun: "Since high school."
Renee: "Well, I mean, not TOGETHER together, just... together..."
LL: "Aww, that's sweet, you found each other again later."
Brun: "My apartment burnt down. Renee gave me somewhere to stay. We've been together ever since."
Renee: "Not TOGETHER, just... you moved in with me and now we need more space!"
LL: "Aww!"
Renee: "I MEAN... Not moving in TOGETHER, just... moving in together..."
Brun: "You don't want me to move in with you?"
Renee: "No, no! I do want you to move in with me, just.. No, hang on..."
Brun: "You want me to move in with you but not be together? But this was your idea in the first place."
LL: "It was awkward like this when my wife and I were first dating, but just remember; the make-up sex makes it all worthwhile!"
Renee: "...oh god help..."

[SaintRidley]

Felius, why do I suspect you would not have commented one bit if the property manager had referred to an opposite-sex spouse, and are only commenting on the "shoe-horning" of unnecessary information because it's not straight people? I think I suspect it because it would be accurate, in which case I say to you suck it up and deal with it. Queer folks exist in real life and in stories, and if you hate to see them in fiction, either get over it or stop reading things.

One of my friends in college was a weird dude. Slept on a nest of blankets in his closet. No bed. Called it his bedroom. Whatever works.

[geoduck]

Some people just like sleeping in closets.

[Eldan]

I've never tried it, but that sounds quite comfortable, actually, if the closet is large enough? I just like dark and narrow spaces. I used to read at the back of a wardrobe full of old floor-lenght winter coats when I was a kid.

[Vinyadan]

One of my friends in college was a weird dude. Slept on a nest of blankets in his closet. No bed. Called it his bedroom. Whatever works.

Didn't ants or other animals come and nest there, too? Was it just lying on the ground?

[VoxRationis]

Felius, why do I suspect you would not have commented one bit if the property manager had referred to an opposite-sex spouse, and are only commenting on the "shoe-horning" of unnecessary information because it's not straight people? I think I suspect it because it would be accurate, in which case I say to you suck it up and deal with it. Queer folks exist in real life and in stories, and if you hate to see them in fiction, either get over it or stop reading things.

One of my friends in college was a weird dude. Slept on a nest of blankets in his closet. No bed. Called it his bedroom. Whatever works.

I'm not sure about that. It seemed kind of forced to me as well, in a way that stands out from the rest of the comic.

For a time, I slept on a beanbag, as I was renting a 10x10 room in a flophouse and my room was not physically large enough to hold a decent bed in addition to a dresser and desk.

[Kish]

Felius, why do I suspect you would not have commented one bit if the property manager had referred to an opposite-sex spouse, and are only commenting on the "shoe-horning" of unnecessary information because it's not straight people? I think I suspect it because it would be accurate, in which case I say to you suck it up and deal with it. Queer folks exist in real life and in stories, and if you hate to see them in fiction, either get over it or stop reading things.

Indeed. Also, last I checked, Marten is straight, Tai is a lesbian, there's no indication that Brun or Renee or Clinton or Claire or (I could keep going for a long time) is at all bisexual...in other words, the claim that every intended-to-be-sympathetic character is bisexual strikes me as an example of the logical fallacy I can't think of the name of where any representation looks like massive overrepresentation.

[Vinyadan]

From my point of view, the comic simply has shifted its genre or focus. It used to be a indie/hipster slice-of-life comic, and now is a minority representation slice-of-life comic. The comic is about members of different RL minorities who live normal lives with very supportive friends/partners. The only minority that faces discrimination is the non-RL one, the robots (May).

So I don't think it makes sense to say that a gay character is shoehorned in it, because I think that the comic is all about those people who would have been excluded by the old/traditional/surpassed/bigoted definition of "normal".

[John Cribati]

I'm not sure about that. It seemed kind of forced to me as well, in a way that stands out from the rest of the comic.

Again, the line would not have been seen as anything worthy of comment if the woman referred to a husband instead of a wife. The fact that anyone sees this as a "forced" scenario at all is the issue here.

[Iruka]

Sigh... Yes, Jeph, we know, you are all very progressive and your webcomic is full of representation, you don't need to drop a blatant line to establish yet another background character who is likely to be in the webcomic for all of half dozen pages as a lesbian/bisexual. I generally don't mind those gratuitous drops so long they don't harm the flow of the story, but this one was just so damn blatant and gratuitous.

Seriously, unless you were trying to draw attention to possible unprofessional behavior engaging in nepotism to hire their own spouse, which isn't really even relevant as far as Brun and [jerk girl I forgot the name] are concerned, the only reason to do so was to make sure we know 100% that yes, this character is, in fact, LGBT. Which is even sillier given his webcomic and general trends, given that, as it currently stands, any character presented unless they are explicitly made to be a jerk or the like, it's safe to assume that they are at least somewhat bisexual.

The line seems rather natural to me.The kind of stuff a landlord would say when showing people around and also communicating to the reader that the flat is in good condition.
I would hardly call having your licensed spouse fix something in a property you own nepotism.

I've never tried it, but that sounds quite comfortable, actually, if the closet is large enough? I just like dark and narrow spaces. I used to read at the back of a wardrobe full of old floor-lenght winter coats when I was a kid.

Hah, me too! In wardrobes and under tables.

[Keltest]

The line seems rather natural to me.The kind of stuff a landlord would say when showing people around and also communicating to the reader that the flat is in good condition.
I would hardly call having your licensed spouse fix something in a property you own nepotism.

Indeed. The line didn't stand out to me at all, to the point where I didn't consciously realize that the landlady was lesbian. And that's the goal right? Normalize it so that an offhand comment stays offhand.