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

[Rodin]

Oh hey! Some drama of the type that Jeph actually does okay with!

It feels kind of like the Faye/Angus storyline again, hopefully he goes a bit of a different direction this time. Should be interesting to see what happens, and maybe it will kick Marten out of the rut he's in.

[Yana]

Oh hey! Some drama of the type that Jeph actually does okay with!

It feels kind of like the Faye/Angus storyline again, hopefully he goes a bit of a different direction this time. Should be interesting to see what happens, and maybe it will kick Marten out of the rut he's in.

I agree with you concerning the Faye/Angus aspect since it was perfectly in character for Faye to freak out over commitment. Hopefully Marten will navigate this... issue with more maturity.

Who are we kidding though? That last panel flat out states the direction Jeph is likely to take. It'd be a pleasant surprise if Marten isn't the one to cause friction based on those expressions.

I still miss Angus.

[Beelzebub1111]

I was beginning to wonder how he'd break them up.

[Wraith]

An actual proposal, or a spur-of-the-moment punchline that they'll have to angst over for a week? I'm honestly suspecting the former.

Kind of rude of Dora to criticise Marten with that revelation, though. He walked into his job, his immediate family are all taken care of, he has no dependants, rents a shared apartment and could comparatively easily just move with the minimum of fuss on a whim if he needed to. The only thing he needs to discuss, is whether or not he would want to go; it's nowhere near as complicated as her selling her business and putting all of her employees at risk at the drop of a hat, without first discussing it.

[Morquard]

"They need to talk about it!" - "But we never did" - "Well that's different because I don't need to discuss it with you."

Uh...

[Mechalich]

"They need to talk about it!" - "But we never did" - "Well that's different because I don't need to discuss it with you."

Uh...

While that's partly Dora's insecurities talking, she has grasped the inherent asymmetry - which largely holds for the Marten/Claire relationship as well - correctly. Running a coffee job is many people's dream job, but it's not a path to upward mobility. Dora makes what is ultimately a fairly modest salary and could easily find a new job almost anywhere as a mid-level manager for pretty much any retail enterprise anywhere in the country while securing funds to re-launch. Tai, by contrast, has a degree and the possibility exists, highly unlikely though it might be, that she could get a 'one chance only' dream job somewhere that would improve her career situation by leaps and bounds (not that she seems to be looking very hard mind you). So Dora choosing to move to support Tai will never be as significant a sacrifice as Tai choosing not to move to support Dora is a purely utilitarian calculation.

The Marten/Claire situation is, if anything, even more stark. Claire is looking at a Master's in Library Science. With luck she'll send out a thousand applications and some library somewhere will give her the only full time librarian job offer she's ever going to get. Marten could go back to being an office drone or find some other PR-heavy service job on roughly the same pay scale very easily almost anywhere. Honestly, in terms of a 'Claire gets a job offer' scenario, it's much more likely that Claire - who has both seemingly never lived far from home and carries the very legitimate trans-related set of fears regarding moving to unknown locations in the US - would be the principle source of drama, not Marten.

[Vinyadan]

Ha ha, nice.

[eee]

That was unexpected.

[Wraith]

So Dora choosing to move to support Tai will never be as significant a sacrifice as Tai choosing not to move to support Dora is a purely utilitarian calculation.

I absolutely agree with your assessment - it would logically and financially be a much, much better prospect for Dora to follow Tai to a better prospect, as it's clearly MUCH better.

That being said, I could understand how that decision being made with discussion could be very uncomfortable for Tai. What if, for example, Dora had stated that she would happily drop her entire life and livelihood to follow Tai elsewhere, but Tai WASN'T emotionally in the same place? Similarly, Tai might not have appreciated being pigeon-holed into Dora's life-plan without being given a choice in the matter, if it leaves her in a position feeling obliged or beholden to Dora's sacrifice. I'm not saying that's what WILL happen or anything, but its a real-world consideration.

I have to admit, I'm starting to wonder if Jeph has forgotten about Dora's therapist. Yesterday Dora was hyper-sensitive to minor criticism and today she's displaying the same sort of assumed control of a situation that involves more people than just her - two key symptoms of her insecurities that each had a whole strip explaining them. ("...because apparently I'm a [---ing] harpy!").

[Ibrinar]

"They need to talk about it!" - "But we never did" - "Well that's different because I don't need to discuss it with you."

Uh...

I don't think assuming your partner would want to have you along when moving away is unreasonable, of course you might be wrong and they might decide to break up with you when they want to move but it is not like a willingness to move with them stops them from doing that.

[Willie the Duck]

"They need to talk about it!" - "But we never did" - "Well that's different because I don't need to discuss it with you."

Uh...

I don't think assuming your partner would want to have you along when moving away is unreasonable, of course you might be wrong and they might decide to break up with you when they want to move but it is not like a willingness to move with them stops them from doing that.

<Emphasis added>

I think that's the crux of it, though. They are each other's girlfriends, whether they were partners or not is probably the emotional space that they had not explored. 'Well of course I'd move to a new city for you,' is kinda shorthand for 'you're a keeper.' Other than them doing this in the middle of a public place, and the instantaneous proposal (both of them highly standard sitcom fare), this seems to me like an exceedingly normal couples conversation.

[Thufir]

I think that's the crux of it, though. They are each other's girlfriends, whether they were partners or not is probably the emotional space that they had not explored.

I think you're attaching more significance to the term partner than a lot of people would. It is often (and I would think in this case) used simply as the gender neutral equivalent to boyfriend/girlfriend.

As far as the need for them to discuss it goes, that strip basically was them discussing it, starting with Dora making it clear she would happily move to stay with Tai, and ending with Tai proposing to her. No-one said it had to be a *long* discussion.

[Max_Killjoy]

I think you're attaching more significance to the term partner than a lot of people would. It is often (and I would think in this case) used simply as the gender neutral equivalent to boyfriend/girlfriend.

Whereas I hate the way the word "partner" has been co-opted such that people make really wrong assumptions when you refer to your business partner, project partner, or whatever that the word USED to be used for.

[John Cribati]

I rememberone episode of the Bernie Mac show where one of the neighbors introduced his "partner" and there was some (homophobic) panic on the title character's part that the neighbor's son was 'teaching' Jordan to be gay. And it felt remarkably forced, even to my pre-teen mind, that the guy had been talking about his bowling partner all along, because I knew even then that communication don't work that way, dammit!

"Partner" by itself was always vague and heavily context-dependent, and absolutely nobody would randomly bring up their "partner" in conversation unless 1) they prefaced it with the type of partner they were talking about (my tennis partner. My Smash Bros Doubles Partner, my Business Partner) or 2) the conversation was already about the context of the partnership (tennis, business, a Smash Bros Tournament). So the fact that a community took a vague term and made it clear is a good thing for the language in my eyesm

[Keltest]

Ok, Faye, in as much as you are technically correct right this sentence, you are really not in a good position to be telling somebody else what is or is not an appropriate reaction to their significant other moving away from town.

Which is not to say her opinions should be automatically discounted, but the best thing she could think of to do when that happened to her was to get fired, get blackout drunk and wind up in the hospital.

[georgie_leech]

Ok, Faye, in as much as you are technically correct right this sentence, you are really not in a good position to be telling somebody else what is or is not an appropriate reaction to their significant other moving away from town.

Which is not to say her opinions should be automatically discounted, but the best thing she could think of to do when that happened to her was to get fired, get blackout drunk and wind up in the hospital.

Yeah, so she's well aware of what an actual lack of commitment and freak out looks like

[Wraith]

Ok, Faye, in as much as you are technically correct right this sentence....

I agree that her expertise is limited to "what you SHOULDN'T do", but.... Dora is his ex- and Tai is his boss; they're the two people in the world over whom Marten holds NO influence or authority whatsoever. I mean, yeah, he might've stayed to find out if only to be polite, but his relationship with Claire *is* more important to him than their relationship with each other. It's not like they needed his supervision or anything, and Faye's desire for gossip similarly isn't his priority.

I just hope that Marten has the good sense to not spring such deep and life-affirming questions on Claire the moment that she gets home - brain-friend and exhausted - from her exam. That won't end well.

[Cikomyr]

"They need to talk about it!" - "But we never did" - "Well that's different because I don't need to discuss it with you."

Uh...

That's crap. The problem of Marten is not that he and Claire haven't talked about it, it's that they haven't thought about it.

To a level that Marten was completely blindsided just by being asked the question.

That problem can be resolved by talking.

Compare to Dora, who had a response and outlook already figured out.

Ok, Faye, in as much as you are technically correct right this sentence, you are really not in a good position to be telling somebody else what is or is not an appropriate reaction to their significant other moving away from town.

Which is not to say her opinions should be automatically discounted, but the best thing she could think of to do when that happened to her was to get fired, get blackout drunk and wind up in the hospital.

Another crap argument. Fayes is the best position to think about that. She lived that process, and made all the wrong choices. She learned from it, and can offer her experience about it.

Hell, the very advice she gave in today's comic is "its very natural to feel how you feel from the get go", literally referencing her own failings in the matter. The problem with Fayes is that she was either unwilling - or unable - to move past that initial reaction. And I think she knows that.

Just because someone has made a big mistake in their past doesn't mean they are disqualified from offering advice centered around the same context as that mistake. Especially if they have demonstrably learned from that mistake.

Next thing you will say is that Fayes is in no position to advise someone to not resort to alcohol. o_0

[Max_Killjoy]

Hey, look, the Marten we all know is back.

[Willie the Duck]

I think you're attaching more significance to the term partner than a lot of people would. It is often (and I would think in this case) used simply as the gender neutral equivalent to boyfriend/girlfriend.

No I'm not. I'm grabbing the word from Ibrinar's post to make a point. Whether Dora and Tai are 'just girlfriends/partners' or 'Girlfriends/Partners' (or, as I said before, 'you're a keeper' shorthand) is the point of the strip. Tai did not know if Dora thought they were in a relationship, or in a serious relationship. This strip is Dora casually, almost flippantly, telegraphing, 'oh yeah, of course your the one.'

As far as the need for them to discuss it goes, that strip basically was them discussing it, starting with Dora making it clear she would happily move to stay with Tai, and ending with Tai proposing to her.

Yes, that was my point.

[DaveOTN]

Does anyone else feel like Jeph is getting ready to wrap up this comic, or at least officially shift the focus away from Martin and Dora into the world of AIs? It's seemed for a while that he's less interested in the original cast, and since Martin originally moved to Northampton to be with a girl and it didn't work out, his arc would wrap up really nicely if he and Claire moved off into the sunset together without any major drama. It wouldn't surprise me if Comic #4000 saw Tai and Dora getting married, Claire and Martin moving for Claire's job, and Jeph announcing that the strip would be taking a robo-turn in the future (possibly seen through Faye's eyes).

[Willie the Duck]

Does anyone else feel like Jeph is getting ready to wrap up this comic, or at least officially shift the focus away from Martin and Dora into the world of AIs?

Not really. I mean, the general trend to focus on characters other than Dora/Marten/Faye is undeniable, and the robots have certainly moved from 'marten's wacky totally-not-a-pet' all the way to both socially autonomous entities and major plotline focus. I just don't see right now as specifically notably point in time, so much as just a point in time along a general trendline. At least not like over in Schlock Mercenary, where even if the author hadn't said he was wrapping things up for a major shift, I think I would know anyways.

[Traab]

I mean, its entirely possible that will be the case, but I doubt there will be any announcement, instead it will just happen. Marten and claire move away, joining steve, sven, raven, angus, fays sister, and all the rest in a hippie commune where they hide from allosaurs, and the story just continues with the rest of the cast as new ones drift in and stay based on how good of a story addition they are.

[Thufir]

Faye's t-shirt is the best part of this update.

Does anyone else feel like Jeph is getting ready to wrap up this comic,

https://twitter.com/jephjacques/stat...11621733732352

[Beelzebub1111]

Faye's t-shirt is the best part of this update.



https://twitter.com/jephjacques/stat...11621733732352

You know, as Sam and Fuzzy is winding up to its big finale I wouldn't be suprised if QC was ending.

[georgie_leech]

Faye's t-shirt is the best part of this update.



https://twitter.com/jephjacques/stat...11621733732352

I agree with that on tweet about which already drawn panel should be used for the final panel of the comic. Yelling Bird remains topical.

[Keltest]

Another crap argument. Fayes is the best position to think about that. She lived that process, and made all the wrong choices. She learned from it, and can offer her experience about it.

Hell, the very advice she gave in today's comic is "its very natural to feel how you feel from the get go", literally referencing her own failings in the matter. The problem with Fayes is that she was either unwilling - or unable - to move past that initial reaction. And I think she knows that.

Just because someone has made a big mistake in their past doesn't mean they are disqualified from offering advice centered around the same context as that mistake. Especially if they have demonstrably learned from that mistake.

Next thing you will say is that Fayes is in no position to advise someone to not resort to alcohol. o_0

While "here is a way to do it wrong" can be helpful information at times, it offers nothing to actually determine the right way to do it in any sort of open ended scenario. Yeah, Martin shouldn't get so drunk he winds up in the hospital. But meanwhile, he also needs an actual resolution here.

[Mith]

While "here is a way to do it wrong" can be helpful information at times, it offers nothing to actually determine the right way to do it in any sort of open ended scenario. Yeah, Martin shouldn't get so drunk he winds up in the hospital. But meanwhile, he also needs an actual resolution here.

Hey, rock bottom makes a firm foundation.

[John Cribati]

While "here is a way to do it wrong" can be helpful information at times, it offers nothing to actually determine the right way to do it in any sort of open ended scenario. Yeah, Martin shouldn't get so drunk he winds up in the hospital. But meanwhile, he also needs an actual resolution here.

Actually I would count "You're repeating the exact steps I took that allowed my experience to end up so thoroughly hecked up" as valid advice.

[Keltest]

Actually I would count "You're repeating the exact steps I took that allowed my experience to end up so thoroughly hecked up" as valid advice.

But he isn't though? Faye was already something of an alcoholic even before Angus moved away, and Martin is only just starting to consider whether he would be willing to leave. Heck, maybe he decides that he will, and that would bring him into territory Faye has totally unexplored.