Questionable Content XIX: Give Jeph Just A *Little* Credit, Here

[Wraith]

I don't think it's even that complex, to be honest. All that has happened is that he has started writing Blembo with the exact same language and content as a normal QC character - a thinly veiled public service announcement about whatever he remembers is the Bad Thing this week.

His normal characters are just convenient mouthpieces for whatever has his goat today, Blembo was supposed to be a break from that sort of proselytising. Apparently, Jeph doesn't even have just two 'voices' in him any more.

[Traab]

Yeah that was a really terrible end to blembo.

[Cikomyr2]

Is it bad that i laughed at the small text

[Errorname]

I want to respect the willingness to have a character actually majorly screw up like this, it feels like it's been years since there was anything comparable, but I have no faith in this comic's ability to deliver a satisfying resolution anymore

[Wraith]

Liz got yelled at by Faye for being rude, and is now sitting outside, but Faye was also being rude - being complicit in harassing Bubbles, she was encouraging Liz to be rude and disregard boundaries until it was Faye's one boundary that was being crossed.

They're both jerks, but Liz at least has the excuse of being poorly socialised and barely beyond having an emotional breakdown the day before. There's a certain element here of Faye reaping what she sowed, so her outrage is some-what self-inflicted. Im not thinking "Liz needs to apologise to Faye", I'm thinking "What else was Faye expecting?" and "They should both apologise to Bubbles".

To say nothing of the hypocrisy of FAYE asking MARTEN a question like, "why do you put up with that ***hole?"

It's just... not so much a conflict of two characters with opposing views coming to friction, but it's two ***holes having fun being unpleasant, then one getting angry because how dare someone be unpleasant to THEM. We've seen this, and it doesn't go anywhere.

[Beelzebub1111]

"If I thought about the consequences to my actions, I would still have my arms"

EDIT for Update: Do you think Fae will apologize for expecting someone unfamiliar with alcoholism to intuit how her vices affect her? And to Bubbles for condoning her objectification? That would require her to admit to making a mistake, but there's a first time for everything.

[Ionathus]

Self-loathing is rarely a compelling character trait for me.

When it does work, it's often because I'm already invested in the character and I care about their emotional state. Often (but not always) it's more successful when the self-loathing is internalized, and you only piece together how much the character hates themselves after the clues have piled up (spoiler example: Catra from S3-S5 She-Ra).

But Liz has done basically nothing to make me like her. Pity her? Sure, I guess, she had a bad two years due to bureaucracy/oversight. But that doesn't make her likeable, and immediately turning to screaming insults at yourself doesn't undo the bad things you just did. In fact, I give people like that in real life a wide berth -- there are few things more unpredictable and unpleasant than a jerk who immediately retreats into a vocal pity party when confronted.

TL;DR can we please move on from this scene

[Cikomyr2]

Self-loathing is rarely a compelling character trait for me.

When it does work, it's often because I'm already invested in the character and I care about their emotional state. Often (but not always) it's more successful when the self-loathing is internalized, and you only piece together how much the character hates themselves after the clues have piled up (spoiler example: Catra from S3-S5 She-Ra).

But Liz has done basically nothing to make me like her. Pity her? Sure, I guess, she had a bad two years due to bureaucracy/oversight. But that doesn't make her likeable, and immediately turning to screaming insults at yourself doesn't undo the bad things you just did. In fact, I give people like that in real life a wide berth -- there are few things more unpredictable and unpleasant than a jerk who immediately retreats into a vocal pity party when confronted.

TL;DR can we please move on from this scene

she has the moral maturity of a 14 year old. Self-loathing and pity is the standard modus operandi when she isn't bolstering breaking expectations with the expectation that she'll get away with it.

Liz needs a therapist and a life coach. Most of all, she needs to integrate the fact that all her academic achievements left her completely in the dark for basic social interaction learning that most people go through. Some super genius managed to do without, but Liz, you clearly aren't. So suck it up and just realize you are barely a few years back compared to your peer, but the first step is you keeping in mind you are in learning mode.

[Wraith]

she has the moral maturity of a 14 year old. Self-loathing and pity is the standard modus operandi when she isn't bolstering breaking expectations with the expectation that she'll get away with it.

I think the most prevalent complaint I've seen so far is that we already have this character; they're named Sam.

And Emmett.

And Rene.

And Ayo.

And Iris.

And Marigold.

And May.

And, for the removal of a couple of 's' from the quoted sentence, Elliot.

We're at the point of taking breaks from watching one disastrously immature emotional garbage-wreck to watching another. Please Jeph, just write a single other character, preferably apart from "Wacky AI Dipsh*t" or "Barely-Recovering Sex Pest", but frankly I might even take that at this point.

[Traab]

I think the most prevalent complaint I've seen so far is that we already have this character; they're named Sam.

And Emmett.

And Rene.

And Ayo.

And Iris.

And Marigold.

And May.

And, for the removal of a couple of 's' from the quoted sentence, Elliot.

We're at the point of taking breaks from watching one disastrously immature emotional garbage-wreck to watching another. Please Jeph, just write a single other character, preferably apart from "Wacky AI Dipsh*t" or "Barely-Recovering Sex Pest", but frankly I might even take that at this point.

"Barely recovering sex pest? Is Grrl Power going to have a crossover with this? Hmm, now I kinda want to see sydney battering ram her way into the comic. Honestly, unless you mean sven i cant think of who you mean and that dude hasnt been a real part of the comic for like, the last generation of humanity.

[geoduck]

"Barely recovering sex pest? Is Grrl Power going to have a crossover with this? Hmm, now I kinda want to see sydney battering ram her way into the comic. Honestly, unless you mean sven i cant think of who you mean and that dude hasnt been a real part of the comic for like, the last generation of humanity.

I assume he's referring to Pintsize.

[Rodin]

Most of the characters on that list don't seem similar to me (and also don't match the original description)

Sam was a very likeable character, a rambunctious teen who actually acted like one but was good at heart and mostly got into trouble through over-enthusiasm. She was never intentionally mean and seemed to have things together apart from the whole "teenager" thing. She didn't need the rest of the cast and worked great as a drop-in character.

Marigold also broadly had things together - she just didn't have much of a social life outside of videogames. Seeing her come out of her shell was fun, and I only started having a problem with her after Jeph catapulted her to Internet fame and wealth and she started becoming a "goblin".

May was abrasive, but I rather liked her character arc. I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole chassis debacle, but May adapting to being part of the social circle worked pretty well and she worked as a Pintsize-esque character.

I never like Rene, but she was at least a distinct character. She worked as a tertiary character, and it's really only her dating arc that feels problematic.

Eliot in his original incarnation was great, but I found him getting more boring over time and never found him to have much chemistry with either Brun or Clinton. He worked better as a tertiary character, but I would still say that he's a unique character.

Where you really get into trouble is the most recent characters. Liz and Ayo are the same character, you could merge them and lose nothing. Emmett brings nothing to the story that Sam didn't, and is less interesting to boot. Iris is so two dimensional I forgot who she was and thought you were talking about Willow.

There's so many characters Jeph could discard in order to focus on the older characters who are better developed and have stories you could tell. Unfortunately, it seems he subscribes to the Tite Kubo school of writing.

[Radar]

There's so many characters Jeph could discard in order to focus on the older characters who are better developed and have stories you could tell. Unfortunately, it seems he subscribes to the Tite Kubo school of writing.

Alas, poor Steve. I knew Steve well! (source of that particular paraphrase of The Bard).

[tyckspoon]

Alas, poor Steve. I knew Steve well! (source of that particular paraphrase of The Bard).

Cut to a forlorn picture of a bowl of cereal and a disintegrating box. The spoon is covered with a thin shellac-like layer of dessicated milk. The cereal remaining in the bowl has become a dense brick of sawdust-like consistency after disintegrating into mushy goo and then drying out. Clearly there will be no more Steve to cut away to. Not now. Not ever again.

[Wraith]

I assume he's referring to Pintsize.

Pintsize, May, Liz, and (to a lesser extent) Aurelia and Rene. If one were being uncharitable, Faye would also count after joining in on the harassment of Bubbles. Plus whatever the hell it is that Marigold is streaming in that weird animorphs/toilet game.

Also; don't include ANY sex pests in your comic, is my advice to aspiring writers, just in general.

Where you really get into trouble is the most recent characters. Liz and Ayo are the same character, you could merge them and lose nothing. Emmett brings nothing to the story that Sam didn't, and is less interesting to boot. Iris is so two dimensional I forgot who she was and thought you were talking about Willow.

I see what you mean, but in broad terms I think I still stand by it. Marigold had to be bullied by Mommy-Hannelore into cleaning her room and taking a shower, and spent a lot of time being neurotic about her looks. Elliot has to be constantly babied and told that he's not a screw-up as he continues to self-sabotage. Rene having to be explicitly told "do not sexually harass your co-workers" because it didn't occur to her not to. Maybe not equivalent to 14 years old, but these are not people with mature and sensible coping skills, and need to have an adult tell them how to act like a decent human being - kind of like how Liz has to be told "try thinking about something before you say it", or Ayo has to be told "maybe stop being a freaking mess all the time" like either of these things aren't the bare minimum that is generally expected even of teenagers.

The fact that you forgot which character was which and also started referring to them in pairs where on could easily exist without the other, kind of sort of proves my point that there's similarly way, way too much overlap to healthily sustain.

Cut to a forlorn picture of a bowl of cereal and a disintegrating box. The spoon is covered with a thin shellac-like layer of dessicated milk. The cereal remaining in the bowl has become a dense brick of sawdust-like consistency after disintegrating into mushy goo and then drying out. Clearly there will be no more Steve to cut away to. Not now. Not ever again.

Something grey and furry oozes out of the milk bottle, then dies under exposure to the meagre sunlight. It's corpse almost covers over the picture of Steve, obscuring the word "MISSING" barely visible under the dust.

[hungrycrow]

Liz needs a therapist and a life coach.

Luckily these are both skills Claire has as a librarian, on top of being a psuedo-CEO.

[Shadow of the Sun]

Pintsize, May, Liz, and (to a lesser extent) Aurelia and Rene. If one were being uncharitable, Faye would also count after joining in on the harassment of Bubbles. Plus whatever the hell it is that Marigold is streaming in that weird animorphs/toilet game.

Also; don't include ANY sex pests in your comic, is my advice to aspiring writers, just in general.

I don't remember Aurelia doing anything sex-pesty.

[Scarlet Manuka]

I don't remember Aurelia doing anything sex-pesty.

Closest I can think of is boffing college-age guys. But it all appeared to be consensual, so I agree this is not a sex-pesty thing.

[Beelzebub1111]

Luckily these are both skills Claire has as a librarian, on top of being a psuedo-CEO.

Don't forget Social Worker, Emissary, and Diplomat.

[Wraith]

I don't remember Aurelia doing anything sex-pesty.

Can't say that I blame you for blocking out all memory of her streaming avatar. That being said, and having checked, it turns out that the toilet/animorphs thing was Aurelia, though. Marigold is the one who streams BDSM dungeon porn games with a 'really-1000-years-old-honest-to-dog' avatar.

Also the time she surprised Marigold with the solid gold sex futon/fart fetish stream ending. I'm not sure if that actually indicates a deviant, or instead just that she is pretending to be one, which is arguably scarier.

[Rodin]

Can't say that I blame you for blocking out all memory of her streaming avatar. That being said, and having checked, it turns out that the toilet/animorphs thing was Aurelia, though. Marigold is the one who streams BDSM dungeon porn games with a 'really-1000-years-old-honest-to-dog' avatar.

Also the time she surprised Marigold with the solid gold sex futon/fart fetish stream ending. I'm not sure if that actually indicates a deviant, or instead just that she is pretending to be one, which is arguably scarier.

Not sure that elevates her to sex pest, especially since it was a one time thing. Aurelia's stream itself was for people who wanted to watch it and there's no evidence of her harassing her viewers. Jeph inflicting that garbage on an unsuspecting webcomic audience comes a lot closer, IMO. The Mommymilkers arc of the story is the closest I've come to actually leaving, because having Jeph inflict his fetishes on me went way over the line.

[Beelzebub1111]

I think there's a better way to frame the joke in the last panel. Maybe having her offer the arm out extended while Faye inspects the connector rather than having it suddenly appear in Faye's hand? Kind of leaves me confused as is. Not a bad joke but needed a second draft as to not be confused as to when she took it off and gave it to Faye in that conversation.

Also metric units are just as arbitrary as imperial units. Also units in base 12 and 16 make division easier, so eat that metric nerds.

[Rodin]

I don’t understand why her arm has European connectors. Liz is from the U.S. and works in Canada, both of which have the same connectors. She’s not in any way European, so why would she have arms with connectors that don’t work in her countries of residence?

[Lumus]

I think there's a better way to frame the joke in the last panel. Maybe having her offer the arm out extended while Faye inspects the connector rather than having it suddenly appear in Faye's hand? Kind of leaves me confused as is. Not a bad joke but needed a second draft as to not be confused as to when she took it off and gave it to Faye in that conversation.

Also metric units are just as arbitrary as imperial units. Also units in base 12 and 16 make division easier, so eat that metric nerds.

Yeah, the fact that she has that long sleeve hanging down masks the fact that her arm's missing, which makes it harder to follow. On the other hand, drawing her removing her arm under the long sleeve would probably be annoying to do, and I suspect avoiding that was Jeph's biggest priority.

[Beelzebub1111]

Yeah, the fact that she has that long sleeve hanging down masks the fact that her arm's missing, which makes it harder to follow. On the other hand, drawing her removing her arm under the long sleeve would probably be annoying to do, and I suspect avoiding that was Jeph's biggest priority.

I didn't even need that much. Just her holding out the arm to faye instead of it suddenly appearing in Faye's hand. makes me think that Faye somehow took it off.

As for today's page. Looks like yet another shrew has been tamed. Gremlin character didn't last long.

[Radar]

I didn't even need that much. Just her holding out the arm to faye instead of it suddenly appearing in Faye's hand. makes me think that Faye somehow took it off.

As for today's page. Looks like yet another shrew has been tamed. Gremlin character didn't last long.

They never do. Often due to Maxim 8: Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the far side of the airlock.

Aside from that, I think the only part of today's page I considered funny was the small text beneath.

[Beelzebub1111]

Don't have the unpleasant garbage gremlin character if you can't commit to it.

And don't worry about the partying, Liz. I think weed might still be on the table.

[DavidSh]

And don't worry about the partying, Liz. I think weed might still be on the table.

I am not a lawyer, and Massachusetts law may be different in QC than in real life, but it looks like if Liz is too young to legally drink alcohol, she is also too young to legally consume cannabis without a medical registration.

[Keltest]

I am not a lawyer, and Massachusetts law may be different in QC than in real life, but it looks like if Liz is too young to legally drink alcohol, she is also too young to legally consume cannabis without a medical registration.

Legalities were not the concern for alcohol. I don't know why they would be the relevant factor here. In fact, the idea of it having to be clandestine was appealing to Liz.

[Rodin]

Don't have the unpleasant garbage gremlin character if you can't commit to it.

I immediately thought of Mike from Something Positive when you said this. About as unpleasant a character as you can get and was only kept around because he was related to another character. He eventually developed into a better person, but you know what the difference is? It took years. And that's webcomic years, as the SP cast actually age and have time pass. And even after his big redemption arc he still had regular ******* moments until he finally mellowed out after getting married.

We've known Liz for less than 3 days in-comic time and she's gone through around 4 personalities in that time. And the conflict is swept away by an "I'm sorry, let's go party?"