Grrl Power #735 – Reindeer games and the inclusion thereof
I think it was a fair question, to be honest. Leon maybe could have put it more delicately, but if you’re coming up with a comprehensive list of solutions to Sydney’s conundrum, that question should be asked at some point.
An unfair question, in my opinion, is “Why would you jump straight to that!?” Honestly, if the guy in a M/F/F triangle doesn’t consider the possibility of a threesome at some point… well, I don’t even know what to say to that. I’m not saying every guy in that situation would be bucking for it, some guys might be intimidated by the idea. I mean, there are performance considerations. But he’d still have the idea. Even if he thought it’d be disastrous, it’s probably on a lot of guys’ buckets lists. Heck, it might be on a lot of women’s bucket lists for all I know (though probably the M/F/M variant) but no one should honestly be surprised when a guy mentions it at some point. “Hah hah, I’m just kidding about a threesome, but seriously, what’s the deal with that? It’s a joke! But just for fun, let’s make a short list of your friends and sister… ow!”
So, can Krona hack people’s minds and personalities? Well, we know she can hack people’s bladders at any rate. If she hacked someone who didn’t like pickles so that they liked pickles, is she hacking their mind or their tongue?
The answer is, given Archon’s reaction to the news that she might be able to hack time, Krona has not been at all forthcoming as to the extent of her abilities. She doesn’t hold a grudge against Maxima, she understands what Archon was worried about, but she doesn’t want to give them any additional ammunition when it comes to evaluating her threat level. As for us readers, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Edit: Huh. Well, reaction to this page has caught me by surprise. I didn’t think anything of the ‘little girl gives guy a bonk on the head for acting like a dope’ trope but a lot of people are reacting like Sydney and Krona are attacking Leon with knives. Which, again, is surprising, considering that they’re not (cartoon bumps ≠ medical emergency) considering that Sydney could obviously cause grievous bodily harm if she wanted to. Krona could at the very least make Leon wet himself or make his keys move 10 feet from where he normally keeps them, and in my case that would mean they would effectively be lost forever.
Okay, so a few points. Some people are saying Leon isn’t even being included in the discussion, but Sydney’s question about monogamy was for both of them. It’s just that Leon jumped straight to the sexual aspect of it. Granted, both Krona and Sydney assumed that he’d be okay with it. They happened to be correct.
For anyone asking if it’d be okay if the situation was reversed and two guys were beating up on a girl? I mean, part of me wants to say that if it was playful little arm punches, in an ideal world free of all trace of sexism… yes? But that’s not the world we live in. In the real world, while there is such a thing as female on male violence, domestic or otherwise, I don’t think anyone can argue that a shitload more women get beaten or killed by men than the other way around. So no, of course the reversal of the above situation wouldn’t work.
But – I’ll give it some thought. It never occurred to me that this page would trigger such vehement reactions, so maybe that’s on me.
I have a book recommendation. This one is not a harem book nor does it have any sex in it (I know, who are you and what have you done with Dave, hah hah) but it is a superhero book, and I’ve been burning through the series ever since I picked up the first one. As you can see (or not, the thumbnail is kind of small) it’s called Arsenal, and is about a wheelchair bound super tinkerer who develops a suit of armor and proceeds to kick a lot of butt. (She can kick in the armor. And walk.) Of course she upgrades the armor constantly. I’m halfway through the 6th book, and I think she’s up to the Mark VII now? Good stuff. Oh, and half the books have egregious cliffhangers, so be prepared for that. :)
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Sorrynotsorry, butt fuck bitches (male and female) like those two: Sydney was the one who first came up with the idea of asking Pixelicious to ‘join in’, and Sydney was the one to introduce the idea, again, of a threesome (or, at the least, ‘sharing’ Leon)
So again, fuck bitches like that (and not in a good way)!
Yeah, this is touching on the whole Tsundere trope that’s super unappealing. Totally uncalled for violence that’s supposed to be ok because it’s a girl doing it.
Funny bumps with colourful stars and crossed band-aids over them – don’t read into it too deep, it’s just played for laughs.
In a scene that’s not played for laughs, where violence was completely unnecessary, you have Achilles and Mr. Amorphous shoving Sydney to the ground, firing near a civilian’s head etc. (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-36-roll-for-initiative/) and they don’t get called out on that in comments, or in canon.
I think you’re both overreacting. If anything, the comments on how “they’re supposed to get away with it, the bitches” are more than the men get for the same kind of action.
Don’t even try to downplay this, Lys. The fact it is, as you said, ‘played for laughs’ is the problem. It’s not something to laugh at. If it were more serious, like the scene you’re talking about, then it’s a story element and completely fine from a reader’s point of view – so I don’t know why you’re trying to make a point of that despite that it was not-okay in-world, but was okay for us, as the readers. Because it was a story element.
Playing on female-on-male violence as a joke is something that has gone on too long, is supported by too many idiots of the modern day, and brushed off as ‘normal, acceptable, and funny’ by others. You can leave that last line by the door, too, since the point you’re basing it on was a valid part of the story and not something meant to be laughed at by the readers, so it feels like you’re reaching to try and handwave this off and bring it back around to how men are bad.
Beside, the “violence:female on male is funny” trope is demeaning for women. It is supposed to be funny because women are not strong enough to really hurt a man, unlike the opposite where women are so frail and delicate that a male could hurt them even without trying.
Double standards are always annoying, just to make an obvious example, immagine a gender reversed cast with a female Dabbler acting as she does. Are you unconfortable yet?
They are not called out on that because they are obviously the bad guys. And the situation is serious, at least Sydney doesn’t know it’s a play.
Also, if the bad guys were (played by) Max and Anvil and Leon would be in Sydney’s place, it would be exactly as bad.
Here it’s different. Imagine to switch genders…
If you think it is so damned funny turn it around. Siddles is sitting necking with some guy and some other guy walks in. Comedy ensues as they attack Siddles causing severe hematoma and concussion.
More uproarous laughter as when Sid tries to clearify matters , she is attacked again! This time not with bare fists, no this time the cowards use clubs to pummel their prey.
Dave, you have lost a reader. Shame on you.
Although I do agree that this particular page is not funny, and putting out the wrong message, DaveB has done a wonderful job for the past 733 pages, and I see no reason to drop out because of one misstep. I am hoping that DaveB is paying attention and will edit the past two pages to his usual standards. I don’t need an apology, but I do request a change.
If it was as severe as what you are saying, yeah this would be pretty messed up. However, maybe with your gender reversal idea stick to the same level of violence. A couple head bonks and two boots tossed at her, no serious injuries, barely even hurt. The head bonks will probably be gone by the next page as they arent real its just a visual gag. Krona and Sidney arent beating the life out if Leon are they? No, so why would the reverse situation cause Sidney to be nearly killed? This isnt domestic violence, this is 3 close friends have a slightly heated discussion. So everyone needs to calm down a bit.
Calm down bitch, it was just two guys throwing their boots at your head because you opened your mouth. Damn, why are dames so fuckin hysterical all the time?
Hmm tricky, to the bumps and shoes represent actual violence, or are they a visual metaphor for a verbal tongue lashing? Since it’s quicker than burning a couple of pages of the two explaining that “no thats not what they meant, and you should he ashamed at that swan dive into the gutter” leaving leon chastised and slightly ashamed.
If its actual violence that’s not quite ok. If its a visual stand in (like a fade to black or the like) then its more ok, but open to misinterpretation. We’ll see which way it goes
I’m kind of on the fence here. It is obviously just a visual metaphor for “Dude, that’s not cool”, but I do agree that casual violence is kind of a shitty trope, even without taking into consideration the sexist implications of it.
I’m with you on this one, i don’t think any physical violence has happened here, maybe in the last page since Krona was in arms reach, but not right now. They are beating him over the head with glaring and words only.
Yes, just glaring, words, and two boots. Which probably have lead or steel in their soles, being military boots. Eh, who cares, it’s not like men are human.
I’ve seen the visual representation of a tongue lashing done then showing them fine the next panel chopping back and forth between real and visual representation with verbal additions illegible.
This only shows one version and isn’t clear if it’s real or not. Could be artist growth required / more thought and planning needed.
Gee, is it really violence when two people physically assault and batter a third without provocation? Truly, the world will never know.
I hope none of your loved ones ever have to come to you for help with an abusive partner. For their sake.
Leaving aside gender tropes for the moment, that whole fake bank robbery scheme of Arianna’s stank of bad decision making from stem to stern. It is obvious that 1.> Maxima wasn’t in on the scam, 2.> Sydney still hasn’t been told, 3.> It’s quite possible that other team members weren’t told, and 4.> It was a staged event to pull positive press coverage.
So, potential downsides? Huge. If the public ever finds out, it puts every subsequent encounter into doubt. Was the restaurant brawl staged? Are any of the things Archon has said true (and some manifestly aren’t, i.e. Dabbler’s cover story about her nature and abilities)? And potentially worse, and much more likely, what happens if Sydney finds out? Does she accept that Maxima didn’t know? Arianna is her PR rep and her lawyer . . . how much trust would you have in your representation (legal/PR/otherwise) if your first interaction with them involved them gaslighting both you and the general public?
Not to mention Lys attempted to use the bank robbery to show ‘man bad’ situation, when it was all planned by a woman, for a woman to come out on top in. The bank robbery wasn’t even a gender issue at all, yet we’ve got someone trying to make it into one.
Someone starts to think and all hell breaks loose… how is this scene any more of a gender issue than the bank scene? How far into exaggeration must you go to assume Arianna told them to shove someone to the ground, when firing a gun would have a way more dramatic effect? Who said anything to the effect of “man bad”? You’re just going out of your way to deform anything in order to be offended by tex avery-style bumps because when it’s women hitting a man you simply have to assume it’s a gender issue first and foremost.
Agreed, they’re overreacting. Hysterical. Clearly their feelings and experiences don’t matter. They should just shut up and take it. Probably did something to deserve it anyway. Like getting uppity and forgetting their place.
Also, lmfao @ “it’s more than the men get for the same action.” You think a comic showing two men chucking their boots at a girl would go over well here, no matter how “played for laughs” it was? Say it. Please.
Give me a break. Even most of the super powered men are typically depicted as various flavors of in awe of, intimidated by, or even outright afraid of the women in the comic.
Like, you don’t even have to use different characters. Picture a comic panel in which Leon throws his boot directly at Sydney’s head, with no control, flustered, in a clearly angry outburst with no regard for her whatsoever.
You can believe there would be more than five pages of comments, and the author wouldn’t be pretending to be confused in his apology.
I recommend you to avoid Japanese comics (manga) and cartoons (anime). Such occurrences are the rule in great many them.
I hate that trope as well. But it’s not the “violence played for comedy” part I have an issue with, it’s the double standard, and the lazy set-ups. In anime at least, cartoon violence played for comedy is almost always female-on-male, and almost never male-on-female. And it’s nearly always for an idiotic reason, like obviously accidental boob touches. On top of that, it’s so over-used — the accidental-grope-plus-slap has basically become a lazy slapstick joke used in place of actual humour or writing.
It’s also become a lazy and ham-fisted way of indicating that a character is tsundere. (In my experience, it usually means she’s a really badly written and unlikable tsundere. Or she’s just a jerk who occasionally is less of a jerk, which isn’t the same as being tsundere.) The only violent tsundere I like is Taiga from Toradora!; she’s an exception because while her violence is played for comedy, it’s also very obvious that she lashes out because she has deep-seated emotional problems and attachment issues, and that isn’t played for comedy. The show (usually) treats her violence as comedic, but it doesn’t treat it as justified or desirable.
Off the top of my head, I can only think of two anime where male-on-female cartoon violence is regularly played for comedy: KonoSuba (Kazuma leaves a comical lump on Aqua’s head when she does something dumb enough to put them in danger or cause significant problems, and he frequently makes a point about being equally violent towards men and women) and Chu-2 (Yuuta lightly thumps Rikka on the head when she’s being an idiot).
I would like to see less female-on-male violence played for comedy, but I’d also like to see more male-on-female violence played for comedy. I’d like to see the two sides of this trope become equal, not disappear entirely. Obviously male-on-female examples are harder to write (since they’re harder for audiences to swallow, which is why the double standard exists in the first place), but I think decreasing the female-on-male examples might help with that. It would at least be a step in the right direction.
Ironically, the original tsundre, Lum from Urusai Yatsura, was only violent with fairly good reason; Ataru was a cosmic level jerk. And she balanced it by being over the top affectionate, too.
The original concept wasn’t “violent girl”, it was a girl with “large type for the reading impaired” emotions, so that even an otoku wouldn’t find her too mysterious to cope with.
But, of course, other authors ran with the concept and lost Rumiko Takahashi’s original nuance.
I agree. Normalizing domestic violence by turning it into the punchline is NOT okay. “HA HA So she punched him”. Hands down, the most disappointing comic Dave has ever drawn. (From a multi-year patron on his 10th re-read)
I think the funny isn’t supposed to be that girl hit boy but rather that the little one (Sydney) hit someone much bigger then themselves. If Maxima had hit a guy or Sydney had used an orb than it would have been serious. I still agree it isn’t very funny.
Going to have to agree. This is NOT funny, and the most disappointing page I’ve seen to date.
The problem is that it’s played for laughs, like the old blackface vaudeville, polish jokes, and others. Hell there’s a reason why a lot of old classic cartoons went out of release. Or putting it anotherway, would it be all right if this was Leon and Frits being the o es who added lumps to Sydney’s head for the same reason.
Sydney just asked if they were monogamous. Leon did make an assumption here.
Leon, who has admitted his lack of social graces and awareness when it comes to dating and relationships. I get the humor that’s being attempted to be made there, but in the real world, two women just assaulted a man with deadly objects because he misinterpreted something due to a disability. The trope of “Hah ha, it’s funny, because women are weaker than men and could never hurt them” is both sexist to women and sexist to men who have suffered domestic abuse at the hands of women.
I’m not gonna chastise DaveB over it, or get disgruntled and leave like others have, but the point is made. It’s difficult seeing this scene in a comic where one of the common themes is equality and respect. Slapstick like this kind of throws mud in the face of that theme.
1)Leon doesn’t have a disability. He’s just kind of awkward.
2)Empty boots thrown from, a maximum, of three feet away are not to anything but very fragile insects.
Actually, it is possible Leon has Asperger’s Syndrome, NOT Autism, which could cause a misinterpretation like this. As such, he would have a “disability”, but it is not one that makes him entirely dysfunctional so it is not readily apparent.
Speaking as an Aspie… Even lacking social understanding, he still wouldn’t have PUSHED the issue how he did. That was actually him just being a bit of an ass.
also, while i don’t condone the violence, he’s just got a few lumps, not concussion-worthy injuries.
I don’t remember people freaking out when Maxima caused Harem to hurt herselves far far worse for a similar escapade.
Pushed what? He asked a legitimate question
A few lumps like that, in the real world, are a serious fucking problem, specially on the head which has a very thin (relatively speaking) layer of skin and virtually no fat or muscle to cause a swelling like that
For one, Harem’s a super. That comes with some level of increased damage resistance naturally, otherwise they couldn’t be in this line of work.
Secondly, that was female-on-female. It’s a different factor, like male-on-male. Even male/female and female/male violence is fine when it’s a serious part of the story. When it’s female/male sight gags, the ‘played for laughs’ bullcrap? That’s not okay, because there’s a history there, a sexist history which has caused the spread of thinking that hurts men to this day, and even assumes that women are weak in order for this ‘joke’ to work, so there’s some backwash against women there, too.
You ever been hit in the face with a heavyass combat boot thrown at full force by someone having an angry outburst? By the way, the close range makes it more dangerous, not less. Also, your answer to this question is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if Leon is as invincible as Maxima. Throwing a blunt object at someone is assault, and if it hits it’s assault and battery. I would expect Maxima, or indeed any third party, to ask Leon if he wanted to press charges, had they been present.
You’ve clearly never had a combat boot chucked at your head, I copped 7 stitches in my scalp and a 3 day persistent headache when my sister hit me with one.
Thanks for that. Boots are hard and heavy. That’s five to eight pounds of leather coming at him.
Not to mention lead or steel, given that they’re military, and depending on the angle of impact.
Not an unreasonable one, though. When people think of non-monogamy, their mind generally goes to threesomes. Either way, it’s not cool to hit someone with a shoe because they misinterpreted your already-unusual proposal. Frankly, it would have made just as much sense (or rather, just as little sense) for Krona or Leon to attack Sydney for suggesting polyamory at all.
it wasn’t a threesome though. there’s a difference between “Hey, are you ok with him dating us separately.” and “Hey, are you ok being a hetrosexual female having sex with a male while a hetrosexual female joins in?” Just because movies show people like it at the drop of alcohol or just a hat. doesn’t mean it’s normal
Not going to disagree completely, but I will point out that the sequence went Example of Cora, friend of Dabbler, and her crew (whom Leon has never met and quite possibly doesn’t know their genders) -> Leon/Krona Monogamous? -> Threesome? -> Why assume?/Not bi. -> Date alternately/non-simultaneously.
In other words, Sydney didn’t mention the idea of dating separately until after the threesome question. I don’t know about anyone else, but nothing about mentioning that she got the idea from observing a friend of Dabbler’s would skew me far afield from guessing she was talking about a threesome instead of, say, alternating movie nights.
That said, letting Sydney explain what she meant would have been relatively risk free, instead of pulling a conversational Leeeeeeroy Jenkins. Leon failed to heed the wise old saying: “It is better to remain silent and have people think you may be a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”
Doesn’t matter. It did not justify any amount of violence.
Since everyone is commenting, I figured I’d throw my two cents in. Sydney’s violent reactions, while over reactions and unnecessary to the point of ridiculousness, are completely within her knee jerk reaction character. This comic has some very serious and realistic parts, but it also has comic like exaggerations all the time. Speaking as someone who says dumb shit in front of my female friends SPECIFICALLY for a funny reaction, there’s nothing strange or awful about this strip. I feel like people are looking too far into a comic about the antics of an ADHD super heroine.
@Akkido I agree with everything you are saying (I’ve goaded quite a few reactions myself) but there is legitimate claim to the people who have taken this seriously. I’d say the greatest issue (which hopefully will be set in the next comic) is the complete lack of reaction on Leon’s part. The discussion is perfectly fine and would have been great if it had stayed as that, jumping down Leon’s throat for asking a question was not fine.
I will admit that asking Krona to screw her own brain over would have deserved those hits but asking if they were talking about a three-some does not.
Yes, it is within her character of being a thoughtless, crass, casually abusive shithead. Is this really the defense people are going with? “Well yeah that guy’s a murderer, but he’s a SERIAL murderer, so it’s fine.”
I’m happy to potentially see open and friendly non-monogamy in pretty much any form of media I consume. It’s unfortunately very rare, and it’s seldom well done.
Amen brother
Weregeek has been running a story on it. It is not unproblematic, but seems realistic. When it comes to matters of the heart people tend to react less than perfectly logical. And not everybody is ready for polyamourousness.
Represent!
Look up novels Good Intentions, Black Friday, and their sequels. Urban fantasy where male protagonists get harems. And I believe Star Justice series counts as well for sci-fi.
Sure, Just hack herself to be OK with sharing………….really? Sheesh! But, in his defense he may have a mild concusion now. Just look at the knots on his noggin!
And, other than simply ‘sharing’ Leon, what other possibility could Sydney be getting to with her question in panel three?
People vary rarely date without even the possibility of having intercourse at some point during said date
Ehhh, asexuality and demisexuality is a thing, so its not all that rare. But I get where you’re coming from.
Aces and demis are relatively rare, so yes, it is that rare. I say this as a pansexual male life-partnered to a demisexual MTF.
Note, neither of them actually ask if he is okay with that idea. Never given time to express anything after the threesome comment before the violence ensued
That’s because, as a male, his opinion doesn’t matter
I know someone who was dating 2 women at the same time, just finishing the relationship with one whilst starting with the other.
I asked him what it was like, and he described it in one word. ‘Exhausting.’
So maybe Leon doesn’t want a ‘threesome’ relationship as he thinks he can currently only the one with Pixel.
Learn to walk before you learn to run. Learn how to be a good boyfriend to one girl before trying to be one for two.
‘Exhausting’ seems the right word to describe ANY kind of relationship with Sydney Scoville Jr. Also, why did she use the word ‘monogamous’ if she wasn’t talking about sex? She comes off like a jerk, asking weird questions and then reacting like that when Leon takes her at face value. Maybe Krona and Sydney are over-reacting because they feel uncomfortable with the conversation Sydney (!) has started, but taking it out on Leon is… undeserved to say the least.
Or they believe he’s already made his opinion clear (even if he actually hasn’t), and are annoyed that he keeps making “funny” interjections while they’re attempting to have a serious discussion about a situation that makes them both uncomfortable. They’re responding inappropriately, but I think that’s more because they’re nervous and immature than anything else.
That said, what bothers me is that men are expected to be sexually adventurous, but also expected to pretend not to be, and definitely not to express that interest. There are situations where it would be inappropriate to do so, but it shouldn’t always be considered inappropriate, and we shouldn’t punish people for trying to be what everyone expects them to be. Too many social situations are traps with no good answer.
Oh, and maybe if the pair of them stopped regarding Leon as simply a slab of nerd-meat to be shared between them, without asking (or respecting) his opinion, that would be great
Yeah, this is getting a little gross
It’s a lot gross. Seriously, if I’m Leon, I’m telling them both to get the f out.
Leon, who has gone from ‘no action’ to in the course of two months to ‘dating, and there’s ANOTHER woman that wants to get in on the action’ is going to tell them both to go away? I think you have taken more blows to the head than Leon has..
Speaking from experience in Leon’s shoes, the only thing that ever happens in this situation is that Leon loses both of them. Predictable 350%.
Only the fact that this is a superhero universe prevents that 350% from being complete certainty.
If these two trainwrecks were my only options, I would gladly commit to a lifetime of celibacy. Or a bullet.
I have to agree with Guesticus here. They’re being really rude about Leon.
Im still holding out for the Frix x Sydney ship, but giving Sydney a chance with Leon is very nice of her (if Krona decides to do that) especially sense Sydney kind of got screwed over by time travel bullshit.
Frix/Sydney is definitely the ideal outcome here for me also
definitely the most ideal. . . .AAaaand I also think her asking Krona to start a monogamous relationship is a bit selfish on her part but she did ask Krona first and even if Krona said no I dont think Sydney would try to force that.
Not time travel. Relative time distortion. It’s a Year Inside Hour Outside situation.
It is time travel. Harem figured it out.
She jumped forward in time, that’s time travel.
Distinction without a difference. Even if Sydney “didn’t time travel, just went forward”, Max and company *did* time travel, because they went both ways and Halo knew it.
Um, er, why do I get the feeling that I would be shut down for repairs for a while if I did that? Daniel the Human has the “Pillar Of Education” steel Baseball Bat for when I “crossed the line 10 kilometers ago”, I think this might be 1 of those times…
…But if anyone’s interested…
Can’t blame the due for trying. Either so I think Sydney has made massive strides in just a couple of days or at least say something that dabbler might say.
Why didn’t she hack Maxima to forget?
Maybe later?
If you mean ‘hack Maxima to forget Krona manipulated time’ there are several issues with that.
– It has not been revealed yet if Krona can alter memories like that;
– Maxima might have resistance to it (by being in a higher power category or due to some artefact of her power);
– Besides Maxima there were many others present that remember, and Krona would get in even more trouble when found out she tried to cover up in such a way.
And even if she could do that, there are all kinds of potential issues with messing with peoples heads and she would be all to aware of how messy that could get. She has mentioned before that she has limited herself in certain areas.
Extremely intrigued by the potential for some poly rep up in this – I love Sydney and I love Krona and I’d love to see them hang out more.
Sydney, is it really necessary to keep postponing your welcome back party for this?
Yeah…
Frix complementing Maxima’s shininess, under the impression she’s an android.
Sydney needs to get back to her party…!
So apparently its perfectly ok for the girls to ask if they are monogamous and Leon quite logically questions are they meaning a three way yet is then subjected to violence by them, Sydney then goes on to ask Krona if she can date him as well in front of Leon who doesn’t even get a say so in the conversation and the moment he even dares broach something they both hit him again. Yeah great equality there, talk about hypocrisy.
As he got exited at the idea of a three way I think it was implied he wouldn’t mind.
I didn’t interpret the eyes-shrunk-to-tiny-pinpricks illustration to be excitement or interest (usually drawn in this comic as dilated pupils and/or enlarged eyes, i.e. Sydney’s “CaN I PEt yOU???” line to unfluffened Pixel). It seemed more like an indication of him being intimidated or shocked . . . not necessarily unwilling, just caught flat-footed (probably handy, since said foot then went right into his mouth).
Sydney’s and Krona’s reactions seemed, in that light, more about their assumptions than his actual reaction. That’s just my interpretation of visual cues, though. YMMV.
Also, to quote a master of espionage, “Who throws a shoe? Seriously!”
Didn’t get the impression he was ‘excited’ at the idea of a three way, he was simply asking if that was what Sydney meant by asking if they were monogamous
It’s been implied that Leon is just as ‘new’ to relationships as Sydney
She has to ask Krona first, just as you would if it were the relative, or ex, of a friend, or friend of a relative. Any relationship that you start with someone that is “entangled” with another relationship, could end up one or both relations. After getting the okay from Krona, she would then ask Leon out, I would assume. She’s basically asking if it’s okay to ask, at this point.
Asking for permission to ask is what I got out of this exchange as well. I also inferred from his Pixel comment last page, that, while it may have just been him making an ass out of himself, it was also him implying that he wouldn’t object to that scenario.
While it seems to be general interpretation that he is being treated like a piece of meat here, the interpretation I drew was:
Sydney implied something (types), he made a crass remark that she and Krona responded to (displayed as an attack in manga/graphic novel/anime/comic/webcomic style);
Sydney asked a question, indirectly to both of them but focused on the partner of the one the question was about (the alternative being, asking one at a time, and seeming less straightforward/well meaning), got what she and said partner interpreted as another crass response (though I’ll agree that, unlike last page, he did seem to just be asking a question this time), got rebuffed again;
and finally, Sydney clarified and Krona gave her two-cents, to which he made an (depending on the facial expression, which we can’t see) either further crass remark, or asked an innocent ‘ooky’ question.
In other words, they aren’t ignoring him or devaluing his opinion, but rather the way he (at least in their eyes) is expressing it. Of course, the ‘voice’ and intended interpretation are generally only known to the creator, so I could be misreading, the people who feel the other way could, we all could… I don’t know, I just wanted to throw an opinion into the ring.
TLDR; I read the interactions differently thant others, picked up an amount of joking crassness from Leon, and interpreted the cartoon violence as not actually indicative of real violence.
(It seems for many, that the level of art realism, determines whether of not the content is taken seriously, but I interpret him not reacting in a strong negative fashion, and the fact that this is a comic in which Sydney and others have been shown to display comically unrealistic actions/reactions before, paired with cartoonish, rather than blood/bruise based (which Dave has been shown to do) injuries to be indicative of a lack of seriousness)
I can understand why Sydney would both bring this up and not understand how to bring it up, I’m over 60 and I just figured out how to bring it up about a year or so ago. People in this country are weird about ethical non-monogamy, apparently serial monogamy is about as far as most are willing to accept.
And when hanging around Dabler and her friends and see it all done in a healthy way it’s really hard to come up with a logical reason to hold onto monogamy. It doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons (straight up romantic preference/orentation is common enough) but if you’re being honest you have to question it and your stance on it.
Face it Leon, to them, you are just meat on a stick (and they are both vegetarians who are only interested in the ‘stick’)
Yep, this is definitely a toxic, losing situation for Leon, no matter how it turns out.
Two gals talking about how to divide him up without even sharing…And even if he tries to ask them to clarify what they mean, he gets smacked hard on his noggin. (That IS criminal Battery, no matter if it’s man or woman doing it).
Neither one of them is taking his opinions into account, as if he were a piece of property for negotiation of ownership.
Women don’t like it when they’re treated that way & men shouldn’t have to put up with that kind of behavior either. For Leon, this is an abuse; DaveB has said that this comic was suppossed to be like “real world with super powers” so realistically, Leon needs to get his $#|+ together. Not even married to either of them & already subject to the “battered husband” situation. His best bet would be to tell both of them to take a hike…Leon may not get to date very often, but he can still find far, far better than either of these two.
Yeah, cute or not, the second someone starts leaving non-consentual bruises, it’s over.
Nobody should have to suffer abuse. I know this is supposed to be a hilarious comedy trope, but given the existing themes in this comic and modern day social mores, it’s a swing and a miss.
Given that she aparently already assaulted er battered him twice in this same conversation, honestly at this point Leon should excuse himself from the conversation, and then later with Maxima in the room explain that he’s not interested in dating, and request a permanent transfer. This is not like blood refill guy who’s into it bevause Vampire babes! Fighting over him. (Or as Jackie would call him, another fang addict, granted diferent universe)
Then frankly max should sit down with sydney and make her get some therapy. Seriously she needs to stop lashing out at everyone now that she has literaly godguns in 7 delightful flavors at her fingertips
Sorry just nip pickin the small detail that she only asked if it was ok with Krona, and aparently just assumed Leon would just go for it, granted timeing would be an issue, but…
I am with you MidnightDStroyer, a pox on both their houses!
Krona isn’t a vegetarian if that helps.
I think that helps? It can also be argued that Sydney isn’t strictly vegetarian either, i would think, since she says she only got into the spicy foods to divert the meat cravings… and after what happened with the space food….
That’s why said ‘vegetarian’ rather than ‘vegan’
The implication was, that they were only interested in his dick (the ‘stick’) and not in the him as an individual (the ‘meat’)
Leon, listen to me, this will NOT end well.
Stand up, walk away,and forget this entire situation ever happened>
so now our author his hand waved male consent, and nods and smiles at female on male violence. imagine my honk.
Dave, dude, it might very well be time to move past this and maybe never include this kind of gag again?
You’re falling into the bad side of anime tropes, where sexism is okay as long as it’s towards a guy. Violence is okay, as long as it’s a girl doing it. If the girl suggests something and the guy goes along with it, it’s his fault and he’s a bad person and should feel bad.
As some other users mentioned, this blatant sexism is starting to get gross. At least when we see sexism towards females in the comic, it’s to show that ‘these are bad guys/inconsequential idiots’. Here we’ve got the main flippin’ character and next Best Girl casually beating the crap out of the guy they’re trying to figure out how to divvy up without so much as including him in the discussion – and every time he interjects to expound upon something they’re suggesting, he gets struck. Just because he’s written as being okay with it doesn’t make it actually okay.
I guarantee if the genders were reversed you’d have a tidal wave of people crawling up your backside.
Agreed. I love this comic, but this strip makes me…very uncomfortable.
I’m still a little shocked over Dabbler’s rough grabbing of Frix a few comics ago. We get it, she’s a succubis with zero concept of persona space and prudence, but you’d think her time around humans would drive the point of self control home, at least a little.
I don’t know if DaveB’s doing this to drive the point home of ‘sexual harassment bad, guys! see how you like it when it happens to men!”, but turning the tables only results in missing the mark.
It was kinda implied she did it to deliberately wind Maxi up after how Maxi reacted to Dabbles ‘greeting’ Cora, and that Frix was okay with it, just caught unawares
The Dabbler-and-Frix situation was played a bit more seriously, so I would assume it’s something that Frix and Dabbler have done before and prior consent is given freely.
The issue with this particular damnable page, is that it’s a ‘gag’. Played for laughs, normalizing the idea that ‘weak little woman beats the hell out of anachronistically defenseless man’ as a JOKE. This thinking has harmed men for who knows how long and continues to this day, and will for the foreseeable future – keeping men from reporting their battered status because they are laughed at and not taken seriously. Where a woman can get away with lying about her battered status and gain a protective social and legal bubble to help her, a man reporting his becomes a joke and a pariah.
That’s the real issue here. Leon being treated like he doesn’t matter, and the ‘woman beats man’ joke. Dabbler and Frix was held a bit more seriously and seems to just be part of their character interaction. If she’d been played as rapey for laughs, I’d have a serious problem. Considering that has happened before and I got vocal then and no one cared, I might just be alone in this.
If he is using it to make a point, there’s a problem with using the protagonist to do it. While protagonists don’t have to be good, they usually are relatable – or, the audience expects them to be. Especially in fantastic fiction, the leading role is usually an everyman character, because the audience needs a vehicle through which the setting’s rules may be explained, ideally without destroying the illusion. Now, I have no idea what human is supposed to find sydney relatable, but she does seem to be at least clumsily intended as an everyman – certain typical signifiers are present in the first strips, such as a boring retail job and no innate powers in a super powered setting.
Point being, because she was initially presented as an everyman, the fact that she is apparently an unrepentant abuser towards people she barely knows is all the more jarring. Now, granted, this is complicated by the fact that she is also presented as idiotic to the point of straining belief, and also as a callous jerk who could easily be cast as an antagonist or even a villain, with just a minor twist of the lense. Really, I think the issue is that the author clearly wants us to think of sydney as “snarky weirdo who occasionally screws up, but gee golly she sure tries hard”, but the character he actually wrote is “that kid who thinks she’s way funnier and more interesting than she actually is, also obnoxious borderline psychopath who has frequent disturbing outbursts that for some reason no teacher, guardian, or counselor ever picked up on so she was never entered into a treatment program”. Which, now that I’m thinking about it, either no one ever noticed, or there was never anyone in her life who cared about her enough to get her the help she so badly needs. Maybe because she abuses everyone who gets close to her. It’s sad, but also hard to feel sympathy for someone who treats everyone like garbage being treated the same in return. Chicken and egg problem, I suppose. Do we know what sydney’s parents are / were like?
I’d just wait and see how this plays out before judging. This comic makes a lot of fun about certain tropes and stereotypes and I think it’s blatanly clear that Sidney and Krona are the assholes here.
It’d be a problem if this behaviour remained inconsequential as usual, but I expect that Sydney will be called out for this instead, either by Leon or Maxima. See the last two pages as a set up for a lesson – why trivializing violence is NOT ok.
Yes, fully expecting that Sydney at least will have a ‘talking to’ from Maxi within the next couple pages
Seems that won’t be the case. DaveB’s edit shows he thought no one would have a problem with this, and points out (incorrectly) it shouldn’t be a problem because more women are abused than men.
So apparently he personally thought this was fine.
Shoe throwing of that caliber is of someone who has played alot of “Half Dead” or of a clothes based assassin. (the type known for their ability to do odd tasks or random jobs)
There is also the age old art of Kung-Shoe.
@kaytana – You are awarded 70% of one Internet. Thank you for putting your best foot forward.
It is hard to say how much our monogamous dealings are due to nature vs nurture, but with most media leaning to monogamous male/female couples, as well as male fantasy, is it really that odd that his train of thought went to ‘threesome’ before ‘poly-amorous dating’?
And that is not even starting on some of the other issues in this conversation, such as:
– Sydney being the one who first brings up the topics of bringing in other girls (Pixel last page and herself here);
– Sydney trying to invite herself to their relationship;
– Leon not being asked about his opinion on this and getting (violently) shut down when he speaks up.
To be clear, I’m not faulting DaveB on this so much as Sydney herself. Yes, she is fictional, but as with almost any work of fiction the comic comes with a (implied) disclaimer that says ‘actions and opinions expressed by the characters in this work do not necessarily represent that of the author’.
Yup, that’s why never brought up DaveB, or even the cartoon violence (which so many others seemed to have focused on)
DaveB’s edit shows he thought no one would have a problem with this, so it isn’t Sydney’s doing. This isn’t the issue of three people being bad at being sensible adults, it’s that the writer believed no one would be upset if he had two women ignoring the man they’re trying to figure out how to divvy up while beating him for opening his mouth ‘as a joke’.
Guarantee this comment section would explode without any defense against it if it was Krona or Heatwave being ‘shared’ by two guys who struck her every time she went along with what one of them suggested.
Do whatever the hell you want to do with your comic, DaveB. It is yours, after all.
+1
This is a work of fiction. You’re entitled to write and draw it however you choose and use and memes, tropes, etc. that you care to. And you can offend sensibilities too without having to apologize for it. The haters and whiners just need to learn to deal with it or go somewhere else.
No one’s mad about the comic, we’re mad about the author’s abhorrent, dismissive opinions on abusive relationships, and the idiots defending him. You can deal with that or fuck off.
Normally love your comic but you’re coming at this from a very male, very straight, very monogamous point of view and it’s showing.
You’re not doing a very good job, is what I’m saying.
Step away, leave this alone, and don’t mention it again. Just…stop.
That’s not how you learn or grow as a person, though, and definitely not how become a better writer. Your comment sounds like the kind of thing you say to avoid going to therapy.
Leon, quit while you’re still ahead (or have an actual head).
I agree, abuse victims should know better than to stand up for themselves. The abuse is their fault, after all.
Coming from the perspective of having said relationship, jealousy always finds its way in , even if its clear there is a primary and secondary relationshio. That jealousy can break apart the entire thing and leave the person with nothing. Again speaking from experience.
Very much not worth it.
Yeah, but by the time things start getting rocky, Sydney may remember that she has that other guy on the hook, the one with the hot twin sister. This is more of a “life is short, live for the moment” kind of proposal, Leon is the approachable guy she had in mind two months ago, when she went missing.
I live for the drama here. Between the complaints that characters that always considered themselves monogamous act monogamous and the self-disproving accusations that woman-on-man violence is never called out… while both the hits and their effects are played for laughs, this comment section is turning into a “I know better let me write the comic instead” fest.
To be fair to the hypothetical Leon-out-of-this-funny-scene-where-hes’-the-boke, 1: yes, they should ask him if he understands, because even if they didn’t prevent him from voicing his opinion and sydney seems to ask both of them at the same time he’s completely missing the point, and 2: I think polyamorous agreements where no one considered a threesome at some point must be in the minority. Most people want to have fun in their sex lives.
Spontaneous violence and lack of social awareness are known defining characteristics of the Sydney character – I’m not sure why the group has chosen this particular strip to finally decided to call foul now…
I think it’s because this one isn’t played like Sydney’s normal spaz gags, where the joke is that she’s weird and crazy. it’s exactly like old anime tsundere routines, where the punchline is that a guy is getting beat up by a girl. Especially with Krona joining in, it’s just put a bad taste in the mouth of many people who are tired of seeing this trope and find it kind of toxic.
I won’t have an issue if Leon stands up for himself, and HR hits both women with serious consequences. Remember when Max shut Sydney down for a rape joke?
Many of the commenters do, in fact, know better how to handle abuse than this author, since they have pointed at the comic and said, “not like that.”
I don´t like the last two pages of the comic, at all. And if the goal is to show a growth in Sydney´s self-confidence, I personally would do it in a different way. But I will tell (all of) you this: I´m respectful and patient enought to wait and see where this is headed. And you will not witness a disrespectful behaviour from me towards the author like many of you are showing. Because I respect others´ work, because I´m well aware of the effort needed to write a story (a good one like Grrlpower), because I´m against censorship (there are too many people willing to tell others how to act, what to say, what to do in their lives, what their values should be), and because I have enormously enjoied this comic until now, and I´m mature enought to be aware that I don´t need to like each and every damn page of the comic to love the whole of it.
Long story short. You are behaving like little spoiled childish lame dictators. Looks like the fucking society has gone crazy. Start by judging yourselves, the way you behave, the things you do, before judging others´ behaviour and the things others do.
I agree.
Let the author tell his story.
Hear hear, though i have enjoyed these two pages too. I really don’t think that any of this over-the-top violence is actually physically occurring.
I agree with your “let it play out” perspective, and share your dislike of how the last couple of panels have gone so far. Here’s where my perspective diverges from what I’m seeing yours as being:
People are perfectly entitled to express that a situation presented in a comic makes them feel uncomfortable. It might be fair to say that the situation hasn’t played out, but the peril of a two panel per week schedule is that each panel has at least a couple of days to sit on its own before anyone other than DaveB knows what’s coming up next. It’s almost impossible not to judge each panel on its own merits given how they’re presented.
I’d agree that telling the author to do or not do a thing is out of line. But saying “I’m not interested in reading a comic that seems to treat female-on-male violence trivially” or “this feels and looks like a tsundere anime trope, which feels sexist to me” is 100% justified.
The readers are no more required to censor their reactions than DaveB is required to censor his comic.
Personally, I dismissed the violence as cartoonish and anime-like, and therefore not literally supposed to be occurring (like Sydney bursting into flames in sunlight, which was only in her imagination), but it’s really hard to tell sometimes — for instance, Sydney appears to have the classic anime nosebleed-in-sexual-situation reaction by the pool when Harem suggests she is owed a topless moment in return for Sydney orb-farting Harem’s top off in the pool. Ok, silly anime trope, moving on . . . but then Maxima and Harem react in horror at an evidently very real nosebleed. I’m never sure exactly where the line between silly trope and actual event is in a scene.
And even if it is a common trope, the reader reactions made me stop and think, “does that make it ok for me to give it a pass or dismiss it?” I’m thankful for the insight other peoples’ perspectives bring to my own reading of the comic.
Well, the mature and constructive ones, anyway. Which, thankfully, describes most of the comments I’ve read on the various Grrl Power installments.
Add me to this list, though I don’t really have a problem with Leon getting a couple Gibbs Slaps for inappropriate humor.
As someone who’s been nonmonogomous for years, I want to say thank you for bringing it up, especially as a serious* solution to a potential love triangle. It’s nice to be included.
(As for threesomes? Depends on the person and the couple. My two partners are very close but not lovers; at the same time, one of them is also part of a throuple (three-person partnership), complete with threesomes. Each situation is unique)
*Ignoring the anime violent-aside joking
I think the concussion is doind the thinking for leon right now
Sorry Dave. You went way off the deep end with this. You lost another reader. Good luck.
hoo boy, this may not have been a good path to go down, Dave; the whole “its okay for women to attack men, especially if it’s for laughs” trope isn’t really all that accepted anymore, especially without being called out on it; hell, I’m not even sure why they hit him for the bit about Pixel, to be honest; them not so much as even thinking of asking HIS opinion doesn’t sit well either; a lot of the rest of the comments seem to be of the same general opinion as well; you MIGHT want to address both of these issues in the next page on top of talking about it in the page blurb underneath
I mean, Math is an unrepentant perv and pretty much starts fights whenever he feels like it.
I don’t remember Math even starting a fight with a member of Archon. Actually I don’t remember he even hitting a member of Archon, the nearest he did is when he threw Anvil, or when he made Sydney hit herself with one of her orbs.
But you are right that he is pervert. I wonder how people would react to a female Math.
Dave should have a silver age inspired storyline where everyone swap gender. That could be interesting (and potentially hilarious.)
You mean Dabbler? There are male and female perverts abound in this comic.
a female Math?
…isn’t that basically Dabbler?
and the worst I can think of that they did to Math was (loudly) pretend they were doing some heavy petting in the showers while he was outside (he also didn’t even truly try to get in, other than comedic scratching at the door; pretty sure he had ways to get in, from, you know, simply opening it, to breaking it down)
regardless, this is kinda getting off topic of what I said in the initial comment of this thread
No, Dabbler is good at it… and uses hypnotic spells and body parts. Math has no takers.
I’ve read this comic for years, though I gave it up for a while, around the time Vehemence said “I have one more power I haven’t mentioned”. I figured then that I’d give Dave a little while to get out of the hole he’d dug and get back on track.
Random plotting and interpersonal violence played for laughs? Yeah, this sudden dive from an otherwise well-written story line can be fixed, I expect. I’ll check back in a couple of months.
Playing violence for laughs has kind of been a staple of the series for a while.
‘Boyfriend of the day’ … mmm … guess I could live with it.
Krona and Sydney, even part time and separately? Whoo!
So you are okay with having your questions twisted around, your opinions ignored and physical violence on a daily basis? Interesting…
If the consequences are just as metaphorical as the kind of bump he gets, and we’re smart enough not to treat “a scene lasting ten seconds” as “definitely what happens on a daily basis” or “he didn’t answer” as “he wasn’t asked”, sure!
I’d like to point out that The Joke here isn’t “let’s beat on Leon”. It’s the CONTRAST between Krona and Sydney having a realistically awkward but fundamentally adult conversation vs the ridiculously immature and trope-tastic “conversation” with Leon happening simultaneously.
I also suspect that the author (tho I may just be projecting) identifies more with these three characters than any others in the comic. So since an audience always gives more leeway for self-deprecating humor it’s all good, right?
Well apparently not. (Especially if the audience doesn’t read digs on BOTH/EITHER Leon or Sydney as self-depreciation)
Regardless, count me in the “let the author tell their story camp”. I DO think it’s legit to call Dave on this – as an excellent author he wants to have feedback and know how he’s doing. To be silent – to feel you should self-censor a legit concern isn’t what anyone here is suggesting, just to be clear. I just feel that some of the “You’ve lost me forever!!” comments are a bit over the top, eh?
There are a few, aside from the “you lost me forever” types, that are asking to remove this whole sequence, like not talking about things, is how you fix things, or learn.
I’m with you though, we should see where the story goes, instead of trying to change it from the sidelines.
Panel 3 Sydney face is muh favorite
Although I do have two questions off topic.
1.) If Krona *can* edit herself, that means she chooses to look and be the way she is, in which case, how far off is she *now* from her original appearance and personality?
2.) If you had these powers, even if they only worked on yourself, would you stay the same person? and/or what would you change. (to paraphrase an old ttrpg joke “I’ve have grey eyes ever since I found my pencil”)
I’m guessing Blue hair is not OEM.
We know that she can edit her hair, at the very least.
And, personally, I’d just do the basics of slimming down a bit, only growing facial hair when I want to and maybe being able to curl the sides of my tongue. I’m pretty ok with who I am, so I’d keep my base form relatively unchanged, but I’d definitely go wild from time to time just ’cause I could.
I suppose that also makes me wonder if krona was originally human and if so were they always the same gender as they currently present. I mean let’s be honest, Tiresias aside, who wouldn’t want to experience life on the other side (as it were) in species or gender.
Leon is about as smooth as 16 grit sand paper.
I’m going to be unorthodox, and have a completely different complaint than everyone else.
I don’t care about violence. I’m all for equal opportunity for violence. If it’s okay to hit a guy, it should be okay to hit a girl, and if it’s not okay to hit s girl, it shouldn’t be okay to hit a guy.
So that part doesn’t matter to me. However my problem is that Leon is scum. I have no idea why Sydney even is attracted to him, or krona, considering they think so little of him that his opinion isn’t important, that he can’t speak up, and he is bad enough they can beat up at the drop of a hat.
So them beating him up doesn’t matter, but the fact that they dislike him so much that they would, means that neither of them should be dating him to begin with.
Because here’s the truth everyone is ignoring. If you care about someone, you don’t ignore them and beat them up. You listen to them and speak actual words and have a conversation instead of just assuming things. You’ll never find me beating someone up over a misunderstanding, because I listen and try to figure out where they got things wrong. Eh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that, that’s probably virtue signalling. Doesn’t matter.
My point is, they don’t like him. Why are they suddenly falling all over each other to be with him, when he clearly is liked so little they will slap him around for no reason?
Violence is fine, but the reasons behind violence are far more concerning than the violence itself. Besides, Sydney can have any guy she wants, including a space dog.
I agree. There really isn’t an angle you can look at the situation from where it makes sense as anything other than a cheap gag about Sydney and Krona beating Leon up.
I see little reason to believe that Leon is scum but, whether he is or not, they’re clearly treating him as such and that’s not exactly the best indication of a successful future relationship. Let alone two.
I think you may be taking those lumps on his head too seriously.
“Oh, you’re just taking her bruises too seriously. She just fell down some stairs, is all.”
(reminder: Sydney and Kora are EXTREMELY powerful beings. Leon is an ordinary human being. The power imbalance is far greater than that between a large and muscular male and a petite female. The large and muscular male cannot hack reality to force the woman to change her opinion on something, nor can he whip out a swiss army knife of superpowers when annoyed. The very start of the comic shows a future Sydney being greeted as the heavy hitter of the team – and we’ve already seen plenty of indications that they were being VERY serious about that)
Those are giant red bumps swelling from the top of his head in a matter seconds.
This isn’t meant to be taken seriously because otherwise Leon would not be casually grumbling responses back. Nor would thrown, empty boots do that kind of damage.
Blonk – Please feel free to bring a pair of combat boots to my house, stand facing away from me, and we’ll see whether they do or don’t do significant damage, eh?
I’ve worn those things, and with or without a foot, they have a kick. About a kilogram of steel shanked leather each, more or less.
Of course, nothing does “that kind of damage” … with instant 1-inch raised lumps and auto-band-aids.
Not when thrown poorly from two feet away.
And Sydney’s boots have no significant metal in them. And Kora isn’t even wearing combat boots of any kind.
Okay, i’m gonna try to answer your points, the best i understand.
1 Why are they interested in him? Similar interests, low self-esteem from comparing themselves to godly beings, and because he is also similarly “plain” from comparing himself to male supers.
2 Why aren’t they including Leon in the discussion? Sydney tried last page, but he was too immature (the other two aren’t much better), for it to be productive, so they dropped him from the talk, for now. Once Syd and Krona reach some kind of agreement, they can go back to check with Leon on how he feels about it. The point would be moot, if they decide they can share him, and he decides to be strictly monogamous, or that they need to include threesomes. Anyway, the conversation is still going, don’t assume they just completely excluded Leon from it.
3. Sydney can have any guy she wants. She isn’t there yet, mentally, or emotionally. Leon was the guy “at her level” in this comic, she hasn’t quite gotten around the idea that she is now a Hero/celebrity, or that she is conventionally attractive. The thing with Frix was more of a “when in Vegas” sort of thing, as an alien he would have different preferences, so it’s easier for her to accept that he likes her.
Honestly Ive been thinking about this all day, and I think it is extremely weird that this is the first thing she does when she gets back to earth.
Furthermore, Dave has been ridiculously silent about this, meaning he doesn’t seem to think we warrant a reply, even though we are outraged at this turn of events.
This makes me think this is plot. This isn’t Sydney wanting to date Leon, this is star trek episodic love hormones in the air, something is influencing their minds. This is completely abnormal for them, so I think it is egregiously ridiculous on purpose.
I still stand by my earlier comment, I think that they don’t like Leon enough to be dating him, that this is obviously toxic, but now I think the whole reason they ARE dating/wanting to date him is because of some plot device Derulio pheremone in the air.
If I’m right, then it doesn’t matter, because they won’t be together for very long, and the love potion will be gotten rid of except to serve as funny tools for dabbler.
If I’m wrong, then their casual abuse of Leon will be called out by the rest of the universe, and their relationship won’t last very long, because they will learn that you actually have to like the person you date, and some schmuck you hate isn’t who you are forced to be with.
Also, after reading his edit that I didn’t know he posted, I’m further convinced that this is plot, because he still doesn’t think it’s a bit deal.
ABORT Leon ABORT!
Accept and you aren’t coming out of this happy. You and Sydney ain’t happening, if Sydney is thinking about her sharing you she’ll think about YOU sharing her later, you’ve got a good thing going on with Krona, and Krona doesn’t look too ok with this idea.
Frankly Syd’s being pretty shitty.
I think it’s kinda interesting that Sydney is being rather confused with the situation. Shes basically been introduced to completely new relationship dynamics since she first met Dabbler. Its been put in her face SEVERAL times, and reduced her mental resistance to the idea over time, until she finally cracked a bit on the ship. After cracking a bit, she now has to figure out where she lines up in society, if she can, and its just not working out this first time. She needs to sort out her thoughts, and she needs to learn where to draw the lines.
The only problem this time is that she went about it too aggressively and asked her so quickly without sorting her feelings, or figuring out their situation first. Live and learn.
That’s not quite right. With Dabbler it was always easier to just put her into a separate category, but with the stuff on the Alari world, and getting lost in space, Sydney was left very vulnerable. So finding out that Dabbler, and succubi in general, aren’t outliers of sexuality got her to add this to her list of things to work on. Asking Leon NOW, while she’s still high on the rush of returning home alive, makes sense.
Sure, ask Leon now makes sense
Except… at no point in the last two (three?) pages has she even considered his opinion, and, once she found out he was not available, she should have backed the fuck off and returned to her Welcome Back Party!
I’m with you on this one, Emma. Then again, I’ve never been in this situation before, from any angle, so I can only speculate, but I think if you become an object instead of a person during the discussion of relationships, it’s time for a reality check. How that plays out will depend on the people and the circumstances, but it’s not a highpoint for certain.
Leon, just… Shut up.
Also, hel yea consensual polyamory.
Yes, Leon, shut up and let the women folk do all your thinking for you, you opinion or feelings don’t matter, you are just a stupid slab of meat, only good for one thing: being the recipient of comedic violence!