Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT: 2776-2780 (25-29 August 2014) Weekly Comic Discussion Thread
Kugai:
DramaDramaDramaDramaDrama
themacnut:
--- Quote from: Valeyard on 25 Aug 2014, 20:42 ---
Dora invades Marten's porn collection despite clearly being given the impression she didn't have his permission. When Marten quite rightly is upset. How does she react? By dumping him and breaking his heart. She's pretty much the only girlfriend he's ever going to have.
Marten will now be forever alone.
--- End quote ---
There is much about Valeyard's post that can be argued with, but I find this, I can't muster much of an argument. It remains to be seen if this trend will continue, but Marten's luck with romantic endeavors has been simply lousy, especially compared to the rest of the cast.
There was Vicky, who dumped him after he moved across the country for her. Ouch. Then there was Faye, who basically could not make up her mind about whether she wanted him or not, eventually deciding not because she wasn't ready. Then there was Dora, which started out well enough, then turned into a clusterfuck of insecurities and recriminations. Considering how that ended, it's a minor miracle they're still friends.
Since Dora, there's been Padma, which amounted to a short fling because of Padma's family obligations on the other side of the country. Then a one-night stand with Delilah, which would have been fine by itself if Marten had been happy with it, but he wasn't - he'd been hoping for more. Since then there have been no serious prospects on the horizon (unless you count Emily, which has problems because of the work relationship and Emily's kookiness).
Meanwhile, Dora's got herself a girlfriend, namely Tai, while Faye has been dating Angus since before Dora and Marten even broke up. Even Steve seems to be making it work with Cosette. The only other character with romantic troubles even close to Marten's is the notorious Sven, and he's only having issues because he's feeling love for probably the first time with someone who's in a relationship, and he's handling it poorly.
Smallest:
--- Quote from: plusorminus on 25 Aug 2014, 20:52 ---For me, aside from trying to get Marten to cover his ass when he was trying to avoid an ex-girlfriend, the shitty thing he did was when Faye told him "Uh, dude, I have a boyfriend," Sven's response basically was "So? I'm telling you that I'm in love with you, and in every movie I've seen with John Cusak and/or Ryan Gosling, you're supposed to run away with me no questions asked." When she tells him to fuck off with that noise, he gets pissy with her. He then reiterates his fuckarsness when Steve calls him on it later basically saying "Again, I don't give a shit that she's in a relationship that makes her happy. I did the grand gesture thing and I'm Sven Bianchi and why didn't it work?"
To wit: He wanted Faye and didn't give a shit what her personal circumstances were. The important thing, to him, was that he wanted her. Period. When she rightly told him to fuck himself, he doesn't stop to think "Boy, that was shitty" he immediately starts whining that it should have worked.
--- End quote ---
I can't read Sven or Jeph's mind so I could be entirely wrong, but I always assumed that was what these last two panels were. He didn't try to approach her again after that, and although he whined to Steve and I'd call that dumb/bad, I'd also call it normal. People are upset when they don't get what they want, even if they understand it's unjustified, and as long as they don't continue to be shitty about it I don't think it's particularly bad. Plus, while whining to Steve was continuing the situation on his end, it hasn't reached Faye at all and wouldn't if Cosette hadn't told Dora who told Marten who somehow will probably betray it to her. My point being, while being whiny is dumb, it wouldn't have really been doing anything bad, just having kind of a crap attitude the same evening it happened.
Also, while I don't know if Dora is the most toxic person (I think we could make a pretty good list for any of the main cast, including Marten), and while I am on the 'that porn thing was really shitty of her' side, I don't really see how it will make Marten any more/less forever alone than before.
I think cutting toxic people out is good, and I agree that toxic can apply to some people and not others (toxic to Dora but not Wil, for example), but I think jumping to conclusions and rash decisions and then declaring them (Marten)/otherwise being weird and dramatic (the smileyness and the secret) is a bad idea, and that seeing as she made the decision over a couple of hours, I don't know if I think even Dora thinks Sven's all that toxic. Cutting out a family member is a rather major decision, and while she's considered that she has to tell her parents, it doesn't seem like she's thought it through much (especially since 'don't tell Faye' has been added).
(ETA- not toxic to Wil was just an example. he may well have been literally toxic to Wil, as I don't think we've seen him in a while)
Valeyard:
--- Quote from: rschill on 25 Aug 2014, 06:09 ---Also, if someone hurts and manipulates your friends
--- End quote ---
Again with this "manipulate" thing. You must be seeing things I'm not.
If it's about the womanizing, I don't recall Sven actively really doing much, if anything at all, to get them. Veronica made it clear she found him sexually appealing in her opening comments to him. And she spoke first. Then there's the other woman throwing herself at him at the bar, and he only seemed oblivious to it. This seems to be the pattern with him and women. And I'm willing to bet the same scenario is likely to be the case with all of Dora's friends that he slept with in the past.
I certainly don't see him trying to be manipulative with his recent admission to Faye. He simply told her the truth about how he felt. Him expecting her to jump into his arms was more of a social ineptitude due to thinking movies were the way life actually worked. His expectation came across as genuine than manipulative.
I know during his date with Hanners, there wasn;t any sort of manipulation
Maybe if people confronted him more he might actually start to wise up. Faye is hardly showing any sort of moral high ground by letting him "stew in his own juices." She should have just told him "Hell no. There's no chance at us ever getting back together after what you did. You hurt me." right then and there.
There's not enough confrontation and honesty in this strip. Situations wouldn't get so out of hand if they logically and rationally explained things to each other before they become a problem. If Marten would simply get Pintsize's personality reformatted they wouldn't have problems with him incoveniencing them with his perverted antics.
Mafarfloune:
--- Quote from: plusorminus on 25 Aug 2014, 20:52 ---Good to meet you! I'm newish here, myself.
For me, aside from trying to get Marten to cover his ass when he was trying to avoid an ex-girlfriend, the shitty thing he did was when Faye told him "Uh, dude, I have a boyfriend," Sven's response basically was "So? I'm telling you that I'm in love with you, and in every movie I've seen with John Cusak and/or Ryan Gosling, you're supposed to run away with me no questions asked." When she tells him to fuck off with that noise, he gets pissy with her. He then reiterates his fuckarsness when Steve calls him on it later basically saying "Again, I don't give a shit that she's in a relationship that makes her happy. I did the grand gesture thing and I'm Sven Bianchi and why didn't it work?"
--- End quote ---
That's a whole lot of assumptions right there.
His exact response was "Look, I'm being honest here". It could mean what you interpreted, just as it could mean a whole bunch of other things like : "don't freak out, I'm just trying to be honest" or "This is not me playing with your brains" or "Tell me a better reason than I have a boyfriend, be honest you too". etc.
As for his "getting pissy with her" (which is just the one panel with an angered looking face, in which he doesn't say a damn thing, just before another panel with a sad looking face), it could be much more of a response to the words "fuck off" than anything else, or a reaction to Faye walking away from a discussion he didn't feel was over. I don't think showing an angered face for a split-second when told to fuck off is any indication of someone's ill-intents.
As for the Steve discussion : it just confirms that he's a spoiled kid who hasn't quite learned yet that everything doesn't always go as planned. Plus, the Star Wars bit makes it sound like Sven is being tongue-in-cheek about it.
--- Quote ---To wit: He wanted Faye and didn't give a shit what her personal circumstances were. The important thing, to him, was that he wanted her. Period.
--- End quote ---
He doesn't know about Faye's personal circumstances other than she has a boyfriend. Which, IMO, shouldn't be a good reason not to pursue the person you love (unless you are friends with the boyfriend, obviously). And, seriously, for any one ever pursuing a love interest, as there ever been a case where the important thing was NOT that you "wanted" the other person? How is that a point against him?
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