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Tattoo (whilst drunk)

4 (6.8%)

Old tattoo

1 (1.7%)

Tattoo (whilst sober) because Emily insisted

14 (23.7%)

Burn

15 (25.4%)

Damn, Emily is FAST with that felt-tip!

11 (18.6%)

Robo-Hand's recharge socket (hey, it's an older model, okay?)

5 (8.5%)

Pattern on Clinton's flesh-coloured body stocking

9 (15.3%)

Total Members Voted: 54

Voting closed: 08 Apr 2015, 06:50

[Gladstone]

Huh.  Jeph just updated Alice Grove, but not QC.

I guess this is The End.

[SubaruStephen]

Huh.  Jeph just updated Alice Grove, but not QC.

I guess this is The End.

Not sure if being dramatic



Or making a subtle Butts joke.

[cesium133]

Life must be being an ass to Jeph for him to be so behind. 

[Gladstone]

If 2015 really is the end of QC, then this year will truly be an Anus Horribilis.

[Zebediah]

Comic's up.

Never gesture with your drinking hand.

[Tova]

Especially not with your cyborg drinking hand.

[Is it cold in here?]

Is what Clinton is doing plausible? Is it just random wackiness, not that there's anything wrong with that?

[Gladstone]

He's in "Fuck it" mode.  He's already made a big mistake, so fuck it.  Time to go crazy, throw caution to the wind, no backing down.  On Monday, we'll find out that the guy he spilled his beer on is only mildly annoyed ("Hey, man, I liked this shirt.  You should try to be more careful next time, okay?"), but Clinton thinks this is the culmination of everything that has gone wrong on this date, and throws the first punch.

The guy steps out of the way, and Clinton trips and hits his face against the counter.

It's the most anticlimactic black eye ever.  Somewhere, in one of the back offices that keeps the universe running, a minor bureaucrat snickers and clocks out for the night.

[Aziraphale]

What's the possibility that Clinton's alcohol intolerant? Marten mentions cookies, Claire remembers the date, Marten asks what that's got to do with cookies, next frame Clinton's tossed his cookies (parked a custard/shouted lunch/insert-colorful-metaphor-of-choice-here). Obviously, neither of them knows he's hurled yet, and that's the only thing I can think of that makes sense to connect the two.

It's also possible that Clinton's hand went into murder mode if the big guy attacked him. We only know there's vomit on Clinton's shirt. We don't know whose yet.

He's in "Fuck it" mode.  He's already made a big mistake, so fuck it.  Time to go crazy, throw caution to the wind, no backing down.  On Monday, we'll find out that the guy he spilled his beer on is only mildly annoyed ("Hey, man, I liked this shirt.  You should try to be more careful next time, okay?"), but Clinton thinks this is the culmination of everything that has gone wrong on this date, and throws the first punch.

The guy steps out of the way, and Clinton trips and hits his face against the counter.

It's the most anticlimactic black eye ever.  Somewhere, in one of the offices that keeps the universe working, a minor bureaucrat snickers and clocks out for the night.

Headcanon accepted.

[Rghfrgl]

Damnit Clinton, I was all proud I noticed the glasses, because of course the circular ones broke when you got punched in the eye. Get punched first THEN get glasses, you're ruining my headcanon.

Also, before I noticed they were sitting, long Emily is long in panel 2.

People posted stuff, but I'm charging ahead full force like Clinton and not reading it until after I post!

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Next strip: In which Clinton learns how dangerous "Fuck it!" can be as a mentality.

While "Fuck it!" can sometimes, rarely, be very helpful, more often than not... well. More often than not, it's painful to watch.

[plusorminus]

Hm, this is pretty painful to watch.

One of the things I like about Claire, so far, is that she is not twisting herself in knots because she snagged a guy that some might consider "punching above her weight." She acknowledges Marten's attractive, and she revels in that without thinking she has to cater to his every whim. Clinton ... seems to not have gotten the memo. It's clear, at least, to me that Emily is gamely going along with the date but really isn't that into him, and yet he decides to twist himself into pretzel-like knots for the "pretty girl in the sundress." Something tells me that if this were Marigold, the undercut, tattoo, et. al not only would never have happened, but Clinton would have done something overtly douchey at the start.

Sigh.

[Rghfrgl]

I kinda want Claire to give Emily a lecture about what a bad influence she is on her brother.

And, for some reason, Emily is wearing a leather jacket during this.

And smoking!

[vforvancouver]

Goddammit, Clinton, you don't do that to beer...

[Estron]

Posted before reading the board, but am I the only one here who's thinking, "Clinton's spending one hell of a lot of money, isn't he?"

[valkygrrl]

No you're not the only one, 1 hour glasses, and a tattoo and a haircut all in one day for a 21 year old student.

[Near Lurker]

...would it be cliché for the photo Clinton sends Claire to ultimately be happier than we're being led to believe?  Because I'm increasingly getting that feeling.

[MrNumbers]

... he does look much better in the new glasses though. And the haircut. And the confident smile.

[SubaruStephen]

Damnit Clinton, I was all proud I noticed the glasses, because of course the circular ones broke when you got punched in the eye. Get punched first THEN get glasses, you're ruining my headcanon.

$5 says Clinton says "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?", and the other guy simply removes them, folds them up, puts them in Clintons shirt pocket, and THEN gives him the black eye.

[Meilu]

... he does look much better in the new glasses though. And the haircut. And the confident smile.

Makes me want to see Claire in different glasses...

[mustang6172]

Fun fact:  Clinton's robot hand can crush an entire bag of oyster crackers!

You can imagine how useful that will be in a fight. 

[Gladstone]

Alternate theory: Looming Guy in the last panel isn't mad about his shirt, he's actually an AI rights advocate who didn't appreciate Clinton's dismissive and ignorant comments about malevolent AI.  "Not cool, dude.  You're just helping to perpetuate the stereotype and justify the prejudice against machine-based lifeforms.  And with that hand, too.  Try to show a little more understanding, okay?" 

He gets the black eye later, in a completely unrelated incident.

[CaptainFish]

Emily sure is Clinton's Helen of Troy.

"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would you?"
Emily removes glasses "Now they won't get broken!"
"... Thanks Emily"

[Perfectly Reasonable]

>  Gnomeybum:

Jeph has made no secret of his admiration for Azumanga Daioh. So yes, Emily Azuma is certainly of Japanese descent. Watch enough anime, and you will definitely see Japanese girls in cheongsams.
Lessee, "Devil Hunter Yohko" for starters.

[Is it cold in here?]

Is Clinton having a manic episode?

[Kugai]

Well, that explains a few things.

[anahata]

Enough of Clinton's side of the story. Now I want to hear Emily's view of it. And it's Friday...

[BenRG]

Well, it looks like the hysterical episode that has been looming ever since Clinton approached Emily for a date back in strip 2854 has broken out. As I've suggested before, I think that Emily likes a guy who is spontaneous and it looks like, by the time that they reach the bet, they've got to discuss their one mutual interest - weird AI speculation.

Then we get to the part with the bar fight.

Is what Clinton is doing plausible? Is it just random wackiness, not that there's anything wrong with that?

It's plausible alright. When you consider how tightly wound he seems to be, everything that he has done to himself has probably derailed his brain a bit. He just decided to let the flood carry him along rather than try to swim against it! The fact that Emily clearly approves is only adding fuel to the fire!

[Thrillho]

This is a hilarious comic. The face on the dude in the bar in the last panel - byotiful.

[Lubricus]

Two thoughts about the bar incident: The guy Clinton spills beer on looks miffed, but not really ready to hit anyone (Clinton could probably defuse the situation by means of apology and/or buying the guy a drink), and Clinton has a formidable weapon in the form of a robot hand. My conclusion is that his black eye won't be a result of this incident. Of course, now that I have written this, I'm bound to be proven wrong.

[BenRG]

Here's my semi-parody predication for next week:

MONDAY
The guy at the bar tells a stammering Clinton that he's ruined 'my best shirt'. Clinton does something stupid like say: "That's your best shirt?!?" and the guy hits him in the cheek, just in the right place to blacken an eye without breaking his glasses.

TUESDAY
The guy has grabbed Clinton by the hair and is raising a bottle over his head to glass him. In the second panel, Emily blocks the down stroke saying something like "Hey! That's not nice!" Then she delivers an almighty karate punch to the gut that doubles the guy over. Penultimate panel is Clinton and Emily looking down whilst the guy (out of shot) pukes on Clinton's shoes (Clinton's narration - "Well, at least it can't get any worse!"). Final panel is Emily and Clinton in the distance by the bar. In the extreme foreground are two hands, one holding a heavy monkey wrench and the other adorned with brass knuckles (Clinton's narration - "Fuck. Me and my big mouth.").

WEDNESDAY
First panel: Clinton is saying: "Emily, we need to get out of here!" Next to him, Emily is in a classic martial arts stance
Second panel is a close up of Clinton's face, eyes small saying: "We... need... to...?"
The next panel is a full-width of Emily dancing through the crowd of guys and knocking them aside like they were paper sculptures. Penultimate panel is Emiily ramming a pool cue into one guy's gut whilst another tries to grab her around the throat in a sleeper hold. Final panel is Clinton ducking to one side as the guy who was trying to grab Emily crashing into the mirror behind the bar, blood and teeth flying in his wake (Clinton's narration - "Okay, how do I get off this ride?")

THURSDAY
Starts with a double-height, double-width panel of Emily standing, facing away, in a 'ready' posture, legs slightly spread, holding a baseball bat in one hand and that monkey wrench in the other. Maybe one shoulder strap on her dress is torn and there is a tear in her skirt. She's looking over her shoulder and smiling her mild, friendly smile at our POV. In the background about a dozen roughs are draped over the furniture or hanging through broken windows. One is even dangling from the suspended light strip over the pool table! (Clinton's narration - First box: "Oh..." Second box: "My..." Third box: "God!")
Penultimate panel is Emily offering Clinton a pair of steel-capped boots. "Here Clinnnton! Your shoes are ruined but these should fit you!"
"Um... Thanks! Where did...?"
Last panel is Emily in her usual 'innocent and coy' posture; Clinton now has the boots. "Oh, a guy here in the bar gave them to me! He told me that I could have them! Tee-hee!" Clinton's eyes are bugging out.
Suggested strip title: 'River of Serenity'

FRIDAY
First panel is Clinton finishing his call with Claire.
CLAIRE (over 'phone): "Oh my god! You look awful! Do you need me to pick you up?"
CLINTON: "Nah, it looks worse than it is. I'll see you Saturday for family brunch, okay?"
Next panel: Clinton putting away his 'phone and looking up at Emily, who is still managing to look cute, innocent and maybe a little hopeful.
Next panel: Emily tells Clinton that she had a great time and she hopes that he did too. Does he want to have another date some time? (Clinton's narration - "Say no, you idiot! Run! Run whilst you still can!")
Next panel is a shocked Clinton looking at a hopeful Emily (from her POV). (Clinton's narration - At top of page: "SAY NO! SAY NO!"). Clinton says aloud: "Er... Yes?" (Clinton's narration - At bottom of page: "Oh for fuck's sake!")
Penultimate panel is Clinton and Emily; Emily is clapping and saying "Yay!" (Clinton's narration - "Oh, well...!").
Final panel is Emily giving Clinton a little smooch on the cheek. (Clinton's narration - "Y'know, I really could get used to this!")

[edit]
Tried to make the post easier to read

[Sullivan]

Enough of Clinton's side of the story. Now I want to hear Emily's view of it. And it's Friday...

Questionable Roshomon!

[CM_albion]

Aaaand my sympathy for Clinton the twit went right.out.the.window.

Emily is not cuckoolandering a nervous man anymore, this is a twit who threw himself off the deep end. getting everything he deserved in his ridiculous, pompous, dare one even say pathetic attempt to reshape himself on a girls whims.

on the plus side, we now don't need to blame Emily for his suffering.

[Thrudd]

So yeah, working on that assumption, the desire to see her in a qipao/cheongsam/ao dai is a little bit of shaky ground racially, as two of those are traditional Chinese dresses and the other is, according to Wikipedia, Viatnamese. I'm not saying it wouldn't be amazing to see Emily in some sort of traditional dress, but I think we have to be careful when making statements like that because it does almost become a case of 'all Asian is the same Asian'.

Substitute European for Asian and see where you stand.

A cute girl in a Dirndl or a Vyshyvanka is still a cute girl though "I" think Emily would look better in the latter.

Aaaand my sympathy for Clinton the twit went right.out.the.window.

YMMV depending on life experiences but I am more in agreement with some of the other posters here.
As an analogy, think of this as Clinton asking help in learning to swim and being tossed into the pool at the water park. He can dog paddle but is heading for the wave machine.
Poor guy has social shortcomings and is only learning of them through hard painful experience. aka the shocking lesson regarding personal space trumping exuberant fascination.
His internal monologue is one of, I can almost say Terror, yet his actions are more like he is on autopilot, being agreeable to whatever those around him suggest .
The why is he like this is something we will hopefully learn as time goes on and "He that writes" does not get bored with the character and feeds him to the Allosaurus.

[Zebediah]

After thinking about this arc for a bit, it dawned on me: When it comes to women (or at least Emily), Clinton is actually more spineless than Marten. We may be getting a glimpse of how Marten was at the age of, oh, 16. Marten has learned from his experiences and that puts him in the perfect position to mentor Clinton in the art of dating women.

Marten as Obi-Wan to Clinton's Luke. I can see it. (Or would Clinton be Anakin? Which would make Emily Padme... Nah, that's stretching the analogy too far.)

[Elder Sign]

Goddammit, Clinton, you don't do that to beer...

It's probably American beer, better known as "water", so it's no loss.

[celticgeek]

Looks to me like it's Jimbo's favorite beer:  yellow.

[chaospersonified]

Goddammit, Clinton, you don't do that to beer...

It's probably American beer, better known as "water", so it's no loss.

Hey now, popular American beer is mostly piss, okay? Get it right!

Why do you think Looming dude is so upset?

Clinton essentially just urinated on his shirt.

[Zebediah]

Hey now, popular American beer is mostly piss, okay? Get it right!

Not just piss, but horse piss. From a specific breed, even - the most popular American beer is Clydesdale piss.

[ProphetDK]

Without even touching on food or entertainment (Ie movies,theatre , concert and/or other outings) this is one expensive date for a college student.

Haircut: $20
Tattoo: Approx $80 (Wild *** guess)
New Glasses: $100 - $200+ (Depending on lenses and frames)
Beer Tossed on Dude: $5

Look on Sister's face when she sees the picture of the aftermath: Priceless.

[FunkyTuba]

2935 panel 7 ... mirror/spray bottle...did I miss a conversation about mirrors here? or do *I* not know how mirrors work in a perspective drawing?

[Aziraphale]

Without even touching on food or entertainment (Ie movies,theatre , concert and/or other outings) this is one expensive date for a college student.

Haircut: $20
Tattoo: Approx $80 (Wild *** guess)
New Glasses: $100 - $200+ (Depending on lenses and frames)
Beer Tossed on Dude: $5

Look on Sister's face when she sees the picture of the aftermath: Priceless.

This sounds like a Mastercard commercial. Still waiting for the "priceless" part. 

[ronbo]

I just love Emily's reaction to all this.  She's just so delightfully goofy.  Irrepressibly cheerful and innocent regardless of where Clinnn-ton takes her.  "The government, probably"! indeed. 

[Pilchard123]

Without even touching on food or entertainment (Ie movies,theatre , concert and/or other outings) this is one expensive date for a college student.

Haircut: $20
Tattoo: Approx $80 (Wild *** guess)
New Glasses: $100 - $200+ (Depending on lenses and frames)
Beer Tossed on Dude: $5

Look on Sister's face when she sees the picture of the aftermath: Priceless.

This sounds like a Mastercard commercial. Still waiting for the "priceless" part. 

You mean that one?

[Radium_Coyote]

Next strip: In which Clinton learns how dangerous "Fuck it!" can be as a mentality.

Speaking as someone who's learned this the hard way... Clinton is not merely going to learn this lesson, but also the opposite one.

[cesium133]

Especially not with your cyborg drinking hand.

Especially when it doesn't have its water resistant covering.

[Aziraphale]

Without even touching on food or entertainment (Ie movies,theatre , concert and/or other outings) this is one expensive date for a college student.

Haircut: $20
Tattoo: Approx $80 (Wild *** guess)
New Glasses: $100 - $200+ (Depending on lenses and frames)
Beer Tossed on Dude: $5

Look on Sister's face when she sees the picture of the aftermath: Priceless.

This sounds like a Mastercard commercial. Still waiting for the "priceless" part. 

You mean that one?

I mean seeing it in-comic.

[Akima]

Marten as Obi-Wan to Clinton's Luke.

"A hipster bar. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

I just love Emily's reaction to all this.  She's just so delightfully goofy.  Irrepressibly cheerful and innocent regardless of where Clinnn-ton takes her.  "The government, probably"! indeed. 

Well, Emily would know, following her brush with the Men in Black.

[Kugai]

I always thought it was the Vatican Exorcists.

[Stormcrow69]

I am new to this discussion board, but a long time reader. I had to make an account finally simply to complain about something minute.  I know. I know, who does that? This is the INTERNET!

The point being, as a glasses wearer, one does not simply go to the glasses store, pick out frames, and have them the same night. Unless he is implying that Clinton is the type of person that bought dorky frames that do not require a prescription, although I think he is the only character I could in no way picture doing that.

That is all. Have a nice day.