Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3506 to 3510 (19 June to 23 June 2017)
A Duck:
Renee's original appearance was for the one-off joke that the Secret Bakery was the "anti-Coffee of Doom".
As you can see in 1845, there's some random guy we've never seen again talking to Elliot, which is most likely supposed to be anti-Marten; and then we have Renee, which looks exactly like Faye except for skin color, and finally Padma, who was the "anti-Dora" and this might have lead into her thing with Marten.
I don't think Jeph even intended to make her a recurring member of the cast at that point. Hell, I wonder if she was even supposed to be Angus' ex at that point.
When she finally resurfaced, it makes sense to give her a little more personality, appearance-wise.
TheEvilDog:
--- Quote from: A Duck on 22 Jun 2017, 11:32 ---I don't think Jeph even intended to make her a recurring member of the cast at that point. Hell, I wonder if she was even supposed to be Angus' ex at that point.
When she finally resurfaced, it makes sense to give her a little more personality, appearance-wise.
--- End quote ---
Thus the resulting redesign and the head-transplant joke.
Buggman:
--- Quote from: comicalArchitect on 21 Jun 2017, 20:04 ---Bolded part irks me. You don't get cookies for treating a trans woman the same way you would a cis woman. Marten is not being some special ultra-tolerant angel by dating Claire. He's just NOT being a bigoted jerk. If you would otherwise date someone but won't because they're trans, you're a transphobe.
--- End quote ---
Yeah . . . no. There are plenty of people who have trans friends (myself included) but who have no interest in being romantically or sexually involved with one. Even those who identify as "progressive" rarely want to take that step. There's just no attraction there. That's no more "phobic" than a gay man saying he wouldn't date a woman is "hetero-phobic."
Seriously, you're passing judgment on people based on their sexual attractions, or lack thereof, now?
But of course, in the midst of trying to take offense you've missed my larger point: Marten has never passed judgment on Claire. (Other than on her propensity to pun, but speaking as a punster we expect the groans and looks.) What right does Claire have to pass judgment on Marten on the basis of one line from a complete stranger? For that matter, what right does she have to pass judgment on him for any of his past relationships?
Buggman:
--- Quote from: TheEvilDog on 22 Jun 2017, 06:41 ---But Marten is still in more or less the same mindset now as he was at the beginning of the comic. He might have a better job than before, he's had varying degrees of success in his relationships but at the end of the day Marten has his issues and has done nothing to deal with them save for becoming more passive aggressive at times.
--- End quote ---
I'm not sure that's fair. He sort of "fell into" his other relationships, and before that, he was basically just loitering around Faye's friend-zone in the hopes that something would spontaneously develop. Claire is the first person that he's actively pursued--which is why his "zen" was completely thrown off by her "R e A l L y ?" moment. That, and he's still ashamed about how he handled the situation with Padma. (More than he should be, IMHO. As I said before, there was flakiness on both sides and the core problem was a timing issue that neither of them could help.)
It's too bad Marten is so passive. His general laid-back and non-judgmental attitude would make him a great primary school teacher, counselor or even psychologist, if he could motivate himself enough to go back to school for it.
Welu:
--- Quote from: oddtail on 22 Jun 2017, 03:47 ---I think the issue is different. If I'm not attracted to someone and they happen to be trans, it's not an issue. If I'm attracted to someone and then they turn out to be trans, and that impacts my view of the person's being a viable love/sexual/romantic interest, that DOES speak of a level of bigotry. And flat-out not being attracted to trans people (or rather, claiming so) seems kinda similar to the latter, not to the former.
--- End quote ---
This would be my personal view as well. Sexual attraction and standards of beauty do not develop in a vacuum and is able to be as influenced by the negatives of society as any opinion. No one is saying you have to be involved with anyone you don't want to but it's usually worth exploring your beliefs to be sure they are or aren't influenced by and/or perpetuating bigotry to the best of one's ability.
Moderator Comment Besides, saying you won't date a certain type of people is generally not a helpful or kind thing to say and only serves to hurt and alienate. That's not behaviour we endorse here. This is an open and welcoming space. I'm going to recommend the Trans and Intersex news/discussion thread for further reading and dialogue.
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