Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

A New Antagonist for QC?

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BenRG:
I'll start off by quoting the post that triggered this topic from the WCDT for 8-12/6/2020:


--- Quote from: Tova on 13 Jun 2020, 19:20 ---
--- Quote from: gajatko on 13 Jun 2020, 08:15 ---Anyways, I hope Jeph will introduce some dark character in the future.

--- End quote ---

I think that it would be great for QC to have an above-the-line villainous cast member. Having a villain in the cast need not lead to QC becoming "dark" (although, honestly, a bit of black humour in QC wouldn't go entirely astray).
--- End quote ---

Personally, I think that a regularly-used extravagant villain character would break the 'post-college slice-of-life' atmosphere of the strip and feel contrived somehow. That's the reason why Vespavenger never quite worked for me. However, maybe a more down-to-earth and realistic antagonist that anyone could know might work very well. Maybe Jeph could use Juicy (the nasty upstairs neighbour) for the task?

She could be a villain who both could be a sustained problem and still fit into the essentially light-hearted atmosphere of the strip. A woman who doesn't care how her actions and attitudes affect others to the point where she considers them a problem to her (naturally blameless) lifestyle. Basically what they tend to call a 'Karen' on the Internet. It starts with her triggering Hannelore by not bothering to understand her issues and rapidly spreads to everyone else in the building.

Possible things that could happen:

* Calling Bubbles 'Tin Can Sally' and suggesting that she needs adjustment to make her less of a bother to her;
* Making hugely inappropriate comments about Faye's sexuality and why she is with Bubbles;
* Insisting that Hannelore 'grow up' and 'stop acting as if everything is dirty';
* Calling Winslow a 'recreational device' in a snide, faux-knowing way;
* Gossiping with others about what she thinks is going on between Marten, Faye, Claire and Bubbles and generally acting as if they have a problem for for being upset at her doing so.Basically a neighbour from hell - A continual irritation but, until things really escalate, never really doing anything actionable. Of course, her antisocial behaviour has already been seen in CoD so I can quite see her harassing the barristas (by insisting on unreasonable levels of service and 'special deals' for free stuff). She doesn't like Union Robotics on principle (AIs aren't people to her) and seems to think that she can order May to give her free stuff at the convenience store and virtually has a meltdown when she doesn't get it ("It's disobeying my orders! It's defective and I demand that you shut it down!").

Tova:
Thanks for kicking this off. "Antagonist" is definitely more in line with what I was going for.

We do have at least two antagonists ready to roll if Jeph so chose:

* Hannermom
* An official in charge of deciding whether or not May ought to be granted a properly functioning chassis (perhaps the one Roko has already spoken with)

Cornelius:
That sounds like it really could work.

Of course, another option could be further interventions by Hanner's mom.

N.N. Marf:

--- Quote from: BenRG on 14 Jun 2020, 00:22 ---Basically what they tend to call a 'Karen' on the Internet.

--- End quote ---
Whocallwhatnow? If that's the term we're going with, I must say that I'm a bit of a Karen myself. Not in the specifics that miss Pink Juicypants is a Karen, but generally; I have my idiosyncratic lifestyle that often cacophonizes the locals. Often, no-one is to blame for the trouble that is caused by our interactions (though I suspect they consider my existence a nuisance. Relative to the effects by other locals, I am---but nothing in our explicit agreements (nor in the implicit ``agreements'' called ``laws''---which I follow!) contraindicates such activity---though such activity are. Contraindicated, I mean.) I've learned to be loath to attribute blame. I consider the following anecdote instructive: My phone had WiFi problems. But only at this one cafe. Everywhere else it worked perfect. So this cafe is to blame for poor WiFi? But one day, my phone stalled; I had borrowed my friend's phone for the day (he wasn't using it anyway), and the WiFi at that cafe worked perfect. Tomorrow, my phone is fixed; it's WiFi at that cafe, is not. Something about the interaction of that phone and the WiFi at that cafe. I think it's unfair to call miss Juicypants' actions antisocial. ``Parasocial,'' perhaps? I think they're many pretty okay ideas that together won't make her realistic.


--- Quote from: Tova on 14 Jun 2020, 00:27 ---
* Hannermom
* An official in charge of deciding whether or not May ought to be granted a properly functioning chassis (perhaps the one Roko has already spoken with)
--- End quote ---
Both? Maybe Hanners' mom is one in charge of postprison chassis provision. By funding (for some business strategy, or a calculated public image purpose---both, knowing miz Chatham's business sense) or whatnot. This could promise major development for the involved characters---be they pro- or an- tagons.

JoeCovenant:
I hate that trope.
The person who goes out of their way to annoy people/stir.
People who in real life would either be ignored, or introduced to Mr Boot.

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