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horrified facial expression trying but unable to stammer out a response

¬_¬ "Ok. Yeah, I deserve this."

"Huh? I don't get it. Whatever." Then, Friday we cut back to May cursing as whatever the meaning is slowly dawns on her.

the above except the shirt signals strange/creepy individuals to start talking to her everywhere she goes, much to her consternation.

"Heh. That's great."

she loves whatever horribleness it is so much she hugs Marbear and thanks her

she holds it up stares at it in silence, then turns to Marigold and apologizes

"Sven is not a mooch?"

other

[Gyrre]

[Cut to Momo after May puts it on]
MOMO: "I thought we burned that one."

Yes, I'll be swapping the poll if it gets answered Monday.

[Tova]

My guess is that it will refer to an anime so awful that May will love it unironically and start to wear it everywhere.

[pwhodges]

My guess is that it will refer to an anime so awful that May will love it unironically and start to wear it everywhere.

The trouble is, what are recognisable criteria for a bad anime?  Out of curiosity I looked at a few lists of "worst anime", and they either consisted of shows I've never even heard of (so not much scope for a joke there, I guess), or included shows I actually think are quite good (in one case that was half the list!).

And since QC is a family-friendly strip, Jeph surely won't go here:

(click to show/hide)

Boku no Pico

So I guess it has to be something not bad but totally out of character for May, like Sailor Moon.

[Tova]

It'll be entirely fictional, so the criteria doesn't matter, as long as it's funny.

It'll be something like Ass Swordman Tetsuo. Except it will be much better/worse because it won't spend six episodes explaining the physics of butt swords.

[pwhodges]

You're right, of course.  It is forever a fault of mine that I tend to take things too literally...

[BenRG]

My personal prediction is that it won't be a t-shirt at all. Marigold knows May well enough to know that she can bare-face her way through almost anythong, no matter how tasteless (indeed, for May, the more tasteless the better)!

Instead, she gives May a pastel pink dress with embroidered flowers that she'd bought for a date many years ago but had chickened out of (because she's Marigold). On the taller May, it's almost a sun-dress but the point is pastel pink with embroidered flowers. It takes a lot of persuading to convince May to even leave the room she changed in. If anything, Jeph could stretch the argument out to the entire week with only a reaction shot on Friday and not finding out the 'new look' until the Monday afterwards.

Subvocally cursing Marigold's ancestors for the previous six generations, May goes out clothes shopping and runs into Sven, who looks like he's just been struck by a bolt from the blue... or maybe the pink, in this context. One thing leads to another and they end up having sex again, at the end of which he utters the dreaded 'L'-word. Jeph can then spend the next few weeks having May and Sven angsting to their friends about whether this is just a shallow response to the new chassis. Their friends (or Dora, in Sven's case) tell them that they're over-thinking things and "fuckin' go for it, buddy", or words to that effect.

So, yeah, I'm seeing this whole thing as a prologue to the next element of the Svey saga. In some ways, I think it would fit in with how I view Jeph's artistic motivations that the next hetero relationship he writes will be a cross-species one.

[Case]

" ... heh heh heh heh Heeeeeh! ..."

[Dandi Andi]

It'll be something incredibly mundane. Perhaps Dragon Ball or Cowboy Bebop. Maybe Naruto. Something with mainstream appeal. The kind of thing that will get her made fun of by nerds for being a bandwagoner. May won't even be able to revel on how comically horrible it is.

[Wingy]

I'm with BenRG: it'll be something incredibly girly; something Momo would swoon over.  Indeed, Momo may get the opportunity to see it and be annoyed with Marigold that she didn't give it to Momo (not that it would have fit)...

[Tova]

All these options are feasible... this'll be an interesting one.

[Cheetaur]

I like May's new form, it works for me

[Gyrre]

All these options are feasible... this'll be an interesting one.

That was the goal.

[NemesisDancer]

I imagine it might be a cosplay of some sort, though I can't think which character would be most embarrassing for May to be dressed as.

[Mr_Rose]

It’s the swan dress from Claire’s wedding outfit montage.

[Gnabberwocky]

And since QC is a family-friendly strip...

It's not, like, X-rated, but it often takes me five or more tries to find strips that don't contain a swear word, sex scene, sexual reference, or dirty joke. I wouldn't call it family-friendly.

[Tova]

All these options are feasible... this'll be an interesting one.

That was the goal.

It’s not often the goal. If it is, it’s rarely achieved.

[N.N. Marf]

(click to show/hide)

And since QC is a family-friendly strip...

It's not, like, X-rated, but it often takes me five or more tries to find strips that don't contain a swear word, sex scene, sexual reference, or dirty joke. I wouldn't call it family-friendly.

Jokes about certain activities causing families to exist aside, it depends on the family. I'm sure most of the sexual references would pass through a children's minds with only an occasional conscious nonunderstanding of what they just saw, and the more explicit parts might be gross but I don't recall anything that would be mentally scarring. I'm confident that children are no less inclined than adults to avoid stuff that makes them uncomfortable, so by the fact that there's nothing mentally scarring about Questionable Content, I'd consider it family (at least for my family) friendly, but by the fact that there are things that might make a child uncomfortable, it's not family oriented. This is, of course, assuming the euphemism ``family'' meaning `something including children.' (The only problem I have with swears is their use as a replacement for more intelligible communication. If a person (child or not) understands the benefit of intelligible communication, even if inured to swearing, will choose to speak intelligibly---if intelligibility is the goal. The only problem I see is with immature persons (children or not) who sneer or guffaw at such words categorically, without considering their qualities relative to the context how it's used.)

[sitnspin]

And since QC is a family-friendly strip...

It's not, like, X-rated, but it often takes me five or more tries to find strips that don't contain a swear word, sex scene, sexual reference, or dirty joke. I wouldn't call it family-friendly.

Who's family? Cos all that is perfectly fine with my family.

I really hate that phrase.

[Gnabberwocky]

It's fine with my family, too (otherwise I wouldn't be reading it); I agree that it's a phrase too open to interpretation.

I was trying to get at the point that it doesn't seem like Jeph holds back for fear of scarring anyone. I feel like while the phrase "family-friendly" can be open-ended, it usually refers to PG-13 or lighter. QC is much closer to R than PG-13.

[sitnspin]

QC is R just from language alone.

The problem with the phrase "family friendly" is that, often, even having queer characters at all, even if they are only doing "G rated" things, got things classified as not family friendly. YouTube, for example, is notorious for this.

[Penquin47]

I was just rereading the arc where we meet May last night.  If Marigold truly wants to horrify May, she should pull out an anime-esque maid costume.

[Farideh]

Comic's up.

Back to Elliot and Clinton we go. Fingers crossed that Elliot doesn't get too distracted while he's working. It would be a shame if an annoying customer actually manages to knock him out.

[cesium133]

Would be even more of a shame if that customer was Clinton. 

[HeavyP]

Oh good, we're back to Elliot and Clinton!  I've been waiting for some more on this front - new pseudo-relationship hijinks and misunderstandings that ultimately resolve into something happy is a great balm for sometimes-crappy reality.  Bring on the blushing and awkward smiles!

[Gnabberwocky]

The problem with the phrase "family friendly" is that, often, even having queer characters at all, even if they are only doing "G rated" things, got things classified as not family friendly. YouTube, for example, is notorious for this.

I...did not know that. That is total BS and poorly disguised intolerance. Thanks for filling me in.

[beeawwb]

Elliot... Is the rocketship emoji really the one you were going for? What's the intention? "You're not dumb: phallic object."

[cybersmurf]

Poor Elliot though. I've always hated those situations, emotional limbo. This is actually how I feel Purgatory would feel like.

[Theta9]

Elliot... Is the rocketship emoji really the one you were going for? What's the intention? "You're not dumb: phallic object."

At least it's not a 🍌  or 🍆

[DaiJB]

My two choices are:
*horrified facial expression trying but unable to stammer out a response,
and (of course)
*other...

May holds up the offending garment (and it is truly horrible), stares at it for a moment then, gritting her teeth and putting it on, says "I said 'I can make anything look good on this bod' - and THAT'S what I'm gonna do..."
   

[questionablydiscontent]

Rockets are smart I guess...

Nah, he totally meant to send the heart. He just had a moment of panic about it. You could say...
a change of heart?

[BenRG]

Panel 4 means that Jeph has decided to start Clinton off with the moment that he's definitely going to have to face eventually, one way or another. Yes, Elliot is nice and Clinton finds him attractive. He's also an emotional mess and a bit of a train-wreck in terms of life-stability. Does one outweigh the other? Is it worth the risk getting close enough to find out?

Welcome to real adult relationships, Clinton!

As a former designated chin scratcher to two cats, I can confirm that even the diet isn't a complete explanation for Hercules's behaviour. It's just that Hercules knows that his human should only pay attention to him, not that thing with the glowy surfaces

[shanejayell]

Good luck, Clinton and Elliot! 

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Dammit! ( burns down patreon )

Something that would horrify me would delight May.
I think BenRG has the right idea. Something mind-bendingly girly that Marigold would buy in a fit of goofiness. In a pink that would clash horrendously with May's blue.

[Oenone]

New head-canon: Elliot has an active Insta for Hercules

[awkwardness]

I laughed at that joke...my cat just attacked my feet in retaliation.

Cats are mean.

[chris73]

How old are these people?

[alc40]

I don't recall any age info for Elliot, but in comic 2281 Clinton was 21.  He might be about 22 or 23 now I guess.

[Gnabberwocky]

I don't recall any age info for Elliot, but in comic 2281 Clinton was 21.  He might be about 22 now I guess.

QC runs on comic time, which essentially means that its universe keeps up with real-world technology and standards, but time passes and the characters age at the whim of the creator. This is why they have advanced smartphones even though it's been probably only a year of in-universe time since the first strip was drawn in 2003. I'd assume that unless otherwise mentioned (Hannelore's birthday, for example), the characters' ages are the same as they were when they were first introduced.

[hedgie]

The problem with the phrase "family friendly" is that, often, even having queer characters at all, even if they are only doing "G rated" things, got things classified as not family friendly. YouTube, for example, is notorious for this.

I...did not know that. That is total BS and poorly disguised intolerance. Thanks for filling me in.

The MPAA ratings board is full of the sorts of men who write condescending letters about "modern society" to the local paper on an hourly basis, and Stepford Wives who clutch their pearls and head for the fainting couch if anything doesn't conform to their world view.

[Penquin47]

I don't recall any age info for Elliot, but in comic 2281 Clinton was 21.  He might be about 22 now I guess.

QC runs on comic time, which essentially means that its universe keeps up with real-world technology and standards, but time passes and the characters age at the whim of the creator. This is why they have advanced smartphones even though it's been probably only a year of in-universe time since the first strip was drawn in 2003. I'd assume that unless otherwise mentioned (Hannelore's birthday, for example), the characters' ages are the same as they were when they were first introduced.

It's been over a year, likely two and possibly even three.  Based on clothes changing with the seasons (I know there was at least one winter before Claire and Emily showed up as summer interns), and Claire would be bundled up a lot more if she had graduated mid-year instead of summer.  So we've had at least a year of knowing Claire.  I'd have to archive trawl through the pre-Claire era to see if there's one or two years there.

[chris73]

I don't recall any age info for Elliot, but in comic 2281 Clinton was 21.  He might be about 22 or 23 now I guess.

Be nice if the characters aged a little, acting like a kid (when you're an adult) gets tiring real quickly

[Is it cold in here?]

As I see it the original characters have done a lot of growing up.

The Wiki has everything canonical about ages, and AprilArcus worked hard to develop a timeline from clues in the comic.

[Farideh]

You're doing great Renee. Why are they at CoD rather than The Secret Bakery, though?

Also: hello Emily!

[chris73]

As I see it the original characters have done a lot of growing up.

Some, Hanners and Dora especially, but for the majority not so much

[shanejayell]

Does Secret Bakery serve drinks? *shrug*

[hedgie]

Yes.  Marten started going there for coffee after he and Dora split.  And later on, Jim and Dora agreed to serve each others' baked goods and coffee.

[shanejayell]

WEll, she nmay not have wanted to chat up a guy at her place of work?

Wait, this is Renee. I dunno if she'd care.

[Oenone]

You're doing great Renee. Why are they at CoD rather than The Secret Bakery, though?

Also: hello Emily!

Maybe Renee doesn’t want to be seen by her coworkers/her crush on not-a-date. I mean... it might get awkward.

Or, even worse, Elliot might not notice/care. It’s much safer emotionally to just go someplace else.

[Tova]

If I were meeting someone socially, for any reason whatsoever, then of all the places I could choose, I doubt I would go for the place I already spend a third of my life, unless there were a specific reason to do so.

[Mr Intrepid]

I think the hair is from Claire's graduation party.