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"Jimbo!" "Dad!" "CLAIRE?" "...Jimbo?"

28 (35.4%)

Steve (Commence arms race!)

8 (10.1%)

Pintsize & Winslow ("It's been militarized!  RUN!")

20 (25.3%)

"...Tai?  Are you FOLLOWING us?" "Just wanted to see which slashfic played out!"

23 (29.1%)

Total Members Voted: 73

[cesariojpn]

So, anyone else think that we are in a good place for a time skip in the strip?

I want my TARDIS keys back young man.

[BenRG]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how Jeph sources guest strips? I've never seen requests on Twitter or Tumblr.

[Gladstone]

If you have to ask, you're already unworthy of the privilege.  The Holy and Benevolent Order of Webcartoonists does not reveal its secrets to, nor confer its favors on, outsiders.

(Not bitter AT ALL.)

[Skewbrow]

Why is that I hear that second poll to the famous five notes from CE3K?

I can't make that compute. The squeee doesn't go with that long fifth note. English being a second language to me it is possible that I'm misqueeeing.

This assumption is usually unspoken, but the "eeeee" of a squee can be held indefinitely... or at least as long as you still have the breath to hold the note.

I have seen that here  I was thinking more about the pitch. That fifth note is, IIRC, not the highest of the sequence. But I somehow thought that the perpetual squeeeeee is, if not rising in pitch (what telcomm engineers call a "chirp"), at least very high to begin with  Sorry about not making that clear.

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Oh. Well, I suppose you could just say "squee" without actually squeeing. Sort of like if you were mocking the act for humor.

[DSL]

Whatever Hanners is doing about her problems, "hiding from" doesn't describe it.

The only item in that list Hannelore confronted in the moment was her mother.

Not immediately (over)reacting to a situation is not the same as hiding from it. I  maintain my position that Hannelore deals with her shit, and effectively, but it's not always discernible to someone looking for an immediate confrontation.

[sitnspin]

Whatever Hanners is doing about her problems, "hiding from" doesn't describe it.

The only item in that list Hannelore confronted in the moment was her mother.

Not immediately (over)reacting to a situation is not the same as hiding from it. I  maintain my position that Hannelore deals with her shit, and effectively, but it's not always discernible to someone looking for an immediate confrontation.

As someone living with mental illness, I can assure you that it is more often than not completely undetectable when we are "dealing with it". Leaving the situation to regroup is not hiding from the problem, it is a survival tactic and an important self-care technique. There are many methods we use to mitigate our conditions, direct confrontation is a minor one. Implying that simeone is not dealing with their triggers because they are not employing that one easily noticeable method is, quite frankly, rather insulting.

[jwhouk]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how Jeph sources guest strips? I've never seen requests on Twitter or Tumblr.

He has friends. FRIENDS. They throw guest strips at him.

Sometimes, they're actually good. And other times, they have quantifiable concerns.

(click to show/hide)

For those of you new to the party:

Scroll down to the bottom of the linked comic.
Compare some of the names with ones you see here.
Yep.

[DSL]

I wonder if Hanners has read all ... the ... posts ... recently.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Whatever Hanners is doing about her problems, "hiding from" doesn't describe it.

The only item in that list Hannelore confronted in the moment was her mother.

Not immediately (over)reacting to a situation is not the same as hiding from it. I  maintain my position that Hannelore deals with her shit, and effectively, but it's not always susceptible to someone looking for an immediate confrontation.

I didn't say she didn't deal with it. You're the one making a strict value judgment on the word "hide." I think I've made it plain exactly what I meant, covering the particulars in detail. I'm not going to keep typing past you over a semantic dispute.

There are many methods we use to mitigate our conditions, direct confrontation is a minor one. Implying that simeone is not dealing with their triggers because they are not employing that one easily noticeable method is, quite frankly, rather insulting.

Normally, I'd respond in an aggressively conciliatory manner. But as this perceived insult is based on reading one word out of context, and ignoring everything else I wrote, I'm going to be insulted in turn.

[DSL]

How did you manage to change "discernible" to "susceptible" while using the quote function?

[Neko_Ali]

Whatever Hanners is doing about her problems, "hiding from" doesn't describe it.

The only item in that list Hannelore confronted in the moment was her mother.

Not immediately (over)reacting to a situation is not the same as hiding from it. I  maintain my position that Hannelore deals with her shit, and effectively, but it's not always discernible to someone looking for an immediate confrontation.

As someone living with mental illness, I can assure you that it is more often than not completely undetectable when we are "dealing with it". Leaving the situation to regroup is not hiding from the problem, it is a survival tactic and an important self-care technique. There are many methods we use to mitigate our conditions, direct confrontation is a minor one. Implying that simeone is not dealing with their triggers because they are not employing that one easily noticeable method is, quite frankly, rather insulting.

Pretty much. For me at least 'dealing with it' means you are seeing me in person, acting perfectly normal (for me anyway... I'm always a bit weird). Dealing with issues, anxieties and triggers is a daily stroll through the minefield... On days I'm not dealing with things so well, I retreat to a place of safety and regroup. People just don't see me on bad days.

[DSL]

Reading elsewhere reminded me that some folks view the phrase "deal(ing) with it" as dismissive. My apologies. I did not intend it to be such.

[Gladstone]

Looking at the poll results (is there a way to post them here? Hello, I'm new), I see Steve isn't a popular choice.  But, surely he can shoulder the burden of being the last to know?  Steve...shoulder...





...I should've just written a cereal joke...

[Endellion]

Got the reference, just chose the technology that is much needed =^.^=

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Ah, but we all know that - for comedic reasons - Clinton will be the last to know. His head may explode at the revelation, and his hand might independently seek out a certain indie-boy throat.

[AprilArcus]

If that happens, it needs to be the last time Clinton's character is defined by his overbearing, patriarchal, reactionist attitude toward his sister, or his character will become permanently one-note.

[MooskiNet]

Ah, but we all know that - for comedic reasons - Clinton will be the last to know. His head may explode at the revelation, and his hand might independently seek out a certain indie-boy throat.

Yeah, I can definitely see that - there's already been some foreshadowing that Clinton's opinion is that having no contact with the world is Claire's safest option, and he may feel his position as primary protector threatened by Marten.

[Gladstone]

Violence?  Nah.  I'm sure he'll get angry and frustrated but will just stomp off instead, somehow winding up at Coffee of Doom, where his complaints to Hannelore are overheard by, are met with scorn from, May, to whom he replies with a snide comment about her cheap chassis, and thus he is introduced to an entirely different problem.

[osaka]

Considering that May took an interest on hacking, she might get Clinton's own hand to strangle Clinton until he shuts up.

I mean... noooo violence is wrong Clinton's a good guy May can't do that because jail

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Considering that May took an interest on hacking, she might get Clinton's own hand to strangle Clinton until he shuts up.

I mean... noooo violence is wrong Clinton's a good guy May can't do that because jail

I wouldn't call him categorically good... (see above about his attitude and the fact that he needs to grow somehow as a person to keep from being boring understood as an (mostly) irredeemable jerk)

As for robohand (or May-related) violence, I think we all know that allusions to such are only just pointing to the sort of reaction, and not the severity of it. Nobody's likely to have their trachea crushed in this strip, and May doesn't need to violate parole. May has other methods of convincing people not to be jackasses.

[Gladstone]

May has other methods of convincing people not to be jackasses.

And a verbal smackdown could be precisely what Clinton needs.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

May talks a good game, but she hasn't shown any particular leaning towards actual violence, except where Hanners is concerned. I suspect any issue shes going to have with Clinton to be resolved with contempt, unless he disrespectes Hannelore or her father.

[osaka]

May has other methods of convincing people not to be jackasses.

And a verbal smackdown could be precisely what Clinton needs.

Scorn, part 2. Now with OCR-A-BT characters and a perfectly straight line of text.

[swapna]

If that happens, it needs to be the last time Clinton's character is defined by his overbearing, patriarchal, reactionist attitude toward his sister, or his character will become permanently one-note.

Agreed. I mean, the rest of his character isn't much more pleasant (being creepy towards Hanners and not respecting her boundaries), or interesting (a tech geek that doesn't use the covering for his robot hand when he goes swimming? what? does he WANT to break it?), but I think his  patronising attitude towards his sister is the most annoying.

[BenRG]

I think that it would be nice for Claire to say to Clinton that she's happy that her brother loves her enough to want to protect and help her. However, she is twenty-four, going on twenty-five. She can and will have a relationship with anyone she wants to, even an intimate relationship, if she chooses. If Clinton has any reason to say Marten isn't worthy beyond paranoid rambling, he's welcome to come out and say it; otherwise, he should mind his own business.

[Gladstone]

Agreed. I mean, the rest of his character isn't much more pleasant (being creepy towards Hanners and not respecting her boundaries), or interesting (a tech geek that doesn't use the covering for his robot hand when he goes swimming? what? does he WANT to break it?), but I think his  patronising attitude towards his sister is the most annoying.

Well, Angus and Dale had their chances to be redeemed (although I don't like to lump them together; Dale's thing with Marigold was a friendly rivalry that went on a bit too long, whereas Angus was actually creepy-stalkerish for a while), so I think Clinton deserves a chance.  Maybe Marten dating his sister will force him to confront his overprotective nature, among other things.

[Aziraphale]

Since Jeph's at a Con, what's the prediction for tonight's strip? Yelling Bird? Montage? Rough sketch filler? Guest strip? Or actual strip?

[osaka]

I go for Yelling Bird. His last appearance had an alarmingly low amount of filthy portmanteaus and YB will try to fix it.

[Kugai]

A week of Steve eating different Cereal brands.

[Thrillho]

An anatomically correct drawing of his own testicles being dunked in a bowl of lukewarm mushroom soup.

[valkygrrl]

Emily looking at cat gifs.

[Aziraphale]

An anatomically correct drawing of his own testicles being dunked in a bowl of lukewarm mushroom soup.

I'm not sure which is more disturbing: your level of specificity, or the fact that I could totally see that happening.

[Thrillho]

If I ran a webcomic, that's what I would probably do every time I was at a con, except maybe changing the flavour of soup each time.

[AprilArcus]

Here is everything we know about Clinton:

Positive:

• Studies at or works for UMass (1897).
• Well-educated on the achievements of John Ellicott-Chatham (1902). Personally and earnestly grateful for his contributions to science in his capacity as a disabled person (1909).
• Self-confident (2299).
• Gets along reasonably well with Emily (2428), Steve (2318), Momo and Marigold (2305).

Neutral:

• 21 years old (2281).
• Divorced parents (2371), overbearing mother who may have role-modeled his own terrible boundaries (2805).
• Lost his right hand in a fireworks accident (2281) when he was 13 (2305).
• Has a prosthetic (1898), doesn't wear the synthetic covering because he thinks it looks cooler without it (1898, 2305).
• Playful, but a sore winner (2318).
• Diligently paranoid about accidentally outing Claire (2327), possibly because he has done so before (2278).
• Usually (2299, 2319, 2327) but not always (2305, 2321) stoic in the face of Claire's mean streak.

Negative:

• Considered "creepy" by Hanners (1903, 1909), and not particularly well-liked by Claire (2277, 2278, 2319, 2321).
• Was unpleasantly forward with Hanners on the basis of her being an attractive woman before even knowing her identity (1900).
• No sense of proper boundaries toward Hanners (1900, 1908) or Claire (2431).
• Poor volume control (1902).
• His method of conflict resolution with Hanners and Faye was apparently to not talk it through, buzz off for a month, and then stroll back in to CoD to order a coffee like it was no big deal (2244).
• Overprotective and controlling toward Claire (2426).
• Tends to assume the worst about Marten, with violent impulses and body language (2325, 2425).
• Anxious (2427) and clumsy (2436).

So it's not that there's not nothing good or interesting about him — it's just that we've seen so much more of his bad side that if he has a third tantrum in a row over Marten's relationship with his sister, it really feels like that would be the end of his ability to be a credible positive force in Claire's (or anyone's) life.

Some directions I would not mind seeing Clinton go in:

• More of his work with cybernetics! I always want to see more of the cast's relationship with work and art that they are passionate about, since with the exception of Dora and Claire they are all sort of coasting by. It's always a treat to see Tai or Deathmřle playing a set, Faye busting out the welder, or Raven delivering an impromptu lecture. Clinton's earnest enthusiasm for what he does is probably the best thing about him.
• More interactions with other cast members who don't elicit his bad behavior. Marigold in particular has the potential for a good character dynamic with him, or maybe May.
• Clinton breaking character and managing to have a civil interaction with Marten, maybe giving us a chance to learn something new about him.
• Clinton and Claire doing something together that doesn't reference Claire's gender history or relationship status. Would be interesting to see them alone together on a trip to visit Clairedad, for instance.

[Gladstone]

Gabby, lost in the maze of shelves, clad in the skins of slain Bibliodons, almost given up hope of ever finding her way back to the front desk, turns yet another corner--and somewhere, off in the distance, hears an Oooook.

[Orkboy]

Gabby, lost in the maze of shelves, clad in the skins of slain Bibliodons, almost given up hope of ever finding her way back to the front desk, turns yet another corner--and somewhere, off in the distance, hears an Oooook.

Headcanon accepted. 

[Aziraphale]

If I ran a webcomic, that's what I would probably do every time I was at a con, except maybe changing the flavour of soup each time.

Stay away from the Vichyssoise. Causes shrinkage. 

[Aziraphale]

• Clinton breaking character and managing to have a civil interaction with Marten, maybe giving us a chance to learn something new about him.

Come to think of it, a visit by the gang to the Horrible Revelation would accomplish several things simultaneously:

• A night out with the gang; it's been a little while since the main cast, or the bulk of it anyway, has all gotten together in one place.
• Claire in Victorian garb, thereby causing near-catastrophic levels of squee from the forum
• More to the point, we've seen the HR as the place where people meet to console, commiserate, or evaluate (Elliot and Marten, Marten and Angus, probably someone else I'm overlooking)

So Clinton and Marten at the HR would be a chance to put Clinton in a social situation to see how he does, and also a chance for him to get over whatever issues he's got with Marten (or to just get over himself).

[Krald]

Let the refreshing commence!

[AprilArcus]

The last bar night (sans Angus) was only ~35 strips/48 hours ago, so we may not be due quite yet. And anyway, I sort of have trouble imagining drunk!Clinton being any more bearable than he is when he's sober. Boy needs more inhibitions, not less, TBQH.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I'm pretty sure Clinton's issue with Marten is that Marten is "stealing" Claire from him. At least in his mind.

Nothing sick. Clinton seems to take a paternal attitude towards Claire. It's typical "no one is good enough for my little sister." Never mind Claire being the older one.

His pattern of ignoring boundaries ties it all together.

[AprilArcus]

I'm pretty sure Clinton's issue with Marten is that Marten is "stealing" Claire from him. At least in his mind. Nothing sick.

Imagined "ownership" of another person isn't sick? Whatever you call it, it makes me uncomfortable.

[Gladstone]

I'm pretty sure Clinton's issue with Marten is that Marten is "stealing" Claire from him. At least in his mind. Nothing sick.

Imagined "ownership" of another person isn't sick? Whatever you call it, it makes me uncomfortable.

RF probably meant "sick" as in "incestuous."  His ordinary possessiveness is sick enough on its own, though.

[NemoX]

Nothing sick. Clinton seems to take a paternal attitude towards Claire. It's typical "no one is good enough for my little sister." Never mind Claire being the older one.

funny thing is, isn't Clinton the younger sibling iirc?

but yeah, specially if Claire had bullying issues or the like growing up, not having friends I can see Clinton being the only person she talked to, so at this point it is what he must feel

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I'm pretty sure Clinton's issue with Marten is that Marten is "stealing" Claire from him. At least in his mind. Nothing sick.

Imagined "ownership" of another person isn't sick? Whatever you call it, it makes me uncomfortable.

RF probably meant "sick" as in "incestuous."  His ordinary possessiveness is sick enough on its own, though.

This. Clinton doesn't seem to feel true ownership over Claire. He just seems to think he can make his opinion known. Indeed, he seems to think it's imperative that his view point be heard.

That's pretty much how he seems to approach everyone. I based the big brother analogy on what he says, not how he says it. That kind of machismo is pretty much par for western culture. I'm sure Clinton could express the same attitudes in a way that would come across as caring, instead of overbearing. He's oblivious and oblivious to his obliviousness.

I'm pretty sure he was sincere both times he engaged with Marten about Claire. It just never occurred to him that there was no need for him to say what he said.

Clinton is immature, and his behavior towards Claire is wrong, in a perfect world sense. Claire's willingness to see the familial affection at the root of it is probably a sign of the many problems in western culture.

[Krald]

So, anyone else think that we are in a good place for a time skip in the strip?

Lets do the Time Warp again!

[Is it cold in here?]

Personally I would list interaction with Momo among Clinton's negatives.

He's the only person we've seen her actually tasering and I find her reaction proportional and justified.

Spouting conspiracy theories about AIs to her was just plain rude as well.

[Blackbird]

There's one thing about the Clinton/Claire dynamic that I've always believed tied it all together: beyond being siblings, they're functionally best friends, and neither of them is fully happy with the fact that their closest friend is their obnoxious sibling.

Every time we see Clinton, he either arrives with Claire or alone.  Claire brought Clinton (and only Clinton) along to the lake house, and even as she became a more prominent character, she hasn't been seen socializing outside of work with anyone but Clinton, Marten, and Emily (I think?), the latter two she just met a couple months ago.  The two of them are best friends, whether they like it or not, and in that light, Clinton worrying about Marten "stealing" Claire from him is almost exactly the same as Hanners' reaction to Marigold (accidentally) dropping her for Dale.  (Did people complain about that?  I haven't been active on the forum very long.)

[DSL]

Not only "functionally best friends" but, I would suspect about siblings with a back-story and a dynamic such as those two exhibit, there was a period in their lives each was all the other had. Not so much now for Claire, still very much so for Clinton -- and he doesn't know what to do.