Topic: WCDT Strips 3231 - 3235 (30th May to 3rd June 2016) (Read 64406 times)

Kugai · « **Reply #50 on:** 30 May 2016, 15:30 »

And it'd be another visit to the Cybernetic Medical Center - either to repair Clontons hand or to get a new one for his other hand

Wondering myself if we're about to have the return of The Secret Bakery.

cesium133 · « **Reply #51 on:** 30 May 2016, 16:33 »

Wait, wait... it all makes sense now! Every person at Coffee of Doom seems to have a doppelganger at The Secret Bakery: Renee-Faye, Padma-Dora, etc.

Brun is the doppelganger that Hannelore doesn't want to meet.

Gladstone · « **Reply #52 on:** 30 May 2016, 17:11 »

Quote from: cesium133 on 30 May 2016, 16:33

Brun is the doppelganger that Hannelore doesn't want to meet.

I always assumed that Hannelore met her doppelganger in the previous strip and just didn't (or didn't want to) recognize her.

(Edited because how the heck did I misspell doppelganger?)

Zebediah · « **Reply #53 on:** 30 May 2016, 17:31 »

No, that's Emily's doppelganger.

chaospersonified · « **Reply #54 on:** 30 May 2016, 19:20 »

I seem to recall curiousity over whether this is the same Renée as we'd already met.

If I remember the punchline where we met Renée, she was was the 'bizarro-Faye' to The Secret Bakery's bizarro-Coffee of Doom.

Today's comic includes the note from Jeph that Renée has a lot in common with Faye.

It's not confirmed.

I'm still convinced.

Penquin47 · « **Reply #55 on:** 30 May 2016, 19:23 »

I'm starting to love Brun.

ankhtahr · « **Reply #56 on:** 30 May 2016, 19:35 »

In light of the discussion last week, I'd like you to know that the original German word is Doppelgänger / Doppelgaenger.

brasca · « **Reply #57 on:** 30 May 2016, 19:47 »

Well Brun and Renee both seem to be knowledgeable about how to use sharp object. Maybe that's how they met.

jwhouk · « **Reply #58 on:** 30 May 2016, 20:11 »

Would it be funny if Brun was related to Padma?

dr.jim · « **Reply #59 on:** 30 May 2016, 20:14 »

I guess Renee is Hank The Dismemberer... literally.

Tova · « **Reply #60 on:** 30 May 2016, 20:28 »

QC is returning to its roots, I see.

jwhouk · « **Reply #61 on:** 30 May 2016, 20:59 »

Quote from: Tova on 30 May 2016, 20:28

QC is returning to its roots, I see.

Except it's being turned out on its head, rolled down the street and ends up upside down in the gutter.

Or something like that.

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #62 on:** 30 May 2016, 21:29 »

QC's roots would have more indie rock references.

TheCollector · « **Reply #63 on:** 30 May 2016, 21:29 »

Ok but now this page has me leaning back towards my original theory on Brun. lol

SomeCanadianWeirdo · « **Reply #64 on:** 30 May 2016, 21:44 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 30 May 2016, 20:11

Would it be funny if Brun was related to Padma?

It's not impossible, but she doesn't look like she's related to Padma. If I were going to guess a familial relationship to a previous QC character I'd assume Hannelore.

Zastie · « **Reply #65 on:** 30 May 2016, 21:48 »

Ooo, I like the attached bubbles for phone conversations.

chaospersonified · « **Reply #66 on:** 30 May 2016, 21:50 »

Quote from: mustang6172 on 30 May 2016, 21:29

QC's roots would have more indie rock references.

I'd appreciate that, actually. I looked into most, if not all, of the references Jeph used to make, and I gotta say, he's got good taste in music.

Tova · « **Reply #67 on:** 30 May 2016, 22:03 »

Quote from: mustang6172 on 30 May 2016, 21:29

QC's roots would have more indie rock references.

Girls threatening violence outnumber indie rock references in the first 25 strips by a significant margin.

BenRG · « **Reply #68 on:** 30 May 2016, 23:18 »

Clinton seems to be destined to have quirky girls in his life in many ways! Now, is it me or doesn't Brun really 'get' Renee's worries? It just seems strange to her that she's angry. I've mentioned this before but I think it is nice and ironic that Clinton's suspicions about Marten are being reflected back at him!

I think that we should avoid calling a character 'another ...'. They may have similar traits, but I am confident that Jeph can make all them unique in their own ways.

Sullivan · « **Reply #69 on:** 30 May 2016, 23:54 »

Quote from: BenRG on 30 May 2016, 23:18

[...] I think it is nice and ironic that Clinton's suspicions about Marten are being reflected back at him!

Indeed. We can but hope he will Learn His Lesson.

theMarc · « **Reply #70 on:** 31 May 2016, 00:32 »

"Today I learned how to join multiple speech bubbles in Manga Studio" -Jeph

It really says something that I never noticed the absence of linked speech bubbles in QC since Jeph started using Manga Studio.

Does it say more about Jeph's ability to work well with the tools at his disposal, or does it say more about my observational skills? You make the call!

Mr. Doctor · « **Reply #71 on:** 31 May 2016, 01:18 »

Urgh, it's seems like it's that Renee, then. Never liked that character. Oh well...

BenRG · « **Reply #72 on:** 31 May 2016, 01:37 »

I'm thinking about how people have described The Secret Bakery as a sort of bizarre refraction of Coffee of Doom. I'm wondering if Jeph is planning to go back to that and re-address it in the light of Marten's relationship with Claire.

Think about it along these terms: The exact character stories will not be paralleled but the wider social group will have similar experiences. Consequently, we have Brun and Renee having an experience like Marten and Faye where Brun is made homeless by fire and thus has to move in with Faye-alike Renee (who is Angus's ex). We then have an 'odd couple' relationship of plain-spoken and stoic Brun with passionate and aggressive Renee (which may or may not have some degree of UST at first).

The next step would be for it to turn out that Brun had a disastrous relationship with the neck tattoo guy who we see talking to Elliott in the TSB introductory strip which is why Renee is so over-protective of her (parallels of Marten and Dora). That leads inevitably to Jeph moving on to:

Brun getting a job at TSB (possibly by some bizarre qualification similar to Marten's knowing iambic pentameter getting him the gig at the library);
Clinton's protectiveness turning into attraction (possibly with a not-a-date social interaction that ends with unexpected intimacy that both are initially reluctant to talk about until Claire shouts it out in a thoughtless moment);
Ultimately, Brun turning up at Clinton's dorm block at UMass, announcing to him in her calm, rational and level-toned delivery that she thinks that there is something between them and then inviting him to be her boyfriend; smoochies follow (although Clinton's peers later admit not to understand what the hell had happened).

APersonAmI · « **Reply #73 on:** 31 May 2016, 05:33 »

In my opinion, this is an inappropriate reaction to someone helping your friend when her apartment burnt down. It isn't ironic, because in the situation some of you called back to, Clinton did not yell at or threaten Marten, and while Clinton wasn't nice , it is in no way the equivalent of this scene. In addition, I also do not find it funny, because pointless harassment isn't funny to me.

Also, Renee keeps intentionally interrupting his sentences, which is a unlikable and unpleasant thing to do.

I'm also a little annoyed Brun just lets her friend act like this, but admittedly most of the threats happened after the phone was handed over. Primarily, it is Renee who is an ass here, that's not really Brun's fault.

*edit* Hm. Looking over my comment again, I could probably have shortened this to "Well. That was unfunny, pointless and unpleasant." and have said just as much, really. Oh well, hopefully I'll perfect the art of not being more verbose than I need to be eventually.

heyjames4 · « **Reply #74 on:** 31 May 2016, 06:19 »

I really like the art today.
1. I really like the art on Clinton today. The eyes, the hair, the wavery bubble line. So many emotions shown w/o words. Jephs doing good work.
2. Brun's 'bedhead' has a cowlick/ahoge. The artistic purpose of an ahoge is to supplement the dialogue and facial expressions in communicating the character's emotional state. But, Brun's ahoge isn't moving. Since Brun (for whatever reason) has a flat affect, her ahoge staying motionless makes total sense like on a meta-level.

heyjames4 · « **Reply #75 on:** 31 May 2016, 06:27 »

Renee pre-emptively chewing out Clinton for lending a helping hand to Brun may have something to do with an uncomfortable incident in Brun's past.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #76 on:** 31 May 2016, 06:34 »

Or an uncomfortable incident in Renee's past. Or general untrustworting nature on her part. Honestly though, if this is Renee from The Secret Bakery, and it probably is... And Brun is the Hanners-analog... Her reaction makes sense. This is exactly how Faye would react if something happened to Hanners, and there was some stranger 'helping' her out. Lack of trust, immediately leaping to over protectiveness and threats. Perhaps Brun will get a job at TSB and we'll start seeing more action happening there, since we've seen less and less of The Coffee of Doom.

Zebediah · « **Reply #77 on:** 31 May 2016, 06:35 »

Or, it could just be that Renee is a genuinely unpleasant person.

Mad Cat · « **Reply #78 on:** 31 May 2016, 06:48 »

Brün appears to be the kind of person who just doesn't move her lips/mouth a great deal when she speaks. Anyone else noticed this?

themacnut · « **Reply #79 on:** 31 May 2016, 07:13 »

Quote from: APersonAmI on 31 May 2016, 05:33

In my opinion, this is an inappropriate reaction to someone helping your friend when her apartment burnt down. It isn't ironic, because in the situation some of you called back to, Clinton did not yell at or threaten Marten, and while Clinton wasn't nice , it is in no way the equivalent of this scene. In addition, I also do not find it funny, because pointless harassment isn't funny to me.

That's the way some people, mostly women, think; a male stranger (or even acquaintance) is automatically a threat, a potential stalker/rapist/serial killer until proven otherwise beyond the shadow of a doubt. And if Brun (or Renee) had a bad experience with such a person in her past, this would make Renee extra-suspicious of men she doesn't know well. I've been acquainted with such women myself in my life, and they tend to be generally unpleasant to be around, so I avoided them as much as I could.

EDIT: On the other hand, since there's no way to know a helpful stranger's true intentions ahead of time, some degree of caution is warranted when dealing with such strangers. We the readers know Clinton's harmless, but Renee doesn't.

JimC · « **Reply #80 on:** 31 May 2016, 07:23 »

Quote from: APersonAmI on 31 May 2016, 05:33

In my opinion, this is an inappropriate reaction to someone helping your friend when her apartment burnt down.

Sadly there's no shortage of people out there who will seek to abuse or exploit someone in a difficult situation.

Many years ago when I was in the bike trade one of my customers had a minor accident - knocked off her moped. The man who hit her was very apologetic and insisted on taking her to hospital. Except he didn't.

(click to show/hide)

If I were Brun's friend all sorts of alarm bells would be ringing in my head too.

retrosteve · « **Reply #81 on:** 31 May 2016, 07:42 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 30 May 2016, 20:11

Would it be funny if Brun was related to Padma?

I know this isn't Asterix and not everyone is drawn as an ethnic caricature. But Padma definitely looks Indian, and Brun looks, if anything, Persian.

oddtail · « **Reply #82 on:** 31 May 2016, 07:55 »

Quote from: JimC on 31 May 2016, 07:23

Sadly there's no shortage of people out there who will seek to abuse or exploit someone in a difficult situation.

And the possibility that someone might do something bad is enough to make threats against a person one has no reason to suspect has, or will? Note - immediate, apparently quite extreme threats. Threats to the extent that the person on the other end of the conversation doesn't have an opportunity to form a complete sentence.

I'm sorry, but in my book - no. No, it isn't enough to act like that.

Thrillho · « **Reply #83 on:** 31 May 2016, 08:34 »

Quote from: oddtail on 31 May 2016, 07:55

Quote from: JimC on 31 May 2016, 07:23
Sadly there's no shortage of people out there who will seek to abuse or exploit someone in a difficult situation.

And the possibility that someone might do something bad is enough to make threats against a person one has no reason to suspect has, or will? Note - immediate, apparently quite extreme threats. Threats to the extent that the person on the other end of the conversation doesn't have an opportunity to form a complete sentence.

I'm sorry, but in my book - no. No, it isn't enough to act like that.

It's for comic effect.

Quite apart from which, just because you or I or anyone thinks this is okay behaviour or not doesn't mean that it doesn't happen.

Coffee_Kaioken · « **Reply #84 on:** 31 May 2016, 08:46 »

So, not sure if anyone else mentioned this already, but, "Renee" reminded me of someone...

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1859

Possible return of older characters?

APersonAmI · « **Reply #85 on:** 31 May 2016, 08:48 »

Sure, caution can be appropriate response to strangers. However, if Clinton intended to be horrible to Brun, I am not convinced this is an efficient means of making him not do that, and this was definitely an inefficient means of making Brun be cautious. So, while her emotion was understandable, her actions were unnecessary, unpleasant, overdone, inefficient and just generally do not work as a method to prevent that which she wants to prevent.

On a macabre side note,

(click to show/hide)

Thrillho, That is true, but Oddtail never said or implied Renee's behaviour was unrealistic, only that it wasn't okay.

jheartney · « **Reply #86 on:** 31 May 2016, 08:49 »

May I suggest that there may be some deflected guilt in Renee's reaction? She obviously sees herself as Brun's protector, yet at the time Brun really needed somebody, she (Renee) wasn't there. And now there's this strange guy involved, about whom Renee knows nothing. At best he's usurping Renee's role as Brun-protector; at worst he's going to take advantage of Brun.

alanari · « **Reply #87 on:** 31 May 2016, 09:13 »

Well, there is still the possibility of Brun being autistic.

Many autistic people are very naive and trustig, me included. I know I need a reminder every now and then that there are indeed people in this world who will take advantage of this. I have friends who are really protective because of this.. not as extreme as Renee though.

It's what happens when you have difficulties to read intensions of another human and tend to believe everything you are told.

themacnut · « **Reply #88 on:** 31 May 2016, 10:09 »

A woman with a history of being too trusting for her own good would not pull a shotgun/harpoon on a stranger at a bar whose only "crime" was staring morosely at his drink. If anything, this suggests the opposite; the main reason Brun is giving Clinton the benefit of the doubt is that he's shown himself to be pretty harmless, something Renee has yet to see.

RMc · « **Reply #89 on:** 31 May 2016, 10:18 »

"Excuse me, could I have my cellphone back?"
(Brun returns Clinton's cellphone)
"Thank you. Now, I'm going to leave and you're never going to see me again, because (a) you're not a very pleasant person; (b) your friend threatened me for no reason at all, which may be funny in fiction but in real life it's called "making terroristic threats", and it's a felony; and (c) I don't need any more drama in my life, especially since most of the people I know seem to have severe mental problems, with the arguable exception of my sister, who incidentally used to be my brother. Goodbye...and see you in the funny papers."

Somehow, though, I don't think it's going to play out this way.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #90 on:** 31 May 2016, 10:37 »

She was his sister all along, but started out with a medical issue that made her look male.

Global Moderator Comment There is something in the forum rules about this. Trans people are to be treated as always having belonged to their brain-wired gender. Please reassure me that you weren't hinting that gender dysphoria is mental illness when you said "arguable". Please.

(regular user)The strip does have a lot of people you'd avoid in real life. Jeph himself said he wouldn't like Faye if she were a real person.(/)

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #91 on:** 31 May 2016, 10:49 »

The personality seems similar.

themacnut · « **Reply #92 on:** 31 May 2016, 10:53 »

Quote from: RMc on 31 May 2016, 10:18

"Excuse me, could I have my cellphone back?"
(Brun returns Clinton's cellphone)
"Thank you. Now, I'm going to leave and you're never going to see me again..."

That would be the smart play for Clinton, and it would certainly be what I'd do; entirely too much drama involved in this mess for my peace of mind. Let Brun's overprotective friend take care of her.

But this being a comic, and Clinton being the latest butt monkey of said comic, as well as likely wanting to prove himself helpful, he'll stick around. For which Renee will heap more abuse on him when they eventually meet, of course.

pwhodges · « **Reply #93 on:** 31 May 2016, 10:55 »

Why should he turn away from Brun because she has a mistrustful friend (who isn't even present)? Clinton has already shown that he is better than that.

We don't know what might have happened to either Brun or Renee to cause her to react that defensively, either.

heyjames4 · « **Reply #94 on:** 31 May 2016, 11:17 »

I thought Padma was The Secret Bakery's equivalent of Raven (bouncy personality) and Jim was their groups Dora (older, sardonic).
I don't remember seeing much of Renee's personality in the Padma & Jim/Dora arcs. She was described to us by Angus from his perspective, and we saw her in crowd scenes where the focus was on the Eliot-Padma-Marten triangle.
I'm excited to see what she's like in her own words.
I'll back up the 'Renee's lashing out from guilt at not being there for Brun', that makes sense.

APersonAmI · « **Reply #95 on:** 31 May 2016, 11:18 »

The following quote is only part of Thrillho's comment.

Quote from: Thrillho on 31 May 2016, 08:34

It's for comic effect.

... Okay?

It is entirely possible I am completely missing your point here, but here is my response, regardless.

That doesn't make her behaviour any less real or any less of a subject to politeness norms than any other behaviour in the comic. Comedy is not some everything proof shield, anything said in jest is just as much spoken aloud as any other statement. Comedy is not wearing a Ring of Blinking, it is not some ethereal thing that's only real if you found it funny, and to be treated as if it is not there if you didn't.

A quote sometimes spoken is "nothing is sacred", a statement meant to imply that anything can be subjected to comedy. Okay, but if that premise is true, then comedy isn't sacred, either. If anything can be mocked, so can comedy be mocked. If anything can be wrong, so can comedy be wrong. If anything can be hurtful and mean, so can comedy be hurtful and mean.

What I am saying is, that to my consequentialist mind, saying someone did something wrong "for comedic effect" is kind of like saying someone did something wrong "because it was Wednesday" or "because they were sad". It is possible that it might give some insight into the catalyst for the bad behaviour, but it does not in any way make the behaviour less bad - the action stays the same, regardless of what the perpetrator was feeling at the time.

Quote from: pwhodges on 31 May 2016, 10:55

Why should he turn away from Brun because she has a mistrustful friend (who isn't even present)? Clinton has already shown that he is better than that.

We don't know what might have happened to either Brun or Renee to cause her to react that defensively, either.

True on both counts, and I agree. However, even if she has reasons, that does not make her behaviour reasonable, because her action is the same regardless of whether she has reasons or not.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #96 on:** 31 May 2016, 11:49 »

In this case 'for comic effect' means literally that. It's something that happens because it's a story, specifically a comedy. If everything in every comedy comic, show, movie or book was treated like real life they would be very dull, because many people would be in a lot of trouble for doing the things that happen in comedies. But we accept them for the story because absurd over reactions and exaggerated plot points are hallmarks of the genre.

Notice that nobody here is actually defending Renee for her actions. The closest I've seen is 'maybe she's had reason in the past to be distrustful of strange men'. But even then it's pretty universally agreed that she's totally in the wrong, not just in Clinton's case but in general. And that treating someone like that regardless of circumstances is pretty shitty. And overall, Renee seems like an unpleasant person. If this is the Renee we've seen before from The Secret Bakery... she IS a pretty unpleasant person. He's hostile, abusive, abrasive and really seems to not be much fun to be around.

Case · « **Reply #97 on:** 31 May 2016, 12:16 »

Whelp, maybe that explains why Brun didn't call her 'enthusiastically protective' friend right away ...
---
I'd be curious to know the part of the conversation that Jeph imagined to happen between "He seems OK to me" and "I know. Still"
---
On the topic of threatening helpful strangers with improbable acts of physical violence:

I would neither make such threats, nor would I appreciate them, or let them pass uncommented IRL. That being said:
Clinton's behaviour - as commendable as it is - is also, sadly, highly unusual.

A lot of people have had the misfortune to learn that "odd behaviour" can (!) spell "red flag", or even "dangerous".
No, I'm no friend of the "Schroedinger's rapist"-meme, either. Can I claim I don't understand where the people who use it are coming from?
Sadly, I can't.

(And this is as far as I feel comfortable not justifying behaviour I would find highly offensive IRL ...)

---

Quote from: RMc on 31 May 2016, 10:18

... stuff ...

"People with mental health issues" = "Drama in my life" & "Funny papers" ?

Could you clarify, pls?

Zastie · « **Reply #98 on:** 31 May 2016, 12:41 »

Not only is it someone that Renee doesn't know personally, but even to Brun Clinton is simply, "A man named Clinton was at the bar last night." "A man at the bar," isn't exactly the greatest impression to give, and any possible past drama for either Brun or Renee aside, most people would take that description with heavy caution. Some random Joe from a bar could mean all sorts of things.

Also yes, this is a comic we're talking about, and as we indeed have seen with Faye, exaggerated characters are not out of the realm of possibility in the QC universe (in regards to Renee's attitude).

APersonAmI · « **Reply #99 on:** 31 May 2016, 12:59 »

Fair enough, Neko_Ali, I didn't realize that both parts of Thrillho's comment were referring to the realism of the situation, and I thank you for helpfully explaining that.

However, the jokes I like are the ones where the thing that is dull and realistic is the person being an ass, and the enjoyable thing is, for example, that the transphobe is shoved out the door by Emily mid-rant, or that the sexist store clerk is reprimanded by Sam, and that is indeed a uncommon and unlikely thing to have happen, so that makes it work as a joke.

If the joke is instead that someone is an ass, and then gets away with it, there are two problems with that. One, the unrealistic thing cannot be that they are more rude than people in reality are, because the ceiling for absurd rudeness in Questionable Content is significantly lower than in reality*, and any rudeness in the comic is therefore dull and realistic. Second, the unrealistic thing cannot be that they get away with being an ass, because that is often the default in real life, and is therefore dull and unrealistic.

Mind you, the above is not true for everyone. It is entirely possible that there are people for whom the default is that people are not very rude at all, and that any rudeness that does happen is swiftly discouraged. If that is so, I am very happy for them. I mean, I would love for rude people to be so absurd an idea that someone being rude and getting away with it was something unrealistic and absurd. That sounds lovely. I just mean that that kind of joke cannot work for me.

*For example, the real life version of the university Marten works at has not been so accepting of trans students as the Questionable Content version.

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Who is going to let Brun stay with them? (Two choices)

Author Topic: WCDT Strips 3231 - 3235 (30th May to 3rd June 2016) (Read 64406 times)