** And country music. Sven may write it, but every single character, and Jeph, rip it apart. Given his usual style of apologising for offending people, it's glaring to people who like country.
** Don't forget people that don't live by the unwritten rules of small independently-owned "alternative" coffee shops. They should just ''die''.
** For a comic where {{Toilet Humor}} shows up quite a few times, it's kind of jarring that the author scolds women for ''talking'' about menstruation.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Marten isn't a really "NiceGuy", he's just a spineless coward who is totally emasculated because of the bullying both emotional and physical he suffers from the women in his life. [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1835 It probably started with his mother and got worse with time.]] He constantly apologises for anything he thinks might in the slightest be offensive to anyone, and is so terrified of offending someone that he will pre-emptively change the subject or be defensive about a subject he recognises could cause him to say something 'offensive'. Examples include:
** Apologising during the Space Arc for not being [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2153 Lieutenant Potter's type]], and again in the same strip again for having the nerve to think Potter, who had pulled him out of a party to spend some time alone together might have been interested in him which lead him to try making a move on her.
** He actually [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2100 stands up for himself]] in the wake of Padma jerking him around, only to get his [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2101 shit ruined by Faye, even though he was correct about the situation]]. Padma jerked him around, she was leaving for good the next day, and he needed to move on. Instead Faye twists his balls into thinking he's an asshole for not wasting his time on a girl who had no respect for his time and their relationship for the week or two before she left.
** Marten compliments Marigold when he sees her in her bikini for the first time, saying "Hey, looking good!" to her. [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2307 He immediately apologises for this based only on Marigold's somewhat awkward expression.]] At the end of his first apology he then says she "looks really good", which means he spends the entire next panel on a ridiculous apology and in the final panel is probably apologising in his mind.
** Instead of simply answering the question at hand, which is Faye's somewhat crude way of asking "do you like any of the interns" [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2217 he pre-apologises by reflecting back to Faye and Tai what he thinks they would say to him if he actually had the balls to tell the truth and discuss the new interns and if any are attractive to him.]]
*** It's not just Marten that suffers this issue. Pretty much every male character has it, Marten is just the biggest example as he is the main character. In one strip the male Space Station AI apologises to Hannelore for apologising badly to Potter because he added 4 million dollars worth of shares as a gift along with the apology.
** Marten can also be seen as a flatter than a steam-rolled piece of paper StraightMan or perhaps a non-dying DecoyProtagonist who isn't supposed to stand for one thing or another. His emasculation and [[AmericanNewspapers New York Times-esque]] move to neutrality and centrality is the result of being assigned the role as the anchor to the entire cast. Were he to move on direction or another on his own will, or were he to have a breakdown, the entire cast would be torn asunder.

to:

** Sven may write Country music, but Jeph and every character that comments on it do so negatively
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Marten isn't a "NiceGuy", but a spineless coward who is emasculated by the emotional and physical bullying he suffers from the women in his life. [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1835 It probably started with his mother and got worse with time.]] He apologizes for anything he thinks might be offensive to anyone, and is so worried about offending someone that he will pre-emptively change the subject or be defensive about a subject he recognizes could cause him to say something 'offensive'. 
** Marten can also be seen as StraightMan or perhaps a non-dying DecoyProtagonist who isn't supposed to stand for one thing or another. His emasculation and [[AmericanNewspapers New York Times-esque]] move to neutrality and centrality is the result of being assigned the role as the anchor to the entire cast. Were he to move on direction or another on his own will, or were he to have a breakdown, the entire cast would be torn asunder.

8th Apr '13 11:38:36 AM mack

Send mack a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Removing Justifying Edits. The trope is Alternative Character Interpretation and in the YMMV section for a reason.

Deleted line(s) 12 (click to see context) :

5th Apr '13 5:19:53 PM Solarn

Send Solarn a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 11 (click to see context) :

5th Apr '13 6:14:33 AM mack

Send mack a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 17 (click to see context) :

16th Feb '13 8:55:25 PM Warburton

Send Warburton a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Removed a entry completely misrepresenting Jeph's attitude - Jeph doesn't change things because "feminists" bully him to, the rare occasion he changes something is because he unintentionally offended people and is happy to avoid that. Also removed another mention of someone completely missing the point of a joke and thinking it's Jeph making fun of "Straw Feminists" when it's really about Marten's awkwardness.

Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 66,67 (click to see context) from:

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This list shows the last 10 events of 98. Show all.

new edits

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