El Goonish Shive

As I understand it, Susan has not expressed her feelings, and has stepped back to let Elliot/Ashley happen.

In retrospect, Susan should totally have let herself accidentally seduce Elliot.

Grumble grumble shipping pains grumble grumble.

edited 29th Jul '15 10:15:27 AM by TobiasDrake

Susan needs to go yandere. Jus' sayin'.

Man, I seriously wanna see artwork for yandere Susan now.

If only there was some way to request drawings-SKETCHES if you will-of characters in certain situations...

edited 29th Jul '15 11:00:53 AM by TheyCallMeTomu

I was supporting Elliot/Sarah like the dutiful canon shipper that I am. Then when that bit the dust, I reluctantly joined Elliot/Susan and grew to like it. Now, will I hop aboard S.S. Elliot/Ashley?

No, probably never. Elliot/Susan forever! *Salutes aboard floundering ship*

Also, I am not the best artist, but if you want to see some yandere Susan I could give it a shot...

I just hope Shive doesn't fall into the trap of "Gotta break them up for DRAMA, can't have people stay paired up for too long". So far, he's been better than certain other webcomics I could name, but I won't. But I could.

edited 29th Jul '15 2:47:37 PM by TotemicHero

Dammit, that pothole was confusing. I swear I stared at it for a full minute thinking "That's not a webcomic..."

Anyway, Shive hasn't broken up any other couples just for the sake of drama. Grace/Tedd and Nanase/Elliot have their conflicts, but they survive (even if he likes to tease that Grace/Tedd might end up Grace/Tedd/Sarah). I could see the Ashley/Elliot ship failing, but if it does it will be because she fails to see him as a person instead of just this window into an awesome magical world of sexy transformations.

Ashley seems just pervy enough that she might go for a threeway.

But Susan isn't, so there's no way an Elliot/Ashley/Susan OT3 is happening.

Well I mean you can be polyamorous without any group sex.

Remember, Susan like to watch...

(No trope for consensual voyeurism?)

Plus, you can date more than one person at once. For both of my parents, this was required of them in high school. They were not allowed to go on a date with the same person twice in a row because high school is not a time to get serious about one person as if it's the rest of your life.

"I'm currently dating both of a set of identical twins. Honest."

I'm not sure if Shive is thinking too hard about Wreck-It Ralph, or not hard enough. Some of those questions are pretty easy to guess at - the characters are probably trapped in their home games during a power outage, but resume their "normal" lives once power gets back on. My suspension of disbelief doesn't contain a mythical power grid that never goes down.

Of course Ralph has a mom - everyone gets a programmed backstory. They even discuss this (when talking about Calhoun).

For the question of how much programming determines who they are... uh... Shive, you missed the forest for the trees. That's what the main plot is essentially about. And the answer is, as much as the character wants it to determine.

That said, I also wondered what would happen in the event of duplicate machines. I know dupe cabinets aren't so common in most modern arcades, but they're not completely alien, either. A slightly related question is, what happens when multiple iterations of a franchise are in the same arcade? I was just in an arcade a few weeks ago that had Super Street Fighter II, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and the X-Men arcade game (sadly, the two-player version, not the 6-player one). Theoretically, there are two Ryus and two Cyclopses running around there. Heck, just what would Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (and its two Wolverines) be like?

Oh, main comic... I don't like panels 3 and 4, but not because they're unnecessary. They're lazily done. They're too static compared to panels 1 and 2. Even if the facial expressions were only tweaked (Elliot becoming more nervous/incredulous/regretful; Tensaided fanboying out even harder), it feels like there should have been something to demonstrate more than just passage of time. It feels like wasted opportunity.

Also, this might just fall under Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic, but Tensaided seems a bit too understated and calm in panel 4. We're talking about the most hardcore member of the geek pride movement in the entire comic. He looks like he's just seen someone else at his table roll a natural 20, not one of his biggest wishes coming true.

It happens!

Prove it.

Elliot obviously didn't anticipate that Tensaided would do more than just gawk. Tensaided, though, is being pretty sensible. While nothing has ever been said, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there had been cosplayers pretending to be Cheerleadra (I've been to enough cons; I know real person cosplay is a thing). Nor would I be surprised if there were con artists trying to pass as Cheerleadra for whatever reason. Plus, of course, the more four-color Evil Twin situations that he alludes to.

Also, as a geek, if a super showed up in front of me, I probably would have wanted a small power demonstration too. Given the powerset in question, I would settle for hovering a couple feet off the floor, but I guess we'll see what Elliot picked.

and so, Cheerleaderella proves herself with epic sideboob.

Oh, wait, so that WASN'T her proving herself?

I was browsing through the archive, and I found the part where Susan decided to step aside for Ashley. So logical. So sad...

Yeah, if this was a romance anime, a protagonist would give Susan a lecture about not just standing aside for the sake of others and to pursue her dreams or something.

So it's probably a good thing they don't live in a romance anime - or any other type of romance story - because that would actually be pretty terrible advice. If she followed through, she'd wind up miserable and resentful and just not at all happy, within a few short years of the final credits rolling.

Romance stories are generally pretty terrible when it comes to depicting healthy, mature romantic relationships.

If you're going to end up miserable and resentful for being turned down, you're going to end up miserable and restful for never having asked in the first place, methinks.

But Susan isn't even sure if she wants to have a relationship with Elliot. Plus, she might be asexual.

I just want to say "give her time", because Susan / Elliot is the first non-canon couple I've ever shipped in fiction, and I want it to happen so bad, but it's probably not gonna be that easy.

You think that's bad, my Cheerleadra/Shadow-Noah ship probably won't even get so much as a Ship Tease.

It's not about being miserable and resentful for being turned down. It's about being miserable and resentful because you threw your personal development out the window to rush too quickly into a relationship you weren't ready for.

Susan isn't even comfortable with basic human contact. She is nowhere near emotionally ready for an intimate relationship, and despite what romance stories would have people believe, you don't just become ready when you meet the right person.

edited 2nd Aug '15 8:48:50 AM by TobiasDrake

That's what I was getting at. And why romance stories are awful.

PFFT. No one's trying to say the romance genre is applicable to real life.