Questionable Content

Wait, what's wrong with Marten's "You're beautiful"? O_o

What else would one say to a girl who just disrobed to sleep with them for the first time?

edited 15th Aug '17 10:48:24 PM by Medinoc

You know, I'm reading both Dumbing Of Age and Questionable Content, so sometimes I end up comparing the respective new pages in my head.

I get the feeling that Jeph isn't that good at actually working an issue into the story, at least not in this case. :/

edited 15th Aug '17 11:03:57 PM by DrunkenNordmann

My takeaway from that is that people thought calling no attention to Claire's genital situation and just going "you're beautiful" was so cheesy that it bordered on Narm to them. There's also the lingering question about whether Claire is pre- or post-op, and frustration that Jeph has refused to divulge that information despite Marten beginning a sexual and romantic relationship with her.

I thought it was a damn fine comic, myself.

edited 15th Aug '17 10:56:09 PM by MrMallard

Speaking as a trans person, that comic was really well done. Too often, media focuses on our genitals and what state they're in. It was nice to just see Marten look at her and say she's beautiful, which isn't something we get to hear much.

Personally, I didn't care that there's no full body shot in that comic. What I disliked was that Jeph was so smug about it and, during the backlash, behaved as if the people who wanted to know were disrespectfully infringing on the privacy of a real person, and were not simply curious about a fictional character that we'd already seen in far more intimate scenarios than we would be privy to in real life.

The Sam and Marigold buy a microphone one was bad because the setup to the verbal smackdown was nonexistent, making it seem undeserved. It was clearly the intention that the sales guy was skeptical because she's a girl, but it comes off like it's more of an age thing, which is a lot more reasonable. And then you have Sam doing a terribly cliched "I'm not a kid, I'm 14," which is the exact sort of nonsense a child of 14 would say (also, her age comes up so rarely that I always think she's younger; like, closer to 11 based on how she acts), and we're supposed to take it seriously. And the worst part is Marigold's anime-style fawning over her in the last panel which is frankly just ridiculous. It's just a bad comic all around.

Today's isn't bad. The context is actually there his time. The problem is that the behaviour of the characters feels right at home in a Very Special Episode, and that it feels wrong for Bubbles of all people to be the one to give this speech. Coming from Claire, or Momo, or even Tai or Dora, it would feel a lot more natural, but as is it's like a The More You Know commercial that found its way inside the show instead of during a break. It sounds like a post someone would write on an Internet forum, not something anyone would actually say in real life.

It would probably have to be Momo. Otherwise, you're hitting that other aspect of "I'm not part of your culture, but please let me explain exactly where you're going wrong here."

Also Bubbles is the only AI we've actually seen discriminated against because of her nature (those two dudes), and she was also held in a subservient position to another AI against her will, so she is more likely to speak about things in such a way. Pretty sure Momo wouldn't have chosen the "privilege" explanation.

But then again, people tend to overreact to the word "privilege" anyway.

I blame the meme.

My only nitpick about how Claire and Marten's first time was handled was that Marten's line seemed more like being a good example than in-character. I liked how it was done except that it didn't feel like Marten. Marten's character has at times seemed a bit hijacked by the need to make a point.

Disclosure: I was browsing QC r34 recently and there was an edit of that strip showing Marten reacting to a post-op reveal with a sheepish "I don't know what I expected", which some of the people who weren't hopping mad about her being shown post-op for once thought was more in character for Marten than "you're beautiful".

And in this strip with Bubbles and Winslow, it also seems more carefully written to be the right thing than something someone would actually say in conversation. I like how it was written in abstract, but it seems very polished to be pulled out spur of the moment.

As someone with a raging hate-on for QC, seriously these last strips are so dumb, I thought Marten and Claire's first time and his reaction was basically perfect for what it was.

I mean, is it really any of our business to know about Claire's bits? It really isn't. Why can't Claire just be beautiful regardless? I'm totally cool with Jeph being mum about it because it's nobody's business except Claire's.

edited 16th Aug '17 5:57:52 PM by Mr.Badguy

Claire the fictional character.

well yes

Like, it really isn't our business to speculate or prod on our trans peeps' bits. It's not our business at all, and that resonates in Claire.

I'm not trying to virtue signal here or anything but I really don't get why people want to know.

Curiosity, would be my guess. :/

I don't really care either way, I just don't find it's a particular line to cross when compared to stuff like Faye's alcoholism influenced by her father's suicide or stuff like that. We're privy to a whole lot more than we would be entitled to with real people as opposed to characters.

Alcoholism is a fairly wide-ranging topic with lots of different portrayals and causes throughout media. With trans people, pretty much the first and often only topic that comes up is "What's in your pants?" It's a dumb, invasive question that doesn't need to be addressed at all

What does one do with pints of moose ejaculate? Is he a moose farmer?

I almost didn't link the comic, because as far as non-sequesters go that is the best I've read in ages.

But I feel like context makes it funnier.

edited 17th Aug '17 12:01:05 AM by LMage

Aww, friends.

Eww, moose semen.

I'm not sure I want to know what Dolphin Jack is doing with moose spunk.

I'm not sure I want to know what anyone is doing with moose semen.

Maybe starting a moose farm but he only has does (cows?).

Also, why does May want a helmet?

Presumably for protection from big, angry moose.

They're not small creatures◊, and you're in a bad situation if they decide to get angry at you.

And if you aim the moose in the wrong direction, the helmet will prevent at least some of your head from getting covered in moose spunk.

Hopefully she finds a helmet with an eye guard of some kind.

I didn't think there'd ever be a day when I unwittingly formed the mental image of a humanoid person accidentally getting moose sperm in the eye, but now that day has come and here we are.

Thanks for that.