Penny And Aggie

There's been mention of Penny And Aggie here and there in this forum, but no general discussion thread yet, and considering how many trope examples it's generated, and how controversial it is (even having led to edit wars in the past)...yeah.

So. The current storyline. How do you think Sara will subvert, or otherwise create drama on, her reality show, now that she's figured out how these things work?

You mean apart from having Rich ride in on his motorcycle and rewrite the ending by carrying Ines out of Hell?

I'll be good.

...that's all I'm going to say.

Okay. One thing. Why the hell does Lucy look like that Tex Avery chick from Red Hot Riding Hood? AKA Miss Vavoom to people like me that watched Tom And Jerry Kids?

edited 4th Aug '10 11:43:39 PM by Rebochan

Haha, I didn't see the resemblance until you pointed it out just now. I'd assumed she was named and modelled after Lucille Ball, with her personality (or fake personality, most likely) being an over-the-top exaggeration of Ball's Lucy Ricardo character. (In that Lucy Ricardo, though not nearly as stupid as this Lucy is or pretends to be, was kinda ditzy.)

It could be a cross between the two. Odd, I never even made the Lucille Ball connection :P I just saw the Vavoom.

Okay, I know more tropers than this are reading this webcomic

So. Lucy's "You are now a person of interest to the NSA" gambit against Hilary: Badass move? Or Wall Banger? Discuss.

I think a good case can be made for either, depending on (among other factors) how serious Lucy was about the threat; it does seem a rather disproportionate response to verbal bullying, particularly since the bullying was directed, in effect, at a persona, not the "real" Lucy. On the other hand, Lucy could simply be bluffing; her "you won't find the evidence" statement may mean there was no evidence to find.

Sure she's bluffing. Also, Hil wasn't bullying the persona. _This_ is the persona.

Sorry, I don't follow. Are you suggesting that Lucy is a stupid person pretending to be smart, rather than the other way around? Maybe if Sara fed her that speech, I could see it. Or have I misunderstood what you meant?

Yes, I think she's following Sara's script. Not that I think the real Lucy is all that stupid. I think that she thinks she's dumber than she really is.

Could be. And perhaps, too, because she thinks of herself as stupid, she plays up that aspect of herself. If so, then instead of Obfuscating Stupidity, we have "If you've got it, flaunt it."

Uh...I can't believe I'm saying this after so long but...

...while the plotline doesn't really make a lot of sense, it was actually pretty good.

Surely that must count for something :)

ARGH! DAMMIT CAMPBELL, WHY DID YOU RUIN IT?!

People are never so vulnerable as when they are celebrating victory prematurely.

...is the "Cindy gets her violent retribution" arc going to turn into another series like The Popsicle Wars?

I seem to recall T saying on the forum, shortly after "The Popsicle War" ended, that he wasn't going to do any more year-long "epic" P&A stories. (He made a similar statement more recently with regard to Fans! after wrapping up "The Day the Alphabet Died.") Since "Popsicle" ended, the longest arc has been "The New Reality" if we count the two parts together (T has said he may put them back-to-back in the archives), with thirty-four strips. At three strips/week, that's eleven weeks and change, so, not even three months.

But who knows? T had once said Rich was gone forever, and he changed his mind. It seems to me that, apart from the various threads involving Cyndi, the major plots in the comic are approaching a resolution, be it the title characters getting together (it now seems, as even those fans not in favour of it acknowledge, to be a question of when, not if), Sara and Daphne staying together (it could go either way), Charlotte gradually redeeming herself, Michelle gaining self-confidence and staying healthy, and so forth. So depending on how long T wants to postpone the end of the comic, he may well choose to make an "epic" out of this "Missing Person" story.

It can't go on long. If it wasn't resolved in a couple of days, the national media would go nuts over the missing pretty white rich girl and Sara would already know about it.

Can I just go on the record that I still find Penny and Aggie becoming romantically involved stupidly contrived and disappointing?

I just find a bitter high school rivalry being the result of UST dull and these girls have no chemistry - plus I never thought their "team up" had any proper reasoning. I'm also not buying the "Having a crush on a practice guy leads to lesbianism" argument the comic has strangely put forth.

Finally, dude, what is with all the lesbians? As I said in another thread, poor Fred is the only gay guy in the strip. It feels like Author Appeal the more time he spends on hot girls making out :P

Maybe you should wait until it happens before you go on record. The thing is, the girls just plain outnumber the boys so that means the lesbians (and bisexuals) outnumber the gay guys. Even so, Stan's heterosexuality is still in question.

edited 10th Sep '10 11:47:53 PM by Nobodymuch

Man, what? Aggie has insecurities about her sexuality, sure, but that's not even that uncommon. I know a girl in real life that, as a teenager, was sure that she was a lesbian until... she realized how much she liked sex and relationships with guys and how fashion-based her attraction to women was (as in clothes-fashion, not bisexuality-as-a-fad fashion).

As for "all the lesbians," there's... two... in the main cast that I can think of, just enough for one lesbian official pairing. Cyndi will get sexually involved with anyone if it gives her a thrill or an advantage. Aggie and Penny have only ever been involved with men.

Further, as mentioned, it's a story about girls and there are more female characters than male. Makes sense that there are more gay female characters than gay male characters.

Who do people think assaulted and abducted Cyndi?

Braz would seem the most obvious suspect, but the consensus on the comic's forum is that he's altogether too obvious for T Campbell's style.

So, if not Braz, then... Jack? Brandi? Samantha? Tharqa?

Did Cyndi engineer it herself, to gain sympathy (particularly with the recent chink in her "good daughter" armour), only to have it go horribly wrong?

(A more interesting topic of discussion, methinks, than the usual gripes about the comic which have been answered time and time again here or on the main site)

edited 16th Sep '10 1:56:10 PM by ChevalierMalfait

I thought Braz until the story proper started up. It would seem just darn silly considering what we've been shown up to this point.

I'm really hoping it's not Jack, because it would seem a rather obnoxious plot complication. Also, suspicion seems to have been thrown on him way too early, so I'm expecting he's going to be a red herring, but still have to deal with fallout from the situation.

I see Samantha as a slight possibility, but her anger seems to generally involve general bitching and moaning. On her own, I don't think she'd plan a violent assault and kidnapping. She's willing to cross a lot of lines, but that one requires a little more initiative than we've seen her take and I'm not really certain we've seen her with a motive on Cyndi (unless she learned about the poopsicles :P)

Brandi? A possibility unless she's got an alibi. We do know she can be violent when her buttons are pushed hard enough. It seems a bit far out of character, but she does have some motive. The real question is whether she blames Stan or Cyndi more for what happened between them.

I am wondering about Stan myself. It doesn't seem likely considering he's a people pleaser and not a people beater, but I suspect he'll be coming up for the interview sessions soon enough.

I don't see Tharqa as a culprit because it takes way too much effort for the "fun" she likes.

I'm kind of surprised at the angle on Charlotte's story that came up today. Mainly because this is the last place I suspected it. I'm genuinely curious to see where that one goes - and also, really happy to see some hope of resolution.

Stan is solidly alibi'd. The Shadowy Lurker of Doom was there watching as Stan talked to Cyndi, and since Cyndi appears to have walked straight out to the car, while Stan stayed to be scolded by Penny and Aggie and then probably talked to Jack, it is just not possible.

edited 18th Sep '10 6:06:14 PM by Nobodymuch

Holy shit, Karen's still alive! I was certain she'd committed suicide via ant farm! I don't know how that would work, but I'm certain it would be painful.

Also, is he trying to pull a lot of Authors Saving Throws lately or is the comic finally starting to address that parents and the police should be a lot more involved in some of these plot points? I don't entirely buy that the police would blow off a missing teenage girl, but at least its addressing how the cops didn't get involved in Penny's runaway but the FBI charges in for Cyndi.

The police wouldn't do much about a runaway teenager. There are like armies of them. It's the blood that makes Cyndi's disappearance a presumed kidnapping.

Looks like I was right to be suspicious of Brandi. Whether she did it or not, no idea. But my logic is getting integrated regardless.

I HAVE CONTROL OF T. CAMPBELL.

edited 23rd Sep '10 9:15:47 PM by Rebochan