Dangerously Chloe 22-01-18 Tears of Pain

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Master of 7s
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Re: Dangerously Chloe 22-01-18 Tears of Pain

Post by Master of 7s »

Fluffy wrote:
Tue Jan 23, 2018 11:50 am
The difference is, Abby has been repeatedly exposed to the very real dangers of a supernatural life. Her very life had been in danger more than a few times (the most recent only being a few strips ago when Gabrielle held a sharpened needle to her throat in a very clear warning on what would happen to her if she didn't play ball). And Abby *still* wants that dangerous life because she only wants to focus on the assumed awesomeness of being a succubus instead of the dangerous realities that come with it.

It's one thing to fantasize at that age; but, usually when a kid is shown the consequences of certain actions/behaviors/choices, a smart kid will usually change their mind or, at the very least, start showing some doubts on their misguided reality (examples - staying up past an established bedtime, or watching a scary movie they've been forbidden from watching, etc). Abby just ignores the negatives outright because they don't coincide with her self perceived reality. And, in all honesty - you'd have to be an especially stupid child to still want to do something even after your life - and the life of your self proclaimed idol - was threatened as a result of that choice.
I reiterate; underdeveloped brain, functionally retarded. Logic does not apply.

Up to this point, Abby has suffered no actual consequences for her behavior so there's no reason for any lessons to stick. It's all just been one grand adventure for her so far. And considering that actual teenagers engage in dangerous and potentially life-ending activity with alarming frequency this is not surprising. I can't tell you how many skater bros I've seen break limbs or give themselves concussions only to hop right back on the board a few months later.

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Valkog
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Re: Dangerously Chloe 22-01-18 Tears of Pain

Post by Valkog »

"Functionally retarded" describes Abby pretty well. Look, I get that everyone was stupid, as a kid. It's a universal constant. But there are some pretty stupid kids, even taking that into account. There were kids who rode their own bus and left an hour before the rest of us, and then there were kids like Abby. We were all aware of their existence, and some of the friendlier kids tried to make friends with them, but most of us sort of instinctively knew to avoid them.
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X3N0-Life-Form
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Re: Dangerously Chloe 22-01-18 Tears of Pain

Post by X3N0-Life-Form »

Thinking about it more, I think one of the problems is that she is a combination of being annoyingly stupid, not facing any kind of consequences for the problems she cause, and being a rather flat character (pun convenient, but not intended) whose only purpose seem to be being obsessed with boobs (a running gag that doesn't exactly get funnier over time) and laugh at her brother's misadventures.

While being stupid and ignorant is a perfectly valid state for real life teenagers, that doesn't make for a very interesting character in fiction. Combine that with her bumbling about without karma ever going back at her so far, and you've got a rather annoying character (I was going to say "the webcomic equivalent of Jar-Jar Binks", but it seems a bit harsh). We got a few good jokes out her ignorance, but that's about it nowadays.

tl;dr: The main problem is that she is annoying, not necessarily stupid.


Contrast that with someone like Reese from Malcolm in the Middle, who is an ignorant jackass, who comes off as much dumber than most of the people around him and goes around causing all sorts of problems for everyone, through his general dickery & stupidity. However, this same stupidity and ignorance makes him the butt of a hefty number of jokes, and most of the time, whatever trouble he causes blows up in his face, much to our entertainment.
Point is, dumbass teenager can work as a character - especially in a comedy, but Abby doesn't.

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