29-06-17 Be brave

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Spidrift
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by Spidrift »

Yep, competitive flirting instinct. So, while Maura would be fully entitled to flounce out now (the guy invited another woman to crash their date, then forgot Maura's name), she's doubtless not going to, because, well, plot, but excused by the fact that she doesn't want to look like a loser.

God knows what'd happen if she and Sonya both targeted the same guy simultaneously. But I'm not sure it'd be good for the guy's health.
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themacnut
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by themacnut »

The wonderful thing about being a woman, especially in this situation, is that Maura could flounce out and frame Gary as the loser for his "sins" you detailed above. Tess would almost certainly agree with her when she hears the story up to that point. But yeah, Maura's competitiveness will make her stay and "fight" for Gary's attention, even if she's not fully convinced he's worth it.
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worldshaking00
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by worldshaking00 »

themacnut wrote:This IS Gary we're talking about.
True. However he is growing. He felt bad for letting Peggy go, enough so much that he wanted Peggy to sit with him and his date. Whether that is politeness or their bonding or a combination of both, I don't know. He knows he F-ed up with Maura, and he should try to make amends somehow with her... he just is too flustered for being in new 'brave' territory.

He hit another milestone as a man, knocking boots with Didi... even if he wasn't able to satisfy her. Some might say he hit another, getting hit-fucked by Yuki. He may be a buttmonkey at times but I don't count him out yet.
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Spidrift
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by Spidrift »

themacnut wrote:The wonderful thing about being a woman, especially in this situation, is that Maura could flounce out and frame Gary as the loser for his "sins" you detailed above.
It's nothing to do with gender, and no quotation marks are required. A guy would be perfectly entitled to abort a date if the woman invited another guy to join them, out of the blue, and forgot his name five seconds after being reminded. It's all just rude, and makes it clear that the guilty party has no damn respect for their date - so "to hell with them" is a perfectly reasonable response.

(Sticking around in the hopes of salvaging the evening is also valid, of course, but there should probably be an apology expected in the equation somewhere.)
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Spidrift
"Brevior vita est quam pro futumentibus negotium agendo."
-- Motto of Hogshead Publishing of fond memory, and wise words to set your Foes List by.
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edisnooM
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by edisnooM »

Oi, this was painful to read. I gotta be honest, after that sorry display I'm sort of hoping he ends up alone at the end of all this.

And, I realize that Gary is without a doubt the chief offender in this situation, but I can't help but feel Peggy is being slightly, not sure the right word, obtuse maybe? I mean from what we've seen of her in the past she seems a smart cookie, but last strip with "I thought you were doing something else?" and in this "..with someone else." seems like she's kind of contributing slightly to the problem. Not to mention even entertaining Gary's invitation, though she could still excuse herself next strip.

Spidrift wrote:Yep, competitive flirting instinct. So, while Maura would be fully entitled to flounce out now (the guy invited another woman to crash their date, then forgot Maura's name), she's doubtless not going to, because, well, plot, but excused by the fact that she doesn't want to look like a loser..
Yeah by rights this should have ruined Gary's shot with Maura (and maybe help him learn a lesson), but it will likely just cause her to pursue him even more.

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worldshaking00
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by worldshaking00 »

Well, she wanted to see the movie. Maybe she will concentrate more on the feature presentation than snogging Gary.
"Be excellent to each other." - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
"Like my old grand daddy used to say, 'The less a man makes declarative statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect.'" - Chester Rush, Four Rooms
Chivalry isn't dead, it just followed wherever being lady-like went.

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UnsightlyWalrus
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by UnsightlyWalrus »

*rubs chin* ... *rubs chin some more*

Hmmm.

*rubbing intensifies*

I think... goofing this up may be beneficial to Gary in the long run. If he manages to push Peggy away, his booty is safe from further pegging and if he pushes what's-her-name Maura away, well, he's saved from dating a moron.

*concludes chin rubbing*

Hencheforth, way to go Gary. Be yourself. Ditch these bitches upon eachother.

:-?

Malmedee
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by Malmedee »

'J' wrote:That was seriously painful to read.
Yeah, last update was great. Tracey appeared and I did not immediately feel the need to vomit. She gave surprisingly good advise. Garry showed medium awareness and made a voluntary choice that suggest he might still be hoping against hope for romance as opposed to casual sex, and then on this one he Frells it right up.

On the one hand, this volume has been making the supporting cast really good, on the other hand, they are torpedoing the main cast.

hightechartist
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by hightechartist »

Spidrift wrote:Even there, I'd think that the likely reaction would be "Well, I was an idiot, but at least I wasn't THAT big an idiot".
No, no. I was an even bigger idiot.

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Spidrift
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by Spidrift »

edisnooM wrote:And, I realize that Gary is without a doubt the chief offender in this situation, but I can't help but feel Peggy is being slightly, not sure the right word, obtuse maybe? I mean from what we've seen of her in the past she seems a smart cookie, but last strip with "I thought you were doing something else?" and in this "..with someone else." seems like she's kind of contributing slightly to the problem. Not to mention even entertaining Gary's invitation, though she could still excuse herself next strip.
Yeah, Peggy has been given the thoughtless idiot ball here, in order to move the plot along. The best excuses I can suggest are that she was just surprised and blurting last strip, and this time, well, she tries to be tactful, and then she really can't believe how big an idiot Gary is being, and she's assuming that he has a reason for what he's doing. She does perhaps sometimes get carried away by the drama - starting with her ex and that bowl of pasta.
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"Brevior vita est quam pro futumentibus negotium agendo."
-- Motto of Hogshead Publishing of fond memory, and wise words to set your Foes List by.
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AlexDenton
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by AlexDenton »

That is a mystery Gary, truly.
edisnooM wrote:
And, I realize that Gary is without a doubt the chief offender in this situation, but I can't help but feel Peggy is being slightly, not sure the right word, obtuse maybe? I mean from what we've seen of her in the past she seems a smart cookie, but last strip with "I thought you were doing something else?" and in this "..with someone else." seems like she's kind of contributing slightly to the problem. Not to mention even entertaining Gary's invitation, though she could still excuse herself next strip.
Well, she could have kept her comment for herself sure, but in this situation, she still shows a great amount of restraint and is absolutely justified in making Gary feel more awkward.
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EvilSnack
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by EvilSnack »

Spidrift wrote:The thing I wonder is if there is anyone still reading this comic who identifies with Gary? Because the writers seem to regard him with fairly open contempt.
While the character is done well on some points, on other points Gary does and says things that are at a level of stupid that is simply impossible.

There has never been a reason offered for his chronic failure to stand up for himself, and because of that, as I read, I fall back to what has explained it in the cases of the people I've known in real life who have exhibited this problem. Their attempts to assert themselves were beaten down, sometimes literally. Sorry, writers, but I simply cannot find humor when a guy who has been chronically (if not systematically) abused for doing X later on refrains from doing X.

If I wrote a comic in which a lesbian was the chronic butt of humor because someone's stupid misunderstandings placed her into situations where someone expected her to have sex with men, and instead of having her simply correct the misunderstanding, or flat-out refuse, I wrote the comic to have her supinely go along (and possibly extract her by some wacky turn of events), just about everyone reading this would hate it, and they would be completely justified. If I had the male characters physically assault her for laughs, I'd have to go into hiding.

But it's happening to a straight guy, so it's okay?

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Spidrift
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by Spidrift »

To be fair, Gary's lack of assertiveness could be put down to positive reinforcement as much as to negative. When he does try to stand up for himself, he tends to fail (due to lack of practise and deep-seated stupidity), and sometimes literally get kicked in the balls. When he doesn't, he can easily find himself neck-deep in nekkid girlies. So - why not go with the flow?
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"Brevior vita est quam pro futumentibus negotium agendo."
-- Motto of Hogshead Publishing of fond memory, and wise words to set your Foes List by.
Avatar misappropriated from the wonderful XKCD.

samtheman
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by samtheman »

Once again Gary's social incompetence rears its ugly head. The writers are simply ensuring that Yuki will be Gary's only remaining option for a romantic relationship.

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edisnooM
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Re: 29-06-17 Be brave

Post by edisnooM »

Spidrift wrote: Yeah, Peggy has been given the thoughtless idiot ball here, in order to move the plot along. The best excuses I can suggest are that she was just surprised and blurting last strip, and this time, well, she tries to be tactful, and then she really can't believe how big an idiot Gary is being, and she's assuming that he has a reason for what he's doing. She does perhaps sometimes get carried away by the drama - starting with her ex and that bowl of pasta.
Fair point, being stunned at Gary's display of sheer social ineptness is certainly understandable. And I mean this is Ma3, so nearly every social interaction should come tagged with an asterisk for "Events may veer wildly for purposes of humour / drama".


AlexDenton wrote: Well, she could have kept her comment for herself sure, but in this situation, she still shows a great amount of restraint and is absolutely justified in making Gary feel more awkward.
Oh I think Gary is absolutely fair game at this point, his handling of the situation has been shockingly poor (I'm imagining he was reading the Archie guidebook beforehand). But Peggy has usually seemed pretty quick on the uptake (especially for the Ma3-verse) and since it seems like maybe she was viewing the cancelled outing as a simple friends night out, I wouldn't think she would feel the need to make things worse for Gary.

Also, unless I'm mistaken she is the only person Gary has told about wanting a more serious relationship, so among all the players on the scene I would have thought she would be the one to understand / accommodate his floundering attempts in that direction.

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