03-10-17 Switching it up

[Giz]

New strip! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/switching-it-up/

[AlexDenton]

Ah c'mon man, just say no ...
Or yes, you might enjoy it.

[LegendaryKroc]

*sigh* That is for damn certain, Gary. Still, I'm glad you can own up to it, because that's usually the hardest part.

I really hope this doesn't go ahead. But I know it will. We're dealing with an Extreme Doormat here.

[magicrectangle]

Self awareness slowly creeping up on Gary.

Tracy seems to have gotten over her apprehension about this pretty fast though. Pouting in panel 1, planning the thing out the next panel forward.

[OllieOrOlly]

I misread the final punchline as "enemy." Aha.
Either way, not to knock or overanalyse a pun, but I wouldn't consider Gary his own worst enemy or enema; the former is correct just in regards to his malignant passivity leaving him incapable of adequately protesting even the most uncomfortable shenanigans, and I guess with the qualifier of "worst," he would be his own "worst enema," since a *typical* enema is a pain in the rear that gets rid of waste, whereas Gary is only a pain in the arse and crap remains in the way.

Still hoping for a subversion on this dumb-dumb being dumb subplot is on the horizon. If there isn't one, then another lame sexual favour for the once likeable Tracy and the always stupid James wouldn't be the worst... It'd be kind of boring and disappointing, but not the worst thing that's happened throughout the series.

['J']

So "chocolate cake"; euphemism or literal?

[Fluffy]

So....Gary's allowing himself to be talked into this because Tracy implies he'll get to bone her after the deed is done when she could just be talking about literal chocolate cake.

FFS - can Gary, for once, just say 'No' to something he clearly doesn't want to do'? Gary being unable to turn down a pretty face got old years ago.

[Spidrift]

Tracy seems to have gotten over her apprehension about this pretty fast though. Pouting in panel 1, planning the thing out the next panel forward.

Tracy is clearly pissed off with the situation, but not apprehensive; she's comedy-sexually-uninhibited (well, she does have that second job), so she's just going for what she thinks will work. And I imagine that she doesn't particularly want her boyfriend doing that stuff with another guy or continuing to reject her expertise, but she can live with it in the worst case; this is irritating rather than relationship-breaking for her.

Either way, not to knock or overanalyse a pun, but I wouldn't consider Gary his own worst enemy or enema; the former is correct just in regards to his malignant passivity leaving him incapable of adequately protesting even the most uncomfortable shenanigans...

But that's the point. Various other people have done various unkind things to Gary over time, but nobody is out to get him; nobody is persecuting him. He has no actual enemies. Except himself, because whenever some random person unthinkingly or accidentally does something bad to him, he ensures that it happens. If you keep walking out into traffic, the drivers who fail to brake in time aren't your enemy; you are.

Not that his life is actually bad, by and large.

So "chocolate cake"; euphemism or literal?

It's being treated here as literal, I think. And I'm not a video gamer, but don't all proper video gamers (like Gary and Tracy) know that a promise of cake must always be a lie?

[sukebe senpai]

Yup, Gary really needs to say "NO".

[KittyHat]

But of course Garybot won't say "no." Haven't I said it before? He's not capable of it. He's an archetype, not a character.

[sukebe senpai]

Indeed. But it's really getting old and way too predictable, to the point where one ends up refusing to take this character seriously.

[Spidrift]

It’s mildly interesting. The comic was set up with three core characters; the energetic tomboy, to drive the comedy, the pneumatic sex goddess, to be an unattainable object of desire, and the geek, to give the core audience someone to identify with. But while the first two underwent a fair bit of plot development, and even gained a tiny bit of depth, the writers evidently never got a handle on the audience identification character, eventually flanderised him from “naive” to “totally useless,” and now can only make jokes about his lack of personality.

[Fairy Glade's Fairy]

The comic was set up with three core characters; the energetic tomboy, to drive the comedy, the pneumatic sex goddess, to be an unattainable object of desire, and the geek, to give the core audience someone to identify with.

???
the core audience is female, right? this is a comic for girls, after all...

[worldshaking00]

I don't think so. I think the target audience is anyone who can read or look at pictures and make sense of it... and ideally not be closed-minded enough to revolt at the sexual subject matter. *Edit: and also PG-13 rated with an R-based forum.

Gary only has to say "no, I'm not doing it." Or, he has to find a substitute for himself that can pass via disguise/subterfuge as him. Or, he's going to have to dive in. My money is on the latter, now that Tracy has fully realized he's waffling and bribed him with "cake." I don't think she'd give up her 'yummy goodness' to Gary, despite the favor he is doing for her/James; I expect real cake because the Ma3 universe is too cruel to Gary to actually give him a semi-win here. I mean, it is James's birthday after all, so cake is an expected event ingredient. Her throwing in "chocolate" just is going to dupe Gary into thinking she is meaning her (due to her dark skin). Hell at this rate, why not involve food during the sex?

Liquid courage Gary? Or, will evolution force the growth of a backbone... or an acceptance/awakening of sexual identity?

[Spidrift]

Mmm-hmm. One male, one female writer, a fairly varied set of commenters on these boards, a blatant male-geek identification character, and frankly lots of fanservice that's going to appeal to male readers (and some for women too). And when Sticky Dilly Buns started, Giz said that she thought "The audience "might" gear more female on this one, but we'll see" (not sure how that worked out), so she for one is obviously aware that Ma3 has plenty of male readers.

I expect real cake because the Ma3 universe is too cruel to Gary to actually give him a semi-win here.

Huh. Some of us would consider decent chocolate cake a very acceptable semi-win if good sex wasn't an option. And Gary seems to get more sex than chocolate cake, from what we've seen.

Liquid courage Gary? Or, will evolution force the growth of a backbone... or an acceptance/awakening of sexual identity?

Wacky high-jinks.

Double post merged. The DAMNed