16-11-17 You deserve the truth

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BlairFan
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by BlairFan »

Hmm, I will hazard a guess here, and say James is actually bisexual. Gary, on the other hand, is as straight as they come.
(That last sentence I just posted sounds suggestive, doesn't it?. Oh well, sex is like that.) :-?

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Spidrift
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Spidrift »

dewelar wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:07 pm
Mind you, this assumes that the resolution of those stories is actually important to the authors, an assumption which I have taken to questioning of late.
Let’s be honest; judging by the ending of Magic Chicks, Giz for one isn’t as concerned with tying everything up in a neat bow as some of her readers might like.
Naturallyhighpenguin wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:47 pm
Spidrift wrote: By the way, can anyone provide the footnote for Gary's T-shirt today? "Bellybuttons" in decorative script?
There you go: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bellybuttons
Thanks. Hmm; no obvious specific relevance to the current plotline here, judging by that Wikipedia article. But that may miss something crucial.
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EvilSnack
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by EvilSnack »

Wait. Some is actually correcting a false belief?

Who are you and what have you done with MA3's writers?

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otaku247
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by otaku247 »

BlairFan wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:13 pm
Gary, on the other hand, is as straight as they come.
Given his past encounters with Senna is that strictly true? I don't mean to offend any Trans/gender fluid/other people with this question on how to view any relationship between them and another person of an opposite gender to what they identify, but even when for the occasion on board her plane he was inebriated ( 1 & 2 ), he wasn't exactly unhappy with things after he sobered up, and also he was subsequently honest with himself to Peggy about his feelings for Senna whilst quite sober.

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Spidrift
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Spidrift »

Not only does Senna identify as female, making the polite thing to do to class that as a heterosexual relationship, but Gary is very clearly attracted — strongly attracted — by her feminine characteristics (and always a little confused when reminded of her masculine features). That relationship shows him being entirely, unambiguously, 100% heterosexual.
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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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magicrectangle
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by magicrectangle »

You'd think the burning sensation in his urethra would have clued him in to the grapefruit the first time around, honestly.

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LegendaryKroc
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by LegendaryKroc »

*Pinches the bridge of my nose.* I applaud Gary for sticking to his guns and trying to use logic and reason to get out of this situation, but as I think he is discovering, those tools can only do so much when the story itself is conspiring against you.

As for James... Take your repressed issues and your moronic ideas about sex and feminism and choke on them, you jackass!
Spidrift wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:32 pm
If we treat James as enough of a three-dimensional character to have actual subconscious impulses, I could certainly believe that he has some slightly confused control/submission issues - and that his relationship with Tracy might be fixed with a little mild BDSM, with him underneath. (If he's tied up, he can't feel that he's oppressing her, and she presumably enjoys that stuff given her chosen camgirl specialty, and certainly brings some conviction to the act.)
Well, for the record, I don't see him that way. I see him as a blithering idiot who hides whatever issues he has behind jargon and pseudo-progressive BS, and I've stopped caring even about seeing him and Tracy break up and pursue better relationships elsewhere and just want him to go the fuck away.
magicrectangle wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2017 2:27 pm
You'd think the burning sensation in his urethra would have clued him in to the grapefruit the first time around, honestly.
Yes, but this dumb plotline wouldn't be happening if he were that smart, so...

samtheman
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by samtheman »

I'm now starting to think the creators are trolling us with this idiot plot.

dewelar
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by dewelar »

Spidrift wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:34 pm
dewelar wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:07 pm
Mind you, this assumes that the resolution of those stories is actually important to the authors, an assumption which I have taken to questioning of late.
Let’s be honest; judging by the ending of Magic Chicks, Giz for one isn’t as concerned with tying everything up in a neat bow as some of her readers might like.
*nods* Fair. Now that it's been stated that Dangerously Chloe is ending soon as well, it seems like that is heading toward being another datum in that column. And, since we're being honest, I can't complain, considering my own storytelling style tends to avoid bows as well (if by some chance anyone recognizes my username from a certain other message board, they'll know what I mean). I suppose another possibility is that, if the authors intend to give all the characters some sort of ending, they could be starting here with James, the least relevant, with the intention of working their way up the ladder. I guess I'm just frustrated that, as others have said, we've got such limited time left with these characters in whom we've invested so much, and yet we're spending a substantial chunk of it with a character about whom we (well, the vocal part of "we", anyway) just don't care.

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Spidrift
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Spidrift »

To be fair to Giz, I suspect she simply doesn’t see a comic’s ending the way some of us do. At heart, if Ma3 has to “end”, we want to see the major characters either reach some kind of happy conclusion to their character arcs, or launch off into completely new adventures in other places. For someone who’s a fan of decades-old characters who just keep on truckin’ along, though, that may feel weird. Giz may see the Ma3 universe the way she clearly sees the EC universe; as a place to which she and others can return for the occasional one-shot or mini-series for years to come, pulling the same old characters with many of the same old relationships out of storage for a few gags, when inspiration strikes.

I wish I understood why James inspires such seething rage, though. I mean, the guy’s an idiot, and he’s been a cog in a couple of idiot plots, but it’s not like he’s exactly hateful. He’s just stuck with being a two-dimensional foil to Tracy and Gary, and the straw man in a couple of hurr-hurr-dem-shtoopid-feminists jokes.

I think I’m more irritated with Gary, actually, who after nine volumes of being a total pathetic fuckwit, suddenly gets the clue which the universe has been smacking him with all this time. If people want this current plot to go away, then it should be Gary who they should be hating. Because it’s a story about Gary, not James.
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samtheman
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by samtheman »

So in other words, Ma3 is probably going to have a "And the Adventure Continues" type ending and I would have to agree with that. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Gary's story "ends" with him being caught between two women Betty and Veronica style since Giz is very fond of that comic and thus it would be a "happily ever after" ending in her eyes. My guess is that Gary might end up being caught between Peggy and Yuki or caught between Kiley and Yuki with Peggy or Kiley as the Betty and Yuki as the Veronica.

But who knows. Giz might subvert all of that just because she can and probably will. And the "ending" to Gary's side of the story probably won't happen until the last 3-5 strips of the entire comic...in January of 2019. Keep the shippers reading the comic until the very end.

dewelar
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by dewelar »

Spidrift wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2017 4:35 pm
I wish I understood why James inspires such seething rage, though.
I can't speak for everyone, but I don't hate James. As a person, he's no worse than half the other characters in the strip. He's just not interesting enough to inspire hatred. What I hate is that this uninteresting character is leaching screen time away from more interesting characters (i.e., literally every other single character in the strip).
samtheman wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2017 6:22 pm
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Gary's story "ends" with him being caught between two women Betty and Veronica style since Giz is very fond of that comic and thus it would be a "happily ever after" ending in her eyes.
I'm still going with my prediction that the strip will end with (or at least that one of the last few strips will involve) two other characters having sex, inviting Gary to join them, and him actually doing so. This fits in quite nicely with that.

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Spidrift
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Spidrift »

samtheman wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2017 6:22 pm
So in other words, Ma3 is probably going to have a "And the Adventure Continues" type ending ...
Please note that I have no inside line to Giz & Dave’s thinking; I’m just making guesses based on experience. But if I’m right — well, the good version is “The adventure continues”; the bad version is “You call that an ending?”

We’ll just have to wait and see.
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-- Motto of Hogshead Publishing of fond memory, and wise words to set your Foes List by.
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worldshaking00
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by worldshaking00 »

ST: TNG's ending vs. The Sopranos, for instance.
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rogermart
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by rogermart »

Spidrift wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2017 4:35 pm
I wish I understood why James inspires such seething rage, though. I mean, the guy’s an idiot, and he’s been a cog in a couple of idiot plots, but it’s not like he’s exactly hateful. He’s just stuck with being a two-dimensional foil to Tracy and Gary, and the straw man in a couple of hurr-hurr-dem-shtoopid-feminists jokes.
I don't hate James, i simply don't give two sh*ts about him, the problem is that he is taking strips away from everyone else, and i get that Gary's evolution is the reason James is here, but this strip for example could've used only the last panel as the first panel, and other strips could've been reduced so this provider of X-Pac Heat had less screen time...
That's what i do... i drink and i know things...

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