Character Discussion!

Discuss Ma3 here!

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tyciol
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Too many cool t-shirts

Post by tyciol »

I think I mostly ignore clothing so I don't know how much I missed out on, but reading 2012 stuff lately and seeing WWWYKNI (back when Z True Long Island Stories was fresh) and Adventure Time and Runaways and K-On and all that stuff... and that's only what comes to mind, I'm loving all the shirts and cultural references in this comic.

Merged here. The DAMNed

ifpixiedusted
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I Found Didi!

Post by ifpixiedusted »

http://9gag.com/gag/6610852

She's real!

Merged here. The DAMNed

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Milnoc
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Re: I Found Didi!

Post by Milnoc »

Are you certain that ain't Senna? ;)

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Spidrift
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by Spidrift »

[This discussion started in a thread on the EC/MC/DC forums, but ended up being about Ma3 characters, which was not only off-topic but rating-inappropriate there. So I've shifted my last reply here.]
JoybuzzerX wrote:
Spidrift wrote:
JoybuzzerX wrote:It's basically the "I'm gay for you" trope (trope like "jumping the shark"). Normally straight person who is gay for one person. I keep thinking that's Sonya's (of MA3) whole gimmick myself.
Would have been plausible, right up to the strips where she met DiDi. Now, not so much. At all.

Actually, Sonya's whole gimmick is that she's very confused.
There was nothing to show any desire for Didi. There was basically an acknowledgment of Didi's looks and a willingness for a threesome with her, which isn't unusual as she's had plenty of those with her ex-boyfriend, and it was said while she was trying to get Gary in bed to make Yuki jealous.
"Gawd! I totally would have gone gay for you in high school..."

Followed, two panels later, by a request for a boob massage.

From some women, I might have taken that as a figure of speech, part of her respectful comments on DiDi's figure. (You know, respectful as in "Are these things for real?".) From Sonya, given her past record - she's bisexual. And funnily enough, she herself rather happily picks up the bisexual tag in the same strip.

Oh, and a few strips later, she decides that she wants to play with DiDi's boobs, by way of boredom relief. I dunno about you, but if I'm looking for boredom relief, I tend to stay well inside my sexual comfort zone.

Actually, the "gay [or straight] for one person" idea may be a common trope in some fiction; it may even occur in real life; but I think that we're very unlikely to see it in Ma3. Sex is a merry-go-round for these characters; once they've shown an interest in one member of a given gender, the possibility will always exist that they'll land on another such the next time around.
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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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zaprzapb
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by zaprzapb »

Is there anyone else who has lost interest in Gary's character? I used to find Gary's character sympathetic but now I just see him as pathetic and tiresome just like how I find Yuki's character annoying and frustrating. I realized this during the current arc that I'm actually enjoying but it's not focusing on Gary at all and then it hit me. Gary's character is draining the enjoyment out of the comic for me at this point. Yeah I know he's still the main character of the comic but I find the other characters more interesting and compelling right now and that's just disheartening. Maybe Gary needs to be put on a bus for while and make one of the other characters the buttmonkey instead.

John Matrix
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by John Matrix »

Despite how vocal I've been about Gary's mistreatment, the truth is I have mixed feelings about his character. Because his main fault is passiveness, I go back and forth between "Poor guy" and "Gary, why do you have to be such a pussy?" I suppose that while I usually find him sympathetic, I don't really find him that interesting. If everyone wasn't worse than he is, he'd have little appeal.

I still place the blame on the writing instead of Gary though.

zaprzapb
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by zaprzapb »

Well my view towards Gary up until the current volume was "Gary the passive buttmonkey. Haha. That's funny." now its "Gary the passive buttmonkey. Meh. Whatever. What are the other characters doing right now?" The whole point to Gary's character is to be mistreated and abused. But does he do anything about it? Of course not. It's part of Gary's character in that is not allowed to grow because he's the buttmonkey/chew toy/cosmic plaything so he's pretty much stuck in a perpetual feedback loop with no hope for true character development which is why I'm so apathetic towards his character at this point. Watching the other characters having sex with each other against their better judgement is more interesting to me right now.

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TheDude
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by TheDude »

Gary has come a long way and is leading a charmed life.

My view is naturally biased by my own experiences and expectations. Perhaps you should consider the possibility that yours is, too.

PS: There is no such thing as a buttmonkey.

PPS: The appeal of TV Tropes eludes me.
"Time spent in happy delusion is never wasted." Frazz by Jef Mallet

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Spidrift
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by Spidrift »

John Matrix wrote:I still place the blame on the writing instead of Gary though.
Umm, Gary is what the writing makes him, you know. If the writing didn't exist, nor would Gary.
TheDude wrote:Gary has come a long way and is leading a charmed life.
Come a long way? Really?

He no longer faints in a fountain of nasal exsanguination every time he sees a naked woman; acclimatisation has done that for him. He's acquired one good sexual party trick. He's had sex a few times, much more by luck than by his own efforts, but hasn't worked out how to do it well.

And that's ... it, really. Yes indeed, he's lead a charmed life, but he's shown a pretty impressive inability to learn. His social skills are still pretty negligible. The only way he's going to get more women into bed is if they're briefly amused by his cuteness, or if they've heard about the Swirly.

Actually, in the absence of him meeting any more geek girls who share a few of his interests, I think he's being set up to end up with a cured Yuki at the end of the comic, simply by default.

(Though I'd be amused if Ruby met him and took him in hand, even if it was initially to "save" him from her sister. She strikes me as the sort of bossy, organised type who'd see a geek like Gary as raw material, with enough latent passion of her own to appreciate someone who could be trained to fit her tastes in the bedroom too, but not so much that she'd enjoy having to stay between a more overtly hunky partner and too much passing competition.)
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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.
Avatar misappropriated from the wonderful XKCD.

zaprzapb
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by zaprzapb »

Holy crap I agree with Spidrift especially regarding Gary ending up with Yuki in the end because it seems that all of Gary's other options are being swept away to clear a path of victory for Yuki once she is "cured". So what will be the fate of the other characters I wonder?

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vampire hunter D
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by vampire hunter D »

Has anyone else noticed that it's been over a year now since we've seen Lita? What happened to the kitty?
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Don Alexander
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by Don Alexander »

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Spidrift
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by Spidrift »

A stray thought re. Peggy: she's a nurse. We all know what sort of people nurses are likely to date. Now, looking back, "doctor" is pretty much the setting's shorthand for "financially successful upper-middle class". (Amber's family are well-off doctors, Sandra dreamed of marrying a doctor, and ... I'm sure that I had some other evidence for this.) So what are the odds that (a) the guy with pasta in his hair was actually a doctor (rule of funny says probably a gynae), and (b) Peggy ends up going back to him (and out of the comic again) when she realises that, for all his faults, he's much more reliable than the alternatives she's been offered this evening?
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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.
Avatar misappropriated from the wonderful XKCD.

zaprzapb
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by zaprzapb »

One thing I wondered about is that since Erik and Zii have been together for a few months webcomic time at least he would have his folks meet Zii since he's using their money for Zii's new band. I assume that Erik's folks met Didi way back in volume one when he told her "We miss you at the ranch." with "we" meaning Erik and his family. Perhaps we'll see them at the band's first gig. Maybe I'm just the only one a little curious about the rest of the sunglasses clan.

John Matrix
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Re: Character Discussion!

Post by John Matrix »

Spidrift wrote:
John Matrix wrote:I still place the blame on the writing instead of Gary though.
Umm, Gary is what the writing makes him, you know. If the writing didn't exist, nor would Gary.
Yes, I just mean that instead of disliking the character for their flaws, I feel more inclined to blame the writing because Gary's character development, or lack thereof, doesn't feel natural. Semantics, I admit.

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