Impressions

[BillionSix]

My impressions of the characters so far:

Gary: He's the everyman shlub. The guy we, as comic geek readers, are supposed to identify with. So far, he seems to have a sort of friendly, yet slightly frightened attitude toward Zii, and a guh-buh-duh-drool attitude toward DiDi.
He's not someone you'd really respect, sadly. He's the sort who would sit in his room and dream about the girls he lived with. He'd agree with everything they said in a sad attempt to be liked by them, and would eventually settle permanently in their mental "friend zone." If he did try to have a relationship with one of them, it would be that sort of passive way that women find completely unexciting. Look at http://www.jonathancoulton.com and listen to the song "Soft Rocked By Me" to get an idea.
Also, I doubt he would go after the one he found most attractive or interesting, but the one he was least intimidated by. Sadly, this is almost a best case scenario. Most likely he will do nothing.
Also, he seems to be a bit shallow in his drooling over Didi, but I can't blame him. I am not sure I would do differently in the presence of physical features like that.

Zii: She seems to be the wild, crazy, no-boundaries character. She is Miss "I can do anything I want and get away with it because I'm wacky!" Sitting in the dark eating popcorn while two gay dudes have sex? This is what Tvtropes.org would call Refuge in Audacity. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... InAudacity) She seems to like causing minor chaos for chaos's sake.

Didi: She isn't really a character. She's basically a walking pair of tits with an ooh-la-la french accent. All we know about her is she is in good physical condition, is overly friendly, and likes to cook. She only seems to be in the strip to cause sexual tension for Gary, and snarky jealousy for Zii. She's like a sexual MacGuffin. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MacGuffin) No purpose except to drive the plot.
At this point in the strip,that is okay. She is supposed to be something of an enigma, but as the strip goes on, I hope she develops some character. Maybe a flaw or two. Like maybe she hides behind a bubbly bimbo persona to hide insecurity; that she worries that she may be just a hot girl, nothing more than sext T&A, and doesn't think her actual personality would be interesting. Or something like that. I'd like that, since she would be much more likable if she was just as screwed up as everyone else. Keeping her as a sort of perfect, yet unattainable ideal would get old kind of quickly.

I can't really make any hard and fast judgments yet, since the comic is just starting, and I don't know what the writer has in mind yet, and how far in the future he's planning. I do look forward to seeing what happens, though.

Brian

[SaBomJon]

Interesting observations so far, Bill6. I agree and disagree with some though.

Gary: He really reminds me of myself when I was in my early 20's....geeky, awkward, and socially-challenged. He's obviously the straight man so far (in more ways than one) to the pitfalls of the storyline. I am hoping that he will get a chance to grow, and hopefully assert himself. I agree that he'll gladly take the back seat only to have others keep him around in their social circles. Now that he's put into this situation with the others, this will hopefully force him to overcome these shortcomings and discover exactly who he is.

Zii: She is a bit of a wild card so far. She has demonstrated that she can come off as friendly, yet can be prone to a few not-so-savory habits. Her stealth-viewing of Dillon and Matt's coupling really kind of threw me, especially to make it a snack venue as well. She's not afraid to voice her opinion, though she is getting better at making her opinion known through carefully turned phrases that reach the intended ears. Her rogue, punkish exterior may end up being a front, or it may give us more deeper details. One thing I've experienced with any work that Gisele is involved with, no character is ever exactly as they seem.

DiDi: I am going to have to respectfully disagree here that she is simply "a walking pair of tits with an 'ooh-la-la' French accent". DiDi presents us with even more of a blind reading to her true nature than Zii. Yes, she's outgoing, friendly, and has a child-like demeanor in certain respects. Right now she is just starting to reveal to us readers who she is, and what she's really about. Don't think that just because she is built like a humanly proportioned Barbie Doll that she doesn't have any perception or insight as to what is going on. She seems very honest, and strikes me so far as someone who will share her history, but only if it is asked. I have the feeling that Dave and Gis will give us the aspects of her personality only as they see fit, more so than with Gary or Zii.

This helps to create the delightful tension between characters that keep us reading (and re-reading) the strips so far. If we knew absolutely everything up front, it would be anti-climactic and boring...akin to reading the last chapter of a mystery novel before starting from the beginning.

[BillionSix]

All I was saying about Didi is that she hasn't shown us much more besides T&A and a simplistically friendly personality SO FAR. I am awaiting more. As the series progresses, it would be cool to see her a more central role. Maybe have a storyline with her as the protagonist.

[SaBomJon]

I can certainly see this as a possibility. DiDi so far hasn't expressed any negative/snarky vibes thus far, and I doubt she's very capable of that, though we haven't seen too much, as stated previously.

[Pneumonica]

I think she's the kind of lady who plays at being ditzy and enjoys being gawked at because, frankly, she gets off on how others react to her. Note, this isn't a negative characteristic, it's no weirder than the other strange things people get off on (like tying people up in NES controllers :lol: ). She's probably quite intelligent. If you look at comedy troupes, geneally the smarter ones are the ones who play the idiots (best example I can think of on short notice: the Smothers Brothers).

[Makkabee]

I'm surprised so many people find Didi an enigma. Isn't it obvious by now?

The whole Quebecois French routine is an act -- she's from Queens, New York, and she's on the run from the mob with at least $800,000 of their dirty money. Expect to see Zii and Gary dragged along on wacky death-defying adventures once Cosa Nostra figures out just where she's gone.

Also: not a real blonde.

[Pneumonica]

I'm surprised so many people find Didi an enigma. Isn't it obvious by now?

The whole Quebecois French routine is an act -- she's from Queens, New York, and she's on the run from the mob with at least $800,000 of their dirty money. Expect to see Zii and Gary dragged along on wacky death-defying adventures once Cosa Nostra figures out just where she's gone.

Also: not a real blonde.

Dude, I was totally overcomplicating it. :lol:

[Bear]

Zii: I see her as a none typical rocker chick. Thats probably obvious from her looks, and the fact she can play electric guitar, but she also has the fun loving teasing streak to her you don't see in many rock chicks. At least not those I've encountered. Thrown in with the geek tendancies of being a comic book fan, she could come accross as being as your typical social outsider who still manages to be cool. But combine this with her abject perviness oh barging in on someones intimate time, and she doesn't seem to mind insulting people... I'd put her in the random edge of society slot.

Gary: Geek, plain and simple. Typical stereotypical geek who's in a want of being liked, is too soft to stand up for himself and does whatever he's told. The all round nice guy who's too nice to persue his own wants and desires and retreats to the comic book world to engage the fantasy's he's too chicken to grab in real life.

DiDi: I see her as an innocent exhibitionist. She dresses and acts provocatively, yet emits and aura of being a kind of 'girl next door' type of woman who is fun loving yet nieve of the world around her and the way that people react to her. As my mum would say, she has her head in the clouds. Not a stupid, stereotypical airhead blond, but more of a dreamer floating through life with her own sweet perceptions of things.

[BillionSix]

DiDi: I see her as an innocent exhibitionist. She dresses and acts provocatively, yet emits and aura of being a kind of 'girl next door' type of woman who is fun loving yet nieve of the world around her and the way that people react to her. As my mum would say, she has her head in the clouds. Not a stupid, stereotypical airhead blond, but more of a dreamer floating through life with her own sweet perceptions of things.

I kinda agree, but would add that she seems to be a sweet innocent dreamer at least conciously. On some level, I think she knows that her actions get a reaction from people, since she consistantly does them. It's like "I know that acting like this gets a reaction from people, and I certainly like attention. But I don't want to think of myself as a tease or manipulator, so I will behave as if I am just innocent and friendly." This also makes her even more attractive, since she is not only sexy, but she is nice. This just encourages her to keep doing it, but the downside is that most of her relationships are on a pretty superficial level.
This is not a conscious choice, to act like this. More like a desire to be the center of attention, mixed with a desire to be seen as a nice person, resulting in a certain level of self-deception.
Maybe this will change with her having two full time roommates. She will be forced to show more than just surface. This can be scary for some people, however.

This may just be a wild speculation, however. The authors may plan to take the characters in a very different direction. Or maybe Didi really doesn't have much personality, desite our conjectures. 8-)

Brian

[Bear]

I agree with what you said. I don't know how Giz and Dave plan to develope things, but on a base level I think the impression of DiDi being a sweet girl is what they intend for her. They could have gone down the root of her being a stereotypical dumb blonde nymphomaniac, but I like this naive amazon approach to her they seem to be presenting so far. Something about her suggests it could be subconcious the way she acts and behaves as somehow she seems to blank those things that don't quite compute in her sweet and fun loving world.

I'm pretty sure that we'll see more depth to her as the storylines continue, I don't think any of the characters are as 'flat' and easy to interprit in our minds as they've seemed so far.

[Makkabee]

We still don't know she's not a nymphomaniac. She hasn't turned down any propositions yet, or had a chance to be alone with any other characters to proposition them. So still a big question mark on that one.

[SaBomJon]

We still don't know she's not a nymphomaniac. She hasn't turned down any propositions yet, or had a chance to be alone with any other characters to proposition them. So still a big question mark on that one.

That just adds to the fun and potential storylines that are still being developed. I could actually see DiDi and Gary together at some point, even if it's short-lived. In "Liberty Meadows", the best chemistry was with Frank and Brandy getting close and pulled away. Cho resolved all that, which is probably why he isn't doing more issues of that book....he's written himself into a corner.

[BillionSix]

We still don't know she's not a nymphomaniac. She hasn't turned down any propositions yet, or had a chance to be alone with any other characters to proposition them. So still a big question mark on that one.

Well, I reread them recently, and in her earlier strips, she mentioned that "the boyfriends call me Didi," and "I much love to do the dating."
So she isn't totally innocent.

But who knows, she may just like going on dates for the attention and free food, and not put out.
I am not sure if that is better or worse.

Brian