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wi1dfire wrote:I'm not sure I agree with the temperature in the room dropping (I don't see any textual evidence that she's actively angry at him, rather than disappointed over his stupidity), but for the sake of argument I'll let it go.

Her speech balloon suddenly starts dripping icicles, and icicles represent cold. (Quite a nice artistic touch, really.) It's actually the exact same effect that the artists used on Amber's speech balloon when Ruby made a dig about her working on direct-to-video movies. Note, incidentally, that Ruby picked up on Amber's tone instantly, realised that she'd gone too far, and apologised. Ruby isn't the most sensitive person in the world, but she can recognise a chill better than Dillon can.

wi1dfire wrote:Someone does need to stop Dillon acting this way, and that someone is Dillon.

*Snork*. Do you really believe that Dillon would recognise his own faults, unprompted, in a million years?

And the whole problem with Dillon in the setting of these comics is that nobody ever does call him out on his faults. Amber gets dropped on her butt and thinks he should "never change", Gary takes weeks of petty harassment from him and never once yells at him, Matt and Jerzy keep telling him how cute he is...(And Angel is fundamentally hostile to him, and so of course Dillon won't listen to her.) It really does seem sometimes that Ruby was brought into this comic primarily to not be impressed by Dillon. Which makes calling out his BS simply doing her job.

wi1dfire wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if Ruby tried, but I would be disappointed in her, acting like she has useable input when her experience on this subject amounts to things she's seen on TV, if that.

It's a fair sign just how stupid Dillon can be that Ruby can spot his faults and advise on his problems, despite having little more to go on than a bunch of dated TV dramas. She admitted as much herself, and Dillon still had to admit that she was right. "If you want a serious relationship, don't flirt compulsively with other people" and "Don't be a hypocrite" really are basic things that even a naive virgin can work out from first principles - and yet Dillon needs prompting on them.

wi1dfire wrote:

Spidrift wrote:Calling Dillon out for being an aggravating hypocritical jackass would be good to see because she has no obligation to take unlimited aggravation from someone who imposes himself on her quite so much. (And because somebody ought to.)

I feel this part cuts to the heart of our basic disagreement. I don't see how she's under that obligation you are describing now.

I didn't say that she was under any obligation; I said that she was under no obligation to put up with him. She'd be perfectly entitled to simply walk away. But Dillon is going to swan through life, hurting other people (and himself), until some public-spirited person finds a way to pull him up. Unfortunately for her, Ruby seems to be the only person in the setting who's even faintly able to do the job.

wi1dfire wrote:Do you see her as trapped in that situation?

Temporarily, yes. She can't extricate herself from the apartment without a lot of hassle and complications and some difficulties with her family, which means that she's stuck in proximity to Dillon for a while, and she made the mistake of letting him inside her guard when he offered her help with clothes shopping. Since then, he's been using presumption and tantrums to make her play along with his ideas.

And yes, she's been making the most of that, learning a bit and even enjoying a little bit. Dillon handed her lemons, and she's made lemonade. But that's the whole point here; if Dillon is going to treat her like a bosom friend, she's entitled to act like a true friend and see how he likes it. And a true friend is someone who can call you out on your faults.

wi1dfire wrote:I have to ask, do you want to see Ruby take Dillon down more because you want to see Dillon slapped down, and less because you want to see Ruby do it?

Both. Dillon irritates me enough that the sight of him receiving a hard verbal slap would definitely be a guilty pleasure, but okay, it's more interesting to me to watch Ruby adapting her strong but inexperienced personality to the weird world she finds herself in. Ruby is someone I can like, Dillon isn't. Dillon just handed Ruby an open goal, and it'd be fun to watch her take the shot.

Spidrift wrote:Her speech balloon suddenly starts dripping icicles, and icicles represent cold. (Quite a nice artistic touch, really.)

Ah, missed that part. Okay then.

Spidrift wrote:*Snork*. Do you really believe that Dillon would recognise his own faults, unprompted, in a million years?

Possibly, possibly not. His armor of self-assurance does seem to be crystalizing along the edges, doesn't it? But it doesn't make it any less his own job. As I said in an earlier post, that's the bare minimum I expect out of adults.

Spidrift wrote:It really does seem sometimes that Ruby was brought into this comic primarily to not be impressed by Dillon.

I can see your point here, but I don't agree with it. I think she exists as her own character, to learn from Dillon, even if the lessons she learns are primarily: "Don't do that" and, as you put it, "Make lemonade."

Spidrift wrote:I didn't say that she was under any obligation; I said that she was under no obligation to put up with him. She'd be perfectly entitled to simply walk away.

Spidrift wrote:

wi1dfire wrote:Do you see her as trapped in that situation?

Temporarily, yes.

I realize you literally just answered this question, but when I asked if you saw her as trapped, I meant by an obligation to put up with Dillon in addition to the overall situation. I don't know if you meant to answer both "yes" and "no" to basically the same question, so I found this dichotomy interesting, if slightly confusing.

wi1dfire wrote:I have to ask, do you want to see Ruby take Dillon down more because you want to see Dillon slapped down, and less because you want to see Ruby do it?

Both. Dillon irritates me enough that the sight of him receiving a hard verbal slap would definitely be a guilty pleasure, but okay, it's more interesting to me to watch Ruby adapting her strong but inexperienced personality to the weird world she finds herself in. Ruby is someone I can like, Dillon isn't. Dillon just handed Ruby an open goal, and it'd be fun to watch her take the shot.

Again, I disagree, but I suspect we've played this line out as long as we can, and aren't going to see eye-to-eye on it. And who am I to say you are wrong to want to see that? Like what you like, especially when it comes to imaginary people in a comic strip.

wi1dfire wrote:As I said in an earlier post, that's the bare minimum I expect out of adults.

Ah, adulthood. An important state, not visibly attained by any major characters in the Ma3 universe, except possibly Peggy when she's being serious.

wi1dfire wrote:

Spidrift wrote:It really does seem sometimes that Ruby was brought into this comic primarily to not be impressed by Dillon.

I can see your point here, but I don't agree with it. I think she exists as her own character, to learn from Dillon, even if the lessons she learns are primarily: "Don't do that" and, as you put it, "Make lemonade."

Oh, I agree that there's more to Ruby than just being Dillon's Jiminy Cricket with a chainsaw. But she's still the only person who seems even faintly willing and able to do that necessary job.

wi1dfire wrote:I realize you literally just answered this question, but when I asked if you saw her as trapped, I meant by an obligation to put up with Dillon in addition to the overall situation. I don't know if you meant to answer both "yes" and "no" to basically the same question, so I found this dichotomy interesting, if slightly confusing.

Okay, to clarify; she's not trapped in that room with Dillon right now in any respect. She could scowl, roll her eyes, and retire to a wonderfully empty bedroom to get a good night's sleep. I wouldn't blame her. She is, however, trapped in the apartment, with Dillon around, for the foreseeable short term.

Well then, strip over. Dillon is still an arsehole. Jerzy is an idiot and Angel/Angie is a creepy/manipulative stalker.

Spidrift wrote: It really does seem sometimes that Ruby was brought into this comic primarily to not be impressed by Dillon.

YES. If not for Ruby, I probably would have stopped reading this comic, oh...about 130 or so strips ago...

Ok genuinely sorry for not reading the comments, but was I the only one who noticed Angel going into the girls' bathroom in this strip?

http://www.stickydillybuns.com/strips-s ... pportunity

No. No you were not.

Perkele is right...