14-10-13 I got distracted

[Shouri]

New strip! http://www.stickydillybuns.com/strips-s ... distracted

[Azrael]

You are now within the sphere of Dillon's influence, Ruby. Abandon all hope.

[Spidrift]

So one moment, Dillon has noticed that Ruby is shy and easily embarrassed, and is considerate of that fact, and the very next strip he's doing this?

I know that comedy trumps characterisation in this comic, but a little consistency is all I ask*.

Okay, maybe we have consistency, I guess; Dillon is consistently too stupid to live.

*Give us this day our daily mask.

[Raamyah]

Dillon, what is your method here? Is it to continually embarrass the hell out of Ruby to some sort of trauma, or are you somehow trying to get her to a new paradigm where she isn't embarrassed by anything due to you using it all up?

[Crystafent82]

I kinda expect that phone to take dive as soon as Ruby gets her hands on it.

['J']

So one moment, Dillon has noticed that Ruby is shy and easily embarrassed, and is considerate of that fact, and the very next strip he's doing this?

ok, he created an audio/visual record of the event. it's not like he uploaded it directly to youtube or something, so i don't see the problem.

[Spidrift]

I kinda expect that phone to take dive as soon as Ruby gets her hands on it.

Sadly, that doesn't seem to be her style. If Andy arranges that accident, I'll upgrade his assessment from "bit-part character" to "likely romantic interest".

ok, he created an audio/visual record of the event. it's not like he uploaded it directly to youtube or something, so i don't see the problem.

Ruby does. She just said that she wants to forget about this whole situation as soon as possible, and she really wouldn't want anyone else talking about it or thinking about it if that can be avoided. (We've all been there on a smaller scale, haven't we? Hit that moment of utter cringe after everything goes wrong in the most embarrassing possible way, and just wanted to draw a damn veil?) And now Dillon is cheerfully waving a semi-permanent record of the whole small but total humiliation around.

At minimum, this creates the risk of Amber seeing it - one more person to leave Ruby wanting to hide in a corner. And anyhow, this is Dillon. On previous form, he's quite capable of uploading the footage to YouTube for some deranged and incomprehensible reason of his own, or just leaving it around where someone else can get hold of it, possibly months in the future.

[themacnut]

Don't you people see it? Dillon's trying to BREAK Ruby; tear away all her little preconceptions and defenses about/against the world until she either has a screaming nervous breakdown and ends up in the proverbial rubber room in a straightjacket, or becomes someone who has sexual escapades so outrageous that she makes Dillon and Amber go .

Or more likely, Ruby has been set up as the perfect foil (and perpetual victim) of Dillon's escapades. As seen in this last sequence of strips.

[Don Alexander]

The Golden Rule of recordings: Unless atomized immediately, they WILL be spread and someone will get their hands on them who should not.

[Spidrift]

Ruby has been set up as the perfect foil (and perpetual victim) of Dillon's escapades. As seen in this last sequence of strips.

Yeah. Problem is, Ruby is the nearest thing I've got to an identifiable character in this comic, so setting her up as the perpetual victim (and there hasn't been a day yet in the story in which something seriously distressing hasn't happened to her) just leaves me wanting to hose Dillon down with iced water.

The Golden Rule of recordings: Unless atomized immediately, they WILL be spread and someone will get their hands on them who should not.

Yep. More or less true in reality, certainly true in comedy. Ruby is right to take this badly.

Actually, as we've now had an attack of plausible reality with regard to Ruby's glasses, I wonder if Andy might, say, tell Dillon that cameras are banned in the pool area. It's the kind of civilised rule that I'd expect.

[themacnut]

Ruby has been set up as the perfect foil (and perpetual victim) of Dillon's escapades. As seen in this last sequence of strips.

Yeah. Problem is, Ruby is the nearest thing I've got to an identifiable character in this comic, so setting her up as the perpetual victim (and there hasn't been a day yet in the story in which something seriously distressing hasn't happened to her) just leaves me wanting to hose Dillon down with iced water.

Dillon does get the occasional comeuppance though. After all, look at the end result of his and Ruby's little misadventure in the pet store. In fact, I would go so far as to call the end result of that arc an Epic Fail for Dillon and a minor win for Ruby - she took home a kitten which seems to soothe her. She'll need that soothing effect after today's events.

[dmra]

So 11 posts in and nobody has wondered where exactly Dillon was keeping his phone!

[Spidrift]

Dillon does get the occasional comeuppance though. After all, look at the end result of his and Ruby's little misadventure in the pet store. In fact, I would go so far as to call the end result of that arc an Epic Fail for Dillon and a minor win for Ruby - she took home a kitten which seems to soothe her. She'll need that soothing effect after today's events.

The problem for me there was that Ruby going all fluffy and girly over a kitten just annoyed me. I've got nothing against cats, but she stopped being relatable for me there and just looked sad. Crazy-cat-lady-in-training.

And while the writers are clearly trying to avoid Dillon looking too much like their pet, his comeuppances are small compared to the scale of his unearned successes. Swallowing a cricket is not an epic fail, and seeing your rival score a success that costs you nothing is merely mildly annoying.

So 11 posts in and nobody has wondered where exactly Dillon was keeping his phone!

If you're implying ... anything, one just wishes that someone would make him put it back there.

[brasca]

Actually, as we've now had an attack of plausible reality with regard to Ruby's glasses, I wonder if Andy might, say, tell Dillon that cameras are banned in the pool area. It's the kind of civilised rule that I'd expect.

That would certainly make Andy the hero a second time and not as extreme as him or Ruby grabbing and tossing the phone into the pool. It might be deserved, but those things are expensive to replace.

[Spidrift]

The trouble is, it's Dillon. He'd apologise, but he'd also get a sudden attack of convenient ditziness and not be able to delete video clips from his 'phone.

At which point, we'd either have to have a long and boring discussion of the rights and wrongs of the whole subject, or someone would have to swipe the 'phone and deal with the problem while everyone else was gabbing, or... Frankly, a convenient accident involving a pool full of water really seems like the standard comedy solution. It's not like these comics regularly go into the minutiae of character budgets, and it's not like Dillon is broke - he could afford to buy Ruby a pair of designer jeans on a whim.

It's also not like all of us give a wet slap about Dillon being inconvenienced, either.