27-06-14 Take you to the gym

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Templar Woolf
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Templar Woolf »

Spidrift wrote: Of course, Ruby probably hasn't had the disembowelled songbird on her bed yet...
If all Ruby get is the occasion dead mouse or sparrow, she should count herself lucky. As it looks like the apartment does not have a balcony, she may even avoid that.

I used to share a flat with a friend and his feline mass murderer.
We were both awakened once by it trying to drag a half dead, semi disembowelled seagull backward through the cat flap.
Boy do those thing stink! :ymsick:
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Don't just stare at the rain.

X3N0-Life-Form
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by X3N0-Life-Form »

Yeah, it's scary when these things manage to catch something nearly twice their size and bring it back home.

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Spidrift »

TwoWayStar wrote:@Spidrift, is Ruby your favorite character throughout all of the Pixietrix comics?
I've never made a secret of the fact that Ruby is the character who reminds me most of somebody close to me - and occasionally of myself. She's actually a proper old-school nerd, not a fashion-driven pop-culture geek like Gary, which I find highly relatable. "Favourite"? Well, I find Sonya sexiest, and Kiley most admirable, but maybe... And yes, that does make me a little too fanboyish occasionally, if that's what you mean.
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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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Geeno
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Geeno »

I have to agree, Spid. Ruby quickly became my personal fave, because her reactions to these unfamiliar situations reminds me of a younger me - book learning failing to translate to the real world. But she isn't clueless, she learns and adapts, as I did. Her learning curve sometimes seems unlikely - as in "seriously, you didn't that coming yet?", but she's really been the character showing the most rapid development. That does make me wonder how long you can keep that up as a storyteller.
My "Top 10 Other" fave characters in the Pixie Trix Universe at this particular point in time (either good characterization or simply making me laugh qualifies):
1) Ace - When Ace has had a chance to come forward, I've liked him, when he hasn't come forward, I've understood why.
2) Sandra
3) Melissa
4/5) Naomi and Teddy - I can't decide which I like more.
6/7) Amber and Peggy - both women I like for different reasons.
8) Sonya
9) Kiley - She owns every strip she's in - except when she vanishes.
10) Matt - I know, I know, but he is self analytical - a feat for this crew - and features in many of my favorite strips.
PIXIE MEL!!!

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Spidrift »

Geeno wrote:Her learning curve sometimes seems unlikely - as in "seriously, you didn't that coming yet?", but she's really been the character showing the most rapid development. That does make me wonder how long you can keep that up as a storyteller.
Ruby is the character who really needs most development, in the sense that she's not going to survive if she doesn't learn and adapt. (Well, Gary needs it almost as much, but the joke with him has become that he's largely incapable of learning. DiDi, Yuki, and probably Zii don't need development, they need fixing.) Then, she gets that development as the plot demands it, which is a reasonable pace for the readers but incredibly fast in comics time because of the way that months and years in reality convert into bare days in the comic.

The other thing with Ruby's development is that it's essentially a fairly routine story of a slightly priggish teenage nerd growing up. Except that most such nerds fit that into a period of three or four years, whereas Ruby somehow managed to avoid the process even when she went to uni, and is now fitting it into a period of three or four weeks instead.
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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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Whisky-Tango-Foxtrot
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Whisky-Tango-Foxtrot »

Spidrift wrote:I'm assuming that Ruby's relationship with Amber is scheduled to improve somehow, though God knows how; Amber does not have a bloody clue how to even talk to Ruby.
Well, she did try...(once. Exactly once.)

Yeah, that does make your point, doesn't it? ;)



As for Dillon... TwoWayStar has it about right:
TwoWayStar wrote:Ahh Ruby, consoling Dillon while also throwing in some much needed truth-snark as well. Too bad he didn't catch it! xD I hope she continues doing so as being around Dillon, though full of dangers of Boys and Romantic Schemes, is actually helping her develop herself without realizing it. She's pretty great.

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Spidrift »

That was actually Amber's best attempt at talking to Ruby. She acknowledged that there was a problem and did her best to be sympathetic. If she kept going like that, she might get somewhere. It was all the other times - going on about her porn contacts, offering a confused virgin the chance to use her sister's bed for a shag, not even trying to work out why Ruby thinks that Amber is their parents' favourite or thanking her for keeping Amber's secret - that make Amber look downright stupid.

Which is a bit weird, because she was always written as one of the smarter characters in Ma3. But I think that the key point for Amber's characterisation in SDB is that her judgement has been badly scrambled by her time in the porn business. That was established very early on with the "Can you talk about comparative penis size on a first date?" strip, and I'd guess that we'll see more of the same. If Amber gets character development, it'll be about her getting the hang of non-porn-world society again.

Possibly culminating in her finally making That Phone Call to her parents, them telling Ruby to come home, and Ruby saying "No".
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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.

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Schmorgluck
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Schmorgluck »

And that link above shows an interesting passing remark from Amber, "I'll try not to sound stupid." Amber hasn't shown to be ashamed of her porn carreer, just tired of it, and she seems to be going down a new carreer path she has dreamed of. But that line may mean that she has some admiration for her li'l sis, intellectually speaking. It may be a key to her own difficulties with Ruby: as worldly as she is, she may be a bit intimidated by her, on a certain level. Truly estranged, aren't they?

Back to current comic: I had a chuckle because of Rudy's t-shirt, when I remembered one of the meanings of AC-DC.
Spidrift wrote:You are the perpetual target of your cat's libido. But quite politely.

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Spidrift »

Actually, Amber has used the word "ashamed" at least once - in relation to Zii, of all people. She's also worried about telling her parents - if we couldn't deduce that from the whole getting Ruby to lie to them for seven or eight years thing, of course. She may be open about her porn career among friends, but her attitude has a lot of ambiguity and discomfort to it.

Anyway, yes, I caught the "I'll try not to sound stupid" when it first appeared - but my interpretation of it is slightly different. I think that Ruby has, at some times, made a point of reminding Amber that she's the smart one - possibly even going right back to when she was 12, before Amber left home, if she was already doing noticeably better at school than Amber had (in which case it was probably accidental), and certainly after the disaster when Ruby was 14 (when it surely became deliberate). She probably wanted to impress her cool big sister, back when that was still how she saw her (and when Amber was locking her out of her bedroom). And later, even aside from Ruby's contempt for Amber's porn career, well, Amber was the pretty, self-assured one - Ruby would have instinctively tended to remind her who was the smart one, and just have shown off a bit generally.

(Oh god. Been there, done that, in a much, much smaller way.)

Bonus points if each sister feels that their parents favour the other one, because those parents are so anxious to preserve "balance" that they keep telling Amber about Ruby's cleverness and Ruby about Amber's prettiness. But yeah, whatever the details, Amber is probably a little bit intimidated, and this relationship needs work.
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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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Bambikles
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Bambikles »

So this is juqst Riquet with the Tuft mixed with the "I just want to be you" trope ? :p

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Spidrift »

I had to look up the fairy tale, and I don't see that it's really relevant. Sure, we have two sisters, one smart and one pretty, but that's pretty much a recurring theme in fiction, and quite likely predates that one story. (Heck, it's a recurring theme in life.)

Nor does the trope really fit. Ruby and Amber may envy each other to some extent, but neither wants to be the other. I couldn't see either of them trying to steal the other's life, even if Ruby did admit to wanting to cut loose, or Amber admitted to wanting a structured career path; basically, they're both too sane to think that they could carry it off. Someone who fits that trope is going to be fairly psychotic.

The TV Tropes entry that probably comes closest to this relationship is "The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry". In fact, I suspect some kind of anime/manga influence thing.
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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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Bambikles
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Bambikles »

My comment was more tongue-in-cheek than anything else. :-=

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Geeno
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Geeno »

I'm not 100% sure intimidated is exactly the right word. I was a bookish lad, while my brother was the "Big Man On Campus", but he and his friends would defer to me when I stated a fact categorically. I was the final arbiter of disputes of fact on all matters. They simply assumed - he's read this stuff; he knows. I really was one of those kids who actually read the encyclopedia as a past time.
I'm not so sure they were "intimated" by my "smartness", they just assumed I knew what I was talking about and didn't challenge it. Oddly, rather than abusing this grant, I became very circumspect about making sure I had the facts right. In the long run, that was fine, college degree - middle class life, etc, etc can all be traced back to those days.
PIXIE MEL!!!

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-06-14 Take you to the gym

Post by Spidrift »

Sounds like you were one of the big man's assets...

I said "intimidated" because of Amber's line about trying not to seem stupid. That sounds like she feels that Ruby does make her look stupid at times. Throw in the wild-ass guess that the problem with their parents may be a tendency to talk up each girl to the other - to tell Ruby how pretty Amber is, and Amber how smart Ruby is - and "intimidated" may be a strong word, but it may not be totally inaccurate.
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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.

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