12-08-14 I like someone else

[Azrael]

...okay, she looks really familiar, but my only thought is Mandy from Fragile.

To my eye, she looks like Laura from the *C 'Verse.

[Optimus Kate]

Maybe kicked in the nuts or a mild ass kicking...but bullets really should be reserved for truly deplorable behavior.

Yeah see, even that is pretty aggravating. I honestly don't care that people dislike Dillon (though I think the constant whining is incredibly tedious and sad to read) but once you start talking about assaulting a fictional character, you've crossed the line of sane discussion. How on earth is anyone supposed to take someone seriously if all they bring to the table is "I want to kick this imaginary person's ass" or "I don't like him so I want to shoot him in the head WHY DOES NO ONE TAKE ME SERIOUSLY"?

I mean, maybe some perspective or something is in order?

It's a goofy comedy strip. Pretty sure most people read it so they can laugh and be entertained for like five seconds. ENOUGH WITH THE VIOLENCE PLZ. It is so incredibly uncalled for.

[JoybuzzerX]

I would think this is just a dream being a dream or they retconned Dillion's background, as a past comic had him with two (or three) girls and him wondering why he couldn't get it up, as he hadn't realized he was gay yet, and this comic would suggest he's younger than the pervious flashback and already realizes he's into guys but can't admit it.

I'd guess that Dillon was about 17-18 in that earlier strip (we do know he was still in high school), and as he doesn't seem to have been too seriously worried by his complete lack of response to women, he had indeed presumably come to terms with being gay by then, or he was getting there fast. (He was maybe dabbling with the idea that he might be bi, and Liz and Lisette were willing to help check.) He looks more 14-15 in this strip, and very confused and possibly in denial, rather than having fully accepted that he was gay; he'd noticed that he responded to men and not to women, but he didn't like the situation.

So we can deduce that he had his breakthrough to accepting his own sexuality late in his high school years, but not before they were over. (He somehow managed to lose the glasses and get a better hairstyle in the process. If he starts bullying Ruby towards contact lenses or laser surgery, he's going too far.) That's earlier than the cliche-plot normally assumes, but not impossibly early.

The earlier strip looked like he was older, yes, but it also sounded like he didn't think he was gay at all then "You must be doing it wrong." So it goes to the idea that he couldn't admit to himself he may have found a guy attractive.

[Kiggy]

So totally "D'awwww"d at Ruby in that last panel.

Happy to know I'm not the only one.

[Spidrift]

ENOUGH WITH THE VIOLENCE PLZ.

Me, I'd strictly limit myself to pinning him to the wall by the throat - not hard enough to cause pain, just hard enough to prevent speech. Aside from the blessed relief from the camp blathering, it'd allow someone to yell at him uninterrupted for ten minutes or so about his inconsiderate stupidity. Which really does need doing.

The violence fantasies aren't fun, honestly, and have earned one or two people places on my Foes list, but they're an interesting metric for just how annoying Dillon can be for some people. He's not just dislikeable; he's actively aggravating. It takes more than just being a not-perfectly-nice person to inspire so many fantasies of GBH. Or just of heavy-duty yelling-at.

The earlier strip looked like he was older, yes, but it also sounded like he didn't think he was gay at all then "You must be doing it wrong." So it goes to the idea that he couldn't admit to himself he may have found a guy attractive.

To be honest, I think that we have got a bit of a character retcon here - but I don't think that the writers have totally blown out consistency. Younger-teen Dillon, in yesterday's strip, was clearly confused; I don't think that he necessarily understood that he was gay, he just knew that he didn't want to date girls, he got hot and bothered when a guy put an arm around him, and oh god oh god is there something wrong with me? Whereas the older Dillon of the older strips had clearly stopped worrying so much, and wasn't so hung up about his non-hetero reactions; whether or not he was calling himself "gay", he was a lot less worried than any man would be who thought he was straight and who didn't perform in those circumstances.

My assumption is that it was all a confused experiment, based on category errors. We just don't know how the conversation between Dillon, Liz, and Lisette went, but I imagine something like "You say that you're gay, but you like us, don't you?" "Uh, yes..." "Well, then, you like girls too - you must be bi." "Umm, I suppose..." "Great, let's prove it."

Which leaves one wondering how Liz and Lisette felt in the end. Maybe more bemused than insulted, and if this was about them trying to prove a point, well, they didn't really have anyone to blame for the disappointment but themselves. (Leaving aside the fact that they weren't people, they were the two-frame punchline to a gag strip.) But that in turn raises another point.

If this strip is actually about Dillon suddenly remembering the dangers of misdirected attraction, and worrying for Ruby, why do we have to go back to his teen years to trawl up a bad story? After all, like it or not, those twenty-seven straight guys are now case-hardened canon; do we have to assume that none of their twenty-seven girlfriends ever got into Dillon's face and yelled at him for what he'd done to their relationships? Or does Dillon have such a rigid in-group/out-group view of the world that twenty-seven unhappy women count for less than one bad schooldays experience?

(Proposal for a future volume or two of SDB; "My Name is Dillon", an epic saga in which Ruby finally gets through to Dillon about what a jerk he's been, and Dillon sets out to make amends to all the people whose lives he screwed up...)

[TCampbell]

The violence fantasies aren't fun, honestly, and have earned one or two people places on my Foes list, but they're an interesting metric for just how annoying Dillon can be for some people.

The violence fantasies do nothing to help the case against Dillon-as-he-is-today. Absolutely nothing. They don't work as a metric, they're not useful evidence, and they sure as heck aren't arguments. They weaken the case, by weakening the authority of the people who use them. There are some people I'm never, ever going to mind annoying.

I'm having a bad night and I've actually had to deal with a version of this issue somewhere else, so I'm not going to say everything about this that's running through my head until I've had a chance to regain my mental equilibrium. But believe me, if you want to get anyone at Pixie Trix to consider your views on a series, telling everyone how you want to shoot certain people in the head is pretty much the exact opposite of how to do it.

[Spidrift]

I didn't say that they helped anyone's case. (I do get why not. Like I said, Foes list. Which, ironically, once upon a time would have been called a killfile.) But I personally, as an outsider, find it interesting just how much irritation, sometimes tipping over into sheer rage, Dillon can inspire. (This isn't market research, it's pathology.) It's not like he's the worst character in the setting, morally speaking; he probably wasn't even the worst major character, until the "27 straight guys" line was resurrected (which was really over-salting the mix). He's just ... curiously annoying.

[dmra]

What puzzled me about the Dillon hate on this strip was that Dillon didn't do a thing to deserve it. He had a dream (possibly a flashback, possibly not we don't know for sure yet) and then woke up. People then assumed that the dream was some attempt to get Dillon sympathy and laid in to him regardless. To me that isn't criticizing a character it's showing an obsession.

On a less controversial note and re the Minew issue. I was woken this morning (not for the first time) by a cat who'd decided that he wanted to use my side as a suitable platform for snoozing in the sphinx position. Unfortunately for him he was a bit bigger than Minew and his landing was a lot less soft so it was all a bit too much for me to sleep through and his comfy bed decided to roll over and get up instead.

[Spidrift]

First, of course, some people's raging irritation at Dillon has developed its own momentum. It's all gone a bit Koom Valley at this point.

But also, to be fair -- we've only recently had the comic's editor saying on the boards that the creative team may find it necessary to be more emphatic about Dillon's personal virtues in the comic at some point. (And so soon after they'd had to make it clearer that Dillon was actually a bit of a jerk, to calm down some of the frothing Dillon fans, too. It's clearly all a bit of a tightrope.) This was guaranteed to make some readers suspicious; is anything involving Dillon just an attempt by the writers to manipulate audience sympathies?

Sigh. That way, paranoia lies. I might even have succumbed a little myself, if this strip hadn't seemed so clearly much more of a set-up for some upcoming plot point than an attempt to make Dillon sympathetic.

[crimzontearz]

His back story comic is not growth, it just explains how he became the **** we want to shoot in the head.

Okay, dude, really?

I've always found your weird violent fantasies about the characters pretty absurd, but "shoot in the head"?

Is that REALLY necessary? I know Dillon is a fictional character but do you think you can tone down the violent mental imagery just a little bit? You sound like a total psychopath sometimes.

reading comprehension much?

re-read my post then feel free to apologize (for this particular instance).

Actually let me help you out a bit

Sure, the opinions on a character can change....through character growth FORWARD character growth, not retroactive pity parties that explain to us how he got where he is.Case in point, TIM from ME2/3. His back story comic is not growth, it just explains how he became the **** we want to shoot in the head.

I don't know....but if you ask me it is rather obvious I was talking about TIM and his back story comic Bioware put out before ME3 and not Dillon. Spoiler alert....it was an analogy

The suffering I wish on Dillon is purely psychological/emotional I assure you. (unlike some of the characters from EC/DC since they are, de facto, demons and all manners of monsters)

[Optimus Kate]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS flash....let the hate flow through you

Hate him with the same intensity we ALL hate the star brat with

Yes I can...I hope he suffers.

A lot

for a LONG time

And people wonder just why I want him to suffer?

Yes, dear lord yes

let his suffering continue

NOOOOO let the goddamn drama queen suffer more

Ruby's reactions are of no consequence right now (she is almost as annoying as Dillon) all that matters is to watch the chaos unfold and hope for pain and suffering MWHAHAHAH

Ruby's reactions are of no consequence right now (she is almost as annoying as Dillon)

all that matters is to watch the chaos unfold and hope for pain and suffering MWHAHAHAH

The world of this comic would be a better place without Dillon

No Dillon

all you deserve is an eternity in a special hell populated by straight gorgeous guys who rebuke your advances and where all they play on tv are hidden camera views of guys you like dating other people and talking about how much of an insufferable, manipulative drama queen you are.

Am I a horrible person for enjoying Dillon's pain?

oh hell I don't care

Thank God

now let's hope that by the end of the night he has also no boyfriend and he can rationalize his loneliness all he wants....as long as he suffers more

Those quotes are from ONE PAGE of your posting history on this forum. ONE PAGE.

Gosh, I wonder why my reading comprehension might not be so great when it comes to your posts. Maybe because every time you hit "submit", chances are pretty good you're posting something about enjoying pain and suffering. But you're not the only one, not by a long shot, and I called someone else out about the violence fantasies too. It's all pretty obnoxious.

I have to read stories all day long about actual pain and suffering and death and rape that real humans suffer because of my job (don't ask), I just sometimes want to come to a forum and go "AW LOOK RUBY'S A SNUGGLEBUG <3" without reading for the millionth time that Dillon is the most hated thing on earth. I'm not saying you shouldn't criticize a comic. But I'm saying maybe people should try doing it in a way that isn't an absolute nightmare to read.

[Spidrift]

Kate...
1. Click on user name xxxxxx.
2. Click on "Add Foe".
3. Follow any subsequent instructions.

[crimzontearz]

Once again please do point out where I specifically say that the pain I wish on him is PHYSICAL as you accused me earlier.

yes I Dislike Dillon intensely, funny thing is I did not until I started reading STB because I liked MA3.

it still DOES NOT change the fact that you

1: were wrong
2: Assumed I wanted him dead and called me a psychopath (I am not, but having read Dante I am a fan of the law of the Contrappasso)
3: decided to make an unfounded, loud fuss over it directed, in your post SOLELY at me while not even bothering to read my post because, according to the above post, it was likely not worth your time and assumption was a better course.

I do not care what you think of my views on Dillon and, while I have discussed unrelated characters without mentioning him at all in this comic and others (including Tristan in SOTR whom I hated at first as he reminded me of Mac Walters and Casey Hudson but then redeemed himself), I will most definitely call out his bull**** any time it presents itself even if it is a case of "the authors are trying to make me sympathize with the character in a cheap way" which is how I find this.

[Optimus Kate]

Kate...
1. Click on user name xxxxxx.
2. Click on "Add Foe".
3. Follow any subsequent instructions.

I suppose I could try that, you're right. Does it make a noticeable difference for you? Can you still see things that people quote?

[Spidrift]

Yes, despite yes. There's no helping the quotes, but I tend to find that people I want to ignore don't get quoted very much anyway.