10-03-15 Kiss one of my biggest crushes

[KittyHat]

But, but ... the skirts, man. The skirts!

Ruby isn't being dumbed down; she was introduced as a moron! An educated moron is still a moron, guys ...

[Spidrift]

You make it sound like this is unusual for Ruby.

Ruby. You know, the same person who showed up at someone else's place (I don't care if it is her sister) seeking a place to stay and has been consistently unpleasant to her host since?

I certainly wouldn't conduct myself the way she does in someone else's home, even a relative's, and I would look poorly on anyone who did. Ruby being a selfish idiot? Looks like par for the course to me ...

Which merely shows that you don't think like a LaRose sister.

Ruby and Amber have got a real problem. Ruby is permanently angry at Amber, and Amber is completely incapable of understanding Ruby. That's very sad, but it's a specific thing between those two. And despite it, they both have a sense of family loyalty, which means that they force themselves to stick with each other - which is either dumb or admirable, take your pick.

But Ruby's problem with Amber is a specific case. If you look at her interactions with Dillon, they aren't usually selfish. She manages a lot of give and take there, and can't bear to see him hurt. It's an awful thing when somebody shows a better side to strangers than to family, but that's Ruby.

Unfortunately, her yaoi fetish is now making her behave badly to Dillon. That's why she needs to sort her head out, fast.

But, but ... the skirts, man. The skirts!

Ruby isn't being dumbed down; she was introduced as a moron! An educated moron is still a moron, guys ...

To me, "moron" would mean someone who can't learn and never does anything right. Ruby does some really stupid stuff, through naivety and overconfidence - the skirt being a prime example - but she can definitely learn. When Dillon showed her that the skirt was a stupid mistake, she was not only crashingly embarrassed, she let him help her fix the problem. And she can get things right, especially when her hang-ups don't get in the way; at this point, she seems to be able to read Dillon like a book. She's learned to crack the Dillon code.

As she says herself, the trick is applying the same intelligence to every situation. Right now, she looks like she's being dumbed down because her hormones are overriding her brain. The repression should prevent that, but it's collapsing and leaving her as a mess - worse, a selfish mess. If she can't learn her way round this, she will look like a moron. But the evidence is that she should be able to pull back, maybe with the right nudge from someone else.

Edit: The crucial Ruby strip, where she gets everything right. Oh dear, still not inked yet. Shame.

[KittyHat]

I'm not saying Ruby never gets anything right, but I do think she gets too much credit for getting things right when she does. I'm pretty sure I could even hunt down an instance where Sonya or DiDi (okay, different comic, yes, but related) got it right if I really tried, but that doesn't make either of them particularly brilliant.

To be honest, when she was first introduced, I hated Ruby. I found her extremely rude and ill-behaved, and I never found her particularly bright -- aggressive, yes, but not all that bright. She has grown on me some since then, to the point I have accepted her at least, but I just don't agree with some of the praise she gets, nor am I nearly as surprised as others seem to be when she misbehaves. What others interpret as twisting her character instead looks to me like "business as usual for Ruby."

[Spidrift]

I'm not saying Ruby never gets anything right, but I do think she gets too much credit for getting things right when she does.

It's true that one or two of us may be prone to confirmation bias regarding Ruby's intelligence -- but the thing we're seeing is supposed to be there to be confirmed. Ruby is the one with a university degree -- and despite all the jibes about people just being "book-smart", taking your education to BBA level does require some kind of brain -- and Amber has hinted that Ruby makes her feel stupid. Not seeing any sign of that brain seems weird; seeing her being a little bit sharp or flexible feels appropriate.

I'm pretty sure I could even hunt down an instance where Sonya or DiDi (okay, different comic, yes, but related) got it right if I really tried, but that doesn't make either of them particularly brilliant.

Well, with DiDi, it just feels like a stopped clock being right twice a day. My personal headcanon says that Sonya actually has a half-decent brain which she just hardly ever uses. But that's a discussion for a different thread on a different board.

To be honest, when she was first introduced, I hated Ruby. I found her extremely rude and ill-behaved, and I never found her particularly bright -- aggressive, yes, but not all that bright.

Whereas I liked her from more or less the first, but found some things about the way she was written a bit frustrating.

Because I completely agree that she didn't actually seem very bright back then -- and yet it seemed that she was supposed to be. She apparently had a decent academic record, and some details of her behaviour pattern were distinctly nerdy -- that is, typical of someone who privileges intelligence. So when she did occasionally manage some kind of clever line or perceptiveness, it felt like the pieces were finally slotting into place.

She has grown on me some since then, to the point I have accepted her at least, but I just don't agree with some of the praise she gets, nor am I nearly as surprised as others seem to be when she misbehaves. What others interpret as twisting her character instead looks to me like "business as usual for Ruby."

But she hasn't seemed to be selfish or manipulative. Angry, yes, definitely, especially at Amber, and sometimes unthinking -- and yet, despite the anger, she kept Amber's secret for years, and tried to stay within limits in her carping at her sister. And her instinct with Dillon was always to be helpful and go along with what he wanted. It's trivially easy for him to manipulate her with tears and tantrums.* And she normally seems to want to do "the right thing" as she understands it, even if it's not the same as what other people think is right.

Her problem at the start was that her mother was pushing her to go stay with Amber, and she couldn't see any way to get out of that. So she showed up determined to get through the experience somehow -- despite her permanent anger at Amber. Yes, she was imposing -- but she didn't like the situation, and couldn't see any way round it, so she just got on with it. Hence the apparent rudeness.

And since then, one thing we have seen from Ruby is character development. She's gone from a scared, defensive girl to someone who can handle having a guy jump in on her in the shower with no more than natural annoyance, she helped a gay man sort his love life out, and she's slowly admitting that she can enjoy erotica. So this current phase ... isn't twisting her character, it's actually quite consistent, and isn't regression either because it's a new side to her, but it's unfortunate, because she was doing so well.


*A detail about Ruby and Dillon; they swap the traditional "male" and "female" clichés in their relationship. Aside from the tantrums, Dillon talks about his problems to other people in the hope of getting sympathy and moral support. Ruby, on the other hand, is goal-oriented; she assumes that the point of talking about problems is to find practical solutions. That's the wrong way around -- and it explains why Ruby is a puzzle to Dillon, but also a good thing.

['J']

i'd forgotten just how uncomfortable some of those early strips between amber & ruby really were.

[Ilvy]

I feel that Ruby's portrayel as a fujoshi buffo is becoming slowly but steadily boring and repetitive. I'd like to see her shine once in a while. Or see other aspects of her personality.

[Spidrift]

i'd forgotten just how uncomfortable some of those early strips between amber & ruby really were.

They made Ruby look quite explosive - which made her tolerance of Dillon look surprising by contrast. It was probably just as well, though it made Dillon look a bit of a creator's pet at the time.

The Amber-Ruby relationship is a real mess, and actually, not much has happened to fix it yet. Ruby has been occupied interacting with Dillon, which may just have made her a little more capable of dealing with people with different personality types, but we haven't seen her applying that to Amber yet. And Dillon may have been poking curiously round the edges of Ruby's personality, but he's never really asked her what her problem is with her sister - though he's had a few clues that there's something going on there.

(Point to note; Ruby may dream about turning into Dillon, but she doesn't dream about turning into Amber. There's doubtless all sorts of reasons for that, but the fact is, her libido waking up isn't helping her relate to her sister yet.)

I feel that Ruby's portrayel as a fujoshi buffo is becoming slowly but steadily boring and repetitive. I'd like to see her shine once in a while. Or see other aspects of her personality.

Somewhat agreed, though I guess the writers may think that they needed this much to establish the point, and this latest strip may give Amber and Dillon a clue that there's something going on here, if they're allowed to be paying attention.

Mainly, I'd like to see Ruby build on this. The fujoshi thing has shown her that there are sides to her own personality that she was previously repressing; now she needs the introspection to try and work out where this leads. Dillon could help her with that, but he doesn't really understand her properly yet.

[Schmorgluck]

don't remember seeing it but someone mentioned that Ruby "discovered" Amber's career when her schoolmates made fun of that, thus Ruby did not really watch those films, and depending on what was her age

Mmmh, nope, actually, she saw some of it. It was at a party. There's no indication that the boys she mentions knew her sister starred in the movie.

[wiseguy]

there is no mention they knew it was Amber specifically BUT I find it unlikely that Ruby would go to a party after she was 12 to have fun(when Amber left home, Ruby was 12) and boys not know it was Amber and Ruby recognize her sister after just a few seconds of film (meaning she decided to see it, until she saw it was her sister, no way she would recognize her in one nanosecond) and because it was her sister, she decided to not even think sex from that time

find it more likely she was put off sex (did not want it, never searched in the web and so on) when those boys started making fun about Ruby becoming like her sister and that Ruby should do some tricks to them, and that is why she resents Amber specially when her parents kept saying what a nice girl Amber is

[Schmorgluck]

You're assuming the boys knew it was her sister when they showed the movie to Ruby. We have no indication of that. And Ruby never mentioned being made fun of because of Amber's activities. She would have said so.

[wiseguy]

let's see, a girl who avoids sex(this without knowing sister was porn star) like a plague and does not want a BF, goes to a party????? than boys show her a movie? and she stays to see it at least long enough to recognize sister? and that is the reason Ruby...........wait, I already said she already became sex avoider .............. just seems nonsense to blame sister and be mad at her when she already was way she is

the boys might have known it was her sister(remember her stage porn name was Amber Amber, her real first name) but even if they did not,

those stupid boys at school... and their stupid party... and their stupid... ughh, just stupid

notice she did not finish the 3rd stupid? most likely either aptitude or way they were talking to her. and she finding it hard to specify what they were saying seems to indicate they were not nice in way they spoke to her

classic way things are when someone has been sexually harassed(words), and hopefully not sexually abused(physically) as Ruby indicated she has no experience kissing and that she is still a virgin

there is a slight chance I could be wrong, and there is a chance you are wrong ............... there is no positively indicator that the cause for her desire to not have "interferences" (no sex activities AT ALL) was simply "my big sister is a porn star" and start of blaming everything on Amber

[Artemisia]

But, but ... the skirts, man. The skirts!

Ruby isn't being dumbed down; she was introduced as a moron! An educated moron is still a moron, guys ...

To me, "moron" would mean someone who can't learn and never does anything right. Ruby does some really stupid stuff, through naivety and overconfidence - the skirt being a prime example - but she can definitely learn. When Dillon showed her that the skirt was a stupid mistake, she was not only crashingly embarrassed, she let him help her fix the problem. And she can get things right, especially when her hang-ups don't get in the way; at this point, she seems to be able to read Dillon like a book. She's learned to crack the Dillon code.

As she says herself, the trick is applying the same intelligence to every situation. Right now, she looks like she's being dumbed down because her hormones are overriding her brain. The repression should prevent that, but it's collapsing and leaving her as a mess - worse, a selfish mess. If she can't learn her way round this, she will look like a moron. But the evidence is that she should be able to pull back, maybe with the right nudge from someone else.

I've always tended to see Ruby as being very book smart, but not very world smart. There are a lot of people who are like that- especially those on the Spectrum- and she does not necessarily understand human interactions the way everyone else does. This means that she has certain set beliefs which are not necessarily prejudices, but which have not been challenged in a manner which helps her have time to process them properly.

[wiseguy]

she is generally smart. but I think since the "school party" she CHOSE not to be sex and amorous relationships smart, thus why in so many situations either she is highly naive, or since she is "repressed herself"person, she has become highly hormonal drunk in "certain situations" and acting solely by impulse

[Artemisia]

That's what I was getting at...she's not stupid, she's just not very smart when it comes to interpersonal relationships.

[wiseguy]

I can imagine her doing alright with female friends, at least until the friends started talking about sex and boys, at which points she went somewhere else