16-11-17 You deserve the truth

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Milnoc
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Milnoc »

Is Gary's grapefruit still in contact with James' member? They seem to be pretty far apart, indicating James may be hung like a horse!

dewelar
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by dewelar »

Spidrift wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:54 am
It'd have been better if the last panel had been replaced by a cut to the next morning at work, with James looking chastened and confused while Gary got onto whatever his plan in relation to Tracy might be.
Actually, it would've been better if this was the first panel of today's strip. This strip is only necessary if the authors think the readers actually care one whit about James. I'm not sure there are too many who do -- certainly I don't. He's pretty much the Ma3 poster boy for X-Pac heat.

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worldshaking00
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by worldshaking00 »

Having to make Gary prove with grapefruit-in-hand that he did not give him an oral BJ... guess it was always a plausible option. I always considered it was going to be a likely outcome, but just weird. But then considering the farcical 2D character involved, it was meant to be.

It does raise an interesting question or two: Gary's admitted sexuality aside, isn't it "a little gay" to be jacking off another guy. There's not really a better way to show James how to be grapefruited... and I would assume that if one were to grapefruit oneself it would lose some of... well, whatever Gary's manual technique he used that night to James. What if James is more turned on by losing control, in addition to being mildly bi? If that were the case, it would make a strong way for Tracy & James to rekindle their relationship (saying that it deserves to be).
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JoybuzzerX
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by JoybuzzerX »

Fluffy wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:11 am
Called it! #-o

I get why Gary felt he had to do this (because, how else would he prove he wasn't making it up); but Gary has probably made things that much worse for himself by going through with this, now that James is convincing himself it only feels so good because Gary is holding the grapefruit while he jacks it.

And the fact that James looked so pissed at the idea that Tracy may have been blowing him, instead... ~X(

Seriously, James - do the world a favor and go play in traffic!
Well, if Tracy did it to him instead, when he's expressly said no to it, that would be called rape :p

However, the fact that he can't get behind Tracy doing it, Tracy is better off without him. Even if he could change, she'd still be better off without him. James would obviously be better off with a girl who doesn't like going down on anyone she's with. :p

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Spidrift
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Spidrift »

dewelar wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:02 pm
Spidrift wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:54 am
It'd have been better if the last panel had been replaced by a cut to the next morning at work, with James looking chastened and confused while Gary got onto whatever his plan in relation to Tracy might be.
Actually, it would've been better if this was the first panel of today's strip. This strip is only necessary if the authors think the readers actually care one whit about James. I'm not sure there are too many who do -- certainly I don't.
Well, it needed to be made clear to the audience that Gary told James the truth, and made sure that he accepted it despite any disbelief - and on the show-don't-tell principle, we were going to have to get a frame or two of that sooner or later. But it could have been a frame or two terser, to be sure.
worldshaking00 wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:07 pm
It does raise an interesting question or two: Gary's admitted sexuality aside, isn't it "a little gay" to be jacking off another guy.
Only if vets who take sperm samples from their patients are assumed to be a little into bestiality. But sure, as a straight guy, I'd find it personally distasteful.
worldshaking00 wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:07 pm
What if James is more turned on by losing control, in addition to being mildly bi? If that were the case, it would make a strong way for Tracy & James to rekindle their relationship (saying that it deserves to be).
If we treat James as enough of a three-dimensional character to have actual subconscious impulses, I could certainly believe that he has some slightly confused control/submission issues - and that his relationship with Tracy might be fixed with a little mild BDSM, with him underneath. (If he's tied up, he can't feel that he's oppressing her, and she presumably enjoys that stuff given her chosen camgirl specialty, and certainly brings some conviction to the act.)
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themacnut
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by themacnut »

Yeah, I knew it was going to come to that the moment I saw the last panel of the previous strip. Of course James would not just take Gary's word for it, so Gary would have to...demonstrate. Thus titillating many of the gay readers and getting a laugh out of some of the others (many of whom won't comment on this thread, naturally).

The perfect capper to this would be Yuki walking in on this scene, thinking Gary's "gone gay" in her absence, and running off in tears. One can only hope :ymdevil: . More likely it'll be Zii, DiDi or Peggy walking in though...
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Mutant for Hire
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Mutant for Hire »

At this point he should just call Matt and hand James over to him.

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Spidrift
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Spidrift »

themacnut wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:43 pm
Of course James would not just take Gary's word for it, so Gary would have to...demonstrate. Thus titillating many of the gay readers and getting a laugh out of some of the others (many of whom won't comment on this thread, naturally).
I'd love to know if this really is fanservice for any female or gay male readers. I mean, if this was a woman doing the same thing to a guy, or Gary doing something analogous to a woman... Well, I can think of Ma3 strips that I found a lot more erotic.
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"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.

dewelar
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by dewelar »

Spidrift wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:32 pm
dewelar wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:02 pm
Actually, it would've been better if this was the first panel of today's strip. This strip is only necessary if the authors think the readers actually care one whit about James. I'm not sure there are too many who do -- certainly I don't.
Well, it needed to be made clear to the audience that Gary told James the truth, and made sure that he accepted it despite any disbelief - and on the show-don't-tell principle, we were going to have to get a frame or two of that sooner or later. But it could have been a frame or two terser, to be sure.
If it must be done (with which I disagree, as I think it was easily inferred), then as with previous instances of storytelling shorthand the authors have used it could have been easily addressed with a throwaway line or two in the first panel as part of the setup of the remainder of the strip. Anything more than that is time taken away from advancing the multitude of other, better stories that need to be wrapped up in the limited time remaining. Mind you, this assumes that the resolution of those stories is actually important to the authors, an assumption which I have taken to questioning of late.
Last edited by dewelar on Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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cheshire86
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by cheshire86 »

Somewhere, Dillon is sensing a disturbance in the Force. ;;)

Jean
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Jean »

I wonder what happens to the grapefruit afterwards, or is it going to waste?

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Milnoc
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Milnoc »

It develops into a human-grapefruit hybrid?

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someboddy
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by someboddy »

Congratulations Gary - you are no longer a one trick pony!

Anyways, this is going to end up with a threesome - James, Tracy - and the grapefruit.

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christopheftw
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by christopheftw »

Spidrift wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 5:37 pm
I'd love to know if this really is fanservice for any female or gay male readers.
haha, no. This is not what I meant by seeing James explore more of his bisexuality. I don't mind the demonstration, even though I don't feel fanserviced by it. Gary did the fruit maneuver on James in the first place and he's doing it again, showing that although he is straight, he is not narrow and he will bend his boundaries not out of desire, but occasionally for other reasons, even though it's uncomfortable.

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Naturallyhighpenguin
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Re: 16-11-17 You deserve the truth

Post by Naturallyhighpenguin »

Spidrift wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 12:00 pm
By the way, can anyone provide the footnote for Gary's T-shirt today? "Bellybuttons" in decorative script?
There you go: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bellybuttons

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