PTC 20-06-19 The right buttons

[Giz]

New strip! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/the-right-buttons/

[oddtail]

OK, so up to this point, I thought Aaron was annoying, but passable as a character (I know, people disagree). But, assuming there's no part of the conversation was left out unsaid (and I have no reason to expect something happened that is not shown in the comic), Aaron's comment "you thought you were gay?" is HORRIBLE and I'll need him to, like, save an orphanage from an explosion to get over this.

Let's ignore what is pointed out in the dialogue itself that such a comment is inappropriate and illegal. The very NOTION that a guy dated a guy is because "he thought he was gay" is offensive on several levels. Let me count the ways.

1) You don't need a boner to draw an attractive person. Anyone working in art who thinks otherwise should... y'know, not.
2) Hellooooooo, bi erasure. Aaron doesn't seem to even realise that a guy dating guys is not automatically gay (and a guy not dating guys anymore is not because he "realised" he's not gay or whatever it is Aaron means here).
3) "you thought" implies being wrong or deluded. Saying to someone that a) you know what their sexuality is and b) that you know better than them is just... mind-bogglingly stupid and offensive. Especially if you base your pearls of wisdom on hearing like three sentences. Seriously, what the eff.
4) The implication is, the way I see it, that Aaron thinks he is being reassuring (based on the phrasing, the way he's drawn etc.). So we can add "he thinks being bi is worse than being straight" (or being "gay" is. Whatever).
5) Aaron, nobody asked you. Even your body language shows you butting into a conversation you don't belong to.

Also, "ew"? So, Aaron is pretty explicitly homophobic on top of being dumb. Good to know. He can dive head-first in the dumpster now. Heck, he's homophobic and he clearly makes it about him. Wait, does he think everyone attracted to guys is also automatically into him? You know.... don't answer that, this seems perfectly in-character for him.

No, seriously, this is vile. The worst so far characters in the strip have done is being obnoxious, somewhat drama queen-ish and stupid. This is on an entirely different level, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not saying Aaron has suddenly become irredeemable for me, but right now? I can't really imagine how he'd be redeemable, specifically.

[lordoffiling]

It’s fine. He’s clearly beginning in a place of deeeeep homophobia and general immaturity. That’s not a bad thing unless it stays that way; we were all young and stupid/sheltered/brainwashed at some point. Exploring how he got where he is and how he’ll change as the story progresses is what makes stuff like this interesting.

[TheEighth]

I may be(and probably am) wrong about this....but in the 3rd panel it looks like both Ramona and Aaron are pushing Felix's right buttons

[Dragon Paladin]

I’m calling it now: Aaron is extremely deep in the bi closet. Either that or he’s just a homophobic and somewhat sexist pile of garbage.

[christopheftw]

Aaron’s just an immature, insecure comic geek. His attitude, like his social awkwardness, is not a terminal condition.

It looks to me like it’s just Ramona pushing those buttons in the third panel. Damn, she’s pushing my buttons. But I could be wrong.

And I retract what I said before Felix was properly shaded. He’s pretty attractive to me in looks and attitude. Probably because two of my favorite guys I’ve dated liked women but I just pushed their buttons somehow, haha!

[jish55]

Aaron really needs to chill, because he's really going into douche bag territory here. Seriously dude, you're assuming what someone's like and their art style, while also judging them, not cool. Also, as I said before, not digging how Felix has been flirting with Ramona who is in a relationship, not cool dude. I just again hope Ramona doesn't do something stupid she'll regret.

[Spidrift]

Remember; you have to subtract at least five years from the age of most Ma3-universe characters to get to their emotional age. Aaron is indeed being an obnoxious little toad, but 14-year-old males frequently are obnoxious little toads. I remember how John Allison, who seems to understand teens rather well, left the male protagonists in Bad Machinery off-stage for a year because they were passing through that age range and he just couldn't face writing them.

Though Aaron is coming across as the kind of tiresome geek who only gets marginally better in adulthood, I must say. Some 14-year-olds probably do manage to be a little bit more enlightened.

And I'm left thinking that it must be really quite unpleasant being an attractive person in the Ma3 universe if you're not seriously vain and manipulative. The setting is full of hormone-driven idiots with no solid boundaries who'll objectify you on sight.

[OllieOrOlly]

So, we can add "homophobe" to Aaron's list of *charming* qualities.
Now Felix seems like a mix of both superficial yet also more intuitive in regards to what he finds attractive, in that he doesn't limit to gender, and - taking him at face value - doesn't know exactly what traits he finds appealing, he just finds them so.

While it is a bit frustrating that Zadie is picking up the dumb-dumb "thirsty" ball again, I will admit there was a lot of charm in her ecstatic, excited expression.

I know Spidrift said to subtract five years from a character's age, but even so... When I was 14, my peers and I did make what could be considered offensive jokes, but if someone was actually gay, we didn't care. At the very least, we wouldn't go "ew" about them... or imbecilically AT them. 19 or 14 still isn't a unfiltered toddler... typically. So, if Aaron is one of those pointlessly and misguided judgmental people, then his level of obnoxious is even higher than it already was. Maybe it is setting up a starting point to develop from, yet currently it feels more like he is a straw man, too stupid and stubborn to actually grow beyond his pathological problems.

[Valkog]

Aaron, corner, silence, etc.

Zadie can join him. Felix kinda won't shut up about his boner, and Ramona isn't helping any. This is the horniest job interview I've ever seen, and not in a fun way. Nobody is looking good here, and I'm not sure what the punchline is. Imagine this being acted out on a TV show.

[Spidrift]

I can try, but it requires a bunch of third-rate 1970s US sitcom actors and a really, really annoying laugh track.

[BioYuGi]

On a whim, I went back to the first pages of Ma3 to see what it was like when we were introduced to our new main characters for the first time. Definitely rough around the edges; Zii was shown as overly-insistent and not upfront about her current living condition, but did help Gary score Didi as another roommate and was otherwise nice and nerdy; Didi was nothing but cheerful and helpful; and Gary was nebbish, but sympathetic and put-upon.

In contrast to the cast we're starting with with PTC, it's really just been idiocy and bad decision making from the get go and it's making it really hard to like anybody.

[brasca]

I’ve said it before I’ll say it again. If everyone was mature, rational, and not controversial everyone would be complaining about how dull everything is.

[Spidrift]

Immature, irrational, and controversial, I can take. Damnit, I loved Sonya. Dull and one-dimensional, though...

I mean, that’s a valid comparison here. When Sonya and Yuki volunteered to pose nude for Gary, things got interesting; Yuki nearly drove herself crazy with confusion, demonstrating a bit of her personality in the process, while Sonya went into competitive overdrive and actually took her clothes off just to make a point. Craziness, comedy, character development, and fan service. It was lovely. When Zadie volunteers to pose nude, on the other hand, she... looks embarrassed for a few seconds until somebody changes the subject.

Maybe that’s more realistic, but you can’t say it’s as much fun. Maybe this comic will pull itself up in due course, but, well, as of now, why should anyone want to read it, aside from hoping that it’ll get as good as we know Giz is capable of?

[brasca]

Yea, but if Zadie did the same thing Sonya did it would be criticized as derivative.