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Flesh Forge posted:Yeah it's pretty blatant that he has no idea what the word "altruism" means, or has consciously discarded it. I can't really believe any person who is not totally nuts would talk to a girl they're trying to hook up with ("Your friend that you just told me is the most selfless person you've ever known is actually totally selfish because blah blah blah"). Even if he's a raging Randroid It just doesn't make sense for him to talk to a romantic prospect like that unless he is seriously emotionally defective. Even if he doesn't respect empathy at all he'd still pretend he does so he can gently caress her, to put it bluntly You're forgetting that the people who hold these views see themselves as totally normal and reasonable, and that it's everyone who holds differing opinions that are crazy. Look at the most recent panel, dude didn't even realize he'd said something offensive. He probably normally lives in a bubble where his opinions are never challenged (or you know, he would if he was a real person and not a side character in a web comic). Maybe its just because I've been exposed to some real clueless rich assholes, but this guys behavior is totally believable to me. Also: Pointing out that "Hey, this person who is seen as selfless by ignorant rubes is actually getting something out of the situation. See we really are all just selfish creatures who act in our own best interets.  " is the Randian equivalent of a male peacock spreading its feathers.
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Aug 11, 2016 23:38
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Like I said if he's supposed to be some weird virgin test tube bubble boy Elliot Roger analogue who's never talked to a ~real live girl~ that's totally fine, but I got the impression he was supposed to be, y'know, not a complete mockery of a human being  "rich people sure are dicks"
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Aug 12, 2016 00:27
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Flesh Forge posted:Like I said if he's supposed to be some weird virgin test tube bubble boy Elliot Roger analogue who's never talked to a ~real live girl~ that's totally fine, but I got the impression he was supposed to be, y'know, not a complete mockery of a human being Sad thing is, there are people out there who would be completely charmed by someone like this dude and find nothing wrong with what hes saying. Real life is stranger than fiction at times. I agree that such a character is completely uninteresting but that's a different problem from being unrealistic.
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Aug 12, 2016 00:45
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The girls he usually picks up are probably overawed by the helicopter ride to a mansion and the realization that this guy isn't just well off but super rich. Allison can fly superman style, and this isn't the first multimillionare who she's spent time around, so the showmanship of his routine isn't especially impressive to her, but I can see him having some success using this approach on a regular woman. The dazzle of the experience would distract from his horrible personality and worldview.
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Aug 12, 2016 01:18
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JuniperCake posted:I agree that such a character is completely uninteresting but that's a different problem from being unrealistic. This captures my view of it. I've met people like this, find it entirely believable that someone would be this much and this kind of a dick, but as a story it was more interesting in this page and the following where it seemed like even though they had opposite political opinions they could still find common ground, or try to reconcile their radically different views. But no, just tumbling straight down the slippery slope to the shittiest thing he could possibly say. Although it may have been worth it just to set up the comeback "Why did you choose that?" I like the inverse-X-men thing where superpowers (for people like Alison and Pintsize who aren't visibly mutated) are a form of privilege rather than a source of discrimination. That approach makes a lot of sense because, much like this dude's wealth, being invulnerable insulates Alison from consequences the average person has to face.
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Aug 12, 2016 01:57
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I'm not trying to say nobody like this exists on Earth (although I'll stand by my statement that someone this devoid of empathy is genuinely mentally ill, like, severely) , just that the writer picked the absolute worst stereotype of "rich fuckhead" that you could possibly depict in this situation e: and that's totally fine, it's just completely without nuance or depth, what statement is the writer trying to make with Max and his dialogue? Flesh Forge fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Aug 12, 2016 |
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Aug 12, 2016 02:21
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Flesh Forge posted:what statement is the writer trying to make with Max and his dialogue? Alison has bad taste in men.
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Aug 12, 2016 02:43
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She really does
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Aug 12, 2016 02:53
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Rich people really do live on another planet in their heads. It's a toss up between the character as being written as an rear end in a top hat or just oblivious to being an rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 12, 2016 04:26
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Isn't Allison basically this guy's financial peer? In what meaningful way does he have more money than her?
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Aug 12, 2016 04:31
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RiotGearEpsilon posted:Isn't Allison basically this guy's financial peer? In what meaningful way does he have more money than her? Allison never really cared about money. She was raised in an upper-middle class family, and whatever money she made from her super-heroin career she mostly ignored; so becoming rich didn't change her lifestyle.
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Aug 12, 2016 12:14
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Aside from letting her demolish snack machines when she's peeved with no repercussions.
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Aug 12, 2016 13:27
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I think it's a valid viewpoint to try to categorize everybody's actions in terms of self interest (it's kind of necessary in economics), but this guy just expressed it in the dumbest way possible. I kind of hope he chases after her in his helicopter so that we can get some action out of this chapter with Allison having to dodge rotors while her invincibility's off.
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Aug 12, 2016 17:46
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Nope, no chase scene. Instead, more identity politics and introspection.
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Aug 12, 2016 17:56
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Dang, I was kind of looking forward to Max flying after her in his helicopter yelling WAAIIIIIIIITTT I LOOOOVVVEE YOOOOOOUUUUUUU
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Aug 12, 2016 18:20
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Flesh Forge posted:Dang, I was kind of looking forward to Max flying after her in his helicopter yelling WAAIIIIIIIITTT I LOOOOVVVEE YOOOOOOUUUUUUU Also he's honking the helicopters horn at her, because that's probably how they think helicopters work.
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Aug 15, 2016 17:58
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Hahahah yes! YES what the gently caress are you doing
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Aug 16, 2016 12:48
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I don't want batgay to show up in this comic too much more, because so far he has been a pretty cool and good character, and I'm afraid that more time just means the writer will ruin him. 
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Aug 16, 2016 14:25
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I guess this was the point of the professors bit at the start?
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Aug 16, 2016 14:57
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It's a shame that the only good pages we get are the ones that hammer home the fact that Allison can't "turn off" her desire to want to help everyone, and apply the same standard to people around her.
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Aug 16, 2016 16:17
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I have to say I'm kind of with Alison here. What's so weird about looking to network? Alison is running a charitable organization where biodynamics help women. Brad is running an organization that helps biodynamics, half of whom are women. People can take care of themselves and also take care of other people. Yeah, Alison can be kind of a busybody maybe, but that's hardly a negative thing for someone running an organization.
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Aug 16, 2016 17:01
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Wittgen posted:I have to say I'm kind of with Alison here. What's so weird about looking to network? Alison is running a charitable organization where biodynamics help women. Brad is running an organization that helps biodynamics, half of whom are women. People can take care of themselves and also take care of other people. The problem I see is that the organization Brad has just started is in their first meeting and still don't know how to help their own cause, and Allison already wants to start pulling people to help her fledgling organization. Brad still has to consider what kind of training to give his counselors and then implement it, how to format groups to avoid unnecessary conflicts, and establish a contact and resource network for dynamorphs. All that will require time and effort on a lot of people's behalf and Allison wants to take some of those prospective helpers and put them in her camp as well.
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Aug 16, 2016 17:07
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Wittgen posted:I have to say I'm kind of with Alison here. What's so weird about looking to network? Alison is running a charitable organization where biodynamics help women. Brad is running an organization that helps biodynamics, half of whom are women. People can take care of themselves and also take care of other people. Brad's group is mostly members who are in a nastily stigmatized minority, many of whom have been exploited for their abilities or appearance, and I think they're more interested in getting therapy to unfuck themselves than to punch bad guys
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Aug 16, 2016 17:19
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Right, to an extent, what Allison wants is part of what Brad's group seems to be wanting to avoid: having biomorphic individuals to only be seen for what their abilities can do to help regular people.
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Aug 16, 2016 17:26
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Zerilan posted:Right, to an extent, what Allison wants is part of what Brad's group seems to be wanting to avoid: having biomorphic individuals to only be seen for what their abilities can do to help regular people. The only person Allison has recruited was the fish girl, and that was for her accountancy abilities, not her biomorphicness.
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Aug 16, 2016 17:35
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That's not really how she's putting it to Brad though, "Former superheroes, blah blah people who have the ability to really make a difference"
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Aug 16, 2016 17:44
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Point taken that with fish girl she was recruiting based on her non-super power, but I don't think "only fish girl" means much when she was also the only one Allison had a long conversation with. So Al is 1 for 1 on extended conversation -> try to recruit.
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Aug 16, 2016 18:19
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Honestly, I'd be pretty uncomfortable about somebody poaching volunteers from support groups, but I guess Allison needs some place to recruit supers easily. Why she needs superpowered volunteers is still an open question though. Fish girl! I need you for my organization! Your ability to breath underwater will be excellent for providing emotional support for abuse victims!
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Aug 16, 2016 18:48
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It didn't really have anything to do with her superpowers, she just wanted Amanda because she mentioned she was a grant writer and that's the kind of thing a fledgling volunteer organization needs. Brad's kind of got a point though. Maybe it's because Alison's been dealing with all the administrative stuff, but she's kind of forgetting that the stated purpose of her organization is to protect women from abusive partners or ex-partners. It seems like she should have approached that green woman and said "hey, if you ever get in a situation like that again or worse, here's our card".
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Aug 16, 2016 19:29
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I think Brad has a bit of a point. Alison was suggesting fish-girl volunteer, right? Versus paying a non-superpowered person to be an accountant. Which makes it look like Alison is exploiting this group because they'd want to help. It's a fine line, because exploiting someone in a way they don't mind is usually okay, but if many of these people are in a really fragile place right now, it's probably not a good idea.
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Aug 16, 2016 19:36
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I this an almost-compelling conflict of interests?? Allison decided that punching people doesn't help stop evil, she wants to use her brain. So her offering a task to fish person based on the woman's accounting ability must seem positive to Allison. "Yes hello you're here for what's in your head and not what superpower or appearance you have." But Brad probably thinks that a lot of these people, looking, as they do like angry pokemon, probably need some kind of support group so they can learn to feel like normal human beings. Being useful to others can feel good, of course, but it's not a long-term replacement for a healthy sense of self esteem, so perhaps he's worried that some of these people will just stay in a 'welp I'm a freakshow but as long as I'm a useful freakshow, people like me' mindset, even if they happen to be working a semi-normal job for Allison? After all, you should get to think of yourself as a person of worth even if the world looks at you weird unless you're actively saving it from imminent disaster. I'm going to assume that working/volunteering some 9-5 gig for Allison wouldn't stop a person from showing up to Brad's meetings, but there is the added point that maybe he needs some of these well-adjusted biodynamics for his own administrative jobs he has yet to figure out. I can sort of see two people in these positions have this conversation, I guess the rob is going to be whether they can talk this over like competently written adults.
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Aug 19, 2016 13:45
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Kinda leaning hard on the animal-people here, but that's not exactly a huge issue. My main takeaway here is that Brad is really down to earth, competent, and compassionate, and honestly kind of puts Allison to shame. No way she would be able to organize this kind of event. Hell, even her basic idea of her organization doesn't seem nearly as well thought out as Brad's.
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Aug 19, 2016 23:54
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Well for one he decided to ask what i'm assuming is a non-biodynamic insurance company agent to come by and talk to people about getting good plans.
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Aug 20, 2016 01:46
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Oh so she actually scored two new teammates, both physical heavies. Pray for peace, prepare for war  I like doghead guy but then I am biased
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Aug 20, 2016 02:18
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Can't see panel 4 as anything but a Mr Peanutbutter cameo.
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Aug 20, 2016 05:27
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Carrasco posted:Can't see panel 4 as anything but a Mr Peanutbutter cameo. What is this, a crossover episode?
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Aug 20, 2016 05:43
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Carrasco posted:Can't see panel 4 as anything but a Mr Peanutbutter cameo. A.D.A. DANCE PARTY AND USE A PRETTY FONT
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Aug 20, 2016 16:46
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I wonder if it was a conscious choice to pick the initials A.D.A. - American's with Disabilities Association / Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Aug 20, 2016 19:06
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Yeahhhhhh speaking as a trans person I'm going to barf right here ps: lol Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Aug 23, 2016 |
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Aug 23, 2016 10:25
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Jesus loving Christ
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Aug 23, 2016 11:50
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