5-9-12 Up.

[Captain LeBubbles]

What's this? Reasonable people reasonably approaching offensive things quite reasonably? And the manners! Good manners, the whole lot of you! And not one misspelled word among you. I am shocked, SHOCKED, at the blatant reason that is sweeping this forum. What is the internet coming to, that we can address each other in such a way without fear of reprimand?

... oh ... OK then ...

CAN'T YOU SEE! Marie is OBVIOUSLY a centuries old vampire who just used her supernatural charm to make Michael follow her! THAT's why people think something's seems "off" with her§ And the reason she talks so little? Because her antiquated speech patterns might otherwise give her away! WHY CAN'T YOU SHEEPLE SEE THAT!?! Am I really the only one to see the TRUTH!?!

I hope this restored your faith in the unreasonableness of the internet.

u mad?

[Adrishiana]

All gods are bastards!

[Alice Macher]

Hm, let's see... I think I can do this...

Hitler comparison!

Threat to leave 4EVER, while compulsively checking back to see if anyone begs me to stay!

Invoking of self-diagnosed, misunderstood condition as justification for saying whatever the hell I want!

"Any true fan" claim!

Hugs and kissies and telling everyone on the forum how much I love... wait, I'm doing this wrong...

[Cheshire]

And for the record, I don't care if people want to voice their opinions about Marie being creepy or gothic or a possible Cyndi 2.0. This is a webcomic forum, and Marie is a webcomic character. I was actually dressed a lot more "business casual" than "goth princess" in the original reference picture.

If those opinions happen to come across as transphobic or otherwise Seriously Not Cool, well, I'm not going to stop you, but you're going to get some serious side-eye from me.

EDIT: Oh, uh, and all your base belong to me, I guess.

[Freemage]

Folks, if this love-in keeps up, RKM is gonna start feeling comfortable enough to hang out here.... Just sayin', we're losing our edge.

[Zanosuke Kurosaki]

Folks, if this love-in keeps up, RKM is gonna start feeling comfortable enough to hang out here.... Just sayin', we're losing our edge.

Royal
Kanadian
Mages?

[Freemage]

Folks, if this love-in keeps up, RKM is gonna start feeling comfortable enough to hang out here.... Just sayin', we're losing our edge.

Royal
Kanadian
Mages?

Randy K. Milholland, author/artist of Something*Positive, who is on the record as saying the only fanbase that actually scared him with their fantaticsim was the P&A folks during his stint as guest-artist here.

[Zanosuke Kurosaki]

Folks, if this love-in keeps up, RKM is gonna start feeling comfortable enough to hang out here.... Just sayin', we're losing our edge.

Royal
Kanadian
Mages?

Randy K. Milholland, author/artist of Something*Positive, who is on the record as saying the only fanbase that actually scared him with their fantaticsim was the P&A folks during his stint as guest-artist here.

Are you kidding? That would actually be awesome, he's surprisingly well-mannered and good-natured (especially for a guy that has a beard that other comic authors have joked that it "scares children".) The fanaticism seems to have eased off since the comic changed over, too, so maybe he'll be okay joining the rest of us again. Hehe. "Come... join us... don't be afraid..." *said in a monotone with blank eyes*

Also, the Royal Kanadian Mages are now totally a thing. They come from the steampunk-powered land of Kanadia, the neighbors to the north of Americana, and were an instrumental part in getting rid of the insanity of the Herb Coalition (think "Tea Party" but with even more blatant dementia and stunning hypocrisy) with their bizarre insistence that gay marriage would ruin the world. The RKM are now practically royalty in the highly polite land of Kanadia. ^^

[LookingIn]

Except the original quote that sparked all this was "Yeah, that's (being an mtf transgender) what I'm picking up from the char design as well. Something just seems... "off", if you lot will pardon the expression."

So this is not something "off" about her as in "goth girl" or "creepy personality," this is "this woman looks like she used to be a man," which of course is something that cis and trans women just love hearing.

To be devi's advocate for a second: calling her creepy wasn't out of the blue..."creepy quiet" was what T had Hank describe her as. Add in the last two strips and it isn't that hard to go overboard with assumptions about her in the wrong way.

But frankly calling her goth, Cyndi 2.0 or any variation, or trans- those things are way out there and way too premature and are an insult to her.

[Freemage]

Except the original quote that sparked all this was "Yeah, that's (being an mtf transgender) what I'm picking up from the char design as well. Something just seems... "off", if you lot will pardon the expression."

So this is not something "off" about her as in "goth girl" or "creepy personality," this is "this woman looks like she used to be a man," which of course is something that cis and trans women just love hearing.

To be devi's advocate for a second: calling her creepy wasn't out of the blue..."creepy quiet" was what T had Hank describe her as. Add in the last two strips and it isn't that hard to go overboard with assumptions about her in the wrong way.

But frankly calling her goth, Cyndi 2.0 or any variation, or trans- those things are way out there and way too premature and are an insult to her.

Goth: Actually, fair to suggest, based on the style of her dress (which is more distinctive than most of the ones we've seen so far). Obviously, it could be wrong, but it's a reasonable implication to draw.

Cyndi 2.0: Seriously, it was a joke, and never anything but. A ~serious~ suggestion that the character was intended as such would, definitely, be vastly premature.

trans-: Yes, very off-putting for all the reasons folks have outlined.

[LookingIn]

Except the original quote that sparked all this was "Yeah, that's (being an mtf transgender) what I'm picking up from the char design as well. Something just seems... "off", if you lot will pardon the expression."

So this is not something "off" about her as in "goth girl" or "creepy personality," this is "this woman looks like she used to be a man," which of course is something that cis and trans women just love hearing.

To be devi's advocate for a second: calling her creepy wasn't out of the blue..."creepy quiet" was what T had Hank describe her as. Add in the last two strips and it isn't that hard to go overboard with assumptions about her in the wrong way.

But frankly calling her goth, Cyndi 2.0 or any variation, or trans- those things are way out there and way too premature and are an insult to her.

Goth: Actually, fair to suggest, based on the style of her dress (which is more distinctive than most of the ones we've seen so far). Obviously, it could be wrong, but it's a reasonable implication to draw.

Cyndi 2.0: Seriously, it was a joke, and never anything but. A ~serious~ suggestion that the character was intended as such would, definitely, be vastly premature.

trans-: Yes, very off-putting for all the reasons folks have outlined.

Calling someone goth for their hairstyle and a black dress though? It's a big stretch...and it can be insulting to someone if they aren't goth.

[Cheshire]

Calling someone goth for their hairstyle and a black dress though? It's a big stretch...and it can be insulting to someone if they aren't goth.

I'll admit my first response was "she's probably an art student!" as opposed to "she's a goth!" But that could be because I've been out of high school for five years and didn't really do labels back then, either.

[Freemage]

Except the original quote that sparked all this was "Yeah, that's (being an mtf transgender) what I'm picking up from the char design as well. Something just seems... "off", if you lot will pardon the expression."

So this is not something "off" about her as in "goth girl" or "creepy personality," this is "this woman looks like she used to be a man," which of course is something that cis and trans women just love hearing.

To be devi's advocate for a second: calling her creepy wasn't out of the blue..."creepy quiet" was what T had Hank describe her as. Add in the last two strips and it isn't that hard to go overboard with assumptions about her in the wrong way.

But frankly calling her goth, Cyndi 2.0 or any variation, or trans- those things are way out there and way too premature and are an insult to her.

Goth: Actually, fair to suggest, based on the style of her dress (which is more distinctive than most of the ones we've seen so far). Obviously, it could be wrong, but it's a reasonable implication to draw.

Cyndi 2.0: Seriously, it was a joke, and never anything but. A ~serious~ suggestion that the character was intended as such would, definitely, be vastly premature.

trans-: Yes, very off-putting for all the reasons folks have outlined.

Calling someone goth for their hairstyle and a black dress though? It's a big stretch...and it can be insulting to someone if they aren't goth.

Heh. I think part of it is that I don't regard "goth" as an identity (compared with trans- or sexual orientation, for instance). It's a school of fashion, art and philosophy, but one can be 'goth' with only one of those categories. The outfit, hairstyle and make-up are at least influenced by goth fashion mores.

Now, if you're using a tighter definition of 'goth', one that incorporates a full lifestyle, then I'd understand saying that any speculation along those lines was premature.

[IS_Wolf]

4 ) Saying that a character must be trans because "there's something 'off' about her" is not particularly sensitive to trans people, even though I'm sure no offence was meant.

Which is precisely why I asked if you lot would pardon the expression. Not quite sure how else to phrase it.
And while she may be visually based on another forum member that does not automatically mean that character and person are 1 to 1 interchangeable.

Plus there's always the risk of Art exaggerating some features that makes the picture look slightly different from the person it was modeled on, and that may be causing the incongruity as well.

There's just something about Marie, that to me anyway, suggests: was not born physically a woman. (Kinda reminded of the character: Edo Genbatsu from Ghost Slayers Ayashi, who is pretty much confused as a woman all the time.)

Didn't have that with Chrissie oddly enough.
That one just gave off a vibe of a slightly overweight African-American lady, probably an engineering student, based upon garb and hairstyle.

[Cheshire]

Which is precisely why I asked if you lot would pardon the expression. Not quite sure how else to phrase it.
And while she may be visually based on another forum member that does not automatically mean that character and person are 1 to 1 interchangeable.

Plus there's always the risk of Art exaggerating some features that makes the picture look slightly different from the person it was modeled on, and that may be causing the incongruity as well.

There's just something about Marie, that to me anyway, suggests: was not born physically a woman.

Didn't have that with Chrissie oddly enough.
That one just gave off a vibe of a slightly overweight African-American lady, probably an engineering student, based upon garb and hairstyle.

You are not making your statement look any better, and you should stop.