Helen in S*P

[Mr. Brightside]

I tried to explain without a link, but I couldn't word it right. Luckily Wikipedia's entry on them has a relatively un-squick-inducing picture. (That one actually looks pretty cool...it's the ones that use laced rings that really bother me, especially when the lacing's tightened to pull on the rings.)

Thanks!

One of the many many things I love about this forum: I learn something new almost every day.

Unh! I could have lived without learning that.

When I saw the page, I knew I'd learned it before, but it mercifully made its way out of my head... owww...

[brasca]

I think Helen knows, but she seems to have some impulse control problems.

Agreed. Even at this juncture in her life, when she's actively in aggressive, "It's everyone else's fault" denial mode, there's some part of her that still shows self-awareness. As we see in her sheepish dialogue in the last couple of panels in the latest strip.

Since she's alive and seemingly well in the not too distant future Randy can't kill her. He can make her relapse a few times before he's done with her story, but ultimately she will grow up.

Yes, that's what makes reading her ongoing S*P arc, for me (and, I imagine, many readers), a basically pleasant experience as opposed to a "God, what a train wreck; I can't look" experience: that we know she'll turn out okay six years later.

Also, although I should know better by now than to second-guess T, I can't help but wonder whether part of his reason for writing Helen a brighter future in "Six Septembers Later" was as a favour to Randy, who as we know has had to deal with so much shit from a small but disgustingly vocal and persistent contingent over his handling of Helen. That is, I wonder whether this was, in part, T's way of saying, "Look, Helen's going to turn out fine in the end, so lay off Randy kthx."

Just for the record I am not one of them. I may be passionate about the character, but I'm not about to harass the authors especially when they are in a position to kill the character and in the case of Pepito has done so without concern for reader anger. Even now I don't want to push it since Randy could always claim she was cloned.

I would also add that in addition to her impulse control problems she's probably unable to discern good criticism from bad. In this respect her father's emotional abuse is the biggest contributor, but consequently she now assumes that anything critical is just giving her grief and dismisses it regardless of whether they are right or wrong.

I just had a thought considering I just compared her to Dowden's capacity to grow albeit with many relapses along the way and her outlandish attire in the future that maybe she gets involved in Mike's everyday hero scheme. It could be interesting since there will be plenty of hit or misses. She'll probably run into one when she starts calling herself Amazi-girl until she gets a cease and desist letter from Amber O'Malley.

[Kamino Neko]

She'll probably run into one when she starts calling herself Amazi-girl until she gets a cease and desist letter from Amber O'Malley.

I'm still not 100% convinced Helen and Amber aren't the same person. >_> (Seriously, before their respective makeovers, Amber and Helen could have been twins...)

[Alice Macher]

Just for the record I am not one of them.

Oh, sweetie, you don't even need to say that. We know you're a nice person. Even in your most adamant defences of Helen, you've always been respectful about it.

[brasca]

She'll probably run into one when she starts calling herself Amazi-girl until she gets a cease and desist letter from Amber O'Malley.

I'm still not 100% convinced Helen and Amber aren't the same person. >_> (Seriously, before their respective makeovers, Amber and Helen could have been twins...)

I asked T about that once and he said it was purely coiincidental, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the similarity. Even their background stories are uncannily similar.

And thanks Alice that means a lot.

[Lia S]

I tried to explain without a link, but I couldn't word it right. Luckily Wikipedia's entry on them has a relatively un-squick-inducing picture. (That one actually looks pretty cool...it's the ones that use laced rings that really bother me, especially when the lacing's tightened to pull on the rings.)

When you see one of those, imagine the person has a tattoo somewhere that says "after I die, I want my skin to be made into a giant shoe".

[CJ]

Updated again.

Helen--y is u has teh dumb?

[CEOIII]

1) What is Helen playing? That looks like an old school NES controller.
2) You have an interview with a phone sex company, but you outright refuse to do phone sex. WOMAN, DID YOUR HAIR DYE SEEP INTO YOUR SKULL AND GIVE YOU SEVERE BRAIN DAMAGE?

[Adrishiana]

This has probably been discussed before, but I do wonder how much of Helen's choices in fashion are a matter of how much she genuinely likes the style versus a not-all-that-uncommon-to-her-age feeling that changing her look - but not working on the deeper issues - is what will solve her problems.

[brasca]

1) What is Helen playing? That looks like an old school NES controller.
2) You have an interview with a phone sex company, but you outright refuse to do phone sex. WOMAN, DID YOUR HAIR DYE SEEP INTO YOUR SKULL AND GIVE YOU SEVERE BRAIN DAMAGE?

Agreed. I can defend Helen for a lot of things, but this is just beyond my abilities or inclinations. As someone who opened up their schedule completely and lied through my teeth on assessment tests just to get a measly customer service job for an insurance company (and then didn't because I just wasn't what they were looking for) I cannot believe someone would be this dumb. And unlike previous bad decisions she can't blame the bottle for this.

[DudeMyDadOwnsADealership]

I'd also bet that getting away from the people she's been seeing with such unclear eyes, and the ones who barely treated her like anything *coughfamilycough*, will really end up helping Helen's perspective in the long run, and help her grow towards seeing her own part in her personal issues. So I'd bet they (T and Randy) have had plans for some of this all along, really.

Especially now that she's around people with a strong No Bullshit policy.

Much of how things worked as well as they did for the rest of the P&A cast had to do with being even more privileged friends and family-wise than financially as well as very sheltered, but they also demonstrated they had good enough heads on their shoulders to make it even in conditions more like Helen's current one: Penny has tremendous regular and emotional intelligence, Aggie clearly doesn't have as much trouble with career prospects as she does with social prospects, Jack & Stan are downright precocious adult success-wise, Meg got pretty good a lying down before she hurt herself by her Senior year, and Katy-Ann, I'd argue, very often makes the right call when faced with difficult life-choices, as eccentric and awkward as a few of them may have seemed.

Helen's still parroting the same persona all the 'popular girls' were trying to be back at her little private school, and she's stacking it on top of her Victim Mentality. That's like almost double-dog daring the World to remind her just how at risk she is of ending up like so many homeless and prostitutes that turn up dead every year, murdered or otherwise, as little more than a statistic if she doesn't start making a better place for herself in society here and now.
Nancy let her in to show her how to do exactly that, not to allow her to live like her more fortunate former-classmates. Not fair, Helen? Join the club! If you were meant for the Other Club, your family situation would have been more like Penny's or whatever! Take the damn reigns. You may find it suits you...

[brasca]

I'd also bet that getting away from the people she's been seeing with such unclear eyes, and the ones who barely treated her like anything *coughfamilycough*, will really end up helping Helen's perspective in the long run, and help her grow towards seeing her own part in her personal issues. So I'd bet they (T and Randy) have had plans for some of this all along, really.

Especially now that she's around people with a strong No Bullshit policy.

Much of how things worked as well as they did for the rest of the P&A cast had to do with being even more privileged friends and family-wise than financially as well as very sheltered, but they also demonstrated they had good enough heads on their shoulders to make it even in conditions more like Helen's current one: Penny has tremendous regular and emotional intelligence, Aggie clearly doesn't have as much trouble with career prospects as she does with social prospects, Jack & Stan are downright precocious adult success-wise, Meg got pretty good a lying down before she hurt herself by her Senior year, and Katy-Ann, I'd argue, very often makes the right call when faced with difficult life-choices, as eccentric and awkward as a few of them may have seemed.

Helen's still parroting the same persona all the 'popular girls' were trying to be back at her little private school, and she's stacking it on top of her Victim Mentality. That's like almost double-dog daring the World to remind her just how at risk she is of ending up like so many homeless and prostitutes that turn up dead every year, murdered or otherwise, as little more than a statistic if she doesn't start making a better place for herself in society here and now.
Nancy let her in to show her how to do exactly that, not to allow her to live like her more fortunate former-classmates. Not fair, Helen? Join the club! If you were meant for the Other Club, your family situation would have been more like Penny's or whatever! Take the damn reigns. You may find it suits you...

I have no disagreement that Helen has problems and most people's assessment of such are spot on, but the problem is diagnosis is easy enough. Fixing the problem isn't and not just because of who we're talking about, but the solutions proposed. This is often where my arguments are most fervent since too often it's just more empty platitudes and dime store Dr. Phil advice. Since it is likely that Milholland is finally resolving her storyline I expect he'll write something good. He has just the right mix of truth, cynicism, and hope.

[Fen]

One thing I don't get is why, since Helen now has at least some hire-worthy abilities, she doesn't aim for a job where she could actually use them rather than mention them whilst phonesexing. Last I checked you could get a lower-end technical job even without qualifications as long as you know what you're doing.

Also that hair. I've had some weird haircuts in my lifetime but I don't understand what the hell it's trying to be. Nazi-mullet?

[Arky]

Yeah, I don't blame Helen for not wanting to do phone sex- I don't judge or anything but I think Milholland has slightly forgotten that it's not a dream job for most people just because half his cast are good people who own or work for a phone sex company. If she shows aptitude for tech support, hunt up an entry level tech support job. Great! No need to say "No, bad Helen, you must agree to do phone sex work!". This being Helen, I don't think a sex-related job would be healthy anyway. She's got a bit of a history of bad life decisions in that regard.

[brasca]

Yeah, I don't blame Helen for not wanting to do phone sex- I don't judge or anything but I think Milholland has slightly forgotten that it's not a dream job for most people just because half his cast are good people who own or work for a phone sex company. If she shows aptitude for tech support, hunt up an entry level tech support job. Great! No need to say "No, bad Helen, you must agree to do phone sex work!". This being Helen, I don't think a sex-related job would be healthy anyway. She's got a bit of a history of bad life decisions in that regard.

I think for Helen it was about following through on something in her life. Her whole plan was to run away from home, get emancipated, and get a job at Nerdotica that would support her financial needs whilst becoming a writer. The only thing she was successful at so far was the emancipation and the running away which nearly ended disastrously and I think she knows it. After all the coaching and work she couldn't do phone sex and thus self sabotaged so she could nurture the delusion that it was never meant to be and not her fault. It wasn't just enough that she failed, but by wishing death upon Audrey's loved ones she made damn sure that bridge could never be built again. I'm actually a little relieved that she couldn't do this for her own personal reasons and not because her boyfriend (if he's still in the picture) is the jealous type. Despite this latest relapse she doesn't seem to have a bottle in one hand and an arm around a shiftless bum so that's somewhat of an improvement.

I agree she shouldn't be a phone sex worker considering her past mistakes although I had held out some hope for a one off joke strip where Stan Larson calls up Nerdotica seeking someone who will fill the void in his life since Lisa left and just happens to get an operator who knows exactly who he wants and how to sext speak. The last panel has her donning a red and blond wig. If only I had the talent to draw it myself, but alas I don't.