Unused strip for November 22, 2021
Added 2021-12-19 16:36:06 +0000 UTCAfter finishing this one, I rewrote the last two panels to be about Becky instead of Joyce's brother (it seemed more pertinent) and to give both Joyce and Dorothy's statements more room to breathe. Plus I got a joke in there!
Here are the final strips that replaced the one above:
Comments
I feel like John meant the latter even as he said the former. He'd tell himself it's fine to be angry, but Joyce is a girl and his little sister and so he gets to dictate what time and place is appropriate for her anger, which is zero and especially when directed at him. Dorothy absolutely *means* to be constructive, everything she says to Joyce is filtered through genuine compassion and love for her best friend, but I feel that this is a kind of thing that has to try really hard *not* to be "you're so angry, so bitter, and you're wrong to be," because when you talk about it you are, on some level, trying to judge the person's emotions. Mind, this is a take I've got since I feel the last two chapters have had a subtext of Dorothy's friendship with Joyce being recontextualized when Joyce goes off-script and Dorothy can't just solve her problems for her, and I *do* think that's the crucial difference; I do think Dorothy is trying to contextualize when and how Joyce is allowed to be angry about something that is far more important to Joyce than is to her, but Dorothy's only doing that because she is trying really, really hard to be a good and supportive friend. But, yeah, the Becky comparison is absolutely for the best.
Spencer
2021-12-20 11:40:04 +0000 UTCI have to agree. The dildo joke is just too good to let that one go.
BBCC
2021-12-20 05:07:03 +0000 UTCI don't think the comparison is QUITE right. Dorothy isn't saying, to my understanding, "You're wrong because you're angry and should stop." so much as "You're angry, and the way you're expressing that anger can be unhealthy and hurtful in your relationships." which can be a fair point. Anger's just like every emotion, it's got unhealthy ways of going about it that can be hurtful. That doesn't make Joyce a Permanently Bad Person We Hate because she's doing something hurtful, it just means she can be an ass when she's angry. So can most people. Hell, Becky's not been handling this 100% optimally either.
BBCC
2021-12-20 05:06:48 +0000 UTCThe real weirdness for me saying John so much is that it's a derogatory nickname for Smash Bros players who blame their losses on something else. So now I'm stuck with the mental image of Dorothy complaining she lost because Ganondorf is overpowered
Spencer
2021-12-19 18:23:05 +0000 UTCAlso that
Spencer
2021-12-19 18:21:35 +0000 UTCI mean, Dorothy wouldn't really fully understand the comparison anyway, as she wasn't there. Another reason to bring up Becky instead.
David Willis
2021-12-19 17:36:32 +0000 UTCThe John comparison feels really apt, but I think it's better to avoid the direct callback because it'd make things more binary where either Dorothy is being a John, or Joyce is wrong to think Dorothy is being a John. By centering it away from a definitely antagonistic character, Dorothy and Joyce's commentary feels more interpretive and formed by each other instead of that one guy we hate. I definitely think of Dorothy as being a John right now, but I wouldn't want to be *told* that.
Spencer
2021-12-19 17:10:12 +0000 UTCGetting a strip with potencial, that grows into 2 or more pages, sounds like a unicorn investment.
Amós Batista
2021-12-19 16:47:11 +0000 UTC
