I thought she had Cadbury Creme Eggs, in a bowl with milk, as if they were cereal, and called it cereal..? I didn’t realise that was an actual cereal over there!
Also kinda assumed she was having the mini ones and was impressed she spent the necessary time removing the foil/vaguely hoped she did/was glad she was a cartoon person and it didn’t matter if she didn’t!
jflb96
Yeah, surely Creme Egg cereal is like Smarties cereal
Don’t wound what you can’t kill, that’s the real lesson. In the five years since that incident, Sal has grown and evolved into the ultimate gamer, and she doesn’t even want it. Amber is basically Vegeta, pissed off that a low-class warrior has surpassed her royal bloodline.
I know she was like 12 or something but it was a very poor execution. If you’re gonna stab someone’s hand at least do it well enough they can’t use it. Instead Amber arguably made Sal stronger in a way that only hurts her specifically. Incredibly shoddy work, honestly. I’d grade her about a “D” in hand stabbing.
She is now Dr. Victor Frankenstein, thinking about the Frankenstein she created.
(And for the record, anyone who tries to correct me that the monster’s name wasn’t Frankenstein, the closest thing the monster had to a parent was Doctor Frankenstein, meaning his family name would be Frankenstein, and since the Doctor never named him, he has no first name, meaning his only name is Frankenstein. In essence, calling the monster Frankenstein is acknowledging his personhood. )
Do note, this makes it obvious why later on he changed his last name to “Munster”, probably part of healing from that abusive relationship. I suspect he changed it around the same time he chose his first name, “Herman”, a bit of an on the nose name, “Her man”, to move on to his more treasured familial relationship with his wife, Lily.
I lost all interest in Questionable Content ages ago when all conflict disappeared and anything resembling conflict was inevitably resolved and everything turned out butterflies and rainbows. And then May and AgentBot/Yay had their characters neutered and all uniqueness and personality removed.
But I still read it, because Faye is the last of the original cast who hasn’t been relegated to secondary status and I want to witness it happen (though it looks like Jeph’s plan of putting Marten and Claire on a bus backfired and now Marten might start playing a bigger role again).
I love the low conflict QA. I feel like everyone is growing up. Also I love Claire and I love her chill relationship with Martin. It’s my first comic check every morning. It’s interesting even though they’re out of their messed up 20s. More interesting really because it’s not reliant on unnecessary drama. The one thing I do miss is Steve (?) eating cereal.
Sirksome
Questionable Content is such a weird comic because it’s arguably about nothing and there is little to no stakes, it has very interesting setting where humanity has reached an idealistic future where sentient AI has been fully integrated into society, but it doesn’t talk about it. Yet somehow it’s still one of the most accurate depictions of millennials coming of age and slowly transitioning to adults, while also nailing the sometimes monotonous and inconsequential lives of most people.
Dan
Just had to agree. QC is not without conflict, but the characters resolve it. The strip shows how people with high emotional intelligence deal with their problems.
Except of course for Liz!
Veronica
I also love Claire but every time I look at her all I can think is “Famn it would be cool if there was a single webcomic that included a trans woman who actually looked like a trans woman”
Wren
I don’t disagree but for a cis person writing a trans person for the first time, erring on the side of caution in how she’s depicted is the better way to go imo. I definitely prefer that he made her just look like another female character as opposed to the yikes effect of if the first trans character we met leaned more into a stereotype. Plus Clinton shares her frame and overall appearance, which is cool.
I think I read three webcomics nowadays but I used to read more and I recall transfolk who look trans being out there but typically being written and drawn by trans folk, so… they’re out there, is all I have!
yeah, I think it’s too easy to stray into Sakura from Danganronpa if one isn’t careful
I like Claire the way she is
Wren
*googles*
Oh. Wow, yeah. Tbh a variety of trans representation is best and while I can’t comment on the character at all I could love that design if it’s alongside a variety of other transfolk of more traditional builds. A woman could be built like that and love it and still be a woman! But as the only trans character, it would definitely be a bad look.
I’m trying to pinpoint the part where the conflict disappeared. Is it when Faye stopped drinking? That was the last time the stakes were literally life and death.
Needfuldoer
I think the whole “underground robot fighting arena” storyline was the last time it followed a long arc through to a conclusion.
The characters Grew up and Matured, All the original main cast have found Love and either Own their own business or are soon to do so. Drama isn’t something they Create anymore, they are to busy, the stuff just happens around them and they gotta deal with it. Im Subscribed to his Patreon to get the comics a day ahead of time and I gotta say, the newest development could be the next major conflict if its not played for jokes, which would also be good.
The Story only really had 1 big conflict and it was Fay’s drinking problem, and that was solved YEARS ago, That story isn’t about Conflict, its about Growing up as Adults in their Late 20’s and early 30’s. People finish growing up and maturing around those points, most inner conflict is gonna be resolved.
Needfuldoer
Your life doesn’t become listless malaise just because you turn 30. There’s plenty of material to build an engaging story without apocalyptic conflict, if the comic could stop getting sidetracked with new characters and follow through on the plot threads it starts.
They seem happy! And busy! No malaise or listlessness. And like, this comic (DOA) isn’t going to end Freshman year any year soon… I’m not in a huge rush for Dora and Tai’s wedding. It’ll happen when it happens and there’s no need for artificial nonsense preventing it from happening just for dramas sake. (Jeph… if you’re reading, I LOVE what you’re doing and I’m glad it didn’t end up being a sitcom of how Martin can’t ever have a healthy relationship and perpetual will he or won’t he with Faye. That would have truly bored me eventually.)
I stopped reading months ago during The Party That Never Ended. It’s just boring at this point. Nothing interesting but the occasional fetish drawing happens.
I don’t think it’s a good representation of Millennials coasting off into the night, especially as canonically they’re still in their 20s. Claire is insufferable. May went from best girl to pudding. Characters I don’t know or chare about appear and disappear as Jeph gets bored. Cubetown makes no sense. It’s just. So. Boring. DoA has remained fresh and interesting for over 10 years, so has Gunnerkrigg Court (19), Freefall (good god, 30???) and Skin Horse (14 I think, it did end a few years ago but it was a fabulous ride). QC, no.
Hard disagree. Claire is wonderful. She still makes the best puns. She’s in an interesting situation where she’s above her head but also the only organized person so maybe she’ll make it work. I love her relationships with her mom and her brother.
Gunnerkrigg Court, otoh, used to be on my regular reads, but it got boring and completely lost me. (I think around when the two Annies got combined.)
Taffy
Okay, so you’re just ignoring the 7-month-long Torture Saga, where Claire kept Pintsize in a steel cage and electrocuted him 24/7, gradually removed parts of him, ground those parts into metallic dust, fed them to Marten to give him metal poisoning so he’d be more docile for her, and then forcibly converted Pintsize to a more humanoid body so she could avoid doing her house chores. Great, real progressive.
Needfuldoer
You say that like Pintsize isn’t into that first part.
Was that before or after she poisoned the watering hole and destroyed all their crops??
thejeff
I don’t even know what “The Party That Never Ended” refers to.
I enjoy QC as a generally low stakes, but often very funny comic with lots of fun ideas and characters to play with. I’m nowhere near as invested in it as I am here, but I enjoy it at least as much.
I’m honestly so happy that QC and DOA are so widely seen as sister comics that can just suddenly post a comment like this here, and immediately get dozens of strongly opinionated replies. Truly, this is a heartwarming moment of close-knit online community building!
Why are you bashing QC over here in the comments of DOA, rather than over there in the hater subreddit for QC, which apparently (still) exists solely for that purpose?
Oh no, reverse Dolly Zoom, Amber realizing she created her enemy, AND Amber realizing that the thing she cared so much about isn’t important to the person who did it?
I feel like Amber isn’t going to be a character for much longer.
I think I was thinking mental break again personally and then after I posted, I remembered the rubber room repeating copypasta thing.
Crazy? I was crazy once.
They put me in a room.
A rubber room.
A rubber room with rats.
They put me in a rubber room with rubber rats.
Rubber rats? I hate rubber rats.
They make me crazy.
Crazy? I was crazy once.
They put me in a room….
i’m so glad there’s a real in-universe explanation for this and not just Sal being Sal. instantly makes this mini arc and the impending events like ten times better & funnier
1: ^ This
2: Spasming my hand is the only reason I can beat all my friends at button mashing minigames. Sure, it hurts after a while, but the usual 30 seconds/1 minute or 100 times is usually not enough. So it checks out.
You forget, Amber’s terminally online, she’s seen it used unironically in horrible corners of the internet and is probably guilty of using it herself a time or two. (Or 3 or 4 now, counting these last few comics)
I genuinely think she would use it unironically because she’s still unlearning casual misogyny and homophobicish* patterns of thinking and behaving that plague online, and specifically chronic fandom spaces. Kids are sponges. Teens are super social sponges. Early adulthood is for ringing the nasties out of the sponge.
*Like the whole shipping men to the point she was projecting onto live people, of which I was guilty of in highschool.
“make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I’m going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!”
374 thoughts on “Mary Sue”
Ana Chronistic
now imagine the record ROBIN would get
(…at consuming Cadbury Creme Eggs)
Opus the Poet
Except that Robin had Creme Egg cereal with milk, not just Cadbury Creme Eggs.
Furie
What a wimp.
ValdVin
The big hot dog eating competition in Coney Island allows you to have water. Whether Robin can have milk in her contest is up to rules makers.
I love the idea of “rules lawyering” for this subject.
Miri
I thought she had Cadbury Creme Eggs, in a bowl with milk, as if they were cereal, and called it cereal..? I didn’t realise that was an actual cereal over there!
Also kinda assumed she was having the mini ones and was impressed she spent the necessary time removing the foil/vaguely hoped she did/was glad she was a cartoon person and it didn’t matter if she didn’t!
jflb96
Yeah, surely Creme Egg cereal is like Smarties cereal
sdrainbow
lol.
Schpoonman
Aw, jeez.
IntangibleMatter
Amber’s impulse ten years ago backfired now. Bet she reallllly regrets doing that.
I mean, also because she like, stabbed a girl’s hand, but y’know, mostly losing the record.
Yumi
See, Amber, this is why you shouldn’t stab people!
clif
This is something we can all learn from.
Taffy
Don’t wound what you can’t kill, that’s the real lesson. In the five years since that incident, Sal has grown and evolved into the ultimate gamer, and she doesn’t even want it. Amber is basically Vegeta, pissed off that a low-class warrior has surpassed her royal bloodline.
Sirksome
I know she was like 12 or something but it was a very poor execution. If you’re gonna stab someone’s hand at least do it well enough they can’t use it. Instead Amber arguably made Sal stronger in a way that only hurts her specifically. Incredibly shoddy work, honestly. I’d grade her about a “D” in hand stabbing.
Gigafreak
Danny has given the D to both of those people
Lilith Rose
She is now Dr. Victor Frankenstein, thinking about the Frankenstein she created.
(And for the record, anyone who tries to correct me that the monster’s name wasn’t Frankenstein, the closest thing the monster had to a parent was Doctor Frankenstein, meaning his family name would be Frankenstein, and since the Doctor never named him, he has no first name, meaning his only name is Frankenstein. In essence, calling the monster Frankenstein is acknowledging his personhood. )
Lilith Rose
Do note, this makes it obvious why later on he changed his last name to “Munster”, probably part of healing from that abusive relationship. I suspect he changed it around the same time he chose his first name, “Herman”, a bit of an on the nose name, “Her man”, to move on to his more treasured familial relationship with his wife, Lily.
Amós Batista
The best way Amber can revenge this offensive act is to pay surgery and treatment to heal Sal’s hand.
Reltzik
Given Sal’s painful experience in trying and failing to pay for a surgery, that actually would be revenge.
Lumino
The comments today will be DELICIOUS.
Who else is leaving forever only to be back tomorrow?
JA
I lost all interest in Questionable Content ages ago when all conflict disappeared and anything resembling conflict was inevitably resolved and everything turned out butterflies and rainbows. And then May and AgentBot/Yay had their characters neutered and all uniqueness and personality removed.
But I still read it, because Faye is the last of the original cast who hasn’t been relegated to secondary status and I want to witness it happen (though it looks like Jeph’s plan of putting Marten and Claire on a bus backfired and now Marten might start playing a bigger role again).
3oranges
…What?
Needfuldoer
IIRC Cubetown was supposed to be a way to write Marten and Claire out of the comic.
Turns out writing stories about a research campus with unlimited resources at its disposal is fun, so it stays in addition to Northampton.
Damoinion
Umm, wrong comic …… ?
Strain of Thought
I think they’re trying to say that sometimes you quit some ongoing series emotionally but still keep checking in to see what happens.
Joy
I thought Martin getting a bigger role again was on purpose.
Nicoleandmaggie
I love the low conflict QA. I feel like everyone is growing up. Also I love Claire and I love her chill relationship with Martin. It’s my first comic check every morning. It’s interesting even though they’re out of their messed up 20s. More interesting really because it’s not reliant on unnecessary drama. The one thing I do miss is Steve (?) eating cereal.
Sirksome
Questionable Content is such a weird comic because it’s arguably about nothing and there is little to no stakes, it has very interesting setting where humanity has reached an idealistic future where sentient AI has been fully integrated into society, but it doesn’t talk about it. Yet somehow it’s still one of the most accurate depictions of millennials coming of age and slowly transitioning to adults, while also nailing the sometimes monotonous and inconsequential lives of most people.
Dan
Just had to agree. QC is not without conflict, but the characters resolve it. The strip shows how people with high emotional intelligence deal with their problems.
Except of course for Liz!
Veronica
I also love Claire but every time I look at her all I can think is “Famn it would be cool if there was a single webcomic that included a trans woman who actually looked like a trans woman”
Wren
I don’t disagree but for a cis person writing a trans person for the first time, erring on the side of caution in how she’s depicted is the better way to go imo. I definitely prefer that he made her just look like another female character as opposed to the yikes effect of if the first trans character we met leaned more into a stereotype. Plus Clinton shares her frame and overall appearance, which is cool.
I think I read three webcomics nowadays but I used to read more and I recall transfolk who look trans being out there but typically being written and drawn by trans folk, so… they’re out there, is all I have!
Ana Chronistic
yeah, I think it’s too easy to stray into Sakura from Danganronpa if one isn’t careful
I like Claire the way she is
Wren
*googles*
Oh. Wow, yeah. Tbh a variety of trans representation is best and while I can’t comment on the character at all I could love that design if it’s alongside a variety of other transfolk of more traditional builds. A woman could be built like that and love it and still be a woman! But as the only trans character, it would definitely be a bad look.
I like Claire as she is too. 😀
Shadowydreamer
I’m confused. What do you think a trans woman should look like?
lyzyrdwyzyrd
Not to mention feeling increasingly fetishistic.
Bash
I’m trying to pinpoint the part where the conflict disappeared. Is it when Faye stopped drinking? That was the last time the stakes were literally life and death.
Needfuldoer
I think the whole “underground robot fighting arena” storyline was the last time it followed a long arc through to a conclusion.
Switchchris
The characters Grew up and Matured, All the original main cast have found Love and either Own their own business or are soon to do so. Drama isn’t something they Create anymore, they are to busy, the stuff just happens around them and they gotta deal with it. Im Subscribed to his Patreon to get the comics a day ahead of time and I gotta say, the newest development could be the next major conflict if its not played for jokes, which would also be good.
The Story only really had 1 big conflict and it was Fay’s drinking problem, and that was solved YEARS ago, That story isn’t about Conflict, its about Growing up as Adults in their Late 20’s and early 30’s. People finish growing up and maturing around those points, most inner conflict is gonna be resolved.
Needfuldoer
Your life doesn’t become listless malaise just because you turn 30. There’s plenty of material to build an engaging story without apocalyptic conflict, if the comic could stop getting sidetracked with new characters and follow through on the plot threads it starts.
nicoleandmaggie
They seem happy! And busy! No malaise or listlessness. And like, this comic (DOA) isn’t going to end Freshman year any year soon… I’m not in a huge rush for Dora and Tai’s wedding. It’ll happen when it happens and there’s no need for artificial nonsense preventing it from happening just for dramas sake. (Jeph… if you’re reading, I LOVE what you’re doing and I’m glad it didn’t end up being a sitcom of how Martin can’t ever have a healthy relationship and perpetual will he or won’t he with Faye. That would have truly bored me eventually.)
Marisa Mockery
I stopped reading months ago during The Party That Never Ended. It’s just boring at this point. Nothing interesting but the occasional fetish drawing happens.
I don’t think it’s a good representation of Millennials coasting off into the night, especially as canonically they’re still in their 20s. Claire is insufferable. May went from best girl to pudding. Characters I don’t know or chare about appear and disappear as Jeph gets bored. Cubetown makes no sense. It’s just. So. Boring. DoA has remained fresh and interesting for over 10 years, so has Gunnerkrigg Court (19), Freefall (good god, 30???) and Skin Horse (14 I think, it did end a few years ago but it was a fabulous ride). QC, no.
nicoleandmaggie
Hard disagree. Claire is wonderful. She still makes the best puns. She’s in an interesting situation where she’s above her head but also the only organized person so maybe she’ll make it work. I love her relationships with her mom and her brother.
Gunnerkrigg Court, otoh, used to be on my regular reads, but it got boring and completely lost me. (I think around when the two Annies got combined.)
Taffy
Okay, so you’re just ignoring the 7-month-long Torture Saga, where Claire kept Pintsize in a steel cage and electrocuted him 24/7, gradually removed parts of him, ground those parts into metallic dust, fed them to Marten to give him metal poisoning so he’d be more docile for her, and then forcibly converted Pintsize to a more humanoid body so she could avoid doing her house chores. Great, real progressive.
Needfuldoer
You say that like Pintsize isn’t into that first part.
nicoleandmaggie
ROFL!
BohNo
Was that before or after she poisoned the watering hole and destroyed all their crops??
thejeff
I don’t even know what “The Party That Never Ended” refers to.
I enjoy QC as a generally low stakes, but often very funny comic with lots of fun ideas and characters to play with. I’m nowhere near as invested in it as I am here, but I enjoy it at least as much.
Kim
I mean… it’s a slice-of-life comedy, basically.
Not all genres resolve around conflict =)
Kim
revolve* ^^
Mturtle7
I’m honestly so happy that QC and DOA are so widely seen as sister comics that can just suddenly post a comment like this here, and immediately get dozens of strongly opinionated replies. Truly, this is a heartwarming moment of close-knit online community building!
PedanticJerkass
Why are you bashing QC over here in the comments of DOA, rather than over there in the hater subreddit for QC, which apparently (still) exists solely for that purpose?
True Survivor
At last, sweet revenge. Sal is cold mother-lover (though I think she might actually hate her mom a little bit too).
Azhrei Vep
Hey, you never specific which mother. I bet there’s some mothers out there she could love.
Ty34er
Oh no, reverse Dolly Zoom, Amber realizing she created her enemy, AND Amber realizing that the thing she cared so much about isn’t important to the person who did it?
I feel like Amber isn’t going to be a character for much longer.
a/snow/mous/e
oh, because AmaziGirl is about to show herself?
Ty34er
I think I was thinking mental break again personally and then after I posted, I remembered the rubber room repeating copypasta thing.
Crazy? I was crazy once.
They put me in a room.
A rubber room.
A rubber room with rats.
They put me in a rubber room with rubber rats.
Rubber rats? I hate rubber rats.
They make me crazy.
Crazy? I was crazy once.
They put me in a room….
tomorand
i’m so glad there’s a real in-universe explanation for this and not just Sal being Sal. instantly makes this mini arc and the impending events like ten times better & funnier
Theluxland
1: ^ This
2: Spasming my hand is the only reason I can beat all my friends at button mashing minigames. Sure, it hurts after a while, but the usual 30 seconds/1 minute or 100 times is usually not enough. So it checks out.
Dara
Amber . o O (it was me
it was me
it was me)
Woop de doop
Thanks for reminding me about this. I enjoyed it
elfroyalty
amber honey we haven’t used that phrase unironically in like a decade+
Proto
You forget, Amber’s terminally online, she’s seen it used unironically in horrible corners of the internet and is probably guilty of using it herself a time or two. (Or 3 or 4 now, counting these last few comics)
Bogeywoman
I genuinely think she would use it unironically because she’s still unlearning casual misogyny and homophobicish* patterns of thinking and behaving that plague online, and specifically chronic fandom spaces. Kids are sponges. Teens are super social sponges. Early adulthood is for ringing the nasties out of the sponge.
*Like the whole shipping men to the point she was projecting onto live people, of which I was guilty of in highschool.
NGPZ
How agonizingly ironic. Ah well, at least Amber’s misfortune can become somebody else’s fortune.
It’s that old earthling saying, “life gives you lemons…”
Jeremiah
“… Squeeze it into your enemies eyes!!”
UrsulaDavina
“make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I’m going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!”
sdrainbow
yes! yes! he says what we’re all thinking!
Mark
All you need now is enough copper and zinc strips to stick into maybe a million lemons, and you’d have enough electricity to do it.
anonymsly
“…make lemonade, and then throw it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you originally asked for.”
Phil Hartman, of course.
thejeff
“Time to make margaritas!”
eh, whatever
Blue Screen of Death with the game-over theme of Super Mario Land playing.
eh, whatever