Man, if Quirrell had long hair, Voldemort would have been in for a rough time. He’d be constantly choking, and everything he said would have been muffled.
Incidentally, one of my favorite things ever was reading that book for a second time and noticing that there’s a scene where Fred and George enchanted snowballs to throw themselves at the back of Quirrell’s head. They were hitting Voldemort in the face! True heroes of the series!
He seems very punchable when you first meet him, but a reminder that Blaine had an influence on his upbringing makes him seem remarkably well-adjusted and I just wanna get him, like, some kind of deprogramming treatment to learn how to be less creepy.
WTF…how is that even…
Okay, seriously, what. Someone explain exactly how the stepmom is liable for Amber’s college costs…unless it’s actually Blaine who’s liable and the stepmom here is just blaming Amber?
As Blaine’s wife she feels that she should have a say in how his income is distributed and resents the portion that goes toward court-mandated tuition.
That or Blaine has misinformed her as to what percentage of his income is going toward his daughter’s tuition and uses that to justify not having enough to save a penny toward Faz’s theoretical college fund.
I was wondering if she was saying that mostly for Blaine’s benefit, seeing as he’s in the car. It wouldn’t surprise me if she either buys into his twisted views (Stockholm Syndrome maybe?) or will say she does to keep him from turning on her as much as possible. Given how abusive he’s been shown to be, either one seems plausible without her actually being that horrible herself.
Though of course, horrible is as horrible does and in this case she definitely doesn’t look good.
Coma
Just a minor thing for clarification, I think you meant Faz, not Blaine?
I think she might just be horrible in the sense of being against Amber – mostly because she probably never heard anything good about Amber and her mother from Blaine, didn’t have anything to do with the both of them, so it’d be pretty easy for her to put all kind of faults onto Amber’s existence (like, having no money – which I doubt is the case, but maybe we’ll get to see a bit more of Faz’s life at home).
Coma
NEVERMIND, I just realised (also by seeing other comments) that Blaine’s in the tags, don’t know how I could’ve so obviously misread this! (I should pay more attention, before I write something)
Felix
Yep, the last panels speech bubble is coming from the back of the car.
Blaine’s first appearance included the ‘I pay your tuition, I paid for that laptop*’ bit, so yeah, totally his fault and her blaming Amber for existing/the courts for demanding Blaine financially support her. * (Which Amber got used and refurbished, probably to minimize how much she owed him and did I mention Blaine is the Worst? Augh)
“This family” = Yuri, Faz and Blaine. Blaine is responsible for paying for Amber therefore the three of them as a family unit have less disposable income.
Although if Blaine isn’t Faz’s dad, there is presumably somebody else out there who may be considered liable for *his* college expenses?
Yeeeeeeah, but given the incredibly poor judgment shown by bashing Faz’s stepsister immediately after he came from a visit with her – and it’s hardly Amber’s fault that the child support settlement came down this way! – I’m going to say we need to see their financials before we assume she isn’t exaggerating well out of proportion.
BBCC
It’s possible, but regardless, it seems like Fazdad isn’t around.
Faz told Amber that his father doesn’t care what he does. That implies his father is still alive and either an extremely permissive parent or absent entirely.
Mr D
Or is blaine.
Victor Riley
I don’t think so… Amber makes a point to say, “Not your Dad, MY Dad, your step-dad”. So, there is at least another man out there that is thought to be Faz’s biological father. (Even with Amber questioning that Blaine really is that, anyway… which just makes everything muddier if it’s true)
That exchange makes a lot of sense if there is no Faz Father in the picture. Faz is talking about Blaine. Amber wants to believe he’s talking about his hypothetical absent real father – who obviously doesn’t care, since he’s completely out of the picture. Faz doesn’t correct her, because she’s not supposed to know.
Jason
99% sure Blaine isn’t Faz’s biological father (iirc DW confirmed Blaine only has one biological child), and I’m maybe 80% sure that he was referring to Blaine anyway. It doesn’t seem that unlikely to me that a child would call their stepfather “father” occasionally- and it sounds like he’s been around in their family for a long time, although there’s nothing concrete there.
thejeff
I was relying on that earlier too, but Willis said a bit earlier in this chapter that he’d forgotten about the earlier tumblr comment. Given that, all the hints seem to be leading up to something.
BigDogLittleCat
I don’t think so. He says “Father” as if he’s both theirs and she corrects him to father and stepfather.
Pretty sure you’ve got it. I think Yuri’s only responsible in-so-far as she made the (awful, terrible, horrible) decision to marry Blaine, and therefore he can’t contribute as much to the family coffers as he would otherwise.
Then financial aid. There is some option to cover his tuition somewhere.
LookingIn
Grants, work study, no-interest loans. Despite popular misinformation, college isn’t as expensive as claimed especially for a state school.
Regalli
I’m placing my bet on, ‘that requires reporting your LEGAL income and they don’t want that scrutinized too closely’. Until proven otherwise, I’m taking Richard’s mob line as fact.
BBCC
I’m only responding to the scholarship route. It’s hard to say without knowing the financials and likelihoods of the whole thing.
Marsh Maryrose
My word choice was poor.
I haven’t had to personally deal with college financing in decades, but my understanding is that college financing nowadays is a mishmosh of financial aid, scholarships, grants, student loans, etcetera etcetera.
Off the top of my head, two things that could make getting scholarships difficult:
1) Faz and/or Yuri being undocumented
2) Blaine’s mob connections making it risky for him to disclose income and/or employment
But Blaine appears to be legally married to Yuri, which would rule out 1. And presumably the courts already have enough of his financial record to compel him to pay Amber’s tuition, which would rule out 2.
Paying for college in the US has become a Kafkaesque exercise, and, for most people, putting together a financial package starts at difficult, and can wind up at impossible.
But Yuri seems to be putting a kibosh on the whole idea from the start, and that’s just not right.
I think it’s more like Blaine bullies her into paying Amber’s tuition, while parading as paying it himself. We don’t know how abusive Blaine is in this family, so I’m going with very.
I actually missed it before the comments and can only express my dismay in emoticon: D: At least it means tomorrow when we see him it won’t be as nasty a surprise? Just leaving our horror for whatever he says. I reiterate: D:
He finally got out of the hospital after the beatdown/curbstomping he got from Amber/AmaziGirl, and Faz escaped while Yuri was helping with the paperwork.
I always assumed that Yuri had some serious issues, just on the basis that she married Blaine. I’ve just been waiting to see exactly what those issues are.
348 thoughts on “Tuition”
Ana Chronistic
oh shit, does she have Voldemort living in the back of her head
Doctor_Who
Man, if Quirrell had long hair, Voldemort would have been in for a rough time. He’d be constantly choking, and everything he said would have been muffled.
Incidentally, one of my favorite things ever was reading that book for a second time and noticing that there’s a scene where Fred and George enchanted snowballs to throw themselves at the back of Quirrell’s head. They were hitting Voldemort in the face! True heroes of the series!
Emily
Even worse, she has Blaine in the back of her head
Agent Kale Duped Ya
…and in the back of her throat?
(Sorry. I’ll get my coat)
Side One
I’ll hold the door for you… for making that joke before I could!
znk
i briefly misread that as “Bane”. this is worse, though.
AnvilPro
Oh. Okay then.
Synnerman
Faz is about to get humanized some more.
Madock345
I think Humanized is a very gentle word for what’s about to happen here
Jess
Yikes, well said. :/
Mollyscribbles
He seems very punchable when you first meet him, but a reminder that Blaine had an influence on his upbringing makes him seem remarkably well-adjusted and I just wanna get him, like, some kind of deprogramming treatment to learn how to be less creepy.
threePwny
If by “well-adjusted” you mean “surprisingly not as sociopathic as one would generally be led to expect”, sure
MatthewTheLucky
Was that not obvious?
Mollyscribbles
What I was aiming for, yeah. I love Amber, but Blaine’s parenting has not left her psychologically stable.
Schol-R-LEA
Not stable is putting it mildly. Blaine compares unfavorably to Gendo Ikari, FFS.
Creativerealms
At the sake of Yumi losing some.
Yumi
wait what
Madock345
Oh god the Creepy/Evil vibes just went through the roof
jeffepp
Oh, it’s all Amber’s fault, is it. Welp, she seemed nice the first time. Now, not so much.
Ragnarok
WTF…how is that even…
Okay, seriously, what. Someone explain exactly how the stepmom is liable for Amber’s college costs…unless it’s actually Blaine who’s liable and the stepmom here is just blaming Amber?
Durandal_1707
It’s actually Blaine who’s liable and the stepmom here is just blaming Amber.
Mollyscribbles
As Blaine’s wife she feels that she should have a say in how his income is distributed and resents the portion that goes toward court-mandated tuition.
That or Blaine has misinformed her as to what percentage of his income is going toward his daughter’s tuition and uses that to justify not having enough to save a penny toward Faz’s theoretical college fund.
Purblebirb
Knowing Blaine its probably the second thing
Regalli
… that last bit is disturbingly possible. Maaaaaan, fuck Blaine.
CK
I was wondering if she was saying that mostly for Blaine’s benefit, seeing as he’s in the car. It wouldn’t surprise me if she either buys into his twisted views (Stockholm Syndrome maybe?) or will say she does to keep him from turning on her as much as possible. Given how abusive he’s been shown to be, either one seems plausible without her actually being that horrible herself.
Though of course, horrible is as horrible does and in this case she definitely doesn’t look good.
Coma
Just a minor thing for clarification, I think you meant Faz, not Blaine?
I think she might just be horrible in the sense of being against Amber – mostly because she probably never heard anything good about Amber and her mother from Blaine, didn’t have anything to do with the both of them, so it’d be pretty easy for her to put all kind of faults onto Amber’s existence (like, having no money – which I doubt is the case, but maybe we’ll get to see a bit more of Faz’s life at home).
Coma
NEVERMIND, I just realised (also by seeing other comments) that Blaine’s in the tags, don’t know how I could’ve so obviously misread this! (I should pay more attention, before I write something)
Felix
Yep, the last panels speech bubble is coming from the back of the car.
Fomalhaut88
She could just be a shitty person.
Regalli
Blaine’s first appearance included the ‘I pay your tuition, I paid for that laptop*’ bit, so yeah, totally his fault and her blaming Amber for existing/the courts for demanding Blaine financially support her. * (Which Amber got used and refurbished, probably to minimize how much she owed him and did I mention Blaine is the Worst? Augh)
Miri
“This family” = Yuri, Faz and Blaine. Blaine is responsible for paying for Amber therefore the three of them as a family unit have less disposable income.
Although if Blaine isn’t Faz’s dad, there is presumably somebody else out there who may be considered liable for *his* college expenses?
BBCC
Unlikely, since Yuri says they won’t be able to afford to pay for him to go to school due to the financial strain of paying for Amber’s.
Conuly
Yeeeeeeah, but given the incredibly poor judgment shown by bashing Faz’s stepsister immediately after he came from a visit with her – and it’s hardly Amber’s fault that the child support settlement came down this way! – I’m going to say we need to see their financials before we assume she isn’t exaggerating well out of proportion.
BBCC
It’s possible, but regardless, it seems like Fazdad isn’t around.
tim gueguen
Perhaps the Fazfather is no longer alive. Or wasn’t alive in the first place.
Kit M. Harding
Faz told Amber that his father doesn’t care what he does. That implies his father is still alive and either an extremely permissive parent or absent entirely.
Mr D
Or is blaine.
Victor Riley
I don’t think so… Amber makes a point to say, “Not your Dad, MY Dad, your step-dad”. So, there is at least another man out there that is thought to be Faz’s biological father. (Even with Amber questioning that Blaine really is that, anyway… which just makes everything muddier if it’s true)
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/stepdad/
thejeff
That exchange makes a lot of sense if there is no Faz Father in the picture. Faz is talking about Blaine. Amber wants to believe he’s talking about his hypothetical absent real father – who obviously doesn’t care, since he’s completely out of the picture. Faz doesn’t correct her, because she’s not supposed to know.
Jason
99% sure Blaine isn’t Faz’s biological father (iirc DW confirmed Blaine only has one biological child), and I’m maybe 80% sure that he was referring to Blaine anyway. It doesn’t seem that unlikely to me that a child would call their stepfather “father” occasionally- and it sounds like he’s been around in their family for a long time, although there’s nothing concrete there.
thejeff
I was relying on that earlier too, but Willis said a bit earlier in this chapter that he’d forgotten about the earlier tumblr comment. Given that, all the hints seem to be leading up to something.
BigDogLittleCat
I don’t think so. He says “Father” as if he’s both theirs and she corrects him to father and stepfather.
Kamino Neko
You’re assuming her ex is financially solvent.
And not dissolved in a vat of acid, given their mob connections.
Bladeglory
Pretty sure you’ve got it. I think Yuri’s only responsible in-so-far as she made the (awful, terrible, horrible) decision to marry Blaine, and therefore he can’t contribute as much to the family coffers as he would otherwise.
Marsh Maryrose
Presumably, Yuri knows about scholarships. If she is choosing not to share that information with Faz, that would speak poorly of her.
BBCC
Maybe in their case scholarships are unlikely, for whatever reason?
Conuly
Then financial aid. There is some option to cover his tuition somewhere.
LookingIn
Grants, work study, no-interest loans. Despite popular misinformation, college isn’t as expensive as claimed especially for a state school.
Regalli
I’m placing my bet on, ‘that requires reporting your LEGAL income and they don’t want that scrutinized too closely’. Until proven otherwise, I’m taking Richard’s mob line as fact.
BBCC
I’m only responding to the scholarship route. It’s hard to say without knowing the financials and likelihoods of the whole thing.
Marsh Maryrose
My word choice was poor.
I haven’t had to personally deal with college financing in decades, but my understanding is that college financing nowadays is a mishmosh of financial aid, scholarships, grants, student loans, etcetera etcetera.
BBCC
Very true and debt plus availability is an issue.
Needfuldoer
“Financial aid”, “student loans”, po-tay-to po-tah-to.
Marsh Maryrose
Off the top of my head, two things that could make getting scholarships difficult:
1) Faz and/or Yuri being undocumented
2) Blaine’s mob connections making it risky for him to disclose income and/or employment
But Blaine appears to be legally married to Yuri, which would rule out 1. And presumably the courts already have enough of his financial record to compel him to pay Amber’s tuition, which would rule out 2.
Paying for college in the US has become a Kafkaesque exercise, and, for most people, putting together a financial package starts at difficult, and can wind up at impossible.
But Yuri seems to be putting a kibosh on the whole idea from the start, and that’s just not right.
missilentmurmur
I think it’s more like Blaine bullies her into paying Amber’s tuition, while parading as paying it himself. We don’t know how abusive Blaine is in this family, so I’m going with very.
Cheshrin
….Whyyyyyyy is Blaine in the tags? D:
Cheshrin
OH SJHIT THAT’S BLAINE TALKING IN THE LAST PANEL
HE WAS IN THE CAR THE WHOLE TIME HE WAS THIS CLOSE TO AMBER
Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Ivy
Yeah but I mean they’re leaving now, nothing happened
Minim
…yet…
jeffepp
Fat man exposition…
Erk erk erk erk erk erk erk erk
Chocolate sauce down the drain.
JessWitt
Oh shoot. I didn’t catch that. Well crap.
Regalli
I actually missed it before the comments and can only express my dismay in emoticon: D: At least it means tomorrow when we see him it won’t be as nasty a surprise? Just leaving our horror for whatever he says. I reiterate: D:
Keulen
Oh shit I just realized Blaine is in the tags. I thought it was Yuri talking in the last panel until now too.
BigDogLittleCat
Me too! I was examining the panels trying to find him and was about to post “where?!?” when i saw the speech wasn’t coming from her.
Look at the tags? No, I never think to do that. Why do you ask? *derp*
Opus the Poet
He finally got out of the hospital after the beatdown/curbstomping he got from Amber/AmaziGirl, and Faz escaped while Yuri was helping with the paperwork.
Needfuldoer
That was during The Only Dope for Me is You, which was September 19. Today’s October 12.
She beat the stuffing out of him if he was in the hospital for a month. Maybe an outpatient care return visit?
Synnerman
And I just realized that other speech bubble came from the back seat.
Blaine… it has to be Blaine.
jeffepp
Oh crap.
DailyBrad
Ah, so that’s Yuri’s damage. I was wondering why Faz would still prefer Amber’s company over Yuri, but well, there you go.
Also, those tags… oh dear.
Wizard
I always assumed that Yuri had some serious issues, just on the basis that she married Blaine. I’ve just been waiting to see exactly what those issues are.
butts
wuh oh
worst dad incoming
Doctor_Who