Hey, it just shows dopplebooster in class and booster in room, and Amber in class and Amber in room. Dopplebooster could have easily left class first, hit room, while Amber takes longer to pack her stuff, and has dropped breastforms and re-brushed hair in a minute.
I just took an online test. The results imply that I might have autism. My sister was on the hunt, I think at first, to disprove the connection by looking into crossover studies about autism and cerebral palsy, the latter of which we both have. Turns out there’s a slight overlap between the two conditions. The thing is, of the two of us (we’re also twins) our parents always thought that I could people better than Sis. She’s a bit of a Booster herself, so what she chalked it up to was our differing presentations: She can walk, and so was repeatedly in situations where she could simply fuck off whenever she wanted to. I can’t, therefore it was a necessity that I learn how to be social. Of course, like Willis, I suspect that my mother’s behavior had a lot to do with mine.
I know a few people who are immune to compliments, both IRL and in online spaces I frequent. Lately, I’ve been avoiding them as much as possible, because it gets exhausting to hear “No, you’re wrong about this nice thing you said” in response to even innocuous little things, and I just simply don’t have the energy to compulsively argue against it.
THIS. is very real. that’s just when people’s self-loathing becomes so big that it starts sucking in other people around them, and they start becoming a jerk.
I remember having to teach myself the lesson of “you have to let people have their good opinions of you. EVEN if you believe they’re wrong. cause otherwise you’re just being rude to them.” some people do not learn this lesson, and it’s hard and it sucks because attempts to support them will often just be sucked into that black hole
Hilen
I mean, it also depends on the experiences who led to not trusting compliments. If they have always been used when people meant to take something from you- as currency, if you may, it’s hard to put the walls down because it is a way to protect yourself. I’m always suspicious of people dishing me compliments after a hour of knowing I exist, because they don’t know me, and their reason for giving a compliment is probably less about stating a fact and more about initiaing a transaction. And in that case, I must always say “no thank you, I’m not up to trading right now”.
Taffy
Just to be perfectly clear, in the case of it being a defense mechanism against transactional “nice”ness, I totally get that and can’t necessarily fault a person for it. The people I’m talking about, which I probably should have mentioned, are emotional vampires who are so clearly doing it to fish for attention that they may as well be holding up a neon sign. Especially the ones who try to claim “certain people” in the group (they never specify who, for plausible deniability) are the actual problem, or something similarly two-faced.
It’s a distressingly common problem in the RP communities I frequent, and they make a point to ingratiate themselves with anyone friendly and earnest, so they can have a constant supply.
Christina
Familiar! That’s”love bombing” for ya!
I started becoming friends with someone who was very flattering and gave me gifts. Then as we became closer friends, I realized they used that attention as a currency to get attention; they’d show interest in [project I’m working on], tell me they wanted to help me work on it and set a time up to do so, and then get on the call and complain about their life for two hours. If they’d said, “hey, things suck and I need someone to talk to, do you have some time?” I would have gladly helped, but being manipulated through things I cared about upset me.
Things kept happening like that until I realized they were someone who felt no self worth who gave gifts and compliments to people to buy friends. I realized that I was insecure and looking for that kind of validation from others, but that almost always the person who’s very liberal with gifts and compliments is “love bombing” me. Their love and attention rang hollow because it’s just words; they didn’t demonstrate love or care and regularly flaked on me, misled me,and did small acts of disrespect. They even stopped expressing as much verbal affection after they felt like they “had” me.
We’re still friends in a loose sense, but I de-invested in them. And I became aware of my own tendency to be really complimentary and use lots of emojis and exclamation points because I realized I wasn’t always genuine either, and sometimes it came from a place of “I want to make them happy/want them to like me/want them to not hate me” and how unhealthy that was (that was the shadow self moment).
Makes me wonder what led them to constantly respond back saying that rather than just thinking that thought to themselves. I might not be the best one to think about that stuff though, since I tend to get weird compliments, like “If I was ever stuck in a haunted house, I would want you to be the one stuck there with me” and other similar stuff.
Taffy
I’ve never been in a haunted house before. Well, unless my mom was right about the one I grew up in. She’s a witch, so if there’s such a thing as ghosts, there’s a good chance she’s right.
RedCat
If there are gosts, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a house without any.
I used to do the same thing, so i was patient about it, but I just got burnt out. At this point I’m a lot more assertive about giving people compliments and having people take them, and if they don’t, j give us both space instead of insisting. Way less tiring.
If you have to avoid them, avoid them, but there’s no need to get all victim-blamey. Alternatively, you could respond with “Just say ‘that’s kind of you’ and leave it at that”. You might be doing them a kindness.
Actually, from a certain perspective, allergies are just being TOO immune to something.
Kimi
The joys of an overreactive immune system wanting to wage an all out war against the “foreign invaders”. I keep on telling it that it’s just dust and it’s fine, but it doesn’t believe me.
I think the reason I don’t like Booster very much is because they tend to see others as a collection of diagnoses instead of people. They’re even doing it here: “Oh look how well-socialized you are.” It’s kinda gross.
Definitely. It sure made Amber feel dehumanized and objectified (and if we were there, you and I would feel that way, too).
I forget if I’ve mentioned before, but I love that Booster (who may tend to objectify people) is into photography (where they can literally turn people or moments into an object, ie, into a photograph). It’s gonna be a really fun parallel.
So, like, Amber has the right to apologize, and I think it can be healthy to recognize bad things you do even when you do them to people who definitely “have it coming”.
That said, Booster absolutely had it coming and their unwillingness to apologize back definitely doesn’t endear them to us.
Naw, I just watched a video about dragonball names and have been thinking a bunch about how We don’t actually know Master Roshi’s real name.
Muten Roshi meaning “Heavenly martial arts Master” and Kame Sennin meaning “Turtle Hermit” or “Turtle Sage”
Fun fact.
Characters who trained under him or are fellow martial artists will refer to him as Muten Roshi-sama, while characters who just know him as a person usually just call him “Kame Sennin”
Except Goku, who is a rude little brat and calls him “Kame Sennin Ojii-chan” or “Old Man Turtle Hermit” or maybe something like “Gramps turtle hermit.”
anywho. I just wanted to make a joke cuz Amber called herself a hermit. An animal themed hermit at that!
Cattleprod
Considering how many characters in Dragon Ball are named after food or underwear, “Turtle Hermit” doesn’t seem too outlandish to be his actual birth name.
Greebs
As someone who agonises endlessly over picking names for RPG characters (the closest I, a creative vacuum get to ‘OCs’…), there is something incredibly inspiring about the complete lack of fucks some Mangaka give when it comes to naming their characters. Just this season I’m watching an anime with a character named ‘Yua Serufu’, and another with two sisters, the older named Hitori (one person) and the younger Futari (two people)…
thejeff
I hear you there.
On of the reasons I hesitate to run table top rpgs is that I’d have to come up with names for so many npcs. 🙂
Yotomoe
It actually inspired how I make characters names. Namely how character relationships can be inferred by naming conventions.
For example our favorite blue(purple) haired scientist is named Blooma (misrepresented as Bulma on her outfit) and as such her family follows an undergarments theme.
Her father is named Brief
Her son is named trunks
Her daughter is named bra
Her sister is named tights
Her mother’s potential name based on toriyama might be “Panchy”
It makes certain twists easy to see coming when you keep that in mind and makes you feel clever.
Or my favorite version of this. Saiyans are based on vegetables . Hell the name saiyan is just an anagram of the Japanese word for vegetable “Yasai”
Kakarot is carrot
Vegeta is vegetable
Nappa is Napa cabbages
Bardock is burdock
Broly is broccoli
Etc etc…
The Santana are definitively under the rule of Frieda. But once we get to namek we meet frieza’s other soldiers who are named after fruits
Qui is kiwi
Apple is Apple
Etc etc
And then we meet the ginyu force who are named after dairy products.
Recoome is an anagram if cream
Jeice is cheese
Burter is butter
Guldo is yogurt
Ginyu is milk
All of the army are named after perishable foodstuff. And where do you keep perishable foods? In the fre-fridge. Yeah toriyama admitted his name should’ve been fridge or something but hey, freezer sounds cooler (pun unintended) and I still love it as a way to group friezas army.
107 thoughts on “Creep”
Ana Chronistic
Booster with secret Amazi-Girl-style persona busted
…unless there’s more of a timeskip between strips than is suggested
JepMZ
Well, Mike can do Amber and Ethan at the same time in Short stacked so who knows
Clif
Mike can do Jennifer, Booster, and Boosters sister at one time and he’s dead.
And we didn’t even mention your mother.
Or a woodpecker.
Harmony
Hey, it just shows dopplebooster in class and booster in room, and Amber in class and Amber in room. Dopplebooster could have easily left class first, hit room, while Amber takes longer to pack her stuff, and has dropped breastforms and re-brushed hair in a minute.
thejeff
Amber wasn’t in that class, which doesn’t really change the point. It could be long enough after class for them to get back and change.
Nono
So we’re going from Garbage Roof to… Weirdo Hallway?
Rose by Any Other Name
I very much hope not.
TheCozburger
A.k.a. the “Mike Warner” hallway.
…it’s what he would’ve wanted…
Mravac Kid
He’d want there to be a hole people occasionally step into and break a leg.
elebenty
Can verify.
Ana Chronistic
Creep Corridor
BBCC
HOW DARE YOU IMPLY I CAN PEOPLE
Twitcher
I just took an online test. The results imply that I might have autism. My sister was on the hunt, I think at first, to disprove the connection by looking into crossover studies about autism and cerebral palsy, the latter of which we both have. Turns out there’s a slight overlap between the two conditions. The thing is, of the two of us (we’re also twins) our parents always thought that I could people better than Sis. She’s a bit of a Booster herself, so what she chalked it up to was our differing presentations: She can walk, and so was repeatedly in situations where she could simply fuck off whenever she wanted to. I can’t, therefore it was a necessity that I learn how to be social. Of course, like Willis, I suspect that my mother’s behavior had a lot to do with mine.
TrueVCU
HOW DARE
Needfuldoer
HOW
Sirksome
The secret to making friends is giving barely known acquaintances your rough shot psychoanalytic hot take of their personality!
Clif
We knew that. Almost goes without saying.
Doctor_Who
Amazi-Girl is immune to criticism.
Amber is immune to compliments.
Taffy
I know a few people who are immune to compliments, both IRL and in online spaces I frequent. Lately, I’ve been avoiding them as much as possible, because it gets exhausting to hear “No, you’re wrong about this nice thing you said” in response to even innocuous little things, and I just simply don’t have the energy to compulsively argue against it.
Steelbright
THIS. is very real. that’s just when people’s self-loathing becomes so big that it starts sucking in other people around them, and they start becoming a jerk.
I remember having to teach myself the lesson of “you have to let people have their good opinions of you. EVEN if you believe they’re wrong. cause otherwise you’re just being rude to them.” some people do not learn this lesson, and it’s hard and it sucks because attempts to support them will often just be sucked into that black hole
Hilen
I mean, it also depends on the experiences who led to not trusting compliments. If they have always been used when people meant to take something from you- as currency, if you may, it’s hard to put the walls down because it is a way to protect yourself. I’m always suspicious of people dishing me compliments after a hour of knowing I exist, because they don’t know me, and their reason for giving a compliment is probably less about stating a fact and more about initiaing a transaction. And in that case, I must always say “no thank you, I’m not up to trading right now”.
Taffy
Just to be perfectly clear, in the case of it being a defense mechanism against transactional “nice”ness, I totally get that and can’t necessarily fault a person for it. The people I’m talking about, which I probably should have mentioned, are emotional vampires who are so clearly doing it to fish for attention that they may as well be holding up a neon sign. Especially the ones who try to claim “certain people” in the group (they never specify who, for plausible deniability) are the actual problem, or something similarly two-faced.
It’s a distressingly common problem in the RP communities I frequent, and they make a point to ingratiate themselves with anyone friendly and earnest, so they can have a constant supply.
Christina
Familiar! That’s”love bombing” for ya!
I started becoming friends with someone who was very flattering and gave me gifts. Then as we became closer friends, I realized they used that attention as a currency to get attention; they’d show interest in [project I’m working on], tell me they wanted to help me work on it and set a time up to do so, and then get on the call and complain about their life for two hours. If they’d said, “hey, things suck and I need someone to talk to, do you have some time?” I would have gladly helped, but being manipulated through things I cared about upset me.
Things kept happening like that until I realized they were someone who felt no self worth who gave gifts and compliments to people to buy friends. I realized that I was insecure and looking for that kind of validation from others, but that almost always the person who’s very liberal with gifts and compliments is “love bombing” me. Their love and attention rang hollow because it’s just words; they didn’t demonstrate love or care and regularly flaked on me, misled me,and did small acts of disrespect. They even stopped expressing as much verbal affection after they felt like they “had” me.
We’re still friends in a loose sense, but I de-invested in them. And I became aware of my own tendency to be really complimentary and use lots of emojis and exclamation points because I realized I wasn’t always genuine either, and sometimes it came from a place of “I want to make them happy/want them to like me/want them to not hate me” and how unhealthy that was (that was the shadow self moment).
milu
Thats a pretty insightful and moving comment. Thank you, take care
thejeff
I tend to just get awkward or pass it off as no big deal. Or self-deprecating humor. Similar root problem, but a less aggressive approach.
Kimi
Makes me wonder what led them to constantly respond back saying that rather than just thinking that thought to themselves. I might not be the best one to think about that stuff though, since I tend to get weird compliments, like “If I was ever stuck in a haunted house, I would want you to be the one stuck there with me” and other similar stuff.
Taffy
I’ve never been in a haunted house before. Well, unless my mom was right about the one I grew up in. She’s a witch, so if there’s such a thing as ghosts, there’s a good chance she’s right.
RedCat
If there are gosts, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a house without any.
Joy
I’ve broken up with someone over this.
I used to do the same thing, so i was patient about it, but I just got burnt out. At this point I’m a lot more assertive about giving people compliments and having people take them, and if they don’t, j give us both space instead of insisting. Way less tiring.
marcus erronius
If you have to avoid them, avoid them, but there’s no need to get all victim-blamey. Alternatively, you could respond with “Just say ‘that’s kind of you’ and leave it at that”. You might be doing them a kindness.
Reltzik
If she was immune to them she wouldn’t be allergic to them.
thakoru
Actually, from a certain perspective, allergies are just being TOO immune to something.
Kimi
The joys of an overreactive immune system wanting to wage an all out war against the “foreign invaders”. I keep on telling it that it’s just dust and it’s fine, but it doesn’t believe me.
Blibdoolpoolp
The nerve of some people to give synonymously accurate statements. SMH
Dara
Noooooo Amber don’t back down you were riiiiiiiiiight
Queen Anthai
I think the reason I don’t like Booster very much is because they tend to see others as a collection of diagnoses instead of people. They’re even doing it here: “Oh look how well-socialized you are.” It’s kinda gross.
Leorale
Definitely. It sure made Amber feel dehumanized and objectified (and if we were there, you and I would feel that way, too).
I forget if I’ve mentioned before, but I love that Booster (who may tend to objectify people) is into photography (where they can literally turn people or moments into an object, ie, into a photograph). It’s gonna be a really fun parallel.
Nono
They even see themselves as one.
Needfuldoer
That can also easily be taken as a backhanded compliment when you’re neurodivergent. “Oh but look how well you pass for normal!”
Bleh.
Joy
I agree.
Svankensen
“I’m sorry I called you an ugly creep.”
“…You said I had bad taste.”
Scoops!
“Well, I should have called you an ugly creep, and for that, I’m sorry.”
Imogen
So, like, Amber has the right to apologize, and I think it can be healthy to recognize bad things you do even when you do them to people who definitely “have it coming”.
That said, Booster absolutely had it coming and their unwillingness to apologize back definitely doesn’t endear them to us.
thakoru
Give it a minute, they’re only like 5 sentences into this conversation.
Imogen
I haven’t judged anyone. I’m literally just observing actions as they take place.
Taffy
This is a positive interaction and has no gross secrets hiding underneath. Good vibes only.
The Wellerman
Eh, wouldn’t say “ratty”. More like a Pikachu to me ?
True Survivor
True. Though for some reason, this reminded me of that Magic card Skittering Host. That thing is freaking creepy.
thakoru
Do you mean Chittering Host? I can’t find a “Skittering Host” on Scryfall.
True Survivor
Chittering Host, yeah. Sorry about that.
Kyrik Michalowski
Of course Booster would delay their sibling’s introduction by cutting to an apology. Worst sibling ever.
tim gueguen
That’s actually Booster as well. They’re actually a distributed intelligence that snuck in from the Questionable Content universe.
Taffy
And now I’m wondering whether Cubetown or this dorm hall is the bigger mess.
Kyrik Michalowski
We don’t know enough about Cubetown to be certain, but I’m going to put my money on the dorm.
Sirksome
Cubetown? Did I miss something? Is Booster from Cubetown?
Taffy
Yeah, that was their first line. “Hi, I’m Booster! I just transferred in from Cubetown and I use they/them pronouns.”.
Clif
That’s what I remember.
Kimi
Is resistance futile?
Clif
Futilism is so Middle Ages.
Needfuldoer
No, they’re just flipping between both roles fast enough for persistence of vision to kick in, just like the Olsen twin.
Clif
Mike was both Olsen twins?
Sirksome
Maybe Twister isn’t that important. Lots of the cast have siblings we know about but barely see. Even when we really want too, like Jocelyne.
Leorale
I want to see Jocelyne so much. Take her dang calls, Joyce!
Yotomoe
Ah yes
Nezumi Sennin
My favorite Dragonball character
She teaches the Nezuhameha.
The Wellerman
Ah, I can sense your brain is melting too ?
Must be enjoying yourself in hyperfocus, eh?
Yotomoe
Naw, I just watched a video about dragonball names and have been thinking a bunch about how We don’t actually know Master Roshi’s real name.
Muten Roshi meaning “Heavenly martial arts Master” and Kame Sennin meaning “Turtle Hermit” or “Turtle Sage”
Fun fact.
Characters who trained under him or are fellow martial artists will refer to him as Muten Roshi-sama, while characters who just know him as a person usually just call him “Kame Sennin”
Except Goku, who is a rude little brat and calls him “Kame Sennin Ojii-chan” or “Old Man Turtle Hermit” or maybe something like “Gramps turtle hermit.”
anywho. I just wanted to make a joke cuz Amber called herself a hermit. An animal themed hermit at that!
Cattleprod
Considering how many characters in Dragon Ball are named after food or underwear, “Turtle Hermit” doesn’t seem too outlandish to be his actual birth name.
Greebs
As someone who agonises endlessly over picking names for RPG characters (the closest I, a creative vacuum get to ‘OCs’…), there is something incredibly inspiring about the complete lack of fucks some Mangaka give when it comes to naming their characters. Just this season I’m watching an anime with a character named ‘Yua Serufu’, and another with two sisters, the older named Hitori (one person) and the younger Futari (two people)…
thejeff
I hear you there.
On of the reasons I hesitate to run table top rpgs is that I’d have to come up with names for so many npcs. 🙂
Yotomoe
It actually inspired how I make characters names. Namely how character relationships can be inferred by naming conventions.
For example our favorite blue(purple) haired scientist is named Blooma (misrepresented as Bulma on her outfit) and as such her family follows an undergarments theme.
Her father is named Brief
Her son is named trunks
Her daughter is named bra
Her sister is named tights
Her mother’s potential name based on toriyama might be “Panchy”
It makes certain twists easy to see coming when you keep that in mind and makes you feel clever.
Or my favorite version of this. Saiyans are based on vegetables . Hell the name saiyan is just an anagram of the Japanese word for vegetable “Yasai”
Kakarot is carrot
Vegeta is vegetable
Nappa is Napa cabbages
Bardock is burdock
Broly is broccoli
Etc etc…
The Santana are definitively under the rule of Frieda. But once we get to namek we meet frieza’s other soldiers who are named after fruits
Qui is kiwi
Apple is Apple
Etc etc
And then we meet the ginyu force who are named after dairy products.
Recoome is an anagram if cream
Jeice is cheese
Burter is butter
Guldo is yogurt
Ginyu is milk
All of the army are named after perishable foodstuff. And where do you keep perishable foods? In the fre-fridge. Yeah toriyama admitted his name should’ve been fridge or something but hey, freezer sounds cooler (pun unintended) and I still love it as a way to group friezas army.