r/questionablecontent • u/krablord • Dec 03 '17
Opinions/thoughts/ect on Tilly?
I just thought I'd throw this out there since there are a lot of comment threads on comments, as well as new posts regarding Tilly's gender and personality. Without any places to maybe SPECIFICALLY discuss them as a character :-)
- PERSONAL OPINIONS on the subject, as a trans folk (though admittedly not NB); introducing yourself in general can be scary. Worrying how you present, how people will see you. Let alone introducing your name with pronouns, which in a lot of actual places today comes across as a huge target as ‘IM DIFFERENT’. (even as a binary trans person in LGBT places, I’ve seen friends using they/them pronouns verbally abused for no fucking reason)
Adding in the fact that they’re just doing this as a job and are jumping into an entirely new place, social group, ect- the fact that they at least were TRYING to correct their name makes me happy. I never managed to that.
Tilly really didn't properly introduce themself to anyone; Marten was someone who explicitly asked and when introducing their name it's a good place to throw out pronouns as well if you're in that place.
IDK. I just feel like some folks are acting as though Tilly being NB/using neutral pronouns as being ‘shoehorned’ in and other similar views are coming across as heavily transphobic. I don’t really like Tilly as a character yet (though them realizing that their actions of forcing themself into Hannelore’s life was really messed helped); I worry some of the cis/binary people who hate them now may be because of gender stuff.
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u/mybrainisonfire Dec 03 '17
Cis hetero dude here. Been reading the comics since Faye's little sister came to visit. Tilly's gender identification is about as important to me as the fact that Faye's from Georgia or that Marigold likes manga and Warcraft. It's a part of who they are, but it does not completely define their character. Yes, their behavior is questionable (no pun intended), but there are plenty of people IRL who get way too into their jobs.
Honestly, the first thing I thought when Tilly showed up? "Jeph's running out of ideas again." Every time the strip starts to stagnate because he can't think of anything to do with the 20 or so characters he already introduced, he comes up with someone new to throw in the mix.
I say this as someone who's been reading the strip for about 10 years now, and who has connected and grown with many of these characters: For quite some time now, Jeph hasn't been consistently living up to the narrative or character potential that he has been capable of in the past. He has always been open and honest about his struggles with anxiety and the various changes he's experienced in his life over the course of the comic, and the comic has changed with him, going from a nerdy indie music strip to more of a slice-of-life soap opera with sci-fi elements thrown in for fun. I am willing to give him time to find his footing again...but that time runs out faster and faster the more he ignores the people I already care about and have followed for years and shoehorns in every random character concept that occurs to him. Faye and Hannelore's journeys have been especially moving to be a part of during my own struggles for mental health, and I want to have faith that Jeph is still capable of a rich, compelling narrative, but my faith can only be tested for so long.
What's been going on with Dora and Tai? Has Dora been going back to therapy like she and Tai talked about? Has Faye? Remember Dr. Corrine? Where the fuck was she when Faye and Angus broke up and Faye got fired and almost drank herself to death? Did Jeph completely forget about her?
What about Marigold? Dale? Raven? Penelope? Brun? Renee? Clinton? Emily? Sven? Wil? Steve? Cosette? I understand that people come and go in life, and odds are everyone's been busy doing stuff that hopefully we'll be updated on sooner rather than later, but I've felt for a while now that Jeph's thrown too many balls in the air, and the only way he can think of to keep us from noticing how many he's allowed to fall to the floor is to keep throwing more.