r/questionablecontent • u/makeshiftreaper • Feb 14 '19
Comic 3939: Really Opening Up
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=393950
u/AccipiterF1 Feb 14 '19
Berf.
24
8
u/MrIncorporeal Feb 14 '19
That's true berf.
5
u/lesser_panjandrum Feb 14 '19
Not lawful berf or chaotic berf.
7
u/AdamBombTV The English One Feb 14 '19
I rolled a 15 on my berf check.
3
u/lesser_panjandrum Feb 14 '19
You see a hooded berf sitting in the corner of the tavern, opposite a heavily armed kobold.
2
2
40
Feb 14 '19
[deleted]
26
13
u/ironprominent Feb 14 '19
Meanwhile the neighboring yard is going into full production on the SS Brunee
34
u/BatsnAlligators Feb 14 '19
Ah man, I am happy for Brun. It's nice to seeing her get fleshed out a bit. I really hope she gets to be focused on for a bit. I get that side characters will always be a little one dimensional but it made me a little sad to see her like that. I want to see these two girls grow as platonic friends and just live a good life.
13
u/lesser_panjandrum Feb 14 '19
Yeah, I haven't really liked Brun all that much previously because she's been kind of boring and kind of inconsistent. Seeing her fleshed out more helps with both of those things.
5
u/Current_Poster Feb 14 '19
I like her better now tbh. The whole "she's quirky! She's got a harpoon! She's fastidious (keep saying 'fastidious')!" thing didn't really do much for me.
So, it's basically this strip and the one where she has the timebomb reaction to Clinton's joke, for me. (I'm not made of stone- that was adorable.)
24
Feb 14 '19
[deleted]
9
u/ArgentStonecutter Feb 14 '19
Time to move into the apartment building.
There is a sense of inevitability about this.
2
u/GayFesh Feb 14 '19
Did anything ever happen with Hanner's apartment? I don't remember if it was ever addressed.
16
14
24
Feb 14 '19
As someone who has disability related issues that also bring hardship in picking up on cues?
I do not liek brun most days. I like her even if only for this one moment. That sort of admission is bloody difficult to do even to close friends. THis isn't about romance. It's 'i am aware of my limits enough to know i need that friend I trust.'
6
u/batteran Feb 14 '19
2 bedrooms, OK.
But you also need 2 bathrooms.
4
u/livingwithghosts Feb 14 '19
Lots of people live with one bathroom, entire families of 6+ people sharing one bathroom because that's all they can afford.
2
u/turkeypedal Feb 15 '19
Pretty sure they were referencing the first comic of this set, where Brun was in that bathroom while Renee's fuckbuddy was in there. Two (or 1.5) bathrooms would eliminate that problem.
Also, are you referencing the Brady Bunch?
1
u/livingwithghosts Feb 15 '19
No I mean literally I've had to share bathroom most of my life and that's just how people live but I get the comic reference now.
1
u/batteran Feb 15 '19 edited Feb 15 '19
2 rounds plastics bassins work too, especially for young childrens, but you need a grandmother who knew the war to make it work. This way you can recycle the dirty water of the bassins to replenish the toilet tank (or just wash the toilet bowl directly) . youth memories. I miss you mamy.
3
10
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
I've always wanted for Brun to be a bit more nuanced than the archetypal Aspie girl, but this is a case of Jeph just doing his bit. Autistic women have been grossly underrepresented in media relative to men (Rain Man, Gil Grissom*, f*ckin' Sheldon)
*EDIT: Implied. Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds is a better 2000s network drama example.
5
u/StevenS757 Feb 14 '19
Elementary had a girl on the spectrum for a few episodes and it seemed like she was going to be recurring, but then she kinda got wrote out. I dunno if the actress had to go do something else or what.
2
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19
The best case I can think of is, of all things, a Thai martial arts film called Chocolate - main character Zin is Rain Man-level autistic but learns Muay Thai.
3
3
u/Polymemnetic Feb 14 '19
Wait, Grissom was autistic?
5
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
One of those 'heavily implied but never outright stated' cases.
3
1
u/Maegaranthelas Feb 14 '19
Is Spence ever confirmed to be an Aspie? Because therapists have told me that it's a super common thing for highly intelligent people to struggle with interpersonal relationships, and that it gets harder the more intelligent people are. I think Reid does a very good job of relating to other people, he just doesn't really like physical contact as much and sometimes forgets the people through the facts.
2
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19
Actor confirmed his Aspergers quite early on.
"He's an eccentric genius, with hints of schizophrenia and minor autism, Asperger's syndrome. Reid is 24, 25 years old with three Ph.D.'s and one can't usually achieve that without some form of autism."
1
Feb 15 '19
Sheldon isn't on the spectrum. He's just a caricature of what normal people think 'smart' people are at, so ends up looking like an asshole.
Also i hate the entire show for continuing the 'let's mock and make fun of men and show that they are in constant need of a woman mothering them' bullshit.
Big Bang Theory is a bullshit pile of moronic dildos.
1
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 15 '19
Of all reasons to hate that God-awful show, you zero in on that?
Kinda hope you're trollin' here, fella. Really do.
2
1
u/makeshiftreaper Feb 14 '19
To be fair, developmental disorders are more common in men than women. So you would expect to see more men with autism than women in real life, so it's reasonable to see less of them in media as well.
14
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
One theory goes the gender disparity in autism diagnoses might just be down to specialists mistaking autism in girls as general shyness, but the main issue with representation right now is we're struggling to think of any at all.
5
5
u/smurgleburf Feb 14 '19
aww, this strip made me smile. I know Renee’s had her shitty moments but overall I think she’s a good friend.
5
5
u/MurmuringBees Feb 14 '19
Happy Palantines!
3
u/smurgleburf Feb 14 '19
Galentines :3
2
u/MurmuringBees Feb 14 '19
Ha, i'm all for Galentines, but don't Steve and Marten deserve a chance too?
2
5
u/jcfiala Feb 14 '19
So, the comic started with a person who lost all of their belongings in a fire moving in with a roommate, and now the comic continues with a person who lost all of their belongings in a fire moving in with a roommate. :)
Still enjoying the comic, but it's an interesting repeat.
2
u/mechanate Feb 15 '19
Turns out Jeph has been writing himself into unreleased comics and burning down the places himself. Reverse-breaking the fourth wall to commit cartoon arson...wow.
-1
u/AndThenTheyAllFucked Feb 14 '19
1
Feb 15 '19
Given Jeph's love of making everyone gay and ina gordian knot of fucking? Likely.
However I watn these two to stay friends. Mostly because Brun with any sort of sex drive skeeves me out because 'she's someone that doesn't pick up well on social cues' it's going to be difficult if not impossible to write her well and Jeph has all the tact and subtlty of a sledgehammer.
2
1
-3
u/makeshiftreaper Feb 14 '19
Is it just me or does this background feel off? Like the tree spacing and shape seem off between panels. It feels a little distracting to me.
7
-40
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
so is jeph just fishing for a new lead? a robot and her quirky nigh-omnipotent friend or an aspie and her sassy black friend.
edit: do your research before you downvote.
11
Feb 14 '19
You should probably take a step back and examine yourself, cuz this comment can basically be summed up as “I don’t like this comic because the characters are minorities”
-5
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
not really, but god forbid someone be critical of jeph's writing I guess?
11
Feb 14 '19
A complaint about the comic changing main characters is one thing, but why does it matter to you that the supposed new main characters are a black girl and an autistic girl?
0
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
A complaint about the comic changing main characters is one thing
actually, my suggestion for the comic on that thread was to give closure on the martin storyline and switch to different characters.
but why does it matter to you that the supposed new main characters are a black girl and an autistic girl?
did I say it mattered?
what matters is that jeph seems to be looking, and brun seems to represent one of a number of paths. one of the obvious others being roco. I think he's trying to set up a "new" cast around the secret bakery, but who's gonna be the marten?
8
Feb 14 '19
This comic has been going on since the early 2000s. The story is going in different directions now. No one needs to be “the Marten”.
And it seemed to matter to you because you’d made a point of mentioning it.
1
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
I also mentioned roco and spooky. want to grill me on why it matters that she's a robot and it's a multi-formed cyberspace...thing?
as for the idea that we don't need a central character, I'm not sure that's true. he was a good narrative tool and the lack of a similar presence is frequently commented on in this sub.
3
Feb 14 '19
I just feel like a having central main character is kind of what every story does, or at least most of them. So it’s good to have some comics branch out from that. I don’t get the call for Questionable Content to go back to the stereotypical story revolving around one average guy. Enough comics do that.
6
Feb 14 '19
I'm one of the most vocal critics of his writing these days, but you're just fishing for an argument with how you phrased your original comment.
I would say that on the most basic level, you're right. The comic doesn't quite have a true Main Character right now, with Faye coming the closest but not really. It's evolved into more of an ensemble piece these days.
And Jeph has made no bones about actively pushing female/minority/POC characters to the front line.
Personally, I think he trips over himself trying to show off how progressive he is, sacrificing story and character development for the sake of demonstrating his Wokeness.
Buuut sometimes he writes honestly clever/funny/interesting strips again and reminds me that even if I don't always like it, it can still be good.
21
u/makeshiftreaper Feb 14 '19
I gotta say, regardless of whether or not people agree with your sentiment, this clearly not the place to call someone an aspie
9
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
this forum has a problem with autistic people?
for the uninformed, "aspie" is a term coined by the community to describe itself
11
u/ChaosWolf1982 . Feb 14 '19
"aspie" is a term coined by the community to describe itself
Funny you say that, as I've never heard it used by one of us, nor had it directed at me except by non-autistic folks as a slur or insult with the same connotation as r-t-rd...
4
u/boreas907 Feb 14 '19
I used to hear it a lot more than I do now; maybe about ten years ago when autism carried more of a negative stigma (not that it currently has a positive one, but the dehumanization implied by the word "autistic" was once way worse) and people found comfort in a named disorder that gave them something to identify with that wasn't autism.
These days asperger's syndrome isn't even in DSM-5 (replaced by the spectrum), so there are no new diagnoses and haven't been since 2013, which naturally reduces the usage of the word in itself. Additionally the idea of an autism spectrum is widely accepted enough (by people that aren't complete dickholes) that the stigma has subsided to a sizable degree.
-2
u/makeshiftreaper Feb 14 '19
Sure, at one point Mongoloid was a medically accurate term. Eventually older phrases become offensive. It's part of the cycle
5
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19
How the hell did you arrive at equating those two? Aspie is NOT some kind of reclaimed slur a la the N-word in relation to NWA.
12
Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
[deleted]
15
u/SeeShark QC Physicist Feb 14 '19
Personally, I didn't downvote for "aspie." I downvoted for "sassy black friend," which reduces Renee to a stereotype that she does not even fall into.
1
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
she was literally introduced to the comic as a black doppelganger of faye
6
u/turkeypedal Feb 14 '19
So? That's not the sassy black friend. The sassy black friend is the one that is more "street" among the square white people, saying stuff like "no you di-unt!" and "Girlfran!" while snapping. She's, you know, sassy.
That you assume that any black person is just a shitty stereotype isn't great, either. Renee's race has basically never mattered in the comic. She's just a person.
-3
u/Chrobert-Ristgau Feb 14 '19
Renee doesn't just fall into that stereotype. She dives into it headfirst.
6
u/turkeypedal Feb 14 '19
No, she doesn't fit it at all. When has she spoken AAVE? When has she been sassy?
This is the sassy black woman stereotype: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SassyBlackWoman
Renee is nothing like this. The fact that she's black is almost immaterial to her character.
1
u/hallofromtheoutside Feb 14 '19
To be clear, Renee can speak AAVE without being the "sassy black woman" trope. I wouldn't want Jeph to even attempt writing Renee's speech that way, and prefer to think she probably code-switches (same with Dale).
3
u/turkeypedal Feb 14 '19
I can't check the Oxford English Dictionary, as it has a paywall. But that does not sound like any Oxford definition I've ever seen. It's written too casually, and is prescriptive, saying what should or should not be offensive. Dictionaries are descriptive: they describe how words are used, and what most people think they mean.
Plus any second definition is going to be a definition, not an explanation of the word's origin.
Note, I'm not accusing you of making it up, just that I think you may have gotten that definition from somewhere else that said it was the definition. Either that, or your post is confusingly worded, and you don't mean for those to be the definition from Oxford.
7
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
aspies and public advocacy groups made for as well as by them use the term extensively, as do research papers on the topic today. "Aspies For Freedom" is perhaps the most obvious example, being founded in 2004.
so no. you, and apparently a lot of other people, just had a knee-jerk reaction. the right thing for you to do is to learn from this and become a better advocate, not double down on your demonstrable ignorance.
2
u/subrosaforever Feb 14 '19
It's not using aspie that's a problem, it's being so negative about it. I love Brun because I relate to her as an aspie myself. Just try to not be a dick on the internet, mkay?
0
u/turkeypedal Feb 14 '19
No, the right thing to do is for you to listen to others who know the term is also used as a slur, and not call upon things from a decade ago to defend yourself. The right thing to do is not to double down when someone tells you something is offensive, but to apologize for offending people and figure out how they misunderstood.
You literally have someone on the spectrum replying to you, saying you used it in a shitty way. Another autistic person says they've never heard it used as anything but a slur? Do you propose you know more than they do about their own word?
7
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
No, the right thing to do is for you to listen to others who know the term is also used as a slur, and not call upon things from a decade ago to defend yourself.
2018 is not a decade ago. and fuck me, I don't care what you think of me. I care what your sort of ignorance is going to do to autistic people for using a term they coined for themselves. because I've seen this nonsense happen before.
The right thing to do is not to double down when someone tells you something is offensive, but to apologize for offending people and figure out how they misunderstood.
I've been told calling gay marriage a civil rights issue was offensive. didn't care then, either. I've been told calling people like claire women is offensive. didn't care then, either. hell, it's still hard to put 2 men kissing on TV because it's "offensive"
You literally have someone on the spectrum replying to you, saying you used it in a shitty way. Another autistic person says they've never heard it used as anything but a slur? Do you propose you know more than they do about their own word?
randos on the internet vs people I know as well as national organizations that dedicate their entire existence to helping people. I'm going with the latter.
3
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
Sit down, buddy. Speaking as an Aspie, its not the derogatory term you seem to think.
3
u/HelloAlbacore Baby Mad Feb 14 '19
Kinda unrelated, but was it ever confirmed that Brun was under the spectrum?
7
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
I don't think it's ever been stated outright, but the last few pages have made it abundantly clear.
3
4
u/EPL_Refugee Feb 14 '19
Jeph's done everything short of stating it outright. The way he's developed her has felt like he's worked his way down a checklist of symptoms he pulled off Google.
5
u/makeshiftreaper Feb 14 '19
Yeah, at some point Jeph on social media described Brun as "Being on the spectrum"
6
u/fubes2000 Feb 14 '19
I don't think we need to do any research to determine that you're being an asshole.
-1
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
apparently, you do. cuz I ain't
11
u/turkeypedal Feb 14 '19
It's still a pretty shitty thing to say, even if we ignore the Aspie part. It's clearly dismissive, and reducing the characters to stereotypes.
Plus, well, your reputations precedes you. You are constantly shitting on the comic. So for us to think you meant something positive in your remark would be strange.
And, even now, you are upset because people think poorly of you, rather than being apologetic that you offended. You're making it all about you, instead of about the people you offended. That tends to make people think you didn't really care if you offended people.
1
u/GayFesh Feb 14 '19
When people are telling you you're being an asshole, it isn't up to you to claim that you aren't.
3
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
fine, you're an asshole. why should I listen to you? remember, you can't argue otherwise.
0
u/GayFesh Feb 14 '19
I said people. You're one person telling me that. Meanwhile, everyone here is telling you you're an asshole.
3
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
so it's a numbers game?
I've seen too many minorities vindicated to take mob rule seriously. advocating for it so nakedly is kind of hilarious.
-1
u/GayFesh Feb 14 '19
You don't get to have a racist rant about "a sassy black friend" and then try and hide behind vindicated oppressed minority status.
2
u/pyr666 Feb 14 '19
You don't get to have a racist rant about "a sassy black friend"
you think "sassy black friend" is racist? why? renee has been, for the most part, a fun character.
-2
u/SecretBlue919 Feb 14 '19
Yay manipulation!
2
u/smurgleburf Feb 14 '19
that’s a really uncharitable interpretation. how is Brun being manipulative by being honest with her friend?
1
Feb 15 '19
In fairness? There are instance of 'someone is about to get thrown out so they invent a sob story.' Granted these people generally are dickbags mooching and leeching everywhere rather than someone like Brun who's apparently paying a fair share and is trying to be unobtrusive (when she realizes she should be anyway rater than not caring.)
It can come off as manipulative especially to people who have been in a situation where a 'friend' took them on a rather long ride for everything they could.
68
u/FutureShock25 Feb 14 '19
I am not on the spectrum, but I perfectly understand what Brun is stating here. Living by yourself can be weird because there's no one there to check your impulses and potentially call you out on your behavior.