Tuesday, 17 September 2024

Sep 15, 2024 00:36


The one where Liz's attempt at stealth is kind of rubbish.

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howtheduck September 15 2024, 04:55:25 UTC



Lynn is trying hard with "majorly gorgeous" but in 1995, the phrase was "pretty fly". The problem with the setup is the idea that the guy is in the stairwell which usually means he going to be moving to the stairs, so there should not be a time for staring through a trophy case.

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dreadedcandiru2 September 15 2024, 05:00:53 UTC
What we're seeing is Lindy and her own failed attempts at being coy. This leads us to the distressing realization that John is probably the only man Elly dated more than once.

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dreadedcandiru2 September 15 2024, 09:41:16 UTC

The irritating thing is having to remember why an Anthony, Deanna or Tracey is necessary. Elly hints at it early on:





when she talks about crushed feelings and longings that can never be spoken of aloud. We get to see why when Lynn beats us over the head with the message that a potential mate has to not make Elly uncomfortable or it'll end in tears.

She threw herself at a boy who saw her as the desperate idiot failing at being coy she was:



she confused the sort of tame, juvenile twaddle that inspires laughter instead of recrimination with porn because she hates her mother:



and having humiliated herself by doing something stupid to steal him away from a girl with the body and the language :



she gets all pouty and juvenile when she realizes that she's seen as what she is: a buffoonish child punching above her weight:



It should be noted that the potted bio in The Lives Behind The Lines suggests that Marian was using evil hating Elly powers to make lovers bail on giving her a chance while ignoring the possibility of Just A Humble Veteran Jim being an insanely overprotective dad or her being a stumbling fool with a reputation for making a scene when things don't go her way.

Since Lynn doesn't really understand what a healthy relationship looks like, we get to deal with assigned mates from the childhood playground.

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jjamele September 15 2024, 11:57:21 UTC

All these strips show me is what a pathetic nothing Connie is, listening with baited breath as Elly makes up crap about herself from twenty years previous.* And Elly's "I burned my diary" is the female equivalent of "I have a girlfriend but she lives on the other side of the country and all my pictures of her got lost." Elly can "remember" that her diary was a steamy tale of teen lust but we know it was page after page of "I hope he likes me" drivel.

*and even pays for the opportunity.

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dreadedcandiru2 September 15 2024, 13:26:39 UTC

Elly averages out as the most boring character in the universe but we're supposed to find her dull life fascinating. It amazes me that someone that boring appears to see herself as a dangerous rebel who terrified her mother when the most obvious thing in the world is Marian wondering if Elly burned her diary because she was appalled by how pedestrian and juvenile her attempt at love poetry was. The only people being fooled are the bullshit artist and the bullshit consumer.

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dreadedcandiru2 September 15 2024, 13:57:32 UTC

Also, if you think that's bad, Elly's poor example is a lot of the reason why Mike expects to be a bug on a windshield. The moronic sequence by the trophy case hints broadly at why only someone with no self-respect or agency would tolerate him:





As always, the moron is too stupid to understand that the opinion of four scruffy losers isn't worth tormenting someone over:



with the end result that a question he has only has the one right answer:



"You, Michael Patterson, are a stupid God-damned loser who needs to admit that you were never a victim."

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jjamele September 15 2024, 14:25:55 UTC

I just wonder if Connie said anything during the lunch other than some version of "and then what happened? Tell me more!" Does Connie have any memories of her own? And why did she pay for the privilege of listening to Elly spout off? The only reason to be a sponge for someone else's narcissistic ramblings is if the narcissist is willing to foot the bill.

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howtheduck September 18 2024, 01:45:32 UTC

Frankly, the Connie who married a black man (Pete) who divorced her and left her to raise Lawrence on her own would be an interesting story. Or the other story about the Connie who slept with every man she met who had money would be interesting. Or the Connie was so abusive to her stepdaughters that they left her to live with the mother that was considered to be too unfit to raise them, That would be interesting too.

Instead we get young Elly, who had a crush on an older guy, who was surprisingly tolerant of her obsessive behavior. Elly's perspective is that Colin was mean to her. The lesson should really have been: It does not pay to encourage obsessive people. A little niceness just encourages them to become more obsessive. Best to set her straight right away, even if it seems a little mean.

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dreadedcandiru2 September 18 2024, 06:18:01 UTC

Left out of her clumsy stalking is the reason she intends to die never seeing Martha as anything more than a menacing stranger: the girl with the body and the language. Acknowledging her means admitting that she could have just as easily fixated on a married teacher while ignoring her own personal Anthony.

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chocolate_frapp September 16 2024, 00:25:32 UTC

actually I've known girls who said something similar about having a boyfriend who lives on the, etc etc.

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chocolate_frapp September 16 2024, 00:23:42 UTC

I know I've said this here before but I really wanna see Charlie Brown looking all pissed off at Liz saying "is that all?" to 27 valentines.

Fifth strip, second panel: I believe Lynn worked for Hanna Barbara, that's possibly the most stiff, unnatural looking running position I've seen on a cartoon character that was drawn by an adult. Hahahaha! Those arms!!

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dreadedcandiru2 September 16 2024, 06:11:34 UTC

I know I've said this here before but I really wanna see Charlie Brown looking all pissed off at Liz saying "is that all?" to 27 valentines.

It might explain Schulz's need to smack down the diversity hire.

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chocolate_frapp September 16 2024, 00:19:06 UTC

Liz is attracted to Fred from Scooby Doo??

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dreadedcandiru2 September 16 2024, 06:13:35 UTC

Or Alan M from Josie And The Pussycats. A Cartoon Network thing had Fred complain about his seeing him with Daphne.

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chocolate_frapp September 16 2024, 17:00:41 UTC

If I recall correctly at least Alan didn't have Fred's habit of constantly ordering everybody else around.

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dreadedcandiru2 September 16 2024, 18:51:20 UTC
Welker was practicing to be Megatron.

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