I’m starting to think she’s the kind of girl who read a LOT of fantasy novels growing up. Particularly the ones where some miserable kid stumbles into a fantasy world.
I’ve always wondered why the kid always wants to go back home so badly…
It’s the part I hate about YA lit. There is so much of it, too. The whole “Abused orphan whisked away to magic place” idea. Well, dammit… If my Hogwarts Letter doesn’t get here soon, then I am hopping the next TARDIS right out of here!
Well in Three Hearts and Three Lions the protagonist didn’t want to go back home, but he had no choice and did. Sometimes when the adventure ends it’s time to go home.
You know, not every kid in those stories has really wanted to return. Think of the Narnia stories…the children are always sent back, and generally miss Narnia when they’re gone. Harry Potter certainly dreaded returning to live with the Dursleys every summer, but he was given no choice (even when other places to stay started to show up).
IIRC, it was agreed that he needed to stay at the Dursleys until he came of age, because even though his aunt accepted him begrudgingly, her acceptance sealed the protective spell originally bestowed upon him by his mother. Apparently it was more powerful than anything they could conjure at hogwarts or the Ministry…
I’m a bit of a Potter nerd myself. 🙂 As such, I can point out that while this is indeed the truth of why it was important for Harry to return to the Dursleys, he wasn’t made aware of that fact for many years. Instead, he was just aware that he couldn’t live with Sirius or join the Weasleys too early in the summer. 😛
“You don’t appreciate what you have until you lose it.”
I’m not sure Monica would be so happy about getting away from all of this if the Golem girls, Tepoz, Phix, and Tina suddenly disappeared. They’re her friends.
I’m not sure. I can’t tell if what Amanda is saying today is new, either. It may be the Monica knew something was wrong, but didn’t know the specifics because Amanda never wanted to talk about it before.
I would have thought Amanda would have been taking trips to go to conventions or investing time in fantasy-based hobbies if she was so much into looking for escapes from reality. I wonder if it has sunk in that there isn’t any escape from this escape from reality. She didn’t seem to be taking Bud seriously before.
So I come to this site fresh from weeping about missing my favorite show (they bumped it for some dumb skating thing) and what do I see?
An awesome update! 😀 The last panel reminds me of a song called “Battle for Hoth” by the band Burden of a Day…”Because we are the lost boys, forever in Neverland. Will you be our leader, be our leader?”
And an ad for a store carrying gear from my show. Way to fix a monday night! 😀
No, I’ve had words in my comments turned into links before, too (they are blue double underlined links that I didn’t create). If it makes you feel any better Danzier, the links won’t be there all the time. In fact, I don’t see them. 🙂
There are browser add-ins (adware) that will do that when you read pages, but it wouldn’t be limited to your comments. It’s also a normal feature on some forums, but I’ve never seen it here.
Maybe that’s what Peter is doing these days; running the Lost Boys Inn. Reasonable rates, good grog, and a Tinker strip show in the evenings (magnifying lenses rented by the minute).
Well, here’s a link I’m putting in on purpose, a year and a half later. “Battle For Hoth” by Burden of a Day. The part that I’m reminded of is at 3:45, but the whole song applies. 😀
Geeze Monica! Lighten up. You can’t avoid it, so enjoy the ride. Quit being a drama queen and raining on everyone else’s parade. What’s the worst that could happen? You’re rendered limb from limb, yet still alive floating in a weightless, timeless void of darkness and silence with an itchy forehead, totally alone for all eternity? Could be worse, after all, you could be stuck in New Jersey.
“What’s the worst that could happen? You’re rendered limb from limb, yet still alive floating in a weightless, timeless void of darkness and silence with an itchy forehead, totally alone for all eternity?”
She is a bit of a pessimist sometimes, isn’t she? Although, I bet she’d say she’s a realist. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between the two.
Julie, you do know how to tell pessimists and optimists apart, don’t you?
An optimist is convinced that this is the best of all possible worlds…
A pessimist is very much afraid that this is the best of all possible worlds.
Seriously, I’m glad to see Monica’s reactions. She’s validating the ones I had. Both what has gotten into Amanda? and OK, that’s why, but it’s still not good.
The tables have turned. It used to be that Amanda had to deal with Monica’s emotional baggage. Now, Monica will have to deal with Amanda’s.
Bud definitely doesn’t want to be a lost girl and was already bothered by Amanda. I wonder how far that will go.
Well least she is back to normal.
Iirc M was abit bored getting back to her ‘normal’ life after the calender event.
Her complaining now means she at least achieved that.
So I’ve been playing the ‘Wapsi Square Coloring Book Game” again. Inspired by my Lost Boys crack above, I set out to Vamp up Monica… …and got a little lost on the way.
CrashFu — regarding “I’ve always wondered why the kid always wants to go back home so badly…” I’ve seen that one answered on another forum as narative causality. In particular, all stories are told by the ones that come back to tell them (not the ones that stay there and are never heard from again).
Oooo….fancy literary reasons. 🙂 The more character-based reason could be that the kid discovers that his/her “miserable” life from before was a lot easier to live than a life of magic and crazy adventure. They end up missing the simplicity…or the people they knew before.
Nah, it’s all about book sales. The kid goes home so that if the next book in the series gets canned, the fans won’t be too mad. Just imagine if the kid didn’t go home but also never showed up ever again. It’s the worst kind of cliffhanger. It would take a killer ending to overcome that, and those kinds of endings are harder to write than anything else, including the page after a bad case of writer’s block.
Ah, Princess Pan and her adventures with the lost girls in Always-Always Land. A land which has always been there. Always populated by dark and shady characters and the creatures who control them. A land puncuated with the odd being or joker. Always not what one expects and always dangerous. No fairy dust or happy thoughts needed. It’s always open to poited journeys at speeds Peter and Tink could never have imagined. Second portal on the right and straight on ’til Thorsday, That’s the signpost up ahead … next stop, the Wapsi Zone.
Stay tuned for Wapsi in Ireland. A delightful tale of ancient runes, creepy graveyards, and outright fun-filled misadventures in the emerald isle. Prepare to have your mind boggled once again.
Disclaimer:
Frolicking leprechauns optional … Leprechaun is a trademark of Ireland Inc. Neither Ireland Inc nor Wapsi Square take any responsibility for insuing hilarity which may cause beverage spitting, nose leakage, or side splitting.
Careful what you wish for , Amanda .
I’m starting to think she’s the kind of girl who read a LOT of fantasy novels growing up. Particularly the ones where some miserable kid stumbles into a fantasy world.
I’ve always wondered why the kid always wants to go back home so badly…
Hell, yeah.
It’s the part I hate about YA lit. There is so much of it, too. The whole “Abused orphan whisked away to magic place” idea. Well, dammit… If my Hogwarts Letter doesn’t get here soon, then I am hopping the next TARDIS right out of here!
When I find my TARDIS, I’ll keep you in mind for a Companion! (You don’t go wandering off, do you? )
I’m more a fan of “Normal kid stumbles across magic stuff that’s been all around them all along”.
Which is why I love the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane so freakin’ much. 😀
Well in Three Hearts and Three Lions the protagonist didn’t want to go back home, but he had no choice and did. Sometimes when the adventure ends it’s time to go home.
You know, not every kid in those stories has really wanted to return. Think of the Narnia stories…the children are always sent back, and generally miss Narnia when they’re gone. Harry Potter certainly dreaded returning to live with the Dursleys every summer, but he was given no choice (even when other places to stay started to show up).
IIRC, it was agreed that he needed to stay at the Dursleys until he came of age, because even though his aunt accepted him begrudgingly, her acceptance sealed the protective spell originally bestowed upon him by his mother. Apparently it was more powerful than anything they could conjure at hogwarts or the Ministry…
Oh yes, I am a Potter nerd…
Good to know. If I ever have and Potter related questions, I’m coming to you. 🙂
When I watch ‘The Wizard of Oz’ I question the
wisdom of returning to Depression era dustbowl Kansas rather than being a Princess of Oz.
I’m a bit of a Potter nerd myself. 🙂 As such, I can point out that while this is indeed the truth of why it was important for Harry to return to the Dursleys, he wasn’t made aware of that fact for many years. Instead, he was just aware that he couldn’t live with Sirius or join the Weasleys too early in the summer. 😛
@jayessell;
I will never forgive MGM for the way they buchered & bastardized L. Frank Baum’s childrens novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”! 😠
“I felt a great disturbance in my brain. As if millions of brain cells suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.”
Watch out! You’ll wake up in an unscheduled meteor shower that’s not on any of the charts…surrounded by police tape.
You became a government employee?
Worse. I work in computers!
Must get cramped in those little boxes.
given your reply below … “only if you work in tier 1”
“You don’t appreciate what you have until you lose it.”
I’m not sure Monica would be so happy about getting away from all of this if the Golem girls, Tepoz, Phix, and Tina suddenly disappeared. They’re her friends.
Okay . Now I’m imagining Monica dressed as Tinkerbell , for some reason .
Wrong movie. Though her current haircut could be like Kiefer’s.
(Whistles Echo & the Bunnymen’s “People are Strange”)
the kids in peter pan were called ‘lost boys’
but yea – i thought of the vampires first also ^^
Huh…I apparently need to have my Vampire Movie Fan card revoked because I definitey thought of Peter Pan first.
Then again…I was a member of the Disney Fan Club and the Classic Children’s Literature Fan Club long before I joined the Vampire Movie Fan Club. 😛
The only reason they came up with the name for that horrible vampire movie was because of Peter Pan.
You.. you speak ill of that classic?? heh..
The only vampire movie I actually liked was “The Fearless Vampire Killers.”
Echo’s??? I thought that was the Doors!
So, Monica Pan? Who’s Hook? I’m showing my age, I don’t even know about this Vampire Movie Fan Club. (Bela Lugosi FTW)
(I hate when I hit send too soon) And wouldn’t Tepoztecal (I had to go look up how to spell that) make a cute Tinkerbell.
Not Monica Pan — Petra Pan. (At least she’s already got the haircut to go with it…)
I believe they do in fact call that haircut a “pixie”.
Noooo-body expects the Spanish Inquisition!
As long as they get there before the end credits finish rollin….
Oh, bugger!
Yes but, who can foresee the Azu Inquisition!?
The MULTITUDE of ways in which those cardinal’s vestments are just WRONG … it boggles me. O_o
Okay, so Monica knew about the stuff Amanda was talking about yesterday, just didn’t want to bring it up.
Seems that way.
Well, in our defense, the way Amanda said it sounded like a first time revelation (which it was…for us).
I’m not sure. I can’t tell if what Amanda is saying today is new, either. It may be the Monica knew something was wrong, but didn’t know the specifics because Amanda never wanted to talk about it before.
I would have thought Amanda would have been taking trips to go to conventions or investing time in fantasy-based hobbies if she was so much into looking for escapes from reality. I wonder if it has sunk in that there isn’t any escape from this escape from reality. She didn’t seem to be taking Bud seriously before.
“Reality! What a concept!” Mork from Ork
I are showing my elderlyness?
So I come to this site fresh from weeping about missing my favorite show (they bumped it for some dumb skating thing) and what do I see?
An awesome update! 😀 The last panel reminds me of a song called “Battle for Hoth” by the band Burden of a Day…”Because we are the lost boys, forever in Neverland. Will you be our leader, be our leader?”
And an ad for a store carrying gear from my show. Way to fix a monday night! 😀
erm, for some reason it put links in my comment. Anyone know how to get rid of them?
I was also bummed that Castle was not on.
The song and comic are both referencing Peter Pan who was the leader of the Lost Boys inn Neverland.
The link are probably just for the images that WordPress automatically replaces text smilies with.
No, I’ve had words in my comments turned into links before, too (they are blue double underlined links that I didn’t create). If it makes you feel any better Danzier, the links won’t be there all the time. In fact, I don’t see them. 🙂
There are browser add-ins (adware) that will do that when you read pages, but it wouldn’t be limited to your comments. It’s also a normal feature on some forums, but I’ve never seen it here.
Maybe that’s what Peter is doing these days; running the Lost Boys Inn. Reasonable rates, good grog, and a Tinker strip show in the evenings (magnifying lenses rented by the minute).
And he makes a killing selling eyedrops to treat eyestrain.
Well, here’s a link I’m putting in on purpose, a year and a half later. “Battle For Hoth” by Burden of a Day. The part that I’m reminded of is at 3:45, but the whole song applies. 😀
So, Pablo, does this mean the next book will be titled “Girl of the Demons” (after “Lord of the Flies”)? 😉
Geeze Monica! Lighten up. You can’t avoid it, so enjoy the ride. Quit being a drama queen and raining on everyone else’s parade. What’s the worst that could happen? You’re rendered limb from limb, yet still alive floating in a weightless, timeless void of darkness and silence with an itchy forehead, totally alone for all eternity? Could be worse, after all, you could be stuck in New Jersey.
“What’s the worst that could happen? You’re rendered limb from limb, yet still alive floating in a weightless, timeless void of darkness and silence with an itchy forehead, totally alone for all eternity?”
I know right? She worries too much. XD
She is a bit of a pessimist sometimes, isn’t she? Although, I bet she’d say she’s a realist. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between the two.
To be fair, she’s learned to not get too excited about things. 😀
Heehee…this is true…
Julie, you do know how to tell pessimists and optimists apart, don’t you?
An optimist is convinced that this is the best of all possible worlds…
A pessimist is very much afraid that this is the best of all possible worlds.
I may have heard that somewhere before, yes. 🙂
So does that mean a realist is convinced this is the only of all possible worlds? …I’d rather have a pessimist.
Seriously, I’m glad to see Monica’s reactions. She’s validating the ones I had. Both what has gotten into Amanda? and OK, that’s why, but it’s still not good.
The tables have turned. It used to be that Amanda had to deal with Monica’s emotional baggage. Now, Monica will have to deal with Amanda’s.
Bud definitely doesn’t want to be a lost girl and was already bothered by Amanda. I wonder how far that will go.
It’s interesting to compare Monica’s reaction now to Neverland with her “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” reaction, earlier.
SO… This would be a good time to introduce you to S00j and Seanan McGuire? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DQx7iF-yOc&feature=related (lyrics here- http://seananmcguire.com/songbook.php?id=238 )
Why?
that’swhat I was thinking – “gee, wonder if she knows Seanan” 🙂
Well least she is back to normal.
Iirc M was abit bored getting back to her ‘normal’ life after the calender event.
Her complaining now means she at least achieved that.
So I’ve been playing the ‘Wapsi Square Coloring Book Game” again. Inspired by my Lost Boys crack above, I set out to Vamp up Monica… …and got a little lost on the way.
#1: Panel 3 from above, with lame little fangs added.
#2: Just shading. Wow, this really makes things look different!
#3: Just color no shade
#4: Ta-da!
Okay, she doesn’t look very Goth at the end. Still, interesting (I find myself with the original B&W thinking of M as a blonde, so this helps keep me straight too). I really like how #2 looks. I only wish I had even a hundredth of Pauls SkillTalent so I could make cool stuff like this myself.
At least you didn’t make her sparkle.
CrashFu — regarding “I’ve always wondered why the kid always wants to go back home so badly…” I’ve seen that one answered on another forum as narative causality. In particular, all stories are told by the ones that come back to tell them (not the ones that stay there and are never heard from again).
Oooo….fancy literary reasons. 🙂 The more character-based reason could be that the kid discovers that his/her “miserable” life from before was a lot easier to live than a life of magic and crazy adventure. They end up missing the simplicity…or the people they knew before.
Wasn’t the question of whether or not Wendy would grow up a plot point in the Peter Pan movie? IIRC, it was a difficult decision.
Nah, it’s all about book sales. The kid goes home so that if the next book in the series gets canned, the fans won’t be too mad. Just imagine if the kid didn’t go home but also never showed up ever again. It’s the worst kind of cliffhanger. It would take a killer ending to overcome that, and those kinds of endings are harder to write than anything else, including the page after a bad case of writer’s block.
Ha! The Doctor called it! He did the Peter Pan reference yesterday. 🙂 Well done, sir!
Well he is a Timelord! 😉
Okay, I’ve lost track. who is the woman on the left with the armband?
Amanda
So, Ms. Villareal … name three women (or men) that aren’t “lost” in some way. See if you can. Go ahead … I’ll wait …
Ah, Princess Pan and her adventures with the lost girls in Always-Always Land. A land which has always been there. Always populated by dark and shady characters and the creatures who control them. A land puncuated with the odd being or joker. Always not what one expects and always dangerous. No fairy dust or happy thoughts needed. It’s always open to poited journeys at speeds Peter and Tink could never have imagined. Second portal on the right and straight on ’til Thorsday, That’s the signpost up ahead … next stop, the Wapsi Zone.
Stay tuned for Wapsi in Ireland. A delightful tale of ancient runes, creepy graveyards, and outright fun-filled misadventures in the emerald isle. Prepare to have your mind boggled once again.
Disclaimer:
Frolicking leprechauns optional … Leprechaun is a trademark of Ireland Inc. Neither Ireland Inc nor Wapsi Square take any responsibility for insuing hilarity which may cause beverage spitting, nose leakage, or side splitting.
Just so long as the Leprechauns resemble the ones from the horror movies, not the ones on a Lucky Charms box…
The ones on the box can be just as scary. 🙂
Ever since the Underpants Gnomes, I tend to see all mythical little people like them.
Hmm … Monica in the land of Enya … watch out for the Loxians!
I read that in this guy’s voice!
Man, I’m a pathetic little Wapsi addict.
I sit here till midnight and then try and rush to be the first (or one of the first) commentors. XD
No. It’s fun to try to beat the clock. Though I usually find more inspiration from all the comments I find the next day.
I’ll be their token male!
::raises hand and jumps up and down::