Love that tiny bit of bra peeking out – attention to detail is one of the things that makes Wapsi so awesome. The other 2,999 I don’t have space to list.
I’d imagine she will do a lot better after talking to Shelly a bit more. While you would be surprised how much people change over time, it is just as surprising how much they don’t change.
If anything, Monica should be feeling guilty for her part in sending Shelly into 80K years of hell.
She better not say she feels excluded to Phix either. She could find herself in some sort of similar situation at the snap of sphinxy fingers, returning to the present but a second later.
“There you go Monica. You just spent 80 thousand years in the demon realm. Feel all evened up with Shelly now?”
Seems to me part of Monica being pissed off is because she DID do that, and WOULD NOT HAVE, had Phix told her about what was going to happen.
Greater good or not, people behave badly to being manipulated that blatantly.
The real question is, knowing what Shelly knows now, would she have done it voluntarily had she been given that option in the first place? Throw in what Phix knows of the ramificaions of not doing it as well. If she knew all that before she held the artifact, would she have done it anyway?
It’s difficult to say since she would not have the experience in longevity Phix has had to give her the wisdom and foundation also needed to make such a decision. Who among us would make such a sacrifice, even knowing the consequences of inaction?
Exactly. But Shelly never was given a choise, was she? We’ll never know what she would have chosen. Free choise be damned, Phix made sure Shelly did her “duty”.
Sorry Phix, but no matter how you twist it, you’re a bitch.
I believe the other 55 (I thought it was 56 others…) weren’t ever given the option. The last Shelly Alter we saw was saying something about the calendar machine, which leads me to believe that the sequence of events was totally different, and that she was completely misinformed then about what she was doing. In essence, I don’t think any of them were ever given choices.
What interests me slightly more is that through all of this, Phix must’ve known about Jin having to relive events so many times, and simply ignored her. After all, Phix understood both the results and the process, yet said nothing to anyone. I wonder how she feels about that…how either of them would feel about that, given such a skewed recap.
Phix makes an excellent point. There’s nothing worse than to have your closest friends treat you so very differently once they know something new about you, especially if it is something beyond their comprehension or understanding…
Monica feels like has problems, and she knows what happened.
Shelly seems to have some significant personality changes, what is her poor dad going to think? He might even haul her in to have her checked for a concussion, again!
🙂
Y’know comming to this forum and seeing the artistic stuff people do and the amusing comments people write makes me think the world is a better place than I have been feeling that it is.
Should aliens decide to wipe us off the planet and give us one chance to redeem ourselves I shall point em to this forum and say ‘now want to kill us’? 😀
(the above might be an exaggeration due to the fuzzy feelings produced at seeing nice people exist on the planet as opposed to the ignorant gits my friends seem to be seeing on a daily basis)
Until they get to one of our pun threads. Then it’s all over.
I’ve often thought that the “aliens wiping out a species because they deemed them unworthy” scenario presents us with the conclusion that the judging species is worse than the one they are annihilating. I mean, sure we may be bad in many ways, but we’re not the ones going around and totally wiping other planets peoples from existence. How vile is that? And they have the gall to judge us?
Phix ascribes to the same mentality as those aliens: Might makes right. Wether it’s physical might or might from knowledge, those with might will make choises for those with less might. And those with less might will like it, or else.
Oh hey, its Monica acting like a B and being childish. AGAIN. Joy. At least she said as much. I guess she’s finally starting to realize that crap happens, and that she’s not this uber privileged brat anymore. Time machines gone baby, time to grow a pair and grow the fk up.
Goodness…from some of the comments you’d think that everyone besides Monica would handle this situation completely selflessly and without a single problem. IMO, it’s perfectly natural to freak out a bit once something of this magnitude is dropped in your lap.
Yes, she’s dealt with the supernatural before and so she shouldn’t be shocked beyond reason, but it makes sense that she should be completely unnerved that one of her more normal friends is now essentially however many thousands of years old. For someone to go from their 20s or 30s into being multiple millenia in age in what seems to be the blink of an eye is more than cause for concern. It can drastically alter the dynamics of a well-worn friendship.
I’m sure that once she’s had her concerns laid to rest about Shelly still being the friend she’s always known and still needing for her to be a friend (because why would someone with so much life experience need or want a friend who is so far behind…natural thought progression for me…probably for Mon too), she’ll start to fall right back into her Maternal Monica role and look at things from Shelly’s perspective. This was probably just her little pout/tantrum to get her own emotions handled before approaching the issue.
Monica’s anger is justified, but she’s angry for the wrong reason apparently. Unless Sphix is manipulating her into thinking she is angry for selfish reasons. Getting in and verbal argument with someone older than your civilisation bears some cognitive risk.
This is a tough situation. Something as catastrophic as what Shelly experienced should have come with some warning, yet with the sanity of a world destroyer at stake, it’s justifiable to keep them in the dark if you know the outcome is positive. In fact, you could justify a lot of stuff with that at stake.
I guess,in a way Monica HAS lost her best friend since Shelly “DIED” Over and over and transformed into a sphinx. But has anyone come to Shelly and said “I’m so sorry you died and changed into a sphinx.”
Everyone in the cast privy to the CM resets must have some notion that 56 versions of history have been obliterated. Everybody died.
Shelly’s experience was more personal and… interactive, of course. Monica 57 has been spared many war zones across space, time and universes. A good person blessed with peace can feel very frustrated in being unable to contribute actively to spread, defend or justify those blessings.
Only total ignorance is bliss. She hasn’t been blessed with that.
I do sorta dig where Mon’s coming from. Many years ago, my sister was in a car accident. The end result, without going into all the details, is how suddenly different she became after her recovery. Still as smart as she ever was, the processing of information is slower. She has a large part of her memories blocked off, so her childhood is kind of lacking. Emotionally, she’s still around 16-17 years old, kinda. There won’t be a moment where Monica won’t divide her time between before/after with Shelly, but it won’t be long before those moments will be seen with exciting discovery, instead of dread of what had happened. We Live. We Learn. We Love. We Laugh. We take the time to stop and eat the roses along the way.
I dig you on that car wreck thing. 2001 I was hit from behind while riding my bicycle (different bike than the one in my avatar) and had just a tiny bit of brain damage. Now I have a weird form of aphasia where I have my “daily words” that I can and do use every day, and then I have the “floating vocabulary” of words that I used to use but mostly can’t now, but every once in a while some of those words will wander into the section of my brain that still works and for a couple of hours I can talk using that part of my vocabulary. Something else interesting is I have a larger vocabulary when I’m typing than when I’m speaking, by several thousand words. I used to write 4 or 5 poems a day before the wreck, but only about 4 or 5 total since the wreck, because I can’t “hear” the rhythms of the syllables in my head as I compose the poem after the wreck. You can imagine what that has done to my songwriting career. 😛
Maturity is the ability to be happy for the gifts that others receive rather than upset that you didn’t get them. Monica is only just coming to that point, I see.
I thought Amanda was her best friend. Maybe things change.
Anyway, I’m not sure Monica is characterizing herself correctly. She’s going through a heady brew of guilt from inadvertently sending Shelly into 80,000 years of exile, fear that her friend has changed too much, worry about what other traps might open up to claim somebody else she cares about (or maybe herself), irritation at Phix for not telling her anything (as usual), and both envy that Shelly lived so long and the realization that those extra years… weren’t very pleasant. With all that going on in her head it’s not to wonder she’s very unhappy. Phix seems to be doing the necessary reassuring: Let’s hope it’s sufficient.
I think i see where Monica is coming from. As she’s grown, her passive role in the Big Stuff is bothering her. er gran’pa was out there doing things and she isn’t. I think the role is starting to chafe.
Her role in dealing with the Calendar Machine was to be present so she could have a mystic screwdriver shoved into her head. Shelly’s been Action Girl. Bud descended into hell and got Jin’s mom back.
The roles from the Calendar machine has continued into the quest for Jin’s cure. It’s Shelly and Bud who were gong to go to ireland and they who were instrumental in retrieving the Lathian artifact (honorable mention to Stinky) which is the first step toward Jin’s cure.
I’m so glad to come back from vacation and see that the story has started again!!!! (Hope all your house work turned out OK Paul!!!).
Anyway I was kind of disapointed that after all these pin-ups of the characters there was no love for Amanda or Tina. Poor Tina, first she gets robbed of her day at the beach, and apperantly now she misses out on her summer.
On a more serious note, All the pics were great Paul. And Jabber, thanks for the new background on my phone! The Brandi/Bud picture is awsome!!!
Let’s see. What’s there to worry about? Shelly poofs away for 80,000 years, becomes a sphinx, starts talking to a mini me version of herself with no name aside from creepy little girl (guess is beats talking to your volley ball.) Hell, what could possibly be wrong?
What’s that? Spinx could have stopped this and didn’t?
HELL yes Monica has questions! I’d be bucking for some answers too.
I keep thinking of cowboys and aliens. You have Indiana Jones plaing with James Bond in Brisco Countys’ back yard. What can possibly happen?
Done, SEMC, and all that happened was me wondering why people enjoy MLP.
Now YOU try something: Go through what Mon has been through in the past few years. We’ll see how much of it just rolls off YOUR back.
I like that Phix is being blunt, but not dismissing Monica’s feelings. Showing Monica that her feelings are valid while forcing her to cope with what is making her act defensive.
Nice dress Phix.
Too bad we can’t see the colors.
Dress? That’s just a top.
Might be scales?!?
Peacock feather print….
It’s orange and purple, the dark spots are green. Wait, you can’t see that? hmmm, apparently not everyone’s on the same meds as me…
Love that tiny bit of bra peeking out – attention to detail is one of the things that makes Wapsi so awesome. The other 2,999 I don’t have space to list.
I’m glad that Shelly’s “Companion” didn’t interrupt her reunion with Heather.
Monica, on the other hand, needs some uninterrupted time with Kevin.
I’d imagine she will do a lot better after talking to Shelly a bit more. While you would be surprised how much people change over time, it is just as surprising how much they don’t change.
If anything, Monica should be feeling guilty for her part in sending Shelly into 80K years of hell.
She better not say she feels excluded to Phix either. She could find herself in some sort of similar situation at the snap of sphinxy fingers, returning to the present but a second later.
“There you go Monica. You just spent 80 thousand years in the demon realm. Feel all evened up with Shelly now?”
Oh my.. That’s a rather disconcerting thought..
There’s a reason that Bud gave her the nickname “princess” but I can’t find the exact comic where she explains it.
She didn’t. Doubt did. Although she called her “our queen.”
Phix would do that too, if nothing else just for a good chuckle.
Actually, her grandfather gave her that nickname because of the way she sometimes behaves.
Whoops! Got my e-mail address wrong again.
Seems to me part of Monica being pissed off is because she DID do that, and WOULD NOT HAVE, had Phix told her about what was going to happen.
Greater good or not, people behave badly to being manipulated that blatantly.
The real question is, knowing what Shelly knows now, would she have done it voluntarily had she been given that option in the first place? Throw in what Phix knows of the ramificaions of not doing it as well. If she knew all that before she held the artifact, would she have done it anyway?
It’s difficult to say since she would not have the experience in longevity Phix has had to give her the wisdom and foundation also needed to make such a decision. Who among us would make such a sacrifice, even knowing the consequences of inaction?
Exactly. But Shelly never was given a choise, was she? We’ll never know what she would have chosen. Free choise be damned, Phix made sure Shelly did her “duty”.
Sorry Phix, but no matter how you twist it, you’re a bitch.
This time she wasn’t given a choice. What about the other 55 times?
I believe the other 55 (I thought it was 56 others…) weren’t ever given the option. The last Shelly Alter we saw was saying something about the calendar machine, which leads me to believe that the sequence of events was totally different, and that she was completely misinformed then about what she was doing. In essence, I don’t think any of them were ever given choices.
What interests me slightly more is that through all of this, Phix must’ve known about Jin having to relive events so many times, and simply ignored her. After all, Phix understood both the results and the process, yet said nothing to anyone. I wonder how she feels about that…how either of them would feel about that, given such a skewed recap.
…sorry if this winds up being a wall of text.
Phix makes an excellent point. There’s nothing worse than to have your closest friends treat you so very differently once they know something new about you, especially if it is something beyond their comprehension or understanding…
Maybe when she knows exactly what happened to Shelly she might not mind being excluded from this little adventure.
Monica feels like has problems, and she knows what happened.
Shelly seems to have some significant personality changes, what is her poor dad going to think? He might even haul her in to have her checked for a concussion, again!
Why is Phix looking very much like Monica? Or at least a version of her that have lived through 80,000 years?
Movie sign!
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/812/teasermonicasm.png/
I am beginning to get the feeling of a theme from you 😛
Themey or not…still awesome 😀
Back in the 70s, one of Ma’s friends gave her a shirt that said, “Avoid Hangovers. Wear a Bra.”
Not a theme. It’s just having the template done, all I have to do is plug in a picher and a tagline.
None themed follows…
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/691/devilsbarista.png/
NONthemed….
🙂
Y’know comming to this forum and seeing the artistic stuff people do and the amusing comments people write makes me think the world is a better place than I have been feeling that it is.
Should aliens decide to wipe us off the planet and give us one chance to redeem ourselves I shall point em to this forum and say ‘now want to kill us’? 😀
(the above might be an exaggeration due to the fuzzy feelings produced at seeing nice people exist on the planet as opposed to the ignorant gits my friends seem to be seeing on a daily basis)
Until they get to one of our pun threads. Then it’s all over.
I’ve often thought that the “aliens wiping out a species because they deemed them unworthy” scenario presents us with the conclusion that the judging species is worse than the one they are annihilating. I mean, sure we may be bad in many ways, but we’re not the ones going around and totally wiping other planets peoples from existence. How vile is that? And they have the gall to judge us?
Phix ascribes to the same mentality as those aliens: Might makes right. Wether it’s physical might or might from knowledge, those with might will make choises for those with less might. And those with less might will like it, or else.
Attitude and serious firepower, for some things SoWhyMe it’s all they would need.
Love it!
Shelly “Whanee”?
Oh hey, its Monica acting like a B and being childish. AGAIN. Joy. At least she said as much. I guess she’s finally starting to realize that crap happens, and that she’s not this uber privileged brat anymore. Time machines gone baby, time to grow a pair and grow the fk up.
Love to live where you live.
I know of a few 65 year old who act like brats still.
Monica is young.
Give her a break 🙂
No, I won’t because she acted like an adult before the time machine, and now she acts like a child. Its like we’re going back in time.
Goodness…from some of the comments you’d think that everyone besides Monica would handle this situation completely selflessly and without a single problem. IMO, it’s perfectly natural to freak out a bit once something of this magnitude is dropped in your lap.
Yes, she’s dealt with the supernatural before and so she shouldn’t be shocked beyond reason, but it makes sense that she should be completely unnerved that one of her more normal friends is now essentially however many thousands of years old. For someone to go from their 20s or 30s into being multiple millenia in age in what seems to be the blink of an eye is more than cause for concern. It can drastically alter the dynamics of a well-worn friendship.
I’m sure that once she’s had her concerns laid to rest about Shelly still being the friend she’s always known and still needing for her to be a friend (because why would someone with so much life experience need or want a friend who is so far behind…natural thought progression for me…probably for Mon too), she’ll start to fall right back into her Maternal Monica role and look at things from Shelly’s perspective. This was probably just her little pout/tantrum to get her own emotions handled before approaching the issue.
And let us not forget: she’s talking to a SPHINX</ in a library that DOESN”T REALLY EXIST in this Universe.
Talking about how WE would handle the situation is like us talking about how we’d try to ace Potions class at Hogwarts.
Good question.
Anyone other than a Slytherian wouldn’t ace potions – whilst Snape was in charge anyway.
Did Hermione? Cannot remember.
Maybe best way to ace that class would be to save Snapes life in some way. And not be friends with Harry 😛
Sorry—I got the Half-Blood Prince’s book out of the Room of Requirement before it was destroyed by Feindfyre…
…Christ I’m a nerd…
Ohh that would work 🙂
Sneaky 😀
You must be Ravenclaw.
They were the smart ones yea?
I’m a Ravenclaw. I don’t know why you guys can’t jump on board the “outside of normal” train with the rest of us. 😛
Maybe Monica should go to this new store in the Mall of America. It sells sweets and confections from South Asia.
It’s called: Mahatma’s Candy.
*RIMSHOT*
;^)
I know there is a pun jar, but is there a really bad idea jar? If so pay up.
Monica’s anger is justified, but she’s angry for the wrong reason apparently. Unless Sphix is manipulating her into thinking she is angry for selfish reasons. Getting in and verbal argument with someone older than your civilisation bears some cognitive risk.
This is a tough situation. Something as catastrophic as what Shelly experienced should have come with some warning, yet with the sanity of a world destroyer at stake, it’s justifiable to keep them in the dark if you know the outcome is positive. In fact, you could justify a lot of stuff with that at stake.
There is no good choice, just the least bad.
Naive and a pushover?
We’ll see.
I guess,in a way Monica HAS lost her best friend since Shelly “DIED” Over and over and transformed into a sphinx. But has anyone come to Shelly and said “I’m so sorry you died and changed into a sphinx.”
Barring Shelly, Creepy, Nudge and Phix I don’t think anyone knows the multiple-deaths part.
Just the 80k years in 5seconds bit.
And the sphinx part.
Everyone in the cast privy to the CM resets must have some notion that 56 versions of history have been obliterated. Everybody died.
Shelly’s experience was more personal and… interactive, of course. Monica 57 has been spared many war zones across space, time and universes. A good person blessed with peace can feel very frustrated in being unable to contribute actively to spread, defend or justify those blessings.
Only total ignorance is bliss. She hasn’t been blessed with that.
I do sorta dig where Mon’s coming from. Many years ago, my sister was in a car accident. The end result, without going into all the details, is how suddenly different she became after her recovery. Still as smart as she ever was, the processing of information is slower. She has a large part of her memories blocked off, so her childhood is kind of lacking. Emotionally, she’s still around 16-17 years old, kinda. There won’t be a moment where Monica won’t divide her time between before/after with Shelly, but it won’t be long before those moments will be seen with exciting discovery, instead of dread of what had happened. We Live. We Learn. We Love. We Laugh. We take the time to stop and eat the roses along the way.
I dig you on that car wreck thing. 2001 I was hit from behind while riding my bicycle (different bike than the one in my avatar) and had just a tiny bit of brain damage. Now I have a weird form of aphasia where I have my “daily words” that I can and do use every day, and then I have the “floating vocabulary” of words that I used to use but mostly can’t now, but every once in a while some of those words will wander into the section of my brain that still works and for a couple of hours I can talk using that part of my vocabulary. Something else interesting is I have a larger vocabulary when I’m typing than when I’m speaking, by several thousand words. I used to write 4 or 5 poems a day before the wreck, but only about 4 or 5 total since the wreck, because I can’t “hear” the rhythms of the syllables in my head as I compose the poem after the wreck. You can imagine what that has done to my songwriting career. 😛
For some reason, I keep thinking about HOOTERS today.
Maturity is the ability to be happy for the gifts that others receive rather than upset that you didn’t get them. Monica is only just coming to that point, I see.
I thought Amanda was her best friend. Maybe things change.
Anyway, I’m not sure Monica is characterizing herself correctly. She’s going through a heady brew of guilt from inadvertently sending Shelly into 80,000 years of exile, fear that her friend has changed too much, worry about what other traps might open up to claim somebody else she cares about (or maybe herself), irritation at Phix for not telling her anything (as usual), and both envy that Shelly lived so long and the realization that those extra years… weren’t very pleasant. With all that going on in her head it’s not to wonder she’s very unhappy. Phix seems to be doing the necessary reassuring: Let’s hope it’s sufficient.
Shelly is her best hanging-out-with-and-goofing friend.
Amanda is her best talking-seriously-and-watching-“Ghost-Hunters”-marathons-with friend.
Two different “best friends”, both equally “best”.
I think i see where Monica is coming from. As she’s grown, her passive role in the Big Stuff is bothering her. er gran’pa was out there doing things and she isn’t. I think the role is starting to chafe.
Her role in dealing with the Calendar Machine was to be present so she could have a mystic screwdriver shoved into her head. Shelly’s been Action Girl. Bud descended into hell and got Jin’s mom back.
The roles from the Calendar machine has continued into the quest for Jin’s cure. It’s Shelly and Bud who were gong to go to ireland and they who were instrumental in retrieving the Lathian artifact (honorable mention to Stinky) which is the first step toward Jin’s cure.
I’m so glad to come back from vacation and see that the story has started again!!!! (Hope all your house work turned out OK Paul!!!).
Anyway I was kind of disapointed that after all these pin-ups of the characters there was no love for Amanda or Tina. Poor Tina, first she gets robbed of her day at the beach, and apperantly now she misses out on her summer.
On a more serious note, All the pics were great Paul. And Jabber, thanks for the new background on my phone! The Brandi/Bud picture is awsome!!!
Some how I don’t think Tina would be relaxing over summer. After all, who’s going to serve her customers their drinks when she’s away from the shop?
Man that last panel is just BEAUTIFUL!! 😀
Let’s see. What’s there to worry about? Shelly poofs away for 80,000 years, becomes a sphinx, starts talking to a mini me version of herself with no name aside from creepy little girl (guess is beats talking to your volley ball.) Hell, what could possibly be wrong?
What’s that? Spinx could have stopped this and didn’t?
HELL yes Monica has questions! I’d be bucking for some answers too.
I keep thinking of cowboys and aliens. You have Indiana Jones plaing with James Bond in Brisco Countys’ back yard. What can possibly happen?
Hey for all you people that still think Monica’s behavior is in any way warranted, acceptable, or tolerable. Here’s how you break yourself of this:
1) Cue up that sound clip of Rarity whining from that episode of MLP: FiM.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csPPqdbcVwM
2) Open up this comic and the last one, and the entire set with her whining after Shelly returns from weeks ago.
3) Play the audio while reading the comics.
scoff scoff
Done, SEMC, and all that happened was me wondering why people enjoy MLP.
Now YOU try something: Go through what Mon has been through in the past few years. We’ll see how much of it just rolls off YOUR back.
I like that Phix is being blunt, but not dismissing Monica’s feelings. Showing Monica that her feelings are valid while forcing her to cope with what is making her act defensive.