Could be jealousy instead. The repeat of the push-up bra remark could be a cry to the gods, ‘Why am I so flat! Will they ever grow????’. This also ties in as connie is still a young girl no matter how long she’s been hanging about.
Well considering that her form is a younger version of Shelly. Its less of a question of if they will ever grow and more of a damn these things are never going to mesure up.
I wonder if all this lashing out is some subconscious issue with Shelly being surrounded by all these assets.
Pretty sure @SoWhyMe will come up empty. While it’s kinda unknown if Paul or another person created the term in the forums, I think this is the first ever in-strip reference to the name “Tina 2.0”.
I agree, I din’t think either term has been used in-strip before now. I think SoWhyMe’s database includes all of the forum comments… I’m curious as to who first used that turn of phrase in a discussion.
Though I certainly appreciate your thoughtfulness (good on ya!), personally I say they posted on a public forum, if they complain that they later get referenced then my response would be “then why did you post in the first place?!?” It’s not like you took something from an email and posted a private comment in a public forum, you are simply referencing material that is openly available anyway.
Did someone give you grief (if so, not asking for a name, obviously – that would just make it worse, heh) or are you just being careful?
if you are religious, it would be the chicken, as god created everything all at once, POOF! and thus a chicken was a chicken right from the start… but if you’re an evolution kind of person, then it was the egg, because before the mutation that caused a chicken as we know it, they were all non-chickens…
There’s somewhat of a tradition that the (or any) name of Deity is painful for devils and demons to hear (or, worse yet, to speak). If I recall correctly, Screwtape used all sorts of circumlocutions rather than ever write out that “three-letter word” in his missives.
I don’t think there’s been a major character in Wapsi yet that hasn’t taken some Christian godhead-name ‘in vain’ so I don’t think Connie is particularly shy about that.
I think she’s making a sly reference to Anubis, and that they are sphinxkin. But the point is she’s trying to avoid the subject, which is very very unlike her.
I’m not entirely sure that it has to be a reference to Anubis just because they’re sphinxish…after all, those beings are noted in Greek mythology, too. I think it’s just a serious issue with the more faith-based line of thought…and you’re right, she’s been trying to avoid the topic. Very interesting. 🙂
Until Paul makes it explicitly Anubis, it’s just a colloquialism. But I like to point out that you can “swear to Dog” and still be within a positive spiritual/religious tradition.
Since the ancient Egyptian faith was eradicated before 562 CE, the only first-hand experience Connie could have had would have been before she existed.
Unless Anubis is a Wapsigod, and could get into the Time Forest.
“I pledge allegiance to the underworld,
One nation under dog of which I stand alone,
A face in the crowd unsung, against the mold,
Without a doubt singled out the only way I know…”
I plead alignment to the flakes of the untitled snakes of a merry cow and to the republicans for which they scam, one nacho, underpants, with licorice and jugs of wine for owls.
– Matt Groening, “Life Is Hell”
erm thats the same.. 🙂
instead of just one busy god, Romans had a choice!
Terra to stop the earth shaking,
Ceres for a good harvest,
Robigus to prevent infection,
Minerva to ensure wisdom, etc…
More like the realization that the world is such a screwed up place, it can’t all be the fault of a single deity. No, this kind of crazy can only come from a committee.
Well, not exactly – here in my neck of the woods, the questions “he’s good for what?” or “what’s he good for?” have a particular reference to the term “good for nothing”…
The problem faiths run into is when living experience completely overrules concepts taken on faith.
You either change your doctrine (or its application) or you start insisting on sounding more and more like an idiot. It’s a hard road, but if you invest a lot of your identity on an uncertain goal, you have to be prepared for those kinds of choices.
In a discussion with Monica, Tina did refer to “demons shredding souls for (their) pleasure” so apparently the whole subject of human souls is not entirely off limits for discussion by demons. It does seem as if Connie is being pushed into a discussion she would much rather avoid… her rude reference to push-up bras (twice) feels like a deliberate conversation-stopping tactic.
Could it be that she’s resentful that Tina’s demons still have their own seperate identities?
I think The Companion, or Connie if you prefer, is maybe worried about ‘ending.’ Even Tina has questions about that. Fear of the unknown is a powerful fear and “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate.. to suffering.”— Yoda
I think you’re onto something, W. I’m catching up lost time, here, haven’t read 4/20 yet, so excuse my idiocy if Pablo already covered this. Had to help the wife get back on the road, and pulled a muscle in my back in the process – sitting at the computer was to be avoided til I had to go back to work.
I wonder if Connie is afraid that due to how she was created, she is not the same as a soul – so unlike the demons that she formerly was, and unlike a human, she doesn’t have a soul and isn’t one (or it’s like – demon) herself. And knows that she will die when Shelly does (don’t have the link handy, but you know what I refer to).
Hence the existential blues – she knows her existence has a shelf life and unlike the hosts she used to inhabit she has no idea what awaits her and suspects it to be simple oblivion. Yeah that would scare the crap outta me too. o.O
“Something close to what you are becoming”. It may be that Connie is jealous that Tina is achiving (or has achived) an independent existence in mortal shell.
Connie is close. She’ll die eventualy, like Tina, because she’s tied to a mortal Shelly.
*Drives a ’74 Ford F100 into the pun vault. The engine was losing compression anyhow*
Pablo, you rock! The “Tina 2.1” phrase was just a term to be useful for the fans talking about the strip; I didn’t expect it to make it into the dialog. Ego validation for all, huzzah!
It’s fun to have a conversation with Connie about a subject she wants to avoid 🙂
Anyway, Shelly, you should discuss the topic with someone else, who can and may be willing to actually give you some answers. May comes to mind first and foremost – she did manage to transfer souls into clay bodies, after all.
Meh…she’s just not been exposed to the many variants available then. If the person giving the sermon is a good speaker, it’s not half bad. My favorite preacher was one who used to put a lot of really interesting historical and/or etymological information into his sermons. 🙂 But then, I like to understand the framework a story is supposed to fit into as well as the origins of interpretations, so the history and etymology is interesting to me. 🙂
What Boxilar said, and what I just posted a sec ago, “But the point is she’s trying to avoid the subject, which is very very unlike her.”
For some reason, she’s trying to distract Shelly from her point. Using church to deflect from questioning the nature of the soul, something most clergy are very good at.
But Shelly is a mechanic. She Wants To Know How It Works. There are reasons why she’s my fave.
And yet, even several thousand years after it was established as a religion, Judaism had adherents who did not believe in a resurrection. (Google “Sadducees” for info)
Traditions diverge. For instance, more recently, the repatriation of the Ethiopian Jews, who followed a priestly rather than a rabbinical tradition. That’s been quite the challenge to sort out, I understand.
Or… perhaps the opposite. Connie is Shelly’s soul, with add-ons.
Having readied to depart in the wilderness, along with the bored demons, the soul and demons were all suddenly fused together by the sphinx they had been in, grabbing at them in her death throes.
That would make everything Connie has said to Shelly true, and explain her body language about Tina behind Shelly’s back, here in panel 1.
She’s the closest thing to the mythical Conscience. Shelly is the shell. Connie is the ball attached to cup.
Shelly has a soul. See, it’s standing right over there! Can you do that?
The ball is on a string and attached to the cup, so there’s no worry if you don’t catch the ball in the cup, and clean-up is as easy as catching a ball in a cup!
I have a hard time with the idea that Connie is Shelly’s soul. That would imply the demons make up the soul. Shelly had a soul or spirit or identity or whatever before she compressed her demons to create Connie, and that seems to be what resides in her “shell.” Connie is something separate…unless you’re suggesting that she blended her own spirit into the mix with the demons to make Connie…
Julie, the point Yamara made earlier is that maybe Connie isn’t just Shelly’s demons fused into one entity. Maybe she’s Shelly’s demons AND SOUL fused into one entity.
The title hearkens back to Bud’s first reaction to Connie. (“I think I like the little elemental.”)
An element, in ancient concept, is something that is not further reducible. In modern chemistry, radioactive elements decay into stable ones. If Connie is a truly new element, then she is one that is larger than what what she was before.
Is she slowly decaying now, or when she dies when Shelly does, will she explode?
If I’ve said something you find worth passing along, go right ahead. It’s a public forum; if I didn’t mean for it to be read I wouldn’t have posted it.
I doubt that a short term like that can actually be copyrighted.
Short terms can be protected as a trademark or servicemark (in this case as a reference to a unique character) and I believe that fictional characters can be protected to some extent as the creator’s intellectual property (in effect, a copyright). In either case, I presume that Pablo would be the only person around who could establish legal standing to support such a claim.
You can just leave that copyright receipt in the Pun Jar the next time you pull off a good one 🙂
It now seems that Connie is being changed by Shelly’s sphinx nature; which is yet another thing that demons have never dealt with before (notice that both groups {demon/sphinx} don’t do well with changes to the status quo).
Good point. I don’t think we ever saw hints of sphinx facial markings on Connie until this week. She has shared in Shelly’s transformation to some unknown extent.
Considering how the sphinxes and demons have been (im)mortal enemies for a very long time, the idea of a fused-demon entity such as Connie who also has a sphinx heritage could easily upset both the demons and the sphinxes.
Shelly and Tina aren’t the only players who could be in the middle of an identity crisis! Connie is out there in unknown territory, too.
Yeah, the same thought occurred to me shortly after I posted.
Connie being a demon-fusion doesn’t really seem as if would be enough of an anomaly to seriously upset/frighten a group of fearless apex-paranormal sphinxes. Even it they’re the rigid, pigeonholing type, they could simply say “Ugh, impacted demongoo, even more loathsome than most demons, must shred!”.
A demon/sphinx hybrid, though. That’s a pigeonhole buster for sure… it could shake their whole worldview.
Once upon a time, Waspi Square was hosted with Blank Label Comics. The shift to the current WordPress format happened about 4 years ago October, if I remember correctly.
Hey, SoWhyMe, I posted something similar above, before I read your comment. Didn’t mean to step on your thought there. Another thing, most religions require ‘faith’, can you have it if you ‘know?’ It’s why we have the term “doubting Thomas” because he only believed after proof which was inferior to believing on faith. If faith is required and impossible if you know, you’re pretty much out of luck.
As Terry Pratchett pointed out, “We say that seeing is believing, but it isn’t. Seeing is where believing stops, because once you’ve seen you don’t have to believe any more.”
Is that element really missing? Or did it just bury it’self so deep after the car wreck because of the pain that it was too hard to come back when the demons took over?
I’d love to see that as the next story line, M and the gang bringing the real Tina back out.
In previous cycles, she and Jin were friends. She was a psychologist. She was a drug kingpin’s daughter, and going to testify or did testify against him,
I seem to recall the Demon Queen referring to her as “that drug lord’s dingy daughter”. While DQ was an unreliable narrator, it sounds like Tina 1.0 was not a fashionista; a tall girl, possibly hunching over a lot; brainy nerd but with an upbringing in crime.
I would also assume a Catholic background, unsurprisingly, backed up by the trappings around the shop.
A Miami native, I found it curious that she was in Mexico City practicing psychology and has a passel of demons, like but unlike Monica’s, who were themselves sufficiently interested in Monica to chase her. Yes, Paul, I’d like to hear her story in longform too.
Tina was not in Mexico to practice psychology. At that time she was there to hide out from her father until she had to testify if the news clippings were to make any sense.
Any ideas what Connie’s voice sounds like when she’s speaking in white-on-black?
I’m going to guess that her “normal” black-on-white speech would sound a lot like Shelly’s as a girl of 14, just as Connie’s overall form resembles Shelly at that age. Her “demonic” or “angry” speech style, though… tigers snarling? Raging? Hollow and creepily nonhuman? Elemental flame and wind? A chorus of telemarketers and politicians?
Again this brings up, how Traditional was Shelly’s upbringing? She did go on a Vision Quest at the proper age, but did her experience then put her off the Tribes ways since then? I myself still do a few things as I was raised to do, but then, us kids learned a mix of Kiowa and Comanche ways, Ma’s Tribes, as Pop wasn’t raised too strongly Choctaw or Arapaho, his parents had a harder time being Native American in their young adulthood.
I still think my Webcomic Cousin could benefit a visit to a family elder, if one is available up where she’s at. Most of the Wahnees I know live mostly around here.
It’s a very good question. It seems that Shelly pursued her vision very suddenly and unannounced, out of a persistent grief, but she maybe she gave some warning to her family.
In any case, I noted on the timeline that she had spent her earliest years in the southwest, but then was in grade school in Minnesota. I don’t think Paul has spelled this out, but the implication is that Shelly’s mother’s death in a remote area with poor communication led Mr. Wahnee to move to Minneapolis.
I, pink boy that I am, do not know how much that would affect her exposure to her traditions, but it’s a starting point for more knowledgeable heads to measure.
Shelly reached out to Heather when she returned, probably because she wouldn’t want to act like she was keeping a big secret from her father or brothers. She felt no one could explain to her what the rabbit meant; now she knows she dare not explain what it means to those she’s felt closest to.
Didn’t seem to be anywhere near as much of a change as the 1.0 -> 2.0 transition.
She seem to have kept her same basic sense of internal identify (“the rats running the ship”), just with one less “rat” in the pack. The rest of the demons hadn’t ever really understood Nudge as being fundamentally different from the rest of them, except for Nudge’s liking for anchovies on pizza.
She said she felt “lighter, in a good way”, but aside from that didn’t seem to lose much by Nudge’s removal… kept her memories back to the time of resurrection, kept on as the owner/operator of Mucho Mocha, and the Wapsi gang perceives her as being the same Tina that they had known.
There’s a tradition that “point zero” releases are usually buggy, and don’t really show the system’s true quality… wait for the “point one” bug-fix. That might apply to Tina 🙂
I’d say that “Tina 3.0” would be whomever we suspect she may be evolving/maturing into… a more unified “person” who struggles with ethical issues as a human would, rather than as a pack of barely-restrained wild-animal demons would (or wouldn’t).
There’s a lot about this character, past and future, that we have yet to learn… part of the fun ride!
What Dave said. Remember, Tina 1.0 died in the crash. Losing Nudge was a surprise all around, but hardly the total break in identity that she had to face when she had to extract herself from the morgue.
Don’t get me wrong I love the comic… isn’t there a bit of a narrative gap between Tina & Phix’s conversation and these last two strips?… and come to think of it it seemed like there should’ve been something more at the pharmacy… am I missing something?
Paul often has the storyline jump around a bit. In some cases he jumps some characters forwards (hours or days) so we don’t actually see all of the events… I think we’re supposed to use our “mind’s eyes” to infer what took place, based on what the characters do or say once they’re back in our view. The pharmacy scene was like this… we didn’t actually see it, but Phix told us enough about what happened that we understand what occurred (and didn’t have to see it twice).
In other cases, the story jumps to another set of characters entirely (e.g. Phix/Tina, over to Shelly/Connie) and the earlier characters show up again in a few days or weeks.
The recent events seem to be showing two aspects of the “evolving demons” theme, from two different angles (Tina, and Connie). Would not be surprising to see these converge, at some point in the future.
Some comics and stories are completely linear and explicit… Wapsi has a different style.
Dude!… She’s a COMANCHE… Of Course she’ll have a problem with Christianity! remember Connie got formed during Shelly’s “vision quest” a very Comanche thing, definitely NOT Christian! so i think that would tend to bias her to the point of hostility towards somebody wanting her to go to “church”, seeing as how (as far as i know), Comanche didn’t HAVE a “church” to even go to!!.
I’m born and bred Baptist, except on the first Sunday of the month, when it’s dinner rolls and fried chicken. I follow both Christian and Traditional paths, because right down to the basics, there isn’t too many of any differences in the core beliefs of just trying to do what’s humanly decent.
But the suggestion here is maybe based on how my people were treated by a few well-meaning, but ill-advised missionaries and pioneers (I’d be mixed up too if I had to shlep across the prairie with a pie in my ear) who wanted to bring the Lord to the “Godless Savages.”
@SWM: being a Christian myself, I feel safe in saying this:
Why? Because typically every time a Native American saw a white Christian come strolling over the hill, it means the tribe was about to get infected with a new disease (white guy is a carrier, doesn’t even know it) or there’s an army behind them that will carry out the “suggestion” that they “relocate” because some merchant wants to use the land for something else.
Although I personally blame that on their unenlightened ignorance, not their religious beliefs. All too many used religion and “divine providence” as excuse for their actions so I don’t totally blame others for pointing a finger at my religion and blaming it, too.
I just try to be patient and explain to them that my belief isn’t at fault, here, it’s the idiots who abused it for their own gains. And, yes, I am just as upset with those abusers as their victims are.
Agreed, on that one. Those who hold onto grudges formed by their ancestors without thinking about why that grudge was there and whether it’s still valid are just as bad as the people who caused that grudge in the first place.
I am a modern caucasian male – I do not agree with, nor do I tolerate, what a lot of my predecessors (and some of my fellow living humans) did and still do. But as I did not commit any of these heinous acts, I will not apologize for what I did not do, nor will I just openly offer compensation.
But will I willingly (and gladly!) join in the efforts to make sure any such practices still in existence are wiped out and the species as a whole enlightened to not only prevent their return but to hopefully avoid making similar mistakes in the future? Damn straight! :D)
Wooooo!
Down Connie!
Redrum! Redrum!
Yay, Connie!
Well, it’s official. Tina is now version 2.1.
Connie, on the other hand, is worried about something!
Souls do seem to be a touchy subject there. Should be interesting learning why, eventually.
My guess is that she’s fearful of something.
Fear leads to Hate leads to Suffering and all that jazz.
Inferiority complex maybe? She exists, but is soulless, does that mean she’s less than those with Souls? Just some musing on how she might think.
But considering how she reacts towards those with a bigger bust. Well.. There definitely seems to be an inferiority complex going on within her.
Could be jealousy instead. The repeat of the push-up bra remark could be a cry to the gods, ‘Why am I so flat! Will they ever grow????’. This also ties in as connie is still a young girl no matter how long she’s been hanging about.
I think its more the preteen boredom of all things ‘adult’…
church is so boring, you have to keep quet, cannot play chase-games…
could be her mum was always talking with her friends about how big neighbor’s daughter is getting, evilly saying she is wearing a push-up bra??
5-10 yr olds just want to run around, not wear big uncomfortable things, do not understand about why her mum is making such a fuss… :/
Well considering that her form is a younger version of Shelly. Its less of a question of if they will ever grow and more of a damn these things are never going to mesure up.
I wonder if all this lashing out is some subconscious issue with Shelly being surrounded by all these assets.
Actually, I was kinda of seeing that too. With Monica and the like around she’s got to feel a bit inadequate at some point or another.
Connie is (physically) fourteen – the age Shelly was when she was created – and isn’t going to “mature” any further, i assume.
Did the fans or Pablo originally come up with “Tina 2.0”?
➡ Paging @SoWhyMe with a request for a database search!
Pretty sure @SoWhyMe will come up empty. While it’s kinda unknown if Paul or another person created the term in the forums, I think this is the first ever in-strip reference to the name “Tina 2.0”.
Of course I have been wrong before…
I agree, I din’t think either term has been used in-strip before now. I think SoWhyMe’s database includes all of the forum comments… I’m curious as to who first used that turn of phrase in a discussion.
Thank you! It looks as if these are indeed terms of fannish origin!
There is interest. You rock.
And the Geek of the Day award respectfully goes to…
(badadumm)
SoWhyMe!
Thanks, mate, great work 🙂
Smiles! And wishing I could have edited that 1.0 to read 2.0 instead. But, y’all got the idea….
I’m supremely impressed, SoWhyMe. 🙂 You’re my hero!
Anything I have said may be referenced, not that any of it is worthwhile.
Same here.
Though I certainly appreciate your thoughtfulness (good on ya!), personally I say they posted on a public forum, if they complain that they later get referenced then my response would be “then why did you post in the first place?!?” It’s not like you took something from an email and posted a private comment in a public forum, you are simply referencing material that is openly available anyway.
Did someone give you grief (if so, not asking for a name, obviously – that would just make it worse, heh) or are you just being careful?
This is the first in-strip appearance of the phrase “Tina 2.1” – and yes, Connie is using it exactly as we readers defined it.
Now for the next question!
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
if you are religious, it would be the chicken, as god created everything all at once, POOF! and thus a chicken was a chicken right from the start… but if you’re an evolution kind of person, then it was the egg, because before the mutation that caused a chicken as we know it, they were all non-chickens…
Swear to dog? Is that intentional?
Being dyslexic is tough.
There’s somewhat of a tradition that the (or any) name of Deity is painful for devils and demons to hear (or, worse yet, to speak). If I recall correctly, Screwtape used all sorts of circumlocutions rather than ever write out that “three-letter word” in his missives.
It can also just be the way she and Shelly think of the deity.
It’s a colloquial euphemism.
I don’t think there’s been a major character in Wapsi yet that hasn’t taken some Christian godhead-name ‘in vain’ so I don’t think Connie is particularly shy about that.
I think she’s making a sly reference to Anubis, and that they are sphinxkin. But the point is she’s trying to avoid the subject, which is very very unlike her.
Damn it, l missed that one. Good catch there Yamara.
I’m not entirely sure that it has to be a reference to Anubis just because they’re sphinxish…after all, those beings are noted in Greek mythology, too. I think it’s just a serious issue with the more faith-based line of thought…and you’re right, she’s been trying to avoid the topic. Very interesting. 🙂
Until Paul makes it explicitly Anubis, it’s just a colloquialism. But I like to point out that you can “swear to Dog” and still be within a positive spiritual/religious tradition.
Since the ancient Egyptian faith was eradicated before 562 CE, the only first-hand experience Connie could have had would have been before she existed.
Unless Anubis is a Wapsigod, and could get into the Time Forest.
We have seen other demons talk back to front before now. Dog = God. Although the letters have been reversed before.
Which brings us to the agnostic and dyslexic insomniac, who lies awake at night wondering about the existence of a dog.
I always preferred Faust’s dyslexic cousin who sold his soul to Santa.
Oh I know him, didn’t he shoot his eye out? 😉
“I pledge allegiance to the underworld,
One nation under dog of which I stand alone,
A face in the crowd unsung, against the mold,
Without a doubt singled out the only way I know…”
from Minority by Green Day
I plead alignment to the flakes of the untitled snakes of a merry cow and to the republicans for which they scam, one nacho, underpants, with licorice and jugs of wine for owls.
– Matt Groening, “Life Is Hell”
“I pledge allegiance to Queen Fragg, and her Mighty State of Hysteria……” – Calvin and Hobbs.
“…and to the wee puppet for witch’s hands…” –From either “The year of the boar and Jackie Robinson” or “Dragonwings”, can’t recall…
In Dog We Trust, He/She Will Always Be Our Best Friend…Always Faithful, Always Trusting, Never Judging And Loves Us Unconditionally.
Think about it; this could be the world’s most popular religion if believers followed its precepts.
Unless they get shot by a cop. 😛
Note the recent dog shooting in Austin, Texas.
Damn! Now we have an explanation for Dietzel!
An internet for you, sir!
Dog?? well I would ask ‘which one??’ 🙂 at least the romans had a good ‘who and what for’ list…. :p
…and even a “who and good for what?” list…
erm thats the same.. 🙂
instead of just one busy god, Romans had a choice!
Terra to stop the earth shaking,
Ceres for a good harvest,
Robigus to prevent infection,
Minerva to ensure wisdom, etc…
More like the realization that the world is such a screwed up place, it can’t all be the fault of a single deity. No, this kind of crazy can only come from a committee.
Have I mentioned I’m a polytheist?
Well, not exactly – here in my neck of the woods, the questions “he’s good for what?” or “what’s he good for?” have a particular reference to the term “good for nothing”…
Yamara, you worship parrots? (I know, I know… *clink*)
She got a problem with religion? These are good questions.
She apparently has a problem with church. It may be she abhors ritualized worship and being preached to.
Or like most kids she hates the idea of going to church.
The problem faiths run into is when living experience completely overrules concepts taken on faith.
You either change your doctrine (or its application) or you start insisting on sounding more and more like an idiot. It’s a hard road, but if you invest a lot of your identity on an uncertain goal, you have to be prepared for those kinds of choices.
yes, a main reason people get tired of it… others have managed to make it a fun family gathering… 🙂
@Yamara – at that point where faith and facts collide head-on, all you can do is go camping.
I can’t say I blame her, given her experience with priests.
Tina is like a Playstation 3. Whith each update something is taken out. 😛
I have to agree, a patch at the very least seems to be needed. Maybe a complete platform change, like to a full PC?
Well, at the very least she’s a “Named” NPC! 😀
We cans have Pun Jar.
Yes. Yes we can. *jingle jingle*
Ok, that was unpleasant.
At least she’s not threatening to use the split-pea soup.
Yuh-huh. Brings back “fond” memories of meconium diapers…
yikes, by the wiki, I have heard about ‘investigating stools’ but that is a freakish step too far… 😮 😮 :p
Diapers aren’t as bad as road tar and pine pitch. The only thing that got that off was time and three tubes of toothpaste.
Is CG able to manipulate Shelly like that and make her go all Exorcist?
Connie mentioned rules. There may be things she CAN’T talk about, and shelly is pushing her into a corner with this interest in souls.
In a discussion with Monica, Tina did refer to “demons shredding souls for (their) pleasure” so apparently the whole subject of human souls is not entirely off limits for discussion by demons. It does seem as if Connie is being pushed into a discussion she would much rather avoid… her rude reference to push-up bras (twice) feels like a deliberate conversation-stopping tactic.
Could it be that she’s resentful that Tina’s demons still have their own seperate identities?
I think The Companion, or Connie if you prefer, is maybe worried about ‘ending.’ Even Tina has questions about that. Fear of the unknown is a powerful fear and “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate.. to suffering.”— Yoda
Or just “CG”, which could stand for “Companion Girl”.
“Mm. Not as developed are you. Boob envy leads to bitterness. Bitterness leads to bra jokes. Bra jokes…lead to web comics.”
Have you ever considered writing anti-cable commercials for Direct TV?
I think you’re onto something, W. I’m catching up lost time, here, haven’t read 4/20 yet, so excuse my idiocy if Pablo already covered this. Had to help the wife get back on the road, and pulled a muscle in my back in the process – sitting at the computer was to be avoided til I had to go back to work.
I wonder if Connie is afraid that due to how she was created, she is not the same as a soul – so unlike the demons that she formerly was, and unlike a human, she doesn’t have a soul and isn’t one (or it’s like – demon) herself. And knows that she will die when Shelly does (don’t have the link handy, but you know what I refer to).
Hence the existential blues – she knows her existence has a shelf life and unlike the hosts she used to inhabit she has no idea what awaits her and suspects it to be simple oblivion. Yeah that would scare the crap outta me too. o.O
“Something close to what you are becoming”. It may be that Connie is jealous that Tina is achiving (or has achived) an independent existence in mortal shell.
Connie is close. She’ll die eventualy, like Tina, because she’s tied to a mortal Shelly.
*Drives a ’74 Ford F100 into the pun vault. The engine was losing compression anyhow*
I am thinking that Connie is just jealous of Tina having a corporeal shell and she is still basically a ‘shade’.
Pablo, you rock! The “Tina 2.1” phrase was just a term to be useful for the fans talking about the strip; I didn’t expect it to make it into the dialog. Ego validation for all, huzzah!
It’s fun to have a conversation with Connie about a subject she wants to avoid 🙂
Anyway, Shelly, you should discuss the topic with someone else, who can and may be willing to actually give you some answers. May comes to mind first and foremost – she did manage to transfer souls into clay bodies, after all.
OOoooh! Shelly certainly rubbed a raw nerve on Connie there.
Alrighty then. Wonder what the maniacal munchkin is hiding? She obviously knows something.
She may just not want to spend an hour or two a week sitting in a big biulding being bored.
Meh…she’s just not been exposed to the many variants available then. If the person giving the sermon is a good speaker, it’s not half bad. My favorite preacher was one who used to put a lot of really interesting historical and/or etymological information into his sermons. 🙂 But then, I like to understand the framework a story is supposed to fit into as well as the origins of interpretations, so the history and etymology is interesting to me. 🙂
… but not quite as good as roller disco…. 🙂
What Boxilar said, and what I just posted a sec ago, “But the point is she’s trying to avoid the subject, which is very very unlike her.”
For some reason, she’s trying to distract Shelly from her point. Using church to deflect from questioning the nature of the soul, something most clergy are very good at.
But Shelly is a mechanic. She Wants To Know How It Works. There are reasons why she’s my fave.
Also, sphinxes (and gorgons) were very much a part of religion and clergy before everyone was promised a place in paradise by some guys.
Noting also that originally physical resurrection was the big selling point, and the major adaptation from Jewish belief.
And yet, even several thousand years after it was established as a religion, Judaism had adherents who did not believe in a resurrection. (Google “Sadducees” for info)
Traditions diverge. For instance, more recently, the repatriation of the Ethiopian Jews, who followed a priestly rather than a rabbinical tradition. That’s been quite the challenge to sort out, I understand.
Or… perhaps the opposite. Connie is Shelly’s soul, with add-ons.
Having readied to depart in the wilderness, along with the bored demons, the soul and demons were all suddenly fused together by the sphinx they had been in, grabbing at them in her death throes.
That would make everything Connie has said to Shelly true, and explain her body language about Tina behind Shelly’s back, here in panel 1.
She’s the closest thing to the mythical Conscience. Shelly is the shell. Connie is the ball attached to cup.
Well, if she’s the conglomeration of demons, fused to a soul, then how is it that Shelly appears to have retained her own soul?
Waitaminute… maybe CG’s “soul” isn’t Shelly’s, but is someone else’s?….
Shelly has a soul. See, it’s standing right over there! Can you do that?
The ball is on a string and attached to the cup, so there’s no worry if you don’t catch the ball in the cup, and clean-up is as easy as catching a ball in a cup!
I have a hard time with the idea that Connie is Shelly’s soul. That would imply the demons make up the soul. Shelly had a soul or spirit or identity or whatever before she compressed her demons to create Connie, and that seems to be what resides in her “shell.” Connie is something separate…unless you’re suggesting that she blended her own spirit into the mix with the demons to make Connie…
Only Paul knows for sure, of course.
But for all her ability to manifest objects and faces, there’s only one Connie specifically defaults to.
Julie, the point Yamara made earlier is that maybe Connie isn’t just Shelly’s demons fused into one entity. Maybe she’s Shelly’s demons AND SOUL fused into one entity.
The title hearkens back to Bud’s first reaction to Connie. (“I think I like the little elemental.”)
An element, in ancient concept, is something that is not further reducible. In modern chemistry, radioactive elements decay into stable ones. If Connie is a truly new element, then she is one that is larger than what what she was before.
Is she slowly decaying now, or when she dies when Shelly does, will she explode?
Nah, she will just finish her transmutation into lead or depleted uranium.
Hey, wait a minute! I copyrighted that back on November 3, 2010!
I suppose the fact that I started the next paragraph with “Seriously, …” wouldn’t help much though. 😉
I wonder what kind of royalties Paul should pay you to use the term. 😛
If I’ve said something you find worth passing along, go right ahead. It’s a public forum; if I didn’t mean for it to be read I wouldn’t have posted it.
Same here: I put it out in public forum, so you can post away. Don’t mind a bit.
I doubt that a short term like that can actually be copyrighted.
Short terms can be protected as a trademark or servicemark (in this case as a reference to a unique character) and I believe that fictional characters can be protected to some extent as the creator’s intellectual property (in effect, a copyright). In either case, I presume that Pablo would be the only person around who could establish legal standing to support such a claim.
You can just leave that copyright receipt in the Pun Jar the next time you pull off a good one 🙂
It now seems that Connie is being changed by Shelly’s sphinx nature; which is yet another thing that demons have never dealt with before (notice that both groups {demon/sphinx} don’t do well with changes to the status quo).
Good point. I don’t think we ever saw hints of sphinx facial markings on Connie until this week. She has shared in Shelly’s transformation to some unknown extent.
Considering how the sphinxes and demons have been (im)mortal enemies for a very long time, the idea of a fused-demon entity such as Connie who also has a sphinx heritage could easily upset both the demons and the sphinxes.
Shelly and Tina aren’t the only players who could be in the middle of an identity crisis! Connie is out there in unknown territory, too.
I think you may have put a finger on the fear factor experienced by the sphinxes.
Yeah, the same thought occurred to me shortly after I posted.
Connie being a demon-fusion doesn’t really seem as if would be enough of an anomaly to seriously upset/frighten a group of fearless apex-paranormal sphinxes. Even it they’re the rigid, pigeonholing type, they could simply say “Ugh, impacted demongoo, even more loathsome than most demons, must shred!”.
A demon/sphinx hybrid, though. That’s a pigeonhole buster for sure… it could shake their whole worldview.
I kind of figured that the Elite Sphinx’s problem with the unknown is they tend to be elitist prigs. But that is just me.
Database search… I notice that some of Wapsi has been indexed on OhNoRobot. Anyone know how much, or how completely?
Once upon a time, Waspi Square was hosted with Blank Label Comics. The shift to the current WordPress format happened about 4 years ago October, if I remember correctly.
Hey, SoWhyMe, I posted something similar above, before I read your comment. Didn’t mean to step on your thought there. Another thing, most religions require ‘faith’, can you have it if you ‘know?’ It’s why we have the term “doubting Thomas” because he only believed after proof which was inferior to believing on faith. If faith is required and impossible if you know, you’re pretty much out of luck.
As Terry Pratchett pointed out, “We say that seeing is believing, but it isn’t. Seeing is where believing stops, because once you’ve seen you don’t have to believe any more.”
Is that element really missing? Or did it just bury it’self so deep after the car wreck because of the pain that it was too hard to come back when the demons took over?
I’d love to see that as the next story line, M and the gang bringing the real Tina back out.
I don’t think we want to know the REAL Tina, though. It does not sound like she was a very pleasant girl.
Cite, please? I can’t recall our hearing very much about her, in a personality sense… we know some things about her history but we’ve never “met” her.
In previous cycles, she and Jin were friends. She was a psychologist. She was a drug kingpin’s daughter, and going to testify or did testify against him,
I think that’s about it.
Yeah, that’s about all I could recall myself.
I seem to recall the Demon Queen referring to her as “that drug lord’s dingy daughter”. While DQ was an unreliable narrator, it sounds like Tina 1.0 was not a fashionista; a tall girl, possibly hunching over a lot; brainy nerd but with an upbringing in crime.
I would also assume a Catholic background, unsurprisingly, backed up by the trappings around the shop.
A Miami native, I found it curious that she was in Mexico City practicing psychology and has a passel of demons, like but unlike Monica’s, who were themselves sufficiently interested in Monica to chase her. Yes, Paul, I’d like to hear her story in longform too.
Tina was not in Mexico to practice psychology. At that time she was there to hide out from her father until she had to testify if the news clippings were to make any sense.
As to her demons, they knew Jin in last cycles and she may have worked something like this out with her demons in those cycles.
Tina 1.0 had an apartment in Miami, so presumably that’s where her work was. Mexico City was explicitly mentioned as a vacation once, wasn’t it?
Any ideas what Connie’s voice sounds like when she’s speaking in white-on-black?
I’m going to guess that her “normal” black-on-white speech would sound a lot like Shelly’s as a girl of 14, just as Connie’s overall form resembles Shelly at that age. Her “demonic” or “angry” speech style, though… tigers snarling? Raging? Hollow and creepily nonhuman? Elemental flame and wind? A chorus of telemarketers and politicians?
Linda Blair in The Exorcist?
Mercedes McCambridge
The Zuni doll from “Trilogy of Terror”.
Woof! Creepy Movie.
I vote telemarketers and politicians. They’re scary.
Black tar? Black Tar? Afraid vomiting Pea Soup will get you into trouble?
Oh dog I <3 Connie.
In Dog We Trust, He/She Will Always Be Our Best Friend…Always Faithful, Always Trusting, Never Judging And Loves Us Unconditionally.
Think about it; this could be the world’s most popular religion if believers followed its precepts.
Black Tar? I wonder if it burns? Could be cheap alternative energy. 🙂
Again this brings up, how Traditional was Shelly’s upbringing? She did go on a Vision Quest at the proper age, but did her experience then put her off the Tribes ways since then? I myself still do a few things as I was raised to do, but then, us kids learned a mix of Kiowa and Comanche ways, Ma’s Tribes, as Pop wasn’t raised too strongly Choctaw or Arapaho, his parents had a harder time being Native American in their young adulthood.
I still think my Webcomic Cousin could benefit a visit to a family elder, if one is available up where she’s at. Most of the Wahnees I know live mostly around here.
Don’t think the Comanches are very big up in Minnesota, but I could be wrong…
It’s a very good question. It seems that Shelly pursued her vision very suddenly and unannounced, out of a persistent grief, but she maybe she gave some warning to her family.
In any case, I noted on the timeline that she had spent her earliest years in the southwest, but then was in grade school in Minnesota. I don’t think Paul has spelled this out, but the implication is that Shelly’s mother’s death in a remote area with poor communication led Mr. Wahnee to move to Minneapolis.
I, pink boy that I am, do not know how much that would affect her exposure to her traditions, but it’s a starting point for more knowledgeable heads to measure.
Shelly reached out to Heather when she returned, probably because she wouldn’t want to act like she was keeping a big secret from her father or brothers. She felt no one could explain to her what the rabbit meant; now she knows she dare not explain what it means to those she’s felt closest to.
Shouldn’t she be Tina 3.0? Losing Nudge from the system seems like a major re-build, not just a patch.
Didn’t seem to be anywhere near as much of a change as the 1.0 -> 2.0 transition.
She seem to have kept her same basic sense of internal identify (“the rats running the ship”), just with one less “rat” in the pack. The rest of the demons hadn’t ever really understood Nudge as being fundamentally different from the rest of them, except for Nudge’s liking for anchovies on pizza.
She said she felt “lighter, in a good way”, but aside from that didn’t seem to lose much by Nudge’s removal… kept her memories back to the time of resurrection, kept on as the owner/operator of Mucho Mocha, and the Wapsi gang perceives her as being the same Tina that they had known.
There’s a tradition that “point zero” releases are usually buggy, and don’t really show the system’s true quality… wait for the “point one” bug-fix. That might apply to Tina 🙂
I’d say that “Tina 3.0” would be whomever we suspect she may be evolving/maturing into… a more unified “person” who struggles with ethical issues as a human would, rather than as a pack of barely-restrained wild-animal demons would (or wouldn’t).
There’s a lot about this character, past and future, that we have yet to learn… part of the fun ride!
What Dave said. Remember, Tina 1.0 died in the crash. Losing Nudge was a surprise all around, but hardly the total break in identity that she had to face when she had to extract herself from the morgue.
Wait… Did Connie just say that Tina’s soul resided in her boobs?
I’m pretty sure Nudge wasn’t responsible for those…
Don’t get me wrong I love the comic… isn’t there a bit of a narrative gap between Tina & Phix’s conversation and these last two strips?… and come to think of it it seemed like there should’ve been something more at the pharmacy… am I missing something?
Paul often has the storyline jump around a bit. In some cases he jumps some characters forwards (hours or days) so we don’t actually see all of the events… I think we’re supposed to use our “mind’s eyes” to infer what took place, based on what the characters do or say once they’re back in our view. The pharmacy scene was like this… we didn’t actually see it, but Phix told us enough about what happened that we understand what occurred (and didn’t have to see it twice).
In other cases, the story jumps to another set of characters entirely (e.g. Phix/Tina, over to Shelly/Connie) and the earlier characters show up again in a few days or weeks.
The recent events seem to be showing two aspects of the “evolving demons” theme, from two different angles (Tina, and Connie). Would not be surprising to see these converge, at some point in the future.
Some comics and stories are completely linear and explicit… Wapsi has a different style.
Dude!… She’s a COMANCHE… Of Course she’ll have a problem with Christianity! remember Connie got formed during Shelly’s “vision quest” a very Comanche thing, definitely NOT Christian! so i think that would tend to bias her to the point of hostility towards somebody wanting her to go to “church”, seeing as how (as far as i know), Comanche didn’t HAVE a “church” to even go to!!.
I’m born and bred Baptist, except on the first Sunday of the month, when it’s dinner rolls and fried chicken. I follow both Christian and Traditional paths, because right down to the basics, there isn’t too many of any differences in the core beliefs of just trying to do what’s humanly decent.
But the suggestion here is maybe based on how my people were treated by a few well-meaning, but ill-advised missionaries and pioneers (I’d be mixed up too if I had to shlep across the prairie with a pie in my ear) who wanted to bring the Lord to the “Godless Savages.”
@SWM: being a Christian myself, I feel safe in saying this:
Why? Because typically every time a Native American saw a white Christian come strolling over the hill, it means the tribe was about to get infected with a new disease (white guy is a carrier, doesn’t even know it) or there’s an army behind them that will carry out the “suggestion” that they “relocate” because some merchant wants to use the land for something else.
Although I personally blame that on their unenlightened ignorance, not their religious beliefs. All too many used religion and “divine providence” as excuse for their actions so I don’t totally blame others for pointing a finger at my religion and blaming it, too.
I just try to be patient and explain to them that my belief isn’t at fault, here, it’s the idiots who abused it for their own gains. And, yes, I am just as upset with those abusers as their victims are.
Agreed, on that one. Those who hold onto grudges formed by their ancestors without thinking about why that grudge was there and whether it’s still valid are just as bad as the people who caused that grudge in the first place.
I am a modern caucasian male – I do not agree with, nor do I tolerate, what a lot of my predecessors (and some of my fellow living humans) did and still do. But as I did not commit any of these heinous acts, I will not apologize for what I did not do, nor will I just openly offer compensation.
But will I willingly (and gladly!) join in the efforts to make sure any such practices still in existence are wiped out and the species as a whole enlightened to not only prevent their return but to hopefully avoid making similar mistakes in the future? Damn straight! :D)
Use of the word “parish” leads me to wonder if it’s Catholicism that Connie’s particularly against.
Well, the Catholics were the first Christians into the Mayan regions. Of course this was quite some time after the Lanthian priests were disposed of.
Shelly is not mayan; she is comanche. Not much good history with Catholics and her people either.
Shelly and her “conscience” have no ties to the Lanthian civilization aside from being relatively recent acquaintances with the Golems.
Bah, didn’t even have to go to next day’s comic, just had to keep scrolling – you guys already covered it. >.<
And then there’s the one about the dyslexic agnostic who suffered from insomnia. He used to stay up at nights, wondering if there really was a Dog.