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"Trust Yourself"
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Trust Yourself
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Latest Medusa Comic

Trust Yourself

by Paul Taylor on November 5, 2019 at 11:52 pm
Story: Wapsi-Archive
Characters: Barbara, Mindy
Location: Gryphon High

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Discussion (54) ¬

  1. DJTsurugi
    November 6, 2019, 12:18 am | # | Reply

    so the glasses glamour is definitely a thing that drastically changes how she looks. ~<3

    • DannyboyO1
      November 7, 2019, 12:04 am | # | Reply

      So she shops at the same place as Clark Kent?

      • Correllian
        November 7, 2019, 12:07 pm | #

        Or the para community supplied Clark Kent with his glasses…..Para, alien, they’re both trying to fly under the radar.

    • Hinoron
      January 12, 2024, 11:28 pm | # | Reply

      Indeed, even to the extent that her hair naturally falls into a “fresh from the salon” look, while the glasses adjust it into more of a “I know what a comb is, at least in theory” look.
      Her natural facial colouration is something most women would need “natural-look makeup” to achieve. *Technically* consisting of natural skin and lip colours, but more idealized than nearly any woman on the planet looks like sans-makeup. While glasses on, she looks like most women do with no makeup.

      Rather interesting character detail, all told.

  2. TheDOCTOR
    November 6, 2019, 12:55 am | # | Reply

    Pamela Anderson, The Teenage Years.

    • jwhouk
      November 6, 2019, 7:08 am | # | Reply

      No, she’s prettier than Pam.

      • drealm2459
        November 6, 2019, 9:07 pm | #

        she is prettier then anyone ever.

    • joe Crouse
      November 7, 2019, 8:25 am | # | Reply

      for the record Pam Anderson was flat as a board in her early years. she BOUGHT those puppies and should have Shot her DRs in the face. they were horribly done and has had several revisions.

  3. JSStryker
    November 6, 2019, 1:26 am | # | Reply

    Well damn…

  4. Centaur71
    November 6, 2019, 1:30 am | # | Reply

    OH…MY…GODDESS!!! THAT’S ACTUALLY MINDY???

    • Dave
      November 6, 2019, 1:36 am | # | Reply

      Correct. And, correct.

    • Br'er Tiger
      November 15, 2019, 1:30 pm | # | Reply

      Granddaughter of Aphrodite, remember?

    • Bratty Roger
      May 28, 2024, 7:18 am | # | Reply

      🙄 Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld have nothing to do with what Mindy looks like 😏

  5. Rave
    November 6, 2019, 2:36 am | # | Reply

    I imagine it isn’t intentional, but it’s probably important to recognise that binding is actually a thing a lot of trans and non binary folk need for their health, and pressuring some one like that, and disregarding what sounds a lot like dysphoria is super not cool,

    • Prozacboi
      November 6, 2019, 4:14 am | # | Reply

      I think you miss the (v.i.)point of the speech about how what shows on the outside not matching how you feel inside is in fact really common. She’s not disregarding the unease that comes from that but instead saying you need to accept who you are, including the contradictions that make us who we are. Far from being not cool, I think this is an excellent strip with an important point.

    • Lee
      November 6, 2019, 7:08 am | # | Reply

      As your local transman let me tell you that binding with ace bandages is *dangerous* and no one ever should bind with them. Binding safely is still a health hazard and while yes, we use it to deal with the dysphoria, that’s not really what this is. This may be body dysmorphia instead which is what most people who don’t like their body have!

      • Darkmyste
        November 7, 2019, 1:12 am | #

        I think every miss this part DEMIGOD she can change purposely change herself. but she wont allow her self to cut corners in this illustration of her rebirth hence why she had the unplanned breast bloom age, so I think this was experienced in dealing with her body..now comes the part if she is truly a demigod who was ahe??

      • Correllian
        November 7, 2019, 12:11 pm | #

        Darkmyste I think you’re asking which god is she? If you are, she’s Aphrodite’s granddaughter, hence being drop dead gorgeous without the enchanted glasses she usually wears.

  6. The Old Wolf
    November 6, 2019, 3:46 am | # | Reply

    Now she’s going to have to deal with the fallout of being drop-dead gorgeous. But she’s got a good friend in Barbara who can help her through it.

  7. Bratty Roger
    November 6, 2019, 4:32 am | # | Reply

    I can’t help but wonder if/when Mindy will meet Atsali, or Monica, or both ~ and whether she’ll be introduced to her/them by Cas or Bud, or both🤔

    • jwhouk
      November 6, 2019, 7:09 am | # | Reply

      Patience. Remember that it took a while for Atsali to meet Monica.

  8. Robert Nowall
    November 6, 2019, 7:00 am | # | Reply

    Can she see without her glasses?

    • jwhouk
      November 6, 2019, 7:10 am | # | Reply

      The strip last week where she woke up seemed to indicate she does, but she may be farsighted.

    • Matt Grayson
      November 6, 2019, 5:06 pm | # | Reply

      The glasses may do nothing for her vision, but are part of the “spell of ordinariness” she uses.

      • drealm2459
        November 6, 2019, 9:23 pm | #

        Everyone keeps assuming the glasses have a spell on them. When that hasn’t been stated or even really suggested other then by readers. Maybe her glasses are just really thick and are so because she really needs them to see. because When she wakes up and tries to wake Barbara. the vey 1st thing she dose is put on her glasses. She woke from a sound sleep saw a ghost and stops to put on her glasses that she only wears for a glamor spell. On before waking her best friend who doesn’t care what she looks like?? REALLY? doesn’t wash. As someone who has worn and really needed glasses my whole life will tell you. You wake up you put your glasses on. now if I woke up and saw a ghost and I didn’t need my glasses I would not put them on. The fact when she went to sleep she had placed the glasses right wear they could be found the second she wakes up says she needs them. Not to hide behind but to see.

      • Correllian
        November 7, 2019, 12:16 pm | #

        She’s also shown to be INCREDIBLY self conscious, and is in a room with a lot of people she just met, maybe a week ago. The glasses may also be an emotional crutch, that she literally does hide behind, so her first instinct is to always keep them handy, and always feel more comfortable with them on.

        And I also wear glasses. without them I can’t read the monitor that’s right in front of me right now.

      • Graybeard
        November 7, 2019, 6:10 pm | #

        If the glasses have no magicky effect, how does one explain the panel-to-panel differences in her lips? Other body parts I can understand.

  9. Matt Grayson
    November 6, 2019, 8:07 am | # | Reply

    Interesting progression. Monica makes no effort to disguise herself, but is touchy from an early age about the attention her bust receives (and the conclusions people draw therefrom). Atsali is more deeply upset due to her lineage and the suddenness of the change, tries to disguise her figure, fails, but doesn’t accept it for a few years. Now Mindy is even more disturbed by her appearance, succeeds in hiding it for many months, and has no idea how to cope with her actual appearance. Even after unbinding, she uses the “glasses of ordinariness”. (Made for her by Hephaestus?) And the “Backpack of Boob Coverage” (Made for her by Kenneth Cole)

    • drealm2459
      November 6, 2019, 9:28 pm | # | Reply

      again everyone is assuming she using glasses with a glamor on them when she was wearing glasses long before she ever had any hint of getting her mammal bumps. Freud said ” sometimes a cigar is JUST a cigar.” And sometimes thick glasses are just thick glasses.

      • Matt Grayson
        November 6, 2019, 9:32 pm | #

        There is some original art that shows exactly what the glasses do. We’re not imagining it.

    • drealm2459
      November 7, 2019, 11:09 pm | # | Reply

      The art was FAN art. Not art by the writer artist. So as fan art it is not cannon. Now that said doesn’t mean I am right. It also doesn’t mean you are right. It means we don’t know for sure yet ether way. I am just saying Until we KNOW for sure. We shouldn’t go from the point of view that the glasses have a glamor. Case in point. Also a VERY long time ago. when I was in high school I dated a girl who had the dorkiest ugliest glasses ever made by man. They made her look unattractive to 99% of the other boys. Me being more then slightly a misfit myself (weird) Liked her for her brains and her personality. We dated for a fairly long time. When she and I were alone we would take our glasses off to kiss. (neck) The 1st time she took her glasses off. I was dumbfounded On how truly beautiful she really was. She was petite but had a perfect gymnastics body. long dark hair that felt and shined like silk. the darkest emerald green eyes I have ever seen. Even without make-up a face that was literally drop dead beautiful. I thought to myself all the guys at school are fools. And thanked god they had no clue what a total treasure she was in every way. She was super intelligent wore glasses and was shy with everyone but me. The cheerleaders in our school were suck up so sure they were the prettiest girls who ever lived and picked on all the other girls. they were horrid to my girlfriend. but I knew that she was a swan compared to them beautiful on the inside and out. while they were ugly on the inside and plain compared to her on the outside. and I told her so. The point is. “my” girl with her glasses off was drop dead beautiful. much like Mindy. And I am sure that there was no glamor on “my” Girls glasses. But to the world she looked like night and day different with them on and with them off. So until we are 100% sure that Mindy’s glasses having a glamor is cannon let just agree to dis-agree.

  10. txmystic
    November 6, 2019, 8:16 am | # | Reply

    Is the lip gloss natural, or just part of what she projects?

    On a side note, it is very interesting that these two seem to be having opposite sides of the argument one would expect them to have…

    • Centaur71
      November 6, 2019, 9:10 am | # | Reply

      When one is as glamourous as her, it doesn’t really matter… 😉

      • txmystic
        November 7, 2019, 11:35 am | #

        Indeed…and I completely forgot to mention the sparkles popping all around 🙂

    • BarerMender
      November 7, 2019, 9:51 pm | # | Reply

      The lip gloss and also her hair and eyebrows.

  11. robnot
    November 6, 2019, 9:25 am | # | Reply

    i think this is a “Superman syndrome” .. the spiral glasses hide the real Mindy.!!
    my partner tried that IRL (glasses = nerd,, to cover the fact that she was well endowed . ((Atsali size.)) .. an nope did not work.!

    • joe Crouse
      November 6, 2019, 11:54 am | # | Reply

      @robnot… nope glasses and well built is using the RIGHT bait..

      • robnot
        November 7, 2019, 9:13 am | #

        yep,, before we were dating,, told her the glasses were having the opposite effect.! glasses = naive nerd (bait),.
        she stopped wearing glasses an half the guys stopped. bothering her..

      • Br'er Tiger
        November 15, 2019, 1:44 pm | #

        You’re right about the effect of removing the glasses. Gorgeous girl syndrome. if they are “too pretty” they don’t get approached, except maybe by the arrogant. This is not even apocryphal. I know someone who was a complete nerd, so he asked out the prettiest girl in school. If he was going to be told “no” it would be by the best. No one else ever bothered to ask her out, so …

  12. Sheik
    November 6, 2019, 3:28 pm | # | Reply

    Do we know anything of Mindy’s supernatural persona?
    Maybe it’s uncontrollably leaking through.

    • Tiger Tomcat
      November 6, 2019, 7:14 pm | # | Reply

      Mindy is one of Aphrodite’s granddaughters

    • Jeff Weiner
      November 6, 2019, 8:18 pm | # | Reply

      I’m wondering what Barbara’s para persona is.

      • jwhouk
        November 7, 2019, 10:24 pm | #

        Since Pablo hasn’t spoken, it’s probably subject to a future plot point.

  13. Killjoy
    November 6, 2019, 3:48 pm | # | Reply

    So I take it from the context and the sparkles that she’s supposed to be “super hot” in the last frame?

    • Matt Grayson
      November 6, 2019, 4:11 pm | # | Reply

      She almost always has sparkles without her glasses. It feels like a depiction of a glamour – the way Atsali’s eyes changed when she was singing to Berdine. The implication is that you can’t look at her without being mesmerized by her beauty. Since Paul can’t draw a different version for each of us, she appears as “you probably find her a knockout, and if you don’t, you at least understand what we’re going for here.” Just my guess…

      • Killjoy
        November 6, 2019, 8:22 pm | #

        Well, if we’re actually *supposed* to be assessing her appearance here… then “glasses” Mindy has the edge.

      • Matt Grayson
        November 6, 2019, 8:50 pm | #

        I agree with you, but I always liked the nerdy women. Glamour Mindy would cause too much cognitive dissonance – I can’t see her joining in a rousing chorus of “He is not in the least afraid to be mashed into a pulp. Or to have his eyes gouged out, and his Elbows broken. To have his kneecaps split, and his body burned away. Brave brave brave brave Sir Robin!”

  14. RBZ
    November 7, 2019, 8:55 am | # | Reply

    Is this the most emotive we’ve seen Barbara being?

  15. Guesticus
    November 7, 2019, 9:18 am | # | Reply

    Always felt Mindy was beautiful, even more so before the last panel (while, yes, she is beautiful, she is not as attractive, personally, as her usual appearance)
    And while personally have preference, will not force her to pick, that is something only she should do, and pic what she is comfortable with, and she is quite obviously NOT comfortable with the final panel

  16. Amishangel
    November 7, 2019, 6:41 pm | # | Reply

    The look I see in the last panel is comparative to the one Sophia Loren gave Jane Mansfield.

  17. Myk Streja
    November 7, 2019, 6:53 pm | # | Reply

    Okay, Paul, it’s not like your style is photorealistic. It’s actually better than that: your style is more emotional than physical. That being said, that last frame showing Mindy is all her mythic glory leaves me breathless. As I said, it’s only a comic, but you manage to transcend that. Thank you.

  18. bronko wryslicer
    November 8, 2019, 8:19 pm | # | Reply

    Oh, my!

  19. Bill
    November 9, 2019, 1:11 am | # | Reply

    Oh!
    GODS!!
    I Love the *sparkle* in Frame 4!
    And, I’m as straight as a 60+ WASP male can be …

  20. KaiserFrazer67
    August 24, 2020, 10:00 pm | # | Reply

    Has it occurred to anyone that Mindy’s glasses may be both necessary for her to see with, AND that they are enchanted to hide her glamour? Remember that in her original introduction, she was Aphrodite’s great granddaughter, making her a semi-hemi-demigoddess. Assuming she is descended from one of the mortals with whom Aphrodite mated, and not yet another of the gods, that makes her up to 7/8 human, and only 1/8 goddess. Even if she’s descended from one of the other gods who were Aphrodite’s lovers, that may still make her mostly human. Therefore, I theorize that although she certainly has enough “goddess-ness” in her for her dazzling beauty to be pretty much automatic, she doesn’t have enough in her to not be susceptible to common human maladies, such as astigmatism/poor vision. Hence: since she may need the glasses, whoever was responsible for getting her glasses may have decided to put the glamour-hiding effects on them as well, for better or for worse. It remains to be seen if my theory is correct.

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