[1914] "Sticky situation"

[mynie]

Ah yes, that time with the paste. Well do I remember it. It's funny because it works on two levels: paste is literally sticky, and we were in a tricky, or "sticky" situation. Cleverest joke of our modern times. 

[antiyonder]

Deleting my post from the previous thread to post here:

Nov 24, 2017 7:25:09 GMT yinglung said:

When it comes to social interactions, especially ones where he has to account for someone else's feelings, he does not initiate the interaction. The more complex the situation, the harder it is for him to know what to do. Thus, he waits for someone to take the lead, and that usually clarifies how he is supposed to act. If his parent became distant after the other died, then Tony would assume that distance is what his parent wants, and give them that. He would still want to be closer to his surviving parent, but crossing that distance correctly would be nigh impossible for Tony.

I'll be honest. Between having some breaks from Tony since his return to the Court, plus learning more about him I feel less anger than I did back then. But at the same time, I think some of what we learn can still make the feelings worse to a degree. Specifically:
1. Annie, the girl a couple decades younger and less mature is actually doing better, so it makes his unwillingness to do the same even more disgraceful.

2. More and more it seems like it will fall onto Annie to as you put it make the first move. But honestly if we're suppose to feel hopeful that things will get better, then I think there needs to be growth on Tony's end where he is willing to do something that's hard and try to approach his daughter. Fail sometimes, with eventual success.

Speaking as someone who relates a lot to Tony, it is very easy to project my guilt onto others as thinking they resent me. When the guilt is on the level of accidentally killing a loved one, or causing serious injury to a person, it can be very hard to believe that the affected person doesn't hate me. When you have as few social relations as Tony does, the idea of someone genuinely and justifiably hating you is unsettling, depressing, and scary. You don't want to see that. I can't imagine what that would be like seeing that in the face of a family member. It might make things easier on them if they see as little of you as possible, and it will certainly be less painful for you if you see as little of them as possible. On the other hand, receiving forgiveness from that person would seem like a miracle, even if you do not entirely let go of your guilt.

So do I in that vain which is why I don't flat out hate him, but I think when raising a child (who has no control of being born vs parents having a say in the matter), you need to up your game.

Going outside the topic slightly, I think the reason for some parents failing altogether is the assumption that raising a kid will be a piece of cake and that there's a sure fire formula to make it like you're playing house.

Now of course expecting challenges won't make it any easier, but I feel that accepting difficulty and failure is at least a step in the right direction rather than just expecting the problems to work themselves out with no work on the parent's part. Relevantly that means accepting that one's social issue might need to be dealt with somewhat rather than accepting it and blindly hoping that your soon to be born child won't be screwed over as a result.

I mean there's room for a parent to fail and be selfish, but compared to similar people living for themselves and not being depended on by those unable to care for themselves, there needs to be effort to actually tackle the problem to where it's gone or minimized at least rather than accepting things as is.

[freeformline]

Tom is drawing Tony in such a way that he seems somewhat younger than he did when he first returned to the Court. Art change or excellent medical care?

[ffkonoko]

Nov 24, 2017 8:13:39 GMT antiyonder said:

1. Annie, the girl a couple decades younger and less mature is actually doing better, so it makes his unwillingness inability to do the same even more disgraceful.

Tony would probably agree. And that thought itself would only make it even harder for himself.

Nov 24, 2017 8:13:39 GMT antiyonder said:

2. More and more it seems like it will fall onto Annie to as you put it make the first move. But honestly if we're suppose to feel hopeful that things will get better, then I think there needs to be growth on Tony's end where he is willing to do something that's hard and try to approach his daughter. Fail sometimes, with eventual success.

In a way, he already has. Just entering that classroom and talking to her was hard to him, and involving approaching his daughter. Mixed results so far.

[madjack]

We haven't really seen Kat do "failure" too often have we? If this plan keeps falling as flat as the joke just did (which went about as well as "Be Friends") I wonder if we'll see how she handles finding some of her own limits or blind spots. Might be Kat's turn for a minor freak out.

Edit: Also wonder if we'll see how well or not Kat deals with power and responsibility soon...

[aline]

Nov 24, 2017 9:12:06 GMT freeformline said:

Tom is drawing Tony in such a way that he seems somewhat younger than he did when he first returned to the Court. Art change or excellent medical care?

I think it's just a result of his face being smaller in those panels. It makes things like his broken nose less visible so he looks more similar to his younger self. He didn't seem younger on the previous page, where the point of view made his scars more obvious.

[maxptc]

So Tony, you do remember that joke you once loved. Still, it doesn't seem like you really appreciate said joke anymore. I mean, you say you still love it but your reaction says otherwise. But now that joke is back in your life so maybe you sould treat it with a little more respect, even if it makes you uncomfortable now for some reason. I mean, its the same great joke, and great jokes need to be laughed at. Heck, maybe the joke could make your life a little better if you invested a little time and effort into building a healthy relationship with the joke. Kinda your responsibility if you ask me, you did come up with half the joke, and considering how funny this joke is, we can assume it's gonna be around for the rest of your life. I get you have an awkward history with humor, but you're still a crappy father and need to get over yourself.

[antiyonder]

Nov 24, 2017 10:54:20 GMT ffkonoko said:

In a way, he already has. Just entering that classroom and talking to her was hard to him, and involving approaching his daughter. Mixed results so far.

Except he was blackmailed into doing so with the consequence of her being expelled. While it is respectable in and of itself, I'm looking for approaching her without threats or arm twisting. Just him being an adult and recognizing that his fear and pain mean zilch compared to supporting his daughter.

Plus he interacted with her solely as a teacher (i.e. telling her his arm problems isn't her business). If anything that should have been a sign that Annie harbours no ill will towards him.

[Jelly Jellybean]

Tony isn't leaving. Things are going better compared to dinner with the Donlan's.

If you make this page small enough you can imagine Annie and Tony are holding hands in the last panel.

[phantaskippy]

Keep at it Kat, eventually he'll have to talk to Annie. Although she should probably give them something to work on together and then split for 10 minutes and see if he stays.

[Druplesnubb]

Those last three panels look like they could be made into an exploitable.

[yinglung]

Nov 24, 2017 16:33:41 GMT Druplesnubb said:

Those last three panels look like they could be made into an exploitable.

Like so?

[ctso74]

Let's hope that there's the bonus page, with a flashback of Kat and Tony laughing, and their notes adhered all over their arms.
For some reason, I'm thinking more molasses and less surgical glue.

[Gotolei]

Nov 22, 2017 8:09:42 GMT csj said:

TonyBot 3000: ACTIVATING MULTIPLE BYSTANDER PROTOCOLS.

AnnieBot 760: Execute Response "HAPPY"

[speedwell]

God love the man, he's actually trying.

[maxptc]

Nov 24, 2017 23:47:48 GMT speedwell said:

God love the man, he's actually trying.

For me, that's the most frustrating part about Tony. He always seems to be trying, he just doesn't seem to get it.

[keef]

They probably have a plan to confront the bastard Tony, and get some answers.

Tom Siddell said:

I started Gunnerkrigg Court as a comic that I wanted to read myself, so I’ve been able to deal with various tropes or clichés that I’ve found annoying in the past. For example, I made a deliberate choice to not include a character who spends their time saying things like “I’ve got a bad feeling about this!”

When Annie and Kat find a trap door leading into darkness under Kat’s workshop, their natural instinct is to go exploring, not umming and ahhing about possible danger. They deal with that stuff as and when they need to. Plot lines that revolve around character conflict that could be resolved by the characters simply talking to each other is something that I very much try to avoid too.

[imaginaryfriend]

Antimony seems pleased with how well things are going.

[arf]

Tony, the Stepford Dad

[csj]

Nov 25, 2017 1:03:02 GMT keef said:

They probably have a plan to confront the bastard Tony, and get some answers.

Tom Siddell said:

When Annie and Kat find a trap door leading into darkness under Kat’s workshop, their natural instinct is to go exploring, not umming and ahhing about possible danger.

Trap doors, eh?

[mturtle7]

Nov 25, 2017 1:03:02 GMT keef said:

They probably have a plan to confront the bastard Tony, and get some answers.

Tom Siddell said:

When Annie and Kat find a trap door leading into darkness under Kat’s workshop, their natural instinct is to go exploring, not umming and ahhing about possible danger. They deal with that stuff as and when they need to. Plot lines that revolve around character conflict that could be resolved by the characters simply talking to each other is something that I very much try to avoid too.

Actually, now I'm picturing Kat and Annie's plan as being more like this, with Kat as Steven.

[Nepycros]

Ay, good on you Annie. Whatever else happens, you'll be able to prove that you are an active part of your father's life. If that means something to you, all the better.