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Post by TBeholder on Jun 8, 2015 9:44:20 GMT
Is his prosthetic hand viable to give out handshakes though? Is his plastic hand motile enough to give out handshakes? So far it looked like a mannequin-like inanimate part. In case the Donlans ever conveniently forget that Annie cheated off of Kat, here comes Anthony to rectify that error! Indeed. This one is certainly not accidental. But this very fact attracts attention to him acting strange in general. That's an insult to robots. Doubly so considering how expressive Gunnerkrigg Robots are. In this case, he could use a marker or something, yes. I still don't discount possibility of Seraph shenanigans, however. And in case he is fake, keeping mouth shut as much as possible is understandable. This looks to me as attack is the best defense strategy. How so? Right now, all it achieved was exposing himself more. Even Jones is capable of more solid human interaction than this lump. Not a correct comparison. Jones actually tries... and had millenia to learn how. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jun 8, 2015 9:46:03 GMT
"Also, here is this photograph that I found concealed among my daughter's possessions. I believe she must have stolen it from you. Do you deny this, Antimony?"
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Post by edzepp on Jun 8, 2015 9:46:45 GMT
Well, Jones has an unsettling smile, and Tony's smile would probably be unsettling, so they have that between them. "Also, here is this photograph that I found concealed among my daughter's possessions. I believe she must have stolen it from you. Do you deny this, Antimony?" Oh good lord, don't even go there. |
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madragoran
Full Member
"If he trully does hurt you, I will rend the flesh from his bones on your word"
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Post by madragoran on Jun 8, 2015 9:47:01 GMT
"Also, here is this photograph that I found concealed among my daughter's possessions. I believe she must have stolen it from you. Do you deny this, Antimony?" Ha! you're mean!  |
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dard
New Member
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Post by dard on Jun 8, 2015 10:23:14 GMT
Now THIS is a new level of awkward, and I'm thinking it's just the tip of the iceberg for this evening. Oh boyo. No, this is merely the expected level of awkward. |
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Post by aline on Jun 8, 2015 10:31:38 GMT
He's not trying to be rude by not giving a handshake. His words to Anja are friendly. I think he's always been this distant, non-touching, no-unnecessary nonsense person. Anja forgot, or maybe she thought a reunion after 15 years of absence would make a difference. Donald, who knows him best, didn't.
I think it's clear now that he's not behaving this way towards Annie because he hates her*. That's how he is, all the time, to everyone. Annie was right: he wasn't trying to humiliate her. The humiliation factor was at no point part of the equation for him. Either he considers feelings to be useless things to be ignored, or he has no understanding whatsoever for the entire concept. Or both.
From his point of view, it's Annie who embarrassed him in front of his friends by cheating on their daughter, and so he needs to apologize right away (and does so at the first opportunity). That's totally logical if you decide to ignore how it makes everyone else in the room feel... and you don't have the slightest beginning of a trace of social skill (I mean come on, read the mood! The woman was just trying to find something nice to tell you and that wasn't easy!).
* Whether he loves her, though, that's an entirely different question.
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Jun 8, 2015 10:52:39 GMT
He's not trying to be rude by not giving a handshake. His words to Anja are friendly. I think he's always been this distant, non-touching, no-unnecessary nonsense person. Anja forgot, or maybe she thought a reunion after 15 years of absence would make a difference. Donald, who knows him best, didn't. I think it's clear now that he's not behaving this way towards Annie because he hates her*. That's how he is, all the time, to everyone. Annie was right: he wasn't trying to humiliate her. The humiliation factor was at no point part of the equation for him. Either he considers feelings to be useless things to be ignored, or he has no understanding whatsoever for the entire concept. Or both. From his point of view, it's Annie who embarrassed him in front of his friends by cheating on their daughter, and so he needs to apologize right away (and does so at the first opportunity). That's totally logical if you decide to ignore how it makes everyone else in the room feel... and you don't have the slightest beginning of a trace of social skill (I mean come on, read the mood! The woman was just trying to find something nice to tell you and that wasn't easy!). * Whether he loves her, though, that's an entirely different question. This, and I would emphasize... Tony becomes robotic and acts like an asshat in socially stressful situation. He seems slightly more tolerable when there are fewer people around and when the situation is less stressful. He was an asshat on the first day of class (stressful to him because there were a number of students and it was the first time reuniting with Annie). He was marginally tolerable when he picked up Annie’s homework (it was just Annie and Kat with nothing else going on). Now he is being an asshat again and I bet it is because of the stress he feels reuniting with Donald and Anja. I think he blurted out his apology for Annie’s behavior because the embarrassment is unbearable. I don't forgive Tony for the stress is causing Annie. But the story is slowly backing him down from appearing to be a be a villain, to just an emotionally crippled person. When the situation becomes too socially stressful (Annie calls him out on his crap), he'll probably runaway again. |
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Post by stigand on Jun 8, 2015 11:07:43 GMT
Here's an idea. The Donlans retaliate by talking about how much they all miss Surma, and how much of a joy it has been to have Annie around, watching her grow and learn so much, and to be there to support her.
And then they start talking about how much they love magic, and how they love Coyote and Ysengrin and the Forest, and golly, remember all those great adventures they had as kids (ooh, sorry Tony, I guess you weren't there for them).
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Post by FrozenFT on Jun 8, 2015 11:10:32 GMT
I'm still not convinced that everything is as it seems, or even that Anthony is actually Anthony, or at the very least in his right mind. He's no idiot, and he obviously cares about Annie: he certainly was devoted to Surma, and it seems that whilst he was away he was still trying to do for Annie what he failed to do for her mother. Having friends, being the forest medium etc. - these things were all doing Annie a world of good, and I find it hard to believe that Anthony would fail to see that, or that he would take these things away out of malice: so the seemingly obvious conclusion is that either the forest is not all that it seems to be, or Anthony isn't.
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kefka
Junior Member
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Post by kefka on Jun 8, 2015 11:27:42 GMT
Why were they friends with someone like that in the first place?
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 8, 2015 12:04:57 GMT
Gosh, those are the fakest smiles I've ever seen yet in this comic.
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Post by kalechibki on Jun 8, 2015 12:10:01 GMT
Of his peer group, he probably understands Tony the most. You have to wonder what's on his mind. He was pretty quiet too back at the start of Microsat-1. He's the kind who looks very carefully first and makes his judgment later. I think he's trying to understand what's going on, mainly. He'll probably sit back and be very quiet this time as well.
I don't think that it would be a good idea to start out by telling him what a jerk of a father he is, anyway. It's pretty obvious that it wouldn't end with Anthony saying: "Oh. You're right, now that you've said it I'll switch my personality and start hugging everyone". Rather he'd leave and not come back again... and Annie with him.
For once, I wish we had a button that said something other than "like". I hate that this is true...but I totally agree with this analysis. Especially when checking out Tom's twitter feed - Tom retweeted an article written about the current events of Gunnerkrigg that I have to think he agrees with. ScifiFantasy Network ArticleI love, love the last panel. Look at the body language and positioning. Annie is surrounded by the Donlans. Anja got her back and Donald is between her and stoopid. Sweet Kat is ready to attack. And the stoopid is standing all alone far away being mean and stoopid and seriously.... arrgghh! I do hope someone is going to hand stoopid his ass. Donny Donlan is getting his Jimmy jims impression on. ^_^ |
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quark
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Post by quark on Jun 8, 2015 12:11:18 GMT
So, this is interesting - I'm not sure if this is just no social skills at all (as suggested by aline and Jelly Jellybean), or, again, an expression of his narcissism. It's easy to apologise for somebody else's faults, especially if you distance yourself from them ("I was disappointed.."). Annie already apologised, to the wronged party, here, in front of her father. Maybe he thinks it's the appropriate thing to do, maybe he wants to tell his daughter, again, how disappointed he is (my pet theory). On the no social skills - I am not sure. If you just blurt out what you think, you can't be that sort of quiet man Anthony is. He never once told Antimony he liked her - the only time that happened was when Surma told her. He never paid her a compliment, not even something entirely inappropriate (You captured a demon!) or misunderstanding something (you managed to infiltrate the forest!). |
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Post by todd on Jun 8, 2015 12:38:58 GMT
"Robotic" strikes me as the wrong word, in light of how emotional the Court robots are. |
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Post by samuraimatt on Jun 8, 2015 13:10:17 GMT
I really like the way that Annie is drawn in the first panel - it says a lot about how Anthony is the focus and Annie is almost more like an accessory...there's probably a lot more to it than I am seeing right now, though. And the expressions on Anja's face, especially her smile, communicate so fantastically how awkward this situation is for everyone, except Mr. Stone-Face over there by the door. We often don't see much expression on Anja, so it's a nice difference. And as others have stated, the body language in the last panel definitely shows the Donlans being very protective of Annie and kind of distancing themselves from Anthony.
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Post by aline on Jun 8, 2015 13:13:36 GMT
On the no social skills - I am not sure. If you just blurt out what you think, you can't be that sort of quiet man Anthony is. I never said he just blurts out what he thinks. He is on contrary very controlled and purposeful. He wanted to say what he did, very probably Long before he walked through that door.
What I meant is that he appears to completely misread the situation here. Anja was trying to "break the ice" so to speak, and Anthony rewarded that by freezing everyone right where they stood like he'd just let in an arctic wind through the door. Now if he wanted to apologize, it would have been possible to find a more appropriate way to do so (later and in private for example) and answer in a neutral and social appropriate way. But he didn't bother, just like he didn't bother shaking hands. Because, I think, he doesn't see the point.
maybe he wants to tell his daughter, again, how disappointed he is However she already knows that. He wouldn't repeat himself without a reason. So either he just wanted the Donlans to hear it (and Annie's presence wasn't an important factor in the conversation), or he thinks she needs reminding because he suspects her of being less obedient than she should.
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Jun 8, 2015 13:17:08 GMT
"Robotic" strikes me as the wrong word, in light of how emotional the Court robots are. Ironically... As a human, Tony is broken and seems robotic. As robots, the Court Robots are malfunctioning* and seem human. Or should I say humanic? You can't spell humanic without manic! * I wish I could dig up the reference for emotional robots being a malfunction, but the mobile thing is holding me back. EDIT: I said "blurted out" because while Tony is always trying to maintain control of himself, I am beginning to think that he isn't always successful. Reuniting with Donald could be what it takes for him to lose a little of his composure. Not much but a little. By the time this dinner is over, Tony may have dug his fingernails int his palms again. |
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Post by kelantar on Jun 8, 2015 13:26:21 GMT
That's an insult to robots. Not to boxbot. Tony is boxbot. "Also, here is this photograph that I found concealed among my daughter's possessions. I believe she must have stolen it from you. Do you deny this, Antimony?" I hope that would be the point where Anja jumps in and laughs and says "Oh no, we gave that to Annie ages ago!" I get the feeling that the Donlans know that she took the picture, but I also get the feeling that they don't care at all. After all, they probably each got one (at least), so I doubt they care that one is missing. Poor Anja, though. She's really trying, and it doesn't seem to be working. The expressions are great on this page though. Tony seems to be matching Tony's inscrutability. Anja in the second panel looks like she's thinking "What the hell happened to your FACE?" And then Kat, even without seeing her face, seems to be saying "THE @#$% DID YOU JUST SAY?" |
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Post by ctso74 on Jun 8, 2015 14:17:48 GMT
That's an insult to robots. Not to boxbot. Tony is boxbot. Whoa. Whoa-ho-hoa. Boxbot? I'm all for Tony bashing, but that's... that's too much. Not even Mr. Bone-Lasers Ridiculous-Makeup deserves that. I fear we've gone too far. Consequences aside, I'd wager the Donlans are going to reach a breaking point. Annie is not just Tony's child, and they were both close to the enigmatic Surma (especially Anja). |
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Post by goldenknots on Jun 8, 2015 14:27:29 GMT
Now I have an interesting idea. The Seraphs don't like Annie, I'm pretty sure, and certainly consider her dangerous. I wonder if they've found some way to hijack Tony and force him to follow their script in an attempt to neutralize her. The paper tag method failed them on the ship, and this could be a change of tactics.
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Post by FrozenFT on Jun 8, 2015 14:38:33 GMT
Now I have an interesting idea. The Seraphs don't like Annie, I'm pretty sure, and certainly consider her dangerous. I wonder if they've found some way to hijack Tony and force him to follow their script in an attempt to neutralize her. The paper tag method failed them on the ship, and this could be a change of tactics. After this you would think they would be too scared to carry on causing trouble, though I suppose the seraphs don't exactly have a history of being sensible. It would imply that they are significantly more powerful than we thought though, seeing as Anthony is hardly a weak and vulnerable target, |
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Post by machival on Jun 8, 2015 14:51:19 GMT
Notice the no handshake, that's surprisingly rude. Is his prosthetic hand viable to give out handshakes though? A prosthetic like his would be, although Anthony wouldn't be able to grip the other person's hand. (Assuming here that his hand has no grasping function, which is how it currently appears) However, Anthony might not be willing to return handshakes because they'd make his disability more obvious, since a right handed one would call attention to his prosthetic, and a left-handed handshake would be sufficiently outside the norm to make people wonder why he offered the left rather than the right. |
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Post by nero on Jun 8, 2015 14:53:10 GMT
I really like how the Donlans are protective of Annie. I'm sure Donald will move the conversation along or perhaps we'll see him lose his patience.
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Post by KMar on Jun 8, 2015 15:49:29 GMT
Is his prosthetic hand viable to give out handshakes though? Is his plastic hand motile enough to give out handshakes? So far it looked like a mannequin-like inanimate part. I think people usually would use the other, functioning hand. |
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Post by youwiththeface on Jun 8, 2015 16:11:21 GMT
Oh my God, we can see Anja's eyes! That's how shocking Anthony's face is, I guess. Like y'all I'm appreciating this new range of expressions for her. She is just so precious.
I'm actually surprised. If anything I expected Anja to be the cold one and Donny to be the warm one. Maybe it's because she wasn't as close to Tony and thereby doesn't expect more from him? That last panel makes me happy despite Anthony; all the Donlans gathered around Annie like a shield. Gives me the warm fuzzies.
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Post by ryrmyrbyr on Jun 8, 2015 17:35:05 GMT
It feels like this is that flash game Facade, and Tony is the player trying to say the rudest things possible to get kicked out.
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Post by tortoise on Jun 8, 2015 17:49:35 GMT
With people talking about Anja's expressions: She is Russian...from the far eastern edge (e.g. Kamchatka). People from that area have a more Asian look. The girl I knew, who was from Yakutsk, did not have that curly hair that Anja and Katarina have, but they are both distinctly non-European. Her eyes are just stylized, not closed.
And honestly I don't see the fuss! Anja is a really expressive character already.
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Post by pendell on Jun 8, 2015 18:07:43 GMT
Is it too early to suggest Anthony see a psychiatrist to be checked for Asperger's?
I've never liked him, but I'm beginning to worry about him. People with great intelligence but no social skills tend to be ripped apart by whatever herd they are part of.
Few here would shed tears at that prospect, but it would also impact his daughter, whom we care about a great deal. Or at least I do, anyway.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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emmau
New Member
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Post by emmau on Jun 8, 2015 18:37:35 GMT
It feels like this is that flash game Facade, and Tony is the player trying to say the rudest things possible to get kicked out.
'Melons.'
"...That's it, Tony. You need to leave."
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Post by Chancellor on Jun 8, 2015 18:47:17 GMT
I think it's kind of funny that changing just one word would completely alter the context of the page but still fit largely with the body language and expressions in the last panel.
"I was disappointed to find her cheating on your daughter--I apologize for her behavior."
*Expressions of shock, embarrassment and Katrage*
(Okay, okay, I'll go back to my shipper trashpile now)
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