Antimony's social skills

[silvercat]

How come suddenly every one is convinced that Antimony has terrible social skills ? I find it rather shocking that people make comments like that and the comments go unchallenged...

In my opinion Antimony has GOOD SOCIAL SKILLS :

She doesn't explode, no matter what kind of situation she's in. Be it Winsbury teasing her, or Jones provoking her, she does not attack but keeps composed. Even when a minotaur bellows at Kat and her in a rage, all she does is politely introduce herself.
Winsbury
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=18
Jones
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=369
Basil the Minotaur
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=28

On top of that Antimony is a keen observer. She's demonstrated a lot of insight into 'human' nature...
She gave life to Robot S13, and choice
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=228
She is a good and loyal friend
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=244
She noticed everything during Coyote's visit to the Court
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=388

Our heroine is no saint nor a boring goody-two-shoes. Sometimes she uses her knowledge for "fun and games".
She knows that nobody likes clowns
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=68
She knows you have to fluff your hair for your hot teacher
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=161
Sometimes she has an idea about how to resolve the situation
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=251
When she's teased, she maintains control : first self-control, then control of the situation
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=406

Sometimes she makes a mistake, naturally, like humans do...
But then she apologises with style OR keeps calm.
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=76
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=83

She's not always perfectly smooth, either : www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=247 But that's endearing, isn't it ?

LEST WE FORGET : she's seen rather too much, hasn't she ? www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=26
www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=157

What do you think ?

[sue911]

She's a mature and level headed person.She's at her top game when she communicates with mystical beings and good at controlling herself (usually).It's just that sometimes she doesn't know how to interact with certain people,particularly with people her age.An example would be when she carried Aly and the recent confrontation with Mort.I think there are some other occasions as well which I can't recall.

[Yin]

She hasn't had much experience with romance, BGR, what-have-you. I'm not really surprised that she reacted that way.

[qmarx]

None of the above.

[todd]

Feb 20, 2009 11:42:32 GMT Yin said:

She hasn't had much experience with romance, BGR, what-have-you. I'm not really surprised that she reacted that way.

I'd say "no experience" rather than "[not] much experience", unless you count her observation of Kat's crush on Eglamore and first love with Aly.

I know that I'll be amazed if we ever see Annie falling in love.

[penguinfactory]

I would say that Annie has average social skills, it's just that she applies them differently to most people. Instead of getting annoyed at Winsbury she gets annoyed about the blinker stone, for example.

[silvercat]

Interesting to see these quick responses ! Thank you fellow-forumers !

I guess this means I'll have to start following the forum more : I used to think everyone was like me, fawning in TOTAL ADMIRATION over the best webcomic and the coolest protagonist EVER. hehe

[Babble-jargon Bill]

Hey no one is perfect, and that applies to Annie as well. She isn't stupid, but she did make a really big mistake and is probably going to regret it very soon. I think it's good that she makes mistakes, or else people will always expect her to do the right thing and to always be perfect (like most other protagonists). Hopefully she'll learn a valuable lesson from all this, and hopefully Mort is going to be alright.

[petrockx]

She's courteous when the situation calls for it, but she does have issues that pop up every now and then. I'd say she's like any normal teenager.

[lingus]

Yea, I just made a post regarding this in the most recent comic thread. I completely agree. Annie HAS to have good social skills to be doing what she will eventually do as a full-time gig.

[silvercat]

Qmarx : if none of the above, what do you think then ?

I'm in doubt myself : I think Yin might have the right idea : she's just a kid who had too many experiences of one kind and not enough experiences of another kind...
but then I think : how many kids are mediums ?

[Tierra Y Libertad]

Perhaps in the most recent strip she just wants to retain her asexuality and not be connected too much with anyone because of how crummy her life's been.

[warrl]

Feb 20, 2009 11:04:22 GMT silvercat said:

In my opinion Antimony has GOOD SOCIAL SKILLS :

She doesn't explode, no matter what kind of situation she's in. Be it Winsbury teasing her, or Jones provoking her, she does not attack but keeps composed.

Annie is an introvert. In general she doesn't see herself as relating to other people - so when they try to make fun of her, she doesn't see it as being about HER at all. So it doesn't bother her.

She lets a very few people inside. When someone makes fun of or abuses THEM, or when someone making fun of her bothers THEM, then that bothers her as well. And she tends to take action that doesn't necessarily merit outright approval.

With a courting gift, as she sees it, Mort claimed a place inside her shields. Without her consent. Maybe if she'd known, or he'd been up front about it (assuming he knew it was a courting gift), she might have consented - but she didn't know and he didn't ask, so he gets thrown out on his ear with his shoes and overcoat flung after.

(By the way, I'm an introvert. That's how I would react. Hopefully I'd be slightly more dignified about it - but then I have a granddaughter about a year older than Annie.)

Also, there was some other sensitive nerve touched by this whole incident, and - based on her expression in panel 8 - I would not be at all surprised if Monday's page has Annie in tears about something that *seems*, to other people (such as Kat), almost totally unrelated to this.

(Oh, and puberty could also be a contributing factor.)

[Goatmon]

Feb 20, 2009 12:20:19 GMT penguinfactory said:

I would say that Annie has average social skills, it's just that she applies them differently to most people. Instead of getting annoyed at Winsbury she gets annoyed about the blinker stone, for example.

To be fair, Annie IS a teenage girl. But that doesn't justify her reaction to a long-time friend who's never been anything but friendly and helpful to her.

She basically decided his point of view, and lashed out at him unprovoked, without even discussing her problem first. That is not okay.

Also, there weren't any really appropriate options in the poll, so I didn't vote.

I'm leaning for "Talented and above-average, but not a people person."

[sandjosieph]

I think Annie's a little more mature than her usual age group, and probably expects everyone to behave on the same level of maturity. That being said, she probably finds it easier to relate to adults than to kids her own age.

[thechron]

Antimony is unusually composed. She is polite, friendly, and in control of how she displays her emotions. She is more mature in this respect than most adults. While she lacks experience, she handles social situations with grace through courteousness and willingness to try to understand others. Perhaps most importantly, she is a calculating person (and I don't mean that in a cold, negative way). She has a reason for the things that she feels and does, and is not prone to act without thinking.

The only time that she would appear to be immature or irrational to a viewer of the comic would be when you simply don't understand her motives, either because they have not yet been revealed, or because you don't understand her.

She may overreact to Mort because what transpires between them touches on something sensitive or personal to her, but she is hardly immature or irrational by any stretch of the imagination.

[mudmaniac]

I would think that most of Antimony's social interactions are marked by her upbringing in the hospital. She is cordial, but rarely ever close.
This may have something to do with the fact that 'people' whom she regarded as friends, took away her mother from her. Death and loss are things that are all too real to her.
Now, I think she interacts with people only on terms that she can control. Anya's talk on the significance of the blinker stone puts her relationship with Mort under new light. In annie's eyes, that sudden change may be seen as a betrayal of trust or a loss of control.

[fjodor]

I'm with Mudmaniac on this one. Her youth at the hospital, with no kids to play with, must have screwed her up. Not saying it's her fault, but her social skills are poorly balanced to say the least.

[snes]

Feb 23, 2009 21:23:46 GMT fjodor said:

I'm with Mudmaniac on this one. Her youth at the hospital, with no kids to play with, must have screwed her up. Not saying it's her fault, but her social skills are poorly balanced to say the least.

I don't know. Look at her in Ghost Story. She seems very happy and playful throughout the chapter, not indicating any signs of depression or indication that she's maladjusted to social interactions.

[mudmaniac]

snes: I kinda figured a short time after. when she finally started to realize the role Muut and company had at the hospital.

[todd]

We know that Annie is already extremely solemn (in a precocious manner) by the time of the flashback in Chapter Eight (the one where she accidentally breaks a glass), so whatever changed her must have taken place between the Martin incident and then.

We don't know yet when Annie found out what the role of Muut and his fellow Guides was. Was it when they came for her mother, or earlier? Maybe a later chapter will reveal that.

[snes]

Feb 24, 2009 11:47:16 GMT todd said:

We know that Annie is already extremely solemn (in a precocious manner) by the time of the flashback in Chapter Eight (the one where she accidentally breaks a glass), so whatever changed her must have taken place between the Martin incident and then.

We don't know yet when Annie found out what the role of Muut and his fellow Guides was. Was it when they came for her mother, or earlier? Maybe a later chapter will reveal that.

She didn't seem that solemn to me, just a bit self-conscious, which can be expected since she had just broken something.

[fjodor]

Feb 23, 2009 21:54:05 GMT snes said:

I don't know. Look at her in Ghost Story. She seems very happy and playful throughout the chapter, not indicating any signs of depression or indication that she's maladjusted to social interactions.

Tom's comment for that page is a bit dark though: "...when she still knew how to act like a kid." Being confronted with death all the time must have done something to her.

(editing the mess I made of the quite link)