Obi-Wan Kenobi using the force to give someone the equivalent of a heel realization is Low key one of the most morally good things we see a Jedi do onscreen.
Maybe you see it that way. Don’t forget, the Nazi party was legally elected into
power. Using political pressure to influence the vote, and having your number two man slaughter a bunch of kids kind of slides into the murky area of morality to me.
I mean, literally the first thing we see the empire do is blow up an entire planet with no weapons. I feel like we already should have known the empire were the unambiguous bad guys long before Episode 3.
Also – they made the proclamation of the republic turning into an empire in a room full of armed soldiers. Feels like democracy wasn’t really a concern.
I remember the Phineas and Ferb take on “Star Wars” where their sister was a Stormtrooper who thought they were “busting” Rebels. She realizes who the good guys are when Phineas stops and helps her when she’s hanging from a walkway. She turns to her friends, comments that not all the Rebels seem to be “bad guys” and then says; “And we blew up a PLANET! I mean, what’s up with THAT?”
Also just in staying with Sal’s whole arc of reconciliation with her past. She had to fist fight the last person involved before she forgave them. So Asher’s quick and easy forgive and smoke could feel a little unearned. Especially considering he’s even more directly responsible for Sal’s trouble. Really adds to the subversion of things and might even raise a few red flags on Asher since it really shouldn’t be this easy for him.
idk, Sal has had years to think about Asher’s VERY NATURAL RESPONSE to her ill-conceived heist. She had ZERO information about Amber, and probably has also learned from fighting with Amber that more of the same won’t help.
We know Sal’s changed. We know Asher’s changed. If it weren’t for the Blaine stuff (which Sal doesn’t know about) there would be every reason to think that a reconciliation was possible if not imminent.
I’m still conflicted on the Asher/Blaine front. On the one hand, he’s clearly playing ball with Blaine to some degree (whether or no a sudden but inevitable betrayal is coming) on the other hand Blaine had to effectively force that through blackmail and likely didn’t bother to give him any real info outside Amazigirl being somehow involved in his plans.
I mean, Sal’s had YEARS of expecting Asher was the snitch, so she’s already processed this information. Confirmation just says, yeah, she wasn’t wrong about her instincts. If she’s already forgiven him, what’s to drag out?
I’m not sure you should be nostalgic for those days Sal, though you seem to realize that. Better subject, maybe you and Asher could find a bonding experience not related to cigarettes?
if it’s broken you don’t feel bad if it’s broken worse, but when you feel like it’s put back together you don’t want to leave it where it can be broken like it was before.
This ship needs a name, and I haven’t been able to come up with one yet. (Sal-Ash and Ash-Sal and all related variants don’t meet the cuteness threshold.)
I know she would stab me but I just want to hug her and give her a banket and cookies and tell her everything is going to be okay or I will make it so.
The Walkerton parents are a textbook in parental failure. Actually they might be just a chapter considering the number of bad parents we’re working with.
The robberies were because Sal wanted to raise money for Marcie’s medical expenses. Pretty simple connection there, especially in a pre-GoFundMe world.
The depression is likely orthogonal to the robberies.
Depression makes it 100 times easier to go FUCK IT, I’LL DO WHAT I WANT and not care about how much it could screw you over because it can flatten emotions like anxiety and fear into ‘I don’t care’ as much as it can every other emotion (not all people will experience complete emotional deadening into apathy like this though, there are variations of how depression presents). Risk-taking behaviour is absolutely something that depression makes easier to do because of a lack of care about your own well-being and because you can be triggered into negative thought spirals that lead you to act on harmful impulses.
With Asher offering a way to get money and the lack of GoFundMe traction, Linda taking her money away that she had saved, was definitely enough to trigger a depression thought spiral of ‘fuck it, I don’t care any more, if you’re going to take the money I worked hard for lawfully, I’ll just become the bad person you already thought I was’.
On the other hand, depression can also feed into anxiety until self-destructive acts are exactly the same level of scary as answering your phone or going to class. Different road, same destination. Fun!
Self-medicating with rage-fueled adrenaline can also temporarily overcome depression. At least you are feeling something.
Of course, over the long term, chronic rage will screw you up in a lot of other ways. Or over the short term if it motivates you to do something stupid, like robbing a convenience store.
Let’s not forget the current theory of Economic disparity influencing crime. The “I tried to do this the legal way and the system itself spat on me” effect. In this particular system, it’s Sal’s mom taking the money she raised legally on Gofundme. When the system and the authorities themselves turn against you for following the rules and don’t follow those rules themselves, you feel the rules are far less important. Crime is justified by the fact that the rules are BS and none of the “powerful figures” are following them anyway.
I do not espouse this type of thinking. But, it is a valid thought process that would motivate this kind of behavior and something we as a society should be watching.
Sal, don’t. I know you fucked Jason of all people, but don’t date an asshole that smugly confused to have betrayed you for convenience. As I have said before, sex appeal makes people easily forgive villains.The world has many Ambers that find attractiveness in shitty edgy redditors. Bad boys/bad girls look mysterious and hot, but eventually they will break your heart once you find out you can’t “change them”.
Sad to say, but you deserve a bit of heartbreak if you try to FIX someone. It’s Manipulative and inherently disrespectful.
But I don’t think Sal is leaning towards that.
Jason wasn’t a bad boy, he was frustrating. We now know how Sal deals with that emotion. Was it a conquest thing? Sal’s pretty aggressive
Mike wasn’t atractive for being an asshole, Amber wants his body.
I’d bet anything the appeal of a Bad Boy is aggressive sex and no emotional attachment. The Change Them thing is a more femininely acceptable form of sexual conquest. Things get weird when we moralize what we want.
I really didn’t take Asher’s confession as being “smug”. He himself told Walky it wasn’t funny in retrospect, though he had seen it as such when he was younger.
Asher’s not a villain. He’s morally ambiguous at the worst. He hasn’t even really done anything yet. The only thing that personally throws me off is that he seems tailor made to be Sal’s love interest. Tall, good looking, with a personal connection to her past, a cool attitude, and he smokes. Like if Sal had a checklist he’d probably mark all of them. How soon before we find out he has a motorcycle?
All that said. He probably lied about cutting ties with his grandfather cause if he actually did Blaine wouldn’t be able to blackmail him. Though admittedly Blaine’s wording was pretty vague so It’s hard to guess what he meant.
That just raises more questions for me. Like why it would matter if Blaine reveals that if Asher cut ties? I guess mobpa would try to take the money back, but how if It’s already been spent on tuition? I’d assume Asher would have his own accounts if he stole the money so how would anyone get that information if he actually got away with it? How would Blaine know Asher stole the money in the first place? How did he even know Asher was attending IU? How did Asher steal the money cause “under the table” means nothing. I know I’m over thinking this and Asher said he’s out of the family which doesn’t necessarily mean he completely severed his relationships with them, and he seems like a decent guy, but there are some questions that need answers before I trust him.
We don’t yet know the details but it seems a fair assumption that Blaine’s bit of blackmail is that Asher took the money, not that he cut ties. How he found out we don’t now yet.
Blaine is good at being accusationally vague. It makes the guilty people assign knowledge to him he may or may not have and paranoia is a hell of a tool.
I will post this here, if anybody is still interested in scientific studies concerning different nicotine consumption forms.
The article is about misleading information about the risks of different forms and there are good references if anybody want’s to read more about the different health risks (although the references might lead to articles which are not free to read). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395916300925
I think that the mutual conclusion in panel 6 is a relief to Sal and to Asher alike. Something tells me that neither of them are particularly happy to do the ‘self-examination and introspection based on the lessons of my past’ thing.
Willis is gonna fuck us up, isn’t he?
I hope things go well with Asher. Like, he’s able to overcome Blaine somehow (probably with the help of Sal and all her friends). Or maybe he plans to fuck up Blaine regardless.
I saw that as well, came back to the previous day to check if something had happened in the comments to prompt it, scroll down to the bottom……. And of course, even when the comments are closed, Ana STILL gets first comment.
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Happy Cancer’s Eve
Candy cancer for sure
Nah, they’re being healthy by not vaping.
You wanna buy some death sticks?
You don’t want to sell me death sticks. You want to go home and rethink your life.
Best part of the movie.
Which movie was that? Episode II?
Yes.
And it went downhill from there. Gods that movie was boring. And being boring is a mortal sin for entertainment.
Obi-Wan Kenobi using the force to give someone the equivalent of a heel realization is Low key one of the most morally good things we see a Jedi do onscreen.
That’s because Jedi are religious fanatics fighting a democratically elected government.
The empire did nothing wrong!
Maybe you see it that way. Don’t forget, the Nazi party was legally elected into
power. Using political pressure to influence the vote, and having your number two man slaughter a bunch of kids kind of slides into the murky area of morality to me.
I mean, literally the first thing we see the empire do is blow up an entire planet with no weapons. I feel like we already should have known the empire were the unambiguous bad guys long before Episode 3.
Also – they made the proclamation of the republic turning into an empire in a room full of armed soldiers. Feels like democracy wasn’t really a concern.
I remember the Phineas and Ferb take on “Star Wars” where their sister was a Stormtrooper who thought they were “busting” Rebels. She realizes who the good guys are when Phineas stops and helps her when she’s hanging from a walkway. She turns to her friends, comments that not all the Rebels seem to be “bad guys” and then says; “And we blew up a PLANET! I mean, what’s up with THAT?”
Weren’t they doing that anyway?
But now they’re doing it on purpose.
Jeez, why does it seem so gross for this situation to immediately be so “okay”?
Subversion of expectation. Also probably because we know Asher’s been in contact with Blaine and that can only end badly.
On the plus side, Asher has a WONDERFUL chance to redeem himself by messing up Blaine’s plans.
IF Ross doesn’t do it first.
And if Amber doesn’t grab Blaine by the balls and swing him over her head.
Also just in staying with Sal’s whole arc of reconciliation with her past. She had to fist fight the last person involved before she forgave them. So Asher’s quick and easy forgive and smoke could feel a little unearned. Especially considering he’s even more directly responsible for Sal’s trouble. Really adds to the subversion of things and might even raise a few red flags on Asher since it really shouldn’t be this easy for him.
Unlike Amber, Asher hasn’t been stalking Sal for weeks though.
(As far as we know, at least.)
Sex appeal makes villains forgivable. I must patent that phrase.
He’s not even a villain tho
idk, Sal has had years to think about Asher’s VERY NATURAL RESPONSE to her ill-conceived heist. She had ZERO information about Amber, and probably has also learned from fighting with Amber that more of the same won’t help.
Had it been the other way around, who knows 🤷
because we know information that sal doesnt?
We know Sal’s changed. We know Asher’s changed. If it weren’t for the Blaine stuff (which Sal doesn’t know about) there would be every reason to think that a reconciliation was possible if not imminent.
I’m still conflicted on the Asher/Blaine front. On the one hand, he’s clearly playing ball with Blaine to some degree (whether or no a sudden but inevitable betrayal is coming) on the other hand Blaine had to effectively force that through blackmail and likely didn’t bother to give him any real info outside Amazigirl being somehow involved in his plans.
I mean, Sal’s had YEARS of expecting Asher was the snitch, so she’s already processed this information. Confirmation just says, yeah, she wasn’t wrong about her instincts. If she’s already forgiven him, what’s to drag out?
I mean cool for cathartic reunions or whatever but Asher hasn’t impressed me at all…not yet.
This would be more of a carcinogenic reunion.
Ba-dum-tsh!
Well he hasnt been trying to impress anyone.
I’m not sure you should be nostalgic for those days Sal, though you seem to realize that. Better subject, maybe you and Asher could find a bonding experience not related to cigarettes?
Cigarettes is probably the most socially acceptable thing they did together.
You make a fair point.
I like this!
Gimme little left, gimme little right
Gimme little black, gimme little white
Gimme little peace, gimme little hope
Gimme little LIGHT…
if it’s broken you don’t feel bad if it’s broken worse, but when you feel like it’s put back together you don’t want to leave it where it can be broken like it was before.
I don’t ship it and yet the ship is sailing
Puberty has been kind to them and so now their smoken buddies.
This ship needs a name, and I haven’t been able to come up with one yet. (Sal-Ash and Ash-Sal and all related variants don’t meet the cuteness threshold.)
Sash? Saler? Sasler? Asalsher? Salt Shaker? Cig-Zag? Sasharette? Salerettes? Asharette? Salshette? Salsh? Ashaler? Cig-Buds? Cig Partners? Moveon? Movinon? Reconcig? Smoke and Ashes? Salt Smoke? Cig Smoke? Smoke Partners? Calm Smoke? Smoke on the Water?
…
What counts as cute, anyway?
Slasher.
Perfect
Lit
…I wanna work in Team Wacky Tobacky somehow but idk
Slashtray?
Wait i don’t ship this, why am I engaging in wordplay
Ass’l
Salt and Ashes. As in, “we burned the place down and salted the ground so nothing can grow on it”
Sal-Ash-ous. (Pronounced like salacious.)
As a ship name may I suggest the Edmund Fitzgerald?
Smoking Roof?
I don’t want to ship it because I’m still not sure about Asher, but part of me is trying to ship it anyway.
“Do you smoke, Mr. Worthington?”
“Well yes, I must admit I smoke.”
“I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind.”
*Worthing
Indeed. My mistake.
Oh my god Sal
I know she would stab me but I just want to hug her and give her a banket and cookies and tell her everything is going to be okay or I will make it so.
You guys may have heard a bloodcurdling snarl last night around midnight.
That was me when this strip went live on Patreon and I saw that third panel.
Jesus fucking God, I hate the Walkerton parents.
The Walkerton parents are a textbook in parental failure. Actually they might be just a chapter considering the number of bad parents we’re working with.
I want to take that book and beat them both with it.
It’d be an effective weapon, it’s a very thick book
GOOD.
There can be multiple volumes!
I want to hit them all with their respective volumes.
A Study of Parental Failings: Volume 1. Charles and Linda Walkerton.
Huh. Surprisingly self aware title.
“The REEEEEE heard around the world”, starring BBCC.
It was cathartic – because the Walkertons suck.
I’m waiting for Marcie to somehow throw a spanner in all these works.
I’m okay with this.
I’m still not sure how being depressed because of your awful parents leads to committing robberies?
(this is not meant to be disrespectful. I honestly am not sure of mental mechanisms in such situations?)
The robberies were because Sal wanted to raise money for Marcie’s medical expenses. Pretty simple connection there, especially in a pre-GoFundMe world.
The depression is likely orthogonal to the robberies.
Worse than that, Sal tried GoFundMe but it didn’t gain any traction.
Sal actually had raised 400 dollars (a pitiful amount but it was hers) and her mother stole it because she thought Marcie was a bad influence.
It was 700. Not much better, but better.
And then Linda took the money anyway.
Depression makes it 100 times easier to go FUCK IT, I’LL DO WHAT I WANT and not care about how much it could screw you over because it can flatten emotions like anxiety and fear into ‘I don’t care’ as much as it can every other emotion (not all people will experience complete emotional deadening into apathy like this though, there are variations of how depression presents). Risk-taking behaviour is absolutely something that depression makes easier to do because of a lack of care about your own well-being and because you can be triggered into negative thought spirals that lead you to act on harmful impulses.
With Asher offering a way to get money and the lack of GoFundMe traction, Linda taking her money away that she had saved, was definitely enough to trigger a depression thought spiral of ‘fuck it, I don’t care any more, if you’re going to take the money I worked hard for lawfully, I’ll just become the bad person you already thought I was’.
On the other hand, depression can also feed into anxiety until self-destructive acts are exactly the same level of scary as answering your phone or going to class. Different road, same destination. Fun!
Self-medicating with rage-fueled adrenaline can also temporarily overcome depression. At least you are feeling something.
Of course, over the long term, chronic rage will screw you up in a lot of other ways. Or over the short term if it motivates you to do something stupid, like robbing a convenience store.
Let’s not forget the current theory of Economic disparity influencing crime. The “I tried to do this the legal way and the system itself spat on me” effect. In this particular system, it’s Sal’s mom taking the money she raised legally on Gofundme. When the system and the authorities themselves turn against you for following the rules and don’t follow those rules themselves, you feel the rules are far less important. Crime is justified by the fact that the rules are BS and none of the “powerful figures” are following them anyway.
I do not espouse this type of thinking. But, it is a valid thought process that would motivate this kind of behavior and something we as a society should be watching.
Just don’t go rob any more stores, OK?
Sal, don’t. I know you fucked Jason of all people, but don’t date an asshole that smugly confused to have betrayed you for convenience. As I have said before, sex appeal makes people easily forgive villains.The world has many Ambers that find attractiveness in shitty edgy redditors. Bad boys/bad girls look mysterious and hot, but eventually they will break your heart once you find out you can’t “change them”.
confessed*
Sad to say, but you deserve a bit of heartbreak if you try to FIX someone. It’s Manipulative and inherently disrespectful.
But I don’t think Sal is leaning towards that.
Jason wasn’t a bad boy, he was frustrating. We now know how Sal deals with that emotion. Was it a conquest thing? Sal’s pretty aggressive
Mike wasn’t atractive for being an asshole, Amber wants his body.
I’d bet anything the appeal of a Bad Boy is aggressive sex and no emotional attachment. The Change Them thing is a more femininely acceptable form of sexual conquest. Things get weird when we moralize what we want.
I really didn’t take Asher’s confession as being “smug”. He himself told Walky it wasn’t funny in retrospect, though he had seen it as such when he was younger.
You and i have very diffrent views on ashers confession
Asher’s not a villain. He’s morally ambiguous at the worst. He hasn’t even really done anything yet. The only thing that personally throws me off is that he seems tailor made to be Sal’s love interest. Tall, good looking, with a personal connection to her past, a cool attitude, and he smokes. Like if Sal had a checklist he’d probably mark all of them. How soon before we find out he has a motorcycle?
All that said. He probably lied about cutting ties with his grandfather cause if he actually did Blaine wouldn’t be able to blackmail him. Though admittedly Blaine’s wording was pretty vague so It’s hard to guess what he meant.
He stole his gramps money. Seems pretty blackmail-able, especially when Gramps is mob.
That just raises more questions for me. Like why it would matter if Blaine reveals that if Asher cut ties? I guess mobpa would try to take the money back, but how if It’s already been spent on tuition? I’d assume Asher would have his own accounts if he stole the money so how would anyone get that information if he actually got away with it? How would Blaine know Asher stole the money in the first place? How did he even know Asher was attending IU? How did Asher steal the money cause “under the table” means nothing. I know I’m over thinking this and Asher said he’s out of the family which doesn’t necessarily mean he completely severed his relationships with them, and he seems like a decent guy, but there are some questions that need answers before I trust him.
We don’t yet know the details but it seems a fair assumption that Blaine’s bit of blackmail is that Asher took the money, not that he cut ties. How he found out we don’t now yet.
Blaine is good at being accusationally vague. It makes the guilty people assign knowledge to him he may or may not have and paranoia is a hell of a tool.
Cut ties or no, Asher will end up dead in a ditch if he stole a mobster’s money. That’s why it matters.
He was clearly a villain before – part of the gang/mob, luring Sal into a life of crime and betraying her to the cops for a laugh.
He claims to be trying to reform and that’s going to be tested with this Blaine plot. We’ll see where he ends up.
“That dick game strong, tho” is the trump card of human society. It is known, Khaleesi
I will post this here, if anybody is still interested in scientific studies concerning different nicotine consumption forms.
The article is about misleading information about the risks of different forms and there are good references if anybody want’s to read more about the different health risks (although the references might lead to articles which are not free to read).
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395916300925
I think that the mutual conclusion in panel 6 is a relief to Sal and to Asher alike. Something tells me that neither of them are particularly happy to do the ‘self-examination and introspection based on the lessons of my past’ thing.
…and then we can go split some firewood with our unnatural wedge-like chins.
Wow. Was there a nuclear reactor or a toxic landfill in the town they grew up in?
So, friendship reborn…HOORAY!
Anyone else getting a “would you like to yell at the Moon with Buzz Aldrin” vibe from this meeting?
How’d I screw the link up that bad?!
Anyway, it’s a 30 Rock bit.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AvG8qI0HCfY
I like this a lot it feels very warm. Like this is legitimately are really sweet interaction, regardless of the context that birthed it.
Young Asher and Young Sal were toxic for each other. Maybe now they’ve grown a little, their relationship can be healthier for both of them?
This is so sweet.
Willis is gonna fuck us up, isn’t he?
I hope things go well with Asher. Like, he’s able to overcome Blaine somehow (probably with the help of Sal and all her friends). Or maybe he plans to fuck up Blaine regardless.
Until then I shall appreciate this sweet moment.
Asher will strike Blaine down, and the his journey to the Dark Side will be complete.
This is nice and wholesome.
…..
My soul is going to be broken into pieces when the other shoe drops, isn’t it?
just checking if the 11/1 strip is supposed to have comments closed…?
Probably the political nature being a breeding ground for toxic comments. I don’t blame him.
It’s going to be a shame if every Robin related strip has no comments as a result.
I saw that as well, came back to the previous day to check if something had happened in the comments to prompt it, scroll down to the bottom……. And of course, even when the comments are closed, Ana STILL gets first comment.