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I’m actually trying to figure out how old the kids are at this point. I’d have guessed early teens from how they look, but do they have star quarterbacks then?
This is coming from someone who didn’t grow up with football at all.
I was wondering if they’re older in this strip than previous flashback strips. Mike, at least, looks a little older to me, but mostly it’s the “star quarterback” thing.
“Serious” football started in seventh grade where I grew up, though at that age someone being called a star player by other kids had less to do with their showing any special talent and more with their being the most popular person playing that position
My assumption is that this guy is known to them as the town’s star quarterback, but that’s assuming a pretty small town with only one high school. This makes the situation creepy because he’s a 17-year-old getting it on with an apparent middle schooler.
From what I remember of the US school system, they’ve got to be in middle school, since they’ve got a home room and separate classes for different subjects, which generally starts then.
This also seems to be before the traumatic robbery, since it hasn’t been mentioned and also led up to the divorce. (I’m assuming the Patreon flashback with Amber babysitting Faz is also in this time, but that only makes it clearer.)
Amber was 13 then, her birthday is this weekend. Thus I conclude she must be 12 now. Mike and Ethan somewhere around the same. Probably 7th grade.
I dunno, looking at Mike’s face in panel five, he looks bothered by telling Ethan- and that face isn’t for Ethan’s benefit since he’s turned away. I don’t think he’s manipulative jackass yet- not always nice, but definitely not full Mike yet.
He MIGHT be trying to provoke a reaction from Ethan with regards to sexuality, but he doesn’t seem to be trying to upset him for the sake of it.
I thought it was incredulous and reluctantly impressed. New kid, who Ethan is trying to include in their plans, is already hanging-out with school’s Numero Uno.
Mikes definitely onto Ethan, probably knew he was gay for a long time before he came out. That ‘Amber does look disappointed’ line is pretty pointed. Amber doesn’t care, Ethan is inviting Mike for his own benefit and Mike knows it.
Well, Amber’s also crippling shy and withdrawn at this point. Ethan would naturally be the prime mover in any attempt to expand her social circle and even if she might actually want that, it’s scary enough she wouldn’t be disappointed it didn’t happen.
It doesn’t all have to be unrecognized sexual tension, especially at this age.
Abusers tend to be able to put on a charming show in front of outsiders, so I doubt anything’d happen. Not during the party, anyways.
It’s also possible this is further along in the timeline and Amber’s parents are divorced now, unsure…
The main thing it does is isolate the victim. People who hear of the abuse go “No, Kind Steve couldn’t possibly be a wife-beater, she must be crazy or she’s lying to get full custody of the kids.” and stuff like that. People WANT abusers to just be monsters like Blaine, but your average abusive spouse comes off as an entirely normal person.
It’s sometimes easy to forget Ethan wasn’t always built like a superhero.
I’m curious where this is going. Mike’s not necessarily the easiest guy to read at the best of times, but I’m finding flashback Mike actually more difficult to get a read on. He doesn’t have the visible mean streak yet, but there’s still some cynicism.
I’m wondering how Ethan got built. I don’t think it’s completely genetics (neither of his parents looked that jacked). Amber mentioned she was in track and field, so there was presumably some stage in their life where they both did athletics?
“Fruth” is a German name, so Brent Fruth is probably the descendent of German immigrants. Lots of those in the Midwest. Certainly lots of those in southern Indiana.
So, this comic kinda reinforces where I think the flashbacks have been going, and how it ties into Mike in the present.
We’ve seen a bunch of scenes of Mike’s assholery being constructive for his targets, right? Like, he’s always an asshole, but sometimes by forcing people to confront their problems that they’ve been avoding (like trying to force Joyce to walk back her discomfort with homosexuality after Becky came out). With the way he tried to help Amber in this flashback sequence, it looks like he used to be a lot more straightforward about helping people. Flashback!Mike had a better opinion of people, and figured that if he just told folks what was wrong with them they would fix their problems.
But, between Amber ditching him, and seeing that Ethan’s pretty childish for his age (not that I can throw shade about that though), and of course everything with that shitty teacher, he’s getting jaded about people in general. Like, being relatively straightforward (talking to the teacher on Amber’s behalf) didn’t work, and now he’s started getting it in his head that people are generally bullshit and that he’s a step ahead of them basically all the time. Well on the path to becoming the Mike we know and have many varied opinions about today!
That is surprisingly accurate. Mike has gone through the path of Rick Sanchez and Raven Branwen and just gave up on being good and only does what makes him feel a small amount of pleasure, like punching Joe for fun, or having sex with a random stranger.
Does anyone else soul hurt watching baby mike try to make friends but struggling and basically prostitute himself for personal companionship? Because OMG want hug Mike!
Wow, Mike’s start of evil went fast. 1)Traumatic experience of good and evil. Checked. 2)Unhealthy romantic behaviors. Checked. 3)Murdering Walky… where did one come from?
Anyone else suspect Mike’s pretending in that last panel and his Brent-the-Star-Quarterback appointment is of the “meet me outside in five and imma beat you to a pulp” variety?
Ok i know it’s not on purpose but i kinda hate how the only two bi male characters swing between the extremes of the sadistic Chad Mike and the pathetic “virgin” Danny
Aw c’mon, Danny’s not that bad. Him being kind of a pathetic loser WAS most of his deal at the beginning, but I feel he’s grown a lot through his relationships with Amber, Ethan and Sal. Hell, he’s probably one of the characters that has changed the most (for the better at least… I love Billie but watching her is like watching a trainwreck in real time) other than like, Joyce. I was barely even aware of his existence at the beginning and now he’s probably one of my favorites.
Mike exists in a universe that confirms the notion that he knows others thoroughly down to their deep motivations and experiences that they cannot understand in themselves. This universe is also set up so that it confirms the notion that confronting people, especially with their deepest motivations and fears, can be intended to help them and can succeed at helping them, even if the help is inadvertent. If Mike were not in a universe set up this particular way, with him all-knowing and always right about people, his arrogance and misanthropy would cause him not to have any human connections at all.
People in the helping professions can assist others in seeing their own issues more clearly and dealing with them. In my experience, psychotherapists do not confront people with their deep motivations and fears, because that approach does not help, and therapists can help, in part, because their patients can trust them.
yeah, in a story you can’t really afford the bandwidth to have your characters make routine human errors, so you wind up with this presentation of any character who is just really supposed to be “smart” as _confidently_ omniscient.
larry niven is one of my favorite authors, but like 35% of all his characters have this trait, it’s pretty much poisoned his entire “known universe”
He slept with Dina in It’s Walky!, and with both Amber and Ethan – separately, in the same night – in Shortpacked!. So visibly bi or pan even in the Walkyverse, yeah.
(Much later down the line, he eventually entered into a relationship with, had a kid with, and ultimately married Amber.)
Yes, he slept with both Amber and Ethan in Shortpacked early on, among other incidents. But I don’t think he’s ever labeled himself, except as “Whatever you don’t want me to be.”
Yeah, it was a big part of Dina’s final It’s Walky! arc – after she and Walky broke up (Walky had been dating her in lieu of getting over his feelings for Joyce), she turned to forcibly keeping Mike drunk to keep him nice so that he would be her boyfriend; when he finally caught a moment to let the alcohol wear off, he immediately broke up with her for the obvious reason.
Later, she got herself drunk in a depressing final attempt to make people like her, and then (if memory serves) Mike found her, got himself drunk, and then slept with her.
The next day, Dina was killed by a bomb planted by Britjas during their attack on SEMME headquarters, having chosen in the heat of the moment to take the Britjas on unarmed rather than allow them to mind-wipe her and destroy her years of research.
I thought the last panel was mean till my brother read it over my shoulder and said, “That sounds like some gay activity to me.” and I fucking lost it.
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maybe talk about this guy?
ya sure
I vaguely remember this…
What good are friends who aren’t into transforming robots?
Everything but transforming rowboats. And robots.
I read this as “What good are friends who aren’t transforming robots?”
Answer: not much?
. . .Interesting. I wonder how much time has passed since we last saw Flashback Mike.
I’m actually trying to figure out how old the kids are at this point. I’d have guessed early teens from how they look, but do they have star quarterbacks then?
This is coming from someone who didn’t grow up with football at all.
Star quarterbacks were a high school thing (ninth grade, so 14ish) where I came from, but they might start earlier in Indiana.
I was wondering if they’re older in this strip than previous flashback strips. Mike, at least, looks a little older to me, but mostly it’s the “star quarterback” thing.
These seem to be the same designs Ethan and Amber had in the convenience store flashback, so I’m thinking early high school.
it’s the same classroom and seats though
They seem to still be getting to know each other, so I don’t think it could be that long.
Ethan was a late bloomer
“Serious” football started in seventh grade where I grew up, though at that age someone being called a star player by other kids had less to do with their showing any special talent and more with their being the most popular person playing that position
My assumption is that this guy is known to them as the town’s star quarterback, but that’s assuming a pretty small town with only one high school. This makes the situation creepy because he’s a 17-year-old getting it on with an apparent middle schooler.
From what I remember of the US school system, they’ve got to be in middle school, since they’ve got a home room and separate classes for different subjects, which generally starts then.
This also seems to be before the traumatic robbery, since it hasn’t been mentioned and also led up to the divorce. (I’m assuming the Patreon flashback with Amber babysitting Faz is also in this time, but that only makes it clearer.)
Amber was 13 then, her birthday is this weekend. Thus I conclude she must be 12 now. Mike and Ethan somewhere around the same. Probably 7th grade.
That was how it worked in my highschool. Though homeroom was pretty lax. Wasn’t hard to get out of
The robbery didn’t CAUSE the divorce, it just finalized around then, after Blaine got her self defence classes instead of therapy.
True, but I’m mostly just thinking of the timing.
they’re good toys, bront
Mike’s gonna play tonsil hockey with the quarterback? Good for him.
Looks like “Make out with other dudes to make Ethan jealous” might have been a longer running scheme than we thought.
Or maybe not, who knows.
I dunno, looking at Mike’s face in panel five, he looks bothered by telling Ethan- and that face isn’t for Ethan’s benefit since he’s turned away. I don’t think he’s manipulative jackass yet- not always nice, but definitely not full Mike yet.
He MIGHT be trying to provoke a reaction from Ethan with regards to sexuality, but he doesn’t seem to be trying to upset him for the sake of it.
Lil’ Ethan is jealous and a bit disappointed, but can’t quite put his finger on why.
I thought it was incredulous and reluctantly impressed. New kid, who Ethan is trying to include in their plans, is already hanging-out with school’s Numero Uno.
Mikes definitely onto Ethan, probably knew he was gay for a long time before he came out. That ‘Amber does look disappointed’ line is pretty pointed. Amber doesn’t care, Ethan is inviting Mike for his own benefit and Mike knows it.
Well, Amber’s also crippling shy and withdrawn at this point. Ethan would naturally be the prime mover in any attempt to expand her social circle and even if she might actually want that, it’s scary enough she wouldn’t be disappointed it didn’t happen.
It doesn’t all have to be unrecognized sexual tension, especially at this age.
“i want the FRUTH!”
“you can’t handle the Fruth!”
That sounds like Jack Nicolson making a gay scene.
The FRUTH shall set you free!
Oh that’s right I forgot this arc was about Mike
yeah me too. and I have no idea how to interpret this comic.
Yyyyeaaah, huh. I’d been idly thinking “gee it sure has been a while since we had a Mike flashback” on and off for… um, at least four days I think.
But it’s here! It’s happening! Mike is the star again!
I completely forgot that this arc is titled “Of Mike and Men”.
Amber’s birthday at her house is a phrase that vaguely terrifies me
And me as well.
damnit if Willis brings in the ambulances, I swear
Abusers tend to be able to put on a charming show in front of outsiders, so I doubt anything’d happen. Not during the party, anyways.
It’s also possible this is further along in the timeline and Amber’s parents are divorced now, unsure…
Amber’s never mentioned her mom in any of her flashbacks, I think. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
honestly that’s almost scarier. the charming show can be just as harmful (in different ways) imo
The main thing it does is isolate the victim. People who hear of the abuse go “No, Kind Steve couldn’t possibly be a wife-beater, she must be crazy or she’s lying to get full custody of the kids.” and stuff like that. People WANT abusers to just be monsters like Blaine, but your average abusive spouse comes off as an entirely normal person.
Why am I reading/hearing Mike’s lines in a snooty posh tenor?
probably the use of “quite”. and some of the other phrasing is rather stiff too.
Possibly. Or maybe because I’m watching Code:Realize which had some snooty jerk characters.
Or both.
So was it Amber leaving Mike alone after he went to talk to the teacher that suddenly has him showing his jerk side to them?
He was acting like this before that too, so I doubt it
Didn’t come off like that to me.
What mean jerk things did he say to them in the other flashbacks?
It’s sometimes easy to forget Ethan wasn’t always built like a superhero.
I’m curious where this is going. Mike’s not necessarily the easiest guy to read at the best of times, but I’m finding flashback Mike actually more difficult to get a read on. He doesn’t have the visible mean streak yet, but there’s still some cynicism.
I’m wondering how Ethan got built. I don’t think it’s completely genetics (neither of his parents looked that jacked). Amber mentioned she was in track and field, so there was presumably some stage in their life where they both did athletics?
His dad looks pretty sturdy so genetics is a sure bet. Wonder if we’ll see Ethan level up puberty-wise in these flashbacks.
Per Amber, “At sixteen he suddenly became hot…” so it’s a question of how long these flashbacks go.
Aw darn. Maybe not in this chapter then.
Clearly they’ll be talking about Yugioh.
Also what kind of name is Brent Fruth?
The kind of name for someone who really wants to be Brett Favre
Well that explains where the character name came from.
It is not.
“Fruth” is a German name, so Brent Fruth is probably the descendent of German immigrants. Lots of those in the Midwest. Certainly lots of those in southern Indiana.
It is? Never heard it before.
I didn’t say it was a common name. But the people with that name who aren’t in the US are mostly in Germany and Austria, according to Namespedia.
Oh? I got: “fruth; (noun) a type of video photography where fruits engage in sexual intercourse”
It’s a good name, “Brent”.
Mike may not even have plans. He may be upset with Amber from when she left while he was fighting for her with that teacher.
Alternatively, Mike and Brent may have a SECRET RELATIONSHIP, OOOOOO!!
…secret?
might?
“We’re Not Gonna Be Talking About Transforming Robots, I Guarantee You” would be a terrible book title, as it would get Willis sued.
But what about as a Slipshine title?
That would get him arrested.
The expression on Mike’s face in the last panel is weirding me out.
That’s a Billie level AAAAALPHA BOOONGO!
Nope, he is supreme bongo. he can seduce any man without looking drunk and without fake cutesy girl talking.
…and then flaunts hm like a trophy. I stand by my statement.
Well Mike has Goku’s uncanny gravity defying hair.
So, this comic kinda reinforces where I think the flashbacks have been going, and how it ties into Mike in the present.
We’ve seen a bunch of scenes of Mike’s assholery being constructive for his targets, right? Like, he’s always an asshole, but sometimes by forcing people to confront their problems that they’ve been avoding (like trying to force Joyce to walk back her discomfort with homosexuality after Becky came out). With the way he tried to help Amber in this flashback sequence, it looks like he used to be a lot more straightforward about helping people. Flashback!Mike had a better opinion of people, and figured that if he just told folks what was wrong with them they would fix their problems.
But, between Amber ditching him, and seeing that Ethan’s pretty childish for his age (not that I can throw shade about that though), and of course everything with that shitty teacher, he’s getting jaded about people in general. Like, being relatively straightforward (talking to the teacher on Amber’s behalf) didn’t work, and now he’s started getting it in his head that people are generally bullshit and that he’s a step ahead of them basically all the time. Well on the path to becoming the Mike we know and have many varied opinions about today!
That is surprisingly accurate. Mike has gone through the path of Rick Sanchez and Raven Branwen and just gave up on being good and only does what makes him feel a small amount of pleasure, like punching Joe for fun, or having sex with a random stranger.
Does anyone else soul hurt watching baby mike try to make friends but struggling and basically prostitute himself for personal companionship? Because OMG want hug Mike!
Think of what you just said.
Also: YES. OF COURSE.
Wow, Mike’s start of evil went fast. 1)Traumatic experience of good and evil. Checked. 2)Unhealthy romantic behaviors. Checked. 3)Murdering Walky… where did one come from?
Willis. No. Put his Childhood down. NO. DON’T DO THIS. DON’T DO THIS TO ME.
*Willis puts Mike’s childhood down… from the top of the Empire State Building*
Oh no we are getting Mike back story during the “Walky and Amber” arc… Wills, you sicko what are you planning? How do you intend to hurt?
Technically considering the chapter title, we’re getting Walky+Amber relationship developments during the Mike Backstory Arc.
christ Mike
A penny for your fanfic in that moment, Amber…
Anyone else suspect Mike’s pretending in that last panel and his Brent-the-Star-Quarterback appointment is of the “meet me outside in five and imma beat you to a pulp” variety?
I got some kind of weird vibe off of his expression in the third panel, yes.
Ok i know it’s not on purpose but i kinda hate how the only two bi male characters swing between the extremes of the sadistic Chad Mike and the pathetic “virgin” Danny
Aw c’mon, Danny’s not that bad. Him being kind of a pathetic loser WAS most of his deal at the beginning, but I feel he’s grown a lot through his relationships with Amber, Ethan and Sal. Hell, he’s probably one of the characters that has changed the most (for the better at least… I love Billie but watching her is like watching a trainwreck in real time) other than like, Joyce. I was barely even aware of his existence at the beginning and now he’s probably one of my favorites.
Real time?
Ooh… a bOy/GIRL party!
Oh!
They’re going to be talking about Action Masters.
Ooooooookayyyyy…
Between this and Mike’s expression during his “power dynamic” commentary, I’m beginning to think that he’s been sexually abused as a kid.
So, I assume he’s going to have sex with his friend’s mom.
Mike exists in a universe that confirms the notion that he knows others thoroughly down to their deep motivations and experiences that they cannot understand in themselves. This universe is also set up so that it confirms the notion that confronting people, especially with their deepest motivations and fears, can be intended to help them and can succeed at helping them, even if the help is inadvertent. If Mike were not in a universe set up this particular way, with him all-knowing and always right about people, his arrogance and misanthropy would cause him not to have any human connections at all.
People in the helping professions can assist others in seeing their own issues more clearly and dealing with them. In my experience, psychotherapists do not confront people with their deep motivations and fears, because that approach does not help, and therapists can help, in part, because their patients can trust them.
yeah, in a story you can’t really afford the bandwidth to have your characters make routine human errors, so you wind up with this presentation of any character who is just really supposed to be “smart” as _confidently_ omniscient.
larry niven is one of my favorite authors, but like 35% of all his characters have this trait, it’s pretty much poisoned his entire “known universe”
Was Mike gay or bi in previous incarnations in the greater Walky-verse and I just missed it?
He slept with Dina in It’s Walky!, and with both Amber and Ethan – separately, in the same night – in Shortpacked!. So visibly bi or pan even in the Walkyverse, yeah.
(Much later down the line, he eventually entered into a relationship with, had a kid with, and ultimately married Amber.)
Yes, he slept with both Amber and Ethan in Shortpacked early on, among other incidents. But I don’t think he’s ever labeled himself, except as “Whatever you don’t want me to be.”
He was yes. Though my guess would be more pan than bi
He slept with Dina?! Oh my stars, I think I need to shoot something in the shape of Mike.
Yeah, it was a big part of Dina’s final It’s Walky! arc – after she and Walky broke up (Walky had been dating her in lieu of getting over his feelings for Joyce), she turned to forcibly keeping Mike drunk to keep him nice so that he would be her boyfriend; when he finally caught a moment to let the alcohol wear off, he immediately broke up with her for the obvious reason.
Later, she got herself drunk in a depressing final attempt to make people like her, and then (if memory serves) Mike found her, got himself drunk, and then slept with her.
The next day, Dina was killed by a bomb planted by Britjas during their attack on SEMME headquarters, having chosen in the heat of the moment to take the Britjas on unarmed rather than allow them to mind-wipe her and destroy her years of research.
That went darker than expected. I better avoid alcohol.
Got drunk, hooked up with her, and left before she woke up so she’d feel EXTRA worthless.
Pretty sure she was awake before he was: http://www.itswalky.com/comic/wordless-boozy-bang/
Mike doesn’t look all that happy about this in the third panel. His expression only changes when his answer bothers Ethan.
Only evil bastards find happiness and borthering people instead of the happiness of self gratification. Now I am worried.
I thought the last panel was mean till my brother read it over my shoulder and said, “That sounds like some gay activity to me.” and I fucking lost it.