The name of the SyFy channel (formerly the SciFi channel) and the sort of “science fiction” they typically are known for showing, is kind-of the reason why serious science fiction these days is known as SF, to distance themselves from silly lowest-common-denominator “sci-fi”. 😛
There is no SciFi channel anymore. I won’t even pronounce it like “Sci-Fi” anymore, what with all the stupid stuff they have on there now. It will forevermore be pronounced “sifee” (rhymes with iffy).
Being serious for a moment though: She should probably get a breast reduction, as that much forward weight can cause back problems. It is a legitimate concern that isn’t often discussed.
Something like that. Robin is running on a conservative platform. So if she gets caught in a lesbian relationship, it’ll seriously affect her campaign, to the point where she doesn’t really have a chance of winning. Roz wins because
A. That’s one less conservative politician in a seat of power.
B. With her sister’s political career over, she no longer has to worry about how her image affects her sister’s job, and can go about doing as she pleases, campaigning for sexual liberation… stuff…. as loudly as she wants without getting yelled at (as much)
C. There’s clearly some sort of power dynamic… sister…complex… thing going on here and Roz is almost certainly interested in flipping that on its head.
This is actually some Mike-level scheming here. Or at least Blaine-level. I’m kind of impressed.
Oh yeah I remember now, Roz’s sexual shenanigans could be disastrous for Robin’s traditional family-based campaign. Steering Robin to the other side would render Roz’s further actions as less of a negative influence on her (well, except for outing her sister to the voting public, that’s a no-no, Roz).
The problem with this as a political scheme is that this is southern Indiana. If Robin gets with Leslie, that doesn’t mean that liberal lesbian enlightenment will dawn over her congressional district. It means that Robin’s political career is over and she gets primaried out by someone who isn’t just paying lip service to reactionary ideals, likely a teabagger, who goes on to win the general election because this is southern Indiana, and the white dude Leslie voted for never had a chance ’cause of the D after his name. This is really not a step in the left direction.
Or be lazy like me and just go with it. My avatar’s been stuck as this blue box thingie for years, so eventually I gave up on trying to fix it and just started telling people I like it that way.
Given that he’s the one who decides how many default gravatars there are and who they are, his powers totally do extend that far. (Unless Vile Gamer registers his own custom gravatar, of course.) And given that Vile Gamer has Roz already, the obvious easiest method to stick him with her forever would be to simply not change the default gravs ever again. But it should be possible to manipulate the number or order of them to give him her even after changing the selection. Probably more hassle than it’s worth, but not impossible.
Leslie is the awesomest. I’m hoping that the imminent doom of Shortpacked! means that we’ll be getting more Leslie over here.
… Hey, if I say I don’t like Billie, can I be forced to have the Billie avatar forever? I’ve gotten kind of attached to her after getting her in the last two reshuffles and over on BBR too. … um I mean I hate Billie she’s the worst.
Having worked with lots of ‘Bots who had the equivalent of a “PhD” (we don’t call them that on Cybertron) back on Kimia, I can quite clearly and unequivocally state that being a professor does not require decency, modesty, or sanity. Thankfully Cybertronians do not wear clothes, because I have a feeling Perceptor would forget to put his pants on on a daily basis. (And don’t get me started on a certain someone and his briefcase!)
Of course I’m hardly one to talk. I’m a metallurgist by training, but I spend most of my time running off on quests, mixing drinks or talking about all the quests I’ve run off on.
College is a time of ‘experimentation’… Though hopefully if more gay characters are introduced, we get a few more males, of which aren’t automatically mandated to fall into the “Ethan’s boyfriend” role, if that character ever decides to stop trying to force himself into a ‘normal’ lifestyle with Joyce.
Well, Leslie and Daisy are actual lesbians. Billie and Ruth are more the “straight with an exception” type, I think. Then there’s Mandy and Grace, who we don’t really know about, but Billie implied they might just be trying it out because sooner or later you get “curious”.
Ruth has made no indication of liking dudes. At all. If that’s ‘straight with an exception’ then pretty much every lesbian who does not make a huge show of wanting to castrate all men is straight, I guess, myself included.
Billie is not ‘straight with an exception’, given the moves she made while drunk on Sal and her stated “…everyone’s gay kinda?” that Willis basically point blank stated is her not-so-objective viewpoint colored by her sexuality. She’s certainly not a lesbian, because she, unlike Ruth, has repeatedly demonstrated interest in dudes, ofc, but that doesn’t make her ‘straight with an exception.’ The evidence indicates it means she leans towards dudes but considers women perfectly hot as well.
It’s not frickin’ hard, seriously. Just because I like my ships doesn’t mean I don’t know the canon; why don’t you?
Ruth implies in this strip that Billie is how she discovered she liked girls, so unless she was completely asexual before (unlikely, I believe Willis mentioned on tumblr at least once that neither Ruth or Billie is exclusively into girls) then Billie seems to be her “exception”.
It’s still not necessarily “with an exception”. I know a lot of people who identify as GLBT who showed a lot of interest in heteronormative relations in junior high and high school, but as they grew older developed a greater sense of understanding of their own sexuality.
I myself identify as bisexual but I never really expressed interest in women until I was almost done with college. (I actually did have a crush on a friend in Jr. high but I was so naive it wasn’t until years later that I realized that those feelings were a crush and not just really, really liking my friend).
So, at this point, without Willis doing word of god, I don’t think we can say definitively whether a lot of the characters are actually straight, GLBT, straight with exception, etc. They’re all in a highly transitional space so we don’t know yet which behaviors are manifestation of their true sexualities coming out, if they’re experimenting, if they’re confused, etc.
Ruth saying she discovered she was into girls thanks to Billie is, in fact, more evidence that she was asexual with an exception without, yanno, a dude she was attracted to. It’s not even really that, just moreso than ‘straight’. If Willis said that, it is STILL not indication of being straight with an exception, because again, that only means she did not realize she could be into women until Billie. It could EASILY mean that Billie helped her put other feelings for women into perspective, also, not that the only woman she was ever attracted to was Billie.
On the flipside, gay characters are limited to Ethan, and… possibly Mike in the bit category. Who knows if Manny or Drew will show up.
Would be interesting to see if Ethan actually shacks up with a guy. Maybe someone from the Shortpacked! universe who hasn’t had a displayed orientation yet? Arnold?
Ruth, Leslie, Daisy, the Greek Chorus (I forget their names).
I can’t think of a single gal I prefer straight except Dotty I guess, but them’s the ones what have not indicated interest in men and are banging women (…or trying to, especially in Daisy’s case)
You know. If you think about it, Leslie could use it as a chance to discuss the systematic brainwashing that denegrades the breasts to a “Private Part” due to the large scale of breast fetishism which is now perpetuated by a amodern society that has deemed such aphrodesiacs creating a self-fullfilling profecy that we, at a young age are subconsciousely told that boobs are something to be craved sexually and that to expose ones breast is shameful while for a man to expose his breast is not despite the fact that on humans (and humans only for that matter) men are also born with nipples and so the only difference betweeen a female breast and a male breast is the large amount of fat around the nipple. Which is wierd in itself because on telivision you can show as much cleavage as you want as long as you don’t expose the nipple, but the nipple is the part that everyone has.
I have to admit that I was happy when I saw many comments on a CBC article complaining about the fact that they had blurred out the chests on a photo of a topless female protester being arrested. Especially silly as it is legal for women to be topless anywhere men are in Canada.
The ones I saw were complaining about the ludicrous censorship, even pointing to the legality of it. Amusingly enough the second type of complaint only ever seems to only pop up when it is an article about the legality of women being topless.
No one said sexualization makes any goddamn sense. The whole taboo factor just makes it worse too. But its almost impossible to deprogram this kind of thing, especially in puritanical countries like the US that are so afraid of sex yet so obsessed with it you end up with schizophrenic bullshit like that.
Ok, but why does a Gender Studies professor have a crush on a socially conservative (and very heterosexual presenting) politician??? She seems rather un-conflicted about it.
Seriously. If Robin is pandering to homophobic voters, she’s definitely not public about liking women. What is it about this straight (as far as Leslie knows), homophobic, socially conservative woman she’s exchanged 10 words with that she likes?
I just find this whole storyline vaguely creepy (especially Leslie essentially telling a student to bring their hot sibling to class).
Their relationship ALLWAYS was a bit creepy in Shortpacked too, what with Leslie following Robin around like a puppy in vague hope Robin would actually take theri relationship to the next level. Also she took all kinds of crap from her. It was only recently that their relationship got more balanced.
What we could be seeing here is Willis setting up torpedoing of another another canonical pairing and popular shipping.
It’ll REALLY seem mutual if Robin agrees to come back and guest-speak in a venue with maybe 20 college kids whom she’s already spoken to. Kind of hard to justify that as an effective use of pre-election shmoozing hours. But despite her useful contact, Leslie has limited options here. She can’t exactly charge into Robin’s office and start debating legislation with her, and while she could “meet” her again at some open-air campaign event, she’d have to compete for attention with the entire voting public. Here in the classroom probably is her best possible chance to have a quick one-on-one conversation with Robin that might lead to other things. It’s the one place she is a figure of some authority.
Or at least she is so far. She barely got through her last encounter with Robin with most of her dignity intact, and it’s just possible that any future meetings might take her carefully-cultivated reputation with her students as a “wise young-old sage” and tear it completely to shreds. It is also just possible that at some point she might look back on that catastrophic loss of dignity and say “You know what? Totally worth it.”
I confuse easily I know, but I have been following these guys for the past 5 or so years: read all the back issues to get on the same page as current.
And trying to remember which character did what where when and in what universe without mentioning a no-no and pissing off DW sometimes gets a bit hard to do.
But……I KNOW..I think I know…that Senator Robin has already visited Leslie’s Gender studies class? But Leslie doesn’t seem to remember that?
And this is the only universe Leslie is a Proff in, I think?
Brain explosion imminent. Oh well, I’ll find out in due time.
Congresswoman Robin DeSanto has visited Leslie’s Gender Studies class, yes. I doubt Leslie has forgotten that. (To judge by that blush, she’s probably remembered it over and over again in private.) I think she wants Robin to come back and talk about all that inspiring shit Leslie admires her for and y’know maybe a little dinner together afterwards… instead of just sweeping in to lecture little sis about her sex tape.
Everyone hoping for Robin and Leslie to get together in this universe, I completely understand and am rooting for it alongside you, but I honestly don’t think it’s going to go that way. Or, at least, not for a long time. I don’t know how long it took their Shortpacked selves to get together, but I think that Robin’s political career in this universe is going to make this road much, much harder. Also, isn’t this setup just a bit too convenient? Don’t you think Willis is making it look this easy just to pull the rug out from under us?
I’m a big fan of Robin/Leslie in Shortpacked!, but I actually hope they don’t get it together in this universe. For all the character development Leslie’s gotten in Shortpacked! (even a name!… albeit kind of a dumb pun of a name), at the core she’s still Robin’s Lesbian, so shaped and defined by and around Robin and her relationship with Robin, whether it’s on or off, desperately yearning or making out licky-style or hurt and betrayed or making sci-fi lesbian babies, that I really want to see who she is without Robin in the picture. ‘Cause I think that that Leslie’s probably awesome too. (What we’ve seen of her here (not enough!) tends to confirm that.)
If you want to pass a class, I thought banging your TA was standard operating procedure (SEE ALSO: Sal, Jason). I’m not familiar with the “bribe with siblings” gambit.
Or it could be a universal constant….like Uncle Ben being dead, or the Wayne family will never be whole….or Musashi dying. Musashi…no matter which version you are in, you’ll always be Getter pilot number 3 and you’ll always go out fighting.
Bleh. Why do people want Robin and Leslie together? This comic is a chance for NEW ideas. Not just a rehash of pairings and friendships we’ve been privy to for -years- on Shortpacked.
1. They’re adorable together.
2. Both of them are different people and in different places, so it will play out differently.
3. They’re adults in a college setting, and so their relationship will probably not be a main storyline as it was on SP!. That means the types of romance we’ll see between them will be different as well.
4. It may be the same pairing, but it will not be a rehash. Therefore, I am interested.
It’s not entirely new. Every character has retained their overall personality from their original incarnation. And at least 50% of leslie’s original character is being head over heels over Robin, love at first sight.
I love that they both understand each other perfectly, to the point where Roz can just jump into saying something that could be misinterpreted as wildly inappropriate out of context.
I really can’t even think of doing this to one of lesbian Women Studies profs. *shakes head* Like seriously? Isn’t it kinda straight up rude to ask that? I think you have mistaken the kind of professional relationships people have in uni Willis…
It’s still really cringe worthy to me, I couldn’t even imagine myself or any of my queer friends telling me to show some cleavage to try and get with a woman. It’s way more complicated and anxiety ridden than that. :S In my experience.
I have a feeling that Robin/Leslie won’t happen.
I mean we’ve gotten a lot (and are getting more of) Robin/Leslie in Shortpacked!. Also this incarnation of Robin seems to be more stable and set in her ways, in addition to being a Republican politician. We’re dealing with a whole new Robin here.
… and apparently I need to find a Leslie avatar, sign up for Gravatar, and upload it. Not that I dislike Sarah; I just find it disconcerting to see her picture when I’ve gone and used Leslie’s name for my first post.
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“what if I rip my shirt open”
“who are you, Hulk Hogan? And yes that might work in your favor.”
OK…I got a mental image of Leslie in 80′ Hulk Hogan gear….though we could try Leslie in Brutus Beefcake gear.
I can’t really see Leslie as a pro wrestling fan…even if they DO show it on the SciFi channel now.
…(I’m not calling it Syfy. I’ll die first).
Yeah, what kind of moron calls it the Syfy channel? Sounds a like a damn venereal disease.
I call it SyFy. It’s certainly not any kind of Science Fiction I want to watch.
Why is it called “SyFy”? There are no Ys in Science Fiction. Why don’t call it SciFi?
Because “sci-fi” can’t be trademarked.
Still looks ridiculous.
The name of the SyFy channel (formerly the SciFi channel) and the sort of “science fiction” they typically are known for showing, is kind-of the reason why serious science fiction these days is known as SF, to distance themselves from silly lowest-common-denominator “sci-fi”. 😛
I dunno, you saw they trademarked “candy” and “epic” for things that aren’t really either? =p
You know, I think they actually kept the original names in some countries because “syfy” was a venereal disease…
Not even that. In polish it’s just informal word for pimples. The name made me laugh so much.
And now you’ve made me laugh. It’s a damned circle of friggin’ laughter.
Wow. That is probably the most apt description of the Syfy channel I’ve ever seen. It is truly a pimple on the face of science fiction.
Except for Defiance. That there is a good show.
More like you’ll watch pro-wrestling on it first.
There is no SciFi channel anymore. I won’t even pronounce it like “Sci-Fi” anymore, what with all the stupid stuff they have on there now. It will forevermore be pronounced “sifee” (rhymes with iffy).
“…(I’m not calling it Syfy. I’ll die first).”
Only sifies call if SyFy.
“WHAT YOU GONNA DO, WHEN MY …..
crap how big is Leslie’s bust? I don’t wanna sound like a noob.
Walkyverse Leslie, at least, is a C-cup.
Hmm….since it’s possible that somethings remain constant even in alternate universes….the same here, I guess.
“WHAT YOU GONNA DO ROBIN, WHEN THIS C-CUP CLEAVAGE RUNS WILD ON YOU!!??”
As a pro wrestling fan, this made me giggle like a schoolgirl.
Hulk Hogan might actually be a C-cup.
I’m probably only thinking about this because I watched Hercules yesterday. Zeus has some truly excellent man-boobs.
so it’s Galasso who does your mom for a nickel!
Considering Brutus’s real last name IS Leslie, there IS a connection.
IS
Roz wants Moar Boobies!
Roz speaks for us all.
So say we all.
Roz: Your Local Fanservice Provider.
Does she allow bundling? I’d like to know if I can save by getting Sal and Amber fanservice.
How about just Amber fanservice…Sal is already a walking fanservice.
Sal is too cool to walk.
She rides.
So, Sal’s a riding fanservice then.
I’m pretty sure riding Sal is a completely different fan service.
Thanks for going there and saving me the trip!
I would like a Billie-Amber Premium Package.
Wait, there’s a premium?
I think it’s called Slipshine.
Opus the Poet: “Roz wants Moar Boobies!”
Honest Trailer: Game of Throne on YT
There is no willpower on earth that could resist that 4th panel.
Mike possibly?
Me..then again, lack of human contact tend to dull the senses.
I think Leslie may be trying to out Moe Dina.
What she doesn’t realize is I’m Yotomore moe than all of them.
You could almost say you’re…
*sunglasses*
Yotomoe.
Huh? Thought I just heard a high pitched scream.
Them good ‘ol student-teacher boundaries.
Robin is not a student, so technically, this is perfectly fine.
Leslie posing as Mr. Burns? Excellent.
Leslie’s really more of a Smithers.
So she has a collection of Barbie-knockoffs at home then?
Is it possible to have over 100% cleavage?
If you include butt cleavage then yes, yes it is possible.
That’s called being topless. And squeezing.
“Christina Hendricks” is also an acceptable answer.
She has a condition.
I don’t know who she is…so I looked her up. Let’s just say….I know now why heroes want redheads.
She has large boobs.
Being serious for a moment though: She should probably get a breast reduction, as that much forward weight can cause back problems. It is a legitimate concern that isn’t often discussed.
http://www.webmd.com/beauty/breast-reduction/is-breast-reduction-right-for-you
YES! MULTIVERSAL ROBINxLES! THE WALKIVERSE DIES BUT THE ROMANCE LIVES ON!
So there will be Leslie fanservice coming up?
OH MY INDEED!
It’s not like we haven’t seen her naked or nuthin.
Nope.
Of course you do, Leslie.
Of course you do.
Don’t we all have that “In case I meet a hot person and want to look sexy” outfit?
Mine is an extra-clean t-shirt and slacks.
I’m not good at dressing.
Does ana red terry-toweling moomoo count?
Depend on who you are trying to impress.
Who wouldn’t be impressed by a terry-toweling moomoo, it’s terry-toweling for goodness sakes, you cannot get much sexier than that!
Real talk, I’m having the worst time finding this on the Google Machine.
Try Goodling “terrycloth robe”
Found it thanks.
And you have a point. Hard to not be attracted to someone wearing that.
I hurt my brain trying to imagine a terry-towel wearing bovine.
I don’t. I just look like a mess everyday.
I’m in IT, so I basically dress like a flood victim.
What kind of flash victim? Flash flood? Mud flood?
Is there such a thing as a marinara flood? There’s usually at least one food stain on my shirt.
Oh, you mean “the fast food lunch rush mayhem” look?
With a hint of “Maybe people will mistake this for blood and think I’m a psycho killer, so no one will bother me today.”
Ah, the Fast Food Lunch Rush Mayhem crossed with “This is not what it looks like” look
That’s my One Piece t-shirt. Because if they ain’t down with the straw hats, then they are a sexual non-entity in my eyes.
Angry Badass luffy approves this message.
TRUTH!
Theory: The one-piece in One Piece is in fact an actual one-piece swimsuit.
I do, but it’s indistinguishable from all my other blue jeans-and blue logoless short-sleeved collared three-button t-shirt ensembles.
*squeeeeeeee*
Wait, what exactly is Roz getting out of this? Taking conservatism down a peg?
If the press has a field day over Robin getting involved with a lesbian, then Roz doesn’t get any more lectures about her extracurricular activities.
She gets to see more cleavage, isn’t that enough?
Something like that. Robin is running on a conservative platform. So if she gets caught in a lesbian relationship, it’ll seriously affect her campaign, to the point where she doesn’t really have a chance of winning. Roz wins because
A. That’s one less conservative politician in a seat of power.
B. With her sister’s political career over, she no longer has to worry about how her image affects her sister’s job, and can go about doing as she pleases, campaigning for sexual liberation… stuff…. as loudly as she wants without getting yelled at (as much)
C. There’s clearly some sort of power dynamic… sister…complex… thing going on here and Roz is almost certainly interested in flipping that on its head.
This is actually some Mike-level scheming here. Or at least Blaine-level. I’m kind of impressed.
That’s not Mike-level, it only works if Robin does get involved. Mikes schemes have every endpoint with you being wrong and him getting what he wants.
Dont forget that it also somehow improves your life. Ie. Dorothy and walky
Or maybe it doesn’t. Ie. Ethan and Joyce.
(It annoys me when people try to paint Mike as a saint. It’s like making a vampire sparkly.)
Oh yeah I remember now, Roz’s sexual shenanigans could be disastrous for Robin’s traditional family-based campaign. Steering Robin to the other side would render Roz’s further actions as less of a negative influence on her (well, except for outing her sister to the voting public, that’s a no-no, Roz).
The problem with this as a political scheme is that this is southern Indiana. If Robin gets with Leslie, that doesn’t mean that liberal lesbian enlightenment will dawn over her congressional district. It means that Robin’s political career is over and she gets primaried out by someone who isn’t just paying lip service to reactionary ideals, likely a teabagger, who goes on to win the general election because this is southern Indiana, and the white dude Leslie voted for never had a chance ’cause of the D after his name. This is really not a step in the left direction.
Totally get it now. I didn’t think Roz’s plan was going to take off anyway. Heck, she likely wants Robin out of politics completely.
It’s also worth considering that Roz might not be as good a master planner as she thinks.
Indiana’s 9th district was represented by a white dude with a D after his name from 2007 to 2010, and from 1999 to 2004.
That’s so underhanded and…sadistic.
Well, in The Other Universe, she DOES find Leslie attractive, though the feeling isn’t mutual.
I really like Leslie, but I really don’t like Roz, despite the avatar I was given. Robin, on the other hand…
You could always pick a new avatar.
Or be lazy like me and just go with it. My avatar’s been stuck as this blue box thingie for years, so eventually I gave up on trying to fix it and just started telling people I like it that way.
I remembered that for a while it looked like a pipe-organ.
I hope you’re forced to have that Roz avatar forever.
Are you able to make that happen?
The Willis works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
Willis may have awesome powers, but I don’t think they extend to influencing the avatars.
Given that he’s the one who decides how many default gravatars there are and who they are, his powers totally do extend that far. (Unless Vile Gamer registers his own custom gravatar, of course.) And given that Vile Gamer has Roz already, the obvious easiest method to stick him with her forever would be to simply not change the default gravs ever again. But it should be possible to manipulate the number or order of them to give him her even after changing the selection. Probably more hassle than it’s worth, but not impossible.
Leslie is the awesomest. I’m hoping that the imminent doom of Shortpacked! means that we’ll be getting more Leslie over here.
… Hey, if I say I don’t like Billie, can I be forced to have the Billie avatar forever? I’ve gotten kind of attached to her after getting her in the last two reshuffles and over on BBR too. … um I mean I hate Billie she’s the worst.
You have disgraced the Roz avatar.
Leslie, have some decency! You’re a professor, you have a PhD!
Clearly you had a different breed of professor than me if you think a PhD implies decency.
Having worked with lots of ‘Bots who had the equivalent of a “PhD” (we don’t call them that on Cybertron) back on Kimia, I can quite clearly and unequivocally state that being a professor does not require decency, modesty, or sanity. Thankfully Cybertronians do not wear clothes, because I have a feeling Perceptor would forget to put his pants on on a daily basis. (And don’t get me started on a certain someone and his briefcase!)
Of course I’m hardly one to talk. I’m a metallurgist by training, but I spend most of my time running off on quests, mixing drinks or talking about all the quests I’ve run off on.
A PhD in Fashion and Textiles perhaps?
A PHD in cleavage.
Ph-DAYUMN! Lookatdemtitties!
PhDEEZ
NUTSTITSHuh. A tie is a good look on Roz, especially when she’s in a thinking pose.
Heh, I must admit I am one of those who thinks a tie looks good on any woman.
So do I. Then again ties can work with anyone. Well, except maybe kids…because they know ties are actually serpent like creatures.
Well if you include bow ties those can be just adorable on kids and wel all know kids take better to butterflies that to snakes.
Well, bowties are always cool.
Oh, wholly agree. I always default to a bow tie over a regular one when I get the chance.
o no my bowtie
Somehow I read “blowflies” are always cool. What’s cool about a blowfly?
Idiot moment. Shared for everyone’s amusement.
And the Fez. The Fez is cool.
Ties are strangulation devices that I will not allow around my neck.
This man speaks the truth so that others may not suffer! Heed his warnings and rid yourself of the accursed murder collars!
Looks like a Windsor knot no less.
I can’t imagine a situation in which saying that to a professor is a good idea. Except for this one, I guess.
“Hey professor, I wanted to talk to you about my paper due next week. By the way, you should show more cleavage in class.”
I could imagine Joe saying that.
“Y’know. I was wondering how I could get students to pay more attention! Thank you”
What happened to your grav Yotomoe?
Shhh! That’s not the Real yotomoe. He capitalized the “y” and used a different e-mail addy. That’s how you can tell him from the Real guy.
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH LESLIE YOU’RE SO CUTE
Roz: Do they hug your curves, though?
Something just came to me off of a comment I left the other day, how many lesbian characters does Willis have in DoA?
Let’s see…Daisy, Leslie….Billie’s bisexual…Ruth, maybe bi but who knows..more than 2 I guess?
And we might be getting more not that I’m complaining.
College is a time of ‘experimentation’… Though hopefully if more gay characters are introduced, we get a few more males, of which aren’t automatically mandated to fall into the “Ethan’s boyfriend” role, if that character ever decides to stop trying to force himself into a ‘normal’ lifestyle with Joyce.
Two to my recollection. Maybe three as I don’t recall if Robin is exclusively attracted to women. I’m probably forgetting someone though.
Well, Leslie and Daisy are actual lesbians. Billie and Ruth are more the “straight with an exception” type, I think. Then there’s Mandy and Grace, who we don’t really know about, but Billie implied they might just be trying it out because sooner or later you get “curious”.
Didn’t Ruth want to watch a womens beach bolly ball tournament the first time she hanged out with Billie?
Ruth has made no indication of liking dudes. At all. If that’s ‘straight with an exception’ then pretty much every lesbian who does not make a huge show of wanting to castrate all men is straight, I guess, myself included.
Billie is not ‘straight with an exception’, given the moves she made while drunk on Sal and her stated “…everyone’s gay kinda?” that Willis basically point blank stated is her not-so-objective viewpoint colored by her sexuality. She’s certainly not a lesbian, because she, unlike Ruth, has repeatedly demonstrated interest in dudes, ofc, but that doesn’t make her ‘straight with an exception.’ The evidence indicates it means she leans towards dudes but considers women perfectly hot as well.
It’s not frickin’ hard, seriously. Just because I like my ships doesn’t mean I don’t know the canon; why don’t you?
Ruth implies in this strip that Billie is how she discovered she liked girls, so unless she was completely asexual before (unlikely, I believe Willis mentioned on tumblr at least once that neither Ruth or Billie is exclusively into girls) then Billie seems to be her “exception”.
It’s still not necessarily “with an exception”. I know a lot of people who identify as GLBT who showed a lot of interest in heteronormative relations in junior high and high school, but as they grew older developed a greater sense of understanding of their own sexuality.
I myself identify as bisexual but I never really expressed interest in women until I was almost done with college. (I actually did have a crush on a friend in Jr. high but I was so naive it wasn’t until years later that I realized that those feelings were a crush and not just really, really liking my friend).
So, at this point, without Willis doing word of god, I don’t think we can say definitively whether a lot of the characters are actually straight, GLBT, straight with exception, etc. They’re all in a highly transitional space so we don’t know yet which behaviors are manifestation of their true sexualities coming out, if they’re experimenting, if they’re confused, etc.
Ruth saying she discovered she was into girls thanks to Billie is, in fact, more evidence that she was asexual with an exception without, yanno, a dude she was attracted to. It’s not even really that, just moreso than ‘straight’. If Willis said that, it is STILL not indication of being straight with an exception, because again, that only means she did not realize she could be into women until Billie. It could EASILY mean that Billie helped her put other feelings for women into perspective, also, not that the only woman she was ever attracted to was Billie.
You keep using this “exception” word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
Yeah, in hindsight it was a bad way of putting it.
Potentially… ALL OF THEM
On the flipside, gay characters are limited to Ethan, and… possibly Mike in the bit category. Who knows if Manny or Drew will show up.
Would be interesting to see if Ethan actually shacks up with a guy. Maybe someone from the Shortpacked! universe who hasn’t had a displayed orientation yet? Arnold?
I’m going with a crack ship of Ethan and Dumbiverse!Duncan.
Drew is bi anyway, as is Mike (assuming he’s not just straight here).
Mike is whatever he wants to be…that’s who he is, constantly screwing around with people…literally and figuratively.
Ruth, Leslie, Daisy, the Greek Chorus (I forget their names).
I can’t think of a single gal I prefer straight except Dotty I guess, but them’s the ones what have not indicated interest in men and are banging women (…or trying to, especially in Daisy’s case)
Who’s the outfit for? Robin or Roz?
I hope its Robin. Roz would be creepy.
You know. If you think about it, Leslie could use it as a chance to discuss the systematic brainwashing that denegrades the breasts to a “Private Part” due to the large scale of breast fetishism which is now perpetuated by a amodern society that has deemed such aphrodesiacs creating a self-fullfilling profecy that we, at a young age are subconsciousely told that boobs are something to be craved sexually and that to expose ones breast is shameful while for a man to expose his breast is not despite the fact that on humans (and humans only for that matter) men are also born with nipples and so the only difference betweeen a female breast and a male breast is the large amount of fat around the nipple. Which is wierd in itself because on telivision you can show as much cleavage as you want as long as you don’t expose the nipple, but the nipple is the part that everyone has.
I have to admit that I was happy when I saw many comments on a CBC article complaining about the fact that they had blurred out the chests on a photo of a topless female protester being arrested. Especially silly as it is legal for women to be topless anywhere men are in Canada.
Were they complaining because of ludicrous censorship or because they wanted to drool over the topless bit?
Yes
The ones I saw were complaining about the ludicrous censorship, even pointing to the legality of it. Amusingly enough the second type of complaint only ever seems to only pop up when it is an article about the legality of women being topless.
No one said sexualization makes any goddamn sense. The whole taboo factor just makes it worse too. But its almost impossible to deprogram this kind of thing, especially in puritanical countries like the US that are so afraid of sex yet so obsessed with it you end up with schizophrenic bullshit like that.
Ok, but why does a Gender Studies professor have a crush on a socially conservative (and very heterosexual presenting) politician??? She seems rather un-conflicted about it.
Seriously. If Robin is pandering to homophobic voters, she’s definitely not public about liking women. What is it about this straight (as far as Leslie knows), homophobic, socially conservative woman she’s exchanged 10 words with that she likes?
I just find this whole storyline vaguely creepy (especially Leslie essentially telling a student to bring their hot sibling to class).
Ditto. Why would Leslie think Robin would be interested?
Their relationship ALLWAYS was a bit creepy in Shortpacked too, what with Leslie following Robin around like a puppy in vague hope Robin would actually take theri relationship to the next level. Also she took all kinds of crap from her. It was only recently that their relationship got more balanced.
What we could be seeing here is Willis setting up torpedoing of another another canonical pairing and popular shipping.
I think its more of an “She’s my Ex” thing.
The heart wants what it wants.
Pretty much, yeah. She miiiight be buying into Roz’s stated idea that Robin can be converted, but even that seems like it’s rationalizing a bit. This would be a neck-and-neck race between adorable and pathetic if not for one thing: the spark between them definitely seems mutual. (No way would Roz be scheming like that if it didn’t.)
It’ll REALLY seem mutual if Robin agrees to come back and guest-speak in a venue with maybe 20 college kids whom she’s already spoken to. Kind of hard to justify that as an effective use of pre-election shmoozing hours. But despite her useful contact, Leslie has limited options here. She can’t exactly charge into Robin’s office and start debating legislation with her, and while she could “meet” her again at some open-air campaign event, she’d have to compete for attention with the entire voting public. Here in the classroom probably is her best possible chance to have a quick one-on-one conversation with Robin that might lead to other things. It’s the one place she is a figure of some authority.
Or at least she is so far. She barely got through her last encounter with Robin with most of her dignity intact, and it’s just possible that any future meetings might take her carefully-cultivated reputation with her students as a “wise young-old sage” and tear it completely to shreds. It is also just possible that at some point she might look back on that catastrophic loss of dignity and say “You know what? Totally worth it.”
And it wants to assist in the transport of oxygen and nutrients through a never ending stream of blood vessels.
Sometimes you have crushes on weird people and you don’t even really care about anything else. It happens and its not weird.
IT’S HAPPENING
Willis heard my tumblr cries and they are joyously answered
Now my Robslie tears may continue for many years to come
I confuse easily I know, but I have been following these guys for the past 5 or so years: read all the back issues to get on the same page as current.
And trying to remember which character did what where when and in what universe without mentioning a no-no and pissing off DW sometimes gets a bit hard to do.
But……I KNOW..I think I know…that Senator Robin has already visited Leslie’s Gender studies class? But Leslie doesn’t seem to remember that?
And this is the only universe Leslie is a Proff in, I think?
Brain explosion imminent. Oh well, I’ll find out in due time.
Congresswoman Robin DeSanto has visited Leslie’s Gender Studies class, yes. I doubt Leslie has forgotten that. (To judge by that blush, she’s probably remembered it over and over again in private.) I think she wants Robin to come back and talk about all that inspiring shit Leslie admires her for and y’know maybe a little dinner together afterwards… instead of just sweeping in to lecture little sis about her sex tape.
leslie’s always prepared.
Everyone hoping for Robin and Leslie to get together in this universe, I completely understand and am rooting for it alongside you, but I honestly don’t think it’s going to go that way. Or, at least, not for a long time. I don’t know how long it took their Shortpacked selves to get together, but I think that Robin’s political career in this universe is going to make this road much, much harder. Also, isn’t this setup just a bit too convenient? Don’t you think Willis is making it look this easy just to pull the rug out from under us?
KEPE HOEP.
I’m a big fan of Robin/Leslie in Shortpacked!, but I actually hope they don’t get it together in this universe. For all the character development Leslie’s gotten in Shortpacked! (even a name!… albeit kind of a dumb pun of a name), at the core she’s still Robin’s Lesbian, so shaped and defined by and around Robin and her relationship with Robin, whether it’s on or off, desperately yearning or making out licky-style or hurt and betrayed or making sci-fi lesbian babies, that I really want to see who she is without Robin in the picture. ‘Cause I think that that Leslie’s probably awesome too. (What we’ve seen of her here (not enough!) tends to confirm that.)
If you want to pass a class, I thought banging your TA was standard operating procedure (SEE ALSO: Sal, Jason). I’m not familiar with the “bribe with siblings” gambit.
Leslie gotta les.
Hey, who panders to the homophobic white dudes except everyone ever? Its an ignored, mariginalized demographic, sort of not at all.
Ah, an attraction that transcends universes.
Or it could be a universal constant….like Uncle Ben being dead, or the Wayne family will never be whole….or Musashi dying. Musashi…no matter which version you are in, you’ll always be Getter pilot number 3 and you’ll always go out fighting.
Is this comic happening in the past, or is Leslie trying to get Robin to visit again?
She wants her to visit again. Remember, her first visit was unannounced because Robin wanted to deal with her promiscuous sister.
Bleh. Why do people want Robin and Leslie together? This comic is a chance for NEW ideas. Not just a rehash of pairings and friendships we’ve been privy to for -years- on Shortpacked.
1. They’re adorable together.
2. Both of them are different people and in different places, so it will play out differently.
3. They’re adults in a college setting, and so their relationship will probably not be a main storyline as it was on SP!. That means the types of romance we’ll see between them will be different as well.
4. It may be the same pairing, but it will not be a rehash. Therefore, I am interested.
It’s not entirely new. Every character has retained their overall personality from their original incarnation. And at least 50% of leslie’s original character is being head over heels over Robin, love at first sight.
I love that they both understand each other perfectly, to the point where Roz can just jump into saying something that could be misinterpreted as wildly inappropriate out of context.
I really can’t even think of doing this to one of lesbian Women Studies profs. *shakes head* Like seriously? Isn’t it kinda straight up rude to ask that? I think you have mistaken the kind of professional relationships people have in uni Willis…
You remember they’ve discussed hooking Leslie up with Robin before, right?
It’s still really cringe worthy to me, I couldn’t even imagine myself or any of my queer friends telling me to show some cleavage to try and get with a woman. It’s way more complicated and anxiety ridden than that. :S In my experience.
I GOT THROUGH THE WHOLE COMIC IN ONE SITTING I AM FUCKING PRO
I have a feeling that Robin/Leslie won’t happen.
I mean we’ve gotten a lot (and are getting more of) Robin/Leslie in Shortpacked!. Also this incarnation of Robin seems to be more stable and set in her ways, in addition to being a Republican politician. We’re dealing with a whole new Robin here.
Is it wrong I don’t support Leslie and Robin because I want to see new pairings? Get Leslie with someone different!
… I know I should be cheering for a new paring…
… but…
**SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!**
… and apparently I need to find a Leslie avatar, sign up for Gravatar, and upload it. Not that I dislike Sarah; I just find it disconcerting to see her picture when I’ve gone and used Leslie’s name for my first post.
So… is the extra cleavage for Robin or Roz? Or both?