Meet the Trunchbulls.
When I worked at a cable company tech support center, I had a customer once who, when I called him Mister Jones (not his real name, don't even remember the real name) he got severely indignant and demanded I call him Doctor Jones. It always struck me as a really egotistical and conceited thing to do to a complete stranger. That experience is a small part of where Professor Trunchbull comes from.
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*Grabs popcorn*
This’s gonna be good!
Yep.
I wish the person you had been on the phone with was mister Jones because then you could do the rest of the call sounding like short-round.
Oh. Oh dear.
Suddenly I have “duck and cover” stuck in my head.
I can’t imagine why.
It is about to get real.
Terah’s got the popcorn, I’ll go heat up some sake.
Oh dear.
The fecal matter is surely about to hit the rotating blades.
Excrement + extractor = excitement!
Or rather, *puts on GLaDOS voice* Solid Waste Collision With Rotational Air Circulators Is Imminent.
Oh, crap.
Truck’s father is a shoot-out of Gendou “worst-father-ever” Ikari?!!!
No wonder why the kid has issues…
The resemblance is unintentional but I did notice it while drawing him and did nothing to stop myself. XD
Assuming you mean “shout-out”, I totally agree LOL.
Gendou Ikari isn’t the worst father ever. Technically, according to the mythos of his universe, he (usually) did the right thing.
Now if Gendou had been wrong about the nature of the NGE universe and all the pseudo-Gnostic mystical evolutionist version of Shintoism nonsense that the creators of the series had made up as they went along, he would be an asshole. But give the guy some credit: when everyone’s a tiny piece of “God” and you’re not just one of the very few pieces who realize it, but you personally have the best understanding of a plan to put all the pieces back together (even more so than your arrogant bosses), that justifies some very asshole-like behavior.
Plus, if you take away the Human Instrumentality thing, and the clones, and all the mystical sci fi stuff and just look at his relationship with his family, Gendou’s attitude isn’t as bad as some people I know in real life. At least he’s involving his son in his work instead of tossing him aside. At least he still cares for Rei (in a seriously twisted way, but again that’s at least partly because she’s directly tied to the twisted-up mythos). At least he actually cares about understanding the truth of the world rather than believing what is convenient for him. At least he is concerned about doing what is morally right according to that truth. At least he is willing to try and fix familial problems he causes instead of trying to abandon responsibility. At least he is involving his son in his work. At least he is trying to make his son a stronger and more capable person instead of seeing him as just another disposable pawn.
Nope, Gendou Ikari is most certainly not the worst father ever.
Oh, I said “At least he is involving his son in his work.” twice. What I meant was both that he was involving his son in his work in a mundane way, as regular fathers do, and also despite the fact that his work is the most important thing happening in that universe (according to the screwed-up mythos), he still values his son enough to involve him, so he actually cares for Shinji about as much as “saving” the world.
Yeah, the Worst Anime Father Ever position probably has to go to our good friend Shou Tucker from Fullmetal Alchemist.
Seconded!
I still remember the first time I watched Fullmetal Alchemist (the first series) and got to…. THAT scene. I think “bone-deep horror” is a pretty good descriptor. Wasn’t as powerful in Brotherhood to me, maybe because I knew it was coming or maybe because the first few episodes of Brotherhood feel… rushed to me, like they were powering through the content the first series already covered as quickly as possible.
….Still have only seen like half of Brotherhood, mind you. XD
You know. I’ve watched some horrible animes. Characters that in real life would have been executed in public in France for crimes against humanity. And I always watched with a detached sort of enjoyment because it’s just a show. When I saw that scene with Shou Tucker, I wanted more than anything for him to walk out of the screen so I could destroy him with my bare hands. A very very difficult thing to witness.
FINISH THE SERIES, so help me I’ll lend you the DVD’s myself.
It was almost certainly earlier than in the original anime, because it’s set really early in the manga (the first couple chapters of Volume 2, I want to say,) and I think they set it later in the 2003 one. Haven’t seen enough of either to be able to compare off the top of my head, but when I read it… yeah.
Oh gods… I get sad just thinking back to that episode 🙁
NEGATIVE!
Worst anime parrents are Hayate’s pair, who are both nameless, and sold him to the Yakuza.
……Oh snap!…..
I see Selkie’s suspension being revoked, and Selkie being unhappy because of it. :p
Don’t worry. Everything’s probably black-and-white to the Trunchbulls.
Nah, Dave says he’ll color it later.
Should I explain my joke, or just let it stand?
Oh, crap. He’s designing their house isn’t he? This is going to become all kinds of trouble.
Gosh, you mean you didn’t want your bathroom to be in the middle of your bedroom? But there’s a wall around it and everything…
Very Gendo Ikari. Yeesh.
And that “better not”, while I wish it could simply have been a responsible parenting response of “he’ll be in trouble”, coupled with the actions and words of Truck, makes me cringe at the thought of what kind of punishment the doctor has in mind.
Have fun denying it with Selkie shaken, coughing, and probably with bruises where he grabbed her, honestly. I’ve had that done to me, and the upper parts of my arms where I was grabbed and shaken were purple.
“Mr. Trunchbull, you have two seconds to avoid the massive firestorm that will erupt when Selkie or Todd blurts out just what exactly was going on here.” “PROFESSOR Trunchbull!” “Sorry, Mr. Trunchbull, your time is up.” FWACKOOM
Todd: Oh not to worry Professor, Tommy most assuredly did NOT “hit a girl.”
Professor Trunchbull: Oh, that’s good to hear.
Todd: Yeah all he did was hold her in the air like a ragdoll and shake her to the point of passing out while yelling at her to stop calling for help.
Professor Thunchbull: . . . He. Did. WHAT?!?!
We can only hope.
This. Oh yes, this.
Please yes!
DRAMATIC FINAL PANEL! Well, if that’s his attitude things may work out. If he’s convinced that his son attacked Selkie, his son will probably not be doing that ever again.
I’m thinking two things here.
1. The Trunchbulls are the type of parents who have a kid who “never” does anything wrong, at least in front of them. The perfect little angel when parents are around, but a rotten little hellion when they’re not.
Or, it’s a case of “you won’t do anything wrong while we’re around..if you know what’s good for you…”
PROFESSOR STRANGE, WHEN DID YOU GROW HAIR?
In case anyone doesn’t get why I said that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HBvtwjTzJI
I -immediately- used this voice on the character. It FITS.
I have to do the opposite; I’m a grad student and I teach a course, so my students often call me “Professor” or “Dr. Geiger”, and I have to correct them (I haven’t earned my Ph.D. yet).
You should keep a tally of each time this happens. You can call this list your… Geiger counter.
I think I’m supposed to like him a little more now… like, Truck might be getting it worse, or Selkie’s punishment might be unwarranted, or something…
But now he’s sexist, or genderist (hard to tell which, I don’t know how much he knows), and it’s… *sigh*
Hmmmm… Yes… “He had BETTER not have hit a girl.” So far, so good: definitely able to accept the remote possibility of their offspring possibly doing wrong.
But I’ve seen this before. That purely rational theoretical possibility might not ever actually happen. Because if you collapse the quantum waveform by putting their kid in front of them, who is crying about a mean little creepy girl kicking him in the junk for no reason; this won’t be that possible time. Let’s not forget: this is what Truck actually thinks. Just because he’s not telling the objective truth, that doesn’t mean he’s lying. In fact, Truck probably won’t even try to deceive them! They probably can tell when he’s trying to deceive them, so he’ll tell them exactly what he thinks happened! And because he’s not lying, they’re going to take his side.
That mythical, fantastical time when their offspring might do wrong because, after all no one is perfect, will never ever actually come. Because while the possibility may exist that it is not the other person’s fault, that, obviously not the case in this instance. After all their son is not trying to deceive them: therefore the other kid must be lying.
I know this all too well.
“This is what Truck actually thinks. Just because he’s not telling the objective truth, that doesn’t mean he’s lying.”
It does, actually. If he doesn’t understand the objective form of it, he’s delusional, and delusions are falsehoods that mislead, thus speaking to delusions is, in fact, lying, though he might not be doing it intentionally…
Yes, yes, semantics and the like, but still relevant.
It’s useful to restrict the use of the word ‘lying’ to cases of conscious and intentional untruthfulness. If you don’t apply that limitation, it becomes absurd to think that there’s anything morally wrong about lying.
Also, it’s rather extreme to call anyone who is ever mistaken about a question of fact delusional. You can’t label an error a delusion unless the person is irrationally clinging to a mistaken belief in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Truck may indeed turn out to be delusional, but we don’t have any proof so far that he is — only that in a stress situation he is really slow to process new information that doesn’t fit with his existing perceptions. I initially thought that might be because he wasn’t very smart, and that could still turn out to be the explanation. However, now that we’ve seen his parents, it may be that he has been given very little opportunity — or incentive — to learn that skill. His mother, now, is definitely delusional: she thinks her Tommy could never do anything wrong. It sounds like his father is excessively punitive, which only teaches a child that you must never, ever, admit even to yourself that you could have been in the wrong.
Hmmm… could “Professor” Trunchbull be a twisted ‘Steve Zissou/Dr Hugo Strange’ type marine biologist with a penchant for vivisection!?!
Probably not; but you never can tell… after all the story does have Hobbitses…
Tune in next week, Same Fish Time, Same Fish Channel.
First Asuka and Shinji, now Gendo.
Says Rei. ;P
Hmmm – it could only get more coincidental if the “Professor’s” specialty field happened to be Selkie’s species, and as the story unfolds he asks her what the heck she was doing out in the snow in the first place. In her native language. XD It should make Todd’s architectural review with his clients interesting.
Actually, if panels 8 and 9 are any indication, it seems it’s more likely that it’s the mother’s fault that Truck is the way he is, rather than the father’s.
If I were Todd, I’d probably say to myself “I’ve had enough drama for one day” and make a quick exit.
I’m going to bet it’s both. Mommy’s Little Darling never does anything wrong… but if he does, Stern Father Dearest completely loses his cool and overreacts to the point where nothing in the area is left standing (including people who Didn’t Stop The Boy In His Folly), and Mommy Squishyhugs doubles down on making sure that Mommy’s Little Darling NEVER DOES ANYTHING WRONG, EVER, YOU MUST HAVE HAD SOMETHING IN YOUR EYES YOU NEVER SAW IT IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.
Interesting…. Todd has a tough dilemma…. Does he…
1- inform the parents that YES, their son attacked a girl, HIS daughter
or
2- protect Truck from the fairly obvious consequences (and violent) of his father finding out what he did…..
Although technically he didn’t HIT her….
Anyone who says the mom is in the wrong here is ridiculous. Yeah sure, she may think her little darling can do no wrong, but would YOU? Seriously, would any of you think your precious little angel would be capable? Half of you would insist it was the school being unjust and the rest of you would assume it was your child who was in the right and the other child in the wrong.
So don’t pass judgement on a parent when you yourself would hardly act any different.
This.
So I can pass judgement? When my little one does something wrong, anything wrong my technique is to sit down, calm her down and then after she can speak reasonably, have her tell me what’s wrong. Then I tell her what she did wrong and ask her what she plans on doing to make it right. Then make her follow through with it. And if she’s innocent, I tell her what was so wrong that happened to her and that we should make sure she never does it.
^^^ THIS.
When you react like this and the other parents are jumping around screaming that their child could never ever do something bad, it makes impossible to actually fix the problem!
The kids (and sometimes the teachers) just hear that one kid is being defended by their parents and one isn’t. Jumping to the defensive or jumping to conclusions just makes the problem worse. I’m hoping that because Prof. Trunchbull is allowing for the possibility that his son screwed up, maybe Mrs. Trunchbull will pull herself together soon.
Any parent who remembers being a kid themselves should know for a FACT that their “little darling” can indeed do something wrong.
I wonder how this will continue to impact Todd.
it seems as if all the parents of Selkie’s bullies,
already know Todd one way or another.
Amanda – actually Todd’s biological daughter, Andrea her biological Mother is trying to find her again.
Heather – Adopted by Todd’s coworker
Tommy – Trunchbull’s Acquaintances of Todd.
Just a quick general reminder, Todd already knows the Trunchbulls from PTA meetings, and he mentioned to Mina earlier that he ran into them at the grocery store off-camera.
I feel that by insisting people call him “Professor” Trunchbull, Mr. Trunchbull is probably clinging to a sense of entitlement that he feels gives him the respect and renown he felt he deserved for so long, probably something he never received from his family or from others he sought it from. In turn he’s setting these ridiculous standards and rules for his son, and in that turn Tommy’s setting these same standards for those he considers below him so that he may also feel some form of power and not feel entirely helpless in life. It’s all just a big probability, some guessing and whatnot, but if that’s how it is then it’s just a sad, sad cycle that needs breaking.
I worked at a call center taking orders for products and one of our clients was a Doctor with a serious arrogance problem. He didn’t just expect people to call him Doctor, he instructed them in the inflections they were to take when addressing him. Yes, he told people what tone of voice they were to address him in.
On my last day he called in and started lecturing me. I just quacked at the end of every sentence at him.
You, sir, are amazing. XD
Ha!
It gets better. Last I checked, he lost his license to practice medicine. So he’s a Doctor in title only! Yay karma!
Quack indeed.
I just re-read the book Matilda and laughed when I saw the name Trunchbull XD
Me too!
a someone who you refer to as mr Jones but wanted to be refered to as DOCTOR Jones….yeah I know the name was made up but…for petes sake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmTaXHB6yyk
Boy hits another boy – oh, it’s just roughhousing. Don’t be such a sissy about it.
Boy hits a girl – OH NO YOU DID NOT. YOU LITTLE MONSTER!
The joys of double-standards.
After this and the last update I’m almost hoping that the Trunchbulls end up being the reasonable & responsible people here and Todd is the “ogre” here.
I’ve watched parents I expected to be reasonable and rational switch to completely irrational and angry denial when their child was caught or punished for bullying and fighting. They refused to believe any hint that their child might have been mean to someone/started a fight/broken someone’s toy on purpose or even broken it by accident.
I’ve also watched parents I thought were excessively infatuated and in denial about their child’s bad behavior treat the same situation with unexpected level headed fairness. They surprised me with trying to teach their child how to show genuine remorse, how to make amends, and made their child’s punishment an opportunity to show their kid how to make a situation right after screwing up without ever trivializing the bad behavior.
So.. Yeah, I’m kinda hoping the resolution/next step to this arc gives the Trunchbulls a little more dimension, and not just because I’d love to see how the principal reacts to that.
Waitasecond- Trunchbull, like from Matilda?
Todd: “Oh, he didn’t hit her. He just picked her up and shook her to the point of injury and nearly killed her.”
Gendo Trunchbull: “Oh, well, that’s still bad.”
Later at home…
Gendo Trunchbull: “Truck, what did I tell you? Even though you didn’t hit her, you need to LEAVE NO WITNESSES!”
An amendment to my previous comment:
Neck-beards get an immediate throat punch.
To prevent them from spewing out their toxic opinions.
“Mister” Trunchbull can stick his head where the poop hides.