I am happy to announce the return of the No-Longer-Quite-So-Secret Director Commentary! I think the Transcript widget will work better for allowing the extra comments without creating some of the frustrations the mouseovers were giving people. Just click anywhere in the box that says Transcript to open and close the commentary. 😀
(If anyone happens to know how I can relocate the navigation links to be ABOVE the Transcript widget, I’d love to learn how!)
Also, for those who were wondering about Amanda’s adoption status, she’s still available. She likes ponies, strawberries, and superiority.
I tried to pay attention to lighting and shading direction in this one, with two light sources (a hallway light and the window). I'm so used to shading everything on the "Audience Left" for some reason. XD The policeman is named Officer Martin. I decided to name him after a background/cameo character from Rent. XD I'll talk more about the little boy on the next update.
Second panel has Amanda saying her own name
Nevermind I mispoke
Me thinks someone is about to have a major hissy fit. One is adopted for sure, an it looks like another is in the works. Amanda is probably still upset that our Selkie has been adopted. And to now see two more go ahead of her…dun dun duuuuuuuun!! Her fragile ego is gunna explode!
Actually I think the little boy isn’t getting adopted by the officer, I think he’s being dropped off. More than likely he just recently became an orphan.
Curious to see where this is going…
I was thinking the same thing…
For some reason I am worried about Heather still…just for some reason looking at her future parents…they might abuse her…
Or even if not actually abuse, then fail to be good parents. They look like the kind who, when someone is upset about some small thing (like children often are), turn a cold shoulder and tell them to “grow up”. Lack of parental warmth can cause serious issues to a child’s psyche.
Why are we so critical of the Fairweathers? Liking a kid for and mentioning the phrase post-feminism or whatever it was kinda makes them sound shallow and incredibly rich bored people who are adopting because it is the “in” thing and not because they want a child to love. That’s what I got out of that stereotype, and why I called them Yuppies.
is it sad i was just so ecstatic over the RENT reference ?
We’ve never seen this new kid before and he’s being escorted by a police officer. I’m guessing the new kid has just been orphaned and is being processed to join the club.
Also, why is everyone so critical of the Fairweathers? All we know is that Heather does what she wants rather than needing to act like a girly-girl, and the Fairweathers admire that. They’re a bit “guppy” as mentioned but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad people.
“Guppy” means gay urban professional, and honestly, the Fairweathers look like an opposite-sex couple to me. 😉
I believe you mean yuppy, meaning young urban professional. That is the original word in the “uppy” series, guppy being a spin-off term. There were others, happily they have mostly been forgotten.
Either the new kid was orphaned, or removed a neglectful/abusive family (biological or adopted). I´m leaning towards the latter, because that´s a cop escorting him – I´m guessing the “removing from family” part is done by someone with the means to be… forceful… if necessary.
What do you guys think Amanda is supposed to help Lillian with? I think she´s supposed to help the new kid get settled in – show him where everything is, introduce him to the other kids, and so on.
I concur about the “removal from family” theory, and they are indeed carried out as a joint operation of social services and police, in case the parents or other people at the location are looking to start a fight. However, I’m still wondering why there’s no social worker there. Unless the orphanage staff count as such.
I also dread Amanda showing anyone around the facility, especially after she learns Heather has been adopted. When Selkie was adopted, she broke a precious item – I’m hoping now she’s not going to decide to break the newcomer instead (telling horror stories etc.). The new kid looks like a boy, which might be good for him, because if it was a she, she might end up as Amanda’s new roomie.
I agree with the second half of your statement, though I’m still leaning more towards the boy recently having been orphaned rather than an abuse/neglect issue.
Um… my comment about agreeing with the second half was in reply to Duban, don’t know why it didn’t show up under his/her? comment.
Never mind, no it wasn’t in response to Duban. My prior comment wound up right where it should have as a reply to Sir Chaos.
Ooh, great plot development. Also, I have to say I like what I see of Lillian’s dress – I’d like to see more of it. I don’t know that I’d wear it, but it’s great to see interesting clothes on the characters – your fashion design skills are improving.
Thank you! I googled like a dozen different qi pao designs to figure it out.
Hmm… did that kid with the police officer get himself into trouble? And what could Lillian want AMANDA to help with? Well, except for annoying that boy into behaving properly, its beyond my contemplation.
Yay for Heather but sad for Amanda. Will she be possibly mentoring this new kid?
Which one from RENT is Martin?…*fails at life*…oh wait, he’s part of the Life Support group, I remember now!
I think so! But there is also a bit where they stumble on a cop harassing a homeless woman. Mark threatens to film him (“Smile for Ted Koppel, Officer Martin!”) to get him to back off.
Only reason I can pull such an obscure reference out is because iTunes gave me a lucky random. XD
So is the cop in the strip going to be a bad guy? Because I got the impression from RENT that Officer Martin isn’t someone they like, although they pretty much dislike all authority in that show…
And I don’t think there was a Martin in life support. Steve, Gordon, Allie, Pam, Sue, Angel, Collins, and the leader, Paul. There is some possibility that that’s one of my favorite songs from RENT.
Wow, a lot of people sure are worried about the future of a kid they’ve never actually met. :p
I mean, I’m not one to judge, but we’ve only seen her new parents in one strip so far. I seriously doubt that’s enough to give an accurate portrait of somebody, give if they do come off like scumbags.
Also Dave, I have a question about the transcript boxes: will they only be added for every comic going forward, or will you go back through the archive and manually add the boxes to those strips as well?
The transcript box only appears when I enter text into the provided transcript field. If I find time I could go back and move all of the Commentary from the hover text to the transcripts, but for now it’s more of a new feature.