Gotta laugh it off, sometimes.
↓ Transcript
MARTA: Heeeey, fam. Sorry I'm late. I backtracked to give a seamstress an earful.
MARTA: ... Wait. Todd has his "Is Murder Legal Yet?" face. What happened?
STEVE: Oh, somebody at another table was being rude.
MARTA: Oh, oh wait, let me guess. Was it "Which one of you is the REAL kid?"
TODD: I have NO IDEA why they never guess me.
MARTA: "You know he's not your real brother, right?"
TODD: "Wildly inappropriate 'Step-bro, what are you doing?' joke."
MARTA (VO): "Did your actual parents not love you?"
TODD (VO): Oh, god, I forgot about that one.
MARTA (VO): Right?! Fastest break-up EVER.
TODD (VO): Didn't I keep one of his teeth?
MARTA (VO): You give me that trophy right now.
THEO: Heh.
MARTA: ... Wait. Todd has his "Is Murder Legal Yet?" face. What happened?
STEVE: Oh, somebody at another table was being rude.
MARTA: Oh, oh wait, let me guess. Was it "Which one of you is the REAL kid?"
TODD: I have NO IDEA why they never guess me.
MARTA: "You know he's not your real brother, right?"
TODD: "Wildly inappropriate 'Step-bro, what are you doing?' joke."
MARTA (VO): "Did your actual parents not love you?"
TODD (VO): Oh, god, I forgot about that one.
MARTA (VO): Right?! Fastest break-up EVER.
TODD (VO): Didn't I keep one of his teeth?
MARTA (VO): You give me that trophy right now.
THEO: Heh.
Came this close to mentioning a dryer in panel 4.
That little smirk on Theo’s face is perfect.
Ugh, damn. I’m sure glad I never had any of those experiences. I don’t know if I was just very lucky, or if adoption is more normalised in my country.
At least for me it wasn’t really an interracial adoption (I’m part Cherokee but so is my a dad) so we all mostly looked alike so didn’t get ignorant questions/statements from random strangers. On the other hand, kids at school could be some serious little trolls so I have heard some variations of “not your ‘Real’ brother/family and of course the lovely “your Real parents didn’t want you”. Like thanks guys, like I didn’t spend lots of time in therapy unpacking that or anything.
The only appropriate response is “My parents picked me, your parents are stuck with you.”
I wish I had thought of that one when I was a kid 🙂 Maybe since I was adopted in my first year I never gave the matter much thought. But about the birth circumstances, I do remember telling some of the brats “you know I wasn’t there to make that decision, right?”
It doesn’t even make sense. Adopted children are the only ones who can be certain they actually WERE wanted, given that they were actively selected.
(I’m not disparaging your reactions, by the way, only their arguments.)
The standard retort to that is
I was chosen… you.. were a poor choice conceived on alcohol, or alternatively a condom failure, Your mom didn’t want to get her lipstick smeared, MY drill sergeant’s favorite. “The best part of you ran down your momma’s thigh or leaked out of her ass”.
there are a few good comebacks but you have to be mean.
Well I am pretty sure I never did that. Just using logic was enough to confuse them, so why hurt them? They left me alone after that either way.
Grandpa Theo knows what’s up. 😀
One hopes that our friends are speaking just loudly enough that the precious folk at the other table can hear.
Yes, please.
How is Todd’s family saying things aloud, loud enough for the obnoxious people to hear, any better than the obnoxious people saying things aloud, loud enough for Todd’s family to hear?
Because they cannot allow what has been said to go unchallenged.
On first reading of panel 1, I thought Marta had gone to confront the rude people in person and was using “seamstress” as the Discworld euphemism. XD
And by “give them an earful”, Marta meant she went all Dotsie and Sadie on their asses.
Seriously, Pratchett is the best.
I’m glad they all have a sense of humor about it at least. 🙂
If you get mad, you are giving them what they want. I _do_ remember that I was just mean enough to not want to give them the satisfaction.
As someone with an adopted sister of a different ethnicity, the closest (thankfully) I’ve ever come to that are the “Is she your girlfriend” questions. Normally answered with, “Ew, no, she’s my sister!”
This has happened to me with my brother who is a an over six foot red head and built like a brick wall while I’m a 5 foot brunet that could get blow away in a stiff wind. Genetics be that way and you never can tell.
Perfect kid logic!
I know 50 is a little old for it, but I really want to be adopted by this family.
I am 54 and I would like to be an uncle to that family. They are wonderful and I am very good cooking on the grill.
I’m kinda surprised that people in their fifties are reading webcomics and presumedly play WOW.
I love how this conversation is so SIBLING. And at the same time letting Selkie know that her family looks after their own, and is quite used to dealing with racist idiots.
Ugh I hear that. Kids can be real pieces of poop sometimes. (And adults too, but this is a kid-focused story so…)I hated the: your real mom didn’t want you, or you know he’s not your real mom/dad/brother/aunt/grandma, or hey what if you end up dating your own kin? uggh
After that guy over in Europe who has been “donating” bodily fluids, to those wanting to conceive, and may have 1500 kids, it is a valid concern! Although nobody has reported a marriage of half-sibs yet, in small countries like the Benelux Union,* where he may have sired 500 children (he self reports ‘not more than 250’), it is something to think about.
*Does anyone still use that term?
The Benelux isn’t a Union, it’s a geographic region like Scandinavia. Three small(ish) countries who do have lots of business together. (I’m Belgian btw)
Also, we’re geographically small but quite densely populated, there’s 11 million Belgians and 17-18 million Dutch people, I don’t know how the numbers work out. You are referring to the doctor inseminatng patients with his own sperm without disclosing it, right?
I guess todd really is thier Fair Haired boy ….
There are reasons that I got royally annoyed with how the Marvel Cinematic Universe handled the concept of adoption. It’s one thing to have it be a plot point in Thor (“hey, I kidnapped you as a baby, no hard feelings right? also your parents were literally monsters and so are you, sorry I didn’t mention that”), and then a throwaway joke in The Avengers, but I don’t see any part of the entire series where they get around to sending a *positive* message about adoption.
Still hoping that the Loki series includes Loki bonding with some adopted kids who help him realize that “adopted son” isn’t the opposite of “real son” and that you have some level of choice over how much influence you allow your biological parents (or your adoptive parents) to have over the person you become.
(Also it’s funny how this topic is the one I read and respond to on the same day I posted a podfic about Thor & Loki… of a scene wherein one of the alt-universe Avengers challenges Thor about whether Loki’s his “real” brother and the Thor in the fic gives him a schooling in what adoption really means.)
P.S. Just realized that I finally have a site of my own to give for my Website URL, as opposed to a blog or something. (It’s a front end for my fics, in this case my MCU fics.)
P.P.S. I really love the adoption-positive messages this webcomic portrays. One of the best things about it.
I got mistaken for my half sister’s husband in Hawaii. We got comped drinks, discounted food, and other goodies. She is a slender redhead while I am an overweight dark haired individual.
I googled the “step bro” joke and EUGH.