It’s probably clear by implication, but if you don’t recognize the guy with the floppy blue mohawk, this old strip may help you.
I am accepting submissions for the Costume Design contest until April 1st! If you have not yet submitted an entry, you have through this Saturday to email it to dave AT selkiecomic DOT com. Happy designing!
(If you missed the last two announcements, the contest is to design an outfit for Selkie. Winner gets their outfit used in the next story arc, and the only restriction is that I want something a contemporary American eight year old girl would feasibly wear. Have fun!)
Remember when I said I was both excited and apprehensive about this epilogue... yeeeaaaahhh...
I always though that was his hat! Also, now I feel kinda bad for Andy…
Me, too!
Oh. I mean about thinking that was a hat. Not about Andi.
So you don’t feel bad for Andi?
Not at all *shakes head*
I cannot stop staring at your icon.
O.o”’ Why do I have a feeling I know where this is going…
I’ve seen enough Lifetime to see where this is going…
I don’t think there’s any possible way for any one to continue to dislike Andy…
Being stupid and getting pregnant doesn’t mean she was any more likable to me. If she actually got an abortion, she’s getting a level up in intelligence on my score card, but otherwise nothing’s changed.
I agree with Hanna. It will take a lot more for me to start liking Andi. She is the summation of everything I dislike of people in general. So, the more I see her, the more I am reminded of the pits of society. That’s why I don’t like her at present.
The pits of society? It’s not like she has her own reality TV show.
I can. They were careless and got pregnant. She flushes the baby. Years later he wants to be a father and talks about adopting. She nixes that idea in favor of making a baby(after already having that chance and deciding against it.) she adds insult to injury by telling the man whose life was transformed by being adopted that adopting a child is somehow less meaningful than having a physical child together. After rejecting permanently the child that they had started together years before. I can see that she hurts over this, but it’s all about her isn’t it? She’s not the least bit empathetic to Todd.
Considering that the odds of a pregnancy miscarrying in the first trimester are somewhere between 40% and 60% (with the large majority being “chemical pregnancies” that show up on a pregnancy test and fail due to DNA mismatching some week or two later…), I still feel it’s up in the air if she terminated, went WHEW, or ran off and gave the kid up for adoption herself.
(We don’t even know if they were careless, necessarily. Contraception has a failure rate, even with Perfect Use. It may be 2 in a thousand, but someone’s gonna be one of those 2.)
…..yeah still makes me not like her more and more. 1 SHE was pregnant by the man she love and just nix that one off. 2 she wants him to be father again and shows no support for his decision on adoption. 3 if we were to see her with selkie do you think shed act like a true person around her or just tow-face? (I’m not a Andy hater but she doesn’t shows me the ok loving side lifetime could wind up in a 1 hour movie that means 3 hour’s with there long commercials)
I think the thing about Andi is that everyone has their own opinion. I honestly like her, but that is no reason for Todd to take her back. I also feel sorry for her, though we need more info as to what happened. The adoption remark was definitely a nasty cut and shows her immaturity, though that is the only aspect of it that we truly know.
I honestly don’t see why she is the “pits of society” as she just seems a bit more on the lost side. So far we have seen her once, at home in the evening eating microwavable food, and her discussion with Todd. Her discussion with Todd did not convince me that she was a horrible person and until we know more on the subject of what happened in their past that dredged up those memories, there is no way I am making a judgement call on who was at fault for what.
Right now, she isn’t my favorite character (Selkie, duh) but she isn’t in an antagonistic role either. We just happened to see the point where Todd finally explained the whole reason behind why they broke it off to her in more detail than “It is over” based on what I just reread.
It is also important to note that when Todd went to the orphanage he was alone and based on their conversation they had already broken up.
Based off the conversation they had, Todd had broken off a 9 year relationship a minimum of four months and two weeks before giving any kind of return call or message, and only did so after being parented into it. Which means that I personally believe that Andi would be more than justifiably frustrated about being shut out for one careless slip off the tongue made when she was under emotional duress.
And if anyone tells me that either the abortion, miscarriage or adoption that happened to them in High School would not dredge up potentially distressing memories, then there is no point in saying it because I am not going to argue with anyone who thinks their life allows them to dictate how others should feel since that is a person who will not change their mind from a discussion board post.
Again, not a get out of trouble free excuse, but I do think Todd should have had this discussion with her before 5 months had passed them by to clarify his perspective. By the way, when I say she was shut out for the one slip of tongue, I mean that she only saw that as the reason until Todd pointed out their other arguments and lack of agreement.
One abortion / miscarriage doesn’t fix the fact that she WANTS to breed.
She is still trash.
I still hate her.
Trash? Really? Judgmental much? I haven’t seen anything in this comic to suggest she’s trash.
Whoo boy, THIS is gonna be one heck of a story…
Definitely makes one reevaluate one’s take on Andy, that’s for sure. And, in the words of Chandler Bing; “can – open, worms – everywhere”. Well, at least that was the first thing that leaped to my mind.
Also … I see that #200 is rapidly approaching! Woot!
Minaj? As in Nikki Minaj perhaps? 😛
And honestly, the amount of Andi haters sicken me immensely. We don’t even know her full story yet.
If you look back on some of the comments of the “haters” youll find that they have pretty good reasons for disliking Andi.
Holy s**t! So that’s what Andi was reffering when she said she wanted “a chance to fix what went wrong the first time”. I feel more simpathetic for her now.
On the other hand, is good to see that characters in this story are more complex than we could think at first.
What went wrong the first time was her getting pregnant. The situation GOT fixed.
Seems to me she was aiming to unfix it.
And failed spawning doesn’t qualify as complexity.
Le nice art, as far as the flashback is concerned!
So… I’m guessing he wanted the kid, but she aborted it?
Or she could’ve miscarried.
🙁
P.S. I love her hair when she saw the results. Literally standing up!
Or it could have been a false positive.
Worst case scenario: He wanted it and she decided to abort it. Second-worst: She miscarries and is glad and tells him… Not the most likely of scenarios but one never knows…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone be “glad” about a miscarriage.
I’ve seen it happen… It looked seriously bloody painful.
Literally bloody.
But at least it fixes a problem with no monetary cost.
Well he obviously wasn’t the “love them and leave them” type, but whether he wanted the kid at that time or not is actually up in the air. Just because he adopted Selkie in his late 20s/early 30s doesn’t mean he wanted an oops baby in high school. I’m not making any assumptions until I see this play out.
Hmm.
Miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth, or carried to term and then gave up for adoption.
Whatever it was that happened, they faced it together and agreed on the decision — it happened while they were still teenagers, and now they’re adults, and the breakup took place within the past year (of story time).
The breakup happened because of something she said as an adult.
well, something she said as an adult, plus the fact that they as adults didn’t seem so compatible anymore. Todd mentioned they were fighting more than usual/over everything. But yeah, Andi’s adoption comment was the last, and biggest, straw.
Recent graduates cannot tell the difference between their teen age and that of 33 year olds with a better grasp of life and responsibility. Recent graduates THINK they are adults. Who knows how much time passed really?
I can see where this is going too…poor Andi.
As an oft-wistful girl, I am ashamed to report that (at least my) memories do get hazy and colorful, much like Andi’s. XD
In other words I love how you changed the art style for the duration of Andi’s memories. It seems quite realistic (if memories can be counted as such). XD
I’m just grateful Dave posted that link to Todd at age 16. I was wondering if the blue mohawk was him, but didn’t know for sure.
Who DIDN’T get the “what went wrong before” comment – in the context of they had dated since high school and were talking about kids?
I guess I’ve always felt sympathy for Andi. Is she perfect for Todd- who knows. But sympathy? Yeah, definately. I mean who doesn’t say something truly boneheaded and cruel occassionally? Doesn’t make it OK, but you can feel bad for her.
I mean it sounds like Todd was more than a boy friend – he seemed like a BEST FRIEND. And boy does it hurt to learn you can lose a best friend by saying something dumb.
And it took real courage to come back talk to him about it.
Now remember kids… Don’t kiss unless you want to get pregnant.
That bit was almost a pick-up truck with feet sticking out of the bed and hearts floating out. XD
I too like this fast replay art style and cutesy version of the “good times” 🙂
Could you do that panel as a side bonus please? It would be funny to see (But I will back you and say deciding to not use it in the comic was a bit more tasteful, keep up the good work!)
You’d have to be very young or very um, desperate to be doing it in the back of an open pickup truck.
Not my idea of a romantic encounter.
I saw this coming, but it’s sad to see that I was right. Also, I thought the mohawk back then was a hat. In any case, I’m glad Todd got rid of the mohawk. He looks better with blonde.
I can’t help but thinking “this is what happens when sex-ed classes are considered immoral by the religious nutcases in political offices”.
Personally this doesn’t affect my opinion of Andi. If she got an abortion, she’s getting some points on being more intelligent than I have given her credit for, but intellect doesn’t equal wisdom. And “bad past experiences” doesn’t equal “being understanding about all the bull**** you did/said afterwards”.
That aside, I like the different art style to recap her memories in a speedy fashion. Prolonged flashback stories aren’t always necessary. 🙂
Why would an abortion make her “smarter”? Or, rather, why does the choice have an automatic “good” or “bad” answer like this? Why can’t the choice be the “least bad” for a situation? What if she was waffling and someone else pressured her into it by telling her it was the “intelligent” choice? What if she was desperate to keep the relationship and thought that it was the “only” choice that wouldn’t leave her dumped (and pregnant)? What if she was terrified that she’d have {insert horrible pregnancy complications endured by relative here; possibly fatal}?
It doesn’t sound like a choice she was happy making, at least in hindsight. (IF she made that choice and it wasn’t a miscarriage after all!)
Yeah, objectively, a couple of wild-n-crazy teens aren’t likely to be that great as parents. Statistically. And then there are ones who decide that their hearts would be too torn up by loss of the [i]chance[/i], and give their lives a right-angle turn, using intelligence and willpower to do the parent thing instead.
There’s no One Right Answer there that fits all sizes. I don’t feel I know enough about Andi to know if termination would have been even [i]a[/i] Right Answer for that situation, and for her. And for them.
(Though, of course, the plot [i]demands[/i] that Selkie have her dad, so [i]that[/i] means that whatever gets us to that point is a Necessary Thing!)
She was either in highschool or had just graduated. To have a child at that age generally ruins your chances of getting further education in time for you to be “marketable” for any good jobs. Also, she doesn’t appear as if she’d make a good parent NOW, nevermind when she was a clueless teen.
This is all just my personal opinion. You don’t have to get upset over it. You’re entitled to your own opinion. 🙂
SO, theres more to Andi than we thought. Well, it seems whatever decision that Andi made was what drove a rift between Andi and Todd. I’m leaning towards the theory that she got preggers, Todd wanted to KEEP the baby, but Andi knew better and aborted it. I also think it’s plausible that Todd accepted the decision to not keep the baby, but wanted her to give it up for adoption and Andi didn’t want to deal with that. I think it’s completely plausible that Andi was the more sensible one when they were kids(in regards to aborting the baby/giving it up for adoption) and knew they couldn’t raise a baby and Todd was all LETS KEEP IT! However, while Andi ,ay have had that one moment of being sensible, she hasn’t grown up, where as Todd has. Still though, the fact that she keeps chasing after Todd when they aren’t really compatible anymore.
Love the different format for the flashback! It feels so risky experimenting with different styles – it’s great when you have the courage to try something new and different.
It seems like Todd had “grown up” a bit more than Andy has… if she’s still dressing and dyeing her hair like in the high school days maybe she’s not letting go of them. Meanwhile, Todd has moved into a career where he’s required to dress a certain way and he seems completely fine with being an adult who know how to relax (I loved when he mussed up his hair after work to go shopping with Selkie!).
Overall, love the comic and can’t wait to see where it goes. My husband and I decided to stop trying for a child last week, and we’re going to start the adoption process. Reading your comic over the months had really inspired me to look into adoption seriously, and he and I are both glad we didn’t go through more medical mayhem by trying invasive fertility treatments. We’re really looking forward to raising a child!
Congratulations to you both! Best of luck with adopting!
Hope that worked out for you.
Decreasing the net suffering in the world is what matters.
There are those who only allow people to be that close once. Violate that trust and they will begin shielding themselves from the chance of that person causing such pain again.
I can understand why such a comment about adoptions would be painful to Todd. Andi has no excuse for what she said. The pregnancy is not what drove the final wedge between them. Her callous, unthinking remark about adoption is. For that, I have no sympathy for her.
Perhaps, one day, he will forgive her (especially with a mom like his). However, I think he has his prioraties strait. Get Selkie settled first. Then work on the other issues.
–End of Line– (Sorry, just watched the new Tron again:) )
Am I alone? I don’t dislike Andi any less. I don’t hate her, but I’m not in love with the character. A sad terrible backstory doesn’t really negate the fact that in current times she’s behaving immaturely and irrationally, butting in where she isn’t wanted anymore. Yes. She had a history with Todd, and yes, I can see it was a sad one. Why should that excuse her current behavior? Like all the cases in the news where the culprits try to excuse their actions by saying ‘I was abused as a kid!’
I hate to say it, but…Criminal Minds quote: “Some abused kids grow up to be abusers, and some grow up to catch them.” Andi’s backstory doesn’t really excuse her, far as I’m concerned. Sorry. If you guys want to make me like her, work for it. Make her grow on me.
You’re not alone with your opinions. Quite a few of us agree with you. 😉
I am very anti abortion but, just to be clear, at the same time I am also very anti religious. Anyway, if Andi chose to abort the kid rather than adopt it out I will actually hate her a little be more because to me it’s killing and that’s just how I see it.
But yeah focusing on the timeline it look like this happened when they were 16 – 17 and andie said ‘past 9 years of her life’ so I think Todd is like 25 to 26 depending on when she marking those 9 years from. In that respect if the summer is the time this happened then it happened 8 to 9 years ago.
Dave can we get a timeline done up or something?
You’ve got it right.
This is a good style for a flashback.
Makes total sense. So the big question now is was it a scare, miscarried or aborted?
I wasn’t positive it was actually Todd until I re-read the series and saw this
https://selkiecomic.com/?p=285
OMG, I thought the blue hair in the old comic was a HAT. Now I find out it’s a flopped over mohawk, my mind is blown, lol. But the blue mohawk makes much more sense than a hat. : P
Alright, I feel a bit silly right now since I’m going to essentially be defending Andi and I don’t particularly like her either, but…I feel a lot of you are being a bit harsh.
I agree that Todd’s got his priorities straight–now that he has a daughter, he needs to consider her first, and it’d be dumb to try to rekindle a dead relationship on the side (hell, it sounds like a dumb idea to me even if Selkie WEREN’T a factor–by the time all two people can do is pick at each other, I don’t see that there’s any point in trying anymore).
That being said, I also think Todd was being just as childish and immature as Andi. He cut off all contact with someone in response to only one thing she said–which I think was a bit much even if it’s something that is really meaningful to him. I realize that comment was a catalyst to make him realize they were going nowhere, but…That should’ve been a red flag for ending the relationship certainly, but not for acting like a dick. I think the only difference here is that Todd had people close to him (his parents) to call him out on it, which he’s lucky for. I haven’t seen any of that type of influence in Andi’s life.
That’s not to say that it’s right to enable Andi to be clingy and not move on to find better options herself, but I don’t think wanting to have a chance to talk about it after so abrupt an ending to a nine year relationship is particularly childish.
What will be more telling is now that she knows how he feels–and why he feels that way–is to see if she’ll actually respect that and let it go.
That’s an interesting point, about… closure.
Hmmm, I think I’m putting my hat into the “Child got put up for adoption,” option. No one else has even mentioned the possibility (I think, so many comments, and so lazy…). Could see that becoming an interesting story arc later if the kid were to track them down.
Bet it’s Amanda. >:P
I suggested that in the last strip´s comments. If the flashback was 9 years ago, she´d be the right age.
The one thing that bothers me about that idea is, if Todd and Andi had a kid that they gave up for adoption, and who hasn´t been adopted yet, wouldn´t Todd try and get that kid back rather than adopting a different kid? And wouldn´t Andi want to get the kid back rather than suggesting she and Todd have another one?
In addition to what I already said: if Amanda really was Todd and Andi´s daughter, wouldn´t Todd know about it and recognize her? And, even if he didn´t, wouldn´t Amanda´s file say that she´s Todd´s daughter, so that the orphanage would know? Plus, I´m sure that sort of thing might have come up during the adoption background checks…?
Don’t think it was adoption. Could be wrong but somebody who put their kid up for adoption is more likely to have some respect for the process and not make stupid remarks about it, since their kid is being “babysat” by someone else. I do not think Todd would have qualms about pointing out her hypocrisy in that regard were it true.
Same reasoning here for being against the idea that the baby was given up for adoption.
Let’s toss a few more thoughts into the mix: if they were minors, Andi may not have had any choice about what happened. Some states still let the parents of a pregnant teen force her to put the child up for adoption (or did several years ago, when this happened). Parents have also been know to arrange abortions the teen wouldn’t have chosen if not heavily pressured, although that’s not as common. Maybe she’s been flip about adoption because she couldn’t bear to really think about that time in her life? Or perhaps she’s only now being forced to admit (to herself or anyone else) how much whatever happened back then still hurts her.
Having been a very young mother, I can honestly say that whether she chose to end the pregnancy or something went wrong, I do not fault her at all. I got pregnant with my first child at 13 and gave birth a month before my 14th birthday.
Getting pregnant that young is a mistake no matter how the pregnancy turns out. Even if you think you can handle having a child when you are under the age of 20, there are so many issues that come up after the fact that you just aren’t aware of.
Speaking from experience, I wouldn’t recommend anyone under the age of 20 actually having a child. But that’s just my personal opinion. I knew that I wasn’t ready for children, heck I was still a kid myself, but I didn’t want to end the pregnancy. I wanted to give my child up for adoption, but my mother wouldn’t let me.
I made so many mistakes trying to raise her that my oldest child is certifiably mentally unstable and has to see a therapist on a regular basis. I only had custody of her for the first seven years of her life, but still messed her up considerably.
No matter how badly Todd wanted children, I highly doubt that either he or Andy would have been emotionally mature enough to do anything more than mess the kid up. Again, this is just my personal opinion based off of my own experiences as someone who became a parent way too young.
Andy made a mistake in the past and said some pretty hurtful things, but many people say things when they are scared. Things that they usually don’t mean, and that they regret later. I think we should all give her the benefit of the doubt till we know more about her and the situation that they were in.
Today, April 1st is the one year anniversary of when I fist started to read this comic. I just want to say that It is an excellent webcomic and I look forward to it being around for another full year