The return of the Terrible Tolerance Poster.
-EDIT- I am adding this in at the last minute because I only had the idea at the last minute (sorry!), but do I have any Selkie readers in the St. Louis, Missouri area who might be interested in a short meet and greet tomorrow night (Thursday Feb 6)? I am catching the Pixies performance at the Peabody Opera House on Market Street tomorrow night, and if I have any readers in the area I’d love to find a spot in walking distance of the Peabody (coffee house or something light) and do a meet-and-greet before the show. If there’s interest, I’ll try to set a time.
I've been looking forward to drawing Angry Trunchbulls berating Principal Ashton. :3
Typo! They spoke to the ‘Principal’, not ‘principle’
Other than that, love the comic, still waiting to see someone get a face full of reality! 😀
I adore you. Ninja edit that.
*principal
“Also I must insist that my son never done anything wrong nor will he ever do anything wrong!” the Trunchbulls are clearly speaking to the principal, not shouting and threatening…
Grrr, I so want to see that Principal Ashton shredded into tiny pieces by the school board after they find out what really happened.
…. Words can not describe my fury at the principle right now.
They can describe my fury:
Principal Ashton, are you out of your tiny little hobbit mind?! Must you avoid EVERY confrontation, you spineless excuse for a human?! The Trunchbulls WANTED proof, and you could have GIVEN it to them! There! Were! EYEWITNESSES! But no! That excuse for a think pan you have rattling around in your head says, “These people are powerful and if I tell them what their son really did, they’ll be mad at me and give me a roundhouse kicking, so let’s just say ‘No, no, I don’t know’,” AND YOU DEPRIVE ANY MEANS OF JUSTICE FROM THE VICTIM WHO! GOT! HOSPITALIZED! YOU ARE SUCH AN IGNORAMUS I COULD PUKE MILES OF RAGE SNAKE TO CHOKE YOU TO DEATH YOU SNIVELING COWARD!
*Lights a cigarette* that was quite satisfying~
Thank you good ghost, that was cathartic.
You know what’s a horrifying realization? If he were to present witnesses such as the teachers, TAs, or children who may have witnessed this they would be baring down upon them in the same way questioning and coercing them about the events that the saw or what they thought they saw.
I’m actually sitting here thinking to myself: “Stay calm, breath in, breath out, stay calm.”
Dave my man, you are good. You pulled me right in.
I can’t deal. This is one of those webcomics I wished updated daily, or at least mon-fri. LOL
Dave, I don’t know where to begin. I love this comic, you are telling an amazing story. But so help me by all the ninety-leven billion names of god, if you don’t take care of this unmentionable, unprintable, expurgated, censored, filthy king and ace in the hole … I may have to stop reading. I’ve never been so furious over a comic in my life.
That is proof of good storytelling. Good stories don’t just give you happy feelings. They fill you with many, not always what you want but what is part of the story. Dave us taking us on a ride and while I share your anger and not so little rage at the “bad guy” for this part try to remember. “The journey not the moment.” If you leave before the story is done you may miss something great.
Yeah its a testament to how good this story is that I and others care so much. My only wish is that Dave would do a donation drive or something to get pages out more quickly for a while so we can have a bit of closer on the ark.
… Wait, the principal has a name besides Sackville-Baggins?
And Trunchbull, you ignominious son of a motherless goat, you want PROOF? I’ll give you PROOF! Selkie was HOSPITALIZED FOR SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA AS A RESULT OF YOUR SON PICKING HER UP AND SHAKING HER LIKE A RAG DOLL!!! IS THAT PROOF ENOUGH FOR YOU, PROFESSOR?!
… yeahhh, it’s time to sic the Fed and Agent Brown on them.
Frankly, I love moments like this. Deflate the pompous, introduce a little chaos in the lives of the overly sure of themselves. Make the lives of those who make others miserable miserable themselves. I know what I would do and it would leave Trunchy devastated and near crying himself.
I see a messy lawsuit coming…I renew my recommendation of sending Selkie to a private school…
Also what Terah said about the typo. Got to correct it; it’s a matter of principal.
This isn’t just a public school problem.
Think of it as “leaving one’s problems behind,” whether there are new problems or not.
I think the problem is that in many parts of the U.S., you must send your child to the school in your district if you want to send them to public school at all. So if Todd pulls Selkie out of this school over this incident, he has to send her to a private school, homeschool her, or move to another school district.
A private school might be a good option in real life. I don’t believe it’s a possible path for this story. Dave would have to leave behind all the other kids we’ve been introduced to since the beginning, with their complications and conflicts unresolved, and pick up a whole new set of characters. In real life that is often a good thing. In a story it kind of… kills the story.
If you don’t treat characters and their problems as real, how can you make anyone care about them? I’d go into more detail but I’m posting through a Nook at the moment…
Who was it said… “Stories have to make sense. Real life doesn’t!” A writer strives for the illusion of reality, but if the story is to be satisfying there are limits on what can happen, limits that wouldn’t apply in real life. For one thing, if a writer sets up a major character like Amanda, with all her flaws and fears, to be in conflict with the protagonist Selkie, there’s an implicit promise to the reader that there will be developments in that conflict, and eventually a resolution. Putting Selkie into a private school amongst a whole new set of kids, and just saying, “Ta-DA! And she never sees Amanda again!” would be cheating the reader.
Actually, that’s /exactly/ how you do it.
The principal did just open himself up for a very messy lawsuit, yes. He’s going to regret that, I think.
Having trouble with this series. Because something way, way, way too similar happened to me. And I was forced to apologize to one of the kids who beat me up. Rghhhhhhhhh!
They tried to make me apologize. They got A apology. Not the one they wanted. Along the lines of “I’m sorry my jaw hurt your knuckles. I’m sure you need them for dragging against the ground.”
I was 7 and terrified and humiliated that my folks didn’t believe me. When it happened later again, at age 11, I was much more aggressive in refusing to apologize.
To help with the collective anger/sadness/old wounds opened of the group today, I have procured this article complete with lots of otterly cute photos.
Turns out there’s an aquarium in Japan where you can shake hands with otters:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2528565/Otter-pleasure-meet-Marine-park-offers-visitors-chance-shake-hands-adorable-animals.html
(Also, this is a WISH not a demand or suggestion Dave… but I really hope for a happy ending here. I hate bullies… especially adult ones. :'( )
Oh, I see- it’s a whole family of bullies.
So, let me get this straight: while Selkie got suspended and had to spend a week without school, Truck’s parents threatened the principal and got their son to return right back to school?
I fail to see the injustice everyone talk about…
Even if you’re not there in the classroom, you’re still held responsible for what you’re supposed to be learning. (I recall being bitten by this when I missed a few days of school due to illness.)
If I recall correctly Selkie is doing homework (although not partaking in classes it is possible to learn what is needed from the abismal things they claim are textbooks nowadays) during her suspension. Still, she gets a suspension on her record while Truck gets nothing and YES that can be something that effects you in the future.
Well they sure seem to live up to the Bull part of their name.
Your son paints a picture – a picture in which he’s blameless – which fails to match up with eyewitness accounts from faculty. My daughter, meanwhile, tells a story that includes the mistakes she made during the incident, and does match with eyewitness accounts.
Your son’s lying.
Also, what he did landed my daughter in the hospital.
Also, even though I don’t actually know this yet? His first day back after the incident he literally organized a small gang to beat up orphans.
Mister Trunchbull, if you don’t provide your son with real, honest discipline – not mere obedience to you personally but a belief that consequences exist for misbehavior – he is going to be growing a handlebar mustache and tying young ladies to railroads by his mid-teens.
Hey! Some of us have handlebar mustaches and never tie young ladies to railroad tracks. Not through lack of trying mind you…….I mean I do. But not all of us. I can think of a guy that only does it once a year. 😀
While I agree with your other sentiments, I have to say that Truck is far too unsubtle for dastardly moustache-twirling, or, for that matter, any sort of railroad-track villainy at all. I see him more as Doctor Von Evil’s assistant Scarface. “Scarface, go out and rough up Stupendous Man’s girlfriend.” “Scarface, the Misfits crew is interfering with my operations. Get together a posse and … deal with them.” “Scarface, fetch me the paper.”
Hmm I see him more of a Bluto villain.
Well, the Trunchbulls DID get something right. The other kids WERE invited to play… they just managed to turn the game into orphans vs nonorphans by being horrible.
Rage incoming in 3… 2… 1…
We all need to remember, the Trunchbulls get away with this because they bully the weak. If the Principal was worth his salt, he would not let these rank amateurs run him over and they wouldn’t be running things like they are. Tolerance is a nice buzzword, but sometimes resistance gets the job done better.
Welp, all he really has to do is give him a “government” threat, and act on it if he doesn’t back down.
Maybe.
Trunchbull doesn’t seem like the sort to listen to anything he doesn’t want to hear, and it’s not like he’s done anything illegal. Dishonest, and cruel, yes. I agree he’s being a douchebag. But the assumption that the MiBs would definitely agree to get involved doesn’t seem to hold up, IMO. Selkie’s gotten hurt before and Agent Brown didn’t intervene. Possibly his orders won’t allow it. For one, if the Sarnothi integration, or Selkie’s, into human societies is going to work,long term, she and her adoptive family are going to have to tackle the conflicts that arise themselves.
For Todd to threaten the Trunchbulls is likely to cause matters to escalate rather than settle down, particularly if they take the whole “this kid is a violently aggressive SEA CREATURE/MONSTER” viewpoint or go public with the whole business.
Steam… RISING! GRRRR! 🙂
Trunchbull needs to get punched in the face.
I’m really, really, REALLY hoping that the bad guys will get theirs, after all that hulabaloo that this comic got from the local school and whatnot. This right now IS NOT something I’d like a school kid to be reading. It’s essentially saying that you can get away with bullying if your parents complain loud enough!
Good storytelling? Debatable.
Good reading? Not.
I might take a little break away from Selkie and come back when more pages have appeared, in the hopes that my fears of the sordid reality becoming the story are unfounded.
You’re in the middle of an arc. It’s not done yet. There is no message about bullying yet, just that Truck is totally a protected bully. You’re totally putting the cart before the horse.
Go back to read the discussions about bullying when it was first seriously approached in the comic. The comments ran into two pages or more. THEN come back to talk to me about it.
It’s been a bit rough around here. If you need a break I understand. 🙂
I’ve loved Selkie up until very recently, so I’ll just let a few weeks go by, before coming back to reading. Hopefully things will have progressed beyond the point where I just want to personally strangle most of the people involved.
The Trunchbulls need to be educated. Principal Ashton needs to be fired.
Way to go principal. Sigh…. 🙁
Well, bummer…. I’m in the St. Louis Area, I love your comic, and would have LOVED to have met up for a meet-n-greet… too bad I read this all on a Friday 🙁
Yeah I had the idea way too late to make it feasibly happen. Plus I drove around the event area for an hour and a half before I found a parking spot, so that woulda sucked time out of a meet and greet anyway. XD
The Principal needs to grow a pair. Like seriously.
And maybe Todd could just sue the crap out of them.