How about Fred? Fred Gauss. (It seems to me that Dave is the kind of person who is more likely to tweak the name than to go with the full thing, although I could be wrong about that.)
And even then, he’d still be insisting it was ridiculous.
This situation may be Tommy’s one last chance to avoid that scenario. If he gets away with this, no one is even going to try to stop him until he does something that catches the attention of men with guns and the force of law behind them.
While Mr. Trunchbull’s first few panels make me feel a little bad for him, the rest take care of that. Can’t wait to see the size of the crow he’ll be fed.
As for Todd, he’s earned a little smug here.
As for teacher, Mr. Stockdale. One of the best teachers in my school; I could talk for quite a while about how cool he is. We called him Stockdude, and could even call him that to his face.
He’s very concerned about his kid, so much so that he is trying to protect him from a conspiracy that doesn’t exist. Tommy is just using that to benefit himself because he doesn’t know better.
Nah, I’ve had to deal with a kid like Truck (we were in the same grade), and his father thought the world of him. He could do no wrong. “The apple of his eye.” as the saying goes. I even called him out about spreading lies about my family, and we didn’t even get an apology from the man (who was standing right there when his son inadvertently admitted his guilt) for his son’s actions, nor did he tell his son to apologize either. Just a, “Sorry to have taken up your time.” and then they left.
wow. he really is just that far into denial. at least his motives are more pure than i thought they were. he *actually* believes his son is well behaved and doesn’t deserve what he’s getting.
Yeah, that’s why my sympathy from the first few panels gets tempered. We know from the first time we saw the Trunchbulls that they’ve TOLD Truck how to behave properly, but also refuse to accept that just telling seven/eight-year-olds how to act doesn’t work. Kids WILL test boundaries and need to be corrected or disciplined when they do, so it’s natural for Truck to be testing if what Mom and Dad say is really the way things go. Between the attempts at discipline at school and the Our Baby Can Do No Wrong Because We Told Him Not To at home, Truck must be rather confused on some level.
Honestly, for someone who cites science as a reason for Truck to be told not to pick on the smaller and/or weaker kids, I’m somewhat surprised Mr. Trunchbull doesn’t seem to be aware of or has dismissed this basic tenet of children.
I’ve met my share of adults both as a kid and as an adult that always insist their baby isn’t at fault. It’s less hard science and more social science where they don’t want to admit failure. If their child failed then they fail worse and for some, that is a fate worse than death.
I ran into a situation like this once. The parents in question had 7 kids, some biological, some adopted and could more than afford their choice to send them all to private schools.
Most of the kids ended up as truly wonderful people. Kind, hardworking, successful in their chosen fields, and very compassionate. Their youngest however was awful. She’d figured out how to act kind and respectful as long as her parents or older siblings were in the room, but as soon as they left she would become hateful and vicious towards anyone who didn’t immediately do what she wanted.
Fortunately, that kid had enough siblings around that she started to get caught and her parents were able to train her out of the worst of this sort of behavior.
hmmm…. methinks selkie and todd are in on the little recording thing together… why else would todd seem so smug….
think about it… the way this is reading todd seems to be almost ‘not’ surprised old trunchy is here with him again, but faking it for the sake of the ruse
In addition, unless it happened “off-screen”, as it were, the school didn’t summon Todd … and why would they? Selkie’s not in trouble, nor has she been hurt. We’ve already seen the principal’s efforts to get her to go back to class. Maybe instead of (or in addition to) recording the incidents at the library, Selkie called Todd and let him listen in?
Heh!… now take a look at MRS.Trunchbull in panel 3 here: https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie338/ , SHE was doing the Sarnothi greeting too, but i guarantee that she sure as heck wasn’t doing it out of FRIENDSHIP…
I’ve used and still use that expression plenty of times. It’s to the point where when I smile at someone in town half of the people present start backing up.
Todd “…and from jackasses to Dr Mengele, Prof Trunchbull, btw your son Tomas will be sent to Juvie for several things, including grievous assault on My daughter, have a nice day Prof Trunchbull.”
Math teacher? I’d say he looks like a Mr. Morris. I don’t know why.
Professor, while I understand that your department only studies the actions of sophonts, you still must have enough of the rudiments of biology to know that you yourself are a primate, and your disparaging of your own clade is really rather silly.
And remember: jackasses carry heavy loads, eat the scraps of agriculture, and have a very powerful kick.
Yeah, but that’s just it. Trunchbull doesn’t think of himself as a primate. He thinks that he, and his wife, and their offspring, have ascended to some higher plane of existence. Given this type of parenting, it’s no surprise that Tommy thinks everyone has to do what he says, and he doesn’t have to do what everyone else says.
For the sake of the citizens of Calument City, I’m really, really hoping that Tommy is an only child, and stays that way.
i’m not really a sadistic person, but at the rate his kid is going from bad to worse on the scale of good to evil-overlord-ness, one can only hope that Truck becomes a candidate for the Darwin Awards before he’s old enough…
This is pitiful, really. Guy’s blinded that he’s assisting in his kid turning into an entitled sociopath.
Awesome Dave is awesome…now…if that really is the Sarnothi “I’m not gonna harm you” pose, what are the chances Trunchbull would actually recognize it, lol? That’s rubbing it in.
Also? He may think he’s talking smack, but he’s as much a primate as anyone else there, so poor choice of words.
“Guy’s blinded that he’s assisting in his kid turning into an entitled sociopath.”
If the only authority that Truck acknowledges is his parents, then of course he acts differently at home. This is a common trick that sociopaths figure out at a young age, extending it to their favorite / most threatening teachers, their bosses, and police officers. If they get married, they’ll either browbeat their spouses into submission, or just add their spouse to the list of people they act respectful towards. Meanwhile, whenever and whoever they don’t “have to” act respectful, they’ll disrespect anyone and everyone else.
Because, don’t you know, the world is a gigantic hierarchy and you need to climb as high as you can and to do that you step on as many people as you can. But when you can’t, you act like you don’t. That’s sociopathic thinking. But what’s worse is that kind of thinking gets reinforced by those who tell the sociopath to behave a certain way but neglect the whole “you really need to actually consider other people to be people and treat them with respect because they are like you” thing, so that everything becomes about behaving correctly without ever learning to actually respect anyone.
And that’s why Mister Trunchbull thinks that his son is perfectly well behaved while the opposite is actually true.
But what’s worse is that kind of thinking gets reinforced by those who tell the sociopath to behave a certain way but neglect the whole “you really need to actually consider other people to be people and treat them with respect because they are like you” thing, so that everything becomes about behaving correctly without ever learning to actually respect anyone.
And of course, Trunchypoo neglects that lesson because he himself never learned it. Not only is the behavior that we’ve seen from him “onscreen” sociopathic in its own right, but he got pitched off that government research project with the Sarnothi for a reason. The government doesn’t generally like to fire people once they’ve gone through the whole background clearance process. It is neither free nor effortless. He had to have been a truly next-level jerk to get booted.
Since Trunchbull not only knows of the Sarnothi, he knows their customs, OF COURSE he would know the gesture, and he would know Todd knows about it too. A subtle hint by Todd (which he did) is all it would take.
I wonder if part of Trunchypoo’s denial is a failure to realize that his “little boy” is freaking enormous. It’s one thing to think of your child as “my little boy” until he’s a grandfather, it’s another to not notice that he’s literally twice the size of his peers.
Listen, you: when my cat was born, I could hold her and all of her siblings in one hand like a handful of sleepy mice. Now that she is a full-grown sixteen year old adult cat, her body weight is more than all of them at birth put together. Nevertheless she is still my little baby kitten, and don’t you or the physical universe dare tell me otherwise.
Obviously Truck is abusing his size; but I would have to point out that this isn’t always entirely true/accurate. The disparity between myself and my classmates was similar to Truck, but I did not have that mean streak that he does.
It sucks when your body grows faster than your awareness does; adults expect you be an adult because you look like one, but inwardly you are still very much a child.
All true. But that’s exactly why missing the fact that Truck is gigantic would be a problem. A parent’s primary job is to help a child through any difficulties and differences they may have in dealing with the world at large.
Alternatively, he may think that Truck is being picked on because he’s so large; we don’t really know what he tells himself to explain the apparent years-long, cross-school conspiracy to smear his son’s good name.
Alternatively, he may be very aware of his son’s size and rationalize that the school officials are simply interpreting normal childhood behavior as bullying or even dangerous because of it.
That’s true, especially considering the issue mentioned above of people tending to expect behavior based on apparent rather than actual age. It’s all too easy for people to come down harder on bigger kids because ‘they should know better’, because our brains are telling us that they’re older than they are.
However, given that Trunchbull’s automatic response to any issue at all is flat denial, sometimes followed by disproportionate retribution, I’d say he’s gone beyond any actual attempt at reasonableness.
My goodness this is just troubling. You pause and look at the situation and see these two men and realize that they are both fathers, both who loves their child, both who believe that their child can do no wrong, both who would do whatever they can for their child.
The Trunchbulls have gone to the extremes with Truck, but I have to say that boy would never have to worry about his parents doubting him, until now perhaps.
“both who believe that their child can do no wrong,”
Oh NO. No, no, no, no, NO. Todd does NOT believe that Selkie is flawless. Because he understands that she is an imperfect kid, and doesn’t even worry about her being less than perfect, he won’t spoil her. Because Trunchbore doesn’t understand that his son is imperfect (probably because he doesn’t understand that he himself is imperfect), he’ll spoil him right up to the point where he’s forced to acknowledge he’s wrong.
BIG difference between the two. Loving your child doesn’t mean thinking they’re naturally good, it’s acknowledging that they’re all naturally little supervilains who have to learn to be heroes, and helping them learn.
(Don’t let my HYDRA supervisor know I said that last part.)
I didn’t say flawless. Saying that one can do no wrong doesn’t instantly equal flawless, even the right decisions can be flawed such as Selkie deciding to go out and play in the cold.
I did not say that they were exactly the same just pointing out that despite how messed up Trunchbull is about it and his elitism he’s still a father doing whatever he can for his kid just the same as Todd is a father doing all that he can for his, wanting the best for them and all of that.
In this moment I don’t see Trunchbull merely as an antagonist, the oppressive bad guy but as a father, a human being…with the bigoted elitism of a Malfoy and the self-important egotism of Merlot which he has so nicely indoctrinated into his son. A child vision of himself that’s a scary thought.
“…the self-important egotism of Merlot…”
Please enlighten me – who is Merlot?
I tried Google, but all I got was lots of wine links and links to True Blood.
I assume Adork is referring to Dr. Merlot because I use him as my avatar. Indeed, poor Dr. Merlot was one of my favorite recurring minor characters until his tragic death. I liked him in spite of his attitude towards the protagonist not because he was a Good Guy Antagonist or a Cool Villain, but because I sympathized with his situation. He is cranky because he has the thankless task of carrying out the secret orders of a dangerous Mad Scientist in direct defiance of the laws of an even more dangerous Mad Scientist. And he gets no respect despite his incredibly important position simply because he isn’t “gifted”.
Later on, despite showing symptoms of the Spark (it’s unclear whether the Foglios forgot he wasn’t a Spark or whether they had him discover his ability off-panel), he’s still envious of our protagonist despite the fact that he should have realized there was no need to be envious of her, and it leads to his (probable) death. And I was sad. Because he might have been a self-important jackass in the position of antagonist, but he could have easily had a neat redemption sub-plot instead of being killed off as a gag The worst he ever did was treat an apparently clumsy assistant exactly as she appeared to be: a clumsy assistant who really, really should not be involved in secret dangerous plots for everyone’s safety. The fact that she was secretly The Chosen One was not his fault, the events that transpired were really, really not his fault (yes, Silas did the whole dramatic reveal thing, but Dr. Beetle was actually responsible and Klaus already knew everything), and he should have realized that as of this page that he actually ended up with just about everything he wanted. Was he a jerk to Agatha? Yes, but only because she wasn’t who she appeared to be. If she was actually as incompetent as the locket made her act, she wouldn’t have belonged there. Also, Silas knew that Beetle had no good reason for her being there and his anger towards her could well have been a result of his frustration towards Beetle, who was now dead and Silas had to clean up Beetle’s mess. So Silas fires her, kicking off the entire main plot, and frankly he had good reason for it.
Silas is no hero, but he’s also very much a product of his environment. And that environment is full of evil, plotting Mad Scientists who dump their responsibilities on him. And I totally sympathize with that. And that is why I use him as my avatar. And this comment is much longer than I intended.
The worst he ever did was treat an apparently clumsy assistant exactly as she appeared to be: a clumsy assistant who really, really should not be involved in secret dangerous plots for everyone’s safety.
Uh, yeah, look at his speech bubble. He’s clearly Sparking, which is not necessarily an excuse for murder by itself, but considering the circumstances he was in, the very real threat of death (and/or being vivisected alive), combined with a superpower that is it’s own downside (recurring temporary insanity), and I think maybe he deserves a little slack. We’re talking about a universe where Bangladesh Dupree is permitted to live because she’s a funny mass murderer and only sometimes kills innocents her employer doesn’t want her to kill.
I just think that if they had calmed Merlot down, given him a little of Agatha’s coffee… no wait, that would be even worse… given him some normal coffee, that he might have been able to calm down and focus and realize that he’s been letting the Spark take over. I totally understand the castle’s point of view that he needed to be stopped under those circumstances, but I see it as wasted potential.
I feel weird going on about a different character from a different comic. He never had the spark but he had the intelligence to almost be considered one. In a way I think that’s what drove him to madness. He was so smart and could do so much without truly being a spark such as discovering Beetle’s hive and all. But from what we saw he was never truly treated on par with a spark, more like a minion. So close yet so far. Like boosting that one is in the 10th smartest, far from dumb but still not #1.
I never thought him a jackass for how he treated Agatha. But his melodramatics when it came to outing Beetle then how he “took responsibility” for his own actions that lead him to the Castle made him a jackass, followed by more melodramatics that led to his death via one impressive home security system.
Minus the melodramatics Trunchbull has that egotism where all bad things are the result of others trying to hinder him rather than his own doing.
…I just imagined Trunchbull getting crushed by the castle after raving about a frame up on his son.
Mr Trunchbull, how dare you! You are quite learned enough to know the difference between Mathematics and Arithmetic! I accept such mix-ups from the uneducated, but really!
(btw, I believe Arithmetic is actually one area of mathematics, but I couldn’t quite figure it out until after Algebra. Also, arithmetic courses are mostly taught as memorization, when the root of Math is logic. Hence the joke at my college in the Math department that Arithmetic isn’t Math. Also, I suck at memorizing things… x.x)
I think you’ve already named the teacher. With all the number carrying, I think he should be Mr. Roulette. Give him a good French first name, like Jacques, and I can already read him with an accent.
Yeah…Mr. Jacques Roulette.
You could even make him Tony’s favorite teacher…nah…that’s too much.
I don’t know why, but I feel some kind of sorry for Professor Trunchbull (his facial expression in panel 4 makes me feel like this…). He is a jerk, of course, but I think he acts like that because… maybe he was bullied by his teachers, when he was little… and they threatened him, like Tommy’s teachers do now… But he still is a jerk.
P.S.: Sorry, my English is really bad, I’m from Germany. ^^’
I’m kind of astounded that nobody’s pointed out aptness of the line from the teacher ‘you always gotta watch out for the things that carry over’, since it is essentially Trunchbull’s attitudes and worldview ‘carrying over’ into his son that started this whole thing.
Call him Abraham Setrakin after the character in “The Strain.” I liked him. A very learned and traveled man. A man from Romania. Though here he is young, fresh and interested in teaching, imparting knowledge to his charges.
Todd and Selkie are bad influences on each other, they don’t seem to draw the fine line between justice, revenge and pettiness. Todd may have outgrown violence but perhaps not the deeper problem, atleast entirely.
Mr. Newton?
Yep, Garry Newton.
Mr. Newton is my snarky, grumpy history teacher, so this is a headcanon I think I’ll pass on.
I don’t think Tommy needs to learn mathematics. He already knows the Amorality . T( inappropriate actions)= 0 (consequences. )
Names, hm. *studies teacher* Carl Gauss?
How about Fred? Fred Gauss. (It seems to me that Dave is the kind of person who is more likely to tweak the name than to go with the full thing, although I could be wrong about that.)
Is it wrong for me to hope that he’s sitting outside of a courtroom one day, watching Tommy being found guilty of some crime?
And even then, he’d still be insisting it was ridiculous.
This situation may be Tommy’s one last chance to avoid that scenario. If he gets away with this, no one is even going to try to stop him until he does something that catches the attention of men with guns and the force of law behind them.
Given the schnozz on the teacher in panel 2, I’m inclined to suggest some reference to Jamie Farr.
Max Clinger (misspelled on purpose)
Carl Foreman!
“Why?” You might ask.
Look closely. You’ll get it.
Mr. Cass Andra
Love it!
I wasn’t sure if people would get the reference or think it was funny.
While Mr. Trunchbull’s first few panels make me feel a little bad for him, the rest take care of that. Can’t wait to see the size of the crow he’ll be fed.
As for Todd, he’s earned a little smug here.
As for teacher, Mr. Stockdale. One of the best teachers in my school; I could talk for quite a while about how cool he is. We called him Stockdude, and could even call him that to his face.
I’ll bet that Selkie already sent him the Video as a back up incase the principal or Truck destroy the phone or delete it saying “What proof?”
Trunchypoo’s a jerk, but he genuinely seems concerned for his kid in that panel.
He’s very concerned about his kid, so much so that he is trying to protect him from a conspiracy that doesn’t exist. Tommy is just using that to benefit himself because he doesn’t know better.
I think it’s more a case of ‘if his kid looks bad he looks bad.’ And, being the superior specimen of humanity that he is, that it just not acceptable.
Nah, I’ve had to deal with a kid like Truck (we were in the same grade), and his father thought the world of him. He could do no wrong. “The apple of his eye.” as the saying goes. I even called him out about spreading lies about my family, and we didn’t even get an apology from the man (who was standing right there when his son inadvertently admitted his guilt) for his son’s actions, nor did he tell his son to apologize either. Just a, “Sorry to have taken up your time.” and then they left.
Nah, Trunchypoo is a jerk. He doesn’t care about his kid, he cares about his IMAGE… his kid is just an extension of that.
wow. he really is just that far into denial. at least his motives are more pure than i thought they were. he *actually* believes his son is well behaved and doesn’t deserve what he’s getting.
Yeah, that’s why my sympathy from the first few panels gets tempered. We know from the first time we saw the Trunchbulls that they’ve TOLD Truck how to behave properly, but also refuse to accept that just telling seven/eight-year-olds how to act doesn’t work. Kids WILL test boundaries and need to be corrected or disciplined when they do, so it’s natural for Truck to be testing if what Mom and Dad say is really the way things go. Between the attempts at discipline at school and the Our Baby Can Do No Wrong Because We Told Him Not To at home, Truck must be rather confused on some level.
Honestly, for someone who cites science as a reason for Truck to be told not to pick on the smaller and/or weaker kids, I’m somewhat surprised Mr. Trunchbull doesn’t seem to be aware of or has dismissed this basic tenet of children.
I’ve met my share of adults both as a kid and as an adult that always insist their baby isn’t at fault. It’s less hard science and more social science where they don’t want to admit failure. If their child failed then they fail worse and for some, that is a fate worse than death.
I ran into a situation like this once. The parents in question had 7 kids, some biological, some adopted and could more than afford their choice to send them all to private schools.
Most of the kids ended up as truly wonderful people. Kind, hardworking, successful in their chosen fields, and very compassionate. Their youngest however was awful. She’d figured out how to act kind and respectful as long as her parents or older siblings were in the room, but as soon as they left she would become hateful and vicious towards anyone who didn’t immediately do what she wanted.
Fortunately, that kid had enough siblings around that she started to get caught and her parents were able to train her out of the worst of this sort of behavior.
hmmm…. methinks selkie and todd are in on the little recording thing together… why else would todd seem so smug….
think about it… the way this is reading todd seems to be almost ‘not’ surprised old trunchy is here with him again, but faking it for the sake of the ruse
this is gonna be good
In addition, unless it happened “off-screen”, as it were, the school didn’t summon Todd … and why would they? Selkie’s not in trouble, nor has she been hurt. We’ve already seen the principal’s efforts to get her to go back to class. Maybe instead of (or in addition to) recording the incidents at the library, Selkie called Todd and let him listen in?
The principal might have called Todd to come make Selkie go back to class, as well. Your version does sound cooler, though.
Or Selkie called Todd in the meantime.
Or, as others suggested, she sent him the video, just in case, and he decide to come to the school when he saw it.
Ooooh…. I can’t wait to see how this goes down!
Anyone else notice the traditional greeting of “I will not harm you” Todd has with eyes squinting and “claws” pointed at him?
Or is it just me reading too deeply?
OH MY GOODNESS ME HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT.
Heh!… now take a look at MRS.Trunchbull in panel 3 here: https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie338/ , SHE was doing the Sarnothi greeting too, but i guarantee that she sure as heck wasn’t doing it out of FRIENDSHIP…
I’ve used and still use that expression plenty of times. It’s to the point where when I smile at someone in town half of the people present start backing up.
Oh, well spotted!
And well played, Dave! I was wondering what was up with his expression.
Todd “…and from jackasses to Dr Mengele, Prof Trunchbull, btw your son Tomas will be sent to Juvie for several things, including grievous assault on My daughter, have a nice day Prof Trunchbull.”
Math teacher? I’d say he looks like a Mr. Morris. I don’t know why.
Professor, while I understand that your department only studies the actions of sophonts, you still must have enough of the rudiments of biology to know that you yourself are a primate, and your disparaging of your own clade is really rather silly.
And remember: jackasses carry heavy loads, eat the scraps of agriculture, and have a very powerful kick.
Yeah, but that’s just it. Trunchbull doesn’t think of himself as a primate. He thinks that he, and his wife, and their offspring, have ascended to some higher plane of existence. Given this type of parenting, it’s no surprise that Tommy thinks everyone has to do what he says, and he doesn’t have to do what everyone else says.
For the sake of the citizens of Calument City, I’m really, really hoping that Tommy is an only child, and stays that way.
I don’t think there’ll be any problem with Tommy having siblings. I think he’ll be like an eagle chick and starve his other siblings out of the way.
i’m not really a sadistic person, but at the rate his kid is going from bad to worse on the scale of good to evil-overlord-ness, one can only hope that Truck becomes a candidate for the Darwin Awards before he’s old enough…
I’m loving this 🙂
Subtle warning/message in panel 3 is subtle. Also, love how Todd is doing the whole “I won’t harm you” thing of Selkie’s race.
A human smile can look just as dangerous as any other creature on earth. It just takes the right motivation and a bit of style.
This is pitiful, really. Guy’s blinded that he’s assisting in his kid turning into an entitled sociopath.
Awesome Dave is awesome…now…if that really is the Sarnothi “I’m not gonna harm you” pose, what are the chances Trunchbull would actually recognize it, lol? That’s rubbing it in.
Also? He may think he’s talking smack, but he’s as much a primate as anyone else there, so poor choice of words.
I love today’s strip on so many levels.
“Guy’s blinded that he’s assisting in his kid turning into an entitled sociopath.”
If the only authority that Truck acknowledges is his parents, then of course he acts differently at home. This is a common trick that sociopaths figure out at a young age, extending it to their favorite / most threatening teachers, their bosses, and police officers. If they get married, they’ll either browbeat their spouses into submission, or just add their spouse to the list of people they act respectful towards. Meanwhile, whenever and whoever they don’t “have to” act respectful, they’ll disrespect anyone and everyone else.
Because, don’t you know, the world is a gigantic hierarchy and you need to climb as high as you can and to do that you step on as many people as you can. But when you can’t, you act like you don’t. That’s sociopathic thinking. But what’s worse is that kind of thinking gets reinforced by those who tell the sociopath to behave a certain way but neglect the whole “you really need to actually consider other people to be people and treat them with respect because they are like you” thing, so that everything becomes about behaving correctly without ever learning to actually respect anyone.
And that’s why Mister Trunchbull thinks that his son is perfectly well behaved while the opposite is actually true.
And of course, Trunchypoo neglects that lesson because he himself never learned it. Not only is the behavior that we’ve seen from him “onscreen” sociopathic in its own right, but he got pitched off that government research project with the Sarnothi for a reason. The government doesn’t generally like to fire people once they’ve gone through the whole background clearance process. It is neither free nor effortless. He had to have been a truly next-level jerk to get booted.
Since Trunchbull not only knows of the Sarnothi, he knows their customs, OF COURSE he would know the gesture, and he would know Todd knows about it too. A subtle hint by Todd (which he did) is all it would take.
I wonder if part of Trunchypoo’s denial is a failure to realize that his “little boy” is freaking enormous. It’s one thing to think of your child as “my little boy” until he’s a grandfather, it’s another to not notice that he’s literally twice the size of his peers.
Listen, you: when my cat was born, I could hold her and all of her siblings in one hand like a handful of sleepy mice. Now that she is a full-grown sixteen year old adult cat, her body weight is more than all of them at birth put together. Nevertheless she is still my little baby kitten, and don’t you or the physical universe dare tell me otherwise.
My mother used to dice up some shaved deli turkey for “the kitten” when he weighed almost thirty pounds.
Obviously Truck is abusing his size; but I would have to point out that this isn’t always entirely true/accurate. The disparity between myself and my classmates was similar to Truck, but I did not have that mean streak that he does.
It sucks when your body grows faster than your awareness does; adults expect you be an adult because you look like one, but inwardly you are still very much a child.
All true. But that’s exactly why missing the fact that Truck is gigantic would be a problem. A parent’s primary job is to help a child through any difficulties and differences they may have in dealing with the world at large.
Alternatively, he may think that Truck is being picked on because he’s so large; we don’t really know what he tells himself to explain the apparent years-long, cross-school conspiracy to smear his son’s good name.
Alternatively, he may be very aware of his son’s size and rationalize that the school officials are simply interpreting normal childhood behavior as bullying or even dangerous because of it.
That’s true, especially considering the issue mentioned above of people tending to expect behavior based on apparent rather than actual age. It’s all too easy for people to come down harder on bigger kids because ‘they should know better’, because our brains are telling us that they’re older than they are.
However, given that Trunchbull’s automatic response to any issue at all is flat denial, sometimes followed by disproportionate retribution, I’d say he’s gone beyond any actual attempt at reasonableness.
My goodness this is just troubling. You pause and look at the situation and see these two men and realize that they are both fathers, both who loves their child, both who believe that their child can do no wrong, both who would do whatever they can for their child.
The Trunchbulls have gone to the extremes with Truck, but I have to say that boy would never have to worry about his parents doubting him, until now perhaps.
“both who believe that their child can do no wrong,”
Oh NO. No, no, no, no, NO. Todd does NOT believe that Selkie is flawless. Because he understands that she is an imperfect kid, and doesn’t even worry about her being less than perfect, he won’t spoil her. Because Trunchbore doesn’t understand that his son is imperfect (probably because he doesn’t understand that he himself is imperfect), he’ll spoil him right up to the point where he’s forced to acknowledge he’s wrong.
BIG difference between the two. Loving your child doesn’t mean thinking they’re naturally good, it’s acknowledging that they’re all naturally little supervilains who have to learn to be heroes, and helping them learn.
(Don’t let my HYDRA supervisor know I said that last part.)
I didn’t say flawless. Saying that one can do no wrong doesn’t instantly equal flawless, even the right decisions can be flawed such as Selkie deciding to go out and play in the cold.
I did not say that they were exactly the same just pointing out that despite how messed up Trunchbull is about it and his elitism he’s still a father doing whatever he can for his kid just the same as Todd is a father doing all that he can for his, wanting the best for them and all of that.
In this moment I don’t see Trunchbull merely as an antagonist, the oppressive bad guy but as a father, a human being…with the bigoted elitism of a Malfoy and the self-important egotism of Merlot which he has so nicely indoctrinated into his son. A child vision of himself that’s a scary thought.
“…the self-important egotism of Merlot…”
Please enlighten me – who is Merlot?
I tried Google, but all I got was lots of wine links and links to True Blood.
I´m guessing Dr. Silas Merlot, of Girl Genius. Also a jackass.
I assume Adork is referring to Dr. Merlot because I use him as my avatar. Indeed, poor Dr. Merlot was one of my favorite recurring minor characters until his tragic death. I liked him in spite of his attitude towards the protagonist not because he was a Good Guy Antagonist or a Cool Villain, but because I sympathized with his situation. He is cranky because he has the thankless task of carrying out the secret orders of a dangerous Mad Scientist in direct defiance of the laws of an even more dangerous Mad Scientist. And he gets no respect despite his incredibly important position simply because he isn’t “gifted”.
Later on, despite showing symptoms of the Spark (it’s unclear whether the Foglios forgot he wasn’t a Spark or whether they had him discover his ability off-panel), he’s still envious of our protagonist despite the fact that he should have realized there was no need to be envious of her, and it leads to his (probable) death. And I was sad. Because he might have been a self-important jackass in the position of antagonist, but he could have easily had a neat redemption sub-plot instead of being killed off as a gag The worst he ever did was treat an apparently clumsy assistant exactly as she appeared to be: a clumsy assistant who really, really should not be involved in secret dangerous plots for everyone’s safety. The fact that she was secretly The Chosen One was not his fault, the events that transpired were really, really not his fault (yes, Silas did the whole dramatic reveal thing, but Dr. Beetle was actually responsible and Klaus already knew everything), and he should have realized that as of this page that he actually ended up with just about everything he wanted. Was he a jerk to Agatha? Yes, but only because she wasn’t who she appeared to be. If she was actually as incompetent as the locket made her act, she wouldn’t have belonged there. Also, Silas knew that Beetle had no good reason for her being there and his anger towards her could well have been a result of his frustration towards Beetle, who was now dead and Silas had to clean up Beetle’s mess. So Silas fires her, kicking off the entire main plot, and frankly he had good reason for it.
Silas is no hero, but he’s also very much a product of his environment. And that environment is full of evil, plotting Mad Scientists who dump their responsibilities on him. And I totally sympathize with that. And that is why I use him as my avatar. And this comment is much longer than I intended.
I love Girl Genius but I can’t believe I never recognized your avatar before… doy. >_<
Well, there was also the murders…
Uh, yeah, look at his speech bubble. He’s clearly Sparking, which is not necessarily an excuse for murder by itself, but considering the circumstances he was in, the very real threat of death (and/or being vivisected alive), combined with a superpower that is it’s own downside (recurring temporary insanity), and I think maybe he deserves a little slack. We’re talking about a universe where Bangladesh Dupree is permitted to live because she’s a funny mass murderer and only sometimes kills innocents her employer doesn’t want her to kill.
I just think that if they had calmed Merlot down, given him a little of Agatha’s coffee… no wait, that would be even worse… given him some normal coffee, that he might have been able to calm down and focus and realize that he’s been letting the Spark take over. I totally understand the castle’s point of view that he needed to be stopped under those circumstances, but I see it as wasted potential.
I feel weird going on about a different character from a different comic. He never had the spark but he had the intelligence to almost be considered one. In a way I think that’s what drove him to madness. He was so smart and could do so much without truly being a spark such as discovering Beetle’s hive and all. But from what we saw he was never truly treated on par with a spark, more like a minion. So close yet so far. Like boosting that one is in the 10th smartest, far from dumb but still not #1.
I never thought him a jackass for how he treated Agatha. But his melodramatics when it came to outing Beetle then how he “took responsibility” for his own actions that lead him to the Castle made him a jackass, followed by more melodramatics that led to his death via one impressive home security system.
Minus the melodramatics Trunchbull has that egotism where all bad things are the result of others trying to hinder him rather than his own doing.
…I just imagined Trunchbull getting crushed by the castle after raving about a frame up on his son.
Yes, as Chaos said it’s Dr. Silas Merlot, also the character in Mad Tinkerer’s avatar if I’m not mistaken. A huge jackass.
The math teacher should have the same first name as an already established character. Probability thing, you know. Maybe even Todd?
“Come into my web” said the spider to the fly
Mr. Akinspak
Wednesday (and therefore, the next strip), cannot come soon enough.
I see a great storm of intensity building up! I bring an offer of peace and fishies! Summer fishing trip Selkie. http://fav.me/d7lnxo8
Mr. Dee Vide
Mr Trunchbull, how dare you! You are quite learned enough to know the difference between Mathematics and Arithmetic! I accept such mix-ups from the uneducated, but really!
(btw, I believe Arithmetic is actually one area of mathematics, but I couldn’t quite figure it out until after Algebra. Also, arithmetic courses are mostly taught as memorization, when the root of Math is logic. Hence the joke at my college in the Math department that Arithmetic isn’t Math. Also, I suck at memorizing things… x.x)
So, they’re gonna start fighting again?
Todd is one thing, but the professor should know by now he always gotta watch out for things that carry over…
“pot calling the kettle black” XD
Today comic was too perfect XD
You’ve really come a long way! Thank you for all the wonderful comics!
“Reader Roulette”…interesting name.
*****
I have a feeling, after all the evidence is presented to Professor Trunchbull, he still won’t admit his boy is less than perfect.
Mr. Albert G. Barr. Goes by Al. ^^
Hooray for New Math!
It’s so simple,
So very simple,
That only a child can do it!
I think you’ve already named the teacher. With all the number carrying, I think he should be Mr. Roulette. Give him a good French first name, like Jacques, and I can already read him with an accent.
Yeah…Mr. Jacques Roulette.
You could even make him Tony’s favorite teacher…nah…that’s too much.
I really ******* hate Mr. Trunchbull. He’s an arrogant, blind *******, and ******* rude. I can’t wait until he learns that he is wrong.
I don’t know why, but I feel some kind of sorry for Professor Trunchbull (his facial expression in panel 4 makes me feel like this…). He is a jerk, of course, but I think he acts like that because… maybe he was bullied by his teachers, when he was little… and they threatened him, like Tommy’s teachers do now… But he still is a jerk.
P.S.: Sorry, my English is really bad, I’m from Germany. ^^’
P.P.S.: I like the name Mr. Jacques Roulette. 😉
I’m kind of astounded that nobody’s pointed out aptness of the line from the teacher ‘you always gotta watch out for the things that carry over’, since it is essentially Trunchbull’s attitudes and worldview ‘carrying over’ into his son that started this whole thing.
Call him Abraham Setrakin after the character in “The Strain.” I liked him. A very learned and traveled man. A man from Romania. Though here he is young, fresh and interested in teaching, imparting knowledge to his charges.
I’m imagining Prof Trunchbull’s lines in Christopher Lloyd’s voice and I don’t know why.
Todd and Selkie are bad influences on each other, they don’t seem to draw the fine line between justice, revenge and pettiness. Todd may have outgrown violence but perhaps not the deeper problem, atleast entirely.