Someones getting the horns.
If you liked the “Selkie Selfie” panel from last Friday, I’ve got an illustration and some t-shirts based off it here you may enjoy.
I still fully intend to use the pictograph swears as a general self-censorship format, but on a case-by-case basis they're of questionable appropriateness.
Is it bad that I feel a little bad for Tommy there? The look of confused kinda betrayal of his ideals there is a bit heartbreaking
Yes. He threatened to beat up a teacher and get her fired. Kid nearly could have KILLED Selkie. He deserves NO pity for what he has done.
Totally, utterly agree with you. No pity for Tommy. Tommy deserves what he’s about to get. As does Trunchypoo.
This isn’t the first either!
see the prolugue!!!!
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just kidding there is no prologue.
Nah, he’s still BSing. If he honestly thought his dad would be proud of him, he wouldn’t have been lying about it.
Well he certainly knew that his father would not approve of lying to him, but specifically the part about “I wasn’t letting them boss me around” absolutely is behavior learned directly from his parents, and is something that he might have thought his father would be proud of. That is, that his father would be proud of him not letting them boss him around in spite of his lies.
Considering how his parents have behaved, that’s not really too farfetched.
Too bad the voting widget was messing up the site. I would love to upvote this.
I call BS on that, if he honestly thought his dad would be proud he wouldn’t have felt the need to begin with.
He wouldn’t use it as his defense now if he didn’t think it would work. He knew his father wouldn’t like the hitting people, but he clearly thinks “they were telling me no” and “I wasn’t letting them boss me around” are mitigating circumstances – or at least he thought that his father would think so.
I think what Truck is doing right now could best be described as “grasping at straws”. He’s looking for something, anything his father will find acceptable. And I don’t doubt that “Don’t let people boss you around” is something he’s heard from his parents.
Actually, the best thing he could do now is keep quiet and wait for the storm to pass.
Gotta agree with Kent here. Reminds me of an encounter I had peripherally with a royally steamed mother yelling at her son in a video arcade (this was oh … 20 years ago, so by now that kid, who was probably 10 or 12 at the time, probably has kids of his own!). Apparently the kid took 50 bucks from her purse without permission and spent it all on video game tokens and she found out and caught up with him at the arcade. The look on his face reminds me a lot of Truck’s here, and the look on the mom’s face reminds me a lot of Prof. Trunchbull’s.
Oh, the dialog was different. But the interplay was pretty well spot-on, right down to the kid trying to grasp at straws and being unable to really come up with a defense or anything other than fairly terrified replies to his mother’s angry questions. (For those reading this: she didn’t lay a hand on him, and I don’t think she was going to. But she was extremely angry that her son had stolen from her and blown 50 bucks at the arcade and essentially had nothing to show for it.)
“There are no bad students. Only had teachers.”
P. Trunchbull takes a lot of stock in his family’s word, and has obviously used Tommy as an example child in social reform type litigation. And he is upset because he is figuring out that he’s not as good a parent as he thought, by goddamn osmosis or thought reading or Tommy Is Just Like That Because Its In His Blood or something.
This is, finally, almost proper behavior from a parent in response to his son’s behavior (it’s still slightly inherently sexist with the “don’t hit girls” stuff earlier). With the way it kind of completely blindsides Tommy? I’m a little sorry for the poor boy too. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve it. Oh boy does that kid deserve this and more. He HOSPITALIZED a kid. And was actively planning to pound on smaller kids indefinitely because they got in trouble and were “Enemies.” But while that’s all on him it’s also on his dad. And it’s unlikely that his father will take kindly to probably having to apologize about this. I know that my maternal grandfather did stuff like that to my mom, where she embarrassed him and he punishes her WAY too much.
Not too sure what “Too Much” would be here. Grandpa used to kick mom out of the house for certain weeks so his rich step family from England could come over because one time or another mom made him look bad? You’ll know it if Pr. Trunchbull takes it too far. With a situation like this one, where “too far” is, realistically, nearly too far down into darkness for non-sociopaths to even think up or truly comprehend… well, let’s just hope Professor Trunchbull is as fair and just as he SAYS and THINKS he is.
I’m not sorry for him at all. He made his bed. Now he can lie in it.
Lying in the bed he made is one thing, but what if he gets to lay somewhere completely different? Just because someone is in the wrong does not mean that they deserve everything, or that no one can do wrong to them.
I hope the kid gets exactly what he deserves. No more, no less, and just enough to set him on the right track.
The “kid” is not a normal kid, nobody really knows that, and the hospitalization was the result of a cold, not being beaten up. Quit attributing indirect things directly to someone.
Selkie got the cold, and was hospitalized, because Truck made her drop her hot packs when he attacked her and her CBT crashed as a result.
And Truck’s father, as well as the principal and his secretary, DO know that Selkie’s not like the other children.
He picked her up and shook her until all her warming pads came out, which not only weakened her but crashed her immune system making her susceptible to the cold virus. What he did, did cause her to be hospitalized. It was his fault.
Yes, it’s his fault, but he didn’t try to do it. What’s so hard to understand about any of that? He was oblivious to it all and not only you, but the comic itself, is treating it like he intentionally made her sick.
Maybe he didn’t intend for her to get sick, but he was trying to injure her.
Would Selkie have gotten ill if Truck hadn’t grabbed her and shook her?
No.
Whether or not he knew specifically what would happen in the future as a result doesn’t change that. It’s not a mitigating circumstance, IMO. He *was* trying to hurt her. It wasn’t unintentional in any sense of the word.
Short. Sharp. Shock.
If this Tommy kid is going to change, this dressing down has got to be one he NEVER forgets the rest of his life. Sometimes leaving an emotional scar means a lesson that can’t ever be ignored. Let the not-so-little shit HAVE it, Mr. T.
YES! I’ll feel bad for Truck later. At the moment, I’m right there with ya, Selkie.
Yeah, I have to say that I do feel a little sorry for Truck here. His father got a teacher fired because he took the word of a child over the word of at least one teacher (and possibly other witnesses). His father is right to be angry at his son for the lies and violence. But his father has been complicit in those lies and violence by positively reinforcing bad behavior. His father has been a very intelligent, very educated fool who refused to acknowledge how children actually think and act, or that “his son” might not be any more naturally civilized than any other child just because he is “his son”.
Oh, I’m not saying that Truck is blameless. He’s about to get what he so richly deserves. I’ve just worried all along that his behavior was acting out behavior he got at home. If he’s about to get the butt whipping of a lifetime for making his father look like a fool, I can’t help but pity him. I’m still hoping I’m wrong about that and Truck’s just a jerk because he’s spoiled and knows how to manipulate his parents. If that’s the case then he’s about to get a well deserved attitude adjustment.
HAPPINESS! SHEER, BEAUTIFUL HAPPINESS!!
YES YES YES!!
Indeed. Despite what people say, vengeange IS sweet!
And best served cold!
Thus, implying that it is some form of carbonated beverage, or possibly a dairy desert.
I would like to state I believe that Trunchbull said the word “flipping” behind Selkie’s yeep. Now onto my other thought and Selkie said it best. YES YES YES!!!
Oh thank goodness, I thought he was going to take it a little too far and slap the kid right there in the office making him look like a total–as it stands, he looks about ready to put the fear of God/Trunchbull into this kid. Ladies and gentlemen, the monster known as Truck is about to be demolished.
That is one angry daddy face, and it looks like his posture/hand positioning could either be a very forceful gesture to go with his current anger, or it could go a darker way, and be a wind-up of sorts (really hope it isn’t that, though)
Dang comic, making me look forward to Mondays 😛
All of the yes.
Also: Selkie Selfie? I need that tshirt. Or print. Or sticker. Basically glue it to something and let me throw my money at you.
And just realised it’s a buyable print. Goodbye empty patch of wall, hello new poster.
I’m not much for prints; if I had more money to be buying merchandise, I’d prefer the wearable kind (or at least buttons I can pin to things). And setting aside my own tastes for a moment (because the Selkie selfie probably isn’t something I personally would wear), I think the Selkie Selfie is a great choice for a t-shirt, and it’s the perfect point in the evolution of our culture to be making fun of selfies, and there’s a serendipitous element to the way Selkie fits with Selfie…
…all of which is to say that you should absolutely make this pic into a t-shirt, post-haste. I look forward to spotting them at conventions.
I should have been more specific, but there are t-shirts available at that link in addition to prints.
Also shower curtains wallclocks and some other things which I can enable if people want.
Shower curtain would be awesome, considering her connection with water! XD
IS Todd wearing a yellow star trek shirt in that last panel? It looks an awful lot like one…. “beam me up scotty” XD
Truck knew his father wouldn’t be proud. Otherwise he would not have lied to him about the hitting in the first place. So Truck was trying to plead to what he knew his father’s ideals were. But it’s a false front for Truck. I’ve worked with enough children to know; kids only hide things/lie if they think they’ll get in trouble. Truck knew darn well his father would be angry. Truck was using his parents to get away with being a bully. And that’s the truth. And that’s what Trunchbull knows now.
Myoko is right I work with kids as well and they only lie when they are scared about getting in trouble. I knew one kid who hid his underwear every time he had an accident cause he was scared about his parents finding out.
He knew Dad wouldn’t approve of the fighting, especially hitting girls.
At the same time, that “you have to do what I say” and “don’t tell me no” stuff was said when only other children were around, and he had no reason to lie. He really does believe that anyone who tells him no or refuses to obey him is “bossing him around” and must be met with maximum force. He had reason to believe his father would agree with that. Forcing your will on others is a Trunchbull family value.
Seems he mistook assertiveness for aggressiveness.
Seems that his parents do. Dad may not approve of physical violence, but you can’t call his treatment of Principal Coward (to say nothing of the previous school) anything but “aggression”.
So is his reaction to Todd a couple of pages ago: https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie487/
It kind of looks like Todd is wearing a yellow Starfleet shirt…
That and holding a random spare leg. Which does nothing to take away from the comic all in all.
The “spare leg” is his coat. 😛
I saw that too! I can see Todd being a Trekkie…
Well well. I finally have a little respect for Trunchy. A little. He honestly thought his kid was being unjustly accused and attacked. Now he knows the truth, he’s not making further excuses. So…apparently he’d better ask not what a “Sarnothi truth” is, as opposed to a “Truck truth”, no?
Thomas Alva!?! I should have known. I really, really should have guessed. For those who don’t get the reference, Alva is Thomas Alva Edison’s middle name.
and everyone knows Edison was a giant d-bag. He is even the first recorded film pirate. He stole a copy of “Le Voyage dans la lune” and resold it in the USA as his own film. Georges Méliès never saw a penny from it.
What didn’t Edison steal?
Our hearts.
Pure. Win.
There goes Truck’s little bad behaviour shield. If anything, because of this, Dad will expect even tighter reigns on his kid an no more benefits of the doubt given.
I’m imagining Trunchbull’s face as he watches the video twitching in pure rage. It’s hysterical.
I think this is an excellent story arc here, it’s certainly reflective of today’s society.
hahaha, “Don’t gloat. Win graciously” this made my day 🙂
Indeed.
Nevertheless, let her “Yes! Yes! YES!” all she wants. She´s eight, after all.
I love the fact that this is the second time we’ve seen potentially antagonistic characters respond to the misbehavior of their children with appropriate discipline – and not just “boys will be boys” or “my child can do no wrong” even after the facts are laid out for them.
I don’t know how likely it is that Mr. Trunchbull will become an ally the way… Heather’s?… mom did, but it’s encouraging that this story allows that sort of thing to happen – in contrast to many mainstreams, where antagonists are antagonists because that is their base nature. (I’m thinking of Slytherin House while writing this.)
Makes you wonder what Hufflepuf was doing there at all, don’t you agree?
Well, not everybody volunters to be blatant heroes and villains. You need somewhere to put all the completely unimportant background people who nobody cares about.
Probably how the Sorting Hat goes about it, too. “Hmm, completely bland an uninteresting. Obvious Hufflepuf.”
Trunchbull will have to overcome his “Sarnothi are monsters who can’t co-exist with humans” beliefs before he can be any kind of ally to Todd.
That’s something that always bothered me… Slytherin isn’t meant to be an Evil house of Evil folk who do Evil for the Evilness of it… they’re Cunning to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff’s Courage, Intelligence and Loyalty. Unless I’ve forgotten a big chunk of the book, Hogwarts students as a whole opposed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
As for Trunchbull becoming an ally, and reversing his “Sarnothi are apex predators and therefore incapable of interacting peacefully in Human Society” stance? Here’s hoping that he’ll recognize that the Sarnoth he…. observed was NOT operating under standard conditions.
Gah, Cut myself off…
Selkie is doing a very Man-Cub thing. Justice and following the rules is the most important thing. She’s exposed someone who was breaking the rules and reveling in the reveal and, in her mind, exoneration of herself because SHE wasn’t lying… TRUCK was lying!
I like to think that Salazar Slytherin and Goderic Gryffindor had a Loki and Thor, brains and brawn teamwork thing going in their youth. But then, we all know how that one turned out, too.
It’s been a long time since I read the books, but I’m pretty sure that Slytherin House’s “evil” came from two of Salazar’s principles other than cunning: win-by-any-means ambition, and blood purity. The former made them bullies and cheats, and as adults made them the kind of person who joins the existing power structure and resents new groups gaining rights. The second made them love Voldemort as an idea. They wanted to live in a “utopia” where the Purebloods ruled, everyone else was kept in their place, and uppity mudbloods like Hermione Granger who challenged their sense of superiority were removed entirely. Then he actually came back and they saw what their utopia was actually like, and only the most hardcore (or the ones in too deep to escape, like the Malfoys) stayed with it.
Even then, Win by any means necessary ambition and pure bloodedness are not evil in and of themselves. Put in the right directions that level ambition can get things that are good done in places where it can’t normally get done. Despite the romantic beliefs, sometimes to do good you must play dirty. And being pure blooded is just an inherent quality. Maybe one that lends itself to a stronger base in magic with the training parents would give their kids. Much like how family businesses pass on from parent to child.
I would say the problem is that there is inherent weaknesses as well. Slytherin seems to follow disturbingly more than that type of ambition would suggest. There are a lot of people who just follow Draco Malfoy because he’s the alpha douche. Though Rowling herself did say that not all the Slytherin are bad so there must have been some that just do their thing and leave Malfoy and Voldemort to do their things. Still, it is interesting to compare the two types of teamwork Gryffindor and Slytherin take part in. Though I confess, I would have been a Slytherin.
Slytherin became the ‘evil’ house when 90% of the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself were ex-students from Slytherin House.
All the kids from the Death Eaters were placed in Slytherin House as well. Not to mention Snape, as head of said house. Snape the double spy, once death eater.
*SPOILER ALERT*
It’s only years AFTER the final book (in the epilogue) that Harry says to his child that being in Slytherin is nothing to be affraid of (anymore)
Of course you can. But none of them are interested in pointing it in the right directions. The culture of Slytherin, to the extent we see it, is pure ambition for its own sake. The only goal is personal advancement, defined as dominance over others. Stepping on people is not only the means to reach the top, but the goal.
Thus, as you say, following the alpha douche.
Objectively yes. But they’ve turned it into a virtue. To be blunt, they’re a bunch of racist pricks, going back to Salazar himself. If they weren’t when they arrived, they would be most strenuously encouraged to become so by the alpha douche and his followers (i.e., most of the house).
She really should have shown some, then. She left some awfully important things out of the books, only to tell us about them later.
Oh I agree that they’re a bunch of racist little weasels and that Rowling didn’t show the good side at all in the books and the movies. I personally would have loved a scene where Draco is being well Draco and one of the Slytherin looks at him in annoyance and dope slaps him upside the head, then shouts “BE QUIET!” Sadly we did not get that. Would have been great for an anti-hero introduction.
I see the appeal of Trunchbull becoming an ally, but unfortunately I think he’s already been established as too dark a character. He is an autocratic, intolerant, borderline-abusive parent. True, he didn’t know the half of what his son was getting up to, but Truck’s behavior indicates some seriously bad role-modeling at home.
I keep hearing Trunchbull the Elder talking in Liam Neeson’s voice. Is that weird?
I was thinking Alan Rickman or Jeremy Irons myself, but Liam Neeson is good too.
Liam Neeson sounds too gentle. I’m thinking more along the lines of Jeremy Irons like Kent said, or Tim Curry, even Donald Sutherland.
They have that omnious sound among them, certain authority.
Oh, Snape! yes, Kent… yes!
Or Gilbert Gottfried. Now you can’t unhear it.
No I can’t… hahaha
How about this? Alan Rickman when he’s calm, Gilbert Gottfried when he’s agitated.
…and a swing and a miss from Trunchypoo. Hitting people and lying are indeed problems that have to be dealt with, but if he doesn’t recognize a root cause when he sees it, there’s not a lot of hope of the real problem getting fixed. Apparently he thinks bullying is perfectly reasonable behavior as long as you don’t use gross physical force to do it.
As for Truck…my mind keeps going back to one of his lines in the library after the initial incident: “She made me feel dumb. I don’t like feeling dumb.” Truck isn’t a dumb kid, but he’s nowhere near as brilliant as his father, nor is he the prodigy that they seem to think he is. So he tries to be like them in other ways. Sad, really. I’d feel worse about it if he wasn’t such a horrible human being even by the standards of eight year olds. As it is, it just makes me mad that Trunchypoo is letting himself off the hook.
“They” being his parents.
“Alva?” As in Edison?
Of course. Who else? Leave it to Trunchypoo to not only be arrogant enough to apply it to his own son, but to not realize that “Thomas Alva Trunchbull” sounds silly. Of course, “Anything Anything Trunchbull” would sound pretty silly, so perhaps he can be excused for that one.
the reason being that “Trunchbull” is a 100% fictitious name that was invented by Roald Dahl and doesn’t exist in any other context.
I’m just glad this is one of those things that won’t have rule 34. The selkie selfies would be ruined.
Oh, give it a few months.
Well two of the characters in the above strip are of legal age, and stranger ships have happened. Not that I’m suggesting that it should happen… Oh no… Stop, imagination STOP AAAAAARRRGGGHH NOOOOOOOOOOO
*hands over brain bleach*
Is Todd Wearing a Captain’s shirt from Star Trek? and yes this is awesome
So, Truck’s true nature has been revealed. The question becomes, what will the professor do now? Will he recognize his complicity in molding Truck into what he’s become?
Also, I wouldn’t mind seeing Selkie’s “Yes! Yes! Yes!” reaction made into a T-shirt/poster/mug/whatever.
I was wondering how you were going to get around Selkie’s “Dance, Truck, dance” gloat at the end. Would’ve undercut things tremendously.
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie478/
Ha ha! Good point!
Oh Schadenfreude….
I have to say that Truck has a wonderfully Feminine middle name 😛
It was Thomas Edison’s.
Selkie is right, but wrong about the location you gloat in private so everyone thinks you won gracefully.
Never….EVER…gloat in public. Victory dances are best reserved for the end.
This is not the end.
is Todd wearing a StarTrek shirt in the last panel?????
Selkie sweety, you should heed your dad and show grace in victory – it’s a great way to piss off the “T”s.
WELP.
Please excuse me for a day whilst I process all the mixtures of emotions and worldviews.
Oooooooon another note…
Selkie is so cute aaaaaaaa lookit her dive after her phone eeeeeeee! Skinny little cutie girl is so cute and ogosh I wanna pinch her cheeks can I pinch her cheeks? I’m gonna.
*hugs kisses forehead pinches cheeks* Whossacute terror of the seas? Youreacute terror of the seas!
Just remember, there’s a price to be paid with giving her a kiss. That price is poison. I would like to slap her on the back in approval for all of this.
Foreheads aren’t poisoned! *clings indignantly to cutie* Forehead kisses are always safe!
… when they’re to and not from her….
And seeing this was my happy point for the day. Despite what Tommy says I don’t really believe his “I thought you’d be proud of me” either. The professor now knows how perfectly Truck has been manipulating him for years, and if he thought his Dad would be proud there’s no way he would have been lying to him about what he’s been doing for so long.
I love the way you lay out your panels. Every panel has a slightly different angle and something interesting happening. Selkie scrambling to catch the phone is an awesome touch, without distracting from the building drama of the main events.
So… Todd was on his way to a Trekkie Meet-up?
I mean, considering how teachers at school do do TONS of bulls–t when it comes to crime and punishment, my trenchbull is not really in the wrong here.
just noticed Truck is named after Thomas Edison- right? Thomas Alva Trunchbull? Thomas Alva Edison?
Took me about a week, but I have finally read ll of the archives. I enjoy this comic quite a lot, and Dave, as a writer you are clearly able to elicit both gut wrenching emotion and the stereotypical “awwwwww…” of how cute / touching.
Truck is a bully because his parents are bullies, it’s as simple as that. As a child, I would have been one third his size, but he would only have ever messed with me once, because I would have raised to cost of hurting me to levels where he would never willingly pay. I was small, but I bit eyeballs… I also had some rage issues.
As an adult I understand the how and why this happened, but I still feel the gut need to smash the elder Trunchbull’s face… I feel the need to bully those who bully. I really try to not escalate to the levels I did as a child, and really really try to keep a level head, but of course somethings, they are triggers.
Basically, that whole family is messed up, and I don’t know if I’d be able to be around them without lashing out.
If you read this, you may want to edit it out (or just not approve my whole comment, either way), but has anyone in the comments deduced that Selkie’s not-friend Amanda is likely to be the Amanda that is Andi’s child?
Yeah, I think we got that reference when Andi called up the hospital or child services. (Can’t recall which, and too lazy to search)
Gendo Trunchbull: “I see NOTHING to be proud of here! First, you left witnesses. Second, you allowed those witnesses to record evidence. Third, you got CAUGHT.”
I am amazed he is angry at his kid. Too many parents take “protecting” their child to such ridiculous lengths. Nice to see a line had been crossed. Since despite what I would like to do to bullies, they have been made that way. And they need to be unmade.
One more villain redeemed. Or at least found redeemable. It’s starting to be quite a record at this point… And not an easy one to pull off this well. Kudos.