In lieu of silly comments from me, here is two “Mastermind Selkie” panels spliced together with dialogue that is totally not ripped off from elsewhere.
I was originally going to have this be a Friday strip but the way things worked out that would have required using an entire strip to pad/bloat the flow just to delay the reveal. Meh.
Selkie is about to be in HUGE trouble here… -_-
Actually, maybe not. After all, there was violent activity, and it does have a history of getting overlooked by many authority figures. Following the investigation resulting from the 911 call, I would guess that a number of people are going to be in trouble, but Selkie is not going to be one of the main ones. She almost certainly WILL have to sit through a talk about what constitutes a genuine emergency, but I don’t think there will be much more than that.
Also if the principal didn’t report the last time and he was going to sweep it under the rug again, so he could be in big trouble. Maybe as much as Truck is.
And THIS is what happens when you refuse to believe others’ testimony about how your son behaves, Mister Trunchbull.
I really, REALLY would like to see that happen. Not only would Principal Punk get fired, but it would show others that his corrupt brand of allowing his orphan students to get repeatedly beaten up, slapped, hospitalized by thug students cannot go unpunished. I want him to get jail time!
Kind of a Catch 22 there. If he had pressed the issue originally, Prof. Trunchbull could’ve gotten him fired (as far as he knew). If the other option could also get him fired, that leaves him with no plan that doesn’t get him punished. That doesn’t seem particularly satisfying to me.
Try though as dictator, kindergardener, and middle management will, the world does not conform to expectations of individuals. The situation was only two opposed extremes in his mind, and his delusional fear-rooted affected ignorance of reality was no excuse. There is usually a choice between two opposites. Were he to simply think without fear of being held responsible (god forbid that!), he would see that the Trunchbulls were a type of villain easily beaten when one deals in terms of fact.
She will at least be in trouble with Todd for making a call to 911 when everything was potentially handled and there is a possibility that Agent Brown ends up involved with the whole brouhaha. She’s supposed to fly under the radar here…
I’m just going to leave this here… ノ( ゜-゜ノ)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI
Um. Well, that was unexpected.
I don’t think Plan B is very smart, but it is guaranteed to produce results. And she does have video of Truck pushing, etc. Still, I too suspect Selkie will have some issues from this.
Oh Selkie you don’t know how much trouble you’re about to be in do you?
I’m sure Selkie will get a lecture. But as for actual punishment, she can guilt it all away by pointing out
1) She’s already been unfairly punished for defending herself and this time everyone knows it.
2) It’s totally everyone else’s fault more than hers because this would not have happened if she hadn’t been punished for defending herself. And this time everyone knows it.
3) If she is actually punished for this, considering point 1 and 2, they’d just be giving her a mandate to escalate things even further next time.
Very good points. 🙂
Also, when the kid who put her in the hospital got off without punishment, reacting like this is at least… somewhat understandable. For an eight-year-old, anyway.
If someone put me in the hospital and I thought there was a good chance of another altercation or them doing the same to another person, I’d call the cops. At least then there would be an official record of the issue.
Haha! Oh this is great! But seriously Selkie you’re going to be in trouble.
…Oh, [expletive].
My thoughts exactly.
Yeah, Selkie may no be happy with the results, especially with regard to Todd.
Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the personality of the officer… well, we could see a reasonable discussion in which the officer understands that a girl over-reacted. We could, however, also see a situation in which things go completely out of the realm of common sense, driven by bureaucracy and/or the cop himself, in which arrests, investigations, and processing for all involved will make everyone miserable. *Note, for all the news stories about this stuff, the vast majority of people and places manage to act slightly less moronic than that, so there is a good chance of this falling into a nice non-terrible place. Sadly, there are some areas where a police officer responding to a domestic violence call requires arrests without any options… so let us hope the poor policeman doesn’t have to deal with this!*
I suspect Selkie wasn’t intending for Tommy to get arrested, but to embarrass all of the adults involved (except her father, who believed her), and to involve a non-incompetent authority figure. Being eight, I totally could see her not realizing that her father would also be embarrassed by this, or not caring as long as the adults who completely screwed things up before were humiliated by what happened.
She was assaulted. She was then punished for defending herself. Regardless for Mister Trunchbull and Principal Hobbit’s reasons for doing so, they abused their authority, and that gives Selkie the right to call in a non-abusive authority. This is justice, and Dave is a good god for arranging things to happen with such wonderful timing.
Perhaps more to the point, there’ll be some kind of record with the police of what happened….
This could go either way, depending on what Selkie told the dispatcher when she called. If it was a “help help it’s happening RIGHT NOW!” type call (when it never escalated to violence and was “handled” by administration) then she’d be in pretty big trouble (false reports are pretty serious) If she called and explained the situation as it was (previous physical violence, thinks there could be more [could being key] and general fear for her own safety beyond what the school can provide) then it could have been dispatched as more of a wellness check, and she’d be in the clear (mostly)
Either way, once the cops get called, things get very real, very fast (especially for Tommy, he looks like he needs a new pair of pants right about now)
But her friend was getting beat up that very day, and she recorded it on her phone! As long as she wasn’t claiming that she was getting beat up right at that moment, there’s plenty she could have said to get the police interested.
And now we know exactly what she meant by “…Truck’s gonna hurts my friends… Glee hee hee hee!“
Good point, I was just looking at the call being about her, but it does say “a student”, which could be any student.
The other thing I wonder is exactly when the call was made, because that has a lot to do with the legitimacy of the content of Selkies call. If she called after the library interaction with Tommy, then it would be accurate that there was a student beat up (though from what we saw outside, a pushing over was the least anyone got), but if she called before that, then there could be issues (all we can tell from the imagery is they weren’t at the library when she went to make the call, and timing is everything)
Still, there’s a big difference between saying someone is being beaten up right now, reporting a recent crime, and fearing a crime soon to happen.
Considering there’s only one cop, I’m hoping that she was honest here, rather than manufacturing an emergency.
Well, whatever comes of this, things are about to get really, really complicated.
Even if someone tells the cop that a kid was just pulling a prank, all Selkie has to do is show the cop her videos and he’s not going to just go away quietly. He’s going to poke around until he’s certain of whether or not he needs to be there. And given everything else that’s been going on…
Nice Watchmen reference there, Selkie is totally channeling Ozymandias there.
Well I’ve seen enough. I know you won’t be of legal age for another ten years*, but I’m recommending you for a leadership position in HYDRA as soon as you turn 18. Congratulations, Selkie, and I look forward to your future Mad Science Utopia/Dystopia ruled by you and your minions.
*Selkie comic continuity time is about one week per real year. Marvel comic continuity time is about one year per four real years. So by my calculations she’ll be ready to join HYDRA in about (520/4) 130 Marvel Continuity Years. Good thing Captain America and Earth 616 Nick Fury don’t age.
Of course she’s quoting Adrian Veidt. 🙂
Real Selkie probably hasn’t read or seen Watchmen because I’m sure Todd wouldn’t consider it age-appropriate. (Unless real Saturday Morning Watchmen episodes exist in the Selkieverse.)
On a serious note. I wonder if she gets any of this deviousness from her biological parents. One has to wonder if one or both of her parents were a bit like this, and if it’s at all related to them needing to flee from Sarnoth.
Harrypartridge to the rescue!! From now on in my mind all of Harry’s episodes are now on selkies tv
I just thought of something…how much does Agent Brown know about how Selkie got hurt? I assume next to nothing since it escalated this far, but still.
Um, Truck put her IN THE HOSPITAL last time, and the school did NOTHING to protect her. My instructions to MY daughter would be to call 911 if he came within 20 FEET of her.
It does give her reason to consider it an emergency when Truck starts attacking her friends.
Not bad. Of course there are all sorts of explanations that will have to be offered to get Selkie out of being charged for misusing “911”—reasonable explanations that’ll actually work.
Plus there might be something needed to explain Selkie’s, er, appearance, and whether or not she’s a human being…
I would chuckle off the questions and say you know children’s fashions these days. They see a show they like and then they just have to use makeup to look just like their favorite characters. By the time the guy went and checked out any children’s programs he would have forgotten what she looks like out of sheer train of thought and any silly costume would replace his memory. Eye witnesses are easy to manipulate.
Though on the police thing, I never called the cops because I always preferred to solve things in house. I always paid the price physically one way or another but I figured if I took care of things myself it’d be a better solution. Then again I am a Truck myself minus the bullying. So I could get away with it better.
I kind of hope there is just so the cop might say his girlfriend is Sarnothi and ask what trunchbull is trying to say. Also hopefully Selkie’s police jurisdiction has a youth redemption squad that arrests and scares the child with stories of criminals and actual criminals until his parents pick him up.
Nothing good can come of this; when the police are called EVERYONE gets in trouble. Just defending yourself? Doesn’t matter. You will be made an example of too.
Just getting hurt by a bully? You must have done something to bring this upon yourself.
I’ve walked into a school office to pick someone up too many times with the police present to even dare hope this will end well for anyone.
*facepalm*
Depending on what she said as has been pointed out, she may not be in trouble at all period. She has caught crimes in progress, this is not under dispute. That’s what the police line is for, to report crimes. Now of course we know that 911 is for emergencies. You don’t call to report a crime that has already happened and is done now. Let’s not forget that Truck threatened people on tape to force them to do what he wants. That is a crime in itself.
Her age forgives her over using 911, a smart police officer would keep that in mind and merely lecture her on the importance of emergency lines, then take her statement and evidence. Then charge Truck with all his crimes he’s committed. A smart officer would do that.
As for what you said Miles, that if you’re bullied you must have done something to bring it upon yourself. That is true that many people look at it that way but we have Truck on tape shouting that he gets people for not doing what he wants. That is motive and proves that no, you don’t have to do anything to get hurt by at least this bully. So there will be survivors not sucked into this.
I seriously doubt Truck will get charged with anything. Probably a stern talking to, not just to Truck, but to his parents and the school administration for letting things get this out of hand.
If the officer gets the details on the situation mostly accurately (which seems likely, given that there is video evidence and that the only person who might have disputed the facts is now extremely upset with Truck), Selkie probably doesn’t get into any trouble at all, aside from a quick lecture on her motives for calling 911. If she was afraid Truck would hurt her, and the school had in the past failed to protect her from him, that’s a perfectly reasonable time to call 911, but we don’t know what she told the dispatcher.
If the cops see the videos Selkie took, and choose to do something about it, she might have been kinder to tar and feather the Trunchbulls and run them out of town on a rail.
There is zero way their reputation can ever recover from this.
It seems at everyone is assuming she called the law and reported Tommy was beating HER up.
Cop says the report was “a student” getting beat up. She has video of Tommy pounding on George and that other kid (Mike?). 911 is not just for when YOU are in trouble. You can call when someone else is in trouble.
I don’t see how, legally, she’d be in trouble.
If she tells the officer that she called 911, and then took the video as evidence – rather than calling 911 some time later after it was all over – and if the grown-ups don´t contradict her in front of the officer, I´m pretty sure she´ll get away with it.
Though, honestly, MY plan B would have been to, if Principal Hobbit and Professor Bullheaded sweep this thing under the rug, to head straight to the nearest police station and report the whole thing.
The shocked expressions cracked me up, especially Tommy’s. XD
that was a big mistake on the part of Selkie, on some places it is illegal to use recording devices at schools… she could get in real trouble for this
to those you say that selkie well get in trouble for this you are a bit right and like what MadTinkerer said she well likely too get a lecture from her dad for not telling him about her plan b and others have said that what selkie did was the right thing to do witch I say they are right because Truck did pick her up and he shook her witch by doing that caused her heating pads to come out of her suit and that lead to her getting sick and having to go to the hospital and all so to me and as we have seen truck is not the kind of person to let things go as we seen in many pages as he went from the school playground to the library to beat selkie up and he all most beat the crap out of Jessie it’s good for her that mina got there in time to stop Truck from doing that but to tell you it is going to backfire on selkie but not in the way you think you see the police officer is going to take Truck in because of what he did to selkie at the playground and what he was going to do at the library to selkie and to Jessie and even those selkie does not have strong proof of what happened in the playground she does have people who saw it happen like Jessie paul Amanda and Tony and todd well tell the Officer what happened after what happen to selkie at the playground that she got sick and had to go to the hospital and now I know what your thinking how is this going to backfire on selkie well you see mr Trunchbull is like has son a bully you see in a lot pages with mr Trunchbull he is the kind of guy who gets what he or miss’s Trunchbull wants and even those he sees has son for the bully that he is but he does not want to see has son get taking by Officers you see Truck just fucked up has life the Officer is going to take him in and Truck is going to have to go to kids court that well find him guilty and a judge well send Truck to a Juvenile Detention Center maybe for a year but that well put on his school record and a lot of people well find out what he did and the Trunchbulls life well get talked about like they should have doen something and they are bad people/parents and mr Trunchbull so want to get even with todd and his kid for this and for the principal well get fired for trying to sweep this under the rug and for threatening his people so it’s going to be a big shit storm coming to tell you all.
Actually it can be considered a felony to make false 911 calls. And if you “accidentally” call 911 like I did one time (butt dialed), they can charge you out the ass for trying up their lines.
While I got no issue with a kid calling for help, which is the adult thing to do, at the given time Selkie was in no immediate danger and I really hope she gets talked to about her behavior with 911.
And for everyone arguing about the videos and bla, bla, bla – Clearly a teacher already had the situation under control, she SAW the teacher handle it, she made the phone call after the fact.
It wasn’t necessarily handled yet. At the time she made the call, she was on her way to the office with Jessie. There was still room for the principal or Trunchbull not believing her/the truth.
I accidently called 911 as well, and my mother was not charges. Back in ye olde days of 1990s, my mom had a pager and gave me a few pager codes with which to dial her if I needed her home. One of them was 911. At the time, I forgot how to page 911, so I dialed 911 and realizing my error, hung up. The police were not amused by any stretch of the imagination, but they realized that kids mess up. And she could have made the call either during the time that she was headed to the library, just when she realized that Truck was running up to try and whale on her, or on route to the principal’s office. She still probably knew she was not in danger, but she could certainly say that she believed that she was. My bigger problem is that she was supposed to be under the radar. She has in fact jumped over the radar, and did a wild tap dance in fluorescent neon tights and top on that radar. And Agent Brown will probably be furious. Perhaps even at Todd for “letting it get that far.”
It’s not for every single accidental call. I’ve called them on accident and they were cool about it, but for people who do it more then a few times they charge people.
I may get hate or heat for saying this but my goodness this is going a bit far. Todd being there to soak up the gloating with that smugness feels a bit much. I mean did he actually take time from work just for this moment or was it his day off?
And to call the police? Now I know just about everyone is saying how great this is because she can show the tape and this kid can get punished to the maximum extent to whatever law applies to kids his age and possibly the principle because they’re pissed that he followed procedures and went about doing things in a way to protect his faculty from the blinded fury of Trunchbull, though an earlier explanation would have been useful.
The thing is this sometimes given the means victims can become victimizers wanting to repaying their bullying lick for lick. It’s no longer about justice it becomes about revenge and humiliation. Especially with children. I can not tell you how many times I’ve seen one child punished and their victim taunts them for it, or when they are promised a punishment if they bother the other child again how the victim will constantly poke the bear to taunt and hopefully bait them into action.
Even worse I’ve seen adults do it only through more vindictive means.
Now if Selkie falls into that I don’t know, but I’ve seen it happen too much. Well I’ve said what I’ve had to say, any disagreements?
“Todd being there to soak up the gloating with that smugness feels a bit much. I mean did he actually take time from work just for this moment or was it his day off?”
His little girl was beaten up and she was punished for defending herself because the father of the offender wouldn’t beleive her and the principal was too spineless to stand up for the truth. Depends on what job he has, but I’d want to skip work to see that sorted out.
Actually, what kind of work has you dressing up in Starfleet uniforms? Is Todd an actor? Obviously he doesn’t play Kirk in a filmed role, but maybe he’s part of a live show?
He’s an architect.
Maybe he wasn’t working today, or maybe he was working from home, or maybe he’s allowed to wear that shirt at the office. I could believe any of those three.
well let’s say selkie did not call the police and she let things play out before the call and Truck get’s punishment by his mom and dad what is stopping him from beating up selkie one day and I know you may say teacher or teachers could stop him but they may or are going to get hurt I mean in page 476 Truck was/looked like he was about to beat the carp out of Jessie and thank goddess mina was there to stop him from doing that and if he does beating up selkie she could get really hurt or worse killed.
This isn’t going too far yet. Now in a few days, after the heat has died, if she calls the police again then yes, that would be too far. The call was made while crap was still going down. Just because she can take a moment to breathe does not mean the danger has ended.
In fact, the police may become the reason Truck doesn’t go full sociopath. He knows he’s going to be watched and with all the chaos won’t have time to come up with a revenge plan worse than cry about how everyone is ignoring the horns. The police in theory are there to protect and serve. And that means protect and serve everyone. She shouldn’t have called 911, but she’s a little kid, what can you expect?
I’ll bite. I personally think a little honest revenge is absolutely good for the victim’s soul. A bully deserves payback, lick for lick. I see nothing wrong with giving the bully a taste of their own medicine. It’s not victimization, they earned it. Especially since so much bullying is either completely ignored or quietly managed behind closed doors with no resolution for the victim. It will help the victim heal, and might even help fix the bully.
Ah, Selkie. You have much to learn about being an evil mastermind.
First, having a backup plan is good. Not telling people until it is too late to be interfered with is fantastic. However, this secondary plan could interfere with the primary plan, so enacting it before you know whether your main plan has worked or not is premature and possibly self-defeating. For example, this could get Todd in trouble, which is presumably an undesirable result.
Second, speaking of backups, always, always, always back up your important files. I sincerely hope you sent the videos to Todd before attempting to gloat about them. Having the videos in a single place could have resulted in collapse of the plan for various reasons, e.g. confiscation and erasure by incompetent school officials attempting to cover their own butts at the expense of others.
Third, you would have gotten further by not gloating. At this point you are sympathetic because you are the aggrieved party and have evidence. You could have leveraged that further by playing it up instead of rubbing your win in their faces. Just because Todd is not an evil-mastermind type doesn’t mean he is wrong about this.
Overall, a commendable effort, but please remember these points for your future plotting and use them to make your traps even better!
Good on you Selkie. My parents taught me to use 911 and even as an adult I dont know the police departments number off the top of my head.
About a year ago I had to call 911 myself because I didnt know what department to call and they transferred me over without any complaint.*though I was reporting vandals*
Some people seam to forget that she was hospitalized due to Truck’s violence. Selkie has video evidence of truck beating up other students and she could rightfully believe that this would have been shoved under the rug like before.
Did you know that in Florida pushing a small little girl into a bathroom and harassing her while she nearly missed her bus turned out to be very much illeagal? yes my bullies were arrested on kidnapping.
Calling the police is always the better idea. The cops themselves told me that calling them is preferred to going to the school officials as the schools tend to pretend it didnt happen. Go figure!
I just love the faces in panel 5 – all those bugged out eyes against Selkie’s smug smile. And I’m with those that say she won’t be in trouble with the police; she accurately reported a crime by the same guy that got her sick at school and then into the hospital. Her dad and the school (unofficially anyway) may be another matter.
Just when you thought the situation was done escalating…
That REALLY says something about the Calumet police.
“We received a 911 call…”. 911 – that’s EMERGENCY.
“I already called them THIRTY FIVE MINUTES AGO.”
911, and it’s more than a half-hour later, and they STILL haven’t arrived? Wow.
Dude, do you realize that you’re mixing the strip and a quote of Watchmen?
And THAT is why Selkie will not be allowed to bring her phone to school with her in the future!
I went to an elementary school where kids were arrested regularly. It was hell. However, if you saw something like Selkie did, you would find a phone, claim you needed to call your parents because you forgot medicine or something, and CALL 911. The operator would hear the child’s voice and put it into perspective. They’re actually highly patronizing. The first step is to ask where you are and if you know who is involved. They keep you on the line and call the school to alert security there. A patrol officer will come down because a report was made, but he’s expecting a small scuffle.
Think about the timeline. BOTH parents had time to drive to the school long before the officer arrived. That means he was not dispatched to an emergency, he probably drew the short-straw because he’s the one who now has to write up reports and take statements. If he had actually believed children were in danger he’d have raced there with siren’s flashing to help out AND the school would have been alerted.
I called the police a total of seven times and all I EVER got was a reward for protecting my schoolmates, and a lecture from the principal because he loved to sweep things under the rug while screaming “BOYS WILL BE BOYS” along with ignorant mothers and fathers.
I’m actually surprised Todd didn’t tell her to call the police. If you or your friends are in danger and the school does nothing, I don’t care if you call Godzilla, just get some help! I’d be proud of my kid if she called the police after the last incident was swept under the rug. Now, admittedly, she should have been on the line with police long enough to be able to tell them that the fight was broken up by teachers. If you quickly hang up they assume that you were forced to do so.
I should add, the kids at that school were like Tommy, as far as attitude went, but much more violent. Two twins used to threaten people for lunch money by using knives. They there my autistic brother in front of a buss. They lit a girl’s ponytail on fire. They burned multiple people with cigarettes, they put 5 different kids in the hospital (one of whom was in a come for 3 days). They stabbed the crossing guard. This was not an intercity school, either. This was just in a neighborhood where parents refused to believe their kids were monsters and absolutely refused to be parents. The kids reacted by getting what they wanted in any way they could, and sometimes what they wanted was to hurt people. The main ring leaders (the twins and a kid named Andrew, who was basically the ruler) went to juvy frequently and last time I looked them up, he was in jail for torturing and then murdering his girlfriend and her unborn child, the twins were both in prison- one of which was later killed. We were not calling the police just because someone got punched or shoved, we were calling when we heard bones break. This wasn’t so much because the school security sucked, this was because parents would protect their little shnookums, and if the kids got home they were never punished because the parents would lie for them. The police, however, were less tolerant.
Both my kids have called the cops when they were young. Mind you, I don’t know if my daughter called 911 or the main police line. It happened when she was about ten years old and a boy at school had asked to borrow a stack of her gaming books and then when she asked for them back had laughed at her and told her he had never intended to return them.
She called the cops and explained the situation. They took the information. Next morning the boy in question shot into the classroom before class began and thrust her books into her arms. She reported that he still looked terrified. Apparently he had gotten a phone call at home from a policeman who had suggested he should return the books.
My son was about five when he called the police, maybe six. He was alone at home with his Dad and snuck into the other room to dial 911. Dad was extremely startled to find two very large, amiable cops on the door step asking to come in. One of them talked to Dad but the other one took my son into the kitchen and asked him why he had called 911. My son explained that there were these police officer trading cards and he wanted some. It was the latest Community Policing Initiative that the cops had all been given cards to give out. So the cop asked him seriously if perhaps he had gotten scared of his Dad and that was why he had called. And my son asked, well, could he get a trading card without saying he was scared of his dad, or did his dad have be taken away to go to jail before he could get one?
I’m pretty sure the cops felt it was important to make sure that my son never dialed 911 again to get a Community Police Officer Trading card, because they gave him an entire set on the spot.
I salute your daughter. As long as she didn’t call 911, that’s good tactics. Your son, I can understand given the age. Kids do stupid stuff. Hell, adults do stupid stuff.
Oh, and Truck’s expressions are priceless. The contrast between Selkie’s expression and Truck’s expression in the second picture is pure gold.
Thank you very much, Dave.
Selkie did the right thing, any school violence is supposed to be reported immediately even if the situation is taken care of before the call is made, most schools outright refuse to though even in severe beating and minor stabbing as they don’t want their precious rating and reputation to be lowered. and yes stabbing do get covered up with not only the threat of suspension or outright expulsion but also the threat of defamation lawsuits that if actually gone through would bankrupt most families involved, before the school district or even just the individual school would even have to worry about it costing too much, all they have to do is cut some more critical spending such as on new textbooks and that’s something they have no qualms over.
hahhahahaha truck”s face hahhahahahahahahah
Personally I love Selkie’s ‘Evil Mastermind’ face. She is so adorable. X3
Principal: “Young lady, unless you are popular or rich, getting beat up is NOT an emergency.”
Dex: “I hate to agree, but you would not believe how many of our arrests get off the hook on that precedent.”
Can I get Truck’s face in panel 5 framed?
HHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAOMYGODHAHAHAHHAAHAHAS
….
THAT.
IS THE SMUGGEST FACE I’VE SEEN
IN MY
ENTIRE
LIFE.
IT DOESN’T GET ANY MORE *FUCKING* SMUG THAN THAT
A little *too* much chessmastering there Selkie