Part of the difference is in the way Andi and Todd handled their respective revelations, but whereas Amanda put a series of half-jumbled thoughts and vague hints together and then went into complete and utter freak-out, Selkie listened to Todd, then recapped to make sure she had the facts straight, took a moment to calmly and rationally consider said facts, and then calmly and rationally decided that the proper response was to be very loudly pissed at the universe for this particular additional complication in her life.
She waited until she had all the facts, then reacted in a perfectly sensible manner because as far as she’s concerned, there is absolutely nothing whatsoever that she likes about these facts.
She’s venting off the pressure in a controlled manner so that once she’s done she and dads can talk about what to do.
Yep. Selkie’s a kid so she didn’t consider that she shouldn’t do this while Todd’s driving, but other than that, this is a perfectly rational and adequate response. I suspect that after she screeches herself out she’ll go back to reasonably considering options and outcomes and reacting to situation appropriately.
And note that her reaction is to the only aspect of this situation that is WORTH this reaction. She’s fine with her dad having dated, she’s fine with him having had a kid, she’s fine with the whole lost and found drama. She’s fine with Amanda being her dad’s daughter – you know, the part where he made her exist in the world. She’s fine with her dad having another child and the fact she’s going to have a sister who’s his biological kid. Just “is going to be my sister”, is all.
She’s just upset at the thought of having to be close to specifically Amanda in that way from now on. Like… really, the only part that was worth being upset about.
I also enjoy your explanation. I also pity any siblings you may have had growing up if they angered you. Very few things like a logical explanation as to why throwing their favorite toy onto the roof was a proper idea to confuse a parent. 😉
I have *extensively* apologized to my younger siblings for a lot of the crap I’ve put them through when I was young and stupid(er than I am now) about a great many things.
I was specifically referring to the part where they realized/learned that they were sisters and screamed like crazy.
And like Liliet said Selkie doesn’t really care that much that Todd has another kid, it’s just who it is that is the problem, while Amanda had every right to freak out when she found out her dad is someone she knows who never told her he was her father.
Once Selkie calms down, she is gonna realize that this is the ticket to pure, unending torment for Amanda.
“Oh, didn’t you hear? She’s my SISTER.”
“Sister Dear, may I sit here with you at lunch?”
“Can my sister play with us?”
“Amanda, did you want to come over and have lunch with OUR DADDY?”
I give Amanda 24 hours max before she just EXPLODES. And Selkie just grinning and grinning.
So long as she’s smart enough to only do it with adults around. She learnt that lesson dealing with Truck, but that was dealing *with* a bully, not *being* a bully. Which is what she would be being, even if turnabout *is* fair play.
Humans don’t “melt down” or “explode”. Those are at worst metaphors, and at best hyperbole. Perhaps in a figurative sense, but not in a literal sense.
But then I was imagining, “What kinds of psychic pressures might this generate? What kind of energy, or forces might this conclusion generate in Little Mandy?” And I thought (in a John Cleese kind of voice) Oh, Mother, people explode every day of the week!
And I was chastened, to think of Amanda stewing in her room until she did literally exploded; releasing all that heat and energy in a huge fireball that tore out the window frame, part of the wall, and required the apartment to be condemned as unsafe, dozens of people injured and taken to area hospitals, … Much like “The Eggplant that Ate Chicago” or “The Cockroach that Ate Cincinnati”, Amandazilla generating a huge fireball of freak-out destroys part of Springfield. Ending leaving a contrite Andi paranoid with suspicion and an angry Todd trying to gather enough DNA material to clone her back together, …
Ooo, Ooo, spontaneous Amanda Combustion, it’s going to be a real thing, isn’t it? Ooo, Ooo, I can’t wait to see how this plays out.
Will they will join forces when they become sisters of the heart, like Aquaman teaming up with Johnny Starr, with Selkie covering the wet half, and Amanda going all Antimony Fire-Elemental all over town, righting wrongs and saving people as a bully-fighting duo, a really Sister Superhero team. With a headquarters, and secret identities and all? … Only, No Capes.
When I was eight, our minivan was older and did not have a passenger side airbag. I was allowed to sit in front. When that car broke down, we got a new one, which did have a passenger airbag. I was promptly shunted to the back until I turned twelve (and want very happy about it, either). Dave could just have an old car.
I’ve been bugged by characters clearly not wearing seat belts in cartoons and such, but the one that gives me the worst eye tic is when they’re wearing a shoulder belt — and no lap belt. That is like worst-case-scenario when it comes to improper belt usage. Let’s set you up for a decapitation or strangulation while we’re at it!
But yeah, part of me understands that this is for the sake of ease of visuals. Because the nonphysical closeness of the characters matters more than the physical closeness.
I’d like to put in a plug for the Animaniacs “I’m Mad” song, which is the quintessential kids-being-pains-in-the-car short film, and I love it ever so much despite the seat belts.
I don’t know about the US, but in France the minimal age to go on the front seat is ten – unless the kid is unusually tall. It’s more about height and weight than age actually. I’ve been able to ride in front since I was 8, and without a child seat from age 6 because I was slightly above the “normal” height for a child of this age.
Eh, depends on the car in question and its features. Most all newer cars that have passenger side air-bags (so, pretty much all cars) also have sensors in the seat that determine whether to have the air-bag armed or not (I think the threshold is around 75 lbs, but I haven’t checked in forever). A number of cars also allow for manually disabling the passengers air-bag with the cars key, so before you get going you can have it off if a smaller passenger will be riding up front.
Anyway, despite her age, she isn’t abnormally small or anything, so unless Todd got himself some weird-ass frankensein(‘s monster) of a car, she’d be alright where she is (the seatbelt doesn’t appear to be resting in any weird/dangerous way, and that’s usually the bigger determining factor for front seat usage)
Aside from the seating arrangement discussion…I just like how Selkie just put all the pieces together and came to her own personal nightmare of a conclusion. Either she’ll continue her little freak out about Amanda being her maybe-sister, or she’ll start asking/accusing Todd of being the secret past dad of other kids who’ve made fun of her. Or she’ll listen to him, chill out, and enter the same sort of mindset she had when confronting Truck (conniving, tenacious, resourceful)
I’m betting on Conniving, Tenacious, and Resourceful. I’m in the pool for $150, all riding on Selkie to Show, Place, and Win. ‘Cause I think she has this arms race ALL sewn up.
Some cars, the weight limit is 100. This is the case with my dad’s Ford F-150 – when I was in high school, it would turn on airbags if I was wearing a backpack, but not otherwise – I was about 90 lbs.
It depends what state you are in and how tall the kid is. Also, some cars have the option to turn off passenger side airbags (in Europe, this is very common) so it *is* totally fine in a number of circumstances.
For the state of Nevada, it is 6 yrs of age or 60 pounds for car seat usage. It also says clearly on my visor to not let children under 12 years old sit in the passenger seat due to the air bag there. For me, personally? My 6 1/2 yr old daughter is only 40 lbs. She still rides in her car seat though she does use the belt/shoulder seat belt and the car seat mainly as an all around booster. Just not tall enough to wear the thing without a boost. My son is gaining on her in weight. Let’s see who gets to the just booster part of the car seat first…
My friend’s sister got in a car accident yesterday, and the driver’s seat smashed into the back seat. If her son was behind her, instead of in the front seat, it probably would have killed him. Generally the back seat is safer, but as long as the air bag is set to not deploy with a child in it, it’s fine to have them in the front. It’s not like Selkie or Amanda is a toddler in a car seat.
I do like how Dave is saying “might” … a paternity test here would be a good idea. I’ve always felt that the person in the comic Amanda resembles most is Agent Brown.
I was thinking about him saying “might” too and I had come to three possible conclusions:
1. He’s just saying “might” to calm Selkie down.
2. He’s in denial.
3. He thinks his kid really is dead and Andi adopted another kid and claimed her to be his daughter just to get back together with him. (Yeah, this one is unlikely.)
I think he’s considering the option she might have cheated on him. While unlikely, she wouldn’t be the first woman to cheat on her boyfriend and then later down the line claim the child was his.
Or count the days wrong — the male carriers of the chromosomes can live in the fallopian tubes a pretty long time, for instance. (One researcher got 10 days in the lab, and gods but I wish that website were still up for citation; the technical version is still around, but very medical-jargon.)
So even if someone had openly broken up with a partner, had a fling, got back together… It could get complicated.
But, yeah, considering Andi finally admitted to one big huge lie, Todd’s got reason to wonder what else she might’ve lied about. Usually there’s a pattern. (Frankly, I would expect a pattern existed, though he might never have noticed that she would do “white lies” to avoid fights, or realized what “what Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her — or me” incidents might’ve indicated about Andi’s non-existant conflict-management abilities. On Todd’s side of the ledger in that relationship… would his “I am excited so you will obviously be excited too, yay, baby!” unawareness of Andi’s emotional state extend to a general tendency to assume All Is Well unless evidence smacked him in the face?)
I hope it ends up becoming “Look fish face, I don’t like you. You don’t like me. But if you stop making fun of me, I’ll stop making fun of you. But don’t think we’ll get close.”
Okay, now imagine them TEAMING UP. I mean, Amanda/Selkie feud is an inner thing for the orphan kids, between the two of them, while the rest of the school seemed to like bullying them all together. This situation has seemingly been resolved, but… was it really? There’s grounds for all sorts of conflicts where Selkie as Brain and Amanda as Brawn will be a nightmare team for anyone who stands against them 😀
I really, really, really want that to happen.
If Amanda chooses to get mad at one of her parents and not Selkie, and especially if she projects on Selkie her own situation where her adoptive parents had their own kids – I can absolutely see her going this way. And Selkie doesn’t seem the type to hold grudges, especially when she can do something absolutely awesome instead.
I mean, they’ll still be rivals at everything, but it’ll probably be an in-family thing of the “only i am allowed to make fun of you” sort.
Sarnothi mother friend: “You think that’s bad Todd, imagine shrieking upset children UNDER WATER! Angry neighbors calling you from over a mile away…”
(P.S. Dave? Please update the Cast page. If only so those of us who didn’t create the characters and aren’t working with them on a daily basis have a quick reference for names we haven’t seen in weeks or months. 😉 )
“[L]osts ands founds”. I love Todd, I really do. The most compassionate way he could possibly describe the situation, put in concepts that an eight year old can understand and empathize with, and no accusation. No matter how furious he is at Andi right now, Todd never puts anything on Selkie that she can’t handle. (Furious fishsqueal notwithstanding.)
Can I just say that I love how Todd responds not with “don’t do that!” but “not while I’m driving!” he understands that Selkie needs to get this out, just not at an unsafe time, please!
I’m pleased to note that Selkie is comfortable enough with thinking of Todd as her father that her reaction is to the concept of Amanda as her sister, and NOT Amanda as her replacement.
Can’t tell for sure since Selkie’s yellow sundress isn’t visible, but it seems like this is later on the same day, Heck, this is probably going on at the same time as the Amanda/Andi Show from a few pages ago… Todd and Selkie looks to have stayed at the Aquarium for longer than the girls did, at least long enough to need headlights driving home…
Yeah, Monday at school is going to be “Interesting” in the Chinese curse sort of way… i can’t wait!!!
shes still taking it better than amanda
I don’t know, it seems pretty similar to how Amanda reacted to Selkie being her sister.
Nah.
Part of the difference is in the way Andi and Todd handled their respective revelations, but whereas Amanda put a series of half-jumbled thoughts and vague hints together and then went into complete and utter freak-out, Selkie listened to Todd, then recapped to make sure she had the facts straight, took a moment to calmly and rationally consider said facts, and then calmly and rationally decided that the proper response was to be very loudly pissed at the universe for this particular additional complication in her life.
She waited until she had all the facts, then reacted in a perfectly sensible manner because as far as she’s concerned, there is absolutely nothing whatsoever that she likes about these facts.
She’s venting off the pressure in a controlled manner so that once she’s done she and dads can talk about what to do.
I have enjoyed your explanation.
Yep. Selkie’s a kid so she didn’t consider that she shouldn’t do this while Todd’s driving, but other than that, this is a perfectly rational and adequate response. I suspect that after she screeches herself out she’ll go back to reasonably considering options and outcomes and reacting to situation appropriately.
And note that her reaction is to the only aspect of this situation that is WORTH this reaction. She’s fine with her dad having dated, she’s fine with him having had a kid, she’s fine with the whole lost and found drama. She’s fine with Amanda being her dad’s daughter – you know, the part where he made her exist in the world. She’s fine with her dad having another child and the fact she’s going to have a sister who’s his biological kid. Just “is going to be my sister”, is all.
She’s just upset at the thought of having to be close to specifically Amanda in that way from now on. Like… really, the only part that was worth being upset about.
tl;dr Selkie’s taking this amazingly well.
I also enjoy your explanation. I also pity any siblings you may have had growing up if they angered you. Very few things like a logical explanation as to why throwing their favorite toy onto the roof was a proper idea to confuse a parent. 😉
I have *extensively* apologized to my younger siblings for a lot of the crap I’ve put them through when I was young and stupid(er than I am now) about a great many things.
I was specifically referring to the part where they realized/learned that they were sisters and screamed like crazy.
And like Liliet said Selkie doesn’t really care that much that Todd has another kid, it’s just who it is that is the problem, while Amanda had every right to freak out when she found out her dad is someone she knows who never told her he was her father.
Lol, I love that kid.
Once Selkie calms down, she is gonna realize that this is the ticket to pure, unending torment for Amanda.
“Oh, didn’t you hear? She’s my SISTER.”
“Sister Dear, may I sit here with you at lunch?”
“Can my sister play with us?”
“Amanda, did you want to come over and have lunch with OUR DADDY?”
I give Amanda 24 hours max before she just EXPLODES. And Selkie just grinning and grinning.
So long as she’s smart enough to only do it with adults around. She learnt that lesson dealing with Truck, but that was dealing *with* a bully, not *being* a bully. Which is what she would be being, even if turnabout *is* fair play.
Naturally, I am fully in favor of this happening.
Humans don’t “melt down” or “explode”. Those are at worst metaphors, and at best hyperbole. Perhaps in a figurative sense, but not in a literal sense.
But then I was imagining, “What kinds of psychic pressures might this generate? What kind of energy, or forces might this conclusion generate in Little Mandy?” And I thought (in a John Cleese kind of voice) Oh, Mother, people explode every day of the week!
And I was chastened, to think of Amanda stewing in her room until she did literally exploded; releasing all that heat and energy in a huge fireball that tore out the window frame, part of the wall, and required the apartment to be condemned as unsafe, dozens of people injured and taken to area hospitals, … Much like “The Eggplant that Ate Chicago” or “The Cockroach that Ate Cincinnati”, Amandazilla generating a huge fireball of freak-out destroys part of Springfield. Ending leaving a contrite Andi paranoid with suspicion and an angry Todd trying to gather enough DNA material to clone her back together, …
Ooo, Ooo, spontaneous Amanda Combustion, it’s going to be a real thing, isn’t it? Ooo, Ooo, I can’t wait to see how this plays out.
Will they will join forces when they become sisters of the heart, like Aquaman teaming up with Johnny Starr, with Selkie covering the wet half, and Amanda going all Antimony Fire-Elemental all over town, righting wrongs and saving people as a bully-fighting duo, a really Sister Superhero team. With a headquarters, and secret identities and all? … Only, No Capes.
I am looking forward to this.
An eight year old should not be allowed to sit in the front seat!
My parents let me sit in the front seat at age eight. They aren’t the only ones to do so and won’t be the last.
When I was eight, our minivan was older and did not have a passenger side airbag. I was allowed to sit in front. When that car broke down, we got a new one, which did have a passenger airbag. I was promptly shunted to the back until I turned twelve (and want very happy about it, either). Dave could just have an old car.
I think it’s just a visual thing for the purpose of telling the story since Amanda and Heather were also riding in the front seats of their cars.
I’ve been bugged by characters clearly not wearing seat belts in cartoons and such, but the one that gives me the worst eye tic is when they’re wearing a shoulder belt — and no lap belt. That is like worst-case-scenario when it comes to improper belt usage. Let’s set you up for a decapitation or strangulation while we’re at it!
But yeah, part of me understands that this is for the sake of ease of visuals. Because the nonphysical closeness of the characters matters more than the physical closeness.
I’d like to put in a plug for the Animaniacs “I’m Mad” song, which is the quintessential kids-being-pains-in-the-car short film, and I love it ever so much despite the seat belts.
It’s a new car, one where you can switch the airbag in the passenger seat off.
I don’t know about the US, but in France the minimal age to go on the front seat is ten – unless the kid is unusually tall. It’s more about height and weight than age actually. I’ve been able to ride in front since I was 8, and without a child seat from age 6 because I was slightly above the “normal” height for a child of this age.
Some states have height and/or weight requirements but even here in the nanny state of California it is 8 years old to ride in the front.
Eh, depends on the car in question and its features. Most all newer cars that have passenger side air-bags (so, pretty much all cars) also have sensors in the seat that determine whether to have the air-bag armed or not (I think the threshold is around 75 lbs, but I haven’t checked in forever). A number of cars also allow for manually disabling the passengers air-bag with the cars key, so before you get going you can have it off if a smaller passenger will be riding up front.
Anyway, despite her age, she isn’t abnormally small or anything, so unless Todd got himself some weird-ass frankensein(‘s monster) of a car, she’d be alright where she is (the seatbelt doesn’t appear to be resting in any weird/dangerous way, and that’s usually the bigger determining factor for front seat usage)
Aside from the seating arrangement discussion…I just like how Selkie just put all the pieces together and came to her own personal nightmare of a conclusion. Either she’ll continue her little freak out about Amanda being her maybe-sister, or she’ll start asking/accusing Todd of being the secret past dad of other kids who’ve made fun of her. Or she’ll listen to him, chill out, and enter the same sort of mindset she had when confronting Truck (conniving, tenacious, resourceful)
I’m betting on Conniving, Tenacious, and Resourceful. I’m in the pool for $150, all riding on Selkie to Show, Place, and Win. ‘Cause I think she has this arms race ALL sewn up.
Some cars, the weight limit is 100. This is the case with my dad’s Ford F-150 – when I was in high school, it would turn on airbags if I was wearing a backpack, but not otherwise – I was about 90 lbs.
It depends what state you are in and how tall the kid is. Also, some cars have the option to turn off passenger side airbags (in Europe, this is very common) so it *is* totally fine in a number of circumstances.
For the state of Nevada, it is 6 yrs of age or 60 pounds for car seat usage. It also says clearly on my visor to not let children under 12 years old sit in the passenger seat due to the air bag there. For me, personally? My 6 1/2 yr old daughter is only 40 lbs. She still rides in her car seat though she does use the belt/shoulder seat belt and the car seat mainly as an all around booster. Just not tall enough to wear the thing without a boost. My son is gaining on her in weight. Let’s see who gets to the just booster part of the car seat first…
My friend’s sister got in a car accident yesterday, and the driver’s seat smashed into the back seat. If her son was behind her, instead of in the front seat, it probably would have killed him. Generally the back seat is safer, but as long as the air bag is set to not deploy with a child in it, it’s fine to have them in the front. It’s not like Selkie or Amanda is a toddler in a car seat.
Well she’s being more rational than I expected.
If Selkie screeches loud enough or at the right pitch, could she break glass?
Possibly, but the real thing to worry about is whether her screech heralds a death in the family.
It does. Hers and Todd’s, if she isn’t careful about unleashing it.
I pretty much expected Selkie to react that way.
I do like how Dave is saying “might” … a paternity test here would be a good idea. I’ve always felt that the person in the comic Amanda resembles most is Agent Brown.
I noticed that, too. It would be a super twist if she turned out not to be Todd’s (Dave is the writer/artist 😉 ) kid.
Yeah, I meant to say Todd, not Dave. Thanks for the correction.
That particular name-swap has been a pretty common mistake lately.
I was thinking about him saying “might” too and I had come to three possible conclusions:
1. He’s just saying “might” to calm Selkie down.
2. He’s in denial.
3. He thinks his kid really is dead and Andi adopted another kid and claimed her to be his daughter just to get back together with him. (Yeah, this one is unlikely.)
I hadn’t thought about Andi being a slut.
I think it simply hasn´t fully sunk in yet.
I think he’s considering the option she might have cheated on him. While unlikely, she wouldn’t be the first woman to cheat on her boyfriend and then later down the line claim the child was his.
Or count the days wrong — the male carriers of the chromosomes can live in the fallopian tubes a pretty long time, for instance. (One researcher got 10 days in the lab, and gods but I wish that website were still up for citation; the technical version is still around, but very medical-jargon.)
So even if someone had openly broken up with a partner, had a fling, got back together… It could get complicated.
But, yeah, considering Andi finally admitted to one big huge lie, Todd’s got reason to wonder what else she might’ve lied about. Usually there’s a pattern. (Frankly, I would expect a pattern existed, though he might never have noticed that she would do “white lies” to avoid fights, or realized what “what Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her — or me” incidents might’ve indicated about Andi’s non-existant conflict-management abilities. On Todd’s side of the ledger in that relationship… would his “I am excited so you will obviously be excited too, yay, baby!” unawareness of Andi’s emotional state extend to a general tendency to assume All Is Well unless evidence smacked him in the face?)
I hope it ends up becoming “Look fish face, I don’t like you. You don’t like me. But if you stop making fun of me, I’ll stop making fun of you. But don’t think we’ll get close.”
“Deals.”
Okay, now imagine them TEAMING UP. I mean, Amanda/Selkie feud is an inner thing for the orphan kids, between the two of them, while the rest of the school seemed to like bullying them all together. This situation has seemingly been resolved, but… was it really? There’s grounds for all sorts of conflicts where Selkie as Brain and Amanda as Brawn will be a nightmare team for anyone who stands against them 😀
I really, really, really want that to happen.
If Amanda chooses to get mad at one of her parents and not Selkie, and especially if she projects on Selkie her own situation where her adoptive parents had their own kids – I can absolutely see her going this way. And Selkie doesn’t seem the type to hold grudges, especially when she can do something absolutely awesome instead.
I mean, they’ll still be rivals at everything, but it’ll probably be an in-family thing of the “only i am allowed to make fun of you” sort.
So, you’re suggesting a kind of “No one can pick on my sister but Me!” Type of scenario? …
Sarnothi mother friend: “You think that’s bad Todd, imagine shrieking upset children UNDER WATER! Angry neighbors calling you from over a mile away…”
(P.S. Dave? Please update the Cast page. If only so those of us who didn’t create the characters and aren’t working with them on a daily basis have a quick reference for names we haven’t seen in weeks or months. 😉 )
“[L]osts ands founds”. I love Todd, I really do. The most compassionate way he could possibly describe the situation, put in concepts that an eight year old can understand and empathize with, and no accusation. No matter how furious he is at Andi right now, Todd never puts anything on Selkie that she can’t handle. (Furious fishsqueal notwithstanding.)
Can I just say that I love how Todd responds not with “don’t do that!” but “not while I’m driving!” he understands that Selkie needs to get this out, just not at an unsafe time, please!
I’m pleased to note that Selkie is comfortable enough with thinking of Todd as her father that her reaction is to the concept of Amanda as her sister, and NOT Amanda as her replacement.
I love his reaction 🙂 basically “please don’t screech now. Once I’m stopped you can start again”
The Sarnothi should weaponize that REEEE. Beware, Humans!
They’ve probably done so : https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie406/
Can’t tell for sure since Selkie’s yellow sundress isn’t visible, but it seems like this is later on the same day, Heck, this is probably going on at the same time as the Amanda/Andi Show from a few pages ago… Todd and Selkie looks to have stayed at the Aquarium for longer than the girls did, at least long enough to need headlights driving home…
Yeah, Monday at school is going to be “Interesting” in the Chinese curse sort of way… i can’t wait!!!
There’s the Cessna steering wheel again. Any chance Dave will give an idea why Todd’s car/minivan has that feature?
It’s an after-market style of steering wheel. It was there when he bought the car (second-hand).