I’m feeling a little under the weather, so I’m going to go to bed early and finish the colors in the morning. Sorry for the delay, folks.
I think getting busted by Nathaniel is running through Todd's mind right now, but I chose not to do a flashback to that because it would've needed to be shoehorned in pretty hard.
So… how many days left in the school year?
Todd should just knock her out and tell her to mind her own business. He can have as many kids as he damn well pleases.
1) Mina is Selkie and Amanda’s teacher. Their problems *are* her business.
2) “Knock her out” ? Seriously?
Rene; Dave assured me the comments are lightly monitored (here read: very lightly), and he almost never resorts to a ban-hammer, unless … Well you can talk to him about his ideas. I rather like them, Dave’s ideas.
My Mumma taught me Rule#1 was,”Don’t hit the women.” And of curse, Rule#2, “Don’t hit the women”. It seems to be the start of how to Not have an Ex-wyfe and custody trouble. A start mind you.
Rens — not Rene, I’ve been harpooned by autocorrect, again. GAAaaaah!!
Honestly, I’ve been thinking of removing that whole disclaimer. I only put it up because a couple people were being extremely combative and acidic, but things have cooled down a bit and one of those people is under comment moderation now.
But hey if we’ve still got people chiming in that beatings and physical assault are somehow appropriate things to do maybe I do still need the disclaimer. >_>
yes you do still need that disclaimer, if nothing else than for the CYA factor when you get so fed up with somebody they can’t claim discrimination for when you finally ban-hammer them.
Keep the disclaimer. After all, you read comments and do remove comments that are just meant for spamming/trolling/otherwise grossly offensive.
Yeah. One swift punch to the face or gut should do it and remind her to keep her opinions to herself. Todd is a nice enough guy that he doesn’t need to be judged like that!
Todd is a nice guy who doesn’t deserve judgement, so he should punch someone in the gut to assert said niceness?
I don’t even know what to do with that.
Also I’m really not on board with the whole “People deserve to be punched and beaten up because they expressed sympathy and curosity” angle going on here. Lets stop that, okay?
I assume Gavin is being ironic. Or trolling.
Let’s follow the logic here: Todd is
1) A nice guy
2) Is of such impeccable character that others should simply be aware of his niceness and never judge him to not be nice.
3) Mina observed something that was Todd’s business and not hers.
So clearly, the appropriate thing to do is to, completely against Todd’s character, commit physical assault on Mina.
That has to be a joke, right? Of course, if it is a joke, all this analysis has now ruined it.
I’m not really trolling or being ironic. Just shitposting for funsies. For real though, I think it would be hilarious if Todd just started beating the crap out of Mina. I love dramatic and nonsensical character shifts.
“For real though, I think it would be hilarious if Todd just started beating the crap out of Mina. I love dramatic and nonsensical character shifts.”
Do you mean this via such scenes as one may find often within various anime’? I do see the sudden mood shifts turning to sudden violence and back again, and find such scenes to be used too often with tsunderder characters within the anime’ medium.
However, Selkie is not at all like the above mentioned genre’. In fact, sudden violence of the nature in which you describe would be more disturbing than anything.
Why do you want to see Mina hurt so badly? I’m actually curious about how the systems are firing in your brain pan mate.
I suppose whether or not somethng like that would work would depend on presentation. If you’re looking at violence for comedic effect, there’s two avenues I can see:
1) Metalocalypse style: Lots of gore and horrified screaming, where comedy comes from characters over-reacting to the violence.
2) Ernie the Giant Chicken style: From Family Guy, this is over-the-top slapstick violence that starts normal and escalates to wildly improbable levels.
Neither one really works for Selkie (the strip) in terms of feel or style, but if things were done differently I’d probably do more of an Ernie than a Metalocalypse format. Todd and Mina Shao-Lin Showdown on the roof of the school.
There’s no reason why they should do it whatsoever, but I would totally love to see Todd and Mina showdowning on the roof of the school.
(Mina’s betting the Orb of Tornami versus Todd’s Monkey Staff, clearly.)
They would have to talk out of sync with really horrible dubbing over translations by people that barely understand the spoken word let alone English trying to read Shakespeare.
I have nothing against Mina personally, or as a character. I just think that Mina trying to beat Todd up would likely be a futile endeavor, and so I opted for the situation that I could realistically see happening.
Maybe Todd could become an international criminal with Selkie as his sidekick and run around the world, causing general mayhem and chaos.
I don’t know about anyone else, but as far as I’m concerned, “shitposting for funsies” is a form of trolling.
Yeah, he’s trolling.
Though I am now picturing Todd hulking out into a big Orange Hulk!Todd with him screaming Todd NICE!
Relevant strip from my other webcomic:
http://sueandkathryn.com/comic/sue-and-kathryn-34/
Ok, we have different definitions of trolling then.
How is deliberate shitposting not trolling?
He didn’t say he had a smart definition of trolling. Just that he had a different definition. People do that now, just ignore established meanings to redefine things to their favor. We call it being annoying. 😀
Because the intention of the posts isn’t to anger anyone. Therefore, not trolling.
“I’m not a troll, I’m just a disruptive asshole because that’s how I get my jollies”.
I’m… Not sure that’s a meaningful distinction, Gavin. Either way, I think everyone’d be happier if you went and did it somewhere else.
I was going to say that “shitposting for funsies” struck me as a perfect working definition for trolling!
It is, and elsewhere on the Net the whole comment chain would’ve been removed and that poster warned. Dave’s too nice to trolls as is. :p
OK.
I’ll have to say that Gavin’s original post did certainly look like trolling. BUT – the following dialogue is completely NOT consistent with trolling. So, he’s not a troll, and Dave’s ‘tolerant policy’ has, in this case, been vindicated.
Anyway, I’m always right and I’m never wrong, so the universe is required to accept my judgement in all cases… even though my name is not Haruhi.
Have you not read the earlier chapters? Mina and Todd are romantically interested in each other, but due to the teacher/parent dynamic and the incident with Nathaniel after the PTA, things are extremely awkward. What we’re seeing is a very awkward and very realistic handling of the situation as both parties are conflicted on how to handle things.
That’s quite the white lie Todd. It’s better than showing all the crap you’re going thru, though. More professional, to be sure.
Privacy is a thing that is not *less* important than honesty. On top of that, people don’t tend to want to know 100% of the details unless they’re either heavily involved, or gossips or unwanted-advice-givers (those last two being the ones to break privacy, thus not the ones you want knowing your personal business).
It’s like how even if you’ve been having the *worst* week, when the salesclerk asks you “How’s it going?”, at most you might say “Eh, not a great week” — you wouldn’t explain how you got in a big fight with your ex, had to integrate a new kid into your life, are down to your last few dollars with half a month to go before payday, just got back from the doctor with news of a lump they need to investigate, and have been suffering from joint pain thanks to a new testosterone drug they’ve got you on, etc. etc.
Any of that might be *honest*, and skirting around the issues might be considered *dishonest* in some fashion, but your family’s right to privacy — and the other person’s right to not be subject to the details of your medical problems, family woes, or love life — dictate that skirting around the issues in some fashion is sometimes the only right thing to do. (Sometimes “I don’t want to talk about it” or other direct and honest attempts are the wrong move for various reasons — such as the aforementioned busybodies who might press for more info instead of letting it be.)
Technically a lie, I suppose, but from his point of view it’s just a simplification… it’s not really a situation for going into all the sordid details.
Not a lie at all. Just shorthand since Mina knows Amanda was one of the orphanage kids already. “Her mother found out after we split up” equates to Andi found out Amanda wasn’t adopted and decided to get her back (common knowledge thanks to Amanda’s very public broadcast after Andi took her home) after they broke up (latest twist). Given Todd picked Selkie out of the same orphanage, it’s safe to assume he’d think Mina knows he wasn’t aware Amanda was his daughter. One does not intentionally ignore one’s own daughter when one is looking to adopt a child.
Moreover, that break up isn’t that hugely in the past, it just seems that way to readers because we have to wait so long to see what happens next. Somewhere in the pre-Selkie official adoption story arc, Andi was calling trying to get back together and she wasn’t talking like their break up was old news. That was just prior to the start of the school year.
The Andi broke the news bit is technically true as well. She didn’t want to, she wiffle-waffled like hell but when push came to shove she admitted what she’d done. There’s no reason for Todd to say more to Mina, no matter how traumatizing the way it was done was. She’s his kid’s teacher, not his therapist.
This is the condensed version of the truth. No lies, just the truth in the simplest version pre-digested for the public’s consumption.
I would have gone with something like ‘Apparently the child I had 8 years ago who was stillborn was not actually stillborn.’
That opens up quite the can of worms. It’s not yet the time to be sharing that information with the world, and Todd needs to figure out who exactly should know that info, and when, and in what order.
For one, Amanda ought to have some understanding of what’s going on way before the adults who have to deal with her have much info on the situation — because otherwise, Amanda will find out the info second-hand from well-meaning people who mention things about it either to her, or in her hearing, before Todd and/or Andi explain the details to her.
Just because facts exist does not mean a person has a right to know them, and just because they have a right to know them does not mean they have a right to know them NOW.
From a professional level, this is completely understandable. They need to make sure there isn’t a scandal or a conflict of interest.
My feels? JUST LOVE ALREADY!!!
Is she offering him a hand, reaching out to share her sympathy for his pain, and he MISSED IT!! Todd! AAAAaaaargh!!!! Just, just, ….!!! Todd!
No, he saw it. He just decided that accepting it would possibly lead somewhere that could get him in trouble.
The very person who can offer him real sympathy and understanding…….. and they aren’t allowed to get close to each other.
Life’s a beach.
Only for as long as she’s their teacher. There’s nothing that says they can’t pursue a relationship once there’s no longer a conflict of interest. Not that I’m aware of, anyway.
Excuse me, but,… Are you shipping? Cause I am SO onboard with that, too. I mean, if you are shipping Mina x Todd, cause I’m down at the docks right now.
I’ve already shipped them.
I’ve also shipped Andi with a corner, until she thinks about what she did. 😀
I’ve shipped Andi with a bus, so she can get on it and we don’t have to see her. Alas, she’s now part of the main plot.
Dina Saruyama was more successful in shipping someone with a bus.
Yeah, the Minodd (Toddina?) ship left harbor a while back. I can’t be the only one who hopes this happens once the girls are out of Mina’s classroom.
“Madd” sounds better to me
And don’t worry, you’re not the only one
Aww. Looks like Mina’s got quite a yoyo of liking-not liking Todd there.
Well, as long as he doesn’t sexually assault here again, this might even have a chance of working out eventually…
How is giving her a kiss that she led on, sexual assault???
It was just a kiss, and the second she expressed displeasure he backed off. Like Muchacho said, she led him on for a bit. Let’s not call something innocent sexual assault.
How the heck is a kiss without warning or consent remotely not a form of sexual assault? It is obvious by her reaction that it was not a welcome kiss. Just because someone is starting to indicate they MAY want to at SOME point change your relationship doesn’t give you any right to their person. “Led him on” please, that is a garbage excuse and is so subjective that it can’t be trusted.
Sometimes you have to take a risk. Romance is every bit as much taking what you think is a possible shot as holding back. You can try to read your partner as much as you want but sometimes it all comes down to the gamble. You regret all the shots you didn’t take the saying goes. He misread her, took a shot and got shot down.
I know I’ve kissed past girlfriends before we were in a relationship when I guessed they were open to it. I guessed right, but if I guessed wrong I would hope there was some understanding.
Sometimes you have to be spontaneous to get the girl.
For heaven’s sake. It was an exulting “we won!” victory kiss, surely you remember that. He had good reason to feel that it wouldn’t be unwelcome, as she has just tacitly acknowledged, and he stopped the second she drew back. How is that even slightly “sexual assault”?
Real people don’t fill out a form in triplicate before their first kiss. They interpret subtle non-verbal signals. Sometimes they mis-interpret them, and that is perfectly all right. It only verges into sexual assault territory if one party says no and the other one doesn’t stop. That didn’t happen here.
Please don’t cite generalizations about “Muslim women” – religion doesn’t define the whole person. Mina is Mina, and she is clearly attracted to Todd. She didn’t expect the kiss, she wasn’t ready for it, she didn’t even realize herself until that moment how close she was to the precipice of falling in love… but Todd didn’t know any of that. He’s a gentleman. I repeat, the second he felt her draw back, he stopped.
Don’t bandy about extreme terms like sexual assault, please! when all that ever happened was the initial fumbling of two people who are mutually attracted but have, for now, good reasons not to get into a relationship.
Even now she is leaning in for a hug in the second-to-last panel.
So I totally get Todd’s attempt at romance with her.
I didn’t say anything about religion, and I wasn’t planning on it, so don’t put words in my mouth. And if it was a “victory kiss” why did he say “screw it” before hand? That isn’t a kiss you give in spontaneous victory. He didn’t stop the second he felt her draw back. He stopped when she shoved him away, hard. Yes, I know real people don’t fill out a form in triplicate before a kiss, but if you recall, they weren’t even facing each other when he supposedly “mis-interpreted” whatever signals she was supposedly giving out then. I’m not saying that Todd, overall, isn’t a gentleman, but what he did was more messed up than people seem to realize, and the excuses I am seeing here, while we know Todd won’t go further, are constantly used to belittle the experiences others have with unwanted advances. I don’t see how a lack of consent on her part FROM THE START means that she should have also been precognitive and told Todd to not kiss her before she knew he was going to in order for her to not be at fault for HIS actions. Did she forgive him? Eventually, it seems she has. But that doesn’t change the actuality of the action that peole seem to think is okay to defend.
And no, led him on is not a garbage excuse. This is a situation where both parties were flirting with each other, being romantic. Hell, she invited him to coffee for a PTA meeting. That turns it into a date essentially. She gave him every signal she wanted more from him. And considering as me, Sessine, and Muchacho have pointed out, he had every reason to think the kiss was welcome in that situation.
It wasn’t callous in nature, but he was led on. Even she acknowledges her culpability in the situation.
So that gives him every right to kiss her? Even though she obviously didn’t want it? It was his right to do so? That is what you are implying.
No, not at all he didn’t just deserve it. I implied no such thing. Don’t you put words in my mouth, you complained about that happening to you, so don’t make the same mistake.
The whole time I said it was a spontaneous action from what could be perceived very easily as a burgeoning romantic relationship that she accidentally put signs out for.
And I don’t get where you say she obviously didn’t want it. She was very obviously heavily attracted to him and they flirted heavily. He would have reason to misread her signs until it was too late.
He made a simple mistake, he tends to throw himself into everything he does heedlessly and has his heart on his sleeve. Note that he was so caught up during Andi’s pregnancy to not read her stress and anxiety. Not reading people well and getting too enthusiastic in matters is his fatal flaw. Youthful exuberance.
She may have had no intent to lead him on, but not once were her signs one of stop. She was not wrong, she was not right. And neither was he in both cases. It’s a simple case of miscommunication. Not sexual assault, not anything sinister on either person’s part.
I feel he’s just messing with us by clinging with a statement that nobody would agree on. Either that, or he’s clearly reading a very different webcomic than us
Or he could be one of these people that wants to see the worst in people at all times. There are sadly people that would convict Todd based off a kiss and state up and down that he’s the villain.
It’s unfortunate, but what are you going to do. Todd has his faults as much as everyone else in the strip and some people are looking for a reason to be offended in life.
Todd is a better man than I am. I would not have thought to let Andi off the hook like he did in the 3rd panel.
Well, maybe I would, but not quickly enough to do it in this conversation.
I’m not seeing it as letting her off the hook so much as saying “It’s complicated, there’s a great deal of drama involved, all of which is acutely painful to me, and I’d rather not discuss it right here and now.”
Indeed. It sounds more like the short version told to anyone they don´t want to involve in the whole sordid affair.
Found out after we split up is a straight up lie though. She didn’t tell me about would have conveyed the same without mentioning the drama stuff too.
He may still want to protect Andi from part of the fallout — which is noble. She has to deal with consequences but they don’t need to be more widespread than necessary. We’re long past the days of the scarlet letter.
The other thing is, he might mean “she found out that Amanda was her daughter” rather than “she found out that her daughter was still alive.” Because giving her existing daughter up for adoption, and finding out that an existing child was in fact her daughter, are a bit removed, especially since Amanda was already in the picture with Selkie before the rest of the reveal happened.
I don´t think he´s protecting Andi – he´s protecting Mina from getting involved in this.
Honestly, I suspect if he’s protecting anyone, it’s Amanda. It’s an unfortunate situation for anyone to be in, but especially for a kid – and while he likes Mina and trusts her, people (and teachers) are human and they do talk. He just might not want the full story getting around the school at top speed and then Amanda (AND Selkie) having to deal with the fallout when the other kids overhear.
After all, Mina found out about it in the first place by overhearing the kids arguing. Not at all unlikely that if the full story gets out, it will get WAY out.
Also a good point.
Gimme a U!
Gimme an S!
Gimme a T!
Also gimme an “Oh god everything is spiraling out of control!”
?UST? huh, what does that mean?
According to TV Tropes, it stands for “Unresolved Sexual Tension”.
Oh, that makes more sense, I always thought it meant Unprotected Sex Time.
Todd and Andi already had that. Amanda was the result. It didn’t work well
Awkward….
Well, on the plus side: Things are technically better between them now, than before. We’re just back to cut-the-tension-with-a-knife town again.
I for one cannot WAIT for Selkie and Amanda to graduate out of Mina’s class.
You know, some time in 2023.
So, I haven’t noticed if this is the case in previous strips with Mina, but she is supposed to be Muslim and wears a hijab, yes? I do believe (and I could be wrong since I have not studied this) that the hijab is supposed to cover the neck completely, and you have several panels here where it is open and her neck is drawn in… Just something I noticed and thought I would point out. I LOVE this comic!!
You’re also, if you’re a guy, not supposed to randomly kiss a Muslim woman. It’s that issue along with others that led to this meeting. Mina had every intention of calling off their involvement. The whole Amanda issue got grafted in at the last moment. That said, does Todd have any right to hold Andi’s lie against her given the blatant lie he just told Mina?
Yes, yes he does. Mina is not part of his family, this is keeping family matters in the family. Andi and Todd were a family. Andi was manipulating him to give away a child Todd would fight for. This is a very different situation.
Well, yes. Yes he does! There are lies, and then there are LIES. Andi’s was the latter. No matter how well we may understand her reasons for telling it and keeping it up, the fact is, it was wrong from the beginning, and the longer it lasted the more hurtful it became.
Mina is (at least) suspending any relationship with Todd, and he reluctantly agrees with that move, even though neither of them is happy about it. If he told her all the gory details now about what Andi did to him, it would be like begging for sympathy. He’s not that kind of guy. She knows enough. She understands that there’s nothing romantic about this, that he’s only dealing with Andi for the sake of Amanda. For now, that will do.
Andi:”Your child died in childbirth” Hurts: Todd, his family, Amanda, and indirectly Selkie.
Protects: Andi
Todd: “Her mother found out about Amanda after we split up.”
Hurts: Maybe Mina, and that is debatable as 1. they are not planning on dating again 2. Who says that she might not understand why if she ever happens to find out.
Protects: Andi, Selkie, Mina, Amanda.
Yeah, I say he does have the right, actually.
Sometimes you just “lie” about something, because telling the truth comes off as vindictive, and can hurt the professional relationship between Mina and Andi. You don’t tell your daughters’ teacher that one of their mothers ditched her, lied to you about it by telling you she was dead, and then tried to come back into your life by bombshelling you about her being alive.
The only thing that such a statement, at this point, would accomplish is either Mina going:
– That bitch!
or – Hmmm, Todd… aren’t you blowing this a little bit out of proportions? No-one in their right mind would do such a thing.
Todd: “Clearly, you haven’t met Andi yet”
Mina: “Okay, now I know you’re just mad at her. But don’t make her into some sort of devil.”
Actually Andi’s lie was supposed to protect Andi, Amanda, and even Todd. It just didn’t work out that way.
There are some folks who take it less seriously. A girl I knew in high school really didn’t care if it kinda fell half off her head. She was just sort of raised to wear it and kept doing it.
There are about as many ways of wearing this as there are Muslim majority cultures.
Mina is supposed to be from Iran; I´ve seen a lot of photos of Iranian women wearing the hijab like Mina does, or even more revealing.
Mina’s hijab is based on some google image searches. From what I gathered it seems to be a mix of closed and partially-open styles worn, with younger women favoring the partially open style.
It’s been so long since I’ve read this comic.
Like, 200 pages ago.
Welcome back!
Selkie will be out of her class eventually. Then they can date. 😛 Hang in there, you two.
I wonder if we’re going to eventually hear more of Mina’s back story. But I’m more interested in the main story line, so I won’t feel bad if that stays unresolved for a while.
Gotta say, I’m rooting for those two, religious differences and all. Like her a LOT better than Andi.
I was wondering if “certain unenjoyable place” referred to Hell or a courtroom. But then I realized there’s actually not much difference…