C’mon Dad, they just want to learn some wicked sick bare-handed murder maneuvers.
"Selkie sweetie, if you ever get kidnapped by ninjas you have my permission to spit on all of them right in their eyes."
C’mon Dad, they just want to learn some wicked sick bare-handed murder maneuvers.
He’s going to say. Its to not fight.
At least they’re bonding?
And nothin’ says bonding than wanting to beat people up. XD Welp. At least they’re not interested in worse stuff.
And at least, for the moment, they seem to not be planning to beat each other up.
“C’mon Dad, they just want to learn some wicked sick bare-handed murder maneuvers.” … to use on each other. 😉
I like that they’re both still unified, whether or not they realize it.
i do love these sister moments
I like how they seem to be bonding, and interested in listening, instead of insulting one another.
*Through ninja telepathy*
Rooftop ninja: see her? she’s the one.
Bush ninja: Oh my, is that a undine?
Light post ninja: I am pretty sure that’s a Lake Sahagin!! she’s pretty!
Sandbox ninja: Aren’t those poisonous? hehehe think of the money…
Rooftop ninja: yeeess she would be a perfect candidate for the arena…
Bush ninja: As one, we strike!
I’m picturing them shaped like the objects and it’s making me laugh.
Considering that’s all you _should_ be able to see… it’s fitting.
Unless snickers happened…
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I want to draw that.
The way that Amanda gets excited over possible broken bones is kinda worrying. :/
Yeah, in a normal kid you could overlook it as youthful enthusiasm and not really knowing the full impact, but with Amanda’s pattern of violence its certainly less…innocent.
Also notice that Selkie’s violence scenario is far fetched and imagination driven. Big difference.
Eyup. Amanda’s gonna need to be told that breaking bones can result in some legal issues. :/ Even if you’re a little kid.
I support teaching everyone at least a little self defense. But neither of these girls are ready for that. They’re still at the stage where he would get called into the principal’s office. Maybe in a few years when they won’t kill each other or others for fun and fun teach them the basics, how and when to throw a punch for instance.
Selkie might be. Amanda definitely isn’t. Especially the broken bone comment.
She’s not stupid so I think reminding her she can get broken bones as well might cool her heels.
I dunno. Tammy was bigger than Amanda and she decided to start a fight with her. :/ I don’t think Amanda would care.
They can already defend themselves just fine.
What they need *tightens bandana* is DISCIPLINE!
Most martial arts schools (at least the ones I have been to) stress the “self-control” aspect of it. There are plenty of young children who do come to martial arts classes. They come in as young as 4 years old. I agree that Todd should not be the teacher, but they might benefit from learning martial arts.
Yep. The control aspect is why in the place I grew up they had a program to put trouble kids in martial arts classes. It calmed them down. Whether it was the discipline or them gaining some feeling of control in their life or a combination of the two I couldn’t say. I just know it worked well enough the police kept sending them.
In this case, it isn’t their age that is the issue. Namely, in Amanda’s case, “It’s about respect, yo.” She doesn’t get enough of it, methinks, so she never dishes it out. No respect, no desire for discipline, hence no discipline. My two cents.
I support teaching everyone at least a little self defense. But neither of these girls are ready for that. They’re still at the stage where he would get called into the principal’s office. Maybe in a few years when they won’t kill each other or others for fun and fun teach them the basics, how and when to throw a punch for instance.
I think Selkie is definitely mature enough to handle it. She’s an apex predator with fangs, claws and poisonous saliva and yet when confronted with bullying and danger she’s never used any of her offensive capabilities. She’s quite well controlled in fact. Even when Truck had her she used her scream and eventually kneed him in the ouchies (though to be fair I’m not sure she was aware of the spit-poison yet at that point).
Amanda on the other hand is a bully who gleefully torments others, she should not be taught any tools for violence at this point, even self-defense ones.
Yes, I agree, but the reason why I say neither of them is if you start teaching Selkie, then Amanda starts getting angry about being left out. It’s better to teach both or neither. It is the sibling way.
Personally I disagree, if it would be helpful or important for Selkie, I see no reason to hold her back because Amanda can’t handle it. Yes with siblings you have to have some tact in dealing with situations, but Selkie’s safety is more important than catering to Amanda’s ego. I don’t think its an issue so it won’t matter, but if it were up to me I’d absolutely put Selkie in self defense class. If Amanda asks why, the answer is simple, because she has to defend herself from bullies…like Amanda. Ok, yeah Todd would never say that, but maybe SOMEONE should.
Yup, those things are neat indeed. Being able to end a physical confrontation with the least possible damage inflicted to all parties is even neater though. Especially when one of the parties may be forced to defend herself with venomous bites… I mean Selkie was pushed several times to shrieking already and Tod can not guarantee that those cases were the worst she’ll have to face.
Also both of them would benefit greatly from the constraint learned (ideally at least) from actual training.
One of the characters in a story I’m writing feels that he has a moral problem because he can’t bring himself to learn martial arts of any kind — but acknowledges that there may well come a time when he needs to physically defend someone from an aggressor, and knowing HOW to do that reduces the chance of handling it in a way that causes more harm than necessary.
But he also realizes that when you know how to handle a weapon, you may be more prone to pull out that weapon than to think of other possibilities. The whole issue weighs on his mind now and then.
Those two learning how to fight…..
….might not be such a bad idea actually!
If they can find a good teacher/school to learn from–besides improving physical strength and reflexes–it is good for self-confidence and mental discipline
It’s good to start young!
Also, if they take lessons together and spar regularly, they can work out their differences and issues in a controlled environment and (hopefully) eventually form a bond from a common interest
((if there’s anything I’ve learned from watching anime: fighting is also a way of communicating (at least this way, you HAVE to acknowledge the other person) sometimes it’s necessary to work out the problem with your fists))
Selkie yes, Amanda no. Amanda has too many violent tendencies, plus her gleefulness about the idea of inflicting bodily harm on others is rather disturbing.
But a lot of that had been from her perception of someone hurting her first. If the class was a good one and taught not to go with punches first it might help – maybe a Tai Chi where they could see the strikes they *could* learn eventually but starts out slow and steady
But can Andi afford that? Cuz she may not be poor but she isn’t exactly rolling in it.
Fighting is wrong…but it is, sadly, sometimes necessary so it’s good to know how to it
Amanda was once abused, so she has a hair-trigger temper and tends to lash out (Todd was the same way) if she learned how to fight, she might not feel as threatened by the world and be able to take it easy
Selkie is not human, she will always face trouble as a “fish-out-of-water”. Whether it’s from schoolyard bullies, strangers on the street who don’t understand, or government-level enemies (from that Sarnothi war thing))
In general, girls have it rough because society tends to say that they shouldn’t fight and (at worse) should give in. Things are slowly changing but girls have to be careful and be really to fight back if someone or something wants to take advantage of them ((sadly to be considered “equal” a girl has to be twice as good and then some))
In other words, sometimes showing aggression/assertion is necessary, but there is a time and a place for it and the girls should, at some point, learn how to fight (though maybe not from Todd…he might not be the best influence…)
Plus everyone might become a victim of random aggression without agenda. People simply need the tools to protect themselves. That is sadly one field that does believe in actual gender equality. I hate the idea of man, woman, child, or strange mold shaped alien becoming a helpless victim of some violent maniac simply because they were never given the tools to make sure they’re safe.
But if we’re to teach them to fight, they need additional tools. Selkie is fine as is tempermentally but she needs to be taught that being attacked does not mean she’s a freak so that she doesn’t come from it learning the wrong lessons. Amanda needs to be taught restraint and that violence is not a tool for her to get revenge at everyone who has wronged her. That the problem is with them not her and it’s self preservation not revenge that’s the goal.
I am ten Ninjas! Well, 7-1/2 ninjas, cause it’s rainy and cloudy and cold and … meh, I’m for bed.
…and that was the day amanda learned that her dad was WAY cool!!
though now he has to reign in the bloodlust. how about reminding them that they didn´t took care of truck+trunchypo with fists, but rather sneakyness?
then again, turning those two into slytherins makes me fear for everyones safety even more….not that selkie isn´t on her way already 😉
I’m pretty sure panel 4 is the most excited we’ve ever seen Amanda.
Which is a little unsettling, really.
The sisters bond through Fight Club training…and become a terrible new force in the schoolyard.
The first thing I was taught about fighting was the importance of feet: ‘Run when you can and a boot to the balls if you can’t.’ – https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie313/
The best lesson I can give anyone from long experience fighting is the only fight you win is the fight that never happens.
“So I stumbled from that barroom, not so tall and not so proud
And behind me I still hear the hoots of laughter of the crowd
But my eyes still see and my nose still works and my teeth’re still in my mouth
And you know I guess that makes me the winner….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FslDmhwlgaE
“But I left that person cursin’, nursin’ seven broken bones
And he only broke, uh, three of mine — and that made me the winner!”
Also: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” — Sun Tzu
If you can manage to defuse a situation without fighting, that is superior to fighting in almost every situation. (There are some cases where compromising to avoid a battle leads to a worse situation.)
Fighting is supposed to happen only when words have not worked, and that means that the better you are trained at using words (negotiation and diplomacy), the less fighting you have to do. I think.
Those who choose aggressive violence to force others to give them what they want do not belong in the modern civilized era. Of the little bits I’ve heard of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, this is the one bit I agree with.
I appreciate the Sikh method — at least what I understand of it — which is to train each person to defend themselves and others, to be able to do so, but to ONLY use such force as is necessary, and only after attempts to reason have failed. Defuse the situation using words first, however you can — and if that doesn’t work, don’t go overboard with the violence you are forced to resort to. But equally, don’t back down and allow yourself (or others) to be hurt by an aggressor.
Also this conversation reminds me of Trigun, and in that series, the hero, Vash the Stampede, went further than any hero I’ve ever seen in attempting to solve situations without hurting anyone. He would make an absolute fool of himself just to confuse the enemy and make them misjudge him. He didn’t let pride get in the way of anything, including letting himself get tied up, or even outright begging.
I like Trigun for that reason. Frankly, I have mentioned my rage and anger issues over the time. Well, there came a time where I grew to like the power over others when I would leave them bleeding and unconscious. Usually I would leave, but for some reason I looked around and took in the chaos around me. And I saw fear in other people’s faces. Even though this jerk I had hurt was a bully even into our teenage years and tormented the others they were looking at me in fear. All of a sudden that power didn’t feel all that great.
So when I walked away I started reading warrior philosophy and I discovered some great thoughts on it. I realized I was just a thug, not a warrior. I didn’t want to be just a common thug, so I started incorporating that. Now, I am at a point where I don’t have anything to prove to anyone. I know I can hurt a person rather badly, but what marks a warrior is that he chooses not to.
All from looking around to see consequences.
What makes a mature person is taking control of and having mastery over your base nature and the skills you’ve developed — and not letting them control you.
“Have you ever seen a wolf pick a fight to prove it is no longer a cub? Those who keep on fighting [while adult] are trying to prove their place. I know who I am; I need resent no one.” — slight paraphrase of Venka from ElfQuest, in a pivotal moment.
Or, to quote another wise philosopher of the combative arts: “Remember, best block, no be there.”
I rofled at reading that. Awesome:)
You can all picture him mentally stroking a foot-long white mustache/beard, can’t you?
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/killbill/images/f/fa/Pai_Mei_Slider2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130201054423