Happy Halloween, everyone! As a form of treat, I’ve got a special thing to share with everyone today. 😀
A while back, I shared pictures GreenGlow emailed to me of a Selkie plush doll they hand made for me. The other day… it came in the mail! Since I had a chance to hold it personally in my hand, I decided to take pictures.
This… is me! With the doll! 😀
(The t-shirt I was wearing at the time was a happy coincidence, that wasn’t planned. XD)
Needing a place to put it, I decided to give Selkie a place with a few other plushes of mine. Some of these are childhood keepsakes, others were gifts or souvenirs or interesting thrift store finds.
Thanks again GreenGlow!
I don't know at this point if we will see a lot of the gym teacher Mr. Thompson beyond this scene, so just for fun here are some factoids about him: -First name: Chris. -Has a Masters Degree in health science. -Baseball enthusiast. -Collects turtles.
Discussion (53) ¬
Wow. Letting kids that young decide the teams? There are going to be tears.
Oh, I remember it happening as young as 7 when I was a kid.
Yeah, I guess they do it that early. Probably in the Netherlands at least, I lived in Poland until the Polish second grade, which is called the fourth grade in the Netherlands, so I’m not entirely sure… Educational systems are confusing. Anyway, guess who always gets chosen at last… No tears though, you get used to it.
Ah, the brainpower of bullies…
Quite a sophisticated insult, though.
Selkie must have extraordinary self-control. If I had needle-sharp possibly venomous teeth and a bully to contend with…
…I’d probably have a juvenile crime record, don’t listen to me Selkie!
Thank you for using the word “venomous” properly. 🙂
You’re welcome!
Yes, Tony doesn´t seem to be the brightest torch in the dungeon.
Or as I often prefer to put it, not the sharpest cake in the shed.
Your art is getting better and better each post. Whenever I pick up a webcomic I love going back to the first page and comparing it to the current, just to see how far the artist has come. It’s like seeing QC grow up all over again :]
Thanks! 😀
Let me guess… she’s going to be the last to be picked? Things have been predictable.
I can be a bit cliche, but I’ll try not to be quite THAT cliche. 😉
More like hating Dodge Ball because you are always the target… I was so I know why she looks that way. I actually liked Dodge Ball but not in class.
Hey, they’er kids. By the time they accually quit arguing about teams, class could be over and Selkie gets away from a bullying. (Seen this happen a time or two, the arguing that is).
Wait, doesn’t Selkie have claws/talon’s? All she has to do is catch the ball and he’s out. A couple of small holes should ruin the game.
Surely not? Webbed hands, but not claws?
Her fingers do look rather tapered in that last frame.
Nah, they use foam balls now. :/
There’s at least one in every school.
Yes and if you’re lucky they’re students and not teachers or administrators
Yeah… a bully principal sucks… hugely.
I second this… I had a VP who was also a football coach. We didn’t get along until I was attacked by one of his “star players” and I finally retaliated instead of assuming justice would be served.
Turns out that, to him, being peaceful was a sign of being weak, and he punished both of us, but when I was attacked and I defended myself (Quite well: I studied Kendo instead of hand-to-hand, because I didn’t want to be able to fight with my fists, lest temptation take over… and he attacked me with a broomstick, which I easily took away and thrashed him with.) he only punished his kid and let me go.
I was later told I wasn’t punished because he was embarrassed that one of his jocks could lose in a fight to a gamer.
My school had it’s moments of being ridiculous.
Awesome tshirt!
He collects live turtles? Or turtle figurines? Or both? Actually, that would be kind of cool… My sister-in-law collected live lizards for a long time, but eventually ran out of space for more tanks, and there aren’t many species of small turtles that are commonly kept in captivity, so I would imagine it is a self-limiting hobby. I wonder if Selkie likes turtles or if she has an inate dislike of them. Since the aquatic kind are predators like her, she might feel some genetic antipathy because they would be a competitor for her food in the wild. A bit of a stretch, maybe, but in a comic with such attention to the little details, I was curious if this was a concious decision, and the turtles indicate that Selkie and Mr. T will have some fundamental personality conflicts, or if the gym teacher’s collection was just chosen at random because so many elementary teachers collect plush animals in their classrooms. Love the comic, by the way; this is my first stop on Mondays and Thursdays, before I bother checking my e-mail and doing any work!
Sea turtles are mainly vegetarian, aren’t they? Or did you mean the American freshwater ones like the snapping one (forgot exact name) that can bite off your finger?
Actually I’ve always been told that “turtle” refers to aquatic tortoises that have flippers instead of feet and that the ones living on land are called “tortoises”. Pedantic, I know, but still. 😛
I don’t think the difference between turtles and tortoises lies in whether they have flippers or feet. Here is the definition:
A division of reptiles, called chelonians, includes turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. For the most part, the difference between a turtle and tortoise is more of a rough semantic category than a strict taxonomic separation. Colloquially, both biologists and lay people use the word, “turtle” to mean all chelonians. In general, turtles live in or near the water and have adapted to swim by holding their breath underwater. Tortoises live primarily in arid regions, built for storing their own water supply and walking on sandy ground.
In a biological respect, a tortoise is a kind of a turtle, but not all turtles are tortoises. Tortoises occupy their own taxonomic family, called testudinidae. All types of land and aquatic turtles come in a wide range of sizes, colors, and shapes. Sometimes the name “terrapin” refers to those animals that fall somewhere between a turtle and tortoise, because they live in swampy areas or begin life underwater and eventually move to dry land.
Thanks, it’s always been a bit hazy for me. English is such a weird language – have to have several words for one thing just to confuse everyone. 😛
I was mostly thinking of snapping turtles, but I also thought that some kinds of sea turtles eat jellyfish, making them predators, too.
Mr. T would be awesome if he collects Ninja Turtles!! That’s a much better hobby than keeping poor turtles in captivity. I’m not an animal-rights advocate or anything, just find reptiles in general to be boring pets; Ninja Turtles however, are really cool, and some of their figures are awfully creative!
I didn’t think of TMNT. Why not! 😀
Turtle figurines mostly, and one pet box turtle.
I forgot to respond to your “genetic antipathy” idea. I like the idea behind it, but honestly I can’t help but think that Selkie’s species is big enough they would consider average-sized turtles prey.
Now if we are talking about the big aquatic tortoises, that may be a different scenario.
If Mr. Thompson knew anything about how school life works and if he was professional enough a gym teacher to promote fair play, he’d never let kids pick their own teams. It’s bad enough to be unpopular, but if you end up being the last that the two teams fight over (the loser having to take you), it really does shred a child’s self-esteem to pieces.
I’m still wondering, btw, if Selkie’s gill openings make her sides more tender than a human’s, and if she’d be excepted from sports that could potentially harm her breathing apparatus. Mind you, if she’s subjected to dodgeball, that answer might be a no. 🙁
Awww, I was usually the last to be picked. Not that big a deal. I got comeuppance when I got to be the captain (which our PE teacher did a lot, taking the last to be picked and making them captains) and I timed it so we got all the GOOD players on my team. The other captains were always mystified how that came out…
I’ve been thinking about this “impact to the gills” question, actually. I believe that in a torso impact situation, the protective gill flaps would absorb most of the impact.
………tell me that dog one you have is a basset hound……if it is…..GIVE HIM TO ME!!!!!!!!! sorry sorry lost it there I’m a bit basset hound gal……
Christmas Puppy helped me survive holiday season in retail with my sanity intact. MINE! ;D
……..fine! ….-wines- plz plz plz!!!!!!!! (just kidding)
I like turtles.
In my experience, most gym teachers think they’re helping the kids with troubles in gym by making them do more work or singling them out for not trying hard enough. I’m not sure if Mr. T is like this yet, of course, but I think having kids choose their own teams is somewhat an indicator that they’re like that. My worst gym experience involved getting in trouble for having a bad ear infection. We’ll see if he’s that kind of teacher.
On another note, my brother is a teacher for kids around this age. Our last name is hard to say and spell, so he has everyone call him Mr. G. His wife is a teacher for the preschoolers and she’s Mrs. G. It could be cool to see teachers with one letter last names in the comic.
I’ve heard of teachers doing that with last names that are hard to pronounce and spell. In my school we just called them by their first names. But with a title so there was still the respect factor. I remember I had a ‘Mrs. Arlene’ and ‘Miss Sue’ as elementary school teachers. So that’s another thought!
Tony made himself look stupid, he doesn’t need Selkie’s help for that. *snickers*
Nice beard Dave. xD The shirt fits so unbelievably well, it’s lucky you were wearing it for such a picture. The doll is really really cute…I want one now.
o.o … Dude, I never got to pick my own teams in elementary, middle, OR high school!! o_____o””’ I have a feeling this is going to end badly.
XD Awesome T-shirt coincidence. Yay for plushies!! :3
Hehe, you own Hobbes.
Something about Tony calling Selkie “Le Poisson” is kinda funny– she doesn’t look especially fishlike, except for the gills (which I would assume Tony has never seen)
Poor Selkie, Will the other kids ever forgive her for getting adopted. Dave by any chance were you adopted? Or is it just something you support?
Tony’s not mad at her for having gotten adopted, he just wants a reason to bully her.
Most of the other kids don’t particularly care, I’d say.
Georgie was sad because her couldn´t spend as much time with her any more; Sandy and Wu were happy for Selkie. We didn´t really get to see how the others feel for Selkie here, except Amanda.
I am not an adoptee, but yes I do support the right to choose adoption.
I’d just like to point out that if Tony was calling Selkie a fish, he’d just say
“poisson” without le or la. 🙂
And come on gym teacher. You know better than that.
awwwwww can we order that plushie?? i want her!
I just have one question… WHAT IS WITH EXTREMELY TALL MEN AND TURTLES!?!?
I moved from class 3B to 3D this year… One more coincidence.