Sorry about the unfinished comic everyone. I wish I could blame someone or something other than myself, but I had a bit of a procrastination theme this week on homework and such. 🙁 I’ll try to have at least flat colors up by morning.
-EDIT- Updated to full color. Probably won’t have time for shading though, sorry. 😐
On a better note, this week features a Very Special Episode of Sketch Bonus Saturday. I am creating a children’s book for my Senior Project. If you’re interested in something not Selkie related, come back Saturday for a rough sketch of one of the pages!
Forgot to add the Director Commentary at first. >_< Amanda is a difficult character to write for. She is troubled and vindictive, but also just a kid. She has modes of thinking that an adult or teenager with a similar personality wouldn't use. There's a lot to juggle with Amanda, and sometimes I wonder if I am doing right by her with the chronic meanness. On a related note, I kind of wish this was a real-life production so I could buy Heather an ice cream cone.
Yeah. Amanda is bordering the line of ‘evil’.
Amanda is so far beyond the line of “evil” she can look back and see DARTH VADER.
I was torn between chaotic neutral and neutral evil. She’s one of the two, definitely.
I vote for neutral evil – they’re basically out just for themselves, everyone else be screwed. You can still do things that appear nice/just/good to others, but you always have an ulterior motive. Amanda seems to fit that.
Nope chaotic evil- egotistical rebellious people that thint that freedom should only be for the strong
Amanda has issues, clearly. I assume it is because the school she is in is kind of a toxic environment.
It’s a toxic environment because of kids like Amanda…
More specifically, because kids like Amanda are allowed to behave like this without being punished.
So, what you’re saying is, kids like Amanda are allowed to behaves like this, which poisons the environment, which poisons kids like Heather to do cruel things to win and win the approval of kids like Amanda, which poisons kids like Amanda to behave even more monstrously, which poisons the environment further….
I haven’t seen any evidence of this particular school being a ‘toxic
environment’ aside from a trio of girls bullying another child. Amanda
has conducted herself just as poorly at the orphanage as she has here,
in the past.
Pretty much. This kind of thing tends to be self-causing and self-perpetuating.
But Syri has a point, we haven’t seen too much evidence that this is wide-spread.
The look on Geogie’s face in the last panel tells me that this is why the school is unaware of Amanda’s bullying
Care to expound on that? I don’t think I’m seeing what you’re seeing, but I often have a problem iwth the subtleties of facial expressions.
Yeah I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at either… Can kind of see it as a long-suffering ‘Whelp, same old bitch…’ look, except he’s looking at Heather which doesn’t quite fit (maybe it’s an exasperated ‘what did you expect’ look?).
I hear you, Dave:) Check out Shards and you’ll see I’m in the same boat…
Wow. That’s cold.
Hey, Amanda. Pluto called. It wants it’s heart of ice back…
Actually Pluto more likely has a heard of rock and an outer layer of ice… Maybe a comet would work better – they make a spectacular show when in a hot situation and are dangerous close up, but are often pretty to look at. 😉
I dunno, a heart of stone so cold that it enrobes itself in methane ice works pretty good image-wise. But it doesn’t roll off the tongue as neatly.
Yeah Amanda, keep this up and you’ll have zero friends in no time. I dunno how but I hope Selkie’s remarks about “Keisha and her friends are always means to mees!” to the principal will make him not just look at the real culprit when Heather’s brought in, but Amanda for being part of the bullying.
Not to sound cruel but I wonder of Karma’s preventing Amanda from being adopted because she’s so readily able and willing to be mean.
I don´t think Amanda actually has any friends. She has minions, that´s all. Though now it looks like she´ll have to find new ones.
I think another reason Amanda ticks me off is that she’s contemplating telling on Heather…for doing something she’d do herself if she’d thought about it, and when she’s a bratty bully to the victem in general. After all she found it “so amusing and funny” Selkie had her shirt taken, now she’s just mad because “Heather got Keisha in trouble”, when as Heather said how the heck was she to know Keisha would get blamed and again I cite how Amanda “was totally lovin'” what Heather did til it went sour for Keisha. Plus while I do NOT condone what Heather did, it’s obvious she did it because she knows Amanda and Keisha like to bully Selkie so she hoped what she did would get their approval; it just adds a level of sadness Heather did this for HER approval and here Amanda is selling her out.
The child is just evil.
See, this? This is why I’d rather screw a cactus than be a teacher. Or a parent. If I met a kid like this I would beat their face in. I don’t care how many decades older than them I am, if nothing else in your arsenal makes them act like human beings it may be time to cave their face in with a brick. And I would probably enjoy it too.
School did not leave a good impression on me.
Okay I think I was a bit unnecessarily morbid there. Kids like that really tick me off, and even worse because they’ve been allowed to become that way by getting away with it all the time.
Did you know that kids are sociopaths? Their brains aren’t fully developed and their compassion for empathy is stunted. From a psychiatric standpoint, kids are sociopaths.
*capacity for empathy.
Having been a victim of a kid like Amanda – actually more than one, and all at the same private school – I can say that your response was right on the money, for me anyway.
But aren’t you right in some strange fashion of old school justice ? Because of lack of physical discipline, adults around the world don’t know how to handle misbehavior anymore and, well… fear and action seemed like a combo that was effective for past decades, even centuries.
It’s the stupid abusers that forced to change things to what they are today and now, we wish to go back to how things were, when there was less intimidation, less lack of respect, less overall behavior problem. Oh, problem there will remain, only much less with how it use to be. So no, it’s not exactly morbid, it’s the lesser of two evil.
Which sad even for saying that!
Oh, I find that to be a very good describer of how I felt during elementary school…
Sounds like Earl Hickey needs to pay her a visit.
I’d have voted for Chuck Norris. 😛
it would probably take a major life changing experience to make Amanda a nice person, or even slightly empathic. She feels rejected by the adopters who come through and pick other kids, she feels rejected by the other children even if it is her own doing. She believes herself somehow better than others because that is all she feels she has to believe in.
Bringing her down a peg or two would bring her mental safety net crashing around her without any other positives in her life. Were she to be a adopted and humbled she might have chance. She could also discover something good about herself or some talent that she possesses that she could be proud of without it coming at the expense of others.
For now I feel sorry for her, though I see a future insufferable bitter woman in the making.
I don’t think she feels rejected by her new family, I think it’s more that she doesn’t feel secure in her new position in the family. This is something she’s been waiting and longing for, and the idea that it could all be taken away again in an instant has to be terrifying.
You’re thinking of Heather, the one with the long hair who got adopted. Marr is talking about amanda, the one with pigtails who didn’t get adopted and then cried.
Ah, yes, I misread the comment.
fifth panel shadow looks like a lego O.o
Wow. That kind of manipulation coming from a seven-year-old isn’t really surprising–kids are capable of all kinds of nasty stuff–but it sure is sad. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Amanda needs help. She’s messed up a little worse than your standard insecure child bully.
…no worse than a lot of real life examples I’ve seen. Backstabbing is all the vogue among manipulative bullies that have minions.
To the point where it could mean (not that this is likely, but to the kids it’s a real possibility) someone who used to be her friend getting unadopted? I think that’s worse than the usual tattling or backstabbing. And Amanda does have serious problems with self-worth that go beyond your average bully and that aren’t likely to go away without intervention.
Yes, somehow I think this little click of the 3 mean girls is going to be split up. In a good school, I’ve heard of that literally happening (a group of trouble-makers get put into separate classes).
Looking forward to the Saturday thing, and good luck with your project!
Poor Heather. Amanda has been looking for a way to get revenge since #116 and Heather gave her a golden opportunity in panel 3.
I think it is about to hit the fan for Amanda from the look she’s being given in the last panel. She just revealed she knew who actually took the shirt, but didn’t say anything to get Keisha out of trouble. Or they may be interpreting Heather’s expression as meaning ‘how dare she put this on me’. Which would balance Karma a bit. This could still go any direction before the truth is sorted out.
Uh? Yes she did. https://selkiecomic.com/?p=760 clearly shows that a) Amanda identified the culprit as soon as she got over the shock of Keisha being wrongly blamed, and b) Heather confessed.
Oh, and CM – these kids aren’t 7, they’re 9-10.
Todd says that Selkie is eight, when his dad asks.
Actually, Amanda DID say something. She was blown off by the staff.
Well, Jessie, who’s a student teacher with very little experience. Not the whole staff.
Last two panels:
“D:”
Okay, that has to be a new all-time low for Amanda. That is just… I don’t know, but that is just plain AWFUL!!!
… Not that Heather didn’t deserve it of course, but still…
WOW that was…really evil! Amanda, don’t be so cruel, it’s not going to help.
I love all the expressions in this, they’re really good!
I agree on the expressions, but actually Amanda being cruel might help everyone else but her. Not saying she’s altruistic, but that this might show Heather she really doesn’t want to associate with Amanda, and to Keisha that getting involved with bullies can land you in the hot water.
…now I want to see Selkie’s angry face paired with Heather’s shocked face. If I could draw even passably well, I’d try to do it myself. XD
I can understand being jealous, but that’s just cruel.
I’d say this girl needs a nice swift drop-kick from reality, but she’s an orphan, she’s questioning her own worth, she feels left out and betrayed… I think reality has already given her several elbows from the sky. It’s obvious that she’s taking out her own feelings on the world. She feels bad, so she strikes back at everyone around her, and it’s becoming obvious that she’s a manipulative little git. That can be a dangerous combination. As bad as what Heather did to Selkie was, she did NOT deserve that. That’s real cruelty from a place of pure bitterness.
The next storyline better be about fluffy bunnies. Anymore drama and I think we’ll all become incredibly depressed.
Well thanks to Georgie I think things are going to wrap up rather neatly. Then we’ll go right back to happy story time.
Jeez, Amanda gets brattier every day.
Someone needs a good swift kick in the pants~
Why is Heather acting all shocked about Amanda saying what she did now? Both of them already said it a few pages ago.
Heather’s had a bit of time to consider the consequences of what she’s done, and she’s scared.
The first time Heather wasn’t thinking about what may happen if her new parents get wind of the incident, she just reacted to the situation. Here, she just finished telling Amanda she’s scared of what may happen if she gets caught, only to be immediately handed over.
Ever since Heather was revealed to be the culprit, I’ve been wondering if she’d get around to thinking this (if she’s bad, she could be taken back to the orphanage), and I for one would be very eager to see the Fairweathers’ reaction – despite the bad omens (name and some of their actions), they might actually be good parents, but we don’t know enough of them yet. I would assume that in something like this Heather’s parents would also get involved?
My guess is that Heather’s going to end up going to that private school after all. I doubt she’ll be returned to the orphanage; kids aren’t like library books and Ken and Barbie look to me the type to take their new adopted daughter’s word over the school’s anyway, or to be quick to transfer blame.
More likely it’s going to set up potential drama for Todd and Selkie in other ways, since Ken is Todd’s boss, isn’t he?
*cough* bitch *cough* sorry getting a could by the way why is she such a evil child?
She’s an orphan, who has had to watch friends and associates getting adopted one by one – even someone (Selkie) whom she considers ugly and unlovable – around her, and we don’t even know (or I can’t remember) how she ended up in the orphanage in the first place, so we don’t know her full damage.
there isn’t a ‘director’s comment’ on this one? Where it says ‘click for transcript’ there is nothing there…
Woops! >_< I blame gremlins.
Since we’ve been seeing both sides of the shirt-stealing story, I actually feel bad for both Heather and Selkie… especially since Heather is the one getting into trouble and has new parents who may definitely freak out over this situation, either thinking their new daughter has bully problems or is a “problem child” (a term I loathe so very much >..< Sorry!
But once again, this comic has cheered me up in my time of sickness. Thanks again, Dave. 🙂
We haven’t seen all that much of Heather’s new parents yet, so it’s too soon to know how they’ll react. Ideally they’ll start with asking Heather why she would do such a thing, listen, then talk to her about what the punishment will be. Of course, most parents will first have their freakouts, and then only later actually discuss the problem with the kid and then MAYBE actually ask for the kid’s side of things and really listen to them.
I feel sorry for all the children involved. I feel sorry for Selkie for having to put up with the way the bullies act. I feel sorry for Heather for being given the cold shoulder and then being sold out by friends, although I don’t condone what she did. I feel sorry for Amanda for the rejection she feels, although I don’t condone her behavior and really feel that she’s in the wrong. I feel sorry for Keisha for being wrongly accused of a misdeed she not only didn’t commit but was trying to correct.
I feel sorry for Keisha, because she’s taking the rap for something she didn’t do. I feel sorry for Selkie because she’s the victim in all this.
Heather? Amanda? Not sorry. Not one bit. Amanda didn’t actually do anything this time and isn’t in any trouble. Heather? Heather is the reason all this happened. Not one iota of sympathy for that girl. She deserves what’s coming to her.
Why do you feel bad for Heather? If she hadn’t stolen Selkie’s shirt, none of this would have happened.
O.o”’ Either it’s just me or my comment looks like it got cut off… and I just submitted it! Is it just me?…
Looks intact to me. Ended with a “Thanks again, Dave. :D”?
I just remembered to check just now to see… and somehow the ENTIRE middle part is missing. O____O It was seriously SO MUCH longer than that…
@.@ I’m confused… maybe it was TOO long, then???
My comments sometimes appear like that, too, but when I later come to the page (in essence refresh the bookmark), it then appears as I sent it.
Just don’t show her ever actually getting in trouble for it. Giving your younger readers false hope isn’t very nice. >.>
You know what’s interesting about Heather’s dialogue?
Panel 3, she’s worried that her parents will bring her back. Not send her back, bring.
Emotionally, she’s still in the orphanage.
Whoops, gotta shut off the italics tag.
Fixed it fors ya.
Hmmm. Amanda, you might hve just tipped your hand there, by turning those oh-so-manipulative ‘innocent waif’ eyes on the wrong person; someone who’s already seen your real reaction. Jessie was right there when you first declared that Heather had done it, remember? And you weren’t using the ‘innocent waif eyes’ on her then.
Jesie is also very inclined to listen to George right now; the kid giving the facts in a calm, matter-of-fact manner. If George uses that same calm, matter-of-fact matter to remind Amanda that she had been snickering and downright gleeful about hearing Selkie’s shirt had been stolen, right in front of Jessie…
With the gravity of situation being what it is, I doubt the general side of bullying is going to be taken into consideration right now. It might come up later (I rather envision Mina giving the class a true tolerance lesson after this debacle), but the shirt stealing is the acute issue here.
There are people who are just like Amanda. I don’t feel like she’s over the top or unrealistic. I think its hard to have characters who are mean since you created them and you feel for them and want them to be happy in the end.
I feel bad for everyone in this but Amanda, pretty much. I’m hoping Georgie will say something like “yeah right Amanda! You were all for it at the time” and both of them will get in trouble. Amanda should at LEAST get a talking to for egging Heather on.
Amanda, meet Moral Event Horizon. Moral Event Horizon, Amanda.
The facial expressions in this page are amazing!
I know Amanda is only 8, but she is evil and I hate her.