[ SECRET POST #2530 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2530 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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13. http://i.imgur.com/sXm4j5b.gif
[Doctor Who (gif)]



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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]





















14. [SPOILERS for family guy]




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15. [SPOILERS for Doctor Who]




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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]























16. [WARNING for abuse]





















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #361.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

08. http://i40.tinypic.com/2ypdn4j.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

So why the fuck are you still reading it. It's a fucking webcomic, it's free, there's no one forcing you to read it. Stop reading all the shitty webcomics you don't enjoy anymore. Just fucking delete them from your bookmarks. I ruthlessly pruned mine a year or two ago and, real talk, I have barely even noticed - you won't even notice that they're gone.

(Also, I actually still enjoy QC, but w/e)

[fleshisyummy]

I think it just turns into a compulsion thing. You think it's bad, but you keep on reading, clinging to an unfounded hope that it will miraculously get better.

I like QC too, but I'm the same way with Menage a 3. It's such a fucking shitty webcomic, but I keep reading it.

[(Anonymous)]

That's exactly what I'm saying, though: it's exactly that kind of compulsion, and what you need to do is just end it and stop reading the thing. It's way better to do that, rather than to continue to invest time and attention to something you're obviously not enjoying. Because once you stop, you won't even notice.

I completely understand where it comes from, I'm just saying, there's no reason to keep doing it.

[(Anonymous)]

Haha settle down Beavis

[republicanism]

seriously. i cleaved to megatokyo's updates for an embarrassingly long amount of time before i realized it was only going to get worse. just save yourself.

[(Anonymous)]

Megatokyo, and Something Positive, and Sluggy Freelance, and Shortpacked, and, and, and...

turns out, a lot of webcomics suck

[(Anonymous)]

god bless anyone who can look at megatokyo's "art style" without clawing their own eyes out

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. I most miss the erotica-writing hobo.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think he was a hobo, just a redneck. He's a successful published author, I assume he has a home and writes his stuff on a computer and has an agent and stuff.

[(Anonymous)]

I miss the erotica-writing redneck, then.

[dethtoll]

I'm so done with QC. I finally quit the other day.

Was discussing it with a friend of mine (she's a transwoman) and she brought up something that I noticed too -- Jeph Jacques seems to be allergic to writing gay characters. He put Dora and Tai together but is barely focusing on them at all. Dora's bisexuality was almost never mentioned except once or twice as a gag YEARS ago. There was one gay male -- Marten's boss -- who hasn't been seen in almost a decade. Even the one trans character he wrote is into guys, which is not an especially common trait of transwomen in the United States. To make matters worse, he made a big deal about how he did all this research blah blah blah about trans* issues, and while he didn't make Clair a caricature, he basically made her transgender-ness completely non-existent, with plot relevance in only one scene. So in all honesty she may as well be cisgendered for all anyone can fucking tell, because he's done NOTHING with the character.

And then there's fucking Marigold and Dale. It's plainly obvious Jeph only did this shit because he didn't like people shipping Marigold and Hannelore. It's nothing. It's non-plot. It's not interesting. The only thing that even makes it somewhat remarkable is Dale's ambiguous brown-ness, which is never ever talked about.

And that's the thing about Jeph Jacques that really really drives me nuts. It's the whole faux-social justice thing that seems to be popular with webcomic writers these days (Dave Willis is guilty of this too, and you KNOW he's only doing it out of rebellion against his religious upbringing.) It's obvious that he's forcing it, not because he cares, because he wants people to think he's a good person. And he's smug about it. So he makes a big deal about how he tries to include a bunch of different demographics in his comics, but the thing is... the main cast is a bunch of cishet or may as well be cishet white hipster fucks leading charmed lives, anyone falling outside of that demographic gets very little screen time besides Dale who only started coming around more because Jeph hates Marigold/Hannelore shipping.

But people ship Marigold and Hannelore because THEY'RE THE ONLY CHARACTERS WITH DEPTH. I've been saying for years that Jeph should just get rid of everyone else and just make it the Hannelore and Marigold (and Pintsize and Momo) Show. All his other characters are cardboard cutouts, his comedy is only barely more ribald than network sitcoms, and he's terrible at following through on any real drama. He plays it safe, and that's probably why he never used Claire's transgender-ness for any drama. That's probably why he put Tai and Dora on a bus. That's probably why he threw Dale at Marigold in the clunkiest, most poorly written and rushed romance I've seen in years. Because that might be controversial and interesting and we can't have that. I've seen better romances in a Bioware RPG.

Fuck this comic. It's nothing but a commercial for his T-shirts.

[(Anonymous)]

Not that I necessarily disagree but I'm not sure how compatible your complaint is with OP's complaint that they're spending too much time on Dora and Tai. (Also, Marten's father is gay, I believe).

But at the end of the day, I feel like the comic is basically Hipster Friends at this point. And I completely understand someone not wanting to read that, because Friends is awful. I still like it, but... it is what it is.

[dethtoll]

Started off being a rant about how Marigold/Dale is the worst thing to happen to the comic, ended up turning into a rant about the comic as a whole.

(You're right about Marten's dad, though, I'd forgotten him completely -- shows how much the guy actually appears!)

As far as Dora and Tai, part of the problem is that whole relationship is written horrendously badly as well. So it makes sense that OP wouldn't want any part of it.

[(Anonymous)]

Even the one trans character he wrote is into guys, which is not an especially common trait of transwomen in the United States.

No?

[(Anonymous)]

No. See, most trans* people in the United States don't go through their transitions well into adulthood. By then a person's sexuality is pretty well cemented--the last little bits and pieces of it tend to fall into place during puberty.

If you consider that the general population's incidence of homosexuality is 10-15% (this is a number biologists believe is true for most mammals, humans included), then the incidence of homosexuality for trans people who transition in adulthood will end up being around 85-90%. There's a little bit of play here, and these numbers don't necessarily count bisexuals, but for the most part, most transwomen are going to be into girls.

I run a gaming group for LGBT people and we have a significant trans* membership, about eighteen people total. Out of all eighteen of them, only one of them has sexual interest in men, and she's an admitted bisexual. I know that anecdotal evidence is not especially useful, but it's something to consider. I can count the number of strictly heterosexual trans* people I've met on one hand... and I've met hundreds of transwomen and transmen.

[(Anonymous)]

Jeph Jacques seems to be allergic to writing gay characters

...And yet a lot of recent strips have been about Dora and Tai's relationship. And didn't Marten's dad just get married to his boyfriend recently?

he didn't make Clair a caricature, he basically made her transgender-ness completely non-existent, with plot relevance in only one scene

How should it be treated, then? Mention it in every scene she's in? Really bang you over the head with it?

It's plainly obvious Jeph only did this shit because he didn't like people shipping Marigold and Hannelore. It's nothing. It's non-plot. It's not interesting.

It's character development for both of them. Marigold/Dale was set up years ago. It didn't come out of fucking nowhere.

It's the whole faux-social justice thing that seems to be popular with webcomic writers these days (Dave Willis is guilty of this too, and you KNOW he's only doing it out of rebellion against his religious upbringing.)

There is no pleasing some people. Get off your high horse. Complain about the writing, but whining about a varied cast to make yourself look good in comparison? Let's get you a medal.

Secret 8 - Questionable Content (webcomic)

[transcriptanon]

[Picture is Dora Bianchi and Sven Bianchi?, characters from the webcomic "Questionable Content". Sven has lightly tanned skin and short red hair, and wearing eyeglasses, a purple T-shirt with the words "SMIF COLLEGE" on the chest and blue denim pants/trousers. Dora has light skin and short black hair. She is wearing a white tank top and small, dark earrings. Sven is walking in through a door and saying "Hey.", while Dora has her back to her and looking vaguely in her direction.]

I am really starting to hate this comic. It used to be fun and interesting - Pizza Girl, the gang going into space, the bar of maximum ridiculosity, Steve's random side adventures, Hannelore sledding down a hill on a tea-tray, Faye and Sven, the hobo who wrote erotica!

Now?

A week's worth of strips on Tai and Dora's completely asinine relationship issues, Marten STILL not doing anything with his life, and generic "Emily being weird"/"Clare making puns" strips week in week out. Even the Marigold/Dale is boring. The comic has barely developed in the last few years, it's stale now.

too long; didn't read: Questionable Content used to be fun with genuinely interesting worldbuilding elements and storylines. Also, anon hates Tai and Dora.

Re: Secret 8 - Questionable Content (webcomic)

[(Anonymous)]

It's Dora Bianchi and Faye Whitaker.

Re: Secret 8 - Questionable Content (webcomic)

[(Anonymous)]

Heh, this whole thread does highlight my biggest problem with the strip, which is that I can't keep any of the characters straight anymore.

[(Anonymous)]

I want Marten to get together with Claire, but I don't really care about Marigold and Dale at ALL. I'm so bored of them. It's not cute at all. I guess I would have liked Marigold and Hannelore better... I don't really care much about Dora and Tai either. But I've been reading QC for the past 8 years, and it's easy to read and follow, and easy to catch up with if I fall behind, and I'm subscribed to the RSS feed of it... so I'll probably keep reading it indefinitely!

[ghostofcairo]

Hmmm, I've been meaning to catch up on QC for awhile now but now I'm not sure I want to since it sounds like there are all these new characters and the old ones aren't featured as much.

Also, Dora and Tai? Was it as completely out of left field as it sounds? Because that just sounds...really random.

[(Anonymous)]

Tai crushed on Dora for ages. Dora knew about it and didn't make her feel awkward about it, and did say she thought she was cute. Tai asked her out, they had a good time, they're going with it and seeing what happens.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't read slice-of-life type webcomics. I always start feeling like the author is self-inserting, especially when things get really far-fetched.

[(Anonymous)]

If anything QC started as a self-insert and has been getting progressively less so.

If there's an author avatar in QC, it's definitely Marten, and he's gotten less important and central as the strip has gone on, really.