1612 Figured.

by

It’s never been mentioned in the comic but Nina rides a motorcycle. Part of why it’s never come up is because I could never draw a motorcycle, let alone a person riding one. That said, it’s been in my mind for years. In fact, my amiibo for Mario Kart is Nina because she was supposed to have a motorcycle. I really loved the inclusion of bikes in Mario Kart on the Wii. Peach was my go to on her bike for most of the game, and Nina is kind of like her in certain ways. The cast never says anything because they already know about Nina’s bike and people never talk about cars and stuff unless there’s a problem after the initial conversation. Usually I try to establish something like this in advance, but I was never sure if it would ever come up. Long story short Nina is in a riding jacket. It’s the kind that has metal plates and stuff in it for safety. A guy I used to sell games to had one like it in yellow. His looked more like RPG armor, but I didn’t want to make Nina’s so complex I couldn’t draw it over and over.

Motocycles used to be a big thing in my family. My grandpa and grandma raced them in their youth until my great grandmother convinced grandma not to ever again after a wreck. Grandpa almost always had one. My uncles did too. Everyone used to say that they’d get killed on them, but they died in not motorcycle ways because life is fucking chaos and death is ever at our heels. I’ve only got two uncles left and it’s unlikely that motorcycles will get them. Although I think they should still watch their backs… I like motorbikes as a concept, but actually driving one for long on a road just seems like you’re asking for trouble. I prefer more crumplezones around me when it comes to driving.

Crumplezone would be a good name for a Transformer.

I’m in a better place today than Friday as far as my mood is concerned. I’m still struggling to keep up with posting but I expect I’ll get by. I had to gather up the teen yesterday from spending the night in town, then we went out to eat for my Dad’s birthday. I would have had more comic done if not for these things, but there’s just no getting around distractions sometimes. I need to work on the next page but I’m already sleepy and want to go to bed, so who knows how things will go. Maybe I’ll do it all tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll do it an hour before it goes up because the kid will have some goddam thing she has to go to or the whole fucking world will collapse in on itself. There’s just no way to know. All is chaos.

I am dangerously close to blowing money on something to distract myself. Which is basically my substitute for addiction. Every so often I get shit for all the random crap I own, but it fills the hole that some other addiction would otherwise occupy. I may have a shitload of junk, but I’ve never driven drunk, dated a convict, or shot someone for drugs, so anyone with a problem with that is welcomed to a piping hot mug of shut the fuck up, with marshmallows dissolving on top. I lived the don’t do drugs lifestyle the media shoved down my throat my whole life and this is the result. I’m socially crippled, but I never had a beer. Yay.

As bitter as that sounds I would probably be dead now if I drank in my youth. My body would not have survived the bullshit I’ve put it through if I had thrown my predisposition for excess in with alcohol. Fewer people would have characterized me as a manchild, but I’d be dead, so… On balance I’ve won in some way, I think. And so have you in that I’ve created this comic you enjoy. Everyone’s a winner, moderately.

In my youth I was more hardline but now I don’t care if you drink, or do drugs, or whatever, as long as you don’t fuck someone else over because of it. If you do that all bets are off and I hope you die in the most painful way possible. Handle your high or hit the bricks. That is, of course, a ridiculously simplified way to look at things and laughable in many respects, seeing as addiction is a complex problem, but I’ve got my own shit to deal with so try not to mix yours in with mine, you know?

One of my friends is openly attracted to me romantically, and I can’t deny we get along well, but I’ve made a point not to let it go anywhere meaningful because she has extremely bad depression and combining those aspects of our personalities would be roughly equivalent to putting a gun in each of our mouths and cocking them. Eventually someone would pull a trigger. Even in my best of moods I have a dark sense of humor and poor impulse control. I know I would just fan the flames until a total disaster occurred. The saving grave of my personality is self awareness. I have just enough to know when not to do some things. Throughout my life I’ve had so many moments of choosing to be the responsible party and it’s honestly been a real buzzkill.

People wonder why I haven’t done so many things and it’s because I weighed the options and didn’t take the chance. On paper it should look good. I didn’t do the dumb things, but most people are the kind of people who do the dumb things, so they don’t understand how I’ve lived my life. They openly mock my responsible life choices. I’m not contributing to their misery, but I’m the one who’s the loser… It really explodes my Megaman.

51 Comments

My motorcycle broke down last year, I couldn’t afford to get it repaired, and then it was stolen recently. I’ve sold my helmet and am selling my saddlebags, but I’m keeping the jacket because it’s damn useful.

I’m glad to hear you’re doing better man, hope things continue to trend upward.

I am also completely unshocked that Nina would drive a motorcycle. I don’t know if you tipped the wink earlier and I picked it up subconsciously, or that she reminds me a good deal of my older brother at 25 and he rode motorcycles then. It does suit her to my mind though.

I also like that when suited up she would look an awful like like Cat-Peach from that Mario Wii-U Game.

…Unless that triangle of pink is Nina’s sleeve sticking past the helmet… Well, until I see proof to the contrary it shall remain a cat-helmet in my mind.

Probably terribly shallow of me but… Carol’s boobs look small -_-

Big boobs can look small if you don’t wear a bra, among other reasons. What gets to me most is that Nina’s midriff shirt is a full one, if this job shift is the one that followed the “Girly Gauntlet” sequence.

Actually there was a Transformer named Crumplezone in Transformers: Cybertron.

He was part of a comic relief duo-a poor man’s Hack and Slash from Reboot of sorts

Partner was Ransack as listed in the wiki – http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Crumplezone_(Cybertron)
Crumplezone is a Velocitronian Decepticon from the Cybertron portion of the Unicron Trilogy.

But wait – there is more

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Crumplezone_(Armada)
Crumplezone is a Decepticon-allied Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

So there are two of them.
Crumplezone and mini-Crumplezone.

Now somebody do a remake of Austin Powers using transformers. XD

I’m totally behind you as far as your view when it comes to how people should handle their addictions and how to deal with those who don’t control them. As you say, addictions and substance abuse are complex problems, but that’s not really an excuse. Now more than ever, there are programs and people more than willing to help someone deal with these complex problems; most anyone who harms others through their problems has nothing to blame but themselves if they refused to make use of all these advantages given to them.

That may sound like a hard line to draw in the sand, but it’s only a baseline. To be truly reasonable, I think, you have to have an established baseline and modify where a person falls on that line dependent on their actions, their situation, and their efforts. If they’re getting help, they’re talking to you, and they manage to hurt you through their addictions but come and apologize for it afterward, I’m going to treat them with a lot more leniency than someone who decided it wasn’t worth bothering with getting help and then hurt you out of negligence.

I think if everyone tried to consider every situation separately instead of being lazy in their ways of thinking, we’d eliminate a lot of the social problems in this country.

Nicely said, and I think, on the whole, it wouldn’t just be the country (assuming you mean the USA?), but the whole world. Despite our differences in culture, ethnicity, and so forth, we’re all human, and that means that we all [more or less] have the same basic needs motivating our behaviors. The tricky part is that effectively communicating with each other isn’t always easy, even without language barriers. Hence, the old saying that patience is a virtue, something that, even the “best” of us, struggle with at least once in awhile, if not constantly. There are no shortcuts for that one, unfortunately.

Yeah, I did mean the US, and I usually signify that… but I was operating on very little sleep and just after waking up at that point. XD

Really, it’s less about patience to me, and more about effort. Patience is at the mercy of your day to day circumstances, but nothing stops you from putting forward more effort to be better, to be more courteous than you yourself halting your own efforts to the same. If everyone, whether in the US or outside, simply put more effort into being open-minded and judging each situation as it comes, I think we’d eliminate a majority of the social problems in the world.

That kinda hairdo is extremely hard to fit comfortably into a helmet. I need to know how she does that, would be super useful!

Yep, wouldn’t happen. There’s not enough room in there. Nina would need to wear a braid with a leather sleeve over it to prevent tangles, and let it hang down outside her helmet. Look up “hair glove” if you’re having trouble visualizing how it would work.

Source: My hair is past my tailbone, and it’s not nearly as thick as Nina’s — but it would never fit in a helmet either.

I have not quite waist-length hair. I always ride with a full-face helmet and purpose-made riding jacket. I just tuck my hair inside my jacket when I ride.

I made the mistake of riding with it untucked once. Once. I nearly yanked myself bald working out the tangles. “Okay, now I know why a lot of bikers braid their hair…”

Wells, since the 1930s: Batman has been putting his head in a regular, cloth mask, a mask with regular holes in it, that [magically] make his eyes look like blank spaces.

So…I guess the helmet-trick is a secret trick done with [cartoon physics]. Who knows? Go fig-ya! :D

But this only happens with female protagonists so it must be some adaptation of “Hammer-Space” tm pp c

I guess so. But doesn’t this happen to Steven Seagal,and his ponytail?
Oh, wait-is he a fictional person? I’ve seen his films. I’m not really sure. : )

Nina’s jacket plus helmet make me think of Power Rangers. I want to see the cast drawn as Power Rangers season and colors don’t concern me

Now that we’re past Halloween, a new art series a la witches?

It’s morphin time.

Alpha! Find me 6 retail zombies with attitude!

Actually, I could totally see them all as power rangers.

Thomas – Green/Silver
Nina – Pink
Jo – Black
Carol – Red
Ed – Blue
John – Yellow

Off the top of my head and then doing the Google there were a lot more colours
So to add to the list

Red – Carol Graves
Blue – Edward Lincoln
Yellow – John Kepler
Pink – Nina Grace
Green – J. Thomas Blackwell
Black – Jolene “Brooksie” Brooks
White – Reginald “Reggie” Watson Boothe
Orange –
Silver –
Gold – Miguel “Mike” Hernandez
Purple/grape – Jessica Harlan Lincoln
Burgundy –
Silver/Gold –
Phantom –
Teal –
Xmas [red/green] –

Wesley Asel as a spy for the bad guys

Whelp. Good thing she knows someone who would be happy to join her for any or all of those choices.

Albeit I feel like he wouldn’t enjoy ther eason

I want to say that this early in the relationship that it wouldn’t really matter to him, there are few feelings other than genetal attraction and lust at this point, but knowing his temper, and his rivalry with Reggie, Ed would probably take it that he’s the rebound. I don’t think he’d take it well.

Meh, I’m about the same. Okay… I do like a drink. Whisky, bourbon, scotch or any fruity bullshit that tastes good. Not beer, because it tastes like spew to me. I keep it to a weekend thing, and odds are about even whether I have zero drinks, one or three or more (if I am having a depression episode, I staunchly keep to none, but I also could have none if things are going well).

But then… I am conscious about what I am doing with myself. My “core programming” is very analytical and critical, and above all else respects people and their dignity. I am proud to say that I have never taken advantage of ANYONE, regardless of how “interested” I was in them.

Drugs and cigarettes, on the other hand, are a massive NO! on my list. I grew up in public housing, and was around that shit for longer than I would care to admit to. My own folks were clean (well, dad smokes cigarettes, and drinks (but not hard like most of our neighbours)), but I watched people a lot. And yeah, I saw their “amazing” highs, but I also saw their crashes as well, and paid most attention to.

For the same reason, I don’t smoke. Watching my dad’s own health deteriorate from an early age made me realise that the “cool kids” at school are idiots. So I stuck with the nerds and geeks, and got into RPGs (we mostly played Middle Earth, some D&D, and had a run with GURPS (Generic User Role-Playing System)), games, anime, and fantasy books. Thinking about it now, those are some pretty damn pricey addictions (anime especially)…

The banks say the same things about me when I apply for a loan. They look at my credit score, see that I have been acting financially responsible and deny the loan. They may as well say, ”You don’t make enough stupid choices for us to charge all the fees and penalties we want.”

If you censor yourself, you could miss a lot of opportunities.

I’d say if you’re romantically attracted to someone and she is to you, you ought not stop yourself, you really don’t know how it might turn out. On paper, I ought not to have gotten involved with my partner, it promised to be short but fiery – but we actually calmed each other down quite a lot, we’re still together years later, and it’s been the most fun relationship I’ve ever had.

Although my hands are currently recovering from accidentally setting them on fire last weekend – I’m probably not sensible enough to be giving other people advice.

Thing is… I’m sure Jackie knows himself and her best. While there’s certainly merit in ‘enjoying it while it lasts’, risk is always chance x effect, and safety is deliberately accepting a certain level of risk. With the chances of it going badly being up there together with the way it is anticipated to go bad…sometimes it’s a risk not worth taking, and applying the ‘enjoy it while it lasts’ to the current level of friendship is the best way to go, for both people involved. It may not be what the heart want, but it’ll be what the mind knows to be the better decision.

I just really like this exchange. It just feels so… natural. Real people talk this way, if they’re comfortable with each other and comfortable in their own skins.

When I get together with my lady friend, we banter a lot to break the tension, first. We only see each other once a week or so lately, since she changed jobs, and I’ve been laid off. I was stumbling over OCD and ADHD a few months ago, and since she’s working on her certification as a Therapist, she’s been helping me with that. She gave me a great piece of advice, which, of course, I utterly corrupted.

“You need to think about what you’re doing, then do what you’re thinking about.”

“If I did what I’m thinking about, we’d be upstairs, naked, in bed.”

(* sigh *) “One thing at a time.”

Paging Ed in that last panel. Bring beer or whatever other “Nina’s had a bad day” drink and do your best “I’m a sexy Harry Potter”.

Well, while you might right about it being a bad idea having a romantic relationship with your depressive lady friend, it might work out in a way you don’t expect.

Both myself and my wife have battled with depression for the majority of our lives, be it in ourselves or family members. It turns out that we both have different coping methods and we can help each other through the really dark times. Honestly the best thing I’ve found is having someone who understands and is there for you. Having someone to whom you can your soul to and they listen with patience and understanding is a wonderful thing.

So you might have a dark sense of humor and poor impulse control. If she’s your friend, she probably knows this. You might actually want to have an honest sit down with her so that you can explain your position and she can explain hers. This would probably help things so that there’s no hurt feelings. Or you could always go for it, but it’s up to you

I hear what you’re saying about your lady friend. You get along well enough, so I don’t see any harm in relating things without taking the next step. After all, a depressing environment can be toxic, and you might end up causing each other to “pull the trigger” in a variety of ways you never imagined you would before, including the classic “I dated my friend. We no longer speak to each other,” that occurs even for people who don’t suffer from depression or other such ailments.

However, like Samson said, it might work out. You never know until you know, right? If you’re good with just being friends, then that might be best for you, even if it’s not what’s best for her. At the end of the road, it’s your happiness that matters. If that means you made someone else happy in the process, then great! If you became even more miserable as a result because you’re stressing about her happiness more than your own, there’d be a problem. I’d like to think you’d recognize signs that something would need to change before circumstances reached that point, but we rarely see things as well “in the moment” as we do in hindsight.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you the best of luck. Unless that involves killing her (and I don’t mean with humor). Hopefully it doesn’t though…

Funny that you mention that, I did date my friend and we no longer speak. It was a huge PITA for a long time afterwards but now I’m okay with it. In retrospect, we would have ‘broken up’ regardless of dating status.

However, what our host needs is to date someone with a low difficulty level, not a challenging depressive. I wouldn’t normally recommend the following route, but maybe he should find a single mother his age, someone who is preoccupied with her brats and just wants to get a break from that now and then? (Note to host: If so, never agree to help raise her family.)

Couple of typos in there.

Should spell the words “dissapointment” and “somthing” as “disappointment” and “something.”

Statistically if you are going to get killed because you ride a motorcycle, it will happen in the first six months. Accident and death rates for motorcycle riders are comparable to car drivers after the first six months, but that early learning phase…watch out.
I hear it also makes you a much better driver. If you are on a motorcycle, not only don’t you have the crumple zones, but you can suffer from a type of invisibility. Car drivers are looking for other cars/trucks, and so they can miss a motorcycle (or pedestrian) even if they look right at you. For the first 6 months you are in constant danger, then you learn defensive driving for sheer survival, and suddenly you are as safe as the average car driver (but not as safe as you would be in a car, because the same lessons also apply to being in a car).

Nina exercising some coping skills. I’m surprised going home and reading a nice book didn’t hit the list, but there’s clearly more depth to Nina yet to be seen.

Panel 2, bubble 1, “disappointed” has but one S. Panel 3, bubble 3, “something” is missing its E.

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