# 03 Into The Blue Wizard’s Lair!
Mar08
And our first look at Kazom! Isn’t he… cute?…
I was also informed that we are now listed on The Belfry WebComics Index. It seems we are taking off faster than I thought we would. Thank you to all the fans that have made our launch a success! You guys are awesome! ^_^
Huh. Looks like Kazom could well be playing a significant role here.
Incidentally, I’ve created a Photobucket library of the Jeanie Bottle strips with Melvin and company’s backstory:
http://s1375.photobucket.com/user/50srefugee1/library/Red%20Backstory?sort=9&page=1
Password: jeaniepop
[CD: if you see this and its a problem, let me know and I’ll take it back down.]
Just had a thought about why red might be so well developed. The magic casted on him was done by a man not a teen in high school. So the magic that changed red might have been changed her to match the older mans thought of what a teen hottie would look like.
Jeanie had changed Red to match her plan to have Melvin learn to talk to hit girls. It was not a wish from Melvin himself. So the magic that changed Red was all done by someone of an older age group.
I’m curious to anyone elses view on this idea…
Good point.
Yay, i have to agree. Though i don’t think age is the cause but rather jeanie’s feelings about what woman should look like. The whole deal with Jeanie perfectly coping the office worker/corporate spy, going as far to copy the usb she had on her. Then after making a duplicate being unhappy with the small breasts and boosting the size to the point it became painful in the clothing.
Doesn’t bother me, though you could achieve similair results by listing comics By story,
http://jeaniebottle.com/?cat=8
Or by Character,
Melvin, http://jeaniebottle.com/?tag=melvin
BJ, http://jeaniebottle.com/?tag=green-glass-nerd
Red, http://jeaniebottle.com/?tag=redhead-nerd, http://jeaniebottle.com/?tag=tg-redhead, http://jeaniebottle.com/?tag=war-mallet-girl
(Character links on the cast page on JeanieBottle http://jeaniebottle.com/?page_id=899)
Not quite the same; my set excludes the Aracelli strips, but catches all the high school strips, plus some additional exposition between Jeanie and Kazom that’s needed to understand what’s going on.
Could you include something like a “red-backstory” tag that would do the same thing? I’d be much happier with this on your site, as I’m sure you would be too, but I think this particular set is essential for new comers to AofM.
I could set that up.
It’s done. Every Jeanie Bottle comic featuring Red’s backstory is now tagged “Red’s Backstory”. You can go to http://jeaniebottle.com/?tag=reds-backstory to see the full chronological page listing.
Excellent.
And it looks like you caught the extra that I forgot.
Thanks; I’ll take mine down later today.
I’ve set my gallery to private. Use Robert’s tags on the JB site itself.
Thanks, Robert!
And hey, Red? Typically, girls turn away from unintended viewers, not towards them.
Also, I like the little pink bow. Your Mom has good taste in lingerie.
Then again red, never grew up with typical girl lifestyle so would turning around infront of another’boy’ be the first thing on his mind?
Not at all. She’s got a lot to learn.
You guys got it. I figured you would. 🙂
We are so smart we are so smart S M R T! …. I mean S M A R T!
Regardless whether Red’s mom has good or bad taste in lingerie, it’s certainly… girly.
And reflects more on the mom than it does on poor Red… :-\
I’m not totally sure Red isn’t a little more girly than she’s letting on. At the school dance when Red went off to the bathroom she came back with makeup on. Than promptly denied it when BJ asked.
Tht may have do more with the other girls insisting on helping her rather then by Reds actual chiice.
Yeah, that’s what i figured too.
Red hasn’t be in a female body long enough to do that instinctively.
Anyone else worried Red’s going to get her mom’s hand me downs?
No. Most of Red mom hand me down would have long since been donated to the Salvation Army or Red Cross. Because, there was no reason to keep them around. Besides Red family is fairly well to do and they have a certain amount of money too. They replaced all of Clearance’s old cloths and gave Red an all new wardrobe of dresses, skirts, shoe, purses, etc. Actually, it going to go the other way. That why Red looking through Melvin closet to find something that a boy would wear and not a girl. Poor Red!
Your more then likely right but if red did ger any, it would give us more insight on the mother without having to delve too deep too early and such. A sort of reveal on how her mom might have grown up to be the way she is and other tells we could nitpick and discuss.
But that’s just how i see things. As always i’m intrested in what anyone ese’s opinion is. Even if it’s the exact opposite of mine.
Also wanna say Kazam looks awesome. The black and grey fur make him look really unique and stand out./
Agreed; he looks much more impressive like this than he did over at Jeaniebottle. Less like he’s asleep to conserve his life, and more like he’s sleeping… and ready to leap into action at a moment’s notice to do something unexpected. ^^
YES! I was hoping you guys would be receptive to my Kazom. I think you will like his expanded role in future story arch’s. 😀
Sooo…you’re saying we’re going to get more about face-rubbing, ear scritches, litter boxes, laser pointers and catnip intoxication? Cool! I’ll just state up front my fondness for videos of cats trying and failing to make jumps because they have no traction on their hind…what? What?
Oh. magic. sheesh. Fine then, never mind.
If you don;t mind me asking Bach Mann what inspired the design for Kazom?
Kazom being 3000 yr old genie, would still exhibit certain traits as a magical creature. I thought that I would be remiss if I didn’t intend to develop Kazom as a full character. That being said, things like animal bone structure would not be problem. Plus, he’s still a genie in there, and wouldn’t limit himself to a mere cat’s body. Oh, and please never worry about asking. Thank you for doing so. 🙂
Now I can’t help but picture Kazom complaining about his cat hips popping from old age….
See? The midriff-baring shirt was Red’s parents’ fault.
I can’t believe I forgot about Kazom… Is there a reason he can’t change Red back to normal? I know Kazom uses his magic sparingly but that seems like a selfish reason to keep a person in an unnatural form. Wait, can genies even affect what another one of their kind does?
Has Melvin actually wished for Kazom to return Red to male…? ^^;
If I were Melvin, I wouldn’t. But then, I have a mean streak.
That will be addressed on Friday.
But.. I don’t wanna wait that long! I’ll be thinking ideas in my head all week long!!
Feel free to speculate. I am always curious what you guys think will happen and want to see happen. 🙂
I’m guessing that Red is a girl for the foreseeable future. The exact mechanism is not as interesting to me as how she copes with it.
Agreed. But specukating is one of the fun things i get to do to this comic.
Well also wathing red adjust to her new lifestyle too.
I’m guessing part of it has to do with the fact that he uses little magic as possible to begin with.
I’m guessing Kazom can’t undo said magic. My guess is mainly from when Lord Guano first met Jeanie, she couldn’t undo his spells to hold her. Though he did alter her spells, changing the baseball bat into a type of handcuffs. So i would guess, Kazom may be able to mess with the spell but only the caster could straight up remove it.
Maybe he can’t undo another genie’s magic?
It could happen. It’s becoming a fairly common trope in fantasy for Dispel Magic and Break Enchantment to be ignored. ^^
Sadly we’ll have to wait and hear the response… Is it Friday yet?
In a few I read dispelling magic of break enchantments can be tricky if the magic in question is not fully understood and if done wrong could have dire results..
So it maybe that undoing what’s been done would have dure resuklts or be really really tricky…
Well, it’s not like anyone has asked Kazom to do that..
Shhhh don’t be the voice of reason in a chaotic world!
(Gasp!) Cover your ears kids, and run back into the magical fog!
I am betting that Kazom can’t undo another Genie’s magic. I think that the ability to break another Genie magic is reserved for the Master Genie of all Genie’s only could do. Kazom is no longer a Master Genie over all Genie’s, so he would no longer have that power to break other Genie’s magic.
Remember,
Lord Guano is a Genie Lord, and Kazom is a former Genie Lord.
Kazom claimed changing another’s form was “easy magic” (jb /?p=795) he also created a body out of nothing for ghost Jean (jb /?p=714). Unless he is, somehow, magically bound not to interact with people other than Melvin or genies, he can probably undo the magic. Jean and Neil could tell Rodge about being a genie so Melvin and Kazom could tell Red.
I forget the cat is a genie right? Can’t it change red back?
Interesting, it seems like Red has a higher tolerance with Melvin. I mean, she’s still angry that he didn’t knock, as she should since he told him she was changing, but she still seems far more lenient.
Then again, Melvin doesn’t seem to be as insensitive as BJ. Melvin seems to have some tact.
*She should.
Melvin does have a good point about it being his room, and he at least didn’t dwell on Red’s femininity. She immediately pulled the shirt down, anyway.
Honestly, BJ should have been the one to be turned into a woman, it seems like he needs to learn to be less of a sexist pig around them.
And no 50srefuge, being a teenage boy doesn’t excuse it. I certainly wasn’t like that, helps that my parents taught me to respect women.
Seems like BJ’s parents didn’t.
THANK YOU! I thought I was the only one.
To be fair though I’ve read too many stories and read too many mangas about the person learning thier lessons that the prospect of using that bores me. I much prefer BJ learn his lesson while helping his friend, rather then having to learn it by anything happening to him.
Me too! (KNOCK, KNOCK) Oh, crap! The story police are at my studio door!
Rin BBACH MANN run!!!
My guess is that if Red had been a girl when BJ first met her, his response wouldn’t have been quite so…direct. But he thinks he’s talking to his good buddy Clarance, who can take a ribbing from his friends.
Thing is, BJ’s not being mean, as far as his understanding goes. He’s trying to pay Red a compliment, one Clarence would have undoubtedly paid BJ if their positions are reversed.
What BJ doesn’t get is that Red has spent the last several days being deluged with unwanted compliments on her femininity by some outright predatory folks, including, shamefully, her own parents.
And that is a just a concentrated dose of what every pretty girl gets. Here’s a hint, boys: don’t compliment girls on their beauty, much less their sexiness. They’ve heard it all before, a thousand times, and whether it’s phrased politely or swinishly, when you tell them how gorgeous they are, you are just one of a crowd any girl is heartily sick of.
To emphasize: I suspect all three of these companions are too shy and tongue tied with most people to have much experience with girls, BJ no more than the other two. Melvin and BJ are going to be very confused for awhile; they know they are dealing with their fellow nerd Clarence, but now he’s…well, hot. Big time conflicting signals. They wouldn’t even be able to look a natural born girl like Red in the eye, or do more than mumble, but Red? Just one of the boys. With boobs. And a nice ass. And great hair, and a pretty face, and a girly voice, and probably a girly giggle, and a tight waist, and a..a…you know. That, um, that…not a penis. You know, that.
But aside from, uh, that, just one of the nerds. Sort of. But…yeah, wow.
I’m going to cut all three tremendous slack; they all have a lot to learn. The normal rules simply do not apply.
Agreed. Remember Melvin and his first crush in Jeanie?
He could have done better than comparing him to a character that fights in a metal bikini though.
I feel like BJ should be a little more sympathetic. Melvin is not perfect either, but he seems to be doing better in that regard.
NOT “comparing [Red] to a character that fights in a metal bikini” would have required a massive shift in perspective. Remember, Mel and BJ were just a moment ago looking at a gatefold poster of Red herself in Sexy Armor. And making the connection to Red Sonja? For this group? Red herself ought to have thought of that. (In fact, I think the boys should start calling her Sonja, just to needle her. 🙂 )Anyway, for these guys, “girl in armor” seems like it should be a compliment: hot and a fighter! What’s the problem?
They truly don’t know any better. BJ’s perplexed look just before Red conks him shows he means no harm.
Look at it this way: if they tread lightly around Red, deferring to her tastes, then they’re treating her like a girl, like a delicate little princess who can’t take a joke.
“How many feminists does it take to change a light–”
“THAT’S NOT FUNNY!”
Red wants to be treated like one of the boys, she gets treated like one of the boys. Otherwise, she’s a girl.
One of the reasons I think Mel fared better than BJ did, for what is arguably a greater transgression, is that Mel benefited from BJ’s example, and that Red has had a moment to calm down a bit. It may also be that BJ, who dresses in what he thinks is a cool fashion, has always been been more abrasive. We’ll see about that.
That said, I am also in mind of a line from Pratchett and Gaiman’s Good Omens, which features a gang of kids about eleven or twelve. (Known to adults as “The Them”.) One is a girl, Pepper, who has up till now been just one of the gang, engaged in the normal rough and tumble, including fist fights. But recently, not only has Pepper gotten a bit of an edge in size, the boys have become aware that there is something that quickens the pulse about “putting hands on good ‘ol Pep” in a way that was never true before, and they are far more cautious about fighting with her.
The Them, of course, has grown into this awareness over the last couple of years. Melvin and company are having to face it almost overnight.
Slack, I say, and plenty of it. Enough to trip over and get tangled in.
I will not judge any of them too harshly on their reactions now, but rather, on how they adapt.
And again, I hope that Red really does begin to understand what it is to be a girl, emotionally as well as physically.
I don’t think sexist jokes are funny either, so i’m not entirely sure where you were going with that.
And Red Sonya, while a badass, also gets mocked for her rather impractical costume. It’s entirely possible Red is one of the ones that thinks the costume is ridiculous and have to model in a similar costume likely did not help matters.
BJ may have been trying to be nice, but he ended up doing it in a rather crass and offensive way. At the very least, he should know the change has not been easy on Red.
I mean, clearly going “You look as hot as Red Sonya” was not what Red wanted to hear. Now, had he said “You look as badass as Xena”, maybe he would have gotten a different reaction.
@Santiago: “I don’t think sexist jokes are funny ”
The lightbulb joke? Why is that sexist? I thought it was political.
As to the comic dialog, I just acted out the first two strips, from Sonja coming in to BJ getting his shiner, with enough buffer to accommodate the action.
Forty-two seconds.
Red’s had at least a day, probably more like a week, to adjust.
The boys have had 42 seconds.
Does Red need to be protected? Then she’s a girl.
Can she hold her own with her former peers? Then she doesn’t need special consideration.
Pick one. Nobody gets everything.
@50sRefuge: Doesn’t work like that, treating her with respect, tact and common decency isn’t because she’s a girl, it’s because she’s a human being and more importantly a friend that’s going to a difficult and emotional time.
If BJ really is her friend, he’ll understand that she doesn’t like to be called hot or compared to characters like Red Sonya and learn to drop it or keep it to himself.
Holding her own with her friends and her friends being respectful of the situation should not be mutually exclusive.
Honestly, it’s no different from when you comfort friends during emotionally trying times in real life.
@Santiago: “Honestly, it’s no different from when you comfort friends during emotionally trying times in real life.”
Honestly, Melvin and BJ simply haven’t had the time to come to grips with the fact that they’re supposed to do that.
But again, “comfort” Red? I have seen no evidence that they know how to do that with a born girl, much less one of their own suffering a magical change.
You’re expecting an awful lot from a trio of hopeless nerds.
@50srefuge No, I’m expecting more from a trio that are suppose to be friends. The fact that their friend is going through a traumatic time means they should already know to be sensitive to that. It doesn’t matter if Red is male or female, a real friend would know to ease up.
Them being male is no excuse for being insensitive jerks.
Santiago: “No, I’m expecting more from a trio that are suppose to be friends. The fact that their friend is going through a traumatic time means they should already know to be sensitive to that. ”
That would be nice, but it’s not my experience. I don’t think Melvin and BJ really understand that Red is going through traumatic stress. It’s too recent, less than a minute to grasp just how upset Red is. And they likely expect Red to react as Clarence would to a similar thing. Friendship, especially among males, is not always about sensitive nurturing.
Wishing doesn’t make it so. I’ve seen this behavior repeatedly between boys of my acquaintance.
Alright the constant male bashing is starting to bug me. Look i’m sure that Red is having trouble trying to readjust and all that but i am doubtful we have men to blame for it all that much. Red now goes to an all girl school and as a young nerdy teen means that is probably where most of the people she interacts with come from. And as stated before Red receives mocking from those girls, last strip they appeared on in “i dream of jeanie” when new War Mallet character was introduced. The only other people she sees are nerds she has always known, though a hot girl in a comic/card/war game store is like blood in the water for sharks. Still i doubt the 5 odd recurring guys there are really that devastating to her pysche. And if any did act up they would get booted from the store, which would be a fate worse than death. So i fail to see how Red is really dealing with a bunch of males trying to hit on her or something. If anyone is really to blame for Red’s volatile nature it’s probably her mom for pushing her into being a girly girl so fast.
Thank you.
This is one of the things Red is going to have to learn to cope with–and the blunders of her nerd friends are the least of of it.
And you know what? I bet she does fine. And I bet her nerd friends do fine. And I bet that on balance, they, and we, have a lot fun.
I’d also like to point out the difference in behaviours here . . .
BJ: Compares her to a powerful warrior (bikini not withstanding).
Melvin KNOWING she’s getting changed comes to take a look.
@Senko: “BJ: Compares her to a powerful warrior (bikini not withstanding).
Melvin KNOWING she’s getting changed comes to take a look.”
Here’s how clueless these guys really are: I bet Melvin had no idea he was walking in on Red flashing her bra. His only concern was someone raiding his closet.
And in fact, he’s got a genie living in his room, so all bets are off. The “Blue Wizard” sign on his door? That might be a serious serious warning. Concerned about a close friend raiding his closet? Makes me wonder what he’s got hidden in there.
The issue with that is Red had time after saying she was raiding his closet to go to his room and change that’s not the instant reaction of someone concerned about their clothing being raided.
@Senko: No, Melvin compared Red to a highly sexualized character is usually mocked for fighting in a metal bikini.
And Red obviously didn’t appreciate the comparison for that reason.
And to Melvin’s credit, he probably didn’t think Red was going to change, like 50srefuge said. Red said she was going to raid Melvin’s closet, but she didn’t say she was changing.
It was implied sure, but subtleties seem to last on him.
Really I wasn’t aware of red Sonja being mocked for her clothing. I also find it hard to believe even a teenage boy wouldn’t associate I’m raiding your closet with I’m getting changed.
I could give your brains a big hug! *^-^*
AAIIEEE! Run for your lives! TBM wants to crush our skulls in his giant mecha hands!
The constant RPG jokes are not great. I think you should tone down the references a bit.
I disagree, while not the greatest jokes in the world I know people that do use jokes like that. And adds tot heir character. It shows what they think and act, not to mention why their not the most popular people in thier society.
You are right that is part of their characters, I just think the last line particularly goes a bit too far. I love the comic so far though.
I agree with Sol. I Talk like that with my friends, and I’m not popular. 😀
Agreed BACH MANN we’re int he same lonely boat… on the plus side I have plenty of video games to keep me company… And now your awesome comic and art work to look forward to for helping fund this.
Thanks man! *^-^*
They’re gamer nerds. It’s the basis of their whole friendship. They don’t know any other way to relate, not even Red.
This is going to be a problem for all concerned. Red’s no longer just a gamer nerd. To the boys, she’s a girl, and that will take precedence over everything else.
That may all be true, but, I think that Bach-Mann should keep the number of people that know that Red use to be a boy down to just her family, Melvin, BJ, Red and Kazon too. That way both Melvin and BJ acting as her protector and trying to keep her former identity secret as Clarance. I think that a good story line would be that Clarance traded places with his cousin or go with the boarding school for a few months to hid Clarance’s changed gender to a girl. But, I would not let it get past these six people. I assume that they don’t have any other children and if they did, they would probably find out too.
Well that also begs the question who else already knows? And what they tell any family memebers and friends of the family. I mean clearly the parents have the reaources to cover her new ids and all.
Tht aside Red clearly doesn’t want to be a female so her parents claiming red wanted to be a girl is clearly not an option.
That may not be possible, and could reduce humorous complications.
Not a biggie for me, Luna and TBM should do whatever they want.
But I still wonder, just what did the parents tell anyone who knew Red before being a guirl? They had to tell people something?
They didn’t just say oh we were mistaken our child was a girl for all these years.. then again given their reactions to finding thier son a daughter… they may just have…
What I find weird is given that relationship why did she say ugh on seeing the sign on his door?
I think the ugh was ment for dealing with the last two strips then the writing on the door.
Hmmm maybe if so sadly it’s something she’s going to need to get user to dealing with.
We’re mostly going on how we talk to each other and our other nerdy friends. Believe me, it could be a lot worse! So much worse even I’ve facepalmed on occasion! 😉
When I was this age, video games didn’t exist. Pong came out after I graduated from high school.
Didn’t matter; I and my friends were just like this. We knew everything about our hobbies, and absolutely nothing about dealing with other people. We literally couldn’t talk without bringing in the technicalities. You might have noticed I still tend to do the same thing.
Which is to say, I applaud this approach. It’s quite realistic.
I agree with 50srefugee.
That sound good. Work on the other two nerdy friends too to build a good solid foundation for future story lines and new relationship with each. Then bring in Kazon the cat/teacher/Genie and Red’s parents into the mex. There should be plenty of stuff there for maybe 100 comic post or more. Once everybody get use to our three or four main characters and Red. Then move out to secondary Characters of this story Red’s parents. Then everybody else they might interact with that don’t know that Red use to be a guy.
It will make for lot of good reading and new situation for our characters and stay new fresh too.
All the talk about Kazom being able to turn Red back into a boy, and maybe BJ should have been the one to be turned into a girl?
It may be Kazom can’t, and Red would have been just as “mean” to BJ, but one thing is certainly true:
If Kazom wishes, and has the magic to do it, he could change Melvin and BJ into girls, to give them a taste of what Red’s going through, then change them back.
I smell a idea for an story arc down the road…..
I do wish Red’s mom would let Red pick her own clothes. If she has to be a girl, the least her mom can do is be the kinda girl she wants to be.
Welcome to the wonderful world of stage daughters.
We agree, strongly, on this point.
Red would not be as touchy as she is now if her parents had not abandoned their son as quickly and as firmly as they did. They made it clear that while Clarence was an easily ignored boy, Tiffany is just a dress up doll to them, but far more valued (I won’t say “loved”) and that’s horrible.
Indeed, this situation wouldn’t be as awkward if Red’s parents weren’t trying to push her into it. I do hope that gets development in the story. Either Red calling out her parents on it or just dressing rebelliously.
Ultimately it’s her body, she should be able to dress how she likes.
Red dressing rebelliously.. hmm wonder what that would look like…
After reading the last panel, women’s fashion now makes complete sense. I never thought of it that way. Thank you for enlightening me.
You’re welcome! I have several tops that are the same style, just a different color. Of course, unlike Red, I actually like wearing them. ^_^
Sadly, that is just one mystery down and a bazillion to go. Yaaay.
“And again, there was much rejoicing.” (yay……)
*Throws confetti.*
Plus The colour of the top changes slightly depending on the colour of what your wearing with it on top of which girls eyes see a wider range of colours then guys because of how they’re set up, guys generally have a wider field of vision as a result of this difference too.
I like the style and art work of the comic. I hope you can keep the story going for a long time.
Same.
Thank you. We will certainly try! ^_^
I wonder how long it’ll take her to realize that wearing guy’s clothes really isn’t that comfortable for a girl. A boy’s shirt isn’t so bad but the jeans are really made to fit different body types and just aren’t that comfortable or so I’ve been told.
Less than a minute–but this about covering her belly button, not changing her jeans.
Ok correct me if I’m wrong here.. but isn’t a tshirt still just a tshirt as long as it’s not falling of her isn’t it still just a tshirt?
i was never big on fashion of clothes. so I got no idea if thiers a big diffrence btween men and womens tshirt other then the size of the shirt..
There is a female style, the baby doll, cut large at the top, narrow at the waist, and a bit of a flare at the bottom. Some have a “scoop neck” to expose a bit of cleavage.
But I think what Red objects to is the style that’s cut off to expose the midriff.
Agreed. I think that is the style red objects to. I believe if given the baby doll type tshirt with maybe a war mallet logo or something similar I don’t think she’d com[plain about it as much.
At this point in Red development into a girl, it not going to make any difference whether it comfortable or not. She going to be into rebellious mode for awhile. If it guy’s clothing, then she will wear it. It will be damned the comfort, I’ll show my parents who I am. However it will get old wearing cloths that don’t fit all the time and are very uncomfortable to wear. At that point wearing something comfortable will eventually win day. But, that will be a future decision that she will make when she embarrasses her womanhood.
In the mean time, there going to be plenty of kicking, fighting, scratching and digging her heel’s in, trying to hold that day off for as long as possible. Of course she will eventually lose, but, it make for a good story line.
I see y
Sorry about my last post hit the post button on my phone by mistake. Large thumbs plus tiny phone dont add up well.
I see your poiny. But i think red would wear more fitting clotes if they were to her tastes and not her mothers.
I mean a tshirt the covers her belly button should be easy enough to come for a girl. Its her mothers clothing decisions that she may fully hate. If given something she likes but sized for a girl her development into a girl would go alot smoother.
Point not poiny
In Part 146 the dance, before Red had been a girl for less than a day, she put on makeup. Kind of suggests that Red, like that other C.D. Rudd TG’d heroine, is going to stay TG’d.
Can Kazom change him back? Maybe–if the effort doesn’t kill him. Or maybe Kazom may be teaching Red some lesson. Or maybe Kazom finds TG’d red too entertaining to change back. Or maybe he wants to leave the problem for Guano–doesn’t seem to particularly like Guono, does he?
I don’t get the feeling hat was done by Red’s choice as by some girls thinking Red should have makeup for her date at the party…..
I could be wrong but given the circumstances and red’s complaining just give me that feeling.
It’s not a cinch that Red did put on makeup at the dance, although I believe her eye-sifting suggests that she did, at least a little. Further, I think she did so because she wanted to try it, so probably a bit of lip gloss, or a touch of mascara, something she could do herself without looking clownish, as lipstick, rouge, or eyeshadow might do in unpracticed hands. (Look at her eyes–the outlines are somewhat heavier in frame 3 than 4. And I’d swear her hair is a bit fluffier as well.)
My guess is that Red is a girl–not that Clarence was a girl in spirit, but that the spell changed Clarence’s mind into Red’s mind.
And I bet Red is more than a little confused, angry, possibly even grieving over losing his maleness, and having to cope with the emotional changes–like wanting to play with makeup.
Red’s parents are not helping her accept her new state. If they were less pushy, they might get their model daughter anyway.
Could be true.
Though another way of seeing it could have been, as we talked earlier these are probably the guys that get tongue tied talking to girls. If that’s so when red was in the restroom then thanks to getting tongue tied when the girls offered to help Red with her make up, Red wasn’t able to refuse thanks to his inexperience talking to girls in general much less as one to another.
I wonder if Clarence’s parents had him take theater classes, where he might have learned the basics of makeup.
I don’t know enough about high school girl restroom etiquette to guess whether or not other girls would offer make up to a girl standing in front of a mirror fingering her hair (“Honey, want to try some of my mascara?” “Uh, I don’t, um…” “Tomboy, huh? Here, let me…no, no, just a touch on the eyes. Trust me, he won’t notice, except that he’ll like it.”), or if Red would have to ask.
I would really love to see some of the scenes of Red’s first contacts with, ahem, real girls. Particularly that first time at the dance, but also at the girls school.
While I admit not every girl would do that, I know for a fact their are some that would. Add that to Red’s status and tongue tying talking to girls.. theirs ways we can take it either or till more evidence about said topic is provided.
As for the theater classes.. I honestly hadn’t thought of that. All I can add to that idea is if Clarence did it might make him the least sociably awkward of the bunch then being in with a bunch of other working with them on stage.
I just noticed that there’s no tag into the on the frontpage. You guys might want to fix that, since it makes the browser tab show the full URL, instead of the name of the comic.
Speaking of site business, will ComicPress let you turn off threading? I have trouble finding new comments on a busy page like this, where they could be pretty much anywhere. I’d much prefer sequential commenting, even if it means I’d have to quote what I was responding to. This works well over at Exiern, for instance.
I will look into it.
I believe what 50srefugee is refering to is the ‘Comment Thread Nesting’, which is basicly the number of times a reply can use used following a comment.
So in this comment’s example, Robert is level 1, 50srefugee is at level 2, Luna is level 3 and I’ll be level 4.
Looking at the comments already on the site, the site seems to be set to a max of 5 levels deep (which is default for WordPress).
You can change this setting in Settings > Discussion > Other Comment Settings. You can set the max level (Sun.org and Jeanie Bottle is set at 3) or disable it all together, so the comments will appear in chronological order. Be warned, 50sR might like it chronologicly… but others might like to reply to specific comments. I would suggest setting to 2 – 3 levels deep.
50srefugee… You can just scan through looking at the time/dates for anything posted since the last time you visited the site. That’s what I do.
(Level 5)
I don’t know what you mean. Send me an email on the subject.
Speaking of gender, do we really know Kazom is a guy?
Actually.. no we don’t far as i can tell. I was looking for if they ever called Kazom a he or him.. I don’t see to be finding it… Now we could be assuming male from the title Lord. But Genie lord maybe a itle for male or females in the genie realm society…
From Kazom’s description, “He takes the form of a cat”. 😉
As soon as he transformed into a cat, he automatically got the female pronoun, even if he has his magical balls,
ribbit. Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.
In their interactions with humans, all cats are female kittens.
All dogs are male puppies.
Scientific fact. Factish. You don’t want to argue with science, do you?
But I argue with science all the time. It’s called being stubborn.
“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.” — Feynman
So, you’re good.
Since cartoon animals aren’t usually anatomically correct (remember that movie where the boy-cows had udders?), we don’t really know. Hey, we really don’t know if Sylvester has a package, and Tweety’s practically the poster bird for gender ambiguity.
And even we accept that Kazom seems anatomically male (to Melvin and the other citi-fied nerds, anyway), that doesn’t necessarily mean he was always male.
I think the best evidence for his being male is that he seems pretty lazy.
However, on the side of acting female, she seems to have a lot more common sense than anyone else in the J-Bottleverse.
Based on info from JB part 139 and 162 (parts of Red’s backstory) I think it would be quite easy for Kazom to change Red back. There might be an issue with not letting slip of Kazom being a genie (but I don’t think so, Jean and Neil told Rodge with no cosmic backlash). It could be Kazom doesn’t want to set a precedent of using his magic to bail out these kids for every little problem.
Magic Mechanics question : Casting a spell repeatedly or creating an item enchanted with the spell; which would cost more Magic Energy?; Which would be cheaper over time?
I ask this because I don’t think Red’s family want him to be a boy anymore. If he gets changed back into a boy, they’re going to want him to be a girl again (I assume).
Hey guys, I am having some issues using my email. I am working on getting it fixed. I apologize if anyone has been waiting for a response.
Back-man, If your still having issues with the e-mails this evening, you might want to skype me to sort it out. Luna has my skype info. (Remember, I’m a couple hours earlier then you are, so don’t skype too late).
Cool. To the Bach-Cave! 🙂
FYI, the “next” link on this page is broken, acts like there’s no following page. 😉 Had to go to home page to find the next one …
Very weird – after posting that, all of a sudden the link lit up and now works. Go figure.
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