Comic's drawn. Just needs to be colored. But artist needs sleep. Lots of driving. Blerg.
This will probably be up later tonight (Wed night) but runs a slim chance of being up Thanksgiving. You're still getting three posts this week, so fear not. Typically I'll post a longer strip on Mondays. Two to three tiers (the length of two or three strips, --see above comic--) with the weekend making this possible. Wed/Fri posts are 1 tiered to alleviate my work load. This one is two tiered, and honestly has to stay that way. I could cut it in half, but when you read it, you'll see why it works better as a whole.
For all who've emailed me this week about things and stuff, I will reply you back, asap. Promise. Yes, Juniper is in this story. I'm surprised by the interest. But in a good way.
See you soon.
264 thoughts on “It Pleases The Court”
technically you breached protocol by saying ‘ellie’. the legal changing of your name has not been recognized by the elder counsil and isn’t appropriate for verbal requests.
Actually, since the name change has been recognized by the eldest, doesn’t that make it a defacto formal recognition, since the eldest is “the Perfect One”?
The Perfect One is not actually the eldest*, though being not the eldest is of little consequence when one is perfect, so your reasoning is still sound.
*Unless you mean eldest in the room, as The One With All The Kids is probably sleeping elsewhere in the house.
I think that there is a problem here. Tarra used the phrase “Number 5” when referring to Ellie, not Ellie nor Lavender. However, she did ask what’s wrong with Lavender. I will have to look back, but I do not believe that anything but Lavender and Number 5 has been in use from Tarra.
Therefore, the recognition would not be legitimate.
As I commented below, I’m guessing Tarra ceded Cinn-beating rights to Anise deliberately as Anise was exhibiting more obvious irritation, and Tarra is likely too unflappable (if she let her temper get the best of her then she probably would’ve ended up with a haircut from it at least once).
Maybe it’s just a case of whomever is closest?
Maybe, but considering Tarra’s hair attack prowess, Cinn is still well within easy reach.
What a great way to start out a Monday. Laughing quite a bit right now!
That… that was actually really hilarious. And… rational. I guess in that household, a “Council” would be needed, to keep things from going completely out of hand.
Also, Cinnamon is quickly becoming my least favorite of the sisters, right up there with Juniper.
Personally, I don’t think that I can entirely fault Cinnamon for her lack of filter. I’d chalk it up to a borderline personality disorder in a mostly functional mentality.
However, TOG, I did not say that she didn’t deserve it. Maybe the Sister Council should be applauded for it’s restraint in the matter.
Agreed and didn’t mean to imply it. As for restraint, Mama B strikes me as a stickler for everyone coming to the table for the start of a holiday meal, and I suspect Cinn’s punishment was adjusted to make certain she could still take her seat and at least eat soft foods.
ah, you mean mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole and tea.
Best diplomatic sistem ever…get it…SIStem. No? No one? Well fine.
They can be, if don’t correctly. But I feel that 98% of the people don’t know how to use them properly in order to be effective. And of the remaining two percent, I estimate about 1/4 of the time, they are dead on effective.
Puns are the true form of humor! They will not die, nor shall I let them, the Punny shall rise, get ready a Punderstorm is coming.
You may only be allowed to pun intentionally when you have received the two licensed metronomes that have been sent to you from the second Tuesday after the fifth Friday of last year.
Humor is generally more related to being unexpected than the specific method used to get a mental jump on someone else. Puns are harder to pull of well than a lot of other forms (and I won’t argue this one met that high bar, primarily because it was too easily mistaken for a typo and required an explanation), but they are still quite capable of being humor.
Yeah, I understand that, and that’s why I love good puns; however, I figure most people do hate them, so I usually add the ellipses and explanation to basically say, I get most won’t enjoy it, but I still find it funny.
I absolutely advocate everyone finding things to make them laugh and enjoying them as much as feasible. As for explanation here, that particular pun was just too easily mistaken for a typo and anyone who noticed it would’ve been more likely to assume it was accidental as opposed to on purpose.
You are worse than one of my graduate teachers. The only thing he wasn’t about his puns, was basehd. At least at school, at home, I don’t know if things were flying around his head or not. But then again, he had an interest in interplanetary geology.
I remember a guy in college P1 that me and another guy were a little obsessed with launching a Whopper to orbit his head. He had a really big head, and while the math showed it wouldn’t be enough to hold a Whopper in stable orbit, we just WANTED to believe.
Excellent facial expression on the avatar for a pun though.
It’s why I used it dude. I thought that you used the capitalization icon roulette as well, dude.
I meant Captain Jack’s avatar actually (not sure if that was you or not).
Nope, I’ve never deliberately tweaked my avatar by changing things. I noticed one of my comments in an older post had a different avatar, but I’m guessing that might be a glitch from the server issues a little while ago.
Sorry, had you mixed up with TLO.
Is this basically how every thanksgiving turns out for them? Or is this just a regular Thursday?
I must respectfully disagree. It is most likely a Thanksgiving exclusive thing, as regular Thursdays do not likely have guests show up. It might just be a holiday thing, not Thanksgiving exclusive.
You don’t need guests for Cinnamon to say something stupid and get punched in the face.
Actually for this one, the guest is needed in order for Cinnamon to dredge up smuckts in order to evaluate proper emotional reactions to former social interactions that have been taken upon by family members. Either in the past or present. And those topics have been generously applied since the birthday party.
That girl has no brain sometimes.
Sometimes?
She managed to get out of serious jailtime. That takes, well, something. Maybe not intelligence, but at least cunning.
What if it was by the actions of the parents to keep the kid out of jail and under their own recognizance?
Possible, as we don’t know what she did. I’m still betting that Cinn is capable of a high degree of cunning, though. I just think she would’ve gotten smacked down enough in life to have no choice but to learn a bit otherwise.
I don’t know. I can’t see Cinnamon as the type to plan three steps ahead, like Sydney Sco… wait, she hasn’t demonstrated that yet…
Let alone being able to see Cinnamon play chess, poker, checkers or Uno and win, let alone board games.
She has no brain power when talking about sex at a family gathering. So, there seems to be no brain power in restraining a plethora of complaints about reservations from others when they (Cinnamon) felt something of avarice about the situation from a historical perspective of lack of sound proofing.
They have established protocol. This is clearly not a unique point.
Ash(as I will call kid with hashtag cheeks until his name is established)and Andy (see aforementioned note) are apparently very different. Andy makes me think of me. “Stay in the lines.”. I bet he’s got decent grades and is somewhat of a momma’s boy. Ash is like Lin’s Lovegood or Nintendo. “Oh, were you doing something? I was just enjoying the pretty colors!”. This is of course in my head, but, you know I get feelings about people.
I actually have come back to read this multiple times as well. It’s one of my favorites strips from Rusche yet! This was fantastic. I also loved that Quinn’s rage brings out the green in her eyes. haha
I am beginning to believe it’s more/different than a lack of a filter. A person with no filter will often say shocking/embarassing stuff about themselves, as well. Her verbal spew is almost entirely directed to, or completely about, other people. So there’s something more than JUST stupidity going on–it’s a willful attempt to get under the skins of others.
Not true, really. Remember the cake affair, about how she stopped giving Derek sex whenever he wanted. Cinnamon is equal-opportunity, it’s just that she’s more heavily weighted toward other people’s foibles.
Agreed. Her behavior shows some degree of malice and/or misanthropy from my view. I can see a lack of filter making it worse and preventing her for getting out of her issues as well, but definitely more than just a missing filter.
what if the lack of filter just snowballs with the degrees of malice thus creating a logarithmic effect of misanthropy?
I expect the missing filter is complimentary and a “force multiplier” when it comes to her malice/misanthropy. My guess on rate would be linear or polynomial, though I suppose that’s dependent on how I set up my mental axis, so a fairly arbitrary call on my part.
Navy SEALs, the original military force multiplier.
I just can’t remember how many storm troopers I killed in one roll while flying an A-Wing one meter off of the ground.
This is before dinner isn’t it? Cinnamon invoked Quinn rage faster than I thought. Also the dumb one was the dark haired figure in the previous strip, motion to have the wrongfully stricken points returned to the party of the first.
“Sorry, Quinn…we just prefer to keep assaults on Cinnamon strictly within the family. Can’t just have anyone socking the dumb one; the court costs would be huge.”
In that case, she’d likely be held on contempt of court. Plus the lawyers get paid just for showing up. Then the town would have to enact “Cinnamon’s Law”, in which no one can be held legally liable for punching Cinnamon Buckingham within the town limits as long as it can be proven by two or more witnesses–or audio / video recording–that she said or did something stupid first.
Lol @ “Cinnamon’s Law”
Should you find yourself in need of it, you’re welcome to it, and with my compliments, sir.
Witnesses are better than a video recording device. A camcorder can not hold you back once you’ve knocked down your opponent. Unless it was made by Tarra.
I just heard the “Law & Order” bumper when I just read that.
Cinnamon’s Law is like Cinnamon’s love… blunt and frequently administered.
As long as it’s nothing like Cinnamon Sugar Toast. Or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Cap’n Crunch, with Crunchberries. Heck, Lucky Charms for that matter too.
Do you really need the wittnesses? It’s almost a given that she did.
Steve – After comments last comic I remembered to set up my search/replace for items from the XKCD comic. Thanks for being the first place I saw the word ‘witnesses’ replaced with ‘these dudes I know’. That one made me happy, and I still recommend it to everyone to make the Internet more enjoyable (and I’ve been told it confuses spouses and encourages them to log out and use their own browser instead of filling your browser history when you’re looking for that site you found yesterday).
For anyone considering the substitution filter, the one that a guy from work mentioned that he decided on which confused his wife was replacing “peace of mind” with “a piece of brain”. This one apparently gets a lot of use shortly after large natural disasters and has, I believe, helped him train his wife to use her own browser session/profile instead of his.
No, she was not the one in the previous strip sitting next to Anise. That person was taller when compared to Anise, and there were no low angel camera action going on.
Yea, I was on my phone and didn’t go back to look. Though now that I did I’m even more convinced it is Cinnamon in both strips. Same hair color, same shirt color, same position relative to Anise. I am redistributing the erroneously confiscated points until such time as “word of god” confirms it was not Cinnamon or another character with the same hair color and same shirt color appears in this story arc presenting an adequate explanation regarding how they swapped places with Cinnamon between strips.
I only concede the possibility that it may be Cinnamon based only on the seating arrangement in this comic.
However, given the colors and shapes and such, along with the assumption that Cinnamon didn’t give a damn about how she looked at a function the appearance of a different person, possibly a guy with Anise.
However, that may just have been a bad guess on my part…
It looks like Anise is slouching. In response to what came out of Cinnamon’s mouth.
As such, she’s shorter, for the moment.
Nice backhand.
Uhm, the discussion was based on the previous comic. The two tone hair and a paler green color on the top suggested a possible vest.
This was a pretty good comic. I especially like how Cinnamon, even when wide eyed, still looks sleepy. And Quinn’s description is quite apt- she DOES look dead eyed.
Also, I’m kinda curious- is Ellie coloring a picture of Rapunzel from Tangled?
Seems as though Cinnamon has no idea how often and how badly she can hurt people with the things she says. We know that she offends people quite often, but she hasn’t learned her lesson yet, so it’s both funny and facepalm-worthy when she gives the “who, me?” look, because she STILL doesn’t get it!
I commented above–I think it’s more deliberate than that. If she was simply ‘no filter girl’, she’d be saying horrible stuff about herself. I think this is actually tactical–push and push and push, find people’s buttons and hammer at them. WHY she does this would still be a mystery–it could be anything from trying to drive anyone away (not an uncommon desire in a crowded household) to a secret hope that there’s someone out there who will put up with her shit, and the only way she’s gonna find that person is by making sure it’s in evidence up front.
You’re saying deliberate as if she were fully choosing to be masochistic and/or sadistic. I’m suggesting that she doesn’t know better because she’s got a condition. One that would be in the DSM-IV.
Hopefully they also list the correct treatment as prescribed by Ellie and perfectly administered by Anise…
She knows.
As evidence I submit username “the evilone”
I think that’s a bit over the top. However, I did think after a bit that she was going to try and open a can of whoop ass on Quinn.
Over the top how? It’s her gravvy nick. Meaning it is how she self identifies. She knows what she is doing and is playing the part of a Troll IRL.
And she is obviously very good at it.
I suggest that there is a distinct difference between one who knowingly trolls, and one who has no idea that they troll. Therefore, the one who does not know that they troll continues to forget to charge the batteries before they get to a bass tournament.
I agree there is a difference, but I was answering your earlier query re: does she troll on purpose? with “most assuredly.”
I don’t think she has a “condition” such as Aspy because she isn’t clueless of other peoples feelings, she’s purposefully poking at them. An Aspy wouldn’t typically ask “does that make you upset?” because they often don’t recognize that their behavior may upset others and if they did reach that level of empathy they would attempt to adjust course. Cinnamon isn’t being accidentally rude, she’s being purposefully rude. Which isn’t a condition, it’s being an asshole.
I’m not fully altogether well informed on Aspberger’s Syndrome. But I like your point, she was purposefully pushing that button.
She is manipulative. I’m thinking of “Why I live at the P.O.” again.
Ok, I didn’t catch that earlier. I thought that I did. Maybe I thought it was the dumb one at first
I don’t think Cinn has functional empathy. Not to say that she’d be a true sociopath/psychopath from a DSM stance (that requires significantly more than a lack of empathy), but I think she’s incapable of understanding and also she doesn’t really give a shit about how it impacts others and gets a rise out of it.
Cinn is currently my top guess as to a character who’s going to be an example of Rusche’s rule from last comic’s comments that not every character can be redeemed.
Great, now Alex is going to be back in the story.
I mean, the Joker was supposed to have made his own animals from the skeletons of those that he “rescued.” Cinnamon was shown shooting off the hamster on the rocket.
Rusche did already say he’d be back, so I was bracing for that. However if Rusche brings him back as getting involved with Cinn, that’ll be very upsetting to me because I don’t like the thought of either of them mating with anyone, let alone with each other. That might be even worse than the Alex/ratch hybrid that came up in comments his last on-comic appearance.
Damn it! Now I’m going to have to decide if I think Cinn qualifies as worse than an Omega Level Pestilence or not… I’ll be trying to decide that one for months.
I’m not going to attempt to decide if Karma will reign in that relationship, if it happens. It would, on the one hand seem to be designed for both of them as punishment, were it to be meted out as such. Now that would be a manipulative chess game for life.
The one’s that I would feel sorry for would be the kids, if there are any. And instead of thinking of Eudora Welty, I’m thinking of the guy who was supposedly on the receiving end of the third worst child abuse case in California history.
Wow, they get things done faster than our government.
Also, Ellie, laying on the floor coloring with the boys, you’re awesome.
And yet you reply to me almost as if you think we are equals, so perhaps there is hope for you yet… ;)
Our government also doesn’t have procedural rules for punching someone in the face for being an idiot.
I suspect this is due to the physical piece of paper they had available for the Constitution being too small and they had to prune something and mistakenly believed future generations would be mature enough that they could leave that as assumed.
While, there may have been no true motion to make for blood letting, let alone being verbally seconded before the first punch were to land. The only recognition by the chair would have been to either call, “Motion to Agenda,” “Point of Order,” or to have the Sgt. At Arms or other Congressional equivalent to jump in and pull them apart like monkey bread.
What bothers me is that they treated a verbal triad by one of the employees to record the minutes as a mentally constrained triad and subjected her righteous outburst as work place harassment/threat instead of someone who was so morally outraged at the actions of the floor that they could not just sit down and shut up. To me, that’s true 1st Amendment exercise.
And a caning or two as well…
Isn’t it great?
Yeah, I’m aware of that, and I’m fairly sure that duels with pistols happened (later and off-site) as well. I’m more saying that I wish the Constitution not only allowed a place where such things could happen, but mandated them.
The duels might be particularly effective for thinning out the ranks of incumbents a bit too, though unfortunately I doubt there would be as high of a correlation as I’d hope to see in that situation between being a better lawmaker and being a faster and better shot.
Jesse James vs. Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid?
“Dead-eyed little troll.” I think we’ve all noticed the unusual patterning involved in Cinnamon’s eyes lately, and it’s good to know that someone else caught that too.
That was immensely entertaining. I think Quinn will fit in with the Buckinghams quite nicely. Poor Anise, though, her face reeks of embarrassment at Cinn’s shenanigans.
Tarra could’ve hair whipped Cinn from where she’s sitting (barely visible in panel 1 behind Quinn’s neck), so I think she, as the eldest present, abstained to allow Anise the outlet for her embarrassment.
I kinda’ like that this is routine enough that Ginger’s brood, despite being young boys, don’t even find it noteworthy enough to stop coloring and glance at the violence.
One brother and the strong majority of cousins are all male. While I generally read and ignored everything during family get-togethers, I still would’ve been likely to look up and say, “Good one!”, “Nice form, but you should work on the follow-thru,” or “You call that a punch in the face?”
I wasn’t really expecting them to move their bodies, just critique Aunt Anise on her form, delivery, and remarks (and take notes if they think she did a good enough job).
TOG, maybe those kids are not keyed into the key words of the topic of discussion that was going on. Either that, or Aunt Cinnamon is always getting her block knocked off. Mom is probably with Grandma in the kitchen, or with Grandpa out in the garage attempting to figure out how to get the wheezer-doohickey into the thimg-a-ma-jig fixed in time for dinner.
It’s true that Rusche could prove me wrong in the next comic, but I was going with the familiarity with the procedure and playing the odds that & or # would’ve been old enough to recognize it. Or at least react to the feeling of violence/tone of anger in Quinn’s voice, which should be noticeable to boys that age.
After looking at #’s head placement, I’m thinking that he may have been zeroing in on the information, but hasn’t looked with his eyes yet. But now that things have occurred, he may think that Aunt Cinnamon is asleep.
Lost reply and put at bottom, meant to be here:
I think & and # are both old enough to know what old school Batman-style sound effects and Aunt Cinn suddenly falling asleep mean. Also it wouldn’t strike me as surprising if Cinn is the type to wake up swearing after that sort of treatment.
I can see Quinn’s green eyes! They always look black, but when she’s ready to pummel Cinn, they are definitely green. Went on a small archive binge to Quinn’s first appearance to see if she had green eyes then too (she did), and was shocked at how much the comic style has changed.
The family dynamics just keep getting better and better. Ellie and Anise’s exchange is pure gold.
The difference really is astonishing. It’s gone from anime chibi-style to a bit more realistic. The colors have gotten a good deal more subdued, Quinn looks less starved (seriously, her cheekbones were so sharp you could cut gems with them), and facial expressions have gotten better. The body proportions and shading have improved as well.
Lenny, is not Cinnamon. I don’t know why, other than having portrayed him as a grown man who does not have the mental abilities past that of a child of between five and seven. Cinnamon, on the other hand, is quite aware of her body, age, and abilities. However, I still question her ability to filter as a function of erroneous wiring or choice. That, I haven’t decided to my own satisfaction.
I think she forgot the rules, or thought Quinn wouldn’t warn Ellie for permission, and thought she’d get to tangle with Quinn instead of getting the beat down that she must be used to by now.
I don’t think that she sees the end of the conversation whenever she opens her mouth at the start.
Maybe that’s why she doesn’t have pupils, her brain is in a shrouded fog all of the time. The common sense doesn’t have decent hearing when it comes to recognizing coherent and logical socialized conversations.
Also a definite possibility.
I was thinking more of that hit driving her septum into her brain and giving it a quick little scramble since she didn’t die from it.
I love this strip too, but you all are soooo serious. Jeebus.
Nah, too “Suckerpunch” for me, eh?
Heh heh heeeehhhhhhh. I had a sister who was a cross between Juniper and Cinnamon. How I wish our family had an Anise!
Thanks for that. Spelling was always my worst suit, and I now have this image of someone attempting to literally spell their way out of a paper bag. Maybe it means I should’ve already gone to bed, but that image is making me laugh.
My first thought was why would Anise risk her hands in this way, but then I realized, that the backhand would be more painful and protect her drawing fingers as well. Very well done.
It just occurred to me… Ellie said two long, fancy sentences, giving Cinnamon time to figure out what was about to happen and get out of the way. Cinnamon didn’t do so. Was anyone there surprised by the backfist? Maybe Quinn, but otherwise no.
And Ellie was appropriately indignant when Ashliii told her Pumpkin had referred to her as the dumb one. Lazy an Ellie undeniably is, I agree she would’ve picked up something to shield herself with before that statement was finished.
I would think that all of Cinnamon’s attention would be centered on the approaching physical threat of Quinn looking for another rodeo and Cinnamon being the clown. Therefore, Cinnamon would not have heard the motion made by Ellie to protect Quinn from das boot, and putting Cinnamon back in order.
But now that I read this, being dumb is blocking out all sensory perception and allowing for tunnel vision focused entirely on your target to the point of not being able to hear motions being made against your favor with great pain to be inflicted as well.
Cinnamon really likes to piss ppl off does’t she?
Its almost as if that her purpose in life, remind ppl they made mistakes and then keep dredging them up.
But i love the way how Ellie resolves it, seems like its a normal thing in their household since she does’t even look up.
But maybe Cinnamon is just still pissed about not getting any cash from mom and this is her way of venting it…
Strange but it fits her personality.
Cinnamon wants control. Her boyfriend with sex as a weapon, or with peoples emotions with trying to enrage them. Or hurting them like with the little kid at her job. She wants power over others.
Wait a minute. Power over others can only be obtained when others are willing to give up that power in which they were in full control of.
I’ve got the dysfunction on the tip of my tongue, but my frontal lobe is jumping rope.
Co-Dependent dysfunctional relationships. What you said makes more sense, except for how long she’s been like this. Envious of others, the odd one out because she doesn’t have blonde hair, which would make it seem even more petty. But it seems likely that she’s been like this for a long time. Punishing people, things and rules around her.
Still, no sympathy from me. Even if she was that way from birth. A person has to take responsibility for their actions. Speech included.
The first two panels made me think of, just now, a piece of comedic prose titled, I believe, “Why I live at the P.O.” Eudora Wetly (sp)? is the author I think. But it’s also the name that seems to pop up.
Web search time.
Eudora Welty.
I’m not going to say another word. Nor type one. Well, I just did. But you know what I mean.
Chis didn’t say she *obtains* power over others, only that she wants it…
But that’s how she gets the power. Poke the bear enough, and provoke it, and then shoot it with the mental override device in the nose.
Quinn was just about ready to jump on Cinnamon. Clearly her control of the situation was no longer in a civil manner as she was not only about to do physical violence, she was verbally threatening it. However, she was polite enough to let Ellie know about it before hand.
I wonder if Ghandi could put up with Cinnamon. I doubt it.
Cinnamon is too stupid to be the behind the controls of a television set, let alone human beings. She may want control, but thankfully, she’s not likely to get it.
Depends on how choosy she is about what happens once the controls are yanked away from the normal driver. As long as she doesn’t care if the car crashes, she obtains control enough to send it spinning away from where it would’ve gone before.
Some people want to make their impact felt and aren’t too choosy as to how or what it does. They just get off on forcing others to change in some way. The ones that care about control after take a lot more care to avoid offending.
I think that Cinnamon is able to zero in after a liberal application of psyche abrasion. She seems to be able to defuse personal walls and boundaries, deftly. Just as well as Mel Gibson was able to diffuse that bomb in “Lethal Weapon.”
I think that she should keep the arcade job for as long as possible. I don’t think that she could survive on the streets.
Just discovered this comic today, read them all in a marathon session. Keep up the great work
It’s going to be disappointing to have to wait once you get caught up, but it’s not disappointing otherwise, so as long as you tell yourself to be patient you’ll be good.
Panel ten Ellie after seeing the ice front, for getting ready to archive dive to search for something to support a point made. And Ellie in panel twelve for having enjoyed the dive once again without having to towel off from a pool.
While I don’t like avatar switching or setting up a gravatar, I’m still hoping the next avatar roulette grants me the MGS surprised Tarra from panel 5 of comic “Number 200”. Though looking back at it, I have to admit I’d be pretty happy to get the wheelchair ninja as well.
You’re getting your gravatar. If you don’t have one (or not with the info you provide for your comment), then you get a comic avatar based on some function of your name/email/website (though I think the website doesn’t matter). You’ll notice the commenters Pat & TheLastOutlaw vary the cases of their names or alter in other ways to get different avatars. I provide an e-mail, so not sure if varying the case of my name would change the avatar or not, since I like a consistent avatar (per site, I don’t actually like avatars crossing sites, hence no gravatar for me).
Then there is also the avatar that one has from the forums as well. However, this is also the avatar that I registered on Gravitar. But if you manipulate your letters there Klang, from what you’ve already posted with into klang, or k1ang, k14ng, kl4ng and such also with variations on the capitalization of various letters, then you can play on the icon merry go round with me and TLO.
Yes, have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving holiday Chris. I hope that you don’t wear out the Avenger’s DVD with the kids. I love that little supplement. Especially when you two are under the table.
Klang, good first try. TLO (The Last Outlaw) and I have performed many, many wonderful variations in this method. I’m sure that you will have many, many wonderful experiments that bring you much, much wonderful joy this holiday season.
Might I suggest the following:
-klang
-KLANG
-klAng
-KlAnG
-kLaNg
-kLANg (just to see if you get the iNimbus sales guy)
and so on and so forth. TLO and I have also used numbers and hyphens. Which is why I suggested 1 and 4 above.
I think & and # are both old enough to know what old school Batman-style sound effects and Aunt Cinn suddenly falling asleep mean. Also it wouldn’t strike me as surprising if Cinn is the type to wake up swearing after that sort of treatment.
264 thoughts on “It Pleases The Court”
technically you breached protocol by saying ‘ellie’. the legal changing of your name has not been recognized by the elder counsil and isn’t appropriate for verbal requests.
statute 5 section 6
I didn’t have time to fill out the form yet for name change.
I have a copy in my office. Get off your butt.
do you have any for “sorry about your face” ???
The bleeding stopped.
Point of Inquiry: Why was there bleeding?
Oh my.
Mom obviously doesn’t know how to use gravatars.
n00b
You guys are sooooo 451.
I’m loving this family dynamic you got going on.
Not exactly “Robert’s Rules of Order” but it will do…
I believe it’s a lesser known application edited to be used by the Sister’s Council. Might be one of the reasons that their father went crazy.
Actually, since the name change has been recognized by the eldest, doesn’t that make it a defacto formal recognition, since the eldest is “the Perfect One”?
The Perfect One is not actually the eldest*, though being not the eldest is of little consequence when one is perfect, so your reasoning is still sound.
*Unless you mean eldest in the room, as The One With All The Kids is probably sleeping elsewhere in the house.
I think that there is a problem here. Tarra used the phrase “Number 5” when referring to Ellie, not Ellie nor Lavender. However, she did ask what’s wrong with Lavender. I will have to look back, but I do not believe that anything but Lavender and Number 5 has been in use from Tarra.
Therefore, the recognition would not be legitimate.
As I commented below, I’m guessing Tarra ceded Cinn-beating rights to Anise deliberately as Anise was exhibiting more obvious irritation, and Tarra is likely too unflappable (if she let her temper get the best of her then she probably would’ve ended up with a haircut from it at least once).
Maybe it’s just a case of whomever is closest?
Maybe, but considering Tarra’s hair attack prowess, Cinn is still well within easy reach.
What a great way to start out a Monday. Laughing quite a bit right now!
I spent a good 5 minutes laughing at this. I am please.
Everything about this makes me happy, up to and including the boys! And the flip of the hair in the last panel! And just all of it. ^_^
That… that was actually really hilarious. And… rational. I guess in that household, a “Council” would be needed, to keep things from going completely out of hand.
Also, Cinnamon is quickly becoming my least favorite of the sisters, right up there with Juniper.
Personally, I don’t think that I can entirely fault Cinnamon for her lack of filter. I’d chalk it up to a borderline personality disorder in a mostly functional mentality.
I consider “can blame for” separate from “like” and “deserves what she got,” so I can’t quite disagree with either of you.
However, TOG, I did not say that she didn’t deserve it. Maybe the Sister Council should be applauded for it’s restraint in the matter.
Agreed and didn’t mean to imply it. As for restraint, Mama B strikes me as a stickler for everyone coming to the table for the start of a holiday meal, and I suspect Cinn’s punishment was adjusted to make certain she could still take her seat and at least eat soft foods.
ah, you mean mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole and tea.
Best diplomatic sistem ever…get it…SIStem. No? No one? Well fine.
Haah, I get it.
HAH! Matriarchy jokes.
Yay! People get my humor!
Puns are not humor.
They can be, if don’t correctly. But I feel that 98% of the people don’t know how to use them properly in order to be effective. And of the remaining two percent, I estimate about 1/4 of the time, they are dead on effective.
Puns are the true form of humor! They will not die, nor shall I let them, the Punny shall rise, get ready a Punderstorm is coming.
You may only be allowed to pun intentionally when you have received the two licensed metronomes that have been sent to you from the second Tuesday after the fifth Friday of last year.
Humor is generally more related to being unexpected than the specific method used to get a mental jump on someone else. Puns are harder to pull of well than a lot of other forms (and I won’t argue this one met that high bar, primarily because it was too easily mistaken for a typo and required an explanation), but they are still quite capable of being humor.
Yeah, I understand that, and that’s why I love good puns; however, I figure most people do hate them, so I usually add the ellipses and explanation to basically say, I get most won’t enjoy it, but I still find it funny.
I absolutely advocate everyone finding things to make them laugh and enjoying them as much as feasible. As for explanation here, that particular pun was just too easily mistaken for a typo and anyone who noticed it would’ve been more likely to assume it was accidental as opposed to on purpose.
don’t you mean “Fraternal” or “Familial?”
I’m glad I chose this icon for today. OY!
You are worse than one of my graduate teachers. The only thing he wasn’t about his puns, was basehd. At least at school, at home, I don’t know if things were flying around his head or not. But then again, he had an interest in interplanetary geology.
I remember a guy in college P1 that me and another guy were a little obsessed with launching a Whopper to orbit his head. He had a really big head, and while the math showed it wouldn’t be enough to hold a Whopper in stable orbit, we just WANTED to believe.
Those who use puns as humor must be pun-ished. ;)
I’m glad that I didn’t nominate you to be the punisher.
Excellent facial expression on the avatar for a pun though.
It’s why I used it dude. I thought that you used the capitalization icon roulette as well, dude.
I meant Captain Jack’s avatar actually (not sure if that was you or not).
Nope, I’ve never deliberately tweaked my avatar by changing things. I noticed one of my comments in an older post had a different avatar, but I’m guessing that might be a glitch from the server issues a little while ago.
Sorry, had you mixed up with TLO.
Is this basically how every thanksgiving turns out for them? Or is this just a regular Thursday?
Both.
I must respectfully disagree. It is most likely a Thanksgiving exclusive thing, as regular Thursdays do not likely have guests show up. It might just be a holiday thing, not Thanksgiving exclusive.
You don’t need guests for Cinnamon to say something stupid and get punched in the face.
Actually for this one, the guest is needed in order for Cinnamon to dredge up smuckts in order to evaluate proper emotional reactions to former social interactions that have been taken upon by family members. Either in the past or present. And those topics have been generously applied since the birthday party.
That girl has no brain sometimes.
Sometimes?
She managed to get out of serious jailtime. That takes, well, something. Maybe not intelligence, but at least cunning.
What if it was by the actions of the parents to keep the kid out of jail and under their own recognizance?
Possible, as we don’t know what she did. I’m still betting that Cinn is capable of a high degree of cunning, though. I just think she would’ve gotten smacked down enough in life to have no choice but to learn a bit otherwise.
I don’t know. I can’t see Cinnamon as the type to plan three steps ahead, like Sydney Sco… wait, she hasn’t demonstrated that yet…
Let alone being able to see Cinnamon play chess, poker, checkers or Uno and win, let alone board games.
She has no brain power when talking about sex at a family gathering. So, there seems to be no brain power in restraining a plethora of complaints about reservations from others when they (Cinnamon) felt something of avarice about the situation from a historical perspective of lack of sound proofing.
They have established protocol. This is clearly not a unique point.
Someone develop a nation with this legal system.
done….saddly i am the only resident… :-b
Well, how civilized?
There is no disconnect between what Cinnamon thinks and what comes out of her mouth. Poor thing, must make for a lot of socially awkward situations.
Aside from that – Love today’s comic! Spent a few minutes reading and re-reading just for the chuckles. Great way to start a Monday!
Also, little blond kid doesn’t like to color inside the lines – give him a blank sketchbook he’ll be happier!
Ash(as I will call kid with hashtag cheeks until his name is established)and Andy (see aforementioned note) are apparently very different. Andy makes me think of me. “Stay in the lines.”. I bet he’s got decent grades and is somewhat of a momma’s boy. Ash is like Lin’s Lovegood or Nintendo. “Oh, were you doing something? I was just enjoying the pretty colors!”. This is of course in my head, but, you know I get feelings about people.
I actually have come back to read this multiple times as well. It’s one of my favorites strips from Rusche yet! This was fantastic. I also loved that Quinn’s rage brings out the green in her eyes. haha
I am beginning to believe it’s more/different than a lack of a filter. A person with no filter will often say shocking/embarassing stuff about themselves, as well. Her verbal spew is almost entirely directed to, or completely about, other people. So there’s something more than JUST stupidity going on–it’s a willful attempt to get under the skins of others.
Not true, really. Remember the cake affair, about how she stopped giving Derek sex whenever he wanted. Cinnamon is equal-opportunity, it’s just that she’s more heavily weighted toward other people’s foibles.
I think it’s more of a mental affliction, like Aspbergers Syndrome.
Oooh. I just found out that I have no filter. Yeah!
Agreed. Her behavior shows some degree of malice and/or misanthropy from my view. I can see a lack of filter making it worse and preventing her for getting out of her issues as well, but definitely more than just a missing filter.
what if the lack of filter just snowballs with the degrees of malice thus creating a logarithmic effect of misanthropy?
I expect the missing filter is complimentary and a “force multiplier” when it comes to her malice/misanthropy. My guess on rate would be linear or polynomial, though I suppose that’s dependent on how I set up my mental axis, so a fairly arbitrary call on my part.
Navy SEALs, the original military force multiplier.
I just can’t remember how many storm troopers I killed in one roll while flying an A-Wing one meter off of the ground.
This is before dinner isn’t it? Cinnamon invoked Quinn rage faster than I thought. Also the dumb one was the dark haired figure in the previous strip, motion to have the wrongfully stricken points returned to the party of the first.
“Sorry, Quinn…we just prefer to keep assaults on Cinnamon strictly within the family. Can’t just have anyone socking the dumb one; the court costs would be huge.”
Please. She’d just call the judge a dumb slut and get kicked out of the courtroom.
In that case, she’d likely be held on contempt of court. Plus the lawyers get paid just for showing up. Then the town would have to enact “Cinnamon’s Law”, in which no one can be held legally liable for punching Cinnamon Buckingham within the town limits as long as it can be proven by two or more witnesses–or audio / video recording–that she said or did something stupid first.
Lol @ “Cinnamon’s Law”
Should you find yourself in need of it, you’re welcome to it, and with my compliments, sir.
Witnesses are better than a video recording device. A camcorder can not hold you back once you’ve knocked down your opponent. Unless it was made by Tarra.
I just heard the “Law & Order” bumper when I just read that.
Cinnamon’s Law is like Cinnamon’s love… blunt and frequently administered.
As long as it’s nothing like Cinnamon Sugar Toast. Or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Cap’n Crunch, with Crunchberries. Heck, Lucky Charms for that matter too.
Do you really need the wittnesses? It’s almost a given that she did.
Steve – After comments last comic I remembered to set up my search/replace for items from the XKCD comic. Thanks for being the first place I saw the word ‘witnesses’ replaced with ‘these dudes I know’. That one made me happy, and I still recommend it to everyone to make the Internet more enjoyable (and I’ve been told it confuses spouses and encourages them to log out and use their own browser instead of filling your browser history when you’re looking for that site you found yesterday).
For anyone considering the substitution filter, the one that a guy from work mentioned that he decided on which confused his wife was replacing “peace of mind” with “a piece of brain”. This one apparently gets a lot of use shortly after large natural disasters and has, I believe, helped him train his wife to use her own browser session/profile instead of his.
No, she was not the one in the previous strip sitting next to Anise. That person was taller when compared to Anise, and there were no low angel camera action going on.
The party of the first submits that the dumb one may have been standing.
Negative. Definitely sitting.
Yea, I was on my phone and didn’t go back to look. Though now that I did I’m even more convinced it is Cinnamon in both strips. Same hair color, same shirt color, same position relative to Anise. I am redistributing the erroneously confiscated points until such time as “word of god” confirms it was not Cinnamon or another character with the same hair color and same shirt color appears in this story arc presenting an adequate explanation regarding how they swapped places with Cinnamon between strips.
I only concede the possibility that it may be Cinnamon based only on the seating arrangement in this comic.
However, given the colors and shapes and such, along with the assumption that Cinnamon didn’t give a damn about how she looked at a function the appearance of a different person, possibly a guy with Anise.
However, that may just have been a bad guess on my part…
It looks like Anise is slouching. In response to what came out of Cinnamon’s mouth.
As such, she’s shorter, for the moment.
Nice backhand.
Uhm, the discussion was based on the previous comic. The two tone hair and a paler green color on the top suggested a possible vest.
This was a pretty good comic. I especially like how Cinnamon, even when wide eyed, still looks sleepy. And Quinn’s description is quite apt- she DOES look dead eyed.
Also, I’m kinda curious- is Ellie coloring a picture of Rapunzel from Tangled?
Yeah. Tangled.
Damn, I thought it was Rapunzel from… well… Rapunzel.
Knowing about Disney Princesses- just one more benefit to having a 3 year old in the house. :D
Awww, no frying pan?
Exactly; in panel 7 Quinn calls her a “dead-eyed little troll” and her expression is, “Who, me..?”
I’m beginning to really like Quinn…
Seems as though Cinnamon has no idea how often and how badly she can hurt people with the things she says. We know that she offends people quite often, but she hasn’t learned her lesson yet, so it’s both funny and facepalm-worthy when she gives the “who, me?” look, because she STILL doesn’t get it!
I commented above–I think it’s more deliberate than that. If she was simply ‘no filter girl’, she’d be saying horrible stuff about herself. I think this is actually tactical–push and push and push, find people’s buttons and hammer at them. WHY she does this would still be a mystery–it could be anything from trying to drive anyone away (not an uncommon desire in a crowded household) to a secret hope that there’s someone out there who will put up with her shit, and the only way she’s gonna find that person is by making sure it’s in evidence up front.
You’re saying deliberate as if she were fully choosing to be masochistic and/or sadistic. I’m suggesting that she doesn’t know better because she’s got a condition. One that would be in the DSM-IV.
Hopefully they also list the correct treatment as prescribed by Ellie and perfectly administered by Anise…
She knows.
As evidence I submit username “the evilone”
I think that’s a bit over the top. However, I did think after a bit that she was going to try and open a can of whoop ass on Quinn.
Over the top how? It’s her gravvy nick. Meaning it is how she self identifies. She knows what she is doing and is playing the part of a Troll IRL.
And she is obviously very good at it.
I suggest that there is a distinct difference between one who knowingly trolls, and one who has no idea that they troll. Therefore, the one who does not know that they troll continues to forget to charge the batteries before they get to a bass tournament.
I agree there is a difference, but I was answering your earlier query re: does she troll on purpose? with “most assuredly.”
I don’t think she has a “condition” such as Aspy because she isn’t clueless of other peoples feelings, she’s purposefully poking at them. An Aspy wouldn’t typically ask “does that make you upset?” because they often don’t recognize that their behavior may upset others and if they did reach that level of empathy they would attempt to adjust course. Cinnamon isn’t being accidentally rude, she’s being purposefully rude. Which isn’t a condition, it’s being an asshole.
I’m not fully altogether well informed on Aspberger’s Syndrome. But I like your point, she was purposefully pushing that button.
She is manipulative. I’m thinking of “Why I live at the P.O.” again.
Ok, I didn’t catch that earlier. I thought that I did. Maybe I thought it was the dumb one at first
I don’t think Cinn has functional empathy. Not to say that she’d be a true sociopath/psychopath from a DSM stance (that requires significantly more than a lack of empathy), but I think she’s incapable of understanding and also she doesn’t really give a shit about how it impacts others and gets a rise out of it.
Cinn is currently my top guess as to a character who’s going to be an example of Rusche’s rule from last comic’s comments that not every character can be redeemed.
Great, now Alex is going to be back in the story.
I mean, the Joker was supposed to have made his own animals from the skeletons of those that he “rescued.” Cinnamon was shown shooting off the hamster on the rocket.
Rusche did already say he’d be back, so I was bracing for that. However if Rusche brings him back as getting involved with Cinn, that’ll be very upsetting to me because I don’t like the thought of either of them mating with anyone, let alone with each other. That might be even worse than the Alex/ratch hybrid that came up in comments his last on-comic appearance.
Damn it! Now I’m going to have to decide if I think Cinn qualifies as worse than an Omega Level Pestilence or not… I’ll be trying to decide that one for months.
I’m not going to attempt to decide if Karma will reign in that relationship, if it happens. It would, on the one hand seem to be designed for both of them as punishment, were it to be meted out as such. Now that would be a manipulative chess game for life.
The one’s that I would feel sorry for would be the kids, if there are any. And instead of thinking of Eudora Welty, I’m thinking of the guy who was supposedly on the receiving end of the third worst child abuse case in California history.
Wow, they get things done faster than our government.
Also, Ellie, laying on the floor coloring with the boys, you’re awesome.
You don’t exactly set a high bar, do you..?
I have low expectations. As such I’m rarely disappointed.
And yet you reply to me almost as if you think we are equals, so perhaps there is hope for you yet… ;)
Our government also doesn’t have procedural rules for punching someone in the face for being an idiot.
I suspect this is due to the physical piece of paper they had available for the Constitution being too small and they had to prune something and mistakenly believed future generations would be mature enough that they could leave that as assumed.
Uhm, you do realize that fisticuffs have erupted on the floors of Congress, don’t you?
Not procedurally.
While, there may have been no true motion to make for blood letting, let alone being verbally seconded before the first punch were to land. The only recognition by the chair would have been to either call, “Motion to Agenda,” “Point of Order,” or to have the Sgt. At Arms or other Congressional equivalent to jump in and pull them apart like monkey bread.
What bothers me is that they treated a verbal triad by one of the employees to record the minutes as a mentally constrained triad and subjected her righteous outburst as work place harassment/threat instead of someone who was so morally outraged at the actions of the floor that they could not just sit down and shut up. To me, that’s true 1st Amendment exercise.
And a caning or two as well…
Isn’t it great?
Yeah, I’m aware of that, and I’m fairly sure that duels with pistols happened (later and off-site) as well. I’m more saying that I wish the Constitution not only allowed a place where such things could happen, but mandated them.
The duels might be particularly effective for thinning out the ranks of incumbents a bit too, though unfortunately I doubt there would be as high of a correlation as I’d hope to see in that situation between being a better lawmaker and being a faster and better shot.
Jesse James vs. Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid?
“Dead-eyed little troll.” I think we’ve all noticed the unusual patterning involved in Cinnamon’s eyes lately, and it’s good to know that someone else caught that too.
That was immensely entertaining. I think Quinn will fit in with the Buckinghams quite nicely. Poor Anise, though, her face reeks of embarrassment at Cinn’s shenanigans.
Tarra could’ve hair whipped Cinn from where she’s sitting (barely visible in panel 1 behind Quinn’s neck), so I think she, as the eldest present, abstained to allow Anise the outlet for her embarrassment.
You might also notice Pumpkin remains lurking in panels 3 and 4. Though, as she is not an elder, she could not take action.
I made comment on a early comic and that comment applies here as well.
There should be a though balloon above Cinnamon
“Dammit – not again!!!”
And this it becomes clear of Cinn’s condition.
Diagnosis: Far too many blows to the head.
Maybe. It’s a “chicken and egg” sort of problem.
That’s a very elegant summation of the generalization of origins of mental illnesses, eh?
they’ve clearly gone through this type of thing before
There is procedure for the situation, and the procedure is reflexive.
Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyup.
I kinda’ like that this is routine enough that Ginger’s brood, despite being young boys, don’t even find it noteworthy enough to stop coloring and glance at the violence.
Have you been in a household with two or more boys? One punch is a day off (unless your parents come down harshly on violence).
One brother and the strong majority of cousins are all male. While I generally read and ignored everything during family get-togethers, I still would’ve been likely to look up and say, “Good one!”, “Nice form, but you should work on the follow-thru,” or “You call that a punch in the face?”
I wasn’t really expecting them to move their bodies, just critique Aunt Anise on her form, delivery, and remarks (and take notes if they think she did a good enough job).
TOG, maybe those kids are not keyed into the key words of the topic of discussion that was going on. Either that, or Aunt Cinnamon is always getting her block knocked off. Mom is probably with Grandma in the kitchen, or with Grandpa out in the garage attempting to figure out how to get the wheezer-doohickey into the thimg-a-ma-jig fixed in time for dinner.
It’s true that Rusche could prove me wrong in the next comic, but I was going with the familiarity with the procedure and playing the odds that & or # would’ve been old enough to recognize it. Or at least react to the feeling of violence/tone of anger in Quinn’s voice, which should be noticeable to boys that age.
After looking at #’s head placement, I’m thinking that he may have been zeroing in on the information, but hasn’t looked with his eyes yet. But now that things have occurred, he may think that Aunt Cinnamon is asleep.
Lost reply and put at bottom, meant to be here:
I think & and # are both old enough to know what old school Batman-style sound effects and Aunt Cinn suddenly falling asleep mean. Also it wouldn’t strike me as surprising if Cinn is the type to wake up swearing after that sort of treatment.
(Snicker!)
Too awesome.
I can see Quinn’s green eyes! They always look black, but when she’s ready to pummel Cinn, they are definitely green. Went on a small archive binge to Quinn’s first appearance to see if she had green eyes then too (she did), and was shocked at how much the comic style has changed.
The family dynamics just keep getting better and better. Ellie and Anise’s exchange is pure gold.
Thanks Jamilee. You’re comments always make me smile.
(not that the rest of you reading don’t do that too. Stop being so sensative!)
*squealing*
The difference really is astonishing. It’s gone from anime chibi-style to a bit more realistic. The colors have gotten a good deal more subdued, Quinn looks less starved (seriously, her cheekbones were so sharp you could cut gems with them), and facial expressions have gotten better. The body proportions and shading have improved as well.
You KNOW Quinn is mad when you can see the color of her eyes. OH SNNAAAAAAAAPP.
the oh snap is in reference to Cinn’s head. BECAUSE OW. bahahahahahaha
also Anise is now officially my FAVORITE♥
weeeeeeeeee
Then obviously you forgot your gravatar password since you’re still rockin the Cinn-atar.
Yeah uhh…give me awhile…I’ve been trying to find another one that I like. And maybe the password thing too…hahaha
They have established a government inside there house hold
I LOVE IT. PARLIAMENTARY RULES. Robert’s Rules of Order in web comic and an actual useful application in family strife.
+100^100^5
Lol I just realize I misspelled their
You also turned “household” into two words, but who’s counting..?
IT
IT
IT
—it’s full of stars…..
I almost think that Cinnamon’s eyebrows are saying, “bring it $*#@”
I think it’s more like, “WTF..?”
More like “Deh. Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?”
Lenny, is not Cinnamon. I don’t know why, other than having portrayed him as a grown man who does not have the mental abilities past that of a child of between five and seven. Cinnamon, on the other hand, is quite aware of her body, age, and abilities. However, I still question her ability to filter as a function of erroneous wiring or choice. That, I haven’t decided to my own satisfaction.
I think she forgot the rules, or thought Quinn wouldn’t warn Ellie for permission, and thought she’d get to tangle with Quinn instead of getting the beat down that she must be used to by now.
I don’t think that she sees the end of the conversation whenever she opens her mouth at the start.
Maybe that’s why she doesn’t have pupils, her brain is in a shrouded fog all of the time. The common sense doesn’t have decent hearing when it comes to recognizing coherent and logical socialized conversations.
Also a definite possibility.
I was thinking more of that hit driving her septum into her brain and giving it a quick little scramble since she didn’t die from it.
I love this strip too, but you all are soooo serious. Jeebus.
Nah, too “Suckerpunch” for me, eh?
Heh heh heeeehhhhhhh. I had a sister who was a cross between Juniper and Cinnamon. How I wish our family had an Anise!
Don’t wish for an Anise. Be the Anise your family needs.
Be the Anise you wish to see it the world. –Gandhi
Don’t believe in yourself! Believe in the Anise who believes in you!
I don’t believe in the Beatles, I just believe in Anise – John Lennon.
he was the Walrus!!
We only rely on Smith and Wesson when Anise is at a family function.
Maybe you’re not the Anise your family deserves, but you are the Anise they need right now.
And at the end of my day…still damn funny
Hate to tell you this Rusche, but you misspelled “council” just thought you’d want to know….sorry :-(
Fixed. Thanks for telling me. I can’t spell my way out of a paper bag.
oh believe me its happened plenty of times after ive uploaded pages….it sucks
Thanks for that. Spelling was always my worst suit, and I now have this image of someone attempting to literally spell their way out of a paper bag. Maybe it means I should’ve already gone to bed, but that image is making me laugh.
Most excellent strip today, Mr. R.
Trying to keep us nourished through the holiday?
Nice choice for a sound effect “CRACK” not “boff” or “smack”
you hear “CRACK” and you think – “Ouch that’s going to leave a mark!”
I’m wondering if something hard is sown into those gloves…
Maybe this is what Pumpkin was waiting for; the pre-dinner entertainment. The Buckingham house enjoys wrestling more than football.
Well, Anise is fully fueled and more than willing to go.
Wrestling? I’m seeing MMA.
“Ellie did it” probably won’t fly here…
She could probably sell “Ellie did it” if someone asks how she got a black eye.
Even without a lie. Though with it being Cinn, she’d probably look for somewhere to fit a lie anyway.
My first thought was why would Anise risk her hands in this way, but then I realized, that the backhand would be more painful and protect her drawing fingers as well. Very well done.
It just occurred to me… Ellie said two long, fancy sentences, giving Cinnamon time to figure out what was about to happen and get out of the way. Cinnamon didn’t do so. Was anyone there surprised by the backfist? Maybe Quinn, but otherwise no.
Cinnamon really is The Dumb One.
And Ellie was appropriately indignant when Ashliii told her Pumpkin had referred to her as the dumb one. Lazy an Ellie undeniably is, I agree she would’ve picked up something to shield herself with before that statement was finished.
I would think that all of Cinnamon’s attention would be centered on the approaching physical threat of Quinn looking for another rodeo and Cinnamon being the clown. Therefore, Cinnamon would not have heard the motion made by Ellie to protect Quinn from das boot, and putting Cinnamon back in order.
But now that I read this, being dumb is blocking out all sensory perception and allowing for tunnel vision focused entirely on your target to the point of not being able to hear motions being made against your favor with great pain to be inflicted as well.
This comic’s been bugging me all day. It seemed weirdly familiar.
And then I remembered I once had a friend almost as bad as Cinnamon.
I dated one of them.
Ug! You poor, poor soul.
Tell us the dirt!
Cinnamon really likes to piss ppl off does’t she?
Its almost as if that her purpose in life, remind ppl they made mistakes and then keep dredging them up.
But i love the way how Ellie resolves it, seems like its a normal thing in their household since she does’t even look up.
But maybe Cinnamon is just still pissed about not getting any cash from mom and this is her way of venting it…
Strange but it fits her personality.
Cinnamon wants control. Her boyfriend with sex as a weapon, or with peoples emotions with trying to enrage them. Or hurting them like with the little kid at her job. She wants power over others.
Wait a minute. Power over others can only be obtained when others are willing to give up that power in which they were in full control of.
I’ve got the dysfunction on the tip of my tongue, but my frontal lobe is jumping rope.
Co-Dependent dysfunctional relationships. What you said makes more sense, except for how long she’s been like this. Envious of others, the odd one out because she doesn’t have blonde hair, which would make it seem even more petty. But it seems likely that she’s been like this for a long time. Punishing people, things and rules around her.
Still, no sympathy from me. Even if she was that way from birth. A person has to take responsibility for their actions. Speech included.
The first two panels made me think of, just now, a piece of comedic prose titled, I believe, “Why I live at the P.O.” Eudora Wetly (sp)? is the author I think. But it’s also the name that seems to pop up.
Web search time.
Eudora Welty.
I’m not going to say another word. Nor type one. Well, I just did. But you know what I mean.
Chis didn’t say she *obtains* power over others, only that she wants it…
But that’s how she gets the power. Poke the bear enough, and provoke it, and then shoot it with the mental override device in the nose.
Quinn was just about ready to jump on Cinnamon. Clearly her control of the situation was no longer in a civil manner as she was not only about to do physical violence, she was verbally threatening it. However, she was polite enough to let Ellie know about it before hand.
I wonder if Ghandi could put up with Cinnamon. I doubt it.
Cinnamon is too stupid to be the behind the controls of a television set, let alone human beings. She may want control, but thankfully, she’s not likely to get it.
Depends on how choosy she is about what happens once the controls are yanked away from the normal driver. As long as she doesn’t care if the car crashes, she obtains control enough to send it spinning away from where it would’ve gone before.
Some people want to make their impact felt and aren’t too choosy as to how or what it does. They just get off on forcing others to change in some way. The ones that care about control after take a lot more care to avoid offending.
I think that Cinnamon is able to zero in after a liberal application of psyche abrasion. She seems to be able to defuse personal walls and boundaries, deftly. Just as well as Mel Gibson was able to diffuse that bomb in “Lethal Weapon.”
I think that she should keep the arcade job for as long as possible. I don’t think that she could survive on the streets.
Just discovered this comic today, read them all in a marathon session. Keep up the great work
It’s going to be disappointing to have to wait once you get caught up, but it’s not disappointing otherwise, so as long as you tell yourself to be patient you’ll be good.
Oh hush you. That’s what the archive dives are for. Ever since I found this comic, I haven’t had so much jonesing for John Hughes movies.
Glade to have you clane. =)
Great avatar for after a comix archive binge!
I’m glade to have you, too… ;)
Actually, if I’m going to have an icon for after an Icon dive, it’d have to be from: http://shotgunshuffle.com/heads-or-tails/#.UpYj7CeQzbw
Panel ten Ellie after seeing the ice front, for getting ready to archive dive to search for something to support a point made. And Ellie in panel twelve for having enjoyed the dive once again without having to towel off from a pool.
Avatars notwithstanding, that is one of the best episodes to date… thanks for bringing it up!
(“You’ve got hail!” still slays me…)
While I don’t like avatar switching or setting up a gravatar, I’m still hoping the next avatar roulette grants me the MGS surprised Tarra from panel 5 of comic “Number 200”. Though looking back at it, I have to admit I’d be pretty happy to get the wheelchair ninja as well.
Intended to be reply to PAt above, just botched the reply.
And it’s very, very wonderfully botched. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you.
Where does everyone get the awesome pictures from the comic for their Gravatars? I want one of &
You’re getting your gravatar. If you don’t have one (or not with the info you provide for your comment), then you get a comic avatar based on some function of your name/email/website (though I think the website doesn’t matter). You’ll notice the commenters Pat & TheLastOutlaw vary the cases of their names or alter in other ways to get different avatars. I provide an e-mail, so not sure if varying the case of my name would change the avatar or not, since I like a consistent avatar (per site, I don’t actually like avatars crossing sites, hence no gravatar for me).
Then there is also the avatar that one has from the forums as well. However, this is also the avatar that I registered on Gravitar. But if you manipulate your letters there Klang, from what you’ve already posted with into klang, or k1ang, k14ng, kl4ng and such also with variations on the capitalization of various letters, then you can play on the icon merry go round with me and TLO.
Great strip. Love so much about it (the art, the characterization, the procedure). Hope you take a nice long Thanksgiving off to relax.
Yes, have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving holiday Chris. I hope that you don’t wear out the Avenger’s DVD with the kids. I love that little supplement. Especially when you two are under the table.
Testing to see if I did this right.
Last try. If I fail this time, I don’t understand Gravatars.
Whatever, great comic anyway, and I hope I get to see the next one before work tomorrow. Might make it more tolerable.
This is my avatar with the gravatar name and email address.
And this is one of the variations that I have done on my name, without filling in the email address portion of the reply form.
I also like to geek out my shotgun knowledge with the website link for the actual page that the current roulette icon was taken from.
Klang, good first try. TLO (The Last Outlaw) and I have performed many, many wonderful variations in this method. I’m sure that you will have many, many wonderful experiments that bring you much, much wonderful joy this holiday season.
Might I suggest the following:
-klang
-KLANG
-klAng
-KlAnG
-kLaNg
-kLANg (just to see if you get the iNimbus sales guy)
and so on and so forth. TLO and I have also used numbers and hyphens. Which is why I suggested 1 and 4 above.
KLANG, klang, klAng went the trolley…
That’s soooooooo baaaaaaad!
Let’s just say that Klang found a way to get the icon he wanted, ne?
Have happy turkey, Mr. R. No sleep ’til Brooklyn and no work ’til Monday! Catch up on some sleep.
Wonder if they’ll let Quinn cut Cinn’s hair while she’s out.
Having a bit of fun with names.
Messed up a bit, forgot to hit reply, but I think that’s one of Quinn.
There a way to check variations prior to hitting post, don’t wanna seem like I’m spamming.
still playing, trying for tarra
maybe…
getting closer
Ahah! (probably not it)
does spaces matter?
so close, i can feel it
caps take me to…
so numbers seem to take me in the right direction
little to far.
lets see
this should be close
Talking to myself, talking to myself *singsong*
Okay, one column, one row off.
added punctuation
now it’s personal…
I will master this system!
need to relax a tad, so random name
really, that took me to the one right before the one i want.
next is cap b
okay
no rhyme or reason
what bout this
Nope, you’ve got KK.
Hah, Ellie to Blind guy to…
bah I give up
I think & and # are both old enough to know what old school Batman-style sound effects and Aunt Cinn suddenly falling asleep mean. Also it wouldn’t strike me as surprising if Cinn is the type to wake up swearing after that sort of treatment.
Is Ellie coloring Rapunzel?
Yes :D
As much as I kinda like Cinnamon, she totally deserved that.
I just noticed another way that Cinnamon is the opposite of her twin.
She seems to even be losing to Pumpkin in that regard.
LOL…..isn’t it great how democracy works!!!
RIP iNimbus?