page 1266: QUIT SHIPPING, YOU
Tabitha definitely seems like the kind of person who would get waaaaaay to into a Far Out There dating sim. Sure is a good thing nothing like that exists anywhere, huh? I mean, what kind of demented mind would even JOKE about such a creation?
But seriously, if you missed it, be sure to go back and see the April Fools silliness that went up over the weekend! And if that’s not enough, also make sure to swing by Patreon and see the extra comics that ALSO went up there last week! Yeah, when I start doing extra content, it all just come gushing out all at once, don’t it? And there’s some extra stuff going up THIS weekend too, though hopefully nowhere near as elaborate this time. There’s hopefully gonna be some Easter comic this weekend, but it’ll HOPEFULLY be simple enough that it won’t interfere with doing a fresh TWC Voting Incentive for Friday.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I find myself mysteriously getting really hungry while working on Far Out There comics lately. Can’t imagine what could possibly be causing that…
EDIT: Okay, fresh TWC Voting Incentive is up… and you know what? I think this is gonna be my last Random Song thing for a while. The whole idea was for it to be a change of pace from the norm… but it’s kinda BEEN the norm for a while now. So look forward to some different stuff next time!
Layla: “Trigger, switch seats with me. You’re not allowed to sit next to Bad Influences any more.”
That may or may not be a thing that’s actually going to be said before this meal is over 😀
…although now that I think of it, they may have to sit at a separate table – that ship is full of nothing but bad influences! (at least by Layla standards) Avatar’s probably OK, maybe**.
**It’s actually kind of hard to say, now that I think of it, despite 15 years of strips, I don’t really think we’ve seen much direct interaction between Layla and Avatar to know her opinion. Probably because Layla is at her most entertaining when she’s offended or upset, which is frequently, but Avatar isn’t likely to trigger that.
Layla and Avatar did go on that little adventure with Magical Boy Alphonse, though the situation itself really dominated events there.
EDIT: Actually, yeah! Why HAVEN’T we seen more of those two interacting?
I suspect that they just mostly get along, without any overly positive or negative interactions. Seeing them just sit next to each other, watching tv while bored isn’t overly interesting. Combine that with the fact that they don’t seem to have any shared interests, what with the few interests we know that Layla seems to be willing to reveal being not shared with Avatar for obvious reasons. Namely money, meat and griping about everything.
This is all true, though if you think about what their interactions with OTHER cast members can be like, Layla and Avatar might like the peace and quiet of the company of somebody they have no real reason to interact with (the problem, of course, being that this sort of interaction wouldn’t make for good comic material, so we’d never see it)
There is exactly one situation where we are able to see it for a moment, though. It requires the setup of both Layla & Avatar have been stressed by a situation, preferably one like what’s going on now, where they’re tackling the same situation from opposite ends and thus aren’t interacting at all while doing so. If the situation is completely resolved rapidly, say by Stillez being directed at a group and running off with Tax (with Tabitha & her kids following the wake of destruction while staying near Tax) a few hours before the boy’s parents show up to take them home, then they are both relieved of a burden simultaneously and want to unwind. Concluding the story arc by having them do so together, knowing that they don’t have any significant expectations of each other, would be a good way to show that they get along.
I did think about that segment, but really with Alphonse there Layla isn’t going to be paying much attention to anyone else anyway. Well, except when Avatar jumped down the turbolift shaft to her apparent horrible tragic death, that kind of thing will get your attention, at least briefly.
Also, far be it from me to echo Ichabod and Tabitha, but she really has virtually no interaction with Bridgit either, despite overwhelming amounts of interaction with Alphonse – if Avatar were male she’d probably be obsessed with that alternate universe version (who I will dub Ava-taro) as much as Tabitha is obsessed with the current version, probably in both cases to Avatar’s equal chagrin.
Do remember, though, that Tabitha’s fixation on Avatar is at least PARTIALLy fueled by her wanting to atone for the whole of Mad Science giving her a raw deal. That’s not her ONLY motivation, not by a long shot, but it is something that Layla wouldn’t share in. So it wouldn’t be QUITE the same.
…though now I can’t stop wondering what it WOULD be like…
As long as we’re wondering about unexplored character relationships-I can’t recall even seeing a single interaction of whether Patti ever had any contact with or involvement with Trigger at all, considering how close Eric and Layla were to him. Or did Patti just consider that another one of their criminal syndicate’s miscellaneous projects and if asked would respond she wasn’t involved in Project T at all, that was part of Eric’s Department of the company? Even considering Patti’s personality and history and her strained relationship with her own kid, it still would seem strange for her to have no interaction with someone that her husband and daughter basically treated as part of the family.
Oh man, SO much biting of the tongue on this one…
Layla has little interaction with Bridget because Bridget isn’t interested in the little-kids things that Layla is interested in. Mostly because Layla’s interested in the little-kids-are-adorable aspect, and Bridget cares about being cool (strong & tough) over being adorable.
Even then, Bridget would have SOME interaction with Layla, if she wasn’t effectively glued to Tabitha’s hip. Layla’s interactions with Alphonse primarily opens with “you’re adorable, let’s give you hugs” from Layla to Alphonse. Bridget doesn’t have that, and doesn’t open up the interaction herself, so Layla primarily just interacts with Tabitha.
Funnily enough, one way to interpret how Layla & Bridget have interacted can be seen as a shy kid hiding behind mommy & a single-minded person interacting with said mommy. They both recognise that each other exist, but they don’t directly interact because neither is going to initiate communication.
Counting just who’s on the ship now, there’s 16 entities that could interact (the 4kids count as one entity, i’m not sure they’re capable of independent interaction) – 240 possible 2 way interactions, 3360 possible 3 way interactions – it’s also a perfectly acceptable reason to just assume we don’t have time to see most of the combos, even after over a thousand strips! 🙂
The 4 Kids have been shown to be capable of independent action for shot periods of time. For example a few pages ago when Avi pulled Hiro off to change clothes, or when Layla ran across Hiro at the gym and panicked him enough that he forgot everything about exercise. Sure, the entire group slowly built back up over the course of the following mini-storyline, but it still started with Hiro acting completely independently of the other three.
If you want a reminder, the latter started on page 1081, released in 2019. Specifically: https://faroutthere.com/comic/page-1081-meanwhile-sometime-later/
…but then he ends up talking about Avi anyway, thus Avi appears int he flashback scene – so while they’re physically separated, they’re still narratively together. He was pretty much incapable of communicating at all coherently until he started talking about another member of their superhero team. Thus I still don’t deem them as being capable of any independence until they fully demonstrate it. Timid little Alphonse who’s a fraction of their age has shown far more ability to act independently. (Of course that’s likely because Alphonse actually had competent parenting unlike the 4 kids)