The current story arc started with this strip: Slut.
To offer some context: the word “sex” has been written on the box by Larisa.
You can listen to Show me Love by t.A.T.u at YouTube.
This strip was partially inspired by my memories of a girl who went to my class from 5th to 10th grade. Starting with 7th grade or so she loved to dress in short skirts and tight bell bottoms during Summer. She was a rather calm girl so I suposse that it was just her preferred fashion style and not necessarily meant to attract boys. I think she must have been already 14 years old when she admitted during an ethics lesson that she’s still playing with Barbie dolls. I also remember that nobody said anything about it afterwards. Maybe we were already mature enough to acknowledge that all of us had a similar skeleton in the closet. 😉
I think writing a story is a bit like playing with dolls. You’re coming up with life stories and things that happen to persons that are not real.
Completely unrelated to this I want to point out that I proposed three weeks ago that the English football team should consider nominating Woo as their goalkeeper. I feel completely validated. 😉
- Jelena: Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes.
- Larisa: Yeah, whatever.
- Larisa: You brought me flowers, Cloud? You’re such a darling! Now come, let’s go for a walk with our daughter!
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Heh.
I see she likes to listen to group T.A.T.U. 🙂 Pretty good choice
This is dangerously close to a “First!” post which will result in an immediate two week ban.
Well, it’s good to see character development on Larissa. I don’t think we’ve seen her like (seeng what she does when she’s alone in her room) this since the Matryoshka dolls phone call.
@Novil: Did you already ban him? Or is the “will result in” part of the warning? I mean, kind of harsh IMO, censoring chuckles like that.
I have not banned him, but if posts like “lol” as first comment become frequent I will definitely temporarily ban those people.
Wow! Fast reply! I know it’s midnight for you, so thanks for the effort!
What you don’t see is what else is in the box; two leased toy cars, a mortgaged dollhouse, a faux cell phone bill, an faux electric bill, and a faux dental bill for their daughter’s braces. Truely, Larisa is quite the sadist.
Well, to paraphraseate a famous movie, “deep down, Larisa is a heck of a sentimentalist”. Great arc, funny all around, one or two shocks and an aaawwwww… in the end.
Well done.
I love the fact that this is nearly a literal “skeleton in the closet”.
— merge of double post —
We all know that those dolls may have to visit a PTSD clinic after Larissa’s done with them.
(If the joke offends anyone, I’m truly sorry)
Uhhh Larisa, (whisper) you need help, serious help! (whisper)
ah, and Novil: even Woo would have defended that ball. BTW, great show by Germany, team, today.
…Okay, Larisa is finally starting to make me afraid of her.
On one side, she reveals her sentimental non-sloot side. On the other hand… that’s kinda creepy.
Still, I can’t not like your characters, they’re all so well done!
Ahhh, role playing, I actually think it’s cute what she’s doing (and that it is not what was implied, after all this is Larisa we’re talking about!) She still hasn’t given up on Cloud I see…
“We all have skeletons, some of us have full graveyards, we are proud of them till some anoying enough knows about them” – A friking Biped Humanoid.
I always felt resented about T.A.T.U, is just that the way the stick their gay thing in front my face and say “you gay hater” “You never understand” and other Emo or “we are opressed” kind of speach. These days people like to victimize themselfs or look for enemies everywhere, what has happened? Sid Vicious never cried and Kurt Cobain had the decency to sufer by himself.
Jews, Muslims, Catholics and Feminists especially, (well I like much more the complaining Muslims I know that the midwest Zealots) take ancient history as day to day abuse (those new wave feminists). Hahaha But I am complaining more than anyone LOL
Oh dear.
She’s obsessed with one of the few things she can’t have.
I guess at some moment, we have kinda of “played dolls” with the ones we used to or likes. I think Larisa just shows this in a more of literal meaning.
I had completely forgotten that she once liked Cloud.
SURPRISE STORY ARC! (My bet is that she’s acting “slutty” to make Cloud jealous)
Larisa scares you.
Then she melts your heart.
Until you see the look on her face while she’s melting your heart.
Then she scares you all over again.
8^)
there’s a side of her i didn’t think she had,
well, ok, I agree that it might be cute, but isn’t it kinda sad that the guy you like is dating your best friend and you can’t say anything about it and have to act out your fantasies with dolls?
Or did she just randomly pick a guy? Or am I reading too much into this?
On another note, who else thought of Dark Helmet while reading that last panel? ;^)
And don’t forget the faux credit card bill(s!) — and the faux layoff notice is in the mail!
— merge of double post —
Hey; I started building plastic model airplanes when I was four and never outgrew it, so I can kinda relate…
woow…
She could have Cloud (or at least try) but then she’d destroy her friendship with Sandra
so she’s playing with dolls instead…
That’s actually sad, very deep… and somewhat creepy o_Ô
… why is SEX engraved on this Toybox? Seriously XD”’
Oh well, at least the dolls aren’t burning… yet.
what a great choice of band for Larisa! I actually played the song while I read the strip. It really heightened the atmosphere *is that even a correct sentence?…*
she wants one of the few things she can’t have.
I know Larisa likes Cloud, but I am a hopeless (but at the same time not hopeless!) Sandra/cloud shipper.
I remember when ‘Show me love’ came out it was one of my best-friends favorite songs, she happens to be gay, and along with the TATU poster I’m curious if there is a possible sexuality story arc in Larisa’s future. With the over sexualization at her age and sluttyness, its entirely possible.
Aww…so she does have a childish side, albeit…twisted and Cloud-central. Wait…-adds two and two and Cloud and Larisa’s current style- OH!
Together with the scene where she tells Woo about her medical secret, this scene kinda sugests that her tomboyish pyromaniac behavor is only a front to hide her true self from the world…but turning the Toys box into a Sex Toys box might just prove me wrong
For a sec there I thought my world got shattered when I saw that box, but right after that I thought my memories of Larisa have been ruined… Then I realised she’s still a girl and this is just natural. This was just cute so nice job. X3
I enjoy this little strip, it always makes me smile. As for playing with Barbie dolls, I chat on a program called IMVU. IMVU uses avatars that one can dress. So. Guilty secret: I’m 35 years old and I’m still playing with dolls. MM
I think this is the dirtiest thing we’ve seen in the comic so far, next to cencored raccoon sex. I enjoy when a normaly cleaner comic makes a little bit of a dirty joke once in a while, it always makes it funnyer as your not used to it in such a enviroment.
I also was for a second actualy expecting a sex toy in there for a moment, completely forgeting I had already seen the next pannel in the side of my eye.
It gos all like FFFFF WHAT?! to all innocent and what not, Teehee I like this. ^^P
In otherwords, LOL YESSSS WIN!
If Ken stands for Cloud here, does Barbie stand for Larisa or Sandra? I think there are still different directions in which this could go…
Back last year, Larisa already had Cloud completely captivated. When she saw what that was doing to Sandra, Larisa dumped Cloud and pushed him into Sandra’s general direction. Only recently Cloud had matured enough to go for an actual relationship with Sandra.
So what’s behind Larisa’s actions? If one goes with Larisa’s hints to Sandra, she’s doing it because Sandra has better chances to succeed in the end. But Larisa is quite popular with the boys while Sandra is not. So what does it mean? There are the hints on a serious disease that might lead to at least hospitalisation, or at the worst, an early death. So Larisa avoids any long-time plans that won’t come to fruition anyway and goes for short-time fun with her friends instead.
Or it’s much more harmless, and Larisa values her freedom highly so that she doesn’t want to put a limit on it by entering a full relationship, not even with Cloud, but realizes Sandra would. So Larisa gets her freedom, Sandra gets Cloud and vice versa, everyone wins.
On the other hand, Larisa could have dumped Cloud because she actually valued Sandra higher than him. She might like to have a boyfriend, but doesn’t think Cloud is good enough, and scans the boys Haruhi-style (in middle school, Haruhi Suzumiya went out with any boy who asked and found all of them lacking, with the longest relationship lasting a week and the shortest – five minutes).
And then tATu might hint at LarisaXSandra… in that case, Larisa doesn’t appear to know it yet, or it would show in her behavior. All the hanging around with boys would naturally fail since that’s not what Larisa really desires. But I don’t really believe in that option. Not every hint means what is read into it, and Larisa might just like the music.
I currently think it’s some mix between options 1 (disease) and 3 (boys not good enough so far), and that Larisa’s play-acting here would show that she actually values a relationship, with experimentation and wanting to keep things in her control (option 2) mixed in.
Novil, I would have thought that Love Me Not by t.A.T.u would have been better for this scene. Oh well. Army of Russian schoolgirls wearing no panties FTW!
Ugh, like her way better when she flirts around. I hope Sandra doesn’t get hurt out of this.
When I was a kid my only Ken had sex multiple times a day with all of my Barbies… SEX TOYS all right B)
Pah-ha-ha-ha! (you get it, I’m laughing)
Oh my god, that is hysterical!
what the… o.ô
ok… that was.. unexpected…
My Ken was a ladies man too!! And I was at least 14 before I stopped playing with Barbies!!
Just shows that at the end of the day she’s still just a little girl.
I see that as a security measure. If someone gets to that box knowing Larisa’s reputation, they won’t open it because they’ll be afraid of what they would find. Seeing the extents to were she carries her masquerade, I wouldn’t be surprised. For me, Larisa is quite a tragic character.
That’s because we haven’t seen the Sandra doll.
Larisa Doll: “She died in a tragic accident, I swear!”
I’m not entirely sure she’s pretending the girl doll is her. I mean it’s possible but it could just as easily be that she’s pretending it’s sandra which, if true, is sort of creepy in a sense as she’s basically made her two friends toys to play with
I think a lot of questions might be answered by knowing the name of the ‘daughter’: Sandra? Larisa? Someone completely different?? 🙂
Exactly what I was thinking. It’s like the joke “What is the one, failsafe way to prevent your father/brother/boyfriend/husband snooping on your email? Change the folder’s name to ‘Instruction Manual’ lol ^^
As for Larisa playing with barbies, I think it’s just showing a more innocent, concervative side of her nature. Many very intelligent/ wise/creative people have a child-like facet of their personality, perhaps because the bright simply take a lot longer to mature.
And, really, Larisa dressing up to look attractive might just be an aspect of that: her clothes are really quite conservative (she’s just showing off her arms lol) but the clothes are pretty and every little girl likes to look pretty, even if she’s a total tomboy ^^
I think a lot of people have overreacted at the word ‘sex’ above the word ‘toys’. it was kind of obviously carved into the box as a joke, Larisa does have an unusual sense of humour for her age.
A late edit: her mom should be saying, “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”
Good thing she hasn’t noticed us through that transparent 4th wall in her room. Hm… maybe we all better check our 4th walls… crazy building codes, you know? 😉
Now I am wondering if the pills she was taking in the warehouse during the treasure hunt were anti-psychotics or some such medication.
Great comic, remember us that we all are nerds deep inside, and also is funny all that sl#t discusion when is obious that Larisa is still a child, just having fun in her imagination. So for her all that “sl#ty behavior” was only inocent playing.
POLITICAL INCORRECT WARNING: I always felt akward about T.A.T.U, is just that the way the stick their thing in front my face and say “you gay hater” “You never understand” and other Emo or “we are opressed” kind of speach. These days people like to victimize themselfs or look for enemies everywhere, what has happened? Sid Vicious never cried and Kurt Cobain had the decency to sufer by himself
I wish I still had some dolls to play with. Most of the Barbies that my sister had were victimized by my brothers, so I never really got(or felt the need to) play with them. Were I at an age again to amuse myself with toys and only have boys to worry about… great comic.
I can’t help but wonder is she just innocently playing with dolls or planning something long term and evil…