Don’t miss my news post containing the first screenshots of the Sandra and Woo adventure game developed by Feline Fuelled Games.
Richard’s new Facebook status: “It’s complicated.”
- Melody: I quit work at M.I.T. after winning two million dollars from the lottery. But I quickly got bored and began looking for a new job.
- Melody: In my free time, I write code for open source projects and cook fancy three course meals.
- Melody: Also, I sexually identify as a praying mantis and eat the heads of my lovers after intercourse.
- Melody: Got any problem with that, shitlord?!
- Richard: There’s always something.
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Given how much Melody’s loved winding up Richard to date, all four panels of this are perfectly in character for her 🙂
Someone really should take her to visit the Williams clan sometime… 😀
I have to say, that this is possibly the only S&W comic that I actively dislike. Most are great, some are just nothing special, but this one makes me cringe.
Melody has been set up to be Richard’s love interest (with a great deal of extremely nerdy, but funny, humour) and has even made the effort to get to know Sandra (it’s a big thing when your Dad brings home a potential new partner) and translate something from German about Racoons for her (which is my job so I know exactly what that entails!).
And then this tasteless punchline. Let her have some peccadillo but don’t make it a stupid one. And calling him a “shitlord”? I know that the word is used by feminists and other people but it is really a terrible word to use, especially as Richard didn’t do anything to provoke it. Nicht wirklich cool.
I love S&W and am really happy to be able to be a patron to it after so long, but this strip I can’t like at all.
I’m hoping this is just a little jab. nothing really serious. after all that build-up would be a shame if that’s how this one ends. maybe its just a joke strip and the next one fixes it. If not then, not. We shall see (though i did see something similar happening before too long).
@ Khazgar:
“Unprovoked and unwarranted” actually fits pretty well with how “shitlord” is typically used… it would be weirder if the term was shouted for a good reason. 😛
I actually read that insult in the last panel as being sarcastic, or at least hyperbolic, rather than something to be taken literally. The “I sexually identify as a praying mantis” line is clearly a joke, mocking the typical “tumblr-feminist”. So, I feel like the last panel is continuing that joke just to annoy Richard (as she frequently does).
It’s a complicated style of humor, but Melody’s character has been set up for it… Each insult is at least partly true, but exaggerated to the point where it’s humorous. For example, the “you filthy casual” line from #673 is partly true, but also so absurd that nobody expects she really means it. The same holds true for this comic… The only problem is that the exaggerated insult is actually something that extreme feminists really say (making it a bit confusing)
*sigh* Another headcanon shot down… and I really preferred her as a maneating chipmunk. >:=)>
The only thing I’m really having an issue with this arc on is it a serious look at Richard actually meeting someone and getting back into the dating pool (which we haven’t seen at all since the start of the comic that I can recall) or is it a slightly off-kilter, sarcastic look at human interaction?
I’m just not sure which way the comic is trying to lean.
Is she going to cut off the head above or the head below??
Okay, this one is disturbing. If the indentation style change and on from that winds up not being a dream sequence, Melody needs to be put away. Abuse putatively as a joke is still abuse.
Next panel
*walks to bedroom, returns carrying a sword*
“And I sexually identify as someone who doesn’t care for being threatened in my own house. Get out, now.”
The fact that these two last panels are so close from events that actually happened is deeply depressing.
Praying mantis is more original than a wolf, though.
Now you’re just being unrealistic. Everyone knows SJWs can’t be programmers as this requires at least rudimentary logic. She most likely pulling his leg and next strip we’ll see her not-so-great sense of humor.
…aaaaaaaaand normal service is resumed.
Potential Velma cosplay or not, that’s a dealbreaker if ever I heard one.
We could say things have been nipped in the bud.
Sooooo, is she gonna REALLY geat his head? I find that quite confusing, harmless joke, or actual phycopath
Also all he has to do is sexually identitfy as a chameleon, they will grab a praying mantis by the head to keep it from attacking, though this usually pulls back to far, paralyzing the mantis from pincers down, leaving it in agony for the rest of it’s short, short life as chameleon food.
Which head is she talking about specifically?
Well, hey. At least she doesn’t identify as an angler fish.
It seems like she’s got a twisted sense of humor. R-right?…..
Mobyulus wrote:
“Sandra, tell Cloud I said thanks for the sword.”
To be honest. I haven’t liked
VelmaMelody since she was introduced and was starting to think that I might have to just learn to like her. I’m betting that I still might have to.Well than! I think that Richard’s hopes and dreams all got crushed within maybe about 5-10 seconds or so…
I see she’s a woman a man can lose his head over.
Unlike some people in these comments, this actually had me laughing my head off for several minutes, as I have been in Richard’s shoes more than once here.
Just to point out, you could inverse what is happening here where Melody isn’t the SJW, but rather is making fun of Richard who is… However, it seems like the name could be a reference to “Melody Hensley” and her look could be a reference to “Chanty Binks” and the programmer job could be a reference to “Adria Richards”, “Brianna Woo”, or “Zoe Quinn” even though Quinn certainly shouldn’t be consider a programmer or even a competent writer for that matter.
That aside, I dislike this turn for the character because I like the character. And I think today’s comic is a little too on the head which takes away from the comedic value as well as doesn’t help get the point across as good as it could be… though…they really are that nuts…
I’ve got to say, I like Melody! She has a wonderfully competitive and twisted sense of humour. I’d have to agree with some of the others here, though, this romance plotline was extremely rushed. In the space of exactly one comic, Richard went from hating her guts to wanting to bone her.
But yeah, more or her, please. I’d like to see where this is going.
Melody is NOT a Social Justice Warrior (SJW).
Her actions are much too well planned out and executed to fit the definition.
She is either the Clone of Wednesday Addams or has a World Class talent for Macbre humor on the Genius level.
I’m really curious where you’re getting the impression that Melody is a SJW. I’ve missed that completely.
Pretty sure the term “shitlord” predates its use on Tumblr.
Really enjoying this arc, Melody’s a great character and this punchline made me lol hard.
Time to invest in a sturdy medieval gorget then!
@ Durakken:
First, why did you put those names in quotes?
Second, the programmer job is almost certainly not a reference to any real people, living or not. Richard’s job is known, and she is his coworker. Unless that reference has been in the works for the past few years, it does not exist.
Third, you seem overly zealous in making your point. Attacks on outside persons are entirely unnecessary here, especially when they have absolutely no bearing on the comic. On your tangent, however, I can say this: quality of writing is an incredibly subjective matter. What one views as trash, others may view as art, especially when it deals with subjects close to the heart and mind.
Back on topic:
@ slang:
I agree fully with this. Let Melody continue, and don’t cut down on the sarcasm.
As the Brits are wont to say Melody is obviously “taking the piss” from Richard!
Actually a male preying mantis has to sneak up on a female in order to mate with her, otherwise he’ll be eaten right away.
The female biting off his head during copulation and then devouring him whole is part of the mating process. She needs the protein.
While cannibalism is normal for some insect and arachnid species, it clearly isn’t for humans especially if it’s a paraphilia (a sexually deviant fetish).
There’s definitely a few bugs in Melody’s OS right there.
Aaron wrote:
Basically, because some people will automatically label anyone they don’t like as a SJW.
But that’s MRAs for you.
Well she’s a nutcase.
And here I am, just giggling at the people in the comments totally missing the joke.
After Richard invited her to dinner she insulted him? I can’t believe how ungrateful this Melody woman is!
Soo… someone hates tumblr 😉
Mechwarrior wrote:
Rim shot.
Mobyulus wrote:
Darn I have to use that… though at the moment I have only dagger 😀
Man, Melody needs to step her game up because she doesn’t know shit about mantids.
First of all, the females eat their partners not because it’s part of their courtship behavior, it’s because they’re FRIGGIN’ HUGE AND ALWAYS HUNGRY. They’ll eat just about anything they can catch, and the males are really easy to catch when they’re all busy impregnating the female.
Second, they eat the ENTIRE male, not just the head. They just start with the head because that’s the fastest way to kill their prey and it’s where all the tastiest bits are.
And third, female mantids never engage in courtship or mating behavior. The males just sneak up on the females when they’re otherwise occupied and put it in. Then the female rotates her head exorcist style and eats him, because that’s how mantids roll. So if you “sexually identified as a female mantis” you’d essentially just sit around in the nude waiting for someone to jump on you, then kill and eat them if, and only if, you were feeling hungry at the time.
Ah, a joke as dated as double rainbow. It’s as refreshing as lake water.
@ Mechwarrior:
Either I’ve been in all the wrong places online, or you’re making that up. In my experience, it’s the social justice warriors that are far more likely to pin labels to people they disagree with.
I’ve missed something in the last few strips, I just know it!
To me, is really hard to look Melody in a good light. <_<
She can be competitive, have some clear, important objectives and political / personal positions, pay attention about Sandra interests and other positive things… No problem here…
But she become really awfull because she acts / reacts really bad with Richard everytime, without showing any good trace or side of her, talking anything good or at lease neutral to him, about him or at least about work.
In the whole arc, she treat him badly, provoke him, offends. Is really easily to hate or deslike Melody just because to act like a dick, act too arrogant or anything worse.
Is more easily to have sympathy or pity about Richard, but for now, make him too dumb, because he can't defend or at least, is too passive to earn some respect with Melody.
.
Probably, if he fire her in the next day, it will be interesting. But the way the arch develops, no doubt Melody be promoted, eventually dismiss Richard or make his life a living hell.
“Also, I sexually identify as a praying mantis and eat the heads of my lovers after intercourse.”
Jeez, sounds just like my ex!!
I sexually identify as a starfish
Whaat? A Sandra and Woo Adventure game? Why did no one tell me?
So clearly people here aren’t getting the joke; the first two panels are setting her up as the ideal partner for Richard, and then it comes crashing down because she’s got a flaw of eating her lovers.
That said I’m still confused how we went from Richard and Melody being introduced as feuding co-workers, now starstruck lovers?
If it were her place, it’d be time to sneak out the window…
Viridia wrote:
That part is rather obvious. The reason that no one gets the joke is because NO ONE has this kind of “sense of humor”. The entire comic is a “NO! I’M NOT INTERESTED!” signal from Melody but any normal human would have just turned down the invitation. Why the set up? Why get others involved, like Sandra? Why the waste of time? It doesn’t make sense.
Meh, you read the comic wrong. It is obvious the ‘something’ Richard talks about is playing lottery. I mean, seriously, someone who works at MIT and can’t do math? That’s a no-no if I’ve ever seen one!