Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"

[DavidSh]

Yes, thank you for saying more or less the same thing I did but with different specific words. I'm glad we agree that this scene transition isn't anything unusual.

On the other hand, I contend that the sequence:

1. Scene A at location A at night.
2. Scene B at location B in the morning, explicitly declared to be the morning after Scene A.
3. Scene C at location C in a morning, a bit later in the day than Scene B.

implies that Scene C is the same day as Scene B, and that if it isn't, this is a flaw on par with violating the 180-degree rule (aka crossing the line).

[Wraith]

On the one hand, I like Goblin Marigold. She made me smile, and the pupils was a nice touch.

I also like that May is actually good at her new job, and pro-active about making a strong first impression. Analysing metrics and strategy meetings are some not-insignificant business skills, and I hope its leading up to a glimpse into her previous pre-prison life, such as if she had some kind of high-flying career that gave her access to billions of dollars to steal in the first place.

On the other, May has been hired as a manager and has immediately become a babysitter, almost live-in nanny.
I *liked* the idea that Marigold was good at something and has achieved something through her own agency, and to infantilize her like this just makes her previous months of success sound even more implausible. How the hell would she have become a 5-or-even-6-figures-per-month streamer and NOT already have done her taxes, for example? Or has never had to discuss her brand strategy? Being a probably-approaching-millionaire *by accident* that took no effort or planning and just fell into her lap without any sort of formality guiding her?

Just another blank slate for a plot to fall upon, in other words? That feels so empty.

[Delicious Taffy]

On the other hand, I contend that the sequence:

1. Scene A at location A at night.
2. Scene B at location B in the morning, explicitly declared to be the morning after Scene A.
3. Scene C at location C in a morning, a bit later in the day than Scene B.

implies that Scene C is the same day as Scene B, and that if it isn't, this is a flaw on par with violating the 180-degree rule (aka crossing the line).

I don't quite follow. What does the 180-degree rule have to do with cutting to different characters in a different scene, and how is having that scene be set on a different day equivalent to it? I'm not especially versed in filmmaking techniques, so they don't have a lot of weight in my mind.

[Rodin]

On the one hand, I like Goblin Marigold. She made me smile, and the pupils was a nice touch.

I also like that May is actually good at her new job, and pro-active about making a strong first impression. Analysing metrics and strategy meetings are some not-insignificant business skills, and I hope its leading up to a glimpse into her previous pre-prison life, such as if she had some kind of high-flying career that gave her access to billions of dollars to steal in the first place.

On the other, May has been hired as a manager and has immediately become a babysitter, almost live-in nanny.
I *liked* the idea that Marigold was good at something and has achieved something through her own agency, and to infantilize her like this just makes her previous months of success sound even more implausible. How the hell would she have become a 5-or-even-6-figures-per-month streamer and NOT already have done her taxes, for example? Or has never had to discuss her brand strategy? Being a probably-approaching-millionaire *by accident* that took no effort or planning and just fell into her lap without any sort of formality guiding her?

Just another blank slate for a plot to fall upon, in other words? That feels so empty.

I get May being good at it, as we haven't seen her in a job that utilizes her skills. What I don't get is her being hyper focused and driven like this. She's a banking AI that got bored and tried to steal a fighter jet and her previous characterization has been the robotic personification of ADD. It's downright weird to see her being organized enough to sort her own life out, nevermind that of somebody else.

On the contrary, I find it perfectly plausible that Marigold is this disorganized. It's totally within her character and the earlier strips made it clear that Momo was running everything wholesale. If we disregard the implausible amount of money and just say that Marigold is "successful" the whole thing fits together. She did streaming things and became popular without ever considering what it meant for her bank balance, and Momo handled all the business stuff. Marigold only realized what an absurd amount of money she made recently, which is what prompted the coffee shop visit.

This leaves two things that I find deeply implausible about the scenario. The first is Mariogld being a successful streamer. You need a certain type of personality to be a successful streamer, and the introverted anti-social Marigold is emphatically not that type. The second is that Dale or Momo wouldn't have been more on top of things. Dale is presented as a pretty stable down to earth guy when he's dealing with anything other than relationship stuff, and I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have been involved enough to realize the implications. Momo is, well, Momo. She's the most competent and stable member of the entire cast, and the idea that Momo wouldn't have flipped out and forced Marigold to deal with this stuff is a touch hard to believe.

All of this could have been addressed by having the streaming story happen on-panel, but nooooooo.

A further thought occurs that Sam should have been the one to get the streaming plot, and have it happen on-panel. She was established as wanting to get into streaming, whereas Marigold's advice only came from being a viewer. She has the right personality for it. She doesn't have friends of her age that appear in the strip, isolating her from stabilizing influences. Jim and Veronica would be, but they are old enough to not understand the idea of making a boatload of money from streaming. And finally, her age makes the amount of money to be "a lot" much more plausible. She wouldn't need to be making "buy a house" money for it to be a shockingly large sum for a teenager - enough to set her up with a college fund would be sufficient. And May could still be worked in as the PA, since she and Sam interacted well at the repair shop.

[Keltest]

May's problem has never been her organizational skills or dedication. She's just been working retail while we've seen her, which is a fantastically soul-crushing position that nobody can apply themselves to.

[Mechalich]

This leaves two things that I find deeply implausible about the scenario. The first is Mariogld being a successful streamer. You need a certain type of personality to be a successful streamer, and the introverted anti-social Marigold is emphatically not that type.

I can see Marigold as a moderately successful streamer, as a result of her deep knowledge of gaming, her deep engagement when talking about games, and her overall physique (that last one probably shouldn't matter, but it does). I could absolutely see her producing guide videos and running how-to style let's plays to a modest audience that would bring in enough money to pay for the equipment and maybe serve as a modest side hustle worth some nice four-figure-ish amount each year.

But otherwise, I completely agree that she lacks the relentless 'hustle' factor to try and leverage streaming into the sort of personal brand that she apparently has.

[Traab]

I could see dale being unaware of how big she is making it. All he needs to know is that she is streaming, she enjoys it, and thats cool. With her being unaware of just how much she is making, it isnt unreasonable that he, not having anything to do with streaming, would also be unaware, as he isnt exactly rude enough to go, "So how much scratch are you making off this?"

[Keltest]

I could see dale being unaware of how big she is making it. All he needs to know is that she is streaming, she enjoys it, and thats cool. With her being unaware of just how much she is making, it isnt unreasonable that he, not having anything to do with streaming, would also be unaware, as he isnt exactly rude enough to go, "So how much scratch are you making off this?"

As i recall, Dale was involved on the business side to some level.

[Willie the Duck]

If we disregard the implausible amount of money and just say that Marigold is "successful" the whole thing fits together.

I am still convinced Jeph meant 'followers' but said 'subscribers' and just ran with it (perhaps just as a lark, perhaps to annoy his anti-fan reddit). If you just make that mental translation, it mostly works.

This leaves two things that I find deeply implausible about the scenario. The first is Mariogld being a successful streamer. You need a certain type of personality to be a successful streamer, and the introverted anti-social Marigold is emphatically not that type.

I can see Marigold as a moderately successful streamer, as a result of her deep knowledge of gaming, her deep engagement when talking about games, and her overall physique (that last one probably shouldn't matter, but it does). I could absolutely see her producing guide videos and running how-to style let's plays to a modest audience that would bring in enough money to pay for the equipment and maybe serve as a modest side hustle worth some nice four-figure-ish amount each year.
But otherwise, I completely agree that she lacks the relentless 'hustle' factor to try and leverage streaming into the sort of personal brand that she apparently has.

I assume Marigold probably also has an digital overlay (just not a cow-lady), or perhaps this world has gone farther down the road of looks-not-mattering (especially on the internet). As to the hustle factor, yeah, again this makes more sense as a modest success than one of the biggest in the world. That even kinda mirrors other QC characters -- Sven is a successful musician despite not trying very hard and not having any other outward indication of the natural talent (other than writing and singing good popular songs) or business savvy needed to be a superstar -- but he's not, he's 'I should buy a house' level wealthy and doesn't need bodyguards to wander around a college town.

The second is that Dale or Momo wouldn't have been more on top of things. Dale is presented as a pretty stable down to earth guy when he's dealing with anything other than relationship stuff, and I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have been involved enough to realize the implications. Momo is, well, Momo. She's the most competent and stable member of the entire cast, and the idea that Momo wouldn't have flipped out and forced Marigold to deal with this stuff is a touch hard to believe.

Momo seemed very much like she was being given a task she did not want and perhaps did not feel comfortable doing more than keeping the balls in the air until she could hand it off to someone dedicated to the role. Dale it really depends on how involved he was.

[Morquard]

The thing I'm wondering the most is this. Mommymilkers is clearly some sort of fetish stream, even if Aurelia doesn't seem to be aware of that. a) Why is Marigold even hanging out in that stream. b) Why is she considering a collab with her?
She's supposedly streaming video games. How does that fit together?

It's unlikely she knows that they're just living down the road in the same city. So "they're close by" doesn't really count. My neighbor could be streaming but unless its something I'd be interested in, I'd not follow it, just because I know them.

[Traab]

The thing I'm wondering the most is this. Mommymilkers is clearly some sort of fetish stream, even if Aurelia doesn't seem to be aware of that. a) Why is Marigold even hanging out in that stream. b) Why is she considering a collab with her?
She's supposedly streaming video games. How does that fit together?

It's unlikely she knows that they're just living down the road in the same city. So "they're close by" doesn't really count. My neighbor could be streaming but unless its something I'd be interested in, I'd not follow it, just because I know them.

Im guessing there is a crossover between mommy milkers and oppai when it comes to audiences. Big breasts are big breasts cartoon or not, and there is a large audience out there for that sort of thing. Ive even seen game mods that refer to it as milkmaid style that gives the character stupidly oversized breasts. So its sort of like how if you enjoy watching reactions to say, rock and roll, you end up watching a lot of different channels, that if you like big bountiful bouncy bosoms, you have a wide variety of livestreams to check out.

[Keltest]

The thing I'm wondering the most is this. Mommymilkers is clearly some sort of fetish stream, even if Aurelia doesn't seem to be aware of that. a) Why is Marigold even hanging out in that stream. b) Why is she considering a collab with her?
She's supposedly streaming video games. How does that fit together?

It's unlikely she knows that they're just living down the road in the same city. So "they're close by" doesn't really count. My neighbor could be streaming but unless its something I'd be interested in, I'd not follow it, just because I know them.

Consider that Twitch doesnt actually allow overtly sexual streams, in spite of people doing a respectable job of trying to get around that. And while i think its fairly likely that Jeph knows nothing about streaming or Twitch policy, for the sake our our speculation, Aurelia might actually be fully aware of the fetishistic nature of her stream (frankly, i struggle to imagine anybody being so oblivious that they dont realize an exceptionally well endowed woman or avatar of a woman is considered attractive or desirable), and thus uses a more niche streaming service just because they allow it. From which we can conclude that Marigold also uses this service, and leans into that angle herself somewhat as well.

Or, more likely, Jeph has not thought this through at all and didnt even consider the wild implications that he has set up, because he gave up on any sort of long term story planning a long time ago.

[Max_Killjoy]

As to the hustle factor, yeah, again this makes more sense as a modest success than one of the biggest in the world. That even kinda mirrors other QC characters -- Sven is a successful musician despite not trying very hard and not having any other outward indication of the natural talent (other than writing and singing good popular songs) or business savvy needed to be a superstar -- but he's not, he's 'I should buy a house' level wealthy and doesn't need bodyguards to wander around a college town.

Really, this sort of underlying attitude and approach by the "successful" characters in QC would seem right in line with Jeph's other leanings.

[DavidSh]

Did Marigold ever mention Mommymilkers before May brought it up? The connection may have been suggested by Yay to May, without input either from Aurelia or Marigold.

Feel free to point out a comic I missed on this.

[Morquard]

Did Marigold ever mention Mommymilkers before May brought it up? The connection may have been suggested by Yay to May, without input either from Aurelia or Marigold.

Feel free to point out a comic I missed on this.

During the "Clinton learns about his mom's channel"-arc, she pointed out BurgerOni as having way more subs than her, and we see a cutaway strip to Marigold "Hey Dale, Mommymilkers has one of her kids on!"

[Wraith]

Forgive me if I don't feel any sympathy for Marigold having to treat her job as a job and do all of 1 hours' "real work" per day while raking in tens of thousands of dollars for it.

Frankly, this feels like a thinly-veiled mouthpiece as Jeph looks for sympathy. He's spent years crapping out 1 comic of declining quality per day and has nearly 13,000 patrons, to say nothing of the t-shirts and prints that he occasionally sells, so May's mini-lecture about how hard it is to do the behind-the-scenes stuff comes off as "oh woe is me" self-insertion. Being a millionaire for doing what you love as a part-time job is so hard, you guys!

I assume Marigold probably also has an digital overlay (just not a cow-lady), or perhaps this world has gone farther down the road of looks-not-mattering (especially on the internet).

Yes, Burger_Oni is a vtuber avatar just like MommyMilkers. The link takes you to Reddit, who are quoting one of Jeph's tweets.

....Aurelia might actually be fully aware of the fetishistic nature of her stream (frankly, i struggle to imagine anybody being so oblivious that they dont realize an exceptionally well endowed woman or avatar of a woman is considered attractive or desirable), and thus uses a more niche streaming service just because they allow it.

Aurelia is fully aware that her avatar is fetishistic. She offers positive critique of her favourite Rule 34 fanart, and knows her favourite artists' style on sight.

Did Marigold ever mention Mommymilkers before May brought it up? The connection may have been suggested by Yay to May, without input either from Aurelia or Marigold.

MommyMilkers and BurgerOni have been friends since before the latter hit 200,000 subscribers. Apparently they're close enough that they crash each others' chat-rooms and their respective fandoms cheer for them and recite memes/in-jokes.

[BRC]

Forgive me if I don't feel any sympathy for Marigold having to treat her job as a job and do all of 1 hours' "real work" per day while raking in tens of thousands of dollars for it.

Frankly, this feels like a thinly-veiled mouthpiece as Jeph looks for sympathy. He's spent years crapping out 1 comic of declining quality per day and has nearly 13,000 patrons, to say nothing of the t-shirts and prints that he occasionally sells, so May's mini-lecture about how hard it is to do the behind-the-scenes stuff comes off as "oh woe is me" self-insertion. Being a millionaire for doing what you love as a part-time job is so hard, you guys!

He explicitly calls out panel 3 as being from experience, so it's not really veiled at all.

And it doesn't come across as complaining about how hard it is, just commenting that even if you manage to become wildly successful doing something that you love, it is still a Job.

Marigold isn't being portrayed as suffering under an unreasonable workload, she's just momentarily grumping. Like, the thesis of this comic is very much that May Is Right, and that even a job you love is still a job and you have to take it seriously and do some unfun stuff.
Marigold herself grumps for all of one panel, hardly a sign of somebody trying to argue that their life is an endless stream of woe and difficulties.

[Willie the Duck]

He explicitly calls out panel 3 as being from experience, so it's not really veiled at all.

And it doesn't come across as complaining about how hard it is, just commenting that even if you manage to become wildly successful doing something that you love, it is still a Job.

Marigold isn't being portrayed as suffering under an unreasonable workload, she's just momentarily grumping. Like, the thesis of this comic is very much that May Is Right, and that even a job you love is still a job and you have to take it seriously and do some unfun stuff.
Marigold herself grumps for all of one panel, hardly a sign of somebody trying to argue that their life is an endless stream of woe and difficulties.

Marigold has been consistently framed as a young adult who is resisting growing up (or at least the responsibilities of growing up) every step of the way -- she'd doesn't want to clean her room, or eat a balanced meal, or shower, or buy a non-twin bed. For her to be resistant to tax forms and good management is completely in character. Moreso it makes sense for this conflict to happen, since resisting Marigold's goblining is why May was given the job in the first place. As you say, the comic very clearly frames May as being correct. As far as self-insertion goes, this seems to be Jeph acknowledging the existence of his own weaknesses and limitations.

[halfeye]

Marigold has been consistently framed as a young adult who is resisting growing up (or at least the responsibilities of growing up) every step of the way -- she'd doesn't want to clean her room, or eat a balanced meal,

Kale alone is not a balanced meal.

...

As far as self-insertion goes, this seems to be Jeph acknowledging the existence of his own weaknesses and limitations.

He explicitly calls out panel 3 as being from experience, so it's not really veiled at all.

I read the jokey denial of panel 3 as being an admission that he doesn't always buckle down and get on with it when he gets annoyed with it.

[Mechalich]

He explicitly calls out panel 3 as being from experience, so it's not really veiled at all.

And it doesn't come across as complaining about how hard it is, just commenting that even if you manage to become wildly successful doing something that you love, it is still a Job.

Marigold isn't being portrayed as suffering under an unreasonable workload, she's just momentarily grumping. Like, the thesis of this comic is very much that May Is Right, and that even a job you love is still a job and you have to take it seriously and do some unfun stuff.
Marigold herself grumps for all of one panel, hardly a sign of somebody trying to argue that their life is an endless stream of woe and difficulties.

The problem here is that Marigold is already wildly successful. Jeph absolutely flubbed the structural organization of this plotline. Whatever limited and chaotic business structure Marigold's relied on to this point has served to make her a giant pile of cash in a very short period of time. She explicitly neither needs nor wants more money. Making her business better organized is largely superfluous.

I believe Willie the Duck is correct and Jeph foolishly decided that rather than own up to a minor textual error he decided to give Marigold a giant pile of money instead. The problem is, that's not something that should ever be done without a clear story purpose in mind. A massive windfall can be used to drive a story usually because it comes with strings attached or because the character's behavior changes as a result of suddenly being rich and this causes problems, but it can also be used to solve problems when handled responsibly (windfalls are often used to get characters out of medical bill related difficulties in US origin media).

In this case, however, we have a giant pile of money that has no real purpose, and it's blatantly obvious because a medical bill adjacent problem (May's crumbling body) that it absolutely could have solved was only an arc or two back.

[Durazno]

I think the purpose of the pile of money is to enable her to hire May. It'd be one thing if May were like a life coach with multiple clients, but if we want her entire job to be managing Marigold, Marigold's got to be able to pay a full-time employee.

I'm a bit annoyed by Marigold continually being infantilized, but it looks like this'll be a little arc about making your hobby your work, with Marigold and May representing different aspects of Jacques's experience as a webcomicker. Makes sense to me.

I would appreciate if May found out that Marigold was a little more on top of things than she gave her credit for. As Wraith pointed out, it's a bit of a surprise that she wouldn't have run up against the tax forms, for instance, and May sitting her down only for her to say, "Oh! I did this!" would be an interesting moment.

[Vinyadan]

Thinking about money, someone mentioned Sven early, and I think it's a very good comparison. Sven has money, and that's part of his full package: he's wealthy, handsome, doesn't put much effort into his job, and, compared to the rest of the cast, is pretty stable and OK with how things are going for him, and doesn't really want to change or change his habits and have a deep relationship with a girl. Result, Sven grates against everyone: he plays country, he is a womaniser, and Dora has some serious issues with him. Then the thing with Faye happens and Sven is forced to reconsider a few things about himself. (And then he kinda disappears?)
So Sven wasn't really about the money, but Sven's money was important for how others saw him (successful without trying) and how he saw himself (things are going well, no need to change).

Here I'm kinda curious about where it's going, but it also isn't a subject I find particularly interesting. Socially, Marygold doesn't want to share any info, and professionally, she's already set. So she does stuff and gets money, but I don't see any challenges or effects. And, as far as profession storylines go, I didn't particularly enjoy F&B opening a shop, it felt more like a procedure than someone's adventure. This however ties into something Jeph actually knows, so maybe it will be good, IF the pieces actually fall in the right order.

[Wraith]

Your recall of Sven is, I think, an excellent example of what could be done with this current story.

Sven made an unspecified, but supposedly outrageous, amount of money by doing comparatively little, BUT at the same time he has his life in order to capitalise on it. He owns a house, he has an agent and lawyer available, he's even responsible and respectable enough to have attracted an intern at one point. I liked her, I wish she was still in the comic.

Sven is the example of someone who made themselves rich in the entertainment industry, and arranged his circumstances to ensure that he stayed so with as little complication as possible. He'd be the perfect person to introduce to Marigold, giving her the benefit of his wisdom and reassurance of how difficult it is to start with before it becomes comfortable. There's even the plot hook that May and Momo know him, so they could actively seek him out for advice and guidance and reignite the May/Sven relationship which was by far one of the most fun and interesting ones that we've had in the last couple of years.

I really hope it goes that way. I was unnecessarily grumpy in my previous post I admit, but I stand by the sentiment that, if this turns into an arc about how 'creators' need to be handled with kid gloves because having to send some emails and read some contracts in exchange for being a millionaire online celebrity sucks, I will facepalm like I have never facepalmed before.

[Max_Killjoy]

Your recall of Sven is, I think, an excellent example of what could be done with this current story.

Sven made an unspecified, but supposedly outrageous, amount of money by doing comparatively little, BUT at the same time he has his life in order to capitalise on it. He owns a house, he has an agent and lawyer available, he's even responsible and respectable enough to have attracted an intern at one point. I liked her, I wish she was still in the comic.

Sven is the example of someone who made themselves rich in the entertainment industry, and arranged his circumstances to ensure that he stayed so with as little complication as possible. He'd be the perfect person to introduce to Marigold, giving her the benefit of his wisdom and reassurance of how difficult it is to start with before it becomes comfortable. There's even the plot hook that May and Momo know him, so they could actively seek him out for advice and guidance and reignite the May/Sven relationship which was by far one of the most fun and interesting ones that we've had in the last couple of years.

I really hope it goes that way. I was unnecessarily grumpy in my previous post I admit, but I stand by the sentiment that, if this turns into an arc about how 'creators' need to be handled with kid gloves because having to send some emails and read some contracts in exchange for being a millionaire online celebrity sucks, I will facepalm like I have never facepalmed before.

Ah, Sven, who was put on a bus for the horrible crime of trying to help out someone he cared about.

[BRC]

I would appreciate if May found out that Marigold was a little more on top of things than she gave her credit for. As Wraith pointed out, it's a bit of a surprise that she wouldn't have run up against the tax forms, for instance, and May sitting her down only for her to say, "Oh! I did this!" would be an interesting moment.

It's implied that Marigold's rise to fame was incrediably rapid, which can be a thing with internet celebrities.

Which is to say, it's entirely possible that she hasn't had to deal with anything like filling out tax forms since she went from webmaster to streamer.

Also, it's implied that Momo was picking up a lot of the slack as far as running her "Operation" as it were.

I really hope it goes that way. I was unnecessarily grumpy in my previous post I admit, but I stand by the sentiment that, if this turns into an arc about how 'creators' need to be handled with kid gloves because having to send some emails and read some contracts in exchange for being a millionaire online celebrity sucks, I will facepalm like I have never facepalmed before.

So far it seems to be more "Creators need a good kick in the ass from somebody with a reasonable sense of what it takes to run a business, because reading contracts and sending emails isn't a lot of work, but it IS important work, and if you're lucky enough to make money doing something you love it can be easy to hyperfocus on that part and neglect everything else".

For this next bit, the "Everything else" seems to be "General health and wellness".

Like, if this was a pity party about how hard it is to be a successful internet content creator, I'd be expecting Marigold to come across as more sympathetic here. Instead, it's mostly been
May: Here is a reasonable and important thing to do.
Marigold: But I don't want to do that. That isn't fun.
May: It's important.
Marigold: Ugh, It is important.

[Rodin]

Your recall of Sven is, I think, an excellent example of what could be done with this current story.

Sven made an unspecified, but supposedly outrageous, amount of money by doing comparatively little, BUT at the same time he has his life in order to capitalise on it. He owns a house, he has an agent and lawyer available, he's even responsible and respectable enough to have attracted an intern at one point. I liked her, I wish she was still in the comic.

Sven is the example of someone who made themselves rich in the entertainment industry, and arranged his circumstances to ensure that he stayed so with as little complication as possible. He'd be the perfect person to introduce to Marigold, giving her the benefit of his wisdom and reassurance of how difficult it is to start with before it becomes comfortable. There's even the plot hook that May and Momo know him, so they could actively seek him out for advice and guidance and reignite the May/Sven relationship which was by far one of the most fun and interesting ones that we've had in the last couple of years.

I really hope it goes that way. I was unnecessarily grumpy in my previous post I admit, but I stand by the sentiment that, if this turns into an arc about how 'creators' need to be handled with kid gloves because having to send some emails and read some contracts in exchange for being a millionaire online celebrity sucks, I will facepalm like I have never facepalmed before.

I don't think Sven had his own house, he just had a much nicer apartment than the rest of the cast. One with an upstairs bedroom*. He's shown to live in an apartment corridor on a couple occasions and complains about his downstairs neighbor.

Sven's approach is the one I would take in his situation - he has more money than he requires to be happy, so he pays people to take care of the necessities. He has an agent, he has an accountant, etc etc.

Marigold lives like I do. She makes enough money from her job that she's financially secure and sucks at doing things like paying taxes, paying bills, cleaning etc. Seriously, if electronic auto-pay wasn't a thing I'd have the lights get cut off on the regular. On the one occasion I did live in that circumstance I think I had the electricity cut off by the city on three separate occasions. Adulting is hard, yo.

That's why I'm less upset about "infantilizing" Marigold. Because I fundamentally disagree that the story is doing so. She is a highly disorganized person with social issues. She sucks at routine adult stuff. That describes me to a T, and the only unrealistic thing to me is that she doesn't get the crippling depression that usually comes with that combination of traits. And I'm happy to let that one fly because that would not be a fun topic to write about, so it gets smoothed away.

If I were in Marigold's situation, I would absolutely be in the same place she is. Not keeping up with the neccessary because it's a pain in the ass when you have other things going on. And the solution is the same - I suck at doing this, pay someone who is good at it to do it for me.

Honestly, this plot didn't require Marigold to be a super successful streamer. It just needed her to be making slightly more than she did as a...web designer I think was her job? Enough that she could tell May "I can't pay you better than the cruddy convenience store job, but the work is more interesting". You'd get the same result.

*this is realistic, my sister''s partner lived in a two bedroom flat like this. Although the bedroom was bizarrely down a flight of stairs.

[Delicious Taffy]

Ah, Sven, who was put on a bus for the horrible crime of trying to help out someone he cared about.

Yeah, I've read through the archive a couple times now, and I can't figure out exactly what it was that Sven did to deserve quite so much in-universe scorn. Yeah, he was a womaniser until Faye, and his weird love confession sucked, but he's been more or less benign aside from that, and everyone still treats him like a complete jackass. Even his intern wasn't cool, what with building up an ideal of some other person in her head and then getting all pissy when the lifestyle of a professional songwriter wasn't especially glamorous or active.

His donation to May's body was apparently pretty big, but I still don't see how that puts him in any power over her, as long as they both mutually agree that she owes him nothing for it and then don't get weird about it. His dumb spat with Dora was all on her, too, because apparently it's wrong to behave within the established parameters of a non-committal relationship and communicate openly. Like, maybe he was a jag early on, but for what feels like half the comic now, he's been no worse than anyone else.

[BRC]

Yeah, I've read through the archive a couple times now, and I can't figure out exactly what it was that Sven did to deserve quite so much in-universe scorn. Yeah, he was a womaniser until Faye, and his weird love confession sucked, but he's been more or less benign aside from that, and everyone still treats him like a complete jackass. Even his intern wasn't cool, what with building up an ideal of some other person in her head and then getting all pissy when the lifestyle of a professional songwriter wasn't especially glamorous or active.

His donation to May's body was apparently pretty big, but I still don't see how that puts him in any power over her, as long as they both mutually agree that she owes him nothing for it and then don't get weird about it. His dumb spat with Dora was all on her, too, because apparently it's wrong to behave within the established parameters of a non-committal relationship and communicate openly. Like, maybe he was a jag early on, but for what feels like half the comic now, he's been no worse than anyone else.

The only one who really had serious issues with him was Dora, and that was unpacked pretty well in-comic.

Faye specifically didn't like that he was a womanizer, and felt betrayed when he slept with somebody else, even if they had never agreed to be monogamous.

Which, isn't maybe the Technically Correct response, but also isn't, like, unreasonable. Emotions are tricky.

I don't think anybody else actually has any problems with the guy. He just doesn't interact with the rest of the cast that much.

Re: May's body.

This is another "Emotions are Tricky" situation. Like, it's one thing to say "You don't owe me anything for the donation", but it's another thing for both sides to internalize that.

Like, even if he's the perfect gentleman who keeps hanging out with May and never lets it affect how he sees the relationship, can she do the same? If somebody does a big favor for you, literally life-changing in this case, it can be tough to interact with them without letting that sense of obligation creep in.

And even if it doesn't, it can be a source of stress if you start doubting "Do I want to do this thing for this person just because, or am I doing it because I feel I owe them"

[Mechalich]

I don't think anybody else actually has any problems with the guy. He just doesn't interact with the rest of the cast that much.

I think the rest of the cast is naturally envious of Sven, because he leads a charmed life - all the money and sex he wants at very little effort, no debilitating vices or health issues. I mean, I wish I could live comfortably working ~4 hours a week and acquire female companionship more or less at will too. It would be hard to meet someone who actually lived like that and not find their circumstances aggravating. Sven, actually, has been portrayed as being at least moderately self-aware about this and he tries not to rub his unusual gifts in other people's faces.

I do think Sven's very existence in the comic is part of the issue with the current Marigold storyline though. QC already has one person who got rich more or less effortlessly. And Sven's songwriting fortune has never been especially well-justified. That sort of work requires a bunch of connections spread across the music industry to serve as an 'in,' but presumably that's something Sven did back before the comic started.

[Rodin]

The problem with Sven wasn't that he was a womanizer. Faye wasn't a fan of that aspect of his character either, but that wasn't what really set her off about him.

Sven treated women badly. He wasn't just promiscuous - he cheated on his girlfriends regularly. He'd dump a girlfriend because he saw someone prettier. It's been a little bit since I've read early Sven, but I'm pretty sure he also used to get names wrong and such.

In other words, the problem wasn't his promiscuity. It's how he handled the relationships.

This makes his fling with Faye all the more interesting. It's clear that he cared about Faye more than the usual girl of the week, and he was very open about how he saw the relationship since Faye refused to commit.

Sven didn't do anything wrong by the standards he laid out to Faye. Faye didn't do anything wrong by the standards she laid out to Sven. He didn't agree to be monogamous, and she swore to dump him if he wasn't. And that's exactly what ended up happening.

Dora's reaction is then pretty natural. She already had a mess of issues with Sven, and now he hurt her best friend. Into the sin bin he goes. He later makes this worse by trying to get Faye to dump Angus and be with im, which was a pretty crappy move even by his standards. Dora overreacts to this by cutting him out of her life, and the comic makes it clear that this is an overreaction that has a lot more to do with Dora than it did with Sven.

On the May thing...did I miss something? I don't recall anyone shunning him? He got written out not because the characters shut him out, but because there genuinely isn't a story to tell. Sven and May were not and are not boyfriend/girlfriend. They had casual sex on a couple occasions. Now that he donated to her getting a new body they both feel a bit weird about the situation. Sven doesn't want to feel like he's buying a prostitute (or worse, May only sleeping with him because she feels obligated) and May feels uncomfortable with owing people for her body even when sex isn't involved. I get where they're coming from.

On Sven's ease of wealth - the entire thing is just a joke about how crappy country music is. It dates clear back to when indie music was a major focus of the comic, and aside from being a joke it's simply shorthand for him being the older sibling who is effortlessly successful causing friction with the younger, less successful sibling. It was never meant to be well-justified, because it was a joke. It's one area where I'm quite prepared to apply the "don't think about it too hard" mantra.

The problem I have with Marigold getting rich quick is different - there is no joke, she's just suddenly wealthy. I'd have liked to see that. It sounds more interesting than the stories we've been getting. I have less problems with the result than I do with the journey.