Advanced Role Play
So this is strip #500. Not super climactic, but it’s a big number, and that’s pretty cool.
Thanks to everyone that’s joined up on the Experience Boost Patreon! And for those that haven’t, you should know that everyone is doing it, because it is cool, offers optimum throughput for your build, and is on meta.
See, the thing is neither of them are wrong. I mean you’re going to get your Sjw types that jump down Theron’s throat, but really He isn’t. And Zhu isn’t required to do any favors for him either. Theron is being a bit of a dick though.
Thank you! Theron’s obviously been around the block enough to be pretty jaded about getting in anyone’s business. Hell with Orhan the moment he got even kinda involved just telling Sarah things went nuclear. He’s got boundaries he never insulted anyone.
I agree. Theron has no right to expect Zhu to farm shit for him, but she probably could have talked to him before cutting him out of her circle of friends. But I guess she did, and he brushed it off. Neither are wrong, but both could have handled it with a bit more grace.
I’m thinking more is hitting the fan than just flasks and an ignored conversation… Zhu didn’t seem too mad about Theron’s reply when she told him a few comics back :S
No, Theron wasn’t wrong if he did not consider Zhusen his friend. Because you don’t treat friends like that. And Zhusen wasn’t wrong, because if Theron wasn’t her friend, she was under no obligation to do friend stuff with him (like providing him with flasks).
actually based on the last page Theron DID consider Zhu a friend. Zhu replied that he considers people he cant talk to “for one minute” to not be friends in which Theron accused her of trying to force him to talk about stuff (suggesting that giving him free stuff was what is SUPPOSE to happen and Zhu is in the wrong by DENYING him the FREE STUFF He thinks he DESERVES).
making someone out to be the badguy because they dont , AGAIN, go out of their way to waste their time giving you free stuff, is the literal definition of “dickish” behavior
I’m confused. Where are you getting this? Aside from Theron assuming Zhu was his friend, you have a poor understanding/following of Theron’s attitude. This situation goes back to an incident with Keran where Theron expected to get free ore from Keran. he never threw a fit when he didn’t get what’s his and when he ended up having nothing to show for to his guild officer, he simply paled. Nowhere in that situation did it show that Theron was an entitled dick. yes, he was planning to give Keran very little gold but that simply falls under standard trolling whereas you’re assuming Theron has this never before seen unprecedented quality to be a quality dickhead for not getting his way.
Was he an asshole? Yes. It was established by Vedrana, between Murd, Theron and Castor. But that’s his limit. Like Castor, he griefs players and like Murd or a typical Huntard, he tries to grab advantage of his spec to grab gear that improves his dps. However, he was never seen as the dick you paint him to be.
In fact, just last arc (the 3v3 arena arc), it shows the Theron was willing to compromise despite a very painful situation for him. You misread the situation.
Yeah, it’s a nice mix – I can see where they’re both coming from in it (and their differing factors in the importance of on-line social connections), and why it’s gone ugly.
Well done.
(Also the alt text 🙂 )
Oh go Zhu! Put those YouTube tutorials to good use!
Does WoW (sorry, RoQ) have character “personalities” similar to ESO? So, mostly basic animation changes and a few emote changes, stuff like that? Because one of those could make it a lot easier for Zhu. Just always be “assertive”, then you dont have to keep it up, because that’s how it works.
I remember using the drunkard personality, until I realised that the “sick” emote is you having a solid Ralph into the mug you keep drinking from.
Nope, no built-in personalities in WoW.
I am not sure who I support, Theron is awesome and probably have a reason for being like that, but Zhusen is happy and I know how she feels. Blargh, complicated. xD
There’s no one to support. Both sides are in the right.
Theron has the right not to respond. He simply asked Zhu the problem, and when it turned out that his nature forbade from ever solving it, he left.
Zhu also has the right to reserve who she calls her friends and give flasks. If someone she once thought of as a “friend” would not give her a simple minute, then he/she should accept that they’re not part of the circle.
If this strip “resolves” the arc, then I must give kudos to the author for tackling both problems excellently. The resolution was very mature. Theron didn’t throw a fit and Zhu gained important character development.
But then again there might be future consequences planned here. (Cue Wolf Bomb exploding near Zhu)
I think you are GROSSELY misinterpretting Theron’s “fine”. Very few people use “fine” in a neutral context. Theron IS throwing a fit. He’s upset that he’s not getting free stuff, that would be when a good person would drop it. there was never any doubt that he ever deserved that stuff. But no he HAD to go straight to the source to see why he wasnt getting free stuff from a companion he was exploiting and when that person gave a reasonable explanation he tried to BELITTLE her explanation insisting that she should STILL give him free stuff. And when she didnt cave he stormed out.
Lol where are you getting this? All the previous strips have already shown he approached the topic in a very mature manner. He asked Zhu why the flasks were not arriving; when you’re receiving something and suddenly one days it does not appear, won’t you want to know WHY? He got the answer and left. He didn’t even escalate things. Any other interpretation you currently having is your own pure speculation. You’re the one who’s grossly misinterpreting things. Characters all throughout this strip show various subtleties in their art and appearance when they’re feeling various emotions, even Theron. In this set however, Theron has 0 indicators that he was entitled/plan anything sinister.
And he wasn’t exploiting anything. GO BACK TO MURD STRIP AGAIN: He believes that “Zhu gives everyone flasks”. He was under the assumption that Zhu’s inherent good behavior is the reason why he’s been given flasks. You grossly misread the entire situation, and it’s showing because you seem to be breaking down over a character on a webcomic. You seem to be a warpath to vilify Theron every step of the way. Maybe you should take a break from the internet if that’s what it takes to tick you off.
Let’s not get personal here.
He’s upset she’s decided he’s not her friend anymore because he said something she didn’t like that she didn’t argue at the time and then decided to let him know in a passive aggressive way as if he’d actually flipped her off. You’re way too freaking biased here.
Looks like everyone is happy again… or are they. Stay tuned.
And congrats on #500, Robin. Yours is one of my favourite webcomics.
Also fan of Theron’s Theron’ing. He’s just being himself, and doesn’t like being un-included. Zhu’s gone and taken his attitude personally, and he’s not cool wit’ dat. But, it’s not about something important, so he’s gonna brush it off, no big deal.
Now…if Zhusen takes it a bit farther, which is rather un-Zhusen like, we can expect a good old big brother talk from Theron…right…riiiight? Maaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyybe? I like him being more adult, i see him as the adult. The adult who ain’t go no time for all the friend stuff.
I aggree, Zhusen has done a great job of going beyond her normal personality to defend herself, while Theron continues to be a selfish twig
like i said, that boy is REAL mad he’s not getting stuff he doesnt deserve for no reason!
I actually read that “Fine.” in a vastly different tone from you I think. It is not italicised, indicating to me, there is no stress on it, just a simple “Okay, that is fine.”. Now if you read it in a stressed tone, I get why you would see it that way, but try reading it the other way too.
It seems you are getting rather worked up over this from your other comments, but all I am saying is, Theron might not be as bad as you make him out to be.
Tone is really hard to determine with text sometimes. Think we’ll have to wait for the next comic to be sure about Theron’s here.
We’ve seen plenty of Theron’s selfish behavior in the past. Sure, it’s who he is.
He wants others to do things for him without giving anything in return. He boosts his ego and dps through undesired tactics. We’ve seen how he feels about the pvp tactics.
Zhusen is totally in the right.
Does that make Theron in the wrong?
Yeah, a little bit.
Not a lot, mind you. You can argue it’s his nature to take without giving, but it’s still a douche thing to do, right?
Like, really, you can’t give this person one minute of your time?
I hope he takes some time out to remember all the things she’s done for him, and reflect on why that is. Why does anyone do anything for him?
I’d love to see him talk it out with her eventually, “Look, I don’t like being close to anyone in game. I don’t like making friends. You’re all pixels to me. Mostly. But.”
At that point I figure he wouldn’t have to say another word before Zhusen forgave him.
Did you know that the rogue class hall sells an incurable poison that kills you in seven days?
-my response to anyone asking for flasks
Everybody has a right to establish personal boundaries. Of course, when you do that you have to deal with the fact that other people may be less than pleased, and that’s what’s happening here. I still hope this can be resolved in such a way that they can be friends. I also still has a feeling that there’s something going on that we don’t know about yet.
Grats on #500 – have read all of them several times over by now, big fan (even though discovering XP Boost inspired me to fire up ye olde WoW-account again… 😉 )
(Looking forward to the end of the current story arc, though. Hopefully a happy ending inc.)
Gratz on 500. I got to be honest, this arc has me on the edge of my seat. It’s super obvious that people are getting behind their favorite characters and are ready to take it to the mat for them, which I think is a testament to how well crafted they are as characters. Not to mention, the art has improved leaps and bounds over this comics life.
That said, go team zhusen!
I honestly was kinda meh about Zhu before this arc and liked Theron (heck I still like him a lot- he is one of my fav characters but lord has he been trying my patience this arc! Like you do not tell a person whose just saying ‘hey I’m going by new pronouns now for this reason’ that their entire life is a issue you don’t even want to briefly think about, and then act confused about why your not getting potions), but gotta say I think this is some very good writing this arc and very believable.
Some people like Theron just have so little experience or have given so little thought about other people they just label people’s actual dailey life stuff as ‘issues’ and ‘politics’ without thought, maybe they’ve seen groups dissolve because a person came out and they just are annoyed that everyone can’t be quiet and do their own thing (which when you’re dealing with people misgendering you all the time, which is like water torture eventually, that’s not a real option usually)….
Which is all to say Theron has been driving me up the wall this arc but darn it I am rooting for him to learn to be a bit more aware of things and other people so he isn’t a complete jerk without meaning to be.
And Zhu has been becoming my 3rd fav (Keran is a lore nerd and uber protective friend like me, so, always #1)
Congrats on 500 Robin! I plan to continue being a Patreon subscriber for the next 500 🙂
The other side of this issue: they are all in a guild. The guild has a guild bank. Why the frak is Zhu sending flasks to individuals, instead of properly dropping them in the guild bank for the GUILD to use?
That’s the whole point of a guild, to contribute to the group as a whole so the group is stronger. I do that with mats and flasks, as do my fellow guildies; I know guilds that gave “collection” days to build up the guild stores. I don’t care who takes or uses the mats I put in a guild bank. They’re there to strengthen the guild as a whole.
I also send stuff to nonguild friends. But inguild? Stuff goes in bank. That avoids BS like this.
Theron absolutely has the right to not want politics and social issues messing with his game enjoyment. Bluntly, you’re in a game where the toon gender means nothing about the RL gender of the player; someone’s changed their toon gender, big deal. I play both male and female toons, as does my husband, as do many of my guildies. So what? We don’t run around asking for pats on the back because we choose to play one or the other — and that’s how Zhu’s behaviour is coming across.
Zhu has the right to send flasks to whoever he wants, but he is acting like a jerk for cutting Theron out like that, just because Theron doesn’t care about a non-issue. Zhu’s been running around getting all the ego-stroking over this. That’s the whole basis of this. The whole BS could be avoided if Zhu did the proper thing and put the flasks in the Guild bank where they belonged in the first place.
You misspelled “she” several times >_>