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Bad Machinery is BACK with the Case of the Missing Piece. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MAIN COURSE BAD MACHINERY Bad Machinery is the current main focus of Englishman John Allison. It started off in 2009 as a continuation of his previous comic, Scary Go Round. It follows a group of youths as they solved mysteries in the fictional town of Tackleford, England. Most of the mysteries have a supernatural element of sorts to them, which is something the Tackleford residents are used to at this point. Current case: The Case of the Missing Piece Blossom Cooper goes nuts and trounces a member of school faculty, the marriage of Shauna's mother and adoptive father brings her convict brother out from prison, and Linton rages with hormones. What is the missing piece connecting all these threads??  SCARY GO ROUND Old-school Scary Go Round is what preceded Bad Machinery, and its name is still relevant for the sake of making the best use of a good domain name. It started in 2002 and finished in 2009. Scary Go Round has the same supernatural stylings and setting as Bad Machinery, but the main focus is initially on a group of young twenty-somethings being hip and silly. With the introduction of The Boy, a group of secondary school students gets thrown into the mix; Lottie Grote of Bad Machinery is the younger sister of one of these students. About half the cast of Bad Machinery hails from Scary Go Round in some manner.  BOBBINS Bobbins precedes Scary Go Round, and dates from 1998 to 2002. It's essentially a primordial version of Scary Go Round without the supernatural trappings; all of the cast at the start of Scary Go Round hails from Bobbins. John Allison brought Bobbins back in 2013. Initially, this comeback featured stories taking place in the time period that the 1998-2002 strip occurred, complete with cast members that were retired by Scary Go Round; confusingly, Bobbins also refers to strips that feature Scary Go Round alumni in an office setting in Bad Machinery's time period. New Bobbins concluded in March of 2015; Bobbins and SGR alumni have essentially gone into semi-retirement.  BABS MCCHINERY This long-lost piece of Tackleford history is about the adventures of Shelly Winters and her office supervisor, Babs McChinnery. Shelly no longer wishes to work with Mr. John Allison, and it's up to Babs to convince her underling to return to the realm of webcomics; as of Winter 2013, it looks like she succeeded.   BABS MCCHINERY IS REAL. (http://destroyhistory.com/) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've never read any of these comics before, where should I start? In the webcomics thread, John Allison was cited as saying new readers should start from the beginning of Bad Machinery; even if half the cast is from Scary Go Round, most were minor characters there and prior knowledge of either Scary Go Round or Bobbins is necessary to enjoy Bad Machinery. If you're caught up with Bad Machinery and want to see how Allison evolved as a comic artist, scroll down to where the main page says “old comics” and click on Scary Go Round. Read old-school Bobbins if you want to be reminded of how painful the '90s could be. Some of these minor characters in Scary Go Round seem familiar in a way, where are they from? Hugo Rodriguez shares his name, ethnicity, and personality with the troubled youth from Jeff Rowland's Wigu. Red Robot hails from a couple of Dumbrella strips; most will probably remember him from Diesel Sweeties. Will Desmond Fishman ever be seen again in webcomics? Allison's answer to this was “no” for the longest time, but he returned in a modern Bobbins strip. Now we'll probably never see him again. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Sep 1, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2014 23:07
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SIDE PROJECTS Expecting to Fly Expecting to Fly features prominent characters from Scary Go Round during their secondary school days (1996). Ryan becomes friends with Shelley for the first time by request of the school headmaster for the sake of comforting her after a traumatic event in her life. Can Ryan protect Shelley from the horrors of Tim Jones' libido?  Giant Days Esther de Groot gets her own storyline for the very first time in Giant Days. Fresh out of secondary school, Esther has to face the challenges that strike dread in the hearts of college freshmen – odd roommates, long distance relationships, drinking alcohol from the first time, worshiping devils, etc. At least somebody gets a famous – if crappy – car out of the whole deal.  Murder She Writes (write-up by Yvonmukluk) A storyline focused primarily upon Shelley Winters, Murder She Writes is the story of Shelley attending a writers' retreat in a remote lodge in Wales, only to find it turning grisly when one of the other authors is found dead. It falls to Shelley (or, to be more precise, her new intern/assistant/sidekick, Lottie Grote of Bad Machinery fame), to solve the mystery in a highly precocious manner. Is apparently getting a sequel after Expecting to Fly concludes, which is apparently about space. Currently not available to read online, but can be purchased on Comixology or in dead tree form.  THAT (write-up by Yvonmukluk) Another Shelley-focused storyline, THAT sees her in small-town USA on a book tour, only to wander directly into a B-Movie as the town she's visiting is attacked by giant moths. Joining forces with the eccentric townsfolk, they desperately attempt to stave off the moths until dawn. Is also available on Comixology or in the printed form. There would be an image here, but unfortunately 'That' isn't a very good search term and the story's no longer archived online. Scareodeliria Scary Go Round started off as a comic made with vector graphics program Adobe Illustrator, as per continuation of Bobbins' aesthetics. Allison would occasionally upload hand-drawn comics onto the website as Scareodeliria. Many of these are either lost in time or difficult to find due to Allison finding his old hand-drawn style embarrassing. As time would go on, actual Scary Go Round storylines would alternate between Illustrator-made and hand-drawn comics; eventually, Illustrator was ditched completely, leading us to Tackleford's modern visual style.  ------------------------------------------------------------ IMPORTANT SGR ALUMNI NOT FEATURED ON “ABOUT” SECTION Shelley Winters Shelley Winters is an ex-law school literary mastermind. She's always had a passion for journalism, which can be seen from the music/movie/television reviews she's done since 1991, and finally landed a position in the field in Tackleford after a series of odd jobs, including assistant to the mayor. Her penchant for silliness used to be considered the defining characteristic of SGR's writing, which can be seen in guest comics, parodies and affectionate tributes. Was practically the primary protagonist of SGR, which shocked readers when JA announced she would not be featured in Bad Machinery at all. Returned to Tackleford as of the start of the 2014-2015 Bobbins run. Has a squeaky voice, and has died twice. Now houses Tim Jones and is carrying his second daughter.  Tim Jones Inventor, once-mayoral candidate and beastly loverman. Tim's inventions used to be the catalyst for many SGR storylines; he has created bipedal robots, helmets that affect the user's disposition and even managed to invent a teapot capable of traveling its holder(s) through time. Tim's marriage to Ryan's sister led to him eventually being phased out of the comic, as she got him exiled from Tackleford by way of rigging an inventor's challenge of sorts. Recently returned to become separated from his wife and daughter, as well as sleep with Shelley. Coerced to live with Shelley after she destroyed a hell portal he was harvesting energy from out in the woods. His mad science days are over.  Eustace Boyce (The Boy/Le Garçon) The Boy first debuted as a youth with a seemingly incurable crush on Amy Chilton. He got over it once two girls from his school started to show interest in him; he jilted one, dumped the other, and got back together with the first for a little while. Everybody stopped calling him by his given name once foreign exchange student Élodie called him “le garçon” instead of Eustace. Was best friends with self-confessed ladies man Milford, and out-manned him constantly despite being a bit of a milquetoast. He loves being strong. Got sawed in half by a demonic webcam as a result of trying to Skype with the once-again hellbound Erin. He became reincarnated as Eustace "SCIENTIST" Horce, Mordawwa's trusty steed.  Esther de Groot (Dark Esther) Esther is a girl with dark inclinations, which didn't leave her upon her transition to college. Her knowledge of the dark arts has helped her aid in the performance of an exorcism and become a heavy metal queen. She once almost became the bride of Jack Crowley, but he turned her down once he found out she lost her virginity in a caravan in Wales. She was rarely seen without Sarah Grote (went off to separate college; big sister of Lottie) and Big Lindsay (became a statistic). Dated the Boy for a long while, but the relationship ended when he found out she cheated on him.  Erin Winters Shelley's little sister. Used to be good friends with Esther and The Boy until they shagged in a caravan behind her back. Grew into a She-Hulk after drinking a growth formula after mistaking it for antacid. Jack Crowley made her his bride and took her into Hell with him, which led to her being completely forgotten by her friends and family. Ditched Crowley and made her way back to Earth, where she attended the same college as Esther and attempted to once again court The Boy. Erin became MORDAWWA, QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD in Hell. The human side of her broke free and returned to Earth only to ultimately be sacrificed for the sake of saving a mortally wounded Boyce. Mordawwa took her place on Earth from then on; somehow, this spurred Shelley to remember the existence of her little sister and the two reunited briefly. Returned to Hell after ending a cataclysm; came back to Earth for a day for the sake of showing off her new steed and acting as a pregnancy test.  ---------------------------------------------------------------- THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH Due to taking place in England and being made by an Englishman, Bad Machinery & Friends occasionally features terms, phrases and cultural references that are alien to foreign readers. This section is largely under construction since I can't think of many off-hand. Tupping liberty – “Tup” is slang for copulation. Basically the equivalent of “loving Christ”; seems to be nothing more than a Tim Jones-ism. Give/flip the vee – The English version of the middle finger (although I'm sure the middle finger would be recognizable to the average Briton). Differs from the peace sign in that the back of the hand faces the recipient. Flip it to Clapton cause he only knows three chords huh huh huh. Fray Bentos - Brand of scary foodstuffs. The Father has eaten a Fray Bentos meat pie every Friday since the first week he pushed aside his mother's breast. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Special thanks to Yvonmukluk for write-ups on Murder She Writes and THAT! Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Mar 29, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2014 23:11
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Anyone else think the reveal of what happened to The Boy after the end of SGR was kind of depressing? Everyone else was in a better place in life, except for him.
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Sep 24, 2014 01:51
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In his way, Allison is still among the best webcomickers when it comes to evocative phrasing. I still say "This is the only truth" from time to time.
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Sep 24, 2014 02:15
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Those early strips look like Questionable Content except maybe not as bad ? e: wait does this mean QC will get really good in ten years? Jackard fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Sep 24, 2014 |
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Sep 24, 2014 03:05
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muscles like this? posted:Anyone else think the reveal of what happened to The Boy after the end of SGR was kind of depressing? Everyone else was in a better place in life, except for him. Erin's family and friends forgot her because she went to Hell, so she may have him beat. At the very least she intends to make the both of their lives a bit happier  Jackard posted:
It's been around for more than ten years by this point I think. Actually, Allison is on good terms with Jacques and has even defended QC on occasions, which really threw everyone for a loop when Dark Esther mocked characters resembling Marten and Faye. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Sep 24, 2014 |
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Sep 24, 2014 03:13
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Jackard posted:Those early strips look like Questionable Content except maybe not as bad Pretty sure Jaques has said that Bobbins/SGR was one of the main inspirations for QC, so you're not imagining things.
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Sep 24, 2014 03:17
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muscles like this? posted:Anyone else think the reveal of what happened to The Boy after the end of SGR was kind of depressing? Everyone else was in a better place in life, except for him. Man, I thought him and Esther were going to be a sure thing. Still, at least he's apparently fixed his life, lost all his weight and rekindled his relationship with Erin, while Esther's current situation is apparently...complex. Hopefully there will be some more installments of Giant Days in the future to provide elaboration. I'm glad to see Shelley was always good at making wise decisions. Also I think this marks the first chronological (in-universe) appearance of Ryan's Cowboy-styled shirts! I'm surprised the OP doesn't have anything about the various side projects, actually. Especially since there's apparently a space-related sequel to Murder She Writes coming after Expecting to Fly.
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Sep 25, 2014 18:05
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Yvonmukluk posted:
Was going to reserve things about that for the second post. Actually, I'm not all that well-versed on some of that; I can comment on Expecting to Fly, Giant Days, Scare-o-deliria and Ghosts (own a copy circa 2007), but not much else. If there's anything floating around on the main website that I missed, or if you have a write-up on Murder She Writes/That/Her etc., I'll give you mad props for helping make the second post more informative. Going to put info about characters that aren't featured in the "about" section there, too. I'm curious as to if we'll see Ms. Pickering-Chilton in Expecting to Fly; I know Amy probably isn't going to be around since she was technically introduced to everyone in 1998-era Bobbins revival, but Len is a pretty well-known figure around Tackleford and we're seeing people like Shelley's dad for the first time, so there's some sort of precedent toward seeing Len's second (I think?) ex-wife. edit: The second post has content now. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 20:04
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Leroy Dennui posted:Was going to reserve things about that for the second post. Actually, I'm not all that well-versed on some of that; I can comment on Expecting to Fly, Giant Days, Scare-o-deliria and Ghosts (own a copy circa 2007), but not much else. If there's anything floating around on the main website that I missed, or if you have a write-up on Murder She Writes/That/Her etc., I'll give you mad props for helping make the second post more informative. Going to put info about characters that aren't featured in the "about" section there, too. Murder She Writes A storyline focused primarily upon Shelley Winters, Murder She Writes is the story of Shelley attending a writers' retreat in a remote lodge in Wales, only to find it turning grisly when one of the other authors is found dead. It falls to Shelley (or, to be more precise, her new intern/assistant/sidekick, Lottie Grote of Bad Machinery fame), to solve the mystery in a highly precocious manner. Is apparently getting a sequel after Expecting to Fly concludes, which is apparently about space. Currently not available to read online, but can be purchased on Comixology or in dead tree form. THAT Another Shelley-focused storyline, THAT sees her in small-town USA on a book tour, only to wander directly into a B-Movie as the town she's visiting is attacked by giant moths. Joining forces with the eccentric townsfolk, they desperately attempt to stave off the moths until dawn. Is also available on Comixology or in the printed form. There would be an image here, but unfortunately 'That' isn't a very good search term and the story's no longer archived online.
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Sep 26, 2014 00:26
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Excellent work! Both of your write-ups have been integrated into the side projects section. vvvvvv That's going to be the plot of the sequel to Murder She Writes. In space, though. Leroy Dennui fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Sep 26, 2014 |
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Sep 26, 2014 01:26
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SGR Mysteries: Does Her even exist or is it just everyone misremembering the name of THAT?
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Sep 26, 2014 04:17
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Rincewind posted:SGR Mysteries: Does Her even exist or is it just everyone misremembering the name of THAT? We're through the looking glass here, people. I'm loving the comics-style recap pages so far. Clearly the OP needs to be updated with the solicitation for Expecting to Fly found here.
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Sep 26, 2014 10:19
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Rincewind posted:SGR Mysteries: Does Her even exist or is it just everyone misremembering the name of THAT? It does exist because I've seen a copy of it in a comic shop. I just have no idea what it is because I thought it was THAT.
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Sep 26, 2014 14:22
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Murder She Writes isn't available on the web site anymore? That sucks; I rather liked it.
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Sep 26, 2014 14:27
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What happened to Shauna's big brother?
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Sep 26, 2014 16:06
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Wanderer posted:In his way, Allison is still among the best webcomickers when it comes to evocative phrasing. My favorite is "That is the ultimate insult to my existence."
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Sep 26, 2014 16:20
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I'd really love it if this arc references Shelly's ex from Bobbins who was a huge dude called i think bruno? i remember her saying she was still with him because he found her attractive when she was 15 and socially awkward.
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Sep 26, 2014 20:06
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Mousepractice posted:What happened to Shauna's big brother?  But I think out of universe Allison has said that Shauna's Stepdad is a much better male authority figure, so her brother got written out. The Libearian posted:I'd really love it if this arc references Shelly's ex from Bobbins who was a huge dude called i think bruno? i remember her saying she was still with him because he found her attractive when she was 15 and socially awkward. It's entirely possible, nay probable, he will appear.
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Sep 27, 2014 00:14
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MD 20/20, Shelley has impeccable taste in hobo wine.
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Sep 29, 2014 05:24
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howe_sam posted:MD 20/20, Shelley has impeccable taste in hobo wine. Also it turns out Ryan always wanted to be a cowboy.
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Sep 29, 2014 08:31
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Speaking of Ryan always wanting to be a cowboy, I've always found it really difficult to imagine him having a British accent. I usually tend to read everyone's lines in my head with a somewhat snarky American accent anyway, but it's easier to visualize the British accents on everyone else, probably because Ryan always says "dang" all the time. I would say I had the same problem with Hugo except that it's quite likely he's not originally from England to begin with.
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Sep 29, 2014 16:07
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Leroy Dennui posted:Speaking of Ryan always wanting to be a cowboy, I've always found it really difficult to imagine him having a British accent. I usually tend to read everyone's lines in my head with a somewhat snarky American accent anyway, but it's easier to visualize the British accents on everyone else, probably because Ryan always says "dang" all the time. I would say I had the same problem with Hugo except that it's quite likely he's not originally from England to begin with. It's worth noting that John Allison is from a part of the country where trousers are called pants, British people use a whole load of words that you might assume are Americanisms. My problem is that I kind of assume everyone speaks like a Mancunian but I'm pretty sure Tackleford is actually supposed to be in Yorkshire. I think my favourite part of today's comic is the Safeway bag to remind us that it's set in the past.
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Sep 29, 2014 16:21
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And we get our first look at Becka Garlick. Did people really dress like that in the 90s? In other news, Tim Jones is kind of awful. a pipe smoking dog posted:It's worth noting that John Allison is from a part of the country where trousers are called pants, British people use a whole load of words that you might assume are Americanisms. My problem is that I kind of assume everyone speaks like a Mancunian but I'm pretty sure Tackleford is actually supposed to be in Yorkshire. I've not really got much of an idea of what a Yorkshire accent sounds like in my head, so I've kind of just projecting my own regional accent onto the characters. Clearly somebody needs to round up some precocious Yorkshire children and get them to read the comic for us so we can grasp it for ourselves. And I vaguely remember Safeway. I'm old.
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Sep 30, 2014 11:01
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Yvonmukluk posted:I've not really got much of an idea of what a Yorkshire accent sounds like in my head, so I've kind of just projecting my own regional accent onto the characters. Clearly somebody needs to round up some precocious Yorkshire children and get them to read the comic for us so we can grasp it for ourselves. By the magic of Youtube, precocious Yorkshire children can be had on demand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB3ieNhEsDY ... That sounded less creepy in my head. Yvonmukluk posted:And I vaguely remember Safeway. I'm old.  Not that old. Safeway only went out of business in 2004/2005. My littler brother probably remembers Safeways and he's only fourteen.
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Sep 30, 2014 11:46
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The Libearian posted:I'd really love it if this arc references Shelly's ex from Bobbins who was a huge dude called i think bruno? i remember her saying she was still with him because he found her attractive when she was 15 and socially awkward. It seems you might be right, going by today's events. Also Ryan struck out epically in the name of friendship. Autonomous Monster posted:By the magic of Youtube, precocious Yorkshire children can be had on demand
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Oct 1, 2014 10:47
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Yeah, that prediction seemed to be right on the money. Should start a betting pool on who's going to show up next. Odds on Fallon are 1:10, Holly 1:20, Hugo 1:50 and Rich 1:100. (since a fair few people in this thread claim that Safeway went out of business, don't hesitate to correct anything wrong with the "Queen's English" section, for I am nothing but an ugly American. It's small now, but there's bound to be errors there in the future)
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Oct 1, 2014 14:54
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Yvonmukluk posted:And we get our first look at Becka Garlick. Did people really dress like that in the 90s? Yes we did. I would say it was a dark time, but at least it wasn't the 80's.
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Oct 1, 2014 15:13
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A good recommendation for people interested in the accents would be watching a documentary called Educating Yorkshire. It also turns out huge manga hair is apparently a real trend in schools in that part of the country.
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Oct 1, 2014 16:08
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I hate double posting, but there has been a further development. Poor Shelley. 
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Oct 2, 2014 09:53
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Ryan, I don't think eating magic mushrooms is good advice for a person in Shelley's state of mind.
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Oct 3, 2014 05:16
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Jesus, talk about backstory.
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Oct 3, 2014 10:00
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Ooof, right in the feelings. 
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Oct 3, 2014 13:32
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Today's comic absolutely ruined me. Like, that's exactly the dream I wished I could have for years. poo poo.
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Oct 6, 2014 07:36
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Be careful guys, I think we might be getting...whimsy.
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Oct 6, 2014 10:15
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Whimsy? When Shelley Winters is involved? So business as usual, then.
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Oct 6, 2014 12:54
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Wyld Karde posted:Whimsy? When Shelley Winters is involved? So business as usual, then. But she hasn't been in this arc. This might be the origin story about how Shelley Winters became Shelley Winters. Ryan is Ryan. I wonder if we're going to see Tim develop too.
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Oct 7, 2014 06:35
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I like how incredibly polite and matter-of-fact about the whole thing Mandy is.  Also I suspect the metamorphosis is nearly complete.
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Oct 7, 2014 10:00
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Bell_ posted:But she hasn't been in this arc. This might be the origin story about how Shelley Winters became Shelley Winters. This is what I'm thinking too - her whimsy may have developed as a defense mechanism, and was influenced by Ryan's earthy wisdom.
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Oct 7, 2014 13:49
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Leroy Dennui posted:This is what I'm thinking too - her whimsy may have developed as a defense mechanism, and was influenced by Ryan's earthy wisdom. This would suggest that Shelley's entire adult life has been defined by the damage caused by her best friend's suicide. That's, uh, that's a little depressing.
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Oct 7, 2014 14:24
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