# I don't quite get today's "Questionable Content" strip **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [April 13, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967 "2010-04-13T17:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 33
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/641 "2011-02-14T18:42:36Z")
It’s a cartoony exaggeration of actual behavior, not meant to reflect non-cartoon real life. Like Homer strangling Bart. It’s also a **very** common beat in 90’s anime and manga, which is probably where he picked it up. I have seen women shove or lightly smack male friends or lovers from time to time, but never a stranger. – The real life version usually involves some glaring, then complaining about a how disgusting the horrible person who was leering at them to a peer group or message board. Which is not significantly more funny. Ah, not that I’d know anything about that. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/642 "2011-02-14T22:20:04Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Damn you! WARN us when you link to tvtropes! Bwa hah ha! But here’s a warning: don’t read the Troper Tales on that one. They’re not funny. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/643 "2011-02-14T23:48:28Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Bwa hah ha! > > But here’s a warning: don’t read the Troper Tales That’s just good advice in general. There’s a reason why they’re slashing back that section. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/644 "2011-02-15T00:35:29Z")
> [@Ura-Maru](#): > > It’s a cartoony exaggeration of actual behavior, not meant to reflect non-cartoon real life. Like Homer strangling Bart. Don’t you just hate it when a comic known for a sentient PC, iPod, and Roomba exaggerate for effect. It’s just not real, I tell you. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/645 "2011-02-19T03:32:14Z")
Who is Elliot supposed to be the alternative version of? He seems shy and uncommunicative like Marigold. But in #1845, we saw he works in the bakery. He’s also interested in someone but afraid to ask her out - but in this strip that could be pretty much any character. ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/646 "2011-02-22T03:42:18Z")
[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1866](http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1866) I think I’m getting the hang of Padma’s character now. She’s the one that, in any given situation, will say the most inappropriate thing possible. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/647 "2011-02-22T04:37:33Z")
> [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](#): > > [Questionable Content](http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1866) > > I think I’m getting the hang of Padma’s character now. > > She’s the one that, in any given situation, will say the most inappropriate thing possible. From Jeph Jacques comment on Friday: “I’m beginning to get the feeling Padma is spectacularly good at saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.” I think you may be on to something, **Kim**! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/648 "2011-02-22T05:29:16Z")
Yeah. Maybe I should start reading them things. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/649 "2011-02-22T08:45:50Z")
> [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](#): > > Yeah. Maybe I should start reading them things. 🙂 Eh, don’t bother. Most of the time it’s something like, “SDRRQG comic!” ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/650 "2011-02-22T18:46:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Who is Elliot supposed to be the alternative version of? He seems shy and uncommunicative like Marigold. But in #1845, we saw he works in the bakery. He’s also interested in someone but afraid to ask her out - but in this strip that could be pretty much any character. Almost certainly Patma, given how he reacted to both her waiving Marten over and her calling Steve cute. Which would make him Bizzaro Tai, if we’re going just by relationship angles. I think Tengu is probably right, though, and that they’re not really intended to be alternates or bizzaro versions, beyond the obvious vauge similarities. Marten’s assertive twin may have just been a one shot gag. – Though, and there’s really no evidence to support this, maybe they’re intended to be more traditional versions of the main cast’s archetypes? QC is mostly peopled by more complex, and thus sympathetic versions of stock ‘loser’ characters . . . ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/651 "2011-02-22T20:17:58Z")
> [@Ura-Maru](#): > > Almost certainly Patma, given how he reacted to both her waiving Marten over and her calling Steve cute. Which would make him Bizzaro Tai, if we’re going just by relationship angles. > > I think Tengu is probably right, though, and that they’re not really intended to be alternates or bizzaro versions, beyond the obvious vauge similarities. Marten’s assertive twin may have just been a one shot gag. > > – > Though, and there’s really no evidence to support this, maybe they’re intended to be more traditional versions of the main cast’s archetypes? QC is mostly peopled by more complex, and thus sympathetic versions of stock ‘loser’ characters . . . Now I’m really confused. If Padma is a bizarro world character, how can Elliot be a version of her? (Not to mention it’s clear that Padma is the bizarro version of Dora.) How does Tai fit in to this? And who is Marten’s assertive twin? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/652 "2011-02-22T21:20:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Now I’m really confused. If Padma is a bizarro world character, how can Elliot be a version of her? (Not to mention it’s clear that Padma is the bizarro version of Dora.) How does Tai fit in to this? And who is Marten’s assertive twin? He’s answering the “who does Elliot have a crush on” question, not the “who is Elliot a doppleganger of” question. Tai’s frequently expressed an interest in Dora, so if Elliot is crushing on Padma, that might make Elliot the alt-Tai. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/653 "2011-02-22T21:51:45Z")
Right, I probably should have phrased that better. Bizzaro (or ‘Assertive’) Marten is the Marten with the mullet and the ear-pucks advising Elliot to man up and ask ‘her’ out in the [first Secret Bakery strip](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1845). Upon closer inspection, he looks less like Marten than I first thought, and what I took for a action hero scar is, in fact, just an x on his neck. So he’s probably not meant to be Bizzaro-Marten after all. Which puts the whole Bizzaro-theory further into question, and it was already pretty questionable. – So, this is probably my last chance to type “Bizzaro” for a while. Pity. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/654 "2011-02-22T21:59:11Z")
When I first saw that strip, I just assumed the guy saying “I’m too scared! What if it ruins our friendship?” was Doppleganger-Marten (I’m not sure Bizarro is the right alternate-universe trope to invoke). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/655 "2011-02-22T22:30:32Z")
> [@Ura-Maru](#): > > Right, I probably should have phrased that better. > > Bizzaro (or ‘Assertive’) Marten is the Marten with the mullet and the ear-pucks advising Elliot to man up and ask ‘her’ out in the [first Secret Bakery strip](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1845). Upon closer inspection, he looks less like Marten than I first thought, and what I took for a action hero scar is, in fact, just an x on his neck. So he’s probably not meant to be Bizzaro-Marten after all. > > Which puts the whole Bizzaro-theory further into question, and it was already pretty questionable. Okay, I get you now. I figured the brown-haired man in glasses in 1845 is bizarro-Penelope. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/656 "2011-02-22T23:50:31Z")
To clarify, I’d assumed the existence of a tough Marten implied the Secret Bakery was a Bizzaro (yes!) CoD. Since I was mistaken about the existence of a tough Marten, SB is probably NOT Bizzaro CoD. It MAY be Pre-Crisis CoD, however. Elliot (the big guy) would make an amusing Bizzaro-Tai, but clearly doesn’t work as a pre-Crisis Tai. He might be pre-Crisis Marten, though. Perhaps Pre-Crisis Marten post-having-his-soul-crushed by Renee, who seems to be Pre-Crisis Faye. Or possibly we’re reading too much into it. The alternate-universe thing might have just been a gag to bring in the new characters, and there may be no Infinity Doppelgangers beyond the obvious similarities between Padma/Dora and Faye/Renee. On the other hand, Steve’s ex Meena was very similar to the smoking, confidant, socially-capable-but-clearly-crazy Hanners during her very early appearances. So, maybe everyone in the QC-verse has a pre-Crisis version of themselves . . . of Indian decent? – > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay, I get you now. No one gets me. I’m the wind, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/657 "2011-02-23T04:01:27Z")
Great. Now I’m picturing Marten holding a dead Pizza Girl in his arms and yelling “NOOOOOO!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/658 "2011-02-23T05:06:43Z")
I think people are reading too much into the bizarro world stuff. It was a one-off joke (and maybe an excuse to introduce new people without having to draw new people). The characters have already grown beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/659 "2011-03-01T13:47:43Z")
The first two panels of [today’s](http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1872) strip seemed to following the script of one of my QC fantasies, but diverged after that. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/660 "2011-03-01T15:35:18Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > The first two panels of [today’s](http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1872) strip seemed to following the script of one of my QC fantasies, but diverged after that. What’s this strip a “callback” to (per Jeph’s comment)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967.md?page=32) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967.md?page=34)