Thread 149994176

Return of Lucy's Rapist Friends Edition

Previous >>149963711

>>149994176 (OP)
I get that overlaying Sandy's words atop Mike and Lucy is supposed to be all ironic and thematic and such, but there is no point in analyzing it. Taeshi is insane so her view of everything is skewered and she can't even keep her own story straight. So her intended message will either be nonsense, invalidated, or both.

>>149994176 (OP)
this a clear example of her bpd acting up when she lumps her friends with her rapist and deludes herself into thinking they are disgusted by her or something, thrive bpd catgirl

>>149994176 (OP)
What the fuck? So the yellow text bubbles were ALSO Sandy talking? Why the fuck would you have two different styles of text bubble for the same person talking on the same fucking page! I get that these are supposed to be flashback bubbles but like what the fuck, I though those were Mike's thoughts.

>>149994346
They are absolutely Mike's thoughts. I'm sure this page is supposed to be very meta; Taeshi shoving the themes into the reader's face and screaming "Do you see? Do You SEE?!"

https://x.com/Joespirational/status/1525929812199624708

What did Taeshi mean by this?

>>149994461
She thinks this direction is very dark and dramatic--ill suited to the comic--instead of another round of milquetoast repetition. Along with the usual dose of preemptive self-deprication to avoid outside criticism.

>>149994461
Lucy screams, the character screams. She saw/drew one and was reminded of the other. Can you blame her for not having anything else to say about this page?

>>149994752
I wish I knew for certain that tennis girl was overreacting or that her dramatic struggle was really dumb because that would be a funnier kind of pottery.

>>149994176 (OP)
Why is she even under Sandy's words? She blew Mike off before he could even explain what happened to take her back and Augustus didn't care much for it either, is Taeshi implying she just knows? Does Lucyspace work on panels she's not involved in?

>>149994176 (OP)
I'm assuming Sandy's words refer to Mike begging Lucy for her company, or Lucy for Mike's.

>>149994176 (OP)
>Mike never took Sandy back, Lucy just went schizo, sabotaged their chance at getting back together, then hallucinated that it was Sandy.
>There never even was a Sandy, just a hallucination Lucy could pin the blame of losing Mike solely due to her own actions on.
>This is why Sandy's manipulation of Mike is appearing in Lucy's dreams, because it was all a dream.
Taeshi I fucking dare you.

>>149994847
Given all past experience with Taeshi's writing, should cut to the chance by determining the most batshit insane interpretation that is also dully mundane. So no psychic powers, sadly, just Taeshi's own deluded take on Mike and Lucy's relationship.

>>149994959
Maybe if she had another mental breakdown.

>>149994928
I think it's supposed to be Sandy saying what Lucy was too much of a prideful coward to, that it hit her she couldn't do without Mike and wanted to try one more time. The pottery is that Sandy used those words to guilt him into taking her back, while Lucy saying them out loud would have been finally exposing herself and fixing their relationship and avoiding this hell of her own creation where she has no one else
It's not "Mike and Lucy same" but "both Lucy and Sandy fucked Mike over in a different way and only one of them decided to face it"

>>149994928
I'm going to regret trying to parse this shit, but Sandy's dialogue does mirror the way Lucy used to see Mike.

>>149995058
That sounds entirely too clever and appropriate for something Taeshi dreamed up, but I like your interpretation. Even if I'm not convinced that Lucy's confession would have saved their friendship; Mike was thoroughly disenthused by her dependency issues, but hey maybe the begging could be a tie breaker.

Now, this could still work as a Taeshi-ism if she completely bungles the execution. Like giving Lucy a chance to confess her "true feelings" toward Mike later this chapter (despite no hints that she still thinks of him this way). Then it's Eternal Flame 2: BPD Boogaloo when Lucy ice queens up/chickens out.

>>149995087
No I think that's the point, they both saw Mike as "the one who really gets me" and knew he could take anything they threw at him, they both broke him in different ways, while Lucy took him for granted constantly, berated him at any chance she could and ignored his feelings Sandy took her frustration at her own life on him, ghosted and cheated on him. Difference is Sandy doesn't have Lucy's pride and mental illness, so she can say it out loud

>>149995292
I believe it wouldn't have saved their relationship, but it would have done away with the fake wall she kept putting up, sincerity comes a long way and you can't try to fix a problem you're not willing to admit to having. Simply telling Mike she takes responsibility for her feelings and it's not on him to read her mind would take the edge off him

>>149995311
>Sandy took her frustration at her own life on him
I don't recall Sandy lashing out at Mike save that one time during her visit. Her flavor of mistreatment was passively neglectful: Using Mike until she could upgrade, then paying him little to no mind while tossing him aside. Daisy ended up calling it.

If Taeshi wants to really up the pottery, the chapter should end with exiled Mike cracking up and suffering his own nutmare dreamscape

>vacation arc riverbank after he almost died saving Lucy
>no phantom friends or Sandy since he was all alone at the time
>facing down his own cynical sour stripe-scarved self from back then
>modern Mike's spineless sadsackery disgusts his nastier side
>dream always ends with other Mike drowning him in the shallows

>>149995429
A self-actualized Lucy is a strange thing to imagine. She's such a passive character that it seems really ooc whenever she goes out of her way to facilitate some plot development.

I Need and update on the angry Lucy accusing the others of graping her with Alejandro to a sobbing Lucy instead angry

>>149996138
You uh, want to try that again?

>>149996230
He means this comic

>>149996316
A less insecure artist would allow this sort of thing on their personal art booru.

>>149994346
This is all stuff Sandy said back in On Call, I don't really get the confusion.
>>149994928
I'm reading it as Mike realizing that Sandy's words are all how he feels about Lucy. It's probably also how Lucy feels about him.

>>149996801
The only poster with any brain in this thread, both true points.

>>149996801
This is all stuff Sandy said back in On Call, I don't really get the confusion
Other anon acknowledged they were "flashback bubbles." The point is that using them this way is messy.
>I'm reading it as Mike realizing that Sandy's words are all how he feels about Lucy. It's probably also how Lucy feels about him.
Which is a very stupid notion, a very basic interpretation, and therefore probably correct given that this is BCB. Taeshi once again wants to pretend she has not spent the last decade sabotaging this ship at every turn.

>>149996801
I meant the previous page was confusing, I thought the yellow bubbles there were Mike's thoughts at that time because fuck me if I can think of why he would've even spoken a word to Sandy after unless he was already feeling extreme guilt over briefly having a spine. I got immediately that this page was Sandy flashback dialogue.
I do not remember what the dialogue in On Call was.

>>149996912
>Other anon acknowledged they were "flashback bubbles."
He also said
>Why the fuck would you have two different styles of text bubble for the same person talking on the same fucking page!
which is silly. It's her talking now and him remembering her words from before. That's the answer to that question. In what way is it "messy"?

>Which is a very stupid notion, a very basic interpretation, and therefore probably correct given that this is BCB.
I think you guys are reaching for things to gripe about, which is understandable since the previous chapter was exceptionally stupid and there's was lots of dumb stuff to discuss.

>>149995058
>>149995311
So once again, it comes down to Sandy being objectively better than Lucy, but we're supposed to sympathize with Lucy over her anyways.

How tiresome.

>>149997042
>I do not remember what the dialogue in On Call was.
I mean, it was three years ago. It's just funny to me that you were complaining about it being confusing and obtuse while the post after yours complained about it being too on-the-nose.

Question of the ages: Do they have barbed dicks in BCBverse?

>>149997059
>In what way is it "messy"
I'd argue that applying Sandy's words at all is messy because why the fuck would anything about her probably fake apology apply to Mike or Lucy's situation? There's nothing thematic about it, no reason to make such a connection. Sure, you could argue back that Mike, in his hour of need, might start mentally cutting and pasting. But it doesn't make sense to do so from Lucy's perspective unless this is also meant to be Mike just being kind of pathetic and doing it for her, as if wishing she still gave a fuck.

>I think you guys are reaching for things to gripe about
Pray tell, why exactly Mike or Lucy should be thinking these ways about each other? Years ago, sure, would have made sense back then. But now? Lucy should not see Mike as anything more than a source of personal affirmation because he is a far cry from the guy she is allegedly pining for. And while I get that Mike is desperate for someone else who gets him, Lucy comes with so much baggage that he should definitely not be looking back with mile thick lenses of rose colored glass.

>>149997134
well we canonically know the dogs have knots so...

>>149997134
There was that one secret comic where Mike and Lucy fucked and then got stuck and then they dressed up as a two headed ghost for Halloween

>>149997252
Statistically, at least one of them will have enough brains to see the obvious.

What kind of BH fanart do you Anons want to see?

>>149997215
Re-read the flashback lines and pay attention to the fact they're placed over Lucy panels, who Mike misses and is inevitably going to reveal he's in love with, this is so heavyhanded I can't believe it's going over people's heads.

>>149997259
Wait HOW?

>>149997369
she outright said it.

>>149997315
tummy

>>149997336
Woah, no shit, really?

>basic logical conclusion
>13 chapters later Taeshi reveals the actual meaning is convoluted and insane
Threadly reminder that you're all trying to understand a madwoman's evershifting perspective.

>>149994176 (OP)
I think where we're at emotionally is that Lucy and Mike are both Taeshi this chapter. Sandy is Suit, while Francis is Goldie. Also, rape.

>>149997440
Good idea, ok

So why the fuck is Lucy also blaming Sue, Paulo, and Daisy too in the alleyway scene?

>>149997315
Mary and Fauna as Kris and Noelle from deltarune. The order given works with the designs but the character dynamic makes more sense with it reversed so idc, you pick.

This schizo comic truly should be studied by medical professionals for the levels of delulu going on here.

The TL;DR of all BPD-psychos is "Need to be Needed" because they cannot function otherwise or they are piss-babies that act like the biggest cunts imaginable. There, that's the entire point of everything in this gay ass comic.

Seeing Mike split or Paulo split or Lucy split or Daisy split or Abbey split for the upteenth time about something pendantic and melodramatic is so fucking tiresome.

Can we just get back to the retarded cringey drama instead of this wallowing soggy bitch bullshittery?

>>149995087
>>149995087
Sandy most likely really means those words now. Lucy also really did love Mike at a point, it would be fitting if Sandy's words were meant to show that dream Lucy is begging someone (probably Mike) for help. I also like that conclusion, the "fucked him over and one faces it" one.
>>149996801
This would be an interesting way to transition from him falling out of love for Sandy and in for Lucy.
>>149997134
Very likely, something I have to work on drawing. Drawing dicks is hard.
>>149997315
Bleating Heart? Any honestly. Any polycule depiction. FaunaxMary or CloverxDevin ships. Something that might be easier, an impossible lesbian ship child for Fauna and Mary.

>>149997315
Adult Mary and Fauna lesbian wedding

>>149998563
Oh, yes please!

>>149997315
Fauna blackmailing anon into being her boyfriend

>>149998603
Pedo.

>>149998840
idk anon this one >>149998814 seems more pedophilic to me

>>149998814
Based idea.

>>149998229
"Needing to be Needed," I have long argued, makes sense for Mike. To me, for the longest time, it seemed that Mike did not know what to do with himself without someone else to take care of. First there was Lucy who needed rescuing from all her traumas and flaws, then Sandy whose life needed a source of teenage normality. Then of course there's the way he was ever happy to help whoever else needed it. Once Sandy started ghosting Mike, he found himself with nothing else to do, the sense that he was being taken for granted--something that already pissed him the hell off when Lucy did it--and those both obviously got to him. Now, come James, I'm not sure if that trend still holds. Mike still certainly wants a special someone, but he seems to have just plain enjoyed his time with James. Plus Sandy "needs" Mike but he doesn't seem too interested in her anymore.

Lucy, on the other hand...I don't think she fits the Needs to be Needed template. All she seems to want are endless asspats and to be loved for who she is (good fucking luck). How critical she is to the other person does not appear to be something she cares about at all.
Then there are other characters like Paulo and Daisy who just seem like the usual insecure teenagers in search of validation. Daisy did not even value her relationship with Abbey all that much, and he was someone who definitely needed her a whole lot more than Paulo ever has.

>>149998814
based

>>149999331
Is it just me or has in recent years, Taeshi been hardcore focusing on the self-loathing bpd-spiraling aspect of her comic more and more ?? At least back circa 2016-2022 we sometimes got arcs about other characters that were slightly more tolerable then this Woe-is-Mike and Woe-is-Lucy bullshit.

Like somehow Abbey,Matt and Augustus drama felt a slight bit more interesting? But this Sandy,Mike and Lucy garbage is just a dead horse beaten to death.

Even smaller bright spots of the comic seem to be diminishing, there is hardly anything to enjoy in the comic anymore. Even the dumbass dramatic moments that was like watching a trainwreck are gone.
Its just bland, boring. We get even more non-sequiter, pointless chapters that do nothing but pad time. Everything is rotten from the inside out with how stagnant this comic has become.

Even Mike's gay- but not rly arc was a huge nothingburger undercut by all the lame-shit Taeshi pulled.

But also it's just been in a downward spiral since EF. That was the most retarded shit they've ever pulled.

>>149999477
>this Sandy,Mike and Lucy garbage is just a dead horse beaten to death
>Its just bland, boring
Taeshi must find the Mike-Lucy-Sandy triangle endlessly fascinating because she has expended so much time and focus on something that nobody else wants or cares about. Paisy might be lukewarm dog bowl water, but at least that's something plenty of her fans go nuts for. Lucy's a forever favorite, but Mike? They fucking hate Mike. Sandy probably has more fans and they'd sooner ship her with Lucy. One of the big reasons all this focus on Mike hasn't driven reader numbers into the dirt is because 99% of that time, Taeshi is merrily torturing gray cat. They eat that shit right up.

tl;dr Taeshi is not beating the Goldiemalding accusations

Would Rachel drink out of a dog bowl? Would she be willing to be put on a leash?

>>149998814
What does she blackmail him with?

>>149999331
>>149999477
The problem with trying to analyze/diagnose the character's issues or motives is that, as the recent "everyone found out about Lucy's suicide the day after" retcon proves, this comic isn't consistent and will openly contradict itself.

Mike seems like he's got chronic depression, but also seems like he might be schizophrenic, and he's "too nice" but also selfish and hostile. Lucy is stubbornly independent and resents/cold-shoulders all her friends/family, but also is lonely and needs a boy to function, but also everyone likes her. Daisy and Paulo are jealous, horny, hypocritical, and shamelessly bold, but also wholesome chungus childhood-friends-to-lovers who are all blushy and shy. Augustus is a cynical ex gangster who finds cruelty fun, but also a gentle soul who just wants a better life.

Trying to figure out what they want or why is an exercise in futility, because BCB does not follow cause-and-effect, but effect-and-cause. The plot is not driven by past events, or what the characters know, do, and want; past events and what the characters know, do, and want are driven to fit the plot.

>>149999331
Lucy wants one person who will never leave her. Mike because he promised, Paulo because he's a simp, Augustus because he has no other options than to live under her roof. Of course once she feels secure she takes them for granted because she's a bitch

Has Taeshit said anything interesting on her stream today at all?

>>150000086
She said Mike neglects Chris (bad father)

>>150000268
You know, I'd believe it simply because that would fit a pattern of Taeshi saying one thing while the comic shows the opposite.
>"nobody but Mike and Lucy's family know about her suicide attempt"
>actually no the entire school knows
>"Mike neglects his little brother"
>actually he sacrifices his time and effort to babysit Chris

>>150000268
Wasn’t he literally babysitting him a page ago?

>>150001190
Yeah but he took a phone call, that's gross negligence.

>>150000268
Wow that’s so interesting

>>149997440
Isn't there enough fauna tummy already?

>>150002359
That's not a thing

>>150000268
ACK!! HER ONLY WEAKNESS!!

>>150003144
Whoops, meant to reply to the OP...
>>149994176 (OP)

>>150000038

I've honestly given up trying to parse anything from this dumbass comic. Everyone is pretty much a copy-pasta clone of one another, they all have BPD, they all react the same. You might get dumbass characters like Jordan/James is kind of a David clone that is endlessly cheerful and as deep as a puddle.

You can really tell Taeshi is doing this all out of obligation or some weird autistic ritual anymore. She's entirely tapped out for ideas and Suitcase is probably whipping her behind the scenes to keep going and keep churning out comics to feed his gambling addiction or whatever.

This comic should've ended back in 2017 a year after Lucy returns, focus on her reunion or whatever with Mike and ended it.

>>150003144
Brilliant and infuriatingly on point.

>>150003197
>She's entirely tapped out for ideas and Suitcase is probably whipping her behind the scenes
It's all about the Mike torture, baby. That's what gets her out of bed every morning. She couldn't even limit herself to 140 chapters of the stuff.

>>149998229
>piss-babies
Was that on purpose or just your subconscious streaming out due to this comic?
>>150003144
Only thing that could have made this better is giving the hands googly eyes. That 4th panel screams for it.

>>149999601
> Lucy's a forever favorite, but Mike? They fucking hate Mike. Sandy probably has more fans and they'd sooner ship her with Lucy.
Why are you discounting us proud Mike supporters here on /co/?

>>150003692
Oh I know about the piss lore, felt approriate.
>>150003341
I genuinely think Taeshi would benefit from a lobotomy at this point.

>>150003778
Yes, I'm sure Taeshi is just dying to earn /co/'s approval.

>>150003778
All three of you?

Even if we already knew Mike taking Sandy back is what triggered these nightmares, it still feels weird seeing the two things be so directly linked. I guess it's just that her getting assaulted seems major enough that it should be the focus, but the real trauma is just that Mike isn't "protecting" her anymore. Like Confrontation isn't the problem itself and is just being used basically as a metaphor. I also can't help but wonder how she went nightmare-free while on the outs with Mike for so long if shit was this bad.

And like everyone has said it really doesn't help that the rest of the group is alongside Alej. The first dream, where they all leave her, made more sense than this chasing thing.

>>150003341
Even after he gets "redeemed" I just expect him to go back to being everybody's doormat except this time Lucy occasionally lectures him about how he shouldn't be such a pushover.

>>150003778
Well it's a given that Tae doesn't care what we want, they were talking about people that might hold some sway with her

>proud Mike supporters
Y'all are still proud? I'm carrying on purely on inertia. Mike's a crumpled up shell of his former self, it's just none of the others have managed to generate as many sympathy points as he earned in vol 1-2 for me.

>>150004383
>I also can't help but wonder how she went nightmare-free while on the outs with Mike for so long if shit was this bad.
There is that one retconned-in scene where she crashed at Augustus' place pre-December, when Lucy had her first alleyway dream (that we know of). So pretending for a second that Taeshi knows what she's doing, that would suggest Lucy was having those nightmares during that entire period. It doesn't look like she was having any between her return and Eternal Flame, but maybe that's the reason for all that "back to square one" nonsense. Now that Mike has "opened old wounds", Lucy is having her nightmares again.

>Even after he gets "redeemed" I just expect him to go back to being everybody's doormat except this time Lucy occasionally lectures him about how he shouldn't be such a pushover.
It is indeed hard to believe Taeshi would ever hand in her license to torment gray cat. Even if Mike's evolution was a major plotpoint, she'd hammer the reset button like a wigged out coke fiend.

>>149996138
>>149996316
>grape
IT'S RAPE, SPELLED R - A - P - E RAPE, A GRAPE IS A FRUIT YOU LITTLE HAND HOLDING SAFE SPACE FAGGOTS

The UK finally took down the booru

>>150004757
Big Bruvver strikes again. Wish we didnt have this wave of puritanism to deal with on top of everything else. I hope the site can come back up eventually. That's a lot of content I could never see again.

>Lucy's back at the table by chapter's end
>Mike is exiled to the field
>Augustus heaves a sigh of relief at a job well done
>no more Michael around = no more nightmares
>...but Lucy keeps having them anyway no matter how padded her safe space gets
>turns out it's because an ex-member of the near-rape gang is living in her house
>the role of security blanket is forced back just in time for Mike's "redemption" because Augustus got disqualified

Taeshi would never do this, right? It's super convenient for her but would absolve Mike of a sin.

>>150004854
That's what VPNs are for.

>>150004886
*forced back open

>>150004886
She'll never do that because it makes no sense, Lucy was fine before EF and Augustus was there.

>>150004956
Something not making sense is never a reason for Taeshi.

>>150004956
I remember a comic of her having a panic attack or something when Augustus's phone rang