Thread 150423734

Mike is going to scream about his past abuse in the next page for sure.

>>150423734 (OP)
>so say it
>go on Michael, say the n-word

>>150423734 (OP)
>guy that worked for alejandro tries to diss anyone for their past
cuck lives in a glass house

>>150423734 (OP)
>Mike is going to scream about his past abuse in the next page for sure
Ah, so the old plot-driven bullshit kicks in? Seeing as Lucy is the one getting pissed at Augustus while Mike is stuck in turbo guilt trip mode and all.

Anyhow, what are the chances that the suicide shit /finally/ gets brought up? It'd been years since Taeshi unceremoniously disarmed that bomb when she suddenly rewired it out of the blue.

fuck i was waiting for the captcha to finish beat me too it

So how the fuck does james still not know who lucy is. this is the reason why he's going to hate mike finding out they dated the faggotree and lucy trying to become an hero

How lame and simple

>>150423786
In a better comic, this would be Gus projecting his own latent feelings of guilt.

Oh of course! So this is how Taeshi keeps Augustus as righteous and not a bully and keeps Lucy from being involved and dirtying her hands, let Mike dig his own grave because might as well make James hate him himself

>>150423826
>So how the fuck does james still not know who lucy is
Since Taeshi rewrote the timeline, everyone who was at school then somehow knew about Lucy's attempt. James is a transfer student who came in afterward. I assume this is the basic idea she's going for, further assuming she even thought about it at all.

>>150423786
that's actually a good point
excluding Lucy and Daisy, does the guys know he worked with Alejandro?

>>150423863
>So this is how Taeshi keeps Augustus as righteous and not a bully
He's disobeying Lucy right now and so clearly in the wrong. Everyone Lucy screeches at is morally inferior or in the midst of committing a sin as defined by their creator.

>>150423826
Sorry about that. But I don't mind and would prefer that others start the threads.
>>150423786
>>150423831
Augustus has standards, he didn't yell at his abuser like Mike did. Self-preservation is a no-no unless it's him or people he likes. Maybe he is projecting. Yelling at Mike cause Mike stood up for himself sooner than he did.
>>150423863
Some Mike love and sympathy is long overdue for him. My boy's suffering.

>>150423885
Mike certainly thought Lucy hanging with Augustus of all people was pathetic, so at the very least Daisy told him what bullshit Edgelord Wuss pulled on her. Subject to retcon, of course.

>>150423885
I thought only Lucy knows.

>>150423895
No but you see, Mike talking of his own volition means he was wrong and it was retroactively right to harass him

>>150423931
>Augustus has standards
Yeah like spying on people who his boss plans to at the very least cripple and manipulating girls he likes.

>Maybe he is projecting. Yelling at Mike cause Mike stood up for himself sooner than he did.
Actually that would be kind of funny, Augustus feeling annoyed that Michael Sadcat is (or was) somehow fundamentally braver than Augustus. It doesn't really work, though, since Lucy never threatened to kill him. More likely is that Augustus would see his own (or Lucy's old) paralyzing cowardice reflected in Mike and hates it.

>>150423734 (OP)
I really hate how Lucy isn't here to actually make Aug back off, she's just here so the reader knows she doesn't want this, in fact she never fucking wanted it.

And holy fuck I am so sick of these stupid teens reacting like this. "Oh no they can't know I called this white bitch meanie words a long time ago" NO ONE FUCKING CARES!
Think about it, if a friend of yours said that he said cruel things to some bitch who knows how long ago, would you give a shit?
>But she tried to kill herself!
These are teenage boys. He'd have to assault her right in front of them before they'd care. Taeshi needs to either learn to write teen boys or stop writing them at all.

>>150423984
Mike openly accepting guilt is the objectively correct route to take per BCB logic. He will of course be punished for it regardless.

>>150423734 (OP)
>Lucy seems like she's in bad shape. I better air out her old traumas in front of her and a complete stranger.
lmao
Okay I think I see the trajectory now
>Gus recites all the shit Mike said/did
>James and David go "Mike that isn't true is it...?"
>while Mike confirms it or says nothing, Lucy storms off and they follow
>Mike goes nuclear on Gus for upsetting Lucy
>Gus points out how everyone is going to know what a dickhead he is and that he got violent with him for telling people
>Lucy is welcomed back to the table as everybody besides Paulo hates Mike now
>ambivalent because she likes being around them again but she understands Mike didn't do what he did in a vacuum, as expressed in EF
>this becomes the basis for them reconciling, because she realizes Mike hates himself over it more than she hates him
>at some point in all of this Mike throws his phone in the river as Sandy yaps
There, that's your next four years

>>150423999
Look at how said teenage boys are drawn. I don't think that Taeshi wants to portray a genuinely male character, period. Her diary comics suggest she fundamentally dislikes males, though frankly that could well be due to her own poor choices in that arena backfiring on her.

James will care because David tells him to or Mike spergs because the plot demands it or (far less likely, given it requires self-actualization) Mike pulls a Lucy and pushes him away. Or maybe he'll just be affected by Lucy's psychic mindsweeper aura the way everyone else is.

>>150423734 (OP)
>All you had to do was kill yourself Michael, and then maybe we'd all forgive you

>>150423933
I'm certain the whole gang knows what happened at the festival, if not Abbey has A LOT of blackmail
>>150423943
Daisy knows that he was in a gang, she prob does know about Alejandro, I tried finding the info about it but meh

>>150424110
Not enough illogical bullshit.

But seriously, I don't see Lucy just leaving without making a stump speech after Augustus openly yaps about matters she wanted to keep private. Nor do I think Mike would flip like that just because Augustus broke a rule for Lucy's own well being.

This is dumb. Why bring this up now of all things? What's the end goal here? Why does Augustus care so much about Mike being ruined on all fronts all of a sudden?

What does he think this is gonna fix? because this isn't going to make Lucy happy like he thinks.

>>150424208
Its sucks we wont get tge interesting routes. Personally I would like to see villain Mike.

What I expect to happen since Lucy is not allowed to engage in the plot at all
>Augustus pushes Mike to only mention December and the suicide attempt being his fault (???) and Lucy will remain quiet
>James is taking it slowly but David remembers he likes rimming Lucy more and goes meme dog on Mike, James obeys his dick and agrees, plot point completed
>With everything taken from him Mike snaps but not violently, he asks Lucy if this is what she wanted then she can have everything, the school, the table, the friends, it doesn't matter anymore because he isn't allowed to be happy
>Lucy will remain a non character and Augustus will just congratulate him and tell him to fuck off
>Lucy joins the table with the grace of forced narrative while James had a fallout with the track team for chasing Mike away
>In the future when Mike is half dead after whatever plot bullshit happens Lucy will say she never wanted him to feel guilty about her actions nor to see him suffer
>Taeshi celebrates by uploading a BCI titled "what if Mike was executed in front of the whole school"

>>150424133
I'm aware we're in Lucyspace(but really it's Taeshispace) where how people should act doesn't matter... but my god is it frustrating.

>>150424270
Mike can't have any sort of spine anymore. He can only be a punching bag for everyone else.

>>150424261
Because as usual Taeshi spent to much time on irrelevant bullshit and short term gratification that tangled up the plot into a horrid knot. What we are witnessing is her stab at a coherent solution. Because she is incompetent, Taeshi relies an forced bullshit that she talks herself into believing as in-character or logical. Naturally, she does not share her so-called lines of reasoning.

>>150424344
Lucy is always allowed to talk down to people or whine/screech them into compliance.

>>150424344
>>Taeshi celebrates by uploading a BCI titled "what if Mike was executed in front of the whole school"
kek

>>150424423
It actually worries me that she spent so much time surrounded by "Mike burned our fields and raped our wives" tier arguments she now genuinely might believe in them

>>150424523
Funny since it's her fault in the first place.

Ten years minimum of her writing mike as a sperg or a spineless wimp that lets everyone just shit on him, and then EF happens and she's surprised everyone just hates his guts from both new readers to old ones.

>>150424457
Yes but only when berating side characters like calling Daisy a slut or calling Paulo a slut, doing so right now would give us an idea of what she thinks and we can't have that because that's not nuance™

>>150424231
Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part. I desperately want Mike's impending crashout to be altruistic in nature

>>150424597
Daisy and Paulo ARE sluts, so I guess even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

>>150424614
It would make all the sense in the world for Mike to fall on his sword right now. He is pinned under a mountain of guilt and in the best position to finally crack and give up. But since that is too logical and in-character I am forced to discard the possibility.

One must imagine greycat happy

>>150424614
I don't think mike's crashout is gonna be altruistic at all, I doubt james' future grudge with mike is gonna be the result of him learning about lucy's suicide, he's gonna crashout hard

>>150423989
Morality is subjective so who knows what goes on in his head? But he's been around Lucy long enough to the point that he's becoming a new Mike and excusing her angry and violent past, and now even Lucy is telling Augustus (whether selfish or selfless) to leave Mike alone. He's being vindicative.
Lucy didn't try to kill him but repeatedly and violently beating someone since they were a child, like to the point it leaves visible scars and bruises which she did. That has an impact. Lucy is a deeply well written and strong character with a mix of kindness and empathy mostly overshadowed by violent impulsive and explosive temper that she's tasked with overcoming but morally she's made too many apologistic excuses and downplays of her wrongdoings which led Mike to burst his bottle in December, poor guy's been guilt tripped and trivialized so much that now he has almost no self worth.
>>150423999
She is here cause anybody can be anywhere any time, in this case anywhere on the outdoor field during high school recess.
I'm wondering what direction this'll go now, either Lucy will get seriously hurt and Mike feels like his only redeeming quality is being her slave and helping her, but also out of pity and empathy. Or Lucy could swallow her hate and help Mike when he gets seriously hurt, which is more likely and would for once force Lucy out of empathy to repay Mike for putting up with her shit for year.
>>150424213
Really? Could you give me a page cause I don't remember.
>>150424261
Mike went outside and shining knight Augustus has to protect his beloved queen Lucy from Satanic hellspawn Mike.
>>150424344
>>150424518
The fandom is already so wild that she absolutely would write a B.C.I, or that there would be someone who would write that... Actually I'll try.
>>150424523
I hope not, she should have a consistent vision for a character. Every writer should regardless of how much they progress or regress.

>>150424597
>>150424628
>>150424597
I think Daisy wants what Paulo wants, to feel so sexually validated that all the boys wanna fuck her. She says that she wants that kind of attention and implies it like with that Ask Roseville panel of her saying all the boys are cute.
>>150424775
I love this, so cute. That's what Mike needs right now, a big silky soft and fluffy hug from a loyal girlfriend who reunites with him in person. Or really just anybody willing to show him intrinsic value. Sandy, Haley, Jasmine, Felix, and Stacy are his last hopes. I've always loved Thea's MikexSandy and AbbeyxMina art.
>>150424822
Probably a mix of both, he says something beyond insulting or rash to Augustus and Lucy and James isn't in a position to consider the reason or how Lucy hurt him in the past. Whatever it takes to push Mike to that emotional grevious path of no return.

>>150423734 (OP)
Oh by the way I forgot to mention I'm seeking names for unnamed canon and fanmade characters to write about and draw, including the chocolate brown dog and orange cat who are on Roseville High's cheerleader team.

>>150423734 (OP)
Personally I'm hoping that Augustus pushes Mike to far or ends up starting a fight. Mike snaps and ends up going to far and has to be pulled back by David and James. This leads to Augustus getting expelled as he initiated and is a known troublemaker.

This leads to David inviting Lucy to the table and this preview page happening. Lucy now alone and without a watcher sits at the old table.

What's the point of a story in which there's no consistency? I can't sympathize with any of these characters, because their wants, needs, and motives are randomized every chapter.

Mike and Lucy both want to be left alone, but also have sympathetic friends and be the center of attention. Mike needs to be more selfish for his own sake, but also needs to be liked and repair things with Sandy and/or Lucy. Lucy needs people to stop doing things "for her" without asking and to be more independent, but also needs a boy to singularly cling to or she spins out. Paulo and Daisy are jealous and horny but also wholesome chaste childhood friends. Even events which whole arcs centered around like Lucy's suicide/return, Jess's play, Sandy ghosting Mike, are subject to change and retcon at a moments notice.

It's like playing a game with assholes who cheat to win and keep making up/rewriting the rules. What's the point?

>>150425055
That would be great, and James' little ax murderer image would be fulfilled enough to despise him.

Would be pretty based if the dog or the twinkcat just punched the gothcat out of nowhere because they don't give a fuck about context.

>>150425196
Just imagine it David having to pull Mike of his precious Final Fantasy cat who just got the shit kicked out of him. No wonder David looks so pissed in the preview.

>>150423786
>joined the gang as a toddler
>grows up and realizes Alejandro had a habit of threatening to kill people who tried to leave him
>eventually gets blackmailed by Toby
No I think he's pretty safe to talk about Mike (an actual cuckold) being a piece of shit.

I love that Augustus, in order to prevent Mike from being visible to Lucy for one hour a day, which must be deeply traumatizing her (they are in classes together btw), is about to air out the things he said that traumatized her in the first place, while she listens. It's so fucking funny.

>>150425288
>my favorite Daisy-molester dindu nuffin

>>150425312
>David

>>150425137
Since when did Mike want to be alone?

>>150425137
>Mike and Lucy both want to be left alone, but also have sympathetic friends and be the center of attention. Mike needs to be more selfish for his own sake, but also needs to be liked and repair things with Sandy and/or Lucy. Lucy needs people to stop doing things "for her" without asking and to be more independent, but also needs a boy to singularly cling to or she spins out. Paulo and Daisy are jealous and horny but also wholesome chaste childhood friends. Even events which whole arcs centered around like Lucy's suicide/return, Jess's play, Sandy ghosting Mike, are subject to change and retcon at a moments notice.


I don't recall Mike wanting to be left alone. What he wanted was an actual friendship without romantic feelings involved. In his mind, if someone can't date him, they they toss him in the back completely. Which can be pretty shitty. He thought he had that with james, and he still does with the track team, but because James was the one glazing him to hell and back, dropping him for David stings harder than it should have. He's unfortuantely gained tunnel vision mixed in with his incredibly low self esteem and his guilt over Lucy's jump and what happened the day after he met lucy under the tree in EF

>>150425296
It's annoying. Either this is an orchestrated character assassination, throwing Augustus under a bus to enable a plot, or Taeshi has not thought about the implications at all. And it's impossible to tell which is the case.

>>150425411
>Taeshi has not thought about the implications at all


I'm gonna say it's this. She's so concerned about wringing drama out of the situation that she's forgetting what would actually happen if Augustus did this.

>>150425296
Jesus Christ Lucy is like a spine succubus, EVERYONE turns into a drained simp via prolonged periods of proximity to her insane ass.

Why do I continue to read this
This comic is bad for the soul and doesnt even do anything to justify its own existence

>>150425524
Taeshi still has paypigs, that's what justifies its existence.

>>150425524
TV Tropes has a term for this called Bile Fascination.

>>150425524
Sappy melodrama gets the neurons firing, even if it's done terribly. This is why hack writers lean on it so much.

Wait a minute, has this whole comic just been Taeshi's refusal to let go of Luggage Lad's online relationship with some other girl from a sonic the hedgehog forum before they met? A world where she can has created proxies of everyone involved and a narrative where her proxy is an all-powerful victim with all the love and support she wants and Suitcase's is punished for eternity?

>>150425378
>>150425409
I might be misremembering, but wasn't "leave me alone!" one of the things Mike shrieked at his friends back before EF? And since EF he's been steering way clear of everyone else, not just Lucy. It's not just the track team either, Mike doesn't initiate conversations in general, and when Paulo, Daisy, Sue, the track team, or anyone else initiates, he gives monosyllabic self-deprecating responses until the conversation dies from awkwardness.

>What he wanted was an actual friendship without romantic feelings involved.
But he has plenty of those! He's got Daisy, the MMO gang with Stacy, Abbey, & Sue, and the track team. And he's got more options besides: Abbey outright invited him to hang out with him and Haley/Jasmine's friend group, Rachel likes him and is great at comforting pathetic sadboys, even Paulo and David, assholes that they are.

I get that Mike's depressed and depressed people suck at being social or outgoing, but the dumb motherfucker has multiple people literally telling him "Hey, are you alright? I'm always available to listen if you need a friend." and every time he either screeches at or brushes them off.

>>150425604
Yes
Reminder that trunkboy wasn't even dating Tae at the time so he wasn't actually cheating on her

Remember when Lucy, who was totally okay being just a friend, didnt want to accept a friendly hug and double down by removing abruptly the cane Mike was using all chapter because he was injured previous one? She is such a bestie, I wish i had a friend like that! Don't you guys want one like her too?

On another note How dare Mike wanting platonic gestures of affection ever UUUGH he should die

>>150425604
The core cast of characters already existed in prototype forms prior to what might be described as The Incident. But it does appear that some of them have been slotted into suspiciously similar and/or openly masturbatory roles. I do think that Taeshi, once upon a time, really did try to build coherent stories atop that shared foundation. But then she had her mental breakdown, wore down her better sense over the course of The Paulo Show, then finally threw off all restraint when bringing Lucy back. That foundation has become a cancerous mass while all other plot threads whither away into irrelevance or are subsumed.

>>150425611
Yeah, "leave me alone," in the context that he wanted them to shut the fuck up about Sandy. Outside of that he's plenty social, else he wouldn't put up with so much bullshit just to stay with the table and MMO group.

>>150425657
Recontextualizing this as abuse was the most interesting thing Taeshi ever did with the comic. If she had kept the even handed evaluation throughout, BCB would have been worth it purely for the subversion and exploration of the overused tsundere and generic male anime protagonist tropes.

>>150424344
>James had a fallout with the track team for chasing Mike away
THIS AGGRESSION WILL NOT STAND, MAN!

>>150425611
>But he has plenty of those! He's got Daisy, the MMO gang with Stacy, Abbey, & Sue, and the track team. And he's got more options besides: Abbey outright invited him to hang out with him and Haley/Jasmine's friend group, Rachel likes him and is great at comforting pathetic sadboys, even Paulo and David, assholes that they are.

well Sue did have beef with him yelling at her and she held that grudge for a while. But that's been a long standing complaint about the comic for years. Everyone has other friends they could go hang with and have less drama involved. But for some reason they just don't. I know they were all friends in middle school but in high school people that fight as often as they do would have just split apart.

Abbey is the only one to really escape it and i think he did it becuase his issues make everyone else's pale in comparison and she couldnt farm abbey vs paulo drama forever

>>150424344
James is gonna turn into one of those catty effeminate gays that is like "YAAAS QUEEN, Spill the tea just how BAD was he??!!! Oh my goooosh!" to Lucy and she's like "Oh he was bad." and Paulo is like "UM GUYS?? Mike is suicidial."

"Yaaass but he told our precious Lucy-queen she was a parasite so he like totes deserves suffering!!!!!!!!!! I hope he does a flip, can't believe I wanted to fuck that guy, oh my gawwwd."

>>150425742
It really was a spark of genius, and yet for some god damn reason she seems to regret ever having it and completely ignores it every chance she gets.

>>150425839
>James becomes Lucy's new best friend just to rub salt in Mike's wound
>even though James could never want Lucy that way so she would regard him as basically a fellow girl and thus contemptible

>>150425853
Lucy has become her ever since her breakdown so acknowledging Lucy's faults means acknowledging her own and she can't do that well anymore

>>150425604
Always has been. Taeshi is WORLD CHAMP at Goldie-Malding 2025 for what 22 years now? CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

You've successfully obsessed over a rando 12 year old you met in the early 2000s long enough to somehow turn it into a webcomic that subsists your husband and you basic needs. Imagine being so full of hate and jealousy you turn it into some weird art-project demonstrating your super fucked up mental illnesses and sell it autists, the mentally insane and children online!

Is being a 37 year old woman-child who can barely function in normal society worth it?

>>150425896
When one of Taeshi's diary comics announced she confidently had her BPD under control, that really brought it together for me. It's obviously not and she's just channeling it into the comic and may well be worse than ever but in denial. Leaving her own hypermoderated locked down discord because it wasn't enough of a safe space is a pretty telltale sign.

>>150425859
Pretty much, all Lucy is missing is the sarcastic gay friend that can roast other people after all.
He is effectively a woman now.

>>150425611
Mike never really forgave them for giving him shit when he took Sandy over Lucy and (politely) turned down her love confession, and they never approved of it either so it always dwelled on his mind that whenever it comes to his love problems they never have his best interest in mind

>>150425936
>"It's worth revisiting for us"

Aren't Taeshi and her husband almost, if not in their 40s? There was no reason to hang on to it a year after it happened, let alone decades.

Was she just afraid she'd lose something to have a mental fit over if she let it go?

>>150425936
When did he post this?

>>150426164
I suspect she uses the guilt as a form of control, because otherwise she can exercise very little in her relationship with Suitcase. Despite his plethora of character defects, he probably knows how to put the filter on IRL and can function as a normal adult. Taeshi is almost entirely reliant on him. That, and she has openly questioned whether he would have "left" her if Goldie remained in the picture, so this could well be her version of babytrapping him in place.

>>150425611
In fairness he has the bad experiences weighing on him getting him to think those chances will somehow twist into getting fucked somehow. The track team got infected by Lucy nonsense. Plus he is not totally wrong in the case of Paulo. Mother fucker was 100% ready to do exactly what he fears. Ditch him to get in with Lucy.

>>150426123
They werent exactly wrong about Sandy, but yeah at the same time they tried to force an almost equally shit relationship

>>150425611
Lesse
>Paulo
Would throw him under the bus if asked to, would even if slightly bothered by something else like the fucking dubs vs subs filler, tells him to his face he's had it too good, and stopped frequenting him the moment Mike told him no homo
>Daisy
Told him he could trust her to share whatever was bothering him and she was on her corner, right away agreed to Paulo's plan to ruin his "date" with James and never attempted to stop it, leaving upset only because no one paid attention to her
>Sue
Sue is vindictive and socially dumb, would not keep things to herself in an attempt to be of help and can't be yelled at without holding a grudge for months
>Amaya
A great listener, not much else
>Abbey
The least person Mike should bother about relationships. Mike respects his desicion to stay away from the table by not invading his and also giving his sister (who as of a few chapters ago has been skipping on home and might hold a grudge against Mike for being the golden kid) space
Basically yes he has friends but none he could rely on a personal level without it coming back to bite him in the ass

>>150423734 (OP)
The only thing I know about this comic is that Lucy tried to kill herself and then told Mike she doesnt like him anymore, and what was probably like a decade ago. What is the comic about after that?

>>150426263
Torturing Mike because the author embraced living vicariously through her self-insert.

>>150426164
Suitcase is a weird guy and no saint by any means but he can at least function in society well enough to support himself and Tae
Tae seems unable to do so at all so this is likely a means to force him to stay with her

>>150426263
Basically the aftermath of that interlaced with side relationship stuff between other characters. The main focus point is the Mike and Lucy stuff along with Mike's relationship with phone slut being trash that he only just now seems to be realizing after getting cheated on and taking her back for some fucking reason

>>150426263
Author playing with her chew toy Mike, loves to tear him apart but hates when others want to do the same

>>150426306
Her getting mad at the fans for hating Mike too much when the comic has done nothing but shit in him and say he's terrible for years is the funniest thing about this mess

>>150426320
Anon(s) who refer to Taeshi as "splitting" may have a point. But then again she might have just been pissy that her fans didn't go along with her attempts to portray Mike as sympathetic.

Augustus is a pretty stupid name for a manipulative teenage edgelord. I wonder what Taeshi was thinking.

>>150426369
Originally he was probabky supposed to be a good kid from a bad area that just made some bad choices, who would even out over time and become kinda a dork, but then Taeshi started self inserting and Lucy needed another simp, so... yeah.

Poor Lucy. Poor Lucy. Poor Lucy. Poor Lucy. Poor Lucy. Poor, poor Lucy.

And dont forget: Poor Lucy.

>>150426369
That no one has declawed him by calling him 'Augie' is nonsense
You don't get through high school with a name like Augustus without that happening

>>150426425
Or just call him Gus. It makes him sound like a hillbilly.

I'm honestly appalled that there are people who think Mike is still the bad guy

>>150426490
We live in crazy times full of nutty people.

well James becomes visibly upset at Mike when Gus tattles on him next page so I guess there we go Mike loses his only actual friend and Lucy gains another simp
Mike was right to get pissed off about his old friend group absorbing his track team buddies, he can't have shit. Great writing Taeshi always be sure to be nice to your abusers

>>150426514
>Hey Mike is this guy bothering you?
>So I can join him

>>150426514
>well James becomes visibly upset at Mike when Gus tattles on him next page
Ah, so in direct contradiction to what James said back during Date Night. Well I guess if Mike's no longer a valid dating target that makes the situation completely different! It turns out Mike wasn't beating himself up nearly enough after all.

>>150426123
>>150426243
I understand that Mike has his reasons, but those reasons are ridiculous. It's like Lucy's trauma, where stuff that happened more than a decade ago IRL and wasn't brought up since suddenly becomes the justification for them screaming that they NEVER WANTED IT or IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT YOUR PRECIOUS LUCY at random, and Taeshi's like "It's pottery, don't you see? It was foreshadowed by these two panels from 2012!".

Mike's friends DID give him shit about Sandy and got on his case about turning down Lucy, but that only happened twice. Once Mike proved that Sandy actually existed and wasn't some "she goes to another school" hallucination everyone apologized for doubting him. Even Paulo, #1 Lucy simp of all time, was like "Damn, I can see why you love her.".

And then Mike was fine and on good terms with everyone (including Sandy) for an in-universe year. Then he has a psychic dream and Lucy comes back and suddenly he's screeching about stuff that every other character had already forgotten about. Meanwhile Lucy glided around getting high-fives and welcomed back, but couldn't stop being a smug condescending asshole for even a second.

>>150426596
Man rereading that is very jarring, he developed a liking of Mike after meeting how kind he was despite how hurt he looked all the time. But no, meme dog fast

Lucy's son has a bigger penis than David

>>150426644
Lucy only ever has a daughter but I guess having her as a mom wasn't traumatic enough so the poor girl has to deal with being a hermaphrodite too.

>>150426639
Incredible, Taeshi just keeps on making James look ever more shallow with each successive chapter. Is there an upper limit or will his degradation plateau once he becomes a Lucy simp?

>>150426597
>And then Mike was fine and on good terms with everyone (including Sandy) for an in-universe year. Then he has a psychic dream and Lucy comes back and suddenly he's screeching about stuff that every other character had already forgotten about. Meanwhile Lucy glided around getting high-fives and welcomed back, but couldn't stop being a smug condescending asshole for even a second.

It's so frustrating, because these are our two main characters, ostensibly the heart of the story. And yet instead of being sympathetic, likeable, or even just relatable, every problem they have is self-inflicted due to them being assholes for no reason. Mike and Lucy are literally the two most popular, well-liked, and best-off kids in their grade, and yet they are constantly two breaths away from sobbing and/or screaming. Even the soggy bitch and fuzz-slut have more chill, for fuck's sake.

>>150426597
You're forgetting that everything around Lucy's return and onward is poorly written horseshit. Taeshi can't even keep the basic logical throughlines of her plots straight but likes to pretend that her portrayals have not been all over the place.

>>150426514
Is Augustus' summary accurate or do we just get a continuation of "Mike was an abusive husband who systematically destroyed Lucy for his own sick pleasure"

>>150426811
So far it's been impossible to tell whether Augustus is meant to be correct or Mike is just self-blaming enough to wholeheartedly agree.

>>150426811
Nah its accurate. He tells everyone that Mike called her an unlovable parasite and that everyone would abandon her for Mike. James gets freaked out and stares at Mike like hes a monster

>>150426868
Shame he probably wont call Augustus a rapist in retaliation

>>150426868
Wow, Taeshi's really gone and set up a whole archeology dig out on the track field, huh?

>>150426868
Out of context is the best way to tell things!

"she cheated" people chanted with anger, stoning the young girl. They conviniently left out she was forced into a loveless marriage and was abused by her husband

>>150426921
I still don't understand the whole abused housewife comparison Augustus is going for, if anything the one enduring abuse and ignored by his peers was Mike

>>150427046
It's simple, Lucy matters to Augustus whereas Mike does not. Mike hurt Lucy and disobeyed Augustus. Ergo Mike is wrong and evil and there are no extenuating circumstances.

gotta go to work
see (you) all Friday

>>150426776
I'm not forgetting, that's my whole point. Lucy came back and suddenly both she and Mike are resentful assholes who keep screaming at their friends for no reason. All character nuance and development was dropped like a hot rock to make room for worse-written rehashes of stuff from volumes 1-3. See: >>150427104

That could be explained in a sane and sensible manner by addressing that Mike and Lucy are horrible for each other, that mere proximity sends them both spiraling into hair-trigger anxiety and paranoia that destroys their self-control. But that's NOT addressed, and instead it's framed like everything will be fine if they just make up and make out, as if that won't end with them starting to hate each other all over again.

>>150426868
I'm sure you'll somehow get banned from the patreon for this so thank you for your sacrifice
I guess I'll check back in a few months when Tae has Mike kill himself or something

>>150426868
So basically, Taeshi is finally getting around to pulling a December Backlash on Mike. But to keep Worst Cat's dainty little hands clean, she has Augustus embody all of Lucy's vindictive spite and do the deed himself. Truly, she will sacrifice a thousand characters on the altar of ooc before she makes Lucy culpable.

>>150427186
I think the ultimate and unintentional takeaway from this comic is the same as it's always been
The friends you have as a kid aren't always your friends for life and sometimes you have to move on for your own sanity

>>150427104
>Mike
>having enough spine to continue the cycle
This chart has been stalled out for a decade and yet people still continue posting it.

Nooooo Mike don't say it infront of James because he cares sooooo much about you.

>>150426164
Yes they are.
Basically she's guilt-tripped him into a relationship with him and he's been groomed into being her tard-wrangler for the past 20 something years. It almost makes me feel sorry for him being manipulated since he was like 13 by this insane person, but also he's an asshole.

>>150426232
I think this was around 2017-2018 ish.. pre-covid times. It's still on the Taeshi Dairy. She was vague posting about Goldie and I guess guilt-tripped him into confessing his sins because this doesn't feel like something he would voluntarily tell his audience.

He just self-flagellated to appease her since she's his meal ticket.

every time i dive into the archives to try doing some character analysis all i come out with is a vague sense of "ah, mike sure is cute..."

>>150426290
Honestly I think its a couple fo things..

1) She probably threatens self-harm/self deletion if he even thinks about pushing back
2)He's completely brainwashed by her
3) She has dirt on him and it's safer for him to stick with her then to leave

Or some combo of those three.

>>150427213
At this point, I believe that the best ending still possible for BCB is all the secondary characters forming their own friend groups, having fun, and going off to college, leaving Mike/Lucy/Paulo/Daisy to their own bizarre, hateful, self-destructive devices.

That's what all the fan characters, Tess, Jasmine, Abbey, and the rest of the track team did, and they're all doing great.

>>150427288
Weirdly enough that seems to mirror Tae and Suit's life too
I can't imagine they have a whole lot of people from their past eager to see them again

>>150426298
So like do you think long end game of this is Mike and Lucy make up and get together?

>>150427340
Probably even though that will be awful. Actual best endgame for them is to just bury the hatchet and agree to not bother with each other anymore. Mike especially needs to get the fuck away from this shitshow and find some real friends. Hang with the rest of the track team. They seem cool

>>150427189
>Suit banning random patrons to prevent text spoilers of the next page to people that never would've paid to see it anyway

>>150427340
It's increasingly obvious this comic is just one long Goldiemalding cope from Taeshi. She wants to believe she would've won the Suitcasebowl had Goldie not vanished into the ether, so of course Lucy will nab Mike from Sandy.

And it will be the most incompetently written piece of gobsmacking masturbatory bullshit you have ever seen.

>>150426514
Plus side: Augustus might catch himself a beating for this and Mike's missing from the table because he was suspended

>>150427416
nobody should know this much about the interpersonal drama of a nigga they've never spoken to

>>150427707
>Taeshi suddenly decides that Mike can't throw hands and Gus expertly subdues him
>comes home to the mom yelling over his suspension
>back to listening as Sandy yaps about her vapid whogivesashit nonsense

>>150427729
I agree. Taeshi and Suitcase should never have posted such lengthy insights into their dysfunctional relationship for everyone to read, and frankly I'm surprised they did.

>>150427763
>>Taeshi suddenly decides that Mike can't throw hands and Gus expertly subdues him

It would be even more retareded cause Mike is one of the few people at the table who can actually fight, and he and Lucy are actually training to fight for fucks sake. stack tht on to the fact that Mike is now training his body mroe, being part of the track team.

>>150428013
I think it's now well established that Taeshi will just write whatever the hell she wants.

>>150428013
>pic
Sandy was and is so based.

>>150426596
>>150426639
>>150426697
It really is sad to see. Nothing would justify this 180º on his behavior towards Mike, unless Mike got possessed or something and literally started to behave like a maniacal asshole in front of him.

And also I can't believe NO ONE told ever Taeshi how utterly ridiculous having James fall IMMEDIATELY for David was, and for such a ridiculous reason, too (hurr he run fast I like!!1).
No person does that, and if they did, they certainly aren't the type o person one should like, sympathize or take seriously as a character.

Seriously, it's like what people said a couple of threads ago, he turned out to be an even worst character than Carson, who got canned because he was 'too sterotypical'.

>>150426868
>James gets freaked out and stares at Mike like hes a monster
absolutely gay as fuck, it would be a thing if he was confused and a little wary about mike, but taeshi straight up making him act like this affects him in any way or just jumping the shark before listening to the whole story, so lazy

>>150428224
>even worst character than Carson, who got canned because he was 'too stereotypical'.
Carson was accurate, and I would say nicer than James. Carson never pretended to be Mike's platonic friend. He wanted Korat cock day one. Mike really attracted gay cats in middle school; it was the scarf.

>>150423734 (OP)
>finally revealed that mike is being stalked and harassed while he's trying to mind his own business
>he decides to take blame for it and make things worse

>>150428224
>And also I can't believe NO ONE told ever Taeshi how utterly ridiculous having James fall IMMEDIATELY for David was, and for such a ridiculous reason, too (hurr he run fast I like!!1)
I'd say it's not as if she ever asks, but supposedly Taeshi has been farming out spoilers to select individuals and basking in their positive feedback.

>>150426868
But was he wrong

If only Lucy had died that fateful, snowy night.

>>150428403
He's not wrong about what technically happened.

>>150428409
Oh boy, a comic focused totally on Paisy. What joy. Then again I'd have dropped this forever ago so actually am right there with you.

>>150428377
>farming out spoilers to select individuals
Well, of course her select friends and/or diehard Patreon maniacs wouldn't give any negative feedback, it's a freaking echo chamber.

Still, It is absurd man, at first it looked like James could be a legit character, but then she decided to turn him into yet another tool for beating Mike, as if he needed any more. I find it impossible that she legit thinks what she did was a sane, natural and logic thing to do with that character.

>>150428262
Yeah, at least he was honest, and, as far as we could tell, he didn't jump from interest to interest all willy-nilly for the stupidest reason. I think he only ever shown interest in Mike, despite having other 'good looking' dudes in the group.

>>150426868
What causes mike to have the reaction shown here? >>150427707
Was it revealed to the Patreons already?

>>150426868
>James cares about Mike saying some shit about some cunt he doesn't even know.
I knew James was devolving into just another method to torture Mike with, I could've guessed something this fucking dumb would happen, but somehow it is more infuriating than I thought it'd be.

>>150426596
Amazing how Taeshit couldn't just let this end normally. Couldn't let this end on a good note for Mike.

She HAD to shove david in there and ruin james in the process.

>>150426868
Thats so dumb. Because there's no reason for James to just go with it without questioning Mike about what really happened.

But I know that even if he did, Mike and his low self esteem would just roll with the worst intrepretation everyone has of him. And of course Lucy wont say anything because that would require her to acknowledge her hand in their friendship falling apart. And we can't have Lucy take accountability from her own actions. It's been said in past threads, but post december, the comic is really just punishing Mike for not letting Lucy abuse him forever.

>>150428765
>And of course Lucy wont say anything because that would require her to acknowledge her hand in their friendship falling apart
I'd actually be a little surprised if Lucy doesn't butt in and give some more lip service about being terrible so she can talk down to Mike about toughening up. Then of course he spergs and is the one to ruin everything, leaving her sinless and holy. Staying silent makes Lucy complicit with this entirely one-sided friendship-destroying account.

>>150427375

I find it hard to beleive this dumbass webcomic is compelling enough but especially now, that people are so eager to see what happens next.

Taeshi and Suit are so insecure with their art they know nobody would give a fuck if they knew what happened next because they aren't invested.

>>150427375
Yeah, I very much doubt any considerable amount of people here would ever be Patreon member, so I don't think spoiling, specially not spoiling a description, will do any harm, but I think most people would be unwilling to remain a patreon if they got banned from it for something as silly as just describing what happened.

>>150428883
I don't see the point of frequenting these threads /and/ spending money on Patreon unless it's to play spoileranon. Okay, so you know what bullshit happens one page earlier than everyone else here. Now what? Who are you going to discuss it with save the other patrons? Does anyone here actually want to engage with those blockheads?

>>150428883
I'll never forgive that fucker for taking my journeys to attain prophecies from me. I think he might have taken exception to how much I mocked the "Everyone knew Lucy tried to commit sudoku" retcon.

>>150428958
5 dollars a month really does not matter all that much to me and thats about the extent of the thought ive put into it desu

>>150426868
I truly hope Alejandro strangles Augustus before the end of this comic.

>>150429388
Fucking kek

>>150429388
This has just been the whole comic for ten years.

>>150423734 (OP)
Yeah these pages are just pissing me off, I'm just going to edit every one to have Aug getting his ass beat or something.

>>150429600
He's beginning to morb...

This comic is inane turgid shit.

Drawing requests, anons. I'll keep the drawings simple, but go ahead. Won't do loli.

>>150425284
"Hot friend hits hotter stranger, me like hotter stranger more now, fuck hot friend."
>>150425296
Bro's determined to ruin Mike to make Lucy happy without considering what would make her unhappy.
>>150425524
Feel like only me and a minority of fanfiction and fanart creators actually like the story.

>>150428148
Sandy=best girlfriend.

>>150430432
Mike as Harry from Disco Elysium with Half Light telling him to kill Sephiroth cat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX_05uYAJBs

>>150430432
Lol, ya can't post loli outside of /b/ anyway
Um... Let's see. Do two boys making out. Preferably Mike and Paulo but you can do others. Augustus, David, Abbey.

>>150429600
Something in the style of picrel with Mike running over Augustus and Lucy. I'd prefer the composition of the Asgore version of this meme over the way my pic is arranged but I couldn't quickly find a reference that isn't animated.

>>150430528
Mike going fully Harry complete with schizo voices would make the comic far more fun

>>150429388
This is the most objective analysis of BCB I have ever seen

>>150429600
I think your expression edits are pretty great on their own. The added red bits to Mike's eyes stand out in a bad way and could be done without.

I'm curious if this is just getting retconned. I can kinda buy (by the standards of BCB logic) James flipping on Mike over what he said, but practically everyone else already knows about it, so how does this chapter end up making him persona non grata with the rest of the gang?

>>150430754
It'll probably be something really stupid but honestly it'd probably be good for Mike to get "banished" from the table at this point since they all suck. Best we can hope for is that the reason is him knocking the shit out of Seph cat and maybe knocking Lucy over (at minimum) during the scuffle.

>>150430754
Seems to me like he's still gonna sperg out because augustus is about to make him lose his new friend's trust, maybe Mike resorts to violence, maybe insults them, something like that.

So when does one of these kids turn into a school shooter? They all seem like candidates for it.

>>150430432
Amaya and Mike lounging on a couch together watching tv

>>150430754
Anon, you make it sound like Taeshi won't just retcon that out like she did "nobody but Augustus, Mike and Lucy's family know she tried to kill herself"

>>150430804
The whole situation is pretty masterfully engineered honestly. As if pressure from Gus wasn't bad enough, Lucy being there makes it way harder for Mike to explain his history with her, and David is there to defuse Mike if he gets punchy. Dude's just fucked there's no winning here.

>>150430966
McCain is out there in the Candyverse.

>>150431279
McCain is just dressed like one, but he was the only calm, cool and collected of the bunch, so much so that he was forced removed from the comic, since there was no space for drama around him.

>>150431236
Right now it kinda is too late, but before Mike could've stood his ground and told Augutus to back off, maybe bringing something about Daisy to discourage Augustus harassment.

It's pathetic and hypocritical that Augustus would be one to talk shit, when he himself is full of skeletons in his closet. Like >>150423786 said. he lives in a glass house, how dare him act all high and mighty in front of others, acting as he has the moral high ground?

I wish someone acknowledged it. Could be Mike, could be Lucy, but alas, no one did.

>>150431356
augustus is not there to moralfag, he's there to tell mike to fuck off

>>150430432
Stacy convinces Katie to do cosplay with her

>>150431481
It doesn't matter if he is there to moralfag or not, his defenses, if Mike ever decided to reciprocate the verbal harassment, are paper-thin. He is in no position to publicly criticize Mike as if Mike had done something terrible, when he himself also has questionable things in his past.

He is acting all pissy because Mike didn't do as he demanded. Lucy didn't even say anything, she wasn't shown under great distress over the fact that Mike was hanging out outside or anything, this is just him showing his sociopathic colors.

>>150431574
>this is just him showing his sociopathic colors.
well, yeah? augustus doesn't care, he doesn't care if this is against lucy's wishes or if he gets called a rapist, he's just doing what he thinks it's best for lucy

like yeah he's in no position, sure I agree, but that kinda gets thrown out the window if augustus doesn't give a fuck

>>150431723
The point is that he loses part of the moral ground to talk shit if Mike also points out the shit he has done.

>>150431723
>what he thinks it's best for lucy
He's about to repeat the words that ostensibly drove her to suicide, out loud and in front of her, as she repeatedly asks him to stop. At this point he's either being driven entirely by personal spite against Mike, or he's a bona fide retard.

>>150431894
He doesn't really care for Lucy, he just 'cares' for her because she provides him room and board at her home.
Dude has always been a selfish prick, I don't know why people dont see it.

>>150430754
there was this whole bit here where him being outside visibly triggered lucy and this is what led to lucy snapping at augustus for worrying about her, and augustus seething at mike over it
unfortunately, the irony of augustus doing what he's doing to mike now, when "You're so boring now! I miss when you were a creep." is just as much of a fucked up thing for Lucy to say to him in this context as anything mike ever said to anyone, is probably 100 percent lost on Taeshi herself let alone the fucking characters in this comic

>>150431977
fuck meant to reply to >>150431574

>>150431766
>moral ground
again, he doesn't care as long as it gets mike to stay away, augustus was never known for morals if he doesn't like you

>>150431894
>At this point he's either being driven entirely by personal spite against Mike
sure, what the hell, never said it came from the good of his heart and I'm actually a fan myself of the idea that he's only doing it because he's tired of lucy snapping at him, but realistically? it's just augustus acting like a retard

>>150431977
What is Augustus even worried about? Hear them say what? Gay shit? Because that's all those three could be talking about with David being a retard, James a simp and Mike a third wheel

>>150432258
hear them at all. that side was lucy's deaf ear i think so he was hoping that with her eyes closed she wouldnt know they were there

>>150431961
>I don't know why people dont see it
Because he's very obviously not being portrayed that way.

>>150432297
Mike needs to have a schizophrenic breakdown where he hallucinates his old striped scarf-wearing self, Green Goblin style.

>>150432258
He's worried Cuntcy will hear them and get le-triggered and have a bpd-meltdown because he dares to exist around her when she is trying to eat lunch outside.

Because Cuntcy's parents are insanely retarded and felt the best way to get their 16 year old daughter to get over trauma after she tried to kill herself is put her BACK in the same school around the same boy that made her suicidial in the first place. Because she is no longer in therapy (of any kind, but her even walking after that suicide attempt is retarded as fuck) or medicated or supervised.

And meanwhile of course nobody says anything to any authority figures and Mike has to suffer even exsisting around her (its okay if they have class apparently) and the shcool is A-OK even though they know she spilled her ketchup like 9 months ago to have her in the same classes him.

It's all just abritary forced bullshittery to add drama to an otherwise creative void that is this webcomic.

>>150432258
>Gay shit
do you guys think lucy knows mike is a bit of a fag?

>>150432335
>its okay if they have class apparently
I think the so-called operating logic is that, while Mike can't be expected to avoid Lucy during class, he is obligated to minimize contact outside of it. Outside is Lucy's preferred "escape" space and Mike is invading it or some shit, so it's supposed to have more of an impact on her psyche. Though honestly this all just seems like blatant cope on Augustus' part. He can't actually help Lucy in a meaningful way because she clams up and won't let him. And she's not going to move away from that spot during "recess" because that would be admitting she does have a problem. So Augustus can really do is get Mike to go elsewhere. Then Mike stood up for himself, which left Augustus absolutely impotent. So now Gus focuses the ensuing frustration on the one "evil" person he can bully into compliance.

>>150432366
I've said this a number of times now: There is nothing about Mike that should make Lucy feel bad she lost him to Sandy. This need to win him must be driven by pure ego.

Hopium: At least we know Paulo is going to take Mike's side, and James was a dead end for Mike at this point anyway now that hes dropped him for fucking David
It can't possibly get any worse than this so once Mike comes out the other side he'll finally be past this stupid fucking Lucy guilt trip shit and its all uphill from there
Right?

>>150430543
>Lol, ya can't post loli outside of /b/ anyway
Right, my bad.

Look, just so you know Im working on it. Looks like shit at the moment, sorry. Hopefully will look decent by the time I am done.

>>150432399
In a story written by someone else? Yes. But at this point I think that Taeshi is addicted to watching him suffer. The only move that could tempt her out of that is to make him an absolute asshole, something she adores. Maybe to compensate for Paulo turning into a soggy little bitch.

>>150432399
>It can't possibly get any worse than this so once Mike comes out the other side he'll finally be past this stupid fucking Lucy guilt trip shit and its all uphill from there.Right?
Nah Teashi could both drag this out to hell and make it worse for Mike
> Haley could get hospitalized
>Parents could be getting a divorce.
> Broken leg so he can no longer track meet anyhow
There are alot of ways taeshi could maje him suffer. Only reason I left of Chris is cause I don't think taeshi gates Mike enough to hurt a baby yet.

>>150432399
'It could always get worse' is basically BCB's motto.
For Mike, anyway.

>>150432423
She could always have Chris lose faith in his older brother. That ought to hit Mike right in the gut.

I suppose one potential evolution is for Mike to accept that he doesn't deserve love, take a page out of Lucy's book, and start pushing everyone else away. Then the comic can pretend the universe doesn't hate him and all his suffering truly is self-inflicted.

>>150432449
>suffering truly is self-inflicted.
Cause it is, he should have manned up and let Lucy keep playing with him. After all it was just a bit of roughousing. Mike is even a cheater, he went for another girl when he had Lucy(even if she rejected him first, she was joking clearly). He was even mean to Lucy, even called her a parasite. Lucy isn't even a parasite, she is just a creature who constantly needs to either be watched or cared for by a male or she cannot function and will die.

>>150432449
>>150432625
I know you're both being sarcastic, but a lot of Mike's suffering IS self-inflicted. Not all, maybe not even most. It's not Mike's fault that Lucy's an insane violent abusive liar, or that Paulo is both literally and figuratively motherless, or that his father is apparently ditching a lot. All that and more is beyond his reasonable control.

But it IS Mike's fault that he keeps stringing people along, venting or traumadumping on anyone who talks to him, making promises he obviously can't keep, and sunk-costing his mistakes. And the problems that are external, he almost TRIES to make worse; prior to EF he gravitated towards Lucy even though her presence made him miserable, and he was staying in a relationship that he'd clearly fallen out of love with. Post EF he's telling people they should hate him, actively isolating himself, and wallowing in melancholy.

At a certain point the guy's gotta stop digging, or at least start digging UP.

>>150432333
>Mike activates the "spirit bomb" by using his scarf as part of a molotov

>>150430432
This but it's Sue instead of Lucy.

>>150431356
Maybe McCain should be the one who returnts and helps Mike then. But in Disaster Dominos he had enough being told to shut up.
>>150432413
Aww come on, this is great! Leagues better than mine. Looking extra fluffy too.
>>150432441
Chapter ends with Paulo pulling a crying Mike to an isolated corner, and cuddling and making out with him to cheer him up.
>>150432418
It's not that deep, just that upmost suffering builds emotional attachment to main characters and I'm not surprised she's choosing Mike who has the strongest character arc. He'll be pushed to the furthest possible breaking point short of Love Me torture.
>>150432449
Ha, holy shit. Imagine that. Mike becomes depressed, doesn't play with Chris as often, he plays with Haley more, Haley randomlyout of nowhere calls Mike a neglgient brother. Then for whatever reason even his mom hates him. No reason he wouldn't jump off a bridge at that point.

>>150433077
It's hard to say the suffering is self inflicted when the author won't let him improve himself because she wants to keep torturing him.
Think of what positive steps he could take, now ask yourself why Taeshi would do any of that knowing her agenda.

>>150432399
My brother in suffering, do not put your hopes on the flip flopping, jealous, Lucy simp that is Paulo. If the comic gives him a chance to shit on Mike and have everyone agree with him do you think he won't take it?

>>150432297
Nice

>>150425604
Taeshi fully believes "emotional cheating" is a thing. In her mind, if you aren't 100% devoted in body mind and soul to your partner at all times and waver even for a second, you're no better than serial adulterers who have years long affairs with no remorse.

>>150427763
Mike will attempt to throw hands but Lucy will jump in and counter him just like she did with Paulo.

>>150423734 (OP)
What if Lucy is having nightmares about the alley because a member of her assailants' crew is living with her? Has to be a thought always on her mind, yeah? It would be for me.

>>150434094
Doesn't make things make more sense tho
>Augustus is triggering fear on me and making me have nightmares and he's blaming it on Mike? Sure I'm ok with that (turns to the reader) even tho I don't want it (winks)

>>150433973
>Taeshi fully believes "emotional cheating" is a thing. In her mind, if you aren't 100% devoted in body mind and soul to your partner at all times and waver even for a second, you're no better than serial adulterers who have years long affairs with no remorse.
Then Lucy is a fuckign whore who threw herself at Paulo and Augustus. The fuck does she call Lucy playing hot and cold with Mike then? I am talking before the Sandy shit got serious.

>>150434303
>Fine for me not for thee

>>150433973
>Taeshi fully believes "emotional cheating" is a thing.
Irrespective of the comic, it is a thing. I worked with a guy who spent every day hanging around and getting chummy with a married woman at work who he clearly had feelings for, and one day when we were all out to lunch we ran into her husband and it was immediately obvious that they both uncomfortable.

>>150434293
No, it doesn't. But (for my mind's sake) it's a more likely reason why Lucy is having PTSD episodes, than Mike being too close. She freaked out when Augustus pulled out his phone (thinking he was contacting Alejandro) during the ketchuping. Augustus attacking Mike makes more sense if he connected the dots too. Don't want to lose the meal ticket.

>>150433973
Where did she say this? That's ridiculous.

>>150423734 (OP)
Question, are there any characters who would be most likely to be right wing? Cause I feel like all the characters are so L.G.B.T.Q supportive enough to fully embrace leftism.

>>150434293
Why WOULDN'T Lucy of all characters be fine with that? And did she even know about this blame game before now?

>>150423786
I actually have no idea what you are referring to as a casual nonreader who go to these threads all the time

I can't remember if Agustus' dad molested him

>>150434895
David is an Uncle Ruckus level cat supremacist

>>150434895
High chance of Abbey and Jasmine. Possibly McCain, if he didn't get deleted.

>>150435033
His parents are druggies and not involved in hia life mostly if at all, wouldn't surprise me if they already chocked on their own vomit without him turning them around every now and then

>>150423826
The school are good people and would never gossip behind Lucy's back

Or a plothole

>>150435062
Possibly. I feel like Jasmine could be a religiously devout pro-L.G.B.T.Q conservative or liberal.
>>150435059
Lol, he does crush on the male cats often too but there are probably not many hot male dogs.

>>150435094
Turns out the whole "I'm bothered by every boy because of my body and that's why I'm like this" is mostly in her head and she's not as popular or desirable as we're told

>>150434553
NTA, but if the comic actually had a level-headed person heading it/writing it, exploring emotional cheating with teenagers could actually be interesting.
It would spice up Paisy WAY more at the very least. Though I guess Paulo already went through that arc with Jasmine and Lucy, but Daisy doing it (and being in denial) might have been juicy.

>>150435197
Yeah. Paulo also had all the juicy stuff with Rachel. It really is a drag how bland Paisy is.

Maybe Paulo will wind up cheating on Daisy with Mike, prompting Daisy to retaliate by cheating on Paulo (also with Mike).

>>150435352
Paulo, Daisy and Mike as a 3some via revenge cheating has potential to be far more healthy ultimately then much of what they have planned for him I suspect.

>>150433282
This buy with Sue instead of Lucy and no Mike

>>150435536
>The real reason Mike's populatrity with the ladies dropped off is cause photos of his sopaly and makeup leaked.
>Right afterwards, Pauloa nd other male cats found him more attractive.
Would be fuunnier than what we got.

>>150434303
>>150433973
That's true. Lucy kept throwing herself, specially at Paulo, even when things weren't grim between her and Mike.
Shit makes no sense, in the end, it's just as >>150434519 said.

>>150434885
I don't think she said explicitly, but there is an image people often post, which is a bunch of texts posted by Suitcase on his personal blog, where he says that he and Taeshi had some sort of ritual where they would mourn the fact that he (Suitcase) emotionally cheated on her when they were both much younger (the cheatin in question involved him exchanging words with some other girl in a sonic forum they used to access).

I mean, I do agree that to an extent there is such a thing, in the sense that nobody likes their partner exchanging romantic messages with others, although 1) I don't know if that was the case to begin with, and 2), it was a long time ago, they were both young.

>>150435527
>>150435536
amazing works anon

>>150435672
I didn't draw that I stole them from https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/candybooru/post/view/17083

>>150434895
Who the fuck cares

>>150435669
>>150434303
I don't think she said mike was cheating on lucy with sandy, more like mike was cheating on sandy with lucy and it was mike's fault for using lucy's feelings

>>150435536
This is so cute, nice to see them bonding over cosplay. Thought that was Haley but either of them, Haley or Stacy.
>>150435527
"Like what you see?"
I'm imagining one day either Mike or Paulo meeting The Flower Mage from another universe and dating/fucking.

>>150436051
>and it was mike's fault for using lucy's feelings
As opposed to the other way around?

>>150435527
>>150435536
These are excellent. If there is one character who should be comfortable with disregarding his own percieved masculinity (such as it is) to do something like this, that should be Mike. Plus it would piss Lucy the hell off and that's a big plus.

>>150435669
"Emotional cheating" sounds like a trivial thought crime. I'd have to see these words to determine if they're sufficiently flirtatious enough to remotely qualify as cheating, if they're not just passionate compliments. Hope they have a more healthy relationship than Mike and Lucy.

>>150436431
Mike is a pretty girl. David and James are 100% candidates for disregarding his masculinity.

>>150436051
>>150436390
Lucy did use and abuse Mike, but there was a time before Mike committed to Sandy where he was sort of "keeping his options open" by flirting with Lucy and stringing other girls along.

It's not clear that he did so deliberately, though, and it could easily just have been him not knowing how to draw boundaries.

>>150426868
The only people that can back Mike up against Augustus are Paulo and Daisy. Paulo would just sperg out and be mad at Mike for whatever reason. Mike can't have anything. I would just cut every one of these characters out of my life.

>>150436685
Everyone already knows what he said, he spilled the beans in Happy Hour.

>>150436636
I remember Paulo accusing Mike of that and using it as an excuse to punish him, but not that there was any basis to it beyond Mike's lingering attraction toward Lucy. He certainly was no flirt.

>>150436636
>>150436051
I don't disagree, I'm just saying lucy didn't really cheat on mike or vice versa, that last statement was more taeshi's perspective on things where the things mike did were somehow worse than lucy's when it reality it takes two to tango, in the end lucy helped "cheat" on sandy

>>150436685
>I would just cut every one of these characters out of my life.
We see how that worked out for Mike when he had a whole new friend group. He was at the healthiest point he'd been in like a decade of this comic and Lucy spawned in to ruin it and everything fell apart

>>150436764
To be fair that one wasn't on Lucy but on Paulo being a jealous wet sobbing bitch that couldn't handle his coworker not liking him more than Mike, so the table came back to haunt him and infect his life with David

>>150436764
>>150436859
that was 100% mike's fault for once, the track team group likes him and he's still obsessing over james instead of getting to know his teammates

>>150423734 (OP)
I keep seeing pages of this comic poping out. Can someone tell me what's it about? And why the MC always looks so pathetic?

>>150437015
>inb4 someone promotes the comic to another bait post

>>150437015
It's a romantic drama and the main character is depressed cause he's an invalidated abuse victim.

>>150436942
It's so poorly explained that I just blame this on Taeshi, much like Paisy's current state.

>>150423734 (OP)
This comic isn't sweet at all, its just shit.
Bittershit Candy Bowl.

>>150437015
Long story short, Grey Cat has terrible friends and romantic relationships.

>White Cat romance 1 was childhood friend who was an abusive tard who sperged when he was tired of being strung along and moved on to other White Cat Idol. When he told her off and then soon rescinded for going too far, she tried to an hero off a roof. Now he fwels guilty for her suicide attempt and she gaslights him / turns people against him over it while trying to remain "innocent"
>White Cat romance 2 basically ghosts him and even cheats on him. She guilts him into taking her back because she feels like she goofed and he is like her only childhood tether left.
>Friends treat him like second fiddle if they dont think they have a chance to score with hi. Will throw him under the bus no problem in favor of white cat

This on top of pressure from his mom to be the perfect son and all that has led him to feel like shit constantly and the plot continues to go out of the way to make him look bad or suffer

>>150437101
>>150437263
Thx guys.

>>150437181
>If Lucy is involved it's her fault not Mike's
>If Lucy isn't involved, then it's another character working on her behalf and not Mike's fault
>If literally no one else is involved but Mike then it's Taeshi's fault but never Mike

>>150437335
Mike fucks up too like with EF, but the plot tends to bend over backwards or make characters act inconsistent to fuck with him and make him look bad. See teleporting Lucy or Augustus pulling this shit when he used to sympathize with Mike. Augustus trying to ban Mike from going outside is nonsensical

>>150423734 (OP)
I just realized how long Lucy's arm is in panel 4 thanks to the fucked up perspective.

>>150437335
I literally just gave you a separate example with Paulo and Daisy, you disingenuous ape.

>>150437550
Lucy has more characters acting for her sake post December then pre too.

>>150433803
Sorry anon, but I gotta call bullshit. Yeah, large parts of BCB are so sloppily written that one can't discuss them WITHOUT resorting to meta-analysis (like the blatant retcons, for instance). But Mike DOES largely make his own suffering.

Basically, >>150437335 has a point. The meta-level where all the dumb bullshit is Taeshi's fault isn't wrong, but on a character level Mike is a fuck-up and kind of a shitheel.

He's still less of a shit than Lucy "Parasite" whitecat or Paulo "Soggy" Bitch, though.

>>150438299
>kind of a shitheel
I cannot see someone who is psychologically driven to help others, even to his own detriment, that way.

new preview

>>150438575
I still do not understand why Daisy acts so head over heels for Paulo. You'd think she was trying to keep her own hype level up.

>>150438575
Wanna say I can't believe Mike's life being destroyed is being followed up with more saccharine Paisy shit but, well, what else is there?

>>150438851
This is probably a ways off. The Mike crashout WIP is from four months ago and we still haven't seen it.

>>150438575
Lucy's coming back.
>>150438609
Or that.

>>150438575
>Daisy prepares to inhale Paulo and absorb his abilities

>>150438299
>kind of a shitheel
He's just a pushover. Most bad things he's done have been driven by loyalty to someone else. It's why so many people want to see him free from Sandy; if he could just worry about his own happiness and well-being for five minutes instead of anyone else's, he might stop fucking up all the time.

>>150438851
Why not? The comic kept pingponging back and forth between the tiresome Mike/Sandy/Lucy slog and the boring will-they-won't-they-who-fucking-cares scenario. Even if that wasn't the case, a drama-killing "comedic" breather episode is right up Taeshi's alley.

>>150439395
>finally takes everyone's advice to prioritize his own well-being
>immediately leaves the table
>comic is now all about Paisy and Lucy

>>150438575
I honestly can't decide what im more sick of: Mike being depressed about Lucy, or PauloxDaisy
Unfortunately thats kind of the entire comic. Where do we even go from here? Paulo doesnt give a shit about higher education and the "slacker suddenly starts applying himself and does well in school once motivated" arc belongs to Augustus. Either the comic ends, or they break up

Mike becomes trans

>>150439539
Oh that's simple, anon. See, Taeshi has basically written Abbey out of the comic. So now Augustus can take up his mantle as the angry close-minded white knight with family trauma and his current milquetoast eunuch arc can be safely bequeathed to Paulo.

>>150439395
>He's just a pushover. Most bad things he's done have been driven by loyalty to someone else. It's why so many people want to see him free from Sandy; if he could just worry about his own happiness and well-being for five minutes instead of anyone else's, he might stop fucking up all the time.


Honestly I'd rather see Mike free from Sand AND the table group. I legit think that if he moved to another city and managed to cut sandy off then he'd actually start getting better.

We're at the point where the guy can't do a single thing because the moment he starts to actually enjoy life, someone or something will come out of the blue to hit him with "Lucy jumping was your fault" and/or snatch whatever short term happiness he had away. He can't even get upset about shit because it always backfires even when he has a good reason.


Mike really just needs to go to another city. At minimum go to another school but odds are the moment he does, his old baggage will gain a connection there.

>>150437181
>poorly explained
Mike is obsessed with James because James lovebombed him, and he doesn't give a fuck about the track team because they didn't. What's hard to understand about that?

>>150439944
Knowing that Mike wanted James' romantic affection all along actually makes that page really good foreshadowing, how it starts with the entire track team with James on the side and immediately he focuses on James alone

>>150439944
Mike is having a bad case of tunnel vision, which is his fault. Mike feeling like the track team is a new start, especially with James glazing him and introducing him at the same time isn't bad on paper. I just think the way Taeshi got to this point was retarded as all hell. James couldn't have lost interest like a normal person because that would still leave him and Mike as friends. We had to get david's dumb ass to be the reason for it while making james look shitty in the process.

Personally, I still don't even think it was planned to go this way when the track team was introduced. In my mind they were an attempt for Taeshi to get people to stop hating mike so much in her fandom, but then she couldn't help piling on the drama and suffering for him, so we had the end of the movie date.

>>150439780
always has been

>>150440048
> we had the end of the movie date.
I think it might have intended to serve another purpose. If we examine the pic of >>150439944 and say that big eared guy is some breed of chihuaha, then the track team is initially 3 dogs, 3 cats. Mike joining unbalances the numbers, so then Taeshi immediately has to manipulate events so that a dog joins.

>>150430432
McCain escaping fancharacter prison to save Sue from the comic.

>>150438609
Its really fun being in love with someone who ostensibly loves you back.

>>150439944
>Finn up front
>"Finn and the others"
huh, is Finn the leader?

>>150438566
>>150439395
This might just be me, but I don't think that trying to avoid conflict and please others is a virtue, and Mike is kind of a good demonstration as to why. He has a very low tolerance for conflict because it stresses him out, and so he avoids conflict or disagreement even when it's objectively the right move. And when he DOES finally disagree, it stresses him out so much that he starts screaming and crying.

Like, I'm sure in Mike's head he just doesn't want to upset anyone, but he's creating situations that WILL upset everyone, all because saying "no" terrifies him. So ultimately he IS putting his own happiness and well-being above everyone else's - it's just that his sense of well-being is oriented around never saying "no".

I also think that Mike fell out of love with Sandy a while before EF and his main motive for staying was (and still is) the same terror of saying "no", combined with sunk cost.

>>150440920
Of course he is, he's the tallest.

If even notorious Woman Respector Abbey wasn't too particularly worked up when Mike told the group what he'd said to Lucy, then this alone won't be enough to piss James off. We're heading for a DEFCON 1 nuclear Spergmike event (picrel). Maybe David tries to step in and gets screeched at

>>150425742
Now if only she had the sense to recontextualize David's memey shit as obnoxious stunts he does to make up for the attention he never got at home instead of leaving him as is I wouldn't hate him so much.

>>150441921
Mike blows up and calls Augustus a faggot in front of James, making him cry femboy tears

>>150436753
>He certainly was no flirt.
Pretty positive Mike even screams at other girls for that. not sperging but putting his foot down (remember when he was allowed to do that?).

>>150441921
David would just make things worse. If Mike got in a fight right here, David would not help, he would just criticize Mike.

>>150431977
I think as a defense mechanism I forget what happened in the real pages and only remember the parodies like half the time.

>>150423999
In universe wasn't that like maybe six months ago, you're not wrong I just want to point out how fucking ridiculously slow this fucking comic moves

>>150441921
I hope Mike knocks Augustus on his ass
If this was a real high school nobody would ever take him seriously ever again if he got beat by a manlet

A small part of me wants to believe that Taeshi does know this is completely unfair. She absolutely loves it, of course. But it would be nice if she was rationalizing this endless cycle of self-indulgence as a necessary part of Mike's arc. Hence why, as she finally deigns to move on, Taeshi originally announced the comic would end in 13 or so chapters. Of course, the fact she abandoned that deadline would suggest the next phase of Mike's "arc" somehow reinvigorated her interest. Which is hard to imagine unless she discovered a new realm of torments to inflict upon him.

>>150444214
>Which is hard to imagine unless she discovered a new realm of torments to inflict upon him.
I feel she's gonna move on to another character if this shit continues, she had her paulo phase, she's now in her mike phase, maybe she goes back to paulo? or maybe augustus

>>150443579
December was a little more than a year ago in-universe, but the comic timeskipped most of summer vacation for some reason.

But discerning the timeline is legitimately difficult in this nonlinear nightmare of a comic. Between the chapters which are actually flashbacks, the massive retcons, and the fact that the amount of time that passes between chapters is mostly indeterminate, about the best you can do is note the chapters which have holidays or parties, cross-reference with the birthdays listed in the about section, and extrapolate.

But of course, even that method assumes that Taeshi actually keeps track of events herself and tries to keep consistency, which she clearly does not, given the constant continuity errors large and small; pic related.

>>150439808
We just saw Abbey and his whole therapy thing and mending his friendship with Paulo are new developments, and Paulo and Daisy hiding their relationship from him (with Paulo feeling guilty about it now that Abbey is being nice) are now an ongoing story arc. Can hardly call that writing him out. Hell its just the kind of character development people have been wanting for Mike for years

>>150430432
Are these still going on?

>>150444381
Love those dog background characters

>>150444381
Must be horrifying to live in Roseville. Reality literally breaks and dissolves around you, memory doesn't match up with what was recorded to happen, and seemingly impossible movements happen regularly.

>>150445779
>artificial fast-tracked friendship based on a line that should have gotten Paulo throttled instead
>only purpose left is to be an incidental Paisy stumbling block
Abbey has been gutted and reduced to a prop.

>>150447590
It's basically Silent Hill for kids, and the names even rhyme. Most of them can't get past their stupid petty issues thus they suffer in easily preventable ways forever.

>>150449434
You absolute fucking fool.

>>150449472
?

>>150444381
Reading the archives is always a trip. I swear half the dialogue was altered at some point.

>>150449505
The thread was at the very end of page ten. All it had to do was tick over and we could have a fresh new thread for today's royal jelly overdose of bullshit.

All
you
has
to
do
was
sage

But I guess that was just too damn hard.

>>150449552
Do we really need 85 posts to talk about the new page? It's just more of the same.

>>150449616
>d-do we really-
It's four fucking letters. I don't care about your insipid little copium farts when you couldn't be bothered to type four fucking letters.

Bew page!

>>150449896
Surely Mike will take the highroad and not say something completely out-of-character and belligerent that somehow makes him the bad guy here.

>>150449552
>Our dedicated schizo is also the guy who seethes if we don't have a fresh thread to shill the comic every new page
Get fucked faggot lmao

>>150449638
I wasn't the anon that bumped this thread. Also, take your meds.

>>150449896
James should hang around Lucy for an afternoon and he will do much worse to her than just say something mean

meanwhile on discord

I deliberately bump every thread just because I know theres a resident underage that chimps out any time one of them lasts longer than 2 days

>>150450080
>James should hang around Lucy for an afternoon and he will do much worse to her than just say something mean
I know Lucy is kind of a psycho, but come on, she doesn't deserve to get American History X'd.

>>150449964
He doesn't even have to be belligerent since Aug is the one being such a douche here, he just has to say WHY he snapped at Lucy to begin with which was half about all her years of abuse, say that he apologized to her and she seemed OK and then she jumped like the psycho she is, and then ask Aug how Daisy is doing.
...Yet he won't.

>>150450335
>he just has to say WHY he snapped at Lucy to begin with
"I snapped at her because she was being too nice and I was worried she was trying to worm her way into being my friend again which is bad because I don't want to cheat on my girlfriend"
Idk that doesn't sound like it would help things.

Come on thread *presses down on chest* one, two, *press* you can make it I have to save you!

>>150450414
How about the part where she was constantly hitting him to the point of giving him a limp/bruises/etc

>>150450227
Most of the time it's the same old posts every single thread anyway why does a new page need an entire thread for the schizoposting?

>>150449896
Having been a high school boy myself around the time BCB is set I can tell how this would go in reality: "Wow that's a pretty mean thing you said there Mike. Would you kindly fuck off now whatever the hell your name is and stop dragging up old bullshit to harass my friend before I knock the fucking shit out of you?"

>>150450506
did Mike suddenly turn on Lucy during December because she hit him?
Or because he was reminded of her violence?
Nope, he very quickly 180'd because Sandy called and he remembered he had to push away the "problem"

This was Mike's motive because he admits to it, or if you want to establish a second motive then it's so she could also feel as alone as he was (because he isolated himself for a phone)
Notice the first thing Mike says in his defense to Sandy is about how Lucy isn't getting between them anymore, I suspect the next few pages are going to confirm what was basically already fact.

>>150450848
15-ish posts here vs about 120 on the new thread
Looks like the people have spoken.

>>150449896
Pretty ppositive is tiw as literlaly everythign wrong with Lucy that sent her to the tock ward. She was piraling before December, or was that forgotten?
>>150450922
NTA, but you might be a bit of a retard of why Lucy was the fucking issue in the first place. Mike for literal years was in fucking denaila about Lucy being a shitter. Trying to just reduce it down to Sandy as the issue is the mark of a fucking retard.

>>150451580
>calling me a retard when your post looks like it was written by a stroke patient
Couldn't handle being wrong, then posted an issue Mike brought up as a complete aside from why he STARTED to December Lucy, and then explained WHY he did it to Sandy, and to Paulo
The abuse was only to explain why he chose Sandy over Lucy, not the entire reason (hence why it's never brought up again and the problem is Mike trying to stay loyal to Sandy)

>>150451631
Look I'm mad that the entire conflict between Mike and Lucy in youe eyes is being degraded down to just malding over Sandy vs the literal years of issues. I apologize for being a rude cunt.

The only one who ever made it strictly about Sandy is always Lucy. Escpailly when it about Lucy using Miek like a teddy bear emotionally and physically in the earlier volume, and him then using his own feelings of loneliness to hurt Lucy.

>>150451685
Oh I forgot, the image. Yes, from the resident white btichcat, it always abutSandy when their are like several issues outside of Sandy. It was either gonna be Sandy telling Mike something was wrong or he would figure it out years down the line and doing something bad.

>>150446408
yea