ChronosCat

I'm also surprised by how relatively nice Lucy is being. I think Diane is the sort who (short of the death of someone she's close to, or something like that) would try to avoid crying in public.

I remember He-Man and She-Ra as well, though I wasn't particularly in to them. I remember the continuing battles between Captain Crunch and the Soggies (and wanting to see more of those adventures). I remember the original Transformers cartoon, which started with a cast of over a dozen and introduced new characters every few episodes because they were trying to fit as many of the toys into the show as possible. I remember worrying about how Lucky was going to get out of that crystal cave he was trapped in. I remember how whenever a new mutant was introduced in the original TMNT cartoon, there was a good chance there was already a toy version of them out. ...So, in answer to your question, yes.

I remember back in the 80s, having the adventures of the Transformers (who they made sure you knew were available in stores) interrupted by the latest adventures of Captain Crunch or the Trix Rabbit. However, in the 90s and 00s the line between commercial and show seemed a lot less blurry - the segments that were officially labeled "commercials" rarely felt like shows in their own right any more, while the actual shows often felt like they existed to tell a story (or make you laugh) first, and to sell stuff second (in fact in many cases it felt like any merchandise related to the show was an after-thought). It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to watch kids' shows on commercial television, so I have no idea if those trends have continued. (I have noticed however that most commercials aimed at adults these days are pretty boring, at least on the stations I get... I never thought I would miss entertaining commercials!)

https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-017 First seen on Patreon back in February. I never got around to mentioning it the first time, but I really like this outfit.

For some strange reason, this reminds me of my childhood, when half-hour toy commercials had breaks every now and then to show short films about cereal, snacks, and other toys. Anyway, yay for starburst background in panel three!

I do get where you're coming from (in fact, I have Asperger's myself, though it sound like it manifests a bit differently in me than it does in you). It seems to me that the biggest difference between the two of us in regards to this issue is that I had it driven home to me as a child (thanks primarily to being bullied) that revealing too much of myself puts me in an extremely vulnerable position, and will often lead to pain. It thus seems worth the effort to me to hide parts of myself I suspect others will not approve of, at least with people I have to interact with in person. (And by "hide" I mean "intentionally fail to mention or show", not "cover up with untruths or false evidence"; I don't know where you stand on the matter, but to me there's a big difference.) I'm happy for you that you feel up to handling the consequences of being yourself. ...Bringing things back to Diane (and raising a similar point to hkmaly), I don't think we know enough to say if she was being deceptive or how much. It's possible that she never implied to her boyfriends that they'd ever get to actual sex, in which case (not knowing of the rumors) she had no reason to suspect they had any reason to think they'd get that far beyond the presumptuous assumption that dating is always supposed to lead to that. There's also the question of how aware she was of the fact the boys were expecting sex; if she knew but didn't correct their misconception then it could be argued that she was being deceptive (though I see that as less deceptive than actively lying to them would have been); however given the current revelations it's also possible she was naive enough to think they were just happy to hang out with her.

In my experience, those who don't care about you are more likely to intentionally hurt you than those that do (mind you there are exceptions, and those hurt the most, but on average it's better to have people care about you). As a result I'm always concerned about what people think of me, even though I'm never quite sure what the best way to make a good impression is and I usually have no idea how well I'm doing. It's only with certain family members I trust, or online where I have the "mask" of a pseudonym and avatar that I feel I can relax and truly be myself. (Not that my "real life" persona is a lie, per sey, I just leave a lot of myself out of it, and always try to present myself in what I believe to be the best possible light.) As for Diane, perhaps it's our perspective as readers (and knowing how Nanase used to think of her), or the fact that I'm used to consciously thinking about social interactions and how I might be perceived, but I'm still quite surprised that Diane didn't expect from the start that her actions would lead to this sort of reputation. Still, like you said, it is easy to imagine what she must be feeling right now. (It reminds me a bit of when I realized the kids in school were divided into those who were indifferent to me and those who disliked me, though I was in first grade at the time not high school, and at least Diane has a few friends/potential-friends to support her.) ...Speaking of Diane's "friends", I hope either Lucy is a better friend than she seems to be or Diane knows better than to expect much support from her, because otherwise Diane is in for an even more painful blow sometime soon... That was what I was thinking. Well, either that or Rhoda was just a bit shy and she's learning to overcome that, particularly around Catalina, but what are the chances of that? While EGS may be officially set in 200X, I think a lot of the teen (and pre-teen) character interactions in it are based on Dan's experiences in school in the 90s. So in a sense the comic was dated even before it began. Then again, I suspect the vast majority of stories about children and teens reflect the childhoods of their authors more than they do children of the era the stories are released in...

https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-016 Another older Patreon post making it's way into the Sketchbook. I like her blue hair & fur. (Blue is the best color for fur! At lest for us cat-people that don't need camouflage.) It struck me reading the commentary that Felix is referred to as "she". I had forgotten Felix was trans in her birth form (or so Pandora says; thank you Shiveapedia).

I'm a little surprised (and feel a bit sorry for her) that Diane apparently never suspected she had that sort of reputation. Really, given the way she and her friends "dated" so many boys (particularly with it being pretty clear Diane and Lucy at least never cared for any of them) it was almost inevitable that they'd all be seen this way (Rhoda's shyness and sweetness might have protected her somewhat) with Diane being the focus of that perception thanks both to being the leader of the group and blonde (her hair color is also probably where the "bimbo" perception comes from). I wonder if she overlooked this possibility because she was fairly young when she started toying with boys and didn't think things through and/or know better, or if she was just arrogant enough to think she'd never be looked down on that way. (I had previously assumed she knew how her group looked to others, particularly boys, and just didn't care, but her reaction in this strip suggests otherwise.) ...At any rate, her expression in panel four is cute. Apparently that a drastic hair-cut (and outfit change) might lead to those who don't know her well not recognizing her was something else that didn't occur to her (even after Rhoda alluded to that idea).

I would imagine the fact that it's a historic district is why they're still in use. Someone presumably decided it wasn't enough just to keep the historic buildings around, they should keep the historic roads too. I've been to a part of Boston with brick roads; it may not be comfortable to ride on, but it certainly looks cool.

I mentioned before that I think it looks like something an android (or gynoid, rather) would wear. Dan implied somewhere (either a commentary or a tweet) that it's based on a hair style commonly worn by Romulans.

Yeah, the entire comic hasn't fit on my screen at once for a decade or so, since the switch to vertically orientated comics. Shortly before Goonmanji 2? It wouldn't be the first time non-canon events influenced canon ones (Grace's squirrel plushie comes to mind as an example). I'm guessing Dan either decided he didn't want to wait to introduce her new hair style to the canon comics, or he forgot that her hair wasn't that long the last time we saw her in canon. EDIT: Oops, I forgot! Yay for starburst background in panels 1 & 4!

I prefer the option Dan mentioned in one of the commentaries (I don't remember which one) that Grace-a-Monsters are actually all immortals; the "rules" Graces follow are this world's version of Immortal Laws. (Why all the immortals decided to use the same face and call themselves "Grace" Dan didn't explain, but I'm willing to go with it anyway.) I assume it was a typo... It's been that way for years - since the move to 910 CMX in 2009, I think. If I remember correctly I tried to mention it to Dan once years ago (along with some other errors introduced in the move), but he never replied (or fixed any of the problems I'd mentioned), so I don't know if he got my message.

Yeah, based on the dialog it's entirely possible the kids teasing her don't even know she's adopted (though in that case they're going to be wondering what she means by "they didn't have to" if they stop to think about it). I haven't had much contact with children since I was a child myself, and my mental development was a bit unusual, but the impression I've got from both the media and lay-person-level presentations of scientific studies suggests that children usually start stereotyping "boys" and "girls" (and absorbing the existing cultural stereotypes about them) roughly in the 3-4 year old range.

I have no idea who used it that way first, but I know there have been a few times I've been about to type "magic reset" before remembering that it was a "change" and that "reset" applied to immortals; I'm sure there were times I didn't catch myself.

https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-012 This was on Patreon a while back, but since it's been so long I figured there ought to be a new thread for the sketchbook version. Gotta say, I like this look.

How do you determine what kind of (ocean going) ship a (relation-) ship is?

https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-013 https://www.patreon.com/posts/20790573 What I would have liked to see would have been Tedd's first reaction to seeing/interacting with Mall-Goth Elliot... This is still pretty cute, though.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/single-rhoda-20624469 https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-015

https://www.patreon.com/posts/double-pet-ellen-20745923 https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-011 Again, meow! ...Interesting, that's not the shade of green I was expecting (based on the shade of it in grayscale I was picturing it on the pale side).

Were you aware they've been pumping out at least one a year for the past twenty years? I don't think they're going to stop anytime soon. (Not that I've seen them all - the last one my sister bothered getting a copy of was the fourth one, and if it wasn't for watching them with her I probably would have stopped with the first or second.)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/extra-girly-20642999 https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-010 Very cute. I particularly like Ashley's outfit, and the interaction between Ashley and Grace. Also, I wasn't sure at first about Ellen's new hair style, but I think it works here. Oh, and I can't pass up the opportunity to say: Yay for bubbly background!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/double-pet-diane-20593793 https://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2018-009 I've said it before, and I know I'll say it again: meow!

Well, some people seem to think you can't have too many ways to kill people. You'd think after a few Godzilla attacks they might have learned their lesson, but no such luck.

If it weren't for the fact that she's still getting used to the idea of being not-entirely-straight, I'd say Sarah was a good candidate. We know she has always had an interest in transformation, even if she was too traumatized by the cat-girl incident to make use of the TFG until Grace's Birthday Party, and I can definitely see her cutting loose online in ways she would be reluctant to do in person. However, I doubt she would have gone so far as to date a girl online back when she considered herself straight.