Based on the comments from the last few pages, I think most of you saw this coming. Those who didn't expect it, still dreaded the possibility. And I want to add that I do hear you when you say this literally can't happen because of the reader ballot. I can't respond to anything directly; all I can say is please keep reading.
As a lighter side note, I've always considered the story to be PG-13. Now, the rules of that rating allow for one "f-bomb". I'm still undecided on whether or not I'll ever use it, but I came real close to having Rain drop it in the last panel. It'd make sense and all given the situation, but somehow, it still just didn't sound right coming out of her. ^^;
What the hell? How is someone using my account name on here?!
Whoever posted that message was MOST CERTAINLY NOT ME. I've been a huge fan of Rain for many years and would *NEVER* use such disrespectful language.
@Jocelyn: I apologise on behalf of whichever idiot has stolen my identity on here and can only reiterate that whoever made this extremely rude post does not speak for me.
A set up! This has got to be some kind of set up! The question is who's behind this? Debbie, Todd, Quentin, mr. Strongwell. Hell, any one of them or all of them, could be in cahoots.
Yep. Was kinda obvious that Rain had more votes than Emily. And then when the school system accumulates the votes, what else should it return?
I gotta say you've outdone yourself in the last panel. Probably the best, most detailed and most emotional facial expression in any issue so far. Add that together the extensive coloring.
I can honestly say a few pages back I thought about this scenario and actually went back to comic (1140- Check one) to see if there was a chance it could happen, sure enough R. Flaherty is on the side with the male names.
As for why this plot twist happened despite Jocelyn telling us for months that it wouldn't .... Come on people it's her comic and she totally faked us out, give her credit for keeping this plot twist mostly unexpected.
As for the PG-13 thing
This is totally the perfect F-bomb opportunity although I think the word has become far more common in media
It's pages like this that make me wish I wasn't up to date and having to wait for the next post... I just want to hammer the "Next>" button until it loads the next one XD
Maria though. Maria would totally drop that F-bomb.
While many of us saw this coming, and frankly it was probably the right move from a narrative stand point, I question whether or not Rain was actually well known enough/popular enough for this to ACTUALLY happen.
Out of EVERYONE else, it was her...that said, onward! To the next page!
Yeah, I was sort of surprised when Emily got called up, because while the male side is anyone's game, I was pretty sure our favorite main character had won the girl side of the poll. Especially since at the time she hadn't indicated not WANTING to win. And as we can see in-universe, Rain was clearly so overwhelmingly popular that she won even though everyone, failing to realize that she was on the King side, put a competing vote against her on every ballot that voted for her. That probably means that, if she'd just been on the Queen side as normal, she'd have won by a HUGE margin.
at first i was all, NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!
but when i got to panel 7... ROFLMAO over and over and over. the look on her face is priceless. its bewilderment, shock, anger, surprise, and oddly joy.
i dont know what you are going for here @jocelyn, but i have faith in you that it will all turn out good. i saw this coming though in all honesty when devon asked Rain if Ryan was her real name a few pages back. but hoped it wouldn't happen.
with that said... Rain has matured, like a lot, the last few chapters. she has faced many tough situations with grace and a tough skin. all the while staying upbeat and positive about it all. she has found a kindred spirit with Ana, found a supporting soul in Emily, and come to realize that she is SHE, not some he-she trying to fake it and fool everybody. this is her moment to show them all that she is stronger than everybody outside of her group of friends think she is, and i have confidence in her staying strong and showing grace under fire. when all else fails, if she falters and bungles everything up there is always Aunt Fara in the background watching this all, who will never let her down, and would go down in flames to make sure that Rain doesn't.
Gotta say, I figured the audience vote would remove the potential for drama for the Prom King title.
My bet is that Rain informs mic guy that there's been some kinda mix-up, and the crown goes to whichever guy is in second place (the actual audience-vote winner).
But holy crap, good job turning a potentially mundane event (not really many exciting candidates compared to Prom Queen) into a dramatic gut punch.
A+ writing.
The same situation happened at my Senior Prom, but opposite. His middle name was Ashley, so the people counting the ballots read his first name as "Michelle" instead of "Michael" and counted his votes for Queen. Everyone was a good sport about it, and they quickly fixed the mix-up (he won King by a landslide anyway), but during those few minutes he proceeded to OWN the Prom Queen title.
i mean, the reader ballot only really counted towards the end result. what i expect is that we'll get a double twist because the school realizes this can't be right, and then the real prom king will end up being something crazy (e.g. Ky somehow despite the fact that they don't go to this school and also are not a senior)
I can see no way in which this does not go directly against comments you have made. I have not gone back to check if there were any "clever" tricks but this cannot be squared with the general sense of your promises.
But in all seriousness, I can't wait to see where this goes! I understand it's probably one of Rain's worst nightmares, but i'm sure you didn't deploy this panel just to torture poor Rain here, so I have faith in where ever you might take this.
So my theory: Rain and Emily had a draw in the readers' vote. Now somebody (maybe Emily) will say: Hey you got this mixed up, her name is Rain and she is a girl, now what?
And then they will make both of them queen and see who is voted king. What this means about outing herself or anything I don't want to speculate about but I am sure the situation will result fine even though pretty stressful right now for Rain!
I am super-unhappy. I realize that there are directions this could go that are less terrible the usual 'wacky shenanigans' one could generally expect, but even with that in mind, I am super-unhappy. I had been chortling to myself at the other commenters worrying this might happen, 'knowing' it was guaranteed not to because reader poll, so this feels like a tremendous slap in the face.
Whatever you're doing this for, I hate that you're doing this to get there. When Kellen cut Rain's hair without her consent, it made me deeply uncomfortable, but I could appreciate the realness of it. When Rain agreed to misgender herself for her friends' sake, I could appreciate the nobility of it. Some random misgendering her in front of the whole school due to author's convenience confluence of events? No. Not on board at all.
Maybe you'll change my mind next page, but I doubt it, and even if by some slim chance you do, you still shouldn't have made me sit with this until then.
My bff is working her way through the Steven Universe episodes now. She just finished Season 3.
I’ve tried very, very hard to avoid her getting any spoilers, especially for the BIG surprise near the end of Season 5.
I thought, after she heard the big surprise at the end of Season 3, that I might have to ask her to trust Rebecca, or trust me. Trust that the story will still be good, even after it turns out that you-know-who did you-know-what, which was a big shock to Steven, and probably to many viewers.
Turned out it wasn’t necessary; she’s still enthusiastic about the show and still watching it.
My point is, sometimes an artwork will take an unexpected turn, and some readers or viewers will be very turned off by that turn, as has happened here.
The question to ask yourself, when that happens, is: Do you trust this artist? Do you believe that she knows what she’s doing, and she’s not just making a big mess of the work she’s been creating for the last several years?
I trust Jocelyn. (Even though she misinterpreted one of my comments a couple of years ago and took off on me.) I trust her not to ruin her own work. I trust her to make good art.
I will keep reading, and wait to see how this comes out. I think it will be good.
This utterly sucks. I've been posting regularly on here for literally years under this name and trying to be a positive member of this community and a random stranger on a guest account can use my name to harass one of my favourite artists on here?
I'm gonna keep on eye on that for you. I really did think it was strange when it seemed like "you" were saying something like that to me. Because like you said, you've been commenting here for a long time and never once behaved like that before. But I also recognize this page has drawn some intense reactions from some folks, and part of me just worried I'd crossed that line for you.
At least now that I know, I'll try to be very mindful of familiar names using guest accounts to say out-of-character things going forward. I'm moderating comments right now anyway, so I'll just need to pay a little closer attention to little details and guest accounts. So, to all long-time posters, try not to forget your passwords. XD
Seriously, I am so sorry you got mixed up in this.
I didn't actually expect this, but ever since the plan to get everyone into prom got pitched, I was scared that using rain's old name was not as innocent as they thought. Back then I already wondered if this would lead to some people finding out? But never linked it to the prom king/queen vote though. Not this publicly
Oh this is so painful I love/hate it so much! Thanks Jocelyn for this wild craziness! It's amazing and I can't wait to see where you're going with this!!!
I trust you, @Jocelyn, because in the 9 years this comic has been running you've never led me down a path I didn't enjoy (even if it hurt, such as Kellen's infamous haircut). BUT, having explicitly siad the girls would have a mostly-good night and that Rain wouldn't be crowned king -- implicitly 'not at all' rather than 'not permanently' -- this does feel unfair to the readers, and a slap in the face to anyone who took your words at face value. I get wanting to reply to comments or drop teasers or give folks hope for Rain's school-life long-term, but I would have been much "happier" with this development if you hadn't made those comments.
I'm really hoping my current feelings on the matter don't color the rest of my reading of this chapter. I want to enjoy the changes the next 6-ish pages bring, which I know were probably very carefully planned.
Ah... this really really stresses (if not outright breaks) verisimilitude.
This is simulating a high-school reality. The STUDENTS would be the ones voting for King and Queen. And... no one would have heard of Ryan, so no one would vote for him. There'd probably be a lot of confusion over this. Rain would have been asked repeatedly 'Who's this Ryan guy on the ballot? Is he related to you?' WELL before this point. Indeed, she would have seen her deadname on the ballot and, at the very least, seen the possibility of this coming and not have been completely blindsided by this.
I see this comment a lot, but I think people are forgetting that we've seen the ballot already. It only lists the nominees' first initials. None of the other students could question who "Ryan Flaherty" is, because the average student literally never sees that name. They see the ballot listing R. Flaherty and know that can only be "Rain Flaherty". Hence why the peanut gallery in panels 3-6 all sound so confused by this name. http://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/1140/
The average student also doesn't know that Rain registered for prom actively and intentionally using her still legal deadname. She was trying to slip Chanel past the rules barrier and get her into prom as her guest by purposely having the school assume the wrong gender. Rain figured "Ryan" (the name she's enrolled with the school as) would only be seen by school administration - who don't know her and couldn't make any connections to her - and whoever was working check-in at prom. She figured that those would be easy enough to get around without causing too much trouble for herself. And for what it's worth, she was right insofar as the plan got her and Chanel into prom rather painlessly. http://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/953/
I can't say much else for the time being, but I've been alluding to this possibility for a long time. As such, I tried to make sure the setup was handled just right. Still, I am sorry if there's been any confusion.
A lot of people sure have missed that part where Jocelyn said this wouldn't just be a comedy webcomic, but that it would deal with some of the heavy-hitting aspects of LGBT life. It's not much of a story if everything is always hunky-dory and free of conflict and drama; and it's unfair to get mad at the author for wanting to show this aspect of our lives when she stated from the beginning it's how it would be. I understand y'all don't wanna see anything bad happen to the star character but, idk, welcome to life?
I hope it does out her, though, tbh. Follow-through! It'll be insane ;w;
I'm sorry. That's... harsh, but you're entitled to that.
As stated above: all I can say is please keep reading.
Girl. God dammit. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Whoever posted that message was MOST CERTAINLY NOT ME. I've been a huge fan of Rain for many years and would *NEVER* use such disrespectful language.
@Jocelyn: I apologise on behalf of whichever idiot has stolen my identity on here and can only reiterate that whoever made this extremely rude post does not speak for me.
I thought, “no way that'll happen,” and now… shittttttt this is the best twist.
How dare you make me wait 2 days for another page
Smfh
As a PG13 comic you should totally be allowed more F bombs and this was a highly appropriate place for one.
I gotta say you've outdone yourself in the last panel. Probably the best, most detailed and most emotional facial expression in any issue so far. Add that together the extensive coloring.
I hope something good comes out of this >.<
As for why this plot twist happened despite Jocelyn telling us for months that it wouldn't .... Come on people it's her comic and she totally faked us out, give her credit for keeping this plot twist mostly unexpected.
As for the PG-13 thing
This is totally the perfect F-bomb opportunity although I think the word has become far more common in media
Maria though. Maria would totally drop that F-bomb.
Eagerly looking forward to more @Jocelyn.
Out of EVERYONE else, it was her...that said, onward! To the next page!
but when i got to panel 7... ROFLMAO over and over and over. the look on her face is priceless. its bewilderment, shock, anger, surprise, and oddly joy.
i dont know what you are going for here @jocelyn, but i have faith in you that it will all turn out good. i saw this coming though in all honesty when devon asked Rain if Ryan was her real name a few pages back. but hoped it wouldn't happen.
with that said... Rain has matured, like a lot, the last few chapters. she has faced many tough situations with grace and a tough skin. all the while staying upbeat and positive about it all. she has found a kindred spirit with Ana, found a supporting soul in Emily, and come to realize that she is SHE, not some he-she trying to fake it and fool everybody. this is her moment to show them all that she is stronger than everybody outside of her group of friends think she is, and i have confidence in her staying strong and showing grace under fire. when all else fails, if she falters and bungles everything up there is always Aunt Fara in the background watching this all, who will never let her down, and would go down in flames to make sure that Rain doesn't.
My bet is that Rain informs mic guy that there's been some kinda mix-up, and the crown goes to whichever guy is in second place (the actual audience-vote winner).
But holy crap, good job turning a potentially mundane event (not really many exciting candidates compared to Prom Queen) into a dramatic gut punch.
A+ writing.
people voted great!
she got voted King, that has to be crazy stressful.
@Jocelyn I can't f'ing believe you had the balls to do that to us.
(There.... I just got even, on behalf of all the readership, lol!)
Ok, now it's time for Rain to wake up from her little daydreamed side-trip and that was just her imagination run wild.
I can't explain myself or what's going on yet, so all I can say is please be patient and have faith in me.
But in all seriousness, I can't wait to see where this goes! I understand it's probably one of Rain's worst nightmares, but i'm sure you didn't deploy this panel just to torture poor Rain here, so I have faith in where ever you might take this.
Keep on trucking, hateful comments or not :)
And then they will make both of them queen and see who is voted king. What this means about outing herself or anything I don't want to speculate about but I am sure the situation will result fine even though pretty stressful right now for Rain!
Whatever you're doing this for, I hate that you're doing this to get there. When Kellen cut Rain's hair without her consent, it made me deeply uncomfortable, but I could appreciate the realness of it. When Rain agreed to misgender herself for her friends' sake, I could appreciate the nobility of it. Some random misgendering her in front of the whole school due to author's convenience confluence of events? No. Not on board at all.
Maybe you'll change my mind next page, but I doubt it, and even if by some slim chance you do, you still shouldn't have made me sit with this until then.
I’ve tried very, very hard to avoid her getting any spoilers, especially for the BIG surprise near the end of Season 5.
I thought, after she heard the big surprise at the end of Season 3, that I might have to ask her to trust Rebecca, or trust me. Trust that the story will still be good, even after it turns out that you-know-who did you-know-what, which was a big shock to Steven, and probably to many viewers.
Turned out it wasn’t necessary; she’s still enthusiastic about the show and still watching it.
My point is, sometimes an artwork will take an unexpected turn, and some readers or viewers will be very turned off by that turn, as has happened here.
The question to ask yourself, when that happens, is: Do you trust this artist? Do you believe that she knows what she’s doing, and she’s not just making a big mess of the work she’s been creating for the last several years?
I trust Jocelyn. (Even though she misinterpreted one of my comments a couple of years ago and took off on me.) I trust her not to ruin her own work. I trust her to make good art.
I will keep reading, and wait to see how this comes out. I think it will be good.
This is appalling. :(
I'm gonna keep on eye on that for you. I really did think it was strange when it seemed like "you" were saying something like that to me. Because like you said, you've been commenting here for a long time and never once behaved like that before. But I also recognize this page has drawn some intense reactions from some folks, and part of me just worried I'd crossed that line for you.
At least now that I know, I'll try to be very mindful of familiar names using guest accounts to say out-of-character things going forward. I'm moderating comments right now anyway, so I'll just need to pay a little closer attention to little details and guest accounts. So, to all long-time posters, try not to forget your passwords. XD
Seriously, I am so sorry you got mixed up in this.
I should probably look into getting an avatar, as afaik guest accounts can't use them. I have just the image in mind...
I didn't actually expect this, but ever since the plan to get everyone into prom got pitched, I was scared that using rain's old name was not as innocent as they thought. Back then I already wondered if this would lead to some people finding out? But never linked it to the prom king/queen vote though. Not this publicly
I'm really hoping my current feelings on the matter don't color the rest of my reading of this chapter. I want to enjoy the changes the next 6-ish pages bring, which I know were probably very carefully planned.
Ruby for King, anyone? XD
This is simulating a high-school reality. The STUDENTS would be the ones voting for King and Queen. And... no one would have heard of Ryan, so no one would vote for him. There'd probably be a lot of confusion over this. Rain would have been asked repeatedly 'Who's this Ryan guy on the ballot? Is he related to you?' WELL before this point. Indeed, she would have seen her deadname on the ballot and, at the very least, seen the possibility of this coming and not have been completely blindsided by this.
http://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/1140/
The average student also doesn't know that Rain registered for prom actively and intentionally using her still legal deadname. She was trying to slip Chanel past the rules barrier and get her into prom as her guest by purposely having the school assume the wrong gender. Rain figured "Ryan" (the name she's enrolled with the school as) would only be seen by school administration - who don't know her and couldn't make any connections to her - and whoever was working check-in at prom. She figured that those would be easy enough to get around without causing too much trouble for herself. And for what it's worth, she was right insofar as the plan got her and Chanel into prom rather painlessly.
http://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/953/
I can't say much else for the time being, but I've been alluding to this possibility for a long time. As such, I tried to make sure the setup was handled just right. Still, I am sorry if there's been any confusion.
Aaaaah I want it to end up well~ but I know it might actually not work that well.
(Originally though it would be gavin or Rubdy)