Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
Convention appearances:
Calgary Expo Calgary, AB: April 26-28
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Multiplex
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
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Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
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Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
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Medium Large
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Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
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D’aww, Robin… the last line.
… absolutely breaks my heart.
Do not press enter without double-checking, self!
For once, I agree with Robin.
Doesn’t it just make her childish, though? New lesbian has a point about Robin being a dick.
MUhhahahhahahahhaha. Sorry, your comment is just to funny. Man I’m immature.
I don’t see how it’s childish. It’s stating her feelings in a way that’s final, doesn’t use swearing like other people and doesn’t use unnecessary insults.
Also, Leslie’s being nice to Malaya because she’s the only person Malaya hasn’t been a bitch to.
“doesn’t use swearing like other people”
Swearing: among the many things almost entirely unrelated to someone’s level of maturity
Getting upset about swearing: A little-kid thing that babies do
Considering I swear a ton and included one in the very same post, it probably indicates that I’m not actually upset by it. I’m just pointing out that it doesn’t really help anyone’s case to seem “mature”.
Wow, someone really struck nerve there. Doesn’t support your point well.
Actually, adult seem to get upset about (other people) swearing more than kids, and swearing a lot does make you seem immature, mostly because kids think it makes them more mature when it doesn’t, and I think i’ll let the sentence keep running on for a little while, I like cheese, puppies are small, I’m done.
I never don’t agree with Robin, except for the few times I didn’t.
And if you can’t not follow that string of negatives, I don’t know what to tell you.
Or don’t know what not to tell us.
Or don’t not fail to forget what not to conceal from someone else.
I actually think he doesn’t know perfectly well what not to keep concealed from us. Or maybe he does.
Ah, Ken, you MAY want to reevaluate what you consider “popular.”
Who’s Ken?
Blanka.
“She knows your name! I KNEW you’d be popular here!”
“Who are you again?”
Q really needs to get a hint.
Erm, I mean Lee needs to TAKE a hint.
Or maybe I mean that Doctrine Dark needs to get a clue. Either one works.
She’s not wrong.
Both have valid points, although Malaya’s a little less well-informed than she thinks she is (The argument happened because Robin felt she needed to have sex with Manley, not the other way around).
i like ken more and more every time he shows up
Who’s Ken?
I think he means Juri.
I find it funny that Robin is the only one whose tag includes her last name. Yes, I know why that’s necessary.
At first I thought you meant her work tag, and I was utterly baffled because I couldn’t read her nametag in the second panel and wanted to know what your ninja reading kills were. Then I realised you meant the organisational tag for the strip!
that’s because the tag “Robin” usually refers to the Batman character
That is why I already acknowledged the obvious necessity.
I like Malaya more and more.
And Bobyn, while you have a valid beef with her, you can’t just tell someone to never come back. She needs work too…more so Ken needs her to work.
Obviously, Malaya felt she didn’t need it. After all, Chun-Li had to beg her to come in in the first place.
BisonKen has very low standards for popularity.Chun LiKen has a good reason to have those particular low standards, though.Yaknow, forget all of this random Malaya love. I’m glad Ken is present in the strip, even if his background status is the point, simply because it’s been a really long time since we’ve had a character who doesn’t seem to be so caught up in their own issues that they can’t be nice. He’s been treated like dirt by almost everyone and has yet to lock anyone in a cage, cheat on anyone, or blackmail anything.
I know he’s relatively new to the spotlight, but he’s actually filling the role that Amber had early on in the story. I appreciate Amber’s character growth (even though I don’t like her as a character as much lately), but it’s nice to see someone who hasn’t been horribly twisted by life in Shortpacked! yet. I’m sure it will happen eventually, but I’ll enjoy it for the moment and hope something works out for him beyond being the ignored guy friend.
Maybe he’ll get a job at McAwesome’s Parasailing and Chocolate Bakery.
It’s kind of funny how even in a strip that could have been his Dan is forced into background status due to the new girl he introduced himself. Sakura will never catch a break.
People are starting to remember Guile’s name at long last.
You mean Necro?
Naturally I mean Blanka, who else could I be talking about?
Skullomania?
Good ‘ol T. Hawk. Always looking on the bright side of life.
And Robin? I know she clearly hates your guts and has made one of the worst first impressions, but you may want to wait until you’ve had more than, what, three conversations with Malaya before you decide what she does or doesn’t deserve.
Poor M. Bison – he’s so clueless!
And Malaya needs to be careful here – the ex she’s dealing with happens to have *super speed*.
http://www.blanklabelcomics.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9072
Think Robin might return to politics next year? Vote in my poll and tell us!
sorry I’m voting Insano/ Zod in 2012
Kneel before Zod.
I’d rather knee him in the ‘zods’.
you know, i may be/probably am wrong about this, but this robin malaya beef seems a lot more direct and definite then one would assume given that they only met today and only had one comic of convo. i wonder if something might be afoot
She deserves Leslie less than you? Even if that was relevant, it’s just not true. Malaya is at least mentally stable and capable of reciprocating in a relationship. I mean, what’s her big offense? Mild dickishness, a dash of lazyness. What’s yours? Pathological impulsiveness, complete inability to consider your surroundings or the people around you, and the tendency towards short term thinking which causes great harm to the people around you in the long term.
There’s not really a case here. If we’re deciding based on “Deserved” you lose. Lucky for you Leslie isn’t some trophy and will decide based on her own tastes and values rather than any system of earnings. Suppose it might be worthwhile to see if Malaya suits Leslie or not eh?
I think you’re basing your argument on unfair information. It could be in the long run that Malaya turns out to be schizoid or something else. There’s no information stating that she’s stable… she’s mooching off friends. That is not stable.
I mean mentally stable, not financially. I’m not basing it on unfair information at all. I’m basing it on limited information. Key difference.
At the very least Malaya has not shown herself to be mentally unstable as of yet. That’s more than we can say for Robin.
It’s like at the end of a relationship when I’ve proven myself to be emotionally distant and incapable of providing the intimacy my partner required. You know who’s better than me at that point in the game? Everybody. A complete stranger is a more viable candidate because at least they haven’t proven themselves to be completely incapable of holding up their end of the relationship yet.
Or my roommate after the breakup once they realize he’s a pathological liar. Simply by not having these glaring deficits on record yet, a blank slate is a more worthy candidate than him.
Does mooching off friends make one unstable? It seems like it could be indicative of a lot of things. Lazyness, lack of motivation, general immaturity. Yeah, I suppose it could be instability. Certainly was for Scott Pilgrim. I’ll grant you that. Even so, like everything with a blank slate this is a mere possibility. Unlike Robin.
Of course, this is all irrelevant, which was the original point. Who’s the more “Worthy” candidate is a moot point in light of the fact ultimately it’s Leslie who decides. It’s quite possible that Malaya isn’t even to Leslie’s preferences at all. Leslie has been shown to enjoy Robin’s impulsiveness. She likes to have an intelligent partner, which Malaya may or may not be. Leslie certainly seems to enjoy sweetness, kindness, genuineness etc. Malaya is a snide, rude, tiny person with an unearned sense of significance. That could be a huge turn off for Leslie.
I’ve meandered off into speculation, but basically Robin’s argument was both erroneous, flawed, and premature. As much as I love Robin most days, and as much as I can understand the emotional situation making her behavior quite relatable, it doesn’t change the fact that she pretty much prematurely ejaculated “ignorant bitch” all over Malaya.
gee a fight about a relationship not built on logic. who coulda seen that one coming
Which is Pettier? Robin’s confrontation or my criticism? You be the judge;)
Your icon compels me to ominously intone, “You must choose . . . but choose wisely.”
he chose poorly.
Well, Robin is attempting to defend the emotions of someone she loves from a person who has been nothing but unpleasant to her and her friends, and who she has no reason to believe will treat Leslie any better in the long run.
She also freely admits that she doesn’t deserve Leslie herself, so it’s more than just a case of “Get away from my property”, even though I’m sure jealousy is at least a factor.
You are speculating on the mental health of a fictional character who lives in a universe with giant honey buns, alien invasions, and people getting elected to government office based on appealing to the toy geek/necrophiliac demographic. In our world she would be a nutcase. In her world she’s a quirky, eccentric, yet oddly brilliant idividual who made a ruinous personal decision in an attempt to save the whole world, lost everything that mattered to her in the process, and now seeks to prevent any more suffering to the person she hurt.
You have chosen…poorly.
I started on an argument to establish the validity of the character faults I listed by citing instances in which they have been shown in force, but now I’m just reading the archives. How does that happen every time?
Damn You Willis!!
I like Malaya. That is all.
*fistbump*
Malaya is a huge bitch. Robin can tell. I can tell. You can tell. Say aye.
So say we all.
Aye.
aye.
Aye.
Malaya sure fucking likes to swear a whole goddamn lot, am I fucking right?
She does have a bit of a pottymouth, doesn’t she?
Oh, Robin. You’ve finally managed to hit that perfect blend of self-pity and self-righteousness to make you the unambiguously most despicable character in the comic! Congratulations, please choke
*glances back up at today’s comic* Most despicable? Really? Over today’s strip? Totally not seeing it.
She’s out of line, certainly, but hardly horrible.
Huh, I find it slightly odd that she’s all frowny face at the end there. Seems like Robin didn’t really have anything powerful to fight back with, but some of it landed anyway? Maybe Malaya doesn’t believe she “deserves” a nice girl (or friend girl) either?
Seth’s views of popularity bring forth hilarity.
Poor Dan Hibiki…
Wow… so is that going to be Ken’s defining feature. The oblivious moron?
And I have to agree with Robin here. She doesn’t deserve Leslie after what she did, but neither does Malaya. Leslie is a sweet girl who deserves someone who will not only appreciate that, but compliment that aspect of her emotionally. Malaya however is far too obnoxiously rude, argumentative and swears like a bitchy sailor. Leslie deserves someone with more class than Malaya.
Well, it only makes sense that
KenM. Bison’s barometer for popularity would be whether his fellow employees know your name.The number of comics Malaya have appeared in number in the single digits and already she’s caught up in relationship drama! It’s very hard to side for or against Malaya at this point because we know pretty much NOTHING about her. However, the fact that she’s already up in everyone’s business like this isn’t helping her case.
I don’t really get the impression that Malaya has any romatic interest in Malaya at all. This feels more like the obnoxious 7th-grade-girl BS where you steal someone’s best friend and/or boyfriend just to be a bitch. B/c you can.
Malaya is probably telling to truth in this comic when she says she thinks ‘Leslie is cool’. But the REAL reason she’s giving Leslie attention? Its right there in the same speech bubble. Because it pisses Robin off.
TBH, I don’t know where everyone is getting the Malaya-warm-and-fuzzies from. Despite how you may feel about Robin, we’ve seen Maylaya be nothing but rude and generally hostile, not to mention that she’s putting Ken’s job on the line with her behavior for no apparent reason other than that she doesn’t like retail. (He did recommend her, if you recall.) Maybe there is a not-bitchy-Malaya hidden inside, somewhere, but she can’t be glimpsed from the details we’ve seen so far.
Unless you think unconcern for your friends, rudeness to random strangers, and slacking on the job are ZOMFG awesome.
If you recall The Amber/Mike ship launched for largely spiteful reasons as well. Now they’re the picture of health.
http://www.shortpacked.com/2010/comic/book-11/02-the-relationshipocalypse/smile/
Ethan started seeing Drew mostly because of peer pressure. It’s not as if their conversations are primarily one sided or anything. They’re the portrait of good communication.
http://www.shortpacked.com/2011/comic/book-12/08-this-is-so-babies/sparkholder/
Let’s not forget about Leslie and Robin, who’s relationship started out as a deception to make Ethan jealous, and only went good places from there.
I see no reason at all why this relationship couldn’t develop into something beautiful. Maybe she’ll blackmail Leslie. That seems to have a proven track record.
Dude, EVERYONE in this strip is an asshole:
-Galasso wants to enslave humanity via retail and whores his daughter out to anything that moves
-Faz is a smug self-righteous asshole who will throw anyone under the bus for a promotion
-Ethan kept his manager locked his manager in a storage closet for ages and is sort of being a dick to his boyfriend as of late
-Ninja Rick MURDERED a guy
-Amber is a domestic abuser
-Mike is a general population abuser
-And let’s not forget that Robin was a terrible girlfriend (and general human being) WELL before the sex-tape scandal even happened.
Leslie’s not even that nice herself; she just looks like a saint compared to the rest of the cast because she hasn’t, you know, done anything terrible to another human being just yet. But it’s okay that they’re terrible human beings. That’s what makes it funny.
Don’t single out Malaya for dickish behavior just because she’s new.
You forgot Ken!
Oh, the irony…
I didn’t forget Ken, actually, I just didn’t think he was important enough to mention. His only purpose in the strip so far is to introduce Malaya. So far he’s not an asshole, but then again, he’s not a character, either.
You forgot Reagan. In this strip, he has never really been an asshole, unless you count faking his own death.
Eh, it’s Reagan. Guy’s got enough assholishness on his resume already.
As I’ve said before, I like her because she’s upfront about who she is. I like people who are upfront about who they and their motives–even if they aren’t very nice/people, motives.
I think she also honestly has a soft spot for Leslie. I don’t think she’s capable of being two faced about that. It also happens to be an added bonus it pisses off Robin.
“Upfront about who she is”? I’ve seen a couple of comments talk about how “upfront” or “honest” Malaya is. Yet among the very few strips we have with Malaya, one of them is her planning to lie to her roommates about how racist Shortpacked is (she didn’t know yet, of course, that there are racists at Shortpacked). So yes, we know that Malaya is in fact a liar when it suits her, when it gets her what she wants. For all we know, the reason Ken has such a crush on Malaya is that she pretended to be in to him to get something she wanted, then started ignoring him after she got it.
Face it, we have seen NO redeeming characteristics from Malaya yet, except the *possibility* that she appreciates Leslie.
Okay, I’ve been wanting to ask this for a few days now but I just figured I missed something but now I’ve gone back and reread all her strips and I have to ask :What massive crush? We have no evidence Ken likes her as anything other thn a friend. It’s like the readers just decided he had massive unrequited crush on her and are now acting like it’s a fact.
In the May 3rd strip, he said “She has boyfriends all the time who aren’t me”; he’d be unlikely to phrase it that way if he had no romantic interest in her. However, the commenters started inferring a crush on his part well before that strip.
Well, I posted a long and detailed response to why I feel it is obvious that Ken has a crush on Malaya and it’s been obvious since this story arc began, but I don’t know if it’s been flagged as spam because of how many links (to the comic) that I included. Suffice it to say, there was more than a little evidence that Ken had a crush, even before the line “She has boyfriends all the time (who aren’t me)”
Whoa, overreaction much? I never said honest. She’s upfront about the fact she’s a not very nice person who’s not above being petty. Don’t go off on me for things I don’t say.
Upfront =! Honest. What I mean by upfront is she shows who she is.
Except for when she hides who she is, in order to profit?
Something tells me that El Fuerte is dangerously close to being genre-savvy.
I for one will speculate that at a later date, due to Mike’s manipulation, Malaya and Robin will be tricked into sleeping with each other for epic drama and lulz.
YES. THE MOST EPIC OF HATEFUCKS.
This thing must happen and it needs to be put on video.
I don’t know if Mike’ll be involved, but I do think Willis is stearing us toward a Robin-Malaya-hatefuck-relationship.
Poor Leslie.
-airfox
…and having Leslie walk in on them in bed together will stir up some serious shit.
I am always mildly disturbed at the hatred people are able to summon for fictional characters over interpersonal relationships.
Welcome to the Internet.
Oh, I’m familiar with it. It just never stops being disturbing.
I hate I hate I HATE PETER PAN!!!!
He’s kind of a douche, yeah
As characters are fictional people have no reason to hold back with their dislike. If we dislike a person we also must deal with the fact that that person is anouther thinking, feeling, being with their own life, a character in a show/comic/book/movie isn;t real and is therefore not given the benefit of the doubt. It’s also hy people wish for death instead of for them to just leave, there’s no reason to allow them to continue on as their lives aren’t real, bst to eliminate an unwelcome presence altogether.
The human mind is a strange and scary thing; as the evidence all over the Internets can attest to.
Robin….Destroy her!
The main question remaining is how this Scrappy will end up: Die for Our Ship, They Plotted A Perfectly Good Waste, or Rescue from the Scrappy Heap.
Well if you ask THIS TROPER,
Go Malaya!
Robin says that she doesn’t deserve Leslie. So that mean she acknowledges that she screwed up. She’s not being self-righteous.
Malaya says she likes Leslie because Leslie is nice to her. But Ken is also nice to her, and she treats him like dirt. I wonder how she’ll end up treating Leslie?
Also, she downright says that she is interested in Leslie to piss Robin off. Yes, that is totally healthy and a nice thing to do! Date somebody’s ex just to spite them. That’s not unfair to Leslie at all! /sarcasm
The question, though: is she interested because it pisses Robin off, or is she interested regardless but making sure Robin knows because telling Robin pisses Robin off? Things aren’t always black and white – or always about Robin.
Ken isn’t nice to her. He’s “nice” to her, aka pushy, needy, passive-aggressive and unwilling to take a hint.
Oh, Sean, your optimism is so misplaced.
Robin pretty much starts this off wrong for suggesting, to a person she just met, that that person go away and insinuating that this person will probably hurt her former girlfriend. It’s kind of a big leap of logic. And it’s not like Robin is a terrific judge of character. Robin is essentially dealing with this situation very poorly.
Eh Its not like Malaya started the insults first with refusing to acknowledge Robin as anything but the politic with a sex tape…
She didn’t even recognize her as a politician. Just as someone in a sex tape.
BTW, apropos of nothing, have you heard the news? There’s trouble in Equestria.
Why are so many people agreeing with Robin’s last line? Just because Malaya’s angry and rough around the edges doesn’t mean she’s a bad person. Robin did some pretty terrible things, so yes, I would say she “deserves” Leslie less than Malaya does.
Yeah… not to mention that the question of who “deserves” Leslie kind of harkens back to the highly unhealthy way that Robin related to her when she was first introduced. She may have come to genuinely care about Leslie, but when the chips are down… Robin’s kind of defaulting to the idea of Leslie as someone’s lesbian. By debating who does or doesn’t deserve a relationship with Leslie, she’s removing Leslie’s free agency from the equation. Leslie shouldn’t be a prize for being a good person.
They way I see it is, when they say “Leslie”, it isn’t about ownership, it’s more about the relationship with Leslie.
People are agreeing with robin that Balrog’s roommate doesn’t deserve Leslie because she specifically said shed go to work everyday just to piss someone off. Does Leslie really deserve a person who would do something like that. I mean really.
Popular
I like you, Ken.
You almost make me seem cool (and apparently very popular).
I never realized the store has two floors
I’m pretty sure they added it when the store got an upgrade.
Remember that Robin had to ride up the escalator to fight Faz before throwing down with Sarah Palin. It was even a punchline, I think.
Nah, Robin
You are pretty much completely wrong
I’m not really sure what exactly Malaya did other than talk to Les. Seriously. What is Robin so bent out of shape about OTHER than wishing she still had a relationship? Do we even have an indication that malaya is trying to sleep with anyone? Besides the raspberry, I mean.
Robin has a good reason to not like this new chick! She greeted her and was friendly and what does Mayla or wtf ever do? go “OH YOUR THE WHORE FROM THE FILM!”
…this bitch looked and saw Robin looking hurt as she talked with Leslie. Rather than ignore it or ask Les, like any decent person would, her immediate response is to rub Robin’s nose in it. I think it’s fair game to say this person is not the sort of person you want to be within 10 yards of from this sample.
Malaya spent a few hours in a store talking to a woman she found attractive. Of course she is going to take her side without hearing the whole story. It still doesn’t excuse her actions and mouth against Robin, someone who has been at that job longer than her.
Malaya’s the bitch in this.
I think they’re both being really… petty regarding all this, since it seems as much about the two of them as it does about Leslie. Still, I’m rooting more for Robin patching things up with Leslie out of all of this, if only because their relationship is more established, and if Robin’s willing to put forth the effort to learn what she does wrong and change it, they might have something approaching healthy. XD
well, add cluelessness to what’s wrong with her
and you can’t disagree with me, because I’m the smart turtle.
Oops. This was supposed to be up there. never mind!
Robin deserves Leslie far more than Malaya does as she genually loves her. Unlike Malaya who is using her to get at Robin who she hates for no good reason.
I’ll be here every damn morning!
Best. Line. Ever.
Les the Les? oh I get it now
That story line was REALLY depressing. Robin was FINALLY warming up to Leslie (and even calling her Leslie rather than lesbian). Poor Robin. She had good intentions for eating that Cadbury egg cereal but that fucked up her life….