a.) Reread the comic yesterday. Whether or not you think Drew’s comment, which Ethan shouts down, was nagging — he pointed out that this is the third toy Ethan has bought today. He also pointed out that the other two toys were both “pretty big and expensive”.

b.) Ethan went to a toy store between his apartment and Drew’s apartment. He was going to see his boyfriend, but he took a detour into a toy store. For, again, the third time that day.

c.) Months ago, when Drew first pointed out that the millions of toys in Ethan’s apartment, watching them have sex, was making him uncomfortable — Ethan made a commitment to change. He even claimed to want it. He decided that Drew was more important than his hobby and he put all of his toys into storage.

Then months went by, and slowly but surely Ethan amassed a new collection, just as big. When Drew pointed it out, only because Ethan had just bought a new version of a toy he already had two others of, Ethan got defensive but claimed this stuff could also go into storage.

d.) Ethan’s “functional” claims and other commentary have started to sound more and more like quotes taken directly from the Addict’s Handbook. It’s not interfering with his life! It’s harmless! It’s something he enjoys! And he can stop any time he wants to.

e.) But Ethan is wrong about this. All of his behavior has started to very clearly indicate that he can’t stop any time he wants to.

It would really be one thing if Ethan had started to unpack his toy collection and reintroduce figurines to his apartment, out of fondness or nostalgia. That might be annoying for Drew, but it wouldn’t be the kind of red flag that going out and amassing an entirely new collection is.

See, the thing is: Ethan doesn’t even really enjoy his toys. No, he doesn’t. He makes the assertion, and I think this is mostly true, that he could put all of his new toys into storage — implying that he could just keep buying toys and putting them into storage to never look at or think about again. Implying that what he really wants to do is buy toys, not have them. It’s the act of purchasing and amassing that Ethan “enjoys”, not toys themselves.

Just to emphasize this further: he doesn’t open the Catman toy in Drew’s apartment. In spite of his impassioned snarl in defense of the character at the bottom of yesterday’s comic, Ethan doesn’t really seem excited about it. Even though when Drew first opens the door, Ethan seems to be in a good mood, he doesn’t approach the subject of the toy with any particular interest. He doesn’t, for example, respond to, “What’s that?” with, “Omg, Drew! I’m sorry, but I just found out that the Catman figure is out, and I know how you feel about my toy-collecting but this guy is from an LGBT-friendly comic and I really wanted to support that.” Or (if that’s too apologetic for you guys) even, “It’s a Catman! God, I’ve been waiting for this to come out since forever!”

No, instead it’s: “Oh. Found a Catman on the way over. Don’t worry, I won’t open him here.” Do you see the difference? One version implies that Ethan is making an exception in his toy diet for a toy he’s really happy about and that he is enjoying a hobby. The other version implies that what he did as about as exciting as picking his nose. And you can argue, “He knew Drew would blow up,” but if Ethan were excited about the toy, I think apologizing and still being excited would’ve been the more natural way for David Willis to show us that. (Yes, a real human being might have any number of unfortunate responses in the situation, but Ethan is a character, and David Willis is trying to communicate to us through this scene, so I think it’s likely that he would’ve gone for the most expressive way of doing so. Occam’s Razor is doubly true of fiction, where authors all want their things to make sense and be easily understood.)

We’ve also seen, over and over again over the course of the series, that Ethan will buy toys he doesn’t like. He will buy toys while simultaneously complaining about how crappy and ugly they are. This has been previously passed off (pretty cleverly) as a thing all of us do sometimes: whine about a thing we enjoy. But put together with the above behavior, I really think it just reinforces that Ethan is way beyond “toy collector” at this point.

He buys toys compulsively. And I think, on some level, he’s started to realize he has a problem. Rather than being reassuring for him, the view he had of Jacob’s apartment was — after Jacob laid out the comparison more baldly — a little bit uncomfortable. And so, when Drew brings up the problem, which Ethan is now very, very defensive about, Ethan snaps and yells at him. He offers up his makeshift, shoddy defense of not yet being on Jacob’s level, and then Drew quietly suggests they take a break.

As far as Drew being an asshole is concerned… guys. Come on. He really tried to defuse this conversation three times. And I feel like you are all forgetting that, months ago when all of this started, Ethan wanted to change. Ethan expressed an awareness that maybe he was overdoing things. And Drew is FAR from being unaccepting of Ethan’s geekery. For a guy who’s not really into comic books, by your own admissions, Drew sure has willingly participated in a lot of cosplay sex. I mean, they’ve got costumes, and you know what? I don’t think costumes that detailed come from regular shops. I think we’re talking costumes that Drew and Ethan either commissioned or made themselves. Many of them. With elaborate, multifaceted games to match. He’s been very indulgent, and he didn’t even originally ask Ethan to pack up all of his toys: Ethan is the one who decided to go cold turkey. All Drew wanted was fewer toys watching them have sex.

He’s not the girlfriend from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” demanding that her S.O. give up all toys just because they’re childish. He’s a caring boyfriend who tried to help Ethan find moderation, and Ethan’s last few panels say that he knows he screwed up big time here and will be trying to make amends.

So, let’s not all start celebrating Ethan’s newfound freedom from the evil harpie who wanted to murder his fun, shall we?

This is a small-time dick move by his standards,

Plus, it’s been established that (like me) Ethan is hot for at least one other comic book ginger (Roy Harper aka Red Arrow).

Everyone punches HIM when someone’s punching Batman.

But other than that, I see from today’s strip that I was right.

Although Catman is only $16, so it’s not the kind of thing that’ll shock and awe like the other two. It’s really more like the straw that broke the camel’s back.

However, if he wanted to save money he could’ve just returned Masterpiece Rodimus, as he just bought it.