Reasoning
This had the potential to be a serious page, then Nate happened.
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CALLED IT! Still, looks like the potions will be in Rex’s favor. Also, looks like Rex is going to be a tough coach. Kai had better work hard. Also, I know I keep saying this, but Rex’s face in that last panel is PRICELESS. Good work Robin. Keep it up! Can’t wait for next week!
Thanks 😀 I love drawing facial expressions ^^
Rex is a tough coach, you can bet on that.
It’s Kai in the last panel I like.
Kai is like thinking : “- Bleh …. There was other and more easy ways to test me”
Thank you ^^
Looks like Rex got mood ears on his own 😛
*of his own
Well at least they are not diabetes inducing, yet…
Mobile ears : animals are good to emote with ^_^
Yup, his ears are mobile as well 😀
Hi, I figure it’s about time I introduce myself, I’m Temoffy (duh) and I’ve been keeping up with the comic for about a month and it is already one of my top comics along with Freefall and Schlock Mercenary. Robin, I bow before your artistic genius and the mighty mood ears ! Also, hello everyone.
…We seem to have rather similar tastes in comics…
Great minds think alike 🙂
Hey there, I’m glad you like the comic ^^
I read Freefall, haven’t tried Schlock Mercenary yet. I should look it up.
Schlock Mercenary is a very futuristic comic about the mercenary group Tagon’s Toughs, by the way the phrase “there is no overkill, there is only ‘open fire’ and ‘reload'” describes the comic rather well. ( and the comic gets much better over time, the archive’s beginning isn’t very good.)
Is Rex a new friend
Or was it all pretend
He says it was an act
But Nate says it is fact
Or *is* it all pretend
A second poem writer :O
Nice one ^^
Given I’ve spent the past two days playing Doki Doki Literature Club, I’d be happy to never see anyone attempt poetry ever again…
A good and serious page where we learn all behind Rex behaviour , and there is a dumb coming to ruin ………….. Want to die , Nate ?
Don’t know why, but I have a feeling that Rex is more bark than bite, off the court that is. On the court he’s probably all bite and no bark. And by that I mean he’s all business and not that he will be trying to hurt people…
And that’s probably why Nate keeps heckling him. It’s safe,-ish. They’ve probably known each other for a very long time. Wouldn’t surprise me if they met first in primary school or even kindergarten.
Gonna stash this crystal ball now. It’s unreliable at best, but fun to poke about with, though I’d wish it wasn’t so blurry when I try to see what might be happening in the girls locker room. Must be some kind of construction flaw…
Nate is always there to ruin the day :p
Nah; Nate just keeps Rex from getting too full of himself. 😉
He doesn’t get it, he can’t quite get it.
He thought he’d carry the butt, now he is it.
Wolfy has to explain it all, explain his plan
He needed Kai to prove himself, show he’s a man.
There’s a battleplan, even if not seen
The Wolf is white, but his skills aren’t green
He can get you fit, get you on the scene
You’ll be better than you’ve ever been.
So pick up your ears, and listen up.
He’s got wisdom here, and you’re a pup.
Defeat is gonna hurt, it’s a pain to sup;
This guy’ll train you up, you’ll win the cup…
As always this is much better than mine.
Yours is more succinct.
Where do you get this words… i came late to the sale, and got a pocket larousse instead.
succinct
səkˈsɪŋ(k)t/
adjective
(especially of something written or spoken)
briefly and clearly expressed.
“use short, succinct sentences”
nice one again ^^
Kaya: “So…that was all an act?!”
Cleo: “Oh crap…” *Dialing cell phone* “Call off the hit…CALL OFF THE HIT!!!”
That doesn’t sound like Cleo. I think. Probably.
Of course not, she wouldn’t call a hitman. But it’s funny to make fun of how rich she is and how she uses money to solve everything :p
Nah, I’m sure Cleo’s dad is in legitimate business, so she would use legitimate methods. Rather than a hitman, which would get her in trouble with law enforcement, she’d call in a predator drone strike, which would just get her featured on CNN.
Hope she’s on time, I would hate to have to replace Rex… :p
I’d worry less about Cleo and more about Kaya. Sure, yeah, I’m not going to assume Cleo or her dad has mob ties, but Kaya has the makings of a CIA field agent.
Death by swrly
Nate always gets away, no worries :p
Third panel, third bubble: “[i]than[/i] that was that” should be “[i]then[/i] that was that.”
It is impossible to keep track of which sites bracket commands do and do not work on.
It’s the thought that counts. ^_^
thanks, then and than are pretty confusing for non-natives :p
“Than is a conjunction used in comparisons;
then is an adverb denoting time.
‘That pizza is more than I can eat. Tom laughed, and then we recognized him.'”
As just a by the way, the book I reference for these rules is Rules For Writers fifth edition by Diana Hacker. It was my college writing-course reference book (i.e. it’s not a textbook, so you can actually hold it in one hand and it costs less than $50) just in case you’re interested.
It’s not just confusing for non-natives, Sensei. 🙂 It’s sort of like how some things in art remain challenging even after years of study and practice. 😉
Then: related to time or events in sequence (time & sequence have Es in them, like thEn)
Example: “Let’s chug some sodas, then have a burping contest.”
Than: related to comparison (comparison has an A in it, like thAn)
Example: “When it comes to rude bodily noises, I’d rather eat beans than drink soda.”
Some people get Pro Tips, but coming from me, you have to settle for n00b tips. It’s the best I can do!
Yeah, I can see where Rex is coming from, but he is still a true jerk. It’s an after school sports club, you don’t need to be so harsh. It’s supposed to be about fun and being a team.
Or maybe I just have a different opinion about the stakes and what school sports should be.
To quote an old Aussie phrase: “You’re not playing for sheet stations.”
It’s said , at the beginning of this arc , Rex and his team fights against other schools clubs (and got the third place last year) . So , it’s not for fun : it’s real
I guess I just don’t buy into that philosophy. As Benji said in an earlier strip, anyone can try out for any club they like, school rules. Rex insulted and belittled Kai, more of less breaks the rules and forces Kai to jump through hoops in a humiliating way in order to join.
Most school sports are competitive, most school teams play against other schools. If there are limited positions on the team, the better you are, the more likely you are to get on the team. But IT IS A GAME, there is no need for Rex’s attitude towards others wanting to join. You can tell them that it’s hard, that you can only accept the best and most dedicated, but you can’t just refuse or descriminate based on their appearance, height etc.
It’s a school team, you can try them out normally and tell them they’re not good enough, but you can’t refuse them and force them into some sort of secret test by being a jerk.
So in conclusion, Rex is a jerk for using unnecessary tactics in a school team environment.
Amen to that.
Nice comment , but ……….
Rex was insulting Kai by treating him “shrimp” and this last was doing the same with “doggie” . This for the insults
For Rex’s attitude , it was for testing Kai and see if he stays all the long or gives up . Maybe you think this makes a jerk of Rex but each team leader his own way to recruit and they don’t act as you hope
This is high school, not secondary or primary. Rex is looking forward right now. He’s looking to the college selectors. He’s looking for the Basketball Scholarship. Every team will have a player who’s good enough for the college gig so it becomes about those around them too. A leader, a clear and outstanding star from the top of the table team – not the bottom or anywhere near it – will get that scholarship. He’s looking beyond school and dragging the rest of the team UP to help fulfil his dreams. That’s why he only wants the best he can get. The talented and determined. The ones who won’t give up when a few points behind. If he’s rude to them and they cry about it? Bye. If they look him in the eye – or navel – and fight they have a chance.
Hmmmm, logically, I suppose I can see where Rex and you are all coming from. I guess it’s just a case of values dissidence.
Australian Universitys’ (colleges) don’t really give scholarships for sports, at least not with the focus that the US does. High schools do not have as much focus on serious sports teams. Such teams are usually community based, and include children and adults, especially in rural areas such as where I live.
Where I grew up, team sports are very community based, with the focus more on being active in the community participating and being inclusive. That does not mean we are not competitive, but it is considered poor sportsmanship to not give someone’s 14 year old a go because you don’t deem them to be dedicated enough.
Those who wish to go professional have other avenues to go through rather than the school system.
As such, and school sports team, even at the high school level, is more about having a go, being active and being part of a team than trying to get a sports scholarship. This may be different in larger schools in more metropolitan areas, such as Melbourne, but it has not been my experience. For a school sports team in Australia, Rex would be reprimanded if he tried to exclude a 15? Year old kid like Kai by trying to secretly test his determination. It’s more important to get kids that age out being members of the community, being active and exercising (other than sitting inside watching TV), I’ve never been much of a sportsman myself, and greatly prefer to sit inside with computers, but I still played a year of football in my late teens, and would have got a lot less exercise had someone like Rex been in charge.
Of course, basketball isn’t as big here, there are no local basketball clubs, so I’m drawing on my knowledge of Aussie rules football and cricket.
So, yeah, I suppose Rex is justified if he’s scholarship hunting, and my interpretation of him as a jerk is that, in my experience, high school sports teams in Australia isn’t the competitive level that it is overseas.
Of course, this is all in my experience, which is largely based on small country towns and schools in rural Victoria, I expect another Aussie with more knowledge to correct me.
And I’m not saying that Australians can’t be competitive jerks in sports, at the professional level we have plenty of competitive jerks, wingers, phone throwers, dummy spitters etc…
…
Yeah, I’m done with this thread, happy commenting.
I sort of like the sound of how you are describing team sports in Australia (or at least, your experience with them). Around here, it just seems so all-consuming and competitive, and this is a relatively rural area. There have been people who have tried to organize events for youth but have failed to get participants because everyone has sports practices or competitions. I grew up in the city, and it seemed even worse there. I wasn’t even good enough to make the low-level team (AKA “junior varsity”) in my best/favorite sport in high school. As disappointing as that was at the time, it was probably a blessing to get away from that kind of environment. I’m sure I wouldn’t have experienced any of the sense of community or inclusion that you described. 🙂
its meh greatest fear…waiting til next monday ;-; Xd
I. Know. Your. Pain.
It’s a necessary evil :p
Something tells me this Nate gets on Rex’s nerves all the time XD
I tend to agree. xD
That wrinkle on Rex snout in panel 5 agrees with you…
Oh yeah, he does :p
Okay, so noble wolf after all. The question now on my mind is how popular Beast Wars is in this world of animal hybrids?
You mean the transformers spin-off? I guess it’s about as popular as it is here, and maybe even very popular with the hybrids that are the same animal :p
They could also dislike it very much for the same reason though. Everyone is different.
Huh, so now I feel a little conflicted about this twist since it is still a dick move, but at least there is reasoning behind it….
Conflicted is good in this context though, means I care about the direction characters in the comic are going.
Thaaaaat is not a good way of recruiting new members. I agree with Nate, even though he is close to giving “waterboy” a new meaning. 🙂
So, when Rex gives someone a swirl, does he do it like the bullies from Archer and urinate into the toilet first?
It’s not a good way to recruit new members. Call me idealistic and naive, but I don’t believe there is ever a good reason to be a jerk, you can achieve the same outcomes by being nice, or at least strict, honest and straightforward.
Yeah, I saw your comments above. 🙂
I hope humanity can get closer and closer to that ideal.
And I believe that comics like this one help reaching it, because people can form their opinions on the various problems the characters have and consciously make up their own minds instead of blindly accepting the status quo in the real world.
I think Rex is just one of those guys who don’t have enough courage to be nice (yet), probably because he was brought up in an environment where being nice was considered a weakness. Nobody is born a bully, but everyone is still responsible for their own actions.
Just a few thoughts on Rex… We don’t know much about his background yet. However, we do know (thanks to Cleo’s observational skills) that he’s been at the school for three years. Kai and Kaya are 14, so we can assume he’s a few years older than they are. We also know (thanks to the exposition in the very first comic) that hybrids started appearing about 16 years ago.
Putting these two observations together, Rex was likely one of the very first hybrids ever. That presumably would have had a significant impact on him from the beginning. Even if his parents were very laid back and caring, it would have been hard for their family. What would become of this child? How would he develop? Would he have normal intelligence or only animalistic intelligence? Would he have normal human instincts and mannerisms or those of an animal? How would they even take care of him simply from a medical standpoint? Imagine it would be time for a normal infant’s immunization vaccines… now, what do the parents do? The normal vaccine administered to a human could be fatal to their hybrid child…
Those are just some examples of what a proto-hybrid (and his parents) would have faced. We don’t know what Rex’s family is like… or even if he has a family. Imagine how much worse it would be if his family was not very accepting and viewed him as a freak or a burden or otherwise unworthy of the unconditional love a child hopes to receive from its parents. It’s also likely from what we know of humanity in general that he would have been treated prejudicially by at least some people, just like Kai and Kaya were in their rural town. I imagine there was at least one angry/fearful parent who approached the principal of Rex’s first school and demanded that “animals like Rex” be banned from enrollment. “I don’t want my little girl to be mauled by that animal!” “But his parents have assured us, he’s not an animal. His thinking and behavior is in line with ordinary boys of his age.” “Well, that might be his parents’ opinion, but all it takes is one accident!!”
Again, I’m purely speculating… but if such things happened, they would surely have affected his mentality. Even now, we’ve seen glimpses that he suspects his teammates don’t like him much (e.g. he automatically assumed his teammates were behind the “pepper prank”… and we have Nate’s remark here). We’ve also seen that he appears to have a bit of a reputation for being a troublemaker from his preemptive defensiveness with respect to the “exploding pie incident”. It seems reasonable that at least to some degree, he feels people are out to get him.
Negative behavior is negative behavior, and should never be supported or encouraged… But maybe it can be understood, and perhaps that knowledge can be used to build an environment of sympathy and betterment and charity. 🙂 I’ll be honest. I didn’t like Rex at first either. I’ve definitely had a Rex-like character or three happen through my life at various stages… and it’s definitely not easy to deal with or even be around people like that… But there’s also something heartbreaking when everyone treats you like you’re an intimidating, ill-mannered, unlovable monster. To paraphrase what Nick Wilde said in Zootopia, if everyone automatically sees you a certain way, why bother trying to be anything different?
————–
In other news, in spite of my pro-Rex essay above, Nate is now my favorite character. 😉 I wonder if he’ll make an appearance one day?… or maybe part of the gag is we’ll never see him, but he’ll always somehow be around to mock Rex.. right at the edge of the screen where we can’t see him. XD
That was interesting to read. I completely forgot about that (and about intolerance towards hybrids in general). If Rex (and Nate) have been among the first, then their problems must have been a lot worse that Kai’s on that very first page.
If they were 3rd, I wonder whether they played a tournament with a K.O. system, i.e. they lost only in the semi-finals and then won the match for 3rd place, or if it was a league where everyone plays everyone else twice (once at home and once at your opponent’s home). I call it was the former.
Good explanation. And yes , it’s very possible Rex is one of the first hybrids ; even possible for him to be abandoned by his parents (as Benji) and adopted later after some times in orphanage . Such beginning of life isn’t good for mind ……….. X_X
Excellent explanation from Rex, and I really like the way the last panel lightens up an otherwise very serious strip.
It should be better , for Nate , to close his mouth …………….. I’m ready to think he’s the distracted guy : https://www.twindragonscomic.com/comic/collission/
^_^”
Hollywood, if your Teen Wolf and Air Bud movies have taught me anything, it’s that canines are great basketball players.
I like Nate, who/whatever he is.
HOLY CRAP THE WRITING ON THIS COMIC OF YOURS IS TOP NOTCH!
its like every other page i am sharing to my friends for what is going on in it.
and everything with Cleo is great writing too. its how i imagine my fursona behaving if they were rich.
Thank you very much! It’s great to know that you like the comic so much ^^
There’s many more things to come, so make sure to come back every week 😀
Hey Robin, upon re-reading the archives, I noticed that on panel 3, where Rex says “than that was that,” I believe “than” should be “then.”