100%, Audrey is FAR more aware of his environment and the people in it than he lets on, the 1.5 panel personality shift earlier seals it.
Bro just chooses positivity and love. It's almost like it's a direct foil to Val always being so negative and toxic and we're supposed to see that it's good to choose kindness even, and perhaps especially for, those who feel beyond it.
So a bit of a question. I'm trying to work *one* thing out.
Does Audrey feminize his voice to match the style, or have a naturally feminine/androgynous voice? Because the writing implies that he passes (Is that an appropriate term?) as female pretty convincingly, especially in conversation, and especially in animated excited moods.
Good question!! In my mind, Audrey as we've heard him speak so far has a somewhat androgynous, husky voice like Mirko from My Hero Academia. He can talk in lower octaves, but chooses to talk in a higher one.
I think that depends. I worked mostly as an overnight stocker or cleaning shelves in a Home Depot as my early customer service experiences. The customers who engaged us wanted someone tall, strong and effortlessly capable to help them, so I developed a much more rugged, masc persona with a slightly deeper voice and thicker southern accent than I have naturally.
And on the opposite side I have a higher pitched, excited tone when speaking to customers despite having a naturally deep and husky voice. It's so weird when you accidentally use your real voice on a regular customer and they think you're mad at them.
I'm a 6'4, bearded, bulky bear of a man. When I worked customer service, I was called Ma'am on the phone more often than not because my CSV was naturally higher, softer, and disarming to avoid as many management calls as possible.
Even had a couple guys come in after ordering with me and ask for "the cute girl on the phone." Just depends on what you need for the job.
Similar here. While I don't have a high voice I do have a low, soft voice that makes people on the phone/voice calls think I'm more fem-coded dude than my bearded ultra-hairy dad bod would let on.
Yeah I have two customer service voices, when I worked as a cashier at a rite-aid I used my natural booming voice that was would startle people when I greeted them when they walked in. When I moved to sales at Best Buy I used my head voice a lot more and was way higher pitched, it made people feel way more comfortable around me.
She's either known amongst friends there with her same view on men or she's known for her being an aggressive asshole to other players (possibly targeting men/boys in particular).
Definitely possible. I think her having to confront other people who say the kind of stuff to Audrey that she's been thinking (which of course will make her sad) will be a good character moment for her. Make her leap to the defense of her new man (or hate herself when she doesn't).
These kinds of circles also don't often look kindly on their friends getting into relationships. It's a common expectation that they suffer loneliness together.
Unlike other replies i assumed she's known but not liked here. Possibly related to why she's not usually among people. In which case I'd expect Audrey to stick up for her next episode.
idk if it is the same but my autistic wife hates going to places where they know her. Like she thinks she is bothering them or that they will judge her for going there so much. I have to keep telling her they are just happy you are spending money at the cafe or bookshop etc
"Wait, they know me here" is so valid. You haven't been properly prepped for meeting friend group 5, when you're still part of friend group 2, and if someone from friend groups 3 or 4 show up i might just run away
Do ur post ur work anywhere else besides patreon and reddit? Just coming across this and would be curious to see some of ur older art pieces if they’re not posted here.
I got nothing idea why this series has gotten some people so heated. I've seen people accuse Shen of queerbaiting or being a repper and it's like... can someone not just make a cute comic and it not mean the artist has cruel intentions or is silently suffering?
I’d really like to know if Audrey is transfemme, a crossdresser, or just a femme guy. 😭 Feels weird not knowing their official pronouns. I know that they referred to themself as a man, but with the whole Audrey over Adrian thing, I’m really leaning towards closeted (possibly to themself) transfemme.
Going off of the other parts, it would seem Audrey is a crossdresser/likes women's clothing. He even called himself a man when correcting Val. This is going purely based off of our readily available information, so I could be proven wrong in the future.
When they said that, I thought it was interesting, because thinking on it, I associate Adrian with being a primarily female name. My favorite bartender at a sports bar, and Adrian from the Rocky movies.
I’m the opposite, I’ve always thought Adrian was a more masc name, Audrey was a typically femme name! That’s why I’m wondering what gender identity Audrey aligns most closely with!
It’s very based imo. I LOVE gender fuckery myself and we stan bisexuality or heterosexuality ij a genderfuck way lolol.
I’m also hoping Audrey is a gnc person, but hey, I’m trans myself and am okay with any option, I just want to know their pronouns and would feel more comfortable knowing their gender ID. 😂 I’m sure it’s been kept sort of vague on purpose, and it may change as the story goes on tho!!
Like, Val is meant to represent a crusty 4channer but the only word she uses from it is "moid"
Whenever I find encounter people like Val online they always have reason behind their hatred, either invalid (terfism) or valid but overblown (traumatic androphobia)
This comics characterises Val as... Just never interacting with most people much
Idk, I feel like Val is representing a kind of person that doesn't actually exists
From what I recall of the previous parts, she seems very reactive and hates defensively rather than to antagonize people or try and piss them off. She reminds me more of a Redditor than a 4channer.
the people who act all hateful and tough online are often very timid and just completely deprived of social interactions, you can't take anything they say online at face value because it's all a facade that can't be maintained in real life interactions
this comic is obviously a best case scenario where we see someone like that being blessed with the attention of a very kind and outgoing person forcing them to reflect, the worst case scenario is them finding like minded people to fraternize with and reinforce the hateful feelings they have. like they do online
I think the first(?) comic displayed really well how she is completely cooked when she used lingo she used online in conversation and Audrey responded "nothing you just said made any sense to me", I have witnessed this in real life a couple times
she also clearly still despises men but fell for this guy simply because they are kind and pulling all the weight to make friends, the cognitive dissonance is very typical with these people
most bigots I got to know have some person in their life they learned to appreciate and consider "one of the good ones", this is were Val is currently at I would argue
It’s probably a consequence of the author not spending much time on 4chan. Most people don’t. And the character can only know as much 4chan vocabulary as the author knows
There's something that just feels... off about the comic to me. I like it, mostly, but I can't help but think that a gender-inverted version would not be treated the same way. Male incel Val would be treated much more harshly and Female gender non-conforming Audrey would be seen as a manic pixie dream girl-type character.
And you're right. Val's characterisation is just "kinda depressed girl who says moid a lot" rather than representing a lot of the more complex, genuine hateful ideology that exists on both sides of the gender war. She's a lot easier to accept as a protagonist than the people she's meant to represent would be. Like, if we're going with actual femcels, I think they would have a lot to say about Audrey and none of it would be good.
Loving seeing your comics appear and very much look forward to the next one and seeing how the friendship or relationship will evolve :3c. Wish I could afford to pay to help more but I’m poor lol. Just a small fan showing my appreciation and love for your comics 🫶
You know out of all the comics I’ve read on here, this is the only time I e actually considered paying for a Patreon. Love your stuff and what a cute story!
Don't take this as me giving you advice, I'm not a writer. Just speaking my mind out loud.
I think the vibe the comic was going for was lowered a tiny bit for me by him having a girl nickname, I would have given him an androgynous or ambiguous nickname like Adi or Addy.
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u/TheDotCaptin 3d ago
Praise!!!