2019/06/28 - Then What Was All That With Grape Eleven Years

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm not sure if she does know what is going on so that is something we will have to keep an eye out for since at this point I think she believes they are just her kits.

Also, I REALLY wanna know who the father (or fathers as they look different so they could be half-siblings) of them are.

[NHWestoN]

BUT DON'T GO IN THE BASEMENT, Marion! WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GO. IN THE BASEMENT!

[Adoring Fan]

You know, i think this plot line confuses me more than any past one. I mean, i LIKE this one just fine, but the gender change with the squirrel seems like it was done more because its June than because of any in universe reason. I'm really hoping we find out whats behind that soon because not knowing is driving me crazy XD.

I mean, we knew what was going on with king to at least SOME level right from the start but Pete didn't change his gender arbitrarily. And we know that those two aren't involved. I suspect Kitsune as he has recently begun appearing a lot but why change the persons gender?

[dr_eirik]

[Marion opens the front door and enters the treehouse, stretching his arms and looking tired after a long day out and no answers.]
Marion: Welp, no luck today...
Jess: No luck with what?
[Next panel shows Jess is leaning against the wall nonchalantly where Marion didn't see her. She's looking at her phone and texting.]
Marion: O-oh! [Marion thinks fast] I went out to try and find some food for myself, but couldn't. [He puts his hand behind his head.] Still having trouble with this whole foraging and scrounging thing. Heheh.
Jess: Gotcha. We still have food here, so don't worry about it. You should grab a bite before heading up to meet your new roomie.
Marion: Wh-what?
Jess: Yeah, she got here a few hours ago. She seemed to be in the same boat as you. Thought it'd be best for her that you'd bunk together. She hasn't come out at all since I sent her that way, so you'd best get her a snack as well.
[Curious and anxious about what Jess meant when she said 'in the same boat as you', Marion quickly scarfs down some food and grabs some of it for his new bunkmate. He knocks on the door and introduces himself to be polite.]
Marion: H-Hi. It's your roommate. I heard you've been cooped up in here for a bit, so I brought you something to eat. May I...?
Roomie: Come in.
[Marion opens the door to greet her.]
Marion: Oh, by the way, my name's Mari-
[Marion has a shocked expression on his face and drops the food. The next panel centers on her; the new bunkmate is a female squirrel like him, wearing a necklace that says " L & M ". Her expression is one of shock and surprise as well.]
[Last panel goes back to Jessica still leaning against the wall, a knowing smirk on her face as she continues to look at her phone and hears both squirrels say at the same time:]
Lois: Marion?!?
Marion: Lois?!?
[To Be Continued]

I really love this as an alternate story. I'm not sure that this is the way the story is going in reality, though I certainly wouldn't object to it if it did. I like how you imply that Jess knows more about whats going on than we're told. Assuming that we don't see something like this happen, it feels like it would make some interesting alternate timeline story.

Funny thing is, we still don't know where this story is going. I thought by now we would have some greater idea of what was going on by now but Rick is still building the story. He hasn't failed to deliver yet, so I'm willing to sit and stew for a while.

[Amazee Dayzee]

If Lois was transformed into a squirrel also, wouldn't her gender be flipped so that she is a male now?

[dr_eirik]

If Lois was transformed into a squirrel also, wouldn't her gender be flipped so that she is a male now?

I guess it depends on how and why Marion was transformed in the first place. Maybe it's someone or something that creates just female squirrels. If it's coin-adjacent then it might all be random.

I wouldn't mind seeing the story go in either direction, either with him finding a transformed Lois at some point of either gender. Especially if they are stuck, either would be interesting to follow.

That reminds me, what ever happened to Locksley and his coin story? I keep hoping for an update. Never enough transformation, no matter what the setting.

[Silly Zealot]

i'm pretty sure Jessica was just looking at Marion's hips. Many people have commented her body looks too... curvaceous to be male

I like this explanation a lot.

There is also the one I made up a while ago:

Don't think on it too much, it's a bit disturbing(!)

There many people in the Housepets! world that know magic, yeah?

Lois is obviously a fuzzy-mancer.

Fuzzy-mancer are experts on magic related to all this fuzzy and fluffy. One of their innate abilities is that they can tell the gender (as well as age, mood, marital status, among others) of a hair-possessing creature depending on their level of fuzzyness.

Fuzzy-mancers can cast spells that make beards grow long and untie nasty knots on one's hair.

Evil fuzzy-mancers, however, sometimes cast curses such as making people grow bald (it is even believed that a particurlary powerful evil fuzzy-mancer created the sphinx cat breed).

Such curses, however, are seen as blasphemy by normal fuzzy-mancers, as they make people and animals less fuzzy.

If Lois was transformed into a squirrel also, wouldn't her gender be flipped so that she is a male now?

That would be extremely confusing and insane both for the characters and the audience.
That means it is likely, yes.

[fenrirblack]

If Lois was transformed into a squirrel also, wouldn't her gender be flipped so that she is a male now?

I guess it depends on how and why Marion was transformed in the first place. Maybe it's someone or something that creates just female squirrels. If it's coin-adjacent then it might all be random.

I wouldn't mind seeing the story go in either direction, either with him finding a transformed Lois at some point of either gender. Especially if they are stuck, either would be interesting to follow.

I wish we could just find out what caused it because the more you think about it the coin wouldn't have that power because Pete said that its was only that "human hands" could not touch it so gender was never even an aspect of its power. It has to be someone else behind the transformation. There are too many checks against it being the coin.

[dr_eirik]

I wish we could just find out what caused it because the more you think about it the coin wouldn't have that power because Pete said that its was only that "human hands" could not touch it so gender was never even an aspect of its power. It has to be someone else behind the transformation. There are too many checks against it being the coin.

We don't have enough of a sample size one way or the other. We've only seen two touched by the coin. Thomas seems to have been clearly male since Sofia instantly fell for him. We actually don't know if Steward was male or female, though the badgers body shape after the transformation looked male. But that's only two. We don't even know what the parameters are for the coin turning people into critters.

That being said, I don't think it's the coin unless we are going to see something in a flashback later. There are several other suspects here, including Kitsune. We might also see a new player in a different Celestial Game that we know nothing about yet. For all we know, we'll see Cerebus come down and report that Marion was always supposed to be a squirrel and the universe is just getting around to correcting it's error. Too bad, you're in the right body now, though!

There is another horrifying possibility. Maybe we never learn what happened. Would Rick be that cruel?

[Silly Zealot]

There is another horrifying possibility. Maybe we never learn what happened. Would Rick be that cruel?

No.

[Amazee Dayzee]

If Rick did go that route and I'm not saying that he will but just pointing out if he did, he might lose a lot of fans.

[dr_eirik]

If Rick did go that route and I'm not saying that he will but just pointing out if he did, he might lose a lot of fans.

Yeah, I shouldn't have even jokingly suggested it. I think we will learn what's happening here, but it may take a while.

[Ash Greytree]

I really love this as an alternate story. I'm not sure that this is the way the story is going in reality, though I certainly wouldn't object to it if it did. [...] Assuming that we don't see something like this happen, it feels like it would make some interesting alternate timeline story.

Thanks. Coming up with these hypothetical strips and making them fit with the flow of the story as it goes along while also trying to stick closely to Housepets' overall lightheartedness and sense of humor is a blast.

I like how you imply that Jess knows more about whats going on than we're told.

With Jess giving a 'knowing smirk' I wasn't implying that she knows more than she's letting on. I was implying that, in this hypothetical scenario, earlier when Lois arrived at the treehouse, Jess saw Lois' bracelet-necklace and realized the two distraught squirrels must have some kind of connection; she decided to set it up so Lois and Marion would have this kind of meeting both so 1) They could meet each other and 2) So that she could get a kick out of their reaction to said meeting. Jess' knowing smirk as Lois and Marion exclaim each others' names is one of "Heh, knew it. Glad those two are back together, whatever their relation is" rather than "Heh. Those two don't even know what's going on..."

[Champion Wallace]

Steward asked for a room over a year before Marion. Even if there's multiple people per room, I don't think it's likely Steward will be in need of a roomate at this particular time.

Speaking of which.. yeah. Where's Kitsume?

Everywhere, all the time.

Eyes up, Marion! We’re trying to keep this comic PG.

I think they're both looking at Marion in the third panel.

...really Marion? Being called a squirrel is fine, being told your story is made up without hearing it is fine, having to call the pie thing stealing is fine, and this is the thing that bothers you?

Could almost be reflexive for him. Marion is technically a gender neutral name, but there is a bias toward thinking of it as female. It would make sense that he's used to being in situations where his name is called with some assumption that he's a she. So it becomes reflexive

Agreed.

Who knew that Jessica was so "woke" when it came to being politically correct about somebody who feels and says they are a different gender than what they actually are when meeting them. That is a new piece of information that is intriguing.

And to be clear, I know Marion isn't transgendered but Jessica doesn't.

I'd love to see the best in Jessica, but this feels more like it's stemming from apathy. She doesn't argue because it's not worth it for her.

You know, i think this plot line confuses me more than any past one. I mean, i LIKE this one just fine, but the gender change with the squirrel seems like it was done more because its June than because of any in universe reason. I'm really hoping we find out whats behind that soon because not knowing is driving me crazy XD.

I mean, we knew what was going on with king to at least SOME level right from the start but Pete didn't change his gender arbitrarily. And we know that those two aren't involved. I suspect Kitsune as he has recently begun appearing a lot but why change the persons gender?

My Life As A Teenage Squirrel has been going for two months already and who knows how long it will continue. Since big events tend to happen around the comics anniversary, it would be hard for it not to intercept June. We had an idea about what was going on right when Pete transformed King, it was just the wrong idea. We didn't get real answers until half a year later with Dog Days of Summer and it didn't get clarified until two years after that with The Trial in Heaven. To draw a parallel, we have a suspect right now in the cursed treasure but it may be something completely different, just like how people assumed Pete's actions were for Joel's own good.

If Lois was transformed into a squirrel also, wouldn't her gender be flipped so that she is a male now?

I guess it depends on how and why Marion was transformed in the first place. Maybe it's someone or something that creates just female squirrels. If it's coin-adjacent then it might all be random.

I wouldn't mind seeing the story go in either direction, either with him finding a transformed Lois at some point of either gender. Especially if they are stuck, either would be interesting to follow.

I wish we could just find out what caused it because the more you think about it the coin wouldn't have that power because Pete said that its was only that "human hands" could not touch it so gender was never even an aspect of its power. It has to be someone else behind the transformation. There are too many checks against it being the coin.

It wouldn't have that power? Changing someone's gender would be pittance if you're already changing their species. That's like saying a generator could power a refrigerator, but not the lightbulb inside it. Not quite Pete said the conditions were no human hands were to touch the treasure, but he also said he likes to get creative with his interpretations.

[Silly Zealot]

If Rick did go that route and I'm not saying that he will but just pointing out if he did, he might lose a lot of fans.

Yeah, I shouldn't have even jokingly suggested it. I think we will learn what's happening here, but it may take a while.

I didn't mean that "No." to sound mean, just deadpan.*


*R.I.P. pan.

[Amazee Dayzee]

You killed pan so you are gonna have to deal with it and live with your guilt. XD

[fenrirblack]

I wish we could just find out what caused it because the more you think about it the coin wouldn't have that power because Pete said that its was only that "human hands" could not touch it so gender was never even an aspect of its power. It has to be someone else behind the transformation. There are too many checks against it being the coin.

It wouldn't have that power? Changing someone's gender would be pittance if you're already changing their species. That's like saying a generator could power a refrigerator, but not the lightbulb inside it. Not quite Pete said the conditions were no human hands were to touch the treasure, but he also said he likes to get creative with his interpretations.

That is if the refrigerator was made so that the lightbulb was capable of turning on but if someone purposely left a wire disconnected then it wouldn't. The same goes to the coin. Pete could do it but he wouldn't have any need. Again, "no human hands could touch the coin" was literally the only requirement and getting creative with it was already established with the animal thing instead of putting a human proof barrier around the coins. Pete has never shown any sign of messing with gender and he's not a real trickster who would take the time to think "You know maybe gender should be randomized as well as the species, just to mess with the mortal minds." Even the hologram never mentioned gender just human to animal form.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Yeah that is correct. Since Pete didn't really say anything gender changing, I'm going more with that it wouldn't be an aspect of the coin or else Steward and Thomas would be females as opposed to still being male when they got transformed.

[Champion Wallace]

Yeah that is correct. Since Pete didn't really say anything gender changing, I'm going more with that it wouldn't be an aspect of the coin or else Steward and Thomas would be females as opposed to still being male when they got transformed.

Again, not necessarily. The same curse could've resulted in a male Thomas and a female Marion if it was random. As dr_eirik said:

We don't have enough of a sample size one way or the other. We've only seen two touched by the coin. Thomas seems to have been clearly male since Sofia instantly fell for him. We actually don't know if Steward was male or female, though the badgers body shape after the transformation looked male. But that's only two. We don't even know what the parameters are for the coin turning people into critters.

Building on that, we don't know what Sofia's sexual orientation is.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Well we never were told if Sofia was a female or a male and when Thomas was transformed he still looked as male-ish as a camel can be. Sofia did look slightly female and I doubt Rick would do another joke where a gender is the opposite of the name given to the animal after Bruno.

[Silly Zealot]

I do have a hypothesis:

The coins look ancient, so the person that gave them to Pete may have spoken an ancient language.

In many ancient language, the word for "human" is also the same as for "man". (For example, in Ancient Greek, with the word "anthropos")

So maybe the curse turns everyone into female animals because of that ambiguity.

I hope not, though!

[Amazee Dayzee]

Then how would it determine whether to keep the person they changed into an animal the same gender or swap their gender? Would it be based on their name? That would make sense since Marion can go either way.

[Champion Wallace]

I do have a hypothesis:

The coins look ancient, so the person that gave them to Pete may have spoken an ancient language.

In many ancient language, the word for "human" is also the same as for "man". (For example, in Ancient Greek, with the word "anthropos")

So maybe the curse turns everyone into female animals because of that ambiguity.

I hope not, though!

The treasure was implied to be Mr. Milton's, so the only ancient language speaking would be as a hobby.

Then how would it determine whether to keep the person they changed into an animal the same gender or swap their gender? Would it be based on their name? That would make sense since Marion can go either way.

How would it determine species? As far as we know the new body has nothing to do with anything related to their old body.

[Buster]

D20?

[NHWestoN]

WD-40?

[Amazee Dayzee]

I do get the joke but I doubt oil is gonna be helpful when it comes to this. XD