2021/02/26 - Dreaming Of Love

[D-Rock]

[2021/02/26 - Dreaming Of Love]
Title Text: dear internet, this is a gag, which means it is humorous "on purpose"

[Welsh Halfwit]

Yes, he can be
his own nightmare;
brought up by Val
for all to share.
Love matters more
than species does.
Coughee details,
causing a buzz.
You’re not dirty,
my little friend;
you’re for Bailey,
whatever the end...

[Harry Johnathan]

All aboard the S.S Kingley, sailing the high seas of the Housepets fandom since around 2011.

[ProtoDot]

This is absolutely something King would've done at one point. And that's why we love him.

[NHWestoN]

Smooches is smooches. Hope you packed an extra toothbrush, Bailey.

[The Blue Fox]

Uhhhh...
Would that be considered...you know what...considering she's supposed to be a pet dog?
I...uh...I'm not sure how to feel about that being featured with the actual webcomic.
I can completely understand King's reaction...I don't know if Bailey's right to consider it "cute".

[valerio]

Uhhhh...
Would that be considered...you know what...considering she's supposed to be a pet dog?
I...uh...I'm not sure how to feel about that being featured with the actual webcomic.
I can completely understand King's reaction...I don't know if Bailey's right to consider it "cute".

consider this.
it is not serious in the least
Joke; king, a human turned dog, had a weird dream, felt weird.
Just like that.
There are no lines to read between

[The Blue Fox]

I suppose that would technically extend it to King and Bailey's entire relationship, then...and I never had a problem with it 'till now when it's been more blatently displayed that he's a human in a dog's body.

Just...let it go, me. -_-

[SeanWolf]

I know this is a joke...but it....

[/color]

^What he said^

[Gavinfoxx]

I'll touch it!

Many of the critters in the Housepets universe pass the Harkness Test -- even the more elaborated, stringent, detailed, and particular versions of it. Therefore, the content of the dream is not an inherently unethical act. It'd be classified as 'Xenophilia'.

[valerio]

I'll touch it!

Many of the critters in the Housepets universe pass the Harkness Test -- even the more elaborated, stringent, detailed, and particular versions of it. Therefore, the content of the dream is not an inherently unethical act. It'd be classified as 'Xenophilia'.

I love you!

[Were Jack]

This is my new fanon. And I love it. This is the same King that became a dog, so basically it doesn't really make a difference.

Also yeah, King is an ex-human. So why would one see nothing wrong if he is a dog and love her, but the moment he is a human it's bad that he loves her? I see contradiction here.

[D-Rock]

The fact that they’re still considered “animals,” have animalistic traits, desires, instincts, and even thought processes does not help at mitigating feelings of unease. Plus, we have discouraged human/animal pairings among fans for this reason, in reference to people wanting to ship Lois and Poncho as well as the teenage wolves with human classmates.

[valerio]

The fact that they’re still considered “animals,” have animalistic traits, desires, instincts, and even thought processes does not help at mitigating feelings of unease. Plus, we have discouraged human/animal pairings among fans for this reason, in reference to people wanting to ship Lois and Poncho as well as the teenage wolves with human classmates.

With a strong difference: this specific comic indulges in making fun of that point of view, in regard to the peculiar case that is King/Joel, it is NOT supposed to break any rating and/or encourage fanshipping.
I mean, how hard can it be? King had a dream and felt himself dirty, he didn't have an actual date with bailey.

[D-Rock]

Also yeah, King is an ex-human. So why would one see nothing wrong if he is a dog and love her, but the moment he is a human it's bad that he loves her? I see contradiction here.

Bold of you to assume that this is the first time I’ve had these feelings of unease. It’s been there since King first saw Bailey for me.

[Gavinfoxx]

The fully sapient, nonhuman people in this setting are animals... exactly like the human people in this setting, who are also animals (what, they're not vegetable or mineral!).

It's just that they are a horrendously oppressed underclass with far fewer legal rights than the species that is higher than them in the legally enforced caste system.

[CunningFox]

I wonder if Mungo has ever tried to give King some therapy.

[JageshemashFTW]

Didn’t Kitsune say something about some humans being ‘into that’?

With just sort of an unspoken agreement as to what ‘that’ is in this context.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I will say that man does DeeVee and Rockstar look really buff and mature as well as adorable in the last panel. Not gonna touch anything else about the comment. I'm taking a page out of Rocky and Sean's book. Literally.

[Cesco]

Uhm, overall, that's a strange but nice dream scenery, but for King, who was that human, it's such a nightmare... Eheh, come on King, Bailey finds it cute, and that's good. At least, you've been enough brave to tell her about it. Anyway, now the question is: why do you use two toilet brushes in the bathroom?
Very nice other comic, Valerio and Coughee Aholic!

[valerio]

Uhm, overall, that's a strange but nice dream scenery, but for King, who was that human, it's such a nightmare... Eheh, come on King, Bailey finds it cute, and that's good. At least, you've been enough brave to tell her about it. Anyway, now the question is: why do you use two toilet brushes in the bathroom?
Very nice other comic, Valerio and Coughee Aholic!

King thinks his mind is a c*sspool
Also, thankyou!

[Startrekfan47]

Now the question arises ...did Bailey at any point have any "Ewww, I kissed a human" dreams?

[NHWestoN]

I wonder if Mungo has ever tried to give King some therapy.

Not with Bailey around!

[Obbl]

I wonder if Mungo has ever tried to give King some therapy.

Not with Bailey around!

Why not?

[NHWestoN]

I wonder if Mungo has ever tried to give King some therapy.

Not with Bailey around!

Why not?

Don't think she'd want to share that role with anybody....

[Obbl]

Is... she King's therapist? I is confuse

[NHWestoN]

Is... she King's therapist? I is confuse

Wull, she and King are married and, figures the guy who just celebrated his fiftieth anniversary, your wedded partner is your primary therapist. Least that's how it's worked for us.

Now, if King wanted an outside therapist, I'm sure Bailey would support him, but I see no indication that he does. Would he choose Mungo? Dunno. Would Bailey appreciate having Mungo approach her Kingy given what she's perhaps seen between him and Fox. She might be a little guarded. Rick can handle that one.

[ProtoDot]

Is... she King's therapist? I is confuse

Wull, she and King are married and, figures the guy who just celebrated his fiftieth anniversary, your wedded partner is your primary therapist. Least that's how it's worked for us.

Now, if King wanted an outside therapist, I'm sure Bailey would support him, but I see no indication that he does. Would he choose Mungo? Dunno. Would Bailey appreciate having Mungo approach her Kingy given what she's perhaps seen between him and Fox. She might be a little guarded. Rick can handle that one.

Bailey? Guarded? Not sure we're talking about the same dog here.

[anhedral]

This probably won't be a popular view, but it seems to me that this lovely guest strip is simply nudging open a door that HP has already held ajar for years.

For all of its comedic gold, Housepets is a text that probes continuously at how we should relate to others around us who just happen to look, well, different. It's been doing this for a long, long time – since 2011, in fact, when King's very human mind first admitted to itself that he was attracted to a female dog. In loving Bailey, in marriage and later on in fatherhood, King finds a level of fulfilment that he never once encountered as a human. At the conclusion of 'Heaven's Not Enough', when given the choice to be remade human, he chooses to remain a dog. The King-Bailey dynamic is shown to be fundamentally rock-solid, and above all, wholesome.

King rediscovers his humanity through becoming a dog, a mind-bending irony that seems to lie at the very heart and soul of HP. But in illustrating the theme of 'animals are people', he's far from being a lone example.

Throughout HP, animals are shown to be entirely capable of making their way in the human world. Res is a talented, and very successful, writer. Gale becomes a businesswoman. Miles becomes a qualified schoolteacher, entrusted to educate human kids. There's the K9 unit.

Itsuki is a skilled mechanic. Moreover, in Japan, tanuki are full citizens. In 'Heckraiser', we learn that transformed humans are to gain full rights too.

When Sasha is rescued from an abusive 'owner', she is said to be 'emancipated'. I don't think those word choices in the comic were accidental. We've encountered them before in human history.

Yes, the HP critters retain some animalistic behaviours. However, in all of the aspects that really matter, they are to all intents and purposes, human. King, Miles, Itsuki and the rest have gone out of their way to adapt to a human world. It's time for the humans to meet them halfway in that endeavour.

[Amazee Dayzee]

All of that may be true but I am sure that the universe does still have standards and this might be edging DANGEROUSLY close to going over one line.

[D-Rock]

A rare time where I have to agree.

[valerio]

This probably won't be a popular view, but it seems to me that this lovely guest strip is simply nudging open a door that HP has already held ajar for years.

For all of its comedic gold, Housepets is a text that probes continuously at how we should relate to others around us who just happen to look, well, different. It's been doing this for a long, long time – since 2011, in fact, when King's very human mind first admitted to itself that he was attracted to a female dog. In loving Bailey, in marriage and later on in fatherhood, King finds a level of fulfilment that he never once encountered as a human. At the conclusion of 'Heaven's Not Enough', when given the choice to be remade human, he chooses to remain a dog. The King-Bailey dynamic is shown to be fundamentally rock-solid, and above all, wholesome.

King rediscovers his humanity through becoming a dog, a mind-bending irony that seems to lie at the very heart and soul of HP. But in illustrating the theme of 'animals are people', he's far from being a lone example.

Throughout HP, animals are shown to be entirely capable of making their way in the human world. Res is a talented, and very successful, writer. Gale becomes a businesswoman. Miles becomes a qualified schoolteacher, entrusted to educate human kids. There's the K9 unit.

Itsuki is a skilled mechanic. Moreover, in Japan, tanuki are full citizens. In 'Heckraiser', we learn that transformed humans are to gain full rights too.

When Sasha is rescued from an abusive 'owner', she is said to be 'emancipated'. I don't think those word choices in the comic were accidental. We've encountered them before in human history.

Yes, the HP critters retain some animalistic behaviours. However, in all of the aspects that really matter, they are to all intents and purposes, human. King, Miles, Itsuki and the rest have gone out of their way to adapt to a human world. It's time for the humans to meet them halfway in that endeavour.

Kudos! You nailed it exactly! it will be a good, very good moment when this theme will be explored again. HP is about PEOPLE.

All of that may be true but I am sure that the universe does still have standards and this might be edging DANGEROUSLY close to going over one line.

there you are wrong: in the HP universe, that 'line' does not exist. Don't think 'our' world, think 'that' world

[D-Rock]

I’d like to know where that last part is confirmed.

[valerio]

it is confirmed because, just because of divine grace, humans can turn themselves or be turned into animals and stay humans at heart. King and Mr. Milton are the so far the two most notable examples, but you can bet that Heaven is filled with such cases.
The celestial orders do not frown at this kind of relationship. King is and will remain a human, only with a different body. And the heavens are content with that.
So, technically, in the Housepets! cosmos there will be surely worlds where things are like on our own, but as far as Earth goes, that 'dangerous scary line' is basically limited to fish and insects.

[anhedral]

All of that may be true but I am sure that the universe does still have standards and this might be edging DANGEROUSLY close to going over one line.

Standards? Yes, absolutely, and respectfully I would suggest that those standards are precisely those defined by Rick's original content and by the content he allows to be shown in guest strips. No more and no less than that.

I’d like to know where that last part is confirmed.

The comic doesn't state explicitely that we should regard the HP animals as fundamentally equal to humans in their sentience, intelligence and capacity for moral behaviour. Rather, these attributes are shown to us through their thoughts and actions, their ability to give and to receive love, to be emotionally uplifted and sometimes hurt; to behave with generosity or selfishness and be fully aware of the consequences. All the human stuff, in other words.

Let me ask this: without King and Bailey, would HP be the great work of art that it truly is? No, it wouldn't. It would simply be a very, very good one.

When King dreams of his human self kissing Bailey, we might 'read' it in different ways. If taken literally, it's an example of xenophilia (as Gavinfoxx points out). Alternatively, we could view it as a metaphor as to how we humans should behave towards our fellow humans: as equals. I don't find the guest strip to be distasteful, in either interpretation.

[NHWestoN]

Nor do I, anhedral. Meaning no disrespect to Uncle Walt, a dream is not necessarily "a wish your heart makes." Sometimes, it's just a dream.

[Harry Johnathan]

Nor do I, anhedral. Meaning no disrespect to Uncle Walt, a dream is not necessarily "a wish your heart makes." Sometimes, it's just a dream.

I don't believe in following your dreams. I believe in following your purpose. Sometimes the things we want aren't the things we need.

[D-Rock]

I’m still not convinced of all of that being okay. Even Keene was a bit turned off on the idea of Henry dating his mom, so standards do seem to be implied.

[Welsh Halfwit]

I’m still not convinced of all of that being okay. Even Keene was a bit turned off on the idea of Henry dating his mom, so standards do seem to be implied.

Nothing QUITE like your step-dad moving in on your mom(!)

[valerio]

I’m still not convinced of all of that being okay. Even Keene was a bit turned off on the idea of Henry dating his mom, so standards do seem to be implied.

admit it, now you're just grasping at straws