Housepets!

Douglas Collier wrote:This strip appears to be a textbook example of Cerberus Syndrome. Remember the days when Grape and Peanut imaginated weather wizards and plague zombies without a care in the world, and their biggest concern was losing “the game”? I have doubts we’ll ever see that fun wholesome silliness equaled again (please make me wrong, Rick!).

Yeah, I admit to getting a little sentimental, too, Doug - could go for an "Imaginate" next round. Wait until the "read tree version comes out in a couple years and end with THIS dark, mordant scene.

Oh well, rainy days and Mondays - by then, we'll know what happy ending Rick's delighted us with. ....and I'll be the only one on this forum who's seventy-six.

Douglas Collier wrote:This strip appears to be a textbook example of Cerberus Syndrome. Remember the days when Grape and Peanut imaginated weather wizards and plague zombies without a care in the world, and their biggest concern was losing “the game”? I have doubts we’ll ever see that fun wholesome silliness equaled again (please make me wrong, Rick!).

I dont know about that. HP has a long history of shift in tone going up and down often within a single arc. I just recently got all the books and have been going through them and we've had arcs with Max crying and alone in a white frame, Zach and Jessica trapped in a cage and slowly freezing to death, or the attempted murder of Keene that are intermixed with King an Bailey finding love, the Great Water balloon war or Lucricia trying to throw a human baby shower. Of course, there is always time for Bino to get abused. I could easily see a future where the silliness returns for a while. I'm not worried at all for that.

It might just be me, but it feels like today in particular is when all furry comics, including Housepets here, decided to bring on the feels.

...wait a minute. Is Marion, like, Main Cast now? We've always ended with a Main Cast character...right?

I don't think Marion would have had a whole arc introducing him if he wasn't going to be a regular, but who knows where Rick's going with this.

On that note, this whole arc must have been pretty risky on Rick's part. Having a fairly long arc focusing on an entirely new character with hardly any regular characters [and none of the central cast] appearing asks for a lot of patience and trust from the readers. I'd say that, after 11 years, Rick has earned that trust.

Im going to explain everything I’ve learn about YA fiction today in coordination with the comic. Marion’s story is YA fiction. It hits all the hallmarks which is interesting when you look at a lot of the previous chapters. King’s was more adult as well as some others and most were simple fun comical stories for younger audiences. Marion’s is straight YA in structure which isn’t surprising but nice to see. Anyway, the lecturer gave us this list of “beats” a usual YA story follow (again I know Rick is a good writer so it shouldn’t be a huge shock to see him following normal plot progression but seeing it in action like this is fascinating and being able to break it down makes me geek out).

1. Opening scene
2. characterization/setup
3. catalyst
4. Debate
5. decision to act
6. Education & fun B stories
7. Midpoint (false victory)
8. Bad guys This strip a joke since the villain is still unknown.
9. All is Lost
10. Spirit Guidance and new decision to act (pet partner, Kitsune, or Tarot)
11. Resolving Conflicts
12. Closing Image

There are a lot of other things to talk about but this is the main thing.

SeanWolf wrote:It might just be me, but it feels like today in particular is when all furry comics, including Housepets here, decided to bring on the feels.

interesting to go with an "only-the-lonely" moment on a Monday - that's usually a Friday sort of strip. Well, then maybe the arc will turn upward now.....

Or not.

So, got two predictions for the next arc, and I kinda doubt Rick is gonna have built so much sympathy for Marion (The dude suffered so much, we could call this the charlie brown homage arc) and put more than a few one-offs or guest comics between the return if even that, so I doubt Marion is just gonna be left up in the treehouse for months or something like that. Anyway, my two predictions:
1. The one kinda already touched on, someone heard the speech Marion gave who can help him, will be speaking to him not too long chronologically from this specific comic. My bets on Sabrina, easily can climb trees, tends to have humanitarian methods when dealing with rodents and other pest animals, so she wouldnt be another (at this point beyond unnecessary) sad event for Marion where he almost gets killed by a pet. My bets on this one, as honestly, alongside Marion being due for a break, the pets will need the information that humans are turning into animals to circulate so things like Kevin being a bad dog don't end up having tragic consequences.
2. The return of Lois. Theres a decent chance that treehouse has some significance to either both or one of two kids involved here, and if Lois is about as intelligent as Marion has been in his crisis, she'll probably be squirrel hunting after she gets out of class and realizes Marion is missing, which also means she'll eventually go to it. Regardless of whether it happens or not, Rick rarely names characters he intends to use only once, so Lois in some capacity probably is planned to appear down the line. I won't be surprised if she has to act like his owner for a little while (Lucky for Marion pet squirrels do exist, so that could be a good temporary cover), but I'm kinda hoping for a coin transformation again, as much as I know that's a little cruel after seeing what Marion has been through. Just found out pet otters are legitimately a thing, so maybe she'll finally bring in the species I've been hoping would come back for awhile now.

Amazee Dayzee wrote:Not sure if anything ethnical could be applied here. Maybe him deciding if he wants to stay like a squirrel (but with the correct gender) or turn back into a human, though I would figure he would want to turn back. It might have been ethnical with King though.

I think the ethical dilemmas will come down the line especially if Steward or the demon becomes involved. Basically, his return to human will come with strings attached so there is the ethical portion.

Amazee Dayzee wrote:Also, isn't your OC supposed to be insane? XD

Actually no. The original myth of Fenrir Wolf goes like this, he was Loki’s son and born with two other children Hel, goddess of death and Iormungandr the world serpent. Oden cast the others away but kept Fenrir hoping to tame him but as Fenrir grew the gods feared what he would become. So they had a plan, they took him to Lyngvi in the middle of Lake Amsvartnir (my profile pic) and tied him with an unbreakable cord but not before biting off the hand of the God Tyr. After that they thrust a sword into his lower jaw and his blood formed a river. On the day of Ragnarok he will break free and kill Odin only to be killed by Vidar himself.

My Fenrir (Fenrir Black) follows the same story except there is a lot of personal issues as Fenrir strived to be accepted by the gods only to be rejected repeatedly. Again he was tied to Lyngvi and bit off Tyr’s hand. The difference comes when as he was chained he learned to control his magic power he inherited from Loki and breaks free on his own. Weakened, he swam to the mainland and plotted his revenge against the gods. He tricked a human woman by pretending to be a wounded human But fell in love with her. She was named Diana. She taught him about the beauty of the world and accepted him for what he was. They were happy until she was murdered. Distraught and angry he laid waste to Asgard until he fell at Odin’s feet when Odin refused to fight him. After that Fenrir lost the will to fight so Odin gave him a choice to either return to Midgard, where he fell in love and remain there or be imprisoned again. Fenrir chose the former and lived in Midgard while secretly exploring the nine realms in search for Diana’s killer. That’s where we are now.

dr_eirik wrote:

Douglas Collier wrote:This strip appears to be a textbook example of Cerberus Syndrome. Remember the days when Grape and Peanut imaginated weather wizards and plague zombies without a care in the world, and their biggest concern was losing “the game”? I have doubts we’ll ever see that fun wholesome silliness equaled again (please make me wrong, Rick!).

I dont know about that. HP has a long history of shift in tone going up and down often within a single arc. I just recently got all the books and have been going through them and we've had arcs with Max crying and alone in a white frame, Zach and Jessica trapped in a cage and slowly freezing to death, or the attempted murder of Keene that are intermixed with King an Bailey finding love, the Great Water balloon war or Lucricia trying to throw a human baby shower. Of course, there is always time for Bino to get abused. I could easily see a future where the silliness returns for a while. I'm not worried at all for that.

This has always been a common occurrence in the comic. The final arc of the year is always darker then the rest and follows a more traditional story arc. This started at the end of Year 1 and Rick even said in his post about it he didn’t want to succumb to Cerberus Syndrome (oops). The series always flips back and forth between humor and serious arcs. Kings was the main serious darker arc for years but when that ended there was a void. It was filled again during the Temple Crashers 2 arc but then that ended a lot of storylines as well as started some new ones. This is either a continuation of those threads or a new one. Rick’s writing in the comics has become more serious but never as dark as it is during the final arcs each year. The spa and the video store were prime examples of the same wacky antics.

Gameb18oy wrote:So, got two predictions for the next arc, and I kinda doubt Rick is gonna have built so much sympathy for Marion (The dude suffered so much, we could call this the charlie brown homage arc) and put more than a few one-offs or guest comics between the return if even that, so I doubt Marion is just gonna be left up in the treehouse for months or something like that. Anyway, my two predictions:
1. The one kinda already touched on, someone heard the speech Marion gave who can help him, will be speaking to him not too long chronologically from this specific comic. My bets on Sabrina, easily can climb trees, tends to have humanitarian methods when dealing with rodents and other pest animals, so she wouldnt be another (at this point beyond unnecessary) sad event for Marion where he almost gets killed by a pet. My bets on this one, as honestly, alongside Marion being due for a break, the pets will need the information that humans are turning into animals to circulate so things like Kevin being a bad dog don't end up having tragic consequences.
2. The return of Lois. Theres a decent chance that treehouse has some significance to either both or one of two kids involved here, and if Lois is about as intelligent as Marion has been in his crisis, she'll probably be squirrel hunting after she gets out of class and realizes Marion is missing, which also means she'll eventually go to it. Regardless of whether it happens or not, Rick rarely names characters he intends to use only once, so Lois in some capacity probably is planned to appear down the line. I won't be surprised if she has to act like his owner for a little while (Lucky for Marion pet squirrels do exist, so that could be a good temporary cover), but I'm kinda hoping for a coin transformation again, as much as I know that's a little cruel after seeing what Marion has been through. Just found out pet otters are legitimately a thing, so maybe she'll finally bring in the species I've been hoping would come back for awhile now.

I really hope and think Lois will have a larger role. I’m leaning towards her being a owner character even though it would make more sense for him to return home but if his ,other just can’t handle his squirrelness then Lois is his best option. But that would break Rick’s rule about no humans seen often so there is that. I can’t see her being changed into an animal though. I mean it could happen but it seems so unnecessary unless that’s what it takes for her to have a real role.

We might only just see the bottom of her head like what we have seen before until the "Imaginate" arc were at the end the owner's faces were shown (and Ryan dyed his hair blonde. XD)

If she is an owner character, I am hoping she is the owner of Ralph or Mungo.

The irony is not lost on me that after being turned into a squirrel Marion is sleeping in a tree, but in a human construct.

fenrirblack wrote:So the BIG question, who’s treehouse is this? Because we’ve seen it before

Someone we know or a new character perhaps? Lois or Marion’s own treehouse because it would make more sense for a human to have a treehouse compared to a pet. Or is it just something abandoned in the wilderness which opens the door to the feral path again.

I agree that that's a question to be answered, that's why I already asked it in the post directly before yours.

Ash Greytree wrote:My hope for the start of Year 12 is that Marion’s going to wake up hungry and try to forage for food, since as far as we know he only had that energy drink the previous day.

He had cereal for breakfast. Even if it didn't go as planned, he still got the box down.

dr_eirik wrote:So, its come to this.

https://xkcd.com/1022/

Ash Greytree wrote:Looking back at prior End Of Year strips, there are sometimes guest comics afterward. We may get several of those, and then head right back to Marion, or an arc featuring someone completely different.

It's not impossible for there to be guest strips, but we normally get more warning if there's to be a guest strip this Wednesday. I suspect it will be like Housepets 5000 BC with a one-off separating arcs or like Heaven's Not Enough and All's Fair with a mini-arc in-between.

Douglas Collier wrote:This strip appears to be a textbook example of Cerberus Syndrome. Remember the days when Grape and Peanut imaginated weather wizards and plague zombies without a care in the world, and their biggest concern was losing “the game”? I have doubts we’ll ever see that fun wholesome silliness equaled again (please make me wrong, Rick!).

I believe the term you meant was Cerebus Syndrome, not Cerberus Syndrome (unless that's not a typo and is something separate, in which case you can ignore the rest of the paragraph). I disagree that this is a textbook example because it's missing a key component, in that it's defined as a shift over time. Yes, this strip is more about drama and lacked comedy, but the strips before it weren't missing comedy and the strips after it have yet to be seen. By it's nature a strip being a textbook example of Cerebus Syndrome is practically oxymoronic. It's like seeing someone denounce global warming because it's cold one day. Trends need multiple data points and aren't defined by outliers. I too remember when Peanut and Grape played pretend together. I also remember when the cast messed around in an impossible mobile spa. It's weird to see you wonder if we'll ever see fun wholesome silliness again since we already have.

Gameb18oy wrote:Rick rarely names characters he intends to use only once

What about Colleen, Karo, Action Replay, Money for Nothing, Cassia, Stanley D'Angelo, Jake, Mr. Holloway, and Mrs. Holloway?

Not to mention we haven't even seen Stanley in the comic yet.

Champion Wallace wrote:

Ash Greytree wrote:My hope for the start of Year 12 is that Marion’s going to wake up hungry and try to forage for food, since as far as we know he only had that energy drink the previous day.

He had cereal for breakfast. Even if it didn't go as planned, he still got the box down.

Oh, guess that hidden/alt text was canon, then. Still, teenage metabolism combined with squirrel metabolism means he's going to be starving in the morning. Hoping for some antics surrounding that in order to lighten the mood and lead him to interacting with more of the cast.

I don't know the term for it (possibly "questionably canon"), but my understanding is alt texts could be treated like canon unless they obviously weren't and could be overwritten later by something in the comic. As bjchan95 pointed out, that alt text was a Homestar Runner reference, so events probably didn't unfold quite like that in actuality. However, even if the alt text isn't canon, I feel him eating the cereal is the logical outcome since he was hungry, and he successfully got the box in his possession.

Yeah, Rick tends toward not directly explaining the "obvious" (which has gotten him some confused readers before ^^ ). If it can be easily intuited (for some definition of "easily"), then why show it explicitly (unless it adds to the story in some other way)?

Nothing intrigues readers like a little calculated ambiguity........

That is one of the ways to get someone hooked after all. Since it will always keep viewers guessing until the truth is revealed.

One thing I’ve learned this week is that you should always start a story by making the reader ask a question. Although my mentor would not like the whole “we don’t know what caused the transformation.” He’s adamant about being told things up front and not being led on.

That is kind of like me also. I need to be told about stuff upfront also.

fenrirblack wrote:One thing I’ve learned this week is that you should always start a story by making the reader ask a question. Although my mentor would not like the whole “we don’t know what caused the transformation.” He’s adamant about being told things up front and not being led on.

He must hate mysteries.

D-Rock wrote:

fenrirblack wrote:One thing I’ve learned this week is that you should always start a story by making the reader ask a question. Although my mentor would not like the whole “we don’t know what caused the transformation.” He’s adamant about being told things up front and not being led on.

He must hate mysteries.

He said that’s the one times it’s okay but if your not writing a mystery then don’t withhold information. There’s some logic to it bit it’s definitely not my style.

fenrirblack wrote:

D-Rock wrote:

fenrirblack wrote:One thing I’ve learned this week is that you should always start a story by making the reader ask a question. Although my mentor would not like the whole “we don’t know what caused the transformation.” He’s adamant about being told things up front and not being led on.

He must hate mysteries.

He said that’s the one times it’s okay but if your not writing a mystery then don’t withhold information. There’s some logic to it bit it’s definitely not my style.

Good job this plot's a mystery one, then.

Exactly!

If it wasn't I could see more people getting into an uproar about it.