Housepets!

So he didn’t read all of the book the class was studying? Yea, that checks out.

Hey I've read that story! ... oh

“No precedent.” Yeah, I laughed way too loudly at that.

Dude, not the most flattering drivers license photo.

Champion Wallace wrote:So he didn’t read all of the book the class was studying? Yea, that checks out.

And now we know why he was the one who was changed. Tsk tsk, this is why you always do your homework.

I gonna bet Marion turning into a squirrel has something to do with the magic coin from the Temple Crashers 2 arc.

Decided to read up on what happened in it as I wasn’t sure if that was the cockroach one or not... to anyone else whose never read it, let me tell you, the fact that the dude doesn’t turn back is not gonna be the worst thing Marion finds out. If King was the human turned into anger in the form of a corgi, I predict Marion is gonna be depression put into a small squirrel shaped package

So when's he going to pull the classic "I'm dreaming, so I just need to wake myself up" and throws himself out the window or something?

Our Boy is a smart one,
reasoning through logic;
looking in a contemporary way
at a problem Morphologic.
You won’t find answers in Kafka,
it’s more likely to be Witches;
go looking for a black cat;
they’re often those ladies snitches.
He’s in for the long haul, I think,
this smart and squirrelly youth.
He’s turned his brain to action
and may be quite the sleuth.

leinglo wrote:So when's he going to pull the classic "I'm dreaming, so I just need to wake myself up" and throws himself out the window or something?

My guess is the next strip, as he has to get out of the room at some point so the arc can progress past “Ahhhhhh!!!!” And “worsening depression”

Oh.....Marion won't like the outcome.
But you know you have to love how the squirrel also takes the supernatural in question to try to figure out how he became a squirrel.

That is not going to end very well.

D-Rock wrote:Smart kid. Realizing the different possibilities.

Yeah that is a good thing he seems pretty smart, for the most part anyway.

I was a writing major and I rarely read any of the books assigned to me. But in my defense they were some weird ones.

fenrirblack wrote:I was a writing major and I rarely read any of the books assigned to me. But in my defense they were some weird ones.

My theory is that literature classes specifically assign the books that nobody would ever otherwise choose to read of their own accord.

Spoiler alert: he died at the end.

I can actually give a few much more helpful books with TF that don’t have downer endings where the entire class is supposed to learn that life is hard and unforgiving. Actually his biggest mistake was not just checking the internet for answers. Heck, watching a Disney movie would have been better.

leinglo wrote:

fenrirblack wrote:I was a writing major and I rarely read any of the books assigned to me. But in my defense they were some weird ones.

My theory is that literature classes specifically assign the books that nobody would ever otherwise choose to read of their own accord.

Agreed, when you have to read “The City in the City,” then there is something very wrong.

Great Literature ... always a solution, right?

Oh, I really like where this arc's going. I kinda hope Rick keeps us guessing for a while about the agency for Marion's change; right now, it's just a lot of fun seeing the new guy trying to cope with his new situation.

fenrirblack wrote:Dude, not the most flattering drivers license photo.

Oh heck, you should see mine. Zombie driver, anybody?

anhedral wrote:Oh, I really like where this arc's going. I kinda hope Rick keeps us guessing for a while about the agency for Marion's change; right now, it's just a lot of fun seeing the new guy trying to cope with his new situation.

Agreed. It's been quite a while since we've had a new main character introduced (I hope Marion turns out to be a main character, at least), and to quote Thor: "I like this one."

Now I am beset my a very, very important question: why does he have a patch of grey on his right leg but not on his left one?

Xane wrote:And that's exactly why I hate TF stories, because that's the first one I read.

Gameb18oy wrote:Decided to read up on what happened in it as I wasn’t sure if that was the cockroach one or not... to anyone else whose never read it, let me tell you, the fact that the dude doesn’t turn back is not gonna be the worst thing Marion finds out. If King was the human turned into anger in the form of a corgi, I predict Marion is gonna be depression put into a small squirrel shaped package

fenrirblack wrote:I can actually give a few much more helpful books with TF that don’t have downer endings where the entire class is supposed to learn that life is hard and unforgiving.

Oh, God! The scene where the father throws the apple! The scene where the father throws the apple! Now that's a downer story indeed!

Is it just me, or does that picture look like the boy from here: https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/20 ... sociation/ ?

leinglo wrote:So when's he going to pull the classic "I'm dreaming, so I just need to wake myself up" and throws himself out the window or something?

"So it turns out a squirrel's terminal velocity is low enough that it can survive a fall from any altitude."

fenrirblack wrote:Agreed, when you have to read “The City in the City,” then there is something very wrong.

The City & the City?

OMG THEY MADE A TV SERIES OUT OF IT?!

As someone who never read/heard of the book 'Metamorphosis', the last panel goes over my head a bit.

Basically, a guy wakes up as a bug and tries to go about his life. He can't change back, by the way.

LunarFox wrote:Basically, a guy wakes up as a bug and tries to go about his life. He can't change back, by the way.

Perhaps Rick recently read the book (or was reminded of it) and that's what inspired him to create this arc in the first place!

I do gotta say that Marion is one cute squirrel! I can't get over how adorable he is, and he only gets even moreso for every strip

Probably! I agree, Marion is adorable...!

SeanWolf wrote:As someone who never read/heard of the book 'Metamorphosis', the last panel goes over my head a bit.

Same for me, but I looked up the ending... Not really a good thing for the character to do, I worry they're gonna start panicking soon after finding out what happens to the MC in that book. In that case, I'm seriously hoping that they run into King SOON so they can get a better perspective of how to cope with their new situation.

Impending squirrel freakout? Probably... we'd better hope he runs into King, like Raku said.

LunarFox wrote:Is it just me, or does that picture look like the boy from here: https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/20 ... sociation/ ?

Only so much as 40% of the teenage white Human boys on the planet look like that out of focus picture.

Raku wrote:

SeanWolf wrote:As someone who never read/heard of the book 'Metamorphosis', the last panel goes over my head a bit.

Same for me, but I looked up the ending... Not really a good thing for the character to do, I worry they're gonna start panicking soon after finding out what happens to the MC in that book. In that case, I'm seriously hoping that they run into King SOON so they can get a better perspective of how to cope with their new situation.

I looked it up too and oof! That would be one downer ending for this arc (Though I almost looked up the wrong Metamorphosis as there's also a 1990 horror movie of the same name).

The driver's license photo he has now is nothing compared to mine and how I looked. My eyes were so wide its like they were shooting laser beams.

fenrirblack wrote:I was a writing major and I rarely read any of the books assigned to me. But in my defense they were some weird ones.

If you ever got 1984, I don’t blame you. An interesting story, made unbearably by the world’s most unlikable protagonist.

LunarFox wrote:Is it just me, or does that picture look like the boy from here: https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/20 ... sociation/ ?

That is the big question that keeps popping up but it’s most likely not for several reasons from hair color, grade, age, skin tone, etc.

fenrirblack wrote:

LunarFox wrote:Is it just me, or does that picture look like the boy from here: https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/20 ... sociation/ ?

That is the big question that keeps popping up but it’s most likely not for several reasons from hair color, grade, age, skin tone, etc.

Considering he’s got two paths he can really go down when he finally realizes the answers are not in his room, meet with the miltons (the dogs, the wolves, or the ferrets), get some support and possibly find out he’s not the only former human, but sadly also find out aside from maybe Kitsune, there’s no way to turn him back (and honestly, I have a feeling a demigod can’t directly change stuff made by another demigod, just so Rick can address the limits he needs to setup if Kitsune is gonna appear semi regularly now.) the other possibility is he encounters a wild animal and gets led to the opener of way cult, while no one is really malicious there, I don’t think meeting Steward is a good thing to happen to Marion

fenrirblack wrote:

LunarFox wrote:Is it just me, or does that picture look like the boy from here: https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/20 ... sociation/ ?

That is the big question that keeps popping up but it’s most likely not for several reasons from hair color, grade, age, skin tone, etc.

Doesn't look like it. Marion's hair is more brown. the one back with Rockstar has dark hair.

Never read the book. And Kafka sounds like a totally sweet author.

Silly Zealot wrote:Now I am beset my a very, very important question: why does he have a patch of grey on his right leg but not on his left one?

That's called a "boot". For domestic cats and horses, genetic lottery determines the probability of occurrence on any given limb. Not sure how applicable that is to magical species adjustment, though.

Welsh Halfwit wrote:

LunarFox wrote:Is it just me, or does that picture look like the boy from here: https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/20 ... sociation/ ?

Only so much as 40% of the teenage white Human boys on the planet look like that out of focus picture.

Exactly. Also, we're comparing it to only the bottom third of a face. Also, he's a highschool student and probably a local resident, so he doesn't need to be that exact same student to share a class with the wolf boys, which is apparently what everyone is hoping for some reason.

Fish Preferred wrote:

Silly Zealot wrote:Now I am beset my a very, very important question: why does he have a patch of grey on his right leg but not on his left one?

That's called a "boot". For domestic cats and horses, genetic lottery determines the probability of occurrence on any given limb. Not sure how applicable that is to magical species adjustment, though.

Welsh Halfwit wrote:

LunarFox wrote:Is it just me, or does that picture look like the boy from here: https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/20 ... sociation/ ?

Only so much as 40% of the teenage white Human boys on the planet look like that out of focus picture.

Exactly. Also, we're comparing it to only the bottom third of a face. Also, he's a highschool student and probably a local resident, so he doesn't need to be that exact same student to share a class with the wolf boys, which is apparently what everyone is hoping for some reason.

Well, it just be nice if there’s already a connection there, like maybe he’s seek out their protection when he realizes how most of the pets react to squirrels. I will be disappointed if he’s not chased down by at least one of them

It's my birthday, and Rick has gifted me with a punchline based on some of the required reading I had this school year. Good thing he chose Kafka and not The Things They Carried, I don't want to see Peanut go to Nam.

Gameb18oy wrote:

Fish Preferred wrote: Exactly. Also, we're comparing it to only the bottom third of a face. Also, he's a highschool student and probably a local resident, so he doesn't need to be that exact same student to share a class with the wolf boys, which is apparently what everyone is hoping for some reason.

Well, it just be nice if there’s already a connection there, like maybe he’s seek out their protection when he realizes how most of the pets react to squirrels. I will be disappointed if he’s not chased down by at least one of them

For Marion to know the wolves personally would accomplish two things. One it creates a type of crossover situation between the characters, again the Spheres. Secondly it would benefit the plot if Marion had a connection to the wolves which again serves as a bridge to King and more importantly Kitsune. It is true that they don’t technically have to be in the same grade but if my theory is correct about the wolves being freshmen and Marion being a senior then the odds of them sharing any type of class is slim. The better chance of them meeting would either be random counter or someone points them out to Marion like “You know who you should try talking to about all this, the wolf guys or Mr. Wolf.” This is his best chance to see them but its not where I see the story going.
Unfortunately I’m wondering if Marion will meet them first considering the odds of him getting to the school at this point are extremely low. When he does leave the house he could end up in who knows where or with you know who. Again we still don’t even know where he lives or its correlation to Babylon Gardens.

There's a lot of nice contrasting points between King and Marion so far at this point.

•When King was transformed, Pete made things difficult for him by not giving him much opportunity to think to himself except for some openings, and it was mostly due to how his new life was still a prison. Marion, on the other hand, has ample time to think, reason, and try to figure out his predicament. I feel that if King was in Marion's position, he would probably do most of the same things (try to use logic and reason to figure out what's going on).
•King went through a stressful time alone until he was free from Pete's grasp and could open up more to others. On the other hand, I feel Marion will have much more help from many different sources, but might start closing himself off, restricting himself to become trapped. Basically, he'll become a foil to King.
•As has been stated many times before, Marion has much more to lose turning into a squirrel over King turning into a corgi. However, King knew exactly why he became a corgi and knew what to do if he wanted his humanity back later on (Kitsune's "surprise"). Meanwhile, Marion doesn't have any idea why he became a squirrel. In future strips, we'll probably figure out more about why, though the fact is that, on technical grounds, King asked to become a dog. Marion, on the other hand, did not ask to become a squirrel.

I just figured something: maybe Marion slept with one sock put on and that's why his legs have different colours. Hehehehe.
Awww, poor guy!

SeanWolf wrote:

Raku wrote:

SeanWolf wrote:As someone who never read/heard of the book 'Metamorphosis', the last panel goes over my head a bit.

Same for me, but I looked up the ending... Not really a good thing for the character to do, I worry they're gonna start panicking soon after finding out what happens to the MC in that book. In that case, I'm seriously hoping that they run into King SOON so they can get a better perspective of how to cope with their new situation.

I looked it up too and oof! That would be one downer ending for this arc (Though I almost looked up the wrong Metamorphosis as there's also a 1990 horror movie of the same name).

Pumkin6 wrote:It's my birthday, and Rick has gifted me with a punchline based on some of the required reading I had this school year. Good thing he chose Kafka and not The Things They Carried, I don't want to see Peanut go to Nam.

As someone who has read the story, I really, really, really recommend it! Short, interesting, tragic, sad, but not depressing.

My favourite character by far is the old cleaning lady the family hires to clean the protagonist's room after he's transformed. She's a "seen-it-all" "nothing-phases-her" kinda woman who doesn't back off when the buggified protagonist tries to give her a spook. Wham! Broom-whack to the giant bug! Haha! I love her. Kinda insensitive, though, I'll admit.

Oh, also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PUMKIN6!