Endtown by Aaron Neathery for November 14, 2012

wince

She’s passing by, seemingly meanBut the doll has brought images keenThere’s a trick in her brainUnrelenting, this painAnd it’s not just a toy that she’s seen=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

So much for anticipation of the worst. Sigh. This is very touching but I feel that she is going to get ideas , feelings over the loss of her son.Could be very touching and could bring the whole Endtown into war with the topsiders.Blessed Be

MemoriesLike the corners of my mindMisty water-colored memoriesOf the way we were.Scattered pictures,Of the smiles we left behindSmiles we gave to one anotherFor the way we were.Can it be that it was all so simple then?Or has time re-written every line?If we had the chance to do it all againTell me, would we? could we?

Was it fixed up?

The little girl appears to be under six years old. Could mutants successfully reproduce? If so, Linda might try to soothe her pain as a day care worker or as a teacher. Just wishful thinking, but it would be interesting to know how reproduction worked. Would Holly and Wally necessarily produce a mouse or a cat, or could it be a different species entirely, like a flying squirrel? Or could only similar looking furries, or featheries, reproduce viable offspring. For the people the past couple of days speculating about topsider food, I would think anything the biosuit repurposed would have to be supplemented by that food hospitals sometimes feed through a nasal tube. Are Topsider communities mostly former Apex employees, with a large scientific community? I would think their biological weapons teams could have developed hydroponics quicker than Endtown, because although Mallard is brilliant, he only has so much time, and the infrastructure may be hard to build with whatever they could scrounge.I apologize for the rant a few days ago, but I was trying to get more people to vote for Endtown 2.0, Doc Rat, and Endtown TOS. I deleted my rant.Please Vote at topwebcomics for Endtown 2.0 and Doc Rat, and be a part of successfully returning the BOTH to the top 30, or even maybe, hopefully, to the top 10. Both Level_Head and SurfStuff55, and sometimes others have been really good about posting the links to make voting easy.Sincerely & Respectfully,JusSayin

@TSOJ… can’t be, it went back to it’s owner under the dust before Flask fried said owner.

After all, why even have a children’s toyshop if the children are all going to age out of needing dolls, jacks-in-boxes and stuffed plush toys?

Does the stuffed rabbit have a cane and an artificial hip now?

Dolls are creepy. This confirms it.’Nuff said.

@TSOJI think it’s unlikely. The depth is unknown, the location probably uncertain and the Zero gun blast might have disintegrated it at the same time as it’s owner. Also a teddy rescue mission in the light of topsider patrols would be insane – at least they can eat beans, there’s no eatin’ on a battered bear.

so poignant in so many ways.

Dramatic opening picture. A seeming adult bull with a koala youngster that could be his son, made me wonder if Linda might kidnap him, but she would have to really embrace her koala-ness to want that particular child as a son substitute. It really does show the conflict she might feel. She may not be ready, but the strip itself is highly ironic in that people have to become appearing as dumb animals to really show their humanity.

BTW, the CrossTimeCafe, a forum for several strips, including Jenner’s Doc Rat WWW.docrat.com.au/ has a forum for other comics. A bit of one of the forums at CTC has some discussions of Endtown 2.0 that sometimes offers different perspectives than we discuss here. Earlier in the month some mentioned Kathy Garrison’s strip. It is called Carry On, for carrion, a strip about hyenas and can also be found at crosstimecafe.For all crosstimecafe forums: http://crosstimecafe.com/viewforum.php?f=7 For Endtown discussion page one of fourteen so far: http://crosstimecafe.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2343 Doc Rat’s forum: http://crosstimecafe.com/viewforum.php?f=30

S & R JusSayin

Damn.That hurts.I can even feel her pain. It makes me want to tear up.She must have left a baby behind to wince like that.Now comes the pressure.What is going to drive her now?And a daycare worker, nanny, she could not handle the pressure. The pain would be too great. I remember how devastated my wife was when we tried to adopt and were told because I am cop it would be too unstable of a family environment. All this time my sister in law flaunting her kid in front of us. My wife drew strength from the story of Ruth and we learned to accept this. My house is full of dolls and everyone is loved. It still hurts me inside still to know never in my lifetime. I and her are the only ones left and when were are gone. So ends that line of DNA.

On the reproduction side. If they have the equipment reproduction is possible. I dont know how the virus works on the DNA wheather it just changes out side appearances but keeps the mostly human interior components or what. It was said some time back that mutation could occure in the womb and it was like sleeping. No horrible monsters. Al and Gustine did it. Holly and Wally did it. So I imagine the “equipment” is still the same. Outwardly the females show signs of a busom and only two. Animals have more of course. The snails, and crab types would be peculiar. (Crab busoms?)

If there are teddy bears are there herbie humans?

@JusSayinBack when Holly and Wally went to the anti-human (or mutant-pride) conference and become friends with that strange mutant he said that, since babies are infected while still unconscious, they all become anthropomorphic mutants when they’re conceived. I think they never stated if there’s some kind of genetic involved so that children are similar to their parents, but I guess this should be the case.

Someone brought up the point a few days ago about Linda having to overcome her years conditioning. For years she’s considered the folks she is seeing now as vermin and/or a resource (brains, for sure). This probably included mutant children. She’s might be seeing these resources/vermin as people for the first time…but it is going to be very confusing. Seeing the toys might remind her of her child (if they were allowed to play) but mutant kids would cause brain lock.

Is this a possible job for Linda? Or is it just more driving her pain home?

Looking at today’s strip, this would really be a kid-friendly comic if it wasn’t for the fact the characters won’t be saying something that’s kid friendly tomorrow.

BTW, Aaron, nice parallel in panel 3.

Don’t ya just hate it when reality comes around the corner, out of nowhere, and smacks you in the face? Poor Linda, never a moment in peace.

And yet… They look so cute together.

A bear and a baby (maybe a koala and her baby) side by side as equals

Interesting dilemma for the jackrabbits filosophy, surnames may not last generations.

is it me or would linda reuniting with her kid be an interesting storyline? If she could mount a rescue mission it would certainly be easier to convert a kid than an adult. Although the problem of turning her kid mutant would be problematic, how would she introduce the virus while he/she is sleeping? Sedation would be almost out of the question and it would take some convincing for her kid to believe that she is in fact his mom (He may have been lead to believe a surrogate was his mother or that his mother died in battle) and trust her would be even harder. Who’s to say that the topsiders don’t have a skewed idea of how mutation works. Any ways, lovely comic sorry for the rambling

I always thought they could reproduce, even tho not seeing any infants. And it’s less likely, but she could have picked the Teddy bear. Trying oi embrace her Koala-ness.Still seems more likely the doll, and it may have gotten her to resolve to go get her child. Did it be certain which gender? I guess I assumed it was a male child?

OH.that was a good eye! I thought it was Linda inside the shop! But sure it is Linda outside! that was clever Mr. Neatherly!!

Yes The human child and teddy sitting side by side is definitely a strong one. Live together with out fighting. A strong reference as to what SHOULD be.I like the way the little duck girl glances over at Linda as she passes. Endtown lives in normalcy for their conditions. Toys, books, automats, they just continue living as people just outside shaped as animals. Such a contrast I imagine to how the Topsiders live everyday.

It’s like the teddybear and the baby doll have switched places…

It just occured to me, where’s the “brains in a box”? Is he/she/it now with Petey?

submitted, they have children, and they;ve been there a LONG time. And in the early arcs there were jokes about a possible baby boom due to the professor starting a rumor that beans were an aphrodisiac….so yes, they can have kids.

And “why have toys?” I’m sorry, but that question is THICK.Seriously. Children NEED to play! So, for that matter, do adults… but kids REALLY need it, just to develop healthy and normal. There’s more to life than mere existence.