Shades Of A 037
This page features Mr Fabulous, the fat mustached pony. He’s been lurking as a poster in previous pages, but this is his debut full appearence.
Many of the references on this page are brought to you via this amazing stock photo man:
He’s my internet spirit animal.
OMG I CAN RELATE. I’M NOT ASEXUAL BUT HAVE WANTED AN ASEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE BEFORE IN MY LIFE WHO WAS A SEX FIEND. HOPEFULLY IT WORKS BETTER FOR HIM.
PLEASE LET MR FABULOUS BE A T-SHIRT ONE DAY.
totally aggree, t-shirt like that would be awesome :)
I’d prever a print but yes, he has to become a merch-object, I’ve never seen something that fabulous
I almost started laughing out loud at work at the line “Maybe his wife just couldn’t give him the snuggles he needed.”
Also, I ended up getting the audio book of FSoG from the library and it’s entirely your fault. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to finish it. Thank you for not making Anwar endlessly monologue with his inner goddess. Thank you soooooooo much.
Anwar’s inner god/dess would be mildly androgynous and be a deity of thought and/or cuddles
Ana’s inner…things to be patted on the head. Really hard. With a shovel. Then buried…
I love this page!
This page sums up so many conversations that I’ve had and it captures it perfectly.
Mr Fabulous! I love that fat pony!
Also, “the straight thing” – I don’t remember Anwar having a conversation with Chris about that, so is he on about his own orientation (and if so, what about his crush on JD?) or is he just assuming Chris is straight, because he was married at one point?
I was wondering that too!!
maybe he developed his feelings for J.D. while they where still living as female (as shown in the flashback) and because he’s completely straight the development in J.D.’s gender orientation put an end to his romantic intentions…I don’t really believe it but it’s a possibility. Still I think it’s more likely that he assumes or knows that Chris is straight…otherwise why would he have a crush on Chris or why would he still sometimes feel in Love with J.D.?
You’re not alone in wondering! All may well be revealed later, but I’m assuming Anwar went “was married to a woman, may have only mentioned interest in women -> straight.” Of course, what has and hasn’t been said between them is not something we can be sure on without a word from he of the comic drawing; but if I knew someone who had only mentioned being attracted to one gender, I’d assume there’s a reason to them not mentioning attraction to any other. And the most likely reason is that they’re not.
Which is, of course, not something I should assume; largely because, you know, assumptions are bad, but also because it drives me batshit crazy when people label me as “gay” because I’m in a relationship with another man.
I was half expecting a ‘not helping’ start to that final panel :P Poor Anwar…
I think J.D. is plotting something or knows something about Christ we don’t. I don’t think they is the kind of person who’d mock a friend for his feelings or say things like in panel 2 which could encourage Anwar if they thought his chrush might be futile
ok i may not be the best person to call you out on this bc im white, but it’s really fucked up to use “spirit animal” when that’s not actually something from your culture. it’s a real thing you’re appropriating! so please use something else to mean what you’re saying in the future? like patronus or hero or “i really personally identify with him”
What does race have to do with a person’s spirituality? Not that ‘internet spirit animal’ was likely meant to be taken terribly seriously, but it comes off as equally if not more ignorant to imply you have to be born of a particular race or culture to identify with a spiritual belief.
It’s because countries have a history of making demeaning racist stereotypes towards natives/indigenous people, and the “spirit animal” is part of one of those stereotypes.
Wow that was actually really offensive to my patronus, you take that back.
i’m with aj on this one. Sprit animal is defs an appropriate phrase, though not everybody knows it, especially folks who aren’t from the U.S.. It’s become a very popular thing on the internet to say, and reminding people of the origin of the term and the problems behind it is an important move. keeping the dialogue open. (B, its racialized b/c in the U.S., native folks are still the vicitims of a great deal of racialized inequality and violence. It complicates spirituality a great deal, to the point that seemingly benign jokes can bring out a lot of microaggressions and problems.)
Just fyi, there are ancient European shamanic systems which employ spirit animals. Actually, there are shamanistic religions all over the world that include spirit animals – including Siberia, were the word ‘shaman’ originated. Kind of hard to culturally appropriate something that is so cross-cultural.
As a visually non-white person (raised Southern-US white, family with Cherokee background counts as white in rural areas, but are too dark to be white in more suburban areas) who pursued spiritual truth almost entirely on my own after supernatural events ejected me from the Christian church, (long story) I like that a lot of people are picking up use of the “spirit animal” concept, even if it’s not technically an animal. Especially since the term doesn’t originate with the people the concept is derived from anyway, it originates with anthropologists studying those cultures. So it’s more a scientific term than a religious/cultural one. Portraying the spirit animal concept as something that white people can only appropriate is honestly more offensive to me than people using the spirit animal concept in this way, especially having had personal experience with traditional spirit “animals,” despite having been raised culturally white. (I say “animals” because they like to take weird forms, but the forms are meaningful to me, and that’s the point of spirits/spiritual energy taking a form at all, I think.)
My boyfriend sent his guardian spirit to me when we lived apart because I needed it (abusive environment that I couldn’t get out of until I went off to university) and it took a form I recognized as being strong/invulnerable, and that I associated with him so that I would know it was there to help/protect me. [For the record, the form was a yellow/golden Space Marine. But it was essentially a spirit animal, as it was a spiritual presence that guided me through that journey, just not an animal because I wouldn’t relate to an animal.]
I also feel like the adjective “internet” unequivocally clarifies the difference between internet spirit animal and a traditional spirit animal, which is unique among popularized scientific terms. This one has basically taken care of itself, so we should worry more about the colloquial versions of scientific terms that -don’t- have such a qualifier. Like the term psychopath for any murderer ever, or “OCD” for neat and orderly people. [And don’t even get me started on Antisocial!] It would be a lot easier if people did something like add “non-Criminological”, “non-clinical,” or “colloquial” in front every time they use psychopath, OCD, or antisocial and don’t mean it scientifically. This is exactly what is being done with “internet spirit animal, therefore, I doubt “internet spirit animal” needs to be even remotely on our radar of “possibly offensive things.”
Fyore,
You are my favorite person of the day, if not the week! While I am just a lurker (usually), I really appreciate well reasoned and well stated responses in a world where shouting is often considered a proxy for logic.
If I could I would send you a whole jar of home grew and made strawberry jam, Fyora.
Not to mention that one should know the difference between language cachy phrases and cultural/scientific quotation. As a person working (for my own fun) with dictionaries I often see a huge gap between what is commonly said to be the word’s meaning and how it is applied in specialistic areas.
And yes, telling me that being a white European of Catholic background I cannot work with non-native spirituality is a form of discrimination. But I prey that no one would have to pay attention to what others say when one follows their spiritual way.
Hey thanks for calling me out being English means terms which are internationally offensive mean nothing here.
I looked up a bit on the subject: http://littlecitywitch.tumblr.com/post/33908626355/question-for-pagans-anyone-else-who-believes-in
turns out spirit animal is just a bad translation of a native American belief, and not a particularly good one. The word totem however is theirs and should be respected accordingly.
@tab thanks for being so stellar about my response about the phrase spirit animal. i appreciate that you looked it up yourself for more information.
JD, I love you so much on this page. XD
Can we please just discuss how unreasonably attractive JD is? Like, seriously, look at them in the first panel. THEY FREAKING KNOW THEY’RE IN A COMIC, THEY ARE POSING FOR US LIKE A MODEL. Damn, just, that face. Like, woah.
Anwar’s angst is kind of adorable but mostly understandable. I love JD here, they’re awesome and hilarious. I love the art in this page, too. Well, I love the art in this whole comic, gives me a happy.
*patpats Anwar* I’ve been there, buddy. I’ve been there. Also, I just thought you should know “spirit animal” is kinda an appropriative term. Belongs to native american culture. Maybe “patronus” or something like that would be better?
I looked up a bit on the subject: http://littlecitywitch.tumblr.com/post/33908626355/question-for-pagans-anyone-else-who-believes-in
Turns out spirit animal is just a bad translation of a native American belief, and not a particularly good one. The word totem however is theirs and should be respected accordingly.
Hey Tab I found some more information here: http://karnythia.tumblr.com/post/52494837071/agentotter-sofriel-fralusans-ana-marein
Thanks!
Ah, very interesting! Well I won’t use it again but I’ll leave it there with all of the comments so people can read this in the future.
God, I know Anwar’s feels. I have wonderful friends, but they all think I’ll “grow out” of this “snuggle-thing” I have. No one understands that, while I can appreciate people being appealing, and find them as such, I really don’t want anything more than cuddles.
I have finally gotten them to stop bugging me about it by pointing out that I’m 26. If what they call “the raging hormones” haven’t hit me yet, they’re not going to. Some of them think I should go into therapy to try to sort it out.
thanks, H, i’m going to quote your last paragraph to my mates :) seriously, what’s wrong with just cuddling? does everything have to devolve into sx?
IKR? In some ways I feel like cuddling can be more intimate than sex. Tried explaining that to the friends, they didn’t get it. Though one person I was able to get with ” You’ve had sex with several people, but who do you *cuddle* with?” They sort of understood. Especially since they’re really touchy about with whom they have physical contact.
It is ridiculous how many people are just looking to get offended on behalf of cultures they’ve probably never interacted with.
Getting offended and kindly pointing out that a term might be less than courteous are not the same things.
^This. Totally agree with you, N. stopyellingatme, why do you have to interact with a culture in order to respect the people who make up that culture and avoid appropriating it? If you extend that logic to other groups, then I shouldn’t have “got offended on behalf of” trans* people when I heard people saying problematic things about them until five years ago, because until that time I didn’t know any trans* people personally. It’s not about “getting offended”, it’s about wanting all people to be treated respectfully.
I understand Anwar so much! I’m a cuddly asexual and that’s it. My husband tells me that cuddles are my sex xDD
I’m among the lucky ones that have managed to find a heterosexual partner that understands and accepts my needs and position on things. He understands what toll physical/sexual affection has on me and is so considerate.
I come from a really strict religious background and stuff like this was NEVER talked about….EVER. the whole world was straight and anyone who wasn’t was a horrible sinner. Now that I’m out on my own I’m starting to question and explore things and I feel like these comics have really helped open up a whole new world for me. I’m beginning to think I may be asexual like Anwar. Do you recommend anything I could read or websites I could check out to learn more about it?
Have you checked out http://www.asexuality.org/home/?
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much. For replying directly, for making the comics, everything. Thank you.
….in which your main character is actually me. Oh man.
I seriously love this comic. <3