'Not A Villain' Webcomic - Kleya wants to be alone. The crowd doesn't listen.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 308

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70 Comments

What the heck, Aneeka?

The previous page was a perfect setup to do a title drop. Everyone going how cool she’d be as a villain, and then next page, she cries out “I. Am. Not. A. Villain!”

But she says “leave me alone” instead. I am disappoint. 🙁

Also, for goodness sakes, Kleya, learn some subtlety. If people’s words are bothering you, make a program so you can’t hear them anymore. That would be subtle enough that no one would notice you altering anything.

Blowing everyone up calls way, way, too much attention on yourself. :/

Yeah, but she is used to blowing things up. For fun, for profit, for being annoyed. It is her default reaction. She doesn’t handle stress well. Reacts poorly. She is not level headed enough to think up something as subtle what you suggested, although she would still get found out.

Yes…. I don’t think Kleya has an extensive amount of experience with being kind and calm. It makes you wonder what exactly her relationship with Jake was… but then again, she wasn’t as emotionally unstable back then. At least, I don’t think so.

She doesn’t have much experience with restraint. Seems to me she was sheltered quite a lot. So its not that she was unstable or actively malevolent…its that she was a child and thought as one. She was very precocious, but even now you can see the child in her thinking. Very simple, very direct, gets frustrated easily.

But blowing stuff up is fun!

No offense, but I hate that kind of gag. It calls to much attention to noticing it, and breaks the immersion of the reader. Honestly, it is just cheesy enough to hate, but not enough for me to like it again.

Blobs: “Awesome! Just like that!”

This is exactly why i prefer anonymity over fame, way too much attention, often unwanted. and now, we might see what happens when….g-ds I’m horrible with names, Kleya, goes thermonuclear….. or, you know, someone she knows is gonna slap some sense into her, both are possible.

The eternal cry of the fans that like an -aspect- of you.

“We know what you -should- do, just ignore every other aspect of you and cut yourself down to this singular view. We’re just trying to help you.”

Kleya’s already famous. Everyday ordinary people simply do not get that sort of crowd. The fact is, picking options against what the crowd thinks, and along with what the players pacifistic nature has -already shown- (Kleya built an active around -not- hitting people for Chr-ssake)…

These are not fans, these are leeches 😛

They are entitled little s**ts. They feel because they support her that she owes them something. There is some truth to that, but they would not like her nearly as much if she just went down the easy path. I think you were making that point Chameon. They are subconsciously setting her up to fail.

Yes, I agree with your statement fairly directly. I do hold the opinion that Kleya being so unprepared for this is a little surprising, she is shown to be, and has proven herself to be, an incredibly intelligent character, if a bit naive. Still, it’s a little worrying that her naivety almost deserves a capitol letter and a position in the character roster atm. Last thought in the list, I think Kleya just doesn’t…consider the consequences of her actions. While I hate this crowd, this is what I would expect, I would expect people neighsaying and disapproving at every opportunity. I am a child of the internet age, of course, a web of connections made out of the tubes that comprise the internet, so perhaps I’m a little more jaded to people being the awful, ruddy pieces of nonsense people are, but the pacifist rout is the least popular to an extraordinary extent, and people attack her whenever she tries any ‘polite’ routes. They go out of their way to do anything to make themselves a nuisance, ‘s a bit sad really.

…I’m sure this won’t end badly.

Chaos and destruction are not necessarily bad things…

We have a word for this in Dutch: “stout”

we have several, most fit in this space: ####

Ooooh L-rdy whats about to happen…

Rut row Raggy! They want villain? If Dani or someone doesn’t intervene quick-like, they might get more than they bargained for.

Oh Kleya, they’re trying to support you. They’re not doing a good job, but they’re trying.

uh oh …

And there she snaps – presumably this is going to tip *someone* off about who she is.

Presumably Mina and/or Danny, if not both, and/or Sandra and Bloody Mary.

Even if she disengages at this point, or Hero Smiley kicks in and stuns everybody in the area in Life, this…this could be quite the point of having everyone kick their conspiracies into overdrive.

Actually hero smiley can’t kick in and stun everyone cause this is outside the deathmatch, the smiley was her special, so she doesn’t have it in r.e.a.l.l.i.f.e.
But I sure hope she doesn’t stop because she remembers all the people being nice to her (like last time, when she lost the deahmatch)

When her friend was going to sing, they expected to see cool speacil’s. Therefore, it’s quite possible hero smiley could trigger

They expected to see such because they are computer illiterate. Which is why people with such talent are valued. Most people do not understand the technology they are using. They killed most of those who do.

On the other hand, Hero Smiley’s supposed to be triggered when she attempts to hack – it might very well trigger in now and cause everyone to panic.

Alternatively, perhaps D will intervene?

Besides – we’re not used to Kleya using hacking powers in L.I.F.E, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t use them on occasion…who’s to say Hero Smiley won’t kick in because she planned for it to kick in during *every* attempt at hacking?

Here comes the happy special again

Why would you DO that to us!

Dang it! 😀

Whoop there she blows

Since LiFe is a computer program as well as The Game, let’s hope either (a) Kleya stops herself from doing anything rash at the last minute, or (b) D can come to Kleya’s rescue before she does anything rash, e.g. providing her with an emergency exit from the VR, putting her LiFe avatar into temporary stasis, or arranging a convenient distraction.

I am betting on either D or Jake intervening. But most likely D. I am not sure Jake would have followed her out of the Game.

This would be an awesome time for Dee to appear, not only would he provide a a very large and noticeable distraction, if he annihilates a few blobs it will certainly make Kleya feel better right now. Maybe not so much later when she’s calmed down.

Oooh it’d be super awesome if in the next page her hair flies up above her head and her body starts glowing faintly. Then in a deep voice she screams “AAALLLOOOOONEEE!!!” and a large explosion happens with the force spreading out in a ring. With her as the epicenter but she’ll be completely unharmed. Of course this will blow her cover but still be MEGA Awesome.

OOOOH like a super saiyan transformation from Dragon Ball?

I wonder if the new character is going to stop her? It would be the perfect timing. Though maybe it’s her at the left of the last panel? I wonder if she can notice Kleya about to hack… How cool would it be if Kleya finally got a friend that knows about her past?

so…if you force disconnect a large group of people at once…what happens on the other end of the VR gear?

I do believe crap is about to hit the fans.

I agree with you in the most honorable of fashions, good sir, but may I add that it will be AWESOME? /)^3^(\

Marscaleb–that was a great use of punnery! Olympic Score: 9.88 out of 10.

Also, her fans should have seen this coming a mile away because of her happy and nice speacil’s. She already picked the Erbana route or whatever it’s called long before she got into the game

Wonder what she will do? Maybe she’ll realize she’s overreacting and stop… wait what am I talking about.

I know the feeling, Kleya…sounds like elementary / middle school all over again… I can see where this is heading. I hope those blobs will live to tell the tale XD

Wait… I thought part of the reason Sandra got her an apartment was so she could connect to the Game servers from there? And nap?

Regarding the Blobs not liking Kleya going the Erbana route, I don’t think they all felt that way– one of the first comments as she appeared was “the Tutorial was awesome!”

I’m still hoping that Danni or Sandra shows up and gets her out of this situation. It would be funnier if it’s Jake who follows her out, though. 😉 (She’s actually met him in L.i.F.e., but probably doesn’t connect that persona with Bandit, and I think she still doesn’t know that Bandit is the Jake she used to work with.)

Does the mob of Blobs know that Jake is Bandit’s user?

In terms of story pacing, I think we’re about due for Bandit/Jake and Kleya to advance a bit in acknowledging each others identities. Kleya should at least have a bit of a suspicion that Bandit/Jake knows who she is– and hasn’t told anyone yet– even if he won’t yet admit to her who he is. But he’d have to be extraordinarily careful about passing her any kind of message. I assume TENka could be moderating him at any time.

I’m not sure, but I think she’s figured out that he’s Jake, or at least has some sort of inkling. I think if he logs out and appears next to her, she’d probably figure it out for sure, and then she’d just log out of LIFE altogether. I don’t think he will though…. but I want him to because I totally ship them.

I don’t think she has a clue who he is, actually, or she would have rebooted her L.i.F.e. account again already. She’s petrified that she’ll be caught out and her identity revealed. Bandit’s persona must actually not be much like how she remembers Jake. Him playing her old route through the tutorial might have given her a clue, though. (I suspect he meant to send a message by that choice.)

I don’t exactly ship characters, because a) I don’t think every relationship between two people needs to be romantic and b) I’m happy enough to see what the author has in mind for the characters, rather than writing my own endings to a story, but I think there is some unresolved tension between the two of them. And Kleya needs an ally who is in her league. She needs someone smart enough that she can respect them when they call B.S. on some of her crazy ideas. (Sandra could be another good candidate.)

You make a good point about the not shipping… but I think it’s an integral part of a story that the reader gets caught up in it, loves it, and wants things to turn out one way or another, simply because they like the characters and the world. And part of that, at least for some people, is shipping. And for other people, it’s just not. Even if I didn’t ship them, I would still want them to get into a relationship in some way. Just because I like them both and I want them to be happy!

Wanting things to turn out one way or another is one way of getting emotionally caught up in a story. Another way is to want to find out what will happen, and even to get caught up in trying to guess what will happen, but not to invest emotionally in any specific outcome until the author reveals it.

It might be a personality difference. I’m a scientist by nature as well as by training, so for me the most fun lies in trying to solve the puzzle to find out what’s there. I especially love stories where the author manages to give the reader the ompression that one thing is true, but then shows how the outcome is really something different, without conflicting with any of the story that’s been told so far. It’s all about interpreting the world from different points of view, and how we understand more when we learn more of the truth. I think (or at least I hope) that this is that kind of story.

I do write my own stories, as well, but the way my mind works, I prefer not to try to write in someone else’s universe, because what I write has to match up with what I know, and I can’t know enough about someone else’s story until they’ve finished it.

It’s funny– I’d never thought of it in quite these terms before, but this is why I don’t like shipping– it feels like jumping to conclusions to me, and that goes against my nature. Thanks for the opportunity to think this through. 🙂

Argh. I posted a reply, but the system had logged me out and I didn’t notice, so the reply is in moderated status. It will eventually show up under the name “Elizabeth.”

Short version: shipping involves jumping to conclusions about how the story will unfold, which doesn’t fit with how my mind works, but I agree about wanting the characters to be happy. 🙂

But shipping isn’t about jumping to conclusions at all. In fact, the most popular ships in a given work are very much impossible to actually happen in canon. Shipping is just saying “they’re perfect for each other and would be a great couple!”, but it has nothing to do with what you think will actually happen in the story. That’s pretty much what fanfictions are for.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that shipping is “I wish it would happen”, no “I think it’s going to happen”. I mean, I’m a Danni/Kleya shipper, but I doubt that’s going to happen in the comic.

I see what you mean about wishing not being the same as assuming, but I can’t do that, either, about ther people’s relationships, even in fiction. I can wish or hope that they’ll be happy, or that they’ll grow past their current limitations or immaturities. But not that they’ll make particular choices in relationships. It just doesn’t work for me.

I sort of accept this kind of thing in Visual Novels (a kind of computer game that’s popular in Japan), where the point is to explore different choices the main character makes, but even those usually have a canon ending, especially if they have a sequel.

Shipping isn’t new. Some were mainstream, like Superman/Lois Lane (1940s?). Some were fringe, like “K-S” (1970s? That’s Captain Kirk and Spock, original series, btw.) As whimsical fantasies it’s fun, and for the creators it’s probably nice to see an engaged fan base.

We might not know enough about Kleya or her universe to make valid guesses but that doesn’t stop us from doing it. My ship is Danya (Kleyni?). (Maybe it’s from pairing the physical and mental graceful power of dancing and programming.) I don’t expect or require my ship to canon. YMMV. 🙂

Kleyni sounds strange, but Danya is actually pretty good! I wonder what would be the names for the other ships, though? Like Jakleya or Dudanni? Both sound really stupid tbh.

(Would any ship with Jane be automatically called “Bloody [character]”? Like Bloody Dude?)

I’m well aware of the long history of shipping, and fan fiction, for that matter (I go back to the days when fanzines were typed out and mimeographed). I’ve just never been fond of either. (I don’t even much like authorized media tie-in books, e.g. the various Star Trek, Dr. Who, etc. books, and I’m iffy on movie adaptations of original books.)

It’s funny– my younger daughter is crazy about both fan fiction and shipping (preferably at the same time, involving Loki or Benedict Cumberbach, or better yet, both!) We like a lot of the same source stories, but the way we enjoy them is completely different. 😉 It’s a big universe– there’s room for all kinds of people. 🙂

Sandra got her an apartment so she could connect into the Game, could being the keyword here. You need to have an apartment AND pay a fee to do that, and apparently Kleya doesn’t want to pay.

(and I agree with Desiree here – it would mess up the story, but my shipper heart really wants him to do it anyway!)

I disagree with the alt text. The blobs fit the art style nicely. And it’s kind of become a staple of the comic!

It also, in a way, kind of shows off how Kleya views them. They matter enough that she recognizes they exist, but not enough to associate them with an identity. They’re the faceless masses that she needs to please! It just works.

Uh… so I already answered you but my comment got rejected, probably because I tried if I can use HTML in the comments (and I don’t) so I’m rewriting it without that part.

I agree in that the crowd should still be a grey mass of unidentifiable persons, but I think she meant that she wants to make something like she did with the hair on the blobs, something to make them a tad more realistic while keeping the same feeling of a brainless mass of blobs.

BTW great comic, found it yesterday and read through all of it in a single evening 😀

I third the two comments above me. More blobs please, hair optional but a nice touch. 😀

With the disclaimer that I’m very much not an artist, I think it’d work well to have the blobs vary depending on situation. I viewed the scene as a natural progression – they look like humans and can be distinguished by hair earlier, then as she gets more upset, they degenerate into a grey mass. The overhead, distant view seems to be going for a similar sense of being overwhelmed to the point they stop even having distinct boundaries and are just a single mass.

Varying the realism in the blobs to go with Kleya’s mental state would be a way to have an reason for not drawing them at max detail every time while actually adding to the art by having it signify something important. Sort of like how manga artists like lefthand drawn squiggle scenes for reaction shots, it’s a great excuse to rest your other hand for a bit! And at the rate your art’s improving, you’ll probably get better at crowd detail much faster than Kleya realizes she should notice crowd has details 🙂

I really like this idea. 🙂

YAY! You show them, kleya! This will be good…( not for the blobs,though) 🙂

Hopefully dude or someone will rescue her, or rather rescue all the blobs she’s about to destroy.

She is probably going to regret this later, but hey, it’ll still be awesome.

I’m pretty sure we’re all just over-speculating. She gonna say “A piece of cake; leave me a piece of cake.” Cuz she can totally see those folks back there who are already cutting into the victory cake.

Oh No, she’s not going to blow them up, she’ll hack their connections so they can’t leave and are stuck With Each Other. Forever!
Alternatively, D summoning due to stressers, the backgrounding lends credibility thus.

D showing up would be a clue to her identity, though. It would be evidence that she was trying to hack, even if the blobs wouldn’t realize it. If D shows up and takes the server down, Bandit or Sandra really will need to intervene to help her cover her tracks.

D probably wouldn’t shut things down on Kleya. They think that is what he is for since he stops other hackers from hacking, but why would D stop Kleya, most of the time he is trying to get her to hack. I think the reason D tries to stop other hackers is so that Kleya doesn’t have to worry about stopping them and can focus on what she wants to do. Unless Kleya told D to stop her from hacking then he would….Unless he decided to ignore her because it would be fun.

Those beautiful panel 3 eyes.

Oh, sh**. Here it comes…

Kleya appears to be channeling Dr. Manhattan. Shoulda stuck with Captain America.

Oh no.

No nonononononononono.

This page made me gasp. No! She’s come so far! Gah

Kleya Kaboom, Kleya Kaboom, she lives in a ship with her dragon in bloom, but her naggy old fans know that anytime soon, the little lady Kelya goes…

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Ka-boom!

That hand in the bottom-left pane is one of the best/coolest hacking scenes I think I’ve ever seen here.

😀

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 308