Alice's Antipathy

So, from what it seems, Alice is generally nice and friendly unless you happen to be Diana.

I have gathered that Alice is very shallow- she isn't doing these nice things because reasons, she wants the world to see her in a certain light, and Diana can see right through it. Also, Diana has two things that she wants- genuine talent (Diana can make her own clothes) and the man she is after. She has to rationalize this behavior to paint Diana as the antagonist, otherwise she would have to break her entire worldview, and that can kill people.

The evil cape of smugness

I was wrong about my reasons. Still gather that she's shallow, and jumps at the chance to see herself as a "hero of the downtrodden," no matter how wrong she is.

Little Red Riding Hood? Is Alice the Big Bad Wolf?

Page 413: Diana tries selling her cloak to a new patron OC~

Honestly, I am beginning to hate Alice. She's shallow, self righteous, and vain. She relies on the easy things to justify her own "heroine" image. She uses "recycling" as an excuse to say she "cares about the environment," but wouldn't want to dirty up her hands to actually help the environment, such as picking up the trash or planting trees. She sees Diana as stuck up, when she is only confident in her abilities (and can back up her claims). Alice cannot create, and therefore must destroy, and her excuses give me inner bile for her.

I'm having to bite my tongue so very hard. I want to defend Alice, but I don't know where this arc is going and I don't want to spoil the story. I will say that there is a LOT that could be said against Diana as well as to bolster Alice's positive self views. I maintain, still, that if it weren't for the previous arc, we'd be rooting for Alice right now.

Renadt wrote:Honestly, I am beginning to hate Alice. She's shallow, self righteous, and vain. She relies on the easy things to justify her own "heroine" image. She uses "recycling" as an excuse to say she "cares about the environment," but wouldn't want to dirty up her hands to actually help the environment, such as picking up the trash or planting trees. She sees Diana as stuck up, when she is only confident in her abilities (and can back up her claims). Alice cannot create, and therefore must destroy, and her excuses give me inner bile for her.

I think this is a little premature and severe. Habitual recycling does make a difference over time, every bit as much as going out and doing a bigger thing for a day does, and the latter can also be done more for one's self-image than a genuine desire to help, just as you say recycling can. We also technically don't have proof that she doesn't "dirty up her hands." It's totally possible that she doesn't. It's also possible that she does.

Granted, as of right now, I find it pretty difficult to relate to or sympathize with Alice (same goes for Diana, to a certain extent). But this whole arc so far has had Alice trying to tell us things about herself, which is very prone to coming across as self-justification. If it shifts away from Alice narrating everything and toward just showing us her actions, that might help. Whatever happens in the rest of this arc may or may not also help.

Oy. High school drama. I am SO glad that part of my life is over.

On to the comic: Mei obviously doesn't know anything about drafting up and creating a piece of clothing, and the particular skill set (clothing design and construction) that we've seen Diana has. Yes, to draft up a design and pattern, cut it out, cut out the material for the prototype, pin it together, sew it together, and then make a few other versions until the process has been fine-tuned and each finished piece's appearance and quality is consistent WOULD take weeks. Now that Diana has it down to a science, she should be able to whip out each cloak in a timely manner (I speak from experience, having made costumes/cosplay for myself and friends for years. The first few times, yeah, it takes weeks, but now I can whip out certain costumes within three days or less, and they're still high-quality).

I think Alice's reaction to Diana's comment about her cloak being a bold and original statement indicates that Alice has some sort of insecurity or jealousy of Diana's fashion sense and talents, not to mention she wants to be the girl Louis is dating instead of Diana. I think it's safe to say that Alice probably is a good person most of the time, but when that green-eyed monster shows up (possibly coupled with insecurity/low self-esteem, which Alice's self-introduction could also indicate), even a very nice and good person can become absolutely awful. Throw in the hormones that are still raging through a high-school girl's body and the not-fully-developed brain that all teenagers have, and voila! Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, at your service.

Art-wise, I LOVE the snarl on Alice's face! That little wrinkle on the bridge of her nose/muzzle is a really nice touch. It really makes her emotion jump off the page.

Legalien wrote:not to mention she wants to be the girl Louis is dating instead of Diana.

Are they actually dating? We saw them together at that bargain ball thing but, not much other than that. The way Louis acts around her makes me think best friend rather than boyfriend.

But since Alice likes him, and he spends most of his time with Diana, in her view Diana is competition.

Rising Blue wrote:

Legalien wrote:not to mention she wants to be the girl Louis is dating instead of Diana.

Are they actually dating? We saw them together at that bargain ball thing but, not much other than that. The way Louis acts around her makes me think best friend rather than boyfriend.

But since Alice likes him, and he spends most of his time with Diana, in her view Diana is competition.

You make a good point! I just assumed Louis and Diana were dating because the three times we've seen him, he was with Diana (the first being on an actual date together); however they could just as easily be friends. In any case, what matters is that (as you also pointed out), Alice sees Diana as competition, therefore (if previous behaviors are any indication) she's going to be rather catty.

Legalien wrote:she's going to be rather catty.

Hey, now. No need to start throwing racial slurs around.

On a more serious note...
From a different perspective, how would you react if you saw someone ripping off unsuspecting people?

Latrans wrote:On a more serious note...
From a different perspective, how would you react if you saw someone ripping off unsuspecting people?

Good question. I'd have to say (and speaking only for myself) that it would depend on whether I KNEW someone was ripping off unsuspecting people, or I only thought he/she was ripping them off. If I suspected people were being ripped off, I'd ask the person whom I suspected of being a charlatan a few pointed and relevant questions about the product/services being offered, to try to analyze if it was truly a scam or my own suspicious nature/biases affecting my perceptions/opinions about the services/products being offered. On the other hand, if I knew someone was being a con-artist I'd quietly approach other people who were considering what was being offered, and warn them away with my reasons for doing so. It really depends on the situation, I suppose.

Page 414: Louis used to be even fluffier

Used to be? Is this a flashback?

Possibly a "You think he's fluffy now? You should have seen him then."

In related news, I now wonder what Louis would look like with an '80's hair metal 'do.

Very 70's.

I think I'm seeing the problem. Diana can get away with outlandish fashions while Alice gets picked on when she to tries to make a statement. I wouldn't be surprised if Diana has bullied Alice about her clothes at one point. Not saying that Alice is not partly to blame but we've already seen that Diana is no saint either.