My most worrisome hypothesis is that Tony will take Sarah’s side but in a way that Sarah wouldn’t want to, e.g. arguing that of course people who do pot should be arrested not even just expelled by the admin, let alone just voluntarily removed by a parent.
Did you ever play Ghost Busters the Video Game? I got really into Ghost Busters at one point during my childhood and played it. The gameplay is pretty fun, but what really makes it special is the fact that the whole orginal cast comes back to voice the characters and a few even helped with the scripts. It is continously hillarious and sometimes legitamitly scary (at least is was for kid me). Dan Aykroyd described as basically a third movie.
unfortunately for Raidah it seems Tony’s not interested in taking the bait… At this point worst case scenario is that Tony will ask Sarah her side of the story and probably agree with her reasoning.
I really want to know what Raidah thinks will happen here, does she think he’ll just take her word for it and not ask Sarah for her side of the story?
At which point Sarah will mention Dana using weed as a coping mechanism, which regardless of your feelings on weed is a pretty big piece of context to leave out
most likely sow seeds. Given my earlier post I said Tony might question her for her side of the story and if Sarah’s not careful her own nature could bite her in the ass and she could get hostile at the questioning and torpedo her own relationship especially given her own self-destructive tendencies
If Tony knew the whole story I feel like he would still take Sarah’s side? I get a “trusts authority” vibe from him, I suspect he would consider the calling someone’s parents the correct response here.
ProfNekko
it’s true that Tony is more likely to take Sarah’s side after hearing her side of the story but the thing I was thinking was due to her personal issues that the act of Tony even asking for her side could cause her to get set off and turn hostile instead of rationally explaining herself.
Raidah: “Sarah lied about her roommate.”
Tony: “Sarah, did you lie about your roommate?”
Sarah: “No. Raidah didn’t trust me about the problem, but it was really bad.”
Tony: “That checks out. I figured she was just trying to manipulate me anyway.”
I’m sure somebody can make things more dramatic than that if the plot calls for it, but I don’t see why it would have to be either.
Same shit different day for Raidah. I think it’s a shame that she honestly hasn’t done any introspection that maybe, just maybe, Sarah was right that Dana was not doing well after her mom’s death. I know, I know, disclaimer here in case Dana’s dad is a bad guy but UNTIL we get that information in the comic itself, I’m not 100% on it.
People get suspicious of anything that seems too good to be true.
Also, he’s not fully entrenched in the core cast. Ruth probably isn’t going to do something so irredeemable that she gets effectively written out of the comic despite her volatility, that’s not the case for more ancilliary characters like Tony.
He might just get moved to peripheral cast status, similar to Lucy and Jacob. Even arguably Danny. Where they show up enough to remind you of existence but you could go half a year without seeing them in a strip and not really notice that much.
Plus, he’s literally a nepo baby who plays Headbrick for a living, so our expectations for his character, ethics, and intelligence were starting underneath the foundation. Him not being a shithead is a complete inversion of the “captain of the football team” trope, so the inversion is very fun, but also begs the question of when another shoe is gonna drop.
Context. Raidah and Incellerator actually deserve this response. The problem is, this is how he responds to *everything*. Warrantless searches of students’ dorm rooms, I don’t remember his exact quote but it strongly suggested he was an ‘if you’ve got nothing to hide you’ve got nothing to worry about’ person. Sarah wants to skip one damn class it’s “no, attendance is vital, I will escort you to make sure you attend”. Heck, she’s commented that she feels like she has to play a better version of herself for him and use a better vocabulary. He’s at a like a 57 out of 10 clenched, and not getting sucked into Raidah’s amateurish attempts to be Machiavellian only requires like a 4 out of 10.
He was at least peeved that they did the search without a warrant. He hoped they found what they were looking for mostly because he didn’t know whatever it was, seems reasonable he assumed must had been something dangerous for the whole thing to be remotely justifiable.
Also a parent could only stop paying for college, but if a student has high tolerance for debt they’d still be able to continue attending with even an OK GPA.
I don’t think it implies that they knew each other as kids; Tony is simply saying Raidah is acting childish, and he realizes she is attempting to manipulate him.
Tony was suspicious and hostile towards her as soon as she started talking.
If they didn’t grow up together, they still have enough history that Tony finds anything she says to be problematic until proven otherwise.
Throwatron
Most likely, she probably tried to cold-connect with him within the first month of them both being at the school, and he wasn’t any more amused with her schtick then, as he is now.
Tony is not an idiot, and the more detail Raidah gives on what really happened in “Danna sob story” the more he’s going to side with Sarah.
“So Sarah had her roommates family pull her out of school because she was struggling with a depression induced self destructive drug problem? Seems like she did the right thing to me…Not for the right reasons you say? What does it matter your friend lives to try again either way, it’s a win for everybody.
So I guess RIP anyone who thought the comic was gonna give any sympathetic light to Raidah, seems like her defense was going to be that Sarah exaggerated how bad Dana’s mary-j abuse was to her Dad. I guess she just thought she knew better than the person who had to share a living space with her, enough to ruin Sarah’s reputation out of spite, all because she couldn’t use Dana to network anymore. Justifiable in my eyes. /s
Makes me think of the comment on yesterday’s comic calling all Raidah haters racists and bigoted. Like… No, Raidah is just a genuinely unpleasant person. She is written with no redeeming qualities
I can’t believe everyone hates Raidah after the comic has spent most of it’s time with her telling us how much we should hate Raidah!
Throwatron
There has always been a genuine problem with commenters on this strip being far more willing to dogpile and judge characters in this strip when they are women, or when they are POC, or especially when they are women who are POC. I don’t like to ever undersell those perceptions when other commenters bring them to light, because I am not the best person to be detecting those tendencies, due to my privilege.
The problem is, Raidah was explicitly written to be (seemingly) as socially noxious as possible, entirely consistently, up until the very recent pivots related to putting more Muslim characters front and center in the narrative. I think I once went and actually did the math, and it was actually something like 90+% of the total strips she appeared in, had her obviously and deliberately saying something that was bullying, manipulating, undercutting, or otherwise trying to destabilize another character.
So, it’s hard to balance the fact that I agree with the premise of the comments historically being harsher towards characters who are marginalized, along with the fact that the narrative has consistently and thoroughly conditioned me as a reader to judge her from a negative perspective.
I know this act isn’t working on Tony (the guy is likley inured to her charms by his deepseated cynism), but is honestly terrifying how well Raidah mimics compassion and grief. I mean maybe this is coming from a place of legitamate grief and affection for a lost friend, but if not Radiah has the makings of a grade A+ manipulator. I wonder if the only reason her schemes normally fall through is that people usually already no the real her and she is too erratic or vendictive to maintain the masquerade for long.
I get the feeling she is putting on an act to appeal to Tony, and I believe Raidah is more upset that she lost someone she could use rather than a friend leaving. It’s possible that some of this is actual sadness, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the real sadness is just 10% of the reason.
I’m cautiously optimistic about Tony here; I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into a clusterfuck. Sarah and Tony make for an interesting, and likeable, couple so I hope this doesn’t damage that. Her so called “friend” just wanted her for improving her network, and I hope everyone sees that(both in comic, and out here.)
Do we think Tony will agree with Sarah because of the weed, or will he agree with Sarah because she saw someone who needed help?
I may not trust Tony in the big picture but it’s fun to see Raidah run head first into the ‘authority and the status quo are just and good’ wall. Just going to suck when the same wall is being used against the cast.
I’d assumed Tony had stayed in the same room, and would have been down the hall and around the corner from Dana. I guess it makes sense that he’d moved, switching from a double to a single. He’s not the most gregarious guy.
I love how Raidah’s current arc is parallel to Dorothy’s previous arc, where they both wanted Authority, but they both had absolutely no idea what that looked like.
Raidah as a villain is awesome but I’m so entirely distracted by how you randomly also made her Muslim when that in no way fits her actual personality. Really kinda feels like an Islamophobic “the bad guy is Muslim” thing, that thankfully got lower level evil vibes than the white men bad guys but still. The only time you had her do anything remotely Muslim or Islamic was after the Gaza genocide began and I think you remembered you had Muslim characters at all or something.
Yes this is a pet peeve.
Gossip is likened to CANNIBALISM in Islam, y’all. You don’t do it.
Raidah as a villain is awesome but I’m so entirely distracted by how you randomly also made her Muslim when that in no way fits her personality. Really kinda feels like an Islamophobic “the bad guy is Muslim” thing, that thankfully got lower level evil vibes than the white men bad guys but still. The only time you had her do anything remotely Muslim or Islamic was after the Gaza genocide began and I think you remembered you had Muslim characters at all or something.
Yes this is a pet peeve.
Gossip is likened to CANNIBALISM in Islam, y’all. You don’t do it.
I don’t claim to know anything about being Muslim but seems weirder to act like characters who are must all act the same way or follow their faith in one specific way, when at least part of the comic whole message is that people can choose what part of their religion they consider worth following. Maybe Raidah particular strain of faith doesn’t adhere to the gossip thing you mention.
I mean, my experience with Muslims is not extensive but I’ve still known kind transman academics, friendly chicken nugget eating uni bros, girly headscarf wearing women, community leaders in garish pants, shitty landlords and their evil cat-killing dog owner son. And for the gossip, I mean, the Christians have the whole “do not tell lies” thing as part of the ten commandments and well *gestures to the world*.
I like Raidah as a character, you don’t really see Muslims depicted like her. She ambitious, clumsy in her social climbing and sometimes makes really solid points that knocks other characters off kilter.
Millions of people in the world are muslim and not all of them are super observant lol. My closest friends in the world for my entire adolescence were muslim and one of them is the biggest gossip I have ever met.
83 thoughts on “Kompromat”
Elf grrl
Predictions so far are correct. Tony is a real one.
Nono
Kompromat is information used for blackmail or manipulation, in case anyone wanted to know without Googling.
Quinn
I googled it. Gonna try adding it to my vocabulary.
Astariel
Really liking Tony here. No one is buying your bullshit, Raidah!
aelfwine
My most worrisome hypothesis is that Tony will take Sarah’s side but in a way that Sarah wouldn’t want to, e.g. arguing that of course people who do pot should be arrested not even just expelled by the admin, let alone just voluntarily removed by a parent.
Bryy
Leading Raidah to tell Sarah this, in an attempt to break them up. A totally cunning supervillain plan!
NGPZ
Tony ain’t have no time for any of yo pretend ass supervillian clout chasin crap Raidah XD
Cholma
Nice Ghostbusters ref, Alt text!
TrueSurvivor
Did you ever play Ghost Busters the Video Game? I got really into Ghost Busters at one point during my childhood and played it. The gameplay is pretty fun, but what really makes it special is the fact that the whole orginal cast comes back to voice the characters and a few even helped with the scripts. It is continously hillarious and sometimes legitamitly scary (at least is was for kid me). Dan Aykroyd described as basically a third movie.
Cholma
Nope. Missed that. But for some reason you reminded me of the old Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom arcade game I used to play.
Nono
There’s also a difference between “kicked out of school” and “parent withdrew their kid from school”.
Shade
Yeah, this angle wasn’t going to work on Tony the second the drugs come into it anyways.
profnekko
unfortunately for Raidah it seems Tony’s not interested in taking the bait… At this point worst case scenario is that Tony will ask Sarah her side of the story and probably agree with her reasoning.
keithcurtis
You go, Tony!
Alongcameaspider
I really want to know what Raidah thinks will happen here, does she think he’ll just take her word for it and not ask Sarah for her side of the story?
At which point Sarah will mention Dana using weed as a coping mechanism, which regardless of your feelings on weed is a pretty big piece of context to leave out
ProfNekko
most likely sow seeds. Given my earlier post I said Tony might question her for her side of the story and if Sarah’s not careful her own nature could bite her in the ass and she could get hostile at the questioning and torpedo her own relationship especially given her own self-destructive tendencies
noisy
If Tony knew the whole story I feel like he would still take Sarah’s side? I get a “trusts authority” vibe from him, I suspect he would consider the calling someone’s parents the correct response here.
ProfNekko
it’s true that Tony is more likely to take Sarah’s side after hearing her side of the story but the thing I was thinking was due to her personal issues that the act of Tony even asking for her side could cause her to get set off and turn hostile instead of rationally explaining herself.
3oranges
Raidah: “Sarah lied about her roommate.”
Tony: “Sarah, did you lie about your roommate?”
Sarah: “No. Raidah didn’t trust me about the problem, but it was really bad.”
Tony: “That checks out. I figured she was just trying to manipulate me anyway.”
I’m sure somebody can make things more dramatic than that if the plot calls for it, but I don’t see why it would have to be either.
Doopyboop
Same shit different day for Raidah. I think it’s a shame that she honestly hasn’t done any introspection that maybe, just maybe, Sarah was right that Dana was not doing well after her mom’s death. I know, I know, disclaimer here in case Dana’s dad is a bad guy but UNTIL we get that information in the comic itself, I’m not 100% on it.
JD
I LOVE YOU TONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN GENERAL BUT ALSO MVP FOR SHUTTING DOWN THIS OBVIOUS PLAY AGAINST SARAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jay
I love Tony so much I really don’t see why people doubt this man
Thag Simmons
People get suspicious of anything that seems too good to be true.
Also, he’s not fully entrenched in the core cast. Ruth probably isn’t going to do something so irredeemable that she gets effectively written out of the comic despite her volatility, that’s not the case for more ancilliary characters like Tony.
Nono
He might just get moved to peripheral cast status, similar to Lucy and Jacob. Even arguably Danny. Where they show up enough to remind you of existence but you could go half a year without seeing them in a strip and not really notice that much.
Throwatron
Plus, he’s literally a nepo baby who plays Headbrick for a living, so our expectations for his character, ethics, and intelligence were starting underneath the foundation. Him not being a shithead is a complete inversion of the “captain of the football team” trope, so the inversion is very fun, but also begs the question of when another shoe is gonna drop.
Lee
Context. Raidah and Incellerator actually deserve this response. The problem is, this is how he responds to *everything*. Warrantless searches of students’ dorm rooms, I don’t remember his exact quote but it strongly suggested he was an ‘if you’ve got nothing to hide you’ve got nothing to worry about’ person. Sarah wants to skip one damn class it’s “no, attendance is vital, I will escort you to make sure you attend”. Heck, she’s commented that she feels like she has to play a better version of herself for him and use a better vocabulary. He’s at a like a 57 out of 10 clenched, and not getting sucked into Raidah’s amateurish attempts to be Machiavellian only requires like a 4 out of 10.
nadamás
He was at least peeved that they did the search without a warrant. He hoped they found what they were looking for mostly because he didn’t know whatever it was, seems reasonable he assumed must had been something dangerous for the whole thing to be remotely justifiable.
moon
what do we think hes drinking
tony doesnt seem like a soda guy to me
maybe a smoothie
Thag Simmons
Gatorade
moon
makes sense
moon
of course willis has the final verdict on how tony feels about high fructose corn syrup
Mollyscribbles
hmmm . . . pickle juice? Electrolytes without the sugar.
Throwatron
dollars to donuts its gonna be protein, with a side of extra protein
Bill Erak
Tony: “It smell like bullshit in here, Raidah, and I don’t see any bulls.”
I think he’s gaining on me, but we’ll have to see, anyone who dislikes Raidah is immediately more likable after all.
RassilonTDavros
I learned a new word today!
Maveric1984
Nice Ghostbusters reference in the alt-text
Grimey
“What’d your friend really do?”
Notice Raidah refuses to answer and just skips right past it.
nadamás
God Tony i love your refreshing amount of bluntness.
CrazyJ
Also a parent could only stop paying for college, but if a student has high tolerance for debt they’d still be able to continue attending with even an OK GPA.
Quinn
Oh plot twist. They grew up together and she hasn’t changed much, but did she change him because of her behavior?
ZombieKyrik
I don’t think it implies that they knew each other as kids; Tony is simply saying Raidah is acting childish, and he realizes she is attempting to manipulate him.
Alongcameaspider
Also she absolutely tried to cozy up to him before, just not on screen because he wasnt a character until relatively recently
Lee
That was my interpretation too, but I’m not gonna say it’s 100% that we’re right.
Quinn
That makes more sense. I took the comment too literally.
Owlmirror
Tony was suspicious and hostile towards her as soon as she started talking.
If they didn’t grow up together, they still have enough history that Tony finds anything she says to be problematic until proven otherwise.
Throwatron
Most likely, she probably tried to cold-connect with him within the first month of them both being at the school, and he wasn’t any more amused with her schtick then, as he is now.
chuckroast
Tony! My man!!
Newlland(Henryvolt)
Tony is not an idiot, and the more detail Raidah gives on what really happened in “Danna sob story” the more he’s going to side with Sarah.
“So Sarah had her roommates family pull her out of school because she was struggling with a depression induced self destructive drug problem? Seems like she did the right thing to me…Not for the right reasons you say? What does it matter your friend lives to try again either way, it’s a win for everybody.
Zamperla
Yeah I notice she left it as detail light as possible when she talks about it.
Cameron Stone
So I guess RIP anyone who thought the comic was gonna give any sympathetic light to Raidah, seems like her defense was going to be that Sarah exaggerated how bad Dana’s mary-j abuse was to her Dad. I guess she just thought she knew better than the person who had to share a living space with her, enough to ruin Sarah’s reputation out of spite, all because she couldn’t use Dana to network anymore. Justifiable in my eyes. /s
Icalasari
Makes me think of the comment on yesterday’s comic calling all Raidah haters racists and bigoted. Like… No, Raidah is just a genuinely unpleasant person. She is written with no redeeming qualities
Cameron Stone
I can’t believe everyone hates Raidah after the comic has spent most of it’s time with her telling us how much we should hate Raidah!
Throwatron
There has always been a genuine problem with commenters on this strip being far more willing to dogpile and judge characters in this strip when they are women, or when they are POC, or especially when they are women who are POC. I don’t like to ever undersell those perceptions when other commenters bring them to light, because I am not the best person to be detecting those tendencies, due to my privilege.
The problem is, Raidah was explicitly written to be (seemingly) as socially noxious as possible, entirely consistently, up until the very recent pivots related to putting more Muslim characters front and center in the narrative. I think I once went and actually did the math, and it was actually something like 90+% of the total strips she appeared in, had her obviously and deliberately saying something that was bullying, manipulating, undercutting, or otherwise trying to destabilize another character.
So, it’s hard to balance the fact that I agree with the premise of the comments historically being harsher towards characters who are marginalized, along with the fact that the narrative has consistently and thoroughly conditioned me as a reader to judge her from a negative perspective.
IntangibleMatter
Raidah, you should know that people don’t like a tattler, as someone who has an issue with a tattler.
TrueSurvivor
I know this act isn’t working on Tony (the guy is likley inured to her charms by his deepseated cynism), but is honestly terrifying how well Raidah mimics compassion and grief. I mean maybe this is coming from a place of legitamate grief and affection for a lost friend, but if not Radiah has the makings of a grade A+ manipulator. I wonder if the only reason her schemes normally fall through is that people usually already no the real her and she is too erratic or vendictive to maintain the masquerade for long.
ZombieKyrik
I get the feeling she is putting on an act to appeal to Tony, and I believe Raidah is more upset that she lost someone she could use rather than a friend leaving. It’s possible that some of this is actual sadness, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the real sadness is just 10% of the reason.
ZombieKyrik
I’m cautiously optimistic about Tony here; I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into a clusterfuck. Sarah and Tony make for an interesting, and likeable, couple so I hope this doesn’t damage that. Her so called “friend” just wanted her for improving her network, and I hope everyone sees that(both in comic, and out here.)
Do we think Tony will agree with Sarah because of the weed, or will he agree with Sarah because she saw someone who needed help?
BarerMender
Raidah is seeming a little desperate here. Is she on the long spiral path to the drain?
ZombieKyrik
We can only hope so, or at least I’m hoping so. Less Raidah is (almost) always a good thing.
SvenTS
I may not trust Tony in the big picture but it’s fun to see Raidah run head first into the ‘authority and the status quo are just and good’ wall. Just going to suck when the same wall is being used against the cast.
HueSatLight
I’d assumed Tony had stayed in the same room, and would have been down the hall and around the corner from Dana. I guess it makes sense that he’d moved, switching from a double to a single. He’s not the most gregarious guy.
Bryy
I love how Raidah’s current arc is parallel to Dorothy’s previous arc, where they both wanted Authority, but they both had absolutely no idea what that looked like.
JessWitt
So far so good, in that Tony is seeing through Raidah’s ploy.
Throwatron
I honestly thought Raidah would have better ammo than going back to this well again. Super stoked to not have a reason to dislike Tony…yet.
Claire
Tony! Tony! Tony! A real one…
Bajja
Raidah as a villain is awesome but I’m so entirely distracted by how you randomly also made her Muslim when that in no way fits her actual personality. Really kinda feels like an Islamophobic “the bad guy is Muslim” thing, that thankfully got lower level evil vibes than the white men bad guys but still. The only time you had her do anything remotely Muslim or Islamic was after the Gaza genocide began and I think you remembered you had Muslim characters at all or something.
Yes this is a pet peeve.
Gossip is likened to CANNIBALISM in Islam, y’all. You don’t do it.
Bajja
Raidah as a villain is awesome but I’m so entirely distracted by how you randomly also made her Muslim when that in no way fits her personality. Really kinda feels like an Islamophobic “the bad guy is Muslim” thing, that thankfully got lower level evil vibes than the white men bad guys but still. The only time you had her do anything remotely Muslim or Islamic was after the Gaza genocide began and I think you remembered you had Muslim characters at all or something.
Yes this is a pet peeve.
Gossip is likened to CANNIBALISM in Islam, y’all. You don’t do it.
nadamás
I don’t claim to know anything about being Muslim but seems weirder to act like characters who are must all act the same way or follow their faith in one specific way, when at least part of the comic whole message is that people can choose what part of their religion they consider worth following. Maybe Raidah particular strain of faith doesn’t adhere to the gossip thing you mention.
Hazel
I mean, my experience with Muslims is not extensive but I’ve still known kind transman academics, friendly chicken nugget eating uni bros, girly headscarf wearing women, community leaders in garish pants, shitty landlords and their evil cat-killing dog owner son. And for the gossip, I mean, the Christians have the whole “do not tell lies” thing as part of the ten commandments and well *gestures to the world*.
I like Raidah as a character, you don’t really see Muslims depicted like her. She ambitious, clumsy in her social climbing and sometimes makes really solid points that knocks other characters off kilter.
Diane
Millions of people in the world are muslim and not all of them are super observant lol. My closest friends in the world for my entire adolescence were muslim and one of them is the biggest gossip I have ever met.
Nik
Is there any particular reason Raidah is choosing to do this now, beyond being reminded that Tony and Sarah are seeing each other?
Qube