Connorses wrote:

But what exactly IS a jabroni?

A Jabroni is a particular bit of slang equal in definition to the term 'loser'. People use it to refer to someone who either intentionally throws competitions to make their opponent look good, or exist in a state of perpetual downtroddenness (such as being unemployed).

PretenseAndPoison wrote:

Connorses wrote:

But what exactly IS a jabroni?

A Jabroni is a particular bit of slang equal in definition to the term 'loser'. People use it to refer to someone who either intentionally throws competitions to make their opponent look good, or exist in a state of perpetual downtroddenness (such as being unemployed).

Oh no. Is this foreshadowing that Mr. Spender is gonna be unemployed?!

SCOOP!

I sincerely doubt that Splendid is going to lose his job as a teacher.

However, I find the dynamic between Isabel and Mr. Spectacular to be very interesting. She seems to see him as an equal, insisting that he shouldn't keep secrets from her, scolding him, saying that it was foolish for him to think she wouldn't notice his well being, or lack thereof. She even went as far as to call him birdbrain. And he takes it. She seems more like a worried friend than a frustrated student.

She seems like his equal, which I find very odd. I've never seen a student/teacher relationship like that. It just makes me wonder more about their past...

Or maybe to everyone else this seems normal, idk

Well, we know that Spender used to be a student of her grandfather. So maybe they have some sort of bonding/backstory that we don't know about yet.

I'm sitting here wondering if the line "You're lonely, you start a school club" from Lucifer on this page perhaps reveals some more of Spenders hidden motivations. He could just as easily be using the kids to fill a void in his life created by his unwillingness or inability to trust in his peers at the consortium- a trust similar to that which he places in Grandpa as a mentor- but without the restrictions of formality that includes.

Spender not wanting to risk or damage those friendships may be caused by his emotional need for untainted companionship. Trying to discuss anything related to his secrets (closely tied in with his emotional vulnerabilities?) may damage the nature of those bonds as he holds them. While he's still in the position of being their teacher, and the mentor for their club, perhaps he's trying to reclaim something that he maybe didn't get to experience in his own childhood- a sense of carefree friendship.

Going back and looking at that page, it really does seem like Lucifer had him on the verge of tears- and as he came out of his spirit world, there was anger that I feel was probably directed at himself for getting emotional and succumbing to what he could perceive as 'weakness' given his tutelage under Gramps. When he dropped off Isabel after the train incident, we saw that he can be prone to withdrawing inward after bouts of intense emotional hardship- despite the show of face he tries to put on (being cheerful in the presence of Day for example, then brooding the entire train and car ride back when less attention was being paid to him, and how he attempted to slide into the 'suave, brooding loner hero' role after Isabel showed admiration for that image in the recent page despite his anxiety about the situation).

And, though this is a bit of a mention from chapter 4- Isabel is on record of saying "I've known him my whole life and still don't really /know/ him, you know?" in regards to Spender, here, which does make me wonder about their relationship (I'm guessing Rick was a student when Isabel was growing up).

Man this is deep. Poor Spender. Gah I wanna know more now, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen until a week after today!

Ah, well. The bane of being caught-up to an updating/unfinished webcomic.

NinjaKitten wrote:

Ah, well. The bane of being caught-up to an updating/unfinished webcomic.

Isn't it exciting, though? Knowing that you get to be there to witness events unfold, that you get to speculate on the future and grow to understand characters as they change before your very eyes?

I think part of the appeal is, when you find something finished, you can consume it at your leisure- but once you're done, that's it. There's no more left to anticipate.
When you find something ongoing, you get a little taste every few days for... who knows?

Then, when it's finally over, you feel like you've just finished a journey of your own- because you were right there beside all those characters that you came to love.


And, a side note just to keep this within the theme of being Ch.5 speculation-

Do you guys think Hijack might even have jumped into Isaac (or might do so later)? They/It/Bean seemed to have chosen Jeff for the purpose of giving an outcast a chance to strike back. Isaac is... kind of the odd man out in their group. He seems like a viable candidate for someone/thing particularly sensitive or drawn to those emotions.

If it's true that Hijack could (and did) mess with Spender without alerting either Lucifer or (knowing about) Shadowcles (I forget if the dark spirit had a fanname, 100% brainsli- wait. Brain. HIJAAAAAACK!!!!), then it might be prudent of the spirit to jump out of Spender at their earliest convenience now that Isabel has spilled the beans. Wait, beans? /That/ one was unintentional too.

(Psst, if you press "ctrl+i you get the input for italics. You can also click the slanted I at the top of the posting thing. In case you didn't know.)

That's true. If Hijack has decided to Hijack Mr.Spender, or mess with him somehow, then now would be a good time for him to leave. However, that conversation he had with Isabelle makes me think that Mr.Spender isn't Hijacked, and probably wasn't Hijacked at any other point in this story arc. Still don't know who is though.

I didn't figure it was Mr. Spender myself, but I didn't want to discount the possibility either. Who knows how potent Hijack is?

Thanks for the tip about the italics, but I actually got into the habit of using the forward slashes for /emphasizing a separate intonation/. It's... completely unnecessary and doesn't seem likely to translate well to people I don't specifically tell about it, but addiction is a powerful thing.

I guess I just get a little bit of personal comfort from being prompted to recall my own cadence? Honestly, I can't even remember /why/ I started doing it in the first place... hrm. I'm sure it was linked to sarcasm somehow... Regardless, I associate it with a completely different form of emphasis than I usually imagine when I see italics.

Speaking of, I love how sarcastic Max has been in this chapter- it's like he turned the sass up to eleven, in both his expressions and his word choice! That blank-faced 'nope' at the School Store just radiated sass, I ♥ it.

I loved it too, it was great! Max is one of the best characters, in my opinion, along with the spectacular Johny Jhonny, the fabulous Mr.Starchman, and Max's dad.

Pfff, they made the exact same face. I wonder what Spender was referring to with that last comment of his- The continuing empathetic development, or perhaps a lost friend in Spenders' past? Context shows that he and Zarei were close, so it wouldn't be too far out of the barrel to think that's it.

Rick's probably had to push away a lot of people to keep his secret.

Monkey-face Isabel is the best.

Oh my god the latest faces are the best. >o< They're hilarious!

On another note: Oh no Isabel got cut off! Something bad's definitely gonna happ-
(Either that or Ms.What'sherface is gonna leave her office.) I'm sorry, I forgot her name...

Whoah, we got a better look at her eyes there. I thought her pupils/iris were just like, always little dots. That awkward double shoulder pat was so great, there's no way Hijack could have pulled that off. It was just too goodI ship it .

(HAH! I predicted something correctly! Hooray!)

I doubt she's Hijack. I doubt ANY of the teachers are Hijack. I doubt that Hijack even exists!(haha jk)

I wonder who she's talking to.

I also wonder who she's talking to. Sandwich delivery guy? Significant friend? The Vice Principal? A GHOST?! It could be anyone. That's the real mstery here, forget finding Hijack- check her caller ID! Look, Isabel has the right idea. Wrong device, right idea.

NinjaKitten wrote:

I doubt that Hijack even exists!(haha jk)

The real Hijack was the friends we made along the way,

Hey guys! Complete the sentence, "RIGHT? This is a middle school not a se_____" e.e because I have to know.

Hrm... Well, the context for it is her abhorrent reaction to the prospect of formal attire, so it could be any number of things.

Welcome to the forums though!

Thanks XD I haven't commented on anything Paranatural since the days when the comment section was right below the comments. >_> I was putting off coming on here for a dogs age. Paranatural is like the perfect comic, I love it. <3333

I totally feel you on that front, it took me a long while to migrate myself once the Dizqus section was removed. Friggin time travellers, ruining things for everyone.

On an appropriate note, I'm glad that we got to see Isaac in this page. I was honestly expecting it to be a cut back into Max, but getting to see that they've (somewhat) buried the hatchet is a good sign.

Also, I want to eat that purple stuff. It just looks. So delicious.

Ah yes, looking deep into my school lunch tray replayed my recent memories too back in the day.

I never ate school lunches. They always looked gross. Though, in middle/elementary school I worked for the lunch lady. I'd get her mail in the mornings and she'd pay me with cookies. She was a pretty cool lady. She even bought me a scarf one time! (It was winter and she'd never seen me wear a scarf. I still have it! It's super comfy.) I started in 4th grade and kept at it until I graduated from 8th grade.

*yawns*
...
Welcome to the forums, tired potato!

Yes, welcome! If you're tired, you should get some sleep. Unless, of course, you are a genetically modified alien potato which runs on tired, and if you aren't tired, then you perish, in which case, you should carry on not sleeping and being tired.