#postin'

Miss Pauling was assigned specifically to Team Fortress. We see that the headquarters of the Administrator’s organization has many employees. All this time it seemed natural to assume that Miss Pauling and The Administrator were a two-woman band of sorts, but now we see there was an entire shadowy organization. In comic issue 7 Miss Pauling speculates that she may be promoted to second-in-command, which implies she is currently lower on the totem pole. Presumably all those other merc teams had their own handlers assigned to them.

And Miss Pauling was assigned to… Team Fortress. The loser team. She was the loser handler. Not only was she not as important to the Administrator as Zephaniah, she wasn’t even her most important employee. Miss Pauling devoted her life to the mission of a woman who truly didn’t give a shit about her. She never would have heard from the Administrator again if any of the other merc teams were successful in recovering the australium.

Somebody on another site I use pointed out something about the timing of this scene. Scout tells Miss Pauling about this big revelation he had about letting people go if they don't share your feelings and having the self-confidence to trust that you'll find a similar love for someone who feels it back...

...and then immediately after that Miss Pauling goes downstairs and sees the Administrator. Has the choice to keep her alive. Has the choice to stay by her side, a loyal servant for the rest of Miss Pauling's natural life, and maybe longer if she's useful enough. Has the choice to keep hoping. And... she lets her go. I wonder if Miss Pauling would have made that choice had Scout not shared his own revelation.

No! Of course not, you silly little idiot! Why would the result of tapping the reblog symbol twice be a normal reblog? You fool! You absolute buffoon! That actually results in immediately publishing a reblog with no additions or tags, something I have never ever done intentionally and have absolutely no desire to do and no need to have a dedicated button for.

No, of course in order to do that, you have to tap the button beneath "reblog now" with the pencil icon which up until now has been synonymous with editing a post or publishing an original post, the one labelled "reblog." What, don't you find it intuitive what the difference is between "reblog" and "reblog now?" You thought perhaps it might have something to do with the timing between when you write them and when they are published, on the supposition that "now" is usually presented as an alternative to "later?" You simpleton! You troglodyte! It should be obvious that "reblog now" means "reblog without additions" and "reblog" means "reblog but you can make additions first."

Anyway, one of the things I really like is how they have expanded Karen's character and iterated on her design. I find the new her really charming! During the period I watched she was always just sort of the punchline deliverer in a stock-standard "long-suffering wife in a loveless marriage" character dynamic. If memory serves she was basically Peggy from Married... With Children, but a robot. Which was fine, I didn't have any complaints about her as a kid.

However, in the years since, they seem to have pushed toward showing them in a healthier relationship that has struggles but where you can also see they like and love each other. I think that's so much more interesting, and a more fruitful vehicle for comedy. Making her a willing and active participant in their relationship, making "computer wife" mean "my wife who is a computer" rather than "a computer I built to act like a wife," gives her opportunities to do things other than roll her eyes at what Plankton does.

I saw a gifset from that tango episode and I love how it shows that she's evil too, a cartoonish schemer the same way Plankton is. It's just that she's more pragmatic and less impulsive than plankton, so she usually ends up following along with his schemes... but when she's put in a situation that she is also enthusiastic about? When they both have something they want? They both set about ruining everyone's night in perfect synchronicity. They don't even have to say a word. It's so cute. They still have fights and disagreements, the old dynamic is still there, but now it's within the context of a real relationship, to the extent that one can exist within a show like Spongebob Squarepants of course. I love them together!