As I mentioned in the comments on the last page, the discussion about this has been interesting and not entirely unexpected… though it is a bit sad that we’re still throwing tired terms like sexist around, or perhaps it’s just sad that “sexist” is still a thing.  Yes the girls depict gendered stereotypes but I’ve never gotten a single complaint about Lech or Nerd’s sexist tropes, and I bet if the roles were reversed and they were just debuted, I still wouldn’t… which is also sad.  Anyway, the old Deviant art era names for the girls sprung from the idea being conceived while working at an animation studio on a fairly misogynistic show at the time.  They would have fit right in :P  They have evolved a bit since then (as all the characters did when I set out to actually turn this into a comic) and you’ll just have to reserve judgement until they actually do something.  How about we let them open their mouths before we start pre-framing our opinions; most women I know would appreciate that. Hell, most people.

I also don’t believe either stereotype is inherently offensive: you can either buy into our culture’s dismal portrayal of promiscuous women as “slutty and shameful” or take the more progressive view of women being just as free as men to take their sexual agency into their own hands.  And sure I understand the annoyance that the only female bears just had to end up pink and obviously stereotypical but it’s a humour comic with an already large cast and I had to streamline for efficiency.  There was a third female originally who was a dark green hypochondriac, but she was too much like Crack and it would have been confusing and redundant…I think that was Sterling’s catch?  You are crazy with the detail recall :)

Plus I sold a ton of tampon buttons and stickers at cons, people thought they were hilarious.

I also never said I’d closed the door on adding more female characters… it would be nice to have a new character reveal some day that a bunch of you don’t already know about :)

Additionally, I’m not the torrid love triangle type so don’t worry, BN will not be turning into Twilight anytime soon… which may be an imperfect ref as I haven’t seen or read any of it but there is a love triangle aspect to it right?  And a creepy demon baby/underage love affair thing?  What is that book even about???

Intergalactic best friends vote incentive: I can’t wait for this movie :)

Happy late Father’s Day to those it particularly applies to.  Jim got to sleep in while I fed/cleaned/entertained the kids…. just like EVERY DAY.  I’m thinking we should re-assess this Jim voluntarily works evenings thing because it’s really only benefiting one of us…

Last Monday we took the boys to the Toronto zoo for the twin’s birthday.  We were there 4 hours and we still didn’t see everything (toddler pace).  I thought going in mid June that it wouldn’t be that hot yet (especially after this winter) but it was 29C and sunny so all the big outdoor animals were passed out in the shade, just like last time I went.  The pandas were adorable though, and the kids had a blast.  Plus ice-cream,so that was the first thing they told their uncles about of course.  I did get to have an interesting chat with a panda keeper that confirmed some stuff I was roughly aware of: male pandas are only fertile for like 2 days out of the year.  Pandas are anti-social in general, plus their ridiculously limited diet doesn’t give them a lot of energy so they’re kind of too lazy to go seeking a mate.  So the chances of finding a female in heat within that 2 day span are pretty small.  The zoo’s female was impregnated with frozen sperm from China instead so Toronto’s male panda is pretty much useless :)  Interestingly, it can take up to 160 days for a fertilized egg to even implant so the keepers are playing a waiting game with the occasional ultrasound.  If Er Shun is pregnant, the gestation is only 45 days.

Considering how evolution is always pushing adaptation and survival of the fittest, pandas are hilariously too apathetic to procreate.  If they weren’t so darn cute would humans even intervene?  It’s only fair since we’re wreaking their habitat, but they certainly get more love and resources than black rhinos for instance (and WAY more shelf space in the gift shop, including their own gift shop for one.)

I’m not sure when I’m going to get the chance to see this movie but I can’t wait.  We’ll probably take Sam, he sits very patiently in movies and seems transfixed, as in barely answers me when I ask him questions.  How Not to Train Your Dragon is available today only (and a little bit Tuesday, like till lunch time I think) on RIPT:

Vote incentive:  The rough little doodle that inspired this design.  And that is of course a Jayne call out on the last panel… kindred spirits I suppose?

I can’t believe my babies are 3!  We’ve made it through the “Terrible 2’s” and have now entered the “Troublesome 3’s”, which all the mommy blogs seem to agree is way worse: they’re still irrational and spontaneous, but with a heaping dose of belligerence and deviousness.  Yay!  More backtalk!  And Evan tried to eat his candle :P  That kid puts sand in his mouth every time we go to the park, and every time he gets upset and drools it all over himself… not sure what to do about that.

We got a chance to see ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2′ and it was great!  Sam said the whole thing was his “favourite”.  There were some parts I thought might be a bit much for him but he said even the sad bits were his favourite and didn’t seem to have any issues.  We went with some friends who have a slightly older boy and I guess he understood what happened better than Sam did as he was a little upset… or Sam’s just dense :)  He did sit through most of the movie folded up in the seat.  The plus side is we got to draw some fan art together :)

Vote incentive: Astrid totally rocks and Sam is a big Toothless fan.  I should scan his drawings; he even asked me to show him reference images for each character before he drew them :)

I’m not sure things have ever gone Lech’s way.  When is the self proclaimed Alpha going to come out on top?  Will all that marker wash off?  Does Gimp have enough anti-septic?

We went walking in Gatineau park with the boys today, in 30 degree weather, plus whatever the humidex adds.  I take back my complaints about how long winter was!  I just want a happy medium :P  Surprisingly, there was zero complaints or requests to be carried from the three year olds.  Sam also didn’t whine.  Can’t say the same about the husband!  So first day of summer vacation down, 2 months to go!  I am gladly taking suggestions for more activities to keep kids busy.  We’re going berry picking tomorrow, and then I’ve scheduled some time for me to go nuts waiting for Sept to come back :)

Korra’s back!  Korra’s back!

I’ve found post pregnancy that my periods of… let’s say emotional instability, are either more intense, or last longer.  It seems to vary month to month.  Such fun!  That and my totally ruined stomach are so going to come back and haunt my kids later in life when I want stuff done.  Lawn needs mowing?  Emotional blackmail time :)

And despite my Facebook rant last week about how busy I was and how not busy Jim was… guess who still ended up mowing the lawn :(  I can’t wait till the boys are old enough to help clean the house instead of destroy it (case in point, last night Evan rubbed his chocolate ice cream ALL OVER HIS CHAIR.  And then sat in it.)

Way early notice as this shirt isn’t going live until Sat the 12th on Shirt Punch so check there on the weekend for yet more Dragon fan art from me, cause I’m totally obsessed with this movie and Sam keeps asking for more dragon shirts.  I just can’t deny the kid :)

Vote incentive: the Canada Day and Independence Day art I posted on Facebook last week.

There’s so much vomiting in this comic, and my house.  I think it comes with the territory of having three kids (and two stupid cats), and sometimes Evan just eats too fast and throws up on the table where the rest of us are eating too.  So… my apologies if you are also eating at the moment.

Teehunter interview avec moi about shirt designing!  If you look closely you’ll see a pic of me “hard at work” :)

Vote incentive:  I have a lot of fun with original bear commissions.

Pink bear rage!  Blue bear cower!  Other blue bear tries reason!  It’s ineffective.

Remember how I was talking about vomit the other day?  Guess what Sam did a couple of days ago??  Came out of bed around 2 am, said his neck hurt, then puked through the upstairs railing… floor, walls, decorative plant in pot, half the stairs, I think maybe my shoe… need more wipes.

Having fun with Who designs :)  I also hid another fairly prominent BBC star in there…

Available now in my Teepublic store for just $14!

Vote incentive:  a birthday pic for a little cutie :)

I apologize again for totally forgetting to put Nerd in the last few pages.  Unfortunately he’s not off planning some daring rescue… not today at least :)

I’ve spent the last few days being less productive than usual and getting caught up on Comic Con news/panels.  It’s pretty distracting, and every year it seems like there’s more going on than before.  The Arrow season three trailer is intense!  And they’ve only shot like 2 episodes so far??  I was never a big Wonder Woman fan but that still looks great; her “armour” covers more than I expected.  2 and a half hour Marvel panel that people lined up over night for??  Dedicated I guess?  I’d never heard of Kevin Smith’s planned “Canadian Horror Trilogy” which sounds exciting/irreverent, but the trailer for “Tusk” made me super uncomfortable, and I don’t think I can watch the whole movie…  Firefly video game :)

New contest!  Head on over to the Bear Nuts Facebook page and LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT on the Nerd Block post, plus you have to go LIKE the Nerd Block page to enter.  We’ll randomly pick one name and announce the winner on Monday Aug 4th.  You can also use the DOOOMCAT code for a 10% discount to sign up for your own Nerd Block subscription!  Random surprise nerdy goodness sent to your door every month :)

Also, if you have a Shirt Woot account please go VOTE for my latest ninja shirt.  It’s the return of Oblivious, Unstealthy’s cousin :)  (Woot still has my Oblivious vs Godzilla design in the queue as well…)  I haven’t had time to enter Woot’s derbies in awhile but the theme was glow in the dark and this popped in my head.  My head likes implied violence.

And lastly, vote incentive:  because I like pie as much as Dean :)

Ugh to the tired and cliched title but I just couldn’t think of anything else, and you can kind of take it quite literally and not in the Spice Girls way.  And look!  Nerd’s back!  Totally forgot about him for like how many pages?  So sorry that he was not in fact stealthily working away on some sure to be foolproof plan to save the day… speaking of stealthy, or not so stealthy… Oblivious Ninja Rocks out (in glow in the dark!) is available now at Woot!  For one week only then this one won’t be available in the back catalogue all the time as the glow ink is a speciality thing.

Plus I do get the occasional request about larger tee sizes and unfortunately I usually can’t accommodate everyone as some sites only go to about 2x, but Neatorama actually offers larger sizes now (up to 6x I believe) so check them out if that’s what you’re looking for.

And if you’re interested, here’s another little interview with me, specifically about Bear Nuts this time.

My parents would of course pick the opening weekend of ‘Guardians’ to go on vacation :P  How dare my free babysitting service desert me??  So still waiting to go see that one and trying to avoid all interesting sites and friend’s opinions (other then that all my friends loved it, and some have seen it twice already).  Still managed some fan art though :)

Ooo… looks like they’re both crossing the line here…

I update this on Sunday nights and I’m totally going to bed early and not getting any work done tonight, raging headache and my eyes are super sore.  I haven’t needed drops in months (post lasering) but they feel like I’ve worn my contacts too long :(  Going to go drown my eyes, so good night everyone!

More line crossing, plus pheromone zombies.   Phombies?

Totally unrelated, but I’m curious to hear everyone’s old wives’ tales for stopping nose bleeds.  I fully intend to experiment on Evan :)  I understand that nose bleeds can be common in some kids from age 2-10, especially in humid weather (of which we’ve had rather too much lately, a week of cool rainy blah, my apologies to Californina).  So gross, and I keep having to wash his pillow.  At least it’s not both of them.

Vote incentive:  little preview of further phombie abuse…

One week of summer vacation left!  I’m sooooo excited!  I’m still not used to the reversal of feeling at this time of year.  I always get that slight jolt of apprehension as Sept hits, and an irrational need to go buy some new binders.. and then I remember :)  One more year with the twins at home, but next summer I’ll probably be beside myself with how much stuff I’ll be able to do… and I’ll likely just see them on the bus and go back to bed… but it will be glorious.  I think once the age of homework help hits, it’s going to be less fun for me.  But anyway, now we have to get back into the routine of school, and I can’t remember what I used to pack for lunches.  Kids lunch suggestions!  Go!

I think I forgot Nerd again.

Two designs up for voting in the latest Shirt Woot derby!  It you have a Woot account, take a second and go click the “I want one” button and I will love you forever and ever :)  There’s 4 Groot related designs in the fog so it’s not looking too good for a top three finish, but Woot picks a bunch of close designs for a derby side sale on Mondays so every vote totally helps.  Plus baby Kracken.

Vote incentive: DOOOM!

I’ll let you all decide if “chocolate chip muffins” is a euphemism for anything… We had some interesting comments/crits last week that I imagine will just intensify with this page and I felt like it’s worth discussing.   First off, keep the comments coming.  I don’t mind thoughtful critiques at all so by all means let me know what you think :)  I do it find it funny that a few people are extra viscerally reacting to this current situation; this has never really been a lighthearted comic.  Half of them have been beaten and/or set on fire… multiple times.  There’s been some pretty over the top addiction issues, relentless teasing, mental breaks, the odd dismemberment, and all of them have ridiculously tragic backstories… and now I sound like a crazy person. Ultimately, this too will pass.  I can write some extra fluffy/cheesy arcs to follow up as a palate cleanser, but then I’ll probably just get comments about how boring my writing is and how the characters aren’t developing.  I can’t please everyone, but I can at least entertain myself… and apparently I’m a sadist, so there’s that.

Happy dancing Gay dances happily.

Tomorrow is the first day of school!!!  So excited!!!

Vote incentive:  A little Mucha inspired Galaxy fan art.  I would totally go see that movie in theatres again if I had the time (the blue ray will be out before Christmas I imagine??) and yet Transformers 4 is still beating it?  I’ve only seen the first one of those.

Ok, so I didn’t think to check the Urban dictionary in advance and “chocolate chip muffins” IS actually a euphemism for something… do yourself a favour and don’t be curious.

Vote incentive: so I used to watch this show (years ago!) and I just can’t keep up with it.  I find I really like some of the older anime that were short and sweet and finite (Escaflowne!) and didn’t endlessly go on and on (like this sentence) and half the episode is a recap of the last one anyway where so and so battles such and such and learned a new power/got a new weapon/etc.  One Piece, for example, is one I’ve never watched just because I know it’s long and I just don’t have the time to invest.  Or maybe it’s a problem of attention span :)  I think my kids are rubbing off on me!

I am, however, completely impressed by the prodigious out put of some manga artists.  My piddly one page a week is nothing in comparison.  Of course it helps to have assistants… who wants a free internship??  It would probably mostly consist of taking my kids to the park.

There was a zoo not that far from us that got shut down a little while ago for animal abuse, or not feeding them properly?  Or something?  I don’t remember the details, but it was a horrible story.  Then there’s the ongoing problems at Marine Land with the orcas in captivity and trainers getting mauled.  I think I read somewhere recently about a boa constrictor getting loose at another zoo and it was a few days before they found it… these zoo keepers above would totally fit into that crowd.  Criminally oblivious.

Now who commands the squirrel army at the zoo?  That could come in handy…

Went apple picking today with the boys yesterday and it was packed, crazy busy.  We got lost in the corn maze and gave up, the line up for wagon rides was nuts, and then some other couple grabbed THE LAST apple rhubarb crumble.  I placated myself with fresh cider donuts.  It was a good day.  I’ve already found a couple of Pinterest boards dedicated to apple baked goods… so this is bad and there goes the diet again.

Vote incentive: Continuing discussion of old anime shows I fondly remember and can’t quite get into again…have my tastes changed that much?  Or have the kids just burned away much of what was me…

Tanked, general of the squirrel army?  Or at the very least, perhaps a platoon commander… maybe the only bear who wouldn’t abuse the power of having a squad of rodents to do his bidding.

Vote incentive: “Muffin” sketch :)

So the girls have evolved a lot since their initial creation at the animation studio I was not working for at the time (we got laid off a lot while waiting for the budget to get advanced… yes an animator’s life is glamorous indeed).  For one, there was originally three but the Biohazard Bear was a bit redundant and I have enough characters to juggle as is.  My thoughts on them changed again when we found out about the twins (after 18 months of trucks, mud, and screaming that was my male child experience, I did fantasize a little about quiet tea parties and cute hair bows).  Though I don’t have any sisters, my brothers and I fought a lot growing up and I’ve projected a lot of that onto the girls.  They’ve essentially been isolated from others of their kind aside from brief interactions, so they’ve become a unit unto themselves and don’t play well with others.  Of course, it’s pretty easy to get sick of your other half when you spend all your time with them…

And I totally used some of the girl names on my list (Purple’s is rhyming of course) before we found out the twins were boys too, and now I’ll never get to take my little girls shopping :(  The boys don’t like to go shopping with me… or they like it too much and I have a hard time getting out of there without a new lego set in exchange for good behaviour.

I also think Evil could probably wedge that radio under his horns and have his hands free.

“How Not to Train Your Dragon” screen printed on blue and available today only on Othertees!

And I didn’t know this one was going live on Woot when it did so I was a bit late on posting “Oblivious Ninja”, available here.  He’s about as highly trained as his cousin Unstealthy so I imagine he’ll be popping up in all his bumbling and inept glory every once and awhile.

Vote Incentive:  Woot didn’t give him an honourable mention in his derby but I still love him, Heavy Metal Panda.

And now begins the pushing of the buttons; those we are closest to always know the best ways to piss us off (Sara and Cara, soooo rhymey.  There’s a big divide among twin parents about wether rhyming your twin’s names is cute, or totally silly.  I can’t decide, Jim thought it was dumb.  Whatever, I made my own girls.)

Soooo tired today.  Had a great weekend mini family vacation thing out of town and got to see my cousin’s new baby.  Jim had to work so I packed all three boys in the car and went (there’s nothing they like better than driving me crazy in a hotel room… with a pool!)  Sam accidentally shoved scrambled eggs up his nose at breakfast, and then sneezed it all over the table, plus people kept giving the twins sugar.  There will come a day when they aren’t cute anymore and the sucking up thing will wear off.  I suppose they should live it up while they can… but Owen didn’t nap at all on the way back and actually seemed to keep up an entire conversation with himself for three hours.

New shirts up on Woot’s Halloween side sales this week!  I’ll post the links when I get them (I think Elmo launches on Wed) but here’s a Nightmare on Sesame Street if I ever saw one.

I also have two entries in Woot’s Fall themed derby so if you have a Woot account I’d super appreciate a vote :)  Huddle and Toastymon (and now I want to colour more leaves, and drink hot chocolate).

VOTE INCENTIVE:  this was on the Facebook page but if you missed it here’s Glech in a quiet moment (and an awesomely fun commission to do :)

So Lech is incorrigible?  Or just bounces back fast, or has a goldfish brain…

Happy Thanksgiving fellow Canadians!  I ate too much last night and have Thanksgiving dinner number 2 to look forward to tonight :P  At least the boys ate their broccoli with only a little fight; they are slowly getting better.  And then Sam ate his ice cream with his hands, spoon untouched on his plate… so there’s that.

Debuting today on Shirt Woot is a Halloween themed Unstealthiest Ninja tee!  This one qualifies for Woot’s Oct best seller’s contest so the top three designs with the most first day sales wins a bonus commission :)  Shirts are also only $12 on debut day, then they go up in price after that… so get it today and save $$$.  Plus you’ll have a better chance of getting it shipped by Halloween.

CONTEST TIME: Like/share/comment on this design on the Facebook post to help me push Unstealthy onto the masses, and tomorrow I’ll randomly pick one of you awesome people to win a free sketch commission from me. It can be Bear Nuts related, it can be something else completely (just not anything weirdly specific and of an x-rated nature).  Plus Raph is totally the best ninja turtle.

And ‘Huddle’ got an honourable mention so it’s available for one week in the Fall derby side sale (then available always in the back catalogue but it goes up in price!)

So I apparently suck at adding links on occasion and messed up the last vote incentive link for the adorable Glech commission, so here’s Glech 2: They’re Still on the Couch.

See?  Lech is a good problem solver!

So we’re well into cold and flu season here, it starts with one kid and gradually works through them all (and then starts again with the first).  I expect most surfaces of my house have a thin coating of mucus by now… Countdown to when Jim gets it (worse than the boys of course) and I have to tune out the fake coughing (Sam), the extreme whininess (Evan), the shrill commentary (Owen), and the insufferable complaining (my husband).  I also read a study recently that stated the happiest households/families are the ones raising two girls.  So where does that put me on the spectrum??

I actually had two ideas for Unstealthy Halloween themed tees so here’s the other one: Unstealthy puts his “talents” to work and plays decoy :)  Available now in my Neatoshop.

Vote Incentive: Inspired by ShirtWoot’s current derby theme of video games: Retro gaming at it’s finest :)