The strength and deadliness of Mombot’s toes have been detailed in her character’s bio since the beginning of JEFbot, but I haven’t addressed it in the comic strip proper until now. This isn’t one of those things I’ve made up to be funny or exaggerated for humor: In Real Life my mom’s toes could be considered deadly weapons, and woe be to the child that has misbehaved while in close proximity to her bare foot. I have a birthmark on my stomach that I suspect may be a deep bruise from a time when I was on the receiving end of her grasping toes and raptor nail when I was a young boy. It may just be a phantom pain now, but sometimes it wakes me in the dead of night, and I clasp my hands to it, stifling a scream.
toes like that come really handy when you’re: sick, pregnant and or lazy. XD
Jurassic Park terrified me as a child. I was about 4 when it came out though. I do love dinos now. Just not scary cgi/animitronic ones
i’m a big dino fan! even scary cgi/animatronic ones. 😉
and i was just watching Jurassic Park the other day, DJ, and for the most part, the effects still hold up. probably because they did a mix of CGI and practical FX, which just makes it more “real” than the pure CGI monsters they create nowadays.
God, I love Jurassic Park. Its weird, when I stop and think about it, I can’t really come up with good points I can talk about with that deep, shining-eyes, nerd conviction, and I feel that in so many respects the book(s) are so much better….. But I still love that movie to death!
Which is why I approach the unveiling of Jurassic Park 3-D with trepidation…. If they do it like they did The Lion King I will be a happy girl, because (shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) I actually kind of felt it enhanced the experience of the film….. But I fear it will be too gimmicky.
true dat, DJ! and i’m not even going to ask how you knew about the “pregnant” part. 😉
and: WHAAAaaaaaa!!? could this be your first Firsting of 2011!? congrats! here are your Shades of Firsting. and know that these just happen to also double as toenail clippers, should you ever need them for yourself, or others (i.e. raptor-moms.):
😎
My mother used them when pregnant with my younger brother. Im too young for kids XD
And I have been first in a looooong time. Im usually asleep when you post the strip.
i’m going to sleep right after i finish replying to this comment! g’nite. zzz.
Same here. Unless Jeff posts a new strip at like 4 or 5pm his time, I’ll probably never get the Shades because I like being asleep at 3am my time. (Jeff lives in California whereas I live on the East Coast, hence the time difference)
re: younger brother. *phew!*
ROFLMAO! Jurassic Park is awesome.
it is indeed, Insectoid! the movie and the book!
I do actually have the book, and have tried reading it from cover to cover, but there’s a lot of scientific/technical stuff in it that’s a little over my head. 🙂
Honestly, a lot of the scientific/technical stuff is wrong anyway; apparently it was over Michael Crichton’s head too. (For instance, contrary to what Crichton apparently thought, chaos theory is not just a scientist’s way of phrasing Murphy’s Law.)
agreed: while i respect the fact that Crichton popularized the idea that birds evolved from dinos, the science isn’t all that accurate, Read. funny how he tried to correct some of those mistakes (like the T-Rex’s sight being movement-based) in the horrible sequel, The Lost World.
you should definitely give it another try, Insectoid, as it’s a fun read with lots of cool stuff that wasn’t in the movie. actually, have you tried reading it since you’ve seen the movie? i bet it makes a lot more sense.
I just learned a lesson: Stay away from Asian mothers…
heheh. that wasn’t really the lesson i was going for skinnah, but, yeah, that’s probably a good idea. 😉
I need to use the raptor speech more often in real life.
i approve, smashing0. it actually fits more occasions than you’d think!
It just doesn’t work the same without “The point is, you are still alive when it starts to eat you.”
Also. Re: the title.
“…..Feats of strength? Au contraire! Now that you are here with me, what we have is great strength of feet!”
I actually remember reading that in Mombot’s bio and thinking it was just to see whether anyone was actually paying attention. Now I know it wasn’t just frivolity. Should I be scared?
ha! it’s funny, every so often i’d get an email (and at the Emerald City Comicon i got a couple people asking) about what was going on with Mombot’s toe, Maia. now the story can be told! (at least for the next couple’a strips.)
and yes, you should be scared. at least if you’re in foot’s reach of Mombot. 😀
My best friend growing up was from Taiwan, and the moment I read “She’s so cute and Asian, there’s nothing about her that could be ‘lethal,'” I just shook my head and waited for it.
That’s on par with the scientist in Species saying, “We made her female, so that she would be more docile.”
Guh?
ha! good analogy, Sarah W. you gotta keep an eye on Asians – especially the cute ones!
This strip kinds of reminds me of my mom whose nails are always looong. I wonder how she does that considering she does all the housework. What is it with moms and their nails?
Oh! And, dinos are AWESOME (like mothers with deadly weapons like their sharp nails). rawr.
not sure what’s with moms and their nails, LordCheeseballs; my mom gardens, plays guitar and cooks with long nails you’d think would just get in the way!
and yeah, dinosaurs are *totally* awesome. when i was a kid, i wanted to grow up to be a paleontologist. sometimes, i still do. 🙂
Wow. This is so awesome! I love Mombot even more now than before. Go Mombot! May I sit at your feet and learn from your prehensile, raptor toes? My kids don’t fear me enough.
glad you found it awesome, shanna! and maybe Mombot could give you a couple tips on sowing fear into your kids should you come to the Phoenix Comicon, since she’ll be there. just sayin’. 😀
Tsk, silly Cornfather…women are always dangerous, to a certain degree. The small and Asian part just makes the danger level higher. Ask any of my roommates…I’m just small and female, not Asian, but I can bite heads off with reasonable accuracy when the mood takes me. I want a toenail like that…seems far better in the psycological fear aspect. 😀
i completely concur, T: women are always dangerous! but yes, small and Asian does take the danger level up a bit. heheh.
and i’m not sure if a raptor-nail can be shaped and forged if it’s not already in the DNA. i’ll have to consult with Mombot on this one and get back to you.
You are not seriously capable of eating like that, are you? If I tried it the contents of a spoon would end up anywhere but my mouth.
ha! no, jefbot’s feet are definitely more skilled than mine, Maryz – i can do the cereal eating if i concentrate and make slow movements, but not while having a conversation and playing videogames. 🙂
OMG! My husband used to call me Monkey Toes! I used to be able to pick stuff up off the floor with my toes. And what the nieces used to call “Squinkering” with my toes. When you squinker someone…you pinch them with your toes on the fleshy parts of the muscles!
Ahhhh memories!
Funny, my husband and I call each other Monkey Toes! I actually do use my feet as extra hands when I’m crafting or need to get something. Bend? Heck no, I’ll just grab it with my foot!
i’m with ya, Laynie! bending down to pick something up is for the weak (toed). 🙂
so did you lose your monkey toes, Pixie? i’m still pretty good at picking stuff up with mine and i can definitely “squinker,” but my mom takes it to a whole nuther level. if she pinches you, you’ll be sore for days, if not weeks since her toes are like little vice grips. and she’ll draw blood if you don’t immediately jump away. my sisters and i learned to stay out of pinching distance at a very young age.
Haha, the “Squinkering” skill is great Pixie, I’m going to have to try that one! I thought my family was the only with monkey toes!
Haha! Yes don’t let the cute Asianess fool you. My stepmother is half-Filipina, a former combat medic in the army, and like 5’1″. I’m a big, 6’4″ white boy… one on one just isn’t fair between us…
heheh. she sounds like a lady one definitely wouldn’t want to mess with, Psynapse! many Asians have a lot of fierceness bound up in a small package. 🙂
I could attest to that. We asians are a tough lot.
But I still can’t figure out how to use my feet for anything but walking.
I have pretty good grabby-toes, myself. Though, they used to be able to grab a lot more things than they can these days. Maybe I’ve stubbed them too many times, ahahah.
I think one of my greatest recent feats (pun possibly intended) was when I was living with my cousin’s family. I brought up three and a half plates (one was small for a child) of pasta. I gave one to each the kid and his dad in the living room, but the mom was with her other kid in their bedroom. So, still holding two plates, I opened the door with my foot.
you can lose the dexterity of your “grabby toes” if you don’t work them out regularly, Aelyrin! although stubbing them often can have an adverse effect, too. heheh.
and nice feat with all the plates and door-opening. most of my toe activities involve picking up pens that have rolled off my desk, or grabbing some trash or tissue that i’m too lazy to bend down to pick up with my hands. 🙂
Well, of course I also pick things up with them when I don’t feel like going aaaaall the way to the floor. 😉 There have been many times my mom has seen me drop something and said “Don’t you– no, come on! :I” ahahah
Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark! All the dinosaurs are running wild!!!!
*cough* er uh ahem. Sorry about that. I think I was channeling Weird Al or something.
Beware the deadly toe slashes of Mombot!!
it’s easy to channel Weird Al when thinking of Jurassic Park, TCG – i love the claymation video for that song! all kinds of awesome.
Ha! You may be bred of Japanese blood, and I Chinese, but I think there must have been some serious cross-sea breeding going on between our ancestors, because you and I share the same monkey toes. I also inherited mine from my mom who had a lethal toenail! We are brothers in many ways, Jeff.
woo! Yellow Power, Stan! someday our Asian (and monkey toe) powers will combine and we’ll be unstoppable!!! >:)
I TOTALLY understand your prehensile powers JB! It is very useful to get stuff that is on the floor and one doesn’t want to lean down XD!! Fortunately I never had the problem you had with your mother’s toes..it sounds scary, specially since she is asian, and so being stereotypical here, she knows martial arts…it must have been hell when she attacked you O.O
On another note, it would be very interesting if you could do a strip of her doing that.
yes, sometimes one can’t be bothered with bending down all that way to get something off the floor, nicobot! much easier to use one’s feet for that, right? 🙂
true, since she’s Asian, she definitely knows kung fu or karate! if nothing else, i know she’s done Tai chi, which is just a secret way for people to practice martial arts under the guise of exercise.
and you can bet that we’ll see Mombot’s raptor toe in action sometime soon!
OHHHH!!! I just can’t wait for mombot to scare the hell out of someone( please make it be CF)
And yeah…I mean, why go all the way down for something when you could use your feet :D!
you might just get your wish, nicobot!
Hahahaha!!!
I love Michael’s description of mombot: “She’s so cute and asian…”
And if Mombot is really that foot deadly then my respect for her has grown several notches up.
*snicker of doom*
Meh (of doom, of course). It’s been raining SO much here in Puerto Rico for this past month that I’ve been freezing all over and barelly able to leave my bed of doom. Lungs start acting funny and mom clearly told them (my lungs. She likes to talk to my body parts. Freaky!) that they better keep working or else. Not sure if I wanna find out what the “else” entiles.
And yes, Michael’s right. Jeffbot having monkey toes IS GROSS!! (I sort of accept the whole game controller thingy… but EATING?!! Hell NO!!!! GROSS!!!!
My guess is that the “else” part refers to robotic replacements.
“she’s so cute and asian” is definitely something Michael would say in Real Life, Sonitan, (which he probably has, actually) so i’m glad that tickled you. and yes, Mombot’s feet really are that deadly. pretty much no hyperbole in jefbot’s description in the strip.
hope things start drying out and warming up in Puerto Rico! and i love how your mom is the “organ whisperer.” heheh. as long as it keeps working, more power to her! 😀
yeah, kinda gross that jefbot’s eating with his feet. he could at least put socks on those things…
Hilarious! …and Jurassic Park is my favorite!!! MONKEY TOES!
thanks, Funnyshaffer! yep, Jurassic Park = awesome.
I knew that was familiar, did you need to scare the poor kid doc? Why didn’t you just pull a gun on him.
heh. “That’s not very scary. More like a six foot turkey.” 🙂
Mombot doesnt come at you from the front but from the sides with other mombots right? and its retractable too I bet. Even before cornfather said the jurrasic park I read that in sam neils voice. LOVE that movie! You picked a great line to quote too lol. Think I’m gonna watch that when I get home, I even have it on VHS if you can believe it. Lost world too.
Funny that, I was in a kick boxing class the other day and this kid got me with his toe nail while attempting to kick me. It’s starting to heal but it’s gonna leave a strange scar and an even stranger story…
you got it, steve – from the other Mombots you didn’t even know were there. 😉
i still have my (well-worn) VHS copy, too! but i’m waiting for the inevitable blu-ray release, of course. kind of mystifying that isn’t out, yet.
so was this kid that sliced you with his toenail Asian?
That’s awesome!! I inherited my mom’s prehensile toes too…and like yours, my mom’s are much more prehensile and deadly…tho Ma doesn’t have inch and a half long toenail daggers…
glad you could relate, Eptha! i attribute my mom’s deadlier feet to her days climbing banyan trees barefoot and such in Hawaii during her youth. i think with a little training, my feet could be just as lethal!
My mom isn’t lethal with her toes…but she does have weird ones…they’re hobbit ugly (not hairy, just broad and flat) and she can like totally pick anything and everything up with them. Her toes flex like fingers, it’s weird..I try not to look at her toes directly…they creep me out…ha!
Yeah, she’s lethal in other ways, and Mexican…spicy little spitfire, she is….
my dad’s feet are more hobbit-ish than my mom’s ESQ – more broad and flat like you’re describing, but with nubby toes that don’t have a lot of dexterity to them. my sister (Lor) inherited those and she has the tiniest, cutest pinky toes that have no lethality to them whatsoever.
If I could do stuff like that with my feet, it’d be like having the extra arm I don’t have. 😀 This also reminds me of a Ripliey’s Believe it or not episode where a guy in India (I think) who is able to wright with both hands and feet at the same time and in several different languages.
I also got to see my brother in two different plays this evening, in both of witch he died. 🙂 I even got to build a coffin for him. 😛
I got an award for best techie today at my school. It’s awesome. 😀
wow! this dude could write with both hands and feet at the same time in different languages!? that’s truly amazing, and puts my mom’s and my feet to shame, Fijiman. heheh.
congrats to your brother for the plays and to you for the techie award! sweet!
Thanks. I’m sure that if you looked hard enough on their site you could probably find him, but I’m to lazy to do it.
Guess that’s where Bot gets the awesome gene and where the sisbots get their aggro genes from… if you think about it… it makes a whole lotta sense
ha! i’m happy you think jefbot has an “awesome” gene, Jiro! and yes, the sisbots definitely have aggro genes, so your theory does make sense. also, don’t count out the whole melding of Axis Powers, either. 🙂
dexterous toes are really useful when doing laundry (at least in my house anyway). jefbot is right, asian mothers do have dangerous feet, and toes. should they cut them every once in a while, it should be immediately disposed of for fear that when stepped on, u can never take them out and it will be stuck in there forever causing eternal pain *thunder roars with spooky atmosphere* ahem…yeah toenails are scary and i speak from experience *nervous smile*
true dat, Aki! nimble toes come in very handy when doing laundry!
and funny, my toenails (and fingernails for that matter) grow very fast, so i could probably make a raptor nail of my own in no time. i just don’t think it would grow as hard and dense as Mombot’s do. and i can’t even imagine stepping on one of her cast offs – eternal pain, indeed!
Every Single time I hear rain on a car roof or some house roofs I think of Jurassic Park! Its forever in my brain. <3 then I stare blankly at my drink and no one else gets why…
when you see the ripples in your cup, do you run for the bathroom stall or do you stay in the car, BrittyKitty?
I think that’s the point where I stay in the car and grab my Katana for safety lol Its usually in arms reach ^^
whoa. I’ve been away for too long. I had to go to the archives to look for missed updates dating back to October. O.O
That said, I used to have nightmares about Jurassic Park. I remember when I was younger I had a Jurassic Park-Pinocchio (that movie scares the crap out of me. ’til now.) crossover nightmare…
at least you didn’t have to wait as long for updates, Jaeh! and hey, glad you’re back!
and what’s a “Jurassic Park-Pinocchio”? like, a T-Rex puppet or something? i’m almost afraid to ask since it already sounds scary.
A funny coincidence: on Thursday night, while you were drawing this strip, I was at a silent movie called “The Unknown” where Lon Chaney played an armless circus performer who did everything with his feet… eat, smoke cigarettes, throw knives… maybe a new career trajectory for you?
maybe, Kim! depends on how much money’s in it. heheh. if i could play videogames all day with my feet and get paid a decent wage, i’m in!
I think anyone who could get a job like that would be set. Being able to do it with your feet would just be a bonus.
LOL YOUR MOM IS CUTE AND ASIAN! I love your mom she’s a total cutie. xD Ohh I laughed so hard I had to stop reading his speech, I love the Jurassic Park referance, the raptors are my favorite. <3 I love how they can open doors. I'M ALL CAUGHT UPP! <333
i was just asking Mombot about you, Nat, since i haven’t seen you in months! glad you’re still around and all caught up! and yeah – raptors are rad. 😀
Super funny, bot! I really love this one. Love the Jurassic Park reference. At first, I was like, “wow! he put a lot of effort into this dialogue bubble…” but little did I know it was a quote. But it worked perfectly. 😀