WOOHOOOO!!! I’m happy to finally reveal that Miyuki is actually a he and not a she! I’ve pretty much kept that under my hat for over five years now and it wasn’t easy, mostly because I had to keep my pronouns straight whenever I wrote a blog post about Yuki or answered comments about him. (Go ahead, check.) Now, I realize this may not be that big a deal to many of you readers but keeping that little secret to myself this whole time just makes it all the more delicious to now share with you. Not that the reveal will affect Musashi’s mission in any way: he’s still going to the alien ship to enhance Miyuki, and he already knew his friend was a guy, most likely because of his enhanced hamster sense (or sense of smell, pheromones or intuition) anyway.
So: onward! Now that Mu’s made his exit, what will jefbot do next???
Related strips:
• JEFBOT.28_Hamster God (first appearances of Musashi and Miyuki, back in January 2008!)
• JEFBOT.190_Epilogue: Good Night, Mu (Mu and Yuki get separated)
• JEFBOT.413_Mindbending (Miyuki as Appa the Sky Bison in jefbot’s mind)
First?
whaaa!!?? Bender_Sastre, you’ve beaten flame_fingers to the punch and claimed the Shades of Firsting for yourself! quite a feat, as f_f’s skills have been all sorts of legendary the past couple of weeks! wear them well – these will guide you on any long adventure you wish to take:
😎
Damn you Bender… congrats
FIRSTAAAAAAGE!! I would like to thank the the hours nap i took in the late afternoon and the looming presentation I have a 11am tomorrow for which I was trying gain token competence. Now I think I require sleep.
Now Jefbot, let’s not spoil the moment by interjecting issues of hamster heteronormativity.
i’m with you, Bender_Sastre: Mu’s love is hamsternormative. 🙂
a tip of the hat to you, flame_fingers! i looked up the previous record for back-to-back Shades and the previous record holder was Tiana with… wait for it… 5 back-to-back Shades (way back in JEFBOT.323 in 2011!) which means you now hold the all-time record with the 6X Shades of Firsting you pulled off in the previous strip. so, BIG AWESOME CONGRATS to you! 😀
Thanks bot! Hopefully my record will be shattered in a couple of weeks when I regain the 6x and go for 10x! I HAVE SPOKEN! (or written)
For now I eagerly await the resolution of this arc sometime in the not so distant future 😎
i don’t know – 10X is pretty insane, f_f, but i believe in you! heheh. btw, Tiana made that 5X record way back in April of 2011, so i think your 6X is gonna hang around for a while if you wanna take a breather. 🙂
• JEFBOT.323_Boned
Holy crap! Almost exactly 2 years and a month to the date. That’s a long time to hold a record! I’ll save my speech for when I break it again 😉
But I am very proud of it, may it withstand the test of fandom and time
Ah well. If it couldn’t have been me, at least the streak is broken.
Love is all powerful :’)
so true, f_f. so, so true. 🙂
*love fanfiction dream shattering* Noooo! And I had just started thinking of a beautiful love story for them… It feels weird writing about two boy hamsters.(no homophobe)
JefBOT, dont you dare walk away now! If you do, I will personally send a Flamingonator to attack you! (I actually started to sketch one out of boredom during class, and now I cant stop thinking about it…)
no worries, DAS, they’ll still have a beautiful love story – if Mu can carry Yuki to the alien transformation tank and get him through the eternal pain and torment before his “upgrade.” 🙂
now i need to have jefbot walk away, just so i can see that Flamingonator!
theres nothing weird about love, two boys, two girls, or one of each 🙂
i like the cut of your jib, ellie. 🙂
Yes, be yourself and be with whom you wish to be with.
<3
<3 <3 <3
I never got the impression that Musashi had sexuality in mind, anyway. Although with me never having an interest in sexuality anyway, I tend not to pick up on such things. Usually, my heterosexual and homosexual friends must point these things out to me if they are referenced unless they’re very obvious.
i think you picked up on the sexuality subtext just fine, Rainey – being a mutated/upgraded/enhanced hamster, Mu isn’t thinking or feeling in terms of human sexuality or gender norms. when he asks bot if it would matter if Yuki was a boy or girl, he’s really just asking, not trying to guilt bot out or anything.
Darn it! I’ve got bad timing! I was hoping to get the SoF for the first time ever! BUGGER! I shall have to improve my technique. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
I always wondered what Mad Eye would be like online… =P
Anyhoo, I think Jefbot’s gonna secretly follow Mu and discover Cel trapped and totally rescue her.
heheh. awesome BOTfriend Shanna knitted me a “Mad Eye” eyepatch when i was having eye problems, Shift, so i can feel all Moody whenever i’m online or off!
as for your theory – it’s a good one! we’ll see…
yup, “CONSTANT VIGILANCE” is exactly what it takes to nab those Shades, KB!
Whatever Mu and Yuki’s relationship–bromance, romance, hetero-lifemate bond–I hope they can spend their lives together.
Please, Jeff?
i can’t guarantee any happiness for Mu and Yuki, Sarah W, but it’s awesome that you wish it for them. 🙂
?
What about the loveshack?
Anyway, this is large scale, beautifully drawn and doesn’t really move the story forward. You need an editor 😀
surprised to see this comment from you, Maryz, who always seemed to prefer the smaller, character-driven strips to the big story ones. this one not only had huge character beats but also a big story beat (Musashi leaving bot behind) which moves the story along in a huge way!
I DO like character driven strips. I also like longer story lines. examles would be Coffee shop that never calls name on cup, or first arcade visit, or beach party. Those are stories that are from real life and can theoretically happen to anyone. Its easy to relate to them.
You do wonderful job with your Sci-fi/fantasy strips like Angry scarf, or UFOs, they are witty and funny and aren’t clones of same overused themes like some other webcomics out there. But its the *guy-next-door* feel of your comics that got me hooked.
Yeah it was the moment Musashi left but you addressed that leaving step before. If that *Sorry,Mu.* was in second panel, it wouldn’t hurt the story or feel of comic, making the lower two panels unnecessary.
you’re certainly entitled to your opinion but i’d argue i’m still keeping the “guy next door” (or “geek next door” if you will) feel of what’s come before mixed with the larger mythology that’s been with the comic since the beginning. i’d also argue that taking out those two panels before the “Sorry, Mu.” would have robbed this strip of the emotion i was trying to convey. it would’ve just been a plot point: “Mu leaves.” instead of an actual character moment.
also, JEFbot (the comic strip) is unfiltered (well, mostly) me. so, good or ill, you’re getting my personality and experiences (yes, even the “sci-fi” ones) stamped into a handful of panels a week. that’s the awesomeness of webcomics! if you want to see what comics-with-an-editor look like, look no further than a typical newspaper.
anyway, i’m glad to have this discussion. you’ve been around here longer than most so i do place a ton of value on your criticisms. hopefully, you’ll come around on this arc, but if not, there will always be more “semi-autobiographical” leaning strips down the road. it’s just going to take a little while longer. 🙂
Here bot, let me help you pull your foot out of your mouth…
Should we dislocate his hip first?
that would be helpful, Anime fan. 🙂
heh. he didn’t mean to… uh… he was just trying to…
sorry, Graypatch. 😉
D’AWWW, now bot, you really can’t walk away from your subjects… you are their Hamster God are you not?
it’s true, Orzahn, but now that Musashi is all Hamster Deluxe, it seems the creation has now surpassed the creator!
Poor mu…
don’t worry, MC, he’ll be fine. he’s probably the toughest character in this whole series! although cel might give him a run for his money, actually. hmm…
For the record, I really enjoyed this arc. I think it is some of your strongest writing to date, and I hope it’s a storyline you’ll revisit at some point down the road.
thanks for putting that on the record, Jim! i’m trying a lot of new stuff with the writing and art with this storyline, so i’m happy to hear you’re diggin’ it. and this isn’t the end, so i’ll be revisiting it this friday! 🙂
Poor Abraxas, missing the show, the sad, sad tube rat. 🙁
heh. “tube rat.” well, at least he’s (relatively) safe back in the apartment, Kate!
keep it up, much love!
thanks for the love, theBean!
He’s already a giant mutant space hamster. ‘Weird’ stopped being a factor a LOOONG time ago. Also, why is Miyuki a dude? I always thought he was a she-hamster.
yeah, as with pretty much all things, weird is relative, blackjacket42. 🙂
and bot thought the same thing about Miyuki, at least for a while. but nope, he’s a dude hamster.
I saw the title and I was hoping that Mu was actually gonna pull an Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures, but I guess not.
heh. yeah, although Mu is no doubt filled with all sorts of wisdom and ancient secrets, he resisted going all “Uncle” on bot, Bunk.
Plot twist!
Please don’t put another twist proceeding this one.
Like for example, let’s say Mu is actually ga–
PLEASE DON’T DO THAT
NO.
What would be wrong with Musashi being gay? The only thing that has to change for Mu to be gay is the gender of the person (erm, hamster) that he loves.
I’m fine with gay.
I’m just not mentally prepared if he starts talking about guys. 😛
I’m relieved to see you post this. I don’t care about a person’s “preference” as long as it has nothing to do with me (or other unwilling persons). I want nothing to do with romance from anybody and the very thought of it turns my stomach. However, I can deal with people being romantic with each other and won’t stand in the way (and likely nowhere near them!).
what Shanna said, ROM!
Male-female, male-male, female-female, romantic love, friend love, whatever – love is a an amazing thing. It’s nice that you brought in the theme of diversity of love. It makes me laugh that it’s with hamsters though. 🙂 I always thought it would be a human character that would come out in the strip.
yeah, having the hamsters bring in the diversity makes me smile too, Shanna. i think that Mu you knitted me so long ago needs a little rainbow scarf accessory! 😉
Totally! I’m on it!
JOY! 😀
Must see this! :U
me too, Ezekiel! let’s hope Shanna works her magic. 🙂
Who’s he kidding? Jefbot’s gonna furtively follow Mu to try and find his girlfriend. You’re not gonna portray her floating naked in a tube with “enhancements”, are you?
jefbot’s definitely going to have to make some difficult decisions now, Bender_Sastre! as for cel, well… stay tuned! 🙂
Huh, well. I didn’t see that coming.
cool. 🙂
Dawww he just wants his friend
yup, yup! now hopefully Mu can “upgrade” his buddy, Dj!
…is it weird that I can relate to this?
Not…directly, mind you, but ‘bot seems to be in the “said the wrong thing and can’t quite reverse time to un-say it” scenario I seem to get myself into.
nope, not weird at all, JOE! and i’ve been in that “said the wrong thing/can’t un-say it” so many times, it’s ridiculous. i’m getting better, tho. 🙂
If it makes you feel any better, the only way to be sure you don’t get in trouble because of what you say is to never say anything to anybody.
seeing as how i’ve become a hermit in my own apartment since going “full-time” on JEFbot, i don’t think that’ll be a problem, Rainey.
When I was a kid, we had a female hamster and a Teddy Bear hamster we *thought* was female because there was so much fur we couldn’t see any signs of maleness… until the female had babies.
Glad to know it wasn’t just us.
ha! that’s what caused the confusion with mine, too, GB! those teddy bear hamsters just have so much fur back there. ‘course, once they get older it’s a different story. heheh. fortunately, mine never got pregnant, although baby teddy bear hamsters are probably crazy cute.
Does this mean Mu & Yu are gonna be a badass alien tech enhanced gay hamster duo?
if Mu can get to that alien ship and upgrade Yu, that could be a possibility, Marvin! i can see the “Badass Alien Tech Enhanced Gay Hamster Duo” spinoff comic strip now… 😀
Needs a better acronym than B.A.T.E.G.H.D. Though
Might I suggest the “Homosexual Alien-Manipulated Strike Team for Extraterrestrial Response”…or H.A.M.S.T.E.R. for short.
done! H.A.M.S.T.E.R. spinoff coming out (heheh) next week, guys. watch for it!
your statement just made everything in this strip EVEN MORE AWESOME??? I am in full support of badass gay mutant alien hamster duo
😀
… and thus Hamster Slash was born. Unleash the fangils. 😀
heheh. i’m afraid, Formel. very afraid.
typo, of course I mean: fangirls!!!
yes, the “fangils” are in charge of the mermaid & merman slashfic. 😉
Just wanted to say that while I have never appreciated the writing of gay characters (save one- in Brian K. Vaughn and Joss Whedon’s “Runaways”- too much “I’m here, I’m queer, get used to it” instead of personality otherwise in the comics I read), this is you, man. So I clap because I believe.
Also, stoked to finally see the fate of Miyuki, Cel, AND those friggin’ aliens!
thanks for the vote of confidence, Holaved – you can bet i’ll keep Mu and Yuki’s story firmly grounded in character. btw, i was a fan of Whedon’s Runaways, too. i thought Heinberg and Cheung handled the gay character in their initial run of Young Avengers pretty awesomely, too. glad you’re stoked for the current storyline!
You’re very welcome, Sir- you’ve more than earned it.
And I should say never *fully* appreciated any except for , ‘cos MAN I miss the YA…
interesitng factoid
you don’t say.
I was wondering if Yuki was male, since they had shared a baby-less cage for so long! And then I told myself it was unlikely and fooled myself. Bah!
Tale of the Two Badass Alien-Tech Enhanced Hamsters: The action-love story I never knew I wanted.
wow!!!!! jef finds out his hamster is not lost but, got taken and there was another hamster named yuki who is really a boy and mu thought was a girl!!! dang sad storyline today!!!!!