There’s a reason why bugbear families are small and spread out and we’re about to find out why. Alec looks like he’s about to explode.
There’s a reason why bugbear families are small and spread out and we’re about to find out why. Alec looks like he’s about to explode.
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Wait, I’m bad at math but if bugbears normally don’t have siblings, that means either bugbears normally only reproduce with humans, or their population is rapidly dwindling, since they only have one child per couple. How does that work out?
maybe they constantly separate and remarry another person, have another kid this way ?
Or do like fantasy dragon : only a limited number of offspring… at the same time.
then once they are out of the way (kicked out), start the cycle over.
I think there was a reader question that confirmed that, yeah; there are lots of half-siblings among bugbears, but very few full siblings, because the parent whose gender matches the one the child is assigned at birth raises them alone and the two adults go their separate ways.
That, or I imagined all of that.
We’ve heard from Myra (in a Reader Question, I think) that she has a few half-sibs kicking around. Seems likely that bugbears tend toward being single parents and/or reproducing infrequently enough that they rarely have more than one at a time.
Maybe it means Alec is one step removed from a bugbear/human hybrid? Hrrŕmmm….
It was established in an RQ that Bugbears don’t really settle down; they basically have a kid, choose which parents raises them, and then they split. They keep track of their family trees to prevent inadvertent inbreeding, but don’t really keep in touch with extended family culturally.
Oh, OH, are their dads twins?! -Sips drink and eats popcorn-
I can’t help thinking of an old sit-com that was running (at least in re-runs) when I was a kid: The Patty Duke Show. The actress played the dual role of identical first cousins whose fathers were identical twins (also played by a single actor).
At least Alec and Kevin don’t look /that/ much alike.
Sort of the opposite of a clever idea some child actors were part of, where a pair of young twins played a single character to get around child labour laws.
I don’t think there is much normal about Bugbears
Bugbear normal
Graded on a curve, basically…
I can’t be the only one wondering what that worm-like thing coming from Alec’s head is. It looks like it’s going into Kevin’s claw.
It’s the creepy equivalent of anime water drops xD
Previous panel had a moth sitting on his paw.
Some kind of giant millipede or centipede?
Kevin proving the bug in bugbear. Alec seems mostly used to it.
Gasp! OwO! Alec!
i guess thank goodness for crossbreeding with other species, uh?
cause if each bugbear couple only get one single child, and if they aren’t some sort of immortal specie, mathematically they were bound to go exctinct on their own
but with crossbreeding in play, you only need one bugbear in the couple, so they can keep status quo in their population, unless someone die before having a kid
Does it say that bugbears only have one child, or is it a case where they only have one at a time and the siblings never meet?
Maybe it’s some sort of magical thing where the bugbear is the only parent, and there being so many bugbears is the result of the occasional twin birth where both are allowed to live.
I wouldn’t read anything more into it than what Alec says, which is bugbears normally don’t maintain relationships other than child and parent. That doesn’t necessarily mean only one child or even only one child at a time. It means siblings don’t normally stay in touch, no more more and no less. It’s not unusual for human siblings to drift apart, why should bugbears be any different?
Aye, perhaps half-brothers and half-sisters don’t culturally count as siblings.
I do believe it was stated in a Q&A that once a bugbear baby is on solids, the parents go their seperate ways. Boys go with the dads, girls with the moms. The parent that did not keep the kid will find another partner and have another kid. Once the kid grows up and leaves the house the parent will then find a new partner and repeat the cycle.
Somehow I’m not surprised to learn that Bugbears find each other just as irritating as everyone else does. But I also think we’re about to find out that Alec has been playing up his Bugbearness for reasons of his own. The earrings suggest Kevin is a bit more outgoing,
well, i assume that bugbears don’t show up on other bugbear’s radar, and as they get accustomed to always know where everyone and everything is around them at all time, somebody out of radar must be quite an annoyance indeed
Cue a bucket of honey falling on a bugbear’s head.
I love how many ways this comic finds to demonstrate “The world doesn’t always operate by the generally perceived ‘rules’ that people have thought up, and they just have to figure out how to deal with it.”
Big agree, it’s really fun and brings in a lot of texture. The realization that Alec is more or less playing up a specific archetype is delightful. Dude’s, like, a creepypasta chuunibyou.
Well, surplus “too close” relatives eventually going kaboom would be a very good explanation why … :-P
Your expressions are, generally, very very good. But the expressions in this chapter have just been incredible, top-notch!!
I’m liking Kevin more and more. (: I am thoroughly enjoying how out of sorts Alec is.
Some good grumpy face on Alec there.
I hear cousin Kevin and all I can think of is Cousin Kevin from the Who’s Tommy, which doesn’t bode well. For the entire Avalon’s sake I hope it’s just coincidence.
Kevin, so far, is fantastic – and I definitely think Alec is going to be thrilled when he realizes who Kevin’s date is. :3 (Double check page 10 of this chapter if you’re still not sure and compare.)
Alex may look like he’s about to explode, but *Kevin* looks like he’s having the time of his life.
“Wait. Ike, this is not what it seems!”
Fun fact: the children of identical twins are considered half-siblings, not cousins, since they share identical DNA from one of their parents.
You mean genetically, so for transplantation purposes or for paternity tests, for instance?
Socially I would still consider them perfectly regular cousins!
I suspect that jurisprudence – which looks at questions like “did that other twin contribute to the child coming into existence? Willingly, or by negligence? Other than by failing to kill their sibling in time, that is?” – would insist on calling them cousins, too …
Double first cousins have the same fraction. Also grandparent and grandchild. It’s 1/4 DNA in common either way.
Anyone else wondering why the green hair and pink bow in the booth beside Kevin is just sitting there? There is a massive Hallmark moment going on right behind them and all we’ve seen from them is a little ear twitch.
Anyone else catch the “Primus” shirt turning into “Primos”? As in “cousins”