Oh hey, I think it’s the comic’s two-year anniversary
I’ll celebrate by having one of those weekends where you feel too generally apathetic and burnt out to get out of bed and put the comic up late.
Anyway, yeah, when I was younger my dad used to have this running dare with his grade 12 students that if more than half of the Grads dyed their hair an unnatural colour, he would shave his beard off (which he’d had since he was about 17). When I was twelve, they finally took him up on it. I remember he wanted me to take a photo of him so he could send it back to his family in Ontario, and I couldn’t even hold the camera straight because every time I looked at him I started tearing up. If having your dad de-bearded is that traumatic for a middle-schooler, I can’t even imagine what kind of mental scars a toddler would get from seeing their dad mysteriously bishified.
OH! And I was on the Webcast Beacon Newscast this week talking about the fallout from the Friedrich Ghost Rider case and the like, if anyone is interested in that sort of thing!
Aw damn, the last thing I expected from this comic is that it would turn heart-wrenching. It’s like being a kid and watching the wrong bit of a Disney movie all over again.
I avoid those bits now, even. Cause I can (having the remote in hand) and must.
We do what we must, because we can.
For the good of all of us!
…except the ones who are dead.
Like Bambi’s mom and Simba’s dad.
May we have a moment of silence for bambis mom and simbas dad?
**hits mute button on remote**
**unmutes the world** Thank you for your participation in this moment of silence for bambis mom and simbas dad.
*Holds up sign* We’re still muted in SC. Help.
Oh dear… **whacks remote against arm of chair, checks light. It is blinky. Changes batteries and tries again.** Can you hear me now?
Sorry, that was my remote muting SC. A bit of an improvement I think.
Quite right, quite right, stop it, stop it. This has gotten entirely too silly.
Sorry, bout Bambi’s mom. I had to take the shot.
She was comin’ right for you, after all.
This is so sad… I can’t even imagine having your kids not recognize you, being afraid of you! Seems somebody’s gotta pay for this.
If a cure isn’t found soon, HEADS. WILL. ROLL.
*cracks knuckles*
NO ONE makes B’s kids cry without just cause.
…Mmkay, you have me curious.
What would qualify as ‘just cause’ to making B’s kids cry?
…Learning a very important moral lesson that they did not know before?
A death wish?
Doctor’s visit, vaccinations, first day of school (separation anxiety)…
Yes, exactly that – well, not quite.
The first two.
idk if the “Just Cause” reference was on purpose, but i just realized that i have not seen Rico in any of these.
That is probably the cure. You know with werewolves story? Kill original to save them all? So yea, heads will rolls unless Coal takes fun out of the violence.
I do agree though is having your own kids not recognize you and be scared of you is possibly worse thing ever.
Or a Marlon Brando movie marathon. It could be the incident that causes Marlon Brandoism to become a religion in the future happens now.
Except I kinda hope Marv doesn’t get cured. He seems so happy.
Marv could perhaps become the Brandoism messiah.
the commander should bite his own tongue. that would transform him from a were-bishounen to a were-Commander
What if he isn’t a were-bishounen? or what if he bites his tongue to become a were-were-
bishounen?
Same. Marv deserves his chance at happiness
Oh god I hope so. Nondescript future, huzzah!
(But when everyone gets cured we’ll probably get a shot of Marv pouting in the corner before he runs off to do something manly)
Skeletal Litch hand?
Hey, yeah. How’d you guess it was me? ;p
To be fair, when I was a small child, my father once returned from a deployment with the maximum moustache that Air Force regulations would allow him, and I had no idea who he was… It does happen.
I like the idea of a maximum legal moustache. I don’t know if I’d want to see the result, but I like that there is a rule for that.
Manly, i mean true, moustache should ALWAYS be above the maximum legal moustache limits !!! Mine does flip the bird to moustache regulation forces while mooning them.
Seconding the beard thing. My dad shaved his off when I was about…five? My little brother and I hid under the dining room table for a while until we could be coaxed out.
Oh man, when I was in high school my dad shaved off the mustache he’d had since…forever. I came home and thought my house had been broken into. It took me WEEKS to get used to seeing him like that.
I was in a similar position to Commanders kids as I was the child of divorees except I got sent by plane once or twice a year and I remember the one year he shaved I couldn’t recognize him when I got off the plane last and I started crying at the terminal before he could rush forward and then I cried even more! XD I scared the shit out of the airport staff.
I had the same problem @ 5 as well. My dad shaved his beard and I walked in on him just as he was finishing, I started crying hysterically … I didn’t know what was happening, or who the hell that person was. I didn’t let him touch me or even get near me until my mom told me who he was, and even then I wasn’t convinced!
Well darn, I can’t relate to this at all because my father died of lung cancer when I was 2.
I feel terrible for laughing at the weeping children, but seriously, I can’t help it! His doll face scares children, but his grizzled ol’ badass face brings them joy. I love it! xD
That is because children inherently know the evil that is bishie-ism and the pure good awesomeness that is the Commander’s manliness.
That poor little girl was raised by a wonderful MAN, and now she has this icky little scrawny thing claiming to be her beloved daddy. Who wouldn’t be traumatized?!
Well shit.
The Bishie-Virus messed with his time with the kids.
THIS
WILL
NOT
STAND
Question – Does this or does this not mean he spread the disease thingy to the kid? Cause if so, this story arc is going to take FOREVER to close up :D
PS: Long time fan, first time poster, love this comic
You usually have to be bitten/scratched by an infected individual to get infected by this type of thing; since he did not bite his daughter I have to say no new infections occurred in this strip.
I assume B. is for Badass… but perhaps the Commander has another name he’s hiding from the guys.
That or it’s just a censor to keep the kids from hearing Badass every time their dad comes up in a conversation.
I’m going with embarrassing secret real name through.
It’s Byron. Calling it now.
Totally could see it being Byron.
Commander Byron Badass?
Yes, please!
Byron Badass would be pretty great, actually.
Man I’m naming my kid Byron. Id love for him to have the same name as the commander
Really, your not just gonna give him the middle name bad ass.
I like Bartholomew myself
Bernard. It’s Bernard. I’m calling it. Definately Bernard.
Bernie? Buddy?
Brando?
Bite your tongue, sir! :P
I’m going to guess that it’s actually a girl’s name (or a unisex, but more often girl’s name), and that’s why he became so bad-ass and/or goes by just the Commander.
Like what? Bonnie? I’m kinda holding out or Bertram though.
I’m going to go with the “B” standing for Achilles. Said the French way.
B52
If you’re an archive reader, you think I’m joking
I assume B. is for Badass… but perhaps the Commander has another name he’s hiding from the guys.
That or it’s just a censor to keep the kids from hearing Badass every time their dad comes up in a conversation.
I’m going with embarrassing secret real name through.
Hooray for doublepost!
I too assumed it stood for Badass. ….but then that last panel threw me off…
Maybe it stands for Bruticus?
It’s probably something super-plain like Brian.
I completely understand the trauma. When I was a toddler my father decided to completely shave off an Afro he had been growing since before I was born. I walked into the room as my mother sheered off a huge chunk from the back of his head. My less than two year old brain thought that his head was naturally shaped like that and decided that Mom was taking off chunks of his head. I spent the better part of the next hour running from my zombie dad (who was trying to calm me down) and screaming in sheer terror.
Haha, sorry I reckon that must’ve been pretty scary for a small child but somehow I found the whole “Zombie Dad” thing incredibly funny xD
I find the fact that people actually had afros at one point funy
Man I thought to myself suddenly “how does a bite transform clothes” but then I remembered this is a comic and if I want reality I can stare out the window or stare at my balls.
Bravo sir. Bravo.
I have a text file where I copy wonderful statements people have made, and this just went in there. Hilarious and sensible, both at once!
Reality balls. You could make a fortune!
I do the same thing, and then use the comments as my email signature. :)
that is the best story ever, crying due too your dads de-beardifaction!
Coincidentally, today is also the 26th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda.
Similar story from one of my friends. When he was about 5/6 he had a nightmare that woke him up so he crawled into bed with Mum and Dad (who were already asleep) for comfort. Woke both of them up screaming and crying because “Who’s this strange man Mummy? What have you done with Daddy?!”. He’d never seen his Dad without a beard before and his Dad had shaved it off that night after kiddo had gone to bed…
Yes, the virus must die. You do not mess with someones family. It’s now personal. On a side note, i must say commanders ex wife is a very … nice looking lady. I’d expound more but he’d come after me in whatever time i am.
I also find it cute that his daughter is missing a tooth just like he is when he is in his normal un-infected state.
The missing front tooth is hereditary.
Hell yes! That is one of the greatest genes, ever!
Hell no! This virus can’t fuck up the time with Cap’s children!!!
… If I was his kids, i woulda cried, too.
I remember when my dad first did that in elementary school and came to pick me up. I saw the car, ran over and then stopped dead in my tracks when I didn’t recognize who was driving it. I wasn’t sure whether to be embarrassed for getting my dad mixed up with someone else’s or what. It was an extremely confusing and hesistant moment. :p
What DOES “B” stand for? XD
*totally unphased by illogical children*
We established its Byron
Commander Badass…I wonder what part of that starts with a “B”…?
I just thought of something… What does bishification do to someone’s voice? Does he still sound like himself? Or does he sound like he’s taken a few estrogen shots and a kick to the nuts like a lot of bishonen?
I believe that the commonly held beliefs on the matter is that he sounds like David Bowie. (See last two comics for conversations on the subject)
I try not to imagine it myself.
Oh god, now I can’t NOT imagine it! whyyyyyy
David bowies got a good voice, but with the commanders frequent vowel dropping it sounds badass
I can do a decent Bowie accent … and I’ve been reading the “bishie” pages that way. I must say, it’s FANTASTIC.
That thought still makes me happy <3
I think everyones forgetting that his a time traveller he can just go back and fix all this…
Yeah but that’s a cheap way to end this now
I don’t know, I mean this a different art for fun so it seems pretty simple, I mean the stuff still happened he just goes back and fixes it.
Time Paradox. So nope, he can’t.
Nah, he’s got ambient bullshitium preventing paradoxes.
I’m a mom…I think Maddy is a wonderful person for remaining calm. If I was leaving my children with a family member and showed up to find him or her in the grips of…oh…say the flu or a really bad case of mange, I don’t know that I would have been so calm. Who besides Coelasquid can say that this ‘virus’ is only contagious to adult men?
And of course he was just sitting there, having not sent a text or called.
Poor kids. They are going to have issues over this one. Although maybe it is a missed opportunity, there, to teach the kids to not judge a book by its cover, lol.
Why text or call? He wanted to see his kids and thought that they’d be okay with it.
Can’t protect your kids from change, no, or the opportunity to experience it. It’s more the infectious disease exposure, Eisbaer.
Maybe he was too busy trying to figure out how to fix everything to remember to call? Or just too shocked?
I will agree with you, especially the shocked aspect of it. I think he really needed to talk to Sarah, make sure that she still accepted him. Probably just sitting outside waiting for the kids to arrive but needing to talk and wasn’t mentally projecting how his children would react. But from the wealth of stories coming into this comments list, pretty much people remember a negative experience with fathers just shaving. Maddy and the kids reacted very appropriately.
He could even be sitting out there because it’s part of his routine and he’s doing it automatically, and he’s not even thinking about his family coming to visit. If he was thinking about it, he probably would have put a full-body bag over his head.
Agreed on Maddy being very admirably calm. I chalk it up to the fact that from what little we saw of their married life, she had to deal with random fires, bare-chested death matches, etc., so now stuff like forgetting to call just rolls off her back. XD
Phase 2 of bishounen. The obligatory angst phase.
Mission accomplished then XD
…Somehow, this kinda explains the bishounen angsty phase to me… Everyone they want to love them is spooked by their bishie-ness.
Is it really?? Cool beans. I’m just getting familiar with some of the terms like bishi and bishonen. (Oh, and deviantarts…what? )
Read the entire archives twice before I even came down into the comments sections to find the community. I’m new to this comic and it’s totally caught up my interest; I care about what happens to these people.
The obligatory angsty phase makes sense to me. What’s the next one?
Overcompensation which then leads to true acceptance of one’s bishiness?
Going to a convention.
Suicide.
The profit margin of a bishi-character must be really high if they have such short lives.
mascara
My dad did the exact same thing! My dad has had a beard my entire life, and once when we were kids he shaved it and i was terrified of who this strange man was.
I distinctly recall hiding behind my mother at the clothesline, scared at who this man was in our house.
Also, i am the big bearded guy you hugged outside of the Dragon Palace in Perth after the dinner! I have been meaning to comment since then. I will understand if you do not recall me. I am sure you met a lot of people.
I remember you! It was a pleasure meeting you!
I find it quite funny that he tried to imitate his normal accent when he was talking to his daughter. It was cute.
I think he has his ‘normal accent’ still, he just looks and/or sounds really different.
I had an ex whose dad has had a mustache since forever. One time, when she was young, he shaved it off, and she ran around the house, terrified at the stranger who came home from work, screaming “WHERE’S MY DADDY!?” Funny stuff.
So I’m curious, has Commanders and everyone elses vocals cords changed when they got Bishie’d?
I’m kinda surprised they left the building at all. Wouldn’t they want this to be as contained as possible? Or would it not be so much of a threat to the normal population that the worst it could do is cause any man to loose their facial hair?
Then again, they are MEN, and I doubt they would let themselves be put in a position to be taken care of. Still, I kinda wish they had some sort of emergency system but I guess all that planing went into zombie planing.
Maybe they DID call the Center for Disease Control, but they didn’t believe them about the existence of a virus that makes burly dudes all pretty and effeminate.
Aw…I know someone who actually *attacked* their de-bearded dad as a small child because they were convinced the strange man had stolen Daddy’s car…
Remember fathers, always let your kids know ahead of time that you plan on shaving your facial hair off – unless there is a picture of you in your house without your facial hair.
My dad hasn’t shaved his beard off yet but he was beardless in my parents’ wedding photos. The surprise was directed a bit more to the fact that neither of them were wearing their glasses.
I vote everyone goes and beats the shit out of Nier.
Repeatedly.
But that wouldn’t solve anything.
Nier hates it just as much as the rest of them.
We don’t know the exact details about this virus.
That might work.
Or a scene where commander proves his eternal manliness and breaks the curse.
Oh way to blame the victim, jerk!
My Dad is retired Air Force. We were living overseas when I was young (toddler age), and they did a lot of war exercises on that particular base. Part of the exercise is dressing up in your chem gear, which is essentially a funny smelling onesy with a gas mask. My Mom was out with me when we came across everyone in their chem gear marching from one place to another. My Dad happened to be there and (things being less uptight back then) stopped by to say hello.
Apparently I was terrified of him. I guess I spent their entire conversation crying.
So yes, if some strange looking dude came up to me as a 2 yr old claiming to be my Dad, I’d probably have cried too. Dads are suppose to look one way, not randomly change their appearance! xD
My dad once shaved off his beard. I honestly didn’t recognize him and walked past him on the sidewalk.
When I was really little, around 6 or so, my dad had a mustache. One day he called me into the room, told me to hold out my hands. I did so and he whipped out an electric trimmer and shaved it all off in one shot so that it dropped right into my hands. Apparently I freaked the hell out and started screaming for him to “PUT IT BACK! PUT IT BACK!”
I don’t actually remember any of this myself, so presumably I either blocked the memory or just plain forgot about it. (Or it’s possible it never happened and he’s just messing with me, but I doubt that.)
I feel really bad that of the “Yeah, I couldn’t recognize my dad without his Facial Hair” comments, this is the one I laughed at most.
My dad never had a beard – just perma-stubble. Seriously, he shaves twice a day and still has perma-stubble. So I guess I grew up with him shaving constantly, and never had that problem.
Jonesy’s outlook is perfect–I feel like that every day and wish more people adopted the same outlook.
As for poor little June, I don’t blame her one bit. Don’t worry honey, it scares me, too!
I’m pretty sure B still stands for Badass… but at the same time, now it could also stand for Bishounen, which no respectable man would ever want to admit.
Hell mans from the future it could stand for a name that is not even invented yet
AWWW! Poor Commander!!
Poor commander lol but I remember when I was 5ish and my dad just cut his hair. I couldn’t recognize him so I screamed that he wasn’t my daddy lol.
And here I was thinking I would shave off my beard when Spring came. I guess my three year old son might not like it that way. Hmmm.
Ask him and if he says yes let him do it with a electric trimmer. Just make sure he doesn’t get your hair.
I was wondering how his kids might react, given your story about Nier and his daughter/sister thing.
Tears are not what I expected :C
So now the B-Virus has gone from being amusing and hilarious to being very tragic and I hope it gets fixed soon because there are children crying.
Given the videogame era that served as the Commander’s inspiration, my money’s on his full name being Billy-Bob Badass.
That’s awesome and I want it to be at least Fanon.
I must ask you all a question…what happens if Jonesey gets it?
She turns into a magical girl of course! Huge eyes, big poofy skirt, and bizarre hair style with a wand or some other sort of magical looking device. Actually, I think I want to see that now. It would be hilarious!
Or since the Commander was bishified, went from total beefcake to bean pole, it might do the opposite to Jonesey when it comes up to making everything animu. She might turn into well endowed muscle girl like Tifa from FFVII. O_O the world would be doomed as we know it.
She’ll grow a beard and look like a slightly prettier Canadian Guy?
Moeblob, poor thing.
She’d probably become a fan service anime girl. Huge rack, curvy body, huge eyes, crazy long shiny hair, and a short enough skirt that gives a permanet panty shot along with a top that barely conceals (if it even contains) her new assets.
*ahems* Nothing wrong with a little fanservice now and then. >>;;;
I’m not saying there is, I’m just saying that’s a possibility ^.^;;; This is coming from an Anime Fan who loves a ridiculous amounts of violence in her anime, which usually involves lots of fan service as well. For cryin’ out loud I love High School of the Dead and Rosario Vampire so… yeah, guilty! <3
hell my brother tells me to quit being a dude when it comes to my movies, games, comics, etc. T___T;;
When I was little, my Dad, who’d ALWAYS had a mustache, shaved it off for one Halloween. The facepaint for the Vampire costume didn’t go over the mustache, so off it came. I FLIPPED. Screaming, crying, running away from him. Took Mom a while to calm me down, and took me a while to accept that it was my Dad and not someone else. He hasn’t shaved it off since.
*glances guiltily around* Hi five!
I’m echoing what everyone else is saying: I DON’T KNOW WHO EXACTLY, BUT SOMEONE WILL PAY FOR THIS!
I’m starting to get used to Commander looking like this.
This is a problem.
The virus, it’s spreading to the real world. O_O
omg. Good thought. So what if it’s something that spread to the Commander’s world from deviantart?
I need more wine.
I am oddly proud of the commenters being like “THE VIRUS MESSED WITH HIS KIDS. THERE IS HELL TO PAY FOR THAT.”
I was thinking “If I were a kid, those stupid glasses magicked onto his head would be scaring me”, but I like how everyone else is so protective of his kids.
I think I’d want them to play with
Pretty much the only thing I remember from my first trip to Disney at age 4 is that my Dad shaved off his mustache. Not Mickey or Goofy or rides or the castle…nope. Just: Dad. Looked. Wrong.
Poor little Junebug. I feel so bad for the Commander–now it’s keeping his kids from him.
I find it interesting that Jonesy is more nonchalant about all this than Maddy. I’d think that the ex-wife would be more used to all the crazy inexplicable stuff surrounding Commander instead of Jonesy, who’s relatively new, yet taking it all perfectly in stride.
I also couldn’t help but laugh at the kids desperately clinging to Maddy like “OH GOD, KEEP IT AWAY!!” I know how you feel, kids. 8C
Keep in mind that this is Maddy’s first exposure to the changed Commander and that we didn’t see how Jonesy reacted when she first saw it. Also, her ex-husband has undergone a serious physical alteration and her children are freaking out, that’s going to affect her at least a little.
Poor Commander, I just want to hug him but I’m afraid I’ll get bishified.
When I was three or four my dad got a job where he had to be clean shaven for safety reasons. At this time I’d never seen him without a beard. When he came out of the bathroom I took one look at him and ran away screaming. Dad hollered for me to come back and i recognized his voice. i stood at the end of the hall for a minute then asked, “what the hell happened to you?” i honestly don’t remember any of this but it one of my Dads favorite stories.
also: B is for Barry or Barney
Byhron
Bryon Billy-Bob Badass
To be fair, the bishivirus has been established as highly contagious. Kids are probably naturally immune, but they could become some terrible carriers.
Imagine getting a hug from a cute child and then suddenly turning …. bishie
Madness would erupt, I say. MADNESS!
Yes! Good point. It is highly contagious..or is it only Nier that can spread it? Or why does the Commander dare sit with Jonesy and even risk sharing it with his kids?
It may not effect women, I mean how do you make women more femenine?
That’s the fun of it, Eve, we don’t know what this story arc may hold and maybe it does affect women. But what happens? And we’ve sorta glommed onto the idea that it is a virus or other germ-spread thing (thanks to the Commander’s statement only (I think…)) but what if it is some aspect of one of the games come through? Like Mr. Fishy’s transformation happened in this real world of the Commander and Jonesy, why can’t Nier’s split personality leak out as well?
we know everyone can spread it since jared got it from touching the commander’s cheek
Why does Maddy remind me of Marique from the Conan movie that came out last year . . . It’s scaring me D8
Hmm.. Bruce Badass?
Nah, too Hulk’y.
Sorry, I can’t think of any manly names with B.
Belch.
byron.
Bryon Billy-Bob Badass.
If Jared get “Manlyfied”, i’ll love this comic even more. :)
Something similar happened with my dad and his beard too! He had been sporting a beard ever since I was born, and when I turned 7 he shaved it off. My dad did it in pieces over a few days so I wouldn’t get confused and be unable to recognize him though, so I wasn’t traumatized or anything. :]
I think you’re the first Non-Traumatized-By-Beardless-Father person to post here. Bravo!
My own dad never could grow a beard. The most that you could say he ever got was ‘fuzzy’.
In pieces? So, like in strips or just a shorter beard every day?
I’m hoping it was full beard -> goatee with sideburns -> goatee -> Zappa -> mustache -> blank, just because that would be an interesting journey.
I bet the B is for Bernie.
ON second note the little boy’s expression on 3rd panel is really adorable <3
I had a moment like that with my father. I was 4-years-old and he shaved off his 80s beard… I woke up early in the morning to use the bathroom and a stranger was standing in my house. I freaked out so bad I woke the neighbors.
Hah, I guess it has been about 2 years since I saw this while peeking at someone’s computer screen at school.
My Mom cut off all her hair when I was ten, I remember getting home from school, opening the door and freezing, terrified, because a strange lady stole my mom’s voice – which was, apparently, the only way my mind could reconcile the hair and the voice.
I think I read something about someone’s dad coming home from deployment with the maximum mustache the military would allow. Same thing here – I was older, and dad had said they’d just had “Mustache Month” in his unit, but the sight of him was so incredibly surreal that I had to do a double-take every time I saw him until he shaved it off.
So did he just infect his daughter, or does it only infect the Y chromosome?
Well, he didn’t scratch her, and the only guaranteed ways we’ve seen it transmitted is when Nier scratched the Commander and when Jared touched the scratch. So my money is on she isn’t infected.
Nier didn’t scratch everyone in the office, though.
How do we know that?
You’re right, we don’t. I guess I’m assuming that if Nier showed up at one end of a room and started swinging those nails, by the time he got to the other end, these fighter-types would have remembered they are fighters and got him. And he’s not in any of these panels on the last two strips. But the Commander specifically warned Jared about touching his open wounds so maybe there was righteous blood-splattering at some point. Like not seeing Jonesy’s reaction to the new Badass, we don’t get to see it.
Makes a fun conversation though.
The only time I’ve seen my father with (nearly) no moustache and goatee is when he had chemo/radiation for cancer. The cancer’s gone and the hair has since grown back, but it was pretty scary to see what all it was doing to him. He wouldn’t shave that moustache off for the world.
I have to say, congradulations on the most depressing story of Father Beard-lessness in the comments. Glad he made it through.
I had a full on panic attack when my mother forced my dad to shave off his beard when I was little D:
Jonesy is staying with him through this horrible ordeal. How sweet
His ex is running the hell away and looks visibly disgusted. Burn Her
She’s not there to see him, she’s there to drop off her kids with their dad and go. Said kids are reacting with very obvious trauma – I think it’s a good call on her part not to leave them there.
Admittedly, Jonesy seems to be rolling with it a lot more smoothly, but I’m not going to hold it against his ex, who didn’t come to hang out with him (as for the expression, we don’t know what Jonsey’s face was like when she first saw him either)
She could have at least let him explain.
Explanations don’t really matter. An explanation isn’t going to calm down the kids and that’s all that matters in that situation. Finding out he was infected by some crazy bishifying disease isn’t going to do anything but make things worse.
Kids that are crying and bawling their eyes out are not conducive to a conversation that doesn’t involve shouting over screams of terror.
Actually, when I was two, my dad sat me on the bathroom counter and proceeded to, with me looking on, shave off his magnificent man-beard. Keep in mind I was watching the entire process. When he finished, he smiled and looked at me as if to say ‘How’s that?’
I started screaming my head off and threw myself off the bathroom counter in an attempt to get away from him. It took me two days to accept him as my father again, according to my mom.
I feel kind of out-of-place here. My dad tended to trim or adjust his beard near-constantly, and then he divorced and moved away so I got used to seeing him look different every time I visited him.
Heck, I don’t even know what to expect him to look like now.
Amen. Mine looks different everytime I see him. Each time is not for the better either. O_o;;
I guess a few have already mentioned similar stories. My father shaved his beard when I was like, four. My brother was five, and my sister was six. It’s before my memory, but according to my family elders we all treated him like he was a stranger and simply ignored/avoided him. I don’t remember hearing if they had to fight to convince us it was him. Probably none of us asked, confident in our assessment of strangerhood.
My father was a missionary so it was common for him to be gone prolonged periods, and for strangers (converts) to be around. We probably assumed it was just one of those times. Personally, that may have simply been a harbinger of things to come. Sometimes even just wearing new clothes with throw me off. I also recognize people driving by from the colour of their car and not the model. My mind just isn’t built for the right kinds of associations.
Look up “prosopagnosia”. That will throw you for a loop!
Never had anyone close who had facial hair all the time, but I do understand why loss of facial hair would make such a difference, even just a little. One of my teachers had stubble all the time until one day, he came in absolutely clean shaven. I knew something was different, but it took me a minute to identify it. He looked slightly younger, but kinda freaky looking in my mind. He said he only does it once a year and the stubble will be back within five days.
Also, I just noticed. Sammy is without his shark. What happened to it?
He has it, he’s just hugging it to his mom’s chest.
Oh I see it now.
I still remember when my dad shaved off his mustache for good.
D8
I AM SAD NOW
WHY COELASQUID WHY
When I was a wee toddler, my dad shaved off his beard. I cried every time I saw him. He had to hold me on his lap, facing away, and talk to me quietly until I stopped – but the second I saw his beardless face I’d bawl again. Sadly, he didn’t learn his lesson, and recently shaved the beard again. There may have been some sobbing when I saw him. Maybe. A little.
It was the oppisite for me, my dad always shaved regularly as mum said he looked like a bad version of survivour man if he didn’t. Anyway, he use to work away at the mines for months at a time and one time he came to pick us up from school as a suprise. I get to the car and Dom from gears of war three is waving and as far as my child brain can tell smileing at me. Took forever to get my hysterical sister in the car. We then spent the whole drive home staring at this six-foot beared stranger. He shaved it off not long after that.
I know that feel, ‘squid.
My old man rocked a beard my whole life to age 9, when he had to shave it off so he could use proper safety equipment at work. When he arrived home without it at the airport for the first time, my sister (12 at the time) began to cry, remarking “YOU AREN’T MY DAD!” over and over. I just stood there in total shock.
My father got some mild acid on his beard one time and had to shave all of it off. I didn’t even recognize him when I saw him afterwards.
God, that reminds me of when my mum shaved off my dad’s moustache when he was asleep when I as seven or so! Terrified me. I didn’t recognise him at all!
Great comic as always!
How… did she not wake him up?
poor B ; _ ; thats so sad
Wait. Can the Bishounen virus extend to children?
maybe it would varient and make a chibi virus instead of bishie?
Please let there be a chibi virus!
No. No. Bishie is already bad enough.
If it variants into chibi, there’s no telling what might happen – worse, it might affect the same people on occasions, so we’d end up with a Chibi-Bish.
Ugh. I for one would not like that.
My dad shaved for the first time when I was six. He walked out into the living room while my little brother and I were watching Saturday morning cartoons, thinking to surprise us. We practically howled the house down because we thought someone had broken in.
It just looked wrong. So, yeah. I know what you mean, Coela. You have my sympathies.
Weird what sort of scars we take away from childhood that no one would ever expect.
Overwhelming urge to draw bishie captain
for some reason, I’m too fond of the design
oh god
machismo dropped two rungs on the echeladder for admitting that though
hnnnnggggg
oh balls, hold on. This is actually true. My dad shaved off his beard when I was around six or seven. I wouldn’t look at him or go near him until it grew back. LOOOL
Yeeeee! Happy birthday, MGDMT! :D
Thanks! On an unrelated note, Emily and myself have decided that Commander’s daughter most likely grows up to look like you.
Is the first panel is a reference to the bizarre bishification of Brave Little Toaster characters?
Beauty and the Beast.
Duh. I was blaming my brain cause it doesn’t know all the games. The movies, now, I should have caught that.
BUWAHA! That’s PERFECT. Beast was so much more interesting as a burly hairy creature; I didn’t quite make the human transformation = bishification connection though. If I were Belle, I’d be demanding my nice Beast back, not this weenie stranger. Matches what’s just happened to the poor Commander.
I think Belle actually does want the Beast back in some versions of the play.
There’s a Robin McKinley version where it honestly ends with Beauty deciding she doesn’t want him to change and so he remains the way he is and they get their happily ever after anyway.
I’d forgotten about this retelling…thanks for the reminder, Lissa. Good thing I work in a library and can easily get a copy; I own a lot of her work but this one wasn’t on the shelf. McKinley wrote several retellings of this story, I think I may have to reread them all.
Your story about your dad reminds me of when my teacher shaved his beard off one day, and some kids thought there was a substitute and walked out, ’cause he looked so different. XD
I have to say that this was one of those comics I laughed at, but knew of the trauma B’s going through. Also, strange coincidence that he’s called B. I have a character in a sci-fi romp I’m working on called B.
She’s an explosives expert, wiry and all. BUT, I have to say that if my father got bishified one day I’d probably cry too. Awesome strip!
considering I distinctly recall the one time my dad shaved off his beard when I was three and my mom and I BOTH cried about it, I know your pain.
Of course nowadays he does all kinds of crazy shit with it [I dunno if he still does it now, but he was shaving his head completely skin-bald and wearing a mustache like the Vikings logo on their football helmets]. And it’s pretty cool. I keep telling him to grow a Sam Elliot mustache but he doesn’t :(
Poor Commander though, I feel so bad for him.
My father had a beard when I was growing up. It really added some character to his face, and the history of that beard is pretty amazing. There was one time he grew it out in protest of…something…and we called it his “Achmed” beard (we’re Jewish so it’s funny). I only ever saw pictures of him beardless, from when I was an infant.
I came back for Spring Break my freshman year of college, and my father walked into my room to say hello – beardless. It took me a few looks to even recognize him, and then that entire week to get over it.
For reference, my father’s Achmed beard: duckgalrox.tumblr.com
My dad did almost the exact same thing but with his mustache. He shaved it off due to a shaving error he experienced one morning. He looked weird.
Look at this. See this? A father, a mother, a daughter, a little boy. THESE are the people that are hurt by this disease! We hear the politicians say “There’s no need for funding to solve a harmless cosmetic defect,” but they just don’t understand. Everyday, families… LIVES are torn apart because of the Bishie Virus.
Don’t let this tragedy continue. Please, donate. For just pennies a day, you can help us find a vaccine, and perhaps even a cure for this debilitating disease. The family you save… just might be your own.
I’m throwing money at my screen, but nothing’s happening! Take my money, dammit!
Paper money won’t work! Quick, throw gold coins!!!
How do I drop off this fifty, then?!
I know that feeling. My dad has this big bushy mustache and every five or so years he shaves it off and I’m thinking, “Who the hell is this guy, and what has he done with Dad?”
“B” used to stand for Badass. Now it stands for Bishounen! Poor B.
My father shaved off his goatee when I was 3. My brothers (then 5 and 7) and I did not recognize him at all. He grew it back immediately and hasn’t lost it since.
This comic is incredibly relatable.
Of all comics this is the one that causes me to make a post. I can attest that yes, for some kids, it’s a horrible thing to see ones dad without a beard if he’s had it for a while. While it never bothered me as far back as I can remember, my middle sister apparently use to cry her eyes out when she was under three after dad shaved because she didn’t know where her daddy was and who the strange man is. My nephews and niece use to go silent and just stare at him till the oldest turned 9. Since it didn’t bother him anymore the others, who was 8 and 5 at the time, stopped being freaked out as well.
One time, when my brother had gone to summer camp for the week, my dad decided to shave the mustache he had had since I was around 2 (He shaved it when I was born so I wouldn’t grab hairs or something) And the first words out of my brother’s mouth when we came to pick him up, after “Hi dad”, were “Grow it back.” It was weird for me too, but less so because I saw the thing happen instantaneously.
I guess I was lucky here. My dad has a twin brother and my dad always had a beard and my uncle never did but if he ever decided to shave it I had a frame of refrence of what he would look like.
Golly, imagine the confusion if they were to swap facial hair styles.
Ahah something similar happened to me with my moms hair when I was 6, she’d had it like ass-long for all my life and showed up one day with a very very short cut, I totally hated it at first because that wasn’t what my mom looked like to me
Useless anecdote aside, I feel so sorry for the commander
he’ll need a blood transfusion preferable from Canadian Guy, that should do the trick and his children will like him again…
From what my father tells me i spazed out as well when he shaved his beard he had sence he left the air force.
Also ever sence i googled sam elliott mustache. I have a unexplainable crush on him. Hes just so handsome :o(
Reminds me of one time when I was two or three years old, my mother came to pick me up from day care and she had gotten a haircut during the day.
Normally her hair was long, but she decided she wanted to cut it super short.
Anyway, when she showed up, I didn’t believe she was my mother, and started crying and screaming when they forced me to go home with her. It was actually pretty traumatic.
Oh man I remember when I was like 9 yrs old, and my dad did the same thing. I was like “WHO ARE YOU?! YOU ARENT MY DAD!” -.- Never again, never again.
When I was about 5ish my dad shaved off his beard and his hair. I went to the bathroom to see what he was up to, then I screamed and ran.
Serious question here. Does the transformation make his voice sound different? It seems like it should sound different as his chest, neck, mouth, and skull have all visibly change, and of those things effect the sound of a person’s voice. I could buy that it is not changed due to the same magic that made his cloths change along with him. Either way I would like to know from the author which is the case. Thank you.
His voice probably didnt change otherwise his ex probably wouldnt have noticed him. Plus it would probably be less freaky if his voice changed as well.
The speech bubbles tell us is manner of speaking hasn’t changed, his grammar and syntax are unchanged. Still not sure about the actual sound of the voice. Hoping the author could set me straight on this.
Bishies are usually portrayed with a mezzo-soprano or a contralto facher voice. These are what we in the west would classify as a deeper feminine sound. My guess is that the Commander moved to a smooth middle C from a more baritone voice with possibly a touch of gravel from the smoking.
I laughed so much at the author comment that I just feel bad now. Sorry!
Has it really been that long already? Really…? Wow, happy anniversary, then.
Why can’t the Commander go back in time and kick his own ass (again) to prevent himself from getting into that room with Nier??
By the way, the B subject will get us at least 500 posts by next comic, this is gonna be fun on a slow day.
Oh btw you should totally change the title of the series to Bishie guys doing Bishie things.:P during this scenario.
My dad’s had a beard my entire life. He had it before I was born, and we figured he’d always have it. Then he started his most recent round of chemo. If it wasn’t for his bright Hawaiian shirts, we wouldn’t be able to recognize him. He’s really starting to look his age… (71)
When I was younger, my dad and his brother (my uncle) used to look somewhat alike. My dad always had a moustache, and then my uncle decided to grow one. From a distance they looked exactly alike, so imagine my embarassment at a football game when I ran up to my uncle going, “DAD, HEY DAD, DAAAAAAD!” and getting upset because he wouldn’t answer me. Then my dad turned me around and said, “What do you want?” I was like WTF???
Poor Commander, the pretty is ruining his life.
Speaking personally I really liked the new ghost Rider movie. I thought it was good o.o Am I alone on that? DX
But DID the appliances turn into servants?
Also. To add to those “dad who shaved facial hair”. Yes. My childhood. One year beard. Next year? Moustache. Year after that? Nothing. Augh.
He didn’t answer the question about the robots becoming human servants…
Why doesn’t the commander time travel back in time to prevent himself from being infected?
So wait, The butcher lady has been dating the Commander and doesn’t know his first name? Seeing as how I don’t even know her name, I guess I can’t be XD’ng
I know that when I was about 10, my dad decided to shave off his mighty mustache that he had had since college. He decided that day to pick us up from school, too (which he rarely did because of work), and my twin brother outright refused to get in the truck with him for the longest time until we were sure it was dad. lol
That’s one kid who’ll never even get near a Final Fantasy game. Sheesh. D:
Not entirely tied to facial hair or children! I’ve had a habit of just letting my hair grow until I get tired of it, and then (generally) getting it shorn short. One year ago (or just about), I was shaving off my sideburns and buzzed a bit high on the right side.
After about four seconds of contemplation, I uttered a noncommittal “fuggit” and proceeded to shave my head completely, for the first time in my 23 years of life.
I walked into the kitchen after that and my mother screamed. She said she thought someone else had entered the house.
I can’t say that I remember a story where my dad shaved his beard and I no longer recognized him, although he did shave his beard a couple of times when I was a kid. I did have a job interview recently though, so I shaved my beard and had a nice suit on, and when I went to visit my mom afterwards to see if she wanted to grab lunch with me, she didn’t recognize me at first. Once she caught on she had to parade me around her preschool and show me off to all of her teachers/friends…
The B stands for “Badass” as in “Commander Badass” :U i though he clear that out last time and it could not be more fitting. Though right now he’s “Commander Bishi”
Wow, Maddy is such a babe.
Yeah when I was little I told my dad that he “looked like a girl” when he had shaved his beard once.
When my dad shaved his head (I was probably about 8 years) I cried. My younger brother did too. It was traumatic ):
My mom cut her hair from just past her shoulders to a pixie cut when I was about six or seven. I was so upset I didn’t speak to her for like a day and a half.
The only thing I could think of to stop the virus is to kill the source… the Gundam Wing/AC guys.
Hey they had a long running spot next to DBZ and those guys were never infected! Rather those poor Gundam Pilots where the last line of defense against the Sailor Moon radiation!
Android 17
? What does he have to do with any of this?
Poor Commander…
On the plus side, at least Maddy is being a reasonable ex-wife for now.
That’s a good choice there, m’lady! Keep those kids away from him! Who knows what may happen!
I too have a traumatizing loss-of-dad’s-beard story. Apparently my dad was in the habit of shaving off his beard in the summer, so he shaved it when I was about two or three and it was the first time I knew enough to tell the difference. I apparently screamed when I saw him and wouldn’t go near him until it started to come back enough that it was recognizable again. I don’t think he shaved it off again until I was in elementary school and it started to go grey.
Oh wow, this page REALLY shows a lot behind the Commander’s love for his kids. I feel all kids of bad for him now, and no longer just because he’s stuck as a girly-man. I’m actually getting anxious to see how this will play out.
Out of sheer curiosity, Coelasquid, has your father recovered his beard by now?
It was like halfway back by the end of the week he took it off.
(cont.)
“And he shaved it on a Friday.”
Almost busted my keyboard because of this comment. Not healthy to drink while on this site. lol
I do envy your old man’s face. Very very much.
*that kinda guy who screws the beard trimming and has to put up with a shitty beard-design till it grows enough again*
Doesn’t she already know that B stands for Badass?
I mean, when Jared was delivering the mail and asked about why they were addressed to Commander Badass, she was sitting there. I believe that was…
http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/316
NOOO!!! What have you done!!!??? dont you know that the rules of anime state that if a young pretty boy with any amount of angst is the center of the story then the story wil be over with twice as fast compared to, lets say angst-less commander (whether bishi or non-bishi). you’ve cut this story in half. I wanna see more…
Well I was only just able to read this strip all the way though today, after a few tries. So ya I can see the little ones being traumatized.
Actually, after we had our son, my husband had a period of wearing red a lot, so now, he can’t pick up the kid in anything but red, and ESPECIALLY not green, or the little one starts screaming “DU IK MIN DADA” (In english, you’re not my father)
I love how the whole bishimia thing turned out to be a dreadful disease.
Know what’s worst, he exposed his son to his sickness.
So he might end up being infected at a young age and have serious growth defects once he hits puberty.
The lack of testosterone combating the what ever runs through Bish/DA victims means he might end up worst than his father is.
you think he would be seeing his son in a bubble.
I don’t remember if it’s ever been discussed – how old is Sammy? I ask because he looks sort of tiny where his mom’s holding him.
He’s two, I usually draw him smaller than I should. June is five.
Damn, this is the most child-traumatizing thing since the rhino what gave birth to Ace in Ace Ventura 2. On reflection it might even top that.
And yet, it’s also even funnier.
I remember once my dad shaved his beard… I was about four years old and I ran screaming out of the house, convinced that a stranger had broken in.
Bishounen affects hundreds of families every day. If YOU want to spare the world of this horrible condition, simply take some time out of your day to punch a shojou artist in the face.
Is anyone else hearing Michael Jackson’s voice whenever the Commander Speaks? Like, same accent, but very different voice?
I wonder how many sacrifices were burned that day to allow a beard of that magnitude to be cut. That is not a beard who’s removal could be undertaken lightly.
Finished Robin McKinley’s _Rose Daughter_ and am enchanted all over again. Nice little story about transformation and redemption.
Something to do while waiting for the next chapter in this story.
I remember I came home from from school one day as a child and strange man answered to door. It took me a good while to understand why he was so familiar.
My dad has never fully shaved again
I felt the same way when my dad shaved off his beard the first time ;-; and I was in my teens.
Doesn’t B stand for Badass?
I thought that was the commander’s full name.
Infact I think Jones was present when he explained that.
Loving the ongoing storyline.
My dad never had a beard, but he did dye his hair orange one Halloween. I was old enough to think that he looked funny, but my little brother screamed and cried when he saw him.
My dad used to always have a giant beard, but when my brother was young he shaved it off and picked my brother up, he cried too. Now he just has mutton chops…
My dad did this when I was about 4 or 5, and I didn’t even know who he was! After he picked me up and talking to me I just started crying.
I remember when my father shaved his beard off when I was 5, and my sister was 3. That was the worst thing that had ever happened in our short lives. We just cried and told him to put it back on.
He must have been traumatised by the event as well, cause it’s 20 years later and he hasn’t shaved it off since. I don’t know how I would react if he decided to shave it off tomorrow.
Shades of Japan. Ironic considering where Angelus was shot down that started that whole mess.
Poor Commander. My kids and ex would probably react the same way, and I can’t say I’d blame them.
The Egalitarian Aid in the United States will win!
Oh god. I just remembered one time when I was 6, my dad came to pick me up and I thought he was a stranger because he’d gotten rid of his mustache. He had that thing since I was born and he looked like an entirely different person without it.
Anime hero meltdown?
Unrecognizable lack of beard makes me think of this Youtube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k0fnTiKEMc
Been going through the archives looking for clues for the whole “Rock Lobster” thing. B stands for Rock Lobster?
Oh wait no it stands for B52. I’m an idiot.
This entire arc should be translated into Japanese and linked to various individuals (ESPECIALLY Nomura).
Just to see the reaction.
Oh god yes. My dad shaved when I was a toddler, I cried and cried and wouldn’t let him hold me.
When I was in fist grade, my father shaved for the first time since before I was born. I didn’t know about it until he came upstairs to tuck me in and I nearly screamed from absolute fear because some baby-faced bald man was suddenly in my room kissing me goodnight. I never before knew true terror.