"She would be so easy to manipulate..."(8/7/15)

[tounces7]

Well, I guess we get to see her thoughts today.

I'm not sure what she was thinking was necessarily malicious, though. More like speculation.

I don't know why she calls Katia weird though. Naive, yes, not very bright, possibly, but not really weird. I think Linda was just really caught off guard.

[highdeprogrammer]

There's the Linda we all know and loathe.

[PaulJones202718]

She really hasn't learned especially all that much from her experiences because she's still viewing them through the prism of high school thinking. Granted, there are a lot of shallow, damaging manipulators out there but not everyone is trying to kill her game.

[g33x0R]

Didn't say she would, just said it would be easy to do. And she's right. For now I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, and hope Katia's positive attitude has a positive effect on her. That could be a mistake, but I like how Katia's genuine concern for Linda's well-being [last panel] has completely blindsided her. :-)


Cheers,
Patrick.

[Attalus]

There's the Linda we all know and loathe.

+1!

I think it is funny that Linda has been patronizing Katia but from Katia's point of view, Linda is the pathetic one.

[ShadeTail]

Didn't say she would, just said it would be easy to do. And she's right. For now I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, and hope Katia's positive attitude has a positive effect on her. That could be a mistake, but I like how Katia's genuine concern for Linda's well-being [last panel] has completely blindsided her.

I half-agree with you. Linda hasn't done anything to Katia *yet*. We'll have to wait and see if she's actually learned her lesson this time, but I'm not confident. She's shown signs of progress before, only to backslide.

[cursormortis]

So, the question here is: why did Starline give us that glimpse? To make us mistrust Linda? To show she's changing? To establish an idea about Katia that she'll show is false later? Personally, I'm leaning towards the last one. Linda may be changing, but old habits are hard to break and she'll slide back at some point. When she does, she'll go after Katia in some way, only for Katia to figure out what's going on. Possibly because Linda wilk be a bit too obvious about it, thinking Katia an easy mark.

[UnstoppableTaboo]

I dunno if it's Starline's intention to redeem Linda in the long term (not every character needs to be redeemed and/or have their redemption documented), but if so, Linda's had one of the loooongest stretches of 'unredemption' that I've ever seen in a webcomic, at least for a character who isn't an outright villain. Every time it seems like she gets a wake-up call and is starting to get it, she does something else that proves just how little she's learned in the long run.

I remember the first time I really got the feeling that there was going to be a "turning point" in her development, which was when Bianca chewed her out for her behaviour while living with Alex. And that was 4-5 years ago, iirc. I've long since learned not to get my hopes up, and it in fact makes me a little bored of her character whenever she comes around now.

[cursormortis]

One thing that I think is easy to forget when we're looking at the character development here is how much time has passed in-comic. Bianca and Linda may have had their little chat years ago IRL, but it's only been a few months in-comic. Hell, the entire comic has taken less than a year and a half in-comic. So yeah, the development might seem slow to us, but to the characters it's going as normal.

[Lasenna]

So, the question here is: why did Starline give us that glimpse? To make us mistrust Linda? To show she's changing? To establish an idea about Katia that she'll show is false later? Personally, I'm leaning towards the last one.

I think Starline included that last part to show that Linda is still Linda, and this is where her thoughts would normally go. Just because that's what her initial thought would be doesn't mean she intends to act on it. I'm on board with those giving Linda the benefit of the doubt. She's shown remarkable growth since the end of her relationship with Alex, and we all know she's desperate for friends. She joined a class for friends and the friendliest person in the world (Katia) is in it and already unconditionally extending an olive branch in that direction DESPITE knowing about Linda's actions in the past.

And yes, Katia would come across as weird to most normal, especially scheming people, because she's just too sweet and trusting to be true. Her personality is more like what you expect of an elementary school student in some ways (sans desire for sex and boys). However, despite her ultra-sheltered upbringing she's eager to explore and makes new friends easily.