It took me a while to figure out that because Bad Decision Dinosaur is a cartoon character, when he gets a tattoo the ink can extend beyond the boundaries of his body. Clever.
It is a pun on “permanent.” He got a perm. Which is not actually permanent, unlike a tattoo. I don’t think it’s really transphobic, though I see the point. Are there traditionally masculine haircuts that clearly signify “perm”? Not really. And this is the bad decision character, so there you go. The available means for the joke, and the incident specter of transphobia.
I think as well as the pun, perms are one of those haircuts often looked back at with a bit of a grimace & embarrassment so are wont to work to illustrate this well irrespective of gender…
I didn’t really see it as transphobic, but fancy I might be missing why?
I did read this as being about trans issues (in re permanent changes to one’s body, etc) before I got the pun. Dorothy is so rarely clumsy with this stuff that this stands out
I was going to complain about how it used to be there was just a bunch of clever, wry comments and some discussion, with the occasional weird spam in Chinese, and now there’s, well, space not big enough to contain all of the complaints I generate, but you know if you just read the comments by kateri, Ben, Kyle, BatA, and Dorothy, it’s all great. Which is to say, selective memory got me to imagining this pristine past, and with just a little proactive application of the same, the present is wonderful too.
Actually perms are pretty horrible. A girl i was seeing years and years ago got one from an evil wicked hairdresser. After that no one ever loved her, and she was cast out into the forest and the only creatures that would speak to her were other deformed mosnters.
@kateri – It’s sad when someone reads something that was never intended into something else. Not sad for us mind you, as trans wasn’t what it was about.
January 19, 2012
It took me a while to figure out that because Bad Decision Dinosaur is a cartoon character, when he gets a tattoo the ink can extend beyond the boundaries of his body. Clever.
January 19, 2012
I don’t think that hairdo’s a bad decision at all. I think he looks pretty spiffy.
January 19, 2012
I might be reading this wrong, but this comes off as super-transphobic to me and now I am sad. :(
January 19, 2012
He looks Divine
January 19, 2012
It is a pun on “permanent.” He got a perm. Which is not actually permanent, unlike a tattoo. I don’t think it’s really transphobic, though I see the point. Are there traditionally masculine haircuts that clearly signify “perm”? Not really. And this is the bad decision character, so there you go. The available means for the joke, and the incident specter of transphobia.
January 19, 2012
Yesssssssssssssssss.
January 19, 2012
genderfucking: good decision.
January 20, 2012
good one!
January 20, 2012
kateri> dinosaurs don’t have hair, silly! they have feathers. or scales. or too much to drink.
January 20, 2012
I think as well as the pun, perms are one of those haircuts often looked back at with a bit of a grimace & embarrassment so are wont to work to illustrate this well irrespective of gender…
I didn’t really see it as transphobic, but fancy I might be missing why?
January 22, 2012
Hmm yeah. Transphobic? The bow might be a bit much, but count me as a big Sally Rogers fan.
January 22, 2012
Yes, obviously ANYTHING that is about gender-bending is transphobic. You’re so brillant to have figured it out!
January 23, 2012
I did read this as being about trans issues (in re permanent changes to one’s body, etc) before I got the pun. Dorothy is so rarely clumsy with this stuff that this stands out
January 23, 2012
I was going to complain about how it used to be there was just a bunch of clever, wry comments and some discussion, with the occasional weird spam in Chinese, and now there’s, well, space not big enough to contain all of the complaints I generate, but you know if you just read the comments by kateri, Ben, Kyle, BatA, and Dorothy, it’s all great. Which is to say, selective memory got me to imagining this pristine past, and with just a little proactive application of the same, the present is wonderful too.
January 23, 2012
Without the bow it is a Little Richard.
March 19, 2012
Actually perms are pretty horrible. A girl i was seeing years and years ago got one from an evil wicked hairdresser. After that no one ever loved her, and she was cast out into the forest and the only creatures that would speak to her were other deformed mosnters.
October 20, 2013
@kateri – It’s sad when someone reads something that was never intended into something else. Not sad for us mind you, as trans wasn’t what it was about.