Gaming Rivalry
| Gaming Rivalry | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chapter | 2 of 129 (list of chapters) |
| Published | May 5, 2006 |
| Page count | 4 |
| Major characters | Mike, Lucy, Yashy |
| Minor characters | Blur, Carol |
| Locations | Mike’s house |
| Collected in | Volume One, Omnibus 1 |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Simple Pleasures | Merry Snow Day → |
| Read chapter | |
A friendly round of video games between Mike and Lucy descends into name-calling, fifteen grudge matches, and one pet kicked clean through the roof. Along the way, a flashback reveals where Lucy’s signature pink ribbon came from.
Synopsis
Lucy wins a round of Mike’s fighting game with her trusty backspin, and Mike insists his health was perfect and only cowards backspin anyway. The argument spirals into name-calling. Yashy and Blur heckle them from their card game across the room until Mike kicks Blur into the sky.[1]
Yashy figures Lucy’s pink ribbon is there to prove her girlhood. The scene flashes back to Lucy at age two, when her mom offers her a doll to go with her toy car, and Lucy gleefully runs the doll over. At four, her mom kneels down and ties a ribbon around her neck: “If you ever feel lonely, this ribbon’ll remind you how much I love you.” Back in the present, Lucy admits the story is corny but comforting, and Mike immediately turns it into fresh ammunition.[2]
Mike keeps re-litigating his loss, so Lucy demands a rematch. Fifteen matches later he has the backspin down cold, since his sister abuses the move too, and now Lucy is the one raging about cheap tactics. Mike savors the hypocrisy, then tells her she’s cute when she’s angry. Lucy gets an idea.[3]
Lucy goes abruptly saccharine, apologizing in a baby voice and hugging Mike’s face to her chest. He gets as far as murmuring “So soft..” before Lucy beats him senseless, sighing that her ploy backfired.[4]
Yashy, thoroughly fed up, climbs onto Lucy’s back like a noble steed and yanks the ribbon with a mighty “GIDDIAP!!” An exterior shot shows her launched clean through the roof of Mike’s house, screaming into the sky.[4]
Character dynamics
- Mike and Lucy: Mike and Lucy already make a habit of bickering over nothing, though Simple Pleasures showed the softer side of their relationship.[5] Lucy opens the chapter as the gloating champion of Mike’s fighting game, but fifteen matches later Mike has mastered her signature move while she cries foul.[3]
Trivia & observations
- Veronica’s commentary identifies this chapter as a remake of a much older one. In “the new version of this chapter”, Lucy’s mother gives the bow to show love and support. The original framed it as validating Lucy’s femininity, “kind of a lame message” in hindsight.[2]
- The commentary also confirms the comic is set in 2006, which explains Mike’s choice of racing game (“If only the comic didn’t take place in 2006, Mike coulda referenced Twilight Princess!!”).[4]
- Blur makes his series debut here. Lucy’s mom appears for the first time as well, though she goes unnamed and won’t be called Carol for well over a hundred chapters.[1][6]
- Mike credits his sister, Haley, for his backspin mastery, though she doesn’t appear on panel until much later in the series.[3][7]
Related chapters
- Left Behind: The full version of Lucy’s lonely-childhood backstory. Its kindergarten flashback shows Lucy crashing the girls’ princess game with a toy car, the same habit that flattened the doll here.
- December: The gaming rivalry resurfaces much later, in the middle of Mike and Lucy’s estrangement. This time Lucy wins, and the two reminisce about how much she practiced to get there.
- Blurry Memories: Blur’s origin chapter, explaining his amnesia, his name, and how he ended up living with Mike.