I’m hollering at Faith thinking Jaden is 16 and OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE BEEN BORN BEFORE VIDEO GAMES! That’s such a child thing to say and I love her so much!! Violet did such a great job raising her

PS: I will never get over Rileys face in the second panel. It’s a masterpiece lol

THANK YOU FAITH FOR SAVING JADEN !
This page is so so funny, the comedic timing with the previous page is so perfect I keep rereading them back to back, even hearing the classic anime soundtrack we would get !
I’ll never recover from Riley’s face in the second panel either, she looks so shocked, so expecting everything to implode explode yet it’s hilarious xD.
 
Faith having more media literacy and feminist analysis than adult women is both amazing and so saddening at the same time ;_; You would expect Blaire and the QT to be able to recognize that this basic sexism is not a model to emulate but to change v_v
 
Also, Violet looks so fine in every panel she is it will be a looong decade of pining for her while waiting for Faith to reach adulthood so I can finally date Violet v_v
 
PS: your inner europeancentric beauty standards are really creeping out, neither Riley nor Blaire nor Violet even have noses anymore in that last panel !!! I feel so represented as a european who had been drawn with huge cyrano-pinocchio noses by manga all my life !

Oh, Faith… So small and already an absolute girlboss. We all are in her debt for saving Jaden from that cringe-ass show. /wipes a tear of joy/

someone please get Blaire and ambulance

Omg Faith is truly the best haha I love that little baby 😭😭
I can’t wait to see how Blaire is going to report this to her lil club lmao.
Also very cute to have Heartbeat get a nod on your webcomic, I will definitely check it out!

Ack, finally managed to catch up after these hectic months. Can’t believe Blaire got BTFO (even if I love her) by Giga Chad Child Faith. Blaire may have pubes but she has zero defense against the honesty of a kid. Sorry, babygirl, maybe if you had more brain cells.

Also yes the secret easter eggs… 👀 Wonder where those are… 👀

-Signed,
A totally random stranger I SWEAR!

I am CACKLING at Riley’s expression in the second panel, oh my god. I love Faith so much, everything she says and does is absolute gold.

This update has me giggling and smiling in the middle of cracker barrel like an idiot I absolutely adore Faith-
She reminds me of younger me before I learned how to properly mask- just full blunt opinions 24/7-
If you ever doodle a “what happens afterwards” kind of thing after Leasebound ends I can’t wait to see how Fsith grows up!!
Also again, amazing job! I know I’ve said this before in a previous comment but it’s crazy seeing you progress in art!! Amazing job and ty for being an older woman to look up too!!

Lovely page, I really love how you write faith, I think she is the first actually cute but still authentic child character I’ve seen in a long time. And thank you for reminding me I still have heartbeat sat in my library to play “^^

great page, faith continues to be my favourite character 🙂 Also I just bought heartbeat lol

This is by far the best page yet. Love the way you show the effect of Faith’s words on Blaire. In general, your art style has gotten so expressive and creative. Can’t wait to see what Blaire will be up to next week.

I AM SO PROUD OF BABY FAITH 😭

Something something the seeds of truth come from the mouths of babes something something. Faith ain’t even in highschool yet and she’s already more intelligent than most woke professors, lol.

 
But in all seriousness, mad appreciation for the story so far. I ran into this in early 2019 when I was just in my early-gender critical phase and dipped because it showcased too many uncomfortable questions and had me rethinking some close friendships. I’m back now and very excited for the upcoming chapters. Some notes:

 
🔴Always had the hots for Jaden, both wanted to be her (esp. the normie aspects) and be with her (need me tall, protective, dorky gf). Love her supportive mom and their realistic mother-daughter struggle (same with mine except she’s not as kind, forgiving, or feminist. Reading this comic helps me cope with my current homophobic living situation)

 
🟠Blaire. BLAIRE. BLAIRE. This woman sends me into a tivy. From the rampant misogyny (internalized + externalized), boundary stepping behavior she treats both her girlfriend and employs w/her “friends” (QTs) to the infantilization with thinking a CARTOON can change someone’s (a whole-ass adult, spec.) understanding of basic reality, she is a lot. I don’t hate her (yet, it’s just pity rn), but damn am I angry. Also the way she makes Riley feel is fucked up.

 
🟡Great Bi representation. I know the worn stereotype of bi women never taking their relationships with lesbians seriously and “Oh, they’re going to leave me for a man” mindset being everywhere. Definitely some bi women deserve this, but I think that a majority of this comes from heteronormative thinking/pressure, misogyny (as always) , internalized homophobia (in both the bi and gay women), and a lack of female-female positive and long lasting romance representation.

 
Too much of media is male-centric, violent against same-sex attracted women, and not accessible to young bi and gay women. Most lesbian novels were either written decades ago (’20s to ’90s), have been riddled with TQWERTYIIIAASDERP+ nonsense (and thus very jarring), or very fetishistic and see lesbian as just SEX, SEX, SEX or bisexual as SEX, PENIS, SEX and no romantic-platonic female relationships or healthy character growth. This is such a breath of air in a sea of rubbish.

 
🟢The TiFs, especially the “gay transmen” (see: straight) are killing me. I knew a TiF just like “Kai” and she drove me mad with her misogynistic + homophobic reasoning as to why she was a “man.” Tried to get me to transition or consider an alternate “” identity”” after I relayed my experiences to try to get her to see the bullshit.

 
Also, why is it the most feminine presenting, rich, and pick-me typical white women OR deeply traumatized (gay or bi, also often POC) women who fall for this nonsense? Like I see it all the time in these ” queer circles” and it kills me.

 
It just seems likely a bunch of Straight girls who don’t have any hobbies outside of obsessing over their sexuality, presentation, and self-hate pry into these circles and spread the most regressive jargon I’ve ever heard… and people still eat it up!
 

Like, ma’am I know it sucks sometimes being a woman (mostly because of men), but that’s literally your reality and always will be. If you were sane and healthy you’d learn that that’s not a bad thing, that women are not inferior to men, and that acknowledging biological realities is not some kind of death sentence for gnc people.
 

I can’t feel empathy though, because they helped pave the way for TiM to gain traction and become the (inaccurate) face of the gay rights movement. Speaking of…

 
🔵All the TiMs you’ve drawn are extremely accurate to real life. Anyone who’s had the misfortune of ever tracking into trans twitter, any Reddit trans sub forum, or has been to their colleges queer groups knows what I’m talking about. It’s almost always weird, grubby, straight men who are porn sick, work in IT, and were previously super racist, homophobic, sexist assholes until they ✨magically✨ discovered being tWaNz🥳🥳.

 
Now they spend all their time pursuing women to try to pass off as being in a lesbian relationship for their own egoes. For the TiFs it’s mostly internalized misogyny, but for the TiMs it’s almost always just regular misogyny, which has geared up to 13. And the way people fall over themselves to keep these violent, narcissistic, gross moids happy never fails to baffle me.

 
They are literally the worst versions of men and walk around like female caricatures, but handmaidens just don’t let up! It would be funny if it wasn’t so saddening, but you do make it quite funny.

 
🟣Speaking of homophobia, Alexis is the future I’m terrified of. I understand her never dating women until College because that’s often a time that young women can finally pursue their same sex interests without immediate homophobic reactions from family. She’s the second woman in a piece of media that I’ve seen shipped off to a horrible place because of the “disease” within her.
 

Coming from a religious family it is very scary and very much a reality. I feel like there are tons of privileged “queer” and (actually) bi/gay people who don’t understand that this is very much a reality, especially for POC women and women from immigrant families. We are definitely still struggling in the West, but both homosexual rights and women’s rights are basically non-existent and non-western Nations.

“Well, why did she date men if she can’t date women?” Her older sister didn’t go to college and immediately got pregnant with a husband, her mother prides herself on being a housewife and wants —no, demands— grandkids, and her father and his brothers are shown to have extremely predatory views towards gay or bi women.
 

She can still pursue relationships, but she can’t fully appreciate her whole sexuality and actually find her true love without these blocks.

She might also not have been allowed to pursue the idea or hidden that part of her (due to the idea that same-sex desire is “wrong” instilled in a lot of young people) due to shame.

🏳️‍🌈Healthy representation of butch women as fully rounded, fleshed out people with their own personal struggles, doubts, and reasons for adopting a more masculine aesthetic? That’s crazy! Do it more.

 
Thank you so much for writing this story! You make me want to explore my feminist and female-attracted interests without feeling like shit. You’re actually brave for continuing despite the threats, bannings, and regular insults. Thank you, Rusty!