A junior engineer working for a small engineering firm in Cocoa Beach. The firm focuses mostly on NASA projects.
Neil is Jean’s best friend. When Jean was turned into a genie, Neil became Jeanie’s master.
Except from Neil’s reactions, we can clearly see that something is different. This attraction to Roger is new and unexpected…which means it likely hasn’t happened before. Given that Rodge and Natalie have spent a fair amount of time together, it’s very likely there’s an X factor at play here.
He’s got the opportunity, sure–but it is never wise to take up a woman’s offer when she isn’t behaving normally (such as, for instance, Under the Influence of alcohol or other drugs).
And his reaction here is startled enough that I suspect all his warning signals are going top volume.
It is not gentlemanly, but can he really be blamed for simply giving her, what she is begging him for. If he don’t do it now, he is certain to be forever friendzoned.
Remember “gentleman” is just a fancy way of saying “nice guy”. And nice guys never gets laid and always finish last. So don’t be a nice guy Rodge, give the lady what she wants.
Taking a woman behaving far outside her norms isn’t just ungentlemanly, it’s not safe. In this situation, it’s downright hazardous.
Again I say, “It’s a trap!’ to which I add “Never stick it in the crazy!”
Something’s WORNG with Natalie; she’s far outside her normal orbit. Neil will be very unhappy when he comes to himself. And Rodge will destroy any trust Neil and Natalie might have for him.
There’s “not being nice”, there’s taking advantage of a girl who’s gotten a little drunker than she planned, and there’s “sticking it into a beehive”. \
Rodge is being pursued by the beehive. Not good. Not good at all.
I agree with you 50srefugee. The only question is, does Rodge have enough since not to play the mangy hound dog that does all those unseemly things he shouldn’t do, but, does it anyway. If Rodge doesn’t play the upright man on this thing, it will forever change the nature of this series and relationship of Neil to Rodge forever and it would definitely mess up there business relationship with each other and spending time with each other. CD Rudd would have to find a new character to replace Rodge.
In real life if that were to happen, not that it could, but, if it did and Rodge took advantage of me like that, I would probably try to destroy him any chance I could get. I am a real nice guy, until someone start messing with me, then all bets are off.
No. No it isn’t. You might be able to make an argument for emoji in a purely textual medium, but in something that’s predominately images …. convey that in the image itself rather than a stupid little yellow smiley.
I’m not a big fan of emoji, but in this case it actually conveys a “tone of voice” concept that can be hard to do in text. The visual in the frame could just as easily represent a dejected, almost apologetic, tone instead of flirty tone that the emoji conveys.
Rodge seems kind of like the dog that’s spent his life chasing cars and finally catches one. Now what does he do with it?
However, keep in mind that Rodge is here because there really is a federal agent looking for Natalie. Rodge might even remember that Natalie was picked up in Las Vegas when he was staying in the same room as Natalie and might even think that he might be in trouble as well. And if Natalie can turn down her hopped-up libido for a minute or two, she might remember that, too.
So what next? Back to Haji’s palace? Agent Anderson returns? Maybe, maybe.
My fondest wish tonight is that Belle will show up and catch Natalie with Roger.
But Belle had that photo of Rog-as-Jean talking to Neil-as-Natalie in New York when Jean was supposed to be in Asia. So she’d have her claws out for Natalie.
As for whether Natalie is having normal female feelings about Rog, well, sudden instant lust is not normal for women, at least not beyond the mid-teen years. Something is definitely up beyond the usual *poof*…
Not quite. The official rule is “A Genie cannot impose their will upon a mortal by force or by magical means, and will be automatically punished for trying.”
There are loads of ways that making Natalie attracted to Rodge wouldn’t count as “imposing the Genie’s will upon a mortal”.
If a powerful Jinn creates a strong, “visually activated” love charm or potion, and leaves it on the bed of a transformed human to come in contact with, no ” direct” use of magic would be involved. Also, what if, the Blue Jinn being outside of Haji’s rule and creating this type of magic, is what got him imprisoned in the first place.
Neil has been Natified not by Jean, but by the Blue Djinn, who has done things differently than Jeannie ever did. Remember how Jeannie turned the Greek captain into a nymphomaniac? Well, apparently the same sort of effect has now been used on Neil. One can only hope/suspect that Rodge, after the experience of the New York trip, can manage to put the brakes on his libido even if Natalie can’t. Otherwise, Jeannie may eventually return to find Neil is in a family way.
It may not be the Blue Jinn. I wouldn’t have put this past Guano or someone else in the genie brigade, a some of them are pretty dickish. Whatever happened, it definitely has to do with whatever caused Jeanie to act weird in https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jeanie-bottle-436. It’s just too weird to ignore.
Except, Ran-San and Robert, Neil is still Neil in the last panel of #436 after the eyeless Jeanie poofs out. All the other Natalifications we’ve seen were instant.
@Robert: Except, of course, we have no idea who that really was, that was standing over Neil. For all we know, it was the Blue Meanie in disguise. (Or maybe the Jeannie doppleganger from the palace?)
@Ran-san: I wouldn’t credit Guano with enough intelligence to think of something this convoluted.
As to some other genie, it’s hard to say; we haven’t seen enough examples to judge. However, the Blue Djinn is an acknowledged Bad Guy, so he’s at least a likely suspect.
The other possible cause is the Jeanie Doppleganger. Which would at least account for the appearance of the mysterious Jeannie-like figure in #436, if not the motivation for the subsequent action.
Kattgirl, it’s not the Jeanie doppleganger. There’s a lot of differences between their outfits, especially in the pants area. If you look at: https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jeanie-bottle-436 – panel 3, she has low cut, naval showing pants with narrow silk “fins” on the sides. Or in other words, Jean’s default outfit since the beginning of the strip.
And if you look at https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jenaie-bottle-440 – panel 4, doppelgnger Jeanie has high cut, navel blocking pants with wide silk “panels” on the sides, a dead ringer for Barbera Eden’s “I Dream of Jeanie” outfit.
So it’s not doppelganger Jeanie standing over Neil.
Also, if you look at “436” panel 2, you’ll notice that the text bubbles coming out of Jeanie’s Bottle show signs of a 2 way conversation. It is definitely another genie in the bottle with Jean. My initial suspicion was that it was Arceli, continuing from 435. But Arceli has no motive for Nattifying Neil and giving her nutty hormones. Arceli wants Neil for herself, so having Neil/Natt fall in love with Rodge would be counterproductive to that goal. So that honestly leaves the Blue Jinn, Guano, or another genie from Haji’s harem. And as the third has had ZERO contact with Neil, motivewise, that only leaves the first two.
To my eye, that’s a pretty darned small distinction in costuming, that could be easily attributable to artistic license on CD’s part. So I’d say the jury’s still out on that.
I’d agree that in #436, there seems to be a conversation of some sort going on, but let’s remember that it’s already been established that Jeannie has a habit of talking to herself, and that could well be what’s going on here – note that the text bubbles all seem to be connected, which typically indicates that it’s just different sentences, but all being said by the same person.
I’d agree with your logic about Araceli, and also any other harem genie, and I still think that Guano is too dumb (and too blunt) to be involved in any transformation scheme. HOWEVER, it’s entirely possible that the Blue Djinn could have put the Jeannie-double up to something.
As another [separate] thought, perhaps the Jeannie-double is actually the Blue Djinn in disguise, using an assumed form as a way to sneak into the palace and cause havoc… ??!!!
I wouldn’t know about that. Jeanie’s outfit has been pretty consistent from around comic #10 onwards, with only the veil appearing or disappearing at CD’s whim. (Though we haven’t seen it in awhile). The fact that the outfit has that much of a departure seems to indicate to me the CD is hinting at something.
As for the conversation in 436 being link, my assumption as that it was linked by the fact that we were seeing all coming from the bottle. However, the spacing on the bottles does seem to indicate 2 people, unless Jean is “gollum”ing, there’s more than one person there.
And yes, Guano is dumb, but he’s also petty and vindictive. Jean isn’t that smart either, and if in an argument Jean let fly the whole Neil/Natalie situation, or if he overheard Jean thinking aloud on it, I could see Guano using it as a method of revenge for “fooling Lord Guano”.
“Remember how Jeannie turned the Greek captain into a nymphomaniac?”
The captain wished for a dutiful wife, so it was his wish that makes her act that way until a husband is found.
Sure. But the point is that he didn’t just become a woman, but a woman with raging hormones. So clearly that’s a possible thing, and that now appears to be what happened to Neil.
Now, flash forward 6 Years, Jeannie is still fulfilling her concubine duties, Natalie is receiving a “woman of the year” award for advancing space engineering, raising 7 lovely children, and keeping her loving husband very happy, focused on his work.
I am sure they would have plenty of… female.. er… male? er… transformee? bonding once they tell each other their secret. But I am also sure it would be quite a scene when Agent Anderson finds out Jean was the one who transformed her, and how easily Jean could have turned her back but didn’t!
I don’t see anything wrong with the flirting here. To me, I don’t see any sign that Natalie is not in control of her actions. To me, I see her reacting to her own feelings and interests here even if they are new to her. It seems to me like she is enjoying the excitement of being attracted to Rodger and his interest in her. I would guess she is also apprehensive about it too. I am actually enjoying watching her deal with this side of womanhood. Men think they have hormones and arousal and interest all locked up and controlled by their sex. I can’t wait to see how things unfold here.
Regardless of what it leads to, under 18 women are protected by law, over 90 women are protected by nature, and anything in between is open. The 90 statement might even be disregarded by many.
Something is wrong with it. Neil is obviously bothered by it. And then automatically falls into that behavior upon seeing Rodge. So he isn’t in control over it.
He has been Natalie enough times before without turning into a sexbomb, or changing his sexuality. So this is more than just a natural effect of being transformed.
Heck Jean has been transformed for a long time now and it hasn’t effected his sexuality at all. He still had the hots for Agent Anderson.
Though there was that time when Belle slept with Neil who was transformed into Jean, and then Jean got jealous and wanted to know for himself what Belle was impressed with…
Not to worry I’m sure Rodge is mature enough not to do anything reckless..O.K no he probably isn’t. My guess is the Agent will interrupt them before things get to involved.
Personally I think Neil will stop things before they go too far. Just because she can’t help flirting with Rodge, doesn’t mean she’ll go all the way before she stops herself.
Well that didn’t take long. This just raises more questions than answers.
What questions, Niel is heterosexual, and so is Natalie
Except from Neil’s reactions, we can clearly see that something is different. This attraction to Roger is new and unexpected…which means it likely hasn’t happened before. Given that Rodge and Natalie have spent a fair amount of time together, it’s very likely there’s an X factor at play here.
Yup, definitely looks like Rodge is finally getting to get lucky with Natalie.
Well considering all the times Neil has been transformed into Natalie, I suppose it had to happen eventually.
Either way, I am definitely looking forward to next weeks comic….
He’s got the opportunity, sure–but it is never wise to take up a woman’s offer when she isn’t behaving normally (such as, for instance, Under the Influence of alcohol or other drugs).
And his reaction here is startled enough that I suspect all his warning signals are going top volume.
“it’s a trap!”
It is not gentlemanly, but can he really be blamed for simply giving her, what she is begging him for. If he don’t do it now, he is certain to be forever friendzoned.
Remember “gentleman” is just a fancy way of saying “nice guy”. And nice guys never gets laid and always finish last. So don’t be a nice guy Rodge, give the lady what she wants.
Taking a woman behaving far outside her norms isn’t just ungentlemanly, it’s not safe. In this situation, it’s downright hazardous.
Again I say, “It’s a trap!’ to which I add “Never stick it in the crazy!”
Something’s WORNG with Natalie; she’s far outside her normal orbit. Neil will be very unhappy when he comes to himself. And Rodge will destroy any trust Neil and Natalie might have for him.
There’s “not being nice”, there’s taking advantage of a girl who’s gotten a little drunker than she planned, and there’s “sticking it into a beehive”. \
Rodge is being pursued by the beehive. Not good. Not good at all.
I agree with you 50srefugee. The only question is, does Rodge have enough since not to play the mangy hound dog that does all those unseemly things he shouldn’t do, but, does it anyway. If Rodge doesn’t play the upright man on this thing, it will forever change the nature of this series and relationship of Neil to Rodge forever and it would definitely mess up there business relationship with each other and spending time with each other. CD Rudd would have to find a new character to replace Rodge.
In real life if that were to happen, not that it could, but, if it did and Rodge took advantage of me like that, I would probably try to destroy him any chance I could get. I am a real nice guy, until someone start messing with me, then all bets are off.
Somehow I get the impression that as much as a horndog Rodge is, that he turns into Barney Fife when around a eager woman.
Do you know you’re a man?
Time for Natalie to swelter at work again. It doesn’t look like Jeanie’s gonna be free anytime soon.
Or telecommute.
the Emoji in the last panel was a nice touch.
I know, right? When I saw that, I was like “Oh hey, this is new. Fun!”
No. No it isn’t. You might be able to make an argument for emoji in a purely textual medium, but in something that’s predominately images …. convey that in the image itself rather than a stupid little yellow smiley.
Killjoy LOL
Well, I mean… it IS being conveyed in the image. The emoji just enhances that conveyance.
I’m not a big fan of emoji, but in this case it actually conveys a “tone of voice” concept that can be hard to do in text. The visual in the frame could just as easily represent a dejected, almost apologetic, tone instead of flirty tone that the emoji conveys.
Rodge seems kind of like the dog that’s spent his life chasing cars and finally catches one. Now what does he do with it?
However, keep in mind that Rodge is here because there really is a federal agent looking for Natalie. Rodge might even remember that Natalie was picked up in Las Vegas when he was staying in the same room as Natalie and might even think that he might be in trouble as well. And if Natalie can turn down her hopped-up libido for a minute or two, she might remember that, too.
So what next? Back to Haji’s palace? Agent Anderson returns? Maybe, maybe.
My fondest wish tonight is that Belle will show up and catch Natalie with Roger.
Why, Belle doesn’t really know either Natalie or Roger, so why would she care any way. After all Rodger currently isn’t looking like Jean right now.
But Belle had that photo of Rog-as-Jean talking to Neil-as-Natalie in New York when Jean was supposed to be in Asia. So she’d have her claws out for Natalie.
As for whether Natalie is having normal female feelings about Rog, well, sudden instant lust is not normal for women, at least not beyond the mid-teen years. Something is definitely up beyond the usual *poof*…
@Tramline:
“sudden instant lust is not normal for women”
Oh, how little you know!
“”sudden instant lust is not normal for women””
It isn’t? Since when? LOL
“sudden instant lust is not normal for women”
Wow… I can tell you have not been around enough women. Or get out enough. Most women actually put men to shame when it comes to that!
Okay, sudden instant lust for Rodge is not normal for women.
Sean wrote:
“Okay, sudden instant lust for Rodge is not normal for women.”
Based on what we’ve seen, I’d say that any attraction to Rodge is not normal. For anyone. 😉
Now I’m curious as to what’s really going on. I’m guessing this TF made her a heterosexual woman.
Seems to have done more than that as she seems rather boy or at least Rodg crazy.
Perhaps a homage to the love spell IDOJ episode
lol, love the emoji
Wow… something is going on here. Natalie’s switch has been flipped.
Natalie switch being flipped, now that can’t be good.
Thought the mind affecting spells were a no-no with genies?
Not quite. The official rule is “A Genie cannot impose their will upon a mortal by force or by magical means, and will be automatically punished for trying.”
There are loads of ways that making Natalie attracted to Rodge wouldn’t count as “imposing the Genie’s will upon a mortal”.
Well, there went the assertion. XD
Which begs the question: Since this is happening since Neil currently Natalie, will this always happen now if he/she stays Natalie longer than normal?
There goes Neal again. Hopscotching through the landmine field.
Someone is messing with his free will by changing his sexuality/preferences.
Sexuality, has nothing to do with Free-Will. You don’t get to change it.
As much as some of us wish we could…
If a powerful Jinn creates a strong, “visually activated” love charm or potion, and leaves it on the bed of a transformed human to come in contact with, no ” direct” use of magic would be involved. Also, what if, the Blue Jinn being outside of Haji’s rule and creating this type of magic, is what got him imprisoned in the first place.
Crackpot Theory #2:
Neil has been Natified not by Jean, but by the Blue Djinn, who has done things differently than Jeannie ever did. Remember how Jeannie turned the Greek captain into a nymphomaniac? Well, apparently the same sort of effect has now been used on Neil. One can only hope/suspect that Rodge, after the experience of the New York trip, can manage to put the brakes on his libido even if Natalie can’t. Otherwise, Jeannie may eventually return to find Neil is in a family way.
It may not be the Blue Jinn. I wouldn’t have put this past Guano or someone else in the genie brigade, a some of them are pretty dickish. Whatever happened, it definitely has to do with whatever caused Jeanie to act weird in https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jeanie-bottle-436. It’s just too weird to ignore.
I would posit that you are correct, Ran-san. That odd scene with Jeanie is the most likely source of this effect.
Except, Ran-San and Robert, Neil is still Neil in the last panel of #436 after the eyeless Jeanie poofs out. All the other Natalifications we’ve seen were instant.
I’m thinking this change was from another genie and who for whatever reason added something extra, like raging female hormones.
@Robert: Except, of course, we have no idea who that really was, that was standing over Neil. For all we know, it was the Blue Meanie in disguise. (Or maybe the Jeannie doppleganger from the palace?)
@Ran-san: I wouldn’t credit Guano with enough intelligence to think of something this convoluted.
As to some other genie, it’s hard to say; we haven’t seen enough examples to judge. However, the Blue Djinn is an acknowledged Bad Guy, so he’s at least a likely suspect.
The other possible cause is the Jeanie Doppleganger. Which would at least account for the appearance of the mysterious Jeannie-like figure in #436, if not the motivation for the subsequent action.
Kattgirl, it’s not the Jeanie doppleganger. There’s a lot of differences between their outfits, especially in the pants area. If you look at:
https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jeanie-bottle-436 – panel 3, she has low cut, naval showing pants with narrow silk “fins” on the sides. Or in other words, Jean’s default outfit since the beginning of the strip.
And if you look at
https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jenaie-bottle-440 – panel 4, doppelgnger Jeanie has high cut, navel blocking pants with wide silk “panels” on the sides, a dead ringer for Barbera Eden’s “I Dream of Jeanie” outfit.
So it’s not doppelganger Jeanie standing over Neil.
Also, if you look at “436” panel 2, you’ll notice that the text bubbles coming out of Jeanie’s Bottle show signs of a 2 way conversation. It is definitely another genie in the bottle with Jean. My initial suspicion was that it was Arceli, continuing from 435. But Arceli has no motive for Nattifying Neil and giving her nutty hormones. Arceli wants Neil for herself, so having Neil/Natt fall in love with Rodge would be counterproductive to that goal. So that honestly leaves the Blue Jinn, Guano, or another genie from Haji’s harem. And as the third has had ZERO contact with Neil, motivewise, that only leaves the first two.
@Ran-san:
To my eye, that’s a pretty darned small distinction in costuming, that could be easily attributable to artistic license on CD’s part. So I’d say the jury’s still out on that.
I’d agree that in #436, there seems to be a conversation of some sort going on, but let’s remember that it’s already been established that Jeannie has a habit of talking to herself, and that could well be what’s going on here – note that the text bubbles all seem to be connected, which typically indicates that it’s just different sentences, but all being said by the same person.
I’d agree with your logic about Araceli, and also any other harem genie, and I still think that Guano is too dumb (and too blunt) to be involved in any transformation scheme. HOWEVER, it’s entirely possible that the Blue Djinn could have put the Jeannie-double up to something.
As another [separate] thought, perhaps the Jeannie-double is actually the Blue Djinn in disguise, using an assumed form as a way to sneak into the palace and cause havoc… ??!!!
@Kattgirl
I wouldn’t know about that. Jeanie’s outfit has been pretty consistent from around comic #10 onwards, with only the veil appearing or disappearing at CD’s whim. (Though we haven’t seen it in awhile). The fact that the outfit has that much of a departure seems to indicate to me the CD is hinting at something.
As for the conversation in 436 being link, my assumption as that it was linked by the fact that we were seeing all coming from the bottle. However, the spacing on the bottles does seem to indicate 2 people, unless Jean is “gollum”ing, there’s more than one person there.
And yes, Guano is dumb, but he’s also petty and vindictive. Jean isn’t that smart either, and if in an argument Jean let fly the whole Neil/Natalie situation, or if he overheard Jean thinking aloud on it, I could see Guano using it as a method of revenge for “fooling Lord Guano”.
“Remember how Jeannie turned the Greek captain into a nymphomaniac?”
The captain wished for a dutiful wife, so it was his wish that makes her act that way until a husband is found.
Sure. But the point is that he didn’t just become a woman, but a woman with raging hormones. So clearly that’s a possible thing, and that now appears to be what happened to Neil.
Now, flash forward 6 Years, Jeannie is still fulfilling her concubine duties, Natalie is receiving a “woman of the year” award for advancing space engineering, raising 7 lovely children, and keeping her loving husband very happy, focused on his work.
I’m sure Natalie could convince agent Anderson that she is also a victim of transforming magic, and that the two of them would become great friends.
Hey, that’s a pretty cool point! I hadn’t considered that those two are sort of kindred spirits.
I am sure they would have plenty of… female.. er… male? er… transformee? bonding once they tell each other their secret. But I am also sure it would be quite a scene when Agent Anderson finds out Jean was the one who transformed her, and how easily Jean could have turned her back but didn’t!
Kattgirl,. I think you’re right.. https://jeaniebottle.com/?tag=greek-fishermen almost all of the from #182.
Please, god no, no more emojis.
Don’t confuse an innocent emoji with a crappy movie.
I wonder if someone has decided that Jeanie is not coming back and is just ting up lose ends?
down the rabbit hole we go.
I don’t see anything wrong with the flirting here. To me, I don’t see any sign that Natalie is not in control of her actions. To me, I see her reacting to her own feelings and interests here even if they are new to her. It seems to me like she is enjoying the excitement of being attracted to Rodger and his interest in her. I would guess she is also apprehensive about it too. I am actually enjoying watching her deal with this side of womanhood. Men think they have hormones and arousal and interest all locked up and controlled by their sex. I can’t wait to see how things unfold here.
Regardless of what it leads to, under 18 women are protected by law, over 90 women are protected by nature, and anything in between is open. The 90 statement might even be disregarded by many.
It’s not wrong, it’s just completely and dramatically different from how Neil/Natalie has always reacted before. Hence, something’s up.
Something is wrong with it. Neil is obviously bothered by it. And then automatically falls into that behavior upon seeing Rodge. So he isn’t in control over it.
He has been Natalie enough times before without turning into a sexbomb, or changing his sexuality. So this is more than just a natural effect of being transformed.
Heck Jean has been transformed for a long time now and it hasn’t effected his sexuality at all. He still had the hots for Agent Anderson.
Though there was that time when Belle slept with Neil who was transformed into Jean, and then Jean got jealous and wanted to know for himself what Belle was impressed with…
I’m hoping no one uses the eggplant emoji….
“I am Zuul, I am the Gatekeeper, Are you the Keymaster?”
Now that you mention it….
Not to worry I’m sure Rodge is mature enough not to do anything reckless..O.K no he probably isn’t. My guess is the Agent will interrupt them before things get to involved.
My guess is that he is too immature TO do anything. Sorta like a Barney Fife type…
Do you mean too immature to do anything to try and help Neil get fixed… or do you just mean to immature to take her to bed?
Because if it’s the latter… then I’m not sure I agree with your definition of maturity.
“Immature”? More like “crude, clumsy & oafish”.
(Not that there aren’t women who will go for that, too.)
Personally I think Neil will stop things before they go too far. Just because she can’t help flirting with Rodge, doesn’t mean she’ll go all the way before she stops herself.