Jean AKA Jeannie AKA Jeanie is a film, book, and magazine reviewer for a national magazine. Most of Jean’s work is done through email, which means he doesn't have to go into the office.
On a trip to find a gift for his girlfriend, Jean found an empty Genie Bottle. Upon picking up this bottle, Jean became the bottle’s new genie-powered occupant. Not only was Jean turned into a genie, but the bottle turned him into what he believed a genie of the bottle should look like. Which, due to his fascination with a classic 60s TV show, turned him into a busty blonde woman.
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.
Now, is the “oh crap” because Natalie doesn’t want her Master and these alternate-timeline visitors to meet before she can sort things out, or is it because she dislikes having to serve her Master because he is a jerk/perv?
Probably won’t become an issue (I’m gonna guess that Jeanie and Neil do stay out of sight, and just get told what’s up), but… who is the master of the bottle, and therefore Jeanie? Is it Neil, or is it Natalie’s master?
I am going with Jean being the master and if Jean is the master, then Jeanie must have told Jean about the genie bottle and that it would turn him into a genie. So he got Neil to pick up the genie bottle and to become a genie.
There’s no reason to believe that Jeanie told Jean about the bottle. It is much more likely that the timeline continued as normal except that Neil is the one that opened the bottle when they went shopping.
Only that Neil is a genie now and we didn’t hear the entire conversation between Jeanie and Jean. It could be one reason that it wasn’t Jean that picked up the bottle in the first place, besides, only Jean was interested in the genie bottle originally and Neil had absolutely no interest in the genie bottle until Jean was turned into Jeanie. It would explain very well as to what has happened so far and why Neil is a genie now.
If this didn’t happen, then some else had to happen to cause what we see to have happened.
“I’m Neil Anton.”
“I’m Neil Anton. ‘Neil’ is a masculine name, and I’m a guy. You are not. So….”
===
We can’t even tell if whoever is back is male or female. So, still waiting.
Hm, check out Jeanie’s eyes, and Neil’s hand gestures.
Jeanie’s the only one who doesn’t glance up at the “I’m back!”. She continues to stare at Genatte.
In the last frame, I think Neil’s pointing at Jeanie.
===
For reasons I can’t quite explain, but including what we know of the original set up, and what we see here, I think in this time line, Neil’s the one who got geniefied by picking up the bottle. Her Master is Jean, who is still a horndog.
I am going with Jean also being Neil Natalie Master, because, originally, the only reason that Jean got geniefied instead of Neil, was because Jean was the one that picked of the empty genie totem or the bottle first and became the new genie of the bottle. There no other reason why reason why anybody else should have become Neil/Natalie master either. The only reason why both Neil and Jean were there originally was to get a present for Belle and there would be no reason for anybody else to have been there with Neil to get the genie bottle at the Co Co Beach Antic Shop.
If Jean is “Natalie’s” Master (which seems likely based on the original circumstances), then there’s a good chance she may have learned what it’s like to be a woman long before Jeanie ever did… which seems to be never.
The sleeper here is that Zoey is the only one that got a box on the left side during the school prom, if that any indication, then Neil/Natalie Master could be Zoey. Even that not off the table either.
@Larry: I agree, Zoey is always a possibility, but I think the odds-on favorite is Jean and all the circumstances point that way. Jean went shopping for a gift to give Belle and became Jeanie with Neil as Master. A slight variation would be Neil opening the bottle and becoming Natalie with Jean as Master. Perhaps Zoey was the reason Neil was shopping, but it doesn’t matter. Natalie’s reaction in panel 3 simply does not imply Zoey as her owner, but it screams douchebag Jean.
My money is still on Zoey. 4th panel, after hearing the master’s voice, Neil is making the sheepish finger gesture (touching your index fingers together). As if he just realized “Oh no, I screwed up and this is all my fault. How am I gonna explain this to Jeanie.”
Neither Jean/Jeanie nor Neal/Natalie are nitwits. But Neil’s smarts are nerdish; he understands things better than people. Jean is impulsive; he has little concern for effects over the long term. Fortunately, Jean does have some grasp of how people work.
Both Neil and Jean are smart, but they are unwise. Most especially, Jean is unconcerned with how his actions affect others, while Neil is unable to assert himself. They’re perfect for each other. Together, as Master and Genie, they might make a functional unit.
@mike: Neil has a great deal of self discipline, and is smart enough to be an aerospace engineer, but doesn’t understand people very well. Jeanie is impulsive, but has had girl friends, functions well at cocktail parties, and is capable of making a living using words to analyze and discuss movies, implying a certain grasp of human psychology. If I had to guess, I’d say Neil has the greater raw intelligence, augmented by his self-discipline, and his ability to set long-term goals. That’s why he’d make the better Master of the two IF HE’D JUST PICK UP THE DAMN LOAD. Gods, Neil could be a Hoodoo Engineer. He should quit his job, and study the Genie Manual as if his life and soul, and Jeanie’s, depended on it–because they do.
Also, look up “5 Laws of Stupidity”, which defines stupid people as those who hurt others while also hurting themselves. There’s a quadrant chart, setting harm/benefit to self on the X axis, and harm/benefit to others on the Y axis. Neil is simply naive: He lets others take advantage of himself. Jean is a bandit: he takes advantage of others. Intelligent people benefit themselves while benefitting others. Stupid people, as noted, hurt others with no self benefit. In this model, “stupidity” has NO CORRELATION with general intelligence, education, training, or any particular skill set.Stupid people are said to be more dangerous than bandits, because their actions are much harder to predict.
Am I the only one who thinks that when all this is resolved the timeline should have regular Neil, and “Librarian” Natalie, and “Genie” Natalie?
And possibly a Natalie wearing a space suit and brandishing a ray gun who bursts through the door and says “OK this is where things gets complicated.”?
I love Space Natalie with ray gun and genre awareness. Her space suit, of course, is the 1940s pulp sort, exposing as much skin as the censors will allow. Brass bra and panties, you know the type. And the ray gun fires little circles of light, like smoke rings. She is pursued by tentacled bug-eyed monsters wherever she goes.
I want that lovely Clydesdale-sized pony tail to spring out of a hole in the back of her fishbowl helmet. Robert, can you push CD to do a patreon pinup of Spacer Natalie?
What would “Spacer Natalie” entail? I don’t know what a Spacer is.
That said, I can’t really convince him to do anything while he’s away for the next ~6 months. He’s not going to be doing regular Patreon content for that whole time, and the Patreon is thus paused until he gets back.
Personal preference, not a prediction:
Resolve leaves Jean as Jeanie, and Neil as Neil–but perhaps with at least some of Natalie’s and Genatte’s memories, so that their experiences are not simply lost.
Natalie the librarian, never explained to Jeanie-the genie- that she was the new genie of the bottle. Therefor they are the same girl. The master then would be Belle or Jean giving us two Jeans. Jeanie will still have to go back in time to prom and actually have sex with Jean to reset the timeline. Most be some way to save Natalie, the librarian though. I think everyone likes her.
Comic #680. Jeanie was between the Genie Natalie and Neil, or at least closer to Genatte than Neil was. If Genatte was Librarian Natalie, she’d have recognized Jeanie since it was only a few hours ago (if that – about five strips) that she sent Jeanie off with an order to “Don’t forget me this time!”
Check out the header picture at the top of the page. There’s been a change. I don’t know when the change occurred, but it has been applied retroactively to all previous comics.
The header is always the same image, no matter what page you’re viewing. CD Rudd changes the header image occasionally, and this time it happened to be changed via a script that was scheduled to change it yesterday.
@50srefugee: It isn’t a violation because Jeanie is still a genie. Now we have two genies, neither of which can return to being human… or male. One thing that seems to be in question is whether 2 genies can live in the same vessel with the same owner (or worse, different owners), and if they can live together as sisters, what sort of domestic strife will that create.
Along those lines… here’s a horrible thought. If that is Jean “summoning” his genie from the bottle that he owns, won’t that also summon Jeanie, since they “share” the same bottle?
Neil pointing at himself? But then in panel 4, he’s pointing at Jeanie–and looks a bit stern, if I’m reading those eyebrows aright. I think Neil does recognize the voice, and it’s Jean. Jeez, Master Jean with Genatte, and Master Neil with Jeanie. My head is spinning.
I know that there are other possibilities of other people being Neil/Natalie Master, but, I am still going with Jean as her Master. It could also be why she is dreading what Jean is going to be doing too.
Alternate timeline. So is Jean or Rodge the master?
I’m gonna go for the long odds, and guess Chess King Danny. [shudder]
yeah, that honestly seems like a worse situation
that’s what I was thinking
That does seem to be where this is leading.
Now, is the “oh crap” because Natalie doesn’t want her Master and these alternate-timeline visitors to meet before she can sort things out, or is it because she dislikes having to serve her Master because he is a jerk/perv?
A good question!
I betting on Jean being the jerk that Natalie or Neil the genie is serving.
I’m with Larry on this, I also was thinking the two are reversed.
*ala Ricky Ricardo* Jeannie, You Got Some ‘Splanin’ To Do!
Probably won’t become an issue (I’m gonna guess that Jeanie and Neil do stay out of sight, and just get told what’s up), but… who is the master of the bottle, and therefore Jeanie? Is it Neil, or is it Natalie’s master?
Considering That “oh Crap”, I’ll bet it’s Jean as I predicted last time
I am going with Jean being the master and if Jean is the master, then Jeanie must have told Jean about the genie bottle and that it would turn him into a genie. So he got Neil to pick up the genie bottle and to become a genie.
As they say, loose lips sink ships!
There’s no reason to believe that Jeanie told Jean about the bottle. It is much more likely that the timeline continued as normal except that Neil is the one that opened the bottle when they went shopping.
Only that Neil is a genie now and we didn’t hear the entire conversation between Jeanie and Jean. It could be one reason that it wasn’t Jean that picked up the bottle in the first place, besides, only Jean was interested in the genie bottle originally and Neil had absolutely no interest in the genie bottle until Jean was turned into Jeanie. It would explain very well as to what has happened so far and why Neil is a genie now.
If this didn’t happen, then some else had to happen to cause what we see to have happened.
@Larry: You don’t have to be shopping for a present to be stupid curious and open things.
I’m Scruffy. The janitor?
I think Genie Neil has bigger boobs than Jean. Nice outfit, too lol So that’s what his “vision” of a genie looks like, huh?
Well if Jean was her master then “I wish you had bigger boobs”
Bah, if Jean had any forethought at all (which he probably doesn’t), then he would wish for all girls everywhere to be extra sexy.
“I’m Neil Anton.”
“I’m Neil Anton. ‘Neil’ is a masculine name, and I’m a guy. You are not. So….”
===
We can’t even tell if whoever is back is male or female. So, still waiting.
Hm, check out Jeanie’s eyes, and Neil’s hand gestures.
Jeanie’s the only one who doesn’t glance up at the “I’m back!”. She continues to stare at Genatte.
In the last frame, I think Neil’s pointing at Jeanie.
===
For reasons I can’t quite explain, but including what we know of the original set up, and what we see here, I think in this time line, Neil’s the one who got geniefied by picking up the bottle. Her Master is Jean, who is still a horndog.
I am going with Jean also being Neil Natalie Master, because, originally, the only reason that Jean got geniefied instead of Neil, was because Jean was the one that picked of the empty genie totem or the bottle first and became the new genie of the bottle. There no other reason why reason why anybody else should have become Neil/Natalie master either. The only reason why both Neil and Jean were there originally was to get a present for Belle and there would be no reason for anybody else to have been there with Neil to get the genie bottle at the Co Co Beach Antic Shop.
If Jean is “Natalie’s” Master (which seems likely based on the original circumstances), then there’s a good chance she may have learned what it’s like to be a woman long before Jeanie ever did… which seems to be never.
The sleeper here is that Zoey is the only one that got a box on the left side during the school prom, if that any indication, then Neil/Natalie Master could be Zoey. Even that not off the table either.
@Larry: I agree, Zoey is always a possibility, but I think the odds-on favorite is Jean and all the circumstances point that way. Jean went shopping for a gift to give Belle and became Jeanie with Neil as Master. A slight variation would be Neil opening the bottle and becoming Natalie with Jean as Master. Perhaps Zoey was the reason Neil was shopping, but it doesn’t matter. Natalie’s reaction in panel 3 simply does not imply Zoey as her owner, but it screams douchebag Jean.
My money is still on Zoey. 4th panel, after hearing the master’s voice, Neil is making the sheepish finger gesture (touching your index fingers together). As if he just realized “Oh no, I screwed up and this is all my fault. How am I gonna explain this to Jeanie.”
Iirc CDRudd did a what if picture of Jeanie and Neil switching places. I’m guessing we’ll see that played out now.
Ah. Here it is: comic/jeanie-bottle-75
…and a bit later, the infamous “control yours”: comic/jeanie-bottle-78
@Arthur Dent: Yeah, it was one of the early ones.
Uh, speaking of “early ones”? How the hell is all this not in violation of the “math” here? comic/06202009
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And Wowsers, when did Genatte appear as the header pinup? Hot, but I think she used a bit much of the green eye shadow.
My guess? Since Jeanie hasn’t been “un-genied”, they haven’t broken those rules.
Another possibility: Jeanie is so powerful that she can just break those rules now.
Another possibility: Only *wishes* are so restricted. No wishes have happened in this storyline.
Another salient question: If Neil became the genie in this timeline, who defeated the Blue Djinn?
ahh, so it wasn’t that Natalie didn’t recognize Neil, it was that she didn’t believe it was her/him
that makes more sense
so this Natalie, if i’m guessing right is the younger version of Neil (who got socked in the eye.)
Oh crap… what if Natalie’s master is -grimaces in nausea- Danny of all people?
Yep, gotta be Danny.
Remember Danny in Cincinnati Ohio and the genie bottle in Coco Beach Florida, which is about a 1000 miles away from each other.
Danny’s a dope – he’s no one’s master…
I am going to say this, Jeanie you are a nitwite.
Neither Jean/Jeanie nor Neal/Natalie are nitwits. But Neil’s smarts are nerdish; he understands things better than people. Jean is impulsive; he has little concern for effects over the long term. Fortunately, Jean does have some grasp of how people work.
Both Neil and Jean are smart, but they are unwise. Most especially, Jean is unconcerned with how his actions affect others, while Neil is unable to assert himself. They’re perfect for each other. Together, as Master and Genie, they might make a functional unit.
I think you need to explain that better… which is better at what?
@mike: Neil has a great deal of self discipline, and is smart enough to be an aerospace engineer, but doesn’t understand people very well. Jeanie is impulsive, but has had girl friends, functions well at cocktail parties, and is capable of making a living using words to analyze and discuss movies, implying a certain grasp of human psychology. If I had to guess, I’d say Neil has the greater raw intelligence, augmented by his self-discipline, and his ability to set long-term goals. That’s why he’d make the better Master of the two IF HE’D JUST PICK UP THE DAMN LOAD. Gods, Neil could be a Hoodoo Engineer. He should quit his job, and study the Genie Manual as if his life and soul, and Jeanie’s, depended on it–because they do.
Also, look up “5 Laws of Stupidity”, which defines stupid people as those who hurt others while also hurting themselves. There’s a quadrant chart, setting harm/benefit to self on the X axis, and harm/benefit to others on the Y axis. Neil is simply naive: He lets others take advantage of himself. Jean is a bandit: he takes advantage of others. Intelligent people benefit themselves while benefitting others. Stupid people, as noted, hurt others with no self benefit. In this model, “stupidity” has NO CORRELATION with general intelligence, education, training, or any particular skill set.Stupid people are said to be more dangerous than bandits, because their actions are much harder to predict.
I wonder if the bottle master could be Belle?
Am I the only one who thinks that when all this is resolved the timeline should have regular Neil, and “Librarian” Natalie, and “Genie” Natalie?
And possibly a Natalie wearing a space suit and brandishing a ray gun who bursts through the door and says “OK this is where things gets complicated.”?
So, Actress Natalie, who plays a Pixie Ranger?
I love Space Natalie with ray gun and genre awareness. Her space suit, of course, is the 1940s pulp sort, exposing as much skin as the censors will allow. Brass bra and panties, you know the type. And the ray gun fires little circles of light, like smoke rings. She is pursued by tentacled bug-eyed monsters wherever she goes.
I was thinking of the classic silver latex space suit complete with heels and fish bowl helmet.
I would vote for that. Into the Natalie-Verse, perhaps?
I want that lovely Clydesdale-sized pony tail to spring out of a hole in the back of her fishbowl helmet.
Robert, can you push CD to do a patreon pinup of Spacer Natalie?
What would “Spacer Natalie” entail? I don’t know what a Spacer is.
That said, I can’t really convince him to do anything while he’s away for the next ~6 months. He’s not going to be doing regular Patreon content for that whole time, and the Patreon is thus paused until he gets back.
Just curious – is CD a serviceman – hence the “deployments”.
Personal preference, not a prediction:
Resolve leaves Jean as Jeanie, and Neil as Neil–but perhaps with at least some of Natalie’s and Genatte’s memories, so that their experiences are not simply lost.
Natalie the librarian, never explained to Jeanie-the genie- that she was the new genie of the bottle. Therefor they are the same girl. The master then would be Belle or Jean giving us two Jeans. Jeanie will still have to go back in time to prom and actually have sex with Jean to reset the timeline. Most be some way to save Natalie, the librarian though. I think everyone likes her.
If Librarian Natalie was the same person as Genie Natalie, wouldn’t she recognize Jeanie?
I think she is pointing at Neil. I believe she did recognise Jeanie.
Comic #680. Jeanie was between the Genie Natalie and Neil, or at least closer to Genatte than Neil was. If Genatte was Librarian Natalie, she’d have recognized Jeanie since it was only a few hours ago (if that – about five strips) that she sent Jeanie off with an order to “Don’t forget me this time!”
Neil must’ve grabbed the bottle first.
Check out the header picture at the top of the page. There’s been a change. I don’t know when the change occurred, but it has been applied retroactively to all previous comics.
There’s a new genie in town.
Earliest reference I found is in the previous comic’s comments, on 2 February at 0157, by Fearless Ferret.
Makes sense; that was when the time-line changed.
The header is always the same image, no matter what page you’re viewing. CD Rudd changes the header image occasionally, and this time it happened to be changed via a script that was scheduled to change it yesterday.
welp, looks like there’s only 1 way to fix this mess – time for another trip!
@50srefugee: It isn’t a violation because Jeanie is still a genie. Now we have two genies, neither of which can return to being human… or male. One thing that seems to be in question is whether 2 genies can live in the same vessel with the same owner (or worse, different owners), and if they can live together as sisters, what sort of domestic strife will that create.
Along those lines… here’s a horrible thought. If that is Jean “summoning” his genie from the bottle that he owns, won’t that also summon Jeanie, since they “share” the same bottle?
Crazy thought… Could Jeanie bring her bottle.. inside this bottle?
Infinite bottle regress…with alternating Jean/Neal Masters, and Genatte/Jeanie genies.
oh the torture to wait to see while the master is. hope it Jean that would be ironic and cool. Love Neil as new genie banner header
Neil’s expression in panel 3. He recognized that voice.
Neil pointing at himself? But then in panel 4, he’s pointing at Jeanie–and looks a bit stern, if I’m reading those eyebrows aright. I think Neil does recognize the voice, and it’s Jean. Jeez, Master Jean with Genatte, and Master Neil with Jeanie. My head is spinning.
I know that there are other possibilities of other people being Neil/Natalie Master, but, I am still going with Jean as her Master. It could also be why she is dreading what Jean is going to be doing too.