Bet Poak gives the best hugs.
Wish I were good at being Poak too.

I would get along well with Poak as we seem to align pretty well on a lot of things. Though he's clearly far better at it than I.

Poak is a zen Saint and I love him

Poak is so adorable <3
One of my favorite what-ifs is the Poak and Kass ending X3 (even the more funny one X3)

I want to like hang out with Poak

Heart and body be big for Poak. That brain of his is just trying to keep up with that big heart.

For some reason I imagine Poak constantly making typical dad jokes.

What do you call a yinglet that's completely black?

A yin-let!

Decorations made out of seashells are the best.

You could say they are a CLAM-ssic!

can i haz more?

What's a Jewish yinglet's favorite treat?


Oi-sters!

(I'll see myself out now)

I don't know why I am so good at cooking zhese clams. I guess it's just MUSSEL memory!

i hope you're writhing this down Val cause there's a tone of pun-tential here.

Everyone needs a Poak in their life. He's the bestest.

Would be kinda hilarious to see him try to not be Poak. Someone dares him to act mean or the like, probably with a large amount of food as reward, but because everyone thinks of Poak as being just the best all his attempts at being mean end up interpreted in a positive light.

For example.

Random Yinglet - "I feel sad being scout inna tree."

'Evil' Poak - "You should, you are very much bad." *attempted scowl*

Random Yinglet - "Oh! Okay, I feels lots better knowin' I'm supposed to feel zhat way!"

'Evil' Poak - "No! I'm saying you are total dumb head and should be fed to beasties!"

Random Yinglet - "I should join zhe hunters?! Zhat's such a good idea! You ah genius Poak!" *dashes off delightedly*

'Evil' Poak - "Maybe zhis take longer to get all zhem clams zhen I zhought."

evil poak is my yinglet

Like Spooky or Hot Stuff in the Harvey comics of the 60s.

Yeah! Good examples. :D

Fat yinglet.

The Poakinest Poaker that ever Poaked. :3

I’m reminded of how Gargoyle’s talked about the parenting in the gargoyle clans.

More grade-A worldbuilding here, dressed up as a seemingly innocuous chat between these two good boys. I really like the alternative structures and values you've given yinglet society, and the fact that it all just seems to... work. Poak in particular seems to embody all of that. He's completely comfortable in his generosity of spirit and selflessness, and we love him for it.

Kattajak... now, his dilemma is bending my mind a little bit. Imagine feeling out of place (hah!) in one's own society because you care too much about your offspring! I can actually see him and Zally fitting in pretty well among humans, even becoming ambassadors for their species, given the very human-like closeness of their bond. Perhaps Kattajak even has a strand or two of human DNA lurking somewhere in his makeup? After all, Kass has already shown that the separation between the two species is somewhat, um, fluid in this world.

Kattajack's situation reminded me of the book The Giver, where the main character, I forget his name, asked his father if he loves him. I think his mother scolded him and the father said something along the lines of "I enjoy you; I am very fond of you." You can tell it's been a while since I read it, but the structure of the society is similar in that the parents aren't allowed to form close bonds with their children.

Poak maybe thicc but he is good at heart

Poak has a thicc heart

I think that is an heart condition :P

Don't we all?

Genuinely, what a solid scene. Val, your characters are always so damn on point 🤍

I fear for the big Poak. I don't want him to get poaking killed.

Deema is a good boi, just like his father.

Oh Poak is just so sweet huh, everybody love Poak. But most importantly. Poak loves everybody!

When you are looking for an answer but didn't get squat.

Kattajak’s pose in the last panel gives me major Jojo “oh you’re approaching me” vibes and I’m all for it.

I want Poak to be happy and safe and full of good food.

There are others that are like Poak and Deema?
Where are they?
Could one of them be a female?

Poak is best Poak.

We should all try to be good at being Poak, methinks.

Dat poak underfluff on the last panel though. :3

Very sweet as well ^^

Everybody loves Poak, and Poak loves everybody!

Exactly !

Deema's a boy?

So yinglets don't get attached to their kids very much, huh?

Everyone loves Poak! *90's sitcom music starts playing* <^\/^>

*scribbles down on a list* "And Poak is now going in my favorite Yinglet's list" "This...is getting kinda long"

I gave up on a "Favorite Yinglet list".. It's way easier to do a "not fond of list"... It's not too surprisingly very short.

....your logic is sound

Oh Goddess I so understand and relate to Poak! In my case most call it being very maternal.
I guess that's why I don't understand Kattajak's concern about his affections for his daughter.
It might not be the usual thing, but I do think it a good one.
Whether he sees it or not he holds some for others too. It makes him a good Patriarch.

Regular Yinglets are cute and all, but I do prefer the more human-like ones. So relatable.

Time to quote Yannit. "They are all so cute!"

Hello, OOPsers! I'm here to remind you once again that there's a place called "Top Web Comics" https://www.topwebcomics.com/?home=3 that compiles comics from various places. There's a bunch of cool stuff there. They have monthly votes, so you can support OOPs there. You can vote once a day per device, so your PC, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.
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OOPs closed out last month at 44th place and about 929 votes. It's currently at 547 votes and 49th place. The highest it's reached is 36th place, and the top vote getters seem to end up with something close to 20,000 votes.

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I'm going to start calling him Poakwise the Brave.

Poak: Everybody's dad.

Very big, much Poak, yes

Poak is Big Daddy for all!

So nice to see Poak again. <3

Had to "Instant Fave" this one. It got my day off to a good start and made me feel good.

Ok, I really like this that Kattajack is questioning if his feelings are right, which I feel should be. I just hope the enclave won't think it's weird to have these feelings since I still feel the enclave treats their young as just another count for the population.

Hold the press Poak is very good at being poak.

Poak out here lifting the whole enclave crew up, 10/10 Ying

Poak is everybody's dad

Everyone's first Yinglet friend should be Poak.

That's the guy. That's the smart, tough, loving, indestructible guy.

Heh....

Poak is a capybara in ratbird form.

These two? The two in the comic above? I love them, and I want good things for them.

Seeing how Big Poak is compared to other yinglets (not only in body mass, but in height, I can imagine him being the strong ying of the enclave. Make him mad and he just might tie you into a pretzel, pop back into happy Poak and just wander off

Once iirc he stuck a yinglet into a hole in the ground and then walked away.

Glowing grubs for lighting, neat!

Wonder if close child-parent bonds were more common before the Greatest One reorganized Ying society.

He's like the Uncle Grandpa of the Yinglets or something ;3

Good stuff as always, love the conversation.

<3 Poak

Everyone loves Poak

these two are a couple of good boys

It's really interesting when you have a society that functions like this, beacuse I know at one point I thought, "Aren't there any yinglets that care to know their own kid?" Especially the girls, because whole generations likely belong to them. Not to mention, females are almost always described as being more caring and protective over their children. Also, did yinglets ever develop any maternal instincts? I can't imagine Kattajack is the only one that feels the way he does, but just like Poak, he's been raised in a society that has taught him what's normal, so... *shrugs*

I feel like Poak has a lower octave that the other yinglets can’t reach when speaking.

We all need a Poak