I was giving this guy the benefit of the doubt. Now, though... Either someone's hitting the point home a little too far, or we've got a BBEG but for real-life.

Holee Heck, this guy needs to get decked

At this rate, by the time he's kicked from the group, he'll be mugging children for drug money...or drugging children for mug money.

"Firm" He's obviously a lawyer and therefore already well past the mugging children phase of crime and manipulation.

After all, what is a lawyer without a diamond-encrusted platinum mug to hold his pens?

I wasn't seeing the him as all that much of the bastard.

That has changed.

This is how abusers are. They're maybe a little iffy in public, but nothing super obvious. All the really manipulative stuff happens in private.

Jesus Christ, you really had to go out your way to make him bad huh?

Urg... I'm so skipping the next arc...

I'm gonna watch to see Corey destroy him and all he stands for.

Same.

And I wouldn't call this out of the way, this is totally expected, we've been calling him manipulative for a reason.

Third (or more if I get ninja'd, which by the amount of time spent editing this is highly likely) the sentiment. Hoping it ends with the local constabulary paying this "person" a visit to give him a private accommodation for the rest of his natural life.

There was a possibility that he was merely a jerk, now we know that he is more than just a Jerk He is a bad guy.
Looking forward to seeing him get his comeupance.

I have officially lost count of how many red flags this guy is triggering...

Reminds me of that episode of Burn Notice where Larry makes it so that Mike's phone will not send nor receive any texts nor calls from anyone but himself.

3x13 Enemies Closer
Turning an asset is a multi-step process. You back them into a corner, you pile on stress, you create tension with the people they trust, and if you can cut them off from good influences so you're the only voice in their ear, the're much more likely to listen. It's a formula that works so well, it even works on spies who ought to know better.

Holy cow, you have no idea how much I love seeing Burn Notice get referred to, and how many great quotes and lessons it has.

yeah.... no. Dude's gotta go. Definitely reminds me of a guy that ended up getting the tar kicked out of him by a joint group of bloods and hells angels.

Eh. Kind of disappointed honestly. A lot of earlier stuff with Mr 9 while bad also made me think he was going to be used to highlight aspects of other people's playing style maybe needing a second look while also being someone who needed to take a firm look in the mirror themselves. A reminder that a common flaw of gaming groups is they get into their personal circles of how their sessions go and they have to actually think about the enjoyment of everyone at the table.
In this session off a casual reminder of what's happened we had the party as a whole overlooking the fact that Merry was dissolving in acid while they focused on other things, Luke's tendency to do whatever the heck he felt seemed right at the time irrespective of the impact on the other players (ripped out the mast of the ship as a weapon when the ship is another PC. Seriously?).
Reread this arc and try to imagine yourself as a brand new player at the table and see how many moments you can hear any of the regular players announcing "but it's my character" as a justification. Oddly Corey seems to be being the best behaved almost as though he is trying to tone some tendencies down while assessing the newcomer and Rika's new PC.
And on the GM side that Gordon both relies too heavily on the books which seem to have a certain tendency to drop in overpowered NPCs to aid rail roading while also not fully prepping for the sessions by reading the module in full.
But instead the player's gotten more generically villainous as the comments section has gotten more ragey and now we just appear to be hitting peak douche between this and last few strips.
I guess I've been spoiled by the comic so far and how it handled DM in Syrup Village but I suspect I'm not going to enjoy how it all pans out since it seems he's just going to be a generic "villain." And I don't just mean in character.
Note of course this all remains an amazing bit of work, one of the better campaign comics I've ever read, likely the best One Piece inspired work I've ever read and I suspect even if I did not have the excessive amount of headspace dedicated to One Piece that I do I'd still enjoy it. So please don't take this as "wah, poor writing, wah!" but rather "ah he's one of those sorts of players. Fair enough, I'll come back when the story hits its inevitable peak level of dickbaggery from him and we move on to other plot."

Drat, missed off "and" between the remark about acid and Luke's willful tendencies. Curse my flawed grammar.

I, for one, fully support this sentiment.

I would have been much happier if he was a new player, simply trying to enjoy the hobby with his GF, and struggling to adapt to it, especially with such a colourful group of veteran players.

But, nope. Had to make him out to be a full jerkass. Even through Mr 9 helped Vivi in the end.

I dunno I feel like he's been presented as abusive from the start? Not internet abusive either where it's like 'oh noes some called you a dick call the internet police' but actual real world, emotionally manipulative abuser.

My current assumption is he's gonna end up npced. I haven't read one piece in a think over a decade know so I barely remember but I think Zoro maybe fought him later? So that could be cool to see.

http://grandline3point5.thecomicseries.com/comics/1408#content-start

This is just after the chapter where it's established that the GM has been missing a lot of what's in the modules and basically KOd Rika as the ship for the foreseeable. So from the player of Mr 9's perspective this is something they've chatted about out of game and he just watched it happen in game with fairly indifferent GM reaction and 0 PC objections/ideas how to get her back into play but mostly just a shrug. His remarks come off as terse tactless but given the reactions of player and GM at this point kind of understandable.

The comments section reacts accordingly and concludes that this person is emotionally abusive OC and should suffer. A while later and the comic has supported this and my interest has drained.

Bear in mind that a prior player (DM) played to murder slightly less than half the party IC and have them, as new characters, and the rest join them as evil aligned PCs due to misreading the sort of game it was going to be. That's forgivable yet included as much OC emotional manipulation given what she did with Rika's character's backstory. Just all at the gaming table.

Again. Comic is great. Comic is good. I just know I am looking forwards to post Whiskey Peak since the current stuff has made it clear about the route this is going and the comments section reflects the same. There is a lot of iffy behaviour on display from some of the players and GM this arc, Mr 9 Shades of Awful being the worst by far and away, but it seems that all we are going to have is him being the problem.
After the DM arc I expected a bit more nuance but unfortunately it seems it's just going to be the generic. The comments section will be happy and hopefully we move on to other plot. I am going to be thrilled to hear about which sourcebook contained the gattling wig for example.

Woooooo new ark, grand line ark, closing in on the best ark!

Noooooo march 30!

I think we just met Spandam...

Somebody like this isn't going to be allowed back for another character, unless the Enis Lobby arc is apart of a public game somehow. Like, I guess the other tables will be the Franky Family and Water 7 shipwrights. Then they'll have the chance to reveal Jayden's true colors to everyone.

If we cast Rika as being Robin's player, that could be interesting to see.

The purple aura of her speech bubbles, combined with the way Vivi is switched out for Robin, practically shout to the heavens that this'll be the case.

So the comic will be back just in time for April 1st.
Wonder if this will be the return of the romcom

Fake-out updates are my favorite April Fools jokes, especially when they're plausible enough to keep us guessing.

Ah, I'd forgotten about those. They have always made me smile.

I'm almost certain that both DM and Luke played with the guy (and had some bad memories with him)

Why Luke? I think he would have said something...

Page 1326
http://grandline3point5.thecomicseries.com/comics/1369#content-start
He says he looks familiar, but there's no follow up.

Well, this just got distressingly relatable, I hope this keeps up.