So your argument is that Luann is some big audiophile, despite the fact that the equipment preferred by those guys is still the high-end stuff? Because I guarantee you nobody thinks a cassette player like this is superior to digital recording.
Look, if you’re gonna invent headcanon to justify this storyarc, at least make it something believable. Try this one out: Luann as a small child was very close with her aunt. This tape deck belonged to the lady during her own youth, and she’d use it to record her thoughts. As an adult she passed it on to her beloved niece shortly before dying of cancer. Luann then used it in the same way, in an effort to keep her aunt’s memory alive. While talking about the person was painful, using the tape recorder brought comfort instead of pain (which is why she’ll talk about her memories with it but not how she got it in the first place.)
How long has it been since Axel used tutoring as an excuse to hit on her? She never did catch on to that one. Luann isn’t exactly the brightest bulb around.
And since the tutoring thing has been forgotten in favor of “look at my 40-year-old recording device that I used as a diary 6 years ago in 2016 instead of a smartphone”, looks like there’s no payoff either way.
As Gasoline Alley recently taught me, comic strip flashbacks don’t mean anything except the author has temporary writer’s block. They certainly don’t get used for anything that might actually affect the status quo.
She recognizes her own, word-for-word, lines and realizes that Vale had tricked her into doing the legwork for him. For Vale, the egg hits the fan.
I think you may be overestimating Luann’s influence and Vale’s concern. Even if she finds out and has the brains to put two and two together (and based on G&K’s dumbing her down lately, that’s not guaranteed) she’ll just make a lil’ pissy face and everyone will move on. I gotta agree with BuckarooDave: Vale is gone, having successfully gotten one over on Luann.
I dunno, I think it’s safe to say we’re never gonna see Elwood, Prudence or Delta show up in Pittsville again. And my observation is based in 38 years of strip history. Other than hairstyles, none of Bernice’s changes EVER stick long enough to show up in another storyarc. You think G&K are gonna suddenly decide to change that, nearly 4 decades into the strip?
Oh look at that: surprising absolutely nobody (nobody with any knowledge of how the character and strip operate, that is), Bernice abandoned her muse makeover and has reset to factory settings once again, having experienced no lasting growth or change.
If you have to ask if the dream where you launched a rocket to Mars fueled by peppers and whiskey was just a dream or if it really happened, you’re either completely delusional or a full-blown idiot.
So your argument is that Luann is some big audiophile, despite the fact that the equipment preferred by those guys is still the high-end stuff? Because I guarantee you nobody thinks a cassette player like this is superior to digital recording.
Look, if you’re gonna invent headcanon to justify this storyarc, at least make it something believable. Try this one out: Luann as a small child was very close with her aunt. This tape deck belonged to the lady during her own youth, and she’d use it to record her thoughts. As an adult she passed it on to her beloved niece shortly before dying of cancer. Luann then used it in the same way, in an effort to keep her aunt’s memory alive. While talking about the person was painful, using the tape recorder brought comfort instead of pain (which is why she’ll talk about her memories with it but not how she got it in the first place.)