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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 7d
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social ⋅ 20d
Gwen Snyder is uncivil @gwensnyder.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Ash Parrish @adashtra.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Katie @katiestp.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Hunter S Schafer @bolt451.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
DaisyFM ✒︎ @daisyfm.net ⋅ 3d
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(he/him)
⚧
New game! BOLTED
FAAACE!
FAAAAAAAAAAACE!
Finally, got what was coming to her!
With her penis.
And a ragon.
Indeed, face.
Am I the only one who feels like doing that too?
The combination of your avatar and your comment is hilarious.
Yes, my avatar is the best one to use in order to emphasize my violent tendencies.
Cupcakes.
No, you’re not the only one. Much as I like this version of Ruth, she DID go too far. So, go Billie.
i want to do it, while listening to [Sic] by slipknot. the “here comes the pain” from that song popped into my head when i saw the pungh
DRAGOOOOOOOOO!
Dragooooooo PAAAAWWWWCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, release the RAGON! (DRAGO?)
With her penis!
That punch gave me a harding ragon.
oh, hell yes, HARDING RAGE-ON!
you and now immediatly and forever my favourite person.
To the FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.
WELL done, Billie. VERY WELL DONE.
This made my day even more; only four minutes in now.
That’s how much DOA!Ruth pisses me off. Seeing her punched in the face is more satisfying than having one of those idiot “anti-social” douches getting lit on fire.
Anyways, THANK YOU.
Billy just made a lot of people happy…
Wow… did she just snap Ruth’s glasses with her fist? That’s impressive.
I think she did. I wonder if Ruth can fight blind?
Probably, she’s got killer RA instincts
But her instincts didn’t keep her from getting punched in the FAAACE!
… with her penis.
Ruth had that one coming SO BAD. Seriously, she was over the line when she took the outfit, much less defacing it.
GO BILLIE GO BILLIE GO!!
Seriously, what did she *think* was going to happen?
Well, it’s about TIME!!
After Friday’s strip, I was hoping that would happen, but given how easily Ruth beat her in their first confrontation, I didn’t really expect it. Get her, Billie!
When Ruth tossed her into the couch it was using judo.
whether or not she is is still undecided.
It’s “how” Batman was once able to toss Superman around.
Think of it as the plot device combat technique.
Billie was just unaware that Ruth was using leverage to appear stronger
Batman once beat Superman just by using martial-arts leverage techniques? Interesting. When/where was that? I do remember Miller!Batman besting Superman in DKR and DKSA. In the first case, he had an advantage in that Supes was still recovering from an H-bomb detonation which blocked out the sun and temporarily shrivelled him; Bats also used technology on him, e.g. tapping into Gotham’s power grid to (non-lethally) electrocute him. In the second case, he teamed up with other superheroes who had a bone to pick with Supes. The only specific thing I remember is the Atom shrinking himself and rattling around inside Superman’s ear, so as to screw with his sense of balance.
Hey, Captain America once threw the Hulk over his shoulder using applied pressure and leverage.
Of course, he THEN tried to make him black out using a choke hold aaaand… well, you can imagine how well THAT went.
Increases in blood pressure is what triggers the Hulk-out reflex in the first place.
(I know my pseudoscience!)
I don’t know if Batman has, but Karate Kid (who is so skilled with multiple martial arts that it counts as a full-on superpower) did in his first appearance.
It was in a 3 part crossover episode “World’s finest”
in the Superman: The Animated Series. Season 2 episodes 29-31 which was made into a movie
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169590/
Batman was also able to do the same to Kalibak in JLU, who’s like twice as big and just as strong.
Thanks! Must check that out.
Neither did I. So far she’s used Billie’s strength against her, but this time Ruth was way too confident and Billie was far too angry. Personally I was hoping she’d get Sal to beat her up seeing as how in the orginal story they fought each other.
Hee! I’d like to see that as much as you, but given that Billie and Sal, despite being roomies, have yet to actually meet…
I want to object to this, but Ruth’s being such a bully that it’s difficult for me to do so with any sincerity…
In yo faaaaaaaaaaace Ruth!
I don’t get why everyone’s cheering on Billie. Everything she’s getting is karmic justice. The source of her overblown pride and superiority that DOESN’T MATTER in such a setting getting destroyed is a poetic justice that I find hilarious and appropriate.
Ruth’s not a nice person but I find Billie infinitely more hateful. The best I can hope for is that they kill each other.
Disagreed.
Yeah, Billie’s been a bongo. That doesn’t mean she needs to be bullied and kicked while she’s at her most insecure until she breaks. (Seriously, what’s the worst Billie’s done? Looked down on other people? She’s yet to actually hurt anyone.)
That outfit that “doesn’t matter”? It matters TO HER. It’s a memento of one thing in her life that didn’t suck.
I like you. You stated the reason I’m cheering for Billie better than I ever could.
This.
I commented on this before, destroying an irreplaceable personal item is inappropriate for the so-called crime–someone being in a bongoy mood doesn’t give you license to destroy their stuff. At least before this the outfit could be returned, no harm no foul. Unless Ruth managed to fake it being cut up, there’s no way to get it back the way it was.
Am I the only one who thinks that picture is Photoshopped and the uniform is still in one piece?
No, you’re not. I think it’s fake too.
I can totally smell some real trouble for Billie now.
Faked or not… Ruth has assaulted Billie twice now. With shards of broken plastic embedded in her nose (god, I’m glad I don’t wear glasses), Ruth isn’t going to have such an easy time throwing Billie around. So she’s going to lose the fight, and possibly the war.
Yeah, as much of a bongo Ruth is being, I see her as the type to follow rules and not get kicked out. She might bend them, but break them? Nah, probably not.
Um, I’m pretty sure that stealing other people’s clothes is not “following the rules”
I’m hoping its fake, but… whether it is or not what she did is cruel and beyond what Ruth prime would do UNLESS it was to someone bullying Howard…
I doubt it. Seeing as Ruth gave Billie the S in the last strip.
But didn’t you read the comments? There’s a lot of speculation that THAT was fake, and that she made a fake letter S (Probably fakes of every letter) specifically for this scheme.
So the speculation is that, rather than Ruth stealing Billie’s uniform, cutting a piece off of it, and taking a picture she instead stole Billie’s uniform, made a cloth replica of one or more of the letters using similar fabric to the uniform, and then took a photo of the uniform and ‘shopped it so that it looks like she removed the letter(s),
I mean, it’s fiction so we can’t exactly rule it out. But still, for the first scenario Ruth needs scissors and some gumption. For the second one she needs to be a Machiavellian mastermind with the ability to use or access to someone who can use both a sewing machine and Photoshop to some passable degree.
Yeah, there’s a sort of Occam’s Razor problem, but as you said, it IS fiction.
I doubt she’d have to MAKE the letters, honestly. That Billie believes she’d be able to remove one or more without leaving a hole in the outfit (as there was no hole in the picture Ruth held up) says to me that the letters are probably fairly standard-ish embroidered letters that have been stitched on.
I’d bet Ruth would have been able to find suitable letters at a craft or fabric store. As long as they’re the right color and size, it might be hard to tell the difference.
Hey, she’s at college! You’d be surprised the variety of skills you can find!
With all due respect to the ladies reading the strip, Ruth was being a bongo and deserved that punch.
If she keeps it up, hopefully a baseball bat to the kneecaps will prevent any further isses.
Lol. Because the proper response to bongoiness/assholery is physical violence.
I think this is as much for the destruction of property as it is for just being clotheslined for no reason. The proper response to physical violence isn’t always physical violence, but after a certain degree of prolonged mind games it’s inevitable.
Fair enough. I can buy that. She’s only human, and we all have a threshold. Even an ageless dragon who views you as no more than an insect will give aggro if you get a good enough Taunt in there.
It is in the Willisverse! =D
Well this ought to be interesting
Ruth did have that coming. And Billie gets enough flak as it is. Sure, she’s arrogant from being “the popular girl” in high school, but so much of what she’s enduring is humbling enough.
And Ruth has been taught an important lesson in villainry: NO MONOLOGUING.
I think that before she made that mistake she made another one in underestimating how desperate Billie was at that moment. Seriously, look at panel 2. Back anyone or anything into a corner, and you raise the chance that they react in ways that are not yours or their best interest.
True, but backing someone into a corner has its uses. Monologuing only distracts you, makes the listener desperate, and reveals more than you should. If Billie had simply said “You get another piece every day I don’t get that form,” she’d have made her point as effectively without giving Billie time to attack or pushing her as far.
Well, if she hadn’t decided to have a big bowl of bongo flakes the morning everyone moved in over some stupid roomate agreement she wouldn’t have gotten wacked in the face.
Ask for the agreement as soon as possible or Ruth herself could have just put a copy on Sal’s bed with a post it on ‘please return this to me by the end of the day/week’ and it would have been fine.
But she abused her ‘power’ and took it out on someone who had no control over the actions of another. Ruth’s a prime example when someone gets a little bit of authority or power and it goes to their head.
A punch in the face is the LEAST she deserves.
I never said anything to the contrary of this. I was just pointing out that Ruth could have continued to be a bongo and get away with it if she hadn’t started monologuing.
OH SHIT!
That was my (verbal) reaction to the 4th panel.
I never cheered so hard for a sucker punch. Billie just earned by perverse sexual lust.
Well, earned it more I guess.
Such an appropriate comment for a Joe avatar.
This is quite cool, too! See, it goes both ways.
-Billie needs her comeuppance for that ATTITUDE she had at the beginning. “That idiot had better learn ther’es a poecking order around here and I’m on top! I’m awesome, everybody else sucks.”: So really, she shouldn’t “Win” this and run around, ego intact.
-Ruth needs comeuppance for exactly the same reasons as Billie, except she’s been doing it for years.
A REALISTIC result based on my college experience? Ruth reports Billie. Billie gets disciplined. Ruth gets honored for “facing a threat.”
I’d just like to point out that I liked Billie way before she knocked the freckles off of Ruth.
” i liked it BEFORE it was cool! “
haha “Billie’s SO mainstream now.”
OH SHI-
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER RIGHT INTO FALCUN PAWNCH. XD
I’m sorry, but this is going to be VERY bad for Billie! Yea, Ruth had it coming, but if Ruth faked the desecration of the shirt? BAD BILLIE!
For those that don’t understand, let’s put it this way: Ruth gets Billie’s untouched uniform back in her room, and then reports a student assaulting her. With the shirt in Billie’s room and not damaged, it kills Billie’s story of “She stole my damn shirt and vandalized it!”
Instead, this whole situation makes Billie out to be the villain, a student who refused to get the roommate agreement forms signed and then hit an RA when they came asking for them.
’cause let’s face it, these halls don’t have cameras. You KNOW Willis wouldn’t put them in specifically for this reason. That’s how Ruth seems to get away with these things: people won’t report her and there’s no video evidence, so she gets away with it. There would be no video of this encounter, but the untimely presence of another student seeing Billie punch Ruth = BAAAAAD!
On the other hand… worth it.
eh, either way, there’s now proof of the terrorizing and the theft of property. If BIllie gets in trouble, I can only hope Ruth gets expelled and is forced to work latrine duty and taco bell for the rest of her life.
Not if it’s all faked, though, as I was suggesting. The only evidence is that Polaroid, and unless Billie takes that Ruth can dispose of it easily and thus destroy any evidence (And putting the shirt back destroys Billie’s credibility in the situation, since her case would be that Ruth stole and damaged her property which wouldn’t be the case in my idea)
But that begs the main questions: Where did Ruth get an exact replica of the uniform? Can you just buy a school’s cheerleader uniform in the US without showing proof you’re on the team or even a student?
That’s what some folks were discussing on the last page. She probably doesn’t have a replica of the shirt itself, but rather she got students at the school to produce letter replicas. The comic where she was walking with the uniform and scissors was her getting it made to detail and then cutting out the letter from the set of replica letters.
At least, that’s how the theory would work.
But then, there are more occasions of Ruth beating on Billy, as well as more eye witnesses, unless the next strip suddenly reveals a hallway full of students.
Believe me, that won’t matter. The school will believe her, as she is the one In Authority.
Ahh, but see, that was in self defense. Billie attacked her first and she merely flipped Billie. She gets around that one.
Yes, but Ruth specifically told Billie to attack her, which kind of takes away the whole ‘self-defence’ theory. Plus there was the way she man-handled everyone to get them to attend the meeting.
True, but that doesn’t change the fact that she DID still attack. Ruth CAN still get off on that one as “self defense,” permission or not. Trust me, I know this works. I got a detention in high school for this very situation because I attacked first, even when the guy told me to do so and I was the one who got hurt in the end.
The man-handling thing is another issue, but it doesn’t fall into this particular subject. That involves the other students and is really their own problems. It doesn’t relate so much to Billie’s attacking Ruth, just to Ruth’s tyrannical behavior.
But I thought isn’t high school disciplinary action we’re talking about here. This would be closer to an actual court of criminal justice, if not completely an actual court of criminal justice. From what I’ve read about self-defense laws, provoking an attacker and then knocking them unconscious wouldn’t hold up as “self-defense” in any court of law.
Yes and no. Self defense is a tricky thing. So long as Ruth does not go out of her way to CONTINUE attacking Billie, it stays under self defense. This is one of the grey areas of self defense. Being provoked or not cannot be a factor into it because it’s the responsibility of the attacker to not give in to being provoked. So long as Ruth does everything right, she gets away with it.
In the case of when Ruth flipped Billie, she didn’t do anything else. Had she attacked Billie again, then it’s no longer self defense in any ruling. Ruth merely acted to ensure she did not get hurt and that was the end of it. Usually to knock someone unconscious you have to, well, beat them a bit, which is why it falls out of self defense. Billie also wasn’t knocked out unconscious so much as she was just… incredibly off balance after being thrown, so it took her several minutes to get herself up.
On the other hand, Ruth DID just clothesline Billie in the last strip. That would be (if I’m not mistaken) battery, no matter how strict their “no running in the hallways” rule is.
She has the Polaroid that’s currently in Ruth’s hands of the damaged shirt.
Correction: Ruth has the Polaroid, and Ruth can easily destroy that evidence before reporting Billie for assault. Unless we see Billie specifically take it from her, Ruth will likely keep possession of it.
Don’t forget that Billie’s probably still drunk.
Oh yea, this will play a part too, since Billie is known to drink a lot.
Of course if there -are- cameras, then Ruth clotheslining Billie would be caught on it as well.
Unless of course, this takes place in a camera blindspot. If it is, then most likely Ruth would probably be aware of it given her position.
Which means Billie’s actions wouldn’t be caught on tape either…-unless- the force of that punch sends Ruth staggering out of it and Billie continues to attack her.
All we can do is wait and see.
I thought about this one. While the lack of cameras is a problem, no doubt Ruth’s going to have a busted nose after this and her glasses are broken too. Evidence of the assault.
Now all it takes is someone to walk in just as Ruth is taking the hit or staggering back while Billie is clearly in an aggressive pose. Witness to the assault.
Cameras won’t matter then, and Ruth’s authority as RA will override Billie.
That is, it will override providing Ruth then plays her cards and returns an undamaged uniform to Billie’s room to kill her story about the theft.
I would expect that, regardless of how she may have been provoked, the school punishes assault. Ruth cut up a shirt. It’s bad, but well within the realm of shit gets overlooked in the light of physical violence. At the end of the day, desecration of a shirt was probably never worth more than a slap on the wrist to begin with.
Whether it was faked or not, I wouldn’t expect this to go well for Billie if taken to the authorities.
Theft and destruction of property will be worth more than a slap on the wrists, especially if Ruth has done it before. She would have minor jail time as well as financial charges. But you’re right in that it’s not as big as assault, for both the school and the police.
My college always meted out punishments depending on who did it. If you hit an RA, that was tantamount to assaulting the Student Life staff, and you were out.
Theft charges vary depending on the value of what was stolen. A shirt is about a fifteen dollar item. No one’s ever gone to jail for stealing a chocolate bar, no one’s ever gone to jail for stealing fifteen chocolate bars. I can’t see the police making a big deal out of this.
Ruth hit Billie first. Are we all forgetting -why- Billie was on the -ground- when the letter was dropped in front of her?
I personally wouldn’t say that Ruth [i]did[/i] hit Billie first. She clotheslined her (or whatever the proper term is for that. Thought a clothesline was higher). I’d place it among actions like tripping and shoving. Highly provocative to be sure, but you still haven’t thrown the first blow. Billie was the one to initiate physical violence here.
T H E F T.
Regardless of whether the uniform is intact or not, it was -stolen-, and Billie was led to believe by Ruth herself that it was being vandalized.
Also? Assault. Or did everyone here forget that Billie did NOT throw the first punch here?
Oh, I’m not saying Ruth is innocent. Don’t get me wrong. I’m saying Billie is making a bad situation worse. She’s already a known drinker, she clearly has a superiority complex, and she’s already proven she will be violent.
What Ruth is doing is NOT good, but Billie is making things worse by playing into it. Both are guilty here and Ruth, at this time, only has a valid defense against one thing: when she flipped Billie, it could be seen as self-defense. Otherwise, Ruth’s actions are just as bad as Billie’s.
Neither is guilty but depending on how it goes only one could get in any serious trouble.
Beast Wars Megatron: “YEEESSSS.”
Yeesss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2t4MBhGAg8
What? Riduculobam? That doesn’t make any sense.
Sooooo… When is Billie going to simply tell the Dean of Students (or whatever they call the guy in charge of the student body) that her RA has broken into her room, stolen and destroyed her property?
I do believe said RA would likely be de-assigned fairly quickly.
Or it would have, prior to her assault.
Ruth threw the first blow(the clothesline) this time. Billie was just defending herself.
I’d normally say that Billie has no justification for assault even if Ruth is advertising a “punch my face” special. However, Ruth did just clothesline Billie something fierce in the previous strip. Falcon pawnch away!
D AGON! Come, Billie, join with the vast, gbrious, and loathsome fish-god!
Good. Now finish her off and bury her somewhere off-campus.
Am I the only one who believes that roommate agreements are critical to the proper functioning of a dorm –– and that they should be obtained by ANY means necessary, including physical abuse, destruction of personal property and terroristic threats?
Yeah, as a current RA with a stack of useless roommate agreements that have been gathering dust in the back of my desk drawer, I kinda think you are.
No offense, but I hope you would talk to the student and their roommate rather than punishing one student from the room randomly and doing nothing to the other.
oops sorry responded to the wrong person…this was directed to Judas Peckerwood up there.
Plus, as an RA, I’m pretty sure you can get into a fat load of trouble for harassing your floor mates and stealing their property to threaten them with. Like, pretty sure that’s the kinda thing that gets you into legal-type troubles.
…. the irony of my saying that, coupled with the randomly selected avatar icon, is not lost on me.
She’s drunk at school and underage.
Ruth knows Billie doesn’t have a prayer on appeal. If she’s snuck into her room for the shirt, she surely has evidence of drinking.
Also– they don’t make Polaroid film anymore.
If you have to resort to something illegal to get minor crap done, you might want to reevaluate your leadership capabilities.
Almost not worth it, your name kinda says it all, but the use of force, vandalism and theft is definitely not a good way to go about business. Especially while in college. Let’s face it, how you’re known is just as important as who you know and while I’d be quick to hire someone who got the job done, I wouldn’t hire someone who terrorizes others because they can.
Irony? Dead? Says who?
BILLIE PUNCH!!!
GO, BILLIE, GO!
~Rock voice~ Billy done layeth the smacketh down.
~Shao Khan voice~ Round 1! Fight!
DORM HALLWAY KOMBAT! ~starts up Mortal Kombat theme~
I still don’t like either of them, although Ruth is the one who this time. Billie was unlikable in Roomies! and unless DoA Billie demonstrates character growth her predecessor did not, the only way to fix her is to set her on fire. (BTW, I feel the same way about most of the characters in Tenchi Muyo.)
Ruth Prime had a nobility of character that this one very obviously lacks. DoA Ruth is nothing more than a bully, a two-bit thug who need a 9mm bullet in the back of her skull.
Such violence kids these days show. A bullet in her skull? That seems harsh to me. Wouldn’t years of torture be better?
I don’t have that kind of time.
Torture is for when it is personal. Bullet to the skull is for clean up.
And at this point it wouldn’t feel personal to you? I dunno about you, but as someone watching this happening, I feel like I have a personal investment enough to warrant torturing her and not giving her that sweet embrace of death. Of course, maybe I’m just a violent schadenfreude.
Faster Billie, kill, kill.
“HEADSHOT!”
About fucking time, Ruth definitely deserved that. Shouldn’t she be trying to track down Sal herself anyways for missing the meeting?
I wake up to see Billie’s trying to put Ruth to sleep. My what a odd start to my Monday.
Even better than having Mike do the face-punching.
bongoIN’
I can see why everyone is getting so hyped up for Billie after it looks like Ruth stole her uniform and damaged it just to get a roommate agreement, but this is not Ruth’s real goal. Getting roommate agreements is part of the job, and it’s a real pain even when people do cooperate. Imagine what its like when you’ve got 20 people telling you that you can’t do your job because they dont feel like it.
But i digress. Ruth’s interaction with Billie is a power play. Billie’s been the biggest problem since day one, and is already known in the residence life staff to be a drinker. She gives everyone a hard time and has had no positive interactions with anyone. Things are only going to get worse with Billie if a line isn’t clearly cut, and that’s what Ruth is trying to do.
As an RA, Ruth is my Goddamn hero, even if she builds her community with an iron fist.
So, for your hero, you’re choosing an RA who shows blatant disrespect for her residents (and their property) and who is willing to ignore school policy and the law to get a form signed? An RA who clearly delights in the suffering of those placed under her? I am glad that I never had/will never have you for an RA. Seriously, this goes beyond “iron fist.” It’s heading into “Stalin’s Russia” territory.
Instead of a drunk egotistical former cheerleader who thinks that because of her status from high school she can do what she wants and has now twice chosen to physically assault said RA, which if Ruth is simply toying with her and has not damaged the uniform and maybe even hidden it in Billie’s room could lead to Billie being expelled?
And before you bring it up, other comments. I have dozens already up discussing the idea of it all being faked.
Bille COULD get expelled, but Ruth would also be in equal trouble for her constant abuse of power which provoked the assault. Even if the uniform has not been damaged, Ruth broke into Billie’s room, possibly stole her property, and has been blackmailing Billie with threats of destroying said property, all the while insulting and provoking a girl with a history of issues into exploding.
Ruth is a bully, and in light of recent events regarding bullying, the school would most likely come down hard on Ruth as well Billie.
Honestly, I do hope to see that if it comes down to that being Billie’s fate. It would be quite a thing to see Ruth get expelled as well. She’d have a stunned look on her face.
However, Ruth comes off as someone who thinks things through a LOT, almost to an ungodly healthy point, trying to predict every little thing that could happen. As such, that would no doubt be in her mind and she is choosing actions that avoid this.
Just one thing, by the way. If we look at Billie’s face there, and examine the fact that she’s trying so hard to get her uniform back, it brings up an interesting thought. What if it’s not the uniform itself, but what the uniform represents to her? If this is Roomies!Billie, but without the sci-fi drama everything turned into, then she has the same problem: the two people that matter most to her (mother and father) ignore her. So then, this uniform represents to her, when she wasn’t ignored, when people paid attention to her, and treated her like she mattered, even if that attention wasn’t the healthiest she could receive. Ruth then goes and even hints at damaging the symbol of something that, to her, meant she wasn’t worthless, meant someone thought she had some sort of value, even if it was only to gawk at? In the street vernacular: “bongo goin’ DOWN!”
Obviously it’s because of what the uniform represents. That’s what sentimental value is. It’s worthless from a monetary and utilitarian standpoint. If she sold it she wouldn’t even get the fifteen bucks she paid for it, and she’ll literally never have an opportunity to wear it again. Plus, it doesn’t fit her anymore. Sentimental value ie symbolic value is the only possible reason for her to even still own the thing.
Whether all the parental issues and such a present is another issue entirely, but yes, she’s not just upset because someone took [i]a[/i] shirt. This particular shirt is special to her.
Obviously she did derive a huge amount of self-worth from the cheerleading though. I mean, she still makes it a focal point of her self-identity now that it’s no longer relevant. It still seems to be the only thing that provides her with self-worth. Ruth knows this too. That’s why she stole it. I doubt she would have gotten this reaction by cutting up even Billie’s Prom dress (A stereotypical item of clothing with an intensely exaggerated degree of sentimental value).
Okay… Skye? Please stop interrupting other people’s conversations just to push your theory. Seriously, stop.
We’re discussing Ruth’s character here… even if you’re right about the uniform being undamaged, that doesn’t change that Ruth is a failure as a human being and should have never been given power in the first place. She’s a monster and this is deeply cowardly power play that she’s doing for her own thrills, not to get a roommate agreement signed. She’s picked a “favorite” that she enjoys manipulating and tormenting. There is something seriously wrong with her, and she is likely a sociopath and a control freak. Not *actually* damaging the uniform wouldn’t change this about her.
No, it wouldn’t. You’re right. I’m not disagreeing with that.
But I think she’s more than a sociopath. Ruth comes off as a plotting individual, who goes to great lengths to, well, get what she wants. Whether that is a signed form or tormenting an individual for some form of enjoyment, she seems like the plans everything in advance. Kind of like a forum troll, who doesn’t exactly break the rules but entices others to do so such that they get in trouble and the troll is left getting away with it. Why do they do it? Probably because they enjoy the feeling of getting someone else in trouble. This is what Ruth seems to me. My whole theory is simply a means of explaining this aspect of her character through the actual actions in the story.
So instead of a just sociopath, we have a scheming, schadenfreude sociopath who should never have been given any sort of power or authority and yet not only has but has also managed to maintain it, possibly for a longer period of time than we know.
Ultimately, there’s a threshold for both things: how much of a bongo is Ruth and how much of a bongo is Billie.
For the most part–on a technical level–you can’t really fault Billie. Sure, she’s been rude to others and thinks highly of herself like she’s still in her high school clique, but being surly and arrogant isn’t criminal or rule-breaking behavior unto itself.
Ruth, however, has challenged her to a beat-down and completed it, blackmailed, and threatened the various students under her. Billie gets the worst of it, but others have felt her iron fist to some degree. And she’s assaulted Billie more than anything. What Billie has done could be considered self-defense. After all, she hit the floor first.
LITERALLY DOZENS.
Nice inflated sense of self worth you have there.
Well, when I’ve had to pretty much type the same thing over and over to different people in different conversations, eventually you get tired of it. I’d rather tell someone “just look for another comment I wrote, in case you’ve not read them” then have to retype the idea again.
A comparison to Stalin is like trying to avoid Godwin’s Law by euphemism.
No, it’s actually a better historical reference. Hitler and the Nazis put very specific groups in concentration camps according to their personal beliefs and political necessities. Stalin was just batshit insane and paranoid.
It’s still a case of taking a comparison ridiculously and inappropriately out of proportion.
And what historical analogy that is easily accessible to anyone who reads it would you have chosen?
How about one that doesn’t trivialize the death of millions by comparison to a struggle between two people willing to pound on each other?
Lol, yes, because there are so many historical events in which nobody dies that are applicable to tyrannical rulers. Seriously, I want to know exactly what analogy you’d use.
Are you serious? Ruth is a borderline sociopath, not a hero. She’s not just giving people a hard time.
She’s emotionally, physically and verbally abusive. She threatens to hurt people if they don’t do what she says, even if they’ve done nothing wrong. She entered a person’s room and stole their stuff, which is technically illegal and more than likely against school policy, which would make what she did an abuse of her power. She is blackmailing a student for her own amusement, not as some sort of life lesson. And even if she hasn’t actually damaged Billie’s stuff, the threat of doing such things and holding her property hostage, hardly makes her actions justifiable.
I don’t think she gets a kick out of it. She seems to take the issue very seriously. It’s more like she’s willing to do what it takes to get the form signed.
Oh she’s totally getting a kick out of it. If she wasn’t enjoying herself, she wouldn’t be going to such unnecessary lengths to get a simple form signed.
This isn’t doing what it takes to get the formed signed. If she wanted to get the form signed by Sal, she should try finding Sal herself instead of blackmailing the roommate.
Hallelujah! Exactly!
Hmm… suppose that’s true. But she does it with such a calm face a lot of the time, it seems like she treats it as business and not pleasure. The only time she gets a smile is either when Billie isn’t around or during the first Ruth/Billie “fight.”
And how do we know she isn’t trying to find Sal? Let’s face it, Sal is mysterious. She’s a pain to catch. So perhaps Ruth is having as little luck as Billie is and we simply aren’t shown it?
Honestly, it’s the fact that she can do it “with such a calm face” that makes me think she’s REALLY enjoying this. On a very basic level, this is about showing that no matter what, she’s better than Billie, and a large part of what makes Billie so inefficient is how easily she gets emotionally involved. When Ruth looses her cool she loses what she sees as the moral high ground, and that’s when it stops being fun.
And even if she trying to track down Sal, she’s clearly not giving that her full attention, if she also has time to steal and deface Billie’s property (and before you go off on “but what if she’s faking it,” that kind of ruse would take up even more time and effort). Sal’s mysterious, but she’s not impossible to find. We know she’s around. If all else fails, Ruth could even pull a stakeout like Billie attempted, which I think would work better for Ruth (being scarily determined and ruthless rather than resentful and drunk).
(replying to post above because this site doesn’t allow commenting to new posts) In partial response to Skye and a few other scattered comments here:
Actually, the fact that she’s able to do it with such a calm face is even more disturbing. The worst of humanity can do unimaginably brutal things with a calm or even pleasant demeanor, like dissect a living person while their loved one watches helplessly. Ruth is by NO means that bad (I’m using an extreme sociopath example to make the point), but if she is a sociopath then she’s likely able to do a lot of things without showing – or feeling – normally expected emotions. Maybe this really is entirely pragmatic and “just business” to Ruth (which would be pathologically stupid for an RA, as discussed elsewhere), but in any case doing it with a calm face only makes it more disturbing. Some of the freakiest of people feel no guilt or emotion when they do horrible things, or feel exhilaration and joy and just don’t show it.
And sociopaths are perfectly able to have normal or even helpful conversations with others, such as a teacher who regularly and brutally physically abuses a student, and then has a pleasant dinner with his parents that weekend. Sociopaths are able to turn it off and on. Helping Dorothy earlier doesn’t convince me one bit.
Given what we’ve seen so far, I’m not going to be shocked if Ruth’s immensely and perversely enjoying hurting Billy simply because she has the power to do so. Sociopath or no, she’s she’s deliberately picking fights for fun. It’s unlikely that she’s doing this to get a contract signed — that’s an *excuse* to pick on her victim. There are so many other ways she could be solving the contract dilemma, yet she picks this method time and time again. Physically attacking Billie, trying to get her expelled (if that is her plan), tormenting her, dominating over her and deliberately trying to provoke a response… these are not things that morally solid people do.
Ruth might or might not be a genuine “sociopath”, but there is *so much* wrong with her behavior. And people who behave this way tend to be unable to function in any other way… if Ruth gets expelled, would she just go elsewhere to build another tiny empire of fear? Could she emotionally handle not having someone to dominate regularly? Interesting questions that I expect will be answered by future comics.
Doesn’t borderline sociopath fits the definition of most classical heroes, especially those named Jack?
Ruth isn’t just giving *people* a hard time, she’s just giving *Billie* a hard time. Ruth has demonstrated the ability to be compassionate and empathetic, and even helpful to other students; see Dorothy needing advice about Danny.
She just really hates Billie. That doesn’t make her actions right, but it most certainly isn’t about being borderline sociopathic; Billie represents something that Ruth absolutely despises and will go out of her way to crush. It’s very personal, it isn’t about mindless bullying; she’s not picking on Billie just to have someone to pick on – she’s picking on Billie because she has a great deal of contempt for Billie. Ruth is a pretty horrible person in this regard, but it’s not a simple matter of “Ruth is a bully”; Her motivations in picking on Billie feel like they run much deeper than just needing to have a target: consider that Ruth is a member of a social group that Billie is very likely to have picked on mercilessly in highschool. And while there is nothing that can justify her actions, they are likely much more complex than most people are giving them credit for.
It could be because during her time in high school, Ruth was at the bottom rung of things and the crap she dealt with from people like BIllie was just too much for her. So now, in college, she’s silently vowed to crush people who still try to carry this behavior and attitude into college because for Ruth college is suppose to be the great equalizer: a place where the nerds are on equal level with the jocks. There’s no pecking order or that crap which Billie seems intent on believing there is.
So then Billie becomes a representation of jocks and cheerleaders, people who think they are better for some reason, while Ruth becomes the acting equalizer, forcing them down a peg?
Eolirin: There is a rather major problem with your theory. Ruth physically threatened people as they were moving in, before there was any interaction whatsoever. That behavior certainly wasn’t directed at any group or person, it was directed at everyone.
I think the reason she’s targeting Billie isn’t because of her group or her association, it’s just because Billie challenged her authority. And she’s taking joy in grinding Billie down for that. That would be a pretty classic case of simple sociopathic bullying.
And yet this threat of violence to all of them was followed by a rather empathetic talk between her and Dorothy.
She has some sociopathic tendencies, but she’s not completely antisocial. I’d say it’s more like she has a superiority complex, the same as Billie does, and thus this leads to their little battle. Ruth started off large and in charge, and the moment Billie began to rise up over it, Ruth took action to try and… well, knock her down and assert her dominance over the dorms. Of course, Billie has as many issues as Ruth so she’s not going down fighting, which has led to Ruth targeting Billie. If she can make Billie cave, it would show the other students to not mess with her and thus fall in line.
The joy she has in it would be her being a schadenfreude, and the whole act of targeting Billie is her superiority complex conflicting with Billie’s superiority complex. But sociopath? Not so much. A bit, but not as much as people here are saying.
That’s not a hole in my theory at all; Ruth absolutely cares about power structure, and does not want to have to deal with people causing problems for her. But in the case of the meeting, and in the case of her other threats, they are generalized acts of violence, not specific, deeply personal attacks like she’s done with the cheerleader outfit, and they’re all contingent on people making her life difficult:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/agreements/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/pun/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/training/
(She even lets them know that she’s fully available if they have issues or need to ask her questions, here. So she’s clearly *very* serious about her RA duties)
All of these point toward Ruth being extremely violent in the execution of her duties, and god forbid you mess with her, but none of them point toward the specific and high degree of torment that she’s been going after with Billie. That’s something *special*.
Ruth isn’t antisocial or psychopathic (Mike is), which are typified by far worse violent tendency than just cutting up a cheerleading outfit, or by a complete inability to feel empathy for other people (which she clearly demonstrates). She is certainly extremely ruthless, and brutal about how she handles problems, but Billie is a special case to all of this. She’s going out of her way to provoke and torment her, she’s singled her out in a way that she hasn’t anyone else.
Ever heard of Lawful Neutral? There is no good or evil, there is only the law, and it must be enforced.
I got wood.
not sure how she didn’t see that coming…
it makes me think she wanted Billie to punch her, though I dunno what sort of Plan is worth getting your glasses and possibly your nose broken.
Getting a student expelled for assaulting an RA.
But this requires the uniform to actually NOT be damaged, for there to be a witness to the assault, and Ruth has to get the uniform back into Billie’s room without Billie noticing.
I think I’m going to start replying to every one of your “theory” posts that has only tenuous connection to whatever you’re replying to.
Ok!
But truth is, it’s true. Jones thought this is what Ruth wanted Billie to do, but why? The answer: to get Billie expelled. However, this plan sort of backfires if Ruth gets expelled too, since then Ruth loses her position of power. The plan isn’t really worth it if Ruth gets kicked out, so there’s gotta be some way for Ruth to avoid that herself.
Well, really, it depends less on the uniform being intact, and more on Billie not being able to prove that Ruth ever had it. Has Ruth ever actually mentioned having the uniform where anyone but Billie could hear? If Ruth has the presence of mind to remove and destroy all evidence – including the letter and picture here, and the uniform itself – then it could be very hard to prove that it was her (as opposed to, for example, Sal) who took it, or even that the uniform was ever in the dorm at all.
In this case, Ruth lodges a complaint (and has the injury and broken glasses to show that she’s been assaulted), and Billie’s protestations look an awful lot like weak excuses. Billie gets expelled for assaulting her RA.
OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Or DAGON.
Would their rivals be Miskatonic U, then?
Lol. Can’t stop laughing. I’ll probably laugh even more when tomorrow Ruth shrugs it off and returns the favor in spades^^
…COMEUPPANCE!!
Revenge of the FAAAAACE
The Billie Strikes Back!
Episode V…
I think the real question is, will this be the start of an all out brawl?
Slap-Slap-KISS!
The courtship continues.
LOL!
Now which trope is that again?
Ruth clearly forgot that Drago was the dude that punched Apollo Creed to death.
Billie must break her.
THANK YOU! While I don’t normally condone violence, I have to admit, Ruth deserved this. She’s been physically, emotionally, verbally abusive, for the sake of her own amusement of being a bully. And while this is going to bite Billie in the ass later (obviously), Ruth brought this on herself by being such a horrible bully.
The uniform SHOULD say Drago, after a punch like that.
Ruth, you’ve crossed the line. Now BIllie must *break* you.
Will this fight still be in progress when Sal walks in through the door? Oh, make that hops through the window.
YEAH!!!! Take that bongo!!
Wonder if tomorrow will reveal that it was NOT Billie that threw the fateful punch….
But very nice to see her get what she deserves…..actually….she deserves a few more…
Is Mike around?
Yes, with a hard-on.
The fist matches Billie’s rather pale skin color. So I dunno about Mike but be can be pretty sure that ain’t Sal.
Yeah after all the crap Ruth has pulled (and stop with the “She’s probably faking hurting the uniform” bullshit, we all saw the comic panel with her HOLDING THE UNIFORM AND SCISSORS) That punch to the face was amazingly satisfying…
Oh my. Billie.
I mean. The way she hit Ruth. Made my morning so much nicer.
Oh it’s on like Donkey Kong!
When five fingered justice must be handed out, anyone can call upon the might of Captain Falcon and deliver a truly epic Falcon Punch.
Also why has no one called “CHICK FIGHT!” yet?
Okay, so, she provokes and knocks Billie unconscious on the first day, then breaks into her room, steals her property, defaces it, and then after attacking her AGAIN begins to taunt her with it, all for a roommate agreement slip that really isn’t worth anywhere near that much trouble.
Anyone calling sociopath here?
Is sociopath the right word?
‘Cause there’s something desperately wrong with Ruth.
Billie may be a bongo, but Ruth’s downright dangerous. Like “assault and battery” dangerous. The way I see it, there’s no sides to be taken here. This isn’t a fight, this is systematic, sadistic victimization.
What is WIllis trying to do, make us want her dea-
…
OH.
Well, this *is* coming from the same mind that Mike sprang forth from.
I’m liking the matured writing/plotting/character-building style a lot.
It does mean Dinah is less likely to take advanced lessons in the field of explodoloy.
Explodology.
For anyone defending Ruth AT ALL, understand she is pretty much the worst RA of all time. I say this as someone who was an RA for 3 years. The policy where I was working was so strict that putting yourself in the middle of a fight to end it (not fighting back understand, just getting in the middle) would be enough to put you on probation, if not out on your ass. Clotheslining someone? Flipping them? Breaking into their room? Touching their stuff? Hurting their stuff? Just ONE of those would easily be enough to end your “career” pretty damn quick, all of them would have your own staff reporting on you, the residents wouldn’t even have to do it.
And the roommate agreements were hilariously unimportant and useless. Do you really think people stop fighting when you point out that they agreed to something when they filled out form x months ago? If so, never ever apply to be an RA (or management of any kind) lest your spirit be shattered.
Yea, but to an extent this IS a comic, so some things will be stretched out beyond normal world limits. In a real life scenario, Ruth would be in jail by now.
But this is a comic. There needs to be SOME conflict for the characters, if only to help evolve characters (In this case, evolving Billie past her ideals of a pecking order). But then, how else do you drive that mentality out of people? Willis has been doing a lot of little things to deal with it (Like when Joyce suddenly went from admiring Billie to admiring Sal, which was a huge ego kick), but Ruth is the most straightforward one. It wouldn’t be any fun if everything ended as fast as it began.
I wouldn’t use the word “fun”, but I see your point. It is a good storyline, even if I hate it SO MUCH.
YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhh, panel 3, so satisfying.
Three? Admittedly, it looks like she’s having a hategasm there, which might be interesting to people with PSL for Ruth.
See, this is kinda frustrating. I want to like Ruth, because in some ways she’s kinda cool, but this really is bullshit. Mike gets away with being a complete dick because he’s cartoonishly evil, Ruth is just kind of being a conga for no good reason over something that doesn’t really matter. Which is why we’re in the weird situation of laughing when Mike sets someone on fire, but scowling when Ruth steals and defaces property over a meaningless form. Maybe part of it’s just the different tones of the two worlds. I don’t really see Mike inflicting fatal burns on people in the DoA universe.
Part of it’s also the difference between their targets – Ruth is bullying a character we know, and that many of us like. The guy Mike set on fire is a one-off character who represents all the assholes readers have met in real life, exists solely to receive comeuppance, and will never be seen again.
I’m reminded of the quote; “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open manhole cover and die.”
Regardless whether the photo is photoshopped or not, if this scene is treated like in real world, the school will start an inquiry and both of them will be in trouble.
I agree, but it’s not the real world. While the story arc isn’t funny, it wouldn’t get more amusing when they both get expelled and/or incarcerated.
Not funny? I’ve been laughing pretty consistently. Maybe it just doesn’t match your sense of humor?
True, different strokes for different folks and all.
JUSTICE
JUSTICE IS A DISH BEST SERVED TO THE FACE
Ooof. Poor Ruth’s glasses.
‘Bout damn time!
That’s what I call fanservice!
On one hand, I enjoyed this. As much as I like Ruth, I feel shes gone overboard.
But I don’t think punching her in the face was a good move on Billie’s part. She should’ve went over Ruth’s head and reported her. What Ruth has done is against regulations even if the actual destruction is faked. It’s still harassment and still theft of another student’s property. Plus, it’s not Billie’s responsibility to get Sal’s signature. She’s not Sal’s keeper. Ruth has been power tripping and specifically targeting Billie in an overzealous manner. Yes, Billie was a cocky bongo and Ruth put her in her place but that should’ve been it.
Drago, Drag, rag…ra? A!
Interesting to see how differently the relationship between these two is playing out here. Nice to see it’s even less realistic this time around.
With luck, this will continue to be how justice is served around these parts, or we’re going to lose an awful lot of fun characters quickly.
Now I wonder what Dinah’s plotting from behind that door of hers. Probably something you can set to the 1812 Overture. We’ll know what it is the moment someone says something wrong about dinosaurs.
I swear if this does turn out to be some Machiavellian scheme of Ruth’s to get Billie in trouble for assaulting the RA and keeping everyone else in line, I will punch someone on principle.
Just make sure that someone is Ruth.
I smell a huge catfight coming.
I didn’t notice this until now, Willis, but can I say how much I love that you named this chapter “The Bechdel Test”?
Very much seconded.
It’s an EVIl bechdel test!
DUDE. FINALLY.
I mean, Ruth does show some signs of compassion (that first night with Dorothy and Danny) and I think she has the potential to be an interesting character but… this whole “ROOMMATE FORMS. NOW.” thing is a bit ridiculous. a) they’re pointless, if I can mention I had to revise mine seven times sophomore year and every time my roommate blatantly ignored it, and b) what the hell, my college gives us a week to finish them, not this 12 hours thing Ruth is on.
I’ll be very interested to see how this will go. In-universe, Ruth will probably start a brawl. Clothes will be ripped, and Walky will wander by, mouth full of burrito, and go “THIS IS AWESOME.” No punishments for anyone.
Really, the roommate forms are more of an excuse for Ruth to mess with Billie. Ruth isn’t responding to them being late so much as her contempt for Billie as a person. If it were just about the forms she’d be trying to track down Sal who she’d also be really upset with for skipping out on the meeting. She’s targeting Billie specifically.
Yeah.. Ruth is just a pain in the ass at this point. It might help to deflate her ego a bit.
And roommates… ugh, they’re overrated. Humans are just a pain.
An eye for an i?
There is no ‘i’ in “dragon(s)”.
Or “team”.
Or “tomato”, for that matter.
Though there is one in “harpsichord”.
I WAS A CHEERLEADER! *punch*
Yes I was referencing Linkara, yes that was incredibly nerdy, but I am at the point where any time someone punches someone that line has to be said.
I also have to say that Billie seems to have a decent punching arm.
Awesome. Totally called for.
Aww yeah. Violence solves all problems, from one-on-one fights to wars.
Can’t wait to see a blood shaped puddle named Ruth!
Friggin’ FINALLY
I’d almost forgotten how much of a bongo these two can be.
FINALLY! Ruth had it coming, but you know Billie’s probably going to catch hell for this…
Billie’s definitely going to get in trouble for that. But it was awesome anyway.
Actually, she might get away with it just for having the balls to even do it.
Your avatar is perfect for that. It looks like Kaorin is looking up at Billie in awe.
I knew she’d get over Sakaki when she entered college.
Why does everyone like Billie so much anyway? She hasn’t done a single redeemable thing in the whole comic.
She hasn’t done anything terrible to incite wrath, either. In that Ruth can be found wholly guilty. What’s the worst thing Billie has done? Drink? Look down on people? She may be a bongo but she already has enough troubles without Ruth bullying her.
Plus she’s kinda hot.
I am taking it that this world does not have a “Student Bill Of Rights” to protect students from predation from others
Why does everyone automatically think Billie punched her? I mean, knowing Willis, it could possibly be Amber overhearing the conversation and losing control.
Flesh-tone.
Billie’s coloration is different from most of the other characters. A lot more white in it.
Yeah, the only other person (that we know) who comes close in skin tone is Joyce, who is halfway across campus at the class Billie is late for.
“This is madness!”
“Madness…?
THIS IS DRAGO!!!!!!”
Billie got off the ground FAST.
Personally, if somebody took something that dear to me, I would have broken more than their glasses.
Man, I go away for the weekend and shit gets craaazy.
People really need to stop throwing around “sociopath” without having a clear understanding of what that *means*. Ruth is most definitely *not* a sociopath. Ruth demonstrates concern for people, does not manipulate, shows empathy, nor is there any demonstration of irresponsibility, poor impulse control, or pathological lying. She is violent, ruthless, domineering, sure, but that isn’t sufficient to criteria to go there. Not showing concern for a *specific* person or group of people, or actively going out of your way to torment them, does not make you a sociopath; it makes you a jerk, and possibly a vicious vindictive jerk. But it’s not enough to be labeled with what is a major personality disorder. Not by far.
Bout fucking time :/
A reference to Rocky IV, versus Ivan Drago?
She had it coming *thumbs up*
Oooooooooh,damn I don’t know why she is so worked up about, she isn’t even cheerleader eneymore
DRAGO!!!!!!!!!!!
DRAGO!!!!!!!!!!!
DRAGO!!!!!!!!!!!