Discussion (165) ¬
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Kendra, regular version @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social ⋅ 16h
Kevin Buist @kevinbuist.com ⋅ 2d
Ferric Fang @fangferric.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Paul Lê @paulle.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com ⋅ 3d
Blue sky nice guy @rajandelman.bsky.social ⋅ 12d
Maggie Westrum @maggiewestrum.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
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Oh Mike, you rascal.
He’s just trying to help Joyce and Ethan grow as people. He is the force of chaotic good in the Dumbiverse.
Chaotic, yes. Good…the verdict is still out in this reality and questionable in the Walkyverse.
Is Chaotic Chaotic an alignment?
I think Mike just made it one.
I always just thought of “Mike” as an alignment, outside the traditional grid, just glaring while also doing mothers for a nickel.
Mike did the traditional grid’s mom for 1 CP.
Now that’s a little unfair. He paid at LEAST 10 CP.
Maybe it’s pie in the sky or whatever, but I hope he ends up being nicer compared to his other realities. I get that it’s his shtick and it makes him what he is, but I’m over him being a pain for the sake of being a pain…there has to be room for growth for him in this universe. Well, that’s just how I feel, am probably in the minority.
He is nicer compared to Shortpacked etc though ;/
He seems nicer to me in this universe too, and I’m with Luke on wanting him to stay that way. In SP at least, he comes off a bit one dimensional (I haven’t read most of the rest of the Walkyverse, so I can’t comment on it; I am following Bring Back Roomies now, though). Here, however, he’s less an asshole and more forcing people into awkward situations they nonetheless need to have.
Mike is the opposite alignment to you, for any given person. ^_^
I’m going to call him Sadistic Good.
He’s chaotic necktie
I see him as Chaotic Neutral. See, he WOULD be chaotic evil (Because he screwed Good’s mom for a nickel), but he ALSO screwed Evil’s mom for a nickel. He screwed both Chaotic’s and Neutral’s moms to (For one nickel that they split between themselves), but those two just don’t care.
So, really, Mike’s alignment is “Chaotic Jackass.”
Definitely Chaotic neutral!
Chaotic Neutral is also known as True Chaotic. It’s the closest you’ll get.
we can use the fabled Chaotic Waffle, Chaotic Lawful’s older brother.
I prefer Chaotic Falafel.
Chaotic Roffle is that guy that laughs at completely innocuous statements, but never explains why he thinks they’re funny.
I believe what you’re searching for is Chaotic Neutral.
Exactly!
I think this is the best thing i’ve heard
People try to put mike under chaotic good or chaotic neutral, or any of the evils, but he’s really only chaotic
Mike and Knuckles’ Chaotix
His treatment of Walky seeeeems unequivocally bad to me -Walky’s only still with Dorothy due to the failure of Mike’s plans. And Mike has far more reason to hate Walky than he seems to need with most people (i.e. no reason at all) ’cause of the whole bottom bunk farting thing. I guess you could argue his treatment of Ethan could be good though – he’s trying to stop Ethan from getting himself into something bad. And every time he interacts with Joyce he seems to be subtly trying to get her to question her belief system (if punching Joe in the face counts).
Well in the Dumiverse he is Ethan’s high school “friend” (such as Mike is capable of having friends).
Half agree with ya. He’s been dickish to Walky several times, but has helped or tried to help both Joyce and Dorothy. Granted, the first time helping Joyce was punching Joe in the face…
He seems to be the “nicest” of the Walkyverse Mikes to me.
I think Mike is playing the Devil’s Advocate, if you cosider that Mikes intentions not to break Walky and Dorothy up, but to test their (relationship’s) mettle.
Just think of the big bloody mess it would’ve been if Dorothy and Walky had been more committed to one another and not in that “still getting to know one another and accepting each other’s faults phase.”
I mean that sometimes one tries to stay silent about a subject concerning a friend or partner to try to keep the relationship alive, but the negative emotions will wind up building up and eventually erupting into something ugly and hateful.
Neither of them had really too much of a time commitment to build up a want to protect the other’s feelings/wishes, and now Walky is probably gonna wind up cleaning himself up a bit, and Dor.othy might want to help deal with Walky’s messy man-nerd habits.
Do you guys realize you are trying to understand Mike?
Stahp.
His comment about Pajama Jeans being the “best thing in [Walky’s] life right now” sounds to me like he was trying to make a point to Walky.
Mike seems like he’s trying to cut down bullshit around him by being an asshole who points out all the problems with said bullshit.
Mike, Mother Fucker. Joe Puncher. Bullshit Lumberjack.
If you think one of Mike’s plans has failed, you haven’t understood Mike’s plan. Either he’s already gotten what he wants out of it, it’s still moving toward what he wants, or, more often, both.
PRETTY sure he’s chaotic neutral AKA a Force of Nature
Bingo!
I believe Chaotic Neutral will do.
Here’s the thing about Mike; he’s an asshole, but he’s a *good* asshole. When it comes to saving someone’s life, he’ll be there. When it comes to tearing that person’s ego down, he’ll also be there. There are certain people he hangs around, if you haven’t noticed – it seems even though he hates people, there are people he finds more interesting than others. That’s always been true of Mike. He hates people, but he likes hating; if people die, there’s nothing left to hate, so he’s ultimately good for his own purposes. The fact in this case that Mike’s having fun hating on Ethan right now is part of it, but he’s also going to have fun when Joyce finds out Ethan’s gay. He cares about them in his own way, (otherwise he wouldn’t hang out with them) but still hates people and wants to see them squirm in their own webs. If that ultimately causes more good than harm, so be it. Therefore, my guess is that Mike is chaotic good.
Well, that’s part of it. If it turns out that drunk Mike is the real Mike deep down inside, then I got nothin’, but that would also make sense if he feels the need to be in control and stay in-character, as we saw in his wedding in Shortpacked, where he was grasping at straws to perpetuate his rep as an asshole.
That’s Mike!
and now I must say that her response will be quite exciting
Agreed, because she’s a genuinely nice person (mostly) who has been forcefed the most toxic, vile glurge imaginable from birth. She has been told by her culture that these people are to be dealt with as criminals to be punished and forced to ‘repent’ or be destroyed; science and reality have told her that these people either have no choice (if she’s been taught that the attraction is the sin), or have been designed by God to be forced into unhappy and loveless lives, or to sin. It will be interesting to see how she tries to frame this without blaming either God or the victim.
That or she’ll bore us by just telling us the standard fundy line. Which is possible; her approach to most other sexual issues is right on the fundy lines, with added punching.
I think Mike is trying to break the news to Joyce without being to direct.
Yes.
And guilt Ethan into letting Joyce know the truth.
and be a dick.
It’s win-win!
Aizat covered that with “Mike was.”
I think everybody saw that coming seven words into the second panel.
Nothing really. The people who wrote his book however…
They weren’t a very accepting lot
Appropriate gravatar, woo!
…were magnificent bastards.
That’s giving them too much credit.
Actually, in the book, they say that two men cannot lay together. However, while there are quite a few restrictions for females, there is actually nothing in the book that says that they cannot lay together. An interesting dichotomy, and I’ll be interested to see how she replies.
From what I recall from the Old Testament, it involves lots of fire and brimstone.
From what I recall it only mentioned the temple prostitutes of other religions, and bi dudes.
The only time it’s ever mentioned it’s using either
1) The context of “lying with a man as you would with a woman” which at the time meant as if you owned him
2) The Greek word arsenokoitai, which from what we can tell is closer to pedophile who sleeps with little boys
3) People who are acting unnaturally toward their orientation
There are a couple others, but yeah.
Also, #1 may or may not be true, but if someone received a man’s semen in most Mediterranean cultures, he owned them. Consider the myth of Horus and Set from the Israelites’ friends down the coast.
And #3 is pretty much nonsense. They didn’t realize at the time how rigid sexual orientation can be, and to the extent they did, wrote it off as an individual thing. (Insert Homestuck reference here.) They would pretty much have to be filled in on the developments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to even be made to understand what you’re saying, let alone to say it themselves, in any verbiage.
Further evidence Resne’s interpretation in #1 is wrong, Leviticus 20:13 (“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman (etc.)”) is right between a line about a man sleeping with his daughter-in-law being punishable by death for both of them since it is a “perversion”, and a man marrying both a woman and her mother, where all three are to be “burned in the fire”. The same goes for most of the passages around Leviticus 18:22 as well.
So, yeah, this isn’t talking about ownership, this is about dude-on-dude sex. For more see here.
Interestingly, only one clear condemnation of lesbians in the Bible, in Romans 1:26-27.
Of course, the bible is perfectly ok with incest several other times in the story, so take it’s position on sex with that in mind.
Resne: #2 is a myth. The thing is, there is no “from what we can tell.” No one seems to have used the word before Paul, so there’s no more evidence that it means that than that it means anything else. That said, a literal translation is basically “manbedders,” (arsen = man, koiten = bed [for sex rather than sleep]) so absent any other evidence, a best guess would be that it means just what it sounds like.
So women may not be manbedders?
That was actually the name of Jesus’ 2nd band. Fire and Brimstone. The first was Jesus and the Twelve Apostles.
So what you’re saying is that all gay people are flaming?
Actually what Joyce said is true even regarding homosexuality, God does accept you for all your faults no matter what you’ve done. That doesn’t mean once you come to Him you should continue in sin though. It’s one thing to accept and love, it’s another to actively condone and be okay with something.
It’s a fine yet important distinction many seem to ignore. Something else that is ignored is that once you come to God He gives you strength to change your life…it’s unreasonable to expect anyone to change outside of that, especially something as ingrained as homosexuality.
Weird thing is, to some people the idea of somebody saying, “I really don’t mind that you’re a homo; but I’m going to send you to hell for it anyway” is cold comfort at best, and possibly makes it worse.
And that’s not even getting to the part where God making you a homo (and then punishing you for it) was all a part of his plan from the start.
Joyce seems to think Dorothy is going to hell, as well.
Joyce’s foot in her mouth in
5…
4…
3…
2…
She might rather have Ethan’s ‘foot’ if you know what I mean.
Oddly enough I always pictured Ethan as large shoed.
If only that was true then the fact that I wear size 13 would be a good thing.
How odd. I always though of Rei as petite.
Unless she is the giant glowing Rei, then she’ll need a size 130,000.
My shoe size is infinite. I can only wear shoes you can’t even begin to comprehend.
My feeble mind is squished in comprehension of your giant footwear!
Oh my gosh, I JUST got what we were talking about.
“Ethan as large shoed”
Joyce has a foot fetish?
3…
4…
5…
6…
1…..
0…..Oh no! *head explode*
1…
i…
-1…
-i…
1…
i…
WEEEEEEEE!
Yes, that was totally non-sequitur and had no baring on anything at all, right Ethan?
Nice gravitar!
He does look just as surprised by the last panel as Joyce is.
Believe it or not, I think DoA Mike is nicer than Shortpacked! Mike
This was actually a perfect way to bring this up. Perfect setup by Joyce, perfect reply from Mike. Several characters could have had Mike’s line (say Amber), because it WAS Mike we assume he is being a dick, but this is as good a setup as this conversation can have.
he just hasn’t had his chance to shine due to a combination of a larger cast, an incredibly drawn out time line, and the fact that college life has nothing on the rough and tumble kill or be killed world of toy retail
Thank you kindly Mike.
He’s a nice guy.
As complete tools hellbent on feeding off the embarrassment and suffering of others go, yeah, he is.
This…will not end well.
When Mike’s involved, it never is.
fitting gravi?
Poor Ethan. For some reason I have this image of him as the official Groundhog’s Day groundhog, only instead of seeing his shadow, he has to come out of the closet. Looks like a few more weeks of winter, guys. So close, too!
I love you Mike.
Queer! Abomination!
Two men can love each other without loving each other. Sheesh, people are overly sensitive these days to even the hint of homosexuality that they focus on virtually nothing but that.
I was just exaggerating! After all… I love you guys too! In fact, through in $5, and me love you long time!
oops… THROW
(where is self edit on this blog??)
Mike was saving that hand grenade for just the right moment. He always seems to have a good sense of timing.
So…considering the topic wouldn’t that make it a Holy hand grenade?
Well, the counting of the numbers is five…
I wonder if Joyce is going to call her friend again wheb she tackles the nearest homosexual?
*when (stupid fat fingers on tiny keyboard)
*BREAKS OUT THE POPCORN*
Exciting? Maybe. Hardly surprizing. “burn them all, abominations unto the Lord”…or maybe “they don’t exist, all in their head: they just need a good man/woman to show them the straight road’.
Ethan’s eyes and facial expression remind me of Stupid Fox.
Although come to think of it, I’m surprized Joyce knows the word, and its meaning?
It’s tiring to hear the words “homosexuals”, “pornography”, and “abortion” in the catholic radio over and over regardless of context. I’m glad the family stopped tuning to the radio eventually.
Oooh, this is gonna be good!
Mike’s a complete asshole, but damn do I love him!
Mike non sequitured your mom.
It worries me that her answer is going to be on a Friday.
You know that quaint little Joyce that we all know and love? With the atheist hic-ups and the virginity flower that we could all laugh at and say “aww, you’re such a cute little fundie”? (ok, the virginity flower was pushing it). Remember her. Remember her fondly. This could very well be her last strip.
I’m really expecting the “love the sinner, hate the sin” route here.
Joyce has already acknowledged carrying Chick tracts.
MY FEARS. YOU VOICE THEM.
She sings with glad heart of the day when avenging angels gather nearly everyone alive into a winepress and crush them into a cascade of blood running some meters high to a distance of 1600 Greek furlongs, that the angels might drink deep of YHWH’s fury. This, to her, is perfect love, perfect peace. And homophobia’s the deal breaker?
Nah, she’ll be fine after a reboot.
Or a month passes (our time). Who here remembers that Joyce is a crazy psycho who punches people for just looking at other women? Anybody? No? There you go.
I do! And her telling Sarah to apologize pissed me right the hell off.
I mean, Sarah should apologize, and Joyce is right in a “two wrongs” way, but it’s pretty hypocritical of her.
Oh, this is gonna be fun.
Welcome to Cognitive Dissonance Theater, with your host Mike Warner. Our special guest today is Joyce Brown.
While she “tackles” that, Mike’s gonna be “tackling” her mom. For a nickel.
well, somebody better answer that phone…
Because I’m not the only one who watched DBZ Abridged?
^the comment I was hoping for.
…Joyce is the only straight person on this sidewalk, isn’t she?
as far as she knows so far… but she hasn’t reached the “2 Drinks From Her First Lesbian Experience” stage yet.
I thought that was her default state. ie. she is just two drinks away from having a lesbian experience.
I don’t think that is HER default state. HER default state is probably 2 drinks away from her first masturbation experience!!
I was under the impression Mike is bisexual. of course this is from shortpacked mike, and might not apply to this universe’s Mike.
Mike is whatever you don’t want him to be.
Exactly – the same is true of Sierra.
Willis said nobody’s changing sexuality, so if Mike really is Bi then he will be in this comic too.
Then our dear cute, barefoot Christian hippie must be as well…
This should be FUN.
Mike didn’t have sex with men because he liked it or them; he had sex with them because somebody *didn’t* want him to. So we don’t know that he’s bi; we merely know that he has priorities that transcend his own sexuality.
Exactly. For all we know he’s not even attracted to women at all, just the darkness lurking in the heart of Amber.
I’m thinking her reaction means she realizes – from knowing Mike – that the question can only mean someone present is gay.
What are you talking about? Mike is just a nice friendly man who helps her deal with those nasty people who traffic in premarital hanky panky.
Honestly it’s surprising she hasn’t hit on him yet.
Maybe. Possibly she thinks Mike is gay.
Let’s just hope she doesn’t start talking about how noble it is to repress your homosexuality.
From my knowledge, God’s view of sexuality is against it, but still accepts the person regardless. Kinda like that parent who loves ya even if they’re kinda disappointed.
And by ‘loves you’, we mean, ‘gives you a one-way ticket to hell and a push out the door’.
Not really, no. It’s not even mentioned in the ten commandments, which shows that while it is frowned upon, it’s not even considered one of the big ten rules of ‘dos’ and ‘do nots’. Yes it’s wrong in the bible, but it’s not even comparable to the mentioned ones like murdering, stealing, lies, coveting what others have, or adultery.
And on that note, I should mention pretty much everybody has broken one of the ten at least once in their life, and some even spend their life performing one of the ten (7-9) but are still devoutly religious.
Given that we’re talking about your theological beliefs, I will immediately concede that I was wrong (and foolish to asy anything about them).
Joyce’s belief system may differ, of course.
You admitted you where wrong anonymously on the Internet? You even did it in full sentences. How is this website the only informal chat room I can find with adults?
You’re right too actually, I was just assuming it was regular ol’ christianity. Alot of branches of it have different views of different things, some of them even DESPISING things that aren’t even in the bible, while others are accepting of things that are described in the bible as being wrong in every way.
MIKE! Sleep with him already, Mike.
Mike is whatever you don’t want him to be.
So if you want Mike/Ethan slash, you much force yourself to NOT WANT IT!
It’s kinda cool, in a meta sort of way.
She’s going to tackle THAT “Non sequitur” – when she hasn’t even dealt with her own issues on the HORRID, EVIL, TREE OF KNOWLEDGE?!?
Oooh, and he goes straight for the knock-out!
Now set up some Dorothy/Walky tension and you’ll have three unsolved storylines at once. On a friday.
I love you, Mike. I’m also terrified of you.
Mike, you’re a legend
Come on, Joyce! Come up with a surprisingly open-minded opinion. You are a smart girl!
(Unlikely, I know)
“”
*sigh* That was supposed to say “Rule #5” but I got too clever for my own good and put it in html brackets. Shame on me!
God loves homosexuals too.
Some church leader types try to twist this out into God loves homosexuals but disapproves if they actually do same-sex banging. Other church leader types just go straight out to claiming that God hates homosexuals. Then the anti-church leader types use this to feed their “religion is evil/god doesn’t exist” talk.
But I can say that God loves homosexuals the same as he loves anyone else, and nobody can prove me wrong.
How do Church Leaders feel about heteros that go to church just looking for frustrated MILFs to meet and hook up with during the week, which assures said MILF will be back on Sat/Sun (with cash!) seeking forgiveness (and possibly another go-round!) ??
Not that I’m thinking about checking out the local churches for that kind of thing (cough…!). Of course not!
Yeah, they’re none too fond of it. I remember attending a church which would have had great potential if the adult Sunday school classes weren’t effectively serving as a singles bar without the booze. I think I stopped going one or two weeks after the sermon was “will you guys talk about the Bible instead of trying to hook up all the time already; GAH.”
(I only popped in on a class once, since it turned out no one there had the time of day for a fat, poor, kinda ragged girl in her early twenties.)
It just occurred to me that we never saw Joyce drag Dorothy to church! (Or Sal and Jason’s study date.) We have missed out!
Though Dorothy seems to still be around, so we at least know that someone else was picked for the weekly atheist sacrifice.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/02-choosing-my-religion/sierra/
Blast my early-onset senility! (I’m not even forty!)
In my defense, uh, nobody was murdered? Oh! And there were distracting sexytimes happening simultaneousynchonously! (And we saw that Amber’s hand was hurt by punching a door, proving she’s not Amazi-Girl.)
Ah, I give up. At least I’m pretty sure I didn’t forget that study session. (Right?)
My first exposure to Fundies – was at Spencers Gift/Gag Store. Fundies were a thin, transparent panty with red licorice lace at the waste, meant to be worn. Being EDIBLE underwear, they were meant to be eaten before eating!
You can imagine my joy in learning that whole sections of the USA were considered “Fundies States” – until I later learned what it really meant.
Sometimes I hate Mike. Sometimes I love Mike.
…This is the time that I love Mike.
Well, this will certainly be an interesting response. While Joyce has a habit of saying the wrong thing, she’s never been actively malicious about it. So it’ll be interesting to see how she handles this. I could see her doing the whole “Love the sinner, hate the sin” thing you see a lot of people do when they don’t want to come off as hateful jerks, but still disapprove of homosexuality.
Oh shi-
I’ve just realised. Historically, throughout Roomies, It’s Walky!, Walky and Joyce, and Shortpacked!, Mike has been an arsehole because that’s just who he is, and enjoys simply screwing with people. But everything we’ve seen him do in DoA, while in-character for original-mike, has been arseholery in the process of doing (what is in his eyes) good things.
He didn’t try to screw up Walky’s relationship just to be a dick to Walky, but because he’s rooming with Walky and has learned through first-hand experience that Walky is insufferable and he’d be saving anyone from torture by blocking his relationships.
Now he’s trying to save Ethan and Joyce from prolonging a potentially catastrophic relationship based on lies.
Good one, Mike.