I think the point of the flashback is to suggest she’s not going to repeat the same mistake. I think we’re about to see some hilarious hijinks as Dina leads Becky’s father on a wild goose chase.
Wait. What edit is that?
Theory 1 – She is about to take him to Amber. Amber has given her advice before and can handle things.
Theory 2 – She is about to take him to Ruth. Taking Faz to Ruth is precedence. She recognizes Ruth as an authority figure who can handle things.
Theory 3 – She is about to take him to Joyce at the meeting. He knows Joyce is on campus already and should be able to locate her anyway. Wild conclusions occur.
Theory 4 – She is about to take his mangled body to Becky as promised.
Tempting but unlikely.
Theory 5 – She is about to take him to Leslie. Does she know Leslie?
Theory 6 – She has a clever mind that works in it’s own way. She is about to do something completely unexpected that will seem logical in retrospect.
Theory 7 – Just as disaster looms Mike or Walky saves the day.
Similar to #1, but I’m hoping for this: “Amber. This is Becky’s father, who is here to visit her–you know, like your father came to visit you. I am looking for Becky right now. I think she may be on that path that goes through the quad, the one with no clear lines of visibility to the main campus, that is so far away that no one would hear a man being beaten badly enough to be hospitalized.”
I agree, but right now she’s in plant eater mode, so she’d need to switch costumes. However, a plant eater could take a long time ambling across campus luring toedad along as bait…
If she yells ‘Maximize’ he’ll get a stern lecture from Primal, then Rattrap will kick him in the balls before Dinobot makes him ‘not an issue anymore’.
That would mean bringing him to the floor, which is an increased chance of him seeing Becky (like going from Joyce’s room to Billie’s).
There’s also a chance Amber isn’t there, too.
why is this class only about the latest few centuries? fauna far larger than man has existed many times longer! why does your textbook marginalize their contribution??
History (from Greek แผฑฯฯฮฟฯฮฏฮฑ, historia, meaning “inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation”) is the study of the past, particularly how it relates to humans.
so “pre-history” is kinda “before we thought to think about what happened”
The flashback panel (as well as her expression in the last panel) makes it pretty clear that Dina realizes what is going on here, and is about to attempt some kind of Daring Planโข.
No, she’s keeping him from wandering loose and blowing Becky’s cover, she just needs to find a way to surreptitiously summon Amazi-Girl to take him out.
For whatever reason, Willis chose not to color in the whites of Dina’s eyes in the last panel, and although I finally saw her pupil floating mid-skin, my brain cannot unsee the lines under Dina’s eyes as her eyes closed in resignation, as opposed to the scheming under the hood that I think we are supposed to see. I did a quick-and-dirt MSPaint job of adding back the whites of Dina’s eyes here, which I think makes her intentions clearer: http://imgur.com/tvSKx5w
My campus had some nice cliffs. They even liked to build buildings on them. An entrance on the 5th floor on one side, and an entrance on the 1st floor on the other, and that’s the short side! Probably less than 100 feet apart, horizontally.
My campus was full of cliffs, and it was all too common for people to throw themselves off of them. Or fall by accident due to an excess of alcohol in their system.
Yeah!! In all seriousness, I am interested to see what her plan is. She won’t make the mistake of trusting a poorly-hidden asshole operating under the guise of a father again. Maybe she’ll take him to Ruth?
Okay, after reading the comic again, I can only guess that Dina’s plan is to get Ross away from people who might have seen Becky. Especially Joyce, who’s in the room. The longer Ross is here, the higher the chances of him running into someone who’s going to spill the beans.
Based on the backgrounds, it looks like the meeting was in some open-air lobby-ish area. Probably near the main entrance and thus where the Dina/Toedad scene is happening –near enough for Joyce (and Ethan, the human lighthouse) to potentially be within sight and/or earshot.
Dina needs to lure this threat away from the feeding grounds before her pack is compromised.
You know, I’d love to see a in-continuity storyline where a Zordon like being gets Dina and four others to be Power Rangers for like a week. But by the end it’s such an unbelievable story they can’t tell anyone yet all the readers know it’s cannon.
although dina is metamorphosing before our very eyes, i still suspect the power ranger story would sound normal coming from her. possibly just above the lake trip
Until recently, the Doasaurus saruyamensis was not believed to prey on species larger than itself. However, recent digs have found fragments of what resemble D. hallucephalus bones around their territory, suggesting that D. saruyamensis may have been more aggressive than originally assumed.
Evidence has shown that Doasaurus sauyamensis could show rare instances of aggression, and was equipped with a jointed epoccipital fringe and three prominent brow horns to enact said aggression. Whilst the environmental stimuli for this aggresion is still unknown, it is possible that, given the close relationship between D. saruyamensis and young female D. lesbiensis (synonym: D. hallucephalus), presence of the adult male D. lesbiensiswould prompt this aggression in defense of their young female offspring.
Most campuses are pretty open to the public, aren’t they?
My university had a gated campus, but people could still go through the front gate during the day and enter most of the buildings. They had to go through security, but unless they were already blacklisted (which was only a handful of people), that was barely a delay.
And I’m pretty sure that was an unusually high level of privacy compared to most others.
At first I thought her eyes were closed in sadness and defeat. Then I spotted her pupil, indicating that her eye is opened, but in shadow. And suddenly that expression got a LOT scarier.
Next comic:
Ross: “Are you sure she is in the bottom of this pit of angry velicoraptors?”
But seriously, this is (hopefully) a clever ploy by Dina (one might even say worthy of a girl who possesses an apt amount of guile and intelligence or some such synonym). I mean, if he was to just ask around wildly, it is only a matter of time before Toedad runs into someone well meaning but clueless who actually leads him to Becky. This way, she can hopefully guide him off the scent and maybe even alert an authority who can intervene…
Or she is about to fail tragically in protecting her gf… ๐
A pit of angry velociraptors?
Hm. I have a morbid desire to know how quickly a pit’s worth of hungry turkeys could bleed an adult human in common clothing – let’s say denim – to death.
Doasaurus saruyamensis and Compognathus longipes were several million years apart, with C. longipes existing in the Late Jurassic, and D. saruyamensis existing in the newly-cointed Walkerian Epoch of the Mid-Cretaceous period.
Ah, that does look ominous, doesn’t it. Especially given that OG Dina was the martyr character. And also given that we’re in the middle of a storyline that’s been following Dina as she goes along meeting the other characters and making each of their lives better in some way…
Here we see Dina’s descent into Amazi-Girl’s arch-nemesis, Dinogal. After goring Toedad with her horns, she begins a life of crime, adopting improvised weapons based upon the natural abilities of her precious dinosaurs: A toe claw, like a raptor. Tiny arms, like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. A spiky tail like a Stegosaurus. She attacks those who deny evolution (and especially those who call it evilution), all the while singing the Jurassic Park theme music.
I can never tell if Ruth does things like fight Blaine because she wants to help Amber or because she just wants an excuse to justifiably beat someone up.
I suspect it’s both. It could be that she loves the chance to get violent on someone she doesn’t have to refrain from severely injuring, but can’t bring herself to do it unless it seems like the right thing to do, and she genuinely enjoys the ‘helping people’ aspect of it even beyond the rush of the fight.
Or not. Only The Willis probably knows.
I’m really confused as to why people want Dina to take Ross to the Questioning meeting. It’s not like brining him there will cause everyone to jump him and beat him up. It will make Ross uncomfortable, but his reaction will probably be to loudly condemn everyone there, and in general make people who are questioning their sexuality to feel really uncomfortable. Bringing a controlling, bigoted asshole to a meeting that is trying to make people more understanding of themselves and others seems to entirely defeat the purpose of the meeting.
Gawddamnit Willis, there are so many options she can choose and I don’t know which she’s going with. From a realistic perspective, I hope it’s campus security who can legally remove him from the campus and inform him he has no legal right to trespass, nor does he have any legal right to kidnap his adult daughter if she is even in fact on the campus property.
From a meaner perspective, I hope she takes him to Amber.
The significant point is this: No-one knows for sure that Becky is at IU, not even Ross himself. By not going through the authorities for whatever reason, he’s already shot himself in the foot. He’s going to end up with an aggravated trespass charge and maybe even harassment against Joyce and Dina. It just depends on how deep his river of ‘dumb’ is before he realises that continuing to push is just filling his life with ore complications and that he needs a ‘Plan-B’.
Huh… Maybe a team-up with Blaine? Maybe they meet in the hospital where they’re gluing Blaine back together and are putting slave on Ross’s taser and pepper spray burns?
Exactly. He has no legal right to be on their property, especially if he’s harassing students. Not to mention that even if his /adult/ daughter is on the campus, which cannot be confirmed by the security staff, he has intentions of essentially kidnapping her, which is also illegal. Even if he had gone through the police, Becky is a legal adult. He has no custodial rights over her anymore, and has no legal right to know her location.
Becky needs to get a RO, actually, now that I think about it, just to be sure.
Taking him to Ruth is a Bad Idea. Becky is supposed to be secret from Ruth. Of course, Dina might not have figured this part out, on account of how she’s just figured out that Dina wasn’t just here on vacation and might not have thought all the implications through.
Taking him to Amber… probably not a great idea. He looks tougher than Blaine, and even if Amber and/or Amazi-girl could administer a beat down, it would be bad for her psychological health bringing her into this scenario with zero warning.
What I REALLY want to see is Dina escorting him back to the Questioning meeting and saying, “I saw her in this crowd just a bit ago, ask around. It might take them a bit to open up but if you tell them the WHOLE story I’m sure you’ll get them talking.”
I’m hoping it involves Dina and Ruth walking him off campus(after calling security or while accompanied by them) and solemnly proclaiming him banned from entering campus or communicating with persons thereof and banning any and all residents and fellows of the college from communicating with him, assisting him, standing within two ells of him, sleeping under the same roof, or reading any poster placed by him. And then spitting at his feet for good measure.
Man, i know that was his original pose, but I still find it hilarious that Blaine’s standing like that in Dina’s flashback. It’s like he’s about to start singing “YMCA”.
Although he’s a bad man and a dangerous one, I’ve always found something vaguely pathetic and funny about Blaine. He’s obviously a man who has made a string of disastrously bad decisions and is compounding them with ever worse decisions and plans with time.
He’s a desperate man, likely with a death-mark against his name from a string of dangerous loan sharks and bookies. This makes him dangerous in turn, especially to Amber who I suspect he regards as a saleable asset. However, that doesn’t stop him coming across as faintly ridiculous as he tries to put on the ‘goofily genial good dad’ act for the benefit of the general public.
There is nothing more dangerous than a dead man walking and, if Blaine can’t find money soon, he’s a dead man.
The next most dangerous kind of man is a man who has persuaded himself that God requires him to commit an atrocity to save someone, even if it kills them in the process. That is what Ross is.
Calling it – Dina takes him to the Questioning meetup, and the very idea of questioning one’s sexuality causes the empty hole in his soul to finally collapse and remove him from the universe. Or he gets chased off by a crowd of LGTB kids, whichever.
Please no, the last thing a mass of kids on the verge of figuring themselves out is some loud homophobe ranting at them about how their sinful life is going to send them straight to Hell and reminding them of the worst possible incarnation of a coming out to the parents could look like.
Wanting to see him be defeated by the power of solidarity and friendship, I guess. I could go disastrously wrong, as has been said. I guess we all want to see him be soundly defeated somehow, we can agree on that, right?.
Yeah, he’s not a low grade cartoon villain who will be defeated by simply being around positive emotions. Most likely he would just ruin everyone else day by him being a loud, obnoxious bigot.
Dina has a plan. I don’t know what it is though. I’d like it if it ended with toedad getting run over by a bus or something. Probably won’t happen but I can dream.
Man, I totally misread Dina’s expression at first. I thought the line indicating the bottom of her eye was her actual eye, closed in resignation. I’m glad this doesn’t seem to be the case.
She’s actually a Dinosaurian. And of the one true featherist denomination, naturally. The feather-rejectionists blaspheme against the Holy Truth of the Dinosaur; shame on them!
OK, ya know… I think Dina knows ninjitsu in this continuity because she has hidden her cunning plan in plain sight. It’s been staring you all in the face for days and it seems like no one has connected the dots… or maybe no one else is talking. Maybe, now, I’ve said too much?
The Jurassic Park logic only worked because the herbavores were so big they didn’t care about humans. Herbavores are far more aggressive than carnivores are.
In this remembered panel, wasn’t this the episode that led to Faz being wrapped in tape from head to toe and a discussion ensuing about where to dispose of him? Was it Dina that did the wrapping? or the disposing?
I was certain that Dina was afraid of him and aware of his nature because of the well presented strip yesterday. No way she is going to lead him to Becky.
I can’t wait to see where she takes him. The Questioning meeting would be very interesting. Enough people there to sit on Toedad if he tried any crap.
Wherever she goes with him, I don’t think he is going to like it. I hope.
First off: hooray for Dina formulating a plan (or at least beginning to do so)
Second: does Ross just have a perms-smirk or something? His entire being just feels off. Could that line under his mustache just be a face line/wrinkle/whatever, and his chin/jawline is actually his mouth…his giant, derpy mouth. And his ‘stache is false, and just stuck onto the tip of his nose, because he doesn’t know how to nose.
(I know where his nose actually ends, but that first panel has just the right angle where his moth & nose perfectly line up for that chin-mouth look that’s just so wrong…I can’t unsee it)
Let’s imagine for a moment a universe in which Ross was still a homophobic bigot but not actually the abusive turd we see before us now. In that universe Becky still got in trouble for having a budding relationship with Kaitlin and was still rushed from Anderson’s by an angry father. But at the crucial moment THAT Ross swallowed his pride and said something to the effect of… “fine”.
That Becky still left in the night in search for the one person who would understand (and love?) her. But that Becky had money in her pocket, a change of clothes and ToeDad’s cell phone (which, yes, had angry birds on it), because distraught or not, sinner or not she was still his daughter and when it came down to it he cared less about controlling her, and more about her not becoming one of Leslie’s “sweet lesbian facts”. That Becky would still feel no need AT ALL to return home or to Anderson’s but when she applied for jobs or housing or scholarship she did it with a financial security more substantial than a packet of Arby’s sauce and a college sweater. That Becky could spend the worst days of her life NOT looking over her shoulder for a man who SHOULD by right be her protector but now had become her enemy. That Becky would NOT have to ask her best friend and only support to lie to her parents. That Becky would NOT have to consider the choice between ritualized abuse at correction camps and life on the streets.
And even for all that, the Ross I’m describing would still be a complete waste of space, fulfilling the bare minimum of parental – of human – decency. That Ross would be a fucking piece of shit and Becky would do well to get as far away from him as she could – but he would STILL BE MILES BETTER THAN THE TITTY-SHITTING MOTHER GUZZLING COCK FUCK conga that call himself Becky’s father here.
He’said almost worse than Blaine, in a way. Blaine I just wish would get a lifetime of jail and possibly a mental breakdown from realizing how horrible he is, but Ross, well, if you’ve read Discworld, think Felmet’s attempts to get rid of the blood on his hands. I just want Ross gone. Even being retroactively erased from history would make me feel bad for the person that erased him for having to interact with Ross for that.
You know what’s depressing? As part of those “sweet lesbian facts” that’s pretty much as good as a lot of people can hope to get. Bare minimum support and not actively being thrown from the house or dragged off to reparative therapy. Where home is just constantly “disappointed” in you and ties every failure to work the system back to your queerness and how you’ve “strayed” from the path. Where you are quietly spoken to to not bring your partner to Thanksgiving so it won’t “cause a scene”. Where you technically by the sheerest margin have parents.
That’s often the best that can be hoped for and so few get even that.
That’s almost the most tragic thing about Becky’s story. That it is not uncommon, right down to the attempt on the part of the abusive controlling asshole to try and disrupt any point of stability you might luck yourself into and poison everything they can until you can finally escape them for good… but never knowing if it really is for good.
To be honest I’m kinda trying to be funny. Not that this storyline doesn’t provoke emotions in me but the chewing scenery part is just me running along with a gag. If it truly bothers anyone (does it?) I’ll drop it.
Oh no it doesn’t bother me really – if it did I’m free to not read it anyway. I did just honestly think that it was a shame that a webcomic might make someone so angry. No one needs to feel that way at the start of the day.
But yeah, it does make me just that angry because, as Spencer said, even if Becky and Ross are fictional they serve as a reminder of the real plight of real people.
Ross, using terms like ‘escaped’ and such pre-emptive language are not things likely to persuade people to help you. I know that you’re used to demanding, coercing and forcing compliance but it isn’t going to work in this scenario. Of course, watching him throw bombs at every bridge of co-operation is sort of the joke here, isn’t it?
Right now, I’m worried about Dina. I’ve got a horrible feeling that she’s going to do something dangerously brave and brilliant. The thing is, if she leads Ross on a wild goose chase, I’m afraid that he might hurt her. She’s only a heathen girl, after all, it isn’t as if doing so would be wrong in his distorted world-view.
That last bit doesn’t really jive. Where do you get that he doesn’t think it would be wrong to hurt her because “she’s only a heathen girl?”
I don’t see Ross in the uniform of the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, he’s big and scary and bigoted, and he might get angry and lose control, but not even the Westboro Baptist Church says that God gives them permission to beat up non-Christians. What you just said there was exactly as offensive as if you had said that he might hurt her for not being a Muslim.
Not, I should clarify, that I like this guy or want to defend him. I don’t. It’s just that so far all he’s shown is homophobia and overcontrolling. We have heard no history of violence, seen no physically threatening actions from him that I recall, Becky seems to be afraid of the consequences he can have for her life, but not of him hurting her, and however scary he may look, he’s taking a relatively passive tactic in searching for his daughter.
He’s a piece of shit, but you’re saying that he believes he can get away with beating up on people because he’s Christian and they’re not, and that it’s his being Christian that gives him that belief.
There are people like that, but they’re rare. That’s not what Christianity is: anyone who tells you it is is just using Christianity as an excuse.
Personally, I’d like to see Jacob thump him into the ground. He’s big enough, though he hasn’t shown a mean streak yet, and he really doesn’t know Becky/Joyce/Dina.
I have no idea what Dina is up to. The most I would be able to do in this situation is just lead him as far away as possible but even then that probably wouldn’t help. Leading to Ruth wouldn’t help as Dina has now realised Becky has ‘run away’ so shouldn’t be here, what is Amazi-Girl going to be able to do, realistically, and leading him to Becky ha ha ha nopeee.
“This individual is an intruder on the campus; he is behaving in an aggressive and violent way and he is following me around raving about his missing daughter. Can you do something about him?”
“Why you little…” *Buzz of taser and hiss of pepper spray* “AAARRRGH!”
Hey ToeDad, if you want random strangers to help you find your adult child that’s “run away” from you, you might not want to straight up say that they’ve escaped. It makes it really obvious (to everyone who isn’t you) that they might have had a really good reason for wanting to get away from you in the first place.
Oh god Dina don’t put yourself in too much danger. I’m becoming really uncomfortable for you. I mean he’s not quite Blaine and I’m perhaps jumping to conclusions, but big authoritative christian dudes who are homophobes are less then good in track records when it comes to just women in general even if he thinks you’re straight and he never finds out you’ve kissed Becky. And then there’s whole controlling streak he’s always had for Becky that has probably ramped up to 11 when it comes to daughters. (I’m guessing Becky doesn’t have a brother, so we can’t compare though).
It just wouldn’t be surprising since rampant sexism and homophobia can be often connected. Even though I’m in the closet generally with few cracks in the door- if a dude starts sprouting homophobic bs I immediately become scared for my own safety even though he might never know- but the simple fact I’m also a girl and look like what a lot of people have as an idea of one means he’s probably a danger. When you’re obsessed with gender roles both sexism and homophobia can be a result after all
And it’s really highly likely that to him as a fundementalist- women are just there to serve men, just as men serve god- so he won’t take kindly to /any/ kind of ‘betrayal’- but even more so from you then he would a guy.
Yeah, the way Dina’s mind works may afford her some protection from his likely emotional abuse and shitting on queer and independent women in that she may be more likely to separate that into “his shit” in her head rather than internalizing it, but it’s still a big risk to take.
Such men can get scary violent or just scary in general if they don’t feel their egos as men being placated at all times.
Here’s what’s gonna happen, she’s gonna try to help Becky by somehow fooling her dad or something, and it’s gonna backfire.
Personally though, I hope she keeps her dad busy, and they have this little bonding moment and then when he meets Becky he would be ok with it because it’s Dina, and then they have a relationship and then I can change my gravatar to Dina.
I would argue that attempting to contact Becky or Joyce in any way would put them in danger.
I suspect that Dina is going to attempt to provoke Ross into doing something overtly threatening and/or harmful to her in a public place so Campus Police will expel him and make him persona non gracia on the campus.
I’m still hoping for a strip where, as the cops are bundling a thorougly-tased and -pepper-sprayed Ross into a car, Joyce calls him a ‘total poopy-head’ and a ‘naughty-part sucker’.
I’m also wondering if there will be a strip where Joyce’s mother discredits herself a little by tying herself in moral knots trying to justify his actions and make it all somehow Becky’s fault.
I was just starting to wonder if the man’s misguided view might be worth some sympathy. He is doing this because he cares for his daughter, after all. Even “ran away from me” might come from a place of compassion and concern.
You know I do think it’s still a misguided concern. Doesn’t stop him from being a dick but still. It’s like those parents who pressure their kids into becoming doctors when it’s clear they aren’t suited to be one. The parents mean well they just don’t stop to think that their ‘right’ isn’t the ultimate right.
Historically, kindof? Well that and increased population growth caused by both farm based communities and/or lack of good choices on both reproduction and resources. I mean you gotta have enough people to fight over the resources, right?
the quiet ones are usually the most dangerous. dina is the ONLY person we have never seen lose her temper sucessfully. remember this is a girl who has studied every single prehistoric creature extensively. she might be planning to lead him away from collateral damage/potential harm victims, then ambush and attack him.
im not saying she has the claws of a raptor and the fangs of a t-rex, and given the nature of this comic, i dont expect disembowlment from a kick, but i have a hunch that unless she is leading him to becky, or the author intervenes, she is going to cause some serious dino style fighting harm upon him.
remember, she is quiet and observes. but she might have some SEVERE skill beneath that surface.
Unfortunately this seems to be a serious storyline so its grounded in a bit more reality (unlike Mike beating up Joe) and Dina is tiny so unless she gets lucky she won’t be able to do much to Toedad
Here’s hoping she’s leading him toward security with words like “This man doesn’t belong here! He’s trying to kidnap a girl! Help!” ready to go. I don’t give a fuck if he’s Becky’s dad, if she doesn’t want to go with him then his taking her away would be kidnapping.
Next I predict Toedad will insult Dina’s fascination with Dinosaurs on the way to ‘find’ his daughter. She will be hard pressed between deciding on arguing with him about it or continuing to lead him on a wild ‘Dasornis’ chase.
FWIW, I doubt that Ross would recognise a Triceratops; he doubtless avoids any information about palaeontology like it was infected with the plague. He probably knows enough about popular culture to know about that demonic pass-time of cosplay; he’s probably assuming it’s something from some animรฉ.
I think that ‘lead him to security’ prediction is the strongest one right now. Oddly enough, I wonder if most of Dina’s distress is the thought that Becky (and Joyce, whom one would normally have difficulty believing was even capable of deception) had lied to her.
I think it would be a nice close to this chapter if Becky were to tell Dina her whole story and the two end up hugging. Meanwhile, a guilty-feeling Joyce, who had been doing a Dina and standing in the shadows, tries to convince herself that she isn’t an idiot for missing what Ross has been doing to his daughter all these years.
Dina is a character I find myself relating to in many ways. All the same, she has proven, time and again, to be far better than me in certain key aspects. At last night’s dorm party, she proved to be far better than me at standing up for herself. In the current storyline, she has demonstrated with Sarah and Ethan that she is better than me when it comes to owning her differences, and using them to connect with people in a meaningful way. Is she better than me at thinking on her feet and coming up with effective plans at the spur of the moment? That remains to be seen, but I very much hope for Becky’s sake that she is.
I’m not sure how much sense this makes. Today is one of those days when I can’t quite get my mind and body started. In any case, I look forward to finding out where this is going.
Amber’s house is at 13 Memory Lane, Flashback, The Past. Actually, the road kinda goes THROUGH the house at that point. Amber makes cookies for all the passers-by!
Definitely forming a plan. Between the flashback and the fact that she agreed to “show him to her” after he said she was a waste of time, I think there is clear evidence that she knew she needed to divert him before he got his claws into someone who would actually show him to his daughter.
Dina, just know that I will be hoping your plan works and works well (if it involves grotesque maiming, I won’t complain, but if not… well, that’s cool too, I guess, as long as it works).
She’s going to lead him to Amber for an Amazi-Girl beatdown because she knows they are the same person and she doesn’t understand the need for separation between them.
Why is it that every single time I fall behind on reading webcomics for one reason or another, no matter the day, David Willis finishes me up with a cliffhanger?
DAMN YOU WILLIS!
never change pls
CONVENTION APPEARANCES
May 11-12, 2019 - TCAF in Toronto, Ontario -- Table 248
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Dinaaaaaaa, those who fail history are doomed to repeat it D=
(here’s hoping for ALL THE DISTRACTIONS)
I think the point of the flashback is to suggest she’s not going to repeat the same mistake. I think we’re about to see some hilarious hijinks as Dina leads Becky’s father on a wild goose chase.
Or I could be wrong and I’m about to cry.
The last panel heavily implies she’s up to something.
She looks like she’s ready to annihilate toedad. Let’s hope she channels that epically evil glare into equally epic hijinks.
RELEASE THE RAPTOR!
I have this sudden image of Dina as one of the raptors in the motorcycle chase scene in Jurassic World.
All I can think of is the edit where they gave the raptors motorcycles.
Wait. What edit is that?
Theory 1 – She is about to take him to Amber. Amber has given her advice before and can handle things.
Theory 2 – She is about to take him to Ruth. Taking Faz to Ruth is precedence. She recognizes Ruth as an authority figure who can handle things.
Theory 3 – She is about to take him to Joyce at the meeting. He knows Joyce is on campus already and should be able to locate her anyway. Wild conclusions occur.
Theory 4 – She is about to take his mangled body to Becky as promised.
Tempting but unlikely.
Theory 5 – She is about to take him to Leslie. Does she know Leslie?
Theory 6 – She has a clever mind that works in it’s own way. She is about to do something completely unexpected that will seem logical in retrospect.
Theory 7 – Just as disaster looms Mike or Walky saves the day.
Similar to #1, but I’m hoping for this: “Amber. This is Becky’s father, who is here to visit her–you know, like your father came to visit you. I am looking for Becky right now. I think she may be on that path that goes through the quad, the one with no clear lines of visibility to the main campus, that is so far away that no one would hear a man being beaten badly enough to be hospitalized.”
“You know, the one where you could easily remove femurs and apply them to the FAAAAAACE?”
I agree, but right now she’s in plant eater mode, so she’d need to switch costumes. However, a plant eater could take a long time ambling across campus luring toedad along as bait…
Is she in plant eater mode… or is she in plant eater disguise?
:O
If she yells ‘Terrorize’, Toedad’s dead.
If she yells ‘Maximize’ he’ll get a stern lecture from Primal, then Rattrap will kick him in the balls before Dinobot makes him ‘not an issue anymore’.
Yeah, she does seem to understand that the words “escaped to” implies less than good intentions by the father.
She has a cunning plan.
A cunning plan for a…..Clever Girl, perhaps~?
Does it involve a turnip?
Is it so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel?
Remember how David complained that Becky looked too much like Ruth? Works both ways and could be useful here.
“Oh, I thought this incredibly angry redhead was the girl from the picture you showed me.”
You know what? This would be VERY acceptable
ESPECIALLY if she gave just enough bait to get Toe Dad to go into a bigotted rant
I’m thinking she intends to take him to her but is worried she’s making another mistake. He’s quite a bit different to the last dad she met afterall.
“And he was never seen again, the end.”
Honestly I assumed she was gonna take her to Amber
That was my thinking as well.
That would mean bringing him to the floor, which is an increased chance of him seeing Becky (like going from Joyce’s room to Billie’s).
There’s also a chance Amber isn’t there, too.
it seems like a dangerous and uncertain plan
Joyce’s room is connected to Billie’s by the half bath though. She wouldn’t need to go into the hall.
…oh, good point.
True.
Yerp. All she has to do to incite Amber’s berserker rage is to get Toedad monologuing.
Amazi-Girl. She’s going to take her to see Amazi-Girl, who has experience dealing with… substandard father figures.
Dina is scientifically minded, she might try for more information then act…
dina doesnt look like the type to fail a history class (unless she was thinking about dinosaurs the whole time)
why is this class only about the latest few centuries? fauna far larger than man has existed many times longer! why does your textbook marginalize their contribution??
Because they didn’t leave textbooks!
Dina would be more interested in PRE-history.
In truth, there is no such thing as ‘pre-history’. That which came before history is, simply, more history.
History (from Greek แผฑฯฯฮฟฯฮฏฮฑ, historia, meaning “inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation”) is the study of the past, particularly how it relates to humans.
so “pre-history” is kinda “before we thought to think about what happened”
The flashback panel (as well as her expression in the last panel) makes it pretty clear that Dina realizes what is going on here, and is about to attempt some kind of Daring Planโข.
Given her obsessions, my guess is that she plans to lure him into some sort of tar pit.
Heh. Nice one! ^
With his size, he does qualify as megafauna.
That should be a Cunning Planโข http://www.seeamanaboutablog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/blackadder-a-cunning-plan.jpg
Or an ? Is linking other comics here okay? I’d guess so. I don’t see any rules against it…
Phew, messed that one up. Lemme try again.
Evil Plan
No, she’s keeping him from wandering loose and blowing Becky’s cover, she just needs to find a way to surreptitiously summon Amazi-Girl to take him out.
“Becky is short for ‘Ruth’, correct?”
rebecuth…for those who love every meaning of the phrase “mad redhead”.
also, the pairing from heck
His use of the word “escape” should raise a few flags.
… If you look at her eyes, you might see the glimmer of an evil plan forming.
I’m thinking Dina ‘ll be taking Ross to a different passionate redhead.
I am hoping for this. Please be taking him to get his ass handed to him by ruth…. since, ya know, she’s an RA and he’s not supposed to be there..
Well, neither is Becky…
Well yeah, but I’d imagine that Ruthie’s more likely to go easy on Becky who’s running away from a controlling parent, than said controlling parent…
Technically a non-evil plan, given the circumstances.
For whatever reason, Willis chose not to color in the whites of Dina’s eyes in the last panel, and although I finally saw her pupil floating mid-skin, my brain cannot unsee the lines under Dina’s eyes as her eyes closed in resignation, as opposed to the scheming under the hood that I think we are supposed to see. I did a quick-and-dirt MSPaint job of adding back the whites of Dina’s eyes here, which I think makes her intentions clearer: http://imgur.com/tvSKx5w
Dina knows what she’s doing. She intentionally interrupted him before he could say Becky’s name to anyone else who might recognize it.
Hey, she caught up.
Now do not Dina it up, Dina !
I think she will Dina2 it up.
2Dina 2Triceratops
2 Dinosuars, 1 cup?
not 2Dina3ceratops?
But to Dina something up means to make it 1000X better.
Dinup2theStreets.
Triceratops in the streets, velociraptor in the sheets
At least her dad had some kind of menace to his look. Becky’s is just a fat dude with no lips.
He’s like if Nick Offerman ate John Candy.
Who ate Jim Belushi.
It’s like a comedian turducken.
But like… evil.
But without the charm.
Toedad’s tones and word are pretty menacing, on the other hand. Blaine is a honey-talker.
“She’s right off this cliff”
“Well I see no reason why you’d lie.”
My campus was sorely lacking in cliffs, and it’s in a mountainous region!
My campus had some nice cliffs. They even liked to build buildings on them. An entrance on the 5th floor on one side, and an entrance on the 1st floor on the other, and that’s the short side! Probably less than 100 feet apart, horizontally.
I really like that idea, but it seems like a good way to have a cracking building 50 years down thanks to natural ground movements.
That all depends on how stable the ground is. I remember one off campus building that was built into a cliff.
CMU, Wean Hall?
Dingdingding!
If there’s no cliffs available, you can just tell him she’s on the roof, by the pool.
My campus was full of cliffs, and it was all too common for people to throw themselves off of them. Or fall by accident due to an excess of alcohol in their system.
Cornell?
My campus had Cliffs all over the place. Most professors didn’t care for them, but one took morbid glee in exploiting their oversights.
It’s the Notes I’m talking about. What were you all thinking?
“Are you sure she’s down there in the mass of spikes?”
Dina, this is your chance to make things better forever. Lead him to a carnivorous dinosaur, I believe in you.
…is ethan still wearing that hat? bet all ross needs is a hunk of well-chinned t-rex. call upon your minions, dina!
If anyone can find one at this hour, it’s her.
Dina’s got some sort of master genius plan! Involving dinosaurs!
Yeah!! In all seriousness, I am interested to see what her plan is. She won’t make the mistake of trusting a poorly-hidden asshole operating under the guise of a father again. Maybe she’ll take him to Ruth?
Okay, after reading the comic again, I can only guess that Dina’s plan is to get Ross away from people who might have seen Becky. Especially Joyce, who’s in the room. The longer Ross is here, the higher the chances of him running into someone who’s going to spill the beans.
They’re not in the meeting room, but at the building’s (main ?) entrance.
Wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to look for his homosexual daughter in a questioning meeting.
Based on the backgrounds, it looks like the meeting was in some open-air lobby-ish area. Probably near the main entrance and thus where the Dina/Toedad scene is happening –near enough for Joyce (and Ethan, the human lighthouse) to potentially be within sight and/or earshot.
Dina needs to lure this threat away from the feeding grounds before her pack is compromised.
the human lighthouse XD
DUN DUN DINAAAA
Dina’s gonna summon the rest of the Dino Power Rangers and whoop his ass.
You know, I’d love to see a in-continuity storyline where a Zordon like being gets Dina and four others to be Power Rangers for like a week. But by the end it’s such an unbelievable story they can’t tell anyone yet all the readers know it’s cannon.
Something akin to that one episode of Reboot
although dina is metamorphosing before our very eyes, i still suspect the power ranger story would sound normal coming from her. possibly just above the lake trip
Well there’s gotta be some Power Coins/Dino Gems/Energems around here somewhere.
Maybe Tommy’s teaching Paleontology in IU now. We need all the Power Rangers to kick this guys ass.
Taking him to Ruthless to get run off, maybe? Good luck, Dina!
That’s my prediction.
Take him to where you will defeat him, Dina
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
ahem I mean, the Doasaurus saruyamensis was a…a…nope, I can’t do itNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Until recently, the Doasaurus saruyamensis was not believed to prey on species larger than itself. However, recent digs have found fragments of what resemble D. hallucephalus bones around their territory, suggesting that D. saruyamensis may have been more aggressive than originally assumed.
Oh boy, this ought to be good.
And then Dina gores him with her horns and the story gets really dark.
Then Ruth appears at the scene, yelling.
“God DAMNIT I told y’all to clean after yourselves. If the blood dries we’ll never get those stains off !”
Dina first taste of human blood.
Evidence has shown that Doasaurus sauyamensis could show rare instances of aggression, and was equipped with a jointed epoccipital fringe and three prominent brow horns to enact said aggression. Whilst the environmental stimuli for this aggresion is still unknown, it is possible that, given the close relationship between D. saruyamensis and young female D. lesbiensis (synonym: D. hallucephalus), presence of the adult male D. lesbiensiswould prompt this aggression in defense of their young female offspring.
But they haven’t had time to get lesbian pregnant yet, much less carry to term.
Well, since Varanus komodoensis are parthenogenic … maybe Doasaurus, like some aphids, were capable of parthenogenesis and born pregnant?
I… can’t see a cunning plan in here. Is Dina going to report Ross or something? Which would have no effect, Becky isn’t even a student here.
She could get him removed from the grounds. as he doesn’t know if Becky is even there he can’t strike back.
but trespassers surely get dealt with?
Most campuses are pretty open to the public, aren’t they?
My university had a gated campus, but people could still go through the front gate during the day and enter most of the buildings. They had to go through security, but unless they were already blacklisted (which was only a handful of people), that was barely a delay.
And I’m pretty sure that was an unusually high level of privacy compared to most others.
Ruth has already stated if you’re not on the approved list you’re not allowed on the property.
Wasn’t that in the dorm?
What’s that about butt-trespassers?
Or perhaps you meant Trespassers William?
(I’ve had too much coffee today.)
This is the kind of cunning plan, known as winging it
as dinos often did
I certainly expect some sort of flap to occur …
i am CONVINCED that she is planning something i BELIEVE IN U DINA
please don’t kill toedad, Dina
At least try to make it look like an accident.
Eh, do what you gotta, Dina.
And why the fuck not?
The paper-work and reports are all needlessly tiresome to fill out.
Hey, I represent your taking my name in vain! ๐
Because we, uh, don’t want Dina to become a murderer ?
I repeat. And why the fuck not?
Dina, I trust that you have a plan.
All part of the plan. This is all part of the plan.
Sweet Mycaruba let this be part of a succesful plan.
Huh, I would’ve thought Dina’s flashbacks would be the same shade of green as her thought bubbles.
Also I have no idea what her play here is. I’m on pins and needles.
I didn’t know I always wanted this.
Blaine isn’t tagged? But Faz is?
AND I KNOW WHY!! see below
That’s because Blaine doesn’t get tagged, he tags you.
In your FAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEE
With his fist.
For a quarter
Blaine is not in the tags. Speculation: Blaine = Ross?
…interesting.
Their both horrible fathers. K, add another to the (now) 3 Horsemen(/woman/toehead) of the Dumbpocalypse.
He is tagged now.
I predict I’ll be posting “Clever Girl” in 3 strips. (the one that goes live on Sunday)
Exactly my train of thought.
I feel like Dina has a plan (and if I had to guess, the plan involves unleashing the rabid animal powers of Amazi-Girl on this toe-face)
I’m wondering how stealthily one can send a HELP!! message on a phone while walking.
I never thought a triceratops hoodie could be made to look ominous and mysterious, but Dina’s really making it work there in the last panel.
At first I thought her eyes were closed in sadness and defeat. Then I spotted her pupil, indicating that her eye is opened, but in shadow. And suddenly that expression got a LOT scarier.
He shouldn’t have made her angry. (Toedads) wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.
The triceratops is fierce when provoked.
What, fierce? But it’s an herbivore!
http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/when-herbivores-attack
whoa…dina is getting srs. frack the raptor, we’re getting on tricera-top up in hrrr!
dina is also re-playing on loop amber saying that friends are allowed to make mistakes…but not all mistakes
nice little cliffhanger. *on pins and needles* *i need another metaphor to add to this mix*
*edge of my seat* is how I’m feeling.
So what’s the plan? Take him out back and kneecap him mafia style?
are we certain that he actually has kneecaps? i find myself doubting his anatomy
Maybe he is Hank’s dad?
“Ruth, this gentleman wants to donate his femurs to you.”
You could say he already has – his legs don’t really bend…
“I hope I’m doing the right thing”.
Your avatar is fitting.
This is Plas – avatar always fits.
…so cats sits ?
No, Dina sits. No cat sits! Cat does not fit!
Next comic:
Ross: “Are you sure she is in the bottom of this pit of angry velicoraptors?”
But seriously, this is (hopefully) a clever ploy by Dina (one might even say worthy of a girl who possesses an apt amount of guile and intelligence or some such synonym). I mean, if he was to just ask around wildly, it is only a matter of time before Toedad runs into someone well meaning but clueless who actually leads him to Becky. This way, she can hopefully guide him off the scent and maybe even alert an authority who can intervene…
Or she is about to fail tragically in protecting her gf… ๐
About one minute, really. He was about to ask Sierra, which live on the same floor.
A pit of angry velociraptors?
Hm. I have a morbid desire to know how quickly a pit’s worth of hungry turkeys could bleed an adult human in common clothing – let’s say denim – to death.
Well … a single turkey sent an employee of my favorite cemetery to hospital … so a pit full of hungry turkeys may be a better simulation of a pit of angry velociraptors that you might think!
Just look what happened on the old South Park episode!
Even better – GEESE. Geese will f**k you up!
Time for a wild Compsognathus chase.
Doasaurus saruyamensis and Compognathus longipes were several million years apart, with C. longipes existing in the Late Jurassic, and D. saruyamensis existing in the newly-cointed Walkerian Epoch of the Mid-Cretaceous period.
D. saryuamensis exists across time and space.
Lead him away, Dina!
Your daughter? She’s in the never before seen campus viper pit I swear!
Well this can only end well.
In a well.
“Ran away from me” and “escaped” are two glaring red signs as to how Ross views his daughter and his relationship with her.
Control freak who thinks being a parent means that he ‘owns’ his child.
Seems likely.
OH NO. DON’T BE A HERO DINA.
My intuition tells me this may be what leads up to the hospital visit in November’s strips, and that I may be FRETTING AND CRYING A LOT.
No no no no no don’t feed that theory don’t feed that theory my brain already has trouble shutting it off.
What hospital visit? I just looked through November’s strips, and didn’t see anything.
http://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/125868231997/bloomington-ambulances-are-x-treme-nonplayskool
Ah, that does look ominous, doesn’t it. Especially given that OG Dina was the martyr character. And also given that we’re in the middle of a storyline that’s been following Dina as she goes along meeting the other characters and making each of their lives better in some way…
…eeyikes.
That’s from the next story arc, “To Those Who’d Ground Me”.
I’m guessing Toedad will be returning with the Browns tomorrow.
It was the best she could do.
FOLLOW YOUR OWN ADVICE, AMAZIGIRL GRAVATAR.
This should be interesting.
Here we see Dina’s descent into Amazi-Girl’s arch-nemesis, Dinogal. After goring Toedad with her horns, she begins a life of crime, adopting improvised weapons based upon the natural abilities of her precious dinosaurs: A toe claw, like a raptor. Tiny arms, like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. A spiky tail like a Stegosaurus. She attacks those who deny evolution (and especially those who call it evilution), all the while singing the Jurassic Park theme music.
…I’d watch it.
for a nickel, i’d produce it
For a dime, I’d direct it!
For a quarter, I’d play every part.
For a dollar, I’d buy it!
for a silver dollar I’d sell it
For a hundred million dollars I’d defend it against lawsuits.
What? My services don’t come cheap.
Dinogal sounds to heroic, she should be called The Raptor.
And her mandatory enemy, The Rapture.
Come on Dina… take him to campus security or to Ruthless.
She may not have a well formulated plan in her head yet ; but she had urgently to stop ToeDad from asking another student that WOULD have led him.
…I hope she won’t get hurt. ToeDad is already starting to show irrascibility and will take it pretty bad once he realise he’s been fooled.
If he realizes he’s been fooled, he’ll probably realize Becky is there. Dina wouldn’t trick him if she wasn’t.
Take him to Ruth, take him to Ruth, TAKEHIM TO AMAZiGIRL or take him to Ruth
Ruth is a freckled redhead. It’d be an easy “mistake”.
I can never tell if Ruth does things like fight Blaine because she wants to help Amber or because she just wants an excuse to justifiably beat someone up.
I suspect it’s both. It could be that she loves the chance to get violent on someone she doesn’t have to refrain from severely injuring, but can’t bring herself to do it unless it seems like the right thing to do, and she genuinely enjoys the ‘helping people’ aspect of it even beyond the rush of the fight.
Or not. Only The Willis probably knows.
I kind of hope Dina takes him to the Group Meet and sic the Questioning Individuals on him
Sadly he would see Joyce there and tell her parents
It kinda would violate the idea of a “safe space”
I’m really confused as to why people want Dina to take Ross to the Questioning meeting. It’s not like brining him there will cause everyone to jump him and beat him up. It will make Ross uncomfortable, but his reaction will probably be to loudly condemn everyone there, and in general make people who are questioning their sexuality to feel really uncomfortable. Bringing a controlling, bigoted asshole to a meeting that is trying to make people more understanding of themselves and others seems to entirely defeat the purpose of the meeting.
And no one ever saw their big toe, ever again.
Only the face of Ross McIntire
Suddenly, all four of Dinasaur’s eyes have the same murderous determination. :3
that…this comment sent a chill up my spine the likes of which i had never expected to experience while thinking of dina
“Yes, Dina, give into your righteous fury. Wield my tri-horn power!
Good… good…”
curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Whatever Dina’s next move is, I’m sure it’ll be the best she can do.
Now I feel sad. D:
Noooooooooo ๐
Gawddamnit Willis, there are so many options she can choose and I don’t know which she’s going with. From a realistic perspective, I hope it’s campus security who can legally remove him from the campus and inform him he has no legal right to trespass, nor does he have any legal right to kidnap his adult daughter if she is even in fact on the campus property.
From a meaner perspective, I hope she takes him to Amber.
on a similar note, i hope she takes him to amber while she is not bound by the rules of her mask and is fully aware of the toe’s butt-holitude
…and possibly sarah with a bat
The next dynamic duo- Amazigirl and Sarah with a Bat in: The Attack of the Buutwad Toehead!
She takes them to Amber, Sal, and Ruth. And thus begins the Dumbiverse’s Avengers.
Oh shit, how’d I forget Sarah?
Dunno, but wouldn’t the Avengers have an interesting dynamic with Amber and Sal? Their superhero backstories would be linked in an uncomfortable way.
I would say that Amazi-girl is definitely Captain America, Ruth is the Hulk, Sarah can be Thor with a bat, and Sal is… Black Widow?
The significant point is this: No-one knows for sure that Becky is at IU, not even Ross himself. By not going through the authorities for whatever reason, he’s already shot himself in the foot. He’s going to end up with an aggravated trespass charge and maybe even harassment against Joyce and Dina. It just depends on how deep his river of ‘dumb’ is before he realises that continuing to push is just filling his life with ore complications and that he needs a ‘Plan-B’.
Huh… Maybe a team-up with Blaine? Maybe they meet in the hospital where they’re gluing Blaine back together and are putting slave on Ross’s taser and pepper spray burns?
Exactly. He has no legal right to be on their property, especially if he’s harassing students. Not to mention that even if his /adult/ daughter is on the campus, which cannot be confirmed by the security staff, he has intentions of essentially kidnapping her, which is also illegal. Even if he had gone through the police, Becky is a legal adult. He has no custodial rights over her anymore, and has no legal right to know her location.
Becky needs to get a RO, actually, now that I think about it, just to be sure.
Okay. So.
Taking him to Ruth is a Bad Idea. Becky is supposed to be secret from Ruth. Of course, Dina might not have figured this part out, on account of how she’s just figured out that Dina wasn’t just here on vacation and might not have thought all the implications through.
Taking him to Amber… probably not a great idea. He looks tougher than Blaine, and even if Amber and/or Amazi-girl could administer a beat down, it would be bad for her psychological health bringing her into this scenario with zero warning.
What I REALLY want to see is Dina escorting him back to the Questioning meeting and saying, “I saw her in this crowd just a bit ago, ask around. It might take them a bit to open up but if you tell them the WHOLE story I’m sure you’ll get them talking.”
*that Becky wasn’t here on vacation.
Dina’s probably figured out that Dina’s not just here on vacation.
Also, is that one unnamed head in Panel 4 that Sierra’s talking to Mary? It looks like Mary.
I’m hoping it involves Dina and Ruth walking him off campus(after calling security or while accompanied by them) and solemnly proclaiming him banned from entering campus or communicating with persons thereof and banning any and all residents and fellows of the college from communicating with him, assisting him, standing within two ells of him, sleeping under the same roof, or reading any poster placed by him. And then spitting at his feet for good measure.
Months later, police announce they are calling off the search for toedad. No body was ever found.
Fortunately, no one has had a red flashback with Amber in it yet.
I hope it ends with Becky’s new employer Galasso getting all up in Ross’s face.
Man, i know that was his original pose, but I still find it hilarious that Blaine’s standing like that in Dina’s flashback. It’s like he’s about to start singing “YMCA”.
Although he’s a bad man and a dangerous one, I’ve always found something vaguely pathetic and funny about Blaine. He’s obviously a man who has made a string of disastrously bad decisions and is compounding them with ever worse decisions and plans with time.
He’s a desperate man, likely with a death-mark against his name from a string of dangerous loan sharks and bookies. This makes him dangerous in turn, especially to Amber who I suspect he regards as a saleable asset. However, that doesn’t stop him coming across as faintly ridiculous as he tries to put on the ‘goofily genial good dad’ act for the benefit of the general public.
There is nothing more dangerous than a dead man walking and, if Blaine can’t find money soon, he’s a dead man.
The next most dangerous kind of man is a man who has persuaded himself that God requires him to commit an atrocity to save someone, even if it kills them in the process. That is what Ross is.
Your speculations are all wrong. Dina will take Evildad to Mike, whose mighty super sarcasm powers will reduce Evildad to a quivering wreck.
Or Roz.
“Hey, I saw your video, big fan” ?
Everyone: “Wait, what?”
Calling it – Dina takes him to the Questioning meetup, and the very idea of questioning one’s sexuality causes the empty hole in his soul to finally collapse and remove him from the universe. Or he gets chased off by a crowd of LGTB kids, whichever.
either that or going to the meeting causes him to see the error of his ways and he sacrifices himself to save everyone before dying in Becky’s arms.
Please no, the last thing a mass of kids on the verge of figuring themselves out is some loud homophobe ranting at them about how their sinful life is going to send them straight to Hell and reminding them of the worst possible incarnation of a coming out to the parents could look like.
That’s what I was thinking, put in clearer terms. I’m really confused as to why people want him to be taken to the questioning meeting.
Wanting to see him be defeated by the power of solidarity and friendship, I guess. I could go disastrously wrong, as has been said. I guess we all want to see him be soundly defeated somehow, we can agree on that, right?.
Yeah, he’s not a low grade cartoon villain who will be defeated by simply being around positive emotions. Most likely he would just ruin everyone else day by him being a loud, obnoxious bigot.
Point taken, I was being very silly.
Dina has a plan. I don’t know what it is though. I’d like it if it ended with toedad getting run over by a bus or something. Probably won’t happen but I can dream.
Oh this is getting good! I can’t wait for tomorrow night!
Dina takes him to the questioning thing. Pleeeeeeease. Pleeeeeeeeease.
Man, I totally misread Dina’s expression at first. I thought the line indicating the bottom of her eye was her actual eye, closed in resignation. I’m glad this doesn’t seem to be the case.
She hid her own eyes. The Triceratops has the wheel now.
Plz let this be the best distraction of all time. WE ARE ALL COUNTING ON YOU, DINO GIRL.
New objective: Keep Toe Dad distracted.
Go Dina Go! We believe in you! VIVA LA DISTRACTION!
Anyone know what faith Dina belongs to? I half want her to lead ToeDad to some a shrine for eastern religion, like Buddhism or Shinto.
I’m willing to bet that she’s atheist.
She’s actually a Dinosaurian. And of the one true featherist denomination, naturally. The feather-rejectionists blaspheme against the Holy Truth of the Dinosaur; shame on them!
I think it’s a safe bet there are no Shinto shrines within 100 miles of Bloomington (or Indiana for that matter).
I’ll take that bet. https://www.iwu.edu/news/2014/09-shinto-shrine-finds-home-at-illinois-wesleyan.html
And I would lose, it’s 200 miles by bicycle between the two… One letter difference in the address, IL and IN
Dina looks like she’s about to take a bite out of Toe in that last panel. Awesome.
OK, ya know… I think Dina knows ninjitsu in this continuity because she has hidden her cunning plan in plain sight. It’s been staring you all in the face for days and it seems like no one has connected the dots… or maybe no one else is talking. Maybe, now, I’ve said too much?
Even if Dina’s plan fails, there is a backup plan. It is called the easy to climb tree just outside Billie’s window.
But the look of that Triceratops in the last panel though…
Dina, no, murder is not the answer. Remember, Triceratops are herbivores.
So are hippos, Cape buffalo, and rhinos.
Amongst other things.
Darn, my Jurassic Park-logic argument is foiled! I guess Dina would be proud.
The Jurassic Park logic only worked because the herbavores were so big they didn’t care about humans. Herbavores are far more aggressive than carnivores are.
I read something once where the tone of a horse’s whinny was described as “get away or you will die and I will be glad.”
It’s a TRAP!
when it happens to someone like toedad, it’s called a surprise
In this remembered panel, wasn’t this the episode that led to Faz being wrapped in tape from head to toe and a discussion ensuing about where to dispose of him? Was it Dina that did the wrapping? or the disposing?
I was certain that Dina was afraid of him and aware of his nature because of the well presented strip yesterday. No way she is going to lead him to Becky.
I can’t wait to see where she takes him. The Questioning meeting would be very interesting. Enough people there to sit on Toedad if he tried any crap.
Wherever she goes with him, I don’t think he is going to like it. I hope.
Actually it looks like Dina used a rope and grappling hook to corral Faz.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/return/
First off: hooray for Dina formulating a plan (or at least beginning to do so)
Second: does Ross just have a perms-smirk or something? His entire being just feels off. Could that line under his mustache just be a face line/wrinkle/whatever, and his chin/jawline is actually his mouth…his giant, derpy mouth. And his ‘stache is false, and just stuck onto the tip of his nose, because he doesn’t know how to nose.
(I know where his nose actually ends, but that first panel has just the right angle where his moth & nose perfectly line up for that chin-mouth look that’s just so wrong…I can’t unsee it)
If someone refers to their kid’s running away as an Escape that’s my cue to immediately call the police.
Let’s imagine for a moment a universe in which Ross was still a homophobic bigot but not actually the abusive turd we see before us now. In that universe Becky still got in trouble for having a budding relationship with Kaitlin and was still rushed from Anderson’s by an angry father. But at the crucial moment THAT Ross swallowed his pride and said something to the effect of… “fine”.
That Becky still left in the night in search for the one person who would understand (and love?) her. But that Becky had money in her pocket, a change of clothes and ToeDad’s cell phone (which, yes, had angry birds on it), because distraught or not, sinner or not she was still his daughter and when it came down to it he cared less about controlling her, and more about her not becoming one of Leslie’s “sweet lesbian facts”. That Becky would still feel no need AT ALL to return home or to Anderson’s but when she applied for jobs or housing or scholarship she did it with a financial security more substantial than a packet of Arby’s sauce and a college sweater. That Becky could spend the worst days of her life NOT looking over her shoulder for a man who SHOULD by right be her protector but now had become her enemy. That Becky would NOT have to ask her best friend and only support to lie to her parents. That Becky would NOT have to consider the choice between ritualized abuse at correction camps and life on the streets.
And even for all that, the Ross I’m describing would still be a complete waste of space, fulfilling the bare minimum of parental – of human – decency. That Ross would be a fucking piece of shit and Becky would do well to get as far away from him as she could – but he would STILL BE MILES BETTER THAN THE TITTY-SHITTING MOTHER GUZZLING COCK FUCK conga that call himself Becky’s father here.
FUCK YOU ROSS!!!!!!!
No, tell us how you really feel… ๐
He’said almost worse than Blaine, in a way. Blaine I just wish would get a lifetime of jail and possibly a mental breakdown from realizing how horrible he is, but Ross, well, if you’ve read Discworld, think Felmet’s attempts to get rid of the blood on his hands. I just want Ross gone. Even being retroactively erased from history would make me feel bad for the person that erased him for having to interact with Ross for that.
You know what’s depressing? As part of those “sweet lesbian facts” that’s pretty much as good as a lot of people can hope to get. Bare minimum support and not actively being thrown from the house or dragged off to reparative therapy. Where home is just constantly “disappointed” in you and ties every failure to work the system back to your queerness and how you’ve “strayed” from the path. Where you are quietly spoken to to not bring your partner to Thanksgiving so it won’t “cause a scene”. Where you technically by the sheerest margin have parents.
That’s often the best that can be hoped for and so few get even that.
That’s almost the most tragic thing about Becky’s story. That it is not uncommon, right down to the attempt on the part of the abusive controlling asshole to try and disrupt any point of stability you might luck yourself into and poison everything they can until you can finally escape them for good… but never knowing if it really is for good.
I’m just imagining a universe where people aren’t about to get so angry that they have a stroke while thinking about this comic.
The extremely real pain LGBT kids go through because of their shit parents does that.
To be honest I’m kinda trying to be funny. Not that this storyline doesn’t provoke emotions in me but the chewing scenery part is just me running along with a gag. If it truly bothers anyone (does it?) I’ll drop it.
To clarify: I mean everything I write, but I can say it without screaming.
Oh no it doesn’t bother me really – if it did I’m free to not read it anyway. I did just honestly think that it was a shame that a webcomic might make someone so angry. No one needs to feel that way at the start of the day.
I’ll stop being a hippy for now – carry on!
Glad we cleared that up ๐
But yeah, it does make me just that angry because, as Spencer said, even if Becky and Ross are fictional they serve as a reminder of the real plight of real people.
And that was the day Dina took up gardening! She even went all the way back home to start it, with a large plastic bag full of gardening supplies!
Are we going to find out those horns are real when Dina lures him to a back alley and gores him I wonder.
Ross, using terms like ‘escaped’ and such pre-emptive language are not things likely to persuade people to help you. I know that you’re used to demanding, coercing and forcing compliance but it isn’t going to work in this scenario. Of course, watching him throw bombs at every bridge of co-operation is sort of the joke here, isn’t it?
Right now, I’m worried about Dina. I’ve got a horrible feeling that she’s going to do something dangerously brave and brilliant. The thing is, if she leads Ross on a wild goose chase, I’m afraid that he might hurt her. She’s only a heathen girl, after all, it isn’t as if doing so would be wrong in his distorted world-view.
That last bit doesn’t really jive. Where do you get that he doesn’t think it would be wrong to hurt her because “she’s only a heathen girl?”
I don’t see Ross in the uniform of the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, he’s big and scary and bigoted, and he might get angry and lose control, but not even the Westboro Baptist Church says that God gives them permission to beat up non-Christians. What you just said there was exactly as offensive as if you had said that he might hurt her for not being a Muslim.
Not, I should clarify, that I like this guy or want to defend him. I don’t. It’s just that so far all he’s shown is homophobia and overcontrolling. We have heard no history of violence, seen no physically threatening actions from him that I recall, Becky seems to be afraid of the consequences he can have for her life, but not of him hurting her, and however scary he may look, he’s taking a relatively passive tactic in searching for his daughter.
He’s a piece of shit, but you’re saying that he believes he can get away with beating up on people because he’s Christian and they’re not, and that it’s his being Christian that gives him that belief.
There are people like that, but they’re rare. That’s not what Christianity is: anyone who tells you it is is just using Christianity as an excuse.
Violence will ensue. Violins will ensue. One or the other. Possibly both.
Which ass-kicker should we serve him to? Ruthless or Amazigirl?
Personally, I’d like to see Jacob thump him into the ground. He’s big enough, though he hasn’t shown a mean streak yet, and he really doesn’t know Becky/Joyce/Dina.
I have no idea what Dina is up to. The most I would be able to do in this situation is just lead him as far away as possible but even then that probably wouldn’t help. Leading to Ruth wouldn’t help as Dina has now realised Becky has ‘run away’ so shouldn’t be here, what is Amazi-Girl going to be able to do, realistically, and leading him to Becky ha ha ha nopeee.
Good luck Dina!!
“Welcome to Campus Security. How can I help you?”
“This individual is an intruder on the campus; he is behaving in an aggressive and violent way and he is following me around raving about his missing daughter. Can you do something about him?”
“Why you little…” *Buzz of taser and hiss of pepper spray* “AAARRRGH!”
Hey ToeDad, if you want random strangers to help you find your adult child that’s “run away” from you, you might not want to straight up say that they’ve escaped. It makes it really obvious (to everyone who isn’t you) that they might have had a really good reason for wanting to get away from you in the first place.
Oh god Dina don’t put yourself in too much danger. I’m becoming really uncomfortable for you. I mean he’s not quite Blaine and I’m perhaps jumping to conclusions, but big authoritative christian dudes who are homophobes are less then good in track records when it comes to just women in general even if he thinks you’re straight and he never finds out you’ve kissed Becky. And then there’s whole controlling streak he’s always had for Becky that has probably ramped up to 11 when it comes to daughters. (I’m guessing Becky doesn’t have a brother, so we can’t compare though).
It just wouldn’t be surprising since rampant sexism and homophobia can be often connected. Even though I’m in the closet generally with few cracks in the door- if a dude starts sprouting homophobic bs I immediately become scared for my own safety even though he might never know- but the simple fact I’m also a girl and look like what a lot of people have as an idea of one means he’s probably a danger. When you’re obsessed with gender roles both sexism and homophobia can be a result after all
And it’s really highly likely that to him as a fundementalist- women are just there to serve men, just as men serve god- so he won’t take kindly to /any/ kind of ‘betrayal’- but even more so from you then he would a guy.
Agggggh.
Yeah, the way Dina’s mind works may afford her some protection from his likely emotional abuse and shitting on queer and independent women in that she may be more likely to separate that into “his shit” in her head rather than internalizing it, but it’s still a big risk to take.
Such men can get scary violent or just scary in general if they don’t feel their egos as men being placated at all times.
What is it about the way he was written that makes me think he has some kind of weird Russian accent?
Maybe he works in a sushi shop, as well
(niet)
… I suddenly want to see a DoA/Drrrr crossover.
Simon vs Galasso, Mike vs. Izaya, Ruthless vs. Shizuo, Dina bonding with Varona. . .
eh, chances are Shizuo would actually get along with ruth.
‘…escaped to’? Freudian slip, Ross, or just some latent self-awareness?
Here’s what’s gonna happen, she’s gonna try to help Becky by somehow fooling her dad or something, and it’s gonna backfire.
Personally though, I hope she keeps her dad busy, and they have this little bonding moment and then when he meets Becky he would be ok with it because it’s Dina, and then they have a relationship and then I can change my gravatar to Dina.
Unlikely. That bigotry is ingrained HARD, and there’s no way he’s going to let Becky out of his control and open to more subversive influences.
I like your reality. Can I live there?
Ooooh, look how Piece of shit A (Blaine) and Piece of shit B (Ross) align in the first and second panel. Nice.
I love the way Dina lowers her horns in the last panel. Preparing to defend and attack the predator!
I’m completely convinced that’s exactly what she is doing.
I agree about the horns! She’s suddenly aware and nicely balancing defense while she moves on the offense. Go Dina Go!
Funny how he used the word “escaped”
Hopefully she tries to warn becky somehow. Since she clearly knows this guy is an utter piece of shit.
I just wonder how she would do so with him standing over her shoulder.
I would argue that attempting to contact Becky or Joyce in any way would put them in danger.
I suspect that Dina is going to attempt to provoke Ross into doing something overtly threatening and/or harmful to her in a public place so Campus Police will expel him and make him persona non gracia on the campus.
I’m still hoping for a strip where, as the cops are bundling a thorougly-tased and -pepper-sprayed Ross into a car, Joyce calls him a ‘total poopy-head’ and a ‘naughty-part sucker’.
I’m also wondering if there will be a strip where Joyce’s mother discredits herself a little by tying herself in moral knots trying to justify his actions and make it all somehow Becky’s fault.
Joyce: “total poopy-head”
Everyone else in a cast, strip after strip, three weeks: *faints*
TowArd is wearing camo pants.
Terrorist.
I was just starting to wonder if the man’s misguided view might be worth some sympathy. He is doing this because he cares for his daughter, after all. Even “ran away from me” might come from a place of compassion and concern.
Then comes the word choice “Escaped to”.
Nope. Fuck this guy. Resume the hate.
You know I do think it’s still a misguided concern. Doesn’t stop him from being a dick but still. It’s like those parents who pressure their kids into becoming doctors when it’s clear they aren’t suited to be one. The parents mean well they just don’t stop to think that their ‘right’ isn’t the ultimate right.
And bring in Amazi-Girl! Hate and violence is what makes the world go round, right?
He pulled his daughter out of college for being gay.
He was going to send her to corrective therapy.
He’s followed her here with the intent of dragging her back home despite Becky being a legal adult.
I’m genuinely pretty okay with this shitstain getting what he deserves.
Historically, kindof? Well that and increased population growth caused by both farm based communities and/or lack of good choices on both reproduction and resources. I mean you gotta have enough people to fight over the resources, right?
And queue whacky Home Alone booby trap hijinks?
They’ll never find his body =X
the quiet ones are usually the most dangerous. dina is the ONLY person we have never seen lose her temper sucessfully. remember this is a girl who has studied every single prehistoric creature extensively. she might be planning to lead him away from collateral damage/potential harm victims, then ambush and attack him.
im not saying she has the claws of a raptor and the fangs of a t-rex, and given the nature of this comic, i dont expect disembowlment from a kick, but i have a hunch that unless she is leading him to becky, or the author intervenes, she is going to cause some serious dino style fighting harm upon him.
remember, she is quiet and observes. but she might have some SEVERE skill beneath that surface.
Disembowlment kick ? now I have that Kanbaru vs Araragi fight scene stuck in head.
Unfortunately this seems to be a serious storyline so its grounded in a bit more reality (unlike Mike beating up Joe) and Dina is tiny so unless she gets lucky she won’t be able to do much to Toedad
Aw shit.
Unrelated to today’s strip in particular, but have we ever seen the back of Dina’s new goodie? Who wants to bet that she’s customized ito with quills?
Yup, we’ve seen the back. ๐ http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/meetup/
Dina, no! Think about this first! Where will you hide the body?
holding my breath. come on dina…
Right now Becky needs a hero….she’s holdina out for a hero tonight
Here’s hoping she’s leading him toward security with words like “This man doesn’t belong here! He’s trying to kidnap a girl! Help!” ready to go. I don’t give a fuck if he’s Becky’s dad, if she doesn’t want to go with him then his taking her away would be kidnapping.
Next I predict Toedad will insult Dina’s fascination with Dinosaurs on the way to ‘find’ his daughter. She will be hard pressed between deciding on arguing with him about it or continuing to lead him on a wild ‘Dasornis’ chase.
http://www.livescience.com/2906-prehistoric-giant-goose-skull.html
FWIW, I doubt that Ross would recognise a Triceratops; he doubtless avoids any information about palaeontology like it was infected with the plague. He probably knows enough about popular culture to know about that demonic pass-time of cosplay; he’s probably assuming it’s something from some animรฉ.
Or video game series…
More like get him chased by a Gastornis. Or a kea, in an emergency.
I think that ‘lead him to security’ prediction is the strongest one right now. Oddly enough, I wonder if most of Dina’s distress is the thought that Becky (and Joyce, whom one would normally have difficulty believing was even capable of deception) had lied to her.
I think it would be a nice close to this chapter if Becky were to tell Dina her whole story and the two end up hugging. Meanwhile, a guilty-feeling Joyce, who had been doing a Dina and standing in the shadows, tries to convince herself that she isn’t an idiot for missing what Ross has been doing to his daughter all these years.
Her own parents have been doing pretty much the same thing, tho.
It’s a traaap!
She’s going to the Gay meeting.
Dina is a character I find myself relating to in many ways. All the same, she has proven, time and again, to be far better than me in certain key aspects. At last night’s dorm party, she proved to be far better than me at standing up for herself. In the current storyline, she has demonstrated with Sarah and Ethan that she is better than me when it comes to owning her differences, and using them to connect with people in a meaningful way. Is she better than me at thinking on her feet and coming up with effective plans at the spur of the moment? That remains to be seen, but I very much hope for Becky’s sake that she is.
I’m not sure how much sense this makes. Today is one of those days when I can’t quite get my mind and body started. In any case, I look forward to finding out where this is going.
Amber’s house is at 13 Memory Lane, Flashback, The Past. Actually, the road kinda goes THROUGH the house at that point. Amber makes cookies for all the passers-by!
Definitely forming a plan. Between the flashback and the fact that she agreed to “show him to her” after he said she was a waste of time, I think there is clear evidence that she knew she needed to divert him before he got his claws into someone who would actually show him to his daughter.
Dina, just know that I will be hoping your plan works and works well (if it involves grotesque maiming, I won’t complain, but if not… well, that’s cool too, I guess, as long as it works).
Never piss off a herbivore whose head alone weighs twice as much as you.
Wait, are we talking about a Triceratops, or Toedad?
I’ve seen that look before… Dina might end up chopping up this guys body and feeding it to somone
DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU’RE COMING WITH ME
Holy heck my gravatar account still exists
She’s going to lead him to Amber for an Amazi-Girl beatdown because she knows they are the same person and she doesn’t understand the need for separation between them.
OR take her rightful place as the Dina-saur at Amazi-Girl’s side. ๐
Deception!
mammal deception!
Dina with agency is the best Dina.It’s not character development, it’s the revealing of existing character.
Anybody else think she’ll lead him to Ruth?
“I apologize about your femurs. Was this the incorrect redhead?”
clever girl
Huh, did I accidentally predict where this is going? Admittedly it was in jest and about dorothy’s dad, but still.
Why is it that every single time I fall behind on reading webcomics for one reason or another, no matter the day, David Willis finishes me up with a cliffhanger?
DAMN YOU WILLIS!
never change pls