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Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
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That is actually one I wouldn’t like to see further explored. On one hand, the Ethan / Joyce thing really must come to an end one of these days… But for this pairing to happen, that would also have to bring an end to Amazi-Girl / Amber / Danny.
Amazi-Girl / Amber / Danny is complicated enough when you consider that, at this point, it is basically a self-aware two person love triangle. Imagine how horrible it would be, especially for Amber, if you gave Danny a third love interest, and that love interest was her best friend / former boyfriend, Ethan!
I’m not sure what exactly Walky should apologize for.
I mean, it would make complete sense to apologize for saying “I love you” just for the sake of saying it and in the process trying to undermine the sincere sentiment out of Dorothy’s admission of lurves.
But is Dorothy upset about that, or because Walky doesn’t have it in him to express a likewise sincere sentiment? I’m not sure Dorothy even knows. And I’m sure Walky doesn’t.
Pretty sure that she’s upset over the fact that Walky would rather perform a cynical stage show rather than just taking the easy out she gave him – “you don’t have to say it back if you don’t want to” is as big a get out of jail free card as I’ve ever seen. She’s upset that Walky saw her gesture as part of some dramatic formula rather than as a genuine expression of emotion. She’s upset that he basically compared their relationship to a shitty romcom, implying that they’re both essentially just playing roles.
Yeah, that was a really shitty thing Walky did. I do think Dorothy is upset about that, but I don’t think we cans say it’s the only or main thing she’s upset about.
While I’m sure Dorothy really meant “you don’t have to say it back if you don’t want to”, I don’t think that precludes being upset about the fact that Walky did not say it back in any legitimate way. She might have been prepared to be rebuffed, but that doesn’t mean it won’t sting.
Well, given the situation, Walky might do well to emphasize how new he is at the whole relationship thing and say he can tell he said something wrong but needs her help to understand exactly why she became upset. That would get them talking, and hopefully work out their problems.
Is it right to apologize if you don’t understand/don’t believe what you did was wrong? Cuz then you’re doing exactly what got Walky in trouble in the first place. You’re just humoring her. The only difference is he won’t be telling her that he is.
An apology might be appropriate eventually, but first Walky needs to calm (and let Dorothy calm down), not say whatever he thinks will get him back into her good graces quickest. It’s what got him into this mess in the first place.
And besides that I’m not convinced that Dorothy’s upset about the thing he did wrong, vs the thing he did right.
This is sort of how I felt about it. Walky took the easy way out, sure, which wasn’t the best choice, but Dorothy dropped a giant bomb in his lap. It really doesn’t help that she gave him an “out”, because, at least in his mind, she’d still be judging him for taking that out.
Obviously it takes two to tango in any situation, but I don’t think Walky is in a “you done messed up, you need to grovel for forgiveness” situation. And if he is, that speaks poorly of Dotty.
“I think I said something dumb” + awareness of being in the wrong = APOLOGIZE
even if he thinks it’s a “life hack,” it really doesn’t HURT to say, “I feel as though I have wronged you somehow, and I don’t understand how but I want to say I’m sorry for hurting you, please help me not make that mistake again”
If you are fighting to be right with a gay man or a woman, you are in a relationship with , you are probably going to lose. Just for doing that thing.
Whether he was right from his viewpoint or not, It matters less than that he hurt her feelings. Then he doubled down on it.
He dug himself a hole , and then he jumped in. Now he knows it.
Granted in most circumstances “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings” is a bullshit half apology, in this case its the minimun of what he needs .
This is about feeling-dating logic and not keeping s score logic.
He needs to find a much better way to honor what she said to him and make her feel valued back.
If ythe person you are dating says “I love you ” ,
and what you say back hurts their feelings, it was in that context, wrong.
From her perspective he told her “I love you “, then took it back.
Then his justification of it , minimized her own declaration.
I’m confused, what did Walky do this time? He said he loved her right? But he said it too quickly? But then she said she loved him first so exactly what was the correct response there? Wait five seconds while looking off into the sunset(wall) thoughtfully before saying “I know.” and then a flock of doves comes flooping in while Genesis plays Invisible Touch?
He said it back, then made a speech how they were just words and didn’t mean anything, basically meaning that he didn’t comprehend what she was saying to him. Basically he explained to her that he doesn’t mean it when he says it, he is just fulfilling an obligation to her. He essentially “threw her a bone.”
But it’s Walky (yes, I know someone will make a joke about this). He probably meant both the “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it” part as well as the “I love you” part, without understanding why actually saying the first part would sound bad. That, and it would probably be too much effort for him to lie.
Shorts and a hoodie. I am a straight man, which no sense of fashion, and my personal style is wearing at least 2 shirts at a time to cover of the details of my shamefully fat body, I only own one pair of shoes and those are tennis shoes, and my current belt is a football belt, yet I am somehow extremely bothered by shorts and a hoodie.
It’s the combination of long sleeves and short pants, I think. Short sleeves and long pants are fine; but long sleeves are usually also paired with long pants, so long sleeves with short pants subconsciously look like someone in underwear. Hence the discomfort.
–Why, yes, I have put way too much thought into this.
You can TOTALLY LEGALLY do this.
However, while your book might not violate any COPYRIGHT issues, it might violate TRADEMARK issues, especially if lawyers make a case that you’re tricking people who want to to buy the other “The Hobbit.”
While on one hand, I like Billie’s growing self awareness… would it hurt her to take a minute to listen to a friend?
Hopefully Walky can make this right!
Anyway, here we go…
The Great “Help Yotsuyasan Choose
A New Gravatar” of 2014, part 3:
The Search for Shock!
We come to it at last, the horrifying final option for my new Gravatar, presented without further comment. (Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA!)
Well, folks, which one should I use? Which ever one gets the most positive feedback (assuming any is forthcoming) will, as of when tomorrow’s update happens, become my new permanent Gravatar. It shall forever* be the face I use for all of my comments to you, my fellow Dumbing of Age fans!
Can’t quite remember the first two options well enough? Click here for a look at all three together! (Bonus points** for anyone who can identify the source of the fonts I used on that graphic.)
Thanks in advance to anyone wishing to share their opinion!
* Until I decide to change it again someday… but I suspect that will be a long time in coming…
** Bonus points are only redeemable for self-satisfaction, and have no cash value. Available only to residents of the continental United States. Some restrictions may apply.
Well, if you want to make it go away forever, which of the other two options would you prefer? (Or I could just keep this one, and you can develop a bad habit in common with Billie and Ruth.)
I’m gonna have to pick #2.
#1 is easily mistaken for a generic randomly-selected gravatar, and
#3 is the stuff of nightmares (and it is difficult to read the text of your posts while trying to avert one’s gaze away from that thing).
I do have to admit, #1 is the hardest of the three to spot easily if I am scrolling through a long page of comments looking for my own. But it was even harder with the truly generic Ruth one I previously had, and if I need to, that’s what my browser’s “Find” function is for!
#2 is the easiest as far as spotting it while quickly scrolling. And #3 isn’t too hard to spot. (It being the one everyone else is running from in horror!)
I think Billie is just getting used to the idea that she doesn’t know all there is to know about relationships. She was overconfident in that regard, and now she’s overcorrected for that. I think she really thinks any advice she could give to Walky will be fucked up and bad for him.
A shame, really. Yes, she was over confident and often stuck her nose in where unneeded. But when she does encounter someone actually needing of help, she really can be a good problem solver!
So 3 is the Joker after he’s had surgery to look like Blaine, right? (That’s what it like to me. I guess that if it’s not then I need … um?) That’s gotta the choice.
So, is “terrifying” a vote in favor for or against? (And if against, do you have a preference between options 1 and 2? Because if no preference is indicated, I will consider a vote against merely as an abstention.)
Well, in my first post with this comic, I did include a link to a graphic showing all three options for anyone who may need a refresher on the first two. But just to make it extra easy for you, ’cause I know scrolling back up can be taxing, here is the link again.
Well, I am off to bed… but before I go, I see that so far #3 is in the lead! Who knew that so many people loved Blaine? (For the record, yes, I did have trouble typing that with a straight face.)
Ruth is currently in second place, and in a distant third with so far only one vote is the completely custom, not-a-Dumbing-of-Age-Character Yotsuyasan avatar.
Will Blane-as-Joker succeed, and thus a new super villain to haunt Amazi-girl be born? Will Ruth catch up to him and beat the crap out of him so that he goes away forever? Will Lassie get help in time to rescue Timmy from the bottom of the well? Stay tuned, and find out!
I am happy to see the response thus far. I was a tiny bit worried; I guess as I had hoped people were just waiting to see all three before voicing opinions! I look forward to in the morning, and through out the day, seeing what additional opinions may be offered. Try to get them in before 11:00 E.S.T. tonight, so I have time to tabulate everything before midnight! (Something to do while enjoying Stewart & Colbert.)
While i’m all in favor of an individualised avatar, i think #2 is a bit too complicated with two characters instead of simply one.
So i vote #3, it meets my sick sense of humour.
But you could also follow Plasma Mongooses’ example and rotate between #2 and #3 (#1, as other’s already have pointed out, looks too much like a generic one).
Or you bind those two gravs to two different email-adresses and switch as appropriate (as Opus the Poet does).
Ah, I have to admit, when I noticed Opus the Poet had two different ones showing up at the same time, I did get a bit curious how that was accomplished! I thought of asking, but I figured then it would defeat the purpose of having asked everyone’s opinions to then turn around and say, “Well, forget that, I’m just going to use more than one, after all!”
Of course, with your revelation on how it was done, it becomes a moot point, anyway. I only have the one e-mail address, and I’d rather keep it that way.
No, you’re not the only one. Hold on a second, let me tally up the current standings… (This will just be a quick glance, so may be off ever so slightly.)
So far, as of about 5:00 p.m., we have:
#1 (Ruth): 4
#2 (Yotsuyasan): 3
#3 (Blaine as Joker): 11
So so far, looks like Blaine is in the lead!
So any Blaine haters out there, you still have about six hours to get out the vote and try and swing things in favor of one of the other candidates. Otherwise, you get to look forward to gazing at his smiling face (if that qualifies as a smile) every time I post a comment!
I’m always a bit torn when I see yours, Idon’tcarenomore. On one hand, I adore Billie and Ruth, ship them like mad, and enjoy seeing their fleeting (but hopefully growing) moments of happiness together.
On the other hand… Those closed, downturned eyes and those slight upturned smiles… Billie and Ruth have a disturbing vaguely Faz-like vibe in that image!
I do think Billie could have tried to help him. She is beginning to get her act together, hopefully.
On the other hand, she has a point :).
Chat seems to think ‘just tell Dorothy what you just said to Billie, and that will fix it”. It just might.
**archive dive**
Oh right.
… actually, I kinda respect where Walky’s coming from. I don’t think he phrased it very well, but there is a freedom in just letting go and letting oneself love without fear.
I’m not sure I entirely understand Billie’s reaction in the third and fourth panel. She’s not really angry with Walky,so it seems like a matter of self confidence, but it seems like she would be riding that confidence high right now, even with all the problems she still has in the background.
Well, I rather think Billie is in a complicated place right now.
On one hand, she feels happy in Ruth’s presence. Hopefully it is (or is something that can eventually develop into) love! That makes her feel good.
On the other hand, she’s still in the middle of realizing that her preconceptions about herself are a lot of bullshit. She’s not the big fish. She’s not Ms. Popular. Which is a shame, as when she is confident in herself, she can be the awesome problem solver she thinks herself to be. But right now, her self confidence is at a low, even despite the boost of having a Ruth in her life.
Plus, even though they (incorrectly) think they got away with their little act of theatre just now, Ruth and Billie must still know Mary is going to be a problem, and now that Ruth is out of sight, Billie is probably back to stewing on that.
So unfortunately, while she probably could give Walky great advice (even as simple as, “Go try telling her what you just said to me!”) she’s alas too lost in her own funk to be able to do so right now.
Her reaction is because she has recently been learning she is NOT all-knowing, that she is NOT superior to the people around her, and she does NOT have the knowledge she once thought she had.
She stopped herself from trying to help him because she doesn’t want to get back into the habit of believing that she is better than him or more knowledgeable. She knows now that she has no right to tell him exactly what to do – before she used to boss him about and tell him exactly what to do, but she doesn’t want to be that person who looks down on him like that any more.
I can’t decide if that’s super offensive or not tbh. I’m assuming it’s a skin color joke, yes? Comparing people’s skin colors to chocolate etc? That always. Yeah. Idk. Rubs me the wrong way.
Could be just me overreacting tho and I’m SURE you didn’t mean it in an offensive way. But something about that made me uncomfortable just now. Idek.
I think Walky called himself that once as well, unless I’m remembering that wrong. But he does have some issues about race and his and his sister’s in particular, so idk. I mean, I think it’s fine for people to call themselves whatever they want to call themselves.
I’m just always super careful with saying these things about other people, because I as a white person feel like I shouldn’t be saying these things.
But I guess I wasn’t aware it was a running joke type thing in the comments. I am clearly having a hard time expressing myself here and I may be completely overreacting, like I said. It’s weird sometimes, the things that rub us the wrong way, right? It can be super random things and I can’t really explain it.
Obviously your experience is the valid one in this situation and I should be listening to you, so I will
I have a mixed race friend who hates being called caramel or coffee colored or ‘exotic’, which drives her up the wall and I can understand that completely, but I also understand your point about not being offended at all. I guess it’s super personal and not my place to judge because it’s not my experience.
If an individual hates being referred to by their colour, that’s understandable but remember there is a difference between saying that for example, that Yotomoe has chocolate coloured skin and calling him Chocolate-boy.
It’s also important to remember that there is no “Definite” right and wrong with most things. Some people just…handle situations differently. Don’t think because some people are offended that something is necessarily bad, or if something is wildly met with praise that it’s definite good. I feel this way about this particular thing but that doesn’t make my view RIGHT. That just makes it my preference. It’s too stressful for me to worry about if I’m being offensive all the time.
I actually agree with this completely. It’s always a personal thing. Unless, y’know, when it’s actual racism, which every sane person should be offended by. But this thing is super personal and everyone should have the right to decide whether they are offended and there’s always grey areas.
I understand that. Maybe it wasn’t my place to get offended by something that doesn’t even apply to me. I just don’t like this whole chocolate/caramel business to describe the color of peoples skin. Maybe especially because in your mars bar analogy it was about Sierra being the dark chocolate, I’m guessing? So. Idk. Girls especially being referred to in this way always brings to mind (for me) creepy guys who have ‘looking for chocolate ladies’ on their tinder profile or whatever, which reeks of fetishization. Which BY NO MEANS is what you did and I’m not saying that, either. I’m just trying to explain why this whole chocolate imagery elicited a strong reaction from me.
Blahhh, I should stop. I think I’ve explained myself enough lol. I definitely didn’t mean to start something and I’m sorry if overreacted. I’m just gonna go to bed now :p
I have a mixed race friend whose nickname is Mocha. Heck, if there hadn’t been a short while when he and I worked at the same place, there’s a good chance I might never have even known his real name was Jonathan!
I do recall that for a while he was apparently trying to leave the “Mocha” name behind, although myself and the small group of friends I have in common with him were apparently exempt from that. (At least, he never personally expressed to me a wish to be called anything else.) But that was years ago, and he seems to have given up on it. So either he came back around to liking it again, or just became resigned to it.
But whatever. He is eternally Mocha now! Mwa ha ha!
While I am a fan of men’s shorts being a bit above the knees, that does look to be too much, just on loss of pocket space alone (although the cargo pockets do help).
Now, I believe girls’/women’s pants having such small pockets compared to boys’/men’s is a form of institutionalized sexism, designed to limit the convenient carrying of items for the former sex, but the solution is most certainly not to shrink man pockets. (It most certainly is to grow woman pockets, in case that wasn’t obvious.)
This concludes my exposition on my political/moral/ethical/philosophical leanings on the topic of pants and short pants.
My satire sensors may be broken, but just in case: Women’s pants have small pockets because women pants are generally tight-fitting. This means that any items carried in pockets will leave weird bulges all over the place. Men’s pants are blocky and generally unshapely, with plenty of space to avoid bulges.
The pocket sizes do make sense in that regard. Now, whether the separated fashion traditions are worthwhile in themselves, well…
Yeah, the whole “pockets are small because deliberate sexism conspiracy” is a little crazy. “Pockets are small because women have to be sexy while guys can be comfortable because (partly) unconscious double standard” is more plausible.
Relationships that start with violence and emotional abuse and shift into codependency depression and alcoholism, are inherently bad. The entire foundation is rotten so no matter what you try and build on it it will collapse.
If the narrative isn’t taking violence seriously, I’m not. That means the rape attempt on Joyce, and that’s it. There doesn’t really seem to be codependency – Billie’s kind of a little situationally crazy, but Ruth seems fairly steady overall on the matter (Which might be why we’ve seen flashes of doubt from her). Alcoholism’s not good, so we’ll see what happens there.
Sigh. So…on the one hand I’m happy Billie seems to regard Walky and her other friends with a little more love and respect than she used to and seems to genuinely value them a bit more. On the other…the girl can never do anything half-way, can she? If she isn’t an awesomely superior human being to these silly little nerds then she’s absolute poison and anything she might offer is doomed to ruin everyone’s life. I’d be real happy if she could find something between these two views of herself!
I always thought it was ‘quote un-quote’ but then, I’m a non native-speaker so that’s probably why (and endquote makes so much more sense lol). Learning something new every day^^
Anyway. I really enjoy the faces going on in this strip tbh. Walky always makes some excellent faces.
Reminds me of the time, years ago, I said something to the effect of, “I’m going to get a beverage,” and I had a co-worker flip out on me! She started yelling, “Just say ‘drink’ like everyone else!”
Man, who knew being thirsty while having an ample vocabulary could be so dangerous?
Who says “ample” unironically? Just say “big”! What, are you some kind of elitist flaunting his eloquence, as if some exquisite education would substantiate a show of superior intellect?
I take umbrage at such needlessly pretentious ostentation. Good day!
I just end up using bigger vocabulary words because I find most of the time they provide a more precise way to say what I’m trying to say than a “generic” term. Then again, I’m kind of a reader, and I tend to get wordy when I want to make a point anyway.
Whenever I receive complaints about my elaborate vocabulary I just tell them that I’m putting my high school education to use so as not to waste my parents’ tax money.
Etymologically speaking, I would agree completely that “end-quote” would make more sense. But where I am in New England, I have always heard it as “unquote” myself.
Of course, the whole “quote un/end-quote” thing always seemed awkward speech to me anyway… So I just typically tend to avoid needing to use quotation marks when communicating verbally.
I always use it in the context of “sort of but not exactly” or “I’m definitely paraphrasing here.” I’m basically saying, “I would love to say this with quotable certainty, but what I’m saying is exactly right or verbatim.”
Both versions are fine to use. What really bugs me is when people say both parts *before* the thing they’re quoting. They’re verbal quotations marks, they should quote, ‘bracket’, unquote, the thing you’re quoting. And it always gets a bit more awkward when written down to simulate/record spoken language.
But it’s Walky saying it here, so that’s fine.
Man, the word quote has started to seem really strange now.
Ordinarily, I would quite agree. But I think she is definitely overcorrecting here. I suppose it is a natural reaction, however, and just a shame that Walky, in his moment of need, shall suffer for it. (Even if said suffering is just brief until he finds someone else to talk to, or just bumbles his way into patching things up with Dorothy.)
Hopefully before too long, Billie settles into a happy medium of self-confidence and humility.
Walky, you need to bring this sentiment to Dorothy. You need to have this whole conversation with Dorothy, not with Billie.
This is a difficult juncture, though! Placing your heart and soul into the hands of someone whom you have started to care about and to love, but who is still a stranger to you, compared to the family and friends you grew up with.
Wrong. It is out of practicing superheroines. Most of the female cast is one radioactive infusion and/or mentally traumatic moment away from dawning a cape and bringing justice to the streets.
Billie you can’t say you ‘dont have the right’ when Walky is blatantly coming to YOU for advice come on. All you have to do is hear him out here instead of saying something stupid like “you dont need my help you deal with this stuff better than me kbye”
Also I kind of like that Walky instead of thinking what he said was fine (which it kind of was, probably didnt come across the best way but still) he’s automatically gone ‘crap ive said something stupid again’. He’s always willing to apologise for whatever he’s done, even if he doesn’t quite get why. Wait. thats probably not a good thing. Aghh. Why have all these characters gotta be so complicated hahaa
Uh. No. If he’s in trouble (and that’s a big if – we’ve only seen Dorothy get hurt/annoyed, close the conversation and leave), it’s for outright lying. Whether or not he loves her, he told her he does, then explicitly said he didn’t actually mean it. Whatever his emotions actually are, his immaturity was stomping pretty hard on Dorothy’s emotions there.
Not, she said she loved him and he said he loved her and she said wow “I thought I’d have to extort it out of you” and he said yes I was trying to deliberately avert that dumb trope where the guy can’t spit it out and such declarations leed to bullshit feelings of obligation and wasn’t that what you said you were trying to avoid?
No. He said he was only saying “I love you” because “that’s what you gotta say back”. He also said he was not giving the word power. For him, saying “love you too” at the right time was a life hack (his words). This is the same as removing any meaning from those words, making them as empty as “how are you? – I’m fine thanks”.
He failed to talk about his feelings, as he was thinking only in terms of television plot.
Dorothy did not want an “I love you” back specifically, she just wanted Walky to be sincere talk about his own feelings.
At first it looked like he was being sincere, surprising her… but then he revealed it was just an automatic response, as immature as the “avoiding the L-word” dumb trope.
He didn’t say he was lying. He did however trivialize both what he was saying and what Dorothy just said (from Dorothy’s point of view anyway) thus hurting her feelings.
Being inconsiderate is bad enough without needing to call it “lying”.
Or, he’s in trouble for recognizing an attempt to manipulate him/put him on the spot, and calling the person on it/negating the attempted manipulation.
Well, maybe. But telling the truth is frankly not always a good thing. Sometimes it is literally the cruelest thing you can do. Not to mention the fact that everything is subjective- what you think is the truth might be someone else’s lie or half-truth. Also, it matters as much how the “truth” is delivered as anything else. Telling someone “they are acting retarded” versus “you aren’t thinking straight right now” both express the same situation, but one is obviously kinder than the other. I’ve seen a lot of jerkish behavior in this comic get dismissed because “they were just telling the truth” as if that alone makes it okay.
Billie doesn’t need to be a super genius here. Any of the girls in the dorm (save Dina) could explain what he did wrong and give him a clue about how to resolve this. Just don’t ask Joe or Mike.
If he is, maybe I can then have a cross-over between DoA and my own series! (He said, pointing none too subtly at the link in his username.*)
Of course, not sure how that would work, since DoA takes place in a different state, and runs on comic book time. (Where as I started writing it in 1997… and have gotten as far in-story as 1998!)
Although I must ask, why are you making this line of inquiry? Is it some comment on the shorts? Because for one thing, shorts are hardly a mandatory part of a Boy Scout uniform. Myself, when I was active back in the day, I hardly ever wore them and almost exclusively preferred to stick with full length pants, even in the summer. Also, they are completely the wrong color. That color is what you would find on the uniform shirt, where as the pants would be green.
* Read at your own risk, as I make no promises as to the quality of the writing.
“I totally messed up. I said something dumb and I gotta undumb things.”
Then I’d find a transition to “I’ve never had any idea what I’ve been doing and it would really suck to screw this up because I started with the best girlfriend.”
Perhaps the meanwhile could snap back to Joyce, because isn’t Becky still visiting? I am all for any interruption that brings us more Billie & Ruth goodness, but now that that is concluded for the moment, we should get back to that!
She did say that, yes. But something tells me (if she can get over her dislike for Walky’s response) that her heart might be putting a kink in her “casual, short term, and for fun only” relationship plan.
That moment when you realize you have completely and utterly messed up the one thing that made getting out of bed worthwhile, and that you have absolutely no friggin clue how to fix it. Gratz, Walky, welcome to Life.
If you’re not sure then its better not to offer advice at all so no complaints against Billie and as for Walky well Dorothy did put Walky on the spot and she does realise these emotions are all new for him whereas shes probably more used to them so the best thing for Walky would be to let Dorothy chill out and then explain the emotion of the situation (ref Billie) was a bit over whelming
Dorothys smart so I’m sure she’ll understand and then probably help Walky through his emotions (like she did with sexy times)
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or you could just, like, apologize
Or you know, talk to Dorothy and say exactly what you said to Billie.
All too easy.
It seems Obi-wan didn’t train you as well as I thought.
“There is another skywalkerton
So….Sal?
Or else Dorothy is immune to Jedi mind tricks?
You’ll find he’s full of surprises.
Exactly?
“Billie! I need emergency girly advice!” might not work out.
You’re talking about Walky.
I suppose an alternative could be fail upwards into a better BOYfriend…?
MANfriend?
GENDERFLUIDfriend?
Hey, you changed your slash pairing! Nice.
Nah, he’ll fail downward into Mary’s waiting, hate-filled
armswristbands.Maybe in the Darkest Timeline.
Does Walky sport the evil Van Dyke in the Darkest Timeline or does Mary?
Walky will be the only one with the evil van dyke. Mary doesn’t need the van dyke, in the darkest timeline she already rules over all…
T-REXfriend.
Gotta say I liked the old grav better.
Woah, no need to get started on any homo pairings, we already have one that deserves our full attention. *Points towards Gravatar*
That is actually one I wouldn’t like to see further explored. On one hand, the Ethan / Joyce thing really must come to an end one of these days… But for this pairing to happen, that would also have to bring an end to Amazi-Girl / Amber / Danny.
Amazi-Girl / Amber / Danny is complicated enough when you consider that, at this point, it is basically a self-aware two person love triangle. Imagine how horrible it would be, especially for Amber, if you gave Danny a third love interest, and that love interest was her best friend / former boyfriend, Ethan!
Don’t do that to Amber!
Well, your Gravatar has given me a new ship I didn’t expect.
-_-
I’m not sure what exactly Walky should apologize for.
I mean, it would make complete sense to apologize for saying “I love you” just for the sake of saying it and in the process trying to undermine the sincere sentiment out of Dorothy’s admission of lurves.
But is Dorothy upset about that, or because Walky doesn’t have it in him to express a likewise sincere sentiment? I’m not sure Dorothy even knows. And I’m sure Walky doesn’t.
Pretty sure that she’s upset over the fact that Walky would rather perform a cynical stage show rather than just taking the easy out she gave him – “you don’t have to say it back if you don’t want to” is as big a get out of jail free card as I’ve ever seen. She’s upset that Walky saw her gesture as part of some dramatic formula rather than as a genuine expression of emotion. She’s upset that he basically compared their relationship to a shitty romcom, implying that they’re both essentially just playing roles.
Yeah, that was a really shitty thing Walky did. I do think Dorothy is upset about that, but I don’t think we cans say it’s the only or main thing she’s upset about.
While I’m sure Dorothy really meant “you don’t have to say it back if you don’t want to”, I don’t think that precludes being upset about the fact that Walky did not say it back in any legitimate way. She might have been prepared to be rebuffed, but that doesn’t mean it won’t sting.
Well, given the situation, Walky might do well to emphasize how new he is at the whole relationship thing and say he can tell he said something wrong but needs her help to understand exactly why she became upset. That would get them talking, and hopefully work out their problems.
Jen Aside, I only just noticed the change in your gravatar.
Yeah, that just happened, right?
It’s awesome! I didn’t think SalxMarcie could be 1up-ed. Shows how little I know…
A crack pairing like Carla/Dina appeals to me.
…
Carla: homoromantic asexual asshole, doesn’t care about your societal rules
Dina: cares more about dinosaurs than romance, had a past with Mike (asshole extraordinaire), doesn’t understand your societal rules
Crack pairing, you say? I know this has little to do with actual chemistry, but you have to admit it looks good on paper.
In that case, I might need to upgrade this ship from crack to high-grade coke.
Classic or diet?
With those two? Cherry.
Sp! continuity? Because Dina doesn’t have a past with Mike in DoA… yet
Yeah, that was in the walkyverse. Sorry for the continuity mix-up!
Oh my god yes.
I swear, Jen, you have the best taste in makeout commissions.
I think your Gravatar might be even better than Jen’s. Seriously.
Is it right to apologize if you don’t understand/don’t believe what you did was wrong? Cuz then you’re doing exactly what got Walky in trouble in the first place. You’re just humoring her. The only difference is he won’t be telling her that he is.
Yeah, I’m with you on this.
An apology might be appropriate eventually, but first Walky needs to calm (and let Dorothy calm down), not say whatever he thinks will get him back into her good graces quickest. It’s what got him into this mess in the first place.
And besides that I’m not convinced that Dorothy’s upset about the thing he did wrong, vs the thing he did right.
This is sort of how I felt about it. Walky took the easy way out, sure, which wasn’t the best choice, but Dorothy dropped a giant bomb in his lap. It really doesn’t help that she gave him an “out”, because, at least in his mind, she’d still be judging him for taking that out.
Obviously it takes two to tango in any situation, but I don’t think Walky is in a “you done messed up, you need to grovel for forgiveness” situation. And if he is, that speaks poorly of Dotty.
“I think I said something dumb” + awareness of being in the wrong = APOLOGIZE
even if he thinks it’s a “life hack,” it really doesn’t HURT to say, “I feel as though I have wronged you somehow, and I don’t understand how but I want to say I’m sorry for hurting you, please help me not make that mistake again”
[as in, “let’s talk about how we feel about things” not “punch me in the face if I say something stupid again”]
My experience in dating says YES!
If you are fighting to be right with a gay man or a woman, you are in a relationship with , you are probably going to lose. Just for doing that thing.
Whether he was right from his viewpoint or not, It matters less than that he hurt her feelings. Then he doubled down on it.
He dug himself a hole , and then he jumped in. Now he knows it.
Granted in most circumstances “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings” is a bullshit half apology, in this case its the minimun of what he needs .
This is about feeling-dating logic and not keeping s score logic.
He needs to find a much better way to honor what she said to him and make her feel valued back.
If ythe person you are dating says “I love you ” ,
and what you say back hurts their feelings, it was in that context, wrong.
From her perspective he told her “I love you “, then took it back.
Then his justification of it , minimized her own declaration.
Oh snap, was that your new commission request? You have chosen well.
Thanks! I thought VERY HARD about it =D =D =D
I’m confused, what did Walky do this time? He said he loved her right? But he said it too quickly? But then she said she loved him first so exactly what was the correct response there? Wait five seconds while looking off into the sunset(wall) thoughtfully before saying “I know.” and then a flock of doves comes flooping in while Genesis plays Invisible Touch?
Cause, that’s what I would’ve done.
He said it back, then made a speech how they were just words and didn’t mean anything, basically meaning that he didn’t comprehend what she was saying to him. Basically he explained to her that he doesn’t mean it when he says it, he is just fulfilling an obligation to her. He essentially “threw her a bone.”
But it’s Walky (yes, I know someone will make a joke about this). He probably meant both the “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it” part as well as the “I love you” part, without understanding why actually saying the first part would sound bad. That, and it would probably be too much effort for him to lie.
No, not at all. He just showed a bit more maturity than Dorothy, that’s all.
Shorts and a hoodie. I am a straight man, which no sense of fashion, and my personal style is wearing at least 2 shirts at a time to cover of the details of my shamefully fat body, I only own one pair of shoes and those are tennis shoes, and my current belt is a football belt, yet I am somehow extremely bothered by shorts and a hoodie.
It’s the combination of long sleeves and short pants, I think. Short sleeves and long pants are fine; but long sleeves are usually also paired with long pants, so long sleeves with short pants subconsciously look like someone in underwear. Hence the discomfort.
–Why, yes, I have put way too much thought into this.
The Jason Gravatar fits oh-too-well.
Inorite?
Appologise for what?
Perfect grav is perfect.
“Apologize”? Like a girl?
Apologize for what? He DIDN’T say anything dumb, he only thinks so because of Dorothys reaction.
Walky has a knack for saying dumb but really sweet things, doesn’t he.
You can always count on him to say the exact right thing at the wrong time.
Best girlfriend is best.
Breast girlfriend is breast.
We really need a breast size chart.
Don’t worry, Safebooru link is Safe.
That’s the Best Size Chart. Lame there ain’t really a good guy equivilent. You could do a dong size chart but that’d just be weird.
You can only do the dong size chart by going the NSFW route.
Could do foot size.
Most series rarely even show the feet let alone indicate anything special about a character’s foot size.
Are you saying that none of Rob Liefelds muscle-bound clods have penises under their pouches?
The way Rob Liefeld draws, the penises are likely to be where the bellybutton should be.
With the quantity of steroids his characters must consume, any genitalia probably shriveled up and fell off ages ago.
@gwalla: Now that’s the truth.
Aw! I liked the idea of them having a belly-penis / penis-belly!
BTW, Plasma, that is a pretty intense gravatar: she looks like someone you would not want cheesed at you.
@Commenter: Nope you wouldn’t want to mess with her, it’s a pity I haven’t given her a name yet. >:D
She deserves something badass!
Dina is more portable though
As long as he knows…
Failing Upwards will be the title of Walky’s memoirs as First Gentleman to the Keener administration.
And Shel Silverstein’s estate will sue him into oblivion.
Presumably his estate’s lawyers are aware you can’t copyright a title.
With that in mind I invite you all to the release of my new book, “The Hobbit,” this December 16th.
You can TOTALLY LEGALLY do this.
However, while your book might not violate any COPYRIGHT issues, it might violate TRADEMARK issues, especially if lawyers make a case that you’re tricking people who want to to buy the other “The Hobbit.”
Aw, you’re taking all the fun out of it.
I don’t have any stake in the surname debate, but president Walkerton sounds cooler.
President Walkerton-Keener?
(Yeah, I’m not a big fan of hyphens, either, but it’s an option.)
I wish I had the secret to falling upwards career wise.
While on one hand, I like Billie’s growing self awareness… would it hurt her to take a minute to listen to a friend?
Hopefully Walky can make this right!
Anyway, here we go…
The Great “Help Yotsuyasan Choose
A New Gravatar” of 2014, part 3:
The Search for Shock!
We come to it at last, the horrifying final option for my new Gravatar, presented without further comment. (Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA!)
Well, folks, which one should I use? Which ever one gets the most positive feedback (assuming any is forthcoming) will, as of when tomorrow’s update happens, become my new permanent Gravatar. It shall forever* be the face I use for all of my comments to you, my fellow Dumbing of Age fans!
Can’t quite remember the first two options well enough? Click here for a look at all three together! (Bonus points** for anyone who can identify the source of the fonts I used on that graphic.)
Thanks in advance to anyone wishing to share their opinion!
* Until I decide to change it again someday… but I suspect that will be a long time in coming…
** Bonus points are only redeemable for self-satisfaction, and have no cash value. Available only to residents of the continental United States. Some restrictions may apply.
I-I’m gonna go drink until I forget your Gravatar exists.
Well, if you want to make it go away forever, which of the other two options would you prefer? (Or I could just keep this one, and you can develop a bad habit in common with Billie and Ruth.)
I like it. Adds color to the dash, and man it keeps me from punching my computer monitor for fear of catching the evil.
releasing the evil. (Fixed it for you)
I like this one. Plus I already know where he got those scars (Amber) so I’ll be immune to that particulaR TRAP.
#3, #3!
I’ll be honest, this is probably my favorite of the three.
WAIT NO GO BACK TO #1 *sobs*
Consider your vote changed.
Absolutely 3!!!
Aw yeah, número tres!
3, definitely 3.
I’m gonna have to pick #2.
#1 is easily mistaken for a generic randomly-selected gravatar, and
#3 is the stuff of nightmares (and it is difficult to read the text of your posts while trying to avert one’s gaze away from that thing).
I do have to admit, #1 is the hardest of the three to spot easily if I am scrolling through a long page of comments looking for my own. But it was even harder with the truly generic Ruth one I previously had, and if I need to, that’s what my browser’s “Find” function is for!
#2 is the easiest as far as spotting it while quickly scrolling. And #3 isn’t too hard to spot. (It being the one everyone else is running from in horror!)
gots to be 3
I vote for #1.
I think Billie is just getting used to the idea that she doesn’t know all there is to know about relationships. She was overconfident in that regard, and now she’s overcorrected for that. I think she really thinks any advice she could give to Walky will be fucked up and bad for him.
A shame, really. Yes, she was over confident and often stuck her nose in where unneeded. But when she does encounter someone actually needing of help, she really can be a good problem solver!
omg 3 all my votes go to 3
So 3 is the Joker after he’s had surgery to look like Blaine, right? (That’s what it like to me. I guess that if it’s not then I need … um?) That’s gotta the choice.
That Blaine is freaking terrifying.
So, is “terrifying” a vote in favor for or against? (And if against, do you have a preference between options 1 and 2? Because if no preference is indicated, I will consider a vote against merely as an abstention.)
I didn’t see #1, don’t like #2, DEFINITELY DO NOT LIKE #3
Well, in my first post with this comic, I did include a link to a graphic showing all three options for anyone who may need a refresher on the first two. But just to make it extra easy for you, ’cause I know scrolling back up can be taxing, here is the link again.
Yeah, definitely #1, numero uno. Thumbs up and all that shit.
#3. I approve.
Well, I am off to bed… but before I go, I see that so far #3 is in the lead! Who knew that so many people loved Blaine? (For the record, yes, I did have trouble typing that with a straight face.)
Ruth is currently in second place, and in a distant third with so far only one vote is the completely custom, not-a-Dumbing-of-Age-Character Yotsuyasan avatar.
Will Blane-as-Joker succeed, and thus a new super villain to haunt Amazi-girl be born? Will Ruth catch up to him and beat the crap out of him so that he goes away forever? Will Lassie get help in time to rescue Timmy from the bottom of the well? Stay tuned, and find out!
I am happy to see the response thus far. I was a tiny bit worried; I guess as I had hoped people were just waiting to see all three before voicing opinions! I look forward to in the morning, and through out the day, seeing what additional opinions may be offered. Try to get them in before 11:00 E.S.T. tonight, so I have time to tabulate everything before midnight! (Something to do while enjoying Stewart & Colbert.)
Good night, everybody!
Option 1, for hte love of cheese.
2, definitely 2. Maybe 1? Absolutely not 3 as I can hear him telling me to do bad things…
Agreed. Option two is the least creepy, and more distinctive than one.
While i’m all in favor of an individualised avatar, i think #2 is a bit too complicated with two characters instead of simply one.
So i vote #3, it meets my sick sense of humour.
But you could also follow Plasma Mongooses’ example and rotate between #2 and #3 (#1, as other’s already have pointed out, looks too much like a generic one).
Or you bind those two gravs to two different email-adresses and switch as appropriate (as Opus the Poet does).
Ah, I have to admit, when I noticed Opus the Poet had two different ones showing up at the same time, I did get a bit curious how that was accomplished! I thought of asking, but I figured then it would defeat the purpose of having asked everyone’s opinions to then turn around and say, “Well, forget that, I’m just going to use more than one, after all!”
Of course, with your revelation on how it was done, it becomes a moot point, anyway. I only have the one e-mail address, and I’d rather keep it that way.
am i the only one who likes #1 ruth
No, you’re not the only one. Hold on a second, let me tally up the current standings… (This will just be a quick glance, so may be off ever so slightly.)
So far, as of about 5:00 p.m., we have:
#1 (Ruth): 4
#2 (Yotsuyasan): 3
#3 (Blaine as Joker): 11
So so far, looks like Blaine is in the lead!
So any Blaine haters out there, you still have about six hours to get out the vote and try and swing things in favor of one of the other candidates. Otherwise, you get to look forward to gazing at his smiling face (if that qualifies as a smile) every time I post a comment!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!! O_O
*heart stops*
…
*heart restarts*
What the hell just happ–
o.o
O_O
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
*hyperventilates*
*starts breathing slower*
*composes self*
I vote for #3.
That Blaine as Joker gravatar is one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen on this board. My vote is for #3.
That. Say that.
I like this one Yotsuyasan
I’m always a bit torn when I see yours, Idon’tcarenomore. On one hand, I adore Billie and Ruth, ship them like mad, and enjoy seeing their fleeting (but hopefully growing) moments of happiness together.
On the other hand… Those closed, downturned eyes and those slight upturned smiles… Billie and Ruth have a disturbing vaguely Faz-like vibe in that image!
The Great Faz sees himself in all things. And his penis inside all of the lovely ladies. Would you like to see this chart?
Nope!
The Great Faz is displeased. Wen would you like to see the chart, then?
Did “Nope!” imply some answer other than never?
Wait…
You don’t actually have a chart…
…do you?
I’m kinda excited for once my brain and the hovertext were perfectly in-sync.
And then, Walky was suddenly a bigger fuckup than Danny.
Let that sink in.
Walky fails upwards. Danny efforts downwards.
True.
True.
It’s kind of easy for Walky to fall upwards considering how low he was in maturity in the beggining
You could tell the best girlfriend that, perhaps?
I do think Billie could have tried to help him. She is beginning to get her act together, hopefully.
On the other hand, she has a point :).
Chat seems to think ‘just tell Dorothy what you just said to Billie, and that will fix it”. It just might.
Funny thing is – I’ve been so concerned with Ruth and Billie, I’ve forgotten what Walky did. Guess I need to go back a few days and remind myself.
**archive dive**
Oh right.
… actually, I kinda respect where Walky’s coming from. I don’t think he phrased it very well, but there is a freedom in just letting go and letting oneself love without fear.
I’m not sure I entirely understand Billie’s reaction in the third and fourth panel. She’s not really angry with Walky,so it seems like a matter of self confidence, but it seems like she would be riding that confidence high right now, even with all the problems she still has in the background.
Well, I rather think Billie is in a complicated place right now.
On one hand, she feels happy in Ruth’s presence. Hopefully it is (or is something that can eventually develop into) love! That makes her feel good.
On the other hand, she’s still in the middle of realizing that her preconceptions about herself are a lot of bullshit. She’s not the big fish. She’s not Ms. Popular. Which is a shame, as when she is confident in herself, she can be the awesome problem solver she thinks herself to be. But right now, her self confidence is at a low, even despite the boost of having a Ruth in her life.
Plus, even though they (incorrectly) think they got away with their little act of theatre just now, Ruth and Billie must still know Mary is going to be a problem, and now that Ruth is out of sight, Billie is probably back to stewing on that.
So unfortunately, while she probably could give Walky great advice (even as simple as, “Go try telling her what you just said to me!”) she’s alas too lost in her own funk to be able to do so right now.
At least, that is my take on it.
Her reaction is because she has recently been learning she is NOT all-knowing, that she is NOT superior to the people around her, and she does NOT have the knowledge she once thought she had.
She stopped herself from trying to help him because she doesn’t want to get back into the habit of believing that she is better than him or more knowledgeable. She knows now that she has no right to tell him exactly what to do – before she used to boss him about and tell him exactly what to do, but she doesn’t want to be that person who looks down on him like that any more.
The one time Walky needs advice from her and Billie’s all out. That’s life I suppose.
He started out with the best one? You’ve been dating Sierra behind Dorothy’s back!?
citizenkaneclap.gif
So if Sierra, Dotty and Walky ever became a OT3, would you call this pairing MARS BAR?
Why the heck would you….
Oh.
Ohhhhhhhhh. I get it. You are an evil woman, Mongoose.
My mind is Evil but Tasty, which means that I have to watch out for Mind-Flayers.
But if it’s tasty, that means it’s edible, so you should also look out for mind-filet-ers.
>_> Sorry.
Wow..just wow.
^_^ *hehehe*
I can’t decide if that’s super offensive or not tbh. I’m assuming it’s a skin color joke, yes? Comparing people’s skin colors to chocolate etc? That always. Yeah. Idk. Rubs me the wrong way.
Could be just me overreacting tho and I’m SURE you didn’t mean it in an offensive way. But something about that made me uncomfortable just now. Idek.
The commenters here have been referring to Walky (and sometimes Sal) as caramel for quite some time, so…
I think Walky called himself that once as well, unless I’m remembering that wrong. But he does have some issues about race and his and his sister’s in particular, so idk. I mean, I think it’s fine for people to call themselves whatever they want to call themselves.
I’m just always super careful with saying these things about other people, because I as a white person feel like I shouldn’t be saying these things.
But I guess I wasn’t aware it was a running joke type thing in the comments. I am clearly having a hard time expressing myself here and I may be completely overreacting, like I said. It’s weird sometimes, the things that rub us the wrong way, right? It can be super random things and I can’t really explain it.
As far as I know, it’s only Dorothy who has referred to Walky as being “like caramel”.
As a black person I call myself and others of my skin color chocolate. Why not? Chocolate is like…delicious. It’s like 40% of all candy!
Exactly! Hell, even with my poor eyesight, I like to try and identify colours from cars to skintones by what that colour reminds me of.
Obviously your experience is the valid one in this situation and I should be listening to you, so I will
I have a mixed race friend who hates being called caramel or coffee colored or ‘exotic’, which drives her up the wall and I can understand that completely, but I also understand your point about not being offended at all. I guess it’s super personal and not my place to judge because it’s not my experience.
If an individual hates being referred to by their colour, that’s understandable but remember there is a difference between saying that for example, that Yotomoe has chocolate coloured skin and calling him Chocolate-boy.
It’s also important to remember that there is no “Definite” right and wrong with most things. Some people just…handle situations differently. Don’t think because some people are offended that something is necessarily bad, or if something is wildly met with praise that it’s definite good. I feel this way about this particular thing but that doesn’t make my view RIGHT. That just makes it my preference. It’s too stressful for me to worry about if I’m being offensive all the time.
I actually agree with this completely. It’s always a personal thing. Unless, y’know, when it’s actual racism, which every sane person should be offended by. But this thing is super personal and everyone should have the right to decide whether they are offended and there’s always grey areas.
I understand that. Maybe it wasn’t my place to get offended by something that doesn’t even apply to me. I just don’t like this whole chocolate/caramel business to describe the color of peoples skin. Maybe especially because in your mars bar analogy it was about Sierra being the dark chocolate, I’m guessing? So. Idk. Girls especially being referred to in this way always brings to mind (for me) creepy guys who have ‘looking for chocolate ladies’ on their tinder profile or whatever, which reeks of fetishization. Which BY NO MEANS is what you did and I’m not saying that, either. I’m just trying to explain why this whole chocolate imagery elicited a strong reaction from me.
Blahhh, I should stop. I think I’ve explained myself enough lol. I definitely didn’t mean to start something and I’m sorry if overreacted. I’m just gonna go to bed now :p
I have a mixed race friend whose nickname is Mocha. Heck, if there hadn’t been a short while when he and I worked at the same place, there’s a good chance I might never have even known his real name was Jonathan!
I do recall that for a while he was apparently trying to leave the “Mocha” name behind, although myself and the small group of friends I have in common with him were apparently exempt from that. (At least, he never personally expressed to me a wish to be called anything else.) But that was years ago, and he seems to have given up on it. So either he came back around to liking it again, or just became resigned to it.
But whatever. He is eternally Mocha now! Mwa ha ha!
Mmm, chocolate and caramel… on a cracker…
So we should rename MARS BAR as SMORES then?
Oy, it ain’t a Pairing. A Pairing means there are two.
As far as I know there isn’t a term like pairing but with three people, the nearest one is OT3.
Trio?
Well, there’s “triad”, but then you get wisecracks about the Chinese mafia.
Walky those shorts are ridiculous. I refuse to believe those were Dorothy’s decision unless she’s really got a thing for Walky’s sexy legs.
(Which maybe, but I always figured she was drawn to his sexy torso since that’s what she was looking at during the beach trip.)
Ah, good, someone else noticed the short shorts.
While I am a fan of men’s shorts being a bit above the knees, that does look to be too much, just on loss of pocket space alone (although the cargo pockets do help).
Now, I believe girls’/women’s pants having such small pockets compared to boys’/men’s is a form of institutionalized sexism, designed to limit the convenient carrying of items for the former sex, but the solution is most certainly not to shrink man pockets. (It most certainly is to grow woman pockets, in case that wasn’t obvious.)
This concludes my exposition on my political/moral/ethical/philosophical leanings on the topic of pants and short pants.
My satire sensors may be broken, but just in case: Women’s pants have small pockets because women pants are generally tight-fitting. This means that any items carried in pockets will leave weird bulges all over the place. Men’s pants are blocky and generally unshapely, with plenty of space to avoid bulges.
The pocket sizes do make sense in that regard. Now, whether the separated fashion traditions are worthwhile in themselves, well…
Yeah, the whole “pockets are small because deliberate sexism conspiracy” is a little crazy. “Pockets are small because women have to be sexy while guys can be comfortable because (partly) unconscious double standard” is more plausible.
Nah, guys’ skinny jeans always have reasonably pockets.
Why couldn’t the solution be both? Everybody could have a variety of sized pockets depending on the occasion.
Billie, you managed to turn your worst enemy into your girlfriend in within a month. You can give SOME advice.
Sure, your relationship is inherintly dysfunctional and will properly end in a murder-suicide but still
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
‘inherently’? Naw. I mean actually and currently sure, but inherently?
Relationships that start with violence and emotional abuse and shift into codependency depression and alcoholism, are inherently bad. The entire foundation is rotten so no matter what you try and build on it it will collapse.
If the narrative isn’t taking violence seriously, I’m not. That means the rape attempt on Joyce, and that’s it. There doesn’t really seem to be codependency – Billie’s kind of a little situationally crazy, but Ruth seems fairly steady overall on the matter (Which might be why we’ve seen flashes of doubt from her). Alcoholism’s not good, so we’ll see what happens there.
Seriously, this is just getting old.
+1
Sigh. So…on the one hand I’m happy Billie seems to regard Walky and her other friends with a little more love and respect than she used to and seems to genuinely value them a bit more. On the other…the girl can never do anything half-way, can she? If she isn’t an awesomely superior human being to these silly little nerds then she’s absolute poison and anything she might offer is doomed to ruin everyone’s life. I’d be real happy if she could find something between these two views of herself!
Of course her past advice to Walky hasn’t been super great either.
I dunno, I think this bit in particular and the conversation they had in general was pretty good and helpful.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/flaunting/
Billie carries The DRAMA Tag wherever she goes.
I always thought it was ‘quote un-quote’ but then, I’m a non native-speaker so that’s probably why (and endquote makes so much more sense lol). Learning something new every day^^
Anyway. I really enjoy the faces going on in this strip tbh. Walky always makes some excellent faces.
I’ve always heard it as “quote un-quote” myself. I suppose this will turn into another whole fiasco a la “catty-corner” now, eh?
Ah I stayed out of that discussion because I had never heard that term in my life xD
But I just googled the quote thing and apparently people can and do use both. So whatever, really
Yeah wait. Was Billie Raised in the ’50s? What’s with these words she uses that no 18 year old uses. That girl is Verbose!
Reminds me of the time, years ago, I said something to the effect of, “I’m going to get a beverage,” and I had a co-worker flip out on me! She started yelling, “Just say ‘drink’ like everyone else!”
Man, who knew being thirsty while having an ample vocabulary could be so dangerous?
Who says “ample” unironically? Just say “big”! What, are you some kind of elitist flaunting his eloquence, as if some exquisite education would substantiate a show of superior intellect?
I take umbrage at such needlessly pretentious ostentation. Good day!
(jk)
Whenever I hear or use the word ample it’s usually involving butts or chests.
(Remembered from a Benny Hill skit)
-Perhaps you’d like to try our special, the ‘Dolly Parton’?
-Is it big enough for two?
-Oh, ample, madam, ample!
Some people find ample butts or chests sexy.
And then there are people who find ample vocabularies sexy.
(Which is not to say that those attributes have to be mutually exclusive.)
I just end up using bigger vocabulary words because I find most of the time they provide a more precise way to say what I’m trying to say than a “generic” term. Then again, I’m kind of a reader, and I tend to get wordy when I want to make a point anyway.
“Ample” actually means “sufficient or more than sufficient”.
Whenever I receive complaints about my elaborate vocabulary I just tell them that I’m putting my high school education to use so as not to waste my parents’ tax money.
#CattyCornerGate. We shall gather on Reddit. We will boycott Willis. We will win.
I’m not sure I want to be associated with anything that goes by any variation of the name “#_______Gate.”
This is an absolute revelation to me as a native English speaker. I mean, end-quote really does make so much more sense. What even is an “unquote?”
I’m going to have to spend some time with this…
Etymologically speaking, I would agree completely that “end-quote” would make more sense. But where I am in New England, I have always heard it as “unquote” myself.
Of course, the whole “quote un/end-quote” thing always seemed awkward speech to me anyway… So I just typically tend to avoid needing to use quotation marks when communicating verbally.
I always use it in the context of “sort of but not exactly” or “I’m definitely paraphrasing here.” I’m basically saying, “I would love to say this with quotable certainty, but what I’m saying is exactly right or verbatim.”
Or something.
Can I quote you on that?
There’s also “close quote”
Mary delenda est
Both versions are fine to use. What really bugs me is when people say both parts *before* the thing they’re quoting. They’re verbal quotations marks, they should quote, ‘bracket’, unquote, the thing you’re quoting. And it always gets a bit more awkward when written down to simulate/record spoken language.
But it’s Walky saying it here, so that’s fine.
Man, the word quote has started to seem really strange now.
That is kind of why I just try to avoid using “verbal quotation marks.” They never do not sound awkward to me.
Poor Billie lost her self-confidence. Some humility and reflection is probably good for her though.
Ordinarily, I would quite agree. But I think she is definitely overcorrecting here. I suppose it is a natural reaction, however, and just a shame that Walky, in his moment of need, shall suffer for it. (Even if said suffering is just brief until he finds someone else to talk to, or just bumbles his way into patching things up with Dorothy.)
Hopefully before too long, Billie settles into a happy medium of self-confidence and humility.
At least he knows he messed up.
I pretty much expected him to think “yeah, I handled that pretty well” and skip away, completely oblivious.
who wears short shorts?
Walky does
Damn those are short
Is this a setup for a Ethan/Danny/Gay gag?
PLEASE WILLIS, LET IT BE SO!
I heard what you did there, Jessica A.
Walky DARES to wear short-shorts!
I don’t think Walky qualifies as smart if he is wearing those shorts with a hoodie.
Walky, you need to bring this sentiment to Dorothy. You need to have this whole conversation with Dorothy, not with Billie.
This is a difficult juncture, though! Placing your heart and soul into the hands of someone whom you have started to care about and to love, but who is still a stranger to you, compared to the family and friends you grew up with.
And someone who has told you that she plans to leave you at her first opportunity.
I love it. The exact words that came out of my mouth after reading the last panel was almost an exact match to the alt-text.
haha, me too. He’s so good at coming up with the right thing to say and he has no idea.
I love it when i can tell people “well… why don’t you say that which you just told me, instead of what you actually end up saying?”
Unfortunately, this campus is fresh out of eligible superheroines.
Wrong. It is out of practicing superheroines. Most of the female cast is one radioactive infusion and/or mentally traumatic moment away from dawning a cape and bringing justice to the streets.
Or in Joyce’s case …
Billie you can’t say you ‘dont have the right’ when Walky is blatantly coming to YOU for advice come on. All you have to do is hear him out here instead of saying something stupid like “you dont need my help you deal with this stuff better than me kbye”
Also I kind of like that Walky instead of thinking what he said was fine (which it kind of was, probably didnt come across the best way but still) he’s automatically gone ‘crap ive said something stupid again’. He’s always willing to apologise for whatever he’s done, even if he doesn’t quite get why. Wait. thats probably not a good thing. Aghh. Why have all these characters gotta be so complicated hahaa
The reason she’s saying it is because she’s got poor self image.
This is not humility, this is poor self image.
Classic Relationship Crises: Walky is in trouble for telling the truth
Uh. No. If he’s in trouble (and that’s a big if – we’ve only seen Dorothy get hurt/annoyed, close the conversation and leave), it’s for outright lying. Whether or not he loves her, he told her he does, then explicitly said he didn’t actually mean it. Whatever his emotions actually are, his immaturity was stomping pretty hard on Dorothy’s emotions there.
Not, she said she loved him and he said he loved her and she said wow “I thought I’d have to extort it out of you” and he said yes I was trying to deliberately avert that dumb trope where the guy can’t spit it out and such declarations leed to bullshit feelings of obligation and wasn’t that what you said you were trying to avoid?
No. He said he was only saying “I love you” because “that’s what you gotta say back”. He also said he was not giving the word power. For him, saying “love you too” at the right time was a life hack (his words). This is the same as removing any meaning from those words, making them as empty as “how are you? – I’m fine thanks”.
He failed to talk about his feelings, as he was thinking only in terms of television plot.
Dorothy did not want an “I love you” back specifically, she just wanted Walky to be sincere talk about his own feelings.
At first it looked like he was being sincere, surprising her… but then he revealed it was just an automatic response, as immature as the “avoiding the L-word” dumb trope.
Except he was emphasizing the avoidance of the trope, not the simple fact that he loved her.
He didn’t say he was lying. He did however trivialize both what he was saying and what Dorothy just said (from Dorothy’s point of view anyway) thus hurting her feelings.
Being inconsiderate is bad enough without needing to call it “lying”.
Or, he’s in trouble for recognizing an attempt to manipulate him/put him on the spot, and calling the person on it/negating the attempted manipulation.
Well, maybe. But telling the truth is frankly not always a good thing. Sometimes it is literally the cruelest thing you can do. Not to mention the fact that everything is subjective- what you think is the truth might be someone else’s lie or half-truth. Also, it matters as much how the “truth” is delivered as anything else. Telling someone “they are acting retarded” versus “you aren’t thinking straight right now” both express the same situation, but one is obviously kinder than the other. I’ve seen a lot of jerkish behavior in this comic get dismissed because “they were just telling the truth” as if that alone makes it okay.
Billie doesn’t need to be a super genius here. Any of the girls in the dorm (save Dina) could explain what he did wrong and give him a clue about how to resolve this. Just don’t ask Joe or Mike.
I’m pretty sure Dina could identify where he went wrong, she’s good at pattern recognition. She probably wouldn’t know how to fix it though.
Is Walky joining the boyscouts of America?
If he is, maybe I can then have a cross-over between DoA and my own series! (He said, pointing none too subtly at the link in his username.*)
Of course, not sure how that would work, since DoA takes place in a different state, and runs on comic book time. (Where as I started writing it in 1997… and have gotten as far in-story as 1998!)
Although I must ask, why are you making this line of inquiry? Is it some comment on the shorts? Because for one thing, shorts are hardly a mandatory part of a Boy Scout uniform. Myself, when I was active back in the day, I hardly ever wore them and almost exclusively preferred to stick with full length pants, even in the summer. Also, they are completely the wrong color. That color is what you would find on the uniform shirt, where as the pants would be green.
* Read at your own risk, as I make no promises as to the quality of the writing.
Well frankly I’d start with panel 2:
“I totally messed up. I said something dumb and I gotta undumb things.”
Then I’d find a transition to “I’ve never had any idea what I’ve been doing and it would really suck to screw this up because I started with the best girlfriend.”
My ideal ending:
Dorothy hears, smiles, closes door, and then a funny MEANWHILE panel at the end.
Perhaps the meanwhile could snap back to Joyce, because isn’t Becky still visiting? I am all for any interruption that brings us more Billie & Ruth goodness, but now that that is concluded for the moment, we should get back to that!
“Billie – stop your relationship drama this instance and help me with my relationship drama.”
wrong, you haven’t dated Joyce yet.
Walky, honestly, a good start would be to let her hear you say that last line.
Didn’t Dorothy say that she didn’t want a serious future-focused relationship? Wasn’t that also one of her stated reasons for discarding Danny?
She did say that, yes. But something tells me (if she can get over her dislike for Walky’s response) that her heart might be putting a kink in her “casual, short term, and for fun only” relationship plan.
After all, she broke out the “L” word.
She is totally in Lesbians with Walky!
I know its been said before but damn thats a freaky gravatar
And yet it is currently well in the lead! So looks like you’ll just have to get used to the freaky…
Mwa ha ha ha ha!
Awesome but freaky
It’s so freaky it goes completely over into awesome.
She discarded Danny first and foremost because he didn’t respect her stated goals and was overly dependant.
Aw! Adorbs!
That moment when you realize you have completely and utterly messed up the one thing that made getting out of bed worthwhile, and that you have absolutely no friggin clue how to fix it. Gratz, Walky, welcome to Life.
If you’re not sure then its better not to offer advice at all so no complaints against Billie and as for Walky well Dorothy did put Walky on the spot and she does realise these emotions are all new for him whereas shes probably more used to them so the best thing for Walky would be to let Dorothy chill out and then explain the emotion of the situation (ref Billie) was a bit over whelming
Dorothys smart so I’m sure she’ll understand and then probably help Walky through his emotions (like she did with sexy times)
Seriously Walky, you are kind of smooth when you want to be.
Just throw a toy to her head.
Well fucking tell her that Dumbass!
Walky, you just need to say that exact same thing,
closer to her bedroom, with the same intonation.
I think that will go far!
Yeah, Walky. Just be mature and honest, like the girl who told you she loved you after a month of banging in between her full schedule of classes.