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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3h
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| TFCON TORONTO IS DONE :( also TEAM FOSSILS
Rainbow Friends
Dr. Frizzle
“Mornin’, Sam”
“Mornin’, Ralph”
(legit, tho, only slightly less scary than elevator entrapment is being in one with someone talky)
I mean, we work with attorneys, and I can vouch for they will take a lot of your money
It’s okay. Her parents have a lot of money. I’m trying to recall how much Carla knows about the Raidah situation and if she will inadvertently spill the beans.
As best I recall she doesn’t know and if she does she probably doesn’t care.
On screen has shown none at all. I don’t know if she even knows Jacob is related to him.
Mom n I walked into a hotel elevator that stunk like fart or trash. A floor later a Russian family walked in and of course did not know the smell was there prior to us. My mom has a lot of Russian coworkers so she could just barely get the gist of what the dad was saying, it had to do with “these Americans farted and it smells bad” which made the small kids he had with him giggle.
I’d argue being falsely blamed for farts in an elevator is slightly worse than chatty strangers solely cause of the feel of judgement. Only slightly but still!
Harrison is a good egg. But we knew that already.
“Good egg”? Very little of what we’ve heard of Carla’s parents suggests that…
Huh??? We know they supported her transition, and gave (and continue to give) her really cool tech stuff to play with. If there’s anything bad about Carla’s parents, I’m not remembering it.
In fact, if Harrison remembers her when she was short, that implies that her parents may have been OK with her transitioning before puberty. In which case they are all very good eggs.
They built her her own Ultracar… They are wonderful eggs!
Or Harrison saw her pre transition and is so chill with it that he only found the height difference worth commenting on.
Rather, some of the lawyer stuff may be the reason she’s been granted a solo room.
It has been suggested that Carla has a solo room because the college wants to avoid possible complaints from students or parents about sharing a room with a trans person.
They are loaded. People rarely get that way honestly and rarely pay their employees enough to reflect how much money they’re making their bosses.
Anyways, Carla’s parents so far seem like one of the only semi-healthy parents in this so far and if anyone deserves to have rich as hell parents it’s the trans-woman who probably couldn’t have afforded to transition otherwise.
Oh, boy. She already outed Billy and Ruth.
She’s definitely going to spill the Raidah beans to Harrison and I absolutely cannot wait to see that disaster unfurl.
“Anyone else have any secrets causing more headaches than they’re worth, lemme know and I’ll goddamn rip that stupid bandaid for you, goddammit.”
It’s in her job description.
TY, I’d forgotten about that strip. I love that she’s willing to be paid in cookies.
Her tax preparer does not share your love.
“You have to pay taxes on your income, Carla.”
*Carla dumps bag of cookie crumbs on desk*
I question whether Carla cares enough about dorm relationship drama to have retained the slightest notion that Jacob and Raidah are an item.
I don’t think Carla even knows who Raidah is.
So I guess the Carla/Malaya convo happened on a different roof? Because of Carla was just on the roof of this building, why would she be getting in an elevator heading up now?
Not necessarily, since she is not going from the first floor to an upper floor, she is going from one upper floor to higher upper floor.
Weren’t they in the lobby when they saw Raidah, though? Or have I misunderstood the layout of this building.
That is how I interpret it. They were in the lobby on the first floor. Harrison gets in the elevator and punches 3 or 4. The door opens on 2, Carla enters, elevator continues to 3 or 4.
I’m willing to bet they just didn’t push a button and it went up to the roof (or w/e the highest floor is), and is about to go back down. Depends if he knows what floor Jacob’s room is supposed to be on
… but she was on the roof. There is no floor higher than the roof.
As someone else mentioned, I’m willing to bet he is just standing in the elevator right now because he doesn’t even know what floor to go to. It probably went up to the roof and is going back down now.
Don’t you have to take a stair to reach Garbage Roof. Except in parking garages, very few buildings have an elevator to the roof.
She fell off. It’s okay, the ground apologized.
She used a RuTech(tm) grappling hook to land on the 2nd floor balcony. Or maybe the rocket boot skate attachement.
Amber sees this, weighs whether to hire Carla as her version of Q (though she’d be more like W from Good Eats).
So how much of Carla’s height difference is due to the skates? Or has she always been Like That?
I think the implication is that he’s worked for the Rutten family a while. Since she was younger, and therefore shorter.
I cannot believe she has ever not worn skates.
Accepted.
The unexpected meeting with a face from the past? It’s interesting when that happens. Heard they can get awkward. As long as Carla didn’t have a crush on him when she was younger…
She totally had a crush on him, didn’t she?
Carla’s ace and (more importantly in this situation) homoromantic so far as we know, so probably not.
She might’ve had something approximating a crush when she was really little. I may or may not be speaking from experience, both mine and others.
Puppy love. Took me all damn day, but I finally remembered the term.
I think I remember what those mean, Daniel the Human has tried teaching me. So that’s a “probably not”? But I thought that cause I did the “As long as” part, it was almost certainly a thing that happened…
Then again, apparently I have a habit of being wrong, so I wouldn’t be surprised…
she’s gay. that’s all that’s relevant here
I’m guessing it’s awkward because Carla is freaking out about being stoned while in an elevator with her parents’ lawyer.
Heh, I’m guessing Harrison’s been employed by Carla’s parents for a while so he saw her grow up over the past few years. Taking that into account, I thought he’d be a bit younger. (I’m assuming he’s 35ish?)
It takes about eight or nine years to train a lawyer in the USA, right? And if Carla has grown that much it must have been about four years since he lawyered for her. Does that seem right? Harrison is at least about twelve years older than Jacob?
Anyoe bet that Jacob’s birthday isn’t in late September?
Law school is three years, an undergrad degree is typically four years though it can be done in less by a particularly motivated student. So someone who started college at 17 could be a lawyer as young as 23, though that would be unusual. It would be more typical for a newly licensed attorney who didn’t do something else first to be around 26.
It’s only three years in the states? Here it can be up to five.
Well, three years *after* a four-year undergraduate degree.
“Oh it was so AWFUL. There was blood on the floor, and on all the walls and the doors, and even some on the ceiling, and the man’s dog was lapping up the blood out of a puddle.” (…)
“What the Hell was that?!”
“Oh, that’s just my elevator story.”–Alfred Hitchcock, to another film director who took a ride in an elevator with him.
Ha! Brilliant!
Harrison Williams makes him sound like a one-man law firm as it is.
Wonder if Carla’s got skates on, that’ll definitely bump up the height, but she’s one of the tallest characters in the strip, anyhow.
(Additionally, the only DOA character I’ve ever had appear in a dream of mine. Nothing too wild, she just invited herself over and helped herself to pizza out of my fridge.
)
We sure that wasn’t the actual Carla? I wouldn’t put it past her to break dimensions in order to swipe some pizza.
Yeah, she’s like Ramona Flowers; she skates thru certain people’s dreams.
Okay I gotta ask in your dream was she a cartoon character still or did she look like a normal human?
Cartoon still, everything looked sorta like someone threw a cartoon filter over everything, like cel shading.
Harrison Williams, the man with a last name as first name and a first name as last name.
Maybe his parents are fans of obscure nineteenth-century presidents.
(please let his middle name be Henry)
“I died in 40 days!”
I mean, it seems weird to lionize someone who campaigned for keeping people that look like you as property, but then I rarely understand how anyone gets their support.
Apparently Australians have a joke thing about not trusting people with 2 first names. Does that count here?
Maybe his parents like Harrison Ford movies.
Like Air Force One.
Ford 2020: Get off my Plane!
That made me think of My Sister’s Keeper (the book, not the movie) and I almost started crying. The lawyer in that one has the same naming convention (Campbell Alexander)
Panel four: Jamie’s mouth opens and it looks like he’s saying “No problem”. Anyone else see it?
Harrison’s legal work was paid for with genetic upgrade tech service.
NOW I do. Why isn’t anybody flipping out? Baby’s saying words!!
Harrison’s just showing off his mad ventriloquist skills.
I’m not sure that’s his mouth open. I think he sticks his tongue out a lot. If I’m right, then he’s Carla’s idea of a cute kid.
HOLY SHIT
Give me backstory! ALL THE BACKSTORY
What happened?!?
The backstory will probably be done in patreon(at least I imagine), which I desperately wish I could afford.
I am on patreon and I will confirm or deny nothing.
Unless approved by the Secretary, of course.
Yup I live on disability pay and really wish I could become a patron without so much anxiety. One day…….
Whatever anti-transgender law that Harrison got struck down, Carla (and her parents) were presumably one of the plaintiffs. That’s what I’m getting from what we know thus far.
But yeah, we all want more details.
I certainly do.
I’m assuming it’s something like that as well, but I definitely want the details of this backstory.
Do we have any actual evidence that Harrison worked on getting this kind of legislation repealed, or is this just popular fanon? Just curious, cuz I totally am on board with this being a thing, but I’m not sure if people are just assuming this or if it’s actually indicated somewhere…?
Yes, I don’t have the link but they talked about it when Jacob, Raidah, Joyce, and Dorothy were having pizza
the link was actually easy to find, I didn’t realize it was the most recent Raidah scene other than two days ago
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/laws/
Aha! Excellent, perfect, thank you Axel!
Evidence is that he worked on getting them struck down (i.e. by a court), not repealed (i.e. not by a legislature).
I don’t think that’s been clarified, but you could skim the Jacob comics between that link and now. I think there are one or two about how much it is to live up to, and there might be something in there
Well, the strip you linked above says “legal team that struck down”, so I think it’s pretty clear.
I wasn’t sure if that was too colloquial to be clear
Oh! I misread Agemegos (thought they were asking me to clarify, rather than making a statement. Nevermind then.
Considering Carla’s rich parents, even if they weren’t the plaintiffs, they may have helped fund them to get that law struck down.
Carla may have been a or the Jane Doe of the case.
Maybe also helping with any name change /amended birth certificate paperwork that some transgender people can get for their new name.
You can do that? I didn’t know you could get your old paperwork changed. That’s really cool.
In at least some jurisdictions, it’s possible, yeah.
I mean the only reason you’d need a lawyer for that is if the court tried to challenge you somehow
Otherwise getting your name changed is pretty straightforward
You basically just fill out some documents show up when you’re told and boom name changed, go get your new social security card and driver’s license
(Provided the process varies state by state, so maybe Indiana makes it overcomplicated somehow)
It can be much harder when you’re trans, though. Officials can be dicks about it.
I am trans
What state are you in? Your description of the process seems simpler than what I’ve heard from friends who have gotten their name changed, though I agree it’s not something most really need a lawyer for.
Oklahoma
The only shitty part is you’re required to publish the fact that you’re having a legal name change in a newspaper.
Apologies for not realizing that. I’ve known lots of trans people who got kicked around on changing their name, sometimes taking up to a year to get it done on all their documents.
Lol you’re good
Probably should have mentioned that in the first comment in hindsight
But anyone going through a year of BS is absolutely absurd and I feel awful for them :/
Apparently it took a lot of time, money and, yes, threatening a lawsuit to finish. It was bullshit.
What a delightful distraction, with Carla and Harrison I can almost forget about the problems going on downstairs.
They make pills for that, now.
I prefer drinkable amnesia, thank you very much.
“There was a time when it was so. That Era has passed!”
Oh. OH. So that’s how he ended up striking down those transgender laws.
Er. Anti-transgender laws, that is.
I wish I could always be this direct with other humans…I have to avoid it at work, usually But, so much YES.
Whoa is Carla… shrinking away from him?! This is a dang first, someone Calra is wildly uncomfortable just to be near.
He almost certainly knew her pre-transition. That’s probably one of Carla’s few vulnerable spots.
One of my friends has a trans child (I think she’s 7 or 8). She had a substitute teacher at school last week, who read out her old name on the register… All but one kid (who grabbed her hand and pulled her out to report it to some pastoral care adults) *laughed* (these kids have parents who complain that it’s not fair she competes in races with other girls because she’s faster than them and clearly that’s because she was AMAB even though she’s way too young to get any sort of testosterone advantage etc… Her mum spends a lot of time in Mama Bear mode because the school sucks at handling this sort of thing or her oldest child’s health issues with anything like compassion, sensitivity, thoughtfulness…)
When her mother complained, the school tried to handwave it away. She’s sorting out a deed poll name change because the poor kiddo is utterly traumatised and distraught about the experience and she wants to do whatever she can to stop it from happening again.
I can imagine that even if Harrison was nothing but kind, respectful, considerate etc that seeing him (especially unexpectedly) would uncomfortably remind Carla of painful experiences and encounters…
Yet another successful social interaction. Every one’s a win.
Here’s a thought. Carla seems to have her legs bared pretty frequently, and they don’t seem particularly fuzzy. Do you suppose she shaves, waxes, or got laser hair removal? Because I know this person who’s been considering a leggy sort of “feminine” cosplay, and if they like how it feels, they might start having their legs out more often.
Carla’s family might have enough money for whatever hair treatment, I am betting laser but mostly because that would be one I am seriously thinking on looking up.
Waxing will last longest but it is incredibly painful. Shaving is the most common. You have to add it to every shower to every other shower, though.
Depends on how fair and/or fine your hair is, actually. If you have really light leg hair you can usually get away with a few days between shaves, but if it’s dark brown/black, or if it’s fairly coarse, yeah you gotta do it as often as you said because the stubble shows up really clearly. Also laser would actually last the longest (I think it’s permanent?), but I understand it’s fairly painful, and I know you need several treatments spread across several months.
Honestly, Carla probably does whatever she prefers, which I know is a super generic and unhelpful statement, but most people I know shave because it’s not painful, but I also live somewhere that people where shorts about 2 months out of the year, so it may make sense to do something more efficient in warmer places.
I’d say your friend should start with shaving and see how that goes. If it’s too obnoxious, try waxing and move from there. They can also try depilatory cream/gel, but try it on a small area first because many types can cause a burning sensation, and if you have sensitive skin they can cause some pretty unpleasant irritation as well. It does work very well for some people though – you just rub it on, let it sit for a few minutes, and then rinse it off.
Laser should make it permanent but it doesn’t work with too light hair. Biggest trouble with laser is that you have to keep out of the sun for the half year to year the treatment takes.
Some companies sell diy ipl laser devices so that’s cheaper then regular treatments. But any burns you get are on you.
Yeah, my sibling has been getting lasered for almost 2 years, and I’ve gone along to their appointments a few times. Those summer sessions were really a pain, because they had to avoid getting the areas all sunburnt.
I showed them your message and got some feedback. Thanks for bringing up so many options, too. It’s been really helpful.
Shaving has had nice results, the last few times. Razor burn and red spots sorta make it a (literal) pain in the ass though, I’m told. They also have thick, dark hair that takes an eternity to trim down prior.
Due to certain insecurities, they don’t have much confidence trying wax. Unless there’s like, a covert waxing kit that won’t be immediately obvious as being what it is.
Depilatory goo seems tempting, but if sensitive skin is gonna lead to burns, they might need to skip it. Certain body washes (mostly the industrial degreaser marketed as men’s 3-in-1 soap) make their skin feek basically raw.
They make hair removal creams for sensitive skin, if that’s a concern, and all of them will say to test on a small area first to make sure.
Also multiple-care-products-in-one are all garbage and should be avoided at all costs. I have yet to run across one that didn’t suck. It’s more expensive to buy individual things, but overall your hair/skin/whatever will thank you.
Have they tried electrical razors? I personally liked them better, because 1) quicker 2) no sharp edges. But my aim is usually “less hair” rather than “completely smooth”. My tip, if there’s a lot of hair to begin with (i.e. haven’t shaved in a long time), is to start with an electric and then do “analog” shaving on top of that. It’s a lot easier to shave stub than to shave grown-out hair.
Not sure if my other comment will make it through because of links, so tl;dr – there’s also the new “Finishing Touch” hair remover thing that uses some alternative technique to remove hair and is supposedly painless. Seems pretty legit but I would definitely read some independent reviews first – I don’t personally know anyone who’s tried it, but I’ve also never heard anything bad about it? Anyway they make one for facial hair but I think there’s also a larger one to use on legs and stuff.
And do not make my mistake. If the Nair doesn’t get close enough the first application, wait a day or two before applying it again. Chemical burns on your entire legs are the worst.
Nair is also a thing. I’ve never tried it, but my mother used to use it.
A thing that smells like the devil’s armpit probably does.
Waxing legs isn’t too bad – better than epilating a few months’ growth #lazy But yeah she probably waxes or has had laser, and epilates as needed between times.
I admit sometimes in comics I assume the hair is there, it’s just the comic doesn’t go into deep enough detail to draw it.
Or she may just not have much leg hair, some peoples leg hair grows in fairly light and if it’s light on her pale skin it may just not show up well.
If Carla’s one of the lucky ones with less-visible leg hair, I’m gonna drink a hamburger out of frustration and envy.
Isn’t she a natural blonde, and just dyes it that dark red? I thought her hair was really light in the flashback strip where she got her custom Ultra Car model.
It was.
This made me think whether any (female) character in this comic has ever been drawn with leg hair, and I don’t think so (please show me if I’m wrong). And I don’t think he’s depicted all male characters with explicitly hairy legs.
But that doesn’t have to mean that the characters canonically all shave, just an artistic choice not to explitly draw the hair — possibly because drawing any sort of body hair in the style Willis uses immediately makes the hair stand out a lot and marks them out as being very hairy, when in reality it doesn’t for everyone. Many people have relatively light or fine leg hair, just like arm hair (which, again, most characters in the comic don’t visibly have — do any of them?).
If you saw me stand in an elevator in shorts in real life, I’m pretty sure you’d have a hard time telling whether my legs are shaved without getting creepily close to me.
Doesn’t help with your actual practical de-hairing question, just something your post made me think about.
it’s *Carla*.
lasers.
Aaaaaaaahahaha… EXCELLENT point. She probably demanded to personally inspect their set-up before beginning and made a couple of tweaks to improve the efficiency.
I’m a cyclist who used to use many different ways to de-fur my legs because it’s easier to clean up the many small cuts that arise from riding without fenders allowing tiny bits of glass or flints to spray back on your legs without hair being in the way. Spray or creme depilliants leave smoother legs, but shaving is quicker. My Lady Remington mowed miles of hairs before I put fenders on.
Jaime is actually the one talking in this comic
Jamie is actually an alien invader, Harrison is his mindwiped manikin.
‘Carla, start the reactor! Free Mars!’
Does that mean he’s Quato, or is he Krang?
More like Krang in this depiction.
This strip is a lie. Carla was born at that height.
I think I can speak for her mom when I say “OUCH”
Especially if, as per showler above, she was wearing skates.
Wearing roller skates.
Um, fuckin’ ouch?
We are in October, right? Wouldn’t wearing shorts on the roof be a bit chilly?
I know a lot of people who wear shorts the whole year ’round, and they never seem to mind. I’m assuming they have very warm thighs or something.
I actually saw a guy a couple of years ago wearing no shoes when it was below freezing, and there was ice and snow on the street.
I used to do that when I lived in Canberra.
It seems to mostly be a matter of what you’re acclimated to.
We are. The comic follows its own time line. With so many characters, a week can take several months to show.
The rule of thumb is basically one week per year.
‘Today’ is October 18.
It’s probably still hitting 60 during the day. There’s wind up at roof level, but with the sun out it shouldn’t be too bad.
Since today is only the 20th – the forecast for today in Bloomington is 75. Nice and warm.
well this is interesting!
Carla’s parents must be really rich and powerful to lobby against a a transphobic legislation… that is good, but also worrisome that someone rich and powerful can change the laws that easily… the USA needs more checks and balances, and the same applies to other countries.
I mean, I am all for using pragmatic methods to do the right thing.
The lawsuit was probably challenged on legal grounds and overturned in court. Happens with legislation all the time (well, not ALL the time, but it’s not unheard of).
The law has never been anything other than what the rich and powerful or a sufficiently large mob have ever wanted it to be. That’s a historical fact.
Yes, but let’s not lose ourselves in some Leviathan kind of morality. Human rights always exist, it’s just that they aren’t recognized by assholes in pathetic brand suits and their expensive cars made with imported pieces. Accepting the “might makes right” philosophy will only make you become bitter, numb and easy to be an enabler of horrible behaviors.
A universe where human rights exist but are unprovable and we argue what they are, is indistinguishable from a universe where human rights are a social construct and we argue about what they should be.
Well, yes, but which one do you want to live in.
Since they’re indistinguishable, it makes no difference.
It doesnt matter. Wat matters is to believe that they exist and make them true. Jegus, I love the story by Terry Pratchett.
I mean arguably social constructs exist; they just may not be permanent and can change from period to place with culture? If the here and now says breaking them is taboo they’re still things you will be ostracised for ignoring…
Yea that is why we need to advacate to put more power in the hands of the suficently large mob and try our best to each the next generation to be better than us.
Having laws and people who are payed to uphold those is huge progress over no law and the strongest does whatever he likes until he is not the strongest any longer.
Unfortunately the people payed to uphold the law are not free of bias and also are not omniscient, so to have a check on them, you need lawyers and judges (who also are not omniscient and biased, but sometime in other directions). It’s not ideal. Especially as upholding the law is a dangerous and not very well payed job, it attracts some people who are more into the power than into the law.
But I haven’t seen anyone come up with a better concept yet.
No law = the strongest do what they want, the week bite the dust all the time
human induced law = the week bite the dust some of the time, the strong sometimes bite the dust, too
‘God’s’ law = some crazy humans say they know what god wants and do whatever they want, so everybody bites the dust
Who said it was easy? Raidah and Jacob seem to think it was a huge accomplishment on Harrison’s part.
They are, they run a company for high end, uh, motor stuff? Whatever was on that jacket?
They’re tech giants, apparently.
There are Rutten cell phones in this universe. And Carla is good at programming them.
Truly a small world.
So, Harrison is Carla’s human rights lawyer, huh? That’s interesting. She seems a bit nervous to see him. I wonder: Is he a sort of an unintentional trigger? A reminder of bad times, even though none of it was his fault?
We know that Harrison made his name through some landmark civil rights case. Maybe it was something associated with Carla’s transition? It might explain why the fact she’s a transwoman is such an open secret in the dorm if the case of ‘Girl C’ was a huge thing and probably widely debated in the media.
Maybe just because she is stoned?
Yeah, that’d probably do it.
She also probably smells pretty strongly of weed at the moment, for those who care about such things.
NEWS: KIDS GROW UP!!!
Really? Sounds fake
This is the kind of cutting-edge reporting I crave!
CONSPIRACY! Fake News!
After all, I reached 70 without ever growing up.
Crooked Hillary is spreading bad information! She’s telling your kids they’re gonna get taller, somebody’s gotta stop the lies!
Does anyone else think that maybe Carla is going to introduce Malaya to Harrison? It’s just a feeling I’m having right now.
Malaya doesn’t need a lawyer at this point, she needs someone she feels comfortable to talk about her gender stuff. Which is difficult given she is Malaya.
No wonder it took him a panel to recognize her if she’s like a whole foot taller.
Interesting dynamic… he is comfortable using her first name, while Carla refers to him as Mr Williams
this is not at all what i expegted but BOY am i looking forward to more interactions
Not uncommon for a kid-adult dynamic if he knew her when she was smaller.
Awww. Jamie like her♡
Jamie is cool!
The coolest!
Jaime is a good baby.
If she doesn’t know that Jacob is his brother (and why would she?), she’s got to be wondering what he’s doing in her dorm. Does it have something to do with her?
Maybe Harrison started working for the firm the Ruttens keep on retainer when he was fresh out of school. If that was 8 or 9 years ago, he could have met Carla when she was 11 or 12.
Fake edit: Harrison could have mentioned “oh my little brother’s about your age” before, too. Carla and Jacob don’t interact too much, though.
Small world.
Also, it’s totally the rollers, but he’s too gentlemanly to look down
Dude, his hand is at her shoulder height. You imagine her with rollers the size of her head?
Hell yeah Carla goes hard
This made me laugh like nothing else has today.
Damn you willis
No. no. You have to save your “Damn you Willis”s until you need them.
You will need them.
Jamie smiles at the door bell going DING. That’s just so TODDLER of them!