WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
MASKLESS
kickingshoes
In a world where people can wield the magic of elemental Masks, all Ashe wants to do is help. Maskless and useless, with dreams of fire and smoke on the back of his tongue, he finds himself on a strange, dangerous path to uncovering the secrets of these incredible objects, and the source of the monsters plaguing his home.
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Season 8 honestly isn’t the worst season. It’s bad, but most of the hate is because it made the decline in quality undeniable
Season 5 is the nadir of the show in my eyes. It’s the point where the writers just stop trying, and it’s also just an offensively bad adaptation of the fourth and fifth books.
I started watching when they were in season 5 or 6, so the first 6 all run together for me, but I wonder if the reason the hate for 8 is so vocal is because it represents terminal badness. Like you can watch season 5 and hope that the intrigues and plots are building to something cool, even if the writers aren’t trying as hard as they used to, but season 8 is everything crashing to a rushed an unsatisfying end so there’s no hope that it will pay off to something better.
This particular bar is actually buried in the dirt, you could be crawling around on the ground, doing your best “Hasslehoff eating a cheeseburger” impression and still clear it.
it does kinda feel like there are a lot of people whom are horribly lonely in the cast in one way or another, but Lucy’s loneliness kind of hurts to see. I think if I were to pick someone in the cast for putting on suicide watch, Lucy would near the top of the list.
In my opinion, the story hasn’t really focused on Lucy, so she could very well have non-neighbor friends we just haven’t seen, especially since the time skip. She might be part of some clubs on campus, but if she didn’t join any her first semester, that also isn’t unusual.
Casual confidence without being, well, Joe is a pretty big qualifier when you’re that age.
I mean Ethan is a noted hot dude but he spent all day buried in his phone yelling at internet people half the time and the other half the time being a doormat.
Thats what I don’t get or I’m not seeing (not saying you’re wrong) all I see is a selfish, immature, cowardly, passive jerk, I don’t see anything equating to confidence (arrogance or naivety maybe)
That’s all stuff you might decide are dealbreakers a bit further into a serious relationship. At first glance Walky could just as seemingly be a guy who’s not really ashamed of what he likes – nuggets, cartoons, memes. It’s not a bad kind of quiet confidence (or as quiet as Walky can get).
As for the three characters who’ve shown romantic interest in Walky:
With Lucy it’s pretty much just a crush. He’s a seemingly nice boy who talked to her every now and then without brushing her off. It’s pretty surface level.
With Amber, they had a mutual love of self-deprecation preventing them from really trying to impress the other person. The attraction seemed to be mostly physical at any rate, and it was only the stuff like Sal that was a bigger barrier.
Dorothy being his major relationship, his very blunt, uncomplicated attitude worked well to cut through her constant stress and overworrying. There were definitely times when his immaturity caused issues like with the pajama jeans, but just as often Walky also showed to Dorothy actual efforts to improve in both romance and math, an undisturbed belief in her future greatness instead of believing he could just follow her around anywhere, and a much needed distraction when she needed it.
Mind I don’t like Walky myself, but it’s not that unbelievable that his unflappableness can attract people. Having a spine at that age can keep people around longer more compared to being easily walked over like Ethan or Danny.
All fair points…….My counterargument would be that it’s college and they’re all a bunch of horny teens with fairly low standards on what’s good relationship material. Walky’s a harmless guy who I guess some people would consider funny? Also he’s decently good looking if you can get past the smell. That’s all you need. Don’t overthink it.
All you need to know about why Walky is attractive to some people is that strip where the guy he said was the most important in the room was the waiter.
Like, he is decent-looking, funny, generally nice, laidback and when he is speaking with confidence, he has some kickass views like Dorothy will be someone great and that the waiter is more important than some politician. He has a charm and appeal to him.
His more negative traits aren’t really an issue until further in the relationship and 90% are very likely uncontrolled ADHD + lack of maturity + pushing things more than he should like with Joyce.
In the short-term, he is everything you want in a guy to date because in good times, he is fun and pleasant! But in the long-term, his ADHD pretty much backstabs him so his lack of filter, lack of sensitivity, lack of impulse-control, lack of focus control all seem like lack of care or social awareness which will eventually upset someone or wear you down when you know the person isn’t learning to correct it or control it better.
Agreed. And even in the relationship we saw fall apart, none of that was what caused Dorothy to break up unless you consider his slipping grades with her slipping grades a combined issue.
I have hope for Walky. He’s been getting enough character development that I think he will eventually figure out when he’s pushing others too far and that he needs some strategies for neurodiverse brains.
Timescale being what it is, Lucy would have been approximately four when the last episode of Teen Titans classic aired. She is, however, currently the exact right age for Go! when it started airing, provided she had a pretty high threshold for the absolutely chaotic sense of humor. (Pretty sure Go STARTS its Wackiness Levels around the alien fast food chain-cow abduction episode of the 2003 show.)
It’s too wacky for me these days, but I did love said fast food chain episode as a kid. And even Shortpacked Lucy had… self-awareness, at least, about Go as a series.
Do wish Cartoon Network were a bit more willing to do serial shows without pulling things like the Steven Bombs, though. *Sigh* But that’s as much my eternal bitterness for the DC Nation block as a whole. (I’m very happy for Young Justice fans but as a GLTAS person… *sobs*)
TT Go is such a weird show. It’s simultaneously too wacky and childish for most Teen Titans fans who grew up with the original, yet it has some of the most legitimately funny satire of superhero tropes you’ll find, while also referencing to shows outside it’s age demographic like Gilligan’s Island, and making adult jokes that so borderline innappropriate you question how it got past the censors. Like Beastboy flipping jizzing all over Wonder Woman! The show is insane. Also it’s popularity might have gotten us one more season of Teen Titans so I can’t hate it.
.
I feel like if it wasn’t so attached to the original TT series it would be less polarizing. I can think of plenty of shows from back in the day that skirted closely to the line in terms of inappropriateness, but because they weren’t like, a franchise show people didn’t rage over it.
Children’s cartoons have referenced media not specifically targeted to children for decades.
– Rocko’s Modern Life practically exists as a vehicle to get shit past the censors.
– Recess draws upon everything from Hogan’s Heroes to The Shawshank Redemption and explains hyperinflation and wealth inequality.
– Rugrats references Mad Max in the apocalypse episode, among other movies.
It never really caught my eye so I didn’t end up putting much thought into it, and Teen Titans was just another cartoon for me so I don’t have that deep attachment other fans of the show seem to.
My only takeaway I care to make about Go is that every time I ever notice it, it seems to be doing another episode about how people who don’t like the show are stupid and shallow and should shut the hell up. I’m guessing Go has a problem with the old TT fanbase still harping on it, but I’ve never been a fan of directly calling your critics out in your own work unless it either makes for an interesting story or what’s being called out is so abhorrent it does need to be directly addressed.
Maybe if there were like, Beast Wars Roar or something I’d take it personal.
You know, I’ve been hard on Lucy for just being “that girl what with the crush on Walky and all,” but I have to say I’m growing more fond of her as time goes on. Here’s hoping that she gets more time on screen.
Also Billie seems, ok? Maybe she is doing better? I’m still sad that she and Ruth broke up but if it was better for her mental health then I’m supportive.
From where I sit: Walky uses humor to deflect his fear of failure, he’s ADD and pretty-smart. But not really smart. And pretty-smart means there’s no challenge in high school; you just memorize the stuff and you’ve got it. No organizational skills were learned, no studying skills, no good habits were needed for high school.
But now he is in college, and pretty-smart doesn’t cut it. He’s failing, and cannot cope with a change to working hard, cause he’s never been taught how to do it.
It’ll be interesting when we catch up on that plotline. He obviously didn’t fail out over the timeskip. Or even just fail math. Amber only changed his pre-midterm grades, so that wouldn’t have been enough to save him if he didn’t figure something out.
That’s probably also how his clear AD(H)D has gone undiagnosed for so long; it wasn’t interfering with his grades. He never had to learn to catch himself and cope with it, just like ne never had to learn how to study.
Agreed to all this. Especially since I very much doubt Linda would see, say, Walky’s attention issues as anything but ‘boys will be boys’ and Walky being a goofball, and I don’t trust the woman who won’t acknowledge her children are capable of making decisions she doesn’t approve of to consider ADHD a valid thing for people to just have. That would be an imperfection, and her golden boy is PERFECT.
We still don’t know the details of what’s going on with Jennifer but this strip adds more credibility to me that her claims of self improvement are sincere. I think she did go to therapy and is trying to be a better person. Maybe even trying to drop the alcoholism. The Asher relationship is just a somewhat worrying side element that we don’t know how will pan out. So good for Jennifer. So far.
Agree on the “trying to be a better person” part. Not so sure about she being “good”, though. Since she’s Jeniffer she acts kind of robotic. Maybe it’s the medication.
Now this is a lot better, she’s stopping for a moment to casually ask if old friends if they’re doing ok. It’s not much of a action but it means plenty.
One of the reasons I sort of ship Lucy and Joyce on the far side of all my more ‘serious’ ideas is that Lucy is an ideal merger of Joyce and Dorothy on several levels.
I think that Jennifer has made a new year’s resolution to have something approaching an adult and healthy interaction with Lucy. Even if she doesn’t really know how and it just feels weird and uncomfortable pretty much all the time to do so!
I honestly think Billie’s doing her best to have the standard college life after a really intense first semester in a weird alcoholic suicide pact with Ruth.
Indeed, as I consider her behavior more, I think it’s very likely that when she began therapy the intense codependence of her relationship with Ruth and the near fatal upending they’d both gone through during it was highlighted as more than enough reason for her and Ruth to take a break and build themselves independently. I have no idea if them coming back together is likely or expected from the current therapy plan, but I’m rooting for both of them to become healthier and more resilient, more in control of their own lives and decisions.
Like they’re absolutely my garbage disaster ship, and I love them both. I think Billie’s doing what most people are expected to do in college, likely on encouragement from her therapist to help with her recovery from the previous chapter in her life. I think this exchange with Lucy is meant to show how she is attempting to grow beyond who she was the previous semester. Less posturing and negativity in her interactions with others, value placed on basic courtesy and kindness.
OMG, how starved for a normal interaction with Jennifer is she, that a thrown away and meaningless “you ok?” gets a reaction like that?
Plus the sarcastic comment at the end (that’s totally self-preservation).
Jennifer. So robotic, so cold, so disengaged. Either she knows something that she is desperate to keep hidden, OR she’s going down the tubes again. I’m guessing the latter, because she helped Ruth get to where Ruth needed to go, (feel worthwhile), but still doesn’t feel like she has any value. Which I think is why she was so rough in Walky.
She has a habit of “starting over” by boxing up and throwing away past relationships and rebooting her personality. ‘Member when “Billie” first moved to Forest Quad? Or how “Billie” went from one of Walky’s best friends to his bully in high school to keep up appearances with the cheerleaders?
I predict “Jennifer” will last for a little while, but eventually she crashes and burns when old habits and her past catch back up with her.
I’ve known a few people who fit that mould. Billifer is still a better person than those real life examples I know. For one, I don’t recall her lying like it was going out of style.
And the deliberately taking off her glasses when she started because they were a sign of imperfection? Or something?
I don’t think she’s necessarily lying about therapy, but I do think this is still part of her established pattern (and something, I suspect, she doesn’t REALIZE is a thing she does enough to have brought it up in therapy) and likely to go about as well in the long run as the last few times have. Add in a (potentially messy) breakup with Ruth and I could see Jennifer having made genuine progress on some fronts but still being in prime position for things to go to shit. Especially with Asher in play – I’m also fully willing to believe HE is genuinely trying to get away from his past but finding it much harder than he thought. (And I can’t imagine Walky HASN’T tried to bring up his concerns there.)
While remaining a pretty bland character this far, Lucy seems to be an endearing person. I’m sure she’d have potential if she was a little more in the limelight. I’d loove a friendship between her and Joyce!
“‘They’re all’ waiting downstairs”? “They” who? Certainly not her old batch of friends from season 1, she spotted a new rung on the social ladder and stepped all over them scrambling for it. And probably not the Forest squad, they met the same fate.
Your new friends better be on the up-and-up, Asher. We’re watching you.
I have to agree; this new group of people, that Jennifer hangs out with, will be the litmus test on how she has changed. At the very least, they are decent people, who support her, and build her up, as a person.
Why is everyone so determined to hate Billie now? Is it because of Asher? She’s going to therapy, she’s being nicer- REALLY nicer to Lucy, a low bar, but she struggled with it before. This is a good thing?
Partly Asher. Partly the cutting herself off from all her old friends. Partly that I don’t really trust the “I got therapy” line. Partly because we know Willis.
I don’t hate her though, I just don’t trust that this is all on the up and up. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I don’t hate her either, and I agree that being nicer to Lucy is definitely a good thing!
I mostly trust the “I got therapy” line (in the most literal sense) because it was in response to Walky saying, “that doesn’t sound like you,” when Jennifer claimed she was happy. For the reasons mentioned and others, I don’t think Jennifer is “all better” or “cured” or “without problems forever,” but she is probably doing better than she was, and she seems to be making an effort.
Considering that comments suggesting Becky was acting kinda crappy toward Hank were met as if that was incompatible with delivering a funny punchline and equivalent to calling Becky the antichrist, I think some of the readership has trouble with subtlety?
Jennifer: Avoids answering the question, “how are you doing?,” says she’s been keeping busy, and pointedly does not claim to be okay or make eye contact with Lucy.
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WHOA INTERACTION
WHAT
DO ROOMMATES DO THIS I DON’T UNDERSTAND
It helps if you get along with your roommate or actually know them prior to college.
Get along, tolerate, poke with a stick 63 hours into their Complete GoT marathon to see if they’re alive…
If they’re on season 8, they probably regret the whole alive thing.
Season 8 honestly isn’t the worst season. It’s bad, but most of the hate is because it made the decline in quality undeniable
Season 5 is the nadir of the show in my eyes. It’s the point where the writers just stop trying, and it’s also just an offensively bad adaptation of the fourth and fifth books.
I started watching when they were in season 5 or 6, so the first 6 all run together for me, but I wonder if the reason the hate for 8 is so vocal is because it represents terminal badness. Like you can watch season 5 and hope that the intrigues and plots are building to something cool, even if the writers aren’t trying as hard as they used to, but season 8 is everything crashing to a rushed an unsatisfying end so there’s no hope that it will pay off to something better.
i want so much better for lucy
Agree so hard.
Somehow I think Jennifer is the lesser evil foisted onto Lucy compared to her self-imposed seeking out of Walky.
At this point a cardboard cutout of Ted Cruz would be a better roommate.
But not a better unrequited crush.
Hey now, Jennifer is a better roommate than Becky.
Not a high bar.
This particular bar is actually buried in the dirt, you could be crawling around on the ground, doing your best “Hasslehoff eating a cheeseburger” impression and still clear it.
Hard disagree. You’d have to look at Ted Cruz occasionally.
If it’s a cardboard cutout, you can shove it behind a bookshelf or under a mattress and, y’know, not look at it.
Mauling a cardboard cutout is also *not* a felony!
Anyone else having flashbacks to Mighty Ducks 2 when talking about taking cardboard cutouts and the mauling/destruction thereof?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOUw7ArW5TA
Or just turn it around to face the wall.
that’s not a roommate, that’s a dartboard
Whoa now, let’s try to avoid such extremes.
why is she not in the sci fi club or something? does lucy have friends? where are lucy’s non-neighbor friends?
it does kinda feel like there are a lot of people whom are horribly lonely in the cast in one way or another, but Lucy’s loneliness kind of hurts to see. I think if I were to pick someone in the cast for putting on suicide watch, Lucy would near the top of the list.
In my opinion, the story hasn’t really focused on Lucy, so she could very well have non-neighbor friends we just haven’t seen, especially since the time skip. She might be part of some clubs on campus, but if she didn’t join any her first semester, that also isn’t unusual.
This is so much better than Malaya. Who was her standard.
Who is they I wonder? Answer. The biker gang Jennifer joined during the time skip!
Jennifer won Sal’s bike on a bet and now drives it with her bf and new friends.
You can’t change my mind.
Mike/Booster and Amazigirl/GhostMike, as the three plot their next move.
He is they!
I’m assuming “they” is Asher and some other people he hangs around with.
That bodes well.
Social interaction completed end of interaction [/NeutralJanet]
Lucy is my favorite and I want so much for her this semester.
Aww. I mean, it’s not exactly high marks, but it’s still decidedly nicer than Lucy was getting from her before.
Speaking of, kinda hope we see Lucy more often. She’s a good egg.
If she’s a good egg, does that mean we’re gonna start calling it “Lucy-ing it up”?
Can anyone in the cast do a good Desi Arnaz impression?
A FRIENDSHIP BLOSSOMED AND WE DIDN’T GET TO SEE IT
And we didn’t get to see Halloween. And I’m still mad at Willis for killing off Mike.
Jennifer asking Lucy if she’s okay is… a marked improvement, I suppose.
I’m surprised she mustered the effort.
Mustard. MUSTARD THE EFFORT. Why does spellmangle want to change mustard.to mustered and ruin the joke. And why spellmangle to deplorable?
..you had the right spelling. Muster means to assemble, gather, collect so it’s the right spelling
I think Clif was going for a pun a la the mouseover text.
I don’t see how that joke works, though. They’re living in dorms, not a condomentium.
To quote someone, “have a damn Internet.”
No Becky plus the addition of Lucy make this a good strip
Kinda hoping Lucy realises she can do better, a lot better, than Walky though
I genuinely do not understand (except through massive suspensions of belief) how Walky manages to attract as many women as he does
Casual confidence without being, well, Joe is a pretty big qualifier when you’re that age.
I mean Ethan is a noted hot dude but he spent all day buried in his phone yelling at internet people half the time and the other half the time being a doormat.
Thats what I don’t get or I’m not seeing (not saying you’re wrong) all I see is a selfish, immature, cowardly, passive jerk, I don’t see anything equating to confidence (arrogance or naivety maybe)
That’s all stuff you might decide are dealbreakers a bit further into a serious relationship. At first glance Walky could just as seemingly be a guy who’s not really ashamed of what he likes – nuggets, cartoons, memes. It’s not a bad kind of quiet confidence (or as quiet as Walky can get).
As for the three characters who’ve shown romantic interest in Walky:
With Lucy it’s pretty much just a crush. He’s a seemingly nice boy who talked to her every now and then without brushing her off. It’s pretty surface level.
With Amber, they had a mutual love of self-deprecation preventing them from really trying to impress the other person. The attraction seemed to be mostly physical at any rate, and it was only the stuff like Sal that was a bigger barrier.
Dorothy being his major relationship, his very blunt, uncomplicated attitude worked well to cut through her constant stress and overworrying. There were definitely times when his immaturity caused issues like with the pajama jeans, but just as often Walky also showed to Dorothy actual efforts to improve in both romance and math, an undisturbed belief in her future greatness instead of believing he could just follow her around anywhere, and a much needed distraction when she needed it.
Mind I don’t like Walky myself, but it’s not that unbelievable that his unflappableness can attract people. Having a spine at that age can keep people around longer more compared to being easily walked over like Ethan or Danny.
I can see the point you’re making and its probably not that far off the mark, I guess I find it hard to get past my own negative viewpoint of Walky
All fair points…….My counterargument would be that it’s college and they’re all a bunch of horny teens with fairly low standards on what’s good relationship material. Walky’s a harmless guy who I guess some people would consider funny? Also he’s decently good looking if you can get past the smell. That’s all you need. Don’t overthink it.
Am I the only one who thinks Walky isn’t that terrible? He’s just a goober
Walky’s a chill dude.
All you need to know about why Walky is attractive to some people is that strip where the guy he said was the most important in the room was the waiter.
Like, he is decent-looking, funny, generally nice, laidback and when he is speaking with confidence, he has some kickass views like Dorothy will be someone great and that the waiter is more important than some politician. He has a charm and appeal to him.
His more negative traits aren’t really an issue until further in the relationship and 90% are very likely uncontrolled ADHD + lack of maturity + pushing things more than he should like with Joyce.
In the short-term, he is everything you want in a guy to date because in good times, he is fun and pleasant! But in the long-term, his ADHD pretty much backstabs him so his lack of filter, lack of sensitivity, lack of impulse-control, lack of focus control all seem like lack of care or social awareness which will eventually upset someone or wear you down when you know the person isn’t learning to correct it or control it better.
Agreed. And even in the relationship we saw fall apart, none of that was what caused Dorothy to break up unless you consider his slipping grades with her slipping grades a combined issue.
I have hope for Walky. He’s been getting enough character development that I think he will eventually figure out when he’s pushing others too far and that he needs some strategies for neurodiverse brains.
He’s cute and laid back with natural abs, silly which can be endearing, easy to talk to. Wouldn’t be hard for him to get a girlfriend irl
I still think that Mike is in Witness protection and that Billie is dating the guy to get more information on the corrupt cops.
That would be a great opportunity to jump a shark I guess.
And costumed superheroics weren’t? This comic has never been that down to earth.
Some of us think the shark was already jumped.
Nah. Mike is just in a secret organization that fights Martians.
And honey buns, can’t forget the giant mutant frosted honey buns.
The giant mutant frosted honey buns are also Martian.
Martians! Why does it have to be Martians? Why are they here? What do they want? Why can’t they just leave us alone?
I really hope that you’re right about the Witness protection
I think the former half is possible
No comment on the latter half
Starfire poster!
I just now noticed that, shame that it is the TTG version of starfire but I’ll take what I can get because Starfire is awesome.
Timescale being what it is, Lucy would have been approximately four when the last episode of Teen Titans classic aired. She is, however, currently the exact right age for Go! when it started airing, provided she had a pretty high threshold for the absolutely chaotic sense of humor. (Pretty sure Go STARTS its Wackiness Levels around the alien fast food chain-cow abduction episode of the 2003 show.)
It’s too wacky for me these days, but I did love said fast food chain episode as a kid. And even Shortpacked Lucy had… self-awareness, at least, about Go as a series.
https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/moar-lik-teen-titans-noaslkjfjdlakdsjalsf
Do wish Cartoon Network were a bit more willing to do serial shows without pulling things like the Steven Bombs, though. *Sigh* But that’s as much my eternal bitterness for the DC Nation block as a whole. (I’m very happy for Young Justice fans but as a GLTAS person… *sobs*)
TT Go is such a weird show. It’s simultaneously too wacky and childish for most Teen Titans fans who grew up with the original, yet it has some of the most legitimately funny satire of superhero tropes you’ll find, while also referencing to shows outside it’s age demographic like Gilligan’s Island, and making adult jokes that so borderline innappropriate you question how it got past the censors. Like Beastboy flipping jizzing all over Wonder Woman! The show is insane. Also it’s popularity might have gotten us one more season of Teen Titans so I can’t hate it.
.
I feel like if it wasn’t so attached to the original TT series it would be less polarizing. I can think of plenty of shows from back in the day that skirted closely to the line in terms of inappropriateness, but because they weren’t like, a franchise show people didn’t rage over it.
Children’s cartoons have referenced media not specifically targeted to children for decades.
– Rocko’s Modern Life practically exists as a vehicle to get shit past the censors.
– Recess draws upon everything from Hogan’s Heroes to The Shawshank Redemption and explains hyperinflation and wealth inequality.
– Rugrats references Mad Max in the apocalypse episode, among other movies.
It never really caught my eye so I didn’t end up putting much thought into it, and Teen Titans was just another cartoon for me so I don’t have that deep attachment other fans of the show seem to.
My only takeaway I care to make about Go is that every time I ever notice it, it seems to be doing another episode about how people who don’t like the show are stupid and shallow and should shut the hell up. I’m guessing Go has a problem with the old TT fanbase still harping on it, but I’ve never been a fan of directly calling your critics out in your own work unless it either makes for an interesting story or what’s being called out is so abhorrent it does need to be directly addressed.
Maybe if there were like, Beast Wars Roar or something I’d take it personal.
You know, I’ve been hard on Lucy for just being “that girl what with the crush on Walky and all,” but I have to say I’m growing more fond of her as time goes on. Here’s hoping that she gets more time on screen.
Also Billie seems, ok? Maybe she is doing better? I’m still sad that she and Ruth broke up but if it was better for her mental health then I’m supportive.
Honestly I just quietly like the way she sits, because that’s how I sit. Cross-legged even when you don’t have to. It’s just comfortable.
Jennifer*
My bad.
I don’t even have a problem with Lucy’s crush on Walky. He can be lazy and a goofball, but I’ve never seen him as a bad guy or anything.
From where I sit: Walky uses humor to deflect his fear of failure, he’s ADD and pretty-smart. But not really smart. And pretty-smart means there’s no challenge in high school; you just memorize the stuff and you’ve got it. No organizational skills were learned, no studying skills, no good habits were needed for high school.
But now he is in college, and pretty-smart doesn’t cut it. He’s failing, and cannot cope with a change to working hard, cause he’s never been taught how to do it.
It’ll be interesting when we catch up on that plotline. He obviously didn’t fail out over the timeskip. Or even just fail math. Amber only changed his pre-midterm grades, so that wouldn’t have been enough to save him if he didn’t figure something out.
Ah, the “gifted child” brick wall.
That’s probably also how his clear AD(H)D has gone undiagnosed for so long; it wasn’t interfering with his grades. He never had to learn to catch himself and cope with it, just like ne never had to learn how to study.
Agreed to all this. Especially since I very much doubt Linda would see, say, Walky’s attention issues as anything but ‘boys will be boys’ and Walky being a goofball, and I don’t trust the woman who won’t acknowledge her children are capable of making decisions she doesn’t approve of to consider ADHD a valid thing for people to just have. That would be an imperfection, and her golden boy is PERFECT.
*plays Mike Nesmith’s “One Ton Tomato” again on the hacked Muzak*
Very like, would play again.
Better than a Won-Ton tomato, I guess?
Now that Lucy and Jennifer did their catch up, I know Lucy will relish their time together.
If only she could mustard up the courage to actually do something about her crush on Walky.
… hmmm…. mustard and nugs…
I’m surprised they mustard the energy. Now they’re in a fine pickle. Onion-g person to another, I’m sure they’ll “The Works” it out.
We still don’t know the details of what’s going on with Jennifer but this strip adds more credibility to me that her claims of self improvement are sincere. I think she did go to therapy and is trying to be a better person. Maybe even trying to drop the alcoholism. The Asher relationship is just a somewhat worrying side element that we don’t know how will pan out. So good for Jennifer. So far.
Yeah hopefully they broke up because that was a toxic relationship and Jennifer is, likely, getting the help she needs
Agree on the “trying to be a better person” part. Not so sure about she being “good”, though. Since she’s Jeniffer she acts kind of robotic. Maybe it’s the medication.
Lucy is the best.
Shes right up there, I specifically like the way she communicated with the a**hole on that cold night
Clearly and with no room for misunderstanding, shows a young woman thats clearly confident and not afraid of standing up for herself
And her room is so clean.
*plays Miss You Much by Jackson*
And now, a look back
Something’s still off about Jenny, though I can’t pinpoint what. Maybe it’s nothing.
This is Dumbing Of Age so its a very safe bet its definitely probably something
She won’t look anyone in the main cast in the face willingly?
Maybe she’s sober?
We don’t really have a lot of insight into what sober Jennifer is like.
Who’s all waiting on Jennifer downstairs?
A mystery for the coming days perhaps, or we’ll find out next chapter as it takes place at night.
I’m assuming Asher and a new character or two
That’s the big reveal, of course. It might be Asher’s gang (the children of the Mob) or it just might be his dorm-mates and friends.
Now this is a lot better, she’s stopping for a moment to casually ask if old friends if they’re doing ok. It’s not much of a action but it means plenty.
….. so Billie’s *not* okay.
Got it.
HAHAHAHAHA OH, YEAH, JENNIFER IS TOTALLY FINE.
I’m absolutely sure there’s not going to be any fucked plot developments incoming. Totes.
EVERYTHING IS FINE NOTHING IS THE MATTER.
Nothing to see here! Please disperse!
Starfire… funny I was just thinking about her.
I always imagined that Dina would sound like Starfire for some reason. I guess because she kind of talks like her…
Whereas I just realised that I don’t recognise Starfire anymore.
Great, now I ship Lucy with Dorothy
One of the reasons I sort of ship Lucy and Joyce on the far side of all my more ‘serious’ ideas is that Lucy is an ideal merger of Joyce and Dorothy on several levels.
Lucy is not yet at the level of Twilight Sparkle dorky organization as Dorothy, but she’s definitely heading in that direction.
I think that Jennifer has made a new year’s resolution to have something approaching an adult and healthy interaction with Lucy. Even if she doesn’t really know how and it just feels weird and uncomfortable pretty much all the time to do so!
I honestly think Billie’s doing her best to have the standard college life after a really intense first semester in a weird alcoholic suicide pact with Ruth.
Indeed, as I consider her behavior more, I think it’s very likely that when she began therapy the intense codependence of her relationship with Ruth and the near fatal upending they’d both gone through during it was highlighted as more than enough reason for her and Ruth to take a break and build themselves independently. I have no idea if them coming back together is likely or expected from the current therapy plan, but I’m rooting for both of them to become healthier and more resilient, more in control of their own lives and decisions.
Like they’re absolutely my garbage disaster ship, and I love them both. I think Billie’s doing what most people are expected to do in college, likely on encouragement from her therapist to help with her recovery from the previous chapter in her life. I think this exchange with Lucy is meant to show how she is attempting to grow beyond who she was the previous semester. Less posturing and negativity in her interactions with others, value placed on basic courtesy and kindness.
I have a feeling that Lucky is looking at Jennifer thinking “Someday I’ll kill you”.
OMG, how starved for a normal interaction with Jennifer is she, that a thrown away and meaningless “you ok?” gets a reaction like that?
Plus the sarcastic comment at the end (that’s totally self-preservation).
I don’t think she’s even being sarcastic.
Jennifer. So robotic, so cold, so disengaged. Either she knows something that she is desperate to keep hidden, OR she’s going down the tubes again. I’m guessing the latter, because she helped Ruth get to where Ruth needed to go, (feel worthwhile), but still doesn’t feel like she has any value. Which I think is why she was so rough in Walky.
she was so rough On Walky.
She has a habit of “starting over” by boxing up and throwing away past relationships and rebooting her personality. ‘Member when “Billie” first moved to Forest Quad? Or how “Billie” went from one of Walky’s best friends to his bully in high school to keep up appearances with the cheerleaders?
I predict “Jennifer” will last for a little while, but eventually she crashes and burns when old habits and her past catch back up with her.
I’ve known a few people who fit that mould. Billifer is still a better person than those real life examples I know. For one, I don’t recall her lying like it was going out of style.
Other than about her drinking or about her relationship with Ruth to the Forest Quad group.
And the deliberately taking off her glasses when she started because they were a sign of imperfection? Or something?
I don’t think she’s necessarily lying about therapy, but I do think this is still part of her established pattern (and something, I suspect, she doesn’t REALIZE is a thing she does enough to have brought it up in therapy) and likely to go about as well in the long run as the last few times have. Add in a (potentially messy) breakup with Ruth and I could see Jennifer having made genuine progress on some fronts but still being in prime position for things to go to shit. Especially with Asher in play – I’m also fully willing to believe HE is genuinely trying to get away from his past but finding it much harder than he thought. (And I can’t imagine Walky HASN’T tried to bring up his concerns there.)
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
–
Michael CorleoneAsherHurray! I finally caught up without skipping to the latest pages!
Congrats! I was there about a month ago.
While remaining a pretty bland character this far, Lucy seems to be an endearing person. I’m sure she’d have potential if she was a little more in the limelight. I’d loove a friendship between her and Joyce!
Billie “pays it forward”, so to speak:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/billingsworth/
“‘They’re all’ waiting downstairs”? “They” who? Certainly not her old batch of friends from season 1, she spotted a new rung on the social ladder and stepped all over them scrambling for it. And probably not the Forest squad, they met the same fate.
Your new friends better be on the up-and-up, Asher. We’re watching you.
I have to agree; this new group of people, that Jennifer hangs out with, will be the litmus test on how she has changed. At the very least, they are decent people, who support her, and build her up, as a person.
Why is everyone so determined to hate Billie now? Is it because of Asher? She’s going to therapy, she’s being nicer- REALLY nicer to Lucy, a low bar, but she struggled with it before. This is a good thing?
Partly Asher. Partly the cutting herself off from all her old friends. Partly that I don’t really trust the “I got therapy” line. Partly because we know Willis.
I don’t hate her though, I just don’t trust that this is all on the up and up. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
+1. And it’s not just the Ruth gravatar talking, either.
I don’t hate her either, and I agree that being nicer to Lucy is definitely a good thing!
I mostly trust the “I got therapy” line (in the most literal sense) because it was in response to Walky saying, “that doesn’t sound like you,” when Jennifer claimed she was happy. For the reasons mentioned and others, I don’t think Jennifer is “all better” or “cured” or “without problems forever,” but she is probably doing better than she was, and she seems to be making an effort.
Considering that comments suggesting Becky was acting kinda crappy toward Hank were met as if that was incompatible with delivering a funny punchline and equivalent to calling Becky the antichrist, I think some of the readership has trouble with subtlety?
Hey Jennifer, you wanted to find someone to distract Walky with, “sexy time”, then look no further than your Roommate.
Jennifer: Avoids answering the question, “how are you doing?,” says she’s been keeping busy, and pointedly does not claim to be okay or make eye contact with Lucy.
Me: I hope someday this girl will be okay
“If you ask me how I’m doing, I’ll say; “Well, hmm.””
“Been keeping busy”.
Processing.
How sad is it that this is the best their relationship has ever been?
Who’s “they”?
What’s an Aluminum Falcon?