It was a morsel, tasty and short and laced with comedic cyanide. The rest of the time I don’t enjoy other’s misery unless they’re known assholes who are reaping their just desserts. So unfortunately I can’t reassure you that your suffering is as fulfilling. I can let you know that you aren’t suffering in silence however, as you have been heard. I acknowledge your statement of despair in this absurd existence and respond in kind. Only my like button does not express me liking, but rather I’d prefer it to _create_ like of myself, so thatmaybe I could have a single moment that would allow me to escape the meaningless futility of breathing.
I feel like dinosaurs just wouldn’t come up a lot in biology class unless you were doing a paleontology course. Even if the lesson was on evolution, the classic examples are things like Darwin’s finches because they were observable.
Honestly, Sarah’s current reaction might work even better. Completely failing to *care* about their shtick, but not in an annoyed way. I mean, Sarah’s always claimed not to care about things, but now she’s doing it to Booster and not even being grumpy about it.
I mean, seriously, Booster, if she’s happy, why are you trying to fix the -way- in which she’s happy? It’s fine for her to just be happy for whatever reason, you know?
With the soft exception of that Sarah might try to make herself happy by making other people miserable.
You see the problem in being happy by seeing/making other people miserable?
Hm. . . I feel like Joyce wouldn’t suffer as much from Science class from this point. She’s grown quite a bit from the time that she might have imploded.
That aside. . . Religious Scientists *are* a thing and despite what some may think. . .that’s not in any way a contradiction of thought or values.
Still it’s interesting to see if this whole thing will be gone into or not.
I mean… Joyce doesn’t seem like the religious scientist type, at least she didn’t last summer. She didn’t react well to Sarah’s gotcha about the flu vaccine, or the contradictions implied by the reality of evolution. But that was last semester and it seemed to be pulling her worldview apart, so maybe you’re right and she’s somewhat past it now.
Sarah knows Joyce is an atheist. Sarah also knows that Joyce isn’t entirely comfortable with her atheism yet, and that she used to be a dedicated creationist in a way Becky, for example, never was. The next hour of Joyce’s life is sure to be interesting
Sarah knows that Joyce is an atheist. And also knows better than to out her as one before she comes out os her own accord. There would be social repercussions to Joyce from being out, and only she ought to decide whether she face them.
But it’s not just the god thing – I cannot stress how much the age of the earth caused problems theologically, and still does. Geologists were heretics, when they started calculating the age of the earth.
It’s mindboggling old. Even things like, how old are we as a species? Mindboggling old *and* unbelievably young, at the same time. Horseshoe crabs have been around for over 400 million years! Humans have been around for maybe 200,000! 300,000 tops! And we only really know about the last 10,000 years!
First of all, Joyce is actually an atheist now, and she’s said she’s going to embrace empirical evidence.
Second of all, religious thought contradictory to scientific thought at the very least in the epistemological sense. Science knows what it does and doesn’t know based on evidence, and knows what needs further investigation (if science really did know everything, it would stop). Religion, on the other hand, involves assumed knowledge about what is ultimately unknowable (an afterlife, the true nature of existence, etc).
Be it belief in heaven, nirvana, reincarnation, simulation theory, the grand hallucination, etc, none of these so called “explanations” of what we call existence can be falsified through experiment, and are all open to ad hoc justification.
Will we get another red-background Horrified Joyce Face when she finally gets her head around the idea of Deep Time*?
* That not only that the Earth is not less than 10,000 years old, but that 10,000 years is an insignificant speck compared to the billions of year the universe has existed.
There is definitely disagreement between pure science and fundamentalist religious doctrune. That said, life is full of contradictions and chaotically unstable situations, and we’re all getting along like a dumpster on fire, so maybe it’s ok.
Now just how could science class do that? I though Joyce was an atheist now. Oh wait. Sarah doesn’t know that yet, does she? This could get interesting…
Definitely. People are talking as if becoming an atheist immediately frees you from all the interlinked patterns of thought and unexamined assumptions that have been The Truth up till now.
She’s still going to be finding philosophical logs to trip over for quite a while yet, and experiencing a considerable amount of stress and distress.
Which is why so many people ditch one religion just to fall into another or a so-called philosophy that is a religion in all but name. The belief in the dogma is gone but their need to believe remains.
Many US universities have generalized intro science classes. In part they have them because of the huge variability in quality of primary and secondary science education in the US. Quite a lot instead just shove that stuff into the first term of every graduation requirement science course for non-science majors (Phys 101 and Chem 101 courses for example).
The Geology 101 class I took in the waybackwhen included fundamental instruction on the Scientific Method because High Schools rarely imprint that on their inmates. (kinda like how many people were taking 098 Algebra or Geometry because guess what else doesn’t get taught very well? “It’s Connected!”) given that our society has decided public schools are babysitting services and ‘no child left behind’ has given us three generational cadres so far of people who can’t think beyond what’s pushed at them through their favored media??
yeah, for an institution where you have to PAY to LEARN, it’s a good idea to have some fundamental, basic subjects so your public school products can actually start learning what they’re there to learn-usually starting sometime in the sophomore year.
The tower is 165ft tall, and the biggest bell is about 11,000 pounds. I’m not sure how the bell itself ranks, but when the tower was built in ’83, it was actually the sixth-largest and was still reported at that ranking at least until 2010. So I guess two people wanted theirs bigger in the past decade.
Booster (stroking chin thoughtfully): Of course, you reject any confrontation with your feelings and motivations because you fear they might be unsupportabl OW!
It’s poetry in motion
She turned her tender eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
But She Blinded Me With Science!
(She Blinded Me–With SCIENCE!)
And failed me in Biology…
Just because Joyce is a fundie doesn’t mean she never believed in science at all does it? I mean maybe she used to not believe in evolution but does that also mean she never believed in the chemical composition of water?
I don’t think it’s the french water. It’s the little things. They’ve have the same shit there as we’ve got over here, but over there it’s just a little different.
It’s all tied together though. Once you convince someone that not only is the science wrong on one topic, but maliciously conspiratorially wrong, then it’s much easier to decide the same thing is true on another topic.
Sadly this shipped is doomed to fail thanks to the superstitious, not at all evidence-based, self imposed, rules of Sarah’s happiness. On-fresh-meds Ruth has no sad emotions for happiness vampire Sarah to feed off of! She’s die!
Booster strikes me as the type of person that wants to make connections and get on with people but for whatever reason just can’t quite do it
Boosters interactions with Joe almost seemed like trying to strike up a conversation more than anything and when they said that thing about asking about other people and they’ll look on you favourably it just seemed to me that Booster is very lonely and doesn’t want to be
So they wait for what they think is an opportune moment to “help” by stating something they think will help (and in the right context might) and therefore make that elusive connection
But instead they come off as an annoying know it all
Does make me want to see the interactions between Booster and the roomie that didn’t end well
I can imagine the roomie having some friends around watching sports and Booster mentions something like males bonding over sports is generally due to an inability to express emotions (I don’t happen to think that) as a way to “fit” into the group
Agreed! And being observant (theory) doesn’t mean you actually know how to talk to people (praxis). The floor meeting? Party trick going wrong that they couldn’t fix so they doubled down. “In the right context might [help]” colors a lot of their interactions with the other characters – Most of them have them trying to “help” but their insight is kinda clinical rather than conversational.
The other interactions are about their hobbies, like with the pictures… And I can’t remember if there’s any other “artsy” person in the main cast? (Mary and Malaya don’t count). But the comment section was like “OH GOD THE PRETENTIOUSNESS” when they were just… Being an artsy kid? Taking a sentimental pic? I know loads of those, ahaha :’) That was super normal for my standards.
I’m not non-binary so I don’t understand that but loneliness is something I think most of us can relate to, trying to make a connection, wanting to belong
Especially in your early 20s after high school and when you take into account advertising eg always people in a group having fun with each other or competitions where you and five friends can go somewhere
Yeah I can see why Booster is desperate to connect
This is a great post and I also think it’s where Booster’s gonna go.
Mike kept tabs on other people because he was a prick who thought his tough love would make them better. Booster comes off as sincerely unaware that their deductions on the rest of the cast are invasive or, at the least, make for poor conversations, but they don’t really get that yet. They’re sharing interesting psychological anecdotes and don’t get why anyone could be upset about that.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if Booster is also on the autism spectrum. They remind me a lot of my own inability to read other people’s feelings.
Not gonna lie. I do tend to get happier when others are miserable. Just the other week I legit was glad I had a face mask on to hide the almost laughing smile I had when some kid in a grocery store was acting up and their mom actually put them over the knee and spanked them for making a acene and a mess for the employees to cover up.
Well Booster is allowed to exist in a public space on a campus where they’re paying to live and get an education, and are allowed to take pictures in that public area even if it’s maybe slightly rude to intrude on other people. And Sarah technically initiated this conversation, but honestly I think it’s just to justify that Sarah isn’t really happy from other people’s misery like she believes because that would probably be slightly messed up if that were really true and Booster’s a more organic way to reveal that bit of exposition.
I agree that her being happy from others misery is messed up but I’m just talking about what Booster is saying. “You could just Be Happy” is them implying 1) that she isn’t “really happy” and 2) they know Sarah well enough to claim this. It’s incredibly rude and frankly they seem to be wrong cause Sarah’s having a great time. Booster just looks like an incorrect jerk.
I don’t read them as saying she isn’t really happy, but that she doesn’t need to concoct the elaborate reasons as an excuse. She can just let herself be happy without needing to pretend it’s because Joyce isn’t.
I think an interpretation isn’t Booster just telling Sarah that she can be happy, it’s that Booster is identifying that Sarah is genuinely in a good mood, but she’s pushing this idea that she’s a Reverse Smile Vampire who can only be cheerful as long as someone else is miserable to balance the books, because it’s easier than accepting that she doesn’t have to be cranky and miserable and isolated all the time, that she can be genuinely affectionate and loving and still demonstrably be Sarah.
She does. I don’t think Sarah would _choose_ to feel happy as an effect of Joyce veing miserable, she’s just aware that her happiness comes as a side effect of others misery and that it is indiscriminate.
But, if there were a situation where Sarah could opt to be miserable by way of making Joyce happy, I suspect she would choose her own misery. (despite knowing doing otherwise would make her happy, with the condition that doing so wouldn’t be bad for Joyce).
I’m with Sarah, this class promises to be funny as hell. Joyce may not believe in God anymore but that doesn’t mean she’s suddenly unlearned all the crap science she was taught. Wonder if it’ll be bio (which will be FUN AS HELL), physics or astronomy (which will bring up the age of the Earth) or chemistry, which seems to have less potential for fun. But she had a class with a lab last semester which was probably a science so she might have taken chem already.
Genuinely can’t tell if Willis is trying to make Booster an emotionally intelligent Mary Drew and failing, or trying to make them the most annoying person on the planet and succeeding.
Aw man, lots of Booster hate on al this thread and honestly… They strike me as a really lonely, socially awkward person. Like, they know how people work in theory but can’t quite nail interactions down?
And it’s sad. Because honestly? More than “unsolicited advice”, they just look like they’re trying to make conversation here. They’d interacted with Dina and Sarah when they took the picture (bonding through hobbies: The Hallmark ™ of the socially awkward fam) so it’s not strange that they’d try again after watching this scene unfold.
The thing with the hall meeting was to me like– Huge social blunder indeed! Should’ve stopped as soon as people started to look awkward! But they were like… “Hey! Was that dare literal? Because this is my party trick, lemme show you!” IDK, maybe I’m projecting but I feel like they were so eager they didn’t realize it was making everything uncomfortable until it was too late and then… Either they let UTTER SHAME take over themselves, or doubled down? How the fuck do you live that down indeed.
But yeah. People were hating on them for taking a sentimental picture of a Switch (and then they offered Walky to play together? That monster!)
To me, Booster is the socially awkward but observant kid who in between the queerness and nerdy interests, decided to “COMPLETELY REINVENT THEMSELVES~” in college only to realize… Yeahhhhh no, it doesn’t work like that.
I really disliked Booster after the hall meeting. But in their last appearances they seemed pretty nice (especially with Walky and the Switch) and right now I am willing to give them de benefit of the doubt again.
Man I get not liking a character but at the moment the comments just seem to try and interpret everything Booster does in the worst faith possible. It’s getting annoying. They’re a brandnew character with motivations we know jackshit about.
That being said I’m really curious where their character is going. Was it intentional to make them the new character to hate on? How are they gonna get back from that? I really like the interpretation I’ve seen that they just suck at social interactions and making connections really bad. That’s something to work with, I think.
Slightly unrelated, but in ALL honesty I’m just bitter people kept batting for Mike with all this ‘asshole sage’ bullshit like ‘he hurts people but he actually helps them!’ time after time and now aren’t giving Booster any benefit of the doubt when we barely know them. I know, I know, those might not be the same people doing that, and it’s not the same situation, but I am petty! And I never liked Mike anyways! Give Booster an inch of a chance to be actually interesting!
Eh, I dislike both Mike and Booster, for different reasons.
Also people aren’t obliged to give bad first impressions a second chance, it’s something they have to earn.
I think, a lot of people want to like Booster. But they’re not giving us a lot to actually go on other than having some sentiment for photography. So far, everything has been ‘needlessly probing’ or ‘possibly pretentious’.
Part of the problem is that Booster’s establishing character moment (thanks TVTropes) ended up annoying a lot of people, because Booster comes in and Sherlock Scans backstory and motivation out of a chunk of the cast with no real delving into how they’re capable of that beyond being a first year psych student.
Mike could do those things too, but Mike started out harassing his two closest friends from elementary school, then moved onto his roommate, then that guy’s girlfriend, and eventually he was around long enough that he could conceivably suss someone out.
Booster will be fine once we start getting strips about them as a person instead of their magical deductive abilities (even this strip here and that handful they had with Danny and Joe were better at that), but we can only work with what we’re given.
Honestly that’s my issue with Booster too, a lot of their interactions (and the hall meeting especially) feel kind of… shoehorned? (Idk if I’m thinking of the right expression)
But to me that feels more like a problem with how they’re written, not Booster themselves, if that makes sense.
I don’t know. They just seem somewhat one dimensional right now, which is weird in a comic full of complicated & interesting characters. I do hope it’ll be fine whenever we get to know them more, like you said.
Agreed, that moment was both very rude of them and oddly prescient right off the bat. Though I think proceeding to show they were at least somewhat off-base with one of those snap psychoanalyses (Roz seems the best candidate, or Rachel maybe, since we know they hit some targets on Ruth and Joyce and had time to read Walky and Lucy a bit better,) would help a lot to make that moment work.
I mean yeah, I’ve definitely got some reservations about Booster at the moment due to their intro. I think the intent behind the character didn’t land as well as it wanted since, even if Booster does go through an examination of their own inappropriate behaviour, it’s still nutty that they were able to do it in the first place. It’s the kind of moment that takes you out and makes you think this character definitely got hold of the script, and I still have no idea what their take on Joyce, that change was easier than admitting she was always like this, meant. It *sounds wrong*, because Joyce today is not the same person she was back in 2010 and it sounds like Booster’s saying that Joyce was always a good and noble person who just had to break free of her fundie bullshit, instead of the demonstrable truth that she was absorbed into and fully believed everything until she was challenged enough, but given the context of those strips being Booster dropping truth bombs I’m not sure how to read it.
In the context of her biggest anxiety that particular arc (Becky finding out Joyce doesn’t really believe in God, and her growing realization from the Rich Mullins dream that she never really heard God when she prayed BEFORE the traumas piled up,) it makes some sense. But yeah, she was genuinely a disaster when the strip started – a warm, but incredibly ignorant disaster – and Booster had to recognize the ignorant part full well when they met earlier that day. My best guess is ‘got hold of the script for the sake of plot/punchline’ for Joyce and Ruth.
If Booster said it specifically in reference to Joyce’s struggles with her faith, that she believed and prayed and one day realized she never heard God’s voice, it makes a bit more sense. It’s still the kind of thing Booster would never be able to suss out on their own, and the strip comes off as Booster assessing Joyce’s character as a whole, which then gets parroted by Walky, but we’ll see. For all I know those strips were there as a quick catch up for new readers to sort of have some of the cast members get their deals explained.
Oh wait, is Joyce actively struggling with the idea that being an atheist can allow her to be a good person at the moment? She was hesitant to identify as such even to Sarah and is deathly terrified of Becky finding out, which I took as discomfort with changing such a radical concept of herself, but maybe what Joyce “needs to admit she’s always been” is that she can still be a good person even without her faith.
People were hating on them for saying “ne’er” in their first strip, for having big lips and for generally being new. Half the comments section’s been creepy as fuck about them the whole time
Saying “ne’er” and not immediately following it up with “-do-well” is a red flag that a character is going to talk a lot and make the readers actually read. You can’t just spring something like reading on your audience unannounced and not anticipate any scared lashing out.
Having big lips is a red flag that the audience will have to look at the art when they read a comic. Again, it’s essentially an ambush, the equivalent of a jumpscare to put it in horror terms. In a medium like webcomics, it’s dangerous to get too bold and start combining both text and images.
Now, as for Booster being new… Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed how many regulars have been confusing them for Mike. That’s what happens when you have more than one character in a room, due to object permanence and whatnot. Heck, Booster is even getting drawn in some of the places Mike got drawn, and they even interact with some of the same characters.
As a nonbinary person who has dated all over the spectrum, I want to punch Booster in the face. They’re an annoying … sumbongo (Southern for what is called son-of-a-bongo, in other dialects) [is not gendered in this application, they’re just an ass even worse than me]
Hi, nonbinary person here who’s also dated all over the spectrum! This and your approval of the censoring are the only things we agree on, tbh.
I get the feeling people go so hard on Booster because they remind them of Mike and therefore all their interactions are interpreted through that lens. Would that be the case for you? :3
I find it really weird that we’ve replaced a filtered slur, with another slur and that somehow makes it ok. Language is adaptive and routes around problems. Just filtering a word makes people choose a commonly understood alternative, instead of speaking about each other in a non- pejorative way. Why not just allow the full language and let peoole see each other for who they really are when they choose to expose themselves for who they really are?
Because trying to use a gendered slur that then autofilters into the name of an instrument makes the kind of person who really, really wants to use a gendered slur *because* it is one look like a knob.
Yeah we know what they want to say, but they’re sure never going to be able to say it.
I suppose. It just seems unfortunate that the selected word happens to also be a slur. (from the archaic, “Bingo Bongo Land”).
The intention seems to be noble, but the implementation is flawed. And really, if you want to sensor someone’s bigotry, why not just wipe the whole post and replace it with text saying, “this user wroted a pejorative bigotted post.”
Many people here are so fond of the ‘bongo’ filter that they don’t bother typing the word that ‘bongo’ is supposed to replace – they just type ‘bongo’.
So…why are we doing Joyce-the-fundie-who-doesn’t-swear after her character arc last semester and her potential loss of faith?
It feels like she’s regressed as a character since her return. Not that she should be casually dropping F-bombs but none of this feels authentic given where she was in her first semester.
I’ve found after leaving one’s religion they tend to either go through a phase of clinging to some aspects of their religion as a sort of blanket, or diving head first into all the stuff they refrained from before, some times both one after the other. Joyce is probably going through the latter, and speech is a big part of that, especially since she won’t call herself an atheist.
Yeah, but Joyce was in a period where she WAS dropping bombs. And a reversion to complete infantilizing euphemisms in her speech seems off. I can’t imagine what could have happened during the skip to reinforce the loss of faith but to roll back her ability to even toe the naughty-word line.
Joyce doesn’t believe in God anymore but she still grew up with a heavily Conservative Christian upbringing that she’s been slowly deprogramming since.
Pour your misery down
Pour your misery down on me
Pour your misery down
Pour your misery down on me
I’m only happy when it rains
I feel good when things are goin’ wrong
I only listen to the sad, sad songs
I’m only happy when it rains
There was no analysis here. None. You could argue for unsolicited advice but they’re just going off of basic facts they witnessed or were told straight up
I’m looking forward to Joyce in science class. Having gone thru a slew of “x for engineers” (economics, art, literature) classes back in my undergradding, this should be fun.
Silly Booster. Everyone spent all morning being grumpy on Sarah’s behalf. (Well, once it got rolling.) That’s a rather extended display of a show of genuine affection from your friends, which can help a lot for someone who’s mood is generally as low as Sarah’s.
Buuut I’m more than happy for Booster to have the wool pulled over their eyes. Builds character. :B
I like Booster, even if has already strong inside the malevolent Psychologist ability of saying a lot of undesirable advices. With the absurd conviction that will be able to change people for the best.
My guess is that Sarah has a world view where she assumes there has to be a certain amount of suffering around her at all times. Usually, she supplies much of that suffering herself, but when her friends are suffering, she feels free to be happy, because her friends are supplying the suffering.
I don’t dislike booster.
But i have picked up on why(to me) they are bothersome.
They not only give unsolicited advice/armchair psychology but they do it in way that seems like they’re coming from the perspective of knowing the other characters for some time now. When they’ve barely met what like 2 days ago?
Basically they approach others like they’ve already built a rapport.
He’s also coming off as being extremely smart, but then he gives advice like this, “you could just *be happy*” and, no, honestly that’s just not how it works. That’s the same “advice” so many people give to people with depression, just be happy. I think he has the potential to be very helpful to those around him, but he’s got a ways to go before he’s at that point.
To be fair, that’s not what Booster was meaning when they said it above. Yes the words are the same, but the context is wildly different. Sarah is not depressed and is _already_ happy. Booster was reminding Sarah she doesn’t need to justify her happiness through other’s misery. i.e. Right now she *is* just happy and doesn’t need a reason why.
The point about not telling depressed people to just be happy is totally valid, it just can’t be attributed to Booster here. And agreed, in that context it is terrible and ineffective advice.
Imma start making a Booster love thread under all their appearances since the rest of the comments want their head on a pike! Anyone else who likes Booster, feel free to leave a comment.
They’re very cute and I want to see their pictures. They (or their sister) probably have a very cute animal crossing island and i would like to visit.
I’m glad Booster is encouraging Sarah to be happy just because. I hope they become great friends with Sarah. She can handle all of their snark with her own and I think that’s beautiful.
I hope Booster took a picture of Sarah’s excited little jig, because that’s a rare moment.
Can we share love and positivity for any characters, posters, authors here, or just Booster. I really like your idea of encouraging positivity and am curious if we can imcrease the scope?
2) In this particular case, it’s not ‘just be happy’ when Sarah is not (a sentiment which, yeah, is SUPER harmful), it’s ‘you are already happy, you don’t need to claim you’re being magically forced into feeling joy.’ Which Sarah said to Booster two strips ago with that exact ‘magically forced’ phrasing, and was defensive about how she wasn’t REALLY letting herself be happy here, so it’s totally reasonable for them to hear that and go ‘that is a REALLY WEIRD and unnecessary justification.’ It’s like how Sarah was unwilling to let the dorm know she genuinely, dearly enjoys Halloween, and needed Joyce to play the Terrified Fundie Who Thinks It’s Ungodly to justify her excitement. In this case, it’s definitely some schadenfreude – because OH MY GOD the prospect of Joyce in science class, her head will explode, and it is refreshing to see that someone as perpetually perky as Joyce is is in fact a human being capable of being a grumpy non-morning person. But she’s not being magically forced to be happy (except as a punchline scene cut, but even then you could come up with a reason in-universe – realizing Joyce is about to go to her first real science class being an easy one.) She’s being happy and embracing it, but then claiming this isn’t a thing that would ever naturally occur to her when someone else sees that she is. That’s not exactly healthy. (Especially since we the audience know Sarah’s prickly misanthropy isn’t 100% sincere – she actively shuts people out because of the Dana and Raidah stuff. This is DEFINITELY part of the defense mechanism.)
* Going back to the first post, I agree that they were WAY closer to accurate at the hall meeting on several characters than they had any right being, but there’s clearly ones where they’re off – assuming Walky’s sad about Mike’s death even after he describes some Standard Mike Bullshit – and this interaction and the one with Danny and Joe both make sense from basic observation in the scene itself. So long as we continue with ‘Booster is sometimes WILDLY inaccurate in their psychoanalyses, especially when it matters,’ I’m fine with it as a trait of theirs. Though I would prefer it as a trait they eventually realize shouldn’t be offered unprompted in every situation.
At first, I was with Amber like “Oh they are just a Mike replacement.” but ya know I feel like Booster is us, they analyze and point out what characters are doing. They just are able to interact with the actual characters. So I’m not gonna hate on Booster, I’m gonna take them as they are. I do like their photo hobby though.
So all the comment-section hate for Booster is really self-loathing?
I buy that, honestly. Hating Booster is really just hating that part of ourselves that drives us to dissect fictional characters on the internet. Booster would love this analysis.
Agreed. “Meta Comic Forum” is a terrible name, and Booster (the word) kind of riffs on some of what we do here (boosting and ripping on various characters) so is a bon nom, if that was Willis’ses” intent.
A PS5 might disagree with that sentiment. If they were actually real and had been stocked to fulfill demand and weren’t just fictional stories advertising executives used to drive their budgets and expense accounts.
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“YOU CAN’T TRAMPLE ON MY SCHADENFREUDE”
Comments like this make me wish there was a like button.
Your misery at the lack of a [Like] button is absolutely scrumptious.
Then you must be absolutely living off of my misery, because I feel this every dang day.
It was a morsel, tasty and short and laced with comedic cyanide. The rest of the time I don’t enjoy other’s misery unless they’re known assholes who are reaping their just desserts. So unfortunately I can’t reassure you that your suffering is as fulfilling. I can let you know that you aren’t suffering in silence however, as you have been heard. I acknowledge your statement of despair in this absurd existence and respond in kind. Only my like button does not express me liking, but rather I’d prefer it to _create_ like of myself, so thatmaybe I could have a single moment that would allow me to escape the meaningless futility of breathing.
You are just making me hungrier….
If this isn’t proof enough for Dina, I don’t know what is
Dina is fully aware that correlation doesn’t imply causation.
“but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing ‘look over there’.” –Randall Munroe
A combination so vile.
It bstter not be about evolution and/or dinosaurs.
I mean I think that’s the implication. I don’t think you get the same sort of clash between a fundamentalist worldview and say, a chemistry class
Chemistry is a lot easier when your periodic table only has four elements
There could be some problems in an astronomy class, though.
I feel like dinosaurs just wouldn’t come up a lot in biology class unless you were doing a paleontology course. Even if the lesson was on evolution, the classic examples are things like Darwin’s finches because they were observable.
“Over time, viruses adapt to their hosts and become less lethal.”
Nobody asked you, Booster.
Ain’t gonna stop ’em
Duct tape might help with stopping them.
so would a harsh verbal lashing, Booster neds it
Because a harsh verbal lashing is always effective.
Honestly, Sarah’s current reaction might work even better. Completely failing to *care* about their shtick, but not in an annoyed way. I mean, Sarah’s always claimed not to care about things, but now she’s doing it to Booster and not even being grumpy about it.
I mean, seriously, Booster, if she’s happy, why are you trying to fix the -way- in which she’s happy? It’s fine for her to just be happy for whatever reason, you know?
With the soft exception of that Sarah might try to make herself happy by making other people miserable.
You see the problem in being happy by seeing/making other people miserable?
She didn’t make anyone miserable, though. They already were or decided to be of their own volition.
Turning at analysis on Booster might work though.
“Why do you feel the need to analyze other peoples behavior, is it a way to externalize your own problems?”
psychology: the study of lesser minds
Hm. . . I feel like Joyce wouldn’t suffer as much from Science class from this point. She’s grown quite a bit from the time that she might have imploded.
That aside. . . Religious Scientists *are* a thing and despite what some may think. . .that’s not in any way a contradiction of thought or values.
Still it’s interesting to see if this whole thing will be gone into or not.
I mean… Joyce doesn’t seem like the religious scientist type, at least she didn’t last summer. She didn’t react well to Sarah’s gotcha about the flu vaccine, or the contradictions implied by the reality of evolution. But that was last semester and it seemed to be pulling her worldview apart, so maybe you’re right and she’s somewhat past it now.
Last semester, I meant.
She still gets to be upset as she realizes how much crap science she was fed as a child.
Joyce is an atheist, so I don’t know what Sarah is even talking about now.
Oh, you may know that. But Sarah sure doesn’t!
Sarah knows Joyce is an atheist. Sarah also knows that Joyce isn’t entirely comfortable with her atheism yet, and that she used to be a dedicated creationist in a way Becky, for example, never was. The next hour of Joyce’s life is sure to be interesting
I’m pretty sure Sarah’s the first (only?) person in the comic to have actually explicitly called Joyce an atheist.
She’s also the only other person we know Joyce has confided that in so far.
Sarah knows that Joyce is an atheist. And also knows better than to out her as one before she comes out os her own accord. There would be social repercussions to Joyce from being out, and only she ought to decide whether she face them.
But it’s not just the god thing – I cannot stress how much the age of the earth caused problems theologically, and still does. Geologists were heretics, when they started calculating the age of the earth.
It’s mindboggling old. Even things like, how old are we as a species? Mindboggling old *and* unbelievably young, at the same time. Horseshoe crabs have been around for over 400 million years! Humans have been around for maybe 200,000! 300,000 tops! And we only really know about the last 10,000 years!
It’s a perspective thing.
First of all, Joyce is actually an atheist now, and she’s said she’s going to embrace empirical evidence.
Second of all, religious thought contradictory to scientific thought at the very least in the epistemological sense. Science knows what it does and doesn’t know based on evidence, and knows what needs further investigation (if science really did know everything, it would stop). Religion, on the other hand, involves assumed knowledge about what is ultimately unknowable (an afterlife, the true nature of existence, etc).
Be it belief in heaven, nirvana, reincarnation, simulation theory, the grand hallucination, etc, none of these so called “explanations” of what we call existence can be falsified through experiment, and are all open to ad hoc justification.
Will we get another red-background Horrified Joyce Face when she finally gets her head around the idea of Deep Time*?
* That not only that the Earth is not less than 10,000 years old, but that 10,000 years is an insignificant speck compared to the billions of year the universe has existed.
There is definitely disagreement between pure science and fundamentalist religious doctrune. That said, life is full of contradictions and chaotically unstable situations, and we’re all getting along like a dumpster on fire, so maybe it’s ok.
Booster tries UNASKED-FOR ANALYSIS.
It’s not very effective.
I think it’s time for them to learn a second move.
They should stick to weaving deep-sounding analyses of their photos of everyday objects.
Now just how could science class do that? I though Joyce was an atheist now. Oh wait. Sarah doesn’t know that yet, does she? This could get interesting…
Sarah knows. She mentioned it at the start of the time skip.
But she’s not outing Joyce to Booster.
Sarah is one of the only people who knows, I think.
Sarah knows: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/unpacking/
Plays R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” on the hacked Muzac……
Getting rid of your religion can often turn very… complicated, OK?
Definitely. People are talking as if becoming an atheist immediately frees you from all the interlinked patterns of thought and unexamined assumptions that have been The Truth up till now.
She’s still going to be finding philosophical logs to trip over for quite a while yet, and experiencing a considerable amount of stress and distress.
Which is why so many people ditch one religion just to fall into another or a so-called philosophy that is a religion in all but name. The belief in the dogma is gone but their need to believe remains.
Wow, Indiana University has “science” class? I thought generic science classes were a Grade 1-8 thing.
Many US universities have generalized intro science classes. In part they have them because of the huge variability in quality of primary and secondary science education in the US. Quite a lot instead just shove that stuff into the first term of every graduation requirement science course for non-science majors (Phys 101 and Chem 101 courses for example).
The Geology 101 class I took in the waybackwhen included fundamental instruction on the Scientific Method because High Schools rarely imprint that on their inmates. (kinda like how many people were taking 098 Algebra or Geometry because guess what else doesn’t get taught very well? “It’s Connected!”) given that our society has decided public schools are babysitting services and ‘no child left behind’ has given us three generational cadres so far of people who can’t think beyond what’s pushed at them through their favored media??
yeah, for an institution where you have to PAY to LEARN, it’s a good idea to have some fundamental, basic subjects so your public school products can actually start learning what they’re there to learn-usually starting sometime in the sophomore year.
Is Sarah . . . dancing?
They’re all gonna die before day’s end, aren’t they?
Joyce and Science.
What could go wrong?
What was the name of that one branch of religion…. ?
Oh yeah; “The Church of Christ, Scientist.”
Isn’t that one of the anti-medicine branches?
Yeah, Christian Science is a bit of an ironic name for a belief system that rejects medical science.
…better than calling it “your kids will die from easily treatable diseases”
Everytime someone says “Christian Science”, Jesus rolls over in the grave he’s not in anymore. I can prove it through Faith.
My hometown has one of those right across from the library. Also the eighth-largest bell tower on Earth.
Does the tower hold the 8th largest bell, or is the tower itself 8th largest, or both?
The tower is 165ft tall, and the biggest bell is about 11,000 pounds. I’m not sure how the bell itself ranks, but when the tower was built in ’83, it was actually the sixth-largest and was still reported at that ranking at least until 2010. So I guess two people wanted theirs bigger in the past decade.
I always find it ironic that they use the word scientist in their name when they ignore the science when it comes to them getting sick or whatever.
The way Sarah is drawn in the last panel is reminding me of Schoolhouse Rock for some reason.
Up next, Sarah stars in a three-minute animated musical short explaining schadenfreude.
Then a song that explains how a bill is passed, or something about cheese.
I would pay money to see that!
Booster your comments are unneeded and unwanted, so perhaps consider this: fuck off and quit trying to analyze people.
In other news, Sarah continues to be amazing and I hope her glee continues after Joyce’s science class.
Analyze all you like. But don’t tell anyone unless they ask you.
I find this Booster’s least annoying appearance so far. But I’ll agree that refraining fr offering unsolicited advice would be polite.
The thing I noticed was that Booster conveniently came back when their were fewer people to get in the way of puppeteering and manipulation.
Which isn’t a very charitable interpretation at all but they made a really bad impression during and after the meeting.
until someone actually does that, Booster won’t stop..
Booster (stroking chin thoughtfully): Of course, you reject any confrontation with your feelings and motivations because you fear they might be unsupportabl OW!
Booster definitely needs to cut it out with the un-asked for analyzing people.
Not possible… its the nature of many (if not most) psych majors early in their collegiate years.
With each miserable post about Booster’s analysis, Sarah’s schadenfreude increases in power. It may be… unstoppable.
It’s poetry in motion
She turned her tender eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
But She Blinded Me With Science!
(She Blinded Me–With SCIENCE!)
And failed me in Biology…
Thank you. I needed that today.
Hu hu hu hu!
Nothing like some Thomas Dolby to finish off the week, Nice.
I’m starting to get an inkling that Booster knows that if they asked if they could give an opinion, the answer is more often that not, ‘no’.
So they decided they’d just give it without asking.
Of course give their NB status that could be for a variety of reasons, but two wrongs don’t make a right.
Just because Joyce is a fundie doesn’t mean she never believed in science at all does it? I mean maybe she used to not believe in evolution but does that also mean she never believed in the chemical composition of water?
but those chemicals are making the freakin frogs gay!!
Well now you’re just making Becky wanna be a chemist even more
I don’t think it’s the french water. It’s the little things. They’ve have the same shit there as we’ve got over here, but over there it’s just a little different.
I mean, you’ve got people in this day and age believing stuff like the Earth being flat, all the bs surrounding anti-vaxxing, etc
Climate change denial.
It’s all tied together though. Once you convince someone that not only is the science wrong on one topic, but maliciously conspiratorially wrong, then it’s much easier to decide the same thing is true on another topic.
These comfortable falsehoods are like brain kudzu. They grow quickly, consume everything, and are damn near impossible to completely eradicate.
Booster’s trying.
I guess.
Yes, they’re very trying.
The. Worst.
Feels Hunter VS Feels Vampire
Feelsing
van Feelsing?
I ship Giddy Sarah with on-fresh-meds Ruth
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/03-sometimes-the-sky-was-so-far-away/voiceover/
Sadly this shipped is doomed to fail thanks to the superstitious, not at all evidence-based, self imposed, rules of Sarah’s happiness. On-fresh-meds Ruth has no sad emotions for happiness vampire Sarah to feed off of! She’s die!
I hope Ruth has found a stable dosage and med combination over the time skip.
Booster strikes me as the type of person that wants to make connections and get on with people but for whatever reason just can’t quite do it
Boosters interactions with Joe almost seemed like trying to strike up a conversation more than anything and when they said that thing about asking about other people and they’ll look on you favourably it just seemed to me that Booster is very lonely and doesn’t want to be
So they wait for what they think is an opportune moment to “help” by stating something they think will help (and in the right context might) and therefore make that elusive connection
But instead they come off as an annoying know it all
Does make me want to see the interactions between Booster and the roomie that didn’t end well
I can imagine the roomie having some friends around watching sports and Booster mentions something like males bonding over sports is generally due to an inability to express emotions (I don’t happen to think that) as a way to “fit” into the group
Or I might be completely wrong
I think this is a solid analysis and a good guess!
Be interesting to see how it all goes, Booster has an “in” with Walky so might be be able to segue way that relationship into his wider group
Agreed! And being observant (theory) doesn’t mean you actually know how to talk to people (praxis). The floor meeting? Party trick going wrong that they couldn’t fix so they doubled down. “In the right context might [help]” colors a lot of their interactions with the other characters – Most of them have them trying to “help” but their insight is kinda clinical rather than conversational.
The other interactions are about their hobbies, like with the pictures… And I can’t remember if there’s any other “artsy” person in the main cast? (Mary and Malaya don’t count). But the comment section was like “OH GOD THE PRETENTIOUSNESS” when they were just… Being an artsy kid? Taking a sentimental pic? I know loads of those, ahaha :’) That was super normal for my standards.
Indeed, I don’t see anything malicious in their actions…just a bad case of foot in mouth
Like Danny
I really like your reading of Booster’s behaviour, I do wonder what’s up with them.
I’m not non-binary so I don’t understand that but loneliness is something I think most of us can relate to, trying to make a connection, wanting to belong
Especially in your early 20s after high school and when you take into account advertising eg always people in a group having fun with each other or competitions where you and five friends can go somewhere
Yeah I can see why Booster is desperate to connect
Booster’s gotta learn to dial it back, though. There’s a reason all the Smurfs throw Brainy out of the village when he starts rambling.
Oh absolutely, no one likes a know it all
Does this count as Booster-ing Booster?
Or, Mister Smith, you may have nailed that analysis.
This is a great post and I also think it’s where Booster’s gonna go.
Mike kept tabs on other people because he was a prick who thought his tough love would make them better. Booster comes off as sincerely unaware that their deductions on the rest of the cast are invasive or, at the least, make for poor conversations, but they don’t really get that yet. They’re sharing interesting psychological anecdotes and don’t get why anyone could be upset about that.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if Booster is also on the autism spectrum. They remind me a lot of my own inability to read other people’s feelings.
Yeah, that would make a lot of sense.
Yeah its pretty obvious that they just want to be friendly, just don’t know how to do it in a healthy way
They’ve always struck me as neurodivergent tbh
Not gonna lie. I do tend to get happier when others are miserable. Just the other week I legit was glad I had a face mask on to hide the almost laughing smile I had when some kid in a grocery store was acting up and their mom actually put them over the knee and spanked them for making a acene and a mess for the employees to cover up.
Why is Booster even here? This whole interaction feels like just another reason to dislike them.
Well Booster is allowed to exist in a public space on a campus where they’re paying to live and get an education, and are allowed to take pictures in that public area even if it’s maybe slightly rude to intrude on other people. And Sarah technically initiated this conversation, but honestly I think it’s just to justify that Sarah isn’t really happy from other people’s misery like she believes because that would probably be slightly messed up if that were really true and Booster’s a more organic way to reveal that bit of exposition.
Eh, I’d rather use Joe for ‘exposition tool that Sarah thinks is a tool’.
I agree that her being happy from others misery is messed up but I’m just talking about what Booster is saying. “You could just Be Happy” is them implying 1) that she isn’t “really happy” and 2) they know Sarah well enough to claim this. It’s incredibly rude and frankly they seem to be wrong cause Sarah’s having a great time. Booster just looks like an incorrect jerk.
I don’t read them as saying she isn’t really happy, but that she doesn’t need to concoct the elaborate reasons as an excuse. She can just let herself be happy without needing to pretend it’s because Joyce isn’t.
It’s rude, but it’s not really wrong.
Yeah, Booster heard the ‘I’ve been magically forced to be happy’ thing.
I think an interpretation isn’t Booster just telling Sarah that she can be happy, it’s that Booster is identifying that Sarah is genuinely in a good mood, but she’s pushing this idea that she’s a Reverse Smile Vampire who can only be cheerful as long as someone else is miserable to balance the books, because it’s easier than accepting that she doesn’t have to be cranky and miserable and isolated all the time, that she can be genuinely affectionate and loving and still demonstrably be Sarah.
If making Booster miserable will make Sarah happy, that’s a price I am willing to pay.
Booster actually is the Feels Whisperer.
Did I miss something? I thought Sarah actually liked Joyce.
She does. I don’t think Sarah would _choose_ to feel happy as an effect of Joyce veing miserable, she’s just aware that her happiness comes as a side effect of others misery and that it is indiscriminate.
But, if there were a situation where Sarah could opt to be miserable by way of making Joyce happy, I suspect she would choose her own misery. (despite knowing doing otherwise would make her happy, with the condition that doing so wouldn’t be bad for Joyce).
Booster. Shoo. Nobody asked.
I’m with Sarah, this class promises to be funny as hell. Joyce may not believe in God anymore but that doesn’t mean she’s suddenly unlearned all the crap science she was taught. Wonder if it’ll be bio (which will be FUN AS HELL), physics or astronomy (which will bring up the age of the Earth) or chemistry, which seems to have less potential for fun. But she had a class with a lab last semester which was probably a science so she might have taken chem already.
Wait until she learns that we’re all technically fish
And I quote: “Lobesters live at the bottom of the sea,
While I live at the bottom of the air.”
… Malvina Reynolds. Who also wrote “little houses.”
Pleeeeeeeease let it be biology. God I want it to be biology. Joyce Learns About The Big Bang would be pretty delightful to watch too, though.
Joyce learning about The Big Bang will probably be on her wedding night
Christ, fuck off booster
Genuinely can’t tell if Willis is trying to make Booster an emotionally intelligent Mary Drew and failing, or trying to make them the most annoying person on the planet and succeeding.
THANK YOU. I was going marginally strange thinking i was alone in this feeling.
I mean, A. Please fuck off, Booster; B. Booster’s got a point
*plays Garbage’s Only Happy When it Rains on the hacked muzack*
Pour you misery down on me
Pour your misery down on me
(Had this song stuck in my head for weeks)
Aw man, lots of Booster hate on al this thread and honestly… They strike me as a really lonely, socially awkward person. Like, they know how people work in theory but can’t quite nail interactions down?
And it’s sad. Because honestly? More than “unsolicited advice”, they just look like they’re trying to make conversation here. They’d interacted with Dina and Sarah when they took the picture (bonding through hobbies: The Hallmark ™ of the socially awkward fam) so it’s not strange that they’d try again after watching this scene unfold.
Those of us in the comment section never express unsolicited advice.
You should check on your car, see how the oil’s lookin’.
Hmmm, good call. I better go do that. Wanna tag along?
Oh the irony.
I don’t think Booster can win since the hall meeting. People were hating on them for taking a sentimental picture of a switch.
The thing with the hall meeting was to me like– Huge social blunder indeed! Should’ve stopped as soon as people started to look awkward! But they were like… “Hey! Was that dare literal? Because this is my party trick, lemme show you!” IDK, maybe I’m projecting but I feel like they were so eager they didn’t realize it was making everything uncomfortable until it was too late and then… Either they let UTTER SHAME take over themselves, or doubled down? How the fuck do you live that down indeed.
But yeah. People were hating on them for taking a sentimental picture of a Switch (and then they offered Walky to play together? That monster!)
To me, Booster is the socially awkward but observant kid who in between the queerness and nerdy interests, decided to “COMPLETELY REINVENT THEMSELVES~” in college only to realize… Yeahhhhh no, it doesn’t work like that.
I really disliked Booster after the hall meeting. But in their last appearances they seemed pretty nice (especially with Walky and the Switch) and right now I am willing to give them de benefit of the doubt again.
Man I get not liking a character but at the moment the comments just seem to try and interpret everything Booster does in the worst faith possible. It’s getting annoying. They’re a brandnew character with motivations we know jackshit about.
That being said I’m really curious where their character is going. Was it intentional to make them the new character to hate on? How are they gonna get back from that? I really like the interpretation I’ve seen that they just suck at social interactions and making connections really bad. That’s something to work with, I think.
Slightly unrelated, but in ALL honesty I’m just bitter people kept batting for Mike with all this ‘asshole sage’ bullshit like ‘he hurts people but he actually helps them!’ time after time and now aren’t giving Booster any benefit of the doubt when we barely know them. I know, I know, those might not be the same people doing that, and it’s not the same situation, but I am petty! And I never liked Mike anyways! Give Booster an inch of a chance to be actually interesting!
Eh, I dislike both Mike and Booster, for different reasons.
Also people aren’t obliged to give bad first impressions a second chance, it’s something they have to earn.
I think, a lot of people want to like Booster. But they’re not giving us a lot to actually go on other than having some sentiment for photography. So far, everything has been ‘needlessly probing’ or ‘possibly pretentious’.
Part of the problem is that Booster’s establishing character moment (thanks TVTropes) ended up annoying a lot of people, because Booster comes in and Sherlock Scans backstory and motivation out of a chunk of the cast with no real delving into how they’re capable of that beyond being a first year psych student.
Mike could do those things too, but Mike started out harassing his two closest friends from elementary school, then moved onto his roommate, then that guy’s girlfriend, and eventually he was around long enough that he could conceivably suss someone out.
Booster will be fine once we start getting strips about them as a person instead of their magical deductive abilities (even this strip here and that handful they had with Danny and Joe were better at that), but we can only work with what we’re given.
Honestly that’s my issue with Booster too, a lot of their interactions (and the hall meeting especially) feel kind of… shoehorned? (Idk if I’m thinking of the right expression)
But to me that feels more like a problem with how they’re written, not Booster themselves, if that makes sense.
I don’t know. They just seem somewhat one dimensional right now, which is weird in a comic full of complicated & interesting characters. I do hope it’ll be fine whenever we get to know them more, like you said.
Agreed, that moment was both very rude of them and oddly prescient right off the bat. Though I think proceeding to show they were at least somewhat off-base with one of those snap psychoanalyses (Roz seems the best candidate, or Rachel maybe, since we know they hit some targets on Ruth and Joyce and had time to read Walky and Lucy a bit better,) would help a lot to make that moment work.
I mean yeah, I’ve definitely got some reservations about Booster at the moment due to their intro. I think the intent behind the character didn’t land as well as it wanted since, even if Booster does go through an examination of their own inappropriate behaviour, it’s still nutty that they were able to do it in the first place. It’s the kind of moment that takes you out and makes you think this character definitely got hold of the script, and I still have no idea what their take on Joyce, that change was easier than admitting she was always like this, meant. It *sounds wrong*, because Joyce today is not the same person she was back in 2010 and it sounds like Booster’s saying that Joyce was always a good and noble person who just had to break free of her fundie bullshit, instead of the demonstrable truth that she was absorbed into and fully believed everything until she was challenged enough, but given the context of those strips being Booster dropping truth bombs I’m not sure how to read it.
In the context of her biggest anxiety that particular arc (Becky finding out Joyce doesn’t really believe in God, and her growing realization from the Rich Mullins dream that she never really heard God when she prayed BEFORE the traumas piled up,) it makes some sense. But yeah, she was genuinely a disaster when the strip started – a warm, but incredibly ignorant disaster – and Booster had to recognize the ignorant part full well when they met earlier that day. My best guess is ‘got hold of the script for the sake of plot/punchline’ for Joyce and Ruth.
If Booster said it specifically in reference to Joyce’s struggles with her faith, that she believed and prayed and one day realized she never heard God’s voice, it makes a bit more sense. It’s still the kind of thing Booster would never be able to suss out on their own, and the strip comes off as Booster assessing Joyce’s character as a whole, which then gets parroted by Walky, but we’ll see. For all I know those strips were there as a quick catch up for new readers to sort of have some of the cast members get their deals explained.
Oh wait, is Joyce actively struggling with the idea that being an atheist can allow her to be a good person at the moment? She was hesitant to identify as such even to Sarah and is deathly terrified of Becky finding out, which I took as discomfort with changing such a radical concept of herself, but maybe what Joyce “needs to admit she’s always been” is that she can still be a good person even without her faith.
People were hating on them for saying “ne’er” in their first strip, for having big lips and for generally being new. Half the comments section’s been creepy as fuck about them the whole time
Saying “ne’er” and not immediately following it up with “-do-well” is a red flag that a character is going to talk a lot and make the readers actually read. You can’t just spring something like reading on your audience unannounced and not anticipate any scared lashing out.
Having big lips is a red flag that the audience will have to look at the art when they read a comic. Again, it’s essentially an ambush, the equivalent of a jumpscare to put it in horror terms. In a medium like webcomics, it’s dangerous to get too bold and start combining both text and images.
Now, as for Booster being new… Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed how many regulars have been confusing them for Mike. That’s what happens when you have more than one character in a room, due to object permanence and whatnot. Heck, Booster is even getting drawn in some of the places Mike got drawn, and they even interact with some of the same characters.
As a nonbinary person who has dated all over the spectrum, I want to punch Booster in the face. They’re an annoying … sumbongo (Southern for what is called son-of-a-bongo, in other dialects) [is not gendered in this application, they’re just an ass even worse than me]
Also they’re going way too heavy on the lipstick.
I approve of the censoring.
Hi, nonbinary person here who’s also dated all over the spectrum! This and your approval of the censoring are the only things we agree on, tbh.
I get the feeling people go so hard on Booster because they remind them of Mike and therefore all their interactions are interpreted through that lens. Would that be the case for you? :3
A new poster discovering the bongo filter is always a magical moment.
I find it really weird that we’ve replaced a filtered slur, with another slur and that somehow makes it ok. Language is adaptive and routes around problems. Just filtering a word makes people choose a commonly understood alternative, instead of speaking about each other in a non- pejorative way. Why not just allow the full language and let peoole see each other for who they really are when they choose to expose themselves for who they really are?
Because trying to use a gendered slur that then autofilters into the name of an instrument makes the kind of person who really, really wants to use a gendered slur *because* it is one look like a knob.
Yeah we know what they want to say, but they’re sure never going to be able to say it.
I suppose. It just seems unfortunate that the selected word happens to also be a slur. (from the archaic, “Bingo Bongo Land”).
The intention seems to be noble, but the implementation is flawed. And really, if you want to sensor someone’s bigotry, why not just wipe the whole post and replace it with text saying, “this user wroted a pejorative bigotted post.”
Many people here are so fond of the ‘bongo’ filter that they don’t bother typing the word that ‘bongo’ is supposed to replace – they just type ‘bongo’.
Willis has his commenters well-trained.
Yep. Honestly if it wouldn’t require explaining in context I’d probably use it in other contexts. Gets the point across without the misogyny.
So…why are we doing Joyce-the-fundie-who-doesn’t-swear after her character arc last semester and her potential loss of faith?
It feels like she’s regressed as a character since her return. Not that she should be casually dropping F-bombs but none of this feels authentic given where she was in her first semester.
I’ve found after leaving one’s religion they tend to either go through a phase of clinging to some aspects of their religion as a sort of blanket, or diving head first into all the stuff they refrained from before, some times both one after the other. Joyce is probably going through the latter, and speech is a big part of that, especially since she won’t call herself an atheist.
*the former*😪
I was raised atheist and been agnostic-to-athiest all my life, and I don’t swear. The two things are not related.
Yeah, but Joyce was in a period where she WAS dropping bombs. And a reversion to complete infantilizing euphemisms in her speech seems off. I can’t imagine what could have happened during the skip to reinforce the loss of faith but to roll back her ability to even toe the naughty-word line.
Joyce doesn’t believe in God anymore but she still grew up with a heavily Conservative Christian upbringing that she’s been slowly deprogramming since.
And that’s if Sarah’s right.
Man, Sarah must be absolutely ecstatic these days in real life.
Pour your misery down
Pour your misery down on me
Pour your misery down
Pour your misery down on me
I’m only happy when it rains
I feel good when things are goin’ wrong
I only listen to the sad, sad songs
I’m only happy when it rains
So I wasn’t the only one thinking of that song.
I’m NEVER gonna get it out of my head, at this rate.
Nah, it’s easy. You just need to find another song that’s a hundred times more annoying and earwormy to flush it out. Like for example, how abou-
*gets violently silenced for everyone else’s sanity*
That’s garbage.
hmm, science class
Booster, maybe you could try interacting with people without analyzing them when they didn’t ask for it?
You can’t ask a psychologist to do this. They’re even sure to help other doing it.
There was no analysis here. None. You could argue for unsolicited advice but they’re just going off of basic facts they witnessed or were told straight up
Sarah is lovely.
“I like being a contrarian grouch and so I’m gonna be a contrarian grouch, dammit!”
Hey Booster, why don’t you practice your craft on Raidah, I’m sure she would LOVE your unwanted opinion
Or Mary.
Booster has been in one strip with Mary, when Walky was introducing everyone. Booster observed in silence.
Oh, it’s an act. Because Sarah knows Joyce ain’t fundie no more.
I’m looking forward to Joyce in science class. Having gone thru a slew of “x for engineers” (economics, art, literature) classes back in my undergradding, this should be fun.
ME: There’s no way I could love Sarah more.
WILLIS: Hold my beer…
Silly Booster. Everyone spent all morning being grumpy on Sarah’s behalf. (Well, once it got rolling.) That’s a rather extended display of a show of genuine affection from your friends, which can help a lot for someone who’s mood is generally as low as Sarah’s.
Buuut I’m more than happy for Booster to have the wool pulled over their eyes. Builds character. :B
I like Booster, even if has already strong inside the malevolent Psychologist ability of saying a lot of undesirable advices. With the absurd conviction that will be able to change people for the best.
I admire the way you casually deprive Booster of pronouns.
Thanks♡. Actually, it was pretty complicated find a way. I’m not an English speaker and I got a lot of problems with it.
My guess is that Sarah has a world view where she assumes there has to be a certain amount of suffering around her at all times. Usually, she supplies much of that suffering herself, but when her friends are suffering, she feels free to be happy, because her friends are supplying the suffering.
I don’t dislike booster.
But i have picked up on why(to me) they are bothersome.
They not only give unsolicited advice/armchair psychology but they do it in way that seems like they’re coming from the perspective of knowing the other characters for some time now. When they’ve barely met what like 2 days ago?
Basically they approach others like they’ve already built a rapport.
And wow
Booster graphic.
You can use the same email with different capitalizations to roll the dice again.
Coincidence I think not
He’s also coming off as being extremely smart, but then he gives advice like this, “you could just *be happy*” and, no, honestly that’s just not how it works. That’s the same “advice” so many people give to people with depression, just be happy. I think he has the potential to be very helpful to those around him, but he’s got a ways to go before he’s at that point.
Booster uses They/Them pronouns.
To be fair, that’s not what Booster was meaning when they said it above. Yes the words are the same, but the context is wildly different. Sarah is not depressed and is _already_ happy. Booster was reminding Sarah she doesn’t need to justify her happiness through other’s misery. i.e. Right now she *is* just happy and doesn’t need a reason why.
The point about not telling depressed people to just be happy is totally valid, it just can’t be attributed to Booster here. And agreed, in that context it is terrible and ineffective advice.
I think Booster just needs more time to develop, and to learn to keep their armchair psychoanalysis to themselves.
Imma start making a Booster love thread under all their appearances since the rest of the comments want their head on a pike! Anyone else who likes Booster, feel free to leave a comment.
They’re very cute and I want to see their pictures. They (or their sister) probably have a very cute animal crossing island and i would like to visit.
I’m glad Booster is encouraging Sarah to be happy just because. I hope they become great friends with Sarah. She can handle all of their snark with her own and I think that’s beautiful.
I hope Booster took a picture of Sarah’s excited little jig, because that’s a rare moment.
Yeeeees!
Also agreed, I’d like to see the Booster-Twin Animal Crossing Island, it’s probably VERY aesthetically pleasing.
Can we share love and positivity for any characters, posters, authors here, or just Booster. I really like your idea of encouraging positivity and am curious if we can imcrease the scope?
Huzzah for being a ray of sunshine.
1) Booster uses they/them pronouns.
2) In this particular case, it’s not ‘just be happy’ when Sarah is not (a sentiment which, yeah, is SUPER harmful), it’s ‘you are already happy, you don’t need to claim you’re being magically forced into feeling joy.’ Which Sarah said to Booster two strips ago with that exact ‘magically forced’ phrasing, and was defensive about how she wasn’t REALLY letting herself be happy here, so it’s totally reasonable for them to hear that and go ‘that is a REALLY WEIRD and unnecessary justification.’ It’s like how Sarah was unwilling to let the dorm know she genuinely, dearly enjoys Halloween, and needed Joyce to play the Terrified Fundie Who Thinks It’s Ungodly to justify her excitement. In this case, it’s definitely some schadenfreude – because OH MY GOD the prospect of Joyce in science class, her head will explode, and it is refreshing to see that someone as perpetually perky as Joyce is is in fact a human being capable of being a grumpy non-morning person. But she’s not being magically forced to be happy (except as a punchline scene cut, but even then you could come up with a reason in-universe – realizing Joyce is about to go to her first real science class being an easy one.) She’s being happy and embracing it, but then claiming this isn’t a thing that would ever naturally occur to her when someone else sees that she is. That’s not exactly healthy. (Especially since we the audience know Sarah’s prickly misanthropy isn’t 100% sincere – she actively shuts people out because of the Dana and Raidah stuff. This is DEFINITELY part of the defense mechanism.)
* Going back to the first post, I agree that they were WAY closer to accurate at the hall meeting on several characters than they had any right being, but there’s clearly ones where they’re off – assuming Walky’s sad about Mike’s death even after he describes some Standard Mike Bullshit – and this interaction and the one with Danny and Joe both make sense from basic observation in the scene itself. So long as we continue with ‘Booster is sometimes WILDLY inaccurate in their psychoanalyses, especially when it matters,’ I’m fine with it as a trait of theirs. Though I would prefer it as a trait they eventually realize shouldn’t be offered unprompted in every situation.
That was meant to be in reply to Kaz, but whatever.
Well put though. And despite the thread break it was pretty obvious what you replied to.
I had a giggle fit when I read the last panel. Schadenfrued is a hell of a drug.
At first, I was with Amber like “Oh they are just a Mike replacement.” but ya know I feel like Booster is us, they analyze and point out what characters are doing. They just are able to interact with the actual characters. So I’m not gonna hate on Booster, I’m gonna take them as they are. I do like their photo hobby though.
So all the comment-section hate for Booster is really self-loathing?
I buy that, honestly. Hating Booster is really just hating that part of ourselves that drives us to dissect fictional characters on the internet. Booster would love this analysis.
Agreed. “Meta Comic Forum” is a terrible name, and Booster (the word) kind of riffs on some of what we do here (boosting and ripping on various characters) so is a bon nom, if that was Willis’ses” intent.
I always felt that was part of the issue for the Danny hate
LiamKav noted, yesterday, that Booster had an old SLR, film not digital. That’s old school, as was the gaming console. Hmmmmmm.
the gaming console was a nintendo switch
there’s no newer-school than that
A PS5 might disagree with that sentiment. If they were actually real and had been stocked to fulfill demand and weren’t just fictional stories advertising executives used to drive their budgets and expense accounts.
Like the new Corvette?
Nintendo Switch with no joycon drift…?