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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
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mccloud
say you want your femurs extracted, hollowed out, and served to you filled with Pepsi
idk
I’m now imagining Ruth making femurs into those half-yard margaritas you can get in lots of touristy areas but are like really big in vegas cuz every casino has their own collectable one lol
Not a fan of malaya, so lets try the grav roullette!
Nobody is a fan of Malaya.
I am a fan of Malaya.
Right, but if your username is to be believed, you are nothing, and nothing is nobody, so the facts check out.
Woah, that’s pretty holistic.
I’m reasonably a fan of Malaya as well.
…aaaaaaaand I just realised my username isn’t helping my case either. Dangit. xD
I dunno, I feel like even Odysseus has better taste than that.
yea, maybe someone that would listen to Cassandra would like Malaya though.
Listening to Cassandra is eminently sensible. More people should listen to Cassandra. Listening to any of her siblings, however, especially that Paris div, not so much.
I am a fan of Malaya. Not because she’s a good person, but because she’s a funny asshole.
…why hasn’t someone done that already as part of a touristy trap tour? That’d be an awesome souvenir!
Why Pepsi? I mean I prefer Pepsi (but Cherry Coke is better) but just why?
Because that’s who Willis signed the product placement agreement with.
First McDonald’s and the nuggets; then Target; now Pepsi.
Mama Bear’s, on the other hand, wouldn’t sign, and that’s why it became Galasso’s in the Dumbiverse. *grin*
ig he had a deal with Chick-Fill-A at some point cos they popped up also =P
I’m guessing that contract was cut though, after they requested Willis turn all the characters into straight hetero-normative Christians who obey racial stereotypes.
and Noodles & Company
So when Ruth finishes harvesting her femurs, she just has to flip the can upside-down so it says “isded”.
oooh clever
Yes, why Pepsi? Why not, say, Irn Bru instead?
(It’s “made with real iron girders”! :D)
Not sure many readers here have ever even heard of Irn-Bru m8
I kind of like the idea that Becky is utterly unafraid of Ruthless and this bothers the Demon RA.
She obviously couldn’t be a demon, at least under the supernatural definition.
It’s probably just the invisible gorilla and a Gestalt effect at work.
The Invisible Gorilla Effect, just to be clear.
i’m not sure how this qualifies as a invisible gorilla effect type of thing. (i’m assuming you refer to that experiment where you’re tasked with counting passes between basketball players in a video, and fail to notice a person in a gorilla costume walking leisurely into the frame and waving before walking out?)
…anyway more like artistic license?
It’s an SEP (“Somebody Else’s Problem”) Field. The gorilla’s not actually invisible, our minds just kind of drop it, because having a gorilla around is just too weird, and it’s Somebody Else’s Problem, so why remember it?
She could, however, be a daemon. Specifically a system daemon. It explains how she can be so directly invoked. This in turn indicates that this is all a simulation. That in turn implies a plot by the head alien.
Theory confirmed!
Their queer ginger powers equal out.
Where is carla so we can get the whole band together
Mary: AAAAAAUGH!!! It’s a QUEER WOMAN IN A POSITION OF AUTHORITY!!
Becky: Yesss!!!
Mary: NO YOU NEED TO BE AFRAID
Yeah, after dealing with Toedad her whole life, Ruth is a cuddly puppy dog
And the funny part? She would probably respect Becky for that too, even if she has an image to uphold around the others
Like that episode of Recess where Ms. Finster has to babysit Spinelli, and it turns out her playground monitor / drill instructor persona is an act because that’s her job. (They slip an “I have to keep it up, sorry” in the end to restore the status quo, and so episodes could continue to air on shuffle.)
If you don’t look at her, she’s not really there.
Ruth trained under Batman.
I was thinking just that. The whole teleportation thing is an homage to Batman’s Stealth Hi/Bye.
If you’re curious, look it up on TVTropes. I will not provide a direct link so I can’t be held accountable for lost hours.
Can Ruthless breathe in space?
Time for queer redheads to become friends!
REDHEADS REDHEADS REDHEADS REDHEADS
Watch Rose show up in that class too.
As a trans queer redhead myself, I approve. (Although my mom’s brunette genetics were so strong that my red got darkened to the extreme, to where most people are fooled into thinking its brunette, but technically if you take it to color analysis the color is technically “chocolate cosmo” which is still… just barely… on the red spectrum. Although whenever I bleach my hair, it turns bright red instead of blonde, which allows for some fun color options… and wow I just infodumped myself… please excuse me while I exit stage left… hmm… I’m still here… where’s that ‘post comment’ button? Oh, there it i
… for those curious about the color chocolate cosmo, my profile pic has my actual hair color.
… I just can’t shut up, apparently.
I said “chocolate cosmo” and a cat jumped into my lap.
Really? Let me try!
Chocolate cosmo!
…
Dang it…
I know its popular to hate on Becky… but I’ll never not love her ability to completely no-sell Ruth’s “terror”
It’s …popular …to hate on BECKY
How dare
I wouldn’t say hate, but I never did like her.
D:<
Becky’s great and all but her pepsi preference is really problematic
Seriously. Has the woman never heard of Coke?
ikr
Have neither of you heard of Dr Pepper?
folks, i really don’t think this is the place to be discussing such a sensitive and contentious issue
Glad to see the favorite pop is still a heated argument. No, there is nothing wrong with my previous sentence. Why do you ask?
When will humanity learn that all other flavors are equally inferior to root beer?
Specifically IBC rootbeer?
When you make root beer that’s worth drinking?
Dr. Pepper is bad, Pepsi is bad, Coke is eh at best, the true best flavours of soft drinks are ginger beer and Irn Bru.
Plebians. Stubborn Soda is obviously where the true flavor is really at.
No it isn’t. You’ve never had Contrarian, have you.
Ah. Dr. Pepper. Electrified prune juice of the gods. I miss it on account of being off carbonated softdrinks.
Green River.
Anyone who would drink Dr. Pepper would fuck sheep.
Look, you didn’t have to call me out like this.
Sorry, Delicious Taffy. Pro tip: Watch out for the big ram. He’s mean.
Pepsi is delicious and so is Becky
I prefer Cuba Cola. Which is what Swedens own domestic cola is named. For some reason.
Cuba Cola? … huh. I guess they’re trying to sound exotic to Swedish people? Or was it started by a swedish immigrant?
Maybe the cans are square.
Yeah, from what I understand, it was the exotic angle.
I thought it had to do with the drink Cuba Libre which has cola in it, but nope.
well she did earn a lot of flak for her actions towards Dorothy…so yeah, she does have a lot of people disliking her at the moment
I’m kinda teetering on the edge I guess.
On one hand the most interesting things going on with her were her bullying of Dorothy and her sometimes inability to commit to Dina (there’s this one strip of Becky just, like, entirely walking by Dina’s room without paying it any attention so she can go see Joyce) have either fizzled or don’t seem to be going anywhere despite the years of build up. Dorothy just automatically defuses her after six years of Becky being a turd whenever she’s in her proximity and her fears of Dina were contextualized as entirely down to sexual intimacy issues and not that Becky still has it bad for Joyce and how that’s affecting her relationship with Dina (without actually changing the fact that Becky still absolutely adores Dina). It’s hard to get invested in Becky nowadays where everything she does will have another character pick up the slack for her, so I’m kinda tuning it out.
On the other hand, despite what I said above, you put Becky and Dina in the same strip and it’s just this magical reaction of character chemistry going off where the two get to bring out the absolute best in each other. It’s probably the best written relationship in DoA just for how it effortlessly skips over all the cliches of how relationship drama is supposed to be written, and instead depicts two people who are endlessly supportive and bring the best out of each other.
So I’m not crazy for Becky anymore, but I am for Becky/Dina, and Becky spends most of her time with Dina anyway so it all balances out.
She’s just kinda in the same boat as Sal for me now, although I still like Sal a lot.
For years what I read into Sal’s character is that she had committed a violent crime as a child out of a desperate longing for affection from her parents then realized she was never going to have it, paid for her crime, and now has to deal with stigma and judgement for the rest of her life. Regardless of reasoning, Sal did something terrible, but she also moved on from it. Whatever Amber herself thought, Sal was a better person now and it would be ridiculous to think otherwise.
Then it turned out it was all to help Marcie get an operation because her mom literally stole the few hundred bucks Sal had been saving up, because instead of being a character who destroyed her relationship with her child out of racial biases she might not even actively comprehend she just really fucking hates Marcie for being an undocumented immigrant. Then the first robbery was done by a bunch of Sal’s friends, and the second one consists of kicking some stands down while Sal starts crying and lets Ethan go after holding him at knifepoint for like half a second. She was never someone who made a mistake and had to redeem herself, she was just always heroic and other people shit on her life.
TLDR: I feel it drained the complexity of her character (not to mention it made Amber look like even more of an unreasonable dumbass for her grudge) to the effect of making her more outwardly a heroic figure, but Sal didn’t need to have the world’s most sympathetic motivation for committing armed robbery. Plenty of people commit violent crimes for the wrong reason, but once they pay their debt to society they sure as hell don’t deserve them to be hold over their heads for the rest of their lives.
She masks the pain by being brash, loud, “fun”, and obnoxious because “nobody likes a Debbie downer”. Unfortunately she tries way too hard and just comes across as obnoxious and rude.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/downer/
there’s a lot to dislike about Becky, but there’s some things that you have to respect and admire: her interaction/non-fear of Ruth being just one of them
I’ll be honest, I mostly just find her obnoxious. I don’t even really hate the way she keeps picking on Dorothy, because I guess to me it comes across as mostly banter.
You can both like and dislike aspects of a character. I think the only main characters I’ve generally leaned on overall dislike are Walky and Jennifer, and the latter is improving. With Joyce and Becky they depend on the weather.
Ruthless’s Terror Aura is so powerful, she can be cloaked in shadows while her glasses shine from an unknown light source.
like the bespectacled in Sin City?
I hate when Terror Auras are too large. It makes it hard to work on generators without being paranoid that you’re gonna get yoinked, and I think you get more skill checks when you’re in a killer’s terror radius, although I might be mistaken on that point.
Sorry, my friend group’s been on a Dead by Daylight kick lately.
I swear though, I think it’s The Trapper that has that one perk/add-on/whatever that makes it feel like his radius covers half the map and has the skill checks spawning every few seconds. Nothing quite like telling him exactly where you are by flubbing 5 checks in rapid succession.
I hope you got paid for that product placement.
Taking a quick look at the archives for prior Becky and Ruth interactions and Becky having her significant haircut over 5 years ago is weirding me out, like how I think of 20 year old Simpsons episodes as ‘recent’.
Walky was right about someone needing to put a bell on Ruth, she getting to good at that Jason Voorhees Style appearing trick of hers.
Someone needs to try the old trick of standing with their back to a spike-pit or a bear-trap before summoning her.
Or at least a mud puddle. As a semi-realistic college strip, no reason it has to go from zero to grimdark in 1.
I suppose that most people with an Igor are already at at least sterndim.
Ah, the joy of “only class today”. Then the agony of a stacked schedule the other day.
Booyah.
I was usually pretty good at getting down to only two or three class days a week. Sometimes 4. I almost always had Fridays off or only had one class. Once I was there from 9 AM to 9 PM and that was rough but it was the only time I had that problem and the classes were pretty fun. Anything’s possible with a little schedule smithing.
only doable when your classes are extremely easy, like freshman intro/elective classes tend to be.
The real trick is when it’s advanced classes. It’s hell if it’s sophomore/junior level classes with a lot of reading and writing!
*wonder if he’s already played “Tall Cool One” enough times*
Steps up and plays “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” by the Police on the hacked Muzac.
Ruth is sapping away Dina’s power to apparate behind people for herself!
We who speak English like to say, “appear.”
I think you mean, “We who are Muggles like to say “appear.”” And *I* say; Speak for yourself!
Muggles? Do you claim to be something other?
I identify as a “Meat Popsicle”, but I meant speak for yourself concerning “appear” over “apparate”.
I speak for the English-speaking world. “Apparate” is an abomination on the language.
Saying that with Ruth’s gravatar is so spot on v:
There are many ways to appear. Apparate is more specific.
Apparate is more made up, probably by someone with no shame.
I am a skeleton wearing a meat suit.
I am a cloud of lightning in a skeleton that’s wearing a meat suit.
I am a mostly inaccurate self-model of software that runs in a cloud of lighting in a skeleton that’s wearing a meat suit.
Dina’s fine, her teleportation powers require a specific focus (namely, doors). This makes the power much harder to steal. Ruth’s power is quite different – she can only instantly appear behind people who might fear her.
Ruth’s powers also use a unique focus – the Toronto Leafs symbol – and NOBODY wants to steal THAT from her.
I’m VIBRATING from anticipation. Becky taking Leslie’s class was gonna be delightful enough, but I have NO IDEA how it’s gonna go down with Ruth being there too, so I CANNOT WAIT
It’s nice to see you commenting back on the main page! It was nice seeing you on patreon too but I missed you here. XD
Aww ^_^
I missed you in the sea of irrationally intense becky hate (╥﹏╥)
Goddammit, Other Jacob, leave Fart Captor alone.
I think we know where Ruth will open up about her and Jennifer’s break up
An ushanka? And here I wouldn’t have thought Ruth would be caught dead in any winter hat but a toque…
As the Canadian owner of a Canadian-made ushanka, I say “feh!” to you.
Slav engineering reigns supreme!
Ohhhhhh, yes, yes, I want a whole book of just this class.
I love Ruth.
Okay, okay, I kept Carla for long enough. New grav roulette!
*tired sigh* No.
Okay I’m gonna try a reroll now. I think it will work this time cause I flubbed my email the last two times if not then I just give up!
Oh’ it’s Booster. I don’t care for Booster. They’re okay but Sarah’s better.
Well, if we’re going to roulette, let’s see what we get.
Spinning
Not stopping there.
Walky’s not bad.
This time around I’m taking notes with the eventual goal of being able to fit the avatar to the comment.
Absolutely love Ruth.
It’s gonna be SO FUN.
I’m just realizing we haven’t seen ethan since https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/04-is-a-song-forever/into/ what’s up with that?
He might be taking a few weeks off – or a semester – at home to cope with Mike’s death.
I doubt it’ll be a semester, at the rate this comic goes, that’d be like killing him off
it’s only been two days in-universe, he’s likely around but there’s little left IMHO that can be done unless Willis does an actual relationship angle for him as part of his coping with Mike’s death.
Is it seriously just two days?!?
Since the beginning of the new semester? Yeah.
is a mystery
his roomie is similarly absent
I mean, he also wasn’t part of the shadowed-out group shot, IIRC. So, that might also indicate something.
Hard to say. I think that was main cast only. Might just mean he’s demoted to supporting cast.
I wonder if Ethan is living in the rooms where all fear to tread.
I’ll give it another story arc or two before I panic. Ethan was never that important a character, and the last words on him were that Amber was giving him space and he and Danny had a huge fight.
When he comes back he’ll be a changed person, I think.
Ethan’s gonna come back as an emo goth.
He should come back as a toy store employee.
That Glasso is now running.
We haven’t seen Galasso since the time skip, so… maybe?
Uh oh, Ruth’s entered the Avatar State
Aaand that’s the grav I had yesterday.
Everything changed when the Femur Nation attacked.
(to the tune of Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Are you ladies feeling the euphoria…or a draft?
I think the coolest part here is being able to summon Ruth.
Indiana University’s own Bloody Mary. Mirrors not required.
Ehh, IU already has one Mary too many.
Nothing is stopping Ruth from eating her, Femurs and all and taking her position, just saying.
You’re 100% right and I will defend this point like an overzealous D.Va player.
Becky has Junctioned the Guardian Forces Dina and Ruth. They’re both bone-adjacent, so it works out.
…except now I wanna put these kids into a Final Fantasy-esque AU and see what happens.
Ya know what, fuck it. They’re at a school, a lot of them have intertwined backstories, the adults they deal with are largely to blame for their problems, plenty of them can handle a fight, a card game was prominently featured at least twice. It all fits together. Gimme 73 hours and 46 minutes.
That’d be sweet.
Cecil being convinced of his own righteousness by an evil authority figure that lead him to eventually cause pain and suffering wherever he went, leading him on a quest for redemption and self acceptance, does kinda map onto Joyce.
I was wondering what was up with the Star of David, but no, it’s a maple leaf.
Yeah, but it’s a Toronto Maple Leaf, which is why it’s a bit crap.
Fuckin’ Toronto. You call that a hockey team?
I’d rather see a poor hockey team from the Great White North than a good team from some warm-weather place like Florida or California, where the only ice they normally see is in their drinks.
Commercial ice-making took off during the American Civil War, when the South couldn’t import New England ice and had to turn to French machinery.
To tell the truth, I barely know a hockey team from a hole in the round.
I’m from Illinois, so I can tell you all of them. See, you’ve got the Blues, the Mighty Ducks, and then whatever else.
Duly noted. Storing up insults for all those others.
Best I can do is a Coke.
Which is the best anyone can do.
I hope you have no regrets about that joke.
The Ginger Powers.
PEPSIMAAAN (except it’s Ruth)
Maybe Pepsiman is Ruth’s alter ego… Probably not but I think she would find joy in going to a catastrophic event just to give Pepsi out and literally nothing else.
Just like Ted Cruz these days, amirite? Heyoooo, our government is trying to kill us!
All she wanted was a Pepsi; just one Pepsi!
I think that might be peak Ruthless
She is slowly but surely evolving into a proper Horro Movie monster.
Which is, of course, what she’s majoring in.
Plenty of time for Dina and Joyce to discuss science
Oh, I am definitely looking forward to more Becky and Ruth interactions, especially in light of Becky’s “from one orphan to another” line in the 09/21/20 strip. They have a fair amount in common, and I’m really hoping that we get more of their backstories— as of yet we know nothing about Ruth’s parents (apart from what Clint says, and he’s a lying abuser) and very little about Bonnie beyond her suicide.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Ruth and Leslie’s character dynamic will be like, since unless it happened in a Patreon strip I don’t think they’ve ever interacted at all. I’m not sure Ruth has ever really had a positive role model in her life, so I’m thinking meeting Leslie will probably be a really good thing for her.
Are those glasses similar to Dale from QC’s pair?
he got the NerdView model, Ruth went for the EvilEye version
Glad to see Ruthie again.
I’ll just say it is appreciated and expected Becky is a pepsi kinda person.
Is it normal for third years to take first year subjects? Ruth is third year, right?
Sometimes the course is a requirement — like computer science was at my old college — and fills up so fast that people who do not need it as a rre-req for their major end up taking it during 3rd year.
I thought of her as second-year, but can’t easily find any evidence (cast page, wiki.) Intro Gender Studies seems like it would be an elective untied to a particular year, unless you’re majoring in the subject.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Leslie’s class is the gut class version of Gender Studies. Like the equivalent of “rocks for jocks” vs geology or “math for poets” vs being a math major. It seems to consist mainly of talking with other students (who might take over the class for a while) rather than anything rigorous.
Also, I’m glad they showed at least one prof that Becky doesn’t have a personal relationship with. I mean, yes, she was involved in some high profile events but that doesn’t mean she majors in Professors I Know from here on out.
“math for poets”? there isn’t any other kind of math.
Roz was in the class and she’s a gender studies major.
Also, class discussions occupied a good chunk of all my university classes, including grad school. Heck, some of my grad school classes had about an hour or so devoted to talking about the readings or lecture. Those talks were usually a bit more structured, with the teacher asking questions.
Exactly. Yours are structured. Leslie’s? Not so much.
This is at least Ruth’s second year as RA, and they don’t usually allow freshmen to do it.
she’s apparently a “junior” (see announcement below this comic). I’m not an american so idk what this means exactly, but quoth Merriam-Webster: “a student in the next-to-the-last year before graduating from an educational institution”. what’s that, 4th year? someone pick it up from here.
Most courses are generally 4 years in the US I believe, so yeah that would make her a third year.
I’d thought that too, but it’s only her first year as RA.
She is still a junior though – 3rd year.
Traditionally: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior.
Speak “Femurs” three times and she’ll appear right behind you.
“Speak Femur and Enter”
But Enter What? Her Femur Shed.mov?
“Swag.”
[finger guns]
Did Ruth just develop teleportation powers?
No, cold weather camouflage powers.
The associated teleportation is just a power stunt.
It is a special technique ancient Canadians developed when hunting bears.
Dumbing of Age Book 11: With Me, There Is No Escape
There is a way Becky, is “asking nicely with anticipation”
Ruth’s glasses are giving me serious “Get into the f****** Gender Studies class” vibes. Not that Becky is not willing, but still.
Or or OR
Even better
A glass, properly chilled, with ice, and the Pepsi already decanted into it! And a straw!!
Nah still a Pepsi it’s ruined
YAY! STUDYBUDDIES!!!!
Ruthless would drink it tho
She never said it had to be a full pepsi.
Is it just me or does Willis’ depiction of a ‘Leafs’ fan jacket look way too much like the Israeli’ Winter Olympic team jacket?
“Whose woods these are, I think I know,” I do not want a Pepsi, though. Make it a DR. Pepper…..
I like how she “No Sells” Ruth’s menace.
It probably helps she has been all the shit she went through with Ross. After that, this has to feel like easy mode.