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Trial number 99 of the missionary position. The subject is still responsive, but has become less exuberant to trials.
“Can we do a _different_ position yet?”
The subject has long expressed interest to try another position, but for rigour a minimum sample size of 128 attempts *per position* will be required. Given the size of the kama sutra, this extensive annalysis may require and expanded study with more participants.”
I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a terrible shame she didn’t overhear this.
On the one hand, she’s dealing with a lot what with the Joyce thing, and doesn’t need to be more conflicted, since the very beliefs that holding onto are important to her are what’s preventing her from becoming closer to Dina.
On the other hand, she dealing with A LOT what with the Joyce thing, and could maybe use a distraction. This would distract her, alright. We’re talking steam out the ears and teakettle whistles.
Dumbing of Age 12: Sexually, I Would, Through the Process of Trial and Error, Meticulously Evaluate His Response to Each and Every Stimulus, Resulting in Either Ruining Sex through Tedium or Leaving Him a Twitching Mess Doomed to Long for My Thoroughness; For I Am Not Sure I Could Sustain Interest in His Body Beyond That Process
Honestly unless Becky gets over her hangups, a Dina slipshine might well be her by herself, taking some very thorough notes. Which, at least, would mean that whenever Becky and her did spend some real Quality Naked Time, Dina would have some excellent pointers for what works for her.
Well, Dina just said that her experimental thoroughness could ruin sex by tedium *because she has no other interest in Joe sexually*. It’s possible she’d be more attentive to Becky’s needs if only on the principle that making someone get hot and bothered is hot, and she loves( did they put any labels, actually?) Becky.
Cursed Prediction (that most likely won’t come true but it’s fun to make cursed predictions sometimes): Becky and Dina have a massive argument (a combo of the Joyce Thing ™ and Dina’s apparent asexuality making Becky insecure) and they split. Dina seeks consolation from a more objective source: Joe. They get closer. Things happen. Drama!!!
Everything we’ve seen so far suggests that she’s more than probably asexual, although by her own admission she’s still figuring her sexuality out and hasn’t committed to the label asexual (she has worn apparel in ace colors though, although idk if that was her being intentional or Willis pointing her sexuality out to us). I could also see her as demisexual. And sexuality is fluid over time! So while I agree it’s more than probable, I think Doctor Who was responding to Dina’s ongoing exploration of sexuality rather than from ace erasure
Honestly, -as- an asexual, Dina’s methodology towards sex sounds. A lot like my own, in some interesting ways. There is a _very_ intellectual fascination in it.
Maybe, or perhaps, it would give Dina the chance to explore sex objectively! Do science on Joe’s penis! No need for pesky feelings to get in the way (just make sure to write it down, Dina – that’s what differentiates science and fucking around… pun intended).
“This apparatus was part of a testing initiative to see how well the test subject could achieve orgasm if their genitals were in metallic confinement. Results were quite informative. They could not.”
no, definitely not. too clean for one thing. Also, too self-aware? I guess grunge may be among the references intended (besides trap, bhangra i guess, and other styles i can’t quite place) but i read it more as a nod to heavy metal because it’s not leaning into the punk-inspired dirtiness inherent in grunge (it’s in the name), and also there’s some double pedal which is signature metal. That and, i would say, a kind of earnestness.
…also wtf i don’t think i’ve ever seen that many comments on a youtube video?!
double pedal isn’t signature metal since some decades.
François Hadji-Lazaro from Les Garçons Bouchers already made a tech institute in my hometown design one when he was touring his solo folk act in the 90’s (also he’s been punk in bands but never was metal). It’s been fairly common ever since.
But ok, i don’t think this is fair. did you listen to the song Wellerman linked to? does the middle segment with the power chords sound like french punk-rock/alt-rock/grunge to you? Or does it sound like metal? I believe the (sparse) use of double-kick in that section is used very deliberately as a heavy metal signifier. this is what i meant.
Anyway (this probably goes without saying but,) there will always be a bunch of exceptions to any given claim about artistic movements— if only because blending influences and recontextualising elements from one tradition into another is, like, the definition of creativity.
I think the double kick is still strongly associated with metal (esp death metal), but idk maybe that’s just my own perception.
I kept reading that as the Grudge, and was steady trying to figure out how sex with Dina would be similar to a horror movie.
Maybe the horror of never having sex that come close to satisfying ever again.
In short she would treat him like a chemistry project and just experiment God knows what on him, “I don’t know how this is going to make you feel but let’s find out!”
Imagining Biblical Mary with God as her first. How does Joseph compete with that? Even if Joseph was beyond awesome, Mary would still be calling out her ex-lover’s name.
Hehehe ok that’s funny. I truly do feel bad for Joseph honestly. Like not in a “he didn’t get to sleep with his wife thing”. If Joseph had a problem with it I don’t recall him being very upset about it. But like the way he’s remembered. People LOVE the virgin Mary. Joseph is lucky if he even gets a shout out. Whenever they used to draw him he always looked haggard and old and somewhere off in the background. Like, I dunno. I guess it’s like being the husband of the world’s greatest celebrity. Everyone’s just like “oh right she was married to THAT GUY, ugh”.
Joseph is most popular among spanish speaking catholics. Mary is hugely popular and way more but the guy has fancy representations just for himself besides the fancy representations of the holy family, is a patron saint in Peru. Regarding saint representation, he is certainly not a footnote.
That said, glad Liz is ultimately doing alright. She thought she wanted something, turns out she didn’t, and she was thankfully with someone safe. All in all, a good experiment, and I am glad she could tell Joe she’s alright.
With Liz, I kind of expect if she ever re-appears she’ll be a very different person. She’s on her own journey, and I don’t think we’re going to be privy to most of it.
You know… I wonder if she really will turn out to be an atheist in the end.
Her reaction with joe could be just latent sexual hangups despite no longer believing in god. But they could also mean she has had second thoughts and will revert to her fundy ways.
So based on her apparently genuine relief that Joe is already getting it wet with someone else, I think she’s genuinely not judgemental about sex and casual sex. I’m familiar with WANTING to be into casual sex cos of everything it represents as a rejection of sex negativity and it just not working, though thankfully I didn’t have rejection-of-fundamentalism driving me cos I would NOT have been open and honest enough to call it off like Liz.
So I’d read her as, at this stage at least, genuinely not into casual sex for herself, and struggling to extricate that sincere position from dogmatic preprogramming.
Also for whatever the way Dina worded this it really felt like dialogue that I would write her saying. In a way I’m a bit sad that it is, in fact, not something I thought to write her saying.
I feel like too many people are missing “I would have to rule out fear or stress”
Like, there’s FOR SHURE plenty of people who’d be into that, but not, i think, the whole comments sections.
I think it would actually not suit either Joe OR Liz especially well.
…Now I’m not sure I actually want that Becky/Dina Slipshine. It would be an entire graphic novel that stops being voyeuristically sexy, like, a quarter of the way in.
I feel like Dina does OCCASIONALLY use contractions – not often, but occasionally it seems like the sentence flows better and/or better fits in a bubble with one.
I feel like that last ‘for I am not sure I could sustain interest in his body past that process’ should prove comforting to Becky if she ever hears about it. Seriously, in case there was any doubt that Dina DOES actively desire sex with Becky in a way she doesn’t desire sex with other people, I present to you her thought process this strip, versus how she talks about the concept of sex with Becky.
I definitely did not get Becky’s whole ‘Sexy Subversive Scientist’ thing until now. (Or rather, I did in that Dina is cute and represents The Forbidden and Becky loves science and is attracted to her romantic partner, but I did not get that vibe myself the way I do for, say, Sal, who I sometimes look at her character art and go ‘DAMN, I’m gay.’)
Yeah, this strip kinda reinforces that Becky’s “but Dina doesn’t want me!” hangups are, for lack of a better term, self-inflicted.
Dina will in fact shatter Becky into a million pieces, and I feel like Dina would be up for it at any time as long as she knew it pleased Becky. But Dina’s not jumping up and down trying to contain her overpowering horny lusts, so Becky thinks she’s undesirable to Dina and that the second woman she loved won’t love her back.
well yes and no. She explicitely says she’s glad he didn’t seems to take it too hard (maybe she wouldn’t have thought that if he arrived a few minutes before..)
Joe might be slightly hurt his body causes no more interest in Dinah beyond science… but sex in the name of science does seem to really tingle his interest.
Joe just acept your closet nerdiness, you know you want to.
Dina does not understand that Joe is only having the most appropriate response a man could possibly have to having a tiny Japanese woman draped on your back saying such things. Of course, your mileage may vary.
I’m getting a mental image of Joe strapped to a table, surrounded by mechanized sex toys while Dina is standing next to it with a labcoat and a clipboard…
I like to think part of Joe’s panic in panel 2 is that he wouldn’t sleep with someone in a relationship.
I kinda view Joe as equally ignorant about relationships as Joyce, in that he views them as “two people get together and don’t ruin each other’s lives like my dad did to my mom”, so he solved that problem by never falling in love ever while feeling vindicated every time he’d see Danny flounder and panic and get hurt.
I do view Joe as a romantically monogamous person, both here and in the Walkyverse, and in DoA I think that with the character he’s been until now, I think part of that is in thinking monogamy is an ideal much like Joyce, but with Joe that ideal is something he consciously rejects because he saw how it turned out with his parents.
Yeah, I could see him being okay sleeping with someone in an explicitly, enthusiastically open relationship (once he had in fact confirmed everyone involved is on board with that, not ‘open’ the way he frames Richard’s relationship with Stacy as ‘it has to be open because I don’t trust you not to cheat on someone if it’s exclusive,’) but if he ever reached a point of seeking a relationship himself, I think it’d be monogamous. Honestly I think he could use a talk with someone involved in ethical non-monogamy (though probably a bit older than our freshman cast, so I don’t see it happening any time soon,) because they’d be pretty quick to point out that the issue with his father isn’t being attracted to people other than his current partner – that’s perfectly normal and happens all the time – it’s that he ACTS on that when his partner expects monogamy, and most critically LYING about it afterwards. If he said he was in an open relationship with Stacy* but was still lying about what he was doing when he was with other people, or not honoring her ‘no’ if she said ‘I know you think this person’s hot but I’m not comfortable as your primary partner with you sleeping with her because of X reason’ (SHE is in a monogamous relationship/doesn’t practice safe sex/is a coworker and there is an ethical landmine here/I just plain don’t like her), he would still be a total dickweed even though he said this was an open relationship. Even if she weren’t his primary partner, dodginess would be a dickweed move and ‘you can do what you want but I don’t want to date someone who’s also dating/sleeping with this person’ is a valid choice. But Joe hearing and internalizing that would significantly change his current internal hangups, so we can’t have that. Not any time soon, at least.
* I firmly believe there’s been at least one serious partner between Joe’s mom and Stacy Joe has witnessed, and that Richard will eventually cheat on Stacy once the New Relationship High wears off and he does in fact start noticing other people again because his justification was ‘I don’t even notice other women’ and not ‘I have done some serious therapy after last time and recognize I don’t HAVE to hit on every woman I find attractive,’ but just for an easy hypothetical with someone we know he’s involved with.
Bold words spoken in panel 3, spoken like someone thats never actually had sexy times.
Has Dina considered that since she has no practical experience with another person it might be her thats left in a quivering heap of moistness by the more practised Joe
I kind of hope their experience will eventually lead Joe and Liz to be platonic friends. I feel like Liz isn’t a shitty person per se, but it would be cool if she and Joe just became good friends, nothing else. I don’t know, I just can’t bring myself to hate Liz.
That said, I know about Joe’s sex tape and the list, but misogyny aside (which he’s slowly growing out of) how many partners has he had? Because sometimes people are called slutty (both sexes to be honest) but they’ve only had like 3 partners, ages apart. Maybe even less. I’m not sure if that’s the case with Joe.
Also how many partners makes a ‘slut’? I’ve NEVER been clear on that.
It’s at least been strongly implied he’s had more than that, but three is all we can confirm: Roz, Penny and Malaya.
We know some of his early claims were boasting – the threesomes at least. It might have all or nearly all been boasting, but Danny seemed to take it at face value. Danny also implied recently that he was still getting regularly sexiled, so that suggests he’s still pretty active.
All that said, I don’t really care how many partners he’s had. That’s never been the problem with Joe. The problem was how he went about finding them and how he treated all the women around him in the process.
True that. It’s also been the same with me. I could care less, its his journey from misogynistic asshole to decent human being I’m interested in.
I’m curious about the partner thing only because I’ve seen commenters make a huge deal about partner numbers when I don’t recall seeing him have that many. Like I mentioned, I wondered if people were thinking of hundreds when it’s only been three.
The problem with Joe is that it’s been heavily implied that it’s been more than three – likely a lot more, just not confirmed.
I was actually leaning towards not many more than that and probably none since Malaya until Danny’s comment about being sexiled again. Now I’m back to thinking he’s been more successful.
Towards the beginning of the comic, Dorothy (who knew him in high school) estimates that he’s had at least six or seven partners, aka one for each pair of shoes he owns.
But he admitted to talking himself up, so you’re probably right that people’s assumptions are exaggerated. Being a ‘slut’ is less about numbers and more about your attitude towards sex, especially casual sex. It’s also one of those words that some guys will use to insult any woman who isn’t a virgin. I would argue that there’s no hard and fast definition.
Oh I don’t believe in the number of partners = slut, garbage. I’m asking more because a LOT of commenters (not necessarily in this particular strip) have brought it up and if you go by “lots of partners = slut”, I don’t think it even applies to Joe since I don’t think he’s had that many partners anyway.
But just to be clear, I’m fully on board with you. It is, indeed toxic ass garbage to equate partner number to sluttyness and people need to stop. I’m sorry it didn’t come off like that in the original comment.
After 10 years of reading and loving this comic, I suddenly feel like this storyline has it going off the rails. But I hope it’s just me and the bullshit that’s going on in my life that’s preventing me from enjoying it. Is anyone else feeling this way? :/
This is correct. She was part of a trio, though only one of them retained their full Goddess position, IIRC (the other being the goddess-tree who was also part of Sasami)
At least, that’s what I remember a friend of mine telling me like twenty years ago in college and I haven’t really paid attention to Tenchi for a long, long time. So I might well be wrong!
She’s a child sized, asexual thing in Joe’s mind. She totally derailed that for a moment, and… it kind of looks the needle skipped on his mental record. (going analogue for amusement value here)
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…I ship it
Which one?
Yes
Definitely yes.
4th’d
I wouldn’t. I like Joe but he couldn’t compete at Dina’s level.
Sex isn’t a competition!
…except when it is
Liz: You know what? I’ve had a change of heart, I’m totally ready.
Joe: Sweet, let’s go upstairs.
Liz: Quiet Joe, I wasn’t talking about you.
….. yeah. Yup.
Excellent
A++
oh, boy…
Science baby! Who says it isn’t exciting?
she blinded me with science
and various other fluids
She REMINDED me with science! 🤩
And if science isn’t exciting, you’re probably not doing it right…
Trial number 99 of the missionary position. The subject is still responsive, but has become less exuberant to trials.
“Can we do a _different_ position yet?”
The subject has long expressed interest to try another position, but for rigour a minimum sample size of 128 attempts *per position* will be required. Given the size of the kama sutra, this extensive annalysis may require and expanded study with more participants.”
“128 per?… Ahh… ohhhkay.”
Now it reminds me of when I used to take apart bug zappers as a kid, only with less reproductive organs involved.
Yes baby, talk nerdy to me
Dina: Sex God?…Becky is really missing out.
I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a terrible shame she didn’t overhear this.
On the one hand, she’s dealing with a lot what with the Joyce thing, and doesn’t need to be more conflicted, since the very beliefs that holding onto are important to her are what’s preventing her from becoming closer to Dina.
On the other hand, she dealing with A LOT what with the Joyce thing, and could maybe use a distraction. This would distract her, alright. We’re talking steam out the ears and teakettle whistles.
Sex God?! Abandon magical thinking, embrace Sex Science!
(Also known as sexology)
They are at the school for it, what with the Kinsey Institute
Dina, best character in this comic by a wide margin.
Always has been.
always has been
It’s good to see such an appreciation of the scientific method.
Can’t wait for the first Dina slipshine, now.
Dina Performs a Series of Erotic Experiments on a Subject For Whom Every Subsequent Day of Their Life Will Be A Comparative Letdown.
Bit of a wordy title, but judging from my DoA book collection, Willis likes those.
GlaDOS would be so glad….
I think it has to be an actual line.
Dumbing of Age 12: Sexually, I Would, Through the Process of Trial and Error, Meticulously Evaluate His Response to Each and Every Stimulus, Resulting in Either Ruining Sex through Tedium or Leaving Him a Twitching Mess Doomed to Long for My Thoroughness; For I Am Not Sure I Could Sustain Interest in His Body Beyond That Process
Or of course,
Dina Performs a Series of Erotic Experiments on a Subject For Whom Every Subsequent Day of Their Life Will Be Comparatively A Little Better
It would run for 20 years, I can’t afford that. Although that would beat out Moon over June as the longest running comic on there.
Speaking of which Woc has posted a preview panel to her Patreon, Summer and Hatsuki are finally getting back together,
Honestly unless Becky gets over her hangups, a Dina slipshine might well be her by herself, taking some very thorough notes. Which, at least, would mean that whenever Becky and her did spend some real Quality Naked Time, Dina would have some excellent pointers for what works for her.
Actually, that sounds like one of the more likely scenarios.
It could even be a 2-parter, like many great erotic works. Willis DOES want to be among the greatest Porn Lords, does he not?
“More data required.”
[burst out laughing]
Joe, when the hell did innocence become such a good luck for you?
He’s flustered, but I don’t know if it’d call it ‘innocence’
Dina Slipshine when?
I mean, yeah, that’s how you do it.
Wait… was I horny Dina in college? I might have been horny Dina in college.
Did you take copious notation?
Are there people who don’t?
And did you publish?
“Dear Penthouse Letters…”
Holy shit, if she ever gets over her cult induced sexual hangups, Becky is in for a hell of a ride.
that or death by tedium
Well, Dina just said that her experimental thoroughness could ruin sex by tedium *because she has no other interest in Joe sexually*. It’s possible she’d be more attentive to Becky’s needs if only on the principle that making someone get hot and bothered is hot, and she loves( did they put any labels, actually?) Becky.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/03-see-you-in-the-funny-page/shape/ yes for success!
Death by Snu Snu?
Liz, not every single girl Joe meet is his sexual partner <_<
Considering that Dina is literally hanging off him, it’s a reasonable mistake to make.
She’s extrapolating from the small and contaminated data set she has to work with (Joyce’s tall tales and her own experience that didn’t happen).
Also Joe was in a literal sex tape, it’s reasonable to assume he’s pretty casual and open about it.
Also, he is. Re: his original introduction, book one, and forevermore
Cursed Prediction (that most likely won’t come true but it’s fun to make cursed predictions sometimes): Becky and Dina have a massive argument (a combo of the Joyce Thing ™ and Dina’s apparent asexuality making Becky insecure) and they split. Dina seeks consolation from a more objective source: Joe. They get closer. Things happen. Drama!!!
On the one hand, pairing up a horndog with a probable asexual sounds like a disaster.
On the other hand, Joyce’s head would probably explode, and she kinda deserves that at the moment to be honest.
Ah, yes, “Probable”
Everything we’ve seen so far suggests that she’s more than probably asexual, although by her own admission she’s still figuring her sexuality out and hasn’t committed to the label asexual (she has worn apparel in ace colors though, although idk if that was her being intentional or Willis pointing her sexuality out to us). I could also see her as demisexual. And sexuality is fluid over time! So while I agree it’s more than probable, I think Doctor Who was responding to Dina’s ongoing exploration of sexuality rather than from ace erasure
Honestly, -as- an asexual, Dina’s methodology towards sex sounds. A lot like my own, in some interesting ways. There is a _very_ intellectual fascination in it.
Maybe, or perhaps, it would give Dina the chance to explore sex objectively! Do science on Joe’s penis! No need for pesky feelings to get in the way (just make sure to write it down, Dina – that’s what differentiates science and fucking around… pun intended).
Equipment Item #13 :
“This apparatus was part of a testing initiative to see how well the test subject could achieve orgasm if their genitals were in metallic confinement. Results were quite informative. They could not.”
JOE’S HEAD A SPLODE
damn, dina. what a legend
*cues up the Grunge for the hacked Muzak*
Oop. Does this count as Grunge?
no, definitely not. too clean for one thing. Also, too self-aware? I guess grunge may be among the references intended (besides trap, bhangra i guess, and other styles i can’t quite place) but i read it more as a nod to heavy metal because it’s not leaning into the punk-inspired dirtiness inherent in grunge (it’s in the name), and also there’s some double pedal which is signature metal. That and, i would say, a kind of earnestness.
…also wtf i don’t think i’ve ever seen that many comments on a youtube video?!
Anyway, this is grunge.
double pedal isn’t signature metal since some decades.
François Hadji-Lazaro from Les Garçons Bouchers already made a tech institute in my hometown design one when he was touring his solo folk act in the 90’s (also he’s been punk in bands but never was metal). It’s been fairly common ever since.
oh wow that’s neat =)
But ok, i don’t think this is fair. did you listen to the song Wellerman linked to? does the middle segment with the power chords sound like french punk-rock/alt-rock/grunge to you? Or does it sound like metal? I believe the (sparse) use of double-kick in that section is used very deliberately as a heavy metal signifier. this is what i meant.
Anyway (this probably goes without saying but,) there will always be a bunch of exceptions to any given claim about artistic movements— if only because blending influences and recontextualising elements from one tradition into another is, like, the definition of creativity.
I think the double kick is still strongly associated with metal (esp death metal), but idk maybe that’s just my own perception.
*didn’t mean to specify “french punk-rock” in that 2nd paragraph. meh
I kept reading that as the Grudge, and was steady trying to figure out how sex with Dina would be similar to a horror movie.
Maybe the horror of never having sex that come close to satisfying ever again.
I can definitely see someone making an erotic film that is also a horror film in that vein.
The Devil in Miss Jones (yes I’m that old)
Damn, Dina.
I liked reading your comment with your avatar in mind. “Damn, Dina! Great Scott!”
In short she would treat him like a chemistry project and just experiment God knows what on him, “I don’t know how this is going to make you feel but let’s find out!”
“What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest. How do you feel?”
*whimpering moan*
“Interesting.”
As you wish.
NOT TO FIFITY!
I’m sure you’ve discovered my deep and abiding interest in pain.
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and moist”
So Becky’s doomed then
She’ll have one hell of a experience.
Only one?
Imagine if your first intimate relationship is an experience so intense and fulfilling that you will never be able to replicate it.
Imagining Biblical Mary with God as her first. How does Joseph compete with that? Even if Joseph was beyond awesome, Mary would still be calling out her ex-lover’s name.
Hehehe ok that’s funny. I truly do feel bad for Joseph honestly. Like not in a “he didn’t get to sleep with his wife thing”. If Joseph had a problem with it I don’t recall him being very upset about it. But like the way he’s remembered. People LOVE the virgin Mary. Joseph is lucky if he even gets a shout out. Whenever they used to draw him he always looked haggard and old and somewhere off in the background. Like, I dunno. I guess it’s like being the husband of the world’s greatest celebrity. Everyone’s just like “oh right she was married to THAT GUY, ugh”.
Not like the “didn’t get to sleep with his wife” thing is even true anyway – Jesus had multiple siblings.
Not to mention that is a mistranslation anyway, the original word did not mean virgin, it meant young woman.
Agreed. Joseph was the most dumped on guy in the Bible. Even worse than Job. Joe got no respect from anybody.
The Devil gave him his due.
Joseph is most popular among spanish speaking catholics. Mary is hugely popular and way more but the guy has fancy representations just for himself besides the fancy representations of the holy family, is a patron saint in Peru. Regarding saint representation, he is certainly not a footnote.
The bible is NTR
There is a reason Joseph is the patron saint of cuckolds.
I think you just described drugs?
depends on what kind and HOW you use ’em, really.
Woah. I LOVE how methodical she is.
Given she could deduce all of that about Joe, maybe she IS one of the Pillar Men!!!
*plays “Awake” on Hacked Muzak*
Joe is, somehow, the most innocent in this strip.
I do not know if Dina is being sarcastic with this. Or so deadpanned that it only looks like sarcasm.
As a fellow autistic I can safely say she probably is not.
We are surgical in everything we do.
I’m like that too, down to my morning coffee!
(just for reference it’s 25% Coffee Mate, 75% Italian Roast)
I was going to object, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I double think everything
I sure hope you don’t mean the other kind of doublethink LOL
Some of us autistics know how to be sarcastic at times, but in this case I’d say Dina means exactly what she says.
Willis seems to be a fan of deadpan, but who knows really?
He has said before, to those who speculated about Dina’s autism, that Dina’s way of speaking is meant to reflect the way he spoke when he was younger.
Had I been born two decades earlier and in Indiana, sounds like we would have made good friends
It would be a joke of exaggerating a true thing to a comedic extreme, if it is a joke.
She HAS learned how to accomplish a joke by understanding a person well enough to select for them an appropriate lie.
…. jesus christ dina.
This exactly.
That escalated quickly.
Damn Dina, that’s hot.
Well, I look forward to Becky’s eventual future. XD
NO. AWAY WITH YOU, FICTIONAL CHARACTER WITHIN A FICTIONAL WEBCOMIC AVATAR.
Better. Thank you, gravitar roulette.
Your response as Joe, trying to get away from Joyce’s self insert, might be the most accurate thing of all. Either way, it made me laugh.
Oh boy, have the gravatars rotated again?
Nope, I’m still Dorothy. Nice.
BBCC’s been playing roulette for the last couple weeks to get Sal again. So far, it has been disproportionately Walky.
Can’t wait to see when they finally get it.
The Search for Sal season (?) continues.
Rejecting Captain Julia Gray is evil.
I will reject any gravitars that are not human people. Gravitar roulette knows that.
Dina is an intense sexual partner. Tie me up and let her go to town on me.
I sure hope Becky likes BDSM.
And remembers to use safewords.
I wonder if this Dina loves rope traps as much as her counterpart did.
Dina, the most adorable Cenobite
She’s not that fond of magic from what I’ve seen. I think she’s more likely to be one of the Pillar Men.
But hey, your guess is as good as mine!
[AYAYAYAYA]
She’s Diego Brando, user of Scary Monsters.
Haven’t gotten to Part 7 yet, is that the same type of Stand as Star Platinum?
Dina has such sights to show you.
One of my favorite Dina strips.
That said, glad Liz is ultimately doing alright. She thought she wanted something, turns out she didn’t, and she was thankfully with someone safe. All in all, a good experiment, and I am glad she could tell Joe she’s alright.
With Liz, I kind of expect if she ever re-appears she’ll be a very different person. She’s on her own journey, and I don’t think we’re going to be privy to most of it.
You know… I wonder if she really will turn out to be an atheist in the end.
Her reaction with joe could be just latent sexual hangups despite no longer believing in god. But they could also mean she has had second thoughts and will revert to her fundy ways.
I kinda doubt it?
So based on her apparently genuine relief that Joe is already getting it wet with someone else, I think she’s genuinely not judgemental about sex and casual sex. I’m familiar with WANTING to be into casual sex cos of everything it represents as a rejection of sex negativity and it just not working, though thankfully I didn’t have rejection-of-fundamentalism driving me cos I would NOT have been open and honest enough to call it off like Liz.
So I’d read her as, at this stage at least, genuinely not into casual sex for herself, and struggling to extricate that sincere position from dogmatic preprogramming.
I would argue that she is very much not all right and currently repressing like a MOFO
Sorry what’s a MOFO?
It’s Portuguese for mold
I didn’t know mold was capable of repressing.
Shorthand for motherfucker.
Yeah, with you there. Not so obvious in this strip, but it was pretty clear last time.
Nobody? … Okay then.
*Talk nerdy to me-*
OK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO6eydRPpyU
Well that’s terrifying but in a very sexy way.
“Threesome?”
Uh. Hmm. So maybe Joe can take away from this that he’s not okay being objectified. Either as someone’s experiment or…Someone’s experiment.
I don’t think Joe’s not okay with this. I think he’s very turned on (and conflicted).
Yeah, if anything, I think Joe might be Not Okay with how Super Fucking Okay he is with what he just heard.
Dina will stumble herself into a dominatrix
Dino-minatrix!
I was casting doubt on the first sentence but you make a very good
punargument, NinjaNick…
Dina’s lewder than I’d expected. I should really recrunch the numbers.
Eh, she could probably talk about dismembering someone with the same detachement
And she has!
SAUCE!
Liz kinda looks interested too.
Going off the comments, Liz is a very long way from alone in this.
Dina may have just caused a personal epiphany through the power of the scientific method.
The power of science can provide epiphanies for everyone, to improve all our lives!!!
This is gonna be 10 billion percent epic!!!
I can’t blame her. Dina just said something very sexy without realizing it.
That’s some spicy bedroom talk, Dina.
Also for whatever the way Dina worded this it really felt like dialogue that I would write her saying. In a way I’m a bit sad that it is, in fact, not something I thought to write her saying.
Great minds think alike, I guess
Great minds run in the same channel. Fools think alike.
I read this strip and I immediately jumped into the comments thinking “Oh boy Yoto’s gonna have a field day with this one”
tfw the writer of the webcomic you’re the #1 fanartist for won’t stop stealing your lines
I feel like too many people are missing “I would have to rule out fear or stress”
Like, there’s FOR SHURE plenty of people who’d be into that, but not, i think, the whole comments sections.
I think it would actually not suit either Joe OR Liz especially well.
Oh, I’d certainly be a fan.
Flight, Fight, Freeze….
what comes next?
Fan, he said
…Now I’m not sure I actually want that Becky/Dina Slipshine. It would be an entire graphic novel that stops being voyeuristically sexy, like, a quarter of the way in.
What if it’s like the food you want to keep eating and eating even when you feel full?
If anyone can pull this off, it’s Willis.
Holy fuck, that’s hot.
No, literally? Top fucking SHELF. GodDAMN.
Wait a minute, did she just use a contraction in that last panel?
I feel like Dina does OCCASIONALLY use contractions – not often, but occasionally it seems like the sentence flows better and/or better fits in a bubble with one.
Yeah, I guess it’d DEFINITELY make sense as an artistic convenience.
Wonder how many times it’s happened anyway.
Yet again the last panel of the last strip also had a shading error.
Hm….
all part of the erotic experiments!
I feel like that last ‘for I am not sure I could sustain interest in his body past that process’ should prove comforting to Becky if she ever hears about it. Seriously, in case there was any doubt that Dina DOES actively desire sex with Becky in a way she doesn’t desire sex with other people, I present to you her thought process this strip, versus how she talks about the concept of sex with Becky.
Also, Becky is so (eventually) doomed. Gotta say.
Becky is about to live the experience of Christ. She’ll die and be reborn there days later.
hahaha that’s perfect XD
I definitely did not get Becky’s whole ‘Sexy Subversive Scientist’ thing until now. (Or rather, I did in that Dina is cute and represents The Forbidden and Becky loves science and is attracted to her romantic partner, but I did not get that vibe myself the way I do for, say, Sal, who I sometimes look at her character art and go ‘DAMN, I’m gay.’)
Yeah, this strip kinda reinforces that Becky’s “but Dina doesn’t want me!” hangups are, for lack of a better term, self-inflicted.
Dina will in fact shatter Becky into a million pieces, and I feel like Dina would be up for it at any time as long as she knew it pleased Becky. But Dina’s not jumping up and down trying to contain her overpowering horny lusts, so Becky thinks she’s undesirable to Dina and that the second woman she loved won’t love her back.
I think Liz is kinda sorta working towards trying to make an apology to Joe for saying he would have “ruined” her, without actually saying it.
well yes and no. She explicitely says she’s glad he didn’t seems to take it too hard (maybe she wouldn’t have thought that if he arrived a few minutes before..)
Joe might be slightly hurt his body causes no more interest in Dinah beyond science… but sex in the name of science does seem to really tingle his interest.
Joe just acept your closet nerdiness, you know you want to.
I think that’s pretty much a male fantasy to be an experimental subject for sex. No? Just me? OK then.
Dina does not understand that Joe is only having the most appropriate response a man could possibly have to having a tiny Japanese woman draped on your back saying such things. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Dina is amazing. She’s capable of blowing the minds of others with admirable ability. Joe and Liz are both amazed by the possibilities.
I’m getting a mental image of Joe strapped to a table, surrounded by mechanized sex toys while Dina is standing next to it with a labcoat and a clipboard…
*cues the Robot Chicken theme*
Oh boi, those always end in a bloody mess.
I think that was just the earlier seasons though.
Gimme That Chocolate Milk’s end wasn’t too bloody (it however, literally sucked).
Heh considering the season it’s appropriate that I remember the Santa vs Coke and Elf Work Orientation videos the best.
Sexual partner…or sexual experiment?
Both? Both. Both is good.
Sexual lab partner.
I think you can include both fear and stress among other things.
There goes Joe’s magical thinking.
that’s some hard empirical evidence being embraced right there
In Panel 4, the hard empirical evidence seems to be somewhere below. (I’ll show myself out)
In the last 24 hours Joe has been told by multiple women that his worth only goes beyond sexual mistake or science project.
Huh.
“only”, or “science project”?
Dina solves that by making him a science project
definitely not gonna help with his established Self loathing that’s still unaddressed, that’s for sure.
that sounded extremely arousing ngl
You’d be surprised!
–from the song by Annette Hanshaw
It’s always the quiet and methodical ones.
–Some previous GFs, and a current wife, about me.
I like to think part of Joe’s panic in panel 2 is that he wouldn’t sleep with someone in a relationship.
I kinda view Joe as equally ignorant about relationships as Joyce, in that he views them as “two people get together and don’t ruin each other’s lives like my dad did to my mom”, so he solved that problem by never falling in love ever while feeling vindicated every time he’d see Danny flounder and panic and get hurt.
I do view Joe as a romantically monogamous person, both here and in the Walkyverse, and in DoA I think that with the character he’s been until now, I think part of that is in thinking monogamy is an ideal much like Joyce, but with Joe that ideal is something he consciously rejects because he saw how it turned out with his parents.
Yeah, I could see him being okay sleeping with someone in an explicitly, enthusiastically open relationship (once he had in fact confirmed everyone involved is on board with that, not ‘open’ the way he frames Richard’s relationship with Stacy as ‘it has to be open because I don’t trust you not to cheat on someone if it’s exclusive,’) but if he ever reached a point of seeking a relationship himself, I think it’d be monogamous. Honestly I think he could use a talk with someone involved in ethical non-monogamy (though probably a bit older than our freshman cast, so I don’t see it happening any time soon,) because they’d be pretty quick to point out that the issue with his father isn’t being attracted to people other than his current partner – that’s perfectly normal and happens all the time – it’s that he ACTS on that when his partner expects monogamy, and most critically LYING about it afterwards. If he said he was in an open relationship with Stacy* but was still lying about what he was doing when he was with other people, or not honoring her ‘no’ if she said ‘I know you think this person’s hot but I’m not comfortable as your primary partner with you sleeping with her because of X reason’ (SHE is in a monogamous relationship/doesn’t practice safe sex/is a coworker and there is an ethical landmine here/I just plain don’t like her), he would still be a total dickweed even though he said this was an open relationship. Even if she weren’t his primary partner, dodginess would be a dickweed move and ‘you can do what you want but I don’t want to date someone who’s also dating/sleeping with this person’ is a valid choice. But Joe hearing and internalizing that would significantly change his current internal hangups, so we can’t have that. Not any time soon, at least.
* I firmly believe there’s been at least one serious partner between Joe’s mom and Stacy Joe has witnessed, and that Richard will eventually cheat on Stacy once the New Relationship High wears off and he does in fact start noticing other people again because his justification was ‘I don’t even notice other women’ and not ‘I have done some serious therapy after last time and recognize I don’t HAVE to hit on every woman I find attractive,’ but just for an easy hypothetical with someone we know he’s involved with.
So.. Dina Might be Dynamite ??
Bold words spoken in panel 3, spoken like someone thats never actually had sexy times.
Has Dina considered that since she has no practical experience with another person it might be her thats left in a quivering heap of moistness by the more practised Joe
Dina has considered that, and she has computed its probability as zero-point-eleventy zillion zeroes-one percent.
Thats what they all say
You have obviously never heard of Femdom.
Dina somehow has managed to be extremely sexy without even trying. Holy shit.
Liz: “Well I’m not sure i’m ready for sex still but I AM bisexual, I’ve determined, so”
… daym o.O
Fear, stress, AND lust.
Has anyone considered that Dina would make an excellent doctor? Thorough, meticulous, precise, detached, and her bedside manner is improving daily.
*imagining a doctor’s office plastered wall-to-wall with dinosaur art*
Patient: Oh, this must be the pediatrician’s office, I’m looking for the cardiac surgeon.
Dr. Saruyama: I don’t understand why people keep making that mistake…
Now we know.
And knowing is half the battle!
DI-JOE!
Okay so imma need that Becky Dina slipshine like, yesterday
I just realized, Joe’s eyebrow has been raised above his head
Eyebrows leaving the confines of the face are like 2 or 3 times a week here, where have you been?
why is dina constantly the hottest character in this strippppp
High metabolism would be my guess
reptilian Dina confirmed
To be fair, Joe is the hottest person in this particular strip.
I might dig this if it wasn’t for the fact that I really like Dina and Becky together already. Joe’s response sure is cute though!
What gets me is that Liz is blushing too, not just Joe.
Bless Dina.
now now, if you go assuming that every girl hanging off a guy’s back is a sexual partner then we’re ALL sleeping with each other…
I kind of hope their experience will eventually lead Joe and Liz to be platonic friends. I feel like Liz isn’t a shitty person per se, but it would be cool if she and Joe just became good friends, nothing else. I don’t know, I just can’t bring myself to hate Liz.
That said, I know about Joe’s sex tape and the list, but misogyny aside (which he’s slowly growing out of) how many partners has he had? Because sometimes people are called slutty (both sexes to be honest) but they’ve only had like 3 partners, ages apart. Maybe even less. I’m not sure if that’s the case with Joe.
Also how many partners makes a ‘slut’? I’ve NEVER been clear on that.
A good quest-ee-on. Let’s find out. One. A-twoo-hoo. Thrree.
Three.
Three sluts, Ah, Ah, Ah.
It’s at least been strongly implied he’s had more than that, but three is all we can confirm: Roz, Penny and Malaya.
We know some of his early claims were boasting – the threesomes at least. It might have all or nearly all been boasting, but Danny seemed to take it at face value. Danny also implied recently that he was still getting regularly sexiled, so that suggests he’s still pretty active.
All that said, I don’t really care how many partners he’s had. That’s never been the problem with Joe. The problem was how he went about finding them and how he treated all the women around him in the process.
True that. It’s also been the same with me. I could care less, its his journey from misogynistic asshole to decent human being I’m interested in.
I’m curious about the partner thing only because I’ve seen commenters make a huge deal about partner numbers when I don’t recall seeing him have that many. Like I mentioned, I wondered if people were thinking of hundreds when it’s only been three.
The problem with Joe is that it’s been heavily implied that it’s been more than three – likely a lot more, just not confirmed.
I was actually leaning towards not many more than that and probably none since Malaya until Danny’s comment about being sexiled again. Now I’m back to thinking he’s been more successful.
Towards the beginning of the comic, Dorothy (who knew him in high school) estimates that he’s had at least six or seven partners, aka one for each pair of shoes he owns.
But he admitted to talking himself up, so you’re probably right that people’s assumptions are exaggerated. Being a ‘slut’ is less about numbers and more about your attitude towards sex, especially casual sex. It’s also one of those words that some guys will use to insult any woman who isn’t a virgin. I would argue that there’s no hard and fast definition.
Number of partners = slutty is toxic garbage. You need to let go of that mode of thinking Bleuryder.
We don’t call them “sluts”.
We call them “players”.
Oh I don’t believe in the number of partners = slut, garbage. I’m asking more because a LOT of commenters (not necessarily in this particular strip) have brought it up and if you go by “lots of partners = slut”, I don’t think it even applies to Joe since I don’t think he’s had that many partners anyway.
But just to be clear, I’m fully on board with you. It is, indeed toxic ass garbage to equate partner number to sluttyness and people need to stop. I’m sorry it didn’t come off like that in the original comment.
I get “ligne claire” vibes from Joe’s face in Panel 2.
Dina would ruin you for all other women. Including herself.
After 10 years of reading and loving this comic, I suddenly feel like this storyline has it going off the rails. But I hope it’s just me and the bullshit that’s going on in my life that’s preventing me from enjoying it. Is anyone else feeling this way? :/
I don’t know. I’d call “off the rails” business as usual for this comic.
I actually love it when stuff goes off the rails in this stuff.
But I too am having an admittedly hard time enjoying ANYTHING because of what’s happening in my life right now.
There’s definitely been something of a shift since the timeskip. A resetting and chance to delve into new problems and issues.
Dina subjecting Joe to ‘experiments’ gave me some memories from Tenchi Muyo. Somebody remember Washu?
Ah yes the little red-headed mad scientist… who was also a goddess or am I remembering it wrong?
This is correct. She was part of a trio, though only one of them retained their full Goddess position, IIRC (the other being the goddess-tree who was also part of Sasami)
At least, that’s what I remember a friend of mine telling me like twenty years ago in college and I haven’t really paid attention to Tenchi for a long, long time. So I might well be wrong!
Two decided to try out being ‘mortal’ for various reasons. Washu first, going the mad scientist route and Tsunami semi-accidentally by saving Sasami.
Tsunami goes back to her full form to save Tenchi and Washu does to keep Tsunami and Tokimi from breaking the entire universe in their little “spat”.
Then shenanigans. Then shenanigans on Earth!
Washu was always my favorite ^_^
I am currently working my way through the various anime seasons at the moment.
OMG Dina broke Joe
Liz is suddenly having a bisexual awakening: Yes/No/Maybe/Lobster?
I could see that happening except it would be clinical as all hell like Dina would be marking off a list on a clipboard checklist every so often
I didn’t think it was possible, but I think Dina broke Joe.
She’s a child sized, asexual thing in Joe’s mind. She totally derailed that for a moment, and… it kind of looks the needle skipped on his mental record. (going analogue for amusement value here)
The noise is shorthand for mind=blown.
And now we countdown the days till the Joe/Dina What If comic on the Patreon…
JOE
JOE NO
DOWN BOY
I….I got nothing…Dina’s a Freak(complimentary)
Oh yes, a Science loving Asexual, When Becky eventual does have intercourse with her, if it ever happens, she is in for a hell of a ride.
At some point I have to assume Dina knows exactly what she’s doing here. This is a bit, and an incredible one.
psa: Science is hot!
I love Dina.