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Kevin Buist @kevinbuist.com ⋅ 1d
Ferric Fang @fangferric.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Paul Lê @paulle.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com ⋅ 2d
Blue sky nice guy @rajandelman.bsky.social ⋅ 12d
Maggie Westrum @maggiewestrum.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
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Booster with secret Amazi-Girl-style persona busted
…unless there’s more of a timeskip between strips than is suggested
Well, Mike can do Amber and Ethan at the same time in Short stacked so who knows
Mike can do Jennifer, Booster, and Boosters sister at one time and he’s dead.
And we didn’t even mention your mother.
Or a woodpecker.
Hey, it just shows dopplebooster in class and booster in room, and Amber in class and Amber in room. Dopplebooster could have easily left class first, hit room, while Amber takes longer to pack her stuff, and has dropped breastforms and re-brushed hair in a minute.
Amber wasn’t in that class, which doesn’t really change the point. It could be long enough after class for them to get back and change.
So we’re going from Garbage Roof to… Weirdo Hallway?
I very much hope not.
A.k.a. the “Mike Warner” hallway.
…it’s what he would’ve wanted…
He’d want there to be a hole people occasionally step into and break a leg.
Can verify.
Creep Corridor
HOW DARE YOU IMPLY I CAN PEOPLE
I just took an online test. The results imply that I might have autism. My sister was on the hunt, I think at first, to disprove the connection by looking into crossover studies about autism and cerebral palsy, the latter of which we both have. Turns out there’s a slight overlap between the two conditions. The thing is, of the two of us (we’re also twins) our parents always thought that I could people better than Sis. She’s a bit of a Booster herself, so what she chalked it up to was our differing presentations: She can walk, and so was repeatedly in situations where she could simply fuck off whenever she wanted to. I can’t, therefore it was a necessity that I learn how to be social. Of course, like Willis, I suspect that my mother’s behavior had a lot to do with mine.
HOW DARE
HOW
The secret to making friends is giving barely known acquaintances your rough shot psychoanalytic hot take of their personality!
We knew that. Almost goes without saying.
Amazi-Girl is immune to criticism.
Amber is immune to compliments.
I know a few people who are immune to compliments, both IRL and in online spaces I frequent. Lately, I’ve been avoiding them as much as possible, because it gets exhausting to hear “No, you’re wrong about this nice thing you said” in response to even innocuous little things, and I just simply don’t have the energy to compulsively argue against it.
THIS. is very real. that’s just when people’s self-loathing becomes so big that it starts sucking in other people around them, and they start becoming a jerk.
I remember having to teach myself the lesson of “you have to let people have their good opinions of you. EVEN if you believe they’re wrong. cause otherwise you’re just being rude to them.” some people do not learn this lesson, and it’s hard and it sucks because attempts to support them will often just be sucked into that black hole
I mean, it also depends on the experiences who led to not trusting compliments. If they have always been used when people meant to take something from you- as currency, if you may, it’s hard to put the walls down because it is a way to protect yourself. I’m always suspicious of people dishing me compliments after a hour of knowing I exist, because they don’t know me, and their reason for giving a compliment is probably less about stating a fact and more about initiaing a transaction. And in that case, I must always say “no thank you, I’m not up to trading right now”.
Just to be perfectly clear, in the case of it being a defense mechanism against transactional “nice”ness, I totally get that and can’t necessarily fault a person for it. The people I’m talking about, which I probably should have mentioned, are emotional vampires who are so clearly doing it to fish for attention that they may as well be holding up a neon sign. Especially the ones who try to claim “certain people” in the group (they never specify who, for plausible deniability) are the actual problem, or something similarly two-faced.
It’s a distressingly common problem in the RP communities I frequent, and they make a point to ingratiate themselves with anyone friendly and earnest, so they can have a constant supply.
Familiar! That’s”love bombing” for ya!
I started becoming friends with someone who was very flattering and gave me gifts. Then as we became closer friends, I realized they used that attention as a currency to get attention; they’d show interest in [project I’m working on], tell me they wanted to help me work on it and set a time up to do so, and then get on the call and complain about their life for two hours. If they’d said, “hey, things suck and I need someone to talk to, do you have some time?” I would have gladly helped, but being manipulated through things I cared about upset me.
Things kept happening like that until I realized they were someone who felt no self worth who gave gifts and compliments to people to buy friends. I realized that I was insecure and looking for that kind of validation from others, but that almost always the person who’s very liberal with gifts and compliments is “love bombing” me. Their love and attention rang hollow because it’s just words; they didn’t demonstrate love or care and regularly flaked on me, misled me,and did small acts of disrespect. They even stopped expressing as much verbal affection after they felt like they “had” me.
We’re still friends in a loose sense, but I de-invested in them. And I became aware of my own tendency to be really complimentary and use lots of emojis and exclamation points because I realized I wasn’t always genuine either, and sometimes it came from a place of “I want to make them happy/want them to like me/want them to not hate me” and how unhealthy that was (that was the shadow self moment).
Thats a pretty insightful and moving comment. Thank you, take care
I tend to just get awkward or pass it off as no big deal. Or self-deprecating humor. Similar root problem, but a less aggressive approach.
Makes me wonder what led them to constantly respond back saying that rather than just thinking that thought to themselves. I might not be the best one to think about that stuff though, since I tend to get weird compliments, like “If I was ever stuck in a haunted house, I would want you to be the one stuck there with me” and other similar stuff.
I’ve never been in a haunted house before. Well, unless my mom was right about the one I grew up in. She’s a witch, so if there’s such a thing as ghosts, there’s a good chance she’s right.
If there are gosts, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a house without any.
I’ve broken up with someone over this.
I used to do the same thing, so i was patient about it, but I just got burnt out. At this point I’m a lot more assertive about giving people compliments and having people take them, and if they don’t, j give us both space instead of insisting. Way less tiring.
If you have to avoid them, avoid them, but there’s no need to get all victim-blamey. Alternatively, you could respond with “Just say ‘that’s kind of you’ and leave it at that”. You might be doing them a kindness.
If she was immune to them she wouldn’t be allergic to them.
Actually, from a certain perspective, allergies are just being TOO immune to something.
The joys of an overreactive immune system wanting to wage an all out war against the “foreign invaders”. I keep on telling it that it’s just dust and it’s fine, but it doesn’t believe me.
The nerve of some people to give synonymously accurate statements. SMH
Noooooo Amber don’t back down you were riiiiiiiiiight
I think the reason I don’t like Booster very much is because they tend to see others as a collection of diagnoses instead of people. They’re even doing it here: “Oh look how well-socialized you are.” It’s kinda gross.
Definitely. It sure made Amber feel dehumanized and objectified (and if we were there, you and I would feel that way, too).
I forget if I’ve mentioned before, but I love that Booster (who may tend to objectify people) is into photography (where they can literally turn people or moments into an object, ie, into a photograph). It’s gonna be a really fun parallel.
They even see themselves as one.
That can also easily be taken as a backhanded compliment when you’re neurodivergent. “Oh but look how well you pass for normal!”
Bleh.
I agree.
“I’m sorry I called you an ugly creep.”
“…You said I had bad taste.”
“Well, I should have called you an ugly creep, and for that, I’m sorry.”
So, like, Amber has the right to apologize, and I think it can be healthy to recognize bad things you do even when you do them to people who definitely “have it coming”.
That said, Booster absolutely had it coming and their unwillingness to apologize back definitely doesn’t endear them to us.
Give it a minute, they’re only like 5 sentences into this conversation.
I haven’t judged anyone. I’m literally just observing actions as they take place.
This is a positive interaction and has no gross secrets hiding underneath. Good vibes only.
Eh, wouldn’t say “ratty”. More like a Pikachu to me
True. Though for some reason, this reminded me of that Magic card Skittering Host. That thing is freaking creepy.
Do you mean Chittering Host? I can’t find a “Skittering Host” on Scryfall.
Chittering Host, yeah. Sorry about that.
Of course Booster would delay their sibling’s introduction by cutting to an apology. Worst sibling ever.
That’s actually Booster as well. They’re actually a distributed intelligence that snuck in from the Questionable Content universe.
And now I’m wondering whether Cubetown or this dorm hall is the bigger mess.
We don’t know enough about Cubetown to be certain, but I’m going to put my money on the dorm.
Cubetown? Did I miss something? Is Booster from Cubetown?
Yeah, that was their first line. “Hi, I’m Booster! I just transferred in from Cubetown and I use they/them pronouns.”.
That’s what I remember.
Is resistance futile?
Futilism is so Middle Ages.
No, they’re just flipping between both roles fast enough for persistence of vision to kick in, just like the Olsen twin.
Mike was both Olsen twins?
Maybe Twister isn’t that important. Lots of the cast have siblings we know about but barely see. Even when we really want too, like Jocelyne.
I want to see Jocelyne so much. Take her dang calls, Joyce!
Ah yes
Nezumi Sennin
My favorite Dragonball character
She teaches the Nezuhameha.
Ah, I can sense your brain is melting too
Must be enjoying yourself in hyperfocus, eh?
Naw, I just watched a video about dragonball names and have been thinking a bunch about how We don’t actually know Master Roshi’s real name.
Muten Roshi meaning “Heavenly martial arts Master” and Kame Sennin meaning “Turtle Hermit” or “Turtle Sage”
Fun fact.
Characters who trained under him or are fellow martial artists will refer to him as Muten Roshi-sama, while characters who just know him as a person usually just call him “Kame Sennin”
Except Goku, who is a rude little brat and calls him “Kame Sennin Ojii-chan” or “Old Man Turtle Hermit” or maybe something like “Gramps turtle hermit.”
anywho. I just wanted to make a joke cuz Amber called herself a hermit. An animal themed hermit at that!
Considering how many characters in Dragon Ball are named after food or underwear, “Turtle Hermit” doesn’t seem too outlandish to be his actual birth name.
As someone who agonises endlessly over picking names for RPG characters (the closest I, a creative vacuum get to ‘OCs’…), there is something incredibly inspiring about the complete lack of fucks some Mangaka give when it comes to naming their characters. Just this season I’m watching an anime with a character named ‘Yua Serufu’, and another with two sisters, the older named Hitori (one person) and the younger Futari (two people)…
I hear you there.
On of the reasons I hesitate to run table top rpgs is that I’d have to come up with names for so many npcs.
It actually inspired how I make characters names. Namely how character relationships can be inferred by naming conventions.
For example our favorite blue(purple) haired scientist is named Blooma (misrepresented as Bulma on her outfit) and as such her family follows an undergarments theme.
Her father is named Brief
Her son is named trunks
Her daughter is named bra
Her sister is named tights
Her mother’s potential name based on toriyama might be “Panchy”
It makes certain twists easy to see coming when you keep that in mind and makes you feel clever.
Or my favorite version of this. Saiyans are based on vegetables . Hell the name saiyan is just an anagram of the Japanese word for vegetable “Yasai”
Kakarot is carrot
Vegeta is vegetable
Nappa is Napa cabbages
Bardock is burdock
Broly is broccoli
Etc etc…
The Santana are definitively under the rule of Frieda. But once we get to namek we meet frieza’s other soldiers who are named after fruits
Qui is kiwi
Apple is Apple
Etc etc
And then we meet the ginyu force who are named after dairy products.
Recoome is an anagram if cream
Jeice is cheese
Burter is butter
Guldo is yogurt
Ginyu is milk
All of the army are named after perishable foodstuff. And where do you keep perishable foods? In the fre-fridge. Yeah toriyama admitted his name should’ve been fridge or something but hey, freezer sounds cooler (pun unintended) and I still love it as a way to group friezas army.
Guy birth name was probably just something like “turtle man”XD and becoming a martial arts hermit must have been a relief as “turtle hermit” is probably a better upgrade XD
It’s true.
That actually is pretty cool. Great find!
no Amber, you’re just a person with poor judgement of boundaries and a misplaced sense of shame. And I do mean misplaced because you’re ashamed of things you shouldn’t be for, and not ashamed of things you should be.
This is not the character-who-resembles-Booster I wanted to see tonight
You talking about Boosister? Twooster?….Wait no Twister! Twin-sister! Plus it’s in the same vein of slightly ridiculous that the name Booster is! I’m calling her Twister until I know her real name! Crazy how she’s already cooler than Booster is without doing anything.
TWISTER! Why didn’t anyone else think of that? You’re the current champion now, the rest of the comments can get in the sea.
Ooh! I love swimming!
i mean, being ‘terminally online’ and into ‘nerdy stuff’ would prolly lead you into a rabbit hole of character analysis and be exposed to all kinds of ppl, either worse as an internet interaction or observing from afar and the like
(and while i do generally agree with the ‘give people a chance’ kinda concept i’m not gonna go outta my way to talk to/befriend strangers but if i don’t feel safe i’m just gonna keep my guard up and keep my distance to ppl i don’t know [wish i was less self aware/conscious or maybe i should get headphones or so, every time i think someone’s behind me it’s always been my own paranoia and the times ppl have passed me on walks and such i never hear coming at all lol but that’s apersonal issue])
Booster, if you’re acting like an asshole, you know you’re acting like an asshole, and then later on confirm that, yes, indeed, you are that specific kind of asshole, while not going to any lengths to curb those efforts at being an asshole…
…that’s just being even more of an asshole.
You should instead try not being an asshole. Sure, you’ve got instincts and habits that are hard to break, that can be difficult to do, but you only get points for being aware of your flaws if you’re trying to curb them instead of feeding them…
Yeah, it’s the kind of excuse people make instead of trying to change. “I’m just an asshole.” Gives them an out if they fail to make those changes.
That’s what I always do
Maybe Booster doesn’t think being “a judgey weirdo rooting through brains from afar” is all that bad. (For example, they could have the misconception that this is what will make them a good and objective psychologist.)
Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow what Booster thinks of their own approach.
Replacement Mike, remember?
Sure, but the nice thing about Mike (…we’re grading on a VERY steep curve here) was that it was pretty unambiguous all-around that he was an asshole. He knew it, all the other characters knew it, the strip knew it, the audience knew it…
And Mike could get some sort of comeuppance when he did step even further out of line than people were used to. Few would apologize to Mike for calling him an asshole, and Mike would probably just be confused if someone did try.
I just don’t get that same sense from Booster. They’re an asshole, but they’re trying to be diplomatic and smooth about their open assholeishness. It’s… a very different flavor, I suppose you could say, even if it sounds real familiar.
Yup. They are a self-aware arsehole.
i don’t think booster is saying “im an asshole and i know im an asshole and that means i can do anything i want.” they honestly seem to have a lot of empathy and be fundamentally kind- they are just very very *bad* at it.
they don’t condemn people for their flaws, they just want to have an explanation and logical framework for why people do what they do, which includes themselves. they seem to be perfectly comfortable accepting how other people see or react to them without being angry at the other person (also dont seem to have a great ability to let themselves feel sad but thats its own issue).
their behavior is not appropriate, but i don’t think its malicious or intentionally dehumanizing. i don’t even think they are particularly self aware. i would guess they are actually assuming the way they view themselves/the world/other people is the norm and what they are saying is genuinely a compliment or helpful, rather than insulting.
like when you have someone whos response to someone they care about venting about an issue is to find a solution when what is needed is emotional validation. its a super common cause for conflict because both people assume that how they approach the situation is the obvious approach and get frustrated when the other person doesn’t respond “correctly”.
…mmm, good points… not sure what I can really say besides that, but it’s an interesting lens to look at the character through…
“And this is, what, deflection?”
“Correct again!”
man Booster is great. what commitment to the bit.
Oh. I was hoping for more Leslie. Maybe next storyline.
I doubt we’ve seen the last of Leslie’s class for this chapter. There was too much set-up to just drop it now.
“I’m sorry for commenting about your receding hairline which you’re certainly already aware of and possibly self-conscious about. That was rude of me and uncalled-for.”
“…Wait, what? You didn’t say anything about my hairline. You just said I was too loud.”
“Oh. Well, that was true, you were too loud. If I didn’t say anything else, alright, bye.”
“Wait, but…”
“Bye.”
I mean on the one hand, good on Booster that they’re not the “dish it out but can’t take it” type.
On the other hand, if they think having this kind of insight into other people is eing “socialised”, rather than having the awareness not to say it out loud unless they have a reason, I think we’ve found the problem…
to be fair, they pretty clearly know they shouldn’t say it out loud and choose to anyway. being able to read people, or at least their actions, is a pretty relevant part of being socialised.
what the heck
Could Amber go to therapy already.
Nope. She decided it won’t work.
The neat part about therapy is, if you decide for yourself that it won’t work, you can’t be wrong.
Booster is surprisingly self aware. On some level this is just embracing their existence as an academic edge lord, of course.
Booster, I’m pretty sure you weren’t supposed to take that as a compliment.
Sorry, did not mean to flag your post. Button is right beside the reply button.
I don’t think Booster is taking Amber’s description as a compliment. They merely were impressed by the accuracy of the read. Given Booster’s recent spate of silence, I reckon they’ve been doing some self reflection.
Spate of silence?
Okay I officially ship it.
honestly i dont think booster is a horrible asshole- i think they just give everyone a lot of leeway to be flawed and a bit terrible, including themselves. actively bigoted they clearly wont put up with, but they don’t just say “im very smart and logical so i can say what i want”. they definitely approach things from a very logical, analytical place in a way that is not so much intentionally judgemental or hurtful but doesnt externally translate well.
YAY!!! The Ambooster is alive and stronger than before!
So, would it be possible to get “I’m a Ratty Internet Hermit” on a T-shirt? It would go so nicely next to “My mind is trash And I live on the Internet!”