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“HOT DANG”
*holds hands like a BOSS that she’s totally not NOT*
When’s the boss?
I’ll do you one better: WHY’s the boss?
Nobody ever asks How’s the Boss?
What’s the Boss again?
It’s the Bossinova. The dance of love.
Hugo Boss. Its a pretty okay deodorant, and expensive clothes.
Not to menton, stylist of the Nazi Party…
Sure, the Nazis were mass-murdering thugs, but you have to admit they were some of history’s most stylishly dressed mass-murdering thugs.
just… no.
I ain’t gotta admit jack nor squat. Fuck ’em. Anything they wore is automatically dogshit fashion, and if somebody’s got a problem with that, they’re probably a fucking Nazi.
Wherefore art thou boss?
Is the boss, from a strictly ontological standpoint?
In what phase is the boss? Final form yet?
And what are her drops?
A weapon coffer, a minion, some chest gear, and one of those books you think you’ll collect enough of but then you get annoyed with PF groups so you give up and get the undyeable version of the item they’re for.
Ah, finally, a man asking the important questions!
Can’t be, there hasn’t been a week of powering up yet.
A bizarre twist for JoyJoe’s Adventure!!!
Between giving up her dream of becoming President and (s)mothering Joyce, for Dorothy this really does look like the End of the World. 😮
*a passing car’s mini TV plays “END OF THE WORLD” from Stardust Crusaders*
JoyJoe’s Bizzar Adventure is a great name for their tale of romance, you’re a genius.
Has she given up that dream, though. looks to me like come to question it, but she hasn’t yet decided whether she’s giving it up. She never questioned it before, so she doesn’t really know how to handle it. (Questioning something isn’t the same as rejecting it.)
I think Dorothy’s internal monologue is: “I couldn’t get JOYCE the person who respects me most to not do something. I have no Presidential potential whatsoever.”
i’m sure she’d take her advice on other things still, like with glasses and the birth control after all (even if jen did kinda have to initiate the latter with taking her to the free clinic or whatever )
“Things I can’t make Joyce do, a list by (NOT) Future President Dorothy Keener”
1) Eat trail mix without separating the components.
2) Limit Kraft Easy Mac consumption to 5 nights a week
3) Not date Joe
4)
MasturbateIn fairness, that last one is easily the most important.
Just wait until her metabolism crashes around age 22, then the Easy Mac thing will be.
Dotty could use some Mac and Cheese right about now. Or whatever her favorite comfort food is. Also her favorite show. Netflix and Chill, the works, as you earthlings call it.
I’m pretty sure her own words from a few strips ago(“When you’re ready, you’re ready”) are ringing in her head right now.
Everything went better than expected! Though Dorothy definitely still needs help.
Dorothy still has a worrying tendency to stand there staring into the air like someone whose world has fallen apart! But at least she can recognize adorable when she sees it. Thank goodness we don’t have to watch Dorothy really seriously f things up and then inevitably hate herself even more.
Self-aware Dorothy is the best Dorothy.
I dunno, given what OG Dorothy was like and what she did, I’ve been wondering for a while whether Dorothy is going to get stuck in some less-than-well-advised messing with the other characters “for their own good.” She really doesn’t seem too far away from that right now, especially with Walky as one of the potential meddle targets.
I think Dorothy is still definitely not in a great head space. But she seems to recognize that she’s not making good decisions right now. I suspect she’ll put herself on time out from other people.
I wonder: When did the poll “Should Joyce/Joe be a thing?”conclude? And would this scene change if the poll had a different outcome?
It concluded when Walky didn’t know who Carl was. The polls seem to be whatever makes Willis chuckle. I doubt poll results change anything about an arc that’s been running since at least Dina’s birthday party
That, and you need to keep in mind Willis is about 6 months ahead of us, see Buffer Watch, so he already had decided the outcome of J&J when he posted the poll.
Damn his omniscience!
No, see, it’s a quantum thing. We have observed the outcome, thus creating the outcome. If the poll went against it, it would have changed, through entanglement or some such magic.
I just hope she’s not mentally filing this away under “evidence for a future ‘I told you so’ when Joe falls back into old habits”…
I want to give her a hug. And I hope she goes and has a good cry and maybe a pint of good ice cream. And then talks to someone who isn’t a main cast member and accepts Yale.
That went way better then expected glad Dotty came to her senses… on this at least hopefully on other things to.
I would decidedly not put this in the “positive” column for Dorothy’s mental health.
Still a little worried there might be a curveball here.
I have a feeling that Dorothy’s response here is… not as healthy as it looks at first glance. Considering the identity crisis Dorothy is going through, and how much of her self-image is tied into being that person who gives helpful advice and knows just what to say and do to help everyone around her, I feel like… realizing that she may have been wrong about Joe and Joyce is likely to completely shatter her already fractured self-esteem.
I hope it isn’t not as healthy as it looks because her expression in panel 5 already looks really unhealthy to begin with!
Yeah, I sense a big fallout from this
I think this a positive turning point for Dotty and she’ll get better.
If she can recognize the adorableness that is Joe and Joyce in this moment all is not lost. But hopefully she lets them mother HER a bit now because she’s clearly in need of some comfort.
Yeah, she seems pretty lost and defeated. Less happy realization that she was wrong and can let go of the fear and worry and more just smiling and laughing because everything seems pointless and your staring into the terrifying absurdity of existence. Especially the dialogue in panel five, given that her life’s goal (which is now crashing down around her) was, in effect, to tell other people what to do with their lives.
I think you’re right. Any being happy for Joyce and Joe balancing each other out and helping each other grow could be overridden as proof that they didn’t need her to keep them apart or get them here.
growing pains. Sometimes it’s better for someone to not imagine they give the best advice. She can be feel more fulfilled as a friend than as a mentor. This could be her turning point, her equivalent to: http://dumbingofage.com/ultimately
Yeah. Dorothy was finding meaning and purpose in the wrong things. Or rather, in things that no longer fit who she wants to be as she matures and grows.
She’ll need to find new ways to find meaning and purpose. That isn’t always easy, but that’s how life works.
I
hopethink this will split the difference between Gizen’s and Ursula’s predictions. Dorothy is about crash really badly, but sometimes college is for crashing badly. She’s 19 with very supporting parents, good friends, and a surplus of competence. She should be better after this.Gonna hurt like a muddytrucker for a minute, though.
Goddammit.
Yeah, it’s a pain in the arse trying to end a formatting in these boxes
I’m normally very good about it, but I got tangled for a moment on which word (think or hope) to strike and forgot to close it.
Definitely a painful moment. Question is if it’s a turning point in a positive direction or if things are about to get worse for her.
Yeah, I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this yet.
You’re ruining this for them, Dorothy. Their love won’t be as hot if its not forbidden.
Don’t worry. There’s always the rest of the cast to think Joyce a naive and Joe a sex monster. 👀
i just want all three of these kids to be happy
Indeed. A JoeJoDo poly relationship that mutually abjures a JoeDo physical relationship could work for all three of them, provided they were willing to be open about what they want, and what they need to learn.
So doomed from the start, but it COULD work so well for them!
Noooo we don’t want this to go the way of the DoDo
You know, thinking about it… this is a good twist in that it isn’t one. Like, most people expected conflict, but the lack of it makes perfect sense, both in-universe and from a meta “we already just went there” standpoint. So, this is a good subversion, rather than an attempted “gotcha” that is arbitrary.
Yup, I like it. And I just can’t take any more drama right now. With what’s going on.
Tbh, I’ve kept pretty quiet overall partly because I had no idea which way this was going to go. It was pretty plausible both ways. This is the happier outcome so far, but it’s not at all worse for that.
It’s helps that she actually saw them interacting positively on their own. She’s previously only confronted them individually and acted like a she was a barrier protecting Joyce. So glad she’s finally caught on its unnecessary.
Joyce is so thirsty, I love it.
Typing into a search engine in a private browser window: “Can you 69 face sitting? +reddit”
Someone admitting they were wrong without there having to be a huge amount of drama first? What alternate reality have we stumbled into?
She’s saving the drama for what she’s going to do with Walky.
Gonna make a shadow play with him, if you know what I mean.
Threesome with Lucy?
“We talked earlier and he seemed tentative. I already screwed him senseless a while back and he seemed to like it, so maybe if we ease him in with something familiar and then introduce your new experiences in during, he’ll be more comfortable.”
“Look, whatever gets him in me.”
This would be the best case scenario, but knowing our Willis…
I am down to clown with walky poly shenanigans. Everything needs more poly
To quote Amy Pond: “I really wasn’t suggesting anything quite so long-term.”
I have a crazy feeling that Dorothy’s storing all that drama internally.
There’s a shit-tonne of drama, it’s just continues to be contained between Dorothy’s ears.
There’s drama, it’s just all internal. Dorothy really needs a friend right now.
Hmm… Torn between making a “Malcolm in the Middle” reference or a “Who’s the Boss?” reference…
How about a JoJo reference? 😛
I think it is a reference to an episode of Community where Abed takes a class analyzing a sitcom called “Who’s the Boss?” and proceeds to undo the professors life’s work by proving that the question “Who’s the Boss?” is not rhetorical or an invention for further analysis but definitively the character called Angela. The whole plot ends with the professor breaking down and through the class out. He then opens up his desk drawer (implying he is about to take out a gun and shoot himself) only for him to instead take out another book he has written on an even more obscure and pointless sitcom he can now teach another class on.
I think I found a clip of the that plot. I believe the hover text quotes a line
from the professor and is located somewhere about in the middle of this clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYhaTPg8lOE
Joe, Joyce told you somethin’ that she thinks you’ll understand When she says that somethin’ she wants to hold your hand…
*cough**cough**calledit**cough*
😀
Very fun Joyce pose in panel 1
Okay, someone give Dorothy a hug now, please and thank you.
Maybe not Joyce or Joe, not for a day or three.
Also, listen to your girlfriend, Joe.
Well, she’s not his girlfriend yet. They still gotta bite the bullet on that one.
Well, I’ve got the right gravatar for the job.
Beautiful, beautiful teeth.
“NOM NOM NOM OM NOM”
– Heavy Weapons Guy
I’d fall out of a tree in front of Joe.
If you know what I mean.
Say no more.
wink wink nudge nudge
Honestly I’d love a massage from Joe. He looks like he’s got big strong hands.
Plus, we know Richard gives great shoulder rubs, if we recall his first meeting with Amber’s mom. Maybe runs in the family.
If the apple doesn’t fall far, I almost think it’s a good thing he didn’t offer. Joyce isn’t ready yet.
His shoulder rubbing technique is pretty unorthodox, what with the going into supply closets and railing the recipient, but it gets results.
It might be unorthodox, but it is the basis for a whole genre of porn.
Ah, the old John Redcorn technique.
One of my favorite jokes from King of the Hill is when Dale is freaking out about his mower so he’s watching the house extra hard, and he catches John Redcorn literally climbing through the window, and all he has to say about it is “Get inside and start massaging my wife.”, like that’s not the most suspicious thing ever.
John Redcorn to Nancy after climbing back into the window “He taking a lot of the fun out of this.”
If you say Tony Danza is the boss, you’re wrong. Angela was the boss (played by Judith Light). That was the twist. A man working for a woman? How bizarre, how bizarre.
How bizarre?
What about in Scarecrow and Mrs. King?
You totally missed an opportunity for a JoJo reference. Great analysis vid tho, NGL.
What? I’ve only heard about it from these comments and SoundSmith on YouTube.
It’s an anime, right?
It’s like an anime, except if the anime was made by a Japanese person.
That explains it. I’ve never been into the animes.
It’s a pretty good one, as cartoons go. Follows the Joestar lineage (up to the point I’ve watched, I don’t care to know if that changes until I get there), and their intergenerational struggles against this guy called DIO, who’s just this absolute fuckin’ prick from start to finish, and right from the first or second episode he puts on this mask that turns him into a vampire and it’s a whole ordeal to take him down. In the first couple sections there’s this special breathing/vibration technique called Hamon (I’ve also seen it called the Ripple) that’s basically ki attacks, and some more vampires show up but they’re vulnerable to Hamon because it mimics sunlight somehow and they’re fucking vampires. Then in the third part they introduce Stands, which are basically guardian spirits that only Stand users can see and they use them to fight. Some are basic dude-shaped ones with like an elemental attack or super fast swordsmanship, and some are fucking stupid like one that’s a whole cruise ship attached to an extra intelligent orangutan. It’s mostly a bunch of dudes talking at apparently hyperspeed, because they have whole conversations that allegedly only take seconds, and then a guy will figure out the other guy’s weak spot from something he just said or did and they’ll do a big attack and everyone makes a face about it. It bounces between being really cool, really funny, and just flat-out obnoxious, but the art is neat and the music broadly rocks.
That’s the short, reductive version. The long version is a wiki.
Oh yeah, and a lot of the characters are named after musical artists and bands and such, like DIO Brando or Robert E. O. Speedwagon or Vanilla Ice.
so if Joyce decides whether or not Dorothy is a Boss, would that make Joyce a Big Boss
“Hragh, Joe, I’m trying to get a look at your tush, but I’m dummy thicc, and the clapping of my tush keeps alerting Dorothy.”
Joyce…remember the basics of CQC.
Goddammit why isn’t there a like button
Joyce surprises Joe by tackling him during their initial foreplay and yelling CRAB BATTLE!!!!
!
What a thrill~…
Wait, does that make Joe Revolver Ocelot? Is Walky secretly his dead dad now?
All these jokes about Metal Gear being flung around when there OUGHT to be jokes about Joyce wanting to put Joe’s Monkey Master in her tummy prison
*slow clap*
“Metal Gear?!”
Appreciate the Community reference in alt-text
No, Joyce, no do-overs. Falling from one tree is enough
It would take a strong, strong
manto ever let you goShe’s right in panel five, but I’m pretty sure it’s “because I can’t even figure out my own shit right now, so how could I be right about anyone else?” rather than “because it was never my business and you seem happy”
I surmise she WAS standing there while they yelled at each other between the tree and the ground. And she definitely saw that adorkable hand-holding pose! I think she’s at “you seem genuinely happy” anyway. Maybe it’s seeing Joe letting himself be vulnerable and dorky.
But I don’t think that her early-life-crisis is past. Come on Dorothy, you are ripe for some character growth, not a break-down and going off-stage.
Oh, her crisis is not past by a long shot. She just got to postpone it for a few strips. The real question is whether or not Joe or Joyce realize something’s going on before she’s gone.
At first I thought this would be a relatively quick story wrap-up for Dorothy, but now I’m wondering if this is all leading to a PTSD diagnosis for her. This is actually an incredible opportunity to delve into the nuances of PTSD and counter a lot of common misconceptions: Dorothy handled the kidnapping perfectly in the moment but now that the moment has passed, it’s affecting her perspective; Dorothy did not objectively experience the most trauma at the hands of Becky and Amber’s dads; and she feels a disproportionate amount of guilt for being affected so strongly by something she *knows* was worse for Becky and Amber, two people she is relatively close to and admires (Which is certainly worsening any anxiety and/or PTSD she has over the situation).
I also think that it’s a little bit knowing that Joyce isn’t making this decision purely out of horniness? like, IIRC, the last time she asked Joyce if she liked Joe, her reaction was basically “I am horny and want to do sexy things with him! but I’m too embarrassed about it to articulate that and I’m not going to actually answer your question “
I swear to god, if Dorothy starts smoking weed and then gets kicked out of school…
Becky would never narc on her for that, yo. Becky might not go to bat for her, but she’s never going to actually throw her under the bus.
If Raidah caught wind of that however…
Is Panel 5 Joyce being deep, or just nonsensical?
Panel 5 is Joyce telling Joe to hold her damn hand.
a pleasant surprise
Good on you Dorothy.
Although it feels weird to be happy about what is both a step towards healthier boundaries in her friendships but also likely a step on her downward spiral.
The road to positive growth is often fraught I guess.
This is actually the verge of a mental breakdown.
Joyce’s sexual awakening is fun and cute to watch.
HIDING THEIR HANDS BEHIND THEIR BACKS LIKE THEY GOT CAUGHT WITH EM THE COOKIE JAR
A+++
Nooo my popcorn! my drama! oh humanity.
I’ll gladly take the popcorn if you don’t want it
I think Dorothy was stunned to see Joe behaving in manner that was legitimately not dickish, and maybe he’s not actually praying on Joyce and maybe even capable of real personal change.
DAMN YOU WILLIS!
From Joyce’s cute ‘…Dang gotta fall out of that tree again’ to Dorothy’s “Who am I telling OTHER people what to do with their Lives Anyway” in one strip!
Aww, this is surprisingly wholesome, but I still kind of hope Dorothy gets a chance to experience something actually cathartic for herself….somehow.
Much better reaction than I was expecting, but now I just feel kind of bad for her.
Yeah she doesn’t seem to have the strength to care. looks like she just gave up
Dorothy’s taking it fine. I’m not gonna look into this any deeper, because I don’t want to. Joyce and Joe are gonna go do that massage Joe promised just now and then they’re gonna do some sort of class or whatever, and then they’re gonna do a different massage.
Dorothy is suffering and no one cares.
Dorothy isn’t letting people know she’s suffering, aside from in subtle ways that don’t look all that different from her usual demeanor. They can’t care about it, because they haven’t realised it yet.
That’s the problem with pretending you’re fine. People often believe you.
She’s fine!
(Carla did not actually believe her, IMO, but she very much wanted to get out of there.)
This is why when people around me insist they’re fine, or haven’t had a major issue in a while, my first instinct is to reach out as well as I can afford to, just in case they’re fucking lying. I’m already an active suicide risk, I don’t need my friends doing it too, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Even in dumbverse, I still look for the stripes. Dori’s wearing one, Joyce isn’t. Joe’s is broken. Hm
Too busy with themselves to realize Dorothy needs a hug. At least.
This is their moment for them. Becky can mend Dorothy.
Dorothy requires Grade 8 Dark Matter for a proper repair, though, and Becky’s only got her crafters up to about 55 because she spends all her time going to venues for public ERP.
Ugh, typical couple…
She can go back to Walky for a hug. That certainly won’t lead to any further issues.
That’s the problem with pretending you’re fine. People often believe you.
Whoops, meant to be a reply above.
OH THANK FUCK
now I can pivot back to panicking about Dorothy’s emotional state with no guilt!!!!
Called it. Dorothy is going to slink off and depression sleep for a week as her foundation crumbles. Oooh the poor girl.
When next we see her, Dorothy is wearing a beret and spouting half-mad poetry.
Dorothy’s gonna suffer autistic breakdown I can just see it now
Who will be there to comfort her?
Ideally Joyce or Dina.
I hope she’s not gonna actually do anything self-destructive. 😢
I couldn’t count on Joyce. If she and Joe are going to be a couple, they will be instantly unavaliable for a long time.
Did dorothy just break?
THAT ‘FINE’ IS BEARING A LOT OF LOAD, DOTTY.
My preferred definition of “Boss” — “an ornamental stud” (as in the boss of a shield). 😉
Okay, so, like, I realize I’ve been shipping Dotty and Joyce since…approximately the moment they met each other. So this might be the yuri goggles talking, but I think I just saw Dorothy’s heart break?
I could see it, though part of me thinks it’s like she just saw Joyce ride to the end of the street without her training wheels, and knows Joyce doesn’t need her in the same way anymore, that she’s got this.
Not only her heart. Ours, too 😢
She put herself on the Maytag’s Most Wanted List and this is the thanks she gets?!
I could see that, and I have never shipped them. The last chapter’s name was a reference to jealousy, and I think that’s all Dorothy had left in the tank.
I also liked that episode of Season 1 Community
look it was season two
Aww… I had my heart set on some Smackdown Al A Joyce.
“A La Joyce” is fine too.
Dorothy Status:
Everything: Fine
The Matter: Nothing
Joyce is gonna go to bed at a reasonable hour and eat healthy meals because Dorothy told her to and DOROTHY CAN’T STOP HER from listening.
This is sweet though. Dorothy may not know the New Joe yet, but she knows he does really care about Joyce and that’s good enough!
I think the Joe in Dorothy’s head, the one she was worried about, would never hold hands like he was holding Joyce’s. (I think Dorothy would like New Joe, if he lets her see him.)
TFW you’re coming out of your cafe and you’re doing JUST FINE
(
Dorothygotta gotta be down because she wants it all)It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
(It was only
for fun before Yalea kiss, it was only a kiss)I’ve just had a dream that Joe and Joyce went on a date to the aquarium, but as soon as they decided to go, Leslie and Becky teleported there to go with them and ruin it
Dorothy seems to be doubting her ability to help people, and her judgment. In general, this is a sign of growth, especially since it happened before, I dunno, graduation. I think Sarah or Ruth would be a decent person for Dorothy to continue talking through these things. Joyce lost her faith, Dorothy lost her dream, and in the long run, these are good things.
I hope this is part of Dorothy’s newfound humility and realization that she’s not always right, and not the beginning of a less direct, more passive-aggressive way of voicing her disapproval.
Quick, Dorothy! Now you run cry like they do in animes.
*Now you run, crying like they do in animes…
ok listen here Walkerton!! Don’t go trying to kill off a{nother} character thinking that they’ve fulfilled their purpose or that they never will.
It’s Dorothy. Dot is the boss so hard she (both retroactively and extranarratively) became the boss of Who’s the Boss.
Also, congrats to Dorothy who’s once again upstaged the entire comments section that unanimously predicted she were going to be willfully wrong and be terrible about it.
One of the meta-things i love about the whole comic is Willis’s ability to constantly prove the comments section wrong. We’ve ‘predicted’ so much about where the strip is heading on a day to day basis and yet so many of the predictions are constantly wrong.
It was majority vote, not unanimous. I’m on the record claiming Dorothy was gonna ask them for a threesome.
It could still happen!
Yeah, that was a bit too much exaggeration. What’s the word. Hyperbole. Personally, I thought the whole “Dorothy has a desperately wrong idea about what Joe is up to these days and she’s so weirdly obsessive about keeping Joyce away from him it’s pretty much nonsensical unless she’s in terrible denial about being attracted to Joyce” really HAD to go in some unexpected direction because it’s never been Willis’ style to make a sympathetic character act offputting like that.
Although I have resisted making ny real predictions so now I’m standing here not able to say “I told you so” to anyone. Probably for the best.
“Dorothy has a desperately wrong idea about what Joe is up to these days and she’s so weirdly obsessive about keeping Joyce away from him it’s pretty much nonsensical unless she’s in terrible denial about being attracted to Joyce”
I’m so tired…. 💀
Shoves is not loves, people.
I’m still of the notion Joe really hurt one of Dotty’s friends pre-comic time, and that’s why she’s been so vehemently anti-joe.
I’ve never really gotten Dotty-wants-Joyce-carnally vibes.
But then I *also* think her type leans hard into “I must be better then them in every way” which is realllly unhealthy.
I have managed to articulate the vague outline of a Dorothy Asks Joe and Joyce For a Threesome fic in my head ever since the whole “kickin a chair” strip, but like a lot of my fanfic ideas I have not given it wings.
It seems like a thing that could and maybe should happen, though.
I don’t know that I’d agree that “being obviously shattered and abruptly changing coping mechanisms about that” is necessarily equivalent to not “willfully wrong and… terrible”, she’s just doing it to herself instead of Joyce/Joe.
Actually, if you look at my comment from yesterday, I was 100% spot-on. (Day before yesterday I was wrong, but yesterday, 100% correct.)
OK so now there’s nothing stopping a double date of Danny/Sal and Joe/Joyce from happening
A triple date with Walky and Lucy as well – since they were already talking about a double with Sal and Danny.
Not sure how that would work given both Joe and Danny aren’t exactly the biggest fans of Walky and they don’t know Lucy at all
Could be a bit awkward
OK, who broke the Dorothy?
The strongest steel must be thrust into the the fire ten thousand times.
Dorothy broke the Dorothy by trying to Dorothy too hard.
Broke or loosened up the joints? Sounds like this Dorothy is more well-adjusted than the earlier one who wanted to rule the world (in a way).
Oh, and I don’t dispute that she wanted to be a benevolent ruler of the world.
Wait, are you saying not everybody wants to rule the world?
Man, I can’t believe Tears For Fears lied to me!
I don’t. That’s way too much work and responsibility.
She may get to the latter later, but IMO right now she’s just in pieces.
This is going to be painful for a while, but the ledger will show the lifting of a huge burden from Dorothy’s shoulders.
Also the adorableness of JoJo
Starting to worry; Is there an asteroid incoming in the Dumbiverse or something?
Last book’s antagonists were the Evil Dads. It became a life or death situation.
This book has people evolving, changing, and becoming new people. Joyce, Dorothy, Joe, Billie, Amber…
Something terrible is yet to come. This book can’t possibly be about everybody maturing and living happily ever after.
Asher and the mob? Joyce’s church? Billie I mean Jennifer’s new friend group? Who are the villains?
It did take ten books to get to the evil dads for the first semester. We might be action-free for a while.
Well, to the evil dad team up.
Blaine first appeared (and first got punched) in Book 3.
Ross first appeared in person in Book 5 – with the first kidnapping shortly after.
I’ve been hoping for a Jocelyn narrative. Though my head-storyboard goes in some pretty scary directions.
And then Joyce proceeded to fall out of that tree again. I mean, anti-Joyce did. Joyce herself, she left to evangelise Bulmeria.
Two days of anticipatory anger, and it was okay. can we admit most of this comment section has a bad/unfair read on Dotty yet, or does this make her secretly evil somehow?
I mean, getting angry over what you think a character’s going to do is always a bit silly, but I’m very much on Team Dorothy most of the time and I was a bit surprised by this. Heck, even Dorothy acknowledges that this isn’t the reaction one might expect based on her prior behaviour!
Which isn’t to say that I don’t think a lot of the comments have a bad/unfair read on Dorothy, in that I think the aforementioned prior behaviour was coming from a good place, even if I disagreed owing to having information she didn’t.
Dorothy gave us plenty of reason to think she was going to do something unpleasant. Always happy to have it turn out better than expected.
Look, Dorothy could turn water into wine and folks here would accuse her of encouraging alcoholism.
Idk about alcoholism but it does seem like a waste of water.
I dont think it was unreasonable to think she was going to react badly considering how she acted the last time she was around Joyce and Joe
Maybe some of us WANTED some drama, and we’re not actually doing a fictional character dirty for thinking the story might go in a certain direction? She’s fictional, she’s not hurt by people guessing what she might do.
Dorothy isn’t real, sure. But watching her get the vitriol she does compared to, for example, Joe, whose past behavior is a pile of red flags is Uncomfortable. It’s a thing that happens in fandom a lot and it sucks.
We’re also something like two years IRL time into the spring semester and have seen Joe for almost that entire time being a very different person than he was in the past, and Dorothy increasingly dipping her toes into questionable waters. Even Liz’s appearance gave us reason to believe in Joe.
I categorically do not think she’s a predator, but the day she pushed Joyce into masturbating was a cavalcade of fucked-up behavior. She said her piece (admittedly both she and Joyce were talking past each other a bit) and that’s where she should have stopped. Joyce had already said earlier that day she didn’t want to dwell on her sexuality, I’m fairly certain Dorothy never asked Joyce what made her interested in Joe, and there is no universe where Roz would have rubberstamped “I’m teaching you to masturbate because I think you’re horny and you’re not listening to me.”
Dorothy’s been doing some of the things that made September Joe a creep. Dumbing of Age includes her. It’s not unfair for other people to criticize the actions of your favorite character.
I kind of dislike that this seems to have been resolved without anybody actually talking.
Provided this keeps going relatively smoothly, this will be the first time we’ve seen positive growth in Dorothy for a while. Every time she’s showed up in the past couple arcs she’s been inappropriately controlling. Dorothy relenting in this moment isn’t retroactively proving that she’s been crushing it in the good friend department or something. If anything she’s now realizing that her behavior has been inappropriate. On the other hand we’ve been watching Joe develop for ages.
You could argue that Dorothy was justified in worrying about Joe. But the appropriate reaction to this is a conversation, not trying to control who she has sex with by “teaching” her to masturbate.
Phew, I’m relieved Dorothy isn’t gonna ruin this scene. Appreciating her moment of introspection too.
There’s a fine line between introspection and ‘mental breakdown’.
This seems less like a happy ‘They don’t need my advice’ and more like a ‘My advice is useless. I am useless’.
Ah right, right – I was so fixed on Dorothy not derailing Joe and Joyce that I forgot about her own inner turmoil.
Joyce, Anti-Joyce was saying she wanted to get killed by a butt earlier. Regular Joyce is allowed ask for a massage without falling out of trees. I’m a real big fan of stopping this violence.
WOO DOROTHY YOU LEARNED SOMETHING!
Hey! Maybe JOE will notice Dorothy’s not ok and ask her if she’s all right (directing Joyce’s attention to Dorothy and ending in a Joyce/Dorothy hug). That would be an excellent next strip.
ah, few, all is well 🙂
honestly I was expecting she would react this way (she’s WAY more mature than a lot of you get credit for!!!) but i’ve been proven wrong before !! lol
let’s be honest with ourselves….. if you saw your extremely sheltered home-schooled friend who is JUST NOW discovering her sexuality, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t be a LITTLE worried upon seeing her spending time with someone you KNOW was, at one point, a sex pest?
lets cut the girl some slack !!! it’s hard to admit when youre wrong !!
Very true. But is the best solution to this concern to try and control who your friend has sex with by getting them the masturbate for the first time, telling them to JO instead of going out with the guy, and lowkey accuse the guy of being a predator in a Taco Bell? Better to just have a real conversation with your friend and the sex pest, no?
of course !! but we’re talking about 19yos here. let’s keep our expectations reasonable (lol)
… but I’m still feel sad for Dorothy, in a way or another. She seems done.
As I feel sorry for those who shipped her with Joyce.
Oop. Now I’m sad for Dorothy.
Joyce, though well-meaning, does seem to have that unfortunate tendency many autistic people have, i.e. not noticing when her friends are feeling down and might be in need of support. Particularly Dorothy. Though I do think that a lot of people who put themselves in the position of being the one to support others find that those same people tend not to notice when that person needs support themselves.
She isn’t making it known.
That’s not an autistic thing, it’s a general humanity thing. Even my allistic friends (bless their hearts) don’t usually notice when somebody is hiding their emotional state and not reaching for help.
Things going well? What comic am I reading?
Well we’re setting up for Dorothy immediately damaging at least two of her other friendships (are Dorothy and Lucy friends? I actually don’t remember how much they’ve interacted) over the next couple panels I think, so it’s still DoA
“Dorothy’s not the boss of whether she’s the boss of me” might be my new favourite Joyce line.
Pleasantly surprised by Dorothy backing off on them but got to wonder if her line about not getting to tell others how to live their lives is is more about doubting her leadership because she’s always had this idea that a world leader needs to be able to handle personal problems as well as global problems.
It is definitely more about that, with a side of “I don’t even know what I’m doing with my own life, I was clearly never as cut out for this as I thought”. It’s progress for Dorothy, but the kind of progress that involves not just shattering her worldview but grinding it down into tiny pieces, and it’s going to be really rough for her before it gets better.
I foresee a serious emotional breakdown for Dorothy in the near future. Hopefully she’ll let her friends help with it.
someone needs to check on dorothy, I’m worried about her
Killer Community reference in the alt text.
Also, the answer is Angela…
Aw sod it. *puts popcorn away*
Not even upset for lack of drama, just sad cuz Dorothy is really deep in the downward spiral.