Without looking, I feel the odds are high that Danny said something similar, but the odds are also he was talking about Amazigirl whom he was dating, and hence technically shouldn’t count.
He’s complimented Amber as Amber before, too, even if he was moreso dating Amber.
I will say it’s kind of funny that Amber is/was attracted to Walky as Amber, but as Amazi-Girl, she seemed entirely unimpressed. Both of them liked Danny, though.
Boys, plural? Did I miss something? I remember Booster hitting on her, but they wouldn’t count toward the boys quota, I don’t think (from what we’ve seen of their self-description, not as a blanket rule or anything). Walky did defend her, but Danny I think was quiet, understandably. Now I just want to know more.
To save everyone the trouble: Amber was called “Unimpressive Rambly Nothing” by Linda. Walky refuted her being unimpressive immediately. So yes, boys seem to be calling her that as now both Walky and Ethan have told her others.
otherwise* because it is past my bedtime but I kept refreshing cause I wanted to know what happens next. I miss when this updated at midnight on the dot.
Rambly isn’t so bad. I’d be more stung by being miles below her ex, miles below Walky specifically, and about being a “nothing”.
Also she might feel guilty about blowing up Walky’s Golden Child spot and awakening spiky dragon Linda, though Linda shouldn’t have been a spiky dragon with favourites to begin with.
Interesting how Amber is bathed in bright fluorescent light while, right beside her, Ethan is cloaked in emo darkness. Wait—are these guys the two sides of The Force?
He has three clearly distinct expressions in this page, but I think you are talking about the middle one?
I think that he is growing tired of Amber seemingly always ‘pulling him down’ each time he starts to feel better about himself. It can be extremely tiring if you’re in a negative headspace, to have friends who are also in a negative headspace, because they’re quite frequently not at the same point in the cycle as you are, so if you’re trying (successfully or not) to get into a better frame of mind, and you are in a fragile sense of feeling good, they’re apt to bring you right down again with them (And vice versa).
Well, that and the fact that he towers over (most cast members, but especially Amber), making him always *literally look down on her*.
Panel 1 he looks pleasantly surprised, panel 3 he looks annoyed, and panel 5 he looks bemused but also no longer displeased.
This also makes sense given the info we get from Amber’s actions/words- panel 1: sudden social visit, panel 2: guess what… I want to be a bummer but it’s cold outside, panel 4: this weird experience just happened to me.
To me it always seemed like annoyance. He doesn’t have the bandwidth for friendly banter, and often she comes to him for reassurance and support that he no longer wants to give.
Yeah, his expressions are so mild compared to before. Panel 1 in particular reads to me as just blank. He gives a little irritation in panel 3, and something I can’t parse in panel five, but nowhere close to how he would act early in the strip. That could just be the ol depression, but maybe he’s intentionally holding back. Early Ethan was so open, and that let him get walked all over by Amber and Jilted by Danny. My money’s on he’s either happy to see her or still mad at her, but we won’t find out for a little while.
is she here to apologize to Ethan for loudly and uncomfortably making him the subject of her sexual fantasy when he was grieving? for literally shouting it at his door after he had made it painfully clear he was in a low mood and the last thing he wanted to hear was about how she wanted to know about him having sex with Mike so she can masturbate to it?
probably not, but one can dream
i imagine she’d either be like “it’s going to be a mistake/bad but you might as well indulge and hook up with asher” versus “asher is dangerous it’s probably best to stay away from him”
other than being numb/neutral expression, even with booster dragging him out to get fresh air or whatnot/distract him with a movie instead of going to class, i don’t think we’d see any beaming from him anytime soon or self deprecating chuckling either
Yeah, I get that Amber. Folks call me rambly, and yeah, I can talk for a bit, or type for a bit, really either, maybe I use commas a bit too liberally but sometimes I just have things that I really want to say and prefer to be precise about all the details, it really is just so much easier to write something long than short, ya know, just a real pain in the ass any time I want to get something concise and cohesive out there, and yet everyone just says that I ramble a lot as though I’m not saying things that are actually important there!
being rambly with friends can be fun/endearing versus like a stranger. unless you’re doing a min wage job or so and u can more or less ‘vent/rant’ to pass the time if ur on an hourly pay or so (that usually happens on the opposite ends tho)
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One of the best things about Posting is you never know what obscure preoccupations your followers have. There will be a guy who has followed you for years and never said anything but then one day you disparage applesauce and he activates like a sleeper agent and dedicates his life to destroying you
I'm thinking this Pride about how I've been able to make a whole bundle of pretty unusual life choices with basically no pushback because of people before me who were willing to be the weirdo.
What would be funnier, a Marvel Soundwave who’s blue, or Hasbro releasing a Marvel Soundwave who’s purple right after releasing a printing of the comics where he’s been “corrected” to blue?
Optimus Prime broke down and cried on the set of "Transformers" (2007) due to the extensive use of green screen filming. He reportedly said, "This is not why I became an actor."
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(Jim Lee Era)
⚧️Coming Out
Hailey Piper 
♪Mama, I was born a ramblin’ Amb♫
(stupid political correctness turning a perfectly good two-syllable word into eight!)
Happy birthday, Ana! Did I read your subtext right?
*plays Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On” over the hacked Muzak*
Followed on the hacked muzak by “Rambling Boy”, by Tom Paxton
Followed on the hacked muzak by “Ramblin’ Rover” by Silly Wizard
. . . and who can forget “Ramblin’, ramplin’, ramblin’, R-A-M-B-L-I-N . . . ‘postrophe”
What two syllable word was turned into 8 by political correctness here?
“Garbage”.
♪Ramble on my wayward Amb♫ [/Kansas]
Bday!!!
Your ramblings are impressive too.
You know Amber? The girl with the impressive…
– ramblings?
– sure, those too
Ohh, is this the new “tracts of land”?
I mean, well, okay, if we’re going to use descriptors I can’t affirm without involving human resources.
Ramble on Amber!
I’ll push back on that. Ambler spends most of her time seated in front of a screen. She doesn’t ramble much at all.
Speaking from experience here, you can absolutely spend most of your time in front of a screen and still ramble a lot
…. oh, right, she plays Pokemon Go. Yeah, okay, she rambles.
(Disclaimer: Reltzik may not be using the definition of “ramble” that you think he is.)
What boys? What boys are saying this? Amber only talks to one, maybe two boys. Joe? Joe never said that.
Walky did, last scene
First Walky, now Ethan. Hence boys.
Oh yeah, he did say that. Is two boys enough to form a consensus? I feel like we need one more boy for Amber’s statement to be proven true.
Two is enough to make a plurality.
While Amber isn’t currently aware of it, Charles certainly seemed to imply his agreement to Walky in yesterday’s final panel
Walky, as we know, is multiple boys. A gaggle of boys live within that boy.
He contains multitudes
Well, there’s at least two women in Amber, so at least they’d match?
Walky is legally two boys, for tax purposes
Danny and her talk from time to time these days, so that’s three, I guess.
Without looking, I feel the odds are high that Danny said something similar, but the odds are also he was talking about Amazigirl whom he was dating, and hence technically shouldn’t count.
He’s complimented Amber as Amber before, too, even if he was moreso dating Amber.
I will say it’s kind of funny that Amber is/was attracted to Walky as Amber, but as Amazi-Girl, she seemed entirely unimpressed. Both of them liked Danny, though.
Charles seemed impressed too
Ah, the two settings: Not talking and not shutting up
If you toggle between the two at the right times, they average out to typical expectations. It’s like pulse-width modulation, or a thermostat.
Boys, plural? Did I miss something? I remember Booster hitting on her, but they wouldn’t count toward the boys quota, I don’t think (from what we’ve seen of their self-description, not as a blanket rule or anything). Walky did defend her, but Danny I think was quiet, understandably. Now I just want to know more.
To save everyone the trouble: Amber was called “Unimpressive Rambly Nothing” by Linda. Walky refuted her being unimpressive immediately. So yes, boys seem to be calling her that as now both Walky and Ethan have told her others.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/04-but-dont-give-yourself-away/unimpressive/
otherwise* because it is past my bedtime but I kept refreshing cause I wanted to know what happens next. I miss when this updated at midnight on the dot.
maybe walky’s dad counts? lol
Same, amber. Same.
…what do ya wanna bet she’s here to fill him in on Asher’s backstory?
Well, obviously.
I don’t think she knows about Asher yet? But she might want to see how Booster did.
She knows Booster reintroduced Asher to Ethan.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/snagged/
What’s her expression in the last panel?
I see it as mostly a bemused “wellp”
Kind of a: “Huh.”
I see it as the sinking realization that some of her internalized faults are unfounded, But not all of them.
‘Gee, it’s real nice of you guys to help me climb outta these holes. No, by all means, throw me head first into the Correct ones.’
Rueful with some good-humoured resignation, I think
Clearly Rambly is good
I wonder what she was wanting to be garbage about.
Probably unintentionally humiliating Walky when spiting Linda, and revealing she had kept him in the dark about what she’d done.
Good point.
I was thinking about her continued attraction to Walky and her not wanting to act on it.
But I kind of like yours better.
Rambly isn’t so bad. I’d be more stung by being miles below her ex, miles below Walky specifically, and about being a “nothing”.
Also she might feel guilty about blowing up Walky’s Golden Child spot and awakening spiky dragon Linda, though Linda shouldn’t have been a spiky dragon with favourites to begin with.
Might also feel bad for putting a damper on Danny’s meet-the-parents date
Or for somewhat derailing Sal’s dinner with her parents.
Or for being reminded about stabbing Sal and having traumatic memories of the holdup in the convenience store.
Their dynamic is quite an unusual one, but it feels… better than where it was?
We should not refute the rambly because the rambly is cute and shouldn’t see it as an insult.
Much talking. Very wandering.
Sorry sweetie, you gotta own it if you wanna be lengthy.
Ethan would like to meet someone “lengthy”, hur hur hur…
Haha, I get it! Like a tall guy!
Exactly!
oh or like, Slenderman! Cos he’s all goth an’ all that!
i wish slenderman was my boyfriend tbh
hahaha LOL
ngl this made me chuckle
on that note maybe he can also teleport and scare the hell outta Mary
Whats the over/under on Booster being in there wearing a… *Spins the wheel of perversion* …Jazz mask and nothing else?
I wouldn’t have guessed that, but now it’s in my mind… i hope for Booster, but I’d bet on Asher
what the heck is a jazz mask?
I didn’t think I’d have to explain a transformers sex joke on a david willis site, but here we are…
Ethan is wearing too many layers for that to be overly likely. Sadly. Nor Asher either.
Maybe Booster and/or Asher is in there wearing only a jazz mask (???), and Ethan has just been too busy brooding to notice.
Interesting how Amber is bathed in bright fluorescent light while, right beside her, Ethan is cloaked in emo darkness. Wait—are these guys the two sides of The Force?
She’s in the bright hallway, he’s sitting in his darkened emo bedroom, contemplating his broken kyber crystal.
this reference fits so well, I hate it.
This is their last conversation as friends.
oh no :c
It’s a feature not a bug
oh something is up she’s going for *BONUS* socializing!
Ok, I have a serious question tonight, not a silly one:
What is that expression Ethan always has on his face when he’s talking to Amber, since Mike passed?
Contempt? Loathing? Self-Loathing? Numbness? Jadedness? Sleep deprivation? Hunger? Pity? Despair? Hostility? Detachment?
I just can’t parse it. It’s something. Not sure what.
Cold, maybe?
That’s the expression he always has?
It’s depression.
Oh, OK. That makes sense. Thanks!
I don’t… really read people all that well.
Which is odd, considering that my entire job is reading people. That’s part of why video conferences are so tough.
Yeah I get that. It’s not inability so much lack of natural intuition for it, at least for me.
He has three clearly distinct expressions in this page, but I think you are talking about the middle one?
I think that he is growing tired of Amber seemingly always ‘pulling him down’ each time he starts to feel better about himself. It can be extremely tiring if you’re in a negative headspace, to have friends who are also in a negative headspace, because they’re quite frequently not at the same point in the cycle as you are, so if you’re trying (successfully or not) to get into a better frame of mind, and you are in a fragile sense of feeling good, they’re apt to bring you right down again with them (And vice versa).
Well, that and the fact that he towers over (most cast members, but especially Amber), making him always *literally look down on her*.
Ok, wow, that helps. Thank you! I would NOT have gathered 3 distinct expressions in this strip. The eyes all look the same to me.
I need to brush up on my face reading skills!
Panel 1 he looks pleasantly surprised, panel 3 he looks annoyed, and panel 5 he looks bemused but also no longer displeased.
This also makes sense given the info we get from Amber’s actions/words- panel 1: sudden social visit, panel 2: guess what… I want to be a bummer but it’s cold outside, panel 4: this weird experience just happened to me.
Oh, wow… Fascinating! You lay it all out so clearly… when you explain it like that, I can see it now too! Thank you!
To me it always seemed like annoyance. He doesn’t have the bandwidth for friendly banter, and often she comes to him for reassurance and support that he no longer wants to give.
Oh, yes that makes sense too. Much appreciated!
Yeah, his expressions are so mild compared to before. Panel 1 in particular reads to me as just blank. He gives a little irritation in panel 3, and something I can’t parse in panel five, but nowhere close to how he would act early in the strip. That could just be the ol depression, but maybe he’s intentionally holding back. Early Ethan was so open, and that let him get walked all over by Amber and Jilted by Danny. My money’s on he’s either happy to see her or still mad at her, but we won’t find out for a little while.
Good point!
Oh honey, the kids are talking again, my heart swells
depend on the topic, i guess
For fuck’s sake, somebody give that boy some nutrition. He’s not long for this world.
A protein shake at least!
Sneak in some spinach and blueberries or somethin’! He’s gonna get scurvy!
I will literally cook him the meal of his choice, whatever it may be.
(sorry I don’t mean to tease anyone around here, just that cooking is one of my special interests)
He’ll be strong to the finitch if he eats his spinach.
So Impressively Rambly?
is she here to apologize to Ethan for loudly and uncomfortably making him the subject of her sexual fantasy when he was grieving? for literally shouting it at his door after he had made it painfully clear he was in a low mood and the last thing he wanted to hear was about how she wanted to know about him having sex with Mike so she can masturbate to it?
probably not, but one can dream
Yeah, she was really leaning into the garbage, there.
i imagine she’d either be like “it’s going to be a mistake/bad but you might as well indulge and hook up with asher” versus “asher is dangerous it’s probably best to stay away from him”
I feel amber’s final line in my bones
Ethan looks a LITTLE less unhappy in panel 1. Just a tad. c:
Booster boosted him up a bit.
other than being numb/neutral expression, even with booster dragging him out to get fresh air or whatnot/distract him with a movie instead of going to class, i don’t think we’d see any beaming from him anytime soon or self deprecating chuckling either
She’s fought many people, but she cannot fight her rambling
Yeah, I get that Amber. Folks call me rambly, and yeah, I can talk for a bit, or type for a bit, really either, maybe I use commas a bit too liberally but sometimes I just have things that I really want to say and prefer to be precise about all the details, it really is just so much easier to write something long than short, ya know, just a real pain in the ass any time I want to get something concise and cohesive out there, and yet everyone just says that I ramble a lot as though I’m not saying things that are actually important there!
Ya know?
Yup.
being rambly with friends can be fun/endearing versus like a stranger. unless you’re doing a min wage job or so and u can more or less ‘vent/rant’ to pass the time if ur on an hourly pay or so (that usually happens on the opposite ends tho)
God, I miss the cold (100+ all week in the south/tx)
Guess amber’s gonna try to push him towars asher maybe?
And not even Amber pushes back on the “nothing”.