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⚧️ Alexandra Merideth Erin [she/her]
*BONK* Go to human jail.
Arr.
Was that supposed to be a hyperlink? Can’t tell if I’m supposed to be able to click on something there
Hover over the dotted line and it reveals a message.
Not sure how to do that on mobile. I can only click it or highlight it, neither of which does anything
It says “Happy birthday, Willeses!”
*anniversary
*Holidays
*Willises
Happy birthday, Willises’ marriage!
I have two questions, (1)does that actually work on some mobiles? (2)Do people actually read this on desktop so often that it explains why I’ve run into this problem before? I can’t even remember the last time I read a webcomic on desktop (my laptop is for work and for watching series, no need for much else anymore), and I thought that was pretty much the norm nowadays.
Prepare to be shook. Some people don’t have mobile phones. I’m one of them. My mum finally got one just a few weeks ago because of the whole ‘don’t want to be stranded in a broken down car in the middle of nowhere’ thing. Also because a whole bunch of companies seem to be unable to grasp that not everyone has a mobile phone.
So far the phone has been used to actually phone someone, once. And it was to our own landline to check it worked.
Eh, it’s just a fact of life in 2023 that the vast majority of people use their phones for browsing the Internet.
I don’t remember what the global numbers look like these days but very website I’ve worked on in the last five or so years has had around 70% mobile traffic. Obviously it differs depending on the site or specific demographic group, but in general, desktop usage is significantly lower than mobile.
(For what it’s worth, I’m on my phone now but probably ready Dumbing of Age half the time on my phone and half the time on my tablet/laptop.)
There are so many variables. Definitely younger people who may not even have a desktop of their own access the web through their phones. It’s similar for folks of all ages in some countries.
Older Americans (can’t speak for other countries) are more likely to have trouble with the tiny keyboards and screens on phones, are often housebound or hermity. It’s more convenient for them to use a computer/laptop.
I would say no age or economic bracket is a monolith when it comes to preference. Poor may mean you are online on a hand-me-down computer at home or that you can’t afford internet and only have cell service.
There are education programs to get students laptops.
I don’t know if they use it for checking comics though.
Nowadays it’s highly unusual not to have a smartphone. I don’t because I like to be able to repair and upgrade and not having to rely on more slavery that I’m already responsible for.
I finally got a mobile phone in 2018. It’s been remarkably handy.
I still don’t use it for browsing this site, because that’s a pain; that’s what my desktop is for.
Who’s gonna be “shook” by that?
In my country it’s more common to own a smartphone than own/have access to a laptop. Not everyone has a computer.
I am at war with PayPal. I can no longer log on because it demands a mobile number and will not accept the landline number I used to make my account years ago. And you can’t do -anything- without logging on first.
WHAT THE FU– okay sound like some white suit dickheads over at PayPal HQ need to check their privilege
Also checking it on my phone, scrolling past those mouseover comments.
Unless there’s a new Willis poll we won’t know the exact percentages, and are likely to hear from outliers. Science?
I view my webcomics at home on my desktop, or on my laptop on those rare cases when I’m away from home more than a day. My phone is a last resort.
how do these desktop users obsessively refresh the page in bed at 12:05ish am?
Really long arms
When you’re retired, a natural night person, and can get up when you want, the night is young at midnight.
But at the moment I’m on my tablet because my laptop is busy doing stuff.
I use a laptop for most of my webcomic reading, back when I *had* a tablet I used that for some of them, but I prefer to read these on the larger screen and I prefer to engage with comment sections with an actual keyboard, so I don’t tend to visit these sites on my phone. I have other things that I do on my phone instead. IIRC when I was on my tablet sometimes I could trigger the mouse-over text by holding my finger on the underlined text, but I think I had to aim exactly right to ensure the line was being held down at least as much as the text and when I took my finger off it would disappear and highlight. It was so finicky that I usually didn’t bother to try. Or I’m remembering wrong and my brain made that up, that happens sometimes and I haven’t bothered to get a new tablet since I left college a few years ago.
That last panel went from 100 to 0 real quick for Jacob.
shame he isn’t the type to always be recording i’m sure joyce would get a kick out of heraing that recording ,despite the motivation of it
Ok, NOW it feels like s-mothering rather than plain ol’ crazy obsessive hate
I unno, y’know? I’m getting cringe. I’m getting meltdown. I’m not getting maternal.
Unless her mom was insane, too.
This is a Willis comics, parents should be assumed insane until proven otherwise.
i mean it’s win win if she feels like she acted like a proper big sister to joyce and enjoying getting rid of joe but i don’t htink it’ll turn out this way
Joyce is family.
That’s weirder than humanity.
makes me wonder how her sister/parents would react to sarah’s current behavior/actions
Peak Tsundere here from Sarah.
hahaha, more like Yandere at this point given last strip
Too much Tsun, not nearly enough Dere
Sun Tzundere
“dere” is a multipoint spectrum. –Parfait
Sarah jumped from Lawful Evil to Chaotic Evil so fast.
You like
Krabby PattiesJoyce, don’t youSquidwardSarah?well, she has admitted it once or twice, but idk if jacob would interpret this as love rather than an unhinged attempt at controlling her dating life/relationships
Yeah, not to mention Joyce is at peace with her big sister, but they have an understanding about what that means. Joyce feigned being horrified by Halloween just so Sarah could express herself a bit. Sarah might have to take the training wheels off and I for one think it’d be great if she got laid.
I think Sarah should put the moves on Joyce
Joe would honestly be pretty okay with that happening.
No, Jacob should put the moves on Joe. Sarah will try to consider this a victory but just won’t be able to.
I’ll read that slipshine.
Hmmm…
Willis got that perfect smug look on Booster and is now trying to put it on as many other glasses-wearing characters as possible.
its like the mona lisas smile
yeah it just perfect!
(BTW this is the 69th comment, count them yourself if you don’t believe me or are also bored)
It’s the magical combination of skepticism, glasses and luscious lips that draws the comparison, i think…
Booster should call everyone they know on the Psych department faculty and say that their dormmates need help ASAP. Maybe swing by the chem department for experimental meds while they’re at it too.
I swear it’s just coincidence my icon is Booster. It helps tho.
Plus one for suitable Gravatar is suitable.
They probably don’t advertise it like they used to in the 60s but I bet the chem department still has the good LSD if nothing else.
Oh yeah, Acid is stupid easy to synthesize. Almost as easy as turning vinegar into aspirin.
“Anyone who got a B in chem can make it. Someone with just a C can kill you.”
-paraphrased
Joyce and Joe becoming a thing broke both Sarah and Dorothy’s brains simultaneously
Oh, yeah. Every time there’s an innocuous interpersonal drama the best thing to do is get as many psych students involved as possible. That’ll be sure to de-escalate the situation.
if anything i’d think booster would encourage joe and joyce being together, versus thinking that lucy’s ‘too good’ for walky in comparison
and any ‘advice’ towards sarah would either backfire or be met with great resistance unless they use reverse psychology to get her to do/act a certain way
Look y’all have to admit, watching Sarah fail this hard because she has negative experience interacting with other human beings is kind of funny.
As a person who has negative experience interacting with other human beings it’s not the funniest.
it’s only funny from the 3rd person point of view unless you get secondhand embarrassment or hate cringe comedy.
it might’ve been amusing at first but at this stage she rly needs to remove herself from the situation
Tho wonder if her mind would explode if they legit like, got married/eloped or so which would be too soon but plenty of ppl have fiancees at this age if a bit rushed (and def don’t need to be married to hookup but makes me wonder how many ppl use marriage as an excuse to get rid of their virginity, i imagine they’d either go at it like crazy, or be disappointed and divorce asap and move on)
Or stay in a dysfunctional marriage because they thought it was their religious duty.
No, I don’t get it.
I stand by my comment from yesterday.
But we have no possible way to know what you commented yesterday.
Well, yeah, we could go look, but who’s going to do that?
It’s been mad entertaining
This is going better than expected.
Sarah…just…turn around. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough.
Although, this comic is called Dumbing of Age for a reason…
Has she though? Has she really?
well, she could always double down and spend the rest of her life going against joe but even she would have to sleep sometime
Jacob’s best response is to ask Sarah out here and leave her even more flustered.
Followed by her marching up to Joe and going, “SCREW YOU YOU GOT ME A DATE WITH MY CRUSH I HATE YOU!”, then stomping off and leaving a VERY confused Joe
Doubt it’ll happen, but that would be absolutely hilarious.
i mean her blood pressure/adrenaline might be high enough to do a spur of the moment hookup but idk if she’d really wanna go on a proper ‘date’ since jacob is attractive, but not so hot in the ma3 logic where it’d be like “why was i here again?” and all flustered without being able to hold a proper convo with him
I think she might just start the murderin’.
Cringe murder. It’s gotta be a thing, no?
I can’t tell at the moment if Sarah would be a great or terrible lawyer.
1.) argument for being bad when pressure is applied she becomes irrational.
2.) Argument for good Lawyer she is willing to double and triple down even when she is wrong.(even if she doesn’t think she’s wrong.
i mean, it’d be easier to throw ppl in jail as a cop, which i assume sarah probably wouldn’t pursue , tho unless she does civil law she’d probably have to deal with cops more so than the average person under a law firm
I suspect you’re thinking of a politician.
Sarah’s really talking him out of a makeout sesh.
This is the hottest she’s ever been.
well, if he frenched kissed her, she couldnt keep ranting but i assume she wouldn’t be appreciative of that
*points to strip* This is why I haven’t successfully done a fictional autobiography myself. I could never render such sophistication to the character aspects of human desire to anywhere the degree that Willis does on a daily basis.
Regarding mouseover: +1
I like some of Sarah’s, too:
Dumbing of Age Book 14: I got to stay home and study instead of being out with human beings and having to be a person
Dumbing of Age Book 14: I hate all people and all feelings
Dumbing of Age Book 14: Lies and slander!
“I’m not asking you to get in-between my roommate and this creep she’s interested in because I like you or anything!”
it would be a good unintended side effect if jacob isn’t put off by the proposition
Is this still a comic bit? Or is Sarah having a manic episode?
I mean if Squidward Tentacles can teach us anything, it’s that the two are not mutually exclusive! :p
Jacob knows how Joe feels about Joyce, right?
Does Jacob also know that Joe has not been putting it about recently?
I am sure Jacob probably (at least eventually) figured out why Joe was talking her up so much, like he had that context many didn’t. They also might still be gym bros, in which case maybe he’s heard more since then.
There was that one time after Jacob stopped talking to Joyce when Joe was like “just date her you idiot, she’s perfect.” So he’s gotta know that Joe’s got it bad.
well, he knows now/would probably notice them together, if it’s not the first thing joyce tells him like “Hey jacobi ‘m dating joe now”
Trying to remember if there was another character who routinely said how much they didn’t care for feelings.
it’s the denial/repression , but at least joe seems to be handling it better
I love that I am absolutely not sure where Jacob’s going here. Like, is he kinda/sorta into Sarah? Is he just kind of amused by how pathetic this is? What’s the angle, exactly? I am eager to see where this ends up.
Most likely he just gonna politely refuse, only for Sarah to turn to an even more desperate choice.
For reals, who she gonna turn to next, Mary?
I think even Sarah wouldn’t go there, not the least of which reason being I don’t think Joe would fuck Mary in a million years even if she didn’t have a weird boyfriend. (That’s the other thing, Joe doesn’t like cheaters, so yeah, anyone with an exclusive partner is verboten.)
Well given how much her blood pressure (was about to) spike with Jacob apparently, who she turns to next is anyone’s guess
Liz, but for Joyce.
Welp, Sarah just said the quiet part out loud and it’ll be fun to see Jacob react.
That she loves Joyce? Because she’s been yelling the rest to everyone she can think of.
Bingo.
Dorothy was already in line! If she can wait for the three-way, so can Sarah!
well joyce did tell him that sarah cares in her own way, but if he does stick around to see how it plays out, hopefully he can diffuse the situation if joe or joyce finally loses their cool over it
If Sarah really wants to be a prosecutor, this will help me with my thing of continuing to kinda hate Sarah
Her plan is to become a defense lawyer, wait for them to be accused of crimes, volunteer her services, and be just bad enough at her job to get them convicted without leaving them an avenue for appeal on grounds of ineffective counsel.
Ah, the Gomez Addams method!
Not enough swords to be the Gomez Addams method
Neither of those routes lets her put everyone in jail forever, though.
Clearly, her plan to achieve this goal, which can’t possibly be hyperbolic or even just plain untrue, is to be appointed to the Supreme Court and make everything illegal from there.
I mean L.A. already kinda did that?
The couldn’t make a prison big enough to fit everyone, so they went the more circuitous route and insidiously made all of L.A. one giant prison.
Just install communism and put everyone and their future generations in work camps like North Korea.
Interestingly enough, North Korea has actually removed all references to communism in it’s constitution and state ideology known as Juche, a mix of ultra-nationalism, militarism and Kim-worship. Basically, Fascism.
Well they do come from the same root.
That what comes from the same root?
State ownership of everything and private ownership, with the state controlling everything, tend to look kind of alike from the inside.
But that is not having the same root? Depends on what is really meant by “communism” I guess?
Marx’s original definition of communism, the final predicted stage of human societies’ evolution, entailed a society with no state (therefore no state ownership), no money and no class divisions.
Even before the formation of communist parties in Europe after countries there started industrializing, Russia has been world famous for having some of the most brutal totalitarianism in the world. Leninism paid much lipservice to Marx, before getting absorbed into the absolutist cult of personality revolving around Stalin. Both borrowed political “ethics” from the surrounding culture of the region that had been there for centuries, much of what’s called Russian *Communism* is ultimately derived from the ancient absolutism the Mongolian Empire, not from the works of Marx and Engels.
Maoism drew from Stalinism, as well as the Communist Party and corresponding cult of personality around Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.
A lot of the authoritarianism in modern self-proclaimed *Communist* countries is really derived from Russian absolutism that’s been there for centuries, not Marxism.
But of course, that doesn’t stop modern American conservatives from using “Communism” as a foreign boogieman to equivocate Universal Public Health Care with tyranny, as well as “Marxism” for a snarl world to describe everything they hate about the left. 0_0
I’m actually from a post-Communist country, not an American.
I meant that Mussolini, the father of Fascism was a Socialist earlier in his life.
Mussolini started his political career by beating up Socialists in Po Valley, on the grounds that he wasn’t defending wealthy elites, but claiming to work on behalf of rural farmers who didn’t like the socialist takeover of their industry.
The Fascist goal is to harness and redirect class resentment towards a scapegoat. Fascism always begins by stealing targets from the left, focusing on elites, corrupt businessmen and weak-willed politicians. They then subtly shift focus away from leftist critique of systems to types of people. Sooner or later, they focus on something unchangeable — race, gender, ethnicity, religious background, nation of birth, disability.
The bigotry is always localized to existing prejudices in the region. Under Fascist Italy, it was Slovenes, and then demonized Ethiopians and Libyans when they invaded those countries. In Nazi Germany, it was Jews, Slavs, Romas, black people, queer people, and disabled people. In the US, the Klan targeted black people, Jews, Catholics, queer people and immigrants (note that the Klan had been following the Fascist pattern since before Mussolini was even born)
Joyce asks Joe and Jacob very politely if they’ll explore each others’ bodies a bit while she watches.
Just a bit though, nothing under the clothes.
A little kissing but no tongue of course.
What’s the matter, Jacob? Can’t you read the RED FLAGS that Sarah is waving all over the place? Run, boy, run! RUN LIKE THE WIND.
i mean, unless a girl baby traps you or stabs you for leaving her, red flags during ur 20s/college age isn’t too risky to indulge, if only to ‘get it out of your system’ so you don’t have that lifestyle in your 30s-40s
the kind of morality that you could drive a truck into and it would Crash
Aw, ‘Cob gets her. Sweep kick, gentle catch. Exactly what she needs right now.
I’m really appreciating Jacob’s energy here. He’s managing to be just the right amount of judgemental. I mean, he’s very entitled to be pissed at Sarah given her behavior, but this might have a better results in the long run…and watching her work herself up is certainly amusing, too.
His control against the situation… With I have this emotional like him.
*Wish I have this emotional control, like him.
>Implying there are ways to handle situations other than immediately jumping to the most punitive and extreme response possible.
You do realize that this is the Internet?
“Good morning, Worm your honor
The crown will plainly show
The prisoner who now stands before you
Was caught red-handed showing feelings
Showing feelings of an almost human nature
This will not do
Call the schoolmaster”
I understood this reference dot gif. Pink Floyd-The Wall
I remember that Nostalgia Critic review.
Sarah’s spirit animal is a temperamental house cat.
Some great faces from Sarah there.
you had me at “follow me back to my room” and yet lost me right afterward
this is so uncomfortable
For whom?
I’m getting a Dumbiverse-wide vibe that asking one person to romance another for a third unrelated purpose may not actually be a great idea…
Dare I hope that this crisis might lead to two characters having an actual effective conversation? Jacob seems level-headed enough to take one conversational step back, ignore Sarah’s request, and ask, “why do you hate feelings?”
Weird how Joyce getting together with Joe suddenly turned everyone into a horrible person :/
There’s something particularly exquisite about the irony of a character who believes themselves too mature for petty, childish drama descending to such extreme levels. I hope Sarah gets some of her own development that isn’t centered around Joyce because she’s much more interesting than I think a lot of people give her credit foe
Feels like Sarah is going to somehow stumble into being a public defender someday.
I can’t imagine a more fitting fate/punishment for her meddling.
Jacob is clearly attracted to Sarah and is blatantly hitting on her. Let’s hope Sarah stops repressing herself, accept the fact that the beautiful Jacob likes her and funally get together with him. Instead of trying to get him to “save” Joyce from the disgusting & horrible Joe.
I am also praying for this.
Are we ready for Mellow Sarah?
No, but we need her ASAP.
“There’s clearly a lot to unpack here, how about we go grab lunch while you explain the situation”
Just do it, Jacob
Can Sarah at least stop shouting everything? Please.
That’s a tall order, but perhaps she could be persuaded to switch to an icy-cold hiss of doom.
I know the drama is turned up to eleven for laughs, but Sarah is a bit much.
Is this one of those deals where we’re gonna get all mad at Sarah after loving her before, and then get spun around when we find out it’s an expression of trauma she’s lived through so we feel bad for hating her?
It’s one of the deals where every interruption to the scene is inherently welcome.
Sorry, is there anyone who doesn’t already realize that this is extremely clearly rooted in past trauma?
if this arc starts off with Joyce and Joe punishment and swings wildly into Sarah getting laid I will throw a party.
No shade, people think Sarah is losing it, but as someone with intense social anxiety and crushes that have physically disabled me I am extremely impressed with her ability to power through and stay on topic given how much noise must be in her brain and lightning in her body while this is going on.
kind of feels like she’s accidentally endearing herself to jakes here
caring about joyce is one of her things that doesn’t always come out as an acquired taste I guess
We all know that the REAL problem is that both Joyce and Joe are happy, and the reverse smile vampire hates that.
This does not feel at all like natural dialogue that an actual person would say. This is pure (situation) comedy, discarding normal human interaction for the sake of The Gag.
(so I’m not going to make any assessment or form any opinion of the character(s) based on what is very obviously the writer putting allegedly funny words in their mouths.)
You know what, I should stop reading this story. It’s long since proved it’ll sacrifice my engagement with its characters for The Gag.
Good point.
You might be onto something here.
I have almost never seen or read any fiction of any sort that had natural dialogue. Natural dialogue is kind of terrible.
Same here.
I mean it’s a webcomic. You’re not gonna find interactions that are 1000% bonafide one-to-one to “normal” earthlings here all the time.
Sarah’s about to go full Sidney Yus. Never a good move.
Sarah doing bad things for good reasons, possibly accidentally rekindling something with Jacob while also alienating her neighbors and getting increasingly irate. And mostly what I’m thinking is “wouldn’t it be funny if Jaime aged in real time, like child actors in slow-moving tv shows? If Riley aged like that she’d be like 22.”
This whole storyline for me has been Sarah going from “Cheerful Misanthrope” to “Irredeemably Hateful.” What she’s exhibiting doesn’t fit any definition of “love” that I understand. She’s cruel, bordering on abusive. At this point, I’m think she’s tying with Jennifer for the Least Mentally Healthy Human award. I honestly hope she loses Joyce as a friend over this. At the very least, someone should write “Raidah was Right” on her whiteboard in Sharpie.
“irredeemably”
lol, lmao
I think we should save words like “irredeemable” for people who consume bad content and vote against my chosen political party.
Look, TikTok and YouTube Shorts are a form of self-harm and I will not accept any dissenting opinions.
Right, and self-harm is bad and makes you irredeemable. I agree.
So you’re saying that if Jesus chose to die on the cross …
?
It’s the same kind of “love” that joyce’s mother shows.
The same kind of “love” that led to the kidnapping and Mike’s death.
Exactly! Overprotective black girls are exactly the same as kidnapping and killing people.
Not at all. I enjoy Sarah much more than I enjoy kidnapping and killing people.
But it does track “panic” pretty well.
She’s panicking, but in the process she’s sexually harassing people on her floor (yes, trying to pressure someone into sex with someone else is harassment), trying to weaponize Jacob’s sexuality (which is incredibly problematic), and threatening physical harm against Joyce. That’s not “overprotective.” It’s violent. Lots of abusers excuse their abuse by calling it “overprotective,” and so do their enablers. Of course it’s not as bad as kidnapping and murder, but that’s a false equivalency.
Riadah Was Right.
As I recall, Sarah’s real plan was to manipulate Joyce toward Jacob, Joyce thinking she would wingman for Sarah, but actually end up dating him herself (Joyce + Jacob), or at least tempting him away from Raidah. It was mostly Sarah’s masterfully Machiavellian plot to spite her enemy Raidah. Pretty dark moment for her, really.
Yes, eventually. Initially she wanted Jacob for herself because he’s a hunk. That’s when Joyce was bearding for Ethan. Although that was mostly Joyce’s plan to set them up. They met at the cafeteria on the Sept 19th, according to the timeline on the wiki.
Sarah didn’t find out Jacob was seeing Raidah until the apples to apples party, which was Jacob and Raidah’s second date, the 25th.
not related, but I saw it while skimming that storyline: Raidah talking about how important it is to her not to jettison people. wait, that can’t be right.
Sarah and Raidah are probably destined to be awesome eternal nemeses well into their law careers. Reminds me of those classic Beaton strips: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=327
But it is important not to jettison people. Flying cars are dangerous.
As if we didn’t drive badly enough in just TWO dimensions.
I scanned and am surprised that it looks like I am the first to point out the clear dishonesty in the last panel. It’s quite clear.
Sarah doesn’t want Jacob to follow her, she wants him walking in front of her. :/
You know, Jacob is great. I’d like for there to be more Jacob.
I am glad Jacob is enjoying this… he deserved this kind of win where he gets to be cool as a cucumber while somebody else just fumbles.
Sarah, this is no longer adorable.