This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Countdown to Countdown
Velinxi
Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Slightly Damned
Chu
Rhea Snaketail returns from the dead, befriending a Demon who falls in love with an Angel. The afterlife ain't what it used to be!
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Fantomestein
Beka Duke
Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
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Someone should have put this one here, and that one there. Then routed 1.21 *G*igawatts to the flux capacitor. That will provide the necessary charge to power the oscillation overthruster the achieve the necessary speeds to operate the infinite improbability drive. But for the love of Steve, don’t confuse the sonic screwdriver with a hydro-spanner, or you’ll never get the turbo encabulator oriented properly to the trilithium positronic matrix.
depends on if ruth was sarcastic or not and actually reconsidering her methods but it would be interesting to see them on a montage of like going to some amusement park, rock climbing, etc and diff series of activities til something gets to her
tho, i wonder how much of a nightmare it would be for dorothy to get into one of those sensory deprivation tanks if she can’t be alone with her thoguhts right now
I’m not a drinker or an alcoholic so I’m not sure on the etiquette of drinking around a known alcoholic with no prior warning. Jennifer even called Dorothy out on suggesting drinking to her. Seems like it would cause problems.
Alcohol is a terrible idea around alcoholics who are trying to recover in any circumstance. At best you mentally torture them for the time its available, and at worst they give in and fall into alcoholism again.
they can just get non alcoholic beer, or give dorothy a ‘lightweight’ cocktail or kombucha or something with a strong taste that’s tech not alcoholic since i imagine she doesn’t drink enough to know the diff and just have some kinda placebo effect
Careful Ruth, you’re starting to sound like your grandpa there. Though seriously speaking, clearly that’s where this is coming from for Ruth. Not that it excuses it, merely explains. It can be very hard to re-right yourself from bad or abusive habits from an abuser. Jennifer is right to keep her honest here.
I also agree that taking Dorothy to do karaoke is a random idea but you know, at least it’s getting her out there and somewhere new so she’s not self-destructing in her room! Hooray…?
I am still impressed that Dorothy allowed herself to be convinced to be there, we cannot guarantee that it will happen but once she sees the next ones arriving, it will be too intense.
take notes on what, exactly, dorothy? how to tell a girl you’re mad at that you want to be in a toxic post-divorce style relationship and adopt a random slightly less well socialised friend (acquaintance?) as a surrogate kid?
From context I assumed she means taking notes about their singing? But also it could be taking just regular ass notes for class, because this is Dorothy we are talking about.
and the other is the type of song that is appropriate according to her (yes, she said she is not the type to sing in public, but I think deep down she wants to let go of all that weight that she carries on her shoulders)
Then Dorothy solved the problems between Jennifer/Billie and Ruth, and this made her feel good about helping someone other than Joyce so that she feels better about herself.
Then swine will be airborne, Hell will experience a drop in temperature, and you will believe it is not butter.
Ronald Reagan, then-President of the United States, once rather famously said in a public address, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” referring to Mikhail Gorbachev, then-leader of the Soviet Union, regarding the Berlin Wall, which at the time divided Ally-controlled West Berlin from Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the rest of Soviet-controlled East Germany.
Ya know it seems to me those who declare themselves ro be brutally honest care more about being brutal then being honest. Also Ruths logic is bad like super bad…
Ruth normally does better than this, but uh. Doing An Activity with Jennifer was never going to end well, and the last song must’ve felt like peeling her insides raw. Not that it excuses showing Dorothy the New & Different Experience of being a divorced couple’s kid.
The only way Danny, Walky, and Sal’s arrival could turn things around is by making this shit so stressful it can only distend into an orgy.
Ruth’s not wrong in panel 2. Dorothy’s trying to study her way through this, she needs to experience. I think she knows that at some level, and that’s why she’s here.
Ruth’s persuasion skills still pretty bad though.
Well, they “want” to help (Ruth got caught up in a mess she didn’t want but she has no choice and Jennifer just wants to take credit for being awesome).
But we’re talking about Dorothy, if she doesn’t like something, she focuses on her studies and that’s it, but once she sees the next ones coming, maybe she’ll take a risk and sing something that really pops.
Ruth both did and didn’t, I guess, given she’s tried to help Dorothy before with this and only had limited success, if any. (Not really her fault, exactly, given I think Dorothy hadn’t really hit on what was going wrong for her, she just knew she needed to unwind in SOME fashion.)
What I like about it is that neither of them is wrong. Dorothy DOES need to try something different and let loose a little. But Ruth is being aggressive about it to an unhelpful degree.
Jennifer’s looking really cute here. The lighting agrees with her.
That said, I do hope Sal, Danny, and Walky showing up will kinda help things along, even if there is some truth to what Ruth said in panel 2. Sal’s not really a close person to Dorothy, but Danny and Walky are people she has and can confide in, even if she might be self-conscious being a mess in front of Walky after what happened before.
Man, no idea how she’s going to take the Lucy breakup.
So far, Walky has done very well in his progress and I just hope that at least this time he listens to Dorothy correctly, but she also shows interest in listening to him and I know it sounds risky, but come on, he finally showed some common sense. and he admitted that he was an idiot at the Halloween party, maybe he already shows that kind of decency here too.
Of course, Danny could make it worse, but here is also the opportunity to talk to him, that can even make Sal really notice real progress in his brother, yes, it is intriguing what will happen tomorrow
I’m not seeing what you’re seeing between Dorothy and Danny. At a minimum, I see courteousness. But I’m speculating there was an incident similar to the one with Walky, where during November or December when she was starting to break down, and she tried to hook up with Danny.
Because I think she’s reacting here to something she did during the timeskip: https://www.dumbingofage.com/notinterested/
And I don’t think she tried to hook up with Joe because of his statement here: https://www.dumbingofage.com/flavor/
Ruth’s point is that Dorothy’s doubling down on her normal playbook has only led her into a depressive spiral. Ruth knows a thing or two about those, so she’s trying to get her to try going outside her comfort zone.
Dorothy just wants to get out of the pit she made by digging up.
I am absolutely giddy about the possibility of the addition of both Danny and Walky to the situation, considering both proximity to Dorothy, as well as the formers relation to Sal, followed by Walky blurting out his troubles with Lucy, leading to a Dorothy, to Danny, to Sal Jenga-like drama collapse. Pure speculation but a stopped clock is right twice a day.
karaoke seems like the kind of thing you would need a (several) drink(s) to enjoy. like, you Need to get rid of your inhibitions to enjoy singing in front of your friends.
if you have any inhibitions at all, it’s going to feel awkward and embarrassing.
maybe you don’t know the song, and mess up a few lines.
maybe you start going uh and umm.
maybe you sing too dang well, and now you’ve just revealed your power level to your friends.
Jennifer’s not wrong here though. You’re here to try and cheer Dorothy up and help get her mind off how shitty everything is going, but trying to force her into doing an activity she doesn’t like isn’t going to help. (If anything, it could well make her feel worse.)
I never would have thought that Ruth had all the qualities to become a great teacher, professor, master, mentor, every kind of inspirational figure there is, she can become them. She’ll be able to radically change the lives of those who meet her. Jennifer, as usual, doesn’t understand. But Dorothy probably, she knows now. Go and sing, Dorothy. GO!
Yeah no, Ruth was making a bit of a point there, maybe not one that Dorothy really needs the moment, and Jennifer’s up her own ass. But I should probably stop commenting the obvious, huh
I don’t agree with Ruth’s point its its not something you tell a depressed person it shows no empathy, it undermines Dottys confidence and overall makes no sense if you tear everything down there is nothing left.
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“Why didn’t anybody TELL me my
ass was this bigmethods were this bad‽”Some people are into bad methods.
Sorry sir, there must have been a microconverter malfunction. I’ll try to reverse the beam.
Kit Fisto would have reversed the polarity.
Cross-circuiting to B works better.
Reroute auxiliary power through the secondary plasma conduits, randomize the polarity and frequency of the shield generator.
Someone should have put this one here, and that one there. Then routed 1.21 *G*igawatts to the flux capacitor. That will provide the necessary charge to power the oscillation overthruster the achieve the necessary speeds to operate the infinite improbability drive. But for the love of Steve, don’t confuse the sonic screwdriver with a hydro-spanner, or you’ll never get the turbo encabulator oriented properly to the trilithium positronic matrix.
Aw. I forgot how you need to re-twiki the neutrona wand. Hopefully the above instructions didn’t gargleblaster anyone’s ship.
I think I got most of those references, but was the oscillation overthruster from Buckaroo Banzai?
Yes.
Cool, nerd cred reactivated.
“I don’t see any method at all, sir.”
depends on if ruth was sarcastic or not and actually reconsidering her methods but it would be interesting to see them on a montage of like going to some amusement park, rock climbing, etc and diff series of activities til something gets to her
tho, i wonder how much of a nightmare it would be for dorothy to get into one of those sensory deprivation tanks if she can’t be alone with her thoguhts right now
Escape room!
…
Dotty figures it out in record time and wins a sticker
Best case scenario, they skip straight to booze.
’cause frankly, that’s the best thing (and ironically the least explosive thing) they have to offer Dotty at this point.
*plays “Tequila” by The Champs on karaoke system*
I hope not. Jen’s sober.
Jennifer can (probably) abstain whilst she offers it to Dotty. I mean Ruth was able to IIRC
I’m not a drinker or an alcoholic so I’m not sure on the etiquette of drinking around a known alcoholic with no prior warning. Jennifer even called Dorothy out on suggesting drinking to her. Seems like it would cause problems.
Alcohol is a terrible idea around alcoholics who are trying to recover in any circumstance. At best you mentally torture them for the time its available, and at worst they give in and fall into alcoholism again.
Does Jennifer know Ruth’s drinking again?
Yay! I win! That’s the song I suggested yesterday. You have exquisite taste, my good parasite.
they can just get non alcoholic beer, or give dorothy a ‘lightweight’ cocktail or kombucha or something with a strong taste that’s tech not alcoholic since i imagine she doesn’t drink enough to know the diff and just have some kinda placebo effect
Or homemade root beer, assuming that ain’t too hard to get in Indiana
Ruth: Thank you for your constructive feedback! It is very much appreciated!
Dorothy: …She still looks and sounds angry, though. I can’t tell if she’s being sincere or not.
Jennifer: Figure that out and you’ll understand Ruth far more than I ever have.
Ruth kinda backslid post break up and it’s a bit worse than I thought.
I think that last song really hit a nerve.
I think she chose that song because being in continued close proximity to Jennifer was already hitting her nerves and opening old wounds.
People keeps saying she chose the song. It could have been randomly selected for her.
The song chose her!
Having given herself a reason for regrets, she’s just taking advantage of it.
know regrets
Careful Ruth, you’re starting to sound like your grandpa there. Though seriously speaking, clearly that’s where this is coming from for Ruth. Not that it excuses it, merely explains. It can be very hard to re-right yourself from bad or abusive habits from an abuser. Jennifer is right to keep her honest here.
I also agree that taking Dorothy to do karaoke is a random idea but you know, at least it’s getting her out there and somewhere new so she’s not self-destructing in her room! Hooray…?
I am still impressed that Dorothy allowed herself to be convinced to be there, we cannot guarantee that it will happen but once she sees the next ones arriving, it will be too intense.
Feels like Halloween’s bookend is approaching.
I mean in general yes, but I don’t think Ruth’s line in the last panel is something I can picture coming out of Gramps’s mouth in a million years.
This really is just a complete dumpster fire, huh? Not that I expected better.
Everyone knows that karaoke only helps you work through your issues if you do it in a death metal scream, like Retsuko.
And even then it barely works.
And that is why Walky and Danny are about to, albeit inadvertently, dive in!
I’m sure it can only get better when both of Dorothy’s ex-es show up.
Maybe Ruth is onto something. Has anyone actually see one of those so called “buildings” being build up?
Maybe they should start at the top and work their way down.
take notes on what, exactly, dorothy? how to tell a girl you’re mad at that you want to be in a toxic post-divorce style relationship and adopt a random slightly less well socialised friend (acquaintance?) as a surrogate kid?
From context I assumed she means taking notes about their singing? But also it could be taking just regular ass notes for class, because this is Dorothy we are talking about.
I think both:
one of her typical studies
and the other is the type of song that is appropriate according to her (yes, she said she is not the type to sing in public, but I think deep down she wants to let go of all that weight that she carries on her shoulders)
Then Dorothy solved the problems between Jennifer/Billie and Ruth, and this made her feel good about helping someone other than Joyce so that she feels better about herself.
Then swine will be airborne, Hell will experience a drop in temperature, and you will believe it is not butter.
I’ve always believed butter was just fake margarine.
And everyone in the karaoke place applauded.
And that karaoke machine? Albert Einstein.
Gonna be real awkward for Dorothy when Ruth and Jennifer are about to start making out.
That’s because her presidential ambitions did not teach her the etiquette to deal with such a situation.
Do you:
A) Give polite applause
B) Take selfie with kissing couple, post with hashtag #KissyOke
C) Wait to be tagged in
D) Get back on machine, provide soundtrack via that one Katy Perry song
It’s obvious the answer is actually E) All of the above. The real question is the proper order to do them in.
D: Firework?
Didn’t Katy Perry do the “I Kissed a Girl and I liked It” song?
“You can take turns singing and I can take notes” is a quality pun and Jennifer and Ruth both completely missed it.
Just make out already!
“But, which two?”
Yes.
Really, there’s no reason to stop at two. Limiting ourselves to just pairs is what’s held humanity back for the past two hundred years.
Yes, but sometimes they are twisted pairs and then we don’t care.
Twisted pairs, 180 degrees out of phase with each other, reject outside interference.
Two hundred? One of the first people who legislated against non-monogamy was Augustus Caesar.
It’s always the romans
The ancient Greeks and Romans had the best attitudes when it came to sex, drinking and crazy parties.
Quick, apply Ruth’s panel 4 dialogue to something you disagree with.
I apply to you because I disagree you telling me what to do.
“Mr. Gorbachev…”
I assume that’s a reference to my spelling mistakes since when I Google it shows a Russian guy.
I wonder why it would show that
WHY ARE YOU MAKING US, BY WHICH I MEAN ME, FEEL OLD
–Dave, next you’ll tell me you have no idea what his birthmark looks like
It’s a purple star on his left shoulder, obviously.
No, it’s a reference to something an actor said to a pizza salesman. You’re getting there with the Russian guy, keep following that rabbit hole.
When I google “Berliner” I get a jelly donut, so I assume an anthropomorphic jelly donut once said, “Ich bin ein Berliner”.
Ronald Reagan, then-President of the United States, once rather famously said in a public address, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” referring to Mikhail Gorbachev, then-leader of the Soviet Union, regarding the Berlin Wall, which at the time divided Ally-controlled West Berlin from Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the rest of Soviet-controlled East Germany.
POV: the two biggest messes in school are trying to fix you.
That’s when you know your inadvertent plan worked.
Ya know it seems to me those who declare themselves ro be brutally honest care more about being brutal then being honest. Also Ruths logic is bad like super bad…
She just wants them to bring the drinks and that’s it, the conversation is over.
Don’t mind me, I’m just in awe of the way Usula combined a critique of brutal honesty with a brutally honest critique of Ruth.
Well done.
Saying Ruth’s logic is super bad is being honest if i were being brutally honest I would have made a remark about Ruth’s character in the process.
Ruth normally does better than this, but uh. Doing An Activity with Jennifer was never going to end well, and the last song must’ve felt like peeling her insides raw. Not that it excuses showing Dorothy the New & Different Experience of being a divorced couple’s kid.
The only way Danny, Walky, and Sal’s arrival could turn things around is by making this shit so stressful it can only distend into an orgy.
Honestly, it’s hard to know what kind of chaotic outcome will manifest.
Well, I know I’m coming back tomorrow to find out.
Ruth’s not wrong in panel 2. Dorothy’s trying to study her way through this, she needs to experience. I think she knows that at some level, and that’s why she’s here.
Ruth’s persuasion skills still pretty bad though.
Well, they “want” to help (Ruth got caught up in a mess she didn’t want but she has no choice and Jennifer just wants to take credit for being awesome).
But we’re talking about Dorothy, if she doesn’t like something, she focuses on her studies and that’s it, but once she sees the next ones coming, maybe she’ll take a risk and sing something that really pops.
Ruth both did and didn’t, I guess, given she’s tried to help Dorothy before with this and only had limited success, if any. (Not really her fault, exactly, given I think Dorothy hadn’t really hit on what was going wrong for her, she just knew she needed to unwind in SOME fashion.)
It’s true, I had forgotten that detail and to be honest, I think Dorothy is the only person who really tolerates
What I like about it is that neither of them is wrong. Dorothy DOES need to try something different and let loose a little. But Ruth is being aggressive about it to an unhelpful degree.
The parents’ quarrel over the choice of parenting method is somehow cute, unless the quarrel is in front of the child, then it’s a little worse.
O shit I just realized — we’re just three days away from a new storyline
Karaoke Fallout Boys & Girls
Remember that “storylines” end at midnight and sometimes scenes carry on into the next storyline.
Seems like it would be hard to fit all the drama of sal, walky & danny showing up with whatever’s left to milk out of these 3 into just 3 strips.
Everyone spends hours at karaoke and then sleeps through all their Monday classes.
I don’t think that normally works.
Jennifer’s looking really cute here. The lighting agrees with her.
That said, I do hope Sal, Danny, and Walky showing up will kinda help things along, even if there is some truth to what Ruth said in panel 2. Sal’s not really a close person to Dorothy, but Danny and Walky are people she has and can confide in, even if she might be self-conscious being a mess in front of Walky after what happened before.
Man, no idea how she’s going to take the Lucy breakup.
So far, Walky has done very well in his progress and I just hope that at least this time he listens to Dorothy correctly, but she also shows interest in listening to him and I know it sounds risky, but come on, he finally showed some common sense. and he admitted that he was an idiot at the Halloween party, maybe he already shows that kind of decency here too.
Of course, Danny could make it worse, but here is also the opportunity to talk to him, that can even make Sal really notice real progress in his brother, yes, it is intriguing what will happen tomorrow
(Ruth is still my favorite.)
It would be fitting if this becomes a quasi-intervention for Dorothy.
I’m not seeing what you’re seeing between Dorothy and Danny. At a minimum, I see courteousness. But I’m speculating there was an incident similar to the one with Walky, where during November or December when she was starting to break down, and she tried to hook up with Danny.
Because I think she’s reacting here to something she did during the timeskip: https://www.dumbingofage.com/notinterested/
And I don’t think she tried to hook up with Joe because of his statement here: https://www.dumbingofage.com/flavor/
Dang… and here i was hoping for an Aggretsuko twist…
I don’t know that one; how close is it to Chubby Checker’s version?
Maybe the solution is not her singing alone.
What’s to build up, though? What’s to tear down? They’re clearly grasping at straws
*sings Fix You by Coldplay* *reserves Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson*
Ruth’s point is that Dorothy’s doubling down on her normal playbook has only led her into a depressive spiral. Ruth knows a thing or two about those, so she’s trying to get her to try going outside her comfort zone.
Dorothy just wants to get out of the pit she made by digging up.
she needs to magically split/clone and have a rap battle with herself 8D;
Ah yes; destructive criticism, my favorite.
I am absolutely giddy about the possibility of the addition of both Danny and Walky to the situation, considering both proximity to Dorothy, as well as the formers relation to Sal, followed by Walky blurting out his troubles with Lucy, leading to a Dorothy, to Danny, to Sal Jenga-like drama collapse. Pure speculation but a stopped clock is right twice a day.
I’m just hoping that the drama doesn’t splash onto Sal and Danny’s relationship. They’re my favorite couple right now.
it’s ok, a couple people may come take you out of your misery soon. Assuming they find you and there’s only one karaoke in the area.
Come on Ruth, building up absolutely works, just look at Imperium’s Hive Cities!
This seems exactly the amount of fun one can reasonably expect from a karaoke session.
karaoke seems like the kind of thing you would need a (several) drink(s) to enjoy. like, you Need to get rid of your inhibitions to enjoy singing in front of your friends.
if you have any inhibitions at all, it’s going to feel awkward and embarrassing.
maybe you don’t know the song, and mess up a few lines.
maybe you start going uh and umm.
maybe you sing too dang well, and now you’ve just revealed your power level to your friends.
Nah, I do sober karaoke, it’s great! If you go to the right place, everyone’s super accepting and supportive.
I have attended a grand total of five karaoke sessions, three of which were decidedly not fun. I don’t have any recollection of the other two.
My real friends would know my power level.
I want Dorothy to sing “Mr. Brightside.”
What she needs is Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes.
All by myself.
When I was young
I never needed anyone
And makin’ love was just for fun
Those days are gone
Livin’ alone
I think of all the friends I’ve known
When I dial the telephone
Nobody’s home
All by myself, don’t wanna be
All by myself anymore
All by myself, don’t wanna live
All by myself anymore
Jennifer’s not wrong here though. You’re here to try and cheer Dorothy up and help get her mind off how shitty everything is going, but trying to force her into doing an activity she doesn’t like isn’t going to help. (If anything, it could well make her feel worse.)
See, now Ruth’s pumped up and ready for Crazy on You or Heartless.
Interesting juxtaposition.
They’re going to duet on “
With a 
”n aren’t they?
[Insert Doctor Who Toymaker “Well That’s All Right then!” meme here]
This is a Nancy strip.
SluggoDorothy is lit“Your brain’s ass is up a creek!”
Ruth has a lot to learn about anatomy and flow mechanics.
That gave me a really weird picture.
I never would have thought that Ruth had all the qualities to become a great teacher, professor, master, mentor, every kind of inspirational figure there is, she can become them. She’ll be able to radically change the lives of those who meet her. Jennifer, as usual, doesn’t understand. But Dorothy probably, she knows now. Go and sing, Dorothy. GO!
It’s a bad philosophy tearing everything down leaves nothing and nothing gets done unless you want to be a nihilist.
… says the girl who painted her room dark blue.
Can you though, Ruth?
Yeah no, Ruth was making a bit of a point there, maybe not one that Dorothy really needs the moment, and Jennifer’s up her own ass. But I should probably stop commenting the obvious, huh
I don’t agree with Ruth’s point its its not something you tell a depressed person it shows no empathy, it undermines Dottys confidence and overall makes no sense if you tear everything down there is nothing left.
Yeah. Unfortunately Ruth has always been deeply unlikeable.
Gotta compliment the art again; I especially love how subtle Jennifer’s expression is in panel 3.
Just wondering how much of Grandpa Clint is in that last panel