Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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oh hey amber gets to appear in this storyline
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BUFFER WATCH Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:

May 5, 2026

Enjoyed

by David M Willis on October 29, 2024 at 12:01 am
  • 01 – Love Dares You To Change
└ Tags: amber, dina

Discussion (113) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    October 29, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

    *shits self* “Ahhh, much better“

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      October 29, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

      i got a genuine cackle outta that XD

  2. shadowcell
    shadowcell
    October 29, 2024 at 12:05 am | #

    Love Dares You to Change (Your Sheets)

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      October 29, 2024 at 7:24 am | #

      Sometimes love gets lazy and only dares you to change your pillowcases because they’re easier and when they’re clean everything smells better.

  3. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    October 29, 2024 at 12:05 am | #

    Does this count as self loathing?

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      October 29, 2024 at 12:07 am | #

      Selves loathing.

    • DashWallkick
      DashWallkick
      October 29, 2024 at 3:28 am | #

      Amber/AG are Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan levels of ‘self loathing.’

      • Sirksome
        Sirksome
        October 29, 2024 at 9:02 am | #

        It’s kind of funny and sad that neither alter has anything good to say about the other.

        • Juanoku
          Juanoku
          October 29, 2024 at 4:12 pm | #

          Or themselves if you think about it
          Just a big old ball of self loathing those two

    • Mturtle7
      Mturtle7
      October 29, 2024 at 2:53 pm | #

      I mean, I think that most of the things Amber does count on self loathing on some level, but that’s just because she has a LOT of self loathing and it has to find a release somewhere.

      Regardless, getting mad that somebody changed your sheets because you think you deserve to lie in your own filth should DEFINITELY count as self loathing.

  4. Jenniffniff
    Jenniffniff
    October 29, 2024 at 12:05 am | #

    Is Amber pants-less?

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      October 29, 2024 at 12:10 am | #

      Just like Becky

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      October 29, 2024 at 12:12 am | #

      Nope, leggings.

    • AY
      AY
      October 29, 2024 at 12:12 am | #

      No, it doesn’t match her skin tone. I think her shirt is just too long and hanging out, making the whole thing a bit visually misleading

    • DailyBrad
      DailyBrad
      October 29, 2024 at 12:12 am | #

      I don’t think Amber would even especially care about walking to her dorm in her undies, but no, pretty sure that’s just her blue shirt hanging down and she’s got some leggings on or something.

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        October 29, 2024 at 7:37 am | #

        I hadn’t even noticed, but my headcanon is now that they are undies, and they’re worn over the leggings, because Amazi-Girl wants to dress as a superhero even if she’s not actually wearing a costume.

    • anon
      anon
      October 29, 2024 at 12:20 am | #

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-15/01-love-dares-you-to-change/startingup/ based on this it’s part of her outfit?

    • MacareuxMoine
      MacareuxMoine
      November 7, 2024 at 11:51 am | #

      Thanks – now I can’t unsee the pantless-ness 😉

  5. Jo_cubstar
    Jo_cubstar
    October 29, 2024 at 12:06 am | #

    How does Dina know it’s Amber walking through the door, before she’s said anything?

    • Raven
      Raven
      October 29, 2024 at 12:07 am | #

      Different people have different footsteps. IDK if alters would have that level of difference but it’s possible

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      October 29, 2024 at 12:08 am | #

      I could always tell which family member was coming upstairs by their gait.

      Maybe Amber walks differently than Amazi-Girl. Also, she used the door.

    • Sirksome
      Sirksome
      October 29, 2024 at 12:18 am | #

      People will have you believe Dina is just insightful, that she can notice that Amber walks differently, or perhaps has a different speaking cadence. The truth is more clandestine in nature. No one notices the dino girl with a maxxed out stealth stat when she plants hidden video cameras and listening devices, or that her phone is currently streaming live footage from said hidden cameras. She’s been watching AG for hours. She saw the AG to Amber change briefly after Becky came down from her second orgasm. Those who pay attention know the truth.

      • Decidedly Orthogonal
        Decidedly Orthogonal
        October 29, 2024 at 12:37 am | #

        Is the DoAverse ready for Dark Dina?

        • Ray Radlein
          Ray Radlein
          October 29, 2024 at 1:45 am | #

          She’s ready to become Oracle to Amber’s Batman, only without the whole Killing Joke thing

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      October 29, 2024 at 12:23 am | #

      Dina’s got them autism powers ^^

    • Dara
      Dara
      October 29, 2024 at 12:33 am | #

      The way Amber holds her face – particularly the upper half – is genuinely super different to Amazi-Girl, and it’s really consistent. This storyline in particular, it’s felt kind of exaggerated, even – possibly for this very reason.

    • BarerMender
      BarerMender
      October 29, 2024 at 1:05 am | #

      Amber is clearly within Dina’s line of sight. Glasses, Amber hair, pink patches on her cheeks. Looks like Amber to me.

    • DashWallkick
      DashWallkick
      October 29, 2024 at 3:36 am | #

      Dina doesn’t do well with eye contact so she probably saw who it was out of the corner of her eye and — because of her autism and Dina-ness — went “oh, it is Amber,” and went back to her phone because she doesn’t need to stare now that she’s visually recognized her.

    • Chromatic Roses
      Chromatic Roses
      October 29, 2024 at 3:38 am | #

      my roommate usuallt cant tell the which SPECIFIC alter is fronting (we have too many for that) but he usually has a pretty good guess on a couple that we could be at any one time. id imagine if there were just two of us it would be super easy. also amber seems to wear her glasses while amazi-girl doesnt.

      • Jo_cubstar
        Jo_cubstar
        October 30, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

        Ah the glasses. That makes sense

    • Eyebrow
      Eyebrow
      October 29, 2024 at 5:09 am | #

      Dina has “behind the door” superpowers.

    • Mark
      Mark
      October 29, 2024 at 7:07 am | #

      AmaziGirl wears a mask?

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      October 29, 2024 at 9:43 am | #

      Body language. The stance of Amber is different than the stance of AG.

  6. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    October 29, 2024 at 12:08 am | #

    Where were we on that Amber’s sheets were stained in her own juices debate? Cause this seems to corroborate that past info.

    • DailyBrad
      DailyBrad
      October 29, 2024 at 12:14 am | #

      Amazi-Girl has complained about waking up at times where Amber just kinda… didn’t attend to cleaning up after, so yeah, probably at least somewhat.

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      October 29, 2024 at 12:14 am | #

      if a mad scientist gets a hold of that they gonna extract her juices and use it to discern the source of Amazi-Girl’s superpowers :0

      • Jeremiah
        Jeremiah
        October 29, 2024 at 12:30 am | #

        And it’s somehow MORE sexual that what I sounds.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      October 29, 2024 at 1:10 am | #

      I believe the real concern that prompted D & W to wash her sheets was the fact that two BOYS had stained them, and that Amber would, in response, refuse to EVER wash her sheets again, knowing this.

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        October 29, 2024 at 9:45 am | #

        Amber would roll around on those sheets like a dog rolling around on a dead skunk. And she might never leave the bed again.

        • Kazuma Taichi
          Kazuma Taichi
          October 29, 2024 at 9:49 pm | #

          as it turns out, it’s less laying in her own filth and more just laying in filth

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      October 29, 2024 at 2:09 pm | #

      It can just be figurative, to express how she’s feeling. It’s fine if she likes her linens smelling like her instead of whatever detergent Dorothy and Walky decided to use. If the smell were as bad as everyone is imagining, then it’s only Amber, AG, and Dina who have a say, and Dina’s say extends as far as saying it has to be washed. Even as far saying she’ll wash them unless Amber says not to. Not doing it without permission.

      I’ve had a roommate who was allergic to some detergents. I’ve had a roommate who needed the smell of something as part of their grieving process. I’ve had items ruined by being cleaned wrong, I’ve had detergent or softener whose smell made it hard to sleep.
      And finally, it’s treating someone else like a baby. That the fake helper decides they need help and how to help and then does it, without regard to the person they’re fake helping. Because they are using the other person as a prop to make themselves feel like they’re helpful.
      It would be very simple for Dorothy to have asked/offered Amber or AG. She asked/prompted Walky instead.

  7. Suet
    Suet
    October 29, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

    Be jealous that you don’t get the opposite of what she’s being treated.

    so then, which characters have skipped a storyline

    • Clif
      Clif
      October 29, 2024 at 9:07 pm | #

      What?

  8. Jeremiah
    Jeremiah
    October 29, 2024 at 12:11 am | #

    “Now my outer space doesn’t match my inner space!”

  9. Zamperla
    Zamperla
    October 29, 2024 at 12:15 am | #

    This reminds me I oughta change my sheets……..

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      October 29, 2024 at 6:42 am | #

      Change them into what?

      • Clif
        Clif
        October 29, 2024 at 9:09 pm | #

        Parachutes are occasionally handy.

  10. Speedball
    Speedball
    October 29, 2024 at 12:16 am | #

    The hell crawled up your shirt today, Amber?

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      October 29, 2024 at 12:28 am | #

      Hangover.

  11. Newlland(Henryvolt)
    Newlland(Henryvolt)
    October 29, 2024 at 12:25 am | #

    So what’s the conflict here Amber? Your headmate holds herself to a higher regard while you want to keep making yourself feel shit?

  12. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    October 29, 2024 at 12:27 am | #

    I’m just noting in panel 1 the placement of the speech bubble makes it look like the giant sex raptor is talking and that’s how I’ll be choosing to read this strip from now on. It’s alive. Don’t tell me it’s not. It probably deserves a tag.

  13. drs
    drs
    October 29, 2024 at 12:33 am | #

    last panel: Dina giving social advice to Amber!

  14. Laura
    Laura
    October 29, 2024 at 12:34 am | #

    I don’t quite catch what Amber is referring to. What pity does AG receive?

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      October 29, 2024 at 12:36 am | #

      The changing of the sheets, performed by Walkus and Dorothotty.

      • Jeremiah
        Jeremiah
        October 29, 2024 at 12:52 am | #

        Would she be more or less upset if we told her the pity was mode directed at her that AG?

        • Azhrei Vep
          Azhrei Vep
          October 29, 2024 at 10:37 am | #

          And that it wasn’t so much pity as concern that she would in fact enjoy it too much.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      October 29, 2024 at 9:06 am | #

      It says more about Amber’s self-esteem that she sees kindness and assumes it’s pity.

    • Laura
      Laura
      October 29, 2024 at 7:28 pm | #

      Ah. Thank you for the clarification!

  15. Taffy
    Taffy
    October 29, 2024 at 12:35 am | #

    If she’s so displeased, she could try murdering Amazi-Girl in a jealous rage. I don’t see any way that could backfire.

    • Nedlum
      Nedlum
      October 29, 2024 at 9:11 am | #

      It’s happened before:
      * In United States of Tara, one of Tara’s alters started killing her other alters, before ultimately being killed by her primary self.
      * Fight Club

  16. Derek
    Derek
    October 29, 2024 at 12:36 am | #

    horrible thought but Amber brought up the subject so it`s not my fault: do we think that her mattress is soaked through with menstrual blood? Because I have met women who have gotten to that point thanks to depression or other mental issues; it ain’t pretty

    • Doopyboop
      Doopyboop
      October 29, 2024 at 2:11 am | #

      If her mattress is anything like the mattress I had at my dorm, it’s basically a big ole plastic covered… thing. Kinda looked more like a mattress you’d expect for a potty training kid, but I get it. It’s a mattress that’s gonna have a new person every year, so it needs to be easy to clean and not easy to get dirty. So thankfully, I don’t think it would be soaked. … … Her sheets and blankets on the other hand…

    • Miri
      Miri
      October 29, 2024 at 5:40 am | #

      When I was her age, a single night at the wrong point in my cycle, with the largest size pads they made in places, still frequently led to bloodstained mattresses. A few decades, 3 kids, etc, later, I don’t bleed like that any more and can usually contain the flow (occasional smear on sheet, or needing to clean a towel because I didn’t realise the stuff is literally still trickling out of me after a shower…). I am, however, still on daily iron tablets with my iron levels just about maintaining normal. Some people menstruate heavily and yeah, washing your bedding is a decent idea but I was definitely not going to buy a new mattress every 3 weeks as a student to replace a rental one.

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        October 29, 2024 at 9:50 am | #

        One of my exes from many a year ago has PCOS. Yeah, she menstruates somethin’ fierce, and for longer than usual. She always needs all the meat, all the garbanzo and kidney beans, and all the iron supplements.

      • Laura
        Laura
        October 29, 2024 at 7:24 pm | #

        IUD basically saved my life, by drastically reducing my flow. BOY OH BOY am I glad!!! Wish I had gotten an IUD at 12 and had one ever since! They’re PAINFUL at first, but honestly I wish they were made available to everyone. The hormonal stability you get eventually, after the pain subsides, is life-changing.

        • Laura
          Laura
          October 29, 2024 at 7:26 pm | #

          *Mirena progesterone-only. What a relief!

  17. Dean
    Dean
    October 29, 2024 at 12:49 am | #

    Between Amber’s unwashed sheets and Dina’s sex plushie, that room has gotta have some funk.

    • IntangibleMatter
      IntangibleMatter
      October 29, 2024 at 12:59 am | #

      That room doesn’t just have funk, it has the complete James Brown discography.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        October 29, 2024 at 9:01 am | #

        Tear the roof off the sucker.

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        October 29, 2024 at 6:10 pm | #

        @Intangible Matter +1

  18. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    October 29, 2024 at 12:57 am | #

    Okay wait Amber when’s the last time that you did wash/change your sheets? Move-in day?

    • DailyBrad
      DailyBrad
      October 30, 2024 at 12:05 am | #

      Amazi-Girl probably does it sometimes, likely while grumbling that she has to.

  19. EtchJetty
    EtchJetty
    October 29, 2024 at 1:01 am | #

    I think Amber and Amazi-Girl should kiss.

    Amber already writes porn in her head, headmate yuri really isn’t that different!!!!

    • EtchJetty
      EtchJetty
      October 29, 2024 at 1:05 am | #

      also it’s funny how this strip both officially decanonizes my ambmazigirl fanfic yet also vibes with it thematically. swag

      • Rectilinear Propagation
        Rectilinear Propagation
        October 29, 2024 at 6:00 am | #

        Is Amber into yuri at all? The only time I can recall her having a fantasy that included a woman was at the party but my memory isn’t the best.

        • Nymph
          Nymph
          October 29, 2024 at 7:46 am | #

          She has explicitly said that there needs to be dick involved to get her interested. (At the party when she crashed Dina and Becky’s serious convo)

        • Nymph
          Nymph
          October 29, 2024 at 7:49 am | #

          But also – fanfic doesn’t need to keep to the character’s stated interests. Sometimes the whole point of it is that it’s an AU where you get to explore queer interests in a nonqueer character (because sometimes representation is where you find it).

        • Sirksome
          Sirksome
          October 29, 2024 at 9:08 am | #

          I wonder where Amazi-Girl sits on the attraction scale? She seems pretty straight herself but it would be interesting if she differed even slightly in preferences from Amber.

    • Dday
      Dday
      October 29, 2024 at 12:30 pm | #

      I guess she could tape the domino mask to a mirror and make out with it.

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      October 29, 2024 at 6:13 pm | #

      That would be physically impossible. Now in their head it might be possible. That would be one strange Slipshine though.

      • NGPZ
        NGPZ
        October 29, 2024 at 10:42 pm | #

        in the Dream World it is certainly possible

        or should i say the Midnight Realm

  20. Deanatay
    Deanatay
    October 29, 2024 at 1:13 am | #

    I’d point out that Dina’s bed is FAR filthier than Amber’s ever got, if only because it’s so much harder to clean.

    • CianM1301
      CianM1301
      October 29, 2024 at 3:22 am | #

      Exactly. At the very least Amber has sheets to change, whereas Dina’s literally sleeping on a giant plush dinosaur.

    • Miri
      Miri
      October 29, 2024 at 5:42 am | #

      Steam cleaner with a hand-held attachment?

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        October 29, 2024 at 9:04 am | #

        It would have to be one of those extractors they use on car interiors, but even those won’t lift out anything that’s gotten deep into the fiber-fill stuffing.

        The only way to get that dinosaur clean would be to gut it, wash the casing, and re-stuff it with new material.

  21. TulipKitten
    TulipKitten
    October 29, 2024 at 2:26 am | #

    Honestly, maybe Dina has a steam cleaner, has like a bunch of segmented covers, or something that makes it easier. Her parents are pretty well-off and probably wouldn’t buy her a stuffed animal like that to use as a bed simply so that she would accumulate sweat and other various bodily fluids on. They don’t seem particularly neglectful.

    There’s gotta be some solution that she figured out there.

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      October 29, 2024 at 2:29 am | #

      I got confused by the “not particularly neglectful” because I can’t see how it relates to the rest of the comment.

    • Doopyboop
      Doopyboop
      October 29, 2024 at 2:32 am | #

      The giant plush is actually a gift from Becky rather than Dina’s parents! https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/finance/ I don’t think Becky realized Dina would use it as a bed when she bought it for her.

      • Thag Simmons
        Thag Simmons
        October 29, 2024 at 4:37 am | #

        Still, Dina’s smart and not terribly depressed, she probably does have some process for cleaning it.

        • Dday
          Dday
          October 29, 2024 at 12:34 pm | #

          I think I’d like to see a strip with Dina lovingly steam-cleaning the velociraptor on quiet morning, no dialogue. Maybe a little bit of birds chirping through the window.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      October 29, 2024 at 7:44 am | #

      I don’t know why some people are so concerned with the cleanliness of an imaginary dinosaur in a pretend room. It’s a comic, you are way too fixated on heavy realism. Let a gag just be a gag.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        October 29, 2024 at 9:05 am | #

        Gag is right.

      • Azhrei Vep
        Azhrei Vep
        October 29, 2024 at 10:42 am | #

        Because different people have different kinds of fun. Thinking through and discussing the weird and/or gross ramifications of things meant to be glossed over is a good time for some people.

        -Azhrei “Some People” Vep

        • Jeremiah
          Jeremiah
          October 29, 2024 at 5:39 pm | #

          I mean, you do you but at some point that kind of constant nitpicking just becomes annoying.

          • Sirksome
            Sirksome
            October 29, 2024 at 8:43 pm | #

            I think in this case speculating on a plushie’s cleanliness is pretty harmless. At mean at what are we not just policing how people have fun?

            • Clif
              Clif
              October 29, 2024 at 9:15 pm | #

              You are required to have fun, but you aren’t allowed to enjoy it.

      • Mano308gts
        Mano308gts
        October 29, 2024 at 10:51 pm | #

        Not going to lie, it’s getting kind of old seeing you always being the comments police.

        Let the report function and moderation via hand of god do their functions- people talking about things that are directly relevant to the strip (e.g. cleaning the pseudobed on a strip referencing clean beds) and people who hold views that are not identical to your own have as much right to comment and be engaged as you do.

        • Nymph
          Nymph
          October 30, 2024 at 1:40 am | #

          Noted and disregarded. I’m going to keep doing what I want thx.

  22. Needfuldoer
    Needfuldoer
    October 29, 2024 at 6:39 am | #

    Who is driving? Amber is driving how can this be!

  23. darkoneko
    darkoneko
    October 29, 2024 at 6:46 am | #

    spider pillooooowwww

  24. woof mcgee
    woof mcgee
    October 29, 2024 at 10:04 am | #

    I remember a time when Amber was a main cast member

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      October 29, 2024 at 5:37 pm | #

      She still is??

  25. Jammy
    Jammy
    October 29, 2024 at 10:14 am | #

    Yeah, but that wasn’t just your filth anymore. That’s why the sheets got washed.

  26. AdamJ
    AdamJ
    October 29, 2024 at 10:31 am | #

    Amber and Dina are probably my favourite friendship in the strip.

  27. RoyanRannedos
    RoyanRannedos
    October 29, 2024 at 12:16 pm | #

    Just caught that Dina’s tee says HOMPK! That sound effect is on my list of top ten favorite things I’ve seen in webcomics.

  28. John
    John
    October 29, 2024 at 12:40 pm | #

    Can someone drag Amber to therapy already.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      October 29, 2024 at 1:13 pm | #

      Pretty sure if you don’t want to engage with the therapy it doesn’t help to be in the building.

      • NGPZ
        NGPZ
        October 29, 2024 at 5:06 pm | #

        not to mention the vast majority of the way therapists “treat” DID like Amber’s case is basically gaslighting you into thinking you don’t have it

        i get that therapy helps a lot of people, but like, i don’t like what’s become of this culture where what was once supposed to be positive self-affirmation has been entangled with this peer pressure kinda deal where if you’re not going to therapy for your problems because you KNOW it doesn’t help you, you feel less valid because of this unspoken idea that therapy is SUPPOSED to be THE answer.

        “therapists are there to help. they professionals, who ever heard of them being insensitive or even downright racist?”

        the idea of therapy as this universal gold standard for mental health repair is something which if we’re not careful can wind up hurting people we intend to help, sometimes in ways we don’t even immediately realize, because of long-ingrained systemic bigotries in our society or otherwise

        some of us don’t respond to therapy at all. some of us just don’t wanna gamble on therapy because we are part of demographics where that could risk making things WORSE for us.

        when we pressured into therapy because some people are just oblivious to those facts, treating their positive experiences with therapy as some universal human default, that’s not mental health being championed, but being eroded.

        • Needfuldoer
          Needfuldoer
          October 29, 2024 at 6:54 pm | #

          DID aside, Amber has some serious self-esteem and self-worth issues (stemming from Blaine’s abuse and Stacy’s paving over said abuse with a Stepford smile) that talk therapy could help with.

          • NGPZ
            NGPZ
            October 29, 2024 at 9:39 pm | #

            What I think Amber could benefit from in her current situation is a friend who also has DID, if not a whole community of DID systems can affirm her and who GET IT.

            Only in recent years did I ever reach out to autistic folk online who have affirmed my experiences and even offered help and support, from both around here and on discord and elsewhere, and in my case it helped me literally hundreds of times more than “professional” therapy.

            Same goes for friends who also experienced abuse, bigotry and trauma.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      October 29, 2024 at 1:29 pm | #

      That won’t help because she already decided it won’t help.

  29. Kazuma Taichi
    Kazuma Taichi
    October 29, 2024 at 9:50 pm | #

    Probly doesn’t help that you’re the source of their pity

  30. Yeet
    Yeet
    October 29, 2024 at 11:14 pm | #

    I kinda get it
    really really hard to be thankful for pity

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May 3, 2025 - FCBD @ Laughing Ogre Comics in Columbus, Ohio

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