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Walky and Dina have Very Different ideas of what constitutes a ‘cool dinosaur’, and she would probably pop into his dream to castigate him for not feathering the ones that should have them.
Everyone in Walky’s dream ninja dinosaur class is naked except for Dina, because she willed herself into it specifically to correct him about dinosaurs.
I just think they got back together very quick and casual, and because they’re so used to being together they weren’t really paying attention to each other or communicating. They just kind of fell into routine. But Dorothy finally told him about some of her issues so now at least they’re not just doing the bare minimum.
If he’s able to have this calming effect on her just with his presence, I think that’s a good relationship. Sometimes it’s really about this visceral vibes
“Nightmare. Again.” I wonder if we will see more of it. The van is likely Amber’s evil dad driving away with kidnapped-Joyce. Mustache I’m thinking is Becky’s evil dad. Can’t tell about anything else.
Agreed. This strip shows Walky just being there for Dorothy and lifting her mood. Really, key relationship skills over the long term. Very nice and cute.
I do wonder if she brings this up in the therapy sessions. But also, once through a traumatic thing like this, therapy can only guide you so much. Especially shitty university therapy.
I had someone try to kill my husband and I back when we first started dating. So in a very real way I understand what Dotty is going through here. Therapy helps, but it doesn’t just stop you brain from being a jerk.
I also get reoccurring nightmares of the time and elevator dropped me and a stranger three stories. My brain went “oh now you have direct experience, let’s make this horror hyper realistic”. I can talk circles around it in therapy, but it won’t stop my brain from adding that touch of realism to the nightmares. Sometimes dealing with it is just experiencing it and trying to move forward with your day.
She does need to deal with the whole mess of issues she has instead of just burying it as deep down as she can and hoping that they’ll take care of themselves.
But at the same time, the time to get her to deal with those issues is not when she’s tense and her heart’s racing in the wake of a nightmare. What Walky is doing here wonderfully is being kind and supportive and helping her lower her guard. There’s still more that someone needs to do, but this is at least a good first step.
I’m not sure I’d agree. Not without the caveat on the second half of my comment.
She’s in a bad place mentally, yeah. So much she can’t gaslight gatekeep girlboss herself out of it. Walky has to treat _himself_ as someone who can support Dorothy, not just make her laugh, or the issues will continue for both of them.
Yeah it is! Bringing one’s partner back from panic is a skill and Walky’s talented. I just can’t help but think about where their relationship is going, yanno?
Shipping-wise I’m alright with almost everything the strip might lead us to! But if they stay together, then I’d like them to be happy. And there’s stuff they def ought to work on. Hopefully soon :’33
He figured out Amber and AG faster than anyone else, but not too long ago he was telling Dorothy that she was fine actually, and would snap right out of her funk. She has, of course, sung that she’s not okay since then.
I swear I hate psychoanalysis as a discipline, fr but– The Walkertons, yes? In the dynamics Walky has internalized since forever… Whenever there’s two people, you’ve got a brilliant one, and a fuckup.
Of course Dorothy can do no wrong. Of course she’ll always snap back to being literally golden. And what a terrible pressure that is.
Yes, it’s good. I just hope it happens soon :33 It was super hard for Dorothy to tell Joyce she was struggling. I will be the same with Walky.
So far she’s only let out her actual emotions either under pressure or the influence of alcohol. The friends this has happened with aren’t her closest either (and it makes so much sense! She can’t disappoint them!)
I am curious why Dorothy feels responsible for Ross’ death. Because they escaped and she planned it? I don’t really see the connection. That kind of takes the agency away from the one slightly good thing Ross did and Blaine’s decision to kill him. Like let the bad dads own their shit.
I had to go back and check and I guess Dorothy actually saw Ross get his head split open which explains it more. Like yeah you need to start talking to someone about that.
Yes, I think just seeing the gore and the death itself would be quite difficult. I am not sure talking to some stranger about it would help though. It’s nice that she can at least allude to it here with Walky. We look around and we see the current dystopian nightmare, I’m not sure getting therapy would be more helpful than just finding a way to cope. “Well adjusted to what” is always the question.
It’s a very sad side effect of her compulsive need to act responsible in every situation. She feels like she’s responsible for everything that happens, too.
She’s also 18. Can’t help but feel hella guilty and hasn’t been dealing with it right.
I suspect one of the reasons Raidah got into her head as bad as she did is because she dug into the whole “your decisions WILL kill people. Whether as collateral damage or active choice — this is not an If statement.” And the only ethical thing, in Dorothy’s eyes, was to refuse power.
Part of her escape plan also involved planning for Ross and Blaine to be at odds, the result of which led to Ross being murdered. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/terrified/ Dorothy isn’t at all responsible for Blaine’s actions, but I can see how and why she’d FEEL responsible all the same.
Dorothy tends to think of herself as in control of situations, and when things go bad, she blames herself. She blamed herself when Joyce got roofied too. But she was never in control of the situation during the kidnapping, even if she thought she was pitting Ross and Blaine against each other, they were already working at cross-purposes.
But it’s trauma, she can’t just logic herself out of feeling it. It’s the difference between having the information and an experiential understanding. It’s going to take time.
That last panel has my heart. Dorothy immediately calming down. She feels both safe and not alone with him.
I would love to see what Dorothy/Joyce would be like sometime in the future (aka if current relationships change naturally), but these two work so well even if Walky is such a dork (this is not a negative trait).
He’d make a good First Dude (if Dorothy changes her mind about not wanting to get into politics) and I stand by that.
whenever I remember mine, they’re always in some form or another of massive themed complex
sometimes they’re universities, sometimes shopping malls full of Dave and Buster like places and donut shops and stuff and go deep underground and basically get as large as Aperture Science facility XD
I haven’t gotten my hands on any of the games he’s in, but Tingle seems like the kind of guy who’d slip you a mickey and then just kinda prop you up against a wall without otherwise harming you. Like, he’d hear it was a thing people were doing, not hear why they were doing it, and then not know what to do once he’d managed to do it. He’s got that kind of energy.
The phrase “slip a mickey” means to put something in a person’s drink, usually some kind of drug that incapacitates them, and pretty much always with the intention of harming them in some horrible way. Tingle, a recurring character in The Legend of Zelda, seems like the kind of person who would go out of his way to get the drug and put it in someone’s drink, but never actually learn about the “doing them harm” part, so he’d just knock you out and put you somewhere nearby until you woke up. In short, I think he’s up to no good, but is at least incompetent enough not to manage any lasting damage.
He’s also got the kind of incompetent laser-focus on specifics such that he’d slip you a mickey, go through your wallet, but not steal the $100 bills or credit cards because he only has eyes for rupees.
Something i wanted to dwell on awhile ago but didn’t find the time to was the strikingly apt comparison between Dorothy and of all characters, Griffith from Berserk. I know just saying this is bound to cause Those Who Know’s hearts to skip a beat but ultimately both are very driven ambitious figures who’s dreams are derailed by a single person who’s leaving causes them to engage in reckless self destructive behavior.
Joyce is eternally faithful to Dorothy and would gladly go to hell and back for her, she’s taken so many blows and time and time again finds herself amidst danger while Dorothy can do nothing but watch helplessly completely powerless to help her. This is where the big difference between these two characters is though and the comparison ends, Griffith is flat out a terrible person who views people as pawns to achieve his goals and comes to terms with the shock of losing them while Dorothy fundamentally seeks power to change the world for the better to right it’s wrongs and ensure everyone gets their happy ending.
In that sense she’s more like a shonen protagonist like Luffy i suppose, there is a lot of talk of her becoming a villain or going down a path of darkness but the truth is that she is fundamentally incapable of doing that even in J&W she became a villain entirely because she was convinced that she was doing the right thing and had to have her own autonomy stolen to do any real damage.
She has in a sense what i guess you could call an Atlas Complex where she has to be THE BEST she has to push herself to the limit and overcome ever weakness she has. I think her refusing to go to yale isn’t really about what she said it was before and i don’t just mean that in that she stayed for Joyce but moreso that as Joyce drifted away in that van everything in her world instantly came crashing down, she couldn’t protect the people she loved. She couldn’t even realize what she had until it had been snatched away and nearly smashes to pieces before her very eyes. In a single moment she understood that despite everything she had so many more faults than she could have ever realized and alone would never be enough to accomplish those dreams. It’s an immensely fucked up situation to be in and i don’t have a good answer on what she should do because sometimes trauma just sticks with you and all you can do is wait and hope one day you heal.
I guess my point is that Dorothy is a bleeding heart hero who tries to keep a cool distant exterior persona while she deeply cares for everyone around her but it seems she can never reach out and express it until it’s too late or she pushes those close to her away… With a single exception. But thinking back to that dream of her on Horseback i realize exactly what that fear truly is, where she goes nobody can follow it’s too cruel to bring anyone along and despite that she still can’t let go of Joyce she can’t leave her behind and she’s given the choice to keep Joyce at her side selfishly as she marches into a cruel and unjust world or shed her last weakness and leave her behind. She cannot stay herself, she can’t rest while others are still suffering, there will always be more work to be done in the end. The world is broken and someone needs to fix it, and if she won’t do it who will?
It makes me sad that they didn’t actually talk about anything, the whole point of Becky calling Walky was to find someone she could talk to about her insecurities. I think she has to talk to Ruth again.
I don’t know, we’re seeing 15 seconds after she woke up in panic. There’s still room for a real discussion, I think defusing/reassuring/connecting without pressure is an excellent first step.
We’ll see what happens next, but I agree, once she’s settled it would be great if he pushes a little bit. Even better if she doesn’t need pushing and he only has to shut up and listen.
The final scene in the dream really threw me off guard the first time it appeared, every time I reread the sequence I have to zoom my phone in so I don’t see that last panel, it’s too much for me. I’m glad for the way it’s obscured this time.
It’s interesting, though, that the van is in Ross’s mouth this time, not Joyce’s body burning to death. I know she flashbacked to the van when she saw the empty hanger that once held Joyce’s red sweater.
The pieces are there in front of me, but I’m having trouble putting them together.
The point is that Walky and Joyce not being into each other doesn’t have to be an obstacle. It is, in fact, an easily solved problem by just not starting from the expectation that everyone in the polycule has to be into each other. Not remotely the same as telling polycules that ARE like that, that they don’t have to be.
Ah, so you just willfully misinterpret what other people are saying to try to make them sound stupid. Amazing how few people realize how much that bounces back because it just makes you look like an idiot who can’t grasp what’s being said.
like it’s easy enough for me to get my walking in every week just walking to and from stores and to the mall, sometimes I hike further by accident just because it’s fun for me
keeping track of a number just takes the fun out of it IMO, if only because you lean into depending on that number to give the exercise meaning beyond, well, just exercise
a similar lesson was learned the hard way in early versions of Don’t Starve, where developers found that a game about exploration became less fun when they added in arbitrary “quests” for the players to complete:
You are young. You don’t need one (yet) Mine (Apple watch Ultra) monitors my heart and watches my variation rates. Does single lead ecgs too. And walking is painful. I’m good for maybe five miles with rests and I’m shot for the day, so I drive a lot. This sort of thing makes sure you get off your ass and move. If I start slacking off on getting around it reminds me. I also use it to pay for things without removing my wallet.
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ninja dinosaurs? o3o
… is Dina also there? ^v^
She’ll probably have opinions about the martial arts skills of dinosaurs.
and would probably be among the ninja dinosaurs!
what given her incredible speed, cunning intellect, stealth, and melee skill with a raptor claw…
Becky and Dina riding Ninja dinosaurs into battle
Walky and Dina have Very Different ideas of what constitutes a ‘cool dinosaur’, and she would probably pop into his dream to castigate him for not feathering the ones that should have them.
That’s where it pivots into nightmare territory.
But to answer the original question, Dina is teaching the class.
Everyone in Walky’s dream ninja dinosaur class is naked except for Dina, because she willed herself into it specifically to correct him about dinosaurs.
Ninja dinosaur comics on patreon when?
Make ’em naked ninja dinosaur comics…then we’ll talk.
+1
+1!
All ninja dinosaurs are naked.
But how do you know they’re ninjas then?
war paint :p
Do headbands count?
Ninja headbands you mean?
… count as clothing or as war paint? o3o
Clothing! I feel like they don’t. I mean. If I appeared anywhere with no clothes on but a headband I’d still be considered naked.
Hence. Maybe the dinosaurs could wear ninja headbands. Running with their arms behind them might prove, however, kinda difficult
Headbands are accessories and not clothing. Thus one can be entirely nakies while wearing a headband.
Feels like a vote winning premise
Ninjatitan perhaps
YEEEES
Bonus strip
I had forgotten that. Good recall!
One of those dinosaurs with a neat name but almost nothing else, because it’s just a few pieces of legs and vertebrae.
Well, we can’t expect a ninja to be easy to find, even in the fossil record.
Okay, you two–time to TALK.
Or, she could say nothing. With everything coming out at the least opportune time in order to maximize drama.
Well she did tell one person about her sexuality, that could force her to confront it. That’s right. We need to bring Danny into the A-plot.
This moment upgraded the Dorothy/Walky rebound from a C to a B- for me.
Why?
Sirksome is a hard grader. Very strict.
I just think they got back together very quick and casual, and because they’re so used to being together they weren’t really paying attention to each other or communicating. They just kind of fell into routine. But Dorothy finally told him about some of her issues so now at least they’re not just doing the bare minimum.
… fair.
If he’s able to have this calming effect on her just with his presence, I think that’s a good relationship. Sometimes it’s really about this visceral vibes
going to request dorothy riding a ninja dinosaur into the ninja dinosaur class for my book doodle, thanks
Without pants!
That first panel is really striking.
What is that? I’m unable to make it out.
It is the van that kidnapped them falling down the open gullet of Mr. MacIntyre’s bludgeoned corpse.
It’s a dream sequence from a previous chapter. The start of it is here.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-14/01-everybodys-looking-for-nothing/stateoftheunion/
And the shot we see at the end, which ends the nightmare is from this page
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-14/01-everybodys-looking-for-nothing/getmeout/
Guh. Thanks, now at least I’m no longer seeing it as the hair being his head of hair with just an empty red hole for a face.
Same! Not that this is exactly better…
That first panel also is confirmation this is a recurring nightmare and it breaks my heart
“Nightmare. Again.” I wonder if we will see more of it. The van is likely Amber’s evil dad driving away with kidnapped-Joyce. Mustache I’m thinking is Becky’s evil dad. Can’t tell about anything else.
We saw the entire sequence, I believe. It starts with Dorothy and Joyce riding the horse and then falling. Ross’ hammer-split head is how it ends.
Those strips were horrifying tbh, Willis did such a great job
Yup, I had forgotten it. Now I’m caught up again (yeesh).
That third panel is me after every nightmare I’ve ever had.
My nightmares are slow, low energy, and horrifying. It takes me several minutes after waking up to convince myself it wasn’t real.
Undetermined Age and Occupation Mutant Dinosaurs
Doesn’t Even Fit The Meter! XD
Your mom doesn’t fit the meter!
She will for a nickel.
I think you’ve mixed up which elements are undetermined
Walky if Lawsome ever falls through for you I bet you could make a killing with ninja dinosaurs
Also Ninja Turtles is already a blatant Daredevil pastiche, doing a thinly veiled send-up would be very much in the spirit of the project
_Naked_ ninja dinosaurs!
Pretty sure they were all naked, ninja or otherwise.
Only if they’ve had all their feathers blown off.
The prepared ones keep the feathers numbered for just such an emergency.
That’s a Daffy Duck line.
Foghorn Leghorn, apparently.
https://youtu.be/Zo-3zx8iSJM
Hope I’m not annoying about this. Finding stuff’s one of the few things I’m good at.
Archivists, librarians, and search agents are a vital part of today’s world!
Foghorn used the line, too.
I hope their relationship can weather the eventual shitstorm related to Joyce/Dorothy.
I think Walky, and Dorothy make a cute couple, and they generally seem to help the other in a great way.
Yeah, I do really like them, too. I am sort of torn on what I want to happen, but I enjoy them.
That’s why I appreciate that ship so much, that support and interaction they have is so natural.
Agreed. This strip shows Walky just being there for Dorothy and lifting her mood. Really, key relationship skills over the long term. Very nice and cute.
She was pantsless… but she was also riding Joyce on a unicorn. So not really a nightmare.
You had me at “riding Joyce.”
Technically she was riding with Joyce on a unicorn. But we all know about unicorns.
The part of the mythology that they could only be ridden by virgins was related to the phallic imaging of the forehead horn.
Walky is a perfect counter to all of the shit Dorothy’s dealing with mentally.
Sometimes one braincell is all you need
She’s not really dealing with it, though. She’s pushing it down and hoping it cumulative pressure disintegrates it.
I do wonder if she brings this up in the therapy sessions. But also, once through a traumatic thing like this, therapy can only guide you so much. Especially shitty university therapy.
I had someone try to kill my husband and I back when we first started dating. So in a very real way I understand what Dotty is going through here. Therapy helps, but it doesn’t just stop you brain from being a jerk.
I also get reoccurring nightmares of the time and elevator dropped me and a stranger three stories. My brain went “oh now you have direct experience, let’s make this horror hyper realistic”. I can talk circles around it in therapy, but it won’t stop my brain from adding that touch of realism to the nightmares. Sometimes dealing with it is just experiencing it and trying to move forward with your day.
She does need to deal with the whole mess of issues she has instead of just burying it as deep down as she can and hoping that they’ll take care of themselves.
But at the same time, the time to get her to deal with those issues is not when she’s tense and her heart’s racing in the wake of a nightmare. What Walky is doing here wonderfully is being kind and supportive and helping her lower her guard. There’s still more that someone needs to do, but this is at least a good first step.
Truly Walky is the orange cat she needs in her life.
But yeah it’s super adorable how he can just immediately make her smile like that. They still work well together, whatever else happens.
Generically Beige cat ;D
I do wanna say that, yeah, despite my worries those last panels are really really sweet ;AAA;
Walky. Walky I love you. I know you’re trying to make her laugh and, like, take her away from the dark place and all.
… But please do tell me you’re going to ask what was it actually about. Blease.
Yeah it’s pretty great she back with Walky
considering where she is, Walky’s head is actually a really good place for her to be right now T-T <3
I’m not sure I’d agree. Not without the caveat on the second half of my comment.
She’s in a bad place mentally, yeah. So much she can’t gaslight gatekeep girlboss herself out of it. Walky has to treat _himself_ as someone who can support Dorothy, not just make her laugh, or the issues will continue for both of them.
yeah you’re probably right
but I really wanna believe
she SO CLOSE to opening up about it, i can feel it ;-;
Maybe they both just want be OK for a few hours, that’s fine.
Yeah it is! Bringing one’s partner back from panic is a skill and Walky’s talented. I just can’t help but think about where their relationship is going, yanno?
Shipping-wise I’m alright with almost everything the strip might lead us to! But if they stay together, then I’d like them to be happy. And there’s stuff they def ought to work on. Hopefully soon :’33
He figured out Amber and AG faster than anyone else, but not too long ago he was telling Dorothy that she was fine actually, and would snap right out of her funk. She has, of course, sung that she’s not okay since then.
Ow. Owww, yeah… Walky puts Dorothy in a pedestal and he needs her to be alright so bad it’s one of the things hindering them, I think.
she’s not ok she promises trust her…………… shit. Nooooo.
I swear I hate psychoanalysis as a discipline, fr but– The Walkertons, yes? In the dynamics Walky has internalized since forever… Whenever there’s two people, you’ve got a brilliant one, and a fuckup.
Of course Dorothy can do no wrong. Of course she’ll always snap back to being literally golden. And what a terrible pressure that is.
I think this is good though. She can talk about it in seriousness when she’s ready. Adding extra pressure might backfire.
Yes, it’s good. I just hope it happens soon :33 It was super hard for Dorothy to tell Joyce she was struggling. I will be the same with Walky.
So far she’s only let out her actual emotions either under pressure or the influence of alcohol. The friends this has happened with aren’t her closest either (and it makes so much sense! She can’t disappoint them!)
Yep and oh hey look another thing I got in common with her
Oh yeah, she’s relatable as hell. I was always more of a Ruth but believe me, I get it.
Heroes in a half-track
Diesel powered!
But if they’re ninja disonaurs, you don’t see them, now do you ?
Which is how you know that all classes have ninja dinosaurs: If they were regular ones you’d see them.
It’s why we don’t have more fossils for ninja dinosaurs. They’re just that good at hiding them.
They are not that good yet it’s why they are taking classes
I am curious why Dorothy feels responsible for Ross’ death. Because they escaped and she planned it? I don’t really see the connection. That kind of takes the agency away from the one slightly good thing Ross did and Blaine’s decision to kill him. Like let the bad dads own their shit.
I had to go back and check and I guess Dorothy actually saw Ross get his head split open which explains it more. Like yeah you need to start talking to someone about that.
She says it right in that strip “It’s working. They’re turning on each other” and then “… working a little too well …”
She did plan it and that means she sees herself as (partly) responsible for Becky’s father’s death.
Just re-read that.
What’s particularly horrifying is that after Ross gets his skull smashed with a hammer, he STILL gets up and charges Blaine.
I think it’s more about seeing Blaine as the killer, and he’s taking Joyce away and could also kill her.
As I recall, it was at… um… hammerpoint.
Sorry, posted it too high by one.
No problem; I saw it.
I think she’s more traumatized from Joyce being kidnapped at gun point and being driven away.
That too, but she also sees Ross’ face in her nightmare and in the strip she’s the only one shown as looking when Blaine hammers him.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/terrified/
That’s definitely some sort of “I’ve witnessed something horrible” kind of trauma. Y’know on top of her other associated traumas for fun!
Yes, I think just seeing the gore and the death itself would be quite difficult. I am not sure talking to some stranger about it would help though. It’s nice that she can at least allude to it here with Walky. We look around and we see the current dystopian nightmare, I’m not sure getting therapy would be more helpful than just finding a way to cope. “Well adjusted to what” is always the question.
She isn’t – not to the point that he’d guess what the nightmares are about.
It’s a very sad side effect of her compulsive need to act responsible in every situation. She feels like she’s responsible for everything that happens, too.
And responsible for keeping Becky and Walky OK too. So she doesn’t feel like she can burden them with her problems on top of their own problems.
She’s also 18. Can’t help but feel hella guilty and hasn’t been dealing with it right.
I suspect one of the reasons Raidah got into her head as bad as she did is because she dug into the whole “your decisions WILL kill people. Whether as collateral damage or active choice — this is not an If statement.” And the only ethical thing, in Dorothy’s eyes, was to refuse power.
Part of her escape plan also involved planning for Ross and Blaine to be at odds, the result of which led to Ross being murdered. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/terrified/ Dorothy isn’t at all responsible for Blaine’s actions, but I can see how and why she’d FEEL responsible all the same.
Dorothy tends to think of herself as in control of situations, and when things go bad, she blames herself. She blamed herself when Joyce got roofied too. But she was never in control of the situation during the kidnapping, even if she thought she was pitting Ross and Blaine against each other, they were already working at cross-purposes.
But it’s trauma, she can’t just logic herself out of feeling it. It’s the difference between having the information and an experiential understanding. It’s going to take time.
dotty
That last panel has my heart. Dorothy immediately calming down. She feels both safe and not alone with him.
I would love to see what Dorothy/Joyce would be like sometime in the future (aka if current relationships change naturally), but these two work so well even if Walky is such a dork (this is not a negative trait).
He’d make a good First Dude (if Dorothy changes her mind about not wanting to get into politics) and I stand by that.
Yes, adorable. Walky is really a good man.
I rarely remember my dreams, nightmares or not. I’ve been keeping a dream diary for years, but even with that they’re hard to remember sometimes.
whenever I remember mine, they’re always in some form or another of massive themed complex
sometimes they’re universities, sometimes shopping malls full of Dave and Buster like places and donut shops and stuff and go deep underground and basically get as large as Aperture Science facility XD
For those confused, the first panel is a close-up of this:
(CW for blood/violence)
this might be just me, but that link isn’t working
Huh! Could have sworn it was working last night. trying again
Nothing happens when clicking on it.
Doesn’t link.
Doesn’t ganon either.
… but it does Tingle.
I haven’t gotten my hands on any of the games he’s in, but Tingle seems like the kind of guy who’d slip you a mickey and then just kinda prop you up against a wall without otherwise harming you. Like, he’d hear it was a thing people were doing, not hear why they were doing it, and then not know what to do once he’d managed to do it. He’s got that kind of energy.
I have no idea what this mean and I fell it would ruin it if I did.
The phrase “slip a mickey” means to put something in a person’s drink, usually some kind of drug that incapacitates them, and pretty much always with the intention of harming them in some horrible way. Tingle, a recurring character in The Legend of Zelda, seems like the kind of person who would go out of his way to get the drug and put it in someone’s drink, but never actually learn about the “doing them harm” part, so he’d just knock you out and put you somewhere nearby until you woke up. In short, I think he’s up to no good, but is at least incompetent enough not to manage any lasting damage.
He’s also got the kind of incompetent laser-focus on specifics such that he’d slip you a mickey, go through your wallet, but not steal the $100 bills or credit cards because he only has eyes for rupees.
There we go, got a smile out of Dorothy.
Oh hey, the buffer watch is currently exactly a year from today’s publishing! What fun
*Genie voice* Tell. Him. The TRUTH!!!!
So, “Bury it further deeper down repressing it forever. Got it.”
Showing Up Unprepared To Ninja Dinosaur Class: a new comic on Slipshine by David Willis and Chuck Tingle
If there was ever a creative team always at loggerheads, that would be the one.
Always At Loggerheads: a new novel by Chuck Tingle
Something i wanted to dwell on awhile ago but didn’t find the time to was the strikingly apt comparison between Dorothy and of all characters, Griffith from Berserk. I know just saying this is bound to cause Those Who Know’s hearts to skip a beat but ultimately both are very driven ambitious figures who’s dreams are derailed by a single person who’s leaving causes them to engage in reckless self destructive behavior.
Joyce is eternally faithful to Dorothy and would gladly go to hell and back for her, she’s taken so many blows and time and time again finds herself amidst danger while Dorothy can do nothing but watch helplessly completely powerless to help her. This is where the big difference between these two characters is though and the comparison ends, Griffith is flat out a terrible person who views people as pawns to achieve his goals and comes to terms with the shock of losing them while Dorothy fundamentally seeks power to change the world for the better to right it’s wrongs and ensure everyone gets their happy ending.
In that sense she’s more like a shonen protagonist like Luffy i suppose, there is a lot of talk of her becoming a villain or going down a path of darkness but the truth is that she is fundamentally incapable of doing that even in J&W she became a villain entirely because she was convinced that she was doing the right thing and had to have her own autonomy stolen to do any real damage.
She has in a sense what i guess you could call an Atlas Complex where she has to be THE BEST she has to push herself to the limit and overcome ever weakness she has. I think her refusing to go to yale isn’t really about what she said it was before and i don’t just mean that in that she stayed for Joyce but moreso that as Joyce drifted away in that van everything in her world instantly came crashing down, she couldn’t protect the people she loved. She couldn’t even realize what she had until it had been snatched away and nearly smashes to pieces before her very eyes. In a single moment she understood that despite everything she had so many more faults than she could have ever realized and alone would never be enough to accomplish those dreams. It’s an immensely fucked up situation to be in and i don’t have a good answer on what she should do because sometimes trauma just sticks with you and all you can do is wait and hope one day you heal.
I guess my point is that Dorothy is a bleeding heart hero who tries to keep a cool distant exterior persona while she deeply cares for everyone around her but it seems she can never reach out and express it until it’s too late or she pushes those close to her away… With a single exception. But thinking back to that dream of her on Horseback i realize exactly what that fear truly is, where she goes nobody can follow it’s too cruel to bring anyone along and despite that she still can’t let go of Joyce she can’t leave her behind and she’s given the choice to keep Joyce at her side selfishly as she marches into a cruel and unjust world or shed her last weakness and leave her behind. She cannot stay herself, she can’t rest while others are still suffering, there will always be more work to be done in the end. The world is broken and someone needs to fix it, and if she won’t do it who will?
You win the internet for Dorothy being Griffith.
Ross being her nightmare is probably a big reason Dorothy didn’t want to confide in Becky.
Stop lying to your therapist, Dorothy. They can’t help you process trauma they don’t know about.
The really tricky part is, she’s been telling them she’s Amazi-Girl.
especially now that she turned down yale
Is the dream sequence supposed to make me think of Spike’s dreams involving Fortress Maximus in the Marvel run?
It makes me sad that they didn’t actually talk about anything, the whole point of Becky calling Walky was to find someone she could talk to about her insecurities. I think she has to talk to Ruth again.
I don’t know, we’re seeing 15 seconds after she woke up in panic. There’s still room for a real discussion, I think defusing/reassuring/connecting without pressure is an excellent first step.
We’ll see what happens next, but I agree, once she’s settled it would be great if he pushes a little bit. Even better if she doesn’t need pushing and he only has to shut up and listen.
Ninja Dinosaur? Godzilla or Gamera?
I don’t know why Ross swallowed a van
Godzilla is a lizard, Gamera is a turtle. No dinosaurs involved.
The final scene in the dream really threw me off guard the first time it appeared, every time I reread the sequence I have to zoom my phone in so I don’t see that last panel, it’s too much for me. I’m glad for the way it’s obscured this time.
It’s interesting, though, that the van is in Ross’s mouth this time, not Joyce’s body burning to death. I know she flashbacked to the van when she saw the empty hanger that once held Joyce’s red sweater.
The pieces are there in front of me, but I’m having trouble putting them together.
Does Ninja Rick teach that class?
Everything is going great, so I can’t wait to see what happened at the protest last night.
But do these dinosaurs have scales or feathers?
They breathe fire from their bombardier beetle blasting chambers, of course.
It’s Walky, so definitely not feathered
Hrm.
Joyce loves Dorothy.
Dorothy loves Joyce.
Dorothy loves Walky.
Walky loves Dorothy.
Walky and Joyce fight and bicker like five-year-olds.
… but there exists an alternate universe in which they’re married. Have kids, even! So… maybe there’s something that could be after all…..?
I think this already been said but a poly relationship doesn’t require every participant is dating every other.
Do you people walk up to full-interaction polycules at Walmart and tell them “Um actually you don’t all have to be dating”?
The point is that Walky and Joyce not being into each other doesn’t have to be an obstacle. It is, in fact, an easily solved problem by just not starting from the expectation that everyone in the polycule has to be into each other. Not remotely the same as telling polycules that ARE like that, that they don’t have to be.
Yes, I understand the premise. You’re not saying anything new, here.
Ah, so you just willfully misinterpret what other people are saying to try to make them sound stupid. Amazing how few people realize how much that bounces back because it just makes you look like an idiot who can’t grasp what’s being said.
Your assumption was incorrect.
I’ve said it before, but Joyce and Walky’s antagonistic pseudo-siblings dynamic works a lot better for them than “Designated OTP” ever did.
What the hell is on her wrist?
Mighty beefy watch…
It’s one of those fitness trackers white women wear
I never saw the appeal of those
like it’s easy enough for me to get my walking in every week just walking to and from stores and to the mall, sometimes I hike further by accident just because it’s fun for me
keeping track of a number just takes the fun out of it IMO, if only because you lean into depending on that number to give the exercise meaning beyond, well, just exercise
a similar lesson was learned the hard way in early versions of Don’t Starve, where developers found that a game about exploration became less fun when they added in arbitrary “quests” for the players to complete:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ypOUn6rThM
Fuck quests, just put cool things in the game.
You are young. You don’t need one (yet) Mine (Apple watch Ultra) monitors my heart and watches my variation rates. Does single lead ecgs too. And walking is painful. I’m good for maybe five miles with rests and I’m shot for the day, so I drive a lot. This sort of thing makes sure you get off your ass and move. If I start slacking off on getting around it reminds me. I also use it to pay for things without removing my wallet.
Dorothy needs to embrace her true feelings: That she’s glad Ross is dead and that other dude was stabbed.
Release your inner Moon Knight, Dot!
I love how the transition from the last comic into this one is a double entendre – that may have gone unnoticed for some, just pointing it out