As a football star and son of the dean, it’s likely any interaction he’s ever had with cops was neutral or positive. As such, it’s entirely possible he’s just a little oblivious rather than evil.
I’m less “ugh, Tony’s a bad” and more “Tony’s a privileged straight-white-cis-probably-straight-dude that doesn’t fully grasp the politics of cops as a teenager-early-20s-guy”.
…mostly because I was a fair bit like that when I was his age. I absolutely both-sidesed my colleges Muslim Student Union and Zionist club (yes, Zionists were in their club’s name) when I was in college, and I was a fucking idiot.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not waving a “TONY DID NOTHING WRONG” flag, just that he’s more “dumbass” than “jackass” here. If you’re not overtly harmed by The System, you have fewer reasons to question it, so its easier to give it a pass.
But, again, to stress: This is “explaining”, not “excluding”. Tony needs to get a big-ass clue, no question about it.
Yeah, probably more this than anything. Tony’s feels like he’s in that extremely privileged but means well category. Think a realistic Clark Kent of sorts. He probably inherently believes in the police and the institutions because he’s never gotten wronged by them directly, and assumes the massive injustices to be the bad eggs in the system rather than the problems with the system itself.
Youcan see this with his reaction to Incelerator. Paul isn’t a symptom of a larger problem. He’s just being an idiot and needs some sense slapping into him.
Tony feels like the type of guy who, were he to see the cop trying to arrest Joyce for simply being near a protest, would try to stop that cop, only to be utterly baffled when the other cops started dog-pilling him for ‘resisting arrest’.
I read it as “If they found what they were looking for, at least they won’t come back.”
… This reflex of mine to put a positive spin on things is a real buzzkill sometimes.
wouldn’t want him to be a gary stu but i imagine it’d be nuanced versus him ending up full maga considering he found that incelearator guy as obnoxious as everyone else
I don’t think he’s actively malicious, just very unplugged from these very serious issues that if he WAS more invested in he could make a big difference in, he “hopes they find what there looking for” because all he cares about is them leaving faster because there annoying to him, I don’t think he’ll become the next big villain, but hes apathetic to the situation to a destructive degree
Maybe? Though I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t. Sarah has expressed mistrust of the police before and, considering the experiences the average black american has with them, probably has good reason not to want them to succeed in their search regardless of whatever it was they’re looking for.
I had a jump scare in panel 4 before I realized that from a distance and when you’re half paying attention, Tony looks like a buff, broad Mike with curly hair.
These things don’t necessarily correlate. I’m the son of a former dean of a nearby major state university, grew up living reasonably luxuriously, and if I was any more left-leaning, I’d need a crutch.
“OH NO. SOMEONE DEIGNS TO ASSERT THAT MAYBE I SHOULDN’T MAKE SWEEPING JUDGEMENT ABOUT PEOPLE. THAT’S SO HAAAAARD WAAAH!!!!! IF I CAN’T SWEEP PEOPLE INTO CONVENIENT BOXES AND USE THAT TO BE JUDGEMENTAL AND RUDE HOW WILL I SURVIVE!!!! THE ONLY WAY FOR ME TO CONTINUE EXISTING IS TO BE CATTY AND RUDE TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE I’VE DETERMINED TO BE THE BAD GUYS BECAUSE I WANT TO BE MEAN BUT DON’T WANNA BE CALLED OUT ON IT. OH GOSH WOE IS ME!!!
Are you seriously trying to imply the rich and powerful are not, in most cases, conservative assholes? I would like to know where you live and move there, if that’s the case.
o3o My point is it’s wrong to make assumptions about somebody due to their financial position, especially one beyond their control. Someone expressed that they’re in a similar situation to Tony and you said “Well I’m happy you turned out alright, but” like…it comes across as really condescending. You might as well have said “You’re one of the good ones”.
Believe it or not, I’m not obligated to coddle someone with a lot of privilege just because the truth about their station makes them uncomfortable. They’re not like that? Good! Most of the others are.
Historically, young people with privilege have had the breathing space in which develop progressive ideals. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt come to mind. Colleges known for their strong student activism and progressive environments, such as UC Santa Cruz, University of Vermont, UC Berkeley, and Vassar College are seldom those intended primarily for low-income students.
Crazy that americans think rich-people colleges are the only ones producing left wing people. Like teh rest of the world doesn’t have free colleges with an even higher output of left wing people.
Nobody said that at all actually. Or even implied it. Don’t use words like “only ones” like that because it feels you’re intentionally misrepresenting their point.
Everyone’s jumping you when this is objectively correct. It is not closed minded to point out that privileged people are often unaware of their privilege
Literally any situation will “often” produce people who lack extrospection and awareness of others’ life experiences. Because people are often like that. “Usually” is a much stronger word than “often”.
Some rich kids grow up to be spoiled rich adults, but others become very leftist as they grow up. For example, Friedrich Engels was born into a rich family, and he ended up writing the Communist Manifesto and several similar works with Karl Marx.
i wonder how much deans get paid, other than his injury i’d think he was good enough to get in on a football scholarship (tho i wonder if ppl in similar situations ‘rebel’ by going to a diff college, now that i think about it i dont’ think i’ve met anyone’s kids in school/classmates whose parents also worked in the school)
He appears to live with a fair degree of privilege, so it’s going to take a learning experience to deprogram an inherent trust/faith in authority figures.
Rachel is very cynical. She’d probably be friends with Raidah, but something tells me she’s not far enough up the food chain to attract Raidah’s interest.
considering she thinks ppl aren’t capable if change i wonder i fshe has any actual friends. if not “oh i cut off my family a long time ago” (which, plenty of ppl are in the right to do so, but still)
I don’t think she has beef with Mandy in this strip. She is making sardonic commentary about how naive it is to think they have a right to privacy when they’re in the college dorms. The students DO have a right to privacy but the college is basically an overpaid landlord and what they say goes which means if their rooms need to be searched…
It’s definitely one of those things that are often exploited. I remember taking a juvenile justice system class and we discussed a trial regarding a student’s backpack being searched while it was in a locker at a high school and whether it was legal. Right to privacy was brought up, but it was ultimately decided that because her school had ‘reasonable suspicion’ that she had contraband in her backpack, then right to privacy or not, the school was allowed to search her. If you’re curious to read up, it’s New Jersey vs T.L.O. I’m thinking the college’s logic in this case is that, since a student “attacked” cops during a protest, then they have reasonable suspicion to search suspected students and find who did it so they can face “judgement”.
If there was “reasonable suspicion” to suspect an individual student, that would be one thing, but this seems to have been a broad sweep through at least the entire floor, which would generally put it outside that cases logic.
High school lockers and college dorm rooms are also not necessarily given the same expectation of privacy.
This also assumes it was a school decision rather than a police one.
I don’t think this is her having a problem with Mindy, I think this is just a snarky comment about how cops will happily ignore any and all rights and privacy
Yes Rachel we get it, cops and the government will do their best to ignore the right to privacy. That doesn’t mean it’s not enshrined in law. Maybe chill a bit?
She could be thinking of her search history or pictures she saved… for research purposes! As an art student, it’s important for her to study anatomy, after all.
That and there would be the most amazing interference patterns caused by her buried self-loathing and fundy upbringing. Just absolutely wild psychic ripples
Mary already had rancid vibes as an annoying, malevolent evangelical. You add “secret fujoshi” to that and you have a truly diabolical force loose in the dorms.
Alright, Mandy. Put your money where your mouth is and go fistfight Amber. She’s hopped up on pain pills while wounded, so it’ll probably be pretty easy.
On a side note the girls of Read hall got some shit in they closets. What are they up to? What perversions lurk in Mary’s porn folder? Is Meredith just stashing weed? That would be her one gimmick but do cops really care about weed in 2026? I wanna know the detes.
“do cops really care about weed in 2026” even if not usually (which i don’t think is true), they certainly *can* care if they want to and that’s really not a position you want to be in.
Oh now we’re eating good! So many characters worried about different things. Tony is either going to have a Carla-esque arc of finding out how bad corruption is or Sarah is going to have to put her ethics before hormones.
just finished reading through the walkyverse the other day. he stars as the son of the leader of SEMME (secret government org that fights aliens) and spends a good chunk of it dead/brainwashed so its not the best circumstances to get a read on him (and who knows if anythings changed) but he was pretty straightforward, loyal, and protective. i think he would do it if he thought the pros outweighed the cons or if he was asked/told to do so by someone like his father.
A. On a good day, I’ll cuddle the pup dog or listen to brainwave entrainment meditation music, or go for a walk, or even play piano. On a bad day I just play online poker or take pills.
Depends on what’s got me upset but I tend to go to music and movies if it’s general anxiety. If I’m overstimulated, having some quiet and something to fidget/fiddle with in my hands will do a lot to help me simmer down.
getting in a chat with friends, watching something on dropout, or going to pet my dog usually helps to ground me. im finishing up my rewatch of season 3 of make some noise, and then im gonna catch up on gamechanger
Dreaming can be so lovely, can’t it? Sometimes I can’t wait to fall back to sleep so I can pick up my dream where it left off. Gotta find out what happens next in the story!
Rest or distraction can help immidiately after a strong stress feeling is triggered, but in the long term to stop that turning into anxiety what helps is research and planning.
It could be any level of plan, e.g. Researching university courses in another country and looking at grant systems and how they work.
Researching how and where to run a cute local community workshop.
Researching a new technique for a knitting project and planning when to make it.
Essentially what I am doing is showing my subconscious I have agency and ability. Taking action on something, removing the feeling of uncertainty, reducing the unknowns in life, feeling empowered, is what helps me to keep calm long term.
I’d like that because I personally find Joe 10x more interesting than Tony as a character and in story potential but I don’t think it will happen. At least not this soon.
That is the correct take 😀 I don’t think it will happen anytime soon either, but it -does- appear to be slowly in the works. She’s been seeing him in a kinder light, AND he’s taller than her
Being a college student you’d think Meredith would have some easy to stash gummies or a vape pen but I bet she’s really a weed connoisseur with assorted jars of nicely labeled prime bud strains.
i think when this comic first started, idk how popular vapes was but depending on the design/size can imagine you’d lose it easily unless you always keep it on your pocket or so (buti doubt hte cops care too much unless they come back later)
I interpret Tony’s “I hope they found what they were looking for more as a “I hope they won’t have any reason to come back in the near future” (which even then is a bit tone deaf).
Though knowing the way the comic has been going it’s honestly doubtful.
Yyyyyeah, there’s the side of Tony we all knew was gonna show through, sooner or later. As for whether he’ll grow beyond it… well, it’d be nice, but I’m no’ exactly holding my breath.
(originally “no exactly” was a typo and it was supposed to be “not”, but screw it I’m leaning into it, we’re inexplicably Scottish today)
This comic has a lot of main characters grappling with growing out of beliefs, which makes it need characters who *don’t* for contrast (Mary, for instance). And unfortunately, Tony is a exactly the kind of character I could see taking up that kind of role
dun rly know his views but it might just be a white priviilege speaking without hi eralizing the issues ulness he’d be pro-wahtever the college is oding b/c dean’s son
Yep. Tony may be trying his best, but he WAS still raised as a pretty affluent kid.
More than that though… what is Sarah’s real choice here?
Does she go Defense trial lawyer? Prosecution and WORK with the police?
Business attorney? Working with corporations?
Or is she aiming for the bench?
Listen, I was saying weeks ago that Tony’s a Republican, but I wouldn’t have a meltdown over this one line. Giving a moderate amount of benefit of the doubt that the cops is less “Tony’s a fascist” and more “Tony’s understandably naive for a 19-20 y.o. white boy who’s been raised with a lot of privilege in a Red state”. I’ve seen lots of people who were still like that in undergrad grow out of it.
(Also, Rachel’s actually wrong: students living in dorms, like apartment residents, don’t lose fourth amendment protections just because they don’t own the building. These searches required warrants.)
I was hoping this presumably-older comment section would understand (or care about?) Willis’s contrast of “actively virtue signalling bootlicks for the hierarchy” Mary and “normal person who has a normal, not-existential perspective gap” Tony. Was a bit of a disappointing scroll. Plenty possible that the most of Getters just aren’t commenting about Getting it, I suppose.
It would be great if he grew out of it, but even if he doesn’t, like. That’s a “being a person” level of personality flaw, a level that 98% of the people you meet on earth will have (or, probably, more severe than that).
I always wonder about people who bring out the crucifix for something this minor. How many personally care about the specific issue (which I find pretty understandable), how many don’t interact much with other people (or themselves) to realize the omnipresence of flaws like this, how many are virtue signaling as a show of strength in internet points, and how many just genuinely despise the 98% of humanity (probably including themselves) with flaws of this tier.
Like, every main character (unless I forgot someone?) has done something worth than express mild sympathy for the police, usually something much worse. And they’re (usually?) fine normal people.
(Obviously those characters had more screentime, and Tony’s line here could help signal how Willis plans to write him in future screentime, but like. I want to see where this goes from its current mild level.)
There’s also everything happening in the country right now, which makes any, even naive, sympathy for cops hit harder than it might have even when this was written.
The thing is that Mary being awful isn’t new information, and we don’t know how bad Tony’s gonna be yet and have very limited information at this point
I am a little curious where the impulse to defend Tony is coming from? My honest impression is pretty neutral on him. We barely know anything about him besides he does sports, doesn’t do buffoonery, and is a dean’s son. His actions and words will continue to speak for themselves. Like today’s strip did. Not trusting gimmicks aside I think it’s fine if it rubs people the wrong way or the response is a bit wary. Tony has not done much of anything to earn endearment from the audience, so to me it’s fine if he’s getting a bit of the rough criticism. He can take it.
wonder if it’d clog the system /ppl would be individually willing to file a complaint and bring hte cops to court if not somehow get them fined/punishment (Tho it might be aslap on teh wrist) versus them needing to sue them as a ‘group’ or so like “the people vs” or whatever (class action?)
I wonder if this means we’re gonna see the first big argument between Sarah and Tony since they got together, over their opinions on the cops searching students’ rooms for the Amazi-Girl costume. That could be interesting.
Oh Mary, you really are just an amalgamation of all the most insufferable people I had to spend middle school with, aren’t you? Not that all of those people were bad, mind you, but Mary is kind of a Voltron of all the toxic ones. Just all the worst aspects of fundie culture mixed together in a vile gumbo of hate and hypocrisy.
I’m reminded of a “Law and Order” episode where Jack McCoy’s boss tells his assistant that the right to privacy is a myth invented by the Supreme Court, then holds up a copy of the Constitution and asks her to point out the EXACT Amendment that says verbatim “right to privacy.” There was none, and Jack used that argument to have the police raid the prime suspect’s computer… though he felt terrible about it.
It takes a determinedly obtuse reading of the 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments to not perceive a Right to Privacy within their penumbra, but I agree that it would have been helpful to have it spelled out at least a little more explicitly.
That said, the “verbatim” dodge is an infaliable indicator of sophistry at work; lots of perfectly articulated rights (e.g., the “right to remain silent”) aren’t enumerated in the precise words that people might commonly use to describe them.
But it’s even worse, because you don’t have to invoke an implicit Right to Privacy to prevent raiding a suspect’s computer. That’s literally the 4th Amendment.
There are other situations that do depend on that penumbra, but not searching someone’s stuff is what the Right to Privacy is derived from, it’s not dependent on it.
I mean, he IS the son of the Dean as well a member of the varsity football team. Despite his rather admirable gallantry, he likely also “believes in the system” much like Dorothy did and he hasn’t yet realized the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways the system marginalizes or oppresses certain factions in order to maintain the status quo and keep those at the top in their position.
She smokes weed on garbage roof and I think that’s pretty much all we’ve ever learned about her. Not sure who she rooms with, maybe one of the Rachels.
Poor Mary. I’m sure she’d appreciate this gloss on Cardinal Richelieu:
“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of [people], I will find something in them which will hang him.”
Or Mathew Hopkins:
“he met with the Devill, and cheated him of his Booke, wherein were written all the Witches names in England, and if he looks on any Witch, he can tell by her countenance what she is.”
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smh
Yeah….don’t trust Tony. I’m finally on board with that.
He’s been too perfect up ’til now, especially for a Star Football Player and son of the Dean.
He gets up at like 5am to do sports, he can’t be perfect.
so did Dorothy and we saw where that went
Fair point.
Though it’s possible that he meant that he hopes they found what they were looking for so they go away and don’t come back.
5am? But that’s snuggly bed time. Only drug dealers and gas station attendants are up then.
As a football star and son of the dean, it’s likely any interaction he’s ever had with cops was neutral or positive. As such, it’s entirely possible he’s just a little oblivious rather than evil.
to wit: goddammit
Yeah, he just shot down my list of characters hard
Right now he is below even Mary for me. Which probably won’t stick forever but the fact it happened at all…
I’m less “ugh, Tony’s a bad” and more “Tony’s a privileged straight-white-cis-probably-straight-dude that doesn’t fully grasp the politics of cops as a teenager-early-20s-guy”.
…mostly because I was a fair bit like that when I was his age. I absolutely both-sidesed my colleges Muslim Student Union and Zionist club (yes, Zionists were in their club’s name) when I was in college, and I was a fucking idiot.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not waving a “TONY DID NOTHING WRONG” flag, just that he’s more “dumbass” than “jackass” here. If you’re not overtly harmed by The System, you have fewer reasons to question it, so its easier to give it a pass.
But, again, to stress: This is “explaining”, not “excluding”. Tony needs to get a big-ass clue, no question about it.
Sorry, meant to say:
This is “explaining”, not “exonerating”.
…for some reason, my alcohol intake has ticked up a few degrees in the last few weeks. Funny that.
no no no, you’re right
In this case, alcohol helped you
Yeah, probably more this than anything. Tony’s feels like he’s in that extremely privileged but means well category. Think a realistic Clark Kent of sorts. He probably inherently believes in the police and the institutions because he’s never gotten wronged by them directly, and assumes the massive injustices to be the bad eggs in the system rather than the problems with the system itself.
Youcan see this with his reaction to Incelerator. Paul isn’t a symptom of a larger problem. He’s just being an idiot and needs some sense slapping into him.
Tony feels like the type of guy who, were he to see the cop trying to arrest Joyce for simply being near a protest, would try to stop that cop, only to be utterly baffled when the other cops started dog-pilling him for ‘resisting arrest’.
I read it as “If they found what they were looking for, at least they won’t come back.”
… This reflex of mine to put a positive spin on things is a real buzzkill sometimes.
Eh, better than the reflexive negativity and judgment that’s so common here.
Do we trust Tony or Asher more
To do what they say? Tony.
To do what is right? …yeah, probably Asher.
Tony, but more because Asher has the greater capacity to cause harm than anything else.
Asher is more dangerous. He has a sense of humor.
Look what it did to Sal.
Would he follow all his teammates into ICE though, that’s the question.
wouldn’t want him to be a gary stu but i imagine it’d be nuanced versus him ending up full maga considering he found that incelearator guy as obnoxious as everyone else
I don’t think he’s actively malicious, just very unplugged from these very serious issues that if he WAS more invested in he could make a big difference in, he “hopes they find what there looking for” because all he cares about is them leaving faster because there annoying to him, I don’t think he’ll become the next big villain, but hes apathetic to the situation to a destructive degree
Sorry, everyone. Wish I hadn’t been right about that.
Waitaminit, does that make ME the narc?
ooh Sarah has a good idea what they were looking for…
Maybe? Though I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t. Sarah has expressed mistrust of the police before and, considering the experiences the average black american has with them, probably has good reason not to want them to succeed in their search regardless of whatever it was they’re looking for.
fair
I dunno if Joyce messaged her or phoned her, but if the former, she could read that and have some idea, what happend
Maybe she skimmed her text messages at some point since the last time we saw her.
Wasn’t she one of the people Dorothy text to move the costume?
Unfortunately, so does Tony.
A wedge between Sarah and Tony appears to be forming, kinda makes sense considering his whole “son of the dean” position.
there was always the chance, given his relation to the one’s who probably okay’d the raid.
I had a jump scare in panel 4 before I realized that from a distance and when you’re half paying attention, Tony looks like a buff, broad Mike with curly hair.
Wasn’t just me. Good.
Now that you’ve said it, it almost looks like his hair is leaning forward in that panel specifically, just to cause that effect.
The physics-defying hair lives again
Ah here we go, now maybe we’ll see some more about tony.
girl has a “work” folder
wonder if this will cause issue between sarah and tony
Good moment to remember Tony is the son of the dean, lives pretty luxuriously and is probably not the most leftist guy around. Just saying.
These things don’t necessarily correlate. I’m the son of a former dean of a nearby major state university, grew up living reasonably luxuriously, and if I was any more left-leaning, I’d need a crutch.
Well I’m happy you turned out alright, but power + influence + money don’t usually produce very socially aware kids.
That, in and of itself, seems a bit closed minded.
“OH NO WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE POOR RICH POWERFUL KIDS?!?!?!?”
“OH NO. SOMEONE DEIGNS TO ASSERT THAT MAYBE I SHOULDN’T MAKE SWEEPING JUDGEMENT ABOUT PEOPLE. THAT’S SO HAAAAARD WAAAH!!!!! IF I CAN’T SWEEP PEOPLE INTO CONVENIENT BOXES AND USE THAT TO BE JUDGEMENTAL AND RUDE HOW WILL I SURVIVE!!!! THE ONLY WAY FOR ME TO CONTINUE EXISTING IS TO BE CATTY AND RUDE TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE I’VE DETERMINED TO BE THE BAD GUYS BECAUSE I WANT TO BE MEAN BUT DON’T WANNA BE CALLED OUT ON IT. OH GOSH WOE IS ME!!!
Are you seriously trying to imply the rich and powerful are not, in most cases, conservative assholes? I would like to know where you live and move there, if that’s the case.
o3o My point is it’s wrong to make assumptions about somebody due to their financial position, especially one beyond their control. Someone expressed that they’re in a similar situation to Tony and you said “Well I’m happy you turned out alright, but” like…it comes across as really condescending. You might as well have said “You’re one of the good ones”.
Believe it or not, I’m not obligated to coddle someone with a lot of privilege just because the truth about their station makes them uncomfortable. They’re not like that? Good! Most of the others are.
And even more so.
Historically, young people with privilege have had the breathing space in which develop progressive ideals. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt come to mind. Colleges known for their strong student activism and progressive environments, such as UC Santa Cruz, University of Vermont, UC Berkeley, and Vassar College are seldom those intended primarily for low-income students.
Crazy that americans think rich-people colleges are the only ones producing left wing people. Like teh rest of the world doesn’t have free colleges with an even higher output of left wing people.
Nobody said that at all actually. Or even implied it. Don’t use words like “only ones” like that because it feels you’re intentionally misrepresenting their point.
It’s sort of what was implied. “rich people get to read more so they’re actually more progressive” and then naming a buncha expensive colleges.
I literally want to be friends with you IRL. I appreciate your kindness and humanity.
😛 thanks. Now I feel bad it happened in a comment chain where I mockingly crashed out a bit.
Everyone’s jumping you when this is objectively correct. It is not closed minded to point out that privileged people are often unaware of their privilege
Literally any situation will “often” produce people who lack extrospection and awareness of others’ life experiences. Because people are often like that. “Usually” is a much stronger word than “often”.
Some rich kids grow up to be spoiled rich adults, but others become very leftist as they grow up. For example, Friedrich Engels was born into a rich family, and he ended up writing the Communist Manifesto and several similar works with Karl Marx.
i wonder how much deans get paid, other than his injury i’d think he was good enough to get in on a football scholarship (tho i wonder if ppl in similar situations ‘rebel’ by going to a diff college, now that i think about it i dont’ think i’ve met anyone’s kids in school/classmates whose parents also worked in the school)
Ah, there’s the other shoe dropping on Tony, finally.
He appears to live with a fair degree of privilege, so it’s going to take a learning experience to deprogram an inherent trust/faith in authority figures.
Okay what is Rachel’s problem today, what’s her beef with Mandy
I don’t think anything in specific, she’s just getting a dig in at her for naivety.
Rachel is very cynical. She’d probably be friends with Raidah, but something tells me she’s not far enough up the food chain to attract Raidah’s interest.
Nah, I think Rachel and Raidah are too much alike to tolerate each other’s company.
OK, now they HAVE to meet! Dueling self-righteousness at dawn!
Prolly not but it’d be mad funny
considering she thinks ppl aren’t capable if change i wonder i fshe has any actual friends. if not “oh i cut off my family a long time ago” (which, plenty of ppl are in the right to do so, but still)
She and her mom seemed to get along
Yeah, her entire attitude is totes that of someone who thinks they are the only person who knows anything.
I don’t think she has beef with Mandy in this strip. She is making sardonic commentary about how naive it is to think they have a right to privacy when they’re in the college dorms. The students DO have a right to privacy but the college is basically an overpaid landlord and what they say goes which means if their rooms need to be searched…
Ah, now that I read your comment, I repent what I’ve written, because you makes more sense.
I also feels like college dorms are often raided
It’s definitely one of those things that are often exploited. I remember taking a juvenile justice system class and we discussed a trial regarding a student’s backpack being searched while it was in a locker at a high school and whether it was legal. Right to privacy was brought up, but it was ultimately decided that because her school had ‘reasonable suspicion’ that she had contraband in her backpack, then right to privacy or not, the school was allowed to search her. If you’re curious to read up, it’s New Jersey vs T.L.O. I’m thinking the college’s logic in this case is that, since a student “attacked” cops during a protest, then they have reasonable suspicion to search suspected students and find who did it so they can face “judgement”.
If there was “reasonable suspicion” to suspect an individual student, that would be one thing, but this seems to have been a broad sweep through at least the entire floor, which would generally put it outside that cases logic.
High school lockers and college dorm rooms are also not necessarily given the same expectation of privacy.
This also assumes it was a school decision rather than a police one.
Very true.
Just making fun of her for thinking she has any rights in the face of a bunch of embarrassed cops
I don’t think this is her having a problem with Mindy, I think this is just a snarky comment about how cops will happily ignore any and all rights and privacy
Yes, Mary, I’m sure you would like all of them to search your drawers.
*snrk*
Yeah, no one thinks Mary just made a double entendre.
Is that the first cracks in the hull of the good ship Sarahtonin I see?
I’d call Tony’s remark about “unseemliness” the first crack, even if it went under Sarah’s head at the time.
When was that again?
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/book-16/01-not-so-smooth-criminals/unseemly/
haha Sarahtonin
It sounds like serotonin
Good reason to always smear everything in your drawers with nuru gel to really fuck up all the folks pawing through them
Mary is proud to have “Indiana’s finest in her *drawers*”. Okay, so Mary has a kink for cops. Got it. ;p
I don’t know if I want to square that with the theory that Mary Bradford is related to the Officer Bradford who shot Blaine.
Are we allowed to mention that here when his last name has only been given in a Patreon strip?
To be clear this is not me being tongue-in-cheek, I am genuinely unclear on this point, would welcome Willis’ input
It’s been mentioned before.
A certified Badge Bunny.
Heh, it’s TIL time.
Then again I didn’t know what a Puck Bunny was before I read Check, Please.
Have you ever seen a right-winger who didn’t?
It’s hard to find fresh reasons to not like Mary but this is a new one.
Yes Rachel we get it, cops and the government will do their best to ignore the right to privacy. That doesn’t mean it’s not enshrined in law. Maybe chill a bit?
Rachel can’t chill. That would mean assuming other people can have opinions.
Wow. Tony. You somehow made me hate you more than I hate Mary
Impressive
Yeah, we knew Tony is hopelessly square
Don’t body shame!
Mary doesn’t need to worry. Drawing naked pictures of Jesus is legal. Or Mack Bolan. Or whoever it is she draws naked pictures of.
50% chance she draws stuff that would make Larry Flynt claw his eyes out in horror
She wouldn’t even be drawing pictures of the actual Jesus, just some white guy that people call the same name.
Talk about coincidence. I hadn’t thought of Mack Bolan for years, but I mentioned something from one of his stories to my sister a few hours ago.
She could be thinking of her search history or pictures she saved… for research purposes! As an art student, it’s important for her to study anatomy, after all.
Dirty pictures of that same anime guy over and over again. As is her wont.
Reagan.
I didn’t know who Mack Bolin was at first and misread it as Marc Bolin. Which would have been an interesting wrinkle in her character.
Mary has an extensive collection of queer porn of a staggering number of varieties.
ALL YAOI ALL THE TIME
Ugh she would be one of those insane BL fangirls with a parasocial relationship with Heated Rivalry actors, wouldn’t she.
That and there would be the most amazing interference patterns caused by her buried self-loathing and fundy upbringing. Just absolutely wild psychic ripples
this what i imagine the CONFISCATION looked like if Mary were there XD
You are insane and we love you.
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Cops get some of their best stuff in college raids.
Mary already had rancid vibes as an annoying, malevolent evangelical. You add “secret fujoshi” to that and you have a truly diabolical force loose in the dorms.
Alright, Mandy. Put your money where your mouth is and go fistfight Amber. She’s hopped up on pain pills while wounded, so it’ll probably be pretty easy.
She didn’t actually say what she’d do to them, so I think she could put her money where her mouth is by doing nothing.
I think she might have meant the person who put a tip in to the police?
this is how joesarah can still win
Uh-oh, trouble in Sarah & Tony land.
Stow the smug cynicism, Rachel. People should be pissed off about this.
Oh, Rachel was already pissed off.
On a side note the girls of Read hall got some shit in they closets. What are they up to? What perversions lurk in Mary’s porn folder? Is Meredith just stashing weed? That would be her one gimmick but do cops really care about weed in 2026? I wanna know the detes.
From what I could find through google, weed is still illegal in Indiana (aside from limited medical use which one would need a medical card for).
last I checked still illegal in Indiana, so they would care.
“do cops really care about weed in 2026” even if not usually (which i don’t think is true), they certainly *can* care if they want to and that’s really not a position you want to be in.
Oh now we’re eating good! So many characters worried about different things. Tony is either going to have a Carla-esque arc of finding out how bad corruption is or Sarah is going to have to put her ethics before hormones.
Mary please do the world a favor, and jump into a lake while wearing lead boots.
Also, I have concerns about Tony; I understand he’s the dean’s son, but he’s also got the “I’ll tell the cops anything they ask” attitude.
Am I wrong to think that? I’ve not read Willis’ other works, so I’ve got no idea what Tony is like.
just finished reading through the walkyverse the other day. he stars as the son of the leader of SEMME (secret government org that fights aliens) and spends a good chunk of it dead/brainwashed so its not the best circumstances to get a read on him (and who knows if anythings changed) but he was pretty straightforward, loyal, and protective. i think he would do it if he thought the pros outweighed the cons or if he was asked/told to do so by someone like his father.
…I dunno about youse, but is anyone else just spending today like a state of constant 😱?
Just me?
Been a while since we had a question game, innit? This is a soft one:
Q. What do you do to calm yourself down?
I can go:
A. On a good day, I’ll cuddle the pup dog or listen to brainwave entrainment meditation music, or go for a walk, or even play piano. On a bad day I just play online poker or take pills.
(Not real poker, don’t worry! Just no-money solitaire puzzle poker.
https://www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-01-15/pile-up-poker/1
Also, not scary pills. Just Rx PRNs and OTC supplements.)
Read.
That’s great! What do you enjoy reading?
Depends on what’s got me upset but I tend to go to music and movies if it’s general anxiety. If I’m overstimulated, having some quiet and something to fidget/fiddle with in my hands will do a lot to help me simmer down.
Oh, yeah. Hand fiddling is just a given! 😅 Twiddling thumbs is especially meditative.
getting in a chat with friends, watching something on dropout, or going to pet my dog usually helps to ground me. im finishing up my rewatch of season 3 of make some noise, and then im gonna catch up on gamechanger
Sounds like fun!
sorry to hear Laura, my greatest sympathy for reals TT~TT
me? thats been me basically all the time recently
mostly just conkin out on cannabis and playing plants vs zombies 2 on my phone hahaha
sometimes watching Arthur and skooks YTPs
at this rate i just need my brain to melt and my body get as close to hibernation as possible
daydreaming all the time. sometimes ya just gotta let yourself do nothing, and let ya mind take ya places
few people appreciate how much potential there is in that
“To sleep, perchance to dream…”
Dreaming can be so lovely, can’t it? Sometimes I can’t wait to fall back to sleep so I can pick up my dream where it left off. Gotta find out what happens next in the story!
Depends on the kind od calming down.
Rest or distraction can help immidiately after a strong stress feeling is triggered, but in the long term to stop that turning into anxiety what helps is research and planning.
It could be any level of plan, e.g. Researching university courses in another country and looking at grant systems and how they work.
Researching how and where to run a cute local community workshop.
Researching a new technique for a knitting project and planning when to make it.
Essentially what I am doing is showing my subconscious I have agency and ability. Taking action on something, removing the feeling of uncertainty, reducing the unknowns in life, feeling empowered, is what helps me to keep calm long term.
Oh, wow! That is so *productive*! Good on ya! (I just get paralyzed when the anxiety strikes… 🙄 ) I’m so glad you have that kind of drive. 😀
*looks at the Alt-Text* …I was half expecting it to be interracial trans porn, given how Mary is, and how the nazis fetishize the things they hate.
it’s… it’s a fictional character that some of the Questionable Content characters read…
Arnold would never.
Oh Tony. Can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m still disappointed. I hope Sarah takes this for what it is
Do we know sarah’s stance on the protest/situation tho? I mean, it’s not like she went to the protest either
I’m calling it, Tony is gonna show his whole ass, get dumped, and then Sarah and Joe are gonna…. get closer :3
I’d like that because I personally find Joe 10x more interesting than Tony as a character and in story potential but I don’t think it will happen. At least not this soon.
That is the correct take 😀 I don’t think it will happen anytime soon either, but it -does- appear to be slowly in the works. She’s been seeing him in a kinder light, AND he’s taller than her
either that or sarah’s willing to let it slide and it drives a wedge between her other friends
Being a college student you’d think Meredith would have some easy to stash gummies or a vape pen but I bet she’s really a weed connoisseur with assorted jars of nicely labeled prime bud strains.
i think when this comic first started, idk how popular vapes was but depending on the design/size can imagine you’d lose it easily unless you always keep it on your pocket or so (buti doubt hte cops care too much unless they come back later)
Mary would love a Cop to rummage through her drawers.
No, Mary. Peter is NOT Indiana’s finest.
…. actually, if Peter had a really tiny peter, that might count.
Is she even still with peter? I don’t think he’s shown up at all in second semester. (We saw him in the flashback arc to halloween, but that’s it)
I interpret Tony’s “I hope they found what they were looking for more as a “I hope they won’t have any reason to come back in the near future” (which even then is a bit tone deaf).
Though knowing the way the comic has been going it’s honestly doubtful.
i wonder how much he knows about becky’s dad and the gun he brought to school
Yyyyyeah, there’s the side of Tony we all knew was gonna show through, sooner or later. As for whether he’ll grow beyond it… well, it’d be nice, but I’m no’ exactly holding my breath.
(originally “no exactly” was a typo and it was supposed to be “not”, but screw it I’m leaning into it, we’re inexplicably Scottish today)
This comic has a lot of main characters grappling with growing out of beliefs, which makes it need characters who *don’t* for contrast (Mary, for instance). And unfortunately, Tony is a exactly the kind of character I could see taking up that kind of role
dun rly know his views but it might just be a white priviilege speaking without hi eralizing the issues ulness he’d be pro-wahtever the college is oding b/c dean’s son
-look at alt text- oooh magical love gentleman 😀
ooh wonder if this is gonna lead to an argument/depends on howpro cop he is or so
Yep. Tony may be trying his best, but he WAS still raised as a pretty affluent kid.
More than that though… what is Sarah’s real choice here?
Does she go Defense trial lawyer? Prosecution and WORK with the police?
Business attorney? Working with corporations?
Or is she aiming for the bench?
Listen, I was saying weeks ago that Tony’s a Republican, but I wouldn’t have a meltdown over this one line. Giving a moderate amount of benefit of the doubt that the cops is less “Tony’s a fascist” and more “Tony’s understandably naive for a 19-20 y.o. white boy who’s been raised with a lot of privilege in a Red state”. I’ve seen lots of people who were still like that in undergrad grow out of it.
(Also, Rachel’s actually wrong: students living in dorms, like apartment residents, don’t lose fourth amendment protections just because they don’t own the building. These searches required warrants.)
I was hoping this presumably-older comment section would understand (or care about?) Willis’s contrast of “actively virtue signalling bootlicks for the hierarchy” Mary and “normal person who has a normal, not-existential perspective gap” Tony. Was a bit of a disappointing scroll. Plenty possible that the most of Getters just aren’t commenting about Getting it, I suppose.
It would be great if he grew out of it, but even if he doesn’t, like. That’s a “being a person” level of personality flaw, a level that 98% of the people you meet on earth will have (or, probably, more severe than that).
I always wonder about people who bring out the crucifix for something this minor. How many personally care about the specific issue (which I find pretty understandable), how many don’t interact much with other people (or themselves) to realize the omnipresence of flaws like this, how many are virtue signaling as a show of strength in internet points, and how many just genuinely despise the 98% of humanity (probably including themselves) with flaws of this tier.
Like, every main character (unless I forgot someone?) has done something worth than express mild sympathy for the police, usually something much worse. And they’re (usually?) fine normal people.
(Obviously those characters had more screentime, and Tony’s line here could help signal how Willis plans to write him in future screentime, but like. I want to see where this goes from its current mild level.)
There’s also everything happening in the country right now, which makes any, even naive, sympathy for cops hit harder than it might have even when this was written.
The thing is that Mary being awful isn’t new information, and we don’t know how bad Tony’s gonna be yet and have very limited information at this point
One warrants more discussion than the other
I am a little curious where the impulse to defend Tony is coming from? My honest impression is pretty neutral on him. We barely know anything about him besides he does sports, doesn’t do buffoonery, and is a dean’s son. His actions and words will continue to speak for themselves. Like today’s strip did. Not trusting gimmicks aside I think it’s fine if it rubs people the wrong way or the response is a bit wary. Tony has not done much of anything to earn endearment from the audience, so to me it’s fine if he’s getting a bit of the rough criticism. He can take it.
wonder if it’d clog the system /ppl would be individually willing to file a complaint and bring hte cops to court if not somehow get them fined/punishment (Tho it might be aslap on teh wrist) versus them needing to sue them as a ‘group’ or so like “the people vs” or whatever (class action?)
I wonder if this means we’re gonna see the first big argument between Sarah and Tony since they got together, over their opinions on the cops searching students’ rooms for the Amazi-Girl costume. That could be interesting.
I think so!
Nice to see inuniverse someone ask about right to privacy and legality of the search
I hope Sarah have ball and glove near her baseball bat
We saw that before it started.
Oh Mary, you really are just an amalgamation of all the most insufferable people I had to spend middle school with, aren’t you? Not that all of those people were bad, mind you, but Mary is kind of a Voltron of all the toxic ones. Just all the worst aspects of fundie culture mixed together in a vile gumbo of hate and hypocrisy.
I’m reminded of a “Law and Order” episode where Jack McCoy’s boss tells his assistant that the right to privacy is a myth invented by the Supreme Court, then holds up a copy of the Constitution and asks her to point out the EXACT Amendment that says verbatim “right to privacy.” There was none, and Jack used that argument to have the police raid the prime suspect’s computer… though he felt terrible about it.
Season 13, Episode 5- The Ring.
It takes a determinedly obtuse reading of the 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments to not perceive a Right to Privacy within their penumbra, but I agree that it would have been helpful to have it spelled out at least a little more explicitly.
That said, the “verbatim” dodge is an infaliable indicator of sophistry at work; lots of perfectly articulated rights (e.g., the “right to remain silent”) aren’t enumerated in the precise words that people might commonly use to describe them.
But it’s even worse, because you don’t have to invoke an implicit Right to Privacy to prevent raiding a suspect’s computer. That’s literally the 4th Amendment.
There are other situations that do depend on that penumbra, but not searching someone’s stuff is what the Right to Privacy is derived from, it’s not dependent on it.
That’s the Fourth Amendment. God damn it, Law and Order!
Reminder that Law and Order is copaganda.
….. of course that’s a legit actual LO episode.
Jesus Christ, Tony, don’t be such a square.
We’re rooting for you, man.
C’mon Rachel there’s no need for that
Sarah is starting to chill out so we need a new professional hater
Yeah. She is right in general, but her comment here was totally unnecessary
Careful, Sarah, you don’t know what details he knows yet.
I’m pretty sure cops doesn’t want to looking for your 4Chan account, Mary
Cop after searching Mary’s computer: “Dear lord, I have never seen so much Ronald Reagan porn in my life. And I’m a cop!”
All right Mary. How much porn are we talking about here?
Protect Meredith (I don’t know if it is legalized in Indiana)
People upthread are saying it’s illegal in Indiana.
Ooh, is this where we get a substantial look at Tony’s perspective and beliefs? The beginning of a character arc?
I mean, he IS the son of the Dean as well a member of the varsity football team. Despite his rather admirable gallantry, he likely also “believes in the system” much like Dorothy did and he hasn’t yet realized the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways the system marginalizes or oppresses certain factions in order to maintain the status quo and keep those at the top in their position.
Meredith hasn’t well imprinted on my memories, is there anything of note about her I may have forgotten?
She smokes weed on garbage roof and I think that’s pretty much all we’ve ever learned about her. Not sure who she rooms with, maybe one of the Rachels.
She was in Shortpacked! and was the other woman in a love triangle with Amber and her internet boyfriend
None of the evil vizier energy she had in that is really in evidence in Dumbing of Age though, basically a different character entirely
Also she rooms with Bloodrose, the Goth who’s been mentioned a few times and made like two untagged appearances
Looks like the end of a beautiful relationship is on the offing.
Ohhhhhhh. I was wondering what was going to break them up.
Mary here being a perfect little example of the problems behind ‘If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear’.
Poor Mary. I’m sure she’d appreciate this gloss on Cardinal Richelieu:
“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of [people], I will find something in them which will hang him.”
Or Mathew Hopkins:
“he met with the Devill, and cheated him of his Booke, wherein were written all the Witches names in England, and if he looks on any Witch, he can tell by her countenance what she is.”
No, Mary, if your computer is still there, they haven’t searched it. That shit goes through a months-long backlog.
#dontask 😑
Rachel, we get it, you vape.
oh. Tony’s getting dumped and Joe + Sarah is coming.
Neat!