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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 14h
The Emotion Engine @emotion-engine.bsky.social ⋅ 9d
The Emotion Engine @emotion-engine.bsky.social ⋅ 13d
Vangelus @vangelus.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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Frances “Poet Laureate of the Robot Alliance” Klein @fklein907.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
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| TEAM FOSSILS
Rainbow Friends
Dr. Frizzle
that would be like Faye meeting Renee!
They did meet when Angus introduced them
Ah, there we go.
I always forget that since Renee’s appearance changed a lot. (Which, I’m glad, since she used to basically just be black Faye, but I think she absorbed Gabby and they melded)
… did they get ahold of some Potarra earrings…? I guess Renee is the dominant personality, considering they’re using her name.
Does she look that different now, aside from the art changes? She probably does but, would you be willing to link a couple of pages that underline what you mean?
New Renee: https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3858
Renee’s first appearance (I think): https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1845
So yeah, the character design has changed substantially in addition to the art style differences
Anything in QC immediately following 1800 just suck. They just. Just suck.
(I was so sad and even a little angry when Marten and Dora broke up, and then Padma came to help Marten along while Dora seemed to be doing pretty well for herself [additional aside: Oh fuck her and Tai are engaaaaaged] and then Marten fucked it all up and it’s rough to read, okay?)
Brun is a treasure and you can’t convince me otherwise. And May is introduced way after 1800 and she is the backbone of this comic. Plus Spookybot. Spookybot is LIFE
I think the focus was “immediately after” for Schpoonman
1812
I have the same problem with how GC started trying to explore character flaws. Highlighting they are there and shifting to the less positive focus of a personality shouldn’t be the same as throwing characters under the bus and removing a lot of life lessons they had already learned from having those flaws so they can be revisited or shown to not be as pure as a minority thought. It was well enough written we knew Marten could be a flop. That being said, I actually liked the Padme arc (not the Dee arc) because he didn’t just accept it and his hard time, he took the Lts. advice and reached out. He was passive with Dora, and aggressive when they broke. He was then passive aggressive and now he’s learning to initiate. Coming to that balance out of a bad spot did feel natural even if other elements in the writing felt more like a “guide to not be a dick” then a daily life comic.
That was supposed to be the joke but I thought with how slight she looked she was more a Faye/Tai hybrid in her original form.
I thought they *had* met by now…
Have they not?
It looks like the only time they’ve been near each other was when Marten invited a bunch of drunk people back from the bar, after Elliot accidentally destroyed Clinton’s hand. Faye and Renee had no interaction while Renee was there, though. The link on my name goes to the list of QC comics that have both Faye and Renee in them.
I like that a major conversation thread is about a different comic.
she’s GOD DAMN RIGHT
No woman that attached to Sal’s hair or Billie’s boobles can be straight.
I’m living proof.
Dumbing of Age Book 9: SNRK!
DoA Book 9: I’ve Had Worse
DoA Book 9: Absorb All Reality
I think you all mean Dumbing of Age Book 9: Kind of a Bisexual Version of Me
DoA Book 9: I Didn’t Intend to Proselytize
What vibes would Lucy, specifically, witness from Joyce like that?
Lucy’s a shipper, so her “can I read this person as bisexual” sense is strong.
Bisexual vibes obvi
Bibes
Lucy had one conversation with her, in which she talked about how Walky is sexy because he has Dorothy’s smell.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/offbase/
The ‘he smells good’/‘he smells like Dorothy, do all the girls like him because of the Dorothy smell?’ exchange. Alternately, Billie mentioned all the bi vibes she gets off Joyce.
Indeed.
And, as mentioned previously (here and on Its Walky), when I had my wife read the early sections of DoA and then “play Joyce, but mind-wiped and with super powers” she went with “bisexual poly-amorous romantic”. So yeah, Joyce exudes bi-vibes to a great extent – even long before many of these characters started pointing it out. ^^
In support of the ace contingent, I’d like to point out that liking and even crushing isn’t the same as thinking of someone sexually.
No, but having sex dreams about your hunky boyfriend is.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/offbase/
Thanks to /tag/lucy+joyce/
Joyce thought that almost everything Lucy found attractive about Walky were really things about Dorothy. His nice sense of dress, personal hygiene (smell at the time), etc.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit remembering important comics!
Search function does all the magic.
As long as you remembered to keep sniffing glue!
LOL. https://archiveofourown.org/works/15230934
Okay, I’ve never been to AO3, but that someone whipped up an SU/Airplane fic has piqued my interest.
Hmm, well. +160 hits, +1 kudos. Wonder how many didn’t get the pun and how many got it and didn’t like it? Ah well.
If I had to guess, she’s seen Joyce fangirl Sal and no-so-secretly lust after Jacob, and made some guesses.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/offbase/
She thought girls were attracted to Walky because he smelled like Dorothy.
That sort of thing definitely implied that Joyce was attracted to Dorothy.
Bustin’ makes me feel GOOD!
I ain’t afraid of no sleep. I ain’t afraid of no bed.
An invisible bed. Freaky Ghost bed. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Way to define people by their sexualities, Lucy!
Most problematic character, stg.
If assuming Joyce is bi/ defining her by her bi-ness is Lucy’s worst crime, then she’s still not even in the top TEN most problematic characters. Probably not even top twenty.
I assumed Woomy was being sarcastic, if for no other reason than their last line.
yeah this is so patently a joke comment
Stg?
swear to god
I don’t know why I was stuck on it being an abbreviation for Stargate.
SGC for StarGate Command.
Some say his comments are hyperbolic, and that he can be disassembled for convenient storage. All we know is he’s called The Stg!
I do love Walky’s reaction.
That kind of honesty/straightforwardness sure gets some interesting reactions out of people sometimes.
Oh my goodness Lucy! You are absolutely definitely on my list of characters I refer to as ‘the best’.
Lucy is the best
I swear the next Slipshine comic is just going to be “Lucy Fantasizes About a Polite Date with Walky Where She Maybe Also Meets Starfire”. She’s just so damn wholesome.
Right now, Lucy’s at the top of the DOA Leader board.
I liked her, anyhow, but I think I end up liking her more each time she appears.
Panel 4 Walky was me reading this. Perceptive one, that Lucy.
I really like that Lucy did cop to it being her way of trying to spend some time with him, that was pretty forthright of her, and I do like that Walky didn’t shit on that or anything, and did give her fair warning. This ought to be interesting.
I’m really hung up on the phrase “a bisexual version of me.” I can’t decide how I feel about it.
I guess that between Joyce thinking Lucy was making fun of her by being herself, she figured out they must have a lot in common, and Joyce defining Walky’s attractiveness by her associating him with Dorothy gave the impression that she was into Dorothy, which, is a pretty common take.
Lucy can only really operate on the information she’s been presented with so far, which ended up being a sorta crash course of Joyce, incidentally.
Yeah, even in universe it’s not uncommon to see people think
1) Joyce and Lucy are weird mirrors of each other and
2) Joyce’s sense of typical female friendship behaviors have been skewed by not realizing Becky was gay and crushing. (Also she occasionally has a ‘I’m a friend of Dorothy!’ line or uses a verse from Ruth read at lesbian weddings for lunch notes moment.) If you don’t know about the Becky thing it’s easy to get a false positive bi read off her.
Are we sure it’s a *false* positive…?
I don’t know what the polite, one word term is, but if Joyce is Bi, she hasn’t admitted it to herself, yet.
I believe that term is “closeted”.
“Closeted” is when you know but don’t tell anyone, or only tell a limited set of people who will keep the secret.
“Egg” was the term that Cerb always uses for this sort of thing. … unless that’s only for trans people who haven’t realized it?
Oh, wait, DENIAL. That’s a word.
But seriously, if Joyce were going to be gay for anyone it would have been Becky. And she just isn’t.
Are we SURE Becky is Joyce’s type though? She seems to be more into structured people.
Also the fact that Joyce attributed walkys attractiveness to the “Dorothy Smell”
My mind went weirdly to Zoolander…
“…You can read minds…?”
…then I realized that the line is bulemic, *not* bisexual.
Lucy has very refined gaydar. I’m with Walky in this one, if I was 40 years younger, and a cartoon character, I would love her too.
Making fun of Joyce: A tried and true method of making Walky warm up to you.
Then she’s doomed; I don’t think Lucy can consciously rag on someone deliberately.
Even funnier to Walky, probably, in that Lucy’s not even trying to make fun of her.
Looks like Walky may go from Garbage Roof to what seems like the most well adjusted person we’ve seen in the strip so far. I’m shopping that just for the cuteness factor.
Yeah, I was noticing that something felt… off about Walky in this strip. As weird as this is to say, I think it’s… maturity? Somehow? Just a bit?
Maturity? Ahh, can’t be. You sure it’s not just the bedhead?
I mean, she does kinda signal flare that vibe, yeah.
Lucy is very perceptive!
lucy’s third eye is wide open
No, seriously, say it within earshot. Myself and others can have fun imagining the train wreck.
Hey, yeah! Surely there’s never a wrong time to invite Joyce to church!
And hey Walky, be fair. Joyce is getting more open-minded! Nowadays she’d only absorb local reality if someone said that.
Lucy is blushing, just a tiny bit, in that last panel.
Wouldn’t you be if your crush said that they love you?
Well either that or deeply uncomfortable, depending how close a relationship.
I think a combo of the “I love you” and him putting his hand on her is flustering her.
Based on her facial expression, she didn’t hear anything Walky said after “I love you….”
Is it bad that I hate Lucy based purely on the fact I love Amber and Walky?
Isn’t this all going to end with Walky and Joyce together anyways? Or did Willis confirm that’s the only relationship that isn’t possible in Dumbing of Age?
Not necessarily and so far seems unlikely. Lord Willis has said that all orientations remain the same such as Joyce being straight and Ethan being gay. And Billie and Mike being Bisexual. But relationships can change for example so far we’ve had no indication that amber and Mike are interested in eachother and Joyce doesn’t like walky at all and finds him physically and mentally unnatractive
Amber and Mike are attracted to each other at points, like, it’s come up, but the nature of their friendship is completely different than it was in Shortpacked, so I doubt it’ll move in that same direction.
Really? I know she thought it was hott when she found out that Ethan had sex with but was she into him or just fangirling over yaoi and having vicarious thrill cause her best friend got laid. I could be wrong
She’s called him a hot jerk before, and he got a hardon when she confronted him when she was investigating the white board incident, since he was an obvious suspect.
I don’t think either of them have any sort of romantic feelings for each other, but there’s a mutual attraction still.
Joyce finds Walky physically attractive in a “have you seen those pecs??” kind of way, but is grossed out by his style, hygiene, and personality.
Or as she put it, “He’s made out of pretty parts”, before promptly ripping into every non-physical thing about him.
Yup, plus the hilarity that was her and Dorothy finding out she crushed on Walky when he was a mouse in that church program Walky completely forgot about being in, though, the three of them swore to never bring that up again.
It’s not bad but sort of a strong reaction. I like Amber and Walky but I dont think it could last. I like walky Lucy a lot though. Lucy is so cute
Just root for everyone to discover that they’re poly and all the hate will melt away.
Yea kinda, hating a character for shipping reasons isnt really that great.
Yes.
This is adorable and wholesome and I ship it internationally for a low flat rate!! I really think Lucy is the most adorable nice nerd. And I think she’s just what Walky needs. Shes smart and driven enough to push walkie and keep him motivated. And she’s really kind and shares his interest and laid back ebough to not overwhelm him and stress him put like Dorothy.
And also isn’t a depressed suicidal potentially multiple personality wreck that could bring out the worst in Walky until she deals with her issues
That’s true. I do think walky and amber were good for eachother but romantically not going to last way too much outside issues that would keep causing internal relationship problems. I think they need to stay friends they give eachother prospective walky reminds Amber that people can like her not just Ethan because i saved him and that others suffer the same insecurity she does just to a lesser degree so she doesnt feel as isolated. Amber reminds walky to be observant to people struggling hes spent a lot ofntime overlooking problems and pushing away hard things like with his families mistreatement of his sister and she reminds him to deal with issues and face them and be brave.
Wait did you mean to flip Samantha off there, or are those just supposed to be pointing fingers signalling that you agree?
Birds for Icalasari for describing Amber in the shittiest, least charitable terms possible.
Once more, for the people in the back: People with mental illness need a fucking doctor, not a warden. Stop treating them like dangerous individuals out to get you/me/us (even when they sometimes are!) and start treating them like a sick person. Which. They. Are.
We get it. Amber can be dangerous. Mike is/can be dangerous. You know who else was dangerous? Sarah with a baseball bat when she was breaking Ryan’s ribs.
True. i like amber I’m rooting for her and want her to heal and be better abd i think a good friend like Walky can help
Or Joyce with a knuckle sandwich for Ross.
I needed to say something because I am so upset that I have written and rewritten messages for over 24 hrs. I’m just going to vaguely summarize with probably out of order thoughts to get it off my chest because I’m that upset with BOTH sides of the spectrum. At the societal level that’s the correct response, but as a spouse that has been victimized by my husband’s UNTREATABLE mental problems there is so much theoretical presumptions in that defense that I am livid. Not everything goes away with a doctor, medication and therapy, but there are truly a lot of things to fear for in some circumstances. That is life as you pointed out and can happen with “sane” persons but they weren’t calling out all illness – just Amber’s which can be violent both to herself and others. Suicidal people totes need love, but not all people can handle that emotional drain and you also need self care. In a good headspace she ignored Walky’s want for consequence and continued to change his grade and you think they aren’t right in assuming she’d bring out his worse? Goofing off and hiding from the problems was the date of the day. That ignores the fact she’s literally been told to go get some help but dismissed it because she thinks she’s untreatable. That she hates part of herself and finds herself a monster but channels it into a physical altercation creating solution and sees that as a better her. Depression glasses are a bongo and not a fault you are in control of, but culpability and responsibility are different. Intentions and actualities are too and collateral happens a lot in certain types of illness even if you have a lot of compassionate and understanding. Walky might not be at risk from that side to the manner in which you were defending, but Danny was sure downwind of a lot of harmful reactions. Amber deserves compassion, and I’m not saying getting help is exclusive to being loveable and romantically involved because she should absolutely have both in her life if she can handle it. But making the observation that’s a shit ton for an 18 yr old already struggling with certain college aspects to deal with is on the money. Saying she probably shouldn’t restart something new again until she examined what happened with Danny is super fair and part of anyone’s learning when things go that bad.
I’m on year 3 of my husband’s health problems and I’m still learning ways to manage because sometimes you do end up the warden when things get that damn bad. No it is not the majority of mental health issues that have this – but it happens. And it sucks trying to leave that place when culpability and responsibility has regained because no one decent actually wants to be a keeper. They just want that loving partnership and worrying about the next time is tolerable but can hurt so damn bad some nights
Every interaction with Lucy and Walky makes me ship them more.
Me tooooooo I want it to make them happy and because they are so cute but also to spite his parents.
I don’t know about the bisexual part, but Joyce’s mind would get blown if she discovers you can like men and women.
Joyce: “Wait, so hypothetically I can marry Dorothy and not being gay?”
Lucy: “That isn’t what I meant.”
Joyce has already had that realization, though I don’t think she’s dwelled on it much. It did come up with Billie mentioning being bi, and pointing out that Joyce kept checking out her boobs.
When did that happen?
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/inevitable/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/curiosity/
I remembered wrong in that, oh yeah, Billie, like Danny, was ignorant of the term bisexual, but yeah, something like that. I could swear they’ve had a similar situation another time, too, but this is what I could find with a brief search.
Also I mean can you blame Lucy for making this mistake? Shes probably heard from billy about Joyce’s obsessive fangirling over other girls. No one would be wierd thinking Joyce had a crush on Sal she swoons over how hott and cool she is and wants to brush her hair and ride on the back of her motorcycle and even started wearing her clothes. And she even spent like ten minutes basically saying how attractive and perfect Dorothy is.
There’s also the fact that when Lucy met Joyce and asked her about Walky, Joyce started talking about Dorothy pretty quick. I can see how she might think Joyce is bi from her limited interaction and knowledge of her so far.
Calling herself the Lesbian Love Sleuth did zero favors to misconceptions in this area.
Forget to point out just once that “lesbian” modifies “love” in that phrase and see what happens.
It’s fine if Joyce did that. This reality sucks anyways.
Walky, watch your turn of phrase! You nearly broke poor Lucy!
I do think that Lucy deserves some sort of recognition for her one-line summary of Joyce!
waaymin…….
So Lucy *is* aware of her doppelgänger.
But to consider Joyce bisexual, lol.
Yep. they met when Lucy came to the wing to try to find out how to get Billie to come to the movie, which ended up with Joyce thinking Lucy was imitating her to tease her, though I think Joyce figured out pretty quick Lucy is just pretty earnest.
Oh yeah I recall their encounter. I was eagerly awaiting it.
It’s nice of Joyce to know there’s a kindred eager spirit on campus.
Joyce’s behaviour is ambiguous, IMO at least. She may not have any wish to be bisexual but she does behave in a way that would make others wonder.
What has she done in Lucy’s presence that would make you (and Lucy) say that?
(I hate when every instance of being nice — to a person of any gender — is interpreted as sexual interest. The person may just be friendly. You can also think someone is cool and amazing and admire them without having any sexual interest in them btw.)
Saying that Walky’s attractive smell is from someone called ‘Dorothy’.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/offbase/
Fair enough. I’d forgotten that.
But barring that, my point stands…
“Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”
Savage
I don’t think Joyce would implode at this point at being called bi tbh, but also I do think she’s the kind of person for whom friendly, non-sexual, same sex skinship is still normal
You’re not making me Google “skinship”. I’m not falling for this again. Every time I look up a word I encounter in these comments, I wind up wanting to carve patterns in my ass with a dremel out of aimless frustration.
‘kinship’
So, wait, you mean if I were to use words like “vagitus” or “penistone” or “cockchafer” you WOULDN’T eventually be driven mad by the curiosity and look them up anyway?
I am that sort of person, and I did, and all I can say is, wow!
Friendship (or parent-child bonding) involving physical (nonsexual) intimacy, i.e. skin contact. Holding hands, cuddling, bathing together. The term itself involves English words borrowed into Japanese and then stolen back into English via anime culture.
lol I totally forgot it is now nsfw yikes, sorry
wait no, I just checked, google is p safe for this, hey. Very clean, ty korean culture bleeding into america
I think this is likely to be the most adoreable strip that does not have Dina in it.
I’m genuinely surprised that Lucy isn’t saying “squeak” in panel 5!
We got yer adorable squeak right here.
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3868
“She’d collapse into herself and absorb all reality” I’m calling it a “Joyce Hole” and there is nothing you can do to stop me!
Not a Brown Hole?
Eww.
Goin’ downtown with the big brown.
“Walky is touching me and technically saying he loves me! H-how did things randomly go so well!?”
“Did I find a move? If I ask Billie will she laugh at me?”
I’m pretty sure that if anyone asked, Lucy would have forgotten that the subject of the discussion is Joyce.
Lucy could tell that description to Becky…and…on second thought, do not do that; the exact same thing would happen.
Why does Joyce keep giving off this vibe that she likes the ladies. XD
Mostly it’s the ‘no boundaries’ thing. With females, at least, Joyce has absolutely no contact and personal space taboos. This makes her seem to be attracted to those girls whom she deeply likes or admires.
She’s said in canon that growing up with Becky crushing on her as her best friend may have given her a skewed sense of what close platonic female friendships are like.
Also, she has very little previous exposure to euphemisms, so she doesn’t know how not to say stuff that people will misinterpret.
Personally I’m wondering if she actually might be a little bi and just doesn’t realize/is suppressing it because of her upbringing.
That whole “Not sure if I want to be like you/admire you or am attracted to you” thing is basically how my girl-crushes always manifested. I always dismissed them as just “confusing platonic feelings of admiration with attraction” I think in part because society conditioned me to ignore them (and it was easy to because they were less frequent than my crushes on men). From what I’ve heard, this is not an uncommon situation. I have a number of female friends who have mostly or only dated/married men and realized pretty late that they’re bi.
That last panel,,,,, Lucy’s face..,.,.,,hhhhhhng my HEART
*cough* cantspellbilewithoutbi *cough*
dang, *bible
She does seem to have a thing for tough girls.
3rd panel for postérity
. . . not incorrect.
See Lucy thinks so too, I’m not projecting! Unless Lucy is projecting. Hmm.