A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Spinnerette
Krazy Krow, Rocio Zucchi, Pablo Rey
When a lab accident gives Heather Brown spider powers and six arms, she does what any midwest comic geek would do: Become Ohio's #3 superhero!
How to be a Werewolf
Shawn Lenore
Malaya Walters was bitten by a werewolf as a child. After being raised by her human family, she faces the chance to learn what being a werewolf is really like as an adult.
Drugs & Wires
Mary Safro, Io Black
Dan used to be a VR operator until his brain got fried by malware. Now he's stuck delivering packages in a post-Soviet hellhole all while trying to adjust to his new life and find some answers.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
Fairmeadow
Kendra P. / KP
A wayward soldier finds herself in a pacifist commune deep in the wilderness of a war-weary land. Living in isolation brings her closer to those she was sworn to kill than she could ever imagine - but also threatens to tear the place apart.
Solstoria
Angelica Maria
After her brother goes missing, Samantha vows to become a Knight and help those around her in the Kingdom of St. Helena.
Anacrine Complex
Sae Cotton
A superhuman heist involving probably too many pigeons than entirely necessary.
The Lonely Vincent Bellingham
Diana Huh
Vincent is an unkind man looking to disappear, and finds himself in the care of a vampire and her two wicked children.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Wychwood
Varethane
When Tiara's pyrokinesis is finally noticed, she is captured by a magical research organization for study. If she cooperates, she could be helping to save humanity from a dire threat - but can she trust them?
Between Failures
Jackie Wohlenhaus
The low stakes adventures of an assorted group of 20 somethings trapped in the declining years of American retail. They are naughty and say lots of swears.
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
Killjoys
Flatw00ds
When two disgraced ex-feds fall backwards into trouble with the clown mafia, getting out in one piece is gonna be no joke!
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Patrik the Vampire
Bree Paulsen
Patrik loves to knit, bake, and help his friends while dealing with his own demons... like his thirst for blood because, oh yeah--he's a vampire.
Come Hell or High Water
Jenny/Star, Mori
Prince Gladimir was never meant to fall for a pirate. Swearing off love for duty, the threat of war propels him back into the Captain’s world of high seas and high stakes. Their relationship could be the thing to save the kingdom of Yvoire - or destroy it.
Goblins
Ellipsis
A fantasy RPG as told through the eyes of the low-level monsters.
The Witch Door
Anni K.
Katariina Lehto discovers her neighbor is a witch called Jousia Muotka. Jousia introduces Katariina to the strange people and places beyond the witch door...
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Heart of Gold
Eliot Baum, Viv Tanner
A pianist with failing eyesight seeks out a priest with a miraculous healing touch, drawing him deeper into a world of miracles and curses.
Clockwork
Chikuto
Cog Kleinschmidt is a diligent, quiet worker at the Mercia Fortress, the world power's leading stronghold. His orderly life is thrown into chaos when an enemy kingdom sends a diplomat for peace talks. This diplomat needs something from Cog - whether he agrees to their terms or not!
Folklore
Adam Ma, Colin Tan Wei
A superhuman horror story focused on a small band of survivors trying to navigate a war-torn world in the aftermath of the Federation’s collapse.
Far to the North
Allison Shaw
Kelu turns to the monsters of her remote mountain home when her family is held hostage by outsiders.
Tove
Severin
The end of the world is coming, and Tove doesn't want to be a hero, but SOMEONE has to look after her little brother.
Lunar Blight
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Lunar Blight is a gothic horror story about an elite knight serving a moon cult who must choose between upholding his honoured duty or condemning everything he’s grown to know.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Demon Studies
Miyuli
Four students summon and study potentially dangerous demons within the walls of the mysterious Summerland University.
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
Hazy London
Scotty
A story about messy relationships. From friendly foes to crazy families. Nothing is black and white, just full of color. But, all colors can get a little hazy...
Sam & Fuzzy
Sam Logan
Troubled by gangster rodents, lovesick vampire stalkers, or confused ninja assassins? Don't panic! Sam and Fuzzy are here to help. (For a reasonable fee.)
Demon's Mirror
Harry Bogosian
Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
Girl Genius
Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success.
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Monster Pulse
Magnolia Porter Siddell
Four kids run afoul of a creepy secret organization's experiments, which turn their body parts into fighting monsters. Part sentimental coming-of-age story, part monster-training shonen manga, with just a bit of sci-fi body horror.
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
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It is in fact possible to bang someone you’re not attracted to. Depending on the person and the situation, it might not be something they would ever want to do and it’s not uncommon to be repulsed by the idea, but there are people who don’t mind. Especially since Malaya was getting something out of it – she thought she was spiting Sal.
Maybe I misunderstood the meaning of demi then, because I though it entails both not having sex with someone you’re not attracted to and needing an emotional connection to feel attraction.
Demi means only that you need an emotional connection to feel attraction, but aces and demis still can have sex with someone they are not attracted to. A lot of us don’t want to, but some don’t mind.
Not having sex can’t really be part of the definition, since it’s an act, not an orientation. Much like homosexuals can have heterosexual sex (or vice versa), it’s just not what they’re interested in.
The Slipshine suggests Malaya wasn’t particularly interested in the sex part. If she’s demi and hasn’t yet actually made that kind of connection with anyone, she may think that’s what sex is and just use it to further other goals – in that case to get one up on Sal.
Yep!
Actually, i like just starting out with sex in order to develop a connection and to start being attracted to someone. Because attraction is great, but often i just don’t have it until i engage with a person in some way, and for me, that way may well be sex!
That might not be the scholarly example for demisexuality, but it works for me.
Sex actually releases a chemical in your brain that makes you “addicted” to and trust a person more so I can see this as an unlock!
Ace spectrum is not having a sexual ATTRACTION and/or having no desire for it. You can be an ace with a high libido – it just isn’t triggered by a person in front of you. I’m Demi and I had sex with so many people precisely because I was trying to figure out what was “wrong” with me. I can recognize they have attractive traits, I like them as a person and being around them, they are all a bunch of check offs… why is this not working!?! It worked last time!!! Doesn’t help that I’m also pan so that led to a Malaya approach of guys? Girls? Anyone? I’m confused.
Sorry, can’t help that much. Mostly because of the “many people” part; my only time I had sex, I felt kind of sick afterwards. Fortunately it didn’t hurt the relationship, and she wanted to help figure it all out, but it was still shocking at the time.
In this case “not attracted to” isn’t strong enough to describe Sal’s feelings re Malaya. Some people DO go in for hate-fucking, but I really can’t see Sal hate-fucking Malaya. I’d really love to see her punch Malaya in the face though.
Plenty of ace spectrum people (including myself) enjoy the act of sex, even without sexual attraction. I don’t see someone and get turned on or want to have sex, but when I do decide to, I enjoy the emotional connection and physical sensations.
Joyce is obviously Chiyo-Chan, Dina might be Osaka, Becky would make a good Tomo, maybe Marcie as Kagura (bit of a stretch, but both are into sports), and I guess Billie as Yomi?
Well, if we have to accept Sal as Yomi, there’s no way in HELL I’m going with Malaya as Tomo. Tomo would have been kinda annoying annoying to actually know IRL, but she doesn’t give off the same “I am very punchable” vibes Malaya does.
Stop evading the easy, non-invasive question about your sexuality, Malaya. What is this, some sort of complex personal issue that you haven’t figured out yourself yet?
But Sal isn’t prying just because she’s curious, she indirectly has some skin in the game. Given what Malaya knows now avoiding to answer “Do you think you two could hit it off?” would just be stringing Marcie along.
Sal is really just asking (rather aggressively) if she should tell Marcie to look elsewhere. That’s a pretty reasonable question to ask someone.
Considering how much she was loudly asking for people to be direct just a few strips ago and still didn’t receive such courtesy… no? Because Marcie isn’t there for the answer and that’s a talk for them two?
Sal only threw the question back to Malaya to begin with. Malaya obviously didn’t think the exact same question was unreasonable when she asked it of Sal. And she certainly wouldn’t have let Sal get away with being this evasive.
Seriously. The idea Malaya needs to have an answer for the FRIEND over a metaphorical sledgehammer that happened a hot minute ago because Marcie wasn’t honest about herintent is beyond me.m If Malaya’s still invested after the deceit (which it seems she is) she can resolve that with Marcie on their schedule without being pushed because someone adjacent to the hijinx is concerned. “Have your head sorted now so I can have a conclusion!” Is not any (or much) better then “preform affections so I can deem it of worth!”
No, but this also isn’t out of the blue, it’s a reasonable follow up to the conversation they’ve been having about the aftermath of finding out about Marcie. Malaya ask Sal if she might get together with Marcie, Sal says no and returns the question to Malaya, following it up with the “do you like girls” as part of the same chain of thought. Even the “that’s not a no” comes with a smile, which makes me read is more of “I know that means yes” tease than a demand for a firm answer.
Malaya’s under no obligation to answer of course, but I don’t see the questions as out of line. In this context.
Well, since it was an answer to my comment I’d assume I’m one of the implied commenters in this situation, but my point was certainly not that Malaya was obligated to answer, just that it wasn’t unreasonable for Sal to ask.
A question being reasonable to ask and “I’d prefer not to answer that” being a valid response aren’t mutually exclusive.
As of this moment, Sal and Malaya aren’t tagged. I think that’s Stephen’s point?
Anyway, when it comes to the posters on Sal’s part of the wall, I have at least once mistaken a guitar for a bass, so I have no credibility here, but: that blue thing looks a lot more like a guitar than an ukulele to me.
Yes; the fact that we’re actually seeing her develop in the strip – Willis confirming about her problems and how they impact on her behaviour – makes her less of a one-dimensional bully character and easier to understand.
Yes please. i like it when obnoxious characters develop depth that make them easier to not hate…
Carla would need a bit more depth, too. i mean we’ve seen her dealing with transphobia and showing feelings about it, but otherwise she’s just being super annoying to me… (or maybe just reminding me of a person i know that is really obnoxious, too..)
I think we’ve seen a good deal of depth with Carla – enough to know that the asshole is mostly a facade. Particularly we’ve seen her reach out to help people – patching Amber up after the car chase, Joyce’s shower shoes, especially continuing to check up on Ruth above and beyond what Billie had any right to ask.
It’s that we haven’t seen anything similar from Malaya as yet that leaves me less sympathetic to her.
If Malaya turns out to be aromantic and have a shifting, uncertain gender identity, then the character I will relate to most strongly will be the one I’ve found most obnoxious.
Do you relate to people more because of their gender/sexual identity than their character? I am geniuenly curious, because I never thought about that, in general.
It’s not uncommon for people whose identities don’t get a lot of representation. When you find a character who matches those aspects there’s a tendency to latch on.
For those of us more mainstream, we can afford to be pickier. There’s a ton of straight white cis guys in media, so I can pick other aspects of character to relate to.
I remember about 15 years ago asking a friend why she was so keen to watch a couple of BBC drama serials that basically portrayed lesbians as doomed, crazy bunny-boilers. Her answer was something like “well, it’s better than nothing.”
TBH I can’t remember identifying with a lesbian character before at all. Maybe I just forgot, or maybe I’m just too picky. But then again, my sexual orientation isn’t that important to me, so maybe it’s about what’s important to us, about ourselves.
Not speaking for Googleman, but personally it’s more the kindred spirit feeling. I might not like them, but they know what it is like to face some of the same challenges and that makes me a bit more empathetic to their flaws. I root for them in a fashion, even if it’s against my own personal beliefs, because I’m happy they achieved their own goals when life makes it that much more difficult. There’s a bestowing of respect even if it’s grudging. Order of operations helps. If they are starting out a jerk and then I get a reason – benefit of the doubt for at least a time. Life is hard! If I know what they are and they are then shown to be a jerk – people are people and all can be awful to one another. There is a limit to how much misery you’re allowed to spread and have it be reasonable and you don’t get to continue to lash out against people who didn’t contribute to your pain. Human mistakes okay but you need to be willing to work on the pattern.
First is personality or values. But it’s a really nice feeling when you know there is someone who understands even if you don’t agree with them.
Honestly, my particular orientation is something I’ve never really seen, so I tend to latch onto characters whose backstory, personality, or shown experience match mine.
I briefly read that as “aromatic”, instead of “aromantic”, and I actually started wondering how many delocalized electrons Malaya has and whether she satisfies the 4n + 2 rule.
Dumbing of Age cast hanging out with the Azumanga Daioh cast:
-Osaka’s a creative writing major and hangs out with Ruth a lot in the English department. Ruth winds up looking after her against her will.
-Sakaki, as usual, winds up as one of the cool kids against her will. I’m not sure whether or not Malaya would hate her a la Sal or ironically respect her because she takes no crap from anyone and they’ve both got exotic pets.
-Tomo tries to catch Amazi-Girl early on as training for when she joins the police. She winds up hanging out with Billie a lot, who’s just Yomi enough to get mad at her shenanigans yet just dumb enough to keep encouraging them.
-Kagura’s part of the roller derby.
-Leslie winds up dating Yukari.
-Blowjob Cat Vs. Chiyo’s Dad.
I have no idea how that would play out, but it’s happening.
Malaya, seriously, stop deflecting. Yes or no? If it’s ‘no’, there’s no issue here because something tells me that Sal is enough of a good guy personality type that she’ll help you break it to Marcie and make sure it doesn’t damage your friendship.
If it’s ‘yes’ but your gender identity issues are screwing around with your brain, then tell Marcie. She just might be understanding enough to actually meet you half way!
Or, y’know, don’t stop deflecting and tell Sal to mind her own business. Personal information is personal and you shouldn’t feel obligated to give it to people.
And in FURTHER stuff, why should she go out of her way to tell Marcie? Marcie didn’t tell her she wanted to bang, why is Malaya doing all the work here, including revealing extremely personal information that she’s not sure of and may or may not be comfortable with in the first place?
Well, the information that Marcie is in to Malaya is out there, so the status quo is undone and the option of not dealing with it isn’t really on the table. Malaya is certainly entitled to keep her secrets, but it’s a situation she’s going to have to address or it’s just going to drag the drama out.
If this is as big of a hurdle to Malaya as some people seem to assume then the option of just rejecting Marcie and not going in to it too much is right there. It’s not like she couldn’t change her mind on that later.
The original question was “are you into Marice” but Malaya conveniently forgot that and jumped to make it about Sal instead.
Soooooo, why would she do that? If she’s not into Sal, that is.
She’s trying to avoid an uncomfortable question that she doesn’t feel able to answer by trying to make Sal angry so she’ll forget that she wants it answered. This is a pretty big indicator about how much Malaya’s gender identity issues are impacting on her behaviour.
I think you are given her too much slack on this one. Whether Malaya feels attraction to Marcie or not is not a function of Malaya’s gender identity, though it might impact the wish to do something about it.
I do think past interactions have shown that Malaya is very occupied with Sal and how she lives her life and an attraction that’s not recognized makes, to me at least, more sense that just “randomly decided to hate Sal for being ‘fake’ (however that idea came into being)”
It’s a little of both. Out of the whole 90+ cast members, we’ve got maybe 4 Hardkore Gamerz®. Out of those 4, are any of them about to buy Vanellope von Schweetz’s tub froth?
So this led me down a spiral of questioning. The comic started back in 2010, almost a decade ago. A lots changed with electronics (and life) since then. But focusing on games for a minute, I think all we’ve seen so far is Mario kart on the DS? I’m pretty sure it’s been stated somewhere that the comic isn’t “time-locked” somewhere, but it’s really strange to think that the PS3 was replaced with the PS4, and will soon be replaced with the PS5 in the few in-universe months its been. Like seeing a character using a Switch would be really bizarre if you think about it too much.
Oh and, BTW: Sal looks so happy at the thought of Marcie getting what she wants in panel four.
To bad Sal and Malaya are having two entirely different conversations.
Sal: “hey, my long time best friend might have been into me all the time and I’m not sure what that makes of our friendship. But:I’m sure she’d be happy if you two hooked up. You didn’t say you wouldn’t, so is that a yes?”
Malaya: “Sal wants to know if I’m into girls, I don’t have a clue and sure as hell don’t want to answer that. She must be asking because she’s into me.”
Malaya has start to show a more insecure and human attitude and has Sal started to find (almost) nice to talk with her. I find more and more possible that these two will become friends.
rode my bike past where my kid was at camp
bike trail was 10 feet from where they were having lunch
called his name, louder and louder, eventually other kids got his attention
he looked at me like "...who are you?"
"...I'm your DAD."
i have never before felt so much like i was Stranger Danger
Good piece by @jamellebouie.net taking apart JD Vance's reprehensible immigration worldview on the substance. I'd add that JD seems to cast our admission of immigrants purely as an act of benevolence on our part, when of course that's not the story at all
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
I hope Josh Johnson is given The Daily Show and is allowed to rebuild it from scratch in his own image just like Jon Stewart got to do in 99.
He has built his own groundbreaking form of topical comedy, and imitating the style of others is something he is great at, but better than.
thinking about how mario's head has stayed the exact same size his entire life, while princess peach's head has shrunk on its way into adulthood
David M Willis!@damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 18h
do you think Mario, Luigi, and the Princesses have, like, existential crises about the baby versions of themselves also just casually being next to them in all the races
like I would be having ego death right now, not leaping triumphantly
do you think Mario, Luigi, and the Princesses have, like, existential crises about the baby versions of themselves also just casually being next to them in all the races
like I would be having ego death right now, not leaping triumphantly
For July's first bonus strip, folks voted for DEXTER and MONKEY MASTER! For world domination! Read this bonus strip and hundreds of previous at the Dumbing of Age Patreon:
www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-...
and remember you can always pledge up to read tomorrow's strip
Good news for the people still circulating this post: it is now a real t-shirt you can purchase and wear to let the world know you take responsibility for the actions of fictional characters:
The Emotion Engine@emotion-engine.bsky.social ⋅ 9d
Normally I’d let this sort of thing just die out but an alarming amount of you have asked where you can buy this and my wife had to have an emergency surgery the day before I made this, so here is my chance to live the American Dream (selling print-on-demand shirts to pay down medical debt)
The Emotion Engine@emotion-engine.bsky.social ⋅ 13d
Working on a t-shirt to sell to the weird people that show up in your mentions every time you talk about enjoying something that has crime or impure thought in it.
Someone leaked the entire unreleased Micronauts animated series to archive.org
All 52 episodes
Yes they FULLY FINISHED a Micronauts cartoon in the early 2020s and mothballed it
Vangelus@vangelus.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
tested ep1 of Micronauts, skipped to the credits so I could see every name of every crew member who put in so much work with the expectation that anybody would ever see the thing they did as part of their vocation in a creative field, working in service of what should be a reliable client & partner
tested ep1 of Micronauts, skipped to the credits so I could see every name of every crew member who put in so much work with the expectation that anybody would ever see the thing they did as part of their vocation in a creative field, working in service of what should be a reliable client & partner
admittedly, i might be arriving at a little annoyance on behalf of anyone responded to ever with "WELL it's not called SMARTING of age" because that's become a lot, i think the fork might be in that one, it's done
today in #9chickweedlane i learned that "how to lie" is not, actually, achieved by cupping the balls, despite the evidence of the entirety of the first panel, but by some other giant pile of words i guess, tl;dr
“It’s not me who’s a bigot,” they always argue. “I’m fine with all you people. But the rest of the electorate is full of bigots, on whose behalf I will now speak”
the last shall be first and the first last
That’s just a last in, first out queue.
Yes, I know it’s from the Bible. My comment stands.
Last in, first out is a stack, not a queue.
Anyway, it is canon that Marcie uses pointers, for all the good they do her.
A stack IS a LIFO queue. And they are frequently implemented with pointers.
Not sure we’re talking about the same pointers?
The hunting dogs, right?
The sisters?
Haha!
I love you all!
I quite like this heart to heart talk
God I love these two.
Getting some real demi vibes from Malaya, considering this and Shortpacked.
Agreed. Yay more aspec rep!
These two are so much goshdarn fun when they’re putting up with each other.
Demi AND some kind of trans?? Oh no… Malaya is becoming too relatable… my head’s gonna explode.
How does Demi work for what we’ve seen with her jumping Joe?
It is in fact possible to bang someone you’re not attracted to. Depending on the person and the situation, it might not be something they would ever want to do and it’s not uncommon to be repulsed by the idea, but there are people who don’t mind. Especially since Malaya was getting something out of it – she thought she was spiting Sal.
Maybe I misunderstood the meaning of demi then, because I though it entails both not having sex with someone you’re not attracted to and needing an emotional connection to feel attraction.
Demi means only that you need an emotional connection to feel attraction, but aces and demis still can have sex with someone they are not attracted to. A lot of us don’t want to, but some don’t mind.
Only the second part’s the one that ‘qualifies’ you, so to say.
Not having sex can’t really be part of the definition, since it’s an act, not an orientation. Much like homosexuals can have heterosexual sex (or vice versa), it’s just not what they’re interested in.
The Slipshine suggests Malaya wasn’t particularly interested in the sex part. If she’s demi and hasn’t yet actually made that kind of connection with anyone, she may think that’s what sex is and just use it to further other goals – in that case to get one up on Sal.
Yep!
Actually, i like just starting out with sex in order to develop a connection and to start being attracted to someone. Because attraction is great, but often i just don’t have it until i engage with a person in some way, and for me, that way may well be sex!
That might not be the scholarly example for demisexuality, but it works for me.
Sex actually releases a chemical in your brain that makes you “addicted” to and trust a person more so I can see this as an unlock!
Ace spectrum is not having a sexual ATTRACTION and/or having no desire for it. You can be an ace with a high libido – it just isn’t triggered by a person in front of you. I’m Demi and I had sex with so many people precisely because I was trying to figure out what was “wrong” with me. I can recognize they have attractive traits, I like them as a person and being around them, they are all a bunch of check offs… why is this not working!?! It worked last time!!! Doesn’t help that I’m also pan so that led to a Malaya approach of guys? Girls? Anyone? I’m confused.
Sorry, can’t help that much. Mostly because of the “many people” part; my only time I had sex, I felt kind of sick afterwards. Fortunately it didn’t hurt the relationship, and she wanted to help figure it all out, but it was still shocking at the time.
In this case “not attracted to” isn’t strong enough to describe Sal’s feelings re Malaya. Some people DO go in for hate-fucking, but I really can’t see Sal hate-fucking Malaya. I’d really love to see her punch Malaya in the face though.
Jason would know :). Though I agree with Malaya.
Plenty of ace spectrum people (including myself) enjoy the act of sex, even without sexual attraction. I don’t see someone and get turned on or want to have sex, but when I do decide to, I enjoy the emotional connection and physical sensations.
Lol, I don’t know how I feel about the fact that MALAYA is maybe my representation
Sexuality aside, your name IS Happilychaotic
I don’t know, you look like you could bond over a couple of things
Oh Malaya. That ‘it’s complicated’ attraction energy.
I always took Sal for more of a Sakaki.
Joyce is obviously Chiyo-Chan, Dina might be Osaka, Becky would make a good Tomo, maybe Marcie as Kagura (bit of a stretch, but both are into sports), and I guess Billie as Yomi?
But we can all 100% agree that Robin and Leslie are Yukari and Nyamo, right?
Judging by my minute too late comment, yes.
Who’s the Yukari and Nyamo in this equati- dammit Robin and Leslie aren’t they.
Well, if we have to accept Sal as Yomi, there’s no way in HELL I’m going with Malaya as Tomo. Tomo would have been kinda annoying annoying to actually know IRL, but she doesn’t give off the same “I am very punchable” vibes Malaya does.
If Sal is like Sakaki it makes sense since they’re both my favorite characters in their respective artworks.
And Joe’s dad is Kimura,
(Adds Azumanga Daioh to list of things I need to see.)
100%, it’s fantastic.
Seconded. It’s a delightful series.
The comic’s also well worth it.
Stop evading the easy, non-invasive question about your sexuality, Malaya. What is this, some sort of complex personal issue that you haven’t figured out yourself yet?
My sympathy for the girl who just demanded two people kiss to satisfy her curiosity, then taunted them for refusing to, is at all time low.
Girl deserves some uncomfortable questions.
I get this but also two wrongs don’t make a right? Malaya being in the bad doesn’t mean the prying also isn’t in the bad?
But Sal isn’t prying just because she’s curious, she indirectly has some skin in the game. Given what Malaya knows now avoiding to answer “Do you think you two could hit it off?” would just be stringing Marcie along.
Sal is really just asking (rather aggressively) if she should tell Marcie to look elsewhere. That’s a pretty reasonable question to ask someone.
Considering how much she was loudly asking for people to be direct just a few strips ago and still didn’t receive such courtesy… no? Because Marcie isn’t there for the answer and that’s a talk for them two?
Sal only threw the question back to Malaya to begin with. Malaya obviously didn’t think the exact same question was unreasonable when she asked it of Sal. And she certainly wouldn’t have let Sal get away with being this evasive.
Seriously. The idea Malaya needs to have an answer for the FRIEND over a metaphorical sledgehammer that happened a hot minute ago because Marcie wasn’t honest about herintent is beyond me.m If Malaya’s still invested after the deceit (which it seems she is) she can resolve that with Marcie on their schedule without being pushed because someone adjacent to the hijinx is concerned. “Have your head sorted now so I can have a conclusion!” Is not any (or much) better then “preform affections so I can deem it of worth!”
No, but this also isn’t out of the blue, it’s a reasonable follow up to the conversation they’ve been having about the aftermath of finding out about Marcie. Malaya ask Sal if she might get together with Marcie, Sal says no and returns the question to Malaya, following it up with the “do you like girls” as part of the same chain of thought. Even the “that’s not a no” comes with a smile, which makes me read is more of “I know that means yes” tease than a demand for a firm answer.
Malaya’s under no obligation to answer of course, but I don’t see the questions as out of line. In this context.
That was more towards commenters making it seem like Sal deserves an answer versus it being a natural line of questioning.
Well, since it was an answer to my comment I’d assume I’m one of the implied commenters in this situation, but my point was certainly not that Malaya was obligated to answer, just that it wasn’t unreasonable for Sal to ask.
A question being reasonable to ask and “I’d prefer not to answer that” being a valid response aren’t mutually exclusive.
I just wanted to let you know, after seeing your current Malaya ava, I chuckled for about a min
We aims to please.
Ah ha, I see.
Sal is the new Joyce, and Malaya is now Walky.
Does the ukulele need to be tagged?
Today’s strip is sponsored by the Eaglemoss Back To The Future DeLorean scale model.
Danny’s not in this one…
As of this moment, Sal and Malaya aren’t tagged. I think that’s Stephen’s point?
Anyway, when it comes to the posters on Sal’s part of the wall, I have at least once mistaken a guitar for a bass, so I have no credibility here, but: that blue thing looks a lot more like a guitar than an ukulele to me.
Hoo boy, talking about Azumanga Daioh makes me feel older than the adding app everyone got into today
Don’t trust that app. I hear it’s riddled with spyware.
They DO manage to slip in some real conversation about heavy subjects between the insult. That’s impressive.
for about three seconds and…. it’s gone.
if the current pattern holds, we’ll see that from them again in, uh, six years?
Well dang, there goes Marcie’s threeway proposal.
…not really, they don’t need to work on eachother, if they both work on Marcie then it’s still a threesome (?)
Now THAT was hilarious. Ok that was either Malaya messing with her or she actauly assumes there were times Sal made a pass at her.
Malaya only really likes herself so I guess that technically means she’s into girls?
Nope, since she’s not sure she’s a girl sometimes… so she’s not sure what’s she into!
What makes you think Malaya likes herself?
“Does anybody really like ANYBODY?”
Not Malaya.
N-nice save?
Anyway, I’m impressed that trying to manipulate Malaya has somehow led to this, probably their most positive interaction… ever?
Goddamnit Malaya, why am I agreeing with you in panel 4?
Malaya probably got the biggest laugh out of me here than she has in Shortpacked or DoA. Nice punchline.
Panel 4: O Cursed Image!
I’m kind of really enjoying Malaya now that she’s showing some humanity. This feels funny.
Yes; the fact that we’re actually seeing her develop in the strip – Willis confirming about her problems and how they impact on her behaviour – makes her less of a one-dimensional bully character and easier to understand.
Yes please. i like it when obnoxious characters develop depth that make them easier to not hate…
Carla would need a bit more depth, too. i mean we’ve seen her dealing with transphobia and showing feelings about it, but otherwise she’s just being super annoying to me… (or maybe just reminding me of a person i know that is really obnoxious, too..)
I think we’ve seen a good deal of depth with Carla – enough to know that the asshole is mostly a facade. Particularly we’ve seen her reach out to help people – patching Amber up after the car chase, Joyce’s shower shoes, especially continuing to check up on Ruth above and beyond what Billie had any right to ask.
It’s that we haven’t seen anything similar from Malaya as yet that leaves me less sympathetic to her.
The more she dodges, the more fakey she become.
Malaya tries to be a bongo to cover up her own insecurities. It’s both sad and funny.
Honestly panel 5 Sal makes me agree with panel 6 Malaya.
Coincidentally I bought the Azumanga Daioh omnibus today. Pretty entertaining so far.
Any highlights to further pique the interest of myself and others?
Good purchase, that was the first Manga I ever bought, oh so many years ago.
Perhaps Malaya should get into politics, since she’s so good at dodging questions.
If Malaya turns out to be aromantic and have a shifting, uncertain gender identity, then the character I will relate to most strongly will be the one I’ve found most obnoxious.
Life … is a puzzling thing …
Do you relate to people more because of their gender/sexual identity than their character? I am geniuenly curious, because I never thought about that, in general.
It’s not uncommon for people whose identities don’t get a lot of representation. When you find a character who matches those aspects there’s a tendency to latch on.
For those of us more mainstream, we can afford to be pickier. There’s a ton of straight white cis guys in media, so I can pick other aspects of character to relate to.
I remember about 15 years ago asking a friend why she was so keen to watch a couple of BBC drama serials that basically portrayed lesbians as doomed, crazy bunny-boilers. Her answer was something like “well, it’s better than nothing.”
TBH I can’t remember identifying with a lesbian character before at all. Maybe I just forgot, or maybe I’m just too picky. But then again, my sexual orientation isn’t that important to me, so maybe it’s about what’s important to us, about ourselves.
Not speaking for Googleman, but personally it’s more the kindred spirit feeling. I might not like them, but they know what it is like to face some of the same challenges and that makes me a bit more empathetic to their flaws. I root for them in a fashion, even if it’s against my own personal beliefs, because I’m happy they achieved their own goals when life makes it that much more difficult. There’s a bestowing of respect even if it’s grudging. Order of operations helps. If they are starting out a jerk and then I get a reason – benefit of the doubt for at least a time. Life is hard! If I know what they are and they are then shown to be a jerk – people are people and all can be awful to one another. There is a limit to how much misery you’re allowed to spread and have it be reasonable and you don’t get to continue to lash out against people who didn’t contribute to your pain. Human mistakes okay but you need to be willing to work on the pattern.
First is personality or values. But it’s a really nice feeling when you know there is someone who understands even if you don’t agree with them.
Honestly, my particular orientation is something I’ve never really seen, so I tend to latch onto characters whose backstory, personality, or shown experience match mine.
I briefly read that as “aromatic”, instead of “aromantic”, and I actually started wondering how many delocalized electrons Malaya has and whether she satisfies the 4n + 2 rule.
I think I need more sleep.
You mean, benzzzzzzzzzzzene?
“Does anybody really like anybody?” is the most honest answer you’re gonna get, Sal.
Malaya’s really gunning for taking away Naomi’s top spot as “named character with the most F-bombs per appearance”.
She’s already, by far, the sweariest character with double-digit appearances.
If there’s one thing Malaya knows, it’s bow to dodge a question.
Dumbing of Age cast hanging out with the Azumanga Daioh cast:
-Osaka’s a creative writing major and hangs out with Ruth a lot in the English department. Ruth winds up looking after her against her will.
-Sakaki, as usual, winds up as one of the cool kids against her will. I’m not sure whether or not Malaya would hate her a la Sal or ironically respect her because she takes no crap from anyone and they’ve both got exotic pets.
-Tomo tries to catch Amazi-Girl early on as training for when she joins the police. She winds up hanging out with Billie a lot, who’s just Yomi enough to get mad at her shenanigans yet just dumb enough to keep encouraging them.
-Kagura’s part of the roller derby.
-Leslie winds up dating Yukari.
-Blowjob Cat Vs. Chiyo’s Dad.
I have no idea how that would play out, but it’s happening.
Any other ideas?
Malaya, seriously, stop deflecting. Yes or no? If it’s ‘no’, there’s no issue here because something tells me that Sal is enough of a good guy personality type that she’ll help you break it to Marcie and make sure it doesn’t damage your friendship.
If it’s ‘yes’ but your gender identity issues are screwing around with your brain, then tell Marcie. She just might be understanding enough to actually meet you half way!
Or, y’know, don’t stop deflecting and tell Sal to mind her own business. Personal information is personal and you shouldn’t feel obligated to give it to people.
And in FURTHER stuff, why should she go out of her way to tell Marcie? Marcie didn’t tell her she wanted to bang, why is Malaya doing all the work here, including revealing extremely personal information that she’s not sure of and may or may not be comfortable with in the first place?
This. Thank you.
Well, the information that Marcie is in to Malaya is out there, so the status quo is undone and the option of not dealing with it isn’t really on the table. Malaya is certainly entitled to keep her secrets, but it’s a situation she’s going to have to address or it’s just going to drag the drama out.
If this is as big of a hurdle to Malaya as some people seem to assume then the option of just rejecting Marcie and not going in to it too much is right there. It’s not like she couldn’t change her mind on that later.
The original question was “are you into Marice” but Malaya conveniently forgot that and jumped to make it about Sal instead.
Soooooo, why would she do that? If she’s not into Sal, that is.
She’s trying to avoid an uncomfortable question that she doesn’t feel able to answer by trying to make Sal angry so she’ll forget that she wants it answered. This is a pretty big indicator about how much Malaya’s gender identity issues are impacting on her behaviour.
I think you are given her too much slack on this one. Whether Malaya feels attraction to Marcie or not is not a function of Malaya’s gender identity, though it might impact the wish to do something about it.
I do think past interactions have shown that Malaya is very occupied with Sal and how she lives her life and an attraction that’s not recognized makes, to me at least, more sense that just “randomly decided to hate Sal for being ‘fake’ (however that idea came into being)”
…Now kiss.
They’re gonna apologise to each other and then do the big fucky-wucky.
Please. We’re civilized around here. We call it the rumpy-pumpy.
Slap-jackin’?
Ok, now you’re just making up words.
People, the medical term is “Premarital Hanky-Panky”. I would appreciate if we kept it scientific.
Or they just keep fighting and then go home and do the happy fappy
*plays “I love you (as much as someone like me can love anyone)” from the Galavant musical on the muzak. *
is it bad that i’m counting down the days until the buffer runs out and there’s a chance there’ll be a joke in DoA about belle delphine
i just really want to see what willis has in the tank for gamer girl bathwater. there are big opportunities here.
Have we seen anyone playing video games, aside from Sal, Danny, Joe, and Amber?
That isn’t enough?
I think it’s more a question of outlook than number? Does any of those fourstrike you like buying other people’s bathwater?
It’s a little of both. Out of the whole 90+ cast members, we’ve got maybe 4 Hardkore Gamerz®. Out of those 4, are any of them about to buy Vanellope von Schweetz’s tub froth?
it would have to be someone completely unexpected. how about mary? she draws like a weeb, she’s a possible candidate.
So this led me down a spiral of questioning. The comic started back in 2010, almost a decade ago. A lots changed with electronics (and life) since then. But focusing on games for a minute, I think all we’ve seen so far is Mario kart on the DS? I’m pretty sure it’s been stated somewhere that the comic isn’t “time-locked” somewhere, but it’s really strange to think that the PS3 was replaced with the PS4, and will soon be replaced with the PS5 in the few in-universe months its been. Like seeing a character using a Switch would be really bizarre if you think about it too much.
well don’t look now, but
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/doubleten/
Noooooooo my brain!
Oh and, BTW: Sal looks so happy at the thought of Marcie getting what she wants in panel four.
To bad Sal and Malaya are having two entirely different conversations.
Sal: “hey, my long time best friend might have been into me all the time and I’m not sure what that makes of our friendship. But:I’m sure she’d be happy if you two hooked up. You didn’t say you wouldn’t, so is that a yes?”
Malaya: “Sal wants to know if I’m into girls, I don’t have a clue and sure as hell don’t want to answer that. She must be asking because she’s into me.”
Malaya: Fine, whatever! *takes off shirt*
Sal: Not me! Marcie!
*Marcie walks in*
Slipshine: Marcie does a Threesome.
“Does anyone really like anyone?”
Puts an interesting spin on Malaya’s romantic entanglements. She might just flat out not enjoy her hookups.
Is Malaya a music major? She certainly has a fascination with guitar ads or guitar technical diagrams.
I think that’s Sal’s side. Sal played bass in boarding school.
Yep, cant believe I forgot that … thx L^2.
Malaya has start to show a more insecure and human attitude and has Sal started to find (almost) nice to talk with her. I find more and more possible that these two will become friends.
Successful deflection
Seems Sal and me think alike, considering what I wrote yesterday XD
Malaya is kind of growing on me. Strange.
So she wants to fuck Sal or not?
I love this dynamic and am also SUPER INTRIGUED by Malaya’s personal life
I like the energy they have between each other now, more riffing on each other than blatant toxicity. Could be alright roomies after all.
Carla will be very disappointed.
Ultimate Sal response “AHA! Deflections! So many deflections you have now hit yourself! AHA!” or something.
…I might draw that tho.
Oh shit Sal’s got Yomi energy and Malaya’s totally sporting Tomo’s volume 4 haircut…
BREAKING, URGENT QUESTION:
With one hour before the next strip posts, there are still no tags for this strip.
DOES THAT MEAN IT’S NOT CANON?
Thank Cheese, a potential rift in the Dumbiverse has been averted!
lol sals sooooo easy t ohassle
I think it’s telling that Malaya can’t conceive of even *liking* someone. Talk about a sour life this one leads.
Or, they’re AroAce
Makes a lot of sense especially considering her Shortpacked counterpart. AroAce libidoist.
Sal, she’s giving you a hint. It’s called a suspicious denial. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
…yep, asexual Malaya.
Also possibly aromantic.
Luv her <3