The adventures of the world’s greatest villain who, after defeating his superheroic nemesis, decides that he’s the only one left to defend the world.
The Golden Boar
Magnolia Porter Siddell
A young woman joins a group of summoners who call forth Guardian Beasts to protect their isolated magical island. Unfortunately, her Guardian Beast is nothing like she'd imagined, and he's about to change her life, and everything she thought she knew about herself...
Astral Aves
Moon Cabal
A fantasy coming-of-age following the adventures of Astra The Black and friends, as they navigate the mysterious world around them. It's politics, adventure, and the supernatural; oh, and crazy hair.
Barbarous
Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota
A crummy wizard and an anxious monster have to get over themselves and bring order to an apartment building full of misfits.
Alice and the Nightmare
Misha Krivanek
Alice finally attends University to learn to collect the dreams of humans, meet new friends, and deal with a pesky reflection along the way.
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
The End
August Brown, Cory Brown
Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Aquapunk
Lo
In an underwater world of unknown coordinates, inhabited by aliens, ghosts, and robots, a young member of a warrior underclass is framed for a crime and goes on the run. Little does he know he is part of a grand design that only gods and ancestors could choreograph.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Not Drunk Enough
Tess Stone
Logan Ibarra is possibly the unluckiest repairman in the world. A late night job should not have landed him in the middle of a mad scientist's squabble, but he soon finds himself surrounded by monsters and further madness with little tools to get out.
Quick$ilver
Crypto
The flirtatious, directionless, and ever disastrous Luci searches for excitement in a life of crime, and finds himself caught in a web of messy romance and bad blood.
The Weave
Rennie Kingsley
A young woman pursued by bad luck is witness to the murder of the Fairy Queen of Summer. Can she get to the bottom of this mystery?
The Forgotten Order
Christy
A young witch for whom every spell is a misfire finds solace and friendship in her new companion - a cursed doll.
Widdershins
Kate Ashwin
A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
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.
Star Impact
Jack McGee
A young, energetic woman fights her way up in the world of super-powered boxing after discovering the mighty gloves of her missing idol!
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Sleepless Domain
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
In a world where magical girls and their battles are commonplace, loss has become all too common as well.
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
Kochab
Sarah Webb
A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
Augustine
Winter Jay Kiakas, Windy
August and her ragtag group are just like everyone else, simply surviving in the treacherous Crater... When they stumble into what may be an artifact of the ancient past, their lives are thrown into a much bigger loop as they trifle with bounty hunters, monsters and gods.
Sakana
Mad Rupert
Our heroes must navigate a hazardous dating scene, overcome personal anxieties, and wrangle unruly seafood in order to find love, peace of mind, and a paycheck.
ARISE, YE SKELETON KING
Brian Clevinger, Escher Cattle, Lee Black
A troupe of wandering "adventurers" down to their last silver "acquire" a map only to find the real treasure was the fiend they dug up along the way.
Within
Verena Loisel
A young hitman meanders between a reality that seems to happen without him, and his dreams where he is lost in an endless house. When he makes an accidental friend, his world is shaken up and he realizes there are things he can't remember about himself.
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Missing Monday
Elle Skinner
Two girls fall in love through a magic door connecting their worlds. When Monday suddenly goes missing, it's up to Foyle to find her. How she's going to navigate an entirely unfamiliar world is another matter.
Saint for Rent
Ru Xu
Saint Halliday runs an inn for Time Travelers. Unfortunately, he seems to attract other supernatural "guests," too.
Cassiopeia Quinn
Gunwild, Psudonym
A cute, pantsless thief is pursued across the stars by a buttoned-up military officer in the spacey, laser-filled future.
Trying Human
IntroducingEmy
Two women separated by over half a century are brought together by an alien-filled conspiracy involving murder, mystery and romance!
Monsterkind
Taylor C
Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
The Last Diplomat
Cat Farris
Samma and Tark didn't ask to be stuck together, but now they're partners on the adventure of a lifetime.
Nigh Heaven & Hell
Scotty
Heather Vodihn is on a simple mission: find her father. However she becomes entangled with two strangers with mysterious powers being stalked by a group with bizarre demands. Heather must learn to trust her new traveling companions, even if she is untrustworthy herself.
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.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Lies Within
Lacey
Lysander's aimless and carefree life is turned upside down when he accidentally discovers that the cute boy next door, Simon, is a literal monster
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Freakshow
Scotty
A festival of broken people, blood flows in the center ring. Come one and come all, to the greatest show in all of Paris.
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.
Ride or Die
Mars Heyward
Ride or Die is an LGBTQ webcomic about two street racers who team up with a demon-possessed muscle car in the search for a missing woman, while being hunted by a deadly religious cult.
Love Not Found
Gina Biggs
Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
Headless Bliss
Clover
A story about story-telling, and other metaphysical themes such as Nightmares! (Failed) Teamwork! Comedy! And more!
Gzhel Guardian
Atla Hrafney, nushanchel
The Railway World is a complex, mysterious network of trains, towns and mechanical monsters. Leo is a Guardian of one of these towns, and although their burn-out and depression has taken hold of them, they have one last job to finish.
Darkling Bright
Chris Hazelton
Kieran Bright is a college student home for the summer and roped into an online reunion with his old neighborhood friends in the most recent update of their favorite childhood MMORPG.
At least, he was, and that was the idea...
Join Kieran and his friends as they are pulled into another reality that may or may not be real and are forced to confront their own identities, the nature of simulated universes and reality itself.
The Substitutes
Myisha Haynes
What happens when three roommates accidentally acquire otherworldly and powerful magic weapons destined for someone else?
Scape
Lauren
Sula has always preferred to forge her own path, but before she knows it, she is pulled into the middle of a civil war between man and monster!
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!
Little Tiny Things
Clover
What are the little things that move us? The simple joys that warm our bodies and hearts? The micro life of insects that influence our world more than we think? The tiny steps we make everyday to have a happier tomorrow?
Alexander, The Servant & The Water of Life
Reimena Yee
The 21st century retelling of the life and legends of Alexander the Great.
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1) man this day feels like it has lasted forever
2) considering that y’all are unbelievably massive nerds for recognizing author-sama’s callbacks with lightning speed
I had similar, but only the centre of the toenail was detached, and it was still attached on either side. Pain wasn’t an issue, but holy fuck it grew in weird, and I still haven’t gotten it entirely back to normal.
I had similar, but the pain was an issue. I’m not sure if that was the same, but essentially a nail just chose to stop being alive, and another nail grew under it. So it started pushing underneath, which was painful on its own, but to prevent it giving rise to a new exciting type of physical trauma we had to tear the old one away. That really, and I mean REALLY smarted. Makes me shudder to think about it even 16 years later.
And here I am with one big toenail almost grown back from detached-in-the-middle and the other one already almost detached but somehow still hanging on. Eh, I guess it’ll sort itself out XD
“Welp, time to sell my soul I guess. Where can I get some of those funny dice Jack Chick warned me about? And do I need to play one of those heavy metal albums backwards, or can it be an Amy Grant album?”
Wait a minute, shit. Even Makoto’s persona would be a good match for Makoto. Johana, woman who pretended to be male in order to become pope who takes the form of a badass bike. (Though i think Joyce fits the Justice arcana as oppose to the priestess, but that’s just my opinion)
You know, if I hadn’t already run my It’s Walky tabletop game using updated character portrayals from DoA, I would be tempted to make DoA the template for my next Persona tabletop game.
Hm.
Magician: Walky (immature but with great potential for growth)
Priestess: Dorothy (highly intelligent, but has difficulty balancing instinct and logic)
Empress: Billie (very obsessed with her image, can be motherly or destructive)
Emperor: Joe (very male, but also has a protective side)
Hierophant: Leslie (a teacher and positive role model)
Lovers: Becky (cheerful, outgoing, and a proponent of love/romance)
Chariot: Jacob (driven individual overly focused on goals) (Dorothy would also fit here, but I think she works slightly better as Priestess)
Justice: Sal (stoic and concerned with fairness)
Hermit: Sarah (prefers to hide away from others and support from a distance)
Fortune: Joyce (seize their own destiny in spite of fate and make difficult choices that change their lives)
Strength: Dina (not easily upset, shows surprising inner strength when tested)
Hanged Man: Amber (caught between two selves)
Death: Ruth (undergoing a cycle of change)
Temperance: Ethan (struggles to find a balance between life and hobbies)
Devil: Mike (seemingly uncaring, but dedicated to a cause)
Tower: Robin (arrogant character fallen from grace)
Star: Carla (an overwhelmingly positive attitude)
Moon: Mayala (projects her own fears and insecurities onto others)
Sun: Danny or Marcie (an optimistic character burdened by the crushing weight of reality)
I left out Judgement/Aeon because that’s usually reserved for a late game organization or inhuman character, none of which apply. ANd I left out Fool because that also usually applies either to the party in the early game or sometimes to the MC.
Anyway, this was a ridiculously fun time! Obviously these are not iron clad (I saw several that I could swap around), but I think I did a good job of including nearly all of the main characters in justifiable slots.
And yes, I did check the Shin Megami Tensei wiki to see what character traits were associated with which Arcanas. Those little parenthetical descriptors are paraphrased from there.
Dumbing of Age Book 10: I’ve Renounced Magical Thinking And Embraced Empirical Evidence.
The only time I will ever offer a book title. I just really like this line and find it amusing in a webcomic where people make bad choices regularly and it sounds like it should be a positive epiphany but in this context, it is sad.
Is the title going to be “Happy Birthday Dina”, “Meeting the, uh, Challenges of Your Personal Life”, “I’m Keeping My Dead Toenail On With Duct Tape” or “I’ve Renounced Magical Thinking and Embraced Empirical Evidence”?
If Dorothy ever decides to give up that whole politician-gig she would make a decent therapist. Gentle probing, teasing out an answer. giving Joyce an entry-point to the conversation.
Joyce honey, this isn’t a binary choice, there’s lots of options between “yes” and “no” including lots of options that add another entire dimension to these thoughts.
Ok see, Down here in Australia we have a member of Parliament that embraces “empirical evidence” as well. In his case it’s claiming that all the evidence of climate change is part of a global conspiracy to push a “global warming agenda” (to what end I am unsure). He demands that anyone arguing against him produce “empirical evidence” of their claims, but this obviously cannot include any data from the worlds weather bureaus or space programs because “they’re all tainted and unreliable”.
Oh, like that story of Asimov about a robot that follows a twisted version of reason that doesn’t allow to trust tthings at face value and is skeptic of everything even when being given an explanation that makes sense through physics. The robot things space is a sea of a black substance, and then through reason theorizes that humans can’t make robots because humans are less efficient than robots, and that the true creator is a god that is substituting humans with robots.
I’d say you still have plenty right to mock our politicians, since while your climate change denier is a member of a small minority party, one of our two major parties has pretty much embraced climate change denial.
That’s not ‘embracing empirical evidence’ but ‘embracing the empirical evidence that fits my theory’. And thus, a total failure on the count of scientific thinking, as as a scientist, if you have a theory, you go and look for the things that would prove your theory wrong as well as for indications that your theory right. You cannot prove it to be right, you can only prove that you tested all points that might prove its wrong and the theory passed.
Which reminds me of something: Wikipedia states that the g-spot as a distinct physical feature cannot be distinguished. And, holy cow, they don’t want to say it exists so women who don’t experience special orgasms and ejaculation when stimulated there, don’t feel inferior. 🧐 That must be a first.
Is this showing a male bias (as in ‘shit, this doesn’t happen in missionary but needs something more and I don’t want to think about it’) or is there still no explanation for female ejaculation and g-spot orgasms? Or has the Wikipedia once again been hijacked by male assholes?
I mean, ok, the proof I have is anecdotal in the scientific sense because of too small sample size ( because I only saw it happen with one person, who mentioned her previous lover taught her how to let go enough to get there). But there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence out there that’s not porn.
And some printed works from women’s health centers and sex-positive sites, but I don’t know if there are any physiologists works out there? Could anyone point me to a source?
Anatomy varies and erogenous zones in general are pretty individual. The very best thing to do is to explore and communicate with each partner, with an emphasis on active listening.
I actually wanted sources because i’m annoyed that Wikipedia naysays this and it needs sources to be able to change the article.
That different people react differently to stimulation is obvious. Still doesn’t change the fact that xx-women usually come with a vagina that has places on the inner front that react to stimulation in some way, even though liking or not liking stimulation there is individual.
Very unlikely, I think, unless Jacob only received an invitation just a couple of hours ago (in in-universe time, that is). Until around midday on this day, he was Raidah’s boyfriend, this is meant to be Dina’s and Sarah’s birthday party, Raidah and Sarah are barely on speaking terms at the best of times…
Becky would be far more likely to invite him because of Joyce’s crush on him, but he’d know Joyce was going to be there and would thus avoid going because of this morning’s shenanigans.
Pretty much. For most atheists, it was a process that they weren’t always aware of. In her case, it’s been a matter of weeks, beginning with an atheist she discovered to be a decent human being. That was the first crack in her indoctrination.
I think that line is more of a metaphor. “Now instead of just thinking I might be terrible, I know I’m terrible because I did something rotten with immediate, tangible results.”
I’d say that renouncing magical thinking and embracing empirical evidence doesn’t make you a bad person. I think it makes you a better person, actually.
No, Joyce is saying she’s embracing empirical evidence that she’s a bad person. Specifically, her behavior with Jacob. Before, she was saying it because of some goofy “original sin” concept. Now, it’s because she’s done something really shitty today.
Something not well though out and somewhat shitty. On my scale of shittyness from 0 to ten, Joyce‘s interactions with Jacob are maybe a three.
And that doesn’t make her a bad person, it makes her a normal person who has done something shitty and has to deal with the consequences.
Reducing anyone to “good person” or “bad person” for one act is also kind of magical thinking.
If Trump personally risked his life today to save a child from drowning, this wouldn’t make him a good person. He would still be a risk to world peace because of his inconsistent and crazy thinking and his permanent assholish decisions. Is he “a bad person”? I really don’t care.
Magical thinking is, in a way part of the older parts of our brain that doesn’t really do words. In that way, it’s an important way to communicate with those parts of ourselves. We just shouldn’t apply this logic to the world around us.
I doubt there exist any circumstances in which trump would risk his life for another human being, no matter how deserving. As far as I can tell, in his mind there is no more deserving human being than himself.
It just means that Joyce is accepting the intentions and consequences of her actions instead of thinking she has to fulfill divine requirements to clean the sins she was born with. It’s like replacing religious dogma with a dogma based on positivism and existential ideas.
I think Dina’s charm here comes from her genuinely positive intent to perform a social skill correctly combined with very little understanding of how one should do so. She appreciates the effort Becky put into organising the party, and the people put into turning up to help her celebrate, and is trying to show this. With her checklist, and a few things that ideally would be customised but which she lacks the data to complete herself… Her faith in Amber’s superior skills is also very sweet.
Have you tried? Did you perform a repeatable experiment a sufficient number of times in order to obtain a sufficiently large data set that would allow you to draw such a conclusion? Are you going off a gut feeling or do you have… empirical evidence?
Repeated experiments showed that duct tape applied to the mouth resulted in elimination of whining, moaning, and otherwise other audible expressions of misery, upset, or outrage by 80% (+/- 4%) of the broken-hearted, when compared to the control. Of the remainder, 92% (+/- 6%) saw a reduction in either the number of instances of such expressions, a redirection of such instances to other topics, or both. Of those that redirected expressions of misery, upset, or outrage (18% of total, +/- 3%), the most common target to be redirected to was the duct tape itself, strongly implying a causative link. Increased and more frequent applications of duct tape resulted in correspondingly increased positive outcomes (see Table 7, Appendix).
It does a million and one jobs, but adequately at best. Jack of all trades, master of none.
Gorilla tape holds up to most permanent “duct tape repairs” better, and gaffer’s tape is better for temporary use because it doesn’t leave sticky garbage behind.
Hm. In the past few weeks I hit my toe so my nail is about to fall off, sprained my wrist, and got rejected by someone named Jake. I think I have Joyce-curse :O
The consequences could be huge – self-sabotage, self-harm and possibly even deliberately getting into the wrong crowds because she’s a ‘bad person’ and thus deserves to suffer.
She’s proof that the 3×3 matrix has its limits. However, I’d say Joyce is Neutral-Good. This is one of the reasons why I’m expecting an ill-conceived experiment with costumed vigilantism.
. . . And it’s still only halfway through first semester. The next 135 years in print ought to be really interesting.
If Dana should re-enroll at the start of the Spring semester and reappear in the strip, it may require me going into suspended animation and rejoining the strip in 2119.
By the way, Willis, if you need some quotes on the back of your book where random people tell you how much they love your work, I do hereby give you full permission to use the following:
“Willis is a living Monkey Paw cartoonist; always giving his readers what they wished for, but in a way they didn’t want.”
Cops are overgrown children cosplaying War, with all the rest of us forced into their stupid, childish game without our consent, consuming vast funds from the public treasury and ruining lives by the hundreds of thousands.
unknown@collie.bsky.social ⋅ 18h
I cannot get over these cops wearing night vision to arrest a dude on a Southwest Airlines flight in broad daylight.
a woman posted a pic in a group chat of a baby turkey she bought thinking it was a chicken. She captioned the pic "IS THIS A TURKEY?!?"
Anyway, I haven't been here because I've been yelling IS THIS A TURKEY at everything. You should try it
y'ever figure, hey, i should put joyce in bisexual flag colors for this storyline, but you also figure, hrm, that might telegraph things 8 months in advance, so you... add orange stripes and... it works, somehow it works, nobody points out the pink/purple/blue
Jonathan Joss being shot outside his home while protecting his husband after being sent a threatening and distressing package is WHY we need Pride
It's 2025 and people are still being shot and killed for being queer
This is why we march and why we fight
the thing about white liberal Americans is that they'll argue to accept bigots into their tent before accepting the bigots' targets.
the targets that have been on the same side as white liberals from the jump.
John Redcorn was pretty much the only contemporary Native representation I had in comedy growing up. Probably the funniest Native character in cartoon history and a lot of that was on Jonathan Joss' pitch perfect rezzy uncle performance. RIP to one of the best to ever do it.
today in #9chickweedlane i learned that, yes, lolly is so edda 2.0 that she's even wearing her mother's wedding dress as she gets married to Her Dad (But Taller)
unknown @collie.bsky.social ⋅ 18h
ETPC @etpc.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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⚧️
…here’s a $5 Amazon Gift Card
Cheapass. You can spring for $10.
I mean, technically $5 gift cards are nearly if not completely extinct bc it’s not cost effective, so it’s a double joke
Time to post this again, I think.
Oh it’s never not time for that.
1) man this day feels like it has lasted forever
2) considering that y’all are unbelievably massive nerds for recognizing author-sama’s callbacks with lightning speed
1) All days in DOA last approximately forever
2) Patreon is one day ahead, so…is it really lightning speed if it’s 24h ± 10min? (but most of us probably are unbelievably massive nerds)
oh, this has the potential to be good
I hear the figurative squeal of tires, screech of brakes, venting of steam from a kettle, etc etc etc
Glad to hear it, Joyce, but in the context you’re talking about, you’re giving me the sadness.
Dumbing of Age Book 10: [Ask Amber About This]
I dunno, my money’s on I’m Keeping My Dead Toenail On With Duct Tape
I was going for Book 10: I’ve Renounced Magical Thinking and Embraced Empirical Evidence.
Book 10: Something Else Is Wrong
Dumbing of Age Book 10: Original Sin, and All That
or even
Dumbing of Age Book 10: Happy Birthday
Dumbing of Age : Book 10: In all things, symetry
Dumbing of Age Book 10: So, Yes
Dumbing of Age Book 10: I hope you are meeting the challenges of your personal lives
Actually, I’m tempted to go back a couple of comics and say
Dumbing of Book 10: *scritches*
Dina, if it were anyone else, [Ask Amber about this] would not somehow still be charming.
OUCH
As somebody who once had a new toenail grow UNDERNEATH a toenail that I didn’t know was broken–yes, OUCH.
Yeah, Joyce, you may want to actually do something about that before it develops into a…thing
Or worse yet – another DAD.
I take my hat off to you!
I had similar, but only the centre of the toenail was detached, and it was still attached on either side. Pain wasn’t an issue, but holy fuck it grew in weird, and I still haven’t gotten it entirely back to normal.
I had similar, but the pain was an issue. I’m not sure if that was the same, but essentially a nail just chose to stop being alive, and another nail grew under it. So it started pushing underneath, which was painful on its own, but to prevent it giving rise to a new exciting type of physical trauma we had to tear the old one away. That really, and I mean REALLY smarted. Makes me shudder to think about it even 16 years later.
And here I am with one big toenail almost grown back from detached-in-the-middle and the other one already almost detached but somehow still hanging on. Eh, I guess it’ll sort itself out XD
“Welp, time to sell my soul I guess. Where can I get some of those funny dice Jack Chick warned me about? And do I need to play one of those heavy metal albums backwards, or can it be an Amy Grant album?”
“Wait, what about imagining that couple in the Boyz II Men song not being married?”
What about imaging that song is about two of the Boyz?
I don’t know if Joyce is ready for that…yet. Amber probably already has written fiction about it, however.
I mean, Dina did ask for it for her birthday, so
*nod furiously*
I’m glad she has in fact learned, but I am still sad to see her in pain.
Joyce is REALLY close to pull a Makoto Niijima, and when that happens Toedad and Blaine are going to be shitless scared.
Also, Dina has been a blessing. A secular blessing.
Sometimes, those Random Fluctuations of the Space-Time Continuum really pull through, don’t they?
Goody good girl, secretly a badass, loves motorcycles. Checks out
Wait a minute, shit. Even Makoto’s persona would be a good match for Makoto. Johana, woman who pretended to be male in order to become pope who takes the form of a badass bike. (Though i think Joyce fits the Justice arcana as oppose to the priestess, but that’s just my opinion)
Joyce*
You know, if I hadn’t already run my It’s Walky tabletop game using updated character portrayals from DoA, I would be tempted to make DoA the template for my next Persona tabletop game.
Hm.
Magician: Walky (immature but with great potential for growth)
Priestess: Dorothy (highly intelligent, but has difficulty balancing instinct and logic)
Empress: Billie (very obsessed with her image, can be motherly or destructive)
Emperor: Joe (very male, but also has a protective side)
Hierophant: Leslie (a teacher and positive role model)
Lovers: Becky (cheerful, outgoing, and a proponent of love/romance)
Chariot: Jacob (driven individual overly focused on goals) (Dorothy would also fit here, but I think she works slightly better as Priestess)
Justice: Sal (stoic and concerned with fairness)
Hermit: Sarah (prefers to hide away from others and support from a distance)
Fortune: Joyce (seize their own destiny in spite of fate and make difficult choices that change their lives)
Strength: Dina (not easily upset, shows surprising inner strength when tested)
Hanged Man: Amber (caught between two selves)
Death: Ruth (undergoing a cycle of change)
Temperance: Ethan (struggles to find a balance between life and hobbies)
Devil: Mike (seemingly uncaring, but dedicated to a cause)
Tower: Robin (arrogant character fallen from grace)
Star: Carla (an overwhelmingly positive attitude)
Moon: Mayala (projects her own fears and insecurities onto others)
Sun: Danny or Marcie (an optimistic character burdened by the crushing weight of reality)
I left out Judgement/Aeon because that’s usually reserved for a late game organization or inhuman character, none of which apply. ANd I left out Fool because that also usually applies either to the party in the early game or sometimes to the MC.
Anyway, this was a ridiculously fun time! Obviously these are not iron clad (I saw several that I could swap around), but I think I did a good job of including nearly all of the main characters in justifiable slots.
And yes, I did check the Shin Megami Tensei wiki to see what character traits were associated with which Arcanas. Those little parenthetical descriptors are paraphrased from there.
This was really cool, thank you!
*tips imaginary hat*
Usually when I’m convinced I am or have been a bad person, it’s not because of empirical evidence.
Dumbing of Age Book 10: I’ve Renounced Magical Thinking And Embraced Empirical Evidence.
The only time I will ever offer a book title. I just really like this line and find it amusing in a webcomic where people make bad choices regularly and it sounds like it should be a positive epiphany but in this context, it is sad.
“I’m Keeping My Dead Toenail On With Duct Tape” is another good book title.
Sounds more like one of Sven’s country music songs over in QC.
If he publishes something more experimental his publisher will be an asshole again and cause another fire just to prove a point.
Is the title going to be “Happy Birthday Dina”, “Meeting the, uh, Challenges of Your Personal Life”, “I’m Keeping My Dead Toenail On With Duct Tape” or “I’ve Renounced Magical Thinking and Embraced Empirical Evidence”?
“[Ask Amber About This]”.
“Original Sin, And All That”
It’s going to just be “Renounce Magical Thinking and Embrace Empirical Evidence”. The call back here would be spoilery, whereas the original declaration here is just hilarious: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/renounce/
If Dorothy ever decides to give up that whole politician-gig she would make a decent therapist. Gentle probing, teasing out an answer. giving Joyce an entry-point to the conversation.
Joyce honey, this isn’t a binary choice, there’s lots of options between “yes” and “no” including lots of options that add another entire dimension to these thoughts.
Ok see, Down here in Australia we have a member of Parliament that embraces “empirical evidence” as well. In his case it’s claiming that all the evidence of climate change is part of a global conspiracy to push a “global warming agenda” (to what end I am unsure). He demands that anyone arguing against him produce “empirical evidence” of their claims, but this obviously cannot include any data from the worlds weather bureaus or space programs because “they’re all tainted and unreliable”.
This person is a member of the Australian senate and was voted in by the Australian public. America, we have no right to mock your politicians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Roberts_(politician)
Oh, like that story of Asimov about a robot that follows a twisted version of reason that doesn’t allow to trust tthings at face value and is skeptic of everything even when being given an explanation that makes sense through physics. The robot things space is a sea of a black substance, and then through reason theorizes that humans can’t make robots because humans are less efficient than robots, and that the true creator is a god that is substituting humans with robots.
I’d say you still have plenty right to mock our politicians, since while your climate change denier is a member of a small minority party, one of our two major parties has pretty much embraced climate change denial.
Oh, please do mock our politicians. They earn it every day.
Also, please allow us to take pokes at that guy, too.
Augh I’ve recently been discussing with a flat earther who uses pretty much the same logic, its sooooo frustrating >.<
That’s not ‘embracing empirical evidence’ but ‘embracing the empirical evidence that fits my theory’. And thus, a total failure on the count of scientific thinking, as as a scientist, if you have a theory, you go and look for the things that would prove your theory wrong as well as for indications that your theory right. You cannot prove it to be right, you can only prove that you tested all points that might prove its wrong and the theory passed.
Which reminds me of something: Wikipedia states that the g-spot as a distinct physical feature cannot be distinguished. And, holy cow, they don’t want to say it exists so women who don’t experience special orgasms and ejaculation when stimulated there, don’t feel inferior. 🧐 That must be a first.
Is this showing a male bias (as in ‘shit, this doesn’t happen in missionary but needs something more and I don’t want to think about it’) or is there still no explanation for female ejaculation and g-spot orgasms? Or has the Wikipedia once again been hijacked by male assholes?
I mean, ok, the proof I have is anecdotal in the scientific sense because of too small sample size ( because I only saw it happen with one person, who mentioned her previous lover taught her how to let go enough to get there). But there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence out there that’s not porn.
And some printed works from women’s health centers and sex-positive sites, but I don’t know if there are any physiologists works out there? Could anyone point me to a source?
I dunno about the dependability of Wikipedia as a source of sexual anatomical reference.
Anatomy varies and erogenous zones in general are pretty individual. The very best thing to do is to explore and communicate with each partner, with an emphasis on active listening.
Yes,
I actually wanted sources because i’m annoyed that Wikipedia naysays this and it needs sources to be able to change the article.
That different people react differently to stimulation is obvious. Still doesn’t change the fact that xx-women usually come with a vagina that has places on the inner front that react to stimulation in some way, even though liking or not liking stimulation there is individual.
IT WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED
DINA IS A POWERFUL SORCERESS
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/renounce/
Well that’s nice to hear Joyce, I hope you work through whatever –
WWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA????!!!!!
AGH stupid capitalization
Dumbing of Age Book 10: “Original sin, and all that”
In this moment, Joyce is euphoric, not because of a phony Toedad’s parenting, but because she is enlightened by her own character development
I think she’s more saddened by it, but whatever.
Hmm, I wonder how likely it is for Jacob to show up at this party.
Very unlikely, I think, unless Jacob only received an invitation just a couple of hours ago (in in-universe time, that is). Until around midday on this day, he was Raidah’s boyfriend, this is meant to be Dina’s and Sarah’s birthday party, Raidah and Sarah are barely on speaking terms at the best of times…
Oh, in case someone mentioned to Becky that Sarah has had a crush on Jacob, she might have invited him.
Becky would be far more likely to invite him because of Joyce’s crush on him, but he’d know Joyce was going to be there and would thus avoid going because of this morning’s shenanigans.
I’d totally forgotten this was the same day!
Somehow until I saw this comment, I had completely forgotten about that storyline.
I for one am glad that Joyce is coming to her senses and renouncing magical thinking. I wonder how long this will last.
I think she owes Dina at least a full day of it, or however long it takes to get her a gift card.
Puts “Bad For Good” on hacked Muzak.
I can’t see Joyce being bad for just a little while, and I really can’t see her being bad for good, but any reminder to stream Steinman works for me.
“For the good of the fire in your soul…”
… I feel like this is the kind of phase Joyce’s dad was talking about waaaaay back during Family Weekend.
Ah sick, is Joyce an Atheist now?
Pretty much. For most atheists, it was a process that they weren’t always aware of. In her case, it’s been a matter of weeks, beginning with an atheist she discovered to be a decent human being. That was the first crack in her indoctrination.
Doubtful?
I think that line is more of a metaphor. “Now instead of just thinking I might be terrible, I know I’m terrible because I did something rotten with immediate, tangible results.”
OTOH, she also didn’t go to church yesterday. (It was yesterday, right? Today is still Monday?)
She didn’t attend a service, but sort of did a small one by herself.
I’m waiting to see exactly what she’s thinking critically about, first. The term is much-abused these days.
Also, Joyce? A little louder? I want to see Dina’s reaction.
Urgh, she didn’t say “critically thinking.” Curse my pre-coffee brain…
Will regrowing toenails around Dina give you a sickle claw for disemboweling people?
I’d say that renouncing magical thinking and embracing empirical evidence doesn’t make you a bad person. I think it makes you a better person, actually.
No, Joyce is saying she’s embracing empirical evidence that she’s a bad person. Specifically, her behavior with Jacob. Before, she was saying it because of some goofy “original sin” concept. Now, it’s because she’s done something really shitty today.
Something not well though out and somewhat shitty. On my scale of shittyness from 0 to ten, Joyce‘s interactions with Jacob are maybe a three.
And that doesn’t make her a bad person, it makes her a normal person who has done something shitty and has to deal with the consequences.
Reducing anyone to “good person” or “bad person” for one act is also kind of magical thinking.
If Trump personally risked his life today to save a child from drowning, this wouldn’t make him a good person. He would still be a risk to world peace because of his inconsistent and crazy thinking and his permanent assholish decisions. Is he “a bad person”? I really don’t care.
Magical thinking is, in a way part of the older parts of our brain that doesn’t really do words. In that way, it’s an important way to communicate with those parts of ourselves. We just shouldn’t apply this logic to the world around us.
I doubt there exist any circumstances in which trump would risk his life for another human being, no matter how deserving. As far as I can tell, in his mind there is no more deserving human being than himself.
Given his track record, it is highly unlikely, but that has no relevance to my point.
It just means that Joyce is accepting the intentions and consequences of her actions instead of thinking she has to fulfill divine requirements to clean the sins she was born with. It’s like replacing religious dogma with a dogma based on positivism and existential ideas.
Replace religious dogma with Dragon’s Dogma, and your life will instantly improve.
“I always thought I might be bad, now I’m sure that it’s true
‘cause I think you’re so good, and I’m nothing like you.”
—Joyce, probably.
I think Dina’s charm here comes from her genuinely positive intent to perform a social skill correctly combined with very little understanding of how one should do so. She appreciates the effort Becky put into organising the party, and the people put into turning up to help her celebrate, and is trying to show this. With her checklist, and a few things that ideally would be customised but which she lacks the data to complete herself… Her faith in Amber’s superior skills is also very sweet.
Good call, Joyce. Duct tape fixes everything.
Not a broken heaaaaaaaaart
Have you tried? Did you perform a repeatable experiment a sufficient number of times in order to obtain a sufficiently large data set that would allow you to draw such a conclusion? Are you going off a gut feeling or do you have… empirical evidence?
Repeated experiments showed that duct tape applied to the mouth resulted in elimination of whining, moaning, and otherwise other audible expressions of misery, upset, or outrage by 80% (+/- 4%) of the broken-hearted, when compared to the control. Of the remainder, 92% (+/- 6%) saw a reduction in either the number of instances of such expressions, a redirection of such instances to other topics, or both. Of those that redirected expressions of misery, upset, or outrage (18% of total, +/- 3%), the most common target to be redirected to was the duct tape itself, strongly implying a causative link. Increased and more frequent applications of duct tape resulted in correspondingly increased positive outcomes (see Table 7, Appendix).
Also, who’s the IRB and why do they want to talk to me?
*several +1s*
This might be the best comment I’ve read anywhere, on any forum, and I’ve read a distressing amount of them, now that I think about it.
We reluctantly award you one (1) Imperial Internet Point for this.
Also, We were unaware that one could apply duct tape to both tables -and- appendixes.
How WOULD you fix a burst appendix otherwise?
Except ducts, oddly enough. Use the foil kind of tape on those instead.
That’s hillarious
“Duck” tape was originally specified by and created for the U.S. military – capable of sticking to wet surfaces, and not requiring scissors.
It is now universally referred to as “duct” tape, because that sounds right. But it isn’t.
It does a million and one jobs, but adequately at best. Jack of all trades, master of none.
Gorilla tape holds up to most permanent “duct tape repairs” better, and gaffer’s tape is better for temporary use because it doesn’t leave sticky garbage behind.
Hm. In the past few weeks I hit my toe so my nail is about to fall off, sprained my wrist, and got rejected by someone named Jake. I think I have Joyce-curse :O
Have you also punched out a window, lost religion, had your best friend come on to you, and realise your mother might actually be a not good person?
God sent a Sal and a Superhero to save Becky.
Mind you, God is an ex-fundamentalist cartoonist who draws porn.
Joyce lives in a weird world.
Going Empirical instead of Metric was a mistake.
Hey! We resent that remark!
Okay, my alarm bells are ringing. Joyce is not the sort of person who can safety have an excess of self-loathing.
Really? And what are the potential consequences? Feel like no matter what she’d bounce back p quick
The consequences could be huge – self-sabotage, self-harm and possibly even deliberately getting into the wrong crowds because she’s a ‘bad person’ and thus deserves to suffer.
She is fairly likely to go over the top with it, isn’t she?
“I’m a bad person. I guess I should go do whatever it is that bad people do.”
But is she Lawful Bad, Neutral Bad, or Chaotic Bad?
She’s proof that the 3×3 matrix has its limits. However, I’d say Joyce is Neutral-Good. This is one of the reasons why I’m expecting an ill-conceived experiment with costumed vigilantism.
Need a better name than “Din-Dong Bandit Lass”.
Julia Gray: Ace Pilot (and Whiteboard Ding-Dong Bandit)
Joyce please see a doctor I am having second-hand nausea
I mean yea you have all been in hospitals more than one should be over such a short amount of time but, please, for me, save your dang toe
Blaine will help her get to a hospital, I’m sure.
“All my life I was taught I was a sinner. I BELIEVED I was a sinner. I don’t anymore. Now I have PROOF.”
. . . And it’s still only halfway through first semester. The next 135 years in print ought to be really interesting.
If Dana should re-enroll at the start of the Spring semester and reappear in the strip, it may require me going into suspended animation and rejoining the strip in 2119.
I can’t cite, but I believe Willis has said he doesn’t expect freshman year to ever end.
That’s why they call it Freshman Hell.
She really wants to talk about it since she brings up the most salient point first.
Odds are high for “Original Sin, and All That”. It sounds more like an academic paper, anyway.
Like always, higher education makes you grow, Joyce. That, and being with Dotty every so often
Let’s hope they will have a very long and interesting conversation about this.
This could be the beginning point of Joyce and Dorothy ending up circling around a possible romantic entanglement for a while.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=hVzFXI_v9W8&t=7s
Let’s hope indeed.
The bittersweet sympathetic feeling for Joyce!
Dina got what she wanted for her birthday!
…Why am I not happy?
Because you got what you wanted in a way you didn’t want it, as is tradition.
Willis is basically the Monkey Paw of web comic creators.
By the way, Willis, if you need some quotes on the back of your book where random people tell you how much they love your work, I do hereby give you full permission to use the following:
“Willis is a living Monkey Paw cartoonist; always giving his readers what they wished for, but in a way they didn’t want.”
Wow. `Normal/expected things to say’ notes. So useful. Could have used this technique at highschool/uni for sure!
Thanks for writing such a great ASD character Willis. We really appreciate it.
Love everything about this strip.
Ah Joyce. Sweet, confused Joyce. Life is a pain in the butt girl. Keep on questioning everything out there. You’ll find truth someday.
I’m very impressed with Dina’s ability to pronounce square brackets