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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net ⋅ 2d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social ⋅ 3dDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
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This can only end well
This moment was inevitable.
hindsight bias =P
j/k,
see yesterday’s comments for elaborations which i lazed out of making in a timely manner because i was sulking about being censored by the spambot but which i have now posted kbai
You have hindsight bias too!? We should start a movement. Ohhh I hate the past. Always being the cause of how I am here today, never changing, and so smug about it too. Look at me, I’m “HISTORY”. It even has it’s own field of accadamia. Ridiculous!
god yes the past can be so obnoxious, shut up, the past
Understanding The Past is a three-edged sword: your version, their version and the truth of what actually happened.
On the contrary. It was completely possible for the administration to actually attempt to hold a conversation with Robin before hiring her. Had they done so, Robin would no longer be permitted on school grounds thus preventing her from showing up in the teacher’s lounge.
You ever feel like these incidental side characters are living their own webcomic type stories we just don’t know about?
Also it’s a new day so back to Sarah until a BBCC thread dictates I re-roll for a change.
I feel like Vivian lives a very normal life, except for when her path intersects with crazy webcomic shenanigans she has no patience for.
You sure about that? You sure here stoic demeanor isn’t a smokescreen as she comes off a high stakes dramedy plot involving a somewhat age inappropriate romance between one of her students and a political figure that also tied into a real estate scam with another student’s evil parents? It utilizing all side characters that we’ve seen before? To Vivian this interaction is just a gag and Leslie’s just that one random teacher you see once every few years.
It’s long been my assumption that everyone else at the campus has lives maybe one step less crazy than our main cast.
Less outright kidnappings and murders, but otherwise, about the same.
Well, Indiana University Bloomington (this campus) has a student-plus-faculty population of over 46,000 – it’s a bit of a stretch to say that everyone on the campus has lives that crazy.
Absolutely. sometimes I wish I could go with them instead.
Willis saves those stories for his Patreon subscribers.
Vivian is the homeroom ethics teacher of Arnold, Blanka and Beef and has a life long feud with Alma over some obscure events in their past.
“I’m a reasonable woman, Vivian, so I know this isn’t Robin Desanto.”
Does that make Vivian’s last name…Douglas?
“This is not a reasonable world, Leslie.”
It really isn’t.
“Don’t worry, your excellency, she never sticks. Around.”
Boy howdy! This can’t possibly go wrong!
I really want Robin’s prof outfit.
You mean her Eleventh Doctor Cosplay.
Honestly, all she needs at this point is a fez.
Or a Faz.
A Faz in a fez?
A fez in a Faz?
a fez phase?
Actually, in hindsight, I could totally see Robin not knowing where to get professor clothes, walking into a Spirit Halloween (Halloween happened during the time skip, there could totally be one around), asking for something nerdy, and actually walking out dressed as Eleven (Doctor, not psychic nosebleed waffle kid).
That’s my personal headcanon now.
I’ll allow it.
Works perfectly!
I was assuming Robin was just going for a stuffy professor look. Forgot that her outfit looks so much like Eleven until now.
At some point, I am certain that Leslie will bring this point up. She is sufficiently nerdy to suspect that it’s Doctor cosplay – and Robin is sufficiently closeted-nerdy that it actually might be.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m the side character in someone else’s story.
I do sometimes feel the urge to stand around outside and say “Welcome to Corneria!” to passers-by.
I am occasionally moved to perform a dance number about the dry-cleaners having gotten the mustard out.
But that only happens when Joss decides to do a musical episode, right?
oh, was that the name of the demonic entity who cursed everyone with a secret-spilling, uncontrollable-dancing frenzy that one time, because they think chaos and strife and people bursting into flames is entertaining? ;D
The episode’s name was “Once More With Feeling.” The demon’s name (of convenience) was “Sweet”.
heh i was performing a joke about Joss Whedon being about as damnable-worthy as our own David “Damn You” Willis here, but ty for living up to the eager helpfulness of our shared avitar =)
Wow, whoo… when do we get the movie version of the first MCU musical? And will they do it soon enough to bring Jackman back with Reynolds for the Logan/Deadpool dance off?
Yeah, mine. You can carry on as usual, but someday I will ask for a favor.
I kind of feel like an extra. I go back and forth about whether or not I’m cool with that.
I’m so relieved I’m not in the main cast?! it looks exhausting.
We’re all side characters in Willis’s story of being a successful webcartoonist.
Does that mean we all show up as genderflipped commenters in JuliaGrey verse ?
What happens to enby people/characters in a gender flipped world? Do they just rest with their average behaviour on the mirrored side of the midpoint, or do they flip to varying between the extreme opposites of their previous representations (either for more radical representations, or to completely muted representations). Does someone who regularly represented as variously very male and very female end up being representing as a subdued gender neutral? Do very cis people become highly trans? It seems like there are a lot of elements of this that could be explored.
Apologies, if any find the question offensive, none is intended, I’m just really curious about this idea. The gender swap stories I am familiar with typically just do m/f swapping and call it a day, but it really seems like more could be explored.
There’s some kind of German word for that: Sonder.
Actually it’s a Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows coinage. (I mean it’s also a German word but it doesn’t have that meaning.)
WE TELL OURSELVES THAT WE’RE IN A MOVIE.
WHOA WHOA WHOA
EACH ONE OF US THINKS WE GOT THE STARRING ROLE.
ROLE ROLE ROLE.
BUT THE TRUTH IS SOMETIMES YOU’RE THE LEAD
AND SOMETIMES YOU’RE AN EXTRA
JUST WALKING BY IN THE BACKGROUND
LIKE ME,
JOSH GROBAN!
BECAUSE LIFE IS A GRADUAL SERIES OF REVELATIONS
THAT OCCUR OVER A PERIOD OF TIME
SOME THINGS MIGHT HAPPEN THAT SEEM CONNECTED
BUT THERE’S NOT ALWAYS A REASON OR RHYME
PEOPLE AREN’T CHARACTERS
THEY’RE COMPLICATED
AND THEIR CHOICES DON’T ALWAYS MAKE SENSE
THAT BEING SAID IT’S REALLY MESSED UP
THAT YOU BANGED YOUR EX- BOYFRIEND’S DAD
OHHHHH
NEVER BANG YOUR EX-BOYFRIEND’S DAD.
(<3)
crazy ex girlfriend has a song for every human emotion and i stand by that
So specific, yet so universal in their emotional resonance. Heck yeah CxG, heck yeah.
<3 <3 <3
Well I have been living in a series of frequently improbable stories, but I wasn’t sure until I was in the hentai manga script. That’s when I knew for sure, because stuff like that DOES NOT happen in Real Life™.
VIVIAN.
That moment when you realize that Vivian the “Masturbate Responsibly” lady.
Wait what?
Above, left, just over the Hive Works logo.
Nah, Vivian appears to have short hair, Slipshine Sidebar lady has a ponytail. (Also, her eyes are drawn with brown iris versions of the Brown family baby blues or Ruth’s green eyes, rather than the black dot ones Vivian does. But that could just mean Vivian’s waiting for a significant backstory reveal that changes how we and Leslie see her. Maybe. Probably not, though.)
Either way, run, Vivian, run while you can.
Vivian also has a tagged prior appearance (and appeared on Patreon before that), and I recall Willis saying he was rather careful to create a wholly-new character for the Covid-era Slipshine ad.
(Seeing as, obviously, none of our established characters could really be shown to be in lockdown as that would break the intended timelessness of the strip setting.)
While I applaud Regalli’s research and King Daniel’s reasoning, the fact remains that, unlikely as it may seem, there may be more than one lady who masturbates responsibly.
Oh, sure, but we’re talking about the specific Slipshine Ad Masturbate Responsibly lady. I’m sure Vivian does masturbate responsibly on her own time.
I don’t really care that much… BUT…
The slipshine lady does NOT have a pony tail – the window thingys create the illusion of one, but if you actually examine her face, she has the exact same hair, glasses, and freckles of Vivian. So yeah, pretty sure that’s Vivian.
I always assumed that was Billie to be honest
IT’S TOTALLY HER
good points whoever says it’s not her for reasons, counterpoint: i don’t care
IT’S VIVIAN xD
why is this making me so happy
“it’s not her for reasons”, because life is an absurd hollow construct in which i occassionally and with futility strive for even a tiny victory, only to see it inevitably stripped away. Maybe some ‘good points’ will alleviate that.
It is good that you don’t care about the reasons and that it makes you happy. Enjoy your victory and may it carry you towards a brighter future. I too am somewhat enamoured of masterbate responsibly woman and her sex positive eroticism and would like to know more about her. Yes this world is a cold and lonely place.
haha Demoted, no one coats the sweetest comments with lovely existential dread like you do <3
I don’t use Slipshine but I was wondering who that person was forever.
Anyone know who the Winter Slipshine sale pair are – the couple staring at the snow falling?
Her housemates!
Really?? If so, thanks!
This can only go
wellpoorlywellpoorlysoggiesmay rule
May they rule forever!
oh. oh noooooo.
ooh. finally commented after a few months and got a nice becky avatar
How do you like them apples @BBCC?
I’m happy for Teddae! C’mon, I’m not a bongo.
Okay, I kinda am, but not like that.
I like how Leslie assumes that she must be hallucinating Robin’s existence. Although I do have to ask, what kind of dreams/nightmares does Leslie have, to assume that she is hallucinating Robin?
Because the alternative is that Robin became a teacher at the university.
Which is obviously ridiculous, right. Right?
This but with Robin.
She only found it hot the first couple of times, now it’s annoying.
(lol!!!)
Obviously, she dreams of Robin constantly?
Now, this is scary.
aaaaaaaaand kiss
Considering all the crap this version of Robin has pulled, I don’t think we’re there yet.
Enemies-to-coworkers-with-history-to-coworkers-who-have-started-resolving-their-history-to-friends-to-lovers
11037K words
Not according to the fanfic I’m writing in my read right now.
Thank you for psychically transmitting your fanfic; it is excellent
the bit at the coffee machine was a riot xD
Eh, that bit was OK.
The scene on the city bus, on the other hand, that was hilarious.
omg yes “where do you get off?!!” “oh i’ve missed my stop a while back” Ahahaha i diedddd
I dunno, the Aslan cameo felt a tad gratuitous.
I love how Robin’s role as instructor is constantly being treated like it’s a glitch in the matrix. And frankly, if that turned out to be a twist, I’d buy it gladly.
What’s your alternate hypothesis?
The US education system is irrevocably broken and unis are more concerned about getting staff that impresses potential donors than staff with any qualifications that will actually do a good job educating students?
Whyy couldn’t we have gotten more Vivian instead
is she gonna return in 4 years?
Today’s strip is brought to you by Epson Printers.
they kindly waived intellectual property rights over their user manual illustrations, that was handy
The question I have is Robin intentionally in the wrong department or forgot where the poly sci department is or the Poly sci department intentionally told Robin the wrong office number.
Considering her current cast page bio says that she “hopes Leslie notices the bow tie,” I’m guessing it’s the former.
good catch!
Robin asked for directions to the PoliSci lounge, but the person she asked misunderstood that as Poly sci, as in where the people study the geometry of poly relationships, and sent her to the Gender Studies lounge.
It’s cute you think there’s a gender studies lounge. Political Science and Gender Studies are both going to be in the Social Science department.
Given that I have worked for Universities that ranged from large to small. their social science programs had separate office suites and lounges. I would assume Indiana University a very large institution would have separate offices and lounges also the Gender studies department is located Ballintine Hall and Political science is located in Woodburn hall.
I think both Leslie and Robin teach in Woodburn Hall
All this is missing is the classic cartoon rubbing eyes thing to be perfect.
Maybe a spit-take?
I don’t remember Vivian.
Heyy Vivian’s kinda cute, maybe Leslie could date her
That assumes Vivian’s gender identity and sexual orientation are compatible with dating anybody.
Clearly you’ve never shipped characters before. Their actual canon gender/sex/orientation don’t matter, those are merely hurdles that you can recklessly plow through on the way to “I want these characters together”
and by “together” we mean “bangin'”.
Will Leslie recognize Robin in glasses? Or will she fall for the mild but quirky professor who is secretly Super-Robin!
Robin was wearing glasses in literally her first appearance in Leslie’s class in Dumbing of Age.
Don’t be silly, Super-Robin isn’t in this strip!
That’s obviously Spider-Ca—
OH GOD WILLIS JUST BROKE INTO MY HOUSE NO NO PUT DOWN THE everything is fine, go about your day. signed, not willis
I somehow forgot that, oh yeah, these two were going to run into each other at some point.
I thought it was the moment we were all waiting for.
No, no, Vivian. Stay and enjoy the drama
Literally being in the middle of it is not a good way to enjoy it. She should at least find a
saferbetter vantage point.On the other side of the fourth wall?
Given recent developments with Joyce, that’s only mostly safe.
Get up.
Go to the snack machine and purchase one(1) bag of microwavable popcorn.
Proceed to microwave the popcorn.
Find a new seat no closer than ten(10) feet, or two(2) tables distant, whichever is less, from your previous seat.
Enjoy your popcorn.
Nah, I think Vivian is making the smart choice to nope the fuck out of this situation as quickly as possible.
Agreed.
Vivian? More like Vamoosian.
I know they won’t bang here in the teacher’s lounge right here on the table but it’d be pretty great if the banged right here in the teacher’s lounge on the table.
Ah, and some imaginary fanart as well! The comment section is rich with transmundane Leslie/Robin content tonight, and I am grateful
I keep promising lots of fanart. At this point I wonder which pairing you guys would be most interested in seeing me draw.
Everything I’ve seen of yours is good and I trust your choices. But if you’re having trouble deciding between all the options, I vote for Robin. She’s such a spectacular disaster that the fact that she’s cute is about all she’s got going for her at the moment
Danny/Sayid of course.
ngl robin looks really cute in the suit
This is going to either turn into a screaming argument or the two of them will end up making out (or something similar).
Maybe both, first the argument then them making out?
The long-anticipated return of the Xerox machine! (Although that one looks mre like a Canon.)
Head Canon: Vivian is the Cheese
“Leslie! I had absolutely NO idea you were teaching here when I very specifically and relentlessly applied for this position, and now we’ve run into each other and it looks like this might keep happening because we are colleagues now???!!! this is wild?!”
The horrible thing is that Robin is sufficiently a cloudcuckoolander that she could say the things you suggest and actually be telling the truth.
Robin is post-truth. It’s not that she’s sometimes lying sometimes not, it’s that there is no discernable difference to anyone including herself. She is made out of pure politics.
…almost pure. she had a twinge of integrity at some point and quit literal politics, but she’s still close to 100% inauthentic, to the point where it loops back to being her actual personality
These two comments are gold and/or truth.
Lounge: The Return of Vivian
She actually lives there.
YEEEES! THE AWKWARD MEET! I’ve waited for this since the first strip with Robin as a prof! Now, start to fight for the Theater’s lounge possession!
SHARE THE LOUNGE IS NOT A POSSIBILITY!!!!!!!!!
Come on Vivian, there’s probably a microwave in there to make yourself some popcorn.
Oh no I already don’t like where this is going…
Robin still looks ridiculous in that
the alt-text could have been “No no no no no”
I thought that link was going to be to the cat.
sweet sounding song, but….
“She’s a doll who goes no no no no
all day long, she goes no no no no
she is so, so pretty
that i dream of her at night
no one’s ever taught her
that she could say yes
without even listening, she goes no no no no
without a look at me, she goes no no no no
and yet i would give my life
for her to say yes”
Unrequited love is often more plaintive than eloquent. By the way, the guitar in that recording is played by none other than Jimmy Page.
hah, that’s fun about Jimmy Page, i didn’t know he had had anything to do with Polnareff =)
Oh, I’m not saying it’s bad poetry. It’s a finely written song. It just comes off as sort of cringey to me. Like, if she keeps turning you down, maybe it’s not because she’s some kind of pathological refuser, Michel. >_>
Robin has a point; unless the University considers Gender Studies a Poly Sci course, Leslie should not be there. This is not like Highschool, where there is some general lounge, where all the instructors gather. At best, every department would have there own lounge, for their professors.
Per above, I think the assumption is that all the social sciences* have to share.
* “pfft, like that’s even a real thing.“
*Leslie* should not be here? Is there any reason to think that, even if the departments don’t share, that it’s Robin in the right place and not Leslie.
Leslie clearly knows Vivian and isn’t seen as out of place.
Robin is known for ignoring boundaries.
Vivian knows Leslie’s laptop wallpaper, and I think in the bonus Patreon strip they shared office space or something. They’re in the same department, or at least same building. If anyone has no business being here, it is 100% Robin.
Henceforth, the teachers refrained from talking about the Lounge Incident of Winter 20XX and the student body resorted to their own imagination of what transpired there.
Hi, Vivian.
Bye, Vivian.
Wonder if we’ll see her again.
Indiana University must be going through a rough time if professors don’t get offices anymore. I mean, even lecturers get offices and TAs get cubicles. This lounge business is fishy.
That or they have individual lounges which is super bourgeois.
So, like a biology professor gets a huge garden patio? I’d dig it.
It’s DEFINITELY not unheard of for junior faculty at some colleges in the US (TAs, adjuncts, people who just don’t have seniority because the actually tenured professors have been there since 1963 and will die in their offices) to share an office space. Or not have any real space to themselves. I suspect/vaguely remember from Patreon that Leslie and Vivian do share space, and that this lounge is more a ‘when you want to eat lunch with your colleagues but not deal with students’ sort of area, but not certain.
Academia has an issue with treating its incomers like shit – the situation with last semester’s math class that was ‘taught’ by Professor Rees who didn’t do anything because the class was actually handled by grad student TAs is… at most somewhat exaggerated. You’ll also sometimes get issues where there are more students admitted that want to live in on-campus housing than there actually is housing available, which also means you need classes for all these students that need to be taught by more professors, and more lecture hall space… Yeah, it is entirely believable to me for a college to be doing okay financially but have so completely deprioritized faculty members having their own workspace that people who share their office space use the lounge when it’s someone else’s office hours. (Hell, given the concept of open-space offices, I could see them selling a lounge instead of office thing and the adjuncts just contemplating murder. Hopefully COVID’s had people rethinking that as a trend, but I doubt it.)
Can confirm: our college’s shiny new building 15 years ago is already straining its buttons. With the exception of the last year because of covid and remote instruction. But once we’re on-campus again we’ll be back to trying to figure out where to put everybody.
And the building seemed bigger than we’d ever need when it was planned.
What? First Leslie has to contend with two exes in her class trying to exist in the same space, and then she has to contend with sharing space with her own ex?
Surely this sort of parallel structure will not hold life lessons for everyone involved!
Still better than having to exit pursued by a bear.