Discussion (138) ¬
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Scott Rivers @alasbabylon.bsky.social ⋅ 6h
Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org ⋅ 21h
Iantos @iantos.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Jon Munitz @jonmunitz.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
Chris McFeely @chrismcfeely.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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Joe looking into new kinks?
I feel like this is Joe’s primary research interest. At the very least it ranks pretty highly.
Honestly, I don’t understand why Joe doesn’t study Sexology – He’d probably not only enjoy it, but it’d also provide a productive outlet for such an interest that doesn’t make him look like a creep.
He’s looking to combine osteology and gynecology.
He wants to have a Doctorate in ladyboners.
That’s not how… *sigh* But yeah, that’d be on brand for Joe.
I think the specification was *with girlfriend* do he can redo a bunch of kinks he’s tried out but *with girlfriend*
He’s in the sex business. Knowing about all the sex going on is in his interests, even if it’s not happening to him.
If Joe could apprentice with Kinsey, I have no doubt that would have been his major, even if he had to double up. A majeur-a-trois if you will.
Agenda 1: Must now replace the “Blinded” part in “She Blinded Me With Science”
Biol-gee?
How’s this?
She reminded me with science!
You criticize the Joe until you need the Joe…but will he help you Becky?….Maybe.
As a friendly gesture. For Science!
In a lesbian relationship, there’s always an unwelcome dick.
He’s like a useless type-face until you need an obscure character. A real wing-dick.
Wouldn’t that be a wing-wang?
Actually, now I’m beating myself up for having missed “wing-dink”.
Speaking as a lesbian, I beg to differ. ^-^
Dina continues to be the best character, Becky continues to worry me about the state of their relationship.
I genuinely can’t tell if they are doomed, or if Becky is subconsciously trying to make them doomed.
The second can easily lead into the first.
“Oh. I assumed we were not humoring him.”
I can foresee three possible meanings from this:
1. Dina does in fact have “pants euphoria” here, but can hide it from others including Joe rather effectively.
2. Dina has gained the ability to summon “pants euphoria” at will, and is chosen not to do so.
3. Dina has no reliable pattern or mechanism behind her “pants euphoria” that can be found. The relationship is doomed, Becky. Life is cruel.
If someone here can see another possibility, I’d love to hear it!
In fact I know the predictions I wrote are far from perfect. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find it in myself to resist the temptation of making a JoJo reference!!!!
I’m pretty sure it’s just her playing the straight-man (hah!) in their double-act for a punchline, my dude. Her response indicates nothing about her ‘pants euphoria’ status, as she clearly took Joe’s reputation and Becky’s reaction and arrived at the conclusion Joe was just being Joe and thus the question could be dismissed.
It’s set up for another round of Becky-has-anxiety-that-Dina-isn’t-as-horny-as-she-is, not any statement about Dina herself.
Well, I guess we can only wait and see what bizarre adventures the couple will have with Joe!!!
*cymbal sting*
4) Dina wants to approach pants-euphoria scientifically, and realizes that Joe might be rather useful in such an endeavor.
You know what, this actually seems like the most likely hypothesis! Good thinking!
Eat at Arby’s.
Strange, that is supposed be after Wagstaff’s post ending in “life is cruel.”
Mmmmm…. I could actually use some of their fries right about now…..
That post was actually supposed to be a JoJo reference, but I’m not one to turn down an excuse for fast food!
Y’ever have their cheese sticks? ‘Cause those are pretty good too.
Of course it’s doomed. Reasons: Fuck you, Willis
You misspelt. It “d-a-m-n y-o-u W-i-l-l-i-s”.
We are agreed on this. I thought they were pretty great when they first got together now I feel like the break up is just a matter of time because Becky can’t let go of aspects of her Christian upbringing. (I grew up in a Christian household and thankfully stopped believing in any existence of God when I was like, 10, which made me stop believing in anything the church or my parents tried to teach me, I am so happy that I didn’t buy into the brainwashing,. Poor Becky)
Their relationship could still go well, if Becky would just talk with Dina about her issues with sex and stuff, but she seems unwilling to do so.
Again, I didn’t think I needed these three but I do, I totally do.
*facepalms at Becky*
No, I’m not going to facepalm about Joe, nothing surprising there and I’m no longer invested in any hope of him reforming. Would prefer if he did… but being disappointed would first require me to expect better.
But come on, Becky. By now you should know that you can communicate clearly with Dina, and need to more than with most women. Just bring it up with her again once Joe’s gone.
Thats some high standards you’ve got there.
Joes using humour which would be quite acceptable to close friends and, I think, in this case he believes (incorrectly) hes in the realm where that kind of humour/questioning is ok with Becky and Dina
Yeah hes got a way to go in regards to interactions with female friends but considering where he started and where he is now he’s doing well
He’s also following up on Dina’s first identified pants euphoria (he even helped identify it) which, subject matter aside, feels like a relatively friendly interaction maybe?
Showing interest in someone’s growth and development is a good thing right?
His actions in the third panel are interesting, He immediately backs off and apologizes whereas, previously, Joe probably would have kept going on in the same vein
Signs are promising for Joe also Becky could stand to be a bit less of a wang herself so pot kettle black
Yup, he learned it’s not cool to drag the conversation in a direction only he’s interested in going, and finally started actually applying that lesson.
Yes, I really think he’s just trying to have a friendly conversation with Dina. He’s…a work in progress.
I think he is just honestly trying to help Dina, who he understands is a) figuring out the complexities of her sexuality and b) able to talk about these things frankly and maturely on a level that most Americans under the age of 40 would consider shocking.
The trouble is just, and it’s a pretty believable problem for a young straight white man have, he doesn’t consider that he might not be the best person to tackle this topic. That is, the Joe who only last semester would not have been able to say anything here without turning it into a nominal joke about how she and Becky as lesbians should be performing sexually for his gratification. He thinks he should not have to exist in that context for other people just because, and as soon as, he’s decided to try turning a new leaf.
But, it’s a minor error, and he did apologize and back off and tried to clarify his intentions as soon as Becky scowled. I’d say he’s learning a lot.
Yeah agreed to this. Compare Joe’s behaviour this semester to Raidah and Jennifer’s.
Fully agree, I think Joe’s actually being fairly in line here. I don’t we’d think anything of it if Walky or Dorothy or Becky herself said something similar–we just have context for Joe that makes us expect the worst.
I mean, my read of this was that Joe is trying to be Becky’s wingman here. Those two got issues they need to work out.
At the very least, in the next panel Dina looks like she’s contemplating a possibility she hadn’t considered until just then.
I mean, I think he’s actually just directly asking because Dina doesn’t do innuendo, and Dina is somebody that Hot Manly Stud Joe will never hook up with so he can, like, engage with her on a level she finds appropriate and just come out and ask.
That’s a very supportable analysis. If one considers their interaction earlier ‘today’ you can see Joe straight up greeting Dina in a very unambiguous fashion.
*plays Ace’s “How Long (Has This Been Going On?)” on the hacked Muzak*
Hey, as long as it works ™
Early dismissal earned for everyone in their class with pure brain power?
Everyone make like the Kool-Aid man and let out an Ooooh yeeeaaaahhhh!!!!!
Will a Randy Savage “OOH YEAH!” do?
Sure! The more the merrier!
I’m appreciating Becky’s use of her hair to complete the lesbian flag look.
I wish we could’ve seen the look on Becky’s face when she looked at the flag, looked at her hair, and realized the opportunity that lay before her. Because no way in hell was it an accident in-universe.
To be slightly fair, this isn’t a conversation that one doesn’t have with friends if the subject has come up before if a opportunity to explore that conversation appears.
Also is Dina cupping her mouth in a sign of pondering or to as a sign of keeping mum to Joe?
I think your first suggestion is correct: she’s pondering the question. The crook of her finger looks like a thinking pose
Definitely this, IMO.
Looks to me like Dina’s thinking about what Joe said.
Pfft.
I mean most of science is indeed asking the big questions.
Not JUST big questions, but GOOD questions. We look to science for answers, and you can’t get good answers without asking good questions!
Well, sometimes good science comes from, “huh, that’s weird!” But the obvious follow up is the good question, “why?”
Why haven’t I ever seen a dolphin in person despite having swam in the Pacific? Clearly it’s because they left the planet.
this dolphin livestream disproves the hypothesis that they have /all/ left the planet, but perhaps you’re onto something regarding some dolphins pacifically. Further research is called for. Go jump in the pacific and let us know what you find.
So long and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this
We tried to warn you all but oh dear
You may not share our intellect
Which might explain your disrespect
For all the natural wonders that
grow around you
So long, so long and thanks
for all the fish
I think about that cuz there’s so many series where like…there’s a world with magic and like…science opposes magic. Which is bullshit cuz if we lived in a world with magic science to explain how the magic worked would exist. Science sees what’s in the world and observes it. If some magic is happening a scientist wouldn’t say “impossible”. They’d ask “how?”
I love your take on this!
This reminds me of a Doraemon movie where the characters went to a wizard universe in hopes that life would be easier there with “magic”. It was so educational and funny at the same time when Doraemon revealed that the “magic” was just science with a different set of rules, and still needed painstaking effort to understand and put to practical use.
It’s not a new take, though.
“Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!“
The Doraemon movie that said it was actually made a year before that Girl Genius strip.
But still, I absolutely ADORE Agatha’s spirit!!!!
Which is a paraphrase of an Arthur C. Clarke quote from 1962.
and in Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series, wizardry is just a different way of manipulating/affecting the universe – it still follows the laws of physics (a somewhat larger set than most people are aware of, just like Einstein encompasses Newton contains Aristotle, etc), spells are like equations and must be balanced, etc etc.
I get so unbelievably happy when I see references to this series in the wild. It was a massive part of my childhood and teenage years that still holds up today. Horribly underrepresented i think.
I came to it a bit later, as a young adult, but I still consider myself a big fan.
They just did something similar to this in the Grrl Power webcomic.
There is this old RPG game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It’s a fantasy world which is currently undergoing an industrial revolution, Science and Magic clash strongly in it, to the point where a character who heavily invested in magic will not be allowed on trains because they could explode or something. The explanation, if I remember right, was that Science works on figuring out the natural laws of the world, physics and such while Magic subverts and messes with those laws making the two highly incompatible.
Honestly, if we lived in a world with magic, science to explain it likely wouldn’t exist. Science likely wouldn’t exist. I mean, it didn’t exist for most of our history and we didn’t even have magic to complicate things.
How would you figure out basic laws of nature when “a wizard did it” or “It’s storming because Thor is mad” are correct explanations much of the time? Or even that trying to figure out laws of nature is a thing that makes sense.
Depends on the magic to some extent. Some magic systems are more codifiable than others, at least to the extent that someone already familiar with the scientific method could start to lay down rules.
Now that’s just a little bit rude to our ancestors. Science existed since forever. Science is observing and forming conclusions. Primitive hunter-gatherers use science, they pick plants and berries and if they die horribly after eating them they go “Hmm… this thing is Bad for you.” Ancient Greeks were figuring out how the world works, sure their conclusions might have been WAY off base but they were still trying to understand the world.
It would be no different with magic. You say that we didn’t have magic to complicate things but we totally did. Sure we Now might not consider it magic but our ancestors didn’t know better and they saw many phenomenons as actions of gods or magic and they still tried to figure out the world.
There’s a difference between “trying to understand the world” and science. Our distant ancestors were just as smart as we are. I mean no disrespect. The scientific method was a revolutionary breakthrough, far more effective at figuring out how things work than previous approaches. It’s hard to realize that sometimes, because it seems so simple (and is at the same time not well understood by most even now). I don’t blame them for not having that tool any more than for not having other more physical tools.
But for the other point, our ancestors didn’t have magic. They thought there was magic and used it as an explanation, but they were wrong. That meant that they could eventually find the patterns that were really there. People used to think weather was the work of the gods who sent rains for the crops if they were pleased and floods or droughts if they weren’t. But that wasn’t true and there were actually underlying rules behind the weather that we’ve been able to figure. If it really was true though, there wouldn’t be such rules. You wouldn’t be able to make predictions and do experiments to test them – other than possibly trying to test what would please the gods.
I will certainly agree that the Scientific Method was a major breakthrough but you have to admit that it didn’t just pop out of thin air, much like all the other breakthroughs, it was a result of a long march of progress. A new tool to be used for scholars who have been researching the world for millennia. You can’t say that science didn’t exist before the scientific method, just like you can’t say that we didn’t have machines before the invention of the steam engine.
Okay but who is to say that there are no underlying rules for magic too? Like a mage, a scholar of magic, is very much a long-established archetype. He is a Scientist of Magic, trying to figure out the underlying rules and patterns. Even something as insane as WH40k Chaos is being studied by the various branches of the Imperium in order to understand it and establish some ground rules.
Gotta agree with Eldritchy here. The codification of the Scientific Method was revolutionary for us, but still was just a refinement on observe and test. Before refining it and recognizing the need for repeatability, early development had so much noise it would be close to randomness. But even Magic and Gods aren’t random. Arbitrary sure, but not random. So even if something failed “because magic” science would still be applicable, because experimentation would still allow one to observe a system over time. Sure there’d be more noise, and it would be slower, but magic data noise would either be low enough that we’d be able to perceive the underlying behaviour. If not, it seems unlikely that we’d ever have survived the savanah, let alone got out of africa, since we used technology to do those things.
Let us not forget that development of sound science is further expedited by recognizing that scientific predictions and models have to be falsifiable through observation! Sorry Magic and Gods, (*prepares umpire voice*), yoooooouuuuu’rrreee outta here!!!!!
It is very possible to have magic that works by sciency rules. It is just not necessary.
That “sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science” bit can be true, depending on how it works in the setting, but it doesn’t have to be.
All magic is science — you just don’t know what you’re doing!!!
– Princess Bubblegum, addressing Land of Ooo’s wizards
Oh, and we mustn’t forget that evil science comes from,
“muwa-hahaha-HahahHAHAHAhahaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Now, now. Mad science also comes from that as well!
I thought Mad science just came from folding the A’s to the B’s and seeing what picture resolved to answer the question.
Ohh, good one. Wonder how many of the younger crowd are going to get this reference?
When life gets a little crazy, don’t get angry — get MAD!!!
Up with miniskirts.
Used to read the mag and watch the show.
Anyone know how to get rid of the video ad so I can read the last two panels?
Find the strategically hidden “X” button, find an adblocker, or install a VPN.
Or just right click the part you can see and then select “open image in new tab”.
At least one of those should work.
Mmmmm, Pi-Hole… *Homer drool*
Rebecca, you have some pretty severe tendencies towards being a wang yourself. This is not a hill you wanna die on.
Also, is anyone else getting a large, constantly reappearing video ad on mobile devices?
Yes. Very annoying.
May I recommend Brave browser? I use it, and NEVER get any video ads on this site!
Try reporting it to Hiveworks, they always get rid of them promptly for me.
Really unsure how to phrase this without being more offensive than the point already is. But it seems like Becky would object to being called a ‘wang’ and insist on a more female slur. This is definitely made more complex because cultural toxicity has imparted a more hostile and derogatory connotation to insults based on female attributes. Maybe Becky would insist on it regardless to boldly take back the term. Alternatively maybe she’d shoot down the entire concept of gendered slurs for the same reason that racial and other “what you are” slurs are wrong. (vice slurs about /who/ you are)
And that’s why I went with “wang”. Any female-equivalent term would not go over well.
‘Tit’ might not be too bad. maybe? (if I might dare a suggestion)
Poor Becky’s dying to make crazy science with Dina.
Desperation causes even the sanest of people to turn into Joe for any amount of time.
Did…Did Joe just accidental wingman?
But… does it count as wingmaning if the girls are already together?
Especially considering that Dina has said that her being Ace would not stop her from engaging in physical intimacy with Becky. Becky is the barrier here. Then again, maybe what Becky wants (unhealthy as this is) is for Dina to crack and ‘make’ Becky overcome her christian abstinence by forcing Becky to choose to submit rather than denying her partner. And that’s just one bad take. There’s all sorts of toxic ways this could be interpreted and played out.
This hypothesis is rather well supported by her asking (rather, begging) Dina to teach her “indifference to the Ways of Flesh“.
Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll see this happen with something like the spoon-bending scene from The Matrix. Except this time it would actually make sense.
Anybody else getting a new video ad that automatically plays every 30 seconds, covers most of the screen, and gets positioned so its (undoubtedly microscopic) close button is off-screen?
Huh… so lots of people are getting annoying video ads on on the comic right now?
Try Brave browser or a VPN. If that doesn’t work, I’m pooped.
Yes. Fortunately the video is only about 20 seconds after which it disappears. Until the next one starts.
I’ve got this site whitelisted on AdBlock browser-wise (can’t block on mobile), but I still have it set up to block those specific ads (along with certain visual elements to streamline things). Banners are fine, but if it’s an obnoxious auto-play ad that bounces my page around, I draw a line. I’m also on the Patreon, to mitigate the guilt.
You can almost read Dina’s thought processes in panel 4. She’s genuinely considering Joe’s suggestion but there is this whole murky ‘socially appropriate behaviour’ thing that people always insist that she do. So, maybe she shouldn’t do it at all?
Joe, meanwhile, is wondering if it is a good thing or a bad thing that some people have actually started listening to him.
Who might Joyce be ‘talking’ to on her ‘phone?
I’m gonna guess that Joyce is talking to Jacob, with whom she’s been having casual sex off-screen and unmentioned. Even Sarah doesn’t know about it.
I love how Joe and Becky are staring to Dina in panel 4th. They just want to know. How cute!
No Becky, no. No matter how much you want to know you Need to establish firm boundaries with Joe.
Joe is, IMO, fine here, and Becky has other issues that need addressing much more urgently.
Yeah, he was one of the people Dina was talking to when it happened and was very open about what she was experiencing, so it should be obvious she doesn’t find the topic off-limits for him. They’re a fun friend pair lol.
I’m patiently waiting for Joe’s self hatred/one step forward one step back thing to develop.
Was this a feature of It’s Walky’s Joe?
If Becky was a horniness bomb, we’d all be dead
“Joe” can have a little info, as a treat.
Wowzers it sure is curious that when Joe doesn’t want to sleep with someone (or more accurately, when he’s talking to someone his macho bullshit persona has decided it’s okay not to either sleep with or constantly throw garbage at) he just has frank and direction conversations with them.
Why is it curious that someone who isn’t being actively flooded with hormones is able to behave in a more mature fashion? (and sorry if this sounds challenging, I’m actually just interested in you building on your point)
In a stunning series of events, I’ve managed to boot up my laptop that “died” last January. Contained in a desktop folder are a multitude of Gravatars I’d been working on. The power. The absolute POWER.
Backup. And congrats.
Oh, I definitely backup my stuff regularly, in case of that exact outcome. The crash just happened to occur in between those regular backups, is all. I sorta randomly plugged the laptop in on a whim this morning, not really expecting it to even boot after so long.
I suspect the specific admonition here was something like “back that up immediately, in case it fails again five seconds from now”.
I love the lesbian flag color scheme that Becky has going on right now!
Ohh, I loved it. So true..
And so Joe now knows your weakness, Becky…
It really didn’t help that she said the loud part quiet and the quiet part loud.
I really do personally hope that this whole thing with Becky and Dina can resolve itself without a breakup, but. I sincerely doubt it. Cause DYW and also, they’re fuckin college freshman, the likelihood of Becky’s (and Dina’s?) very first relationship lasting when THESE serious issues come up is. Low!!!
Hopefully Dina will find someone who loves and appreciates her exactly the way she is, and Becky will start to shake off some of her fundie programming which is just going to make her miserable in ALL of her relationships.
I largely agree with this. I’d like to see them work past this silly stopping-block, of course, but barring that I’d hope for an amicable breakup. Probably there’d be an awkward transitional phase, and it might even result in one of them having a slight grudge toward the other. I might expect Dina to bounce back faster than Becky, but there’s a lot of room for surprise on that end.
Becky and Dina can’t break up.
Dating Dina is Becky’s most redeeming feature.
The thing about Becky is she has way too much invested into this relationship compared to Dina. Dina has her family back home, and while Becky is definitely not as bad off as she could be and does have some support systems around her, she definitely also is putting way too much of her self worth into dating Dina and thus is taking it personally that Dina doesn’t experience the same level of sexual attraction that she does.
So I feel for Becky, I really do, but also like, please just google about the ace spectrum, Becks.
See on one hand I think it’s extremely true to life that Becky is just completely incapable of wrapping her head around the idea that Dina is not as horny on main for her as she is Dina and she’s so unaware of this as a concept that she can’t just talk about it, but then that draws me to the careful balancing act of writing a story where likable and sympathetic cast members express beliefs with a tangible human cost, and then instead of just continuing this linear story to its conclusion you follow them one strip at a time spaced out by 24 hours.
I cringe a lot over how I used to react to stuff in this series wrt Amber’s mental state, and like, of course Amber had to go to a Bad Place, because she was never healing and never trying to heal because she couldn’t conceive of any solution that wasn’t her suicidal death march where she leaps off more trucks than the average person should, but god did I still have a terrible reaction to it.
Joe is a genius.
Joe can have a little humor, as a treat.