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Who should be the default doodle for Book 14?
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preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 5h
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 1d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
“I choose to believe she’s dating a complete bumpkin, as it will give me sufficient high ground from which to look down upon her”
Interaction pairs? um… Amber and Raidah? Faz and Daisy? Galasso and Snoop?
I mean we gotta start of with Carl and basically everybody. it’s easy to not interact with people when you don’t exist unless relevant.
If we’re talking about the uninteractables, we might as well have Other Rachel and Carl in a strip together.
All of the Read Hall and Forest Quad extras get together to compare notes.
whole chapter about a day in the lives of all the named background characters.
I’d be more into that than yet another panel of Malaya being a needless jerk.
…
So really I could have ended that with “panel of Malaya.”
Malaya is being surprisingly decent here, though. She and Sal don’t get along, but she is still screening potential stalkers.
Mike would have done a better job.
Even on the main cast we haven’t seen an interaction between Booster and Fuckface. (Both on the shadow-y disclamer of DoA after time skip) And I cannot remember a scene were Lucy and Danny/Joe interacted.
Dina hasn’t interacted with lots of cast members either come to think of it. Gotta take a look at Amos’ chart widget…
Link please?
hit Amos’s pseud
Gondor calls for aid
There you go!
Hey, Amos? you don’t seem to be in a great place? Hang in there, buddy. I appreciate you, for what it’s worth. I’m sure someone will see your worth eventually. Remember Dorothy’s advice to Walky? Try to be yourself? It’s not fail proof. But if you can get to a place where you at least enjoy your own company, being lonely may be (somewhat) less unbearable. And, generally i think, people who like themselves tend to be more attractive to others? I don’t know, i heard that same advice a million times while struggling with depression so it’s probably not that useful… (Or is it, idk) Turns out to be true when you get to that place, at least for me.
Anyway. Take care <3
Hi, @milu. Thank you for the kind words.
I’m kinda struggling, as usual. But I believe I’m doing fine by far. In this year, I’ve promised to take care myself, as physical than mentally.
Life’s hard and unffair, but I believe I’m doing the best of my life, and I’m still improving.
Again, thank you for your care and worring. I really apreciate it.
Neat
Lack of Carl confirms he’s not real.
Doesn’t mean she wasn’t hiding behind the door, though.
My thought cannon is Carl and Dina have most of the same classes and interests. They’re becoming fierce rivals, but mo one else will ever notice.
I’d read it.
Carl’s ability to be summoned only when needed, his name, and his seeming ability to be molded into whatever shape his leader demands of him, would make him a perfect mate for Carla.
Most unlikely yet still plausible pair to meet: Liz & Dana.
Most unlikely and implausible, I’m going with Jaime and Rich Mullins (both have tags, both count)
Dana’s doing better, but she didn’t come back to IU. She’s now at Ball State and one of those friends that mocks Liz for her Christianity.
Counterpoint: is there anyone Sal could date that Malaya wouldn’t look down on her for?
Carla. In which case she’d be intensely envious, while claiming that she doesn’t believe they’re really dating.
if anything, wasn’t carla briefly into malaya at one point?
Creepily into Malaya, you mean… seriously, it was pretty cringe.
Malaya.
A super hot rod trans-former woman.
Not really, no. The issue is Sal, in the end.
They seemed pretty ready to approve when the possibility of Sal x Marcie was on the table.
Yes, Malaya herself.
Marcie, probably Asher? Maybe Joe.
we’re slowly filling in the character interactions bingo sheet
LMAO i wrote that before reading the alt text
Haha nice
Bingo or bongo?
Bango.
I don’t wanna leave the Congo,
oh no no no no no
we need booster to psychoanalyze malaya lol. or maybe they’d get along with their gender thoughts
Yeah, I’d rather them do their signature Psychic attack on Raidah, she deserves it more.
As someone with gender thoughts, I don’t think I’d get along with Malaya no matter many she shared with me lol
I was about to say I don’t think I’d get along with Booster either. But actually think I’d like them a lot. I wouldn’t take them very seriously, but I think I’d actually enjoy their company. Which is weird since no one in the comic seems to.
Ethan seems to. Sort of. Maybe.
Actually, I’m not sure we’ve seen many people interact with Booster since their introduction. I assume the situation has gone from “What’s the deal with the constant psychoanalysis?” to “Oh, right, they’re the person who does that”, but I don’t know how the others feel about it.
a well-played diss though
and here I was expecting it to be Dorothy standing again.
Yeah. First panel: still looking dejected. Second panel: chin up, determined.
We don’t see her for two IRL weeks. Tension!
I love the pacing of the single broken Dorothy page. Now it’s time to Danny things up!
For bonus points, said sad-and-dejected-Dorothy strip comes between a strip with her most recent ex-boyfriend and a strip with the one before that. Both of whom she broke up with for reasons related to her dream of going to Yale and becoming President.
She’s having a baaaaaad day
Take my imaginary upvote for recognizing Dorothy’s extremely no good terribly bad day.
Oh shit you’re right, that’s so good
Dorothy’s mom says some days are like that, even in Australia
Even in Australia?! In Australia, any day where the wildlife doesn’t randomly up and kill you is a good day.
Some of us are counting ourselves lucky that we’re only being overrun by cockatoos so far, but can we please have a deeper, wider ocean around them for the sake of the rest of the world, please.
I am not a big fan of Malaya, but this I like.
On the one hand, Malaya Act Like a Functional Human Being Challenge 2023, Difficulty: Beyond Impossible
On the other hand, this is hilarious
Malaya’s cold, cruel commitment to sticking to their guns regardless of how unpleasant it makes them does warm my heart just a little bit. They will have many enemies but zero regrets in life.
Why using “they” for Malaya? She has never expressed such pronoun preference, as far as I’ve seen, at least not in this iteration (I don’t recall if her earlier version ID’ed as anything other than Carlasexual).
NVM, I found it. I think the fact that it came up in an interaction between my two least liked cast members was a partial cause of my forgetfulness.
she/they/whatever
feels like sal prolly would’ve gave danny a heads up about malaya at least hopefully lol
What’s the risk this guy is a creeper who’s stalking my roommate and thinks he’s dating her when she has no idea who he is and giving him access to her stuff when she’s not around is going to end up with our room trashed/smeared with poop/covered in hidden cameras and him stealing her shit and getting his delusions more affirmed and all kinds of terrible things? Eh, who cares as long as I can and turn convention on its head! And also look down on Sal.
GFY Malaya
I don’t know where this ranks on the Sal is fakey charts but it’s on there somewhere.
Sal’s love for a good sweet nerd boy like Danny is so fakey it refracts through the irony prism and becomes real
Huh, is Malaya binding now?
She’s mentioned in the past that they does sometimes!
*They do
I got too happy about it and my brain hiccuped
I think you’re okay given that IIRC Malaya IDs as she/they?
She does! I meant where where I typed “they does” lolol
OHHH lmao whoops!!
She said she did at least at some points during the past semester, too. I get the impression that it’s a sometimes thing, barring character evolutions either as of yet unshown, or maybe just something I’ve missed.
They said they were binding a while back.
That’s what was different. Nice one, Willis.
You may be hot enough to melt gay little me, but damn Malaya.
Her hotness comes paired with her burns.
Alt Text:
I don’t think we’ve seen a lot of Danny – Raidah.
… actually Malaya – Raidah would be hilarious.
I hadn’t considered it before, but now I really want to see it
They’d probably end up literally destroying each other, leaving nothing but some charred ground and maybe a few stray gamma rays.
That wasn’t a no.
Binder day for Malaya? Makes me happy, gives me euphoria, ty Willis
Oh yeah I forgot she’s nonbinary.
oooooh the snark is strong with this one
How Malaya is right, but for the completely wrong reason, as I wouldn’t mention ANYTHING I care about to Malaya ever, because I wouldn’t want her to know anything. You don’t give ammo to someone who wants to antagonize you at every opportunity.
But of course, Malaya assumes it is embarrassment instead that Danny is a dork.
I think Malaya actually remembered the real reason halfway through, then turned it on Danny just to be a jerk.
It is equally possible that that Sal has mentioned Danny and Malaya disregarded the info or Sal did not mention to Malaya beacuse she doesn’t want Malaya personally involved her life.
even if they don’t get along, i’m sure malaya has enough of a ‘creep radar’ to not let random guys in just because they claim they know sal but i imagine she wouldn’t have to be cautious either way
The whole thing is a bit weird to me. If Sal’s there, tell her it’s Danny and let her decide. If she’s not, tell him she’s not there and there’s no need to let him in.
It’s one room, it’s not like you’ve got to search the house to find her.
Unless Sal is not there but she lets Danny in because she might try prying some information from him that she can use to torment Sal.
Yeah I guess, but that’s not really the “Well of course she’s screening for creepy guys” thing some people seem to be suggesting.
Malay has seen Danny with Sal before, but it’s possible her brain did’nt register it:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/callus/
Raidah’s plan, whatever it actually is, will be brought down by Sal and Malaya teaming up. Not that Malaya cares about Raidah one way or another, just because.
Malaya will be attracted by the chance to demolish fakeyness, which Raidah exudes like Cherenkov radiation from a nuclear reactor
I don’t think Raidah’s fakey. She’s very genuine in her manipulations.
But she is 100% fake regarding friendships. All of her friends are useful to her career development. All of the previous friends have prominent lawyers as their parents, Asher has mob ties, Jennifer’s dad is ridiculously wealthy for reasons that I forget, and she wanted to link Walky in as well because of his mother’s connections.
Malaya’s not been proven to be the brightest member of the cast, especially when it comes to figuring out “fakey” people. Unless this comment section really wants to believe that Sal is actually 99% facade and Malaya is a secret genius and not just incredibly caustic.
Oh I don’t think Malaya has a good fakeyness sense, no no.
I think Raidah just exudes that much fakeyness whenever she goes out and puts on her societal mask over the seething core of “MUST DESTROY SARAH” and “MUST CONQUER LINKEDIN”
Raidah is like a Dalek wearing a human suit, is what I’m saying.
Raidah when someone does anything that’s not part of her vague personal agenda: “YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS!”
It’s weird because this does make it seem like she actually buys into Sal. which of course she doesn’t. how dare I say that.
The usual brand Malaya games.
Oh Malaya. Malaya. You should be gawking in wonder at the least fake person to walk this campus, not assuming he sucks. Walk your talk, Malaya!
Yes, that hat is truly genuine.
The person being worn by the hat has had some moments of fakery.
I feel like I should be happier not knowing how the rest of that breakfast went.
I feel like Danny might be the one person who’s just completely immune to Malaya’s… Malaya-ness.
“You’re just fakey.”
“It is true that I’ve had some false moments in my life, but now I’m on a journey of self-discovery to find my true self. Like the hat, and the ukulele.”
“The uk-”
“Here let me show you.”
“That was not an invitation to start playing.”
“Oh, that’s ok, I just like doing it. But I can stop if you want.”
“STOP BEING GENUINE!”
Y’know what, that’s about as nice an interaction as these two’ll have. Take it, Danny.
This is Danny. We’ve seen his parents, Joe at his most ornery, what he put up with from Amber towards the end, and the comment section. Malaya’s got nothing she can throw at him he’s going to give any fucks about, honestly.
Oh, I’ve missed Malaya. She’s such a fun asshole. We support women’s wrongs.
While she is her asshole self about it (and also while I know you’re just making a pun), I honestly think the only wrong she’s committing this strip is not sticking to her guns until Sal vetted him.
I love Danny, but if I were in their place meeting him for the first time when he turns up at the door claiming he’s dating my incredibly hot roommate who never said anything about him I would also be getting ‘Potential Nice Guy(TM) creeper’ vibes from him.
In Malaya’s case, it’s non binary wrongs, but yes! I love her so much. She is SUCH a delightful, contrarian asshole.
Sameeee <3
Like, i often don't get commenters yelling at the screen, cos i just don't tend to relate to characters that strongly, but i do feel myself irrationally invested in Malaya every time they're on lmao.
I just find them so funny. And so non-binary. And there's something so transparently ineffectual about their pettiness, like it doesn't feel malicious so much as reflexive and adorably off-kilter. they also transcend normality, and i love that they do so so confidently (…or obliviously) =3
Cant help myself, i just start oozing little floaty hearts whenever they make an appearance
(Malaya haters don't @ me)
I don’t hate her, but you gotta admit she’s an acquired taste — she’s the anchovies to Joyce’s pepperoni if you know what I mean :p
i don’t gotta admit anything, i’m just gushing. feel free to start your own thread!
It’s a rhetorical device, not a command. Don’t take it so seriously.
You’re a rhetorical device.
Yeah, that makes sense.
oh, go away.
Um, this isn’t your private playground. Grow up.
what part of don’t @ me do y’all not understand, seriously
Which part of anything Milu said made you think they(?) thought this was their(?) “private playground”? Those aren’t words that were in any posts I can find from that commenter.
On like a factual level, where you understand Milu’s POV about the character? Or do you mean that on a more “I am judging your personal moral character based on your opinion of this fictional jerk” level? I don’t have a stake in this, I’ve just been awake for four days and could use some clarity, if you’re so inclined. This comments section is sometimes very mysterious to me.
i’ll provide the clarity, i’m sure Schpoonman in the spirit of fairness and balancedness will also provide their side. (¬_¬)
so,
over the last few days of the Raidah brunch arc, one commenter insisted that it would be interesting to find out more about Raidah, that hopefully this would make them a more fleshed out and complex antagonist.
Schpoon was aggressive to them, because they don’t like Raidah, and didn’t appreciate this commenter’s stance that, who knows, future development will make Raidah more interesting and layered.
this went as far as Schpoon insinuating that that other commenter held some sort of whacky double standard, i don’t remember the detail, but it was completely ridiculous and several other commenters jumped in to point that out.
Schpoon made themselves scarce for the rest of the day, certainly didn’t apologize either for having been a low-level asshole to them for a couple days, or for having been a nuclear-grade asshole to them that one time.
The other commenter, who had nothing nothing wrong and certainly hadn’t asked to be harrassed by a dedicated Raidah-hater was upset and said this made them feel unwelcome, which, understandable.
Then the next day Schpoon reappears and makes some snide remark about said commenter, without actually naming them.
At that point, as a so-far non-intervening witness, i @ schpoon to tell them they were being a jerkbag and should probably apologize and/or go touch grass.
they were like, “haha nope” and i didn’t escalate because i have a life.
and this is where we are, you have the full (boring) context for Schpoonman continuing their campaign of being a clownish dick, and (as i understand) making insinuations about my character based on me liking a particular fictional character and defending a non-fictional commenter against their abuse. And surprise, surprise, they are joined by fellow troll dash. whatever, losers.
you’re welcome
This seems about right. And of course the suicide-encouraging troll would get involved. Any excuse to harass someone, y’know.
Careful, having a functional memory means you’re obsessed.
The point I started to like Malaya was back in Shortpacked when Mike proposed to Amber, and people were OUTRAGED by Malaya’s complete indifference. I thought A) I don’t care when two people I barely know are getting married, and B) the fact people who DO know Mike are happy at the prospect of him raising a child was kind of… iffy?
Oh, thanks for calling me on the nonbinary thing! It was midnight, and I wasn’t thinking.
Is it Malaya that Marcie was lusting after? Did anything ever come of that?
Yes it is and No nothing did. (As far as we know.)
A little something of it did. This is the last interaction we’ve seen between the two.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/toldme/
Yeah, they seem to be…if not committed then casually dating. We see it slightly more in the bonus strips.
there was a bonus strip in july 2021 where Malaya is being a bit vulnerable (!) trying on their binder for Marcie, and then they make out. it’s got this domestic vibe, with Marcie just hanging out waiting for Malaya to come out of the bathroom.
and just based on what we’ve seen of Marcie’s courtship i don’t think she was going for something casual, and seeing the gender mindfuck that it seemed to precipitate in Malaya there seemed to be some stakes for them there as well.. so i’ve been assuming they were going steady by now.
but yeah we don’t actually know
No. As any friend we got in real life, they disappeared after their relationship started.
YES! Malaya! <3
How much does Sal and Malaya actually talk to one another these days? Do they actually get along any better? I legit don’t recall.
Last we saw then interact, Malaya was jealous, i mean totally not jealous, of Sal’s flowers and chirpy mood after her date with Danny. Sal didn’t mention Danny because Malaya would have made fun of her for being stereotypically girly, instead pretending she’d just stolen the flowers, which Malaya seemed to buy??? (Because they’re a weirdo who don’t really know how to human and hides that fact with snarky bravado)
I would link it, but in the spirit of teachi a man how to fish, just go to the url bar and type /tag/malaya+sal after the domain name
She absolutely did steal those flowers.
She doesn’t owe Danny anything.
haha. yeah, she’s fakey like that <3
Alt-text: I’m sure Willis have looked at my graph to check who else haven’t interacted with.
– She gave you eye contact and you thought she’s married you.
Hey, stop telling the history of my life, Malaya…
Fuck yes, we’re with a character more tolerable than Raidah.
More tolerable than Raidah is not much of an improvement though.
Yeah it’s generally a pretty low bar to hurdle LOL
I’ll go on record and say that while it’s a very low bar, don’t think Malaya necessarily hurdles it. More of a rolling straddle, really.
15 Cheeto puffs is better than 3 Cheeto puffs, by my very elaborate metric.
Also Malaya has a better ass than Raidah, so I like them more by default, just aesthetically. Even if I disliked both equally and had to choose just one to ever appear again, I’d probably go with Malaya, just for that extra little edge.
Highly debatable, but we all have different tolerances.
Let’s assume when I say things like “more tolerable”, there’s an implied “(to me)”in there, and that unless explicitly stated, I’m not trying to speak to any universal property of reality’s base code.
…what the fuck, Malaya ?
Jesus H. Christ, is Malaya capable of EVER be anything but a bongoing a**hole?
TBH I know Malaya’s not nice but I kind of feel sorry for her, she’s obviously angry all the time because she’s suffering with some serious internal stuff.
I’m wondering if Danny brought his ukelele with him. Malaya saying nothing about it counts against.
To be fair, rando dude shows up, I’m at least on guard. Now, yes, Malaya is always an ass, but its justified cause she doesn’t know Danny.
being suspicious of danny here is reasonably fair since malaya appears not to know him
letting him in anyway is kind of bizarre, unless this is just an obnoxious act
like, if you don’t know him you do not actually know that he’s a harmless dweeb
Malaya is basically Disgust from “Inside Out.”
Maybe the reason Sal’s never mentioned Danny before is because you’d needlessly antagonize her about it, you walking waste of space.
He might actually have to interact with Joyce at this rate.
Story line where Malaya and Raidah get stuck in an elevator together maybe?
I might be shipping Malaya and Danny for reasons….
I think you might be mistaking abuse for affection then.
That seems like an incredible leap of an assumption.
I’m not, but I’m a Nagatoro reader, so I get it, trust me.
This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship that will last for the rest of their lives.
sal dan plotline sal dan plot liNE SAL DAN PLOT LINE SAL DAN PLOT LI
[Instrumental from “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” begins playing]
SAL DAN PLOT LINE SAL DAN PLOT LINE SAL DAN PLOT LINE
Danny reaps the due rewards of an entire adolescence of codependency…
The last time we saw Malaya (568 days)
The last time we had Malaya (237 days)
I completely forgot Malaya decided to become a she/they, which feels weird given they’re also my pronouns…
*checks original comic* Sweet cheese, that was six months before I even came out. Time is an illusion.
Yes yes Malaya being an insulting jerk for no reason again yes yes.
So anyway, two questions:
A) Can we possibly get an uncropped drawing of Malaya in this sweet getup
B) If not, why not?
“You’re a dork.”
“Yes?”
“Gaaaaaah!”
I love how immune Danny is to Malaya’s brand of sass