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I’m going to go ahead and report your comment for misgendering them, and I hope others do the same. They’ve been in the comic for WAY too long for this kind of thing to get slack.
“this kind of thing” here meaning “blatant enby/transphobia whether intentionally cruel or not”
I love booster because they remind me of the kind of stock characters in ancient Greek theatre and commedia dell’arte where they have a clear comedic/narrative function
I think you may have just put your finger on why I dislike Booster so much.
I mean, as a person, Booster would be intensely annoying to hang around. But that’s true of many of the cast, whom I still enjoy as characters.
But Booster’s not fully developed as a character; Booster’s just some sort of set-piece or exposition device. Booster is thus not sympathetic enough for me to like as a person, and not developed enough for me to enjoy as a character.
I favor knowing Booster actually knows what they’re talking about instead of armchair analyzing someone with circumstances they likely have no experience with. I could be wrong. Maybe Booster is the perfect person for this. It just doesn’t feel great. This isn’t the same as giving Sarah dating advice. Amber has very real and serious trauma.
I mean even with experience, speaking as an autistic person with PTSD, doesn’t feel real great to be “analyzed” like an insect under a microscope or some kinda zoo animal or some shit :/
Booster’s energy for this also feels weird. More like Amber is a fun project to work on over a person, but that could just be Booster’s cadence and not indicative of how they see Amber. They have talked to her before and seemed to spark a friendship.
What in the WORLD, Joy. I read your interactions with Li, and I don’t know what to say except those were some very rude things to accuse another person of when they have shown nothing but good faith. And yes, you did in fact put loads of words in their mouth. I feel a very strong urge to defend them because of how condescending you were. Please introspect, because Li did NOT say what you think they said. I don’t even agree with all they said!
I feel the need to mention that I have been to a psych ward, since I noticed you used that as a metric for how valid their insight would be (quote: ”from what I’ve read, you’ve never been in a psych ward, is that correct”). I’m also now second-guessing this paragraph because I fear you’ll use in bad faith.
People have different experiences than you, and sometimes they speak out of turn. That is NOT an excuse for how you treated Li.
I’m very sorry you’ve had such dreadful experiences with mental healthcare.
Not sure how. The state of mental health care is and has always been awful. We just don’t know enough about how brains actually work yet to actually do anything very useful. It’s either “talk to somebody who might say something helpful” or “take this random assortment of pills that do something to your brain, see what happens, and when the first set don’t work, we’ll try another set and see if that’s better”. At least the pill pusher has an actual MD, the talking doctor’s education seems a lot less science based.
It’s an improvement from “lock you in a facility for the rest of your life” but that’s also meant there are lots of really crazy people who have nowhere to sleep but the street.
Look. I support bodily autonomy, and people’s right to be unmedicated, and I am sorry your personal experience with therapy has been so awful, but “random pills”? Throws a lot of people who would agree they need and have benefitted from medication under the bus.
Not all treatments are equal. Antidepressants, ADHD meds, HRT… you’re throwing the baby out with the bath water here. It’s possible to be critical of psychiatry without painting the whole industry as random and universally useless.
Also, yes that’s essentially accurate to how the psychiatric process works and the PDOCs I’ve actually enjoyed talking to are very straightforward about it… they’re also straightforward about how brutal psychiatry used to be. Also like, are you familiar at all with antidepressant induced mania, antidepressant induced psychosis, the suicidal thoughts and actions that often lead to suicide, or PSSD?
…like SSRIs are the clinical first line treatment for pedophilia these days, the sexual dysfunction SSRIs cause is that reliable.
Hey now. This is a lot of stuff I didn’t say, Joy.
I didn’t say psychiatry was perfect, and I definitely didn’t say it had ever been perfect. I didn’t say medications always worked or that there were no side effects. I also said I am all for patients having bodily autonomy and the ability to refuse medications, even if those medications don’t have horrible side effects, so of course I believe people should be able to refuse ones that do.
You are responding to a comment where I said “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”, because I was responding to a comment that said “the state of mental health care is and always has been awful” and then added “take this random assortment of pills” as a description of… all treatments, ever.
Also, I did kind of think someone would object to my including HRT among psychological treatments, but they’re both. They’re physiological and psychiatric. They cause physical changes to relieve dysphoria (mental distress). I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world where you can currently get HRT from a doctor without also seeing a psychiatrist…? I hope I’m wrong but it feels like we’re all going backward at light speed.
Should it be that way? No. I am generally opposed to the medicalization of dysphoria. I think informed consent should be enough for patients to get HRT, especially since we don’t all suffer from dysphoria and gender euphoria is just as important.
Also I’ll own up to having had much better luck getting ADHD medication than a lot of people! My first prescription worked and I’m still on it. LOTS of people have to try more than one, more than two. Lots of people do have to deal with psychiatrists who don’t listen to them and insist on first trying to treat depression in patients who need ADHD meds — and that’s not counting the off-label use some antidepressants get for ADHD.
I will always acknowledge that I’ve been lucky.
But I have a lot of friends who have been less lucky but are on the right medication now, and who still wouldn’t appreciate their meds being called “random pills”, and who especially wouldn’t appreciate their psychiatrists being described as pill-pushers.
Again: bodily autonomy good. No one should be forced onto medication.
But no one should be forced off medication, either, and describing psychiatry as useless and random and populated by pill-pushers… really got to me.
It sounded like an advocation for abolition instead of reform.
Yes, the state of mental health care is awful, currently, presently, contemporarily, today, and right now. From what I’ve read, you’ve never been in a psych ward, is that correct?
…I don’t have it in my to rewrite the trauma dump. I think it’s a small blessing that my comment was eaten, because I don’t actually want it in this comments section. What I wanted to say is that you’re not lucky because you have it good, you’re lucky because you don’t understand how bad it gets when it gets bad. Psychiatry was founded on eugenics, and the eugenics are still present.
(My comment was eaten. I tried to reconstruct it. I didn’t reconstruct most of it.)
…Forgot to close the em tag. Also! Yes, that is a lot of things that you didn’t say, these are things that I said, not things that you said. I would say that I don’t understand why you said that, but I assume that it was some obtuse social tactic? The self pitying nature came across as guilt tripping, so I would assume it’s that. Would you kindly cut that out?
… what I meant is that you were putting words in my mouth, responding with a lot of assumptions about what I must think on this topic.
I am done addressing it with you now. I am sorry for what you have been through, and I don’t want to trigger any more negative feelings or bad memories or anything else.
They likely have finished at least one psych class, but… that’s, like, almost nothing. It definitely wouldn’t make me feel *better* about someone trying to assess others. (Being at that point in their education would, in fact, likely make me feel worse about it.) Their attitude and views towards things would be more important.
Booster’s isn’t ideal, in my opinion, but I do think they actually care about Amber.
I know someone who took a psych 102 class and described it as something like, “well, basically everything we taught you in psych 101 was wrong, and we’ll go over why, but we’re still required to teach it to you as though it’s correct.” Like on syllabus week.
Maybe a high school one? And that inspired them to get really into studying it on their own time?
I know my high school had a psychology class. I mean, it was very poorly taught but that’s my personal experience, hopefully it is not a universal one.
Does Booster know about Amber’s other? I can see them going around the same dead end corner on the fifth floor that Amber did, hearing a Phwoosh, and she’s not there but the window is open.
It was the first thing they learned about her. (I’m not sure it was Walky’s place to say so, but that ship’s sailed.) I don’t know if they know the other is Amazi-Girl, though.
Booster, you know the reason you were even in that hallway is that your Booster-sense told you that there would be a chance to employ student-level psychoanalysis, don’t front
To be fair, Canadians are known for three things…. saying sorry too much, liking hockey too much, and committing the most war crimes per capita among “the Allies” in basically every war they fight in.
Wait is that a fact? More war crime than the neighbors raised with the “Guantanamo good, Vietnam war justified, good Christians put children in cages at the border” mindset?
This reminds me of the fact that 50% of therapy doesn’t work because a lot of treatments are deployed without customization to the patient or acknowledgement that it needs to be done so that way.
yeah even without the fact that many a therapist are insensitive or even downright racist/bigoted, it’s hella irritating how therapy’s value been so over-inflated to this panacea evoked for the sake of let-them-eat-cake obliviousness
all the time you hear “go to therapy”, which is basically short for,
“I don’t know how therapy actually works or what it can or can’t do, but what I do know is that it’s an easy thing to say to be dismissive of other people” (-_-)
I always thought it was shorthand for “I am either not equipped or emotionally invested enough in you to deal with your traumas/disorders, you need to do that yourself”
(To be clear, I think just saying “go to therapy” is usually dismissive, I just think it’s not coming from a place of belief in the efficacy of therapy but rather from a place of putting responsibility on a person to ‘fix’ their own mental health ailments)
… very confused about the “I hope that helps” part of this comment.
I do agree that it can be helpful to mention that you go to therapy (assuming you do) if you’re sincere in trying to encourage them to consider it. Mentioning it as part of other things is helpful too (including some form of connections to you, if you’re close with the person).
I actively like Booster as a character but after the meme/in-joke/idk how far it’s spread of “therapyspeak Joker” that greeny purple (and pink and black) shirt is giving me minor flashbacks.
Which also sucks because I kinda also really want that shirt? I am that asshole who wants to wear floral print flannel everywhere.
Ayyy love the shirt. I also I legit really enjoy this exchange — There’s an ease to it that feels kind of like trust, even though these two haven’t interacted much?
(Also, oh boy do I hope people remember that Booster and Amber have struck a friendship based on both of them being goblins who crave mess before the cries for blood start? :’D)
Ngl never disliked Booster- despite everything, they did get Ethan to leave his room and hang out outside like, they’re a mess, but they are capable of interpersonal connections LOL. I like the commitment, I suppose.
Spent two years in CA as a child. Came back to the UK “you guys”-ing groups of people. Was told “we’regirls” a lot of times. Was aware of that and just meant “group of people”…
Don’t think it’s quite left my vocab – when I was 21 and mentioned those 2 years to my publishing colleagues, there was a global “Oooooh, that explains it..!” And I learnt that I still used more less common Americanisms more usually than one would expect from “typical Millenial who is surrounded by international media” while having literally no trace of an American accent (I sound like Mary Poppins on helium – but I think I was saying “you guys” every 5th sentence to a group or so, from my recollections of the girls’ responses, back then…
Where you ask, more than anything. In some places, the 2nd person plural is “y’all”, or “youse”, or “yinz”, or even “all y’all”. Hereabouts, it’s “you guys”. I have numerous times witnessed women addressing all-female groups as “you guys” without anyone batting an eye.
This right here. It’s a contextual thing, and if someone is outright saying “don’t use that, it feels gendered” then… literally just stop? If it’s so not-a-big-deal why fight to keep saying it under any particular circumstance?
I use “dude,” “bro,” and “you guys” in a gender-neutral way, but I save “dude” and “bro” for people I know and who I know (or at least believe, and am open to their correction) are fine with it. I wouldn’t jump to I with someone who is often misgendered in that direction unless, again, I know they’re fine with it.
This could be me, bu “this dude” also feels like a more gendered usage than going “oh, dude” when talking to someone. Perhaps I’ve just missed it, but I really haven’t seen comments going “this dude again” when, say, Jennifer comes into a scene.
Hopefully, a Slipshine would come out of it. I say, channeling Amber’s horniness.
Aside from that, I think Amazi-Girl would be a lot more receptive to Booster than Amber was at first. Additionally, knowing that they’ve become friends with Amber would give Booster points. Though she may not like being treated like a science experiment, which Booster would probably slip into by accident, if my personal experience with psych majors is anything to go by.
It’s for that reason that I think they all could work as something genuine? Platonic, romantic, blatant hornyness – the important part, rather than the kind of roles expected of everyone, is how good it could be for them: Amber and Amazi-Girl need people they can trust in; and both of them + Booster themselves need to learn what a boundary is. For example, so nobody feels like an experiment. But in general too.
I see them kids and go like “you’re all so lonely ;AAA; Don’t deny it!!11!!”, ahahah :’D
I’ve had a lot of bad therapists and a a couple amazing ones. Being able to accurately identify a person’s issues is only a tiny fraction of the process. The difficult and important part is knowing how to safely and effectively help to overcome them. Booster being able to point out people’s issues in a superficial cold-reading level doesn’t make them good at psychology. It just makes them a douche.
My eldest had her first therapy the other day and I’m not sure it’s the right fit… Apparently this woman told my 10 year old that she’s had quite a few patients who also wanted to die and thought nobody would care, and the ones who went through with it left devastated parents behind… “Wait, you’re such a bad therapist lots of your patients do that??” Also apparently the woman was basically pushing her through a checklist of questions, and at times if she wanted to elaborate or go back to something was being told not to interrupt…
Kiddo has mixed feelings about the concept anyway (she doesn’t want people to say she’s “broken and needs fixing” which is her mental model of therapy; doesn’t think she deserves to feel happy; isn’t sure it’s really possible; talking about the upsetting feels is upsetting…) – it’s been literally one session, so I suggested she do next week’s and see how she feels, but made sure she understands if it really isn’t the right fit, it may be another month or so before they can find somebody else with a space for her…
I’m kinda lucky that I had good experiences 2/3 times and the other one was benignly unhelpful in an irritating way – as an articulate teen with insomnia I knew how I felt and didn’t need somebody to rephrase my sentences to make me feel understood and heard, and apparently that’s all she was allowed to do by law… Once we hit the point where I explicitly said “yeah, but how do I change that? What do I do differently? Where do I go from here?” And was told “I legally can’t advise you on that stuff” we agreed to stop the sessions.
I don’t want her to find the experience traumatic though
I wouldn’t put it on the therapist if they’ve had patients who have died by suicide (at least without knowing a lot more about the individual cases), but it doesn’t sound like this therapist is a great fit for your child… do you need any sessions to be from a specific clinic or organization? I know there are often a lot of limitations people face when trying to find a therapist; if there’s a way to get on a waiting list before officially stopping with this therapist, tha might be worth it to lessen the waiting time by at least a week. (And if the second session changes your daughter’s mind, the other could be canceled.)
I think the therapist probably meant “I’ve had a lot of patients who were suicidal, and the few who went through with it were wrong to think no one would miss them.”
I think I would also make sure to tell her: “it’s okay if we need to find another one, the wait might be annoying for you but it’s not a problem or a burden for me”…? It sounds like you have a very conscientious kiddo who doesn’t want to be trouble for you, and I’d wanna make very sure she knew that changing therapists was okay, totally normal, etc.
(I’ve personally had four therapists, two of which were pretty awful, one which just did not help at all, and then a great one I’ve been seeing since like 2015.) (if you’re in the US, a LOT of therapists don’t take insurance at all but do offer sliding pay scales and payment plans!)
It can be worth giving a therapist an additional try before deciding how you feel, but it can also be worth it to cut and run after a first session that doesn’t feel right.
Honestly, I’m the type who, before finding my last therapist and current therapist, would put up with therapists who weren’t a great fit because if I’ve seen them more than once, it’s kind of what I do, right? Basically I can fall into those patterns quickly, and if I had issues the first time but still went back and then I still have those issues, well, I went back before, right?
I had a very transphobic session once, where I cried in the stairwell after and then burned the packet given to me (“What It Means to be a Woman”) when I got home, and I still saw her several more times. (Breaking point was when she was saying something about what god would want, and while I believe in god, it makes me uncomfortable to have people tell me about god like that. Which I explained to her. And then she just. did it again anyway.)
Yes! Go Booster! Makes Amber happy asking her how she feels! I’m sure she will slowly open to Booster, if they can find the right way to talk with her.
There are still people misgendering Booster after all this time. If you would join me in reporting them, maybe leaving a quick comment under the comment you report to say “misgendering” to help the mods/Willis out, that would be really appreciated.
The world is getting scarier for binary and nonbinary trans people alike, and it’s actually really easy to at least help this comment section become a little less overtly transphobic. The insidious subtle kind we probably can’t do much about in the comments, but I’ll take what I can get <3
For some, that’s probably the case. And some people are still learning and mess up. But if someone refers to Booster as “(s)he” (as in one of the deleted comments from today), they’re at best really misguided. Definitely didn’t happen by accident.
I’d also keep in mind that when comments come up that are transphobic, or racist, or sexist, the most blatant of them get deleted. If you come in a few hours after the fact, you might see some that aren’t *great* but aren’t terrible, but others may have seen the worse comments.
I assumed that for a little while, but I think the grace period on it is over and it also doesn’t harm them for the comments to get removed. Where-as seeing a lot of (as Yumi says sometimes very blatant) misgendering and transphobic comments can do harm to a community that is a high % queer.
Not saying you have to report with me, but I will be doing it and I appreciate the others who did the same
sounds like you should be on the dance floor at a goth night, no coordination and weird are like the minimum cost for admission (and they tend to be the safest barnights in history
Ever since panel 2 was posted on Tumblr, I imagined Ruth was saying, “Okay, who left their Booster in the middle of the hall again? C’mon guys, we talked about this!”
I think, first and foremost, because Amber will always make you choose, and if you’re torn, she’ll push you off onto Amazi-Girl (see: Danny). So a relationship with Amber AND Amazi-Girl is, at least for now, off the table. And if I imagine Booster being forced to choose, it’s not even a question for them. They’d choose Amber every time.
But that’s really just deferring the question, right?
I think all the things we’ve seen intrigue and attract Booster to Amber so far have been Amber traits: they’re interested in her fanfic, they’re interested in her real-people-shipping, they’re interested in her messiness.
I am having trouble imagining them being interested in any of Amazi-Girl’s traits by contrast. But it doesn’t help that they haven’t met Amazi-Girl yet! I could be totally wrong.
This all makes a ton of sense, though! I really like it. Amber has an entire mythology built around how nobody in their right mind would choose her considering AG is in the same meat vehicle, made of all the urges Amber is ashamed of turned into “something good” (unlike her wretched self, she’d add.)
Booster would, though! They have things in common, and Amber has taught them her boundaries; and they’ve been shown having fun while texting and stuff. Maybe they could be interested in AG too once they met and all, but it does feel like if they were pressed to “make a choice” (platonic or not); they’d pick Amber, and I’m not sure she even knows it’s a possibility.
I do think it’s one of the things Walky could have offered Amber, but I also think she could have rationalized that away because they got together on the basis of being garbage together.
I agree tho that Amber needs more people in her life who like her better than Amazi-Girl, someone who also simultaneously recognizes the validity of the split, e.g. someone who wouldn’t say “of course I choose you, you’re the real person” or “Amazi-Girl couldn’t exist without you, so it’s not a real choice”, or anything similar.
(I’m not in any way blaming Danny for not fully understanding what was going on with her, I’m just saying that he technically chose Amber over Amazi-Girl when he tried to ask her to stop superhero-ing, but it didn’t count because he didn’t fully understand what he was choosing. You know?)
— Despite Ruth calling it “unsolicited”, it’s not. Amber basically asked for this yesterday. Ruth is pointing out that it’s what she wants even now (“if you’re fishing for…”).
— Neither Ruth nor Amber is any good at this stuff. Amber tried to cloak her request to be asked after in protective tropes; Ruth is in turn cloaking her own concern about Amber in protective sarcasm.
— After all the time I’ve spent poring over Dorothy… well, let’s just say that the way a lot of readers have reacted to Booster makes more sense to me.
Dorothy isn’t actually much more mature or experienced than Joyce. She wasn’t raised with Joyce’s rigid gender roles, anti-science indoctrination, or specific hang-ups around sexuality, but they both had exactly the same amount of pre-college experience with parties thrown by kids their own age (zero), and they both had a similar level of emotional maturity. Dorothy was also in many ways similarly naive about other people and institutions.
As readers, we kept expecting Dorothy to know more about any given subject than she actually did; I remember, myself, being a little incredulous when she was surprised that Twilight could pass the Bechdel Test, but we also saw her initially try to get Joyce to go to the hospital and the police after her first brush with Ryan, before changing her mind after she actually researched how well campuses support people who have gone through what Joyce did. And, of course, her dream of becoming president.
All of it points to a very immature, sheltered character, but she’s so polite and organized and well-behaved and sexually active without shame.. and especially in girls, we associate these things with maturity. So we keep right on reading her as mature, and getting frustrated with her for not actually being mature — or assuming that she must know better, and therefore that any missteps she makes must be intentional.
She can’t have actually not known how to handle things with Danny, so she must have strung him along only to break his heart on the first day of school on purpose.
She can’t have actually struggled with what she wanted out of her relationship with Walky, so putting things on pause and then sleeping with him must have been manipulative.
So on, so forth.
And Booster? Is getting a lot of this same treatment.
They know psychological terminology and they’re very articulate, so they MUST be more mature and knowledgeable than the other kids around them… or at least, Willis must think they do, and must expect us to treat them as if they did. Obviously we are meant to take Booster’s maximum-one-semester-of-college-level-psych-classes as being just as good as a degree. Obviously Willis wants us to treat them as if they were a licensed psychiatrist, including the appropriate criticism they would then merit for trying to “treat” people who aren’t their patients and haven’t consented.
That Booster isn’t always right when they deploy their people-reading skills just makes them an asshole, obviously. They can’t be fumbling social interactions by accident because they’re a socially awkward teenager.
— Also, like. If you zoom out a little.
I do understand frustration with Booster’s type if you assume they’re an NT who finds psychology “fascinating”.
But considering they’re also an “out” nonbinary person. Considering how bad at making friends they’ve actually been so far. Considering how bad at flirting they’ve actually been so far. Considering Charlie…
How much of an “NT who finds psychology fascinating” character do we actually think Booster is.
Are we sure their lived experiences haven’t given them a lot of reason to dive into and study psychology? As… a defense mechanism?
Just want to say I appreciate this comment. I feel like a very different metric gets applied to these two characters than the others, but I feel like I harp on it enough in every strip with them in it, so (esp with Dorothy strips) I mostly stopped reading the comments so I don’t get annoyed. This one was a nice change though!
Yeah, the comment section here is… it’s a mixed blessing to be sure. I appreciate Willis every day for keeping it open, for not letting it be overrun, and for closing comments when necessary.
I myself definitely stopped commenting for a while, and it did bring with it a certain peace, but. I would have kicked myself if I’d missed out on commenting on this most recent arc. Could not stay away, haha.
STANDING FUCKING OVATION oh god you’re so right. I’ve had griped about the “have you considered Booster is a really lonely kid who 100% sounds like he learned about people in theory rather than practice” before but your analysis here and the comparison with Dorothy is super on point. Some of the reactions I’ve seen to her current mental breakdown are really unkind and meanwhile I’m here like “wow she truly is 18”.
I don’t think Booster is neurotypical tbh. At all. They give off immaculate vibes for “Autistic/AuDHD Kid With A Big Vocabulary And A Special Interest In Psychology ™” Add in the theatrical mannerisms, and the way gender has no hold on them, and it’s pretty much a given.
My dislike of Dottie has been her hypocrisy and the gloss over, and I REALLY think the bulk of Dottie’s learning about people was *also* books and a very limited social group of “Danny and Joe and the people attached to them” Where she was a hanger on who was “Danny’s friend-then-girlfriend.” because she went full Peanuts Lucy.
Booster screams that they are happens when a neurodivergent is parentified to a more neurodivergent sibling. Outside world is *fascinating* because they’ve never been an actual PART of it. People feel akin to characters in a book. its a whole thing that’s really interesting and sad if you dig into it. The social world isn’t their first language and they’re still learning.
Yeah, and I… kinda wonder how much of it’s coming from folks who should really know better.
I have, myself, ABSOLUTELY fallen into this trap of mentally “parentifying” Dorothy, for example. And I absolutely went through some real-life parentification. I had an emotionally immature mom who had kids too young and was always more of a “big sister” to me than a parent and who expected me to look after myself in a lot of ways you’re not supposed to. I should absolutely not have fallen into the trap of mistaking “well-behaved” for mature.
I’ve always kind of STUBBORNLY liked Booster, the same way I stubbornly like Malaya — and Roz — and I especially appreciate that their specific collection of traits is very good for filling the one Mike-shaped hole the cast really had after his death.
And let me preface this by saying: this isn’t a defense of Mike, even if wanted to argue his intentions were always good (and they were definitely only sometimes good!), he still did a lot of harm, and some of his defenders were asshats about it, and most of all Willis struggled with how to ever include more of him in a way that was interesting or worked for this setting.
But while most of the cast always had someone better, someone closer to them to deliver the rare necessary painful truth bomb (Joyce has Sarah, as an example) — Walky and Amber were both left without anyone.
So I don’t think it’s at all a coincidence that Booster is now Walky’s roommate (when Willis could have shuffled room assignments around, inventing a reason for Tony to need a roommate as an example), or that they’ve expressed Interest in an arrangement of some sort with Amber.
BUT ALSO: I think they’re a very interesting character in their own right, and I for one am super interested in learning more of what’s up with them, and Charlie, and maybe a future parent weekend…!
— “I don’t think Booster is neurotypical at all”
Honestly, same? I came so close to specifically calling it “their special interest in psychology”, and then I chickened out. I’ve only been Officially Diagnosedly ADHD for a year, and I’m definitely not ready to claim any membership to Autistic, but. You know. Lots of crossover. I sure do have a whole bunch of sensory issues.
(And also for.. the other thing you said. That thread was, I think, triggering for both of us. Not looking to disclose more there, especially because a lot of it isn’t my story to share, but. Yeah. Thank you for your compassion. The system obviously needs a lot of fixing even if we don’t abolish it completely. Psych wards are awful — I think we can all agree on that much. I’m sorry you went through that.)
Well dangit! I went to the grand opening of the Black Rock coffee in my area and the QR code for the Secret Menu had been hacked and I was sent to an adult website after I loaded my debit card info, which was immediately charged with a $1.25 charge to “verify it”. My new debit card will be ready in 7-10 business days.
Yeah we are in a database of some type, linked to display name and email. I think our IP address is probably also tracked, for banning purposes, but it doesn’t seem to be a deciding factor in your random gravitar assignment.
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btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 1d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
confirming that the reason there's been no Galaxy Version female characters in Blokees until now is that they felt they needed to make Round Lady Thighs For Ladies
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 7h
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 1d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
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BOOTYDUTY CALLSDuty you can bounce quarters off of.
bounce how? like one of them plinko machines?
No, those are saturated with horses nowadays
“Picture or it didn’t happen.”
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/281/888/d49.gifv
No, no, you had it right the first time.
Booster keeps getting Amber Alerts on their phone and is always disappointed when it doesn’t mean this.
Well, so am I.
Be nice Booster.
Booster is nice. People just don’t like introspection and facing their demons.
That’s all well and good if you’re in a therapist’s office, but Booster does this shit unsolicited and they’re pretty much an asshole about it.
On the off-chance you’re not intentionally being a dick, Booster’s pronouns are they/them and using s(he) like that instead is pretty shitty.
I’m going to go ahead and report your comment for misgendering them, and I hope others do the same. They’ve been in the comic for WAY too long for this kind of thing to get slack.
“this kind of thing” here meaning “blatant enby/transphobia whether intentionally cruel or not”
And I love that for them.
Nah, Booster is just a jerk who pretends to be nice.
That’s your mom you’re thinking about, not Booster.
Every time I start to forget why I violently dislike Booster, they do something to remind me.
booster can’t be passive-aggressively deployed but can be aggressively deployed
aggressively pacified
So, like washing your car to make it rain?
Active-aggressive deployment.
Booster continues to be interesting despite how much I want to punch their stupid face.
Replacement Mike at their finest.
Mike was likeable as a character. Booster is just annoying.
You have to at least realize this is not the majority opinion on Mike. Surely.
Why does that matter?
honestly I regret this comment, heh
I just wish folks who hate Character X would leave a little room for the people who like them…
But VicMortimer didn’t say no one likes Booster or that everyone liked Mike. So I was too quick to respond, even mildly.
I love booster because they remind me of the kind of stock characters in ancient Greek theatre and commedia dell’arte where they have a clear comedic/narrative function
I think you may have just put your finger on why I dislike Booster so much.
I mean, as a person, Booster would be intensely annoying to hang around. But that’s true of many of the cast, whom I still enjoy as characters.
But Booster’s not fully developed as a character; Booster’s just some sort of set-piece or exposition device. Booster is thus not sympathetic enough for me to like as a person, and not developed enough for me to enjoy as a character.
I mean sure, if you like read most of the strip they were in with your eyes closed
I get the face-punching, but not the “interesting”.
Then I fell sorry for you.
Has Booster even finished one psych class? I’d feel a lot better about their psychoanalysis if they have,
You favor credentials over results?
I favor knowing Booster actually knows what they’re talking about instead of armchair analyzing someone with circumstances they likely have no experience with. I could be wrong. Maybe Booster is the perfect person for this. It just doesn’t feel great. This isn’t the same as giving Sarah dating advice. Amber has very real and serious trauma.
I mean even with experience, speaking as an autistic person with PTSD, doesn’t feel real great to be “analyzed” like an insect under a microscope or some kinda zoo animal or some shit :/
Booster’s energy for this also feels weird. More like Amber is a fun project to work on over a person, but that could just be Booster’s cadence and not indicative of how they see Amber. They have talked to her before and seemed to spark a friendship.
Booster its just like That, I don’t think it should be taken personally
I had to be treated for my interactions with social workers in a psychotherapeutic office.
What in the WORLD, Joy. I read your interactions with Li, and I don’t know what to say except those were some very rude things to accuse another person of when they have shown nothing but good faith. And yes, you did in fact put loads of words in their mouth. I feel a very strong urge to defend them because of how condescending you were. Please introspect, because Li did NOT say what you think they said. I don’t even agree with all they said!
I feel the need to mention that I have been to a psych ward, since I noticed you used that as a metric for how valid their insight would be (quote: ”from what I’ve read, you’ve never been in a psych ward, is that correct”). I’m also now second-guessing this paragraph because I fear you’ll use in bad faith.
People have different experiences than you, and sometimes they speak out of turn. That is NOT an excuse for how you treated Li.
I’m very sorry you’ve had such dreadful experiences with mental healthcare.
The joke is that none of the psychoanalysts actually knows what they are talking about.
Oh. Well then that was an r/whoosh to me.
Not sure how. The state of mental health care is and has always been awful. We just don’t know enough about how brains actually work yet to actually do anything very useful. It’s either “talk to somebody who might say something helpful” or “take this random assortment of pills that do something to your brain, see what happens, and when the first set don’t work, we’ll try another set and see if that’s better”. At least the pill pusher has an actual MD, the talking doctor’s education seems a lot less science based.
It’s an improvement from “lock you in a facility for the rest of your life” but that’s also meant there are lots of really crazy people who have nowhere to sleep but the street.
Look. I support bodily autonomy, and people’s right to be unmedicated, and I am sorry your personal experience with therapy has been so awful, but “random pills”? Throws a lot of people who would agree they need and have benefitted from medication under the bus.
Not all treatments are equal. Antidepressants, ADHD meds, HRT… you’re throwing the baby out with the bath water here. It’s possible to be critical of psychiatry without painting the whole industry as random and universally useless.
HRT isn’t even psychiatry….?
Also, yes that’s essentially accurate to how the psychiatric process works and the PDOCs I’ve actually enjoyed talking to are very straightforward about it… they’re also straightforward about how brutal psychiatry used to be. Also like, are you familiar at all with antidepressant induced mania, antidepressant induced psychosis, the suicidal thoughts and actions that often lead to suicide, or PSSD?
…like SSRIs are the clinical first line treatment for pedophilia these days, the sexual dysfunction SSRIs cause is that reliable.
Hey now. This is a lot of stuff I didn’t say, Joy.
I didn’t say psychiatry was perfect, and I definitely didn’t say it had ever been perfect. I didn’t say medications always worked or that there were no side effects. I also said I am all for patients having bodily autonomy and the ability to refuse medications, even if those medications don’t have horrible side effects, so of course I believe people should be able to refuse ones that do.
You are responding to a comment where I said “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”, because I was responding to a comment that said “the state of mental health care is and always has been awful” and then added “take this random assortment of pills” as a description of… all treatments, ever.
Also, I did kind of think someone would object to my including HRT among psychological treatments, but they’re both. They’re physiological and psychiatric. They cause physical changes to relieve dysphoria (mental distress). I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world where you can currently get HRT from a doctor without also seeing a psychiatrist…? I hope I’m wrong but it feels like we’re all going backward at light speed.
Should it be that way? No. I am generally opposed to the medicalization of dysphoria. I think informed consent should be enough for patients to get HRT, especially since we don’t all suffer from dysphoria and gender euphoria is just as important.
Also I’ll own up to having had much better luck getting ADHD medication than a lot of people! My first prescription worked and I’m still on it. LOTS of people have to try more than one, more than two. Lots of people do have to deal with psychiatrists who don’t listen to them and insist on first trying to treat depression in patients who need ADHD meds — and that’s not counting the off-label use some antidepressants get for ADHD.
I will always acknowledge that I’ve been lucky.
But I have a lot of friends who have been less lucky but are on the right medication now, and who still wouldn’t appreciate their meds being called “random pills”, and who especially wouldn’t appreciate their psychiatrists being described as pill-pushers.
Again: bodily autonomy good. No one should be forced onto medication.
But no one should be forced off medication, either, and describing psychiatry as useless and random and populated by pill-pushers… really got to me.
It sounded like an advocation for abolition instead of reform.
Test.
For what it’s worth, I read all of this.
Yes, the state of mental health care is awful, currently, presently, contemporarily, today, and right now. From what I’ve read, you’ve never been in a psych ward, is that correct?
…I don’t have it in my to rewrite the trauma dump. I think it’s a small blessing that my comment was eaten, because I don’t actually want it in this comments section. What I wanted to say is that you’re not lucky because you have it good, you’re lucky because you don’t understand how bad it gets when it gets bad. Psychiatry was founded on eugenics, and the eugenics are still present.
(My comment was eaten. I tried to reconstruct it. I didn’t reconstruct most of it.)
…Forgot to close the em tag. Also! Yes, that is a lot of things that you didn’t say, these are things that I said, not things that you said. I would say that I don’t understand why you said that, but I assume that it was some obtuse social tactic? The self pitying nature came across as guilt tripping, so I would assume it’s that. Would you kindly cut that out?
… what I meant is that you were putting words in my mouth, responding with a lot of assumptions about what I must think on this topic.
I am done addressing it with you now. I am sorry for what you have been through, and I don’t want to trigger any more negative feelings or bad memories or anything else.
The “””””joke.”””””
What results have they gotten, exactly?
A pavlovian “Ah shit” response from several characters whenever they appear?
Not to mention from several readers, too.
Well, they did get Ethan to sort of open up and accept companionship that one time! At Amber’s request, no less.
I wouldn’t, unsolicited shit is annoying like a twelve year old who just discovered the word “communist” 9-9
Considering the people involved this feels more like the equivalent of “hey aren’t you two friends why don’t you go check on her” tbh
I mean, fair?
Just really hoping Booster has the effect of an actual boost instead of the “Turbo Boost” button on old PCs that does the opposite :/
Yeah, I would even go so far as to say this is flirting.
Booster may have hit the line between fascinated and interested.
OH sdkgjsldjg I’m happy I’m not the only one who got that vibe??
They likely have finished at least one psych class, but… that’s, like, almost nothing. It definitely wouldn’t make me feel *better* about someone trying to assess others. (Being at that point in their education would, in fact, likely make me feel worse about it.) Their attitude and views towards things would be more important.
Booster’s isn’t ideal, in my opinion, but I do think they actually care about Amber.
I know someone who took a psych 102 class and described it as something like, “well, basically everything we taught you in psych 101 was wrong, and we’ll go over why, but we’re still required to teach it to you as though it’s correct.” Like on syllabus week.
Maybe a high school one? And that inspired them to get really into studying it on their own time?
I know my high school had a psychology class. I mean, it was very poorly taught but that’s my personal experience, hopefully it is not a universal one.
Muscularly round, though.
Dense bones too. Or at least after the lab accident.
What, was she bitten by a radioactive fossil or something?
See https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/04-the-bechdel-test/weigh/
Quick, don’t let her get away!
Does Booster know about Amber’s other? I can see them going around the same dead end corner on the fifth floor that Amber did, hearing a Phwoosh, and she’s not there but the window is open.
It was the first thing they learned about her. (I’m not sure it was Walky’s place to say so, but that ship’s sailed.) I don’t know if they know the other is Amazi-Girl, though.
Booster, you know the reason you were even in that hallway is that your Booster-sense told you that there would be a chance to employ student-level psychoanalysis, don’t front
the dual meanings/usage of “fronting” in the comments lately leaves me confused, bemused, and/or amused.
“Eminence front, Eminence front, it’s a put on.
It’s a put on.”
Just be sure to leave by the front door.
You have to be incentivized. Over-reliance is dangerous.
You know what’ll be more fascinating? A year’s worth of buffer.
We’re over that now, aren’t we?
I’m not sure because they keep changing the date on me.
It’s like complaining about being entered into a pie eating contest, until you remember that pie is involved.
Depends on the kind of pie, really.
Rhubarb? No, thanks!
The only pie I would turn my nose up to would be that one fish pie from Kiki’s Delivery Service.
(Not to her face, of course. I’m not a monster)
pizza pie is the only acceptable pie!
(fruit is the food of the devil don’t you know)
Damn, no wonder this cherry pie tastes downright sinful.
Based on their smile, Booster is more the shit eating type.
Booster did 9/11
Every year.
Unsolicited psychoanalysis can’t melt steel beams.
It depends entirely on the velocity of the psychoanalyst and how much explosive rocket fuel they happen to be carrying.
and the nature of their ignition source!
This thread saved my day.
then i have succeeded in my mission!
Booster single-handedly got Trump elected, both times.
She’s a hot mess, but at least she’s hot.
Booster is going to stick their foot in it sooner rather than later.
Booster has been knee-deep in it pretty much since their first appearance.
Not the only thing they wanna stick in it if you catch my meaning
Their FOOT?? God, why?
You know what? Now that you put it out there that is now exactly what I mean. Let’s not kink shame people!
Nah I’m kink shaming lmao
And yet still will suffer no real consequences for it.
What consequences could they suffer exactly that would let you satisfied?
Probably death or something needlessly violent. Total social ostracization at best, if I had to guess.
Any consequences more than none at all.
For what? Being a bit annoying to some people? They haven’t done anything to cause any harm to anyone.
Amber is an ambulatory car crash and Booster is the monarch of rubbernecking.
Ooh, nice one.
Short Round no hot mess, Indy!
Deploying Booster is a warcrime – Booster’s track record for not being a dick is dismal
To be fair, Canadians are known for three things…. saying sorry too much, liking hockey too much, and committing the most war crimes per capita among “the Allies” in basically every war they fight in.
Wait is that a fact? More war crime than the neighbors raised with the “Guantanamo good, Vietnam war justified, good Christians put children in cages at the border” mindset?
All warcrimes are crimes against humanity, but not all crimes against humanity are warcrimes
Fair, fair. Still, being raised to accept one as normal may lead to being more accepting of the other, or so I’d have thought.
the geneva convention is pretty much just “whatever canada and poland did, don’t do that”
This reminds me of the fact that 50% of therapy doesn’t work because a lot of treatments are deployed without customization to the patient or acknowledgement that it needs to be done so that way.
yeah even without the fact that many a therapist are insensitive or even downright racist/bigoted, it’s hella irritating how therapy’s value been so over-inflated to this panacea evoked for the sake of let-them-eat-cake obliviousness
all the time you hear “go to therapy”, which is basically short for,
“I don’t know how therapy actually works or what it can or can’t do, but what I do know is that it’s an easy thing to say to be dismissive of other people” (-_-)
I always thought it was shorthand for “I am either not equipped or emotionally invested enough in you to deal with your traumas/disorders, you need to do that yourself”
(To be clear, I think just saying “go to therapy” is usually dismissive, I just think it’s not coming from a place of belief in the efficacy of therapy but rather from a place of putting responsibility on a person to ‘fix’ their own mental health ailments)
People are a lot more open to the idea if I let them know I see a therapist first and don’t phrase it as an order, I hope that helps!
… very confused about the “I hope that helps” part of this comment.
I do agree that it can be helpful to mention that you go to therapy (assuming you do) if you’re sincere in trying to encourage them to consider it. Mentioning it as part of other things is helpful too (including some form of connections to you, if you’re close with the person).
oh no, more Booster stuff.
I actively like Booster as a character but after the meme/in-joke/idk how far it’s spread of “therapyspeak Joker” that greeny purple (and pink and black) shirt is giving me minor flashbacks.
Which also sucks because I kinda also really want that shirt? I am that asshole who wants to wear floral print flannel everywhere.
that doesnt sound like an asshole to me, just a canadian farm girl
Ayyy love the shirt. I also I legit really enjoy this exchange — There’s an ease to it that feels kind of like trust, even though these two haven’t interacted much?
(Also, oh boy do I hope people remember that Booster and Amber have struck a friendship based on both of them being goblins who crave mess before the cries for blood start? :’D)
It’s a tall order, hoping people remember literally anything about the comic they allegedly read every single day.
Please allow me to pretend media literacy is on life support rather than straight out dead — Much like my mental health.
Maybe verbalizing it will help TwT One never knows.
heh, come to think of it Booster X Amber would make a neat trash goblin duo ala Team Rocket…
… I like that potential >:D
Ngl never disliked Booster- despite everything, they did get Ethan to leave his room and hang out outside
like, they’re a mess, but they are capable of interpersonal connections LOL. I like the commitment, I suppose.
People who believe otherwise, that they are some kind of unfelling manipulator that only see others as entertainment, are very weird.
+1
They’re all projecting.
hah
I do always love a comic where every character is just some part of my brain.
not a dude
Depends on your definition of dude. In this case I suppose it would depend largely on Booster’s definition of dude.
“Asshole” is reliably gender-neutral.
“Oh good it’s this again” works too.
I’ve heard plenty of women refer to each other as ‘dude’. And ‘bro’.
“You guys” is a gender-neutral plural around these parts.
I would posit that largely depends on who you ask.
Spent two years in CA as a child. Came back to the UK “you guys”-ing groups of people. Was told “we’regirls” a lot of times. Was aware of that and just meant “group of people”…
Don’t think it’s quite left my vocab – when I was 21 and mentioned those 2 years to my publishing colleagues, there was a global “Oooooh, that explains it..!” And I learnt that I still used more less common Americanisms more usually than one would expect from “typical Millenial who is surrounded by international media” while having literally no trace of an American accent (I sound like Mary Poppins on helium – but I think I was saying “you guys” every 5th sentence to a group or so, from my recollections of the girls’ responses, back then…
Where you ask, more than anything. In some places, the 2nd person plural is “y’all”, or “youse”, or “yinz”, or even “all y’all”. Hereabouts, it’s “you guys”. I have numerous times witnessed women addressing all-female groups as “you guys” without anyone batting an eye.
When people claim that “dudes” is really gender-neutral, I always wanna ask them to say “I fuck dudes” to see if it feels right to them.
This right here. It’s a contextual thing, and if someone is outright saying “don’t use that, it feels gendered” then… literally just stop? If it’s so not-a-big-deal why fight to keep saying it under any particular circumstance?
I use “dude,” “bro,” and “you guys” in a gender-neutral way, but I save “dude” and “bro” for people I know and who I know (or at least believe, and am open to their correction) are fine with it. I wouldn’t jump to I with someone who is often misgendered in that direction unless, again, I know they’re fine with it.
This could be me, bu “this dude” also feels like a more gendered usage than going “oh, dude” when talking to someone. Perhaps I’ve just missed it, but I really haven’t seen comments going “this dude again” when, say, Jennifer comes into a scene.
Agreed.
I just spent an hour rereading most of Booster’s appearances, because fuck I love Booster.
And now I want them to interact with Amazi-Girl so badly.
Booster enjoyers unite! And oh god you’re so right, I need that to happen o.o
If they were to meet each other soon, what do you think would happen?
Hopefully, a Slipshine would come out of it. I say, channeling Amber’s horniness.
Aside from that, I think Amazi-Girl would be a lot more receptive to Booster than Amber was at first. Additionally, knowing that they’ve become friends with Amber would give Booster points. Though she may not like being treated like a science experiment, which Booster would probably slip into by accident, if my personal experience with psych majors is anything to go by.
Agreed and agreed. But also!!!
It’s for that reason that I think they all could work as something genuine? Platonic, romantic, blatant hornyness – the important part, rather than the kind of roles expected of everyone, is how good it could be for them: Amber and Amazi-Girl need people they can trust in; and both of them + Booster themselves need to learn what a boundary is. For example, so nobody feels like an experiment. But in general too.
I see them kids and go like “you’re all so lonely ;AAA; Don’t deny it!!11!!”, ahahah :’D
If “Short round hot mess” is such an incentive, why can’t I find a therapist?
There’s your trouble. You should be looking for an asshole like Booster, not a therapist, if you want to be an incentive for them.
Ruth is playing matchmaker now?
(Note: I’m leaving it ambiguous whether the match she’s making is the romantic or boxing sort.)
Not super sure that Ruth knows the difference
Making ambiguity easy!
She knows the difference but her answer’s still yes
I’m not sure even Amber deserves Booster’s unsolicited psychoanalysis at this point.
“Consider me incentivized”
I’ve had a lot of bad therapists and a a couple amazing ones. Being able to accurately identify a person’s issues is only a tiny fraction of the process. The difficult and important part is knowing how to safely and effectively help to overcome them. Booster being able to point out people’s issues in a superficial cold-reading level doesn’t make them good at psychology. It just makes them a douche.
My eldest had her first therapy the other day and I’m not sure it’s the right fit… Apparently this woman told my 10 year old that she’s had quite a few patients who also wanted to die and thought nobody would care, and the ones who went through with it left devastated parents behind… “Wait, you’re such a bad therapist lots of your patients do that??” Also apparently the woman was basically pushing her through a checklist of questions, and at times if she wanted to elaborate or go back to something was being told not to interrupt…
Kiddo has mixed feelings about the concept anyway (she doesn’t want people to say she’s “broken and needs fixing” which is her mental model of therapy; doesn’t think she deserves to feel happy; isn’t sure it’s really possible; talking about the upsetting feels is upsetting…) – it’s been literally one session, so I suggested she do next week’s and see how she feels, but made sure she understands if it really isn’t the right fit, it may be another month or so before they can find somebody else with a space for her…
I’m kinda lucky that I had good experiences 2/3 times and the other one was benignly unhelpful in an irritating way – as an articulate teen with insomnia I knew how I felt and didn’t need somebody to rephrase my sentences to make me feel understood and heard, and apparently that’s all she was allowed to do by law… Once we hit the point where I explicitly said “yeah, but how do I change that? What do I do differently? Where do I go from here?” And was told “I legally can’t advise you on that stuff” we agreed to stop the sessions.
I don’t want her to find the experience traumatic though
I wouldn’t put it on the therapist if they’ve had patients who have died by suicide (at least without knowing a lot more about the individual cases), but it doesn’t sound like this therapist is a great fit for your child… do you need any sessions to be from a specific clinic or organization? I know there are often a lot of limitations people face when trying to find a therapist; if there’s a way to get on a waiting list before officially stopping with this therapist, tha might be worth it to lessen the waiting time by at least a week. (And if the second session changes your daughter’s mind, the other could be canceled.)
I think the therapist probably meant “I’ve had a lot of patients who were suicidal, and the few who went through with it were wrong to think no one would miss them.”
Not, “I’ve had a lot of patients who died.”
“I used to have plenty of patients but they do see to die a lot” is very unique marketing
Still, better than all of them died
I think I would also make sure to tell her: “it’s okay if we need to find another one, the wait might be annoying for you but it’s not a problem or a burden for me”…? It sounds like you have a very conscientious kiddo who doesn’t want to be trouble for you, and I’d wanna make very sure she knew that changing therapists was okay, totally normal, etc.
(I’ve personally had four therapists, two of which were pretty awful, one which just did not help at all, and then a great one I’ve been seeing since like 2015.) (if you’re in the US, a LOT of therapists don’t take insurance at all but do offer sliding pay scales and payment plans!)
Fittingly enough, that’s insane.
This NPR article does a good job of explaining why, but TL;DR: it’s the fault of the insurance companies, not the therapists.
Utterly incompetent. Fire her immediately.
It can be worth giving a therapist an additional try before deciding how you feel, but it can also be worth it to cut and run after a first session that doesn’t feel right.
Honestly, I’m the type who, before finding my last therapist and current therapist, would put up with therapists who weren’t a great fit because if I’ve seen them more than once, it’s kind of what I do, right? Basically I can fall into those patterns quickly, and if I had issues the first time but still went back and then I still have those issues, well, I went back before, right?
I had a very transphobic session once, where I cried in the stairwell after and then burned the packet given to me (“What It Means to be a Woman”) when I got home, and I still saw her several more times. (Breaking point was when she was saying something about what god would want, and while I believe in god, it makes me uncomfortable to have people tell me about god like that. Which I explained to her. And then she just. did it again anyway.)
Pour me a short hot round glass.
Yes! Go Booster! Makes Amber happy asking her how she feels! I’m sure she will slowly open to Booster, if they can find the right way to talk with her.
What we really need is Booster getting Amber some therapy while she is bench-pressing them.
I’d wager they need it as much as we do
Booster does not snoop into people’s lives for free. They need to be allured by the siren song of mentally damaged.
Booster is like a shark, catching the smell of mental problems from 5 miles away
Smelling mental problems with this lot isn’t much of a challenge. Singling one out when there are so many, now…
Booster is non-binary, and is not a dude. They’ve been in the comic for fucking ever, please stop with this.
Hey comment-section:
There are still people misgendering Booster after all this time. If you would join me in reporting them, maybe leaving a quick comment under the comment you report to say “misgendering” to help the mods/Willis out, that would be really appreciated.
The world is getting scarier for binary and nonbinary trans people alike, and it’s actually really easy to at least help this comment section become a little less overtly transphobic. The insidious subtle kind we probably can’t do much about in the comments, but I’ll take what I can get <3
Haven’t seen any so far, maybe the ones you seen already been deleted?
At least two have been, yeah.
Ewwww. I’ll keep an eye out.
Yep, the ones I saw and reported/commented on were removed. Thank you everyone, excellent work. Keep it up
Ah yeah, just saw this but last night I reported an asshole too and today that comment was gone so. Yeah, I’m glad several of us did.
I’ll be happy to keep at it in the future, Nymph :3
It’s just Willis running moderation so definitely include the comment to help it cut through the noise.
re: scarier, yeah I feel this 0-0
obligatory reminder to everyone here that the “report comment” button works
I’ve just been assuming that some people are THAT careless and/or unobservant, not that it was deliberate.
For some, that’s probably the case. And some people are still learning and mess up. But if someone refers to Booster as “(s)he” (as in one of the deleted comments from today), they’re at best really misguided. Definitely didn’t happen by accident.
I’d also keep in mind that when comments come up that are transphobic, or racist, or sexist, the most blatant of them get deleted. If you come in a few hours after the fact, you might see some that aren’t *great* but aren’t terrible, but others may have seen the worse comments.
I assumed that for a little while, but I think the grace period on it is over and it also doesn’t harm them for the comments to get removed. Where-as seeing a lot of (as Yumi says sometimes very blatant) misgendering and transphobic comments can do harm to a community that is a high % queer.
Not saying you have to report with me, but I will be doing it and I appreciate the others who did the same
Alt-text: Don’t forget “bespectacled”.
*Ruth presses EASY button*
GO BOOSTER! GO! GO BOOSTER! GO! gawds I need pompoms (but, I have no coordination so it’s going to get weird) yes backish. I can function.
sounds like you should be on the dance floor at a goth night, no coordination and weird are like the minimum cost for admission (and they tend to be the safest barnights in history
Booster is giving me hardcore Jeff Hiller vibes. esp. panel 4
They know what they are about, you gotta respect that.
Ever since panel 2 was posted on Tumblr, I imagined Ruth was saying, “Okay, who left their Booster in the middle of the hall again? C’mon guys, we talked about this!”
Okay, this is the sort of scenario that leads to ill-advised fucking, and Booster should know better.
Of course, the real question is which one they’re going to end up doing the ill-advised premarital hanky-panky with: Amber or Amazi-Girl?
That said, I could just be suffering from my Big Silly Disease and nobody else thinks what I just thunk.
Booster has already (clumsily) expressed interest in Amber. I doubt they’d be as interested in Amazi-Girl, though.
I’m curious! :33 Why?
Hmmmm.
I think, first and foremost, because Amber will always make you choose, and if you’re torn, she’ll push you off onto Amazi-Girl (see: Danny). So a relationship with Amber AND Amazi-Girl is, at least for now, off the table. And if I imagine Booster being forced to choose, it’s not even a question for them. They’d choose Amber every time.
But that’s really just deferring the question, right?
I think all the things we’ve seen intrigue and attract Booster to Amber so far have been Amber traits: they’re interested in her fanfic, they’re interested in her real-people-shipping, they’re interested in her messiness.
I am having trouble imagining them being interested in any of Amazi-Girl’s traits by contrast. But it doesn’t help that they haven’t met Amazi-Girl yet! I could be totally wrong.
This all makes a ton of sense, though! I really like it. Amber has an entire mythology built around how nobody in their right mind would choose her considering AG is in the same meat vehicle, made of all the urges Amber is ashamed of turned into “something good” (unlike her wretched self, she’d add.)
Booster would, though! They have things in common, and Amber has taught them her boundaries; and they’ve been shown having fun while texting and stuff. Maybe they could be interested in AG too once they met and all, but it does feel like if they were pressed to “make a choice” (platonic or not); they’d pick Amber, and I’m not sure she even knows it’s a possibility.
I like this a lot.
I do think it’s one of the things Walky could have offered Amber, but I also think she could have rationalized that away because they got together on the basis of being garbage together.
I agree tho that Amber needs more people in her life who like her better than Amazi-Girl, someone who also simultaneously recognizes the validity of the split, e.g. someone who wouldn’t say “of course I choose you, you’re the real person” or “Amazi-Girl couldn’t exist without you, so it’s not a real choice”, or anything similar.
(I’m not in any way blaming Danny for not fully understanding what was going on with her, I’m just saying that he technically chose Amber over Amazi-Girl when he tried to ask her to stop superhero-ing, but it didn’t count because he didn’t fully understand what he was choosing. You know?)
“ill-advised fucking” might be exactly what Booster’s gunning for…
I love Booster’s sudden burst of energy in the last panel. “Ooh, don’t mind if I do!”
Things to remember:
— Despite Ruth calling it “unsolicited”, it’s not. Amber basically asked for this yesterday. Ruth is pointing out that it’s what she wants even now (“if you’re fishing for…”).
— Neither Ruth nor Amber is any good at this stuff. Amber tried to cloak her request to be asked after in protective tropes; Ruth is in turn cloaking her own concern about Amber in protective sarcasm.
— After all the time I’ve spent poring over Dorothy… well, let’s just say that the way a lot of readers have reacted to Booster makes more sense to me.
Dorothy isn’t actually much more mature or experienced than Joyce. She wasn’t raised with Joyce’s rigid gender roles, anti-science indoctrination, or specific hang-ups around sexuality, but they both had exactly the same amount of pre-college experience with parties thrown by kids their own age (zero), and they both had a similar level of emotional maturity. Dorothy was also in many ways similarly naive about other people and institutions.
As readers, we kept expecting Dorothy to know more about any given subject than she actually did; I remember, myself, being a little incredulous when she was surprised that Twilight could pass the Bechdel Test, but we also saw her initially try to get Joyce to go to the hospital and the police after her first brush with Ryan, before changing her mind after she actually researched how well campuses support people who have gone through what Joyce did. And, of course, her dream of becoming president.
All of it points to a very immature, sheltered character, but she’s so polite and organized and well-behaved and sexually active without shame.. and especially in girls, we associate these things with maturity. So we keep right on reading her as mature, and getting frustrated with her for not actually being mature — or assuming that she must know better, and therefore that any missteps she makes must be intentional.
She can’t have actually not known how to handle things with Danny, so she must have strung him along only to break his heart on the first day of school on purpose.
She can’t have actually struggled with what she wanted out of her relationship with Walky, so putting things on pause and then sleeping with him must have been manipulative.
So on, so forth.
And Booster? Is getting a lot of this same treatment.
They know psychological terminology and they’re very articulate, so they MUST be more mature and knowledgeable than the other kids around them… or at least, Willis must think they do, and must expect us to treat them as if they did. Obviously we are meant to take Booster’s maximum-one-semester-of-college-level-psych-classes as being just as good as a degree. Obviously Willis wants us to treat them as if they were a licensed psychiatrist, including the appropriate criticism they would then merit for trying to “treat” people who aren’t their patients and haven’t consented.
That Booster isn’t always right when they deploy their people-reading skills just makes them an asshole, obviously. They can’t be fumbling social interactions by accident because they’re a socially awkward teenager.
— Also, like. If you zoom out a little.
I do understand frustration with Booster’s type if you assume they’re an NT who finds psychology “fascinating”.
But considering they’re also an “out” nonbinary person. Considering how bad at making friends they’ve actually been so far. Considering how bad at flirting they’ve actually been so far. Considering Charlie…
How much of an “NT who finds psychology fascinating” character do we actually think Booster is.
Are we sure their lived experiences haven’t given them a lot of reason to dive into and study psychology? As… a defense mechanism?
Just want to say I appreciate this comment. I feel like a very different metric gets applied to these two characters than the others, but I feel like I harp on it enough in every strip with them in it, so (esp with Dorothy strips) I mostly stopped reading the comments so I don’t get annoyed. This one was a nice change though!
Aw thank you.
Yeah, the comment section here is… it’s a mixed blessing to be sure. I appreciate Willis every day for keeping it open, for not letting it be overrun, and for closing comments when necessary.
I myself definitely stopped commenting for a while, and it did bring with it a certain peace, but. I would have kicked myself if I’d missed out on commenting on this most recent arc. Could not stay away, haha.
STANDING FUCKING OVATION oh god you’re so right. I’ve had griped about the “have you considered Booster is a really lonely kid who 100% sounds like he learned about people in theory rather than practice” before but your analysis here and the comparison with Dorothy is super on point. Some of the reactions I’ve seen to her current mental breakdown are really unkind and meanwhile I’m here like “wow she truly is 18”.
I don’t think Booster is neurotypical tbh. At all. They give off immaculate vibes for “Autistic/AuDHD Kid With A Big Vocabulary And A Special Interest In Psychology ™” Add in the theatrical mannerisms, and the way gender has no hold on them, and it’s pretty much a given.
My dislike of Dottie has been her hypocrisy and the gloss over, and I REALLY think the bulk of Dottie’s learning about people was *also* books and a very limited social group of “Danny and Joe and the people attached to them” Where she was a hanger on who was “Danny’s friend-then-girlfriend.” because she went full Peanuts Lucy.
Booster screams that they are happens when a neurodivergent is parentified to a more neurodivergent sibling. Outside world is *fascinating* because they’ve never been an actual PART of it. People feel akin to characters in a book. its a whole thing that’s really interesting and sad if you dig into it. The social world isn’t their first language and they’re still learning.
Awww!! 🥺
Yeah, and I… kinda wonder how much of it’s coming from folks who should really know better.
I have, myself, ABSOLUTELY fallen into this trap of mentally “parentifying” Dorothy, for example. And I absolutely went through some real-life parentification. I had an emotionally immature mom who had kids too young and was always more of a “big sister” to me than a parent and who expected me to look after myself in a lot of ways you’re not supposed to. I should absolutely not have fallen into the trap of mistaking “well-behaved” for mature.
I’ve always kind of STUBBORNLY liked Booster, the same way I stubbornly like Malaya — and Roz — and I especially appreciate that their specific collection of traits is very good for filling the one Mike-shaped hole the cast really had after his death.
And let me preface this by saying: this isn’t a defense of Mike, even if wanted to argue his intentions were always good (and they were definitely only sometimes good!), he still did a lot of harm, and some of his defenders were asshats about it, and most of all Willis struggled with how to ever include more of him in a way that was interesting or worked for this setting.
But while most of the cast always had someone better, someone closer to them to deliver the rare necessary painful truth bomb (Joyce has Sarah, as an example) — Walky and Amber were both left without anyone.
So I don’t think it’s at all a coincidence that Booster is now Walky’s roommate (when Willis could have shuffled room assignments around, inventing a reason for Tony to need a roommate as an example), or that they’ve expressed Interest in an arrangement of some sort with Amber.
BUT ALSO: I think they’re a very interesting character in their own right, and I for one am super interested in learning more of what’s up with them, and Charlie, and maybe a future parent weekend…!
— “I don’t think Booster is neurotypical at all”
Honestly, same? I came so close to specifically calling it “their special interest in psychology”, and then I chickened out. I’ve only been Officially Diagnosedly ADHD for a year, and I’m definitely not ready to claim any membership to Autistic, but. You know. Lots of crossover. I sure do have a whole bunch of sensory issues.
https://youtube.com/shorts/xpKzm6YOojs?si=nzDYCq_v9P-uWmrz
My partner shared this with me and I immediately replied, all caps, SNOWPANTS NOISE!!!!
is that noise not something everyone is hyperaware of at all times,,,
But yeah. Booster does not ping as NT.
YES YES YES THIS THIS THIS
Thank you
(And also for.. the other thing you said. That thread was, I think, triggering for both of us. Not looking to disclose more there, especially because a lot of it isn’t my story to share, but. Yeah. Thank you for your compassion. The system obviously needs a lot of fixing even if we don’t abolish it completely.
Psych wards are awful — I think we can all agree on that much. 
I’m sorry you went through that.)
Their front hair poof is looking more like Mike’s with every appearance…
Well dangit! I went to the grand opening of the Black Rock coffee in my area and the QR code for the Secret Menu had been hacked and I was sent to an adult website after I loaded my debit card info, which was immediately charged with a $1.25 charge to “verify it”. My new debit card will be ready in 7-10 business days.
Of course, if you really want unsolicited psychological analysis/criticism, you gotta go to the comments section.
I wonder if booster’s talked to ‘amazigirl’ yet lol
If they ever did, it had to have been off-panel, since they’ve haven’t been in any strips together, yet.
honestly if i were booster i dont think you could pull me away from amber. an absolutely fascinating being
Just checking something
Okay, yeah it works, sorry I started using a new browser and I didn’t know if my username still worked here.
Long as it’s your handle and email, it’s fine regardless. I use a different device every time I post.
Yeah we are in a database of some type, linked to display name and email. I think our IP address is probably also tracked, for banning purposes, but it doesn’t seem to be a deciding factor in your random gravitar assignment.