Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
Countdown to Countdown
Velinxi
Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Slightly Damned
Chu
Rhea Snaketail returns from the dead, befriending a Demon who falls in love with an Angel. The afterlife ain't what it used to be!
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
BOOKMARK Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
BUFFER WATCH
Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:
Whilst that is a valid suggestion, the species name digitopater does not specifically refer to a phalanx of the feet, and could also mean “finger-father.” The prefix hallu-, on the other hand, is a reference to “hallux”, the big toe.
At first I didn’t see it either, but now I just got it. His chin is the toenail, the tip of the toe is pointing downwards. (that was what confused me before, because I tried to find an upwards pointing toe)
Well, in these situations someone has to foot the bill… But it’s toetally not blackbird’s fault for not seeing the obvious pun, I think the number of people who might come up with it are in the single digits…
I get a self righteous shitty parent, compared to an aggressive authoritative shitty parent I got from a certain other (thankfully hospitalised) parent. (Will history repeat though?)
Scouring the Archives to see if Dina actually knows that Becky was thrown out of school and that her Dad wants to “fix” her…
Nope. Well, fuck… Our only hope here is that Dina has enough bad memories from the Blaine incident to be wary of overbearing parental figures claiming they only want to do what’s “best” for their daughters.
No, becky’s been hiding it from everyone because she’s breaking a bunch of rules by staying with joyce so far. (this was kinda hinted at in the last strip, where dina talked about becky having to “go back” (i.e. to college) soon)
I think her past experience with Amber’s father, still fresh in her mind, will keep Dina from an immediate response. I don’t know that she’ll adequately warn Becky but I don’t think she’ll (intentionally) give her up.
But it may take a moment for the new information to sink in.
I was thinking the SAME thing! If you’re over eighteen and “of a sound mind”, and you do not want to be “found” by family or friends, even if you are reported missing through proper legal channels, you are protected. The police cannot/will not give up your info under privacy laws.
Unless Dina or someone else decides to “help”, a la http://www.metro.se/nyheter/secret-identity-blown-after-plea-on-facebook/EVHmjv!OBNTJn7I6LZ42/.
This is Indiana we’re talking about here…wouldn’t be surprised if the judge for whatever county that Becky’s from goes to the same church as her parents.
I think Dina is likely aware of parents possibly being unhealthy influences. She knows Amber’s history, she knows Creationism doesn’t come from nowhere, and they did all just watch “Frozen,” a movie where getting over well-intentioned but ultimately negative influence from parents is literally the plot. As she screamed at the party, she’s not a child, she just has trouble with information overload and scaling her own reactions.
Actually, I think Dina’s going to figure this one out.
She’s terrible at reading faces and tone, but pretty good at putting together explicitly-stated facts and more empirical observations, like Ethan being gay (based off of comments from Amber) and Amber’s alternate identity (based on appearance and evidence in the… nope, not finishing that sentence).
So, what does she have to work with here?
Fact: Toe-dad’s daughter ran away.
Fact: Said daughter is Joyce’s friend.
Fact: Only known friend of Joyce that hasn’t been here since start of semester? Becky.
Conclusion: Becky is quite likely toe-dad’s runaway daughter.
She figured out “Ethan is gay” on less than this. She’s a smart girl, she can make this out if the errant thought of “toe-head” isn’t firmly plantared in her path.
Well he’s not a face…that’s for sure. I would even go as far as to say he’s a low carder. Let us hope that Dina does not botch the cover up and bring unnecessary heat upon Joyce and her compatriots.
Ruth’s not going to defend a squatter in her hall. She might remove Toe-Dad’s femurs on general principle, but it will be on general principle, and not in defense of Becky. She also would not team-up with Amazi-Girl, because Ruthless is just badass solo and that’s the way she likes it. Conservation of Ruthjitsu and all that.
Which is good, because Amazi-girl has rules, and Ross has yet to cross any of her lines, so she’s not gonna team-up either.
Also, I think Ruth might beat up Amazi-girl on the principle of “only I get to dominate this wing with violence”.
I don’t know, Ruth might defend Becky after all. From what I remember, she’s got enough info to possibly work out Becky’s got problems (pretty sure, can’t find examples tho). Add that to her own parental authority figure problems, I can see her potentially sympathizing with Becky. Then probably finding some way to blame Billie later, they do their argue/flirt thing…
The problem is going to be that there are two responses Joyce could give:
1) “Leave her alone!” gives away that Joyce knows what’s up with Becky and is not going to result in Ross going away.
2) “I don’t know where she is” is a lie that Joyce cannot possibly say convincingly. She is not good at lying.
Well technically since Becky isn’t with Joyce–or wasn’t last we knew–she could be anywhere, so even if Joyce left Becky to chill in her or Sal’s room, Joyce doesn’t know for sure where she is, only where she was. Not that Joyce is an expert on the nuances of misdirection like that or anything.
Joyce would never give her up intentionally, but her skills at deceit are sufficiently nonexistent that I really hope Dina can get up there to warn Becky before it comes to that.
Well there is already one parent recovering from a beatdown at a hospital, just leave the body where it falls. Willis has already said nobody dies in the Dumbiverse, so no attempted murder charges etc.
Joyce isn’t a particularly good liar but I can see her refusing to answer questions and Ross pulling the “I will tell your parents about your complicity in my daughter’s sin” card on her.
Have to put my foot down on this one. I don’t want to get into a hoof over this, but I can’t just walk this off. I’ll try to paws and count to ten, but there might not be enough digits to calm me down.
I imagine someone as controlling as Ross seems to be takes care to make sure he is understood the way he wants to be.
Actually, thinking on it, Dina speaks almost the same way for similar reasons. Maybe the whole reason this storyline is from Dina’s perspective is to set up Ross and Dina as foils for each other?
I’m just realizing this (I might be wrong though) I think the only time anybody in this comic opens their mouths when their talking is when their yelling.
It can’t be teeth, since there are no lines. Unless they have a uni-tooth that covers their whole mouth opening, but my other guess would be that they simply are severely anemic and thus have white mucosal membranes. White mouth interiors.
“Had a quick look?” You just DON’T have a quick look at TT, it’s not possible unless you have already read everything else that may be there already >_<
It’s easy, honestly. After a certain point you get jaded. And I never had it for TVTropes in a way I didn’t have it for wikipedia. It’s just that only one of them, I still have something.
Yes it is perfectly possible to just have a quick look at TVTropes since I have done archive binges in the past thus allowing me to resist archive binging especially when I have other stuff to do that day.
Dina’s smart. After the thing with Amber’s dad I doubt she’ll fall for this. Now, she might be angry at Joyce for not giving her all the information in the first place, but that’s not relevant THIS MINUTE.
Dangit, I just realized that Toe Dad actually tries to be a good dad, but his ideas and morals are such that when he tries to be good, he’s bad. JUST LIKE BIZZARRO. Now I’m crying a little.
No one wants to be a horrible person. The vast majority of real-world villains will tell you that he’s a good person who’s just taking some reasonable steps to (accomplish goal). If someone dies/suffers/is hospitalized, well, that’s not his fault, he was just looking out for her immortal soul/the shareholders/his retirement account. Everyone’s the hero of his own story.
Beat me to it.
All that said, though, there are some who choose to be assholes, but they seldom commit enough to accomplish outright evil. Still, there are a rare few that do; it is unfortunately true that “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
That last phrase, ‘Everyone’s the hero of his own story’ is, basically, the sole root cause of almost everything bad that’s ever happened from jaywalkers getting run over right up to World Wars and genocides.
On the one hand, DoA has already done an “evil dad shows up and tries to assert his dominance” storyline, and that would normally seem like the kind of theme you shouldn’t repeat. On the other hand, if Dina didn’t have experience with Blaine, she wouldn’t have a chance of recognizing Ross for what he is.
And, on first impressions at least, Ross seems more dangerous than Blaine ever was. I mean, just LOOK at that guy, he’s built like a BATTLESHIP. He might even be a match for Amazi-Girl if it came to that.
Blaine was also prone to deluding himself and never let go of old tactics even when they stopped working. It’s early yet, but Ross’s delusions seem to be less likely to cloud his practical insight. Apart from the fundamentalism, there’s seems to be a lack of emotional control, but his plan of putting up “Missing” posters is a lot more solid that Blaine’s “waltz back in to my young adult daughter’s life and try pushing her around like she’s still seven.”
Also, Ross is much, much more likely to have institutional power over Becky. She might be a legal adult, but if he finds out she’s living with Joyce, he could get them both in a lot of trouble if Becky doesn’t come back with him. (How much trouble is debatable—they probably haven’t broken any rules yet, considering it’s only been a few days and they’re probably allowed to have visitors for at least short periods of time. Its more like the threat of imminent trouble that would be the problem.)
On the other hand Blane actually did a decent job of manipulating Danny. He naturally has to know how to lie like this because his rather nasty personality is something he needs to hide. In Shortpacked there was even a comic that showed there were a lot of people who saw him as a good person.
Meanwhile Toedad probably never had to hide his toxic views toward homosexuality because his community shares his beliefs. His flat facial expression and overly rehearsed speech pattern also suggests that he may be less socially adept.
Not sure about IU dorms, but in many dorms, they’ve technically broken the rules, already. Fortunately, most dorms are not run by dicks (yay Asma?), and they will politely ignore a friend who spends the weekend. Unless pressured, by parents, for example, into disciplinary action.
Amazi-Girl/Ruthless tag team. But they’re really just the distraction while the Clever Girl he didn’t see comes in from behind and hamstrings him with her hooked claw.
Why tag team when you can flank?
Well, there are several reasons, but I doubt a dude shaped like that can take full enough advantage of them to matter.
True, but if he puts Amazi-girl out of commission in their first encounter… Well, in that case Ruth can just call in Campus Security to back her up. Less satisfying than a beat down, but you work with the tools you have.
Currently what makes him dangerous has nothing to do with his size, but the fact that he hasn’t technically broken any laws and Joyce’s parents are (presumably) on his side. With Blaine he could be defeated with a call to the police, you can’t do that with toe dad.
I don’t know, Becky’s dad always looked in the ball park of that one obnoxious Toy guy in Shortpacked who always complained about everything. Not as some intimidating figure that I’m supposed to shudder at the sight of. Might be the fact that his mouth is his chin.
If there’s any consolation, it seems that Becky’s haircut might buy her some time before any unknowing passersby see the “missing” photos and decide to help out.
Yeah, I thought at the time that Becky’s aesthetic transformations might be super useful in providing some obfuscation. Still won’t help that he’s using her name to everyone he meets, but eh, points for trying.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO Ross will be redeemed! Becky will deliver a stirring speech on being true to one’s self and he will shed a single manly tear and they’ll hug it out. #Rossdemption2k15
Now that’s a meeting I would like to see. Ross may be horrible, but at least he means well. I suspect he could break Blaine in half while the latter was busy monologuing.
It would be like when Dr. Wily and Dr. Eggman worked together! They were the best Mad Science Buddies! But then Eggman tried to kill Dr. Light and Wily thought that was going too far…
It would be kinda funny if after multiple experiences trusting her friends evil fathers, Dina stops being trusting and then a dad who legitamly wants to help his daughter comes along…Hijinks ensue
Scientists have now confirmed that Doasaurus saruyamensis interacted with the adult male members of Doasaurus lesbiensis. Paleobiologists have onsidered renaming the species D. hallucephalus, due to the unique shape of the head f the adult males. However, the females of this species do not show this morphological anomaly, so this name is still under debate.
Why does he have to ask bypassers whether they have seen Joyce? If he were on the level he could just phone her or inquire or leave a message at the administration desk.
“I pulled my 18 year old daughter out of school for succumbing to the evil of homosexuality, but when I tried to force her to go to de-gaying camp she ran off.”
Somehow I doubt the cops would help him find her. And unlike Blaine he thinks he’s fully justified so he won’t lie about it.
“She was having a rough time at school, and I think she fell in with a bad crowd; and now she’s disappeared and I can’t find her anywhere. She’s not even answering her phone.”
What Timemonkey is saying here is that athough he COULD lie, he’s not going to think to. I don’t know whether that’s true, but the logic seems solid. I mean, the fact that he’s here means the police probably haven’t been helpful.
He can if he likes, but he has no legal power over her anymore. If he tries to take her anywhere against her will, it’ll be considered kidnapping.
(This doesn’t matter to him, of course, but it does matter to the cops.)
It’s like Dina is transfixed by that toe-like head. Frankly I wonder if she even heard anything he said after the initial introduction. I know I’d no longer be listening.
Funny, that was exactly what I was thinking. Dina, on the evolution of the toe-shaped head and why it may or may not contribute to females of the species being lesbians. Because evolution says, no one should breed more heads like that
Dummy up, Diana. The dude’s bad news. Oh yeah, “Save her from herself’ sounds like “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” If Dr Scholl has his way, poor Beck will be in a Fundie Re-Education Camp For Gay Children faster than you can say “Homophobia.” Run, Becky run!!
Sometimes you have to burn a town to save it from itself. You ever try stopping a shadow war between ghouls and vampires in a populated city? Fire. Fire solves everything.
My first thought was “Shit, Dina’s naivete could seriously screw this situation over” then it occurred to me that her encounter with Blaine might actually help her respond to this appropriately.
Ross and Mary in the same room?
…why don’t I own any incendiary weapons?! I need to cleanse myself of the mere THOUGHT of that encounter… So much self-rightousness in one physical location just isn’t right.
While I know Dina is a quick enough learner to know not to trust scary looking fathers looking for their daughters, i’m worried that she son’t have the best response for him.
Rather than, “I do not know of this Becky.” I worry she will say, “I will not let you see her.” You know, trying to hide her but maybe being a tad too direct about it. But luckily there are more positive scenarios that may occur.
This is the time for Dina to give the impression that she is either twelve, or autistic, or both. She had Raidah’s posse and many of us fooled, and Becky’s Dad doesn’t strike me as especially perceptive.
Pretend to be stunned or distracted, Dina. Give a non-responsive answer. About dinosaurs, for preference.
You are thankfully wrong. Willis has said that nobody will die in this comic, largely because the pace of it would mean that the characters would be in mourning *forever*, which would be unbearable to write or read.
Oh, that’s good at least. I still don’t have a good feeling about Becky’s future, though. But at least we’ll be spared deaths. Thanks, all who replied.
“So, hypothetically, if you were to find that she was demonstrating to me the proper usage of ‘bases’, what consequences would this entail?”
Becky’s haircut’s looking like it might have been a good idea. I mean, if no one recognizes Amber when she puts a band of cloth around her eyes, Becky’s silly haircut will ensure that shitbrick can look right at her without recognizing her. “That looks much like my daughter. However my daughter has a proper Christian haircut. That is not her.”
Hmm… coupled with her changes in attire and attitude/body language it just might work, so long as she doesn’t notice him and give herself away by her reaction.
I once walked right by my Mum in the mall by taking off my glasses and borrowing a friend’s coat. Mind you, Mum wasn’t actively looking for me and didn’t have any reason to suspect I was there instead of school, but still. I also used similar techniques in school to avoid people who were actively looking for me. Once even had one of them and their friend sit down next to me at the top of the stairs, chat to each other a bit, and then move on, without ever recognizing me, because I’d taken off my glasses and my trade-mark, ever-present hat when I saw them coming.
Becky’s changes in hair, attire, and body language may just be enough to not trigger his recognition, so long as they don’t come directly face-to-face, and he doesn’t twig on the hair. I know as a parent myself I look for hair colour first and then check if the clothes match (when I’m at any distance) because my kids are both very blonde and in the town we first lived in they really stuck out. I’m on the East Coast now and there’s a lot more blonde kids so the technique doesn’t work anymore, but it’s still habit. So it may come down to whether or not red hair is something he strongly associates with Becky in particular.
Heh. If we’re lucky he’ll see Ruth from behind, think it’s his daughter, and grab her. And then it’ll be popcorn for everyone.
I remember a lot of people suggesting that Becky move in with Marcie on account of her living off campus, but then the problem was that Becky didn’t really know Marcie, nor did she know Sal well enough to meet her.
*reads second to last panel* *wants to step out of the next shadowy spot the toe-head walks by, kidnap him and give him the “1984 treatment”. you know, the bit with the rats.
And with that, I know wanna know what the 1984 treatment is. Though thanks to that rats comment, I imagine its a bit like the swarm of rats power from Dishonored.
It was mostly accidental (when did my ex part get removed?), but now I realize I can’t give up. There are too many crimes in this world, too many soft serve incidents left unsolged. And someone has to be the guy who cleans up those messes.
you stick a cage on someones head with about 4″ clearance and then fill that clearance partially w/rats. to perform it Properly though, the tourturee’s Worst Fear must be rats.
What do you mean, ‘imminent’? Many would say we’re living in a post-9/11 dystopia, right now. Civil rights vanishing, eternal war, fictitious national enemies, torture and brainwashing…
Civil rights have, overall, been eroding for more than 40 years (at least, vis a vis the state, the citizen, and the state’s right to impose on the citizen). The US has been manufacturing wars for itself since the 50s. Usually, people mean something worse than was had before they were born.
but really, i think where we are headed is more likely “High Chancellor Sutler decrees that any mention of the Terrorist known as “V” in a positive light shall be taken as an Act Of Treason and treated as such. now please sit back and enjoy this rousing rendition of God Save The Queen As performed by the National Patriotic Music Band.” But you know, American.
Canada’s Prime Minister is trying to get a piece of legislation passed that would potentially make it a crime to portray terrorists in a positive light, which is deeply concerning to me and my “V for Vendetta” fanfics.
what’s Really freaky about that book these days is just How Little it would take for it to become reality. heck that realization is why for the past 5 or so years my stance on paranoia is “Better to be paranoid and be proven wrong, than not be, and find out you should have been.”
boomwolf said: “And with that, I know wanna know what the ‘1984’ treatment is.”
You should have no trouble finding a copy of the book in any library. I’ll just say that if someone knows that which you fear the most, you are totally and royally screwed.
I never understood the whole “must save them from themselves”. I’ve never known anyone in history that had to be “saved” from themselves. They’ve had to be saved from depression (which itself can cause self-destructive tendencies), or addiction… but I always thought that was a much different thing.
It’s because it covers sins. “Saving them from themselves” covers up the fact that they are about to torture and abuse their children. Some child abusers will claim “they were a naughty child I had to beat the evil out of them I had to save them from themselves”
They genuinely believe that in some way they are saving the person and can’t make the connection that they are really the one destroying said person.
Now hold on there have been people who needed to be saved from themselves before. People who participate in self harm for instance or in abusive drug use are often forced into therapy or rehab. Now of course in this instance its completely wrong and he is abusive but there are times when saving someone from their self is a necessary thing.
I think that’s covered by “saved from addiction” and “saved from depression”.
There’s also the fact that forcibly “saving” someone from self-harming or addiction spirals can actually make things worse. Most forms of self-harm and drug abuse come from a place of being an unsafe coping strategy for something that is viewed as worse and so taking away that coping strategy because it is bad without replacing it with anything can be viewed as leaving them with no tools to survive with and prompt more final or painful actions.
As such, there’s a theory in a lot of dependency treatment programs of harm reduction or seeking safety in which you try and encourage slightly safer forms of self-care before seeking to discourage the unhealthy and unsafe form of coping.
I see that actually possibly being the case for Dana what with Raidah saying she is miserable at home and Dana being just as good as Becky in playing the “everything is fine at home, no really” role with friends.
Plus, stating you are saving someone from themselves, even when earnest and well-intentioned is rarely going to be accepted very well because the very construction of it makes the person being helped feel that they are so powerless that random people think they know better on how to handle their shit and so become more likely to resist healthy healing just out of spite.
It’s why an intervention is one thing and physically dragging someone to a treatment center is another.
There are at least three characters in the comic that need/needed saving from themselves. They are Dana, whom Sarah thankfully intervened with, as well as Billie and Ruth, who are self destructing in front of us, though it seems a large portion of the readers are too busy calling them cute to notice.
Behaviours such as these characters perform will nto get better without outside interference, they’ll simply hide their behaviour and lie about it but it will continue and worsen.
You know, some of us have been where Ruth or Billie have been. Getting help would have been way better, and things could have turned out worse… but there are reasons to think they’ll manage to pull through.
Ruth has already accepted death as inevitable and Billie didn’t even make an attempt to stop drinking despite it costing her everything that was important to her. Neither of them will be helping themselves. The best we can hope for is one or both of them gaining the strength to stop the other.
Death is rather inevitable, much like entropy. She hasn’t killed herself, so she’s by no means gone. She should absolutely seek counselling – most of the cast list should (Even Dotty could probably use a chat, even if she’s not in need of anything intensive). Currently, Billie’s drinking actually does seem fine now that she’s not drinking herself into a stupor. In what I imagine is not a surprise, I am not haunting a comments section from beyond the grave – it can absolutely get better, stubborn iconoclasm notwithstanding
It can also get worse, which is why I’d like them to get counselling. The fact that they’re often cute changes precisely none of this.
Billie’s not getting better, she’s a high functioning drunk that can’t stop drinking, even at a party she knows there’s no drinking, but got the rest of the guests wasted as well.
Ruth has said outright the only thing keeping her alive is the thought of Billie being sad at her death. They have reached a weord kind of co-dependant stability but it’s temporary.
Actually, there is a strong argument that both are moving in a healthier direction compared to where they started. Ruth is being able to actually feel emotions other than anger and numbness, which is a major improvement for her (hence the “the fact that I’m up and crying is a good thing” talk with Billie). And Billie is actually moving in a direction of abusing alcohol less even if she is still getting drunk every night (and its worth pointing out that quitting alcohol cold turkey when one is an alcoholic is actually really dangerous and leave a person more prone to relapse).
The problem with both of them isn’t that their coping strategies aren’t working in that they are moving in the right direction, it’s that their coping strategy is incredibly temporary and they are both at risk moving back into their worst states or worse when it finally collapses.
They’ve both decided to “solve” their problems with a codependent relationship and the rush of New Relationship Energy to carry them through, which means that when that falls apart or if they start having frequent arguments, it will be easy for both to fall back on old coping strategies because the “safer” one is falling apart.
And the way they are doing it means they are really at risk for all of that. Ruth burst in on the party because she recognizes Billie as a healthy influence that leaves her access to emotions (good), but does so because she can’t bear to go an evening without said emotional outlet (bad). Billie uses her caring for another person to reduce the self-destructive spiral with regards to alcohol (good), but she has put all her self-worth eggs in a basket of “saving Ruth” and taking whatever she can dish out (even when she is acting abusive) because she is seen as “her last chance of love” (bad). And even worse neither has any other form of coping mechanism that’s healthier yet. Billie especially has put almost everything in the hope that the relationship can cure her (even moving out of her dorm room and giving it away meaning she has no real place to leave to if things do turn sour or end).
The best thing for both would be to use the respite from the storm to seek other forms of help and mental health aid, but since they both think the relationship is doing enough and is “the only good thing in my life” neither feels an impetus to do that yet because after all, this is still currently working for them.
And since both view the relationship as a type of therapy, they are both putting way more stress on it than they should, because both view it as the thing that will save them or at least help delay them from losing to their diseases (depression and addiction).
That’s a great analysis. There are so, so, so, SO many things that are wrong with Billie and Ruth, but their relationship is actually not one of them – the problem is that it makes it more difficult for them to find other solutions to their actual problems and locks them in the current situation (there are some parallels to Amber and Danny).
D. Willis once linked a serie of articles about how Christians considers themselves “the designated driver”, you should look that up on his twitter or something.
There are arguments that even in the case of depressive or self-destructive behavior, that forcing a person to change is abuse. Who are we to say what the right way for a person to live their life is? Even if their choice is to try and end their life, it is their choice, and they have a sovereign right to make it.
They don’t consider it a great evil, they consider it help. They think they’re guiding the misguided, or otherwise helping them overcome their inherently sinful nature.
Their children are lying. Their children are possessed. Their children have fallen from the path. Their children is risking something far worse than anything on this world. Their children don’t know any better. Their children need tough love to be shaken out of themselves.
I wish I could say I had less personal experience with all the excuses shitty parents use to justify poorly treating queer or “disobedient” kids.
His daughter ran away from a place he thinks is safe in order to engage in what he considers self-destructive behavior.
Of course he’s trying to find her.
He considers the fact that she considers herself gay, and is, to be harmful to her soul.
He probably thinks that if he can “help” her and “fix” her, that she’ll still have a chance to go to heaven.
At least this is based on the average homophobic assholery of a religious flavour.
(Basing these on the fact A: Becky and Joyce grew up in what we know to be a close knit community based around a strict religious and mental mindset. And B: He pulled his daughter out of school instead of disowning her completely on the spot. Finally C: “save her from herself”)
This. Hell is eternal terribleness in their eyes so no amount of Earthly misery, suffering, or self-denial is too much if it means avoiding it and since everyone wants to have their full family with them because part of the allure of being in Heaven (which could be any day now thanks to the Rapture) is being able to laugh at all the sinners in Hell and that gets awkward when there is a loved one down there.
This is also the reason why it becomes necessary to disown and disavow knowledge of the child if they insist on being damned. So that your soul is not tainted by their sin and force you into instant Hell points of view like “maybe the Church is wrong about my queer child being the ultimate face of evil” or “huh, the God I’m worshipping is kind of an abusive dick*”
*Their particular flavor of God being the operative word here. The God that these particular flavors of Christianity love seems to be all about using threats of Hell to bully believers into behaving in a very narrow way. Other Christian ideas of God present someone more genuinely loving and caring.
So here’s a thought. We only have Becky’s side of the story from when she was highly distraught and emotional from a betrayal (her roommate/girlfriend of the time). In her very confused and emotional state she may have misinterpreted events as how she told Joyce what happened. I mean look at the man he appears to be wearing a stained white shirt and pajamas. Clearly he has been looking for Becky for a while now. I’d like to at least ” Hear ” his side of the story before deciding that he is an asshole.
Yes, but the point is that HE doesn’t understand that it’s horrible. So the OP is hoping this is all some big misunderstanding and the Dad’ll understand and everything will be fine.
I really can’t ever see Toedad change. The Browns might have a better chance of growing, but this guy?
I mean, have we gotten any indication that this isn’t “my daughter is a horrible sinning harlot who must be saved through corrective therapy” at any point?
Totally. Sure, he is talking about how he needs to save his daughter from herself and everything we’ve been shown in flashback demonstrates his controlling nature and his urge to get her “fixed”, but maybe all of that was just to hide how much he wants to be her a rainbow unicorn pony before revealing his secret PFLAG shirt.
Okay, yes, I know I’m being sarcastic a lot on these, but it’s a little disturbing how many people want to see the best in someone who has already demonstrated that he’s an abusive asshole (and in the process disbelieve the queer kid most affected by said asshole).
I’m pretty sure Toeface here is one of Faz’s progenitors. His and Blaine’s collective gimcrackery oozed out onto the floor of a 7/11, and from it spawned Faz.
Joyce can’t lie convincingly BUT she is very good at bending reality to match her religious beliefs. Note the way she reconciled her friendship to Becky after Becky came out, quoting the bible in the process.
If asked, Where is Becky?. Joyce may well say, I don’t know. Justifying that statement,by taking it literally, as in “at this very moment in time, I don’t know where Becky is”. That could be the truth: Becky could be in Sal’s room, in the hall, the bathroom: so Joyce really would not know where she was-exactly.
Looking at Dina’s face, two thoughts popped up at the same time. She’s afraid of Ross, and she doesn’t trust him. Her face looks frightened. And hearing that, ‘I’ve got to save her from herself” line: may trigger memories of one asshole parent she’s seen in action. She knows Becky and she knows that even thought Joyce is her friend Joyce doesn’t approve of her actions and would like to ‘save her from herself’. I bet that Dina does not think Becky needs saving from herself.
Dina has proven to be a lot more discerning than given credit for: maybe because she is full of surprises.
I think (and hope) Ross has set off Dina’s fight or flight warning system and she goes to Becky with warnings her father is on campus. If for no other reason that to explore further her experiment in interpersonal relationships.
“If asked, Where is Becky?. Joyce may well say, I don’t know. Justifying that statement,by taking it literally, as in “at this very moment in time, I don’t know where Becky is”. That could be the truth: Becky could be in Sal’s room, in the hall, the bathroom: so Joyce really would not know where she was-exactly.”
Better yet, all joyce needs to do is tell the truth, up until the point Becky kissed her, and ran out crying when joyce did not reciprocate her feelings. she could even say she ran after her, but it took her to long (as she kind of went into shock). If she stops there, he will probably assume that was the last joyce saw of becky.
Here to offer some fatherly help?
Pull your daughter from school?
Tell her that what she is is wrong?
Withdraw funds and resources?
Drag her away from friends and lovers?
Send her away to be abused at a camp?
I’d stay away from Joyce, man, she’s got enough connections at this point to have you violently removed from the building in the manner of her choosing. She’s got options.
I can’t stop laughing right now, no matter how inappropriate it is. It’s that last panel and the realisation that all that poor Dina can think of is the weird shape of Ross’s head!
Now, what game is he playing? Surely he could have asked in Administration for Joyce’s location and even for her to be officially asked if she will meet with him? I’m wondering if he’s burnt some bridges due to the violence of his reaction. It’s possible that the Browns and the administrators at Anderson are concerned that he may be dangerous; that would explain him ‘going under the radar’ like this.
Dina is about to learn that she has not encountered even a fraction of the limits of human irrationality yet!
Hm, it’s telling that the guy is hanging either inside or near a meeting for LGBTQ students… like he’s aware where Becky might attempt to go to try and get help or advice, so he’s hanging around in order to either snatch her when she attempts it or to keep her isolated.
If no one else has called it yet, I’m calling it now: Joyce is gonna get on the board because of Ross. I see a “Fuck you, Mr. MacIntyre” looming in her near future.
Dina, please don’t out Becky or Joyce. I hope you understand the signs. His choice of words, his facial expressions. “She ran away from me” as opposed to “she ran away from home”? “I must save her from herself”? His face indicates anger rather than worry. He is not there for a tearful reunion. He will take her away from you. Fight him, Dina!
I really don’t know how Dina will react to Ross. He seems to have already weirded her out enough that a completely random response is quite possible, one that will send him on a wild goose chase to the great dinosaur bone fields of the Montana Badlands or Utah.
Sitting here, I suspect that Ross is going to get a very strange response from Dina to the trigger phrase ‘save her from herself’. There is a chance that Dina will be overjoyed and launch into an impromptu discourse about the follies of Young Earth Creationism and how glad she is that Becky’s father wishes to remedy this lack in her education.
There can be no good but many funny outcomes to such a scenario but it would fit with this remaining a chapter focussed on the workings of Dina’s inner self. It should create enough time for Joyce to return to the hall with Danny and Ethan and for her to pick up the ‘keep Becky hidden’ ball. Ethan and Danny, at least, would recognise a Blaine Mk.2 on sight; things would escalate from there.
When I was in college we were all listed in a campus directory, and all you had to do was look up our name and you’d get the dorm, room #, and extension. It wasn’t considered private information. These days? Maybe that info is only available to credit card companies.
I’m told that the answer is ‘probably not’. There are Federal regulations in place. He’d have to tell more-or-less the whole story to the administrators and they might not be inclined to co-operate. He could probably tap-dance around the regulations by getting the co-operation of the Brown family but that would take time and I think he’s a bit too impatient for that.
I think Dina understands this situation. She knows that Becky is Joyce’s homeschooling friend, and understands the implications of that. She may perceive the world in a way that would be regarded as atypical, but she is perceptive. She did recognize that there was a problem when Amber’s dad showed up, her parents just overpowered her in their insistence on common courtesy. I expect she knows that leading this man to Becky, or Joyce would be a bad idea.
I don’t know how skilled Dina is at lying convincingly. Of course, there are other ways of fending Toedad off. She has become aware that others see her as strange; this would be a good time to own that and make use of it to diffuse the situation. If Dina were to spout of a series of disjointed non-sequiturs about dinosaurs, he would likely just walk away.
Of course, that wouldn’t solve the larger problem. Toedad appears to have a whole stack of those photos, and he most likely intends to post them all over campus. I somehow doubt Mary would protect Becky if she were to come across one of those photos. Still, Dina could at least buy them time by dialing up the strange factor.
Question is whether Toedad is tresspassing. Generally non-students are only allowed into a small subset of the campus — the administrative offices and perhaps the student bookstore. On the other hand, Becky has no more right to be there than Toedad, so if someone calls the campus police to arrest Toedad for trespassing and Toedad claims that there’s a non-student trespasser on campus and the campus police launch a search… oh boy.
dina is very priority-focused. that is why she followed raidah upstairs, why she returned immediately to sarah, and why she makes careful note of the most important information during her conversation with the in-law there.
or maybe she is repulsed by the thought of what her offspring might look like
After Blaine, I’m really hoping things are different here. I’m hoping there was a misunderstanding, and that Beckydad is gruff, charmless, but also understanding and kind.
I can really only see this going two ways: in the way that we’re being lead to expect both by the nature of Willis’ narratives AND Becky’s version of events, he’s bigoted, confused, and angry. He pulled Becky out with the intention of taking her to some sort of purity event/pray away the gay thing. When confronted, he’ll realize he can’t do any of that, but he’ll swear Becky off and leave her a Homeless Gay Youth.
In the happy shiny rainbow version I’ve constructed in my head, his initial reaction was anger and fear and confusion, but he got over that or will be persuaded to get over it, and out of his love for Becky he will enroll her at Indiana U. I’m hoping his dumpy, ugly design is another attempt to mislead us into thinking he’s a monster when he’s actually a caring dad.
To those of you reading this and confused by my optimism, well, David’s stories are great. But they get better when you spin a web of hope and optimism that can then send you tumbling to earth like Icarus.
I’m inclined to follow your way of thinking. We’ve seen Ross only once before, and the only other information we’ve got is Becky’s side of the story …. as told by a very troubled, distraught little-girl-lost.
Even though he is still using the line about “saving her from herself” and “running away from me” (which, according to Becky’s story in this strip, is 100% the truth), I’m also picking up on some parental concern where he says that he is “extremely worried for her”. Not “about her”, but “FOR her”.
And then there’s his request that Dina help him if she can. He says, “Please … please help me if you can”.
There’s more to Ross here than initially meets the eye.
And then there’s his request that Dina help him if she can. He says, “Please … please help me if you can.” Now where have we heard a line like that before?
There’s more to Ross here than initially meets the eye.
I can promise you there is at most a 0.1% chance that Willis has been screwing with us and Ross will totally be legit.
He was a total asshole in Joyce & Walky who lorded his religion over his neighbours and begrudgingly tolerated Joyce’s friendship with his daughter. In Dumbing of Age he pulled his daughter out of college because she kissed a girl, and, in very plain, unambiguous text, it was made clear that was going to “fix” Becky.
I have no doubt that he probably thinks he’s a loving, concerned parent out to save his daughter from the evil of the life of sin she’s debasing herself in, but Ross is about as close to being human shit given life as would be possible in this series.
My optimism is that since becky’s mother is gone, there was some stipulation/arrangements she made in her will/life insurance/etc that forces ToeDad to keep Becky in school somehow.
I had great fun with the #RoseColoredGlasses running gag a while back (actually, by the time we first got the story about Toedad McAbusivePants), but I don’t believe it in this situation for several reasons (most of which have already been better described by other people today and yesterday).
From a purely narrative point of view, a gruff but caring father who actually does his job as a father when the chips are down would cheapen the drama of Becky’s situation and make TONS of dramatic scenes – including Joyce’s and Becky’s heartwarming interaction after the kiss and Joyce’s breakdown during gender studies (and the “sweet lesbian facts” presented there) in essence red herrings.
Now, that WOULD be a well constructed twist, but it would also reduce a lot of our investment in both Becky and Joyce. “Joyce defied God so her best friend… won’t have to learn her father’s true colors a few days earlier”.
But I completely agree with your last sentence. Let’s read each strip with the sincere conviction that everyone will be happy, and let’s our hearts break again and again.
Isn’t Joyce right in the area? she was just two panels over yesterday. I assume he knows what Joyce looks like. I hope Joyce spots him before he sees her, as I doubt Joyce can lie convincingly.
Alternately, he spots her and goes over but is interrupted by one of the meetup leaders and learns its purpose. And while his attempt to drag Becky back might be unsuccessful, he could pass something like that onto Joyce’s parents, who would almost definitely react poorly. (Next storyline we do see Joyce looking at her phone in horror)
I can’t stop picturing his mouth being under the first chinfold, because panel 5’s second word balloon is pointing really there. Is that where is mouth is? Is there another person living in there?
Me if I ever see Tony Hawk: Hey you’re Tony Hawk the famous skateboarder. That’s right I recognise you. Won’t be able to get any content out of this will you, you piece of shit
How to read all 28 issues of my Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane run on Marvel Unlimited:
1: The first four issues were published as the miniseries "Mary Jane."
www.marvel.com/comics/serie...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad
If you preorder make sure to hit the Exclusive versions since they include a commemorative plaque and cost the same.
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 ⋅ 3d
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 ⋅ 3d
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?"
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 3d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 12d
Loading ...
AND FANON BECOMES CANON
or, some coincidence of not a very large leap of the imagination
haha I read the tags too fast as “Diana Ross”
This situation is Supreme-ly distressing.
It’s so close!
This has been recognized by the Willis Scientific Committee. Doasaurus hallucephalus is now under review as a valid synonym for Doasaurus lesbiensis.
Not Doasaurus digitopater?
Whilst that is a valid suggestion, the species name digitopater does not specifically refer to a phalanx of the feet, and could also mean “finger-father.” The prefix hallu-, on the other hand, is a reference to “hallux”, the big toe.
Dina is us. Dina is all of us.
Dina created The Algorithm.
I’m not seeing the resemblance to a toe.
At first I didn’t see it either, but now I just got it. His chin is the toenail, the tip of the toe is pointing downwards. (that was what confused me before, because I tried to find an upwards pointing toe)
Lol, it’s right there in place of his head.
officially a toe!
Does his wife put her foot in her mouth?
(he is a foot, get it, okay nvm it wasn’t funny)
It might not be that funny, but I still laughed. xD
I hope not, Willis said on tumblr that Becky’s mom is dead.
“My wife is dead” …oh…
“…and I’m out for revenge, I’M GIANT TOE MAN!”
It’s toefficial!
He is a foot.
Dina got herself intoe a jam!
Whoop, the game’s afoot.
She’d better toe around the situation.
These puns just aren’t toeing the line as they usually do
Nailed it.
Don’t you mean “toenailed it”? ;P
Well, sure, if you want to make poor Blackbird feel like a heel.
You guys are the life and sole of this place! Never change!
Well, in these situations someone has to foot the bill… But it’s toetally not blackbird’s fault for not seeing the obvious pun, I think the number of people who might come up with it are in the single digits…
The girls may end up in a jam depending on how the scenario runs.
Don’t be so callus! That pun was a shoe-in!
A man of his standing could toetally ruin any future boot knocking between becky amd dina.
Standing? He’s a total heel! I hope Dina will sock him one.
I guess they can’t just tell him to shoe, or throw 1 at him for that matter, he might realize something is afoot…
Just be glad they’re not at the beach, or he might try to ruin things by throwing a bunch of sand-all up in their faces…
(The worst one yet! :P)
Foot puns? Sock it to me!
Becky may be on her last leg here.
(The puns are slowly migrating up the body, I see…)
If it goes significantly higher than the knees I’m out.
Butt, why?
’cause I can’t Stomach them !
I guess they’ve got a solid footing & are stretching out when they can…
He heard someone say, the other day.
So his face tastes like a fallen arch? (I may not have gotten that reference right.)
Crud; he was bad enough before, but now we find out he’s a minion of the Shredder?
Not good.
Heel Ross, HEEL!
Toe, actually.
nice.
Also, really loving his distinctive voice—I can almost hear it in my head. the voice of every shitty parent figure :/
I keep hearing a demonic rumble.
I think I’ve been looking up too much Five Nights at Freddy’s in the last little while.
I get a self righteous shitty parent, compared to an aggressive authoritative shitty parent I got from a certain other (thankfully hospitalised) parent. (Will history repeat though?)
Scouring the Archives to see if Dina actually knows that Becky was thrown out of school and that her Dad wants to “fix” her…
Nope. Well, fuck… Our only hope here is that Dina has enough bad memories from the Blaine incident to be wary of overbearing parental figures claiming they only want to do what’s “best” for their daughters.
No, becky’s been hiding it from everyone because she’s breaking a bunch of rules by staying with joyce so far. (this was kinda hinted at in the last strip, where dina talked about becky having to “go back” (i.e. to college) soon)
Please, please, Dina, let “save her from herself” be a tip-off not to give anything away yet.
I think her past experience with Amber’s father, still fresh in her mind, will keep Dina from an immediate response. I don’t know that she’ll adequately warn Becky but I don’t think she’ll (intentionally) give her up.
But it may take a moment for the new information to sink in.
That, and remembering Blaine. And his admission that she ran away.
Anyone know if Becky is eighteen, and thus legally an adult? That may soon become relevant.
I believe in a past strip, she did say that she is eighteen and so can do what she wants.
Not always. In Alabama the age of majority is nineteen, in Mississippi it’s twenty-one.
This is Indiana, though, and Wikipedia tells me it’s not among the exceptions.
I was thinking the SAME thing! If you’re over eighteen and “of a sound mind”, and you do not want to be “found” by family or friends, even if you are reported missing through proper legal channels, you are protected. The police cannot/will not give up your info under privacy laws.
Unless Dina or someone else decides to “help”, a la http://www.metro.se/nyheter/secret-identity-blown-after-plea-on-facebook/EVHmjv!OBNTJn7I6LZ42/.
This is Indiana we’re talking about here…wouldn’t be surprised if the judge for whatever county that Becky’s from goes to the same church as her parents.
I think Dina is likely aware of parents possibly being unhealthy influences. She knows Amber’s history, she knows Creationism doesn’t come from nowhere, and they did all just watch “Frozen,” a movie where getting over well-intentioned but ultimately negative influence from parents is literally the plot. As she screamed at the party, she’s not a child, she just has trouble with information overload and scaling her own reactions.
When wondering this question remember that only Joyce’s most trusted friends have been informed of Becky’s status. And Walky.
Actually, I think Dina’s going to figure this one out.
She’s terrible at reading faces and tone, but pretty good at putting together explicitly-stated facts and more empirical observations, like Ethan being gay (based off of comments from Amber) and Amber’s alternate identity (based on appearance and evidence in the… nope, not finishing that sentence).
So, what does she have to work with here?
Fact: Toe-dad’s daughter ran away.
Fact: Said daughter is Joyce’s friend.
Fact: Only known friend of Joyce that hasn’t been here since start of semester? Becky.
Conclusion: Becky is quite likely toe-dad’s runaway daughter.
She figured out “Ethan is gay” on less than this. She’s a smart girl, she can make this out if the errant thought of “toe-head” isn’t firmly plantared in her path.
… and, on a second read-through, he said Becky’s name.
Come on, Dina, you can do this!
Not to mention he’s putting up posters of Becky.
surely she’s a clever girl
And there we go, I knew someone was going to say it.
It’s not gonna matter because the next student Toe-dad is going to run into will be Mary. Calling it now.
Not a heel?
Well he’s not a face…that’s for sure. I would even go as far as to say he’s a low carder. Let us hope that Dina does not botch the cover up and bring unnecessary heat upon Joyce and her compatriots.
This will end well.
Also, no hope of a reformed Ross. Anyone think that Joyce might rat Becky out or no?
Absolutely not: Joyce defied (well, bent) her religion for her friendship with Becky. There’s no chance she’s turning back now.
(whether things are going to get a little tense now that becky needs to find a different housing situation is another matter….)
Absolutely not. Joyce will not give up on Becky. My main concern is that she just won’t be able to stop Ross.
Ruth and Amazi-Girl team up to take out Ross.
I will bet on it.
Ruth’s not going to defend a squatter in her hall. She might remove Toe-Dad’s femurs on general principle, but it will be on general principle, and not in defense of Becky. She also would not team-up with Amazi-Girl, because Ruthless is just badass solo and that’s the way she likes it. Conservation of Ruthjitsu and all that.
Which is good, because Amazi-girl has rules, and Ross has yet to cross any of her lines, so she’s not gonna team-up either.
Also, I think Ruth might beat up Amazi-girl on the principle of “only I get to dominate this wing with violence”.
I don’t know, Ruth might defend Becky after all. From what I remember, she’s got enough info to possibly work out Becky’s got problems (pretty sure, can’t find examples tho). Add that to her own parental authority figure problems, I can see her potentially sympathizing with Becky. Then probably finding some way to blame Billie later, they do their argue/flirt thing…
OK, here’s to not messing up the HTML…
Nearly there…
Unless, perhaps, Billie asks her to…
Yey me!
The problem is going to be that there are two responses Joyce could give:
1) “Leave her alone!” gives away that Joyce knows what’s up with Becky and is not going to result in Ross going away.
2) “I don’t know where she is” is a lie that Joyce cannot possibly say convincingly. She is not good at lying.
Well technically since Becky isn’t with Joyce–or wasn’t last we knew–she could be anywhere, so even if Joyce left Becky to chill in her or Sal’s room, Joyce doesn’t know for sure where she is, only where she was. Not that Joyce is an expert on the nuances of misdirection like that or anything.
Joyce would never give her up intentionally, but her skills at deceit are sufficiently nonexistent that I really hope Dina can get up there to warn Becky before it comes to that.
There’s a chance, albeit small, that Ross might in fact change his ways. But who knows.
“I must save her from herself” doesn’t seem to wanna translate that way, sorry…
Let’s be honest, how many of us actually believe that? Not that many.
No way will Joyce betray Becky.
Dina will come to her, discreetly, and tell her Becky’s dad is there.
Then she will help hide the body.
I doubt even the three of them could carry THAT.
Well there is already one parent recovering from a beatdown at a hospital, just leave the body where it falls. Willis has already said nobody dies in the Dumbiverse, so no attempted murder charges etc.
Joyce isn’t a particularly good liar but I can see her refusing to answer questions and Ross pulling the “I will tell your parents about your complicity in my daughter’s sin” card on her.
You guys nailed it!
Toe-nailed it in fact.
That was the joke, yes.
I hope you weren’t trying to get a leg up on me there.
There’s something afoot here. I suspect he was.
Well, I won’t stand for it.
Have to put my foot down on this one. I don’t want to get into a hoof over this, but I can’t just walk this off. I’ll try to paws and count to ten, but there might not be enough digits to calm me down.
Don’t let this fly out of hand.
Yeah, come on guys, toe the line already…
Saving his daughter from herself. A real hero this Ross guy.
Does he usually talk like that, or is that just how Dina is filtering it? It’s very stilted.
Or rehearsed, perhaps.
I imagine someone as controlling as Ross seems to be takes care to make sure he is understood the way he wants to be.
Actually, thinking on it, Dina speaks almost the same way for similar reasons. Maybe the whole reason this storyline is from Dina’s perspective is to set up Ross and Dina as foils for each other?
are you suggesting some kind of ill-fated ‘mrs. robinson’ vibe? because the fandom will not stand for that
I imagine he’s got kind of a Ron Swanson thing going on
His affect is so flat that he seems like a character from a computer game.
This man has only one expression and that expression is disgusting to behold.
I’m just realizing this (I might be wrong though) I think the only time anybody in this comic opens their mouths when their talking is when their yelling.
Nope.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/home/
Teeth still being gritted they talk still counts to me as not being opened.
Try this then.
Ya that’s more convincing.
It can’t be teeth, since there are no lines. Unless they have a uni-tooth that covers their whole mouth opening, but my other guess would be that they simply are severely anemic and thus have white mucosal membranes. White mouth interiors.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AscendedMeme
Just gonna leave that there
Nice link, I had a quick look.
“Had a quick look?” You just DON’T have a quick look at TT, it’s not possible unless you have already read everything else that may be there already >_<
After enough binges, some tropers develop a resistance. Mongoose’s is particularly strong.
Considering PM past records i have no qualms at believing such a thing for a moment as a matter of factly xD
I used to visit tv tropes almost daily. Then I start to run low on new pages to find.
Actually come to think of it Tv tropes was how I discovered this comic.
From this page.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoshDangItToHeck
First I got through all of the tropes…then I started editing. Currently creating the Its Walky! character page.
Tvtropes is why I started reading homestuck
Insert gateway drug joke here.
It’s easy, honestly. After a certain point you get jaded. And I never had it for TVTropes in a way I didn’t have it for wikipedia. It’s just that only one of them, I still have something.
Yes it is perfectly possible to just have a quick look at TVTropes since I have done archive binges in the past thus allowing me to resist archive binging especially when I have other stuff to do that day.
Yeah, after a couple years you kinda get inured.
Toe hear or Toe face witch name sounds better?
“Toedad” describes the whole package.
Toe FAAAAAACCCEEE!
-runs away
Forget the head; his chin looks like a used staple!
And his mouth doesn’t move when he talks! Gaaah, what is he?!
His mouth moves; it’s just hidden underneath that shaggy ‘stache.
Aww crapbaskets
Oh, you say that too.
NO TELL! NO TELL!
Dina, no tell if you ever wanna take becky to the no tell motel.
Dina’s smart. After the thing with Amber’s dad I doubt she’ll fall for this. Now, she might be angry at Joyce for not giving her all the information in the first place, but that’s not relevant THIS MINUTE.
I hope she exhibits some uncommon sense here and realizes what’s afoot. Pun intended.
Nothing’s afoot, but something is atoe.
Dangit, I just realized that Toe Dad actually tries to be a good dad, but his ideas and morals are such that when he tries to be good, he’s bad. JUST LIKE BIZZARRO. Now I’m crying a little.
No one wants to be a horrible person. The vast majority of real-world villains will tell you that he’s a good person who’s just taking some reasonable steps to (accomplish goal). If someone dies/suffers/is hospitalized, well, that’s not his fault, he was just looking out for her immortal soul/the shareholders/his retirement account. Everyone’s the hero of his own story.
Beat me to it.
All that said, though, there are some who choose to be assholes, but they seldom commit enough to accomplish outright evil. Still, there are a rare few that do; it is unfortunately true that “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Goddammit Ross.
Case in point Mary.
I can actually see Mary pulling a heel face turn.
Nah, Joyce already has that plotline. Mary learning to not be horrible just because God says it’s okay would just retread old ground.
That last phrase, ‘Everyone’s the hero of his own story’ is, basically, the sole root cause of almost everything bad that’s ever happened from jaywalkers getting run over right up to World Wars and genocides.
On the one hand, DoA has already done an “evil dad shows up and tries to assert his dominance” storyline, and that would normally seem like the kind of theme you shouldn’t repeat. On the other hand, if Dina didn’t have experience with Blaine, she wouldn’t have a chance of recognizing Ross for what he is.
And, on first impressions at least, Ross seems more dangerous than Blaine ever was. I mean, just LOOK at that guy, he’s built like a BATTLESHIP. He might even be a match for Amazi-Girl if it came to that.
Blaine was also prone to deluding himself and never let go of old tactics even when they stopped working. It’s early yet, but Ross’s delusions seem to be less likely to cloud his practical insight. Apart from the fundamentalism, there’s seems to be a lack of emotional control, but his plan of putting up “Missing” posters is a lot more solid that Blaine’s “waltz back in to my young adult daughter’s life and try pushing her around like she’s still seven.”
Also, Ross is much, much more likely to have institutional power over Becky. She might be a legal adult, but if he finds out she’s living with Joyce, he could get them both in a lot of trouble if Becky doesn’t come back with him. (How much trouble is debatable—they probably haven’t broken any rules yet, considering it’s only been a few days and they’re probably allowed to have visitors for at least short periods of time. Its more like the threat of imminent trouble that would be the problem.)
On the other hand Blane actually did a decent job of manipulating Danny. He naturally has to know how to lie like this because his rather nasty personality is something he needs to hide. In Shortpacked there was even a comic that showed there were a lot of people who saw him as a good person.
Meanwhile Toedad probably never had to hide his toxic views toward homosexuality because his community shares his beliefs. His flat facial expression and overly rehearsed speech pattern also suggests that he may be less socially adept.
Bright side: As of last night, Becky’s living with Sal, not Joyce.
But since she’s on the computer, which I assume Joyce’s, then she mosst probably is in Joyce’s room right now.
Not sure about IU dorms, but in many dorms, they’ve technically broken the rules, already. Fortunately, most dorms are not run by dicks (yay Asma?), and they will politely ignore a friend who spends the weekend. Unless pressured, by parents, for example, into disciplinary action.
This week: Amazigirl vs. The Big Toe in “Who took the FUN out of FUNDAMENTALIST???”
Glad I’m not the only one aboard this hype train.
Amazi-Girl/Ruthless tag team. But they’re really just the distraction while the Clever Girl he didn’t see comes in from behind and hamstrings him with her hooked claw.
Why tag team when you can flank?
Well, there are several reasons, but I doubt a dude shaped like that can take full enough advantage of them to matter.
“Why tag team when you can flank?”
Exactly! That way you get a +2 to hit!
And your rogue gets surprise attack damage. Is Dina a rogue?
I get more of a Bard feel, actually, so long as she can somehow substitute Knowledge (Dinosauria) for Perform.
Won’t low Cha impede her spellcasting ability?
He won’t be able to stop a tag team of Amazi-girl and Ruth. (We really need some background on Ruth’s apparent martial arts training at some point.)
Simple, she found herself in a lot of fights after Maple Leafs losses.
True, but if he puts Amazi-girl out of commission in their first encounter… Well, in that case Ruth can just call in Campus Security to back her up. Less satisfying than a beat down, but you work with the tools you have.
Before security shows up, Asma shows up (as we’ve seen). That would probably leave Ross cataleptic, so everyone wins.
Currently what makes him dangerous has nothing to do with his size, but the fact that he hasn’t technically broken any laws and Joyce’s parents are (presumably) on his side. With Blaine he could be defeated with a call to the police, you can’t do that with toe dad.
I don’t know, Becky’s dad always looked in the ball park of that one obnoxious Toy guy in Shortpacked who always complained about everything. Not as some intimidating figure that I’m supposed to shudder at the sight of. Might be the fact that his mouth is his chin.
oh man i have the best voice for this guy you guys are missing out
Ross O’Donovan?
yeah. he talks like (me doing a bad impression of) a mix between nick offerman and john goodman
I was thinking his voice would be a mixture between Nick Offerman and J.K. Simmons myself.
Don’t move… He can’t see you if you don’t move.
Distract him with dinosaur facts! He’ll want nothing to do with you!
If there’s any consolation, it seems that Becky’s haircut might buy her some time before any unknowing passersby see the “missing” photos and decide to help out.
Yeah, I thought at the time that Becky’s aesthetic transformations might be super useful in providing some obfuscation. Still won’t help that he’s using her name to everyone he meets, but eh, points for trying.
Given that most people don’t recognize Amber after she ties a strip of rag across her face, I think a haircut is sufficient disguise.
Dina: I must tell him. It is the correct thing to do. I must tell him his head looks like a giant toe.
Hehehehehe.
Really looking forward to the arc where Blaine and Ross meet and become best buds.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO Ross will be redeemed! Becky will deliver a stirring speech on being true to one’s self and he will shed a single manly tear and they’ll hug it out. #Rossdemption2k15
Willis wants our tears not our projectile vomit.
I like to think that even Ross would realise what a jerk Blaine is.
Now that’s a meeting I would like to see. Ross may be horrible, but at least he means well. I suspect he could break Blaine in half while the latter was busy monologuing.
Okay okay this is the last one
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvenEvilHasStandards
look its not my fault, you guys just give too many opportunities.
It would be like when Dr. Wily and Dr. Eggman worked together! They were the best Mad Science Buddies! But then Eggman tried to kill Dr. Light and Wily thought that was going too far…
And then make out.
I’d add it to my list of horriblicious ships:
Blaine/Ross
Ross/belt sander
Blaine/acetylene torch
No way, I’m shipping Ross with the acetylene torch. He would look glorious with his hair on fire.
He’s a loathsome creature. I hope Dina recognizes that after her experience with Blaine.
It would be kinda funny if after multiple experiences trusting her friends evil fathers, Dina stops being trusting and then a dad who legitamly wants to help his daughter comes along…Hijinks ensue
No, that’s a different strip.
Completely different, it’s called Sharksplosion now.
A good father would know where his daughter is and be able to just contact her himself.
Next arc, dorothy’s dad comes back to campus to meet up with her and Dina leads him on a merry chase around campus to keep them apart.
Dina is not immune to such misunderstandings, after all.
Well, that gives me an answer as to what he was holding in his right hand in yesterday’s strip.
Toed Ad.
What you did there, I see it
Scientists have now confirmed that Doasaurus saruyamensis interacted with the adult male members of Doasaurus lesbiensis. Paleobiologists have onsidered renaming the species D. hallucephalus, due to the unique shape of the head f the adult males. However, the females of this species do not show this morphological anomaly, so this name is still under debate.
well, this is going to end well, and am I the only guy who pictures this guy with a very stereotypical redneck accent?
This guy honestly worries me because I am sure he means everyword of worry and wanting to save Becky from herself… and that is exactly the problem…
It makes one feel sorry for him, without making him any less the enemy.
And it happens all the time.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WellIntentionedExtremist
This is the last one I swear!
The next one will be
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ILied
does anyone else see a mustachioed matt dillon
Why does he have to ask bypassers whether they have seen Joyce? If he were on the level he could just phone her or inquire or leave a message at the administration desk.
Bloke is fishy.
Becky’s been missing more than 24 hours: shouldn’t he have informed the police?
I mean she’s an adult so it’s not like she’s not allowed to just leave.
I thought the police were interested in finding missing adults, not just recapturing runaway children.
Yeah but once found they can’t be forced to go anywhere against there will.
“I pulled my 18 year old daughter out of school for succumbing to the evil of homosexuality, but when I tried to force her to go to de-gaying camp she ran off.”
Somehow I doubt the cops would help him find her. And unlike Blaine he thinks he’s fully justified so he won’t lie about it.
“She was having a rough time at school, and I think she fell in with a bad crowd; and now she’s disappeared and I can’t find her anywhere. She’s not even answering her phone.”
What Timemonkey is saying here is that athough he COULD lie, he’s not going to think to. I don’t know whether that’s true, but the logic seems solid. I mean, the fact that he’s here means the police probably haven’t been helpful.
Exactly, he could vague it up and make himself sound better, but that would mean admitting he was doing something that others would find terrible.
As far as he knows, wasn’t she forbidden from having a cell phone ?
(actually, I do not think he owns one either)
He can if he likes, but he has no legal power over her anymore. If he tries to take her anywhere against her will, it’ll be considered kidnapping.
(This doesn’t matter to him, of course, but it does matter to the cops.)
I think it has to be 48 hours but that still applies here
Also notice his choice of term ‘Ran away from me’, not ‘ran away from home’ or ‘is missing’, no… ran away from “me”…that’s a bit too posessive.
I was just going to comment on that phrasing too. Nice little touch.
Me also, but I wanted to scroll down and make sure other people hadn’t already.
She ran away from the car when he tried to take her from school. She is literally running away from him.
It’s like Dina is transfixed by that toe-like head. Frankly I wonder if she even heard anything he said after the initial introduction. I know I’d no longer be listening.
“from herself”. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
It’s occasionally a valid argument.
For example, Dana.
See also, Billie and Ruth.
Oh no
QUICK DINA, SAY YOU DON’T KNOW ANYONE BY ANY NAME AND FLEE.
DISTRACT HIM WITH DINOSAUR FACTZ
START TALKING ABOUT EVOLUTION! HE’LL EITHER NOT GET IT, OR GET ANGRY AND LEAVE!
Seems likely, Ross doesn’t like associating with anyone whose views are even slightly different from his own.
Wiat fo reals? I was right? I don’t know anything about people in the Walkyverse beyond what i’ve seen so far, so that was kind of a shot in the dark.
Funny, that was exactly what I was thinking. Dina, on the evolution of the toe-shaped head and why it may or may not contribute to females of the species being lesbians. Because evolution says, no one should breed more heads like that
Dina used FLIRT!
It’s super effective!
Conservative man runs away.
The smart thing would be to stick to the truth: “Well, if I see that girl, I’ll tell her that you’re looking for her.”
Or just that exact thought out loud and he’ll leave the campus offended.
Dummy up, Diana. The dude’s bad news. Oh yeah, “Save her from herself’ sounds like “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” If Dr Scholl has his way, poor Beck will be in a Fundie Re-Education Camp For Gay Children faster than you can say “Homophobia.” Run, Becky run!!
Agh! I meant Dina! Damn you autocorrect!
Sometimes you have to burn a town to save it from itself. You ever try stopping a shadow war between ghouls and vampires in a populated city? Fire. Fire solves everything.
Fire solves everything except fires.
Oh, wait!
My first thought was “Shit, Dina’s naivete could seriously screw this situation over” then it occurred to me that her encounter with Blaine might actually help her respond to this appropriately.
Although when he runs across Mary…
Ross and Mary in the same room?
…why don’t I own any incendiary weapons?! I need to cleanse myself of the mere THOUGHT of that encounter… So much self-rightousness in one physical location just isn’t right.
Mary and Ross, the 2 Horsemen (or Horsewoman and HorseGiantToeHead in this case) of the Dumbpocalypse.
Ironically, they hate each other even more, because of differences in their tribulation checklists.
Aaaaand here comes the next slipshine.
(not)
Oh that just put an image in my mind I did not need to see….
You are very welcome.
hehehehehe
Forget the flamethrowers; this calls for white phosphorus.
While I know Dina is a quick enough learner to know not to trust scary looking fathers looking for their daughters, i’m worried that she son’t have the best response for him.
Rather than, “I do not know of this Becky.” I worry she will say, “I will not let you see her.” You know, trying to hide her but maybe being a tad too direct about it. But luckily there are more positive scenarios that may occur.
This is the time for Dina to give the impression that she is either twelve, or autistic, or both. She had Raidah’s posse and many of us fooled, and Becky’s Dad doesn’t strike me as especially perceptive.
Pretend to be stunned or distracted, Dina. Give a non-responsive answer. About dinosaurs, for preference.
Well she is genuinely distracted right now.
“She is not here any more, she came and left. I do not know where she went.” Only the last part would be a fib.
I have this terrible feeling that this is ultimately going to end with Becky’s suicide. I sure hope I am wrong.
You are thankfully wrong. Willis has said that nobody will die in this comic, largely because the pace of it would mean that the characters would be in mourning *forever*, which would be unbearable to write or read.
Oh, that’s good at least. I still don’t have a good feeling about Becky’s future, though. But at least we’ll be spared deaths. Thanks, all who replied.
Nobody dies. Willis has promised this.
Yeah, but there’s that ambulance preview panel. I don’t think he ruled out attempted suicide… Why did I just put that thought into my own head?
Wait what? When did he post that?
My psychic powers tell me the ambulance is for Toe Head. Spoiler alert: he survives.
Alternatively Becky decides to become a paramedic.
Given the preview panels we’ve seen for the next storyline… I sincerely doubt it’s anything so positive.
Last day or so, it’s a November strip.
“So, hypothetically, if you were to find that she was demonstrating to me the proper usage of ‘bases’, what consequences would this entail?”
Becky’s haircut’s looking like it might have been a good idea. I mean, if no one recognizes Amber when she puts a band of cloth around her eyes, Becky’s silly haircut will ensure that shitbrick can look right at her without recognizing her. “That looks much like my daughter. However my daughter has a proper Christian haircut. That is not her.”
Hmm… coupled with her changes in attire and attitude/body language it just might work, so long as she doesn’t notice him and give herself away by her reaction.
I once walked right by my Mum in the mall by taking off my glasses and borrowing a friend’s coat. Mind you, Mum wasn’t actively looking for me and didn’t have any reason to suspect I was there instead of school, but still. I also used similar techniques in school to avoid people who were actively looking for me. Once even had one of them and their friend sit down next to me at the top of the stairs, chat to each other a bit, and then move on, without ever recognizing me, because I’d taken off my glasses and my trade-mark, ever-present hat when I saw them coming.
Becky’s changes in hair, attire, and body language may just be enough to not trigger his recognition, so long as they don’t come directly face-to-face, and he doesn’t twig on the hair. I know as a parent myself I look for hair colour first and then check if the clothes match (when I’m at any distance) because my kids are both very blonde and in the town we first lived in they really stuck out. I’m on the East Coast now and there’s a lot more blonde kids so the technique doesn’t work anymore, but it’s still habit. So it may come down to whether or not red hair is something he strongly associates with Becky in particular.
Heh. If we’re lucky he’ll see Ruth from behind, think it’s his daughter, and grab her. And then it’ll be popcorn for everyone.
FEMUUUUUUUURS
But, Toedad doesn’t seem to have any – his legs start at the knees. He is immune to Ruth’s worst attack.
… I have seen you share this story somewhere else recently, have I not?
I was wondering the exact same thing.
So I just remembered something.
I remember a lot of people suggesting that Becky move in with Marcie on account of her living off campus, but then the problem was that Becky didn’t really know Marcie, nor did she know Sal well enough to meet her.
Consider where she lives now.
Huh. Good catch; I feel like I should have noticed that by now. This is an excellent tiding.
But she now lives with Sal because Billie gave her her room. That’s very different.
Yes but it gives her the opportunity to get to know Sal.
Ask Billie how well sharing a room let them get to know each other. Sal’s not social with anyone but Marcie.
Fair enough.
Although she seems to be pretty chummy with Carla too as of late.
Hey, there was jacket sharing. There is always hope.
*reads second to last panel* *wants to step out of the next shadowy spot the toe-head walks by, kidnap him and give him the “1984 treatment”. you know, the bit with the rats.
Gravatar checks out.
And with that, I know wanna know what the 1984 treatment is. Though thanks to that rats comment, I imagine its a bit like the swarm of rats power from Dishonored.
Hey you’re a detective again! Congrats and don’t look in my freezer!
It was mostly accidental (when did my ex part get removed?), but now I realize I can’t give up. There are too many crimes in this world, too many soft serve incidents left unsolged. And someone has to be the guy who cleans up those messes.
Now about this freezer…
-waves hand like a jedi- There is no freezer.
There… is no freezer.
You’ll never stop me detective! Mwahaha
I’LL GET YOU YET SOMEONE! …. Wow, without conotation, that would bring my credentials into check
But mark my words, you shant slip through my fingers!
Trust me, you really really don’t want to know the answer to that question.
you stick a cage on someones head with about 4″ clearance and then fill that clearance partially w/rats. to perform it Properly though, the tourturee’s Worst Fear must be rats.
Wow… that sounds a lot worse than the swarm of rats deal.
it’s even worse in context. (brainwashing’s involved)
Wow…1984 was a bad year for torture.
the book was first published in 1948 as Dystopian future speculative fiction. I highly recommend it for anyone who pays attention to the news.
Right, just like the last 7 times it was confidently declared as the next step.
I’ve got ‘imminent dystopia’ just above ‘imminent apocalypse’ on my list of accurate predictions.
What do you mean, ‘imminent’? Many would say we’re living in a post-9/11 dystopia, right now. Civil rights vanishing, eternal war, fictitious national enemies, torture and brainwashing…
Civil rights have, overall, been eroding for more than 40 years (at least, vis a vis the state, the citizen, and the state’s right to impose on the citizen). The US has been manufacturing wars for itself since the 50s. Usually, people mean something worse than was had before they were born.
but really, i think where we are headed is more likely “High Chancellor Sutler decrees that any mention of the Terrorist known as “V” in a positive light shall be taken as an Act Of Treason and treated as such. now please sit back and enjoy this rousing rendition of God Save The Queen As performed by the National Patriotic Music Band.” But you know, American.
Canada’s Prime Minister is trying to get a piece of legislation passed that would potentially make it a crime to portray terrorists in a positive light, which is deeply concerning to me and my “V for Vendetta” fanfics.
Can’t wait for the election in October…
So, they’ll be banning the (original) Star Wars trilogy, then?
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
Ah, but the state knows what is good for you, and who the enemies are.
We are at war with Eurasia. We always have been.
what’s Really freaky about that book these days is just How Little it would take for it to become reality. heck that realization is why for the past 5 or so years my stance on paranoia is “Better to be paranoid and be proven wrong, than not be, and find out you should have been.”
Wiki “room 101”.
boomwolf said: “And with that, I know wanna know what the ‘1984’ treatment is.”
You should have no trouble finding a copy of the book in any library. I’ll just say that if someone knows that which you fear the most, you are totally and royally screwed.
If you see his chin as a giant smiley face you can never go back
His speech patterns are so fucking weird.
I never understood the whole “must save them from themselves”. I’ve never known anyone in history that had to be “saved” from themselves. They’ve had to be saved from depression (which itself can cause self-destructive tendencies), or addiction… but I always thought that was a much different thing.
Is it because it’s a catchy saying?
It’s because it covers sins. “Saving them from themselves” covers up the fact that they are about to torture and abuse their children. Some child abusers will claim “they were a naughty child I had to beat the evil out of them I had to save them from themselves”
They genuinely believe that in some way they are saving the person and can’t make the connection that they are really the one destroying said person.
I think that’s a great explanation… humans always seem to find excuses to be jerks.
Now hold on there have been people who needed to be saved from themselves before. People who participate in self harm for instance or in abusive drug use are often forced into therapy or rehab. Now of course in this instance its completely wrong and he is abusive but there are times when saving someone from their self is a necessary thing.
I think that’s covered by “saved from addiction” and “saved from depression”.
There’s also the fact that forcibly “saving” someone from self-harming or addiction spirals can actually make things worse. Most forms of self-harm and drug abuse come from a place of being an unsafe coping strategy for something that is viewed as worse and so taking away that coping strategy because it is bad without replacing it with anything can be viewed as leaving them with no tools to survive with and prompt more final or painful actions.
As such, there’s a theory in a lot of dependency treatment programs of harm reduction or seeking safety in which you try and encourage slightly safer forms of self-care before seeking to discourage the unhealthy and unsafe form of coping.
I see that actually possibly being the case for Dana what with Raidah saying she is miserable at home and Dana being just as good as Becky in playing the “everything is fine at home, no really” role with friends.
Plus, stating you are saving someone from themselves, even when earnest and well-intentioned is rarely going to be accepted very well because the very construction of it makes the person being helped feel that they are so powerless that random people think they know better on how to handle their shit and so become more likely to resist healthy healing just out of spite.
It’s why an intervention is one thing and physically dragging someone to a treatment center is another.
There are at least three characters in the comic that need/needed saving from themselves. They are Dana, whom Sarah thankfully intervened with, as well as Billie and Ruth, who are self destructing in front of us, though it seems a large portion of the readers are too busy calling them cute to notice.
Behaviours such as these characters perform will nto get better without outside interference, they’ll simply hide their behaviour and lie about it but it will continue and worsen.
You know, some of us have been where Ruth or Billie have been. Getting help would have been way better, and things could have turned out worse… but there are reasons to think they’ll manage to pull through.
Ruth has already accepted death as inevitable and Billie didn’t even make an attempt to stop drinking despite it costing her everything that was important to her. Neither of them will be helping themselves. The best we can hope for is one or both of them gaining the strength to stop the other.
Death is rather inevitable, much like entropy. She hasn’t killed herself, so she’s by no means gone. She should absolutely seek counselling – most of the cast list should (Even Dotty could probably use a chat, even if she’s not in need of anything intensive). Currently, Billie’s drinking actually does seem fine now that she’s not drinking herself into a stupor. In what I imagine is not a surprise, I am not haunting a comments section from beyond the grave – it can absolutely get better, stubborn iconoclasm notwithstanding
It can also get worse, which is why I’d like them to get counselling. The fact that they’re often cute changes precisely none of this.
Billie’s not getting better, she’s a high functioning drunk that can’t stop drinking, even at a party she knows there’s no drinking, but got the rest of the guests wasted as well.
Ruth has said outright the only thing keeping her alive is the thought of Billie being sad at her death. They have reached a weord kind of co-dependant stability but it’s temporary.
Actually, there is a strong argument that both are moving in a healthier direction compared to where they started. Ruth is being able to actually feel emotions other than anger and numbness, which is a major improvement for her (hence the “the fact that I’m up and crying is a good thing” talk with Billie). And Billie is actually moving in a direction of abusing alcohol less even if she is still getting drunk every night (and its worth pointing out that quitting alcohol cold turkey when one is an alcoholic is actually really dangerous and leave a person more prone to relapse).
The problem with both of them isn’t that their coping strategies aren’t working in that they are moving in the right direction, it’s that their coping strategy is incredibly temporary and they are both at risk moving back into their worst states or worse when it finally collapses.
They’ve both decided to “solve” their problems with a codependent relationship and the rush of New Relationship Energy to carry them through, which means that when that falls apart or if they start having frequent arguments, it will be easy for both to fall back on old coping strategies because the “safer” one is falling apart.
And the way they are doing it means they are really at risk for all of that. Ruth burst in on the party because she recognizes Billie as a healthy influence that leaves her access to emotions (good), but does so because she can’t bear to go an evening without said emotional outlet (bad). Billie uses her caring for another person to reduce the self-destructive spiral with regards to alcohol (good), but she has put all her self-worth eggs in a basket of “saving Ruth” and taking whatever she can dish out (even when she is acting abusive) because she is seen as “her last chance of love” (bad). And even worse neither has any other form of coping mechanism that’s healthier yet. Billie especially has put almost everything in the hope that the relationship can cure her (even moving out of her dorm room and giving it away meaning she has no real place to leave to if things do turn sour or end).
The best thing for both would be to use the respite from the storm to seek other forms of help and mental health aid, but since they both think the relationship is doing enough and is “the only good thing in my life” neither feels an impetus to do that yet because after all, this is still currently working for them.
And since both view the relationship as a type of therapy, they are both putting way more stress on it than they should, because both view it as the thing that will save them or at least help delay them from losing to their diseases (depression and addiction).
That’s a great analysis. There are so, so, so, SO many things that are wrong with Billie and Ruth, but their relationship is actually not one of them – the problem is that it makes it more difficult for them to find other solutions to their actual problems and locks them in the current situation (there are some parallels to Amber and Danny).
D. Willis once linked a serie of articles about how Christians considers themselves “the designated driver”, you should look that up on his twitter or something.
ah, found one : http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2014/10/24/christians-are-not-the-designated-adult/
there were some other insightful articles, not sure it was on the same website but it wa sthe same vein.
There are arguments that even in the case of depressive or self-destructive behavior, that forcing a person to change is abuse. Who are we to say what the right way for a person to live their life is? Even if their choice is to try and end their life, it is their choice, and they have a sovereign right to make it.
I wonder how these people reconcile doing great evil to their children with their beliefs?
They don’t consider it a great evil, they consider it help. They think they’re guiding the misguided, or otherwise helping them overcome their inherently sinful nature.
Their children are lying. Their children are possessed. Their children have fallen from the path. Their children is risking something far worse than anything on this world. Their children don’t know any better. Their children need tough love to be shaken out of themselves.
I wish I could say I had less personal experience with all the excuses shitty parents use to justify poorly treating queer or “disobedient” kids.
SHE IS AN ADULT. YOU CAN’T JUST STALK HER AND TAKE HER BACK.
His daughter ran away from a place he thinks is safe in order to engage in what he considers self-destructive behavior.
Of course he’s trying to find her.
Is she using drugs? No? Then what’s the problem?
He considers the fact that she considers herself gay, and is, to be harmful to her soul.
He probably thinks that if he can “help” her and “fix” her, that she’ll still have a chance to go to heaven.
At least this is based on the average homophobic assholery of a religious flavour.
(Basing these on the fact A: Becky and Joyce grew up in what we know to be a close knit community based around a strict religious and mental mindset. And B: He pulled his daughter out of school instead of disowning her completely on the spot. Finally C: “save her from herself”)
This. Hell is eternal terribleness in their eyes so no amount of Earthly misery, suffering, or self-denial is too much if it means avoiding it and since everyone wants to have their full family with them because part of the allure of being in Heaven (which could be any day now thanks to the Rapture) is being able to laugh at all the sinners in Hell and that gets awkward when there is a loved one down there.
This is also the reason why it becomes necessary to disown and disavow knowledge of the child if they insist on being damned. So that your soul is not tainted by their sin and force you into instant Hell points of view like “maybe the Church is wrong about my queer child being the ultimate face of evil” or “huh, the God I’m worshipping is kind of an abusive dick*”
*Their particular flavor of God being the operative word here. The God that these particular flavors of Christianity love seems to be all about using threats of Hell to bully believers into behaving in a very narrow way. Other Christian ideas of God present someone more genuinely loving and caring.
Ending up in Hell. If one believed in it, how horrible to imagine ones beloved there!
So here’s a thought. We only have Becky’s side of the story from when she was highly distraught and emotional from a betrayal (her roommate/girlfriend of the time). In her very confused and emotional state she may have misinterpreted events as how she told Joyce what happened. I mean look at the man he appears to be wearing a stained white shirt and pajamas. Clearly he has been looking for Becky for a while now. I’d like to at least ” Hear ” his side of the story before deciding that he is an asshole.
Spoiler alert, he really is an asshole.
WHAT A TWIST
How often again does Willis pull the “not really an asshole” twist?
Never. Everyone’s always been an asshole and tend to simply become bigger assholes over time.
When they are a “butt opening”.
He certainly doesn’t have the look of a distraught father here. More the look of “Please help me find my property.”
Well, based on his expression in panel 2, he might not like Joyce.
I think Ross is supposed to be wearing camouflage-pattern pants.
This is sarcasm, right? Guy was talking about “saving her from herself.” We know what that means.
Yes, but the point is that HE doesn’t understand that it’s horrible. So the OP is hoping this is all some big misunderstanding and the Dad’ll understand and everything will be fine.
I really can’t ever see Toedad change. The Browns might have a better chance of growing, but this guy?
I mean, have we gotten any indication that this isn’t “my daughter is a horrible sinning harlot who must be saved through corrective therapy” at any point?
Once the rest of their kids flee from them as well, perhpas.
Totally. Sure, he is talking about how he needs to save his daughter from herself and everything we’ve been shown in flashback demonstrates his controlling nature and his urge to get her “fixed”, but maybe all of that was just to hide how much he wants to be her a rainbow unicorn pony before revealing his secret PFLAG shirt.
Okay, yes, I know I’m being sarcastic a lot on these, but it’s a little disturbing how many people want to see the best in someone who has already demonstrated that he’s an abusive asshole (and in the process disbelieve the queer kid most affected by said asshole).
I’m hoping he’s going to get Joyce-owned.
I’m hoping he breaks into Joyce’s room, Sarah breaks her bat over his head and then he spends the remainder of the comic’s length in prison/hospital.
THANKS DINA. CANNOT UNSEE.
I’m pretty sure Toeface here is one of Faz’s progenitors. His and Blaine’s collective gimcrackery oozed out onto the floor of a 7/11, and from it spawned Faz.
I think it as a Fazoli’s, actually.
*was
Joyce can’t lie convincingly BUT she is very good at bending reality to match her religious beliefs. Note the way she reconciled her friendship to Becky after Becky came out, quoting the bible in the process.
If asked, Where is Becky?. Joyce may well say, I don’t know. Justifying that statement,by taking it literally, as in “at this very moment in time, I don’t know where Becky is”. That could be the truth: Becky could be in Sal’s room, in the hall, the bathroom: so Joyce really would not know where she was-exactly.
Looking at Dina’s face, two thoughts popped up at the same time. She’s afraid of Ross, and she doesn’t trust him. Her face looks frightened. And hearing that, ‘I’ve got to save her from herself” line: may trigger memories of one asshole parent she’s seen in action. She knows Becky and she knows that even thought Joyce is her friend Joyce doesn’t approve of her actions and would like to ‘save her from herself’. I bet that Dina does not think Becky needs saving from herself.
Dina has proven to be a lot more discerning than given credit for: maybe because she is full of surprises.
I think (and hope) Ross has set off Dina’s fight or flight warning system and she goes to Becky with warnings her father is on campus. If for no other reason that to explore further her experiment in interpersonal relationships.
I suspect that Dina may respond very strangely to the phrase ‘save her from herself’.
“If asked, Where is Becky?. Joyce may well say, I don’t know. Justifying that statement,by taking it literally, as in “at this very moment in time, I don’t know where Becky is”. That could be the truth: Becky could be in Sal’s room, in the hall, the bathroom: so Joyce really would not know where she was-exactly.”
Better yet, all joyce needs to do is tell the truth, up until the point Becky kissed her, and ran out crying when joyce did not reciprocate her feelings. she could even say she ran after her, but it took her to long (as she kind of went into shock). If she stops there, he will probably assume that was the last joyce saw of becky.
I don’t think he looks like a toe.
Instead of a toe
He looks like Joe
At least if he had let himself go
But something I think we all know
Is that this big guy is for sure not a bro.
Me neither, but Toedad is easy to remember, so I’ll just use that.
Looks like a giant toe, is actually a huge butt.
Here to offer some fatherly help?
Pull your daughter from school?
Tell her that what she is is wrong?
Withdraw funds and resources?
Drag her away from friends and lovers?
Send her away to be abused at a camp?
FUCK YOU ROSS!!!!!!!
Right? Clearly Father of the Year candidate material right there! (/sarcasm)
Heh, I almost used that quip yesterday in response to one of your comments. Sarcastic mind thinks alike.
But he can’t be a toe head! He’s not even blonde!
Maybe he dyes his hair? And mustache? And eyebrows?
While I do know a person that does this because all of his bodily hair is white, I think the short answer is ‘that’s not Becky’s biological father.’
I don’t see how it’s relevant, yet.
But having entirely white body hair is awesome! I hope to achieve it someday.
He just thought it made him look old (instead of, you know, the face wrinkles and crotchedy attitude toward new technology…)
‘Toe’, not ‘tow’!
Toe, toe, fight da powah!
I’d stay away from Joyce, man, she’s got enough connections at this point to have you violently removed from the building in the manner of her choosing. She’s got options.
And after everything she’s been through, and after taking a stand for Becky vs God, I don’t she has THAT many fucks to give about toedad
She spent her whole life relying on adults (and especially paternal figures) ; it’s kinda hard to shake out.
It can also make you REALLY mad when the people you’ve been conditioned to trust turn out to be horrible.
I hope.
Becky explicitly told Joyce that she doesn’t want shitbrick involved.
Yes, to which Joyce proposed to call… another dad ; it’s that very strip my comment stemmed from.
MY big concern is that this is a storyline focusing on Dina’s internal thought process. This could possibly end up with her getting kablooied.
or ‘kaboodled’
Ahhhhhhhh toe daddddd. I’m really hoping Dina doesn’t just show him upstairs, but I don’t think she will.
I genuinely love the fact her first thought about Becky’s dad is that his head looks like a toe
I misread that as “I’m really hoping Dina just shoots him upstairs, but I don’t think she will.”
I think all the violent suggestions above got to me.
~sigh~
I see the Drama Llama coming, and I already want it to go and stay go.
I can’t stop laughing right now, no matter how inappropriate it is. It’s that last panel and the realisation that all that poor Dina can think of is the weird shape of Ross’s head!
Now, what game is he playing? Surely he could have asked in Administration for Joyce’s location and even for her to be officially asked if she will meet with him? I’m wondering if he’s burnt some bridges due to the violence of his reaction. It’s possible that the Browns and the administrators at Anderson are concerned that he may be dangerous; that would explain him ‘going under the radar’ like this.
Dina is about to learn that she has not encountered even a fraction of the limits of human irrationality yet!
Hm, it’s telling that the guy is hanging either inside or near a meeting for LGBTQ students… like he’s aware where Becky might attempt to go to try and get help or advice, so he’s hanging around in order to either snatch her when she attempts it or to keep her isolated.
FWIW, I don’t think he’s anywhere near Galasso’s; I think that he’s at the Hall of Residence.
I’m pretty sure that the meetup is in the residence hall, just catered by Galasso’s.
In before he’s a crazed murderer, pedophile, kaiju here to claim his last kill before ascending to his true form
If no one else has called it yet, I’m calling it now: Joyce is gonna get on the board because of Ross. I see a “Fuck you, Mr. MacIntyre” looming in her near future.
C’mon, Dina, you’ve had practice! Last time you led a friend’s father to them it was Amber’s abusive dad – please please please see the pattern!
Dina Dina Dina do not tell do not tell
But the look of horror on your face tells me that you understand! At least…I think it does? Did Joyce mention Toe-Douche at all? I DON’T REMEMBER.
she is staring blankly. perhaps it is acknowledgement?
COMMENCE USUAL AFFECTATION! GROWL!
Dina, please don’t out Becky or Joyce. I hope you understand the signs. His choice of words, his facial expressions. “She ran away from me” as opposed to “she ran away from home”? “I must save her from herself”? His face indicates anger rather than worry. He is not there for a tearful reunion. He will take her away from you. Fight him, Dina!
“The raptor prepares to defend her mate…”
OK, I’m calling it, we are all going to say “clever girl” a lot in a few day’s time.
I really don’t know how Dina will react to Ross. He seems to have already weirded her out enough that a completely random response is quite possible, one that will send him on a wild goose chase to the great dinosaur bone fields of the Montana Badlands or Utah.
“Huh, that photo kinda looks like the friend of that bible girl in Clarke Wing”
“Nah, man, don’t you remember – that girl has a rad haircut.”
Probably how the thought process will go, yeah.
As Amber once said, “Sometimes, you need the right context clues to make an obvious connection.”
oh no becky
protect ur gf, dina
Sitting here, I suspect that Ross is going to get a very strange response from Dina to the trigger phrase ‘save her from herself’. There is a chance that Dina will be overjoyed and launch into an impromptu discourse about the follies of Young Earth Creationism and how glad she is that Becky’s father wishes to remedy this lack in her education.
There can be no good but many funny outcomes to such a scenario but it would fit with this remaining a chapter focussed on the workings of Dina’s inner self. It should create enough time for Joyce to return to the hall with Danny and Ethan and for her to pick up the ‘keep Becky hidden’ ball. Ethan and Danny, at least, would recognise a Blaine Mk.2 on sight; things would escalate from there.
50/50 this ends in evisceration
Probably a dumb question, but a guy can’t just walk up to the front desk and say “I’m looking for this student, tell me where their room is” right?
It probably depends on campus policy.
When I was in college we were all listed in a campus directory, and all you had to do was look up our name and you’d get the dorm, room #, and extension. It wasn’t considered private information. These days? Maybe that info is only available to credit card companies.
Likewise, although it was usually hopelessly out of date by the middle of the semester as people moved, changed roommates, or dropped out.
I’m told that the answer is ‘probably not’. There are Federal regulations in place. He’d have to tell more-or-less the whole story to the administrators and they might not be inclined to co-operate. He could probably tap-dance around the regulations by getting the co-operation of the Brown family but that would take time and I think he’s a bit too impatient for that.
Also, his tap dancing skills are weaksauce.
He is all toes.
I think he already asked the Brown’s since they called joyce to see if she had seen Becky, and they trust joyce to not lie to them.
“his head looks like a giant toe” CAN’T UNSEE
Toedad is much more amusing if you picture is chin as a giant smiley face.
That actually makes it more disturbing… o_O
Is that Admiral Ackbar I hear? Meh, best to ignore him…
Now don’t Dina it up, Dina !
Good to know I’m not the only one who noticed the resemblance…
Toesaurus
Toedad has expressive eyebrows.
Which is good, since the rest of his face doesn’t seem to move…
His mustache talks instead of his mouth. I thought that was reserved for much larger mustaches than his, but he’s accomplished it anyway.
Impressive, for a toe.
Comes with the lack of neck I’m afraid.
I think Dina understands this situation. She knows that Becky is Joyce’s homeschooling friend, and understands the implications of that. She may perceive the world in a way that would be regarded as atypical, but she is perceptive. She did recognize that there was a problem when Amber’s dad showed up, her parents just overpowered her in their insistence on common courtesy. I expect she knows that leading this man to Becky, or Joyce would be a bad idea.
I don’t know how skilled Dina is at lying convincingly. Of course, there are other ways of fending Toedad off. She has become aware that others see her as strange; this would be a good time to own that and make use of it to diffuse the situation. If Dina were to spout of a series of disjointed non-sequiturs about dinosaurs, he would likely just walk away.
Of course, that wouldn’t solve the larger problem. Toedad appears to have a whole stack of those photos, and he most likely intends to post them all over campus. I somehow doubt Mary would protect Becky if she were to come across one of those photos. Still, Dina could at least buy them time by dialing up the strange factor.
Now would be an excellent time to enact “the usual affectation”.
Question is whether Toedad is tresspassing. Generally non-students are only allowed into a small subset of the campus — the administrative offices and perhaps the student bookstore. On the other hand, Becky has no more right to be there than Toedad, so if someone calls the campus police to arrest Toedad for trespassing and Toedad claims that there’s a non-student trespasser on campus and the campus police launch a search… oh boy.
Mary will show up and, expose Becky and embarass Ruth.
I can feel it in my bones.
she will be cut short by the simple observation “mary, i did not realize that you are questioning as well”
LOL! OMG, that would be AWESOME.
“She ran away from me”. Can anyone help him? One of his females has gone missing. It will die without the protection of a man.
Like her mother did.
So, if Dina realizes to misdirect ToeDad because of her encounter with Blane, would that mean He actually did good?
His actions did lead danny and Amber to a new level of trust intheir relationship, so in a sense he did help them…
Oh dear… I fear he’s too big for even a drunken R.A. to flip.
th’bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Ross: (Why is everybody silent? Could it be…The majesty of god shining through me?)
Everybody: (HOW THE HELL DOES HE SHAVE)
dina is very priority-focused. that is why she followed raidah upstairs, why she returned immediately to sarah, and why she makes careful note of the most important information during her conversation with the in-law there.
or maybe she is repulsed by the thought of what her offspring might look like
After Blaine, I’m really hoping things are different here. I’m hoping there was a misunderstanding, and that Beckydad is gruff, charmless, but also understanding and kind.
I can really only see this going two ways: in the way that we’re being lead to expect both by the nature of Willis’ narratives AND Becky’s version of events, he’s bigoted, confused, and angry. He pulled Becky out with the intention of taking her to some sort of purity event/pray away the gay thing. When confronted, he’ll realize he can’t do any of that, but he’ll swear Becky off and leave her a Homeless Gay Youth.
In the happy shiny rainbow version I’ve constructed in my head, his initial reaction was anger and fear and confusion, but he got over that or will be persuaded to get over it, and out of his love for Becky he will enroll her at Indiana U. I’m hoping his dumpy, ugly design is another attempt to mislead us into thinking he’s a monster when he’s actually a caring dad.
To those of you reading this and confused by my optimism, well, David’s stories are great. But they get better when you spin a web of hope and optimism that can then send you tumbling to earth like Icarus.
I’m inclined to follow your way of thinking. We’ve seen Ross only once before, and the only other information we’ve got is Becky’s side of the story …. as told by a very troubled, distraught little-girl-lost.
Even though he is still using the line about “saving her from herself” and “running away from me” (which, according to Becky’s story in this strip, is 100% the truth), I’m also picking up on some parental concern where he says that he is “extremely worried for her”. Not “about her”, but “FOR her”.
And then there’s his request that Dina help him if she can. He says, “Please … please help me if you can”.
Doggone HTML!! I was trying to link a quote…..
To continue:
And then there’s his request that Dina help him if she can. He says, “Please … please help me if you can.” Now where have we heard a line like that before?
There’s more to Ross here than initially meets the eye.
I can promise you there is at most a 0.1% chance that Willis has been screwing with us and Ross will totally be legit.
He was a total asshole in Joyce & Walky who lorded his religion over his neighbours and begrudgingly tolerated Joyce’s friendship with his daughter. In Dumbing of Age he pulled his daughter out of college because she kissed a girl, and, in very plain, unambiguous text, it was made clear that was going to “fix” Becky.
I have no doubt that he probably thinks he’s a loving, concerned parent out to save his daughter from the evil of the life of sin she’s debasing herself in, but Ross is about as close to being human shit given life as would be possible in this series.
My optimism is that since becky’s mother is gone, there was some stipulation/arrangements she made in her will/life insurance/etc that forces ToeDad to keep Becky in school somehow.
I had great fun with the #RoseColoredGlasses running gag a while back (actually, by the time we first got the story about Toedad McAbusivePants), but I don’t believe it in this situation for several reasons (most of which have already been better described by other people today and yesterday).
From a purely narrative point of view, a gruff but caring father who actually does his job as a father when the chips are down would cheapen the drama of Becky’s situation and make TONS of dramatic scenes – including Joyce’s and Becky’s heartwarming interaction after the kiss and Joyce’s breakdown during gender studies (and the “sweet lesbian facts” presented there) in essence red herrings.
Now, that WOULD be a well constructed twist, but it would also reduce a lot of our investment in both Becky and Joyce. “Joyce defied God so her best friend… won’t have to learn her father’s true colors a few days earlier”.
But I completely agree with your last sentence. Let’s read each strip with the sincere conviction that everyone will be happy, and let’s our hearts break again and again.
Fuck this guy
I know, right. Fuck him and his stupid toeshaped head.
eh, please keep your sexual fantasies in check.
ewwww, ewww, eww, eww, ewwwwwwwww
Isn’t Joyce right in the area? she was just two panels over yesterday. I assume he knows what Joyce looks like. I hope Joyce spots him before he sees her, as I doubt Joyce can lie convincingly.
Alternately, he spots her and goes over but is interrupted by one of the meetup leaders and learns its purpose. And while his attempt to drag Becky back might be unsuccessful, he could pass something like that onto Joyce’s parents, who would almost definitely react poorly. (Next storyline we do see Joyce looking at her phone in horror)
I think Dina has passed from the space in which the meeting is being held into an adjacent lobby.
Toedad is an asshole.
Basically anytime someone talks about “saving” someone else “from themselves”, you have two options:
1) You can run away.
2) You can punch them in the face and then run away.
3. “Hey, can you hold this for a sec” *hands a target* *turns on crane with wrecking ball*
I HIT HIM WITH A WRECKING BALL!
I can’t stop picturing his mouth being under the first chinfold, because panel 5’s second word balloon is pointing really there. Is that where is mouth is? Is there another person living in there?
“save her from herself” more like eat my entire ass i will fight this joker
The phrase ‘save her from herself’ is one that should always be viewed with caution.