What are the little things that move us? The simple joys that warm our bodies and hearts? The micro life of insects that influence our world more than we think? The tiny steps we make everyday to have a happier tomorrow?
The Weave
Rennie Kingsley
A young woman pursued by bad luck is witness to the murder of the Fairy Queen of Summer. Can she get to the bottom of this mystery?
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!
Monster's Garden
Ash G.
Champion pit fighter Kilo Monster was content to spend the rest of his days tending to his quiet garden alone... until he met a curious robot girl and her human family.
Sleepless Domain
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
In a world where magical girls and their battles are commonplace, loss has become all too common as well.
The Golden Boar
Magnolia Porter Siddell
A young woman joins a group of summoners who call forth Guardian Beasts to protect their isolated magical island. Unfortunately, her Guardian Beast is nothing like she'd imagined, and he's about to change her life, and everything she thought she knew about herself...
Freakshow
Scotty
A festival of broken people, blood flows in the center ring. Come one and come all, to the greatest show in all of Paris.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Barbarous
Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota
A crummy wizard and an anxious monster have to get over themselves and bring order to an apartment building full of misfits.
Sakana
Mad Rupert
Our heroes must navigate a hazardous dating scene, overcome personal anxieties, and wrangle unruly seafood in order to find love, peace of mind, and a paycheck.
Heroes of Thantopolis
Izzy Strontium Hall
A living boy fights to save the City of the Dead.
Edison Rex
Chris Roberson
The adventures of the world’s greatest villain who, after defeating his superheroic nemesis, decides that he’s the only one left to defend the world.
Saint for Rent
Ru Xu
Saint Halliday runs an inn for Time Travelers. Unfortunately, he seems to attract other supernatural "guests," too.
Not Drunk Enough
Tess Stone
Logan Ibarra is possibly the unluckiest repairman in the world. A late night job should not have landed him in the middle of a mad scientist's squabble, but he soon finds himself surrounded by monsters and further madness with little tools to get out.
The Messenger
indui
In a ruin-abound town cursed with bad luck, Kai and Kalla--a young boy and a fledgling dragonbird spirit--take on a quest in hopes the reward will solve all of their problems.
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.
ARISE, YE SKELETON KING
Brian Clevinger, Escher Cattle, Lee Black
A troupe of wandering "adventurers" down to their last silver "acquire" a map only to find the real treasure was the fiend they dug up along the way.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
Peritale
Mari Costa
A fairy godmother with no magic tries her best to successfully fulfill a Fairytale and win the respect of her peers.
Darkling Bright
Chris Hazelton
Kieran Bright is a college student home for the summer and roped into an online reunion with his old neighborhood friends in the most recent update of their favorite childhood MMORPG.
At least, he was, and that was the idea...
Join Kieran and his friends as they are pulled into another reality that may or may not be real and are forced to confront their own identities, the nature of simulated universes and reality itself.
Nigh Heaven & Hell
Scotty
Heather Vodihn is on a simple mission: find her father. However she becomes entangled with two strangers with mysterious powers being stalked by a group with bizarre demands. Heather must learn to trust her new traveling companions, even if she is untrustworthy herself.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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.
Lies Within
Lacey
Lysander's aimless and carefree life is turned upside down when he accidentally discovers that the cute boy next door, Simon, is a literal monster
Three Panel Soul
Matt Boyd, Ian McConville
It's a pretty rigid format but we keep the content loose, you know?
Angel's Orchard
Harry Bogosian
After the events in Demon's Mirror, Gerda has accepted her role as a Demon Hunter, and Cezar has traveled back to the Demon City. Demons have existed alongside humans for millennia, so things begin to return to normal. But an impossibly powerful Relic has been taken by one of the Demon Masters, and a silent war enters its final stages.
Augustine
Winter Jay Kiakas, Windy
August and her ragtag group are just like everyone else, simply surviving in the treacherous Crater... When they stumble into what may be an artifact of the ancient past, their lives are thrown into a much bigger loop as they trifle with bounty hunters, monsters and gods.
Novae
KaiJu
A historical romance with a touch magic and a dash of astronomy. It chronicles the romantic adventures of Sulvain, a sweet tempered necromancer and Raziol, a passionate 17th century astronomer.
Ozzie the Vampire
Eric Lide
Ozzie and her best friend Kimmy are your average everyday normal art students – except one is an immortal vampire with superpowers and the other possesses a magic talking grimoire. Also they have to save their town from a demonic invasion.
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obviously she boiled them alive first and then sold their furs to cruella de vil, who was taken aback by her awfulness. not enough to not buy the furs, obviously, you don’t get into the puppy fur business by quibbling over morality, but still.
Boiling them alive would ruin the fur. You have to skin them first. Otherwise, the fur will wrinkle as the muscles cook and the hide compresses around the shrinking muscles
.
I was thinking more in a general “House Bolton”-direction, especially since the hyptothetical (?) violence and cruelty is depicted towards canines, but now that you mention it…
Does that mean Ryan accidentally shot Marys girlfriend and that made her evil?
Personally, I’m more concerned about how Mary is looking off behind her in panel 1, indicating something behind her that amuses or pleases her. I fear this is just Mary being smug post-hate-crime, and that poor Carla is about to walk (or roll) right into some sort of horrible trans-phobic BS that Mary has set up to the left. Thus Mary is being “nice” to set up Carla for the hate-crime “prank” just off panel to the left.
Start up a VM and copy the executable in there. It can run in a happy little confined world where it won’t trouble anyone, and it’ll never know the difference.
Essentially, the Transformers universe(s), the Shattered glass setting is one in which all the ‘bad guys’ are on the side of justice and truth and happy shiny people holding hands, and all the “Good guys” are the villains.
lmao i was googling “shattered glass mary” and getting nothing clarifying. for a moment there i thought it maybe had something to do with stained glass? a shattered stained glass mary? an au catholic mary??? who knows
there is just not an easy all-encompassing term for this concept is there
For some reason my mind immediately sprang to that episode of Darkwing Duck where he gets knocked out or something and wakes up and everyone’s good/evil alignment was swapped (except Nega-Duck)
Tbh all I remember about the ep is the alignment thing, it’s been like twenty years since I watched that show…
Actually, Nega-Duck’s alignment is swapped. You’re thinking of the episode where Darkwing finds out Nega-Duck’s name is literal… He’s Darkwing’s -counterpart- in that episode.
It’s the one where the Friendly Five all become darkwing and adopt that world’s goslyn, right? I remember it best because Darkwing fell into a cake to get to their world.
IIRC, Walkyverse Mary eventually became more mellow, though never actively good.
I don’t think Mary is up to something here because…frankly, she’s wildly incompetent, so either she’s scared of Carla or in such a good mood its over-riding the rest of her. Presumably Roz just got framed for Ryan’s murder and Mary’s just happy to have her own room.
Actually, she’s not a Zygon duplicate. No. This Mary is nice and kind. She’s obviously the real Mary, and even if you find the real biological Mary entwined in Zygon tentacles, I’ll still claim this one is the real Mary.
ah, the classic “you know, we like this one better, you can keep the original.”
In any plot involving duplication (or radical personality alteration), it tends to go about 20/80 with “thanks, but we want our jerk back.” The difference in ratio is mostly due to the need to maintain status quo.
So she is becoming the mask? It’d be nice to say that I like her, as opposed to saying that I like her outfits. But I’m not a big fan on hating. And I like the outfits Willis designs for her more than anyone else’s.
I mean, while Mary is a asshat who can choke on her own saliva for all half of us care, the fact that it is the opposite of what Mary wants doesn’t excuse Carla for being a self righteous conceited disturbance to the rest of the dorm.
I would love to see what Sarah would say to Carla if they ever talked.
I mean, it IS the best way to deal with Carla. She wants everyone to treat her like she’s a standoffish jerk so her plans are completely foiled if people are nice to her (see: Joyce thanking her).
That’s an OCD thing? My brain does that a lot, and it’s starting to sound like I have some form of OCD… But from reading Wikipedia it seems the only treatment is things I’m already doing. :/
Yeah, it’s one of those mouse/hover over tag attributes. Specifically, it the title attribute, and to my knowledge, it can be used with tags like abbreviation, hyperlinks, pictures.
Ans specifically it’s a compulsion, for me anyways, so put in a comment here if I’ve decided to comment. Like here, a funny comment came to mind, and I went to type it, but then realized that it’d be offensive as well. But I had already started the process to comment, and then I couldn’t not comment, so I had to work out something to say.
…well, either she’s attempting to convince people she’s up to something and covering it up so someone will snap and do something “unprovoked” to her. Or she’s eaten a puppy.
OooOOoooorrr… She’s managed to do something hateful but indirect, like giving an anonymous tip to some right-wing Christian organization or other that there is a horrible, awful guy posing as a “trans-woman” (not that such a thing actually exists /sarcasm) in order to get into the shared bathrooms in the girls’ dorm, and they’ve just shown up to “investigate” her claim and make life horrible for Carla.
Where did Indiana stand on the stupid bathroom laws, again?
Oh man… Ryan did die, or at least got really big big boo boos. It was so epic it reset the world. Carla and Joe are nice, Danny doesn’t care about women anymore. DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER.. MASS HYSTERIA!!!!!!!!!!!
Wait, is that how that shit worked in Harry Potter? Jesus. I’d feel like any experience with the actual curse would put that theory to bed (all live accounts of the Imperius Curse in the books turns the victim into a blank doll that follows your commands until you lift the curse).
Or worse yet, an alternate timeline where Mary sacrifices twice as many puppy souls as before to keep her endless spite in constant check, manifesting itself in smiles with what looks like lipstick. o-o
Mary is just suspicious no matter what she does, isn’t she? After all I’ve seen, I can’t trust her smile. XD
There is a distinct possibility that Mary spent the last 3 days on a magical journey, where a series of strange events taught her a series of life lessons.
And then she found the gay trans woman who killed her father and caused her bigotry, gaining the help she needs from a gay person to finally defeat her.
Wait…this is the plot to Who Framed Roger Rabbit…isn’t it?
Explaining what happened to Mary? yeah, he probably will for awhile. The suspension of it will drive the commenting section mad, possibly sending more people to Pateron for next day’s comic, to just be slightly closer to the answer, in perpetuity.
My theory is that sometime during the timeskip, Billie punched Mary in the head so hard that it brain-damaged her and completely changed her personality.
I think I have heard of like, one instance where it caused a positive change but I can’t for the life of me remember who it was and searching for it hasn’t helped me find out either, but yeah, I would think it is more likely to result in negative changes or losses in functions.
IRL that may be true, but in comics (and webcomics) there is less realism behind “being hit on the head and getting a new personality”. Guy Gardner in the 90’s comes to mind. I am not sure if this comic is going for realism or not.
And yet, it seems to have at least some basis in reality. :/ I was on a small shoot this one time, where the Director of Photography hooked up with someone else on the crew, and we could tell whenever he got laid, because instead of making us haul all the extremely heavy lighting equipment out into the bush where we were filming (had to carry it a long ways from where we could get the truck to out to where we were shooting) on the off chance we might need it, he’d only bring out what was actually required for that day’s shooting.
We all begged her to nail him as close to daily as possible. That shit was heavy.
I feel like Ryan is the one person even Mary would hate….Assuming she was aware of his crimes. Otherwise she could just be another one of his “sympathizers”
Compared to Ryan or most other DoA villains, Mary’s a bit more of a garden-variety asshole, with slightly more complexity and a need to be able to maintain her self-image as “the good one surrounded by evil”. She’s the kind of person who’d make justifications for Toedad if she heard about it second-hand, for instance, but wouldn’t actively team up with him to capture Becky in a bear trap.
Hating Ryan is both easy and fun, since he’s not a Christian (or certainly not a “real” once), so Mary would do it easily and lecture everyone about how Ryan shows the importance of abstinence-only education or something.
Okay, let’s face it, if you take away the personality…Mary is pretty damn attractive in general. Plus she has large eyes, which we tend to see as cute.
Not what I had in mind when I was thinking Manga School, that looks more like the plot of Tenchi Muyo. By 1987 I had already graduated university and my first child was born a year later.
Her last gambit against Carla did end with her getting pied…then later punched in the face. So I can understand why she’d be nice to Carla even if only at face value. Also I’m guessing she just came from or is going to church and might have some sort of religious high going on.
she got laid so she’s in a good mo–oh, who am I kidding? Having sex out of wedlock would be against her values, right? my theory is that Jocelyn had a nice talk with Joyce during the time skip, so and Joyce heard about Mary’s transaphobia, so now Joyce threatened Mary and controls her every move. Or maybe it has something to do with pride month.
Mary said “Oh, hey, that’s what happens to the nasty people who try to hurt the girls here. Ummmmmm OH HEY LOOK I’M SUDDENLY NICE exceptwhenIcanblendinwithRachel’shate.”
Btw, Willis, a five-year-old kid started talking to me about Transformers at work and it’s because I read your tumblr that I was able to hold, like, any kind of a conversation at all. Thanks!
Oh god Mary’s smiling and acting nice!! This isn’t good she’s either up to something or undergone a heel-face brainwashing (which I disapprove of solely because it would be brainwashing).
It turns out that Mary was brainwashed by an alternate Carla, whom the original Carla is forced to fight to the death when she plans to somehow muder everyone has ever had a transphobic thought.
Carla: there is a difference between you and me, we both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back at us..you blinked.
Or…
Carla: Why are you being nice Mary?
Maria: Oh, I’m not Mary. I’m her twin sister Maria…our parents aren’t very creative with names.
Carla: Your kidding right?
Maria: I wish I was. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I don’t really like her, she’s very mean, petty, and spiteful. I mean, I have my faults too, but Mary just seems like she looks for reasons to hate other people, and I don’t like that.
Carla: I’m…still not convinced.
Maria: *sigh* I get this a lot. Don’t worry, I understand.
Mary: Oh. It’s you. Hi, Maria. Making friends with Carla are we?
Carla:…Now I believe you. I think.
1) We already think that puppy-eating is likely enough for almost everyone to be voting for it, so that’s not the hard one to sell.
2) We know that Carla DID stumble onto an alternative timeline. In the last one, she was a talking car that got modded into an android and worked at a toy store. To make this more realistic, that timeline ended in a reality-warping event.
That, or she’s setting up some bonkers scheme to gain Carla’s trust, make her think Mary’s changed her ways, befriend her, and then use that friendship to tear her life apart from the inside out.
That might be a reason that she’s not FOCUSING on Carla, but Mary-types can toss around casual nastiness with very little effort or thought at all. It’s their default state towards those they hate.
And in addition the fact that’s she’s no longer in a weak position means she’ll get a chance to torment Carla to. This is the type of pleasantness that says “I’m coming for you.”
hmmm could be just me but due to her pure white outfit (which could been seen as making yourself look pure) and the singing I suspect she has some sort of romantic intent with someone coming up which made her not want to act bongo like so there is little risk of something messing up her look between where she is now and where she wants to go.
i mean like. Mary just got her blackmail victim back in nominal control of the hall again; she has Ruth isolated from her girlfriend, who is moving out; she got Rachel to side against Ruth more than against her; she got an apology from Ruth while not apologizing for any of the despicable things she did or even acknowledging that they were despicable.
she has plenty of reasons to be happy, and they all start with being in a place where she can push Ruth into being suicidal again
Well, Carla’s alternate timeline theory has some merit.
Consider:
1) Danny is being decisive about his life, rather than being a doormat.
2) Joe is showing genuine concern for Danny, rather than being a selfish douche.
3) Carla is playfully joking around, rather than demanding recognition of her awesomeness.
4) Mary is being friendly, rather than being a spiteful, conniving asshole.
This is all a hallucination in the mind of Amber, who has spent the last three days in a catatonic state under psychiatric observation and is imagining what life around the dorm would be like if she wasn’t there to “screw everything up”.
* Joe being nice to Danny
* Potential bonding between Joe and Danny
* Danny developing in a way not defined by his relationship with others
* Fun Joyce/Carla moment
… and now…
* Mary being tolerable even to Carla.
Again. Willis has decided to give us everything we ever wanted, but turn it to ash in our mouths by putting it RIGHT AFTER a red-panelly Amber v. Ryan fight.
TBH I’m kind of worried that Danny’s development involves moving away from Amber. Like it’s saying “Hey look how much better off he is without that crazy harpy look how she ruined his life” and like that’s really unfair of me because Danny needed time to figure himself out regardless it just sucks that this comes at the expense of Amber going through so much bullshit
I think it’s a good thing Danny isn’t so tangled up in Amber’s life anymore. It was creating problems for both of them. Like when Amber lashed out at him, which she regretted and beat herself up about it. They needed some space from each other. Amber’s suffering was gonna happen regardless of what Danny did. It was inevitable.
Amber’s not a crazy harpy, and she didn’t ruin Danny’s life.
So long as Amber keeps insisting that “Amazigirl” is a separate person, she is at the very least being irrational. It’s not a multiple personality situation, though–she knows better.
Yeah, like it could conceivably be one of the closely related disorders, but at the end of the day she’s a multiple, she’s got alters, she dissociates, she’s got a billion and a half traits that resonate deeply close for me as a person with DID.
Like there’s only so much resemblance to a duck you can see before you have to conclude it’s either a duck or some other related waterfowl.
And yeah, given those symptoms, trying to deny the existence of one of her alters is quite literally the opposite of what she needs to do right now and I’m really scared that Amber/AG after everything is going to think it’s time to lock down the Amber alter once and for all “for everyone’s protection”.
hasn’t he said that the reason he doesn’t make it an official diagnosis is that he does want to provide representation for those who feel/want it, but doesn’t want to make anyone mad if he gets it wrong somehow?
That’s not a fair version of what he said, imho. What he said was that he’s aware that there are harmful stereotypes associated with violent people and DID, and he didn’t want to feed into those stereotypes by giving Amber an official diagnosis.
That’s very different from “not wanting to make anyone mad if he gets it wrong somehow”.
I’m not really sure how strongly coding a violent character as having a particular disorder is really at all better in that respect. Like using coding instead of explicit statements isn’t really more sensitive it just confers a thin facade of deniability.
like what i was trying to say was that it just kind of sucks for me that amber needed to lose danny because its like i have that fear of hurting my partner and i liked that they were together for a lot of reasons and it sucks for me that theyre the only relationship in the series deemed unfit to work hell its not even danny its entirely amber because danny’s fine without her so its like amber’s just this broken person who cant ever love anybody and people are better off without her
It’s fine. It’s not stupid. I also heavily relate to Amber, although I lack the life experience of dating because I don’t talk to people. I mean that last part about Amber, in your above comment, would probably be me if I ever start dating and/or doing more socialising.* I hope this convinces you that your concerns are valid, because they totally are.
*Right now I just sort of ignore those fears. I’d have to fix the not-talking-to-people part first. Which is partially caused by being scared of hurting and burdening people.
No, it’s definitely a thing to be concerned about. The whole “break up with the crazy person who’s ruining your life” thing is a trope and not a healthy one.
I don’t think Willis is using it intentionally or with bad intent, but it is kind of an issue that it’s the only relationship that’s been established and then broken up.
OTOH, Ruth & Billie make the counterpoint: She gets hospitalized and diagnosed, but they stay together.
It’s okay. You were just describing how the story has been hitting close to your own fears and anxiety. Anxiety doesn’t care if it’s an accurate representation of what’s going on with the characters. Anything in the ballpark will usually do.
It’s completely valid for it to make you feel that way, and it sucks that is.
*hugs offered* You’re not a piece of shit and yeah, specific to your fear, I don’t think that’s where his arc is going. Like, he was also unhealthy in his relationship with Dorothy who is extremely normative as far as mental health goes and that also ended in a breakup of the other person’s triggering.
So I think his arc is more about finding a him before finding a partner and would be the arc whether or not Amber was struggling with mental health or not.
On Amber’s side, I think her arc might be more… well, your fear. Not that she’s a piece of shit too crazy for a relationship, but rather that she’s terrified that she’s going to be a piece of shit who is too crazy for a relationship and so isn’t putting any effort into trying to salvage things because part of her views it as her just desserts for her mental health.
And I imagine that’s even more on display now that she’s done something to Ryan right after a floor meeting in which Rachel got done saying that no one can be redeemed and we’re all just our damage.
Or at least, that’s how I’ve been reading it.
But yeah, I can understand the anxiety. With literally any other creator, this probably would be the “crazy ex-girlfriend” story where the ex is “so crazy” and isn’t it wacky how her mental health gets more and more exaggerated and dangerous for the normative characters, blah blah blah fuck that noise.
But I trust Willis that that’s not where this is going.
I think most of what I was going to say has been covered… Oh, but, they might get back together again. Every serious relationship I’ve had has included one temporary breakup. Including one specifically for mental health reasons.
You’re not being a pile of anything. Your feelings are valid. Your fears are your fears. You aren’t a bad person for feeling this way, or for feeling hurt by the trajectory Amber and Danny are on. You’re not.
FWIW, my brain was being awful to me too, about the rot13’d comment on the previous comic. It’s been ranting about how stupid I was to post it so late where nobody would read it, but also about how stupid I was to post it at all because people might read it, and how dare I think anyone would be interested in my thoughts?
That voice is full of shit. It, like Mary and stopped clocks, is only right by *coincidence* – it’ll use anything as an excuse to attack, even shit that makes no sense or is self-contradictory.
I’m still trying to figure out what I’d been trying to say there. There’s something about “I am a conversation” that feels important… part Insight, part defense against perfectionism.
Whatever your message was, it got to me. In my head it’s something about improvement. Humanity isn’t perfect, so it allows for improvement; perfectionism is crap. Also I guess “the journey is more important than the destination”?
And also, Be wherever you are. That song was eerily similar to phrase I’ve been using for years: “Be where you are. It’s harder than it sounds.” Like, you’re not *supposed* to be perfect already, stop compulsively checking the goal and let yourself enjoy the damn journey a bit or it won’t feel worthwhile when you get there. Missing the goal is better than being too stressed and exhausted to have enjoyed either of them.
Maybe that’s part of why accomplishments feel so unrewarding to me. Huh. They aren’t worth the stress of being stuck in that toxic perfectionistic mindset. So maybe if I tried relaxing and taking smaller easier goals and letting myself miss some and do things “wrong” and such…. I might actually feel good about the things I do accomplish?
That would be pretty awesome. And it also fits with how I’m continuing to play the game that rewards me for effort, even when I’m convinced the levels are impossible to beat. I keep beating these crazy-hard levels just because the game made trying-and-failing fun enough to keep trying
Um, wow, thank you everyone. I feel really honoured and flattered to see this outpouring of support for this internet random.
I just had a rough morning when I said this stuff. Days where I go to therapy are usually really rough for me afterwards for some reason idk I just feel really drained and miserable when I come back I’ve basically just been laying in bed since getting back feeling depressed and it took until now for me to get any kind of blood running so reading all of that felt really nice. I’m sorry for wigging out again and I’ll try to be more mature about myself going forward instead of freaking out in a comment section.
maybe you feel exhausted because it’s fucking hard work. it really *is* draining to intentionally bring up the scary things and talk about them and stay functional enough to even talk when you’d much rather let fight/flight/freeze have its way.
I had a mini-rant to my own therapist recently about that, how harmful it can be to get dismissive messages like “just don’t be X” without acknowledgement that it’s not some easy thing people should already know how to do, it’s incredibly hard work and can take years. Even if some pieces of the solution seems obvious in retrospect, it’s not fair to beat up on yourself (or anyone else) for not figuring it out sooner. We don’t have magical future-vision. We don’t have proper debugging tools for the brain. Every brain is different and a lot of the time we’re just flailing around in the hopes we’ll stumble on whatever puzzle piece our brain happens to need at the moment.
This shit can take a lot of time and hard work, and it’s worth acknowledging that and taking a moment to reward yourself for the effort.
on that note… SU spoilers, season 5 (omfg season 5), rot13’d again:
V unir zvkrq srryvatf nobhg Ynef’ punenpgre qrirybczrag. Ba gur bar unaq, lnl punenpgre qrirybczrag! Ur svanyyl trgf n shpxvat pyhr! Ba gur bgure unaq, vg jnf irel… dhvpx, naq gur jnl vg jnf unaqyrq znxrf zr harnfl.
Yvxr… jvgu gur cnagf ynffb, jr frr uvz orvat pbzvpnyyl vapbzcrgrag. V fhfcrpg arneyl rirelbar nffhzrf ur’f orvat *vagragvbanyyl* vapbzcrgrag, naq vg’f cbffvoyr ur vf, ohg… guvf jnf gur cbvag jurer V fgnegrq gb haqrefgnaq uvz, orpnhfr nf n xvq V jnf bsgra npphfrq bs gung, jura V ernyyl jnfa’g qbvat vg vagragvbanyyl. Znlor na nygre jnf vagragvbanyyl haqrezvavat zr, ohg V qvqa’g srry yvxr *V* jnf qbvat vg, naq unq ab jnl gb *fgbc* qbvat vg, fb crbcyr chavfuvat zr sbe abg fgbccvat jnf pbzcyrgryl shpxvat hfryrff. Crefhnfvba jnf hfryrff. V ynpxrq rvgure gur fxvyyf be pncnpvgl gb qb nal orggre ng gur gvzr, naq zbfgyl whfg yrneag gb eha njnl shegure vafvqr zl urnq hagvy crbcyr fgbccrq gelvat gb ernpu zr.
Naq gura Ynef fgnegf gnyxvat nobhg ubj fpnerq ur vf, naq bu shpx V tebx guvf abj. Rira gur onxvat, lrnu, V’ir orra gurer. Rirelguvat vf fpnel. V qba’g erfcbaq gb vg va gur fuvggl jnlf Ynef qbrf (bzst gung orgenlny bs Fnqvr vf tbaan unir pbafrdhraprf) ohg gur srryvatf ner gur fnzr. Fb znal srryvatf. Gur gelvat gb purre hc Fgrira vf fbzrguvat V’q qb, gbb.
Vg jnf ernyyl ernyyl tbbq gb frr uvz or yvxr “shpx guvf fuvg, ab zber ehaavat” naq fgnaq hc gb gung ebobg. Ng gur fnzr gvzr n cneg bs zr vf yvxr “vg’f bx gb or nsenvq? gung’f vg, gung’f nyy lbh arrqrq? vg’f abg gung shpxvat rnfl va ernyvgl!” xvaqn yvxr fbzrbar jnf sehfgengrq ng orpxl unaqyvat guvatf fb jryy erpragyl. Yvxr, V trg gung gur fubj unf gb pbzcerff guvatf fbzrjung, ohg, V jbeel gung vg’yy frg haernfbanoyl uvtu rkcrpgngvbaf sbe crbcyr jvgu nakvrgl. Fbzr crbcyr trg yhpxl naq vg *vf* gung rnfl sbe gurz. V fhccbfr vg jnfa’g ragveryl rnfl sbe Ynef, rvgure, fvapr vg gbbx 5 frnfbaf sbe uvz gb fgneg trggvat vg… ohg bapr ur fgnegf, jryy, gung’f whfg gur svefg fgrc, naq va ernyvgl gurer’yy or n ybg zber bofgnpyrf gb birepbzr. Urpx, znlor jr’yy frr Ynef fgehttyvat ntnva yngre guvf frnfba.
V whfg… Fgrira’f terng, ohg Yncvf naq Ynef unir na vagrafvgl bs srryvatf gung V qba’g guvax ur’f rdhvccrq gb shyyl haqrefgnaq (naq V xvaqn ubcr vg fgnlf gung jnl sbe n juvyr, orpnhfr vg’f n irel cnvashy haqrefgnaqvat). Yvxr, gurer’f orvat nsenvq, naq gurer’f orvat shpxvat greevsvrq. Ynef fgnaqvat hc gb gung srne jnf na vaperqvoyl oenir naq uneq guvat gb qb. Guvf vf abg n “frr? vg’f rnfl” xvaq bs guvat. Guvf jnf abg rnfl sbe uvz, guvf jvyy abg or rnfl sbe uvz va gur shgher whfg orpnhfr ur’f jba n srj onggyrf. Vg jvyy or rzbgvbanyyl qenvavat. Vg jvyy or rkunhfgvat. Naq vg’f jbegu vg; vg’f whfg abg n gevivny guvat.
Nnnnaq gura ur fgnegf trggvat gur unat bs guvatf – naq ur’f qrnq. Gurl unaqyrq gung ernyyl jryy, vg qvqa’g fvax va hagvy V’q svavfurq rcvfbqr 4. Ohg ur qvq npghnyyl qvr gurer, naq abj ur’f.. fgvyy uvz, ohg nyfb jr qba’g dhvgr xabj jung ur vf. V’z abg fher jurer gur fubj’f tbvat gb gnxr guvf, be jung gurl vagraqrq jvgu uvf qrngu (orfvqrf n jnl ubzr). Yvxr, znlor vg jnf gb fubj gung guvf fghss vf npghnyyl qnatrebhf? Ohg V jbeel znlor vg jnf fbzr xvaq bs gjvfgrq xnezn guvat sbe uvz orvat fhpu n wrex orsber? Vg’f ernyvfgvp gung jvgu ab genvavat naq ab Tnearg uvf arjsbhaq raguhfvnfz jbhyq tb gbb sne. Vg’f whfg… fb znal cbffvoyr vagrecergngvbaf (rira nfvqr sebz nyy gur cybg dhrfgvbaf vg envfrf). Bgbu, znlor vg jnf whfg n jnl gb yrg uvz fgnl ba Ubzrjbeyq sbe n juvyr, juvpu V guvax jvyy or irel tbbq sbe uvf zragny urnygu, tvivat uvz n punapr gb cenpgvpr orvat avpr-ynef jurer gurer’f ab cerpbaprcgvbaf naq rirelbar’f jrveq naq bxnl jvgu orvat jrveq naq… V whfg ybir gur fhccbegvir pbzzrag sebz Syhbevgr.
Fb, lrnu V ubcr ur trgf gb fgnl ba Ubzrjbeyq naq qb fbzr punenpgre-ohvyqvat sbe n juvyr. V guvax ur’yy or unccvre gurer. V’z vagrerfgrq gb frr ubj Fnqvr unaqyrf gung orgenlny (V unir ab vqrn jurgure fur’yy zbir ba be jung), naq ubj zhpu Ynef fgvpxf uvf sbbg va uvf zbhgu jura gurl zrrg ntnva
Sorry I’m late about coming here to offer my support. I was at work. I understand well the feeling of just being drained, exhausted, and in a bad headspace after going to therapy and just having a rough day afterwards. I don’t think you need to apologize for anything. A lot of us go through similar experiences and can empathize. I won’t saw that a lot of us experience the same thing, because that’s a lie. We’re all different individuals, and this makes all of our feelings and experiences, no matter how similar, different at some level. On the one hand, that fact in and of itself is beautiful and amazing because we all matter and are unique, on the other hand it’s annoying because you can never fully understand another person, which leads to problems of communication and unnecessary fear. Sorry to get all philosophically wishy washy and of track, what I’m trying to say is…don’t worry about having had a bad day and what you might have commented as a result, we’re a really empathic group. And it’s nice that we can be. I hope you’re feeling better. And don’t worry about “freaking out in the comments”. I think about half of the purpose of this comments section is a form of group support and therapy.
Steven Universe spoiler translation: Rocks fall, everyone is transported to Gravity Falls, Oregon, where Stanford Pines reunites with his old criminal buddy, Rick Sanchez, and his grandson, Morty (see the Film Theory Rick/Morty Gravity Falls episode for details on this interaction).
The episode ended on a cliffhanger, which will be resolved in the July 15th movie/season premiere of Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
“And don’t worry about “freaking out in the comments”. I think about half of the purpose of this comments section is a form of group support and therapy.”
I mean it’s really more of a case of “breaking up with a mentally ill person who is making no moves towards getting treatment and instead just takes out their issues on you be it intentional or not” to which Ruth and Billie provide a pretty good counterpoint.
I’m just going to pretend Mary had an off screen epiphany and decided to become a better person. Now we will never see her again as she dedicates her life to ended injustices against oppressed people.
This girl needs a real-and-actual fucking hobby.
This “abuse random people for perceived slights” non-hobby is just such a waste of everyone’s time and energy.
apparently the drawing manga is doing nothing. let’s get her into track: she can be alone, she can put her body through excruciating pain, and she can spend a lot of time practicing away from her dorm
Well! Mary’s in a good mood and, like Carla, I’m more than a little freaked out by it!
Probably she’s happy that she thinks she has leverage over Ruth and Billie. However, she seems to be wearing her best outfit right now. That makes me wonder if she had a successful date last night and that’s left her in a ‘sunshine and flowers’ mood!
That is possible as endorphins are a thing and if she had a pleasant date she’s coming home from, she might not be in the mind to scrap with the “sinners” and “let them bring her good mood down”.
so….it’s really weird to me that so many people are struggling with Mary’s niceness in the strip tonight. like: none of this feels out of character to me. she can be this person, and still have been the person who tossed transphobic slurs at Carla as if she were nothing. like: she’s like this because she thinks she won.
but also I kind of get it, because, like: it’s so different from her normal demeanor. it’s offsetting. it makes you think Mary could actually be a good person, just because she said something nice this one time. she’s capable of it! she could put her mind to it, if she really tried! and she could. but the thing is: she doesn’t, and most of the time she doesn’t want to.
Mary can afford to be nice to Carla now, because she can be magnanimous in victory. It makes her feel more victorious, because she thinks that in the next moment she can squash Carla under her perfect Mary Jane soles. it’s a power trip, like literally everything with Mary seems to be.
like: the surrealism of this has not escaped me, Believe Me, haha. there is a level of which average courtesies are really…performative in nature. not that they aren’t genuine: but they can be faked, too. it costs very little to tell someone that their hair looks nice. it’s a normal brief social interaction.
but like…pretty much every time i call my parents, this is what it’s like for me. like: the last couple weeks, i’ve been avoiding calling because i knew that they had some Drama brewing. my dad *had* to put a lock on the fridge so that my sister would stop eating because she’s overweight and obviously that is the best way to help someone who’s overweight, right. so i avoided calling, because i need to stop being their emotional mediator, and because a therapist is the appropriate place for them to talk about their issues. and also a therapist would be getting paid, which i would not!!
but like: last week, I called. and none of this was brought up, even though I knew it was happening or had happened. instead it was very nice. almost pleasant. my dad especially; my mom’s never been able to process her emotions the way he does. and it was because they wanted me to come visit, and were invested in just – making me want to come.
and for like five whole seconds i wanted to go – but you can always see the flashes of awful around the corners. reflecting from things they’ve done, things you know they could do. the guilt trips they set. and all that niceness is just…
i mean, for my parents, it’s something they want to be. they want to believe they have a good relationship with me. they want to believe i would want to come home. they just aren’t interested in putting in the work to be healthy people to be around, because that would mean that something was wrong with them, lo and behold. because literally no one in the world has ever needed a therapist and been an ok person. because needing a therapist makes you weak, or insufficient, or something
Mary doesn’t care about any of that. she just wants what she wants, which makes her pretty simple to predict but also even more devastatingly effective.
yup!!! and it’s like. so gaslighty. because literally every time i talk to them i feel crazy. like i don’t know what i know. like i’m just being ridiculous. like i could just trust, and maybe this time lucy won’t kick the football
i don’t know if that’s better or worse than pre-emptively escalating conflict where it can be controlled
either way like The Manipulative Niceness, It Sucks
Okay, yeah, that makes sense and would explain why it’s so unsettling. My mom’s an expert on these interactions. Did you tell me that my husband has been harassing you and trying to force you into reparative therapy, well let’s talk meaningless other stuff with me play-acting we have a happy normative mother-daughter relationship.
Also *hugs offered* for what you’re dealing with from the parental units.
idk like i’ve built up this habit of looking at people’s actions before I look at their words, and interpreting those words through the weight of their actions. like: they have not stopped being who they are based on how they make you feel or what they are doing at the moment. i haven’t super figured out how to integrate that into, like, a philosophy of Being Chill With People I Don’t Like as a self-protective thing but i’m sure it’s out there. because like – if you fly off the handle at someone who is at the moment doing nothing, it’s really easy for them to turn that around on you and become the innocent victim. gaslighting!!!!!
with family it’s different because people put so much into the idea of these relationships making them happy that not having them turn out the way they want is super painful. because we don’t teach people that other people are not theirs to own, and that their perceptions do not make up the sum of other people, and that you have to be true to your self and have moral standards before you can be there for other people. but meanwhile, the fantasy of being a happy family is super compelling. if sometimes harmful, especially when it takes the place of actually dealing with the problems in the family.
*hugs* for what you’ve dealt/are dealing with from both of your parentals
It’s also an avoidance mechanism. You go with inconsequentialities and small talk because dealing with major issues, your own or others, is exhausting, difficult, and sometimes beyond your ability. There’s no small number of people in these comments, for example, who’ve expressed that they’ve had suicidal ideation, or attempts, but how often do people bring that up in the ordinary course of trying to make bad puns about the topic of the day? It’s not necessarily a malicious thing.
Though it’s 100% so here. This is Mary screwing with Carla’s head, which has some similarities to how Carla set up the pie scenario…
Who knows, maybe she mixed up the Churches and instead of “All are sinners and need to burn! Except for us.” she got one that is like “God loves all and you should too” and it’s still sticking to her heretical skin for now.
Sorry, I’m just really confused by all those religious groups in US. Over here most are Catholics with Jehovah Witnesses sprinkled here and there. Oh and some of those Eastern Orthodox.
Adlai Stevenson was UU, a member of the congregation here in Bloomington, IL. He ran for president against Eisenhower. Imagine a Unitarian Universalist candidate today!
Back in the 70s, my dad (an economist) had a short-term consulting job in Saudi Arabia. One of the documents required by the Saudi government was a letter from a minister attesting to his being a Christian. (One assumes that they were less concerned with him being a Christian than with him not being Jewish.)
This caused our minister some head-scratching, as the modern UU church is not Christian in any sense other than historical association. Apparently he managed to come up with some acceptably-worded document, probably invoking a Christian heritage or tradition.
As for Mary, it’s conceivable (however remotely) that some road-to-Damascus experience might convince her to change to a liberal Christian denomination — they are out there, although in Indiana they might be harder to find. But I just can’t imagine Mary being comfortable in a church in which pagans and atheists and Buddhists are sitting right next to her.
And now, only vaguely apropos, some satire from Jon Carroll. I don’t know if he is himself UU, but he’s obviously quite familiar with the UU fondness for doing everything by committee.
“People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution.”
Nothing’s more disconcerting than a bigot play-acting nice.
And it’s extra disconcerting because we know Mary is of the mind that she’s dispatched her main check against her with her power-play against Ruth and Billie. And we also know that Mary has been angling multiple times to continue her harassment of Carla so it is exceedingly unlikely that she’s decided against that course of action.
And it definitely throws Carla for a loop and ends her nice happy smiley mood. And that Panel 3 is the look of severe mistrust and fear when a known bigot starts openly complimenting your looks as a trans woman, because it’s only a matter of time before a really big shoe drops.
And its also hard to push back against. And we see that in Panel 4 with Carla just going with a genuine confused thank you, because what else do you say to that? She’s not being horrible… yet. But that’s not exactly a thing you can trust.
Do you know what I find really weird? Those are actually happy, non-mean smiles by Mary – contrast her expressions here to those in the meeting with Ruth, where we get evil smiles. But here, even in the first panel before their interaction begins, Mary’s just smiling to herself instead of looking at Carla with a “and now to put her off guard before I strike” expression.
I mean, I suppose it’s nice that she’s happy without hurting anyone in the process, but it’s like seeing a bull shark walking into a diner and ordering a salad. Even if it does just eat the salad and leave, you keep half-expecting the thing to just spaz out and eat everyone.
You’re right. It’s just, ah, what a morning, hello Carla, your hair is pretty, I’m having a good day, which yeah, is deeply disconcerting. And you’re right about it being like a shark ordering salad on land. It’s like, wait, what?
And it’s even more “what?” because it’s a gender affirming comment, complimenting the hair being down and in Mary’s religion at the moment, making a gender affirming comment for a trans person is a downright evil act because you are supporting “someone rejecting God’s holy plan for them and thus stating that God makes mistakes”.
But it’s not an evil smile, it doesn’t seem to be disingenuous, at least from the outside, and it’s probably the nicest she’s been on panel (scrolls through archive), wow, ever.
So yeah, definitely feeling Carla’s “did I just step into the Twilight Zone*” takeaway.
*(The place is a madhouse/Feels like being cloned/My beacon’s been moved/Under moon and star)
Honestly, and I can’t believe I’m saying this and simultaneously I want to clearly state that I am not endorsing or excusing any of Mary’s past actions (because I know if I don’t say this I will be perceived as doing that), I kinda wonder if Mary is bipolar and doesn’t like taking her medicine or something, and one of the ways she makes herself feel better about herself is by antagonizing people and being a self righteous, hypocritical, hateful bongo. Because this panel just genuinely throws me off. Like, aside from how she normally acts all we really know is that she likes drawing. Maybe she’s happy because she got a good grade on an important project. Or maybe Roz’s room transfer request finally went through and Mary’s just as happy to have a different roommate as Roz is. Or maybe she’s finally figured out the rest of the hall hates her and she’s trying to change her image. So many possibilities are filtering through my head right now.
I, uh, am not sure that’s how bipolar works? I mean, I know it works differently for everyone, but my bipolar doesn’t resemble that in any way shape or form, and I’ve never ever seen it manifest like that for anyone else, either. Bipolar makes you miserable because your heart rate is constantly too high and it hurts and you’re panicking for no reason, or because you barely have the energy to get out of bed and need 100% focus on your work to get through the day while hating yourself, but it doesn’t… fundamentally change your personality and beliefs such that you become a bullying bigot when you’re in a polar state?
maybe you were thinking of borderline, not bipolar? I always mix them up because they both start with B, and “BPD” looks just like “bipolar” to my brain’s hashing algorithm.
still, probably not the greatest idea to speculate on characters having mental illnesses you don’t have personal experience with. too many ways that can end up hurting people.
So, here’s a fun thing to think about. If every Dumbing of Age character played Overwatch, which hero would they main? I know it’s largely a pointless thing to talk about, but I prefer it over yet more discussion of the darkness.
I can see Walky maining Reaper to show off how “mature he is”. Alternatively a Genji.
Joyce strikes me as either Zenyatta or Mercy kind of person.
Sarah might Main Roadhog, gleefully murdering everything in her way.
Carla would be probably a Junkrat, loving the mayhem.
Dorothy might be… a Reinhardt? Responsible and taking care to protect her team-mates?
Sal… mhm not sure, someone hard to Master but awesome to play?
I can totally see Joyce liking Zenyatta.
Carla, though, I figure she’d like one of the builders, like Symmetra.
I’m kinda surprised you put Walky with Reaper or Genji, what with Winston being on offer.
Sal seems like a Widowmaker player, if only because of Widow’s spider tattoo.
Well I’m not That well-versed, I’m mostly interested in art and characters. I don’t even play xd
Symmetra… or Torbjorn, laughing at him hammering the turret into place XD
Oh yeah Monkey Master and Winston would fit his aesthetic. Sarah might play Reaper seeing how they are both made of salt.
Smirking as she gets a good vantage point and snipes away. Yup sounds like something Sal would enjoy.
I thought similarly, but then I realised Zarya’s play style focuses on feeding off the enemy and using it against them, with a special move that puts people right where you want them.
Sarah’s more of a Pharah. Trying to stay above it all, stay away from people, and raining down a maximum amount of firepower on the head of anyone who threatens her or her loved ones assigned teammates.
MIKE is Reaper. Lurking, watching carefully, spotting an open, stealthing in when no one notices, shooting people in the back, unleashing hell, and then getting away scot-free.
That makes a lot of sense. Leslie would probably play Ana or Zarya I think. Also, I don’t know why, but I feel like Jacob would main Torbjorn (can’t figure out the umlaut on my iPod) and just keeping building up turrets.
My guess as to why Mary is being so ‘nice’ is because she is being counter-blackmailed.
Remember when Mary had Ruth turning a blind eye to her dickbaggery through threats that she would tell snitch about Ruth’s relationship with Billie? Well, now that the secret is out about Billie and Ruth, Mary has nothing on Ruth, and I doubt that the University looks kindly on blackmailing an RA…
That’d be a good shout, but it seemed like she defanged that during the meeting when she went after Billie. Like, she, by all rights, feels she has power over her counter-blackmailer, but she’s not using a centimeter of that to be anything less than pleasant to a major target of hers and it doesn’t even seem to be the “faux niceness” she put on previously with Roz and everyone when she was “keeping her nose clean”.
I wouldn’t consider this a 4th wall break. Carla’s an engineer and probably a bit of a nerd, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that she’s aware of multiverse theory.
Yesterday, I made a post riffing on Dorothy waking up… and it being like Wizard of Oz…
(“And you were there, and you were there… No, Faz, you were NOT there!”)
I was wondering last night if these happy little domestic scenes are all in Dorothy’s head, as she keeps insisting everything is fine and nothing happened to the doctors who have her under observation.
We’re never returning to them. The entire rest of the school year will just be happy characters doing happy things. Never seeing or even mentioning Amber or Dorothy.
As we cringe more and more, waiting for the shoe to drop.
Ethan and Mike go back to their forum duo. A quick checkup and Sayid and Bryan. Sierra. Grace. Molly. Actually I’m surprised we got to see a bit of Joyce considering one of her best friends was involved.
Question to the UK folks: do I understand correctly that the election results have led to an agreement between the Tories and the UK equivalent of the Tea Party?
No, it is an alliance between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party, the political party in Ulster that wants the province to remain part of the United Kingdom. The’ve been long natural allies and they propped up the Major government in the mid-1990s for a while too.
The DUP are somewhat religious but so are all Ulster-native political parties. However, I’d consider them fairly centrist in total. Certainly, they are no unconditional fans of Brexit and would certainly want guarantees about cross-border travel and trade with Eire as a condition of any formal alliance.
For “somewhat religious” read “actual Young Earth Creationists who are why NI is the only part of the UK that doesn’t have marriage equality.” Mary would probably love them.
I had missed the YEC part, but I heard climate change deniers and anti-choice, either of which would be good enough reasons for me to wish meteorite upon them.
Bear in mind, this will cause fractiousness in the less fundie parts of the tories, and will likely accelerate the crash of the Tories that will lead to the next election in 2018-2019, where, if current trends are maintained, Jezza will eat the tories with a jam glaze.
i have to go with puppy for an alternate time line would have mary being as nice as she just was more so. in fact i would go with mary having a whole bunch of puppies for breakfast
So, surely we can now officially lay to rest any lingering doubts about whether or not Carla actually makes a noticeable amount of noise on her skates, right?
Cuz Mary sure doesn’t seem to notice anything now that she’s got her sights on a different target.
…Yes it does? If Carla were making a level of noise actually worth commenting on, Mary would have some sort of reaction to it. A wince, a frown, a sneer, anything at all. So would Joyce, frankly, the other day when she said she didn’t think people are allowed to skate in the halls.
Like I said to Emily down below, Mary (and many people in the comments) was previously claiming that this noise level was unbearable, through a door, and down a hall.
I find it deeply suspicious that that same “unbearable” noise, at a louder volume (due to the absence of previous barriers), doesn’t even seem to register.
Mary gave Carla a passive-aggressive compliment on her femininity. Why not a passive-aggressive compliment on her skates, too, if they really bother her in the same way that Carla’s transness really bothers her?
Like, Mary complaining wouldn’t tell us anything, because we know Mary is biased against Carla to begin with, but her lack of complaint indicates that nothing about this noise actually bothers her.
I mean when you’re in a good mood you’re generally less likely to mind minor sources of irritation simply because you’re in a better headspace that doesn’t magically mean those things never annoy you ever it just means you’re more inclined to overlook them just like when you’re in a bad mood you’re more likely to take inordinate issue with them.
Like we KNOW Mary is a giant transphobe and yet she’s being pleasant to Carla which doesn’t mean she isn’t actually repulsed by Carla having the audacity to exist and she was just pretending to be a jerk it just means she’s in such a good mood that it’s not enough to get to her.
1.) Mary’s not actually being pleasant to Carla. Her compliment is specifically directed towards Carla’s femininity. That shit is targeted. It is not in any way similar to how she seems to completely have failed to notice what she — and plenty of people in the comments! — previously claimed was an unbearable level of noise even when down the hall and through her door. A noise level she previously couldn’t help noticing even when in a neutral mood (as far as we know!) to start with, which is now much, much closer to her and should be much, much more irritating, is mysteriously inaudible to her.
Meanwhile, Mary isn’t failing to notice that Carla is trans. She’s commenting on it, passive-aggressively, knowing full well that this compliment will make Carla feel weird and out of sorts.
2.) Like, if the skates were being treated the same way Carla’s transness is being treated, Mary would have said, “So glad to see you got new skates!”, or commented on the skates and the noise level in literally any other way.
3.) I don’t really understand your comparison, but the hypothetical Mary who was “just pretending to be a transphobe” and hurling violent transphobia at Carla in her pretense would not in any way be less of a jerk. People who say offensive stuff “just to get a rise out of people”, who “aren’t racist, [they] just hate everyone equally” are not actually as free from bigotry as they think they are. If you’re willing to hurt people for a pretense, it’s because you’ve decided those people’s feelings aren’t terribly important, which means you’re dehumanizing them, which you’re probably suspiciously more likely to do to marginalized folks, despite all of your hypothetical protests to the contrary.
Theorizing: The Meatbag known as “Mary” is off to attend a Westboro Baptist Church protest on campus.
Thoughtful. They are probably there to support the good, Christian son of a pastor who was ‘falsely’ accused of rape by a ‘pack of rabid lesbians,’ before getting stabbed, slashed, or otherwise finding his bodily fluids outside of his body at the business end of his own knife.
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 21h
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 1d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
confirming that the reason there's been no Galaxy Version female characters in Blokees until now is that they felt they needed to make Round Lady Thighs For Ladies
It's #webcomicday? We have a special day???
Well, my name is Pat McHoarney and I draw 69 Mouse-Ear Blvd, a multigenerational story about women who all have sexy legs and probably other features. There was a grandmother, but she wasn't hot and so she died off-panel.
Elizabeth Holmes is in prison for defrauding investors through her blood-testing company, Theranos. Her partner, Billy Evans, is now trying to raise money for a company that describes itself as “the future of diagnostics.” nyti.ms/3FbtZm9
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 21h
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 1d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
The New York Times @nytimes.com ⋅ 5d
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 3d
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I vote puppy
puppy-eating commenced
Just because every apsect of someone’s personality is objectively horrible doesn’t mean that they eat puppies. Puppies are too hard to digest.
i didn’t say she ate them raw
obviously she boiled them alive first and then sold their furs to cruella de vil, who was taken aback by her awfulness. not enough to not buy the furs, obviously, you don’t get into the puppy fur business by quibbling over morality, but still.
Boiling them alive would ruin the fur. You have to skin them first. Otherwise, the fur will wrinkle as the muscles cook and the hide compresses around the shrinking muscles
.
Ah. Innocence.
What makes you think she’d kill them to skin them?
Then, of course, the recipe calls for lemon juice.
Not really. Could’ve always steamed them like street dumplings.
i did think of that, but if she skinned them alive then they’d be dead which destroys the point of boiling them alive!!
maybe it’s just flashboiling? although at this point i’ve put far too much work into a really gross headcanon
Anybody else got the phrase: “Bored now.” stuck in their head after this thread?
I was thinking more in a general “House Bolton”-direction, especially since the hyptothetical (?) violence and cruelty is depicted towards canines, but now that you mention it…
Does that mean Ryan accidentally shot Marys girlfriend and that made her evil?
… No, something isn’t right there…
Just going to make the point that puppy-eating is normal behavior in some eastern societies. And that they are damned good eating. Sweet and tender.
Small hot dogs are sometimes called pups, so…
Hot pups doesn’t sound right somehow.
You don’t eat those that way! Oh, wait, I’m thinking of sweater pups.
You think to small my friend. This is the alternate universe where Mary exclusively eats puppies.
Speaking of small, wow, Mary’s short. Either that, or Carla’s really tall. Even factoring in the skates.
Carla’s toll
Keep meaning to find this comic when folks bring up Carla’s height, but couldn’t for the life of me remember where it was:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/purpleandskates/
Objectively I think piglets might be eviler to eat.
Nah, piglets grow up into pigs, and pigs are basically 500lb domesticated rats. Hell, buying wild boar meat is basically a public service.
Pigs are way smarter than rats. Or dogs.
also capybaras are giant horse-rats, and are totally cute, and I am going to own one some day.
There are frogs that make “Meow!”-sounds.
Bacon veal…
Personally, I’m more concerned about how Mary is looking off behind her in panel 1, indicating something behind her that amuses or pleases her. I fear this is just Mary being smug post-hate-crime, and that poor Carla is about to walk (or roll) right into some sort of horrible trans-phobic BS that Mary has set up to the left. Thus Mary is being “nice” to set up Carla for the hate-crime “prank” just off panel to the left.
I think that qualifies as the “freshly eaten puppy”
Ditto
Umbreon
Mary broken.
Mary.exe has stopped responding. Click here to relaunch the application.
“You know what?” *pulls hand away from the mouse* “Let’s just leave it like this.”
Aw, we can’t leave it feeling left out like that.
Start up a VM and copy the executable in there. It can run in a happy little confined world where it won’t trouble anyone, and it’ll never know the difference.
*re-reads the last few strips*
waiiiitaminute…
Seconding or thirding or whatevering the puppy vote.
If I were Carla I would have immediately put my hair in a ponytail.
carla i’ll braid your hair baby u don’t have to take that
If you braid your hair, you’re just letting the terrorists win.
???????? i can’t read, what does this mean
So you WOULD let Mary’s oppinion decide how you wear your hair? XD
If I were Carla, I’d do whatever the hell I wanted, because I’d be a mother-fucking goddess.
Objectively the best response
oh god mary’s wearing white oh god oh god oh god
doom
Maybe she’s Shattered Glass Mary!
i don’t understand this reference, please expectorate
Ew…
im just saying they should spit it out
Essentially, the Transformers universe(s), the Shattered glass setting is one in which all the ‘bad guys’ are on the side of justice and truth and happy shiny people holding hands, and all the “Good guys” are the villains.
……….oh
lmao i was googling “shattered glass mary” and getting nothing clarifying. for a moment there i thought it maybe had something to do with stained glass? a shattered stained glass mary? an au catholic mary??? who knows
there is just not an easy all-encompassing term for this concept is there
Bizarro
“Am Mary! Don’t look at frown! I can too be mean!”
@zoelogical #3 comment, me am wish for downvote button, no stars!
@SgtWadeyWilson very rude! am not complimented! i can’t do this forever!
@zoelogical Challenge declined! Me am got no time on hands, will leave now!
Bizarro would have worked but Shattered Glass felt more ‘Willis’.
Note: The Meatbags have taken the bait. I repeat, the Meatbags have taken the bait.
Also, AK-47 will never not be funny.
Especially my headcanon Elcor-programmed AK-47, meatbags!
Declamation: The Meatbag who hit “Post Comment” is being ‘taken care of,’ because he did not correctly intuit the mechanical glory that is AK-47.
Ahhh! And like that, what, eight years later, I get Willis’s Shattered Glass Ravage strip.
Shattered Glaston?
If that was the case, we’d have a meme-tastic Ravage running around.
and waving. to everyone.
Maybe Shattered Glass Mary is Ravage’s holomatter avatar!
SHOOT HER~!
SHOOOOOOOT HEEEER!
She’s a clever girl…
She ate a puppy. That’s definitely it.
Is there a timeline in which Mary is an unequivocally good person?
n o
Nope.
Only on Earth-3.
For some reason my mind immediately sprang to that episode of Darkwing Duck where he gets knocked out or something and wakes up and everyone’s good/evil alignment was swapped (except Nega-Duck)
Tbh all I remember about the ep is the alignment thing, it’s been like twenty years since I watched that show…
Actually, Nega-Duck’s alignment is swapped.
You’re thinking of the episode where Darkwing finds out Nega-Duck’s name is literal… He’s Darkwing’s -counterpart- in that episode.
It’s the one where the Friendly Five all become darkwing and adopt that world’s goslyn, right? I remember it best because Darkwing fell into a cake to get to their world.
Shattered Glass Mary?
Timeline 2346alphaxray98. Unfortunately that’s because everyone else in the timeline is literally a clone of Hitler.
IIRC, Walkyverse Mary eventually became more mellow, though never actively good.
I don’t think Mary is up to something here because…frankly, she’s wildly incompetent, so either she’s scared of Carla or in such a good mood its over-riding the rest of her. Presumably Roz just got framed for Ryan’s murder and Mary’s just happy to have her own room.
I’d argue Walkyverse!Mary being more mellow. She acted like it with Billie but a few years later, she’s still being a shitty friend.
I read Ryan and my first thought was “Why would Mary kill Paul Ryan?”
……derp.
I mean in theory yeah, there’s infinite alternate universes, but… is a Mary that’s genuinely nice actually Mary?
Nah, her clothes would be stained
She could be a very finicky puppy eater … or maybe that’s what she does in just her panties and bracelets in the afternoon.
OMINOUS
Who’s the girl in the dark brown hair and what did she do with the real Mary?
Who cares, let’s keep this one.
No. She’s smiling. Mary has a number of different smiles and none of them are good. WOW (Word of Willis)
Mary looks really cute in this strip.
I’m not a fan.
Yay! She’s being nice!
Surely this sudden shift is to be trusted!
No……….
She witnessed what happened to Ryan and Amber gave her an unambiguous ‘you’re next’ look.
I don’t trust the new Mary. It can smell fear.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers! Maybe we can convince the aliens to keep Mary…
She’s a Zygon duplicate!
…
Actually, she’s not a Zygon duplicate. No. This Mary is nice and kind. She’s obviously the real Mary, and even if you find the real biological Mary entwined in Zygon tentacles, I’ll still claim this one is the real Mary.
ah, the classic “you know, we like this one better, you can keep the original.”
In any plot involving duplication (or radical personality alteration), it tends to go about 20/80 with “thanks, but we want our jerk back.” The difference in ratio is mostly due to the need to maintain status quo.
I’m just surprised you can smell webcomics.
I’m gonna hope that Mary spends so long acting nice, she forgets to actually do anything villainous.
So she is becoming the mask? It’d be nice to say that I like her, as opposed to saying that I like her outfits. But I’m not a big fan on hating. And I like the outfits Willis designs for her more than anyone else’s.
Either Mary’s plotting something awful, or we’ve just met Yram, her secret kindly atheist twin sister.
Who wears church clothes, but only on Saturdays!
Honestly, Carla, skating in your dorm hallway is obnoxious behavior.
I think this subject has been covered previously
Which actually makes Mary’s out-of-character niceness even *more* odd
This subject was beaten to death and buried next to a troll, but now it’s back as a … ZOMBIE THREAD!
Tonight on amc…..The Walking Thread!:
Carla has unfair hallway skating privileges! Mary did nothing wrong!
He just cares about his daughter! Maybe Becky isn’t really a le-
*is shot*
Are you really bringing that up in a strip with these two characters? Really?
I mean, while Mary is a asshat who can choke on her own saliva for all half of us care, the fact that it is the opposite of what Mary wants doesn’t excuse Carla for being a self righteous conceited disturbance to the rest of the dorm.
I would love to see what Sarah would say to Carla if they ever talked.
“Do you want to borrow my baseball bat?”
“No thanks, I prefer sweet, sweet pranks.”
Skating is life. Who would deny Carla life?
“Do you want to borrow my baseball bat?”
“No thanks, I use a vibrator.”
I mean, it IS the best way to deal with Carla. She wants everyone to treat her like she’s a standoffish jerk so her plans are completely foiled if people are nice to her (see: Joyce thanking her).
She wasn’t foiled at all by Joyce being nice. She was quite pleased by it. Hence all the big grins
Not here, when Joyce thanked her for the milk jugs.
You know, I’m just not gonna say anything.
That’s an OCD thing? My brain does that a lot, and it’s starting to sound like I have some form of OCD… But from reading Wikipedia it seems the only treatment is things I’m already doing. :/
Btw, I could read the OCD comment on my rss reader, but not on mobile Firefox; is it something that only shows on mouseover?
Yeah, it’s one of those mouse/hover over tag attributes. Specifically, it the title attribute, and to my knowledge, it can be used with tags like abbreviation, hyperlinks, pictures.
Ans specifically it’s a compulsion, for me anyways, so put in a comment here if I’ve decided to comment. Like here, a funny comment came to mind, and I went to type it, but then realized that it’d be offensive as well. But I had already started the process to comment, and then I couldn’t not comment, so I had to work out something to say.
Okay, but, Carla’s hair actually does look nice down.
…well, either she’s attempting to convince people she’s up to something and covering it up so someone will snap and do something “unprovoked” to her. Or she’s eaten a puppy.
OooOOoooorrr… She’s managed to do something hateful but indirect, like giving an anonymous tip to some right-wing Christian organization or other that there is a horrible, awful guy posing as a “trans-woman” (not that such a thing actually exists /sarcasm) in order to get into the shared bathrooms in the girls’ dorm, and they’ve just shown up to “investigate” her claim and make life horrible for Carla.
Where did Indiana stand on the stupid bathroom laws, again?
Oh man… Ryan did die, or at least got really big big boo boos. It was so epic it reset the world. Carla and Joe are nice, Danny doesn’t care about women anymore. DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER.. MASS HYSTERIA!!!!!!!!!!!
With Ryan dead, the Imperius Curse he put on Mary is broken..
Or at least that’s what she claims, so that there’s no way to prove she was truly loyal.
Wait, is that how that shit worked in Harry Potter? Jesus. I’d feel like any experience with the actual curse would put that theory to bed (all live accounts of the Imperius Curse in the books turns the victim into a blank doll that follows your commands until you lift the curse).
Or worse yet, an alternate timeline where Mary sacrifices twice as many puppy souls as before to keep her endless spite in constant check, manifesting itself in smiles with what looks like lipstick. o-o
Mary is just suspicious no matter what she does, isn’t she? After all I’ve seen, I can’t trust her smile. XD
except, [sarcasm]clearly[/sarcasm] no *true* Christian woman would wear makeup, so where’s she hiding the fresh puppy blood? o-o
She massaged it in to bring out her natural glow?
There is a distinct possibility that Mary spent the last 3 days on a magical journey, where a series of strange events taught her a series of life lessons.
I’m going to place my bets with Carla and that Mary has eaten a puppy with a glass of orphan tears.
maybe she’s still high
She was visited by the ghost of Ronald Reagan and taken to another universe where she saved the world by learning about Kindness?
And then she found the gay trans woman who killed her father and caused her bigotry, gaining the help she needs from a gay person to finally defeat her.
Wait…this is the plot to Who Framed Roger Rabbit…isn’t it?
Totally! Someone pitch it to Hollywood XD
Now I just want this to be Mary’s new personality forever and have it never be explained.
And a comments section full of suspicion?
For years.
There is a much more distinct possibility that none of that happened.
We can dream the dream.
Must you ruin everything?
… Roz has been away, and hiding-in-her-room-all-scared Mary found her Drawer of Magic Toys?
Why would Roz of all people be bothered by that??
Mary’s statement… is true…?
I am scared. ;-;
David Willis you stop this right now
Explaining what happened to Mary? yeah, he probably will for awhile. The suspension of it will drive the commenting section mad, possibly sending more people to Pateron for next day’s comic, to just be slightly closer to the answer, in perpetuity.
I’m reminded of the hovertext from this strip. I have many concerns.
My theory is that sometime during the timeskip, Billie punched Mary in the head so hard that it brain-damaged her and completely changed her personality.
Um, I have some experience with that, and brain damage induced personality changes are never for the better.
I think I have heard of like, one instance where it caused a positive change but I can’t for the life of me remember who it was and searching for it hasn’t helped me find out either, but yeah, I would think it is more likely to result in negative changes or losses in functions.
IRL that may be true, but in comics (and webcomics) there is less realism behind “being hit on the head and getting a new personality”. Guy Gardner in the 90’s comes to mind. I am not sure if this comic is going for realism or not.
Well, I figure that Mary didn’t have any more down to go, so she wrapped around to nice.
Alternately, maybe she just got laid. She’ll be a jerk again when the endorphins wear off.
I fucking hate that trope.
And yet, it seems to have at least some basis in reality. :/ I was on a small shoot this one time, where the Director of Photography hooked up with someone else on the crew, and we could tell whenever he got laid, because instead of making us haul all the extremely heavy lighting equipment out into the bush where we were filming (had to carry it a long ways from where we could get the truck to out to where we were shooting) on the off chance we might need it, he’d only bring out what was actually required for that day’s shooting.
We all begged her to nail him as close to daily as possible. That shit was heavy.
I can also confirm that there is some truth to that as well.
Don’t worry Pablo, I cringed when I read it.
Maybe someone shoved some Fun Pills down Mary’s throat…
Puppies for breakfast? That’s a bit much, isn’t it? More of a kitten meal, surely.
Puppies in the morning, puppies in the evening, puppies at supper time…
Great, now that is gonna be in my head all day. Thanks a lot…
Well considering that Lox is a salmon cutlet, I get it.
Sometimes people can just be nice for no reason….it’s not likely but let’s just enjoy it while it lasts.
The problem with that theory is that Mary only derives happiness from the suffering of others.
I wonder how she feels about the suffering of Ryan?
I feel like Ryan is the one person even Mary would hate….Assuming she was aware of his crimes. Otherwise she could just be another one of his “sympathizers”
Mary: Dammit Ryan! Evil Christian is my thing!
Compared to Ryan or most other DoA villains, Mary’s a bit more of a garden-variety asshole, with slightly more complexity and a need to be able to maintain her self-image as “the good one surrounded by evil”. She’s the kind of person who’d make justifications for Toedad if she heard about it second-hand, for instance, but wouldn’t actively team up with him to capture Becky in a bear trap.
Hating Ryan is both easy and fun, since he’s not a Christian (or certainly not a “real” once), so Mary would do it easily and lecture everyone about how Ryan shows the importance of abstinence-only education or something.
They both look very nice in this strip. But happy Mary still scares the crap out of me D:
Looks quite attractive in that third panel though, I mean if you didn’t know anything about her
Okay, let’s face it, if you take away the personality…Mary is pretty damn attractive in general. Plus she has large eyes, which we tend to see as cute.
and everyone is more attractive when they smile
Have you seen Theresa May smile?
Or Steve Bannon
“More”
-1,000,000 +1 is still negative.
Yeah, I think it’s the puppy thing.
Isn’t Mary terrible in all AUs though?
I think in a few she’s nonexistent.
Normal Universe Mary Bio Entry: OMG!WTF!!KIWF!!! (Oh my gods! what the fuck!! Kill it with fire!!!)
Off-brand AU Mary Bio Entry: Mostly harmless. Cause of death/absence: [insert headcanon here]
Honestly I have no clue what is happening in this storyline
Don’t be ridiculous, Mary wouldn’t eat a puppy.
Now on the other hand, ritually sacrificing a puppy to God…
But the Bible does not tell us how to do that, plus I’m not sure puppies are clean in the first place.
Mary in a good mood is a dangerous Mary. Also, I like the contrast between their outfits in this scene.
Hmm. So, she’s just come from something that’s put her in a good mood, and something she had to dress up for. Was Mary on a date??
with ryan
Doubtful, if he’s not dead he’s at least in no state for outings. My first thought was she’d been to see him at the hospital
im just saying that if he’s in the hospital it’s probably the only time she knows he’s not cheating on her
I vote she had a kitten AND a puppy.
Wait, I learned this in Manga School. The only time the villain’s nice is when they’re sure they’ve got you and are about to destroy you.
Run away! Run away!
What, there is Manga School? Why did nobody tell me this???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_High_School
Since 1987. When were you born?
Not what I had in mind when I was thinking Manga School, that looks more like the plot of Tenchi Muyo. By 1987 I had already graduated university and my first child was born a year later.
I’m starting to think that this is all either Dorothy or Amber’s dream sequence to deal with trauma or something.
Somewhat unlikely, but remotely possible.
What the fuck is Mary up to, there is no way she can be that cheerful unless she’s got some terrible plan she’s working on.
Maybe she found the half-dead Ryan and is turning him into the ultimate God powered cyborg in her secret lair!
I feel like I’d prefer cyborg Ryan to actual Ryan.
Mary’s not smart enough to come up with a plan, though. She’s literally never succeeded at anything except being a jerk.
Even then she’s beaten out by most of the other villains!
Her last gambit against Carla did end with her getting pied…then later punched in the face. So I can understand why she’d be nice to Carla even if only at face value. Also I’m guessing she just came from or is going to church and might have some sort of religious high going on.
Mary, a Sabbatarian?
she got laid so she’s in a good mo–oh, who am I kidding? Having sex out of wedlock would be against her values, right? my theory is that Jocelyn had a nice talk with Joyce during the time skip, so and Joyce heard about Mary’s transaphobia, so now Joyce threatened Mary and controls her every move. Or maybe it has something to do with pride month.
Considering she got preggers in Walkyverse, it’s not out of the question.
Oh dear god what has happened in these last 3 days
Mary said “Oh, hey, that’s what happens to the nasty people who try to hurt the girls here. Ummmmmm OH HEY LOOK I’M SUDDENLY NICE exceptwhenIcanblendinwithRachel’shate.”
“Rachel Shate? Never heard of ‘er.”
Btw, Willis, a five-year-old kid started talking to me about Transformers at work and it’s because I read your tumblr that I was able to hold, like, any kind of a conversation at all. Thanks!
Where do you work and are they hiring? Asking for a friend who’s totally not a zombie and never been dead.
Most probably a puppy, my recomendation if act polite in turn but not loosening vigilance.
Oh god Mary’s smiling and acting nice!! This isn’t good she’s either up to something or undergone a heel-face brainwashing (which I disapprove of solely because it would be brainwashing).
It turns out that Mary was brainwashed by an alternate Carla, whom the original Carla is forced to fight to the death when she plans to somehow muder everyone has ever had a transphobic thought.
Carla: there is a difference between you and me, we both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back at us..you blinked.
Or…
Carla: Why are you being nice Mary?
Maria: Oh, I’m not Mary. I’m her twin sister Maria…our parents aren’t very creative with names.
Carla: Your kidding right?
Maria: I wish I was. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I don’t really like her, she’s very mean, petty, and spiteful. I mean, I have my faults too, but Mary just seems like she looks for reasons to hate other people, and I don’t like that.
Carla: I’m…still not convinced.
Maria: *sigh* I get this a lot. Don’t worry, I understand.
Mary: Oh. It’s you. Hi, Maria. Making friends with Carla are we?
Carla:…Now I believe you. I think.
no, yeah, its the puppy
Normally I’d hope that maybe Mary actually had some kind of epiphany and maybe is striving to be nicer, but.
Lol.
Oooooh, methinks this does not bode well…
Anytime I see Mary smile I want to toss her out a freaking window. Can’t wait for the day the Karma Train finally runs her stupid ass over.
I always use “defenestrate” – rolls off the tongue better.
“Anytime I see Mary smile I want to defenestrate her.”
What’s next, Billie leading an anti-drug seminar?
Oh, look, Pudding Hair is just coming around the corner to check on Ruth, and Mary knows it. :p
Also possible.
I’m… genuinely having trouble processing this. Like, someone is clearly dreaming, and I can’t tell whether or not it’s me yet.
Silly Carla, puppies are for kicking, not eating.
Everyone else is voting “puppy”.
I’m voting “both”.
To expand on that, here’s the evidence.
1) We already think that puppy-eating is likely enough for almost everyone to be voting for it, so that’s not the hard one to sell.
2) We know that Carla DID stumble onto an alternative timeline. In the last one, she was a talking car that got modded into an android and worked at a toy store. To make this more realistic, that timeline ended in a reality-warping event.
Really, nobody’s said it, yet? Mary is probably being pleasant to Carla because she’s more focused on Billie and Ruth, now.
That, or she’s setting up some bonkers scheme to gain Carla’s trust, make her think Mary’s changed her ways, befriend her, and then use that friendship to tear her life apart from the inside out.
But, uh. That’s a little far-fetched.
That might be a reason that she’s not FOCUSING on Carla, but Mary-types can toss around casual nastiness with very little effort or thought at all. It’s their default state towards those they hate.
…. maybe she just likes pie.
And in addition the fact that’s she’s no longer in a weak position means she’ll get a chance to torment Carla to. This is the type of pleasantness that says “I’m coming for you.”
Mary is such a horrible person.
mary’s learned that sometimes pleasant behavior can get her what she wants
if people think she’s a decent person, they don’t expect her to be awful
hmmm could be just me but due to her pure white outfit (which could been seen as making yourself look pure) and the singing I suspect she has some sort of romantic intent with someone coming up which made her not want to act bongo like so there is little risk of something messing up her look between where she is now and where she wants to go.
I assume she’s realized she has a way to blackmail Billie, and by extension Ruth again.
So… the equivalent, yes.
Those are the musical notes of a piece of shit.
My guess is Mary was also attacked/raped by Ryan, and the violence against him has put her in a good mood.
Oh oh oh god… (Please note these are thoughts of horror and not pleasure, those are annoyingly similar)
i mean like. Mary just got her blackmail victim back in nominal control of the hall again; she has Ruth isolated from her girlfriend, who is moving out; she got Rachel to side against Ruth more than against her; she got an apology from Ruth while not apologizing for any of the despicable things she did or even acknowledging that they were despicable.
she has plenty of reasons to be happy, and they all start with being in a place where she can push Ruth into being suicidal again
Does she even have anything on Ruth anymore that Clint can’t just sweep under the rug though?
… Just random thoughts concerning the two characters that have shown significant changes in these past few strips.
Danny and Mary got it on?
Ugh! -but they are both in really good moods….
i. no. nonononono. noooo
danny deserves better
THE WORST CALLBACK
The fact that the smile doesn’t look creepy enough is itself intensely creepy.
its so…meek
how much do you think she practices it in the mirror
Well, Carla’s alternate timeline theory has some merit.
Consider:
1) Danny is being decisive about his life, rather than being a doormat.
2) Joe is showing genuine concern for Danny, rather than being a selfish douche.
3) Carla is playfully joking around, rather than demanding recognition of her awesomeness.
4) Mary is being friendly, rather than being a spiteful, conniving asshole.
Either that or something like Lauralot said: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/hairdown/#comment-1239360
This is all a hallucination in the mind of Amber, who has spent the last three days in a catatonic state under psychiatric observation and is imagining what life around the dorm would be like if she wasn’t there to “screw everything up”.
5) Carla is from Shortpacked!
Joyce had already recognized Carla’s awesomeness. No demands were necessary.
Okay, this just adds to my theory.
We have:
* Joe being nice to Danny
* Potential bonding between Joe and Danny
* Danny developing in a way not defined by his relationship with others
* Fun Joyce/Carla moment
… and now…
* Mary being tolerable even to Carla.
Again. Willis has decided to give us everything we ever wanted, but turn it to ash in our mouths by putting it RIGHT AFTER a red-panelly Amber v. Ryan fight.
DAMN YOU WILLIS!
TBH I’m kind of worried that Danny’s development involves moving away from Amber. Like it’s saying “Hey look how much better off he is without that crazy harpy look how she ruined his life” and like that’s really unfair of me because Danny needed time to figure himself out regardless it just sucks that this comes at the expense of Amber going through so much bullshit
or maybe thats just my anxiety talking idk
good thing i have therapy today
I think it’s a good thing Danny isn’t so tangled up in Amber’s life anymore. It was creating problems for both of them. Like when Amber lashed out at him, which she regretted and beat herself up about it. They needed some space from each other. Amber’s suffering was gonna happen regardless of what Danny did. It was inevitable.
Amber’s not a crazy harpy, and she didn’t ruin Danny’s life.
yeah i know they needed to break up it wasnt good for them im just being an idiot
So long as Amber keeps insisting that “Amazigirl” is a separate person, she is at the very least being irrational. It’s not a multiple personality situation, though–she knows better.
It’s not really clear how much harder Willis could point to her having DID, without actually having a psychiatrist diagnose her.
Yeah, like it could conceivably be one of the closely related disorders, but at the end of the day she’s a multiple, she’s got alters, she dissociates, she’s got a billion and a half traits that resonate deeply close for me as a person with DID.
Like there’s only so much resemblance to a duck you can see before you have to conclude it’s either a duck or some other related waterfowl.
And yeah, given those symptoms, trying to deny the existence of one of her alters is quite literally the opposite of what she needs to do right now and I’m really scared that Amber/AG after everything is going to think it’s time to lock down the Amber alter once and for all “for everyone’s protection”.
hasn’t he said that the reason he doesn’t make it an official diagnosis is that he does want to provide representation for those who feel/want it, but doesn’t want to make anyone mad if he gets it wrong somehow?
That’s not a fair version of what he said, imho. What he said was that he’s aware that there are harmful stereotypes associated with violent people and DID, and he didn’t want to feed into those stereotypes by giving Amber an official diagnosis.
That’s very different from “not wanting to make anyone mad if he gets it wrong somehow”.
I’m not really sure how strongly coding a violent character as having a particular disorder is really at all better in that respect. Like using coding instead of explicit statements isn’t really more sensitive it just confers a thin facade of deniability.
like what i was trying to say was that it just kind of sucks for me that amber needed to lose danny because its like i have that fear of hurting my partner and i liked that they were together for a lot of reasons and it sucks for me that theyre the only relationship in the series deemed unfit to work hell its not even danny its entirely amber because danny’s fine without her so its like amber’s just this broken person who cant ever love anybody and people are better off without her
sorry this was stupid i shouldnt have said it im sorry
It’s fine. It’s not stupid. I also heavily relate to Amber, although I lack the life experience of dating because I don’t talk to people. I mean that last part about Amber, in your above comment, would probably be me if I ever start dating and/or doing more socialising.* I hope this convinces you that your concerns are valid, because they totally are.
*Right now I just sort of ignore those fears. I’d have to fix the not-talking-to-people part first. Which is partially caused by being scared of hurting and burdening people.
(oops my problems looped back around)
No, it’s definitely a thing to be concerned about. The whole “break up with the crazy person who’s ruining your life” thing is a trope and not a healthy one.
I don’t think Willis is using it intentionally or with bad intent, but it is kind of an issue that it’s the only relationship that’s been established and then broken up.
OTOH, Ruth & Billie make the counterpoint: She gets hospitalized and diagnosed, but they stay together.
no it isnt im just being a fucking piece of shit again
Nah, you’re not a piece of shit.
It’s okay. You were just describing how the story has been hitting close to your own fears and anxiety. Anxiety doesn’t care if it’s an accurate representation of what’s going on with the characters. Anything in the ballpark will usually do.
It’s completely valid for it to make you feel that way, and it sucks that is.
*hugs offered* You’re not a piece of shit and yeah, specific to your fear, I don’t think that’s where his arc is going. Like, he was also unhealthy in his relationship with Dorothy who is extremely normative as far as mental health goes and that also ended in a breakup of the other person’s triggering.
So I think his arc is more about finding a him before finding a partner and would be the arc whether or not Amber was struggling with mental health or not.
On Amber’s side, I think her arc might be more… well, your fear. Not that she’s a piece of shit too crazy for a relationship, but rather that she’s terrified that she’s going to be a piece of shit who is too crazy for a relationship and so isn’t putting any effort into trying to salvage things because part of her views it as her just desserts for her mental health.
And I imagine that’s even more on display now that she’s done something to Ryan right after a floor meeting in which Rachel got done saying that no one can be redeemed and we’re all just our damage.
Or at least, that’s how I’ve been reading it.
But yeah, I can understand the anxiety. With literally any other creator, this probably would be the “crazy ex-girlfriend” story where the ex is “so crazy” and isn’t it wacky how her mental health gets more and more exaggerated and dangerous for the normative characters, blah blah blah fuck that noise.
But I trust Willis that that’s not where this is going.
*hugs* it’s okay to have some Feelings here.
I think most of what I was going to say has been covered… Oh, but, they might get back together again. Every serious relationship I’ve had has included one temporary breakup. Including one specifically for mental health reasons.
yeah it’s just…a super ambiguous line here, between being with someone who needs a lot of help and choosing to take care of yourself first
and maybe neither is wrong or right it’s just complicated and difficult
and now you’re in a spiral, man.
I mean, you probably already knew that, but… no. It’s okay. Breathe.
You’re not being a pile of anything. Your feelings are valid. Your fears are your fears. You aren’t a bad person for feeling this way, or for feeling hurt by the trajectory Amber and Danny are on. You’re not.
/more hugs offered
FWIW, my brain was being awful to me too, about the rot13’d comment on the previous comic. It’s been ranting about how stupid I was to post it so late where nobody would read it, but also about how stupid I was to post it at all because people might read it, and how dare I think anyone would be interested in my thoughts?
That voice is full of shit. It, like Mary and stopped clocks, is only right by *coincidence* – it’ll use anything as an excuse to attack, even shit that makes no sense or is self-contradictory.
i thought that post was clever!! also that you weren’t going to check back on it b/c the new strip was up, otherwise i would’ve said something
haha decryptions are fun
Yeah I know that feeling. I just try to power through my shoulder goblin’s ranting.
I hope you’re feeling better.
I saw your comment! And googled for a rot13 decrypter.
I like what you were trying to say.
I’m still trying to figure out what I’d been trying to say there. There’s something about “I am a conversation” that feels important… part Insight, part defense against perfectionism.
Whatever your message was, it got to me. In my head it’s something about improvement. Humanity isn’t perfect, so it allows for improvement; perfectionism is crap. Also I guess “the journey is more important than the destination”?
Also I really like that we have the same default Becky gravatar!!!
And also, Be wherever you are. That song was eerily similar to phrase I’ve been using for years: “Be where you are. It’s harder than it sounds.” Like, you’re not *supposed* to be perfect already, stop compulsively checking the goal and let yourself enjoy the damn journey a bit or it won’t feel worthwhile when you get there. Missing the goal is better than being too stressed and exhausted to have enjoyed either of them.
Maybe that’s part of why accomplishments feel so unrewarding to me. Huh. They aren’t worth the stress of being stuck in that toxic perfectionistic mindset. So maybe if I tried relaxing and taking smaller easier goals and letting myself miss some and do things “wrong” and such…. I might actually feel good about the things I do accomplish?
That would be pretty awesome.
And it also fits with how I’m continuing to play the game that rewards me for effort, even when I’m convinced the levels are impossible to beat. I keep beating these crazy-hard levels just because the game made trying-and-failing fun enough to keep trying 
Um, wow, thank you everyone. I feel really honoured and flattered to see this outpouring of support for this internet random.
I just had a rough morning when I said this stuff. Days where I go to therapy are usually really rough for me afterwards for some reason idk I just feel really drained and miserable when I come back I’ve basically just been laying in bed since getting back feeling depressed and it took until now for me to get any kind of blood running so reading all of that felt really nice. I’m sorry for wigging out again and I’ll try to be more mature about myself going forward instead of freaking out in a comment section.
Just, thank you. A lot. It means a lot to me.
I had a mini-rant to my own therapist recently about that, how harmful it can be to get dismissive messages like “just don’t be X” without acknowledgement that it’s not some easy thing people should already know how to do, it’s incredibly hard work and can take years. Even if some pieces of the solution seems obvious in retrospect, it’s not fair to beat up on yourself (or anyone else) for not figuring it out sooner. We don’t have magical future-vision. We don’t have proper debugging tools for the brain. Every brain is different and a lot of the time we’re just flailing around in the hopes we’ll stumble on whatever puzzle piece our brain happens to need at the moment.
This shit can take a lot of time and hard work, and it’s worth acknowledging that and taking a moment to reward yourself for the effort.
on that note… SU spoilers, season 5 (omfg season 5), rot13’d again:
V unir zvkrq srryvatf nobhg Ynef’ punenpgre qrirybczrag. Ba gur bar unaq, lnl punenpgre qrirybczrag! Ur svanyyl trgf n shpxvat pyhr! Ba gur bgure unaq, vg jnf irel… dhvpx, naq gur jnl vg jnf unaqyrq znxrf zr harnfl.
Yvxr… jvgu gur cnagf ynffb, jr frr uvz orvat pbzvpnyyl vapbzcrgrag. V fhfcrpg arneyl rirelbar nffhzrf ur’f orvat *vagragvbanyyl* vapbzcrgrag, naq vg’f cbffvoyr ur vf, ohg… guvf jnf gur cbvag jurer V fgnegrq gb haqrefgnaq uvz, orpnhfr nf n xvq V jnf bsgra npphfrq bs gung, jura V ernyyl jnfa’g qbvat vg vagragvbanyyl. Znlor na nygre jnf vagragvbanyyl haqrezvavat zr, ohg V qvqa’g srry yvxr *V* jnf qbvat vg, naq unq ab jnl gb *fgbc* qbvat vg, fb crbcyr chavfuvat zr sbe abg fgbccvat jnf pbzcyrgryl shpxvat hfryrff. Crefhnfvba jnf hfryrff. V ynpxrq rvgure gur fxvyyf be pncnpvgl gb qb nal orggre ng gur gvzr, naq zbfgyl whfg yrneag gb eha njnl shegure vafvqr zl urnq hagvy crbcyr fgbccrq gelvat gb ernpu zr.
Naq gura Ynef fgnegf gnyxvat nobhg ubj fpnerq ur vf, naq bu shpx V tebx guvf abj. Rira gur onxvat, lrnu, V’ir orra gurer. Rirelguvat vf fpnel. V qba’g erfcbaq gb vg va gur fuvggl jnlf Ynef qbrf (bzst gung orgenlny bs Fnqvr vf tbaan unir pbafrdhraprf) ohg gur srryvatf ner gur fnzr. Fb znal srryvatf. Gur gelvat gb purre hc Fgrira vf fbzrguvat V’q qb, gbb.
Vg jnf ernyyl ernyyl tbbq gb frr uvz or yvxr “shpx guvf fuvg, ab zber ehaavat” naq fgnaq hc gb gung ebobg. Ng gur fnzr gvzr n cneg bs zr vf yvxr “vg’f bx gb or nsenvq? gung’f vg, gung’f nyy lbh arrqrq? vg’f abg gung shpxvat rnfl va ernyvgl!” xvaqn yvxr fbzrbar jnf sehfgengrq ng orpxl unaqyvat guvatf fb jryy erpragyl. Yvxr, V trg gung gur fubj unf gb pbzcerff guvatf fbzrjung, ohg, V jbeel gung vg’yy frg haernfbanoyl uvtu rkcrpgngvbaf sbe crbcyr jvgu nakvrgl. Fbzr crbcyr trg yhpxl naq vg *vf* gung rnfl sbe gurz. V fhccbfr vg jnfa’g ragveryl rnfl sbe Ynef, rvgure, fvapr vg gbbx 5 frnfbaf sbe uvz gb fgneg trggvat vg… ohg bapr ur fgnegf, jryy, gung’f whfg gur svefg fgrc, naq va ernyvgl gurer’yy or n ybg zber bofgnpyrf gb birepbzr. Urpx, znlor jr’yy frr Ynef fgehttyvat ntnva yngre guvf frnfba.
V whfg… Fgrira’f terng, ohg Yncvf naq Ynef unir na vagrafvgl bs srryvatf gung V qba’g guvax ur’f rdhvccrq gb shyyl haqrefgnaq (naq V xvaqn ubcr vg fgnlf gung jnl sbe n juvyr, orpnhfr vg’f n irel cnvashy haqrefgnaqvat). Yvxr, gurer’f orvat nsenvq, naq gurer’f orvat shpxvat greevsvrq. Ynef fgnaqvat hc gb gung srne jnf na vaperqvoyl oenir naq uneq guvat gb qb. Guvf vf abg n “frr? vg’f rnfl” xvaq bs guvat. Guvf jnf abg rnfl sbe uvz, guvf jvyy abg or rnfl sbe uvz va gur shgher whfg orpnhfr ur’f jba n srj onggyrf. Vg jvyy or rzbgvbanyyl qenvavat. Vg jvyy or rkunhfgvat. Naq vg’f jbegu vg; vg’f whfg abg n gevivny guvat.
Nnnnaq gura ur fgnegf trggvat gur unat bs guvatf – naq ur’f qrnq. Gurl unaqyrq gung ernyyl jryy, vg qvqa’g fvax va hagvy V’q svavfurq rcvfbqr 4. Ohg ur qvq npghnyyl qvr gurer, naq abj ur’f.. fgvyy uvz, ohg nyfb jr qba’g dhvgr xabj jung ur vf. V’z abg fher jurer gur fubj’f tbvat gb gnxr guvf, be jung gurl vagraqrq jvgu uvf qrngu (orfvqrf n jnl ubzr). Yvxr, znlor vg jnf gb fubj gung guvf fghss vf npghnyyl qnatrebhf? Ohg V jbeel znlor vg jnf fbzr xvaq bs gjvfgrq xnezn guvat sbe uvz orvat fhpu n wrex orsber? Vg’f ernyvfgvp gung jvgu ab genvavat naq ab Tnearg uvf arjsbhaq raguhfvnfz jbhyq tb gbb sne. Vg’f whfg… fb znal cbffvoyr vagrecergngvbaf (rira nfvqr sebz nyy gur cybg dhrfgvbaf vg envfrf). Bgbu, znlor vg jnf whfg n jnl gb yrg uvz fgnl ba Ubzrjbeyq sbe n juvyr, juvpu V guvax jvyy or irel tbbq sbe uvf zragny urnygu, tvivat uvz n punapr gb cenpgvpr orvat avpr-ynef jurer gurer’f ab cerpbaprcgvbaf naq rirelbar’f jrveq naq bxnl jvgu orvat jrveq naq… V whfg ybir gur fhccbegvir pbzzrag sebz Syhbevgr.
Fb, lrnu V ubcr ur trgf gb fgnl ba Ubzrjbeyq naq qb fbzr punenpgre-ohvyqvat sbe n juvyr. V guvax ur’yy or unccvre gurer. V’z vagrerfgrq gb frr ubj Fnqvr unaqyrf gung orgenlny (V unir ab vqrn jurgure fur’yy zbir ba be jung), naq ubj zhpu Ynef fgvpxf uvf sbbg va uvf zbhgu jura gurl zrrg ntnva
Sorry I’m late about coming here to offer my support. I was at work. I understand well the feeling of just being drained, exhausted, and in a bad headspace after going to therapy and just having a rough day afterwards. I don’t think you need to apologize for anything. A lot of us go through similar experiences and can empathize. I won’t saw that a lot of us experience the same thing, because that’s a lie. We’re all different individuals, and this makes all of our feelings and experiences, no matter how similar, different at some level. On the one hand, that fact in and of itself is beautiful and amazing because we all matter and are unique, on the other hand it’s annoying because you can never fully understand another person, which leads to problems of communication and unnecessary fear. Sorry to get all philosophically wishy washy and of track, what I’m trying to say is…don’t worry about having had a bad day and what you might have commented as a result, we’re a really empathic group. And it’s nice that we can be. I hope you’re feeling better. And don’t worry about “freaking out in the comments”. I think about half of the purpose of this comments section is a form of group support and therapy.
Steven Universe spoiler translation: Rocks fall, everyone is transported to Gravity Falls, Oregon, where Stanford Pines reunites with his old criminal buddy, Rick Sanchez, and his grandson, Morty (see the Film Theory Rick/Morty Gravity Falls episode for details on this interaction).
The episode ended on a cliffhanger, which will be resolved in the July 15th movie/season premiere of Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
“And don’t worry about “freaking out in the comments”. I think about half of the purpose of this comments section is a form of group support and therapy.”
Heck, it’s practically a rite of passage by now
I mean it’s really more of a case of “breaking up with a mentally ill person who is making no moves towards getting treatment and instead just takes out their issues on you be it intentional or not” to which Ruth and Billie provide a pretty good counterpoint.
Danny overinvests in his girlfriends. Until he solves that all his romantic relationships will be unhealthy.
I’m just going to pretend Mary had an off screen epiphany and decided to become a better person. Now we will never see her again as she dedicates her life to ended injustices against oppressed people.
This girl needs a real-and-actual fucking hobby.
This “abuse random people for perceived slights” non-hobby is just such a waste of everyone’s time and energy.
lmao very agreed
apparently the drawing manga is doing nothing. let’s get her into track: she can be alone, she can put her body through excruciating pain, and she can spend a lot of time practicing away from her dorm
Frightening.
Well! Mary’s in a good mood and, like Carla, I’m more than a little freaked out by it!
Probably she’s happy that she thinks she has leverage over Ruth and Billie. However, she seems to be wearing her best outfit right now. That makes me wonder if she had a successful date last night and that’s left her in a ‘sunshine and flowers’ mood!
That is possible as endorphins are a thing and if she had a pleasant date she’s coming home from, she might not be in the mind to scrap with the “sinners” and “let them bring her good mood down”.
so….it’s really weird to me that so many people are struggling with Mary’s niceness in the strip tonight. like: none of this feels out of character to me. she can be this person, and still have been the person who tossed transphobic slurs at Carla as if she were nothing. like: she’s like this because she thinks she won.
but also I kind of get it, because, like: it’s so different from her normal demeanor. it’s offsetting. it makes you think Mary could actually be a good person, just because she said something nice this one time. she’s capable of it! she could put her mind to it, if she really tried! and she could. but the thing is: she doesn’t, and most of the time she doesn’t want to.
Mary can afford to be nice to Carla now, because she can be magnanimous in victory. It makes her feel more victorious, because she thinks that in the next moment she can squash Carla under her perfect Mary Jane soles. it’s a power trip, like literally everything with Mary seems to be.
like: the surrealism of this has not escaped me, Believe Me, haha. there is a level of which average courtesies are really…performative in nature. not that they aren’t genuine: but they can be faked, too. it costs very little to tell someone that their hair looks nice. it’s a normal brief social interaction.
but like…pretty much every time i call my parents, this is what it’s like for me. like: the last couple weeks, i’ve been avoiding calling because i knew that they had some Drama brewing. my dad *had* to put a lock on the fridge so that my sister would stop eating because she’s overweight and obviously that is the best way to help someone who’s overweight, right. so i avoided calling, because i need to stop being their emotional mediator, and because a therapist is the appropriate place for them to talk about their issues. and also a therapist would be getting paid, which i would not!!
but like: last week, I called. and none of this was brought up, even though I knew it was happening or had happened. instead it was very nice. almost pleasant. my dad especially; my mom’s never been able to process her emotions the way he does. and it was because they wanted me to come visit, and were invested in just – making me want to come.
and for like five whole seconds i wanted to go – but you can always see the flashes of awful around the corners. reflecting from things they’ve done, things you know they could do. the guilt trips they set. and all that niceness is just…
i mean, for my parents, it’s something they want to be. they want to believe they have a good relationship with me. they want to believe i would want to come home. they just aren’t interested in putting in the work to be healthy people to be around, because that would mean that something was wrong with them, lo and behold. because literally no one in the world has ever needed a therapist and been an ok person. because needing a therapist makes you weak, or insufficient, or something
Mary doesn’t care about any of that. she just wants what she wants, which makes her pretty simple to predict but also even more devastatingly effective.
*AGOS*
That manipulative niceness makes my skin crawl.
yup!!! and it’s like. so gaslighty. because literally every time i talk to them i feel crazy. like i don’t know what i know. like i’m just being ridiculous. like i could just trust, and maybe this time lucy won’t kick the football
i don’t know if that’s better or worse than pre-emptively escalating conflict where it can be controlled
either way like The Manipulative Niceness, It Sucks
Okay, yeah, that makes sense and would explain why it’s so unsettling. My mom’s an expert on these interactions. Did you tell me that my husband has been harassing you and trying to force you into reparative therapy, well let’s talk meaningless other stuff with me play-acting we have a happy normative mother-daughter relationship.
Also *hugs offered* for what you’re dealing with from the parental units.
yeaah.
idk like i’ve built up this habit of looking at people’s actions before I look at their words, and interpreting those words through the weight of their actions. like: they have not stopped being who they are based on how they make you feel or what they are doing at the moment. i haven’t super figured out how to integrate that into, like, a philosophy of Being Chill With People I Don’t Like as a self-protective thing but i’m sure it’s out there. because like – if you fly off the handle at someone who is at the moment doing nothing, it’s really easy for them to turn that around on you and become the innocent victim. gaslighting!!!!!
with family it’s different because people put so much into the idea of these relationships making them happy that not having them turn out the way they want is super painful. because we don’t teach people that other people are not theirs to own, and that their perceptions do not make up the sum of other people, and that you have to be true to your self and have moral standards before you can be there for other people. but meanwhile, the fantasy of being a happy family is super compelling. if sometimes harmful, especially when it takes the place of actually dealing with the problems in the family.
*hugs* for what you’ve dealt/are dealing with from both of your parentals
It’s also an avoidance mechanism. You go with inconsequentialities and small talk because dealing with major issues, your own or others, is exhausting, difficult, and sometimes beyond your ability. There’s no small number of people in these comments, for example, who’ve expressed that they’ve had suicidal ideation, or attempts, but how often do people bring that up in the ordinary course of trying to make bad puns about the topic of the day? It’s not necessarily a malicious thing.
Though it’s 100% so here. This is Mary screwing with Carla’s head, which has some similarities to how Carla set up the pie scenario…
Either she’s moved on or she’s actually planning something new.
Who knows, maybe she mixed up the Churches and instead of “All are sinners and need to burn! Except for us.” she got one that is like “God loves all and you should too” and it’s still sticking to her heretical skin for now.
she’s a unitarian universalist now!! the horror!
What even is that group? The number of Christian sects in US genuinely confuses me O_o
they’re pretty much about loving and accepting everybody, and embracing different viewpoints
have the highest ranking in acceptance of homosexuality
http://religionnews.com/2015/06/30/ranking-churches-on-acceptance-of-homosexuality-plus-their-reactions-to-scotus-ruling/
Seem like nice folks. This is the group Sierra belongs to?
We’re not really Christian, although the founding members were.
Sorry, I’m just really confused by all those religious groups in US. Over here most are Catholics with Jehovah Witnesses sprinkled here and there. Oh and some of those Eastern Orthodox.
huh
do y’all fall under the heading of any particular religion, or are you just kind of doing your own thing?
Adlai Stevenson was UU, a member of the congregation here in Bloomington, IL. He ran for president against Eisenhower. Imagine a Unitarian Universalist candidate today!
Back in the 70s, my dad (an economist) had a short-term consulting job in Saudi Arabia. One of the documents required by the Saudi government was a letter from a minister attesting to his being a Christian. (One assumes that they were less concerned with him being a Christian than with him not being Jewish.)
This caused our minister some head-scratching, as the modern UU church is not Christian in any sense other than historical association. Apparently he managed to come up with some acceptably-worded document, probably invoking a Christian heritage or tradition.
As for Mary, it’s conceivable (however remotely) that some road-to-Damascus experience might convince her to change to a liberal Christian denomination — they are out there, although in Indiana they might be harder to find. But I just can’t imagine Mary being comfortable in a church in which pagans and atheists and Buddhists are sitting right next to her.
And now, only vaguely apropos, some satire from Jon Carroll. I don’t know if he is himself UU, but he’s obviously quite familiar with the UU fondness for doing everything by committee.
A message from the Unitarian Jihad
“People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution.”
Testing
bBzzzxxxxwwfffrrrttt??
marys being…..nice? what universe is this?
Comic Reactions:
Nothing’s more disconcerting than a bigot play-acting nice.
And it’s extra disconcerting because we know Mary is of the mind that she’s dispatched her main check against her with her power-play against Ruth and Billie. And we also know that Mary has been angling multiple times to continue her harassment of Carla so it is exceedingly unlikely that she’s decided against that course of action.
And it definitely throws Carla for a loop and ends her nice happy smiley mood. And that Panel 3 is the look of severe mistrust and fear when a known bigot starts openly complimenting your looks as a trans woman, because it’s only a matter of time before a really big shoe drops.
And its also hard to push back against. And we see that in Panel 4 with Carla just going with a genuine confused thank you, because what else do you say to that? She’s not being horrible… yet. But that’s not exactly a thing you can trust.
Do you know what I find really weird? Those are actually happy, non-mean smiles by Mary – contrast her expressions here to those in the meeting with Ruth, where we get evil smiles. But here, even in the first panel before their interaction begins, Mary’s just smiling to herself instead of looking at Carla with a “and now to put her off guard before I strike” expression.
I mean, I suppose it’s nice that she’s happy without hurting anyone in the process, but it’s like seeing a bull shark walking into a diner and ordering a salad. Even if it does just eat the salad and leave, you keep half-expecting the thing to just spaz out and eat everyone.
what happened in that 3 day period?
Rapture came and Mary was so traumatized by the fact that she was not taken that she is desperately trying to be a decent human being.
You’re right. It’s just, ah, what a morning, hello Carla, your hair is pretty, I’m having a good day, which yeah, is deeply disconcerting. And you’re right about it being like a shark ordering salad on land. It’s like, wait, what?
And it’s even more “what?” because it’s a gender affirming comment, complimenting the hair being down and in Mary’s religion at the moment, making a gender affirming comment for a trans person is a downright evil act because you are supporting “someone rejecting God’s holy plan for them and thus stating that God makes mistakes”.
But it’s not an evil smile, it doesn’t seem to be disingenuous, at least from the outside, and it’s probably the nicest she’s been on panel (scrolls through archive), wow, ever.
So yeah, definitely feeling Carla’s “did I just step into the Twilight Zone*” takeaway.
*(The place is a madhouse/Feels like being cloned/My beacon’s been moved/Under moon and star)
Honestly, and I can’t believe I’m saying this and simultaneously I want to clearly state that I am not endorsing or excusing any of Mary’s past actions (because I know if I don’t say this I will be perceived as doing that), I kinda wonder if Mary is bipolar and doesn’t like taking her medicine or something, and one of the ways she makes herself feel better about herself is by antagonizing people and being a self righteous, hypocritical, hateful bongo. Because this panel just genuinely throws me off. Like, aside from how she normally acts all we really know is that she likes drawing. Maybe she’s happy because she got a good grade on an important project. Or maybe Roz’s room transfer request finally went through and Mary’s just as happy to have a different roommate as Roz is. Or maybe she’s finally figured out the rest of the hall hates her and she’s trying to change her image. So many possibilities are filtering through my head right now.
highly unlikely that Roz’s transfer came through, unless Billie transferred out first. Roz was pissed about being bumped for Billie IIRC.
I, uh, am not sure that’s how bipolar works? I mean, I know it works differently for everyone, but my bipolar doesn’t resemble that in any way shape or form, and I’ve never ever seen it manifest like that for anyone else, either. Bipolar makes you miserable because your heart rate is constantly too high and it hurts and you’re panicking for no reason, or because you barely have the energy to get out of bed and need 100% focus on your work to get through the day while hating yourself, but it doesn’t… fundamentally change your personality and beliefs such that you become a bullying bigot when you’re in a polar state?
maybe you were thinking of borderline, not bipolar? I always mix them up because they both start with B, and “BPD” looks just like “bipolar” to my brain’s hashing algorithm.
still, probably not the greatest idea to speculate on characters having mental illnesses you don’t have personal experience with. too many ways that can end up hurting people.
Sorry bout that. Mary was just reminding me of one of my uncles who was depressive bipolar.
the more i look at it the more i feel like she’s smiling at the fourth wall
Clearly Mary’s up to something. I’m guessing a ladies’ luncheon based on her outfit. An evil ladies’ luncheon.
Going to visit Ryan in hospital?
Ya know, if it was anyone but Mary, Id say that outfit looks cute. It still does, but, Its MARY.
Mary always dresses in style
Also, yes, I too think Carla with her hair down is a nice look. But now I’m not sure if I should because I then end up sharing an opinion with MARY.
Hitler loved puppies so I think we should just ignore Mary and focus on what we love.
I’ll just go get my “damn you Willis” voice ready, I have a sneaking suspicion that I may need it soon.
A Singularity has happened!
Mary the Demon… Oh yes. That’s what they used to call me. Mary the Demon. That was my name.
I… am Mary the Angel. And I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide.
I am thoroughly disgusted by you putting Mary anywhere near Gandalf… QUICK! To the Mount Doom with her!
You’d better call the eagles then. Imagine getting to Mount Doom in DoA time.
Way too much walking, striding and trekking… Probably doing like 4-5 km a day tops…
So, here’s a fun thing to think about. If every Dumbing of Age character played Overwatch, which hero would they main? I know it’s largely a pointless thing to talk about, but I prefer it over yet more discussion of the darkness.
I can see Walky maining Reaper to show off how “mature he is”. Alternatively a Genji.
Joyce strikes me as either Zenyatta or Mercy kind of person.
Sarah might Main Roadhog, gleefully murdering everything in her way.
Carla would be probably a Junkrat, loving the mayhem.
Dorothy might be… a Reinhardt? Responsible and taking care to protect her team-mates?
Sal… mhm not sure, someone hard to Master but awesome to play?
I can totally see Joyce liking Zenyatta.
Carla, though, I figure she’d like one of the builders, like Symmetra.
I’m kinda surprised you put Walky with Reaper or Genji, what with Winston being on offer.
Sal seems like a Widowmaker player, if only because of Widow’s spider tattoo.
Well I’m not That well-versed, I’m mostly interested in art and characters. I don’t even play xd
Symmetra… or Torbjorn, laughing at him hammering the turret into place XD
Oh yeah Monkey Master and Winston would fit his aesthetic. Sarah might play Reaper seeing how they are both made of salt.
Smirking as she gets a good vantage point and snipes away. Yup sounds like something Sal would enjoy.
Just a rough draft, since there are so many goddamn characters in each. Apologies for how much room it takes up.
Ana – ????
Bastion – Marcie
D.Va – Amber
Genji – Robin
Hanzo – Jason
Junkrat – Ruth
Lúcio – Malaya
McCree – Danny
Mei – Dina
Mercy – Dorothy
Orisa – Sierra
Pharah – ????
Reaper – Sarah
Reinhardt – Ethan
Roadhog – Billie
Soldier: 76 – Joe
Sombra – Roz
Symmetra – Carla
Torbjörn – ????
Tracer – Becky
Widowmaker – Sal
Winston – Walky
Zarya – Mike
Zenyatta – Joyce
Ruth and Billie as Junkrat and Roadhog. Adorable!
That’s one of my favorite picks. Junkrat and Roadhog give each other endless shit, but they’re also crazy protective of each other.
I think Mike would play Mei. The most trolly hero of them all.
I thought similarly, but then I realised Zarya’s play style focuses on feeding off the enemy and using it against them, with a special move that puts people right where you want them.
Sarah’s more of a Pharah. Trying to stay above it all, stay away from people, and raining down a maximum amount of firepower on the head of anyone who threatens her or her
loved onesassigned teammates.MIKE is Reaper. Lurking, watching carefully, spotting an open, stealthing in when no one notices, shooting people in the back, unleashing hell, and then getting away scot-free.
That makes a lot of sense. Leslie would probably play Ana or Zarya I think. Also, I don’t know why, but I feel like Jacob would main Torbjorn (can’t figure out the umlaut on my iPod) and just keeping building up turrets.
Maybe she met a pastors son and has fallen for him, and they are going on a date soon…
My guess as to why Mary is being so ‘nice’ is because she is being counter-blackmailed.
Remember when Mary had Ruth turning a blind eye to her dickbaggery through threats that she would tell snitch about Ruth’s relationship with Billie? Well, now that the secret is out about Billie and Ruth, Mary has nothing on Ruth, and I doubt that the University looks kindly on blackmailing an RA…
I’m going to go with the assumption that Ruth hasn’t yet recovered from Clint and Rachel’s verbal teardowns and Mary is reveling in the schadenfreude.
That’d be a good shout, but it seemed like she defanged that during the meeting when she went after Billie. Like, she, by all rights, feels she has power over her counter-blackmailer, but she’s not using a centimeter of that to be anything less than pleasant to a major target of hers and it doesn’t even seem to be the “faux niceness” she put on previously with Roz and everyone when she was “keeping her nose clean”.
…we are in a dream sequence, aren’t we?
Have you asked anybody to pinch you?
That’s a good look for Mary, though I can still see the hellfire in her eyes. She should work on that.
Well in at least one alternate timeline Mary is a marginally better person than this Mary.
How often do characters break the 4th wall?
I don’t ‘think’ I can recall ever seeing this happen before?
(And breaking the 4th wall to ruminate upon “falling into an alternative universe” is kinda fitting, giving our collective feeling of *limbo*)
I wouldn’t consider this a 4th wall break. Carla’s an engineer and probably a bit of a nerd, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that she’s aware of multiverse theory.
Yep, no real breakage, leaning on it at most.
*shivers*
AN odd thing…
Yesterday, I made a post riffing on Dorothy waking up… and it being like Wizard of Oz…
(“And you were there, and you were there… No, Faz, you were NOT there!”)
But now.. it’s nowhere to be found…
SO… did *I* dream it!?!
I was wondering last night if these happy little domestic scenes are all in Dorothy’s head, as she keeps insisting everything is fine and nothing happened to the doctors who have her under observation.
Maybe just maybe she’s practicing rule of acquisition 76
“Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the Hell out of your enemies.”
I would leave town IMMEDIATELY.
You know, I feel like for all the hate Mary gets, she does have a few valid points every now and then.
For instance, Carla DOES look good with her hair down.
broken clock tells time accurately twice a day, viewers are amazed
Eyes on the prize! Don’t be distracted by Danny and Joe or Carla and Mary. Disaster is around the corner when we finally return to Amber and Dorothy.
We’re never returning to them. The entire rest of the school year will just be happy characters doing happy things. Never seeing or even mentioning Amber or Dorothy.
As we cringe more and more, waiting for the shoe to drop.
in five years ryan is the first to rise from the parking lot he was buried in for the zombie apocalypse
Happy things? Danny becoming Ukulele Guy is NOT a happy thing ;-;
I’m half wondering how many other characters we can check on before we find out anything. Tomorrow: Ethan argues about Transformers?
Ethan and Mike go back to their forum duo. A quick checkup and Sayid and Bryan. Sierra. Grace. Molly. Actually I’m surprised we got to see a bit of Joyce considering one of her best friends was involved.
Definitely closer to the puppy thing.
Didn’t have time yesterday, so I wanted to extend thanks to everyone who took the time to confirm the stuff about the Comey hearing to me.
Question to the UK folks: do I understand correctly that the election results have led to an agreement between the Tories and the UK equivalent of the Tea Party?
No, it is an alliance between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party, the political party in Ulster that wants the province to remain part of the United Kingdom. The’ve been long natural allies and they propped up the Major government in the mid-1990s for a while too.
The DUP are somewhat religious but so are all Ulster-native political parties. However, I’d consider them fairly centrist in total. Certainly, they are no unconditional fans of Brexit and would certainly want guarantees about cross-border travel and trade with Eire as a condition of any formal alliance.
For “somewhat religious” read “actual Young Earth Creationists who are why NI is the only part of the UK that doesn’t have marriage equality.” Mary would probably love them.
I had missed the YEC part, but I heard climate change deniers and anti-choice, either of which would be good enough reasons for me to wish meteorite upon them.
put all three together and you’ve got grounds for actual plagues and/or smiting.
A “plague of religious fundamentalists” sounds like an accurate collective noun.
Northern Ireland has lots of fundi protestant sects, also united in their believe that NI must be part of the UK or they’ll be eaten by catholic Eire.
All, not also
Thanks everyone for the intel.
Bear in mind, this will cause fractiousness in the less fundie parts of the tories, and will likely accelerate the crash of the Tories that will lead to the next election in 2018-2019, where, if current trends are maintained, Jezza will eat the tories with a jam glaze.
Far worse.
They are terrorist supporters closely linked with the UDA, UVF, Red Hand Commando.
May has a notional majority of 2, with 1 MP having been charged with fraud.
i have to go with puppy for an alternate time line would have mary being as nice as she just was more so. in fact i would go with mary having a whole bunch of puppies for breakfast
Honestly the worst thing about Mary in this strip is that she’s kinda right. Carla looks really good with her hair down as opposed to a ponytail.
I can’t help but think that Carla’s next thought should be:
“She must have shaved off the goatee.”
That’s for darkest timeline selves, which if you look around…
No, I meant in the comic!
So, surely we can now officially lay to rest any lingering doubts about whether or not Carla actually makes a noticeable amount of noise on her skates, right?
Cuz Mary sure doesn’t seem to notice anything now that she’s got her sights on a different target.
That doesn’t really say anything about how much noise Carla is making it just tells us Mary is a giant hypocrite which is not news at all.
…Yes it does? If Carla were making a level of noise actually worth commenting on, Mary would have some sort of reaction to it. A wince, a frown, a sneer, anything at all. So would Joyce, frankly, the other day when she said she didn’t think people are allowed to skate in the halls.
But she isn’t trying to study, so why would it bother her?
Or she’s so focused on whatever’s making her so happy that she barely noticed.
Or of course, she was just using that as an excuse.
Like I said to Emily down below, Mary (and many people in the comments) was previously claiming that this noise level was unbearable, through a door, and down a hall.
I find it deeply suspicious that that same “unbearable” noise, at a louder volume (due to the absence of previous barriers), doesn’t even seem to register.
Mary gave Carla a passive-aggressive compliment on her femininity. Why not a passive-aggressive compliment on her skates, too, if they really bother her in the same way that Carla’s transness really bothers her?
Like, Mary complaining wouldn’t tell us anything, because we know Mary is biased against Carla to begin with, but her lack of complaint indicates that nothing about this noise actually bothers her.
I mean when you’re in a good mood you’re generally less likely to mind minor sources of irritation simply because you’re in a better headspace that doesn’t magically mean those things never annoy you ever it just means you’re more inclined to overlook them just like when you’re in a bad mood you’re more likely to take inordinate issue with them.
Like we KNOW Mary is a giant transphobe and yet she’s being pleasant to Carla which doesn’t mean she isn’t actually repulsed by Carla having the audacity to exist and she was just pretending to be a jerk it just means she’s in such a good mood that it’s not enough to get to her.
A couple of points.
1.) Mary’s not actually being pleasant to Carla. Her compliment is specifically directed towards Carla’s femininity. That shit is targeted. It is not in any way similar to how she seems to completely have failed to notice what she — and plenty of people in the comments! — previously claimed was an unbearable level of noise even when down the hall and through her door. A noise level she previously couldn’t help noticing even when in a neutral mood (as far as we know!) to start with, which is now much, much closer to her and should be much, much more irritating, is mysteriously inaudible to her.
Meanwhile, Mary isn’t failing to notice that Carla is trans. She’s commenting on it, passive-aggressively, knowing full well that this compliment will make Carla feel weird and out of sorts.
2.) Like, if the skates were being treated the same way Carla’s transness is being treated, Mary would have said, “So glad to see you got new skates!”, or commented on the skates and the noise level in literally any other way.
3.) I don’t really understand your comparison, but the hypothetical Mary who was “just pretending to be a transphobe” and hurling violent transphobia at Carla in her pretense would not in any way be less of a jerk. People who say offensive stuff “just to get a rise out of people”, who “aren’t racist, [they] just hate everyone equally” are not actually as free from bigotry as they think they are. If you’re willing to hurt people for a pretense, it’s because you’ve decided those people’s feelings aren’t terribly important, which means you’re dehumanizing them, which you’re probably suspiciously more likely to do to marginalized folks, despite all of your hypothetical protests to the contrary.
An angry Mary is hilarious.
A smug Mary is infuriating.
A friendly Mary is terrifying.
Whatever she is plotting, she is seriously mistaken if she thinks she’ll get away with it.
Where are the things she wears on her wrists and neck? This could be nega-Mary for all we know.
Theorizing: The Meatbag known as “Mary” is off to attend a Westboro Baptist Church protest on campus.
Thoughtful. They are probably there to support the good, Christian son of a pastor who was ‘falsely’ accused of rape by a ‘pack of rabid lesbians,’ before getting stabbed, slashed, or otherwise finding his bodily fluids outside of his body at the business end of his own knife.
Possible. They could be gathering outside Dorothy’s hospital room that they somehow found out about.
WTF is this asshat up to?
Mary has just seen a T. rex being lowered into a sarlac pit.
(check xkcd’s ‘What If’)
Smile! It makes people wonder what you’re up to.
Please, Mary. Please, just try to do something. We all want more reasons to hate you.
This is only thing Mary will ever be right about.