easier to draw joyce without the jacket, but now i gotta color in more plaid
37

Transcript

Joyce: So, like, last year, I tried to, uh, literally shove Amber onto Walky, so that he wouldn't insta-revert back to being yours.
Dorothy: Yeah, that tracks.
Joyce: Plus, I think, like, whenever YOU DUMP ANYBODY, you leave behind like this pheromone that signals AMBER to JUMP 'EM.
Dorothy: Oh, I do NOT.
Joyce: There's a PATTERN!
Dorothy: But that's a hypothesis I could put to the test.
Joyce: PLEASE don't. I've read Amber's fanfics. They're EXCELLENT, but in a "should only happen to fake people, not me" kind of way.
Joyce: Besides, Amber's straight.
Dorothy: it's getting to be where any time any of us claims somebody we know is straight, I feel like we're daring the universe to prove us wrong.
Joyce: Dorothy Margot Keener! You are an ATHEIST.

Insta-revert
Posted on May 12, 2026 by David M Willis

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Tags: dorothy, joyce

The Dumbing of Age Book 15 Kickstarter is vibrating with excitement!  Just 8 days until we stick a fork in it.   And, as of this writing, $250ish until we unlock Carla.

151 thoughts on “Insta-revert”

  1. Wack'd

    rules post
    .
    once again all replies to this comment will be deleted. thank you.

  2. NGPZ

    No breaking the 4th wall in the halls Dotty :p

    1. clif

      Disbelieving in Willis is one thing. How probable is he? On the other hand, disbelieving in the universe altogether is a bold move. Joyce is all in.

  3. IntangibleMatter

    You can tell Amber’s straight because the fucked-up fiction that she writes is all yaoi or m/f and never like, Human Domestication Guide brand of messed up

    (no hate to HDG but I’m sorry the concept is incredibly disturbing)

    1. Wack'd

      mike mentioned she’s written guro. ‘s not nothin’

      1. IntangibleMatter

        I mean it’s different flavours of fucked up. Guro is pure violence, but HDG is a fantasy of not needing to take care of yourself… by having your agency as a person forcibly removed “to save you from yourself”

        1. Wack'd

          i am going to ask this not become a referrendum on whose sexual tastes, fetishes, or fiction are more disturbing, thank you.

        2. clif

          I’ll just assume mine are and go from there.

      2. RassilonTDavros

        The strip Wack’d mentioned, for reference.

    2. Wack'd

      anyway statistically amber realizing she’s queer will probably up the fuckedupness quotent of her fiction

      1. IntangibleMatter

        As a queer person who hangs out in spaces where queer fiction is discussed I can confirm

        1. Qlx

          Her next fic might even include h*nd h”lding

        2. Rose By Any Other Name

          … h*nd h”lding took me an embarrassingly long time to parse.

        3. clif

          hind huffolding is an acquired taste.

    3. TrueSurvivor

      I don’t know what most of these words mean and I am, frankly, too scared to ask so PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME!

      1. Reltzik

        Ask wikipedia. You’ll get a pretty clinical answer that won’t return mind-melting examples and won’t convince the google algorithm that you want to see things like that in the future.

    4. RassilonTDavros

      …my somewhat-morbid curiosity has been piqued.

    5. tim gueguen

      Can’t say I’ve heard of HDG before.

      1. yohammar

        The title of the genre is about the best brief summary for it. Plants treating humans like pets. It’s not my personal cup of tea, but some people enjoy it.

        1. clif

          I’m detecting a niche market for AI directed mechanisms that can animate plant pots and give the plants simulated voices and personalities.

    6. Thing 2

      Leaving this strictly alone. Unusual for a vey curious person, but. Senses tingling.

  4. Astariel

    Trust me Joyce, you can be an atheist and still believe that the universe is out to get you.

    Panel 4 strongly reminds of that time Jennifer told Ruth that Dorothy was straight.

    1. Ophidiophile

      True. Just because there are no gods doesn’t mean something lower than gods but higher than humans isn’t out to get you.

      1. Songbird

        Genuine question, but how is that really functionally different from what most religious humans think gods are? Feels like a distinction without a difference, if you ask me.

    2. clif

      “… Jennifer told Ruth that Dorothy was straight.”

      In retrospect, perhaps that should have been a *clew*.

  5. JD

    THIS IS HOW RACHEL/AMBER CAN STILL WIN EVERYONE MANIFEST WITH ME

    1. Mitzi B.

      MANIFESTING

  6. Wraithy2773

    No, Dotty, that’s the comments section.

  7. Sajuuk-Khar

    What improbable fandom sex thing will Amber be doing to Joyce exactly one year from now while Dorothy and Joe watch from cuck chairs, helpless (and aroused)? Vote now on your phones.

  8. Grimey

    ….
    Sal/Danny/Amber is going to be the polycule isn’t it?

    1. Pepino

      An interesting twist to the Walky Danny ex pattern

      1. Grimey

        The monkey’s paw curls, the polycule is fulfilled, the ‘damn you Willis’ is exclaimed, the cuck chair is seated. All in one go.

    2. Sajuuk-Khar

      No, this is too good for Danny. Danny needs suffering for enrichment. Having two rival hot girls fightfucking over his twink Prince body is not suffering.

      Now, if Walky transitions and becomes the fulfillment of Joe’s age-old augury about banging twins, but through osmosis it’s passed to Dan, THAT’S some good Wilcox suffering!

      1. Grimey

        Yeah.

        I want Walky to suffer for character growth, complete with crashout. Not just Danny. I’m going to continue to want that. That’s my bit. I can’t sign to the egg Walky…Dorothy is an egg though, I can get behind. In fact, from now on I’m going to champion that Dorothy is the true egg of this series. Not like Aegon Targaryen egg. A transitioning egg. A Megg if you will.

  9. Dave Van Domelen

    Meanwhile, Joyce writes fanfics that should definitely happen to Joyce.

  10. Dara

    Amber: totes straight
     
    Amazi-Girl: “What do you think of my new cape? Something about the orange and magena stripes just called out to me.”

    1. Sajuuk-Khar

      Now, now, she could have just decided to add a hot pink upper portion and a prominent yellow stripe to a lighter blue cape

      Or taken her existing cape and done a violet stripe, magenta bottom

      There’s options

  11. Lime

    I like how from Danny’s perspective Walky keeps dating his exes and from Dorothy’s perspective it’s Amber. Like, realistically Walky and Amber just have coincidental respective types (Walky likes nerdy girls and Amber/Amazigirl is into dorks) but for Danny and Dorothy they just have these people who snatch up all their former partners

    1. al furai

      Something odd is that Dorothy hooked up with someone during summer. Probably not someone from college…unless.

      So basically Amber is being shipped with this mysterious person and most haven’t even realized.

      1. Wack'd

        i don’t think she did. we know she was dating danny from sophomore year of high school until the first day of college, and if she’d cheated twice it woulda come up
        .
        we don’t really have any details on who dorothy’s non-danny/walky/joyce sexual partner was but i think we can safely assume they’re years, not months, in the past
        .
        not to mention that if this person was the dumper and not the dumpee, the hypothesis cannot be tested on them

        1. thejeff

          But don’t we also know that her first time was with Danny?

        2. Wack'd

          i don’t remember that being stated anywhere! i’d be very curious if you could track that down

        3. Li

          @thejeff: if anything the opposite has always been implied.
          .
          Joe said Dorothy took Danny’s virginity and Dorothy, while sighing over Walky’s reluctance to touch her boobs, grumbled to herself that one of these days she was gonna date a non-virgin.

        4. Li

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/newmainman/
          .
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/touch-2/
          .
          Probably what’s tripping people up here, if I had to guess, is knowing that Danny and Dorothy dated in high school, and assuming that Dorothy’s first time can’t have been prior to, like, senior year of said high school.
          .
          But of course it can. Teenagers experiment every day, and it doesn’t even always have to be a traumatic mistake! Believe it or not, heh.

        5. Wack'd

          god, i’d forgotten that! my guess would be danny and dorothy experimented before coupling off, but it does make the timeline of the unknown suitor more of a question mark than i thought it was.
          .
          (alternatively when dorothy says she’s had sex “with like three people” she’s inflating her numbers a little)

        6. Li

          @Wack’d: I mean, I thought I was agreeing with you! The unknown suitor must have been pre-Danny, not Dorothy cheating on him. She was already not a virgin when she and Danny started dating, and she “took” Danny’s virginity when they had sex for the first time, then “took” Walky’s virginity when they had sex for the first time, then arguably “took” Joyce’s……. she’s racking up points!
          .
          I don’t think the timeline is that much of a question mark, just that Dorothy… did a thing that teenagers do do sometimes, much as we adults don’t really like to acknowledge it, and had her first time when she was under 18.

        7. Wack'd

          …i got some wires crossed, because i thought you were posting this in response to jeff saying dorothy’s first time was with danny–but she says nothing of the sort! so you’re absolutely right, unknown suitor could still be literally anywhere on the timeline

        8. Li

          I am not enjoying my own phrasing, sigh. I think it’s normal that this topic is uncomfortable for adults! I also find it uncomfortable! I just also think that the level of discomfort hurts teens when it leads to stuff like abstinence-only education, you know??

        9. Subjektivity

          Looking back at her reaction to Dorothy leaving the table….. HOW DID I NOT REALIZE HOW GAY SHE WAS FOR DOROTHY?!

  12. Bill Erak

    We’ll see how straight she is when her “boyfriend” cracks that shell

    1. Wack'd

      what if amber’s egg also cracks though

      (THE PROPHECY)

      1. Reaver

        “if my parents find out I’m a silly bongo they’d disown me!”

        The wheeze I wheez’d

      2. nadamás

        Everytime you say THE PROPHECY, imagine the electric guitar rift from overly sarcastic productions.

        1. clif

          You don’t hear it?

  13. Ray Radlein

    You can believe that God (a) does not exist and (b) has a perverse sense of humor

    1. Reltzik

      Much like how I believe that Darth Vader doesn’t exist and still has a temper.

    2. someone

      Technically, their universe has a god: the author.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Who else would she be talking to?

    3. ResRam

      “or”, not “and”
      Either an entity exists. Making it capable of humor, sick or otherwise.
      Or it doesnt. And the humor lies in the recipient turning lemons of existence into lemonade, by virtue of make-belief.
      Never “and” tho.

  14. Suet

    Look, Dorothy’s straight
    ㅤ
    fujoshi type shi

    1. Li

      idk how you mean the word but friendly reminder that:
      – fujoshi is just the Japanese word for someone who likes m/m ships
      – it is not only a completely neutral term but a reclaimed term, since the word was originally coined by homophobic 8chan types who hated that these fans were “ruining” stuff like Dragon Ball Z by imagining the characters as gay
      – that’s why the root word is “rotten” and why it’s a pun on 婦女子 (a word for wife), because the homophobic jerks we’re trying to say these presumed-women were all ruined for marriage
      – the popular stereotype for a fujoshi in Japan is not a straight woman but a lesbian, and most fujoshi are also himejoshi (fans of f/f ships)
      – the word for a male fujoshi is fudanshi, the word for a male himejoshi is himedanshi
      – yes these are a little gender-essentialist, sorry about that
      – anyway, if you’ve been using fujoshi as a pejorative, maybe have a sit and think about that. Think about how the fact that English speaking fandom has turned a completely neutral Japanese word into “like that thing American fans also do, but bad and gross”. Huh, kind of like how in the 90s, some folks made “anime”, a fully neutral word meaning cartoons, into “specifically gross, perverted cartoons”. Funny how that keeps happening.
      .
      If this is all new information to you: cool! Now you know.
      .
      If you’re still itching for a word to replace how you were using fujoshi: consider that “homophobe” is right there, and does a better job of actually criticizing the part of the behavior that sucks, rather than pathologizing “people I’m assuming are straight women, daring to be fans of non-straight media”.

      1. Sarah

        Sorry but, as a full blown weeaboo, this is some fujoshi shi and I think Amber would proudly agree. (Mainly bc I’m on the side of reclaiming fujoshi).

        1. Li

          Reclaiming is good!
          .
          I’m just so so so tired of seeing it used as a pejorative by (my fellow) westerners. :’)

      2. Bill Erak

        >most fujoshi are also himejoshi
        ?!??!?!!?!? Where the hell did you get that?!
        Yuri is famously less popular than yaoi. I wish people cared as much for women as they do men.

        1. Li

          lol
          .
          I got it from Japanese people talking about Japanese conventions and how the same artists and fans go to both 🙂
          .
          I am not talking about American Fandom. We have our own problems, and one of them right now is co-opting and misusing Japanese fan terminology in incredibly rude and frankly racist ways.
          .
          Hope that helps!

        2. NGPZ

          OMG you really know your shit Li, thanks for sharing! ^-^

        3. Li

          @NGPZ: Thanks! It comes from listening to people who know way more than me, haha. In particular, some of what I rattled off up there comes directly from Tagame Gengorou (famous out gay male mangaka), who’s been interviewed about BL and fujoshi, and who has talked about the differences between geicomi (more commonly and, for the record, contentiously known as “bara” in the US) and BL. He’s positive on BL and fujoshi, for the record, and would not agree with the common western stereotype that there’s a huge difference between BL and geicomi in terms of, like, relatability and realism.
          .
          (Geicomi is generally more focused on sex and BL more focused on romance, but like, the same authors will write both!)
          .
          So yeah. I’ve done some reading! It helps if you can read Japanese, since that’s the language that Japanese fandom conversations are had in, but some of this has also been translated. You mostly just have to know where to look.

  15. Shepsquared

    It’s so nice of them to stay and listen to Sarah’s concerns. They really reassured her that she’s their friend. Wait, no. Hang on. The two white women looked at the woman of colour trying to be open and vulnerable with them and left without a word, because apparently she doesn’t matter. And there’s clearly no desire to unpack the mildly transphobic words that Willis put in Sarah’s mouth, another instance of a WoC being used to speak against Joyce/Dorothy and then given bigoted lines so they can be ignored without being addressed.

    1. Wack'd

      again, while i am open to things like this being discussed, i’d like to remind folks to–as per the rules i posted–
      1. not claim any character is meant to be all right or all wrong–joyce, dorothy, and sarah can ALL be acting insensitively in this situation without it meaning there’s some sort of intended winner or loser
      2. not to insult the author or each other, by doing things like, say, claiming there’s malace aforethought in putting these words in sarah’s mouth

      1. Dot

        It is not suggesting malice aforethought to point out that the author has an issue with portraying women of color.

        1. Wack'd

          i’m specifically referring to the suggestion that the purpose of giving sarah lines that come off as bigoted is for willis to justify joyce and sarah ignoring her.

    2. Armadillo

      …Fuck, now that you mention it, there is something very mildly Linda about that.

    3. Thing 2

      In scientific terms, one would need to study all those scenes in which “white girls” do this to “PoC”, “PoC’ do this to “white girls”, “White girld do not do this to “PoC” and “PoC” do not do this to “white girls”, take into account the expected number of such interactions based on the appearances of both “types” in such scenes and perform a statistical analysis. This might, or might not, reveal some kind of displacement from random.

    4. Needfuldoer

      Yeah, I feel like we’re ejecting from scenes just as they start to cook. (Note that this is not a “character did bad things and so is therefore bad” list; I genuinely don’t know how else to format this meta-commentary but as a list of scenes.)
      .
      Marcie and Sal have a heart-to-heart? Cut away before Sal gets deep. Sarah’s spiraling and coming across as somewhat transphobic because suddenly Jocelyne is back in Joyce’s life and she sees her as a “threat” to her big sister found family status? Never mind her, let’s follow Dorothy and Joyce (but skip ahead a little to give Joyce time to put her jacket away).
      .
      “A”-plot/”B”-plot is a sitcom format staple, but it feels like we’ve got plots “A” through “P” running at once, and they’re all trying to elbow each other out of the limited screen time 5 or 6 daily panels can accommodate.

    5. Li

      I really don’t think Sarah’s line was meant to be “mildly transphobic”. I think her line was meant to be “oh shit, I just admitted that I care about being Joyce’s big sister, not only in front of People but in front of Joyce,” followed by a lot of scrambling mentally.
      .
      Like, I am 99% sure that Sarah would also have said “I was your big sister first!” if Jocelyne were cis but, say, a half-sister that Joyce had only recently found out about — and Sarah would probably have then stumbled similarly, because, chronologically, it would be a similarly silly thing to say. She got more flustered by the fumble because Jocelyne is trans, but I don’t think there was any kind of actual “mentally misgendering Jocelyne” happening.
      .
      I say I’m 99% sure of this because I genuinely do not think it could possibly be Willis’s intent to make Sarah even subconsciously transphobic, and I think their intent on that was so intensely clear to them as they were writing it that it didn’t even occur to them to have Joyce or Dorothy treat Sarah’s fumble as an instance of even-subconscious transphobia.
      .
      (Compare and contrast: how they had Joyce handle Joe’s transphobia.)
      .
      Something I am not saying in this comment: “Willis’s approach here was perfect and merits no further criticism.”
      .
      Similar to what happened with Raidah, frankly — where I genuinely don’t think they meant for Raidah’s jab at Joyce to make Raidah look homophobic, and where I think Joyce’s rejoinder to the whole thing was definitely supposed to be her being super ignorant and a bad ally, rather than her being “in the right”, but which… was still open to interpretation, partly because we have seen SO LITTLE of Raidah’s internal life that my strong conviction that she’s progressively political isn’t actually based on that much, lolol.
      .
      And, of course, The Pattern sucks. The Pattern would still suck even if there were an innocent explanation for every individual instance.

      1. Needfuldoer

        She may not mean it that way, but that’s how it’s coming across. It’s well established that Sarah is bad at framing her feelings and opinions when she explains them to others, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that it “came out wrong” and she’s firmly lodged her foot in her mouth.

        1. Li

          I mean, sure, it “came out wrong”, but my point about why it didn’t get any kind of in-universe correction or even a blink from Joyce is because it was so clear — again, to Willis, the author, not necessarily to every reader — that there wasn’t any transphobia happening. Mild or otherwise, conscious or otherwise.

    6. awkwardguy

      Had this response typed up for yesterday’s comic, but wanted to wait to post in case today’s strip addressed Sarah haha. So expanding on my comment yesterday about the WOC in the comic atm. Sorry if this is a bit of a non-sequitor.

      There’s subjectivity on the WOC being portrayed as in the wrong. I can’t say definitively who’s being unreasonable in a discussion. So looking at it from another perspective, its a greater pattern of WOC not having an impact on the story when they enter a plot-line where Joyce and Dorothy are active players.
      Focusing mainly on the protest story.

      The only people that have had active roles have been white characters.
      Joyce and Dorothy were the POV characters during the protest. And since then the main focus has been Dorothy, Jocelyn and Carla.
      Raidah and Asma have been seen and spoken a lot, but their presence hasn’t changed anything. Raidah had a few strips of trying to talk to Daisy, but nothing really came from that, and Asma had a strip where she was feeling affected by the protest escalating, but we haven’t really seen how that’s impacted her as a character.

      The most that’s been done with them is Raidah getting Leslie and Robin out of jail, which does expand her character as showing her being able to put her feud with Joyce aside for someone important to owe her a favor. This is great, but we already knew that about Raidah, since she doesn’t like Jennifer but still associates with her since she’s rich.

      The problem compounds when not only do the WOC not have much to do, but when they do show up, they’re paired with negative traits: Sarah insecurity, Sal indifference, Raidah homophobia, and Asma rigidity. On top of that, Joyce and Dorothy don’t seem to actively engage with what’s being said to them. Sarah and Sal got straight up ignored, while Raidah and Asma got a few lines that aren’t addressed next time we see them (Asma stormed off from bowling without an explanation and next time we see her and Dorothy, Dorothys just saying hi to her). And finally these are the only characters that have had conflict with Joyce and Dorothy. This makes them feel less like people and more like props that exist in the space of our white leads.

      You could argue that these are active character choices on both sides that are building to something in the future. However, you could also argue that other white characters with much less panel time, Daisy and the leadership professor, have had more of an impact on the story so far. Because them focusing on the kiss inspires Dorothy to utilize her platform and start getting more involved with activism.

      1. apocryphascribe

        Oh this is such a good and succinct summary of everything, bravo. I usually keep my mouth shut because talking about it isn’t going to change anything and just adds to the overall bad vibes of the comment section, but this thread specifically had some really salient and accurate critiques.

  16. Armadillo

    As a writer/reader of fanfiction, “should only happen to fake people” describes… a sizeable amount of them.

  17. Elf grrl

    Oh okay, I guess we’re just moving on then from Sarah

    1. Grimey

      We are Jack’s broken heart. Or Jack’s complete lack of surprise. There’s a Fight Club bit here (unfortunately).

  18. Reaver

    Ah the eternal artist dilemma

    On the one hand: Easier to draw without jacket.

    On the OTHER hand: Patterns, specifically plaid.

    These are the sacrifices one makes for their art.

    1. Thing 2

      Are there not, simply overlay patterns? That can either be laid over the whole shirt, or laid over different parts of the shirt, because that is how they are sewn? And tools to ‘pull’ to one side as fabric goes over curves?

      1. clif

        There are.
        Lesser would-be artists such as myself use them on all kinds of things. You would be amazed at the collection of tools and work-arounds I have to make up for my lack of skill and talent.

  19. Reltzik

    For the record, atheism and pantheism are not NECESSARILY mutually exclusive, for certain definitions of the words.

    1. clif

      I categorically refuse to admit the existence of panths.
      Nor would I wear them in private if they existed.

  20. Bajja

    HA!!!

  21. Cbwroses

    Joyce, two instances do not equal a pattern.
    And I think there’s room to argue that it still wouldn’t be a pattern if Walky and Amber got together right now, as it would be a return to a previous relationship that has unresolved sexual tension and baggage (but that’s not a hill I’m willing to die on).
    Side note: I do like how Dorothy has always come off as reasonable towards Amber dating her exes, but I will concede that may be in part due to her being the one to end her relationships.
    Second side note: I can never tell when it should be “maybe” vs “may be”. I can kinda get “who” vs “whom” by working backwards, but I just go off feelings regarding “maybe/may be”, with no confidence whatsoever.

    1. Antsan

      “May be” is a verb, “maybe” is not. Does that help?

      1. Cbwroses

        It didn’t help me understand, but it did remind me to think along the lines of what type of words they are, and too look them up (which really should have been the first thing I did).

        That said, I still don’t feel that I can identify when to use one or the other very well.
        For right now, I think I’ll just use “maybe” if I think “possibly” could also fit.
        But, I’ll use “may be” if I think changing the tense of the sentence could change “be” to “am”, “was”, etc.
        Which means, I tentatively believe I should have wrote “…that maybe in part…”
        I’ll probably have to look at some websites that dig deeper into the meaning.
        Or dig up my old textbook from college.

        1. S. Drekisdottír

          “It may be in part to…” vs “Maybe it is in part to…”

        2. Holly

          “Maybe” can be replaced by “perhaps” and still make sense.
          It may be that we need new brakes.
          Maybe we need new brakes?
          It perhaps that we need new brakes. = nonsense
          Perhaps we need new brakes? = sense

        3. Cbwroses

          Thanks, all 3 of you.
          And I will try the “perhaps” method from now on.
          And going by that, I was originally correct..
          I was technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.

        4. clif

          <3

    2. Li

      For anyone else, who versus whom works the same way as he versus him.

      “He was the one” = “who was the one”
      “Talking to him” = “talking to whom”

  22. Tan

    Our good Mx Willis already spoiled it months ago: https://bsky.app/profile/damnyouwillis.bsky.social/post/3lxhv6houjk22

  23. anon

    interesting to have a middle name (i do to obut ididn’t think it was common for asians), i wonder how many ppl use it in a full legal document tho. other than ppl going by their middle name as a nickname i guss it doesn’t come up other in scenes where ppl say one’s full name XD

    Assuming amber writes ‘guro’ fics rather than just enjoying them (vague recolection of mike saying ‘i know what guro was in hs bc of her) would joyce or anyone even survive one of ambers fanfics

    LOL does this mean it’s canon/she’s reenacted or written her sexual experiences into it XD

    that would be a wild way to find out if an author lost their virginity tho like “wow your sex scenes have gotten good/realistic”

    1. Cbwroses

      I write my name with my middle initial fairly regularly, but I only write out my full name if the document calls for it.
      Though that might also be because my middle name is very weird (I’ve only heard of 3 people having it, including me, and I’m a 3rd, so…)

    2. Zamperla

      Usually people just do the initials. But I chose my own new legal name, and chose a middle name I consider so special, that brings me so much joy, I’m really looking forward to using it on legal documents.

      ‘The’.

      1. clif

        Zamp the Erla has a certain ring.

      2. Yumi

        My middle name (which I chose) is just a single letter, and that also is something I enjoy. And it’s, yknow, very short.

    3. zee

      I have two and paired with a fairly long last name, filling out forms is a pain in the ass lol. I’ve run out of space before. I only ever use them when explicitly required to. I like them, don’t get me wrong, and frankly I could go by just my middle names as a pseudonym and no one would bat an eye (one is my mother’s maiden name, she didn’t want to lose it completely but my dad’s name is too long to hyphenate). But it’s too much of a pain to use my full name ever. My middle initials can be cool but if I do first and middle it starts looking like some kind of dumb comic onomatopoeia lol

    4. Li

      My partner has a middle name, her mother does not. It kind of depends I think.
      .
      As for your last point: no, having Real Sexual Experience TM does not necessarily make an author’s sex scenes better or more realistic. Erotica is a genre with conventions, and “realism” isn’t always a desired feature. See also: porn lol.
      .
      Now. Writers who don’t have a lot of experience with writing sex scenes do often write bad, awkward sex scenes. But I promise you, some very good sex scenes are written by total virgins, and some very bad ones are written by people who have ostensibly had sex more than once. At least enough sex to have successfully produced multiple children!

      1. anon

        oh yeah, i dont doubt that, i vaguely remember there being anecdotes about asexual ppl being able to write good sexual scenes (maybe their objective? view on sex/lack of desire helps them do it better lol), but i’d assume they’d still do research rather than in ur head fantasy, as opposed to someone not exposed to any kinda sexual education just attempting with no knowledge(like when i was liek 10 or 11, i didn’t konw sex required penetration, when we learned about it and no detailed charts i just assume the sperm would just be ‘sprayed out’ like how men pee but i g rew up in an abstinence only state lol)

  24. Acher4

    Dorothy Margot Keener’s pheromones are a reality.
    Pattern is proved through Science! :P

    1. Rosicrucian

      Oh, this isn’t science.

      It’s not science until Dina makes Dorothy break up with a sample size of 1000, while Amber is on the opposite side of campus and not informed of the experiment. Double-blind.

  25. Zamperla

    Mostly I’m just here to admit this punchline got me really, really good.

  26. GUIGUI

    As much as she might try, Dorothy can not deny the intangible influence of the Great Willis.

    1. Rosicrucian

      I feel like Willis is not a big overarching monotheistic deity, here. More like a trickster spirit who introduces complications because they’re a trash goblin who craves mess.

      1. Wack'd

        “God is not a character in A Series of Unfortunate Events. The narrator mentions at one point that the characters often felt as if there was something powerful over them, which made no move to help them and was perhaps even laughing at their misfortune. But whether that person was God or the author is up for grabs.” —Daniel Handler

    2. Vulcanodon

      OMG I just realized… Willis is Bender!

  27. tbf

    Joyce looks pretty wistful about that “fact”.

  28. Rosicrucian

    If Roz is the only stone straight in this cast, let me propose the following:
    *Amber is straight.
    *Amazi-Girl is not.

  29. Keith (current identity)

    She said the full name IN the MOM voice.

  30. mads_in_zero

    [slaps a crisp 20 dollars on the table] Amber’s straight but Amazi-Girl isn’t. This is my called shot and I have no evidence beyond “it’d be funny” – good day!

  31. thumb

    Dorothy, I don’t know what you think you’re looking at. The comments section is down here.

  32. Taffy

    This particular hallway has never appeared in the comic before.

    1. clif

      You can never set foot in the same river once.

  33. EtchJetty

    this is all foreshadowed by That One Shortpacked Panel that i cited in my fanfic

  34. Pocky

    Adding Himejoshi to Amber’s every growing kinks would honestly just be another drop in the bucket for her lol

  35. Albi

    DOI! Atheists say “universe,” not god! Catch up, baby atheist! Source: an atheist.

    Shockingly, I spelled atheist correctly all three (four) times.

  36. Rimwalker55

    If Karmic Impishness puts Amber’s sexuality in play due to Joyce’s declaration, does that mean that Dorothy’s atheism is now at risk also?

  37. Macareux Moine

    No Joyce, you literally shove Walky onto Amber

  38. Wilde

    Ooo, just read that juicy info that everybody’s queer in the comic. I am so excited to find out what kind of queer identities are yet to be unveiled. Is there a list somewhere of characters confirmed queer identities (and those not explicitly stated)?

    1. Wack'd

      *cracks knuckles* there is now (there are too many cissies in this comic so assume all listed characters are cis unless indicated otherwise)
      .
      the main twelve:
      joyce: has varyingly identified as bi or gay lately
      dorothy: bi
      walky: tbd
      jennifer: romantically and sexually interested in men and women. in denial about those last two words
      becky: gay
      amber: tbd
      sarah: tbd
      sal: tbd
      joe: tbd
      dina: asexual, romantically it is “unclear whether gender expression matters to her”
      ruth: sexually and romantically interested in both men and women, identified as bi in a visibility day promo art but i’m not sure she’s self-identified yet
      danny: bi
      .
      notable secondary characters:
      ethan: gay
      mike: never self-identified but expressed sexual interest in men and women; romantic interest in men
      carla: trans woman, asexual, into ladies romantically
      leslie: lesbian
      robin: romantically and sexually interested in men and women. in denial about those last two words
      malaya: has she/they pronouns but otherwise not terribly forthcoming on self-definition. identified by dorothy as trans, wears binders sometimes, fucks men and women but seems apathetic towards sex, currently dating a woman
      booster: has they/them pronouns but has not put a label on their gender, jennifer speculated they were agender. has expressed sexual interest in both men and women, offered to take women on dates
      marcie: romantically and sexually interested in women, dating malaya, has not self-identified
      asher: romantically and sexually interested in men and women, has not self-identified
      jocelyne: trans woman, sexually interested in men and women, no self-identified romance/sexuality label
      grace, mandy, and sierra: in a polyamorous triad and at the very least wlw both sexually and romantically, no other labels yet that i can recall
      charlie: asexual, into ladies romantically
      daisy: into women sexually and romantically
      alice: into women sexually and romantically, has had relationships with dudes but it’s unclear how she feels about the topic
      asma: has sexual and/or romantic interest in alice at the very least
      .
      the dregs:
      sayid: sexually into dudes, no further data
      mindy & anna: sexually and romantically into women
      bryan: sexually into dudes, no further data
      alex 1.0: open to interpretation according to social media
      alex 2.0: trans woman according to willis’ social media
      eric: sexually into dudes, no further data
      sydney: uses they/them pronouns
      zaph: trans man
      drew: bi
      kaitlin: wlw

      1. Li

        I am like 95% sure there was at least a bonus strip where Marcie was implied to have hooked up with a guy? IIRC Sal asked what happened with Malaya and Marcie smiled and shrugged? I don’t think she and Malaya are exclusive.
        .
        But, bonus strip.
        .
        Works with Walkyverse!Marcie, who was part of the Problematically Bi squad of lady characters (like, a whole squad who were all bi, but in a slutty way). IIRC Willis has been determinedly “reclaiming” those characters from their younger, more ignorant self as still bi and often if not entirely still poly in this universe, but in a less thoughtless and objectifying way.

      2. jez2718

        I believe the old rule was that sexualities and gender were carried over from Walkyverse versions, and so I still use that as a baseline until contradicted by Dumbiverse text. So on Robin, I would say that so far she’s shown the same “straight, with an exception” sexuality she had in Shortpacked!

        1. Wack'd

          robin also demonstrated attraction to amber! and her reaction to the genderflips in the canada arc of it’s walky! were meant to be indicative, according to willis. “straight with an exception” is a lie she tells herself

        2. Li

          But also: don’t forget that when Willis made that “law”, it was in response to approximately 80 different people all asking if Ethan was “still gay” in this universe.
          .
          Since then, Willis has clarified that the actual rule is that characters are at LEAST as queer in DoA as they were in the Walkyverse, and if DoA reveals a character to be more queer than previously shown, it’s retroactively just also true of the Walkyverse.
          .
          Or, in other words, Walkyverse Danny is also bi now, same with Walkyverse Dorothy.

  39. BlackScarabFilmZ

    You know the longer it goes on, the OG Roomies-verse is going to retroactively become the “Straight” Dumbiverse. Truly we are in the gayest of all timelines!

    1. Rosicrucian

      Oh, see, there’s a problem with that.

      Word of Willis is that nobody changed gender identification or sexual/romantic preference between the Roomieverse and the Dumbiverse.

      And there’s strong textual evidence that’s correct.

      1. Dave

        I do wonder the extent to which that’s still true. Back when Danny was revealed as bi, Shortpacked was still updating and the Walkyverse was still a living thing; the characters having identical orientations between universes meant something to both ongoing stories. But the Walkyverse has been finished for over a decade now, and is unlikely to receive any new additions (the occasional Shortpacked updates have mostly been out of continuity). At this point, does it really matter to Dumbing of Age that a version of Marcie (who was, let’s be real, barely a character in her original setting) had sex with Joe and dated Jason? We won’t know for sure without Willis making another declaration, but I’d posit that going by the actual text of the story we’re reading right now is probably more important than anything Willis wrote in a completely different setting so long ago that they didn’t even have children yet.

        1. Rosicrucian

          Yeah, mainly my point is that the Roomieverse ain’t all that straight.

          Crucially, bi people don’t stop being bi just because they’re in a hetero-coded marriage.

  40. beth

    Did we previously know Dorothy’s middle name?
    Also, love the snark about commenters.

  41. Krampus

    Why Margot? Like it sounds correct in my Ozzie accent: Mahget. But in an American mouth it’s all kinds of wrong. Mahrgoat. Ew. Why. Shouldn’t exist.

    1. Rosicrucian

      The T is silent in an American pronunciation.

      1. clif

        On account of it looks borrowed from French.

    2. Taffy

      Mar go.

  42. Dot

    Am I just not allowed to post anymore? It feels like none of my comments lately have gone through.

    1. Dot

      Oh well of course THAT one goes through.

      1. Rosicrucian

        Commenting system has been pretty borked, honestly. Though maybe they’re working on it again? I just got an edit function back.

  43. ElderlyMarxist

    extremely messy joyce/amber/dorothy/walky post-breakup antics would probably be amber’s shit, i’m not gonna lie. it’s also my shit.

  44. Jerna

    Lesbian Love Sleuth, continued from “The Title”
    You take a phone and then another you use as a burner and call your big sisters. Both are confused by the onslaught of I’m sorry, forgive mes and transphobic guilt. They don’t know what brought it on exactly, but they’re also not surprised they’re getting a phone call.

    After that embarrassing display, you go into cool mode by putting on your sunglasses. Aw yeah. Your look becomes a lot more cooler. And dimmer, because they are really dark. You hope this baby will attract some ladies who expect smoochie-time and hanky panky. But you’ll have to turn them down, because there is only one love in your life.

    Now, to look at the solicitations. There is one from your friend Jennifer, who asks if she would help her paper in the investigation of Amazi-Girl’s identity, “even though we both know who it is ;)”, there’s one from a group of commenters who are asking about Walky’s gender-orientation, there’s one from Asma, begrudgingly asking about a girl called Alice, and there’s one of the teacher Leslie Bean asking about representative Robin DeSanto. Funnily enough, representative DeSanto also sent you one, inquiring about Leslie Bean.
    Which one will you choose?

  45. superglucose

    If you think about it, Dorothy’s atheism is demonstrably incorrect: she lives in a universe entirely fabricated by David Willis, who has demonstrably been working hard to make their comics more gay over the decades. So despite what Dorothy genuinely believes, she clearly lives in a universe with a benevolent, omnipotent creator.

    (Becky always knew this, of course)

    1. thejeff

      Given that said creator chose to make Joyce gay, but not into Becky, their benevolence seems questionable at best. Becky has reason to reject her creator.
      And more reason than we to utter the sacred phrase “Damn you, Willis”

  46. Yakumo

    Eh, Dorothy might not have a problem with Spinoza’s outlook. Her comment would fit with that, as tongue in cheek as she was saying it anyway.

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