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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2h
Los Angeles Times @latimes.com ⋅ 4h
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 5d
#powershipping
quelana @quelanaisgay.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Brian Steinberg @bristei.bsky.social ⋅ 7h
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
April Wolfe @aprilwolfe.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 11d
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mccloud
Barb O. Saur 
⚧️
“What?”
“Ak’j kamo ke ijo m0 Jkuvv ad semruk.”
“I…I can’t understand you!”
“…hot spring or you’d be frozen by now!”
“WHUT”
“70% how you look, 20% how you sound, and only 10% what you say.”
Solid advice for life in general
This data will be very useful for building more accessible robots. Very useful indeed.
Best misuse of Mehrabian so far…
I’m reminded of when I tried to listen to Trump’s January 6th speech in an effort to figure out just how strongly he might’ve been suggesting insurrection. I soon got distracted by another task (more pleasant than listening to his prattle) and then realised that, when I wasn’t paying attention to his actual words, his speech didn’t sound quite as bad.
I’m not sure what, if anything, this may imply about his supporters, but it seemed an interesting curiosity.
Shhh!! don’t start questioning what you’ve been told, or you’ll end up lumped in with them!!
avast, goblin.
“I am a jelly doughnut!”
Say “what” one more time mother fucker!
what?
carla doing what she does best
smug commentary
It’s anyone’s guess that her derby nickname has something to do with stars and spinning. Care to guess?
oh my god, i hadn’t even considered the derby names, yessss
hmm, I’m shuriken think of something…
I dunno about you, but I can sea-stars when I see them.
Maybe just ‘Starla’ if I had to throw out a guess
UltraStar
Maybe Ultra Carla, just since she’s a huge fangirl, anyway.
As I understand it the Star is a symbol for the specific role in the game Caroa is playing
The Green team jammer has a Star as well
You know it’s how animals can’t actually understand what we’re saying but respond to our tone and body language. Carla could be saying they’re all amazing people and players but with the proper tone it still comes off as obnoxious sass!
To be fair that’s not just right now. In general, Carla just Speaks Like That.
I’m not 100% convinced that animals cannot comprehend language. There is a lot of studies which pretty clearly indicate they have their own capacities for language of various sorts. Falling back on the “don’t understand language” sounds too much like the old victorian idea that animals didn’t have feelings, and were just automata responding to input.
If animals were really intelligent, they would speak English.
It’s well known that’s the minimum requirement.
I beg to defer (differ) the actual minimum requirement is reading webtoons…
I don’t know alt-text, but I’m not complaining
Where’s the fun in that?
Seriously! This is the internet, if you’re not complaining you’re doing it wrong.
Drawing sports? Is that like inktober for professionals?
I’m looking forward to this comic reaching May and the Little 500
this is now a sport manga dig in for the locker room drama
So how long until Amazi-Girl busts out the blue word bubbles and scares the shit out of someone?
Depends on just how aggressive the other team decides to get, I’d imagine
Hey! They’ve got Amazi-girl on their team, that’s not fai….. urgghh.
A lot of Amazigirl’s skills come from rapidly and flexibly responding to unpredictable and novel elements in the environment from a repertoire of highly practiced moves. Roller derby has very few unpredictable environmental elements and most of Amazigirl’s moves would be illegal. I’m sure she can adapt, but for now Sal and Carla may be more of a threat than she is.
Interesting… AG doesn’t appear to be doing the voice anymore.
Also Carla continues to be amazing
AG didn’t start off doing The Voice either when she was introduced. It originally started as a way to throw off Danny, specifically.
Good memory; I didn’t notice that before. Looks like it began here: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/03-the-first-step-towards-recovery/voice/
I’m only disappointed it’s not Sal yelling “What?” in the last panel. Or should I say in the main frame.
Looks like yet another situation where knowing ASL could be really useful.
I’m assuming they can hear Carla perfectly, but aren’t going to admit it.
“What”-s of disbelief?
I’m guessing roller derby is where Willis is gonna scratch that fight scene itch
It’s a better fit for the general tone of the comic I think
Was always weird that this comic was like 90% down to earth slice of life, and then there’d just be superhero shenanigans and a car chase and shit.
Those are my personal favorite parts. I totally hope there’s more superhero shenanigans In the future.
That’s fair, and at this point it’s a pretty well entrenched part of the comic
Well, everyone has their own tastes.
The only major fight that I can recall feeling particularly-invested in off the top of my head was the Sal-Amber fight when Sal realized who Amber was (not-coincidentally, that was probably one of the most “grounded” fights – no superhero shenanigans, just two characters with arguably-both-justifiable beefs against each other slugging it out).
Also I think the superhero shenanigans might be a bit more difficult for AG to pull off in the future, especially after the, ah…last high-profile incident Amber was involved in.
But nobody can do fights against giant pastry like Willis.
To be fair, the Tick vs the Breadmaster was also an epic fight, though granted it was breads and not pastries.
I’ve experienced a lot of things in my life, but I’ve never heard a whistle go tweeep tweeep!
It’s because of the social media they use.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/tweep
Oh cool. Twits have a different word to refer to themselves. This is cool and I support them, but part of me also thinks it’s sadder than when Trekkies tried to be Trekkers instead. (n.b. Proud but not card-carrying trekky here)
I know it’s more fun to draw long hair. It’s just unfair how they can all swoosh around without getting it in their mouths.
Well, if there’s anything I’ve learned from my wife, it’s that trans women are too powerful and can grow their hair out as long as they want, yet somehow it’ll mostly keep out of their mouths. (*I*, however, somehow get it in my mouth if I so much as look at her. No clue how that works.) Plus, Carla runs on “whatever will piss people off most,” and this tracks.
Once more, I’d forgotten my avatar and I’m finding myself more amused by my comment with the voice I’ve assigned him in my head.
Classic Doc Brown lines such as
“Great Scott!”
“If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour… you’re gonna see some serious shit”
and of course
“Trans women are too powerful and can grow their hair out as long as they want”
Patreon says that’s why Marcie cut her hair – kept getting in her face while she was skating/showering/cooking.
*plays “Headbangeren” by Doctor Lazer on Voxola PR-76*
Next arc: Walky joins the football team.
If Ron Stoppable can do it, I believe Walky can make the cut.
I’ve actually given thought as to how Walky can go from being the annoying little hobgoblin he is to becoming the man he wants to be and sports, especially team sports, is a big part of it
I’d recommend he start with a little less physically confrontational sport though and work up to it, I don’t know if touch rugby is a thing in american campuses but that soccer or basketball is where he might want to consider starting
Sure, but I think he’s established he doesn’t much like exercise.
I never much liked exercising, for the sake of exercising, but exercising for sports was a different story (I mean I still didn’t like it but at least I could do the minimum required)
He wants to protect campus so he’ll, eventually, have to fight someone if he keeps on doing what hes doing so he’ll need to get used to physical contact and, eventually, will need to learn to fight
It shouldn’t be hard to find a boxing, wrestling and judo clubs on campus plus he might actually make some friends or find a male mentor (everything Walky needs at this moment)
male mentors are overrated
male mentos are overrated
malmen’s toss are overrated
mammon’s toes are overrated
and now I forgot where his was supposed to go
A male mentor for Walky wouldn’t be needed if his dad wasn’t quite…useless (for lack of a better word)
Really any mentor who can be a good role model for Walky would be good. I don’t see why they have to be male. It’s not like his mom is a good role model either, and one of the biggest bits of character development he’s had has been realizing that.
Oh for sure any mentor would be good for Walky (especially one that could help him work through his issues with studying) but seeing as he has “interesting” ideas on manhood and being a man it’d be a good thing for him to have a male role model to look up to
Amazigirl is the perfect mentor for a budding campus superhero.
mammoths’ tusks are overrated
They are also overweight.
I think you’re way overestimating his determination and focus, but sure.
It’s more of a how I’d advise him rather than what I think he’ll do kind of thing
I mean I don’t like the guy but if he’s going to do the things he does then he may as well learn how not to get his butt kicked
Still don’t know anything about roller derby or if they even have points but I’m gonna go ahead and say Carla just scored ten points for the Purple Parrots giving then a quick lead over the Green Monkeys. A decent start!
I know nothing about roller derby either, but I like your interpretation of how it should work
All I really know and I think I learned this on an episode of King of the Hill is that the star on her helmet means Carla is called the “Jammer” and is capable of scoring points. I have no idea how though.
Jammers score by lapping members of the other team.
Roller derby is more interesting than I knew, but I didn’t think Carla was into that kind of thing.
Carla is TOTALLY all about demonstrating her wheeled superiority over all other beings. Making her a Jammer allows her to do this while scoring points for her team, without having to do any messy hitting or pushing.
In many respects, it’s like being a Seeker in Quidditch.
Bah. Sports scoring peaked with the Romans.
The winner is the one who ain’t dead, simple as. None of this points shit.
She was made lead jammer meaning she got in front of everyone first so she has control of the game.
She’s gotten 4 points after passing the other teams blockers
The stars on er shoulders confuse the fuck outta me. You’re supposed to have numbers there.
It looks like her shirt is sleeveless, so I’m guessing tattos (because she likes being a jammer that much) rather than part of the uniform.
See, if they’d gone with green parrots, they could be the ka-ka-ka-kea-pets? Naw, that wouldn’t work. Mmmmm…the drama-llamas? Oooo, Chimera logo, and be called the Lammasu? I dunno I got nothin’.
She’ll slam the Silver Monkey together like it’s nothing, she’s that powerful.
I’m loving this storyline already.
Oh I was right here it comes
Don’t give a damn ’bout my reputation
DAMN YOU WILLIS
Carla: You think the Skates are your ally huh? You merely adopted the skates, I was born in them, molded by them.
Maybe someone posted this yesterday but I feel like it’s really fitting for what’s happening this chapter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7B1HJsB40
You are a true public servant.
That video is about how much I know about roller derby.
Carla you are a gem and a queen, never let anyone tell you otherwise.
It’s true and you should say it.
IIRC, she prefers “motherfucking goddess”.
Would I sound too dumb if I said that I have not idea how this whole roller derby thing works?
Though if it means seeing Carla sassing the heck out of other people, they could be playing golf for all I care.
Best way I can describe it while knowing next to nothing myself is that it’s really aggressive team racing.
I seriously doubt the details will matter. As of right now, what’s relevant is that Carla is the member of the team that can score points(indicated by the star on her helmet) and she’s being insufferable, so they’re doing well. Don’t worry about the rules, just watch the faces to see who’s winning.
Your not alone.
*You’re
Seriously, typos at the worse!
DY Autocorrect?
I had to look this up, but apparently Carla’s the one scoring points, which she accomplishes by lapping the other team. Based on how smug she’s being, I’d say she’s probably “fast as fuck”, as the kids say.
One could even say she is as fast as a car
Hopefully she doesn’t get any ideas after coming across this.
Ew, it’s that Swedish guy.
What I really wanted to do was link the game. But unfortunately, Adobe Flash died last year. Oh so sad!!!
Yeah, but there’s been a big movement to recover and preserve Flash files and such, so it’s probably on some kind of archive site, or will be eventually. Might require a lot of digging, though.
Funny you should mention that. I was spelunking through the old itswalky.com site on Wayback Machine captures from around 2001 or so, and I came across two old Walky flash animations. I wasn’t able to get the file for the first one (though someone has uploaded it to YouTube here) but I was able to get the .swf for the second one! If anybody knows of either a way to convert it to a video or a good archive to submit it to, please let me know! I used to use a program called Swivel to convert Flash files, but since the 2021 kill-switch took effect I have yet to get it to work again.
My understanding so far is that Purple Star and Green Star try to skate really fast so they loop all the way around the track and pass the rest of the group, scoring points. Purples in the rest of the group try to stop Green Star from passing the group while helping Purple Star pass the group, while Greens in the rest of the group try to stop Purple Star from passing the group while helping Green Star pass the group. I think. I need to do more research. Also there are punny names for everybody.
How is it determined who gets to be the star? Is it different from game to game or what?
I believe the rule is that Carla is always the star.
She is a star regardless of context.
That’s just a life rule.
Same as who gets to be goalie or quarterback. Usually the best and most agile skater.
What about the stripey helmets in the front? Do they have a special function or does that just indicate team captain?
You would sound as if you were not familiar with the rules of a moderately obscure sport that you are not involved or interested in.
WHICH IS DUMB! COMPLETELY DUMB! IT IS DUMBIFICATION PERSONIFIED!
What you said, but without the sarcasm.
Well, maybe a little of the sarcasm. As games go, it’s actually fairly simple. None of these infield fly rules or snaps between the quarterbacks legs.
Yeah, it looks like basically the two coolest chicks just go in circles really fast while the rest of their teams beat the fuck out of each other.
There are a lot more details, but that is substantially correct.
**Sits on the corner of the classroom, shamefully wearing a dunce cap**
I don’t really understand how it works either, but it sounds interesting to watch.
I don’t think anyone reading this comic does
https://rules.wftda.com/summary.html
I wanna see more of the green team girl who made it into 3 panels, plz.
#31? I agree. With any luck she’ll make “recurring extra” someday.
I mean we’ve gotta have at least a few jerky rivals here.
Yesss, please!!
Carla’s really attractive.
There, that’s my contribution.
I concur.
Yaaaay, sports ball!
Carla knows all about conveying proper tones
To piss people off of course.
But there’s no ball…
I’m sure there’s at least one or two hangin’ around somewhere.
Sports ball applies to all sports I don’t know the rules to. Someone explained it above but they hadn’t done it yet and I can’t see the future
My understanding has been that Sportsball is a blanket term that covers a bunch of similar activities, that are Sports played with a Ball.
Roller Derby is a Sport, but much like Fencing or Footracing if a Ball has entered play something has gone wrong, and thus they cannot truly be called Sportsball.
Was Calvinball ever about the ball?
Dumbing Of Age, Book 11: TWEEEP! TWEEEP!
HOMPK! established a precedence. This chapter should be TWEEEP!
DoA Book 11: What?
I’d say more like MEEP!! MEEP!!
You know, ’cause Carla’s totally Road-Runnering this.
Carla (to other team): Hey girls!
*zips ahead, comes up behind them*
Aren’t you
*zip*
Supposed to
*zip*
Be blocking me?
*this time vaults over their heads*
PARKOUR!
Having read a little bit about roller derby earlier today, I have some idea what’s going on! Yay me!
I’ve got a sneaking suspicion where this storyline is heading and if I’m right things might be getting dramatic (given my track record its most likely not going to go that direction)
In that case, there’s no harm in sharing it.
I’ll sit on it for a bit but I will say I think Carla will be central to the storyline
Can I hazard a guess and suggest your suspicion involves current events as they pertain to sports and trans women?
Its a tricky subject so a good fit for this comic
Is it that people will be ass-y about Carla being a trans woman on the team? If so, it’s not just you – some folks on Patreon are wondering that too.
I think there are good arguments on both sides so it’ll be interesting to see how the author lets it play out
It’s roller derby, though– a sport that, as I understand it, is pretty accepting of trans women.
Of course the DOA universe isn’t precisely identical to ours.
In panel 1, it looks like they’re facing off against a team of Dinas.
Well, if that were the case, they’d have no chance.
Because of the attack dinosaur thing, or the teleporting thing?
If they had their dino facts right they’d have it in the bag. If they didn’t though…they might not make it out alive.
A box of McNuggets could work too.
It’s good to have a backup plan.
!Tweep! !Tweep! !Hompk! (oh shit!)
Dina doesn’t wanna be fed, she wants to hunt.
Why not but the nuggets in bags and use them as an armor of meat?
I actually like how well the characters are done in Panel 1. You can tell Carla’s in the back, Amber, Sal, and Marcie (L to R) on the center line, and Malaya in front.
you mean Marcie, Sal and Amber. Marcie is wearing sky-blue leggings =)
cheers for getting me to pay attention to that 1st panel though
Good spot, I only figured that out after close examination of panel 6…
*looks around for Stephen Bierce*
*doesn’t see anyone guarding the hacked muzak*
*Puts on Ole by Pearl Jam*
*flees for dear life before anyone notices the pun and/or time-travel paradox*
Regardless, looks like I already beat you to it!
Bah! BAH, I SAY!
What part of time travel did they not understand?
That assumes I also used the Muzak.
However, my Voxola PR-76 is more than ready for this job!
Great Scott! What have they done?
By the way Reltzik, not a bad song suggestion!
Still going with mine, but still.
Is Carla -just- that good? Or does she have Rutten Tech gyro-assist hi-tech LiOn battery dynamo+motor wheels in those skates. And is that illegal? Or just nobody has done it yet?
Carla tends toward honesty when it comes to showcasing her own awesomeness. If she wants to own people with the power of her technology, she’ll do so in a situation that allows for proper bragging rights. So, yeah, she’s just that good
I mean she lives on skates, so she’s got all the right muscles worked out in just the right way. It’s probably more natural than walking at this point, so I’d guess that she is in fact just that good.
When you think about it, being in a world where everyone notices you but where you don’t need to communicate or understood to get what you want is pretty much Carla’s ideal existence.
reparté ? répartie ?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repartee
but i can see Carla deliberately hypercorrecting to sound yet more obnoxious =P
mistook amber for marcy for a second there, then noticed the REAL marcy was just behind her all along
Wait, are the other team’s uniforms based on the ones from Whip It? Because if Carla is about to be faced by Elliot Page, I am here for the confrontation.
Carla ups the ante every time she laps the other team.
Next lap: Double axel
After that: Cossack dance
After that: Casually reading a newspaper she somehow acquired.
After that: Handstand
Carla’s behavior is so useless, childish and unsupportable. GO CARLA!!! DO IT MORE!
Carla’s instructions were to “bait their blockers away”, and I think her behaviour is doing a great job of that.
bait a blocker’s beta blockers
I believe actually killing someone is against the rules.
Apparently, youth roller derby is really a thing in Bloomington. Google it.
As a Kendo practitioner, I tottally understood Amazi-girl. You can hear nothing with these big helmets…
idk what it is about Carla in this strip but she’s giving me heart-eyes
Okay, I have officiated roller derby for the past eight years, so I can help: The skater with the star on the helmet (it’s a cloth cover that can be removed and put on by someone else) is the jammer. Anyone can jam for a team, but there’s only one on the track at a time. Usually, a team will have three to five skaters who only jam, but the role can be filled by anyone. Each team fields four blockers and one jammer. Yes, the jammer’s job is to get through the pack of blockers, and earn a point for each opposing blocker they pass. Your blockers try to assist in that effort while simultaneously preventing the opposing jammer from doing the same thing.
The first panel shows an EXTREMELY orderly lineup (usually the eight blockers are MUCH more packed in together, but that’s not as cinematic, and probably harder to draw), but the jammers do start behind the pack. The first one to get through legally is declared lead jammer (a double tweep from a specifically-designated ref). The jam will continue until two minutes have expired, or the lead jammer ends the jam (which would be a strategic decision, like scoring your points and ending the jam before the other jammer can do the same).
There are absolutely rules about how, when, and where to hit opposing players, or how to help your jammer through. There are seven referees determining and assessing penalties, and up to eleven other officials managing the scoring, timing, and tracking/timing of penalties (I’m one of this latter group).
Bloomington has (or at least has had) one of the original leagues in the sport – Bleeding Heartland Roller Derby – which may have also had a juniors program (skaters 8-18). There are over 400 leagues worldwide, on every continent except Antarctica. Further information about the sport’s structure, reach, mission, and plan to return to play post-Covid can be found at https://wftda.com/.
Thanks.
This is a big help. Thanks so much! Now we need a Roller Derby league in Antarctica. Are there enough women scientists and other workers there?
Nice explanation, thank you.
*learns that in non-plague times there is roller derby in her nearest city* Ooooh…
*reads more info from the link* And Malaya’s helmet stripe means she’s the Pivot, which means she can become Jammer under some circumstances…
Isn’t she supposed to make rounds to score points?
Rounds are irrelevant. Getting past the other teams blockers better and faster than her counterpart can get past her teams blockers is what counts.
Oh, right!