Discussion (176) ¬
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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com ⋅ 2h
trash panzer @panzertron.bsky.social ⋅ 8h
Meredith Rose @mrose.ink ⋅ 1d
Alex Wayne @aawayne.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
David F Walker a.k.a. BadAzz MoFo @davidfwalker.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Arren @arrenm.bsky.social ⋅ 3m
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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good call
Which one? Cramping mojo? Womp swamp? Anna? Anna causing pain?
PAIN!
house call
Ah.
Boooo, Leslie probably picks the worst options in visual novels too
She doesn’t deserve better.
Damn. I don’t agree but that’s a cold argument. You’re hired!
I didn’t realize you were hiring!
I wouldn’t say that she doesn’t deserve better, because most of the time Leslie is actually a genuinely great person, but I’m genuinely surprised in how few strips I went from genuinely liking Leslie to genuinely disliking her.
I’m sure I’ll come back around eventually, but damn I’m unhappy about this entire situation.
I said “genuinely” too many times there, why does it still look like a real wor–oh, nope, there it is.
Consider the possibility that my statement is not my own sincerely held opinion, but my attempt to guess at (some part, conscious or not, of) Leslie’s thought process.
I’m assuming this arc will result in Leslie finally internalizing the ‘good fantasy isn’t necessarily good reality’ thing (which she certainly already knows intellectually)… Maybe upon realizing that modeling that kind of bad relationship dynamic for a sheltered kid like Becky is a bad idea.
I’m not even clear why dating a woman who constantly criticises everything, and whose previous gf appeared to be on the edge of (or recovering from?) a nervous breakdown even seems like a good fantasy.
I’d joke Kaliyo in Old Republic, but she was pretty interesting, just NOT exactly a good girlfriend.
I believe Leslie to be one of the internet commentators who is upset that Morrigan isn’t an option in Dragon Age and REALLY upset that Cassandra isn’t an option but Sera is.
Well, I don’t know about Leslie but I sure as hell was!
To be fair, if you pick Kaliyo, you know what you’re getting into. And for a lot of us, the point of RPGs is to, y’know, roleplay as someone else, and make decisions we would never make IRL.
Weird that so many of the ‘someone else’ s that we are able to roleplay as are straight dudes
Yeah, but if that’s what you’re after, there’s a smorgasbord of options. Where’s all the bald women with psychic powers?
Tsunderes and yanderes all the way down. If the anime waifu isn’t calling the player a baka or locking her in a cage in the basement, Leslie ain’t clicking.
Not wasting any time on the negging, I see.
I am so, so, so utterly ready to be done with Anna’s negging everyone forever.
Here’s hoping she takes a shot at Becky, and Leslie also becomes done with her shit. At least it’s my hope that defending Becky takes priority.
Is it negging or is she just straight-up being mean? I’ve never been clear on the difference.
Potato, potahto..
They’re not the same thing though. She might just be an asshole. Negging necessitates doing it on purpose to tear someone down.
Negging is when you deliberately sabotage other people’s self-esteem to keep them easy to control.
AKA “Abuser 101”.
I think she did examine Leslies’s teeth in a way, and Leslie really might have terrible teeth. So Anna might just be brutally honest here and/or maintaining the “dentist makes a house call” narrative.
In general she needs to drop that habit, though.
There’s always an excuse.
Wait, girls have teeth down there? When did this happen?
So you never heard about “vagina dentata”?
Google it!
To quote Queen of Wands
“Vagina Dentata…
What a wonderful phrase!
Vagina Dentata…
ain’t no passin’ craze!
It means no wiener
for the rest of your days!
It’s a penis-free girl cavity!
Vagina Dentata!
Vagina Dentata!
“
That was one of the first webcomics I discovered, and is still one of my favourites.
I don’t think Anna negs people. I think she’s just a bongo. Her comment on Leslie’s teeth seems to be a clumsy attempt to support Leslie’s lie.
oh my gosh i missed becky and leslie so much!! that’s all
Anna
BTW. Who’s Mindy?
Mindy is the nice girl Leslie didn’t choose
STILL COUNTS AS A WIN FOR BECKY, DANGIT!
Mindy is Mork’s girlfriend. She fell for Anna on the rebound and moved to Indiana to pursue her interests.
RIP Robin Williams
Anna’s friend (?) that Leslie had a date with sorta and who is into Leslie, who only had eyes for Anna because… look at Robin, Leslie’s kinda got a type, I guess.
Wonder if she buys iPhones, their customer service in event of repair probably would make Leslie bite her lip and curl her toes.
I’ve actually had nothing but positive experiences at the Genius Bar (which, incidentally, is a terrible name) dealing w/ iPhone repair. But maybe that’s just me?
In the other universe, she basically admitted to having a type, though she tried to play it off as being only in fiction, since it’s not exactly a super-healthy type.
Anna’s friend who got really upset when Leslie showed interest in Anna over her. They went on a date which ended abruptly and terribly when Mindy was romanticizing Leslie’s very recent stalked by a Congresswoman situation.
Mindy may not take news of Leslie dating well, since Leslie called it off by saying she needed time.
Wonder why she cares if Mindy knows or not.
Guessing she thinks Mindy wouldn’t take it well. And given her behavior (‘you WILL take me on a date’) and Leslie turning her down by saying ‘too soon’ and not ‘you really aren’t my type’, she could have a point.
Dallying with Anna and keeping it secret from Mindy makes it more exciting. Of course Anna will tell Mindy anyway, so that she’ll know she’s left out and will try harder when Anna wants to use her.
Okay, that’s a worse case analysis. But seriously, Anna is going to tell Mindy.
Oh Leslie. This cannot possibly end well for you.
And I don’t think Becky knows Mindy well enough to text her first thing in the morning even if she were so inclined.
Okay, but Anna would say that while off the job, too
This situation looks like plant food to me.
Errr..? Is that a metaphor..?
The alt text refered to Little Shop of Horrors. I cribbed from another song from the show/film.
Aaaah, okay.
Little Shop Of Horrors, the Seymour deciding to off the dentist.
Today’s strip is brought to you by Subaru. Confidence In Motion.
Subaru, which looked at in the mirror spells U R A Bus. But I am NOT a bus, I am a souped up Dodge Charger, just that Maaco didnt get the correct paint on me.
♫ Feel the freedom! Subaru ♫
Then go git it! (Music sting)
Awww, such delightful mom and Becky and antics. It’s sweet <3
I mean, this is gonna be a train wreck (Anna/Leslie) but this is cute.
Leslie is a great Beckymom!
Can Leslie be everybody’s mom? Or at least the ones with crappy moms?
She may try to be a cool teacher for all of them
but I’m not sure she’s ready to take on THAT many children.
Well, it is a one bedroom house. So, yeah, fair enough.
Our house it has a crowd, there’s always something happening and it’s usually quite loud….
you know, a brunch might be a good alternative here for Leslie to being up to the lgbtq outreach club. Instead of fostering all the kids as replacement cats, she could just have brunch on the weekend. Some food and inclusion would be a huge step for so many, and would probably be a good therapy bandaid too. Unfortunately We’d have to switch the theme to The Leslie Brunch/Munch and neither of those sound very… purpose friendly.
I’m sure she brought plenty of dental dams.
Leslie looks really adorable in this?
It’s true. If Becky walked into the bedroom she’d find a dental chair and one of those really bright lights on a boom they use.
Everything is someone’s kink.
The alt-text even references Little Shop of Horrors, which includes the line “I get off on the pain I inflict”
Awwwww, Becky’s working hard to keep that mom/kid dynamic going
Gosh you’re extra chipper when there’s a beck-comic
Noooo, this is the normal amount of singing I do while I talk
Womp womp
That is a term/phrase with which I am not familiar.
Twitter meme, bongo Republican used that about the kids in cages at the border, and now it has become a “I’m glad the world has taken a dump on your head. Kinda like the word “bongo” is now used to describe a certain kind of personality on this comic.
No, it predated him by a long, long way. He was using the meme, not the origin of it.
It’s an onomatopoeia (word that reads as sound) for a 2 note trombone sting, similar and meaning the same to the “sad trombone” sound : a meme that something is uncomfortable and awkward and the speaker is feeling like they are the target of the cosmic joke.
Oh, Leslie. Leslie, no. I can’t believe you’ve done this.
Unfortunately, I can. Very easily, in fact.
it’s not nice to call her GF “this” tho
Dentist! Not GF!! Leslie’s not ready for a relationship yet… except when she is.
Mostly because they don’t exist, seriously its like one solid mass of white in there, how do you breathe?
Through the giant black void at the end of her nose?
“My art teacher wants me to stop making up anatomy that doesn’t exist.”
“But Art Teacher, he needs all those abs to compensate for his lack of super powers!”
I can feel the the awkward feeling coming off Becky through the screen. Poor kid, it’s not easy being someone’s charity even if the other person is totally fine with it.
Also, damn Leslie is bad at lying.
Yeah. :/
Funny how Leslie goes from boasting about her dentist girlfriend to her class to immediately going into denial mode around one of her students’ best friend.
Because that one could tell Mindy and Mindy could be destroyed if she learns of this. Or worse. *Judge her.*
“your teeth are terrible, must come from all that lying you do through them”
Oh, so that’s why Anna is super snarky. She hasn’t had enough patients to cause pain to as of late!
Obviously dentistry involves no pants.
In fairness, most things are better without pants.
..well, except trekking through the snow. That’s so much worse.
Particularly if it’s uphill both ways.
I was not expecting a Little Shop of Horrors reference.
I approve!
I feel like Becky’s attempts to help matters are making it more awkward.
I can’t believe that.
That’s practically unheard of.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/pooper-2/
The irony is that Becky is 18 so she can literally be just said to be Leslie’s roommate without weirdness.
But she WANTS to be Leslie’s bratty kid because she WANTS Leslie to be her awesome lesbian mom.
…oh.
Leslie should try to go sister rather than mom. She’d have an easier time of it.
No doubt.
But “easy” is not really the goto solution for any of them. Also, I really think both of them crave the be a surrogate mother/daughter for each other, regardless of the trouble that entails.
Gotta check them up close
oral exam. hurr hurr.
…sorry
Full of hair.
I’ll get me coat.
I thought I had Becky’s hair all figured out, then Willis throws an over-the-shoulder POV at us.
It’s rad
It’s a side-shave asymmetric ‘do. A number of my friends have that style, I rocked something similar but longer some years back.
Becky lost her Mom, then was attacked by her Dad. Im not sure Becky is secure with Joyce’s freindship, now that she is out of the closet. She needs a friend, which she has (Dina) but she still needs a Mom type to help guide. She’s a little rudderless ATM.
Leslie’s…. not exactly the most steady of rudders, though.
…. wait, in that metaphor she’d be a keel, not a rudder. She’s not the most even of keels.
….. but then who’s the rudder?
Willis
I read that as “little, rudderless” describing a noun ATM and imagined a little ATM scooting along in water like a mini speedboat, but without any steering. It was a cute image in my head and I got kinda sad, and realized that I guess I’m so easy all you gotta do is call something small and lost and I’m like “oh it needs help” even if it’s a box of money.
You forced me to o waste good coffee! Spit take allover the morning paper.
Luckily I missed the phone! Great Image in my mind, although I pictured an ATV, at first, then an ATM spewing one dollar bills behind itself, plowing through the water at a Florida marina.
I actually spent a couple of minutes googling, trying to find out what kind of water vehicle was being referred to, until the penny dropped.
I literally don’t know from where Leslie is coming right now. Is she ashamed of Anna? Or is there some sort of fear on her part that Anna is the bad person some have suggested and she’s handling this by avoiding exposing her presence in her life to people who might have an opinion?
Leslie told Mindy that she wasn’t ready to date anyone at that time. A few days later she saw Anna at another store and asked her out again.
She is right to be afraid of Mindy’s opinion.
Did they date or just hook up?
She told Mindy she wasn’t ready to date anyone. Asked out Anna a couple of days later. She is likely both afraid of being judged but also likely afraid of hurting Mindy’s already low self-esteem.
I think it’s just Leslie is trying to put on a “good role model.” It’s just she’s a bit nervous about sex around a minor.
Pretty sure Becky’s 18. She’s not really a minor.
No, but Leslie’s in her 30s. Becky is relatively speaking, a kid. A generation younger and just becoming an adult. And she’s doing a kind of role model/mother figure thing.
It’s awkward.
Leslie. Stop trying. You already know you’re terrible at hiding when you’ve got somehow shacked up with you. Especially with Becky around. (Don’t let her get your phone, Anna! She’ll ruin your career!)
Admittedly, last time it was more someone shacking up with you however much you told her to go away. But still.
All of which is to say I can understand why Leslie would be a little paranoid about bringing girlfriends home.
Okay, I think I get it.
Leslie isn’t ashamed of dating Anna per se.
Leslie’s ashamed of having bailed on nice-girl Mindy for nasty-girl Anna. She’s particular afraid that Mindy might find out because, let’s be honest, being “dumped” (though I don’t know if it counts as dumped after one date) for Anna (who she is still crushing on) would very much hurt Mindy. Leslie’s afraid that Becky will let it slip and/or judge her for it.
Yes, Becky said she doesn’t care, but in that moment when she said it Leslie couldn’t hear because she was too distracted by bad lesbian life decisions.
Especially considering that Leslie’s last words to Mindy were “Maybe I’m not ready for dating yet.” While Leslie (dear, gentle Leslie) is basically just trying to spare Mindy’s feelings, if news of this comes out then to Mindy it will seem as if Leslie was really saying “I’m not ready for dating YOU.” And trust me, to someone who’s already grappling with serious self-esteem issues due to her feelings never being reciprocated, that would be like a deathblow.
And I can’t understand why Leslie believes Anna won’t just tell Mindy. Mindy is going to notice that Anna didn’t come home last night. Does Leslie believe for a second that Anna is going to lie rather than go for a brutally painful truth?
Yes.
Leslie is a BAD judge of character about the women she’s hot for.
She’s a good judge of character…it’s just she’s attractive to unfortunate aspects of their character.
*attracted.
Dumped wouldn’t be right word, I’d say “stood up.”
I don’t think Leslie necessarily has given a single thought to Mindy.
It’s just awkward having sex around a person you’re caring for.
At least for Leslie, who is very reserved.
“Did you tell Mindy?” Out of the blue.
Yeah, it’s been on her mind.
‘nasty-girl Anna. Sounds like someone reads the slipshines.
And the tale of making terrible relationship decisions continues!
The alt-text makes me want to see Anna singing this song.
We had some fun with that song back in the days
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/kidding-2/#comment-509514
I’m kind of glad it was something more creative but kind of disappointed they didn’t go with ‘I’m Gay’ from Brain Candy
I want to like Leslie but shes not making it easy
Leslie has an awful taste in people to whom she is romantically attracted to the point where I consider her at risk of abuse.
I mean, it’s not her fault that she has shit taste in women. It seems weird to blame someone for a problem that needs a therapist’s help.
Its less her shit taste in women and more that she knows her taste is shit but goes ahead irregardless of the cost to others
Eh, maybe Anne is an asshole who will be good for Leslie.
I.e. “I don’t take, you don’t talk. We just have sex.”
Take some pressure off.
That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that Leslie is aiming for in a relationship though.
However, maybe short term it’s what Leslie needs? Anna seems like a rebound in a way, so a rebound that literally is only in it for the sex makes the future breakup way easier and less painful. Plus if Leslie can start picking up on the nastiness, it can help her also reevaluate what she wants, what her tastes in women are, etc.
I mean, I would be suspicious, but that’s always what my dentist tells me….
“Let me see if any teeth give way under tongue pressure. Not your own tongue, dummy.”
I’ve got a horrible feeling that, at some point, Anna is going to tell Leslie that she’s only doing this to assert dominance over Mindy and that she’s never really liked or had any interest in Leslie beyond her being a tool to hurt Mindy for her own amusement.
Well, she is girl-Mike.
After reading this comment I felt sad.
1. Because I fear it is true.
2. Because it is so very unlike the lesbian relationships I saw growing up.
3. Because I think that Leslie is a redeemable character, and I so WANT to like her,… Only she makes things complicated and difficult.
Why is leslie the one getting flak here. I really don’t get it. So she’s banging a sub-par person….that reflects more on her taste than her character.
Yeah, I’m not sure how a speculative post about Anne’s character flaws turned into a critique of Leslie either!
Leslie is getting flak for the way she treated Mindy. Instead og being honest and saying “You don’t do anything for me but holy crap your roommate does,” Leslie told Mindy she wasn’t ready to date at that time.
A few days later she asked out Anna.
And maybe she wasn’t ready that day, but she was ready a few days later. People are allowed to be wrong and change their minds.
Now, it doesn’t make it hurt any less for Mindy, and Leslie could have handled it better, but let’s not pretend Mindy was also honest with Leslie. She’s.. pretty clearly not over Anna, or ready for her or Anna to date other people.
What Leslie actually said was ‘MAYBE I’m not ready’.
She then followed it up with ‘I need a distraction, not someone who’ll echo what’s in my head’ (i.e. someone who won’t romanticize what happened with Robin – Mindy thought it was romantic to have someone throw their life in the dirt for you, which is what Leslie wanted to happen but didn’t – instead she got Robin being an ass). And then the next day she ran into Anna at the market and she and Anna connected a little bit over not believing in god and so Leslie asked her to go get coffee.
That seems to me like Leslie didn’t know 100% what was off when she was with Mindy, as she offered multiple possibilities.
I’d guess there’s also some of that human tendency to put pressure on the people who seem more likely to change – kind of a milder version of the way dysfunctional families tend to pressure The Reasonable One to placate the Missing Stair.
Of course, we can’t influence *either* of them because they’re fictional, but, we know Leslie a lot better.
Honestly, I don’t get a mike vibe from her. Mike is a calculating sociopath who may or may not be trying to help. Anna’s mean, but I don’t see her analyzing people and formulating plans. And she’s at least halfway socable.
Maybe I misremember but the only thing expressed between them up to now has been sexual attraction. No one talked about going steady or whatever. Leslie wanted to bang Anna. And she did.
If Leslie is going on the train wreck of trying to have a relationship with Anna, we don’t know yet.
She said she’s dating a sexy dentist. She also talked about meeting the “love of her life” in the previous strip.
Now, whether Anna’s on board with any of that is an open question, but Leslie’s interested in more than just casual banging.
Right, I forgot about that. Leslie’s in lala land.
anybody want to give me a refresher on this story line? it’s been so long I can’t remember who anyone is other than becky and leslie. also there was that politician lady? I forget what happened
Leslie met two ladies at a grocery store, one asked her out, Leslie said she wasn’t ready to date after the politician lady (because she had a crush on the other) and then she ran into the lady she liked at Staples and they went out. The girl she likes is Anna, Mindy was the one who asked her out first. Robin’s the politician lady – her party dropped her endorsement and Becky’s been using Robin’s twitter to make her think she was into stuff like LGBT+ rights.
Basically, politician lady is absolutely HOSED.
ah yes I remember now thank ya very much
I wonder if Leslie is into Halestorm, because whenever her love life comes up, I am reminded of a couple of their songs… A Familiar Taste of Poison, and I Miss the Misery, specifically.
I love Halestorm!
But yeah their songs do kind of fit Leslie.
*high fives fellow fan*
Thank you, alt text, for a wonderful earworm.
Smooth, Leslie, real smooth. At least Anna was quick enough to follow up.
The Leader of the Plaque!
I think Leslie may simply be embarrassed by having a one-night stand versus having any worry about it getting back to Mindy. Mindy being a woman Leslie just did not have any spark with.
I don’t think Leslie’s having a one-night stand. Or at least that’s not her plan.
That’s one of my favorite musicals, alt-text!
does she have a pathological need to be in some sort of closet?
Are we talking about Brun now?
I appreciate this reference.
“In fact, I didn’t see any teeth at all!”
Love the Little Shop reference!