Agreed Mr. Campbell. Self proclaimed future female president = dating monkey boy? Does not compute on Danny’s brainwave.
….then again, lots of things do not match his brainwave.
I’ve been thinking about Danny. He’s not the main doofus, yet he is ‘a’ central doofus….is their a trope for a non main character, main character? LIke…the main non-character of the Hellboy movie, John Meyers?
Is Danny the John Meyers of Roomies universe and Dumbing of Age?
Unless I’m mistaken, its kind of a rare trope. Even Naive Newcomer doesn’t cover it, since he’s still a central character. What do you call that?
I believe Danny represents the understated plot support character, with him just being their it allows events and other plot-lines to meet at a sort of crossroads in the story and let’s main characters interact in ways that would have been difficult to explain or seem lazy on the authors part. This is just a theory on my part and I hope it will not be taken as fact.
Sixth ranger doesn’t fit, as that’s for when a sixth member is added later as part of the gang. Tagalong kid would only fit if he were 10 years younger. The closest I can think of would be akin to the narrator of The Great Gatsby, who was part of the story yet mostly removed from it.
Given that it’s an ensemble cast, I’m not sure any of these apply. Characters and storylines shift in and out of focus and their characters come and go with them. No one character or story is the main character or story, so how can Danny be secondary to a main character that doesn’t exist?
So: the term you’re looking for in this case is ‘co-star’.
He’s a Ted Mosby? Ostensibly the main character, yet comparatively bland and serving mostly as a contact point and source of material for the crazier characters around him.
Kind of fits with the Gatsby narrator comment too.
Perhaps the term you’re searching for is “Fifth Business”:
“Those roles which, being neither those of Hero, nor Heroine, nor Confidante, nor Villain, but which were none the less essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement were called the Fifth Business” ~Robertson Davies, 1970.
I will be seriously disappointed if Danny actually offers to lend a pair of shoes to them after learning the truth. This would be a good chance for him to stand-up for himself. He owes Dorothy nothing.
No, that isn’t Walky’s fault, but it was Dorothy’s plan to ask her ex (with whom she ended the relationship) for a pair of shoes that her new boyfriend can borrow. Danny has no obligation to help them.
In this case, he would be a pushover. There are many people in teh world who need shoes, but not all of them are dating his recent ex. Danny may be nice, but if he lends those shoes, he’s either way too nice to have been dumped or he’s a pushover and Dorothy has always seen him as kind of pathetic.
….Or he just has no animosity towards her? He’s moving on and going after other girls. And it’s not as if Dorothy was cruel about the breakup or anything. Nor are her and Walky particularly serious (at least, not as serious as Danny was about Dorothy). People break up. It happens. Dorothy didn’t handle it the best way, but she also wasn’t evil about it. And Walky really had nothing to do with any of it.
If Danny lends him his shoes, it doesn’t make him a pushover or a doormat. It makes him a guy helping out another guy and being mature about the whole thing.
And it wouldn’t be any kind of reflection on how Dorothy feels about him. She never said that she wasn’t still leaving. Her and Walky are just having fun. Besides, Danny got dumped for good reason, IMO. He was convinced Dorothy would change her mind and stay, but was willing to drop out and follow her if she didn’t. Him being more wrapped up in what she was wanted to do than in his own life was not healthy.
True. If only he would get that Dorothy doesn’t owe him anything either.
He’s seeing Amber. She’s seeing “Door Troll” Walkerton. He can say ‘Get Lost’ to them, something even uglier, a simple ‘no,’ or even expect them to trade a favor for a favor when he has a need for one (they’d owe him if he comes through, as this isn’t his problem in the slightest), but his high school relationship with Dorothy is a done deal, save for his neediness and whatever guilt said neediness has projected into her wishy-washy psyche.
They’re seeing each other casually. There’s clear romantic interest on both sides. That trip to Galasso’s seemed like a first date to me.
He’s just seeing Amazi-Girl as well. From his point of view. From Amber’s point of view she’s using her alter ego to get closer to him while at the same time trying to get close to him as herself with baby steps.
I do remember the original stip and I think Dorothy told Dan flat out that the only reason he was at college there, was because he followed her and that he was not really interested in his education and she was in her’s. She told him she was moving on from that college to further her education. He said he would go too. She told him to stop and just give it up.
I think that it was Danny that decided that what he heard was ‘I can’t have a boyfriend here because I am moving on’. That is not what she said. So, why should she be all flushed and sorry-I don’t think she has a thing to be sorry for, unless she is just sorry he is getting hurt again. She really doesn’t owe him.
Good Ol’ Mike, brings things right out there. And that last panel is just plain funny – ‘are you sure?’
Yes! Jesus Christ, people are really looking to make her some kind of villain here. Actually I’ve noticed this happens a lot in the comments. Pretty much always to a woman tho, how weird and unpredictable is that???? Wacky.
Wait, I mean. Uh. What are you, some kinda man-hating politically correct feminist who has to shove gender politics everywhere?! Raugh raugh defensive anger raugh 😛
I think she owes him what everyone owes, base minimum to me, every person if they’re a decent human being: truth and honesty. And since he was a long-term boyfriend, I think he was entitled to that a bit more from Dorothy than most. She broke up with him fast and unclean, so any ambiguity he might have misinterpreted is, PARTLY, her fault. And this situation is DIRECTLY her fault since trying to swipe your ex’s shoes for your current boytoy is a pretty cold, insensitive thing to do.
THAT BEING SAID, however, I do honestly think that things are working out the best for the both of them. While Dorothy didn’t handle the break up in the best way, truth be told, Danny probably wouldn’t have listened to any true insight that Dorothy would’ve given since he was pretty blind to things. So him getting space, some time (days, anyway), and some involvement with some other women has probably opened him up to listening more.
And, I think, Dorothy is handling things the best way now by apologizing for the situation she herself has created. She made some mistakes, but it’s working out now and probably will if she continues this line of action.
She’s insensitive to other people’s feelings and is selfish to a degree, certainly, but she certainly isn’t a VILLAIN by any means. Not by a long shot. I think the people that paint her as a villain take it too far. I’m liking where Danny/Dorothy is going, honestly. They’re both gonna be the better for it.
Whatever reason she had for dumping him, it’s usually a bit awkward when you meet your ex and they are dating someone new. It can be interpreted as “I’ve replaced you with this guy.” And what she’s really apologizing for is him finding out in this manner, not that she’s dating someone new. She might be sorry for other things, but that’s what the apology is for.
Especially when the main line you gave him about why you dumped him was that you didn’t have time for a boyfriend, and the replacement boyfriend is revealed maybe two weeks later. That makes her original stated reason for dumping you sound like a transparent lie, so presumably she actually dumped you because of your smelly feet or something.
And either way, coming back to ask for your shoes is cold.
I guess Danny has almost had sex with Billie, flirted with Amber and has kind of been seeing Amazi-girl since they broke up, he can’t really be too mad.
He is pretty clearly moving on but this is still an awkward situation and coming to him for the shoes was still a terrible terrible idea. Dorothy broke up with him but she still got pissed off momentarily when she found out he was interested an Amber. There are still a lot of feelings going on is what I’m saying.
poor Danny. iv been in a similar situation multiple times and its never fun. gotta say though, it gets easier (so much so that eventually you can just slam the door on em and not feel guilty)
For a start it’s Mike, he would lend him a pair that would eventually break them up again, like he did with the PJ Jeans.
And I doubt Mike has more than 1 pair anyways… 😛
Oh, for FUCK’S SAKE, Walky! Grow a pair and a goddamn spine, would you?! That pitiful look was cute at first and I loved it, but now it just invites being punched in the goddamn face!
DANNY is looking like a more solid person than you! DANNY, FOR HISTORICAL CHRIST’S SAKE!
I’ll admit that I’m apparently one of the few who like Danny better than Walky (or likes Danny at all based on some earlier comments) I really don’t see what is so apparently pathetic or spineless about Danny. I realize those weren’t your exact words I’m just using your comment as an excuse to say all this. I mean he was clearly very attached and somewhat “clingy” when it came to Dorothy but he’s young, she was most likely his first girlfriend and they dated for years but when they broke up he respected the break up. He didn’t make any elaborate efforts to get her back and he gave her space whatever reasons he may have come up with for why she broke up with him or not aren’t anything to be judged over in my opinion. The guy has a right to comfort himself and he’s been moving on and not wallowing or pining over her and now he’s handling this extremely awkward situation as well as he possibly could. He seems like a decent/solid guy to me.
Having a pretty weird site problem. Putting ‘dumbingofage.com’ in the site URL–just that, nothing else–brings this strip up as the first result. Is this happening to anyone else?
(…and if it isn’t and I’ve screwed something up, sorry for making this weird for future commenters here to see the past discussion.)
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Hooray, Walky’s weird face has returned. Does that mean he’s falling for Danny?
One can only hope. Who’s the top and who’s the bottom?
It’s a caramel sandwich between two slices of white bread!
That’s some strange sandwiches you grew up eating.
I think I’ll imagine them as an alfajor, you know, with dulce de leche and everything :3
If they’re an alfajor who’s the powdered sugar?
Clearly it’s mike. For a nickel
I’m actually going to vote for Danny as the top here, not the obvious choice perhaps, but that’s how the characters strike me.
Show us on this doll exactly where the characters struck you, please.
I don’t see Walky being a bottom, and Danny’s too willing to please; so, Walky’s probably the top here.
Or maybe they switch? 0:
It’s very Charlie Brown.
I suppose I can’t blame Danny. Mike does appear to be the better catch, all things considered.
He’s a humungous dick who, as far as Danny can see, rubs strangers’ noses in unpleasant truths for the sheer joy of it.
And yet, still, yes.
Agreed Mr. Campbell. Self proclaimed future female president = dating monkey boy? Does not compute on Danny’s brainwave.
….then again, lots of things do not match his brainwave.
I’ve been thinking about Danny. He’s not the main doofus, yet he is ‘a’ central doofus….is their a trope for a non main character, main character? LIke…the main non-character of the Hellboy movie, John Meyers?
Is Danny the John Meyers of Roomies universe and Dumbing of Age?
Unless I’m mistaken, its kind of a rare trope. Even Naive Newcomer doesn’t cover it, since he’s still a central character. What do you call that?
I believe Danny represents the understated plot support character, with him just being their it allows events and other plot-lines to meet at a sort of crossroads in the story and let’s main characters interact in ways that would have been difficult to explain or seem lazy on the authors part. This is just a theory on my part and I hope it will not be taken as fact.
tvTropes has 6th ranger or tagalong kid that i think danny would fit for this question. scroll down to associated character tropes http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FiveManBand
Sixth ranger doesn’t fit, as that’s for when a sixth member is added later as part of the gang. Tagalong kid would only fit if he were 10 years younger. The closest I can think of would be akin to the narrator of The Great Gatsby, who was part of the story yet mostly removed from it.
Given that it’s an ensemble cast, I’m not sure any of these apply. Characters and storylines shift in and out of focus and their characters come and go with them. No one character or story is the main character or story, so how can Danny be secondary to a main character that doesn’t exist?
So: the term you’re looking for in this case is ‘co-star’.
And Meyers was a Lancer.
He’s a Ted Mosby? Ostensibly the main character, yet comparatively bland and serving mostly as a contact point and source of material for the crazier characters around him.
Kind of fits with the Gatsby narrator comment too.
Perhaps the term you’re searching for is “Fifth Business”:
“Those roles which, being neither those of Hero, nor Heroine, nor Confidante, nor Villain, but which were none the less essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement were called the Fifth Business” ~Robertson Davies, 1970.
I chose to read your “he’s a” as “he has” instead of “he is.” I think it’s equally valid and just as funny.
Yeah, I was gonna say, it’s probably exactly the humongous dick that Danny thinks Dorothy is after.
“I mean look at him…”
Lookit that sad face…
@~~@
Poor Walkerton….
Actually, now that you mention it, I might not have been making out with him for the past couple of weeks…
Just to make sure, they need to have baseline “making out” and “not making out” measures. A menage a quatre is clearly in order.
Mike looks even more like Johnny Bravo than usual in the last panel.
Wha-oh…oh Cheese I can’t unsee it!!
I half-expect him to go “Hey there, baby” and do that muscle posing, complete with “HOO HA HUH!”
MAN I’M PRETTY.
It was at this moment that Danny realized he had entered the “Zone Where Normal Things Don’t Often Happen.”
Add sparkles and it would be “The Twilight Zone” …. XD
I will be seriously disappointed if Danny actually offers to lend a pair of shoes to them after learning the truth. This would be a good chance for him to stand-up for himself. He owes Dorothy nothing.
He has nothing against Walky, though. It’s not Walky’s fault Dorothy starte dating him, or that she broke up with Danny.
No, that isn’t Walky’s fault, but it was Dorothy’s plan to ask her ex (with whom she ended the relationship) for a pair of shoes that her new boyfriend can borrow. Danny has no obligation to help them.
Well right, but Danny’s not an asshole. And just because you have no obligation to help someone doesn’t mean you’re a doormat if you do help them.
In this case, he would be a pushover. There are many people in teh world who need shoes, but not all of them are dating his recent ex. Danny may be nice, but if he lends those shoes, he’s either way too nice to have been dumped or he’s a pushover and Dorothy has always seen him as kind of pathetic.
….Or he just has no animosity towards her? He’s moving on and going after other girls. And it’s not as if Dorothy was cruel about the breakup or anything. Nor are her and Walky particularly serious (at least, not as serious as Danny was about Dorothy). People break up. It happens. Dorothy didn’t handle it the best way, but she also wasn’t evil about it. And Walky really had nothing to do with any of it.
If Danny lends him his shoes, it doesn’t make him a pushover or a doormat. It makes him a guy helping out another guy and being mature about the whole thing.
And it wouldn’t be any kind of reflection on how Dorothy feels about him. She never said that she wasn’t still leaving. Her and Walky are just having fun. Besides, Danny got dumped for good reason, IMO. He was convinced Dorothy would change her mind and stay, but was willing to drop out and follow her if she didn’t. Him being more wrapped up in what she was wanted to do than in his own life was not healthy.
What about when she sent Billie over, I mean how can you hate your ex girlfriend when she sends over boobs?
True. If only he would get that Dorothy doesn’t owe him anything either.
He’s seeing Amber. She’s seeing “Door Troll” Walkerton. He can say ‘Get Lost’ to them, something even uglier, a simple ‘no,’ or even expect them to trade a favor for a favor when he has a need for one (they’d owe him if he comes through, as this isn’t his problem in the slightest), but his high school relationship with Dorothy is a done deal, save for his neediness and whatever guilt said neediness has projected into her wishy-washy psyche.
He’s seeing Amber? Surely you mean this in the literal sense of visually perceiving Amber’s presence.
They’re seeing each other casually. There’s clear romantic interest on both sides. That trip to Galasso’s seemed like a first date to me.
He’s just seeing Amazi-Girl as well. From his point of view. From Amber’s point of view she’s using her alter ego to get closer to him while at the same time trying to get close to him as herself with baby steps.
They’re kinda together, but Danny doesn’t actually know this yet, as he doesn’t know who Amazi-girl is. 😛
I’m not sure Amber knows this either. Somebody should tell both of them.
Well, just because you don’t owe people something doesn’t mean you can’t be a mensch. Danny’s a mensch. He might just go for it.
Daaaaaang, wrong thread
wait… no it wasn’t…. hmmm
I’d much prefer you’re with this hunky adonis before me than this meager caramel statue.
With his clothes on, Walky looks more like a melted pile of caramel than a sculpted caramel statue.
We’re gonna have to get Maury Povich to settle this.
“Alright. The test results are in and Danny, you ex-girlfriend has been seeing…….”
*Super long dramatic pause*
*pan over to the mystery silhouette backstage*
“Joe Rosenthal!”
Then they get into a fistfight.
Yeah, I’d watch that.
It wouldn’t be much of a mystery with these cartoon silhouettes. Yes, I know that was the joke.
I do remember the original stip and I think Dorothy told Dan flat out that the only reason he was at college there, was because he followed her and that he was not really interested in his education and she was in her’s. She told him she was moving on from that college to further her education. He said he would go too. She told him to stop and just give it up.
I think that it was Danny that decided that what he heard was ‘I can’t have a boyfriend here because I am moving on’. That is not what she said. So, why should she be all flushed and sorry-I don’t think she has a thing to be sorry for, unless she is just sorry he is getting hurt again. She really doesn’t owe him.
Good Ol’ Mike, brings things right out there. And that last panel is just plain funny – ‘are you sure?’
Yes! Jesus Christ, people are really looking to make her some kind of villain here. Actually I’ve noticed this happens a lot in the comments. Pretty much always to a woman tho, how weird and unpredictable is that???? Wacky.
Thank you two for saying it @_@
Wait, I mean. Uh. What are you, some kinda man-hating politically correct feminist who has to shove gender politics everywhere?! Raugh raugh defensive anger raugh 😛
I don’t understand how people could get confused about the details of a conversation they read in 2010.
Oh man- it’s almost like… actual human memory!
I think she owes him what everyone owes, base minimum to me, every person if they’re a decent human being: truth and honesty. And since he was a long-term boyfriend, I think he was entitled to that a bit more from Dorothy than most. She broke up with him fast and unclean, so any ambiguity he might have misinterpreted is, PARTLY, her fault. And this situation is DIRECTLY her fault since trying to swipe your ex’s shoes for your current boytoy is a pretty cold, insensitive thing to do.
THAT BEING SAID, however, I do honestly think that things are working out the best for the both of them. While Dorothy didn’t handle the break up in the best way, truth be told, Danny probably wouldn’t have listened to any true insight that Dorothy would’ve given since he was pretty blind to things. So him getting space, some time (days, anyway), and some involvement with some other women has probably opened him up to listening more.
And, I think, Dorothy is handling things the best way now by apologizing for the situation she herself has created. She made some mistakes, but it’s working out now and probably will if she continues this line of action.
She’s insensitive to other people’s feelings and is selfish to a degree, certainly, but she certainly isn’t a VILLAIN by any means. Not by a long shot. I think the people that paint her as a villain take it too far. I’m liking where Danny/Dorothy is going, honestly. They’re both gonna be the better for it.
Whatever reason she had for dumping him, it’s usually a bit awkward when you meet your ex and they are dating someone new. It can be interpreted as “I’ve replaced you with this guy.” And what she’s really apologizing for is him finding out in this manner, not that she’s dating someone new. She might be sorry for other things, but that’s what the apology is for.
Especially when the main line you gave him about why you dumped him was that you didn’t have time for a boyfriend, and the replacement boyfriend is revealed maybe two weeks later. That makes her original stated reason for dumping you sound like a transparent lie, so presumably she actually dumped you because of your smelly feet or something.
And either way, coming back to ask for your shoes is cold.
Well, the shoe thing kind of does rule out smelly feet as a possible explanation.
Walky. Your face is melting.
that is what i was thinking. he looks like he is about to snap or something
This page has suddenly become an advanced screenings premiere club.
All things considered Danny doesn’t look too upset so maybe this won’t go so bad? Then again Walky looks like he’s going to cry…
I guess Danny has almost had sex with Billie, flirted with Amber and has kind of been seeing Amazi-girl since they broke up, he can’t really be too mad.
He is pretty clearly moving on but this is still an awkward situation and coming to him for the shoes was still a terrible terrible idea. Dorothy broke up with him but she still got pissed off momentarily when she found out he was interested an Amber. There are still a lot of feelings going on is what I’m saying.
Hell, all of that considered, Danny’s doing better than Dorothy.
Too true, Amber > Walky.
That is HIGHLY subjective.
Hey David Willis, can you imitate that Walky face in real life?
Only if he has a stroke.
He can, if beer is involved.
Danny seem confused. I’m half expecting for him to say “Alright, where’s the hidden camera?”
“Okay Ashton, come out, I know when I’m being punk’d.”
Danny…I hate to break it to you…but punk’d hasn’t been around for half a decade or so
No I think they brought it back.
…Which would put it at right around last month in in-comic time.
Heyooo!!!
I want to “Yeah” your comment, Rex.
Nice gravatar/comment synchronicity
“Are you sure?” is the best possible response to this situation.
To be fair, I’d probably ask that question, even if I was in Walky’s position.
dude like mike was trying to save you jeez. hehheh i love mike. he reminds me of a guy i once knew.
C’mon, tell us where you buried him – #9834
you’ll feel better #9835
C’mon, tell us where you buried him… ♪ you’ll feel better ♫
And here I thought it was a dialogue between two robots!
Awwwwww. I was really hoping this whole Danny thinking Dorothy was dating Mike thing would play out for a long while.
poor Danny. iv been in a similar situation multiple times and its never fun. gotta say though, it gets easier (so much so that eventually you can just slam the door on em and not feel guilty)
Yeah that would definitely be Danny’s best move at this point.
Why couldn’t they ask Mike for shoes?
For a start it’s Mike, he would lend him a pair that would eventually break them up again, like he did with the PJ Jeans.
And I doubt Mike has more than 1 pair anyways… 😛
Mika has as many pairs of shoes as you don’t want him to have.
ROFL……CANT STOP LAUGHING!!!
Why does Walky look so pitiful?
Is it because he is too much of a puss to tell Mike off for screwing with him again?
I love how Danny looks much more like a though then Walky in this strip.
I feel that the only punchline this comic ever needs is Walky’s face. Kills me every time.
Oh, for FUCK’S SAKE, Walky! Grow a pair and a goddamn spine, would you?! That pitiful look was cute at first and I loved it, but now it just invites being punched in the goddamn face!
DANNY is looking like a more solid person than you! DANNY, FOR HISTORICAL CHRIST’S SAKE!
I’ll admit that I’m apparently one of the few who like Danny better than Walky (or likes Danny at all based on some earlier comments) I really don’t see what is so apparently pathetic or spineless about Danny. I realize those weren’t your exact words I’m just using your comment as an excuse to say all this. I mean he was clearly very attached and somewhat “clingy” when it came to Dorothy but he’s young, she was most likely his first girlfriend and they dated for years but when they broke up he respected the break up. He didn’t make any elaborate efforts to get her back and he gave her space whatever reasons he may have come up with for why she broke up with him or not aren’t anything to be judged over in my opinion. The guy has a right to comfort himself and he’s been moving on and not wallowing or pining over her and now he’s handling this extremely awkward situation as well as he possibly could. He seems like a decent/solid guy to me.
You’re gravatar goes perfectly with that comment.
…Gotta give props to Danny, that’s the the most epic burn response you can give upon meeting your ex’s new boyfriend.
…You know, that may actually be a valid question Danny just asked.
Mike is clearly the superior choice.
Having a pretty weird site problem. Putting ‘dumbingofage.com’ in the site URL–just that, nothing else–brings this strip up as the first result. Is this happening to anyone else?
(…and if it isn’t and I’ve screwed something up, sorry for making this weird for future commenters here to see the past discussion.)