Whoa, Becky gave an infodump without mentioning being a lesbian. Perhaps she’s getting comfortable enough with the idea that people can accept her sexuality that she doesn’t feel the need to be as in your face about it? That or telling the story of *why* her father is in prison would detract from valuable Twitter time.
Yeah, but Becky’s also trying to hook Leslie up with someone. And unless Mindy is dead set on Becky or just doesn’t find Leslie attractive, she is a prime candidate for such a hook up.
…
Wait, so is Becky’s idea actually going to work.
There’s somewhere in the vicinity of a ten year age gap between Leslie and Becky. The overlap in interested people is likely to be negligible, and that’s before getting into how many college age people (those likely to have an interest in Becky) are likely to actually be in college in a college town. There’s no ship here.
You haven’t thought through the advantages of having your own twitter account, it seems. My twitter account is the one on which I can be sure of never being subjected to the infinite scrolling effect. Because there’s only like, 5 or 6 posts there. And probably won’t ever be any more. So it’s easy for me to keep up with *that one*, at least. 🙂
It’s handy if you’re an annoying argumentative person, though. You can always find someone who’s actually wrong there, and avoid annoying people in person
If what happened to Ryan (Robin’s intern) has gone public, and with what Robin’s twitter account has been posting lately…I shudder to think of the kind of comments Becky must be seeing on Robin’s account right now.
Given that she’s posting LGBT-positive stuff on a conservative politician’s account after her party gave her the boot for lady smooching, I’m sure it was already pretty bad
…hmm, I wonder if we’ll see other jaspers in season 5?
I bought the soundtrack on friday (google sells it drm-free, I will be throwing more money at them for that) and had it on repeat the whole day. and half of today. 🙂 but waaaaah I want more episodes 🙂
That’s why the comparison isn’t clicking for me – Mindy doesn’t look especially tall (taller than most of the girls in the cast, but since they tend toward the short side, that’s not hard to do), and I’d be more inclined to describe her as slim than buff. (Also, she lacks Jasper’s 80s Hair Metal ‘do.)
Is this a potential Leslie gf? Also yay Becky Becky has her own phone! I was assuming she was just playing on Leslie’s. So she’s worked a Galasso’s long enough to get her first paycheck?
Unclear if it’s hers or Leslie’s. While the dialogue would seem to imply it, it also matches the color of Leslie’s.
Hoping it means Becky has her own though, because if it’s Leslie’s than she might get caught up in any consequences that might happen if Becky’s twitter hijack gets investigated.
Wait Becky’s never had a smartphone and isn’t used to twitter infinite scroll but was able to hack Robin’s account? I’m confused whether I’m supposed to think of Becky as tech saavy or not.
I mean, all she did to “hack” her Twitter by changing the password/authentication stuff from the app when it was open in Robin’s phone, right? That seems pretty intuitive, especially since Becky’s probably at least changed her password on her college’s website or something.
I interpreted that as just requesting a new password on the twitter app. With two-factor authentication, that would mean Twitter would send a confirmation e-mail and a sms token, both of which would be accessible in the phone. She might have also changed Robin’s two factor authentication but that would just mean changing the phone number. None of that is exacly difficult if you have any experience with a touch-screen device before, and Becky played with other kid’s phones before.
she’s intelligent and curious. she picks things up quickly 🙂 plus she’s had a little experience with dina’s phone by now.
I once was asked to hack someone’s calculator 5 minutes before an exam started. it wasn’t the same model as mine and the scripting language wasn’t quite the same, but I pulled it off. god I miss having that kind of energy.
It’s not like she’s not tech savvy. She probably knows about phones and how to work them, she just wasn’t allowed to have them and also never learned how to phone politely and not accidentally get sucked in and not realize where you are standing/who you are ignoring. I think she’s tech savvy, for what tech she has been able to access. Every kid I grew up around who had phone or technology bans growing up always knew how the tech worked because they just used it at their friends houses
She is tech savvy, but not used to having her own phone or being able to just go through twitter infinitely as she’s never had the freedom to do so while borrowing someone else’s phone.
I’m 36 and I’ve never had a mobile phone… with an actual line attached.
I have had a couple of mobile phones with no lines that I use to entertain myself on the bus and to use the internet over free wi-fi though. 😡 And I got my first one at 35.
… Though does my home phone line count? I’ve had that to my name since I was 25.
…. like, wasn’t she trying to get in line for the deli counter? And she was just told the line was open? Why isn’t she at least stepping ahead even while she has this conversation?
Maybe, and this is conjecture based entirely on her facial expressions in panels 4 and 5, Mindy was only in line to have an excuse to initiate a conversation with Becky? I’m not very good with social cues IRL, but I forced myself to be good at reading body language.
Dunno. She just politely tries to catch the attention of a cute girl with a rad haircut, strikes up a conversation with a probing question and a plesant and open (if just a tad nervous) smile.
Okay, but even if she’s a lesbian (or bi, or pan, or…), why would she suspect that some random girl in the supermarket wearing a plaid tie against a plaid shirt would be receptive to female-on-female flirting?
“Also, give her some blue contacts and you won’t be able to tell the difference between her and Joyce.”
Mindy does not rock the triangle smile; Joyce does. That will always set Joyce apart from everyone else in the Dumbiverse
Mindy’s nice. I like Mindy. She doesn’t condescend Becky here and seems genuinely interested in a conversation she just got pulled into, which is already a good for her…personality
Okay I’m not married to this but. Nice personality. Patient listener. Recognizable design. In a grocery store??? If Becky doesn’t help Leslie score her number then its at least worthy of a fanfic
Both Mindy and Ana are apparently significant enough to get their own character models on Tumblr, so we’re probably going to see more of them in the future.
Well now I’m convinced Willis is gonna pull a fast one and make it seem like Leslie’s gonna end up with patient Mindy but actually it’s gonna be grouchy Anna.
In which case screw you Willis, you’ve been making us wait for Vecky for 100 years now and I’m going full team lesmin until I die. That names probably not gonna stick either but fuck it in tired gay and spiteful let’s tango
I know this is a joke, but I don’t think Anna is going to be in the Leslie potential dating pool given she was wearing an Indiana U sweatshirt and thus likely to be a student.
If one thing’s persistent about Becky, she gets attached real quick. Look at how enthusiastic and how quick she got locked onto Dina, Leslie, being gay…
Y’think it’s got something to do with, yknow, being denied much throughout her life and also her mom dying?
*shrugs* Quite possible, I’ve naught had to deal with either of those situations myself *knocks on wood*, so I’ve no idea how that would effect someone. Even still you’d think she’d remember to step out of line after being reminded of it twice now.
But then again I too have my moments of . . .diztiness? Not sure if that. . .Forgetfulness so I can’t really blame Becky for much here.
And I only just noticed that Willis lampshaded “No worries,” so I’m going with Strine or Kiwi or maybe British. But I’m headcanoning Strine because Mindy reminds me a little bit of Olivia Newton-John.
I think it’s been a global thing to use “no worries” since at the very least Bob Marley started performing. Quick and legitimate question: is it cultural appropriation for one to enjoy Bob Marley and have one’s favorite Bob Marley song be “Buffalo Soldier” if one is white? Because I try to be very careful about cultural appropriation.
Uh, I’m pretty sure everyone is allowed to have their own subjective music preferences. I’ve seen some gatekeeping, though, with white folks being chastised for enjoying non-white musicians. Personally, I’d say you’re fine, since those people were also pretty awful about other things.
I’ve been to Jamaica over a dozen times, and my parents more than me, so I’ve heard a lot of reggae music in my life. All the Jamaicans we know (and my parents have been going to the same locally owned hotel for decades, so they have plenty of friends there) seem perfectly happy with them enjoying reggae in general and Bob Marley specifically. Some spent time introducing me to his songs when I was younger.
Now I don’t think they’d appreciate people making a joke of Jamaican or Rastafarian culture (though I know some who aren’t to fond of Rastafarians, but that’s another thing), but as for enjoying the music, I think they’d be fine with that.
If people feel differently, though, I’d be open to discussion.
Disclaimer: I’m white, repeating stuff I’ve been told, and I’m sure there will be better answers in this thread.
Listening to music and eating food are generally considered fine, although there’s also some edge cases where a little sensitivity is appreciated.
(For example, someone used to bring X Traditional Food to school and be bullied so badly they started begging their parents to make them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead; now suddenly that food is trendy and they have white people eating it all around them and they feel like shit.)
(A lot of what makes up cultural appropriation is ‘white people are fucking shitty about other people’s culture to the point where no one wants to see them touching it anymore’. If we hadn’t been such raging assholes for so long up to and including, often, the present day, then I think everyone would be a lot more inclined to invite us to partake.)
With Bob Marley in particular, I think there’s probably a sort of different issue, which is that he WAS a political activist, and in America we’ve pretty much erased all of that and left behind a dude who wrote some swingin’ music. That’s not a problem with enjoying his music so much as a problem with the way we teach history, though.
Anyway, the most serious cases of cultural appropriation surround sacred things, stuff that we rip out of its original context and then decorate our houses with because they’re ‘pretty’. (Exhibit A: dreamcatchers.)
Ross can’t have been given a trial yet. It’s only been about two weeks since the shooting. Which means there are some unanswered questions on that front. Are the police/prosecutors going to need testimony or whatever from Joyce, Dina, Becky, and the rest? Are Carol and the rest of Joyce’s church going to get involved?
I’m not sure how many questions could be left. We saw that the police already got statements from people, and plenty of witnesses saw him threaten and kidnap Becky in broad daylight.
What Fart Captor said, but I can definitely see him demanding his day in court and Becky being requested to show up and I can definitely see Carol and the church fighting for him to be released from this “anti-Christian” imprisonment as there is “no crime in loving your daughter and wanting her to be well”.
I’m thinking his lawyer told him he’s got zero chance, so his best bet was to cut a deal with the DA. Something along the lines of “my client only serves two years and you don’t have to gamble on how many sympathetic hard-right Christians will end up in the jury box”.
In that case, Toedad might already have started serving his sentence.
Shit you bring up a good point. But that’s only if either a) Toedad’s public defender is good/slimey enough b) a hard right lawyer wants to turn this into a publicity case or c) his church raised money to hire a very good private attorney.
….
Shit.
I just did the math, and while I’m not sure what the current in-comic date is exactly, if we assume it’s around October 15, then comic time passes at rate of 1 day in-comic for every 56 real-world days, or about 6.5 comic days per year.
So at the current average rate, three real decades from now, just over six months will have passed in the comic.
Though I wouldn’t be completely shocked if he changed his mind, I believe Willis has said that part of the reason the Toedad incident escalated as far as it did was so that he could be locked and not hanging over Becky’s as a recurring threat.
A trial is possible and might be interesting, but even a short sentence basically keeps him from ever coming back in the comic.
Beck in the hospital, I was annoyed with Hank for not being more supportive of Becky (he has since then proved me thoroughly wrong), and among the things I said were that “if Becky makes an offhand remark in a few days about her having some free money, let’s buy a phone, I’m cool.”
Why is she still talking to her? Can’t she tell she is being ignored?
Clue in. No eye contact and the responder is no longer acknowledging you. Or, responder is giving you extremely short responses and mostly ignoring you. That means go away, not interested in a conversation.
Becky isn’t displaying antisocial behavior though. Mindy asked a question and then Becky turned it into a conversation, to which Mindy’s is the more passive party interested as she might. Becky stopped talking in mid sentence and Mindy made a brief noise to see if the interaction had ended, to which, evidently, it hadnt.
tldr Mindy might be friendly but she’s the responder in this scenario, Becky wasn’t ignoring her because she was the one talking in the first place
Wait, no, she has Facebook, never mind. How is the mindless slog of Twitter that much different than what you get on a Facebook feed? Is it that much more? Maybe I’m the one not plugged in to social media enough.
I suppose if you use Facebook from a normal computer with which you do not spend much time, it doesn’t prepare you for the invasive bingbingbing of new stuff announced by a mobile app.
(Don’t really know, I avoid both FB and Twitter like the plague. There so many more interesting things to spend my time on.)
did leslie just…leave becky behind while she was looking at twitter on her new phone, lmao. go to investigate their cereal crisis and try to tell herself that she’s an adult who doesn’t lose their newly adopted children in the grocery store. is she re-introducing herself to the wonders of garlic and vegetables. is she waltzing with tomatoes up and down the produce aisle??
like. did becky just stand there while leslie kept going, did they make plans to meet up after a certain time, is leslie running to have a real dedicated conversation with herself in the bathroom? how do u transition that gracefully
i guess i need to know whether or not leslie had Had Enough Of Becky’s Shit, or if it was just something that….happened
probably the latter but like that is what i am curious about
no seriously that's one of those things that is a legit anxiety trigger for me like Was This a Screw Up Have I Ruined This Relationship By Not Being Perfectly Social
Well, given that Becky surprised Leslie by following her to the store in the first place, I’m not sure she really needs to watch her the whole time. Becky can find her way home.
Wow I feel so nostalgic I haven’t been here for a month or two. Well the hobble of depression and split personalities I call myself has returned. I’m looking at old comments and it seems I’ve missed a lot
Welcome back then 🙂
I had some thoughts on alters earlier today but I can’t remember enough of them to make sense… Something about centipeedle and corrupt gems and .. Amethyst?
Neither are comprehensible to a moronic technophobe who can barely make it through the only day he sees his kids, without passing out drunk in his chair.
I remember when a person would use a phone to, oh, you know — CALL someone and actually TALK to them instead of Twattering and Slapchatting and Fazebooking and Cindering and everything else.
…i feel really uncomfortable about, between Mindy and Anna, Anna’s the one who had to be the unlikable person while Mindy was instantly likable, and most of why i feel uncomfortable with it has to do with race.
like idk. it’s not like every character of color has to be a Good Likable Person, that’s too much of a burden. but it feels really weird right now to go from mildly rude and annoyed brown person to the nice white lady, and i don’t trust it. it feels like Some BS, is what it feels like. and like: Anna directly sets up Mindy to be likable. the contrast there makes what already was a pretty likable character even more likable, but because of that also makes an already disliked character even more disliked. which is…a narrative dynamic that makes me feel uncomfortable, because it gives me the impression that Anna and Deli Lady are disposable. I’m…sure that this is better thought out than that, but in other narratives, I don’t think I would be wrong.
but on the other hand, we have Becky, white lesbian, ignoring two people of color in her surroundings while she acts as social media public relations for Robin, also a woman of color. i don’t think that’s an accident. and like – visually, Becky is tied more with Anna re: their mutual undercut. and if Becky had been making the deli lady wait for a really long time, that annoyance on Anna’s part is pretty justified.
and then there’s Mindy, who is charming and mega white and a lot of things we’re socially conditioned to see as desirable. and, i see that, and i recognize that, but i really don’t trust it right now. mostly because i’ve known way too many well-intentioned white people who are charming and delightful and completely ignorant that life could exist any other way for anybody.
idk. she is being super nice to becky right now for reasons unexplained and given this racial context it is not something that i personally can trust to exist without…i don’t know. baggage. strings attached.
…maybe it’s just that there’s no facial reaction to becky saying that her dad’s in prison
On one hand it does portray a person of color as abrasive and immediately follow up with a Caucasian being the picture of patience and understand. On the other hand it doesn’t really make me dislike or like either character more or less since this is just the first impression in a comic that’s all about things beneath the surface and growth and realistic characters. This is the introduction of how these two characters present themselves to the world but there’s still plenty of room to show their positives and negatives.
I may be biased, though, because I usually interact with people in these situations like Mindy while wishing that I could handle it like Anna and get straight to the point.
There might also be a thing where it can be more pressing for marginalized POC to get more anxious in public spaces and want to get the errands done than a white marginalized person.
Like, for me, grocery shopping is incredibly stressful, because it means a lot of nasty stares and muttered comments and lots of hyperawareness and anxiety.
But like, if I was POC on top of all of that in a majority white area, I’d have to deal with store workers treating me like a criminal and following me around, muttered racist comments and nasty stares, cops stopping to ask me about where I was going, and the fear in the back of my mind that today might be the day that a trip out ends in my death.
So yeah, Anna being prickly and wanting to be done as fast as possible makes sense to me, even if some of the construction is problematic in terms of the comic itself. As is Mindy having the social freedom to linger and be polite owing to not having to push through casual racism on her daily activities.
it also feels like, y’know, you just come across a broad spectrum of people in a grocery store because everyone needs to get food. and these temporary courtesies and discourtesies are just kind of. a matter of interacting with people
for me it’s not a matter of liking/disliking: it’s a matter of noticing likability, and trust/distrust. and like i am mostly reserving judgment but it is a thing that has set up some red flags, is most of what i’m saying
Personally I think its false likeability. I think Mindy isn’t what she seems, cause she’s a bit TOO nice. As for Anna, I understand your point, and it’s valid, but I think in this case you may be reading too much into it. Willis might also be trying to trick us, he does that sometimes. In any case, I honestly didn’t even notice that Anna was a POC. For that matter, is Robin a woman of color either? I mean I know she’s Hispanic but that isn’t necessarily the same thing. Either way, you bring up good points.
Robin isn’t white. She can’t be white because white is a power structure and not a race, as has been repeatedly made clear through a long history of people like the Irish being “not white” until one day they suddenly were.
Anyway. Never really cool to tell someone they’re reading too much into this stuff. Especially not someone who went out of their way to say “I trust Willis more than this but in any other narrative this would be true and I’m made uncomfortable”.
Yes, being white is a power structure, and Robin exists at the very head of that power structure, as a congresswoman. She can be both white and Hispanic at the same time, trust me, I know because I am too. And I didn’t tell them they were reading too much into it, I said they MIGHT be. I don’t know for sure, their guess is as good as mine.
…and somehow I missed the part where you claimed not to have noticed Anna was a WoC. I would not have fetched art of Robin if I’d noticed that, because… that’s just a very big difference to have not noticed, and it makes Robin much less surprising.
latinas can be white, but their ethnicity still makes them people of color – it’s kind of like white-passing, i guess. maybe you didn’t notice Anna’s race, but I very much did! and i’m sure other people did too.
like. ted cruz passes as white, but he’s still latino. he benefits from a lot of white
male privilege but that doesn’t change where he came from, or how that affects him.
(marco rubio making fun of his inability to speak spanish was such a highlight of the republican candidate debates, lmao)
I agree especially with the last bit, about Mindy’s total non reaction to the prison line. It’s just weird.
I also had a similar moment of “:/” which I’m only reserving right now because I know Anna got a name and a character design in time with Mindy, so I assume they’re both gonna be important later.
It’s just…… so easy to reinforce the Angry Black Woman thing as the story stands :/
Is there a particular reason why Willis does some characters with coloured eyes? Is it supposed to signify some aspect of their personality or something?
Nah, it is just a style thing. Some of them he did with colour eyes originally, some he didn’t, now it is a more a thing he does if he feels like it I think.
Though with some characters it does signify. Ruth in particular shifts from green to black dots depending on how depressed/withdrawn she is at the moment.
No, just an adult whose life, already stressful and complicated, has just been further complicated by the acquisition of two children (Robin and Becky).
Hey, I like Becky as much as any other character, but let’s get back to Read Hall where we left Joyce standing on Chekhov’s police tape. I wanna know what happened to Amber and Dorothy and — to a lesser degree — Rapey McScarface (a/k/a Ryan).
I’m about to merge into the DoA ‘verse, drive to this supermarket, and be like, “Hey, Becky, that was crazy what happened a few days ago, wasn’t it? You know with Amber and Dorothy and–”
“Dina, what is wikipedia?”
“It’s a battleground for our sacred fight against ignorance. Our shift starts now. You can start with the article on pterodactyls. Don’t let anyone call it a dinosaur.”
Wikipedia’s accuracy is generally considered to be inversely proportional to the article subject’s objective reality. An article about a fictional character is rigorously fact-checked and highly accurate. An article about a celebrity or politician is usually edit locked after becoming a battleground between editors with various agendas (hidden or otherwise).
Panel 1: Oh Becky, you forgot to get out of line, didn’t you? *shakes head*
Panel 2: Confirmation that this is in fact Becky’s phone, which makes me suspect that Leslie was involved in this purchase so as to help Becky be able to settle and recover more easily and handle all the registration stuff she’s trying to do with the school.
And yeah, that was always going to be a time sink for Becky. Like, Becky is an incredibly curious young woman with a thirst for knowledge after coming from a really repressive home environment. So it’s easy for her to go down internet rabbit holes.
Which, I can strongly identify with. Coming out of an environment where I was surrounded by Carol and her church’s types and where that influenced what was taught in school, I was deeply ignorant about certain subjects and so in early college set myself to learning as much as I could on them independently. Which was good for me as a person, but terrible for my short-term health as I started abusing caffeine and my sleep schedule could best be described as an amorphous jellyfish.
But there’s such a strong need to learn about the world and how it worked and that was without also having to try and juggle steering the public policy of a famously erratic sitting homophobic congresswoman without giving it away that my tweets were not actually hers.
Also, oof, that question from Mindy. Like, I doubt she intended it that way, but it drips with condescension even more than Anna’s anachronistic “kids today and their mobile phones”, so I definitely feel Becky’s feelings feeling pinged.
Panel 3: And why wouldn’t it be? Like, if someone doesn’t have a phone until adulthood, there’s usually a reason for it and one that it’s not nice to poke. It could be related to growing up poor, to growing up in a restrictive household that was very controlling, or one in which technology was seen as only an adult thing.
Whatever the structure, given the ubiquity of phones, there’s likely to be some bitterness to the tale so it’s not kind to ask that kind of cutting joking question.
And for Becky, that point of suffering is extremely sore. Having a phone was something her dad interpreted as a personal defiance and something she knew she would be hit for once he noticed she had it. And she’s fiendishly clever and so likely has put two and two together on why she wasn’t allowed a phone and how that was part of a system to try and control and limit the freedom of girls like her so they didn’t “stray”.
And there’s also another element to it. Which is Mindy’s question (again, I doubt she intended it this way) is also super-judgmental in shutting down something someone is excited about and kind of comes across as Midwestern Nice. Like, if someone is all “woot, look at this new thing I found that I’m clearly enjoying”, it can be a bit of a dick move to tear it down or add a judgment for the person enjoying it. So yeah, Becky’s going to grumble and over-share, because she just got judged for “being behind*”.
I’m also really proud of Becky. We’re seeing with Leslie, her mask dropping more and more and her letting herself be a bit catty and bitter about past events which will be a key part of her recovery. And likely speaks to how comfortable she’s already feeling in Leslie’s space where she doesn’t feel the same pressure to perform Happy Becky 24/7.
Like Old Becky wouldn’t have made this remark. She’d just have eaten the sting and buried it. So yeah, critical growth.
Panels 4-6: Twitter is infinite and life-sucking and probably even more so when you have to read conservative twitter to know what to respond to as the sitting Republican congresswoman.
Also, Mindy seems like she might be flirting a bit here, which makes sense since Becky is in full-on Dapper Dyke mode. Shenanigans where she tries to set her up with Leslie without realizing that it’s her Mindy wants to get together with because she’s not used to people flirting with her?
I might be reading too much into it, but the lingering definitely feels like more than just friendly co-customer interaction. Might not be romantic, but definitely something.
My money is on Hank buying her the phone, or her buying the phone herself with the money he put on the account he opened for her. It is such an important piece of infrastructure so I bet they both would prioritize it.
It would also be a neat final act of Hank proving me wrong again after me whining about him neglecting Becky back in the hospital.
Good highlighting on why the comment about Becky being phoneless hits a sore spot. But I’m really proud about Becky that she uses it as an opportunity to open up. I have the feeling she is actively refusing to be ashamed about what her dad put her through. “Yeah, I have a crappy dad. His fault, not mine”.
I’m sure Mindy had not noticed Becky being all dapper-like. Not noticed it at all… 🙂
Yeah, I think it’s a very good sign of the healing Becky has been doing and the way she has approached her past and yeah, I think she’s firmly come down on the idea that she shouldn’t be ashamed of her past, the people who did her harm should.
There is always more Twitter. Truer words have never been spoken.
I mean, I’ve been on Twitter for half a decade, and I still marvel at how much Twitter there is in just my corner of Twitter. Becky’s brand new to it and very well might be going everywhere. That is overwhelming.
Okay hold up, a bunch of y’all are claiming Mindy’s doing some kinda flirting at Becky right now and it’s seriously wrinkling my brain. Like, okay sure, this is probably me not picking up on social cues here and soon enough another strip might make it overt but are we reading the same thing here? Mindy asked if Becky was in line, Becky got flustered and Mindy said it was okay. Then Becky’s the one turning the interaction into a conversation and Mindy’s going along with it, then Becky gets distracted and Mindy says something to see if the conversation’s still going on or not.
That’s the entire interaction! Mindy’s not even the initiator by panel 2. Where’s the flirt? Where’s the intent? I’m not being smug I’m legit asking, I don’t understand sociability and I don’t pick up cues and I’ve been in this scenario several times and now I’m paranoid I come off as paranoid when I’m just practicing talking! Fuck man this is freaking me out, can someone explain this to me?
For me at least, it’s the “hi” in the last panel. The line between “very friendly” and “kinda flirty” can get ambiguous, but that panel just read as Mindy nervously drawing attention back to her attempt to flirt.
a) She could have gone around her once Becky said she wasn’t in line instead of letting Becky engage her in conversation.
b) She still didn’t do so even when Becky got distracted.
c) She reengaged with Becky rather than the other way around. She seems to want to talk to and with Becky whereas, most of us would just be friendly but exit the conversation as a short friendly exchange with a stranger and go to get our deli things.
Well thats the thing isn’t it, the line between flirting and being polite can be very, very slim one
Social interactions can be very easily misinterpreted (fortunately this isn’t a bar) like this could be the beginning of a flirt but it could also Mindy just being pleasant
Fortunately this isn’t bar and alcohol isn’t involved which can make things even more problematic
I got the final “hi” as “well that got a little weird and then there was a long pause for Twitter, so let’s restart this interaction and get each other’s names before talking about personal family stuff!”.
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fuckin’ infinite scrolling!
My life improved drastically when I found out there’s programs that can mod feeds to limit how much they will show at a time.
Huh, was i quick enough?
Mindy seems nice
There is apparently no defeating Ana for me today
That’s a helluva non-reaction to Beck’s infodump :v
Yeah, no kidding
Her mind’s focused on that macaroni salad she’s trying to get.
Now my mind is focused on macaroni salad too. Mmmm.
do I want to know? :/
…nevermind, misunderstood
Whoa, Becky gave an infodump without mentioning being a lesbian. Perhaps she’s getting comfortable enough with the idea that people can accept her sexuality that she doesn’t feel the need to be as in your face about it? That or telling the story of *why* her father is in prison would detract from valuable Twitter time.
She didn’t say anything about being a lesbian at all. Read it again. The only thing she mentions is that her dad is in prison.
Dude, way to mansplain!
…um, maybe you should read Dana’s comment again? It’s all about the fact Becky *didn’t* mention her orientation this time.
@Dana: ha, I didn’t even notice that until you pointed it out. Interesting. 🙂 I remember going through that kind of development myself.
I mean Becky kind of dropped out of telling the information too, I think Mindy’s non-reaction is totally fair.
She looks like a bootleg version of Joyce.
But how long will be before Mork shows up?
Or will Buttons neat him there?
I know it’s a typo. Bleh.
Forever :'(
Mindy seems like a sweetheart.
Twitter is a never-ending shit fountain.
And Mindy is making a lesbian pass Becky, get a clue.
Why would she even notice? Becky’s got an awesome dino girlfriend already.
Yeah, but Becky’s also trying to hook Leslie up with someone. And unless Mindy is dead set on Becky or just doesn’t find Leslie attractive, she is a prime candidate for such a hook up.
…
Wait, so is Becky’s idea actually going to work.
There’s somewhere in the vicinity of a ten year age gap between Leslie and Becky. The overlap in interested people is likely to be negligible, and that’s before getting into how many college age people (those likely to have an interest in Becky) are likely to actually be in college in a college town. There’s no ship here.
If Mindy is 23, that would put her in non-unusual range for both Becky and Leslie.
Not that 18 and 28 would be unrealistic, either.
It was super unrealistic to ME at 28. 18 year olds look like babies.
Which is why I never bothered with it. I’ll look through others’ tweet accounts though but I draw the line at having my own.
You haven’t thought through the advantages of having your own twitter account, it seems. My twitter account is the one on which I can be sure of never being subjected to the infinite scrolling effect. Because there’s only like, 5 or 6 posts there. And probably won’t ever be any more. So it’s easy for me to keep up with *that one*, at least. 🙂
I prefer LinkedIn and the like actually. Twitter seems too toxic for my tastes.
It’s handy if you’re an annoying argumentative person, though. You can always find someone who’s actually wrong there, and avoid annoying people in person
tbh is this not the true purpose of the internet
along with pr0n and cat pictures.
and buttloads of fanfiction/fanart
If what happened to Ryan (Robin’s intern) has gone public, and with what Robin’s twitter account has been posting lately…I shudder to think of the kind of comments Becky must be seeing on Robin’s account right now.
Given that she’s posting LGBT-positive stuff on a conservative politician’s account after her party gave her the boot for lady smooching, I’m sure it was already pretty bad
“kids these days”
I was older than she is when *I* had my first cellphone…
I like Mindy. Visually she reminds me a bit of a human-AU Jasper from Steven Universe. But like, if Jasper were nice.
Is the alt text implying Becky’s become politically minded beyond just trying to influence Robin? Nice.
So like Happy Cereal Mascot Jasper? Makes sense you’d find her in a grocery store, then.
See? Look at that and tell me it’s not uncanny
omfg it’s tony the tiger 😀
…hmm, I wonder if we’ll see other jaspers in season 5?
I bought the soundtrack on friday (google sells it drm-free, I will be throwing more money at them for that) and had it on repeat the whole day. and half of today. 🙂 but waaaaah I want more episodes 🙂
It’s possible! I’ll be very surprised if this is the last we’ve seen of the Famethyst, which includes Skinny and probably more Jaspers.
haha, I’d forgotten there were jaspers there 🙂
There really is always more. Hardly any of it is worth looking at.
Uh…
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/deathbattlefanon/images/7/7c/Jasper_Finish.png/revision/latest?cb=20150809025359
Are you sure you meant Jasper?
I’m never unsure about tall buff sapphic ladies, ever.
That’s why the comparison isn’t clicking for me – Mindy doesn’t look especially tall (taller than most of the girls in the cast, but since they tend toward the short side, that’s not hard to do), and I’d be more inclined to describe her as slim than buff. (Also, she lacks Jasper’s 80s Hair Metal ‘do.)
Actually, if I was going to compare her to a Gem, it’d be Lapis Lazuli. Similar build, not dissimilar face, hairstyle in basically the same realm.
I can’t think of Jasper without her “slasher smile”. It creeps me out. And, like Sydney Yus, it’s enmeshed with their personality.
(Depending on what happens to her later. Personalities can change.)
Jasper is coded masculine. If you made Jasper both human and feminine maybe.
spaced out fish face there Becks
She actually getting caught up on Dumbing of Age, just in time too. Book 8 starts soon
Is this a potential Leslie gf? Also yay Becky Becky has her own phone! I was assuming she was just playing on Leslie’s. So she’s worked a Galasso’s long enough to get her first paycheck?
Unclear if it’s hers or Leslie’s. While the dialogue would seem to imply it, it also matches the color of Leslie’s.
Hoping it means Becky has her own though, because if it’s Leslie’s than she might get caught up in any consequences that might happen if Becky’s twitter hijack gets investigated.
Becky sounds like she has the same problem as a guy I know. He’s so glued to his phone he doesn’t know what to do with himself without it.
Have we met?
How do you think Becky and Selkie would get along?
That was a no, Mindy
Mindy seems friendly and chill. Anna was not. I guess you meet all kinds of people when not standing in line but still accidentally being in line.
And *that* is how you assert a boundary without going all hulk-smash. 🙂 yay modeling healthy behaviour! 🙂
*plays John Mellenkamp’s “Real Life” on the store’s Muzak*
At what point will Becky discover twitter feeds like Nihilist Arby’s?
Hopefully, ASAP
In b4 she follows dril
She’s usurping a GOP Congresscritter’s Twitter account and has it right now. That ID is a follower of Trump.
Adding nihilist Arby’s to the mix would be redundant and needless, wouldn’t it?
Wait Becky’s never had a smartphone and isn’t used to twitter infinite scroll but was able to hack Robin’s account? I’m confused whether I’m supposed to think of Becky as tech saavy or not.
I mean, all she did to “hack” her Twitter by changing the password/authentication stuff from the app when it was open in Robin’s phone, right? That seems pretty intuitive, especially since Becky’s probably at least changed her password on her college’s website or something.
it sounded like she did more than just that, she talked about taking over Robin’s 2-step authentication.
I interpreted that as just requesting a new password on the twitter app. With two-factor authentication, that would mean Twitter would send a confirmation e-mail and a sms token, both of which would be accessible in the phone. She might have also changed Robin’s two factor authentication but that would just mean changing the phone number. None of that is exacly difficult if you have any experience with a touch-screen device before, and Becky played with other kid’s phones before.
she’s intelligent and curious. she picks things up quickly 🙂 plus she’s had a little experience with dina’s phone by now.
I once was asked to hack someone’s calculator 5 minutes before an exam started. it wasn’t the same model as mine and the scripting language wasn’t quite the same, but I pulled it off. god I miss having that kind of energy.
It doesn’t really take much tech savvy to just change the password on Robin’s already open Twitter account.
It’s not like she’s not tech savvy. She probably knows about phones and how to work them, she just wasn’t allowed to have them and also never learned how to phone politely and not accidentally get sucked in and not realize where you are standing/who you are ignoring. I think she’s tech savvy, for what tech she has been able to access. Every kid I grew up around who had phone or technology bans growing up always knew how the tech worked because they just used it at their friends houses
I mean, Robin doesn’t seem the best at security anyways. For all we know, Becky just guessed the password and got it first try
She used Joyce’s phone growing up. She has experience with them, she’s just never had one of her own. Plus she’s really smart.
She is tech savvy, but not used to having her own phone or being able to just go through twitter infinitely as she’s never had the freedom to do so while borrowing someone else’s phone.
I like Mindy, she seems a lot nicer than Anna so far.
That’s not exactly a hard bar to clear…
Well Mindy seems nice. Not quite sure if she’s going to be mom number three for Becky yet, we need to see her interact with Leslie first.
I just wonder what kind of mayhem Buttons is getting into off-panel right now.
It’s a vicious addiction, trying to peel myself away from the Internets.
It’s almost as bad as a compulsion to reply to things in webcomic comment sections. Oh. … Damn!
It’s okay, it’s a good place to comment here.
Nothing turns on potential suitor like totally ignoring her.
Hey, I like McGriddles.
I know, right? Too many McGriddle/Trump comparisons an McDonalds will lose its usefulness to me.
Some high-quality Becky faces right here
I’m 36 and I’ve never had a mobile phone… with an actual line attached.
I have had a couple of mobile phones with no lines that I use to entertain myself on the bus and to use the internet over free wi-fi though. 😡 And I got my first one at 35.
… Though does my home phone line count? I’ve had that to my name since I was 25.
Mindy is sweet lil button! I like her already.
Also, give her some blue contacts and you won’t be able to tell the difference between her and Joyce. Joyce, you’ve been replaced!
Mindy IS a sweet lil button.
….. I don’t trust her.
…. like, wasn’t she trying to get in line for the deli counter? And she was just told the line was open? Why isn’t she at least stepping ahead even while she has this conversation?
She’s talking to Becky! 😀 Becky is more fun than shopping.
Maybe, and this is conjecture based entirely on her facial expressions in panels 4 and 5, Mindy was only in line to have an excuse to initiate a conversation with Becky? I’m not very good with social cues IRL, but I forced myself to be good at reading body language.
Maybe? She might just be flirting.
Dunno. She just politely tries to catch the attention of a cute girl with a rad haircut, strikes up a conversation with a probing question and a plesant and open (if just a tad nervous) smile.
Oh my, maybe you WOULD call that flirting. 🙂
Okay, but even if she’s a lesbian (or bi, or pan, or…), why would she suspect that some random girl in the supermarket wearing a plaid tie against a plaid shirt would be receptive to female-on-female flirting?
She’s got the gay haircut
I’m sure I have no idea.
She might just feel lucky!
If only Becky had some visual clue she could give that she’s into girls.
She was probably just in earshot when Becky entered the building.
Why would she assume she wouldn’t?
…. if so, Becky’s going to try to set her up with Leslie. …. cue love triangle drams. (And hogsheads.)
Or hilarity.
In the words of Zoidberg: “Why not both?”
Presumably Becky moved out of the deli line, but inadvertently put herself into another line by accident
A wise choice in all new characters, especially those who feed off their reader’s suffering, like one David M. Willis.
Willis doesn’t feed off our suffering.
Willis feeds off getting us to PAY for our suffering.
Well I’m on Patreon so that worked. Dunno about you. XD
A sign of a long-time Willis reader.
“Also, give her some blue contacts and you won’t be able to tell the difference between her and Joyce.”
Mindy does not rock the triangle smile; Joyce does. That will always set Joyce apart from everyone else in the Dumbiverse
Maybe she can, that will be the true test of Joyce ripoff-ness.
Mindy is very cute in a way that I think is very similar to Emily Aulthaus (Maureen from Orange is the New Black).
The potential for chaos here is just beautiful
You know what would be funny? If Mindy was the lady by the broccoli that Becky mentioned in the last grocery store strip.
Mindy’s nice. I like Mindy. She doesn’t condescend Becky here and seems genuinely interested in a conversation she just got pulled into, which is already a good for her…personality
Okay I’m not married to this but. Nice personality. Patient listener. Recognizable design. In a grocery store??? If Becky doesn’t help Leslie score her number then its at least worthy of a fanfic
Both Mindy and Ana are apparently significant enough to get their own character models on Tumblr, so we’re probably going to see more of them in the future.
Well now I’m convinced Willis is gonna pull a fast one and make it seem like Leslie’s gonna end up with patient Mindy but actually it’s gonna be grouchy Anna.
In which case screw you Willis, you’ve been making us wait for Vecky for 100 years now and I’m going full team lesmin until I die. That names probably not gonna stick either but fuck it in tired gay and spiteful let’s tango
I know this is a joke, but I don’t think Anna is going to be in the Leslie potential dating pool given she was wearing an Indiana U sweatshirt and thus likely to be a student.
Or an alum.
Or a teacher/coach.
Or a sportsball fan.
Or someone who sweeps the floors.
Good catch cap’n. On that note, joke rescinded if Mindy also turns out to be a student cause Yikes.
. . . Did Becky forget to move out of line? She may be a tad bit too attached to her phone at the moment.
If one thing’s persistent about Becky, she gets attached real quick. Look at how enthusiastic and how quick she got locked onto Dina, Leslie, being gay…
Y’think it’s got something to do with, yknow, being denied much throughout her life and also her mom dying?
*shrugs* Quite possible, I’ve naught had to deal with either of those situations myself *knocks on wood*, so I’ve no idea how that would effect someone. Even still you’d think she’d remember to step out of line after being reminded of it twice now.
But then again I too have my moments of . . .diztiness? Not sure if that. . .Forgetfulness so I can’t really blame Becky for much here.
Does Mindy speak with a Strine or a Kiwi accent? Or is the phrase “no worries” unmarked among young Indianapolans?
Also, how did Mindy fail to overhear the interaction between Anna and Becky, which occurred right in front of her?
Also, I did not start reading twitter until about a year ago, and I find it frighteningly addicting.
And I only just noticed that Willis lampshaded “No worries,” so I’m going with Strine or Kiwi or maybe British. But I’m headcanoning Strine because Mindy reminds me a little bit of Olivia Newton-John.
I use it, in exactly that situation too (startle someone who’s apologetic about being in the way).
Born in California, raised in New Mexico, living in Indiana.
If she ever says “yeah na” or “sweet as” then that’ll confirm it 🙂
“No worries” is a perfectly common expression in my Midwestern experience.
Also my Canadian one.
And my Pacific Northwestern one.
Same. It’s definitely gone global, IMO.
If she’s an Aussie, that’s icing on the cake.
I find most variations on the Anglo-Gaelic accent, including Strine and Kiwi, to be… well, as they say, “phwoar”.
I use the phrase “no worries” all the time. I grew up in Midwest USA.
I think it’s been a global thing to use “no worries” since at the very least Bob Marley started performing. Quick and legitimate question: is it cultural appropriation for one to enjoy Bob Marley and have one’s favorite Bob Marley song be “Buffalo Soldier” if one is white? Because I try to be very careful about cultural appropriation.
Uh, I’m pretty sure everyone is allowed to have their own subjective music preferences. I’ve seen some gatekeeping, though, with white folks being chastised for enjoying non-white musicians. Personally, I’d say you’re fine, since those people were also pretty awful about other things.
I’ve been to Jamaica over a dozen times, and my parents more than me, so I’ve heard a lot of reggae music in my life. All the Jamaicans we know (and my parents have been going to the same locally owned hotel for decades, so they have plenty of friends there) seem perfectly happy with them enjoying reggae in general and Bob Marley specifically. Some spent time introducing me to his songs when I was younger.
Now I don’t think they’d appreciate people making a joke of Jamaican or Rastafarian culture (though I know some who aren’t to fond of Rastafarians, but that’s another thing), but as for enjoying the music, I think they’d be fine with that.
If people feel differently, though, I’d be open to discussion.
Disclaimer: I’m white, repeating stuff I’ve been told, and I’m sure there will be better answers in this thread.
Listening to music and eating food are generally considered fine, although there’s also some edge cases where a little sensitivity is appreciated.
(For example, someone used to bring X Traditional Food to school and be bullied so badly they started begging their parents to make them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead; now suddenly that food is trendy and they have white people eating it all around them and they feel like shit.)
(A lot of what makes up cultural appropriation is ‘white people are fucking shitty about other people’s culture to the point where no one wants to see them touching it anymore’. If we hadn’t been such raging assholes for so long up to and including, often, the present day, then I think everyone would be a lot more inclined to invite us to partake.)
With Bob Marley in particular, I think there’s probably a sort of different issue, which is that he WAS a political activist, and in America we’ve pretty much erased all of that and left behind a dude who wrote some swingin’ music. That’s not a problem with enjoying his music so much as a problem with the way we teach history, though.
Anyway, the most serious cases of cultural appropriation surround sacred things, stuff that we rip out of its original context and then decorate our houses with because they’re ‘pretty’. (Exhibit A: dreamcatchers.)
Mindy seems nice. Maybe she could be friends with Lucy and Agatha, and they could all be nice together!
So, I just had a disturbing thought…
Ross can’t have been given a trial yet. It’s only been about two weeks since the shooting. Which means there are some unanswered questions on that front. Are the police/prosecutors going to need testimony or whatever from Joyce, Dina, Becky, and the rest? Are Carol and the rest of Joyce’s church going to get involved?
I’m not sure how many questions could be left. We saw that the police already got statements from people, and plenty of witnesses saw him threaten and kidnap Becky in broad daylight.
His ass is going to prison.
What Fart Captor said, but I can definitely see him demanding his day in court and Becky being requested to show up and I can definitely see Carol and the church fighting for him to be released from this “anti-Christian” imprisonment as there is “no crime in loving your daughter and wanting her to be well”.
I’m thinking his lawyer told him he’s got zero chance, so his best bet was to cut a deal with the DA. Something along the lines of “my client only serves two years and you don’t have to gamble on how many sympathetic hard-right Christians will end up in the jury box”.
In that case, Toedad might already have started serving his sentence.
Shit you bring up a good point. But that’s only if either a) Toedad’s public defender is good/slimey enough b) a hard right lawyer wants to turn this into a publicity case or c) his church raised money to hire a very good private attorney.
….
Shit.
Two years!? Cheezus, that opens up a whole other can of worms. Giant, flesh-devouring super-worms.
Eh, but if it’s two comic years away, that’s got to be at least three real-world decades.
I just did the math, and while I’m not sure what the current in-comic date is exactly, if we assume it’s around October 15, then comic time passes at rate of 1 day in-comic for every 56 real-world days, or about 6.5 comic days per year.
So at the current average rate, three real decades from now, just over six months will have passed in the comic.
I never said THIS world was the real one…
Though I wouldn’t be completely shocked if he changed his mind, I believe Willis has said that part of the reason the Toedad incident escalated as far as it did was so that he could be locked and not hanging over Becky’s as a recurring threat.
A trial is possible and might be interesting, but even a short sentence basically keeps him from ever coming back in the comic.
I feel like that about the comment section sometimes. There’s always more comments!!!!
What an appropriate gravatar this is for your comment.
I find this gravatar goes well with all kinds of comments.
Wow, so it IS Becky’s phone.
Beck in the hospital, I was annoyed with Hank for not being more supportive of Becky (he has since then proved me thoroughly wrong), and among the things I said were that “if Becky makes an offhand remark in a few days about her having some free money, let’s buy a phone, I’m cool.”
So… I’m cool 🙂 Hank is daddying right.
Why is she still talking to her? Can’t she tell she is being ignored?
Clue in. No eye contact and the responder is no longer acknowledging you. Or, responder is giving you extremely short responses and mostly ignoring you. That means go away, not interested in a conversation.
Becky isn’t doing it on purpose though, she’s just gotten distracted, AFTER they started having a conversation.
Mindy seems to be pretty friendly and not mind it though.
Becky isn’t displaying antisocial behavior though. Mindy asked a question and then Becky turned it into a conversation, to which Mindy’s is the more passive party interested as she might. Becky stopped talking in mid sentence and Mindy made a brief noise to see if the interaction had ended, to which, evidently, it hadnt.
tldr Mindy might be friendly but she’s the responder in this scenario, Becky wasn’t ignoring her because she was the one talking in the first place
Ah yes, a polite exchange – this pleases me.
And further proves Becky’s distractedness with the phone and the situation, but at least it’s a good tonal shift from the previous page. ♥
I like you, eyebrow lady.
Potential girlfriend? :3
I’m horrified Becky. Holding up the Deli line is as bad as skating in the hallways.
And ignoring someone for Twitter? WHAT KIND OF EVIL TRICKSTER SHE-DEVIL ARE YOU!?
The Motherfucking Goddess kind, of course.
Anna was just trying to buy a sandwich.
Guess what, Becky? Ross doesn’t get to tell you what to do anymore. Now it’s your ‘new activity detected’ notifications that tell you what to do!
I haven’t gotten to the end of Twitter yet either.
Ahahaha, oh poor Becky – welcome to social media.
Wait, no, she has Facebook, never mind. How is the mindless slog of Twitter that much different than what you get on a Facebook feed? Is it that much more? Maybe I’m the one not plugged in to social media enough.
(Also, I remember people were worrying about the AHCA yesterday, and I had a post about how to help – and yes, if you’re not in the US, you can boost it for friends in the US. http://blenderbender1811.tumblr.com/post/162265014890/so-youre-worried-about-the-ahca).
I suppose if you use Facebook from a normal computer with which you do not spend much time, it doesn’t prepare you for the invasive bingbingbing of new stuff announced by a mobile app.
(Don’t really know, I avoid both FB and Twitter like the plague. There so many more interesting things to spend my time on.)
I used to have my Facebook alerts on my phone. It was hellish. Never again.
Mindy feels like the nicest mom at the PTA? And she’s really cute? Help?
did leslie just…leave becky behind while she was looking at twitter on her new phone, lmao. go to investigate their cereal crisis and try to tell herself that she’s an adult who doesn’t lose their newly adopted children in the grocery store. is she re-introducing herself to the wonders of garlic and vegetables. is she waltzing with tomatoes up and down the produce aisle??
babe where are you
Almost like Becky is an adult herself. 🙂
yeah but
i need to know how that happened
like. did becky just stand there while leslie kept going, did they make plans to meet up after a certain time, is leslie running to have a real dedicated conversation with herself in the bathroom? how do u transition that gracefully
i guess i need to know whether or not leslie had Had Enough Of Becky’s Shit, or if it was just something that….happened
probably the latter but like that is what i am curious about
LESLIE: “Becky, stay here; I’ll be back.” ((Think bubble)) “On Saturday.”
BECKY ((mumbles whilst texting)): “Yeah, whatevs.”
thank u <3
no seriously that's one of those things that is a legit anxiety trigger for me like Was This a Screw Up Have I Ruined This Relationship By Not Being Perfectly Social
Just goes to show that Leslie doesn’t QUITE get Becky yet.
If you leave Becky alone for ANY amount of time there WILL be shenanigans. No exceptions.
INDEED
Well, given that Becky surprised Leslie by following her to the store in the first place, I’m not sure she really needs to watch her the whole time. Becky can find her way home.
i mean like…not like watching her….
it’s just like is there a nonawkward way to not hang out with people who have followed you to the grocery store. I GUESS BENRG’S ROUTE
Lass, I’m sure you are going through a wonderful coming-of-age experience or something. However, could you do it a few feet to the left? Thanks.
Wow I feel so nostalgic I haven’t been here for a month or two. Well the hobble of depression and split personalities I call myself has returned. I’m looking at old comments and it seems I’ve missed a lot
Welcome back then 🙂
I had some thoughts on alters earlier today but I can’t remember enough of them to make sense… Something about centipeedle and corrupt gems and .. Amethyst?
*supportive hug offered*
She looks like a grown-up Joyce. I can only think she’s secretly a murderous psychopath who votes DeSanto.
is mindy single?
Twitter is like sticks.
Neither are comprehensible to a moronic technophobe who can barely make it through the only day he sees his kids, without passing out drunk in his chair.
Mindy’s cute.
I remember when a person would use a phone to, oh, you know — CALL someone and actually TALK to them instead of Twattering and Slapchatting and Fazebooking and Cindering and everything else.
Cindering sounds hot.
…i feel really uncomfortable about, between Mindy and Anna, Anna’s the one who had to be the unlikable person while Mindy was instantly likable, and most of why i feel uncomfortable with it has to do with race.
like idk. it’s not like every character of color has to be a Good Likable Person, that’s too much of a burden. but it feels really weird right now to go from mildly rude and annoyed brown person to the nice white lady, and i don’t trust it. it feels like Some BS, is what it feels like. and like: Anna directly sets up Mindy to be likable. the contrast there makes what already was a pretty likable character even more likable, but because of that also makes an already disliked character even more disliked. which is…a narrative dynamic that makes me feel uncomfortable, because it gives me the impression that Anna and Deli Lady are disposable. I’m…sure that this is better thought out than that, but in other narratives, I don’t think I would be wrong.
but on the other hand, we have Becky, white lesbian, ignoring two people of color in her surroundings while she acts as social media public relations for Robin, also a woman of color. i don’t think that’s an accident. and like – visually, Becky is tied more with Anna re: their mutual undercut. and if Becky had been making the deli lady wait for a really long time, that annoyance on Anna’s part is pretty justified.
and then there’s Mindy, who is charming and mega white and a lot of things we’re socially conditioned to see as desirable. and, i see that, and i recognize that, but i really don’t trust it right now. mostly because i’ve known way too many well-intentioned white people who are charming and delightful and completely ignorant that life could exist any other way for anybody.
idk. she is being super nice to becky right now for reasons unexplained and given this racial context it is not something that i personally can trust to exist without…i don’t know. baggage. strings attached.
…maybe it’s just that there’s no facial reaction to becky saying that her dad’s in prison
….what if she’s a reporter
On one hand it does portray a person of color as abrasive and immediately follow up with a Caucasian being the picture of patience and understand. On the other hand it doesn’t really make me dislike or like either character more or less since this is just the first impression in a comic that’s all about things beneath the surface and growth and realistic characters. This is the introduction of how these two characters present themselves to the world but there’s still plenty of room to show their positives and negatives.
I may be biased, though, because I usually interact with people in these situations like Mindy while wishing that I could handle it like Anna and get straight to the point.
There might also be a thing where it can be more pressing for marginalized POC to get more anxious in public spaces and want to get the errands done than a white marginalized person.
Like, for me, grocery shopping is incredibly stressful, because it means a lot of nasty stares and muttered comments and lots of hyperawareness and anxiety.
But like, if I was POC on top of all of that in a majority white area, I’d have to deal with store workers treating me like a criminal and following me around, muttered racist comments and nasty stares, cops stopping to ask me about where I was going, and the fear in the back of my mind that today might be the day that a trip out ends in my death.
So yeah, Anna being prickly and wanting to be done as fast as possible makes sense to me, even if some of the construction is problematic in terms of the comic itself. As is Mindy having the social freedom to linger and be polite owing to not having to push through casual racism on her daily activities.
it also feels like, y’know, you just come across a broad spectrum of people in a grocery store because everyone needs to get food. and these temporary courtesies and discourtesies are just kind of. a matter of interacting with people
for me it’s not a matter of liking/disliking: it’s a matter of noticing likability, and trust/distrust. and like i am mostly reserving judgment but it is a thing that has set up some red flags, is most of what i’m saying
Personally I think its false likeability. I think Mindy isn’t what she seems, cause she’s a bit TOO nice. As for Anna, I understand your point, and it’s valid, but I think in this case you may be reading too much into it. Willis might also be trying to trick us, he does that sometimes. In any case, I honestly didn’t even notice that Anna was a POC. For that matter, is Robin a woman of color either? I mean I know she’s Hispanic but that isn’t necessarily the same thing. Either way, you bring up good points.
Robin isn’t white. She can’t be white because white is a power structure and not a race, as has been repeatedly made clear through a long history of people like the Irish being “not white” until one day they suddenly were.
Anyway. Never really cool to tell someone they’re reading too much into this stuff. Especially not someone who went out of their way to say “I trust Willis more than this but in any other narrative this would be true and I’m made uncomfortable”.
Also, Robin’s family are VISIBLY not white, as Becky was able to peg Roz as Latina just by looking at her.
Yes, being white is a power structure, and Robin exists at the very head of that power structure, as a congresswoman. She can be both white and Hispanic at the same time, trust me, I know because I am too. And I didn’t tell them they were reading too much into it, I said they MIGHT be. I don’t know for sure, their guess is as good as mine.
It’s a moot point – the DeSantoes are visibly not white, strangers are able to notice they’re Latina immediately.
No way. Robin looks about as Latina as Sarah Palin.
Tell that to Becky, who was able to tell immediately before she even knew Roz well.
http://pre11.deviantart.net/0692/th/pre/f/2013/039/b/c/robinleslielick_by_itswalky-d5u9qw6.jpg
Like, you can say that all you want, but she’s… just…… not. She is visibly browner than Leslie, who is ACTUALLY as white as Sarah Palin.
…and somehow I missed the part where you claimed not to have noticed Anna was a WoC. I would not have fetched art of Robin if I’d noticed that, because… that’s just a very big difference to have not noticed, and it makes Robin much less surprising.
latinas can be white, but their ethnicity still makes them people of color – it’s kind of like white-passing, i guess. maybe you didn’t notice Anna’s race, but I very much did! and i’m sure other people did too.
but yes. Robin is very much a woman of color.
like. ted cruz passes as white, but he’s still latino. he benefits from a lot of white
male privilege but that doesn’t change where he came from, or how that affects him.
(marco rubio making fun of his inability to speak spanish was such a highlight of the republican candidate debates, lmao)
I see. I didn’t realize that being Latino conferred POC status. That clarifies my own identity somewhat too.
I agree especially with the last bit, about Mindy’s total non reaction to the prison line. It’s just weird.
I also had a similar moment of “:/” which I’m only reserving right now because I know Anna got a name and a character design in time with Mindy, so I assume they’re both gonna be important later.
It’s just…… so easy to reinforce the Angry Black Woman thing as the story stands :/
the nonreaction to the prison line is what makes me think she’s a reporter – this is a really great opportunity to get a scoop, tbh.
and i mean their names line up to “mindyanna” i.e. “indiana” so i feel like their stories have got to be entwined with each other somehow.
yup!!!
….i’m like this because i still haven’t forgiven Alias for killing Francie and truth be told i probably never will
Wait, this person has colored eyes!! I thought only Joyce had eyes with actual colors!?!?
…Wait. Is she trying to flirt with Becky or something?
Ruth, Mary, Jocelyne, and Hank feel very ignored and hurt right now.
IDGAF about Mary, but the others I like. 😛
I think she is coming off as a bit flirtatious.
Is there a particular reason why Willis does some characters with coloured eyes? Is it supposed to signify some aspect of their personality or something?
Nah, it is just a style thing. Some of them he did with colour eyes originally, some he didn’t, now it is a more a thing he does if he feels like it I think.
Though with some characters it does signify. Ruth in particular shifts from green to black dots depending on how depressed/withdrawn she is at the moment.
Leslie is being incredibly rude these past few strips. What does she think she is, a teenager?
No, just an adult whose life, already stressful and complicated, has just been further complicated by the acquisition of two children (Robin and Becky).
Hey, I like Becky as much as any other character, but let’s get back to Read Hall where we left Joyce standing on Chekhov’s police tape. I wanna know what happened to Amber and Dorothy and — to a lesser degree — Rapey McScarface (a/k/a Ryan).
Hahaha nooope 😀
Honestly I’m more interested in Becky being socially awkward in a grocery store than more overwrought drama.
I’m becoming ever more suspicious that we won’t find out anything until the stinger before the next comic arc.
I’m about to merge into the DoA ‘verse, drive to this supermarket, and be like, “Hey, Becky, that was crazy what happened a few days ago, wasn’t it? You know with Amber and Dorothy and–”
And then the comic would cut away again.
Her eyes are UP HERE, Becky! Dangit girl, pay attention!
She can’t see on that side thanks to the haircut, anyway
Oh man, I have BEEN there!
Hive of scum and villainy that it is, there really always is more Twitter.
… that sentence is clunky as all hell. :-T
Just wait till she discovers wikis and Tvtropes…
“Dina, what is wikipedia?”
“It’s a battleground for our sacred fight against ignorance. Our shift starts now. You can start with the article on pterodactyls. Don’t let anyone call it a dinosaur.”
Oh my goodness, I did not even realize what a hell wikipedia can be for someone who is so into certain subjects XD
“Ethan, what is TVtropes and are they sometimes not 100% right about Transformers…”
Not sure who would roar louder, Dina or Ethan…
Wikipedia’s accuracy is generally considered to be inversely proportional to the article subject’s objective reality. An article about a fictional character is rigorously fact-checked and highly accurate. An article about a celebrity or politician is usually edit locked after becoming a battleground between editors with various agendas (hidden or otherwise).
Science Wiki, though, is largely reliable, provided you only want a cursory understanding of the subject.
Science Wiki? Is that a specific wiki for science stuff? That seems awesome! Where can I find it?
I hope Mindy is single
It suddenly occurs to me that things could actually go that way, at least for a few strips.
It looks like Willis has found his happy place- from now on, the comic will consist solely of Becky’s social encounters within a store deli line.
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: Oh Becky, you forgot to get out of line, didn’t you? *shakes head*
Panel 2: Confirmation that this is in fact Becky’s phone, which makes me suspect that Leslie was involved in this purchase so as to help Becky be able to settle and recover more easily and handle all the registration stuff she’s trying to do with the school.
And yeah, that was always going to be a time sink for Becky. Like, Becky is an incredibly curious young woman with a thirst for knowledge after coming from a really repressive home environment. So it’s easy for her to go down internet rabbit holes.
Which, I can strongly identify with. Coming out of an environment where I was surrounded by Carol and her church’s types and where that influenced what was taught in school, I was deeply ignorant about certain subjects and so in early college set myself to learning as much as I could on them independently. Which was good for me as a person, but terrible for my short-term health as I started abusing caffeine and my sleep schedule could best be described as an amorphous jellyfish.
But there’s such a strong need to learn about the world and how it worked and that was without also having to try and juggle steering the public policy of a famously erratic sitting homophobic congresswoman without giving it away that my tweets were not actually hers.
Also, oof, that question from Mindy. Like, I doubt she intended it that way, but it drips with condescension even more than Anna’s anachronistic “kids today and their mobile phones”, so I definitely feel Becky’s feelings feeling pinged.
Panel 3: And why wouldn’t it be? Like, if someone doesn’t have a phone until adulthood, there’s usually a reason for it and one that it’s not nice to poke. It could be related to growing up poor, to growing up in a restrictive household that was very controlling, or one in which technology was seen as only an adult thing.
Whatever the structure, given the ubiquity of phones, there’s likely to be some bitterness to the tale so it’s not kind to ask that kind of cutting joking question.
And for Becky, that point of suffering is extremely sore. Having a phone was something her dad interpreted as a personal defiance and something she knew she would be hit for once he noticed she had it. And she’s fiendishly clever and so likely has put two and two together on why she wasn’t allowed a phone and how that was part of a system to try and control and limit the freedom of girls like her so they didn’t “stray”.
And there’s also another element to it. Which is Mindy’s question (again, I doubt she intended it this way) is also super-judgmental in shutting down something someone is excited about and kind of comes across as Midwestern Nice. Like, if someone is all “woot, look at this new thing I found that I’m clearly enjoying”, it can be a bit of a dick move to tear it down or add a judgment for the person enjoying it. So yeah, Becky’s going to grumble and over-share, because she just got judged for “being behind*”.
I’m also really proud of Becky. We’re seeing with Leslie, her mask dropping more and more and her letting herself be a bit catty and bitter about past events which will be a key part of her recovery. And likely speaks to how comfortable she’s already feeling in Leslie’s space where she doesn’t feel the same pressure to perform Happy Becky 24/7.
Like Old Becky wouldn’t have made this remark. She’d just have eaten the sting and buried it. So yeah, critical growth.
Panels 4-6: Twitter is infinite and life-sucking and probably even more so when you have to read conservative twitter to know what to respond to as the sitting Republican congresswoman.
Also, Mindy seems like she might be flirting a bit here, which makes sense since Becky is in full-on Dapper Dyke mode. Shenanigans where she tries to set her up with Leslie without realizing that it’s her Mindy wants to get together with because she’s not used to people flirting with her?
Maybe Mindy commented about Becky’s age to try to find out how old she is. As in, “Are you in fact 18 or older?”
Ooh, that’s a good shout. Yeah, that would fit in with the flirting bit.
this is flirtatious? what?
I might be reading too much into it, but the lingering definitely feels like more than just friendly co-customer interaction. Might not be romantic, but definitely something.
My money is on Hank buying her the phone, or her buying the phone herself with the money he put on the account he opened for her. It is such an important piece of infrastructure so I bet they both would prioritize it.
It would also be a neat final act of Hank proving me wrong again after me whining about him neglecting Becky back in the hospital.
Good highlighting on why the comment about Becky being phoneless hits a sore spot. But I’m really proud about Becky that she uses it as an opportunity to open up. I have the feeling she is actively refusing to be ashamed about what her dad put her through. “Yeah, I have a crappy dad. His fault, not mine”.
I’m sure Mindy had not noticed Becky being all dapper-like. Not noticed it at all… 🙂
Yeah, I think it’s a very good sign of the healing Becky has been doing and the way she has approached her past and yeah, I think she’s firmly come down on the idea that she shouldn’t be ashamed of her past, the people who did her harm should.
And this is how Leslie will tell her kids this is “How I met your mother”?
In a deli line.
So who would be the “Barney” in this comparison?
I mean, I think there’s one obvious candidate.
Not if it’s Robin, because Ted is the creepy stalker with boundary problems in HIMYM, soooooooooooooooooo
(Not a fan of the show, ahahaha.)
Hello, you will probably never see this, but I meant Joe.
There is always more Twitter. Truer words have never been spoken.
I mean, I’ve been on Twitter for half a decade, and I still marvel at how much Twitter there is in just my corner of Twitter. Becky’s brand new to it and very well might be going everywhere. That is overwhelming.
Okay hold up, a bunch of y’all are claiming Mindy’s doing some kinda flirting at Becky right now and it’s seriously wrinkling my brain. Like, okay sure, this is probably me not picking up on social cues here and soon enough another strip might make it overt but are we reading the same thing here? Mindy asked if Becky was in line, Becky got flustered and Mindy said it was okay. Then Becky’s the one turning the interaction into a conversation and Mindy’s going along with it, then Becky gets distracted and Mindy says something to see if the conversation’s still going on or not.
That’s the entire interaction! Mindy’s not even the initiator by panel 2. Where’s the flirt? Where’s the intent? I’m not being smug I’m legit asking, I don’t understand sociability and I don’t pick up cues and I’ve been in this scenario several times and now I’m paranoid I come off as paranoid when I’m just practicing talking! Fuck man this is freaking me out, can someone explain this to me?
For me at least, it’s the “hi” in the last panel. The line between “very friendly” and “kinda flirty” can get ambiguous, but that panel just read as Mindy nervously drawing attention back to her attempt to flirt.
Like, this doesn’t seem SUPER flirty, so much as it feels like the build up to actual flirting
You aren’t the only one confused by the situation, if that makes you feel any better.
I think it comes across as mildly flirty because:
a) She could have gone around her once Becky said she wasn’t in line instead of letting Becky engage her in conversation.
b) She still didn’t do so even when Becky got distracted.
c) She reengaged with Becky rather than the other way around. She seems to want to talk to and with Becky whereas, most of us would just be friendly but exit the conversation as a short friendly exchange with a stranger and go to get our deli things.
Well thats the thing isn’t it, the line between flirting and being polite can be very, very slim one
Social interactions can be very easily misinterpreted (fortunately this isn’t a bar) like this could be the beginning of a flirt but it could also Mindy just being pleasant
Fortunately this isn’t bar and alcohol isn’t involved which can make things even more problematic
With that smile and the hair and the eyes, Mindy looks like a weird bootleg of Joyce.
I got the final “hi” as “well that got a little weird and then there was a long pause for Twitter, so let’s restart this interaction and get each other’s names before talking about personal family stuff!”.
McGriddle?
Thanks a lot, now I want Hotcakes and Sausage.
I can relate to Becky, as I got my first smartphone only two years ago.
Though I still haven’t gotten around to set up a twitter account…