Dina: “Now, while Littlefoot and Spike are both Jurassic species, Cera, Petrie, and Ducky are Late-Cretaceous. And don’t get me started on the random cameo of what may be a Dimetrodon midway through the film. It would actually be closer to accurate to put a human there than a Dime-are you actually making out right now?”
Amber: “Sorry, Dina, the lecture just added ambiance. You’re like a small female Barry White.”
Weren’t the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park accurate to the commonly accepted theories about them at the time? (I mean the designs and behavior, not the “bring them back to life” and “patch the corrupt spots with amphibian DNA” pseudoscience parts.)
The venom and frill were based on a solid idea, though, that at least one dinosaur should have surprises. More of a problem is that all their wrists are the wrong way.
Not really pseudoscience. At the time, there was some serious speculation about the possibility of recovering dinosaur DNA. Current science says any genetic material that old would be degraded beyond recovery, but there’s still some proposals to try something similar with more recently extinct species, such as mammoths.
Well the mammoth challenge is not in the access to the DNA – there is plenty of it kicking around and slowly thawing and rotting in exposed tundra or ending up on some far eastern dinner plate – it is in generating a viable zygote and getting it gestated.
There were mammoths in cold places where the remains might have been preserved (and pretty recently too, 10-5k BC iirc) Dodos were in warm places where the remains might not have kept so well.
I recently learned about a 2014 movie called Dinosaur Island, which features feathered dinosaurs, (apparently too feathered to be scientifically accurate in the T-rex’s case).
Not quite, Joyce has had her extranormal abilities since peuberty, it’s just that her denomination’s Communion Ritual was blocking the telepathy, but her Teleportation ability is too powerful even for that.
Or perhaps the group think in her community was so strong, she couldn’t distinguish the thoughts of those around her from her own.
This might explain why she never noticed how screwy and sketchy some parts of her childhood were, she had the thoughts of those around her intruding making the stuff they were doing and saying seem like the obvious thing.
It could also explain why she was so disappointed about no longer hearing the voice of god, perhaps there was a priest or something in town that she was mistaking for the voice of god, and she didn’t notice he wasn’t there until she had a crisis of faith and started looking for the voice.
And perhaps the telepathy requires better understanding of a person and/or a more genuine connection, and that’s why Walky’s the first one she picks up, as they have similar personalities and interests, so she understands him and connects with him naturally and instinctively.
Amber wasn’t your original intention to help Walky with studying.
If you’re not gonna help and just gonna lie there on your phone, you could… be somewhere else? Seems like Walky was studying fine before you got there.
And yeah, Amber, you meant because having someone else in the room but that…may not be how Dina heard it considering how some people react to any idea of her having a sexuality.
Are Dina’s sleeves intentionally the colors of the asexuality flag? Cool if so, but like, that kinda goes against what she’s been up to in the past couple arcs, which is slightly confusing
I get the feeling Dina likes sexy times well enough, maybe lesbian maybe bi well enough, she has just been slowing her roll out of courtesy and consideration for Becky’s need for time to come to terms with her own desires.
I believe the arc up until now was here experimenting like she suggested she’d like to a while back. She and Amber were discussing Amazi-Girl. I dunno, maybe wishful thinking.
That is a likely possibility, but it is also possible that the giggling fit had to do with the romantic implications of the kissing. I have been in a very similar situation myself, where kissing/cuddling someone didn’t do anything for me sexually, but still was fulfilling romantically.
It’s still possible, but the evidence suggesting it is getting pretty thin.
Which I’m kind of happy with. Her being ace would fall a little too neatly into the infantilizing perception of her she’s been pushing back against for most of her arc.
I’d rather see ace representation with someone the other characters (and audience) aren’t primed to think as nonsexual.
It must be a coincidence. I can’t really imagine someone wearing an LGBT+ flag as part of their outfit. Or, just as an example, using one as part of an online icon, which is sort of like internet clothing.
Honestly this is looking like it’s going to be a major disappointment w/ DoA for me. Shoving the asexual rep off on your autistic asian character is a real bad look and I’ve been annoyed at everyone pushing that as a COMPLETELY RANDOM I’M SURE headcanon for years. Especially once the comic got Becky and her together and specifically had the other characters being infantilizing about the very idea. All that kneejerk headcanoning @ her being validated sucks ass. It’s from such an ableist impulse.
This is intentional (I mean, the ‘enhance’ retweet?), and what a letdown. The conflicting needs here was something I thought was obvious to Willis, and Dina is a fictional character in a massive ensemble. There was no need. Sigh.
Asexual asian autistic people are a Real Thing that exist in the real world and they deserve to exist in media and not be walled-off as ‘Problematic’ and ‘Ableist’. I am not gonna talk too much about the asian angle cause I am not asian myself and I could only repeat opinions I heard from other people on the matter – but I am autistic and asexual and I am not very fond of the idea that asexual autistic rep should be dismissed out of hand as ‘stereotypical’ without any consideration to the actual execution of it.
Rather then just accept the idea that being Asexual is automatically ‘desexualizing’ or ‘infantilizing’ – we have to instead recognize the fact that aseuxal peeps, much like autisitic peeps are part of a minority that often gets desexualized and infantilized. Are there some people who headcanon characters as ace purely to desexualize them? Yes, but there are also people who headcanon characters as autistic to infantilize them. The solution cannot be to accept the idea that asexual = desexualized just like the solution cannot be that autistic = infantilized.
If anything, the reactions to the idea that Dina is ace show how people are not used to a not-desexualized ace character; Dina is capable of expressing her sexual agency by exploring her own sexuality, being interested\willing to have sex, is viewed as sexually desirable by Becky, makes sexual references – none of those things prove that she’s not on the ace spectrum (could be ace or demisexual or grayace or any other ace-spec orientation) just that there’s an effort not to desexualize or infantilize her.
(To eleborate a bit more before someone goes “but obviously Asexuality makes you desexualized!” or “How can Ace people suffer from being desexualized” – there are three main factors to desexualizations: erasing one’s abillity to have sexual desires, erasing one’s abillity to be sexualy desirable and erasing one’s sexual agency.
You might recognize that only one of them can intersect with Asexuality, the sexual desires one – and even then Ace people CAN be intersted in sex for reasons other then experiencing sexual attraction. And those reasons often get ignored, dismissed, erased, mocked, make one asexuality go into question – and that’s not getting into trying to erase the sexual attraction of gray-ace and demi peeps.
The other two things factor into acephobia a LOT, Asexual people are often stereotyped as sexually undesirable and get mocked for being ‘virgins’ and ‘ugly’. Ace people who are attractive have had their asexuality go into question because they are ‘too pretty\hot to be Asexual’.
And the removal of Sexual Agency? Oh, boy, where to begin? Ace people’s definitions of themselves and their orientations are constantly called into question and are condescended (being able to put a label on your own identity on your own is a form of sexual agency). Again, asexual people’s sexual history is often called into question (anyone who has had sex before is ‘not really ace’ and anyone who hasn’t is clearly Too Much of a Dumb Virgin to be able to label their own sexuality). There used to be actual Tumblr Discourse about how it’s impossible to consent to sex without feeling sexual attraction and therefore any Ace person who has sex is being raped???? Which is probably the most literal example of removing sexual agency by saying we have no abillity to give consent. Which also has the extra layer of mudding the water on the very real issue of the amount of sexual violence the ace community faces – BECAUSE we are viewed as lacking in Sexual Agency and therefore it’s justifiable to force sexuality on us! We’re too Sexually Ignorant and a Bunch of Dumb Baby Virgins to know that we want it anyway!
So, um yeah, maybe I got a bit too angry there, but the short version is that being asexual and being desexualized is not the same thing and that asexual people get desexualized a lot as a central part of Acephobia and so automatically assuming an Ace character of a certain minority has to be ‘desexualized’ is kinda shitty cause it kinda continues the assumption that ace peeps just HAVE to be desexualized)
But the point here isn’t “ace mean desexualized”, but that characters in the comic both desexualize and infantilize Dina, much to her annoyance. She’s been mistaken for a 12 year old and treated as one by those who do know better. Amber’s commented on preferring not to think of her as a sexual being.
I think having her be interested in sex, even if it’s in a demisexual way, is a better counter to that desexualization than having her be asexual. As would having an asexual character be someone who isn’t perceived that way by default.
That isn’t the point here. This thread also has people saying Dina being ace “goes against [Dina being game to be touched]” and “the asexual rep off on your autistic asian character is a real bad look”, which is not at all to do with how the cast treats her.
To your point, specifically, being infantilized and desexualized are part of the ace experience. Ethan, Leslie and Becky are reacted to with scorn and disappointment by their families, Billie and Robin are in denial, Carla gets misgendered, Malaya feels adrift. For good or for ill, these things are part of the fabric of the comic. Prejudice exists. You wouldn’t say “it’d be better for Ethan to be interested in ladies as a counter to folks getting on his case about dudes.”
And meanwhile, Carla has no ace angst. (Everyone always forgets Carla’s ace, possibly because it’s yet to be mentioned, cough.) Ruth, Danny, Mike, and Marcie all get to have this be a nonissue. If every single queer character was put through the wringer, that’d be one thing. But there’s a variety of experience on display.
(And it’s not like everyone infantilizes Dina. It’s nice to see Becky and Sarah treat her with respect.)
Sarah was in on treating Becky putting the moves on Dina as weird. Everyone’s mostly gotten better about it since then.
I think we’re coming at this from different angles. I see it almost backwards. People, at least characters in the comic, aren’t infantilizing and desexualing Dina because she’s asexual, they’re doing so because she looks young and acts “weird”.
It’s not a good parallel with your Ethan example, because with Ethan, him being gay is the known source. If we were presented with a character people thought was gay because of stereotyped presentation, then it was made canonically right, that would be a closer parallel.
If the only thing stopping you and Walky from going to the bone zone is Dina then you may as well do it and get it over with Amber. From experience I can tell you that you’ll think much more clearly post-coitus and Walky might even learn something.
But look how much studying they’re getting done, walking all over campus to tell Sal and now Dina how horny they are. Clearly this is a very productive use of their time.
I’m not convinced that Willis would actually postpone a plot forever just to spite curious people, so I’m kind of glad people are working hard to test this hypothesis.
President Sandler is gonna finish swearing himself in, then he’ll look directly into a nearby camera and say “Willis, tell us where Mike is or my first act as President will be a drone strike on your house.”
More like a continuation of the current trends. I don’t think Adam Sandler would be a worse President, but I also don’t think he’s any more qualified than the current one. Policy-wise, I get the impression he’d still be pretty queerphobic and racist, but I guess he might not go out of his way to make everyone else hate the country.
… it occurs to me that the various lengths they’re going to to focus on studying instead of fucking are taking up more effort, energy, focus, and study time than just fucking would.
… just like the way not fucking so as not to aggravate Sal turned out to aggravate Sal…
… and how probably all their other reasons for not fucking have proven self-defeating as well…
I mean, you’re right. Like, objectively. The characters have actual personalities, *Webby* has an actual personality and isn’t just a weird sexist token girl. I don’t think anyone reasonable would disagree with that statement
What frustrates me about Walky in these sorts of scenes is that… yeah, I do get it. I’ve got plenty of problems focusing on tasks, I’m easily distracted, and I was one of those assholes that breezed my way through high school and then hit a fair bit of a brick wall in college.
But Walky seems to be indulging in that, not trying to resist it.
It’s a tricky thing to deal with, no question. Your brain kinda wants a certain level of engagement in things, and if its not getting that, it tries to find other things to occupy itself. It’s like running a mile with a twinge in your leg, it’s going to get in the way.
But that doesn’t mean that you should just give up. You’ve gotta deal with it, you have to figure out ways of gaming this problem you’ve been saddled with and overcoming it all. Just small stuff like putting on some music to engage part of your brain while the rest of you deals with this task you need to get done but don’t need all of yourself for.
Because yeah, it sucks for Walky that he’s got this shit to deal with.
I’m surprised so many people seem to have this impression that “flesh balls” are A Thing, rather than some nonsense being spewed from the mouth of a complete goober. Maybe y’all know something I don’t, but it just seems like Walky’s saying weird shit on purpose.
Would someoe do me a big favour and give my congratulations to the Democratic Party, who managed to find a way to lose a presidential election in the first caucus of their own primaries?
I feel Amber is coming off as either rude or uncaring to others right now. Dina made a legit suggestion, at least in my book, cause Walky certainly ain’t studying well. And as Dina said, it’s her room too. This exchange just makes me feel cringy for the lack of caring of Dina’s feelings on the matter, like she’s not a person, just a wall to prevent them from having sex, which seriously, just get it over with. If you gotta wait til after midterms, fine, make it a mcnugget you can wave in front of Walky. “Get an A on your math exam and I’ll…” whatever’s sexah, I dunno.
Loading ...
Fleshballs, woo-OO-oo *clomp clomp*
(why basketballs tho, not Dragonballs)
It’s not a sportsball comic, but this IS still Indiana.
Dina: “Now, while Littlefoot and Spike are both Jurassic species, Cera, Petrie, and Ducky are Late-Cretaceous. And don’t get me started on the random cameo of what may be a Dimetrodon midway through the film. It would actually be closer to accurate to put a human there than a Dime-are you actually making out right now?”
Amber: “Sorry, Dina, the lecture just added ambiance. You’re like a small female Barry White.”
Are there any fictional movie out there that features highly scientifically accurate dinosaurs at all???
The Velocipastor?
Weren’t the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park accurate to the commonly accepted theories about them at the time? (I mean the designs and behavior, not the “bring them back to life” and “patch the corrupt spots with amphibian DNA” pseudoscience parts.)
Most were for the most part, except for the raptors, they took alot of liverties with them beyond what was known at the time
And the dilophosaurus.
The venom and frill were based on a solid idea, though, that at least one dinosaur should have surprises. More of a problem is that all their wrists are the wrong way.
The whole thing about T-rex’s vision being based on movement is also entirely invented and also really stupid to anyone who understands how eyes work.
Not really pseudoscience. At the time, there was some serious speculation about the possibility of recovering dinosaur DNA. Current science says any genetic material that old would be degraded beyond recovery, but there’s still some proposals to try something similar with more recently extinct species, such as mammoths.
Well the mammoth challenge is not in the access to the DNA – there is plenty of it kicking around and slowly thawing and rotting in exposed tundra or ending up on some far eastern dinner plate – it is in generating a viable zygote and getting it gestated.
Why mammoths? I’m just wondering bc why not dodos, which would be less difficult to reincorporate into the ecosystem
Unless those seafarers ate all the DNA
There were mammoths in cold places where the remains might have been preserved (and pretty recently too, 10-5k BC iirc) Dodos were in warm places where the remains might not have kept so well.
So if we hunt something to extinction, we should remember to save some in the freezer for later. Got it.
I think the biggest inaccuracy was the name substitution. “Velociraptor” just rolled off the tongue more easily than “Deinonychus”.
I recently learned about a 2014 movie called Dinosaur Island, which features feathered dinosaurs, (apparently too feathered to be scientifically accurate in the T-rex’s case).
Kung Fury. The dinosaurs were all real. Especially Triceracop.
*Becky suddenly appears in the room*
Was someone in here talking about SUPER-SEXY dinosaurs?? Cuz I coulda sworn I heard some SUPER-SEXY dinosaur facts in here!
Joyce is telepathic, confirmed
Man, she skips church once and already possesses witchcraft? Girl’s a prodigy.
If she begins reaading a biology book she willdevelop pyrokinesis.
Hmm.. So what you’re saying is, her looking at anatomical photos will subsequently make parts of her body feel hot?
I bet she’d be the one person who could learn real magic from playing D&D.
Not quite, Joyce has had her extranormal abilities since peuberty, it’s just that her denomination’s Communion Ritual was blocking the telepathy, but her Teleportation ability is too powerful even for that.
Or perhaps the group think in her community was so strong, she couldn’t distinguish the thoughts of those around her from her own.
This might explain why she never noticed how screwy and sketchy some parts of her childhood were, she had the thoughts of those around her intruding making the stuff they were doing and saying seem like the obvious thing.
It could also explain why she was so disappointed about no longer hearing the voice of god, perhaps there was a priest or something in town that she was mistaking for the voice of god, and she didn’t notice he wasn’t there until she had a crisis of faith and started looking for the voice.
And perhaps the telepathy requires better understanding of a person and/or a more genuine connection, and that’s why Walky’s the first one she picks up, as they have similar personalities and interests, so she understands him and connects with him naturally and instinctively.
I mean, she’s been able to teleport for freaking ever
Maybe she could hear him singing?
Or maybe he heard her and decided it was a great idea.
Her link to Walky is surprisingly strong. It’s almost like she’s married to him in another universe…
Telepathy, teleportation, super strength.
Sorry Amber but I think the wrong girl chose to be the super hero.
Just be glad she hasn’t gone over to the dark side or more likely CRACKED.
Those powers, and triangle smile combined with an unhinged mind? YIKES!
Amber wasn’t your original intention to help Walky with studying.
If you’re not gonna help and just gonna lie there on your phone, you could… be somewhere else? Seems like Walky was studying fine before you got there.
Supposedly they’re both thinking about studying, but somehow all they can talk about is boning. Weird…wonder why that could be?
It’s Mike’s influence. He’s effecting them subliminally from the beyond.
Affecting.
Also.
No, Dina, featherless dinosaurs probably turn Walky on!
JUST FUCK ALREADY
How much difference can four hours of studying make at this stage?
They are going to great lengths not to.
…you now, certain lengths
They’re lying horizontally next to each other on a bed. They should just make out and then bone.
Ah, the elusive golden chocobo… majestic.
*plays Billy Idol’s “Flesh For Fantasy” on the hacked Muzak*
Do I want to know if “flesh balls” means what I think it means?
My bet is tits or balls.
Likely both.
I looked it up and Flesh Balls was a minor antagonist in Men in Black 2.
Good job killing the Jurassic and Triassic romance, Dina.
Damn skippy it’s your room, Dina.
And yeah, Amber, you meant because having someone else in the room but that…may not be how Dina heard it considering how some people react to any idea of her having a sexuality.
I LOVE the “less-humbly” part, which is basically the equivalent of “bless her heart”.
gonna regret asking this but, what are Flesh balls?
So far all I can determine is that they are neither Pokeballs nor Basketballs.
Dwarf Fortress enemies, apparently. Plus slang for the same things that everything else is slang for.
“Plus slang for the same things that everything else is slang for.”
..did someone mention cake?
Cheese or beef?
Huh. Normally Willis would make the definition clear. It’s not like him to leave something like the definition of flesh balls hanging.
… *snerk* well done, that got me.
Is Walky referencing a song here?
He’s doing the Ducktales theme, only about flesh balls, which I assume are either testicles or a euphemism for breasts.
Kind of meta, but I seem to get on many days ads which are wider than the space reserved for them, so the ads cover part of the comic.
I’d report these, but the ‘report’ link on the ad just gives a 404.
Does anybody else get these kind of ads?
Yes. They’re super annoying and started being very frequent for me.
Are Dina’s sleeves intentionally the colors of the asexuality flag? Cool if so, but like, that kinda goes against what she’s been up to in the past couple arcs, which is slightly confusing
She could be gray-ace?
In fact, Dina’s shirt is gray, and with her sleeves…if that isn’t a visual pun, I’d be somewhat surprised.
Grey’s in the regular ace flag, but it still makes sense for her to possibly be grey-ace.
I get the feeling Dina likes sexy times well enough, maybe lesbian maybe bi well enough, she has just been slowing her roll out of courtesy and consideration for Becky’s need for time to come to terms with her own desires.
demisexual is totally a thing, and falls under the ace umbrella!
Every single time I have fallen under and umbrella I have gotten all wet, and one time I ripped my overcoat.
I believe the arc up until now was here experimenting like she suggested she’d like to a while back. She and Amber were discussing Amazi-Girl. I dunno, maybe wishful thinking.
“What she’s been up to in the past couple arcs” She uh…slept in a bed next to Becky? So that doesn’t really tell us anything.
She kinda told Becky that she’s DTF last chapter. That said, she’s most likely demisexual, which still falls under the ace umbrella.
It’s possible Dina feels no sexual attraction or arousal, but understands that Becky does, and that Dina is not entirely sex-averse.
Thus, while she might not have any desire for her own sake, she might be DTF for her partner’s enjoyment and needs.
Do we have any evidence at all that she doesn’t feel typical sexual attraction and arousal?
In fact, remember her giggling fit after she kissed Becky?
That is a likely possibility, but it is also possible that the giggling fit had to do with the romantic implications of the kissing. I have been in a very similar situation myself, where kissing/cuddling someone didn’t do anything for me sexually, but still was fulfilling romantically.
Or completing an obviously successful interaction.
It’s still possible, but the evidence suggesting it is getting pretty thin.
Which I’m kind of happy with. Her being ace would fall a little too neatly into the infantilizing perception of her she’s been pushing back against for most of her arc.
I’d rather see ace representation with someone the other characters (and audience) aren’t primed to think as nonsexual.
It must be a coincidence. I can’t really imagine someone wearing an LGBT+ flag as part of their outfit. Or, just as an example, using one as part of an online icon, which is sort of like internet clothing.
Honestly this is looking like it’s going to be a major disappointment w/ DoA for me. Shoving the asexual rep off on your autistic asian character is a real bad look and I’ve been annoyed at everyone pushing that as a COMPLETELY RANDOM I’M SURE headcanon for years. Especially once the comic got Becky and her together and specifically had the other characters being infantilizing about the very idea. All that kneejerk headcanoning @ her being validated sucks ass. It’s from such an ableist impulse.
This is intentional (I mean, the ‘enhance’ retweet?), and what a letdown. The conflicting needs here was something I thought was obvious to Willis, and Dina is a fictional character in a massive ensemble. There was no need. Sigh.
Honestly it feels jarring and bizzare to throw this in randomly after birthday “matin’ frenzy” type shit. Dissonant.
Kind of my take too, though I don’t thing she’s actually going to wind up that way.
Asexual asian autistic people are a Real Thing that exist in the real world and they deserve to exist in media and not be walled-off as ‘Problematic’ and ‘Ableist’. I am not gonna talk too much about the asian angle cause I am not asian myself and I could only repeat opinions I heard from other people on the matter – but I am autistic and asexual and I am not very fond of the idea that asexual autistic rep should be dismissed out of hand as ‘stereotypical’ without any consideration to the actual execution of it.
Rather then just accept the idea that being Asexual is automatically ‘desexualizing’ or ‘infantilizing’ – we have to instead recognize the fact that aseuxal peeps, much like autisitic peeps are part of a minority that often gets desexualized and infantilized. Are there some people who headcanon characters as ace purely to desexualize them? Yes, but there are also people who headcanon characters as autistic to infantilize them. The solution cannot be to accept the idea that asexual = desexualized just like the solution cannot be that autistic = infantilized.
If anything, the reactions to the idea that Dina is ace show how people are not used to a not-desexualized ace character; Dina is capable of expressing her sexual agency by exploring her own sexuality, being interested\willing to have sex, is viewed as sexually desirable by Becky, makes sexual references – none of those things prove that she’s not on the ace spectrum (could be ace or demisexual or grayace or any other ace-spec orientation) just that there’s an effort not to desexualize or infantilize her.
(To eleborate a bit more before someone goes “but obviously Asexuality makes you desexualized!” or “How can Ace people suffer from being desexualized” – there are three main factors to desexualizations: erasing one’s abillity to have sexual desires, erasing one’s abillity to be sexualy desirable and erasing one’s sexual agency.
You might recognize that only one of them can intersect with Asexuality, the sexual desires one – and even then Ace people CAN be intersted in sex for reasons other then experiencing sexual attraction. And those reasons often get ignored, dismissed, erased, mocked, make one asexuality go into question – and that’s not getting into trying to erase the sexual attraction of gray-ace and demi peeps.
The other two things factor into acephobia a LOT, Asexual people are often stereotyped as sexually undesirable and get mocked for being ‘virgins’ and ‘ugly’. Ace people who are attractive have had their asexuality go into question because they are ‘too pretty\hot to be Asexual’.
And the removal of Sexual Agency? Oh, boy, where to begin? Ace people’s definitions of themselves and their orientations are constantly called into question and are condescended (being able to put a label on your own identity on your own is a form of sexual agency). Again, asexual people’s sexual history is often called into question (anyone who has had sex before is ‘not really ace’ and anyone who hasn’t is clearly Too Much of a Dumb Virgin to be able to label their own sexuality). There used to be actual Tumblr Discourse about how it’s impossible to consent to sex without feeling sexual attraction and therefore any Ace person who has sex is being raped???? Which is probably the most literal example of removing sexual agency by saying we have no abillity to give consent. Which also has the extra layer of mudding the water on the very real issue of the amount of sexual violence the ace community faces – BECAUSE we are viewed as lacking in Sexual Agency and therefore it’s justifiable to force sexuality on us! We’re too Sexually Ignorant and a Bunch of Dumb Baby Virgins to know that we want it anyway!
So, um yeah, maybe I got a bit too angry there, but the short version is that being asexual and being desexualized is not the same thing and that asexual people get desexualized a lot as a central part of Acephobia and so automatically assuming an Ace character of a certain minority has to be ‘desexualized’ is kinda shitty cause it kinda continues the assumption that ace peeps just HAVE to be desexualized)
But the point here isn’t “ace mean desexualized”, but that characters in the comic both desexualize and infantilize Dina, much to her annoyance. She’s been mistaken for a 12 year old and treated as one by those who do know better. Amber’s commented on preferring not to think of her as a sexual being.
I think having her be interested in sex, even if it’s in a demisexual way, is a better counter to that desexualization than having her be asexual. As would having an asexual character be someone who isn’t perceived that way by default.
That isn’t the point here. This thread also has people saying Dina being ace “goes against [Dina being game to be touched]” and “the asexual rep off on your autistic asian character is a real bad look”, which is not at all to do with how the cast treats her.
To your point, specifically, being infantilized and desexualized are part of the ace experience. Ethan, Leslie and Becky are reacted to with scorn and disappointment by their families, Billie and Robin are in denial, Carla gets misgendered, Malaya feels adrift. For good or for ill, these things are part of the fabric of the comic. Prejudice exists. You wouldn’t say “it’d be better for Ethan to be interested in ladies as a counter to folks getting on his case about dudes.”
And meanwhile, Carla has no ace angst. (Everyone always forgets Carla’s ace, possibly because it’s yet to be mentioned, cough.) Ruth, Danny, Mike, and Marcie all get to have this be a nonissue. If every single queer character was put through the wringer, that’d be one thing. But there’s a variety of experience on display.
(And it’s not like everyone infantilizes Dina. It’s nice to see Becky and Sarah treat her with respect.)
Sarah was in on treating Becky putting the moves on Dina as weird. Everyone’s mostly gotten better about it since then.
I think we’re coming at this from different angles. I see it almost backwards. People, at least characters in the comic, aren’t infantilizing and desexualing Dina because she’s asexual, they’re doing so because she looks young and acts “weird”.
It’s not a good parallel with your Ethan example, because with Ethan, him being gay is the known source. If we were presented with a character people thought was gay because of stereotyped presentation, then it was made canonically right, that would be a closer parallel.
Dino sexuality does not register properly on puny human charts.
I feel like Dina’s intro should be accompanied by a musical stinger.
dun dun DUN!
Or the ! noise from Metal Gear.
Or in a tone not dissimilar from Leonardo Leonardo from the Clerks TV show.
Who the hell is Leonardo Leonardo? I have my finger on the pulse of this community and I’ve never heard of him.
He was the villain of the extremely short-lived Clerks cartoon.
*woosh*
Dangit.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zyNWXxhihY0
You see, that happens when you haven’t seen the show in over 10 years.
Or rather, seven years.
Let’s hope this goes through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZvt75T7u_8
Voiced by Alec Baldwin!
If the only thing stopping you and Walky from going to the bone zone is Dina then you may as well do it and get it over with Amber. From experience I can tell you that you’ll think much more clearly post-coitus and Walky might even learn something.
Am I wrong here?
But look how much studying they’re getting done, walking all over campus to tell Sal and now Dina how horny they are. Clearly this is a very productive use of their time.
Life is like varicose veins
Here on, flesh balls
Jeez Amber, stop acting like your dumb dating drama is important enough to involve other people with their own lives in
Dina likes helping Amber with things, even if this is a particularly absurd request.
And that time…..was ours all along! You maniacs! You screwed it all up!
Blah blah where’s Mike?
Well, now we’re probably not going to see Mike until 2021 at least.
I’m not convinced that Willis would actually postpone a plot forever just to spite curious people, so I’m kind of glad people are working hard to test this hypothesis.
Yeah! Sure, he revels in our misery, but he’s no Gabe Newell.
President Sandler is gonna finish swearing himself in, then he’ll look directly into a nearby camera and say “Willis, tell us where Mike is or my first act as President will be a drone strike on your house.”
You say “President Sandler” as if that would be a downgrade from the current situation.
More like a continuation of the current trends. I don’t think Adam Sandler would be a worse President, but I also don’t think he’s any more qualified than the current one. Policy-wise, I get the impression he’d still be pretty queerphobic and racist, but I guess he might not go out of his way to make everyone else hate the country.
I thought Kevin James played The President in that regrettable filming of Pixels.
The fuck are flesh balls? Are they testiculars?
Walky sure knows how to show them a good time
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Flesh_ball didn’t know walky was a dwarf fortress fan
Joyce was accurate… That is scary. Also, Dina is pointing the obvious problem, Amber.
Looking forward to Dina developing this limerick she’s started on…
Amber and Becky have very different definitions of “unromantic”!
… it occurs to me that the various lengths they’re going to to focus on studying instead of fucking are taking up more effort, energy, focus, and study time than just fucking would.
… just like the way not fucking so as not to aggravate Sal turned out to aggravate Sal…
… and how probably all their other reasons for not fucking have proven self-defeating as well…
… mustnotkinkshamemustnotkinkshame….
As far as I can tell, Walky’s main goal is to be distracted from studying which seems to work pretty well all things considered.
It’s almost like their efforts to study and avoid boning aren’t entirely genuine!
OK, I’m going to say it:
The new incarnation of DuckTales is vastly superior to the OG DuckTales.
I mean, you’re right. Like, objectively. The characters have actual personalities, *Webby* has an actual personality and isn’t just a weird sexist token girl. I don’t think anyone reasonable would disagree with that statement
Not even that the old ones were bad! They’ve just made so much more of itself.
I tried watching it, but couldn’t get into it. It just seems too… energetic for me.
Not saying it’s bad, the summaries and clips I’ve seen were good, but holy hell it just felt super, super exhausting to me.
“Are you a triceratops because your movie dinosaur talk is making me TRIPLE HORNY!”
What frustrates me about Walky in these sorts of scenes is that… yeah, I do get it. I’ve got plenty of problems focusing on tasks, I’m easily distracted, and I was one of those assholes that breezed my way through high school and then hit a fair bit of a brick wall in college.
But Walky seems to be indulging in that, not trying to resist it.
It’s a tricky thing to deal with, no question. Your brain kinda wants a certain level of engagement in things, and if its not getting that, it tries to find other things to occupy itself. It’s like running a mile with a twinge in your leg, it’s going to get in the way.
But that doesn’t mean that you should just give up. You’ve gotta deal with it, you have to figure out ways of gaming this problem you’ve been saddled with and overcoming it all. Just small stuff like putting on some music to engage part of your brain while the rest of you deals with this task you need to get done but don’t need all of yourself for.
Because yeah, it sucks for Walky that he’s got this shit to deal with.
But he still has to deal with said shit…
Do you think it’s possible that Walky could benefit from targeted help and, idk, maybe medication?
Wait, Amber is finding this romantic?!? Okay, I obviously don’t understand this girl at all!
Is it just me, or did the comments section lose half its length and 2/3 of its spark after Mike fell?
Dang, had it not immediately cut to Walky singing Flesh Balls, I would have played Flesh Failures from Hair.
You should probably really check Walky’s inattentiveness sometime, Amber.
I’m surprised so many people seem to have this impression that “flesh balls” are A Thing, rather than some nonsense being spewed from the mouth of a complete goober. Maybe y’all know something I don’t, but it just seems like Walky’s saying weird shit on purpose.
Haven’t you ever put flesh balls on your long thin pasta?
(You’re right, of course. Willis has even explained. But just because it’s not a thing here, doesn’t mean it’s not fun to consider it a thing).
Ooh, I like seeing Dina talk back to someone.
Now, is Dina referring to Jurassic Park, or Jurassic World?
Yes.
Dina has a really good shirt today and I want it.
No tag for the velociplushie?
The velociplushie doesn’t have a name… YET
Oversized Comedy Prop
It looks like it is about to pounce on Dina.
Did anyone else imagine Wally’s dialogue in panel 1 to the tune of Duck Tales theme?
That was the joke being carried over from yesterday, yes
If one more webcomic I follow mentions Duck Tales (looking at you, Randy), I’m gonna have to see what that’s all about.
Just save yourself some time and check it out. Totally worth it.
Okay, ya talked me into it.
Just one, Dina? Don’t they all have that problem? Especially the animated ones….?
Would someoe do me a big favour and give my congratulations to the Democratic Party, who managed to find a way to lose a presidential election in the first caucus of their own primaries?
That’s unheard-of efficiency, that is.
I feel Amber is coming off as either rude or uncaring to others right now. Dina made a legit suggestion, at least in my book, cause Walky certainly ain’t studying well. And as Dina said, it’s her room too. This exchange just makes me feel cringy for the lack of caring of Dina’s feelings on the matter, like she’s not a person, just a wall to prevent them from having sex, which seriously, just get it over with. If you gotta wait til after midterms, fine, make it a mcnugget you can wave in front of Walky. “Get an A on your math exam and I’ll…” whatever’s sexah, I dunno.
yeah agree. I usually have a lit of room for characters to do something a little rude but jfc it’s her room let her live in it