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“I can… break these cuffs!”
“you can’t break these cuffs”
“rrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRR“
The ytmnd remix(?) of that is still referenced among my friend group to this day.
This one, or the music video?
I’m glad YTMND is getting a nostalgic resurgence. It’s an early-aughts Internet staple, like Newgrounds and phpbb2.
So we’ve moved from ’90s net.nostalgia to ’00s? Figures.
Wheel in the sky keeps on turning…
90s pop culture nostalgia should stick around a while longer. I just miss the early 2000s Internet.
The music video one (https://youtu.be/JQTXawaAKNA). The most common place it came up was the gym…
I miss the gym
The music video is the one our friend told us about
Hadn’t actually seen it before today
Meanwhile, I imagine that Dorothy and Sarah are undoing the tape around each others’ wrists.
Yes please. Joyce is the distraction! Gotta say, I love how Walky’s approach is humor, and Joyce’s is anger. I imagine some of the other character *are* feeling traumatized right now, but it is nice to know some of them are having resilient reactions.
I’d imagine Dotty and Amber more, they seemed to have landed better for that
Look, it’s early, give her a minute!
Hulk out, in transcendence.
Walky, that’s no good
“It’s devastating. You’re devastated.”
(Currently re-watching that show. May be my fave sitcom of all time.)
Ross, ya basic.
Well now I’m picturing Joyce knocking him down and performing an Atomic Leg Drop.
If there’s a moment for a perfect precision F-bomb, Joyce, this is the scene
Oh, we might get one out of her this arc!
Took her five years to say “damn” only took another five to say “fuck.”
Better yet, free us and then imagine we are still here.
Is that what they mean by the power of imagination?
Ross is quite apt at imagining things that are not really there.
Walkie the fucking hypeman
Now picturing Joyce as a pro wrestler and Walky as her manager.
No, scratch that, too general.
Imagining Joyce dressed as the Undertaker and Walky as Paul Bearer.
….ahhhh, I see why it was necessary to have Walky whip out a superhero mask now
Well played Willis, well played
(I haven’t been reading the comments, so my apologies if this revelation’s already been had)
Don’t start a fight
And I’m not your captive
Turn me on tonight
–‘Cause I’m Radioactive! Radioactive!
Hey Ross,
You don’t know it
Right now, tonight;
But I got’a pocket full of
Kryptonite.
Only I kind-a tied up, ATM…..
He’s so supportive of her rage.
Is Amber trying to hulk out, too? Or trying to not?
Amber theories:
1) This has caused memory leak across her personas (is that a thing with DID?) and she’s currently processing whatever happened with Mike
2) Lying down has meant she’s gone to sleep
3) She’s regretting the split from Amazigirl
4) She saw somebody else involved and knows her dad’s part of this…
5) Some combination of the above
If the right-hand figure from yesterday really is Blaine, maybe her realizing it’s him will knock that nagging thought to the forefront.
They tend to be referred to as alters. Memories can leak through though I think. Protector alters often try to hide traumatic memories but they can come out for others if there are enough triggers to my knowledge. Memory tends to be compartmentalised where some are shared and others aren’t but like all biological and mental things, it ain’t going to be perfect so I’m sure leaks for memories can occur.
Joyce, just get Walky to chew the tape off after they leave.
Don’t underestimate Joyce! She’s the strongest woman here!
Easily top four, at least.
Joyce stronger than Amber? Not so sure. Amber has carried Billie and her extra poundage before.
Amber’s also sleep deprived. Sadly she’s not even part of the conversation because of it.
I don’t know, it looks as though she is busy. Notice how Ethan was positioned in the first panel. He then leans forward, which moved his hands towards Amber’s mouth, which is conveniently placed just off panel. She may be busy chewing Ethan’s bindings loose.
Did this man just watch a bunch of college kids get tossed down a set of stairs onto a hard floor with their hands taped together, one at a time, and then, allowing time for a dramatic pause, ask if everyone’s okay? I dunno, Ross, maybe you should have voiced a protest before they got thrown down, at least?
It’s easy to show concern once they can’t do anything about it. Or punch you in the face again for showing your face in this town again.
Maybe? I think he did at least some of the tossing.
I used to be able to toss people (when I was Jacob’s age). It’s a tricky job for one person, especially when you are called on to toss someone Ethan’s size.
A bunch of kidnapped college kids, no less.
If you’re going to be concerned about their well being, ask before they’re kidnapped.
He’s on another planet, mentally, and stupid besides.
And he has put his faith and trust in a amoral psychopath.
On top of that, he’s trusting Blaine.
Who is, conveniently, standing right behind him….
Here to acknowledge your joke
I don’t know, kids. I think Ross might be reevaluating his relationship with Blaine about now.
Also wondering what exactly “whatever it takes” means, should mean, etc, and how this fits in with the bigger picture of generally being a rule-obiding individual.
It’s possible that Joyce will angrily quote scripture/Church doctrine at him in such a way that he realises he has lost the plot and is looking for it in places the plot would not and could not ever be…
Yeah I see where this is going. Ross is definitely going to break with Blaine. The thing is, is he smart enough to do so in a way that is actually helpful? I kinda doubt it.
If toe-Dad has turned his back on Blaine, he’s sooopit. You don’t want a bad guy standing behind you,… at the top of the stairs, where he is getting rid of his troubles.
I think Ross genuinely doesn’t want to cause more damage than he has to. He has a singular goal: get Becky to conversion therapy. That’s obviously a terrible goal, but it’s the only thing he’s after. Going along with Blaine’s plan is just a means to that end for him, and he justifies it the same way Carol does. Remember when he kidnapped Becky at gunpoint? He pointed the rifle at the girls, which is awful, but he didn’t hesitate to drop it as soon as he got what he wanted.
Blaine’s the self-styled criminal mastermind looking to cause as much splash damage as possible. He’s trying to enact some kind of revenge against a daughter he finds disappointing.
(Please don’t take this as a justification for any of Toedad and/or the Blaine’s actions, because it absolutely is not. I’m trying to analyze their motives.)
I appreciate more than words can say that David keeps characters like Ross and Blaine consistent with their own worldview rather than just make them generic horrible people who enjoy doing horrible things. “The cruelty is the point” is only true in very limited contexts, but too many people these days think it’s all they need to know about anyone aligned against them. Humanity is much more complex than that, which makes it more beautiful and far, far more dangerous. Ross will probably never stop believing he’s a good and gentle person. Certainly what happened to Mike wasn’t enough to persuade him.
That’s exactly it. Both have their own motivations for perpetrating this scheme, and they’ve been consistent with what we know about them as characters. They haven’t been reduced to stock villains.
Ross is a horribly misguided man whose judgement is clouded by religious extremism. He wants what he thinks is best for his daughter, even though what he thinks is “best” is abhorrent. He has put on shows of force, but hasn’t acted upon them unless he’s faced with opposition to his mission. (Again, not trying to downplay or apologize for his actions.)
Blaine is evil. He wants revenge on Amber for being timid. He’s motivated by personal gain. He’s roped additional victims into the situation (Mike and the basement captives). He doesn’t care how much damage he causes along the way, as long as he gets what he wants.
Why does Walky want Becky to be a carrier of a recessive gene for necklessness?
Cause if it’s dominant, Becky would also have no neck?
…calculus may not be the only subject Walky doesn’t quite understand
He can see that she does have a neck.
Which if it were dominant would mean that Becky didn’t have it (Ross being either heterozygous or not Becky’s biological father). So the only danger is to her possible future children, and that if the gene is recessive.
Hence why I said Walky doesn’t quite understand biology
He may be thinking that the “no neck” condition is something that develops later in life. In that case Becky would still have a neck now but would lose it later (unless, as walky quipped, the gene is recessive)
Walky just doesn’t try to understand sciences. Let’s remember that in all universes Walky perfer fantasy stuff over factual science since he finds reality boring like some delusional manchild.
Rude lol
I don’t think I would describe any version of Wally as a delusional man-child
Maybe if Becky and Dina decide to have artificial insemination, but I don’t know if they want children.
They’d need Walkyverse Joe’s super soaker to pull that off.
By the comic book time they are old and economically stable enough to consider children, genetically engineering a child from two XX people will be trivial biotech.
I think in theory all that’s needed is two egg cells, take the chromosomes from one, put them into the other and induce cell division. I wonder whether it would be more advantageous for two women in a relationship to be pregnant at the same time, or to take turns. I can see pros and cons either way.
Depends how many toilets are in the house and how bad morning sickness gets. Source: was preggo at the same time as a friend. Bathrooms were precious.
It can probably be done with one egg cell and a somatic (body) cell. Such fertilisation has been demonstrated with mice.
By the time this strip gets to the point where Dina and Becky are financially and socially ready for a baby we’ll be three-D printing them, with computer-generated genomes.
If it’s dominant then presumably he developed the no-neck physique as an adult and likely Becky will as well. In reality, such things are most likely controlled be a number of genes.
Why is that presumable? I have been neckless since birth.
So your choice of avatar is … due to envy?
Absolutely!
I’m not black, either. And I can’t fly.
So that Becky’s children (if she ever has any) do not have that neck?
Or maybe he thinks it is something that Becky could still develop with age, like genes for balding.
But it doesn’t work that way. If it were recessive she could be a carrier, but if it were dominant she might be.
Hey, it could have also been co-dominant like sickle cell trait and led to her having an abnormally short neck. Which obviously we know she doesn’t have. But Walky can’t be trusted to know science. Dina feels a disturbance in the science and feels the urge to destroy him all the way back at campus though.
Gonna take the long bet here that Toedad is on the brink of an epiphany and will deck the fuck out of Blaine by the end of this storyline.
Anyone want to call the odds on it? Taking all bets! I also offer video poker!
Odds: 0. It makes no sense for him to point a gun at joyce, watch mike go over the railing, help kidnap 6 people, and THEN after some future event decide things have gone too far.
People have come back from worse.
Not many, for sure.
On the other hand, Ross is not drive by making sense
not driven by making sense
Alternatively: A succession of constantly terrible things happening that you are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with is a perfect way to decide something has gone too far.
Yes. This is what has been hinted at, too.
Ross doesn’t care about anything but “saving Becky’s soul” through conversion therapy. Blaine tied that into his own revenge plans, but he knows Ross will tap out as soon as he gets what he wants.
It’s in Blaine’s best interest to keep Ross around as long as possible, so he can use the congregation’s resources and keep a fall guy in his back pocket. If he strays too far from the plan, or causes too much collateral damage along the way, the doubts in Ross’s mind might build up until he disrupts the plan. That could be by freeing the hostages, or by going rogue and pursuing Becky on his own.
I disagree. Everyone has their own bottom, and when you hit it, you wake up.
I’ve long thought that’s what happens, that Blaine alienates even him, especially if he arrogantly makes it clear he doesn’t give a fuck about Becky or God, for that matter, but I also feel like Ross ends up paying a dear price.
Oh yeah Ross still gotta pay the piper but lord knows Blaine has a fair bit more coming to him
Video poker is bullshit. You can’t even eat your opponent’s cards to ensure victory.
I’m not banking on an epiphany. Inside what there is of his mind, what he’s doing is For Their Own Good. So grabbing them, restraining them, tossing them down a flight of stairs onto what is presumably a concrete floor (how are there no fractured femurs, no wrecked ribcages?) — is not inconsistent with concern about their welfare.
If Hulking out doesn’t work, try to make a contract to get your Persona, or do a MacGyver to escape using Walky’s underwear. Amber’s glasses and Sarah’s hair net.
MacGyvering won’t work. No paperclip.
As much as I appreciate Joyce’s attempt, I don’t see things going well from here. This is only going to get worse.
You mean neck ALLELES… but close enough.
(*allele i mean. though of course it could be a combination of multiple genes)
It is good that Toedad still cares if they are hurt. Still want his ass kicked.
You can be compassionate for him. He is a sad, broken and mentally disturbed man after all. It doesn’t excuse his actions though.
This is all still terrible, but Walky as Joyce’s hype man is the gift I didn’t know I needed in this universe.
Something isn’t quite adding up here.
Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Yet another reminder that there’s a kinda decent person somewhere inside the monster of Ross MacIntyre. That decent person doesn’t get to swing many important votes after the religious extremist bullshit casts its own ballot, but it’s occasionally capable of showing concern for the well-being of others.
So we need to run him through that ore-contaminated transporter from Star Trek, and split him into two people?
That, or pass the National Popular Vote Initiative. (At least, that’s the best approach I know of.) … and no, I didn’t realize how well that metaphor worked when I was writing my first comment.
*National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
Oh no. Ross is about to do the Buster Wolf.
Also Ambers eyes are closed. Either she’s quietly concentrating on escape or she’s finally fallen asleep and Amazigirl may soon join the scene.
Amber has moved. Ethan moved to our left, and Amber no longer obscures line-of-sight to the print on Walky’s shirt.
She doesn’t look asleep. She looks ticked off. I expect she’d attempt to break free, next.
“Rage… taking over…!”
One must imagine Ross MacIntyre destroyed
Close your eyes and imagine
toe-tally destroyed?
… I know they’ve all got their hands behind their backs, but we *see* Dorothy’s hands and she — and therefore, all the others — has no restraints on her fingers and thumbs. So it should be entirely possible for these people to release each other.
This is therefore a short term restraint at best unless they are continuously guarded.
That’s bad.
We’re not…Oh…kay! We’re not okayyyy…
They’re not o-fuckin’-kay.
Still tagging Amber for the time being.
Ross is probably still convinced he is saving them somehow.
Yes, he’s saving them from the infinite wrath of a just and loving god.
I’m assuming Ross thinks he’s doing this for their own good. He’s completely wrong of course.
EFF THAT MOTHEREFFER!
I read that in the corner of my eye as “EAT THAT MOTHEREFFER” and I support both statements
You know, if Joyce decide to use her teeth they only have themselves to blame for taking her fists out of the equation.
Basically, Seras drinking Pip’s blood and awakening as a full vampire?
…sure? That’s totally the reference I was going for, because I totally know what it is.
I mean he could have NOT thrown everyone down a flight of stairs and they would have been better off.
But I think he’s trying to keep them safe from Blaine.
I’m mentally fast-forwarding to their sentences being handed out at their trials and them being like “This is so unfair! I DON’T DESERVE THIS!”
Great strategy for not stressing out abt this
Okay, what is his endgame here? How (in his mind) is this supposed to play out? We’ve already got at least six counts of kidnapping which in Indiana is a level 6 felony which, depending how this plays out could be upgraded to level 3 or 2.
With his history of violent crime, it’s fairly likely that his crimes would be penalised consecutively. We’re talking between 15 and 180 years here.
They know his face and name, at best he’s going to be a fugitive for life. I really doubt he’s planning on killing them, given his ‘concern’. So what does he think is going to happen?!
He doesn’t. Think, that is.
Blaine says kidnapping these kids will help him get Becky, so in his mind it’s justified.
Ross is not good at reasoning. He does not see endgames, he just desperately needs to get his own image of Becky back. His most probable endgame after becoming a puppet for Blaine is suicide.
Well no he sees his own endgame and nothing else. He doesn’t see consequences or any logical future results
Joyce and Walky are a dynamic duo here.
sorry joice this isn’t the secret agent reality
Can’t wait to see how Carol and the rest of the congregation react when they hear Ross went ahead and kidnapped several college students after they bailed him out.
Possibly with cheers and laudate dominums.
Joyce, just use your teleportation ability.
But Dorothy’s already there.
Where is that Samson strength when you need it!!?
Has Joyce ever had a haircut?
You’d think they’d update that rule for modern times
Is the hover text a “The Good Place” reference? Cuz if it is I thoroughly approve.
I’m still very disturbed a kidnapping scene is making me crack up for several days
I bet Walky’s in his Night-Guy getup just so Amber and/or Amazi-Girl can borrow the mask later.
That friend o’ yourn what redraws comics with farts in ’em should have at this one
Yeeeees Joyce and Walky. Continue to bring attention to yourselves, so that while you distract the minions, someone who knows what they’re doing (Amber) can legit break out silently.
Theory:
Ross is not necessary to Blaine anymore, and may even not want to go along with this anymore; has seen that Blaine will do more harm than good. But, is being manipulated into continuing being part of this by threat of physical violence (the others with Blaine are probably mob goonies) and / or the reminder he is an accomplice in whatever happened with Mike.
Why would Blaine doe this? Well, he’s obviously been participating in illegal activity for years – he knows how to cover his tracks. Yet he’s doing something very likely to get found out. He needs a fall boy; and who is more believable than the guy who just got released from jail, who is not allowed back on campus after he got caught firing a weapon?
Of course, if he shows his face, and not only Ross but all these students can id him, then it disproves my entire theory, as that’s based on the idea Blain is mildly intelligent.
Blaine has enough intelligence to trick idiots and the gullible like Danny but he is sloppy as hell about covering his tracks. He literally left conflicting tax records lying around. His solution to Mike instantly was to try to kill him. He didn’t cover his face or anything until afterwards. He knows how to pretend to be nice, but that doesn’t make him smart.
Ah, but does Blaine think he is smart enough to pull that off?
Definitely.
My theory: the goal of all of this is to brainwash all of Becky’s friends into being Ross-style fundies. Ross and his church cannot touch Becky due to Robin’s bodyguards, but they think that if they make Becky’s friend convert, then she’ll convert, too.
Can you imagine Dorothy as a fundie? This will be scary…
Walky re-embraces his inner churchmouse?
Ross, dude, when she gets out of that tape, you really should be someplace else.
Not really. As much as Ross deserves an arse kicking and very long prison sentence there’s not much Joyce could do. As angry as she is shes still less than half his size (probably), has no weapons and Ross looks like hes, mostly, recovered from his injuries (as much as you can I guess)
Joyce is the reason he was in a neck brace to start with, you realize.
I’m sure it also had nothing to do with the car crash that he staggered out of that left him barely able to stand…
Don’t let one lucky punch blind you to the fact that Joyce is a small woman with a sedentary lifestyle who has had no physical training and has not fighting skills. If she makes a habit of picking fights with men who have four or five times her muscle mass, some of whom know how to throw, block, and take a punch she is likely to get very badly hurt.
Realistically, yes.
You might not have noticed that this comic isn’t always strictly realistic about such things.
Yeah thats the probably the biggest issue I have with this comic, sometimes its very realistic (sometimes uncomfortably so) and then others its completely unrealistic (Amber taking on multiple guys)
Mind you I’m more invested in Joe, Joe and Joyce (and Joe and Danny) then anything else so maybe that plays into it a bit more
I don’t like this storyline for several reasons & almost stopped reading until I could start with the ending, HOWEVER I very much like how David is developing the characters & their interactions. Including Ross. This is the second time he’s expressed sincere concern for the young people. Without exploring them here&now, I appreciate how David is developing dimensions of characters who could be one dimensional. Is it too much to hope that Ross will achieve a measure of redemption, notwithstanding his grotesque treatment of Becky, by breaking with Blaine & helping the young people?
I almost hope not. Redemption is too obvious. Conflicted villain who isn’t redeemed is more interesting to me.
I love redemption stories, especially if they are framed in inescapable consequences. Darth Vader, finally seeing Luke with his own eyes as he breathes his last breath, and so on.
Ross, please not. No act like you are a good person. Accept to be evil once for all.
“Is everyone okay?”
Fuck you, Ross. Just. Fuck. You.
Eh, smells like toedad gonna do an 180 on his life choices and eventually let the kids go and leave ’em alone
nah, he’s one of those a-holes who fool themselves into believing they’re doing their evil for the good of the people they are hurting
Meanwhile Amber is doing that but in silence eh
I really relate to Walky attitude of refusing to be traumatized , self victimizing during the event
>> AS SOMEONE THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED To <<>>BOOM <<
cut off .. ( 2 out of 3 )
ACTUALLY HAPPENED To …
Some people might think this is unrealistic,
but Willis is spot on:
i.e. If you dont yet believe you are about to be murdered,
But You have been Illegally kidnapped,
forcibly confined with no explanation,
& no expectation for how long it might last;
Refusing to traumatized is the correct response.
( it makes me think Willis listened carefully to survivors )
Also from personal experience, this process
( of withholding oneself from trauma ) has its own set of severe side effects.
I wont be surprised if its Walky who gets a bat and hulks out when its all over, if further provoked.
Oddly enough it opens oneself up to slights, insults and microaggressions .
months , years, even decades later.
You can go through the entire experience self soothing, no panic attacks and feeling sane and ready to move on ; yet
If the Guilty parties use that as a further excuse to blame you, insult you, defame you to others ,
…..BOOM!
It transmogrified to a weird form of PTSD; one seemingly without a prior.
the initial injury seemed tolerable, ( because you made it so with great effort ) but salt in the wound later becomes intolerable.
Even months or years after the fact.
(The initial red paneled amazi girl creation event —Blaine insulting amber post Trauma ….
IMHO that really could have happened ANYTIME afterwords —
even if Amber had just shook it off, with a laugh. )
You can even be living your best Life,
& one of your evil tormentors —who had you physically held at gunpoint, locked in a tiny closet for weeks on end, only to silently smuggle you off the roof of a 200 foot building at 2am, letting you think you are about to die
— 25 years later Goes on national TV, and cries Victim:
Oh my dog, I’m so sorry you went through that.
I hope you have healed (at least to the extent possible) and that you have a good supportive Team You.
thx
if i was really healed 9 other issues ) i may take a plane trip
russell me up some kidnappers. get confessions. i think statute if limitations might have frozen.
I’m sorry to hear you have experience with this. I’m glad Walky gives you a character to relate to at least.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/recessive/#comment-1456613
Appropriate gestures of support.
Faint hope his concern for others will get Toedad’s head out of his ass.
…
Don’t look at me like that. I said Faint, and I’m sappy as hell.
its so weird how i barely skipped a beat treated it as a hazing ritual , tried to fix things ,
then got burned when I was lied about to my all my friends to hide their actions.
then lied to a computer software company i was hired out when newly homeless and ruined a possible career. ,
then tried to get me back as a unpaid serf ( ie really a SLAVE since serfs dont forcible confined and kidnapped ) .
and the big Cheese who ordered all this is now an innocent waif who saw no wrong and the organization accuses her of being a fat cheeting slut
>>>>>WHICH MAKES me very angry <<<<
its like being mad about Hitlers shitty watercolors. or Russ choice of fashion
if thats your story, there s something very wrong with you
( my only opinion on the slutshaming is that she harmed people for similar and less. im no one special. just a statistic .
it took years before i could simply logically describe what happened, insist it was objectively wrong and want justice
Are . . . are we the baddies?