May’s second bonus strip is now up on Patreon! It’s about Robin, and it happens concurrently to this strip. All patrons can view it! And, you know, pledge up if you want to see tomorrow’s strip early, yadda yadda.
Wack’d’s Best Dumbing Of Age Character poll starts … Round 4 today, I think? The remaining champions are Dina, Joyce, Sal, and…. Becky/Carla are too close to confidently call right now, but as of this writing, Becky has a .6% lead. Whoops, Carla pulled ahead in the last 2 minutes! These four will be paired off into battles today, and the final two will clash tomorrow!
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So many tweeeeeeets
Also Gollum x Smeagol
BFFs DOING BIFFS
wait that came out wrong
… was that a joke about portable toilets? Because that’s the only reference to BIFFS I could find.
Pretty sure they meant BIFFs as in BIFF! POW! SOCKO!
I believe “biff” is one of the standard comic book sound effects for a punch.
Er, no. What kind of ridiculous, non-60s era comic artist would add such absurd sound effects? Pssh. Rather, clearly, “Biff” is a reference to the Back to the Future antagonist by that name.
Though why anyone would want to “do” him is rather beyond me..
(As everyone knows, proper punch-related sound effects are Thwock, Thwump, Cha-thunk, Splunk, Chgunk, Twcrack, and Sproing. That’s just totes obvs.)
It’s not a sound effect, just a slang synonym for ‘punch’, in quite common use Down Under.
Yeah, this is basically how it worked for Scott Pilgrim too.
In the move version, anyway, comic went a bit differently.
Durr, I hyperlink gud.
Scott pulled an “I AM THOU, THOU ART I” too easily in that movie, and now he has a best friend.
In the comic Kim basically gave him a reality slap because he kept escaping himself and it was getting annoying. Good thing Scott accepted the truth.
in a way, this is amazi-girl’s first on-screen appearance
I’m proud of them all.
Except you, Blaine. And not really of Faz right now but I have more leeway on him because he’s an abused teenager and his shithead dad’s the adult in this scenario.
One of the adults. Yuri bears some fault, not caring dick-all about what happens to her kid.
Yuri’s not here right now. In general, yes, her too.
Does she know what’s happening here? I’m actually fairly interested in finding that out. Normally a wife would have no reason not to trust her husband with their child. I’m anticipating some kind of fallout on this when/if she discovers Blaine had her son participate in a kidnapping.
I mean, she knew when Blaine used Faz as a mole and really didn’t seem to care.
Not just “didn’t care”, she was the one who took those photos of Amber’s friends that Blaine then showed to Ross.
Yeah, but, like, there’s a pretty big difference between bringing your kid to visit his half/step-sister at college and steal a few files from her computer, on the one hand, and getting said kid involved in a kidnapping and hostage-taking scheme on the other. One of those could end with Faz getting a slap on the wrist, maybe. The other could easily end up with Faz being in that house when police stormed it, and he could get, you know, shot in the crossfire. Or implicated with kidnapping charges. That’s far, far worse, from a “you’re putting my kid at risk” perspective.
I would not be surprised at all if this makes Yuri absolutely furious with Blaine.
Considering that Faz said Amber is the nicest to him, I wouldn’t be surprised if she more mad about Blaine wasting money he claims he doesn’t have, or is not willing to get mad at Blaine even for this.
If Amber was the nicest, where does that put Yuri on the scale of Amber to Blaine?
And considering how Amber tends to treat Faz, that ain’t great.
Given that it sounds like both she and Faz are dependent on Blaine for a roof over their heads, and Blaine is a manipulative abusive shit, I’m not sure just how much agency she has in any of this.
Well, being an abused wife doesn’t give you a free ticket out of responsibility for your child.
That it doesn’t. But it might put you in a place where you don’t exercise that responsibility because someone else made it so that you can’t.
Not saying that this is the case with Yuri, and I’d actually lean a bit towards it not being the case.. I’m just the reserve-judgement type. Most of the time.
I might be biased on that point, but I think the moment you have a child it’s your f******* responsibility to get out of an abusive home situation, no matter how hard it is.
You’re the adult, your child isn’t.
Agreed, though I can imagine a few out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire edge cases that are more quibbling than substantive. I’m saying someone might be in a situation where it’s not just hard, but impossible.
And the more I think about it, the more I’m leaning towards the idea that Yuri’s not in that sort of situation.
It is, but at the same time, abuse fucks you up and all indications are that Yuri’s been Blaine’s victim since she was barely an adult herself. At best.
Right, and I don’t think there’s enough credit being given to this aspect. When you’re in an abusive or harmful lifestyle, it can be hard to properly contextualize it. Your natural instinct is to fall into perspectives which repress, ignore, or marginalize the negative aspects of the relationship(s) involved. When you’re a child that’s amplified, when it’s a long-going thing it’s amplified, and when it’s a long-going thing that’s been going on since you’re a child and is supported by social structures [such as the ones which devalue children as subhumans, or which associate a female’s value with her contributions to “her man”], then gods, everything is stacked against you.
Does that mean that there’s excuses for obvious moral shortcomings [eg, abiding by your spouse being a serial killer]? No, at that point you’re just yielding to something you know is wrong because it’s easier. Even if you’re completely overcome by terror, the only way you let that kind of thing linger is if you’re willfully shoving it out of mind and never trying to find a way out. At that point, you have moral culpability, regardless of what legality may state on the matter.
But, as others have noted, we don’t have any indication of that. An authoritarian, abusive father can still be considered to fit into standard gender roles. Further, she likely was manipulated from an early age by him to accept such perspectives, and presumably suffers either from low mental acuity or the emotional/psychological impairments that come from self-worth issues. In other words, going off the latter portion of that, she may be readily manipulatable due to a lack of outside structures supporting her and a lack of foundational support growing up.
Beyond abiding by Blaine’s [assumed] “strict nurturing” [y’know, that style of child-rearing where you act as immaturely and irrationally and impulsively as possible, and then try to pass it off as being good for the child and/or being your right as a parent], we haven’t really seen anything overly damaging in regards to Yuri. As far as spying on Amber, tell me that any normal person in a relationship wouldn’t be willing to do the same thing, and likely with little hesitation. That isn’t to say it’s commendable or mature, just that it’s not at all restricted to Yuri, and likely not too uncommon for any random member of the general populace to have been similarly yielding [eg, within their past relationships], even just when considering the users of this site.
So, in summary:
She shouldn’t get a free pass just because Blaine is scum.
But, at the same time, it’s unfair to hold her to lofty standards that the average human has trouble matching up to, when her actual misbehaviors are- as these things go- relatively small.
To be clear, that’s comparatively speaking. Broadly speaking, it’s likely the majority of humans shouldn’t be parents. But a circumstance where we’re looking at “A roof over my son’s head and a stable lifestyle for him with reasonable prospects for the future once he leaves the house, at the cost of ‘strict punishment’ ” is definitely among the better excuses for parental neglect. Not that we know that her perspectives are that well-intended but, at the same time, it’s not like we know they aren’t, either. Again, if she was more capable and had better structures to support her and hadn’t been manipulated since she was a child? Yeah, it’d make sense to hold her to a more moral or sympathetic perspective on the matter. [And so, for another random user of this site, maybe there wouldn’t be leeway.] But for someone who seems to lack support and relies solely on a single person to support her and her son, and who is likely all she’s really known in regards to being supported, it makes sense for her to be willing to offer some compromises, and to feel that they’re justified.
If Amber is right and Blaine is Faz’s father, “barely an adult” nothing. He’s been manipulating her since she was a teenager.
And I think it’s important to note Blaine’s already known to be physically abusive on at least one occasion with a previous partner and you’re most likely to be murdered by an abusive partner when you try to leave.
As I said “At best”.
It’s not clear exactly how old Yuri is. Too young is almost certain.
As soon as Blaine the Bastard heads to prison, Faz will likely be proud of himself, even if his life is in limbo.
Faz is always proud of himself no matter what because he is The Faz.
Panel 5: Hell Yes.
Yes. I absolutely love it.
Panel 5: awesome high-energy version of Amazi-Girl theme music starts playing.
I’d love to know what that’d sound like..
Well, way back when Willis said big AG action sequences were always drawn to Kerry Ellis’s rock cover of Defying Gravity (Hence the title of the “To Those Who’d Ground Me” storyline, and the flavor text and title of Becky’s “I’m gonna be a fucking scientist” strip there referring to Elphaba’s “Unlimited” motif that’s used prominently in the bridge.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ_9kun4OQo
That said, one: I’m not sure how you further high-energy what is already a rock remix of a bigass act one finale, and two: that was like five years ago and Willis might have found other action sequence songs in that time, I’m not sure. (That said, if I were picking an option I’d just come in after the bridge, around “So if you care to find me!”)
Not only is this alliance bad-ass, it’s healthy. If AG and Amber can learn to work together, it’s a step towards integration.
Amber, you’re also Amazi-Girl. Amazi-Girl, you’re also Amber.
Glad to see Amber and Amazi-girl on the same page at last. Now she just has to somehow stop this vehicle without killing herself or Joyce and Sal who may or may not have caught up yet.
Not only are they on the same page, they’re in the same panel!
And Blaine is the dumbest of all dumb adults. Make your escape, Joyce.
I dunno, I’d say Ross is a dumber of dumb…
… was. Ross was.
…. okay, objection withdrawn!
Is anyone else annoyed with Becky monologuing when she could be giving out relevant details to help Blaine actually be apprehended?
She wrote this before she arrived at the house. She didn’t have relevant details to give out.
She did have some. “I was last going to this address” and clearly communicating the names. But this is a different situation than she was expecting the Tweets to be published into.
Also, if she were to be using the phone to give details right now, she should probably be giving them to the police rather than the twitter feed.
Yeah, the name is easy enough to get, but the address only works if they stay there and I don’t think Becky thought they would once they had her.
Remember, she expected to be on the road with her dad already by this point.
The address is still helpful as a last known location.
Fair enough.
I think I just just heard the first trumpet strings of the John Williams Superman theme.
Go Amazi-Amber!
Like in III when Clark defeated his evil clone in the junkyard and opened his shirt? 🙂
“Actually, this is the second time I’ve gone nuts and fought myself.”
I was hearing the first strings of this (https://youtu.be/G-59zgQJ2wg?t=53) beginning at 0:59.
Wait. Can you really queue Twitter threads?
You couldn’t when Willis wrote this, but now you can.
@Chris , wait, are you saying that Willis can see the future?
No, he MAKES the future.
Even if you can’t through the actual Twitter site/app, there are tools you can use to do it. I’ve used one when doing Twitter for a non-profit for a while. Becky would certainly use one for her job.
Never thought about how she’s doing that, but sure, as Twitter is used in professional marketing, there sure are tools.
I’m pretty sure there are sites for that
HELL YES
Amber may need some serious therapy. (She does) but short of that, having her two halves “make nice” to beat the baddy? Yessssss
beat the
baddydaddyFixed it for you
That’s… how I read it in the first place.
Egad! Bad Dad!
Ross: Blaine… are we the baddie-daddies?
Why is the morning of midterms important enough to throw out again? Was Amber hoping to just casually stop Blaine, do her test and be back in time for lunch?
Yes.
I think it’s just because lots of people will be around, and therefore in danger.
I keep wondering if Blaine isn’t going to try to hold Joyce hostage, prompting Carol to say, “If you and Becky had just done what he wanted, everything would be fine!”
He is holding Joyce hostage. For the second time.
Because if he’s blowing through stop signs, he’s not likely to stop for pedestrians like all the students going between buildings to their midterms.
Also, I would not put it past the Mighty (Ball)Peen to try and, like, stupidly and intentionally threaten MORE college kids by this point.
Would it be likely to work? God no. Does he only need to get one kid in arm’s reach or one lucky hit in? Yes, and AmbG do care about the lives of random innocent people so who’s to fucking say, y’know?
Yeah, Blaine is going kamikaze at this point. He’s going for Amber, whether he believes Amazi-Girl is Amber or not.
Damn you Willis for making me sad with that alt text.
Seconding the Damn you Willis.
…Why? Am I missing something?
If you are, I’m missing it too.
Wait. Blaine’s trying to escape from justice and he’s driving back towards the campus where he kidnapped a bunch of people!?!?…What!?..Although honestly the whole curtain on our law enforcement had been lifted so he could probably crash right into the campus building and get away with it.
Probably because Blaine hasn’t planned any of this out, and did a wild turn down a random street because he saw the rear doors were open.
Amazi-Girl’s cape game is always on point, even when Amber’s isn’t.
By our powers combined….(!)
I’m an idiot. I only just realized dumbing of age implies the aged ones are dumb.
Idiot high five! … wait, that came out wrong.
Are we both old? Cause I’m getting ready for Social Security.
I am thou
Thou art I
Let’s fuck up your father.
And our voices ring out, yeah!
Took the mask off to feel free!
Fought it out in the debris, now we know that life will change!
… We maybe don’t want the debris line though, do we?
I am you, and you are me and we are all together.
I am the walrus, you are the walrus, I am the Eggman
Coo coo cachoo!
If you recognize that then you’re relatively as old as I am.
The walrus was Paul.
That’s “goo goo ga joob.”
I thought Amber meant Joyce with the “us”, like both of them going over the top.
I think Joyce was worried she meant that. And now may be confused. And worried.
Stand user: Amber
Stand name: 「A M A Z I – G I R L」
I wish Cerb was here.
(Also, I hope they’re safe and okay, what with… all of this. *gestures*)
Ditto.
(Also, Ditto.)
Same.
Cerb, if you’re reading this, stay safe.
Our thoughts are with you, Cerb. We could use your insight, right now.
Secon- *counts* Fifthed.
I’ve been thinking this since Sal’s “…think you can pull yerself together?” on the 26th. (and that too)
Friends?
Friends… With benefits.
The benefits OF JUSTICE!
“It’s midterms!” “We have to stop him!” From what? Is the van rigged to blow? Blaine’s going to plow into a bunch of kids? What was just intuited?
It’s the morning of midterms, meaning the crosswalks are going to be packed with students heading for their tests. And Blaine is blowing through stop signs.
frens :3
If Amber is right and Blaine is now heading north on Woodlawn Avenue, that means he’s turned off of Hillside Drive. I just hope that he did that BEFORE Sal stopped to drop Faz at the curb (or at least she saw him turn in the distance), because otherwise she has no idea where to go to catch up to him again. l’ve got a sneaky suspicion that this is going to come down to a point at which Joyce and Amber will have to save themselves.
Sal deposited Faz at the corner of Hillside and Woodlawn, which matches Willis’s drawing except that he doesn’t really show the industrial building in the northeast corner. Said depositing clearly takes place after Blaine swerves onto Woodlawn, so Sal is behind the van. He could have turned again, but he hasn’t.
You appear to be correct. As I said, I have to use Google Streetview and the absence of the industrial building threw me off-track; although since it’s down the block a ways and set back from the street, Willis probably figured it wasn’t that important. Which in its own way is good … by using what I will choose to call “selective reality” (instead of perfect realism, trying to draw the world as it actually is, down to matching up the exact number of bricks in a wall) he is able devote more of his creative juices and drawing time to the characters and the story. And isn’t that what we’re really here for, after all?
*squeels* Happy plural feels!!!
Wait, there are other systems who read this comic, too?
We’re just a tiny system, only 2 of us (which makes Amber’s story resonate all the more), probably OSDD rather than DID but not diagnosed. But yes! Hi!
*waves* I think I’ve seen at least two other systems besides ourself and the above commentor/s. I had a happy squee when Walky was just like, “Oh, you’re two actual different people. Duly noted. Which one do I kiss?” It was… really validating. ^_^
Yeah Walky was just very practical about it, no extra baggage.
YEAH i legit went into a server i have with some system friends and started crying about how incredible and validating it was to read walkys reaction. obviously everyone wont react like that and it wouldn’t be an interesting story if they did but I’m so happy to see that kind of thing at least once
I’m part of a system of five. Hello!
OSDD of eight! When my BF pointed out this webcomic and how it had a then unconfirmed system, the portrayal was something that helped me feel a lot better about coming to terms with having the others!
SAME SAME!!! Amber saying “us” makes me sakjhsakjgfksjafkjsaf <3 <3 <3
Yes!! You don’t see much representation of plural pronouns! The two of us are very much and interdependent team and we’re at our best when we’re collaborating on things so it was just the best seeing Amber and Amazigirl work together!
Becky’s message is IMPORTANT AS FUCK.
“Now that we’re friends, after this whole ordeal we’re going to check ourselves into therapy. Together.”
Be kid to yourself and to others, or you will become a “rotten adult”. Thanks, Ryuji.
After Amber/AG defeats Blaine I hope they finally get some rest.
Oh god. She was bluffing about the tweets after all. They were never a call for help; they were her last words in case she was never heard from again.
I came here to say, uh Becky? Address where the kidnappers are located? That’s kind of important here.
You’re spot on. This is a big FU to her father, not a call for help.
If she put the address at the beginning of the thread, a good portion of the audience might stop reading there. Burying the lede in this case may hold peoples’ attention longer.
Aw shit, you might be right. I was wondering why she’d waste time on such a long-winded (well, for Twitter, that is) thing, but your explanation makes sense.
So… has anyone else enough of a loser to use ‘Woodlawn’ as a starting point to find the points in Bloomington Willis used for the past few week’s storyline? Just me? Cool, cool…
Check above a few threads for the one started by Rotunda, and then go back to the strip dated June 1st and do likewise ,i>(protip: hit CTRL-F and type in “Rotunda”). Then go to June 3rd and do a CTRL-F and type in my handle (Bicycle Bill) to find my comments I posted about the route and locations that day.
TL;DR — yes, a couple of us have.
One is a NERD
One is a VIGILANTE
With their powers combined they are a NERDY VIGILANTE
But I have it on good authority that AG is ALSO a nerd.
…. Billie’s a good authority, right?
Of course she is.
and she knows perfectly well that amazi-girl is a nerd.
after all, nerds likes board games, right, amazi-g… I mean Sal
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/applestoapples/
I have a tattoo that says something along the same lines. You’d be surprised how often I forget until I catch a glimpse of it.
Is Amber going to start using a plural pronoun? That always trips me up; my brain puts a little “grammar error” squiggly green line under it in that context.
probably not, but it is as good a time as any to work on getting over that
Yeah, I’m trying. It’s about overcoming a lifetime of grammar inertia, not malice, I promise!
I am hoping for at least one set of strips where Amber and Walky are talking about something and, as the conversation continues, we realise that it’s actually a three-way conversation between Amber, Walky and ‘Mazie’. Somehow, I think that Walky may actually be the only guy who wouldn’t be freaked out by having two girlfriends in the same head.
With time, of course, the two would come to enough of an understanding that their voices will merge, at least hopefully.
hey, as a system i gotta say that some systems do definitely want to have their end goal be merging completely, but that isn’t the end all be all and there are a lot of systems who live perfectly happy (and often better!) lives as continuing to be plural.
Anyone else here the start of You Say Run at the last panel?
Now I do.
That Patreon preview…
That’s the entire strip, isn’t it? The whole strip is just that panel, four times, and we’re meant to understand that all of Becky’s tweets are coming in, and Robin’s just sleeping through them.
Hee, that was my first thought too to be honest.
Blaine’s in for it now. He has to face two opponents. Three if Joyce gets into the fray.
A reconciliation with the self – always grand to see! Though does this mean she can dash twice in the air now?
Amber activates her stand
MUDA DA
So long as it isn’t her last one.
She’s gonna go all Lee Scoresby on Blaine’s stupid ass.
Well hopefully one of them will survive
Not sure that’s quite what Joyce meant on the previous page but I like it 😀
Please, whoever is listening, please don’t let this end like Endgame. It’s just got this horrible feeling of Amber’s final arc and those often end with a tragic note.
More like AG’s final arc than Ambers’, I hope.
It’s not like anybody died in that movie.
Yeah, well as soon as I no longer have a vision playing in my head of Dorothy pulling a sobbing Joyce away so Sal can whisper to Amber “We’re all safe; you can rest” then I’ll feel a lot happier
I am wondering if Amazigirl can see behind Amber in this mode, or punch independently… Her morphing into a semi-corporeal superhero when required would be an awesome superpower. Also an interesting way to get Amber off the hook for vigilante culpability, and a strange twist towards paranormality as a new direction for this comic.
Next:
Danny’s hat will develop sentience. He will also develop the sort of sex life that has Joe turning green with envy and Danny Nice Guy(TM)-ing so hard he considers joining an Incel group before getting bingo-slapped by Malaya.
Sal’s motorbike will be revealed to be Ultracar’s lovechild (Sal knew all along, but she’s capable of keeping secrets thank you). Carla suspects – it’s why she was so excited about getting to ride with Sal.
Ethan has to deal with his transformers just being toys. It is devastating for him, especially when it’s revealed that Sarah’s Little Jacob can transform into various other things (including – because conservation of mass isn’t an issue – a jackhammer, minibus, and title=”robot boyfriend”>robot boyfriend). There is some doubt over whether he is a real alien transformer or an AI. Sarah is unamused by these revelations.
Either that or this is the next comic after DoA?
She’s blue, like peoples’ hands when they’re moving around signing. Maybe she’s just phasing back and forth between both roles fast enough for persistence of vision to kick in, like the Olsen twin.
I wonder if we’ll see more Force Ghost Maize, kind of like flat-shaded Spite Ghost Mike.
Oh my god Carla pulled an upset in the polls! The Becky/Dina showdown that many were expecting is now dashed! This is the most exciting thing going on in my life today.
I have been a fan of Carla’s ever since the series of panels that depicted her constructing and eventually activating “Carla’s Cold, Swift, and Absolutely Ridiculous Revenge Plan Against Mary” machine.
GAHHH! Verschlugginer HTML!! click here.
It now looks like Sal is set to beat her but it’s kind of nice that one of Willis’s first fictional characters (i.e. Ultra-Car) manage to push her way to the semi-finals.
The top 3 usually ends up being Dina, Carla and last year it was Sal who pushed past Carla in the poll, so it’ll be interesting to see. Dina consistently wins that one, so it’ll be interesting to see if she does again this year.
So, when Amber and Amazi-Girl inevitably resolve into a single, stable personality, what are we going to call her?
Amber-Girl!
Late for Dinner.
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!
I don’t think even Amazi-Girl would deny that her birth name is Amber O’Malley.
I still think ‘Amazi-ber’ has a good flow to it.
BenRG’s right though, their legal identity is Amber O’Malley. Maybe she’ll want to change it to Amber Brannon (her mother’s maiden name) once Blaine’s out of the picture for good? Try to separate herself from the baggage Blaine’s saddled her with.
Dangit I knew that was gonna happen.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/omalley/
The Hamster
PEACE! FINALLY.
Well, truce. But, it’s a start!
I can’t wait for tomorrow’s strip, so I think I’m going to go watch the truck fight part of Raiders of the Lost Ark and imagine real hard.
Shame there are no bottomless cliffs in this town.
If you ever watched “Breaking Away”, you know there’s a couple of deep, water-filled old quarries in the area…..
Subtle diff in last panel: Imagi-Girl has the properly-attached cape, while Amazi-Amber is still wearing Walky’s (sorry, “Nightguy’s”) bath-towel.
Awwwww!
Celeste moment~!
Those last two panels are wonderful.
So… I don’t think that’s what Joyce meant Amber/Amazigirl, but eh, I’ll take it.
I don’t know how many people who like metalcore will be reading this, but I was listening to Three Fountains by August Burns Red while reading this strip and the song fits really damn well with the feel of the past few strips in my opinion.
Getting some strong Reverend Mightily Oates vibes here
“Really? And you think you can stand in my way? An axe isn’t even a holy symbol!”
“Oh.” Oats looked crestfallen. Agnes saw his shoulders sag as he lowered the blade.
Then he looked up, smiled brightly and said, “Let’s make it so.”
I can think of a WHOLE load of dwarves who’d beg to differ… with their own axes.
I know somebody has probably already picked out good hacked Muzak soundtrack for this but I’m really not able to imagine anything but the “OH SHIT” intro to London Bridge
“We” have to stop him.” At once dissociating and consolidating. Can you handle them both at once, Dad?
He can’t even handle them individually. Now that they’ve teamed up, Blaine’s doomed.
Good.
So I am guessing there is no internal door to use then?