That worked, except that the comment system ate the bits where I was trying to indicate left and right angle brackets. Oh heck, just look at this HTML href Attribute
Oh heck. I never realized Willis was uploading previously paywalled comics to the IW! site! I was a poor in those days and didn’t ever get to read them.
About the Walky flirting, or about the fact that you both recognize Mike?
No seriously I can’t tell.
Anyway, oh Lucy. Honey. I’m not saying you NEVER had a chance, but I am saying your odds were pretty low this whole time and no amount of waiting for him to notice you and your massive hints was going to change that. I’m sorry.
I’d suggest Danny or Jacob, but one of them failed to notice someone had a massive crush on him for at least a week or two (and Joyce wasn’t subtle, either,) and the other’s romantic life is a series of disasters largely of his own making (and also failed to notice hints Dorothy was trying to drop about long-term compatibility, so who knows if he’d catch hints of dating interest.)
There is Ken and Arnold, I suppose, but… nah. Drew’s bisexual (known from Walkyverse crossover,) and last we knew was only an occasional hookup buddy of Ethan, so he might be single and interested. But if he’s anything like his Shortpacked version, I don’t think he’d be a great fit for Lucy, the posters might make him uncomfortable. Speaking of probably-bi hookup buddies of Ethan, there’s Eric the Fingerguns Guy… but our indication he’s interested in women was that he was cheating on his girlfriend when he hooked up with Mike, so I wouldn’t recommend him. Beef’s appearances include hanging out with the dudes who tried to harass and then beat up Danny post-breakup and then the background of the DeSanto Rally (though he wasn’t a volunteer and didn’t get involved in the fight to protect Ryan the Rapist at least,) so I’d probably file him under ‘no’ as well for being Goon Squad adjacent at best. (Likewise, any dude we know was part of Team Rapist is out. Fuck you, Dawson.)
Ruling out Joe for obvious reasons, but if all she were looking for was casual sex he may actually be the best option there. (Maybe one of the even further background dudes, but I’m already scraping the bottom of the barrel here.) But if we look deep enough in the background, we do find gold eventually.
Tony McHenry Jr. is completely unobjectionable, and is by all appearances a nice, down-to-earth guy who is also a football player and son of the Dean. He is far too well-adjusted to actually be in this strip in any real role, and is therefore perfect.
I’m upset at the Danny description! “A series of disasters largely of his own making.” That is not true! He’s only dated two people we’ve seen so far. Dorothy was his screw up, fair enough. But Amazi-girl? No one deserved to date Amber/AG in that state. If anything he’s a victim of that relationship. He didn’t make that disaster. (Sorry if this sounds angry, but the Danny x AG/Amber relationship really upsets me).
I was counting the Ethan screwup (seriously dude, NOT OUTSIDE THE GUY’S HOSPITAL ROOM,) and forgot to discuss the AmbG one, fair enough. That one was absolutely AG’s Sal paranoia tanking things, along with a side order of ambiguity that was definitely not on Danny. I think the ‘I’m dating Amber who is also AG’/‘no, you’re dating AG who ISN’T Amber’ wasn’t really anyone’s faults, since I don’t think Amber or AG truly recognized that AG was her own person and not a compartmentalization alter ego until near the end of that relationship – largely because they genuinely weren’t being written as a system for much of that time – but even if they knew, Danny was getting seriously mixed signals that would keep him from recognizing it.
Yeah, I could see it working provided Lucy’s willing to be direct. Plus it would be interesting with all the unresolved dynamics there with Jacob and the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, this requires Lucy to be direct, but maybe this arc is teaching her to just go for it rather than waiting around!
Maybe her experience with Walky will be a lesson in being direct rather than following someone around for months hoping their mouths accidentally crash together! It could happen!
Is it wrong I still wanna see more of Tony because I’m curious about revisiting him and Sal in this verse? Not for any particular reason but Tony seems nice and, at least for a while, Walkyverse Sal unironically considered him her soulmate and I’d like Sal to have nice things. (And also, Linda will have a coronary at her dating such a Nice, Unobjectionable boy and I wanna see that).
Which is in fact weird, but given that marriage doesn’t seem to have been super long, occurred before any of the kids were born, and produced zero other kids to be considered, I could see them finding it less dealbreakingly weird than Linda would. (Also, Sal doesn’t know IIRC and Tony only found out by Walky casually discussing it with Jason during the dorm tour – so casually I could see him not being sure if this was a joke or not. Window’s probably passed for the two of them to know each other without hearing that for sure, but it’s not totally impossible.)
Dude should be the heroic main character and just gets constantly clowned by life and usurped by the idiot lab assistant and a man who wears a bowtie. No salvation, no redemption, just a string of tragedies and dying more times than any person should have to.
This. Hinting is a form of communication deliberately designed to be unclear and prone to misinterpretation. People hint because they’re scared to commit to actually saying what they want, so they build in an escape clause.
If she isn’t prepared to assert herself properly, with actual words, she doesn’t deserve to get anywhere.
Dorothy gets lots of exercise from her morning jogs. Don’t know if that translates at all to combat ability, but she’s probably in generally good shape.
Honestly they both kind of register the same to me. We have no knowledge of any combat experience and they seem very similar in height and build. All I know is that Dorothy jogs which could at least hint a somewhat better conditioning? Maybe that would give her the edge?
This does make me wonder who the best fighers in DoA are? I ‘m sure this is a conversation that’s been had before but who would be the top picks if a hypothetical tournament arc ever happened. Amber and Sal are the pretty obvious 1 and 2 spots that switch based on preference. Uh…Malaya and Sarah seem pretty tough. Joyce has a kind of hulkish rage sometimes. Dina mimics dinosaur behavior with surprising effectiveness. Joe? Maybe? He’s well built. The guys don’t actually do a lot of fighting so it’s hard to judge them.
https://i.imgur.com/EWtLFZX.png
Amber is super strong and agile and once rode on a moving car. S-tier for sure. Sal I’m not sure if I should put her in A-tier but she has pulled off plenty of cool feats herself, and I felt like I should put them two on the same level. Ruth and billie have to be roughly the same strength with how much they bicker, though Ruth does have the edge on her.. Malaya and Carla do roller derby (and even if Carla doesn’t compete I’m sure she competes with them) and Sarah is a beast with the bat. Jacob is only where he is because of his body. Joyce is pretty strong, but not incredibly so, Dina has proven herself to be tougher than she looks, especially when she’s angry. Leslie and Robin are grown women so naturally they’re pretty strong compared to teenagers. Joe is big but not super beefy like Jacob. Same goes for Ethan. Becky Booster, Roz and Dotty strike me as absolutely average. Walky is bottom tier because he probably wouldn’t try and slacks off a lot. Danny just…feels frail to me, and I’d argue so does Lucy.
Any questions/comments on my IMPECCABLE scoring? (I will say my S and A tier ranking is a little arbitrary)
This seems pretty fair but I think you’re actually high balling Ethan a bit. We saw the dude during that hostage situation. Size isn’t everything. He is a weenie of the Super Hut Jr. variety. C tier at best.
We’ve seen joyce fight back in situations that we simply haven’t seen Becky. Against Joe, Smashing Ryan’s face with the glass and against the Dadteam. Her fight or flight is very fighty and she usually puts a lot into it..
Malaya threw down with Sal at one point and it might not have been completely one-sided – though it was interrupted by Marcie before we could really see.
Carla wins the entire competition, but through sweet pranks, not fighting.
Joyce and Dina try, but neither have really shown themselves very effective. Dina distracted Blaine for a moment, but was tossed aside. Joyce just managed to get herself taken hostage.
I’m not sure grown women have any particular advantage over older teenagers and we haven’t seen either Robin or Leslie show any signs of fighting.
Billie.
Throwing Blaine during parent’s weekend – sabotaged by her withdrawal symptoms.
Possible suplexing Carol off screen (hmmm, Carol hasn’t been seen since.)
I guess it depends on what you mean best. Most skilful doesn’t mean you’ll mean (look at UFC)
So of the main cast (in real life) its Jacob followed by Joe then Ethan (based on size) Walky and Danny are pretty weak and scrawny so Sal and Amber could probably take them but lets not forget Ruths grappling skills, even when hungover she did really well against Ambers dad and she is considerably bigger than both Sal and Amber
Amber at least believes she could beat Ruth while sleep deprived https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/effect-2/
Not sure if that’s just the arrogant boasting of a disassociated girl running on high stress and no sleep or if that actually effects the rankings. She did also admit Ruth is “formidable” .
Biggest doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win either. If a bodybuilder with no fighting experience stepped into a UFC ring, they’d get slaughtered by contestants half their size.
We’ve seen no indication of any training or experience for Jacob or Joe. We don’t even see Ethan work out, so all he’s got going for him is his basic build. Even realistically, I’d take both Sal and Amber/AG over any of them.
We know that Dorothy instinctively freezes in a physically dangerous situation (Amber vs Ryan), while we don’t know about Lucy either way.
Anyway I think either one would want to talk each other down, so I don’t think we’ll have a lot of mortal kombat between them.
Hard to say. We’ve seen so much more of Dorothy’s physical capabilities–especially when chasing Amazi-girl–, whereas Lucy has mostly been standing around and at most shivering while walking around.
Fights between people who don’t know what they’re doing generally boils down to who is fitter
Its funny when, as a Corrections Officer, you see two prisoner throwing haymakers at each other but also looking around waiting for you to tell them to stop it
Most of the time (most but not always) they act all staunch but they generally stop because they’re blowing really hard (winded)
Probably not. Many people are assuming that Dorothy would fight back which is foolish. To kick Dorothy’s ass, Lucy would have to catch her first and Dorothy has done cross country and goes jogging every morning. Dorothy could triple lock every entrance point to her room before Lucy remotely catches up.
In an actual fight though, because neither is particularly prone to fighting, Dorothy’s known fitness gives her the advantage in speed, power and endurance. So as long as she didn’t mess up her first hit and Lucy doesn’t secretly take martial arts or self-defense, Dorothy would likely win on the basis that it would likely only take one hit for Lucy to give up as she likely doesn’t have a particularly high pain threshold and Dorothy would immediately feel bad about it if she actually hit her that hard. Or Dorothy would injure her hand by throwing a terrible framed punch that isn’t even that hard but Lucy’s niceness would take over and she’d throw the fight by trying to help Dorothy.
In essense: I do not think Lucy could win and I think they are both too nice to actually fight. Even if they tried, I think a single hit would end it and Dorothy has the advantage for speed so I predict she is the one that would most likely successfully land it before guilt and niceness consumes them and renders them unwilling and unable to continue.
God I hope Joe does call “sloppy seconds” Sloppy Joes. Granted I’d love it if Danny and Joe were in a threesome. I think that is the final evolution their friendship can take.
Lucy, you’re cute, I like you, you CAN do better than Walky, but perhaps he’d still be a good growth experience, and hey, maybe fun’s more important than “better” anyway… I’m rambling… but getting to the point….
… you don’t have grounds to be jealous or possessive unless you actually stake a claim. Quit being indecisive, woman. If you strike out, that at least sets you free from agonizing. You get to move on rather than spending eternity in maybe-land. So shit or get off the pot! GRAH!
(Willis needs more opportunities for pornobucks, after all.)
I’m trying to figure out why I don’t like Lucy. I don’t hate her or anything but I’m not rooting for her either. I’m still firmly in the Dorothy/Walky and/or Amber/Walky camp(s).
I’m confused because nothing Lucy has done has made me dislike her yet I don’t want to support her either.
for me shes just kinda…boring?? theres nothing wrong with her at all, she’s super nice and cute, but she doesnt stand out like most members of the main cast do
There’s some vague hints that she wants desperately to be liked and got jealous when Jennifer effortlessly became the Cool One in the dorm by virtue of being an ex-cheerleader… but that’s pretty much it, yeah, and it’s nothing compared to the leads. Could see her in this holding pattern because she suspects Walky doesn’t like her back but didn’t want the full rejection, but for now that’s implied if so.
Honestly in a lot of ways the character she reminds me of most is early Danny. Sweet enough, but a bit too passive to really get what they want.
You wonder if “you can do better” comments from Booster aren’t necessarily just “Walky is immature and a slob and unattentive” but that Lucy is looking for someone who makes her feel better than she feels all the time?
I don’t know how to phrase that without making Walky sound like a bad person, that Lucy *shouldn’t* want to date him because “well, look at him”, so I wonder if it’d be worth approaching it from the idea that Lucy goes after Walky because Lucy feels that someone like him who is outwardly immature and you have to dig deep to get into the more noble and caring parts of him is the best chance she has at being wanted and valued by another person?
Kinda like how Danny kept latching his self worth to his romantic partners.
Maybe. Hard to say WHAT is really driving Lucy’s crush to ‘keep following him around for months despite no positive signals of interest’ levels – I’d imagine pure attraction would wear off after a while there. He’s cute, he’s a nerd in ways she shares, but he’s also still really immature in ways that aren’t just quirky but ‘dude you have some serious toxic masculinity to deal with’ (see: not wanting to admit that all his actual friends are women) and he’s either missed 8,000 hints due to trauma and preoccupation or is catching them but not sure how to deal with Just Not Being Into Her. So there has to be something sustaining it beyond just being cute, and it’s noticeable that she went from ‘constructing elaborate romantic fantasies between strangers’ to crushing when Jennifer basically went ‘go for someone available, unrelated dork like Lucy.’ Maybe it’s just that her internalized lack of popularity makes her think she isn’t potentially romantically desirable to a lot of people, whereas Walky was set up as attainable? I dunno, we really haven’t delved deep enough into Lucy to have much of a grasp of her yet.
Honestly, Lucy reminds me of one of the freshman kids that was in the gym class I TA’d my senior year of high school. Nice, sweet girl, but not someone who particularly stood out in any way
I’ll be honest. Lucy just…bores me. She’s thoroughly unremarkable in any particular way. She’s not a dumpsterfire of a person, she’s not super driven to be the next president, She’s not overly particular and religious. She’s just. A girl. Liking Walky is like…the most interesting thing about her, and when you’re being defined by your crushes that’s a tough spot to be in.
That is EXACTLY why I like her. XD I’m at that stage in life where the thought of having someone who’s sane, reliable, got it together is WAY more appealing than dating someone who still has issues, nursing years-old grudges, or lacking the maturity to realize that their “quirks” like always being late are just euphemistic character flaws.
Even setting aside my own dislike of Walky, Lucy barely feels like a character and all there is to her is that she has the hots for him. I don’t even know what she’s about as a person.
lucy needs to move on. she started crushing on walky in late september/early october and it’s january now, i highly doubt anythings gonna happen between the two of them
Yoto, you should definitely design some of your own characters, snag an unpaid colorist and start your own strip. Snag an unpaid writer if need be, or adopt other people’s stories with the serial numbers rubbed off.
I think it’s cute that you think I Don’t have characters of my own. I have like…4-5 different comic series planned at any given time. I’m just a lazy asshole.
You have some comic ideas and you haven’t acted on them? I have been saying for years you need to do a webcomic. The world need to see your talent, and I would love to add a webcomic of yours to my collection.
😛
There’s SUPER! about a superpowered teenager with a crush on low level hero boy. Slice of life coming of age about a girl who’s stronger than everyone (basically OPM but also Supergirl but not intentionally :P)
There’s Magical Jo! about a trashy magical girl who found a magical moodring that gives her different powers based on her emotions. She fightes using a combo of magic and MMA.
There’s Buttercakes. A comic about Angie Castella, a girl with a rocking body, a doofy face, and an insatiable sexual appetite in her neverending goal to get laid.
There’s Vermin. A comic about a bunch of animal characters, starring Muffy, the antisocial skunk with a bad temper.
Clover & Sweetgrass. A comic about a woman named Clover who used to be the world’s strongest fighter who loses her arm in a train crash. Now with a cyborg arm she’s traveling the world to achieve her dream of being a famous musician alongside her new musical savaant friend with robot legs, Sweet Grass. It takes place in a modern fantasy world.
Amelia Ammunition. A woman travels across war torn post apocalyptic America to get revenge on her father for killing her mother.
And those are just off the top of my head. But also I don’t have the skill, knowledge or the drive to start any of these ideas, though I’m sure I’d have fun on any of them.
Several of those sound promising. You already have accomplished the hardest part, you can draw very well. And it is apparent that you have the storytelling skills. Pick one (or two) of those, flesh out a plot and characters, let them go and run with it. One of those even sounds like a good slipshine candidate. Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, you can say you did it, which is more than most can say.
I am in the opposite situation, I have had characters, plotline, story arcs etc. all laid out, for many years now. My issue is I can’t draw well enough to do what I want to do, any maybe I never will, however it has inspired me to work on that part. I can clearly see your talent, both for the art and the storytelling, which is a rare combination, and is why I keep encouraging you to give it a try.
Or maybe they are tiptoeing around him since it still feels raw for Walky. He definitely had mixed to negative feelings about his late roommate but maybe he misses him too. That and/or he’s traumatized by his hospitalization – which concurrently happened with Walky being kidnapped – and passing.
Not certain, but I’m leaning towards ‘they know but neither of them really has a clue how to acknowledge and broach the subject, especially with an unwilling Walky, because there’s so many layers of messed-uppedness in play.’ Or at least, I can’t see Dorothy not recognizing Mike, and Lucy’s ‘Y-yeah’ suggests she does too.
Huh, I just read the “y-yeah” as Lucy being uncomfortable talking to Dorothy at all, since she’s, you know, a romantic rival. I do think it would be nearly impossible for Dorothy to not recognize Mike, but I don’t recall if Lucy ever interacted with Mike once, so I would find it plausible if she didn’t for sure recognize him.
Eh, there’s clearly some unresolved emotions on Walky’s part about Mike’s death – the scene with Booster taking pictures and Walky expecting them to be pranking him, and his reaction to ‘you can be sad’ both suggest it, and his blunt discussion of Mike’s death post-skip reads a lot like ‘I don’t know how to feel about this’ bluntness and shutting down conversation. Might be the punchline, but taken with the other subtext I think it’s still going to come back around later.
Okay, my current prediction… Dorothy will proposition Walky, but thinking of her future, he’ll turn her down. Then when he comes back and tells Lucy what happened, Lucy, overcome with emotion and hormones, will grab him, kiss him, and push him down onto the bed
It’s DoA speed, in which one day takes about 8 months. By my calculations, that means that the Dumbingverse is traveling away from us at about 99.999% of the speed of light. That’s why it’s so slow.
And yet he was sitting alone with her on her bed committing art. Slow but steady sometimes wins when all the other cars crash first, even if that’s not the way to bet.
Oh, it’s sad when you don’t get time to approach some hot people. Your time to get next and to show your desire, versus the amount of attractive and hotter people that can get it as fast as they can.
Press F for Lucy.
Dean McHenry really does a great recruiting job at IU: Alan, Alex, Doc, Robin, Bart… impressive faculty, indeed. I’m starting to worry Leslie and Vivian will be fired for not reaching their incompetence targets.
I have no idea how Vivian teaches, but Leslie is NOT a good teacher. Second Alex seems to have it together, and we don’t know about Bart, unless I’m failing to remeber a strip.
That’s why you don’t let your legs fall asleep. And Lucy really needs to be more direct because Walky seems to have missed all the hints she’s been sending so far.
Lucy’s silent anger towards Dorothy will slowly grow stronger. One day she will explode and attack her without mercy destroying her ability to play tennis for a long time, if not forever. Obviously Walky will never be able to forgive her.
Oh man, Lucy’s overwhelming meekness is bringing back the memories. I want to be annoyed with her getting upset at people who know what they want and actually take the leap of faith to pursue it, but if she learns that lesson in freshman year she’ll *still* be ahead of when I did.
The only words I know to describe “a character for whom we are supposed to have empathy for because of their unrequited love they have yet to do or say anything to act on” are that and friendzone, and they’re both terribly abused words from terrible people that only get to propagate because they’ve been around so long that normal people unaware of the fuller context of those words start using it to mean “a person who fails to reach a romantic/sexual relationship with the person they are pursuing” in any circumstance.
I guess that is a question: What is the word to define failing to enter a relationship with the target of your affections, something that is pretty common and easily understood by swaths of the audience, without using the specific words that, inherently, devalue the notion of a friendship as a stepping stone or consolation prize to a romantic relationship, which is supposed to be some hypothetical endgame achievement?
God I feel weird even talking about this as clinically as I am.
I mean yeah there’s that one too but I also view it as the same level of pejorative just in a different direction. A cuck fails to claim their prize and a simp moons after it. Why do I have to know these things.
But yeah unrequited love is something that literally everybody with romantic inclinations will feel at one point in their lives, so I’m wondering how to define that when discussing a character with unrequited love in a time where I almost feel when experiencing stories about unrequited love there’s almost this need to make sure it’s not a story about the Friend Zone.
I remember in Ms. Marvel for example, where Kamala’s best friend Bruno was head over heels with her but she didn’t know, and when his brother calls him friendzoned he hits back that friendship is not a zone and only jerks would devalue friendship, except we are still talking about a character who absolutely does value that friendship but *really* wishes he was Kamala’s boyfriend because he’s been in love with her since he was a kid and wants to marry her.
I obviously do not think less of Lucy for having a crush on Walky she’s too timid to vocalize because I’ve got a glittering neon side pointing at me that says Been There, but I feel like I’ve seen this kind of story for so long that even the discourse around “friendship is not a zone” feels old too.
Maybe it really just is as simple as using “unrequited love” to define it as an example of it as a positive story, except a lot of the time “haha this character got friendzoned” is a reaction from the audience. I almost wish friend zone wasn’t a term used by The Worst People, because it does sound like a handy shorthand to describe “I like my friend but they do not like me back” if one can strip away the intended purpose of “friendship is a zone that keeps you from a romantic relationship,which is obviously what you are supposed to reach for and not doing so makes you weak and being rejected means they don’t want you.”
So Dorothy needs to see Walky, so she walks all the way to another building on the off chance he is with Lucy? Why wouldn’t she just phone/text him? This generation is surgically attached to their textfacetikgrameme devices after all.
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why would you let your legs fall asleep, that keeps you from feeling a cop
…wait no
It’s highly dependent on the particular cop.
Oh dear. Well, won’t this be a mess?
The course of true love never ran smooth.
The truth of this is intense!
Ah! Let the great Walky harem wars begin!
Yes, you can borrow Walky – but only if you pay him back at 2% over baseline!
I believe someone asked if the Hot Walky arc was over in the last comment section
The answer is no
It will never be over. Hot Walky is the new status quo. Get used to it or get lost.
Until Joyce has enough, sneaks into his room with electric clippers, and we begin the Bald Walky arc.
“Bald Walky arc”
Eh, it’s been done.
Thats probably my favourite strip of all time, Joyces expression is priceless
I’d say the expression in final panel of this is better
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/answer-2/
(I’d link it like how Rass has done with their link, but I suck with HTML)
Test HTML t’s been done.
a href=”http://www.itswalky.com/comic/merry-christmas-sweetie/”It’s been done./a
That worked, except that the comment system ate the bits where I was trying to indicate left and right angle brackets. Oh heck, just look at this HTML href Attribute
Oh heck. I never realized Willis was uploading previously paywalled comics to the IW! site! I was a poor in those days and didn’t ever get to read them.
sounds like you have some bingeing to do.
Joyce shaving Walky bald…she’ll be “The Balding Bandit”
Borrow? More like—- oh, the jellies got to Lucy.
Soon™, alt text, soon.
Oh god, it’s contagious even across dimensional walls! The jellies have gotten to me too! Fly you fools!
Give in to the Becky side of the Force.
Jellies may rule!
Should’ve been using your legs twenty minutes ago Lucy
Or not. I like Walky but this continues to be sad honey.
Channel your inner NightGirl. I mean, Starfire.
About the Walky flirting, or about the fact that you both recognize Mike?
No seriously I can’t tell.
Anyway, oh Lucy. Honey. I’m not saying you NEVER had a chance, but I am saying your odds were pretty low this whole time and no amount of waiting for him to notice you and your massive hints was going to change that. I’m sorry.
She can do so much better, admittedly the choice of men in the main cast is a bit lacking but I’m sure she could find someone less…Walky
I’d suggest Danny or Jacob, but one of them failed to notice someone had a massive crush on him for at least a week or two (and Joyce wasn’t subtle, either,) and the other’s romantic life is a series of disasters largely of his own making (and also failed to notice hints Dorothy was trying to drop about long-term compatibility, so who knows if he’d catch hints of dating interest.)
There is Ken and Arnold, I suppose, but… nah. Drew’s bisexual (known from Walkyverse crossover,) and last we knew was only an occasional hookup buddy of Ethan, so he might be single and interested. But if he’s anything like his Shortpacked version, I don’t think he’d be a great fit for Lucy, the posters might make him uncomfortable. Speaking of probably-bi hookup buddies of Ethan, there’s Eric the Fingerguns Guy… but our indication he’s interested in women was that he was cheating on his girlfriend when he hooked up with Mike, so I wouldn’t recommend him. Beef’s appearances include hanging out with the dudes who tried to harass and then beat up Danny post-breakup and then the background of the DeSanto Rally (though he wasn’t a volunteer and didn’t get involved in the fight to protect Ryan the Rapist at least,) so I’d probably file him under ‘no’ as well for being Goon Squad adjacent at best. (Likewise, any dude we know was part of Team Rapist is out. Fuck you, Dawson.)
Ruling out Joe for obvious reasons, but if all she were looking for was casual sex he may actually be the best option there. (Maybe one of the even further background dudes, but I’m already scraping the bottom of the barrel here.) But if we look deep enough in the background, we do find gold eventually.
Tony McHenry Jr. is completely unobjectionable, and is by all appearances a nice, down-to-earth guy who is also a football player and son of the Dean. He is far too well-adjusted to actually be in this strip in any real role, and is therefore perfect.
I’m upset at the Danny description! “A series of disasters largely of his own making.” That is not true! He’s only dated two people we’ve seen so far. Dorothy was his screw up, fair enough. But Amazi-girl? No one deserved to date Amber/AG in that state. If anything he’s a victim of that relationship. He didn’t make that disaster. (Sorry if this sounds angry, but the Danny x AG/Amber relationship really upsets me).
I was counting the Ethan screwup (seriously dude, NOT OUTSIDE THE GUY’S HOSPITAL ROOM,) and forgot to discuss the AmbG one, fair enough. That one was absolutely AG’s Sal paranoia tanking things, along with a side order of ambiguity that was definitely not on Danny. I think the ‘I’m dating Amber who is also AG’/‘no, you’re dating AG who ISN’T Amber’ wasn’t really anyone’s faults, since I don’t think Amber or AG truly recognized that AG was her own person and not a compartmentalization alter ego until near the end of that relationship – largely because they genuinely weren’t being written as a system for much of that time – but even if they knew, Danny was getting seriously mixed signals that would keep him from recognizing it.
Yeah, that one was on AG all the way.
I’m for Lucy/Jacob. He’s cute and he said he wanted someone more like Joyce who isn’t Joyce.
This is funny to me because that ship was thoroughly uninteresting to me in the Walkyverse, but times and universes change.
Yeah, I could see it working provided Lucy’s willing to be direct. Plus it would be interesting with all the unresolved dynamics there with Jacob and the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, this requires Lucy to be direct, but maybe this arc is teaching her to just go for it rather than waiting around!
Maybe her experience with Walky will be a lesson in being direct rather than following someone around for months hoping their mouths accidentally crash together! It could happen!
Is it wrong I still wanna see more of Tony because I’m curious about revisiting him and Sal in this verse? Not for any particular reason but Tony seems nice and, at least for a while, Walkyverse Sal unironically considered him her soulmate and I’d like Sal to have nice things. (And also, Linda will have a coronary at her dating such a Nice, Unobjectionable boy and I wanna see that).
Keep in mind that Tony is the son of Linda’s Ex-Husband.
Which is in fact weird, but given that marriage doesn’t seem to have been super long, occurred before any of the kids were born, and produced zero other kids to be considered, I could see them finding it less dealbreakingly weird than Linda would. (Also, Sal doesn’t know IIRC and Tony only found out by Walky casually discussing it with Jason during the dorm tour – so casually I could see him not being sure if this was a joke or not. Window’s probably passed for the two of them to know each other without hearing that for sure, but it’s not totally impossible.)
I love Walkyverse Tony.
Dude should be the heroic main character and just gets constantly clowned by life and usurped by the idiot lab assistant and a man who wears a bowtie. No salvation, no redemption, just a string of tragedies and dying more times than any person should have to.
For other bottom of the barrel characters you’ve got Jim and Ron, who from what little we’ve seen seem okay.
If she wanted Walky to notice she really needed to be a lot more direct, because clearly the hints weren’t working.
This. Hinting is a form of communication deliberately designed to be unclear and prone to misinterpretation. People hint because they’re scared to commit to actually saying what they want, so they build in an escape clause.
If she isn’t prepared to assert herself properly, with actual words, she doesn’t deserve to get anywhere.
Woman, if your legs are asleep you are not going to have things go the way you want it to anyway.
You don’t need your legs to touch, cuddle and make out. It’s the first “date”
Ok real question here. Real question. Could Lucy kick Dorothy’s ass? Not asking if she would. Just asking if it’s possible.
Dorothy gets lots of exercise from her morning jogs. Don’t know if that translates at all to combat ability, but she’s probably in generally good shape.
If she was Walky-lusted, yes. Which, given the unfortunate phrasing, yes she would be.
Dorothy probably keeps a binder full of notes on self defense and descalation just to be prepared for anything.
Honestly they both kind of register the same to me. We have no knowledge of any combat experience and they seem very similar in height and build. All I know is that Dorothy jogs which could at least hint a somewhat better conditioning? Maybe that would give her the edge?
This does make me wonder who the best fighers in DoA are? I ‘m sure this is a conversation that’s been had before but who would be the top picks if a hypothetical tournament arc ever happened. Amber and Sal are the pretty obvious 1 and 2 spots that switch based on preference. Uh…Malaya and Sarah seem pretty tough. Joyce has a kind of hulkish rage sometimes. Dina mimics dinosaur behavior with surprising effectiveness. Joe? Maybe? He’s well built. The guys don’t actually do a lot of fighting so it’s hard to judge them.
There’s only one solution, then.
We must use the Hunger Games Simulator, with the names of Dumbing of Age characters entered into the brackets!
I approve of this method.
Jacob would probably be right up there with Joe, but it’d really take something to get him angry enough to fight
Ok Ruth has gotta be super high up. Also we can’t sleep on Billie. Fuck it I’m gonna make a tier list.
Turns out there was no DoA tier list…
UNTIL TODAY
https://i.imgur.com/EWtLFZX.png
Amber is super strong and agile and once rode on a moving car. S-tier for sure. Sal I’m not sure if I should put her in A-tier but she has pulled off plenty of cool feats herself, and I felt like I should put them two on the same level. Ruth and billie have to be roughly the same strength with how much they bicker, though Ruth does have the edge on her.. Malaya and Carla do roller derby (and even if Carla doesn’t compete I’m sure she competes with them) and Sarah is a beast with the bat. Jacob is only where he is because of his body. Joyce is pretty strong, but not incredibly so, Dina has proven herself to be tougher than she looks, especially when she’s angry. Leslie and Robin are grown women so naturally they’re pretty strong compared to teenagers. Joe is big but not super beefy like Jacob. Same goes for Ethan. Becky Booster, Roz and Dotty strike me as absolutely average. Walky is bottom tier because he probably wouldn’t try and slacks off a lot. Danny just…feels frail to me, and I’d argue so does Lucy.
Any questions/comments on my IMPECCABLE scoring? (I will say my S and A tier ranking is a little arbitrary)
This seems pretty fair but I think you’re actually high balling Ethan a bit. We saw the dude during that hostage situation. Size isn’t everything. He is a weenie of the Super Hut Jr. variety. C tier at best.
It feels strange to see Becky lower than Joyce on this list, yet I can’t disagree.
We’ve seen joyce fight back in situations that we simply haven’t seen Becky. Against Joe, Smashing Ryan’s face with the glass and against the Dadteam. Her fight or flight is very fighty and she usually puts a lot into it..
Joyce packs a hell of a punch – remembe rwhen they had to break into the McIntyre’s?
Malaya threw down with Sal at one point and it might not have been completely one-sided – though it was interrupted by Marcie before we could really see.
Carla wins the entire competition, but through sweet pranks, not fighting.
Joyce and Dina try, but neither have really shown themselves very effective. Dina distracted Blaine for a moment, but was tossed aside. Joyce just managed to get herself taken hostage.
I’m not sure grown women have any particular advantage over older teenagers and we haven’t seen either Robin or Leslie show any signs of fighting.
I dunno. Has Ruth actually fought someone who could actually fight back?
Billie.
Throwing Blaine during parent’s weekend – sabotaged by her withdrawal symptoms.
Possible suplexing Carol off screen (hmmm, Carol hasn’t been seen since.)
I guess it depends on what you mean best. Most skilful doesn’t mean you’ll mean (look at UFC)
So of the main cast (in real life) its Jacob followed by Joe then Ethan (based on size) Walky and Danny are pretty weak and scrawny so Sal and Amber could probably take them but lets not forget Ruths grappling skills, even when hungover she did really well against Ambers dad and she is considerably bigger than both Sal and Amber
Amber at least believes she could beat Ruth while sleep deprived
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/effect-2/
Not sure if that’s just the arrogant boasting of a disassociated girl running on high stress and no sleep or if that actually effects the rankings. She did also admit Ruth is “formidable” .
Again going to UFC but in rock-paper-scissors grappling beats striking
Mind you given the superhuman powers Amber and Sal have both displayed during this comic its a moot point
Biggest doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win either. If a bodybuilder with no fighting experience stepped into a UFC ring, they’d get slaughtered by contestants half their size.
We’ve seen no indication of any training or experience for Jacob or Joe. We don’t even see Ethan work out, so all he’s got going for him is his basic build. Even realistically, I’d take both Sal and Amber/AG over any of them.
Ruth has to be high on the list. Possibly Asher. Billy wouldn’t have an problem kicking you in the head.
I dunno how much you’d consider these, but Sal usually wins the ‘most badass’ poll (also the ‘hottest lady’ poll but that’s unrelated).
In a comical fight, Dina hompks her way to victory. In a serious fight, she has repeatedly been shown as ineffective.
We know that Dorothy instinctively freezes in a physically dangerous situation (Amber vs Ryan), while we don’t know about Lucy either way.
Anyway I think either one would want to talk each other down, so I don’t think we’ll have a lot of mortal kombat between them.
But we don’t really know for sure that Lucy doesn’t exercise, do we?
Yeah, Booster and Lucy are wild cards.
Hard to say. We’ve seen so much more of Dorothy’s physical capabilities–especially when chasing Amazi-girl–, whereas Lucy has mostly been standing around and at most shivering while walking around.
But Shortpacked!Lucy was a superhero. So.
Well, reluctant heir to the superhero mantle, if I’m remembering correctly
Considering we know Dorothy exercises every day and we know next to nothing about Lucy, I’m going to give the win to Dorothy.
Okay I do find it pretty funny that it’s seems consistent among us that just the fact that Dorothy jogs means she has a advantage in a fight!
Fights between people who don’t know what they’re doing generally boils down to who is fitter
Its funny when, as a Corrections Officer, you see two prisoner throwing haymakers at each other but also looking around waiting for you to tell them to stop it
Most of the time (most but not always) they act all staunch but they generally stop because they’re blowing really hard (winded)
When two people don’t know how to fight (is what i’m assuming in this case) then it generally comes to either who is more aggressive or who is bigger
Being that neither seem to be all that aggressive, for me, it comes down to strength and fitness (and motivation of course)
Dorothy takes it due to superior fitness
Depends on how much each of them depends on those glasses.
Probably not. Many people are assuming that Dorothy would fight back which is foolish. To kick Dorothy’s ass, Lucy would have to catch her first and Dorothy has done cross country and goes jogging every morning. Dorothy could triple lock every entrance point to her room before Lucy remotely catches up.
In an actual fight though, because neither is particularly prone to fighting, Dorothy’s known fitness gives her the advantage in speed, power and endurance. So as long as she didn’t mess up her first hit and Lucy doesn’t secretly take martial arts or self-defense, Dorothy would likely win on the basis that it would likely only take one hit for Lucy to give up as she likely doesn’t have a particularly high pain threshold and Dorothy would immediately feel bad about it if she actually hit her that hard. Or Dorothy would injure her hand by throwing a terrible framed punch that isn’t even that hard but Lucy’s niceness would take over and she’d throw the fight by trying to help Dorothy.
In essense: I do not think Lucy could win and I think they are both too nice to actually fight. Even if they tried, I think a single hit would end it and Dorothy has the advantage for speed so I predict she is the one that would most likely successfully land it before guilt and niceness consumes them and renders them unwilling and unable to continue.
*Plays “Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven on Voxola PR-76 Radio*
Got beaten to the draw again.
*plays “I’m Burnin’ for You” on the hacked Muzak*
You still have time. You still have time. Scream “3-way”. Take what you can GET.
First my brain went ‘Sloppy seconds.’
Then my brain went ‘Sloppy Joes’.
Then my brain showed Joe going “hell yeah!” with finger guns.
So that’s why they call them Sloppy Joes!
God I hope Joe does call “sloppy seconds” Sloppy Joes. Granted I’d love it if Danny and Joe were in a threesome. I think that is the final evolution their friendship can take.
Hangry peripherals, sloppy joes…. hmmm….
Well, I guess one of the best ways to the heart is the stomach!
What’s next?
“hell yeah!”
As a Scream fan I just read “Scream 3” and completely ignored the “way” for several seconds.
Now I just want a Lucy x Walky (and others if they feel like watching) movie night where they watch all the Scream movies.
Or Lucy in a Ghostface costume trying to stalk and kill Walky (and her competition), but failing cuz she’s too nice.
Ah yes, the harem conflicts begin.
Errrrg.
Lucy, you’re cute, I like you, you CAN do better than Walky, but perhaps he’d still be a good growth experience, and hey, maybe fun’s more important than “better” anyway… I’m rambling… but getting to the point….
… you don’t have grounds to be jealous or possessive unless you actually stake a claim. Quit being indecisive, woman. If you strike out, that at least sets you free from agonizing. You get to move on rather than spending eternity in maybe-land. So shit or get off the pot! GRAH!
(Willis needs more opportunities for pornobucks, after all.)
Don’t give in to Becky, Willis. Don’t give in!
In the end, Becky gets to us all.
I think the best argument against #dotty is that Willis would fall into the OCD trap and go back to add #dotty to all previous appearances.
I’m trying to figure out why I don’t like Lucy. I don’t hate her or anything but I’m not rooting for her either. I’m still firmly in the Dorothy/Walky and/or Amber/Walky camp(s).
I’m confused because nothing Lucy has done has made me dislike her yet I don’t want to support her either.
for me shes just kinda…boring?? theres nothing wrong with her at all, she’s super nice and cute, but she doesnt stand out like most members of the main cast do
We haven’t really seen her struggle the way we have the rest of the cast, unless I’m forgetting something.
There’s some vague hints that she wants desperately to be liked and got jealous when Jennifer effortlessly became the Cool One in the dorm by virtue of being an ex-cheerleader… but that’s pretty much it, yeah, and it’s nothing compared to the leads. Could see her in this holding pattern because she suspects Walky doesn’t like her back but didn’t want the full rejection, but for now that’s implied if so.
Honestly in a lot of ways the character she reminds me of most is early Danny. Sweet enough, but a bit too passive to really get what they want.
You wonder if “you can do better” comments from Booster aren’t necessarily just “Walky is immature and a slob and unattentive” but that Lucy is looking for someone who makes her feel better than she feels all the time?
I don’t know how to phrase that without making Walky sound like a bad person, that Lucy *shouldn’t* want to date him because “well, look at him”, so I wonder if it’d be worth approaching it from the idea that Lucy goes after Walky because Lucy feels that someone like him who is outwardly immature and you have to dig deep to get into the more noble and caring parts of him is the best chance she has at being wanted and valued by another person?
Kinda like how Danny kept latching his self worth to his romantic partners.
Maybe. Hard to say WHAT is really driving Lucy’s crush to ‘keep following him around for months despite no positive signals of interest’ levels – I’d imagine pure attraction would wear off after a while there. He’s cute, he’s a nerd in ways she shares, but he’s also still really immature in ways that aren’t just quirky but ‘dude you have some serious toxic masculinity to deal with’ (see: not wanting to admit that all his actual friends are women) and he’s either missed 8,000 hints due to trauma and preoccupation or is catching them but not sure how to deal with Just Not Being Into Her. So there has to be something sustaining it beyond just being cute, and it’s noticeable that she went from ‘constructing elaborate romantic fantasies between strangers’ to crushing when Jennifer basically went ‘go for someone available, unrelated dork like Lucy.’ Maybe it’s just that her internalized lack of popularity makes her think she isn’t potentially romantically desirable to a lot of people, whereas Walky was set up as attainable? I dunno, we really haven’t delved deep enough into Lucy to have much of a grasp of her yet.
Honestly, Lucy reminds me of one of the freshman kids that was in the gym class I TA’d my senior year of high school. Nice, sweet girl, but not someone who particularly stood out in any way
I’ll be honest. Lucy just…bores me. She’s thoroughly unremarkable in any particular way. She’s not a dumpsterfire of a person, she’s not super driven to be the next president, She’s not overly particular and religious. She’s just. A girl. Liking Walky is like…the most interesting thing about her, and when you’re being defined by your crushes that’s a tough spot to be in.
I think I like her because she is well…normal (for lack of a better word)
That is EXACTLY why I like her. XD I’m at that stage in life where the thought of having someone who’s sane, reliable, got it together is WAY more appealing than dating someone who still has issues, nursing years-old grudges, or lacking the maturity to realize that their “quirks” like always being late are just euphemistic character flaws.
Indeed
That is a fair point, I admit I remember her solely as “girl who likes Walky” whenever I can’t remember her name.
This is also how I feel.
Even setting aside my own dislike of Walky, Lucy barely feels like a character and all there is to her is that she has the hots for him. I don’t even know what she’s about as a person.
Lucy has potential. Like Daisy.
you just summed up exactly what i was thinking with better vocabulary than mine!! she needs more than just “nice girl who likes walky”
I’m kinda rooting for all three ships at the same time, which makes things interesting.
I can see that.
lucy needs to move on. she started crushing on walky in late september/early october and it’s january now, i highly doubt anythings gonna happen between the two of them
That’s not very long.
i guess not. three months isnt *really* long, but it feels kinda long for a lingering crush
No dumbiverse art today but Lucy’s wallpaper reminded me I drew some TTG doodles the other day.
https://imgur.com/a/GWdG3Oe
She’s got legs! (Never watched the show, but I did see Beast Boy’s excitement over this realization).
Yoto, you should definitely design some of your own characters, snag an unpaid colorist and start your own strip. Snag an unpaid writer if need be, or adopt other people’s stories with the serial numbers rubbed off.
I think it’s cute that you think I Don’t have characters of my own. I have like…4-5 different comic series planned at any given time. I’m just a lazy asshole.
You have some comic ideas and you haven’t acted on them? I have been saying for years you need to do a webcomic. The world need to see your talent, and I would love to add a webcomic of yours to my collection.
😛
There’s SUPER! about a superpowered teenager with a crush on low level hero boy. Slice of life coming of age about a girl who’s stronger than everyone (basically OPM but also Supergirl but not intentionally :P)
There’s Magical Jo! about a trashy magical girl who found a magical moodring that gives her different powers based on her emotions. She fightes using a combo of magic and MMA.
There’s Buttercakes. A comic about Angie Castella, a girl with a rocking body, a doofy face, and an insatiable sexual appetite in her neverending goal to get laid.
There’s Vermin. A comic about a bunch of animal characters, starring Muffy, the antisocial skunk with a bad temper.
Clover & Sweetgrass. A comic about a woman named Clover who used to be the world’s strongest fighter who loses her arm in a train crash. Now with a cyborg arm she’s traveling the world to achieve her dream of being a famous musician alongside her new musical savaant friend with robot legs, Sweet Grass. It takes place in a modern fantasy world.
Amelia Ammunition. A woman travels across war torn post apocalyptic America to get revenge on her father for killing her mother.
And those are just off the top of my head. But also I don’t have the skill, knowledge or the drive to start any of these ideas, though I’m sure I’d have fun on any of them.
Hey I’d sign onto your patreon any day.
😛 I DO have a patreon. I just don’t really post anything to it. Because y’know. I just doodle.
Several of those sound promising. You already have accomplished the hardest part, you can draw very well. And it is apparent that you have the storytelling skills. Pick one (or two) of those, flesh out a plot and characters, let them go and run with it. One of those even sounds like a good slipshine candidate. Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, you can say you did it, which is more than most can say.
I am in the opposite situation, I have had characters, plotline, story arcs etc. all laid out, for many years now. My issue is I can’t draw well enough to do what I want to do, any maybe I never will, however it has inspired me to work on that part. I can clearly see your talent, both for the art and the storytelling, which is a rare combination, and is why I keep encouraging you to give it a try.
But Yoto already has an unpaid colorist, lol.
mike-missing intensifies
So does that mean now would be a time to point out I got bored and change my gravatar again?
*changed
Fuck you, phone. I absolutely put a d on the end of that
“That” being their mom. For a nickel.
excellent avatar. one of his finest moments.
Dorothy is now a confirmed member of the “speak ill of dead assholes all you want” club.
I think lots of people are in that club, at least I certainly am.
Oh no! Has the alpha sweetie been out-alpha-sweetied?
Is the joke that the characters don’t realize he drew Mike, or that they’re PRETENDING not to realize he drew Mike? I am legitimately confused.
Or maybe they are tiptoeing around him since it still feels raw for Walky. He definitely had mixed to negative feelings about his late roommate but maybe he misses him too. That and/or he’s traumatized by his hospitalization – which concurrently happened with Walky being kidnapped – and passing.
Not certain, but I’m leaning towards ‘they know but neither of them really has a clue how to acknowledge and broach the subject, especially with an unwilling Walky, because there’s so many layers of messed-uppedness in play.’ Or at least, I can’t see Dorothy not recognizing Mike, and Lucy’s ‘Y-yeah’ suggests she does too.
Huh, I just read the “y-yeah” as Lucy being uncomfortable talking to Dorothy at all, since she’s, you know, a romantic rival. I do think it would be nearly impossible for Dorothy to not recognize Mike, but I don’t recall if Lucy ever interacted with Mike once, so I would find it plausible if she didn’t for sure recognize him.
What are you talking about? That’s not Mike, that’s Professor O’Ryan. They just said so.
I’m half-convinced the joke is that WE are all focusing on Mike being on the strip, while everyone else is just curious about Bart being in it.
Eh, there’s clearly some unresolved emotions on Walky’s part about Mike’s death – the scene with Booster taking pictures and Walky expecting them to be pranking him, and his reaction to ‘you can be sad’ both suggest it, and his blunt discussion of Mike’s death post-skip reads a lot like ‘I don’t know how to feel about this’ bluntness and shutting down conversation. Might be the punchline, but taken with the other subtext I think it’s still going to come back around later.
Okay, my current prediction… Dorothy will proposition Walky, but thinking of her future, he’ll turn her down. Then when he comes back and tells Lucy what happened, Lucy, overcome with emotion and hormones, will grab him, kiss him, and push him down onto the bed
Does that sound like a series of events that Willis would write?
There’s taking it slow, taking it glacial, taking it tectonic, then whatever speed you call how Lucy’s taking it.
Gotta step on the gas, kiddo. This way never works.
It’s DoA speed, in which one day takes about 8 months. By my calculations, that means that the Dumbingverse is traveling away from us at about 99.999% of the speed of light. That’s why it’s so slow.
….
THAT IS TOO HOW SPEED WORKS!
She’s gotta be way more direct as well, because as far as I can tell Walky definitely isn’t getting her hints so far.
And yet he was sitting alone with her on her bed committing art. Slow but steady sometimes wins when all the other cars crash first, even if that’s not the way to bet.
On the other hand, Lucy, at least this way, neither Walky nor Dorothy can realistically blame you for what happens next.
Oh, it’s sad when you don’t get time to approach some hot people. Your time to get next and to show your desire, versus the amount of attractive and hotter people that can get it as fast as they can.
Press F for Lucy.
Dean McHenry really does a great recruiting job at IU: Alan, Alex, Doc, Robin, Bart… impressive faculty, indeed. I’m starting to worry Leslie and Vivian will be fired for not reaching their incompetence targets.
I have no idea how Vivian teaches, but Leslie is NOT a good teacher. Second Alex seems to have it together, and we don’t know about Bart, unless I’m failing to remeber a strip.
That’s why you don’t let your legs fall asleep. And Lucy really needs to be more direct because Walky seems to have missed all the hints she’s been sending so far.
Lucy’s silent anger towards Dorothy will slowly grow stronger. One day she will explode and attack her without mercy destroying her ability to play tennis for a long time, if not forever. Obviously Walky will never be able to forgive her.
Never forgive Dorothy for forcing him to exercise by playing tennis? … sounds about right.
Absolutely! Tennis is the worst!
Oh man, Lucy’s overwhelming meekness is bringing back the memories. I want to be annoyed with her getting upset at people who know what they want and actually take the leap of faith to pursue it, but if she learns that lesson in freshman year she’ll *still* be ahead of when I did.
Always ship the exes to Abu-Dhabi.
“or more like… 50 minutes”
… “..it’s a big enough umbrella… but it’s always me who ends up getting wet…”
Am I allowed to post CUCK!!! ? I’d say it’s appropriate
The only words I know to describe “a character for whom we are supposed to have empathy for because of their unrequited love they have yet to do or say anything to act on” are that and friendzone, and they’re both terribly abused words from terrible people that only get to propagate because they’ve been around so long that normal people unaware of the fuller context of those words start using it to mean “a person who fails to reach a romantic/sexual relationship with the person they are pursuing” in any circumstance.
I guess that is a question: What is the word to define failing to enter a relationship with the target of your affections, something that is pretty common and easily understood by swaths of the audience, without using the specific words that, inherently, devalue the notion of a friendship as a stepping stone or consolation prize to a romantic relationship, which is supposed to be some hypothetical endgame achievement?
God I feel weird even talking about this as clinically as I am.
Sounds closer to SIMP to be honest but obviously the real term is unrequited love. A feeling I know intimately.
I mean yeah there’s that one too but I also view it as the same level of pejorative just in a different direction. A cuck fails to claim their prize and a simp moons after it. Why do I have to know these things.
But yeah unrequited love is something that literally everybody with romantic inclinations will feel at one point in their lives, so I’m wondering how to define that when discussing a character with unrequited love in a time where I almost feel when experiencing stories about unrequited love there’s almost this need to make sure it’s not a story about the Friend Zone.
I remember in Ms. Marvel for example, where Kamala’s best friend Bruno was head over heels with her but she didn’t know, and when his brother calls him friendzoned he hits back that friendship is not a zone and only jerks would devalue friendship, except we are still talking about a character who absolutely does value that friendship but *really* wishes he was Kamala’s boyfriend because he’s been in love with her since he was a kid and wants to marry her.
I obviously do not think less of Lucy for having a crush on Walky she’s too timid to vocalize because I’ve got a glittering neon side pointing at me that says Been There, but I feel like I’ve seen this kind of story for so long that even the discourse around “friendship is not a zone” feels old too.
Maybe it really just is as simple as using “unrequited love” to define it as an example of it as a positive story, except a lot of the time “haha this character got friendzoned” is a reaction from the audience. I almost wish friend zone wasn’t a term used by The Worst People, because it does sound like a handy shorthand to describe “I like my friend but they do not like me back” if one can strip away the intended purpose of “friendship is a zone that keeps you from a romantic relationship,which is obviously what you are supposed to reach for and not doing so makes you weak and being rejected means they don’t want you.”
I would love to see both of those terms DIAF.
:p
Hehe. ‘Borrow’
To be fair, we don’t know what Dorothy actually wants with Walky and neither does Lucy. I mean, we can guess but …
So Dorothy needs to see Walky, so she walks all the way to another building on the off chance he is with Lucy? Why wouldn’t she just phone/text him? This generation is surgically attached to their textfacetikgrameme devices after all.
I think she intends to do a lot more than “see” him.
I can feel the vines tangling