Wouldn’t say that. Lucy and Dorothy are obviously very different personalities and people. They do share the same, “They’re better than me” realm in Walky’s head but that doesn’t mean he thinks of Lucy as a replacement.
Definitely. The one comparison he has is “too good for me, and just stupid enough to love me”. Neither of those are actually remotely about either of the girls in question or really about his feelings towards either of them, and are exclusively about Walky’s feelings about himself. He’s not good enough for either of them. The only way either of them would love him is by being a little bit stupid in the love arena. That’s all about him there.
Initially, it was her grades slipping, then she ended it again when she felt she was yo-yo’ing him, because she knew he’d take her back whenever she wanted, only to get hurt again.
Both directly and indirectly he was at fault for why things didn’t work out for his past relationships. He’s being down on himself for it but he’s atleast trying to be better for the next person.
I don’t think that’s really true for Dorothy. They both made mistakes but I think Dorothy is arguably more at fault. She couldn’t manage herself well when with him and decided to prioritize her grades over her relationship. I can’t in good conscience put much blame on Walky for that. He did ruin things with Amber though.
I don’t know about that, when Dorothy and Walky were a thing she made it clear her grades came first. Sometime passed and they got closer than they should have and he started to struggle academically and she dropped everything to make him her first priority which was bringing her down.
That’s the part I’d say it was indirectly because of him, maybe it wasn’t fair to it was his fault though and Dorothy did do something wrong though.
Eh. That’s kind of mixed for me. Walky’s grades don’t have much impact on their relationship. He could’ve failed his class and still dated Dorothy. The fact he passed anyway undercuts part of their justification for breaking up which means it was pretty weak. The problem was Dorothy was doing things like watching cartoons, chasing Amazi-girl,fucking Walky, and sleeping in instead of studying for her self imposed heavy course load. Dorothy spread herself too thin, that plus the eventual goal of transferring to Yale broke her resolve. She felt like she was stringing him along. But it’s not Walky’s fault she liked him too much.
Yep before action he went character development rant about responsibility and decide to cancel action but Amber do it during his rant out of frame and done before he decide to cancel
Yeah, like he could have told the school, but doing so would have got Amber in trouble. I do think there’s a difference between implicating himself for something he did, and implicating someone else in something he was not party to.
How? The Lad is finally thinking about the feelings of other people. The fact that he is seeking advice is character growth and the first indicator that he is becoming an adult. He never questioned how his behavior affected others before. This struggle he is experiencing is GOOD! Our baby-boy is growing up!
How easily people forget and accept Walky’s surface presentation.
This is the same Walky that decided he was going to have to break up with Dorothy so she wouldn’t fall more behind on her schoolwork. He plays the fool, but he can be as much of an adult as anyone else in the comic when he needs to.
I’m legitimately surprised by Walky here; I know he had some difficulties with breaking up with Dorothy, but I didn’t realize how much he really loved Dorothy.
I’ve just been accused of doing it often enough when I failed in other contexts by other people to have picked up on the meaning. I expect Walky is much the same.
Is Walky saying that the only reason he’s with Lucy is because he’s guilty about breaking up with Dorothy? Or because he doesn’t think anyone else would take him? Or both?
Seems more like he realises he has a second chance at a good relationship and he’s trying to cut off all the problems from last time before they can come up again. This is called “pattern recognition”, but some folks like to call it “paranoia”.
I think paranoia is driven by when pattern recognition goes into overdrive? I know for me I run into issues with a anxiety spiral because my pattern recognition is good but I’ll fall into overanalyzing things rather than letting the past rest.
Is it possible to have people literally out to get you and to acknowledge that without being paranoid about it then? (“I’ll take reasonable precautions and live my life, and if it comes up again I’ll get law enforcement involved and get a restraining orders hopefully that makes it go away if need be?”)
Is not having a Facebook because you have a stalker like, paranoïa? Is it reasonable precaution?
I would say its Paranoia when pattern recognition becomes an all-consuming part of your life. Questioning if whether saying “I love you” too soon or too late might ruin a relationship due to past experiences is fine and healthy. Questioning if selecting cheetos from a vending machine might ruin a relationship is not.
I think closer to the second, but he’s not saying that’s the only reason, in either case. He seems happy with her, but sees potential for hurt feelings or worse due to this misunderstanding.
He’s not saying no one else would take him, he’s saying someone THAT GOOD wouldn’t normally take him (other than the now two women who have). He remains perfectly confident in his ability to score fellow garbage (note how he does not count Amber).
Or he might realize that someone who physically assaults you for being (admittedly) an ass is not a ‘good’ person and you’re probably better off out of that relationship.
He wants to enjoy his time with Lucy and for her to enjoy it to. He also doesn’t want to ruin it idiotically because of his short comings like he’s done before.
Neither, I think. He’s saying that he thinks Lucy is too good for him, and he’s learned from his experience with Dorothy that he would regret messing up that relationship — and you could infer from that (if you feel uncharitable) that he’s staying with her only out of obligation because he thinks she’s too good an opportunity to pass up, and not out of any genuine affection. I don’t think he’s saying that. I think he’s saying he likes Lucy, cares about their relationship, and wants it to last.
HAPPY DUMBING DAY*, EVERYONE! What’s Dumbing Day, you ask? Why, it’s a holiday I made up! We celebrate DUMBING DAY on whatever date (month and day) in real life that happens to correspond to the current in-story date of DoA, according to reasonable* deductions/assumptions* we can make about that. And according to those deductions/assumptions*, as currently espoused by Walkypedia (well, extrapolated from what’s currently there), the current storyline (“Turning Saints Into the Sea”) takes place on January 19, which is today! (Of course, this storyline takes place on a Wednesday, whereas today is Thursday, but we always ignore that part.)
So celebrate! How do we celebrate? By doing whatever our cast does. So this year, get out there and get assessed for autism, ditch school to bug your misanthropic big sister, try to get your undeserving dedocumented boyfriend his old job back, give your secret crush a revealing drawing in front of a naked lady, claim your dead roommate is actually alive just for the lols, and baby your friend so much she invites you to climb out of her asshole. And as always, part of the celebration of Dumbing Day is guessing when the next Dumbing Day will be. Put me down for January 23, 2024.
*The asterisks in the above post are there to acknowledge that, sadly, there is already a bit of a Schism in the Church of Our Dumb Religion. For the assumptions I (and Walkypedia, at the moment) are making to determine the date are not shared by everybody. You can see the debate under last year’s celebration, which I will try not to rehash, and simply state that calendrical(? lol) continuity compels me to the conclusion that this storyline is on the 19th. Those who disagree, well, you can celebrate your Dumbing Day tomorrow 🙂
**The whole belated debate last year is perhaps a bit ironic, because I actually got the Dumbing Date wrong last year, claiming it was Jan 14th when it was actually Jan 15th — I think. I don’t know how I fucked that up. Unless I’m wrong again and actually fucking it up NOW. God I hope I’m not fucking it up now!
Anyway, previous Dumbing Days for reference:
Jan 15, 2022 (? lol)
Jan 10, 2021
Oct 18, 2019
Oct 14, 2018
Oct 10, 2017
Oct 4, 2016
Sep 27, 2015
Sep 23, 2014
Sep 18, 2013
Sep 12, 2012
The only one of those things that is a viable option is trying to get assessed for autism, and I had no luck with even meeting someone, either because Medicaid isn’t enough or our choice of doctors in the area needing more to be desired, I’m not sure which.
I relate to Walky a lot and this is the biggest reason. Walky has a similar amount of self loathing as I do. It’s hard to love yourself when you feel you don’t deserve better.
Idk if the words of an internet stranger will mean much to you but, for me, it never hurt to see a little bit of light in unexpected places. So let me say that, no matter what anyone says, you do have the right to look at yourself in the mirror and say something positive to yourself (or to perform other acts of self love). I see that worthiness in you, just as that worthiness is in everyone. Even if that worthiness is obfuscated in your eyes, it’s still there and I hope that soon you’ll be able to see it for yourself as well
They barely knew each other at that point, and certainly weren’t dating. I doubt Lucy actually thinks he loves her. She’s just embarrassed because she wouldn’t mind hearing those words in a more serious situation.
Well, then it’s a matter of explaining the difference of “I love you” and “I’m in love with you”, Walky does care of Lucy but that first time could be easily interpreted in a platonic matter. After all it was Dorothy herself that said “Love can mean a lot of things.”
What was supposed to set Lucy apart from his past relationships were that they were supposed to have time to do somethings right, not have a set amount of time for it to end or to rush into it without knowing enough about each other. This is Lucy’s first go at a relationship she’s falling fast and hard but she should focusing on enjoying it will it last.
Last panel of https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/pretending/ and first panel of the following strip is the referenced incident, which happened earlier today in-comic. The one you’ve linked is from pre-timeskip (3 months ago in-comic) and unlikely Walky even remembers it (Lucy might, but given the intervening most-of-3-months of not dating her, probably realizes that that was not literal)
Maybe it’s just because I’m a jaded old man past 30 but I feel like Walky has massively over complicated this and if he just copy and pastes what he just said to Dorothy to Lucy he will be sitting pretty. Honesty is simple.
In this realm, the simple, honest, and obvious thing is *always* the wrong thing to do, because if it wasn’t things might work out well, and we can’t have that…
That’s because it is a rejection. Walky doesn’t reciprocate the feelings Lucy has for him. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like her or that any decision has to be permanent. I don’t get why there’s a sense of fragility to Lucy, like she’ll just crumble to pieces cause Walky isn’t there yet after dating for a week.
Walky suddenly looks more mature/less like a kid, especially in that first panel. Also, the truly responsible/mature way of handling this would be to tell Lucy about the mistake and that he doesn’t want their relationship to be built on a mistake, and he wants those words to come when they feel right for him. Not sure if he is ready for such frankness yet.
To be fair, the people at Harvard would definitely not respect her. People who go to Harvard don’t go to Harvard for an education, like Dorothy seems to think, they go there for the CONNECTIONS.
To a certain extent, that’s true of people in most humanities/social science majors going to ANY college. But in Dorothy’s case in particular, people who want to be President get good grades so they can go to Harvard/Yale in any given major, so they can get access to pre-law advisors to help them get into Harvard/Yale Law, where you STILL don’t necessarily learn what you need to know in your intended career—beyond the names and contact details of certain classmates, professors, and alums—because being a practicing lawyer is a means to the end of being a high-level politician for you.
I highly doubt Dorothy is unaware of this. In fact, I’m not sure I can recall a time when we did see her genuinely interested in learning—I couldn’t even tell you her major off the top of my head. Everything is about grades and resumes with her. She’ll fit right in.
Of course, people at Harvard still might not respect her because, as we’ve seen, she deeply struggles with charisma, which will put her behind in the networking game.
I don’t know about Yale, but she would fit in pretty well at Harvard. Most of their undergrads overextend themselves with extra curriculars. Lots of people who like to be busy. There are plenty of privileged kids but plenty of middle class kids too (also some extremely smart poor kids, but I have heard that transition is harder).
Also, do we know that she turned down Harvard? My impression was that she got in for next semester. It seems unlikely to me that she could reapply so soon in her first semester that she would be admitted for the second semester.
This (but Yale, as you said) was my interpretation too. And even if it were for this semester, there’s a good chance she could have requested to enroll in the fall term
You’re still not answering the question, Walky. >.< Do you love Lucy? (Or if this is still too early in the relationship, do you THINK you can love Lucy?) Or are you afraid that you might not find somebody better and so you're sticking with her because you're worried that this might be your "last chance"? Because take it from me, that kind of thinking usually leads to a LOT of pain and anger some years down the road.
That’s absolutely not a question that needs to be immediately answered, at least not as it’s being asked. It’s spelled out in the first sentence, that’s not the point anyway. Clearing up this miscommunication is way more important than offering a simple answer to a tangential question.
From “don’t want nothing festering to kick me in the balls later” to “[she’s] too good for me [and] stupid enough to love me” in the span of a couple panels.
Walky. Buddy. Please.
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Wow. Simultaneous ‘stupid’ and ‘
not stupidtoo good’. You are clearly a heavy-duty philosopher.Truly a Hegelian dialectic for the ages.
Willisian Dialectics:
Thesis: dumb decisions rule the land
Antithesis: Coming of age???
Thesis:… woops, Dumbing Of Age ™
Or: history repeats itself, first as a tragedy, then as a sitcom
Uncle Fester is going to kick him in the balls later?
Fester also refers to wounds or items that have begun to get worse and infected or rotting.
And that is indeed the meaning of Uncle Fester’s name!
Uncle Fester kicking Walky in the balls, confirmed.
That’s what I heard.
But judging by the last panel, he missed and got Dorothy instead. On account of facing the truth hurts.
Sounds like something he’d do.
he’ll shoot ‘im in the back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OnJt98B6Oc
Ooof. Well that’s no good. Lucy really is being used as replacement-Dorothy, huh.
Wouldn’t say that. Lucy and Dorothy are obviously very different personalities and people. They do share the same, “They’re better than me” realm in Walky’s head but that doesn’t mean he thinks of Lucy as a replacement.
Exactly. It really speaks more of Walky’s self-awareness/low self-esteem.
Definitely. The one comparison he has is “too good for me, and just stupid enough to love me”. Neither of those are actually remotely about either of the girls in question or really about his feelings towards either of them, and are exclusively about Walky’s feelings about himself. He’s not good enough for either of them. The only way either of them would love him is by being a little bit stupid in the love arena. That’s all about him there.
Which is… definitely tragic.
Oooff. I think you hit the nail on the head there.
Walky blames himself for he and Dorothy ending…Am I misremembering or wasn’t it all Dorothy deciding they were done?
Initially, it was her grades slipping, then she ended it again when she felt she was yo-yo’ing him, because she knew he’d take her back whenever she wanted, only to get hurt again.
“She finally saw me for what I was really worth” thinks the poor lad.
Yeah.
If he couldn’t get Dorothy to stay, that’s his personal failing, not hers.
(is his line of thinking).
Both directly and indirectly he was at fault for why things didn’t work out for his past relationships. He’s being down on himself for it but he’s atleast trying to be better for the next person.
I don’t think that’s really true for Dorothy. They both made mistakes but I think Dorothy is arguably more at fault. She couldn’t manage herself well when with him and decided to prioritize her grades over her relationship. I can’t in good conscience put much blame on Walky for that. He did ruin things with Amber though.
I don’t know about that, when Dorothy and Walky were a thing she made it clear her grades came first. Sometime passed and they got closer than they should have and he started to struggle academically and she dropped everything to make him her first priority which was bringing her down.
That’s the part I’d say it was indirectly because of him, maybe it wasn’t fair to it was his fault though and Dorothy did do something wrong though.
Eh. That’s kind of mixed for me. Walky’s grades don’t have much impact on their relationship. He could’ve failed his class and still dated Dorothy. The fact he passed anyway undercuts part of their justification for breaking up which means it was pretty weak. The problem was Dorothy was doing things like watching cartoons, chasing Amazi-girl,fucking Walky, and sleeping in instead of studying for her self imposed heavy course load. Dorothy spread herself too thin, that plus the eventual goal of transferring to Yale broke her resolve. She felt like she was stringing him along. But it’s not Walky’s fault she liked him too much.
He passed anyway because Amber hacked his grades. (And made him think she didn’t.)
She hacked his grades before the midterms. That’s not enough to actually pass the class unless he figured out how to study and was able to do better.
The hacking likely gave him some of the confidence he needed to put effort into it.
Very interesting.
Walky is, for any of his faults, a person of integrity.
And yet, he has regrets.
He has nice integrity for a math exam score cheater.
I’m still waiting for that uncle Fester to kick him in the balls
Does he even know about Amber altering test scores for him?
Yep before action he went character development rant about responsibility and decide to cancel action but Amber do it during his rant out of frame and done before he decide to cancel
Pretty sure she decided herself to raise them up to passing, in order to keep him around, and that he was surprised when he saw his scores
Yeah, like he could have told the school, but doing so would have got Amber in trouble. I do think there’s a difference between implicating himself for something he did, and implicating someone else in something he was not party to.
Well Walky certainly fumbled that.
Did he?
Fumbled what and how?
How? The Lad is finally thinking about the feelings of other people. The fact that he is seeking advice is character growth and the first indicator that he is becoming an adult. He never questioned how his behavior affected others before. This struggle he is experiencing is GOOD! Our baby-boy is growing up!
How easily people forget and accept Walky’s surface presentation.
This is the same Walky that decided he was going to have to break up with Dorothy so she wouldn’t fall more behind on her schoolwork. He plays the fool, but he can be as much of an adult as anyone else in the comic when he needs to.
No, he didn’t.
I’m legitimately surprised by Walky here; I know he had some difficulties with breaking up with Dorothy, but I didn’t realize how much he really loved Dorothy.
Speaking as someone with a Walky-level understanding of sports, I have absolutely picked up the term fumbling the ball through osmosis.
I was in high school band so I know way more about Football than I normally would.
Ayup.
Also, my grandmother was a huge football fan.
I got dragged to like one Canadian football game as a kid and paid attention to when the numbers went up and that’s about the extent of my knowledge.
I did a bit of fencing and archery, which was fun but isn’t really mainstream anymore and even there my understanding was pretty surface level.
I’ve just been accused of doing it often enough when I failed in other contexts by other people to have picked up on the meaning. I expect Walky is much the same.
Pretty much the only reason I went to any football games in high school was because I was in the marching band.
Also “fumble” is a pretty neutral verb.
Dorothy, you don’t need this kind of pain.
and so grows my continuous foreboding feeling that Dorothy is somehow going to have the biggest break/trauma of all in her growth arc
Is Walky saying that the only reason he’s with Lucy is because he’s guilty about breaking up with Dorothy? Or because he doesn’t think anyone else would take him? Or both?
Seems more like he realises he has a second chance at a good relationship and he’s trying to cut off all the problems from last time before they can come up again. This is called “pattern recognition”, but some folks like to call it “paranoia”.
I think paranoia is driven by when pattern recognition goes into overdrive? I know for me I run into issues with a anxiety spiral because my pattern recognition is good but I’ll fall into overanalyzing things rather than letting the past rest.
It’s not paranoia if you were right.
Nah, it’s still paranoia even if they are out to get you. It’s a mental state.
Is it possible to have people literally out to get you and to acknowledge that without being paranoid about it then? (“I’ll take reasonable precautions and live my life, and if it comes up again I’ll get law enforcement involved and get a restraining orders hopefully that makes it go away if need be?”)
Is not having a Facebook because you have a stalker like, paranoïa? Is it reasonable precaution?
Restraining order, not restraining orders. Autocorrect flipped it again while I was typing out restraining order just now, weird.
I would say its Paranoia when pattern recognition becomes an all-consuming part of your life. Questioning if whether saying “I love you” too soon or too late might ruin a relationship due to past experiences is fine and healthy. Questioning if selecting cheetos from a vending machine might ruin a relationship is not.
Sure, but that’s not paranoia.
It’s a mental condition. All combinations of having paranoia and having people out to get you are possible.
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”
The difference between Paranoia and Pattern Recognition can only be determined in hindsight :D.
I think closer to the second, but he’s not saying that’s the only reason, in either case. He seems happy with her, but sees potential for hurt feelings or worse due to this misunderstanding.
I think he feels like he doesn’t deserve love, but he still craves it.
He’s not saying no one else would take him, he’s saying someone THAT GOOD wouldn’t normally take him (other than the now two women who have). He remains perfectly confident in his ability to score fellow garbage (note how he does not count Amber).
He and Amber also didn’t get to the “love” stage, so that’s another reason he might not count her.
Or he might realize that someone who physically assaults you for being (admittedly) an ass is not a ‘good’ person and you’re probably better off out of that relationship.
Maybe, but he’s seemed to be friendly to Amber since then, so I don’t think there are any hard feelings.
He wants to enjoy his time with Lucy and for her to enjoy it to. He also doesn’t want to ruin it idiotically because of his short comings like he’s done before.
Neither, I think. He’s saying that he thinks Lucy is too good for him, and he’s learned from his experience with Dorothy that he would regret messing up that relationship — and you could infer from that (if you feel uncharitable) that he’s staying with her only out of obligation because he thinks she’s too good an opportunity to pass up, and not out of any genuine affection. I don’t think he’s saying that. I think he’s saying he likes Lucy, cares about their relationship, and wants it to last.
These two are cute together. They should date.
Agreed. Honestly I can’t imagine any issues with that ship. Let it sail!
Ouch, this one hurts ☹️ It was a mutual fumbling, Walky. You’re both 18 years old, there’s still a lot to learn on both sides.
HAPPY DUMBING DAY*, EVERYONE! What’s Dumbing Day, you ask? Why, it’s a holiday I made up! We celebrate DUMBING DAY on whatever date (month and day) in real life that happens to correspond to the current in-story date of DoA, according to reasonable* deductions/assumptions* we can make about that. And according to those deductions/assumptions*, as currently espoused by Walkypedia (well, extrapolated from what’s currently there), the current storyline (“Turning Saints Into the Sea”) takes place on January 19, which is today! (Of course, this storyline takes place on a Wednesday, whereas today is Thursday, but we always ignore that part.)
So celebrate! How do we celebrate? By doing whatever our cast does. So this year, get out there and get assessed for autism, ditch school to bug your misanthropic big sister, try to get your undeserving dedocumented boyfriend his old job back, give your secret crush a revealing drawing in front of a naked lady, claim your dead roommate is actually alive just for the lols, and baby your friend so much she invites you to climb out of her asshole. And as always, part of the celebration of Dumbing Day is guessing when the next Dumbing Day will be. Put me down for January 23, 2024.
*The asterisks in the above post are there to acknowledge that, sadly, there is already a bit of a Schism in the Church of Our Dumb Religion. For the assumptions I (and Walkypedia, at the moment) are making to determine the date are not shared by everybody. You can see the debate under last year’s celebration, which I will try not to rehash, and simply state that calendrical(? lol) continuity compels me to the conclusion that this storyline is on the 19th. Those who disagree, well, you can celebrate your Dumbing Day tomorrow 🙂
**The whole belated debate last year is perhaps a bit ironic, because I actually got the Dumbing Date wrong last year, claiming it was Jan 14th when it was actually Jan 15th — I think. I don’t know how I fucked that up. Unless I’m wrong again and actually fucking it up NOW. God I hope I’m not fucking it up now!
Anyway, previous Dumbing Days for reference:
Jan 15, 2022 (? lol)
Jan 10, 2021
Oct 18, 2019
Oct 14, 2018
Oct 10, 2017
Oct 4, 2016
Sep 27, 2015
Sep 23, 2014
Sep 18, 2013
Sep 12, 2012
Ok but consider: is fucking up not the most fitting way to to celebrate Dumbing Day?
Or just, you know, engaging in sexual relations?
Lol, indeed!
I’m making the same mistakes I’ve made before! Happy Dumbing Day
That is a reliable way to celebrate!
Both reliable and relatable!
Awe great, now I have two things to celebrate — Dumbing Day, and finally testing negative for COVID 🥲
Congrats
seconding the congratulations, COVID sucks
No shit! Long COVID symptoms are gonna impact me for months, the full effects of which I have not fully realized. 😭
On the other hand, I’m now collaborating with my professor to make games to help them teach their physics class!
The bridge between my two greatesr special interests, that which could be gate to my autistic PARADISE. So fucking happy!!! 😭😭😭 🥹🥹🥹
Congratulations on both your endeavors!
Rest and recover well, friend.
This is the beginning of the rise of The Wellerman, and a new glorious era!
Hear hear!
Awesome! Congrats twice over!
The only one of those things that is a viable option is trying to get assessed for autism, and I had no luck with even meeting someone, either because Medicaid isn’t enough or our choice of doctors in the area needing more to be desired, I’m not sure which.
Well you can always fall back on more traditional ways of celebrating, like throwing off your pants and shouting “IT’S THE RAPTURE!”
Mike, are you gonna get outta Walky’s head soon, or am I gonna have to crawl in there to force you out in a double-bypass reverse cosmic exorcism? 😑
OK, so if this strip is labeled “particular-2”, what was the first “particular”?
the middle part of the URL is kind of superfluous, so: https://www.dumbingofage.com/particular
Ah. Life hack… unlocked! Thank you, SuperPerson!
The punchline to that one is rather deep: It’s easier to try to be better than to try to be great.
Walky needs to work on his self esteem. Like damn dude.
We’re talking about a guy who likes keeping peoples expectations about him low.
I relate to Walky a lot and this is the biggest reason. Walky has a similar amount of self loathing as I do. It’s hard to love yourself when you feel you don’t deserve better.
Ain’t that the truth? :/
🥺
Idk if the words of an internet stranger will mean much to you but, for me, it never hurt to see a little bit of light in unexpected places. So let me say that, no matter what anyone says, you do have the right to look at yourself in the mirror and say something positive to yourself (or to perform other acts of self love). I see that worthiness in you, just as that worthiness is in everyone. Even if that worthiness is obfuscated in your eyes, it’s still there and I hope that soon you’ll be able to see it for yourself as well
<3
There’s at least two ways to interpret any sentence, taking it at face value or taking it to heart.
You messed up because Lucy has taken those to heart, not once but twice
I was about to comment that IMHO Walky isn’t really to blame for this most recent misunderstanding.
Then I clicked your link and remembered that *that* interaction also happened. Ooof.
They barely knew each other at that point, and certainly weren’t dating. I doubt Lucy actually thinks he loves her. She’s just embarrassed because she wouldn’t mind hearing those words in a more serious situation.
Oh we’re talking about- https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/proselytize/
Well, then it’s a matter of explaining the difference of “I love you” and “I’m in love with you”, Walky does care of Lucy but that first time could be easily interpreted in a platonic matter. After all it was Dorothy herself that said “Love can mean a lot of things.”
What was supposed to set Lucy apart from his past relationships were that they were supposed to have time to do somethings right, not have a set amount of time for it to end or to rush into it without knowing enough about each other. This is Lucy’s first go at a relationship she’s falling fast and hard but she should focusing on enjoying it will it last.
Last panel of https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/pretending/ and first panel of the following strip is the referenced incident, which happened earlier today in-comic. The one you’ve linked is from pre-timeskip (3 months ago in-comic) and unlikely Walky even remembers it (Lucy might, but given the intervening most-of-3-months of not dating her, probably realizes that that was not literal)
How did I miss that strip- oh wait that’s right I’ve been time off from the internet lately because of a personal project.
Lucy showing a lot of sideboob in that outfit, just saying.
First time I can relate to Walky, other than also being half Black 😛
Maybe it’s just because I’m a jaded old man past 30 but I feel like Walky has massively over complicated this and if he just copy and pastes what he just said to Dorothy to Lucy he will be sitting pretty. Honesty is simple.
In this realm, the simple, honest, and obvious thing is *always* the wrong thing to do, because if it wasn’t things might work out well, and we can’t have that…
but it requires saying that he doesn’t love her yet. And this is scary
Justifiably so, since she’s got it all built up in her head now. Making this not seem like a rejection won’t be easy.
That’s because it is a rejection. Walky doesn’t reciprocate the feelings Lucy has for him. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like her or that any decision has to be permanent. I don’t get why there’s a sense of fragility to Lucy, like she’ll just crumble to pieces cause Walky isn’t there yet after dating for a week.
Personally Lucy seems like she’s ready to crumble to pieces regardless of anything Walky does.
Laughs in Boomer over “old” 30 YO. I have broken bones older than you, that I got after I got married 45 years ago.
That’s never an easy position but I think it’ll be okay with some good old fashioned communication!
Rushes off to Patreon to see how well THAT went down. Not very Im guessing.
Walky suddenly looks more mature/less like a kid, especially in that first panel. Also, the truly responsible/mature way of handling this would be to tell Lucy about the mistake and that he doesn’t want their relationship to be built on a mistake, and he wants those words to come when they feel right for him. Not sure if he is ready for such frankness yet.
Which is clearly what he’s working up to, but it’s hard and scary because he’s already misled her and doesn’t want to screw this up.
I think his face is leaner, less roundness and more planes, or something like that.
Well, I see less “Walky is evil” posts today. That’s a pleasant surprise. I say less, there are definitely those who are dead-set against him above.
There’s always a subset who assume the worst.
He’s scared about this. Damn
In football terms, that’s what’s known as a [bat swinging motion] own goal.
Dorothy’s projection of “I know what I’m doing” came back once more to kick her in the… well, whatever.
Dotty, did you turn down Haward to stay with people who do not respect you?
To be fair, the people at Harvard would definitely not respect her. People who go to Harvard don’t go to Harvard for an education, like Dorothy seems to think, they go there for the CONNECTIONS.
To a certain extent, that’s true of people in most humanities/social science majors going to ANY college. But in Dorothy’s case in particular, people who want to be President get good grades so they can go to Harvard/Yale in any given major, so they can get access to pre-law advisors to help them get into Harvard/Yale Law, where you STILL don’t necessarily learn what you need to know in your intended career—beyond the names and contact details of certain classmates, professors, and alums—because being a practicing lawyer is a means to the end of being a high-level politician for you.
I highly doubt Dorothy is unaware of this. In fact, I’m not sure I can recall a time when we did see her genuinely interested in learning—I couldn’t even tell you her major off the top of my head. Everything is about grades and resumes with her. She’ll fit right in.
Of course, people at Harvard still might not respect her because, as we’ve seen, she deeply struggles with charisma, which will put her behind in the networking game.
I don’t know about Yale, but she would fit in pretty well at Harvard. Most of their undergrads overextend themselves with extra curriculars. Lots of people who like to be busy. There are plenty of privileged kids but plenty of middle class kids too (also some extremely smart poor kids, but I have heard that transition is harder).
Also, do we know that she turned down Harvard? My impression was that she got in for next semester. It seems unlikely to me that she could reapply so soon in her first semester that she would be admitted for the second semester.
*lawl, okay, also it was Yale, my bad, so she definitely didn’t turn down Harvard.
This (but Yale, as you said) was my interpretation too. And even if it were for this semester, there’s a good chance she could have requested to enroll in the fall term
Yeah, nothing says “disrespect” like “you are so much better than me that the fact you even dated me must mean there’s something wrong with you”.
I guess you could argue that putting someone on a pedestal is a form of disrespect.
Aw, Walky.
You’re still not answering the question, Walky. >.< Do you love Lucy? (Or if this is still too early in the relationship, do you THINK you can love Lucy?) Or are you afraid that you might not find somebody better and so you're sticking with her because you're worried that this might be your "last chance"? Because take it from me, that kind of thinking usually leads to a LOT of pain and anger some years down the road.
That’s absolutely not a question that needs to be immediately answered, at least not as it’s being asked. It’s spelled out in the first sentence, that’s not the point anyway. Clearing up this miscommunication is way more important than offering a simple answer to a tangential question.
I think he mostly has answered it, honestly. Just not directly.
He doesn’t love her … yet. But he thinks he could, given time.
Oof.
“Can’t dribble that ball across the plate and thru the uprights twice.”
The trouble with Walky is they always try to walk it in.
From “don’t want nothing festering to kick me in the balls later” to “[she’s] too good for me [and] stupid enough to love me” in the span of a couple panels.
Walky. Buddy. Please.
Walky, you’re gorgeous and funny.
It’s not about if you are stupid or not girls pick you up.
It’s heartwarming to see Walky so worried about ruining his relationship with Lucy. I hope they can be as happy together as possible.
Ouch, Walky.
How does that foot taste, Walky?