Not really. It’s not unusual for two (or more) movies with weirdly similar premises to come out in a short period of time. I’m not even talking copycats that are blatantly ripping off a successful film. Writers and producers live in a somewhat insular community. Since they’re likely to be exposed to the same news and trends, it’s not surprising they sometimes come up with similar ideas. I’ll grant you this particular bolt of lightning striking twice is a little odder than usual.
If your roomate dies, you get automatic As (cause you know trauma and stuff). And as we know, Walky has first hand experience in that subject.
Also really sorry I flagged you, it was a misclick
Y’know, I’m inclined to second this. I always thought Mike was the least interesting character, but he clearly had an affect on some of the others, so a big dramatic death really shook things up nicely and helped keep the others’ stories from potentially getting stagnant. He could have totally had a whole arc where he fully stopped being a pointless little prick and grew the fuck up, but that probably woulda taken years in real time. Now, we’ve spent some of that time dealing with the fallout of his falldown instead, and I dig it a lot.
It’s said that if your dorm room mate passes away, you get straight A’s in all of your subjects to compensate for the trauma. Unfortunately, Walky learned from the death of his own roomie that that doesn’t happen.
Nah.
Even with Joyce gone, Walky has enough dumbness to carry the comic.
At least until we get a replacement Joyce, possibly one with different values than her.
An Anti-Joyce if you will.
I’m pretty sure Walky’s had more experience than Sarah gives him credit for. He DEFINITELY fucked Dorothy. And he PROBABLY fucked or at least fooled around with Amber. For all we know he’s got more experience than Sarah.
I would easily guess Sarah is a virgin. She has a VERY small pool of people who she wants to get involved with, and she doesnt actually try to get close (physically or otherwise) to any of them
I think she got fed up with Liz stealing her boyfriends. Maybe she’s worried that if she gets a new boyfriend that Liz will sneak away from Ball State again and steal him.
Yes, but that was around the time he punched Asher.
They were supposed to stop messing around after he found out she stabbed Sal’s hand, but Sal gave her blessing and then Mike died, so they seemed to be messing around to some agree for the next two weeks until Halloween happened.
So they could have gone anywhere from cuddling to post coitus cuddling in that time frame.
Strike that.
I was wrong.
They didn’t see each other again until Halloween.
Which is kind of messed up now that I think about it since the only people she was close with were Mike, Ethan, Dina, and Walky (Amber, not Amazi-girl, though I guess she could have gotten close to Sal as Amber in that timeframe), which means the only person close to her who was around was Dina.
I think that, so far, Amber’s just had sex with Danny, which… has maybe only happened as Amazi-Girl, actually. Like, I don’t think Amber and Ethan went through with it, did they? Despite his mom’s pressure.
We know (via Slipshine) she did some stuff with Ethan, which was all very very awkward, and the flashback panel to the hotel room after prom has them still mostly clothed, which suggests Ethan came to his realization before they had a chance to really try anything too serious.
We were told that on panel before Mike died.
They were hanging out for two more weeks after that, most likely because Mike died, as Walky was supposed to be leaving her alone prior to that.
We do not know what that hanging out entailed, if it was just company or more.
I started wondering about, if the dead roommate thing were true, how common would it be for people to kill their roommates in an attempt to exploit that. Then I wondered if there have ever been cases where someone has killed their roommate because they *think* that’s true.
Any, real life cases of that would be too dark, but I’d check out a dark comedy where someone has a PhD and, like, a suspiciously long list of roommates who happened to die.
I wonder if that is Lucy’s problem? Is she so much of a Christian victim of propaganda and programming that she can’t masturbate? I anticipate delicious drama next page.
But she’ll probably just tell everyone her bogus third-date workaround. Which Joyce would rip to shreds, as a person who had been fully committed to complete and utter virginity until actual marriage and a person with current contempt for religious BS.
The third date workaround isn’t Christian. It’s a very common belief by many people that sex should at least be with people who they know more than completely casually.
See, I don’t understand this attitude at all from other atheists (I’m assuming you are one). It’s all a bunch of made-up bullshit anyway, what difference does it make to you if Christians pick and choose the parts they like as long as they’re not harming anybody? If anything it’s GOOD that they don’t follow every single thing in the Bible to the letter.
If I can’t stab a gardener as part of my weekend, what’s the fucking point of even being religious? You’re being really insensitive to those of us who take these things seriously.
Speaking as someone who’s neither Christian nor Atheist (it feels like a lot of people in BOTH groups feel like everyone is either one of those or the other) the problem I have with Christian cherry picking is that often they’re cherry picking parts that make life easier for them while insisting those of us who aren’t Christian must obey onerous portions of the bible.
They get to have their shellfish and their bacon because it’s a whole new covenant but gay marriage is a sin and shouldn’t be allowed by the state and other bullshit like that is what people are usually complaining about when they complain about them cherry picking.
If they like something, it’s “right” and “proper” and supported by their magic book.
If they don’t like something, or don’t want to admit they like it, it’s “a sin” and “wrong” and their magic book says they have to stop it by any means necessary.
And they can’t live and let live, so they must force their views onto the entire world “for your own good” or to “save” everyone, as long as the in-groups are protected and their scapegoat of the week is punished. That way they can feel good about themselves and await the next outrage du jour from their favorite bile-spewing grifter.
They “just” want everyone to live by their rules “or else”, is what I’m saying. If they genuinely believed in the values they say they’re taught, they wouldn’t be jerkass hypocrites about them.
They just love power, which is why (conveniently) they’re always on top in their world.
I feel like this attitude is very much determined by the Right Wing fundamentalist branch of the faith which is not even the majority. It’s a bit like, “All politicians are the same.” Which is a somewhat dangerous value given so much of the opposition is struggling against the billionaire hype machine of the fascist agenda (that uses Christianity as a prop).
Maybe if that non-majority weren’t so violent and aggressive, normal people wouldn’t be so cautious around Christians in general. It’s a little paranoid to assume they’re all like that, sure, but you can’t always tell who’s nuts right away and a lot of people aren’t willing to take the gamble. If someone mentions Capital-G God, I immediately try to end the interaction for personal safety, and I don’t think that’s so unreasonable.
‘swhy I don’t get offended at those who are generally/automatically and vocally distrustful of cishet white guys, because yeah, a lot of us are shit and a lot of people have learned the hard way that they need to be. :p
Cherry picking should be a fundamental fact of Christianity because Jesus literally taught it was how it should be done. Jesus said that whatever doesn’t serve God should be discarded. Why he was okay doing good on the Sabbath and saying honor killings were evil.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Lucy isn’t THAT repressed, since she has been, for all of her dorkery and hand-wringing, more receptive to the idea of having sex, and she is more able to express it explicitly, so she’s probably more likely to have gotten off before.
Granted, she strikes me as a “pillow rider”, versus owning a toy or the like, but who knows.
ngl if ppl could literally turn stony and such like this i’m sure ppl similar to walky as well as others would do this as much as possible to committ to the bit
I really wish Sarah would stop doing this to joyce. This isn’t what you do to a friend you care about. it’s just embarrassing someone for your own amusement. :c
Media analysis is when I’m upset that a character isn’t nice and socially acceptable all the time and the more I complain about it, the more analytical it is.
Lmao, hostility? Don’t be so paranoid, you’ll get stress lines. I’m well aware that one flag doesn’t do jack (or even diddly), I just like clicking the button. Also, people apologise for a single accidental flag, so I was playing off that for laughs. My own laughs, that is, which are the only ones I care about.
Not to take this too seriously but why would Sarah even MAKE a joke like that around Walky? Or at all? Kinda sucks and it’s not even going to get a laugh. I know she doesn’t care but she’s gotta care a little, right?
Walky is cool about sex. He’d probably surprised to find out Joyce wasn’t masturbating. Lucy, on the other hand, is probably picturing it and freaking.
Probably feels like fair play considering Joyce tried to shame her so much for masturbating. It’s in poor taste, but she’s not the one who decided to masturbate in a public place.
It also sets her up for some cosmic justice, like learning Joe and Joyce are together. I have a sneaking suspicion that’s not going to go over as well as it did with Becky and Dina.
It’s never fair play to tell others about someone’s pricate sex life. It’s a piece of shit move, especially considering Sarah knows how mortified Joyce would be. Joyce has done plenty wrong, but nothing she’s done justifies this. Sarah is being a major piece of shit and should be ashamed of herself. Walky and Lucy should be ashamed of her too. Just…damn dude. I dont even like Joyce and think this is fucked up.
Joyce has looked to Sarah as a big sister figure and a person she feels safe with since the beginning. Sarah betrayed that trust by telling Joyce’s personal business, about her sex life, to other people without permission. It was malicious in that she did it specifically to embarrass Joyce. Additionally, they roommates so Joyce doesn’t have the ability to have time away from Sarah to process Yes, a betrayal that big makes her a piece of shit.
Not sure if you two are doing a bit or just missing the fact that they’re talking about the reference to the urban legend about getting straight A’s if your roommate dies. Which Walky knows for a fact is just an urban legend because his roommate died.
But I’m betting on that being a speaking before thinking issue.
I’m not doing a bit, looks like I’m not the only one who read the comment as Sarah’s first poor taste joke. I don’t know if Jin’s overreaction to anything less than stellar any woman character does is a bit or not.
Sarah is riffing off of Walky’s joke about Joyce dying of embarrassment. I can see how someone might think that crossed the line too much, but not David “Mike is faking his own death” Walkerton.
I have to say, Sarah’s arc of abandoning empathy and finding joy in causing sufffering being played for comedy instead of the emotional weight it could have had, is a real shame. This could have meant something. Her becoming an awful person could have been dramatic, tragic, interesting. I could have bneen engaged. Instead, all I feel, is:
*Sigh* what an asshole.
Honestly, for a while it felt like her arc was going to swing the other way (strict/by the rules character slowly warming up and caring while maintaining their front)
It seems like post-timeskip Sarah is way more vested in having less empathy towards Joyce and everyone else.
Which is fine but I wish it was explored more. Cuz it just seems like she’s being *more* mean than usual? Like she’s normally a bit of a grump, and I could see it being her being… I guess fed up with all the drama and tragedy, and lashing out. But we haven’t seen much of her perspective/her internals/etc on a lot of it, which makes it feel like it’s mean for the sake of being mean/reveling in others misery.
In following the “[X] is the new Mike since Mike died” thought, since Mike was so overwhelmingly useless and harmful, as other characters become more like him they just get shittier without any payoff.
Okay, genuine discourse instead of more dumping on Mike.
As much as I agree with the take that Mike didn’t fit in well during the fall semester, his causticness not translating well to DoA’s more realistic environment, I find it odd that Willis killed him and then made DoA more wacky and meanspirited. Becky and Sarah both ramped up their pettiness (though Becky’s toned it down lately; her long-running beef with Dorothy finally starting to cool), and Dorothy finally found the long-suspected-but-never-until-now-confirmed bad bones in her body.
Every time someone goes “Ha ha, Joyce is a sexual being now,” I think of this strip.
I could be wrong, but I’m mostly certain Joyce never tried to “playfully” slut-shame Sarah in front of her friends the way Sarah is doing to Joyce right now.
Sarah seriously needs to get expelled for sexual harrassment. I’m sure some people won’t see it until Sarah starts sharing the secret photos and/or videos she’s been taking of Joyce masturbating rather than merely grossky violating her privacy in every other way.
It does feel like a step back from https://www.dumbingofage.com/touched/ But that’s how it goes sometimes, trying to be a bit better but not always nailing it*.
At least she hasn’t brought up the rest of it yet.
Feels more like attempting friendly ribbing and going to far than “abandoning empathy and finding joy in causing sufffering” to me, but I guess there’s room for interpretation.
Speaking Frank Welkerly, if we don’t see an actual execution in the next few chapters, I might have to start reading something more realistic. These dysfunctional characters aren’t being harmed enough for their mild vocal rudeness and it breaks my immersion.
No, I’m not alright! 😃 I’m emotionally volatile and on the verge of suicide on a near-daily basis. Mind your own business, though?
I’m not taking things nearly as seriously as I’m probably phrasing them, and that’s Fine, Actually. This comic isn’t as life-or-death as people wanna make it out to be, and I can actually make flippant remarks without it Being A Problem or some overall sign of not-alrightness. Don’t get familiar.
Hey, you don’t seem particularly combative to me– I do know that sometimes people here do get that way, and it can be concerning or upsetting but— in terms of the first paragraph… well, one time my therapist said to me, “I know you’re well-versed in crisis lines,” which is true and also felt like a very funny callout, and just, I would recommend the Trans Lifeline if you wanted to talk to someone? More consistently helpful than some others I know, and they’re not gonna call the cops on you.
Anyway, imagine if the person next to you just suddenly turned to stone. Would be kinda fucked, I think. Kinda problematic of Joyce to just turn into stone around people without getting their consent first.
That’s what I’m saying! She’s being very gross about this. They’re gonna have to track down a Medusa, get the venom out of her eye, it’s a whole fuckin’ THING that Joyce is just putting on her “friends” (more like victims), and nobody is really calling her out???
Far as the other thing goes, it’s probably oversharing in general, but they did ask. It’s honestly fine though, I’m not desperate enough to call a helpline (not that anyone else needs to be desperate, I’m only talking about me here), but I do appreciate the point-to. It’s always good to have reminders about that type of resource, even if I don’t use it.
Which song prompted the ELO Gravatar? I thought about referencing Turn to Stone up near the daily hacked Muzak post but that’s more about someone leaving than embarrassment.
That’s the exact song. Admittedly, I don’t pretend to understand the lyrics to almost any song in general, so I kinda went in a very literal direction with it.
So at this point, is it ok to recognize how fucking inappropriate Sarah is being?
She has steadily been rising the ranks of Most Asshole character ever.. I don’t even fucking care if she apologizes afterwards, I hope she fucking gets expelled for her constant sexual harassment of Joyce.
If anyone doesn’t think this is sexual harassment, imagine soneone at the workplace constantly commenting on a coworker’s sex life, no matter how private it was, no matter how uncomfortable it made them.
Get expelled, Sarah and live in poverty the rest of your miserable life.
Don’t know that Sarah can be expelled for that, though. Jobs have special rules, because money is a power dynamic that’s dangerous. Joyce should put in a complaint, though, she could get a new room mate, like Booster got for being dead named.
It is a definite overreaction to something that can be common amongst friends when it is an acceptable thing to make fun of. Joyce, as much as people like her, has been a holier than thou pita for at least half of the length of their friendship! Of course sarah, dotty, and becky have that social clearance to poke fun at her. Im pretty sure I’ve literally heard this same damn convo when i was in college. “Live in poverty?” Jesus christ
Okay, I’m not normally the Race Pointer-Outer, but like….? It’s a little weird to go straight to the poverty thing with the Black woman who explicitly needs grades-reliant financial assistance to stay in achool, right?
And like, I’m not trying to make any implications about anyone’s offline behavior, just to be perfectly clear. Maybe I should assume these unhinged and over the top sorts of comments are being played up for comedic/dramatic/erotic effect.
Dorothy crossed some boundaries, which would have justified Joyce yelling at her and asking her to not approach her again, if Joyce so felt like.
Sarah has already done the above previously, and now has escalated to deliberately exposing Joyce’s private life to numerous other people for the sadistic enjoyment of Joyce getting mortified.
It’d be equivalent to Dorothy just spreading around that she helped Joyce masturbate, rather than her merely doing so, and so spreading it *because* she maliciously knows Joyce doesn’t want it known.
There’s a different between some boundaries getting crossed, and letting the other person decide how to feel about that, and actively deciding to become Joyce’s enemy, taking joy in her hurt.
Dorothy was being very “ew” in that strip. I’m still kinda not over it. And she wasn’t even slightly remorseful about it?
First she assumed that Joyce didn’t know what masturbation was, when Sarah explained it in weirdly graphic detail to her a long time ago. She knows enough about it to object to it.
Second, she took away Joyce’s agency here. Even if Joe is, in her opinion, not the best fit for Joyce, she should be willing to let Joyce find out. It’s not like she’s gonna kill herself if Joe dumps her. And it’s not like Joe is a rapist or anything. As much as Joyce was offended by it, Roz was 100% in the right here.
Third, you might think there would be better ways to do this instead of in a public place? Where people go to do their laundry? Like, there was also a laundry attendant? Who probably has to watch if people are using the machines to masturbate?
Do you really think a Midwestern college is going to hire somebody to sit and stare at laundry machines all day? Maybe a dedicated laundromat would have that, but I feel like Joyce or Dorothy would have mentioned it if the school had one.
I’m mostly convinced the reason we got “Joyce, if you don’t want to do this…” instead of actual consenting “Hey. Want to learn how to masturbate?” is because there is no universe in which we cohesively go from “I know you literally shouted at us to leave your sexuality alone, but I know better than you,” to Joyce masturbating. That entire sequence will never not be gross.
Even if it’s a slightly new flavor, I’m growing real tired of the “and then Joyce cartoonishly overreacted to being perceived as a sexual being” punchline. I know these aren’t things that just Go Away in real life (i.e. religious trauma and purity culture), but the joke got old for me around the second time it was made and now it’s really starting to grate. I really hope we don’t get too many more
Honestly I think schools probably *should*, at the very least, give kids a bit of a reprieve if something traumatic like a roommate dying happens. Let alone all the other bullshit that’s happened to these kids in this strip!
I guess they gave Walky some kinda thing, unless he managed to get all his grades up to passing between Mike’s death and the end of the semester in December.
Freakin lost my mind at one point in college, professor had no problem giving me an incomplete in the class which gave me until the middle of the next semester to get work in to count toward my grade in the class. (Also, it worked so that it was until the next semester I *was enrolled in courses,* so when I had a medical withdrawal from classes in the next semester, it carried on until the fall semester when I was back.)
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I suppose Walky would know =/
(or WOULD he…??)
Ride or die Booster is Mike club.
Even if Booster is Mike, the school probably wouldn’t know, and would still treat Mike as dead
Narratively and essentially, yes.
But also, for real, no.
I truly hope this comic runs for years yet, but this would be a fantastic final strip.
There’s been a few of those
Joyce’s reality manipulation powers continue to manifest in stronger and stronger ways.
Yeah, I keep hoping this will turn into a subtle urban fantasy.
Joyce was secretly God the whole time. She’s been worshipping herself her whole life, she’s just found a new way involving a washing machine.
So Haruhi Suzumiya in Indiana?
The Melancholy of Joyce Brown?
I bet someone could write and put that up on Ao3
yare yare
Quick. Bring some Pikachu tears.
🥲 i love that reference
I mean, technically it was tears from ALL the Pokémon, both clones and originals, being moved by Ash’s Pikachu’s grief.
I just want to let you know… youre a very witty and funny person. Every strip i look forward to your comments
Anyone know what the urban legend in question is?
Automatic “A”s if your roommate dies, which is why Walky knows it’s not true.
That if your roommate dies, you automatically get A’s on your classes. Walky has some firsthand experience around this.
you get all A’s if your roommate dies.
lol, chorus
That if your roommate dies (commits suicide in some versions) you get straight As for being distraught.
The movie Dead Man on Campus uses it as a premise.
As does the movie Dead Man’s Curve.
A bit odd they had two movies in the same year with this urban legend as plot point.
Not really. It’s not unusual for two (or more) movies with weirdly similar premises to come out in a short period of time. I’m not even talking copycats that are blatantly ripping off a successful film. Writers and producers live in a somewhat insular community. Since they’re likely to be exposed to the same news and trends, it’s not surprising they sometimes come up with similar ideas. I’ll grant you this particular bolt of lightning striking twice is a little odder than usual.
It didn’t have to be suicide in Walky’s version.
If your roomate dies, you get automatic As (cause you know trauma and stuff). And as we know, Walky has first hand experience in that subject.
Also really sorry I flagged you, it was a misclick
Don’t worry about it. I think a number of people have to flag a post for it to not be assumed to be a false positive.
It’s still courtesy to point out it was a mistake, though, just in case
If your college roommate dies, you automatically get straight As; presumably for the trauma.
Kinda dark when you remember who Walky’s roomie was.
Why’s it dark? Mike dying was the best thing that’s happened to this cast in a minute.
don’t tell amber that
Or Ethan
Yikes.
Y’know, I’m inclined to second this. I always thought Mike was the least interesting character, but he clearly had an affect on some of the others, so a big dramatic death really shook things up nicely and helped keep the others’ stories from potentially getting stagnant. He could have totally had a whole arc where he fully stopped being a pointless little prick and grew the fuck up, but that probably woulda taken years in real time. Now, we’ve spent some of that time dealing with the fallout of his falldown instead, and I dig it a lot.
Yeah, without Mike to abuse Walky until he fits into whatever mold Mike wanted, he’s free to actually be a person.
I think you also get automatic As if ten or more people answer your question at once.
Very good!
Drat, I only got 6. You’re really letting me down, DOA comments section.
University give you As to ease your trauma/grief related to the death of your roommate. Walky learned firsthand that this was not true
It’s said that if your dorm room mate passes away, you get straight A’s in all of your subjects to compensate for the trauma. Unfortunately, Walky learned from the death of his own roomie that that doesn’t happen.
If it was true, I wonder if universities would have to warn students against killing roommates to salvage grades?
Oh my god, Walky knows 🙁
This is fucking amazing.
and that’s it, Dumbing of Age is over, great run everybody
Nah.
Even with Joyce gone, Walky has enough dumbness to carry the comic.
At least until we get a replacement Joyce, possibly one with different values than her.
An Anti-Joyce if you will.
I’m pretty sure Walky’s had more experience than Sarah gives him credit for. He DEFINITELY fucked Dorothy. And he PROBABLY fucked or at least fooled around with Amber. For all we know he’s got more experience than Sarah.
I would easily guess Sarah is a virgin. She has a VERY small pool of people who she wants to get involved with, and she doesnt actually try to get close (physically or otherwise) to any of them
Sarah did mention that her after-life sexual shame reel would run for quite a long time.
They have those?
Does everyone get to watch? Afterlife Movie Afternoons?
That’s Joyce’s belief. Was, I mean.
She has dated before, it was just stupid and she hated it.
I think she got fed up with Liz stealing her boyfriends. Maybe she’s worried that if she gets a new boyfriend that Liz will sneak away from Ball State again and steal him.
Liz could pop up from behind the Joyce statue right now, for all Sarah knows. She may have learned how to teleport while they were hanging out!
Sarah’s accurate account of first-time suggests she isn’t a virgin.
Great. Now I’m arguing with myself over whether or not Walky and Amber ever fucked. I’m betting they have.
Last we heard from Amber that I recall, the furthest they got was dry humping.
Yes, but that was around the time he punched Asher.
They were supposed to stop messing around after he found out she stabbed Sal’s hand, but Sal gave her blessing and then Mike died, so they seemed to be messing around to some agree for the next two weeks until Halloween happened.
So they could have gone anywhere from cuddling to post coitus cuddling in that time frame.
Strike that.
I was wrong.
They didn’t see each other again until Halloween.
Which is kind of messed up now that I think about it since the only people she was close with were Mike, Ethan, Dina, and Walky (Amber, not Amazi-girl, though I guess she could have gotten close to Sal as Amber in that timeframe), which means the only person close to her who was around was Dina.
Did I miss something?
We know they were both at Mike’s funeral at least. Why do you think they hadn’t seen each other?
Sorry.
Wasn’t thinking clearly.
She said she hadn’t seen Walky since…and then didn’t finish the sentence.
I’m HOPING they have.
Amber and Walky explicitly never had sex, but they did dry hump once to completion.
Like, that’s not even a guess, we are told this on-panel, interestingly enough.
So yeah, so far, it’s just been Walky and Dorothy that went “all the way”.
I think that, so far, Amber’s just had sex with Danny, which… has maybe only happened as Amazi-Girl, actually. Like, I don’t think Amber and Ethan went through with it, did they? Despite his mom’s pressure.
We know (via Slipshine) she did some stuff with Ethan, which was all very very awkward, and the flashback panel to the hotel room after prom has them still mostly clothed, which suggests Ethan came to his realization before they had a chance to really try anything too serious.
We were told that on panel before Mike died.
They were hanging out for two more weeks after that, most likely because Mike died, as Walky was supposed to be leaving her alone prior to that.
We do not know what that hanging out entailed, if it was just company or more.
Just checked.
I was wrong.
They hadn’t seen each other again until Halloween.
Oh no! She’s been petrified!
Gotta find Dina to make some revival fluid!
*plays “Chemical G Funk Mix” from DR Stone OST*
Joey! Let’s make some wake-up juice!
At first she was afraid, she was petrified?
Thinking she could never live without her dryer ride…
But she spent so many nights thinking about things hard and long . . .
It felt wrong…but she wanted Joe’s dingdong!
They’re holding haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaands
Quick, somebody cast Esunaon Joyce.
Off: Nobody here plays Final Fantasy, I suppose. ¬¬’
I’m more of an old-school fan. Have a SOFT for her.
That’s only for gameplay. For a story wound like this it’ll have to be SUPER SOFT
how about casting Stone to Flesh?
Joyce Superpowers:
– Force grow stubble on another person’s face.
– Turn to stone.
Also:
– Lizards enchanting.
– Teleportation
– Super strength/agility to leap into trees
sarah dont Tell People
How else will Sarah feel joy?
*checks cast list*
Uh, who’s Joy again, exactly?
Joy is Joe and Joyce’s official ship name.
(I mean, it SHOULD be.)
I thought their official ship name was Jojo! D: It fits so well with Joyce’s manifesting Stand powers and Joe being improbably buff!!!
I still like “Joece”.
I’ve heard that and Joece before, I just like Joy and am being facetious, like I would imagine Joy is, at best, a distant third.
It’s all cool, my complaint was also facetious and I’m a big Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure weebnerd.
I also came into th comment thread late, like a big loser, and missed hilarious Sarah-related groping implications
Yeah I’m reminded again that I wouldn’t be friends with Sarah. Not that she’d want me too. But, God.
It took me a minute to get Walky’s last line in the final panel, but once it hit…
Never having known the rumour, I had to read the comments to get it, and OUCH
You are not alone.
Sarah seems… oddly cheerful this morning.
Maybe Joyce has dragged her along on the furious masturbation trip.
Dunking on these three probably perked her up.
She got into Joe’s multivitamin gummies I see. She’s completely stoned! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
*rimshot*
I started wondering about, if the dead roommate thing were true, how common would it be for people to kill their roommates in an attempt to exploit that. Then I wondered if there have ever been cases where someone has killed their roommate because they *think* that’s true.
Any, real life cases of that would be too dark, but I’d check out a dark comedy where someone has a PhD and, like, a suspiciously long list of roommates who happened to die.
Someone mentioned one a bit further up the thread. Here’s the link.
Sounds like a Castle episode.
Sarah doesn’t know but Sal does. That smile’s not long for this world.
Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good…
Mr. Stark would give you better masturbation tips.
Mr. Stark would have an extremely clever vibrator of some kind
I was thinking more “Joycchi the Rock”.
Sounds like an anime title.
Joyce has sinned, so like Lot’s wife, God has turned her into a pillar of salt.
I find it amusing whenever Joyce complains about not believing in God or her sexual issues, to think of Willis as God.
SENZU BEAN!
I wonder if that is Lucy’s problem? Is she so much of a Christian victim of propaganda and programming that she can’t masturbate? I anticipate delicious drama next page.
But she’ll probably just tell everyone her bogus third-date workaround. Which Joyce would rip to shreds, as a person who had been fully committed to complete and utter virginity until actual marriage and a person with current contempt for religious BS.
And a person who knows that the third date rule isn’t actually in the Bible.
The third date workaround isn’t Christian. It’s a very common belief by many people that sex should at least be with people who they know more than completely casually.
See, I don’t understand this attitude at all from other atheists (I’m assuming you are one). It’s all a bunch of made-up bullshit anyway, what difference does it make to you if Christians pick and choose the parts they like as long as they’re not harming anybody? If anything it’s GOOD that they don’t follow every single thing in the Bible to the letter.
Right. Let them cherry-pick. We don’t want them murdering anyone for gardening on the Sabbath.
If I can’t stab a gardener as part of my weekend, what’s the fucking point of even being religious? You’re being really insensitive to those of us who take these things seriously.
Speaking as someone who’s neither Christian nor Atheist (it feels like a lot of people in BOTH groups feel like everyone is either one of those or the other) the problem I have with Christian cherry picking is that often they’re cherry picking parts that make life easier for them while insisting those of us who aren’t Christian must obey onerous portions of the bible.
They get to have their shellfish and their bacon because it’s a whole new covenant but gay marriage is a sin and shouldn’t be allowed by the state and other bullshit like that is what people are usually complaining about when they complain about them cherry picking.
It’s very simple:
If they like something, it’s “right” and “proper” and supported by their magic book.
If they don’t like something, or don’t want to admit they like it, it’s “a sin” and “wrong” and their magic book says they have to stop it by any means necessary.
And they can’t live and let live, so they must force their views onto the entire world “for your own good” or to “save” everyone, as long as the in-groups are protected and their scapegoat of the week is punished. That way they can feel good about themselves and await the next outrage du jour from their favorite bile-spewing grifter.
*eyeroll, sarcastic wanking motion*
They “just” want everyone to live by their rules “or else”, is what I’m saying. If they genuinely believed in the values they say they’re taught, they wouldn’t be jerkass hypocrites about them.
They just love power, which is why (conveniently) they’re always on top in their world.
Once again, George Carlin was right.
I feel like this attitude is very much determined by the Right Wing fundamentalist branch of the faith which is not even the majority. It’s a bit like, “All politicians are the same.” Which is a somewhat dangerous value given so much of the opposition is struggling against the billionaire hype machine of the fascist agenda (that uses Christianity as a prop).
Maybe if that non-majority weren’t so violent and aggressive, normal people wouldn’t be so cautious around Christians in general. It’s a little paranoid to assume they’re all like that, sure, but you can’t always tell who’s nuts right away and a lot of people aren’t willing to take the gamble. If someone mentions Capital-G God, I immediately try to end the interaction for personal safety, and I don’t think that’s so unreasonable.
‘swhy I don’t get offended at those who are generally/automatically and vocally distrustful of cishet white guys, because yeah, a lot of us are shit and a lot of people have learned the hard way that they need to be. :p
Speaking as a Christian, I have the same problem with that cherry-picking.
Cherry picking should be a fundamental fact of Christianity because Jesus literally taught it was how it should be done. Jesus said that whatever doesn’t serve God should be discarded. Why he was okay doing good on the Sabbath and saying honor killings were evil.
The difference is between serving God and serving myself.
A lot of more strident atheists come out of fundamentalist backgrounds, so they’re reacting directly to the hypocrisy in what they were taught.
It’s also easier to dunk on Christians if you treat it all literally, rather than engaging with the more nuanced theology of non-fundamentalist sects.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Lucy isn’t THAT repressed, since she has been, for all of her dorkery and hand-wringing, more receptive to the idea of having sex, and she is more able to express it explicitly, so she’s probably more likely to have gotten off before.
Granted, she strikes me as a “pillow rider”, versus owning a toy or the like, but who knows.
I’m pretty sure Lucy isn’t stuck in a “purity culture” mindset.
WELP, rip to Joyce. Long live the new main character! Whoever they may be.
I vote Sal as the new main character, or Carla perhaps.
Why not both? The Sal and Carla Show!
Because Carla does NOT share main character status, obviously.
That’s right!
She doesn’t get any at all.
At least she’s glowing because of that and not because of… other conventional matters.
*hums Like a Stone by Audioslave while transporting Stone!Joyce off-strip*
Aw, Lucy. Anyone else catch that look in panel 4?
Did she faint off-panel in the last panel?
Or rather, just off the last panel?
ngl if ppl could literally turn stony and such like this i’m sure ppl similar to walky as well as others would do this as much as possible to committ to the bit
Oh no! Who will carry the Matrix now?
Joyce has got the touch. Perhaps a little too much.
I really wish Sarah would stop doing this to joyce. This isn’t what you do to a friend you care about. it’s just embarrassing someone for your own amusement. :c
oh, no
Nope
Closer but no
I JUST WANT MY OLD AVATAR BACK MAN
sigh
Not quite
Still no
Your gravatar roulette looks like a bunch of people dogpilled your comment about Sarah it’s hilarious :’D
your lack of gravatar luck is your punishment for your tiresome moralizing comment
Talking about somebody else’s sex life in public when they aren’t comfortable talking about it is a dick move.
So what
If people were to stop calling out character behaviour they do not agree with we would have about half as many comments.
Yeah, but the post quality would go up, you see.
Perfectly balanced. As all things should be.
Can I borrow a cup of your optimism? It looks stronger than mine.
Some people like to analyze their media, my guy. If you don’t that’s cool but like. I do.
Media analysis is when I’m upset that a character isn’t nice and socially acceptable all the time and the more I complain about it, the more analytical it is.
The review must go on.
Are you for real?
Yup.
That one could be passable, but next-
Little too edgy
No.
Again?
good god. is there a way to do grav roulette without spamming
Carla is acceptable but I really just want my old avatar back TT
Hrm
Mm…
Last one for the day. I am tired orz
Roll and accept your fate.
guess I’m sticking with carla for now TT
Sorry, I accidentally flagged you 16 times. I’m so very clumsy.
Weird hostility for no reason over a very normal (if long) grav roulette. Totally cool and normal behavior.
Anyway, no worries. Willis doesn’t look into any one post unless it gets a borderline obscene amount of them, so unless you got a lot of free time…
Lmao, hostility? Don’t be so paranoid, you’ll get stress lines. I’m well aware that one flag doesn’t do jack (or even diddly), I just like clicking the button. Also, people apologise for a single accidental flag, so I was playing off that for laughs. My own laughs, that is, which are the only ones I care about.
Not to take this too seriously but why would Sarah even MAKE a joke like that around Walky? Or at all? Kinda sucks and it’s not even going to get a laugh. I know she doesn’t care but she’s gotta care a little, right?
Walky is cool about sex. He’d probably surprised to find out Joyce wasn’t masturbating. Lucy, on the other hand, is probably picturing it and freaking.
Walky’s been around Joyce long enough to be surprised that she’s started masturbating. Her sexual repression is legend around campus.
Probably feels like fair play considering Joyce tried to shame her so much for masturbating. It’s in poor taste, but she’s not the one who decided to masturbate in a public place.
It also sets her up for some cosmic justice, like learning Joe and Joyce are together. I have a sneaking suspicion that’s not going to go over as well as it did with Becky and Dina.
It’s never fair play to tell others about someone’s pricate sex life. It’s a piece of shit move, especially considering Sarah knows how mortified Joyce would be. Joyce has done plenty wrong, but nothing she’s done justifies this. Sarah is being a major piece of shit and should be ashamed of herself. Walky and Lucy should be ashamed of her too. Just…damn dude. I dont even like Joyce and think this is fucked up.
That’s a little over the top. “Piece of shit”? Like, damn.
Joyce has looked to Sarah as a big sister figure and a person she feels safe with since the beginning. Sarah betrayed that trust by telling Joyce’s personal business, about her sex life, to other people without permission. It was malicious in that she did it specifically to embarrass Joyce. Additionally, they roommates so Joyce doesn’t have the ability to have time away from Sarah to process Yes, a betrayal that big makes her a piece of shit.
Not sure if you two are doing a bit or just missing the fact that they’re talking about the reference to the urban legend about getting straight A’s if your roommate dies. Which Walky knows for a fact is just an urban legend because his roommate died.
But I’m betting on that being a speaking before thinking issue.
I’m not doing a bit, looks like I’m not the only one who read the comment as Sarah’s first poor taste joke. I don’t know if Jin’s overreaction to anything less than stellar any woman character does is a bit or not.
Sarah is riffing off of Walky’s joke about Joyce dying of embarrassment. I can see how someone might think that crossed the line too much, but not David “Mike is faking his own death” Walkerton.
Honestly, if Joyce had no-sold it, I bet Walky would have assumed Sarah was joking. Hell, he still might.
That’s not an excuse, not even close.
Not really saying it’s an excuse, just making an observation.
All she has to say is, “no, I have a boyfriend now: Joe.” And everyone’s short term memory will be erased.
It’s not cool. Best to let other people take the lead in self-disclosure, even if it’s something nearly everyone does.
To quote Sarah herself “I run on apathy. RUTH runs on spite”
Gravatar roulette – sorry!
I really like her but I feel like I’m appropriating because I am glow-in-the-dark white, so here I go again…
Umm…
One last time…
Okay, I apologize profusely in advance and won’t post again until I figure out how to change my gravatar to an image I pick.
https://en.gravatar.com/
I have to say, Sarah’s arc of abandoning empathy and finding joy in causing sufffering being played for comedy instead of the emotional weight it could have had, is a real shame. This could have meant something. Her becoming an awful person could have been dramatic, tragic, interesting. I could have bneen engaged. Instead, all I feel, is:
*Sigh* what an asshole.
*snicker* *bneen.* That’s funny. I’m glad I made that spelling mistake, it amuses me. Bneen.
Honestly, for a while it felt like her arc was going to swing the other way (strict/by the rules character slowly warming up and caring while maintaining their front)
It seems like post-timeskip Sarah is way more vested in having less empathy towards Joyce and everyone else.
Which is fine but I wish it was explored more. Cuz it just seems like she’s being *more* mean than usual? Like she’s normally a bit of a grump, and I could see it being her being… I guess fed up with all the drama and tragedy, and lashing out. But we haven’t seen much of her perspective/her internals/etc on a lot of it, which makes it feel like it’s mean for the sake of being mean/reveling in others misery.
In following the “[X] is the new Mike since Mike died” thought, since Mike was so overwhelmingly useless and harmful, as other characters become more like him they just get shittier without any payoff.
Okay, genuine discourse instead of more dumping on Mike.
As much as I agree with the take that Mike didn’t fit in well during the fall semester, his causticness not translating well to DoA’s more realistic environment, I find it odd that Willis killed him and then made DoA more wacky and meanspirited. Becky and Sarah both ramped up their pettiness (though Becky’s toned it down lately; her long-running beef with Dorothy finally starting to cool), and Dorothy finally found the long-suspected-but-never-until-now-confirmed bad bones in her body.
Every time someone goes “Ha ha, Joyce is a sexual being now,” I think of this strip.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/slutshamey/
I could be wrong, but I’m mostly certain Joyce never tried to “playfully” slut-shame Sarah in front of her friends the way Sarah is doing to Joyce right now.
Sarah seriously needs to get expelled for sexual harrassment. I’m sure some people won’t see it until Sarah starts sharing the secret photos and/or videos she’s been taking of Joyce masturbating rather than merely grossky violating her privacy in every other way.
Thank you for the massive belly laugh. I’ve had a stressful couple of days and it helped a lot.
It does feel like a step back from https://www.dumbingofage.com/touched/ But that’s how it goes sometimes, trying to be a bit better but not always nailing it*.
At least she hasn’t brought up the rest of it yet.
*much like how Lucy isn’t nailing Walky.
There’s a big gulf between “trying to be a bit better” and “wildly inappropriate” and Sarah is not trying at all.
Feels more like attempting friendly ribbing and going to far than “abandoning empathy and finding joy in causing sufffering” to me, but I guess there’s room for interpretation.
Disintegrate.
Gust of Wind.
Varsuvius just off panel.
Ah, Order of the Stick, haven’t thought of that in a while.
Oh, but Sarah, you’re not ready for the whole truth!
You can’t handle the truth!
I think I should seriously and earnestly analyse the moral implications of this strip in which Joyce turns into literal stone.
Actually no, I’d rather play grav roulette.
Ha, LOVE your new Joker Becky avatar. 🤣
well *I* think not enough people are advocating for one character’s suffering or death as the result of a social faux pas
Speaking Frank Welkerly, if we don’t see an actual execution in the next few chapters, I might have to start reading something more realistic. These dysfunctional characters aren’t being harmed enough for their mild vocal rudeness and it breaks my immersion.
Grav roulette greatly amused me :3
Genuinely asking, are you alright? You’re up and down the comments being combative/denying being combative, and just seem like you need a break.
No, I’m not alright! 😃 I’m emotionally volatile and on the verge of suicide on a near-daily basis. Mind your own business, though?
I’m not taking things nearly as seriously as I’m probably phrasing them, and that’s Fine, Actually. This comic isn’t as life-or-death as people wanna make it out to be, and I can actually make flippant remarks without it Being A Problem or some overall sign of not-alrightness. Don’t get familiar.
Hey, you don’t seem particularly combative to me– I do know that sometimes people here do get that way, and it can be concerning or upsetting but— in terms of the first paragraph… well, one time my therapist said to me, “I know you’re well-versed in crisis lines,” which is true and also felt like a very funny callout, and just, I would recommend the Trans Lifeline if you wanted to talk to someone? More consistently helpful than some others I know, and they’re not gonna call the cops on you.
Anyway, imagine if the person next to you just suddenly turned to stone. Would be kinda fucked, I think. Kinda problematic of Joyce to just turn into stone around people without getting their consent first.
That’s what I’m saying! She’s being very gross about this. They’re gonna have to track down a Medusa, get the venom out of her eye, it’s a whole fuckin’ THING that Joyce is just putting on her “friends” (more like victims), and nobody is really calling her out???
Far as the other thing goes, it’s probably oversharing in general, but they did ask. It’s honestly fine though, I’m not desperate enough to call a helpline (not that anyone else needs to be desperate, I’m only talking about me here), but I do appreciate the point-to. It’s always good to have reminders about that type of resource, even if I don’t use it.
Per the secret Gnostic word of Willis, the new main character is Charlie
Doubtless the central theme will appropriately shift to her Jane Austen-style courtship by the incomparable crimson majesty of Carla
Now I want to read that more than the current story arc.
They are laughing now, but this had nothing to do with their conversation. Somewhere, Thanos just got all the infinity stones.
Daaaaamn Sarah… that was a little cold/stony.
Well, she had a good run. I guess it’s time for Booster to take their destiny and become the main chcaracter
At least somebody’s shoveling the stairs.
Nah, the earliest risers just slipped enough times to clear off the bulk.
Which song prompted the ELO Gravatar? I thought about referencing Turn to Stone up near the daily hacked Muzak post but that’s more about someone leaving than embarrassment.
That’s the exact song. Admittedly, I don’t pretend to understand the lyrics to almost any song in general, so I kinda went in a very literal direction with it.
I was gonna do Kim Wilde’s “Stone”, but decided not to.
Someone should mention Simon & Garfunkel’s “I am a Rock”, though.
I’ve heard that that carbon-to-silicon transmutation liberates a lot of heat.
Iron-54 is the bottom of the energy curve, so probably.
Hmm, Aslan can unpetrify people, can’t he? Someone go and check the local bus stops.
I’m on my way
They just need to find a gold needle and she’ll be fine.
so is Lucy and Walky going to be the cute couple that has amusing “something always comes up” incidents that keep them from having sex every so often?
It will be hilarious. Like the Daisy-will-never-get-laid gag.
I feel like either that happens or Sal/Danny and Lucy/Walky race to who gets laid first.
Okay, after a quarter century of Willis works i don’t remember this gag, ever.
So at this point, is it ok to recognize how fucking inappropriate Sarah is being?
She has steadily been rising the ranks of Most Asshole character ever.. I don’t even fucking care if she apologizes afterwards, I hope she fucking gets expelled for her constant sexual harassment of Joyce.
If anyone doesn’t think this is sexual harassment, imagine soneone at the workplace constantly commenting on a coworker’s sex life, no matter how private it was, no matter how uncomfortable it made them.
Get expelled, Sarah and live in poverty the rest of your miserable life.
Don’t know that Sarah can be expelled for that, though. Jobs have special rules, because money is a power dynamic that’s dangerous. Joyce should put in a complaint, though, she could get a new room mate, like Booster got for being dead named.
On the one hand, I compeletly agree with your analysis of Sarah’s comments here.
On the other “Most Asshole Character” is a very high bar in this strip, and I don’t think she’s anywhere close to reaching it. Yet.
On the one hand, I’m heartened that this is one of very few tiresome character-slagging comments, but holy shit, it got unnecessarily vicious?
Like, “live in poverty”? Fuck, why don’t you just wish for her death, that’d be a lot more understandable and a lot less cruel.
It is a definite overreaction to something that can be common amongst friends when it is an acceptable thing to make fun of. Joyce, as much as people like her, has been a holier than thou pita for at least half of the length of their friendship! Of course sarah, dotty, and becky have that social clearance to poke fun at her. Im pretty sure I’ve literally heard this same damn convo when i was in college. “Live in poverty?” Jesus christ
Okay, I’m not normally the Race Pointer-Outer, but like….? It’s a little weird to go straight to the poverty thing with the Black woman who explicitly needs grades-reliant financial assistance to stay in achool, right?
Yeah, I’m with you. Hella weird.
And like, I’m not trying to make any implications about anyone’s offline behavior, just to be perfectly clear. Maybe I should assume these unhinged and over the top sorts of comments are being played up for comedic/dramatic/erotic effect.
Yeah, it’s not really cool of Sarah, but this is a massive overreaction.
Par for the course around here I suppose.
I don’t think anyone got that extreme even when we were accusing Dorothy of sexual assault a little while back.
Dorothy crossed some boundaries, which would have justified Joyce yelling at her and asking her to not approach her again, if Joyce so felt like.
Sarah has already done the above previously, and now has escalated to deliberately exposing Joyce’s private life to numerous other people for the sadistic enjoyment of Joyce getting mortified.
It’d be equivalent to Dorothy just spreading around that she helped Joyce masturbate, rather than her merely doing so, and so spreading it *because* she maliciously knows Joyce doesn’t want it known.
There’s a different between some boundaries getting crossed, and letting the other person decide how to feel about that, and actively deciding to become Joyce’s enemy, taking joy in her hurt.
okay, Raidah
🤣🤣🤣holy shit, put the gun down
Dorothy was being very “ew” in that strip. I’m still kinda not over it. And she wasn’t even slightly remorseful about it?
First she assumed that Joyce didn’t know what masturbation was, when Sarah explained it in weirdly graphic detail to her a long time ago. She knows enough about it to object to it.
Second, she took away Joyce’s agency here. Even if Joe is, in her opinion, not the best fit for Joyce, she should be willing to let Joyce find out. It’s not like she’s gonna kill herself if Joe dumps her. And it’s not like Joe is a rapist or anything. As much as Joyce was offended by it, Roz was 100% in the right here.
Third, you might think there would be better ways to do this instead of in a public place? Where people go to do their laundry? Like, there was also a laundry attendant? Who probably has to watch if people are using the machines to masturbate?
Do you really think a Midwestern college is going to hire somebody to sit and stare at laundry machines all day? Maybe a dedicated laundromat would have that, but I feel like Joyce or Dorothy would have mentioned it if the school had one.
I’m mostly convinced the reason we got “Joyce, if you don’t want to do this…” instead of actual consenting “Hey. Want to learn how to masturbate?” is because there is no universe in which we cohesively go from “I know you literally shouted at us to leave your sexuality alone, but I know better than you,” to Joyce masturbating. That entire sequence will never not be gross.
was wondering when we were going to get back to “most evil person in the strip” comments.
You’re silly.
I didn’t know Joyce was a Jedi.
Sara what the fuck. You don’t tell people things like that!
Is this another Big Sister Sarah Moment? I think this is another Big Sister Sarah moment.
I’ll admit that I did a lot of shit to my younger siblings, but I can’t recall doing anything quite like this. But yeah, probably.
instead of blaming sarah clearly we should be mad at walky for shooting down sarah’s dream of automatic As
Walky is, of course, the real monster here
He did say something that could be construed as aggressive. For all Sarah knows, he’s going to literally shoot her down, with the gun he visibly has.
Dust in the wind.
Joyce will soon be dust in the wind.
“Don’t hang on. / Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.”
Even if it’s a slightly new flavor, I’m growing real tired of the “and then Joyce cartoonishly overreacted to being perceived as a sexual being” punchline. I know these aren’t things that just Go Away in real life (i.e. religious trauma and purity culture), but the joke got old for me around the second time it was made and now it’s really starting to grate. I really hope we don’t get too many more
I am amused at Joyce apparently getting a Transformers death here.
Could be a Prime death, but the alt-text implies a Starscream one.
Honestly I think schools probably *should*, at the very least, give kids a bit of a reprieve if something traumatic like a roommate dying happens. Let alone all the other bullshit that’s happened to these kids in this strip!
I guess they gave Walky some kinda thing, unless he managed to get all his grades up to passing between Mike’s death and the end of the semester in December.
depends on the school and the professors I’m sure, but it can happen. A friend got like an extra year to finish up his last semester after a tragedy.
Freakin lost my mind at one point in college, professor had no problem giving me an incomplete in the class which gave me until the middle of the next semester to get work in to count toward my grade in the class. (Also, it worked so that it was until the next semester I *was enrolled in courses,* so when I had a medical withdrawal from classes in the next semester, it carried on until the fall semester when I was back.)
Looks like Joyce is a fan of ELO. The reference is a bit Out of the Blue, but much happreciated.
1. Damn, Sarah! That was uncalled for and harsh.
2. Rest in pieces, Joyce. We will comfort Joe for you.
I hope Lucy have sex in future. Try-harders deserves more…
Oh no Joyce is an anime!
Also that may be the darkest punchline I’ve seen in a comic in a while
Whaaaaat in this fuck Sarah?