You know it’s all really funny when I think about.
Usually most characters that are irritated by Walky don’t like him because his presence is upsetting. But Danny is the only one who has actual beef with him.
I only had drama once in college, it’s pretty doable if you just go to your classes, do your work, and not bother getting to know your classmates much at all. Stupid class where all the assignments were group projects and you were stuck with the group assigned on day 1 ruining my perfect drama free record.
Granted, I do wish I had socialized more in college, so perhaps those who get embroiled in drama are the ones doing it right.
Not for a good reason though. Dude, they’re called exes for a reason. It’s because they aren’t dating you any more and it’s none of your fucking business who they fool around with. It’s been a while since he Danned things up but it sounds like he’s on his way to Danning things up big time.
Danny is being petty, but Walky is also being a dick about it. The comment about his sister is weird and unnecessary.
Besides, if someone I knew dated my exes basically immediately after we broke up, I would be pissed too. Is that reasonable? No, not really. Would I still be pissed? Yes.
Yeah, I mean when you put it into context you get this:
“Both my recent exes who I felt a great connection with ended up dumping me and then had me replaced in a matter of days with the same guy! I mean that’s bad enough but would have been able to live with it if said guy could stop making a joke about it most of the time I see him.”
Though I personally don’t mind because I find their history funny as hell.
honestly befriending someone who’s dated your ex is easy as hell and kinda fun, especially if the relationship ended on a sour note for both of you, you’ll have an extra thing to bond over in addition to everything else, I met one of my friends and knew them as my ex’s gf for some time and now we’re good friends and we shit on our mutual ex together cuz she was a dick to both of us
I would think it’s reasonable enough to be pissed at Walky over it. Especially since he introduces Danny with that fact. The reason he’s not now is because he’s making a dig at Danny with the shoe thing.
It was a week for Dorothy and at least 2 weeks for Amber since Amazi-girl and Sal were not vigilante buddies when they broke up.
And I’m reasonably sure Danny was dating them faster than Dorothy was dating Walky since Dorothy and Walky didn’t start messing around til after the weekend trip to the beach.
How does Danny know that Walky WASN’T involved in Danny getting dumped twice. In their timeline Walky was dating both of Danny’s exes within a week of Danny getting dumped, so it’s not unreasonable to think that he was part of the issue that led to him getting dumped.
He knows because both ladies were extremely clear over why they broke up with Danny.
Also, it was definitely longer than a week before Amber and Walky started messing around because the breakup happened before Sal joined Amazi-girl on her nightly outings.
She might be offended by Walky being an asshole right in front of her. But this is Lucy, so she will forgive him or not be bothered by it because she is nice.
Walky meets Lucy when he’s talking to Jennifer about having broken up with Dorothy, wanting to have sex with Amber, but recognizing that it might hurt Dorothy for him to move on so quickly. The thing he’s ridiculing Danny for.
What?
No.
Walky isn’t ridiculing Danny for anything other than the fact that he dislikes Walky for the silliest of reasons.
Walky doesn’t care about Danny being dumped by Dorothy and Amber.
DANNY cares, so Walky is pointing out how ridiculous it is to dislike him because of that.
Unless Amber gave Walky details about when she started dating Danny, Walky even know about any possible comparison about moving on too fast.
Nor do I remember Walky saying anything about how fast Danny got into and out of relationships, and I just looked at every strip the two have shared earlier today.
Why do you think Walky is saying anything like that?
Considering Lucy is a virgin with a 3 date rule, I seriously doubt she ever thought Walky was a virgin.
Not to mention she met Walky when he went to Jennifer on advice about dating Amber immediately after being dumped by Dorothy.
She’s been known he’s been in past relationships and that he moved relatively fast, at least in some ways.
She is a “nice girl” and all, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she was. But having a “3 date rule” doesn’t mean she hasn’t had 3 dates with some other boyfriend in the past.
is this an offended face? maybe i’m just a corrupt hedonist but I read this as Lucy suddenly becoming aware that a gay sex could be happening right in front of her, at least hypothetically
One of the reasons I essentially never invite people places is because I can never keep up with all the dislikes, hatreds, and animosities in the social group. So I wait to be invited, so that way there are less likely to be problems like this.
Wow Walky, way to be a complete douchebag. If Danny decks you, you have more than earned it. Fortunately Danny is a good egg and is unlikely to do so. Partially because it might upset Sal, and partially because he doesn’t want to give you the satisfaction.
Someone else should deck Walky; I volunteer Sal to hit him, or Billie/Jennifer since she already want to hit him.
Right because Danny isn’t being petty about this whole thing. Danny is acting like he walked in and swept the off their feet. Like if Walky didn’t exist he’d still be dating one of them.
Let them fight, maybe after punching it out they can both chill.
Again, the fact that Walky got with them less than a week or so after they broke up with Danny isn’t a good feeling. Danny is completely within his rights to be annoyed with Walky. Does that make Danny right the whole time for being upset? No, but it is understandable; fresh wounds and all that.
Walky dated Danny’s exes so soon after the breakups that you would have to anticipate that Danny might think that Walky played a role. After all, if you get dumped and you find out that your ex started dating another guy a few days later, you would suspect that there was either an overlap or you got dumped so you could be replaced by Walky. If it happens once, you get annoyed but likely move on. If it happens twice, you might think Walky is actively trying to sabotage your love life for some damned reason.
Dorothy broke up with Danny at 7pm the first night.
He in no way thinks that Walky had anything to do with that.
And I’m pretty sure that it was a couple weeks before Walky got with Amber as Amazi-girl wasn’t doing vigilante stuff with Sal, yet, so again, he doesn’t think Walky has anything to do with that either.
Plus, they were both very clear over why they broke up with him (following her to college/thinking wanting to be president was a phase and hanging around Sal respectively).
Not to mention it’s been 3 months since Walky had been with either one.
Danny has no justifiable reason for his pettiness.
You say that like people can’t hold onto negative feelings, even if undeserved. Besides, Danny has been around Walky enough to have thought him obnoxious even before the serial dating of his exes were a thing. Yes, Walky is generally a nice guy, but he can be grating.
No.
I say that in response to the idea that Danny somehow suspects Walky of having anything to do with his breakups.
I was explaining why he does not suspect that and thus his feelings are not justifiable like you implied.
Also, Danny has spent almost no time around Walky and didn’t even meet him until after he was dating Dorothy.
Also, I’m fully aware that Walky can be grating, and that’s despite him being my favorite character.
I have no problem with Sarah not liking him, and mostly no problem when Joyce doesn’t like him, or even when Jennifer doesn’t.
But we have Danny himself saying it’s for dating his exes, and that is some bs.
Danny definitely did think it was more than a coincidence though. He initially hit on Sal as a response then backed off when he realized he was being ridiculous, only to be taken aback when Sal responded positively.
Give me a source, please, that shows Danny somehow thinking Walky was involved in his breakup with Dorothy or that she broke up with him specifically to get with Walky.
Because he said and thought none of that when he found out about Walky from her.
I just read that interaction earlier and he only expressed hurt that she would have a relationship instead of focusing on her goal.
Maybe he thought that later, it was a long time ago after all, but I don’t remember it.
I didn’t say that he thought Walky broke up his relationships for sure. He simply inferred that he thought Walky was targeting those he gets involved with (imagine how he would have reacted if he had also learned Billie climbed into bed with Walky shortly after she failed to seduce Danny). That’s why he first hit on Sal as that pattern would not continue with her, until he thought better of his motivation doing so.
Is it rational? Not really. Does Walky deserve his contempt for it by itself? No. However, Danny isn’t the only person who has been less than enamored with Walky.
yeah, and people often don’t like/are annoyed by/don’t want to be around someone for reasons that aren’t “logical”. Danny isn’t being unreasonable and he isn’t being uncouth either. In fact I bet there’s someone you dislike for illogical reasons, and it doesn’t make you a bad person. We can’t always control how we feel but it’s what we do with those feelings. Danny isn’t being petty he’s being honest about why he doesn’t like being around Walky.
Did I say Danny was a bad person?
No.
Is Danny openly expressing dislike for Walky for reasons that he’s smart enough AND mature enough to know are bs?
Yes.
Disliking Walky is a feeling and thus something he cannot control.
Expressing that dislike is a choice and thus something that he can control.
Danny has expressed that dislike several times over the years, even when Walky was not around, saying Walky looked like Mowgli from the jungle book and that the world made sense again when Dorothy paused the relationship.
The worse thing Walky said about him (that I can remember anayway) is that he liked the idea that he wore a hat.
Walky doesn’t seem to want to be around Danny, either.
But why would he want to be around someone who openly dislikes him?
And Danny has been disliking Walky for 6 months because he was with Dorothy for about 2 months and with Amber for about 3 weeks over 3 months ago, both times a week and longer after they decisively broke up with Danny.
Walky had nothing to do with the breakups and he didn’t even know who Danny was when he started dating Dorothy (Danny had also started dating Amazi-girl by the time he found out).
That is definitively petty (at least per the dictionary on my iPad since it is trivial and small minded of him).
I fear this will backfire after the initial altercation. Walky’s snark will be unaffected in the long term and instead you will only create a more fearsome foe:
Walky who knows how to dodge a punch (and sass you about missing him)
I want to hit him, let’s meet in the middle: I’ll punch him, then you can take him out for drinks afterwards. He can get some ice for the black eye while you two are drinking.
Walky is the kind of guy I could only handle in small doses, like iocane powder, but I would gladly build up an immunity to the poison that is his personality.
Seriously, this is some of the most like cool and casual and confident Walky’s joking has felt. “Can’t hate me THAT much” was legitimately such a good comeback, and the strip is going out of its way to portray Danny’s comments as silly and disproportionate and Walky’s responses as relaxed and unbothered. This has been like one of the funniest comics in recent memory, does that like… Not come across to everyone?
He can be cool, casual, and confident and still be a smarmy, grating asshole. Walky really isn’t in the right here (not that Danny is — there is no “right” in this situation) and I don’t feel like the comic is specifically trying to portray him as such. It’s just two people interacting whose personalities do not mesh well.
Or because he got with them less than a week after breaking up with Danny; which considering most people take more time before they start dating again could make it difficult to not be upset with the new boyfriend/girlfriend. Is that right? No, not really, but it does sting and I can understand that much.
Yeah, if your ex instantly is dating another guy after she breaks up with you, you’d think that guy was a factor in you getting dumped. If it happens twice, you start wondering if that guy is deliberately interfering with your love life.
it can also just be uncomfortable and weird to be around someone who dated two of your exes and whom you don’t have an established friendship with otherwise, even if they’re the nicest person in the whole wide world. I seriously think people are constantly forgetting that A. this is a comic strip about dumbass college students and B. emotions don’t follow logic.
Sometimes i read the comments here and wonder if people have ever actually been in any of these super common situations. Or like had any relationship with another human being ever. Because this is the most terminally online shit
Danny buys flowers, walks around with a bright blue ukelele and bought a girl bike he was perfectly happy to keep if sal didn’t want it (granted they’re vastly superior to guy bikes). He’s had his moments in the past but in terms of current Danny, between him and walky he’s not the one with masculinity issues
Granted it wasn’t necessarily Walky’s fault that both Amber and Dorothy broke up with Danny. (Their relationship with Danny ended before they started with Walky, so its not like they were cheating on Danny with Walky.)
But, I can understand the mentality behind Danny’s feelings… Dorothy: “I’m breaking up with you to spend time with my studies. By the way here’s my new boyfriend who’s not you”. And even if Walky may not be at fault, he hasn’t really done anything to try to calm the situation. (And his whole “Sal is me with a vulva” comment would be considered counter-productive.)
Even a simple “sorry man… I appologize if it seems like I played a part in any of your breakups” might have helped, even if logically it shouldn’t have been needed.
Dorothy did not break up with Danny to focus on her studies.
She broke up with him because he was making life decisions off their relationship and thought her wanting to be president was something she’d grow out of, basically 💩 on her dream.
She had even said she should have broken up with him before the summer.
Also, Walky has done nothing wrong and had no part in his breakups, so why should he apologize for pettiness that Danny feels over something that is Danny’s own fault?
That Danny was right doesn’t matter regarding why she broke up with him.
She didn’t break up with him because she felt she was right and he was wrong.
She broke up with him because she didn’t like him tying himself to her plans as she was always planning on leaving.
6 months later, she has changed her mind, but that doesn’t change her reason for breaking up with him.
As for “because he was making life decisions off their relationship” I don’t think “I’ll adapt to whatever you decide to be no matter what you chose” count as making life decision for their relationship, unless you count “staying in relationship with you” as one, but I’d say “staying in relationship with you” qualify as the bar minimum each have to accept to be in a relationship in the first place, per definition.
At most, he said that many she’d change her mind about leaving Indiana to go to Yale https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/through/
But I’d wager it’s not even about dissing her goal to become president, just to stay with him. While an Ivy league can definitely help in a political career, saying she could change her mind about going there does not equate saying to give up on her presidential goal.
the reason Dorothy broke up with Danny is simple: she no longer was in love with him. This is a valid reason to broke up, even if it sucks. there is no reason to seek for someone to blame there.
The core of the issue is that Danny wanted to stay with Dorothy (you know, the bare minimum for being in a relationship) Dorothy no longer wanted that.
Clingy is only clingy if your partner doesn’t want to be as clingy as you are.
No. He was giving lip service to her dream.
He was basically saying he would follow her wherever she went (that’s the making life decisions based off their relationships part) and that it didn’t matter what she did or where she went because his degree will let him work anywhere.
I didn’t say he was being sarcastic or condescending, but “I can work anywhere so it’s ok if you decide to quit on the dream if you’ve had for years” is not supporting said dream.
That’s why she had no issue with Walky bragging to Joe that he had sex with her, because he did so by saying someday he can say he had sex with the president, thus displaying absolute confidence in her (we see how that has backfired recently, but that doesn’t change the fact that those two positions and how she felt about them were not the same).
“I will be with you no matter what you do” is a far cry from pooping on her vocation, though. Danny basically saying “If you decide to go to Yale, I’ll just leave school and follow you” is still a vote of confidence, so to speak.
“He was basically saying he would follow her wherever she went (that’s the making life decisions based off their relationships part” I mean, I’d say being with the person you are with is the minimum requirement to be in a relationship. “You get to do anything you want, I’ll follow you” is the opposite of making a life-decision, it’s letting the other making the life decision.
It’s definitely too clingy for someone who does not reciprocate and that was the issue: Dorothy no longer loved Danny and that’s a valid reason to break up. A lack of support for her goals or making decision for Dorothy was never something Danny was guilty of, nor the reason of the break up.
His life.
Basing HIS life decisions off their relationship.
She didn’t like that his goals, his decisions centered around them being together.
I never said he was making decisions for her.
I said he was making decisions for himself BECAUSE of her, and she stated she didn’t like that.
Him thinking she might grow out of wanting to be president was the final straw.
She also said, at a later time, that a part of her will always love him, and not loving him anymore was never stated to be the case when they broke up.
“Him thinking she might grow out of wanting to be president was the final straw.” I wouldn’t say “last straw” as she seemed clearly set to break up even before that. Joe figured as much.
And a genuine care for someone doesn’t always imply a romantic love. Her romantic feeling for him were clearly gone and that doesn’t need to be spelled out.
This is going well I’d say what the actual f walky but I pretty sure he is going to say even more awful things in the next few strips dedicated to this plot. unless Lucy stops it.
Please stop them Lucy.
I don’t think Walky is trying to “Humiliate” Danny. He’s just joking around by saying a taboo thing. I legit don’t think he’s saying this maliciously. I think he’s just joking around, as someone who’s had a near identical person that looks like them around might do on occasion.
I agree.
It’s also nothing new.
When they were all at the beach and Joyce wanted to ship him and Jennifer, Walky said she’s like his sister and Jennifer said she’d rather do his sister.
Walky then told Jennifer that he could hook her up with Sal, telling her to “imagine all this, but with boobs”.
Yeah like if Sal and Walky were identical twins and Walky was a girl, I am CERTAIN she would make the exact some jokes.
“It’s like you’re bangin’ me, but with an accent!”
Calling Sal “Walky with a vulva” is rather misrepresenting what Sal is like.
Yes, they do have similar skin tones. But there are a ton of other ways that Walky and Sal differ, apart from the superficial sexual characteristics…
– Sal is a lot more hardened/tougher. Walky is, well, naive
– Walky has a lot more childish interests (his interest in Dexter and Monkey Master) whereas Sal is into music, sports, etc.
– Walky was a bit spoiled (grades came easy for him even without working, but now he is struggling). Sal had a harder time earlier in life but has put the effort in (something walky seems unable to do) and is now flourishing
I am guessing Walkyb is trying to take the piss in response to Danny’s resentment and mild agression but this is not the time and place, have some respect for Lucy who wants this to go well and your sister who didn’t want this to happen but out respect for your’s and Lucy’s relationship recommended this.
Eh.
Dude openly admits to disliking him, and it’s over some petty mess.
I see no reason for Walky to restrain himself and be anything other than authentic.
Side note, disrespecting the person who doesn’t like you even when you’re attempting to get along seems to be in the blood considering that’s basically how Sal did Malaya when she wanted to be friends for Marcie’s sake.
I see two reasons for Walky to restrain himself Sal and Lucy. Or at least Lucy. If Walky choose to walk the low road with Danny then he deserves the resentment.
You can’t deserve negative feelings that came to you for no reason.
Can Walky gain new resentment? Sure.
But the original is all in Danny’s head and Walky deserves none of it, so he gets the Walky that claps back.
Sal knows exactly who her brother is and she doesn’t want to hang as couples in the first place, so no, that’s not a reason to restrain himself.
Walky also told Lucy that he didn’t want to double date with Danny and Sal and she set this up anyway, so even if she hasn’t seen this side of Walky before (which she probably has since she”s seen him around Jennifer), Walky has no reason to be fakey (to quote Malaya).
Hell, Lucy even already knows Danny hates Walky as she isn’t surprised by him suddenly using the Batman voice and instead only asks why.
And let’s not forget that Lucy is only doing this because she’s horny (and thinks she loves him) and wants to get the 3rd date over with as soon as possible.
So 3 out of the 4 people involved don’t want this to happen and have no expectations of it going well and one of them openly admits to hating the other for the pettiest of reasons that was irrelevant more than 3 months ago.
Danny has no one to blame but himself if Walky makes him pop a blood vessel.
Ok, he wasn’t responsible for Danny’s prior breakups, and Danny’s dislike of walky is partly illogical.
But its not like Walky has made some big effort here either. He hasn’t expressed any empathy towards Danny over the breakups in past strips. His first interaction in this strip was to comment on “borrowng the shoes”, and then tries to get into Danny’s head with the “Sal is me with a vulva” comment.
I’ve tried twice to respond and both times the page reloaded.
So here’s the short version.
Walky came to be around someone he didn’t want to be around with a smile on his face and that person couldn’t even do that, so Walky messed with him.
Walky owes Danny no empathy and Danny doesn’t want any.
Danny wants to be petty.
Why does he want to be petty about something that is not Walky’s fault, has nothing to do with Walky, and happened months ago?
Because he thinks he’s better than Walky.
But if he’s better, then why did both the women he cared for dump him and then get with Walky?
That might mean Walky is a better person and/or boyfriend than Danny.
Since Danny doesn’t want to explore that concept, he chooses to be petty instead.
Danny broke up with Dorothy in August and Amber sometime in September.
It’s January and he has a beautiful and cool girlfriend, yet he’s hating on Walky.
Why?
Not for having similar taste in women, but because he fears the women have similar taste in men.
Walky chose to mess with him, theres a big difference.
Walky could have chosen to be neutral but instead chose snark.
Walky chose to borrow shoes off Danny, Walky chose to talk about Danny (to Booster) in the third person and make light of the situation, Walky chose snark over neutrality
Danny, to the best of my knowledge, doesn’t shit-talk about Walky, in fact doesn’t do anything except dislike Walky and hes perfectly entitled to
Danny said Walky looked like Mowgli from the jungle book.
He shit talked him with Amber while Dorothy was dating him, so talking about him behind his back.
When Walky made a joke about Ethan being a serial killer taking the shirts of manly men, both Dorothy and Danny said Walky was safe, but Dorothy did it with a smile while Danny was disparaging.
Danny said the world made sense again when Walky and Dorothy were on pause.
Danny has definitely shit talked Walky.
Meanwhile Walky doesn’t dislike Danny and only responds with snark because that’s how he responds to everything.
The worst thing I can remember Walky saying about Danny is that Danny liked that he used to wear a hat.
It’s the stated reason that he doesn’t like him that I have a problem with, and it’s people acting like Walky should be nicer to Danny or on his best behavior when he knows Danny doesn’t like him and he also knows the reason is bs.
Even if Danny doesn’t feel he’s better than Walky, etc., like I believe, that would still mean he dislikes him for dating his exes months ago.
So even the most honest and straightforward reason Danny has for disliking Walky is on some bs.
If, and thats a big if granted, Walky wants to start making more male friends he’ll have to start changing the way he interacts with people (probably won’t happen with Danny)
Walky is generally an annoying little gob shite so if its not for dating his exes or borrowing his shoes then it’d probably be his personality that’d make Danny dislike Walky
I dunno if Walky struggles making guy friends so much as he hasn’t “tried” very hard. Asher basically fell in love with the dude and he was just being himself.
> He shit talked him with Amber while Dorothy was dating him, so talking about him behind his back.
I think there is a difference between talking about someone with whom you are having a deep personal relationship with, and general trash-talking about someone to whomever would listen.
> When Walky made a joke about Ethan being a serial killer taking the shirts of manly men, both Dorothy and Danny said Walky was safe, but Dorothy did it with a smile while Danny was disparaging.
Did Danny initiate the conversation? Was it made in front of many people who were not familiar with the dynamics of the situation? Did he go around afterwards and tell everyone how “walky wasn’t manly”?
He may have made a comment on how “walky wasn’t manly” but, well, its pretty obvious he is not, and the conversation seemed to be around people who had at least some sort of relationship.
But Danny has no relationship with Walky.
There is a difference between my friend saying something negative about me and the guy who openly dislikes me saying it.
Danny was talking bad about Walky in a non joking manner.
He is the one holding onto negative feelings about Walky for bs reasons.
All the negativity in their dynamic comes from him and Walky is only responding back to it in the way he responds back to all such behavior.
Other than this and saying Danny liked the idea of him wearing a hat, Walky hasn’t said a single negative thing to Danny (saying they both dated the same people is not a negative thing).
Maybe he said something negative about Danny to someone else through the years, but I don’t remember it.
>Walky came to be around someone he didn’t want to be around with a smile on his face and that person couldn’t even do that, so Walky messed with him.
THAT’S your example of how “Walky was trying”? He “smiled”? That’s a pretty low bar to set for effort. (Then again, Walky isn’t exactly known for putting effort into things so maybe it was a big thing for him. (And I don’t think he gets any points for just trying to be around danny, because he was really dragged into it himself.)
> Walky owes Danny no empathy
You shouldn’t give empathy because “you are owed it”. You give empathy because, well, society probably works better when people do.
If my mother were eaten by sharks, you would not “owe” me any empathy (unless they were your pet sharks to begin with). But I would hope that you would feel some empathy for my loss, and avoid humming the theme song from “Jaws” when you are around me.
I do hate when people frame common decency as “being owed” something. It’s a weird way to frame the act of not being a dick. Like nobody is owed your respect or time or your friendship but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
Granted I think it’s because too many people have been silenced or forced into uncomfortable situations with the excuse of “oh you need to be respectful” or whatever and that sucks. But I feel like there’s a lotta times when it’s worth working towards.
Yes, Walky smiling at the guy who he knows actively dislikes him is Walky trying to get along, which is demonstrably more than Danny did.
Why do you feel Walky should try even harder when Danny isn’t trying at all.
Neither one wants to be there, they’re both being put out, one of them came with a positive attitude from the very first second and the other not only didn’t have one, but he had one for Lucy and not Walky, showing that he purposely switched it up.
And yes, in this case, owed empathy is the way to view it because this should be a nothing burger in the first place.
It’s entitlement that has Danny feeling this way, and entitlement is all about being owed something.
And again, Danny doesn’t even want empathy.
He has expressed no desire for anyone to commiserate with him over Walky dating the same women he has, including his best friend Joe who shares a room with him and knows Walky.
And Danny is both smart enough and mature enough to know how silly he’s being.
He has made no attempt to work past this feeling in these 6 months because he wants to feel this way.
Yeah I’m on Walky’s side on this exchange. Danny’s fully allowed to have one thing he’s not super nice and tolerant about, but Walky didn’t do anything wrong when he happened to start dating another dude’s exes. I’d be kinda grossed out if he *was* apologetic towards Danny over it, since then that gets into misogynistic concepts of ownership of romantic partners.
Yes, if something that didn’t happen happened, then people would react to it differently than what did happen.
Walky thinks demeaning Danny about his exes is funny, so Danny doesn’t like him. People are working real hard to make Danny the one doing the misogyny in this strip.
Nah.
Danny thinks not liking Walky because they share exes is righteous, so Walky responds with snark.
Also, there’s nothing demeaning about sharing exes, nor has Walky ever said there was.
The fact that Danny feels that way is the issue.
If anything, Danny could feel slightly better about them sharing exes because he was with both ladies longer than Walky was, if one had to judge the different relationships.
But instead, the fact that Walky was the person who was with them is somehow bad.
Cause I seriously doubt Danny would have a problem if it was Jacob.
It’s because Danny thinks it shouldn’t be Walky of all people.
How do you get that Danny thinks he’s being righteous about this? He’s fully aware it’s a petty dislike (he certainly made no argument against that when Sal brought it up). Walky snarking back is an entirely reasonable response, but you’re reading a *lot* of uncharitable reasons into Danny’s reaction.
Fine.
Switch righteous for justifiable.
Danny is smart enough and mature enough to know better, but he holds onto this feeling anyway, making no effort to move past it and openly expressing it.
You can’t control your feelings.
You can control your actions.
Danny chooses not to control them even after 6 months.
His dislike of Walky *is* justifiable — Walky’s done more than just the ex thing to him. Just small aggravations to be sure, but plenty to warrant not liking a guy. It’s just more succinct and pithy to put it this way.
And his actions about it are… essentially nothing? He greeted Walky coldly. That’s it. And he’s been given absolutely no reason to want to move past his feelings either. They don’t need to work together for any reason, and indeed have vanishingly small reason to even hang out in the same place where civility would be required. If Danny and Sal stay together, he should *probably* get over it eventually for the sake of familial peace, but at this point they’ve been together a week and Sal has actively encouraged his mild antagonism towards Walky.
This is such a hilariously tame rivalry on both sides. Neither of them is doing anything more than being mildly rude at worst.
I used the archives to look at every interaction they’ve ever had.
Other than this, the only thing remotely mean Walky has said about Danny is that he liked the idea of wearing a hat.
So no, Walky hasn’t done “more than just the ex thing” (which isn’t doing anything in the first place) and no, the dislike is not justifiable.
As for what Danny has done, he said Walky looked like Mowgli from the Jungle Book, agreed with Amber when she said Dorothy going from Danny to Walky was basically a step down since Walky was cute, but a lazy goofball, said Walky would he safe from manliness-hunting-serial-killer Ethan disparagingly, and said the world once again made sense when Dorothy paused the relationship.
Danny is not Walky’s friend.
Danny has made negative remarks about Walky both in front of Walky and behind his back.
Danny has made it known that he does not like Walky, and the reason being for the dislike is that they dated the same people at different times.
That alone would be enough for me to consider anyone a jerk, let alone the other stuff mentioned as I do not need to tell people I do not like them nor do I need to hear that people do not me.
That in and of itself is rude.
I don’t know why some people seem to disagree with that concept.
But Walky has done nothing to Danny in front of him other than this and the hat comment.
If Walky said anything about Danny away from him through all the years of this comic, I do not remember it.
So in my book, Danny has done much more than Walky to make their relationship a negative one, and that’s leaving alone the fact that the stated reason is bs; it was bs when if first occurred and it’s definitely bs months later.
Yes, they are both being rude to each other.
I’ve been commenting so much because people seem to think Danny is not being rude as well or that Danny’s rudeness is ok while Walky is out of hand.
If Danny didn’t insist on openly disliking Walky, this strip would not have the lines it has as there’s no way Walky would pull this stuff out of thin air unbidden.
Think of it this way; if you get dumped and your ex is immediately dating another guy, you would suspect that either there was some cheating involved or you were dumped for the other guy. In the former, the other guy deserves some resentment. In the latter, he does not.
However, if your next ex immediately starts dating that same guy after dumping you, you might think that he is actively making it happen. I’d not want to have anything to do with that guy either.
Fair enough, in real life it’s a weird coincidence. In the comic it’s really just a function of these characters all hanging out with the same dozen or so people. Danny and Walky are both nerds who date nerdy girls, they were bound to step on each other’s toes.
Walky did nothing wrong, but I think it’s fine for Danny to still personally not like him. It becomes a problem if Danny actually starts telling people that Walky did something wrong.
I feel like this is one of those things that doesn’t really need to be a big deal. Walky and Danny don’t really have any reason to be friends at this juncture, but it also isn’t that big of a deal if they snark a bit at each other.
Comsiderinf Danny is the one mad that they both dated the same people at different times months ago, acting like he yelled dibs or that Walky violated the bro code despite them not being bros or even knowing each other, I’d say Danny is the one acting like he’s 14.
I said “acting like”.
Danny didn’t call dibs either.
But his pettiness falls in line with those behaviors.
And we know that Danny is at least aware of the bro code just from being around Joe, and I’m sure he wouldn’t like it if Joe messed with Dorothy.
On the bright side Danny, in the sad event that you and Sal break up, at least Walky can’t date her and/or fool around with her. Or at least I hope not.
Every time this bit comes up I laugh like it’s the first time. WALKY (GETS TIRED OF DANNY COMPLAINING ABOUT SLEEPING WITH HIS EXES SO JUST TO MAKE THINGS EVEN HE) PERFORMS A SEX WITH DANNY
Well, now Danny has a better reason not to like Walky…he’s just never makes himself pleasant for Danny to be around. You don’t actually need more than that. (Shrug)
ok, i don’t understand the arguments of both sides.
1. Walky didn’t hit on his girlfriends when they were in a relationship (I don’t remember Danny was in a relationship with Dorothy or he just thought he was?) plus they left Walky without any big fuss or betrayal on either side to consider that Walky hurt the girls. Or its just brocode
2. maybe I don’t have a sister and I don’t understand it, but seriously, a relationship with someone’s sister equals -100 to friendship?
ps after i wrote that all i remember both are bro code violations, but still they were not Bros dude.
This is a confusing reply. Who’s calling Danny a dick for being in his room? Are you, or are you suggesting something else is/might? That event doesn’t seem very related to this one, aside from including the same characters and mentioning the same relationship trivia.
The point is that, while Danny initiated hostilities during this particular encounter, Walky is not blameless and has previously antagonized Danny unprovoked. Danny has entirely reasonable cause to greet Walky coldly right now.
Go back and read the strips. Dorothy broke up with Danny soon after moving in. While in reality the Walky/Dorothy pairing took a long time to get published, in their timeline it was very shortly after she dumped Danny. Did Danny have any reason to blame Walky? Probably not, though if I recall correctly it was indicated that Danny was a little miffed that she started dating such a man-child.
No, I don’t think I’ll spend my limited time on this planet re-confirming something I already know, on the demands of someone who isn’t going to pay me for it. I’d rather sandpaper my taint. I’m well aware that your statement is factually true, I just get a chuckle out of calling people liars for no reason and in a way that harms nothing.
It’s really funny that anyone is getting mad at this strip in any way, at all. There is literally no conflict that could be more clearly low stakes, funny, and exaggerated for comedic effect in this comic. I love that there’s literally no character trait you can possibly demonstrate that won’t make someone click their tongue and slap your knuckles with a ruler. What do you guys think when you consume literally any media with even remotely higher stakes or ambiguous behavior?
Not really liking Danny or Walky in this strip. I think dated my ex(es) is a weird reason to be mad at someone, maybe if you are really close with someone, and they date the ex you broke up with less than a week ago, but Danny and Walky barely knew each other.
And Walky for the “Datin’ me with a vulva” comment, I know he is probably being facetious, but I still do not like it.
Honestly, that episode with the shoes was a bizarrely humiliating move on Dotty’s part. Imagine waking up, not even dressed yet, there’s your very recent ex introducing you, in person, to their new SO right then and there to literally and figuratively *fill your shoes*. That is COLD
The only reason Dotty went to Danny was because Walky insisted that not only was he too macho to own more than one pair of shoes. He claimed that only the most effeminate of men would have more than one pair.
…while living in the Midwest, where most people have boots for winter and sandals for summer…
And Dorothy totally buys this BS and takes Walky to Danny’s room. …To ask Joe to steal them a pair of Danny’s shoes.
I realize being implicitly called metrosexual _shouldn’t_ be an insult, but it certainly was treated as one in thus context.
It might be one of those weird things that can happen at the end of a long term relationship. You get so used to turning to your partner for help that you do it reflexively even though it’s now wildly inappropriate.
“I asked to borrow his shoes once” is up there with Jennifer’s “it essentially sounded like that” in the ranks of self-interested willfully-ignorant understatements/oversimplifications.
ain’t no way Danny is salty that his exes found happiness with someone else after they broke up, even if that someone else is the same dude in both cases
like, if you’re gonna be acting like a selfish fucking child about it and be salty that your exes were happy with Walky instead of with you (even if it was for a short time), at least be a confident selfish child by going with the “he’s constantly going for my sloppy seconds” mentality instead, at least that way you’ll be looked at as gross and Joe-y instead of childish and sad
tho I dunno, maybe my expectations that other lgbtq people will be more mature about sex and relationships like I am doesn’t really apply to (fictional) 18 year olds, and that just cuz I was like that at that age doesn’t mean others are too
The reason why Danny felt extra humiliated about Dorothy dating Walky after she dumped him was Mike trolling him. So in a way Mike is still alive, in their hearts. He will be with them always, until the end of Dumbing of Age.
It is genuinely amazing to me how many people are determined to flip this whole scenario around and act as if Walky is the aggressor here. Like, yeah, he’s definitely being a bit of an asshole, but that’s always been how Walky fights back.
Danny’s being a petty shithead about something that wasn’t Walky’s fault, he’s not a victim here, he’s losing a fight that he started. If somebody throws a punch at someone else and gets knocked the fuck down we don’t give them a hug and tell them it will all be okay, we tell them not to be a dumbass next time.
And no, Danny’s reason for being upset isn’t valid. It’s entitlement. If a girl breaks up with me then she’s free to do whatever the hell she wants. If you get upset about it when your ex starts seeing somebody else it’s because you think you deserved more of her time even after things were ended. It’s self absorbed and delusional and it’s an idea that needs to die.
That would all hold water if Danny actually did or said something aggressive or vindictive. Like if he actually makes the case that Walky was somehow in the wrong for dating Dotty and Amber, *then* you get to call him a petty shithead. All he did so far was grumpily greet Walky and honestly answer Lucy’s question. He’s allowed to not like Walky, feelings aren’t actions and they don’t need to be “valid”.
(That said, I personally think Walky’s response is hilarious and also exactly what I’ve been thinking)
For me the problem with Walky is less not taking Danny’s shit and more describing Sal as “me with a Vulva”, it feels disrespectful to me. So I guess I am not criticizing his behaviour towards Danny but towards Sal.
Isn’t anyone really grossed out by Walky’s going “DATING ME WITH A VULVA”?? The disrespect, fam. Sal would’ve actually, non-metaphorically kicking his ass, if we’re talking toxic masculinity (the exes thing and all) this thing here is a glaring example.
(That said, yes it’s a funny strip and I sense hatesex vibes between Walky and Danny. Is it just me or this dude has been saying some accidentally queer things lately?
She’d probably smack him in the back of the head, sure, but kicking his ass over it would be kind of extreme. He’s definitely being crass, but this is also a joke he’s made in the past, just, less vulgarly.
You know, it’s wild timing because I actually had a dream a couple of days ago that Walky turned into a woman, sorta anyway.
In it, Dorothy and Walky were still dating, but Walky had somehow gained the ability to swap bodies with someone, their consciousness would go into the other. For some reason, Dorothy offers to switch with him for the duration of a sex act because she wants to know what a handjob feels like, and Walky wants to find out if he can give a good handjob, and thus, they swap.
I’ve never gotten the “you can’t date my exes” thing*, especially since they aren’t friends (and therefor it’s not that Danny has to see his ex, like if Joe dated a Danny ex and had her around their room all the time).
* “my ex is really awful and I don’t want them to hurt you too, nor be around me again” is different than a general “you’re not allowed”
It wasn’t just that though, first it was brutal break up then Dorothy told Danny maybe he shouldn’t date for a while then Walky turns up at his door wanting to borrow his shoes
I think it’s more that Danny finds some humiliation in it, and Walky finds it funny, and finds Danny’s humiliation funny. He didn’t feel quite this cold towards Walky earlier, it’s been building.
Danny doesn’t think he owns his exes.
People are talking about the “dating my exes thing” as though the part of the brain that feels that way is rational. It isn’t. It never will be. And the most one can do about it is self-discipline. Which is difficult, and sometimes slips.
Regardless of wheather Danny disliking Walky is valid or not I really think the fact that Lucy had been told Danny was not a Walky fan and that Sals last interaction with Lucy was her saying she now dislikes her really should have made it clear to Lucy that she and Walky were no longer welcome to hang out with them.
you’re right; Lucy probably thinks they’re exaggerating their prickly-ness (a lot of optimistic young people seem not to get that some people reaaally don’t like each other, definitely knew some like that at their age), especially because she’d probably really enjoy a double date with her brother.
I’m mean Sal invited Lucy before she knew it was to meet the three dates rule.. then she tried to tell Lucy it was unnecessary which ended with Sal saying she now hates her. Even if the first part flew over Lucy’s head being flat out told she’s hated really should have been a clue to run it by Walky first atleast.
This has been one of the most confusing comments sections in a while. Half of the comments seem to be written under the assumption that nobody else has read the comic. The other half feels like the usual “who’s misbehaving more” bickering, complete with oblique threats of violence aimed at a fictional character for the crime of being kinda crass in response to open hostility.
It’s funny to me cause no one, especially Danny, seems to realize Danny’s hostility doesn’t bother Walky at all. All he’s doing is making himself unhappy with the concept of Walky existing. Maybe it helps being angry at Walky for not caring about his feelings for his, Danny’s, exes to avoid being sad about getting dumped twice.
And yeah that is a really petty thing to be angry about and I think Walky is right to be flippant about it if that’s the only thing the guy dating his sister is ever going to want to talk about.
It’s not a DoA comment section without some baffling armchair psychologizing and people being upset that characters are behaving less than perfectly in every situation
Maybe, Danny is being an entitled bro, but as I see it, Walky was not a good BF to Dorothy or Amber. It’s one thing if you can say “I don’t like him, but he makes her happy”, another altogether when “I don’t like him, and he left both of my exes emotional wrecks.”
Yep, Walky stabbed Amber in the hand, raised her to use violence as a first resort, and kidnapped her friends just to try and avoid paying for her tuition.
I’m being facetious, of course. We all know that was Meredith who did those things.
I dont know, you’re making light of a really serious situation. Walky has just, and i can’t emphasized this enough, made a joke at Danny’s expense. He may or may not have deliberately implied that Danny is not capable of distinguishing between him and his sister without literally seeing her GENITALS. The steaks could hardly be higher. and you’re treating this like it’s, what, nothing???
Not a great look, smh
Good point, I do enjoy a nice steak on occasion. Usually medium rare, but most places I ask for medium well because if they undercook it a tiny bit it’s great, and if they cook it well done I get a new frisbee. Gotta have a little salt and pepper on there, natch, and a nice side of thick-ass steak fries (that’s chips, for you Doctor Who extras).
I do not partake of the flesh but when my autocorrect suggested steaks i thought, “good call, comrade. That does add a flavourful pinch of credibly unintentional absurdism.”
That is the single funniest reaction to anything Danny has ever had. I can hear the exact tone of his ‘goddammit’ cause I too, have felt that emotion so strongly I worried I was going to tear myself in half. That vibe of “Why the fuck-HOW the fuck is this happening!”
everyone has hot takes on this
I’m just hoping it leads to a male roller derby rivalry somehow
danny vs walky, falling the fuck over at each other like idiots
My last piece on this, I keep hearing people opinions on this but I got to just say it’s not about a bro code because Walky and Danny weren’t even friends when Walky and Dorothy became an item and they were barely acquaintances when Walky got with Amber. It’s also not about entitlement because I’m sure Danny understands it’s in their right to do whatever they want once they were through, but Danny is allowed to feel however he wants to feel about depending how bad the fallout of it turns out. If he wants to feel petty about it then fine just as long as he doesn’t act upon those feelings in any harmful way.
Danny’s issue with Walky isn’t him just Dating Dorothy and Amber it’s how it came about. Relationships that he thought meant something were thrown away and replaced in the same time frame you’d wait between taking out your trash.
I personally think there are no bad guys in this situation. As many of us said before it’s not Walkys fault that things turned out the way it did, though it still doesn’t help put them on good terms when he keeps making Danny’s love life the butt of his jokes. He even did it again right there in those last two panels. (But that last line did get a chuckle out of me I do admit)
My theory to add to the pot is that I don’t think Danny actually has any genuine negative feelings towards Walky, he’s just projecting the bitterness he feels towards Dorothy and Amber onto him.
I dont think i had ever pronounced the word vulva out loud when i was 18 (in 2005) let alone in public. Are the time changing or is walky just really cool or was i really uncool
It’s a programming / logic thing. Along with “and”, “or”, “xor” is a logical operator that returns true only when two surrounding booleans (true/false values) are different:
Q = A xor B
If both A and B are true, Q will be false.
If both A and B are false, Q will be false.
If A is true and B is false, Q will be true.
If A is false and B is true, Q will be true.
Jealousy over exes is just the stupid, most immature thing in the entire world that almost everyone seems to do. When a relationship is over, who an ex-partner sees or “how fast they move on” is truly none of your business.
In college I had a friend date the twin brother of the boy she liked just because I liked the boy she liked too, even after he’d rejected me and obviously liked her better. She dumped the twin and started dating the guy as soon as I started dating someone else. I feel like that’s taking Ho’s before Bro’s a little bit too far. (Of course, her boyfriend before that was also a guy I’d dated and dumped and she asked my permission to start dating him, which I was like, dude you don’t need my permission, you have my blessing.) Every time this Walky/Danny dynamic comes up I think of her. I guess I’m Danny and she was Walky?
It can be more complicated than that. If you’ve just broken up with someone (or probably worse been broken up with), you’ve probably still got a lot unresolved feelings about them. There’s conflict between you. If a close friend you spend a lot of time with starts dating them right away, you’re likely going to either have to cut your time with that friend or spend more time with your ex (and the friend) than you really want to at that stage.
It’s true. But if I recall correctly Danny was dumped both times so in his head it could feel like Walky is in some way “better” than him, or at least his exes think Walky is better than him.
I could see that being difficult to deal with. Danny has a kind of “THIS guy???” energy. Just accepting that people like who they like and it’s not always a fully rational and clear “well new guy is objectively superior to old guy” is a pretty hard lesson to learn.
PS I’m not argue one is better than the other, I’m just interpreting what I think Danny’s headspace is.
Lucy’s face! I know it’s probably just astonishment/embarrassment over her boyfriend, but also I just want to voiceover: “And it was at that moment Lucy realized she might be gay.”
Man, Lucy is like, not smart. I get it, it’s a public space, you’re *allowed* to be there if you want, heck, Walky is probably even entitled to be there to support his sister.
But why in god’s name would you seek out the one person in the entire room, who you are having difficulty finding in the first place, just to introduce conflict into your own life?
why do so many people want Danny and Walky to resolve their differences and be buds like it’s okay if not everyone in the comic strip is besties y’all this is a story after all, not a wish fulfillment fantasy.
I feel like more and more in the last decade or so the way people engage with fiction has been less in search of a good story and more in search of a wish fulfillment fantasy or something that reflects what they consider to be a moral virtue — i.e. no “problematic” villains.
Personally, I like it when a villain is a complete and total cockwad, “problematic” behaviors included. Dio Brando randomly killing animals, the guy from Venom using homeless people for experiments, the Witch-king of Angmar being a misandrist, Ganondorf drop-kicking a small child, it’s all extra fuel in the “Goddamn I wanna watch this guy go down” tank. I can’t think of a non-“problematic” villain who’s stuck with me as well as the shitheaps do.
I’m inclined to agree, but nowadays online discourse is the main way a creator gets feedback. Part of why I’ve been dawdling on my own projects – the closer they are to done, the closer they are to random people dissecting every little pixel and ripping the whole thing to shreds because I used, like, red for a shadow instead of teal.
I think it’s really easy to blame the idea of the kids these days and their socials justices, but honestly I think the thing about the internet that’s changed how people engage with media the most is just how much more Silo’d your consumption of the media can be. The whole “Blorbo From My Shows” thing is just a tongue in cheek way of talking about how people (overwhelmingly autistic ppl) will engage with media entirely in the context of strong personal attachment to an individual character. It’s inevitable with the way that the internet lets you specifically track down and exclusively find and consume content that engages with that character specifically if you’re genuinely just that attached.
Again, this is a neutral statement (if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be saying it in the comments of the comic by the Hot Shot Shrine guy), but the kind of immediately obvious downside of viewing all media you consume through the lens of your personal investment and stake in characters….is that very very very few stories are made with that in mind.
An example of this that’s always kind of fascinated me was Homestuck. If you’ve never read it, a thing to know about Homestuck is that it loves using over-complication and anti-climax as punchlines. One of the most famous parts of the comic is when it goes from focusing on the four main human protagonists, who are each given a lot of time and attention and very strong distinctive character voices, to suddenly showing off TWELVE new alien characters all nearly one after another, all seemingly equally important.
Of course, the plot twist is that they’re NOT all equally important: one of the silliest and least important seeming characters turns out to be essentially a slasher movie villain, and very suddenly the chapter turns into a horror movie as a large amount of the characters are hunted down and killed. By the end, it becomes clear that there’s…four surviving characters, all of which who are the real actual other protagonists of the comic tightly linked to the main four humans. It was a fun and unexpected twist!
…. But the problem was, Andrew Hussie is REALLY, REALLY GOOD at making distinctive character voices with strong personalities and humor. Because they were all presented at equally but overwhelmingly important at first, a lot of the young and impressionable audience didn’t understand that they were never really meant to actually be characters in the first place, and to this day people rabidly kin and identify with characters that are like, as important as Tony in DOA.
I just think it’s a lot like that. People get very attached to an idea of a character in their head, to the point where they don’t really question the fact that a slasher movie sendup kind of by definition needs victims, and the fact that you didn’t KNOW it was going to be a slasher movie and thus got genuinely attached at first was part of the point. It’s easy to forget that not all stories want or need an entire cast of super 200% fleshed out fully emotionally complex characters when that’s not the kind of story they’re trying to tell.
Now with DOA, a soap opera all about getting personally attached to characters and the conflicts of their lives and their drama….. Yeah idk. I get liking characters get along (I def have much fonder memories of like, the first time Joyce and Sal seemed to get along as actual friends when Joyce borrowed her motorcycle jacket than I do any Ethan arc), but also….I don’t know how much more the author can make this a dramatic soap opera after 13 years to weed out people who don’t wanna see there be soap opera stuff.
Very Interestingly. Walky is using the same logic Mike used with Amber, when he explained to her that she got together with a version of her trauma that she could have sex with. Walky is becoming more and more like Mike and that will probably make his relationship with Danny impossible. I hope they can at least find a balance, or hok to avoid each other as much as possible in the future.
I wasn’t thinking of “Walky is becoming a Mike” as his character arc for this semester, but…that’s kind of the most fascinating and unexpected yet completely sensible direction to take the character? I wanna see that followed up on more, I like that a lot actually
I’m not gonna say Danny’s feeling are justified here, but I get ’em. They’re immature and misplaced, but he’s 18 and I completely get having that kinda feeling at 18.
Oh hey it’s been a while since we had a strip where everyone took every single part of a minor interaction or dynamic far too seriously.
Walkys being an annoying goof, Danny’s being an average petty 19 year old. Nothing more to it
Another aspect to this I’m just now considering why Walky compares his appearance to Sal’s. I might be looking to deep into it but as a guy who can be kinda androgynous sometimes it’s easier for me to lean into it and joke about it. I wonder if Walky being kinda short and vaguely feminine leads to him digging at himself by saying “oh I’m basically just my sister” appearance wise. That way nobody can say it to him and jurt his feelings.
Yeah, ever since the beginning of the comic Walky has always had a kind of double-edged relationship with masculinity- he seems to kind of mentally divide “mature” masculinity and “immature”, masculinity, where he’s self aware and dismissive about things that are agressive and macho but falls into stereotypical behavior over …say… throwing toys at cute girls cause emotions are yucky. This was even more true in the early days of the comic, where he was much more actively rejecting anything “mature” and embracing immaturity.
You kind of get the vibe from Walky that he would 100% crossdress in a heartbeat with no hangups about how feminine he’d appear, but he’d only agree to it in the context of like….a Bugs Bunny-esque whacky scheme.
Exactly! Like he’d dress up like princess peach while his sister goes as mario or something. But if booster said he wears a dress well or looks very pretty he’d get all flustered and insist he’s doing it as a bit.
Again I cant help but relate. I never really like feeling like a “man” but love feeling like a boy if that makes sense. Id rather be cute than handsome. That sorta thing.
Yeah, i’m nonbinary and I can relate a lot! It kind of speaks towards the way that the contrast of feminine/masculine is so loaded with other contrasts built in. We associate “cute=feminine” and “cute=youthful/immature” so much that it’s clear that Walky treats Being A Man like Being Smart- “disarm and set their expectations low so I don’t have to live up to their standards”.
If it helps, I had pretty much that EXACT feeling you described of “I don’t want to be masculine or manly, I enjoy the idea of getting to be “a guy” in a way that compliments my more feminine facial features”. I’m kind of rectangular shaped with broad shoulders and no hips, so I never looked particularly feminine either- but I just knew that the one thing I didn’t wanna be is Traditionally Masculine.
It was really frustrating that I felt like there wasn’t really a way to just kinda Be Me without having to pass a test or a quota. I actually didn’t think of myself as nonbinary for a LONG time for pretty much the sole reason of “I dont dislike the idea of being a guy enough to like, be trans about it, it’s just kind of eh”. As time went on, a lot of people kind of helped me realize that like…that is literally the point of being non-binary. There literally is NO right or wrong way to do it or be it, it can be…well…anything that doesn’t feel like it fits on the gender binary. Having something that helped me communicate to people that i’m “anything that isn’t a guy” turned out to be really really nice!
After messing with my gender for long enough, I now know what I like and don’t like a lot more. I realize that I didn’t feel that “super strong actual real legit desire enough to not be a guy that makes me like ACTUALLY trans” feeling because it’s NOT something innate in the sould of every single trans person ever from birth. It’s very much something you need to give yourself permission to explore and learn what it means to you!
Commenting to let you know that this is helping me make sense of my own nonbinariness too. Lately I’ve been referring to myself as “cis with nonbinary traits” and vice versa because I haven’t been able to explain some of the feelings that are illustrated in this comment
It’s just so funny I found a new fresh and enlightening perspective on gender in the comments of DOA , specifically the same one where I was crowned second favorite after yotomoe (big honor btw)
Same here! I’m very much “eh” about the whole gender thing, just don’t make me wear a dress. Then again, I’m so antisocial that it doesn’t really matter much (nobody to judge my not meeting gender expectations if I don’t talk to people, amirite?). So maybe, my best descriptor is “not fitting in” ^^
We have honestly seen elements of that before, like him bemoaning that he can’t really grow facial hair, or him having really weird rigid rules about masculinity early in the comic, like owning only one pair of shoes.
Forget humor, compelling characters, an engaging plot – the most important aspect of any piece of fiction is mercilessly judging every single character any time they do literally anything
Fictional characters exist to be taken apart atom by atom. If Dorothy’s heartbeat speeds up for even a fraction of a fraction of a second, she deserves to be taken to task for it. If Joe’s eyebrow is slightly higher than it was a moment ago, it’s because he’s about to maybe possibly do something slightly less than absolutely optimal, and we need to punish him for it, whether he’s done it yet or not. Doesn’t matter what “it” is, these fucking characters think they can get away with it, and all of us, collectively, need to be heckling them the entire time.
Tbh, me being autistic af, I find it quite useful and interesting. It is rare you get to see interactions play out so slowly, and can analyze them & people’s perceptions of them.
While I do agree with the basic premise – I do think the eyebrow thing needs to be critiqued. “slightly higher” often turns out to be above the head entirely, which just isn’t right.
I wonder if Lucy is picking up on the fact that almost every social interaction with Walky boils down to him antagonizing someone who has beef with him. Not saying that he’s in the wrong here or was previously, but that’s not a great vibe.
The more I think of it the more I wonder why Lucy didn’t ask to go on a double date with Becky and Dina. She not the homophopic type of Christian and her and Becky are already church friends.
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too bad the normal rule of “socialise at a loud event where you won’t
have tobe able to talk” doesn’t apply when DRAMA is imminentDid someone pull the Drama tag again?
I-I-I was just seein’ if it worked!
You know it’s all really funny when I think about.
Usually most characters that are irritated by Walky don’t like him because his presence is upsetting. But Danny is the only one who has actual beef with him.
and where the HELL *is* Beef anyway?!
He and Tony hang out sometimes and have very normal drama-free college experiences
After what they went through in the old continuity, they deserve it.
BEEF AND TONY JUST GO TO SCHOOL
I get your meaning, but I don’t think normal college experiences are ever drama-free,
I only had drama once in college, it’s pretty doable if you just go to your classes, do your work, and not bother getting to know your classmates much at all. Stupid class where all the assignments were group projects and you were stuck with the group assigned on day 1 ruining my perfect drama free record.
Granted, I do wish I had socialized more in college, so perhaps those who get embroiled in drama are the ones doing it right.
Enjoying a life with (hopefully) loving parents who aren’t Linda Walkerton.
Not for a good reason though. Dude, they’re called exes for a reason. It’s because they aren’t dating you any more and it’s none of your fucking business who they fool around with. It’s been a while since he Danned things up but it sounds like he’s on his way to Danning things up big time.
It’s not like Walky swept in and stole them away. So yeah Danny is being petty.
Danny is being petty, but Walky is also being a dick about it. The comment about his sister is weird and unnecessary.
Besides, if someone I knew dated my exes basically immediately after we broke up, I would be pissed too. Is that reasonable? No, not really. Would I still be pissed? Yes.
So either condemn them both or sit back and let them fight:
Yeah, I mean when you put it into context you get this:
“Both my recent exes who I felt a great connection with ended up dumping me and then had me replaced in a matter of days with the same guy! I mean that’s bad enough but would have been able to live with it if said guy could stop making a joke about it most of the time I see him.”
Though I personally don’t mind because I find their history funny as hell.
honestly befriending someone who’s dated your ex is easy as hell and kinda fun, especially if the relationship ended on a sour note for both of you, you’ll have an extra thing to bond over in addition to everything else, I met one of my friends and knew them as my ex’s gf for some time and now we’re good friends and we shit on our mutual ex together cuz she was a dick to both of us
I would think it’s reasonable enough to be pissed at Walky over it. Especially since he introduces Danny with that fact. The reason he’s not now is because he’s making a dig at Danny with the shoe thing.
It was a week for Dorothy and at least 2 weeks for Amber since Amazi-girl and Sal were not vigilante buddies when they broke up.
And I’m reasonably sure Danny was dating them faster than Dorothy was dating Walky since Dorothy and Walky didn’t start messing around til after the weekend trip to the beach.
petty? Danny? nah
Just the right amount of petty though.
How does Danny know that Walky WASN’T involved in Danny getting dumped twice. In their timeline Walky was dating both of Danny’s exes within a week of Danny getting dumped, so it’s not unreasonable to think that he was part of the issue that led to him getting dumped.
He knows because both ladies were extremely clear over why they broke up with Danny.
Also, it was definitely longer than a week before Amber and Walky started messing around because the breakup happened before Sal joined Amazi-girl on her nightly outings.
IIRC, Dorothy broke up with Danny on like the first day of school. He must think Walky works fast lol
By their time though it took like less than a week for Walky to get with both of them.
Chill out lmao feelings don’t usually abide by rational facts
Joyce doesn’t like Walky because he was mean and made fun of her insecurities.
Amber no longer likes Walky because he was flippant about Mike’s death.
Flippant is not the word I would use. Danny was flippant about Mike’s death. What Walky did was be really shitty at processing his grief.
I mean, Walky wasn’t dating them while they were still with Danny. Danny might be upset with Walky for dating them after, but his beef is groundless.
“And that’s when I dumped him.” -Lucy
“12:04”, huh. It’s :11 now.
Site clock’s out of sync, has been for a while now.
No idea why THIS is what would offend her. She’s known him for weeks.
She might be offended by Walky being an asshole right in front of her. But this is Lucy, so she will forgive him or not be bothered by it because she is nice.
Also: she pines to be an asshole as well.
I think she was under the impression he is a virgin too, now she’s learning he’s got a body count.
Walky meets Lucy when he’s talking to Jennifer about having broken up with Dorothy, wanting to have sex with Amber, but recognizing that it might hurt Dorothy for him to move on so quickly. The thing he’s ridiculing Danny for.
Also it’s the conversation where Jennifer makes an off-hand comment that instantly triggers Lucy’s crush.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/telecom/
What?
No.
Walky isn’t ridiculing Danny for anything other than the fact that he dislikes Walky for the silliest of reasons.
Walky doesn’t care about Danny being dumped by Dorothy and Amber.
DANNY cares, so Walky is pointing out how ridiculous it is to dislike him because of that.
Unless Amber gave Walky details about when she started dating Danny, Walky even know about any possible comparison about moving on too fast.
Nor do I remember Walky saying anything about how fast Danny got into and out of relationships, and I just looked at every strip the two have shared earlier today.
Why do you think Walky is saying anything like that?
Considering Lucy is a virgin with a 3 date rule, I seriously doubt she ever thought Walky was a virgin.
Not to mention she met Walky when he went to Jennifer on advice about dating Amber immediately after being dumped by Dorothy.
She’s been known he’s been in past relationships and that he moved relatively fast, at least in some ways.
Do we have confirmation that Lucy is a virgin?
She is a “nice girl” and all, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she was. But having a “3 date rule” doesn’t mean she hasn’t had 3 dates with some other boyfriend in the past.
She has said Walky is her first boyfriend and she also said she’s a Christian which is how the 3 date rule came up in the conversation.
That part I’m sure of.
I’m relatively sure she mentioned to Walky that she was a virgin when they were in the room before Jennifer tossed him out.
It’s not that she’s offended, it’s that she’s realizing she could just date Sal instead
“Alas, Sal is extremely straight”
Ugh, really thought I had it that time
What was that, a week?
*inhale*
IT’S BEEN…
You monster
Harrison Ford
“and asked out his sister”
That was what, a week?
Alright, failing to link it properly twice is my signal to stop trying.
I feel your pain.
It works if you just delete everything after “objectively.” So it could be worse.
The first time was a link that didn’t work and it was for today’s comic, so yes it very much could be
You just need to remove the closing quote at the end of the URL you pasted.
I got you.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/objectively
is this an offended face? maybe i’m just a corrupt hedonist but I read this as Lucy suddenly becoming aware that a gay sex could be happening right in front of her, at least hypothetically
I wonder if Lucy’s into that.
Maybe, but I think that look is more appalled than aroused.
Hopefully it is enough to make them break up.
If the Pajama jeans wasn’t enough, not much else will.
“Walky made some mildly uncouth jokes, so I decided to end things” would be kind of a weird ending for this storyline.
She’s outlining the fic between these two right now.
I thought that was more of Amber’s territory, but maybe Lucy does similar things.
I don’t know, I think Lucy’s brain crashed and needs to be rebooted.
XD I don’t think that’s what Danny OR Lucy wanted to hear. XD
Walky, the sole of tact. (I.e., putting his foot in his mouth.)
That implies it’s not intentional.
Lucy seems to be having a BSoD error
Danny already admitted he thinks Walky’s hot.
But he chose to leave those feelings unresolved at the time.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/unresolved/
Danny’s a tsundere then
Love it when characters in a comic strip really really wish they didn’t have to deal with the narrative conceits of a comic strip
Lucy making new plans?
One of the reasons I essentially never invite people places is because I can never keep up with all the dislikes, hatreds, and animosities in the social group. So I wait to be invited, so that way there are less likely to be problems like this.
And if there are, then they at least aren’t your fault. Unless you’re the source of the dislike, hatred, or animosity.
Terribly convenient hearing. Or is it because you’re that CLOSE
Replace Lucy with Joyce and that’s how I read the title of Willis’ old comic series.
Wow Walky, way to be a complete douchebag. If Danny decks you, you have more than earned it. Fortunately Danny is a good egg and is unlikely to do so. Partially because it might upset Sal, and partially because he doesn’t want to give you the satisfaction.
Someone else should deck Walky; I volunteer Sal to hit him, or Billie/Jennifer since she already want to hit him.
Right because Danny isn’t being petty about this whole thing. Danny is acting like he walked in and swept the off their feet. Like if Walky didn’t exist he’d still be dating one of them.
Let them fight, maybe after punching it out they can both chill.
I don’t really get the excitement here. They’re just being mutually antagonistic in their own unique ways.
Again, the fact that Walky got with them less than a week or so after they broke up with Danny isn’t a good feeling. Danny is completely within his rights to be annoyed with Walky. Does that make Danny right the whole time for being upset? No, but it is understandable; fresh wounds and all that.
Walky dated Danny’s exes so soon after the breakups that you would have to anticipate that Danny might think that Walky played a role. After all, if you get dumped and you find out that your ex started dating another guy a few days later, you would suspect that there was either an overlap or you got dumped so you could be replaced by Walky. If it happens once, you get annoyed but likely move on. If it happens twice, you might think Walky is actively trying to sabotage your love life for some damned reason.
Dorothy broke up with Danny at 7pm the first night.
He in no way thinks that Walky had anything to do with that.
And I’m pretty sure that it was a couple weeks before Walky got with Amber as Amazi-girl wasn’t doing vigilante stuff with Sal, yet, so again, he doesn’t think Walky has anything to do with that either.
Plus, they were both very clear over why they broke up with him (following her to college/thinking wanting to be president was a phase and hanging around Sal respectively).
Not to mention it’s been 3 months since Walky had been with either one.
Danny has no justifiable reason for his pettiness.
You say that like people can’t hold onto negative feelings, even if undeserved. Besides, Danny has been around Walky enough to have thought him obnoxious even before the serial dating of his exes were a thing. Yes, Walky is generally a nice guy, but he can be grating.
No.
I say that in response to the idea that Danny somehow suspects Walky of having anything to do with his breakups.
I was explaining why he does not suspect that and thus his feelings are not justifiable like you implied.
Also, Danny has spent almost no time around Walky and didn’t even meet him until after he was dating Dorothy.
Also, I’m fully aware that Walky can be grating, and that’s despite him being my favorite character.
I have no problem with Sarah not liking him, and mostly no problem when Joyce doesn’t like him, or even when Jennifer doesn’t.
But we have Danny himself saying it’s for dating his exes, and that is some bs.
Danny definitely did think it was more than a coincidence though. He initially hit on Sal as a response then backed off when he realized he was being ridiculous, only to be taken aback when Sal responded positively.
Give me a source, please, that shows Danny somehow thinking Walky was involved in his breakup with Dorothy or that she broke up with him specifically to get with Walky.
Because he said and thought none of that when he found out about Walky from her.
I just read that interaction earlier and he only expressed hurt that she would have a relationship instead of focusing on her goal.
Maybe he thought that later, it was a long time ago after all, but I don’t remember it.
I didn’t say that he thought Walky broke up his relationships for sure. He simply inferred that he thought Walky was targeting those he gets involved with (imagine how he would have reacted if he had also learned Billie climbed into bed with Walky shortly after she failed to seduce Danny). That’s why he first hit on Sal as that pattern would not continue with her, until he thought better of his motivation doing so.
Is it rational? Not really. Does Walky deserve his contempt for it by itself? No. However, Danny isn’t the only person who has been less than enamored with Walky.
yeah, and people often don’t like/are annoyed by/don’t want to be around someone for reasons that aren’t “logical”. Danny isn’t being unreasonable and he isn’t being uncouth either. In fact I bet there’s someone you dislike for illogical reasons, and it doesn’t make you a bad person. We can’t always control how we feel but it’s what we do with those feelings. Danny isn’t being petty he’s being honest about why he doesn’t like being around Walky.
Did I say Danny was a bad person?
No.
Is Danny openly expressing dislike for Walky for reasons that he’s smart enough AND mature enough to know are bs?
Yes.
Disliking Walky is a feeling and thus something he cannot control.
Expressing that dislike is a choice and thus something that he can control.
Danny has expressed that dislike several times over the years, even when Walky was not around, saying Walky looked like Mowgli from the jungle book and that the world made sense again when Dorothy paused the relationship.
The worse thing Walky said about him (that I can remember anayway) is that he liked the idea that he wore a hat.
Walky doesn’t seem to want to be around Danny, either.
But why would he want to be around someone who openly dislikes him?
And Danny has been disliking Walky for 6 months because he was with Dorothy for about 2 months and with Amber for about 3 weeks over 3 months ago, both times a week and longer after they decisively broke up with Danny.
Walky had nothing to do with the breakups and he didn’t even know who Danny was when he started dating Dorothy (Danny had also started dating Amazi-girl by the time he found out).
That is definitively petty (at least per the dictionary on my iPad since it is trivial and small minded of him).
I mean depending on how much that last jab gets into Danny, Sal might actually punch Walky for it. We’ll see
I fear this will backfire after the initial altercation. Walky’s snark will be unaffected in the long term and instead you will only create a more fearsome foe:
Walky who knows how to dodge a punch (and sass you about missing him)
Agreed 100%
Y’know I’m usually the one advocating to punch people in the face, but
Bit much
Absolutely enamored with the confidence in which Walky thought Danny’s problem with him was asking for his shoes.
Well…did he return them?
I LOVE WALKY.
I want to hit him, let’s meet in the middle: I’ll punch him, then you can take him out for drinks afterwards. He can get some ice for the black eye while you two are drinking.
Wait, he isn’t 21. Drinks for you and soda for Walky.
Walky is a lightweight anyways, so you could simply give him an O’Doule’s and he would get drunk off of it because they are only MOSTLY alcohol free.
According to the U.S government, anything at 3.2% or less is alcohol free.
Sounds like a good plan
I too love Walky.
Walky is the kind of guy I could only handle in small doses, like iocane powder, but I would gladly build up an immunity to the poison that is his personality.
Seriously, this is some of the most like cool and casual and confident Walky’s joking has felt. “Can’t hate me THAT much” was legitimately such a good comeback, and the strip is going out of its way to portray Danny’s comments as silly and disproportionate and Walky’s responses as relaxed and unbothered. This has been like one of the funniest comics in recent memory, does that like… Not come across to everyone?
It came across to me ☺️
That’s why you’re my new second favorite commenter. You’d be first if Yotomoe and I didn’t bond over loving milfs that one time.
He can be cool, casual, and confident and still be a smarmy, grating asshole. Walky really isn’t in the right here (not that Danny is — there is no “right” in this situation) and I don’t feel like the comic is specifically trying to portray him as such. It’s just two people interacting whose personalities do not mesh well.
You forgot that the most important thing about reading fiction is moral condemnation of the characters.
Danny, I’m pretty sure you and Amber were together for less time than Walky was with Dorothy, who definitely pursued Walky more than he did her.
*Did* Danny ever get his shoes back?
I know Walky got his shoes back from Ruth like a decade later, but…. There’s a nonzero chance Walky wore Danny’s shoes while making out with Amber
Why would THAT be what Danny has a problem with? And not specifically what he did to Amber at Halloween?
Because Danny also said that he wanted Mike to never wake up from his coma. So what Walky said was not as bad by comparison.
yeah he can’t judge that too harshly without being a hypocrite
Arguably that makes it worse. Often the easiest things to hate in another person are the things someone is ashamed of in themself.
I don’t think Danny is ashamed of that one, actually.
I’ve noticed he doesn’t do well with Jealousy.
Toxic masculinity and a feeling of ownership over his exes.
Or because he got with them less than a week after breaking up with Danny; which considering most people take more time before they start dating again could make it difficult to not be upset with the new boyfriend/girlfriend. Is that right? No, not really, but it does sting and I can understand that much.
Yeah, if your ex instantly is dating another guy after she breaks up with you, you’d think that guy was a factor in you getting dumped. If it happens twice, you start wondering if that guy is deliberately interfering with your love life.
Or because Walky continues to make jokes about it irregardless (or because) of how Danny feels
Naah must be toxic masculinity again
Eh, if the genders were reversed I think girl!Danny would probably feel the same way.
it can also just be uncomfortable and weird to be around someone who dated two of your exes and whom you don’t have an established friendship with otherwise, even if they’re the nicest person in the whole wide world. I seriously think people are constantly forgetting that A. this is a comic strip about dumbass college students and B. emotions don’t follow logic.
Sometimes i read the comments here and wonder if people have ever actually been in any of these super common situations. Or like had any relationship with another human being ever. Because this is the most terminally online shit
Danny buys flowers, walks around with a bright blue ukelele and bought a girl bike he was perfectly happy to keep if sal didn’t want it (granted they’re vastly superior to guy bikes). He’s had his moments in the past but in terms of current Danny, between him and walky he’s not the one with masculinity issues
Granted it wasn’t necessarily Walky’s fault that both Amber and Dorothy broke up with Danny. (Their relationship with Danny ended before they started with Walky, so its not like they were cheating on Danny with Walky.)
But, I can understand the mentality behind Danny’s feelings… Dorothy: “I’m breaking up with you to spend time with my studies. By the way here’s my new boyfriend who’s not you”. And even if Walky may not be at fault, he hasn’t really done anything to try to calm the situation. (And his whole “Sal is me with a vulva” comment would be considered counter-productive.)
Even a simple “sorry man… I appologize if it seems like I played a part in any of your breakups” might have helped, even if logically it shouldn’t have been needed.
Yeah, I make it a point to not apologize to people for stuff that isn’t my fault and also I don’t mean.
Sometimes the word “sorry” is less about expressing guilt or remorse over a situation, and more about showing some empathy.
My suggested statement had the whole “if it seems” in there. It was sort of a non-apology apology.
Dorothy did not break up with Danny to focus on her studies.
She broke up with him because he was making life decisions off their relationship and thought her wanting to be president was something she’d grow out of, basically 💩 on her dream.
She had even said she should have broken up with him before the summer.
Also, Walky has done nothing wrong and had no part in his breakups, so why should he apologize for pettiness that Danny feels over something that is Danny’s own fault?
I already admitted that Walky had no role in Danny’s previous breakups. I’ve also admitted that Danny’s feelings are not totally rational.
But I think those feelings are natural, since us humanoids don’t often function rationally.
And heck, Walky doesn’t even have to give an actual apology. Just show some EMPATHY.
Also, it seems as though Danny knew Dorothy better than she knew herself when he thought she’d drop the “I’m gonna be POTUS” thing.
That Danny was right doesn’t matter regarding why she broke up with him.
She didn’t break up with him because she felt she was right and he was wrong.
She broke up with him because she didn’t like him tying himself to her plans as she was always planning on leaving.
6 months later, she has changed her mind, but that doesn’t change her reason for breaking up with him.
“and thought her wanting to be president was something she’d grow out of, basically 💩 on her dream.” What? No! Absolutely not!
He was 100% supportive of her dream and already imagined himself as first Gentleman. I don’t think he was saying it in a sarcastic or condescending way.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/worry/
As for “because he was making life decisions off their relationship” I don’t think “I’ll adapt to whatever you decide to be no matter what you chose” count as making life decision for their relationship, unless you count “staying in relationship with you” as one, but I’d say “staying in relationship with you” qualify as the bar minimum each have to accept to be in a relationship in the first place, per definition.
At most, he said that many she’d change her mind about leaving Indiana to go to Yale
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/through/
But I’d wager it’s not even about dissing her goal to become president, just to stay with him. While an Ivy league can definitely help in a political career, saying she could change her mind about going there does not equate saying to give up on her presidential goal.
the reason Dorothy broke up with Danny is simple: she no longer was in love with him. This is a valid reason to broke up, even if it sucks. there is no reason to seek for someone to blame there.
Like, seriously, being ready to leave school just so he can be with her if she goes to Yale is the opposite of dissing out her ambition:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/kindness/
The core of the issue is that Danny wanted to stay with Dorothy (you know, the bare minimum for being in a relationship) Dorothy no longer wanted that.
Clingy is only clingy if your partner doesn’t want to be as clingy as you are.
No. He was giving lip service to her dream.
He was basically saying he would follow her wherever she went (that’s the making life decisions based off their relationships part) and that it didn’t matter what she did or where she went because his degree will let him work anywhere.
I didn’t say he was being sarcastic or condescending, but “I can work anywhere so it’s ok if you decide to quit on the dream if you’ve had for years” is not supporting said dream.
That’s why she had no issue with Walky bragging to Joe that he had sex with her, because he did so by saying someday he can say he had sex with the president, thus displaying absolute confidence in her (we see how that has backfired recently, but that doesn’t change the fact that those two positions and how she felt about them were not the same).
“I will be with you no matter what you do” is a far cry from pooping on her vocation, though. Danny basically saying “If you decide to go to Yale, I’ll just leave school and follow you” is still a vote of confidence, so to speak.
“He was basically saying he would follow her wherever she went (that’s the making life decisions based off their relationships part” I mean, I’d say being with the person you are with is the minimum requirement to be in a relationship. “You get to do anything you want, I’ll follow you” is the opposite of making a life-decision, it’s letting the other making the life decision.
It’s definitely too clingy for someone who does not reciprocate and that was the issue: Dorothy no longer loved Danny and that’s a valid reason to break up. A lack of support for her goals or making decision for Dorothy was never something Danny was guilty of, nor the reason of the break up.
His life.
Basing HIS life decisions off their relationship.
She didn’t like that his goals, his decisions centered around them being together.
I never said he was making decisions for her.
I said he was making decisions for himself BECAUSE of her, and she stated she didn’t like that.
Him thinking she might grow out of wanting to be president was the final straw.
She also said, at a later time, that a part of her will always love him, and not loving him anymore was never stated to be the case when they broke up.
“I never said he was making decisions for her.” My bad.
“Him thinking she might grow out of wanting to be president was the final straw.” I wouldn’t say “last straw” as she seemed clearly set to break up even before that. Joe figured as much.
And a genuine care for someone doesn’t always imply a romantic love. Her romantic feeling for him were clearly gone and that doesn’t need to be spelled out.
This is going well I’d say what the actual f walky but I pretty sure he is going to say even more awful things in the next few strips dedicated to this plot. unless Lucy stops it.
Please stop them Lucy.
Have some respect for your sister, dude.
Respect is a word that is missing from Walky’s dictionary.
If Danny said it to Walky, though, it’d be more effective than hitting him.
Good point. I’m not having a great day, so maybe my desire to punch Walky is less him and more my bad attitude.
Not that I’m willing to admit it. 😛
It’s not just you. Walky is very punchable.
He certainly is
Getting more punchable every strip.
He really can be, especially recently.
It’s OK because Dorothy told him to own it
It’s probably your bad day, hope it gets better dude
And Danny can have some respect for his exes ability to make their own choices. Let’s see him act this way towards them.
I missed the panel where Danny was talking about their genitals in order to humiliate someone.
I don’t think Walky is trying to “Humiliate” Danny. He’s just joking around by saying a taboo thing. I legit don’t think he’s saying this maliciously. I think he’s just joking around, as someone who’s had a near identical person that looks like them around might do on occasion.
I agree.
It’s also nothing new.
When they were all at the beach and Joyce wanted to ship him and Jennifer, Walky said she’s like his sister and Jennifer said she’d rather do his sister.
Walky then told Jennifer that he could hook her up with Sal, telling her to “imagine all this, but with boobs”.
Yeah like if Sal and Walky were identical twins and Walky was a girl, I am CERTAIN she would make the exact some jokes.
“It’s like you’re bangin’ me, but with an accent!”
The real tricky part is then the other party likes the voice enough to request it again in the next round.
Walky attacks Danny’s life points directly
Calling Sal “Walky with a vulva” is rather misrepresenting what Sal is like.
Yes, they do have similar skin tones. But there are a ton of other ways that Walky and Sal differ, apart from the superficial sexual characteristics…
– Sal is a lot more hardened/tougher. Walky is, well, naive
– Walky has a lot more childish interests (his interest in Dexter and Monkey Master) whereas Sal is into music, sports, etc.
– Walky was a bit spoiled (grades came easy for him even without working, but now he is struggling). Sal had a harder time earlier in life but has put the effort in (something walky seems unable to do) and is now flourishing
I’m sure Danny is gonna be thinking of those bullet points when he and Sal bang for the first time and not that he’s smashing Walky with boobs
Also, they look similar, but not to the point that only looking at their faces would somehow make them identical twins.
Walky is aware of all these facts, but listing them out inhibits his ability to mess with Danny, so they are temporarily omitted.
I think he was speaking purely physically. Like “You can’t hate me that much if you can make out with someone who looks remarkably similar to me.”
Don’t confuse us with your rationality
Lucy’s face in the last panel is the best part of this comic lol
Lucy has REALIZED who Walky is.
Sal without boobs
I am guessing Walkyb is trying to take the piss in response to Danny’s resentment and mild agression but this is not the time and place, have some respect for Lucy who wants this to go well and your sister who didn’t want this to happen but out respect for your’s and Lucy’s relationship recommended this.
Eh.
Dude openly admits to disliking him, and it’s over some petty mess.
I see no reason for Walky to restrain himself and be anything other than authentic.
Side note, disrespecting the person who doesn’t like you even when you’re attempting to get along seems to be in the blood considering that’s basically how Sal did Malaya when she wanted to be friends for Marcie’s sake.
I see two reasons for Walky to restrain himself Sal and Lucy. Or at least Lucy. If Walky choose to walk the low road with Danny then he deserves the resentment.
You can’t deserve negative feelings that came to you for no reason.
Can Walky gain new resentment? Sure.
But the original is all in Danny’s head and Walky deserves none of it, so he gets the Walky that claps back.
Sal knows exactly who her brother is and she doesn’t want to hang as couples in the first place, so no, that’s not a reason to restrain himself.
Walky also told Lucy that he didn’t want to double date with Danny and Sal and she set this up anyway, so even if she hasn’t seen this side of Walky before (which she probably has since she”s seen him around Jennifer), Walky has no reason to be fakey (to quote Malaya).
Hell, Lucy even already knows Danny hates Walky as she isn’t surprised by him suddenly using the Batman voice and instead only asks why.
And let’s not forget that Lucy is only doing this because she’s horny (and thinks she loves him) and wants to get the 3rd date over with as soon as possible.
So 3 out of the 4 people involved don’t want this to happen and have no expectations of it going well and one of them openly admits to hating the other for the pettiest of reasons that was irrelevant more than 3 months ago.
Danny has no one to blame but himself if Walky makes him pop a blood vessel.
How exactly is Walky “Trying to get along”?
Ok, he wasn’t responsible for Danny’s prior breakups, and Danny’s dislike of walky is partly illogical.
But its not like Walky has made some big effort here either. He hasn’t expressed any empathy towards Danny over the breakups in past strips. His first interaction in this strip was to comment on “borrowng the shoes”, and then tries to get into Danny’s head with the “Sal is me with a vulva” comment.
I’ve tried twice to respond and both times the page reloaded.
So here’s the short version.
Walky came to be around someone he didn’t want to be around with a smile on his face and that person couldn’t even do that, so Walky messed with him.
Walky owes Danny no empathy and Danny doesn’t want any.
Danny wants to be petty.
Why does he want to be petty about something that is not Walky’s fault, has nothing to do with Walky, and happened months ago?
Because he thinks he’s better than Walky.
But if he’s better, then why did both the women he cared for dump him and then get with Walky?
That might mean Walky is a better person and/or boyfriend than Danny.
Since Danny doesn’t want to explore that concept, he chooses to be petty instead.
Danny broke up with Dorothy in August and Amber sometime in September.
It’s January and he has a beautiful and cool girlfriend, yet he’s hating on Walky.
Why?
Not for having similar taste in women, but because he fears the women have similar taste in men.
“Walky messed with him.”
Walky chose to mess with him, theres a big difference.
Walky could have chosen to be neutral but instead chose snark.
Walky chose to borrow shoes off Danny, Walky chose to talk about Danny (to Booster) in the third person and make light of the situation, Walky chose snark over neutrality
Danny, to the best of my knowledge, doesn’t shit-talk about Walky, in fact doesn’t do anything except dislike Walky and hes perfectly entitled to
Danny said Walky looked like Mowgli from the jungle book.
He shit talked him with Amber while Dorothy was dating him, so talking about him behind his back.
When Walky made a joke about Ethan being a serial killer taking the shirts of manly men, both Dorothy and Danny said Walky was safe, but Dorothy did it with a smile while Danny was disparaging.
Danny said the world made sense again when Walky and Dorothy were on pause.
Danny has definitely shit talked Walky.
Meanwhile Walky doesn’t dislike Danny and only responds with snark because that’s how he responds to everything.
The worst thing I can remember Walky saying about Danny is that Danny liked that he used to wear a hat.
You make good points however Walky is still a little turd and I don’t blame Danny for not liking Walky and not wanting to spend time with him
I have no problem with Danny not liking Walky.
It’s the stated reason that he doesn’t like him that I have a problem with, and it’s people acting like Walky should be nicer to Danny or on his best behavior when he knows Danny doesn’t like him and he also knows the reason is bs.
Even if Danny doesn’t feel he’s better than Walky, etc., like I believe, that would still mean he dislikes him for dating his exes months ago.
So even the most honest and straightforward reason Danny has for disliking Walky is on some bs.
If, and thats a big if granted, Walky wants to start making more male friends he’ll have to start changing the way he interacts with people (probably won’t happen with Danny)
Walky is generally an annoying little gob shite so if its not for dating his exes or borrowing his shoes then it’d probably be his personality that’d make Danny dislike Walky
I dunno if Walky struggles making guy friends so much as he hasn’t “tried” very hard. Asher basically fell in love with the dude and he was just being himself.
> He shit talked him with Amber while Dorothy was dating him, so talking about him behind his back.
I think there is a difference between talking about someone with whom you are having a deep personal relationship with, and general trash-talking about someone to whomever would listen.
> When Walky made a joke about Ethan being a serial killer taking the shirts of manly men, both Dorothy and Danny said Walky was safe, but Dorothy did it with a smile while Danny was disparaging.
Did Danny initiate the conversation? Was it made in front of many people who were not familiar with the dynamics of the situation? Did he go around afterwards and tell everyone how “walky wasn’t manly”?
He may have made a comment on how “walky wasn’t manly” but, well, its pretty obvious he is not, and the conversation seemed to be around people who had at least some sort of relationship.
But Danny has no relationship with Walky.
There is a difference between my friend saying something negative about me and the guy who openly dislikes me saying it.
Danny was talking bad about Walky in a non joking manner.
He is the one holding onto negative feelings about Walky for bs reasons.
All the negativity in their dynamic comes from him and Walky is only responding back to it in the way he responds back to all such behavior.
Other than this and saying Danny liked the idea of him wearing a hat, Walky hasn’t said a single negative thing to Danny (saying they both dated the same people is not a negative thing).
Maybe he said something negative about Danny to someone else through the years, but I don’t remember it.
Lets take a look at some of your arguments…
>Walky came to be around someone he didn’t want to be around with a smile on his face and that person couldn’t even do that, so Walky messed with him.
THAT’S your example of how “Walky was trying”? He “smiled”? That’s a pretty low bar to set for effort. (Then again, Walky isn’t exactly known for putting effort into things so maybe it was a big thing for him. (And I don’t think he gets any points for just trying to be around danny, because he was really dragged into it himself.)
> Walky owes Danny no empathy
You shouldn’t give empathy because “you are owed it”. You give empathy because, well, society probably works better when people do.
If my mother were eaten by sharks, you would not “owe” me any empathy (unless they were your pet sharks to begin with). But I would hope that you would feel some empathy for my loss, and avoid humming the theme song from “Jaws” when you are around me.
I do hate when people frame common decency as “being owed” something. It’s a weird way to frame the act of not being a dick. Like nobody is owed your respect or time or your friendship but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
Granted I think it’s because too many people have been silenced or forced into uncomfortable situations with the excuse of “oh you need to be respectful” or whatever and that sucks. But I feel like there’s a lotta times when it’s worth working towards.
Yes, Walky smiling at the guy who he knows actively dislikes him is Walky trying to get along, which is demonstrably more than Danny did.
Why do you feel Walky should try even harder when Danny isn’t trying at all.
Neither one wants to be there, they’re both being put out, one of them came with a positive attitude from the very first second and the other not only didn’t have one, but he had one for Lucy and not Walky, showing that he purposely switched it up.
And yes, in this case, owed empathy is the way to view it because this should be a nothing burger in the first place.
It’s entitlement that has Danny feeling this way, and entitlement is all about being owed something.
And again, Danny doesn’t even want empathy.
He has expressed no desire for anyone to commiserate with him over Walky dating the same women he has, including his best friend Joe who shares a room with him and knows Walky.
And Danny is both smart enough and mature enough to know how silly he’s being.
He has made no attempt to work past this feeling in these 6 months because he wants to feel this way.
Yeah I’m on Walky’s side on this exchange. Danny’s fully allowed to have one thing he’s not super nice and tolerant about, but Walky didn’t do anything wrong when he happened to start dating another dude’s exes. I’d be kinda grossed out if he *was* apologetic towards Danny over it, since then that gets into misogynistic concepts of ownership of romantic partners.
Oh yeah, If Danny confronted the girls with this attitude everyone would be cheering for Walky to deck Danny.
Yes, if something that didn’t happen happened, then people would react to it differently than what did happen.
Walky thinks demeaning Danny about his exes is funny, so Danny doesn’t like him. People are working real hard to make Danny the one doing the misogyny in this strip.
Nah.
Danny thinks not liking Walky because they share exes is righteous, so Walky responds with snark.
Also, there’s nothing demeaning about sharing exes, nor has Walky ever said there was.
The fact that Danny feels that way is the issue.
If anything, Danny could feel slightly better about them sharing exes because he was with both ladies longer than Walky was, if one had to judge the different relationships.
But instead, the fact that Walky was the person who was with them is somehow bad.
Cause I seriously doubt Danny would have a problem if it was Jacob.
It’s because Danny thinks it shouldn’t be Walky of all people.
Good point. It’s not just “You dated my exes”. There’s a subtle element of “You dated my exes and I’m BETTER than you.”
How do you get that Danny thinks he’s being righteous about this? He’s fully aware it’s a petty dislike (he certainly made no argument against that when Sal brought it up). Walky snarking back is an entirely reasonable response, but you’re reading a *lot* of uncharitable reasons into Danny’s reaction.
Fine.
Switch righteous for justifiable.
Danny is smart enough and mature enough to know better, but he holds onto this feeling anyway, making no effort to move past it and openly expressing it.
You can’t control your feelings.
You can control your actions.
Danny chooses not to control them even after 6 months.
His dislike of Walky *is* justifiable — Walky’s done more than just the ex thing to him. Just small aggravations to be sure, but plenty to warrant not liking a guy. It’s just more succinct and pithy to put it this way.
And his actions about it are… essentially nothing? He greeted Walky coldly. That’s it. And he’s been given absolutely no reason to want to move past his feelings either. They don’t need to work together for any reason, and indeed have vanishingly small reason to even hang out in the same place where civility would be required. If Danny and Sal stay together, he should *probably* get over it eventually for the sake of familial peace, but at this point they’ve been together a week and Sal has actively encouraged his mild antagonism towards Walky.
This is such a hilariously tame rivalry on both sides. Neither of them is doing anything more than being mildly rude at worst.
I used the archives to look at every interaction they’ve ever had.
Other than this, the only thing remotely mean Walky has said about Danny is that he liked the idea of wearing a hat.
So no, Walky hasn’t done “more than just the ex thing” (which isn’t doing anything in the first place) and no, the dislike is not justifiable.
As for what Danny has done, he said Walky looked like Mowgli from the Jungle Book, agreed with Amber when she said Dorothy going from Danny to Walky was basically a step down since Walky was cute, but a lazy goofball, said Walky would he safe from manliness-hunting-serial-killer Ethan disparagingly, and said the world once again made sense when Dorothy paused the relationship.
Danny is not Walky’s friend.
Danny has made negative remarks about Walky both in front of Walky and behind his back.
Danny has made it known that he does not like Walky, and the reason being for the dislike is that they dated the same people at different times.
That alone would be enough for me to consider anyone a jerk, let alone the other stuff mentioned as I do not need to tell people I do not like them nor do I need to hear that people do not me.
That in and of itself is rude.
I don’t know why some people seem to disagree with that concept.
But Walky has done nothing to Danny in front of him other than this and the hat comment.
If Walky said anything about Danny away from him through all the years of this comic, I do not remember it.
So in my book, Danny has done much more than Walky to make their relationship a negative one, and that’s leaving alone the fact that the stated reason is bs; it was bs when if first occurred and it’s definitely bs months later.
Yes, they are both being rude to each other.
I’ve been commenting so much because people seem to think Danny is not being rude as well or that Danny’s rudeness is ok while Walky is out of hand.
If Danny didn’t insist on openly disliking Walky, this strip would not have the lines it has as there’s no way Walky would pull this stuff out of thin air unbidden.
Think of it this way; if you get dumped and your ex is immediately dating another guy, you would suspect that either there was some cheating involved or you were dumped for the other guy. In the former, the other guy deserves some resentment. In the latter, he does not.
However, if your next ex immediately starts dating that same guy after dumping you, you might think that he is actively making it happen. I’d not want to have anything to do with that guy either.
Fair enough, in real life it’s a weird coincidence. In the comic it’s really just a function of these characters all hanging out with the same dozen or so people. Danny and Walky are both nerds who date nerdy girls, they were bound to step on each other’s toes.
Walky did nothing wrong, but I think it’s fine for Danny to still personally not like him. It becomes a problem if Danny actually starts telling people that Walky did something wrong.
I feel like this is one of those things that doesn’t really need to be a big deal. Walky and Danny don’t really have any reason to be friends at this juncture, but it also isn’t that big of a deal if they snark a bit at each other.
Oh Walky, you donut. Never change.
Please change, especially the maturity part. Being an eternal teenager gets real old, real fast.
He…is a teenager.
He’s not 14 (which he’s acting like) and since he has reason to change he may well continue acting like an eternal 14 year old
Comsiderinf Danny is the one mad that they both dated the same people at different times months ago, acting like he yelled dibs or that Walky violated the bro code despite them not being bros or even knowing each other, I’d say Danny is the one acting like he’s 14.
I don’t recall Danny talking about the bro code, seems out of character for him
I said “acting like”.
Danny didn’t call dibs either.
But his pettiness falls in line with those behaviors.
And we know that Danny is at least aware of the bro code just from being around Joe, and I’m sure he wouldn’t like it if Joe messed with Dorothy.
I wish I had Walky’s brazenness.
You’d probably get punched a lot, lol.
On the bright side Danny, in the sad event that you and Sal break up, at least Walky can’t date her and/or fool around with her. Or at least I hope not.
Willis is setting up his next Slipshine.
Every time this bit comes up I laugh like it’s the first time. WALKY (GETS TIRED OF DANNY COMPLAINING ABOUT SLEEPING WITH HIS EXES SO JUST TO MAKE THINGS EVEN HE) PERFORMS A SEX WITH DANNY
Well, now Danny has a better reason not to like Walky…he’s just never makes himself pleasant for Danny to be around. You don’t actually need more than that. (Shrug)
ok, i don’t understand the arguments of both sides.
1. Walky didn’t hit on his girlfriends when they were in a relationship (I don’t remember Danny was in a relationship with Dorothy or he just thought he was?) plus they left Walky without any big fuss or betrayal on either side to consider that Walky hurt the girls. Or its just brocode
2. maybe I don’t have a sister and I don’t understand it, but seriously, a relationship with someone’s sister equals -100 to friendship?
ps after i wrote that all i remember both are bro code violations, but still they were not Bros dude.
Getting a bit sick of bro code and toxic masculinity and what not.
Walky has made jokes about the situation to Danny and doesn’t care how Danny feels about it.
In fact I’d suggest the more it aggravates Danny more Walky will do it, because it’s funny (apparently)
It’s not bro code, it’s not toxic masculinity, it’s Walky acting like a dick and Danny is reacting to it in a normal way
Danny acted like a dick first and Walky tried to defuse with comedy. That’s just how he reacts when people antagonize him.
Danny acted like a dick first by standing in his room with the door open. https://www.dumbingofage.com/flavor/
Walky diffused the tension tonight by trying to humiliate Danny by talking about Sal’s genitals.
This is a confusing reply. Who’s calling Danny a dick for being in his room? Are you, or are you suggesting something else is/might? That event doesn’t seem very related to this one, aside from including the same characters and mentioning the same relationship trivia.
The point is that, while Danny initiated hostilities during this particular encounter, Walky is not blameless and has previously antagonized Danny unprovoked. Danny has entirely reasonable cause to greet Walky coldly right now.
Danny was in a long term relationship with Dorothy, got dumped by her days before she started dating Walky, then had it happen again.
You made that up.
Go back and read the strips. Dorothy broke up with Danny soon after moving in. While in reality the Walky/Dorothy pairing took a long time to get published, in their timeline it was very shortly after she dumped Danny. Did Danny have any reason to blame Walky? Probably not, though if I recall correctly it was indicated that Danny was a little miffed that she started dating such a man-child.
No, I don’t think I’ll spend my limited time on this planet re-confirming something I already know, on the demands of someone who isn’t going to pay me for it. I’d rather sandpaper my taint. I’m well aware that your statement is factually true, I just get a chuckle out of calling people liars for no reason and in a way that harms nothing.
I appreciate your dedication to making this place sillier <3 <3 <3
I don’t see the fun in that, but thank you for not continuing the bit.
Apology accepted.
Nah, you made it up.
It’s really funny that anyone is getting mad at this strip in any way, at all. There is literally no conflict that could be more clearly low stakes, funny, and exaggerated for comedic effect in this comic. I love that there’s literally no character trait you can possibly demonstrate that won’t make someone click their tongue and slap your knuckles with a ruler. What do you guys think when you consume literally any media with even remotely higher stakes or ambiguous behavior?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre%27s_law
walky in his menace era
love it
Not really liking Danny or Walky in this strip. I think dated my ex(es) is a weird reason to be mad at someone, maybe if you are really close with someone, and they date the ex you broke up with less than a week ago, but Danny and Walky barely knew each other.
And Walky for the “Datin’ me with a vulva” comment, I know he is probably being facetious, but I still do not like it.
I agree with the floating text. Hate sex is hot. Hot and sick.
Honestly, that episode with the shoes was a bizarrely humiliating move on Dotty’s part. Imagine waking up, not even dressed yet, there’s your very recent ex introducing you, in person, to their new SO right then and there to literally and figuratively *fill your shoes*. That is COLD
It gets even worse as you add context.
The only reason Dotty went to Danny was because Walky insisted that not only was he too macho to own more than one pair of shoes. He claimed that only the most effeminate of men would have more than one pair.
…while living in the Midwest, where most people have boots for winter and sandals for summer…
And Dorothy totally buys this BS and takes Walky to Danny’s room. …To ask Joe to steal them a pair of Danny’s shoes.
I realize being implicitly called metrosexual _shouldn’t_ be an insult, but it certainly was treated as one in thus context.
It might be one of those weird things that can happen at the end of a long term relationship. You get so used to turning to your partner for help that you do it reflexively even though it’s now wildly inappropriate.
“I asked to borrow his shoes once” is up there with Jennifer’s “it essentially sounded like that” in the ranks of self-interested willfully-ignorant understatements/oversimplifications.
Congrats Walky, now your girlfriend is going to think about your sister when you get intimate. Excellent play.
ain’t no way Danny is salty that his exes found happiness with someone else after they broke up, even if that someone else is the same dude in both cases
like, if you’re gonna be acting like a selfish fucking child about it and be salty that your exes were happy with Walky instead of with you (even if it was for a short time), at least be a confident selfish child by going with the “he’s constantly going for my sloppy seconds” mentality instead, at least that way you’ll be looked at as gross and Joe-y instead of childish and sad
tho I dunno, maybe my expectations that other lgbtq people will be more mature about sex and relationships like I am doesn’t really apply to (fictional) 18 year olds, and that just cuz I was like that at that age doesn’t mean others are too
The reason why Danny felt extra humiliated about Dorothy dating Walky after she dumped him was Mike trolling him. So in a way Mike is still alive, in their hearts. He will be with them always, until the end of Dumbing of Age.
It is genuinely amazing to me how many people are determined to flip this whole scenario around and act as if Walky is the aggressor here. Like, yeah, he’s definitely being a bit of an asshole, but that’s always been how Walky fights back.
Danny’s being a petty shithead about something that wasn’t Walky’s fault, he’s not a victim here, he’s losing a fight that he started. If somebody throws a punch at someone else and gets knocked the fuck down we don’t give them a hug and tell them it will all be okay, we tell them not to be a dumbass next time.
And no, Danny’s reason for being upset isn’t valid. It’s entitlement. If a girl breaks up with me then she’s free to do whatever the hell she wants. If you get upset about it when your ex starts seeing somebody else it’s because you think you deserved more of her time even after things were ended. It’s self absorbed and delusional and it’s an idea that needs to die.
That would all hold water if Danny actually did or said something aggressive or vindictive. Like if he actually makes the case that Walky was somehow in the wrong for dating Dotty and Amber, *then* you get to call him a petty shithead. All he did so far was grumpily greet Walky and honestly answer Lucy’s question. He’s allowed to not like Walky, feelings aren’t actions and they don’t need to be “valid”.
(That said, I personally think Walky’s response is hilarious and also exactly what I’ve been thinking)
For me the problem with Walky is less not taking Danny’s shit and more describing Sal as “me with a Vulva”, it feels disrespectful to me. So I guess I am not criticizing his behaviour towards Danny but towards Sal.
Channeling the will of his dead roommate, Walky and Danny pound each other in the most epic of hatefucks.
Isn’t anyone really grossed out by Walky’s going “DATING ME WITH A VULVA”?? The disrespect, fam. Sal would’ve actually, non-metaphorically kicking his ass, if we’re talking toxic masculinity (the exes thing and all) this thing here is a glaring example.
(That said, yes it’s a funny strip and I sense hatesex vibes between Walky and Danny. Is it just me or this dude has been saying some accidentally queer things lately?
Enjoyment and analysis: One can do both ;3)
She’d probably smack him in the back of the head, sure, but kicking his ass over it would be kind of extreme. He’s definitely being crass, but this is also a joke he’s made in the past, just, less vulgarly.
Analysis is just one big sweet (and also horrifying and frustrating) part of enjoyment, haha. Agree on all counts tho…
Lucy’s face is the face of a fanfic writer having realizations
Yeah i can’t tell whether Lucy is turned on by this or horrified. Maybe a lil bit of both
Sometimes, something flips a switch in you, and you still have enough awareness left to go, “Really??”
You know, it’s wild timing because I actually had a dream a couple of days ago that Walky turned into a woman, sorta anyway.
In it, Dorothy and Walky were still dating, but Walky had somehow gained the ability to swap bodies with someone, their consciousness would go into the other. For some reason, Dorothy offers to switch with him for the duration of a sex act because she wants to know what a handjob feels like, and Walky wants to find out if he can give a good handjob, and thus, they swap.
I’ve never gotten the “you can’t date my exes” thing*, especially since they aren’t friends (and therefor it’s not that Danny has to see his ex, like if Joe dated a Danny ex and had her around their room all the time).
* “my ex is really awful and I don’t want them to hurt you too, nor be around me again” is different than a general “you’re not allowed”
also different if the ex was cheating with the person, but none of Danny’s exes were
It wasn’t just that though, first it was brutal break up then Dorothy told Danny maybe he shouldn’t date for a while then Walky turns up at his door wanting to borrow his shoes
yeah, I’m more replying to Danny’s dialogue in this strip. none of his breakups were fun situations.
I apoligise
I think it’s more that Danny finds some humiliation in it, and Walky finds it funny, and finds Danny’s humiliation funny. He didn’t feel quite this cold towards Walky earlier, it’s been building.
Danny doesn’t think he owns his exes.
If Danny weren’t so tightly wound about the whole thing I doubt Walky would care enough to even comment.
People are talking about the “dating my exes thing” as though the part of the brain that feels that way is rational. It isn’t. It never will be. And the most one can do about it is self-discipline. Which is difficult, and sometimes slips.
Regardless of wheather Danny disliking Walky is valid or not I really think the fact that Lucy had been told Danny was not a Walky fan and that Sals last interaction with Lucy was her saying she now dislikes her really should have made it clear to Lucy that she and Walky were no longer welcome to hang out with them.
you’re right; Lucy probably thinks they’re exaggerating their prickly-ness (a lot of optimistic young people seem not to get that some people reaaally don’t like each other, definitely knew some like that at their age), especially because she’d probably really enjoy a double date with her brother.
No need to compute “unwelcome”. Selfishness yields the same outcome: meeting these people is not going to go well, and I’ll be happier if we don’t.
Sal did explicitly invite her and did not explicitly revoke that invitation
I’m mean Sal invited Lucy before she knew it was to meet the three dates rule.. then she tried to tell Lucy it was unnecessary which ended with Sal saying she now hates her. Even if the first part flew over Lucy’s head being flat out told she’s hated really should have been a clue to run it by Walky first atleast.
This is such a clusterfuck lol
My take on this: it is okay for two people to not like each other.
This has been one of the most confusing comments sections in a while. Half of the comments seem to be written under the assumption that nobody else has read the comic. The other half feels like the usual “who’s misbehaving more” bickering, complete with oblique threats of violence aimed at a fictional character for the crime of being kinda crass in response to open hostility.
It’s funny to me cause no one, especially Danny, seems to realize Danny’s hostility doesn’t bother Walky at all. All he’s doing is making himself unhappy with the concept of Walky existing. Maybe it helps being angry at Walky for not caring about his feelings for his, Danny’s, exes to avoid being sad about getting dumped twice.
And yeah that is a really petty thing to be angry about and I think Walky is right to be flippant about it if that’s the only thing the guy dating his sister is ever going to want to talk about.
It’s not a DoA comment section without some baffling armchair psychologizing and people being upset that characters are behaving less than perfectly in every situation
My view is that it’s actually 75% people analyzing the comic and 25% people complaining about people analyzing the comic.
From my point of view, the [Walky] are evil.
Maybe, Danny is being an entitled bro, but as I see it, Walky was not a good BF to Dorothy or Amber. It’s one thing if you can say “I don’t like him, but he makes her happy”, another altogether when “I don’t like him, and he left both of my exes emotional wrecks.”
Yep, Walky stabbed Amber in the hand, raised her to use violence as a first resort, and kidnapped her friends just to try and avoid paying for her tuition.
I’m being facetious, of course. We all know that was Meredith who did those things.
I dont know, you’re making light of a really serious situation. Walky has just, and i can’t emphasized this enough, made a joke at Danny’s expense. He may or may not have deliberately implied that Danny is not capable of distinguishing between him and his sister without literally seeing her GENITALS. The steaks could hardly be higher. and you’re treating this like it’s, what, nothing???
Not a great look, smh
Good point, I do enjoy a nice steak on occasion. Usually medium rare, but most places I ask for medium well because if they undercook it a tiny bit it’s great, and if they cook it well done I get a new frisbee. Gotta have a little salt and pepper on there, natch, and a nice side of thick-ass steak fries (that’s chips, for you Doctor Who extras).
I do not partake of the flesh but when my autocorrect suggested steaks i thought, “good call, comrade. That does add a flavourful pinch of credibly unintentional absurdism.”
“Partake of the flesh”? You’re meant to eat the steak, not fuck it. Do that in your own home, not in a crowded Longhorn.
Oooooh that actually explains so much. ty for the #lifehack bud 😉
Lucie’s eyes, haha
Walky…. just because being obnoxious is an option, it doesn’t mean you should pick it 😛
That is the single funniest reaction to anything Danny has ever had. I can hear the exact tone of his ‘goddammit’ cause I too, have felt that emotion so strongly I worried I was going to tear myself in half. That vibe of “Why the fuck-HOW the fuck is this happening!”
Godspeed, Danny-boy.
Lucy”s expression in the last panel tells me she’s wondering if it works both ways. 😜
everyone has hot takes on this
I’m just hoping it leads to a male roller derby rivalry somehow
danny vs walky, falling the fuck over at each other like idiots
My last piece on this, I keep hearing people opinions on this but I got to just say it’s not about a bro code because Walky and Danny weren’t even friends when Walky and Dorothy became an item and they were barely acquaintances when Walky got with Amber. It’s also not about entitlement because I’m sure Danny understands it’s in their right to do whatever they want once they were through, but Danny is allowed to feel however he wants to feel about depending how bad the fallout of it turns out. If he wants to feel petty about it then fine just as long as he doesn’t act upon those feelings in any harmful way.
Danny’s issue with Walky isn’t him just Dating Dorothy and Amber it’s how it came about. Relationships that he thought meant something were thrown away and replaced in the same time frame you’d wait between taking out your trash.
I personally think there are no bad guys in this situation. As many of us said before it’s not Walkys fault that things turned out the way it did, though it still doesn’t help put them on good terms when he keeps making Danny’s love life the butt of his jokes. He even did it again right there in those last two panels. (But that last line did get a chuckle out of me I do admit)
Lucy has made some great expressions but this is the leader in the clubhouse.
How soon til Walky shows up with the coconuts, and the seaweed hair?
Luau!
As Asher is gaining some of Walky’s trait, Walky’s gaining some of Asher’s trait XD
My theory to add to the pot is that I don’t think Danny actually has any genuine negative feelings towards Walky, he’s just projecting the bitterness he feels towards Dorothy and Amber onto him.
Thank you for that insight. I’m going to remember it.
Gravatar checks out too! 😉
I guess Walky can be downright mean to someone he barely knows for… bro reasons or something?
More likely he just has ADHD and thoughts leave his mouth before he has time to evaluate them. I know from experience.
Ok, that was hilarious.
I dont think i had ever pronounced the word vulva out loud when i was 18 (in 2005) let alone in public. Are the time changing or is walky just really cool or was i really uncool
(Note that i said “or” not “xor”)
Xor? Like the blending tool the makes the colors go wonky on my drawing programs?
It’s a programming / logic thing. Along with “and”, “or”, “xor” is a logical operator that returns true only when two surrounding booleans (true/false values) are different:
Q = A xor B
If both A and B are true, Q will be false.
If both A and B are false, Q will be false.
If A is true and B is false, Q will be true.
If A is false and B is true, Q will be true.
That’s good because 3 way xors get really weird.
Oh worry not, I’m not a total amateur.
I would’ve used brackets.
*Is actually a total amateur*
Jealousy over exes is just the stupid, most immature thing in the entire world that almost everyone seems to do. When a relationship is over, who an ex-partner sees or “how fast they move on” is truly none of your business.
In college I had a friend date the twin brother of the boy she liked just because I liked the boy she liked too, even after he’d rejected me and obviously liked her better. She dumped the twin and started dating the guy as soon as I started dating someone else. I feel like that’s taking Ho’s before Bro’s a little bit too far. (Of course, her boyfriend before that was also a guy I’d dated and dumped and she asked my permission to start dating him, which I was like, dude you don’t need my permission, you have my blessing.) Every time this Walky/Danny dynamic comes up I think of her. I guess I’m Danny and she was Walky?
It can be more complicated than that. If you’ve just broken up with someone (or probably worse been broken up with), you’ve probably still got a lot unresolved feelings about them. There’s conflict between you. If a close friend you spend a lot of time with starts dating them right away, you’re likely going to either have to cut your time with that friend or spend more time with your ex (and the friend) than you really want to at that stage.
It’s true. But if I recall correctly Danny was dumped both times so in his head it could feel like Walky is in some way “better” than him, or at least his exes think Walky is better than him.
I could see that being difficult to deal with. Danny has a kind of “THIS guy???” energy. Just accepting that people like who they like and it’s not always a fully rational and clear “well new guy is objectively superior to old guy” is a pretty hard lesson to learn.
PS I’m not argue one is better than the other, I’m just interpreting what I think Danny’s headspace is.
Don’t think I’ve ever used the word vulva in a sentence that also included the phrase “my sister”. Not going to impress your girlfriend.
Now you have.
Honestly an 18 year old university student might be impressed that their boyfriend uses the correct word and is comfortable saying it.
Lucy’s face! I know it’s probably just astonishment/embarrassment over her boyfriend, but also I just want to voiceover: “And it was at that moment Lucy realized she might be gay.”
Man, Lucy is like, not smart. I get it, it’s a public space, you’re *allowed* to be there if you want, heck, Walky is probably even entitled to be there to support his sister.
But why in god’s name would you seek out the one person in the entire room, who you are having difficulty finding in the first place, just to introduce conflict into your own life?
why do so many people want Danny and Walky to resolve their differences and be buds like it’s okay if not everyone in the comic strip is besties y’all this is a story after all, not a wish fulfillment fantasy.
I feel like more and more in the last decade or so the way people engage with fiction has been less in search of a good story and more in search of a wish fulfillment fantasy or something that reflects what they consider to be a moral virtue — i.e. no “problematic” villains.
Personally, I like it when a villain is a complete and total cockwad, “problematic” behaviors included. Dio Brando randomly killing animals, the guy from Venom using homeless people for experiments, the Witch-king of Angmar being a misandrist, Ganondorf drop-kicking a small child, it’s all extra fuel in the “Goddamn I wanna watch this guy go down” tank. I can’t think of a non-“problematic” villain who’s stuck with me as well as the shitheaps do.
I don’t think that’s really true – outside of online discourse about fiction.
I’m inclined to agree, but nowadays online discourse is the main way a creator gets feedback. Part of why I’ve been dawdling on my own projects – the closer they are to done, the closer they are to random people dissecting every little pixel and ripping the whole thing to shreds because I used, like, red for a shadow instead of teal.
I think it’s really easy to blame the idea of the kids these days and their socials justices, but honestly I think the thing about the internet that’s changed how people engage with media the most is just how much more Silo’d your consumption of the media can be. The whole “Blorbo From My Shows” thing is just a tongue in cheek way of talking about how people (overwhelmingly autistic ppl) will engage with media entirely in the context of strong personal attachment to an individual character. It’s inevitable with the way that the internet lets you specifically track down and exclusively find and consume content that engages with that character specifically if you’re genuinely just that attached.
Again, this is a neutral statement (if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be saying it in the comments of the comic by the Hot Shot Shrine guy), but the kind of immediately obvious downside of viewing all media you consume through the lens of your personal investment and stake in characters….is that very very very few stories are made with that in mind.
An example of this that’s always kind of fascinated me was Homestuck. If you’ve never read it, a thing to know about Homestuck is that it loves using over-complication and anti-climax as punchlines. One of the most famous parts of the comic is when it goes from focusing on the four main human protagonists, who are each given a lot of time and attention and very strong distinctive character voices, to suddenly showing off TWELVE new alien characters all nearly one after another, all seemingly equally important.
Of course, the plot twist is that they’re NOT all equally important: one of the silliest and least important seeming characters turns out to be essentially a slasher movie villain, and very suddenly the chapter turns into a horror movie as a large amount of the characters are hunted down and killed. By the end, it becomes clear that there’s…four surviving characters, all of which who are the real actual other protagonists of the comic tightly linked to the main four humans. It was a fun and unexpected twist!
…. But the problem was, Andrew Hussie is REALLY, REALLY GOOD at making distinctive character voices with strong personalities and humor. Because they were all presented at equally but overwhelmingly important at first, a lot of the young and impressionable audience didn’t understand that they were never really meant to actually be characters in the first place, and to this day people rabidly kin and identify with characters that are like, as important as Tony in DOA.
I just think it’s a lot like that. People get very attached to an idea of a character in their head, to the point where they don’t really question the fact that a slasher movie sendup kind of by definition needs victims, and the fact that you didn’t KNOW it was going to be a slasher movie and thus got genuinely attached at first was part of the point. It’s easy to forget that not all stories want or need an entire cast of super 200% fleshed out fully emotionally complex characters when that’s not the kind of story they’re trying to tell.
Now with DOA, a soap opera all about getting personally attached to characters and the conflicts of their lives and their drama….. Yeah idk. I get liking characters get along (I def have much fonder memories of like, the first time Joyce and Sal seemed to get along as actual friends when Joyce borrowed her motorcycle jacket than I do any Ethan arc), but also….I don’t know how much more the author can make this a dramatic soap opera after 13 years to weed out people who don’t wanna see there be soap opera stuff.
Very Interestingly. Walky is using the same logic Mike used with Amber, when he explained to her that she got together with a version of her trauma that she could have sex with. Walky is becoming more and more like Mike and that will probably make his relationship with Danny impossible. I hope they can at least find a balance, or hok to avoid each other as much as possible in the future.
I wasn’t thinking of “Walky is becoming a Mike” as his character arc for this semester, but…that’s kind of the most fascinating and unexpected yet completely sensible direction to take the character? I wanna see that followed up on more, I like that a lot actually
wow now I’m just imagining the absolute cosmic level meltdown that Danny would have if Walky went Full Mike and hooked up with Ethan.
I’m not gonna say Danny’s feeling are justified here, but I get ’em. They’re immature and misplaced, but he’s 18 and I completely get having that kinda feeling at 18.
Oh hey it’s been a while since we had a strip where everyone took every single part of a minor interaction or dynamic far too seriously.
Walkys being an annoying goof, Danny’s being an average petty 19 year old. Nothing more to it
I take offense to the concept of “everyone”. Not your use of it, that’s clearly meant to broadly refer to a lot of people. Just like, in general.
Fair fair. English needs a term that can be used broadly but isn’t as clumsy as “a lot of people.” That just takes wind out of it
“Many”
Still not punchy enough
Another aspect to this I’m just now considering why Walky compares his appearance to Sal’s. I might be looking to deep into it but as a guy who can be kinda androgynous sometimes it’s easier for me to lean into it and joke about it. I wonder if Walky being kinda short and vaguely feminine leads to him digging at himself by saying “oh I’m basically just my sister” appearance wise. That way nobody can say it to him and jurt his feelings.
Could well tie into his issues with masculinity.
They look a lot alike. Sal is strongly feminine in appearance and Walky isn’t strongly masculine. Definitely could be something there.
Interesting to note that despite his issues with masculinity, he’s never seemed to have any trouble with Sal being the tough one.
Yeah, ever since the beginning of the comic Walky has always had a kind of double-edged relationship with masculinity- he seems to kind of mentally divide “mature” masculinity and “immature”, masculinity, where he’s self aware and dismissive about things that are agressive and macho but falls into stereotypical behavior over …say… throwing toys at cute girls cause emotions are yucky. This was even more true in the early days of the comic, where he was much more actively rejecting anything “mature” and embracing immaturity.
You kind of get the vibe from Walky that he would 100% crossdress in a heartbeat with no hangups about how feminine he’d appear, but he’d only agree to it in the context of like….a Bugs Bunny-esque whacky scheme.
Exactly! Like he’d dress up like princess peach while his sister goes as mario or something. But if booster said he wears a dress well or looks very pretty he’d get all flustered and insist he’s doing it as a bit.
Again I cant help but relate. I never really like feeling like a “man” but love feeling like a boy if that makes sense. Id rather be cute than handsome. That sorta thing.
Yeah, i’m nonbinary and I can relate a lot! It kind of speaks towards the way that the contrast of feminine/masculine is so loaded with other contrasts built in. We associate “cute=feminine” and “cute=youthful/immature” so much that it’s clear that Walky treats Being A Man like Being Smart- “disarm and set their expectations low so I don’t have to live up to their standards”.
If it helps, I had pretty much that EXACT feeling you described of “I don’t want to be masculine or manly, I enjoy the idea of getting to be “a guy” in a way that compliments my more feminine facial features”. I’m kind of rectangular shaped with broad shoulders and no hips, so I never looked particularly feminine either- but I just knew that the one thing I didn’t wanna be is Traditionally Masculine.
It was really frustrating that I felt like there wasn’t really a way to just kinda Be Me without having to pass a test or a quota. I actually didn’t think of myself as nonbinary for a LONG time for pretty much the sole reason of “I dont dislike the idea of being a guy enough to like, be trans about it, it’s just kind of eh”. As time went on, a lot of people kind of helped me realize that like…that is literally the point of being non-binary. There literally is NO right or wrong way to do it or be it, it can be…well…anything that doesn’t feel like it fits on the gender binary. Having something that helped me communicate to people that i’m “anything that isn’t a guy” turned out to be really really nice!
After messing with my gender for long enough, I now know what I like and don’t like a lot more. I realize that I didn’t feel that “super strong actual real legit desire enough to not be a guy that makes me like ACTUALLY trans” feeling because it’s NOT something innate in the sould of every single trans person ever from birth. It’s very much something you need to give yourself permission to explore and learn what it means to you!
Commenting to let you know that this is helping me make sense of my own nonbinariness too. Lately I’ve been referring to myself as “cis with nonbinary traits” and vice versa because I haven’t been able to explain some of the feelings that are illustrated in this comment
It’s just so funny I found a new fresh and enlightening perspective on gender in the comments of DOA , specifically the same one where I was crowned second favorite after yotomoe (big honor btw)
Same here! I’m very much “eh” about the whole gender thing, just don’t make me wear a dress. Then again, I’m so antisocial that it doesn’t really matter much (nobody to judge my not meeting gender expectations if I don’t talk to people, amirite?). So maybe, my best descriptor is “not fitting in” ^^
We have honestly seen elements of that before, like him bemoaning that he can’t really grow facial hair, or him having really weird rigid rules about masculinity early in the comic, like owning only one pair of shoes.
Forget humor, compelling characters, an engaging plot – the most important aspect of any piece of fiction is mercilessly judging every single character any time they do literally anything
Fictional characters exist to be taken apart atom by atom. If Dorothy’s heartbeat speeds up for even a fraction of a fraction of a second, she deserves to be taken to task for it. If Joe’s eyebrow is slightly higher than it was a moment ago, it’s because he’s about to maybe possibly do something slightly less than absolutely optimal, and we need to punish him for it, whether he’s done it yet or not. Doesn’t matter what “it” is, these fucking characters think they can get away with it, and all of us, collectively, need to be heckling them the entire time.
Tbh, me being autistic af, I find it quite useful and interesting. It is rare you get to see interactions play out so slowly, and can analyze them & people’s perceptions of them.
While I do agree with the basic premise – I do think the eyebrow thing needs to be critiqued. “slightly higher” often turns out to be above the head entirely, which just isn’t right.
Today is most Walkyiest of any strip Walky appeared in entire DoA.
I wonder if Lucy is picking up on the fact that almost every social interaction with Walky boils down to him antagonizing someone who has beef with him. Not saying that he’s in the wrong here or was previously, but that’s not a great vibe.
or she’s wondering what a 3some with the twins would be like
Leafs out. Strip doesn’t have to be shifted into a universe where they win the stanley cup for at least another year.
The more I think of it the more I wonder why Lucy didn’t ask to go on a double date with Becky and Dina. She not the homophopic type of Christian and her and Becky are already church friends.
That’s a very good question
She probably wants an excuse to get to know Sal more, anyway, if Lucy is thinking long game and wants to know his family.
In that moment, Lucy fell for Sal
That last panel is amazing for so many reasons.
“He stole my entire comic strip! I was the STAR of Roomies! The STAR!!”
That’s not the worst suggestion you can make to a bi person.