Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Shaderunners
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A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
Hemlock
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A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
No End
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A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
Paint the Town Red
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Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
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American English uses both single and double quotes! For different things!
Near as I can tell, American English has many more and more strictly enforced rules than British English, which I can say from experience plays hell on American copy-editors who have to edit material from British authors coming from environments are both different and less complex! (and that’s not even getting into places where American sources are hardly consistent, like the Oxford comma).
Getting back to quotes, American uses single quotes for ‘scare quotes’ or other types of sarcastic quotes. But it uses double quotes for both quotes and literalisms, such as when people use “scare quotes” to talk about any kind of non-literal quote. And of course whenever you use quotes inside quotes, you swap so you never have direct nesting of the same quote type (I of course don’ t know which of these rules is differnent in British; theo nly thing I remember for sure is that you all use commas differently than we do in practice, sometimes seemly just for pauses outside dialogue where no comma is reasonable in American english or where we might throw a semicoon or colon).
But in the above, I think strict American English would agree that this is 6 levels of scare quote (for extra emphasis), and NOT double quotes, since you don’t use double quotes for scare quotes outside of a literal quotation.
we can use double quote marks for scare/irony. It’s quotation that must be double quotes, with nested quotes being single marks.
Poem and song titles get single quotation marks.
More importantly, single quotes are for when its a byte-sized char and double quotes are when it’s a null terminated string of chars.
The only time it really matters. The rest will be read as understood the vast majority of the time. Screwing that last one up will lead to big problems.
Be honest here. Have you ever, during a spoken conversation with someone, enclosed some word or words in air quotes, with your fingers? You know, if I said, “I “like” like someone.” And when I verbalize that first like, I hook my index and middle fingers in the air, making ‘air quotes’.
If/when you did that, how many fingers did YOU use? That’s how many quotes you should use. Those are my rules, and not the ‘official’ rules…
Positive. Carla comes from actual obscene wealth, not the weak wealth that depends on fawning for others’ power. Carla is also (usually) actually effective at what she puts her mind to, instead of taking credit when she tries and fails, but what she was aiming for happens anyways.
I’m pretty sure that’s what we’re in for, a Carla character development arc. Her immaturity’s being played up, we’re not seeing the parts of her day where she’s not acting childish. It works well with a comment section that’s often like a bunch of angry goldfish.
Like a lot of the characters, her flaws come across to me as defense/coping mechanisms that she grew into and has trouble not turning them off. She does care about other people, but can’t express that without making a joke (kind of like Walky). She just only has one joke (not that one joke). Her one joke does come from being raised obscenely rich.
At some point relatively recently Carla’s defining trait in the eyes of the commentariat went from “trans” to “rich”. I’m not sure exactly when or why, but it kind of fascinates me.
It really is her defining characteristic! Just like QC Claire’s are bad puns, competence, and a need for order. #theLibrarian
I’m hopeful it’s because being trans no longer seems particularly unusual. Whether that’s greater society or Carla no longer being the most buy trans character, I don’t know. But more representation is a good thing.
That IS interesting, but not because of any ‘acceptance’ thing. It’s basically shifting from one crude stereotype to another. For me, Carla’s chief trait is ‘Obnoxious’, which is something she at least achieves based on her actual personality and character, rather than something achieved by her parents or her doctor.
I’d say that her most defining trait is her apparent narcissism, not that she’s rich. But rich is definitely #2 in there.
Its probably because these are the things that come up most often when it comes to Carla. That she’s trans has been relevant in maybe two plotlines, when Mary blackmailed Ruth with her relationship with Billie in order to dodge punishment for her anti-trans bigotry, and Carla’s much deserved and epic retaliation for it.
But her parents being gig industrialist executives? That’s popped up a lot. And almost every strip with Carla involves her demanding attention and praise from everyone around her. So, those become her defining characteristics.
Oh, and the other reason the “Carla’s Rich” stuff comes up in the comments a lot?
Its because its amusing to point out that one of the few unambiguously positive parental examples in the strip seem to be the gig economy industrialists that would otherwise be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
Rephrase then – her narcissism/obnoxiousness is her defining trait, but the commentariat’s response to it has shifted to focusing on her being rich.
Before relatively recently (maybe with the time skip?) it was either taken just at face value “Carla’s an asshole”, or more generously understood as a deliberate defense mechanism tied to her being trans.
Now it’s just “she’s narcissistic because she’s rich”.
Which is strange cause she constantly goes out of her way to “not” leverage her wealth in a way that a rich person could do in order to be purposely obnoxious. Like, the one time her money has even been kind of an issue was when she loaned Sarah her card for a three hour long zoom ride.
When Carla makes a variety of large signs with her name on them, nobody comments “that’s such an engineer way of being annoying.” But her doing anything at all is somehow now “such a rich person thing to do.” Like people aren’t seeing a fictional person but just a dollar sign.
It’s a detail that I’ve latched onto because I think it’s interesting, but it’s far from the defining attribute of her character. You could radically alter her backstory and have her come from a much poorer background and still have her be recognizable as herself
I’m not sure that rich is a requirement. I know (but am not friends with) several people who aren’t rich, but always need to be the center of attention. They don’t actually shout “look at me” but they do pout if you don’t. And these are people in (I believe) their 50s. For that matter, one of my sisters (mid-60s) isn’t quite that bad, but everything has to always be about her – she just learned our other sister’s cancer has come back, and apparently said she wants to come visit her because she hadn’t gone on a vacation in a while.
Actually, ya know? It could! Carla could openly express her egocentrism without really offending anyone, because Charlie wouldn’t be listening. And not listening would just make her even more a crush object to Carla.
And then it could all go down in flames, e.g.:
“Oh hey Carla, I’ve met someone who kinda gets me and I really have a good feeling about it; take care…”
Carla acts like sociopathic narcissist, but I am pretty sure that’s just a cover for her being a big softie and a shield against rejection. A very obnoxious cover and a very very annoying shield, but none the less.
all things considered at least she’s not corning charlie, physical grabbing would be drawing the line but i’m sure ppl would still be annoyed if someone waved their hand in their face like she did with charlie before
Carla, Booster was ready to lend you a hand for the low low price of some teasing.
It’s gone significantly up, methinks. COME ON GURL, like they didn’t get you read in .5 seconds on their first day :’D inappropriate party trick as it was and all.
i’m sure booster will use their skills to work it out better than carla approaching charlie on her own again, even having a therapy of genuine vulnerability or so, tho it’d be a conflict of interest, then again it’d be good if they can determine if carla’s just egotistical versus “ok, ur legit toxic for my sister, stay away”
The price going significantly up IS probably getting Carla to admit some stuff about herself before lending their help. You’ll be decent and capable of NON FACETIOUS VULNERABILITY AND OTHER LONG WORDS before they wingmate for you, or so help them!
isn’t technically approaching her sibling less straightforward if she’s already directly said ‘pay attention to me’ to charlie’s face? even tho it’s a bit delayed tho, i suppose booster being in the room to help facilitate a relationship would be nice
Charlie’s got that Soft Butch charm. Your limb is pretty safe, I’d say – she certainly would’ve wrecked half my uni friends, unwittingly. Just by existing.
would carla be caring/crushing if she wasn’t ignored tho? i mean she’s asexual from what ppl have said, i know some ace ppl do date others but idk what she expects from the other person in an actual relationship, other than worshipping the ground she walks on (tho in a partner hopefully that’d be a little much)
yeah she was a robot in that and still did kinda sexual things with malaya but i usually don’t expect them to make the first move versus carla being more demi leaning and considering a relationship after bonding closer with charlie as opposed to “she ignores me so i have to get her attention”, charlie’s ‘obliviousness’ might make it seem a bit ‘endearing’ but this same kinda behavior but if she was actively ignoring her this kinda behavior would be borderline harassment imo
Setting aside that us ace people can be in any part of the romantic-aromantic spectrum, and anywhere from sex repulsed to demi/gray-ace (and/or kinky like we were talking yesterday)…
I wonder if Carla herself knows. I wonder if some of this posturing is self-sabotage. Can’t fail at relationships if you’re too cool for mostly everyone, and those who aren’t are cleaaarly unattainable anyway, so how’s them grapes.
growing pains aside, it’s nice charlie feels comfortable to zone out in public w/o booster necessarily fussing over her, i can’t imagine not being hyper-aware because even someone only has a slight delay versus charlie’s timing, someone like charlie probably would’ve been pickpocketed/targeted depending on the neighborhood they lived in
If Carla opened up her world somehow, then yeah, at least narratively. But so far what we know of Charlie is:
– Smart and scatterbrained in a way that screams Neurodivergence
– Likes gaming
– Same upbringing as Booster (queer in a small town)
The thing is. For all her engineering brilliance, and boisterous personality… Carla is a pretty lonely person. Like, she does roller derby but apart from this… Everything else she does seems to underline it. I’m not sure hers is actual confidence, or an armor with a solid amount of spite mixed in.
I mean i guess I could, but I literally got no sleep tonight, and i think I’m due for a hangover.
Regardless, I hope Carla shares fascination with Charlie’s special interests. To quote Dina (on Willis’s Tumblr), “sex is great, but it’s not nearly as great as info-dumping about your special interests and having someone actually listen”.
Not a dig, but is she smart tho? I mean, i wouldn’t think she’s necessarily bad/struggling with any schoolwork to a point that booster would’ve brought it up but other than ‘knowledgably about seahorses’ for one panel, i haven’t noticed anything that’d be educationally ambitious as dorothy or emotionally intelligent/connecting with anyone yet
I admit it’s vibes and what we’ve seen of Booster (who feels some flavor of autistic too.) We’ve seen Charlie truly zoning out, and yet Booster isn’t fussing over her as much as it feels they would if she couldn’t handle herself, or was struggling. And I swear it’s not projecting, insufficient data and all, but when I was unmedicated and that inattentive (charming AU/DHD enby that I am) I did not last until my second semester.
“Knowledgeable about seahorses” sounds like affectionate teasing for someone into their current hyperfixation, not like they’re somehow looking down on her. I like the odds :33
sorry, hold on, do we have any reason to think she’s queer? aside from this being dumbing of age in general, i mean. i don’t recall any comments along those lines?
ah, okay. no, i guess i can see it, i just don’t personally see a button up and short hair to be *quite* enough to give me The Vibes. then again, i lived through the times when flannel shirts and pixie cuts became super trendy and was constantly surrounded by false gaydar pings, pffft
As a Charlie-type also named Charlie, Carla types suit well for me as both friends and partners. Straight-forward/says exactly what they think/blatantly asks for what they need= no need for guessing and wheedling meaning out of what they say. The outgoingness also draws me out of my cocoon in a good way. It does require firm boundaries sometimes, but that is simpler for me than it seems for others (simple not necessarily easy).
To offer a funny anecdote, I have been playing softball with my mum at the same club for five years. Apparently there’s been a lot of drama that caused a bunch of people to quit. It wasn’t until mum mentioned it on the last day of games last year that I knew this and when I said I hadn’t noticed anything her response was along the lines of:
“Yes, but you’re… oblivious. You play because you like the game and you aren’t aware of anything like politics or conflict. The only people you talk to are me or kids and nothing phases you because you’re you and that’s… great, but you are completely unaware of human beings.”
This has happened to me more than once.
Roughly half the time I end up standing in the wreckage, mightily confused by what just happened, the build up to which I had completely missed; the other half, I get made aware of/dragged into the middle of something I am in no way prepared to deal with.
I am very familiar with that. Most of my friends and family are ND in ways that don’t always mesh, so there’s always something happening that I am pleasantly unaware of. My sister is my opposite and also my closest friend so we are constantly amazed at each other’s involvement (and lack of) in interpersonal chaos. I don’t know where she finds the energy for it.
i assume charlie hasn’t had much experience dating wise, it’d be hard to imagine them being affectionate unless it was like a slow burn relationship/dating
i’d think carla as a ‘first girlfriend’ for anyone would be a bit intense as opposed to them both dating someone else, learning from the experience, breaking up and trying it with each other next.
Would be interesting if it was something like “Ruttech products are ok, but i prefer __ (rival company’s/brand’s) devices”
hopefully they’d be friends first. then again it might make for an interesting dynamic if they go on a date and don’t feel any ‘romantic’ chemistry but still like “i don’t mind hanging out more” and becoming friends that way
be nice if lucy could spend more time with her too, i think they’d be genuine friends
tho a double date with becky and dina would be cute too
I could go for them starting to hang out (eg Carla smacking a roller derby flyer in Charlie’s face “BE THERE. OBSERVE MY FABULOUSNESS”), a comment from booster (“Sooo, how was your daaaate?”) and Charlie asking Carla if they’re dating, Carla pulling a “I knew it, you think I’m awesome, I can’t take this awesomeness off the free-market”, Charlie: “we’re not? Okie Dokie.” Carla: “NO WAIT”.
Carla accidentally stumbling herself into a relationship because how DARE she not be the center of the universe is both hilarious and completely on brand.
For a second I thought I posted this but the only way I would ever use the words “I like Ross” in consecutive order is if I had been possessed by a demon during a drug-induced seizure.
I don’t like Ross from Friends either, but he does get *some* hate that’s undeserved. Like I’ve seen him get blamed for popularizing the term “friendzone,” when in fact Joey was the one who brought up the concept in that episode. Maybe the lack of continuity from the show spread to infect some fans’ brains.
And I don̶’t̶ want the world to see me
Because I don’t t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ care if they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
maybe getting to know charlie better will help her be an adult/get over it lol
or she’d double down on it or like “oh this person does acknowledge me, they just have a slow/delayed reaction to everything so it’s not personal and i AM still amazing/perfect” etc
Is she saying what she actually means, and is thus remarkably pathetic?
Or is she masking what she actually wants with a facade of…appallingly bad choices, and is thus pitiable but sympathetic?
Or is she masking SO well that she’s actually convinced herself and so she, at least on a surface level, is saying what she actually means, and is thus pathetic because actions have consequences, but also she is sympathetic because she has deluded herself with her imagined grandeur?
I don’t like Carla, I will never like Carla, but she keeps me guessing. I’ll give her that.
My money is on Carla masking anxiety/rejection sensitivity for so long with this persona that she’s convinced herself and is being reactive here because Booster is not easily distracted by the heavily built up smokescreen she’s created over the years. She committed so much to this distraction that it’s the only identity she has and it needs to be totally destroyed before she can become a functioning adult capable of genuine relationships ala Erik Erikson and James Marcia’s theories of psychosocial development. (Those theories are genuinely cool to read.
@bogey: at least she’s not seeking validation from ppl who actively hate her that’d be a form of like, emotional self-harm lol even if it doesn’t put her in physical danger. she was willing to tolerate/interact with mary but she did eventually retaliate/for the most part i think they stay out of each otehrs way now
I genuinely can’t imagine Carla seeking validation from anyone. Her accepting that she even cares what one person thinks of her is already too much to process (for her- I wanna see this). She grew up trans in the public eye, caring what other people think of her is threat enough
it is a bit weird she seems a bit desperate because this can’t be the first time someone’s ignored carla. (DBZA voice: I *wish* we could ignore you) or eventually gave in like “ok we know you exist, please leave us alone” or maybe they started talking about stuff that was boring to carla to where she’d move on
but if anything charlie’s just oblivious or just hasn’t been alone with her long enough to reply considering carla ‘gave up’ and left that other time before class
Maybe she hasn’t spent time with her parents in a while from what we’ve seen/heard they’re pretty supportive to where i’ wouldn’t think that they’d be intentionally neglectful like “Unlike everyone else, i actually /like/ my parents” but they might not have had enough time to spend together with their business/company
i think if she was just putting up a front she wouldn’t have bothered to approach booster as opposed to just surrounding herself by ppl who like/tolerate her but maybe she does somewhat wanna be friends with charlie, tho i wonder if they actually have anything in common or if she’d just end up thinking she’s dull even if they have a regular paced convo
The third one I think. She has a crush on Charlie but to admit that would make her vulnerable. She’s built up so many walls against vulnerability that she can’t even admit it to herself.
how much time has passed from their initial meeting? idk if being ignored would kickstart things but other than secretly observing her in a nonstalker-y way idk how quick she’s crushed on other girls she’s found cute since she wasn’t aware of charlie’s name before despite “girls having boy names are cute/hot”
even if most of it is putting up a front it’d be good if she could hold that back and get over herself long enough to actually be able to connect with her instead of expecting charlie to instantly like her, even tho she did talk with malaya sometimes i don’t think she ever expected malaya to boost her ego
mannnnnnnnnnnnnnn I think the “they ignored me, I must have them” behavior bugs me more than carla out right saying “i’m the center of the universe”. At least the latter I can write off as hyperbole, probably, maybe.
well, in tropes/fiction, enemies/rivals to lovers is pretty popular tho in this case it’s a bit more one-sided
someone like jen acting a bit more confrontational might have a bit more romantic tension/chemistry underlying tho it was a disaster with her and ruth.
probably wouldn’t be very good resolution/frustrating for readers if carla got bored and ‘moved on’ but hopefully they can be decent friends and she’d mellow carla out even if they don’t have some kinda queerplatonic relationship
Crushes can start rather suddenly, from an unexpected comment or action. I think she’s interested in Charlie because she is ignoring her. There are people who flatter her, and she might like them, but she hasn’t shown an interest in them.
I’m also wondering, *why* is she so obnoxious?
Is it flat character design as a punchline or as a caricature on a rich girl who always got what she wanted, or is there more depth to it?
I’ve only seen depth so far in Carla in the scene where she experienced anti-trans violence from Mary and she tells Ruth “i’m everybody’s acceptable loss”.
I mean, i’m really glad to see a trans character who isn’t miserable and struggling with at lack of self-confidence, but is she really that aloof or is that a defense mechanism because she’s hurting inside? Do we get to see behind Carla’s defensive high-functioning? I’d love to see another side of her that’s not obnoxious!
I think that Carla’s self-confidence and body positivity is real. However, she’s genuinely confused and upset when she’s not the center of attention because growing up the celebrity child of billionaires entitles her to believe that is her natural place. The fact most characters really don’t care about her status really throws her.
Especially since normally people like Raidah would be kissing up to her.
It never fails to amaze me how obvious Willis can make character’s defense mechanisms and people who’ve been reading the comic for years will just accept them at face value.
As I recall, we’ve also gotten some hints over the years that Carla’s trans-ness put her at the center of some sort of big legal drama that Jacob’s older brother helped her family out with. Something she very notably does not brag about at all, and which makes her really awkward when it’s brought up. If that was ever fleshed out in some way, it could probably add a lot of depth to her character.
Also, from a more meta-textual perspective, I think I should probably mention that her character makes a lot more sense (sort of) when she’s a human-hating, endlessly sarcastic, robot car, as she is in the Walkyverse. There, a lot of her spite stems from being a robot among humans, and specifically a robot designed to resemble a common tool among humans – and, of course, it’s funny. Also, she was sorta first designed by Willis when they were in elementary school, so a lot of her character depth is sort of…shall we say, retroactive? Not that that detracts from her awesomeness, but it might help explain why certain parts of her seem a bit arbitrary at times.
Look, the way I see it, Carla’s going to be inflicted on Charlie no matter what. Girl seems pretty determined at this point, after all. The only question is whether Booster is going to try and CONTROL the incoming sh*tstorm, and thus take partial responsibility for it. …Which is by no means guaranteed, but personally I’m hoping they’ll go for it.
Just remembered my ‘Carla is faceblind’ hypothesis, and the “I can’t be bothered remember anyone else’s name” is a cover for that. So still a defense mechanism, just not entirely for negative reactions to her queerness.
Can we just stop to appreciate the three sets of quotation marks. Six whole quotes. TWELVE APOSTROPHES. For most people it would be extra, but it pretty much fits here XD
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“What about stock options?”
It takes real skill to verbalize, uhh *squints* twelve (?) quotation marks at once.
That’s only like 3 opening and 3 closing quotes.
To a Brit, or to anyone else whose language uses single quotes rather than double quotes, it would look like twice as many!
American English uses both single and double quotes! For different things!
Near as I can tell, American English has many more and more strictly enforced rules than British English, which I can say from experience plays hell on American copy-editors who have to edit material from British authors coming from environments are both different and less complex! (and that’s not even getting into places where American sources are hardly consistent, like the Oxford comma).
Getting back to quotes, American uses single quotes for ‘scare quotes’ or other types of sarcastic quotes. But it uses double quotes for both quotes and literalisms, such as when people use “scare quotes” to talk about any kind of non-literal quote. And of course whenever you use quotes inside quotes, you swap so you never have direct nesting of the same quote type (I of course don’ t know which of these rules is differnent in British; theo nly thing I remember for sure is that you all use commas differently than we do in practice, sometimes seemly just for pauses outside dialogue where no comma is reasonable in American english or where we might throw a semicoon or colon).
But in the above, I think strict American English would agree that this is 6 levels of scare quote (for extra emphasis), and NOT double quotes, since you don’t use double quotes for scare quotes outside of a literal quotation.
Triple double apostrophes is a minor piece of internet dialect!
Maybe it’s 4 levels, since they’re nested. Single inside of double inside of single inside of double.
we can use double quote marks for scare/irony. It’s quotation that must be double quotes, with nested quotes being single marks.
Poem and song titles get single quotation marks.
More importantly, single quotes are for when its a byte-sized char and double quotes are when it’s a null terminated string of chars.
The only time it really matters. The rest will be read as understood the vast majority of the time. Screwing that last one up will lead to big problems.
I assumed she was using wikipedia’s markup language, where six single-quotes would make something bold, italic, and in quotes.
Be honest here. Have you ever, during a spoken conversation with someone, enclosed some word or words in air quotes, with your fingers? You know, if I said, “I “like” like someone.” And when I verbalize that first like, I hook my index and middle fingers in the air, making ‘air quotes’.
If/when you did that, how many fingers did YOU use? That’s how many quotes you should use. Those are my rules, and not the ‘official’ rules…
Three on one hand, and my thumb on the other.
“To hell with your human touch, I am a Queen! Or a goddess? Point is you should be bowing right now!”
“Dreadfully sorry, I believe in no higher power, 0.01% included”
imagine if booster solved this problem by having charlie approach carla, saying nothing hugging her and walking off nonchalantly lol
*sad raising of eyebrows*
*shrug*
*back to reading*
Ooh, Option Two:
*sigh*
“Carla. You tire me. Please go away.”
Aaaaand, the Carla we all know and, uh, is back.
In the immortal words of Colin Mochrie: “You tolerate me! You really, really tolerate me!”
Sometimes you can really tell that Carla grew up insanely rich
Cool new Avatar. Is it from something?
One of the villains from the new Superman show. It’s pretty good!
“Haven’t you read the paper?”
I think that’s Silver Banchee from the new Superman cartoon
Huh, never commented about MY new avatar, even to say its rubbish. Im offended I tells ya
Is this Carla’s IRL account?
That’s because it’s so cute we’re intimidated
I do like a well drawn furry, heehee
Rich, narcissistic, inflated ego…
Are we sure she’s not just Jennifer?
I’d say they express those shared traits very differently
Carla lacks two key qualities for being Jennifer: curves, and alcoholism (recovered or otherwise).
Positive. Carla comes from actual obscene wealth, not the weak wealth that depends on fawning for others’ power. Carla is also (usually) actually effective at what she puts her mind to, instead of taking credit when she tries and fails, but what she was aiming for happens anyways.
Carla also had a good relationship with her parents, rather than the abusive levels of neglect Jennifer dealt with.
Jennifer’s family are also quite rich on a local scale. It doesn’t match Carla’s uber rich tech company family
i mean it’d be unlikely to happen but it would be funny if carla did hand booster 5k for a meeting
I’m not sure Carla grew up at all. That is like a five year olds way of thinking.
Unlike many five year olds Carla is very tall and able to safely operate a welding torch
Grew up? Yes.
Matured? Eeeehhh…
I’m pretty sure that’s what we’re in for, a Carla character development arc. Her immaturity’s being played up, we’re not seeing the parts of her day where she’s not acting childish. It works well with a comment section that’s often like a bunch of angry goldfish.
Like a lot of the characters, her flaws come across to me as defense/coping mechanisms that she grew into and has trouble not turning them off. She does care about other people, but can’t express that without making a joke (kind of like Walky). She just only has one joke (not that one joke). Her one joke does come from being raised obscenely rich.
At some point relatively recently Carla’s defining trait in the eyes of the commentariat went from “trans” to “rich”. I’m not sure exactly when or why, but it kind of fascinates me.
It really is her defining characteristic! Just like QC Claire’s are bad puns, competence, and a need for order. #theLibrarian
I’m hopeful it’s because being trans no longer seems particularly unusual. Whether that’s greater society or Carla no longer being the most buy trans character, I don’t know. But more representation is a good thing.
I fear it’s because it’s not safe to despise someone for being trans, but it’s always open season on wealth.
That IS interesting, but not because of any ‘acceptance’ thing. It’s basically shifting from one crude stereotype to another. For me, Carla’s chief trait is ‘Obnoxious’, which is something she at least achieves based on her actual personality and character, rather than something achieved by her parents or her doctor.
+1
I’d say that her most defining trait is her apparent narcissism, not that she’s rich. But rich is definitely #2 in there.
Its probably because these are the things that come up most often when it comes to Carla. That she’s trans has been relevant in maybe two plotlines, when Mary blackmailed Ruth with her relationship with Billie in order to dodge punishment for her anti-trans bigotry, and Carla’s much deserved and epic retaliation for it.
But her parents being gig industrialist executives? That’s popped up a lot. And almost every strip with Carla involves her demanding attention and praise from everyone around her. So, those become her defining characteristics.
Oh, and the other reason the “Carla’s Rich” stuff comes up in the comments a lot?
Its because its amusing to point out that one of the few unambiguously positive parental examples in the strip seem to be the gig economy industrialists that would otherwise be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
Rephrase then – her narcissism/obnoxiousness is her defining trait, but the commentariat’s response to it has shifted to focusing on her being rich.
Before relatively recently (maybe with the time skip?) it was either taken just at face value “Carla’s an asshole”, or more generously understood as a deliberate defense mechanism tied to her being trans.
Now it’s just “she’s narcissistic because she’s rich”.
Which is strange cause she constantly goes out of her way to “not” leverage her wealth in a way that a rich person could do in order to be purposely obnoxious. Like, the one time her money has even been kind of an issue was when she loaned Sarah her card for a three hour long zoom ride.
When Carla makes a variety of large signs with her name on them, nobody comments “that’s such an engineer way of being annoying.” But her doing anything at all is somehow now “such a rich person thing to do.” Like people aren’t seeing a fictional person but just a dollar sign.
It’s a detail that I’ve latched onto because I think it’s interesting, but it’s far from the defining attribute of her character. You could radically alter her backstory and have her come from a much poorer background and still have her be recognizable as herself
I’m not sure that rich is a requirement. I know (but am not friends with) several people who aren’t rich, but always need to be the center of attention. They don’t actually shout “look at me” but they do pout if you don’t. And these are people in (I believe) their 50s. For that matter, one of my sisters (mid-60s) isn’t quite that bad, but everything has to always be about her – she just learned our other sister’s cancer has come back, and apparently said she wants to come visit her because she hadn’t gone on a vacation in a while.
XD That should work out.
Actually, ya know? It could! Carla could openly express her egocentrism without really offending anyone, because Charlie wouldn’t be listening. And not listening would just make her even more a crush object to Carla.
And then it could all go down in flames, e.g.:
“Oh hey Carla, I’ve met someone who kinda gets me and I really have a good feeling about it; take care…”
“WHAT?!”
Carla acts like sociopathic narcissist, but I am pretty sure that’s just a cover for her being a big softie and a shield against rejection. A very obnoxious cover and a very very annoying shield, but none the less.
just! do! what! she! wants!!
all things considered at least she’s not corning charlie, physical grabbing would be drawing the line but i’m sure ppl would still be annoyed if someone waved their hand in their face like she did with charlie before
The surface level is only a small part of the conversation. Carla is engaging in self-parody.
The question is if Carla is intentionally engaging in self-parody.
I’m buying some of that, thinking of Joyce’s shower shoes, and also the Ruth/Jennifer “get in there and do things to your girlfriend” episode.
I’m quite certain that this is iterally word for word what’s going through Booster’s head right now!
I don’t know but that’s nowhere close to it.
Careful Carla, your Vegeta is showing. Pride is nice and all, but don’t say something stupid because of it.
Oh who the fuck am I kidding? Carla will willingly say something stupid and still have her pride.
*the urge gets stronger*
“You see Booster, you’re not dealing with the average rich kid…”
+1
I’m actually rewatching all of it right now, I’m at episode 25, watching Nail play one final prank on Piccolo.
Carla: You’re either perfect or you’re not me
We’re all watching the commentaries, right?
Carla, Booster was ready to lend you a hand for the low low price of some teasing.
It’s gone significantly up, methinks. COME ON GURL, like they didn’t get you read in .5 seconds on their first day :’D inappropriate party trick as it was and all.
i’m sure booster will use their skills to work it out better than carla approaching charlie on her own again, even having a therapy of genuine vulnerability or so, tho it’d be a conflict of interest, then again it’d be good if they can determine if carla’s just egotistical versus “ok, ur legit toxic for my sister, stay away”
The price going significantly up IS probably getting Carla to admit some stuff about herself before lending their help. You’ll be decent and capable of NON FACETIOUS VULNERABILITY AND OTHER LONG WORDS before they wingmate for you, or so help them!
*squirms* noooo, anything but that!
Well… at least she’s straightforward. An admittedly admirable quality to someone like me who has trouble reading subtlety, hee hee
isn’t technically approaching her sibling less straightforward if she’s already directly said ‘pay attention to me’ to charlie’s face? even tho it’s a bit delayed tho, i suppose booster being in the room to help facilitate a relationship would be nice
100% why I ship it
i’d think her and malaya might make an ok couple, marcie aside. unless they do a polycule like that other side/minor charas
I think Marcie and Carla are too alike on their own. They need people who are more grounding, but as a cule it would work.
I am *impressed* by the sheer number of quotation marks Carla can enunciate.
I can only imagine it as a “LI~I~I~IKE~” with a severe eyeroll
Preceded by a gigantic inhale.
Dumbing of Age Book 14: Just Tell Me What Level of Sympathy I Need To Meet For You To Do What I Want
Came to the comments section seeing if anyone posted this first haha
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is NOT the first time someone’s possibly crushed on an oblivious Charlie and gone to Booster about it.
Charlie’s got that Soft Butch charm. Your limb is pretty safe, I’d say – she certainly would’ve wrecked half my uni friends, unwittingly. Just by existing.
would carla be caring/crushing if she wasn’t ignored tho? i mean she’s asexual from what ppl have said, i know some ace ppl do date others but idk what she expects from the other person in an actual relationship, other than worshipping the ground she walks on (tho in a partner hopefully that’d be a little much)
I mean, asexual isn’t the same as aromantic. You can be asexual and still be romantically interested in somebody.
Heck, Carla’s Walkyverse version was in a relationship with Malaya.
yeah she was a robot in that and still did kinda sexual things with malaya but i usually don’t expect them to make the first move versus carla being more demi leaning and considering a relationship after bonding closer with charlie as opposed to “she ignores me so i have to get her attention”, charlie’s ‘obliviousness’ might make it seem a bit ‘endearing’ but this same kinda behavior but if she was actively ignoring her this kinda behavior would be borderline harassment imo
Setting aside that us ace people can be in any part of the romantic-aromantic spectrum, and anywhere from sex repulsed to demi/gray-ace (and/or kinky like we were talking yesterday)…
I wonder if Carla herself knows. I wonder if some of this posturing is self-sabotage. Can’t fail at relationships if you’re too cool for mostly everyone, and those who aren’t are cleaaarly unattainable anyway, so how’s them grapes.
sour, of course, just like you knew they would be.
growing pains aside, it’s nice charlie feels comfortable to zone out in public w/o booster necessarily fussing over her, i can’t imagine not being hyper-aware because even someone only has a slight delay versus charlie’s timing, someone like charlie probably would’ve been pickpocketed/targeted depending on the neighborhood they lived in
Now that I see it, I can’t unsee it:
Charlie would probably be perfect for Carla. Her over-the-top narcissism is a solid marker for HER neurodivergence.
Also, Carla is mistaken. My ex-wife is the Center of the Universe—COU for short.
But why would Carla be perfect for Charlie?
If there’s not an equivalent answer, then Booster doesn’t have a reason to introduce them.
If Carla opened up her world somehow, then yeah, at least narratively. But so far what we know of Charlie is:
– Smart and scatterbrained in a way that screams Neurodivergence
– Likes gaming
– Same upbringing as Booster (queer in a small town)
The thing is. For all her engineering brilliance, and boisterous personality… Carla is a pretty lonely person. Like, she does roller derby but apart from this… Everything else she does seems to underline it. I’m not sure hers is actual confidence, or an armor with a solid amount of spite mixed in.
Imagine if Charlie actually became Carla’s Dina 🤩🥤
I am intrigued and delighted now :33c If you wanna go on I wanna listen
I mean I already said what I needed/wanted to?
I mean i guess I could, but I literally got no sleep tonight, and i think I’m due for a hangover.
Regardless, I hope Carla shares fascination with Charlie’s special interests. To quote Dina (on Willis’s Tumblr), “sex is great, but it’s not nearly as great as info-dumping about your special interests and having someone actually listen”.
Not a dig, but is she smart tho? I mean, i wouldn’t think she’s necessarily bad/struggling with any schoolwork to a point that booster would’ve brought it up but other than ‘knowledgably about seahorses’ for one panel, i haven’t noticed anything that’d be educationally ambitious as dorothy or emotionally intelligent/connecting with anyone yet
I admit it’s vibes and what we’ve seen of Booster (who feels some flavor of autistic too.) We’ve seen Charlie truly zoning out, and yet Booster isn’t fussing over her as much as it feels they would if she couldn’t handle herself, or was struggling. And I swear it’s not projecting, insufficient data and all, but when I was unmedicated and that inattentive (charming AU/DHD enby that I am) I did not last until my second semester.
“Knowledgeable about seahorses” sounds like affectionate teasing for someone into their current hyperfixation, not like they’re somehow looking down on her. I like the odds :33
sorry, hold on, do we have any reason to think she’s queer? aside from this being dumbing of age in general, i mean. i don’t recall any comments along those lines?
Baby butch uniform, character design wise – Like when Becky cut her hair except less loud. But since it’s not confirmed in panel, I can stop ^^;;
What can be said instead is that it’s likely Charlie has no objection with Booster being queer?
ah, okay. no, i guess i can see it, i just don’t personally see a button up and short hair to be *quite* enough to give me The Vibes. then again, i lived through the times when flannel shirts and pixie cuts became super trendy and was constantly surrounded by false gaydar pings, pffft
Dark times indeed, we were like “can’t believe they gentrified The Uniform”. What was that, like… 2014?
early 2010s for sure. i remember i was starting college at the time, young and gay and ready to mingle- so you can imagine how i suffered! XD
As a Charlie-type also named Charlie, Carla types suit well for me as both friends and partners. Straight-forward/says exactly what they think/blatantly asks for what they need= no need for guessing and wheedling meaning out of what they say. The outgoingness also draws me out of my cocoon in a good way. It does require firm boundaries sometimes, but that is simpler for me than it seems for others (simple not necessarily easy).
Yeah!!!! Also: re:Charlie being your name, that’s awesome!!!
To offer a funny anecdote, I have been playing softball with my mum at the same club for five years. Apparently there’s been a lot of drama that caused a bunch of people to quit. It wasn’t until mum mentioned it on the last day of games last year that I knew this and when I said I hadn’t noticed anything her response was along the lines of:
“Yes, but you’re… oblivious. You play because you like the game and you aren’t aware of anything like politics or conflict. The only people you talk to are me or kids and nothing phases you because you’re you and that’s… great, but you are completely unaware of human beings.”
This has happened to me more than once.
Roughly half the time I end up standing in the wreckage, mightily confused by what just happened, the build up to which I had completely missed; the other half, I get made aware of/dragged into the middle of something I am in no way prepared to deal with.
I am very familiar with that. Most of my friends and family are ND in ways that don’t always mesh, so there’s always something happening that I am pleasantly unaware of. My sister is my opposite and also my closest friend so we are constantly amazed at each other’s involvement (and lack of) in interpersonal chaos. I don’t know where she finds the energy for it.
i assume charlie hasn’t had much experience dating wise, it’d be hard to imagine them being affectionate unless it was like a slow burn relationship/dating
i’d think carla as a ‘first girlfriend’ for anyone would be a bit intense as opposed to them both dating someone else, learning from the experience, breaking up and trying it with each other next.
Would be interesting if it was something like “Ruttech products are ok, but i prefer __ (rival company’s/brand’s) devices”
i think this is the best scene in the entire comic actually
Carla has a lot of those
Well, we’re just finally getting to the plot. Everything else has been prologue. Now we’re ready for the main story. About Carla.
How can you even imply this entire comic strip hasnt been about Carla??
These OTHER PEOPLE keep showing up and GETTING IN THE WAY.
You know what? NOW I ship it
hopefully they’d be friends first. then again it might make for an interesting dynamic if they go on a date and don’t feel any ‘romantic’ chemistry but still like “i don’t mind hanging out more” and becoming friends that way
be nice if lucy could spend more time with her too, i think they’d be genuine friends
tho a double date with becky and dina would be cute too
I could go for them starting to hang out (eg Carla smacking a roller derby flyer in Charlie’s face “BE THERE. OBSERVE MY FABULOUSNESS”), a comment from booster (“Sooo, how was your daaaate?”) and Charlie asking Carla if they’re dating, Carla pulling a “I knew it, you think I’m awesome, I can’t take this awesomeness off the free-market”, Charlie: “we’re not? Okie Dokie.” Carla: “NO WAIT”.
Carla accidentally stumbling herself into a relationship because how DARE she not be the center of the universe is both hilarious and completely on brand.
Quick, someone post an exhausting manifesto about how Carla’s worse than Ross.
I like Ross even more than Carla.
For a second I thought I posted this but the only way I would ever use the words “I like Ross” in consecutive order is if I had been possessed by a demon during a drug-induced seizure.
no no no, the demon is what goes into the body in *response* in an attempt to kick Ross out
Because Ross is dead?
There’s evil in this world, and people who’re monsters enough to like Friends’ Worst Character
GELLAR
I don’t know why I thought we were talking about Ross Gellar. I don’t like Ross McIntyre.
I don’t like Ross from Friends either, but he does get *some* hate that’s undeserved. Like I’ve seen him get blamed for popularizing the term “friendzone,” when in fact Joey was the one who brought up the concept in that episode. Maybe the lack of continuity from the show spread to infect some fans’ brains.
You 100% knew what you were doing.
And I don̶’t̶ want the world to see me
Because I don’t t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ care if they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
*furious headbanging*
“I don’t like her, I just wanna be on her mind. Stay there all the time. She can call my name. Daa daa daa d-d-daa”
Carla can’t stand it when she doesn’t have sufficient mindshare.
Yeesh, Carla, go back to cartoonish charming narcissism, please
maybe getting to know charlie better will help her be an adult/get over it lol
or she’d double down on it or like “oh this person does acknowledge me, they just have a slow/delayed reaction to everything so it’s not personal and i AM still amazing/perfect” etc
Carla is me as a child. Booster is me as a teen. Charlie is me as an adult. My entire history is laid out in this comic.
Is she saying what she actually means, and is thus remarkably pathetic?
Or is she masking what she actually wants with a facade of…appallingly bad choices, and is thus pitiable but sympathetic?
Or is she masking SO well that she’s actually convinced herself and so she, at least on a surface level, is saying what she actually means, and is thus pathetic because actions have consequences, but also she is sympathetic because she has deluded herself with her imagined grandeur?
I don’t like Carla, I will never like Carla, but she keeps me guessing. I’ll give her that.
My money is on Carla masking anxiety/rejection sensitivity for so long with this persona that she’s convinced herself and is being reactive here because Booster is not easily distracted by the heavily built up smokescreen she’s created over the years. She committed so much to this distraction that it’s the only identity she has and it needs to be totally destroyed before she can become a functioning adult capable of genuine relationships ala Erik Erikson and James Marcia’s theories of psychosocial development. (Those theories are genuinely cool to read.
@bogey: at least she’s not seeking validation from ppl who actively hate her that’d be a form of like, emotional self-harm lol even if it doesn’t put her in physical danger. she was willing to tolerate/interact with mary but she did eventually retaliate/for the most part i think they stay out of each otehrs way now
I genuinely can’t imagine Carla seeking validation from anyone. Her accepting that she even cares what one person thinks of her is already too much to process (for her- I wanna see this). She grew up trans in the public eye, caring what other people think of her is threat enough
it is a bit weird she seems a bit desperate because this can’t be the first time someone’s ignored carla. (DBZA voice: I *wish* we could ignore you) or eventually gave in like “ok we know you exist, please leave us alone” or maybe they started talking about stuff that was boring to carla to where she’d move on
but if anything charlie’s just oblivious or just hasn’t been alone with her long enough to reply considering carla ‘gave up’ and left that other time before class
Maybe she hasn’t spent time with her parents in a while from what we’ve seen/heard they’re pretty supportive to where i’ wouldn’t think that they’d be intentionally neglectful like “Unlike everyone else, i actually /like/ my parents” but they might not have had enough time to spend together with their business/company
i think if she was just putting up a front she wouldn’t have bothered to approach booster as opposed to just surrounding herself by ppl who like/tolerate her but maybe she does somewhat wanna be friends with charlie, tho i wonder if they actually have anything in common or if she’d just end up thinking she’s dull even if they have a regular paced convo
The third one I think. She has a crush on Charlie but to admit that would make her vulnerable. She’s built up so many walls against vulnerability that she can’t even admit it to herself.
how much time has passed from their initial meeting? idk if being ignored would kickstart things but other than secretly observing her in a nonstalker-y way idk how quick she’s crushed on other girls she’s found cute since she wasn’t aware of charlie’s name before despite “girls having boy names are cute/hot”
even if most of it is putting up a front it’d be good if she could hold that back and get over herself long enough to actually be able to connect with her instead of expecting charlie to instantly like her, even tho she did talk with malaya sometimes i don’t think she ever expected malaya to boost her ego
mannnnnnnnnnnnnnn I think the “they ignored me, I must have them” behavior bugs me more than carla out right saying “i’m the center of the universe”. At least the latter I can write off as hyperbole, probably, maybe.
well, in tropes/fiction, enemies/rivals to lovers is pretty popular tho in this case it’s a bit more one-sided
someone like jen acting a bit more confrontational might have a bit more romantic tension/chemistry underlying tho it was a disaster with her and ruth.
probably wouldn’t be very good resolution/frustrating for readers if carla got bored and ‘moved on’ but hopefully they can be decent friends and she’d mellow carla out even if they don’t have some kinda queerplatonic relationship
Crushes can start rather suddenly, from an unexpected comment or action. I think she’s interested in Charlie because she is ignoring her. There are people who flatter her, and she might like them, but she hasn’t shown an interest in them.
Ironically, Charlie is not ignoring Carla; it just takes longer to get Charlie’s attention than Carla has been willing to give.
As much as this is definitely a front, if only partially, I wish I had the self-confidence for this type of blustering.
Be better if I could do it believably, but I’d settle for obviously fake as a starting point.
The trick is to not care if the other person believes it. Booster clearly doesn’t.
The Ego That Walks.
Like Gaston.
and talks like Gaston?
And acts like Gaston, and just might be the next best thing but not quite Gaston.
and makes everyone ’round him think “lawks!” like Gaston?
I’m especially good at being deprecating…
Oooh, ten burns for Carla!
Gaston can eat like 5 dozen egos.
I so totally called this one…
But what did you call it?
At first, I called it “Shirley”.
Oh Carla. Denial is the first sign ♡. At always, Booster understood everything, probably even that’s better for Charlie to stay far away from Carla.
Everyone and everything shall bow to the true master of the universe
Carla: “I exist so the most hated non-villainous character is not Becky.”
“I am the typhoon of your vacation, I am the fish smell in your life, the lego in your shoe and the furniture leg you smash your toe into!”
Carla is Darling Duck?
Sadly I have no idea who or what that is XD I got that line from a Jokey news youtube channel.
Darkwing Duck was one of the shows in the early 90s Disney Afternoon programming block.
Ah Darkwing Duck, yeah of that I know, I thought Darling Duck was something entirely different.
I thought that’s why Mary exists.
Isn’t she villainous though?
Mary is cleanly a villain.
Ah, missed non-villainous!
I feel like Willis has been stalking me at work and taken my behaviour as inspiration for Carla.
Sure, Carla’s not blushing upon Booster’s insinuations, but one look at this says quite a lot.
Anyway, it’s a wash. Someone help me dig out Copernicus.
Unicorn Warriors Eternal Copernicus? Or did you have another one in mind?
Carla, you are Rich and Obnoxious, the levels of sympathy required for you are pretty damn high.
I’m also wondering, *why* is she so obnoxious?
Is it flat character design as a punchline or as a caricature on a rich girl who always got what she wanted, or is there more depth to it?
I’ve only seen depth so far in Carla in the scene where she experienced anti-trans violence from Mary and she tells Ruth “i’m everybody’s acceptable loss”.
I mean, i’m really glad to see a trans character who isn’t miserable and struggling with at lack of self-confidence, but is she really that aloof or is that a defense mechanism because she’s hurting inside? Do we get to see behind Carla’s defensive high-functioning? I’d love to see another side of her that’s not obnoxious!
I think that Carla’s self-confidence and body positivity is real. However, she’s genuinely confused and upset when she’s not the center of attention because growing up the celebrity child of billionaires entitles her to believe that is her natural place. The fact most characters really don’t care about her status really throws her.
Especially since normally people like Raidah would be kissing up to her.
It never fails to amaze me how obvious Willis can make character’s defense mechanisms and people who’ve been reading the comic for years will just accept them at face value.
We might get to see that if she gets the introduction she wants!
As I recall, we’ve also gotten some hints over the years that Carla’s trans-ness put her at the center of some sort of big legal drama that Jacob’s older brother helped her family out with. Something she very notably does not brag about at all, and which makes her really awkward when it’s brought up. If that was ever fleshed out in some way, it could probably add a lot of depth to her character.
Also, from a more meta-textual perspective, I think I should probably mention that her character makes a lot more sense (sort of) when she’s a human-hating, endlessly sarcastic, robot car, as she is in the Walkyverse. There, a lot of her spite stems from being a robot among humans, and specifically a robot designed to resemble a common tool among humans – and, of course, it’s funny. Also, she was sorta first designed by Willis when they were in elementary school, so a lot of her character depth is sort of…shall we say, retroactive? Not that that detracts from her awesomeness, but it might help explain why certain parts of her seem a bit arbitrary at times.
Have you offered to re-engineer Booster’s mini shower stilts?
Carla is great and i am a bug!
someone’s suffering a terminal case of middle schooler syndrome…
I’m sorry Carla but Joyce is the center of the universe.
I think her father should have come to a reality where she was the center of the universe.
The one with the jugs? That can’t be right.
Ugg, Booster, please, I am begging you, be a good sibling and DO NOT inflict Carla on your sister.
Look, the way I see it, Carla’s going to be inflicted on Charlie no matter what. Girl seems pretty determined at this point, after all. The only question is whether Booster is going to try and CONTROL the incoming sh*tstorm, and thus take partial responsibility for it. …Which is by no means guaranteed, but personally I’m hoping they’ll go for it.
Just remembered my ‘Carla is faceblind’ hypothesis, and the “I can’t be bothered remember anyone else’s name” is a cover for that. So still a defense mechanism, just not entirely for negative reactions to her queerness.
That…would make a lot of sense, actually. Headcanon accepted! Thank you!
There needs to be more farting in Carla’s face – Walky, I’m looking at you
Can we just stop to appreciate the three sets of quotation marks. Six whole quotes. TWELVE APOSTROPHES. For most people it would be extra, but it pretty much fits here XD
that’s because Carla Is Extra, almost always.