Joe probably can’t help imagining that if Becky is this upset over Joyce going out drinking without her on her first time, maybe she’d like to get in on another of Joyce’s firsts.
That face in panel five says, clearly, “Ugh I want this and she keeps saying she wants this but I am TRYING to be a gentleman and she was the churchmouse until about five minutes ago *system error*”
Yeah, “How do I respond? Normally, anyone flirting this blatantly, I’d be all over, but I’m not sure she’s as ready as she’s acting and I really don’t want to mess this up.”
Indeed.
And I get it. There’s a thrill when you figure out how to flirt effectively, particularly for an autistic girl. It’s such a rush of power – you’ve seen it all you life, but finally it is yours to wield! And wield it you shall, like a merciless goddess of temptation!
Mwa HAhahahahaaaa!
As someone who has never lived anywhere where it gets under 0 Celsius: does it?? I was under the impression that cold always causes the dangly bits to retreat I to the safe warmness of the lower abdomen. However, could be wrong, maybe you need to cycle blood to avoid frostbite or some shit?
Becky, you know why she went drinking with Dorothy. Why must you make a big deal out of this? There will be more chances to get drunk with Joyce and make bad decisions.
Not that visibly, the eyes on her hat are still the same expression as the first panel. Previously when Dina was expressing strong emotions so did her hat.
I think he’s very excited, but also anxious, yeah, not the least of which reason being that he’s never dated before, so he’s never had sex with these kinds of stakes.
IMO its more 90 anxiety to 10 desire. After Sarah sister he trip hard into sex is defiler of innocence mindset and in every mention of intimacy he make the same eyes.
I think Joe is new to getting flirting, for once. Most (all?) of his sexual experiences have resulted from him doing the flirting and chasing. As a hunter. It’s hot stuff being on the receiving end.
It’s really hard to say, which is one of the things I dislike about Joe’s presentation.
As Taffy said, we saw Malaya walk up and basically say “wanna fuck?”
We saw Liz, who did basically the same, but that he hesitated more over.
We saw his early pass at Joyce that led to their disastrous date.
We’ve seen his performative and really hilariously bad attempts at various others.
We know he hooked up with Roz and Penny, but didn’t see the start. We’ve got some evidence he’s been quite successful off-screen, but that’s all offscreen.
We’ve never really seen him flirting or chasing successfully.
I actually REALLY LOVE the idea that, while Joe really did have a very active sex life, it actually consisted entirely of accepting propositions by confident ladies who specifically sought him out for an easy lay. Like, he’s literally only fooling himself and a few of his friends by constantly presenting himself as an active “hunter”, and just about all the sexually active women on campus just had him pegged as passive “prey” within days of his arrival. I honestly think that would fit EXTREMELY well with everything we know about him in canon!
It’s possible. Though he did keep making those creepy attempts, so he was at least trying. It is possible that the way his only “successes” happened, but he wasn’t just fooling himself and close friends. We’ve seen enough ladies creeped out by his attempts.
Joe’s prooobably grappling with not wanting to “ruin” or “corrupt” Joyce, feeling ashamed about his initial comments about her, and feeling anxious about messing up a relationship he cares very deeply about.
He’s also definitely struggling with how all of that plays into the public perception of him that he himself built up, his actual comfort levels with sex in a relationship, and the internalised ouch of him being more than the human sextoy he’s tried to be for the past while.
He’s got a lot going on, but IMO things are overall looking for for him.
She’s not been slacking, she’s just been kept very busy by the harsh* demands of her tyrant lizard mistress. You can hardly blame her for being unable to manage any hijinks while she’s still struggling** to get out from under that titanic, scaly, claw***!
I’m not sure where I stand on Joe’s…….whole deal, here.
On the one hand, “overcompensating macho exterior hides soft marshmallow interior that he’s now getting to let show a little bit” is really cute.
On the other, I’m not sure I ever really clocked him that way, and it’s not like Joe hasn’t had character development. I’d been reading him as moving toward more of a Roz, really, than a Joyce. An Original Flavor Joyce.
I actually support this because I feel like a direct confrontation will need to be addressed and maybe some progress can be made. Usually Dorothy just shrugs off the passive-aggressive jokes and as a reader it feels like their dynamic is just stuck in a rut.
I would find it amusing if Dorothy played along and also teased Becky. When Becky says something slightly mean spirited and Dorothy just ignores it, it feels cringe. As a reader I would like to see their dynamic change.
It’s basically the same as the Questionable Content subreddit. People want a place to endlessly gripe about the comic, so they helpfully stored their negative energy in a little bitty pocket of the Net.
Becky actually angry that Jennifer has recently surpassed her in the race to being the worst non-adult character in the strip so this is her trying her best to regain her place.
…I think that was @RocketRelm’s point, though? I mean, I assume that they were responding to @Pylgrim calling Becky and Jennifer both “non-adult” characters, and their point was that all of these characters are, in fact, adults (the quote in the strip linked: Dina saying “I am not a child!”). And it’s important to lay out the fact that they are adults, because otherwise the Slipshines of them would be Willis drawing p*rn of non-adult characters, which would be sketchy.
Correct me if I’m wrong, OP (and if you ever see this)!
They are adults in a technical sense, but I think the intent was to distinguish our college age cast from the older parental age characters where we find even worse people.
It’s pretty common to refer to “college kids”, especially as you get older. 🙂
Y’know, Becky, if you didn’t keep making clear to Joyce that she can’t do things with Dorothy without you making a whole jealous scene over it, maybe you would’ve been invited, too. But as long as you keep trying to push Dorothy away from her, you’re going to keep finding that you’re the one that you’re pushing out.
This! And nearly all Becky does is act passive-aggressive and competitive at Dorothy; if she chilled out on her ‘bit’ (which has always seemed to me to be entirely serious, just played off as goofy Becky) it would help too.
in becky’s place I’d be kinda mad too, given that she’s not entirely aware it was intended so dorothy would stop going down a bad path
gotta wonder when these two are gonna do shenanigans together again
feel like she should start scheduling a besties night or something
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Joyce and Dorothy may have been the ones who went drinking, but Becky be the one taking the jelly shots here LOL XD
Also yay! Dina strip!!! *^-^* 🦖
Jelly Shots 🪦
bravo on that pun!
You can’t just tell Dina that! :O
You gotta warm her up first.
Strip like comic strip LOL
What’s that meme thing earthlings say?
“BONK BONK horny jail for you!”
:p
…And THIS feels like a very DINA pun to make.
I like just how much the characters’ sense of humor is reflected in the fan comments. Or maybe it’s the other way around? Who knows.
Oddly enough, this feels like a very Becky kind of pun to make.
Ooh, Joyce committed the most evil thing she could do! Went drinkin’ without her oldest, bestest bud! Dun Dun DUNNNN!
With Becky’s nemesis, no less.
She’s really more of a friendly-rivaly-sis at this point.
I think Becky would accept “nemesis” in a playful way.
I think Joe isn’t even aroused at this point, he’s just painfully overloading into system overdrive.
Joe probably can’t help imagining that if Becky is this upset over Joyce going out drinking without her on her first time, maybe she’d like to get in on another of Joyce’s firsts.
That’s a bit of a jump imo.
Weird take.
Nah.
That face in panel five says, clearly, “Ugh I want this and she keeps saying she wants this but I am TRYING to be a gentleman and she was the churchmouse until about five minutes ago *system error*”
Yeah, “How do I respond? Normally, anyone flirting this blatantly, I’d be all over, but I’m not sure she’s as ready as she’s acting and I really don’t want to mess this up.”
The practiced reactions are all wrong.
I appreciate seeing Joyce gain confidence in her flirting and actually do a good job at it too.
Holy shit, Joyce has gone full heel-turn into the biggest tease in the state. Fuckin’ amazing. Love that for her.
Indeed.
And I get it. There’s a thrill when you figure out how to flirt effectively, particularly for an autistic girl. It’s such a rush of power – you’ve seen it all you life, but finally it is yours to wield! And wield it you shall, like a merciless goddess of temptation!
Mwa HAhahahahaaaa!
… or was that just me?
<3
Definitely not just you. One past girlfriend and one current ladyfriend had just that experience.
ANTI-JOYCE IS HERE! RUN! 😱
RUN! TO GET POPCORN!!!!!
Can’t be anti-Joyce. No goatee.
Joyce shaved?!? 🥵
This was predicted by…I want to say Ruth?
I believe you’re right. If I’m not mistaken, she was the one who suggested Joyce was eventually going to snap and suck, like, a billion dicks.
It was Jacob, and Sarah concurred somewhat.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/therepressions/
Ruth said she’d pratfall into an orgasm and bang half the town like a frenzied Tasmanian Devil.
Ah, so I was half-right.
Yeah, there were two similar comments and it’s easy to confuse them.
It’s also easy to screw up linking to them.
Joe has a stiffy. probably from being out in the cold without a coat, I’m pretty sure that’s how it works.
As someone who has never lived anywhere where it gets under 0 Celsius: does it?? I was under the impression that cold always causes the dangly bits to retreat I to the safe warmness of the lower abdomen. However, could be wrong, maybe you need to cycle blood to avoid frostbite or some shit?
Heh. No, it doesn’t work like that. The dangly bits do indeed pull a strategic retreat.
No. One of the reasons cold showers are prescribed for inconvenient horniness.
Quick is she more or less pissed than when Joyce mocked her religion
Well there’s pissed, and then there’s jealous.
Or to speak with a sharper, albeit more accurate edge in this case, possessive 👀
Honestly, the possessive side has always been present.
Definitely less pissed, but hurt more in the “feeling left out” sense than offended.
Hee hee, “but hurt”
Less. This is more spurned. That was more directly insulted and attacked.
I doubt this will lead to them not speaking to each other for however long they didn’t speak to each other after the religion thing.
Becky is right.
Becky is using this as just another thing to Passive Aggressively Tease people over.
WELCOME HOME, CHEATER
This made me chuckle. Thank you.
Becky, your girlfriend is right there, you should really start remembering that you actually have a girlfriend.
Just wait until Becky finds out what else Joyce and Dotty have done together.
for. reals.
“News Break, a University student strangled to death with her own panties by an enraged roommate.”
Appropriate gravatar is appropriate. I can just see Becky as this news anchor.
daaaaaang, joyce is winning at flirting
Joyce went from taking apart her walls brick by brick to just kicking down the support beam and im all for it lol.
Them fundy gorls are just unable to do the sex thing by halves. I want to say “fundamentally” but that’s too easy a joke, and too obvious.
Becky, you know why she went drinking with Dorothy. Why must you make a big deal out of this? There will be more chances to get drunk with Joyce and make bad decisions.
Does she? Is she privy to that information?
No.
Ah, my bad. For some reason I thought Dorothy had explained it to her.
She’s even able to brag about it.
Last panel: Dina visibly surprised that Joyce would make an innuendo like that.
this was meant to be its own different comment, whoops.
Not that visibly, the eyes on her hat are still the same expression as the first panel. Previously when Dina was expressing strong emotions so did her hat.
look i actually have made a very concerted effort to not Wade The Duck her dinosaur hat, you may be just seeing things
Awe but I love it when it does that 🥺
(my alien hoodie eyes also react this way)
Because many humans, and particularly the subculture she and Joyce were raised in, place a lot of importance on “the first time.”
Well, I’ll wait to see if Joyce will really call Becky to drink.
Clearly the gravest of sins.
oh hey; i was just wondering what these two were up to.
Joyce giving Joe tons of wood the past few days, I am sure. Not that I fault him one bit, granted.
wood for sheep
Wood, like witches, burns. It also floats, and is therefore the same weight as a duck.
I’ll settle for that.
She stole his coat, it is only fair that she helps start his fire.
carefully wipes the dust from a vinyl of “Light My Fire”.
It looks like Joe is 50% excited to do naughty stuff with Joyce, and 50% freaked out by the idea.
Am I wrong, or do y’all see it as well?
I think he’s very excited, but also anxious, yeah, not the least of which reason being that he’s never dated before, so he’s never had sex with these kinds of stakes.
In fact, yes, it’s 50/50.
i see it, the desire is there, but i think he feels he’ll ruin her by acting on it
Oh he will! But not like he thinks.
That’s kind of the reason they didn’t become a proper couple in the Walkyverse I think
He may be having flashbacks to another very flirty ex-religious young woman who asked for sex with him but then freaked out.
IMO its more 90 anxiety to 10 desire. After Sarah sister he trip hard into sex is defiler of innocence mindset and in every mention of intimacy he make the same eyes.
I think Joe is new to getting flirting, for once. Most (all?) of his sexual experiences have resulted from him doing the flirting and chasing. As a hunter. It’s hot stuff being on the receiving end.
Malaya managed to get him in bed within seconds by being the one to approach first. He’s got a demonstrated weakness for being pursued.
It’s really hard to say, which is one of the things I dislike about Joe’s presentation.
As Taffy said, we saw Malaya walk up and basically say “wanna fuck?”
We saw Liz, who did basically the same, but that he hesitated more over.
We saw his early pass at Joyce that led to their disastrous date.
We’ve seen his performative and really hilariously bad attempts at various others.
We know he hooked up with Roz and Penny, but didn’t see the start. We’ve got some evidence he’s been quite successful off-screen, but that’s all offscreen.
We’ve never really seen him flirting or chasing successfully.
I actually REALLY LOVE the idea that, while Joe really did have a very active sex life, it actually consisted entirely of accepting propositions by confident ladies who specifically sought him out for an easy lay. Like, he’s literally only fooling himself and a few of his friends by constantly presenting himself as an active “hunter”, and just about all the sexually active women on campus just had him pegged as passive “prey” within days of his arrival. I honestly think that would fit EXTREMELY well with everything we know about him in canon!
It’s possible. Though he did keep making those creepy attempts, so he was at least trying. It is possible that the way his only “successes” happened, but he wasn’t just fooling himself and close friends. We’ve seen enough ladies creeped out by his attempts.
Joe’s prooobably grappling with not wanting to “ruin” or “corrupt” Joyce, feeling ashamed about his initial comments about her, and feeling anxious about messing up a relationship he cares very deeply about.
He’s also definitely struggling with how all of that plays into the public perception of him that he himself built up, his actual comfort levels with sex in a relationship, and the internalised ouch of him being more than the human sextoy he’s tried to be for the past while.
He’s got a lot going on, but IMO things are overall looking for for him.
I hope it never slips that Joyce suggested she watch Dorothy (and Walky). Because Becky will NEVER recover from that I fear.
Oh we are guaranteed for that to make its way to Becky at some point, and I am very much looking forwards to the drama that that causes.
Admittedly, I do not know how. Probably Walky just randomly talking about weird things in the banter or moments those two do.
I hope it’s a warm winter day, because Joe lost both his coat and blood flow to the majority of his extremities
While I can’t wait to see what happens next I’m mostly just loving Dina’s face in the last panel
Dina has recently discovered her sexual power. I think she recognizes and appreciates seeing it in Joyce.
Game recognizes game.
Dinasaurus regina.
OMG! Joyce made Joe blush!
Did somebody pull the DrrraaaaAAAAAMMMaaaa!!! tag?
SEMME wants to know their location.
I don’t think Pamela has the scientific expertise to do so in this universe
Joyce: I’m still……. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) A virgin
“…for now.”
Joe looks ready to snap at any moment. Poor guy
SHE LITERALLY WANTED TO BE GAY AND DO CRIMES!
Oh cool, predicted it straight out.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen somebody make an *ellipsis* that suggestive.
Oh, I figured it out, too.
The “jumping” ellipsis.
Oh no, it’s NegaJoyce
Oh yes, it’s NegaJoyce!
Clueless old guy question: What is that clear box thing in panel one?
Most likely a glove box for the lab part of the course.
Oh yeah, Becky had only lamented at Dorothy. Because, of course, that’s the only thing wrong with Joyce…
of course she’s wearing Joe’s jacket now
Clearly, Becky needs to up her hijinks game. She’s been slacking.
She’s not been slacking, she’s just been kept very busy by the harsh* demands of her tyrant lizard mistress. You can hardly blame her for being unable to manage any hijinks while she’s still struggling** to get out from under that titanic, scaly, claw***!
I’m not sure where I stand on Joe’s…….whole deal, here.
On the one hand, “overcompensating macho exterior hides soft marshmallow interior that he’s now getting to let show a little bit” is really cute.
On the other, I’m not sure I ever really clocked him that way, and it’s not like Joe hasn’t had character development. I’d been reading him as moving toward more of a Roz, really, than a Joyce. An Original Flavor Joyce.
I think it might have to do with being infatuated by her on their first date. Multiple concussions and romantic tension will do that to a mf
The experience of Joe in It’s Walky! kinda primed me to expect this kkind of character arc.
He was physically attracted to her from day 1, but fell for her harder the more time they spent together.
I actually support this because I feel like a direct confrontation will need to be addressed and maybe some progress can be made. Usually Dorothy just shrugs off the passive-aggressive jokes and as a reader it feels like their dynamic is just stuck in a rut.
On the one hand, this “rivalry” is a simple game of Dorothy and Becky, and it is true that it is a casual routine for both of them.
However, if Becky turns the routine into a genuine intention to do harm, it’s a given that Dorothy will put a stop to it.
I would find it amusing if Dorothy played along and also teased Becky. When Becky says something slightly mean spirited and Dorothy just ignores it, it feels cringe. As a reader I would like to see their dynamic change.
I doubt Joe is used to being teased like this
I think it’s new to him, and he is discovering he likes it a lot.
It was a boring conversation anyway. It’s less likely to be so now!
Dang Joyce Making Sexy Face may take some time to get used to 😳
Everything is fine. Nothing is the matter.
To be fair, this does seem to be a breach of bestie etiquette.
How large of one, I leave to others to decide or debate.
And I don’t think it’s the drinking, so much as planning and doing something illicit together. That’s quite intimate.
Partly the drinking though. That’s a college thing and Becky really wants to college with Joyce.
It’s okay Becky, she’s saving the keg stands for you.
I couldn’t find an existing fan group, but I made a Facebook group Memeing of Age because I needed somewhere for niche DoA memes.
There’s an unofficial Discord, too.
There’s a Discord server? I will have to look for this later.
It’s basically the same as the Questionable Content subreddit. People want a place to endlessly gripe about the comic, so they helpfully stored their negative energy in a little bitty pocket of the Net.
Haha yeah.
Wait, which QC subreddit? There’s two, because the first one had a typical Reddit schism a few years ago.
They’re both equally ridiculous.
They’re both incessantly whiny about their pet gripes, but only one of them has Squirrelclamp’s edits so it’s the better one.
Eh, those edits usually amount to “The comic is permanently inadequate”. It got old fast.
I’m getting the feeling Dina and Joe will, hopefully, be the voices of reason here
(SNORT)BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ain’t sayin’ why.
“I know you didn’t do anything yet; your brain hasn’t melted outta your ears! But dang it, you went for BOOZE without me!”
if you could stop acting like some jealous Ex in front of Dina that’d be great, Becky.
Becky actually angry that Jennifer has recently surpassed her in the race to being the worst non-adult character in the strip so this is her trying her best to regain her place.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/hypotheses/
There’s a relevant quote from Dina here. Which is really important to lay out, because otherwise the slipshines would be really sketchy.
Sketchy? 🤨 bru she’s 19, hell a whole storyline pre-timeskip where she shared a birthday party with Sarah.
…I think that was @RocketRelm’s point, though? I mean, I assume that they were responding to @Pylgrim calling Becky and Jennifer both “non-adult” characters, and their point was that all of these characters are, in fact, adults (the quote in the strip linked: Dina saying “I am not a child!”). And it’s important to lay out the fact that they are adults, because otherwise the Slipshines of them would be Willis drawing p*rn of non-adult characters, which would be sketchy.
Correct me if I’m wrong, OP (and if you ever see this)!
They are adults in a technical sense, but I think the intent was to distinguish our college age cast from the older parental age characters where we find even worse people.
It’s pretty common to refer to “college kids”, especially as you get older. 🙂
Exactly this.
Joe’s going to die of blueballs
Bold of you to assume one of Joyce’s many suitors won’t kill him first in a jealous rage
second base and third base are nothing this days? or is it that Joyce is playing a different game? 😉
Pretty sure they’re at second base at most. And that was more sleepy cuddling than active sexy-times.
Unless I’ve lost track of my base metaphor
XD Ahhh, Becky
Hopefully that’s all this is.
Can you imagine Becky in therapy? Just always smugly insulting the therapist as if they don’t know what she’s doing?
And?
Joe’ is about to burst at the word yet.
best part of this strip is the combo Joyce zinger and Becky drama tease
also I just noticed last panel Joe face and that lip bite and blush is so cute
Y’know, Becky, if you didn’t keep making clear to Joyce that she can’t do things with Dorothy without you making a whole jealous scene over it, maybe you would’ve been invited, too. But as long as you keep trying to push Dorothy away from her, you’re going to keep finding that you’re the one that you’re pushing out.
This! And nearly all Becky does is act passive-aggressive and competitive at Dorothy; if she chilled out on her ‘bit’ (which has always seemed to me to be entirely serious, just played off as goofy Becky) it would help too.
in becky’s place I’d be kinda mad too, given that she’s not entirely aware it was intended so dorothy would stop going down a bad path
gotta wonder when these two are gonna do shenanigans together again
feel like she should start scheduling a besties night or something