Goddamn was hearing that song really, really comforting after how shitty I’ve felt these last few days. I can’t even be mad that Yamamoto (probably) plagiarized it from a better composer.
No matter what might happen, no matter how many people are going to suffer and worse— as long as people exist, queer people will exist. They’re an inherent part of what humanity is, and they always will be. No matter how much the bastards try to deny it.
If anyone needs to get connected in this new and uncertain era check out we are worth fighting for. It’s a collection of a number of familiar progressive organizations all working to blunt the impact of the next administration.
Look what Willis is doing here though. Jocelyne is thinking about how having the coat is a good idea because it gives her an out to chicken out at the last minute, and then in the last panel she is casting the coat away specifically so she can’t chicken out at the last moment. Jocelyne is deliberately making herself vulnerable here and you really have to admire her bravery.
And in a minute DamnYouWillis is going to have the elevator open. Yeah, we need to cut away to Dina.
“Reduce”: how? Every day less is packed in (or built of) glass or metal.
“Reuse”: packaging seems designed not to be reusable. Only a machine could fill that shape.
We would do more of what we should if products were designed to make it possible. (Some day I want to ask an engineer how much class time was spent discussing how to design a skyscraper for disassembly and reuse after it wears out.)
The 3Rs aren’t just about plastic, though it is a major issue. Somethings for reduce are like avoiding buying single-use goods– paper plates, disposable cups, paper napkins. And then yes, trying to buy things with less packaging, which could mean buying in bulk and also making packaging a factor in what we decide to buy. We might do more of what we should if more products were designed that way, but more products might be designed that way if it was a factor in people buying them.
And, of course, reduce can mean making an effort to buy/consume less in general.
Reuse also comes in with buying reusable goods– water bottles and coffee cups or reusable shopping bags. (And then actually using them instead of forgetting your bags in your car every time, whoops.) And then selling or donating old things you don’t want, and getting new-to-you things from these sources.
Now, again, these are still “shift the blame onto the consumer” approaches, at least in this way. But the first two really should be more emphasized, and the major limitations around recycling should be more known. (And then if manufacturers also had the ideas pushed on them/regulated, that could help more.)
They mostly just don’t want you to refill a container with a chemical that doesn’t match the label. You don’t want to pick up a bottle of Windex and end up with a heavy duty degreaser surprise!
Refilling small bottles from bulk bottles is a good thing though, as long as they’re properly labeled. I pick up the gallon jugs of “pro” cleaner from the hardware store and refill smaller bottles all the dang time.
Hm, in my workplace there are pairs of bins. One is for paper, glass and graded plastic; and the other is for plastic film, food scraps and the like that are too hard to recycle.
Now, in Canada there’s a third bin: compostable. I had to give up and ask a local how to use it, because in the US I’d had no training for public composting.
She’s not. In Patreon strip, there was flashback to when their mom was pregnant with Joyce, and Jocelyne brought up her name then as “one she liked,” or something like that, and then their mom changed it to Joyce for Joyce. Beyond that… I don’t know looking similar? Having similar styles? Not usually for siblings who grew up in the same environment.
I think you may be remembering when Joyce went through the boxes of old drawings that Carol brought and found the self portraits of “Joyce Lynn” (Jocelyne’s drawings that got mixed in with Joyce’s by mistake). I thought the idea had been that either Joyce and Joe were misreading the name Jocelyne because they were making the initial assumption that the drawings were hers and then failing to scrutinize, or that little Jocelyne didn’t yet have a firm grasp on how she’d spell her name. (In the comic in which Jocelyne told Carol the name she liked, I remember her pronouncing it “Josswin,” so she was probably pretty little when she chose it.)
Not really? They look the same because they’re related. We should be blaming Hank and Carol that their kids just reshuffled their traits. Two of them just stole Hank’s face and matched it with Carol’s hair in the character creator. Joce just got bugged when she asked for Carol’s estrogen.
I don’t know anything about the trans experience but it’s easy to imagine a trans sibling could be loosely inspired by a sibling that had their preferred gender. Especially when they look so similar physically.
Walking up to my blood relative and handing them a whatever those papers are that a legal person gives you that says you have to arrive in a court of law on a certain date, because we both took a gene test and they copied most of my results.
Would that I could not be in Texas, but I would have to sell my house and most of my stuff and get accessible transport out. And someone to care for my wife. So I’m stuck here.
Joss has been wearing glasses waaay before Joyce ever got glasses, so that’s not a choice based off of looking like Joyce.
Joss is also still freshly out and still growing out her hair. She’s not imitating Joyce’s hair, that’s just how their hair looks. As sisters, they have similar hair texture. As for the clothes, Joyce is way more a sweatervest gal. I don’t think we’ve ever seen her wear a cute frilly, flowery top like Joss has, nor what I assume is a dress-overalls thing.
Basically, they’re just siblings. Joss resembled Joyce a lot even when she was going by her deadname and presenting as a man, they just resemble each other naturally. Joss isn’t intentionally trying to look like her sister, it’s just a happy coincidence of presenting outwardly as female; she looks even more like her sister.
Crazy thing is my wife doesn’t look anything like her sisters and they don’t look like each other either. My brother and I don’t resemble each other either, he’s taller with longer legs in proportion to his torso, and I’m built like Fred Flintstone. He’s a taller version of our Dad, I’m built more like Mom.
Genetics are very interesting like that! A pair of my cousins once removed are full blooded brothers, but couldn’t look more dissimilar if you tried; one is a red head with brown, almond shaped eyes, a shorter, stocky build, and he can tan. The other is a blond, with blue eyes, with a tall and somewhat stocky but mostly lanky build, and he burns in the sun.
I had a coworker back in the day that had some really interesting genetics. They were multiracial, I wanna say, his mom was half Japanese, half Filipina, and his father was half Black American, half Mexican, or something close to that. He looked like an Asian person with very tan skin. His 100% full brother just looked like a light skinned black man, he even had an afro. Just one of those things that can happen with genetics sometimes
They already looked extremely similar before, transitioning has only highlighted the similarities they already had. Hell, I’m nothing like my brother but after a few years on T, I look eerily like him with short hair. It’s literally just normal family resemblance.
Even with fictional characters can we please not assume weird things about trans women.
I’m not going to assume ill intent with your comment here, but please understand your phrasing here is VERY similar to transmisogynist talking points. They look similar because they’re sisters. It happens.
I have a trans friend I have known since childhood. I assure you, pre-transition, she looked just like her brother. Post-transition, she looks just like her sisters. It is genetics, not an intentional effort to copy a siblings identity.
Yeah, but she doesn’t look like Joyce because of genetics; it’s because Willis draws her that way. And I had to look twice to determine which sister it was. I wonder if the conflict of this story won’t be transsexuality, but something like trans-Joyce-ism.
I predict an epic Joyce freakout and then she will be overjoyed and thrilled. Tell her sister all the things she has been unknowingly practicing on Carla. And then freak out again. And be really embarrassingly over the top as usual. I’m sure we will cringe in sympathy.
unlikely to happen b/c cramps aside i imagine joyce enjoys being a woman but it would be the funniest thing if joyce transitioned too and looked like jocelyne pre-transition like when she first tried the glasses on and like “i look like my brothers”
At the very least, Jocelyn knows Joyce better than anyone else so they probably see how Joyce was with Carla “yesterday” as the best possible outcome from her. As opposed to however their missionary brother or mother would probably take it.
I’ve known some siblings who didn’t look much alike, and others who did, very strongly.
It wasn’t until I got my last driver’s license picture that I realized how much I resemble one of my brothers – now, anyway – ’cause I don’t look quite like that in the bathroom mirror, and definitely not with my glasses on.
My siblings and I look absolutely nothing alike. It was hilarious growing up. My older sister was a redhead, my brother inherited all of my mom’s Latino genes somehow despite not looking anything like her (almond-ish eyes, jet black hair, almost black brown eyes, general face shape), I was platinum blonde until about 6 and then a brunette with a heart shaped face and two colored eyes. Then my mom remarried and I got a black younger stepsister (I clarify the step here because my other siblings are half-siblings. They’re all just brother and sisters to me). My mom herself looks like the indigenous Colombian she is. I have no clue how we ever survived airports considering not one of us shared a last name either lol
It’s certainly not uncommon for real siblings to not look much alike, but it makes sense to emphasize the resemblance in fiction, especially in a visual medium like comics.
i dont think joyce has progressed enough to do playful ribbing like “Ugh why do you look better as a girl than i do” but hopefully it’ll be more endearingly awkward than her just in denial/reacting in a way that seems ‘bad at first but a misunderstanding’
If you don’t read the comments, Twitter, the porn Patreon, the less important Patreon, Blue Sky, Tumblr, anything else external to the actual posted strips, and forgot the strip where Ethan and “Joshua” have a short exchange about exactly that, your assumption is perfectly reasonable.
That was what, ten years ago? I’m addicted to the comments here but it would be exhausting to follow all of our favorite creators on the dozens of social medias. I bet the majority of readers just read the strips.
That’d have to be the case, right? I don’t think a couple dozen regulars could provide enough ad revenue and Patreon money to support a parent of four.
The comments whenever I think to actually look at them: Um, are you forgetting what Walky said to Joyce in panel 3 of a strip that was published seven years ago? This is obviously foreshadowing based on that.
Me: Yes, of course I forgot that. It was seven real life years ago.
I know, right? Willis had a whole run of other webcomics before this one and we’re still referencing **those** whenever a character’s sexual alignment comes up. We must be even worse than the Doctor Who fandom.
I remember seeing that before, but I think I assumed they were writing under a pen name. Seems obvious in hindsight, but thank you for sharing the link rather than judging me for being a casual reader with a terrible memory.
I mean, I was expecting something a bit less “I raided my little sister’s closet because I don’t quite dare go shopping yet,” but on the other hand if that is exactly what happened, I do love imagining how her coming-out to Hank went when he walked in during the raid.
I’d have sworn there was a Young!Joyce strip in which she wore that dress, if not the shirt, but poking around the archive I can’t find any evidence of that, so perhaps I was wrong.
Oh wow you were right on the money with that! :O Also “something modestly casual, to communicate that she’s a girl, but not making a big high-femme fuss about it” very perfectly describes the thought process behind the outfits I pick like every time I’ll be seeing family
(oops forgot I’m still a couple of weeks behind on this so this conversation is very old)
Awwww she looks so sweet in that outfit, all she needs is a messy bun and a hairband (idk why that was my knee jerk reaction.). It feels like it’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen overall dresses w/ leggings, are they back in vogue?
Are you feeling ok, Taffy? Your comments have seemed uncharacteristically angry tonight (though given this medium prevents me from reading facial expressions or vocal tone I could be very off base). I hope nothing bad happened.
I too am filled with unreasoning rage and fury at my fellow Americans who seem to get their news from pro-rape YouTubers and weird cryptobro twitters. I’m sure none of those “anti-elitist” white people who love rich guys with gold toilets read this comic strip though.
Well yeah, there’s all of that to consider. I’m not sure though, how any amount of discussion of my personal emotional state is warranted, or what even prompted it in my remark about dressing like an individual.
I am sorry for crossing a boundary and my inquiry had nothing to do with that comment (I was mostly misreading anger from the sibling resembles sibling comment). Like I said, I can’t actually accurately read any emotional state from text, this is more a mirror on me than any reflection on you. I just wrongly thought you seemed upset, and thought maybe this person had a bad day and could use an encouraging word. I am sorry if I upset you.
Don’t worry about it. If I discover you or anyone else has been worrying about it, I’ll murder my downstairs neighbor and say you blackmailed me using pictures of Mario.
Is this a situation of do as I say or I show you pictures of Mario. Or is this a case of pictures of Mario making love to you or paying you bribes? I mean, exactly how does this work?
So many people these days don’t have the time to do their murders personally. Just trying to get by in the modern world often doesn’t leave time for the little pleasures like killing people.
Same. It is despicable how the Rs have been riding trans folk to political gain. I want to shake them by the lapel and scream; “Just what do you think ‘Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ MEANS?!“
They know what it means, they just only want it for themselves. Because right-wingers are all spoiled children who want everything and can’t cope when someone else has something, even if it’s something they couldn’t have conceptualized until they saw it.
I feel like there are several reasons that would be difficult to do by accident, which means he’d more likely be doing it on purpose, eliminating the viability of “Poor Joe”. On the other hand, I’d love a series of strips where he thinks he’s making delicate love to Joyce and the entire time it’s just been Jocelyne sitting nearby while he fucks a cabbage.
Not cheating, but an imagined accident where Jocelyne is in Joyce’s room and bent over looking for something, and Joe comes in and goes, “Hey, you” and grabs her butt. (She turns back like, “Joe, what are you doing???” And he’s too shocked to take his hand off her butt, and then Joyce walks in.)
Joss continues to be one of the cutest damn people in the cast, and that’s some strong company.
Incidentally, I wonder if Joss’ll meet up with Ethan. I don’t say that to suggest they’ll, like, bang or something, but I am curious to what extent the two talk nowadays, and if Joss is aware of Ethan’s struggle.
Given that her mom said something about ‘evil transgenders’ maybe she somehow found out or suspects it or so, if she didn’t meet jocelyne still dressed/presenting masculine but ‘procrastinating getting a haircut for a while’ and raising an eyebrow, even if there are a lot of cis men that can pull off fabulous/gender non conforming hairstyles too
this one realizes, “hey, here’s a way I could still avoid all of this…”
and immediately pushes it aside, to take that option (and temptation) off the table.
After one possible accidental involuntary freak out, ( stunned silence) or initial disbelief, then self blame for it;
i think it will go very well.
or Joyce doesnt put 2 and 2 togther but teases Joycelyn for looking like a girl.
But Jocelyn seems to have a lot more self awareness, grace and sense of humor than Joyce. I think she has the breathing space to accept joyce first reactions to anything isnt her heart.
In my experience, it’s held up. My skin has been great since I started transitioning (with the exception of psoriasis, but that’s basically incurable so doesn’t count)
Other than hrt/literal medicine, wouldn’t be surprised if it was a state of mind like how ppl are like “you’re glowing” when someone’s pregnant or “smile reaching their eyes” or so
Getting on estrogen has made my skin so much clearer and softer. There’s a fair amount of older trans women who also report that it even can make one look younger.
well, women do generally look better than men. I wonder if asian trans women get even ‘more’ of a baby face but i guess it works out well if some are already androgynous rather than ‘youthful asian genes’ (i still have a bit of a round face but i def feel aged lol)
or better yet, she goes into the Sunken Place for reals, and forced to live in a cheap retirement home with a crooked nurse, then immortalized in a grease trap
Well, don’t all the siblings have “J” names? Although giving growing up with their parents i’d probably purposefully not choosing a name starting with J if not like ironically choosing a ‘Christian’/Biblical female name for the bit/irony , like if she called herself Eve
IIRC, in canon Jocelyne picked Joyce’s name, and therefore Jocelyne gave Joyce her own first choice of name (as evidenced by her signing her childhood drawings as Joyce). That’s why their names are so similar, even beyond the J name theming the siblings’ve got.
Which is the in universe reason obv, but the narrative purpose is prolly just to give Jocelyne some characterization around her feelings abt her baby sister. Whether you’re reading that as wish fulfillment or projection or sisterly protectiveness or all of the above is your own interpretation. S’pose it depends a bit on how she interacts with Joyce in the upcoming strips.
Im not predicting she will act any different. although maybe teasing her less.
Probably the only thing holding her back was Joyce is a little rigid in categories. ( which used to include Gender until a few months ago.)
This is still going to upend some long held categories in Joyces brain no matter how accepting she is. It will help that she has been modeling correct behaviour to herself.
She might even overcompensate and freak Joceylyn out a little.
I wouldnt be surprised if she Clocks Mary straight in the head, at her next transphobic remark. its in character.
It’s been a while for me too, but I’m not certain that’s how it happened. I recall the flashback comic in which Joyce’s name is chosen being one in which Carol asked Joss about a name for a girl, and Joss replies that she thinks Jocelyne is pretty (though she’s very little and pronounces it “Josswin”). Carol mulls it over and replies that she might like the name Joyce for the unborn baby, and little Joss panics and says something that implies she hadn’t realized they’d been floating names for the new baby and had not meant to suggest naming her sister Jocelyne (“Not for my sister!” or something like that).
All this is to say, I don’t think Joyce was Jocelyne’s first choice of name, I think it was one that Carol chose after hearing Jocelyne’s admission that she likes the name Jocelyne (for herself). My interpretation of the drawings was that either Joyce and Joe were reading Joss’s childhood handwriting incorrectly and assuming it said Joyce Lynn instead of Jocelyne, or that little Jocelyne didn’t yet know how she’d spell her own name, considering how little she was when she chose it.
…”Joycelyn” is a compound like “Markwayne”. “Joyce” became a first name when someone decided to repurpose James Joyce’s last name as a first name. (Like “Wayne”.)
At least according to Wikipedia, this is not accurate. Joyce began to be used as a female given name in the late Middle Ages, deriving from Middle English ‘joisse,’ meaning rejoice. Joycelyn, on the other hand, derives from the early Germanic name Gauzlin, probably via the French place name Josselin.
I mean, for practicality, ‘Jocelyne’ is fairly close to her deadname. Same first sounds. I don’t think it has much to do with her feeling like Joyce, so much as her still feeling like *herself*. And likely still feeling like a Brown, with the J names, even as she knows she wouldn’t be accepted by most of them, and she fears, all of them.
I just am afraid, right now, for the sudden shock value to Joyce, and that she might accidentally say something hurtful without intending. Like, assuming that she’s playing a joke on her or something.. I know other people’s neurodivergencies are not my own, but I would struggle with that initial world-reorienting of someone close to you, to see that their identity and your mental image of them doesnt match. Surprise is -never- the way to deliver extremely important, potentially emotional info to me.
One unexpected reaction will be that Joe finds JL hot. ( How could be not? he has a type ) . This is going to be like Danny noticing Walky is hot since sister adjacent.
i wouldn’t be surprised if her other siblings were busy/old school to prefer ‘talking face to face’ if not on the phone versus “mom and dad divorced” in a family group chat and everyone reacting with emojis lol
She thinks Jocelyne thinks she doesn’t know about the divorce – which she wouldn’t if Carol hadn’t shown up unexpectedly to dump boxes of stuff on her.
I agree. I’m also not sure why she didn’t just text back that she knew about the divorce and Joycelyn didn’t need to come down for that. (Glad she didn’t, though.)
You usually are when you are just out. Us older types call it “The Phase” I bought a lot of pink stuff for about six month and one day woke up and went “I really don’t like pink” Its a Because you can thing.
Matt Nishi the trans man comic did a strip on it MtF “Much Too Feminine” for FtM He had “Failed To Mature” reflecting on those “just OUt” reflexes.
Today my mum and I were helping a little old lady whose car broke down and her name was Jocelyne! I was so excited by the coincidink I told her about the comic!
Her hair is the same base color as it always was (a bit more platinum than Joyce’s hair in color), but since she had most of her appearances I’ve started using a redder color for indoor shadows.
Honestly, there’s a not an insignificant possibility Joyce adjusts pretty quick. She’s already had her shenannigans with Carla (someone way more likely to not give a shit what Joyce thinks), and one thing that is sure to make Joyce actually get on board with realigning her preconceptions is having to connect with the people she loves unconditionally. A disappointment when it’s mom, but might be good when it’s her sister.
The real kicker will be when she puts two and two together and realises that Ethan knew for ages before she did.
I see the family resemblance. Not really sure how much this is a joke, because their faces are uncanny. Joss looks like how I’d imagine an older Joyce who got taller.
Hank has taken progressively less and less time to come around on things, so I think it will ultimately work out for Jocelyne… though I also think startlement led to a bad initial take. Hence Jocelyne trying to get to Joyce first.
I think it’s telling, though, that Joyce has only been ducking ‘Josh’ texts/calls rather than both Jocelyne AND Hank. Hank is either still wrestling or has already worked out that he should not be outing his elder daughter, not even to his younger one.
She’s a braver soul than I am, I still haven’t come out to any of my family members who didn’t bring it up first (my dad already suspected based on my appearance, and my mom was reviewing insurance statements and saw estrogen – pharmacy had used my parents instead of my own, a mistake I quickly corrected them of). And I’ve been on hormones for over 5 years now. Although it’s not fear that stays my hand anymore, it was at first. Now I’m just apathetic (perhaps a bit depressed) about all of it.
Keeping yourself safe IS brave, though. Surviving (esp. right now) is brave as hell. I’ve decided I’m not coming out to my mom as long as she lives. And even with the people I *did* come out to, it’s taken me a long time for most of them. No matter your reasons, there’s nothing cowardly about not coming out to someone.
In full honesty I just woke up so I was like…. whys Joyce worried about her coat?? Also where is Joe wasn’t she with him. Then I realized that was her new sister.
Joyce’s declaration of solidarity, that she made towards Carla, is going to be tested, and rightly so. It’s so easy to make that statement, when there is a disconnect; but now, now she’ll have to actually do so, with her own sister.
I’m really happy to see her but am also a little heartbroken at how scared she looks. I’m sure things between her and Joyce will turn out okay in the end, but in the meantime… 🙁
Calling it now – Joyce is going to miss Jocelyn at first, and then upon recognition her first reaction will be “Oh! You’re in disguise!” maybe with an addition of “Do you need to pretend like you live here too, because of divorce things?” and generally miss what the ‘big reveal’ is supposed to be while every one else gets more awkward.
And maybe Joe gets a moment of moral/sexual crisis seeing someone that looks like Joyce, and whatever sexy thoughts THAT causes until he realizes the fuller story.
As a transfem I definitely get that sorta fear of wanting a “just incase I chicken out” but also understanding that you can’t allow yourself that out if you want to move forward
if she hasn’t already Jocelyn should watch “I Saw the TV Glow” because goddamn, that’s the most trans allegory movie I’ve seen in a long time. It’s like the Matrix but the creator has already come out, so it’s a lot more overt
Sadly, my hope is that we get four years of Christofascists vs. egomaniacal con artist, continually duking it out over the 25th Amendment. Gridlock is literally the best case scenario now.
Gridlock is literally what i mean by this, Trump can’t be replaced by Vance if he doesn’t die.
His dementia will get progressively worse, until all that remains of himself will be but a small, barely conscious sliver, but a passenger in his own body
The coat is my trans sister’s staple tbh (yes, even in the summer; yes, I do worry about heat stroke). also: she looks so cute! please, please let this go all right for her
It’s also SO cute how similar the Brown sisters look. I feel like that sort of family resemblance with a cis sibling of your gender can be super validating. (Like I do Not like my brother, but the fact that I could pass off his kid pictures as younger me is so funny)
Everyone’s expecting joyce to ‘stumble and be awkward’ but endearing/wholesome but it would also be funny if she spedrun to it like “oh that’s great now i can have a girls talk with you about how i touched my boyfriends dingdong” XD
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OUR QUEEN IS HERE
AT LAST
AFTER ALL THESE YEARS 🥹
ALL PRAISE
Hazzah!
RANDOM SHOUTING! 🤣
To paraphrase Captain Beef heart…
“Hey Jocelyn, I Like Your New Coat”
AND SHE LOOKS GORGEOUS!
SHE RETURNS!!! The sisters are finally to reunite!
After waiting for years, we shall REJOYCE tonight! 🥹🏳️⚧️
*plays “The Braveheart’s Triumphant Return” on hacked muzak*
Goddamn was hearing that song really, really comforting after how shitty I’ve felt these last few days. I can’t even be mad that Yamamoto (probably) plagiarized it from a better composer.
No matter what might happen, no matter how many people are going to suffer and worse— as long as people exist, queer people will exist. They’re an inherent part of what humanity is, and they always will be. No matter how much the bastards try to deny it.
Here, here. Beautifully said.
Hear, hear!
Where there is life, there is HOPE!
WE ARE HERE
WE ARE QUEER
WE ARE POWERFUL
*plays “Chou Super Dragon Soul” on hacked muzak*
If anyone needs to get connected in this new and uncertain era check out we are worth fighting for. It’s a collection of a number of familiar progressive organizations all working to blunt the impact of the next administration.
thank you so much for this!!!!
do you know any of the specifics of their action plans?
Last time we saw her was as Josh on move-in day. Anyone know when that was? Duh, just click on the tag to go back there. BRB
Last time actually with Joyce was June 1 2016. the rest of the comics were communicating by telephone/text.
You have no idea how hard I looked to make sure there was no “End of storyline” anywhere.
Willis would do that to us. You know he would.
And yet, she would still be Patreon-available again anyway, so it wouldn’t matter.
We need to smash-cut to Dina eating cereal next strip, though. 😀
I wanna see more Joycelyn, and I want more Dina also.
I really hope we get both!!!! ^^ <3
*autistic joy squeal so high-pitched only the late Akira Toriyama can hear it*
“What does the scouter say about the joy level?”
“It’s over nine-thousaaand!”
I’m not sure how plausible it is or isn’t, but now I’d really love to see them become good friends
Make that Steve.
Look what Willis is doing here though. Jocelyne is thinking about how having the coat is a good idea because it gives her an out to chicken out at the last minute, and then in the last panel she is casting the coat away specifically so she can’t chicken out at the last moment. Jocelyne is deliberately making herself vulnerable here and you really have to admire her bravery.
And in a minute DamnYouWillis is going to have the elevator open. Yeah, we need to cut away to Dina.
It’s been a long time! Glad to finally have her back in the comic.
holy shit have there always been *two* recycling bins there? what even is real anymore
One of them tells the truth, the other only lies.
You may discard one bottle.
The lie is that we seperate glass by colour, but it all ends up on the same heap anyway.
The other lie is that plastic isn’t even recyclable and just goes to a special plastic-only landfill after being carefully sorted.
Nonsense! The plastic goes to a secret facility on campus where it’s recycled and used to create more recycling bins.
Some of the bins on campus actually are made of recycled milk jugs. Says so on the side.
Recycling successfully shifted the guilt/blame for all that plastic waste onto the consumer, and off the companies that manufactured it.
There’s a reason “Recycle” was the third R, after “Reduce” and “Reuse”. Don’t hear much about those anymore, do we…
They forgot to place a third bin for reused plastic. Got it.
“Reduce”: how? Every day less is packed in (or built of) glass or metal.
“Reuse”: packaging seems designed not to be reusable. Only a machine could fill that shape.
We would do more of what we should if products were designed to make it possible. (Some day I want to ask an engineer how much class time was spent discussing how to design a skyscraper for disassembly and reuse after it wears out.)
To be fair, the first place I heard that was an early 90s PSA. Nobody was direct-ordering manufactured garbage from overseas yet.
The 3Rs aren’t just about plastic, though it is a major issue. Somethings for reduce are like avoiding buying single-use goods– paper plates, disposable cups, paper napkins. And then yes, trying to buy things with less packaging, which could mean buying in bulk and also making packaging a factor in what we decide to buy. We might do more of what we should if more products were designed that way, but more products might be designed that way if it was a factor in people buying them.
And, of course, reduce can mean making an effort to buy/consume less in general.
Reuse also comes in with buying reusable goods– water bottles and coffee cups or reusable shopping bags. (And then actually using them instead of forgetting your bags in your car every time, whoops.) And then selling or donating old things you don’t want, and getting new-to-you things from these sources.
Now, again, these are still “shift the blame onto the consumer” approaches, at least in this way. But the first two really should be more emphasized, and the major limitations around recycling should be more known. (And then if manufacturers also had the ideas pushed on them/regulated, that could help more.)
Even on the recycling front, but from the other end, trying to buy more stuff made from recycled material can help.
And non-plastic recycling is much more effective than plastics, as I understand it. Glass and metals do actually get recycled.
Plus lots of usefully shaped plastic containers have warnings about reuse due to potential contamination issues…
They mostly just don’t want you to refill a container with a chemical that doesn’t match the label. You don’t want to pick up a bottle of Windex and end up with a heavy duty degreaser surprise!
Refilling small bottles from bulk bottles is a good thing though, as long as they’re properly labeled. I pick up the gallon jugs of “pro” cleaner from the hardware store and refill smaller bottles all the dang time.
You also probably don’t want to be drinking out of the ones that had the heavy duty degreaser in them.
You. Citizen. Pick up that can.
Actually I do this. It’s my outdoors too, and I like it clean.
honestly it’s surprising no one’s stolen it since it’s not bolted down if only to keep in their own room for convenience or so.
Hm, in my workplace there are pairs of bins. One is for paper, glass and graded plastic; and the other is for plastic film, food scraps and the like that are too hard to recycle.
Now, in Canada there’s a third bin: compostable. I had to give up and ask a local how to use it, because in the US I’d had no training for public composting.
Oh noes: Jocelyine has found a glitch (they are both the same)
down the hall there are two regular trash bins, someone pulled the weakest prank and switched it
like the prank at my high school where the second floor had TWO girls’ bathrooms at one end of the hall and TWO boys’ bathrooms at the other end
except the bathrooms were more permanent and I don’t know why no one ever questioned it
Jocelyne needs more keychains.
holy shit i really want a fridge magnet of her T_T <3
SO WONDERFUL SHE'S FINALLY BACK
I want a fridge magnet of her dressed like Ysayle Dangoulain.
Human form or Shiva form?
Elezen specifically.
We will all finally have a coveted Jocelyne magnet on our fridges, probably in early 2026 I predict!
SHE’S LOOKIN CUTE!!
HAVA NAGILA!!!!! <3
All these years I’ve been missegmenting to myself as Havana Gila.
She’s Joyce with glasses and a slightly different outfit, what could be cuter than that?
*eeeeeeee!!!*
Been waiting for this story line for years!
I didn’t know Joyce had a clone.
Neither did Joyce
Wait Jocelyne is the older sister so Joyce is technically her clone.
It is a liiitttttle weird how much jocelyne is basing her identity off of joyce.
She’s not. In Patreon strip, there was flashback to when their mom was pregnant with Joyce, and Jocelyne brought up her name then as “one she liked,” or something like that, and then their mom changed it to Joyce for Joyce. Beyond that… I don’t know looking similar? Having similar styles? Not usually for siblings who grew up in the same environment.
Full siblings looking similar to each other? Preposterous.
Wasn’t it implied at one point that if Joyce didn’t exist it’s likely that “Joyce” would have been the name Jocelyn chose or am I making that up?
I think you may be remembering when Joyce went through the boxes of old drawings that Carol brought and found the self portraits of “Joyce Lynn” (Jocelyne’s drawings that got mixed in with Joyce’s by mistake). I thought the idea had been that either Joyce and Joe were misreading the name Jocelyne because they were making the initial assumption that the drawings were hers and then failing to scrutinize, or that little Jocelyne didn’t yet have a firm grasp on how she’d spell her name. (In the comic in which Jocelyne told Carol the name she liked, I remember her pronouncing it “Josswin,” so she was probably pretty little when she chose it.)
Not really? They look the same because they’re related. We should be blaming Hank and Carol that their kids just reshuffled their traits. Two of them just stole Hank’s face and matched it with Carol’s hair in the character creator. Joce just got bugged when she asked for Carol’s estrogen.
I don’t know anything about the trans experience but it’s easy to imagine a trans sibling could be loosely inspired by a sibling that had their preferred gender. Especially when they look so similar physically.
What the actual fuck are you talking about?
I don’t think she’s basing her identity off of Joyce. They have major genes in common, but there isn’t a sweater vest in sight.
Walking up to my blood relative and handing them a whatever those papers are that a legal person gives you that says you have to arrive in a court of law on a certain date, because we both took a gene test and they copied most of my results.
I read that John Varley SF novel!
“Summons”
Or a citation, if you’re in Texas! (I recommend not being in Texas whenever humanly possible TBH)
Would that I could not be in Texas, but I would have to sell my house and most of my stuff and get accessible transport out. And someone to care for my wife. So I’m stuck here.
my deepest sympathies T_T
“If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell.”
— Union General Philip Sheridan
“Sam, there’s a problem with your test. You and Dana gave the same answers to almost all the questions. So I have to give you an F.”
“Wait, just me? Why?”
“Because on question 5, Dana wrote ‘I don’t know’ and you wrote ‘Me neither'”
+1
Joss has been wearing glasses waaay before Joyce ever got glasses, so that’s not a choice based off of looking like Joyce.
Joss is also still freshly out and still growing out her hair. She’s not imitating Joyce’s hair, that’s just how their hair looks. As sisters, they have similar hair texture. As for the clothes, Joyce is way more a sweatervest gal. I don’t think we’ve ever seen her wear a cute frilly, flowery top like Joss has, nor what I assume is a dress-overalls thing.
Basically, they’re just siblings. Joss resembled Joyce a lot even when she was going by her deadname and presenting as a man, they just resemble each other naturally. Joss isn’t intentionally trying to look like her sister, it’s just a happy coincidence of presenting outwardly as female; she looks even more like her sister.
I’ve been told I look like myself only moreso, like I’ve unlocked a more realistic version of my own sprite.
Went from 32-bit pixels to 4k hand-drawn with 60 frames per second. The artist responsible just finished an addition to their condo.
Crazy thing is my wife doesn’t look anything like her sisters and they don’t look like each other either. My brother and I don’t resemble each other either, he’s taller with longer legs in proportion to his torso, and I’m built like Fred Flintstone. He’s a taller version of our Dad, I’m built more like Mom.
Genetics are very interesting like that! A pair of my cousins once removed are full blooded brothers, but couldn’t look more dissimilar if you tried; one is a red head with brown, almond shaped eyes, a shorter, stocky build, and he can tan. The other is a blond, with blue eyes, with a tall and somewhat stocky but mostly lanky build, and he burns in the sun.
I had a coworker back in the day that had some really interesting genetics. They were multiracial, I wanna say, his mom was half Japanese, half Filipina, and his father was half Black American, half Mexican, or something close to that. He looked like an Asian person with very tan skin. His 100% full brother just looked like a light skinned black man, he even had an afro. Just one of those things that can happen with genetics sometimes
They already looked extremely similar before, transitioning has only highlighted the similarities they already had. Hell, I’m nothing like my brother but after a few years on T, I look eerily like him with short hair. It’s literally just normal family resemblance.
Even with fictional characters can we please not assume weird things about trans women.
I’m not going to assume ill intent with your comment here, but please understand your phrasing here is VERY similar to transmisogynist talking points. They look similar because they’re sisters. It happens.
I have a trans friend I have known since childhood. I assure you, pre-transition, she looked just like her brother. Post-transition, she looks just like her sisters. It is genetics, not an intentional effort to copy a siblings identity.
Yeah, but she doesn’t look like Joyce because of genetics; it’s because Willis draws her that way. And I had to look twice to determine which sister it was. I wonder if the conflict of this story won’t be transsexuality, but something like trans-Joyce-ism.
Respectfully, what the fuck are you talking about?
Her clone sleeps alone.
LOL this kinda reminds me of that one meme like “i’m gonna go on hrt” “cool I’m happy for you” -flash forward- “Why do you look like me!”
Joyce: Hello, Ms, you seen my brother?
“Why, no, Jordan didn’t come. Thank God.”
I feel like this is going to end poorly, but hopefully I’m wrong.
Besides,,what could go wrong?
I predict an epic Joyce freakout and then she will be overjoyed and thrilled. Tell her sister all the things she has been unknowingly practicing on Carla. And then freak out again. And be really embarrassingly over the top as usual. I’m sure we will cringe in sympathy.
I’m expecting another cut to Sarah asking why dogs are barking, like when Becky told her she and Dina are technically engaged.
I predict a Sarah freakout, with Joyce not noticing Jocelyn at first and Sarah going NO NOT TWO OF YOU!
I feel it won’t *end* badly, but I do think there’s going to be a rough middle, potentially.
unlikely to happen b/c cramps aside i imagine joyce enjoys being a woman but it would be the funniest thing if joyce transitioned too and looked like jocelyne pre-transition like when she first tried the glasses on and like “i look like my brothers”
At the very least, Jocelyn knows Joyce better than anyone else so they probably see how Joyce was with Carla “yesterday” as the best possible outcome from her. As opposed to however their missionary brother or mother would probably take it.
Jury’s still out on Hank, though.
Imagining ways for Joyce to be confused, like maybe going, “What are… are you supposed to be dressed up as me?”
*frantically munching on popcorn and soft pretzels*
“Josh, identity theft isn’t a fucking joke.”
“What.”
“Halloween was 2 weeks ago! But not for us!”
Because if you are, you need a sweater vest. Let me get you one!
Joyce likes sweatervests, Joss likes overalls, comfortable clothes runs in the family 8D:
MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL
Huh. She looks surprisingly Joyce-like.
Shocking: Sibling Resembles Sibling
I’ve known some siblings who didn’t look much alike, and others who did, very strongly.
It wasn’t until I got my last driver’s license picture that I realized how much I resemble one of my brothers – now, anyway – ’cause I don’t look quite like that in the bathroom mirror, and definitely not with my glasses on.
My siblings and I look absolutely nothing alike. It was hilarious growing up. My older sister was a redhead, my brother inherited all of my mom’s Latino genes somehow despite not looking anything like her (almond-ish eyes, jet black hair, almost black brown eyes, general face shape), I was platinum blonde until about 6 and then a brunette with a heart shaped face and two colored eyes. Then my mom remarried and I got a black younger stepsister (I clarify the step here because my other siblings are half-siblings. They’re all just brother and sisters to me). My mom herself looks like the indigenous Colombian she is. I have no clue how we ever survived airports considering not one of us shared a last name either lol
It’s certainly not uncommon for real siblings to not look much alike, but it makes sense to emphasize the resemblance in fiction, especially in a visual medium like comics.
You often want the visual shorthand as a reminder
I mean she basically always did, even before she grew her hair out. Especially since they both wear glasses now.
i dont think joyce has progressed enough to do playful ribbing like “Ugh why do you look better as a girl than i do” but hopefully it’ll be more endearingly awkward than her just in denial/reacting in a way that seems ‘bad at first but a misunderstanding’
SHE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE JOYCE NOW
What’s happening? Am I seeing double? There’s two of everybody except me!
Awwwww she has Joyce hair <3
I wonder if her always wanted to be like Joyce. Like, when Joyce rediscovered her old draws.
I assumed the news was that he was gay. Instead it turns out she’s trans. This will be interesting.
If you don’t read the comments, Twitter, the porn Patreon, the less important Patreon, Blue Sky, Tumblr, anything else external to the actual posted strips, and forgot the strip where Ethan and “Joshua” have a short exchange about exactly that, your assumption is perfectly reasonable.
That was what, ten years ago? I’m addicted to the comments here but it would be exhausting to follow all of our favorite creators on the dozens of social medias. I bet the majority of readers just read the strips.
That’d have to be the case, right? I don’t think a couple dozen regulars could provide enough ad revenue and Patreon money to support a parent of four.
Yup, good point.
I think you meant family of four? I thought Willis only had twins.
The words I said were the words I meant to say.
Oof. Did I miss something? I thought they had just one set of twins.
So Dad, Mom and two kids. Makes four where I come from.
“Parent of four” suggests someone who has four kids. One is not a parent to oneself, nor to one’s partner.
The comments whenever I think to actually look at them: Um, are you forgetting what Walky said to Joyce in panel 3 of a strip that was published seven years ago? This is obviously foreshadowing based on that.
Me: Yes, of course I forgot that. It was seven real life years ago.
I know, right? Willis had a whole run of other webcomics before this one and we’re still referencing **those** whenever a character’s sexual alignment comes up. We must be even worse than the Doctor Who fandom.
That’s what I get for posting in an online fandom as a casual reader. I’ll think better of it next time.
I read them every day, but don’t do anything external that, and I must not have remembered that specific strip. Where do I report for my flogging?
I would recommend Seattle, but maybe wait till a warmer part of the year.
See https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/writer/ (as well as the hovertext for that strip, and the fact that her character tag was at that time retroactively changed from her deadname to Jocelyne)
oh damn they really did look nearly identical already, its just more emphasized now
I remember seeing that before, but I think I assumed they were writing under a pen name. Seems obvious in hindsight, but thank you for sharing the link rather than judging me for being a casual reader with a terrible memory.
Don’t worry, nobody was judging you for that. 🙂
I was judging you for your fashion sense. You call those socks?
The comments section, whew! Were we all that bad then or does it just seem that way in retrospect?
So happy for big sister!
Called it. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-15/02-the-one-where-jocelyne-returns/babysister/#comment-1832659
Same! We are the fancy guessers.
This is just what I imagined, not to mention it’s all I’ve wanted in this comic for literal years.
I mean, I was expecting something a bit less “I raided my little sister’s closet because I don’t quite dare go shopping yet,” but on the other hand if that is exactly what happened, I do love imagining how her coming-out to Hank went when he walked in during the raid.
Is it? My first impression today was “that’s definitely not a Joyce outfit.”
I’d have sworn there was a Young!Joyce strip in which she wore that dress, if not the shirt, but poking around the archive I can’t find any evidence of that, so perhaps I was wrong.
Oh wow you were right on the money with that! :O Also “something modestly casual, to communicate that she’s a girl, but not making a big high-femme fuss about it” very perfectly describes the thought process behind the outfits I pick like every time I’ll be seeing family
(oops forgot I’m still a couple of weeks behind on this so this conversation is very old)
Parked herself right in front of the elevator so she’d be the first thing Joyce sees when the doors open too
YES HERE WE GO
Awwww she looks so sweet in that outfit, all she needs is a messy bun and a hairband (idk why that was my knee jerk reaction.). It feels like it’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen overall dresses w/ leggings, are they back in vogue?
Screw the vogue, dress in reality.
Are you feeling ok, Taffy? Your comments have seemed uncharacteristically angry tonight (though given this medium prevents me from reading facial expressions or vocal tone I could be very off base). I hope nothing bad happened.
This is a very strange thing to say.
I too am filled with unreasoning rage and fury at my fellow Americans who seem to get their news from pro-rape YouTubers and weird cryptobro twitters. I’m sure none of those “anti-elitist” white people who love rich guys with gold toilets read this comic strip though.
Well yeah, there’s all of that to consider. I’m not sure though, how any amount of discussion of my personal emotional state is warranted, or what even prompted it in my remark about dressing like an individual.
I am sorry for crossing a boundary and my inquiry had nothing to do with that comment (I was mostly misreading anger from the sibling resembles sibling comment). Like I said, I can’t actually accurately read any emotional state from text, this is more a mirror on me than any reflection on you. I just wrongly thought you seemed upset, and thought maybe this person had a bad day and could use an encouraging word. I am sorry if I upset you.
Don’t worry about it. If I discover you or anyone else has been worrying about it, I’ll murder my downstairs neighbor and say you blackmailed me using pictures of Mario.
Is this a situation of do as I say or I show you pictures of Mario. Or is this a case of pictures of Mario making love to you or paying you bribes? I mean, exactly how does this work?
Inquiring minds need to know.
Why don’t you kill me yourself? This generation is so lazy leaving all the murder to the police.
So many people these days don’t have the time to do their murders personally. Just trying to get by in the modern world often doesn’t leave time for the little pleasures like killing people.
You youngsters are so spoiled nowadays. In my day we had to walk miles in the freezing snow to murder our neighbors and it was uphill both ways.
A lot of people are touchy post-election.
Same. It is despicable how the Rs have been riding trans folk to political gain. I want to shake them by the lapel and scream; “Just what do you think ‘Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ MEANS?!“
They know what it means, they just only want it for themselves. Because right-wingers are all spoiled children who want everything and can’t cope when someone else has something, even if it’s something they couldn’t have conceptualized until they saw it.
You can do it, Jocelyn!!!
She’s beautiful
Nice to finally meet you, Jocelyn.
“Ugh, I look like one of my brothers.”
Ya sure this isn’t a hectic time?
Oh my gosh, yes, she does look just like her sister.
Took me a while to realize that wasn’t Joyce. Not all that surprising she looks a lot like her sister now.
OMG THE FIT IS SO CUTE
Poor Joe.
He ends up cheating on Joyce with her sister.
LIKE SANDS THROUGH THE HOURGLASS…
I feel like there are several reasons that would be difficult to do by accident, which means he’d more likely be doing it on purpose, eliminating the viability of “Poor Joe”. On the other hand, I’d love a series of strips where he thinks he’s making delicate love to Joyce and the entire time it’s just been Jocelyne sitting nearby while he fucks a cabbage.
Jocelyn and Joe just have a powerful and instant magnetic connection.
Not cheating, but an imagined accident where Jocelyne is in Joyce’s room and bent over looking for something, and Joe comes in and goes, “Hey, you” and grabs her butt. (She turns back like, “Joe, what are you doing???” And he’s too shocked to take his hand off her butt, and then Joyce walks in.)
So would Joe making a pass a Jocelyne even an unintentional one be weirdly gender reaffirming for her?
The phenomenon of ewphoria is real
From experience. Yep.
Joe finding Jocelyne to be a better Joyce is the first thing that crossed my mind looking at the comic. But I don’t actually think it’s very likely.
Speculative Joe cheating scenarios. Gotta say I didn’t have that on my bingo card of topics to discuss for Jocelyne showing up again.
Y’all DO remember that Joe loves Joyce the PERSON, right? Not just how she looks? That’s kind of been his entire growth arc…?
That’s not fun, though.
She looks so much like her sister I actually thought she was Joyce at first glance :3
Joss continues to be one of the cutest damn people in the cast, and that’s some strong company.
Incidentally, I wonder if Joss’ll meet up with Ethan. I don’t say that to suggest they’ll, like, bang or something, but I am curious to what extent the two talk nowadays, and if Joss is aware of Ethan’s struggle.
holy shit she looks exactly like joyce
she’s so back
JOYCE 2: JOYCE HARDER
JOYCE II: The ReJoyceing
+1!
Hell yeah Jocelyn! Just fucking go for it. You want this more than you’re scared of it, and this is gonna be amazing.
Omg she’s so cute
She looks so good! Good for her!
Jocelyn, Every single girl in your position has been there. I’m there everytime I cone out to someone and aren’t sure how they’ll react.
I had someone in my life fully transition and I didnt notice.
Their name was already gender neutral.
Some transitions arent that awkward ( to outsiders )
I half expect Joyce to react with stunned silence, then say “Well, that explains a few things.”
Hopefully John doesn’t find some reason to show up. Like he’s found out as well and will show up to “save” Joyce from contamination.
On the other hand this would be a perfect time to introduce Jordan so we can find out what sort of strange creature he is. Like an Episcopalian.
Given that her mom said something about ‘evil transgenders’ maybe she somehow found out or suspects it or so, if she didn’t meet jocelyne still dressed/presenting masculine but ‘procrastinating getting a haircut for a while’ and raising an eyebrow, even if there are a lot of cis men that can pull off fabulous/gender non conforming hairstyles too
Jocelyne!!! She looks a lot like her sister here.
Also I want to hug her. I hope Joyce reacts okay.
She’s gonna say hi. Be silent and stare, and then like “…Oh. I think i need to apologize to carla” or so lol.
lmao “I already know what he’s about to tell me”
Joyce is using aloofness as a guard against trauma, and here she is, about to get an entirely different kind.
There was an Uber ad blocking the whole page until I refreshed
“Uber” translates as “over”, so that checks out.
I learned something today.
Is that the one that keeps popping up in the bottom right?
the Brown girls are very brave.
this one realizes, “hey, here’s a way I could still avoid all of this…”
and immediately pushes it aside, to take that option (and temptation) off the table.
I’m so so proud of her.
she’s so pretty! OMG I’m not ready for this go to terribly and Joyce to wel… Joyce. ~<3
After one possible accidental involuntary freak out, ( stunned silence) or initial disbelief, then self blame for it;
i think it will go very well.
or Joyce doesnt put 2 and 2 togther but teases Joycelyn for looking like a girl.
But Jocelyn seems to have a lot more self awareness, grace and sense of humor than Joyce. I think she has the breathing space to accept joyce first reactions to anything isnt her heart.
that’s what’s so great about Jocelyn, I’m frankly envious of her right now. ~<3
YOU CAN DO THIS JOCELYNE WE LOVE YOU AND BELIEVE IN YOU
I always found the skin thing to be a massive over exaggeration personally
Me when I’m telling people about the Hellraiser movies.
In my experience, it’s held up. My skin has been great since I started transitioning (with the exception of psoriasis, but that’s basically incurable so doesn’t count)
Maybe Not.
( Car-T is in the news for autoimmunity . Fingers crossed.)
Other than hrt/literal medicine, wouldn’t be surprised if it was a state of mind like how ppl are like “you’re glowing” when someone’s pregnant or “smile reaching their eyes” or so
Getting on estrogen has made my skin so much clearer and softer. There’s a fair amount of older trans women who also report that it even can make one look younger.
well, women do generally look better than men. I wonder if asian trans women get even ‘more’ of a baby face but i guess it works out well if some are already androgynous rather than ‘youthful asian genes’ (i still have a bit of a round face but i def feel aged lol)
1-Ten years. We’ve wait so much for this moment 😭
2-Omg, the divorce was good for Jocelyne. Finally she’s able to get out the closet.
It helps that her mom is dead.
Are you reading ahead?
Carol would absolutely have a heart attack over this. Divorce, best daughter going Atheist, other daughter going trans.
Another one pretending it is a missionary, and the other that nobody knows.
or better yet, she goes into the Sunken Place for reals, and forced to live in a cheap retirement home with a crooked nurse, then immortalized in a grease trap
Go Jocelyne! No coat, yust be yourself. I wonder if she’ll casually meet Ethan before Joyce and Joe.
i’ve wondered at the Narrative choice for Jocelyne to pick a name so close t to Joyces . ( Joyce is often short for joycelyn )
is this on purpose? ( Is Joyce , Jocelyns role model ? get out those sweater vests )
I wonder if Joyce will feel her identity is encroached on. ( esp as as they look almost like twins, pretransition ) .
( Joyce already has priorly stated her identity, incorrectly, as the only brown daughter. )
I think Joyce will figure out Ethan knew before she did and didnt say anything ( which is correct of him )
I think Joyce will Love having a sister. ( finally )
But it will Bring down the Brown Brothers average.
Well, don’t all the siblings have “J” names? Although giving growing up with their parents i’d probably purposefully not choosing a name starting with J if not like ironically choosing a ‘Christian’/Biblical female name for the bit/irony , like if she called herself Eve
lots of J girl names. she could even triple it up Josephine Jasmin Johanna, .
theres even a Joshilyn.
Joan?
IIRC, in canon Jocelyne picked Joyce’s name, and therefore Jocelyne gave Joyce her own first choice of name (as evidenced by her signing her childhood drawings as Joyce). That’s why their names are so similar, even beyond the J name theming the siblings’ve got.
Which is the in universe reason obv, but the narrative purpose is prolly just to give Jocelyne some characterization around her feelings abt her baby sister. Whether you’re reading that as wish fulfillment or projection or sisterly protectiveness or all of the above is your own interpretation. S’pose it depends a bit on how she interacts with Joyce in the upcoming strips.
Im not predicting she will act any different. although maybe teasing her less.
Probably the only thing holding her back was Joyce is a little rigid in categories. ( which used to include Gender until a few months ago.)
This is still going to upend some long held categories in Joyces brain no matter how accepting she is. It will help that she has been modeling correct behaviour to herself.
She might even overcompensate and freak Joceylyn out a little.
I wouldnt be surprised if she Clocks Mary straight in the head, at her next transphobic remark. its in character.
It’s been a while for me too, but I’m not certain that’s how it happened. I recall the flashback comic in which Joyce’s name is chosen being one in which Carol asked Joss about a name for a girl, and Joss replies that she thinks Jocelyne is pretty (though she’s very little and pronounces it “Josswin”). Carol mulls it over and replies that she might like the name Joyce for the unborn baby, and little Joss panics and says something that implies she hadn’t realized they’d been floating names for the new baby and had not meant to suggest naming her sister Jocelyne (“Not for my sister!” or something like that).
All this is to say, I don’t think Joyce was Jocelyne’s first choice of name, I think it was one that Carol chose after hearing Jocelyne’s admission that she likes the name Jocelyne (for herself). My interpretation of the drawings was that either Joyce and Joe were reading Joss’s childhood handwriting incorrectly and assuming it said Joyce Lynn instead of Jocelyne, or that little Jocelyne didn’t yet know how she’d spell her own name, considering how little she was when she chose it.
…”Joycelyn” is a compound like “Markwayne”. “Joyce” became a first name when someone decided to repurpose James Joyce’s last name as a first name. (Like “Wayne”.)
At least according to Wikipedia, this is not accurate. Joyce began to be used as a female given name in the late Middle Ages, deriving from Middle English ‘joisse,’ meaning rejoice. Joycelyn, on the other hand, derives from the early Germanic name Gauzlin, probably via the French place name Josselin.
I mean, for practicality, ‘Jocelyne’ is fairly close to her deadname. Same first sounds. I don’t think it has much to do with her feeling like Joyce, so much as her still feeling like *herself*. And likely still feeling like a Brown, with the J names, even as she knows she wouldn’t be accepted by most of them, and she fears, all of them.
I just am afraid, right now, for the sudden shock value to Joyce, and that she might accidentally say something hurtful without intending. Like, assuming that she’s playing a joke on her or something.. I know other people’s neurodivergencies are not my own, but I would struggle with that initial world-reorienting of someone close to you, to see that their identity and your mental image of them doesnt match. Surprise is -never- the way to deliver extremely important, potentially emotional info to me.
Joe, dont forget to act surprised.
One unexpected reaction will be that Joe finds JL hot. ( How could be not? he has a type ) . This is going to be like Danny noticing Walky is hot since sister adjacent.
i’m a bit confused as to why joyce thinks her family member wouldn’t KNOW about the divorce.
Knowing about isn’t the same as talking about it.
But i was told it was half the battle.
Talking about it is a good chunk of the othe half.
i wouldn’t be surprised if her other siblings were busy/old school to prefer ‘talking face to face’ if not on the phone versus “mom and dad divorced” in a family group chat and everyone reacting with emojis lol
She thinks Jocelyne thinks she doesn’t know about the divorce – which she wouldn’t if Carol hadn’t shown up unexpectedly to dump boxes of stuff on her.
I agree. I’m also not sure why she didn’t just text back that she knew about the divorce and Joycelyn didn’t need to come down for that. (Glad she didn’t, though.)
Ahhhhh!
I’m so excited! We’ve been waiting YEARS for Joyce to discover she has a sister.
Stereotypically ‘feminine’ but i kinda want them to go clothes shopping together. ;3
Billy can pay
who is Billy?
The one who can pay, silly.
You usually are when you are just out. Us older types call it “The Phase” I bought a lot of pink stuff for about six month and one day woke up and went “I really don’t like pink” Its a Because you can thing.
Matt Nishi the trans man comic did a strip on it MtF “Much Too Feminine” for FtM He had “Failed To Mature” reflecting on those “just OUt” reflexes.
I was surprised to find I actually look good in antique pink and dusty rose. Now I have a lot of purples and burgundy and olive
Don’t you mean months?
Today my mum and I were helping a little old lady whose car broke down and her name was Jocelyne! I was so excited by the coincidink I told her about the comic!
This is like the last major outstanding plotline isnt it?
( Plottwist: Dorothy dumps Walky for Jocelyne )
Ok we have a Dorothy twist coming up
Oh my God, now there’s two of them
Damn Joyce might just right past her thinking she is looking in a mirror
“Hey Joe are you vampire, I can’t see your reflection?”
Walk right past her… That’s what I get for writing right after waking up
“Because that would kind of really, really hot.”
Alright y’all, brace for impact.
Jocelyn looks great and just like her sister!
I just woke up. It took me a second to realize it wasn’t Joyce.
Jocelyne drew a lot of Joyce in youth. And now, she looks much like her sister. Wow
Not sure if you’re kidding, but I don’t think those were intended to be drawings of Joyce.
Jocelyne cute.
Now let’s see if Joyce can avoid jamming her foot down her mouth.
The challenge level is… pretty high
Now let’s ask the imposible here.
I mean, she absolutely won’t, but Jocelyne knows her and knows what she’s like, so it’ll probably be okay?
Joyce looks so much like her big sister 🙂
She really does. Their hair as it hits their shoulders is just about identical.
There’s something…different about Joss from prior appearances.
Her hair looks more strawberry blond than how she was drawn before. Anyone else seeing it?
She’s definitely pinker than usual.Jist slightly.
Her hair is the same base color as it always was (a bit more platinum than Joyce’s hair in color), but since she had most of her appearances I’ve started using a redder color for indoor shadows.
Honestly, there’s a not an insignificant possibility Joyce adjusts pretty quick. She’s already had her shenannigans with Carla (someone way more likely to not give a shit what Joyce thinks), and one thing that is sure to make Joyce actually get on board with realigning her preconceptions is having to connect with the people she loves unconditionally. A disappointment when it’s mom, but might be good when it’s her sister.
The real kicker will be when she puts two and two together and realises that Ethan knew for ages before she did.
Boyfriends are supposed to share everything!
the little problem I just thought off is that it’s fairly possible that Joyce will immediately heavily and unsubtetly try to pair her with Carla
Gee, whiz, how did Joyce get downstairs so fast? 🙂
The teleportation lizard on her head is camouflaged so you have to squint to see it.
Dang, that Fuckface really gets around!
Man…. DYW was building this reveal up so hard I was genuinely beginning to expect it to be something else entirely.
Not me. I knew it all the time.
No, don’t go back and read my previous comments to the contrary.
J brought her own fourth wall to talk thru.
What? Don’t you talk to the fourth wall when no-one’s around?
I mean, I always assume it’s time viewers from the far future, but the principle is the same.
LET’S GOOOOOOOOO
I see the family resemblance. Not really sure how much this is a joke, because their faces are uncanny. Joss looks like how I’d imagine an older Joyce who got taller.
YOU’RE GONNA DO GREAT JOCEY WE LOVE YOU
love the accurate year one of transition outfit
YEA YSS YES
No chickening out.
I guess you already told your dad, you’re going through it now.
Good luck.
Or Hank found out and she knows she’s going to be out no matter what.
Yeah. Hank is GETTING THERE, but last we saw him, he was not there yet.
This will be a big stretch for Hank, but we don’t know how he reacted yet.
For Jocelyne’s sake I hope it went well, but at the same time, I’d like to see Joyce help convince him.
Hank has taken progressively less and less time to come around on things, so I think it will ultimately work out for Jocelyne… though I also think startlement led to a bad initial take. Hence Jocelyne trying to get to Joyce first.
I think it’s telling, though, that Joyce has only been ducking ‘Josh’ texts/calls rather than both Jocelyne AND Hank. Hank is either still wrestling or has already worked out that he should not be outing his elder daughter, not even to his younger one.
Good luck Jocelyn, you got this!!
She’s a braver soul than I am, I still haven’t come out to any of my family members who didn’t bring it up first (my dad already suspected based on my appearance, and my mom was reviewing insurance statements and saw estrogen – pharmacy had used my parents instead of my own, a mistake I quickly corrected them of). And I’ve been on hormones for over 5 years now. Although it’s not fear that stays my hand anymore, it was at first. Now I’m just apathetic (perhaps a bit depressed) about all of it.
Keeping yourself safe IS brave, though. Surviving (esp. right now) is brave as hell. I’ve decided I’m not coming out to my mom as long as she lives. And even with the people I *did* come out to, it’s taken me a long time for most of them. No matter your reasons, there’s nothing cowardly about not coming out to someone.
In full honesty I just woke up so I was like…. whys Joyce worried about her coat?? Also where is Joe wasn’t she with him. Then I realized that was her new sister.
Holy heck I can’t wait
You can do it Jocelyn!!!
Joyce’s declaration of solidarity, that she made towards Carla, is going to be tested, and rightly so. It’s so easy to make that statement, when there is a disconnect; but now, now she’ll have to actually do so, with her own sister.
She seems to learn by verbal vomit first (can relate), so hopefully it means she got the bad phrasing for this out of her system already.
She looks beautiful. I just want to give her a supportive hug. 😊
I have been waiting for this story for yeeeaars
Oh man I’m totally Charlie am the resident ace airhead
I’m really happy to see her but am also a little heartbroken at how scared she looks. I’m sure things between her and Joyce will turn out okay in the end, but in the meantime… 🙁
wait, that’s just Joyce who bleached her hair a bit tho
A bit? Joyce’s hair is black. Jocelyne here is a blonde. The difference is like night and day.
Calling it now – Joyce is going to miss Jocelyn at first, and then upon recognition her first reaction will be “Oh! You’re in disguise!” maybe with an addition of “Do you need to pretend like you live here too, because of divorce things?” and generally miss what the ‘big reveal’ is supposed to be while every one else gets more awkward.
And maybe Joe gets a moment of moral/sexual crisis seeing someone that looks like Joyce, and whatever sexy thoughts THAT causes until he realizes the fuller story.
As a transfem I definitely get that sorta fear of wanting a “just incase I chicken out” but also understanding that you can’t allow yourself that out if you want to move forward
A funny thing has passed throught my dead: Finally the main character has come.
if she hasn’t already Jocelyn should watch “I Saw the TV Glow” because goddamn, that’s the most trans allegory movie I’ve seen in a long time. It’s like the Matrix but the creator has already come out, so it’s a lot more overt
Reading these I remember this tumblr post and I’m hoping it comes to fruition
https://www.tumblr.com/prince-atom/730254724255891456/when-becky-said-she-and-dina-were-getting-married
I kinda lowkey love that this storyline started right as a horrible anti-trans dictator got into power.
Agreed mate. Also The US’s new president can fuck all the way off.
The best part is that it was organic.
Like cancer!
I meant the best part about this storyline’s drop.
Not the election.
with any hope given the walking orange cream sickle’s old age, we can expect him to die of SOMETHING hopefully soon
or better yet his dementia gonna get progressively worse and make him even more useless than Biden
President Vance would be worse though.
Sadly, my hope is that we get four years of Christofascists vs. egomaniacal con artist, continually duking it out over the 25th Amendment. Gridlock is literally the best case scenario now.
Gridlock is literally what i mean by this, Trump can’t be replaced by Vance if he doesn’t die.
His dementia will get progressively worse, until all that remains of himself will be but a small, barely conscious sliver, but a passenger in his own body
he won’t die, no matter how BADLY he wants to 👿
Nope. He’s there to tell her that either he’s gay, transgender or getting married, or maybe all three.
So, she’s transgender.
That’s what you meant to say.
Right?
“I’m afraid we gonna have to kick this person out, Bryan”
“Damn” 🙁
Lesbian wedding arc incoming
*she. this was established SO long ago and it’s everywhere in the comments, fam
Yup, she’s definitely Joyce’s sister.
The coat is my trans sister’s staple tbh (yes, even in the summer; yes, I do worry about heat stroke). also: she looks so cute! please, please let this go all right for her
It’s also SO cute how similar the Brown sisters look. I feel like that sort of family resemblance with a cis sibling of your gender can be super validating. (Like I do Not like my brother, but the fact that I could pass off his kid pictures as younger me is so funny)
OMg I hope this goes well. They love each other and are fundamentally good people who care about each other… it will be ok.
I expect like so many other times Joyce may stumble and say the wrong thing at first but ultimately land on the right answer
Everyone’s expecting joyce to ‘stumble and be awkward’ but endearing/wholesome but it would also be funny if she spedrun to it like “oh that’s great now i can have a girls talk with you about how i touched my boyfriends dingdong” XD
Wow she looks so similar to Joyce!! Good luck, Jocelyne!
Looking back, it’s so obvious (including, yes, the tag), so I feel kind of dumb and oblivious not seeing it coming.
it is throwing me off how similar they look, especially with the glasses now lol. she looks just like a grown-up joyce !!!
OMG she looks so much like joyce!! she’s so so cute!