You will note that when Faz overlays this second chart, showing Faz’s incredible intellectual growth over time, the combined charts form an artistically accurate rendering of Faz’s genitals. You are welcome.
Amazing how Garbage Roof is serving as the breakthrough Amber needed to realize Amazi-Girl is a fictional character and not an actual person. Revealing herself as one in the same to Walky is amazing progress in a short time.
I’m not at all sure that’s what’s happening here. Besides, as BBCC says, fictional not really being the case, I’m not sure what breakthrough you think you’re seeing.
I’unno, your current butt is pretty butty. I’d definitely say it’s buttier than your last butt – which would make it the buttiest of the two, at least.
She doesn’t want to care – she’s got enough issues rattling around inside her head already – but if he’s blood, she’d feel obligated to do something. She can safely not think about a step-brother.
Amber and Faz are confirmed blood siblings over in the Walkyverse. Willis has gone on record as the only things changing between universes are ages and lack of alien shenanigans. Therefore, Amber and Faz are blood siblings here, too. And it was strongly implied over in Shortpacked! that Faz’s mother was rather younger than Blaine, this confirms it.
There was a bit of angst from Amber when she learned of her relation to Faz, because Faz grew up without a father figure and was on record as wondering what his father was like, while Amber knew his father was, well, Blaine, and she didn’t think Faz (annoying as she found him) deserved that kind of father.
“He changed his mind” is a valid reason for the relationship being other than what is stated in comic. “Because Walkyverse” does not hold as much in the way of a counter argument.
Whelp, looks like my info’s out of date, then. I don’t follow the tumblr, so I didn’t know about this post. Last post I saw stated that the only changes were the ones I mentioned previously. Looks like my ability to remember minute and obscure details about stories I’ve read will no longer aid me in figuring out what’s going to happen here. Darn.
(Okay that quote’s just wrong out of context. For the record he was overruling Frank Burns so Hawkeye could let a priestess perform an exorcism on the OR so he could operate on an elderly man who got hit by a truck.)
The Word of Willis is clearly the more important information here, but reading this I did notice that Faz doesn’t have black hair (Like Dina, Joe, and Billie), but rather dark brown hair. Check out the color where it catches the light – brown, rather than grey as with the previously mentioned characters. Hard to tell from the shots we’ve seen whether his mother shares that particular trait.
I think she means just relating to him more and treating him more like a friend than a nuisance.
Maybe actually caring about his wellbeing even when he’s not physically in front of him and she feels responsible for him.
He’s already pretty much there with Toedad Ross as it is. I guess Ryan’s still top tier twit, if only by virtue of the fact several others came forward, even beyond Joyce, who I am not sure if she came forward or not, it’s been a bit so I don’t remember.
Age of consent is 16 in Indiana, so having sex with a teenager isn’t necessarily statutory rape. Considering the age difference, it’s still pretty skeevy, but not technically illegal.
I’d say the odds are up there that he’s cheating on Yuri, too, but that – even if she knows – she feels the need to stay with him “for her son’s sake” or something.
Lets modify that as “not cheating if she was aware of it and ok with it.” And Geno, I get where you are coming from, but I believe we can make a distinction between “not cheating” and “not horrible.” You can still do a lot of bad things in a relationship that isn’t cheating. Like taking advantage of a naive young woman by not fully talking about situations in open and honest discussions to prevent her from being hurt in the long run because you care about your own gratification and not about the people you are in relationships with. It’s not cheating if she (without being coerced) told him it was ok. Open relationships can work, but Blaine hasn’t shown enough care about other people to be able to do it successfully, so if she agreed to it, Yuri would probably later regret that choice and want to take it back. Though she may not feel secure enough to have that conversation or may be deluding herself into the believe that when he divorced his ex-wife, it stopped happening.
Given that she was likely a teenager when it started, that he’s a known emotional abuser and that he has mob connections, she’s likely very dependent on him and doesn’t have a lot of say in the matter.
As you suggest though, I’d guess Blaine wouldn’t exactly be open and honest about pretty much anything.
Plus Yuri’s not the only one who needed to agree for it to be an open relationship, so its a moot point because Stacey very emphatically did not know he was seeing other people.
Apparently I should have been more clear:
It only counts as cheating ON YURI, if they were in a relationship where Yuri wasn’t aware of the other party or believed the other party was no longer actively in a relationship with her partner. Otherwise, Yuri made an informed decision (even if she was not experienced enough to make such well) to enter the relationship knowing what it entailed.
As noted by Terry above, that doesn’t make the situation any less awful, it just means that “cheating” isn’t a valid word to apply to it. There are many other negative words that do apply but “cheating” simply isn’t one of them [as it relates to Yuri- it obviously applies in relation to Stacy].
Again, as noted above, using cheating to apply to any such context would require it to apply to any open relationship or similar relationship. That’s just not valid. Rather than being “victim blaming”, it’s avoiding inappropriate negativity to unrelated circumstances by misapplication of terminology.
I’m honestly not sure how victim blaming could even remotely apply to the situation, even if one did inexplicably think the point of topic was Yuri herself. I’ll just assume that was another misappropriation of language, as well? 😛
Again, the whole situation highlights what a sleeze Blaine is. But much like nitpicking that Yuri may have been above the age of consent (which is 16 in Indiana), pointing out the nuances of the circumstances is important in painting a clear picture [eg, that Blaine wouldn’t go to jail for his actions] while still not negating the negative elements [eg, that Blaine took advantage of a minor].
16 or 17 years, neglecting the pregnancy period there, plus it isn’t likely she got preggers from the first time. However, the cheating on Amber’s mom while Amber was still in diapers is confirmed regardless of Faz’s actual parentage, because Blain. Is. A. Maggot.
Little Sal: “I WILL BE GALACTIC EMPEROR.”
Little Dorothy: “I wanna be galactic empr..raror too!”
Little Sal: “You can’t.”
Little Dorothy: “Why not!”
Little Sal: “You just don’t have what it takes.”
Little Dorothy: “I’ll show YOU!”
Later, discovering that the closest option to Galactic Emperor was President, Dorothy was firmly set upon her path.
Yes. After numerous people claimed half brother because of Short Packed and numerous other people (myself included) repeatedly said stepbrother because Willis had stated so, when it finally looks like the majority of the discussion had calmed down, he opens up the discussion again.
This might become the Superman vs Goku argument of this series.
I assumed you were referencing it since you asked why I said that name and could think of no reason for you to ask me that. That you had simply misread Goku as Batman or simply ignored the Goku part altogether.
Willis has stated categorically that Amber is Blaine’s only biological son, in the DoA universe. However, Amber doesn’t have access to Willis’ Twitter feed. It’s FAR easier for her to believe that her malignant tumor of a father would cheat on her mother with an underage girl.
Amber, honey, you *ARE* Amazi-Girl. You have every single good quality. The only difference is that you’ve somehow excized every single bad quality and stuck it on yourself. That makes her a perfect imaginary person. *No one* can compete with that.
If by that you mean “she needs to realize there’s no reason to hold Amber back, because Amazi-Girl’s confidence is her own”, then you’re absolutely right.
I have no idea how DID works, so apologies if this is ignorant / stupid. But, I’ve coped with anxiety disorders before by pretending to be a fictional character from a book who is brave and confident. I even mimicked her speech style.
I didn’t lie and say her background was mine, and I didn’t say she was a spirit guide or part of my soul (a la fictionkin or otherkin), I just started thinking, “What would this character say? How would she stand? What would she do?”
And eventually I did just sort of integrate those traits into part of my personality. I also researched and learned skills the character knew, things like paramedics training and mentalist magic. I’m not a pro-level mentalist like Derren Brown, but I wanted to learn since the character I loved was a witch and it seemed like the closest thing to witchcraft irl.
It’s weird, because there’s no reason I couldn’t have taken paramedics training or bystander training or practiced mentalism and public speaking while staying “myself,” other than the fact that for some reason I felt certain I was an awkward, incompetent idiot. But, pretending to be the fictional character and acting like her really, really helped.
I don’t know if this is similar to DID; it seems like DID starts as an imaginary persona coping mechanism that is just more extreme or vivid. But if the character is in my own head, it seems like it’s just as much me as I am.
It might start something like that, but it’s moved well beyond that now. Amazi-Girl is going out and doing things at night while Amber “sleeps”, leaving Amber with no memory of it.
So, I know that there’s a word-of-Willis tweet floating around that people love to bring up when new people ask if Faz and Amber are related, and Willis says that Amber is an only child.
Is there any chance that Willis might have been misdirecting people, and they actually are related?
According to dispensationalist theory, even God changes his mind once in a while. The Willis tumblr post does indeed say that Blaine having “a bevy of siblings” is “just a Shortpacked!” thing, and that “Amber is his only biological child.”
But that was six years ago. If he has since decided that it makes the story better if Amber and Faz are indeed siblings, he can make that decision without having to retcon anything.
But so far it’s just “Amber thinks” they might be related. Not confirmation, not denial.
I wonder if any of the other backstory hinted at in that early appearance has changed as well. Much of this arc would flow better if Faz and Amber had had more contact than implied there.
Did he say he changed his mind and they are bio siblings, or he changed his mind and it’s no longer for sure that they’re Not? Or no longer for sure that Amber is his only bio kid?
I don’t think he specified – He forgot / changed his mind about Blaine not being cannonically Faz’s father. I think that right now all we know is what Amber does – she was told Faz was her step brother, but she doesn’t really consider Blaine a reliable source of info, and is painfully aware that he is shitty enough that he might have gotten a teenager pregnant – she knows Faz could be her half brother, maybe even suspects it, but doesn’t know for sure.
And I think that is where we are at – I suspect that our knowledge of this situation will continue to match Amber’s, and if she finds out more then we will too.
If Faz is really Amber’s half-brother, then it could also be possible that Blaine cheated on Yuri as well, and in that case Amber might have several half-siblings that she doesn’t know about.
It’s never outright confirmed or denied, but the same basis for assumption that Amber has that they’re related is even stronger between Faz and Wen. And that’s kind of the joke that Willis is aiming at when she tells Faz that they can’t date because they’re related – that Faz has found someone else who seems even more related to him than Amber did.
The strip above already confirmed that he’s a cheater in this universe as well. Putting aside the convolutions of The Word of Willis, given Blaine’s consistent disregard for others, half-siblings aren’t unlikely.
….. does it really fall to me to point out that fecal matter is generally innocent of wrongdoing, useful in agriculture, and does not deserve this comparison?
Humans are very narcissistic that way, often assuming the worst thing you could be is anything that isn’t what they are, and rarely checking if they even measure up to said things.
If Yuri’s actually been with Blaine since she was a teen, even if most of that time he was only cheating with her, she knows about his misdeeds. Whether she’s a piece of work herself or just trapped in an abusive relationship, we don’t know.
Theoretically, she could go to CPS, but I don’t think that Blaine’s abuse is the kind they’re likely to be able to confirm – emotional, not physical or blatant neglect.
Since Blaine is apparently linked to the Korean mob, obviously the real solution is for Amazi-Girl to take on the mob, get evidence of Blaine’s crimes and leave it on the police doorstep, resulting in him being locked up and Faz safe. But I don’t think this is that kind of comic.
…but is it the kind of comic where Blaine just, is his usual self to the wrong mob guy, and gets a nice pair of cement shoes? (Or something less cliche and more believable, but still dead.)
That’s ignoring the man Faz calls Father. Presumably this was the person Yuri was married to when Faz was born, so either Yuri was cheating on Faz’s Father, or Father married Yuri when Blaine got her pregnant to cover her indiscretion. And I know for a fact that Korean women appear to Occidentals to be mid to late teens until their late 30’s. I used to card the poor women for cigarettes all the time when I ran a convenience store in a mixed neighborhood.
It’s not clear there is any such person. Faz uses Father once, as far as I know. Amber corrects him to say she’s talking about Blaine, not his dad, but Faz doesn’t say anything else about it. There’s no real indication Yuri was ever married before Blaine or that Faz grew up with someone else as a father.
As for Yuri’s age, that might explain Sarah’s comment. Amber may know better. And would have had time to find out.
Blaming herself for everything bad around her seems to be Amber’s thing at the moment. She needs to believe that she’s a failure and possibly even actively malign. That’s why I’m glad that Walky’s up there because otherwise she’s a suicide risk.
It’s been her thing for a long time. She blamed herself for not being able to protect Ethan during the robbery, remember?
I don’t think she’s actually a suicide risk right now (certainly no more so than usual). Though I’m still glad Walky is up there. It’s good she can talk to someone about these feelings
Yeah, she’s never really seemed like a suicide risk. Other than risking her life as a superhero, of course.
I think she’d be more likely to do something stupidly drastic like try to hunt down Blaine to protect Faz.
Possibly have known what? That her abuser was abusing the other kid under his control? Of course she knew. Or assumed.
Telling herself he wasn’t her real brother was just a way of distancing herself from it, so it didn’t seem so personal.
The real problem is there’s nothing she can do about it.
Can someone break out the thumbtacks and colored strings and explain to me the arrangement of parents in the half-brother vs step-brother scenario? I thought they shared a sperm donor (the term “dad” is too good for him).
Step brother would mean that Blaine was not Faz’s biological father. Rather, Blaine married his mother, which would make him his step father, and in turn make Amber his step sister.
Step siblings is just one kids parent married one of the other kids parents. In some cases the kids may essentially grow up together as part of the same family unit. In others (like Amber’s, most likely) the kids grow up in separate family units but might spend some weekends together – Any night Amber stayed with Blaine after he got together with Faz’s mom she would likely have been spending in the same house as Faz.
In some cases one or both of the “children” are adults and living independently when their parents remarry – this is still a step sibling relationship in American culture (and I think Australia and UK as well, no idea about anywhere else)
So step siblings might have grown up together, might barely know each other, or anything in between. But in all cases kid A has a parent that married one of kid B’s parents. [ Though I suspect step sibling may also be used to describe situations where the two parents are in a long term partnership even if never married ]
Heh,since I know that there are English-as-an-additional-language speakers here, and because I am relatively certain not all cultures would think of step and half siblings in the same way (I would suspect in some cultures they would not be district categories from each other) I didn’t want to assume that you knew.
Especially since I think that at times there have been commenters who were unaware of the difference. (Probably because of above reasons)
Half brother would instead mean that Amber and Faz had one biological parent in common – In this case, Blaine.
It is unknown to us (and Amber) if Blaine is Faz’s bio dad (or, as you called it, sperm donor). Amber has apparently been told by Blaine that he is not Faz’s bio dad, but Amber isn’t sure she believes that.
Half brother would instead mean that Amber and Faz had one biological parent in common – In this case, Blaine.
It is unknown to us (and Amber) if Blaine is Faz’s bio dad (or, as you called it, sperm donor). Amber has apparently been told by Blaine that he is not Faz’s bio dad, but Amber isn’t sure she believes that.
Though in this case, it would be somewhat reasonable. Decades long secret affairs that include raising a child with the mistress aren’t nearly as common as more casual cheating.
Blaine’s story here is actually the more plausible one.
Yeah, but she doesn’t know when it started. The likely assumption would be that it wasn’t that old – started soon before the divorce if this was the cheating she already knew about or even after if she knew about a different affair. That it was an affair going on her entire life is something else entirely.
And that’s what’s rare. Much more common for cheaters to have multiple relatively short affairs than to have an entirely second life.
I hope she Amber gets an uplift soon. I been kinda slowly hating her starting when she dumped Danny. The whole Dorothy thing I was fine with, but she’s dragging me out with too many negative vibes
Dude her whole story arc is gonna be dealing with her mental health issues. Don’t expect things to get happy rays of sunshine any time soon. Little moments of good is all she is willing to let herself have at the moment.
Not that your feelings are any of my business but it seems to me like having sympathy and worry for your brothers is completely right but feeling blame on yourself for them still being in that situation seems not fair to me. You had to go above and beyond what should be reasonably expected of a human just to get yourself out. I totally understand why you would feel guilt but I hope you can reconcile with yourself too. Too much burden was placed on you in the beginning.
The Greek words for bad (kakos) and worst (kakistos) are derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kak-, meaning “excrement,” so in classical Greek you really do literally refer to people as being “the shittiest.”
So Faz is really biologically related to Amber. Blaine is pure shit! Also, Amber, you aren’t shit. Being inactive during times of cruelty doesn’t make you evil, but contributing to evil does. Blaine is completely responsible for ruining yours and Faz’s lives.
“Not impossible” does not equal “is absolutely definitely”. I mean, he probably is, but Amber has no information here that the people who’ve been speculating on this forum since Faz’s first appearance don’t have.
Poor Amber. She really isn’t much more than a kid at this point. She’s feeling responsible for not making up for her dad’s being a shit parent… That’s not a fair burden for anyone, much less a kid.
I’m hoping we’ll get back to Robin soon. While I suspect making her the Trump EXPY has made her much much more toxic than Willis expected, I think of her as one of the best characters of this universe because it makes her very relevant.
Robin’s still on the corner outside her campaign office, waiting for her lesbian to come find her.
I’m waiting to see Amazi-Girl again. We haven’t actually seen her since before the stabbing and it’ll be interesting to get her take now that they’re not sharing memories.
Does him being biologically related to you make it worse that he and Yuri are with an abusive fuckwad? I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m being too harsh on Amber, as I’m not sure what she’d even be able to do in this situation, but it’s odd to me that she’s just now really thinking about it.
I think she used to as an excuse to keep Faz at arm’s length, even outside of the usual reasons. We’ve seen her show compassion for people who aren’t related to her, so it’s not that.
Amber doesn’t like to let family in too close. Like, she’s guarded even around her mom, even though she’s defensive of her.
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as long as you didn’t dump him I guess
wait
Faz is a good boy
Faz is the goodest boy. Faz has the chart to prove this, as well as a chart showing a correlation between goodness and genital size.
You will note that when Faz overlays this second chart, showing Faz’s incredible intellectual growth over time, the combined charts form an artistically accurate rendering of Faz’s genitals. You are welcome.
The big mystery is, why do the lines wind up Texas-shaped?
Because nobody can beat Texas. It’s untouchable.
Good! I wouldn’t want to touch that.
That is also the main reason for the development of the Glaswegian martial art of Icky Thump.
Ecky Thump is the Lancastrian martial art of beating people with black puddings, as seen on ‘The Goodies’.
Boy, Amber and Ruth should really compare notes.
That was my thought, too. Their familiar situations are eerily similar, except maybe that Faz is treated somewhat better, from what we can tell.
He was treated so well he ran away to Indiana University to spend time with someone who treats him like actual garbage.
“I don’t wanna think of myself as shit”
progress for amber
Well, for this. Time’ll tell if she allows for herself feeling like shit for other reasons, historically a problem for her, of course.
Amazing how Garbage Roof is serving as the breakthrough Amber needed to realize Amazi-Girl is a fictional character and not an actual person. Revealing herself as one in the same to Walky is amazing progress in a short time.
DID alters and fictional characters are not quite the same thing.
Umm… Amber is also a fictional character…
Yes, but let her deal with one dramatic psychological reveal at a time, okay?
To paraphrase Slappy Squirrel, “Don’t tell her. She might snap.”
I’m not at all sure that’s what’s happening here. Besides, as BBCC says, fictional not really being the case, I’m not sure what breakthrough you think you’re seeing.
Amber. Honey. Auuuugh this hurts.
Ah geez, that was what I was kind of concerned about
the shittiest shit from the buttiest butt
(woulda worked better with the old one)
I’unno, your current butt is pretty butty. I’d definitely say it’s buttier than your last butt – which would make it the buttiest of the two, at least.
Damn, right in my feels with that one Amber.
and, from this point on, the great Faz only appeared as a large blur.
Blaine the lower-than-goldfish-feces–thank the anime Slayers
This would explain some of her attitude earlier when Sarah brought up Yuri’s age.
Would you really feel better if he was a non-blood relative?
I think at this point, not really, no. She doesn’t like Faz still, but she obviously cares about him to an extent
Amber wants desperately to shove people away but people keep insisting on loving her.
She doesn’t want to care – she’s got enough issues rattling around inside her head already – but if he’s blood, she’d feel obligated to do something. She can safely not think about a step-brother.
Though she isn’t feeling it yet, seems like she’s making progress.
So if Blaine’s the shittiest shit and Amber’s worried she’s half him then she’s what? Half a shit? The half a shit that people don’t give?
Well, she’s a violent glasses wearing bully. It’s just her victims are rapists and child abusers–so….progress?
I feel so sorry for those poor, bullied douchebags. They must be so upset.
It’s not bullying, it’s JUSTICE!
It’s not bullying if you pee your pants after you do it.
It’s not bullying, it’s VIGILANCE!
CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
What’s violent about her glasses?
The red…highlights? On Amber’s (I almost called her Amanda because of the last strip jesus christ) hair work really well here.
So it’s confirmed Blain screwed jail bait… yeah he still seems to be tied for worse parent with Toe dad.
How is it confirmed?
Amber says that it is not impossible, therefore it’s true?
Amber and Faz are confirmed blood siblings over in the Walkyverse. Willis has gone on record as the only things changing between universes are ages and lack of alien shenanigans. Therefore, Amber and Faz are blood siblings here, too. And it was strongly implied over in Shortpacked! that Faz’s mother was rather younger than Blaine, this confirms it.
There was a bit of angst from Amber when she learned of her relation to Faz, because Faz grew up without a father figure and was on record as wondering what his father was like, while Amber knew his father was, well, Blaine, and she didn’t think Faz (annoying as she found him) deserved that kind of father.
Hi. Willis has also gone on record as saying Amber is Blaine’s only bio child in this universe. So.
Willis has said in Patreon-world that he forgot that post even existed and changed his mind.
OR MAYBE I HALLUCINATED IT.
Here’s the post, just to prove it existed:
http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/21013138638/so-is-ambers-dad-still-have-a-bevy-of-children
“He changed his mind” is a valid reason for the relationship being other than what is stated in comic. “Because Walkyverse” does not hold as much in the way of a counter argument.
Whelp, looks like my info’s out of date, then. I don’t follow the tumblr, so I didn’t know about this post. Last post I saw stated that the only changes were the ones I mentioned previously. Looks like my ability to remember minute and obscure details about stories I’ve read will no longer aid me in figuring out what’s going to happen here. Darn.
In fact, Willis has said they are siblings and he forgot the Tunblr post existed.
“Not saying ‘no’ is saying ‘yes’.”
-Col. Potter
(Okay that quote’s just wrong out of context. For the record he was overruling Frank Burns so Hawkeye could let a priestess perform an exorcism on the OR so he could operate on an elderly man who got hit by a truck.)
I remember that one, thought it was a jeep.
We’re both wrong, it was an ambulance.
The Word of Willis is clearly the more important information here, but reading this I did notice that Faz doesn’t have black hair (Like Dina, Joe, and Billie), but rather dark brown hair. Check out the color where it catches the light – brown, rather than grey as with the previously mentioned characters. Hard to tell from the shots we’ve seen whether his mother shares that particular trait.
In her character model on Tumblr she has the same bluish-gray highlights as other characters with black hair (like Billie and Dina).
Are Faz and Amber related by blood after all? There’s a strong possibility of a firm maybe.
“screwed jail bait”
Jailbait, definition: Someone viewed or interacted with in a sexual manner, but under the age of consent.
Indiana age of consent: 16
We still don’t know precisely what age Faz’s mother was when he was born, so that terminology may be imprecise by a nuance.
Pray, tell, how could you do any more for the kid? As you just said, he isn’t much younger than you.
I think she means just relating to him more and treating him more like a friend than a nuisance.
Maybe actually caring about his wellbeing even when he’s not physically in front of him and she feels responsible for him.
Amber could have stalked and murdered Blaine like she’s not that far from doing now.
AMAZI GIRL THE THIRTEENTH: THE NEW NIGHTMARE
I mean, if he did do this, it’s not really at the top of his list of sins.
I dunno, statuatory rape would prolly put him up there with Ryan in the hall of DoA villains.
He’s already pretty much there with Toedad Ross as it is. I guess Ryan’s still top tier twit, if only by virtue of the fact several others came forward, even beyond Joyce, who I am not sure if she came forward or not, it’s been a bit so I don’t remember.
Age of consent is 16 in Indiana, so having sex with a teenager isn’t necessarily statutory rape. Considering the age difference, it’s still pretty skeevy, but not technically illegal.
I mean, seriously. Fifteen or sixteen years later, he’s still with her. That’s commitment!
Okay, so it’s probably pretty horrible for her, but people who don’t know how awful Blaine is would look on that as a mitigating circumstance.
I’d say the odds are up there that he’s cheating on Yuri, too, but that – even if she knows – she feels the need to stay with him “for her son’s sake” or something.
Well, he had to be cheating on her because he was still sleeping with Amber’s mom presumably.
It only counts as cheating on her if she wasn’t aware the other relationship existed when they were together.
Hey So that sounds super victim blamey
Lets modify that as “not cheating if she was aware of it and ok with it.” And Geno, I get where you are coming from, but I believe we can make a distinction between “not cheating” and “not horrible.” You can still do a lot of bad things in a relationship that isn’t cheating. Like taking advantage of a naive young woman by not fully talking about situations in open and honest discussions to prevent her from being hurt in the long run because you care about your own gratification and not about the people you are in relationships with. It’s not cheating if she (without being coerced) told him it was ok. Open relationships can work, but Blaine hasn’t shown enough care about other people to be able to do it successfully, so if she agreed to it, Yuri would probably later regret that choice and want to take it back. Though she may not feel secure enough to have that conversation or may be deluding herself into the believe that when he divorced his ex-wife, it stopped happening.
Given that she was likely a teenager when it started, that he’s a known emotional abuser and that he has mob connections, she’s likely very dependent on him and doesn’t have a lot of say in the matter.
As you suggest though, I’d guess Blaine wouldn’t exactly be open and honest about pretty much anything.
Those “mob connections” apply to the Walkyverse. They have never even been indicated in the Dumbiverse!
you sure
Plus Yuri’s not the only one who needed to agree for it to be an open relationship, so its a moot point because Stacey very emphatically did not know he was seeing other people.
Apparently I should have been more clear:
It only counts as cheating ON YURI, if they were in a relationship where Yuri wasn’t aware of the other party or believed the other party was no longer actively in a relationship with her partner. Otherwise, Yuri made an informed decision (even if she was not experienced enough to make such well) to enter the relationship knowing what it entailed.
As noted by Terry above, that doesn’t make the situation any less awful, it just means that “cheating” isn’t a valid word to apply to it. There are many other negative words that do apply but “cheating” simply isn’t one of them [as it relates to Yuri- it obviously applies in relation to Stacy].
Again, as noted above, using cheating to apply to any such context would require it to apply to any open relationship or similar relationship. That’s just not valid. Rather than being “victim blaming”, it’s avoiding inappropriate negativity to unrelated circumstances by misapplication of terminology.
I’m honestly not sure how victim blaming could even remotely apply to the situation, even if one did inexplicably think the point of topic was Yuri herself. I’ll just assume that was another misappropriation of language, as well? 😛
Again, the whole situation highlights what a sleeze Blaine is. But much like nitpicking that Yuri may have been above the age of consent (which is 16 in Indiana), pointing out the nuances of the circumstances is important in painting a clear picture [eg, that Blaine wouldn’t go to jail for his actions] while still not negating the negative elements [eg, that Blaine took advantage of a minor].
16 or 17 years, neglecting the pregnancy period there, plus it isn’t likely she got preggers from the first time. However, the cheating on Amber’s mom while Amber was still in diapers is confirmed regardless of Faz’s actual parentage, because Blain. Is. A. Maggot.
Everyone Walky’s been hanging around today has a weird relationship with Sal.
Except Dorothy
There will be a flashback where Sal inspired Dorothy to become President in the sandbox.
Little Sal: “I WILL BE GALACTIC EMPEROR.”
Little Dorothy: “I wanna be galactic empr..raror too!”
Little Sal: “You can’t.”
Little Dorothy: “Why not!”
Little Sal: “You just don’t have what it takes.”
Little Dorothy: “I’ll show YOU!”
Later, discovering that the closest option to Galactic Emperor was President, Dorothy was firmly set upon her path.
Is anybody else now seeing Sal dressed as Zaphod?
Beeblebrox? Not enough heads.
Oh huh. A few days ago I was confused because I thought he was Amber’s half brother and had to be corrected. Interesting
Yes. After numerous people claimed half brother because of Short Packed and numerous other people (myself included) repeatedly said stepbrother because Willis had stated so, when it finally looks like the majority of the discussion had calmed down, he opens up the discussion again.
This might become the Superman vs Goku argument of this series.
Does this count as a DYW moment?
Why did you say that name
Blaine! We have to beat up Blaine!
Are you referencing something?
DAWN OF JUSTICE SPOILERS
Batman is kicking Superman’s ass, he says that he needs to save Martha, which is both Supes’ and Bats’ mothers names, and that solves everything.
Superman says Martha, that is.
“Spoilers”
Superman being in the movie is already enough to turn me off seeing it.
I assumed you were referencing it since you asked why I said that name and could think of no reason for you to ask me that. That you had simply misread Goku as Batman or simply ignored the Goku part altogether.
This is reminding me of a certain pink conspiracy theory ;p
The quartz is a lie!!!1!
Willis has stated categorically that Amber is Blaine’s only biological son, in the DoA universe. However, Amber doesn’t have access to Willis’ Twitter feed. It’s FAR easier for her to believe that her malignant tumor of a father would cheat on her mother with an underage girl.
Others have said today that Willis has claimed on Patreon he’d forgotten that post, so it seems he changed his plans.
I would love to see Amazi-Girl fight crime with Faz as a sidekick. I wonder what his superhero name would be…
Workplace Harassment Lawsuit Boy, maybe?
Chart Lad?
Seconding Chart Lad.
The Creeper?
Wait, no, that’s taken.
The Squinter?
That seems a bit… not very good, considering Faz’s ethnicity.
“You are incorrect. Amazi-girl would be the sidekick of Faz. My charts proves this!”
Wait, who is Amber measuring herself against? The only person in her life I can think of is Ethan.
Amazi-Girl
Amazi-Girl
I too thought of Ethan at first, then realized it was Amazi-Girl when I clued in on the inability to escape them part.
Amber, honey, you *ARE* Amazi-Girl. You have every single good quality. The only difference is that you’ve somehow excized every single bad quality and stuck it on yourself. That makes her a perfect imaginary person. *No one* can compete with that.
Sadly, Amber can’t realize that the Amber persona is just a figment of her imagination and she was Amazi-Girl all along.
Which is, yes, the opposite of how you should actually treat DID.
If by that you mean “she needs to realize there’s no reason to hold Amber back, because Amazi-Girl’s confidence is her own”, then you’re absolutely right.
I feel more like a Superman III junkyard fight where Amber throws her double into a trash compactor.
I have no idea how DID works, so apologies if this is ignorant / stupid. But, I’ve coped with anxiety disorders before by pretending to be a fictional character from a book who is brave and confident. I even mimicked her speech style.
I didn’t lie and say her background was mine, and I didn’t say she was a spirit guide or part of my soul (a la fictionkin or otherkin), I just started thinking, “What would this character say? How would she stand? What would she do?”
And eventually I did just sort of integrate those traits into part of my personality. I also researched and learned skills the character knew, things like paramedics training and mentalist magic. I’m not a pro-level mentalist like Derren Brown, but I wanted to learn since the character I loved was a witch and it seemed like the closest thing to witchcraft irl.
It’s weird, because there’s no reason I couldn’t have taken paramedics training or bystander training or practiced mentalism and public speaking while staying “myself,” other than the fact that for some reason I felt certain I was an awkward, incompetent idiot. But, pretending to be the fictional character and acting like her really, really helped.
I don’t know if this is similar to DID; it seems like DID starts as an imaginary persona coping mechanism that is just more extreme or vivid. But if the character is in my own head, it seems like it’s just as much me as I am.
It might start something like that, but it’s moved well beyond that now. Amazi-Girl is going out and doing things at night while Amber “sleeps”, leaving Amber with no memory of it.
Amber is very hard on herself.
So, I know that there’s a word-of-Willis tweet floating around that people love to bring up when new people ask if Faz and Amber are related, and Willis says that Amber is an only child.
Is there any chance that Willis might have been misdirecting people, and they actually are related?
Willis? Lie to us?
Maybe.
Willis is God of his multiverse…of course he torments his faithful.
According to dispensationalist theory, even God changes his mind once in a while. The Willis tumblr post does indeed say that Blaine having “a bevy of siblings” is “just a Shortpacked!” thing, and that “Amber is his only biological child.”
But that was six years ago. If he has since decided that it makes the story better if Amber and Faz are indeed siblings, he can make that decision without having to retcon anything.
But so far it’s just “Amber thinks” they might be related. Not confirmation, not denial.
I wonder if any of the other backstory hinted at in that early appearance has changed as well. Much of this arc would flow better if Faz and Amber had had more contact than implied there.
He said on Patreon he changed his mind.
Word of God exists in Willisverse, but it is not unmutable or unchanging!
Did he say he changed his mind and they are bio siblings, or he changed his mind and it’s no longer for sure that they’re Not? Or no longer for sure that Amber is his only bio kid?
I don’t think he specified – He forgot / changed his mind about Blaine not being cannonically Faz’s father. I think that right now all we know is what Amber does – she was told Faz was her step brother, but she doesn’t really consider Blaine a reliable source of info, and is painfully aware that he is shitty enough that he might have gotten a teenager pregnant – she knows Faz could be her half brother, maybe even suspects it, but doesn’t know for sure.
And I think that is where we are at – I suspect that our knowledge of this situation will continue to match Amber’s, and if she finds out more then we will too.
I wonder if Faz knows.
Or more accurately, since Amber’s talked about “your dad”, is there an actual candidate in the picture? Someone they know, rather than just a story.
Pretty much. He didn’t specify, just that he changed his mind.
If Faz is really Amber’s half-brother, then it could also be possible that Blaine cheated on Yuri as well, and in that case Amber might have several half-siblings that she doesn’t know about.
I forget, but wasn’t that possibility presented in Shortpacked, too? It’s been ages since I read through it, so I could be way off.
Yes, Faz is dating his other half-sister.
That was Zaph and Rose. Wen’s not Blaine’s, iirc.
It’s never outright confirmed or denied, but the same basis for assumption that Amber has that they’re related is even stronger between Faz and Wen. And that’s kind of the joke that Willis is aiming at when she tells Faz that they can’t date because they’re related – that Faz has found someone else who seems even more related to him than Amber did.
http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=1632
http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=1633
It was pretty much confirmed in Shortpacked. Check this strip and the next few strips after it.
The strip above already confirmed that he’s a cheater in this universe as well. Putting aside the convolutions of The Word of Willis, given Blaine’s consistent disregard for others, half-siblings aren’t unlikely.
He truly is a shit of a shit if ever a shit there was.
WILLIS, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD, YOU FOOLED US ALL! 🙂
Willis, you magnificent bastard, we read your books!
I love you for that reply.
….. does it really fall to me to point out that fecal matter is generally innocent of wrongdoing, useful in agriculture, and does not deserve this comparison?
So you’re saying Amber should bury herself in the ground and allow her decaying body to nurture plant growth?
*does not deserve this comparison TO BLAINE
“It is a heap of excrement, and none may abide it.”
“It is powerful and promotes growth.”
etc, etc
This reminds me how one of my charas uses “You are such a human!” as an insult. Humans use far too many innocent things to insult each other.
Humans are very narcissistic that way, often assuming the worst thing you could be is anything that isn’t what they are, and rarely checking if they even measure up to said things.
Yeaaaaahhhh, Blaine is the actual goddamn worst.
And Amber, honey, what could you actually do? You live in a dorm and Faz is a minor who might be under Blaine’s custody.
She could inform Yuri about his misdeeds. But I’m at a loss on what she could do, outside of being AmaziGirl.
#Defenstration
If Yuri’s actually been with Blaine since she was a teen, even if most of that time he was only cheating with her, she knows about his misdeeds. Whether she’s a piece of work herself or just trapped in an abusive relationship, we don’t know.
Theoretically, she could go to CPS, but I don’t think that Blaine’s abuse is the kind they’re likely to be able to confirm – emotional, not physical or blatant neglect.
Since Blaine is apparently linked to the Korean mob, obviously the real solution is for Amazi-Girl to take on the mob, get evidence of Blaine’s crimes and leave it on the police doorstep, resulting in him being locked up and Faz safe. But I don’t think this is that kind of comic.
…but is it the kind of comic where Blaine just, is his usual self to the wrong mob guy, and gets a nice pair of cement shoes? (Or something less cliche and more believable, but still dead.)
Nah. Not dramatic enough. No bad guys dying off-screen.
Richard Rosenthal does call him an “actual mob stooge”…
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/disengage/
That’s ignoring the man Faz calls Father. Presumably this was the person Yuri was married to when Faz was born, so either Yuri was cheating on Faz’s Father, or Father married Yuri when Blaine got her pregnant to cover her indiscretion. And I know for a fact that Korean women appear to Occidentals to be mid to late teens until their late 30’s. I used to card the poor women for cigarettes all the time when I ran a convenience store in a mixed neighborhood.
It’s not clear there is any such person. Faz uses Father once, as far as I know. Amber corrects him to say she’s talking about Blaine, not his dad, but Faz doesn’t say anything else about it. There’s no real indication Yuri was ever married before Blaine or that Faz grew up with someone else as a father.
As for Yuri’s age, that might explain Sarah’s comment. Amber may know better. And would have had time to find out.
That last panel hit a little to close to home. FeelsBadMan 🙁
Amber… some things cannot be your fault; you need to believe that.
I’ll just keep believing Faz isn’t Blaine’s son. The alternative is creepy enough.
And if it turns out true, then I hope Yuri is currently in her mid 30s.
Oh.
Ohhhhhh.
Oh….
… :C
not like you could possibly have known ?
Blaming herself for everything bad around her seems to be Amber’s thing at the moment. She needs to believe that she’s a failure and possibly even actively malign. That’s why I’m glad that Walky’s up there because otherwise she’s a suicide risk.
It’s been her thing for a long time. She blamed herself for not being able to protect Ethan during the robbery, remember?
I don’t think she’s actually a suicide risk right now (certainly no more so than usual). Though I’m still glad Walky is up there. It’s good she can talk to someone about these feelings
Yeah, she’s never really seemed like a suicide risk. Other than risking her life as a superhero, of course.
I think she’d be more likely to do something stupidly drastic like try to hunt down Blaine to protect Faz.
Possibly have known what? That her abuser was abusing the other kid under his control? Of course she knew. Or assumed.
Telling herself he wasn’t her real brother was just a way of distancing herself from it, so it didn’t seem so personal.
The real problem is there’s nothing she can do about it.
No no, Amber. With multiple teenagers.
Likely, but not yet in evidence.
Can someone break out the thumbtacks and colored strings and explain to me the arrangement of parents in the half-brother vs step-brother scenario? I thought they shared a sperm donor (the term “dad” is too good for him).
Step brother would mean that Blaine was not Faz’s biological father. Rather, Blaine married his mother, which would make him his step father, and in turn make Amber his step sister.
Step siblings is just one kids parent married one of the other kids parents. In some cases the kids may essentially grow up together as part of the same family unit. In others (like Amber’s, most likely) the kids grow up in separate family units but might spend some weekends together – Any night Amber stayed with Blaine after he got together with Faz’s mom she would likely have been spending in the same house as Faz.
In some cases one or both of the “children” are adults and living independently when their parents remarry – this is still a step sibling relationship in American culture (and I think Australia and UK as well, no idea about anywhere else)
So step siblings might have grown up together, might barely know each other, or anything in between. But in all cases kid A has a parent that married one of kid B’s parents. [ Though I suspect step sibling may also be used to describe situations where the two parents are in a long term partnership even if never married ]
Yeah, that’s the part I missed: I thought Blaine was acknowledged to be Faz’s dad already.
(I’m familiar with half- vs step-siblings; I have a half-brother. But thanks.)
Heh,since I know that there are English-as-an-additional-language speakers here, and because I am relatively certain not all cultures would think of step and half siblings in the same way (I would suspect in some cultures they would not be district categories from each other) I didn’t want to assume that you knew.
Especially since I think that at times there have been commenters who were unaware of the difference. (Probably because of above reasons)
Posted in the wrong place:
Half brother would instead mean that Amber and Faz had one biological parent in common – In this case, Blaine.
It is unknown to us (and Amber) if Blaine is Faz’s bio dad (or, as you called it, sperm donor). Amber has apparently been told by Blaine that he is not Faz’s bio dad, but Amber isn’t sure she believes that.
There is also the man Faz refers to as “Father”, who was apparently married to Yuri at some point before Blaine.
Half brother would instead mean that Amber and Faz had one biological parent in common – In this case, Blaine.
It is unknown to us (and Amber) if Blaine is Faz’s bio dad (or, as you called it, sperm donor). Amber has apparently been told by Blaine that he is not Faz’s bio dad, but Amber isn’t sure she believes that.
Basically, doubting Blaine O’Malley’s unverified word is a good policy to apply as a routine.
Though in this case, it would be somewhat reasonable. Decades long secret affairs that include raising a child with the mistress aren’t nearly as common as more casual cheating.
Blaine’s story here is actually the more plausible one.
Except for the fact that Amber clearly knows he’s had an affair with them o she wouldn’t even think that.
Yeah, but she doesn’t know when it started. The likely assumption would be that it wasn’t that old – started soon before the divorce if this was the cheating she already knew about or even after if she knew about a different affair. That it was an affair going on her entire life is something else entirely.
And that’s what’s rare. Much more common for cheaters to have multiple relatively short affairs than to have an entirely second life.
I hope she Amber gets an uplift soon. I been kinda slowly hating her starting when she dumped Danny. The whole Dorothy thing I was fine with, but she’s dragging me out with too many negative vibes
Dude her whole story arc is gonna be dealing with her mental health issues. Don’t expect things to get happy rays of sunshine any time soon. Little moments of good is all she is willing to let herself have at the moment.
“Cheating on his wife while she was pregnant” sure is something so terrible only a fictional douchebag would do, right?
You mean like having sex with a pornstar while the Mrs. is recovering from childbirth? Yep totally something only fictional douchebags do.
oh boy this is a mood, i fled an abusive situation and could only bring myself, and i still feel guilty every day about leaving my brothers behind.
You do what you can. Self care first.
Not that your feelings are any of my business but it seems to me like having sympathy and worry for your brothers is completely right but feeling blame on yourself for them still being in that situation seems not fair to me. You had to go above and beyond what should be reasonably expected of a human just to get yourself out. I totally understand why you would feel guilt but I hope you can reconcile with yourself too. Too much burden was placed on you in the beginning.
oh.
That’s a thing about life. It doesn’t always leave a good option. Sometimes, the lesser evil is the only win you can get.
The Greek words for bad (kakos) and worst (kakistos) are derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kak-, meaning “excrement,” so in classical Greek you really do literally refer to people as being “the shittiest.”
Fun with linguistics.
oh my god
THAT IS AMAZING
(my first language is Russian and I am utterly delighted to know that calling someone “kakashka” is almost correct Greek XD)
So Faz is really biologically related to Amber. Blaine is pure shit! Also, Amber, you aren’t shit. Being inactive during times of cruelty doesn’t make you evil, but contributing to evil does. Blaine is completely responsible for ruining yours and Faz’s lives.
“Not impossible” does not equal “is absolutely definitely”. I mean, he probably is, but Amber has no information here that the people who’ve been speculating on this forum since Faz’s first appearance don’t have.
Poor Amber. She really isn’t much more than a kid at this point. She’s feeling responsible for not making up for her dad’s being a shit parent… That’s not a fair burden for anyone, much less a kid.
I don’t think Blaine is very nice.
Blaine is a pain, and that is the truth.
I’m hoping we’ll get back to Robin soon. While I suspect making her the Trump EXPY has made her much much more toxic than Willis expected, I think of her as one of the best characters of this universe because it makes her very relevant.
Robin’s still on the corner outside her campaign office, waiting for her lesbian to come find her.
I’m waiting to see Amazi-Girl again. We haven’t actually seen her since before the stabbing and it’ll be interesting to get her take now that they’re not sharing memories.
Does him being biologically related to you make it worse that he and Yuri are with an abusive fuckwad? I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m being too harsh on Amber, as I’m not sure what she’d even be able to do in this situation, but it’s odd to me that she’s just now really thinking about it.
I think she used to as an excuse to keep Faz at arm’s length, even outside of the usual reasons. We’ve seen her show compassion for people who aren’t related to her, so it’s not that.
Amber doesn’t like to let family in too close. Like, she’s guarded even around her mom, even though she’s defensive of her.
I get different strips depending on whether I use dumbingofage.com or http://www.dumbingofage.com and I find that weird.