Lemme try that one more time. “Snuggling with your pillow girlfriend is probably sort of like sharing your bed with another person if you have not ever shared your bed with another person.”
I don’t think anybody predicted the timeline more accurately, but Sal doesn’t get a payout if we play by The Price is Right rules (closest without going over).
depends on how the story goes, asher got more screentime than expected so i assume she’d still be around as jennifer’s roommate unless the next story focus entirely on like ruth/jason’s relationship or another robin story lol
Yeah, a breakup on basically-amicable terms, both of them recognizing their flaws here and owning them, with hope to do better in the future. Probably the best-case scenario for them both on the whole.
I think between “I realized you don’t like me as much as I like you, and that makes me question the feeling I THOUGHT was love,” “you really screwed up with your parents”/“yeah I did and I SHOULD HAVE prioritized you,” and “I deserve better” as a realization, if this ISN’T a breakup I’d be surprised. Between that and the church date itself showing how DISPARATE their values are – Dina pushes back on the guilt and shame built into Becky’s faith, but I’m not sure she finds the idea of believing in a god harmful in and of itself the way Walky’s indicated here* – I don’t think there’s a reassessment where Lucy decides “oh yeah, I do still want to date him” without some serious growth on Walky’s part (including him saying up-front, “yes I actually do like you romantically now that I’ve had time to consider it.”)
* Could be misremembering, granted. But generally speaking Dina finds the idea of god unfounded in the principles of scientific observation and hates CREATIONISM and other such things that run counter to what CAN be observed. But we haven’t seen her show the same discomfort at the IDEA of a god that Walky has here or Joyce had when those first cracks began to show (singing a hymn at church and being triggered because she saw the throughline between it and Ross’s “I would die for you and I know what’s good for you better than you do.”) Specific tenets, yes – and I can see that continuing to cause tension – but belief in something that’s inherently unobservable, not necessarily. At least not to the same extent that the other cast atheists have.
I don’t think Walky found the idea of believing in a god harmful, so much as the whole “surrender autonomy” thing. He’s not religious, but he was bothered to find this church felt so culty.
“I deserve better (than you)” is also a hell of a line to leave on. I don’t think Lucy meant it that way, but I won’t be at all surprised if Walky hears it that way.
By which I note Lucy just spent a week and a half treating Walky as a fanfic version of himself, and for three strips hasn’t evinced any inkling of her own part in this train wreck aside from the first step that she has an entirely over-idealized and not particularly grounded in reality image of Walky. She hasn’t owned up to any of her actions except as ‘jumping through hoops FOR him’ – leaving out that most of the hoops either she made or helped third parties set up. But no, she’s at the blame stage. Everything is Walky’s fault for taking advantage of her.
Lucy’s realizations, in order, are that Walky has never been as invested or active in the relationship as she is. That Walky wasn’t going to be 100% her protector and savior in the face of the parents he increasingly dreads. That she doesn’t think about how she acts.
At the same time, Lucy doesn’t recognise a single fault of her own. Because she doesn’t think she’s made any. She’s handled everything right and is bitter because she didn’t get her shiny toy. With every realization, Lucy’s put it all on Walky. Because if he’s not her idealized lover, then he’s the one pulling that good Christian girl astray.
Lucy has figured out about 33% of why this relationship has failed. She hasn’t even started unpacking the parts that are her fault, and if no one makes her she never will. Because why should she? SHE’S still good, and clean of sin, and the victim. Lucy will hurt over this, but she’s not going to grow in any positive way on her own because God knows she doesn’t have to.
So I guess that is another way Walky is wrong. Lucy’s god does talk back, and just like to so many who hear hIM, its to absolve her of owning up to her mistakes.
Walky is… Walky. He is still being respectful of her feelings as much as someone with the maturity level of a man two thirds his age who has been under the thumb of someone who doesn’t particularly want him mature. But where he lacks a spine, or full understanding of Lucy, he’s still the one letting the other lash out at him, letting himself take the hits, because his entire history of being the perfect son of a manipulative woman tells him that whatever Lucy is angry about he deserves.
Don’t get me wrong. Walky is a total mess, and he has made mistake after mistake after mistake after… well, ad nausem. But there is a person in this scene who is letting the other person hurt them so the second person can feel better, feel exonerated. Lucy sure as Hell (if her religion is right about certain things) isn’t that empathic person.
Are we reading the same webcomic? You might disagree with Lucy’s analysis that her mistakes were 1) projecting onto Walky 2) jumping through hoops to get his parents to like her (which she doesn’t actually blame him for, just for “going along with it”, which he did) and 3) nothing else, but I don’t think you can really she doesn’t acknowledge making any mistakes. She certainly hasn’t accused him of “taking advantage of her”, and I’m not even sure what that would mean in a relationship where they never had sex, largely due to his complete lack of interest in doing so.
We apparently aren’t reading the same webcomic. Yours has a much better Lucy.
Lucy has blamed Walky. Saying ‘fuck you for going along with it’ is blaming someone for going along with it. She, meanwhile, doesn’t acknowledge that she wanted to go jumping through hoops. Lucy just thought she ought to, and now she wonders why. But Walky didn’t stop her, and that makes him culpable in her eyes.
Lucy’s third realization is here on today’s strip, and it is that she ‘should be braver’. Not, ‘she should pay attention’. Not ‘I may want to remember that the other person in the relationship is a person with feelings that may not always mimic mine’. Not, ‘I pushed this’.
Not a single thing about Walky, except to put blame on Walky. Certainly not anything about how Walky may feel except to punch at those feelings. There’s not a shred of empathy in Lucy right now (and there’s rarely been – she tends too much to see people simply, in black and white and blazing neon, rather than in layers. Helped her idolize Billie, make Prince Charming out of Walky, villainize Sarah. Empathy helps people see other people in layers rather than archetypes. Lucy is bad at it.)
Lucy has spent three pages making realizations with zero self reflection, and every problem she identified she put on someone else. Lucy may want bright happy feelings, but she can’t read a room, and her empathy to anything but the most vibrant of surface emotions is poor. Of course she feels Walky took advantage. All that time she sunk into him, and he didn’t actually love her. Not after two weeks of lightweight dating. Not after knowing him for three months. All that time she invested, and he wasn’t what she expected, and so she grows just enough courage to blame him, curse him, and leave making sure she has the last world.
Yes she’s blamed him of not taking advantage. Because to her mind, she wanted him to be something else, and by not being that person, by not being what she wanted, she feels decieved. She feels disillusioned. Lucy feels like she invested in Walky, got him to dress better and go places on time. Lucy felt she just needed to do some superficial changes and out pops her prince, and that didn’t happen. Of course he was taking advantage of her. Lucy wanted a fairy tale, and picked a frog, and he stayed a frog.
How dare Walky. How dare he?
Well, a moment of empathy would let her actually understand how he dare not be what she expected, wanted, desired her to be. But again. Lucy is in the blame stage, because it lets her deflect all blame, internal and external, from herself.
This doesn’t make her a villain or a monster or some sort of terrible person. Lucy is a college kid. Lucy is a young human. She’s not very empathic, she is religious, and she is very nice. Nice is not kind. Nice, intentionally or not, wants reciprocation. Nice wants nice, or kind, or trust, or value, or affection, or appreciation, or SOMETHING back. Nice is when you give someone a birthday present and expect a return gesture. Lucy did all the things she did because she wanted the ‘artist’s impression’ of Walky as hers. She wanted sex. She wanted the fairy tale. Lucy was very nice to Walky, and the last few pages have been her spinning around but never quite landing on the realization that nice may want something back, but nice does not DESERVE something back.
… I do not like Lucy, so this may be bias. Except for all the evidence. (Granted, again, Walky has got ISSUES). So yeah. Neither of these are great people, but if you want to say one has empathy – show one scene of Lucy putting herself in the perspective of another person without it looking like a fanfic because she instead put herself in the highly idealized version of their shoes. I freely admit, sometimes I miss days, and thus strips.
Its possible she’s had empathy once or twice. But certainly not since she left that church.
May I point out again the element of time. Lucy has begun a radical adjustment of her self-image. Nobody is going to complete that in 30-60 seconds, which is about what the last three strips add up to. It can take months, or years. If she has fairly begun by Monday I’ll applaud her loudly.
Firseal answered quite well and lengthily, but to name just a single example of Lucy indeed lacking empathy, she is openly angry at Walky for not being in love with her. She didn’t say “you don’t feel the same way about me”, she expressed it as a failure on his part to “love [her] back”. She has not demonstrated the ability to put herself in his emotional shoes to understand why someone may not be comfortable expressing something taken as seriously as *love* after a few weeks of dating. What she is is angry at him for failing to meet a standard she invented for him.
@aussir – to me it’s realistic dialogue for a teenager dealing with their first breakup. Whether or not we think it’s that big a deal, Lucy did think she was in love with Wally and has a lot further to fall for that than Walky who has been well aware of the difference in their feelings and has been trying to invest but has not genuinely been feeling it. She feels disappointed in him to say the least, but she is the one here grappling with a radical change in how she’d viewed things, people often do not have a fair and empathetic response in moments like this.
I also have to say how bizarre it is because Wally had some investment here, but nowhere as much as Lucy, people have been deriding her for the last year for being too invested in an early relationship, and yet now we should all feel bad for walky? Why would we feel worse for Walky than Lucy here? Because she does actually resent him for having lied to her and asked her out when he wasn’t that into her? Because he may have to fall into the arms of one of his two other, more main character love interests, both of which have shown some sign of still being into him and wanting to be back with him? While after this strip, Lucy may either fade back into the secondary cast.l, or worse become antagonistic to members of the main cast.
This is a bummer experience, the thing that hurts Walky here is certainly Lucy being hurt and upset with him, but more than that I think it challenges his view of himself particularly in relation to his parents. He may have lost a friend as well as a girlfriend today, time will tell.
I don’t think people are understanding “better” in the right context. The “standard” Lucy is right to expect here is “someone who supports her, is happy with her as she is and is honest with her”, Walky for all his best intentions could not and honestly would not have ever done all of those things at once, he is conflict avoidant and too focused on keeping the peace for everybody for as long as it lasts, quite happy to pretend and go along and operate in the grey areas avoiding conflict with everyone until he couldn’t anymore. That was disrespectful to Lucy and the fact that everyone has assumed Lucy had the problem for genuinely being excited and invested in a new relationship with someone she’d had a crush on for 4 months as though that was delusional, rather than allowing wally more responsibility for having misled her in a way that further amplified her misconceptions, to avoid further conflict until finally coming out with it all in the church. Walky isn’t an egregious monster, but neither is Lucy. They’re just awkward teenagers learning how to and not to hurt others. This situation is interesting precisely because they both kinda walked right into this situation with naivete and good intentions.
Does anyone have the sparks notes on this thread? I’m starting to think people should just make YouTube videos on these essays, I’d watch. Can’t really read these gigantic posts on this layout
Mym: It’s mostly reiterations and explanations that demonstrate that Lucy had a fantasy version of Walky in her head, was upset when she realized he wasn’t that version, but didn’t learn anything at all from it other than “I deserve better.” She projected all of the problems of the relationship onto everyone else and doesn’t realize that her own expectations were flawed.
Probably the strongest point stated was that Lucy isn’t showing the empathy to understand people as layered human beings instead of as archetypes.
The flipside is that there’s a lot of slightly subtle language that Firseal has towards Lucy, and seeing her viewpoint as coming from her religion (eg “she’s good and clean of sin”), which I’m not entirely sure is fair because her religion isn’t overtaking her personality in the same way it was for Joyce, or is for Mary. Firseal is open that while they don’t view Lucy as a villain, they really do not like her.
Other people are mostly agreeing with Firseal’s analysis of the problem, except pointing out the fact that they’re being a bit too hard on Lucy or expecting too much too soon, or noting that it takes a while for a real “eureka” moment and personality shift.
There’s a whole lot of charging of one or the other lacking empathy, and I think maybe everyone should settle down a little. Like…they’re teenagers. I don’t know who we’re “supposed” to feel more bad for, maybe we can feel bad for both of them. Not every situation has a clear-cut villain and victim.
Lucy hasn’t learned to see things outside of the lens she knows. Yes this can be accurately described as a lack of empathy, but she’s still a teenager, she’s still learning.
Walky still doesn’t stand up to his parents very well, but he only just started doing it at all. And that’s hard even when the parent one needs to stand up to isn’t Linda. She scared me with the way she reacted at the dinner with Amber, and I’m not her kid.
@Devin – Oh, absolutely. I 100% agree that everyone needs to remember that these are just kids, they’re just figuring out life for themselves. It’s a “coming of age” story, and they’re not there yet. Nobody should, at this point, be at the “Ah, they’re totally right, they have all of life figured out” stage.
All the people villifying Walky for not being proactive with his parents, need to freaking understand that up until this point, he only had hypothetical and anecdotal evidence of his parents’ racism. It wasn’t *real* to him in the way that it was *real* to Sal. It seemed like something that could be worked around. And people also need to freaking remember what it was like when you were eighteen and had only been away from home for a few months.
If you had a crap homelife, then yeah, you probably could easily tell your parents to take a hike. If you didn’t, then college probably just felt like sleepaway camp for the first year or so. You don’t really get that you’re an adult and can make your own decisions. Like, people actively worry about parents “taking them home” (like what happened to Dana, or what Joyce and Ruth were worried about) when it’s clear that they *literally can’t* against your will.
In this situation, the only person I feel was in the wrong was Lucy, and not because of what happened here. She’s in the wrong because she was never really Walky’s friend. She was “hanging out” with him for four months, sure, but doing so as an unofficial “girlfriend-in-waiting.” He’s lost a girlfriend, but he hasn’t lost a friend, because she has literally been in “court this boy so he falls for me” mode since they first met. Which is why she believed her own fiction of “He must love me, he sees me as part of the family, etc.” and none of the glaring red flags.
While I agree with a lot of your analysis of Lucy, I will disagree that this has anything to do with her religious views. She’s not season 1 Joyce. We almost never see her talking about God outside of going to church or while at it.
I think the source of her ills is more akin to that of many proto-incels; she’s been raised on a certain type of movie, that has taught her that if she’s ‘nice’, then she’ll get the guy (who is the first one she locks onto), and he’ll be perfect, and this will lead to happily ever after.
I’ve been in the same position as Walky. It sucked, and I didn’t handle it with any more grace than he did. So thanks, it’s really improved my day to know that some guy on the internet thinks I deserve to feel awful about myself.
Just because I really think it needs to be said: wally made a mistake coming from a good place and doesn’t deserve to feel awful about it, and if you relate to this situation on either side, you don’t deserve to feel awful. People are messy and complicated, we do the best we can with what we have, we aren’t mind readers nor are we clairvoyant.
Booster may have had the right idea, but would not have been able to communicate it for much the same reason Lucy had to hear from Walky that he didn’t love her as she did him.
I was more interested to note that Lucy used the same phrasing Booster used when they evaluated the merits of the relationship. Booster told Lucy she could do better, and it seems like hearing what she did from Walky has Lucy fully able to appreciate that assessment in hindsight.
I mean, she’s right though. Like I love walky, but that is just an accurate statement. Walky needs to figure out his passivity issues and to put it harshly, grow a spine before his next relationship. he should have clarified that he didn’t say I love you from the start. He should have set a hard boundary on not meeting his parents. Because sure he pushed back some but not that hard. He was beating around the bush about the whole thing. He needs to learn the word “no” and how to stick to it, for his own sake as well as others.
It’s easier to get a ‘no’ across when the person you’re talking to can actually read the room. Lucy, near as I can tell, has almost no theory of mind–she can’t understand that other people don’t view the world the way she does. She simply assumes her perspective is the only one that exists, and thus assumes that if other people are acting counter to her expectations, there must be some sort of malignant reason for this.
tbf it was his idea to go to church, but if she did acknowledge it , i guess it might mean she’d still politely talk to walky in math class if needed or be distant but not in an awkward avoiding way
I get this odd feeling that she’s going to hook up with someone else soon enough, and then do what she can to rub Walky’s face in it. not like go out of her way to, but just as an incidental effect when they happen to be in the same place.
I’m sorry that’s been your experience with gyms. 🙁 I’ve only had good experiences, but I would go with friends or just hop on an elliptical and watch cooking shows on my iPad.
I was never ridiculed. Come to think of it, I attended for a couple of months and found out the other guys were calling me “pro.” I wasn’t bulked up or anything, but I was advancing quickly. But then I quit.
This is an important revelation for people to have! I hope she doesn’t immediately turn around and join Raidah’s lil group, but I’m glad she hit this point.
…Damn. No, that’s exactly where she’s headed. The whole collection of people with moderately-justified grievances against the main cast that have been blown up into the worst things ever, that makes perfect sense for her and would be so bad.
To be clear, it’s not that I think Lucy is there YET, it’s that Raidah will bring her there.
I mean, that is a direction it could go, but. Mmmmm. We’ll see. I still think Raidah is first and foremost trying to get back at Joyce, and Lucy isn’t one of Joyce’s friends.
Still, if Lucy has been seriously embittered here (and that’s… a possibility, though not the only one), she WOULD be a weak link, not so dissimilar from how Billie was (because back then, in that moment, she was Billie) when Raidah pounced on her…… at the very least, she might be a resource for Raidah.
Will Raidah’s group even like her? I feel like they would just bully her tbh. I can’t remember, were they particularly friendly with her when they interacted?
They only acted, but they did have intentions of making her uncomfortable with Walky, but they didn’t come to anything serious, but Raidah did take care of putting her poison by giving her opinion about Sarah.
They were polite enough, but Lucy has no social capital and they’re a bunch of social climbers. So unless Lucy has disgunstingly rich or powerful parents, or Raidah just really wants to use her against Sarah (which there’s no real way for it, as Sarah was just proven right), then odds are Lucy’s getting dumped like last season’s Versace knock-off
If Lucy had parents that were useful in that regard I think Linda would have treated her differently. She strikes me as someone who ultimately would have been just fine with Raidah’s group.
Lo. Wouldn’t that be hilarious though if Lucy’s parents were rich or one was like the mayor or something and we just didn’t know for some arbitrary reason? Maybe her last name is different or something. Linda said Walky was slumming it only for the truth to be Lucy was and the next time Linda meets her the well has already been poisoned.
Raidah and company ignored Lucy’s existence as much as they could. They were all, “it was so nice to meet you, David” and he was like “–yeah, and Lucy!”
So, luckily for Lucy, this crappy group won’t give her the time of day.
oh I just had a horrible idea. Walky’s parents are still in town… imagine they run into Raidah, who gushes about how impressive and charismatic Walky is, and by the way she’s gonna be a lawyer someday and wowee Mrs. Walkerton you know the dean…?
Seriously, at this point, I ship everyone in this comic with Walky before him trying to get back with Lucy.
Walky x Glassno! Walky x Carol!! Walky x Blowjob Cat!!! Walky x Mary!!?! Walky x Mike’s spirit from beyond co-posessing Jennifer through a radioactive squirrel bite!?!?! Walky x Optimus Prime?!?!? Walky x Joyce’s old church (the building, but only after service)!!!?!!!
So, yeah, let’s get Walky x Raidah going. Sure.
Anyone but Lucy. Because we’ve seen that, and we KNOW it doesn’t work on any level. The crack ships? Might.
Lucy’s naive and sheltered. And she just got hit with a reality check that relationships shouldn’t be idolized. She’ll learn from that. She’s far from dumb.
What she’ll have more trouble with is willful blindness. I doubt she’s missed all the signs, before this. She just refused to see them. She might learn from that, she might not.
But I’ll agree she and Walky are a bad fit for a much bigger reason. Religion. Walky is casually spiritual at most. Lucy is a devout Christian on par with Joyce (though less dogmatically). That’s a fundamental difference; and not one that can be resolved with maturity and experience.
Speaking as an agnostic leaning towards non-belief, I generally don’t like seeing Christians lose their faith. Because it is rarely a gentle process.
Nah, I see Lucy throwing herself on her bed for a good cry, and Jennifer saying something abrasive that accidentally is just the right grit to reshape Lucy’s ruminations in a more positive direction.
iirc BlueSky is one of the Twitter alternatives, like Mastadon or Pillowfort to Tumblr. I haven’t heard of it costing money, but I don’t have an account there.
Lucy jumped into a relationship that she’d been building in her head for months, totally in love, and Walky has only just started thinking of her romantically. She didn’t give him a chance to develop stronger feelings. That said, I was in a relationship for almost 2 years where I desperately loved my boyfriend and he told me he didn’t know if he loved me back. Finally I realized that if he didn’t know what that point he was probably never going to, and then I deserved to be with someone who loved me as much as I loved them. It really really hurts to be with someone who doesn’t love you back the way you do, and trying to wait for feelings to develop may not necessarily work out. Walky was immediately infatuated with Dorothy so it seems clear that he just doesn’t have much romantic chemistry with Lucy, he’s not the type of person who has to date someone for months before developing love. As Lucy said they were friends for a long time before they started dating and he just doesn’t have those feelings. Even though I think she came to this decision in an immature way, she made the right choice
If any, Walky was realising that he should have done better by her. Probably, if she’d still have him, he would have tried to do so. This is a breakup from Lucy’s side only.
“I need to be brave enough”
I know that many here are happy for Lucy, but this dialogue may be a bit hasty…well, we just have to wait for it to happen.
Plus, what does “bravery” have to do with “knowing”? That line threw me. I’m trying to think what would be better. “I need to be… more self-aware?” “smart/wise”? I dunno, and I hate nit-picking Willis, since he’s a far better wordsmith than me, but in my head it sounded clunky. Then again, people don’t “speak” proper English, as written words should be, and this line is spoken, so I guess it’s alright and it’s just me.
I think it’s a response to “I like to be liked.” She’s saying she needs to be brave enough to not let the possibility of not being liked get in the way of what’s actually good for her.
Ah, okay. I thought she was pinging off of “I should’ve favored you” and her thinking “I should’ve favored myself as well”. Your read makes more sense.
I had the same read as you, but it made sense to me. Lucy didn’t favor herself, she put herself through a whole lot that Walky tried to tell her she didn’t have to do. More than once. She favored someone else’s image of her over her own self-image. I’m hoping this means she’ll start valuing herself more.
Maybe it’s because they’re out of church but in my brain it sounded a bit like the Serenity Prayer. You know the one, “Lord, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; bravery to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.”
IDK if it’s intentional, though. But! She has been a people-pleaser for as long as we’ve known her, and it stems from a terrible fear of being lonely and inadequate. It requires bravery to face this about oneself :33
I think this will be really good for them both. I like them both, but they both haven’t been very good for each other. Its felt like Lucy has been pressuring Walky to go a LOT faster than he’s comfortable with, including around physical intimacy, and he’s been dodging having to say no to avoid setting a boundary. And, Walky hasn’t been supporting her to the extent she needs, nor communicating his needs or the situation she’s getting herself into.
Definitely a good thing all things considered, but I feel like Walky just took a critical hit to the insecurities that he’ll have to work through first.
i’d imagine unless it’s a grueling custody battlel, divorced parents would be amicable enough to stay in touch/friendly enough terms to contact each other about emergencies/coordinating stuff like sleepovers, school trips/etc tho at that age couples therapy would be more of an option (makes me wonder what the ‘youngest’ couple a therapist has ever seen)
They both should probably do some unpacking before they try another relationship. I’m still a little bothered its being treated as all his fault when his initial plan was to spare her from that situation entirely.
Lucy getting ideas of how things should be in her head and not listening to very obvious warnings isn’t great.
Poor dude, looks almost frozen in that last panel. I don’t think he ever expected Lucy to dump him. It would be wild if this leads to him getting back together with Dorothy, but I think he needs some time being single to think about things for a bit. He’s kinda dealt with a lot of complicated emotions and refuses to acknowledge them completely, give him some Mario Kart time and some self reflection time.
Also, damn Lucy. She seems like she’s taking it better than I thought she would be. Can’t wait for this to get unpacked with Jennifer, maybe we’ll see her tell her off too.
Although I would love to see Walky with Dorothy again, it is better that he refrains, because he is aware of what he said to her in their last conversations and that he dares to return suddenly, obviously not.
If Jennifer were to scold Lucy, I don’t think she would stay silent and even confront her with certain things.
I think letting Dorothy know that Lucy broke up with him and, without any pressure, asking if she’s still interested is well within reason. I mean, being in a relationship with Lucy was the reason he gave her.
Whether Dorothy has reversed course again is a separate question.
I think he has previously had verbal confirmation that this is definitely, officially, “it”, not been told she deserves better and she’ll see him tomorrow in class, before… He could think “Must try MUCH harder”… 🤦🏻♀️
I would kinda love for Lucy to yell at Dorothy, not realising Dorothy has been drinking, for telling Walky to ask her out when he was lacklustre about her, only for Dotty to yell back “of course he really likes you! When I told him I wanted him back and it was a mistake to tell him to do that, he wouldn’t break up with you for me! He absolutely wanted to be a good boyfriend to you!”, simultaneously landing herself right in it and also driving home to Lucy that “stands up to mother” is not currently really within Walky’s skillset but that he really was serious about thinking she was nice and pretty and they could be something…
Plausibly leading to her trying to patch things up with him (how much time do they actually need to spend with Linda, after all?), only to find that him and Amber have decided that somehow a monogamous FWB arrangement is not betraying Sal (i.e. “we’re not dating, we’re just good friends who hang out a lot and do stuff together including sexy times stuff, and we only do that with each other (plus Amber writes porn)… But we’re definitely not dating, because even if Sal says she’d be fine with it – hell, she threatened to stuff my dick into Amber at one point – it would feel like a betrayal. But she’s clearly actually OK with my dick being in her, so…”) Especially if there’s a side helping if “And I got thinking when I was reflecting on how badly I screwed up our relationship, the ‘you’d be the trashiest fake girlfriend I can imagine! Let’s get you to hang out with somebody who wanted you to be expelled and mainly only dropped that because she thought your dad being dead would mean you wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in school’ plan was incredibly shitty to her. She deserves better from me too.”
Bonus if this goes down within the next week of comic time!
I’d say at the very least, he shouldn’t try jumping into any other relationships/sex before seeing her in math tomorrow. That’ll make it clear where they stand.
Walky needs to grow up, stop running to/looking for woman to tell him what to do and try expanding his friend circle, specifically making some guy friends
Ethan could’ve been a good match (friend-wise) for Walky, but they’ve got irreconcilable positions when it comes to Mike. And Jacob isn’t quite a good idea right now.
I def think he’ll grow closer with Asher. My psychological soothsaying says he’ll grow closer with Booster (who wouldn’t let him suffer alone), and ends up entangled with the thing that’s going on with Asher, Ethan, plus Amber as a cheerleader. Shipping aside, I maintain those five could be really good friends in the same way Joyce has Becky (who comes with Dina), Dorothy, and Sara.
I think he might be headed into a crisis, but I don’t think depression spiral. I think the main question is who he gets advice from first. Dorothy would be the highest drama option, but I hope he asks Sal instead.
Honestly, yes, this. We didn’t get a STORYLINE OVER alt text, so this isn’t even necessarily the end of the scene. Walky could absolutely go spend some time alone, think it through, and realize that actually he definitely Does have feelings for her that are stronger than friendship. Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone, as the song goes.
And if he went to her with an earnest, hey, this time I’m really sure I want to be In It with you — they could start over on a more honest note.
…But also it would be easy for none of that to happen. I don’t think I’m really going to count this ‘ship “out” for real until we’re like a couple of books on and/or they’re both in happy relationships with other people, tbqh.
[opens up Dumbing of Age, a bittersweet-comedy coming of age webcomic about the painful growing moments of young adulthood] [there is a bittersweet growing moment of young adulthood] [this is like opening my tin labeled ‘creme wafers’ and finding cream wafers. I am snacking on them. Five stars]
WAIT I JUST REALIZED THAT ASHER IS ON THE VERGE OF SINGLE, THE SHIPPERS MIGHT EAT YET
I don’t actually remember if Walky has ever identified or hinted at possibly being bi in any shape or form, I just know that I love those two idiots spending time together and Walky could use someone to just be stupid around for a bit. Ill advised rebound or fully platonic bromance, I endorse it. They can even talk about the unfair expectations thrown upon them by their exes when they just wanted to vibe!
Walky’s a strange case because he’s frequently joked about the possibility of being with a guy. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/jim/ this is the only one I can find right now but I definitely feel like he’s done it before. And so it’s hard to label, because it’s Walky and he’s joking. At the very least, he seems to be someone who’s comfortable enough with his sexuality that he’d consider doing stuff with a guy (especially for free pizza) and consider it no big deal.
Oh my god, this is the absolute worst pairing for Ethan (guy who was at least partially involved with Mike’s death and the dude version of Amber minus the DID but somehow still keeping a bit of the superhero stuff), the dream pairing for Asher, and the wildest pairing for Walky. Either fantastic therapy or a horrible horrible imploding mistake.
Lesbian twist, Billie and Ruth are gonna get into a prolonged multi year (our time) process of growing up and eventually getting back together.
I have no evidence to support this, I just really want them back, I can’t not related with the toxic gays.
I can see that happening mainly because the dynamics they have with Jason and Asher don’t seem like they’ll last forever. No offense to the guys but it’s clearly not love, might not even be like.
I think Ruth and Jason genuinely like each other, but I don’t know if it’s love. (Then again, we haven’t gotten a lot of screen time with our good British boy and Ruthless of late, so who knows how it’s developed?) I think they’re kind of…mutually lonely, and being together helps.
I mean, they haven’t been dating that long in-universe, it’s a bit early to say if it’s going to develop into love. But they do have great chemistry, I’m rooting for them!
Despite them both currently being with other people, their strongest feelings remain towards each other.
They’re all twisted with anger and resentment, but that doesn’t change it.
I was trying to imagine what a literal sexual third wheel would be, and while I didn’t come up with anything, my mind did produce the phrase “the village tricycle”. I’m not sure what that means either.
I tend to disagree. Spoilers for many things I like are incredibly easy for me to access and I choose not to click them. Popping it in the comments, however light heartedly, takes the choice away. It’s not a big thing but my enjoyment of the comic is
slightly lessened.
I should say I enjoy your comments the rest of the time xx
I mean. Can’t actually see it since I’m not a member, but boy does that not ever prove anything. Whatever it looks like, it could be a fantasy or dream sequence.
I always find that phrasing of “deserve” odd. It implies that some people never deserve to have their feelings or thoughts taken seriously.
I kind of go for the Disney framing of, “I want more”.
Unfortunately, realization and epiphany rarely run the gauntlet through emotions only to emerge into the consciousness in intact, clearly-articulable sequences, making them difficult to specifically and unambiguously narrate in the moment.
Maybe you are smarter than you think. If I were Walky, at this point I would not consider myself at liberty. I would be wondering about that, but no more.
And I’m proud of walky for owning up to it. It would have been easy to try and people please about this, instead of seeing the genuine fault in his behavior.
Willis’ timing is off. This should be a Valentine’s Day strip.
Oh no! Instead we’re going to be treated to Danny smurfing up his relationship with Sal, aren’t we? Unlike in the original timeline, I like the pairing. Don’t take it away, Willis!
This feels like a breakup, but neither of them said it was a breakup, and it also feels like it might be “I need to process this development before I decide whether we should break up”.
I’ve had multiple relationships end without either of us explicitly breaking it off lol.
One ex we just had a really bad fight because he told me that I couldn’t love anybody until I loved myself (False), and I wasn’t dealing with any more men who didn’t understand depression. I don’t remember what the last thing I said to him was, I just remember driving off and knowing it was over. He wrote me to apologize, I apologized back, we never spoke to or reached out to each other again.
Look at Walky’s hands. Unless he bites hard into denial, he knows it’s a breakup.
Notice that you had to supply “than you” yourself. That’s not what Lucy said. She could be thinking that she deserves better of herself than she’s been giving. She could be thinking of Linda. She could be thinking of her whole life to date. She didn’t say. She may not be sure herself.
Feels more likely than amber/walky given amber appears to be in a mostly stable headspace these days while Dorothy is having a full on spiral, but also I feel like the Cosmic Plot Wheels are turning towards amber instead, which kind of makes sense? Amber is someone who not just loves Walky for who he is with no greater expectations, she is willing to support him where he is rather than any support being implicit with an expectation of being better or going along with what she wants.
Oh for sure, if Walky reignites an old flame rather than pulling the wild card and locking lips with Asher, I think his next long-term thing will be with Ambs. They never got fully explored, really—Walky just kind of stepped on the Mike landmine during Halloween and that put an end to things, it wasn’t like the long tragic arc of Danny/AG & Amber or Walky/Lucy.
Self-destructing with Dorothy, though, feels like a Willis-style drama gumbo recipe.
I definitely think it’s a possibility and I definitely think that if they’re not both very clear and happy with it being a one-night stand, it will be disastrous.
I can definitely see them, right now, when they’re both super vulnerable, just kind of making out and even sleeping together out of heartbreak and loneliness, without actually being ready to get back together. :c
Walky spat out things he’d been been keeping silent on, communicated, and will have to cope with the (sucky) realization that sometimes doing the right thing hurts – maybe you even do it too late. That’s scary!
And Lucy, oh Lucy, I’m so glad you’re not going to doormat through life anymore. You do deserve better than these shenanigans and being strung along, bby. Let this put some steel in your spine!
I mean, I really don’t love Walky, but maybe I just dislike them both. Perhaps I dislike them both together. I may dislike them both separately.
Except I keep liking Lucy less. Less with Walky. Less over time. She still doesn’t see her problems, even if she finally sees Walky’s. She thinks she deserves ‘better’. She certainly convinced Walky she deserves better. But convincing someone with self-esteem issues that one deserves better than them is easy.
Let me be clear. Lucy doesn’t deserve better. Walky also doesn’t deserve better. What they deserve is not each other, because fundamentally they do not work as a couple.
Lucy deserves someone who is suitable for her. Who is romantic, and idealistic, and does not let her rush them. Someone who will set boundaries, yes, but will adore her within them and calmly talk it out and be sure that both understand when needing to go outside those boundaries. Someone who can call her on her underlying BS without damaging her feelings and ideals. Someone who actively cares for her, but isn’t wearing rose glasses. I may even go so far as to say she needs someone with a touch of cynicism. At the least someone with realism who knows how to say no without being hurtful.
Walky deserves someone who lets him be him, rather than whatever it is they are seeing him as. Of all his serious relationships, only his sibling relationship with Sal and his dumpster fire w/ marshmellows romantic relationship with Amber don’t really try and push Walky to be something other than Walky (both of whom have their relations quite fraught in other ways with regard to him). He also really needs someone who understands the difference between pushing him and giving him a challenge. He likes to be liked, as he said. He deserves someone who likes who he is instead of who he may become, and is willing to be open about the places he could improve without trying to force him into a place of their own liking.
Yeah, I may be somewhat stream of consciousness when I type these. But once again, Lucy has lost much of the remaining positive ground I gave her. Notably, looking at this endcap of a relationship (and I will be disappointed in both if either still consider pursuing each other romantically *at this time*) this has been a romantic echo of previous platonic relationships both have had. Walky saw Lucy as an opposite of his mother in nature, but in action she’s been remarkably similar in pushing him further and further. Lucy saw Walky as a sexually acceptable partner in a very similar way that she idealized Jennifer, and if you stripped the realization of man-and-god she had a couple days ago of the romantic elements, The-Jennifer-formerly-known-as-Billie reacts much the same way towards Lucy and vice versa as the devoted worshiper and the barely caring god as Walky does when he’s in that metaphor.
Still. I call straight up goshdarn bulldroppings on the concept that Lucy deserves better.
Lucy. Does. NOT. Deserve. Better. If you need any proof, look at how she knowingly puts everything on Walky in a way she knows will hurt him. I won’t say Lucy deserves worse – everyone deserves happiness. But one way to be sure a person does not ‘deserve better’ is to see them say those words to someone for the express purpose of hurting them to make themselves feel better. (Personal bias here, as Lucy intentionally going for maximum emotional damage while subtly clearing herself of much of her culpability is the sort of behavior that utterly infuriates me – at this point, I view her moral alignment to be heading rather south) For that remark, and similar in the last two strips, I am unsure if Lucy is ready or able to be in any relationship that doesn’t have a one-way, one month trajectory into a burning train wreck.
At best, what Lucy deserves is someone different. Walky deserves someone who is definitely not Lucy. At this point I’d ship him in a trupple with Mary and the undead lich Blaine over Lucy. (…you know, Lucy and Jennifer would be awful for each other, but I could ship that just so maybe the two would learn something…) Maybe the two will both grow up some, with Lucy maturing / mellowing and Walky developing a mental ego within five years of his physical age.
TLDR: WORDS! SO MANY WORDS. Also bad ideas, a complete lack of sympathy for Lucy and almost as little sympathy for Walky. I’d say they deserve each other, but they most definitely don’t.
Hmm. You seem to be reading “deserves better” as representing some kind of absolute scale, where Lucy is saying Walky is a “bad boyfriend” on some objective measure of boyfriendness. That’s … not how I read it.
“Deserves better” directly follows Walky’s description of himself as not favouring her. She deserves “better” than that, not Walky as a person. And it’s a purely subjective better. When you say “Lucy deserves someone who is suitable for her” that, to me, is the same thing as “Lucy deserves something better”. Better for her than whatever this was.
That is an interesting interpretation. Under that thought, she’s just angry and unfocused and working through her anger with words. Which may mean that she’s just working her way through, and might find the epiphany she very, very desperately needs to start growing up mentally and emotionally. If so, this will be a good thing, and I might eventually work my way to … appreciating her, even if I doubt I will like her. (Narratively speaking all of this is a good thing.)
Its very much not how I read it. Lucy keeps coming to emotional punchlines with each strip, and she means them. She may not on the surface want to mean them if she stopped and heard them, but she means them. She’s not being mealymouthed. She’s hurting, she wants to hurt Walky in turn, and she’s (relatively) a kid. She’s lashing out as she finishes each statement, and Walky’s taking it, and that very easily validates many people’s thoughts on lashing out more. She’s not a fighter, she’s a pretty gentle person, so she isn’t striking at him, she may not even realize she is hurting him. But those comments are directed. She’s talking to him, because there’s no one else there and Lucy doesn’t monologue. (At least not that I remember?)
Even if Lucy doesn’t mean she’s better than him, deserves better than him, her phrasing is still very directed, and consciously or not, intended to revenge, to hurt. To get the last word. To prove she’s better than what he is. To prove she deserves to be better than someone hurt this way. Because, and this is a point I think we agree on, she’s hurt and angry and feels wronged. The emotional mix may be irrational, but people in pain tend to not be emotionally rational, and logically she’s working… about typical freshman level.
Again, I don’t like Lucy and I am liking her less and less. She’s moved from idealization to emotional attacks, and for the first time in their relationship she knows exactly how best to land emotional comments. But panel three (and panel three alone) is her growing as a person. For the first time I can remember, Lucy is choosing to see herself as valuable. Unfortunately, I just can’t read the very next panel as her finding that value by devaluing others, and associating this with bravery. She’s not seeing her flaws, and her self-worth is possibly getting tied to ‘maybe I can be better than you’.
I am very much not a Lucy fan, I admit my bias, so my interpretation of her is subject to assumption of her choosing the sinister rather than the dexter. If you are right, if she is choosing dexter, to choose to examine herself rather than compare and devalue, then this moment may turn out better than expected down the road.
Lucy is declaring that she deserves better. In context, she is describing Walky, and in a larger sense her relationship. One can also argue that she is stating she deserves to be valued more by her date than that date’s family, even if that date’s family is awful by the date’s own admission. Which is a pretty hard ask, even with mostly awful families, in a very short timeframe. Yeah, sure, Walky says it, but there’s a world of difference between being able to say it and being able to do it and Walky is infamously bad at directly addressing problems. Or addressing his mother. This was both.
Lucy may not have been the only one choosing the situations and emotions around her, but she was certainly one of the two, and the more active, of making those choices. She may not have enjoyed the consequences, but they were the consequences of situations she went into open eyed, not just consenting but being an active selector and participant. She does not deserve to have the universe go out of its way to make those all work out. She was warned. Often. By friends. By acquantainces. By strangers. By the boy she was… at least trying to date. By random people’s facial reactions in the church, five minutes ago. These are the results and saying, ‘I deserve better’ would be much more powerful if the results that have upset Lucy are not heavily the result of her not only making bad decisions, not paying attention to the people around her, and ignoring warning signs by the parcel. Lots of people don’t deserve bad things happening to them. But that’s when the bad things don’t include being the main driving force behind the results one declares they don’t deserve.
Lucy is a kid. She’s not an infant. She does have agency. She repeatedly chose to exercise that agency. She does not deserve better, because this is what she’s actively worked towards without retrospective or looking to the side. The only way she will deserve better is if she chooses to grow and be better, wiser, more willing to pay attention to the world around her if its showing dozens of red flags, to see if the results reflect her participation. I see no evidence of her wanting that. Even now, she just expects to be braver, and see if that works out.
This is a situation of Lucy’s and Walky’s making. She ‘deserves’ it insomuch as its the exact result that her actions lead to, even if her intentions were entirely different. She doesn’t deserve less. She doesn’t deserve more. She doesn’t deserve different. She certainly doesn’t deserve better. This is where she was going, and she doesn’t like it, and life is going to suck for her. Tomorrow she might be a wreck.
There’s lots of times in life where people deserve more. There’s lots of times when they deserve better.
But if we make choices, even bad ones, even when we don’t fully understand, and the result is painful, if the question becomes ‘I deserve better’?
No.
If I choose to put my hand into a bonfire and keep it there, I do not deserve better than a burned hand.
So no. In this instance, in this point of the story, at the end of this narrative road, Lucy does not deserve better. She does not deserve worse. She’s got a consequence, and a train wreck.
Hell, it isn’t even really about deserve, except that’s how Lucy is choosing to define it, and because of that how I have attempted to work within that framework. Its about earning a result, the ‘this’, and having to accept it, the ‘(I) deserve’, and the denial about the result being awful despite working towards it, the ‘I don’t’, and wanting something to be different, the ‘better’. “I don’t deserve this” “I deserve better”.
In this instance, in this result, in this breaking of relationships and revealed truths, Lucy doesn’t deserve better.
Lucy earned this. She deserves it. Walky also earned this. He also deserves it. Neither of them deserves the other, and yes, I did mean that to insult both. Let’s hope they both find someone that they can be happy with.
I gotta say I do actually agree with a lot of your opinions on Lucy. She really hasn’t realized some of her own flaws. She idolized and objectified Walky, manipulated her way into his friend group just to criticize them, and stubbornly pushed forward with a bad idea to try and appease racists. I especially like the description of her character as nice but not kind. As that really summarizes my dislikes in her character.
That being said you might not being giving her enough credit. Lucy was actually repeatedly bullied in this story arc, by Raidah, Sarah, Linda, possibly even Jennifer in a slightly more well meaning way. She actually gets verbally abused and disregarded quite a lot by even the nicer characters and I think that’s what she really means by being brave enough to deserve better. Everyone was basically saying it was going to fail, even Walky’s sister bet against it, and her own brother jokingly hit on Walky in front of her. Walky didn’t even respect her enough to communicate his real feelings when the “love” moment happened. She deserves better in that she deserves respect and that starts with her respecting herself.
This exactly. The “better” talked about here isn’t a judgment call on Walky’s overall worth, it’s that Lucy deserves someone who’s as invested as she is and feels she’s worth fighting for. We can draw a correlation to Sal and Charles, “you made me feel I wasn’t worth fighting for”, walky isn’t fighting for her specifically, as evidenced by the basketball game and choosing amber as an eff you to his parents rather than earnestly advocating for lucy on her own merits. He’s fighting to keep her in the relationship, because with her devotion to him and willingness to try to make things better for him she probably improves his life and self esteem quite a bit, in exchange for him accepting that she’s romantically into him way more than he is her. But Lucy deserves someone who rides that passion with her, that sees her with all the admiration and desire she sees them with, who doesn’t need to awkwardly divert a question to online tacos because they did actually develop feelings for her before asking her out.
Emotional honesty, everyone deserves emotional honesty from a potential romantic partner. Walky might have tried to tick all the “good boyfriend” boxes, but he still couldn’t be emotionally honest until confronted rather explosively.
+1ing this, though I doubt I agree with @Firseal as much as you do.
There’s been a lot of hay made over “no one DESERVES a relationship”, which is certainly a fair objection, but darn it, not what anyone saying Lucy or Walky “deserves better” means. Being alone is better than being in an unhappy relationship, for starters.
I mean. Yeah, Walky’s parents suck. But he’s been dating Lucy for, like, two weeks? And he did say quite clearly to her that she didn’t have to meet them, and unless I remember it wrong, she was sort of the instigator of the whole “fake date Amber to make the parents approve Lucy”-plan?
I don’t know, I kind of appreciate Walky just taking the blame and validating Lucy’s feelings here, because she is absolutely in the right for feeling hurt and angry here. Walky’s tendency to avoid confrontation led her to believe that he loved her, and that he was as all in with this relationship as she was. And the racist parents… don’t exactly help either. Lucy is a people pleaser and being dismissed because of something deeply bigoted that there is just no good response to must hit her incredibly hard.
My family recently reached a point where it was extremely difficult to have a relationship with some of my close family members. We ended up cutting contact with them, but it was an extremely difficult, traumatic and sad process for everyone involved, and it took years of conflict to reach that point. So I don’t blame Walky for trying to maintain his relationship to his parents in his own way, even when he has realized intellectually that they are garbage.
The fact that he told her not to show up then that they were racist then she went to lunch anyway doesn’t really excuse that Walky let them abuse her while he stood there and hoped it would solve itself. She *did* put herself in that situation but warning her he has no spine doesn’t make it not hurt when he has no spine.
Yeah, you’re right about that. The weird Amber gambit was kind of a way to stand up to them, I think, but it’s still no excuse for his non-confrontational ass not defending her when they spew bigotry directly in her face.
Yep. And keep in mind — he DID stand up to her brother a little! He was fucking with him and he was like “Dude cmon stop being a dick” and Lucy got all starry eyed.
Then he dropped the ball when it really mattered. Lucy needs to grow up and the start of that is expecting better from herself and not just falling for YA novel love cause the goofball carved out of caramel asked you out once.
I really think the walky amber thing was more for walky than it was Lucy in a sense, remember Linda’s comment later “sometimes I think you’re just slumming it”, he brought Amber to show them how bad he could really go, “you see? I am trying.” Fighting his parents specifically to gain respect for Lucy would have either been going on his own or with Lucy and advocating her her there, on the spot, and leaving if they refused to accept she was better than they were giving her credit for.
I do think the Amber thing was ill-advised and selfish, but also somewhat rooted in a naïve idea that he could fix his parents’ racism with facts and logic by exposing how bad it was. It obviously didn’t work, but I get why he went with that route to begin with. He’s always had a better relationship with them than Sal, and I can understand him being scared of losing his status as the golden boy. Standing up to them via dumb convoluted hijinks is still a rebellion, but “safer” than calling out their racism directly. It’s understandable, but still not good. Lucy has every right to be mad after enduring their bigotry with no help from her boyfriend (and honestly, some distance from Walky might do her good anyway).
The “fake dating Amber” gambit was extremely mutual. They were both 500% on board for it, and in fact I think the comic where it’s introduced reads as them having had the exact same idea at the exact same moment:
Like. Honestly, no shade on Walky for having trouble standing up to his parents in the moment. A LITTLE shade on him for not comforting her after the dinner was over, and indeed shutting down her attempts to even talk about it; and more shade on him for spending the following morning with Amber, ignoring Lucy’s texts:
(This strip is less obviously avoiding Lucy than the strip where he showed up or the strip where Amber asked him if he couldn’t do “nothing” with Lucy instead, and he said nothing is always a little bit something with Lucy.)
But he definitely didn’t push back very hard when she wanted to meet his parents, and he was definitely on board for trying to sitcom the racism out of his mom, and… I think probably in denial, overall, still. But he didn’t do as much to protect Lucy from his parents as some folks are remembering.
Yes, she clearly means that. This whole dialogue has been about how she put herself through the wringer for someone who let her go through it, it would be supremely bizarre if she suddenly switched to meaning “I need to date someone wealthy and successful” when she’s been talking about needing to be supported in the way she needs, and most of all needing to trust that she can be loved by someone she loves.
Honestly I was all fall their relationship (mostly out of spite since everyone in Universe was saying they shouldn’t be in one arbitrarily) but this made me sort of glad to see it go not because I realize that Lucy wasn’t in the right mindset for a relationship.
She was really rushing the love and sex and parents and just about everything.
Okay but you see how that wasn’t arbitrary now, and that people had that realisation a while ago? That there was way too much thought and dishonesty going into this relationship compared to an organic relationship where both parties have equal investment. It was neither of their faults, it was a mismatch when they both wanted the relationship to work, but it is a situation that most often ends in a break up. Most people are relieved it happened sooner when they’re more likely to be able to recover without too much damage.
Hey, SOME of us have been reasonable, some of us have been jerks. >.>
I don’t like getting lumped in with the jerks either, but talking about the entirety of the Walky/Lucy naysayers, I’m sure some of it was arbitrary and I’m sure some of it was just “Walky sucks and doesn’t deserve Lucy” and lots more was “Lucy sucks and doesn’t deserve Walky”. Those folks did not have a point. X3
Congrats on the honesty Walky
Congrats on leaving a relationship you were clearly not enjoying even if you don’t seem to realise it too tbh
Sorry your ship sank Lucy
Don’t go hang out with Raidah about it
I think the implication from the framing of the panel and the way there’s no background is saying they have effectively broken up and if she sees him it will be because they have the same class.
This isn’t “See you tomorrow, boyfriend,” this is “I will be cordial to you next time we meet”
It shouldn’t be a unilateral decision on Lucy’s part. Walky ought to reflect on his needs and feelings, recognise that he and Lucy are not suited to each other, and stop going along with her decisions when he doesn’t agree with them.
For her part, I think that Lucy needs to recognise that she has a habit of projecting rosy images onto people and then relating to those instead of what the people are really like.
I can potentially see this concluding with Walky going back to Dorothy looking for comfort, and they end up getting back together, or at the very least having sex.
Maybe. I feel like Dorothy is going to get in her own way again. Walky just had a rough breakup and needs to think about things — I’m not sure she’s selfish enough to spring on a wounded gazelle like that.
I dunno, Dorothy’s pretty wounded herself at the moment. Plus, she recently tried to get back together with Walky, but he turned her down because he was with Lucy.
it’s possible but much like how Lucy never actually got to fuck Walky, I kind of predict that Dorothy and Walky getting back together would be too obvious and therefore won’t happen because they’ll get in their own ways.
My bets are getting back together with Amber. They are back to friendly/hangouts which he and Dorothy never achieved. And she went along to the parents thing/ Sal defended her. The only thing counting against Amber [in this exact moment] is parental endorsement [the fact they did].
I honestly feel like this is the right call. Dorothy’s loneliness got setup with the exercise scene, and she’s going to somehow be in the orbit and then Amber is going to get together with him and she’s going to — yet again — get left out from happiness because of her intense drive to succeed. Not to mention Booster suggested this was better for both of them, “Diamtetrically opposed garbage,” AND Sal gave them their blessing, as did Walky’s dad.
Damn, that’s actually a strong ass theory. Probably what’s coming.
I actually think he’s too proud/ashamed to do that, right now. He doesn’t just feel hurt here, he feels GUILTY and ashamed of how he behaved towards his parents and Lucy. If he went to Dorothy, not only would he be baring his own shame to the person he sees as perfect with no flaws, he’d ALSO feel like a total hypocrite because he just turned her down when she tried to get back together with him recently! All this means that Dorothy is actually probably the LAST person Walky wants to see atm.
Now, AMBER on the other hand…Walky could definitely be tempted by a good ol’ escape into oblivion right about now.
You’re not wrong, but the question is does Amber still want to be garbage? Yes, they spent a morning together pantsless, playing videogames, and eating nachos, but does she want to go any further than that, or at least with him? Lest we forget what happened on Halloween.
At which point Lucy opens the door, saying, “Walky, I’ve been doing some soul-searching, and I think we can still…GAH! WHAT’S SHE DOING IN YOUR BED???”
Heh. So, everyone is terrible, indeed. One (sub-cunsciously?) listents to their racist family and gets rid of the undesired person. Other, tries to push their religion and as soon as they notice it is not accepted, of course by pure coincidence, figure out that they deserve better.
This is sad so sad but good for them. I actually hope they get back together later in a better way. I think they have a lot of potential and it doesn’t feel hopeless for them. More like bad timing.
All the arguments about who should have done what and when during the course of their relationship are fine and good, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that, on some level, Lucy just 100% committed to torpedoing a romantic relationship to back-door win an argument about theology. We should all aspire to that level of being willing to do anything to win an argument.
Oof.
Lucy is right, if the relationship is not what she wants it to be, it’s fair to step away from it. And it’s fair to call Walky out for how he’s acted about his parents.
However, her expectations of “we’ve dated for such a short time but we must call it LOVE and if you’re not ready, then you aren’t treating me as well as i deserve” are…. not something i consider healthy expectations.
Lucy surely grew up as a person doing this. Let’s hope she will not becoming a part of Raidah’s entourage now. I kinda hope they will back together in the future, but what will do Walky now? More important, what will do Dorothy after discovery all of this?
Technically the only prediction of the future Booster made was “You can do better”. While Lucy has come to agree with that assessment, it does not actually come true until she successfully acquires a better significant other.
Proud of Lucy. Sad for Walky. Concerned he might take this an indictment of him as a boyfriend even though it wasn’t, the same way he seems to think the breakup with Dorothy was his fault even though it wasn’t. (Because it wasn’t anyone’s fault.)
Also gonna spend a moment here talking about how in some ways, Walky and Lucy were on very similar pages about their relationship — Lucy wanted a boyfriend, and she was very much in love with the idea of being in love, rather than in love with Walky specifically.
Walky, meanwhile, wanted to be a Good Boyfriend, and I think he was in some ways more invested in that, the act of being a Good Boyfriend, than he was in being Lucy’s boyfriend specifically.
He doesn’t have a whole lot of experience with Being A Boyfriend in general (just as Lucy doesn’t have a lot of experience with Being In Love), but he absolutely feels like what happened with Dorothy and Amber count as Personal Failings, things he messed up, relationships that wouldn’t have ended if he had done everything right… and I think we can see him here trying to Do Better, not because he specifically loves and wants to be with Lucy and wants to make sure his relationship with her lasts — but because he doesn’t want to her her, and he doesn’t, himself, want to be hurt again.
I don’t think this is really a conscious thing either of them were doing by the way. We are 0/2 villains in this situation.
Examples of Walky trying really hard to be A Good Boyfriend:
1. Talking to Dorothy about potentially being someone’s first time.
2. Taking his girlfriend on dates. (Worth noting that neither Walky/Dorothy nor Walky/Amber really did dates in the traditional sense.)
3. Letting his girlfriend dress him up. (He fought Dorothy on this at first.)
4. Meeting his girlfriend’s family (Lucy’s brother).
5. Panicking internally and then talking to Dorothy again after Lucy said “I love you, too”.
6. Trying to avoid Lucy meeting his parents.
7. Trying to sitcom-hijinx his way to his parents liking Lucy. (This was very mutual, by the way, and not something either of them forced on the other.)
8. Going to church with his church-going girlfriend.
(And now I’m thinking, for Danny, this might all just come naturally. Danny seems like a more Traditionally Romantic Guy. Walky’s vibe, meanwhile, has always skewed more… Relaxed Fit. And a partner who’s into the Traditional Romantic Guy stuff would love Danny — I think Sal’s been really enjoying it, maybe especially because it’s not what she’s used to — but for some folks, it would have been way too much, way too fast, and also awkward and uncomfortable.)
(I think Walky, at least right now at eighteen, should be dating someone whose idea of a date is closer to… well, playing Mario Kart together, not to put too fine a point on it.) (And I genuinely don’t even ‘ship him with Amber, it’s just unavoidably true that I think he had a better time doing nothing with Amber that day than he’s had at any point with Lucy since they started dating. :c )
I agree completely with your takes. But I do thing Lucy had legitimate romantic feelings for Walky, though I think she could get them easily for just about any decent guy given the right circumstances, and that she does need to be okay with finding someone she genuinely builds a mutual connection with rather than hoping a benign willing participant will manage it.
Oh yeah, I overstated things if I wound up saying she didn’t feel ANYTHING for him. She liked him for sure. And he liked her, too. I just think they were kinda… focused on the wrong things here, if that makes sense. 🙂
Honestly, I’m not sure I agree that Walky has done the wrong that they are both agreeing he did. When his parents showed up, he WARNED Lucy explicitly that his parents would be shits about her and gave her outs from interacting with them. Lucy was the one who decided nope, we shall somehow beat them at this game. So Walky went along with LUCY’S PLAN TO PLAY THE GAME. And took a lot of heat in the process of, as Charles put it, hard-selling them on Lucy.
But now he’s getting and accepting the blame for… *checks notes* Not cutting ties with his parents over a 2-week relationship? Ignoring the larger and messier question of whether he should cut ties with his parents generally, for himself and for his sister… Who would actually expect him to do this for a 2-week relationship? One that the parents aren’t even actually trying to interfere with beyond not quite hiding their judginess well enough?
Mind you, it’s perfectly fine for Lucy to look at the parents (especially combined with other factors) and nope out of the relationship. It’s specifically the ‘fuck you’ to Walky and the ‘yeah fuck me’ from Walky that I disagree with the characters about (emphasis: disagree with the characters, not the writer)
walky: we should leave my parents out of this relationship…
lucy: No, i want them to know im good for you and a good person
Walky: ok.
Lucy: How dare you… i deserve better.
The flooble does she mean by “better”? someone that will instantly/religiously fall in manic love with her?
she doesn’t want a boyfriend, she wants a sycophant.
He liked her enough to ask her out, heaven forbid he didn’t fall in love in less than a fortnight. We date people to test the waters, not to get married after a week.
(Unless we’re queer. Then we move in together after meeting in person for the first time that day and discuss marriage after 6 days. But my wife and I are not holding Walky to the standard).
Walky should have been allowed to test the waters, and Lucy should have calmed down a bit. I understand it was her first relationship, but that’s even more reason to pump the brakes.
she thought she could set the pace of the relationship (she cranked it up to warp 9.5), and it didn’t work out the way she wanted. she was basically speedrunning a breakup.
Walky got tied to the back of a car, dragged through the relationship, and blamed at the end.
I don’t think she realised that she was setting the pace, nor that she realises that she was going very fast with Walky. I think she believes that there is a natural pace and that it is naturally as fast as a rom-com or Disney romance.
Yes. Also walky had agency and personhood and could have at any point gone “whoa this is too fast for me”, they were two people dating. The biggest reason Lucy thought things were going so fast was because Wally didn’t want to disappoint her, but this is why you still advocate for yourself and your own comfort, or else you do end up stumbling along with someone running, thinking you’re running too
looking at it, walky was kinda raised to be like his father.
he has that same subservience that his father does; the kind that has you go along with whatever idea your wife/gf has, even when it is a terrible idea, because you don’t want to be tossed away.
my grandmother raised me the same way. do what you’re told, give everyone what they want, your wants/needs/comfort come second (if you’re lucky), and if things should go wrong, well, you should have done better.
I interpret Lucy’s “I deserve better” as having had its context set by “Me too” in the preceding panel, establishing that she, like Walky, makes bad choices because she wants too much to be liked. I think she is talking about her wider habit with respect to e.g. Malaya, Billie/Jennifer, and her dorm/wing/floor mates, on whom she projected enthusiastic friendship and then related to it and not them. She is saying that she ought to develop the courage to recognise what those around her actually think and feel, including that not everyone likes her. (That would be good for her itself, I think. And, luckily, it would probably make more people genuinely like her.)
A nice take, I do think “I deserve better” may be that she deserves a mutual relationship with trust and honesty, but I do think your point is part of that – she needs the courage to accept others’ real feelings, if she can’t be honest about that to herself then she won’t likely have clarity in any relationship she gets into.
One of those moments for which the “dodged a bullet” metaphor was coined: a truly calamitous event has been avoided, but by such an alarmingly narrow margin that the experience is nevertheless quite upsetting in itself. It is only in comparison to the catastrophe avoided that a sense of relief is possible.
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self-love is best love tho
if a little less warm in bed
At least nobody breathes on me
Have I got a magazine for you. Free shovel if you send in the barcode from the first three issues…
Someone doesn’t have any cats…
I still got my pillow girlfriend, which is probably like sharing my bed with a person if you haven’t done it.
But honestly, props to both Lucy and Walky for saying the difficult things.
Lemme try that one more time. “Snuggling with your pillow girlfriend is probably sort of like sharing your bed with another person if you have not ever shared your bed with another person.”
i’m sure lucy has as many stuffed animals as joyce tho maybe dina should let lucy cuddle her dino plush lol
Will it really help Lucy to cuddle something that is full of sex reek?
THAT IS A TOPIC i’ve been meaning to talk about!!!
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/lobby/
Where are all of them??? Why do we never see them? They must be hard to draw, but THEY SHOULD BE THERE!!!
Dina’s stuffed dinosaur ate them.
Ruth mistook them for femurs
or they’re in the closet
closets are big
That’s why there’s no space for 6 bins full of Jesus drawings?
solution: get a nice heating pad and tuck it into a body pillow TuT
I legit want a heated weighted plush that purrs
somebody invent it and sell me one pls
Atta girl.
Whelp the Walky x Lucy stocks just crashed. I hope folks cashed out in time.
Thankfully I only bought bit coin, totally safe bets
Sal’s owed some money.
it was inevitable but didn’t they last a bit longer than sal expected?
Nope.
Less.
They didn’t even make the 2 weeks she suggested.
I’m not entirely certain this is the end of their relationship, as opposed to a turning point. Quite likely it is, but not certain.
Sal just got a notification on her phone that’s an animated casino gif going JACKPOT!!! and she doesn’t know why
I don’t think anybody predicted the timeline more accurately, but Sal doesn’t get a payout if we play by The Price is Right rules (closest without going over).
but they never bit each other
No, I got late, I’ve a lot of loss .
Getting up late is often harder on the commenter than the comic, but people can move past it and heal.
I bought big after Walky’s initial save in the church, whoops. Guess I gotta hope one of these two idiots manages to Mary Ellen Carter this ship.
RISE AGAIN, RISE AGAAAIN
… who let this melodious Canadian baritone in here
Really? We’re still getting ambiguous statements from Lucy. But I would go long on a change of scene tomorrow.
I liked the ship but I love Lucy way more so I am THRIVING
i’m ready to branch off DOA and into Mym’s upcoming sexy LucyxDorothy spinoff
AAAAYYYYEEEE
Well, that\s probably the last time we’ll see her for the next 3 years of strips.
??
It doesn’t take THAT long to get to ‘the next day’ in comic. At worst, it’ll be time for math in a month or two.
No guarantee we’ll be there, though.
Or seems like a level of awkwardness were likely to witness
*it and *we’re, dammit swipy thing!
depends on how the story goes, asher got more screentime than expected so i assume she’d still be around as jennifer’s roommate unless the next story focus entirely on like ruth/jason’s relationship or another robin story lol
We can hope.
She belongs with Ken, somewhere far, far in the background of more interesting characters scenes.
Willis is right, math is the best. It will never break your heart.
Until you get negative delta in Quadratic function
Better than functioning negatively in the Delta Quadrant.
Wait till you get to Complex Conjugates
Ok im sorry, why flag dont have any safety net with “are you sure to send that person to shadowrealm?” question.
Because it takes 5 flags before anything happens to a comment.
Tell that to dyscalculics in highschool
Good moment of realization and growth for both characters. Everyone’s a winner kinda!
Hahaha i like this interpretation. Everybody is a winner and we all feel bad about it!
Yeah, a breakup on basically-amicable terms, both of them recognizing their flaws here and owning them, with hope to do better in the future. Probably the best-case scenario for them both on the whole.
as someone who is not good at social situations: are they actually broken up? or is this a “I need some time to cool off and think about things”?
I think between “I realized you don’t like me as much as I like you, and that makes me question the feeling I THOUGHT was love,” “you really screwed up with your parents”/“yeah I did and I SHOULD HAVE prioritized you,” and “I deserve better” as a realization, if this ISN’T a breakup I’d be surprised. Between that and the church date itself showing how DISPARATE their values are – Dina pushes back on the guilt and shame built into Becky’s faith, but I’m not sure she finds the idea of believing in a god harmful in and of itself the way Walky’s indicated here* – I don’t think there’s a reassessment where Lucy decides “oh yeah, I do still want to date him” without some serious growth on Walky’s part (including him saying up-front, “yes I actually do like you romantically now that I’ve had time to consider it.”)
* Could be misremembering, granted. But generally speaking Dina finds the idea of god unfounded in the principles of scientific observation and hates CREATIONISM and other such things that run counter to what CAN be observed. But we haven’t seen her show the same discomfort at the IDEA of a god that Walky has here or Joyce had when those first cracks began to show (singing a hymn at church and being triggered because she saw the throughline between it and Ross’s “I would die for you and I know what’s good for you better than you do.”) Specific tenets, yes – and I can see that continuing to cause tension – but belief in something that’s inherently unobservable, not necessarily. At least not to the same extent that the other cast atheists have.
I don’t think Walky found the idea of believing in a god harmful, so much as the whole “surrender autonomy” thing. He’s not religious, but he was bothered to find this church felt so culty.
Accidental Flag because I got fat fingies
He liked her romantically he just didn’t love her yet.
Probably the best case scenario for these two
Got him to attend church, dumped him, then reminded him that math exists. Cold as ice.
Just kidding, this was probably very necessary.
Man, when you phrase it like that.
I know it wasn’t on purpose, but ouch.
“I deserve better (than you)” is also a hell of a line to leave on. I don’t think Lucy meant it that way, but I won’t be at all surprised if Walky hears it that way.
He OUGHT to hear it that way, because maybe that nail of truth will get through his delusions, and the next time, he might have some actual empathy.
I don’t know that he’s really all that inclined to disagree.
Are we even reading the same webcomic? It doesn’t seem that way.
… you think Walky is the one lacking empathy here?
By which I note Lucy just spent a week and a half treating Walky as a fanfic version of himself, and for three strips hasn’t evinced any inkling of her own part in this train wreck aside from the first step that she has an entirely over-idealized and not particularly grounded in reality image of Walky. She hasn’t owned up to any of her actions except as ‘jumping through hoops FOR him’ – leaving out that most of the hoops either she made or helped third parties set up. But no, she’s at the blame stage. Everything is Walky’s fault for taking advantage of her.
Lucy’s realizations, in order, are that Walky has never been as invested or active in the relationship as she is. That Walky wasn’t going to be 100% her protector and savior in the face of the parents he increasingly dreads. That she doesn’t think about how she acts.
At the same time, Lucy doesn’t recognise a single fault of her own. Because she doesn’t think she’s made any. She’s handled everything right and is bitter because she didn’t get her shiny toy. With every realization, Lucy’s put it all on Walky. Because if he’s not her idealized lover, then he’s the one pulling that good Christian girl astray.
Lucy has figured out about 33% of why this relationship has failed. She hasn’t even started unpacking the parts that are her fault, and if no one makes her she never will. Because why should she? SHE’S still good, and clean of sin, and the victim. Lucy will hurt over this, but she’s not going to grow in any positive way on her own because God knows she doesn’t have to.
So I guess that is another way Walky is wrong. Lucy’s god does talk back, and just like to so many who hear hIM, its to absolve her of owning up to her mistakes.
Walky is… Walky. He is still being respectful of her feelings as much as someone with the maturity level of a man two thirds his age who has been under the thumb of someone who doesn’t particularly want him mature. But where he lacks a spine, or full understanding of Lucy, he’s still the one letting the other lash out at him, letting himself take the hits, because his entire history of being the perfect son of a manipulative woman tells him that whatever Lucy is angry about he deserves.
Don’t get me wrong. Walky is a total mess, and he has made mistake after mistake after mistake after… well, ad nausem. But there is a person in this scene who is letting the other person hurt them so the second person can feel better, feel exonerated. Lucy sure as Hell (if her religion is right about certain things) isn’t that empathic person.
Are we reading the same webcomic? You might disagree with Lucy’s analysis that her mistakes were 1) projecting onto Walky 2) jumping through hoops to get his parents to like her (which she doesn’t actually blame him for, just for “going along with it”, which he did) and 3) nothing else, but I don’t think you can really she doesn’t acknowledge making any mistakes. She certainly hasn’t accused him of “taking advantage of her”, and I’m not even sure what that would mean in a relationship where they never had sex, largely due to his complete lack of interest in doing so.
We apparently aren’t reading the same webcomic. Yours has a much better Lucy.
Lucy has blamed Walky. Saying ‘fuck you for going along with it’ is blaming someone for going along with it. She, meanwhile, doesn’t acknowledge that she wanted to go jumping through hoops. Lucy just thought she ought to, and now she wonders why. But Walky didn’t stop her, and that makes him culpable in her eyes.
Lucy’s third realization is here on today’s strip, and it is that she ‘should be braver’. Not, ‘she should pay attention’. Not ‘I may want to remember that the other person in the relationship is a person with feelings that may not always mimic mine’. Not, ‘I pushed this’.
Not a single thing about Walky, except to put blame on Walky. Certainly not anything about how Walky may feel except to punch at those feelings. There’s not a shred of empathy in Lucy right now (and there’s rarely been – she tends too much to see people simply, in black and white and blazing neon, rather than in layers. Helped her idolize Billie, make Prince Charming out of Walky, villainize Sarah. Empathy helps people see other people in layers rather than archetypes. Lucy is bad at it.)
Lucy has spent three pages making realizations with zero self reflection, and every problem she identified she put on someone else. Lucy may want bright happy feelings, but she can’t read a room, and her empathy to anything but the most vibrant of surface emotions is poor. Of course she feels Walky took advantage. All that time she sunk into him, and he didn’t actually love her. Not after two weeks of lightweight dating. Not after knowing him for three months. All that time she invested, and he wasn’t what she expected, and so she grows just enough courage to blame him, curse him, and leave making sure she has the last world.
Yes she’s blamed him of not taking advantage. Because to her mind, she wanted him to be something else, and by not being that person, by not being what she wanted, she feels decieved. She feels disillusioned. Lucy feels like she invested in Walky, got him to dress better and go places on time. Lucy felt she just needed to do some superficial changes and out pops her prince, and that didn’t happen. Of course he was taking advantage of her. Lucy wanted a fairy tale, and picked a frog, and he stayed a frog.
How dare Walky. How dare he?
Well, a moment of empathy would let her actually understand how he dare not be what she expected, wanted, desired her to be. But again. Lucy is in the blame stage, because it lets her deflect all blame, internal and external, from herself.
This doesn’t make her a villain or a monster or some sort of terrible person. Lucy is a college kid. Lucy is a young human. She’s not very empathic, she is religious, and she is very nice. Nice is not kind. Nice, intentionally or not, wants reciprocation. Nice wants nice, or kind, or trust, or value, or affection, or appreciation, or SOMETHING back. Nice is when you give someone a birthday present and expect a return gesture. Lucy did all the things she did because she wanted the ‘artist’s impression’ of Walky as hers. She wanted sex. She wanted the fairy tale. Lucy was very nice to Walky, and the last few pages have been her spinning around but never quite landing on the realization that nice may want something back, but nice does not DESERVE something back.
… I do not like Lucy, so this may be bias. Except for all the evidence. (Granted, again, Walky has got ISSUES). So yeah. Neither of these are great people, but if you want to say one has empathy – show one scene of Lucy putting herself in the perspective of another person without it looking like a fanfic because she instead put herself in the highly idealized version of their shoes. I freely admit, sometimes I miss days, and thus strips.
Its possible she’s had empathy once or twice. But certainly not since she left that church.
May I point out again the element of time. Lucy has begun a radical adjustment of her self-image. Nobody is going to complete that in 30-60 seconds, which is about what the last three strips add up to. It can take months, or years. If she has fairly begun by Monday I’ll applaud her loudly.
Firseal answered quite well and lengthily, but to name just a single example of Lucy indeed lacking empathy, she is openly angry at Walky for not being in love with her. She didn’t say “you don’t feel the same way about me”, she expressed it as a failure on his part to “love [her] back”. She has not demonstrated the ability to put herself in his emotional shoes to understand why someone may not be comfortable expressing something taken as seriously as *love* after a few weeks of dating. What she is is angry at him for failing to meet a standard she invented for him.
@aussir – to me it’s realistic dialogue for a teenager dealing with their first breakup. Whether or not we think it’s that big a deal, Lucy did think she was in love with Wally and has a lot further to fall for that than Walky who has been well aware of the difference in their feelings and has been trying to invest but has not genuinely been feeling it. She feels disappointed in him to say the least, but she is the one here grappling with a radical change in how she’d viewed things, people often do not have a fair and empathetic response in moments like this.
I also have to say how bizarre it is because Wally had some investment here, but nowhere as much as Lucy, people have been deriding her for the last year for being too invested in an early relationship, and yet now we should all feel bad for walky? Why would we feel worse for Walky than Lucy here? Because she does actually resent him for having lied to her and asked her out when he wasn’t that into her? Because he may have to fall into the arms of one of his two other, more main character love interests, both of which have shown some sign of still being into him and wanting to be back with him? While after this strip, Lucy may either fade back into the secondary cast.l, or worse become antagonistic to members of the main cast.
This is a bummer experience, the thing that hurts Walky here is certainly Lucy being hurt and upset with him, but more than that I think it challenges his view of himself particularly in relation to his parents. He may have lost a friend as well as a girlfriend today, time will tell.
I don’t think people are understanding “better” in the right context. The “standard” Lucy is right to expect here is “someone who supports her, is happy with her as she is and is honest with her”, Walky for all his best intentions could not and honestly would not have ever done all of those things at once, he is conflict avoidant and too focused on keeping the peace for everybody for as long as it lasts, quite happy to pretend and go along and operate in the grey areas avoiding conflict with everyone until he couldn’t anymore. That was disrespectful to Lucy and the fact that everyone has assumed Lucy had the problem for genuinely being excited and invested in a new relationship with someone she’d had a crush on for 4 months as though that was delusional, rather than allowing wally more responsibility for having misled her in a way that further amplified her misconceptions, to avoid further conflict until finally coming out with it all in the church. Walky isn’t an egregious monster, but neither is Lucy. They’re just awkward teenagers learning how to and not to hurt others. This situation is interesting precisely because they both kinda walked right into this situation with naivete and good intentions.
Does anyone have the sparks notes on this thread? I’m starting to think people should just make YouTube videos on these essays, I’d watch. Can’t really read these gigantic posts on this layout
Mym: It’s mostly reiterations and explanations that demonstrate that Lucy had a fantasy version of Walky in her head, was upset when she realized he wasn’t that version, but didn’t learn anything at all from it other than “I deserve better.” She projected all of the problems of the relationship onto everyone else and doesn’t realize that her own expectations were flawed.
Probably the strongest point stated was that Lucy isn’t showing the empathy to understand people as layered human beings instead of as archetypes.
The flipside is that there’s a lot of slightly subtle language that Firseal has towards Lucy, and seeing her viewpoint as coming from her religion (eg “she’s good and clean of sin”), which I’m not entirely sure is fair because her religion isn’t overtaking her personality in the same way it was for Joyce, or is for Mary. Firseal is open that while they don’t view Lucy as a villain, they really do not like her.
Other people are mostly agreeing with Firseal’s analysis of the problem, except pointing out the fact that they’re being a bit too hard on Lucy or expecting too much too soon, or noting that it takes a while for a real “eureka” moment and personality shift.
There’s a whole lot of charging of one or the other lacking empathy, and I think maybe everyone should settle down a little. Like…they’re teenagers. I don’t know who we’re “supposed” to feel more bad for, maybe we can feel bad for both of them. Not every situation has a clear-cut villain and victim.
Lucy hasn’t learned to see things outside of the lens she knows. Yes this can be accurately described as a lack of empathy, but she’s still a teenager, she’s still learning.
Walky still doesn’t stand up to his parents very well, but he only just started doing it at all. And that’s hard even when the parent one needs to stand up to isn’t Linda. She scared me with the way she reacted at the dinner with Amber, and I’m not her kid.
I think it’s also worth noting that he tried to tell Lucy she didn’t have to meet up with his parents and she couldn’t hear the warning. And I mean they’d been dating for two weeks. Hanging out for three months or not, one does not have to meet the parents that early.
+1 for @Devin’s note about them being teenagers and this situation not having a Villain and Victim.
@Devin – Oh, absolutely. I 100% agree that everyone needs to remember that these are just kids, they’re just figuring out life for themselves. It’s a “coming of age” story, and they’re not there yet. Nobody should, at this point, be at the “Ah, they’re totally right, they have all of life figured out” stage.
All the people villifying Walky for not being proactive with his parents, need to freaking understand that up until this point, he only had hypothetical and anecdotal evidence of his parents’ racism. It wasn’t *real* to him in the way that it was *real* to Sal. It seemed like something that could be worked around. And people also need to freaking remember what it was like when you were eighteen and had only been away from home for a few months.
If you had a crap homelife, then yeah, you probably could easily tell your parents to take a hike. If you didn’t, then college probably just felt like sleepaway camp for the first year or so. You don’t really get that you’re an adult and can make your own decisions. Like, people actively worry about parents “taking them home” (like what happened to Dana, or what Joyce and Ruth were worried about) when it’s clear that they *literally can’t* against your will.
In this situation, the only person I feel was in the wrong was Lucy, and not because of what happened here. She’s in the wrong because she was never really Walky’s friend. She was “hanging out” with him for four months, sure, but doing so as an unofficial “girlfriend-in-waiting.” He’s lost a girlfriend, but he hasn’t lost a friend, because she has literally been in “court this boy so he falls for me” mode since they first met. Which is why she believed her own fiction of “He must love me, he sees me as part of the family, etc.” and none of the glaring red flags.
While I agree with a lot of your analysis of Lucy, I will disagree that this has anything to do with her religious views. She’s not season 1 Joyce. We almost never see her talking about God outside of going to church or while at it.
I think the source of her ills is more akin to that of many proto-incels; she’s been raised on a certain type of movie, that has taught her that if she’s ‘nice’, then she’ll get the guy (who is the first one she locks onto), and he’ll be perfect, and this will lead to happily ever after.
and Walky hasn’t actually seen that movie
so doesn’t know he should have rolled down the snowhill
yelling “AAAAS YOOOOU WIIIISSSH”
–Dave, I think the ship is only mostly dead
Buttercup was anything but nice to Farm Boy.
I’ve been in the same position as Walky. It sucked, and I didn’t handle it with any more grace than he did. So thanks, it’s really improved my day to know that some guy on the internet thinks I deserve to feel awful about myself.
Just because I really think it needs to be said: wally made a mistake coming from a good place and doesn’t deserve to feel awful about it, and if you relate to this situation on either side, you don’t deserve to feel awful. People are messy and complicated, we do the best we can with what we have, we aren’t mind readers nor are we clairvoyant.
What delusions specifically?
Booster is indeed a soothsayer, it would seem.
Booster may have had the right idea, but would not have been able to communicate it for much the same reason Lucy had to hear from Walky that he didn’t love her as she did him.
I was more interested to note that Lucy used the same phrasing Booster used when they evaluated the merits of the relationship. Booster told Lucy she could do better, and it seems like hearing what she did from Walky has Lucy fully able to appreciate that assessment in hindsight.
I mean, she’s right though. Like I love walky, but that is just an accurate statement. Walky needs to figure out his passivity issues and to put it harshly, grow a spine before his next relationship. he should have clarified that he didn’t say I love you from the start. He should have set a hard boundary on not meeting his parents. Because sure he pushed back some but not that hard. He was beating around the bush about the whole thing. He needs to learn the word “no” and how to stick to it, for his own sake as well as others.
It’s easier to get a ‘no’ across when the person you’re talking to can actually read the room. Lucy, near as I can tell, has almost no theory of mind–she can’t understand that other people don’t view the world the way she does. She simply assumes her perspective is the only one that exists, and thus assumes that if other people are acting counter to her expectations, there must be some sort of malignant reason for this.
I mean, no? No. That just doesn’t really describe Lucy. It does pathologize perfectly typical developing teen brains, though.
You won the comment section. Everyone else can go home
tbf it was his idea to go to church, but if she did acknowledge it , i guess it might mean she’d still politely talk to walky in math class if needed or be distant but not in an awkward avoiding way
I do hope, that before the comic is through, that they can be cartoon buddies again.
I get this odd feeling that she’s going to hook up with someone else soon enough, and then do what she can to rub Walky’s face in it. not like go out of her way to, but just as an incidental effect when they happen to be in the same place.
We didn’t get 666 comments 😭
I’m so disappointed.
i wuz TRYIN’
Do we really want the mark of the beast? Everyone will be so disappointed when they find out we’re not all super swole, after all.
Swole? Pika pi?
You know… yoked, beefy, jacked. Very muscular. The envy of the gym.
Eh screw gyms. You pay torture yourself while people ridicule you.
Hiking and even walks around your neighborhood are much better ^^
I’m sorry that’s been your experience with gyms. 🙁 I’ve only had good experiences, but I would go with friends or just hop on an elliptical and watch cooking shows on my iPad.
Awe that’s neat.
The only gyms I really into are Pokemon Gyms :p
I was never ridiculed. Come to think of it, I attended for a couple of months and found out the other guys were calling me “pro.” I wasn’t bulked up or anything, but I was advancing quickly. But then I quit.
I thought the stereotype was that gym people are mad encouraging. MP100 body improvement club style
I’ll take the Mark of the Beast!
I need it for the 100% achievement of having worthless titles that offend people who choose to be offended by worthless titles~
I know. I am ashamed.
This is an important revelation for people to have! I hope she doesn’t immediately turn around and join Raidah’s lil group, but I’m glad she hit this point.
…Damn. No, that’s exactly where she’s headed. The whole collection of people with moderately-justified grievances against the main cast that have been blown up into the worst things ever, that makes perfect sense for her and would be so bad.
To be clear, it’s not that I think Lucy is there YET, it’s that Raidah will bring her there.
Now I see arc league of antifriends with Raidah as leader and Lucy as 6 ranger and grand battle on garbate roof
Dumbing of Age: Thunderbolts.
You know, it would be funny if Raidah’s group got replaced completely by ‘nerds who know who Kit Fisto is.’
I mean, that is a direction it could go, but. Mmmmm. We’ll see. I still think Raidah is first and foremost trying to get back at Joyce, and Lucy isn’t one of Joyce’s friends.
Still, if Lucy has been seriously embittered here (and that’s… a possibility, though not the only one), she WOULD be a weak link, not so dissimilar from how Billie was (because back then, in that moment, she was Billie) when Raidah pounced on her…… at the very least, she might be a resource for Raidah.
… sydney yus joins when
Will Raidah’s group even like her? I feel like they would just bully her tbh. I can’t remember, were they particularly friendly with her when they interacted?
They only acted, but they did have intentions of making her uncomfortable with Walky, but they didn’t come to anything serious, but Raidah did take care of putting her poison by giving her opinion about Sarah.
They were polite enough, but Lucy has no social capital and they’re a bunch of social climbers. So unless Lucy has disgunstingly rich or powerful parents, or Raidah just really wants to use her against Sarah (which there’s no real way for it, as Sarah was just proven right), then odds are Lucy’s getting dumped like last season’s Versace knock-off
If Lucy had parents that were useful in that regard I think Linda would have treated her differently. She strikes me as someone who ultimately would have been just fine with Raidah’s group.
Lo. Wouldn’t that be hilarious though if Lucy’s parents were rich or one was like the mayor or something and we just didn’t know for some arbitrary reason? Maybe her last name is different or something. Linda said Walky was slumming it only for the truth to be Lucy was and the next time Linda meets her the well has already been poisoned.
I dunno. I think Linda would look at the group and mutter, ‘amateurs’
Raidah and company ignored Lucy’s existence as much as they could. They were all, “it was so nice to meet you, David” and he was like “–yeah, and Lucy!”
So, luckily for Lucy, this crappy group won’t give her the time of day.
Doubt it, the only reason Raidah entertained her was because she came with Walky
Raidah doesn’t like people unless she thinks that person can help her career ambitions in some way
… wait, is Raidah gonna swoop in and try to seduce Walky now?
screams internally
oh I just had a horrible idea. Walky’s parents are still in town… imagine they run into Raidah, who gushes about how impressive and charismatic Walky is, and by the way she’s gonna be a lawyer someday and wowee Mrs. Walkerton you know the dean…?
I’d ship it.
Seriously, at this point, I ship everyone in this comic with Walky before him trying to get back with Lucy.
Walky x Glassno! Walky x Carol!! Walky x Blowjob Cat!!! Walky x Mary!!?! Walky x Mike’s spirit from beyond co-posessing Jennifer through a radioactive squirrel bite!?!?! Walky x Optimus Prime?!?!? Walky x Joyce’s old church (the building, but only after service)!!!?!!!
So, yeah, let’s get Walky x Raidah going. Sure.
Anyone but Lucy. Because we’ve seen that, and we KNOW it doesn’t work on any level. The crack ships? Might.
I first read that as Walky doing a whirlwind tour of all the crack ships mentioned before actually getting back to the OTP of him and Lucy. 🙂
Honestly, if they break up and are friends for a while and THEN mutually decide to be interested in more, they might do better at round two.
But only if Walky’s been with everyone else in the comic first.
snicker
Lucy’s naive and sheltered. And she just got hit with a reality check that relationships shouldn’t be idolized. She’ll learn from that. She’s far from dumb.
What she’ll have more trouble with is willful blindness. I doubt she’s missed all the signs, before this. She just refused to see them. She might learn from that, she might not.
But I’ll agree she and Walky are a bad fit for a much bigger reason. Religion. Walky is casually spiritual at most. Lucy is a devout Christian on par with Joyce (though less dogmatically). That’s a fundamental difference; and not one that can be resolved with maturity and experience.
Speaking as an agnostic leaning towards non-belief, I generally don’t like seeing Christians lose their faith. Because it is rarely a gentle process.
I gotta say… I’m not nearly that desperate to ship Walky with anyone. People don’t have to be paired up, geez.
That would fly in the face of what she just learned since she only wanted to chill with them since they were popular.
Nah, I see Lucy throwing herself on her bed for a good cry, and Jennifer saying something abrasive that accidentally is just the right grit to reshape Lucy’s ruminations in a more positive direction.
and this is why you never go to church
Well, there are multiple reasons, but that is a very valid one of them, yes.
I remember when Lucy dumped me after church, too
This is Lucy’s actual problem solving strategy. She lures you to church just to roast you after the service and ditch (/j)
poor Charlie (Brown)
–Dave, all those years of being thrown religious peanuts and he’s just a roast squrl in a cage
Lucy gets around.
//cough
Uh
Here’s the next preview to my fancomic. I am hoping 20 pages in total
https://twitter.com/MymdalinB/status/1737329801369923880
So uh…shame…uh….about all that breakup stuff. Glad Lucy is developing more as a character
I missed ‘preview’ and was like ‘how do I get to the other 19 pages?’
By which, I mean I am intrigued and wish to see more.
I wish to see more, too.
Thanks so much
YO THIS IS SO GOOD. Love your shading and paneling to pieces. Seriously top tier work gosh!
HHHHH THANK YOU YOTO
Very well done. You seem quite talented.
This was a nice surprise to end my day with, thank you. I hope you will let us know when you have more – I’m very excited to see where this goes.
Woohoo!! I’m going to try and finish 8 pages before I post more, but I’m already halfway to that point.
Yo. This looks good! Who in the cast wears contacts?
Anyone with glasses and internet can be a contender!
Love your work! Are you on BlueSky yet? Lots of us comics folks have migrated there.
Thanks!!!
I’ll check it out! Is it free? I’ve never heard of it!!
iirc BlueSky is one of the Twitter alternatives, like Mastadon or Pillowfort to Tumblr. I haven’t heard of it costing money, but I don’t have an account there.
it does not but it’s still at the get-an-invite stage, i believe
Oh, now doesn’t this look lovely.
<3 <3
Yoooo this is tops! That shading!!
Thanks! I was really self conscious about my shading choices, actually, but I’m glad to read that it’s coming across as intended
This looks great! Can’t wait until the finished comic is ready!
Lucy jumped into a relationship that she’d been building in her head for months, totally in love, and Walky has only just started thinking of her romantically. She didn’t give him a chance to develop stronger feelings. That said, I was in a relationship for almost 2 years where I desperately loved my boyfriend and he told me he didn’t know if he loved me back. Finally I realized that if he didn’t know what that point he was probably never going to, and then I deserved to be with someone who loved me as much as I loved them. It really really hurts to be with someone who doesn’t love you back the way you do, and trying to wait for feelings to develop may not necessarily work out. Walky was immediately infatuated with Dorothy so it seems clear that he just doesn’t have much romantic chemistry with Lucy, he’s not the type of person who has to date someone for months before developing love. As Lucy said they were friends for a long time before they started dating and he just doesn’t have those feelings. Even though I think she came to this decision in an immature way, she made the right choice
I’m sorry you went through that, but good for you for escaping!
I hear you.
Thats a really well put summary about it I think.
I hope this is the start of Lucy’s villain arc.
She should start with a really tall gaming chair to ominously spin around in
Will he get her monologuing?
He just did. And then interrupted it.
maybe she’ll complain to her bro that they broke up and lyle can threaten to kick walkys ass even if he doesn’t follow through
But be amusing if ‘focusing on herself’ leads her to be teh next RA or whatever tho i don’t think she’d be as “Ruthless” as ruth lol.
…Wait, but: Ruth/Lucy
Together they will end these accursed (interpersonal) conflict(s) and bring ORDER to the dormitory
Interesting channel for Walky’s POV to get back to Lucy….
Three down, four to go if Walky is going to be the Ramona Flowers of Indiana.
Idk, according to a good chunk of commenters, she seems to have been in her villain era since she was introduced
… did they just friendzone each other simultaneously
I think that’s called breaking up
If any, Walky was realising that he should have done better by her. Probably, if she’d still have him, he would have tried to do so. This is a breakup from Lucy’s side only.
That fits. It was a relationship on Lucy’s side only as well.
Ohohoh, ouch!
I was dumped by this boy in middle school (2000 years ago) and I didn’t even know we were dating!!
No. I very much doubt they will be friends.
“I need to be brave enough”
I know that many here are happy for Lucy, but this dialogue may be a bit hasty…well, we just have to wait for it to happen.
Plus, what does “bravery” have to do with “knowing”? That line threw me. I’m trying to think what would be better. “I need to be… more self-aware?” “smart/wise”? I dunno, and I hate nit-picking Willis, since he’s a far better wordsmith than me, but in my head it sounded clunky. Then again, people don’t “speak” proper English, as written words should be, and this line is spoken, so I guess it’s alright and it’s just me.
I think it’s a response to “I like to be liked.” She’s saying she needs to be brave enough to not let the possibility of not being liked get in the way of what’s actually good for her.
Ah, okay. I thought she was pinging off of “I should’ve favored you” and her thinking “I should’ve favored myself as well”. Your read makes more sense.
I think she also should favor herself. It’s very easy to lose yourself in selflessness.
I had the same read as you, but it made sense to me. Lucy didn’t favor herself, she put herself through a whole lot that Walky tried to tell her she didn’t have to do. More than once. She favored someone else’s image of her over her own self-image. I’m hoping this means she’ll start valuing herself more.
Maybe it’s because they’re out of church but in my brain it sounded a bit like the Serenity Prayer. You know the one, “Lord, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; bravery to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.”
IDK if it’s intentional, though. But! She has been a people-pleaser for as long as we’ve known her, and it stems from a terrible fear of being lonely and inadequate. It requires bravery to face this about oneself :33
I think this will be really good for them both. I like them both, but they both haven’t been very good for each other. Its felt like Lucy has been pressuring Walky to go a LOT faster than he’s comfortable with, including around physical intimacy, and he’s been dodging having to say no to avoid setting a boundary. And, Walky hasn’t been supporting her to the extent she needs, nor communicating his needs or the situation she’s getting herself into.
Definitely a good thing all things considered, but I feel like Walky just took a critical hit to the insecurities that he’ll have to work through first.
Poor kids. I hope they are both OK after this. The only thing worse would have been to keep dating and have this same scene after a couple of kids.
“I know we have two children together but I’m still just not sure if I like-like you yet”
i’d imagine unless it’s a grueling custody battlel, divorced parents would be amicable enough to stay in touch/friendly enough terms to contact each other about emergencies/coordinating stuff like sleepovers, school trips/etc tho at that age couples therapy would be more of an option (makes me wonder what the ‘youngest’ couple a therapist has ever seen)
for that last, you do not want to know
–Dave, srsly, do NOT even try searching
While in math, things add up to something… would it be the same for Walky and Lucy?
“I need to be brave enough to know when I deserve better” well then, for starters, you may join Dorothy in the exercise room
Yep, Walky deserves to be with someone he’s actually crazy about
Eh. I wouldn’t say he deserves that yet.
They both should probably do some unpacking before they try another relationship. I’m still a little bothered its being treated as all his fault when his initial plan was to spare her from that situation entirely.
Lucy getting ideas of how things should be in her head and not listening to very obvious warnings isn’t great.
Listen, I know you probably meant to work out
But have you considered the religion of DorothyXLucy
Eh, why not? I’ll invest in that :o.
i like sal and danny getting together but it’d be hilarious if lucy got with sal, if only to see everyone else’s reactions
Well this chapter of romance has ended as a bittersweet moment. Now who is next on Willis’s chopping block of pain?
I’d imagine Sal and Danny.
Walky depression spiral time?
Poor dude, looks almost frozen in that last panel. I don’t think he ever expected Lucy to dump him. It would be wild if this leads to him getting back together with Dorothy, but I think he needs some time being single to think about things for a bit. He’s kinda dealt with a lot of complicated emotions and refuses to acknowledge them completely, give him some Mario Kart time and some self reflection time.
Also, damn Lucy. She seems like she’s taking it better than I thought she would be. Can’t wait for this to get unpacked with Jennifer, maybe we’ll see her tell her off too.
Although I would love to see Walky with Dorothy again, it is better that he refrains, because he is aware of what he said to her in their last conversations and that he dares to return suddenly, obviously not.
If Jennifer were to scold Lucy, I don’t think she would stay silent and even confront her with certain things.
I think letting Dorothy know that Lucy broke up with him and, without any pressure, asking if she’s still interested is well within reason. I mean, being in a relationship with Lucy was the reason he gave her.
Whether Dorothy has reversed course again is a separate question.
Tho it’s remotely possible that Walky doesn’t realize he’s been broken up with.
This is Walky, true that..!
I think he has previously had verbal confirmation that this is definitely, officially, “it”, not been told she deserves better and she’ll see him tomorrow in class, before… He could think “Must try MUCH harder”… 🤦🏻♀️
I would kinda love for Lucy to yell at Dorothy, not realising Dorothy has been drinking, for telling Walky to ask her out when he was lacklustre about her, only for Dotty to yell back “of course he really likes you! When I told him I wanted him back and it was a mistake to tell him to do that, he wouldn’t break up with you for me! He absolutely wanted to be a good boyfriend to you!”, simultaneously landing herself right in it and also driving home to Lucy that “stands up to mother” is not currently really within Walky’s skillset but that he really was serious about thinking she was nice and pretty and they could be something…
Plausibly leading to her trying to patch things up with him (how much time do they actually need to spend with Linda, after all?), only to find that him and Amber have decided that somehow a monogamous FWB arrangement is not betraying Sal (i.e. “we’re not dating, we’re just good friends who hang out a lot and do stuff together including sexy times stuff, and we only do that with each other (plus Amber writes porn)… But we’re definitely not dating, because even if Sal says she’d be fine with it – hell, she threatened to stuff my dick into Amber at one point – it would feel like a betrayal. But she’s clearly actually OK with my dick being in her, so…”) Especially if there’s a side helping if “And I got thinking when I was reflecting on how badly I screwed up our relationship, the ‘you’d be the trashiest fake girlfriend I can imagine! Let’s get you to hang out with somebody who wanted you to be expelled and mainly only dropped that because she thought your dad being dead would mean you wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in school’ plan was incredibly shitty to her. She deserves better from me too.”
Bonus if this goes down within the next week of comic time!
I’d say at the very least, he shouldn’t try jumping into any other relationships/sex before seeing her in math tomorrow. That’ll make it clear where they stand.
what happens on garbage roof
stays on garbage roof, mon
–Dave, overhead, the silent stars go by one by one
Oh, dear, he is going to talk this over with Dorothy, isn’t he?
Probably Amber, this is a garbage roof discussion.
Walky needs to grow up, stop running to/looking for woman to tell him what to do and try expanding his friend circle, specifically making some guy friends
It’s true, I thought that I had already established friendship with Joe and Ethan, but no, the real question is who could be Walky’s true friend?
Bro clone.
Ethan could’ve been a good match (friend-wise) for Walky, but they’ve got irreconcilable positions when it comes to Mike. And Jacob isn’t quite a good idea right now.
I def think he’ll grow closer with Asher. My psychological soothsaying says he’ll grow closer with Booster (who wouldn’t let him suffer alone), and ends up entangled with the thing that’s going on with Asher, Ethan, plus Amber as a cheerleader. Shipping aside, I maintain those five could be really good friends in the same way Joyce has Becky (who comes with Dina), Dorothy, and Sara.
Imagine how impossibly fucked up it would be if Asher and Walky hooked up.
One can only dream.
Walky certainly has some growing to do, but who in this cast doesn’t?
I’m always a little wary of claims that what he really needs is more guy friends though.
I think he might be headed into a crisis, but I don’t think depression spiral. I think the main question is who he gets advice from first. Dorothy would be the highest drama option, but I hope he asks Sal instead.
Honestly, I hope she’s going back to her room to have it out with Jennifer. Or the other floor mates who don’t really see her, either.
Re: taking it better than expected — I think maybe her moment of “is what I’M feeling even love?” might have helped there.
Well who knows? These two have surprised me with a bounce back be fore but well. We’ll see.
Honestly, yes, this. We didn’t get a STORYLINE OVER alt text, so this isn’t even necessarily the end of the scene. Walky could absolutely go spend some time alone, think it through, and realize that actually he definitely Does have feelings for her that are stronger than friendship. Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone, as the song goes.
And if he went to her with an earnest, hey, this time I’m really sure I want to be In It with you — they could start over on a more honest note.
…But also it would be easy for none of that to happen. I don’t think I’m really going to count this ‘ship “out” for real until we’re like a couple of books on and/or they’re both in happy relationships with other people, tbqh.
RE: alt-text
Well, *I* love it, and it’s a good thing too. My job requires a lot of it.
does math love you back?
It allows me to program the foundational systems for games that will make fond memories for all kinds of people including myself, so you tell me.
Ah, and it also scratches my autistic itches, ~aaaaaaaaah~ <3
the patterns and the glory
–Dave, I am -firmly- on the “we discover it” side
Pika pi?
Who is this “Dave” character? 😮
hi, it’s me, i’m the problem, it’s me
–Dave, lurking on the hill above the town
Math’s love is either incomplete or inconsistent… or both.
Well that’s three girlfriends down for Walky. Who’s next?
Next up: Walky tries to join Sierra’s throuple, but fails the prelim interview!
Back to girlfriend number one, maybe? Or maybe he’ll just decide it’s better if he takes a break from romantic relationships.
Others get some extra kilos of fat during first year of College.
Walky is there to add up on his breakups. 😛
I hated math class in high school. My school’s math teachers sucked. Had Khan Academy existed 25 years ago, I’d have gotten math easily.
Thank god.
Now quick, walky, Dorothy needs a hug too. Go walky!
[opens up Dumbing of Age, a bittersweet-comedy coming of age webcomic about the painful growing moments of young adulthood] [there is a bittersweet growing moment of young adulthood] [this is like opening my tin labeled ‘creme wafers’ and finding cream wafers. I am snacking on them. Five stars]
beware the sewing needles, thimbles and forks that may lie beneath the surface layer
–Dave, not to mention the railway tickets
WAIT I JUST REALIZED THAT ASHER IS ON THE VERGE OF SINGLE, THE SHIPPERS MIGHT EAT YET
I don’t actually remember if Walky has ever identified or hinted at possibly being bi in any shape or form, I just know that I love those two idiots spending time together and Walky could use someone to just be stupid around for a bit. Ill advised rebound or fully platonic bromance, I endorse it. They can even talk about the unfair expectations thrown upon them by their exes when they just wanted to vibe!
Walky’s a strange case because he’s frequently joked about the possibility of being with a guy. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/jim/ this is the only one I can find right now but I definitely feel like he’s done it before. And so it’s hard to label, because it’s Walky and he’s joking. At the very least, he seems to be someone who’s comfortable enough with his sexuality that he’d consider doing stuff with a guy (especially for free pizza) and consider it no big deal.
Counterpoint: Walky/Asher/Ethan threesome.
…Intriguing.
I’m in.
I like how it looks like this is just Asher planning the whole thing out by himself.
It’s good to know we have one definite. Now to get the other two on board…
Oh my god, this is the absolute worst pairing for Ethan (guy who was at least partially involved with Mike’s death and the dude version of Amber minus the DID but somehow still keeping a bit of the superhero stuff), the dream pairing for Asher, and the wildest pairing for Walky. Either fantastic therapy or a horrible horrible imploding mistake.
I need it lol
Holy shit you’re right and I’m subscribing to this newsletter
Count me in, I’ll bring the popcorn for everyone :33c
Lesbian twist, Billie and Ruth are gonna get into a prolonged multi year (our time) process of growing up and eventually getting back together.
I have no evidence to support this, I just really want them back, I can’t not related with the toxic gays.
I will never not want those two back together.
I can see that happening mainly because the dynamics they have with Jason and Asher don’t seem like they’ll last forever. No offense to the guys but it’s clearly not love, might not even be like.
I think Ruth and Jason genuinely like each other, but I don’t know if it’s love. (Then again, we haven’t gotten a lot of screen time with our good British boy and Ruthless of late, so who knows how it’s developed?) I think they’re kind of…mutually lonely, and being together helps.
I mean, they haven’t been dating that long in-universe, it’s a bit early to say if it’s going to develop into love. But they do have great chemistry, I’m rooting for them!
Despite them both currently being with other people, their strongest feelings remain towards each other.
They’re all twisted with anger and resentment, but that doesn’t change it.
Could ALSO see a messy one-night stand here, too. :c I’m just breaking my own heart for these characters in my head rn ffff
Huh, what d’ya know.
Lucy did something I respect. Good on ‘er.
Finally, the most incompatible couple is over and people can stop irrationally coming for their necks, when they just weren’t a good match.
Yes, please.
I’m pretty sure one of these two is about to start hitting it off with Dorothy, but I couldn’t tell you which.
Dorothy is currently alone in the gym with Jacob. Might be too late already. For maximum drama.
Dorothy Becomes A Literal Sexual Third Wheel: A Dumbing of Age Pornographique
I was trying to imagine what a literal sexual third wheel would be, and while I didn’t come up with anything, my mind did produce the phrase “the village tricycle”. I’m not sure what that means either.
The sexual third wheel, or “sidecar piece”.
It is common for male whales to boost up male/female pairings of the same species so they have something to press against in the ocean.
That’s a sexual third wheel.
And it’s over! Walky nearly escaped it, but it was always inevitable. No Lucy has a sex comic for you lol.
Except that technically it’s in the making :p
It’s on Willis’s NSFW Patreon.
I’m not kidding.
Who’s the rebound?
(Don’t tell us because spoilers. Just want to pose the question.)
Oh come on, it’s hardly spoilers if it’s literally a click away on the site’s nav bar :p
https://www.patreon.com/damnyouwillis69
I tend to disagree. Spoilers for many things I like are incredibly easy for me to access and I choose not to click them. Popping it in the comments, however light heartedly, takes the choice away. It’s not a big thing but my enjoyment of the comic is
slightly lessened.
I should say I enjoy your comments the rest of the time xx
I mean. Can’t actually see it since I’m not a member, but boy does that not ever prove anything. Whatever it looks like, it could be a fantasy or dream sequence.
Putting down 100 bucks that this boy and Dorothy are gonna get back together in like 3 months our time.
I would accept but I want this to happen and don’t want to lose any of my bucks, they took me so long to find
I always find that phrasing of “deserve” odd. It implies that some people never deserve to have their feelings or thoughts taken seriously.
I kind of go for the Disney framing of, “I want more”.
In her usage I don’t mind it. She’s saying that she deserves better than what she was settling for, not that she deserves something that others don’t.
I do agree that it’s often used in a really uncomfortable way.
happy valentine day dot mp3
anyways the Chaos Theory is proceeding as planned. Now we just need Dorothy to have that confused driving epiphany and we’re set.
*drinking epiphany. hopefully not at the same time. Dorothy is supposed to kiss JOYCE, not Ruth!
… unless…
“Act with integrity, no regrets” is now what Dorothy says before crashing her face into Ruth’s
I think Walky did love Lucy, he just wasn’t in love with her there’s a difference…sometimes a good friendship is just that.
I wonder how Dorothy is going to react to this little turn of events.
I’m not smart. If a girl say that to me, I could think she’s just angry and won’t talk to me until tomorrow.
I’m not smart either. I might say things this way when I’m actually just angry and won’t talk to you until tomorrow.
People need to be more specific when talking about important stuff :p
Unfortunately, realization and epiphany rarely run the gauntlet through emotions only to emerge into the consciousness in intact, clearly-articulable sequences, making them difficult to specifically and unambiguously narrate in the moment.
Hopefully neither of them will do anything drastic before math tomorrow and it will all become clear then.
Maybe you are smarter than you think. If I were Walky, at this point I would not consider myself at liberty. I would be wondering about that, but no more.
Aw, jeez, you too.
Good for her.
Thank God that relationship is over with (actually though, Walky ironically should go to church more often).
Math is hard.
Honestly? Good for her.
And I’m proud of walky for owning up to it. It would have been easy to try and people please about this, instead of seeing the genuine fault in his behavior.
It’s kinda very unclear whether they broke up or not.
What an obnoxiously ambiguous way to end this conversation.
Willis’ timing is off. This should be a Valentine’s Day strip.
Oh no! Instead we’re going to be treated to Danny smurfing up his relationship with Sal, aren’t we? Unlike in the original timeline, I like the pairing. Don’t take it away, Willis!
Maximum brutality would have to be a Becky/Dina fight.
Don’t speak that evil into reality ;_;
*hitting the wood 3 times*
micro-slipshines in the comments #3785
…. he’s going to structure deposits with Sal in small increments to avoid reports to the IRS?
The idea of Danny and Sal doing white-collar crime together is OOC but oddly endearing.
SHE’D GET TO CLIMB THE OUTSIDE OF A GLASS SKYSCRAPER dammit i’m _in_
MOST EXCELLENT, BOTH OF YOU
TO THE THINKATORIUM
You said there would be dolphins.
…. IS this a breakup?
This feels like a breakup, but neither of them said it was a breakup, and it also feels like it might be “I need to process this development before I decide whether we should break up”.
I don’t think you can get much more broken up than the girl saying “I deserve better [than you]” and leaving.
I mean it at least seems amicable. I suppose things could’ve gone wayyyy worse.
Yes you can, one of them needs to say “I’m breaking up with you”
Walky needs to assume it’s a break-up, sleep with the girl at the copy shop, and see if Lucy gets mad about it.
(It’s a Friends reference.)
(Friends was a sitcom from the previous millennium.)
It lasted so long that it bled into this millennium! They called it The Millennium Series (they did not call it The Millennium Series)
…I called it the Millennium Series…
I’ve had multiple relationships end without either of us explicitly breaking it off lol.
One ex we just had a really bad fight because he told me that I couldn’t love anybody until I loved myself (False), and I wasn’t dealing with any more men who didn’t understand depression. I don’t remember what the last thing I said to him was, I just remember driving off and knowing it was over. He wrote me to apologize, I apologized back, we never spoke to or reached out to each other again.
Look at Walky’s hands. Unless he bites hard into denial, he knows it’s a breakup.
Notice that you had to supply “than you” yourself. That’s not what Lucy said. She could be thinking that she deserves better of herself than she’s been giving. She could be thinking of Linda. She could be thinking of her whole life to date. She didn’t say. She may not be sure herself.
Ye!! Go Lucy! <3
So what’s the over/under on Dorothy and Walky having a very temporary restoration of relationship based on mutual self-destruction?
I’m not shipping it, I just think it’s likely.
Feels more likely than amber/walky given amber appears to be in a mostly stable headspace these days while Dorothy is having a full on spiral, but also I feel like the Cosmic Plot Wheels are turning towards amber instead, which kind of makes sense? Amber is someone who not just loves Walky for who he is with no greater expectations, she is willing to support him where he is rather than any support being implicit with an expectation of being better or going along with what she wants.
Oh for sure, if Walky reignites an old flame rather than pulling the wild card and locking lips with Asher, I think his next long-term thing will be with Ambs. They never got fully explored, really—Walky just kind of stepped on the Mike landmine during Halloween and that put an end to things, it wasn’t like the long tragic arc of Danny/AG & Amber or Walky/Lucy.
Self-destructing with Dorothy, though, feels like a Willis-style drama gumbo recipe.
I definitely think it’s a possibility and I definitely think that if they’re not both very clear and happy with it being a one-night stand, it will be disastrous.
like, whatever you think is going on with Dorothy, she’s definitely in a vulnerable emotional place, feeling both alone and lonely
and so is Walky
If it’s with Dorothy it won’t be a one-night stand. Hopefully they’ll be clear about that up front.
Oh, I should’ve been clearer.
I can definitely see them, right now, when they’re both super vulnerable, just kind of making out and even sleeping together out of heartbreak and loneliness, without actually being ready to get back together. :c
Dorothy desperate to be needed
Walky determined that he is poison
Messy sexual encounter(s)
Everyone trying to do their best for the one they love without talking about it because talking hurts
An actual nuclear explosion
i’m proud of both of them, actually.
Walky spat out things he’d been been keeping silent on, communicated, and will have to cope with the (sucky) realization that sometimes doing the right thing hurts – maybe you even do it too late. That’s scary!
And Lucy, oh Lucy, I’m so glad you’re not going to doormat through life anymore. You do deserve better than these shenanigans and being strung along, bby. Let this put some steel in your spine!
Maybe I just don’t love Lucy.
I mean, I really don’t love Walky, but maybe I just dislike them both. Perhaps I dislike them both together. I may dislike them both separately.
Except I keep liking Lucy less. Less with Walky. Less over time. She still doesn’t see her problems, even if she finally sees Walky’s. She thinks she deserves ‘better’. She certainly convinced Walky she deserves better. But convincing someone with self-esteem issues that one deserves better than them is easy.
Let me be clear. Lucy doesn’t deserve better. Walky also doesn’t deserve better. What they deserve is not each other, because fundamentally they do not work as a couple.
Lucy deserves someone who is suitable for her. Who is romantic, and idealistic, and does not let her rush them. Someone who will set boundaries, yes, but will adore her within them and calmly talk it out and be sure that both understand when needing to go outside those boundaries. Someone who can call her on her underlying BS without damaging her feelings and ideals. Someone who actively cares for her, but isn’t wearing rose glasses. I may even go so far as to say she needs someone with a touch of cynicism. At the least someone with realism who knows how to say no without being hurtful.
Walky deserves someone who lets him be him, rather than whatever it is they are seeing him as. Of all his serious relationships, only his sibling relationship with Sal and his dumpster fire w/ marshmellows romantic relationship with Amber don’t really try and push Walky to be something other than Walky (both of whom have their relations quite fraught in other ways with regard to him). He also really needs someone who understands the difference between pushing him and giving him a challenge. He likes to be liked, as he said. He deserves someone who likes who he is instead of who he may become, and is willing to be open about the places he could improve without trying to force him into a place of their own liking.
Yeah, I may be somewhat stream of consciousness when I type these. But once again, Lucy has lost much of the remaining positive ground I gave her. Notably, looking at this endcap of a relationship (and I will be disappointed in both if either still consider pursuing each other romantically *at this time*) this has been a romantic echo of previous platonic relationships both have had. Walky saw Lucy as an opposite of his mother in nature, but in action she’s been remarkably similar in pushing him further and further. Lucy saw Walky as a sexually acceptable partner in a very similar way that she idealized Jennifer, and if you stripped the realization of man-and-god she had a couple days ago of the romantic elements, The-Jennifer-formerly-known-as-Billie reacts much the same way towards Lucy and vice versa as the devoted worshiper and the barely caring god as Walky does when he’s in that metaphor.
Still. I call straight up goshdarn bulldroppings on the concept that Lucy deserves better.
Lucy. Does. NOT. Deserve. Better. If you need any proof, look at how she knowingly puts everything on Walky in a way she knows will hurt him. I won’t say Lucy deserves worse – everyone deserves happiness. But one way to be sure a person does not ‘deserve better’ is to see them say those words to someone for the express purpose of hurting them to make themselves feel better. (Personal bias here, as Lucy intentionally going for maximum emotional damage while subtly clearing herself of much of her culpability is the sort of behavior that utterly infuriates me – at this point, I view her moral alignment to be heading rather south) For that remark, and similar in the last two strips, I am unsure if Lucy is ready or able to be in any relationship that doesn’t have a one-way, one month trajectory into a burning train wreck.
At best, what Lucy deserves is someone different. Walky deserves someone who is definitely not Lucy. At this point I’d ship him in a trupple with Mary and the undead lich Blaine over Lucy. (…you know, Lucy and Jennifer would be awful for each other, but I could ship that just so maybe the two would learn something…) Maybe the two will both grow up some, with Lucy maturing / mellowing and Walky developing a mental ego within five years of his physical age.
TLDR: WORDS! SO MANY WORDS. Also bad ideas, a complete lack of sympathy for Lucy and almost as little sympathy for Walky. I’d say they deserve each other, but they most definitely don’t.
Hmm. You seem to be reading “deserves better” as representing some kind of absolute scale, where Lucy is saying Walky is a “bad boyfriend” on some objective measure of boyfriendness. That’s … not how I read it.
“Deserves better” directly follows Walky’s description of himself as not favouring her. She deserves “better” than that, not Walky as a person. And it’s a purely subjective better. When you say “Lucy deserves someone who is suitable for her” that, to me, is the same thing as “Lucy deserves something better”. Better for her than whatever this was.
That is an interesting interpretation. Under that thought, she’s just angry and unfocused and working through her anger with words. Which may mean that she’s just working her way through, and might find the epiphany she very, very desperately needs to start growing up mentally and emotionally. If so, this will be a good thing, and I might eventually work my way to … appreciating her, even if I doubt I will like her. (Narratively speaking all of this is a good thing.)
Its very much not how I read it. Lucy keeps coming to emotional punchlines with each strip, and she means them. She may not on the surface want to mean them if she stopped and heard them, but she means them. She’s not being mealymouthed. She’s hurting, she wants to hurt Walky in turn, and she’s (relatively) a kid. She’s lashing out as she finishes each statement, and Walky’s taking it, and that very easily validates many people’s thoughts on lashing out more. She’s not a fighter, she’s a pretty gentle person, so she isn’t striking at him, she may not even realize she is hurting him. But those comments are directed. She’s talking to him, because there’s no one else there and Lucy doesn’t monologue. (At least not that I remember?)
Even if Lucy doesn’t mean she’s better than him, deserves better than him, her phrasing is still very directed, and consciously or not, intended to revenge, to hurt. To get the last word. To prove she’s better than what he is. To prove she deserves to be better than someone hurt this way. Because, and this is a point I think we agree on, she’s hurt and angry and feels wronged. The emotional mix may be irrational, but people in pain tend to not be emotionally rational, and logically she’s working… about typical freshman level.
Again, I don’t like Lucy and I am liking her less and less. She’s moved from idealization to emotional attacks, and for the first time in their relationship she knows exactly how best to land emotional comments. But panel three (and panel three alone) is her growing as a person. For the first time I can remember, Lucy is choosing to see herself as valuable. Unfortunately, I just can’t read the very next panel as her finding that value by devaluing others, and associating this with bravery. She’s not seeing her flaws, and her self-worth is possibly getting tied to ‘maybe I can be better than you’.
I am very much not a Lucy fan, I admit my bias, so my interpretation of her is subject to assumption of her choosing the sinister rather than the dexter. If you are right, if she is choosing dexter, to choose to examine herself rather than compare and devalue, then this moment may turn out better than expected down the road.
Cross one’s fingers.
nes book title: …IF SHE IS CHOOSING DEXTER
dammit fingers
–Dave, pick either next or new, your choice, dear reader
@Daibhid C: big big +1 on your reply here.
“Lucy does not deserve better.”
Then describes a variety of what Lucy deserves, all of which is better than what she has with Wally.
Sure!
Lucy is declaring that she deserves better. In context, she is describing Walky, and in a larger sense her relationship. One can also argue that she is stating she deserves to be valued more by her date than that date’s family, even if that date’s family is awful by the date’s own admission. Which is a pretty hard ask, even with mostly awful families, in a very short timeframe. Yeah, sure, Walky says it, but there’s a world of difference between being able to say it and being able to do it and Walky is infamously bad at directly addressing problems. Or addressing his mother. This was both.
Lucy may not have been the only one choosing the situations and emotions around her, but she was certainly one of the two, and the more active, of making those choices. She may not have enjoyed the consequences, but they were the consequences of situations she went into open eyed, not just consenting but being an active selector and participant. She does not deserve to have the universe go out of its way to make those all work out. She was warned. Often. By friends. By acquantainces. By strangers. By the boy she was… at least trying to date. By random people’s facial reactions in the church, five minutes ago. These are the results and saying, ‘I deserve better’ would be much more powerful if the results that have upset Lucy are not heavily the result of her not only making bad decisions, not paying attention to the people around her, and ignoring warning signs by the parcel. Lots of people don’t deserve bad things happening to them. But that’s when the bad things don’t include being the main driving force behind the results one declares they don’t deserve.
Lucy is a kid. She’s not an infant. She does have agency. She repeatedly chose to exercise that agency. She does not deserve better, because this is what she’s actively worked towards without retrospective or looking to the side. The only way she will deserve better is if she chooses to grow and be better, wiser, more willing to pay attention to the world around her if its showing dozens of red flags, to see if the results reflect her participation. I see no evidence of her wanting that. Even now, she just expects to be braver, and see if that works out.
This is a situation of Lucy’s and Walky’s making. She ‘deserves’ it insomuch as its the exact result that her actions lead to, even if her intentions were entirely different. She doesn’t deserve less. She doesn’t deserve more. She doesn’t deserve different. She certainly doesn’t deserve better. This is where she was going, and she doesn’t like it, and life is going to suck for her. Tomorrow she might be a wreck.
There’s lots of times in life where people deserve more. There’s lots of times when they deserve better.
But if we make choices, even bad ones, even when we don’t fully understand, and the result is painful, if the question becomes ‘I deserve better’?
No.
If I choose to put my hand into a bonfire and keep it there, I do not deserve better than a burned hand.
So no. In this instance, in this point of the story, at the end of this narrative road, Lucy does not deserve better. She does not deserve worse. She’s got a consequence, and a train wreck.
Hell, it isn’t even really about deserve, except that’s how Lucy is choosing to define it, and because of that how I have attempted to work within that framework. Its about earning a result, the ‘this’, and having to accept it, the ‘(I) deserve’, and the denial about the result being awful despite working towards it, the ‘I don’t’, and wanting something to be different, the ‘better’. “I don’t deserve this” “I deserve better”.
In this instance, in this result, in this breaking of relationships and revealed truths, Lucy doesn’t deserve better.
Lucy earned this. She deserves it. Walky also earned this. He also deserves it. Neither of them deserves the other, and yes, I did mean that to insult both. Let’s hope they both find someone that they can be happy with.
Does that help?
This seems like a better thread to respond.
I gotta say I do actually agree with a lot of your opinions on Lucy. She really hasn’t realized some of her own flaws. She idolized and objectified Walky, manipulated her way into his friend group just to criticize them, and stubbornly pushed forward with a bad idea to try and appease racists. I especially like the description of her character as nice but not kind. As that really summarizes my dislikes in her character.
That being said you might not being giving her enough credit. Lucy was actually repeatedly bullied in this story arc, by Raidah, Sarah, Linda, possibly even Jennifer in a slightly more well meaning way. She actually gets verbally abused and disregarded quite a lot by even the nicer characters and I think that’s what she really means by being brave enough to deserve better. Everyone was basically saying it was going to fail, even Walky’s sister bet against it, and her own brother jokingly hit on Walky in front of her. Walky didn’t even respect her enough to communicate his real feelings when the “love” moment happened. She deserves better in that she deserves respect and that starts with her respecting herself.
This exactly. The “better” talked about here isn’t a judgment call on Walky’s overall worth, it’s that Lucy deserves someone who’s as invested as she is and feels she’s worth fighting for. We can draw a correlation to Sal and Charles, “you made me feel I wasn’t worth fighting for”, walky isn’t fighting for her specifically, as evidenced by the basketball game and choosing amber as an eff you to his parents rather than earnestly advocating for lucy on her own merits. He’s fighting to keep her in the relationship, because with her devotion to him and willingness to try to make things better for him she probably improves his life and self esteem quite a bit, in exchange for him accepting that she’s romantically into him way more than he is her. But Lucy deserves someone who rides that passion with her, that sees her with all the admiration and desire she sees them with, who doesn’t need to awkwardly divert a question to online tacos because they did actually develop feelings for her before asking her out.
Emotional honesty, everyone deserves emotional honesty from a potential romantic partner. Walky might have tried to tick all the “good boyfriend” boxes, but he still couldn’t be emotionally honest until confronted rather explosively.
+1ing this, though I doubt I agree with @Firseal as much as you do.
There’s been a lot of hay made over “no one DESERVES a relationship”, which is certainly a fair objection, but darn it, not what anyone saying Lucy or Walky “deserves better” means. Being alone is better than being in an unhappy relationship, for starters.
Still on talking term then. That’s nice
Yeah, I don’t think either of them never want to be friends again, but will probably need time apart to recover.
I mean. Yeah, Walky’s parents suck. But he’s been dating Lucy for, like, two weeks? And he did say quite clearly to her that she didn’t have to meet them, and unless I remember it wrong, she was sort of the instigator of the whole “fake date Amber to make the parents approve Lucy”-plan?
I don’t know, I kind of appreciate Walky just taking the blame and validating Lucy’s feelings here, because she is absolutely in the right for feeling hurt and angry here. Walky’s tendency to avoid confrontation led her to believe that he loved her, and that he was as all in with this relationship as she was. And the racist parents… don’t exactly help either. Lucy is a people pleaser and being dismissed because of something deeply bigoted that there is just no good response to must hit her incredibly hard.
My family recently reached a point where it was extremely difficult to have a relationship with some of my close family members. We ended up cutting contact with them, but it was an extremely difficult, traumatic and sad process for everyone involved, and it took years of conflict to reach that point. So I don’t blame Walky for trying to maintain his relationship to his parents in his own way, even when he has realized intellectually that they are garbage.
The fact that he told her not to show up then that they were racist then she went to lunch anyway doesn’t really excuse that Walky let them abuse her while he stood there and hoped it would solve itself. She *did* put herself in that situation but warning her he has no spine doesn’t make it not hurt when he has no spine.
Yeah, you’re right about that. The weird Amber gambit was kind of a way to stand up to them, I think, but it’s still no excuse for his non-confrontational ass not defending her when they spew bigotry directly in her face.
Yep. And keep in mind — he DID stand up to her brother a little! He was fucking with him and he was like “Dude cmon stop being a dick” and Lucy got all starry eyed.
Then he dropped the ball when it really mattered. Lucy needs to grow up and the start of that is expecting better from herself and not just falling for YA novel love cause the goofball carved out of caramel asked you out once.
I really think the walky amber thing was more for walky than it was Lucy in a sense, remember Linda’s comment later “sometimes I think you’re just slumming it”, he brought Amber to show them how bad he could really go, “you see? I am trying.” Fighting his parents specifically to gain respect for Lucy would have either been going on his own or with Lucy and advocating her her there, on the spot, and leaving if they refused to accept she was better than they were giving her credit for.
I do think the Amber thing was ill-advised and selfish, but also somewhat rooted in a naïve idea that he could fix his parents’ racism with facts and logic by exposing how bad it was. It obviously didn’t work, but I get why he went with that route to begin with. He’s always had a better relationship with them than Sal, and I can understand him being scared of losing his status as the golden boy. Standing up to them via dumb convoluted hijinks is still a rebellion, but “safer” than calling out their racism directly. It’s understandable, but still not good. Lucy has every right to be mad after enduring their bigotry with no help from her boyfriend (and honestly, some distance from Walky might do her good anyway).
The “fake dating Amber” gambit was extremely mutual. They were both 500% on board for it, and in fact I think the comic where it’s introduced reads as them having had the exact same idea at the exact same moment:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/04-but-dont-give-yourself-away/commended/
Like. Honestly, no shade on Walky for having trouble standing up to his parents in the moment. A LITTLE shade on him for not comforting her after the dinner was over, and indeed shutting down her attempts to even talk about it; and more shade on him for spending the following morning with Amber, ignoring Lucy’s texts:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-14/01-everybodys-looking-for-nothing/chips/
(This strip is less obviously avoiding Lucy than the strip where he showed up or the strip where Amber asked him if he couldn’t do “nothing” with Lucy instead, and he said nothing is always a little bit something with Lucy.)
But he definitely didn’t push back very hard when she wanted to meet his parents, and he was definitely on board for trying to sitcom the racism out of his mom, and… I think probably in denial, overall, still. But he didn’t do as much to protect Lucy from his parents as some folks are remembering.
Clarifying that she means “better treatment” and not “a better class of person” might save Walky some bruises on his already battered sense of worth.
But does she mean that?
We already did several thousand comments on the “Lucy is actually a villain!?” discourse, don’t feel the need to retread it.
Yes, she clearly means that. This whole dialogue has been about how she put herself through the wringer for someone who let her go through it, it would be supremely bizarre if she suddenly switched to meaning “I need to date someone wealthy and successful” when she’s been talking about needing to be supported in the way she needs, and most of all needing to trust that she can be loved by someone she loves.
Wait, aren’t they supposed to be on the stairs for this conversation?
The church absorbed the stairs into itself
Honestly I was all fall their relationship (mostly out of spite since everyone in Universe was saying they shouldn’t be in one arbitrarily) but this made me sort of glad to see it go not because I realize that Lucy wasn’t in the right mindset for a relationship.
She was really rushing the love and sex and parents and just about everything.
Okay but you see how that wasn’t arbitrary now, and that people had that realisation a while ago? That there was way too much thought and dishonesty going into this relationship compared to an organic relationship where both parties have equal investment. It was neither of their faults, it was a mismatch when they both wanted the relationship to work, but it is a situation that most often ends in a break up. Most people are relieved it happened sooner when they’re more likely to be able to recover without too much damage.
Hey, SOME of us have been reasonable, some of us have been jerks. >.>
I don’t like getting lumped in with the jerks either, but talking about the entirety of the Walky/Lucy naysayers, I’m sure some of it was arbitrary and I’m sure some of it was just “Walky sucks and doesn’t deserve Lucy” and lots more was “Lucy sucks and doesn’t deserve Walky”. Those folks did not have a point. X3
Congrats on the honesty Walky
Congrats on leaving a relationship you were clearly not enjoying even if you don’t seem to realise it too tbh
Sorry your ship sank Lucy
Don’t go hang out with Raidah about it
Raidah may not care about Lucy’s company now that Lucy’s no longer dating the Dean’s first wife’s son.
you’re very right
I doubt getting told this by raidah would be a fun experience for her either though
Lucy, if you’re breaking up with him, you need to say those words exactly
I don’t think she is, not yet, not immediately.
By maths tomorrow, she’ll have a better idea if she is or not.
I think the implication from the framing of the panel and the way there’s no background is saying they have effectively broken up and if she sees him it will be because they have the same class.
This isn’t “See you tomorrow, boyfriend,” this is “I will be cordial to you next time we meet”
It shouldn’t be a unilateral decision on Lucy’s part. Walky ought to reflect on his needs and feelings, recognise that he and Lucy are not suited to each other, and stop going along with her decisions when he doesn’t agree with them.
For her part, I think that Lucy needs to recognise that she has a habit of projecting rosy images onto people and then relating to those instead of what the people are really like.
I can potentially see this concluding with Walky going back to Dorothy looking for comfort, and they end up getting back together, or at the very least having sex.
Maybe. I feel like Dorothy is going to get in her own way again. Walky just had a rough breakup and needs to think about things — I’m not sure she’s selfish enough to spring on a wounded gazelle like that.
I dunno, Dorothy’s pretty wounded herself at the moment. Plus, she recently tried to get back together with Walky, but he turned her down because he was with Lucy.
it’s possible but much like how Lucy never actually got to fuck Walky, I kind of predict that Dorothy and Walky getting back together would be too obvious and therefore won’t happen because they’ll get in their own ways.
My bets are getting back together with Amber. They are back to friendly/hangouts which he and Dorothy never achieved. And she went along to the parents thing/ Sal defended her. The only thing counting against Amber [in this exact moment] is parental endorsement [the fact they did].
I honestly feel like this is the right call. Dorothy’s loneliness got setup with the exercise scene, and she’s going to somehow be in the orbit and then Amber is going to get together with him and she’s going to — yet again — get left out from happiness because of her intense drive to succeed. Not to mention Booster suggested this was better for both of them, “Diamtetrically opposed garbage,” AND Sal gave them their blessing, as did Walky’s dad.
Damn, that’s actually a strong ass theory. Probably what’s coming.
I actually think he’s too proud/ashamed to do that, right now. He doesn’t just feel hurt here, he feels GUILTY and ashamed of how he behaved towards his parents and Lucy. If he went to Dorothy, not only would he be baring his own shame to the person he sees as perfect with no flaws, he’d ALSO feel like a total hypocrite because he just turned her down when she tried to get back together with him recently! All this means that Dorothy is actually probably the LAST person Walky wants to see atm.
Now, AMBER on the other hand…Walky could definitely be tempted by a good ol’ escape into oblivion right about now.
You’re not wrong, but the question is does Amber still want to be garbage? Yes, they spent a morning together pantsless, playing videogames, and eating nachos, but does she want to go any further than that, or at least with him? Lest we forget what happened on Halloween.
I guess you’re just conveniently forgetting the strips where they kicked Dina out of the room so they could fuck right there on the floor. 🙄
More like “legitimately forgot”.
At which point Lucy opens the door, saying, “Walky, I’ve been doing some soul-searching, and I think we can still…GAH! WHAT’S SHE DOING IN YOUR BED???”
and Walky goes “OH that’s right! you’ve ne… okay, _this_ goes HERE, and then you do that for a while…”
–Dave, and Dorothy interjects “actually, for maximum satisfaction” and then everyone yells “GET OUT OF HERE, FAZ”
Heh. So, everyone is terrible, indeed. One (sub-cunsciously?) listents to their racist family and gets rid of the undesired person. Other, tries to push their religion and as soon as they notice it is not accepted, of course by pure coincidence, figure out that they deserve better.
I am not sure which one is worse.
Those sure are interpretations of events!
This is sad so sad but good for them. I actually hope they get back together later in a better way. I think they have a lot of potential and it doesn’t feel hopeless for them. More like bad timing.
good for her. Sarah was right about Walky.
All the arguments about who should have done what and when during the course of their relationship are fine and good, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that, on some level, Lucy just 100% committed to torpedoing a romantic relationship to back-door win an argument about theology. We should all aspire to that level of being willing to do anything to win an argument.
You made that up.
I do with most things.
The only way it could possibly be better is if she did it to win an argument about Dexter and the Monkey Master instead!
Was the strip title “Navigate” from an earlier version of the comic where he said “navigate” instead of “lifehack” or something? Just curious 🙂
Oof.
Lucy is right, if the relationship is not what she wants it to be, it’s fair to step away from it. And it’s fair to call Walky out for how he’s acted about his parents.
However, her expectations of “we’ve dated for such a short time but we must call it LOVE and if you’re not ready, then you aren’t treating me as well as i deserve” are…. not something i consider healthy expectations.
Luckily that’s not what her expectations were. ^^;
I’m sorry for Lucy but I’m glad she found her self-respect. And I hope it’s a wake up call for Walky.
It’s probably for the best but oof
Lucy surely grew up as a person doing this. Let’s hope she will not becoming a part of Raidah’s entourage now. I kinda hope they will back together in the future, but what will do Walky now? More important, what will do Dorothy after discovery all of this?
YAAAASSS QUEEEEN !!!!!!
I’m so proud of these two, brings a tear to my eye. Finally, I can rest.
Well, there goes what little remained of Walky’s self-esteem.
Somewhere, Booster looks up from their book. “Somebody better pick up that phone. Because I f*cking called it!”
I think you mean Sal.
whynotboth.gif
Technically the only prediction of the future Booster made was “You can do better”. While Lucy has come to agree with that assessment, it does not actually come true until she successfully acquires a better significant other.
they can have sex now that Walky knows Lucy knows how he feels about her.
Proud of Lucy. Sad for Walky. Concerned he might take this an indictment of him as a boyfriend even though it wasn’t, the same way he seems to think the breakup with Dorothy was his fault even though it wasn’t. (Because it wasn’t anyone’s fault.)
Also gonna spend a moment here talking about how in some ways, Walky and Lucy were on very similar pages about their relationship — Lucy wanted a boyfriend, and she was very much in love with the idea of being in love, rather than in love with Walky specifically.
Walky, meanwhile, wanted to be a Good Boyfriend, and I think he was in some ways more invested in that, the act of being a Good Boyfriend, than he was in being Lucy’s boyfriend specifically.
He doesn’t have a whole lot of experience with Being A Boyfriend in general (just as Lucy doesn’t have a lot of experience with Being In Love), but he absolutely feels like what happened with Dorothy and Amber count as Personal Failings, things he messed up, relationships that wouldn’t have ended if he had done everything right… and I think we can see him here trying to Do Better, not because he specifically loves and wants to be with Lucy and wants to make sure his relationship with her lasts — but because he doesn’t want to her her, and he doesn’t, himself, want to be hurt again.
I don’t think this is really a conscious thing either of them were doing by the way. We are 0/2 villains in this situation.
Examples of Walky trying really hard to be A Good Boyfriend:
1. Talking to Dorothy about potentially being someone’s first time.
2. Taking his girlfriend on dates. (Worth noting that neither Walky/Dorothy nor Walky/Amber really did dates in the traditional sense.)
3. Letting his girlfriend dress him up. (He fought Dorothy on this at first.)
4. Meeting his girlfriend’s family (Lucy’s brother).
5. Panicking internally and then talking to Dorothy again after Lucy said “I love you, too”.
6. Trying to avoid Lucy meeting his parents.
7. Trying to sitcom-hijinx his way to his parents liking Lucy. (This was very mutual, by the way, and not something either of them forced on the other.)
8. Going to church with his church-going girlfriend.
(And now I’m thinking, for Danny, this might all just come naturally. Danny seems like a more Traditionally Romantic Guy. Walky’s vibe, meanwhile, has always skewed more… Relaxed Fit. And a partner who’s into the Traditional Romantic Guy stuff would love Danny — I think Sal’s been really enjoying it, maybe especially because it’s not what she’s used to — but for some folks, it would have been way too much, way too fast, and also awkward and uncomfortable.)
(I think Walky, at least right now at eighteen, should be dating someone whose idea of a date is closer to… well, playing Mario Kart together, not to put too fine a point on it.) (And I genuinely don’t even ‘ship him with Amber, it’s just unavoidably true that I think he had a better time doing nothing with Amber that day than he’s had at any point with Lucy since they started dating. :c )
okay I’m done
let’s see if this is easier for people to read lmao
I agree completely with your takes. But I do thing Lucy had legitimate romantic feelings for Walky, though I think she could get them easily for just about any decent guy given the right circumstances, and that she does need to be okay with finding someone she genuinely builds a mutual connection with rather than hoping a benign willing participant will manage it.
Oh yeah, I overstated things if I wound up saying she didn’t feel ANYTHING for him. She liked him for sure. And he liked her, too. I just think they were kinda… focused on the wrong things here, if that makes sense. 🙂
Honestly, I’m not sure I agree that Walky has done the wrong that they are both agreeing he did. When his parents showed up, he WARNED Lucy explicitly that his parents would be shits about her and gave her outs from interacting with them. Lucy was the one who decided nope, we shall somehow beat them at this game. So Walky went along with LUCY’S PLAN TO PLAY THE GAME. And took a lot of heat in the process of, as Charles put it, hard-selling them on Lucy.
But now he’s getting and accepting the blame for… *checks notes* Not cutting ties with his parents over a 2-week relationship? Ignoring the larger and messier question of whether he should cut ties with his parents generally, for himself and for his sister… Who would actually expect him to do this for a 2-week relationship? One that the parents aren’t even actually trying to interfere with beyond not quite hiding their judginess well enough?
Mind you, it’s perfectly fine for Lucy to look at the parents (especially combined with other factors) and nope out of the relationship. It’s specifically the ‘fuck you’ to Walky and the ‘yeah fuck me’ from Walky that I disagree with the characters about (emphasis: disagree with the characters, not the writer)
walky: we should leave my parents out of this relationship…
lucy: No, i want them to know im good for you and a good person
Walky: ok.
Lucy: How dare you… i deserve better.
The flooble does she mean by “better”? someone that will instantly/religiously fall in manic love with her?
she doesn’t want a boyfriend, she wants a sycophant.
She wants the prince that Disney taught her she deserved for behaving like a Disney princess.
Walky has had the kind of love Lucy wanted, twice. Lucy isn’t to blame for being asked out by a crush who actually wasn’t into her romantically.
He liked her enough to ask her out, heaven forbid he didn’t fall in love in less than a fortnight. We date people to test the waters, not to get married after a week.
(Unless we’re queer. Then we move in together after meeting in person for the first time that day and discuss marriage after 6 days. But my wife and I are not holding Walky to the standard).
Walky should have been allowed to test the waters, and Lucy should have calmed down a bit. I understand it was her first relationship, but that’s even more reason to pump the brakes.
I really hope Walky is done with Lucy. He needs stability not crazy.
she thought she could set the pace of the relationship (she cranked it up to warp 9.5), and it didn’t work out the way she wanted. she was basically speedrunning a breakup.
Walky got tied to the back of a car, dragged through the relationship, and blamed at the end.
I don’t think she realised that she was setting the pace, nor that she realises that she was going very fast with Walky. I think she believes that there is a natural pace and that it is naturally as fast as a rom-com or Disney romance.
Yes. Also walky had agency and personhood and could have at any point gone “whoa this is too fast for me”, they were two people dating. The biggest reason Lucy thought things were going so fast was because Wally didn’t want to disappoint her, but this is why you still advocate for yourself and your own comfort, or else you do end up stumbling along with someone running, thinking you’re running too
looking at it, walky was kinda raised to be like his father.
he has that same subservience that his father does; the kind that has you go along with whatever idea your wife/gf has, even when it is a terrible idea, because you don’t want to be tossed away.
my grandmother raised me the same way. do what you’re told, give everyone what they want, your wants/needs/comfort come second (if you’re lucky), and if things should go wrong, well, you should have done better.
I interpret Lucy’s “I deserve better” as having had its context set by “Me too” in the preceding panel, establishing that she, like Walky, makes bad choices because she wants too much to be liked. I think she is talking about her wider habit with respect to e.g. Malaya, Billie/Jennifer, and her dorm/wing/floor mates, on whom she projected enthusiastic friendship and then related to it and not them. She is saying that she ought to develop the courage to recognise what those around her actually think and feel, including that not everyone likes her. (That would be good for her itself, I think. And, luckily, it would probably make more people genuinely like her.)
A nice take, I do think “I deserve better” may be that she deserves a mutual relationship with trust and honesty, but I do think your point is part of that – she needs the courage to accept others’ real feelings, if she can’t be honest about that to herself then she won’t likely have clarity in any relationship she gets into.
This feels very much like what Walky had to come to terms with when he stood up to his folks for Sal. It was very much out of his comfort zone.
Granted, he needs to learn this stuff too, but I noticed the parallel and had to bring it up.
ok, so! can we get back to Carla? I really really need to know what’s going on!
Nope! We ain’t getting more Carla until next year
pssst: that’s less than 2 weeks away
–Dave, should aulder plot-lines beee forgot a-and ne-ver brought to MIIIND
I’m imagining Carla waiting in the lobby for Charlie is going to be the this comic’s version of “Steve is eating cereal” from Questionable Content
*phew*
One of those moments for which the “dodged a bullet” metaphor was coined: a truly calamitous event has been avoided, but by such an alarmingly narrow margin that the experience is nevertheless quite upsetting in itself. It is only in comparison to the catastrophe avoided that a sense of relief is possible.