The Kickstarter reached $40k yesterday, meaning Shortpacked! Book 5 was also funded! The next stretch goal is at $45k, at which point pledgers will be able to see a Dumbing of Age strip from months in the future. (I will choose one that is awesome while also not being too spoilery.)
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DAMMIT internet I want you to load the WHOLE comic, not just the alt text D=<
So… best soundtrack wins?
We finally did it. We finally overcame Willis’ servers.
It’s like the climax of a coming of age movie.
must resist a cumming of age joke
or did saying that just do that?
Eh, you tried
It’s kind of like bragging about how no one’s Rule 34’d your IP yet.
Or perhaps… a climax… of a Dumbing of Age movie?
(I can’t believe I had to do that one myself. I’m extremely disappointed in you all.)
So much brain washing must have happened in her child hood.
Or, you know, the hoodie she’s wearing now.
Try right clicking and hit “View Image.” It worked for me.
Yes! Got on! And whoa, why did this song immediately have a tune in my head?
Haha, same here 🙂
Musical numbers can often be the best part of otherwise terrible shows.
Or the most obnoxious part of a very terrible show.
Or an ok part of an otherwise great show.
Or the meh part of a meh show.
We all seem to agree that musical numbers can be a part of shows.
But they can also be stand alone numbers.
Like 7.
We seem to agree that musical numbers can be.
Well, that’s the least common denominator. Or was that also 7?
What tune?
I’m tempted to make a fan song of what I hear.
BECAUSE I TOTES HAVE TIME TO BE DOING THAT I GUESS [/sarcasm]
Actually, I still have Avanna installed, don’t I =o
SONG TIME
gotta be honest, “and erased me up” is throwing me off =p
oh man, do I want to wait the like THREE HOURS it apparently takes to process a SIXTEEN SECOND video or just let y’all find it =|
*checks clock*
Welp, kids.
oh there we go
Hearing the song is definitively more creepy than reading it. Thanks.
Are we just gonna ignore the recommended “Top 10 Evil Children From Movies” Video on the side?
I have to agree with Nordman, but great job regardless. Just…creepy.
That song is going to give me nightmares. Its the kind of thing I’d expect a supernatural child murderer to sing as it stabs me to death.
Gyah.
The really, really frightening part is, that’s
exactly the tune I was hearing.
slowclap.jpg
I know I’m a little late posting this, but I missed the link the first time around. That was… enlightening. Thank you Jen Aside.
Money for Nothing.
I’m imagining it as that sort of metal that sounds like the singer’s trying to imitate Cookie Monster.
Definitely not accurate, but fun!
I read this as a rap, a bit like a pissed Eminem o.O
It is much easier to choke someone with four hands. :3
Four hands makes a lot of things easier to do.
Dude, if you have four hands….you can just rip people apart.
Just like Goro or Sheeva. Choking is for the weak when you have four hands.
Plasma Mongoose confirmed for Goro.
I wish I could have four arms/hands. That would be fucking amazing.
Not really. The extra hands just get in the way. Now if people had longer necks I’d be right there with you.
Meh, if we were used to them we’d figure out something to do with them. We find a way to survive turning a key with a single hand despite the other one just hanging there limply while we’re doing it.
When they join at the elbow is it really four arms? Or two sets of one-and-a-half?
That form of arm-placement is unstable; from there, they always grow into terrifying fractal limbs.
Walky doesn’t seem too pleased back there.
Sullen Walky is the best Walky. Also I love that his shoelace is untied.
That’s a great detail. =)
Not one to usually say Joyce is adorable, but that’s cute L3
I agree, she is pretty fucking adorable here.
So I’m not the only one here who’s getting his internet fuck up?
Nay!
Just DoA and BBR. Everything else was working for me.
I never check it right when it comes out, I assumed it was a normal thing.
That…that’s a really messed up song, and it looks like Dorothy thinks the same.
Yep, that’s fucked up alright. This will lead to interesting discussion.
Sorry about your childhood, but it was pretty fucked up Joyce.
No it’s not. Read it again, it would be akin to God saying “Hey you think the future you outlined for yourself is great right? Well think again after you see the future *I* am proposing to you”.
Even then you’re still free to choose not do it His way but then you shouldn’t whine that you don’t get the same rewards His way does.
I don’t think it was the song itself so much as the *moves,* and the *C & D,* that was the problem.
It’s not just the moves; the lyrics are pretty horrifying, especially for a kids show. They’re basically saying “Hey kids, guess what? You want to be a doctor, fire fighter, or astronaut when you grow up? Well, too bad, because God’s already got his designs for you, so embrace your lack of free will!”
Yet, everyone loves it when John Lennon said something similar in a song dedicated to his five-year old son. Ok, not everyone. I never liked the song, but it has nothing to do with that line.
Just looked up the lyrics you were talking about. Beautiful Boy, right? I don’t see it as having the same message as this song. This is about letting someone else dictate who the singer is, someone whom they have never met and may not even exist; John’s song doesn’t have close to the same meaning.
What are your sources to say that’s what His message is?
You should research more about how He acts instead of spewing the garbage you heard from people who never liked Him. If he didn’t want free will we’d all be pretty little robots who can’t do anything wrong to His eyes.
Anyone who thinks God is about free will has never really read the Bible thoroughly. Don’t get me wrong, it’s extremely beneficial to mankind that Christians believe that He is, and so I’m glad that they do believe this, but it’s not terribly accurate to the source material.
Nevermind that we’re born into this world with Original Sin because of something done not by us but by our ancestors, which is mitigated only by an arrangement we had no agency in, but Paul himself says in Romans 9:18 that God has mercy on those he chooses to have mercy on, and he hardens the hearts of those he chooses to not have mercy on. God decides, not us. And how can he not? He knows the future, he knows whether we will go to Heaven or Hell as he creates us. Logically, that is something he must determine for us, if his powers are real.
I was taught when I was a child what you’ve said, that the reason there is evil in the world is because God didn’t want to create a bunch of robots, and so he gave us the ability to choose to not obey him. It’s a nice sentiment, so long as you don’t think about it too hard. Once you do start thinking about it, you realize that God’s kind of an asshole. Is it really free will if the from-birth default position for us is we’re going to be subjected to eternal torment after we die, and the only way to avoid this fate is to pledge allegiance to the guy who put that situation in place?
Sheesh, the song isn’t terrible, it’s basically along the line of the real Garth Brooks song, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers”.
I can only place one pose. Doesn’t surprise me that Joe’s seen more porn than me though.
I’m closest to certain about the middle one. The one on the left is a maybe, and the one on the right is a stab in the dark.
“Stab in the dark” could also be a porn title.
First panel – tweaking nipples. Second panel – jiggling boobs, or stroking a pair of penes. Third panel is the non-porn action.
Oh. Oh, Joyce.
I know right, singing so bad Dorothy’s gone a funny shade. Now how to tell her without hurting her feelings.
This is reminding me of Veggie Tales. Talking animated vegetables acting out bible stories… That alone is worth something, I think.
It’s the best damn religious show I’ve ever seen.
It seems that Alex is envious, because he can’t sing, strong and sweet like the cucumber.
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13DvXLdr_H4 )
Dorothy is very very regretful of asking that question…
And yeah, that totally has a tune in my head and I am not comfortable with that at all.
Yeah, same here. Strong enough that it was able to push through the TMBG I’ve got playing in the background. Scary.
Can I ask what that initialism stands for? I’m assuming it’s a band but I can’t think of one with those initials.
They Might Be Giants
I thought it’d be pretty obvious if they were giants or not. In all seriousness thanks, I actually haven’t heard them before so I’ll check them out.
“Particle Man” and “Istanbul (not Constantinople)” are probably their most widely known tracks, thanks to Tiny Toons. They tend to be very earwormy, so an unheard tune that can override actually playing TMBG is really frightening.
Not “Birdhouse in your Soul”? That would be my first reaction for well-known TMBG songs
“Birdhouse In Your Soul” is excellent, and might be the most iconically TMBG song – that or “Ana Ng”, I’d say – but it didn’t get the kind of general exposure that the ones that were on Tiny Toons did. Probably a lot of people who know those songs who have no idea they were TMBG. “Why Does The Sun Shine?” is the only other one that I suspect approaches that level of general familiarity.
Listening to their music it turns out I actually know quite a few of their songs, just didn’t know the band name. They’re quite nice to listen to.
You are in for so much fun. TMBG are masters of upbeat, peppy songs that are about enjoying the music they’re playing.
They took their name from the title of a 1971 movie (based on a 1961 play), where it references Don Quixote and his tilting at windmills.
Both of you, write it out on a songsheet so I can play it on ukulele.
I kind of suck at music (I can play the MP3 player), but I’ll give it a shot.
Dangit, I had it all done but I missed a note and didn’t save the FruityLoops file to fix it quickly |=(
Damn, look at Dorothy’s expression in that last panel. I may be forgetting something, but I think this is the first time we’ve seen her not just disagree with one of Joyce’s beliefs, but have a strong negative reaction to it. Can’t quite tell how extreme her facial expression is; it might just be “wtf”, but at first I interpreted it as definitely a look of stunned horror. I think her body language supports the latter.
Also, I love that she just nonchalantly gives Joe her book to carry in the first panel. It’s cute. Glad they’re getting along better lately.
Or she’s reacting to what Joe said.
It definitely strikes me as “Oh, no, honey…” with a little bit of “Who do I have to fuck up for writing such a messed up song?”
Considering the song was advocating conformity and literally erasing one’s individuality, I don’t blame her.
Ah, conformity. No matter how much we want to break away from that, we will never escape it.
Wow. Disturbing undertones that I did not even notice on the first pass because Joyce is so ridiculously adorable!
Seriously! I was all, “Awww, Joyce’s face is so adowable~’ but then I actually read the song and I was like, 0:
well that’s my reaction too, the song pretty much says “you can’t have your own dreams, I’m going to tell you what you’re going to do and you’ll shut up and accept it,” even in fiction a song like that makes me cringe
Reminds me of that “Veggie Tales” DVD we sold when I was working at Circuit City. The subtitle for it read: “A story about OBEDIENCE.”
It was one of the most unnerving things I saw while working there.
Something like this?
The whole episode was about the Battle of Jericho and about following God’s plan no matter what, lol.
Given the song’s lyrics, and Dorothy’s… Dorothy, I’m going with “stunned horror”.
I totally ship Joyce/Joe. I mean, assuming that the “First Lady Joyce Keener” ship doesn’t work out on account of Dotty being inconveniently straight.
Screw destiny!
Use a condom.
Otherwise, you could get DesTDs or destibabies!
Yeah, fuck Destiny. That was one of the horribly designed Gundams I had ever seen. It’s pretty much the Perfect Strike only with more horrible designs.
Are you kidding the Destiny looks great! The tear-shaped red right under the eyes is fantastic and that anti-ship sword is much better than the Perfect Strike (let me tell you it is one fantastic looking model kit to boot, especially the version with the wings of light.) It does everything about the Perfect Strike better than it! Don’t compare it to the trash that is the Strike Gundam (excluding the Strike Noir, that one’s pretty damn good looking.)
The actual Destiny SERIES can go fuck itself however.
I wonder what Joyce would think of Kira….
Pfft…the Arondight is freaking step back to the Impulse’s Excalibur what with the unsharpened bit on Arondight. At least the Excalibur extends the beam over the unsharpened bit..and don’t get me started on the stupid “Shinn Finger” bullshit with the Palma Fiocinas.
THAT’S THE BEST PART!
Dude, the Palma Fiocinas work more like Iron Man’s repulsor blasters. Heck, even in the show they pretty much just show how stupid Shinn is by using a ranged weapon like a freaking melee attack. Remember when he tries to catch beam swords with that? Yeah, doesn’t work well for him now is he?
They’re actually not ranged weapons. They’re categorized as “Extreme close range weapons” in everything but videogames. You wouldn’t use one of those teeny tiny pocket pistols to hit someone at a distance, they’re for surprising someone who gets all up in your face.
I’m sorry, but…..can someone explain the AC&D thing to me?
Cease and Desist.
Her family boycotted the company that makes Etch-A-Sketch because they didn’t want it used in the song.
Oh, they sent the C & D? I assumed it was who wrote the song that was being ripped off in the lyric swap.
It’s not AC&D, it’s a C&D. It stands for cease and desist, meaning Etch-a-sketch threatened to sue the makers of Hymmel.
It means Cease and Desist which is an order or request that one party should halt an activity and never do it again.
Which is weird, since Polaroid embraced “Hey Ya,” while warning its customers not to actually “shake it like a Polaroid picture.”
Then again, “Hey Ya” is actually a good song. =)
A Cease & Desist.
Not “AC&D,” “a C&D” — a “cease and desist” order
My guess was that she means a “cease and desist.”
And it looks like we all did that at about the same time! I guess I was too slow. I feel like the Ruth Gravatar is judging me now.
“Your stupid overconfidence [at replying first] is nostalgic.”
A cease and desist.
A cleric and a dentist.
A cruise and dianetics
Curmudgeons and Dragons?
Crackers and Doritos.
That sounds a lot like “apples and bananas”. I’m going to choose to believe this is the next stanza.
Chickens and Ducks.
Poultry for everyone!
O don’t get it……Oh! Oh, well that’s slightly depressing.
It can also be seen as someone strangling and shaking the baby.
Then holding up the aftermath triumphantly? What a disturbing image.
Well, what’s more disturbing, a brain wash song….or baby strangling?
A song that brain washes people into strangling babies would probably trump them both. I’d go with a brain washing song out of the two though, because that’s actually doing harm whereas the other is just morbid and insensitive at best.
The baby might disagree with you on that.
Don’t think the baby is in any condition to be disagreeing with anyone.
“I can’t believe she just did that in public…
Blob, there are more horrifying things that people had done in public.
After the whole strap-on fiasco, Dorothy should be well aware that Joyce is capable of doing many shameless things in public completely unaware of how she looks or sounds to others. So adorably naive.
Dorothy has not been witness to “the whole strap-on fiasco.”
She has missed out on so much fun.
She’s gonna be upset that she wasn’t the one to introduce her to strap-ons.
Someone is writing a fanfic as we speak. Or already have.
As we speak? What sort of dial up internet do you live on?
By this point I’d be disappointed if there isn’t at least a dozen.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t still someone writing one!
So, what is Dorothy’s expression in response to, exactly?
The message of the song….and Joyce’s arm movements.
The choreography is rather sexual, and the message of the song is disturbing. Could be either but I’d bet on the latter
It could be both, since the message of the song is disturbing and it could be who a female is intended to “be” by the song is a subservient doll who exists to please her man and nothing more.
Or that I have my own path….but I’ll just follow the crowd…after some “vigorous shaking”.
I just assumed it referred to people in general conforming, I didn’t realise it meant woman specifically.
I mean… if one accepts the central tenant that surrendering to divine will is the cornerstone of a faithful life I don’t see why it is disturbing. Obviously one can disagree with the premise but ultimately faith is simply a matter of submission, although this is thematically slightly more Muslim theology than Christian, by like an iota.
Ignorantly making up fake stuff about Muslims IS thematically more Christian, though.
I mean that only insofar as the doctrine of tawhid seems more straightforward than the trinity in its assertion of a single absolute truth that must be bowed too. Submission is essential to Islamic thought by name and as demonstrated by the story of Iblis’s refusal to bow before Adam.
Iblis?
The word Islam literally means voluntarily submitting to God, though. The writer Peter Kreeft in his book “Between Allah & Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims” actually advocates this point. The acts of a few radical Muslims is no more indicative of the majority of Muslims’ beliefs than the late Fred Phelps’ vile protests are of most Christians’ beliefs.
No argument there. Given that all mortals are given free will submission must be a voluntary act, however this doesn’t change the fundamental denial of agency implied by this religious ideal. Perhaps I’ve been overly vague and should just stipulate that the Qu’ran seems to me to be the most honest about the implications for self in this particular regard, although I’m sure there are many passages in both old and new testaments that could bolster similar arguments.
Oh, I agree with you. It seems like with the Bible, most of us pick and choose which parts to follow and which to write off as cultural or what have you. With Islam, one doesn’t have that option. In some ways, Islam is a lot more honest.
Even understand that it’s just something that doesn’t sit right with me. You have to live your life in this way, don’t think any differently. I find it harder to see why anyone could find it not disturbing.
Well, in Muslim theology though the path is set, you can change the path if you put in the effort.
Over in my bit of wishy-washy mainstream Christianity, we make that kind of face at that type of song because conversion and dedication are things adults do. Expecting children to dedicate their whole being when they don’t even have a full-size brain yet is 0.o
Porn? Looks like the movie Cocktail to me.
Cocktail would probably make a pretty decent porn movie title. All of Joyce’s poses could be included quite easily as well.
even though it’s a fictional character singing a fictional song, this song makes me cringe in disgust. Normally I find Joyce’s antics amusing, but this, just… it just exceeds my ability to treat it as a joke and see the humor in it
pretty sure Dorothy agrees with you, based on her body language and the look on her face in the last panel
yes, that face in the last panel was my face reading this
Just a nitpick, but I think for the comic layout, the textballoon of Joe needs to be on top and the textballoon of Joyce on the bottom, since it looks like it was intended as a reaction to Joe’s comment.
There’s another reason for Dorothy to have that reaction, though…
I kind of wish people had used the order of the elements in the panel to determine what Dorothy was reacting to, rather than assume that the panel is organized wrong so as to force the desired answer.
*Facepalm* Stupid me for not knowing what Ohio Art Company is, and then getting confused by Joe’s reaction. But to be fair, I’m Dutch and Etch a Sketch never really was a big thing here, so me not knowing who the Ohio Art Company is should be understandable. Sigh.
I would disagree with your nitpick.
I don’t think that’s what Dorothy is reacting to. If you meant Joyce’s dialogue was in response to Joe’s I don’t think that’s right either. Go through Joyce’s song again and then think about what we know about Dorothy as a person.
The order here is Joyce’s song, Dorothy’s reaction, Joyce’s explanation, and Joe’s comment, right? The elements look ordered correctly to me. =)
I aint no Willis, but that certainly sounds right.
I agree, that is how I read it as well.
Here’s the REALLY weird part. Yes, this is a disturbing song about celebrating the complete absence of free will and Dorothy’s reaction is fully justified. And yet… there’s a GRAIN of truth in there, and it’s related directly to one of the central ideas of Dumbing of Age, at least the way I’m reading the title.
Joyce has her own plans for herself right now, and so far, the world (or God, if you must) has shown precious little interest in allowing her to fulfill them. Joyce’s belief that those plans come FROM God is not really relevant. In fact, of the four people present, the only one fully following through on the life-plan he had when entering college is Joe.
Can we really say that Joe has a life-plan? That seems like more than a bit of a stretch, unless there’s some comic I’m forgetting where he’s said “Oh by the way, I’m majoring in blehblehbleh so I can pursue a career in wingdings and then make sparkles all over the mountain.”
Or some variation thereof.
He’s majoring in sleeping with ALL of the ladies.
All the ladies is a lot of ladies. Truly a life time plan if I’ve ever heard of one.
I see what you’re saying, but Dorothy is mostly on target, although it would have been better for her to just go to Yale in the first place (but then we wouldn’t have her in the comic, and we’d be poorer for it (= ). Walky’s just there to enjoy himself, and he seems to be doing ok so far. Yeah, Dorothy’s pushing him to apply himself, but he still manages to have a good time.
Joyce is the only one who seems off-plan. Her relationship with Ethan isn’t going to lead to her idealized hetero marriage, but her relationship with Dorothy is a good one. She’s been able to see past the “atheists = evil” that she was brought up with, and she’s growing as a person.
You’ve drawn you’re life on an Etch-a-Sketch,
And you had you’re own plans for you
So you’ve explored it adored it and moved on up
And you’ll do what you hafta do
Alright guys. Someone photoshop eroneous body parts into 2/3 of that dance sequence.
Erroneous body parts? Like a dolphin fin?
Or a strap-on
Perhaps a mongoose leg?
My fetish.
http://i.imgur.com/1ZD3Aq2.png
You made me chuckle.
That dolphin is fucking adorable
That last line makes me wonder what a Joyce pornographic would be called titled.
There’s got to be some kind of play on words involving her last name and the act of preserving her virginity but it just won’t come to me.
“What won’t Brown do for you” doesn’t work, huh?
Serving the Lord fills me with Joy ?
How I learned what a Strap-On is and enjoy the Secular World ?
Protestant Girl gone Wild ?
PRE-MARITAL HANKY PANKY!
or
How my body was cast into the cragged shame-pit of the lust wolves.
Do the wolfs elicit lust in others, or do they themselves feel lustful?
I thought wolves are curious creatures. Why else does the spirit of inquiry(and BLOODLUST) choose wolves?
The image of Joyce unable to contain her lust because of the sexy sexy wolves of the shame pit is too powerful, and hilarious, for me to accept any other interpretation.
You say that like they’re mutually exclusive.
“Joyce doesn’t preform a sex because it would be a sin before marriage but there are totally some loopholes that allow for other fun stuff. – a pornographique”
Joyce and Ethan Rub a Thing on Her Belly
or
Adventures on the Washing Machine While Doing the Whites
Joyce Does Jesus
Joyce Does Jericho
Casti Connubii?
(Yeah, it’s a Catholic thing, but I don’t know any Protestant writings on marital sex!)
The Joyce of Sex?
I like this one better than the one I came up with.
Behind the Brown door?
We’ll find out when she makes her way to slipshine.
That’ll also probably be when I finally cave and subscribe
I guess I’m one of the few lucky people who didn’t have a tune for the song pop into my head when I read this; I suspect having the BGM for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam stuck in my head helped.
Also, count me among those who are horrified by what the song is preaching.
I got Money for Nothing. Yes, and I am also imagining the CGI dudes too.
The Etch-A-Sketch song can’t be any more annoying than the ‘Barney’ song of years ago. That used make my teeth ache it was so cloyingly sweet and all the little kids knew it.
Which Barney song? I know several!
Although looking at it now, I can’t help but see 3/3 rather than 2/3
I see 1/3. Third one looks like she’s milking a cow suspended in the air.
If it exists, someone has a fetish for it.
I can see the third one as kneeling and grasping someone’s hips. I know the first one is an interaction you could have with penises but I can’t imagine having the tip twiddled would be remotely pleasurable.
I assumed that was meant to be twisting nipples. The third was, I assumed, the one clean one.
After much contemplation, I do believe the first one is tweaking the nipples and the second one is “skiing”, as I know it to be called. She’s stood up so I never saw that image in the third pose.
All I got out of this comic is “Joyce is adorable,” and it seems like I’m alone, haha. I didn’t even notice the dance was sexual until Joe said something, and my mind autocorrect economy the song into meaning “plans dont work out, and that’s okay, you don’t have you be anything.” Like, accept that you may fall short of expectations and that’s okay? I don’t know. Joyce looks adorable though.
Joyce says “who I hafta be”. Which implies obligation. As in god decides your path and you must follow it. Or at least that’s what I’m getting. Don’t get me wrong, Joyce is absolutely adorable in this strip but the song is definitely not just about accepting that things might go wrong with your plans.
Yeah, it’s basically about how you shouldn’t think for yourself because God’s got a plan for you.
I love that you have an Aslan avatar for that comment =)
And he’s staring at us.
Even Aslan is like, “Oh shit, that is some bad theology.”
Aslan disapproves -20
Just between you and me, Cat, I’ve always thought Joyce was adorable.
Although I would like to know how she got her hands back into those sleeves so fast.
This song isn’t all that different from “He’s Still Working on Me”:
He’s still working on me
“To make me what I oughta be
It took him just a week to make the moon and the stars,
The sun and the moon and Jupiter and Mars
How loving and patient he must be
He’s still working on me.”
Of course, for a Christian, this idea is true, that we’re constantly changing, hopefully for the better. Change that last line from “You’ve drawn who I hafta be” to “You’ve drawn who you want me to be,” and many Christians are probably going to agree with it (doesn’t scan as well, though).
As the movie Her explores, we’re always changing, evolving, becoming different people. The question of whether we conform (to society, our parents, God, the environment, fate, etc.) or be our own individual is the story of most of us, I think. It’s the whole “My will/Thy will” thing.
Is Joyce and/or Hymmel (I can’t avoid the Hymen pun (= ) Calvinist? That “hafta” is pretty key. The song could be “should” or “oughta”, but it’s “hafta.” Sounds pretty Calvinist to me. =)
Whoa whoa whoa… the moon was made twice?
Twice? There’s a new moon every month!
I’m probably misremembering it. =) “The sun and the earth,” maybe?
Yeah, but one of them is actually a giant laser cannon meant to be used to wipe out all life on Earth in case of alien robot interference.
Which is also a space colony/station. Too bad it was shut down 50 years ago by the government.
Professor Gerald Robotnik, possible Vok sympathizer.
It’s last captain called abandon ship some thousands of years ago during a mutiny.
Now it’s waiting on a worthy successor to fly up and assume the mantle of captain and save the human race from the centaur things.
Despite its appearance that is not actually a moo…wait, I think I messed up the line.
AC&DC!
I don’t know why, but the lyrics had me humming the tune to mojo nixons “tie my pecker to my leg”
Cast my vote for the ‘horrific’ message of that ‘song’.
And yeah I know Joyce is Naïve. And innocent. And adorable.
Add stupid to the list….nobody can be that naïve, innocent and adorable…and live.
I base this misanthropic statement on this fact: after all the fuss Joyce made about ‘getting a size 6 strap-on’, and not getting a (are you ready for this) straight answer: she just forgets it? She didn’t go on-line and look it up? She didn’t pursue it until she found out what it was everyone was talking about?
Come on Dorothy: IF you are her friend, drag Miss adorable into the dorm and have a little talk with her. Friends don’t let friends keep making fools out of themselves over and over again.
Yes I know. We all put up with weird behavior of friends because …they are friends, we like them. But this is not weird behavior…this is…I don’t know…wrong on too many levels.
I have it on very good authority that I am still alive.
A likely story.
Take him in, boys!
I have it on very good authority (you) that you are not that naïve (anymore).
I was like that at her age, and I was alive (in the biological sense) then too! Granted there was a lot of over compensation going on there but point remains
I was much like this, though more secular.
I’m still holding it against several of my classmates. 15 years of holding a grudge, and the rest trying to forget and forgive. Doesn’t work.
High school reunion coming up, and I’ll be facing the class that enjoyed my naivete as a source of comic relief.
I go to church with the parents of two of them (all four good people), work the mothers of two of them, (both good people), and have to turn off the radio whenever I hear the voice of a third hawking floor covering.
If she were a good friend, she’d at least have warned Joyce that the dildo comment was sexual in nature so she’d not walk into the next one.
Dorothy doesn’t know about any dildo comment. She was not present.
Are you doing science?
I believe the term “adorable” was included in that list, right? 😛
I’m just kidding! Wow, it seems like a lot of folks here have not been paying attention to continuity, since 1) Dorothy missed the whole “strap-on incident” and 2) said incident occurred before Joyce’s Math class, and she’s only just finished her Gender Studies class. Joyce hasn’t had a chance to look it up. (Though Mike want to make himself scarce for a while if she does find out. Speaking as a ‘Bot who was responsible for lots of shenanigans, I can say that you need to lay low when the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord discovers you’ve accidentally flooded his quarters with Potassium Nitrate.)
Those lyrics are kind of horrifying. They almost remind me of the way The Institute would force ‘Bots to undergo Shadowplay, completely rewriting their personalities in the process. Look, I know a lot of devoutly religious ‘Bots. Heck, I’m sure folks like Ratchet consider me somewhat religious, given how quick I am to dash off on a quest at the drop of a bolt (especially when those quests involve quasi-religious artifacts like Luna, the Knights of Cybertron, Cyberutopia, the Titans, and Chromedome’s left leg). But rewriting your personality so completely is a bit weird. The only ‘Bot I’ve ever known to do that willingly was Drift. He was seriously messed up in his brain module. Personally, I blame the circuit boosters he used to take.
What would the talk even be? “Please stop referencing values and experiences tied to the part of your life before you entered this institution, even if specifically asked about them?”
Erm, I grew up in similar circumstances. It’s not easy to go and challenge people’s world views. A big part of the reason this type of church is successful in the long-term is because they pre-condition their attendants to recognise ideological threats, and given them a rationale to reject them without experiencing or understanding them. And it works because it’s inherently much easier to reject things (and get affirmation for doing so) than to deal with them.
She hasn’t had a chance to look up what a strap-on is, she’s been going to classes all morning (yes, it’s still the same morning)…and it wouldn’t surprise me if she doesn’t have a data plan that doesn’t let her check the internet on her phone.
Way to work on atoning for your smut-peddling.
“Purify my brain; hose down my soul”
Hymmel is best Hymnal!
(looking forward to the fanon, btw. 😉 )
In regard to the name “Hymmel the Humming Hymnal” — the word “himmel” (spelled with an ‘i’ rather than a ‘y’) is the German word for “heaven”.
Clever boy, Willis!!
Song doesn’t horrify me any more than “life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”. You get free will, but you aren’t in control of circumstances. Dorothy won’t control whether she gets in an Ivy. Joyce probably can’t make the DOA Ethan even partially straight.
If it was “erased the plans” then I’d see your interpretation, but no, it’s “erased me”. Joyce’s very self, or at least her self-image, has been erased, and replaced by who she “has” to be.
The message Joyce has got from this song is the exact opposite of “you can’t make Ethan straight”. Of course she can make Ethan straight, because he’s “meant” to be straight.
Ehh, if Kazumi Evans sung it I’d probably watch.
Becoming Godlier (The Kind of Hymn That Every Hymnal Should Know)
Guys, the thing is, if Joyce’s beliefs are accurate then the song is totally right. Dream whatever you want but God decides your future. Same goes for anyone who believes in destiny.
Joyce’s beliefs didn’t just happen on their own… It’s not like we’re talking about some adult who read some literature and decided that her own hopes and dreams were irrelevant in the face of the divine plan laid out for her.
Yes, she learned it from her parents who are following their religion.
BUT if their religion was correct then the message of the song is correct as well.
It kind of is anyway since the whole thing is a comic, the characters can have whatever dreams and desires they want but it’s up to the writer to decide what happens to them.
She learned it from multiple sources. Her parents, various congregations, her general community, and Hymmel the Hymnal.
The Hymnal doesn’t come out of this blameless just because Joyce’s parents believed it before her.
Que sera sera doesn’t translate into people get erased up and redrawn with someone else. That’s scarier and vaguely dehumanizing.
Normally I feel like Willis does a really good job of making Joyce seem like more than a straw man. And I don’t mean to sound like I’m saying he’s making her a straw man here, just that… God, that’s the most horrifying “song” I’ve ever heard of, and if there’s a real-world counterpart to that…
Oy…
Well, Hymmel is based on Psalty the Singing Songbook, and while I can’t think of any offhand that are quite this blatant, there’s a lot of creepy ones. Search Youtube for “Take All of Me”, for instance.
-listens to said song- …yeah this is ranked just a Bit under Clay Aikens “If I was invisible” on the creepy level
Psalty! Cripes, I’d completely repressed any memory of that.
If I can add a common belief from my branch of Christianity (which is not Joyce’s, granted), God tells you what He wants you to do by giving you a passion for it, so if you’re not being stubborn “what I hafta be” is also what you will want to be.
I could interpreted Joyce’s song two ways: either “No, seriously, this applies to your parents too so go to bed/you can’t watch that show/eat your turnips.” (because this is a children’s song, and there are priorities);
or “God knows where you should be and will lead you there, so make sure you’re paying attention or you’ll miss it.” (which is still theologically troubling).
What branch of Christianity are you a part of?
David Willis and his con-bros will have to do this dance at the next con he goes to.
Ok I don’t understand the boycotting over an Ohio art company over enforcing what I assume is their copyright against a the creators of a low grade direct to video show who used their product with out permission.
I guess they believe that the rights of the divinely inspired trump copyright law.
and the Constitution! Who needs that silly old “separation of church and state”, when there’s God’s plan to be enacted?
Ohio Art Company is the company that makes Etch A Sketch
oops, misread that, nevermind
In the words of the Cinema Snob from his review of Rock and Roll: Its Your Decision, “Because fuck free will!”
Joyce, Joyce, Joyce. *holds his head in his hands and groans*
What was Joyce’s popularity rating again?
I don’t remember, but it had to go up at least 25% after today’s antics.
that song…just described the season 3 MLP:FiM season finally. I’m kinda terrified
wait, how?
The funny thing is, I’ve had the song “Afternoon Delight” stuck in my head for the last few days, so that’s what I heard when I read Joyce’s lyrics!
Crap, now it’s stuck in my head, thank you SOOOOOO much!
Is… Is this a real thing? Id google it… But im kinda scared of the kind of community i would find… This is kinda creeping me out.
I don’t know why, but until recently, I kept reading Hymmel the Hymnal as Hymmel the Hyena. And I didn’t even really questioned why the protagonist of a Christian cartoon is a freaking hyena.