SPECIAL HOLIDAY SALE EVENT THINGAROONIE
Today is the LAST DAY for getting a free character magnet included with your online store order*! Just thrown right in there. You can’t choose your magnet — it’ll be random — but, hey, free character magnet! Buy a book? Free magnet! Buy a buttload of books? Free magnet! Buy magnets? STILL A FREE ADDITIONAL MAGNET.
So, yay!
*does not include buying the links to Joyce and Walky! comics, because i can’t throw a magnet into an email
Loading ...
The hierarchy has been established, Joyce has first call on Dorothy cuddles. Walky will cuddle what’s left after Joyce has moved on.
While waiting, he gets to joke about Joyce having a lesbian crush on Dorothy. Bonus points for making it awkward and making the queue move faster.
Those are the rules!
Or, knowing Dorothy, they might just be on a schedule.
Yes, Joyce is the alpha cuddler.
Is that a thing?
What am I saying, of course it is a thing.
…yeah. Joyce wants him! 😉
She begrudgingly likes him. I don’t think she likes him at all that way though.
In the whole, “being attracted to Walky just because being attracted to Sal is a sin and he kind of looks like her anyway” kinda way
Except she doesn’t think it’s a sin anymore so…
She DID once wish she could be gay for Sal (as long as it didn’t involve any parts below the neck, which loops us back around to her wanting Walky.)
So if Walky wants to get with Joyce he needs to grow his hair out?
…Pretty much, yeah.
He also needs a cool motorcycle!
If your motorcycle isn’t below your neck, you’re either a stuntman or having an accident (or both). Or maybe it’s just standing in the ground-level garage while you’re in the basement doing non-motorcycle-related stuff. Or you’re lying under the motorcycle (but on the same floor), fixing it or something, I dunno.
All he needs is a Cher wig and a box of candy cigarettes.
Somehow this reminds me a line from Manly guys doing manly things “It’s like promising yourself a three-stories high chocolate cake and then settling for a mini snickers…” Very inaccurate quote.
It was ‘german chocolate cake’ and ‘fun-sized snickers’.
If you ever are in Wien, go to Demel and have a Sacher tarte, then you will understand why the cake don’t need to be three stories, but will feel like it is three stories, and you also wanted it to BE three stories hogh, because then you could eat it forever and never stop.
Damn, now I want to go to Vienna…
well she DID have a childhood crush on him.
Oohhhh, I didn’t see it that way.
Yep, yep yep yep. Yep.
The A.U. of ‘Joyce and Walky’ has already proven the possibility of such.
Well that’s pleasant.
Sarcasm, McNuggets and puppy dog tails doesn’t sound quite right.
Puppies will never be hurt by sarcasm and love McNuggets.
How about sarcasm, McNuggets and made up dinosaur’s tails?
I’ll see your “made up” and raise you “feathery”.
So that’s why Dina is attracted in some way to Amber… there might be dino parts hiding within.
Sarcasm, McNuggets, and REGRETS. :p
I was thinking annoyance, sarcasm and McNuggets.
Shouldn’t there be some Nachitos in there somewhere, or do those not exist in this universe?
Joyce is gonna go yandere on Walkerton’s arse at some point.
Or some other body part.
Left elbow? just above that? it would be quite humerus.
Oh lord.
People aren’t going to like that one. I wouldn’t want tibia.
Incus of bad puns, don’t talus again! Carpal diem!
Obviously the funny bone.
Hey folks! We got a discord getting on! All for your DoA needs and constant chatterchatter. https://discord.gg/k3Mbw
A discord? What’s that?
A voice and text chat service. Like Skype, but generally painful, though no video.
Generally painful? You mean less generally painful?
I too, am a human shaped pile of sarcasm and mcnuggets.
I don’t eat McNuggets and I’m more potato-shaped.
So I have to make up for it with extra sarcasm.
i just make up for it with extra food AND extra sarcasm
I’m made of non-alcoholic sugary beverages and sardonic pith.
And I’m apparently a human shaped dog bed.
You too? I double as a chew toy.
Aww, this is cute.
Can Dina and Becky share the DOOOOFUSES title? I think these guys have earned it.
Like half the cast are doooofuses.
Dooooofusing of Age?
DOOOOOOOOOOOFUSES!
They sure can 🙂
Yeaaaaaaah Dorothy you good to everyone! *Meanwhile Danny crying in the corner*
I think he’s got other priorities right now than angsting over something that happened weeks ago in-comic.
I do not think Danny is ever more than one well turned phrase from angsting up over anything. One of the many reason Inlove the lil scamp.
Yup, crying over being dumped by….
…. Amazi-girl.
The only way she did wrong by Danny was not dumping him sooner, and not being upfront about the fact that she just wasn’t interested in him anymore when she finally did.
And those are both understandable, because it feels counter-intuitive that it would actually be kinder in the long run to just be honest and end it, when it’s clearly going to hurt more at first.
And she’s nuttier than a holiday fruitcake.
Well ultimately what was the final straw for her was his belief that she might give up her dream and stay for him which he only said when she finally talked to him. She wasn’t actively against their relationship until that point so much as unsure as to how to proceed because he wasn’t listening.
Is this a thing now? We’re just gonna keep coming back to a break up from six years ago for the rest of eternity?
Did it ever stop?
Well Joyce is certainly happy.
Yep, and the sea I swam in today sure was wet 🙂
Yeah Joyce it’s a good thing there is no conceivable circumstance in which you would be attracted to walky
(look it’s been six years i’m ship-starved okay)
I still think they make better antagonistic pseudo-siblings than they ever did a couple.
ssshhhh
Sure there is! He just needs to get into a mouse costume.
… okay I’m imagining Joyce as a furry-lover now.
You know, Joyce could be a furry. She’s just never been to that part of the internet yet.
Not that we know of, anyway.
YES PLEASE
Joyce and Walky are basically my favorite couple ever and, especially considering the last strip of Joyce and Walky, I will be HUGELY DISAPPOINTED if they don’t end up together.
What if Joyce ends up with Joe or Walky end up with Unknown Evil?
unfortunately, none of us will live to see that strip published. Not because of any ill omen, but because it happens months before graduation and none of us have a time machine
That, and at the current rate of time passing in-comic, graduation strips will be published sometime in… hrm, lesse, carry the 1… 2984?
I knoooow. They’re the best.
I don’t think they’ll be together here, because they’re closer to Dorothy than each other (and thus probably wouldn’t pursue one another while she were around), and because we already had them in one of the best webcomics of all time, but I still want them to happen regardless, plus they’re different enough characters here that I don’t think it’d be a retread.
“Dor, ya gotta learn from Hillary–no one likes it when a woman works hard and succeeds against all odds”
“>=|”
Wondering if Joyce has changed Dorothy in her contact list to “Blossom, Perfect Autumn”…
And it’s “sarcasm, McNuggets, and caramel“, Joyce. The caramel is very important to Dorothy.
Maybe she added it on to the contact so she’s now Perfect Cinnamon Roll Perfect Autumn Blossom and she’ll continually add on to it.
I mean, that’s how I think of Dorothy now.
Okay, Dorothy, now explain to Joyce what communism REALLY means.
“And for the record, I don’t desire or approve of a socio-economic model wherein government controls the means of production.”
“…. uh… okay? Wait, did I accidentally say that somewhere along the line?”
Commie is the antonym of American, duh
Which is ironic if you know that the real goal of communism is a post-government society. Think hippie communes, but on a global scale.
LBR, Dorothy would have to live under a rock not to realize if she was a communist, or even just more socialist-y than most Americans, she would NEVER get elected President.
PM in Canada, maybe (the NDP was official opposition for a few years, they might have a shot), President, fuck no.
Lots of people think Sanders would’ve been electable.
Most of the Americans I’ve seen speaking about this begged to differ. I suppose it’d depend on a lot of factors, but I think it’d be a long shot.
On the plus side, Sanders didn’t have 25 years of dirt and corruption that allowed The Donald’s handlers to distract the voters from how vile a “human being” The Donald is.
On the down side, Sanders does IIRC have a record of praising third-world thugs such as Castro and Chavez that would have been used to hammer him.
Eh, Trump praised Putin, I’d say they’d balance out.
Very true, and the relationship with Putin is one of the things that scared me away from voting for The Donald.
I’m just pointing out that the Democratic Party did neither themselves nor the country any favors with the candidates they pushed.
Except that Hillary doesn’t have a history of corruption, has a history of being slandered by republicans accusing her of corruption as often as they possibly can, and being found innocent of it over and over and over again.
Sadly, if that’s done loudly and relentlessly enough over enough years, it seems to work out with the same end results in terms of public opinion.
Basic Big Lie strategy: It doesn’t matter whether there’s even a tenuous connection to reality. If you keep repeating the lie loudly enough, often enough, and long enough, people will come to believe it. And it’s a lot easier to lie than it is to debunk a lie.
And the Republicans have been spearheading an organized effort to character-assassinate the Clintons since Bill was running against Daddy Bush.
Back in October, I was arguing with a guy about the upcoming election, and while he was not a Trump supporter, he was all, “Well, Hillary’s not any better,” and parroting all the Republican party line about omg emails and Clinton Foundation and Benghazi oh my. Somewhere in the middle of it, I came to the realization that… he’s 24. He was born the year Bill was elected the first time. (I voted in that election.) He has been hearing the Republican propaganda machine’s Big Lie about Hillary Clinton for literally his entire life. It had become just part of his world – the sky is blue, the Earth is round, Hillary Clinton is corrupt. And there was nothing I could say that could outweigh decades of that constant barrage of lies.
I’m starting to become increasingly skeptical when someone online stays “I’m not a Trump supporter” without any prompting. It’s almost always followed by a whole heap of support for Trump
My own assessment of the facts was that both Clintons were corrupt even by the general standards of politicians.
What I don’t believe is any of the “100s of murders to cover up being agents of foreign powers” nonsense, or the ridiculous pizza-pedo-network thing, or any of that crap.
Why must we assume that when someone doesn’t agree with us, it must be because they’ve been duped or echo chambered by other people who don’t agree with us?
Sorry to reply to myself, but a couple of comments are at the end of tree branches above and can’t be replied to.
On the matter of “I’m not a Trump supporter” now supposedly being some sort of smokescreen… does one have to be vocally pro-Clinton to pass some sort of “really not a Trump voter” test? I didn’t want to vote for Clinton, but I couldn’t vote for Trump or help him win, so I voted for her instead, and then went home and had a very large very strong drink. In an ideal world it would be a pox on both their houses, they both support policies I find repugnant and both have histories that should disqualify them from elected or public office.
On “The Big Lie”, I’m old enough that I was voting before Bill Clinton ran for office. I was there for the whole thing, and from the start Bill came across as a smarmy glad-handing pandering SOB. I didn’t need anyone’s campaign spin to tell me that I didn’t care for him. More than a few of his policies were just bad, such as buddying up to China and giving them a free pass on industrial and economic espionage, slated trade practices, etc. Warren Christopher should go down as one of the worst Sec of State ever.
Your own assessment of the facts is in direct contravention of the fact that the Republicans have done *NOTHING*, after repeated investigations into both clintons. They wanted her head. If she were particularly corrupt, they’d have gotten it, unless she is a criminal mastermind of the highest order.
I’m assuming you disagree because you’ve been duped. Like, do you know what /corruption actually is/?
Also, for god’s sakes, just reply to the same post. Making a new post in reply to yourself when someone responds to you is going to make things evenw orse. The comments already nest badly enough.
This is factually wrong. See, Hillary has been investigated over and over and over and over… again. She has been investigated so often and so thoroughly, that if she were actually corrupt,someone would have dug up evidence by now, and she’d be in jail. Especially when you keep in mind that the people investigating her, wanted her destroyed, they wanted her taken down. She wasn’t investigated by friends, or people she supposedly bought, she was investigated by the likes of Comey, people who despised her.
And not a single one could find enough evidence to get her actually indicted or convicted of anything.
At this point there are two possible conclusions, either she’s the greatest criminal mastermind of all time, or she’s one of the LEAST corrupt politicians in Washington. And considering that Politifacts proved, that she is one of the MOST HONEST politicians in Washington, in fact her record shows she says less untruths than Bernie Sanders, I’m inclined to go with assuming that she’s pretty much extremely trusthworthy. But as a woman, just the assumption that she must have done something wrong, is stronger, than the proven fact that Donald Trump is a proven pathological liar and con man.
Chavez actually won his election. The bulk of his ‘thuggishness’ is towards US business interests (Though not /all/ of it).
So the intense suppression of opposition candidates and voters, the rigging of the supreme court, the mass arrests of protestors, the seizure of domesticlt-owned assets conducted against those who dared to speak out against their policies, and so on, and so on, and so on… that doesn’t qualify Chavez or his successor as autocrats, or call into question the legitimacy of the elections that they “won”?
Never mind their ruinous “management” of the economy… or is the collapse of their economy going to be conveniently blamed on “foreign powers”?
Yeah, given that white people have been delegitimizing Chavez from the start, and that I’m not seeing a peep of this, I’m going to go with ‘meriken fabrication’. Especially given that their SC ruled pretty definitively in favor of the opposition in the last election in terms of anti-voter suppression.
But yes, equally, given that the USA, one of the larger markets in the world, tries to play hard ball, and that Venezuela is actively hostile to major global corporate interests… ‘foreign powers’ is not exactly a trivial problem for them.
Ah, OK, “duped” and “white people did it”.
Tells me all I need to know.
Thanks for playing.
Anytime. White people who don’t acknowledge the racist or nationalist actions of their country outing themselves is totally welcome in my book.
The only thing “outed” here was another example of “World Left” blame-shifting and naivete.
Developing-world thug dictator and his hand-picked successor trash their country’s democracy and economy, and of course it’s the fault of “white people” and “corporate villains”.
Smug, cold, candidate runs a mechanical, myopic, formulaic campaign (Clinton, in case it needs to be said), and loses against a vile clown of an opponent… but instead of looking at the deeper issues or asking themselves how the Clinton campaign failed, it’s easier to blame “racism” and fall back on failed notions of “identity” and “class” and make snide, derisive comments towards the people you assume didn’t vote for your candidate.
Since links fall into moderation limbo, I suggest you look up the Politico article on who Clinton failed in Michigan, and take a long hard look at what went on inside the campaign.
Sweety, when the eyes of the world are on you, the SC rules /against/ you repeatedly, and you win by a margin /larger/ than previous elections, with those same organizations finding nothing untoward about your election, it doesn’t say what you think it does.
Frankly, given that America destroyed its own democratic underpinnings, and you’re not yelling about voter suppression here, when we *KNOW* it happened, it looks insincere. White People never care about their own shit. It’s always about others. Millions of black people factually did not get to vote. We had the VRA gutted, those black people were denied at the polls, and you’re acting like it’s a fault of the campaign that the segment of the population she stumped for hardest could do more. She lost Florida within the margin of error – it’s almost impossible Voter Suppression didn’t damage her campaign irreperably, and in NC, the governor was PROUD of having kept black people from voting.
And yet, you’re hyperfocused on Venezuela. OK, honkie. I’m sure there’s nothing racist or nationalist here. It’s not like white people in the states have a history of looking outwards to avoid introspection or anything. We didn’t justify wars that way a decade ago, or 4 decades ago, or anything like that.
I mean, Michigan happened. Clinton thought it was her firewall. She thought the same of PA. But so did Florida and NC. Also, I generally wouldn’t go with a bunch of people voting for literal nazis as proof there isn’t massive racism on the part of the voting public.
“You’re attracted to an Annoying Human-Shaped Pile of Sarcasm and McNuggets” is the next book title.
Nah, they’re full-sentence quotes. It’d have to be, “Because You Are A Perfect Autumn Blossom Who Is For Some Reason Attracted To An Annoying Human-Shaped Pile Of Sarcasm And McNuggets”, which is possibly a little long even for a DoA book title.
Dunno, the first english dictionary had the title “A table alphabeticall conteyning and teaching the true writing, and vnderstanding of hard vsuall English wordes, borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine, or French, &c. With the interpretation thereof by plaine English words, gathered for the benefit & helpe of ladies, gentlewomen, or any other vnskilfull persons. Whereby they may the more easilie and better vnderstand many hard English wordes, vvhich they shall heare or read in scriptures, sermons, or elswhere, and also be made able to vse the same aptly themselues”
Wait, seriously, so the first English dictionary had a title saying “This book mansplains English words”???
Honestly, are you really surprised by that?
So the next book gets a gatefold cover.
I might think this was just Joyce being Joyce IF she was this effusively adoring about literally anyone else. She’s sunny with everyone, sure, but not like this.
Taking bets on how long before Joyce realizes she maaaaaaaay have a little crush?
when willis wants to break our hearts with flowers autumn and sunshine
Between this, her girlcrush/borderline fetishizing of Sal, and her interactions with Billie, I’m wondering if Joyce isn’t biromantic.
Ooooh, you’re right, she does gush about Sal too. Yeah, something tells me Jocelyne isn’t the only non-cishet Brown sibling…
Didn’t she once use her reaction to underwear-clad Rachel, and sexy-dressed Mandy and Grace as evidence she was going to end up gay like everyone else in college?
Joyce, if that’s the case, you might not want to blatantly drool over half the girls in your dorm. Dorothy, Sal, Billie, Rachel, Mandy, Grace, who next? My money says Agatha. For no real reason than because Agatha is a precious ray of sunshine.
Maybe, but she’s not that into cuddling or kissing women either. Hugs, yes, but I think in her case that’s just very-friendly rather than romantic.
Sal, I think, has somehow become Joyce’s pedestal-ed ideal of free, independent, self-determining womanhood.
You’re welcome to see it however you see it. Personally, her staring at Billie’s boobs and then checking out Rachel, Grace, and Mandy in rapid succession makes her seem like she’s either bi-romantic or ‘so deep in the closet, she may discover Narnia’ bisexual to me.
That’s definitely part of it, but some of the things she says are very…trying to think of a polite way to say ‘borderline creepy and fetishizing’ but turns out there ain’t one, so let’s go with that, to me and I’ve seen other commenters notice it too. Definitely not maliciously, but, well, stepping on someone’s foot doesn’t only hurt when it’s on purpose.
I perceive instances like that more as “sheltered girl who has never experienced anything” than closeted bisexual/bi-romantic. She has a bit of culture shock as she is subjected to situations that she has had no experience to prepare herself for. I think she looked more because her religion doesn’t say she can’t and she’s never really had the opportunity before because everyone she knew before had as much modesty as she does. She is expanding her horizons and there is bound to be quite a bit of awkwardness in that.
Like I said, you’re welcome to see things your way.
That said, Joyce’s religion DOES say she can’t look at girls. That would be ‘lesbian activity’ and therefore a no-no. She also explicitly used it as fuel for her fear she was ‘ending up gay like everyone else at college’, but again, that’s my reading.
Well, it’s only “lesbian activity” if you’re actually interested. As long as you convince yourself you’ve no sexual/romantic interest, it’s just girls hanging out, perfectly innocently.
As I’m sure Becky had herself convinced for quite a while. And remember that Joyce’s idea of “close female friend” is based on that relationship with Becky.
Well, sure, but then we’re entering denial/compulsory heterosexuality territory.
Joyce didn’t see it as ‘innocently hanging out with other girls though’. She was panicking over checking out her dorm mates. So even by the model Becky demonstrated for female friendship, she was going beyond it by her own recognition.
Put it like this… BBCC said biromantic rather than bisexual. I think there’s a reason for that.
Exactly. I can see Joyce being bi-romantic easier than bisexual for a couple reasons, but this is the main one – while she’s expressed some serious SERIOUS could-be-romantic-attraction for multiple girls, she’s only ever expressed sexual attraction to boys. While that could be compulsory heterosexuality, I’m inclined to believe Joyce when she says her attraction to Ethan was different than the feelings she’d be worrying about all day. I also have no doubt she’s never heard of crossed orientations, so she might not recognize her attraction to other girls as romantic. And you CAN check people out for romantic reasons (i.e. ‘oh my gosh, they’re super cute aesthetically, I wonder what they’d be like to date’), which would cover her checking out her floor mates. She also mentioned wanting to cuddle up to Billie(‘s breasts specifically), but no desire to bang her.
……. I guess I’m not entirely clear on the dividing lines between friendly, romantic, and sexual.
It’s a hard line to explain. Here is what is probably a gross oversimplification and others please feel free to chime in:
Friendship – Platonic feelings, no desire to date or to bang.
Romantic – A desire to date, have a romantic relationship and all the things therein entailed, minus any desire to bang.
Sexual – A desire to bang.
A lot of relationships involve romantic AND sexual desire, to the point where it’s hard to split the two up, but in a lot of cases (especially when one partner is ace or has crossed orientations) they may only have one or the other.
It also varies from person to person. The important thing is to be aware of the other person’s feelings, wants, and needs in any kind of relationship, be it any of the three.
Exactly. People have their own lines about what feels sexy, romantic, etc. For example, Becky thinks seeing Dina’s head is sexy because Dina never shows anyone her head, etc.
Wait, come to think, Dina took off that hat in the middle of a public restaurant, so does that read to Becky as exhibitionism?
Not really. She knows it’s not a sex thing for Dina, and while she’d expected it to feel like a sex thing to her, it ended up being more of a romantic, intimate thing for her.
Me, I just read that’s she’s just deep inna closet – possible embarrassing sexual dreams about girls she knows in future, calling it now; the only question being the subject.
I feel like Willis has said that she won’t be bisexual? But I wouldn’t swear to it.
Even if he has, I still have head canon.
@ Commodore – Fair enough!
I’d be expecting to be hussied if that was the case anyway.
with tatooes!
And hair that she has a serious fixation on brushing and a smell that she wants to stay forever and…..
WOW Joyce. Wow.
The only girl we’ve seen her kiss was Becky, and Becky was family to Joyce. I agree that we haven’t seen anything to indicate Joyce wants that kind of romantic affection from Dorothy, but I wouldn’t entirely rule out the possibility that she would react to Dotty differently than she reacted to Becky.
Or Sal, or Billie.
Joyce has some very strong girl crushes.
She might have shades of bi-curiosity (is that a word) mostly because she’s sheltered that way. Whether that goes anywhere else is up in the air.
It is a word! From what I have gleaned looking at LGBT+ resources, it usually refers to people whom are experimenting with specifically bi sexuality or people who are curious and would like to experience it but may actually feel bi attraction.
Oh good! I know that bi-curious is a thing (with or without hypen) but you never know if there are variants.
Experimenting might be assume she’s deliberately trying to though? Unless here it means the same as “experiencing”. To me she’s more on a road of discovery, so that may lead anywhere. Time will tell!
Well, ‘experimenting’ here usually means ‘trying things out to see if they experience bisexual attraction’. Curious experiencing usually meant ‘hmmm, I wonder what (for example) sex with a girl would be like, I want to try it and see’, even if they aren’t actually into girls.
Mind, this definition is from a gay rights group I joined on Facebook like 7 years ago, so my information may be out of date and someone please tell me if it is.
I kissed a girl, and she considered it a valid data point to extrapolate her current attraction spectrum!
That one didn’t sell as well on iTunes. 🙁
biromantic? As in Joyce is attracted to disposable pens? Thinking about it, it wouldn’t be the most bizarre thing in the DOAverse by a long shot. 🙂
Actually, biromancy refers to a form of magic of the pen. An object (or in this case, person) is said to be biromantic when it is in some way the product of (or imbued with the properties of) this magic.
Biromancy itself is a specific kind of magic mostly dealing with a sort of fate. The practitioner, or biromancer, weaves a spell, or text, which defines the entire existence of entities defined within the text by the biromancer, who writes their wyrd. Joyce is one such biromantic entity.
The magic operates due to the connections fate, magic and storytelling share, often via weaving, hinted at etymologically in the common metaphors used for weaving spells and stories, in the derivation of the word ‘spell’ from words meaning to speak or talk, the derivation of ‘wyrd’ from ‘to turn or spin’ and even in the (purely coincidental but significant for magic nonetheless) similarities held today by ‘word’ and ‘wyrd’. This connection is also seen in the association held between the Fates and spinning.
Since the occurrence of a singularity caused by prominent biromancer Roland Barthes in approximately 1967, biromancers have increasingly struggled to maintain control of their texts. This leads to secondary biromancy such as the practises of fanfiction and more . . . creative forms of criticism and interpretation.
+1 internet for you.
*squints at comment nesting* Is that in reply to me? I- I believe it is. In that case . . .
Yeeessssss I won an internet! =D
I am prouder than I should be of that rambling, wordplay-driven, meta nonsense. Still a bit concerned that it could be taken the wrong way but once I saw the possibilities I couldn’t help myself.
Wouldn’t that be ‘bic-romantic’?
I dunno, even without Becky skewing her idea of what platonic lady friendship looks like, she seems like she’s just naturally a very affectionate person.
I think the fact that she was hypnotized by Billie’s cleavage is much stronger evidence that she might be somewhere above zero on the Kinsey scale
My pet fan theory is that Joyce is definitely biromantic if not full-on homoromantic. And I’ve been waiting years for her to stop repressing it.
The trouble is, Joyce’s gimmick is “everything she does is something Willis did”, so he might not be comfortable with this emergent quality of her character. If Joyce comes out of the closet, the first thing on everybody’s mind is gonna be “I knew it“, and he would never hear the end of it.
Meanwhile, the true natures of characters like Ruth, Billie, Robin, Ethan, Ultra Car, Malaya, Jocelyne, and Dina all seem to keep coming to him naturally, over and over and over. Hmmmmmmmm!!….
I kid, but seriously I would cheer when it comes to be Joyce’s turn. Maybe some day…
I do believe Joyce is into boys – she’s clearly shown that over and over. And I believe her when she says she’s romantically attracted to them as well, and her Walkyverse incarnation shows that pretty well too. So I’m inclined towards biromantic.
Though that said, I can see where homoromantic looks likely and if that were to be the case, I’d believe it. Not everything is Willis’ own experiences, even with Joyce. For instance, he was the oldest sibling in his family and he’s a boy, not a girl. I also seriously hope he’s ever been chased with a gun or roofied at a party, and if those have happened, INFINITE appropriate gestures of support to him.
Of course she like boys – I just suspect she’ll find that she likes girls to a similar degree.
I was addressing the homoromantic part of the above post. But yeah, I’m definitely reading Joyce as possibly biromantic or bisexual. I find biromantic more likely, but that’s just me. Either way, yes, whatever kind of attraction to girls she has (be it platonic, romantic, sexual, or some combination) runs STRONG.
Joyce has been brought up to think about boys for marriage, with a distant chance for post-marital hanky-panky. She has seen this marriage as her sole choice in life throughout her upbringing.
Her newly expanded horizon doesn’t appear to affect these ambitions, even if her activities have been curbed by the Ryan-induced trauma. And even if she is ready to still her mother’s (presumed) thirst for grandchildren, until her wedding night she doesn’t consider any hanky panky without a deep religious crisis.
Okay, but that doesn’t work for Walkyverse Joyce and sexual/romantic/gender orientations are consistent across universes. I also do believe she was genuinely romantically attracted to Joe and Ethan – overblown due to her desire for marriage that was instilled since she was little, but genuinely interested.
Nah. I don’t buy Joyce’s biromanticism. The boobs thing was a bit of HOCD–she was worried she was attracted to women. It’s not uncommon for straight women to like boobs, but not in a sexual way.
If she were biromantic, I think she would not have turned Becky down. She was desperate to find out how she could help her at that point. If she could be “gay” for her, she would have.
And those types of close friendships just aren’t uncommon. And women are socially allowed to show a level of affection that men are not, and that men and women together would indicate they were together.
I’ve noticed, because I get jealous of women over that.
I think all this is just shipping. You want them to be romantically attracted to each other. In that one way, at least, you are like Walky.
I buy Joyce as grey aromantic.
By which I mean: She’s never shown anything even remotely resembling a desire for an actual romantic relationship. She’s gone through the motions of romance because she’s expected to – but her interest has been primarily of a physical sort. Dotty’s the only one she shows any sign of romantic affection for (even if it’s entirely unrequited) – which would fit with a lot of grey aros I know who need to have a deep friendship with someone before they even feel a hit of romantic attraction.
A) Biromantic =/= ‘attracted to every possible girl even if she knows they like her’ – Becky is not guaranteed even biromantic Joyce’s attraction.
B) ‘Not in a sexual way’ – Hence why I said BiROMANTIC not bisexual. And while I have never met a straight woman who liked boobs, non sexually or otherwise, I will take your word for it that you’ve met straight women who have.
C) Close friendship, sure. Borderline fetishizing, checking out her dorm mates, staring at Billie’s boobs and wanting to nestle in them? Thaaaaaaat goes beyond even socially sanctioned lady friendship, ime.
D) I don’t ship Joyce with anybody. Surprise, people can have sexuality/romantic/gender orientation head canons that have nothing to do with shipping. That’s all this is – my own head canon. You don’t have to agree with it, I’m stating mine (and also discussing why I think so when people disagree because discussing why is fun).
E) Walky is mocking Joyce here – I don’t think he actually wants her to like Dorothy.
@ ischemgeek – I can see that, tbh. I can believe some of her earlier expressed desire for romantic relationships, because I see no reason to believe they aren’t genuine, but I can also see it as the result of her raising. Either way, neat idea!
Frankly, wanting to motorboat Billie kinda pushes it well into the full on bisexual column to me.
I believe her when she says the feelings she has for girls are different than the ones she had for Ethan. I just believe those different feelings are romantic rather than platonic, while her feelings for the boys were sexual.
IIRC, she wanted to curl up in Billie’s boobs and be safe and warm. Not anything sexy, but definitely cuddly and more-than-friendly imo. Unless I drastically misunderstand what motor boating is, which is entirely possible. Or I could be thinking of a different strip.
But yes, I agree Joyce is likely some flavour of bi.
Uh, highlighting an amazingly sexualized body part and blushing like she was is 100% sexual.
Oh yeah it is, I’m talking about what she expressed wanting from said normally sexualized body part.
Wow, thanks for your in-depth reports on female friendships and sexuality, two subjects you as a dude are totes an authority on. My poor little female brain just can’t grasp this level of nuance!
Additionally, thanks ever so much for telling me bi people are attracted to Literally Everyone and will take the first interested party that offers–apparently I’ve been doing bisexuality all wrong!
Given that Joyce herself said something much like that about if it was anyone it would be Becky, it’s at least a reasonable position.
Not just “attracted to Literally Everyone”.
trlkly’s position isn’t wrong to hold and fwiw I also believe Joyce is straight and just super repressed about all forms of sexual expression.
It’s just, you know, maybe don’t do it the way he did.
Oh holy shit I somehow completely missed that part where he said that if Joyce were queer then she’d automatically have gone for Becky.
wtf dude
@ thejeff – After which she almost immediately said ‘Oh if only’ when Mike asked if she’d be gay for Sal. And prior to which she’d checked out her dorm mates and mentioned a desire to nestle in Billie’s boobs.
It’s not wrong to take Joyce at her word that she’s 100% Kinsey Zero straight. Hell, sometimes I read her that way (though less and less often lately, as her biromantic game is strong, imo). However, that is not what trlkly said. He said if Joyce were biromantic, she’d automatically return Becky’s feelings. That is not true. Not liking Becky =/= not liking girls at all.
Aaaand I forgot the next bit, fuck me and the lack of an edit button that works.
@ Spencer – Yeah, thaaaat is my main sticking point. Not liking Becky =/= not liking girls. It means Becky sadly struck out.
There may be a day where you learn to talk to people here without being a condescending dickbag, but today is not that day.
I look forward to that day, as this is getting INCREDIBLY annoying.
trlkly learn to shut your trap
There’s also a bit of red dye number 40
Does Joyce still ship Walky and Billie?
Yes, she has in the past
That ship may be on hold since Billie is taken and she doesn’t know of a suitable replacement to ship Dorothy with.
Doesn’t she?
I think she does. They even planned out the marriage.
And already chosen the name of the kids.
Walks sounds just like me, except I am less sculpted from caramel.
*plays the scene of Danny DeVito’s character walking on hot coals from Jewel of the Nile on a nearby TV*
I honestly can’t tell if Joyce is being sarcastic or not anymore XD
That’s more a passive-aggressive zing, only it’s the sort-of-okay passive-aggressive where it’s more teasing than a real attack.
……. though it’s probably not doing Walky’s self-esteem any good right now.
I didn’t know Walky still had a self-esteem. Just a fragile house of cards formed from what’s left of his ego.
I think it’s very healthy that she can joke on her own expence
Annnnd, I am off to get some nuggets for lunch. Or crumbed, diced breast fillet with Caesar Salad and a latte for $11.95. You know, same diff.
Oh and bacon.
Bacon is a given. I would be eating bacon right now if frying it wouldn’t wake my dad.
If you’re paying 11.95 for it, and that’s US dollars…
…. wait, it’s not lunchtime in the US.
*goes off to check the internets*
…. okay, so you’re paying in some sort of dollars, maybe not US dollars, and it’s roughly lunchtime where you are, so…
…. holy crap there’s a lot of countries that use some something called a dollar.
comes down to us from the Germanic thaler or “taler”, and particularly the Dutch daler and Spanish peso aka dollar when they were the biggest richest empire(s) on the block.
… well my point is that if you’re paying 11.95 for it in US dollars, then it’s not McNuggets and it’s not the same difference.
You’re also not getting a salad and a latte at the home of the nugget unless you’re willing to pay about that much there either.
OT3.
MIND = BLOWN
I mean, right? They’d make the cutest little poly relationship 🙂
Joyce would SO not be okay with that.
…. probably not Walky either, though he might play along just to freak Joyce out.
Depends what kind of poly. He might be okay with the ‘Dorothy is dating myself and Joyce at the same time, but Joyce and I are not dating’ kind. The ‘The three of us are dating each other’ kind might be a harder sell.
Awwwwwwwwwwwww. This is adorable. A disappointed Dorothy get comforted by some sweet, sweet, Joyce time.
Don’t worry, Dorothy, you perfect cinnamon roll, you perfect autumn flower. People skill won’t get graded like a test but it is still worth the effort.
In somewhat related news, this week’s update of Always Human has especially high levels of adorkable doofusness!
FINE, I will read the firsts page… heh, that’s cute. And the second… oh… third… my… awwwwwwwww…. dooooofuses.
OK, so I’m hooked now. Thanks, your majesty!
Episode 9: D’awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Episode 14 and 15: Doooooooooofuses 🙂
It’s pretty much someone making a comic based on the principle: “What would Bagge want to read about? I know, an adorkable cute lesbian dooooofus couple!”
Also, add a heft dose sci-fi spin on ableism and wonderful drawings and… yeah.
Chapter 18: OMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH IT’S SO CUTE!!!!
Episode 23: NOOOOOOOOOO, YOU LOVE EACH OTHER, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS *sobs in coffee*
You’ve ruined me. I’m supposed to be working right now, not burning data reading the exploits if an adorable burgeoning lesbian couple. (Just finished 14)
Bagge: Life cannot be all doofusness, there also has to be THE FEELS.
Also, how’d the coffee taste afterwards?
Schpoonman: Stop staring at me like that! You would eventually have found it anyway, I just made it happen a bit sooner.
Oh, a few strips after it tasted sweet again! Just as FEELS make dofuses sweeter.
Awesome comic!
Dang it, Norton, I need to sleep at some point. This is your fault!
Sleep is for people with no DOOOFUS in their lives.
Always Human!!!! When I started reading it, my roommates were concerned by the amount of squealing coming out of me.
It’s nice to see her finally getting some support instead of just giving it. She might be able to avoid imploding after all
Even the team mom need some care and support. Dorothy has healthy coping strategies. Going to pout with a book and her Joyce instead of bottling up of flipping out is a good way to deal with disappointment.
……………..I ship it
JoycexDorothy OTP or JoycexDorothyxWalky OT3?
Or ‘yes’?
Yes.
Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Joyrathy, matey. This ship be sailin’ in fine waters, t’be sure. Arrr.
Does this mean Dorothy is a vampire that can survive in sunlight? She must be a very powerful vampire.
That’s called a Rainbow Drinker.
+1 internet
She’s not outright dissing Walky so that probably counts as a good thing. Not a compliment, but a “my friend likes you so I’ll try, too”. Maybe.
😉
She does seem to consider Walky a friend, despite all their complaints about him. She mentioned him as one of the people she missed while she was home, iirc.
All HER complaints, pardon me.
You miss all your friends, even the annoying ones!
He’s kind of a constant in her new life though, so I guess it makes sense she’ll miss him. And enjoy his company more than she lets on, mainly because she wouldn’t hear the end of it.
You can be friends with people and still want to choke them occasionally!
Aren’t those the best friendships anyway.
I think my icon obligates me to say yes. XD
When her old family crumbles, Walky is part of her NEW family. The incredibly annoying little brother, to be precise, but still part of her family.
Ann, you perfect autumn blossom.
Well, Dorothy, maybe you should care more about making friends and less about making network contacts. Your neighbors all like Roz, because she was connecting with them since the beginning of the year, long before the R.A. vacancy.
Those three are such a lovably dysfunctional trio. Dorothy drives people away, Joyce scares people away, and Walky acts like he doesn’t need anyone, but by some miracle they’ve all gotten so close.
They really don’t seem any more dysfunctional than anybody else. People got problems and screw things up. Most of the time, these three seem to respond in relatively healthy ways. Just not always.
I still don’t get why people think that. Roz has never been shown to connect with anyone. She’s a liberal firebrand, yelling and complaining about things. And she’s smarmy every single time she appears in the comic, so that seems to be her default personality.
It makes more sense that she started faking it when she learned that the R.A. position might be open.
I don’t say this to say she’s absolutely awful. She has her good points. But being warm and connecting with people was never one of them.
We don’t actually have enough textual evidence to say that. We’ve seen Roz yelling and complaining about things, but we’ve also, for the most part, only seen Roz in the Gender Studies class situation. Which is a class she feels she does not need and tries to take over constantly via yelling and complaining.
As proof for the Roz is good at connecting with people, we have Agatha and Freshman Rachel saying she is; bear in mind that Freshman Rachel says ‘every time I talk to Roz’ which means that she’s talked to Roz several times. We’ve seen Roz at a party, where her body language indicates that she was having a conversation with BEEF of all people before Dorothy came along and was more interesting becase LOL PAJAMAS. Third and finally, we’ve also seen that Roz gets along, to a certain extent, with her roommate Mary who is pure absolute awful and essentially Roz’s polar opposite beliefwise – said evidence being the most friendly exchange Mary’s had with anyone in the comic.
So that’s three textual instances of Roz being good at connecting with people, at least two of which occurred before the RA thing was a thing.
There’s also the scene where Sarah is driving herself crazy trying to make small talk with Jacob, and Roz walks up and effortlessly invites him to a party.
Which he turns down since, much her “conversation” with Beef, she seemed focused on only one thing.
“much like”, that was supposed to be “much like her conversation with Beef”
Seriously? Roz gets along with Mary?
Only in the sense that they’re roommates and haven’t yet killed each other. Mary hates Riley because she’s related to Roz. If we’re thinking of the same “friendly exchange” it revolves around “why do you hate my whole family”.
Several weeks into the semester, and Mary still is alive… I’d say that counts as getting along.
I wouldn’t say Dorothy drives people away, j USG because her people skills may not be as good as Roz’s.
I meant “just because “.
Joyce, please speak clearly… I had to read your last speech balloon a few times to realise that the final word wasn’t “maggots”…
“what are little boys made of…”
You beat me to it by about five minutes.
Eh, the alt-text beat both of us to it. I’m just recycling jokes.
Reading the alt-text, I immediately pictured a penis made out of chicken nuggets. I doubt that’s the “Little Walky” that was intended though :/
A cock made of cocks?
I had a Joyce-type at my local Great Clips until she retired. Just a bucket full of sunshine, getting a haircut from her could lift even the sourest mood.
That’s wonderful!
Did Joyce briefly get possessed by Soldier from TF2 in Panel 2?
Did Joyce’s eyes get even bigger?
For her to see you better with.
Is the “God-hating Commie” a bit of sarcastic exaggerated humor on Joyce’s part? Because if it’s not is Dorothy a disciple of the Rosa Luxembourg school of Communism, the Trotskyite school of Leninist communism, Castro communism, Che Guevara-style communism, Sandinista thought, or good old fashioned Marxism straight from the Manifesto? Because Dorothy strikes me as a Luxembourgist. Just putting that out there.
She didn’t want to say pinko because she likes the color pink.
I am pretty sure Joyce is kidding.
Yes. She’s an atheist, and “socialist” in the sense of being more socialist than a right winger.
She coulda said godless liberal, but she took it up a notch to make it funnier.
Fiddy. McNuggets.
You’re not convincing us that you’re not gay for Dorothy, Joyce.
Speak for yourself! I am thoroughly convinced Joyce is not gay for Dorothy.
Biromantic for Dorothy on the other hand….
Willis was going to make Joyce say “awesome blossom”, but then he got a cease & desist letter from Outback Steakhouse.
Human-shaped PIle of Sarcasm and Mcnuggets is an amazing nickname
So Joyce is a summer and Dorothy’s an autumn?
They’re both summers. Walky’s an autumn.
Is Becky an autumn? I mean, I know squat about this, but all that orange has to be a hint.
http://www.collegefashion.net/fashion-tips/how-to-find-your-perfect-colors/
This article might ROUGHLY help. Ish? Maybe?
It’d help if we had the character’s eye colours. I used to assume that ‘non coloured eyes’ like Joyce’s, Ruth’s, etc. were meant to be brown, but then Willis went and said Dorothy’s were grey.
Hey, O Great And Powerful Willis, Master of Webcomics and Lord of the Porns, any chance we can hit you up for a list of eye colours (at least for those with cast pages)?
Do you mean ‘non colored eyes like Dorothy’s’? Joyce’s eyes are like, super blue.
Gah, stupid lack of proofreading. I meant ‘we know what colour Joyce’s eyes, Ruth’s eyes’ etc. are. Ethan’s, Dorothy’s, etc’s. eyes are drawn differently, as are dot eyes, so we can’t say. I used to assume they were brown, but word of Willis is Dorothy’s are grey.
“Dorothy, you beautiful tropical fish.”
“Dorothy, you perfect specimen of Christmas ornament, you”
Dorothy, you climate-controlled beakerful of specimen 1A49926
(note: unlike Douglas Adams, I do.)
…base 13…. no, I give up.
No, don’t give up, you’re right! You’re exactly correct! It’s a joke in base 13!
Um… 49926 is 19956 in base 13. 1A19956 doesn’t mean anything as far as I can tell… Hint?
Wrong direction, I think. 1A49926 is in base 13.
In hex notation (for base 16) ‘A’ is the number after 9.
Damned if I know what the joke is though.
1A is part of the number.
867-5309? But what does that have to do with Douglas Adams?
Nothing, Douglas Adams doesn’t write jokes in base 13!
I would’ve used 1875055.
Gay
Walky unlike Joyce I enjoy your smart assness and Sarcasm it hold close to home for me, but if you have time to sass you have time to study like the other two.
Aw! Joyce is always so sweet and nice to her friends! She’s probably the single most genuinely nice person in the wing (and, given that I’m agreeing with Sarah to say that, I’m pretty sure that I’m right). She’s so sweet that she doesn’t even break her smile when she’s slapping down Walky!
Meanwhile, someone should tell Sarah that her “Joyce Brown Gives Me Diabetes” club now has a second member. I think that she’d willingly dissolve it when she realises that this is Walky!
I’ve never identified more with Joyce than I do right now
Is it me or are these strips just getting gayer?
(Not that I’m complaining, mind you)
I motion that all Joyce strips should feature her upside down from now on. she will live on the cealing and gaze down from adorableness
She can hang out with Carla and Walky and they can be best of friends together!
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/parkour-2/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/amygrant/
OT3 when
Oh man. If Joyce was a real person, I would marry her in a heartbeat. She’s just so sunny and happy and adorable!
Yeah, but the constant “god-hating Commie” parts are suspect. She may be saying it all sunny-like, but that doesn’t mean she’s kidding. That’s what she’s grown to honestly believe.
Those little instances of “negging” can really start to hurt.
I think that part was more her referencing the way she saw atheists and liberals when she met Dorothy, not how she sees her now.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Joyce is just making a joke.
This isn’t “we’re friends despite you being an atheist”, this is Joyce playfully invoking her earlier views on Dorothy for a laugh.
Okay, I can go with that. 🙂
Sorry, bucko, she’s mine. Right of prior claim and all that.
What is a man? A miserable little pile of Sarcasm and McNuggets! But enough talk… Have at you!
Aww… our little Joyce is growing up.
I get I very Leslie Knope-Ann Perkins vibe from this exchange
Whats with Joyces mono-nostril?
It’s the shadow under her nose, not a nostril.
People in the Dumbiverse don’t have nostrils; they just have big nose-tubes.
Oh yay, character growth! Joyce can haz sarcasm!
I laughed so hard that I had to read this one out to my roommates and we all cracked up all over again. Well done.
Happy Bicentennial Indiana!
I know it has nothing to do with the strip, but IU…
I view with alarm that ‘Unknown Evil’ is leading in the RA poll just now.
Also anyone taking this poll seriously must believe that 3 months of buffer will play out before the RA appointment actually happens.
anyone taking this poll seriously must realize that “unknown evil” is just something i borrowed from a current transformers poll for lulz
Not that Willis couldn’t create another “unknown evil” character though.
Has there been any new characters in DoA yet? Other than consolidated characters like Joyce’s siblings.
Yeah. That I recall offhand, Asma, Raidah and her posse (though not Dana), Kaitlin (Becky’s roomie/first kiss), Sayid, and some of the parents are new non-Walkyverse characters. Riley originated in DoA and was backported to Shortpacked!. Carla is not technically the same character as Ultra Car…
Well, Billie’s not in the poll.
Billie’s not Unknown Evil, she’s Chaotic Neutral.
Meanwhile, in the IW! strip reposted today,
Joyce attempts to get closer to Walky (and win a bet) via induced farting.
For some reason seeing Joyce’s head upside-down is appealing to me.
Maybe it’s the shininess of her hair.