123

Approach
Posted on April 3, 2022 by David M Willis

123 thoughts on “Approach”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “…English, Dina”

    “Allow me to recall… ah, yes. ‘WAKEY WAKEY CHICKEN BAKEY!'”

    1. Needfuldoer

      “Arise, Joyce! Slaughter! Consume!”

      1. Concolor44

        That is simply perfect. Thanks!

      2. Jflb96

        Arise, Arise, Joyces of Fresher Dorm!

        Fell deeds awaken, abuse and mistreatment!

        A spoon day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

        Rise now, rise now, rise for Dina!

    2. thejeff

      I think this has come up before, but what is “chicken bakey” supposed to refer to?
      I’ve always heard “eggs and bakey”, which makes more sense to me as a “get up, breakfast’s ready” kind of call.

      1. Azhrei Vep

        Same. Always “Eggs and Bakey,” this is my first time encountering the chicken variant.

      2. Ana Chronistic

        always assumed it was a take on this
        https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/winner-winner-chicken-dinner/

  2. The Wellerman

    Welp, I may not have been able to enjoy the Slipshine that much because of my depression and anxiety, but it ALWAYS warms me so much to see Dina like this!!! ??? ?

    Happy Birthday Willis!!! ?

    *plays “Yoshi Star Galaxy” on Hacked Muzak by Koji Kondo*

    1. Stephen Bierce

      *plays Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)” on the hacked Muzak after The Wellerman’s selection finishes*

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Sings “Row, row, row your birthday to you ” after Bierce’s choice wraps.

    2. TallPacked

      So I’m not the only one that cried while cranking it?

  3. Sirksome

    The smile saves it.

  4. Doctor_Who

    Dina has officially grown too powerful.

    Forget God, Goku had better start watching out.

    1. The Wellerman

      Doctor, you have no idea. ?

  5. Thag Simmons

    The quest to give everyone a “wakey-wakey” panel continues

  6. Kyrik Michalowski

    Oh Dina, you are adorable and confused, and I love it. Also, is Dina going to accidentally reveal that she and Becky had sex?

    1. The Wellerman

      “I just know something bad is gonna happen!!! SOB SOB!!!”

      Sorry human I am not so conversant with memes. Did I do it right?

    2. Doctor_Who

      I want her to, so we can see what a Joyce Shocked Face looks like when she’s half asleep.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        I wonder what her surprise with this knowledge will turn into. Will she also feel the need to have pre-marital hanky panky? Or will she comtinue to hold all that in?

    3. Sirksome

      That’s possible, although I don’t think it will be an accident. If anything Dina is probably looking for insight into why Becky would feel guilty or ashamed of their sexual interaction despite enjoying and giving consent. Joyce is probably the only person on campus Dina is on good enough terms with to question, that also holds an acute understanding of Becky’s fundamentalist background to provide any answers.

    4. Bicycle Bill

      Isn’t that what she means by “depleting her socialization reserves”?

  7. Schpoonman

    Dina has so many “best” strips it’s not even close to being fair.

    1. Clif

      Yes, but Dina being terrifying is the best of the best.

  8. alongcameaspider

    I predict that Dina will reveal they’ve had sex and Joyce will reveal she’s now Atheist and both of them will freak out

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      That would be some good balance – I approve.

    2. Rabid Rabbit

      What shocks me most about this suggestion is that the last two words aren’t “make out,” which is what I would have expected the Internet to suggest.

      1. Clif

        An oversite, I’m sure.

      2. Spencer

        “Oh Dina, teach me the ways of atheism.”

        “I have scholarly articles on the mating habits of Dromaeosauridae, but perhaps you will learn better with thorough hands-on experience.”

    3. Needfuldoer

      I think Dina’s reaction to that new information would be analogous to “friggin’ finally“, not freaking out.

  9. Delicious Taffy

    I love Joyce’s horrified face.

  10. Yotomoe

    I want to protect that smile.

    1. The Wellerman

      Me too bruh!!! ??

  11. RassilonTDavros

    She’s gotten a lot better since her last attempt.

    (Granted, her facial features in general seem to have shifted a bit over the years, so that might have something to do with it.)

    1. StClair

      She has achieved mastery of the Single Tooth technique.

    2. Dara

      She REALLY has. This is SO much better.

      And probably still terrifying to Joyce. xD

    3. saltchocolate

      Thanks for the link—I had forgotten what a failure that earlier “smile” was!

      Also, unless there’s a wrong-headed commenter above, I believe it’s appropriate to say Happy Birthday, Willis!

    4. Nathan

      Oh hey, it’s my gravatar!

      1. Amós Batista

        wish my gravatar could update as fast as yours

  12. DailyBrad

    Amazing. Also, it’s been a bit since we’ve seen glass-less Joyce, it threw me.

  13. BBCC

    There we go, Dina!

    Waking someone up without a triangle grin is just rude.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      Thankfully no one near me has a triangle smile. So no one wants to be rude and wake me up without a triangle grin. Thus I sleep forever, I’m sleeping as I write this.

    2. BBCC

      Also – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WILLIS <3

  14. Sirksome

    I do wonder how one fuses all their teeth together to achieve the triangle smile void. It’s like what people think purgatory is.

  15. butts

    that is a very improved rendition of the triangle grin

  16. RassilonTDavros

    “Almost as beautiful…

    …as Joyce…”

  17. carl320

    Oh, you’re awake. I screwed up.

    1. Spencer

      “Hey, you, you’re finally awake.”

      Dumbing of Age was actually Skyrim this whole time.

      Todd Howard got us again.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        That motherFUCKER

        1. King Daniel

          You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that ambush, same as us, and that thief over there.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Can’t believe they were gonna behead the player character just for walking past random unrelated soldiers.

        3. Reaver

          It was during a war, they were near known dangerous rebels AND the leader of said rebels, there wasn’t exactly time to check who was the dangerous threat, since Ulfric was right there.

        4. alongcameaspider

          I mean they flat out said the player character wasn’t on their list

          And they had the random horse thief on the list iirc

      2. The Wellerman

        Oh yes, human, don’t stop giving me ideas!!! ?

    2. Rex Vivat

      That’s not a frying pan.

  18. P!enapple

    Happy birthday! Hope it’s filled with lots of love and laughter!!!

  19. hazel

    Oh no Joyce, you slept all day..

    (hap birth Willis, thanks for the webcomic strips, rest up)

    1. hazel

      It’s sweet that Dina wanted to wake Joyce but waited to recharge so that she could “perform” this comforting ritual. It’s cute and it’s caring. Wonder just how long she waited though, lol, given that it looks to be dusk.

      1. The Wellerman

        Believe me, if you’re a neurodivergent like me who exerts energy through performing these things, you always make sure you’re recharged!

        Thankfully though I can make digital faces like this WITHOUT expending any said energy! ☺️

  20. Nono

    Reminder that we’re not in a new storyline yet, Joyce had a nap so it’s evening.

    Plenty of shenanigans are still afoot for this day.

    1. Nono

      Also wait? It’s evening? Did we completely skip lunch with Sarah and Liz?

      1. King Daniel

        Yep. After all if I’m not mistaken, there are essentially no further non-Dina pages scheduled for this chapter (and the chapter ends in like a week anyway).

      2. thejeff

        Now I wonder if Sarah will stay over there and only come back tomorrow, giving us a bit more Liz time.

  21. Spencer

    My grandma was born April 1st, do you wanna trade with her?

    Happy birthday!

    1. Needfuldoer

      Yeah, happy birthday!

      (I tried writing this as its own comment earlier, but the system ate it. Spam filter?)

      1. Spencer

        I think spam filter eats posts if they’re only a few words long. It happens most times I post something that’s three or so words long.

  22. Johan

    Poor Joyce slept the whole Sunday away

    1. Amós Batista

      believe me, after 30s, it will be a bless

  23. Meagan

    This punchline got more of a laugh out of me than any strip in a while.

  24. Joe Moose

    [Ilberd]
    S L O P P Y!
    [/Ilberd]

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Something something person of culture, etc.

  25. Rotunda

    Lots of interesting shadows in today’s artwork, and the color palette of the first panel establishes late afternoon.

    1. brionl

      It’s still January, right? So probably about 3-4pm.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Joyce probably has the curtains closed, too.

  26. Robbie

    Omg lol

  27. Norah

    Happy Birthday, Willis!

  28. NinjaNick

    So cute!

  29. michaelinasmeal

    I’ve been drinking too much, I have no idea what Dina is even trying to convey… bongoes be confusing…

    1. SuperZero

      She’s waking Joyce up the way Joyce obviously prefers. Since this is what Joyce does to other people, she must prefer it.

  30. anon

    now that she’s been on the other end of it she prolly won’t do this as much anymore i’m guessing (tho being choked by sal didn’t really lessen it that much, did it?)

    1. PirateTawnee

      For a certain kind of person, the end result being choked by Sal would act as an incentive to do it more so…

      1. thejeff

        That’s more a Becky thing, I think.

        Joyce has gotten better. Even back last semester she was shown asking permission to enter Sal’s room. Not sure when the last time she was shown waking someone like this was.

  31. Florence

    Please oh gosh talk about atheism! Joyce is so close to talking to the best person for her journey, maybe even past the confrontational defensiveness and onto being a little more at peace with her new status.

    1. Nono

      I don’t think Dina’s actually the best person. We don’t know about her upbringing, but I’m guessing that Dina has always been firmly atheist, so she doesn’t have the same experience re: losing her religion.

      Dorothy would be a better fit, but I don’t think they can have a constructive, objective conversation about it.

      1. Florence

        I would have agreed maybe a before all of this, but it’s clear Dorothy has too much baggage around her idea of Joyce. Dina on the other hand doesn’t, and can offer a more neutral perspective.

        So far as I can see, Joyce needs help filling the void left by religion, or at least coming to terms with it. Dina has also been pretty good with Becky, a person whom the religion part really matters

        1. Daibhid C

          That’s the thing: firstly I don’t think Dina will understand the existence of said void, secondly I think Joyce’s approach is probably going to be “Dina! You can convince Becky that all the smart people are atheist!”

        2. Spencer

          Dina just witnessed Becky express that God is going to walk through the door and beat her because they had sex.

          She might find Joyce’s plan delightful.

        3. George

          Dina may not understand it, but she also doesn’t define Joyce by it. I think Joyce is already getting a lot of “isn’t religion who you are?” questioning from her friends / family, so it might be nice to talk to somebody who just views God as a discredited theory.

        4. Spencer

          Yeah, Dina’s a great place for Joyce to start building a new support group. Joyce, a rigorously black and white thinker, needs facts to fill the void cutting herself from her abusive death cult left her with.

          Moreover, Dina’s not just going to be delighted that Joyce renounced magical thinking, she gets to hand all the empirical evidence, most of which will probably be about dinosaurs. Dina isn’t just someone who doesn’t need Joyce to stay in the silly fundie box, she’d be absolutely delighted to see her step out of it.

          Plus Joe and Dina are already Bio Besties so Joe can handle the emotional support and Dina can do crack Joyce’s noggin open and start pouring facts into it with a comically oversized funnel.

      2. thejeff

        Like Dina, Dorothy basically always been atheist – at least to the point of never having a religion to lose. There really isn’t anyone else in the main cast with that experience, I think. Outside of it – Leslie, maybe?

        The trouble with Dina as a confidant here is the conflict with Becky. Joyce wanting to deconvert Becky. Becky wanting to reconvert Joyce. Of course, this is why she likely will talk to Dina about it – maximum drama.

  32. AGV

    Becky would be all over this

    Also: *plays Pillar Men on the muzak*

    1. The Wellerman

      See? This human gets it! ???

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WPnSJ67Q2Sg

    2. Azhrei Vep

      Aw shit, here come the Custodes again.

  33. Rabisch

    Sorry Dina, but this is still VERY scary.

  34. Juanoku

    Ah, yes, the classic triangle smile
    Weirdly creepy
    Still kinda cute

  35. Bratty Roger

    I ^still^ think Dorothy was right about Joyce’s beliefs being closer to deism than atheism.
    Becky seems to be on her way to making such a discovery about ^herself^.

    1. Spencer

      Dorothy didn’t say that Joyce’s beliefs were a deism, she said Joyce should “find a nice deism” to ease herself into being an atheist.

      Because Dorothy’s an idiot.

      1. Needfuldoer

        That’s just her her “middle ground both sides” people-pleasing nature flaring up again.

        1. Spencer

          It’s her cowardly neolib streak at the core, but it’s not really a middle ground. Dorothy’s the enlightened, progressive moderate with zero tangible beliefs, and so she feels it’s appropriate to put conditions on Joyce’s anger and tell her she should pursue different theological beliefs on the grounds that Dorothy thinks they’re what’s best.

          This is because Dorothy, like all moderates (read: centre-right), thinks that she has the solution to all the world’s ills if only they’d listen to her. If you don’t listen to her dumb bullshit plans that never work then actually your suffering is your fault, even if Dorothy is the current secondary direct cause of that suffering.

          Like we’re talking about someone who, when Roz made the entirely correct point that Becky was helping someone who tried to push oppressive anti-Queer laws that she responded with “well actually you’re a legacy admission so shut up,” Dorothy followed up with “Wow, Roz, word of advice, helpful reminder, um actually, Becky is homeless and a lesbian so you’re talking over her” even though Becky was living in an apartment paid for by a Republican.

          Dorothy’s always been a cowardly moron, she just hangs out with comedy screwballs whose problems were morally binary, and since Dorothy’s a really empathetic person at her core who defines herself by wanting to do good, like her political ambition is “I’ll be the president and fix everything since being the president is like being queen of the universe probably” and that’s outrageously silly and also a pretty good indicator of how Dorothy just terminally wants to help everyone around her, she wasn’t just able to meaningfully help, she was also genuinely emotionally supportive.

          But Dorothy’s still a cowardly neolib at the moment, and so any problem she can’t immediately grasp is the victim’s fault. She’ll figure it out eventually.

        2. Sombrero

          Dunno about your example. I still think Dorothy was right and Roz was wrong. Identity trumps specific political initiatives.

        3. Spencer

          Pft, no it doesn’t.

          If Jimbob Swamprat contributes to his union while my queer, neurodivergent ass is going “the gender wage gap isn’t real, just get a better job!” then one of us is being a better person than the other. Our identities inform us but it’s our actions that define us, and Becky’s actions were being a mascot for a Republican who tried to make life worse for queer people who definitely were not all white lesbians like Becky living in apartments that Robin bought for her. I’m sure Carla woulda been fine if her parents were not absurdly wealthy.

          Moreover, Roz’s identity factors here because she’s not a timid white girl whose only contribution is to exploit someone else’s identity, she’s not Dorothy, Roz is a woman of colour who fiercely advocates for her sexual freedom, a losing proposition in Midwest America made worse by being the sister of a Republican congresswoman who needs to appease her redneck voter base.

          She’s also got a stick up her own ass up about her politics and is at least partly motivated by self-aggrandizing (the famous strip where the commentariat got so misogynistic that a permanent filter got implemented, but then Leslie humiliated her in their next class to go hang out with Becky, and then Leslie pat Becky on the back for forcibly outing two bisexual women in her class, so I don’t care what Leslie thinks anymore), but Roz was making salient points on Becky’s actions while Dorothy, being a timid, useless moderate with no actual values, just went “but she’s a lesbian!” the way other useless moderates go “Republicans aren’t all bad I know a gay Republican!”

          You should listen to the voices most affected by the actions of their oppressors, but Becky wasn’t the only voice. Becky being a gay Republican for a hot minute (and for the sensible motive of “I am homeless and at constant risk of being discovered and forced onto the streets”) doesn’t immediately mean her advocacy for a Republican is good, it just means Becky did something fucked up for a bit so she could survive.

        4. Sombrero

          Don’t know if this one-issue politics is really big in North America. Many gay people I know identified as conservative even when conservative parties were blocking the laws that would allow them basic rights and keep voting conservative after democratic socialists governments approved those laws, but maybe it’s European politics that is weird.

        5. Spencer

          Queer folks are also susceptible to believing that the leopard is definitely not gonna eat my face, yes.

        6. zee

          *cough* gay conservative pundit Dave Rubin, who has shilled out against the queer community, was shocked to see his own colleagues say they wouldn’t attend his anniversary party because his marriage is sinful. Now folks on his side are accusing him and his husband of child trafficking bc they’re having twins through surrogacy. Sometimes people are just traitors, and it bites them in the ass. Being a “queer conservative” is a self harming oxymoron.

          Not saying Becky is comparable, she actively sabotaged robins campaign as best as she could without getting fired and tried to campaign for leftist values. And of course, y’know, Dave Rubin is a rich grifter who was already successful before he sold out, Becky was a homeless kid trying to survive and get an education.

    2. Spencer

      Although I guess that’s a question about Becky, now that you brought it up.

      Becky believed in God because she was told to, and then come Joyce saving her life she has proof God is not the hand of her authoritarian upbringing, but a wellspring of endless love who performs miracles for her, ie: of course God is real. God sent a superhero and Joyce on a motorcycle to save me from my dad.

      Is it a deism if the God you worship isn’t the one you were brought up with, but a God who proves his love for you by answering lesbian prayers? The only place that God is not love to Becky is in relation to sex, where God remains a terrifying authority figure who will beat her with a wooden spoon, or the God Becky used to worship.

  36. Darkoneko

    Sarah would be so very happy at the sight of this

  37. Amós Batista

    Dina, we already know why are you big smilling today…

  38. Sombrero

    Welcome to Uncanny Valley

    Pop: dunno, but growing.

  39. thumb

    I mean honestly it does make some difference.

  40. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    Joyce! Awaken! Awaken! Feed the Lamb that must be taken!

    1. Amós Batista

      Oh, no. Christian nightmares comming to Joyce again??!

    2. Delicious Taffy

      What, is she Mustakrakish now?

  41. Keulen

    I’m pretty sure that triangle smile should not be physically possible IRL.

  42. Amós Batista

    Happy birthday, Willis. Hope today is being a nice one.

    1. Amós Batista

      A-há! Clearly Willis had put a spam block to everyone who is going to comment “Happy birthday Walky” and “Happy birthday Joyce”.

  43. Stephen Nedland

    Sorry, Dina. but you only get one attempt at this, per day. Recalibration is not permitted.

  44. Dot

    Not sure about the “recalibrating” line here. Feel like it leans more into autistic stereotypes than I like or am used to seeing from Dina. Not a huge gripe, just made me go a little “eehhhh” as an autistic person.

    1. Spencer

      I kinda took it more as a knowing, facetious statement on Dina’s part.

      Like she’s engaging in one of Joyce’s more common running gags but Joyce is umcomfortable, so Dina’s going “oh right, I forgot the triangle smile.”

  45. Lieutenant Dan

    “Wake up. Time to die.”

  46. Heather

    God doesn’t exist Joyce but maybe karma does. Simultaneously both Sal and Sarah as those who have had morning!Joyce start grinning for no reason.

  47. Dina's Smile

    Drat, now I need to update my pfp.

  48. Solace

    And take the land that must be taken! Devour worlds, smile forsaken!

  49. Pinkie

    dina: get up, joyce! kill and eat!

  50. Bagge

    Dina is the gift that just keeps giving

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