379

Astigmatism
Posted on December 7, 2015 by David M Willis

379 thoughts on “Astigmatism”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    I feel like Willis could really mess with the “unaware-of-the-buffer-length” crowd by changing Nirvana to Stone Temple Pilots

    [RIP IN PEACE WEILAND]

    1. Ana Chronistic

      also Amber guess what, stuff only millennials kids will get and stuff only “Gen Z” kids will get is ALSO stupid

      (also stuff only Baby Boomer kids will get, but because most of that is “ruin the economy and blame the next gen for being lazy”)

      1. spriteless

        Ahh yes. Their voice went kinda weak since Hunter S Thompson committed suicide.

      2. Agemegos

        I’m the Last of the Boomers.

        Next time one of my crowd gives you a hard time, quote stats from this article in The Economist.

      3. Memyself

        Baby Boomers blame Gen X for ruining the economy?

        1. Agemegos

          Yeah. They stopped buying our overpriced houses.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Us whippersnappers born in the mid-80s graduated college right as the home equity circlejerk got chafed and brought the entire economy down with it. Sorry, but there’s no way we can afford your overpriced houses without selling body parts. We’ll just wait for the silent generation to peter out and inherit the Leave It to Beaver neighborhoods.

        3. Stranger

          Dont worry, I have a plan. Once they become too old and feeble to fight back, we dump them in one of those crooked nursing homes, and bar the doors with broom handles. Then we move into their houses, throw out all the medication and old crap, and burn their photos

        4. Peduncle

          We’re not worried. We have flower wraiths (Ctrl+F) to deal with your broom handles! And all our photos are hidden away in the doily closet! (Oh dang, I wasn’t supposed to mention that.)

        5. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          I’m one of those Gen-Xers (born in 82…does that make me the end of Gen X or the start of Gen Y, actually? I’m not sure where the cutoff is meant to be… xD), who came out of uni with a degree and then found nobody wanted to hire me because degrees had recently become so commonplace that they’re effectively useless (coupled with me choosing an actually useless degree anyway, in Mathematics).

          So, 12 years on from graduation, no long-term job, no home, no wife or kids…still living with my dad in his house. Your idea of simply waiting out to inherit his house isn’t gonna work either, because of the property price boom his house is worth so much that when he dies, my sister and I will have to sell it to pay off the effin’ inheritance tax, leaving me homeless. Same thing will probably happen with my mum’s flat, too. My future is looking pretty crappy…so I prefer to ignore it and enjoy the now. >_>

          ^_^;;;

      4. Kamino Neko

        I’m pretty sure that’s her point?

      5. ANeM

        There are some non-stupid things only Baby Boomers will get, such as: a valuable education at a reasonable price.

      6. Lia47

        Ugh, don’t say “gen z”, they/we haven’t even done anything yet to get a generational name. Gen x and gen y made sense but you can’t just slap a name on a whole generation just to finish off the alphabet

        1. Jacknoir

          it’s called gen Z because the way things are going their won’t be anymore after that.

        2. The Other Mike

          Anyone complaining about their children’s generation is really complaining about their own generation’s parenting skills.

        3. MechaMaidFan7

          THIS

        4. Mindlink

          In Scandinavia Z is not the last letter of the alphabet, after that comes Æ, Ø and Å. (Pronounced a bit like “The letter “a” in “frack””, “The letter “u” in “uh”, “The letter “o” in “Lord”” accordingly)
          You used to have Æ in English as well, like the old spelling of “Encylopædia”, but you used a different pronunciation.

        5. Jão

          or Ä, Ö, Å for the swedes, if I’m not mistaken?

        6. Telix

          We also used to have Þ, called “thorn” for the “TH” sound. People misreading signs and weirdly written typefaces are responsible for the “Ye Olde” phenomenon. They originally read “ÞE OLDE” but people misread it.

        7. KHNO

          We never did anything to be called generation Y either. Because people who name generations are not from the generation itself…

        8. das-g

          A generation doesn’t have to do anything to get a descriptive name. It merely needs a describable trait. Everyone knows that generation X mainly consists of females, while generation Y mainly consists of males. (Or was it mails?)

        9. Ana Chronistic

          I apologize for saying Gen Z, etc., but that’s literally how the generations were described in our awful business meeting characterizing generations by relative birth year rather than actual personality traits.

          Generation Catalano FTW

  2. MM

    Aren’t you still technically a Nineties kid, Danny?

    1. gkheyf

      give it time…

    2. DinaWho

      At this point he was probably born in (late) ’96 at the earliest, so the part of his childhood that he remembers best – the school-age type stuff – would all be in the next millennium. Is ‘nineties kid’ measured by birth year or childhood years?

      1. -Sentinel-

        aaaaah, i feel so old

        1. Dez

          I feel even older considering “90s kids” are still way young from my point of view.

        2. Marc in MN

          Me too. I was in college in the mid-to-late 90s…

      2. Longdistancetraveler

        I was born in 95 so I guess I’m a 00’s kid.

        And apparently I’m older than the cast of DoA (some of the cast).

        Damn.

      3. Kryss LaBryn

        Aaah. He’s in college. And he was born after I went to college.

        Aaaah I’m old. Well, feeling it, anyways.

        Damn you Willis.

      4. Kernanator

        I mean, I was born in ’92, and I only sort of consider myself to be a 90s kid.

    3. Kamino Neko

      No. He was probably 3 when the 90s ended. To be a ’90s’ kid, you need to have actual memories of the 90s. Preferably have at least turned 10 before 1999 ended.

      I am an 80s kid, not a 70s kid, because I was born in 1977, so all my substantial memories are from 1982 onward. (I can remember my 5th birthday clearly. I have spotty memories from before that.)

      1. Carriethedragon

        Agreed. The DoA kids are, at this point, a year younger than me, so they were born in 1996 and 1997.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Oh no
          When I started reading I was younger than them by a wide margin

          That is no longer the case

        2. Silamy

          This is my relationship with Harry Potter in a nutshell. Watching the movies was… weird. Rereading the books is… mildly disturbing, much as I love it.

        3. ShadowCougar

          hate to hurt you like this. Harry potter is six months older then me. Per Rowling, he was born in July of 1980. the books take place during the 90s. He IS a 90s kid.

        4. Silamy

          Harry Potter’s old enough to be my father. I am aware of this. I still grew up with the characters -seeing them as YOUNGER than I am is…. weird.

        5. Kelly

          I never read HP till I was in my late 20s! I was a teenager when the books got big (before the movies), and I (correctly) identified the magic system as shit… but not until later did I learn that the rest of the books makes up for the magic issues. (I have a strong preference for worldbuilding, back then it was stronger and my liking of characters and plot was not as developed)

        6. 1234

          Same here. I was like 4 or 5 years younger than them when this comic started and now I’m a year older.

        7. Carriethedragon

          Same! I’ve never been able to remember precisely when I started reading DoA, but I know I started reading Questionable Content in early 2011, and I believe it was not too long after that.

        8. Garrett

          I was born early 1995 and I consider myself a 90s kid in large part due to having older siblings exposing me to the culture more than I would have been without them.
          Also, I started reading this comic at the start of college, so we were the same age at first.

      2. Siyajkak

        Eh, at ’93, I’m at the cusp of 90’s kid-dom. A lot of the culture from the 90’s leaked into the early 2000’s though, so I feel like still got the experience.

        1. Annie

          I feel the same way, but a decade back. I was born in 83 and remember most of the kids pop culture stuff from the 80s. I remember the Challenger, the Berlin Wall coming down, but the grown-up and older-kid stuff from then is a vague memory and more related to how my parents reacted to it.

          Then the 80s stuff bled in to the 90s and I can remember a lot of the 90s. I graduated high school in 2001, so I feel like I identify as a 80s kid, 90s kid, and to an extent with the 00s.

        2. Kelly

          I remember the wall, and (very vaguely – we drank condensed milk for a while) Chernobyl, but not Challenger.

        3. Annie

          See, I know about Chernobyl, but have no real memories of it.
          I think I remember Challenger because I grew up in a very US Air Force strong city (San Antonio) with a dad that was fascinated in all things aviation and space. Shuttle launches were a big deal.
          Then, the elementary school I went to was named for a member of the Challenger crew, so starting in 1988, the memories I had were reinforced by pictures on the school walls and by ceremonies every January 28th.

        4. Robin

          So, um… iwaskindabornin2001

      3. DinaWho

        I was born in ’91. I always assumed I was a ’90s kid. MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          YOU ARE WHAT YOU IDENTIFY

          LIVE THE DREAM

      4. KHNO

        I’d say you can’t be only a XX’s kid. If you got an older brother/sister, you’ll know a lot from what came out before. I was raised with the Cure and early Neubauten stuff, and Joy Division, even if I’m a “90’s” kid. Moreover if you’re not from the US, because time went slower before and it could take a few years before the US hype came to western Europe (and I can’t imagine how it was in eastern Europe or Asia, or Africa). Of course some people were “connected”, but for example the eastern german punk scene played punk long time after its western counterpart was in pop music… So what I say is basically that you’re always from sometime+somewhere+sometimes else and somewhere else..

      5. The Wizard

        The 90s is between 85 -95, so ya past 95 is no longer considered the 90s era.

    4. Edupoet81

      Not sure where I fit. I was born in 1981, so I was around for most of the 80’s, but I was still a kid through most of the nineties. 1990 began with me in the middle of third grade, and 2000 began with me in the middle of my freshman year of college. I’m not sure which decade is *my* decade. I also don’t know what generation I belong to. I’m kind of on the borderline between Generation X, and the Millenials. I could be one of the youngest members of Generation X, or one of the oldest members of the Millenial Generation.

      There’s a possibility I’m overthinking this.

      1. Yet Another Laura H.

        I think “your” decade comes around the time you turn eleven, given some informal polling— the year before you start, however subtly, to choose your own culture.

        1. Edupoet81

          Okay, so that would make me a nineties kid. Good to know.

      2. Annie

        I was born in 83 and also feel like I’m on the cusp between Gen X and Millennials. There’s things from both that I totally get and things from both that make me say “no, that’s for people older/younger than me.”

        My mother was born in 61 and says there’s things about baby boomers that seem too old to her, but that she doesn’t identify with any of Gen X. Whereas I feel like equal parts Gen X and Millennial.

  3. Stephen R. Bierce

    *plays Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. inqntrol

      Talking about the 90’s, I think you should play “Winds of Change” on the Muzak.

      1. Stephen R. Bierce

        Ace of Base, then? *shrug*

  4. AnvilPro

    Danny looks short right now

  5. Mr. Mendo

    Yeah, 90’s kids suck…almost as much as 80’s kids!

    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

    #ShotsFired LOL

    1. Doctor_Who

      I’m still not sure which I’m supposed to be. Born in 1984. I remember some of the 80s.

      1. Yotomoe

        I was born in ’94.
        I remember some of the 90s.

        1. MrZombieScordo

          I was born in ’94, I remember stuff that was cool in the 90’s.

        2. Agemegos

          I was born in ’64. Get off my lawn.

        3. Peduncle

          Hmph. Kids these days.

        4. Opus the Poet

          I know, can’t trust anyone who doesn’t remember what they were doing and where they were when JFK was shot.

        5. Captain Button

          I know, can’t trust anyone who doesn’t remember what they were doing and where they were when Armstrong stepped on to the Moon.

          Fixed that for you.

        6. Stephen R. Bierce

          I know, can’t trust anyone who doesn’t remember what they were doing and where they were when Ronald Reagan was shot.
          Here we go.

        7. Peduncle

          Huh. So Opus can trust me but the Captain can’t. Age is strange.

        8. Opus the Poet

          I was at my Aunt Chicky’s house in Jacksonville FL watching a B/W “portable” TV when Armstrong messed up his own quote…

        9. Bicycle Bill

          So what does it mean when I, like Opus, can probably remember all three (JFK, “One Small Step”, and Reagan)?

        10. Solenoid

          That you’re old as sin and we young’uns can’t trust you. Can’t trust anyone over 40, really.

        11. Agemegos

          When Armstrong stepped onto the Moon I was kneeling on the floor of a neighbour’s living room. My mother and I had gone there because they had a TV. People in the room were me, my best friend Andrew, my mother, and Andrew’s mother. I remember the shirt I had on, but not the pants.

        12. WaytoomanyUIDs

          I know, can’t trust anyone who doesn’t remember what they were doing and where they were when Lincoln was shot.

          fixed it properly

        13. Falling Star

          I know, can’t trust anyone who doesn’t remember what they were doing and where they were when Alexander Hamilton was shot.
          fixed that for you

        14. Peduncle

          *where they were when Alexander Hamilton was shot.*
          History always gets things wrong. It was my great-great-granddaughter fired that shot. Burr always did hog the [Ana Chronistic warning] limelight.

        15. StClair

          In July of ’69, I was a month-old tadpole who’d emerge from the womb the following March.

        16. merbrat

          ’54. You, too! ;o)

        17. Tacos

          I was born in ’91. About the only things I remember are Beast Wars and BTAS.

      2. KHNO

        81. A bit younger that Willis. So I wouldn’t really be able to tell. For my students, I’m from jurassic, even too old to be the cool uncle (and I tried!). But I can’t remember Beast Wars, Power Rangers came too late for me, I am pretty sure that what I remember from the wall, Ceaucescu are reconstructed memories after I seen it two thousant times every year since…

    2. jalika123

      Lets not even talk about those darn 70’s kids, almost as bad as their parents the 60’s kids, with their darn flower wraith and their wars

      1. Disloyal Subject

        Uh
        Flower wraith?

        Once again I get inspiration for the next game night’s monster encounter from a webcomic’s comment section…

        1. Peduncle

          Shhh! Don’t spook ’em. I expect there will be more than one flower wraith haunting the badlands nurseries in the next few weeks. Mine will certainly have kudzu wraiths for sale.

    3. Captain Button

      “If we ever get out of the 80s, the 90s are going to make the 60s, look like the 50s.” – Flashback

      1. barefootbiker

        Unfortunately, in many ways we never did really get out of the ’80s…

    4. Palamdrone

      And those darn kids from the 2010’s are the worst.

      By the time this comic is done, the DoA cast might be kids of 2020.

  6. Pivitor

    What happened to Amber’s costume?

    1. QWERTY

      She ran into a tree. So her glasses broke.

    2. gkheyf

      ‘epic car ride’ is a somewhat misleading description

  7. QWERTY

    What’s a non-people corporation?
    And isn’t Danny technically a 90’s kid

    1. Doctor_Who

      EA, for one.

    2. MrZombieScordo

      Before corporations were ruled to count as people. For right now, but as the timeline stretches, he will eventually not be.

      1. Derek

        Corporations were already “people”. Corporate personhood is an old concept, the supreme court case just reiterated that (specifically, it ruled that corporations have rights such as free speech).

        1. Agemegos

          Well, technically it ruled that shareholders have the right assemble to to petition the government for the redress of grievances, and therefore that they can exercise their individual rights of free speech collectively, through their corporation. See the article on Citizens United v. FEC in Wikipedia.

          Corporations do not have all the rights of natural persons. For example, they cannot vote or run for office.

        2. Bicycle Bill

          Just wait a few more years.
          Not that I’m cynical or anything like that.

        3. Robzilla

          True, but they have many of the rights of natural persons, and the idea that their existence is something new is highlighted in Danny’s comment. Sadly, many people don’t know the “WHY” of it all, and just parrot the “John Stewart Show” and the “Colbert Report”, instead of learning why we create artificial persons. Good explanation by the way, Ag.

      2. Kamino Neko

        No, Danny is not, and never has been, a 90s kid. He did not grow up in the 90s, he has no substantial memories of the 90s. He was still a toddler when the 90s ended.

        He is a child of the 21st century.

        1. Kamino Neko

          Hmm. Well…OK, I suppose when the comic started 5 years ago, he’d have been a 90s kid. ’91 or ’92 gives him SOME time to build actual memories of the 90s. But that window closed 3 years ago.

        2. Lawzlo

          We’re through the looking glass here, people.

    3. tim gueguen

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood

  8. Mr. Random

    I feel as if the longer this goes on, the less I’ll identify as someone who hates those kinds of lists.

    The future scares me.

    1. Captain Button

      “The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away moment by moment in that vast terrible in-between.” – Babylon 5

    2. Rheinman137

      “Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery. But today is a gift. That’s why they call it the Present” – Master Oogway

  9. Badeyes

    When I was growing up I wanted to be a coorporation.
    It’s all Micheal J Fox’s fault.

    1. butting

      Nah, I never fell for that. Shepherd Book planned to but got talked out of it, and that seemed the right move.

      (aw I hope I’m not the only one here who remembers that…)

  10. DarkoNeko

    She’s litterally answering yesterday’s comments.

    But it cannot beeeee.

    1. BenRG

      We’re obviously just that predictable.

      1. StClair

        The Tape Knew You Would Say That

    2. tim gueguen

      I’m pretty sure we’ve been speculating about Amber’s eyesight since well before this strip was produced.

  11. Yotomoe

    The nineties sucked. ’00s are where it’s at.

  12. GoldStarz

    Danny, you ARE a Nineties kid.

    1. Yotomoe

      Is he? ’90s kids aren’t kids born in the ’90s are they? They’re people who were kids in the ’90s. Usually meaning you were born in the ’80s.

    2. madock345

      Not really, not the way it’s usually defined. Danny would have been born in the mid-late 90’s. I would say a 90’s kid is someone who grew up then. He probably doesn’t even remember the 90’s at all.

      1. Someone

        he would have to be born around 1997, he’s only a year older then me, and I sure as hell don’t define myself as a 90’s kid.

  13. Fish Facade

    At the beginning of the comic, they were nineties kids. Now, they were born in 1997~1998, and have no memories of the nineties.

    …

    Suddenly I feel like this is some trippy sci-fi

    1. barefootbiker

      That’s really bizarre, yeah. When the comic started, they were 3 years older than me. When I started reading, we were the same age (I guess I was a little older, since it was spring IRL but still fall in-comic) and now I’m two years older. Maybe they’re going at extreme speeds, and the time dilation of special relativity is keeping them young?

      Yup. New headcanon. DoA takes place on an Earth that moves millions of times faster than this one.

      1. Someone

        They have gone from feeling like older siblings to feeling like acquaintances. This may be the only story in which my personal growth happens faster then the characters.

      2. fizzywafflezsuperstore

        This story takes place in another universe, one where time runs slower.

  14. NinjaNick

    Now I feel nostalgic for the ’90s. The good old days of Nicktoons and other crazy-cool stuff.

    1. Doctor_Who

      I’ve gone back and watched them all. The only ones that hold up are Rocko, the first two seasons of Ren & Stimpy, and MAYBE Ahh Real Monsters.

      Nostalgia lenses are rose colored.

      1. Someone

        Batman: The Animated series is good

        1. Doctor_Who

          Oh yeah, that one is good. I was just listing Nicktoons.

        2. Tacos

          Samurai Jack was also good. Which I just learned yesterday that apparently they are bringing it back.

        3. Tacos

          Oh no, wait that was from the 2000’s not the 90’s.

        4. Leorale

          Ooh, they are? I don’t remember the plot but I recall it was visually stylish and made cool use of silence.

        5. Kelly

          Yep, going to be on Toonami/[Adult Swim]

        6. inqntrol

          Annnnnd the channel doesn’t cover my country. It actually doesn’t cover Europe, except Germany and Ireland and…RUSSIA?!

      2. Leorale

        Rocko made me feel sad and listless, and I didn’t know why.
        Ren and Stimpy made me uncomfortable, likewise.
        I really liked Gargoyles and X-Men: Evolution, though.

        1. Solenoid

          Rocko is the world as seen through a dark mirror and everyone’s an animal. It was telling you to laugh at the absurdity of the world. For some, the notion that the world and what often is taken to matter by most people in it is inherently absurd is a disquieting thought.

          Ren and Stimpy was just skirting the edges of vulgarity, however.

        2. LastDawnOfMan

          I remember a child psychologist saying that it can be hard on kids to be presented with stories where the protagonist has no control over his fate. Rocko was the worst show I’ve ever seen for presenting a world where the literal laws of physics would bend to prevent the protagonist from having any control, and that protagonist was always such a hopeful and kind innocent as to exacerbate the injustice of the awfull things happening to him. So I always thought it as a psychologically terrible show for kids.

      3. Opus the Poet

        Sheep in the Big City.

        1. inqntrol

          That sheep was more valuable than a nuclear warhead to that military organization.

        2. SonicBlueRanger

          I’m not a Mad Scientist I’m an Angry Scientist!

  15. Alden

    Seems dangerous. I assume Clark Kent has a spare pair so his secret identity isn’t exposed if he breaks his glasses.

  16. Plasma Mongoose

    I rather be a squid than a 90s kid.

    1. inqntrol

      And always be depressed?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Why would I be depressed?

  17. C.

    Corporated personhood had been established well before the 2000’s.

    1. Kelly

      yes, but it got expanded to whole new levels in the 00s/10s especially with Citizens United in 2010

      1. thejeff

        Exactly. It went from corporate personhood as a legal fiction to allow them representation in court and the like to “Corporations are people too, my friend.” And now they have religion as well.

  18. Peduncle

    Today, in American professional football, the (Buffalo) Billies found much to cheer about, the (Oakland) Raidahs failed to cling to an advantage, and the (Tampa Bay) Beckyneers disposed of some feathered dinosaurs. On the other hand, the hapless Cleveland (Joyce) Browns didn’t have a prayer.

  19. JessWitt

    I have astigmatism and nearsightedness. Life sucks more for me, Amber.

  20. Rutee

    ….how does amber feel about trukk not munky?

    1. Rutee

      …I mean, I know we saw her have her action figures make kissy faces, but it’s been a few years. Will the cast’s opinions on childhood toys shift when they’re no longer in their childhood? XD

      1. Silamy

        There’s another interesting question -will their childhood toys and their references change as they …will have been? (not sure how to grammar that one) born later on?

        1. TheGrammarLegionary

          I’d say the grammar was about as good as you can get with that sort of bent timeline. Verb tenses are going to change DRAMATICALLY if humanity ever invents time travel.

        2. Marie

          I think the frozen reference during the dorm party means yes. That isn’t exactly something they grew up with, but had come out sometime before school started

  21. Zaidyer

    Look Danny, the nineties were pretty cool. They’re like the bridge between today and the way things worked in the 20th century before the internet, while also actually having the internet. And the best part was hardly anybody knew about it or understood it at all!

    (Oh god, I’m so old)

    1. Captain Button

      Speaking as either a 60s or a 70s kid, the 90s were when many things started to go right or at least much less wrong. Before you darn meddling kids had it ruined for you by us old farts.

      1. Agemegos

        Yeah. Just last night I was telling some teenagers about December 1989–December 1991. Then was a biennium!

        1. Solenoid

          Sorry my birth heralded the end of your golden age.

        2. inqntrol

          And hope for others.

        3. Rheinman137

          How do you feel about the idea that the 20th century only lasted from 1914-1989?

          The Nineteenth century lasted until WWI kicked off and the 21st Century started from the fall of Communism.

        4. Captain Button

          Politically, yes. economically I go with 1870-2010 for the 20th century, per Brad Delong.

        5. Clif

          The 21 century started on 9/11.

      2. WolfPup

        Don’t worry… Each generation gets to screw things up in their own unique way.

    2. StClair

      An era where people actually used the phrase “Information Superhighway” with a straight face.

  22. That One Guy

    I’m not used to seeing this Glassesless Amber.

  23. izumi ryu

    Willis, I know it is pure coincidence and all but our sense of timing is oddly in sync… http://centerlanecomic.net/comic/more-reasons-than-vision/

  24. Someone

    I feel like most of the people who talk about how great the 90’s are were born in 1999.

    1. inqntrol

      Well, the 90’s werent a great decade for all.

    2. StClair

      Try about 30 years earlier.
      As a twenty-something, the 90s were pretty good for me. I was out of college, had a good job, the economy was doing well and the Cold War – the existential threat of nuclear annihilation that had loomed over my teen years – was over. Plus, the Internet and some really great animated series and movies! (And Babylon 5 and some of the best of Star Trek…)
      Even Y2K turned out OK, thanks to the hard work of a lot of people to fix it.
      And then, in September of 2001, everything changed… again.

      1. qman

        This. The 90s were simply a better political climate in the US, and while it wasn’t great for everyone, it was still a hopeful time, between the cold war and the forever terrorism threat atmosphere. The economy was good, and new things were happening.
        Now we’re surrounded by people who can’t get jobs because there simply aren’t enough jobs to be had, trillions of dollars in debt everywhere you look, the fed constantly trying to take away our rights in the name of security, and facing total economic collapse yet again.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          There are plenty of jobs! …for robots and outsourcing to other countries =|

  25. Foxhack

    … I have astigmatism.

    The minute I bought an LCD monitor, all my eye issues went away. Screw weird refresh rates on old tube monitors…

    1. Kelly

      CRTs, you want a quality one that you can crank up somewhere above 75 Hz. That worked for me, some do better with 85 or more. 60 is a pain in the ass. Or rather, eyes.

      Pretty irrelevant now of course…

      1. Betty Anne

        ^ This. I’m a person who needed the 85 Hz refresh rate. I discovered that during my CIS degree in college; prior to that, I just thought all computer monitors flickered annoyingly, and that other people just pretended not to notice. ^^;

  26. JA

    Am a 90s kid. And Power Rangers, Nirvana, Beast Wars, pogs, and all the rest were awesome. The aughts and 10s kids are just jealous that they have no cognitive memories of the greatest decade in History.

    1. Opus the Poet

      Unless you remember the “60s, neither do you. 😛

      1. LastDawnOfMan

        We were poor during those days, my mom and I were kicked out of the house and homeless in the 60s. People were vicious to us for being poor. Men treated her like a low rent whore at every job she took, firing her when she wouldn’t put out because clearly if she wasn’t one she should have remarried immediately to the first man she could find. On top of that, everyone expected the whole world to be destroyed by nuclear war, inevitably, within a handful of years. And I remember how people of color were still being treated.

        I’m sure people of any decade who lived with a good quality of life think their decade was the best. Give me the 90s, personally.

        1. Willoughby Chase

          I remember my father telling me in the 70s that the world would end within 15 years.

          As a kid, I knew nothing but cold-water flats and external toilets and gas lighting. We froze.

          Dental care became far better in the 90s. I remember screaming as the dentist gassed me. Took me years to visit the dentist without fear.

          Medical care as well.

        2. Cerberus

          It’s why each new generation on the current trajectory is better than the last. Because the hard-fought activism of the last generation has meant that that generation grows up with less toxic bullshit than the last and has a better perch to fight to improve things from there.

          And that’s a good thing even if our egos want to imagine our hazy rememberances of our childhoods to be the greatest time in any person’s life. I see kids with similar marginalizations to me and they’ll have an easier (though not easy) road of it than I did and that’s amazing.

        3. DarkVeghetta

          On the shoulders of giants.

        4. Rheinman137

          When you think of the good old days, think one word: dentistry. – P.J. O’Rourke

    2. SonicBlueRanger

      I was born in 1990 so I remember most of the 90’s. I find it hilarious when people say they Remember Power Rangers like it hasn’t been going on for 22 years and gotten significantly better than MMPR.

      1. Spencer

        It’s kind of weird that the best Power Rangers series was the grim post-apocalyptic series about mankind being driven to near extinction by a genocidal robot.

  27. Inkblot

    I have computer glasses too, but I don’t wear ’em when I’m not using my computer.

  28. Someone

    I did recently take the time to watch the first couple episodes of Transformers.

    “You destroy everything you touch Megatron!”
    “Because everything I touch is fuel, fuel for my hunger for power!”

    Quality writing right there.

    1. Betty Anne

      Optimus and Megatron had some of their best lines over that arc, don’t knock it. 😉

      I freaking love me some “More Than Meets the Eye” (the G1 story arc), followed by Transformers the Movie and “Five Faces of Darkness” (aka “Roddy Trips Balls and It’s Awesome”).

      1. Someone

        I never said I disliked it. It woudnt feel right without the cheesy dialog

  29. smooti

    wait, wait, danny’s not a nineties kid ???

    am i…. old now ???

    1. Someone

      Im sorry you had to find out this way

    2. Captain Button

      He looked at me eyes wide and plainly said,
      “Is it true that I’m no longer young?”
      And I should have told him, “No, you’re not old.”

  30. Leorale

    My eyes are fine, but those type of lists still give me a headache.

    1. Someone

      but do you remember Spongebob?

      1. Leorale

        Sure. I thought the art was aesthetically ugly and I generally didn’t understand what the fuss was about. Sorry to be a hater.

        1. Someone

          I don’t really like it either. But its commonly used in 90’s kid lists. Despite the fact that its still running.

        2. Lord Stoneheart

          Wasn’t SpongeBob early 00’s? I remember the first couple seasons, then tuning out. (I was born in 93. I have memories of the 90s but the cartoons I remember from childhood are probably more on the 00s side of things.

        3. Leorale

          I think it’s more that recognition-humour just isn’t my cup of Tang.

  31. Kitschensyngk

    And their CD-ROMs and their milkcaps and their Space Jams and their Rugratses and their Ace of Bases and their Full Houses and their 90210s and their Sports Illustrated for Kidses and their Where’s Waldoes and their Sega Genesiseseses…

    1. NinjaNick

      …and their Carmen Sandiegoes and their Lion Kings…

      1. Tacos

        … and their Fresh Prince of Bel-Airses…

        1. inqntrol

          …and their Dallas(old series).

        2. DarkVeghetta

          … and their Super Nintendo’s and their Xena’s…

  32. Boxilar

    Born in ’68. Remember three channels on broadcast TV. Atari 2600 and Star Wars (before it was New Hope). Mowed lawns and saved for my own Kenner Millennium Falcon. High school in the eighties. All night D&D on the weekends. Empire Strikes Back, Wrath of Kahn, Return of the Jedi. Return of the Jedi Leia in Endor outfit was Best Leia. Axis and Allies games that lasted for hours and resulted in flipped tables. Hair Bands. Knight Rider and Airwolf. The Powers of Matthew Star. G.I. Joe and Thunder Chats. Transformers. Top Gun. Graduated, joined the army. Then the.Cold War ended, the Soviet Union imploded.

    1. StClair

      Two years after ya (on a nice round zero year). Ah, memories.

    2. Cadrys

      Also ’68. The oldest member of our group had a moped. We would hold a shoulder to get across the Beaches quicker on our bikes. SF was limited to “be-dee-be-dee-be-dee” and Lorne Greene doing a “Wagontrain across the stars”. Growing up *knowing* one day we’d hear “This is the emergency broadcast system, this is NOT a test.” Pop Rocks. Sony Walkman. Challenger. Mosquito control trucks. (Grew up in FL. Don’t chase those.) AD&D. Prom was a big hair/shoulderpad competition. The giant original PC with its weapons-grade keyboard. Arcades were the *cool* place to be.

  33. Stara

    I just got why Amber annoys me so. Whenever the screen’s on her, it’s just “me me me” out of her mouth. The comic has a streak of melodrama running through every bit of conflict, minor or major, which is fine because it’s the cartoon genre. But Amber’s always, always, ALWAYS on about Amber. It doesn’t matter if Danny’s got stuff going on or Ethan’s having personal struggles, she just assumes it’s about her, or doesn’t ask what’s going on in someone’s life, or else makes it about her happiness and what she could have had or have gotten out of the situation. If she ties into the tragedy at all, it has to be HER tragedy. Basically the opposite of Joyce, who especially with Becky showing up, goes out of her way to give warmth and love, and to make it about the other person. Her personal foibles not withstanding.

    1. Leorale

      She listens to Dina for Dina.

      1. Stara

        I’m going to agree halfway with you (no need to pick a position when contemplating personalities). I could suggest, though, that there’s a component of self-soothing involved there. Dina largely ends up where Amber is, and they end up talking; Amber does not respond with hostility, so they have a bit of rapport. Amber doesn’t actively seek her out, though. And Amber may derive (back to self-soothing) a little personal boost by comparing herself and her anxieties to Dina.

        Having said that, no, you’re right, she does listen to Dina. Whether it’s for Dina or just because, I’ll be a bit wobbly on.

    2. Memyself

      You just nailed it, I think.

    3. Someone

      That’s why she has Amazi-Girl. Amber is selfish. Amazi-Girl isn’t. It’s pretty obvious that she giving the more heroic parts of her personality to Amazi-Girl

      1. Stara

        Her more contemplative aspects, maybe, but I wouldn’t stretch it that far. Amazigirl is a huge attention hog, which is a little disguised by the glamour of vigilante action (and of course, the fun of reading it. I like the Amazigirl storylines, for all these remarks). If you strip that side away, though– imagine her as a street-clothes-wearing Amber jumping in, bossing people around, slowing down productive response, and escalating situations– it’s a but easier to parse, perhaps (between Sal and Sarah, you get a more realistic and rounded depiction of how serious crime is worsened by Amber’s interventions; exceptions made to petty crime).

        1. Someone

          I never said she was good at it

    4. Agemegos

      When she heard that Joyce had dumped Ethan she was pretty spry.

    5. Historyman68

      I dunno, Danny asked about her.

    6. David M Willis

      *danny asks amber about herself*
      *amber answers*
      god dammit amber why are you always talking about yourself

      1. Volkai

        How do you have time to read comments?

        (Kidding!)

        Seriously though, hope things are going well Willises!

        1. Clif

          How do you have time to read comments?

          Back to slaving on the buffer for our future enjoyment!

          What?

      2. Stara

        Nah, it’s not that, it’s just that I rarely notice Amber reciprocating to others with the amount of concern and tenderness they show her. It DOES happen, but in my memory, sparely. You’re the author so of course the truth of the character lies in how you see her. As a reader, I do see Amber as a bit self-absorbed. Not a massive brat or a bad person, but she does seem to see things as being about her (note: this is, after all, not unheard of in social anxiety anyways; making things about oneself need not connote a spoilt princess, it just means that the direction things go or get reflected tends to self).

      3. Stara

        I should also note that I like the storylines that surround Amber since she’s got some of the more imaginative threads, and I like the comic book superhero gilding on those threads. How much I like something is not impacted by how I personally feel towards one portion of it, and I can like someone while being irritated by them. There’s no reason to pick one feeling or to make it black and white. Otherwise, my early irritation with Annie as a slightly Mary Sue lead and Kat as a chorus to her would have turned me off of Gunnerkrigg, which it did not. It’s always been one of my favourite comics; later the author addresses Annie’s mildly selfish actions and the character grows, and Kat is also fleshed out by becoming seen in-story as Annie’s equal, instead of vaguely implied but largely dinished by her wow-ness over Annie’s not crying easily and being a psychopomp and such.
        Now I can go back to what used to bother me and just enjoy all of it. And, since Annie is the narrator at first, the changing art can also be retro-fitted as representative of her changing worldview and the increased complexity of perspective.

    7. Spencer

      Amber can be kind of selfish sometimes.

      This is part of this terrible condition known as “being human”.

      I mean, of all the people I’d label selfish as a consistent character trait, Amber would really be low on the list, given how much of her is motivated on desperately trying to do the right thing to make up for perceived personal failings.

      1. Stara

        Being human: officially the worst crime ever.

        Please don’t extremify my comments. 🙂 I did not say Amber must be in a certain mold or her character needs to change; I said she annoys me, which is something that we humans also do (we have feelings towards other humans, largely positive, occasionally contrary). And you see her as being far more selfless than I do. I don’t actually perceive the various things she does as being for the greater good but rather to make her feel better about herself; when it becomes about other people getting hurt, I do agree she thinks outside herself and feels for that person, and internalises the guilt. Becky storyline a massive case in point.

        1. Spencer

          Yeah Amber’s vigilante routine is self interested, but it also stems from her massive amounts of self loathing. She’s so convinced she’s a terrible person she’s created an alter ego whose purpose is being cooler than that shut-in dork.

          Like, Amber’s so scared that she’s going to violently lash out at the people she loves, a fear that’s been beaten into her skull since childhood, that she had to find a way to deal with it before she exploded.

        2. Stara

          Oh, definitely, but can’t she be both? (Or, can’t we both be right?)

          In one reader, the bad validates her flaws and the bad gets the spotlight; in another reader, they coexist but it does not fully pardon the flaws, only explain.

        3. Spencer

          I mean, “I don’t like her” is a perfectly valid opinion and I wouldn’t be saying anything at that. “I don’t like her because these reasons you like” is good too. I like Danny even though he’s a butter and mayonnaise sandwich in the middle of a snowstorm, but most people resent that about his character.

          “Amber is selfish and always makes things about her” isn’t that, though. It’s not talking about how you feel about the character, it’s how the character is, if that makes sense.

          Anyway, I really disagree at this idea that Amber is a selfish person. I’ve seen it before when she had the gall to be upset that Ethan was moving on without her, and it was wrong then.

        4. Stara

          Okay. We won’t agree, but good talk. I like Danny too! And for the same reasons.

        5. Stara

          To end things on a positive note.

    8. Cerberus

      Ehhh, can’t really get on this bandwagon when Amber has been consistently been shown to be an abused figure who has been shown in flashback getting raked over the coals for being “selfish” for existing and who has consistently been shown to be absolutely terrified and nervous about doing things for herself or allowing herself to be cocky outside of a narrow DID alter that she actively works to make as inhuman as possible. And who in flashback has been noted to have spent her entire transition summer actively fighting Ethan’s homophobic parents and trying to keep him safe.

      If any character (besides maybe Becky) has deserved more the right to take some time and be completely selfish, learning how to value self and put it first, then I don’t know who it is.

      Also, she’s been forced from her one of her two methods of escapism at the moment (her computer). And maybe even both (depending on how much time she needs to nurse her injuries), which is not a great psychological place to be after everything she’s gone through.

      1. Spencer

        Don’t you know that failing to be ceaselessly, unrelentingly moral in one stringent way without even the slightest faltering is the only possible way to be a good person? If Amber has the gall to get upset that the person she loves the most might be drifting away from her, or lightly complaining about how it’s hard to see her computer, well, she’s basically a monster.

        1. Someone

          I don’t actually think she’s a bad person, she obviously wants to help people. She just has a million issues.

        2. Spencer

          Amber doesn’t treat being a good person the same way most people do, she sees “failure” as the absolute worst sin she can commit; that if she isn’t unfailingly moral and just, then she might as well just be shit.

          Or in other words, Amber feels that she needs to prove that she’s a good person.

      2. Stara

        Meh. I have a strong bias: my background was worse than Amber’s and I grew up with friends in similar environments as well as in idyllic environments, and I’ve noticed something across all these circumstances: people are made of strong stuff. Especially grounded and sane people. Part of me is galled by the misrepresentation I see in Amber; part of me is galled by how personal problems as a whole are approached in the comic. It’s a warped and anxious lense. I think Gunnerkrigg Court does a cleaner depiction of people in hard circumstances (and before I get raked over coals for this, I KNOW there is no Blaine in there). The YA book “Define ‘Normal'” is another, even if it has relatively light but more broadly common problems in the main characters. It also shows the value of personality and character over environment (before you all jump on that, I am NOT saying nature over nurture). I think I would be disenchanted by Amber without or with her background.

        1. Clif

          Do you have any other personal failings.

          Us grounded insane people need love too.

        2. Stara

          I was about to write a reasoned reply. But: OH MY GOD, do the commenters here subsist on mindlessly maintaining a status-quo and making childish equations out of people who don’t agree with them?! How dare you draw statements I have not made of myself from what I’ve written! “U.S. grounded insane people?” You are NOT actually insane, so way to be cute, but stop it.

        3. Stara

          Us. Typing on phone, whatever.

  34. Siyajkak

    “Danny, I told you all of this exposition already. Just because I’m a superhero doesn’t mean you need to make me talk like I’m in some serialized comic”

  35. caesaria82

    I hate the term ’90s kids’ because if you’re old enough to know what shit was hip in the 90s, then you were born in the 80s.

    /pet peeve of a bitter 80s kid lmao

  36. Shanunu

    So, can anyone explain astigmatism to me? The only thing I know about it is that I have it in my right eye. I haven’t had headache issues probably because I’m very nearsighted and basically require glasses to live, but I cannot seem to understand any info I read about it.

    1. Agemegos

      It’s when the surface of the cornea (which does the heavy lifting of refracting light to form an image on the retina) is not rotationally symmetrical about the axis of the eye. That is, sections of the cornea perpendicular to the axis would be elliptical, not circular. That means a different focal length in different planes: if light entering the top and the bottom of the pupil are brought to a sharp focus on the retina, light entering at the left and light entering at the right might be brought to focus in front of the retina. If the eye accommodated to bring those into focus, the focus in the vertical plane would fall behind the retina. Sharp focuss cannot be achieved with any degree of accommodation.

      It’s corrected with a cylindrical component to the corrective lens, having a dioptre equal to the difference in dioptre of minimum and maximum components of the astigmatic lens, correctly aligned.

    2. Deathstalker

      The technical explanation has already been given.

      I will attest with minimal astigmatism that my eyes get tired now, and that’s more my signal to go to sleep right now, compared to simply feeling tired, as they start to hurt.

    3. Questionor

      Astigmatism is when your eye/lens is oddly shaped so the effect is not consistent in all directions. The very basic eye test is an asterisk/star of lines. And they are all the same but some will be blurry to you and some will be clear. The effect is that you have trouble with “detail” technically at any distance. The most common things this will affect is writing and faces. (Hence the delay is recognizing Danny in the comic) I have astigmatism and the glasses are actually like fun house mirrors. If you look through one and turn it 90deg everything will change proportions. They a long time getting used to the first time you get such things. Unlike normal lens which are radial symetrical, these are not. This makes contacts more difficult/expensive. Normal contact will spin all the time and won’t matter. Astigmatism contacts need to have a “top”/”bottom” that stays in the right place. One method is to make the bottom heavier. Also since things get “bigger” the closer they are to your eyes and if you make an l bigger, it stops being a line and becomes a rectangle, people can often read fine w/o glasses by just holding things really close. However computers screens you can’t do that with easily.

      1. desolation0

        Mine is definitely in the not good at any distance category, short of really close so the details are large. Squinting tends to help quite a bit for astigmatic folks as it is the variation over the whole eye that you can not adjust to. Just needing to focus based on a smaller portion of your eye makes it easier to naturally adjust.

        1. Questionor

          oh yea I forgot the squinting part. I used to that a lot before I finally got glasses I could wear all day w/o headaches. It definitely helps a lot. I would mostly only wear my glasses for reading mid to distance. (And yea when I read w/o glasses it is /really/ close) Back then the interesting part was I would recognize people by their gait/walk cause their face was blurry.

    4. Ryek Hvek

      One key point about astigmatism, is that glasses won’t correct it like contact lenses will. In the ancient days, before there was a Beast Wars, only hard contact lenses could treat astigmatism, and a quick googling suggests they are still preferred over soft lenses.

      1. Kateastrophe

        I don’t know what kind of astigmatism hard contact lenses are supposed to treat, but as someone with severe astigmatism I was told by my eye doctor never to ever even think about putting hard contact lenses even in the vicinity of my eye.

    5. Kateastrophe

      Your eyes are shaped like footballs instead of eyeballs! Or mine are, at least. I have astigmatism in the very most extreme.

  37. Guairdean

    Now I feel old. My grandsons are 90’s kids.

  38. nothri

    81. Technically a Millenial. Like, barely.

    1. caesaria82

      I was born 82 and I don’t identify with being a millenial at alllll. I think 80-85 is a weird sub-group. We belong nowhere xD

      1. Captain Button

        All of these generations have at least 5 years slop both ways. I am technically a Boomer, but from the descriptions it is clear I am a leading edge Xer.

      2. Leorale

        1985, here, and I’m considered a millennial. Don’t be ashamed of it, the internet is cool.

        1. caesaria82

          I know, but isn’t a millenial technically someone who ‘grew up with the internet’? My family got home internet in like 2000, when I was 18 lol, so I feel like this doesn’t apply to me at alllll.

        2. Kelly

          nah, its the time period (based on human generation cycle of ~20 years) not the tech. if it was about the tech, we’d break it down very differently, for sure.

        3. caesaria82

          Ok but the growing up with the internet thing is still an important trait of millenials (I’m just reading a definition). I don’t identify with a lot of the traits in this defintion. So maybe that’s why I never thought I was a millenial. I’m not GenX either though, really. I feel like a weird hybrid lol.

        4. Lord Stoneheart

          The time period for what’s considered a generation has always been pretty broad. I mean baby boomers are considered anyone who was born between ’45 and ’65 I think.

          I mean that’s what I’ve been told by baby boomers themselves.

        5. Needfuldoer

          About the same here, but I feel more like a late Gen X than an early Milennial.

        6. DarkVeghetta

          ’86 here – definitely generation X. Some of my earliest musical memories are Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, early Marilyn Manson songs, Madonna ‘s Vogue, En Vogue’s Free Your Mind, TLC’s Waterfalls, Oasis’s Wonderwall, The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Cardigan’s My Favorite Game, No Doubt’s Don’t Speak, Tupac’s California Love, so many others. I think I could snowball like this all night.
          Point is at the very least my musical tastes where shaped by the 90s. And MTV – way back when it only had music and Daria/Beavis&Butt-head/AeonFlux running.
          This got nostalgic FAST.

      3. Kelly

        I am from ’82 as well, I definitely identify much more with millennials than Gen X, despite working on my curmudgeon license. I think it really is a person to person thing around that board though.

        1. Kelly

          *boarder
          😛

    2. Someone

      1998
      Also barely a millennial, just made it

      1. caesaria82

        What are kids younger than millenials called?

        1. Solenoid

          Their group is too young to have a reliable name yet. Basically, people are arguing over it and the defining moments that form ‘who they are’ largely has yet to happen.

        2. Someone

          For now probably generation z

        3. Tacos

          What would they then call the generation after that? Generation Z+?

        4. Kelly

          I think Dr Seuss had something about that…

      2. Falling Star

        My birthday was in December of ’99.
        You freakin’ made it, dude.

  39. caesaria82

    Also, all 90s kids lists are always SO North America centric. I never remember any of the stuff because I grew up somewhere else. I’ll remember some toys and food and whatnot, but almost no TV and other media (films occasionally, but we got them dubbed). Basically, I am just really bitter about 90s kids lists, it turns out. LMAO.

    1. Clif

      It’s because of who makes the lists. What would be on your list?

  40. lime sheep

    i guess im a 90s kid. i was born in 93. i dont feel like a 90s kid though because i dont have any memories of being younger than 7

    1. Kelly

      Naw, you’d be more of a 00s kid than anything. I was born in 82 and while I certainly get some influence from it, the 90s had more influence overall. The “only 90s kids” posts are all very recognizable to me (at least the ones that aren’t half a decade or more off…)

  41. Professor Fate

    “The past is a fun place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

    I witnessed the birth of Rock N’ Roll and the ‘discovery’ of Rhythm and Blues. The Beatles, The Who, The Dead, U2, Nirvana, Rush, KC and the Sunshine Band, ABBA, Aretha Franklin, Anya, Chuck Berry, SoundGarden, Britney Spears; lots of fine music over the years. I’m happy where I am now. 😀

    1. Captain Button

      I saw the video for “Baby Hit Me One More Time” and my reaction was not to drool over a hot chick or be repelled by a sleazy tramp.

      My reaction was to purse my lips and say “I am concerned because I do not think this Music Video sends the Right Message to the Young Women Of Today.”

      So it was Britney Spears who proved I was officially middle-aged.

    2. Tacos

      The downside is that you had to also witness things like Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber.

      1. desolation0

        We have plenty of worse acts in our history. Those two are just some of the most recent blips in an old trend.

        1. LastDawnOfMan

          Yeah there were plenty of horrors in decades past…Neil Sadaka…The Carpenters…Tiny Tim…argh..

        2. inqntrol

          Drawn Togheter. I mean seriously, that show should have been called WTF, because you bately had any idea what you were watching.

        3. inqntrol

          *barely

        4. Clif

          Tiny Tim was actually pretty good if you turned off a section of your brain.

  42. Victor Riley

    Don’t go knockin’ Nirvana, youngun.

    Kids today with their Miley Biebers…

    1. Falling Star

      And their Ariana Manaj…

      1. Rheinman137

        I thought Ariana Grande was a font.

        1. Falling Star

          Nope, she helped sing ‘Bang Bang’.

        2. Falling Star

          Though to be fair, I first thought it was a new Starbucks size…

  43. Crowgirl

    Ironically, Amber is wearing the exact same overalls that I wore through a big chunk of the 90s.

    1. Agemegos

      The have worn well.

      1. Clif

        That’s what Amber’s mom said when she found them at Crowgirl’s garage sale.

    2. Falling Star

      I used to love those as a kid.

  44. Emma

    Haha woo I knew she had ny exact eye care struggles! My insurance is stellar though, it paid for my new glasses almost completely.

    1. desolation0

      I just bought two of those ultra flexible and relatively indestructible titanium frames, knowing I would break one pair. Tip – the super flexy frames are much more destructible when chilled to near freezing in a cold room. I have been replacing the lenses in the one that did not snap for cheap online ever since.

      1. DarkVeghetta

        I’ve gotten mine repaired after I unwittingly jumped on them once. The nose-bridge part broke in two and so I had to travel to another country to get them fixed, as I never found a frame I actually liked to replace them. The actual fixing didn’t cost me anything extra since I ordered new lenses at the same time – the old ones where horribly outdated for my eyes.
        It’s been over 14 years since I first put them on – titanium, slightly-flexy.

        1. DarkVeghetta

          Oh, and about 5 years ago had to replace both lockers – one shortly after the other. I managed to fix the first by myself with careful application of thread via needlework, but the other locker had to be replaced – yet again – in another country. 😛
          Damn I wish Fielmann (German optics company) opened a branch here. I can’t trust these antiques to anyone else. >.>

  45. Bagge

    I’m so glad Amber has Danny to look out for her.

    1. Spencer

      Well, he definitely cares about her a lot and it’s been made clear that Amber relies on him a lot for emotional support, but like Dorothy I think he has a romanticized view of Amber that interferes with supporting her in the way she actually she needs.

      It looks like the only person who realizes how poisonous the double life actually is to Amber is Ethan.

      1. Bagge

        Danny, having a romanticised view? Oh my hat!

        Yeah, of course you are right. But he is there for her. That is very important.

        1. Spencer

          Yeah, as long as this is their “normal” then Danny’s doing fine, but eventually something’s going to break and he’ll have to step up.

          Whether that means he wants to start openly dating Amber, or Amber starts pushing herself further into her other identity, well, we’ll see.

  46. CrisKrzysiu

    Hi. Just a quick question. How much does lenses cost in UK that You have to save some money to buy them.?

    1. MLEst1

      Do you mean the US? If so, I regularly receive flyers in the mail advertising a pair of glasses for $99 as a good deal. Additionally I believe your prescription can expire and after a that point you have to get re-examined before you can buy a new pair. And if you don’t have a lot of spare cash, $100 for something that will cause long-term issues but no true day-to-day drama isn’t super high on your to do list…

    2. CJ

      Don’t know about the US or UK, but the actual lenses are the most expensive part of “glasses”. And I suppose Amber wears not glass but the more expensive synthethic ones as they are lighter and less likely to splinter badly when they break.
      So depending on which quality of lens she chooses, it’s between 30 and 150 Dollars for lenses only correcting astigmatism. (my progressive multifocals are 10 times more expensive – insurance not covering your lenses sucks).

      1. Kelly

        CR39, at least, is AFAIK cheaper than glass lenses these days. Polycarbonate is more expensive than CR39. Not sure how polycarbonate compares to glass in cost.

        Trivex and high-index plastic are the most expensive – though when the price of lenses really racks up is when you talk bifocals/trifocals, gradient, photo-grey, etc.

        1. WaytoomanyUIDs

          In the UK many NHS Trusts cover glass lenses but not plastic. Many Trusts will pay for prescription sunglasses but not for photochromic coatings, or anti-scratch coatiings. For all of those you pay out your own pocket, but most Trusts will allow the optician to subtract the cost of a “standard” pair of glasses.

          Basically when it comes to eye and dental care the NHS is a bit pants at best.

        2. DarkVeghetta

          Plastic lenses are a luxury item and most coatings are cheaper then the standard lenses, unless you want to get the really fancy stuff. Considering the basics are covered free of charge, your statement comes off as entitled. NHS has other problems, but this isn’t one of them, at least not from the info you’ve provided.

        3. Kelly

          “In the UK many NHS Trusts cover glass lenses but not plastic.”

          WTF? That’s terrible. Glass is so heavy, and I’ll take shatterproof plastic with more chance of a scratch over shattered glass. Around here it can actually be hard to get glass lenses, and even if you find a place with them, they usually try to discourage you from getting them.

        4. DarkVeghetta

          In 17 years I have had the chance to have my glass lenses pop out of my frames more then once – not once did they actually shatter. In 17 years. WHERE did you pick up this fear of shattering lenses? Those things are quite hard.

    3. BenRG

      My last pair of glasses cost around £170 (say about $200). However, about 75% of that was the cost of the frames. That said, my lenses are subsidised by our National Health Service because I’m diabetic, so the cost I pay probably isn’t representative of the market cost.

      1. DarkVeghetta

        What does your blood-sugar have to do with cheaper eye care?

        1. BenRG

          Diabetes includes a much higher statistical likelihood of a wide range of visual impairments and conditions (including cataracts) so free eye care and reduced price for corrective lenses is part of the care package.

        2. DarkVeghetta

          Interesting, interesting. Thanks for the information.

  47. Pyr05

    …..and their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

    1. theheroesofcrash

      Darn; you beat me to it.

    2. Falling Star

      ‘…and their Cowabungas.’
      fixed that for you

    3. Dafydd

      TMNT were an 80’s thing — along with Transformers, Thunder Cats, My Little Pony…damn…

      1. Pyr05

        TMNT technically started in the 80’s, but went through into ’96

  48. Kateastrophe

    As someone with severe astigmatism (in coordination with several other optical ailments such as congenital cataracts and photophobia), it never occurred to me that people with astigmatism but without my host of other issues wouldn’t be near-sighted or far-sighted. As it stands, I’m both, so… *shrug* But I have never let eye strain keep me from reading buzzfeed articles, at least!

    1. Sunny

      Wait… are you saying that you’re both nearsighted and farsighted? How does that even work?

      1. DarkVeghetta

        Cataracts.

      2. Urukak

        I have one nearsighted parent and one farsighted parent. I’m nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other (hell if I can remember which is which though), so my eyes have two different prescriptions. Like Amber though, my eyes aren’t bad enough that I generally have much trouble seeing without my glasses, and my prescriptions have been getting closer together as I’ve aged, so for all I know I might eventually not need glasses anymore.

        Or maybe they’ll fly right past each other and my nearsighted eye will turn farsighted and vice versa.

        1. Betty Anne

          My husband is also nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other. His glasses are a bongo to replace. :/

      3. Agemegos

        As a couple of people have suggested, it’s perfectly possible to be shortsighted in one eye and longsighted in the other. Another thing is that one way to describe astigmatism is that the focussing element (cornea in this case, not lens) has one focal length in its long axis and a shorter focal length in its short axis. If the retina was in between the two foci the astigmatic eye could then be described as longsighted in one direction (for instance up and down) and shortsighted in the other direction (left and right).

        1. Kateastrophe

          Bingo! Seriously, my optometrist loves looking at my eyes. They’re textbook worst-case-scenario-short-of-legal-blindness. If I get glaucoma on top of everything else I’m scooping ’em out with a spoon.

      4. DarkVeghetta

        It is actually quite common to have one dioptre in one eye and the other to have another one. Heck, over one’s lifetime the difference can shift dramatically – one eye can evolve slowly in a direction and the other much faster. Humans, we’re funny that way.

      5. Kateastrophe

        Basically the thing that goes wrong in the eye to make them nearsighted AND the thing that goes wrong in the eye to make them farsighted are both present in my eyes! Also cataracts, which means I basically have no low light vision. I won the terrible eye genetic lottery.

  49. Lia47

    WHOA these college age characters aren’t 90s kids

    WHOA THESE COLLEGE AGE CHARACTERS ARE A FEW MONTHS YOUNGER THAN ME AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

  50. seventhsword2

    screw you Danny, The Power Rangers are the best thing ever

  51. Well_Played

    I was born in 84′ so I was an 80’s baby but a 90’s kid. I loved the 90’s due to the fact that we had so many cartoons(because of major networks like USA,TBS,ABC,NBC etc. wanted to get our attention and money) and the golden/silver age of gaming. Also the Disney afternoon was the shiz.

  52. BenRG

    Ah yes, the 1990s! That optimistic decade between the end of the Cold War and the realisation that the victors’ only plan for the new era of peace was “Loot the world and repeatedly count the money”!

    1. inqntrol

      That’s the human nature. Nothing you can do about it.

    2. StClair

      And then we got a sharp kick in our national complacency, and a new day to live in infamy. (And a new set of boogeymen to replace the old.)

      1. Clif

        Your despair is good for the economy.

  53. WolfPup

    Here is a GREAT T-shirt for Dina
    http://imgur.com/74j11RA

    1. Kelly

      She’ll be upset that it is hyphenated.
      (It’s “T. rex”. Capital letter, period, space, lower case species name)

  54. HiiroArana79

    Darn nineties kids with their malt shops and hula hoops! Bah!

  55. Just for kix

    Bah, I am an 80s kid, and 90s kid got nothin on me!

  56. Mom

    85 and I loved watching Beast Wars.

    1. Spencer

      Everyone loved Beast Wars. It’s a universal singularity of awesomeness.

      1. Tacos

        I wouldn’t say universal. Otherwise we’d never have Trukk not munky….

        1. Spencer

          When Beast Wars was released it caused a space-time implosion that defined it as the best thing ever for all time, its quality etched in the atoms of the universe.

          for srs tho, I remember when I started seeing more Transformer stuff as I got older and couldn’t care about it because “why is Optimus turning into a car?”

  57. Falling Star

    But… The Breakfast Club…

    1. Dafydd

      Breakfast Club was 1985. You 90’s kids got My So-Called LIfe.

  58. altalemur

    if she can’t read a computer screen, i’m betting her homework is going to lag behind, or at the least the computer class homework is going to be even more of a headache than usual.

  59. Spencer

    Amber should wear a huge yellow trenchcoat, pink wrap-around sunglasses, and throw fireworks at people.

    1. Captain Button

      She needs a tutor!

      [Runs off to the slashfic production room.]

  60. Wublub

    I can’t tell if Amber is just pretending to not realize Danny’s talking about the mask, or actually doesn’t get it.
    Or maybe he really is just asking about her glasses.

  61. Robzilla

    You DO realize that corporations have been considered “people” since the time of our Founding Fathers, don’t you? I’ll just assume that Danny doesn’t.

    William Blackstone, in the 1700s – “it has been found necessary, when it is for the advantage of the public” to “constitute artificial persons, who may maintain a perpetual succession, and enjoy a kind of legal immortality. These artificial persons are called … corporations.”

    1. random832

      There are varying degrees of “person”-ness. Being called “artificial persons” is not actually the same as giving them all of the same constitutional rights as real people.

      1. Agemegos

        Which they don’t have, and no-one is proposing to give them. The SCOTUS decision in Citizen United did not rule that corporations have First Amendment rights as artifical legal person. It ruled that associations of natural persons have First Amendment rights even if they incorporate.

        1. thejeff

          Well, some corporations now have religion and religious freedom – to get exemptions from regulation at least. The Hobby Lobby case extended that further than it had been before.
          There’s definitely been a change in how the legal fiction of corporate personhood has been understood.

        2. Agemegos

          Good point, though it might be a good idea to check the actual decisions and make sure that it is not legal the shareholders who have the rights and exercise them collectively. For example, in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. the majority opinion of the court did not address the defendant’s claims under the Free Exercise Clause. Rather, it argued that the purpose of extending rights to corporations is to protect the rights of shareholders, officers, and employees. It said that “allowing Hobby Lobby, Conestoga, and Mardel to assert RFRA claims protects the religious liberty of the Greens and the Hahns”, i.e. the rights of the shareholders as natural persons.

  62. HMRC4EVR

    That file of Amber’s is most if 90’s Kid entire life–when he’s not making AWESOME weapons for Linkara.

  63. Ryek Hvek

    the real lesson about busted glasses is to keep a hard copy of your prescription close at hand, because you might find yourself on a trip away from home, in a place that would have a replacement pair in your hands for cheap and for quick, if only you had that prescription with you

    1. DarkVeghetta

      Most good optics shops can also provide you with a fresh prescription.
      That sed, I’m still on my second pair of frames, but I’ve gone through 4 to 6 lenses (it’s been 17 years, hence I can’t really remember which number is more accurate… 5?).

      1. Ryek Hvek

        Strictly a state-by-state situation in the US. Florida would have replacements in no time, and they could ‘read’ the prescription from the existing pair of glasses. Other states can want that piece of paper, and will accept no substitutes (but will happily sell you a new prescription in place of the paper you could have been carrying in your wallet, and in result, possibly triple the price of the replacement pair)

        1. DarkVeghetta

          Interesting. Over here in Europe, a fresh prescription is always the cheapest part of getting new glasses. Heck, some professional opticians offer them for free if you get a new pair from them.

  64. Reltzik

    Better yet, when you invest 100 dollars or more in a pair of glasses, invest an additional five to ten dollars in a sturdy case for them.

    In the case or on your face.

    1. DarkVeghetta

      There are also side-opening (via spiffy button) metal cases – very handy for a jacket pocket.

  65. Dorje Sylas

    I remember the dark times when a Man and a Corporation were unable to express their love and affection openly, and be bound in a state of federally recognized civil union, being both people under the law…. Oh wait, we haven’t reached that point in the time stream yet. Disregard this. 2030 kids will have something to be proud of.

  66. Stranger

    UUUUUUUUGHHH 90’s kids shit, I HATE it. I grew up in that stupid decade too, its like the fucking baby boomers who wont shut up about the 60’s, no one cares! Your precious childhood was just as crappy as everyone elses, and it wont come back no matter how hard you wish for it.

    1. Falling Star

      Dude, whoa.
      We can’t control the situations we’re born in to, and we also can’t help but feel a little nostalgic about the things we grew up with.
      Please don’t dump on someone because of the things they liked as a child.
      Thanks,
      Falling Star

      1. DarkVeghetta

        You know… you’re nice. *thumbs up*

  67. Noclevername

    I thought Danny’s gesture in panel 1 was referring to her mask, not glasses.

  68. JimmyJoe III

    But…they’re in college. They’re all at least 18. That puts their birth dates at 1997 or earlier. They ARE 90s kids. :u

    1. Falling Star

      I am too, but I would categorize myself as the new generation because I don’t remember anything from the nineties.

    2. Cephalo the Pod

      Being born in ’97 and calling yourself a nineties kid would be like being born during WWII calling yourself a veteran.

    3. Cephalo the Pod

      Besides, a few years from now they won’t be born in the 90s.

  69. Mada

    I’ve read that “Stuff only 90s kids will get” article. Its fun 🙂

  70. wakeangel2001

    man, when these people were in Shortpacked they were my age, now they’re more than 10 years younger than me…stupid cartoons and their not aging…

  71. John

    Yay, Willis actually put this in a comic so when people keep going “wait how can Amazi-Girl see when she’s not wearing her glasses” (which I don’t expect to stop just because it’s been explained in the strip), I have something I can cite instead of just repeating what he said once in a comment or on Tumblr or somewhere, I don’t remember.

  72. Shadow12000

    And our ReBoot. Don’t forget our ReBoot. And that our ReBoot is getting a reboot! 😀

    1. Ryek Hvek

      Is Megabyte going to be replaced by Terrorbyte?

    2. Captain Button

      Do Hack and Slash write fanfic?

    3. Cephalo the Pod

      I remember Reboot, and I’m most certainly a millennial (born 1994).

      Then again, I’m also Canadian. We got everything later than America.

      1. Captain Button

        Reboot was an exception to that, I think.

    4. Ryek Hvek

      there will also be Gigabyte, the villain’s spunky kid sister, who will be nicknamed Gigi

    5. Ana Chronistic

      ehhh, it’s slated to be live action, not excited =|

      1. Ryek Hvek

        maybe if Sid and Marty Krofft produce it :^)

  73. Plasma Mongoose

    Amber should have gone to Specsavers.

  74. Kugai

    Well, that explains the no glasses, and just why she can get away with not wearing them. I wonder how she explained the broken glasses to her mom?

    Hmmmm

    Would Amber be a Daria fan if she saw it?

  75. MW

    2000-2005 was a good time to have a childhood
    2006-2009 sucked balls

    1. Peduncle

      It doesn’t depend on the decade. It depends on mom and dad.

      1. MW

        Moms and dads seemed to decline in quality when the iPhone came out.

        1. Peduncle

          I apologize for my facile response. My mom and dad were in the rotary-dial, party-line era. They made up for a lot of the decade’s shortcomings.

    2. Dafydd

      I was going to make a snide remark about 2000-2005 having all that terrorism and Afghanistan and Iraq and whatnot — then I remembered I grew up at the tail end of the Cold War. :/

  76. Cat

    goggles4u.com New pair of glasses for less than $15 including shipping. Been using them for years. (Of course, it could take a couple weeks – best to buy a spare, while you’re at it.)

    1. Agemegos

      I checked the site. They offer prescription eyeglasses for distance and for reading, bifocals and progressives. But they don’t offer glasses for astigmatism.

      Lenses for astigmatism are tricky: they are expensive to grind because the shape doesn’t have circular symmetry. Also, they have to be mounted at the correct angle in the frames.

      1. Kelly

        Zenni Optical is really cheap, and does lenses for astigmatism.

        1. Agemegos

          Cool.

  77. Ryek Hvek

    One can also buy frames for cheap on eBay and send them on to a mail-order lab for the lenses of your choice. This is one way to get old-school frames with the big lenses that are good for progressive (Varilux) prescriptions.

  78. dailybrad

    Do you remember Bobby’s world? It was a good showwww!

  79. Jhon

    So, no killing spiders for a while.

  80. Betrayer

    Corporations aren’t considered people now anymore than the were in the nineties, and corporate personhood (which only means corporations have to follow the same laws as people) existed long before Citizens United. Guy is going to college, and he doesn’t know the meaning of the word “precedent”?

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