341

Blast
Posted on January 19, 2025 by David M Willis

341 thoughts on “Blast”

  1. NGPZ

    Gotta pop ’em all!!!

    POKING ON!!!

    1. True Survivor

      Please, change your avatar. I think this comment is about social bubbles of cult and hate, but with that avatar (and its expression) it looks like what you are saying is something very different.

      1. NGPZ

        bonk bonk

      2. VicMortimer

        Social bubbles and buttsex. It can be both.

        If you think it’s only about one, reread the comic.

        1. deliverything

          Reminder that “buttsex” is an anagram of “subtext”.

        2. Michael Steamweed

          Becky says not to make the buttsex text.

        3. Miafillene

          Holy shit…it is.

        4. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Fucking brilliant!

      3. Ninjazaku

        It’s both. Innuendo at its finest.

    2. anon

      Pop bubbles, crack eggs, etc 8D;

      1. NGPZ

        dos huevos, ammi right? XD

  2. Doctor_Who

    Joyce: “Boy, I wish my bubble had been poked sooner. Such a firm, resilient bubble, it required a lot of work to penetrate! What? Why are you all laughing at my big bubble?”

    1. morhek

      Cue Scandalised Joyce Face in three…two…one…

      1. Furie

        Or, possibly three years our time in the future, when someone explains a bubble butt to her and she flashes back on this conversation.

    2. jeffepp

      As she looks slyly at Joe.

      1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

        Ass Joycy glances coyly at Dotty.

  3. ian livs

    God, Jocelyne is reminding me so much of my sister (this is a high compliment)

  4. Schpoonman

    Jocelyne: “Gonna get some enormous jugs like my little sister.”

    1. Charles Phipps

      She should ask Carla how she got hers.

      …

      What? They’re wonderful little shoes!

      1. Schpoonman

        Shit, that’s good.

        1. Charles Phipps

          Thank you. That entendre just fell into my lap.

      2. Deanatay

        Jocelyne: Carla, can you tell me where you get those wonderful juggs?

        Carla: Hm? Oh, these? I made ‘em myself!

        J: That’s… actually, very inspiring! Thank you!

        C: Yeah, that’s what I do. You’re welcome! *clomps off*

    2. Shade

      Oh pretty sure she didn’t mean those.

  5. Thag Simmons

    Becoming best friends with an Athiest certainly didn’t hurt though

    1. Charles Phipps

      I think it’s one of the most fascinating things that Joyce’s big huge revelation of her lack of faith doesn’t bother Carol in the slightest because she’s just “acting out.”

      That’s because it was never about faith to begin with. It was just a tribal marker for her.

      1. Amelie Wikström

        I figured it was more it doesn’t matter what her kids say since she’s already decided their opinions.

        1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          She’s already decided what their opinions are, and she’s not taking any input from them on the matter.
          So long as she remains closed off in her own little, ahem… bubble, at least she won’t be very antagonistic about it all.

      2. Needfuldoer

        It’s about obedience and falling in line, as far as Carol really cares.

        1. Azrael

          For a christian fundamentalist like Carol, the children aren’t people who she raised, but extensions and property of herself. They’re not “allowed” to believe differently than her, because according to her, they ARE hers. If they ever stray from being her property they get cut off entirely, like Jordan apparently was. Boys may have some leeway as long as they return to thinking exactly as they were told, i.s. the Prodigal Son, but girls are not allowed even that; they are property of the parents until sold off in marriage to be property of their husbands.

          They also see their children leaving the cult as a huge slight and insult on them. Though from experience with my mom, they can turn any disagreement into what they perceive as an insult on their honor as parents. Hence Jordan apparently being cut off from the family. I expect Jocelyn will likewise be cut off, if she hasn’t already.

          I forsee lots of drama when/if Carol ever realizes that Joyce is her own person and did leave the fold entirely. Given that Becky’s coming out led to a violent kidnapping, that Carol facilitated and agreed with…

        2. Pseudowolf

          Reminds me of an article I read where the writer explained that when he says “my kids”, he means the children he is the father of.
          But there are other people who say “my kids” and mean is as “these children who belong to me”.

        3. Charles Phipps

          Thanks for the explanation. That is very frightening but believable.

        4. thejeff

          Does Carol follow that logic through and see herself as the property of Hank? Or does it only apply to her children?

        5. Taellosse

          Only as long as he “deserved” her, by thinking and acting in the “right” ways. Once he “lost his way” by daring to disagree with “the truth”, he invalidated his own authority in her eyes.

      3. Michael Steamweed

        Carol wants her kids, especially Joyce, to say the right hateful things, in the right subtle way, and to do the right hateful things, in the right subtle way. What Joyce believes inside isn’t important; it’s what Joyce does where everyone can see and hear, that’s important.

        1. Charles Phipps

          Yeah. Her treatment of Becky when she visited said everything.

  6. Rose by Any other Name

    I am very glad jocelyne and Dorothy went there because if they hadn’t, I was going to.
    Hehe. Bubble.

  7. Serendipity

    Jocelyne’s absolutely shameless joy in herself is infectious. Thank you so much for writing this.

  8. Charles Phipps

    Ah, confirmation that Jocelyn is one of them a-theist types too.

    1. Needfuldoer

      She’s a theist?

      The opposite, actually.

      1. Charles Phipps

        No, there’s a – between the a and theism. Like Spider-Man.

        1. Daibhid C

          Wait, I’m confused. Are you saying Spider-Man is a theist or an atheist?

        2. Charles Phipps

          To clarify, my post was saying this is confirming that Jocelyn was an atheist/

          I said, a-theist to simulate my RL Southern drawl.

        3. Charles Phipps

          Also, Spider-Man is religious in the comics but not super about it like Matt Murdoch as confirmed by the Infinity Crusade recruiting him way back in the Nineties.

          Reed Richards notably is an atheist despite meeting God/Jack Kirby and visiting Heaven.

          Comics. 🙂

        4. clif

          You drawl a Southern web comic in Real Life with a simulated a-theist. . Got it.

        5. Michael Steamweed

          No, no, Peter is neither Theist nor A-Theist. He’s Spiderist.

        6. Wizard

          It’s tough to maintain any faith in a universe where you can turn into a giant spider and then give birth to yourself, just to get organic web shooters.

        7. Needfuldoer

          That’s the joke.

        8. Charles Phipps

          It was a very funny joke. 🙂

  9. RassilonTDavros

    Joss knows what’s up.

    r.i.p. joyce’s budding tiktok career, press f to pay respects

    1. NGPZ

      US TikTok users are all going to RedNote now, thus the equivalent of Re-Animator serum ;)

      1. True Survivor

        Honestly, that seems nuts to me. TikTok is a skinnerbox style nightmare to begin with, but now that they’ve been pulled out these people want to go right back into a nearly identical one. Then off all the knock-offs they could select, they choose another one run by China – the nation that uses its tax income to support slave labor camps and build nukes to point at their cities? At least with American companies like Youtube you know your taxes are being put to good use – keeping people locked up in private prisons for the benefit of wealthy lobbying groups and building nukes to point at, I guess Greenland now for some insane reason? You may say that makes little difference, but I say here there is at always hope a vote will turn things around – and Greenland is already a frozen hellscape, so how much worse can it really get?

        1. Charles Phipps

          Part of the issue is all the people who would buy TikTok are ones who would run it into the ground.

        2. Michael Steamweed

          Musk: I know how to save the TikToks! Sell it to me!
          Everyone else: HAHAHA!

        3. NGPZ

          LOL, Poe’s Law aside,

          pretty much all commercial social media is a skinnerbox trap,

          besides the fact is that banning TikTok here wouldn’t reduce China’s business tax income by even a SMIDGE, on account that they produce over 80% of the worlds consumer electronics

          it was never about China, the app was banned because it was one of the biggest platforms with a majorly left-leaning userbase, and as usual China is neo-mercantilists’ go-to for anti-socialist red-baiting (9-9)

        4. eh, whatever

          If it’s got a left-leaning userbase, why is there so much extreme-right and Islamist propaganda on it?

          But none of this is the point. This is about China – about the fact that not Zuckerberg or Musk, but the Chinese government collects data here.

        5. NGPZ

          There’s extreme-right propoganda on pretty much ALL major social media, sadly

          Pew Research revealed that statistically, TikTok was the only major social platform where news influencers didn’t skew overwhelmingly conservative, and also had the highest number of LGBTQ news influencers, which is the REAL reason politicians wanted to ban it

          https://www.usermag.co/p/the-majority-of-news-influencers

        6. Nymph

          I think saying that there was any single “real” reason they wanted tiktok banned is short sighted, there were several motives and they all sucked.

        7. NGPZ

          I guess the “real” reason I was referring to was actually two LOL

          conservative politician’s alleged motivations for banning apps like TikTok and their other proposed policies constantly contradict each other, since at least the days of so-called “Reaganomics”, central to their strategy has been about getting the vote of bigots without being *openly* hateful, and are often opportunistic in doing so

          for instance many conservative politicians don’t know shit about epidemiology, but what they DO know is they don’t wanna blame 1,000,000+ unnecessary COVID deaths on anti-vaxxers/anti-maskers who just so happen to be some of their most ardent supporters they need on their side to get re-elected

          thus by calling it the “Chinese Virus”, it’s a mutual benefit both to them, nationalists who use China for red-baiting, and bigots who wanna mainstream Asian Hate

        8. Nymph

          Again, I think you’re needlessly narrowing focus onto a few issues when there were many. Have a good night though.

        9. NGPZ

          I mean as much as them politicians CLAIM there are multiple reasons for wanting to ban the app, since when are we taking them at their word anyway? XD

        10. Dana W

          Old news, us leftists are all on Bluesky now where we can filter out the crazies. Its driving them nuts they like to call us “Bluecry” but they are the ones crying because we don’t have to listen to them.

        11. Ike

          They’re moving to another Chinese app specifically to spite the TikTok ban.

        12. Taffy

          Is that even actually happening? I swear, I’ve seen the phrase “tiktok banned” in my Google suggested searches ever since TikTok got popular, and it hasn’t gone anywhere. Not that anything of value would be lost.

        13. Nymph

          A few of my American friends got a message when they tried to use the app a few hours ago which confirmed that it has, indeed, been banned.

          The message also praises Trump’s presumed future efforts to unban it, so maybe not a permanent situation, who the hell even knows anymore.

        14. Thag Simmons

          It’s current down in the states, so something is happening at least. Whether it goes down long term, who knows at this point.

        15. clif

          There are such things as proxy servers and VPNs. Just saying.

        16. Nymph

          True, but not really the point. Taffy asked if it was actually going to be banned and the answer is yes, it has been (for now). Being able to access it through a VPN doesn’t mean it’s not banned.

        17. Dragotx

          VPNs don’t work this time, TikTok banned all accounts created in the US. So you have to not only use a VPN, but create an entirely new account in a different country.

        18. Clif

          I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t TikTok who did the banning.

        19. morleuca

          Was back up when I checked at 10. There’s an ass-kissy message thanking the melting Creamsicle for saving them somehow, and one message I saw equated it (as a neuro-spicy person) to that feeling when you enter your bedroom and you are convinced someone had been in there, but you won’t be able to say for certain until you figure out what’s been touched, moved, or taken.

        20. someone

          LOL at hoping a vote will turn things around; as if votes will be allowed again in the future. Trump did promise people would never need to vote again if he was re-elected…

        21. thejeff

          Preemptively accepting the end of democracy just makes it more likely.

          Don’t do this. There will be elections and they will matter, whatever Trump wants.

        22. NGPZ

          THIS

          DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE

          “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

          — On Tyranny

        23. Taffy

          Stop whining, ya quitter.

        24. Eyebrow

          I don’t think avoiding putting all your personal data and tracking into a Chinese – owned app is about boycotting their labour practices.

          It’s about not having your every move and thought in a foreign governments database.

          Same reason China doesn’t use Google or Facebook.

        25. Daibhid C

          I thought China didn’t use Google because it kept claiming there was such a thing as a Free Tibet movement?

        26. eh, whatever

          Indeed. Google does not forward data to the US government. TikTok must, by law, forward all data to the Chinese government. It’s even got Party representatives in the company – it must, by law.

        27. NGPZ

          even if companies like Google aren’t governments on paper, the legitimized coercive power of corporations on our daily lives is one which can rival that of the *official* democratically elected state if unchecked — at which point the capitalist hegemony disrupts the state’s monopoly on the legitimate means of coercion within its territory, at which point “the” state by definition doesn’t exist

          TL;DR, if supremely wealthy capital owners are allowed to continue voting with their money as increasingly as they are, we may as well not have a democratic government at all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

        28. Michael Steamweed

          Well, more like it’s about putting fewer moves and thoughts into various foreign governments’ databases. Or any governments, including domestic.

          Just as with corps, the govs will collect a lot on you, by default. But we shouldn’t actively help them with it all.

        29. Arianod

          Wait??? Is that why I’m seeing so many jokes about “my chinese spy” online these days?

        30. Wizard

          Private prisons do offer some perverse incentives, and barring some major reform they should go away. That said, they’re pretty much the least of the US justice system’s problems. Any money their operators spend on lobbying is a drop in the bucket compared to the money spent by police and (public) prison guards’ unions.

        31. jflb96

          You’re right, they should only use apps based in the USA, since the USA would never use nuclear weapons on civilian targets or spend tax money on slave labour camps…

        32. Edward Rhodes

          I don’t make video content, and I don’t watch Tik Tok, so I don’t have a dog in this fight but, what “other” sources are there out there?

      2. Dara

        Which is, I am just saying, hilarious.

      3. Kyulen

        From what I’ve heard from Americans who started using Rednote because of the Tiktok ban, a lot of them are learning, by actually talking with Chinese people on that app, that most of the things they were told about China and Chinese people by the US government and media were lies. So while I think Tiktok ban was stupid, at least there’s one good thing that’s come about as a result of it.

        1. NGPZ

          once again, bigoted buffoons’ attempts at information control backfires XD

          Ya can fool some people sometimes,

          but ya can’t fool all the people all the time!

        2. Mark

          I wonder what the Chinese Rednoters are learning.

        3. clif

          They ran tanks over their own citizens in Tiananmen Square a few years back?

        4. jflb96

          And what were those citizens doing?

        5. Dana W

          Protesting an authoritarian regime.

        6. eh, whatever

          Funnily enough, they’re learning socialism.

          In this picture, there’s a Red Note user from Jiangsu asking: “why do you get both weekend days off and not have to work overtime?” The reply is marked as coming from America.

          This has been commented by this picture and the following:

          > Ban TikTok
          > American users flock to a new Chinese app with users in Mainland China
          > Chinese youth get oneshotted by American culture
          > Anti-CCP color revolution by end of 2025

        7. NGPZ

          strictly speaking, unions and striking by themselves aren’t socialism, at least insofar as the participants’ only intention is to get better working conditions through more immediate reform of the current capitalist social order

          socialism is characterized by long-term intention to see to it that the capitalist social order is abolished entirely via social ownership and democratic management of the means of production as opposed to private ownership by a tiny fraction of society with the vast majority of money and stores of value.

        8. Edward Rhodes

          The Chinese people are discovering that the things they heard about the US, that they THOUGHT were Chinese propaganda, seem to be mostly true!

      4. Dana W

        I Tried Rednote, it deletes LGBT content. Pretty much Bluesky is all that’s left.

    2. Thag Simmons

      It’s entirely possible it won’t stay dead. Depends on how the new admin wants to handle it.

      I do find it funny in a frustrating sort of way that Biden’s team didn’t try to stall this though. It’s a policy that’s going to piss a lot of people off that their political enemies proposed, but the Dems decided they just had to get it under the wire so they could take credit for shutting it down and give the Republicans the option to swoop in and fix the problem they caused.

      1. Dana W

        It was bipartisan, even up to the vote. When Trump was in office he hated it because it was full of people who mocked him and he wanted it gone.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Oh no!

      Anyway.

    4. zee

      I think the funniest part of the ban is that marvel snap apparently got caught in the crossfire bc it’s owned by a subsidiary of byte dance or something like that

      Also like, they only banned it in app storesno? Can’t android users just get an apk of future updates?

      1. Charles Phipps

        The Evil One has paused the ban.

        Now he’s unfortunately getting a lot of support for it.

  10. Kyrik Michalowski

    It took me longer to figure out what she meant more than I care to admit.

    If she was an android then I’d send her to Faye… well I’d send her to Bubbles.

    1. Jeremiah

      Reference missed.

      1. Tawnee

        Faye (human) and Bubbles (droid) are a couple in Questionable Content. They are really cute together, and good for each other.

        1. Tawnee

          I did not realise I had Danny, this has to change.

        2. Mark

          And they run a machine shop for repair and modification of AI-persons.

        3. thejeff

          Specifically they’ve upgraded robot butts at least once.

  11. Nono

    Oh here I thought bubble meant butt, because…bubble-butt. And was like ‘estradiol doesn’t help you with that?’.

    1. Queen Anthai

      It doesn’t? I’m admittedly cis and ignorant, but I’d think it would sorta make you curvier all over.

      1. Yumi

        It does, and honestly I still assume the meaning here is “butt.”

        1. not someone else

          It absolutely does mean butt, and estradiol absolutely does help over time, y’all are just second-guessing yourselves lol

        2. Yumi

          Well, like… one person was? That’s what makes sense here.

        3. zee

          Oh i thought she was talking about the p-spot specifically and was wondering why it would grow on hrt and if that would even be a good thing

        4. superglucose

          it shrinks to the point where you don’t even have to worry about cancer after long enough

      2. morleuca

        It is best to weight cycle to help fat distribution. Losing fat in “male” areas and gaining fat in “female” ones.

    2. Tatterhood

      It does! Estrogen can increase overall body fat percentage as well as changing the distribution towards a more hourglass silhouette (hips, thighs, boobs and butt) while higher testosterone increases the likelihood of an apple body shape (storing more fat in the waist and belly). I not a doctor and endocrine systems are stupid complicated and I don’t know how much role other hormones and other factors have to play, and I know that with hormones it is often more about levels relative to each other rather than absolute amounts in the body, but…yeah, I think she was talking about butts.

      1. Drakkin the Alien

        maybe… but the “canon” female body shape is not just a product of fat or bumps distribution. The skeleton below the fat and muscle is there too. The shape of the ribcage for starters. The hipbone do not only widen, it gets a different angle with the spine, and that in return gives a particular angle to the femurs… it really matters when you are in the development of your skeleton for the hormons to have a chance to do their job.

        1. thejeff

          Not “just”, but partly. Estradiol will change the fat distribution and thus the appearance of the butt, even without making skeletal changes.

        2. Michael Steamweed

          Slowly, there will be decreasing visceral fat (mostly around the belly) and increasing subcutaneous fat (hips, legs).

        3. Nymph

          I’m not sure who brought up skeletons, but Estrogen absolutely changes fat distribution and adds curves to your body shape. Your mileage may vary, but some degree of thicc is coming your way.

        4. superglucose

          accidentally running into things for a few months while I got used to it was Fun XD

  12. Icalasari

    I don’t get it

    1. Jeremiah

      She is talking about butts.

      1. Icalasari

        Ah, other comments made me think the butt approach wasn’t the one meant

  13. Suet

    Look at that smile on Dorothy ☺️ wait did Jocelyne assume Joyce—

    This is the one bubble that won’t burst! …wait does that mean Jocelyne is a—

    1. Davus

      Wait, did Joyrcelyne assume that Joyce and Dorothy were dating? (I mean, it might be a QPR? not sure.)

      1. Michael Steamweed

        Assume: no. Hope (and thus try to encourage): yes.

  14. Clif

    Dorothy retains the ability to understand.

    1. Clif

      Try two: Dorothy retains the ability to understand what isn’t being said.

      1. Yumi

        Dorothy would’ve understood your first comment

        1. clif

          <3

    2. Akane

      She probably didn’t pick up on Jocelyn’s matchmaking tease, or Joyce (who did) denying it.

  15. DailyBrad

    Jocelyn’s cute as hell, so I mean, I doubt she had much trouble finding help with that one.

  16. Plaaaaaa

    Come on, you’re blurring the line between gay and transgender. I thought you didn’t want that

    1. Jeremiah

      I am assuming you are being sarcastic or joking, if that is the case Iwould recommend putting on a tone indicator because it is kind of hard to tell.

    2. Nerrin

      I feel the context is more like Jocelyne coming to atheism but also to figure herself out after getting poked when she thought she was still a he. So at the time everyone involved thought it was gay. Now the former partners still are gay but she’s not.

    3. Nymph

      So a couple things here:

      – Trans people can be gay.
      – You don’t have to be a guy to poke someone’s bubble.

      Conclusion: Jocelyne could absolutely have had her bubble poked by gay people without doing whatever you’re complaining about.

    4. NGPZ

      u can be two (or more) things 😛

    5. Akane

      Jocelyn is bi, and clearly had a preference for men. She’s not gay, and suggesting trans women doing anal is gay is kinda transphobic.

      1. Yumi

        I’m not assuming Plaaaaa’s comment was in good faith, but it doesn’t seem likee they’re doing that. No one here is.

    6. Kelibath

      When Jocelyne and Ethan meet for the first time, they clearly have eyes for one another, but when Ethan gets a moment to ask her about her sexuality she responds “I’m *not* actually gay…”. She definitely likes guys, from context, and so that response reads to me as if she’s both gently correcting Ethan’s read but also maybe talking about the process of herself coming to understand her gender and identity. I’d hazard a guess that being with various gay masc people happened first and full hatching came later.

    7. Tan

      At the time that Jocelyne is talking about, Jocelyne was presenting as and believed herself to be a man, and was strictly into men (she’s noted that her interest in women only cropped up after getting on HRT). It makes sense that her early sexual experiences at that time were with gay men, and that does not invalidate her identity.

  17. Charles Phipps

    Joyce has decided that clearly all religion is silly and interpretations of Christianity because she knows all of their beliefs as they are presumably identical to the one type she knows.

    1. Aubrey

      As someone who was raised nondenominational Christian and left the religion when I was a teenager, it is VERY hard to put that toothpaste back in the tube.

      I respect people who find comfort/community in their faith, so long as they don’t push their beliefs on others or use those beliefs to justify harm. But I can’t see myself aligning with any religious or spiritual tradition (even ones that were different from the one I grew up with) because I do not believe things for which there is no tangible proof, which is a prerequisite to every religious tradition of which I am personally aware.

      1. Charles Phipps

        I thought that except there’s quite a few religions that don’t have supernatural elements at all.

        See pantheism for example.

        “I am spiritually aware and communing with the universe around me.”

        1. VicMortimer

          If you’re calling yourself “spiritually aware” then you’re making a supernatural claim. It’s woo nonsense.

        2. Charles Phipps

          Then I explained pantheism wrong unless you assume spiritual = supernatural. For me, consciousness is inherently spiritual and if you deny consciousness exists then you are making a possibly true statement but one that is presently ignored by science.

        3. eh, whatever

          For me, consciousness is inherently spiritual

          Yeah, sorry, that’s a religious statement.

          Compare: “mind is what the brain does”.

        4. Yumi

          The aim isn’t to say it’s not religious, though.

        5. Charles Phipps

          The aim is to point out that the religion is about something real.

        6. Mark

          I won’t go as far as “nonsense” but I would say it’s an untestable claim. Because all we have for making claims falsifiable is derived from the natural, and the supernatural is by definition distinct from it.

        7. Charles Phipps

          Eh, philosophically that puts the burden of proof on the religion. Because a scientist claims the supernatural is anything that doesn’t exist when, by definition, religious people believe that what they worship exists.

          If you could prove a miracle exists by, say, “Q” or the Cheese or Marvel Thor then the argument would be that it wouldn’t be a miracle. Which i don’t think religious people would ever do.

        8. gears

          The burden of proof IS on the religion. Scientists don’t claim anything. The scientific position is “prove it”. Religions are the ones making claims without proof.

        9. Charles Phipps

          That’s…the point, isn’t it?

          Religious people don’t claim they believe in nonprovable things. Many DO and wrong things. But if they believe in a provable thing, it doesn’t magically become non-religious.

        10. Edward Rhodes

          “I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God. “For proof denies faith, and without faith, I am nothing.”

          “Ah!” says Man. “But the babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn’t it? I proves you exist, and so, therefore, you don’t. Q.E.D.”

          “Oh dear,” says God. “I hadn’t thought of that.” And promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

          “Oh, that was easy.” says Man. And for his next trick, goes on to prove that black is white, and gets killed at the next zebra crossing.

    2. Shade

      I mean they might disagree on some details, but if you find issue with the core premise then it doesn’t matter how many denominations and what their views are because your issue is with the core premise they all have.

    3. VicMortimer

      All religion IS silly. Sure, some of them are more harmful than others, but the silly supernatural woo nonsense factor is there for all of them.

      1. Taffy

        What the fuck is “woo nonsense”? I get the “nonsense”, but what’s the “woo” attachment?

        1. Nymph

          Religion is like a rollercoaster and you’re expected to say “woo” occasionally.

        2. Taffy

          I bet roller coasters are more fun than church, when you’re stoned.

        3. Nymph

          Depends which church. If you go to Our Lady of the Screaming Tracks there’s a rollercoaster inside the church. Two for one kinda deal.

        4. Charles Phipps

          Given Willis’ comic is a humanitarian celebration of secular humanism, I’m not trying to deny anyone’s beliefs on this. Also, I haven’t gotten to use “secular humanism” outside of Star Trek forums so +1 for this post thread.

          But it seems a lot of definition of religion varies a lot here. Like Buddhist traditions that don’t believe in an afterlife or gods as anything but metaphor. Or the guys who didn’t think Confucianism was a religion.

          My bad for getting into the weeds. 🙂

        5. NGPZ

          “woo” as in, to seek someone’s love with false promises.

          fitting, given woo-meisters within pseudo-science and religious authoritarianism seek people’s admiration, falsely promising them miraculous and easily understandable knowledge

        6. Mark

          I would assert that much woo-ing is genuine: to seek to inspire love in one whom one loves. Yes, often with rash or frankly impossible promises, but sincerely given.

        7. Mark

          Like when you’re telling ghost stories, and sometimes make scary ghost noises: wooooOOOO!

        8. eh, whatever

          It’s double; “woowoo” already means “nonsense”.

        9. Michael Steamweed

          I _think_ in this case it’s “a slang term used to describe those who believe in phenomena that lacks substantiated evidence to prove the claim of the phenomena.”

      2. Charles Phipps

        Eh, Einstein and Spinoza didn’t believe in the supernatural but claimed Jewish identity as a religion not just an ethnicity. Because they inherently believed in God=Universe.

        Like I said, if you believe religion=stuff that doesn’t exist, you just don’t know actual religion. Non-theistic religions are incredibly common and there are plenty that simply apply the concept of the divine to reality or the consciousness.

        1. clif

          Heresy! Science will smite you for that.

        2. Yumi

          Though if she did take to those beliefs, Joyce could still consider herself atheist.

        3. Charles Phipps

          This is true.

        4. NGPZ

          wait, if Einstein believed God=Universe, then why did he say,

          “God does not play dice with the universe” 😛

          but you’re right about there being non-theistic religions, Buddhism and Japanese Shinto being very famous examples ^^

        5. Charles Phipps

          Einstein’s religious views are basically summarized as an impersonal God that is indistinguishable from the universe’s laws and natural inclination as I understand it.

          Which is to say that God=evolution, gravity, math, and so on.

        6. NGPZ

          basically yee, the only discrepancy being that God / The Divine as a concept is something humans will never be able to fully grasp,

          modern physicists refer to scientific “laws” as “principles” now, if only to better reflect the epistemology of science, i.e. the nature, origins and limits as human knowledge which are basically but human-made tools for understanding our world, which are always subject to falsification and improvement

          Newtonian “Laws” of Motion like F = MA are ultimately descriptors, not controllers (same goes for pretty much all scientific knowledge), as much as they retain their usefulness for predicting the motion of everyday objects, they break down once we approach reference frames near the speed of light, hence Einstein’s pioneering of the Theories of Relativity to better understand what was happening in these situations

          that being said, advancement of scientific knowledge and personal development of one’s spirituality are tasks which require rather different modes of thinking, at least in my experience and that of scientists I’m friends with from all kinds of faiths, mono/theistic or not

        7. Dana W

          Einstein quote, “The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”
          Letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind, January 3, 1954.

    4. Dana W

      She is very clear about why “Because magic is silly” and it is. The idea that she just has “the wrong religion” and that somebody else’s (nicer) one would bring her back in the fold is just slamming on atheists.

  18. Sirksome

    I feel like Jocelyne is the horniest character here.

    1. Dara

      Just because Joyce isn’t acting as much – yet – doesn’t mean she’s less horny than her older sister.

      But yeah Jocelyne is … I really want to say pegging the meter, but that’s backwards. Somebody figure the joke out for me, I know it’s there somewhere.

      1. BorkBorkBork

        Well, from what she says, she’s pretty new to this. Didn’t really feel one way or the other until starting the medication.

  19. BorkBorkBork

    As an eighth level wizard with a level in artificer, I feel like Joyce could have been a little more inclusive with panel 3.

    Our cleric can hush up, though; his god *is* rather silly.

  20. Yotomoe

    The most bizarre thing about having been an atheist as long as I have is this idea that something happened to make me wanna be atheist. Like I had some negative experience with Christianity or organized religion or grew up in a conservative environment and naw.

    I just sorta realized one day I don’t believe in this stuff. Like how I don’t believe in Santa or Super Mario. So in a funny way I find it hard to relate to a lot of other atheists and agnostics. Sometimes I even wish I DID believe in an afterlife cuz at least it would give me comfort that I, and everyone I love, aren’t heading towards a cold empty cessation of consciousness.

    1. Wraithy2773

      I’m a lifelong agnostic. Religion was never a factor in my upbringing beyond basic cultural background radiation stuff, so yeah, I’m kinda there with you.

    2. Ike

      Same. I realised in primary school (been to Catholic schools all my life. That’s not a big deal in Britain though) that I didn’t believe any of the god stuff.

    3. yak

      Honestly I don’t think I ever really believed in it. I went to sunday school and read the bible but it never once felt real to me, it was always just a bunch of dubious stories. The only thing that changed is that when I was about 17, my parents stopped making me go.

      That is not to say I don’t get religion. I just think the goddess is a mercurial bongo, and she most certainly ain’t YHWH

    4. Kyulen

      My family wasn’t very religious when I was growing up and we only went to church on major holidays like Easter and Christmas, so while I believed in a god for a few years as a kid, I rarely prayed to it and was very apathetic about it. When I learned at the age of 14 that atheism was a thing, it made perfect sense to me and I stopped believing in any gods. Other atheists became atheists because of negative experiences with the religions they were raised in, but for me it was just realizing that there were others who didn’t believe in gods and saw how silly it all was.

  21. IntangibleMatter

    Oh my god, fine, I’ll talk to my doctor about HRT.

    1. Nymph

      Yay!

    2. Taffy

      The marketing really should emphasize butt enhancement more.

    3. Kelibath

      *cheers!*

    4. superglucose

      It’s great, you’ll love it!

    5. NGPZ

      Hava nagila! ^^ <3

  22. Opus the Poet

    I celebrate Jocelynn’s theoretical existence.

    1. Opus the Poet

      Theoretical because she’s fictional, she only exists in this webcomic (unless Jeph Jacques decides she needs to visit Coffee of Doom, or maybe do an internship at Cubetown for some reason).

  23. Derek

    man, I really don’t get the last panel. The bubble metaphor is extremely straight forward, there’s no need for Dorothy to try to clarify what “bubble” stands for; it’s not a literal bubble! It’s a metaphor to say that both Joyce and her sister were raised in a cult-like environment where their social interactions and education were purposefully kept stunted to make sure they acquiesce to the fucked-up rules of their church.
    The metaphorical bubble burst when both of them got exposed to people outside their church, particularly queer people and realized they were lied to.

    But Jocelyn’s last sentence makes it sound like her bubble is her chest, something physical that people can literally poke. So she left the church and came out as trans because…gay people literally poked her boobs? Like in a sexual way? What the hell does this mean?

    1. Nymph

      The bubble that both Jocelyne and Dorothy are making innuendos about in the final panel is Jocelyne’s butt. Which has been poked by gay people.

      1. Mark

        IOW Jocelyne is turning it into a pun by replacing the first metaphor with another.

      2. Derek

        so the implication here is that Jocelyn got butt-fucked until she changed her gender? …isn’t that like a highly offensive stereotype?

        1. Jeremiah

          Yeah it is almost like, that is not at all and only a someone making a disingenuous argument would think. You weirdo.

        2. Derek

          yeah it’s almost like I keep saying I don’t understand the last panel at all. I’m not making a disingenuous argument, I genuinely do not understand what the heck is happening in the last panel in terms of the metaphor.

        3. Nymph

          So in the metaphor she’s saying that getting poked (in the butt!) by gay people is part of what made her an atheist.

          It has nothing to do with her gender. They aren’t talking about that at all in this moment.

          Hope that helps! I did explain lower down but you might not have seen.

        4. Jeremiah

          I think you give them too much benefit of doubt, they don’t actually wanna understand what they claim to be confused about, they just wanna complain and make it up to be a bad thing when it’s been explained to them.

        5. thejeff

          No. That was part of what led to her becoming godless

        6. Nymph

          She wasn’t talking about what made her transition at all though? You conflated atheism and being trans together there.

        7. Dana W

          But its a common one, the entire time I transitioned NOBODY would believe I wasn’t doing that, my own doctor included. I wanted to give pre-need blood for my now partner for her surgery, (O Neg universal donor) and I was blocked becose nobody would believe I wasn’t sleeping with men.

    2. Taffy

      ANAL SEX.

      1. Yotomoe

        ANNUAL SEX.

        1. Taffy

          Yeesh. Imagine only getting to have sex once a year for some reason, and then it’s not even good.

        2. Yotomoe

          😛 Imagine not having sex for 30. I’m pretty concerned it won’t be very good!

        3. Clif

          I feel somewhat safe in predicting it would be the best you’ve ever had.

        4. Yotomoe

          To be fair it’ll also be the worst I’ve ever had.

        5. Yumi

          Also the furthest from the Sahara that you’ve ever had.

        6. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          From “Zorro: The Gay Blade”:

          Florinda : [regarding Esteban] Do you know he only makes love to me 12 times a year?

          Don Diego : Well, once a month is not so bad.

          Florinda : No, he makes love to me 12 times in one night and then, zip, nothing!

          Don Diego : Tell me, on that one night, does he eat anything special? Oysters? Raw eggs?

          Florinda : Garlic. A lot of garlic.

        7. anonymsly

          I love that movie!

        8. Charles Phipps

          Reminds me of the Steve Carrel and Tina Fey movie, Night Out.

          Neighbor: My husband and I only make love twice a week. Can you believe that?

          Tina Fey: Oh..uh, that’s terrible. Really? Twice a week?

        9. Pseudowolf

          ANNAL SEX

          (So good you have to write about it afterward)

        10. Opus the Poet

          That has happened, but not very often. I have done short essays about the subject. Both for the subject in general, and with specific people.

    3. Jeremiah

      This is hilarious.

  24. Bryy

    I’m also sure that the attempted murder of your friends and the literal death of one of them helped a bit in the whole becoming atheist thing.

    1. Coatl

      Each event that Joyce went through was more bitter than the other, her decision was understandable, but in part it is sad that they killed her faith in that way.

      I confess that even with those tragedies, Joyce’s faith would be preserved but with a more flexible approach, but surprisingly it would be Becky who would show that.

      1. Adept

        … what?

        Firstly, it’s a bit weird to talk about a fictional character like that, but secondly, why exactly would it have been good for ”Joyce’s faith to have been preserved”?

        She was raised to pretend she heard the voice of god, and to believe insane things about the natural world. Why would keeping her superstitious world view have been something good?

      2. Bryy

        1) Joyce was raised in a cult.

        2) Becky is not doing that great. At all.

    2. Charles Phipps

      I’m not sure it did.

      Joyce wasn’t traumatized out of it, she just pulled the thread of her mother’s rationalizations and realized there was nothing there but control and hatred.

      By contrast, God is there as a comfort for Becky during her persecution and thus her ordeal increased her faith.

    3. HueSatLight

      I doubt it, that’s not usually how it goes. That’s more of a Hollywood / Christian apologist explanation. Religious people going through a traumatic event tend to stick with their religion.

      It’s usually what Joe and Joyce describe. Something mundane causes someone to want to question what they’d been trying to keep from questioning. Then once they’re questioning, they can realize we live in a non-supernatural world.

      Not directly related to what you said, but it’s worth adding, it’s counter-productive to try to use a traumatic event to try to change someone’s worldview, and extremely callous.

      1. thejeff

        Though the fact that the traumatic events in her cases were directly supported by her church changes that equation.

        Joyce broke with her church’s teachings over gay rights long before she broke with them over anything related to the “non-supernatural” world

        1. HueSatLight

          Finding out that Becky was gay is the mundane event that caused her to ask the questions. Not the traumatic events.

          I don’t understand your point maybe. Or maybe you don’t understand mine.

        2. thejeff

          From what I can tell (without going back through and rereading nearly everything), questioning the morals came first. Both Becky being gay and the reaction of those in her community to it, especially Ross and Carol
          Hell, making friends with an atheist over her parents objections was a crack even before that.
          She lost faith in her religious community and then in God. It was only well after that we saw her say anything about supernatural elements being a problem. If that was part of her journey, we never saw her struggle with it. Other than afterwards in a “Wait, I don’t have to believe this anymore” kind of way.

          But my main point was really the first bit. That generic traumatic events often push people deeper into religion. Trauma caused by the religion itself, much less so, at least outside of a trapped in abuse religious context.

  25. Dara

    I adore Dorothy’s smile in panel two. Goddamn, she’s in love.

    Also:

    “If there’s heart room, there’s butt room.”

    I was told this was a Swedish saying buuuuuut I’m thinking it’s applicable here. Somehow. We’ll figure it out..

    1. Coatl

      Dorothy’s smile always captivates

    2. Nymph

      I’ve never seen that phrase double entendre’d before but I support it lmao

  26. darkoneko

    The big sister dorothy never knew she needed

    1. Akane

      The big sister in law, especially since she’s clearly playing matchmaker with Joyce and Dorothy.

  27. Amelie Wikström

    I think she got bubbles disease

  28. Agentomega

    *cues up “Together We Ride Dat Booty” mashup on youtube*

    (I’unno why, the Fire Emblem just makes it catchier imo)

  29. Aquila

    Bubbly personality masking bossy control freak!

  30. Allison Branford

    In case it’s not clear, Jocelyn’s bubble is her butt!

    1. Clif

      Someday there will be cartoonists that suffer from Bubble’s disease.

  31. DJTsurugi

    OMFG I fucking love Jocelyne. ~<3

  32. Amós Batista

    Wait a minute, she’s talking about… SAY GEX?

    1. Michael Steamweed

      I thought it was GAZE EGGS.

      1. Clif

        Quick, trademark it and resell eggs with eyeballs painted on them.

  33. Vulcanodon

    Joyce correcting the reason she became atheist in panel three is such an autistic response. I couldn’t begin to count the number of conversations where I reacted like that – correcting something that was slightly off – because it felt like a normal next thing to say and the whole conversation went

    1. Daibhid C

      I mean, yes, but I think on some level Joyce feels the need to correct this because the way Joss put it sounds … kind of gay? And while she’s totally cool with that, it just happens that she also totally isn’t, and that should probably be clarified?

      1. Mark

        I feel that you two are saying the same thing, differently?

        1. Vulcanodon

          Yes.

        2. StClair

          to reverse a popular meme, to be technically incorrect is the worst kind of incorrect.

    2. Charles Phipps

      I mean, Dorothy is also asserting a very real thing about her religious lack of belief.

      “I was not traumatized out of religion. This is not an emotional knee jerk thing. I came to this point through rationality.”

      Which is an important distinction.

      1. Charles Phipps

        I mean Joyce. Damn you no edit button!

    3. anonymsly

      I think it actually is important to distinguish that she became atheist for HER OWN reasons, and Dorothy had nothing to do with them. Joyce’s atheism would have happened, all other things being equal, with or without Dorothy.

      It’s not fair to credit Dorothy with Joyce’s accomplishments.

  34. Buck Ripsnort

    So this is Dorothy’s way of having sex with Joyce while still being straight? (YES, I know I’m over-anticipating.)

    1. Nymph

      I don’t understand what you mean “while still being straight”? Sleeping with Jocelyne would be lesbian sex, because Jocelyne is a woman.

  35. Charles Phipps

    Joyce is in the Bubble.

    THAT MEANS SHE HAS THE GAYS!

    🙂

  36. HueSatLight

    Not because of Dorothy, because of Becky

    1. Akane

      Kinda both.

  37. Kazuma Taichi

    I too am awaiting the estradiol increasing the size of my bubbles

  38. Mr. Random

    Prostate

    1. Yumi

      I don’t think you want your prostate to get bigger

      1. Clif

        Not remotely a medical expert, but I would suppose it would depend on how large it was to start. My understanding is that too small a prostrate increases your chances of a more aggressive prostate cancer.

  39. Charles Phipps

    Transhumanism in the best way!

    1. Charles Phipps

      To be trans and humanist!

  40. Jeremiah

    My avatar suddenly changes to Sal when I had Jason since I get in here (which I believe fitted much better with my incredible levels of lameness. I am not remotely cool enough to be Sal)

  41. Charles Phipps

    Listen, since this is the Willis-Verse, does this mean Joyce becoming an atheist is her canon event.

    Will alternate Joyces be able to stop her world being undone!

    1. Clif

      I’m not sure I understand the question.

      1. Charles Phipps

        Trying to make a Spider-verse reference and failing.

  42. StClair

    avatar shuffle check once more.

  43. StClair

    Hrm.

    1. StClair

      oops, that last one was meant to be a reply to the first.

      1. StClair

        Last one for now.

        1. NGPZ

          I see it’s time once again to play Gravatar Roulette!

          and ya got Fuckface, yippee!! ^^

        2. Jeremiah

          What is Gravatar roulette? I had heard about it constantly but I never got what it was or how to do it.

        3. NGPZ

          if you change the capitalization of your email, like this for instance:

          Bubble69@gmail.com -> bubBle69@gmail.com

          then the site will give you a new Gravatar at random (“roulette”) from a pool of about 30 last time i checked

        4. thejeff

          I’m happy with my default Carla, but I should give it a spin at least once.

        5. thejeff

          Maybe. Probably not.

  44. AK

    Man the way estradiol is spelled as fucked up. Somehow in all of my conversations with my trans friends I never actually saw the way it was spelled and just kind of assumed it was spelled like crocodile. My brain wants to pronounce the correct spelling es-tro-dee-all.

    1. AK

      Oh, new gravatar. Wonder when that happened.

  45. Needfuldoer

    Oh hey, new default Gravatars just dropped.

    Now I have to find Daisy again, dangit.

    1. Clif

      Did they really? I assume from the addition of Jocelyn to the line up.

      1. Needfuldoer

        I think the Joyce one changed too.

  46. june gloom

    I really hope Jocelyne gets more screentime. I think she’s become my 2nd favorite character after Sal.

  47. Serendipity

    terrified about tomorrow

    1. Serendipity

      oh god have to fix this grav sitch

    2. Nymph

      Yeah, I feel you on that.

  48. Serendipity

    still fixin’

  49. Dana W

    Estradiol is good, but for the titty fairy to visit. Add Estriol. It works, oh hell does it work.

  50. Clif

    Please ignore from here down. I am playing mass Gravatar Roulette here in the past where it is less likely to annoy people. If you skip these posts you will miss nothing of substance. I mean, check at the very end in case someone added something post-comic.

    1. Clif

      Have her already.

      1. Clif

        Am missing Robin.

        1. Clif

          Was missing Ruth!

  51. Clif

    Am missing Becky.

    1. Clif

      Also missing Ethan.

      1. Clif

        So three missing in all.

  52. Clif

    Well, missing Amazigirl, but she seems to be not in the rotation in favor of Lucy’s brother, Sal’s sister and other minor characters.

    1. Clif

      Okay, out of mildly interesting things to say.

      1. Clif

        clif

        1. Clif

          next is Clif

  53. Clif

    Then cLif.

    1. Clif

      Yay! Robin.

      1. Clif

        clIf is next.

        1. Clif

          Annoyingly each post has to be different because if I just post ClIf it ignores capitalization and says it’s a duplicate post.

        2. Clif

          Now cLIf

        3. Clif

          or CLIf

  54. Clif

    a cliF

    1. Clif

      b CliF

      1. Clif

        c cLiF

        1. Clif

          d CLiF

        2. Clif

          e clIF

        3. Clif

          g ClIF

        4. Clif

          h cLIF

        5. Clif

          And that’s about enough

        6. Clif

          Hm. It looks like I have Mary listed. Can that be right?

        7. Clif

          Ah, Marcy instead of Marcie. Can’t read my own writing

  55. Clif

    Coming back to find two different avatars I labeled Lucy. They can’t both be right.

    1. Clif

      But I can’t tell which is which without recreating them.

    2. Clif

      Okay that was a mistype.

      1. Clif

        Still the same to here?

  56. Clif

    Dunno. The different Lucy problem went away or was a figment of my imagination. One or the other. The other thing I was wrong about was that Amazigirl *is* in the rotation. I just haven’t managed to find her yet.

    1. Clif

      Also I’ve found Ethan since yesterday.

      1. Clif

        Finding Ethan is nothing like finding the Cheese.

        1. Clif

          So at this point, I’m looking for Becky and Amazigirl.

        2. Clif

          I don’t think either of them resembles the Cheese either.

        3. Clif

          Well, with Amazigirl, you can’t really tell for sure.

        4. Clif

          And there she is.

  57. Clif

    It’s the mask.

    1. Clif

      Behind the mask you would never guess she’s Sal.

      1. Clif

        Now if we can just find Becky, I’m out of here.

        1. Clif

          which I’m sure will be a great relief to anyone actually reading this.

        2. Clif

          If talking about Amazigirl helped me find her will talking about Becky help find Becky?

  58. Clif

    Of course not. That’s magical thinking.

    1. Clif

      On the other hand, it’s not going to hurt either.

      1. Clif

        So we might as well.

        1. Clif

          So what do we know about Becky?

        2. Clif

          She has a cute girlfriend.

        3. Clif

          She’s probably not Sal behind her mask.

        4. Clif

          For a brief period of time she owned her own home.

        5. Clif

          She probably approves of Joe more than Dorothy.

        6. Clif

          She has suffers from ADO.

        7. Clif

          ADO = Acquired Dinosaur Obsession

        8. Clif

          Though suffers may not be the correct term. It’s not clear much suffering is involved.

  59. Clif

    It took forever to find Ethan, but now he’s popping up all the time.

    1. Clif

      Several of them have been like that.

      1. Clif

        Takes forever to pop up and then they recur constantly. Liz was like that too.

        1. Clif

          Leslie was the exact opposite. She was the second one I got and then it was forever before I saw her again.

        2. Clif

          Jason was the first one, with no caps needed, and has been reasonably frequent thereafter.

        3. Clif

          If this isn’t Becky, I’m giving up for awhile. Well, if it is Becky, the same applies.

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