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Blue shells
Posted on November 29, 2018 by David M Willis
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232 thoughts on “Blue shells”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “Now she’s ruined Mario Kart for me, too!”

    1. BSLangley

      Never Mario Kart!

      1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

        Nuuuuu, not Mario Kart!

        OK, maybe that Rainbow Road track on the SNES version of Mario Kart. That level was a bongo anyways. 😛

        1. wwwhhattt

          On the 3DS version I got a perfect score on that cup the first time I played it in 150cc, and I’ve been too scared to go back in case it was a total fluke

  2. butts

    Huh

    Alt text

    1. Clif

      Her memory has spots. What?

      1. Sunny

        One spot.

  3. AnvilPro

    Oh yeah, Amazi-Girl did wear a yellow mask for a night. Nice memory Willis

    1. Sporky

      These are probably just direct rips from old panels just colored blueish

  4. Doctor_Who

    Sal’s understandable reaction to realizing that this whole episode has been a clipshow. She got kicked down a flight of stairs just to save money for the season finale!

    1. LookingIn

      sadly, it got held over until the next season so it didn’t have the impact that the writers intended

  5. Bagge

    Stop taunting Sal, Sal’s memory.

  6. MatthewTheLucky

    Is that the realization that the fight was stupid, or the realization that Amber’s her friend?

    1. King Daniel

      I thought it was the realization that she should have realized the whole Amber/Amazi-Girl thing sooner.

      1. BrokenEye, the True False Prophet

        Amber is Amazi-Girl???

        1. Abel Undercity

          But she wears glasses! Amazi-Girl doesn’t wear glasses!

        2. Roborat

          Hey, not cool, spoilers dude!

        3. Sarpiedon

          I thought Ultra Car was Amzigirl…

    2. MatthewTheLucky

      Also, it is good to see Becky eating an apple. Good work, Becky.

      1. Doctor_Who

        No scurvy for Becky today, nosir!

        1. MatthewTheLucky

          Alas, apples contain negligible amounts of vitamin C, so scurvy she be.

        2. Dean

          Arrrr, me hearty!

        3. Havtorn

          7% of your recommended daily intake, is still pretty good for a snack.

        4. Jhon

          And almost no sodium!

    3. Tan

      Not necessarily stupid, but that the fight is grey. That while yes, Sal was wronged, Amber’s got some shit going on too and Sal is at least in part sympathizing with her rather than getting to write her off as a crazy percussion instrument, which would be easier.

      1. BBCC

        That’s how I’m reading it.

      2. Roger

        I’m fine with acknowledging the greyness of this feud-i encourage it, in fact-but I am worried for the potential narrative wherein that sympathy leads to Sal wholesale absolving Amber of the wrongdoings and general shittiness that she caused her these past few weeks. This is less to say about Willis as a writer and more the way these kinds of stories have foibled in general, wherein the reveal of an abuser’s trauma and the sympathy that brings causes that person to be more sympathetic than the actual person who was abused.

        1. Jamie

          Here’s a ray of hope: Willis has no plans for ending this comic, and Amber’s issues are pretty damn good story fodder, so it’s something he’s likely to milk for a while.

          One comparison is Sarah and Joyce’s relationship, where Sarah has clearly grown and yet not really departed from her original characterization whatsoever. Stuff with Amber can easily stick around in a similar way and might provide fodder for distant-future stories, too.

        2. LookingIn

          He left a whole upcoming story arc involving Blaine out there untouched, he still has to fix Marci/Sal as friends, and he has a new arc of possibly showing Sal that she might not be beyond hope and real friends are out there if she tries…

          All of that with the usual plot twists and comedic moments are there, he just can’t reach them yet as it’d be way too boring

        3. Betty Anne

          Or, Marcie and Sal DON’T reconcile, Marcie manages to go on to be a police officer, Sal makes friends with every fucked-up middle/upper class white kid in the campus, and on the next parents’ visit, Sal actually hangs around, Linda asks where Marcie is, Sal says, “Oh, I quit bein’ friends with her like you said, she went and became a cop, I found a bunch of new friends,” and then introduce all the lovely white kids as they’re in the middle of some huge drama that involves repeatedly punching Blaine. :3

          I mean…or at least something like that. :p

        4. BBCC

          Fuck that noise. Linda doesn’t deserve to get anything she wants.

          On that note – Do we know for sure Marcie actually wants to be a cop? Or was Sal poking at the fact a security trainee isn’t a big deal job? CAN Marcie actually become a cop or would that blow up on her family?

          I dunno, I feel like this is something the comment sections been running with, but we’ve seen what Sal thinks of people who want to be cops. I feel like if Marcie wanted to be a cop, Sal would either have to have a pretty poor opinion of Marcie or a less poor opinion on people who wanted to be cops.

        5. AntJ

          I’m still holding out to see what Jordan does for a living

        6. Badgermole

          I’m kind of worried about that narrative too but in Willis I trust.

        7. Bathymetheus

          Uhh . . . you do know that Willis lives on the tears of his readers, right?

    4. Pylgrim

      It’s the realization that despite Amber’s anger, she has a strong moral and fairness compass and she had stayed on the right side of it. Remember, Amber knew who Sal was and still, managed to have a semi-positive relationship with her. But the moment when Sal realised who Amber was? A conflict ensued.

      1. tekjr

        I’m not too sure about that. Amber straight-up stalked her and actively tried to start conflict with before they transitioned towards a more positive relationship. Not to mention that the blue shell comment was from when Sal was using Danny’s DS (I think), so Amber had to have been thinking that she was playing against Danny and not Sal (I think). I think Sal realized a pattern of behavior in Amber, namely her bottling up and directing outward of her anger, which colors a lot of interactions she has, including the stabbing.

        1. Amazi-Stool

          so Amber had to have been thinking that she was playing against Danny and not Sal (I think)

          Amber was fully aware who she was playing with!
          In fact it was Amber who invited Sal to that game.

          This is the comic immediately preceding the comic with the blue-shell comment at that location.

        2. tekjr

          Oh gotcha, I had totally forgotten about that.

    5. Fart Captor

      I think she’s sympathizing with Amber despite having every reason to keep being angry at her

  7. Pterodactyl Ghost

    Sal has a bad case of epiphany face in that last panel.

    1. Ophidiophile

      I think she is trying to figure out whether she is a good person or a bad person, and whether that is what she wants to be. It’s an epiphany to realize you have a choice.

  8. Apostate

    about time.

  9. Stephen Bierce

    Hey Blue On Black, tears on a river
    Push on a shove, it don’t mean much    …

    1. J

      This is such a solid song.

    2. m-m

      Excellent tune

    3. Delicious Taffy

      Damn, nice choice.

  10. Goki

    ZE COMPLICATION!!!!

  11. Kyrik Michalowski

    I am confused as to what Sal is saying “Dammit” over, can anyone explain? Is it just her not putting it together who Amber was?

    1. Agemegos

      I think it’s because she has realised that she cannot walk away and put her thing with Amber behind her.

    2. Badgermole

      She’s realizing what a severe case of self-loathing Amber’s been torturing herself with, and at the core of it is what she did to Sal. That last panel Sal-face is the suckage of feeling sorry for someone who stabbed you, stalked you, picked a fight with you etc etc we know the drill.

    3. Goki

      It also could be that she had a grudge against this girl for a long while and it is always easier to see a person you hate as a one dimensional monster, but Amber has some qualities that she can identify with and even respect. It makes hating her more difficult when she is human.

      Of course, this is just speculation.

    4. Jhon

      ‘I wanted her to be a bad person, dammit.’

  12. Piotr W

    Hm. Not sure what the epiphany here is supposed to be..?

    1. Clif

      E minor. Epiphany in E minor.

  13. J

    The epiphany is that she’s realizing 1) she has more in common with Amber/AG than she previously wanted to admit, 2) Amber is in fact a good person. She’s just fucked up and traumatized. (Just like her.)

    1. goggleman64

      Yup, that’s what it seems like to me too. I wonder if Sal’s going to be able to go to sleep, or if she’ll go find Amber and have an awkward “I’m still pretty sore at you for the shit you’ve done but I guess you seem okay” conversation~

  14. Jo

    I think it’s a realization that Sal hurt innocent people.

    1. Jamie

      I don’t read that at all, personally. That realization happened in the gas station.

      1. Zero

        Sal just claimed she never hurt anybody.
        I thought she was just realizing that she actually did some damage.

        1. Needfuldoer

          This.

        2. Fart Captor

          People have been putting waaaay too much weight on the exact phrasing used by two enraged kids shouting at each other in the middle of a fist fight

          Sal knew she was hurting people. That’s why she put the knife down. It’s why when Ethan was so forgiving, she told him that it was more than she deserved. It

          What she said during the fight COULD be interpreted as suggesting Sal didn’t think she’d harmed anyone, but that doesn’t square with everything else she’s said or done

          She wasn’t saying she hadn’t done any harm. She wasn’t arguing that she shouldn’t have faced any consequences for what she did.

          Sal threatened someone with a knife and faced consequences. She’s fine with that part.

          Amber actually stabbed someone, and there were no consequences for it, at least not legal ones.

          I’m inclined to agree with Sal that it feels extremely unjust that Amber wasn’t punished at all for actually doing the thing that Sal was punished for merely threatening to do. Both of them committed crimes that day. Unfortunately it’s hard to convey that kind of nuance while someone is trying to beat you up

        3. BBCC

          Have I ever told you you’re one of my favourite people here? So often you say things I want to but don’t have the energy to.

          Have a cookie, Fart Captor.

        4. thejeff

          I suspect she was repeating something she’s been telling herself, but didn’t really believe.

          I think if she really was already fully accepting of the harm she had done, then her revelation during the fight loses much of its punch.

        5. Fart Captor

          Sal can have fully accepted responsibility for the harm she did, and still not have realized the full extent of that harm. It’s not like she knew ANYTHING about the girl that stabbed her until now.

          I don’t think that’s what she’s realizing though. I think she’s understanding why Amber did what she did. She’s reconciling her memories of the girl that stabbed her with what she’s gotten to know about Amber and Amazi-Girl now that she knows they’re all the same person and has time to think

        6. thejeff

          That’s fair.
          That comment about not hurting anyone or stealing anything still seems like a very self-serving excuse to me though.

          I do think you’re right about what’s going through her mind here, but the revelation in the fight was that back in the robbery from their point of view, she was Leland.

        7. BBCC

          Even reading it that way, it’s hardly weird to be defensive and make excuses when confronted with the person who stabbed you before, especially when you’re pissed off and probably not thinking through what you’re saying very carefully.

        8. thejeff

          Again, perfectly fair. Though “pissed off and not thinking through” often makes it more likely you’ll say what you actually think, rather than what you think you should say. But I can definitely see defensive and making more excuses than she might normally.

          It actually surprised me, because I thought she had actually come more to terms with it already than that sounded to me.

        9. BBCC

          I’ve heard that, but I don’t think it’s true. Sometimes rushed, pissed off words are a calm person’s thoughts, but sometimes they’re just rushed, pissed off words. As FC already said, it doesn’t seem to gel much with other things she’s said and done about the robbery, which is what makes me think, if anything, it’s the latter.

          She also might generally be more at terms with it than Amber, but being confronted with it (relatively) unexpectedly and finding out the person who stalked you, harassed you, and somehow was starting to make friends with you is (ostensibly anyways) the same person who stabbed you and is currently macking on your brother is definitely a good way to bring you to a bad place about it.

        10. Bob

          Sal didn’t have any legal consequences too. Sento to a private school far aways isn’t the same as doing time. She was a kid, as Amber was.

          Still… I really don’t like Sal. The memories when she was a kid didn’t help. At all.

        11. BBCC

          Yes, she did. She has a criminal record because of it. We know she was given a choice between boarding school and juvie. Not uncommon for first time offenders, especially wealthier ones, because generally states like to keep juvie numbers low. Also about a zillion (apparently quite crappy) therapists.

        12. Fart Captor

          Yeah, even if boarding school wasn’t that bad, it was a punishment, and the crime went on her record, which will show up in background checks and cause fun problems down the road

          Even ignoring that, the legal system actually treated her actions like a crime. She was cuffed, arrested, charged with a crime, and a judge ordered her punishment.

          None of that happened to Amber. As far as we know the cops only pulled her off Sal and took the knife from her. It doesn’t seem like they so much as detained her before the cops decided to let her go

          It’s actually really fucked up that they treated stabbing a defenseless suspect already in custody as not being serious enough to require ANY action. Like, even if they ended up not pressing charges, you’d think some formal process would be followed to decide that at the very least

          It seems very much like it wasn’t even treated as a crime. I’d have been mad as hell too

  15. BBCC

    Ahhh, memories are fun.

    For me. Maybe not Sal at this moment.

    If it makes you feel better, you still haven’t lost a fight? I feel like that wouldn’t help much, but other than that, I got nothing.

    1. ShinyNeen

      She’s retiring from the punching game with a perfect record! That’s… totally something that would comfort her right now! Y-yeah!

      1. BBCC

        I mean, something should before Marcie sees her face and murders her.

        1. Needfuldoer

          The cold-drink-turned-makeshift-compress got rid of the fight damage, though…

          Marcie angrily signs in between punching her: “STOP. MOPING. BE. HAPPY. FOR. ONCE. JEEZ.“

        2. BBCC

          I think it’s just too far off to see, like how we only saw bruises on Amber’s knuckles for one strip because normally her knuckles are too far to see in detail.

          Even if the bruises are gone, Marcie’s going to hear about the fight eventually.

  16. DailyBrad

    Interesting. I know I say this a lot, but it’s very often how I feel: I am very interested in seeing where this is going.

    1. Clif

      Dangerously close to side-kicking.

  17. Darkoneko

    sudden realization

  18. ShinyNeen

    “Shit, she ain’t unambiguously hateable an’ maybe ah can even sympathize with her and her stupid problems. Ah guess.”

    1. BBCC

      I hate when that happens.

    2. Needfuldoer

      If only Amber would come to the same realization.

  19. BigDogLittleCat

    Are blue shells like super destructive or something?
    Like Amber wouldn’t use them against Sal because deep down she thinks Sal is a good person, and Sal is realizing (1) she had a friend in Amber(and might not any more?) and/or (2) she should have recognized that Amber is a good person and so should not have used her “blue shells” against her?

    1. Victor Riley

      Blue shells, in Mario Kart, go straight to the person in the lead and knock them over, giving the ones behind an easy chance to catch-up or better yet, overtake them. And if you’re in the lead, the game won’t give you a Blue Shell. It’s a way to level the playing field in the middle of a race.

      I think Amber didn’t use them on her… because she was determined to defeat Sal without help of any kind. She needed to know she could do it on her own.

      Just my take, though.

      1. BigDogLittleCat

        Thanks. Literally everything I know about Mario Kart – including its existance – I’ve learned from DOA.

        1. Zero

          Your place in the race affects the items you get in Mario Kart. You get better ones–including the Blue Shell–more often if you’re doing poorly.

          They can strike other racers between you and the leader, but they only explode once they reach the leader.

          If you somehow manage to have one while you’re in first place, you can release it and have it blow up in your own face; it is not a recommended strategy.

        2. Jhon

          But you get rid of the BS, amirite?

      2. Michael

        It’s worth pointing out that blue shells aren’t very useful to the players who actually receive them. Mario Kart gives you more powerful items the further back you are in the pack, so blue shells are fairly common when you’re in, say, 7th place. But while blue shells *might* hit 6th–2nd place on their way to first, that’s only if they’re unlucky enough to be in the way. Your own placement in the race is unlikely to be terribly altered when you fire one off.

        Blue shells are essentially a giant fuck you to 1st place and a godsend for whoever’s in 2nd.

    2. Kern Wallace

      Blue shells are an item that homes in on the driver in first place, hits them and explodes. This completely kills their speed so they need to reaccelerate, making them easy to pass if you’re in the second through fourth place positions (though those drivers are also vulnerable to being collateral damage).

    3. pjeseb

      In Mario Kart, blue shells immediately go to the racer in first place and blow them up. They can’t be avoided and there’s almost nothing you can do to protect yourself from one. I could be wrong, but I think the fact that Amber refuses to use them against Sal means either 1) she feels guilty over the stabbing incident, maybe subconsciously, or 2) Amber wants to defeat Sal the “fair” way, without any outside help.

    4. Carlos Futino

      Some player consider the blue shell an “unfair” power-up because it punishes the best racer.
      Also, in Mario kart 8 there’s a way to avoid the blue shell, as long as you have the power horn.

      1. Bob

        Once you get the timing right it’s pretty easy to do with a mushroom too

  20. CrazyJ

    I don’t play Mario Kart, what do blue shells do?

    1. Meta

      Fly to whoever’s in first and smash em up. They’re notoriously difficult to escape.

      1. Meta

        fwiw I think the point of the contrast there is Amber’s guilt over not having gotten to go head to head in a fair fight against Sal — using a blue shell would be cheating, and she felt like she cheated when she used a knife on a restrained Sal as a 13 year old. (Which, I mean.)

    2. Andreas

      They are basically homing missiles that fly across the whole track and hunt the leading player down, engulfing him in a huge explosion. They are the main reason Mario Kart is more of a party game than a competitive racing game, since no amount of skill can secure you finishing first place, it will always come down to luck.

  21. newllend(henryvolt)

    Took me a moment to realize that she wanted Sal to make her a punching bag and this fight wasn’t really a serious one. In a serious street fight there is no fighting fair you’re actually really out to hurt someone and also what panel 4 and 5 tells me it’s that in the moment Amber was pretty much just saying ” don’t take it out on good people but fortunately I’m not a good person so you can take it out on me if you want.”

    1. Xccj

      This makes me want to see the two of them take up boxing or something. Then they can fight out their differences in the ring with rules and protective equipment and such. Seems like it would help them release their anger without actually seriously hurting each other.

      1. newllend(henryvolt)

        Man now I’m just imagining that screenshot of Rocky fighting Apollo Creed at the end of Rocky 3.

    2. Koms

      Oh my God.. Now I get it. She goaded Sal into a fight so that Sal would fight her, fair and square this time. Umm…this sounded better in my head.

    3. thejeff

      I don’t think so. At least not at first.
      If Amber just wanted Sal to make her a punching bag, she wouldn’t have taken Sal down as hard as she did at first nor been so happy when she did so. She did want it “fair”, but she also wanted to know she could win. (And equally as important: do so as Amber, not Amazi-Girl and still keep enough control not to keep beating on her – like she did with Blaine and Ryan, or in a different way when she stabbed Sal.)
      Once she’d done that to her own satisfaction, then she didn’t care anymore.

  22. Clif

    Never played Mario Kart. Can someone explain the significance of blue shells for me?

    1. Clif

      Never mind. Ninja’s by CrazyJ.

      1. Clif

        Damn you spell correct.

    2. Maki

      3 kinds of shells in Mario Kart, Green shells travel in a straight line directly at where you’re aiming, red shells home in on whoever is directly in front of you or behind you if you throw them backwards. Blue shells, home in directly towards first place, but also take down any players in its path on the way then make a big explosion that knocks out first place. While items in MK are provided via RNG, the RNG usually favors heavily those in the very last place. So, getting the blue shell is considered a cheap way of winning for most players because they consider it to be the computer taking pity on you, or OP bullshit.

  23. Badgermole

    I’ll break it down the way it seems to me:

    Panel 2: That weirdo girl was really hung up on not taking the advantage she’d earned…
    Panel 3: That weirdo kid in underoos seemed to imply Ah’ve lost an unfair fight…
    Panel 4: Amazi-Girl sure has a lot of pent up anger…
    Panel 5: That weirdo violent girl who stabbed me thinks … she’s bad people?

    Put it all together and Sal is realizing Amber 1) has been haunted by what she did to Sal, 2) has been trying to win “fairly” ever since because she knows she did a Bad Thing (in AG’s worldview, an unfair thing) to Sal, 3) really frigging hates herself and should be pitied for that, which 4) is pretty hard for Sally considering that weirdo girl is her stabber/stalker/random assaulter!

    All Sal wanted was to not deal with these feelings tonight.

    1. BBCC

      Yeah, well, since when does Sal get what she wants?

      1. Badgermole

        brb starting change.org petition for Sal to get what she wants for once

        1. BBCC

          Look I can only write fanfic so fast when I’m at school five days a week I AM WORKING ON IT.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          I am going to need a link, thanks 🙂

        3. BBCC

          I’ve only written one thing to do with Sal so far, but she does get two things she wants in it (to not see her parents and to hang out with Marcie and Carla so good enough) so here you go. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16287590

    2. BigDogLittleCat

      I think you and Newllend above are on the right track.

      I have been puzzled by AG’s “not a fair one” comment since she made it. She thinks “Sal lost their last go around because I stabbed her while she was being restrained.”

      Oh man, I’ve been thinking Amber was only angry at Sal- but Sal’s a reminder of what a sh!tty person she is.

      I don’t think Amber was consciously trying to provoke Sal into killing her, but that thought was probably somewhere in her head in a dark corner. She did ask Sal to “end it” after all.

    3. Victor Riley

      She did lose an unfair fight… when she was handcuffed, and got stabbed.

      To say an actual insult in that moment, it would have gone…
      “..I ain’t never lost one.”
      “Not an unfair one, you haven’t”

      Implication: She can’t win without cheating.

      But that’s not what she said… She’s never lost a fair fight? Yeah, that’s kind of a good thing, when it comes to fighting.

      1. Keulen

        Holy shit. It took me until just now to realize AG’s “not a fair fight” comment was not an insult.

  24. Keulen

    Amber and Sal are gonna run into each other again eventually and it’s gonna be really awkward.

    1. thejeff

      Not nearly so awkward as Amazi-Girl and Sal’s next run-in.

      1. BBCC

        I’ll be waiting with popcorn.

      2. MatthewTheLucky

        “Sal, are you okay? Who did this to you?”

        “Yer so damn weird.”

        1. BBCC

          “Was it those guys we were fighting last night? What happened?!”

          “Ya gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”

  25. Victor Riley

    I recently went and re-read that first Sal/Amazi-Girl encounter… and that panel always struck me weird. When Sal telling her that she’s never lost a fight… and Amber’s response of “N-Not a FAIR one, you haven’t…”

    It clearly wasn’t as much of an insult that it sounded like it was supposed to be. Because… She agrees that Sal has never lost a fair fight. Yeah, that’s a good thing… and that speaks to Sal’s ability as a fighter… and honor, because she doesn’t engage in unfair fights. When she had the others (Malaya, Marcie and Carla) restrain AmaziGirl, it was only to talk to her, not to attack her. (And when Malaya did knee her in the gut, the response was “Dammit Malaya!”… clearly she wasn’t supposed to do that) If Amber were to really insult her, she would have said, “Not an Unfair fight you haven’t…” That would clearly say to Sal that she can’t win a fight without cheating. (“You’ve never lost an UNFAIR fight…”)

    But Sal did lose an unfair fight… when she was restrained by the cops, and Amber stabbed her.

    Now, as Amber’s voice shook a little in that moment… “N-not a.. ” She seemed to know that it was going to be tough fight… but one she had to know that she could take on, and win. So, even though she won the unfair fight… she needed to win a fair fight.

    So, while that moment was a lousy comeback for AmaziGirl… it does tell me that Amber and AmaziGirl really are the same person. Because if they were truly separate people in the same body… AmaziGirl wouldn’t have had her voice shake, and wouldn’t have said such a non-threatening tagline.

    Still not sure why Amber stopped fighting, saying “I did it…” because she didn’t. She didn’t beat Sal, especially not in that moment. Unless her battle was simply about standing up to her… which there was no reason to, because Sal wasn’t there to fight (even if she did get angry when she saw Amber and recognized her).

    1. tirachokko

      agree on the not sure she’s split, but also I think Amber stopped fighting b.c she finally knocked down the monster in her memories. Less about actually winning anything, and more of a “I’m just as big and scary as you now, I have nothing left to fear!” kind of thing, which is a bit odd/funny, considering that Amber appears to have major social anxiety, and that’s never going to not be a thing most likely. Critical hit to what she perceives as part of the bedrock of her PTSD maybe?

    2. BBCC

      About the last paragraph – Either Amber means standing up to her (metaphorical victory) or she counted Sal out too quickly and thought she won (physical victory). I’m just worried that, to Amber, those two might be linked.

    3. BigDogLittleCat

      I think you’ve got it. I’ve never thought of the stabbing as a fight, so it didn’t occur to me, but if you actually engage your brain and work it out, if’s what hou suggest. The shaky voice is persuasive.
      All this time we thought AG was out to punish Sal, when she was actually out to get beat up by Sal.

      It also explains why she reacted so strongly when the crowd at the rally started rooting for her and telling her to beat up Sal. I thought it was just that she’d realized how wrong it was – mob mentality, racism, etc – but it was (also) because things were starting to not go as planned.

      Hmmmm- then how do we account for Amber’s defensive “she held a knife on Ethan”?

      Probably it was commented on at the time, but it’s significant that Sal lowered the knife from Ethan’s throat when she saw Amber’s reaction. Like, she was completely distracted, holy shit, that girl is *completely* flipping out, far worse than the kid with the knife to his throat, and maybe it dawned on you g Sal that wow, it really is shitty to hold a knife to someone’s throat.

      By the time Sal was stabbed, she’d already realized what she did was effed up.

      1. BigDogLittleCat

        Just double-checked the page: Sal pulled back when she saw Ethan’s face. Then she saw Amber and it hit her like a ton of bricks how badly she was hurting people.

      2. MatthewTheLucky

        I assumed that Amazigirl was acting on guilt when she begged Sal to hurt her.

    4. Segnosaur

      Here is a thought … Maybe amber said she”did it”in that she exercised restraint in not hurting a person who was already down

      1. thejeff

        That’s the right direction, I think.
        Think of the other times we’ve really seen Amber fight: Blaine and Ryan. In both cases she went farther than she needed to to beat them and that helped solidify her self-image as a dangerous out-of-control monster, which originated in that attack on Sal.
        Fighting Sal, who’s a serious trigger for her without flying into that kind of rage was a big internal victory for her. Being able to stop when Sal went down rather than follow through and stomp on her head or something was important.
        So was being able to beat her in a fair fight in the first place. Even if the fight wasn’t really over, it had gone far enough she was confident. And obviously, if she’d been losing from the start, she wouldn’t have had the chance to refrain from stomping the loser into the ground.

        She wasn’t necessarily out to really hurt Sal, but she also wasn’t out to get beat up by her.

    5. thejeff

      @Victor Riley: Not so much a comeback as a confession – though there was no way for Sal to know it then.

      But Amber and Amazi-Girl are definitely different personas, though they’ve got more in common then either would admit. Even now that they’ve separated far more than they were back at the time of the parking lot confrontation.
      We still see Amber echo Amazi-Girl’s line about directing anger away from good people.

  26. tirachokko

    oof.

  27. Catman

    Soooo, this is Sal relishing that Amber had decided that Sal was a good person and was directing her anger away from her and only directed it back when Sal turned hostile.

    Woopsie.

    1. stoodmuffin

      Yup.

    2. BenRG

      I think that’s a pretty good summary.

  28. foducool

    just realized amber must really suck at mario kart if it keeps giving her blue shells

    1. Owlmirror

      (Disclaimer: All I know about Mario Kart I learned from reading DoA & comments)

      Given what people are saying above, the game gives blue shells to anyone not in the lead. So all that means is that Amber wasn’t always in the lead. It could be that they kept passing each other at different intervals. Maybe? Informed responses welcomed!

      Which does make me wonder, though — when Sal wasn’t in the lead, and was therefore getting blue shells, did she use them?

      It could be that Amber kept being knocked back off from the lead by Sal, got but didn’t use blue shells, caught up and passed Sal anyway, and kept going until the next blue shell from Sal, and so on.

      Which I think makes Amber pretty damn good at Mario Kart, but what do I know?

      1. Aubrey

        Sal’s very, very good at Mario Kart, and in general you get Blue Shells when you’re on the lower end of things.

        1. stoodmuffin

          Or, Amber may just not be good when she was paying/compartmentalizing against Sal.

        2. thejeff

          But Sal said she was competitive, so she wasn’t just sucking. She was handicapping herself and still being competitive.

      2. Desraedos

        To clarify: It’s technically possible to get a blue shell even in second in most games, but it typically only really shows up in the bottom half of the racers. If Amber keeps getting them she’s probably hovering around 7th-8th place.

    2. timemonkey

      Remember, Sal likes to take shortcuts and find her own ways through the tracks, so if Amber isn’t doing that she would naturally fall behind.

      1. BBCC

        Girl banked off a moon on Rainbow Road. God only knows what she’s found in other courses to abuse.

        1. thejeff

          And yet Amber was competitive. It really didn’t read as if Sal was blowing her away.

        2. BBCC

          I don’t know if I’d say Sal was blowing her away, just that she was ahead and her doing things like banking off moons and finding shortcuts might be (partially) why.

  29. nlips

    I get the epiphany, but I don’t get how the blue shells memory is a part of it. That panel seems out of place to me.

    1. Desraedos

      She’d rather lose fairly than take the OP bullshit path to victory.

    2. Lexi

      Blue shells tend to feel unfair and busted. You only get them when you’re in last place, they only target the player in first, and I’m pretty sure they can’t miss, so basically it’s a “screw you, person in the lead, if I can’t win, I’M TAKING YOU DOWN TOO!!”

      So I think Amber choosing not to use a blue shell has to do with a serious obsession with “fair play,” and that’s what Sal is considering, is how even in Mario Kart, she needs to feel like everything is fair.

      1. Sunny

        At least on the WiiU there’s one option to defend against blue shells if you get one of those boxes that release a shockwave. You can use it to shoot down the blue shell while it’s doing it’s first circle of you if you time it well. Don’t know if the same is true for the DS.

  30. abysswatcher1993

    I have realized the red memories are biased and filled with rage, but the blue memories are clear and empathetic. Sal is realizing Amber is as scared as she. They both have fucked up and feel they don’t deserve forgiveness, nor happiness.

    1. stoodmuffin

      Yup.

      And they’re tied to each other in those feelings, more than ever.

      Which makes it even more complex.

    2. BBCC

      I don’t think that’s quite it – red memories are anxiety and PTSD filled. Which can often be filled with rage and missing bits and pieces, but I don’t think they’re inherently biased. I don’t think we’re going to get a revelation that, for example, Marcie screaming when Leland attacked her and she lost her voice, was really a distorted memory as opposed to something Sal’s got some PTSD/anxiety over.

  31. Cyranose

    I think Sal is realizing Amber LET her win.

  32. Hazel

    I love Sal.

    1. BBCC

      Same.

      1. Badgermole

        Yes.

  33. vlademir1

    So, there is a lot of discussion of the relevance of the blue shell in Mario Kart going on tonight because of how it fits into both Amber’s behavior and how Sal is considering that behavior in this context. A few years ago Extra Credits did a very good vid about the blue shell and how it fits into the design of Mario Kart that I feel adds a lot of nuance to both Amber and Sal as we consider them here.

    Panel 1 and panel 6 make it clear this isn’t Sal consciously contextualizing but rather her subconscious dumping the realization on her conscious mind now that she’s cooled off enough emotionally to consciously process it. She hasn’t even slightly shifted position, so I expect maybe 20 to 30 seconds max have elapsed.
    Panel 2 is the above mentioned blue shell context.

  34. stoodmuffin

    Damn it sums it up good, Sal.

    This has been a metric fuck ton for both of you.

    But it’s there now. You both have bruises to prove it.

    So.

    What now?

    1. stoodmuffin

      So this further connects threads of Danny, Ethan, Walky, Amaze Girl, and I think Dorothy into this too, right?

      Danny slightly crushing on Ethan, friends with Sal, exes of both amaze girl and Amber.

      Walky, obviously a twin, but dating Amber (is it clear that Amaze girl is in on it too, or?)

      Ethan, cause past and recent events.

      Dorothy, cause of Amber saving her life, and Amaze girl and Sal’s team up.

      Anyone I’m missing that’s impacted outside of Potentailly Marcie and crew? So, Carla and Malaya?

      1. stoodmuffin

        Mike is involved with Ethan and Amber, but I don’t know how tied he is to all of this yet. Though he is also indirectly connected with a few players in this drama.

  35. BenRG

    I think that Sal is slowly coming to realise that Amber and Amazi-Girl are not people to whom you can easily dismiss as being in the wrong. That isn’t something that’s welcome to her.

    I think that panel 3 is also emphasising to Sal that Amber has always been scared of her.

    1. Emily

      Amber/Amazi-girl is unequivocally in the wrong because trauma does not absolve wrongdoing. Wow, that wasn’t hard at all!

      1. BenRG

        Considering every civilised legal system allows mitigation on the grounds of mental or emotional imbalance at the time of the incident, I would suggest that you are essentially wrong in every way.

        1. Emily

          Yeah, sorry appealing to the legal system as a moral authority ain’t gonna go very far with me. Also, even so people aren’t just absolved of responsibility for crimes on those grounds and they still face consequences for them and those crimes are still viewed as crimes. Plus the legal system is super inconsistent in its treatment of the mentally ill and if you’re not white you’re as likely to get shot as you are to get leniency.

        2. Fart Captor

          I love Amber to death, but Emily is correct. The circumstances make Amber much more sympathetic and her actions easier to forgive, but she was still very much in the wrong, repeatedly

          She can still be a good/better person, and maybe Sal can sympathize with her or even forgive her, but that doesn’t change the past or mean she wasn’t responsible for the harm she did

          She can be redeemed without pretending she never did wrong

        3. thejeff

          But we can also accept that she’s done wrong without writing her off as a monster, which seems to be a common take. And has been for a long time.

          I think some people won’t accept the redemption when it eventually happens.

          Of course, I may overestimate the fanbase: back when she was really taking a beating in the comments during the near fight with Sal at the rally, opinion swung a 180 degrees as soon as she saw Ryan and turned on him instead. (Not all the same people of course)

        4. Fart Captor

          People don’t HAVE to accept her redemption though. Amber HAS done some shitty things. Not everyone is willing to forgive her for that with or without her explicitly working to make things right, and they don’t have to be

          Amber was in the wrong fighting Sal (tho again, so was Sal), and even more wrong stalking her when she stabbed her. I love Amber and think she’s a good person when It comes down to it, but I still feel that it’s wrong to downplay the fact that she done bad things and is responsible for having done them just you forgive her

          I hate that so often people can’t seem to accept BOTH that someone is a decent person AND that they have fucked up and done something bad. Either the person has to be 100% evil, or the harm they did “wasn’t really THAT bad”, and that sort of binary perspective constantly fucks people over in both directions

          Both morality and people are more complicated than that.

        5. thejeff

          Agreed.
          Especially on that last part.

          I’m not really that big on “redemption”, even in fiction. Redemption has weird religious overtones that don’t do much for me. I believe in change and growth and healing. You don’t always get to make up for bad things you’ve done. Do better anyway.

          Sometimes the comments just frustrate me.

      2. Goki

        The funny thing about your statement, it could also be applied to Sal, giving them more uncommon,

        1. Emily

          Except Sal actually learned from her actions and is trying to be better and make amends. Unless you’re referring to the fight just now which honestly, I’m not inclined to view getting in a fight with the person who crippled you and then showed up 5 years later to stalk and harass you before insinuating themselves into your life under false pretenses as much of a wrongdoing.

        2. TemperaryObsessor

          Wait does trama caused by the person A absolve wrongdoing to person A or not?

        3. Emily

          Amber’s slights against Sal didn’t end with that incident though they are an ongoing issue in her life. Like, Sal has done fuck all to Amber since the robbery but Amber has been a pretty consistently negative influence in her life since reentering it.

        4. Vukodlak

          She learned from her actions? That’s why decided to fight Amber rather then work things out like she did with Ethan?.
          If Leland and shown up at this college I’d wager Sal would not be in a forgiving mood and would stalk and harass him possibly even asking AG for help.

        5. Goki

          Nicely said Vukodalk.

        6. BBCC

          A) That fight was based on a lot more than the robbery itself – learning the connection compounded a lot of issues she’d been having with Amber/AG already. Also, Amber agreed to fight too.

          B) Not forgiving I’ll buy. Stalking, harassing and asking AG for help doing so? I call bullshit.

        7. Emily

          Oh right, I forgot about how Sal crippled Ethan. Oh wait no Sal was the one who got crippled.

        8. Fart Captor

          Yeah, so? Sal was ALSO in the wrong for trying to rob that store and taking Ethan hostage. That she was so desperate because she wanted to help Marcie makes her sympathetic, not innocent of wrongdoing.

          And neither of them was in the right when they started punching each other

          One person being in the wrong doesn’t necessarily mean the other is right.

        9. BBCC

          I believe Emily was explaining why she’s still sympathetic with Sal, as opposed to Amber.

        10. Fart Captor

          I was replying to Goki

        11. BBCC

          Ohhhhh, I see.

  36. Somebro

    Wait, how did Sal know she played Amazi-Girl or Amber on Mario Kart?

    1. BenRG

      She didn’t before just now.

    2. thejeff

      Because she saw Amber while they were playing. Amber stuck her head out of the chairfort when Danny showed up.

    3. Amazi-Stool

      Link in that comment leads to the comic where Amber invited Sal in person to that game.

  37. Zaxares

    Why wouldn’t Amber want to use blue shells? The game basically only gives them to you when you’re in last place. They’re a pain in the rear, but there ARE ways to avoid it if you’re an experienced player and know the tricks.

    1. BenRG

      Because Amber/Amazi-Girl has this rigid sense of morality that interprets that as ‘cheating’ and therefore she won’t use it, no matter how useful it is to her. She will win by skill and honest effort or not at all.

      Yeah, a thousand years ago, she’d by trying to be a paladin!

      1. Zaxares

        Yeah, I guess I can see where she’s coming from. I just disagree though. XD Thinking that blue shells are cheating feels a bit like the people in Counter-strike complaining about the “noob cannon” guns. Sure, they’re easier to get kills with, but that’s the whole point, so that newcomers to the game don’t feel like they’re SO far behind in terms of usefulness that they may as well not even try.

  38. Emily

    The more this arc expects me to still be sympathetic towards Amber after all the shit she’s pulled the more annoying it gets.

    1. BenRG

      Maybe you should take this as proof that your interpretation of the character is wrong somehow?

      1. Emily

        Why? Writers aren’t the infallible arbiters of morality and are in fact perfectly capable of being wrong or having stances that I do not agree with.

        1. BenRG

          But they’ll still write in their way, which means that Amber’s portrayal will continue to be different from what you think is ‘right’ and be a constant source of frustration to you.

          It’s my personal philosophy that you must view a fictional universe through the writer’s eyes. If you don’t, you’ll always fail to fully understand why they think something happens the way it does. Even if it isn’t how you think that it is how the real universe works, it is still how their universe works.

        2. thejeff

          If it’s too far off, the usual solution to the frustration is to stop reading.

          Of course, if it’s only some aspects that are annoying and you like others it might still be worth sticking around.

        3. Emily

          Like usually Willis’ aesops are pretty much in tune with my own morals it’s mostly just this one plot line that’s dissonant with them.

        4. Emily

          Nah. That’s a bad philosophy because that just absolves writers to portray whatever warped view of reality (not that that characterizes Willis, I’m just taking this to it’s logical end) they hold without critique. “There’s nothing wrong with portraying a minority group as monstrous because it’s how their universe works.”

          Also: A) Don’t characterize my disagreement with narrative with a lack of understanding of it.
          B)You don’t always have to fully understand an author’s viewpoint to tell that it’s bullshit anyways. I don’t have to delve deep into Ben Shapiro’s perspective to know his views are to be dismissed out of hand.

        5. BenRG

          Well, as Jeff suggested, there’s always stopping reading DoA if Willis’s portrayal of Amber distresses you so much! Here’s a clue: It isn’t going to change.

        6. Emily

          You’re acting like I’m having some wildly negative reaction when I literally just said that I found this arc annoying.

        7. Goki

          I don’t know…. she seems to be for you, what Dorothy is to me.

        8. Emily

          Ew, don’t compare my misgivings about the actual threat Amber poses to the safety of the people around with your irrational vendetta against Dorothy. Like, Amber has committed violent assaults, forged Walky’s grades against his wishes, kept critical information from Walky, stalked and harassed Sal, and even if you believe Amber is not directly responsible for Amazi-girl’s actions she’s made no meaningful effort to hamper her activities or get treatment or address or take responsibility for her issues at all.

        9. StClair

          “My dislike is justified misgivings, yours is an irrational vendetta.”

        10. BBCC

          Emily’s stated her reasons for not liking Amber several times and they’re pretty consistent about them (Amber not telling Walky about her history with Sal, Amber changing Walky’s grades against his wishes, Amber not doing anything to mitigate the harm AG does, Amber stalking and harassing Sal, and Amber being a violent vigilante). Goki’s reasons for not liking Dorothy are all over the place and nothing Dorothy does ever seems to change things. Like, you can disagree with Emily about Amber all you want (I do, in places) but let’s not pretend she’s anywhere near that irrational.

        11. Inahc

          Yeah… I’m gonna side with bbcc here. Irrationality is not really an Emily thing.

    2. Lauralot

      You have a stunning lack of any level of sympathy for a severely traumatized abuse victim who was actively directed away from therapy and told to channel all her negative feelings into violence.

      Amber’s not right. But her story’s a tragedy, as is Sal’s. They’re both meant to be sympathetic.

      1. Emily

        “Meant to be” being the operative term here. Trauma and mental illness are not a get out of responsibility for your actions free card.

        1. Lauralot

          Nor did I say they were. You do realize that it’s possible to feel for a person and realize their issues play into their behavior without saying that behavior’s okay, right? Because I’m genuinely unsure if you do.

        2. Emily

          I know this but I feel Amber’s behaviour has gotten bad enough that my sympathy for her circumstances is outweighed by my disdain for her choices and actions.

        3. Goki

          Saved by the mods ;). Too bad, I was looking forward to debating this topic with you.

        4. BBCC

          What do you mean saved by the mods? Did Emily get blocked?

        5. David M Willis

          Emily is absolutely not blocked.

        6. BBCC

          Okay, good, I didn’t think it sounded like something you’d do, I was just confused by ‘saved by the mods’.

        7. Emily

          Defs not blocked and equally confused.

        8. thejeff

          Were there posts deleted?
          I thought I remembered something else, but looking at the timestamps, I wouldn’t have read anything between your last and “saved by the mods”.

        9. David M Willis

          I haven’t touched today’s comments page.

        10. BBCC

          So we’re dealing with either some other, ghostly mod or we’re completely misunderstanding what is meant by mods.

          Well, gang, looks like we’ve got a mystery on our hands.

        11. Emily

          Quick guys to the Mystery Machine

    3. BBCC

      I’m sure that your problems with Amber will be brought to bear. There’s no way Walky doesn’t find out about this, find out about the grades, that Amber continues to be AG without treatment or that Amber and Sal don’t eventually come to terms (even if those terms are ‘we stay the fuck away from each other as much as we can and bail asap on the times we’re forced in the same room’). It’s going to take a while though and I get that’s frustrating. I’m in the same boat with Joyce and her boundary issues. I know it’ll get addressed but until then it’s maddening to me.

      1. JBento

        I think Joyce’s utter lack of boundaries are my current biggest pet peeve with the characters’ status quo, to the point where my biggest “Damn you, Willis” so far was the sort of bait and switch he pulled at the end of the “Joyce takes Fuckface” episode.

        1. BBCC

          It’s certainly the thing that gets most under my skin. Like, I can get it if it’s an emergency, but most of Joyce’s stuff is…well, not.

    4. mackabre

      Agreed. I still sympathize with the fact that Amber has been through a lot and it’s taken a toll on her but this strip makes it seem like Sal is gonna regret being angry at her and I don’t really jive with that. (it’s fine if she wants to regret getting into that fight but not this)

  39. JBento

    I’m not sure I’m grasping the significance of the last three panels. Best I’m coming up with is that Sal’s realising that directing her anger away from good people was exactly what she DIDN’T do when she held a knife to Ethan’s throat?

    1. Amazi-Stool

      Amber/Amazi-Girl is essentially saying: Direct your violence at me, cause I’m bad people! (But will fight fairly).

      1. thejeff

        Amber might be.
        Amazi-Girl is saying “I direct my anger at criminals and dude-bros like these.”

  40. Reltzik

    Reference links!

    Panel 2
    Panel 3
    Panel 4
    Panel 5

    Cue spam filter in 3… 2…

  41. LooksLikeDaniel

    I may just be a bit dense today, but I’m not sure I understand what’s happening in this strip.

    Would someone be so kind as to explain?

    1. Deanatay

      Sal may be coming to the conclusion that she was the aggressor in this fight. That her opponent, despite being a crazed psycho who stabbed her in the hand, was actually trying to do right and be honorable. While Sal attacked out of anger, went into a battle rage, and almost strangled her opponent. I think that’s a ‘dammit’ of remorse, reluctantly.

  42. Deanatay

    Fuckface is still lurking off-camera, wondering why no one’s paying attention to him.

    I mean, he’s clearly the main character in this arc, right?

  43. Pablo360

    In the Abridged version they change her motivations so she realizes this because Amber is the only one who makes sas many movie references as she does.

    1. TemperaryObsessor

      When you make a mistake because your tired don’t look into a solution until you’ve had some rest.
      Also if there is no good solution talk about your problems with someone else and soon its possible your missing something obvious.

  44. Poofdepoof

    Only just noticed that Sal repeated Amazi-Girl’s monologue verbatim at her… And Amber finished it the same way… But AG was no longer sharing memories with Amber at this point?

    1. thejeff

      A sign that though they’re more separated, they still think much alike. It’s probably something that Amber and Amazi-Girl have been telling themselves for years.

  45. Badgermole

    Here’s what I’m coming round to understanding. Because of her history of abuse and trauma, Amber has a lot of repressed rage that wants to come out as violence. The really dicey question is where does the mental illness end and the person begin? No I don’t think Amber gets a pass for hurting others. But I think she’s painfully aware that on some level she is a deeply violent person and she doesn’t know how to deal with that except by playing “fair” as per Amazi-Girl’s arbitrary code and only beating up people who “deserve” it. I can sympathize with the sense of horror there must be in knowing that you’re dangerous to others, that deep down you like inflicting violence. The only analog I can think of is pedophiles who work hard to not act on their impulses but have to live with the shame of knowing what they are. Amber would be less miserable imo if she actually were a sociopath and didn’t know or care that she’s a “monster”. I like Sal more as a (fictional) person but that’s irrelevant to how well written Amber as a character is. Congratulations Willis, for successfully provoking this kind of discomfort within a daily comic strip medium.

  46. Axel

    I know it’s not the point but I keep getting distracted by the fact that Amber’s apparently nit great at mario kart (I’d say ‘or Sal’s REALLY good’ but for blue shells she’s gotta be behind a good number of others as well)

    1. Inahc

      Could they be playing a 2-player game, where first and last place would be the only options?

      1. thejeff

        That’s what I’d assumed. I’m not familiar with mario kart, so maybe I’m making assumptions, but Amber specifically suggested playing. Without talking or anything, so I assumed they could play together because they were near each other.

        I also assumed that since Sal said she was “competitive”, that she was providing a challenge despite not using the blue shells.

      2. Axel

        I didn’t know you could play 2-player, but I also haven’t played any recent editions, so yeah maybe

  47. Lexi

    Shit, I just had a realization about this comic. About Amber in general. She didn’t want to beat Sal. She maybe didn’t even want to lose to Sal. That’s not what this was about. She just wanted a FAIR FIGHT, because she realized that the first time she fought her was not fair, and that has been eating her up.

    So when she pushes away Ethan and herself into the frame, she’s saying “I’m not a good person. You have anger. Direct it at me.” When she says “I did it” it’s because she’s finally started the fair fight.

    Win, lose, it’s mostly the same. Maybe a slight preference towards win, but if she loses? Well, Sal got what she deserved too, in Amber’s mind. A fair victory.

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