230

Exchange
Posted on February 16, 2024 by David M Willis

230 thoughts on “Exchange”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    One day, Carla will learn that other people exist and have priorities that are not Carla, and her world will be SHATTERED

    …she will then rebuild it in Her own image like the motherfuckin’ goddess she is

    1. Jo_cubstar

      100%

    2. Proxiehunter

      I’m pretty sure she’s away Charlie exists it’s just the fact that Charlie has priorities that aren’t Carla that she has a problem with.

      1. Jamie

        Which shattered her world and Carla is currently rebuilding it in her own image. I thought that was pretty clear.

    3. anon

      lol given charlie’s ‘delayed’ reactions i wonder if booster would still have to interfere so it’s not “let’s hang out today” and then charlie accidentally making carla wait all day again lol

      1. Needfuldoer

        “Of course you realize, this means war.”

      2. Circeus

        I’m fairly sure Booster would consider that a good outcome, in fact.

    4. nicoleandmaggie

      One day Booster will learn that they can’t fix people?

  2. TheLurkerAbove

    Booster laying the smackdown, which in this case, is definitely deserved.

  3. Sirksome

    So they admit they’re placing hoops! Time to cut out the middle non binary if you ask me!

    1. Thag Simmons

      This was always allowed

    2. Proxiehunter

      If she knew how to find Charlie and get her attention she would have done that already.

      1. shanunu

        She knows they have class together. It seems to me more like Carla wants Booster’s interdiction because her direct methods seemed to yeild no results (and she just didnt realize she wasn’t patient enough to see them through)

    3. Bootshivers

      If someone was coming out of the blue and demanding a right to my siblings’ time and attention without actually giving them the respect of a mature and direct conversation and trying to employ me as a proxy, you had better believe there would be a whole American Gladiator course laid out for them.

      And I’d tell my siblings about it in the meantime, because the collective vibe check is needed for these occasions.

      1. Sirksome

        Or you could just say no. Booster’s has no obligation to help Carla but the placing of hoops is a sort of catfishing if they never plan on helping. Especially since this has been mutually frustrating for both of them I have no idea why Booster doesn’t just cut the line instead of torturing them both.

        1. Wereg

          But Booster does plan on helping… When Carla is ready to deal have any consideration for Booster’s existence. I don’t really agree with how Booster’s gone about things, but they’re not entirely unwilling to help. They just want to help when Carla’s being honest, respectful, and not completely self-absorbed about it all.

          They’re also all like 18-19 so everyone going about things in a dumb way is the name of the game.

        2. marcus erronius

          Also the name of the comic.

        3. Thulcandran

          That’s not catfishing. Catfishing is specifically putting up a false digital profile/pictures/etc in order to trick someone into trying to date the fake/created profile. Whatever you could call the trolling Booster is doing here (baffling, for one), it’s explicitly not catfishing.

        4. Taffy

          What’s it matter?

        5. Daibhid C

          Well, that’s a hedgehog.

        6. Taffy

          Is this some kind of regional slang?

        7. Mark

          Perhaps an illustration that using a word unrelated to the seemingly intended meaning is confusing?

        8. Pergola

          Someone only speaks English.

        9. clif

          Me, me!

          Maybe Carla but also me.

  4. shrub

    Well done Booster, nothing cutesy, no being nice, just straight up telling Carla how it is

    Good stuff

    1. pope suburban

      Yeah, Booster has raised my eyebrow a couple of times, but they are handling this perfectly.

    2. anon

      i half expect the next panel to literally be booster joining his sister at a table lol

      1. Taffy

        Close enough

      2. Imogen

        (*their)

    3. Needfuldoer

      Yup! This is the best way to handle Carla, direct and blunt. If you give her an inch she’ll take a mile.

      (Or to our readers who don’t use freedom measurements, you give her 2.54 centimeters and she’ll take 1.60934 kilometers.)

  5. DailyBrad

    I can never fully tell when Carla is doing a bit and when she’s being serious.

    And I do think it’s sometimes just doing a bit, because we’ve seen her be considerably realer with Ruth. We know she’s fully capable of it.

    1. Nono

      I think she lets her guard down more around Ruth, but I don’t think it’s a deliberate bit.

      A deliberate bit is more Becky’s style.

      1. DailyBrad

        I kind of think in this case, some of it is disdain. Booster’s not exactly given Carla a lot of reason to like them, even if they are their hopeful line to Charlie.

        Ruth, she likes, probably in part because she has known her for a while, being a second year or third year, I forget which, so Ruth is someone she knew already, and who has known her and, barring Mary’s blackmail saga, has unflinchingly supported her.

    2. HueSatLight

      I think she forgets to not do it.

      Carla and Lucy casually hanging out seems not to have lasted to this semester. Probably for narrative reasons, but it they were both less obnoxious before. That might have been the narrative reason, actually.

      1. Nymph

        Honestly, it kind of feels like everyone’s negative personality traits got turned up to eleven this semester. I really hope we see some kind of arc and resolution to some of this soon.

        1. Bryy

          I think that could be due to either the comic speeding up in terms of storytelling or trauma from last semester finally catching up.

    3. Daibhid C

      At this point, I’m not sure Carla is always sure either.

    4. thejeff

      It’s not “doing a bit”. She’s not joking or anything like that. It’s her defense mechanism. Sometimes, like a few of those times with Ruth, she lets the armor drop.

    5. Xujhan

      I also can’t tell when Watsonian Carla is doing a bit in-universe and when Doylist Carla is doing a bit because she’s in a comic.

  6. DarkoNeko

    …someone had to say it

  7. Moon

    damn let them eat their fries

    1. The Oracle

      That’s a cup.

      1. Exarch

        There are fries next to the cup

        1. Mark

          There’s at least one chain in Indiana that serves fries in a paper drink cup. Dunno if they have a presence at IUB though.

        2. Mark

          Aaand now I see the fry carton next to the cup. Nevermind.

  8. Nono

    Also important for friendships! They can’t just be friends only when it’s convenient for you (or them).

    1. DailyBrad

      Has Booster really done, like, anything to be considered a friend? I don’t think Carla’s pretending they are friends, and obviously Booster isn’t, but so far, Carla wants something, and Booster wants to fuck with her for funsies and then it gets old and they realize Carla still hasn’t given up on the idea.

      1. anonymsly

        Carla wants to be friends or friends-plus with Charlie but has seemingly zero ability to consider or value anyone but herself as well as no capacity understand that ‘care for other’ is the bedrock of friends/friends-plus. Booster isn’t sure they want to make their sister deal with it, so while they may be having fun with this – maybe not so much at this exact moment since Carla seems to be demanding ‘throw away your lunch and do my thing’ the fun is not the point.

        The point is protecting their twin, who they love very much, from an entitled narcissistic condescending jerk by taking said jerk on personally.

  9. Poskie

    It is honestly kind of incredible that anyone could manage to be like this for longer than a few minutes at a time. Like, Carla’s persona is funny for a little bit, but if I were interacting with her over the long term, I’d be in a constant state of waiting for the act to drop… but it just never seems to.

    1. Bryy

      As Booster noted earlier, her life until college life was VASTLY different due to her family’s wealth. Imagine going from coming home every day to your mansion to having to live on your own for the first time with someone else in a cramped dorm room in a college that has tried to literally murder children on more than one occasion.

      1. Zero

        Carla has a single room.

  10. HueSatLight

    I don’t like that hat.

    1. hausu

      It does kind of make her look like she’s going to hide in Speed Racer’s trunk.

    2. BarerMender

      It’s better than that weird cowboy hat.

    3. HueSatLight

      It’s too big, like she has all her hair wrapped up and under it, but obviously she doesn’t.

      1. Taffy

        Do you not leave room at the top of your beanie?

        1. HueSatLight

          Not if I’m not hiding a little bird up there.

        2. Taffy

          Of course, a little bird. I definitely understand why you would say that about a beanie.

    4. David DeLaney

      TRANS WALDO WANTS HER HAT BACK

      –Dave, WHERE IS IT

  11. Just an Armadillo

    Very good. Carla is always deserving of some minor form of comeuppance. Unless she is interacting with Mary, at which point she becomes a flawless being.

  12. Agemegos

    I wonder whether Booster has asked Charlie whether she wants them to arrange a meeting with Carla.

    1. Sirksome

      That would imply Charlie at least knows Carla exists which is the problem.

    2. DailyBrad

      I honestly think the chances of that are virtually zero. She seems pretty oblivious in general, and I sort of get the feeling that Booster wouldn’t put in the effort if they already dislike the idea on principle.

    3. Jamie

      How much time has actually passed since Carla made her intentions known?

      1. Taffy

        A few days.

  13. Doc Harleen

    Booster is right, good for them. I like Carla but she could stand to work on herself.

  14. egon

    god she’s awful

  15. Matty

    Carla as a character concept with their absolutely ridiculous amount of conceitedness was more endearing when they were a talking car.

    1. DailyBrad

      I don’t know I entirely agree. Some of what she did to Malaya (yes, that Malaya) in Shortpacked was like, nearing reprehensible levels of tactless and unkind. She, thankfully, got with the program, but even Malaya deserved better than she was getting for a bit there.

      Carla’s obnoxious, but she’s really not *done* anything to people especially often. I don’t even really count the pie thing, Walky and Booster both humiliated her, so it was cartoonish, sure, but not unprovoked. And Mary’s Mary, so yeah, obviously brought that on herself.

    2. Zach

      For an insecure teen immune to consequences thanks to her wealth?
      Faux conceit is a common enough trams response. She’s only a little unbelievable for me.

    3. Wraithy2773

      I think its more that the tone of Shortpacked was a good deal more wacky and lighthearted than DoA is, and the storylines were a lot shorter. Carla’s antics in Shortpacked tended to last a couple strips at most, but in DoA, things just take longer to happen, and the charm of Carla’s self-centered-ness wears off real fast.

  16. butting

    “If there’s anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot right now” — Zaphod Beeblebrox

    *counts Carla’s heads, just to be sure*

    1. StClair

      I’ve had that thought/comparison/quote in mind before, yes.

  17. Suet

    The ostentatiousness of Carla Rutten strikes again!

    She still hasn’t done the second condition?

    1. DailyBrad

      Thinking about it, I was sort of (at the time) feeling that Booster was trying to embarrass her, and indeed, we’ve seen they are not above that, of course.

      But, I think that, taking it into account with the “patience” bit, I kind of wonder if people have hurt Charlie in the past by being wishy-washy and unclear in what they want from her, that they can’t just make it known what it is that they are after. If that’s the case, then yeah, I can understand Booster’s reservations, even if I think they could, themselves, stand to be a bit more transparent in this respect.

      1. anonymsly

        I don’t know – if I were Booster having witnessed all of Carla for the past day and a half or however long it’s been, I’d be worried thta showing Carla the goalposts would only get her to fake it long enough to get what she wants and then Charlie would just be up a creek.

        What Booster wants, I think, is proof that Carla actually WILL consider Charlie and take due care in what is at least a one-sidedly romantic relationship, and that’s exactly what they’re not getting. Every aspect of every interaction Carla has with them or in their presence is entirely CARLA CARLA CARLA ME ME ME: less than zero actual interest in others.

        If Carla showed Booster the person who made Joyce shower shoes or the person who quite genuinely tried to look after Ruth when asked, I think Booster would have fewer reservations about introducing her into Charlie’s orbit.

        1. Bash

          Absolutely. You put it very well.

  18. VolticEXE

    This is refreshing to see bc while I enjoy Carla’s antics & what she does to Mary, I haven’t been able to enjoy her as a CHARACTER for some time.

  19. Kyrik Michalowski

    It is a good thing that Carla is a comic character, and not a real person because she would be annoying as hell in real life. As a comic character though? Brilliant. Not as amazing as Sal, but then again who is?

    1. clif

      Amazigirl. It’s right in the title.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        You make an excellent point; how could I have been so foolish?

  20. RassilonTDavros

    If a tree falls in the woods, and Carla isn’t there to hear it, does it make a sound?

  21. Mr. Random

    I mean, it’s just lunch.
    I’d want to see this trainwreck in person as soon as possible.

    1. Bash

      It sort of seems like Carla expects Booster to go right this second, without eating. She didn’t say “after lunch” or anything like that. I’d be annoyed too.

      1. Taffy

        She was in the bathroom and it was a little bit of it and it was a little chilly and the same thing is going to be in the back.

        1. David DeLaney

          … did an AI write this

        2. Bash

          Has anyone ever been so far…

  22. tim gueguen

    Ego, thy name is Carla.

  23. Yotomoe

    I get the argument that Carla may be affecting her high opinion of herself as a coping mechanism. But like…if you’re putting on an act that causes you to act like a condescending asshole to everyone all the time. Then Congrats. You’re actually just a condescending asshole.

    1. Vukodlak

      Until Booster stops stringing Carla along and tells her NO. They does not have the moral high ground.
      Booster is taking joy from messing with Carla. If they wasn’t Booster would either make the introduction so Carla will stop bugging them. Or tell her no.

      1. Jamie

        I don’t think the elevation of Booster’s moral ground has any bearing on what Yoto’s saying.

        1. Vukodlak

          Carla’s being an ass sure, but Booster has the power to stop this at any point by not simply telling Carla NO or just making the introduction. Booster won’t I believe because they enjoys stringing Carla along. Or Booster is terrified Carla and Charlie will get along and doesn’t want them to become a couple.

        2. Daibhid C

          “Booster has the power to stop this at any point by not simply telling Carla NO”

          You mean like they did right at the start? And then Carla gave up and went away and this whole storyline never happened? If anything, Booster has become more open to actually introducing them as the story’s progressed.

      2. Taffy

        They have to be in there for the next few hours and then we can talk about it

      3. zee

        As they should, it’s hilarious

    2. anon

      “fake it til you make it” i’m sure carla’s been unnecessarily rude but dunno if she can be genuinely nice to charlie or like go on a date unsupervised without being snarky even if she’s not intentionally hurtful tho we don’t know how easily charlie gets offended, maybe she’ll be amused by her attitude (tho while you shouldn’t insult your partners unless it’s a back and forth or inside joke, i don’t think ti’d work out in the long run if carla’s changing herself for the sake of another person even if it’s supposedly ‘for the better’)

    3. Bash

      She can be a sympathetic character (to the audience) but still an asshole. In real life it would be incredibly unfair to make excuses for Carla’s behavior. People interact with fiction differently, when they don’t have to actually deal with the characters. Motivation and backstory can be more interesting than analyzing someone’s actions.

    4. anonymsly

      This, completely, and this is the point which I personally think Carla is missing. She thinks that the quality people will see through her shield/act while the people she needs to defend against bounce off, but the reality is most people are going to bounce off whether she needs to defend against them or not.

      She doesn’t even need to tone down that much to reassure Booster, I think. Be the Carla that made shower shoes or the Carla that intervened in a suicide attempt even if it was rude. That Carla, showing actual care for and consideration of others, is what Booster’s asking for.

  24. sdrainbow

    Panel 2: genuinely funny bit
    panel 3: wait, is she serious
    panel 4: there’s…she can’t really be?
    panel 5: THIS IS EITHER HUMORCEPTION OR YOU’RE AWFUL

  25. BBCC

    This must be about the mythical non-Carla things that are alleged to exist.

  26. HueSatLight

    I hope this ends up more than just “Carla learns a lesson she applies when she sees Charlie in class Tuesday”. Like what’s up with Booster? They’re not just a wise enby dispensing help. I want to see someone get to know them as more than just an aid or means. Do they have a project they’re working on? Problem they can’t figure out? Just a sympathetic ear? Carla can be better than she’s acting.

    1. HueSatLight

      do they just need* a sympathetic ear?

    2. anon

      well they also get to observe carla’s antics up close. and while maybe ethically ambiguous maybe they’ll write a paper on her behavior or so as a case study lol

      1. David DeLaney

        Carla is worth a DISSERTATION, I tell you

        –Dave, but Booster can never tell her, because she’d enjoy it WAY too much and simultaneously accept it as only her due, after all

  27. Reltzik

    … I mean, Carla and Booster convened in the same spot at the same time. Doesn’t that make this a moment of convenience for them both?

    1. Jamie

      By this logic, you should always marry your stalker.

      1. Reltzik

        Because… stalking… poaching or hunting prey… no, I’m not getting the wordplay.

        1. David DeLaney

          perhaps the eggs were poached at breakfast
          but no, I don’t think it was wordplay

    2. anon

      tbf even without booster being there to mediate between them, charlie and carla do have a class together under leslie, so more opportunities for her to talk, if a bit public or so

      or i guess she could use that to “if you dont help me i’ll just pester her with my unfiltered personality all during class” (tho i’m not sure if it’d rly affect her studies either way lol)

    3. Bash

      If you want someone’s help with something and you bump into them, the polite thing is to ask if this is a good time. And I’m not fully convinced that this was a coincidental meeting, either.

  28. anon

    at this point she’s gonna have to spend 5 hours with boosters to get 5 minutes of time with charlie, not counting the long pause lol

    also get well soon!

  29. DashWallkick

    Carla is an ancillary character so I’m curious if we get to find out if she’s putting on some kind of act, or if she really is this much of an absorbed spoiled rich kid. Queer or no her self-absorbed routine doesn’t actually work for relationships.

    1. 0kami

      I echo this sentiment. Carla’s popularity remains a mystery to me, with how self-conceited she constantly seems to be.

      1. Jeremiah

        Because we find it funny and her design is cool. That’s really it.

        1. Schpoonman

          Carla has historically shown that whenever a situation is serious she’s not actually this self-absorbed. When Ruth was spiralling she immediately got Jennifer, no “But how does this impact me?” I think she also showed up when the gang was kidnapped.

          If I had to (make a probably extremely inaccurate) guess, this will be a storyline where Carla learns to rein the act in.l

        2. HueSatLight

          I suspect her act has been exaggerated for the storyline. Even in less serious situations, it was a flimsier pretense than this.
          We don’t see the characters at every moment, or all their interactions. So we don’t have to deal with their annoying habits non-stop, but also we don’t see them when they’re chill in a way that doesn’t advance the story.

          Joyce described Carla as “Bad, but on purpose, I think” (2nd bonus dec 2020). And even though she tries to frame it as self-serving, Carla does nice things for other people.

          And maybe it’s because having a crush can make a person more insufferable.

        3. DashWallkick

          Carla puts up a front but I dunno how socialized she actually is. She has to at some level understand being annoying doesn’t actually make a fulfilling relationship.

        4. Schpoonman

          She probably inches towards “Having too much money actually messes with your brain chemistry” syndrome if I’m being hilariously nonmedical. To second HueSatLight, this may be one of her very first crushes (she didn’t seem that genuinely interested in Malaya last semester) and she has no idea how to flirt or advertise herself so when she gets seemingly ignored she just repeats herself but “louder.”

      2. PedanticJerkass

        self-conceited

        As opposed to… …other-people-conceited…?

        1. Taffy

          It’s a real word, you conga

        2. The Oracle

          That’s too many ellipses. You suck at this.

        3. David DeLaney

          three – three ellipses! ah, ah, ah!

          –Dave, three dots – three ellipses!

        4. milu

          as opposed to being a pedantic jerkass. tldr: yes

        5. Nymph

          https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-conceit

          … … … … … … … … … … … …have a day.

    2. Bash

      The way she phrases it makes me think she’s not entirely sincere. It’s almost like a parody of a spoiled rich kid, literally declaring that she is the most important and saying so is “being awesome”. But she’s been doing it for so long, I’m not entirely sure she can drop the act. It may have become her genuine personality at this point.

      1. DashWallkick

        That’s what I’m thinking also. Kind of like what happened with Malaya. “I’m actually too cool for you” and then she has to be intimate and tender with someone and the best she can do is “Sal told me to come here…. And she’s not the boss of me.”

  30. Sporky

    booster is based for this

    1. Bash

      People don’t like Booster being brutally honest, but they also don’t like Carla being self-centered. I’m curious to see how other commenters will react to this one.

      1. Jeremiah

        Badly so far.

        1. Bash

          Actually I’ve seen more support for Booster than we usually get.

      2. Taffy

        Not so much of a “but” situation as an “and” situation. Disliking more than one thing at once isn’t a felony.

        1. Bash

          Of course, but the two things are directly in opposition to each other here. Sometimes that will result in people taking sides. I’m not overly invested, I just think it’s interesting.

    2. The Oracle

      Based on what?

      1. David DeLaney

        it’s part of kids’ slang these days

        –Dave, at least, this is what I am given to understand by Twitter

      2. zee

        Based on deez nuts

  31. HueSatLight

    Booster doesn’t realize Carla does value them, she’s learned to identify them in a public area, across the room, even though she’s face blind.

    1. Daibhid C

      Speaking as someone who’s face blind, I think Booster has completely realised that Carla thinks “I have learned what you look like, even though you’re a person who’s not me” is “valuing” them, and that’s precisely their point.

      1. HueSatLight

        hm yes, “valuing” them as a means is a problem.

  32. TheFlamingonator

    Come on Booster, get with the programme! (i do enjoy watching the unstoppable force vs immovable object)

  33. Taffy

    I’m too dead inside to understand these characters anymore. What are they on about?

    1. Needfuldoer

      Carla thinks she’s entitled to Booster’s time, because she wants to meet their sister Charlie.

      Carla’s right about one thing, she is entitled.

      1. Taffy

        Maybe when she’s 30, she’ll realize how much time she wasted on things like this and get her act together.

        1. Needfuldoer

          I expect she’ll have a Principal Skinner moment.

          “Am I so spoiled and out of touch? No. It is the world that is wrong.”

    2. Jeremiah

      Carla has intense, most likely romantic, feelings for Booster sister, Charlie who has not responded to Carla attends to call her attention due to her tendency of spacing out, so she has come to Booster looking to be introduced. Booster put her through a bit testing before doing so, in one hand to enjoy messing a bit with Carla but also clearly because they genuinely worry about Charlie and want to make sure she will actually treat her with decency.

      1. Taffy

        Sounds exhausting. They should both go home and never bother with this crap again.

        1. Jeremiah

          You could say about most characters in this story. It wouldn’t be very entertaining is everyone did the most rational thing all the time wouldn’t it?

        2. Taffy

          Good thing nobody asked for that

        3. Jeremiah

          You literally just did though?

        4. Taffy

          No, I didn’t. Please don’t lie to me about what I said, I don’t have the energy for it.

        5. Jeremiah

          I didn’t mean to sound like I was doing that, sorry about that. I was referring to you saying they “should both go home and don’t bother with this crap”, with would be the rational thing to do, not that you say everyone should be rational all the time.

        6. Bruno

          Get well soon taphy.

      2. Zaxares

        Yep, everything you said. In fairness to Carla, it’s quite likely that she has little, if any, experience with romantic relationships and may simply not KNOW how one is supposed to treat one’s object of affection. However, Carla has also shown in the past that she has very little consideration for other people’s feelings and thus Booster is quite justified in being worried that Carla would only wind up being a pest (at best) or a stalker (at worst) to Charlie.

        Perhaps Carla can grow out of this, but tbh, in my experience the vast majority of people’s personalities tend to be well-established by the time they’re in their early to mid-twenties and rarely, if ever, change anymore as they grow older. (If there is another period for a big personality swing, it’s usually when they’re much older, around the 50-60 year mark.)

        1. Taffy

          Christ, that’s bleak.

        2. Da Boy

          Honestly it’s not just romantic relationships, Carla has no clue how to foster Any kind of relationships.

        3. Jeremiah

          Yeah, but this is a story, so character development is a thing that can happen. As we seen with Joyce, Joe, Sal and Walky. Though we had also seen negative character development and regressions like in the case with Ethan and Jennifer.

        4. Needfuldoer

          I’m in this comment and I don’t like it.

        5. Taffy

          Get out of the comment, it’s hard to read with a person in there.

        6. clif

          This comment isn’t big enough for all three of us.

    3. zee

      Not to be a parasocial weirdo or anything but you’ve seemed pretty off today taffy. Hope you’re okay or feel better soon

  34. PedanticJerkass

    If Carla does ever end up being successfully introduced to Charlie, and Charlie is actually cognizant of Carla’s existence, then at that point, after all is said and done, I want Charlie to just be like “Nah… not interested. Not even a little bit.”

    1. John

      I would LOVE that.

  35. ADLegend21

    She’s a Rich Girl, but she won’t go far, cuz Booster has hoops for days.

    1. Taffy

      None of these characters play any sports that involve a hoop or ball, and that’s creepy to realize.

    2. Schpoonman

      Turns out this is a situation where she explicitly cannot rely on the old man’s money.

      1. Chubsius

        I was going to keep the parody going, but the actual lyrics work pretty well:

        “High and dry, out of the rain
        It’s so easy to hurt others when you can’t feel pain
        And don’t you know that a love can’t grow,
        ‘Cause there’s too much to give, ’cause you’d rather live
        For the thrill of it all”

  36. Da Boy

    Booster taking a jackhammer to Carla’s narcissism XD

    1. The Oracle

      It’s wrong to encourage violence. Jackhammers are dangerous and not something to be joked about so lightly.

      1. Da Boy

        You are right… Booster should grab some demolition charges, a jackhammer might not be able to handle such a thick layer of narcissism.

        1. The Oracle

          Demolition charges are for demolishing things, not belittling college students.

        2. David DeLaney

          a giant pair of prop pliers then

          –Dave, I get the feeling that much of the context in the comments still whooshes you, which is okay, but

        3. Mark

          Anvil drop!

        4. clif

          Any problem can be solved by dropping a large enough well-aimed anvil.

  37. Regina phalange

    I’ve never liked Booster more. Booster fans, I get it now.

  38. Disastroid

    Why put her through hoops when you can make her do the full Takeshi’s Castle of Love?

  39. Amelie Wikström

    I knew a guy who’d never stop apologizing. Everything he said was about how sorry he was. It got more irritating every minute, and of course then he had to apologize for being irritating too and eventually disappear for several days after reaching some critical mass of sorryness. You might think the moral here is pathological extremes of confidence are equally insufferable in both directions, but really, he and Carla have the same problem: narcissism.

    Well, we know it’s an act to push people away to avoid getting hurt, but I don’t think Booster knows, and if she can’t drop it but instead get more and more aggressively offputting the more she actually wants to be close to someone, where does it end?

  40. milu

    Hahahaha i love both Carla and Booster equally ??
    What beautiful freaks.
    I’m way more invested in this zany plot and the camp antics of Goddess Carla and the Sanchez Twins than in the entire yawn-saga of the straights doing their straight nonsense

    1. HueSatLight

      this storyline has the best chance of having arson in it (complimentary).

  41. David DeLaney

    *whispering in Carla’s ear*

    “remember that thou too art mortal”

    1. Nymph

      Nonsense. Carla is eternal.

      1. clif

        Only Mike is eternal.

        In his absence, the universal conservation of Mikeness will compell other characters to exhibit Mikeocity in his stead.

  42. Alan in DC

    Has anyone actually called Carla on this? “What is it about you
    that supposedly makes you so awesome above all the rest of us?”

    Her parents are the ones who did all the heavy lifting. Other than machines that throw pies and a set of shower slippers made from milk jugs, what accomplishment can Carla claim that grants her such a lofty impression of herself to impress on others?

    I for one would enjoy hearing her rationale.

    1. J.Gawain

      Look at all the amazing things her parents have brought into the world, though. Surely Carla, being made by them, is by the transitive property just as amazing.

    2. milu

      She’s a mentally healthy-ish trans girl in today’s US. that’s a fucking accomplishment

      1. Uly

        Is she mentally healthy? Her behavior doesn’t exactly scream that to me.

        1. milu

          meh

  43. Pergola

    Rationale? It should be immediately obvious to the meanest intelligence.

  44. goggleman64

    Heeheeheeheehee

  45. MisterJinKC

    Good for Booster. Too many people out up with Carla’s narcissistic crap.

    1. Caro

      I want to nip this in the bud before it begins- I’m really tired of people using “nArCiSsIsTiC” the same way people used to use “OCD” or “bipolar”. It’s not a catch-all term for people you don’t like, it’s not a category of villain. Cluster B disorders shouldn’t be our Villain Of The Year.

      1. David DeLaney

        she IS extremely self-centered
        even more so than I, which is going some
        but no, she’s not narcissistic

      2. Xujhan

        ‘Narcissist’ in its modern usage is over a century old, almost double the age of the original DSM. I think the boat’s sailed on that one.

        1. HueSatLight

          definitions can narrow over time. There are other words that can describe her behavior that aren’t also a diagnosis. Egoist, ego-centric, self-absorbed, prima donna …

        2. Mark

          There’s also the distinction: did you use that word as a term of art, or as ordinary language?

      3. Uly

        Carla is as obsessed with herself as Narcissus was.

        1. clif

          Yes, but Narcissus never met Charlie.

        2. David DeLaney

          well, technically, neither has Carla yet

  46. nicoleandmaggie

    I really hope that Booster has actually *talked* to Charlie about whether or not she wants to meet her stalker I mean Carla.

  47. John

    Way to go Booster! Bout time someone stopped putting up with Carla’s egotistical bs.

  48. Caro

    i like carla a lot

    1. Jeremiah

      Be careful, that might get in some hot water around these parts./j

    2. Nymph

      I also love Carla tbh. I get so happy any time she gets even the tiniest bit of screentime!

      There are plenty of characters in the comic I wish would stop getting increasingly, cartoonishly awful, but Carla is a joy and has never done a thing wrong in her entire life.

      [tonal marker: sincere]

      1. Jeremiah

        I salute you comrade.

  49. Erica

    Do you think Carla is just super full of herself, or does she have some sort of mental condition and genuinely does not understand?

    1. Ragnarok101

      I think it’s just a defense mechanism. Like a spiteful ‘I am HERE, I am GREAT, FUCK YOU IF YOU DON’T AGREE’ reaction to the reality of being trans in the US.

      1. thejeff

        Yup. She’s a trans kid who’s been in the full public eye since she was small. She’s got rich supportive parents, which helped, but also made her hit the cover of the Times.

        Not coming out of that without some armor

    2. Proto

      Why not both?

    3. BorkBorkBork

      The only reason I would ever hesitate to label Carla as having narcissistic personality disorder, is because she’s so clearly, so obviously written as a narcissist that it seems almost TOO on-the-nose. And because there’s very, very, *very* occasionally instances where she does good things for other people.

      Her “payment” for doing those good things, however, seems to be that the other person praises her and acknowledges how amazing she is, though, so that puts us straight back to narcissism.

      Honestly, I don’t understand why she gets a pass on it from so many people.

      1. nicoleandmaggie

        I give her a pass because:
        1. She seems not as real as a lot of the other characters
        2. She doesn’t actually seem to be hurting anybody and has been helpful in the past (arguably so, depending on your views about if she did the right thing in the Jennifer/Ruth situation)

        She doesn’t seem written like a stereotypical narcissist to me because my knowledge of the stereotypical narcissist involves people being hurt by the narcissist. I don’t think narcissists are usually so upfront and obvious about what they actually want. They might be less dangerous if they were!

        1. BorkBorkBork

          Very true! And that’s honestly the main thing that gives me pause, too. In the same reason that Mike wasn’t *truly* a misanthrope, but rather a much more complicated person who helped the people he loved through conflict, Carla seems way TOO much like a narcissist for that to be just her one-dimensional personality.

          Yeah, I agree, it’s probably some sort of defense mechanism and a way to combat what may have been terrible self-esteem in the past pre-transition. But… not having NPD doesn’t suddenly give her a pass for still being, by all accounts, a self-absorbed, (not clinically) narcissistic, entitled, and toxic person who does not care about the needs or feelings of others, other than how they affect her.

          IMHO, she isn’t hurting anybody because it doesn’t really seem like she has a lot of friends to begin with. These sort of antics are kooky and annoying if you keep a person at arm’s length; if you develop a friendship, they become harmful and toxic. She’s *trying* to develop a relationship with Charlie.

          If the self-obsession was *only* a bit for self-preservation, I think we’d see her shedding some of it by now to try to get what she wants. That’s what a person with NPD *would* do, because they’d conform to what Booster is looking for in order to get what she wants. Carla isn’t doing that. I think what we’re seeing is a severely stunted ability to empathize with other people, insofar that she really can’t guess at others’ needs, wants, desires, etc.

        2. clif

          “arguably so, depending on your views about if she did the right thing in the Jennifer/Ruth situation”

          She saved their lives, so I’m pretty sure it was the right thing.

      2. thejeff

        Well it’s either that, which only really come up with Joyce’s jugs, and was so incredibly obviously performative that Joyce saw right through it, or cookies, or just a denial that she was ever doing anything nice for anyone.

        Like, I don’t think she demanded any praise from Amber for helping clean her head wound, just for example.

  50. Serendipity

    This feels like a rich people thing.

  51. Reaver

    Oh so it’s not an act, Carla literally thinks she’s a gift to people

    1. Bryy

      Sadly, the “I’m rich because God made me superior to others” is still a very active mindset.

      1. clif

        The luck of the draw made me superior to all others and I’m still not rich. Something is clearly wrong with the system.

  52. Pocky

    I don’t believe Booster when they say they have other things going on; if only because all evidence points to them only being able to exist to meddle in others problems lol

  53. NGPZ

    What I don’t get is why Carla doesn’t just engineer a solution to her predicament.

    1. Bryy

      Rube Goldberging love.

      1. clif

        Now that I want to see.

  54. Sarah

    Sometimes I forget Carla isn’t playing up the “I’m the most important person in the world” thing and she just actually believes that

    1. Sarah

      Omg I’ve been blessed by the gravatar gods for this strip

  55. RocketRelm

    What would honestly be a pretty cool thing for Carla to do, even if I find it unlikely, is to just go talk to her crush without the middlenby. Especially if Booster doesn’t find out until much later about it. Really, at this point if I were Carla I’d worry about Booster sabotaging whatever impression during or after said meeting anyway, so I’d actively not want Booster involved anymore.

    1. Mark

      Um, she tried. With a sign and everything. Charlie was in a little world of her own thinking about butterflies and didn’t notice. So, that didn’t work, time to try something else, like getting help from someone who (resumably) does know how to get through to her.

  56. Rabisch

    I like Carla, a lot. But honestly I would never introduce her to a girl she has an interest on. Seriously, seeing this way of acting I can’t exclude that she could become a stalker. Booster is right to be worried.

  57. Imogen

    This is a little frustrating, because it feels genuinely a little out-of-character for Carla. I know that seems absurd, and maybe this is a hot take from me, but Carla’s bit has always felt more like a deliberate *performance* of narcissism than actual narcissism. Sal said it best–“She’s gotta annoy folks with her physicality somehow.”

    Carla’s performance is born of defiance. And sure, she’s become the mask a little bit, it’s a character flaw. She’s definitely a little genuinely self-centered.

    This comic though, feels like it’s stretching her a little beyond that. She seems to be completely unaware of how she comes across, totally out of touch with how annoying she is to others. And that’s very much not how she’s ever acted before. It feels a little Flanderized.

    1. C.T. Phipps

      I mean Carla has been performing being a narcissistic jerkass so long it’s possible she’s forgotten it’s a performance.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Or maybe something about Charlie has triggered emotions she doesn’t know how to process, so she’s doubling down on her schtick.

    2. Poskie

      Flanderized is a good way to put it. I agree she was once a little more grounded than this.

    3. someone

      Carla is a tech-bro’s spoiled kid. Being self-centered, narcissistic, and believing herself to be the axis around which the entire world revolves is par for the course.

      I mean, Elon Musk called an “all hands on deck” emergency of the Twitter developers because he was getting less retweets than Joe Biden, and his ego couldn’t take it.

      Compared to that, Carla’s narcissism, self-centering and insufferableness is actually rather subtle and understated, all things considered.

  58. Felian

    Gosh, i LOVE seeing Carla being told off.
    She is fun as a trope, but as a person, i can hardly think of anyone more annoying than her self-centeredness.
    At the same time, i am glad that a trans character is defined by anything that isn’t “i am trans“ <3

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