159

High-stakes
Posted on October 5, 2020 by David M Willis

159 thoughts on “High-stakes”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “I’m not actually invested in finding out, nor do I really need to be”

  2. woobie

    I’m pretty sure she won’t kill a fellow student….

    1. Cholma

      But there’s no guarantee of that; it’s what keeps the audience coming back for more!

      1. Doctor_Who

        Yeah, gotta keep ’em in suspense.

        1. Merbrat

          …or, in traction.

    2. StClair

      You can live without femurs, right?

      1. King Daniel

        According to Joyce, we need our femurs to live.

    3. Keulen

      She’s murdered almost nobody!

      1. Deanatay

        THIS year. It’s not even a month in.

  3. tim gueguen

    Booster will probably be disappointed, because they were hoping for an excuse to demonstrate their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Characterising Booster as a violent person, are we? I don’t think they’ll be busting out the Grammaton Gun Kata any time soon.

      1. Paradoxius

        To the contrary, as a true master, Booster knows that the most powerful technique in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not to fight.

        The second most powerful technique is the locoplata variant foot hold.

        1. Sporky

          Your icon is very fitting here

        2. AbelUndercity

          Indeed. I could hear Uncle Iroh loud and clear.

          Suddenly I have a craving for tea. Anyone need anything while I’m up?

        3. Deanatay

          Could you get me some tea? That’d be wonderful.

    2. Michael Lanting

      Question: Why do people call Booster “they”? Did I miss a comic where it is said that’s Booster’s preferred pronoun or are people just assuming?

      1. Agemegos

        Willis does so in Booster’s entry linked from the cast page. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020castbooster/

        Also, I think something was said on Patreon.

        1. Michael Lanting

          Ah, I didn’t check the cast page. Thanks.

      2. Clell

        Yeah, I noticed that too.

        Could someone explain to this old guy why plural pronouns would be used to identify an individual? I understand that the language changes over time, but this seems an odd variant to me… us?

        Ohh, is this a modern version of the Royal ‘we’?

        1. Spencer

          Plural pronouns are an indicator that someone doesn’t identify along binary gender identities like being exclusively male or female.

        2. Reltzik

          It’s a singular they.

        3. ensiform

          This is a very odd thing to be completely in the dark about for someone who is able to use a computer and reads this particular strip. Really? You’ve never heard anything about the genderless pronoun issue? It’s been a discussion in American culture for decades, and is quite big on the internet.

        4. Regalli

          Yeah, heavy queer fanbase comic, here!

        5. Reltzik

          Eh, everyone learns sometime.

        6. Agemegos

          One of today’s ten thousand

          https://xkcd.com/1053/

        7. Delicious Taffy

          We should remember that not everyone happens to learn all the same things we do, and the things they do learn might take a different amount of time than they took us. I forget what the term for that concept is, though.

        8. Kamino Neko

          Singular they has a longer pedigree than singular you. (And has always been for when the other three options were inappropriate, rather than starting as a sign of respect.)

        9. Clell

          Certainly I’ve heard of people using gender neutral pronouns, usually as part of a mockingly negative joke. I recall something about new pronouns starting with ‘x’. Despite using a computer (for quite literally decades) and following a humorous webcomic, I am not clear on the topic. This is why I asked for an explanation of the idea behind it. Perhaps this is unusual, but I was interested in learning new things.

          As I said, I’m old, and even when I wasn’t I didn’t really care about popular culture and rarely followed, or was even aware of, trends.

          I really don’t care who other adults find attractive, or who they exchange bodily fluids with.

          I apologize to anyone I offended with the question, even though I find myself wondering why asking an honest question would offend.

        10. marcus erronius

          Others answered the question pretty well, but I felt I should mention something else; complaining about “singular they” may cause people to assume things about you. The majority of pushback against it comes from people who are are anti-trans or anti-queer, not just protective of the english language. So it’s good to ask questions on that subject with care, to avoid people assuming you’re just another jerk 🙂

  4. Sirksome

    I’m sorry but is Walky trying to give Booster the worst impression of people possible?

    1. EAG46

      Maybe in Walky’s world view [such as it is] he was being accurate. Booster will have to find out for themself what their dormmates are really like.

    2. C.T Phipps

      What’s funny is that Walky hasn’t mentioned any of the genuinely horrifying things of the past year.

      If Booster stays after hearing Joyce and Becky’s backstory, they’re here for a life or death struggle.

    3. Lingo

      He basically did the same with Jason.

      1. Lingo

        This in fact seems like a deliberate echo of this strip.

        1. Captain Oblivious

          Ah yes, the old
          “Sadness will always triumph because love is dumb.”

        2. Regalli

          Yeah, no, this is Walky TRYING.

          I’m sorry. This is the best he could do.

  5. C.T Phipps

    It depends, is Mary still possessed of her femurs?

    Has Ryan never been seen again?

    I’m entirely comfortable for Ruth having become a Dexter-like serial killer to replace Amazi-Girl.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Integrivact didn’t help and she tackled Carol.

    2. Regalli

      Ryan may or may not still be in the hospital. If he is out, I suspect his parents who cared enough to sue also care enough not to send him back to the school where he got stabbed (oh and also accused of serial drugging and sexually assaulting women, but you know how those bongoes lie.)*

      * I am, at best, 50% on Ryan’s parents believing the women and him facing consequences there. Since he is DEFINITELY off the board, we’ll never know.

  6. Stephen Bierce

    “You will make the most exquisite corpse!”–The Girl Who Was Death on The Prisoner

  7. Chris

    So tomorrow we should get another silhouette filled in.

    1. Undrave

      I hope it’s not Mary…

  8. Bagge

    Heh, I love how she has expanded the threats of violence to hangarounds

    1. C.T Phipps

      “I will rip out your femurs.”

      “Oh, that Ruth!”

      *cue laugh track*

    2. Spencer

      I’m wondering why she’s back to being Ruthless after all this time. A lot of her “grr femurs” stuff as time went on was performative if it even happened at all.

      1. Fay

        She seems to be doing it in a rather tongue-in-cheek way, or at least more cheerfully than before. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s just doing it to keep up appearances/have some feeling of normalcy.

        1. Spencer

          That she goes from Angry Ruthless to “oh I’m doing okay, I changed my meds” in casual conservation with Becky at the drop of a hat does suggest to me that it’s probably a front she’s putting up in lieu of legitimately still trying to terrorize her dorm like she did.

  9. Alex Boston

    Walky might become some sort of genre-savvy idiot savante.

    1. Undrave

      He’ll slowly reduce the cast by willingly keeping them off panel until it’s just him hunting spiders all the time.

    2. Captain Oblivious

      An “idiot-genre-savante” if you will.

  10. BBCC

    That is certainly a thing you can assume.

  11. abysswatcher1993

    Walky, stop breaking the fourth wall! Deadpool and Axel have smashed that thing and Hussie shits on it.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Lea never broke the fourth wall. At most, he’s leaned on it a bit.

      1. Regalli

        There was DEFINITELY some leaning in the ‘You can’t axe Axel!’ scene, but Xemnas mocking his keyblade started it. (Frankly I think it started – beyond the clear joke at the audience that was II.9 – around Toy Story world. Woody roasts a Nort and the Versus XIII stuff with Yozora.)

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Dang, but Woody is just fantastic in that game. He doesn’t give half a damn about Xehanort or his ridiculous scheme, and he’s not afraid to say so.

        2. Emperor Norton II

          I see you’re talking about the KH game that, like Highlander 2, does not actually exist.

          (I was very, very, -very- disappointed with KH3)

  12. Dara

    She showed up this semester with brand spankin’ new femurs and Walky says she’s keeping them guessing? C’mon, son, keep up. xD

    1. Undrave

      I hope they’re Carol’s.

  13. Tyler Schommer

    Anyone remember who the men’s RA is?

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Whoever it is has less screen time than Bloodrose

    2. Bagge

      Ethan described him as someone who watches Star Trek

      1. Undrave

        Next thing you know, the door will be making the same noise that they do on Star Trek…

        1. Rainhat

          Really? Psssht. 🙂

        2. Needfuldoer

          “Make it so”, he says to the electronics engineering major rigging up the sound board and magnetic security system sensors.

        3. Agemegos

          Better to say that to a repairer of sewing machines.

    3. Keulen

      I don’t think we’ve actually seen them yet.

    4. John

      I’m pretty sure he’s the Trekkie RA from Roomies!, but we’ve never actually seen him.

  14. JetstreamGW

    Wait. I just realized.

    Booster looks like the Batman Amber drew in Shortpacked! demonstrating what kind of men she’d actually be in to.

    1. CorporateDronesDontHaveMissiles

      Oh well done.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      Kissable lips and all. I noticed it right away

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        Wow, nice job!

        1. clif

          Way to telegraph the plot for the new season.

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          Booster is the real Amazi-Person!

        3. Sombrero

          Booster is the Power Booster Rod! Er… no.

    3. Zor

      …Oh SHIT how did I miss that

    4. a/snow/mous/e

      Oh man, they totally do!
      https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/false-equivalence

    5. Needfuldoer

      My first thought was “Mike’s player 2 pallet swap but with hair that only exists in three dimensions”. They both have a similar build and head shape.

    6. Dara

      …oh my gods.

      [galaxybrain.jpg]

  15. synnerman

    Walky is poking at the 4th wall some. I had shades of SEMME there for a moment.

  16. Sirksome

    It doesn’t take much for me to dislike Walky. It doesn’t take anything actually, but I do feel a need to point out that “She’s actually much cheerier than she used to be” line.

    Like….does Walky know about Ruth’s depression? Cause that’s borderline inappropriate to snark about if he does. I feel like he doesn’t but also that news did go really public so it’s up in the air for me. You’re playing a dangerous game Walky. Maybe.

    1. Lingo

      He absolutely knows, but as you can see, that’s sort of his way of dealing with heavy subjects … like Mike’s death.

      1. Lingo

        See especially the strip before that one.

    2. Rainhat

      He did know, but with a combination of A Lot Going On Lately and being kinda self absorbed…voila.

      Either that or he’s choosing to have gallows humor about other people’s stuff, which isn’t cool unless they’re in on it.

    3. Sporky

      See, I don’t find that nearly as inappropriate as “She’s a little too hands-on, if you get my drift.” I honestly didn’t read it as snarky at all, he seems pretty sincere about it to me.

    4. Varangian

      Today I learned that accurately stating that someone is, as evidenced by their behavior compared to when you first met them, more cheerful, is actually outing(??) their mental illness (which they were cracking wise about in public like five strips ago???) and also making light of their depression

      The *wonders* of reading into minutiae

      1. Sirksome

        That’s kind of what we do here actually. The nature of having 24 hours for thousands of people to overanalyze a strip that’s just a brief moment in a conversation.

        Was Danny’s “Your real mom” comment just innocuous clarification of which mom was on the phone or a shot at Stacy being Joe’s step mom and not a real parental figure to him?

        When Becky said “I’ve never been under the top” was that just her way of saying she’s got a big personality or an innuendo implying that she’s a bottom in her sexual relationships?

        Is it all just innocent dialogue showing off character conversational quirks? Who knows???? I don’t know why Walky should get a free pass on it.

        1. Needfuldoer

          I think Danny’s comment was just him not thinking through what he says before he said it, like he always does. Poor kid’s got a chronic case of foot-in-mouth.

        2. Varangian

          I belong to a radical, some would even say heretical, creed that finds that shit to be absolutely obnoxious no matter what character it’s applied to.

          Though I guess if one MUST, equal opportunity minutiae obsession is the way to go

          In that spirit:

          -Is Ruth’s comment that she’ll drag in Walky’s corpse an indication that she’s actively regressed to bullying and violence and she’s secretly blackmailed Rachel so all opposition to her is silenced??? You can’t PROVE it isn’t
          -Booster has clearly agreed to this tour in order to drop a dime on all of Walky’s acquaintances to Linda, who secretly employs him and is going to expel everyone in Reed Hall through magical helicopter parent powers. Booster is clearly amoral and loves rolling in Linda cash, hence his FLIPPANT DISMISSAL of Ruth’s SINISTER THREATS

        3. Varangian

          *secretly employs them/their flippant dismissal, mea culpa.

        4. Captain Oblivious

          Thank you Sirksome for demonstrating some self awareness of the absurdity of the level of judgement and analysis the characters are subject to. I wonder if most of the commenters have that? I don’t.

          S ince we only tend to see Willis respond in the first hour or so, I kinda wonder if he avoids the chat beyond that so he doesn’t get influenced by the over-analysis. Or if he has a mallards ability to just let it run off.

        5. Sombrero

          Maybe because thinking Walky is anything but fully literal in what he says could easily break your suspension of disbelief.

    5. CJ

      We could take into account that he might be angry at Ruth for either being Billies girlfriend or breaking up with her.
      But yes, basically he again comes across as a mindless asshole which no consideration. If this were my roommate, I’d already apply for a switch.

      1. Spencer

        He wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of them dating at all, it seems.

        1. thejeff

          For pretty decent reasons. Ones similar to every one here calling it out as a toxic relationship, but without all the information we have that shows it in a better light.

        2. Spencer

          I wasn’t around when it came out, but that strip where Walky says he wanted Ruth to be better for Billie than she is and when Ruth says she can be better all he can muster is “neat”, that was probably the most brutal strip in the whole series and it came from friggin’ Walky.

          I adored it. I’ve really changed my tune on Ruth over the years but I’m still consistently all for DoA continuing with holding its protagonists accountable for their actions.

    6. thejeff

      Ruth threatens murder, but it’s Walky’s comment about her being cheerier that’s the problem here?

      1. Spencer

        I think we’re too used to Ruthless. It’s not funny when she threatens to murder people otherwise a lot of agitated Gamers would be successful as comedians.

        I want to know what’s going on with Ruth that she’s back to being Ruthless or at least acting as such as a front. Makes me wonder if Billie’s similarly backslid into being the Alpha Bongo of her dorm.

        1. Captain Oblivious

          “It’s not funny when she threatens to murder people”?

          And clearly you haven’t been following the agitated gamer comedy circuit.

      2. Sirksome

        For me specifically, yeah. I think that’s common knowledge by now though. In general Walky’s comments this morning have had a slight edge to them. Probably in a bad mood from the break and his roommate being dead. That’s not really an excuse though.

        Ruth’s murder threat is also problematic and Walky didn’t explain to Booster that she never follows through on them which is something Ruth has even stated more than once.

        Honestly this is just kind of a jaded tour from his perspective in general.

  17. Kravis

    If Ruthless kills Walky and drags his corpse to a meeting he’s not even supposed to be in, he’ll be…

    The Walkyng Dead.

    Don’t worry, I’ll see myself out.

    1. Agemegos

      Not fast enough.

      1. Kravis

        No, at the appropriate speed, actually, Agemengo.

        But if you insist, not only have I came back, as I’ll stay.

    2. Lingo

      Better run … the zombie swans will get you.

      1. fire_daws

        Is…is that an intentional typo? I’m just imagining a bird breaking my arm and then pecking my brains out.

        1. Agemegos

          I took it to be a reference to my gravatar.

    3. Captain Oblivious

      Naw, it’ll just like everyday,
      he’s shuffling, shuffling.

  18. DSL

    Are colleges really that micro into their students’ lives these days? Even not taking the Cursed Virus into account?
    I saw my RA maybe twice a semester, unless business could be conducted by sliding forms under doors, which it usually was. One year I lived right next door to the RA and if we traded two words, I don’t remember.
    Wound up spending very little time in my dorm rooms; the school paper was where I lived and spent time between classes.

    1. BBCC

      Some are. Ruth seems to do floor meetings on the first days of semesters and then whenever her bosses tell her to (ex. prank fire alarm, school shooting).

    2. Keulen

      I rarely saw my RAs in my four years of college, mostly because I avoided the floor meetings and the RAs I had couldn’t really do anything to force us to attend them.

      1. clif

        Have you checked your tenure lately?

        1. clif

          How did femurs get automutilated to tenure?

        2. DSL

          Ruthless lives in your autocorrect.

        3. Sunny

          They share a bunch of letters, and all the other letters are right next to each other. One typo can cause weirdness in those cases.

    3. ahecht

      When I was in college 15 or so years ago I would see my RA fairly regularly. They always had the room closest to the bathroom and kept their door open when they were “on call” and not asleep (one of the 8 or so RAs in each building was always on call at any given time).

  19. Bicycle Bill

    “Fine. I’ll drag in your corpse for fun.”

    Now THAT’S the Ruthless we all remember and love!!

    1. AbelUndercity

      Nothing stokes the urge to kill (or at least de-femurize) quite like the holidays.

  20. BenRG

    “Hands-on” meaning “Hands wrapped around our throats”. That’s our Ruthless!

    Seriously, though, Ruth has to be the one to tell Walky about the meeting. As he said, the men’s wing RA probably can’t be bothered! Booster will soon realise that threats of violence from her are a bizarre kind of friendship ritual. Most of the time. Unless she really doesn’t like you at all.

    1. Shanunu

      I thought hands on meant she started dating someone she was in charge of. Seems the right amount of rudeness he could toss in in a couple words as he’s been doing.

      1. CJ

        yeah, I think that was also implied (though he could get away with saying she’s taking her job to serious and does a lot more than their RA, if asked).

  21. Heavensrun

    Awwww…Ruthless thinks of Walky as part of her floor. That’s kinda sweet. ;p

    1. Needfuldoer

      Sal’s never there, but Walky is at least some of the time. Close enough?

  22. Newllend(henryvolt)

    You spend half your time there Walky so you might as well be there when she sets the ground rules.

  23. Reltzik

    So, no Ethan or Jacob?

    1. BenRG

      When Joyce messed up with Jacob, his role in the story evidently ended. Apparently, Ethan is also no longer required after telling Danny off and making him realise that he’s not the nice guy everyone assumes after all.

    2. BBCC

      Not in this storyline, it would seem. I doubt they’re gone for good.

      1. Regalli

        Yeah, Jacob hasn’t really been seen since the Harrison visit because that night was the birthday party, and from there it was Evil Dads O’Clock. No space.

  24. clif

    Mike’s spirit has possessed Jacob and he and Ethan have eloped.

    1. Eldritchy

      Hand-in-hand, skipping through the meadow?

  25. Sporky

    You can tell she’s grown a lot because at the beginning of last year there’s no way anybody would be so casual toward her and there’s no way she’d put up with that if there were

  26. Varangian

    You come at the Ruthless, you best not miss (unless you don’t need femurs)

  27. Lars

    Wait. No introduction of Ethen and Jacob? Ethen was kidnapped too, so the discription of ‘don’t end up in high-stakes adventures’ doesn’t count for him. What happened to those two?

    1. eskimolos

      tbqh, I’m pretty sure he’s dropped out or at least taking an extended holiday because he lost one of his closest childhood friends, and went through a lot of trauma and sudden change that his school friends are entirely unequipped to support him through (danny & amber specifically).

      Still, only time and Willis will tell if my hunch is accurate.

      1. dralou

        Also, Ethan has had to get back to the “openly gay” bandwagon, and because of that, his family (well, his mother) probably was awful to live with during the break.

        1. BBCC

          Last we heard, he didn’t plan to mention that to his parents. That was the point of doing no strings attached hook ups and not getting a serious boyfriend.

    2. Spencer

      The last word on Ethan was that Amber needed to stop hovering around him turning his problems into fuel for her guilt, so he’s probably on a bus for a storyline or two.

    3. Sam

      The guys are secondary characters, not main ones. They’ll probably show up at some point after the last three main ones are reintroduced.

    4. Jhon

      They got in the way of a femur harvesting ritual.

  28. Jake'm

    Walk is at least more willing to admit to his “not knowing anyone on the boys’ floor” thing, compared to when he was dragging the teaching assistant around. That might be more signs of personal growth!

  29. DarkoNeko

    Booster seems oddly happy at the prospect

  30. Needfuldoer

    I wouldn’t object if the character introductions in Book 11 are just Walky giving us (the readers) a brief meet-and-greet tour like this.

  31. Zaxares

    In real life, if I was introduced to a person of authority and warned that they were rather “hands on”, I’d actually be rather alarmed. :/ Especially given the recent #MeToo movement and the downfall of people like Harvey Weinstein.

    1. thejeff

      And then if you got the outside perspective on Ruth and Billie’s relationship, you’d be even more alarmed. Ruth abused her, they fought a lot and are having sex. Along with depression and alcohol abuse.

      We know there’s more to it than that, but damn does it look bad.

  32. Rabisch

    Booster seems positively impressed.

  33. Genie

    I find Booster’s lips to be so jarring. Reminds me of a former coworker who had blonde hair, blue eyes, pale pinkish-white skin, and wore really dark red matte lipstick – the colour combination just didn’t work. It might have, if she’d also done dramatic makeup otherwise, but no, it was just the lips. Same sort of thing with Booster…the colouring just doesn’t work for me.

    1. He Who Abides

      Maybe they moonlight as a stripper? Most of the ladies where I work do that, if only because the lighting washes out less bold colors.

      1. Genie

        Oooh, that coworker would’ve been really offended by the suggestion – she was a very white-collar, slightly judgey person, in an office environment. Makes me laugh. No, I think it was just poor colour choices and possibly lack of self-awareness.

  34. hof1991

    I see this as a callback to
    https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/laundry/
    Walky / Joyce taking their queer friend around and being snarky and a bit clueless.

    1. David M Willis

      goddamn they’re short

      1. C.T Phipps

        Could be the fact they’re from the Mushroom kingdom. Have you checked?

  35. JMP

    ..who IS Walky’s RA?

    1. Chronos

      I’ve been wondering that, too.

  36. Arianod

    FAAFO, Booster.

  37. Devin

    Walky got genre-savvy for Christmas.

  38. Spencer

    Aw man

    I thought that new preview art was Sayid

  39. thumb

    Can you imagine those introductions:
    “These are Students A through F. Over there is Boy A In Conversation. That’s Boy B In Conversation. And this is Girl Being Introduced.”
    He made the right choice.

  40. BarerMender

    Doesn’t anyone in this strip tuck in his shirt?

    1. Demoted Oblivious

      Walky used to have a girlfriend that dressed him (his mom commented on it), but she split with him. Most of the other male cast generally handle dressing themselves with varying (danny) degrees of success.

    2. Emperor Norton II

      I could imagine Booster doing the French tuck because they like Tan.

      I can also imagine DamnYouWillis trying to draw a French tuck once or twice and then be all “Meh, fuck this shit.”

      On a side note, I don’t French tuck. Tried it once or twice, just won’t look good on me.

    3. Brighter Side

      No. They’re college kids, not middle-aged men.

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