“Checkmate!”
“Actually, I can still move here.”
“G – fine, CHECKMATE!”
“No, can still move here.”
“Gaah, fine, NOW CHECKMATE!!”
*silently takes her queen*
“GAAAAAH!!”
Indeed. I didn’t catch the self-sabotage angle until now either, but I think Ruth has a point. I’m pretty sure there were ways Billie could’ve said ‘I’ve done things I’m not proud of, and being a cheerleader encouraged them’ that could’ve worked WITHOUT going straight to ‘here’s my completely unprocessed trauma!’
But, standard jokes about this not being Smarting of Age. But also, Billie is REALLY GOOD at hiding her depressive and self-destructive symptoms under a happy veneer where they’re ALMOST socially acceptable and the worse stuff is probably just a whim, right? She’s fine. (It’s impressive except in how it’s awful.) That said, I think this was more impulse than calculated – she can do the reflexive self-loathing/sabotage thing depressingly well, and I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen much of Billie admitting vulnerability compared to ‘I’m Head Bongo Cheerleader’ or more hyperbolic ‘I am Garbage’ sort of stuff. Add in her clearly NOT having processed it at all (even ‘holy shit I almost killed myself and my friend’) and I could see this slipping out. But we’ll see. Like I said, Billie’s really good at masking and part of that IS consistently choosing self-destruction, conscious or not.
Masking all her unprocessed trauma behind the “alpha bongo head cheerleader” front has been her coping mechanism since the comic started. Getting ostracised from the college version of her high school social group dinged the mask, but I think this is one of the first times we’ve really seen it slip around others.
Miri
I think this was her taking it off, flinging it onto the ground then dancing on it. But while it might have come from a place of self-destructiveness, not being worshipped by the creepy ones seems like a good thing and better for her mental health overall?
Seregiel
Yeah. Making a person into a weird idol is gross. If this was about pushing away those types of people even if it was always what she wanted…. self destruction seems to be coming with a healthy dose of more aware of meaningful interactions now.
Okay but. When those relationships were built on a misconception, especially one that was partially based in a period of Billie’s life that was pretty toxic and that she’s trying to heal from, isn’t taking them apart kind of a step forward? Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree here but it feels like this is a good sign for Billie’s self-awareness, that she’s realizing this dynamic isn’t a good thing for her.
That’s the thing. Everything that Billie was saying about how she was just a regular person who wears galaxies, loves her girlfriend, and even used to be a nerd, was being met with cries of “Awwww!” and more worshipful stuff. It’s almost as if she had to add the worst thing she ever did in order to get them to stop.
Yea, this is how I felt reading this, too. Relationships built on idolization eventually fail, anyway, because the idolizer eventually realizes their idol doesn’t actually exist. I can’t say I blame Billie for wanting to head it off rather than wait for the image to fall apart. Hell, she’s probably had experience with the latter based on her past.
oh no, the pod people don’t get to act like BILLIE made this awkward after they have been acting like borderline stalker weirdos since they met her. gah!
For We know which one’s your room,
And Lucy tells us what you do;
… are you snacking down at the Y? with someone who loves you?
Tell Us how to win your Love, for we Really have not a clue.
But let us start by worsh-shipping you.
I agree in principle, although I think Billie’s execution and her motives are what leaves much to be desired. Is she trying to be more honest with herself and others, or did their worship finally lose steam and she wanted to cut ties with them all before they got TOO close and ‘discovered’ her true nature for themselves on terms that weren’t her’s? For me, if this means those girls will stop acting like pod people, I’m for it.
But they aren’t dead! Mike is holding then in durance in a dry well.
clif
My tin-foil-hat theory is better than your tin-foil-hat theory.
Geneseepaws
I dunno, both theories look like solid gold to me.
Back in the old days, car tires had tubes, and a flat tire was just swap-out the tube situation. …which meant you needed tire irons. Lotta things you can do with a tire iron. Or a bat. … Real handy. Lotta things you can hit with a bat.
Honestly the only person I liked from the Forest Quad gang was Nash, but even if Billie sort of erupted, I totally understand her frustration. Having people idealize you as though you’re infallible and goddess-like is fucking garbage. I would have been really upset too. I’m also really hoping that Lucy does more of her straight talking – I really like her dynamic with Ruth and her refusal to let Billie be a dick. And above all PLEASE BILLS, GO TO THERAPY.
It’s refreshing to see Ruth being the voice of reason when being confronted with self destructive behaviour. I mean, yes, they idealised her, but that could have been corrected in a less wrecking-ball-ish way.
On the one hand, being placed on a pedestal can be annoying certainly, but on the oyher hand Billie did not handle it the right way in trying to end it. And it wasn’t really fair when it was supposed to be about introducing Ruth.
I think she DID indicate in the last couple in-strip days that she’s finally going to start going. (Trying to catch up with and be a reasonable partner for Ruth, mainly. The sexy lesbian suicide pact really has come quite a way from its awful beginnings if it’s inspiring Billie to try.)
I think it probably did start out as her wanting to introduce them to Ruth before quickly turning into getting them to stop with their creepy fan worship/idolization they had of Billie. I’d say that’s not a bad thing either.
The two were always linked though, since part of the early fan worship was her description of Ruth as a sexual conquest, not a romantic relationship (however screwed up.)
Originally she was hiding the truth about Ruth from this floor to keep the creepy fan worship. Sabotaging that is a good thing, right?
BoJack Horseman just ended, Billie. No need for another self sabotaging jerk, Billie. We already have Walky, Amber, Joyce… I know the title is dumbing of age, but it seems pretty scary that many of these characters are actively trying to ruin their own oportunities of being good, moral and happy people. If this is a recreation of Willis’ college years, then I feel bad about him.
I’m pretty sure Joyce will start course-correcting soon enough (not entirely, but some.) But based off what he’s said in the Walkyverse reruns and the ‘Joyce is autobiographical’ stuff, I suspect he gave a lot of them kernels of himself, yeah. Anxiety and depression can SERIOUSLY fuck you up, and speaking from experience being away from home and accountability is a way for them to get worse fast. Add in gifted kid burnout/a possible undiagnosed learning disability or the process of going from fundamentalist to however Joyce ends up and it’s… not difficult, for things like that to escalate.
If it makes you feel better, this is pretty realistic for college kids apparently. Really high rates of stress and mental illness! Lots of twice exceptional kids (gifted and in some way needing accommodations – learning and developmental disabilities, mental illness, whatever) fly under the radar until college or later because we’re ‘smart’ and just need to apply ourselves! (It is hell.)
99 thoughts on “Ivory tower”
Ana Chronistic
I SAID CHECKMATE, ATHEISTS
clif
Don’t mind me. I just came to check if Mike was back.
Shane
“One of these years, I think” – V’s spouse
Doctor_Who
Plot twist: Mike wound up in the OOTS verse.
He and Belkar will get along well.
Keulen
“If we can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.”
He Who Abides
“Hooray, I keek a touchdown!”
anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness
Is this American sportsball?
Michael Haneline
I once briefly ran a sci-fi tabletop RPG where Zap was the captain of the ship and all the PCs were members of his crew.
Deanatay
“Checkmate!”
“Actually, I can still move here.”
“G – fine, CHECKMATE!”
“No, can still move here.”
“Gaah, fine, NOW CHECKMATE!!”
*silently takes her queen*
“GAAAAAH!!”
shadowcell
Master Fisto would be so disappointed
Suet
“Checkmate. Next faaaaaaaaace, er, game”
Doctor_Who
You’ll always have Lucy, Billie.
Seriously, after the Kit Fisto thing, girl’s gonna sew herself to you.
abysswatcher1993
Or be like spongebob tied to squidward through some abnormal biological link.
BBCC
Goddammit, I thought it was about coming clean.
Billie’s first therapy session can’t be soon enough.
Regalli
Indeed. I didn’t catch the self-sabotage angle until now either, but I think Ruth has a point. I’m pretty sure there were ways Billie could’ve said ‘I’ve done things I’m not proud of, and being a cheerleader encouraged them’ that could’ve worked WITHOUT going straight to ‘here’s my completely unprocessed trauma!’
But, standard jokes about this not being Smarting of Age. But also, Billie is REALLY GOOD at hiding her depressive and self-destructive symptoms under a happy veneer where they’re ALMOST socially acceptable and the worse stuff is probably just a whim, right? She’s fine. (It’s impressive except in how it’s awful.) That said, I think this was more impulse than calculated – she can do the reflexive self-loathing/sabotage thing depressingly well, and I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen much of Billie admitting vulnerability compared to ‘I’m Head Bongo Cheerleader’ or more hyperbolic ‘I am Garbage’ sort of stuff. Add in her clearly NOT having processed it at all (even ‘holy shit I almost killed myself and my friend’) and I could see this slipping out. But we’ll see. Like I said, Billie’s really good at masking and part of that IS consistently choosing self-destruction, conscious or not.
Needfuldoer
Masking all her unprocessed trauma behind the “alpha bongo head cheerleader” front has been her coping mechanism since the comic started. Getting ostracised from the college version of her high school social group dinged the mask, but I think this is one of the first times we’ve really seen it slip around others.
Miri
I think this was her taking it off, flinging it onto the ground then dancing on it. But while it might have come from a place of self-destructiveness, not being worshipped by the creepy ones seems like a good thing and better for her mental health overall?
Seregiel
Yeah. Making a person into a weird idol is gross. If this was about pushing away those types of people even if it was always what she wanted…. self destruction seems to be coming with a healthy dose of more aware of meaningful interactions now.
LeslieBean4shizzle
To be fair, Ruth, I think it STARTED as introducing you to them and just… kinda… spiraled.
Yumi
Also, they weren’t the best new relationships to begin with.
Norah
Yes, even though this went to far and isn’t coming from a good place, at least they’ll stop with the bizarre worship stuff. Ugh.
Agemegos
In fact, they were horrible: bad now, and headed for disaster.
zee
it was the closest thing to an in person parasocial relationship ive ever seen
Seregiel
I think it wa as the awwwwws. Femur crushing girlfriend was supposed to be the nerd equivalent of vampire garlic.
Shiro
Okay but. When those relationships were built on a misconception, especially one that was partially based in a period of Billie’s life that was pretty toxic and that she’s trying to heal from, isn’t taking them apart kind of a step forward? Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree here but it feels like this is a good sign for Billie’s self-awareness, that she’s realizing this dynamic isn’t a good thing for her.
Norah
That’s the thing. Everything that Billie was saying about how she was just a regular person who wears galaxies, loves her girlfriend, and even used to be a nerd, was being met with cries of “Awwww!” and more worshipful stuff. It’s almost as if she had to add the worst thing she ever did in order to get them to stop.
Norah
Wears “glasses”, not “galaxies”.
Agemegos
Galaxies are very fashionable
Paul
The Galaxy Is on Orion’s Belt
Geneseepaws
OMG, it’s full of stars!
sillygoose
Who can blame them for worshipping someone who just casually wears star-spangled galaxies?
DSL
Well, this is spiraling out of control.
KJ
Yea, this is how I felt reading this, too. Relationships built on idolization eventually fail, anyway, because the idolizer eventually realizes their idol doesn’t actually exist. I can’t say I blame Billie for wanting to head it off rather than wait for the image to fall apart. Hell, she’s probably had experience with the latter based on her past.
Norah
Maybe once they get over the shock they’ll treat her as a regular, though deeply flawed person, rather than some kind of princess or goddess.
Shane
Although if memory serves, Billie kinda nurtured this whole thing at the start, even though she’s (rightly) trying to stop it now.
Needfuldoer
Yuuuuuup.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/salacious/
thejeff
She did. That’s why it’s important that she’s trying to stop it.
Derek
oh no, the pod people don’t get to act like BILLIE made this awkward after they have been acting like borderline stalker weirdos since they met her. gah!
Geneseepaws
For We know which one’s your room,
And Lucy tells us what you do;
… are you snacking down at the Y? with someone who loves you?
Tell Us how to win your Love, for we Really have not a clue.
But let us start by worsh-shipping you.
Bagge
Now Lucy and Billie can be Former Popular People together!
Nono
Lucy was never really popular though.
King Daniel
She mentioned before that she briefly felt “popular” here in the dorm, until Billie came along.
Tacos
Fine but they can still be Kit Fisto fanfic BFFs thought.
clif
They could be Kit Fisto Companions. And sell chickens on the side.
Cmasta1992
Aaaaand called it. Knew this wasn’t coming from a healthy place. People don’t change so quickly
clif
Dunno if it was from a healthy place or not, but some things ya got to nuke from orbit.
Agemegos
It’s the only way to be sure.
Doopyboop
I agree in principle, although I think Billie’s execution and her motives are what leaves much to be desired. Is she trying to be more honest with herself and others, or did their worship finally lose steam and she wanted to cut ties with them all before they got TOO close and ‘discovered’ her true nature for themselves on terms that weren’t her’s? For me, if this means those girls will stop acting like pod people, I’m for it.
Doopyboop
AW GEEZ THIS WAS MEANT AS A REPLY TO SHIRO.
I DANNED IT UP
clif
Hey there. We pod people have feelings too.
Stephen Bierce
And then in tomorrow’s campus newspaper…
clif
Campus Vigilante Wanted for Murder
Agemegos
But they aren’t dead! Mike is holding then in durance in a dry well.
clif
My tin-foil-hat theory is better than your tin-foil-hat theory.
Geneseepaws
I dunno, both theories look like solid gold to me.
Back in the old days, car tires had tubes, and a flat tire was just swap-out the tube situation. …which meant you needed tire irons. Lotta things you can do with a tire iron. Or a bat. … Real handy. Lotta things you can hit with a bat.
Stephen Bierce
Nothing like a nice tire iron. When I got my driving license, the first thing I bought was a big new tire iron for my car. I’ve had it ever since.
electriccombines
Honestly the only person I liked from the Forest Quad gang was Nash, but even if Billie sort of erupted, I totally understand her frustration. Having people idealize you as though you’re infallible and goddess-like is fucking garbage. I would have been really upset too. I’m also really hoping that Lucy does more of her straight talking – I really like her dynamic with Ruth and her refusal to let Billie be a dick. And above all PLEASE BILLS, GO TO THERAPY.
Gudrun Amedick
It’s refreshing to see Ruth being the voice of reason when being confronted with self destructive behaviour. I mean, yes, they idealised her, but that could have been corrected in a less wrecking-ball-ish way.
Kyrik Michalowski
On the one hand, being placed on a pedestal can be annoying certainly, but on the oyher hand Billie did not handle it the right way in trying to end it. And it wasn’t really fair when it was supposed to be about introducing Ruth.
Is Billie scheduled for therapy? She needs it.
Sam
She has therapy she should be attending but hasn’t attended at all.
Regalli
I think she DID indicate in the last couple in-strip days that she’s finally going to start going. (Trying to catch up with and be a reasonable partner for Ruth, mainly. The sexy lesbian suicide pact really has come quite a way from its awful beginnings if it’s inspiring Billie to try.)
Norah
She really, really needs to start going.
RacingTurtle
Hey, Billie started out trying to be gentle with her neighbors. Losing one’s temper with the confines of idol worship is pretty reasonable, actually
Tacos
I think it probably did start out as her wanting to introduce them to Ruth before quickly turning into getting them to stop with their creepy fan worship/idolization they had of Billie. I’d say that’s not a bad thing either.
thejeff
The two were always linked though, since part of the early fan worship was her description of Ruth as a sexual conquest, not a romantic relationship (however screwed up.)
Originally she was hiding the truth about Ruth from this floor to keep the creepy fan worship. Sabotaging that is a good thing, right?
abysswatcher1993
BoJack Horseman just ended, Billie. No need for another self sabotaging jerk, Billie. We already have Walky, Amber, Joyce… I know the title is dumbing of age, but it seems pretty scary that many of these characters are actively trying to ruin their own oportunities of being good, moral and happy people. If this is a recreation of Willis’ college years, then I feel bad about him.
mrnoidea
I’m sure Willis has learned a lot from other people’s college experiences.
Regalli
I’m pretty sure Joyce will start course-correcting soon enough (not entirely, but some.) But based off what he’s said in the Walkyverse reruns and the ‘Joyce is autobiographical’ stuff, I suspect he gave a lot of them kernels of himself, yeah. Anxiety and depression can SERIOUSLY fuck you up, and speaking from experience being away from home and accountability is a way for them to get worse fast. Add in gifted kid burnout/a possible undiagnosed learning disability or the process of going from fundamentalist to however Joyce ends up and it’s… not difficult, for things like that to escalate.
If it makes you feel better, this is pretty realistic for college kids apparently. Really high rates of stress and mental illness! Lots of twice exceptional kids (gifted and in some way needing accommodations – learning and developmental disabilities, mental illness, whatever) fly under the radar until college or later because we’re ‘smart’ and just need to apply ourselves! (It is hell.)
DailyBrad
Things are rarely binary, so this kinda works out as as both a healthy and unhealthy thing in the end.
Shane