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Limitations
Posted on May 4, 2019 by David M Willis
It's here! April's Patreon bonus strip featuring Sierra, the person you voted for!  Sure, first you got the second bonus strip of the month that was SUPPOSED to be about Sierra, and Joyce fucked it up, but this strip is the UNFUCKENING. You can also up your monthly pledge to see tomorrow's strip right now, early, every day! That comes in handy sometimes!

150 thoughts on “Limitations”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “tbf you don’t HAVE to talk to your sibling, you could LISTEN”

    “THAT’S WORSE”

    (hi I’m back from Didney)

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Are you a princess now?

      1. Dana

        I thought she was already.

    2. Dean

      Did he, or didney? 🙂

    3. Opus the Poet

      Is that the one in Oz, the one in CA, or the one in FL?

      Trying to figure out where the typo is.

      1. Felix

        Trick Q? It’s obviously either the one in france or the one in japan.

      2. Goshii

        There’s a Didneyland in Oz?? I thought they were only in the US, Japan, China, and France

        1. coru

          Oh, Didney bought Oz, didn’t you hear? It was part of the Fox merger.

        2. Someone's Ed

          It’s ambiguous whether it’s an ‘s’ or an ‘S’ that was typoed. I do realize it can be hard to think about what cities are currently eligible to receive sunlight at 4:40 AM. It certainly wasn’t prominent on my mind, either.

        3. Ana Chronistic

          Is it still a typo if it was deliberate tho =B

        4. Ana Chronistic

          (I’m still annoyed at some of y’all who haven’t opened their gifts so I can send Didney giftssss)

  2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Symbolic Leaf is Symbolic

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      One of the problems of only having brothers…

      1. Chris Phoenix

        She doesn’t have only brothers… she just doesn’t know it yet.

    2. Stephen Bierce

      *plays Squeeze’s “Hour Glass” on the hacked Muzak*

    3. Bagge

      Poor Ruth. She never gets a break, does she?

    4. Clif

      All we are saying, is
      Give Leaf a chance.

    5. Needfuldoer

      Has that leaf been hovering outside the building since Ruth saw it this morning?

      1. Deanatay

        As the one Leafs fan in the state, it is naturally drawn to her.

        In fact, it’s kinda stalking her. (womp womp)

  3. AntJ

    Time for the Jocelyne plot volcano to blow

    Perhaps the Jordan one too

    1. Danielle

      JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

      1. Schpoonman

        Oh my god it’s perfect.

        1. Danielle

          🙂

      2. ian livs

        Amazing

        1. Danielle

          i do good things sometimes

      3. Ana Chronistic

        JoBros’ Bizarre Adventure

    2. Woomy

      I definitely want to meet Jordan

    3. Keulen

      I’m hoping eventually we’ll find out what’s up with Jordan.

      1. Koms

        I’ve been waiting foreverrrr

  4. BBCC

    I mean, yeah, that’s one of the rules of being a sibling, especially the youngest.

    1. Dana

      You’re saying the reason I can say nice things about my sister is I’m older then her?

      1. Yumi

        I can say nice things about my older siblings, but we don’t have much of a relationship, so the things I can say are pretty generic and/or about how many tomatoes my sister managed to grow last year.

        1. Hazel

          Gardening is a great subject for family conversations you don’t want to have!

        2. Needfuldoer

          … Well? How many? Don’t leave us hanging!

        3. Yumi

          Oh, dude, so many. Hundreds, of various sizes. She just kept giving anyone who expressed interest bags of tomatoes because she had so many. Her yard isn’t even that big, so I’m not sure what her garden set up was, but it was effective.

        4. clif

          I’m disappointed. I thought you were going to say “Just one, but it ate Cleveland.”

        5. TemperaryObsessor

          Growing up I liked one of my older sisters but not the other two.

  5. Danielle

    is this when joyce is gonna meet jocelyne??

    1. Doctor_Who

      Yay!

  6. Yumi

    [starts chantin] Joc-e-lyne! Joc-e-lyne!

    1. Bagge

      Joc-e-lyne! Joc-e-lyne! Joc-e-lyne!

    2. AntJ

      psych, she’s calling John instead and he says that you can do whatever you want only if you have a Mustang, but the teal jacket is a good first step especially if she stole it from someone with less economic stability

      1. Bagge

        #LifeHack

  7. Deadjolras

    JOCELYNE IS THE MOST WONDERFUL OF BUTTS, THEN

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      The only one free of Butts Disease?

      1. Deadjolras

        The Chosen One!

    2. Terry

      Jocelyne so friendly! She is a bubble(y) butt. (I’ll show myself out now)

  8. 1 2 2 50 in Roman numerals

    Jo-ce-lyne jo-ce-lyne

  9. Bagge

    “Becky is not older than me, silly. and she still hears God just fine.”

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Becky: “Joyce, I believe in god and science, but I don’t actually hear him like a cosmic hallucination.”
      Joyce: *Screaming internally.*

  10. Bicycle Bill

    No, Ethan.  Jocelyne trusted you with something she felt she couldn’t share even with her own family just yet.  So just don’t, OK?

    1. BBCC

      I would be very very surprised if Ethan actually elaborated on who he means and why.

    2. Yumi

      I don’t know, “Just talk to that okay sibling” isn’t outing her. I mean, Joyce knows she’s okay from some previous adventures, so she can figure out who’s meant without Ethan having to divulge details.

    3. Far

      The conversation doesn’t necessarily have to involve Jocelyne coming out. She could just give Joyce general advice about how to navigate her crisis of faith.

    4. Derek

      He’s dropping a hint, it’s not the same as outing her. Encouraging Joyce to talk to her sibling won’t necessarily turn into a catastrophe by itself. It depends on Joyce’s and Jocelyne’s reactions

      1. BarerMender

        Him. Outing him, y’all.

        1. BarerMender

          This is me, assuming Josh is ftm trans.

        2. BarerMender

          This is me realizing I might have gotten that backwards.

        3. Catman

          Woopsie

        4. Meagan

          For a second I thought we had a GC person here.

        5. Regalli

          Outing her. Jocelyne’s a trans woman who’s still closeted in her family life.

        6. BarerMender

          I was assuming all along that she was a trans man and only Joyce didn’t know it. Which makes no sense at all, now that I think about it.

        7. BBCC

          Don’t we all wish Carol (and maybe Hank) were accepting enough for that to be the case?

        8. Jamie

          Call me crazy but I suspect Hank would be accepting enough. He seems the type to react with confusion and a lack of sensitivity, but then a little soul searching later he’ll come to the correct conclusion.

        9. Leorale

          He probably would get there, but even if Jocelyn is ready to weather his confusion, she isn’t banking on his eventual character growth. And, once Hank knows, Jocelyn can’t make him keep it from Carol and the like.
          I bet she’s watching Joyce really closely, to figure out when she can tell her.

        10. Catman

          Hank’s an utter Bro, he’d probably try his best. He really has that “I don’t understand what’s going on but you’re my child dammit I love you.” thing going. That being said, it would be a MASSIVE step for Jocelyn to come out to Joyce, let alone Hank. Probably best to give it a bit.

        11. thejeff

          Hank might someday come around, but it would be ugly as hell. He’s come a long way from “let’s pray about your friendship with an atheist” and “Hitler was maybe partly Jewish”, but he’s got a long way to go.

  11. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    . . . . . .What is the name of Joyce’s non-dick of a brother, insofar as Joyce knows at least, again? Jocelyn right?

    1. Danielle

      jocelyn is joyces sister

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      She’s always called him Joshua.

    3. joyfulldreams

      Should be talking about Jocelyn, yes. Who I believe still goes by Josh at the moment?

      1. joyfulldreams

        Or at least, with her family.

      2. Jamie

        Had genuinely forgotten her dead name until this comment.

        1. Catman

          Is it dead if she still uses it? Maybe sub-name? Ex-name?

        2. Jackson

          Dying name? Name on life support?

        3. Gwen

          Undead name?

        4. Someone's Ed

          I think I’ve encountered at least one trans person who used this to refer to their successful penname that had been their givenname back before they figured out what was what… and since then were anguishing about how popular they’d become.

        5. Chris Phoenix

          Alexander Adams gives Heather Alexander credit by name for the songs Heather wrote. He calls himself the “heir” of Heather (as in, Heather died and he inherited Heather’s work) and has also said “Heather went to Faerie and I returned.” Not every use of a pre-transition name is deadnaming.

          Obviously using a previous name is bad when it outs someone, or when it disrespects who a person is.

          Since Jocelyn isn’t out yet, using her correct name in-comic would be outing her. In the comments section, of course, I’ll call her by her chosen name.

          I like “undead name” BTW.

        6. Daisy

          This is a superpower and you should be proud of it.

        7. Captain Button

          What Great Responsibility comes with this one?

  12. DailyBrad

    Now I am really curious what Jocelyne’s own relationship to religion is currently. Guess we’ll more than likely learn soon.

    1. ian livs

      I’m really curious about that too. (Also, I just want to see more Jocelyne in general because I like her and she’s cool.)

    2. moon

      Yeah same… I’m both trans and religious but also kind of not, I’m not sure anymore because so many people use religion as a justification to their bigotry that I avoid any place of worship.

      1. Marisa Mockery

        Spiritual but not religious is a good way to describe that feeling

        1. Leorale

          Religions/spirituality: depends what you mean by it! Off the top of my head, “religion” could include any of: identity, practice or rituals, beliefs, history, mythology, ethics, community, etc.

          What aspects of religion are appealing or important to you, to make you want to identify as religious? If you want to, can you explore those aspects someplace where bigots are specifically very unwelcome?

        2. Leorale

          (Certainly not trying to say that you should want to. Just I happen to like exploring religions, so I think you should get to, if that’s a thing you like.)

        3. Terry

          Personally, I separate Religion to be what you believe and Spirituality to be what you feel. If you feel a connection to a higher power and have a perception of “right and wrong” associated with it, you are spiritual. If you believe something specific about what that higher power is and what it expects from you, it moves into religious territory. You can be both, or one, or neither.

    3. Jackson

      This, 100%. I have been wondering about Jocelyne’s religious views since the moment she was introduced. But this is because I wonder about every character’s religious views from the moment they’re introduced. I still want to know if Danny ever found a church.

  13. Lia47

    love jocelyne but joyce is right, she is a sibling and therefore a butt

  14. MatsuoTanuki

    Is Ethan gonna spill the tea on Jocelyn..?

    1. Wizard

      I’d really like to think Ethan knows better than to go around outing people. He could still suggest that Joyce talk to “Josh” without giving a specific reason.

  15. Peter

    Sure, Joyce could talk with Jocelyn. Or maybe Jordan (who apparently also had issues with the Brown family’s worldview)?

    1. Bagge

      TOO JORDAN!

      1. AntJ

        Is Jordan “too Jordan” in the way that Becky’s haircut is “too much Becky”?

        1. Deanatay

          Probably? Possibly. We just don’t know. Not enough info.

          WILLIS WE NEED MORE INFO

        2. thejeff

          My working theory is still that Jordan became too conservative and religious for the rest of the Browns.

        3. DailyBrad

          Given the family spoke to Ross (albeit with Hank merely tolerating him for Becky’s sake), I really don’t know how conservative Jordan would have to be to pull that one off.

        4. thejeff

          That’s kind of the point. 🙂

        5. Peter

          My own working theory is that Jordan left all the churchiness behind.

        6. ShinyNeen

          Does Jordan also have an undercut!? INQUIRING MINDS NEED TO KNOW!

  16. ian livs

    Correct, you would not be talking to one of your brothers. 🙂

    1. ian livs

      But also, from Jocelyne’s POV, the idea of coming out to a younger sib who’s still somewhat parentally-brainwashed is terrifying. …Just from her POV, not projecting at all.

      On the other hand, Joyce is breaking free from the indoctrination and would probably handle it a bit better now than she would’ve at the start of the semester.

      1. Woomy

        Jocelyne would probably give her more vague advice

      2. Regalli

        And like I said, Joyce is a TERRIBLE LIAR and Thanksgiving’s close. In universe, anyway. (I have popcorn ready for eight years from now when that shitshow finally arrives.) But I’m guessing she can talk more generally about the faith they grew up in being wrong on a lot of things and what’s under the fear without coming out.

  17. moon

    what if.. we got Jocelyn and Jordan ?

    1. sirconanad

      Maybe Joyceline will listen to Joyce and then take her to a remote island to finally meet Jordan, Last Jedi Style.

  18. Regalli

    Ethan’s pretty smooth about not outing or misgendering Jocelyne here. And yeah, she can help Joyce without necessarily coming out (and given Joyce’s terrible lying skills, it would probably set a timeline to Jocelyne’s probable disownment prep.) Bare minimum, Joyce knows Jocelyne was pissed off enough at John to lose a ride, which means she’s willing to backtalk a pastor.

    1. thejeff

      Yeah, he says siblings, doesn’t use her dead name or a pronoun.
      Got to be careful with that though. Trying to do that through a longer conversation can get awkward enough that it’s obvious you’re doing something weird.

      1. Terry

        I’m kinda wondering if he might get frustrated beating around the bush and just tell her to talk to Jocelyn (the same way that many of us forgot her given name). And not realize that he used the “wrong” name until Joyce asks “Who?” At which point, he gets flustered and retreats, leaving Joyce confused, but accidentally planting seeds of the truth in her head.

  19. mrnoidea

    *ahem*

    Dumbing of Age Book 9: Siblings Are Butts

    (I’m aware that meme’s been old for a while)

    1. King Daniel

      Dumbing of Age Book 9: That Meme’s Been Old For A While

      1. Clif

        Eh? I’d read it.

        1. wwwhhattt

          I just spent an ureasonable amount of time wondering why you wrote read instead of read, before realising that both tenses are spelt the same. God, I hate English

        2. clif

          Wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t pronounced differently.

  20. moon

    Joyce goes and talks to Jocelyne and then she has a flashback and we finally see him but he’s really blurry far away and then we never see him again.

    1. Gwen

      You mean Jordan, right?

      1. moon

        Yes ofc!! looking at this comment now it’s gibberish sorry

  21. Savail

    I may or may not have squee’d at a pitch high enough to unnerve my dog.

  22. motorfirebox

    Can confirm, am butt

    1. Peter

      I have a brother, and he can definitely be a butt. On the other hand, so can I.

      “Siblings are butts” confirmed.

  23. BenRG

    Ethan is talking about Jocelyn, of course. However, Joyce’s point stands: I fully understand her reluctance to talk to her family at this point. I suppose that she feels that having questions or concerns is failing them in some fashion.

  24. TheFlamingonator

    Oh heck yes it has been too long without Jocelyn.

  25. Maggie

    I was worried that Ethan was going to put Jocelyn, but he seems to be doing pretty well at avoiding that.

  26. abysswatcher1993

    Ethan: You have a sibling that is rational and empathic.
    Joyce: That is too wide and non specific.
    Ethan: *Trying not to misgender Jocelyne or saying her deadname.* The one with glasses.
    Joyce: If you mean my older brother, fuck that homophobe!
    Ethan: *Screaming internally.*

    1. Kamino Neko

      Ethan has only met Joss, though, so he can just say ‘the one I met, you ultimate goober’.

    2. Captain Button

      Joyce doesn’t have younger siblings, unless I am misremembering things.

      1. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

        Possibly supposed to be “oldest”?

  27. Robbie

    The funny thing about leaving a somewhat cultlike family belief system is you don’t know who you can trust and they maybe don’t know if they can trust you. Maybe you’re both out but you’d never know cuz your older bro was an abusive jerk and other siblings are the golden children and you aren’t willing to risk your parents finding out things you’re much safer if they don’t know …

    But maybe that’s not exactly Joyce’s problem here… Jocelyn did help her help Becky AND argued with that one mean missionary brother…. I do hope my siblings have gotten or will get out. I’m not really particularly interested in reconnecting in blind hopes that somehow happened…

    But Joyce has more reason to rethink trying to talk about it.

    1. ShinyNeen

      Yeah, this. Joyce -can- trust Jocelyne, and after her trip home she has very clear signs that she can trust Jocelyne. But the questions she’s asking are so dangerous within her family that she -can’t- trust that opening up to Jocelyne will go well. She can’t help but second-guess herself just because it’s such a scary thing for her to open up about. And Jocelyne’s probably been struggling with the same problem for years!

      Still, that Joyce is talking about her doubts with anyone at all is a really good sign, so hopefully she can overcome this, too : )

  28. Farmer_10

    So Joyce has Big Butts and she cannot lie.

  29. Owlmirror

    Huh. The last time we see Jocelyne, she actually tells Joyce “We should chat some time”. Of course, that was, holy shit was it really 3 years ago?, June 2016.

    Does Ethan actually know that Jocelyne helped Joyce and Becky break into Becky’s home to get Becky’s identity documentation? Because Joyce does, and the label next to the sibling whom she thinks of as Joshua should read: totally not a butt.

    1. Needfuldoer

      I think Ethan’s referring to when he met her when she visited IU on Freshman Family Weekend.

    2. thejeff

      I think the label now reads “best butt of a sibling”. Siblings can remain that way, even when you trust them.

      1. wwwhhattt

        Yeah, calling a sibling a butt isn’t a judgement – just a statement of fact

  30. Arianod

    She’s right, you know.

    If look up “butt” you get a picture of your sibling.

  31. DarkoNeko

    Oh god, she’s doing the teenager rolleye thing

  32. anonymsly

    Ethan’s clearly talking about Jocelyne, but Joyce has no idea about the depth and breadth of her sister’s journey of personal discovery, and more to the point she has no idea that Jocelyne is their parents’ favorite because Jocelyne lies to them constantly. (And, lets that sound accusatory: Jocelyne is thoroughly right to do what she feels necessary, no judgement on her methods of survival.)

    We the audience know that Jocelyne probably can help and would almost certainly try. But I wonder if it isn’t more likely that Joyce will aim her quandary at the sibling SHE knows has broken from the family/religion and maybe God too: Jordan.

    1. thejeff

      Except that she knows that Jocelyne’s on her side on LGBQ things. Even willing to help break into Becky’s house for her.

      Plus, Joyce has no idea what’s up with Jordan or how to contact him.

      1. Kamino Neko

        And, you know, Ethan has only ever met one of her siblings, so can’t actually make a judgement about John or Jordan, so a few moments thought should make who he’s talking about obvious.

        1. Kamino Neko

          (Well, no judgement on them, beyond what Joyce (or Joss) might have told him. But we’ve seen him told nothing save that Joss was the favourite because she hid, like, everything about herself. So…)

  33. Viri

    Jocelyne has outright expressed that she’s glad Joyce also doesn’t toe the family line on the whole bigotry thing. Not sure how to do the links, but it was April 7, 2016 “Came Back.” Combined with helping Becky no questions asked (even her dad had some reservations even though it turned out okay in the end), it’s possible Joyce may think of Jocelyne rather than Jordan.

  34. IllogicalBobcat

    Oldest of four, totally get this.

  35. Luna

    Contrary to popular belief, it is actually extremely easy to say nice things about your siblings, provided you have good ones.

  36. Borg

    Preach, sister.

  37. Bunnygurl

    HOLY FUDGE! Are we FINALLY going to get to see Jocelyn? Is Joyce finally going to meet her little sister?

    1. Kamino Neko

      Big sister. Joyce is the youngest.

      1. Roborat

        Technically accurate, Joyce has been a girl longer.

  38. Bagge

    I’m growing increasingly fond of Joyce’s oh-so-very-subtle eye-roll when she tries to avoid certain topics.

    To no ones surprise, Sarah and Dorothy are found at the receiving end.

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/canvassing/

    1. Bagge

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/rivalsuitors/

      1. Bagge

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/bailing/

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