162

My name is
Posted on April 24, 2023 by David M Willis
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162 thoughts on “My name is”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    People IRL: “Ana, why don’t you talk”

    *shows this comic*

    *after thinking about rabbit starvation*

    1. Schpoonman

      Anyone experience this one? https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3506

      1. Dana

        Unless you’re talking about the specific topics, I was under the impression that that was universal, a notion I would prefer not to be disabused of.

        1. Carms

          it is unusual for the full chain of connections to occur in a single participant’s head in a matter of seconds.
          But it can be a fun magic trick, to wrench the train of conversation to whatever popped into your head and then explain how you got there!

        2. Daibhid C

          My Mum eventually realised that when I preceded a Discworld or Doctor Who quote with “I don’t know what reminded me of this…” what I meant was “I know exactly what reminded me of this, but explaining how I got there would take longer than the line itself.” Although I still did it sometimes, if I thought it was also interesting.

          On the other hand, a “fun” way of bringing conversations to a wrenching stop is to do the opposite. “Hey, isn’t it weird that we’re talking about April Fools jokes because my T-shirt reminded you of a TV show?” (Actual example from my pre-teen years.)

        3. Benjamin Geiger

          I don’t have a train of thought. I have a pinball of thought. And it takes all my spoons to keep it in play.

        4. Opus the Poet

          Are we related?

      2. Cholma

        Been awhile since we those two ladies! They need to make a return.

      3. Kimi

        Why some people don’t want to ask me what I have been thinking when I have been quiet for a while. I once got into a thought process in my head after seeing a license plate. This made me think of the Minnesota one (was not even close to Minnesota at the time), which talks about being the land of a thousand lakes. I then pondered whether Minnesota or Maine had a greater percentage of their respective areas covered by water (ie: lakes, ponds, rivers, swamps, etc) and got into the process of how you would figure that out inside my head. I still don’t know whether satellite imagery would be a good method due to tree and plant cover, and how seasonal wetlands should be counted. I am still curious about which one has a greater percentage though.

      4. RassilonTDavros

        Holy shit. Finally, someone puts it into words.

      5. Amós Batista

        Sometimes. Mainly when I was younger, 15 years old

      6. Needfuldoer

        Maybe not by as many degrees of separation, but maybe.

        The real fun is when you’re talking with somebody else with the same behavior, and you steer the conversation back to the original subject before they notice.

        (Side note: All of the characters in that strip disappeared from QC…)

        1. NGPZ

          Not Brun!!! Nooooo!!! ?

        2. Needfuldoer

          Brun hasn’t appeared since sometime in the 4600s IIRC.

      7. ValdVin

        Heh. A little, sometimes. (And that’s Brun’s best friend!)

      8. FlamestAndLight

        Literally all the time. Especially if it’s a special interest or something I learned recently that I wanted people to share

      9. elebenty

        I miss them!

      10. NGPZ

        Thinking too fast for others to keep up. Yeah, as an ADHD autista, I can totally relate! ?

      11. Roborat

        Brun needs to have some comic time, it has been far too long.

      12. bcb

        Yeah, I do that a lot.

  2. BBCC

    Interesting that she seems to have delayed responses. She seems nice though!

    1. Angel

      that does seem endearing in a vaccuum although hopefully they can be more focused/in the moment in other cases, don’t wanna be contemplating seahorses in a situation where you’d be run down by a car

      1. Jon

        And that’s why hyperfocus is a symptom of a disability, not a “superpower” as neurotypicals so often want to say (as if being disabled were somehow shameful).

  3. bootshivers

    God what a mood

  4. Doctor_Who

    Well, now that she’s immediately became everyone’s new favorite character with her first lines, what are we thinking: Boostette, Boostella, or Boostina?

    1. Thag Simmons

      I’m going with “Power” for the moment. Maybe “Rod”

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        I suggested Ronni yesterday as a gender neutral form of Rodney.

        1. Thag Simmons

          You could probably use ‘Rodney” as a gender neutral name pretty easily. The fact that we don’t is probably more to do with the fact that it’s kind of a bad name that isn’t going to sound right.

      2. RassilonTDavros

        Maybe “Rhoda” could work?

        1. Thag Simmons

          There’s always an obvious option that somehow slips my mind.

        2. Reltzik

          That’s been my headcannon since Booster mentioned having a twin.

        3. RassilonTDavros

          Lol, I accidentally flagged my own comment. That’s a first.

      3. Sombrero

        Power Sanchez sounds great! Are we sure they are not triplets?

    2. jeffepp

      I’ve been advocating Boostette, but Boostarella would also work.

    3. Sirksome

      I’ve been a real fan of Twister as their name until official. It’s gender neutral, is a fusion of twin+sister and ends with a “er” suffix to thematically match with Booster’s name.

      1. Needfuldoer

        That name just makes me think of the kid from Rocket Power…

    4. Qube

      my brain landed on “Grill” for some reason and refuses to vacate

    5. Doom Shepherd

      Beester. Like with Scooter and Skeeter on muppet babies.
      Which makes me wonder how Tim Curry is doing.

      1. Marianne

        Last I heard he was in space, escaping capitalism. So probably pretty well.

    6. Freemage

      Frankly, given that she’s already ten times more interesting than Booster, as both character and person, I’d rather she have her own identity, free and clear.

    7. Amós Batista

      Blister

    8. Carl Muckenhoupt

      “Booster” ends in “-er”, so the feminine version should be either Boostress or Boostrix.

    9. Ana Chronistic

      Booster is their chosen name, iirc, so all bets are off

  5. Paradoxius

    New favorite character. Now to go down to the tags to find out their name!

    Oh…

    1. Caro

      yesterday, twoster was popular

  6. Nerrin

    I like you, kid. Hang around, but not in the direct path of all the drama.

    1. Angel

      depends on what carla drags her into if she’s actually able to get her to acknowledge each other quicker

      tho surprise d carla gave up as easily as she did, other htan being late to class

  7. Caro

    oh i love her. oh she’s rocketing up the best girl ranks. im going to cherish her forever.

  8. Thag Simmons

    It’d be funny if they never got a proper tag.

    1. Dara

      All relevant strips soon to be tagged “Seahorses”

      1. Risky

        Not “Uhyouregone”?

  9. Sirksome

    Seahorses are cool.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Very easy to forgot how fucking weird they are. There’s nothing else quite like these guys! Such a cool animal.

    2. Dean

      Seahorses are one of the most effective predators in the animal kingdom- the shape of their snouts minimises disturbances in the water when hunting for prey.

    3. davidbreslin101

      Also, my god the camouflage. A nearby aquarium has some seahorses on display. I spent a solid ten minutes spotting bits of coral or weed that were actually seahorses, and I still don’t think I got them all.

  10. Bittersweet

    I am entirely convinced that Willis learned this and wrote the comic around it.

    But if that’s true that’s mad fascinating because I didn’t know that and will not parrot it to everyone I know. I’ve been here BoosterTwin. I’ve been in this situation so many times.

  11. NGPZ

    They’re neurodivergent!!! ?

    They may not have a name yet, but this strip still makes me so happy!!! ??

    *plays “Seahorse Dreams” by Kubbi on hacked muzak*

    1. Dana

      I refuse to believe neurotypical people are weird enough not to do that.

      1. cain

        Thinking about seahorses isn’t a neurodivergent-specific experience, but I think this instance rules out neurotypicality. Neurotypical people usually don’t think so hard about seahorses that it slows down their mental processing enough to miss conversation cues. Or so I’m told.

      2. Angel

        @dana well ppl do get easily distracted to where they ignore ppl but most of the time they’re on their phone tho at least if we know that her ignoring carla wasn’t outta annoyance/malice/pettiness it does make her more

        sometimes i have a hrd time hearing /udnerstand ppl but other than a delayed thing i’d be agitated by loud noises

      3. eh, whatever

        I diverge in the other direction! I’m much more easily distracted by the outside world than by my own thoughts. Incapable of not listening when someone talks, unless and until something else distracts me from that. I hate it when two conversations are going on at the same table.

        Plenty of hyperfocus nonstop for hours – when it’s quiet.

      4. Mark

        Heh, I’ve been heard to say things like “no, I don’t mind waiting. I brought my brain along, so I have lots of things to do.”

    2. APW

      … like about one third of this comic’s cast?
      (This is not criticism, mind you)

      1. APW

        Okay, closer to one fourth. I had to check the cast page.

    3. UrsulaDavina

      Possibly neurodivergent I mean I have done this while hyperfocusing also I have bad hearing but neurotypical folks are also capable of day dreaming and may have bad hearing.

    4. HueSatLight

      Also could be drugs. Probably not here, but I’ve known drug enthusiasts getting into this kind of state while enthusing.

  12. Suet

    “Sooster.exe is not responding” vibes, with a side of “I have a mouth, so I must eat”

    1. Suet

      This is a weird strip, Willis! No tags!!

      I need an adult!!!

  13. VolticEXE

    I’ve done this intentionally & unintentionally so I already really like this character!

  14. PB

    And in the span of six panels everything now makes perfect sense.

  15. Jo_cubstar

    *scrolls to find out their name* oh, there’s no tag. DAMN YOU WILLIS!

    1. saltchocolate

      This.

  16. The Blueprint System

    Prediction: This will be Joyce’s Autistic Mentor™

  17. Mr. Random

    Not even a tag.
    Ooof.

  18. Cattleprod

    I’m going to assume ‘Gold’ and there was some very geeky theme naming going on.

  19. RassilonTDavros

    Huh.

    …have there been any previous strips that have a character speaking, without having a single tagged character? This might be a first.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Missed opportunity to tag her as “uh you’re gone”

      1. woobie

        oh, a ninja, huh?

        1. sultryglebe

          Maybe other characters will start the conversations and then Dina will pop in and finish them.

    2. Thag Simmons

      Feel like at this point they deserve a placeholder tag, but I guess that undermines the joke a bit.

    3. saltchocolate

      I can’t remember any!

  20. woobie

    This and the season montages are maybe the only strips with no character tags. Until a tag appears.

    1. Needfuldoer

      How are we supposed to find these strips in the future? 🙁

  21. woobie

    squicka-squicka-squick Slim Shady

  22. C.T. Phipps

    Reminds me of Azumanga Daoih’s meme about the difference between ADD and ADHD.

    Which, suffering, I recognized much.

    1. Dday

      Yep

    2. Sporky

      lol yeah i was like “so the new character is osaka then”

      1. Dday

        It was a strange but welcome experience watching Osaka live out the adorable, comical version of my childhood.

  23. JessWitt

    The hand gestures seem familiar.

    1. Angel

      it just seems like a regular pointing? tho idk if booster has something similar but that might be an artistic style/choice as opposed to parallels with body language mirrorring of other charas

  24. Sirksome

    Gonna be real hard to find this comic down the line.

    1. Alongcameaspider

      Presumably if/when we learn the character’s name Willis will go back and retroactively tag her appearances

  25. Alongcameaspider

    I hope we never find out her name, just a series of increasingly ridiculous circumstances keeps cutting everyone off before they use her name

  26. Jamie

    Damn you, Willis. I want a name.

  27. DarkoNeko

    Well that’s not the reason I expected. lol.

  28. Alongcameaspider

    Also I just want to add that I adore this character and would kill and/or die for her

  29. AbacusWizard

    Ah, this must be one of those “many benefits of being a marine biologist” that I keep hearing about.

  30. brute

    please don’t get between becky and dina please don’t get between becky and dina please don-

    1. Thag Simmons

      If any relationship in this comic is making it to the end, it’s gonna be that one.

    2. Angel

      other than a passing ‘oh she’s cute’ i don’t think there’d be any relationship drama/conflict that way esp since they’ll be ‘married’ in the future lol

  31. AGV

    Who art thou, new character?

  32. Clif

    If it wasn’t so late at night, I would start on tiny underwater carrage pulled by seahorses. Driver would be an ell-like creature with a long stick reaching out in front from which dangles a.strand of seaweed to motivate the hungry seahorses forward. But now I’m going to put this tablet on a charger and sleep. We’ll see what transpires tomorrow.

  33. Dday

    Ohhhhh jeez yeah i know exactly what that’s like

  34. HueSatLight

    Eurigone, her parents were big fans of Euripides’ play Antigone. Booster didn’t change their name because it was gendered wrong, their birth name is Antipides.

    1. brionl

      Weren’t those the Greek tailors? Euripides and Eumenides?

      1. Dean

        Eumenides was the tailor, Euripides was the customer.

        1. HueSatLight

          Euripides Imenedes, although he might have been a launderer for the mob too, his partner’s name is Bernice Documents.

        2. TerribleTransit

          No, the tailor is just named Epi. When Euripides, you ask him “Eumenides”? And he nods sagely and says “Epimenides”.

  35. Queezle

    I already like them

  36. Rognik

    C’mon, she has to have a name now! We spent an entire comic on her!

    1. Angel

      guess we can have pools on what comes out first, her name, or jocylene to joyce lol.

  37. Angel

    lol i’d love to see her and dina interact. tho adhd /auditory processing aside, if her ‘tuning out’ of others is strong enough to phase out carla, it’d be impossible for me to absorb any actual lessons from profs if i was here

    1. Laura

      That’s where having a note-taker omes in handy.

  38. DailyBrad

    Oh, this is a goddamn mood. I’ve got a bad ear, anyway, but sometimes, I am just Really Spaced Out, often thinking about animals, etc.

  39. Rachel McCall

    Some days I feel like a seahorse

  40. Seregiel

    I am now shipping her and Carla.That is simultaneously the best counter balancing and matching of energy I’ve seen for Carla.

  41. Icalasari

    I like Booster’s twin

  42. HueSatLight

    Now she has to find that person from last strip and tell her about seahorses.

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      Wait, I think I remember… there was a red-headed student who talked to her, right? …Was it Ruth? I’m pretty sure Ruth was there.

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        There could’ve been someone else, but if so, I guess they just didn’t leave much of an impression.

        1. Needfuldoer

          How long until Carla dusts off her “name in lights” Rube Goldberg machine?

  43. Alex Boston

    I wonder if Booster’s interest in psychology is related to an attempt to better understand and communicate with their twin.

    1. Bryy

      ……huh.

    2. Amós Batista

      Or it’s a coping mechanism for they interesting… haha

  44. Masumi

    I want her to tell me ALL the seahorse facts.

    1. Zaxares

      I did not know that seahorses did not have stomachs either! :O (They DO have a digestive tract, but unlike most fish they do not have a true stomach and so they do indeed need to keep eating throughout the day.)

  45. foducool

    gonna find a job at a DMV somewhere after she graduates

  46. Acher4

    Is this the only update with no tags at all?
    <..>
    :O

    1. Needfuldoer

      The only update with no tags so far!

      (I’m sure she’ll be tagged once she’s named on-screen.)

    2. HueSatLight

      The timeskip ones at the end of Is A Song Forever, with no dialogue and no characters don’t have tags.

    3. Keulen

      There have definitely been others, like the timeskip ones and probably a few more.

  47. Taffy

    Uh is my new favorite character.

  48. Danae Jay, Local Gay

    Relatable

  49. shanunu

    So she just registers that people are there too late? The heck is she doing in class????

    1. Taffy

      Daydreamers deserve an education too.

      1. Sirksome

        I know some people can only focus when they’re distracted or spacing out. Like they need a part of their brain busy to absorb information.

  50. Amós Batista

    Please, don’t disappear like Lyle.

  51. Bogeywoman

    I still strongly relate to Booster in an autistic way, and it runs in the family and now I hard relate to Boosister in an autistic way.

    Just today in the market I was zoned in on calculating fibre content in biscuits and the cost of groceries compared to the 30$ in my account. Did not register store person who was concerned by my wall-staring and asked “are you okay?”
    Few seconds later, automatically responded to the unrelated question of do I need help finding anything and said “Nope” with a thumbs up.
    “You’re not okay?”
    Finally understanding, I promptly replied, “Definitely not” and left the store.

    Good times.

    1. Sam

      You earn one internet because this story made me laugh multiple times.

  52. Plaaaa

    Ticka ticka- Slim Shady

  53. Mark

    I like this one already.

  54. ValdVin

    It’s Boo!Sister time.

  55. Tesset

    Huh, I did not get an RSS notification for today’s comic either. Your unescaped > appears to have permanently broken my RSS feed…

    I think someone yesterday mentioned that you could replace it with a “>” and solve the issue.

  56. Acher4

    Rereading this, I feel like she is experiencing a lag to the matrix. 😛

  57. HueSatLight

    If you haven’t pledged for book 12, do it, maybe if we get it to another multiple of 5, he’ll do a Halloween Peter magnet.

  58. Michael Lanting

    Am I missing something or is there no option on the kickstarter to get all 12 books if you don’t live in the US?

    (I’d ask on the kicktsarter site but only backers are allowed to comment there.)

    1. Laura

      You can get them all in PDF form.

      1. NGPZ

        Yeah!!! I actually just pledged for them myself!!! ✌?

    2. HueSatLight

      I assume it has to do with the shipping being higher, out of the range he can eat a third of it. If you buy books 1-6 from the normal store, it’s the cost of 5 books. So if you don’t get a response before the kickstarter runs out, there’s that.

    3. David M Willis

      It costs $120 to ship all the books outside North America, and if something goes wrong, that’s something I can deal with and re-pay for on an individual basis — which is why it’s possible in the online store. But on the scale of shipping out 1000s of pledges, if something went wrong, that’d basically put me out of my house. And so I limit the All The Books tiers to domestic backers.

  59. Heather

    Huh. I do this sometimes and somehow it didn’t cross my mind as a possibility.

  60. poyo

    ALRIGHT these twins are starting to feel like a personal attack (lol)

  61. Keulen

    So they do talk and can hear what other people are saying around them! I was hoping we’d find out Booster’s twin’s name soon, guess we gotta wait a while longer.

    1. Laura

      Or they can read the sign and/or read lips. Lots of Deaf folks also use vocal speech.

  62. Daibhid C

    The idea that Boosister was ignoring Carla on purpose was fun.

    The idea that Boosister is not only Just Like That, but hasn’t even entirely registered what Carla’s deal is, is so much better.

    Maybe when Carla realises she’s not being ignored on purpose, and this isn’t about her, they can be friends!

    (“Maybe when Carla realises this isn’t about her…” Yeah, never mind.)

    1. Angel

      depends on what’s worse, being ignored on purpose after she was being a bit of a snarky smartass in the middle of class or just carla’s presence not being strong enough to be noticed ‘in the moment’

  63. Van Jealous

    Nice to see that David Lynch’s “Angriest Dog In The World” has made a comeback 😉

  64. nothri

    Sooo basically Carla is to a sea horse as food is to attention?

    1. Needfuldoer

      Carla : attention :: a seahorse : food

  65. shoopdawhoop

    *BUFFERING*

  66. Ty34er

    Can’t wait until Charlie is tagged properly

    1. Amós Batista

      Hey, spoiler alert!

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