I doubt that – at least for now. Remember, Dorothy’s currently dropping activities that affected her time for learning – it’s very unlikely that she’d now at this point join Robin’s staff. Besides other factors.
I dunno, I think it’s pretty common (not “right,” but common) for people to imagine themselves as the hero of their favorite romantic comedy/fantasy/action movie, and for them to expect other people to behave like supporting characters in the narrative.
Usually, when somebody does this, they don’t realize that’s what they’re doing. If somebody in real life did what Robin does here (not just create the fantasy, but actually put into words the nature of the fantasy they are creating), that person would realize how wrong it is to view other people as characters in a book, as opposed to real people with their own agency and desires.
I know that Robin doesn’t really understand the magnitude of how badly she wronged Leslie, but again, that’s a thing that is depressingly common. People tend to view the wrongs committed by other people more critically than those committed by them (or their friends/children/”side”/etc.).
Team Rocket helps the heroes fight off the more menacing threat plenty of times in the movies, but they’re still criminals who mist absolutely be apprehended.
Is it weird I’m still rooting for Jessie, James and Meowth to quit Team Rocket and somehow avoid any more real consequences for their actions. But I want Robin to face the consequences of hers. Part of it might be that Jessie James and Meowth have already had consequences though not legal ones beyond the stigma of being criminals.
MatthewTheLucky
I want them to pursue their backup plan of being chefs. They were so happy the time they tried it.
Temperaryobsessor
That would be good for Jessie and James I sort want Meowth to use his skills as a translator. Few enough Pokemon can speak English that his skill is valuable. There was actually an episode dedicated to other people making lots of money pretending to be able to do what Meowth does.
In fact, that’s probably him who turned on the lights in Robin’s campaign headquarters. He showed up for work as scheduled, because no one actually fired him. He’s right behind her and she doesn’t even know it.
Honestly, I have never hated this version of Robin. She obviously has something wrong up in the attic, and she is in need of some serious therapy…
That’s the reason I hate what Roz has done, and I dislike that Leslie seems unable to realize Robin isn’t well in the head and keeps treating her as merely a bigot that needs to be taught the truth rather than as a person with a handful of personality disorders…
Robin obviously has problems. She adopts diferent roles in order to give people what they want, but she doesn’t know how to be herself, how to be a normal person. She shows the maturity of a 9 years old. She can’t interact with other people normally, be as friends, romantic interests or co-workers. She shows little awareness of the world around her, needing others to help her to act with a modicum of logic.
In Shortpacked, it was just she being quirky, but in Dumbing of Age the characters are more realistic, and if they act abnormally, it is acknowledged.
thejeff
I’m not quite sure if it’s really some kind of mental illness or if she’s just not written realistically.
But yeah, it keeps me from hating her, because I just can’t take her seriously enough.
Maybe not intentionally, but yeah, you kinda were. What you’ve described is someone with an over inflated sense of entitlement, in a person who doesn’t like responsibility despite having sought a career which demands it.
There is no mental illness required. People aren’t BORN knowing what is or is not appropriate social behavior. They’re not born knowing how to take responsibility for their actions. These things have to be taught, and then reinforced by the people around her.
Robin has spent her career surrounded by Congressional Republicans. Even being raised my wolves would have left her better prepared to behave like a mature, responsible adult who actually respects people’s boundaries.
Now, would Robin benefit from seeing a therapist? Yes. absolutely, assuming that one could get her to listen. Most people would benefit from a bit of therapy, even if they’re already happy and relatively well-adjusted. Robin would benefit greatly from it, but that’s not the same as being mentally ill.
And even if she WERE, it isn’t Leslie’s duty to sacrifice her own mental health to help or diagnoses someone she doesn’t know who is invading her home. She already went above and beyond what should be expected of her.
thejeff
Except she hasn’t. She’s spent a couple of years surrounded by Congressional Republicans. Before that, we have to assume she led some kind of normal life with school and maybe even some kind of job – we know she ran for Congress at 25, but we don’t know what she did before then (or even how old she is now.)
There’s no evidence I know of that she comes from the kind of money that lets you ignore all consequences and never bother growing up.
How the hell did someone like her ever get to where she is? Without the benefit of Cadbury Creme Egg cereal.
And “inflated sense of entitlement, in a person who doesn’t like responsibility despite having sought a career which demands it” doesn’t really cover Robin. This is a politician who doesn’t even bother to pretend that she’s not faking it. She has to be told, openly in front of the audience how much to pander. She lists off the personas she can play.
She just walked across town in nothing but a shirt, carrying a lamp marked “Aide”. This isn’t normal. This isn’t even entitled politician normal.
I don’t know if it’s “crazy”. It doesn’t match any mental illness I’m aware of, but it’s not how normal people behave either. Honestly, I just write most of it off as over the top parody. An echo of the old SP Robin zaniness. It doesn’t work for me here.
I see how it’s bothering Leslie, but I still just can’t take Robin seriously as a threat.
Okay, so many of those years were spent with republicans and conservatives who WEREN’T in congress.
But as for the realism? Have you SEEN the raging imbecile we elected president? He is a thousand times worse than Robin. He’s not mentally ill either. He’s that way because he’s never had to work a day in his life. He’s had money and pampering from the day he was born, and no real parenting, love or guidance as a child. He’s surrounded himself with sycophantic yes-men and successfully used money to fend off any real consequences for any of his actions for 70 years.
“Normal behavior” is not some intrinsic thing that exists unto itself, especially when it comes to social behavior. It’s not this ingrained thing that’s programmed into us. Bits and pieces are, but the kind of complexity we’re talking about is entirely a learned thing.
Wandering around without pants might be hamming it up for laughs, but the rest of it can entirely be explained by Robin having come to have really crappy ideas about how to treat other people and how to behave, and the people around her who re-enforced those ideas were more successful than the people who tried to challenge them.
Right now, she’s also facing some serious denial because a lot of her life is in upheaval at the moment, and Robin just is not equipped with the emotional tools to cope with or even process it.
thejeff
Yes, I’ve noticed him.
Yes, he’s worse than Robin, by far.
And that’s the point. Not only is he an idiot, but he’s mean and vindictive in ways that Robin shows no signs of.
Were Robin’s early years spend with Republicans and conservatives who weren’t in Congress? Who knows. It hasn’t come up. Were Roz’s? Were Riley’s? I don’t think there’s any evidence they were like Trump’s – private schools and “military” academies.
I think people miss my point when I make this argument. It’s not that I can’t believe anyone could be as horrible as Robin. Plenty of people are as bad or far worse. I follow politics. I’ve dealt with gaslighters. There are people who behave kind of like Robin (minus some of the more hamming it up bits), but in my experience they’re all really malicious if you see them without the masks on.
Maybe Robin’s really like that and a lot of people seem to be taking her that way, but I can’t see it. We’ve seen enough of her – like right here. This isn’t performance. Someone deliberately gaslighting and manipulating Leslie wouldn’t be standing here in the dark waiting for the movie scene to play out – they’d be cursing her out and plotting their next attack.
Galdan
“And even if she WERE, it isn’t Leslie’s duty to sacrifice her own mental health to help or diagnoses someone she doesn’t know who is invading her home. She already went above and beyond what should be expected of her.”
I don’t think it’s Leslie’s duty to do anything for Robin, at all. As a matter of fact, she shouldn’t have done anything regarding Robin. That’s part of the problem…
Leslie has been, to a lesser degree, acting as if life were a sitcom, just like Robin: She has obsessed with a politician who upholds homophobic values, hoping that she could “redeem” her, make her see the light, take her out of the closet (it was just wishful thinking from her part to think that she was in the closet at all, it was just blind luck that Robin is really interested in girls) and have an affair with her…
If Robin was merely an ultra-conservative politician, she would just have broken Leslie’s heart…
What she found instead was a ball of crazy. And rather than realizing it upon watching her antics, she kept trying to “redeem” her, bringing Becky so she could understand how her policies are affecting homosexual people, which doesn’t matter anymore, because 1.-Robin won’t have political power anymore, ever, so it won’t achieve anything beyond trying to make her feel guilty about the past, 2.-Robin has a “special” relationship with Reality, and merely confronting her with facts won’t be enough to break through, 3.-Leslie already made Robin feel guilty and confronted her with her own sexuality, and all it achieved was to make her run down into the rabbit hole of reality denial and crazyness… what does she expect to achieve now? Does she think that she can fix Robin this way?
Really, all Leslie should have done was to keep voting for other people, discard her unhealthy obsession for Robin, denounce/campaign against her homophobic policies (which she has already been doing effectively in her classes) and tell Roz to f**k off, roll her crazy plans and stuff them up her butt, where they belong.
Also, I expect all these shenagigans to have a negative impact on Leslie’s life now… to US she is now the woman who either “corrupted” Robin or set a trap to ruin her career… Did she really need to get into that mess? Taking into account the political climate in their state, I expect the religious right to try hard to ruin her career and prevent her from working as an educator.
As for Roz, she has set herself to fail spectacularly. She wasn’t expelled only because Robin saved her ass. And she enjoyed the perks of being the sister of a wealthy, successful woman (helicopter trips, for example). Let see how well will she deal with the loss of status.
Not gonna lie, I’m gonna rest easier when Ryan’s dealt with. I’m a lot better with material that used to be triggery these days, but it still makes me vaguely anxious.
Kris
Well….I mean it looks like it’s getting closer to a resolution but he’s been floating around in the background for years realtime..Maybe it’ll end before 2018? *shrug*. Good luck til then.
Cephalo the Pod
It seems to me that Book 7 is gonna be “the One Where We Catch Ryan”.
Guerisso
Or “The catching of the Ryan” ?
Guerisso
The plot: Robin has a crisis because her former life is gone and still “her” lesbian doesn’t come back to her, then she imagines the job she would like most to do, which is to watch over kids in a field playing innocently and be the catcher of any Ryan before he is able to shove a kid down into an abyss.
SgtWadeyWilson
“The One Where We Catch Ryan” was an odd episode, I mean, how did a David Willis comic character even end up in Friends?
Pablo360
Actually Ryan is the name of an STD. They named it after him.
Yumi
I’ll be similarly glad when Ryan is officially dealt with, though I’m still wondering what that will look like.
255 thoughts on “New leaf”
Ana Chronistic
next strip: copy-paste of panels 4 and 5
strip after that: copy-paste of panels 4 and 5, but [surprise ending]
Kris
You mean Carla?!…ends up joining her staff? That seems kinda out of character for her
Leorale
She doesn’t have to join the staff. She can whoosh by on her skates for a pie and run.
Hellespont
I was thinking Dorothy would…
CoMa
I doubt that – at least for now. Remember, Dorothy’s currently dropping activities that affected her time for learning – it’s very unlikely that she’d now at this point join Robin’s staff. Besides other factors.
Emperor Daniel
Tumblepaper.
Needs a catchier name.
Passchendaele
Driftwad
Delicious Taffy
Isn’t that the name of a Transformer?
Ryan
Tumblewaste
Aeron
Tumblr
Michael
I think somebody already claimed that one.
Joe Covenant
Bimblescrap
DSL
Litter.
butting
That’s no piece of paper, that’s all that’s left of Joe after Rachel dealt to him.
hof1991
Random pieces of what may or not be useful information or entertainment cascading by too fast to really focus on? The Internet.
Stu
Oops, seems Robin’s succumbed to the same line of thinking that’s caused Bojack Horseman so many problems.
Kris
The nights cold when you’re alone…….and you have no pants.
inqntrol
And no shoes or socks.
Needfuldoer
Overrated!
foamy
Gonna get cold tonight. Might want to cover your… delicates.
showler
What I find especially funny is that she is wearing Leslie’s shirt.
Tacos
Wouldn’t it hurt your feet standing barefoot on asphalt all day?
lia47
she’s at her most powerful when she’s expecting her lesbian
Needfuldoer
It would if you kept all your weight on your heels, as if you had regular shoes on.
Sunny
Yep, it’s just a matter of distributing the weight, and Robin looks like she’s well within recommended BMI, which makes it easier on the feet as well.
Mr. Mendo
Well, at least Becky had a positive influence…
C.T Phipps
Is it wrong to hate Robin again for all the creepiness of the third panel? Because she’s still against Ryan.
Zatar
Absolutely not wrong. Being against someone worst doesn’t make her a good person or anything.
Kernanator
People are rarely as simple as “all good” or “all bad”. Instead, they are good and bad in different contexts.
pjeseb
I dunno, I think it’s pretty common (not “right,” but common) for people to imagine themselves as the hero of their favorite romantic comedy/fantasy/action movie, and for them to expect other people to behave like supporting characters in the narrative.
Usually, when somebody does this, they don’t realize that’s what they’re doing. If somebody in real life did what Robin does here (not just create the fantasy, but actually put into words the nature of the fantasy they are creating), that person would realize how wrong it is to view other people as characters in a book, as opposed to real people with their own agency and desires.
I know that Robin doesn’t really understand the magnitude of how badly she wronged Leslie, but again, that’s a thing that is depressingly common. People tend to view the wrongs committed by other people more critically than those committed by them (or their friends/children/”side”/etc.).
Zatar
Yeah but she’s still acting like she owns Robin and is owed affection by her.
Cephalo the Pod
Team Rocket helps the heroes fight off the more menacing threat plenty of times in the movies, but they’re still criminals who mist absolutely be apprehended.
Temperaryobsessor
Is it weird I’m still rooting for Jessie, James and Meowth to quit Team Rocket and somehow avoid any more real consequences for their actions. But I want Robin to face the consequences of hers. Part of it might be that Jessie James and Meowth have already had consequences though not legal ones beyond the stigma of being criminals.
MatthewTheLucky
I want them to pursue their backup plan of being chefs. They were so happy the time they tried it.
Temperaryobsessor
That would be good for Jessie and James I sort want Meowth to use his skills as a translator. Few enough Pokemon can speak English that his skill is valuable. There was actually an episode dedicated to other people making lots of money pretending to be able to do what Meowth does.
Tomas
“Against Ryan” in finger quotes. That bum should have been caught several times over, but his pursuers keep tripping over their own drama.
Fart Captor
What.
Tomas
In fact, that’s probably him who turned on the lights in Robin’s campaign headquarters. He showed up for work as scheduled, because no one actually fired him. He’s right behind her and she doesn’t even know it.
DSL
I like the way you think.
N0083rP00F
Nah, those things are based on sensors/timers to maintain minimum acceptable light levels during hours of operation.
Galdan
Honestly, I have never hated this version of Robin. She obviously has something wrong up in the attic, and she is in need of some serious therapy…
That’s the reason I hate what Roz has done, and I dislike that Leslie seems unable to realize Robin isn’t well in the head and keeps treating her as merely a bigot that needs to be taught the truth rather than as a person with a handful of personality disorders…
Spencer
Can we please stop treating mental illness as some catch all for someone being evil?
Galdan
I’m not doing that.
Robin obviously has problems. She adopts diferent roles in order to give people what they want, but she doesn’t know how to be herself, how to be a normal person. She shows the maturity of a 9 years old. She can’t interact with other people normally, be as friends, romantic interests or co-workers. She shows little awareness of the world around her, needing others to help her to act with a modicum of logic.
In Shortpacked, it was just she being quirky, but in Dumbing of Age the characters are more realistic, and if they act abnormally, it is acknowledged.
thejeff
I’m not quite sure if it’s really some kind of mental illness or if she’s just not written realistically.
But yeah, it keeps me from hating her, because I just can’t take her seriously enough.
Fart Captor
Maybe not intentionally, but yeah, you kinda were. What you’ve described is someone with an over inflated sense of entitlement, in a person who doesn’t like responsibility despite having sought a career which demands it.
There is no mental illness required. People aren’t BORN knowing what is or is not appropriate social behavior. They’re not born knowing how to take responsibility for their actions. These things have to be taught, and then reinforced by the people around her.
Robin has spent her career surrounded by Congressional Republicans. Even being raised my wolves would have left her better prepared to behave like a mature, responsible adult who actually respects people’s boundaries.
Now, would Robin benefit from seeing a therapist? Yes. absolutely, assuming that one could get her to listen. Most people would benefit from a bit of therapy, even if they’re already happy and relatively well-adjusted. Robin would benefit greatly from it, but that’s not the same as being mentally ill.
And even if she WERE, it isn’t Leslie’s duty to sacrifice her own mental health to help or diagnoses someone she doesn’t know who is invading her home. She already went above and beyond what should be expected of her.
thejeff
Except she hasn’t. She’s spent a couple of years surrounded by Congressional Republicans. Before that, we have to assume she led some kind of normal life with school and maybe even some kind of job – we know she ran for Congress at 25, but we don’t know what she did before then (or even how old she is now.)
There’s no evidence I know of that she comes from the kind of money that lets you ignore all consequences and never bother growing up.
How the hell did someone like her ever get to where she is? Without the benefit of Cadbury Creme Egg cereal.
And “inflated sense of entitlement, in a person who doesn’t like responsibility despite having sought a career which demands it” doesn’t really cover Robin. This is a politician who doesn’t even bother to pretend that she’s not faking it. She has to be told, openly in front of the audience how much to pander. She lists off the personas she can play.
She just walked across town in nothing but a shirt, carrying a lamp marked “Aide”. This isn’t normal. This isn’t even entitled politician normal.
I don’t know if it’s “crazy”. It doesn’t match any mental illness I’m aware of, but it’s not how normal people behave either. Honestly, I just write most of it off as over the top parody. An echo of the old SP Robin zaniness. It doesn’t work for me here.
I see how it’s bothering Leslie, but I still just can’t take Robin seriously as a threat.
Fart Captor
Okay, so many of those years were spent with republicans and conservatives who WEREN’T in congress.
But as for the realism? Have you SEEN the raging imbecile we elected president? He is a thousand times worse than Robin. He’s not mentally ill either. He’s that way because he’s never had to work a day in his life. He’s had money and pampering from the day he was born, and no real parenting, love or guidance as a child. He’s surrounded himself with sycophantic yes-men and successfully used money to fend off any real consequences for any of his actions for 70 years.
“Normal behavior” is not some intrinsic thing that exists unto itself, especially when it comes to social behavior. It’s not this ingrained thing that’s programmed into us. Bits and pieces are, but the kind of complexity we’re talking about is entirely a learned thing.
Wandering around without pants might be hamming it up for laughs, but the rest of it can entirely be explained by Robin having come to have really crappy ideas about how to treat other people and how to behave, and the people around her who re-enforced those ideas were more successful than the people who tried to challenge them.
Right now, she’s also facing some serious denial because a lot of her life is in upheaval at the moment, and Robin just is not equipped with the emotional tools to cope with or even process it.
thejeff
Yes, I’ve noticed him.
Yes, he’s worse than Robin, by far.
And that’s the point. Not only is he an idiot, but he’s mean and vindictive in ways that Robin shows no signs of.
Were Robin’s early years spend with Republicans and conservatives who weren’t in Congress? Who knows. It hasn’t come up. Were Roz’s? Were Riley’s? I don’t think there’s any evidence they were like Trump’s – private schools and “military” academies.
I think people miss my point when I make this argument. It’s not that I can’t believe anyone could be as horrible as Robin. Plenty of people are as bad or far worse. I follow politics. I’ve dealt with gaslighters. There are people who behave kind of like Robin (minus some of the more hamming it up bits), but in my experience they’re all really malicious if you see them without the masks on.
Maybe Robin’s really like that and a lot of people seem to be taking her that way, but I can’t see it. We’ve seen enough of her – like right here. This isn’t performance. Someone deliberately gaslighting and manipulating Leslie wouldn’t be standing here in the dark waiting for the movie scene to play out – they’d be cursing her out and plotting their next attack.
Galdan
“And even if she WERE, it isn’t Leslie’s duty to sacrifice her own mental health to help or diagnoses someone she doesn’t know who is invading her home. She already went above and beyond what should be expected of her.”
I don’t think it’s Leslie’s duty to do anything for Robin, at all. As a matter of fact, she shouldn’t have done anything regarding Robin. That’s part of the problem…
Leslie has been, to a lesser degree, acting as if life were a sitcom, just like Robin: She has obsessed with a politician who upholds homophobic values, hoping that she could “redeem” her, make her see the light, take her out of the closet (it was just wishful thinking from her part to think that she was in the closet at all, it was just blind luck that Robin is really interested in girls) and have an affair with her…
If Robin was merely an ultra-conservative politician, she would just have broken Leslie’s heart…
What she found instead was a ball of crazy. And rather than realizing it upon watching her antics, she kept trying to “redeem” her, bringing Becky so she could understand how her policies are affecting homosexual people, which doesn’t matter anymore, because 1.-Robin won’t have political power anymore, ever, so it won’t achieve anything beyond trying to make her feel guilty about the past, 2.-Robin has a “special” relationship with Reality, and merely confronting her with facts won’t be enough to break through, 3.-Leslie already made Robin feel guilty and confronted her with her own sexuality, and all it achieved was to make her run down into the rabbit hole of reality denial and crazyness… what does she expect to achieve now? Does she think that she can fix Robin this way?
Really, all Leslie should have done was to keep voting for other people, discard her unhealthy obsession for Robin, denounce/campaign against her homophobic policies (which she has already been doing effectively in her classes) and tell Roz to f**k off, roll her crazy plans and stuff them up her butt, where they belong.
Also, I expect all these shenagigans to have a negative impact on Leslie’s life now… to US she is now the woman who either “corrupted” Robin or set a trap to ruin her career… Did she really need to get into that mess? Taking into account the political climate in their state, I expect the religious right to try hard to ruin her career and prevent her from working as an educator.
As for Roz, she has set herself to fail spectacularly. She wasn’t expelled only because Robin saved her ass. And she enjoyed the perks of being the sister of a wealthy, successful woman (helicopter trips, for example). Let see how well will she deal with the loss of status.
Shiro
Ain’t gonna be that easy in this universe, Robin. Shenanigans are less powerful here. And that’s a good thing, I like this version of Leslie better.
showler
I suspect this is where Willis considered altering the storyline just to annoy a particular (and fairly obvious) commenter.
Spencer
I am reasonably convinced that was a joke.
Spencer
But just in case it wasn’t;
GOSH IT SURE WOULD BE AWFUL IF SAYID SHOWED UP MORE I HATE THAT GUY
Geno
Right um SAYID IS JUST THE WORST. HIM AND JASON SHOULD JUST JUST JUMP IN A DUMPSTER FIRE
Schol-R-LEA
I thought that already happ… get rightfully smacked down by half the fans before can finish terrible joke
MM
Together? Um, I mean, YES, THAT SOUNDS DREADFUL.
MatthewTheLucky
UGH, NO MORE STUPID BOWTIE DUDE.
Deanatay
OH BOY I LOVE REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY CAN I JOIN IN
Orion Fury
Not enough reverse.
Sunny
But what would the T-Rexes eat then?
Yumi
Good for Leslie for not showing up and all, but why do we keep cutting back to Robin
Shiro
Cause her character arc’s not over yet.
Yumi
I mean, true for a lot of characters.
Kris
Also seems like it’s gonna tie into the Ryan subplot.
Shiro
Not gonna lie, I’m gonna rest easier when Ryan’s dealt with. I’m a lot better with material that used to be triggery these days, but it still makes me vaguely anxious.
Kris
Well….I mean it looks like it’s getting closer to a resolution but he’s been floating around in the background for years realtime..Maybe it’ll end before 2018? *shrug*. Good luck til then.
Cephalo the Pod
It seems to me that Book 7 is gonna be “the One Where We Catch Ryan”.
Guerisso
Or “The catching of the Ryan” ?
Guerisso
The plot: Robin has a crisis because her former life is gone and still “her” lesbian doesn’t come back to her, then she imagines the job she would like most to do, which is to watch over kids in a field playing innocently and be the catcher of any Ryan before he is able to shove a kid down into an abyss.
SgtWadeyWilson
“The One Where We Catch Ryan” was an odd episode, I mean, how did a David Willis comic character even end up in Friends?
Pablo360
Actually Ryan is the name of an STD. They named it after him.
Yumi
I’ll be similarly glad when Ryan is officially dealt with, though I’m still wondering what that will look like.