Orbiting
Posted on June 14, 2014 by David M Willis

123 thoughts on “Orbiting”

  1. Mr. Random

    Billie. Learning? Yep. Broken.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Nothing that some duct-tape cant fix, right? 😛

      1. Allcool-dontcare

        Amazi-duct-tape stickier and more durable than ordinary duct-tape.(only carried by an amazigirl near you)

      2. Bill

        Duct tape is the Force.  It has a light side and a dark side, and it binds the universe together.

        1. Jerden

          Nobody has ever truly understood it, or fathomed it’s true potential, but everyone agrees that it pretty much does everything.

      3. norj

        I agree Bille should duck tape Ruth to her bed

        1. Oberon

          And then, you know….have fun with that situation.

          But the glue, ugh. And handcuffs can hurt and leave bruises. Best to rely on neckties for such play.

      4. Charlie Spencer

        Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver.

      5. Opus the Poet

        To quote the sig line from someone over on the Wapsi Square forum, “Not even duct tape can fix stupid. It can muffle the noise, however.”

        1. Bill

          I like that, and will likely use it at the earliest opportunity.

  2. ankhtahr

    Noooo. Not such an evil look! You’ve got to get together again!

    1. Yotomoe

      In the series finale!

      1. ankhtahr

        that might as well be decades away…

        I want to have some time seeing them happy together!

        1. Yotomoe

          I actually hate when my ideal couple only gets together in the finale. There’s so much Macking they coulda been doing. (I’m looking at you Fish Hooks (which is a bad show for a lot of OTHER reasons))

        2. Rutee

          Seriously. There’s only so much time you can plausibly drag on a romance. Unless it’s like, 13 episodes, don’t throw the payoff in at the end =.=;

        3. E.R.

          You clearly have not read Girlfriends or Sasemeki Koto

        4. Jen Aside

          The trope is that romance is only interesting when it starts and when it ends, that no one is interested in the satisfied happy lovey-dovey parts.

          …

          *nudges a few copies of Peach Girl*

        5. Snoot

          Looking back, Pushing Daisies did a really good job at dismantling that trope

        6. StClair

          Joss Whedon seems to believe that. One of the reasons I no longer call myself a fan.

        7. shietka

          Imagine Ruth and Billie, you do.

        8. shietka

          Ruth and Billie, and Billie and Ruth

      2. Deathstalker

        We’re trucking on to the finale.

    2. Chris

      Billie just spent all night drunken-caterwauling at Ruth’s door. Ruth has plenty reason to be annoyed.

      1. Oberon

        I’d suggest that Ruth leave Billie a passive aggressive note, but Ruth doesn’t seem to have much passive in her aggressive.

  3. Jen Aside

    Ultra Car may as well fall on Billie right now =p be easier than getting that foot out of her mouth…

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Also they both enjoy boozing, so there is that.

  4. Plasma Mongoose

    Billie’s off warranty.

    1. Yotomoe

      I hate it when my Billie breaks down. Now where am I gonna get someone to drink all my beer and be Both chubby and asian!

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Best Buys?

      2. JustCheetoDust

        Now where am I gonna get someone to drink all my beer and be Both chubby and asian!

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4azt9ZRfq0

      3. nothri

        Well, I’m pretty chubby, and I’ll be happy to drink all your beer and speak in an incredibly offensive Chinatown accent. Will that work?

        1. Yotomoe

          Naw, you gotta be the real deal.

  5. Tacdud2

    Spontaneous decorations are the best.

  6. Viktoria

    Do I spy an Aya sticker in the first panel? Carla has good taste(except in girlfriends).

  7. Yotomoe

    Only her Heart.

    1. newllend

      Good news we finally got the warranty on those

  8. Kernanator

    Ruth, I’m not an expert on conflict management, but that sounds like spectacularly bad advice.

    1. Yotomoe

      I dunno, it could work.
      “I guess you don’t care about the other people in the house and how they might be affected, so I’ve licked all the cream out of your oreos. enjoy”

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Maybe if Billie licked the cream from Ruth’s oreo, she might forgive her.

        1. JustCheetoDust

          If “oreo” is an apt euphemism in terms of texture, she might want to see a dermatologist gynecologist.

        2. Kelly

          Susan dual wielding hammers? Nice avatar, that.

    2. Arkadi

      Don’t explain the joke, will you?

      1. Jen Aside

        ur doin it rong

        http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Dontexplainthejoke

        1. Kaoy

          (1 hour and 45 minutes later)

          Damn it, Jen! I was gonna do things today…

  9. Sam

    Yes Walky, she is broken.

    1. JustCheetoDust

      And out of warranty.

      1. Sam

        Damn, how much does a new one cost?

        1. nothri

          Most of her pride and all of her booze, I suspect.

        2. Sam

          That’s a heavy price. I might just have to buy a different model completely. Maybe another Dorothy.

  10. Nick Piers

    Next time on Door Decorations Attack!

  11. Khaner

    Ruth not dead. I can breath a sigh of relief.

    1. BlackIo

      We already saw her throwing Joyce’s gloves out of a window earlier today.

      1. Yotomoe

        She coulda been assasinated between then and now.

        1. David M Willis

          Schrödinger’s Ruth.

        2. anonymous

          Thank goodness HeisenWillis collapsed the wavefunction.

        3. Deathstalker

          … But what about next strip?

        4. Eukie

          Once you go Hume, we cannot assume from induction that you’ll continue being Hume.

        5. anonymous

          Once you go Hume, you never go boom?

        6. Heavensrun

          Next strip? Hell, we don’t see Ruth in the last panel SHE COULD ALREADY BE DEAD!

        7. anonymous

          MAYBE THE RUTH IN THE COMIC IS A GHOST

  12. CapedLuigisYoshi

    I am liking that Ultra Car design. I know it’s not that much different from the pre-gynoid design, but I dunno, the colors give it something different, maybe?

    1. Jen Aside

      UC has a bit of Rodimus Prime look going on

  13. NF

    I want to learn from Ruth’s school of conflict resolution.

  14. aipom45

    She is also smiling to try to regain companionship something that Billie would never do.

  15. Nick J.

    I like the design of this Ultra Car, it has kind of a Rodimus Prime feel to it 🙂

    1. Jen Aside

      oh hey I can read like four comments down before I reply to someone =|

  16. MrSirk

    This one is a downer 🙁

  17. Bats

    Is that Carla’s room?! She doesn’t have a roommate, it would make sense for the single-occupant rooms to be near each other.

    1. Jen Aside

      In my experience, it didn’t matter. Singles were just regular rooms that people paid 1.5x to 3x[!!!] to have by themselves, depending on the dorm.

  18. Pyr05

    The Billy says ‘listen to what I have to say!’ The Joyce says ‘Have I told you guys how great GOD is?’ The Dina says ‘RAAWWR! I’m a T-Rex!’

    1. JustCheetoDust

      I think I could throw a lot of money at a DoA-themed See ‘N Say.

    2. 3oranges

      But there’s one phrase that no one knows: what does Wilcox say?

      1. Catullus

        Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding?

        1. Jen Aside

          “whiiiiiiine, whiiiiiiine”

      2. Pyr05

        The answer is elementary. “Jeph Jaques is a ~warble warble~”

  19. John

    I love Ruth. And her advice is way better than any my RAs ever provided!

    (One of my RAs once wrote himself up for underage drinking, so this is not exactly a high bar to clear.)

    1. Kernanator

      This is the second or third time I’ve seen you tell this story, and it’s still as baffling to me as it was the first time. I guess he was extremely Lawful?

      1. John

        Nah, he was just extremely drunk. Many things seem like a good idea when you’re extremely drunk.

  20. Horrible Person

    I feel like she set herself up for her own punchlin there.

  21. Dierna

    Oh hey there Ultracar! Fancy seeing both your forms in this universe!…

    1. Jen Aside

      Technically we did in the other one–the chassis was back to being a regular car by that point.

  22. nothri

    Why yes Walky. Broken is a very good way to describe it.

    1. nothri

      Amazingly, the time may have come to GET advice from Mr. Walkterton rather than distribute it.

      1. JustCheetoDust

        Time for Billie to re-visit some advice he dispensed a while back (panel 4).

      2. Jen Aside

        Step 1: Have an awesome girlfriend who likes everything you do, including that you threw a 6″ toy at her head

    2. Rutee

      Yeah. Poor thin; it’s delicious to watch and picture the get-back-together, but damn, it’s a rough road.

      1. nothri

        Then again, its not like either of em have a clear idea what the hell they’re doing right now…

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/invisible/

  23. newllend

    Billie:~ heeey hon-

    Ruth: No! *slams door*

    Billie: *cries silently*

  24. AgentKeen

    Wait, Walky isn’t being completely oblivious? Is he broken, too?

    1. nothri

      Nah, man. Walky’s been leveling up. Spent some experience on ranks in Empathy and Socializing, and bought off a major flaw or two in the process.

    2. Gigafreak

      I… Don’t remember any instance of Walky being oblivious in this universe. Romantically inept as hell at first, yes, but he’s not feigning stupidity to the point of actually believing in it like he was in the other universe. He’s demonstrated a decent amount of perception and intelligence a few times by now!

    3. Bagge

      That’s about the best friendly consern : smartassary ratio one can hope for from Walky

    4. Sam

      He may have failed to see he was favoured since childhood, and that he was going to hurt Joyce’s feelings since she was still near him, but he has leveled up since that time. He grew without breaking.

  25. caesaria82

    The answer to that question, Walky, is yes.

    Also, it looks like Ultra Car is saying that in the speech bubble in the first panel lol.

  26. Wack'd

    GEE I WONDER WHICH DOOR IS CARLA’S

    1. Jen Aside

      It’s the one Ruth’s in, clearly 😉 [she’s doing room checks]

  27. John

    Huh, Billie meant that orbiting thing literally, didn’t she.

    That’s kind of a nerdy thing to say, Billiingsworth. Are you sure you’re actually cool?

    1. anonymous

      POLL: Is Billie cool?
      I cast my vote for HELL YES

      1. Sam

        I cast my vote for NOT ANYMORE at this point in time.

  28. Megatron

    That Ultracar kinda reminds me of what Rodamus Prime transforms into. Gotta hand it to that kid, he transformed into the love child of a Hot Rod and a Winnebago. That’s like the definition of existential crisis.

    Of all the Primes, there was a time when I hated him the least. Mostly because he helped me kill his predecessor. Then he threw my successor (sort of) through Unicron’s leg. So now he’s back on my “get a taste of my fusion cannon” list.

  29. MightionNY

    So… DoA Ultra Car is a Rodimus Prime redeco. Full disclosure; reissue Rodimus Prime is on the shelf behind me.

  30. Kelly

    🙁 Poor Billy. You brought this on yourself though…

  31. Dave

    Walky goes “Dude”, Agatha goes “Gripe”, Ruth goes “Glare”

    But what does the Billie say?

    “FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FUH-FUH-FAIL! FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FUH-FUH-FAIL!”

    1. nekobawt

      idk, billie strikes me more as a “glug”-sayer at this point in her life.

  32. CarlaGriffin

    It was decorate your door day, we just didn’t notice because none of the characters thought it was important enough to mention…

  33. LuckyStar7

    Well, THIS doesn’t bring back any memories. >cough<

  34. JO512

    We’re not allowed to decorate doors at my school. Something about fire hazards banning all that is good and fun in the world

    1. Jen Aside

      Oh, like the doors themselves are completely fireproof? What the hell |=(

  35. saltchocolate

    I do wonder sometimes what it says about the rest of the sophomores at “IU” that Ruth (of the femur-breaking, passive-agressiveness school of order) was some administrator’s idea of the best person to serve as RA . . . 😀

    1. Jen Aside

      You know when a co-worker is an asshole but never in front of the boss and always gets work done [even if by stealing credit for someone else’s]? It’s like that.

    2. Bill

      Sometimes administrators have to work with what they have been given.
      In other words, no one else wanted the job.

  36. Dleclerc

    Decided to go back, and look at all the doors from the moment Danny left his room to meet with sal to now. I didn’t see one clear shot of a door without decorations. Well played… well played.

    1. Bill

      I would like to see a compilation of all the doors and their decorations — if for no other reason than to see who is rooming with whom.

  37. Tingley

    I just like we Dorothy wear a sweater dress- then everyone is. Dorothy decorates her door- then everyone does! Dorothy unknowingly controls the campus.

    That might also be an analogue to Willis’s real life.

  38. Jonathan Woodward

    Wait… [does some math] Who’s Agatha’s roommate, and how does she get away with never coming to hall meetings?

    Amber/Dina share a half-bath with Dorothy/Sierra
    Sal/Billie share a half-bath with Joyce/Sarah
    The other known roommates are Roz/Mary, Mandy/Grace, and Rachel One-Line/Other Rachel (who also doesn’t come to hall meetings).

    (We know Agatha lives to the left of Ruth, so the room with Ultra-Car on the door isn’t hers.)

  39. Beachfox

    Actually really glad to see Ruth alive and conscious. Was really worried Am(azingirl)ber’s brush-off on checking in on her the night before would come back to bite everyone in the ass.

  40. LuckyStar7

    Willis…
    If you have Ruth die again..
    EmotiVampire will eat you.
    (°[“]°)

  41. anonymous

    You know, the name ‘Ruth’, according to a handful of sources I’ve found, means commiseration, remorse, compassion for the misery of another. Which kind of makes the name Ruth-less a sort of dramatic irony because she totally embodies her name.

    1. David M Willis

      Yeah, that’s, um, exactly what the word “ruthless” means.

  42. Kugai

    Seriously, those two are going to have to talk to each other at some stage. This is just ridiculous.

  43. ProjectXa3

    Is that… Ultra-Rodimus Prime?

  44. Lord Geovanni

    I want refund on my bilie

  45. tahrey

    Ah, I remember the spontaneous sprouting of personalised decorations well from my own uni time.

    No-one knows whether or not it’s allowed, or even taboo, but all it takes is one unfettered extrovert to kick it all off, and suddenly everyone’s inkjet printers are in overdrive, their websearches full of licensed images of questionable legality, and their shopping baskets full of art & craft supplies during their next trip to the supermarket.

    Good times, good times…

    The whiteboards are a new one on me, though. That would have been a cool idea. I don’t think the mini ones existed back then.

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