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Other side
Posted on October 9, 2020 by David M Willis
September's second Patreon bonus strip is about what Walky and Carla are up to if we point the camera at them instead of Joyce pushing Booster through the halls. All patrons can go check it out! And you can always pledge up to read tomorrow's strip today!

161 thoughts on “Other side”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    what branch of the family is Booster’s twin from lolololol

    …

    *sees myself out*

    meanwhile, Sal’s like, “yeah, ah gotta twin… a sad sack o’ McNuggets”

    1. Doctor_Who

      I don’t know, it’s quite an extensive family tree, yukyuk.

      We do not know all of their roots, hoho.

      So I guess we’ll have to stick around, teehee.

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        **channels Yakko**

        “Goodnight everybody!”

        **waves to audience**

      2. Charles Spencer

        Please leaf.

    2. Needfuldoer

      I’m going to assume their twin’s named Rod.

      1. Lars

        Powell “Booster” Rodrigez’s twin brother is M. Bison, or Dhalism or … I know it’s something from Street Fighter.

        1. Wack'd

          Booster isn’t a nickname.

        2. Lars

          Booster introduced themself with ‘I just go by Booster.’, after Walky refused to be adressed as David with ‘I go by Walky’. That’s why I assumed ‘Booster’ is a nickname.

        3. Spencer

          It’s more that Booster is their chosen name, rather than a nickname.

        4. Regalli

          Thus ‘my previous roommate’s refusal to respect that is why I have a new roommate’, and made all the clearer by yesterday’s canonical confirmation of they/them pronouns. (Not all nbs change their name during transition – hell, some binary trans people don’t – but being trans generally suggests ‘name of choice’ way harder than ‘nickname.’)

          And honestly given NO ONE calls Walky ‘David’ except his parents, including Sal’s preference for ‘Bro’, there’s a point at which nicknames become your name of choice. Walky’s well past that mark. (My brother has a name that has both Legal Long Form and Extremely Common Short Form – think Alexander vs Alex – and goes pretty much exclusively by the short one. He has no objection to his long form, but if you asked anyone his name, they’re not going to say ‘Alexander’.)

        5. Ana Chronistic

          I have a friend who is so referred to by his “screen name”* that even his mother started calling him, per your example, “Alan” instead of “Alexander”

          *my husband almost exclusively uses others’ internet names bc they’re generally unique, vs. the five Charleses or eight Brians

      2. Sombrero

        Rod Powers has a twin? Oh my! Are they related to Youth Pastor Powers?

        1. Reltzik

          Probably not. If Youth Pastor Powers had a child the same age as Joyce, they would know each other.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Unless Booster and their twin are the youth pastor’s niblings.

          (Willis is going to come in with a weed whacker to rein in the fan lore any second now…)

        3. Kaidah

          Just wait until we meet the Powers brothers’ uncle who’s a captain in the military.

      3. Astaphe

        I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who thought of this.

  2. Octopus Ink

    As long as Booster’s twin’s name isn’t “Beetle”…

    1. Cattleprod

      Booster Gold actually has a twin sister, her code name’s Goldstar.

      1. woobie

        which was supposed to be BG’s superhero name.

        1. abysswatcher1993

          But the president screwed up and now Booster Gold is the name.

        2. woobie

          Michael Jon Carter mangled it to Ronnie, who repeated pretty much what was said.
          I wonder if my issue 1 is worth anything?

    2. Varangian

      If their twin is named Rod, though

  3. Sirksome

    We all wish we could trade Walky for Sal, Booster……we all wish it.

    1. FacelessDeviant

      Walky, the Faramir to Sals Boromir.

    2. Little smile

      i don’t i find Walky Hilarious most of the time, and i hope we get many more strips with him 😛

  4. Chris

    First thought: I wonder what Booster’s twin is like.

    Second thought: I wonder if we’ve already seen Booster’s twin.

    1. Paradoxius

      Hang on, it’s been suggested that Booster looks like Amber’s sexy Batman from Shortpacked…. What if Booster’s twin is sexy Batman? It would be a two-for-one of obscure AU character references!

    2. clif

      There could be a reason Booster isn’t listed with a last name.

    3. Lingo

      Based on the cast page and specifically on skin tones, I would guess that Booster’s twin is … Joe. But that seems very unlikely.

      1. Jhon

        Good eye. RBG values: Joe – 216,194,171. Booster – 219, 197, 175.
        So -very- close. But with Sal and Walky, we have an -exact- match.

      2. Lingo

        Ack, I forgot that we already saw them in the same strip.

    4. Lars

      Boosters twin is Ryu, or Guile or … something from Street Fighter.

      1. Ana Chronistic

        Cammy??

  5. avistel

    Sal is kinda adorable in floof hair mode

    1. Emily

      I love it :))

  6. BBCC

    Okay so now I’m gonna need Booster and Sal to be friends. Booster is too cute and I need them to be closer to the main cast to ensure maximum screen time.

    And uh, Walky, maybe don’t mention you went around telling people that to your sister.

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      Booster got a silhouette; they ARE main cast now.

      1. BBCC

        Yes, but the more connections you have to the rest of the main cast, the more screen time you get.

  7. Wack'd

    Booster ? completely over being somebody else’s prop ? Sal

    1. BBCC

      Yes, please. <33333

  8. Nono

    Booster meets Malaya could be… interesting character development?

  9. Alex Boston

    So is Booster going to be the main character or are they just being used as a convenient intro to the cast for those jumping on at the beginning of this part of the webcomic?

    1. Wack'd

      They have a page on the cast page, which is more than you can say for, for instance, Jason or Mary or Rachel.

    2. Cattleprod

      Oh jeez I managed to completely miss that this was a new character meets the cast as an excuse to reintroduce them situation.

  10. Dunedon

    No shadow update … Malaya doesn’t make the main cast for decade 2?

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      dang, and I left my Willis pinger in my other pair of jeans….

    2. AntJ

      maybe Willis can’t upload the banner and the bonus strip preview in the same box

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        yeah that might be a thing i guess

      2. Kamino Neko

        Likely this.

    3. Fire_Daws

      Even though it’s not shown I’m fairly certain that she’s on the far right

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        Right, but why didn’t we get a silhouette update…?

        1. clif

          Joyce didn’t even consider Malaya worth an introduction.

        2. Needfuldoer

          That’s probably coming tomorrow. We needed all of today’s panels for Sal banter.

          (Carla barges in the day after tomorrow, because she only got two panels so she’s got some ground to make up.)

        3. Deanatay

          Malaya:
          a) Hasn’t spoken yet,
          b) Hasn’t been introduced yet.

          While she appears here, she’s really just background in this scene. I’m sure Willis will fill in the silhouette when she actually becomes relevant to the story.

        4. thejeff

          They’ve posted it on twitter. Might just be that the Patreon was a bigger deal for today.

        5. SuperFroakie82

          I don’t think this is the first time we didn’t get the silhouette update on the same day the character appeared, I think it happened with Walky and Sal too.

        6. Demoted Oblivious

          Maybe not the silhouette, but the cast page is fully repopulated:
          Malaya, Billie, Ethan, Danny, Leslie, Roz, Jacob, Joe are all there now.

        7. Demoted Oblivious

          And Marcie too!

        8. Cattleprod

          Okay, the new Malaya cast page image matches the silhouette, but I couldn’t find the last one between Amber and Danny.

        9. Needfuldoer

          It’s probably Billie, she’s the only one from Dina on up that hasn’t been updated yet.

        10. Cattleprod

          Yeah, Billie was my guess back when that one, Carla, and Malaya where the last three left.

        11. BBCC

          Leslie and Roz also got updated cast photos without showing up so I’d assume the others’ updated photos are being saved for when they make their returns.

        12. BBCC

          We got it on patreon. If I had to guess, it’ll be in the author’s comment on tomorrow’s update.

        13. Diane

          It’s even free for everyone to see. You’re probably right, it’ll be the author’s comment tomorrow.

          https://www.patreon.com/posts/its-malaya-42542385?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copy_to_clipboard&utm_campaign=postshare

      2. Radiance

        Only if she starts listening to Mary.

  11. Renshear Blade

    Put a crown on Sal and you got a nintendo princess!

    1. Doctor_Who

      Bowser tried to kidnap Princess Sal once. He’s still got the limp to prove it.

    2. JessWitt

      So Salette, basically.

      Yes, it’s technically incorrect but it’s better than the Peach-Sal name combinations.

      1. SillyGoose

        Millions of Peaches,
        Peaches for free!

      2. Needfuldoer

        Why? That combination has a Peal.

  12. Stephen Bierce

    *the sounds of S’Express continue on the hacked Muzak*

  13. Schpoonman

    Oh, man, please tell me Sal’s a music major.

    1. Wack'd

      Her bio in This Campus is a Friggin Escher Print says she’s undeclared.

      1. Regalli

        Though in between semesters, now that she’s starting to let go of some of the worst Guilt About Marcie, who knows? Maybe she’s letting herself think about it again. (I sure hope so.)

  14. Sirksome

    I was starting to believe Walky had made some progress with his relationship with Sal, but uh….I’m not sure on the whole telling everyone about your sister’s trauma and criminal adjacent past stuff. I’m not sure that’s something she’d just want a bunch of people knowing.

    Like that was the one thing I was giving him credit for and now I’m questioning it a little.

    1. Wack'd

      Like Joyce, Walky is a work in progress. He’s better than he was six months and/or ten years ago!

    2. leaf

      Just imagine this comic is a sitcom with a laugh track and a lot of interactions will become way less awkward.

      1. He Who Abides

        No, they don’t. More understandable, yes. Less awkward, not a chance.

    3. showler

      Perhaps Walky knows Sal better than you do. She mentioned the five years in boarding school which leads to why she was sent away and she hasn’t been shy about telling people that.

      Unless you meant in the past. In that case Walky was a jerk.

      1. Sirksome

        I don’t doubt that but “I was sent away to boarding school.” is completely different from “My sister robbed a store and got stabbed in the hand.” in a conversation. And he’s even stating that he’s telling that story because it’s cooler than any of his own which is also kind of iffy to me. That’s Sal’s story to tell if and when she chooses not Walky’s.

        I know it’s a gag though so I guess it’s fine.

  15. abysswatcher1993

    The three Ms are Music, Mario games and MIL- Okay, I am not saying that to avoid risking Willis banning that word too.

    Booster must be realizing he is surrounded by people as crazy as the ones from Night Vale.

    1. clif

      I thought it was muscles, malformation, and malocclusion.

      Don’t mind me. I’m still figuring out which one is supposed to be Porthos.

    2. Delicious Taffy

      MIL….kos? Milkos, the Australian taffy?

      1. clif

        Milkos, the Australian god of war.

  16. Axel

    Meanwhile, Malaya believes that Sal is genuinely calling herself “neat-o”

    1. Juanoku

      Nah, she wouldn’t…
      Right..?
      RIGHT?-

    2. Varangian

      all going over to a whiteboard she’s labeled Sal’s Poseur Offenses and putting in another line

    3. Deanatay

      “Sal, if you could stop being such an attention whore for five minutes, I need help moving my ‘bio experiment’.”

      “Everybody knows it’s Fuckface under there.”

      “If you could stop being such an attention whore AND A NARC for five minutes…”

  17. leaf

    I mean, Sal and Malaya would probably be cool with a roommate switch

    1. JessWitt

      Sal would be happy to room Malaya with Joyce, aka “White Lucy”.

    2. Varangian

      On the one hand, free Lucy repellent!

      On the other hand, Walky just got rid of one freestanding asshole roommate that liked to impersonate Holden Caulfield vis-a-vis “phonies”, and you would give him another???

  18. LynziGraye

    I really want to know what the sign on Fuckface’s cage says. I hope we zoom in at some point.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Five words, first two appear to be “do not”.
      “Do Not Uncover the Iguana”?

      1. Chris

        Looks like “DO NOT TOUCH! IGUANA (something)”.

        1. clif

          It could be a ch at the end of the third word, but how do you get a T at the beginning? It really looks like a W to me. See my ninja’d attempt below.

      2. clif

        The third word appears to have four letters. It looks to me like the first line says “Do Not Wack” The fourth word starts with IL or IG and it looks like the last letter is A so I’m guessing that’s your Iguana. The first letter of the last is M or W so I’m taking a wild swing with “Do Not Wack Iguana Moble” even the the very last letter doesn’t much resemble an E.

        No confidence in my decipherment.

        1. showler

          “Do not wake iguana, Malaya”?

        2. clif

          Possible. But would that mean that Sal left the sign? Or that Malaya was addressing herself?

        3. showler

          Malaya signed the note?

        4. clif

          You convinced me. I will now believe that’s what the sign says until proven wrong.

          Or we find out that Willis was just making random squiggles that look a little like words.

        5. clif

          “Do Not Watch Iguana Masterbate” has the same problem with the final E.

        6. clif

          It may have other problems as well.

    2. Varangian

      I believe it says: “Do not touch! Iguana asleep”

      1. Demoted Oblivious

        Adding concurrence to the Varangian. Many people provide a cover to a pet’s cage when they are (or normally would be) sleeping.

        1. clif

          For all I know, you’re right, but I have a real problem construing the first letter of the third word as a T.

    3. tbodt

      It is “DO NOT TOUCH! SCIENCE PROJECT”

  19. Varangian

    It’s okay, Booster, Sal is also mostly snark, she just has a motorcycle to go with it

    1. BarerMender

      Actually, she seems not to have a motorcycle, now. And she doesn’t want to talk about it.

  20. ADLegend21

    got confused cuz I saw this strip already, forgot it was posted early on the patreon lol

  21. Agni S Naidu

    Sal’s hair is supper pretty like this. I think it’s been straightened out but started to curl back up?

    1. He Who Abides

      Her hair is naturally curly, but she straightened it to appear more “white” to her arsehole parents.

      1. thejeff

        Right, but this particular look isn’t her straightened or her natural look, but something in between.

        1. Regalli

          At a guess, it probably doesn’t unstraighten overnight when she hasn’t been Comically Startled By Grades, so she’s likely mid-transition back to its fully curly state (or wanted to see how her parents reacted to this in-between look to test the waters, first.)

      2. Jhon

        When we first saw her natural look, she’d just been startled. Maybe this is how it looks when relaxed.

        1. thejeff

          Though her “startled” look matched her flashback natural looks.

  22. robo

    while we still don’t know how malaya feels about gender these days i’m really tickled by the idea that walky and sal both have nb roommates

    1. RacingTurtle

      …I am excited for Booster to meet Malaya next but had totally failed to notice the sibling coincidence despite it being right in front of our faces, so from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. I can now fully appreciate the interplay of relationships going on here

    2. Jhon

      Let’s have a plot twist that puts Malaya in boy’s clothes. I think she’d be like Haruhi in ‘Ouran Host Club’.

  23. Nah

    Boosters twin will be someone who is super dramatically related to the rest of the cast, I bet.

  24. Jamie

    I feel like I need to start a betting pool for Malaya’s reaction to Booster, but I don’t have the heart to come up with options.

    1. Deanatay

      Wow, your lipstick just screams “I’m non-binary” to the world. How pretentious.”

  25. BenRG

    I think that Booster may feel partly excluded, walking into what is obviously an old, old argument or at least difference of perspective between Walky and Sal. Meanwhile, I’m not sure if what they say in the last panel means that they think Sal is more likely to be a tolerable room-mate or whether they’re attracted to her.

    Meanwhile, Joyce just stares with that wonderful naive joy at Sal that suggests that she still doesn’t get just how bad things can be for her sometimes.

  26. Keulen

    I’m wondering what Malaya’s introduction will be, from Walky or Joyce.

  27. Eldritchy

    Do we get Malaya and Booster fist-fighting for the right to the cooler twin?

  28. Nazmazh

    Hang on… No cast banner update. Does that mean silhouette at the right end is not Malaya?

    Because, especially with the way the hair forks at the back, I was pretty dang sure that was Malaya.

    Maybe this is just an oversight on Willis’ part. Or he’s waiting until Malaya actually gets a line or more actual screentime or something.

  29. Sombrero

    Joyce is not doing much better than Walky.

    “On the other side of my half-bath lives the coolest one in the whole wing. Say hi to Fuckface!”

  30. DarkoNeko

    I’m sure Malaya would love a switch

    1. Demoted Oblivious

      Do you really think she’s into pain like that? Or if you mean to wield, well, I guess I pictured her more as a crop user.

      1. clif

        Crop rotation is important.

        Or so I understand.

        1. Jamie

          Fruits of our labor first require some hard plowing.

  31. Jellytubes

    First time I’ve ever commented cos I had to say this. I am also a twin. I constantly meet other twins in social and work settings. It’s bizarre.

    1. Demoted Oblivious

      At a guess it’s possibly associated with a heightened awareness, maybe a social cue or behavioural stance common to twins that you pick up on. Maybe also confirmatiin bias, because you are one it becomes a more regular part of dialogue which draws out other peoples status. Lastly, you could just be lucky in that regard. It’s like winning the lottery. It’s highly unusual for any one particular person to win, but out of the population of players *someone* had to win. In your case (up until now) you’ve been the person who meets a lot of twins.

      1. David M Willis

        Back in the Beforetimes when we could casually bring our twins public places, we’d run into so many people who’d say “oh I’M a twin,” it’s nuts. So many twins.

        1. clif

          It’s the Invasion of the Twin People. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tkm7gsYimQ

        2. Borkborkbork

          Triplets. It’s triplets that run in my family.

          Haven’t happened to us yet. Thankfully.

      2. asmodai

        Depending on where you live, between 1 and 5% of pregnancies that lead to birth lead to multiple ones, which (considering they are all “just” twins) 2 to 10% of the people you meet will have a twin (or have had one, strictly speaking). This is a substantial amount of people indeed!

        If you yourself have a twin and are talking to someone who does too, the subject is also twice more likely to come up in conversation.
        And then of course, if there are noticeable twins around (say someone’s identical twin kids), the subject as basically guaranteed to come up.

        (BTW, I have a twin brother myself too…)

  32. thumb

    Probably the most consistent reaction in the comic

  33. SpaceshipPilot

    I wonder if Booster’s twin is named Rocket. And they’re a raccoon.

    On another note, do we know yet if Booster is any specific “flavour” of enby? Agender, bigender, genderfluid? Just wondering, because I’d rather not ship Carla with someone who isn’t femme-aligned.

    1. clif

      When it comes to shipping, when have facts ever been an impediment?

    2. Borkborkbork

      My gut is, we’ll learn about it when Joyce learns about it. She’s still often a viewpoint character, and her ignorance to the topic yet genuine goodwill and willingness to learn make it a reasonable way to offload information without sounding like an info-dump.

      Though I’m sure we’ll get plenty show-don’t-tell before Booster spells it out for her.

    3. Shadotterdan

      I would tentatively say that Booster seems to lean towards femme-aligned. Granted, I’m also not too well versed in forms of enby that aren’t me but they appear to be making an effort to appear more feminine as opposed to looking cis.

  34. MacareuxMoine

    Hey, it’s Sal’s real* guitar in the back there.

    *as in ‘not an ukulele’

  35. Smooti

    So I’m gonna go out on a limb here on crazy predictions time.

    I think Booster’s twin is Peter, Mary’s boyfriend. My only evidence is their hair is similar, they both have the dot eyes, and that there’s lots of drama potential with Mary dating someone with a nonbinary sibling.

  36. Pat

    Oh no there’s two non-binary characters in the same panel! Our power grows.

    1. Jake'm

      Let’s hope another hole in space-time doesn’t appear out of nowhere as a result – I’ve heard strange things can happen in these sorta scenarios!

      1. Borkborkbork

        Soggies can take this universe. That’d be the fitting end to 2020.

        1. Regalli

          It’d just sum it up, wouldn’t it.

  37. Deanatay

    Oh, there are MANY more M’s here than just Music, MarioKart, and Motorcycles.

    Malaya, for example.

    and MURDER.

  38. Jenny Islander

    Wow, Sal looks less….tense? On guard? Angry?

  39. Vukodlak

    I have a theory on the missing cast banner. He’s adding new silhouettes.

  40. Jordan

    The three Ms
    Malaya,
    Mooster, and
    Malky

  41. Spencer

    Beast Wars! Beast Wars! Beast Wars! Beast Wars! Beast Wars!

    Gotta change my avatar to celebrate

    1. Spencer

      Although I suppose I should be calling it Beasties, in accordance with Canadian tradition.

    2. Regalli

      *90s synth music plays* BEAST! WARS!

      1. Spencer

        Beast Wars drawn like it’s Transformers Animated!

        I never knew such a perfect match could exist.

        1. Regalli

          Oh gosh I hadn’t seen the art close enough, that’s beautiful.

          That Rattrap. That MEGATRON with his little tooth collar and his smirk!

  42. Bagge

    Yeah, Walky gets that a lot

  43. Daniel M Ball

    10 points to Booster for making the correct taste choice wrt amniotic sacs. (Sorry folks, Sal is without a doubt less annoying than Walky in every possible way.)

  44. Shadotterdan

    I tell people about the time my younger brother got in the dumb criminals section of the neighborhood newspaper cause the guy who’s house he was robbing came back early and kicked his ass.

  45. Cathy Garrett

    How in the name of the devil’s butthole did Sal and Malaya become roomies?

    1. ego

      l’enfer, c’est les autres

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