171

Properly
Posted on March 19, 2021 by David M Willis

171 thoughts on “Properly”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    I feel like Robin’s missing a step but maybe tomorrow’s comic has something to say about that

    (maybe… the comic tends to switch focus around this time in a conversation)

    that said, I do feel like Les is giving Senior Level advice for Baby’s First Relationship, though to be fair p much all advice ends up being a lot more useful after the mistakes are made

    1. Needfuldoer

      You, of all people, should know what’s coming up next.

      Oh sure, us mere mortals can see what happens tomorrow, but you must have some secret tier to see two days into the future. It’s the only way to explain the consistently high quality first posts.

    2. oz

      Second panel Robin is 100% right tho.

  2. Sirksome

    I mean I guess that’s good advice, but it also feels kinda lazy. Like I could’ve told Becky it’s okay to make mistakes. But whatever. I guess Robin gets a point.

    1. Thag Simmons

      I mean, “you’re overthinking it, it’s okay to make mistakes” seems like advice she needs to hear right now.

      1. Needfuldoer

        It turns out “take chances, make mistakes” was the only lesson Robin took away from The Magic School Bus, and she’s applied it to every problem she’s encountered since.

        1. I am Nothing

          As long as you’re willing to accept the possible consequences of these mistakes and take the opportunity to learn from them, it certainly isn’t too bad of a philosophy.

    2. Spookyfox

      but ya didn’t

    3. Tan

      It is simultaneously really good advice to someone who needs to hear it and absolutely terrible advice to someone who wants to hear it.

      it’s extremely difficult to tell which is which until well after the fact.

      1. Jon Rich

        I think, in this case, Becky needs to hear it. Of course, it’s easier for us to tell that, since we can see her whole storyline playing out. Real life is much more complicated.

      2. Sirksome

        The thing is it’s really vague general advice. “You’re overthinking things, you have permission to make mistakes” is advice that applies to almost anything. Relationships, taking a test, voting for lgbtq discriminating bills, figuring out how to terrify your daughter into dropping out of college and also getting revenge on the mask vigilante that broke your nose who also happens to be your daughter…..okay maybe not everything, but most things.

        It’s decent advice, but I don’t know. It feels a little “fortune cookie” to me. Maybe that’s why it feels both good and bad.

        1. Regalli

          So in other words, kind of perfect for Robin’s particular brand of politician who says whatever she thinks the people she’s talking to now want to hear?

    4. C.T Phipps

      It depends what horrifying mistake it will be.

    5. Daibhid C

      “It’s okay to make mistakes because it’s not the end of the world and that’s how we learn” is good advice. “It’s okay to make mistakes because it turns out that if you refuse to learn anything and just keep making bigger and bigger ones, eventually people realise that consequences are just never going to apply to you”, I’m not so sure about.

      1. Fnord

        You weren’t expecting Robin to be handing out the RIGHT lesson, were you?

        1. Jhon

          Lesbian Love Sleuth gets relationship advice from Capt. Peachfuzz.

  3. BBCC

    They’re both offering good advice here, but I feel like Leslie’s is more specific to the situation. Yes, it’s important to know making mistakes isn’t going to be a horrible failure marking you forever and ever. That said, when it comes to relationships, yeah, it’s important to think about what it is you want, how you prioritize those things, and (I’m hoping this is where Leslie was going with this) talk to your partner about it and see what happens.

    1. BBCC

      FINALLY!

      1. Sirksome

        Hey someone finally got Sal! And I guess now that the search is over I’m keeping Dina it seems. (Unless I type on my tablet which will always be Sarah).

        1. BBCC

          Dina is a good grav! 😀

        2. He Who Abides

          She sure is ?

      2. Thag Simmons

        Oh, apropos of nothing, the Professor Brock gravatar’s background isn’t properly transparent like the rest of the gravs. Hopefully it’s a problem fixable without resetting the gravs again.

        1. BBCC

          QUIET YOU.

        2. Thag Simmons

          [sinister chuckle]

        3. Reltzik

          Way to rub Sal-t in those wounds.

        4. Deanatay

          [Mutley wheeze]

    2. Regalli

      Hooray!!!

  4. Proto_Eevee

    I want to see a scene with Becky where Leslie is the angel on her shoulder and Robin is the lil devil.

    1. Doctor_Who

      It would be identical to Kronk’s, complete with “Look what I can do” and “She’s got a point.”

      1. Proto_Eevee

        Someone has got to edit that meme into a Becky version.

      2. Cholma

        I got my supervisor at work to finally watch both Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch just last week! She’s now on the Kronk Bandwagon with the rest of us! Huzzah!

        1. Proto_Eevee

          I’ve never had the privilege of seeing that movie in its entirety, I have no Idea what I’m missing out on.

        2. Nayann Martinelli

          Everything, that’s what you missing! Don’t deprive yourself of being a complete human being and watch Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch* in their entirety.

          *You did not clarify which one you didn’t watch, but both are great so no harm in rewatching one of them.

        3. Proto_Eevee

          I haven’t seen new groove. Lilo & Stitch is great and I rewatch it all the time!

        4. Demoted Oblivious

          Wait… is Kronk in Lilo and Stitch?

        5. Jason Rivest

          Kronk is not in Lilo & Stitch. I can only guess that it was mentioned in the same post because:

          1) Cholma introduced his supervisor to both movies at once.
          2) They’re both underrated Disney movies that came out within a few years of each other. Those who like one often like the other as well.

        6. Deanatay

          L&S has Cobra Bubbles, who is pretty cool, but not in Kronk territory.

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      I’ve claimed before that Leslie is angel al la the In Nomine RPG. An Elohite pf Flowers, or maybe Destiny.

      Robin? Lilim of Factions, or maybe Media.

      (Unrelated, And Amazi-Girl is a Malakite of Fire, albeit one with too much Discord on board.)

      1. StClair

        and because Malakim Can’t Fall, it just keeps stacking up.

      2. C.T Phipps

        Robin used to be a Balseraph but she’s been redeemed….ish.

        Now she’s the Angel of Uncomfortable Truths.

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Revelations, then.

    3. Yotomoe

      Naw, Robin is the little Debbie. She’s a snack cake.

    4. Reltzik

      Nonono. The angel/devil dynamic is good vs evil. Becky’s CG, and so she gets the NG vs CN shoulder-advisors.

  5. RassilonTDavros

    Yeah reality is about to bite Robin in the ass isn’t it

    Also, Becky isn’t tagged for some reason, though I imagine that’ll get fixed.

    1. Clif

      Who is this Becky you speak of?

      1. He Who Abides

        Might be talking about Rebecca, not sure.

        1. RassilonTDavros

          Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

  6. Rosicrucian

    Every so often a thing Robin heard somewhere gets dislodged from her head and falls out of her mouth at the right time.

    1. James

      Stopped clock, twice a day, etc.

  7. Wendy

    This is all really confusing to me given Dina’s the one who first offered up the prospect of sexytimes and said explicitly that she would be down with it. Unless Becky means that she wants Dina to have the EXACT SAME level of raging lust that she herself apparently has?

    1. Carla's #2 Fan

      Honestly, the advice Becky really needs is to talk to Dina about it.

    2. Spencer

      You got it, with the added bonus that Dina has to show that level of raging lust without ever acting on it.

      1. Regalli

        Except that then if she acts on it, well, they already sinned once right? So maybe they won’t be in as much trouble for doing it again. Potentially.

        (… Or potentially Becky remembers what happened the last time she and a cute girl just couldn’t help themselves and keep their hands off each other, and when they started making out they didn’t think to make sure the door was locked. Yeah, nothing good comes from this level of suppressing without talking about things maturely.)

      2. Deanatay

        Maybe Becky’s falling into that weird female trope where she’s not allowed to want sex, but can be ‘pressured’ or ‘coerced’ into it by a partner who can’t control their own desires. Never understood that one, myself.

    3. Nono

      Becky is torn between ‘Christian shame’, ‘Need for Validation’ and ‘Struggling with feeling worthy’.

    4. Rose by Any Other Name

      This is why waiting until marriage for sex is a terrible idea.
      I mean, respect to those who pull it off, but it is a really bad idea. Making certain that you and your partner are compatible through testing is an important part of decision making.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Isaac Asimov said he and his wife were virgins when they married. Also, that it is the least romantic worse thing possible for a couple.

    5. miz

      It’s not about libido or level of lust. Look at what Becky says in the first panel: Dina isn’t into her. She is not attracted to Becky. She has said that she is perfectly happy, even enthusiastic, to have sex with Becky whenever Becky is ready, yes. But it is not because she is attracted to her. She has other reasons. She doesn’t look at Becky and “get horny.” The most she’s said is that she “wouldn’t rule it out,” but that’s not a guarantee. And THAT is what Becky is worried about. She’s worried that Dina, despite loving her, will maybe never look at her and feel attraction.

    6. Keulen

      Yeah that’s what it sounds like to me as well, and it doesn’t make sense to me since Becky doesn’t intend to have sex before marriage anyway, which means this problem could be many years off from really needing to be worried about. Unless for some reason Becky and Dina get married while they’re still freshmen in college.

      1. thejeff

        Like miz said above, Becky wants Dina to be attracted to her. She wants to be wanted. Even if Dina is interested in sex on some theoretical level and Becky intends to hold off for now anyway, the lack of desire may be a problem for her.

      2. Segnosaur

        Just because the problem is (in theory) many years off, doesn’t necessarily mean it should be ignored.

        Some people may not want to invest years in a relationship only to find that in the end they are incompatible with the person they have been dating.

        1. thejeff

          Especially if the advice seems to be “wait until after you’re married since the sex thing won’t come up until then”.

  8. Clif

    That’s ….. Surprisingly good advice.

  9. Nono

    I have to wonder how much Leslie is struggling with the fact that part of Becky’s motivations are because of her religion and trying to give appropriate advice while taking that into account.

    1. BarerMender

      I have to wonder if Leslie, after everything still wants Robin, and if Robin’s advice is tipping her that way.

  10. Jane

    I recall the last time I heard someone advised that she should make mistakes while she’s young, she ended up throwing her best friend off an overpass and accidentally revealed that said friend was a lich… It… Didn’t go well.

    1. Spencer

      I understood that reference and kinda wish I didn’t.

    2. Nayann Martinelli

      Is this Puella Magi Madoka? It sounds like Puella Magi Madoka.

      1. Jane

        Well, she did it to break up a fight over whether said friend should break her would-be boyfriends arms and legs so that he would always be reliant on her, when he wasn’t properly grateful to her after she signed a contract with a shady cat demanding she spend the rest of her short life fighting bizarre abominations in return for a miracle to heal him the first time around.

        Does that clarify the issue, run-on sentences aside?

        1. Jane

          Ack, I meant to say “reference”, not “issue”.

          Maybe I should sign a contract to be able to edit comments…

        2. drs

          “It’s not worth it!” — Homura

  11. Newllend(henryvolt)

    That’s the 2nd or 3rd strip where robin said ssomething or gave advice that shouldn’t be right but actually feels like she on to something when you think about it and you hate her for it.

    For Becky it’s good that she’s thinking in the long term and she shouldn’t be trying to blow this but the future is far too uncertain to always be stressing out about thinking that every move your making is the wrong one. Whatever development happens next for the course ahead your going to haft wait and see.

  12. Stephen Bierce

    Today’s strip is sponsored by Tom & Jerry: The Movie.

    1. Wagstaff

      Don’t even joke about that! There was already a Tom and Jerry Movie before one was shoehorned into 2021, and it’s MUCH better than the new one, trust me.

    2. Opus the Poet

      They didn’t even change the title when they did the remake, so which one?

  13. Rainhat

    Honestly, I really just want the Zany-Robin, No-Consequences bus to… at least get a flat, of not crash.

    It’s kind of like Pratchett’s thing where if cats looked like toads, we wouldn’t let them mess up our homes, but since they’re adorable we do. Put a less wacky person in her spot and it all becomes despicable.

    1. He Who Abides

      Kinda like the Blaine/Mike dichotomy from “Season” One.

    2. Jenn

      I mean, she has faced consequences. She lost her party’s endorsement, then her re-election campaign. She’s clearly bouncing back, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t faced consequences.

  14. Jane

    Joking aside, though, while Robin’s advice was pretty good (“You’re not going to ruin each other’s lives by doing this, so worry about it when it starts to become a real problem”), I think it would better as a supplement to Leslie’s more thorough advice.

    Answer Becky’s concerns, and then tell her that it’s fine if she gets it wrong, essentially.

  15. Wagstaff

    Listening to an actual expert or a politician for sound advice. The frequented choice may determine the fate of the world.

    1. Reltzik

      Leslie’s an expert on gender studies and sexuality. She is NOT an expert on healthy relationships.

      …. of course, neither is Robin.

      1. Wagstaff

        Still though, she knows at least a little more than Robin.

  16. Nik

    Leslie’s advice is very important. Once you get to a certain point in a relationship, it’s important that all parties involved make sure that they’re on the same page and are agreed upon where they want to go with it.

    But also, Becky is a freshman in college, and her first romantic relationship doesn’t have to be the only one she ever experiences, so worrying about it being perfect is just preventing her from allowing herself to enjoy it. Not only is Robin’s advice pretty solid for the situation, it’s actually a much simpler, more optimistic version of what Leslie was trying to say in yesterday’s strip.

  17. Nayann Martinelli

    Yesterday I thought Robin was just going to say some dumb shit about not thinking too much about it, and today I see she said some wise shit about not thinking too much about it.

    Damn you Willis for blindsiding me!

  18. Kyrik Michalowski

    While I feel that both Leslie and Robin have a point here, I think Becky also needs an explanation of asexuality/lower sex drive is. She could also learn sex before marriage is ok, that someone not being driven by hormones is ok, and that she should have a conversation with Dina about this.

    That’s not asking too much, right?

    1. Regalli

      I’m now imagining Becky Googling asexuality with the exact same shame and terror Joyce did looking up porn.

      (We don’t even know Dina has a lower sex drive, just a lower rate of sexual attraction to people.)

    2. C.T Phipps

      Well Becky wants to have sex after marriage as a sign she loves who is involved.

      That’s her choice.

      1. thejeff

        It is her choice, but Becky wants to have sex only after marriage because having sex before marriage is a sin.

  19. Sunny Bruv

    Alt text: No she won’t.

  20. Dana

    Uh oh, do Robin’s smart glasses actually work? That seemed smart to me.

    1. Reltzik

      Like so many other talking points from politicians like Robin, it took a germ of truth, grew from that halfway-viable roots as theory, and then sprouted an abomination that can never actually function in practice.

  21. diello

    Becky, Becky, Becky. What I’m hearing is “my girlfriend loves me for who I am, but I only love her because she’s bonerific.” The least you can do is adjust your tuning to hear what Dina’s saying, which is something along the lines of “hey, I get that you’re waiting til your god says it’s okay to bone, and hey, I’m ready when you’re ready.” which you can translate to “god wants me to wait to bone Dina, and Dina says she’s down to bone me when I’m ready to bone her. Thumbs up, us.”

    1. C.T Phipps

      This seems weirdly like Becky has a thing against aces, however unconscious. Her reaction went from true luv to, “Should I break up with her?” I mean, the atheism doesn’t mean a thing. But not being super-horny? END OF THE RELATIONSHIP!

      1. StClair

        Becky wants/needs her feelings to be reciprocated. And right now, her feelings toward Dina (aside from the love, which is) are “oh Lord, I know I mustn’t, but I want to do her so bad!”

        She’s already experienced rejection over incompatible orientation before, with Joyce, and remains deeply insecure about it.

        1. milu

          Joyce’s orientation is not incompatible. No one believes she’s straight except, you know, Joyce =P

        2. RacingTurtle

          I do, but only because if I believe it as hard as I can then Becky will never have to feel that Joyce rejected *her* instead of her gender and that is important to me.* I have plenty of representation in this comic; I don’t need Joyce. Other bi/pan opinions may vary, of course.

          *(If they were real people, my opinion would be different.)

      2. miz

        Becky loves Dina, and she’s attracted to her. Dina loves Becky, and is NOT attracted to her in return. Wanting your partner to be attracted to you is not unreasonable or trivial.

        Becky is a young person figuring herself out, and right now she’s trying to figure out if this is important enough to her to be a deal-breaker. And if it DOES turn out to be a deal-breaker, that’s FAIR. It wouldn’t be because she’s being unreasonable or only liked Dina for her body. As Leslie says in this strip, it would be because reciprocal attraction is something that’s important to her in a relationship, versus other things, like Dina’s atheism. Differences in faith aren’t important enough to Becky to break up over. This might be.

        1. thejeff

          Exactly.
          I just hope she can figure out what it really means before she acts on it.

          I suspect there’s a level of “Dina isn’t attracted to me” as opposed to “Dina doesn’t really do sexual attraction” running around her backbrain.

  22. Robert

    As someone who grew up with a terror of failure, when I look back on my college years I see a succession of truly exceptional mistakes. I survived them all and moved on.

    Maybe I should realize that ‘failing’ is just an idiom for ‘making a mistake’.

  23. Hazel

    Becky’s questioning everything so much that she isn’t tagged. Is she even there? Or just the unsure mold of an shame-filled upbringing?

    1. Reltzik

      She ‘s being used by Robin to compete with Leslie for mom points. She is no longer a person, merely a prop for one-upmanship (one-upwomanship?), and props don’t get tagged.

      …. or Willis forgot.

  24. brionl

    Campaign debt? That goes into the folder right next to Student Loan Debt, right?

    1. thejeff

      Hell no. You can keep fundraising to retire campaign debt. It’s an opportunity to carry on the grift.

  25. wiki

    Robin: Always Here to Almost Give Good Advice

    1. Samantha

      I mean that is surprisingly good advice in this situation scary

  26. RassilonTDavros

    I’m hoping someone will bring up to Becky that the Bible isn’t particularly keen on homosexuality or on premarital hanky-panky, but that Becky still had complete faith that she was right with God anyway despite the former. I’m not sure whether this would make things better or worse, but it seems like a logical-ish point to raise. I’d especially love it if Ruth in particular got to refute her alternate counterpart’s most famous line.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Joyce pointed out that the Bible isn’t keen on male homosexuality but female is fine! – Humor Mode

      But given Becky thinks Christianity is about love, forgiveness, and peace then I think she’s doing it much better. Especially since Jesus’ ministry is all about how dogma doesn’t matter versus doing right by God’s most suffering children.

      But it’s like, “Do people actually think Becky doesn’t KNOW this?”

      1. BBCC

        I know it was a joke but my nitpick brain will yell at me if I don’t say it – Joyce and Becky both believe there’s passages in Romans that condemn female homosexuality too.

    2. DailyBrad

      True, but keep in mind how harshly she rebuked Joyce when she (albeit bitterly and dismissively) tried to give that suggestion to Becky at her party.

      Whoever does try to present this to her, be it Joyce again or someone else, they really need to strike the right tone.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Actually, that was my favorite moment of differentiating their branches of Christianity.

        Becky thinks of Jesus as a rule breaking man who is about the spirit of the LawTM and love.

        Joyce was always about the Law and structure of the Church. The letter IS the Spirit.

        1. C.T Phipps

          Or to use another one:

          Joyce: God is the source of all things God and anything outside her narrow field of godly is evil.

          Becky: All things that are good are Godly.

          Why Becky’s faith was robust and Joyce’s was brittle.

        2. thejeff

          But while Becky has decided that the church she was raised in was wrong about lesbians, she still holds to their take on premarital sex.
          Which seems more like a Law and rules thing.

        3. C.T Phipps

          I assume Becky thinks like Twilight, marriage is a way you say you love someone and its good to save sex for that.

    3. Raen

      Her counterpart’s most famous line? “Act with integrity and there will be no regrets?” What does that have to do with Becky?

      1. RassilonTDavros

        Yeah, I didn’t phrase that well. I meant it as a reinforcement of what Robin was saying about it being okay to make mistakes, and I didn’t delineate it from the rest of what I was saying very clearly. The gist of what I meant is that the notion that it is possible to never have regrets is bullcrap. No matter how much integrity you act with, you’re going to get things wrong sometimes. The only way to truly have no regrets is to… well, stop living. And you shouldn’t use that as an excuse to do things you know you’ll regret, but at the same time accepting that perfection is impossible is… freeing, in a way.

        1. RassilonTDavros

          Note that I don’t mean this as a justification for all the crap that Robin has pulled, some of which was genuinely heinous.

        2. Opus the Poet

          It kinda makes you want to give her a bowl of Cadbury cereal to cause her to go on a hyper fueled campaign of Goodness. The last time that happened in the Walkyverse she cured hunger and brokered world peace until the Republicans undid it.

        3. thejeff

          And cheated on Leslie.

        4. RassilonTDavros

          Technically Leslie broke up with Robin before she and Jake Manley went at it, and Robin only found out about that later because the Cadbury high made her forget.

  27. DailyBrad

    Not bad advice, honestly. It doesn’t mean to just make horrible choices, exactly, but counting every twig snapped underfoot and being racked with anxiety isn’t doing Becky any favors right now.

    She is trying to do right by Dina, but putting the cart before the horse like she has isn’t going to do that.

    1. James

      Robin’s advice is what she needs to hear immediately. Leslie’s is probably what she’ll need long-term, imo.

      1. James

        Oh, I won the grav lottery, it seems

  28. Orangey

    Ok well this makes more sense following the strip from yesterday,o should probably hold off on being like woah becky chill until I see a fuller picture. My bad!

    Honestly not bad advice coming from robin, Becky defs is overthinking a lot of things, hell they might not even get to marriage. Dina might not want to even get married, yknow? It’s definitely a worry that isn’t helping Becky right nown

  29. Bagge

    …this is thoughtful and good advice which is exactly what Becky needs to hear AND the beginning of a disaster, isn’t it?

  30. BenRG

    Robin is being Robin but she does have a point. At some point, you have to be willing to take a risk and actually take action in the knowledge that it may not work out. It is a test of the strength of a relationship as to whether it can survive this.

  31. Mr. Random

    Yeah, who really cares about campaign finance laws anyway.

    1. Eldritchy

      She can always run from debt collectors, like Grunkle Stan, she has the suit, now she just needs that funky hat… and maybe an eyepatch?

    2. BenRG

      No politician that exists cares about campaign finance, period. That’s their campaign manager’s job.

      1. milu

        Robin “Mistakes Were Made” DeSanto

        1. milu

          Oh balls

      2. CJ

        Poor Becky.

  32. Lone Duck

    It was the best advice, it was the worst advice…

  33. milu

    Robin “Mistakes Were Made” DeSanto

    1. Loki

      Robin “I will make more mistakes” DeSanto

      1. Eldritchy

        Robin “I’m making mistakes right now!” DeSanto

  34. Keulen

    Dumbing of Age Book 11: Make Mistakes!

  35. AGV

    Robin had a point untill she talked about her

  36. Reltzik

    …. okay, I guess Robin IS qualified to teach about politics.

  37. Valerie

    Robin was almost wise here.

  38. Sombrero

    It was convincing advice… until the “Lookit me” part.

  39. Plain Marie

    It feels like Leslie and Robin are the little angel and devil advising Becky. I’m not sure it’ll go well regardless!

    1. Eldritchy

      DevilRobin: Look what I can do [performs some sick dance moves]
      Becky: I don’t know how…
      AngelLeslie, clearly aroused: She makes some good points though

  40. BenRG

    I wonder if Robin knows she still has her had on Leslie’s shoulder or if she’ll notice and think: “Oh! What’s that still doing there?”

  41. Rabisch

    Actually… this is a great advice. Robin may have the wrong way to follow it. But has a point. Let’s hope Becky will follow it better than Robin.

  42. milu

    IN DEFENSE (?) OF ROBIN
    I think we all agree that Robin is entertaining, but many also find her infuriating because she seems wilfully oblivious about the heinous policies and the hard rightward yank of the Overton window that she’s contributed to.

    Worse, Robin being a cute goofball distracts us readers from seeing her as an objective ally of the alt-right. So these commenters want her to suffer some blowback (like death, or forced introspection or something) from all the damage she’s wreaked as a conservative in congress. And to them I say: fair.

    But personally, i don’t care. This is fiction, you know? and it matters that we are talking about a fictional character not a real ex-politician.

    Now, i’m not making an argument about how people should read Robin, like who am I to do that. You haters do your hating, i have no issue with that. Robin’s a reasonable stand-in for some real-life powerful bastards, so, that makes sense.

    No, I’m just saying how I read her. I went through all of the Robin-bashing comments and I was like, “I feel like I should agree with the sentiment, but… I guess I don’t?” and now I want to figure out why. (I dunno, maybe I’m just a shill =P)

    Cause like, Robin would definitely be a repulsive character… IF she actually believed any of the oppressive talking points she parrotted as an MP. But pending evidence to the contrary, Robin is clearly not a bigot. Of course when she was in Congress pushing GOP bills, her personal beliefs (or absence thereof) did not matter. Objectively, she was the oppressor.

    And see, Robin would be an easier, safer character if she did also spew bigoted trash on her free time. That would be sobering. We’d all be like, “oh right, she’s a terrible person actually.” Instead, she is an adorably random goofball. She does approach being a perfesser with the same level of hilarious frivolity as she did politics.

    But look, this is a story with a lot of really well-meaning and thoughtful characters, who I feel we’re invited to identify with. Robin is one of the few characters who counterbalance that by being unrealistically nonsensical and careless. She’s comic relief, and thank Willis for that!

    But OK. Comic relief is fine and dandy, but why did she have to be a conservative congresswoman? Why is the silliest character also the most problematic?

    And I think that one’s easy once you think about it. Robin is an argument for having a moral backbone, as opposed to being fun and likeable at all costs— and Robin really cares about being liked, that is basically all she cares about. And it actually is the case that having principles means you’re gonna be a killjoy sometimes. It also means if you don’t, you are going to end up being objectively evil just because you don’t see why not, just because you never a draw a line.

    So, her being a really endearing character actually drives that point home.

    In conclusion (lol), do I want the story/Willis to go karmic on Robin’s ass? or to have her do some Character Development™️? or… in any way to reduce the cognitive dissonance of liking her? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    But I’ll say this: I don’t expect my fiction to be served with clean messages and clear-cut morals, in fact I prefer it ambiguous and impure. that’s what feels recognizable, you know? not simplistic militant parables where people who are bad also conveniently happen to be ugly and stupid and unfunny and dead.

    Anyway, that was my 2 cents I guess!

    (Also, Robin is hella hot, ok i’m out)

    1. Jane

      Personally, I just think of her as having been written in a time back when some Republicans weren’t objectively terrible (not that good Republicans were common, no, but not universally rotten either), and that the author does not appear to otherwise be portraying her as a monster. Though even then, if she were introduced today, I’d probably be thinking “Oh, so I guess this is some kind of alternate universe where we’re dealing with some really toned down Republicans”.

      I mean, she isn’t a real person, the Republican party she’s part of doesn’t exist, and she’s clearly not being depicted the same as Blaine or Toedad. If the author considers her redeemable, or decides she doesn’t even need to pursue redemption for her time in office, then that just means that she really didn’t have any meaningful impact in office; and if she can be a decent person despite having been a Republican politician, then that just means the comic’s Republicans are different from today’s.

      If she were a real person, I wouldn’t give her the time of day. But in a work of fiction (particularly one being written without revision over the course of a decade) certain departures from reality are occasionally necessary for the plot to work without having to derail everything. If that means that in this setting, not all Republican politicians are traitors who excuse terrorists while attempting to worsen a pandemic and get more guns in the hands of mass shooters (all real examples from the last month, mind you), well… That’s probably less strange than reality, actually.

      1. RassilonTDavros

        Part of the issue is that what real-life political events that Robin’s been a player in are constantly shifting due to the timescale. I don’t know how many terms she’s supposed to have served, but it won’t be all that long before she’ll be too young to have had any involvement in the Trump administration at all. Not that Republicans have really improved, but eventually if the GOP collapses in the real world then her party affiliation will get retroactively changed.

        Hell, I know this comic is usually set in the present year, but as of right now I’m not sure it actually is. As of right now, the events of Books 1-10 should have happened in Fall 2020… but they clearly didn’t, because nobody’s wearing masks. And for the same reason, this can’t actually be Spring 2021. The Capitol Riot probably hasn’t happened in-universe yet, at least not until these events get altered by the sliding time scale, and by the time COVID has cleared up enough for this comic to take place in the present, Robin probably won’t have had anything to do with that shit.

        With that said, her own specific stances on LGBT rights are with her no matter what happens to the timeline.

        1. thejeff

          I believe it’s still “now”, but without covid. Eventually it will likely be now after covid. Covid just couldn’t be a thing in comic for a real time year and a half, which would only be a week or two of their time (plus timeskip.)

          But yes, Robin’s political career interacts oddly with the shifting timescale. Originally she was a 2010 Tea Party wave Republican. Currently she won against the 2018 blue wave, which is a much more difficult feat. Either way, she wouldn’t really have been involved in the Capitol Riots since she’d currently dropped out of the race in the 2020 elections. But eventually she will have been in congress for that term.

        2. Jane

          I just don’t see the point in considering real-world political events when considering her character. She was written when Republicans weren’t so openly horrible, and her treatment in-comic indicates that she was never meant to be as bad as they are now.

          Except in cases where its directly referenced, it’s just easier for me to treat DOA politics as their own thing. I mean, what does it add to the comic to try to guess how bad she must have been at a given point based on congress’s last term, especially when that changes without her actual character changing? Based on that concept, she’ll have gone from “Rather scummy, but she’s just toing the party line” to “Complete monster because she’s following the party past the Rubicon” to “Probably an open white supremacist”…. All without her character in the comic changing.

          Interpreting it like that would just hurt my enjoyment of the comic, honestly.

        3. RassilonTDavros

          If it helps, I vaguely recall Willis joking on Tumblr that Dumbiverse Trump died in 1972 of food poisoning from a moldy gas station sandwich.

        4. milu

          yeah good point Jane re:DOA politics clearly being their own thing essentially divorced from real-world events. that’s a way more economical way of resolving this tension i guess i was trying to address in this stupidly long-winded post of mine xD

        5. BBCC

          In a few years, Willis will be able to reference them having happened at one time!

          Yaaaay.

    2. Sombrero

      Robin-as-congresswoman was a take on the “GOP politicians are a joke” meme. A few years ago the meme ceased to be funny, thus by the magic powers of the Willis a series of contrived events put Robin out of politics. Now we can choose between “University professors are a joke”, “former GOP politicians are a joke”, “conservative-leaning closeted lesbians are a joke”, or just enjoy the “all members of the DeSanto family (except Riley) are a joke” reading (my choice).

  43. Needfuldoer

    Wow. I wasn’t expecting Robin to have advice that’s not completely unhelpful. Her tendency toward wacky antics might have spit out something like “She’s into dinosaurs, right? Strip naked and paint’cherself up like a dinosaur! Problem solved!”

    1. Stanistani

      I support this idea without any reservations.

    2. RassilonTDavros

      I’m thinking a lab coat and goggles would work better.

      1. Needfuldoer

        ¿Por qué no los dos?

        1. milu

          give a whole new meaning to “dinosaur scientist”

    3. Eldritchy

      But she has to be VERY careful about anatomical accuracy or else she’ll get Kobayashi-sees-Tohru-without-maid-outfit reaction.

  44. Kaz

    Great advice. Terrible example, but great advice nonetheless.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I feel like that’s a Harry Potter reference, and am torn between my childhood love of my books and my adulthood inability to enjoy them because of what an awful person the author is.

  45. thumb

    Two unfortunately good pieces of advice.

  46. Smooti

    Leslie’s right, but I think it’s also advice that’s a little… difficult for an 18-19 year old in her first real relationship to handle, especially since Becky was unfamiliar with what asexuality was until like, five seconds ago.

    Robin’s advice is actually a bit more practical for the short term? Like. You’re gonna make mistakes, especially in your first relationship, and that’s okay. You’ll figure it out. It’s okay if your first love wasn’t your soul mate, it’s okay if you have sex before marriage, it’s okay if you both wait until marriage and realize it isn’t working out and get divorced.

    … of course that last one would probably be the hardest to get out of, but there’s plenty of people in the world who marry young, realize they shouldn’t have, and get divorced, and go on to lead perfectly happy lives.

  47. Wakeangel2001

    she’s showing self awareness at the fact that the divorce rate actually increases for more devout Christian sects, passing 50% for some of them.

  48. Alex

    I feel like the first panel really shows why waiting until after marriage for sex is a bad idea.

    1. DarkoNeko

      yeeep

  49. Arianod

    *Googles up “retiring campaign debt”.

  50. lightsabermario

    As another flighty teacher once said, “Take chances! Make mistakes! GET MESSY!”

    *now wondering if that line was intended to be that innuendo-y*

  51. GreyICE

    Leslie’s face in the last panel says “I stuck my tongue in the stupid.”

  52. Wonderboy

    All the advice is correct here, to a certain extent. Becky has to decide how important sex is to her in a relationship. If Dina never returns that attraction and that hurts Becky, maybe it’s not the right fit for either of them. Nobody’s wrong in that situation.

    On the other hand, Robin encourages Becky not to think too hard about her first relationship and just enjoy the time they have. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. But she’ll have the knowledge of what’s important to her from first-hand experience. Robin’s devil-may-care attitude is a little reckless, but ultimately MOST first relationships don’t work out anyway.

  53. Lorien Inksong

    I realize Robin’s advice is incomplete, and taken to a blind extreme is lazy and zany, but for where Becky is right now it might be helpful. She’s so scared of hurting Dina that she’s pre-emptively ending the relationship in her head, and also denying her full disclosure and agency. Without the permission to mess up and indication the consequences might not be as catastrophic to Dina as she believes, I’m concerned Becky will stay stuck in this cycle.
    Becky is insecure and inexperienced, so honestly its a relief to see both Leslie and Robin trying to offer advice and help in that supportive motherly way. I just hope it helps Becky do what she needs to.

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