851

Safe
Posted on June 21, 2015 by David M Willis

851 thoughts on “Safe”

  1. Jen Aside

    …AND COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF NOTES WERE TAKEN

    1. Jen Aside

      also NOW what am I supposed to ask for for my Kickstarter make-out pledge

      1. Opus the Poet

        A different angle/set of outfits? The dinohat on Becky with Dina on top? Use some imagination! The possibilities are endless even with the cast restricted to Becky and Dina…

        1. Rodrigo

          Becky with dina hat kissing Dina while riding a Utahraptor (because a velociraptor is too small to ride) with feathers (the raptor not Beacky) to a sunset with a rainbow!

        2. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          “Feathers on the raptor not Becky” – why not both? 🙂

        3. Disloyal Subject

          I rather like that second idea – Dina straddling a hatted Becky on the floor.

      2. nothri

        Your gravatar makes the answer to this question painfully obvious.

      3. Seerow

        I would suggest seeing if instead of getting a couple making out, you can get a copy of Dina’s notes from this experience.

        1. Nightsbridge

          Amber finding it one day, raising an eyebrow, looking through it and just blushing intensely.

      4. Justin

        AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW CUTIES

    2. DarkoNeko

      becasauuuuur

      1. Kris

        That one wasn’t in Jurassic World.

        1. Wire Segal

          It was rejected as being too cute.

        2. Doctor_Who

          You just know that they could sell a billion plush toys based on it.

      2. Aisling

        “terrible lizbians” made me lol.

        1. gwalla

          The Terrible Thunder Lizbians

    3. Church

      SAME

  2. Camachri

    “You’re cute when I’m angry.”

    1. nothri

      “That’s my secret, cap. I’m angry all the time.”

  3. DarkoNeko

    lolol I feel like I’m reading the comment section in panel 1.

    1. Li

      Not panel 4? Because panel 4 is totally a different comment section.

  4. LiaHansen

    WHY DO I ALWAYS LOOK AT THE LAST PANEL FIRST

    1. DarkoNeko

      HOW CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING WITH A JACKET IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE ?

      1. Captain Batson

        The hat has eyes. Duh.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Oh, right.

    2. Architex

      Somehow I was able to read the whole strip without glancing at the last panel. Imagine my surprise! I reacted vocally.

      1. LiaHansen

        I had that on the big kiss scene in Go Get a Roomie a few weeks ago. Best comic reading I ever did

    3. MeghanTheWorldEater

      This is why I always hold my hand out over the last half of the comic cause ya never know when this’ll happen.

    4. Crumplepunch

      You read too much manga, maybe?

      1. LiaHansen

        I do but i think the problem is more my stupid eyes are stupid

  5. Mr. Random

    I’m just gonna estimate how many comments will be here. >4000

    1. Viktoria

      Nah, ~500. It takes an argument to get much higher than that here, and there’s nothing serious to debate. Now, if Dina’s tongue was confederate flag-patterned or something…

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        that would add a whole new meaning to the term “Deep South”.

        1. Arianod

          …aaand you win the Interenet again. Damn you, PM! XDXDXD

      2. Captain Batson

        The most comments I can think of seeing on here is about 1500 on the one where Jocelyn texts Ethan that link. I feel like the comments on that one were mostly exposition.

      3. Mr. Random

        Finger slipped. 400 is what I meant.

        1. Someone

          I do remember Danny’s make out with Ethan thoughts strip getting over a thousand

        2. DarkoNeko

          The day this actually happen is the day it gets over nine thousands.

        3. Catullus

          There have only been three strips, to my recollection, that have broken the 1000-mark:

          * Danny’s makeout thoughts (1154)
          * The birthplace of the bongo-censor (1172)
          * And finally, the strip where Jocelyne “came out” to Ethan, with a whopping 1416 comments

        4. Oddball

          Well we are already past 500, PAST 500?! Wait…

        5. Li

          You don’t need to put quotes around that. Coming out as trans is a completely legitimate form of coming out. LGBTQIA.

        6. StrawGirl

          I think it’s more that the phrase “coming out” sounds weird in sentences, especially because you’re removing part of the phrase (“coming out of the closet”), and the quotation marks were used to establish the specific meaning, rather than acting as a way of saying that it isn’t legitimate. (The quotation marks in my post, however, refer to “coming out” as a phrase, not its definition.)

        7. Li

          Actually it doesn’t sound weird in sentences at all, and I pretty much never hear “of the closet” attached, but that’s probably because I hear and use the phrase way more than you do. You get accustomed to a thing, and then it just sounds normal.

        8. StrawGirl

          That’s a good point! I know a lot of people who came out years before I met them, so I’ve never known someone directly tell me that they’re coming out.

          I guess it’s just the English student in me that screams that it sounds weird as part of a sentence! I just got my Master’s degree in English, and I have OCD, so I’m hyper-aware of it whenever something doesn’t sound natural to me.

          In any case, I have a friend who somehow manages to work that she’s a lesbian into literally every conversation (if not more than once), so I’m a bit desensitized to the fact that coming out of the closet is often a very difficult process. (And yes, Becky’s initial “WOO, I’M GAY” reminds me veryyyyy much of my friend.)

        9. Catullus

          My rationale behind the quotes because it was not (at least, I didn’t regard it) as an intentional coming-out. That is to say, Jocelyne was sharing her writing with Ethan, and while she may have also wanted to come out to Ethan, that wasn’t her chief purpose behind sending the link.

        10. Li

          :|a I can get that use of quotes. I don’t completely agree, I think Jocelyn’s face while she was mentioning she could send him some of her writing was a face that knew she would be coming out to him; he had already admitted to being gay to her, and she had said that’s not true of her. (She’s a straight woman.)

          So I don’t know… Is it not the ONLY purpose of giving him the link? Definitely not. But I think it’s very much an intended consequence.

        11. Tacos

          We’re almost at 800 as of this post. I wonder if we can get to 1000+?

        12. Blue

          Lets do it.

        13. Znayx

          Exactly 851 as of now. I think it’s stabilized here. That’s a LOT though, despite those ones that go above 1000

      4. nothri

        Not true. Danny thinking about dudes had over 1000 comments, if memory serves.

      5. Les

        @ Mr. Random: 629 as of 1:04 EST Sunday (guess this makes 630)

    2. John

      526 a week ago when the ship was first spotted off Newfoundland.

      The mere suggestion that Dina might be asexual produced some very heated discussion of sexuality and Dina’s history.

      Personally, the kiss is a bit forced (To be expected as a first time thing). But we’re gonna need more evidence, Willis. I mean, I want to see some truly passionate kissing between Becky so I can feel comfortable that Dina is not asexual and just trying to prove a point. There doesn’t need to be obvious tongue or anything just something passionate and reciprocal. We need to see this, Willis, for science; it’s what Dina would want if she were reading this.

      1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

        As I mentioned in the link, I’ve never seen evidence that Dina was asexual – just that Dina hadn’t started down any sexual path yet.
        I didn’t have my first kiss until I was 18. I lost my virginity two weeks later. Much like Dina, I was occupied by other stuff before that and (less like Dina) hated pretty much everyone in highschool. Plus my highschool wasn’t very lesbian friendly – but my college was VERY lesbian friendly.
        Just sayin’ that Dina might simply be a late bloomer rather than ace.

        1. John

          I have no conviction on Dina’s sexuality. I just thought it would be a fun and TOTALLY PLAUSIBLE damn you Willis moment for Becky to be into Dina and Dina to be ace ruing our beautiful ship.

          I love the ship, I want to see it sail, I’m just worried until it’s completed it’s maiden voyage what will happen.

      2. Charlie

        Why are people so determined that Dina is ace? She might be, but why is it more discussed than any of the others?

        1. No Name

          This is probably why Willis made this strip. He, like Dina, is tired of everyone assuming Dina is ace.

        2. Kerouac

          Keep on mind that ace doesn’t mean aromantic. Many of my ace friends still feel romantic attraction.

        3. Aisling

          aromantic… i think tumblr-speak needs to make up a word, its too close to aromatic lol.

        4. Rowen Morland

          Functional but boring 🙂

        5. Em

          it’s not tumblr-speak, it’s an actual orientation that is recognized by the LGBT+ community. It simply means that you don’t feel romantic attraction.

        6. Rowen Morland

          I think Aisling was wishing for a tumblr style version that could be used instead for the language funz.

        7. Dr. Smart

          well Aro is used as a shortened version if that helps ^^

        8. gwalla

          Or aeromantic, pertaining to divination by air currents.

        9. Belze

          I think its because she shows a lot more signs on being ace then she being anything els and to me that would be a lot more welcome then yet another lgbt char.
          That said, I suspect that she just have asperger.

        10. Blue

          ? Asexuality is under the LGBTQIA umbrella.

        11. Plasma Mongoose

          I like the QUILTBAG term better, less syllables and easier to remember.

        12. StrawGirl

          I like the term MOGAI. 🙂 It covers pretty much everything you could want it to.

          http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=MOGAI

          It unnerves me a little bit that Urban Dictionary is one of the only places that has the definition.

        13. gwalla

          Just don’t get them wet or feed them after midnight.

        14. LeslieBean4Shizzle

          Likewise. (in case this ends up sorted halfway down the page, that Likewise is in reference to Plasma Mongoose’s statement about preferring the term QUILTBAG).
          Plus, it was the name of a neat (if shortlived) webcomic.

        15. Belze

          Huh i have only ever gotten it explained to me as
          Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.
          The more you know~

        16. Mr. Random

          Most people use only LGBT, as things have progressed, people have tacked on more and more letters. It’s now… Like eight letters, which is a little unwieldy. So I just use LGBT+.
          But the other letters stand for
          Questioning
          Inter? I think.
          Asexual.

        17. Charlie

          That’s kid of what I mean though, the only way “sign” of being ace I can see are her autistic-traits and being autistic certainly doesn’t mean you’re ace. It’s true a lot of autistic people are, but the media tends to exaggerate it quite a bit. I hope that’s not the only reason people are thinking Dina’s ace though.

        18. Plasma Mongoose

          The only ace I’m aware of the Ace who bashed a dalek up with a baseball bat back in the 80s.

        19. Blue

          I’m pretty sure that Ace is probably bi. 😛

          (Also the amount of Doctor Who references in the comments on this strip is filling my geeky self with joy… as those reading my comments might have already noticed. xD)

      3. Charles

        You can be asexual and still enjoy kissing.

        Or are you implying you can’t?

      4. fudo81

        come on. Willis has stated (or implied, at least) that sexual orientations are the same as in the Walkyverse. He even said that Danny was bi there as well, even if it’s never shown, just to keep this consistent. And you still expect Dina to be the single exception to this rule?

        1. fudo81

          that being said, it does seem like spite is Dina’s main motive here. I hope not 🙂

        2. Mountain King

          She might also just want to try kissing, because she’s never done it before and is curious.

        3. GVick

          I like your reasoning, Mountain King.

        4. PlutoniumBoss

          I don’t see it as a spiteful action, because that’s operating at a social nuance level beyond Dina’s current skillset. The way I read it, she just really doesn’t want to let this opportunity, possibly her one chance to have a clearly apparent social “in” to things she wants to learn about, get away. And this is the only way she can think of to unambiguously express that YES, she would like the opportunity to experience Moves On Herself, please.

        5. Kelly

          I am sure Dina understands spite, and spiteful actions, and that this is a component of why she did it. Just look at her face right before, she is pissed they are talking that way. But I also don’t think spite is the only reason she did it.

        6. Leorale

          As a person who was a late-bloomer romantically and who spent many many years looking like a twelve-year-old, I didn’t read her look as spite, but more as frustration and insistence that she is just as adult as anyone else in the room.

        7. GVick

          Hurray! I totally agree.

        8. Rowen Morland

          Does that mean you are in favour or against Dina being A?

      5. SonicBlueRanger

        Asexuality doesn’t mean you can’t have romantic feelings for someone. It just means you’re not interested in sex.

        1. BlackCatGodess

          Asexual is not experiencing sexual attraction, not necessarily not being interested in sex. There are plenty of aces out there that enjoy sex and engage in it frequently, but there are plenty more who want nothing to do with it. There are also aces that are ambivalent towards sex, but may engage in it for their partners, e.g. Ultra Car. So, it is still very possible for Dina to be ace, but not wholly uninterested in being in a relationship with someone romantically. It is also possible for her to be ace and still enjoy/want sex.

          Tl;dr asexuality only says who (or who you’re not) attracted to in a seual manner, not your feelings on sex.

        2. SonicBlueRanger

          Ah, My Bad. That was my understanding. Sorry if I l offended anyone.

      6. Elva Rdgz

        Dina is not asexual, in the walkyverse she show sexual ATTRACTION toward Walky and Mike. And I’m not talking about having sex with them (as I now is a separate thing and can be gladly done by some aces) but actual ATTRACTION (the I wanna do him and everything).

        She COULD be ace spectrum as gray or demi, but she is not ace-ace. Maybe demi-bi or gray-bi. Or also JUST bi.

        1. Dorje Sylas

          I’m sorry, my brain read that as “gary”. Which morphed to Gary. Which is now a resounding GARY! GARY? GARY. GARY! Which makes me wonder if the Garys of Valut 108….

  6. Plasma Mongoose

    I bet Dina did that to show she ain’t no kid no more.

    1. StClair

      Agreed.

    2. Kris

      Seriously she’s at least eighteen and snarter than most of the cast.

      1. Kris

        Snart = snarky smart. It’s definitly not a spelling error…definitly not.

        1. alicemacher

          “The doctor came in / Sminking of gin (*laughs*) ‘Sminking?’ …and proceeded to lie on the table”

        2. CleverTrousers

          Best song to slur drunkenly walking down the street at 3 in the morning.

      2. Rich

        Smart I’ll give you. Might be 17 though, plenty of freshmen are. All depends on where your birthday fell relative to the school year way back when.

        1. Kris

          Is there an official age list? I guess it doesn’t really matter much but now I’m curious.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          As far as I recall, every character but Riley was 18+

        3. Captain Batson

          Wasn’t Howard 16? And Faz is probably in high school, too.

        4. merbrat

          They were visitors (incl Riley) not students, so they get a pass.

        5. Rich

          It’s probably irrelevant anyway, if she is 17 she’d reach 18 in a few months anyway – think February or March of the next year is about as late as it can get with normal school scheduling.

          Unless…she’s pretty sharp. Could Dina have graduated HS early? I knew a couple of folks who were 15 and 16 in their freshman year because of that, and they were understandably sensitive about their age.

          Maybe an official age would be nice to know.

        6. Opus the Poet

          Word of God was that everyone on the floor was 18+.

        7. Rich

          Fair enough. Makes sense, anyone under that age would be off limits for Slipshines, and he does like to surprise people with those matchups.

        8. Rich

          Although I will say it’s a pity there’s no early-graduate characters. You could tell some interesting stories about them, if the real life ones I knew are any indication.

        9. No Name

          Just because they’re not on the floor doesn’t mean they’re not there. There might be a few in the woodwork, waiting to come out. We won’t know until Willis reveals them.

        10. StrawGirl

          I have known several people to enter college at a younger age, and they tried so hard to fit in that they stuck out like a bunch of sore thumbs at a snake convention. They mostly had superiority complexes because of how ~amazingly smart~ they were.

          They’re also way more impressionable than they believe they are, and they’re so caught up in the idea of “acting like a college student” that they just seem like any high-school student who wants to hang out with college students.

          But my old college is alllllll about getting younger students into college. It’s pretty big on the ego-stroking there.

        11. Lord Stoneheart

          I assumed the freshmen were aged 18 unless stated otherwise. (Dorothy is the only one to be stated as otherwise so far. She’s 19)

    3. DarkoNeko

      Definitly.

    4. newllend(henryvolt)

      Dina: to everybody here…Fuck yoooouuuuuuuuuuu.

      1. fogel

        Or, to elaborate, in the immortal words of Lou Reed:”you can all go take a ducking walk.”

      2. nothri

        “Becky may have my assistance in that endeavour if she desires.”

      3. 6Qubed

        “fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you’re cool, fuck you, I’m out”

        1. imightnotbeanyone

          Never seen the movie, but that scene is amazing.

      4. Joseph

        In two different senses as well…

    5. Tommy Fresh

      Definitely would play into the upcoming storyline where the teaser images seem to show Dina upset with everyone.

    6. Athedia

      All the small frame people I know who get mistaken for kids have that as their one berserk button. I am glad Dina is somewhat sticking up for herself. Well, it helps she is one of my favs. 😀

    7. Doctor_Who

      Dina is DoA’s Suzu Hagimura.

      1. Keroshino

        Jesus…she makes Edward Elric seem tame!

    8. nothri

      Maybe. She didn’t seem exactly put off by the knowledge that a girl was hitting on her. Could just be how she processes information, but still there’s room for it to either be a gesture of spite towards everyone else or a gesture of approval towards Becky. Or both.

      1. Shade

        That is definitely an “oh, screw you guys” expression in panel five, so it’s at least partially motivated by spite. As for how she feels about Becky, she seemed more surprised than anything to find that somebody is attracted to her.

    9. Majere

      It’s definitely at least partly this, but she hardly seemed put out at the knowledge that Becky wanted to put the moves on her.

    10. DrDarkheart

      She’s a squid now.

      1. Oddball

        wait does that mean she has to splatter the room in pain now either blue or orange?

  7. Wire Segal

    THE SHIP IS CANON
    TELL THE MASSES

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      DAMN YOU WILLIS! Now Becky/Daisy is never happening.

      1. Wire Segal

        Admit it, this one is cuter.
        Also, Daisy’s quest for a girlfriend will continue to provide even more comic relief.

        1. newllend(henryvolt)

          *Sigh* 2 Solid facts that just makes me so sad.

        2. Tacos

          So is Daisy sorta like DoA’s version of Aslan who’s always waiting for the bus?

        3. Wire Segal

          Yep. As soon as she goes to do something else, the perfect lesbian strolls right by.

        4. Kamino Neko

          Except she’s waiting for the bust. The beautiful bust.

        5. Wire Segal

          So she’s waiting at the bust stop, for the bust to show. As soon as she walks away, the bust will come for her, but be left hanging.

          Enjoy your innuendo.

        6. newllend(henryvolt)

          Just like Spongebob in that one episode.

        7. Captain Batson

          So she’s on her way home from Glove World, but the bust arrives and leaves only when inconvenient for her?

        8. Tacos

          Have an Interweb. Spend it carefully.

        9. merbrat

          Avatar/comment match ftw.

        10. Rycan

          Albeit no relief for Daisy herself 🙁

      2. Keroshino

        Meh! I wanted Dina/Daisy…but I’m ok with this outcome!

      3. Reltzik

        You’re right. With Lizbians established, Dina/Becky are off the market for ever. Once a particular coupling is confirmed, Willis never complicates the relationship with love triangles, pentagrams, or so on.

        1. No Name

          Don’t forget the dodecahedra. Or hypercubes. Not even three dimensions are enough to diagram the relationship messes Willis is capable of.

      4. Someone

        Of course who says they can’t have a three way relationship?

    2. AustKyzor

      ALL ABOARD THE HMS BECKASAUR! TOOT! TOOT!

      …actually, no, it should be the USS Beckasaur, shouldn’t it?

  8. magey

    This is the best possible outcome of anything ever

    1. nothri

      I disagree. It could be better.

    2. JeremiahTheBulldog

      You have to wait at least 1 day in comic time before making that statement. This is Willis. He does this just to break hearts.

  9. Kris

    !!!!!!!!!!!

  10. Prof Willis

    And boom goes the dino-mite.

    1. Rycan

      You mean the Dina-mite, surely

      1. Oddball

        Lets see, mix a little Becca-glycerin with the little dina-mite and BOOM, perfect relationship! (or at least the cutest)

  11. tbf

    “Call me twelve one more time.”

    1. Safgaftsa

      But carbon needs to be 14 to date…

      1. PINtempest

        I must commend you on your excellent punmanship, madam or serah.

      2. Kaoy

        Nah, that is just in Appalachia.

    2. Rich

      Okay, so the “t” stands for “twelve” but what do the “b” and the “f” stand for?

      1. tbf

        It’s like KFC. It used to stand for something, but now it’s just KFC.

        1. Captain Batson

          Actually, they are once again Kentucky Fried Chicken, if those ads are anything to go by.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          It was also used to be finger licking good.

        3. Rich

          Much like Dorothy, at least in Walky’s opinion.

        4. fogel

          Not to mention NPR, as well.

        5. Kaoy

          Huh? NPR is and always had been National Public Radio.

        6. C.

          NPR has been de-initialized.

      2. Captain Batson

        “blue” and “trains”

      3. Opus the Poet

        twelve before fourteen

      4. Rycan

        Twelve Boron Fluorine… wait what?

        1. Rich

          That sounds ungood.

        2. Rycan

          Well, I can’t find any safety info on boron monofluoride. This stuff does get used, but I don’t think there are industrial applications (hence the lack of safety info). Also makes people think that your research paper is about your unstable boyfriend.

      5. neeks

        “To be fair”, in my experience, is what tbf stands for, but the OP might have had something else in mind.

  12. L!ghtn!ng

    Yaaaaaaaasssssss!

  13. Chris

    NICE

  14. Pteropine

    squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

  15. Daf

    My arms began to flail upon seeing the last panel. That was one of the last things I expected.

    1. pyrpyr

      Gotta agree – just when I thought I had built up resistance for all future surprises, Willis does it again…
      DYW

    2. aiimy

      I screamed, short sharp and very unexpected.

    3. wall-e

      I had the exact same response

  16. SUGauthor

    …well that happened…

    1. -Sentinel-

      Perfect avatar.

      1. SUGauthor

        Yeah, I think I actually made that face when I read it too.

  17. newllend(henryvolt)

    And then she just walks out the room flipping everyone off. Leaving me broken heart for multiple reasons…fuck you Dina you sexy bongo.

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Oh Ya forgot about the bongo censor, but Ya you ruined my ship.

      1. Jepmz

        Censor? Bongo…. bongo

        Oh! That explains the comments from before

        1. Rycan

          Ha! You thought we were just really big fans of bongos? Well, we kinda are now, but that’s the filter’s fault.

        2. Keroshino

          Bongo’s are all the rage these days!!!

        3. Fratriarch

          Fuck bongoes, get money?

        4. Tacos

          Pretty sure fucking bongoes wouldn’t get you money. More like jail time, especially if in a music store >.>

        5. JQuire

          Fuck bongoes, release an experimental jazz album?

      2. John

        Calling her a sexy bongo is really really fun IMO.

        1. Opus the Poet

          indeed >:[

    2. DarkoNeko

      That would be pretty glorious, but probably not.

  18. caesaria82

    Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

  19. Tacdud2

    I hope this ends better than what I am expecting.

  20. DanMan9820

    This is the last Dumbing of Age strip I’ll get to read for the next week.

    God dammit.

    1. Kelly

      That’s rough buddy

      1. Keroshino

        Dammit…I read this in zuko’s voice. lol

    2. Karen Lynn

      At least when you can read them again, you’ll won’t have to wait page by page!

      1. Karen Lynn

        … I’m not sure which sentence I was writing at the time, but it is still better than my sleep texts and emails.

    3. Bagge

      On the other hand, you will have the best head-canon for a week.

  21. StClair

    20 comments and not one “clever girl” yet.
    *tsks*

    1. Taigan

      Actually, the quote going through my mind is “Life finds a way.”

      1. Siddlaw

        “T Rex doesn’t want to feed. He wants to hunt.”

        1. Lucina

          The exact quote is “it”. Certainly wouldn’t be “he”, as all the animals in Jurassic Park were female.

          As a side note, I despise that quote and the complete ignorance for animal behavior it displays. As though any hungry animal would turn down free food in favor of wasting precious energy to chase it down. I mean, I understand if it was boredom, but the implication is that a predator will always opt to hunt over getting a free meal, which is ludicrous.

        2. Karen Lynn

          But… All the fun is in the chase! And the food may not have been as fresh as it could have been.

        3. Lucina

          Okay, but you’re looking at this from the point of view of humans, who have had the regular luxury of not needing to hunt for thousands of years. For animals, hunting is a regular necessity, not a pleasurable activity. Most of the time, they’re perfectly happy with being fed.

        4. Opus the Poet

          That depends on where you live, some cultures have needed to hunt until just a few decades ago or less, some still do unless someone buys them preserved food and ships it to them.

        5. Lucina

          The person i was replying to is on the internet. They almost definitely live somewhere where they have not needed to hunt for a very long time.

        6. Karen Lynn

          Need to? Nah, not in the least. Still enjoy it, though. I do see your point.

        7. Kryss LaBryn

          When I was a kid our cat was hunting/playing with a mouse in the back yard. I helped the cat catch the mouse by stomping on it in my gumboots (I was I dunno, three or so). The cat promptly turned his nose up at it and walked away.

          He certainly wasn’t hungry (he was fed twice a day); he’d just been enjoying his toy before I broke it.

          (Then Mum told me that had been an awful thing to do–she was in the yard too–and pointed out that the mouse I had just killed was the same kind of mouse as Timmy Willy in the Beatrix Potter book, which I loved. Made me bawl my eyes out. I still feel bad about it, not least because the bloody cat didn’t even eat it so its death was a complete waste.

          (Poor little Timmy Willy. Sorry, man. –Anyways, sometimes animals do seem to just hunt for the fun of the chase and never mind the meat.)

        8. Lucina

          There’s a difference between hunting for fun occasionally and turning down free food for it. I don’t deny that tyrannosaurs, especially in captivity, may take joy in hunting, or even do it for fun. But like your pet cat probably didn’t turn down his meals in favor of hunting a mouse, the T. rex would not turn down the goat on a silver platter because it “wants to hunt”. If it’s hungry, it will eat. Or, if it’s not eating, it could be stressed, or sick, or hurt. It’s certainly not avoiding food because it can’t see the benefit to a free lunch.

        9. SilentSooYun

          Also, T. Rex is believed by some to have been a scavenger, not a predator, ’cause of those useless forelimbs. Or at the very most, an “opportunistic carnivore”.

          Either way, “Free goat. Go me.”

        10. Lucina

          More evidence points to a hunting rex than pure scavenger, but then again, there are few pure hunters in nature, because, as mentioned, animals don’t usually turn down free food. It is, however, notable that even Jack Horner, key proponent of the scavenger rex hypothesis, admits to doing it for the sake of argument. We have healed tyrannosaur bite marks on Triceratops fossils (which implies it was attacked by a T. rex while alive, thus being hunted) and speed estimates place T. rex as at least being faster than most of its likely prey candidates.

        11. Christina

          Dina?

        12. Siddlaw

          Ya try to make a joke about hunting for the sex (consenual of course) and this bullshit happens.

        13. LiaHansen

          +1

      2. thecanvashat

        See, you can show two people the same strip and they will think of different Jurassic Park quotes. That’s chaos theory.

        1. StClair

          “How did you do this?”
          “I’ll show you.”

        2. Kris

          See what you’ve done StClaire. “Before you even knew what you had you patented it, packaged it, slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you’re selling it! You’re selling it!”

      3. Plasma Mongoose

        Must be that frog DNA. 😀

        1. fogel

          Jurassic Frog Park!!!

    2. newllend(henryvolt)

      I wonder what Dina thought about Jurassic World?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Depends on how many dinosaurs were feathered…

        1. Tacos

          I’ve not seen the movie yet but judging from the trailers, none are feathered.

        2. saki

          I went to see it the other day and I can confirm there are no feathered dinos. They do kind of sort of fly over an explanation as to why; they basically genetically engineered their dinosaurs to look as scary as possible. Something along the lines of “Noone wants to see a birdosaur” (heavily paraphrasing).

        3. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          That’s a ridiculous explanation. Scaly=cute. Feathers=duck-level psychopath.

        4. saki

          I think the fear is they would look like big fluffy chickens. I guess the look would depend on the feathers’ colours, sizes, how densely the are spread over the body etc. So, would they look like these adorable fluffy things or these horrific creatures.

          Bonus dino: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130322125241/jurassicpark/images/0/05/Science-ruined-dinosaurs_medium.jpg

        5. Kamino Neko

          Not only are there no feathered dinos, there are tail draggers. The franchise has actually gone backwards in terms of modern scientific accuracy.

        6. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          Also, the Dimetrodon is less accurate than reconstructions made in Victorian times.

        7. Mel

          I’m feeling so angry right now reading these two comments.

        8. Lucina

          I don’t want to make assumptions, but I feel like you mean “Dimorphodon”, in which case, you’re correct. I don’t remember a Dimetrodon in Jurassic World.

        9. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          Yeah, sorry about that.

        10. StrawGirl

          It made me angry that they had a pterasaur with a T. rex head. I looked at the Jurassic World website (which is AMAZING) and saw the name, so I looked it up and cried inside.

          Even my boyfriend thought it wasn’t a real dinosaur.

          BUT one of the good things about the movie is that they account for the lack of realism through the explanation of their genetics process.

        11. Roborat

          After watching the second and third movies, I thought that someone should have been feathered, after being dipped in tar first.

        12. newllend(henryvolt)

          Ya I bet Dina was one of the fuckers who called bullshit on Steven Spielberg for Making 10 foot tall Raptors in Jurassic park because there was “no such thing” but then had to instantly shut the fuck up when someone found a 10 foot tall Raptor skeleton.

        13. LeslieBean4Shizzle

          Um, if I remember correctly, the issue wasn’t that there were no 10-ft tall raptor-like dinosaurs, it was the fact that they aren’t called “velociraptors” but some other name like utah raptor or deinonychus or somesuch. Because velociraptor specifically means the smaller kind where as the other two mean the larger kinds.

        14. Spiny Creature

          Yeah, but in the ’80s when Jurassic Park was written (and ’93, when the movie was made), people hadn’t discovered Utahraptor or the dromeosaurids yet. They had just discovered a really big raptor, and paleontologists were calling it an unknown velociraptor species.

          That’s the problem – not that Jurassic Park uses bad paleontology. It uses cutting-edge paleontology… from 1993. And now they don’t want to contradict their own movie canon, since the “velociraptors” are their main villain.

        15. Kelly

          The JP movie raptors are the wrong size regardless. Deinonychus was bigger than Velociraptor, but still smaller than the movie raptors. Utahraptor is considerably larger than the JP movie raptors.

        16. That Damn Rat

          There were always larger raptor-like species, the point is that they weren’t velociraptors, which are the size of chickens. Deinonychus was one of my favourite dinosaurs from an early age, and I couldn’t quite understand why the were not just calling the raptor that, because that’s the real dinosaur they most resemble.

        17. Bagge

          I like how any Dina strip always contain a discussion about dinosaurs. It feels respectful to the character. You go.

        18. Tacos

          There seems to be only two constants when it comes to the comments section. 1) Any strip about Dina will cause people to comment about dinosaurs. 2) Any strip that calls soda, “pop” will cause people to comment about what they call it.

        19. Karen Lynn

          Why do y’all keeping calling cokes all these funny words? C:

        20. Random832

          What’s weird is that I live in Indianapolis, which according to the map is an island of “Coke” in the middle of a sea of “Pop”, but neither I nor anyone else I know calls it anything but “Soda” and I’ve literally never heard “Coke” refer to anything other than Coca-cola brand products.

        21. StClair

          Random832: Yeah, I’m in Oregon, supposedly solid blue “pop” territory, but it’s “soda” to everyone I know.

        22. Captain Batson

          What about the ones based in cereal, friendship, or that beach party? Now that I think about it, she actually shows up rather frequently without mentioning dinosaurs.

        23. Tacos

          Yeah that always annoyed me. I just assumed they called them Velociraptors because it rolls off the tongue easier and it sounds more dangerous than Deinonychus.

        24. ThatGuy

          yep. Even if for some reason one cant say “vee-los-i-rap-tor” anyone can say “raptor” (see Rugrats and “Reptar”). But “Die-non-ih-chus”? yea. I mispronounced it till i was 20 and heard Walking with Dinosaurs pronounce it different.

          Just like how Starlord doesnt like the name “indominous rex” and is called out “You ever hear a 4 year old try to say (impossible to pronounce name here)”. Those movies are about Capitalism ruining one of the great miracles of science, via creating genetic monsters that are made from Dino DNA, its not about dinosaurs 😉

        25. Kamino Neko

          AIUI, the Velociraptors in the book were meant to be Deinonychus. But Crichton’s research included someone who lumped the two genera together, so he thought Deinonychus were Velociraptors, not just a related genus.

          Then the movie upscaled them even more and brought them into the range of Utahraptor.

        26. Oddball

          Dina, would approve of all this above talk of dinosaurs and relative sizes and all of this -assic talk, keep it up people!

        27. David M Willis

          dina was born 4 years after jurassic park came out

        28. MeghanTheWorldEater

          …I’m older than Dina?…This is a strange feeling…

        29. Kamino Neko

          The strip is set in the (almost) present, so (currently) all the freshmen were born in 1997.

        30. MeghanTheWorldEater

          That means when the comic started I was younger thanks to the sliding timescale… that makes it even weirder.

        31. Kamino Neko

          Comic book time will do that, yeah.

        32. Captain Batson

          Just like meeeeeeeeeeeeee

        33. Karen Lynn

          Don’t worry. Just eat a world or two. You’ll be fine.

        34. MeghanTheWorldEater

          I try but that stupid dragonborn always stops me >.>

        35. SilentSooYun

          Imagine how I feel… I’m older than Glasso 😛

        36. Plasma Mongoose

          “Dina was born 4 years after Jurassic Park came out”

          That may be true THIS YEAR but when DOA started, Dina would have to have been born BEFORE Jurassic Park came out for her to being 18.

        37. David M Willis

          why is that relevant to how this comic strip’s time works

        38. Plasma Mongoose

          You said yourself that you wanted to avoid dating DoA beyond 20XX and saying Dina was born 4 years after JP locks to a particular year.

        39. David M Willis

          Dumbing of Age takes place in the present year, always. Right now, Dina was born four years after Jurassic Park. Next year, ask me the same question, and I will tell you five.

        40. Lucina

          …this sounds suspiciously like it was informed by a tumblr post that was at least 95% bullshit. The issue with Jurassic Park’s raptors is that they were labeled Velociraptor, modeled after Deinonychus (which was once thought to be a species of Velociraptor), and bigger than either. Utahraptor was discovered the next year, and still wasn’t the same size as the JP raptors (it was larger) and it was erroneous regardless to call them Velociraptor. It was nowhere near as simple an issue as “he made the raptors too big but then they discovered big raptors so it was all okay”.

          As for how Dina felt about Jurassic World, I’d imagine she’d be disappointed to see a dinosaur film released over twenty years after the original with, in some ways, worse dinosaur science than the original, incorporating few to none of the fascinating discoveries made in the past two decades.

          She’d still watch it, however, because dinosaurs.

        41. Kelly

          One of the best posts in this thread!

          As for JW, I argue they aren’t really dinos at this point, just monsters. If I do go see it I certainly plan to treat it like a monster movie.

        42. Lucina

          Maybe treating it as a monster movie would have made some of its more questionable aspects more tolerable. Not sure even that could save the ridiculous ending, though.

        43. Smashwidget

          it may have been ridiculous, but it was super cool.

        44. Tacos

          That is exactly how I plan to treat the movie whenever I get the free time to go see it.

        45. Keroshino

          Well, feathered dinosaurs are pretty lame so…yeah

          I prefer my dinosaur’s of the Jurassic Park/World type 😛

        46. Lucina

          Thanks, Walky.

        47. Kelly

          Feathered dinos are lame? Remember that kid at Grant’s dig that wasn’t impressed?

        48. Lucina

          My favorite aspect of the original Jurassic Park is that it managed to predict its own obnoxious fanbase.

        49. newllend(henryvolt)

          “Well Fuck anyone who puts feathers of my dinosaurs! everybody leave your all grounded. “-Matt McMuscles.

        50. ThatGuy

          saddinosaurfacts.tumblr prefers to refer to them as “Murdercrows”

          also

          http://tm.tm-cdn.com/photos/theatermania/v1/94868.jpg

          http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–RuFidBuN–/18cfnt1gqz1zhjpg.jpg

          http://www.indiaonrent.com/forwards/d/dinosaurs-evolution/res/986oj3.gif

          http://cdnph.upi.com/sh/th/i/UPI-11091333575150/2012/13335736642404/Feathered-dinosaur-find-is-biggest-yet.jpg

        51. No Name

          ahem

        52. Kamino Neko

          I really don’t understand the idea that ‘feathered dinosaurs are lame’.

          Clearly, it’s not the feathers that are supposed to make them lame, as several birds are common symbols of strength, skill, or beauty (even ignoring the fact that birds ARE feathered dinosaurs).

          It’s clearly not the dinosaur part, as these people are complaining that the feathers make the dinos less cool, not that the dinos make the feathers less cool.

          So, how is it that somehow adding feathers to dinosaurs makes them ‘lame’?

        53. Random832

          It’s because most people imagine the feathers as a tacked-on addition to a shoddy reconstruction built on the assumption that they were reptilian.

        54. StClair

          also, (most) (modern) birds are rather little things compared to us, let alone their saurian ancestors, and we don’t exactly consider finches, jays or pigeons to be majestic or cool or threatening.

          but as A Bug’s Life shows, this is only a matter of scale.

        55. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          If more people saw emus or footage of attacks by chickens/geese/ducks, they would realize that even the birds that are currently living are more than capable of [insert graphic violence here].

      2. Bicycle Bill

        This might answer your question.

        1. Random832

          Of course, what she doesn’t mention is that the work of John Williams is great no matter what problems the movie it appears in may have.

        2. Bicycle Bill

          Amen to that!!  Witness “1941” as an even more glaring example.

        3. Alan Lafond

          Funny, I was thinking more Jimmy Webb than John Williams. 😉

      3. Kelly

        Forgiving JP its scientific mistakes is one thing. JW is on a totally different level of bad science. I am sure she has no love for it.

        1. That Damn Rat

          Particularly as Jurassic Park was made long enough ago that the the masses of feathered dinosaur fossils in China hadn’t been found yet. Prior to that we really only had the few Archeopteryx fossil to go on suggesting the transition between birds and dinosaurs, so it wasn’t known when feathers started to be a thing.
          Also the DNA extraction from fossils was only recently shown to be impossible. And even then really only by doing the math.

        2. DarkoNeko

          As Aaron Diaz puts it :
          「Jurassic park was about resurrecting dinosaurs.
          Jurrasic world is about resurrecting a franchise」

        3. Kamino Neko

          JP was actually fairly accurate to what was believed at the time (about dinos, anyway…Crichton’s understanding of chaos theory was pretty much Not Even Wrong), although the movie took some liberties – the size of the raptors, for instance – and Science Marches On means a chunk of the then-accurate science is now known to be inaccurate.

        4. maarvarq

          Why did you capitalise “Not Even Wrong”? I thought it must have been a TvTropes trope, which it isn’t, although is.

        5. maarvarq

          Goddamit, Science Marches On is.

        6. Kamino Neko

          Not even wrong is something that comes up in scientific (and pseudoscientific) discussions.

          ‘Your argument is not only not right, it’s not even wrong.’ It’s something that’s just so thoroughly out of whack with reality that it can’t even be evaluated on a right/wrong scale.

          (The capitalization is just a quirk of mine…as it’s a stock phrase, not a novel coinage of mine, I marked it to stand out.)

    3. timemonkey

      We’re waiting for the other Dinas to attack from the sides while this one has the prey distracted.

      1. StClair

        best answer.

      2. Drakey

        Dammit, you just won. I was really hoping to get the all time high score for being a human, but there you go snatching it out from under me.

        Oh well. Guess I’ll just settle for second place.

  22. Geoffrey

    I must comment for my first time to simply say:

    Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss!

    (Also I love the angry Dina eyes in panel 5)

  23. Lucina

    i hope she’s not just doing this in retaliation to their infantilization. i mean, i fully support a big “fuck you” to their infantilization just because she loves dinosaurs and doesn’t quite get people, but i also want this to be the beginning of a happy and meaningful relationship for her

    ESPECIALLY if this sets the stage for next chapter

    1. Joshua503

      Probably done as a “Fuck you”, but she would probably be interested in starting a relationship with Becky if only for her efforts to interact socially more.

    2. Dana

      I rather expect this strip to be followed up with “You’re into girls?” “I do not know.”

      1. saltchocolate

        Revised Dina answer: ” . . . Yes, I just discovered that I am.”

    3. Skull025

      As I currently understand it, Dina is expressing her genuine interest. Everyone is saying she’s “twelve”. To the cast, It’s weird to treat her as an emotional equal. Becky does not have this preconceived bias, as well as having huge intrinsic motivation to freely express her attractions, due to the fact that she was incapable of expressing them before.

      Basically, Dina’s kiss is a simultaneous fuck you and expression of complex emotions. Whether her interest in Becky is real or not will be told with time. However, Dina’s character leads me to believe that she wouldn’t make such a judgement rashly, and would make such a bold a statement as a kiss only if real emotional weight was held to it.

      But what do I know? I’m reading Dumbing of Age while literally tripping balls.

      1. airyu

        How… do you literally trip balls? This raises so many questions. What kinds of balls? Where are they taking you on this trip?

        1. Skull025

          I’ll answer in order. Two tabs. Kinda hairy. Apparently to the internet.

  24. Blue

    WOAH!

    (not sure whether Dina meant it or was doing it to prove a point, but I am interested in where this goes)

  25. les-be-friends dinosaurs

    …..yay~

  26. Captain Batson

    This is doomed, I just know it.

    1. RickZarber

      Dina Saruyama: Heartbreaker

      1. Chubsius

        Dream maker…

        1. DarkoNeko

          Dino preacher.

        2. Captain Batson

          Don’t you mess around with me

        3. Roborat

          – Cool guitar riff

  27. Kamino Neko

    Now I’m imagining Willis cackling maniacally at the discussion after these two started talking.

    1. DarkoNeko

      Then again, who wouldn’t ? 😀

  28. Thanks, I'll Have Another!

    THE CLEVEREST OF GIRLS

    1. StClair

      THERE we go.

    2. M-M

      Did you sneak a gunnerkrigg court reference in there?

  29. Undrave

    Make that the Terrible Thunder Lizbians!!

    And I think Dina has just had it with people thinking she’s a kid just because she’s akward. She’s an adult now dangit and if she wants to talk dinosaur and eats cereal it’s her frickin’ buisness! And if she wants to kiss the cute redhead who seems interested then it’s her buisness too! GRR.

    GO FOR IT DINA! Kiss her! Kiss her in the FAAAAAAAACE!

    1. Zaidyer

      “Hey Bill!”
      “What is it, Scooter?”
      “I want to show you my newest invention!”
      “Oh boy, here we go…”
      “I call it, ‘the ship!’ See? See, Bill?”

      1. Opus the Poet

        Gawds, I haven’t seen that show in ages, but I knew just who you were talking about… Can’t remember the name of the show, and I’m still trying to figure out what they made the ice cream from, but that was a good show…

        1. StClair

          “when does the hurting stop?”

    2. caesaria82

      This comment is super great and it makes me happy and I agree with it.

    3. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      “Make that the Terrible Thunder Lizbians!!”
      … best comment so far. Bravo.

  30. shadowcell

    velesboraptor

    1. Blue

      +1

    2. JessWitt

      Yes, yes!! A hundred million years yes!!

    3. brionl

      I approve this ship name.

    4. EvergreenFir

      ha nice

  31. Plasma Mongoose

    Is this a real launch of a new ship or will the champagne bottle sink it just like that next comic?

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Anything can happen at this point to be honest.

    2. Kris

      I don’t think it will be that bad. They might not start dating but I saw a connection at least leading to friendship.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Becky was kinda saying “I could care less about dino, I was just maintaining conversation so she wouldn’t panic”, tho.

        1. Rycan

          Maybe, but pretty much nobody else that I can remember has actually carried on a conversation like that with Dina.

        2. Torra

          It was more her saying “instead of hitting on her like I wanted to, I tried to make her feel more comfortable by talking about her interests” even if she wasn’t that interested, it was still a nice thing to do

  32. Tacos

    I…. uh, I’m not sure what to say. Though I kinda like “Beckasaur” as a ship-name.

  33. MegaBee

    Clever girl…

  34. Black Bumblebee

    And thus, we now know why the dinosaurs went extinct: they were all in lesbians with one another, and thus could not procreate :-p

    1. neeks

      No way man, life finds a way, haven’t you seen the first “Jurassic park” movie?

      Granted humans haven’t quite figured out homosexual reproduction outside of a laboratory, but still.

    2. ozaline

      because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female.

      1. Roborat

        Well, they started out that way.

  35. Rodimiss

    GASP.

    PLEASE LET THIS NOT END IN DISASTER.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      I see an asteroid heading this way…

      1. DarkoNeko

        An astéroide named DIna.

    2. podian

      This is Dumbiverse.

      1. StrawGirl

        Your avatar seems equally cynical.

  36. ChocolateRat

    I love this. 😀 Yay for when a pairing seems to be working out. Becky and Dina will be cute together. And Becky looks really pretty here.

    Also, I just want to say I really love Willis’ colouring of the comics. It’s just so pleasant and nice.

  37. Steve C.

    *sigh* I really hope that Dina’s at least a bit bi-curious and didn’t do that just to prove a point. Life has messed with Becky’s head far too much already.

    1. ChocolateRat

      Oh no, I didn’t consider that at all, I hope she’s interested in Becky too, I didn’t consider that she might just be reacting without thinking to people calling it weird.

      1. Captain Batson

        Oh, no, look at those angry eyes, she definitely thought about it, but probably not as thoroughly as would be preferable.

        1. ChocolateRat

          I hope just one of her thoughts was “hey I’m kind of interested in doing this.”, even if some of her thoughts were “Fudge you for calling it weird.”

    2. Gangler

      Dina’s not even sure she understands sexual inclinations in general.

      I don’t think she’s bicurious so much as just curious. She was planning on trying out sex stuff some day to see what all the fuss is about, and Becky’s as good a partner as any.

      Though “as good a partner as any” probably still isn’t the kind of interest Becky’s looking for. Probably they’re gonna have some stuff to work through before this can go anywhere. Here’s hoping for the best.

      1. RickZarber

        Yeah I dunno about “as good as any”… Becky has been better than any, so far. Respect is a powerful attractor, even apart from a romantic/sexual sense. I can see Dina using that as a springboard to explore from if nothing else.

        1. Gangler

          Good point. When you put it that way, yeah, I guess there’s probably several reasons she’s kissing Becky and not say Joyce.

    3. AgentKeen

      Agreed, though I could see Becky totally getting why Dina would do that considering some of the things she’s been doing the last couple of days to explore her new identity, and thus empathizing with her.

  38. Smashwidget

    I actually kinda expected this.

  39. idunno

    This is not going to end well…

  40. Kelly

    No matter what her reasons are, I approve.

  41. Jon P

    !!! So many responses!
    * Dina is not 12 and can make her own decisions and CAN HEAR YOU TALKING ABOUT HER.
    * Becky’s got a good point about the whole “the point of this party is for Joyce to feel good and not be worried”
    * I wonder what that schmuck who was all “all of your girls who like girls are SO STEREOTYPICAL” has to say now. TOO BAD HE’S BANNED.

    1. Ragnal

      This makes me glad that I stopped poking into the comments section as much as I used to. >_>

      1. Rycan

        Yeah, my optimistic take would be that some people were ignorant of the fact that people like Dina absolutely loathe being treated like children.

        Stress on the word optimistic, though

        1. StrawGirl

          Yeah, I think they assume that she doesn’t realize they’re being insulting. They see her as acting like a child, so they assume treating her like one is totally fine.

          I’ll get on the Optimism Train with you.

    2. timemonkey

      Next time she might want to mention to the guests what the point of the party is.

      1. Spiny Creature

        Or the guests could surmise on their own that they know the host doesn’t drink, and at ANY kind of party where the host doesn’t drink and didn’t provide alcohol, passing around booze behind her back because her party is boring is, shall we say, not the best behavior.

        But they’re 18, so they’re rude clueless little folk.

        1. timemonkey

          That’s ridiculous. I don’t drink, never will and won’t waste money on it but if you wanna drink at my parties just don’t throw up on me or break anything. And if you wanna smoke just do it outside.

        2. AgentKeen

          At the very least, they should’ve asked first.

        3. StrawGirl

          I think this part is especially important: “passing around booze behind her back because her party is boring”

          Plus, they know how stringent Joyce’s moral code is (meaning they knew she’d be upset about them drinking at her party), and they also know that she values their company. That just screams to me that they like her a lot less than she likes them. And that has to really hurt.

        4. Plasma Mongoose

          It’s kinda sad that people feel they need some kind of drug/alcohol to be able to have fun at parties.

    3. -Sentinel-

      >>Dina is not 12 and can make her own decisions and CAN HEAR YOU TALKING ABOUT HER.

      I know, right? Awfully tactless of Joyce; that’s the thing I noticed most in this strip, not the lesbian kiss. I understand Dina’s annoyance.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        It’s not easy when people think that you’re a kid or even a bit of a squid.

  42. Yumi

    Oooooohh goooood, I didn’t ship this until noooow.
    And I might only have until tomorrow to enjoy it, my life is so haaaaarrd.

    1. a4lbi

      one of us, one of us…

  43. JessWitt

    Oh ship.

    1. Rycan

      +1

  44. Mr. Mendo

    The plot thickens!

  45. Catullus

    oH SNAP

  46. Ayo Gbadehan

    ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

  47. Emoroffle

    This is very cute. I like this so much.
    *puts on Ian Malcolm glasses* Nature found a way.

  48. Ragnal

    Sooooo…homoromantic asexual, right?

    1. Ragnal

      Maybe BIromantic asexual…?

      1. Wack'd

        Kinda has to be biromantic due to cross-universal circumstances. Sexuality is yet to be determined but there’s at least one strip that hints at Dina’s sexuality being more of an intellectual curiosity than a set of urges and reactions.

    2. Yumi

      Beckyromantic asexual?

    3. Captain Batson

      Sadly, no. Willis has stated that characters’ sexualities carry over from the Walkyverse, and Dina Sarazu was straight (or at least into dudes in some capacity), so unless Dina Saruyama is based on another, similar Dina from the Walkyverse, she’s not an ace.

      1. Wack'd

        She had sex in the other universe. To what degree she found other people sexually attractive–which is the thing the definition of asexuality hinges on–is up for debate.

        1. timemonkey

          She did pounce Walky and dry humped a room to death. Or maybe destroyed a wall. I don’t remember which.

        2. Rycan

          Dina never did have super strength. Not even sure if she was an abductee.

        3. timemonkey

          She was an abductee and she did have super strength. She’s just utterly crap at combat.

        4. Someone

          She was an abductee (went mind controlly on year zero) she probably has some form of super intelligence.

        5. Wack'd

          True. And this was in reaction to his physical appearance.

          Hrm.

        6. -Sentinel-

          Eeeh, why do you need to categorize her? Sexuality can be a fluctuating thing, even without taking alternate universes into account.

          Dina is just Dina.

        7. Someone

          My number 1 rule of Dumbing of age: everyone is bi unless proven otherwise

        8. Captain Batson

          That’s because, to some extent, most people are. Bell curve and all that.

        9. Plasma Mongoose

          The truest bisexuals are between 2-4 on the Kinsey Scale.

      2. Gangler

        Walkyverse Dina seemed to be into men romantically. Possibly sexually as well. Ultimately she died young, with much that she still hadn’t learned about herself.

        When she came back she had a remark where she implied that she might be a “Non-white, non-heteronormative, neurodivergent” person. When asked about it on tumblr Willis cryptically said that there was a lot of time for Dina to learn about herself, floating through space as a disembodied consciousness for decades.

        1. timemonkey

          Which breaks his own cannon since they can’t remember things that happened in that space.

        2. Kelly

          She came back in pretty odd circumstances, even by Walkyverse standards, so maybe that affected the memory thing.

        3. Cybersnark

          Well, she would absolutely remember that she’s non-white.

      3. Athedia

        As someone who is biromantic asexual, I present mostly as straight. I have had byfriends (not girlfriends because I am to chicken to ask anyone out….) but her having sex doesn’t actually matter in whether she is asexual or not.

        That is not saying she is asexual, that isn’t something you can label someone, they have to take it for themselves. But she most definitely could be, and still be interested in Becky, and still be able to have sex.

    4. Plasma Mongoose

      I would say she’s Dina-mite!

      1. newllend(henryvolt)

        +1 that was tucking Gold, why didn’t I think of that?

        1. newllend(henryvolt)

          *Fuckfirst the sensor now the auto correct

        2. newllend(henryvolt)

          What?…you know what Forget it.

        3. newllend(henryvolt)

          *Fuck, first the censor now the auto correct what the hell!?

    5. Kennerly

      Spiteosexual!

    6. Dana

      I’m thinking romantic-curious sexual-curious. Homo/hetro was pretty confusing for little ol’ late bloomer me, and I’m a boring hetroromantic hetrosexual.

  49. Opus the Poet

    The good ship Dinky is underway! XD

  50. Katrika

    I know Dina’s not canonically confirmed autistic, but a lot of times perfectly competent people with developmental disorders are told they aren’t supposed to have romantic or sexual relationships because it’s ‘weird’ and neurotypical people need to ‘protect’ them. That’s kind of what this strip reminded me of! Just because Dina is petite and socially awkward doesn’t mean she’s a literal child, and I’m glad she’s making that point!

    1. saki

      Neurotypical people who don’t have close relatives that are neurodivergent are very ignorant on those matters. And that’s not 100% their fault, I mean, there is very little representation of people with development disorders in the media, and most of the time – as far as I can tell – they seem to be presented with childlike behaviours and not all that interested in (or even disgusted by) sex.
      Now that of course doesn’t totally excuse that ignorance, but, let’s face it, the average human tends to not care all that much for things that don’t directly affect them, that’s true for pretty much every issue out there. : /

    2. TSB

      Yep. This isn’t just her being angry that she’s seen as immature, this is her being angry at ableism. “Dina is like a kid and it would be weird if she were sexual” is the same prejudice that had Sarah’s ex-friend baby talking and calling her retarded, just expressed in a less malicious way.

      Dina might be on the ace spectrum, but “I don’t experience sexual attraction” is not the same as “I do not have enough agency as a person to experience the full range of ‘normal and adult’ experiences”. Disabled/neurodivergent see people assuming the latter about them and then assuming that implies the former. Asexual people try to say the former and have people assume the latter (well meaning ally voice: “people shouldn’t have prejudice against asexuals, they just want to eat mac and cheese and [other activities coded as childish]!”)

      1. TSB

        Whoops, meant disabled/neurodivergent people. Dropped the noun there.

      2. StrawGirl

        ^ Alllll of this

        In other cases, some neurodivergent people are unable to express their attraction in a healthy manner.
        (A certain autistic individual I know ended up scaring a lot of girls off because he was creepy about it. Example: I walked into the room with my boyfriend. He immediately came over and asked me what my name was. I told him. He looked at my boyfriend and asked “Boyfriend?” Me: “Yeah.” He then walked off. He did that to every girl who walked in the room. He also couldn’t remember my name, so one of my friends outright suggested that he call me “Vagina Number Three.” He remembered my name after that. >_____<)

        It seems to me like most disabled/neurodivergent people are considered asexual or disturbingly into (insert gender of your choice).

  51. David Alexander McDonald

    Biter, bit.

  52. GoogerGeiger

    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

  53. Kraken

    Dina has the worst friends. (put scare quotes around friends if you want)

    1. Wack'd

      That is a shot in the dark.

    2. Leonou

      Actually none of these 4 is Dina’s friend in any capacity. Amber is the only one who’s treated Dina as a friend, and she doesn’t appear in this strip.
      And, of course, now we have Becky.

      1. Li

        Amber would almost certainly agree with Joyce, though. She cares about Dina, and she’s been helpful, but if you go back and look at even just her reaction to Dina when she first entered the strip, you’ll see her tendency to assume she knows what’s best for Dina to a(n unintentionally) condescending extent.

        I mean, Amber’s thought process here is pretty visibly “uh-oh! Dina! She’s under a coat, so she must not really want to be here,” and not only does Dina have to say she’s fine more than once but Ethan, too, needs to reassure Amber before she’ll actually accept that Dina is okay.

        It’s easy to say, “Well, she’s hiding under a coat! Isn’t that an obvious form of distress?” but there are assumptions being made here. One is that Dina is incapable of leaving the party without assistance. Whereas Amber assumes that Danny and Ethan are at the party by choice, and would, if they wanted to leave, get up and do so (after making excuses to Joyce), Amber treats Dina as if she does not have that autonomy.

        A second, and even more damaging assumption, is that Dina is incapable of accurately reporting her state to Amber. She needs to be reassured that it’s okay to be honest, and even then it’s not good enough for Amber.

        If she’s that worried that Dina cannot assert her wants and needs independently enough to leave a party, it just stands to reason that she’d also be worried about Dina’s ability to assert those wants and needs (or lack thereof) with Becky.

        Amber’s “friendship” with Dina has been well-intentioned this entire time, but she’s put herself firmly in the role of mentor, or even something sort of like a parent, aiding and correcting Dina’s social cues. She got Dina’s consent for this early on, but there’s been a couple of times times (and her checking in at the outset of the party was one of them) where she’s overstepped. (Telling Dina that eating cereal for every meal was weird overstepped to the point where Dina herself called Amber out on it.)

        Frankly I think Amber is absolutely part of why Dina is so annoyed here, though not at all the proximal cause. (Raidah and her friends were one blow; connecting emotionally with Roz’s baby sister was another.) She probably wouldn’t have actively SAID “she’s basically twelve”, but she’d have thought it, and she’d agree with the sentiment that hitting on Dina is wrong.

        Again, Amber is well-intentioned. I can’t promise I’d do better, ableism is pretty ingrained, and Amber suffered from severe social anxiety when she was younger… but both she and Ethan, though he just met Dina, would do well to understand that Dina’s situation is not, actually, the same.

  54. Kamino Neko

    Also…Tribadceratops!

  55. Plasma Mongoose

    I wonder if this was Dina’s FIRST KISS…

    1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      If so, it was a pretty good one.
      I wish my first kiss had been that bad-ass.

  56. feli

    Show ’em, girl! You’re not twelve! You can make out at parties.

    1. DarkoNeko

      Don’t give Walky ideas, you.

  57. brasca1

    And the shippers go wild!

  58. chris73

    Well I think everyones learned something tonight

  59. Baron

    Let’s see…what quote to use here?

    “Yesssssssssssssss.”
    “Love, uh, finds a way.”
    “You just went and said Dina acts like she’s 12? Probably not a good idea.”
    “ALAN.”

    Anyone else got any ideas?

    1. timemonkey

      “That is one big pile of shit.”

      1. StClair

        “Don’t worry, I’m not making the same mistakes again.”
        “No, you’re making all new ones.”

        1. Bagge

          I’m just going to pick the low hanging fruit and say “clever girl”

        2. Bagge

          Or why not some dating experience from Becky:

          “Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and um, screaming.”

        3. DarkoNeko

          So, like the average horror flick.

      2. saki

        I think you mean: “That is one big pile of ship.”

        1. timemonkey

          Nicely punned, but I meant shit.

    2. Chubsius

      Well, I’m a… And you’re, um, a…

    3. ThatGuy

      http://matteboner.tumblr.com/post/121593136342/bunnyfood-good-morning

  60. nafanida

    I’m torn on whether or not I want this to end up being the next slipshine edition… but if it does, they will have to take my money.

    1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      … no, no, I don’t think so.
      I’m usually all for Slipshines, but I think if this is going to be serious it is going to need to go a bit slower than some of the other relationships around here. With real-world time to in-universe time, I think several other Slipshines will have to pass first before Dina and Becky are ready for that.

      1. Captain Batson

        I hate that you’re totally right.

  61. Alcohol

    UNEXPECTED

  62. Bleeters

    Huh. So that’s what it feels like to lose copious amounts of respect for several characters at once.

    1. -Sentinel-

      Heh, same. Here’s hoping they learn something tonight.

      That being said, if Dina hopes to prove she’s more mature than she looks, she’s going about it entirely the wrong way.

  63. mister gray

    the shipment has been confirmed 🙂

  64. Sadie

    (1) This is adorable. (2) It is strangely similar to yet magically way better than Joyce’s first kiss! (3) For those keeping track of sexualities across universes, Dina’s seems to not be gender-based at all. Instead, it is “hair is longer on top than on the side”-based. And that’s why her one ‘ship with a person who does not fit that description was doomed from the start, not because that fellow was destined for someone else! [Here in the realm of pointless speculation, the fact that one kiss between Dina and Becky does not necessarily constitute a relationship is not relevant.]

  65. Sam

    I saw the last panel first and my brain went into a panic because what the what, I did not see that coming and I love it.

    I also love that Becky actually you know, regards Dina as an adult who can have romantic feelings, which apparently Sarah, Joyce & Dorothy do not.

    1. Keroshino

      Yeah, at this point I’m like “oh, fuck off” to Sarah/Dorothy/Joyce

      1. Sam

        On one hand you can kind of get it because there are always people it can be difficult to imagine acting sexual or romantic, but on the other it is like, don’t call it weird when people act like they are a perfectly functioning adult especially right in front of them???

        And I don’t understand where everyone is pulling out the air that Dina is asexual, something that has never been stated and everyone appears to be assuming just because Dina is awkward and obsessed with dinosaurs and doesn’t spend her time constantly pursuing relationships.

    2. StrawGirl

      What I appreciate here is that Becky is one of the only people so far who genuinely respects Dina as a human being. I think Dina is flattered, especially since Becky is actually interested in talking about Dina’s favorite topics. Nobody has ever (that we know of) expressed an interest in Dina. Becky is one of the first prospects Dina has had as a possible love interest–most likely in her entire life. (I say this as someone who didn’t have a significant other until just before I turned 19; I dated him largely because he was one of the first people sincerely and openly interested in me.)

  66. Jaxx Sentinel

    So….that happened…somehow this fits better than it should

  67. Nono

    Alright, Amber’s reaction…?

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Amber/Joyce: -get your hands off my Dina!
      -get your hands off my Becky!

  68. map jean

    well there go my pants

  69. Vivvav

    I can’t wait for Joe to turn out to be a lesbian too.

    1. Opus the Poet

      There are some parts that Joe would have to remove or render inoperative before being a lesbian.

      1. timemonkey

        Not true, Joe could be a lesbian the second he realised he was really a woman. (I decided to use male pronouns because he’s not really trans)

  70. Opus the Poet

    Oh, the dino/lesbian puns… 😛

  71. Cheryl

    CALLLED IT!! I SAID IT I TOLD MY BF SHES GONNA MAKE SNU SNU!

  72. Nick Piers

    SMOOCH-A-ROONIE!

  73. Mallow

    “Oh RIGHT, you can be neurodivergent and still be an adult, we totally forgot. Our bad.”
    Sincerely, the characters in the next strip (hopefully)

  74. Mallow

    Additionally, Ethan’s face just peering in the background, partly hidden by speech bubbles, is really hilarious.

    1. Rycan

      Some characters tend to lurk in the background. Ethan looms.

  75. RJ

    LOOK ALIVE, CREW, THIS SHIP JUST WENT INTO WARP SPEED

  76. Idon'tcarenomore

    If that’s her first kiss, she’s doing fine planting one on Becky.

    Also hope it is not JUST a reaction to the ‘looks 12’ remark.

    A couple of weeks ago, I’d have said, “Oh Hell No!”. Becky not high on my list of favorites: and Dina very definitely is a favorite.

    But, they actually are cute together, maybe.

    1. Charlie B. B.

      Of Course this is just a reaction to the ’12’ remark.

      1. Chris

        I’m really sad. I adore Dina and I hate to see her being manipulated by negative emotions to do something that should be beautiful. I mean; I had hoped for her to find live (whether Becky or anyone else she chose), but all I can think here is “not this way… not this way.”

        1. Chris

          (mistyped “live” for “love”)

        2. Charlie B. B.

          http://i.imgur.com/bJvotkq.gif

        3. StrawGirl

          I feel like the kiss was partially out of frustration, but it’s important to note that she may have had an interest in Becky without knowing how to approach it because no one’s ever liked her that way before. It can be a spite kiss AND an “I like you, too” kiss.

      2. Kraken

        I dunno, without the interruption of the peanut gallery, that could’ve totally been a touching moment leading to a kiss. She clearly enjoys Becky’s attention, and although we only really get her surprised reaction to Becky’s ‘moves’ line, she could be into that as well. We just didn’t get to see how she feels cause the people around her made the moment more about their comfort than her feelings.

        1. Scoops

          Yeah I don’t think it’s just the “12 years old” comment, it’s also the “make moves on her” comment. It got her thinking, “Hmm. Would I like some moves to be made? That could be very interesting.”

        2. Bagge

          Time for some “scientific dating”

    2. Chubsius

      When I look on that “Moves? On me?” my brain can’t help but fill in the background with manga-style sparkles, roses, and “doki-doki”s.

  77. Alex Boston

    So am I the only one that went to Dr. Who and the famous dinosaur/human lesbian couple there?

    1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      I didn’t immediately think of it, which shames me. Madame Vastra and Jenny are two of my favorite characters these past several seasons.
      … although I still ship Tegan/Nyssa.

      1. Blue

        …did somebody say Tegan/Nyssa?

    2. Bagge

      The personalities do not really match… Like – at all. That’s another cute couple though.

      1. Blue

        At risk of taking the discussion too far afield…

        I’d say that personality-wise, Tegan/Nyssa is the much better fit (Becky=Tegan, Dina=Nyssa)

    3. Kryss LaBryn

      Which–wait, what now?

      I haven’t tried New Who since the short bit I did see turned me off so bad (the Doctor and some woman sitting in a restaurant–on Earth–talking about relationships what the what now?!) but for that I will have to give it another go.

      1. Joseph

        That is actually a great episode, but certainly not a great one to enter on – on top of the Doctor+ Companion, it has two extra temporary companions and a repeat minor villain. And yeah, not much action.

        I suggest starting with one of the first three New Who new Doctor episodes (Rose, New Earth, or Eleventh Hour)

    4. saki

      When I first read “dinosaur / human couple” I thought you were referencing the Dinosaurs on a spaceship episode and got really confused haha. In my head I always refer to her as the lizard woman, or Doctor Who’s very own Argonian.

  78. Keroshino

    WOAH….hot!!! 😀

  79. Chris

    “I am not twelve… I’m not, I’m not! I’ll show you.” I really can’t make any ‘clever girl’ girl quips here when Dina has just given-in to negative peer pressure and done something out of social spite that might result in hearts being broken.

    1. Bagge

      Whos hearts? She’s taking a chance with someone she has chemistry with and who just told her she would want to try. That’s her flabbergasted expression in the second and third panel. The spite made her decide to answer here and now in the most obvious way, but the result would have been the same is she snuck away Becky to a broom closet to “talk about scientific dating”. Either they work or they don’t – but they are both willing to try.

    2. neeks

      “Giving in to negative peer pressure”? If she’s giving in to anything, it’s reverse psychology. Sort of. I mean it wasn’t aimed at her, so…probably more flattered/curious, if anything. And yeah, spite against the others, but she and Becky had been hitting it off a bit previously, and even if they don’t end up married or whatever it doesn’t necessarily hurt to give it a shot. as long as it’s on their own terms, that’s the important part.

      I guess we’ll see if tomorrow is a rehash of walkyverse malaya’s “huh, not into girls after all.” Minus the helicopter.

    3. Blue

      The only one giving into anything like negative peer pressure here is Dotty, who is sort of halfheartedly joining in with the others in scolding Becky/infantilising Dina.

  80. Athedia

    This has to be the first time I have looked forward to a Monday….

    DAMN YOU WILLIS!

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      …but today’s Saturday though.

      1. Rycan

        Technically, this is Sunday’s strip.

      2. newllend(henryvolt)

        Oh wait ya time zones sorry I forgot.

      3. DarkoNeko

        Nah, it was like Sunday 6AM. Silly people living in the past, yous.

      4. Athedia

        To be fair it is 3:52 AM here and I still haven’t gone to sleep. So I had to do a little mental math to figure out that the next strip came out on Monday….

  81. Spencer

    Wow, this has been a gigantic train wreck.

    Everyone getting drunk at Joyce’s party? Douchey.

    Dorothy, Joyce and Sarah looking straight at Dina and telling Becky not to hit on her because it’s “weird”? Super Douchey.

    1. -Sentinel-

      Yeah, I expected better of Dotty.

      1. Scoops

        In her defense, she is drunk.

        1. Rich

          She’s also clearly uncertain about something. Whether she’s not sure why it’s weird or if it’s actually weird is up in the air.

        2. Spencer

          What she’s saying is that, if she had to think about it, then it’s weird. I don’t see how that’s less terrible than what Joyce and Sarah are doing right now.

        3. Rich

          No, I don’t think so. Only Joyce has explained her (ugly) reasoning, and the other two didn’t get a chance to respond to her or explain themselves yet. Both Sarah (who likes to criticize) and Dorothy (who doesn’t, generally) could just as plausibly be saying that Becky’s “super wanted to make a move” speech was weird because it’s socially inept as can be.

          Seriously, can you imagine blurting out that you really wanted to hit on someone in front of them, in a crowded room, while talking to someone else as though they weren’t there? That is some cosmic levels of clumsiness, ramped up by the fact that Becky probably had no idea whether Dina was even interested in her at that point. Would have been pretty damned uncomfortable if she wasn’t, wouldn’t it? Becky’s not even drunk for an excuse, this is just poorly-socialized home school girl shooting her mouth off without thinking again.

          Joyce’s version of weird is horrible, and it reeks of some homophobia on top of the insult to Dina. Sarah and Dorothy may have better justification if they’re just calling out Becky for a lousy pickup technique.

        4. Spencer

          “Becky, don’t put the moves on Dina, that’s weird.”

          The focus is clearly on them finding flirting with Dina weird. Even if it’s not for the same reason as Joyce, it’s still wrong of them to disempower Dina by suggesting it’s wrong to flirt with her, as Becky has done with other girls in front of them with nary a comment.

        5. Rich

          We aren’t ever going to agree on this, Spencer. Maybe we’ll see the actually reasoning from Sarah and Dorothy explained to settle it, but if you’re right, Sarah is hugely out of character all of a sudden, and with no inebriation to explain it.

        6. Incomitatus

          That’s not a defense. I say that, and I sell alcohol for a living.

      2. LeslieBean4Shizzle

        Well, she is drunk.
        That isn’t an excuse, but it might explain why she’s being oddly – as Spencer put it – douchey.

      3. saki

        Well, it’s not like she said “It is weird”. She said “It feels weird.”. Subtle difference there. She probably knows she shouldn’t think it’s weird, but it still feels a little weird, because she’s just never seen Dina express any interest in that stuff. (Curiosity, maybe, but more scientific curiosity than anything else.) If she weren’t drunk I’d wager she’d have said something very different.

        (lookit me, trying to convince myself not to be any more disappointed in her than I already am for drinking at Joyce’s party)

        1. Spencer

          “It feels weird” for the same reason that Joyce and Sarah are saying that it’s definitely weird. Dorothy can’t process Dina as a regular, college aged woman so she’s agreeing with Joyce and Sarah that Becky shouldn’t try to pursue her; because it’s “weird” for Dina to be treated as an adult, and even besides that, being drunk is not some sort of magical barrier that prevents you from getting taken to task for saying awful shit.

        2. saki

          I agree with the essence of what you’re saying, but I’d like to clarify what I meant exactly and why I’m differentiating what Dorothy said from what Sarah and Joyce said.
          Again, there is a subtle difference in saying something is weird and something feels weird. The former affirms that it is weird, which has an implied absolute element to it (the way I percieve it at least), while the latter expresses an opinion that is subject to discussion. (similar to how counselors make people say “I feel that you are not doing x” instead of just “you are not doing x”.)
          Now let me expand on the drunk part. If Dorothy hadn’t been drunk, the way (I like to think) the process would have gone in her head is:
          – Someone putting moves on Dina feels weird
          – Why does it feel weird though?
          – Oh, right, I made all these terrible assumptions about her without even thinking about it (unconcious bias)
          – Let me correct that
          – *contradicts Sarah and Joyce about it being weird and maybe also tries to get them to see the assumptions they made*

          This is the kind of reaction I’d expect from Dorothy. But here, she’s drunk, thus she’s not thinking straight, thus a lot of that processing just doesn’t happen. At least that’s how I understand being drunk works, I myself have never been drunk, so I’m totally off please tell me so.

          Of course this doesn’t magically make what she said okay. I just really like Dorothy, so of course I am biased and want to defend her. I am disappointed that she said those things, but I’m trying to rationalise it so I can still like her. This is why I added that parenthesis at the end of my previous comment; I wanted people to know I’m biased.

          I hope this unintentionally long rant clears things up. ^^”

        3. Spencer

          I just really don’t see much of a difference, or whether said difference is significant enough that it sufficiently permits Dorothy’s behaviour right now. It just feels like a non-committal version of what Sarah is saying, where she’s still judging Dina but she uses specific language that makes her seem more accepting.

          Granted, I probably am being unfair to Dorothy since I’m so used to her never saying anything objectionable, so what should just be “hey Dorothy, stop being a jerkface” becomes “Dorothy you’re being an asshole.”

        4. saki

          I guess that difference mainly lies in personal perception then. I think, Dotty-love-induced-bias aside, I am mainly making this difference because of several theological discussions I’ve had with people, where the ones who said “There is a god” were much harder to talk to than the ones who said “I believe there is a god”. I’m not sure I can better explain why this difference seems significant to me. ^^”

          Yes, that would be my reaction if this were a real-life situation I was observing, and Dorothy, instead of being a character I slightly idolise, was a friend of mine. I tend to give fictional characters much bigger passes than I would my friends.

  82. dave

    When a ship is docked, those on shore can concern themselves with side questions like “What should we call this ship?”

    When a ship is sailing, somehow concerns like that drop away.

    THIS IS HAPPENING, PEOPLE. WEIGH ANCHORS AND RIG UP THE SAILS. IT’S CAPE HORN OR BUST!

  83. Mandy

    I think Dina’s flabbergasted face in panel 2 is my favorite part. XD

  84. Pinnelipe

    Welcome to Dumbing of Age, where we have ALL THE LESBIANS!

    1. SonicBlueRanger

      Well next to Steven Universe but still true.

      1. SonicBlueRanger

        And technically most of them are Bisexual.

    2. Em

      I think we only have two lesbians. We have three bisexual ladies though. Maybe four. Or five if Dina is!

      There are lotsa bisexual people out there. And it’s good that Willis introduced the Kinsey scale. Most people fall somewhere in the middleish zone.

      1. Em

        Nope 3 lesbians. I forgot Leslie.

        1. Amazistool

          Maybe five. Bi or lesbian is still open for Mandy and Grace. (“Mace”? “Grandy”?)

  85. cybik

    Am I the only one who’s saying “Okay, that was unexpected”?

    1. DarkoNeko

      “Well, this escalated quickly”

  86. dailybrad

    Dina and Becky would be super cute. Also, I am glad Dina stood up for herself and didn’t allow them to infantilize her.

    1. -Sentinel-

      I’m not sure suddenly making out with someone on a whim is the best way to make this kind of point, though.

      Not that I complain.

  87. Rycan

    You’re right, Willis – this does look like Dina’s reply to the comments section.

    As for the ship name, it has none – Dina launched it before it could be christened. On an unrelated note, anybody want a bottle of champagne?

    1. fogel

      Is it any good or is it that $3 stuff?

  88. timemonkey

    What killed the dinosaurs?

    The Lesbian Age!

  89. timemonkey

    Tommorow’s strip:

    Dina: Blech… I guess I’m not a lesbian.

    1. Keroshino

      No! Let’s not make her Malaya please!

      1. timemonkey

        But the only thing better than one Malaya is two Malayas!

      2. newllend(henryvolt)

        Ya lets not piss of a bunch of people AGAIN.

        1. newllend(henryvolt)

          …wait a minute if everyone’s sexuality from the Walkyvers is the same here then how come Malaya is doing it with Marcie?

        2. timemonkey

          Malaya only stated she wasn’t a lesbian. And since she was attracted to Ultra-Car’s female form that would make her not hetero either. Lots of options in between. Wouldn’t surprise me if she just got super attracted to individual people and was just lukewarm about everyone else.

        3. Catullus

          She’s not— we know Marcie is interested in Malaya, but I don’t even know if Malaya realizes Marcie’s feelings at this time.

        4. Em

          We don’t know what Dina’s sexuality was in the Walkyverse. She may have been straight, but just because she dated men doesn’t mean she isn’t attracted to women, and just didn’t see any that struck her fancy.

        5. Li

          She isn’t straight. She outed herself on that much during her brief appearance in Shortpacked, where she said the presence of even one more person who was… and then rattled off a list. Non-white (check), neurodivergent (check), non-heteronormative (apparently check). Willis has confirmed this. She can be a lot of things, but she can’t be straight.

    2. DarkoNeko

      Hahaha you terrible person 😀

      1. timemonkey

        Thank you, I try.

  90. Zamer

    even though it was due to getting pissed off, let’s continue to make the future for Dincky real.

  91. poppaboo2electricboogaloo

    Everybody’s being a major Megasaurass tonight for some reason.

  92. NinjaNick

    Huzzah! What a move!!!

  93. JessWitt

    Leave it to Willis to always surprise us. 😀

  94. Kajhera

    Go for it Dina! Don’t give em time to push the cute girl who’s into you to back down, seize the moment! And uh, good luck.

  95. Liz

    And Dina inherits the earth.

    1. saki

      I was waiting to find this quote. 😀

  96. Kris

    Showing she likes Dina actually throws off my theory of Becky preferring girls with more curves. Dina is the definition of “bony poindexter”. Maybe she just hates Dorothy.

    1. timemonkey

      She’s hideously jelous of Dorothy.

    2. Rich

      She just hates Dorothy. They’re bitter rivals for Joyce’s affection, remember?

      1. Keroshino

        Except Dorothy doesn’t think of her as a rival at all
        …it’s just something Becky made up in her head!

        1. Leonou

          Na, that’s what deceitful Dorothy wants Becky to think, but as soon as Becky lowers her guard Dorothy will make her move (on Joyce) !

        2. Rich

          Quick Dorothy, while she’s distracted with Dina – three-way with Walky and Joyce!

          The sad part is I’m sure that idea for a Slipshine seems fine to some people.

  97. Kaoy

    Dammit Willis, I was banking on Gingersaur or Lesbodons.

    1. ninja_jesus

      LESBODONS

  98. N

    There’s a pretty frustrating stereotype where characters on the spectrum, especially women, tend to end up being written as asexual. We still don’t know where she’s going with this, but I’m happy to see she’s challenging that in one way or another. Also, whether as friends or beyond, these two are adorable together.

    And man, the “she acts/looks like she’s 12” crap is a pretty shitty and dismissive thing to say.

    1. Rich

      The “acts 12” part is especially ugly, since it’s only Joyce saying that, and Joyce has repeatedly clashed with Dina over intellectual issues. Every one of those arguments was a crushing win for Dina, but Joyce wouldn’t admit she was beaten. She’s not just hiding behind her faith when it comes to science denial – she’s trivializing her opponent’s mental development as well.

      1. maarvarq

        Well said.

      2. Majere

        I feel like it’s an unwritten rule that if you physically can’t swear you also can’t cast aspersions on anyone’s maturity.

        1. Rich

          Contrariwise, if you can’t manage to speak without swearing you also don’t qualify as mature enough to be throwing any stones. Different types of language for different social situations, like it or not.

          And there’s no such thing as being physically unable to swear. Joyce’s limit there is purely psychological.

        2. Blue

          I think what was meant by ‘physically’ was that Joyce’s psychological block is so strong that even when she is making a concerted effort to swear it prevents her from forming the words.

        3. StrawGirl

          Does no one just feel like its her choice as an adult not to say these things? She doesn’t like swear words, so it’s her decision to not say them. Yes, how she gets around it is a bit silly sometimes, but she is old enough to choose what words she does and does not use. I say this as someone who, as a 25-year-old, chooses not to swear because I don’t want to. There are much better ways to express yourself (I’m a writer), and I prefer to be more creative with my language. Yes, cussing can be creative, but I think of it more like a game of avoiding it if I can. Plus, I don’t have to worry about my language in front of children because I typically don’t use words that children shouldn’t hear.

        4. StrawGirl

          Ughhh, I can’t believe I didn’t put “it’s” in that first sentence. How embarrassing. :/

  99. Random Opinion

    AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
    Also,
    AWWWWWWWWW… I think

  100. BubblegumSenpai

    I’m certain Dina is doing this mainly because she’s sick of people constantly talking about her as if she wasn’t there. That said, as naive as Dina sometimes comes across, she certainly knew what people were talking about and decided to do something about. Good for her for taking a stand for once.

  101. Chengrel

    Yeah, this is gonna end badly.

  102. Keroshino

    Well…There it is!

  103. WingedBeast

    Okay, here’s the question to ask.

    Did David Willis do this because so many people were vocally shipping Becky and Dina or did he plan this all along and manage to make so many ship Becky and Dina because he’s a master manipulator who can make you think and want what he wants you to think and want?

    Go ahead. Wonder.

    1. Kamino Neko

      His buffer is huge…he’d have drawn this sometime in…February, I think? Maybe January. Well before Becky and Dina had any serious interaction. (Maybe before they even met.)

      1. DarkoNeko

        Close.
        The preview was posted on March 15th

        (may have been made prior tho)

        1. Zamer

          He gets all his strips 4 months from his future self.

  104. Morty

    GET IT DINA

  105. Luzahn

    …

    =D

  106. Bagge

    Wow, OK, so there so much in this strip.

    I have waited for this since the preview panel showed up on tumbllr, because that first panel is AWESOME and I so much wanted to know who was in the other end of Joyce&BeckyCOMBINED. THIS is Joyce and Becky living up to their potential – an adorable, obnoxious, inseparable, heartwarming double act who has each other’s back. Who comes to Joyce defense when she feels let down? Becky! You go, girls.

    I’m also happy to see that Joyce is getting angry. She should be angry! I’m glad she’s not just slinking off like she has been doing when she is really hurt.

    Second panel. Aw, Becky. That’s the ol’ mouth moving before the brain connects-routine. We are all very impressed by your restraint, I’m sure. Look what she is doing. Part of it is just her reminding everyone that she’s a lesbian, part is actually making a move on Dina, part is nothing more than standard Becky-Babble but she’s also making a distraction by putting focus on herself and away from Joyce in an awkward situation by playing the clown-card. Similar to here (even if it didn’t work that time).

    Dina, second and third panel. “Processing new data… processing new data… processing new data…”

    Fourth panel. Be a bit more insulting to her face, why don’t you? I think it’s safe to say that the cast does NOT channel the fandom here. Except for Dina of course.

    Then, pure awesomeness. GO BECKAUSAR!!!!!!!

    Who knows where this ship is going? They may find chemistry, they may try sex or Becky will remain stuck on second base, they may may keep it up a little while just to spite people or Dina may discover in the next strip that she’s not into kissing after all – WHO CARES? This is awesome right here, right now.

    1. Kamino Neko

      I think it’s safe to say that the cast does NOT channel the fandom here

      Wouldn’t say this…there was an argument about this very topic a few days ago. And while most of the posts were ‘calling Dina “like a kid” is not cool’, it wasn’t a wholly unique opinion.

      1. Bagge

        I stand corrected. Sadly.

  107. A5PECT

    1) I really like the ship, but pursuing a relationship out of nothing but spite never ends well. I hope these two eventually develop other, more meaningful connections to build their relationship on after that initial motivation runs out.

    2) I really want to be there when Daisy finally realizes how many homo/bisexual women are on campus, and she STILL can’t find a girlfriend.

    1. Keroshino

      @2) Why you gotta hurt me like that?

      1. A5PECT

        < Sorry, schadenfreude is kind of my thing.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Would help if she started looking rather than wait for the princess charming

        2. timemonkey

          How do you know she isn’t looking? We’ve only ever seen her dong her job.

        3. Coco Pommel

          She might also be looking off campus because of the fact that relationships with students could you know. Get her totally fired, and ruin her career forever. Not unlike the situation with Ruth/Billie, which they have to try and keep secret. Which I doubt will work in the long run… o 3o

        4. Rich

          Daisy’s a student, isn’t she? She’s an editor of the school paper, but that doesn’t mean she’s university staff. Probably just a journalism major.

        5. gkheyf

          oh? i just presumed that she was an older student. are college paper editors traditionally members of staff?

        6. timemonkey

          I don’t think she is a member of the staff. The paper is likely an independent thing.

        7. A5PECT

          Regardless of whether or not she’s employed by the school or not, Daisy is quick to throw things like “professionalism” and “appropriate workplace interaction” out the window when something arouses her sexual interest.

          Just ask Billie.

        8. StrawGirl

          When I was still in school, I applied for a copy-desk job within the first few weeks of my freshman semester. I got the job a week later.

          The editors at my college newspaper were all students who had been on staff in that section of the newspaper for at least one or two semesters. For example, a sports writer could potentially become the sports-section editor after working as a writer for a few semesters.

          We were all considered staff (but by no means treated like them other than staff-all e-mails), and we had minimal supervision from the school’s “real” faculty and staff. We had one main adviser (his name is on the building as part of the title), and there were a few other people involved, such as the paycheck ladies (they were awesome). Think of it like a school club/organization that you get paid less than minimum wage to work at. Fun times.

          I worked there my entire undergrad career and was copy-desk chief for one semester. It was a total nightmare. I have plenty of horror stories for the interested.

          The paper, though, is considered one of the best college newspapers in the United States. So there’s that.

    2. Bagge

      Spite, chemistry, common interests, mutual respectful interaction, attraction (at least from Becky’s side, possibly from Dina’s side as well), that’s about as much as any first-day couple have going for them.

      1. Kamino Neko

        We don’t know they have any real shared interests aside from ‘helping Dina learn to socialize’…Becky didn’t seem to care about the topic aside from the fact that Dina cared about it. Which is plenty good, too, of course.

        1. Bagge

          The way I read it Becky got genuinely interested in scientific dating (hurr, hurr). When they first started to talk she was all “Oh, that’s interesting. That old, huh?”. But by the second strip she engaged actively in the conversation. “Wait, how old is that?”

          Of course she is not Dina level interested in dinosaurs (because who is) but she’s not uninterested either.

        2. Kamino Neko

          A valid reason. Not how I read it, but valid.

        3. Kamino Neko

          *valid reading. Stupid fingers are stupid. >_>

    3. saki

      “Pursuing a relationship out of nothing but spite never ends well.” I’d agree, but this is by the same author who made RobinxLeslie work (granted it took a ton of time and a fuckton of heartache). IIRC, Robin only dated Leslie at first out of spite for Ethan to show him she was a lesbian, hoping that would make him interested in her. So, you know, anything could happen. 😀

      1. timemonkey

        And her spite date lead to Ethan being annoyed at her and Leslie running off with a broken heart. They didn’t actually hook up for years later.

        1. saki

          If I may refer you to the paranthesis in my comment. :3

    4. Majere

      Don’t underestimate the unifying power of spite.

  108. -Sentinel-

    Dina isn’t often expressive, but when she is, she makes the best faces.

  109. shoeboxjeddy

    Ha ha wow. I’m now fascinated to where this relationship could head… from both characters potentially in it, plus Joyce having to figure out how not to be hurtful while watching it.

  110. Keroshino

    Wait…is Ethan drunk? Because he’s got bubbles above his head!

    1. Keroshino

      Whoops…guess I didn’t notice them in the previous comic!

  111. gqbrielle

    :O….. 😀

  112. TheOthin

    Dina is standing up for herself! 😀

    And I mean kissing someone isn’t a great way to do that but still. Hopefully she had enough other reasons to do it.

  113. Lordess of Madness

    Dina angry is just… scary. Scarier than Sarah with a baseball bat

  114. Bokoboko

    Moves?
    On me?
    It’s more likely than you think.

    1. gkheyf

      yup. it’s like becky had her rifle pointed at the foes in front of her, then dina pounced from the side

  115. CleverTrousers

    I do really like that Becky looks like she was about to assert Dina as a person before Dina asserted herself on Becky’s mouth.

    1. DarkoNeko

      It was kinda nice to see Becky not stereotyping her like most of the room

  116. wynne

    This has to be the fastest shiptease-to-canon transition I’ve EVER seen in a webcomic. How long did that take, a week?

    (By “canon” I mean “ship is explicitly acknowledged in text by the involved participants,” not that they’re actually in a relationship. Very different things!)

  117. Gangler

    Aw geeze. Just hit me that Sarah really should know better. She had that whole incident with Raidah’s girls where they belittled her friendship on these same grounds. They had that little heart to heart afterward where Dina opened up about some of her insecurities. Dina probably thought she could count on Sarah going to bat for her in situations like these.

    1. A5PECT

      If that pun in your last sentence was intentional, you are a terrible person and you have all of my respect.

    2. Rich

      Sarah didn’t say she looked & acted twelve, Joyce did. Three people used “weird” in panel four, and only Joyce explained her reasoning explicitly. Pretty sure the other two had very different reason behind what they said.

  118. Kennerly

    Yes!

  119. Pierre-Eric

    “Dinasaurs show affection to the nearest interested cutie when they feel their packmates are looking down on them.”

    Also shame on everyone who isn’t Becky or Dina in that party. SHAME!
    Socially inept doesn’t mean too weird for moves. o_o

  120. zorlo77

    Did anyone else scream YES really loudly?

    1. Keroshino

      More like I quoted M. Bison

      YES!!!…YES!!!…YES!!!

      1. saltchocolate

        My exact words were “Holy shit!” But that’s “YES!!!” in English-for-mixed-company… 😀

    2. Rich

      I was laughing out loud myself. Fine Willis twist.

    3. Sam

      My brain completely short circuited to the point I had to wait a minute before reading it properly.

  121. TheOtherDibbler

    I know people started shipping these two a few pages back, but I still didn’t see that coming. Although a kiss in the spirit of ‘I’ll show YOU who’s twelve’ rather than ‘I really want to kiss this person’ is maybe not the best reason to kiss someone. On the other hand, there’s worse reasons to kiss someone, and they did seem to be getting along quite well all evening, so I am interested to see how this develops. 🙂

  122. Keroshino

    Smooch her…SMOOCH HER!!!

    …Good!

    1. StrawGirl

      You win at “Best Appropriated ‘Jurassic Park’ Quote.”

  123. NoHeart6265

    I know Dina is doing this out of spite right now, but I want this to become a thing!

  124. Em

    Everything is wonderful forever.

    Now…Dina? Did you feel anything? Did sparks fly? Would you be up for another one of those kisses? Cause I’d be down with you and Becky dating. I mean…I was skeptical but that kiss is just so…so… *SQUEEE!*

    1. Crumplepunch

      “Am I doing this correctly?”

      “I DON’T KNOW!”

  125. boomwolf

    Wow… k, I’ve seen characters spontaneously kiss each other in this comic (and other forms of media), but this one definitely threw me for a loop.

    1. Em

      Same! I was not expecting a “Who’s twelve NOW bongoes?” kiss.
      …I mean I had my first kiss when I was twelve, but Joyce’s first kiss was when she was 18, so I guess her comment makes more sense with her experiences?

  126. gears

    If you didn’t see this coming, you don’t understand Ace.

    1. APersonAmI

      I am Ace, and I did not see that coming. But it is entirely possible I don’t understand Ace, yes.

    2. nothri

      I am apparently not Ace, for I did not see this coming. Unlike your mother last night.

    3. Kelly

      I’m confused? Ace, as in asexual? Cause I don’t see what that has to do with anything here. Or someone named Ace… which also doesn’t work because no one has that name…

    4. Pinja

      *Comic is about how bad it is to stereotype people because they are complex*

      Gears: Hey, have this stereotype!

    5. saki

      I fail to see the connection.

    6. StClair

      Ace? Nice girl, slightly mad, companion of the Doctor Professor, mixes her own explosives?

  127. Captain Napalm

    when the two characters you want to kiss actually do it?? I have two wishes left but I need time to think??

    1. Captain Napalm

      Actually now I am terrified that tomorrow’s strip may not go well?? If I had any money now would be EXACTLY the time for Patreon

  128. Gentleman Mummy

    …OWE. TEE. PEEWEE

  129. CanadianShinobi

    Wooooo! Go Dina!

  130. Buttlerman

    part of me cheers because Dina and Becky kissed
    but the other part is just “this will get sad because Dina only did it because she felt like she had to prove she wasn’t a child”

    1. Bagge

      Honestly not THAT an uncommon reason for the first kiss (and I think there is more to it, as I rant about above)

  131. DarkoNeko

    375 comments and rising… go for 600 ?

    1. DarkoNeko

      Aaand 603 😀

  132. Makkabee

    Well. That was unexpected.

  133. hikaru

    im glad that of all the ships hinted and set up in this comic the one involving dina is easily the fastest to set sail

    1. hikaru

      4 entire panels after being acknowledged. A+ you go dina

    2. nothri

      Maybe? Ruth and Billie kissed each other not once but twice shortly before stalling out before they officially became a thing.

  134. Lilithxchan

    I think Dina’s sexuality is, “Fuck you, I do what I want”

    1. Sam

      Sounds perfect.

      That also happens to be Mike’s.

  135. Argon

    DINA became angry!
    DINA used SWEET KISS!

    …BECKY was paralyzed!

  136. Dragon

    ??? I can already see them with three pet snakes and living together

    1. Kamino Neko

      Snakes? No. BirdsDinosaurs. Probably not parrots because they’re too talkative. Maybe chickens…utility as well as companionship.

  137. Boojum

    I am happy with this.

  138. DoggySpew

    I’m worried that this will be a “The Willis giveth, the Willis taketh away” moment.

  139. nothri

    Fuck you, Willis. To me it shall be called Tyrannosaurus Becks.

    1. Pinja

      Dinannosarus Beck would be better

      1. nothri

        Good call, Pinja. Whatever I’m paying you, consider it tripled.

      2. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        I’m going to go with that name for the ship.

    2. TheBitterRabbit

      I instinctively called them Dinasaurus Bexs >.<

  140. Aolbain

    Joyce, Dorothy and Sarah: Don’t be assholes, you guys.
    Becky: You’re not being an asshole, but I’d think you’d do well to at least start geting over Joyce before you hit on her neighbors.
    Dina: I really hope you won’t regret this later, but I think you will 🙁
    Ethan: I got nothing, carry on.

  141. MeghanTheWorldEater

    Of all the days I could of been asleep when DOA updated this was the one!

    1. gkheyf

      tell me about it. you ever think that willis has cameras in our bedrooms to check who passes out when?

  142. Autumnotopia

    Initially I was really worried about Dina just kissing Becky out of spite for the others. But thinking about it, I think I’ slightly less concerned. She seemed extremely shocked (look at that second panel face) that Becky insinuated that she was attracted to her (something that probably doesn’t happen to Dina basically ever).

    I suspect it probably was at least partially to prove to the others that she’s not 12. But I also think that it wasn’t entirely that, knowing that someone ‘likes’ her (even if she is on the ace spectrum) is a pretty powerful thing that I haven’t seen anyone else really comment on.

  143. BenRG

    Every action that we take carries with it a message. What Dina did today is her screaming: “I am not a freak! I am NORMAL!“

    1. Pinja

      I think it it more “I’m am not some doll, I’m a human”

      1. gkheyf

        and then dina goes chucky on them jerks

  144. Torra

    I hope that this *isn’t* just a spite kiss, though I don’t think it is. But oh my goodness! Such cuuutieees! I can see them both getting on really well, I hope it works out!

  145. JijiBunny

    I feel like Dina has autism. She shows a lot of signs of it, and it would explain her behaviors and why she would be upset by being called a twelve year old since people tend to treat autistic people like they’re children (like they cant think or make decisions or have feelings) instead of giving them respect.
    I hope Dina is autistic because that would mean a lot to me, autistic people rarely get representation and this comic makes my little heart soar with the absolutely wonderful diversity it provides readers.

  146. Pinja

    This is one Dina plot-line I can get on board with. I don’t think she has any attraction to Becky and this thing is a total emotional dead end but fuck you guys are being rude.

  147. yinello

    I wonder what Becky was going to say before she got kissed.

    But she’s not twelve?
    But dinosaurs are a natural language aphrodisiac?

    1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

      Buttsss.

  148. Pinja

    Also these guys are being d-bags because of their fetishisation of Dina’s ambiguous disorder… which is exactly what you guys do all the time : /

    1. timemonkey

      It’s the entire reason she’s popular at all. Because her Walkyverse double didn’t act like a 12 year old and was not well liked.

      1. Spencer

        I can (sadly) see that. I loved Walkyverse!Dina’s whole tragic character arc, but Dina here does feel a bit… Marigold-y? Like how there was so much “aw she’s so adorably awkward!” back when she was introduced in QC.

      2. Rich

        Seriously? The fact that she’s been a tirelessly supportive roommate for Amber, repeatedly taken a stand for science and reason over blind faith, and provided some really perceptive and funny commentary on other people’s foibles without getting mean about it all counts for nothing? Her popularity is all due to an undiagnosed disorder? I don’t think we’re reading the same comic.

        1. timemonkey

          Considering she was popular before she demonstrated any of that I’m gonna have to stand by what I said. Dina is popular because she’s cute, the rest is just icing.

          Also, I find it interesting how many people insist Dina has to have some sort of disorder to act as she does.

        2. saki

          Aren’t her difficulties with deciphering facial expressions (sort of implied in the last panel of this strip), maintaining eye contact, and just generally understanding people usually indicators of some sort of development disorder? I’d happily be corrected if I’ve drawn the wrong conclusions on this matter.

        3. Li

          Also, I find it interesting how many people insist Dina has to have some sort of disorder to act as she does.

          First, Willis has confirmed that the intention of this page was to indicate that Dina is not straight, and is in fact neurodivergent. So…. yeah.

          Second, a lot of those people, “insisting”? Are people who are on the autism spectrum themselves. That’s joyful recognition of representation, not… whatever gross thing you’re implying here.

          And by the by, that’s another reason for Dina’s popularity. You can call it “acts 12” and “is cute” as many times as you want to, but a lot of us just think it’s cool beans that there’s so much diversity in this strip, whether because the characters are giving us representation or because they’re giving someone else who needs it representation.

        4. timemonkey

          First, Dina is Asian, so she already suits one of the criteria on the list so if she is others it’s not automatically verified. Possible but not confirmed in comic.

          Second, I know you’re all looking for representation. I’m not saying it’s wrong but not every character who has quirks is neurodivergent. I wasn;t indicatin it was anything gross, just annoying that every character quick is jumped on and declaired proof as her being autistic or otherwise. It’s no different than being annoyed when people claim every smile or friendly touch indicates sexual desire. We all want representation and that’s fine, I will happily accept Dina as whatever she is just as I’ve accepted every other flavor of character that has ever shown up, but until it’s confirmed stating it as a fact is just annoying.

        5. Li

          No, that’s why I said Willis confirmed that was the intention of that line. Dina is all three, because Willis confirmed that is what that meant. So by your own logic, no longer annoying!

          He hasn’t stated what she is specifically yet. She could be anything. But she IS neurodivergent and people guessing about what kind shouldn’t bother you.

          And also, being annoyed that queer people are getting excited over “every smile or friendly touch” is actually also gross, because it’s a huge double standard. This is the only media I consume where it’s actually at all possible that any given queer pairing I like might be INTENTIONAL. (Marcie/Malaya!)

          in every other show or book or anything, I might be lucky enough to get 1 queer character + an optional romantic interest. In part because of that bullshit 10% statistic that says only 1 in 10 people is self-aware enough and not in active denial and willing to admit to being queer for a survey queer, so now only 1 in 10 characters can be or it’s “unrealistic”. Willis was already over his quota, too, with Ethan and Leslie and Robin…

          So after Ruth and Billie happened, I expected everyone else to be straight and resigned myself to no more pairings I would really ship. Then Danny happened. Then Becky. Then Marcie.

          This is like the ONLY thing I have right now where it’s actually NOT ridiculous to get excited that two characters of the same gender are interacting, so for the love of cheese leave people who are excited alone.

        6. Li

          Sigh formatting.

        7. Li

          I mean this post is pretty much me, while reading these things. I don’t usually publicize my shopping for fear of being seen as having a “gay bias”. I applaud other people for being more forthright.

          I also want to acknowledge that maybe you were just as annoyed when Dorothy and Walky started talking to each other and people wanted them to date even though initially Dorothy seemed uninterested

          or when the comments wanted Danny and Amber to date after only a couple of interactions

          or Sal and Danny

          etc

          I mean, if you’re an equal opportunist eye-roller, that’s fine. It’s just that most of the people here aren’t. As has been observed, “Why isn’t FRIENDSHIP good enough??” comments only really seem to come out in force when the two characters share a gender.

        8. Li

          Shipping not shopping… Ugh phone posting

        9. timemonkey

          A couple things for clarification:
          1) I’m gay so I do understand the desire for representation in fiction.
          2) Yes, I roll my eyes at all overenthusiastic shippers.

          I’m going to try and drop the subject now, as I seem unable to form my thoughts into words in a manner that doesn’t come across as insulting to others. That wasn’t my intentions but it was apparently the result. I have the unfortunate habit of thinking I can just explain myself and end up digging myself deeper and deeper and deeper as I go.

        10. Li

          Sorry. And I mean that genuinely! I am more than willing to drop it and for what it’s worth I don’t think you’re a jerk.

  149. Majere

    You go Dina, screw them and their infantilizing bullshit.

  150. Darwin

    Well, that’s it. My two favorite characters have kissed. Now I’m not sure what I’m going to do now. Something awful will now follow. I will be bracing myself.

  151. saki

    This makes me wonder if Dina’s smile in the August 30 preview is caused by Becky. Pleasepleaseplease let it be caused by Becky. It’s so adorable. >////<

    1. MeghanTheWorldEater

      The last time we saw her smile like that was when she was talking to Bex so hopefully :3

    2. saki

      And I am convinced that this preview is also related to this. Like, Dina agreeing to go on some form of date with Becky (hence the “Walking with Dina” storyline title?) and Joyce panicking. OR this taking place after the Dinasaurus Becks went on a walk together and Dina saying she enjoyed it (and maybe even saying what exactly she enjoyed, and that including kissing…?) and that’s why Joyce looks so profoundly shocked.
      … I am constantly amazed at how quickly my fangirl brain runs wild in all sorts of directions.

      1. caesar

        I was thinking the same, I mean it fits

      2. MeghanTheWorldEater

        I like it, it’s canon to me!

        And even though your link is broken I know exactly which panel you’re talking about x3

      3. Amazistool

        Fixed your link:
        http://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/117941630783/itswalky-august-3

        1. saki

          Thank you. 🙂

    3. Sam

      I hope it’s because Becky got her that hoody because that would be even more adorable. :3

      1. MeghanTheWorldEater

        That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever read! ヽ(≧ω≦)ﾉ

      2. saki

        Oh! Headcannon accepted! 😀

      3. Li

        I kind of doubt it because lack of funds, but maybe Becky will have found a parttime job by then… oh man that would be super cute.

        1. Amazistool

          Or maybe she was sewing it? Maybe i am stereotyping, but i think a girl grown up in a fundi-family would have been teached such household chores.

  152. Crazy Potato

    THE SHIP HAS SAILED!!!

  153. Miffed Mab

    Yes! Go Dina!

  154. Arianod

    “Would a twelve-year old do THIS?” Ò_Ó

    1. gkheyf

      hah! the irony. yes…a twelve-year-old would do exactly that. try again. if dina downs someone’s alcohol as a follow-up, that will only worsen the situation

      1. Arianod

        “Try again”?

        1. Em

          DO ALL THE THINGS

          (but uh yeah the try again comment is a bit odd)

        2. gkheyf

          sorry, i meant ‘try again’ to dina for trying to not act like a 12-year-old. it was supposed to be a call-back to the original joke, not a back-handed jerky comment. again, apologies

  155. Mr. Morningstar

    welp

    Dina does not appreciate being treated like a child.

  156. TheLurkerAbove

    Booze, kissing; it’s a party now!

    1. Bagge

      The universe is just out to prove Billie wrong, isn’t it?

    2. OsoPescado

      But… neither party involved in the kissing were also involved in the boozing… i dont think…?

      1. Rich

        No, they’re both sober. No boozles, and Becky was clearly opposed to drinking.

        1. Blue

          Or at the very least, opposed to drinking at Joyce’s party.

        2. Rich

          Fair point. Don’t think we’ve heard from either of them on the subject of drinking in general.

  157. TheLurkerAbove

    Also, well done again, Willis. That was one heck of a surprise! *slow clap*

  158. Focal Malice

    THE WILLIS GIVETH

    1. gkheyf

      sorry, but you forgot the expectant ellipsis at the end for what shall inevitably follow…

  159. Dirtysailor

    Er, no, no sir, I don’t like it. Becky is too, well, Becky for Dinah. This will not end well.

    1. Amazistool

      Well, there’s the expectant ellipsis that gkheyf was talking about in the comment above!

  160. OsoPescado

    EEEEEEEK!
    Equal parts ship, and slipshine. Shipshine.

    I shipshine it.

    1. Em

      Mmm I don’t know about a slipshine…I don’t think Dina will be ready for that for a long while yet. But eh, we’ll see.

  161. ninja_jesus

    This party sure took a turn for the douche, but not like G&O. More like everyone’s being an ass to Dina.

    Dina, you go girl, be whoever you want to be! Don’t let them infantilize you.

  162. CianM1301

    OH!

  163. Charlie

    Wow, Sarah’s comment was disappointing. The infantilising of Dina makes me feel really sad because I’ve gotten that before to and I really like that Becky about ten times more for being the only one who didn’t do that. Also getting Dina to talk about her special interest to keep her calm is really cute ?

    1. Cinematic

      Unfortunately, I think that was Joyce not Sarah saying that

      1. saki

        By “that”, I assume you mean the part about Dina acting like a 12-year-old? Yes, that was Joyce. But what Sarah said is also infantilising (though less outwardly) Dina. She saying someone putting the moves on Dina would definitely be weird, implying it would be weird to perceive Dina as a possible target for sexual advances, implying she’s like a child, and thus infantilising her. : /

        1. DarkoNeko

          As far as Sarah’s concerned, the room is full of immature kids.

        2. Rich

          Well, she is a whole year ahead of them. Such an old lady. 🙂

        3. Charlie

          Ohh, thank you! I did read the speech bubble as coming from Sarah, but I’m glad most people have read it differently! Still disappointing coming from Joyce, but at least more understandable. Thank you again!

        4. StrawGirl

          I’ve been rejected before on counts of wanting to avoid “corrupting” me. Yes, I am petite. Yes, I love things that children love. Yes, at the time, I was very inexperienced. But there is not much that’s more condescending than saying you don’t want to date them so you won’t “corrupt” them. It was sickening. I don’t think I’ll ever forget how that felt.

  164. Aegon01

    OH SHIT

  165. saki

    I expect this kind of comment from Joyce, but Dorothy and Sarah… I guess this is a case of unconcious bias? Because if they really thought about it, I don’t think they would have made those comments.

    1. No Name

      Explanation: Sarah’s stressed and Dorothy’s drunk.

      1. Spencer

        Better explanatation: Both Sarah and Dorothy are saying exactly what they’re thinking, only Sarah is blunt and Dorothy’s cushioning it by acting half committal about it.

        And it is no less terrible from either of them.

        1. timemonkey

          I don’t think it’s terrible. People find the ideas of specific others as sexual beings to be weird, it’s not a reflection of what they think of that person, just that they’ve never been able to think of them in that way.

        2. Spencer

          Would you ever say to that to somebody’s face? Would you ever even say that about someone at all, even in private? The three of them are vocalizing how strange and abnormal Dina is as a person right to her face, that they can’t perceive her as competent or capable enough to make decisions regarding sex. It’s terrible of all three of them.

        3. timemonkey

          Yup.

          My best friend from school, I can’t see her as a sexual being at all. I know she is but to me it always seems weird.

          I do think it’s a bit douchy to say it to her face because of the context and their personal reasons. Dina doesn’t actually act like a 12 year old, she’s too thoughtful and mature about everything.

        4. Athedia

          There is a difference to not seeing your friends and siblings as sexual beings (heck, I try to pretend that my parents aren’t). But saying that she acts and looks 12? Different entirely.

        5. Spencer

          Then dude, I don’t know to tell you. That’s hella lame of you.

        6. gkheyf

          well, ya. amber wasn’t too harsh when she told dina that she’d prefer not to think of her as a sexual being. so, ya. dina isn’t getting a whole lot of respect here, but as per usual joyce’s stating of what’s on her mind has crossed a line

        7. thejeff

          Or from a slightly different perspective – they do react to her on gut level as a kid. She just comes off that way. Even Amber says I’m enjoying not having to think of you as a sexual being. Nearly everyone, from Raidah to Riley, reacts to her that way though some are more obnoxious about it than others and some work on overcoming that impression.

          They may not be commenting so much on Dina’s capabilities but on the weirdness of Becky’s being attracted to what they assume she also perceives as a child.

          That said, of course she’s not a child and those comments will hurt however they’re meant.

          Whatever combination of “I’m not 12” and curiosity about sex and general “She’s admitted she’s attracted to me. When will I know that again?” and actual interest in Becky drove the kiss, it’s a good development. I don’t know how much long term potential it’s got, but the fallout’s likely to be interesting.

        8. Rich

          No, the three of them are not. Joyce is the only one explicitly commenting about Dina’s perceived age. Sarah and Dorothy both think Becky making a move on her is weird, but that could be for many reasons. Maybe they’re uncomfortable with PDAs. Maybe they think the two of them don’t know each other that well and getting sexual so quickly is inappropriate. Maybe they’re concerned that Becky doesn’t seem to have considered the possibility that Dina’s sexual orientation doesn’t match hers – she sure didn’t with Sal a while back. And maybe they just can’t believe anyone would just burt out something like that the way Becky just did. She just told a crowded room she was holding off on making sexual advances toward Dina right in front of her but without actually addressing her. That’s rude, uncomfortable, and weird, to put it mildly.

          So let’s cut the other two some slack until we get an explanation for what’s weird to them. Joyce, yeah, she’s being rotten here.

        9. Spencer

          Yeah, no. You’re welcome to assume that Joyce is the only person doing anything wrong, but Dorothy and Sarah are coming off just as rotten here. Their focus is not on Becky’s flirtations, it’s on Becky’s flirtations being directed towards Dina. That’s what’s weird about it to the three of them, and that’s why they’re acting like total buttholes.

        10. Rich

          And how do you justify that opinion of Sarah, in particular? Same person that tore Raidah and friends a new one at the mall for talking down to Dina, and now she’s suddenly incapable of seeing Dina as an adult? I don’t buy it a bit, and you’re stretching to try to stamp Joyce’s attitude on her without evidence. Far more plausible that she’s criticizing Becky’s behavior than Dina here. And it deserves criticism – that is one of the most inconsiderate approaches to expressing an interest in someone this strip has seen, and that’s saying something with Joe on the cast.

        11. Spencer

          Sarah said that Dina was “our age” and there’s a huge difference between saying something to prove Raidah wrong and how “definitely weird” it is for Dina to be hit on. Nothing Sarah said to Raidah at the mall had anything to do with her perception of Dina as someone who’s capable of making relationship choices.

          And if she is just criticizing Becky for hitting on Dina, then that’s shitty of her too, coming from the woman who loudly described to Joyce how much she wants to fuck Jacob.

        12. Li

          I doubly agree with your last point. It’s honestly uncomfortable how many people here seem to think it’s somehow better that everyone just be telling Becky it’s weird for her to announce that she’s interested in making moves on someone. Huuuuge double standard, I’ve noticed: sexuality is so priiiivate when you’re queer, whereas it’s just totally normal and not creepy to say a five-year-old boy is a “flirt” because he has a female friend at school.

          Only queer sexuality is always sexual. Everyone else’s sexuality is normal and human and totally G-rated unless people are actively naked!

        13. Li

          *it would better if everyone were… *as if it’s better that everyone is…

          anything but the mess I actually typed. This comment involved some rare emotion from me.

        14. Captain Batson

          Amber has. and she’s likely Dina’s closest human friend. She stated that she was, quote, “enjoying not having to think of [Dina] as a sexual being.”

  166. Shadow12000

    YOU SHOW EM, DINA!

    1. Shadow12000

      I KEEP FORGETTING JOE IS MY NEW GRAVITAR AS I MAKE THESE KINDS OF COMMENTS GAH!

      1. gkheyf

        lol. that’s rough, buddy

  167. Gamaran Sepudomyn

    Yay! Shipping!

  168. Crumplepunch

    “Have I correctly assessed the context of this situation?”

  169. Appalachiosaurus

    I somehow managed to miss the final panel and read the comic from the beginning, i was definitely surprised. I basically said “fucking hell” in a hushed voice while I had violent muscle spasms from the sudden influx of happiness.

  170. overdosed

    is dina a sexual being now? XD
    now everyone has to think she is XD

    1. What Was The Question Again?

      She’s a sexual *puts on shades* tyrannosaurus *YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH*

      1. Blue

        *puts shades on the dinosaur hat*

        1. overdosed

          damn it the dinosaur hat was going to be my thing! XD

    2. Rich

      Still doesn’t work for me, I just can’t get around the hat.

  171. Pizkie

    I swear I wasn’t shipping them. I really wasn’t. And then… http://genreunsavvy.tumblr.com/post/122073549313/my-hand-slipped

    1. DarkoNeko

      This is adorable.

  172. Charles

    And here we see The Dina in her mating season, about to do the HATEFUCK.

    1. DarkoNeko

      …nope. what the hell.

      1. Rich

        Agreed. She likes Becky and vice versa. Not a hatefuck, if it goes anywhere at all.

        Although if you want an absurdist porno flick version of the night, Amber gets socked out of her room by Becky and Dina, Ethan gets socked out of his room by Jacob and Malay, and they both have to spend the night at Danny’s (Joe being absent with this evening’s partner – he never seems to sex it up at home, I’ll give him that much). That won’t happen, but it’ll give the Slipshiners something to hope for.

        1. gkheyf

          all of this is amusing and awesome, but joe did sex it up at home that one time…with roz. thankfully, it doesn’t seem to happen often

        2. Rich

          Was that his room? I thought they filmed it at her place. Still, he seems to mostly go out for sexy times. Danny would probably quickly develop an aversion to socks if that weren’t the case.

        3. Em

          The Roz left Joe’s room in the morning, implying that they had sex in Joe’s room. Though it’s possible they filmed in Roz’s room, and then slept in Joe’s.

        4. Em

          The Roz. xP Not what I meant.

        5. Blue

          Danny’s foot had a camera attached, so I’d guess it was Joe’s room. 😛

  173. AeroQC

    1. AeroQC

      (Dammit, tried using HTML, don’t know how it works)
      Damn Dina!
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95SYdjRVCR0

      1. saki

        For future reference, this is how you do it
        (a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95SYdjRVCR0″)Dammit Dina(/a)
        but replace the () with the arrow brackets. 🙂

        1. AeroQC

          Cool, thanks!

  174. Benjy

    Whether this is a Take-That kiss because Dina is furious over being dismissed as “a twelve year old” or if Dina really is reciprocating what she now knows to be Becky’s feelings, I support her 100%

    1. rachel

      YEAP

    2. Rich

      If she’s reciprocating, that’s fine no matter what other motivations are involved. Impulsive, but fine. If it’s just a spite kiss to prove Joyce wrong, that’s messing with Becky’s head (and heart) in a very unfair way. I think Dina’s better than that, but Willis is unpredictable.

  175. LordHaw

    In panel 5, Dina’s angry eyes sort of match her hat.

  176. Aisling

    I’d be pissed too if I was treated like that!

  177. John Madden

    Out of left field…

  178. Ozzi

    Saw this coming. She had her at “I like talking to you.”

  179. Eric

    Other people drinking doesn’t make you less safe, Joyce.

  180. Packy

    I’m using “Beckasaur” because I don’t want them to be “Terrible Lizbians”. I want them to be “Fucking TERRIFIC Lizbians”.

  181. Kraken

    Still just as annoyed at them after sleeping. 😛

    The body-shame aspect of it is bugging me more now. I doubt Joyce would’ve said that about Dina if she looked more like herself or Billie, regardless of how she acted.

    1. rachel

      I KNOW, I came back to it this morning too and just AUGH, so rude, so unkind!

      1. StrawGirl

        UGH, yesssss. It’s awful when strangers think you’re a middle-school student. The least your “friends” could do is not treat you the same way.

        I was called a “smart little girl” when I was 17, about to turn 18. If my friends were to pull that crap? I’d be furious.

        In fact, one of my friends laughed at the thought of me being angry. I did not take it well.

        People treating you like you’re younger than you are just discounts all of the experiences you’ve had. You think I’m 15? You’re trying to invalidate the fact that I have a freaking Master’s degree. Every year of my life matters. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I look young.

  182. Stealthy Canuck

    1. I suddenly dislike most of these characters. I mean, Dina’s RIGHT THERE. Show some basic respect for her feelings. Dina’s completely in her right to be pissed at the whole lot of em.
    2. DINA SMASH! (I’m curious to see what she’s like when she gets mad)

    1. Pizkie

      2. It has been known to happen. Spoiler: It is adorable.

      1. Stealthy Canuck

        I must concur, it is indeed adorable. We need more of that.

    2. AgentKeen

      1. There was a whole conversation about this and Dina the other day in the comments section.

    3. Boom

      3. They are all pretty drunk at this point.

      1. Li

        No, Sarah and Joyce are not drunk at all, so that’s two out of the three people who spoke up to say it’s weird to hit on Dina.

        1. HeySo

          Yes, because the intentionally antisocial one and the unintentionally counter-social one are really the ones you expect proper consideration of romantic matters from.

        2. Li

          Proper consideration of human matters.

          They seem to be agreeing with Joyce’s assessment, so they’re agreeing being attracted to Dina is weird. That’s rude on two different levels.

    4. HeySo

      Your expectations of drunk college students is bewildering.

      1. StrawGirl

        Even my younger, drunk friends aren’t awful enough to insult people to their faces.

        The only people I know who are this rude are generally reviled and not really accepted as part of the group.

  183. Huh?

    LEFT FIELD

    … that’s where it came from. Can’t say I mind though~

  184. m2iCodeJockey

    And, just like that, Dina marks her territory…

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Either that or the Tyrannosaurus hat has finally affected her brain and she’s attacking, going for the face first.

  185. AgentKeen

    THE ONE DAY I DON”T CHECK BEFORE BED, AND THIS HAPPENS!

    587 COMMENTS!

    1. Rich

      Meh. It’s no Roomie and LT squeestorm.

      1. Captain Batson

        True.

  186. Fish

    sigh. I had such squee, and then I read the comments and there were legit downers in there and now my squee is squelched.

  187. Bandit

    Called it.

  188. MegaMarshmallow

    This is fantastic. This single event has caused me to finally leave a comment on what is quickly becoming my favourite webcomic of all time. Great work.

  189. Adam Smith

    *You had your eyes wide open…*

    *Why were they open?*

    1. Rich

      “I had to maintain eye contact with your hat.”

      1. gkheyf

        oh, awesome. that is totally justifiable. i imagine dina will–as the song says–leave her hat on when the time comes. like sal with her gloves. although, we all know why the gloves. knife scar, and all that…

  190. Willoughby Chase

    Go Dina! Soar! Like a pterodactyl [1]

    Is Joyce Dina’s krytonite? Joyce is the cheerleader for the infantilising comments after all. Was it the 12 year comment that got to Dina?

    [1] I’m a composer. I have no idea about dinosaurs.

  191. gkheyf

    took me 2+ hours to read all the comments…whew.

    when dina snaps, it’s always awesome. this is kinda how joyce’s first kiss went, huh? spite driven and forceful, but at least the person that she kissed is kinsey-inclined in the right direction.

    also, i’ve been hoping that this question would die down in my head, but can anyone explain to me the origins of ‘bongo’ as an insult in the comments sections here? i have not read previous willis works, if it’s relevant. i mean to, but there is no convenient way to sift through the backlog

    1. thejeff

      There was a word that was overused in the comments, in reference to Roz, I believe. Willis added it to the swear filter, replacing it with “bongo”. It ryhmes with witch. 🙂
      Since then people have started using “bongo” itself. Personally, I like it. Hope it spreads. I want to see a reference in the 2030 version of the Urban Dictionary linking the origin of the offensive term bongo to the strip where it first went in.

    2. Rich

      The board censors the word bee-eye-tee-see-aitch into bongo automatically, due to massive overuse in the comments a long while back. Leads to a lot of silly puns around the word, and a lot of casual usage by people that would probably think twice about using the real word.

  192. Edupoet81

    *Steps out of long-time lurkdom*

    I’m of two minds regarding the developments of that last panel. On one hand, I can identify with Dina. Many years back, back when I was a college freshman, I also looked about twelve. My social skills were on a similar level to Dina’s. I have improved *slightly* in that regard in the intervening years.

    In any case, it always upset me when people commented that I looked like a kid, or implied that they considered me childlike and innocent. I remember feeling compelled to prove those people wrong. I suspect that is Dina’s primary motivation for her actions, and I don’t think she’s thought this through. I suspect Dina is most likely asexual, and not attracted to Becky.

    For all I understand where Dina is coming from, I also feel sad for Becky. I think Becky is genuinely attracted to Dina. As Dorothy astutely stated during her earlier conversation with Danny, Becky’s life is kind of being upended. I think that Becky’s going to end up hurt by this.

    Also, what’s up with Ethan these last two comics, just silently hanging around in the background with boozles around his head? I’m getting Chekhov’s Gun vibes here. What are Willis’s plans for drunk Ethan?

    Thus concludes the novel that is my debut post.

    1. Fish

      Welcome!! 😀

      I also empathize a lot with Dina and love her for that reason. 🙂 And have in previous universe’s too.

      I really hope Dina is not aromantic (aromantic representation would rock! Just, some other character please). I mean, she’s dated someone in a previous universe. And, she and Becky had some chemistry the last few panels, and Dina seems at least flattered by the idea and possessive of Becky. So, I really hope something comes of this. 🙂

      Though, poor Dina and poor Becky if Dina is asexual and not aromantic.

  193. Amazistool

    So Dina now has advanced to non-scientific dating methods?

    1. Proxiehunter

      She’s testing a hypothesis. You can’t get much more scientific.

  194. Marie

    I think Dina is at least genuinely interested. She’s said before that she may or may not be sexual, and she looked confused-flattered by Becky’s comment, to me. I do think the timing was probably mainly if not solely due to the rude comments, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t genuine otherwise.

    I’m also curious if anyone other than Joyce would have explained weird in the same way. I had people in my friend group who were really hard to picture dating anyone, and it would be ‘weird’ for someone to hit on them, but not because I was infantilizing them (the real reasons are hard to explain, unfortunately). In any case, Dina’s going to like Joyce even less than she did.

    Becky looks kinda grown up in panel 5, and I’m glad she seems to be about to defend Dina.

    Also yay Becky said what I said like two days ago, about it being a safe party for Joyce.

  195. Marie

    Also we haven’t seen Joyce in panel 4 judgmental posture in a while.

  196. blackaeon

    Commenting for Satan here

  197. Alan

    The rational for saying she’s ace is from the one strip where she expresses a scientific interest in sex to Amber; this has people assuming that she lacks any other interest in sex. For my part, I think it’s way to early to make any guesses to her sexuality, but I honestly really hope that she’s not asexual, or at least on the demisexual or gray-ace end of the spectrum, because visibly neurodivergent people are almost never allowed to be sexual – nt people get squicked out because they see them as children rather than adults capable of having sexual agency.

    1. Edupoet81

      I’m definitely not NT, and I don’t consider myself ace, either. I have had relationships in the past. Still, I’ve always read Dina as ace. I’m cool with being wrong, though. In fact, for Becky’s sake, I kind of hope I am.

    2. Superdud

      Or worse, they see them as a separate inferior species of human. And maybe she is ace and only has a scientific interest in sex, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be interested in forming close emotional relationships with others.

  198. Superdud

    Woot, best ship just became canon. Thank you Willis!

  199. Arkham

    RAWR! Saw this coming, though not like that. 🙂

  200. JA

    Well then

  201. brute

    Haha this ran on father’s day
    See it’s funny because this would make becky’s dad really mad, but he sucks so it’s like a symbolic FU
    What fun

    1. Vil

      What beauty your avatar is Dina.

  202. Bicycle Bill

    “Mammals are weird”.

    1. Agemegos

      Vive l’étrangeté!

  203. Disloyal Subject

    WHAT
    WHAT
    I neglect to check the update ONE night, and this happens? This is wonderful.

  204. Spencer

    Something I just considered, between all the arguments of “Dina is ace!” “NO! She banged Walky in the over verse!” I’ve seen little mention of Dina being Demisexual, like some of us consider Malaya to be. Wouldn’t that neatly explain her relationship with Walky in IW! as well as how this continuity’s Dina has yet to really feel sexual attraction towards somebody?

    1. ninja_jesus

      Other verses are irrelevant. This series is meant to be standalone.

      1. Spencer

        Sexuality is consistent through both universes, ergo, yes, it is relevant.

      2. timemonkey

        The storylines are standalone, the characters are consistent.

        1. DarkoNeko

          It’s still kinda annoying to see people using the others universes as a bible to what any character here is “allowed” to do 😐

        2. timemonkey

          It kind of is. Certain things are universally consistent. Sexualities remain the same, character traits have remained the same, though written in different ways. For example Sarah and Ruth are very different than their Walkyverse counterparts while maintaining the same basic traits.

    2. DarkoNeko

      I still think she’s just a late bloomer (well compared to Dorothy or Sarah, anyway)

  205. Tenn

    I’m not gonna read 711 comments. And I probably don’t have anything relevant and/or coherent to say that hasn’t already been said. Here’s something irrelevant and incoherent, though: Gnarf turgle ribbus orifung.

    1. Agemegos

      I think there’s something in that for all of us.

  206. NF

    What.

  207. Toes14

    Don’t get too worked up about this, Dina is surely doing it as an impulsive science experiment. I predict it will leave Becky horny & frustrated, wandering the halls where she’ll be discovered by Ruth, leading to a Ruth/Billie/Becky three-way.

    1. HeySo

      We’ve all basically been expecting that, I think.

  208. HeySo

    I don’t know if I wanted this or not..

  209. David

    Nope. Still weird.

    The sad thing is that this is more confusing to Becky and the others than it likely is to Dina. Like a 10-year old observing grownups react to profanities.

  210. Robin

    MY SHIP IS CANON

  211. Rowen Morland

    Dang, when the comment section gets like this you can’t find anything.

  212. 0kami

    Wow, 737 comments so far.

    Guess we can rightfully call this pairing an “airship” now…

  213. Vil

    I didn’t know I wanted this, but OMG I WANTED THIS

  214. chris73

    First panel shows it doesn’t take much to ignite righteous indignation in some people

  215. Cale Baird

    I am intrigued, aroused, an’ disturbed.

  216. Adrian

    IB4 Dina follows up with “Passable but not as exhilarating as advertised.” Or something along those lines.

  217. Zeeblee

    Dinasauras Bex!

  218. Nobody

    It’s cute and all, but all I can think is that one of them is about to get hurt.

    And call me crazy, but I think it’s gonna be Becky

    1. Agemegos

      Yup. It sucks to be a science experiment.

      1. Nobody

        Or a protest sign, seeing as how Dina seems to mainly be doing it as a middle finger to the rest of the room.

        But either way, it probably means vastly less to her than it does to Becky, who’s actually attracted to Dina specifically.

  219. imightnotbeanyone

    Damn, Dina takes no prisioners. This is the best “Fuck all ya’ll!” ever!

  220. LS

    I like to think Dina is asexual. She just hates the way she gets pidgeonholed by everyone around her all the time.

    1. Salmo

      Unless Willis has changed his “orientations are the same as the other universe” guideline, she’s straight, which makes this interesting.

      1. David M Willis

        where is walkyverse dina straight

        1. Nobody

          Well, if she were straight, I imagine the location of said heterosexuality would be the Walkyverse.

          But it’s 5 AM and I’m packing ebay auction stuff in cereal boxes, so I might just be crazy.

        2. Li

          I think you’re confused. The Walkyverse is where Dina has a relationship with a dude, not a stated sexuality. And the comics creator is here right now telling you she’s not straight there, albeit Jeopardy style.

        3. Nobody

          You talking to LS or me? Because if it’s me A: I did say “if” and B: I was being facetious.

          I may not have phrased it well, but that was supposed to read as “if it were the case that Walkyverse Dina were straight, the Walkyverse would be where she was located whilst being straight.” (Tautology is tautology.)

        4. Salmo

          You make a predictably excellent point. While the Walkyverse Dina is demonstrably not likely to be asexual, we have no evidence that she’s completely straight.

  221. TerminusTypeR

    Hmmm. I ship this even more now. Go Dina!

  222. Dorje Sylas

    Went to a large party, with many unknown people.
    Interacted socially with them.
    Participated in group actives.
    Held a lengthy conversation with a complete stranger.
    Performed physical relations with said stranger.
    Shocked everyone with “normalness.”

    Today’s Experiment: Sucessful

  223. Volkai

    Oh hello I did not see this one coming at all.

    I love it.

  224. Lulu

    Oh boy.

  225. That One Weirdo

    … Huh. The only thing that surprises me is I’m not surprised anymore.

  226. Kenjia

    …and there was much re-joyce-ing. Har har…

  227. GVick

    Go Dina! Own your own body and actions.

  228. Karen

    My sister’s name is Becky too, and when we were kids we nicknamed her “Rebeccasaurus Rex” which pissed her off a lot (so of course we did it more). “Beckasaur” brought back so many memories…

  229. Skai Cyan

    Beckasaur is quite possibly the most awesome name for a ship I have ever heard. Usually they’re cutesy like “Ristelle” or “Korrasami”.

  230. blegh

    love this ship

  231. Karfsma778

    WUT. Also, awesome. Good for both of them!

  232. BrokenEye, True False Prophet

    Tchaikovsky’s “Love Theme”

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