Jacob sure, but enough girls have been turned off by Joe’s reputation, including Sarah who we know likes tall guys specifically, that I think there’s something similar in Roz and Joyce that sees past that. I don’t think Roz would be open to even a casually sexual relationship with Joe if she saw him as just a misogynistic fuck boy. I think she takes more care than that.
Nono
It’s why I said if you don’t take personality into account.
Based purely on looks, Joe would fit into what a fair amount of the population might consider attractive.
Sirksome
Maybe I didn’t articulate that well. I think it’s more than they just like big buff guys. My takeaway from that was supposed to be that Roz and Joyce have more in common than it seems.
Dante
And also, that yeah (I do agree) – Roz wouldn’t have let her near her, not even for how easily he agreed to make the #Film, if he didn’t clear at least some standards on what matters to her the most.
We all know how awful the Do List was and the consequences it brought but Joe was always vocal about consent and not judging people for what they got off to. I wonder if his commitment to being an Ethical Slut ™ made Roz go “ok so the bar is subterranean but maybe he can learn. There’s within him a kernel of invincible decency.”
I’m assuming that the donut apologies erased a lot.
Mostly unrelatedly, I just realized we don’t know how Joe rated Mary on that list.
MM
To be fair, only one of the panels was “oh, dear Lord, what have I done?” The others were a moral quandary of a more political nature.
Sirksome
That was also when a known rapist was slinking around campus so Joe was in the hot seat for circulating his do-list that was essentially a predator cheat sheet.
Nono
There was a strip where Mary was in a good moment and I think Agatha went ‘maybe she saw her rating!’ so that implies it was a good one.
BorkBorkBork
I dunno. In this world full of short kings, does anyone still like tall, dark, and handsome? Other than other dudes?
ktbear
Yes. But then when you’re 5’2″ everyone is tall.
Nymph
Yep. Plenty of people do.
GoblinBagsSumo
…This is sarcasm, no?
Mark
I think you’re on to something but I don’t know what. Roz seems on the surface to be average-lust, zero-romance, but her actual standards are a mystery to me. What does she value in a partner, beyond the obvious?
Maybe we’re about to find out.
Taellosse
Roz approaches her sex life the same way she does most of the rest of her activities and identity: an unapologetic statement of her view of feminist sociopolitical equity. As such, she makes the deliberate choice to engage in casual “flings” with a range of partners, deliberately avoiding emotional attachments or any sort of committed, monogamous relationship. By extension, her standards for an acceptable partner don’t altogether ignore personality, but it is de-emphasized compared to “more typical” women, because she doesn’t intend to form any sort of deep attachments to them. Thus, Joe is acceptable because he’s conventionally attractive, not a total asshole (at least on purpose), and was also fine with a “no strings attached” dynamic.
Eventually, Elon Musk (SUPER GENIUS) will admit defeat and sell Twitter/X for whatever he can get and someone else will try and undo the damage he’s done.
Bridgebrain
The most hilarious thing to me is that it’s still twitter under the hood. If you inspect the code, everything internally is still twitter.com, because it would have cost millions to go through and update everything, and he fired anyone who was capable of it anyway.
eh, whatever
everything internally is still twitter.com
And the pix are still all at twimg.com, and so on and so forth.
I feel Joe has other questions beyond Roz’s expertise. Honestly Roz would be my first chocie but then again I honestly can’t say anyone else would be useful. Except for Fuckface but I doubt Joe speaks Draconic
I feel like Roz would be the person to have the healthiest relationships. She seems extremely open and unashamed. The only conflict I can think of is that Mary is her roommate. That might be a lot to have to deal with.
I’m not sure if Roz has had relationships, just relations.
(Not saying this is because of her proclivities, just that we’ve not seen her with anyone in an actual dating context and in fact her only partner that we’ve seen has been Joe.)
Dana
I think he wants less advice on relationships and more advice on consent. He stayed sober last night to protect Joyce and it backfired.
Nono
Did it actually backfire?
Like in 80% of situations he did the right thing. The two of them just need to communicate more.
Dana
Which is some of the best advice Roz can give here. What she will say on the other hand, we shall see.
Freemage
Okay, Roz has useful information and correct opinions about a lot of things. But given the use of Danny as a camera-stand for The Film, I’m gonna say that her position on consent is not as healthy as a lot of folks (including her) would assume.
Let me be clear: I have no judgement about The Film itself. But involving someone who is unconscious in your sex play, even in such a tangential role, is rude as hell. For one thing, a great many folks, seeing the video and realizing whose foot that was, would assume that Danny was aware of the goings on and observing. Creating that impression in other people’s minds without Danny’s consent was a shitty thing to do. I really wish someone would throw that fact in her smug face already, but I have doubts about it happening, because Roz has the Immunity from Consequence card.
eh, whatever
Does she actually know Joe tied the camera to Danny’s toe?
(What I don’t get is how this didn’t wake Danny up, actually.)
thejeff
I mean, she was there. It’s unlikely she wouldn’t have seen.
asmodai27
Heat of the moment and all that, but given she was the one to offer to film it, I have always assumed she would have been the one to tie the camera.
I wouldn’t read too much into it though, as I see the camera placement more as a gag than something I should interpret regarding any of the characters…
Because this is a comic, I feel like a good gag can justify the character doing something out of character, and not suffering any consequence for those out of character stuff which is here only to provide a good laugh.
Jeremiah
Yeah you get it, wish more people understood that.
Freemage
I accept this line of reasoning for comics and stories that operate on this principle generally. If, OTOH, you expect me to care, for instance, about a character being slipped alcohol in order to take advantage of her, then you need to maintain that tone and awareness consistently.
As an example of what I’m getting at, this comic is taking a much more realistic approach to the issue of violence, in general, than its predecessor did. That’s cool. Even the ‘comic’ violence, like Mike punching Joe, is handled differently. This is a good thing, because it means that when violence occurs, it produces the desired reaction in the reader.
Someone calling out Roz, and forcing her to acknowledge her actions, would be a way to move forward. But without it, attempts to have her seem like a source of insight just fall flat for me.
I can’t recall if Roz has been in an actual long-term relationship to offer solid advice but then again there really isn’t anyone in the cast that I can think of other the Becky,Dina and Fuckface and the former two are to close to situation and later while Joe doesn’t speak draconic.
Nono
There’s Danny.
There are others in the cast with decently long relationships at this point but Joe isn’t really close to most of them.
Dante
But that would involve having a VULNERABLE talk with his Best Friend!!
If Mary doesn’t wanna see somebody fuck, she can simply exit the scene and go play Time Crisis 3 at the local laundromat.
(For those who don’t know, a laundromat is a building you can go to that has a lot of laundry washing/drying machines. You put some money in, load it with your laundry, and then you sit around and wait for it to be done. Usually there’s a vending machine for food and drinks, sometimes a claw machine or video arcade cabinet. Since the laundry machines typically take quarters ($0.25 coins), you can also usually find some capsule dispensers with little toys and such in them, for any kids who may have been dragged there.)
Smallmoon
Your local laundromat is clearly nicer than mine. No vending machines, no arcade cabinets, no capsule dispensers.
There IS a fairly nice Quick-Service Food and Beverage location next door, and the owner (of the laundromat) is understanding of people bringing food in. Just don’t get any on the machines.
“The film” is a reference to sex tape that Roz and Joe made at the beginning of the first semester, and then posted online (with Joe’s consent, but not Danny’s, but I won’t dig further into that rant here). I don’t remember if it’s been outright stated that Joyce watched the film, or just heavily implied, but it’s solidly suggested that she’s seen all of what Joe has to bring to the table.
Mark
Joyce in her loft, staring at The Film on her laptop and then slamming it shut, closed out a chapter as I recall.
Michael Steamweed
“Joyce in her loft, staring at The Film on her laptop and then slamming it shut”… I read that in ST:TNG style of “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”. 😀
Concerned that Mary is gonna show up and decide to try to spin things to cause trouble. Would love to see that backfire, though, if Mary was like, “So Joyce, I saw Joe, with his penis, was with Roz today.” “Yes, Mary, he told me he went to ask her something. His penis is attached to him, so it goes wherever he goes.”
And I do think this is a consent-related question, which Roz probably is more of an expert on than anyone in Joe’s immediate circle. At least without having to go to their gender studies teacher or involve Dorothy in their sex life any more than she already is.
anonymsly
Plus, Dorothy at least has the ground level ‘dislike of Joe as a concept’ and ‘Joyce is a child who must be protected from all things’ going against him. It would be impossible to have a real conversation with Dorothy about sex with Joyce or Joyce’s actual consent vs. expressed consent because her automatic position is much too close to I KNEW YOU WERE JUST USING JOYCE YOU F-ING CREEP.
172 thoughts on “Top you”
Sirksome
Roz and Joyce have the same taste in men and I don’t think that’s explored enough.
Nono
Is it really that much of a big thing when their tastes lean towards ‘big, built, conventionally attractive’?
Like if you don’t take personality into account it would not be a big shock hearing people are into Joe and Jacob.
Sirksome
Jacob sure, but enough girls have been turned off by Joe’s reputation, including Sarah who we know likes tall guys specifically, that I think there’s something similar in Roz and Joyce that sees past that. I don’t think Roz would be open to even a casually sexual relationship with Joe if she saw him as just a misogynistic fuck boy. I think she takes more care than that.
Nono
It’s why I said if you don’t take personality into account.
Based purely on looks, Joe would fit into what a fair amount of the population might consider attractive.
Sirksome
Maybe I didn’t articulate that well. I think it’s more than they just like big buff guys. My takeaway from that was supposed to be that Roz and Joyce have more in common than it seems.
Dante
And also, that yeah (I do agree) – Roz wouldn’t have let her near her, not even for how easily he agreed to make the #Film, if he didn’t clear at least some standards on what matters to her the most.
We all know how awful the Do List was and the consequences it brought but Joe was always vocal about consent and not judging people for what they got off to. I wonder if his commitment to being an Ethical Slut ™ made Roz go “ok so the bar is subterranean but maybe he can learn. There’s within him a kernel of invincible decency.”
Rabid Rabbit
There was that moment when Leslie got Roz to take over the class and Joe brought up the ratings things, with those magnificent silent panels of “Jesus. I let this guy stick it in me.” https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/upgrade/
I’m assuming that the donut apologies erased a lot.
Mostly unrelatedly, I just realized we don’t know how Joe rated Mary on that list.
MM
To be fair, only one of the panels was “oh, dear Lord, what have I done?” The others were a moral quandary of a more political nature.
Sirksome
That was also when a known rapist was slinking around campus so Joe was in the hot seat for circulating his do-list that was essentially a predator cheat sheet.
Nono
There was a strip where Mary was in a good moment and I think Agatha went ‘maybe she saw her rating!’ so that implies it was a good one.
BorkBorkBork
I dunno. In this world full of short kings, does anyone still like tall, dark, and handsome? Other than other dudes?
ktbear
Yes. But then when you’re 5’2″ everyone is tall.
Nymph
Yep. Plenty of people do.
GoblinBagsSumo
…This is sarcasm, no?
Mark
I think you’re on to something but I don’t know what. Roz seems on the surface to be average-lust, zero-romance, but her actual standards are a mystery to me. What does she value in a partner, beyond the obvious?
Maybe we’re about to find out.
Taellosse
Roz approaches her sex life the same way she does most of the rest of her activities and identity: an unapologetic statement of her view of feminist sociopolitical equity. As such, she makes the deliberate choice to engage in casual “flings” with a range of partners, deliberately avoiding emotional attachments or any sort of committed, monogamous relationship. By extension, her standards for an acceptable partner don’t altogether ignore personality, but it is de-emphasized compared to “more typical” women, because she doesn’t intend to form any sort of deep attachments to them. Thus, Joe is acceptable because he’s conventionally attractive, not a total asshole (at least on purpose), and was also fine with a “no strings attached” dynamic.
Jim
We don’t know that Roz is attracted to Joe’s “type”, it could just be that she needed an itch scratched, and Joe was willing and available.
Yeet
she was also attracted to jacob
thejeff
And Beef.
NGPZ
What is the alt text refering to? I do not get
Davus
People think it’s sexytimes, so they click on it quickly b/c sexytimes.
Jo_cubstar
But what twitter link?
Yumi
When the comic comes out, Willis posts a link to it on their Twitter. It is accompanied by the strip title, which in this case is “Top You.”
Jamie
Oh, right. Twitter still exists, doesn’t it.
not someone else
Kind of, technically?
NGPZ
At this rate they should just rename it to Nope.
cuz when ya look at what’s trending, you be like, NOPE.
Freezer
Eventually, Elon Musk (SUPER GENIUS) will admit defeat and sell Twitter/X for whatever he can get and someone else will try and undo the damage he’s done.
Bridgebrain
The most hilarious thing to me is that it’s still twitter under the hood. If you inspect the code, everything internally is still twitter.com, because it would have cost millions to go through and update everything, and he fired anyone who was capable of it anyway.
eh, whatever
And the pix are still all at twimg.com, and so on and so forth.
Needfuldoer
As its own shambling, reanimated corpse, maybe.
Amós Batista
somebody print it to me, pls, I’m brazilian (not complainning, of course; fuck Elon)
Nicoleandmaggie
I guess this is the problem with a big buffer? (Blue sky!)
Thag Simmons
feels like it’s been a while since Roz showed up.
Jeremiah
Last appearance was in July. Last speaking moment was in may.
Bryy
so one or two days.
Davus
Wait, is Joe going to Roz for relationship advice? I mean, I guess she is the sexpert.
UrsulaDavina
I feel Joe has other questions beyond Roz’s expertise. Honestly Roz would be my first chocie but then again I honestly can’t say anyone else would be useful. Except for Fuckface but I doubt Joe speaks Draconic
UrsulaDavina
It was suppose to say sexpertise!
Michael Steamweed
Sadly, no edit option here.
Sirksome
I feel like Roz would be the person to have the healthiest relationships. She seems extremely open and unashamed. The only conflict I can think of is that Mary is her roommate. That might be a lot to have to deal with.
Nono
I’m not sure if Roz has had relationships, just relations.
(Not saying this is because of her proclivities, just that we’ve not seen her with anyone in an actual dating context and in fact her only partner that we’ve seen has been Joe.)
Dana
I think he wants less advice on relationships and more advice on consent. He stayed sober last night to protect Joyce and it backfired.
Nono
Did it actually backfire?
Like in 80% of situations he did the right thing. The two of them just need to communicate more.
Dana
Which is some of the best advice Roz can give here. What she will say on the other hand, we shall see.
Freemage
Okay, Roz has useful information and correct opinions about a lot of things. But given the use of Danny as a camera-stand for The Film, I’m gonna say that her position on consent is not as healthy as a lot of folks (including her) would assume.
Let me be clear: I have no judgement about The Film itself. But involving someone who is unconscious in your sex play, even in such a tangential role, is rude as hell. For one thing, a great many folks, seeing the video and realizing whose foot that was, would assume that Danny was aware of the goings on and observing. Creating that impression in other people’s minds without Danny’s consent was a shitty thing to do. I really wish someone would throw that fact in her smug face already, but I have doubts about it happening, because Roz has the Immunity from Consequence card.
eh, whatever
Does she actually know Joe tied the camera to Danny’s toe?
(What I don’t get is how this didn’t wake Danny up, actually.)
thejeff
I mean, she was there. It’s unlikely she wouldn’t have seen.
asmodai27
Heat of the moment and all that, but given she was the one to offer to film it, I have always assumed she would have been the one to tie the camera.
I wouldn’t read too much into it though, as I see the camera placement more as a gag than something I should interpret regarding any of the characters…
Because this is a comic, I feel like a good gag can justify the character doing something out of character, and not suffering any consequence for those out of character stuff which is here only to provide a good laugh.
Jeremiah
Yeah you get it, wish more people understood that.
Freemage
I accept this line of reasoning for comics and stories that operate on this principle generally. If, OTOH, you expect me to care, for instance, about a character being slipped alcohol in order to take advantage of her, then you need to maintain that tone and awareness consistently.
As an example of what I’m getting at, this comic is taking a much more realistic approach to the issue of violence, in general, than its predecessor did. That’s cool. Even the ‘comic’ violence, like Mike punching Joe, is handled differently. This is a good thing, because it means that when violence occurs, it produces the desired reaction in the reader.
Someone calling out Roz, and forcing her to acknowledge her actions, would be a way to move forward. But without it, attempts to have her seem like a source of insight just fall flat for me.
UrsulaDavina
I can’t recall if Roz has been in an actual long-term relationship to offer solid advice but then again there really isn’t anyone in the cast that I can think of other the Becky,Dina and Fuckface and the former two are to close to situation and later while Joe doesn’t speak draconic.
Nono
There’s Danny.
There are others in the cast with decently long relationships at this point but Joe isn’t really close to most of them.
Dante
But that would involve having a VULNERABLE talk with his Best Friend!!
Taffy
If Mary doesn’t wanna see somebody fuck, she can simply exit the scene and go play Time Crisis 3 at the local laundromat.
(For those who don’t know, a laundromat is a building you can go to that has a lot of laundry washing/drying machines. You put some money in, load it with your laundry, and then you sit around and wait for it to be done. Usually there’s a vending machine for food and drinks, sometimes a claw machine or video arcade cabinet. Since the laundry machines typically take quarters ($0.25 coins), you can also usually find some capsule dispensers with little toys and such in them, for any kids who may have been dragged there.)
Smallmoon
Your local laundromat is clearly nicer than mine. No vending machines, no arcade cabinets, no capsule dispensers.
There IS a fairly nice Quick-Service Food and Beverage location next door, and the owner (of the laundromat) is understanding of people bringing food in. Just don’t get any on the machines.
Taffy
Oh, my local one doesn’t have the games or toys either. It’s got a massage chair and some magazines, but that’s it.
Michael Steamweed
Roz strikes me as an allosexual and aromantic person.
anon
it’d probably be better to ask roz versus like becky i’d assume
Needfuldoer
He’s probably looking for consent-related perspective, especially after last night’s party.
Jeremiah
Oh this is going to be amazing to watch.
IntangibleMatter
How it’s working out is Joyce doesn’t have the film bookmarked, but she does have the URL memorized.
Drew Hargrave
What does that mean
Freemage
“The film” is a reference to sex tape that Roz and Joe made at the beginning of the first semester, and then posted online (with Joe’s consent, but not Danny’s, but I won’t dig further into that rant here). I don’t remember if it’s been outright stated that Joyce watched the film, or just heavily implied, but it’s solidly suggested that she’s seen all of what Joe has to bring to the table.
Mark
Joyce in her loft, staring at The Film on her laptop and then slamming it shut, closed out a chapter as I recall.
Michael Steamweed
“Joyce in her loft, staring at The Film on her laptop and then slamming it shut”… I read that in ST:TNG style of “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”. 😀
Yumi
Concerned that Mary is gonna show up and decide to try to spin things to cause trouble. Would love to see that backfire, though, if Mary was like, “So Joyce, I saw Joe, with his penis, was with Roz today.” “Yes, Mary, he told me he went to ask her something. His penis is attached to him, so it goes wherever he goes.”
Opus the Poet
This comment is an example of why this comment system needs an upvote button. Take my imaginary upvote!
Pocky
not the person I would talk to, really.
anon
it might be too personal to talk to with anyone else in their friend group, maybe danny but at some point joe is gonna need to talk to joyce directly
Imagine the nuke that’d go off if he tried discussing it with dorothy lol
furubatsu
Honestly, outside of Joyce, I don’t think Joe has many female friends(? Is that what you would call them?) To ask for girl advice(tm) from
MM
And I do think this is a consent-related question, which Roz probably is more of an expert on than anyone in Joe’s immediate circle. At least without having to go to their gender studies teacher or involve Dorothy in their sex life any more than she already is.
anonymsly
Plus, Dorothy at least has the ground level ‘dislike of Joe as a concept’ and ‘Joyce is a child who must be protected from all things’ going against him. It would be impossible to have a real conversation with Dorothy about sex with Joyce or Joyce’s actual consent vs. expressed consent because her automatic position is much too close to I KNEW YOU WERE JUST USING JOYCE YOU F-ING CREEP.