Wondering if Joe would take that as an insult or a compliment? Girls boning while thinking about how much they donβt want to bone him is a catch 22 scenario.
Yotomoe
I am picturing myself in that scenario and I definitely am getting a super conflicted feeling.
DailyBrad
Joe would honestly consider it the greater good, perhaps.
In any case, it wouldn’t insult him, especially with his self-loathing he’s kind of had for months now.
Ophidiophile
The presence of Joe causes women to want to have sex. When it comes to Joe and sex, there’s always a way to frame it in the positive.
Matthew Davis
For all that he gets a lot of flack for the List he has been portrayed as a generally unselfish lover, so I think he’d see it as Becky and Dina getting to enjoy themselves. If he has to take the hit to make that happen, it seems like he wouldn’t have a problem with it.
What if it’s just that she enjoys when someone meets her where she is and speaks a language that makes sense to her. So we all assume it’s bc Joe is hunky but really it’s about not having to mask. That others are communicating in a way she prefers and allows her to relax a bit and feel safe.
This is an interesting hypothesis that requires further experimentation to confirm or deny. I’m sure this does not bother Becky as the experiments might end up in several variations of Pd and 69 (nice).
So, anyone ever see that episode of Black Books where Fran meets a guy she hates but whose voice she finds super sexy, so she phones him up to have a conversation with him while unbeknownst to the guy she’s having…personal time while they talk?
Becky just needs to get Dina a Bluetooth headset and find an excuse to call Joe at opportune moments.
(related: given all the times we’ve seen Becky poke Joyce to get similar responses for her own entertainment, and the hints at how many other times she’s done it before, I submit that this is entirely deserved.)
Becky kinda strikes me as insecure with her relationships. she was incredibly threatened by Dorothy and I’ve always kinda suspected that her not wanting Joyce to know that she and Dina went to the bone zone is a mixture of her being scared that Joyce would abandon her, and complicated feelings left over from having an unrequited crush on Joyce.
Axel
And with people in general (ie wanting to glue herself to Billie and Ruth when they were in the hospital, leaping to Amber’s side after their dads died).. If I was going to armchair-diagnose (which I wouldn’t IRL but will speculate on a fictional character) I’d blame part of it on her mom’s death and say she’s worried everyone’s going to just disappear on her, without warning or explanation.
Regarding it as a friendship is interesting to me, because I’ve been going back and rereading their interactions and Dina seems pretty cold on him, and vice versa. “Obligatory greetings” seems like a cute affectation on his part, but rereading the strip where he first uses it, I think it’s actually because he genuinely because he doesn’t know her that well and the greeting is, in fact, obligatory. They never interacted on panel before this science class, and in their first two interactions she seems a little reluctant to engage with him.
It’s not until she returns the performative eye contact that they have anything resembling an actual rapport, and it does kinda seem like Dina’s just doing what she feels like she has to be doing because of social norms, rather than any real interest in his well-being. (She also seems to be making fun of him through most of it.)
That said, I do think Joe’s on firmer footing with her in this early stage than he was during the early stages of his relationship with Joyce or Sarah, and I think it’s probably encouraging that Dina’s willing to play along with “obligatory greeting”. There’s the seeds of something there, but I think calling them friends is maybe, to borrow a phrase, a shot in the dark.
I assumed that Joe’s “Obligatory greeting” phrase was his way of letting Dina know that he understands that she finds lots of social cues difficult to parse, and he thinks there’s nothing wrong with that, while also making a very mild joke about it.
If I had to guess I’d say that Dina appreciates that.
But it’s possible that I’m reading too much into it. And I agree, it doesn’t quite qualify them as friends, just friendly.
DailyBrad
I’m inclined to have that reading of it.
Like, keep in mind that Joe has also let Dina ride on him like she was Yoda. I don’t think he minds her, and like Sarah, he probably appreciates certain aspects of how low key Dina can be.
anonymsly
Judging by other iterations of Joe, too, he might have Engineer Brain. Which is to say, he genuinely appreciates that Dina says what she means and means what she says. She might be, for him, the easy mode of people. He puts in social interaction, she returns the social interaction, and neither of them has to wonder ‘what does THAT mean’.
fridge_logic
>and neither of them has to wonder βwhat does THAT meanβ.
And / or neither of them mind clarifying what that means.
Wack'd
Yeah, I mean, he also actively invites her to talk about his shame, so I think he’s definitely warmed up to her a little. (That or it’s another situation like helping Joyce with her folks, where the fact that she’s a stranger makes it easier.) Whether that’s reciprocal, I think, requires more data.
Needfuldoer
I like to think sheβs just rolling with it as an avenue to exploring in-jokes.
I don’t think they’re bosom buddies or anything, but they seem to click with each other on some level; Joe is one of the few people who interacts with her without overwhelming any of her senses or questions any of her behaviour, and Dina is one of the very few women who Joe has never shown any inkling of trying to hit on, so they can just be themselves around each other.
I don’t think it’s necessarily friendship, more like, comfort.
Tan
The impression I have is that they have mutually settled into a friendly acquaintances dynamic with a general agreement that neither is interested in nor obligated to push into further closeness
Cerusee
Yeah, that. I wouldnβt call it a friendship. More along the lines of two people who arenβt close, but are comfortable with the way theyβve learned how to interact with one another, when their overlapping friendships bring them together.
Joe honestly dresses real nicely. He has a regular colour scheme, and since he let his stubble grow out and his hair get a little wilder, itβs all combining to make him pretty attractive.
I do think Becky is perhaps misinterpreting the factors for Dina arousal here. Sure Joe was there but they also just finished actively doing science. Standing around saying “lab partners” maybe isnβt her trigger here as much as hands on participation.
Funny how this doesnβt actually answer the question but makes a punchline about avoiding it. We still donβt know if Dina was aroused, we just know she wonβt tell Joe.
Becky may be misinterpreting things, but its not outside the ream of possibility.
Its a pretty safe bet that Dina does love Becky, and that she is somewhere on the asexuality spectrum. But its possible that despite her relationship with Becky, she is actually bisexual and/or heterosexual to some degree. (In which case she’s only “lesbian” because Becky was the first person she had a relationship with.)
Joe is an attractive man, and he seems to treat Dina as an equal (not belittling her as some have), without all the macho overtones of his attempts to be a lady’s man. The combination of attractiveness and his attitude might make him attractive to her to some degree, helping her achieve the “euphoria in her pants”.
152 thoughts on “Variable”
Ana Chronistic
optimistic interpretation: Dina has an exhibitionistic element?
Yotomoe
Is that optimistic? I assumed it was like an NTR thing. She’s turned on by how much she’s NOT fucking Joe.
The Wellerman
I reckon she’s aroused by how much Joe is sexually frustrated / intimidated / envious / dominated.
Sirksome
Wondering if Joe would take that as an insult or a compliment? Girls boning while thinking about how much they donβt want to bone him is a catch 22 scenario.
Yotomoe
I am picturing myself in that scenario and I definitely am getting a super conflicted feeling.
DailyBrad
Joe would honestly consider it the greater good, perhaps.
In any case, it wouldn’t insult him, especially with his self-loathing he’s kind of had for months now.
Ophidiophile
The presence of Joe causes women to want to have sex. When it comes to Joe and sex, there’s always a way to frame it in the positive.
Matthew Davis
For all that he gets a lot of flack for the List he has been portrayed as a generally unselfish lover, so I think he’d see it as Becky and Dina getting to enjoy themselves. If he has to take the hit to make that happen, it seems like he wouldn’t have a problem with it.
Yet_One_More_Idiot
Optimistic outcome: More experimentation is required to confirm or reject any further hypotheses. A LOT more experimentation. π
Eromer
What if it’s just that she enjoys when someone meets her where she is and speaks a language that makes sense to her. So we all assume it’s bc Joe is hunky but really it’s about not having to mask. That others are communicating in a way she prefers and allows her to relax a bit and feel safe.
Opus the Poet
This is an interesting hypothesis that requires further experimentation to confirm or deny. I’m sure this does not bother Becky as the experiments might end up in several variations of Pd and 69 (nice).
Kazuma Taichi
Yeah this, if Joe’s doing anything for her arousal, it is absolutely just the usage of “obligatory greeting” and any related language usage
Dara
Nah.
She’s a dom and she needs some dom time first.
This followed this (particularly panel 4) and Joe just happened to be in between. I think that’s the core of it.
It’s also possible that “lab partners” may be a requirement of course.
And I suppose you can’t rule out Joe triggering Dina’s dom urges a bit too. “DOWN LARGE ANIMAL.” After all, he is big, like dinosaur.
Needfuldoer
Maybe Joe asking her about her scientific progress was the spark that got things going.
Scientific progress goes “boink”, after all.
The Wellerman
Ah, fantastic. Part 2 of Operation: A.M.A.T.E.R.A.S.U. begins.
???????
*plays “Mystery Kindaichi Band” on hacked muzak*
Doctor_Who
So, anyone ever see that episode of Black Books where Fran meets a guy she hates but whose voice she finds super sexy, so she phones him up to have a conversation with him while unbeknownst to the guy she’s having…personal time while they talk?
Becky just needs to get Dina a Bluetooth headset and find an excuse to call Joe at opportune moments.
PirateTawnee
Yes, it’s one of my favourites, the sexy voiced man is played by Peter Serafinowicz, voice of Darth Maul.
Jennifer Bak
Ha! One of my favorites! “This is the Shipping News”
“Do you need me to come, Fran?”
Sirksome
The greetings are obligatory but the pants euphoria is optional.
Doctor_Who
Dina has updated her terms of service. Pants euphoria is now mandatory.
Yotomoe
It’s complimentary.
BBCC
I do love watching Joe and Dina interact. I dunno if Becky will in a moment buuuuut this is about me.
jeffepp
They have a very Strong Guy and Wolfsbane vibe.
jeffepp
For example:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-12/02-ill-leave-you-a-phantom/ridesdue/
Kyrik Michalowski
That’s not what I was hoping for at all. Seems Becky feels the same.
Yotomoe
Is this what the kids these days call “Cuckqueening”?
Schpoonman
Any chance we can get Becky’s face from panel 5 blown up in HD?
MsMollieMac
IDK, i think it works at this scale
Axel
Becky I promise you’re mistaken
StClair
I agree, but the reaction…
(related: given all the times we’ve seen Becky poke Joyce to get similar responses for her own entertainment, and the hints at how many other times she’s done it before, I submit that this is entirely deserved.)
Cerusee
Itβs a *little* bit funny, honestly.
Meagan
Yeah that seems like a premature reaction
Clif
It does. And yet, Obligatory greeting another variable.
boogerz
Becky kinda strikes me as insecure with her relationships. she was incredibly threatened by Dorothy and I’ve always kinda suspected that her not wanting Joyce to know that she and Dina went to the bone zone is a mixture of her being scared that Joyce would abandon her, and complicated feelings left over from having an unrequited crush on Joyce.
Axel
And with people in general (ie wanting to glue herself to Billie and Ruth when they were in the hospital, leaping to Amber’s side after their dads died).. If I was going to armchair-diagnose (which I wouldn’t IRL but will speculate on a fictional character) I’d blame part of it on her mom’s death and say she’s worried everyone’s going to just disappear on her, without warning or explanation.
Cerusee
I think youβre correct on all counts.
Nono
Can I say it? I love the Joe/Dina friendship. One of the cutest things.
Wack'd
Regarding it as a friendship is interesting to me, because I’ve been going back and rereading their interactions and Dina seems pretty cold on him, and vice versa. “Obligatory greetings” seems like a cute affectation on his part, but rereading the strip where he first uses it, I think it’s actually because he genuinely because he doesn’t know her that well and the greeting is, in fact, obligatory. They never interacted on panel before this science class, and in their first two interactions she seems a little reluctant to engage with him.
It’s not until she returns the performative eye contact that they have anything resembling an actual rapport, and it does kinda seem like Dina’s just doing what she feels like she has to be doing because of social norms, rather than any real interest in his well-being. (She also seems to be making fun of him through most of it.)
That said, I do think Joe’s on firmer footing with her in this early stage than he was during the early stages of his relationship with Joyce or Sarah, and I think it’s probably encouraging that Dina’s willing to play along with “obligatory greeting”. There’s the seeds of something there, but I think calling them friends is maybe, to borrow a phrase, a shot in the dark.
justin8448
I assumed that Joe’s “Obligatory greeting” phrase was his way of letting Dina know that he understands that she finds lots of social cues difficult to parse, and he thinks there’s nothing wrong with that, while also making a very mild joke about it.
If I had to guess I’d say that Dina appreciates that.
But it’s possible that I’m reading too much into it. And I agree, it doesn’t quite qualify them as friends, just friendly.
DailyBrad
I’m inclined to have that reading of it.
Like, keep in mind that Joe has also let Dina ride on him like she was Yoda. I don’t think he minds her, and like Sarah, he probably appreciates certain aspects of how low key Dina can be.
anonymsly
Judging by other iterations of Joe, too, he might have Engineer Brain. Which is to say, he genuinely appreciates that Dina says what she means and means what she says. She might be, for him, the easy mode of people. He puts in social interaction, she returns the social interaction, and neither of them has to wonder ‘what does THAT mean’.
fridge_logic
>and neither of them has to wonder βwhat does THAT meanβ.
And / or neither of them mind clarifying what that means.
Wack'd
Yeah, I mean, he also actively invites her to talk about his shame, so I think he’s definitely warmed up to her a little. (That or it’s another situation like helping Joyce with her folks, where the fact that she’s a stranger makes it easier.) Whether that’s reciprocal, I think, requires more data.
Needfuldoer
I like to think sheβs just rolling with it as an avenue to exploring in-jokes.
Laura
I think itβs a reference to Questionable Content.
Laura
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/05-as-long-as-its-free/lunchlunch/
justin8448
Oh wow, that scene is great. I had forgotten all about it already.
Laura
See: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3706
Nono
I don’t think they’re bosom buddies or anything, but they seem to click with each other on some level; Joe is one of the few people who interacts with her without overwhelming any of her senses or questions any of her behaviour, and Dina is one of the very few women who Joe has never shown any inkling of trying to hit on, so they can just be themselves around each other.
I don’t think it’s necessarily friendship, more like, comfort.
Tan
The impression I have is that they have mutually settled into a friendly acquaintances dynamic with a general agreement that neither is interested in nor obligated to push into further closeness
Cerusee
Yeah, that. I wouldnβt call it a friendship. More along the lines of two people who arenβt close, but are comfortable with the way theyβve learned how to interact with one another, when their overlapping friendships bring them together.
Thag Simmons
I really love how this comic does eyes.
RassilonTDavros
…oh, no.
OH, NO.
(The following is best read in the voice of either UnshΕ Ishizuka or Richard Epcar, depending on reader preference)
OOOOOOOOOH NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
The Wellerman
How about the voice of Joseph Joestar? ?
RassilonTDavros
The two names I listed are Joseph’s Japanese and English VAs, respectively, so same difference!
StClair
well played. or Joed, as the case may be.
Doctor_Who
“OH YES” on the other hand should always be read in the voice of Paul Bearer.
Bicycle Bill
Or George Takei.Β Β Β “Oh, myyyy… “
Sajuuk-Khar
(UnshΕ Ishizuka voice, full-throated) SONAFAbongo
Axel
also I really like Joe’s shirt choice today
Nono
Joe honestly dresses real nicely. He has a regular colour scheme, and since he let his stubble grow out and his hair get a little wilder, itβs all combining to make him pretty attractive.
Leadsynth
Andddd Joe and Dina DO both have that βDig Itβ T-shirt.
Axel
Dina has (usually) different from Joe fashion, but also good.
Wack'd
It’s probably worth noting that Dina attributed the loss of her pants euphoria the first time to the fact that Joe kept talking.
RassilonTDavros
The question is whether Becky will remember that.
Nathan
YOU POOR STUPID BABIES
Sirksome
I do think Becky is perhaps misinterpreting the factors for Dina arousal here. Sure Joe was there but they also just finished actively doing science. Standing around saying “lab partners” maybe isnβt her trigger here as much as hands on participation.
The Wellerman
Eh, if that were true, she would have been aroused here too —
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/05-as-long-as-its-free/lessonplan/
Sirksome
Funny how this doesnβt actually answer the question but makes a punchline about avoiding it. We still donβt know if Dina was aroused, we just know she wonβt tell Joe.
Segnosaur
Becky may be misinterpreting things, but its not outside the ream of possibility.
Its a pretty safe bet that Dina does love Becky, and that she is somewhere on the asexuality spectrum. But its possible that despite her relationship with Becky, she is actually bisexual and/or heterosexual to some degree. (In which case she’s only “lesbian” because Becky was the first person she had a relationship with.)
Joe is an attractive man, and he seems to treat Dina as an equal (not belittling her as some have), without all the macho overtones of his attempts to be a lady’s man. The combination of attractiveness and his attitude might make him attractive to her to some degree, helping her achieve the “euphoria in her pants”.
Sol