57

Villain-coded
Posted on June 24, 2019 by David M Willis

57 thoughts on “Villain-coded”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “we just cohabit meatspace… I should charge rent”

  2. Mr. Random

    So shoving her out of the bush will work out then?

  3. Rosicrucian

    Quick Willis, tag all the bushes in prior strips!

    1. Tan

      Went through 45 pages of the Amber tag. Closest I could find were the time she hid behind a tree

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/sweeten/

      And the time Sal dragged her off unconscious away from the street before the cops arrived

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/highstrung/

      1. Marsh Maryrose

        If she’s hiding behind a bush and not visible, would she be tagged?

        Anyway, there is also a Patreon blue-panel strip where she is literally hiding behind a tree.

        1. Needfuldoer

          This is complicated, because Faye has appeared in DoA, presumably as an IU student, and her father is still alive here. Apparently he only took his own life after she graduated from whichever college she attended in QC. The Dumbiverse also doesn’t seem to have sentient AIs like QC does.

          This leaves us with two possibilities: DoA takes place in QC’s past, or they’re entirely separate timelines.

          But wait, there was that one time, years ago, where Amber made an appearance at Coffee of Doom. This was reciprocated in Shortpacked! at the same time. The Walkyverse did have sentient AI, with Ultra Car and the Zoomers. (Whoa, that’s a cheesy band name.) Does that imply the QCverse and Walkyverse are the same continuity? Or is it another instance of parallel versions of the same character?

          Some comic somewhere needs a Tommy Westphall to tie all this together.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Dangit, this was supposed to be a reply to Marsh Maryrose. I blame the page jumping around and the Android keyboard disappearing at random. Please delete, if you’d be so kind?

        3. Tan

          (funnily enough, you did reply to the right person, just not the right comment by that person)

      2. BarerMender

        There was the time she hurdled a hedge and dropped three or four feet on the other side. Does that count? (I did that once. My ankle hurt for weeks afterward.)

  4. Cattleprod

    Also, the whole thing where Asher might be passingly familiar with Sal getting stabbed and the potential for awkwardness with all that.

  5. Nono

    I didn’t realize that bushes were a common site for preserving amber.

  6. butts

    It’s Amazi-Girl Lite™! Same skills and abilities, all of the guilt! Made with 100% all-natural social anxiety!

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      Butt none of that sweet sweet spandex we’ve come to know and love.

  7. shadowcell

    Dumbing of Age Book 9: This is Not the First Bush I’ve Hidden Behind

    1. Keulen

      DoA Book 9: What Part of Who I Am Suggests I’m Cool With Initiating Conversations With Total Strangers?

      1. Kyoulkoa

        Dumbing of age book 9: I am not Amazi-girl.

  8. Kyrik Michalowski

    At this point I want Asher to lean over the bush and be like, “You know I can hear you guys, right?”

    Also why does Walky assume smoking makes Asher a bad guy? His sister smokes as well.

    1. Zach

      The coding works, Sal can be at best a lancer to any stories actual protagonist. She’s too ‘rebel’.

    2. Schpoonman

      Walky is still in a weird limbo state where he regularly operates social interactions like he’s in a TV show, but is only just learning that people don’t work like that.

      It took me until my mid-late 20s to learn that. He’s in for a rough ride.

    3. Marsh Maryrose

      Sal is apparently inured to having some people (hi, Linda!) having her
      coded as a hoodlum.

    4. BarerMender

      Saying “villain-coded” isn’t the same thing as saying “is a villain.”

    5. Twirls

      Maybe he’s asthmatic? I am so I kind of automatically see people who smoke as whatever the real-life version of “villian-coded” is

  9. Stephen Bierce

    If bushes were trees, the trees would be fallin’
    Listen to reason, season is calling…

    1. ValdVin

      Whispering grass, don’t tell the trees,
      ‘Cause the trees don’t need to know.

      It’s the Ink Spots and R.E.M. mashup we’ve all been waiting for.

  10. BBCC

    Oh, right, that.

    Damn you anxiety.

  11. abysswatcher1993

    Well, you can’t talk with Asher directly, but you can still go punch the guy that tried to kill Marcie.

    1. BBCC

      Not without hauling ass to Connecticut she can’t, sadly.

      1. Marsh Maryrose

        We’ve seen Dina in Coffee of Doom, so we know she can spontaneously transport herself to Northampton. Maybe Amber has some such ability? Or maybe Amber could “hitchhike” with Dina?

        1. Dean

          To learn the greater secrets of teleportation, Amber will need to complete a gruelling training montage involving hiding behind doors, eating cereal for every meal, and dinosaur recognition flashcards.

        2. Needfuldoer

          This gets complicated, because Faye has appeared in DoA, presumably as an IU student, and her father is still alive here. Apparently he only took his own life after she graduated from whichever college she attended in QC. The Dumbiverse also doesn’t seem to have sentient AIs like QC does.

          This leaves us with two possibilities: DoA takes place in QC’s past, or they’re entirely separate timelines.

          But wait, there was that one time, years ago, where Amber made an appearance at Coffee of Doom. I think this was reciprocated in Shortpacked! at the same time. The Walkyverse did have sentient AI, with Ultra Car and the Zoomers. (Whoa, that’s a cheesy band name.) Does that imply the QCverse and Walkyverse are the same continuity? Or is it another instance of parallel versions of the same character?

          Some comic somewhere needs a Tommy Westphall to tie all this together.

        3. BarerMender

          Dina’s powers are limited. Becky wasn’t even able to hitchhike into the ER.

    2. Bagge

      ROAD TRIP!

  12. Bagge

    Well, you just need to contract it out to an extrovert dork. Good thing you have plenty to chose from. In this instance Danny might be awkward given the circumstances. Becky is otherwise engaged. Joyce does, however, seem to have some free time on her hands.

  13. fishamaphone

    I suddenly want fanart of Amber hiding behind George Bush.

    1. Needfuldoer

      W, or H.W.? I think Cheney’s taking up all the space behind W.

  14. BarerMender

    Smoking up? I’m starting a list. It’ll be titled “Weird Dialect of Indiana.” So far the list includes “smoking up” and “blushing up.”

  15. Alethiolet

    Seconded

  16. Dean

    Amber has an Excel spreadsheet of every bush on campus with their concealment quotient.

  17. Woomy

    It’s pretty neat how Amber can cure her anxiety by playing a different persona. Why don’t we all do that?

    1. Lawzlo

      I’m not certain that “playing” is quite the right verb here…

    2. 3oranges

      Deal with anxiety by dissociating to the point where there is an actual mental breakdown into different personas that interact poorly and make your life miserable? Most of us try not to, I guess.

      1. Inahc

        Yeah it is *really* not good for you in the long run. Like Granny Weatherwax grabbing the sword, you’re not avoiding the consequences, just delaying them. With interest.

  18. Lawzlo

    Hey look! Sean Spicer is also back here!

  19. Darkoneko

    This is going as well as I expected~ XD

    1. Shane Wegner

      It was indeed a bad plan that didn’t really know what it was about or think itself through at all.

      1. Darkoneko

        a vague excuse to flirt

  20. Falcon

    The fact that Amber can acknowledge she has Amazigirl’s skill seems like a good sign. No expert on DID though.

  21. FinalOwen

    Yesterday a ‘Seagulls’ reference in the alt text, and today we have Amber and Walky waiting in the bushes (of love).

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Let us pray that they don’t find any crispy bodies by the door.

      1. FinalOwen

        Well, Owen and Beru were certainly smoking up, though don’t think they were villain coded.

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          Well, they did force Luke to drink that blue milk.

  22. ShinyNeen

    Look Amber, if you’re gonna give Walky extra excuses to avoid talking to Asher then you’re kind of signing yourself up to talk to him instead!

    Anyway, the more anxious they get about Asher the more I feel like we’re being set up for the twist that he’s totally chill now. …Unless it’s a double-twist or something >.>

  23. Darkoneko

    …someone reminds him that Sal smokes, too

  24. sosolo

    I looooove this comic, I just started reading 3 days ago and now ive finally made it. So why do I feel so sad you ask? Because now I have to waiiiiiiit 🙁

  25. fractalwolf

    Well, here’s one instance of hiding behind bushes… http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/04-the-bechdel-test/journalist/

  26. Liliet

    I love them. So much.

  27. Eve

    Walky your sister and mom smoke

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