348

Vulnerability
Posted on June 30, 2017 by David M Willis

348 thoughts on “Vulnerability”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    What a tweest![/Double Shyamalan]

    1. Ana Chronistic

      I legit would LOVE a Singularikitty in DoA but I guess that’s not happening is it =(

      1. Shiro

        Maybe they’ll get a sphynx cat instead

        1. Rodrigo

          Or an hypoallergic cat of DOOOOOOM. (Only Girls with slingshots fans will get it)

        2. Foxhack

          There’s no deaths in the DOAverse though. So no ghosts either. 😛

        3. iforgetwhatiputhere

          No deaths occurring doesn’t mean no deaths have ever occured? Surely that would cause overcrowding?

        4. Tawdry Quirks

          I agree that the ‘no deaths’ thing almost certainly isn’t meant to be taken to the same extreme as that alternate universe in Shortpacked! where the drama tag wasn’t pulled.

        5. showler

          Ask Becky’s mom.

        6. Fart Captor

          Technically, she died before the comic even started. That way, Becky’s gotten far enough in the grieving process that her appearances for the first several in-comic months aren’t just sad faces and ugly crying

        7. Lan

          I understood that reference!

      2. Twitcher

        Ana, I’ve been hoping this ‘verse would somehow become the walkyverse hub and paste itself over the original for a while now. I’ve had whacky theories that Amber’s dad is the same as Helen’s from S*P/P and A, or a not so distant cousin. That, or I’d love to see Alternaverse versions of the FAANS!/Guilded Age characters.

        1. Opus the Poet

          You know Randy has been preparing to be the last web comic artist/writer after everyone else wills their characters to his strip. He’s got P&A, Queen of Wands off the top of my head, oh and UltraCar from Shortpacked wanders the streets of Bedford TX in his universe.

    2. Ashypants

      I thought to myself, who the heck is this posting first on a strip? No one ever beats… oh it’s just a new pic, carry on

      1. Ana Chronistic

        well, how is it anachronistic to use an OLD comic panel

  2. Lala

    PLOT TWIST

    1. Lala

      On another note, I just noticed how great Anna’s outfit is. That half length(?) hoodie looks really good on her.

      1. Leorale

        It’s called a crop-top — yeah, she is workin’ it!

  3. butts

    two steps forward, one step back

    1. Emperor Daniel

      Better than two steps back?

      1. vlademir1

        *considers quoting a Paula Abdul song then thinks better of it and walks away*

        1. Lingo

          Well it does look like opposites attract….

        2. Pablo360

          It was so long before I realized Paula Abdul wrote music. For a while I thought she was entirely, 100% just “the nice judge on American Idol”.

        3. Armchair Daemon Slayer

          She was actually more of a Dance Choreographer (sp?) to all the greatest Pop Acts to grace MTV in the 1980s, who added a successful pop star career to it near the end of that decade. She was also into tap dancing. That and her other moves went into her music videos. Back then MTV was all about the music videos…

  4. Sunny D

    Oh my god, Leslie (Also this strip was posted pretty late, huh)

    1. butts

      also brocolli

      1. butts

        also FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

        1. Sunny D

          F O O D

    2. Sunny D

      Panel 4 Mindy gives me life

  5. TrueVCU

    Shocker: Leslie goes for the BAD GURL

    1. StClair

      whereas Becky goes for the definitely-not-older-Joyce-nope-uhuh.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Leslie must have a thing for ladies who feed her doormat tendencies.

      1. C.T Phipps

        All Gender Studies Teachers named Leslie Bean love bad grrls. 🙂

        1. UniqueSnowflake2

          All generalizations are wrong.

        2. ArcaneDarkness

          I see what you did there.

    3. Armchair Daemon Slayer

      Things never just work out for the ‘sweet one’ types unless they can take care of themselves….Ask Danny. Boy, did he try to make it work….Got mad at Reality went it didn’t play along, too.

      She should continue to get to know Becky, and see if they click at least for a date or two. That’s a perfect place to start…

      Leslie can make her bed and lay in it. Who knows? She might be a keeper…

  6. Mr. Mendo

    Leslie’s got a type, bless her heart…

    1. JetstreamGW

      But Robin and Anna don’t really have anything in common, so is Leslie’s only type “People it’d be a bad idea to be in a relationship with?”

      1. Mr. Mendo

        I was thinking more “vaguely ethnic and lacking in social graces” but whatever works! 😉

        1. Gwennafran

          They also both seem highly confident and capable of holding their own in a discussion (Or, well, people will assume a congresswomen can hold her own in a discussion. Not *that* sure with Robin, though).
          It seems Leslie likes her partners strong and independent. 😉

        2. Aviana

          If we include Shortpacked, Malaya kind of fits too. Also matches Gwennafran’s evaluation, I think.

      2. Barf Ninjason

        “Jerks”

      3. Smiling Cat

        Yes, exactly that.

    2. Arianod

      She’s definitely gonna need all the blessings she can get…

    3. Scar Man!!!

      confident people? I joke about her being into jerks, but her type seems to just have outward signs of high confidence and good hair

  7. Luzahn

    Becky what have you done.

    1. Cerberus

      Stirred up a whirlwind of lesbian drama.

      1. The Other Mike

        Today’s forecast: Windy, with a 90% chance of lesbian drama. Possible wetness to follow.

        1. Bagge

          “In todays Becky report, things are rad.”

  8. Cheshrin

    Welp.

  9. Yumi

    Awww, Mindy.

    I also feel bad for Leslie, being allergic to cats. Poor woman.

  10. Sam

    Goddammit, Leslie.

  11. Shiro

    This…was always going to happen, wasn’t it. Ah well, I’m okay with this too.

    1. Clif

      Yes. Yes it was.

  12. Valerie

    DAMN IT, LESLIE.

  13. fillerusername

    Wow Leslie you just… gravitate to bad ideas.

  14. shadowcell

    the face that launched a different ship than it intended to launch

  15. Danni

    so mindys single

    1. fillerusername

      Honestly I think she could do better. The more we see of how Leslie navigates her personal and professional lives the more she just seems kind of a little bit of a mess?

      1. Danni

        oh god yeah, leslie really can do better than anna.

        1. fillerusername

          I was saying Mindy could do better than Leslie. Leslie clearly has some shit to sort out.

        2. Fart Captor

          In my experience, most people have shit to sort out. It’d be a silly reason to pass on a rad lady like Leslie.

        3. fillerusername

          Doesn’t seem that silly to me. It all depends on what shit you’re willing to put up with and if someone comes across as having poor judgment they might not be the best fit for everyone. Leslie’s got a lot of positive qualities but she also has some bad ones and her judgment when it comes to romantic partners clearly is questionable at best and something she should maybe be examining and working on before she rushes into another bad choice. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt right now in that her attraction to Anna is clearly just physical right now but if what we have seen of Anna is more or less who she is and Leslie continues to pursue this and not realize the glaring similarities to Robin I’m really going to have to wonder about her.

        4. Fart Captor

          Poor judgement when it comes to romantic partners would an especially silly reason to not date someone.

          Even ignoring how that’d be refusing to be a member of any club that would allow you to join, I just don’t understand judging people for dating people you wouldn’t.

          Like, sure, pursuing Robin went disastrously. For Leslie. Holding something like that against her feels like too much work to me.

        5. fillerusername

          Okay you’re not really understanding what I’m talking about. I’m saying if Leslie has a repeated pattern of getting romantically involved with people who are obviously bad for her (which I don’t know if she does I’m saying if) that to me would demonstrate a pattern of poor judgment and self destructive behavior and those are what would make me hesitant to get involved with someone like her and those are things I think she should be looking into examining. I’ve seen this over and over again. My life has been complicated on multiple occasions by being at the mercy of other people’s bad romantic choices because decisions like that don’t exist in a vacuum. So I don’t really need people telling me that having this kind of boundary is somehow unreasonable or silly.

        6. Fart Captor

          Fair enough. I guess I was thinking about it on a much more simplistic level. That makes plenty of sense though

        7. Clif

          No worries. Anna knows that anyone who would be attracted to her is someone she really wouldn’t want to date.

        8. thejeff

          Though if someone has a pattern of getting romantically involved with people who are obviously bad for them and they are interested in me, there seem to be two possibilities:
          1) They have broken the pattern because I’m cool and there’s no reason not to proceed.
          2) The pattern continues, in which case I should probably take a hard look at myself.

        9. Halpful

          Even the Dalai Lama has shit to sort out. There is always more shit to sort out. (Eat Arby’s?)

        10. Clif

          At Arby’s. Eat Arby’s and you risk becoming a conglomerate.

        11. Oberon

          Clearly has some shit to sort out? She has no idea Anna is a jerkass. You can’t judge someone for poor choices when all they have to go in in the first few seconds is looks alone.

        12. fillerusername

          That’s why I put that line in there about giving her the benefit of the doubt until we see more of Anna. You’d know that if you’d read my whole comment.

      2. Kit

        She spent a couple of decades being brainwashed to hate herself for her sexuality and then was disowned for it. That’s the kind of shit that leaves some pretty deep scars.

        1. fillerusername

          True but I was talking more about her needing to examine her apparent terrible taste in romantic partners.

        2. Leorale

          They may even be connected!

          For example, Leslie may admire and/or live vicariously through people who can speak their minds easily, confidently, and without apparent fear of consequences, because young Leslie was taught that she may not do that (lest she get kicked onto the street).

        3. Leorale

          And, who speaks their minds, without respect for social norms, and without fear of consequences? Jerks do!

          (So do people who are not jerks, of course. Hopefully Leslie will seek a confident non-jerk, who doesn’t care what the Man says she can’t do, but who still cares about Leslie’s feelings.)

        4. thejeff

          Like Becky!
          Except ~10+ years older, not a student and without an awesome girlfriend already.
          Oh, and Becky’s apparent openness is mostly a different overreaction to the same basic trauma that left scars on Leslie, so maybe not so much.

        5. Cerberus

          This!

        6. Reltzik

          She may even, during her socially-conservative upbringing, have been indoctrinated with traditional gender roles that told her that the wife Leslie needed to be meek and obedient, while the husband Leslie’s partner needed to be strong and wield authority.

          Sometimes some of that stuff sticks with you, even when you think you’ve moved on and cleaned mental house.

      3. zoelogical

        i mean like who isn’t a mess

        but yes

  16. joe archer

    A twist and a slingshot…

    1. Kamino Neko

      Two bits!

    2. Opus the Poet

      http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/recipes/a23613/slingshot-king-duke-recipe/

      Already has a twist.

  17. lia47

    aw, mindy looked so excited, becky must have explained her plan to her

    1. Oberon

      It’s only a shame Becky wasn’t smart enough to give some physical description, which might have avoided the whole thing.

      Hopefully Anna has a dozen things going on the side and isn’t looking for number thirteen… Or will just open her mouth and destroy the attraction. That second one seems fairly likely.

      1. Pigeon Pollyx

        possibly. But given how stories require an arc, doubtful

      2. StClair

        It would have only made things even more awkward, as Leslie tried to make polite conversation with Mindy while constantly glancing over at Anna.

  18. Opus the Poet

    What happened to the title text?

    And who didn’t see that one coming?

    1. butts

      What’s wrong with the title text?

      1. Opus the Poet

        First two times I loaded the comic there was no title text. It’s there now.”but what about pink plastic goo cats?”

        1. IceMateria

          That… might be a reference to Girls with Slingshots/Something Positive

          http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-1656

          Its a pink cat that is hypo-allergenic in another couple of webcomics.

        2. Loki

          I am pretty sure it actually originally came from Shortpacked.

        3. MatthewTheLucky

          No, Singularikitty is the kitten of cats from S*P and Girls with Slingshots.

        4. ValdVin

          I’m going with idea too.

          (And it I get another cat after my current one, Choo Choo Bear is shortlisted for names, if a male.)

        5. Kamino Neko

          No might about, it, but more directly to Shortpacked!, where Roz gave Leslie one of Choo Choo Bear and Sprinkles’ kittens.

    2. Opus the Poet

      Also, who thinks that Anna hasn’t done this to Mindy before?

      1. Fart Captor

        She hasn’t “done” anything. Leslie approached her

        1. zoelogical

          clearly anna glued those caterpillar eyebrows to mindy’s forehead in the middle of the night

          will her high school antics never cease?? *shakes fist*

  19. ValdVin

    What is this…gift(?) Leslie has?

  20. SUGauthor

    Yeah, that was kind of obvious in hindsight wasn’t it.

  21. achallenger

    a swing and a daww

  22. Audkitten

    Does that sign say “glorious food”? Did Invader Zim name this grocery store?

    1. Dara

      that’s what i thought too

      GLORIOUS FOOD. YOU LIKE FOOD. YOU LOVE IT. YOU MUST HAVE GLORIOUS FOOD.

    2. AGV

      I was thinking more about the musical

  23. Victor Riley

    Becky… may not be the victory you were hoping for, but it IS still a victory. All that matters is they’re both cool with it.

    Now, you can just find someone for Mindy as your next project.

    1. Yumi

      And in her quest to set Mindy up, she comes across another sapphic lady who ends up single once Mindy goes for someone else, and so Becky has to do the same for her. Repeat indefinitely.

      Centuries from now, legends persist in the area of what was once Indiana of the redhead lesbian cupid//that girl who wouldn’t mind her own goddamn business (depending on who you ask).

      1. Pablo360

        I’d read that.

      2. hof1991

        A Johnny Appleseed of lesbian relationships.

    2. JessWitt

      The Mindy Project.

  24. Wendy

    Ah, so Leslie has a type: “assholes”.

    1. C.T Phipps

      I remember when I described my type was loud, angry, and snarky women. My wife was less than pleased. My attempts to point out that was her didn’t help.

      1. Clif

        At that point, I think we call it a no win situation.

        1. C.T Phipps

          This is true.

  25. John

    Yeah, saw that coming. Leslie always goes for the jerkasses.

  26. Big D

    FFS Leslie.

  27. BBCC

    I think everyone familiar with Leslie’s taste in women saw this coming.

    1. Sunny D

      Honestly I didn’t even consider the possibility, but in hindsight, yeah it was pretty obvious that this would happen

    2. zoelogical

      -cackling forever-

    3. Arianod

      Wasn’t thinking so far ahead -because I didn’t expect today’s strip to be Becky magically trolleying Leslie in out of thin air- but yeah, in hindsight it was to be expected. Poor Leslie X3

    4. MM

      Yep. Doesn’t make the impending trainwreck any easier to watch, though.

      1. C.T Phipps

        It’s awesome! I’m so happy for her!

  28. Showler

    Told you. Anna is age appropriate Malaya replacement. Hopefully with a better ending.

    1. JessWitt

      Oh dang, so that’s who she reminds me of. I wonder if Anna and Mindy also own an iguana with a certain swearable name?

    2. Amazi-Stool

      What’s wrong with Malaya’s posterior?

  29. Mr. Random

    I’m guessing she likes… unnecessarily assertive people.

    1. fillerusername

      She likes assholes. Apparently.

      1. fillerusername

        Or people she hopes are assholeish only on the outside with “hidden depths” if her experience with Robin is anything to go by. But I think it’s weird to go for people based on who you hope they have the potential to be versus what the things they say and do show you they are. We don’t know enough about Anna yet to know if this is what she’s like but I’m just flash forwarding Leslie justifying her interest later with reasoning like this.

        1. Kit

          “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
          -Maya Angelou

        2. zoelogical

          i kind of live by this quote, but like. what people say isn’t always who they are, but what people do with their words definitely is. i think maybe Leslie was hoping that Robin would turn out to just be playing the game and actually have a good agenda

          but, like, the more she got to know her the more she understood that Robin didn’t entirely understand the consequences of what she was doing when it was her job to do so

          and then she understood that Robin is pretty much basically impossible to say no to, the way she was

          and. some of those are things you can’t pick up from a first impression. but you can logic it that someone who doesn’t stand up for gay rights is not a supporter of gay rights. and while finding out more from there is something you can choose whether or not to do, it’s at least a safer position. and i don’t think Leslie lied to herself about the possibilities of Robin rejecting her

          it’s just also, like, if she wanted to live a life without risk she wouldn’t be living openly as a lesbian. and taking a chance on someone she’s interested is so much less challenging than that

        3. CJ

          Yeah, always better to listen to what they *do*.
          A lot of manipulating assholes I know can come across pretty slick and well-meaning, if you only listen to what they say.

          Though I believe it’s hard to make up for having made a bad first impression, it’s the overall energy balance that counts. Some people will just eat your energy whenever you meet, other will leave energy behind for you to have, and most of us are switching between both.

          But, you know, sometimes I really think part of you kind of “smells” the people who match your expectations in some way and you find them attractive – and the thing you can learn is to realize when attraction comes from familiarity of something bad and not follow up on it.

        4. zoelogical

          it’s that delicate balance between paying attention to your intuition and not letting first impressions be your only impression, haha. and i mean clearly if you feel danger, run. because a decent person will understand, but a dangerous person will give you no better chance to run than then.

        5. Well_Played

          “When you’re meeting a person for the first time you’re actually meeting their representative.”
          – Chris Rock

        6. ValdVin

          Didn’t he also say, “For the first few months *you* are not dating the other person, the *ambassador* of you is.” ?

        7. Well_Played

          Yep

    2. zoelogical

      i kind of think that Leslie likes people who are assertive when she finds it hard to be. Mindy is kind of…too similar to her

      but like also i think, if i were Leslie, i would go for the exact opposite person of what Becky was recommending just to prove a point. which is: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A LESBIAN’S GAYDAR, or try to push her into relationships she’s expressed a clear lack of interest in

  30. Passchendaele

    should’ve just gone for broccoli lady, becky, your ship torpedo missed by a mile. :p

    1. Passchendaele

      aaand I’m also allergic to cats. ‹.‹

      1. Danni

        but are you leslies type?

  31. Noheart6265

    sigh…I miss singularikitty

  32. Tacos

    Son of a-!!! Goddammit Leslie.

  33. Cholma

    Oh, Leslie. No, girl, no. You can’t handle that one.

  34. Halpful

    ROFL.

    poor mindy, but, after the comments the last few days this is about ten times funnier. 🙂

    1. zoelogical

      I KNOW RIGHT

      H E L P

  35. Stephen Bierce

    Hello, I saw you, I know you, I knew you
    I think I can remember your name…

  36. Carms

    GOOD GIRLS LIKE BAD GIRLS

    1. zoelogical

      live fast die young bad girls do it well

  37. Keulan

    Dammit Leslie, why do you keep going for the jerks? Mindy would be so much better for you.

  38. Goki

    Sometimes I really really hate Leslie… and life X_X.

  39. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    *snrks and bites fist in laughter* Okay. This got me! Heheha. Better luck next time Mindy.

  40. Dave

    Mindy looks like Becky talked Leslie up to her and she got excited, but now she’s let down. 🙁

  41. LimeSheep

    LESLIE NO

    1. Tan

      Leslie yes

  42. zoelogical

    BLESS

  43. Tomas

    Ew, Mindy’s caterpillars have crawled up into her hair.

  44. Kit

    I don’t know why this surprised me. Word of Willis is that sexuality is a constant across universes and I kinda already knew that Leslie is at least somewhat bongosexual.

    (Willis! Please come up with filters for other problematic insults! I just got to type “bongosexual” and it filled my heart with joy.)

  45. AnvilPro

    Whap… whap… whap…. whaaaaaaa

  46. Rukduk

    Oh this is gonna be good. Also, poor Mindy.

  47. zoelogical

    yeah no guys. guys. Anna hits all of Leslie’s Princess Leia kinks.

    1) would or would not Anna call somebody who’s helping to rescue her “a walking carpet”? the answer is yes. absolutely. she would call them that regardless of whether or not they were existing in her presence
    2) is she a badass?? look at that haircut. look at her attitude. yes, absolutely
    3) she is wearing PURPLE, much like General Leia in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
    4) she could definitely totally kick Robin’ ass, which I’m sure is also something Princess Leia could do
    5) she does not take shit from anyone, thank u very much
    6) she is in the habit of insulting the people nearest and dearest to her

    i don’t have much more than this but yes. absolutely. yes.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Agreed. I ship Anna/Leslie.

    2. Li

      You know, I was just assuming for the irony, but these are all good points.

      1. zoelogical

        i know right?? the more i got into it the more i was like “amazing”

    3. Kamino Neko

      She doesn’t come across as badass at all. More just ‘ass’. She hasn’t punched up once, yet, and even punching at level requires assuming Mindy’s more snarky than we’ve seen evidence of in private.

      (And if you think the hair suggests badass, you need to read Lumberjanes. Mal’s awesome, but basically the least badass of the Roanoak girls.)

      1. Li

        Yes we are well aware you don’t like Anna, you’ve made that plain.

      2. zoelogical

        that is definitely an opinion you have, and one I do not agree with!! tbh, my personal standard for badassness starts at “getting up in the morning and choosing to face the day regardless of how terrible everything is and the seeming impossibility of making any real lasting change”. it also includes “choosing to go and talk to people even though you have social anxiety”. so like!! my metric is set deliberately low, because doing anything that’s hard for you is badass.

        tbh, given the American police’s habit of discrimination against people of color, I think it qualifies any person of color for the title of Badass for just. going out there and choosing to live their lives. choosing to live your life abrasively is, in some respects, very badass, because it requires drawing a lot of negative attention to you. but that’s a battle that would be hard to win anyways, because there’s no amount of positive behavior that is going to change someone’s racism.

        because Anna is a lesbian woman of color, any comment she makes is automatically punching up – unless she makes a joke at the expense of someone who is trans. which you will note she has not done yet.

        this is similar to Princess Leia, who when in between a rock and a hard place (i.e. the destruction of her entire planet and her own scheduled execution), chose to insult all of her rescuers multiple times over!! this is neither gracious nor grateful. she has been judged for this by many people in many places, because somehow…a negative response in a time of grief becomes an indication of Leia being too angry. (after losing her planet!!!) too impatient. too much, frankly, for the people around her, which is more the fault of the people around her.

        i do not judge her for this because she literally just lost her planet, and has spent her entire life in a Resistance against an Empire so great that it is almost overwhelming. all she has is her quick thinking and whatever strategy she can cobble together from the remains of their intelligence to save the Resistance. and to help her, she has an immature flyboy, a walking carpet, and a sweet farmboy. they could at least have brought a wheelbarrow or something. :/

        in much the same way i feel that Anna may have legitimate frustrations that are as of yet unexplained!! and i refuse to judge her for her behavior until we know more about her. because she is a fictional character and i do not have to make these kinds of snap judgments on her.

        (i’ve…tried to be super polite through all this so i can explain my position, but wow. i’ve never heard a less compelling reason to read anything ever than listening to someone hate on a character i like. if i was ever going to read lumberjanes before, i am definitely not going to read it now!!!)

  48. Ferdinand Rosenthal

    *Internal screaming*

  49. Fart Captor

    Geez, people, she’s only just meeting them. She knows nothing about either of them but what they look like.

    1. Bagge

      She knows that Anna is wicked buff and has a super butch haircut and is HOT AS SHIT. http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3154

  50. Meta

    Nooo poor Mindy

  51. fillerusername

    Cute and kind with an endearing vulnerability does describe Becky’s type more than Leslie’s doesn’t it?

    1. zoelogical

      it really does hahaha oh god

      i think…that describes Leslie pretty well tho

      1. Bagge

        I think we are finding out a lot about Becky’s motivation in this situation. 🙂

        1. zoelogical

          i can see Mindy as an alterna-Joyce, but i can’t see Becky being attracted to her. mostly because she already has her very own alterna-Mindy to be vaguely attracted to. let alone Dina, who is amazing and rocks her entire world

          but like both Mindy and Leslie have the Miss Honey thing going on. and i can see why she would ship them, because shipping two people who are super alike is like the first level of gay shipping. i feel like a huge media picture of lesbians is two nice femme white ladies, so it Makes Sense in that context. but also…it’s just not considerate of either of them, really

          it’s just, like, shipping real people is kind of super fucked up when you make it their business, and Mindy and Leslie are real people and she has made it their business

        2. Eldritch Gentleman

          Shipping a Joyce with a Joyce. Everyone is a winner, especially Becky XD

        3. Temperaryobsessor

          Well Becky has her own ideas about what’s attractive. Mindy is like a Joyce who likes girls and who likely doesn’t have as much religious baggage.

  52. Black

    We can’t judge Leslie too harshly yet; she’s only seen this woman, she doesn’t know anything about her personality or her opinions.

    Let’s give Leslie the benefit of the doubt for now, but be prepared to facepalm into oblivion later.

  53. Pebble

    Mindy’s said she’s single, but is Anna single? Becky didn’t ask.

    1. Pigeon Pollyx

      Heck you’re right! I don’t think it’s gonna come up but there’s a slim possibility Willis’s gonna zag on us to create some, weird chain unreciprocated attraction

  54. Yossarianduck

    Man, Now I miss Girls with Slingshots…

  55. Larkle

    Well, congratulations to everyone who predicted that.

  56. Triniking1234

    D:

    That’s all I got.

  57. Pigeon Pollyx

    I ended up calling this while you nerds were thinking Mindy was flirting with Becky, so…score? touchgoal? mild catharsis.

    Honestly though I’d expected there to be More Wacky Shenanigans getting to here, didn’t think the wacky shenanigans would revolve around this, so really I got no idea where this story’s going. I do like Anna, at least to the point that I figure abrasiveness is just part of her personality and not a judgement and she definitely does have a killer hairstyle, but also I know that that’s definitely off-putting for some people. Either Becky’s gonna have to learn that some jerks aren’t assholes and have layers, or Leslie’s gonna have to realize her taste in women isn’t good (which we know by now with Robin), and which way the story leans to definitely depends on Anna. After all, we don’t know much about her. Are her acerbic tendencies indicative of her true nature? Is there a heart of gold under that rough exterior? Would she even be willing to show that heart to someone? Will the people in the comments be happy either way? No idea, not my story.

    Though the one I feel most sorry for in this situation is Mindy, who clearly seems more than a little excited in that 4th panel. Seems Becky got her hopes up, only to be dashed nigh immediately. Maybe it’s the cooler hairstyle. Maybe it’s the confident stand. Maybe it’s “bad taste” (I say in air quotes because, 1, above, 2, Robin absolutely was Not Good, and 3, while Leslie and Anna haven’t really interacted much to judge, she did completely sidestep Mindy’s telegraphed eagerness which could have clued her in a little). And since they were introduced together for this arc, one begs to question how Mindy’s involvement is going to be. If she’s still a little conflicted about Anna, especially with their close living quarters and their pasts, then this opportunity went pretty very bad. Getting one-upped by an old flame after getting your hopes up to start again isn’t just a weird-sounding mishmash of song lyrics, it’s probably going to be bad for her self esteem as well. The caterpillars on her face comment earlier probably doesn’t help her either; light-to-grumpy ribbing of friends is all well and good, but the comments suddenly turning true while they’re fresh in the mind is an anxiety bomb waiting to go off. Will she be forced into Becky’s shenanigans? Will she accept her melancholy and become a more passive figure in this arc, a person to keep in mind? Will the moral be for Leslie or for Becky (and us), and where will the conclusion leave Mindy? Will she be left lonely and wanting as her roommate finds fulfillment? Will the tides turn in her favor instead? Will we all get zagged and through a series of wacky circumstances will Mindy and Anna end up back together, off to live a better, stronger life? I’m just speculating at this point.

    Of course, speculation only gets us so far. Look at the absurdity we went through in their dang introductions. I like them both frankly, in their own ways, and I do hope they both find some catharsis in this.

    1. zoelogical

      hahah yeah

      i mean. what Becky has been doing is very much not okay, for a number of reasons. but like also it really gets Mindy’s hopes up, that Leslie will be interested, and that’s not really…fair. especially if Mindy believes that Becky was doing this with Leslie’s consent

      Mindy gets less of a chance because of Becky’s shenanigans, essentially

      but also the people in the comments will never be happy lmao. it’s just…impossible to please everyone

      1. Fart Captor

        Well, from the first panel, Leslie seems like she’s game, if only Becky actually knew her tastes. Though yes, that’s not the only reason it’s uncool for Becky to be so pushy about it.

        1. zoelogical

          i get the sense that Becky tried out Multiple Ladies, at which point Leslie walked off in disgust. and that is how Leslie and Becky got separated

          lmao

          but no i can’t read leslie right now as anything other than put-off by what becky is doing

        2. Temperaryobsessor

          I think she doesn’t like the fact that Becky decided to do this for her unilaterally. She also doesn’t like the fact that Becky didn’t just know that students are off limits. But she doesn’t hate it enough to turn down a chance to date someone she finds attractive and is not a student.

        3. Li

          ^

    2. Halpful

      Ha, now I’m thinking of the “dicks fuck assholes” speech. 🙂

    3. Cerberus

      Yup, you called it and deserve all the kudos for that!

  58. Thanatopia

    I sense a masochistic streak in this one.

  59. Bagge

    Heh, Becky and Joyce have certainly tuned their shipping abilities together.

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/better-3/

    Becky’s facepalm in the lat panel is priceless

  60. Amanda

    And here, kids, is what we like to call “projection”.

    1. StClair

      “If they projected any harder, they’d be an IMAX theater.”
      — a line that’s been getting a lot of use this year.

  61. Foxhack

    You guys were not kidding about Mindy almost being an older version of Joyce. She’s even got the boots!

  62. Gojira

    Leslie isn’t a fan of caterpillars.

  63. Ivy

    :((((((((

  64. Delicious Taffy

    I’ll pick up the knife, since someone definitely called it.

    1. Halpful

      🙂

  65. Felis Leo

    God. Damn. It.

  66. bryy

    Welp. So Leslie has a type.

  67. Gojira

    Anna then falls for Robin, forming an unholy love pentagon.

    1. Pigeon Pollyx

      let’s not put “being a jerk” and “deliberately allowing the perpetuation of anti-lgbt policies” in the same zone here, friend.

      1. Gojira

        If Anna is a”Princess Leia” (a rude bad ass warrior), is not Robin a scoundrel?

        1. Pigeon Pollyx

          but she’s a politician, thus negating any scoundrel attributes by way of being Part Of The System. Leia might be a princess, but she wasn’t a politician.

        2. Gojira

          Being part of the system doesn’t mean you aren’t a scoundrel if the system is corrupt.

        3. zoelogical

          i kinda want to say either Anakin, Padme, Cassian, or Jar-Jar, and i kind of hate myself for even suggesting the last one but like

          Anakin: because he is a well-intentioned person who fell to the Dark Side. but it doesn’t fit perfectly, because Robin doesn’t have a sponsor emotionally abusing her to stay on the Dark Side

          Padme: because she is someone with good intentions who supported bad policies like supporting Palpatine’s bid for Chancellor. but also like… she had actual principles

          Cassian: because he is someone who is has spent so long in a morally grey environment that he has forgot how to do something he believes in, and the only good cause he can manage to commit to is the one where he crashes and burns his entire life. but then, like, Cassian fights for the Resistance and does most of what he does out of survival. he also has actual principles

          Jar-Jar: because he is someone who got into politics for well-intentioned reasons, got manipulated into stupid decisions like supporting Palpatine’s bid for Emperor, and is well-hated for multiple stupid decisions he has made. but Robin really isn’t that……………. that. like. she is purposeful about using stereotypes to her own advantage. she is not tripping all over her stereotypes and somehow having good things happen through “the Force” or some bullshit. she also does not have a weird sexy bird girlfriend with boobs, although i’d rather see Robin with a weird sexy bird girlfriend than Jar-Jar. (my mind. it will never be free.)

          ….oh my god it’s Jyn. it’s so Jyn, someone who’s spent so long in a morally grey world fighting for survival and any kind of an edge that she’s almost forgotten how to have principles. but she hasn’t entirely forgotten how to be kind, when she can. Robin would fire Ryan; Jyn would save a child. and it doesn’t negate everything else they would do in a tight situation but those things don’t negate those good spots either

        4. Clif

          Leia was an elected princess.

        5. BBCC

          No she wasn’t. Alderran has a royal family (unless that changed when the EU did). Padme was an elected queen, though.

        6. Li

          Yeah, like, Leia was ALSO a member of the senate, I think, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she was elected to be a princess.

          I mean, princess isn’t really a thing you would BE elected as, since princess is not the title of a ruling person.

        7. thejeff

          Beats the hell out of me. I could never begin to figure out Star Wars politics. I mean, how do you actually get an elected teenage queen?

          Seems to me they mostly wanted the cool fantasy trappings of nobility along with a nod towards modern democratic sensibilities.

        8. BBCC

          @ Li – Unless you’re on Naboo, in which case I believe it was a sort of the equivalent of the mayor of the city. Padme was that before she was queen.

          @ thejeff – You have a planet with an elected monarchy (and elected advisors) where the only qualification to run or vote is apparently passing an ‘intellectual maturity’ aptitude test.

        9. thejeff

          Yeah , I get that’s the theory.

        10. Li

          /throws up hands

          I still say the whole elected queen thing was a weird retcon after Lucas decided that having Amidala be a queen wasn’t America Fuck Yeah enough. The whole first movie makes so much more sense if she’s a queen who inherited younger than she was supposed to (parental death) and is coming her own in a crisis, and then Lucas doubled down by having another very young girl replace her, so it just makes Naboo feel like they’ve decided only teenage girls can rule, for whatever reason.

        11. Li

          *coming into her own

        12. thejeff

          @Li: Pretty much my take on it.

        13. Doom Shepherd

          Leia was totes a member of the Imperial Senate in Ep.4.

    2. Fart Captor

      Wait, who’s the fifth?

      1. Gojira

        Mindy is attracted to Becky, who wants to hook Mindy up with Leslie, Leslie is attracted to Anna (who in my unholy pentagon becomes hot for Robin) Robin is attracted to Leslie.

        1. Clif

          Revenge of the Fifth.

        2. Remmington Steele

          Revenge of the Fifth of Scotch.

  68. The Mad Academic

    I feel the need to drink after this bout of madness. God help me, I’m a fool,I thought my prediction would be subverted.

  69. Arianod

    OK, I just nearly brought the floor down laughing X’D Damn you, Willis. Damn you.

    1. Clif

      I thought shaking your fist at the sky was mandatory.

      1. Arianod

        Who says I didn’t shake it?

  70. zoelogical

    ok so there is a part of me that is really hard-core delighted by this occurrence. and weirdly enough it is the part of me that has been real-life shipped

    like my mom started shipping me with this boy when i was seven, this boy i’d barely talked to, mostly because she really liked his mom. and his mom is great i have no complaints about her here!! but i was not comfortable with it and i continue to not be comfortable with it because i asked her to stop and she wouldn’t

    the last time she made a comment about it was, like, three years ago, still trying to get me to be romantically interested in this boy that was all the way across the country that i’d avoided speaking to for all of elementary school so that i wouldn’t give any sort of impression.

    and like. that shit is damaging because i a) did not get any freaking kind of choice, and b) i didn’t even know whether or not i liked boys. i still don’t. and like…that incident has made me kind of terrified of hanging out with boys for most of my life??? because i really got the impression that being near a boy would give people ideas that i couldn’t say no to and expect that no to be respected. it also gave me the very strong impression that my opinions didn’t matter to my parents and i would still have to do what they wanted anyways, which, has deeply affected my life in so many damaging ways.

    and, i mean, years later, you learn that when people don’t respect you saying no you say no harder and firmer and so that they can’t ignore you, no matter the consequences. because someone who doesn’t respect your no does not respect you, and does not deserve your implied or stated yes. and like!! you could be a perfectly nice person!!! but if i have had someone pressuring me to date you we will never date, ever, bye. and possibly that person will no longer even be my friend.

    and like…Becky comes from that world. that people don’t know what they want or need best, so you have to *encourage* what’s best for them. because you, obviously, are more aware of what’s best for them than they are. you’re just more in tune with the Spirit. or you get a sense. or, y’know, you just want it really hard and so push it really hard until either the person gives in or you give up.

    and i mean you can’t control what other people think. you can only control what you do, and you have to do that regardless of what other people may or may not think. you only ever have to be responsible for yourself. live in your own skin, exist in your own thoughts and actions. so like –

    in that sense, this is really very satisfying. because Leslie is taking ownership of what she wants, and she is pursuing an interest she actually has, and Becky is being told no. forcefully. and seeing the consequences of her actions play out in Leslie pursuing someone Becky doesn’t like. and who Leslie would never have met if Becky hadn’t meddled!!

    eat that situational irony, darling.

    1. BBCC

      Oh thank god, I’m not the only one here who’s 2460Done with Becky and Joyce and their ‘cute’ shipping of people. That ain’t cute once they say they don’t want a date or to hook up with that person. It’s rude and annoying and you need to stop, because your sense of boundaries is bad.

      1. zoelogical

        yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup

        i’ve been done with it since before i even knew what shipping was

        like. i wouldn’t have a problem if they kept it to themselves!!! it’s fine, you’re allowed to have freaking opinions. but otherwise it’s just….none of your business. and they have no right to socially pressure people into dating the people they want them to date

      2. Danigami

        I think a lot of readers here are done with Joyce and Becky’s real life shipping, haha and the story shows it in a very negative light anyway. But yeah speaking as a victim of that to the point of falling on a relationship that I really didn’t want; and even when we broke up a long time ago as romantic partners, people still have the need to make comments about us. And in a way, it does make a great number on my gender dysphoria.

        1. zoelogical

          :/

          that sounds so fun in so many not-fun ways

        2. Jengoci

          And let’s not forget how your get passive aggresive labeled as a big bongo for breaking the relationship everybody was supporting.

        3. zoelogical

          fuck ’em

    2. Pigeon Pollyx

      I made a big schpeal in a comment about Where This Arc’s Gonna Go, but I do think without a shadow of a doubt, Becky’s gonna end up learning not to force people in these situations. It’s an OK set up for an arc going on but there’s no way this, and if we’ll recall Joyce’s own obsession with Jacob and Sarah also, is going to end anything remotely like the cheesy, trope-filled romance movies they base their behavior off of.

      Leslie might really enjoy having Anna around. Maybe she’ll end up regretting it if her snide personality ends up becoming too overbearing. Maybe she’ll end up with Mindy anyway, through circumstances unforeseeable. Maybe both Mindy and Anna abandon her, or maybe this all ends in tears for everyone. But whatever the closure we get to this arc, it cannot be because Becky meddled hard enough for things to go her way. Narratively there’s no satisfaction, and morally there’s no catharsis. If Becky ends up doing some zany hijinks in the middle, that’s fine, that’s comedy. But the final agency needs to be from Leslie, choosing by herself, risking it herself, deciding her own life for herself.

      1. zoelogical

        i really, really hope so!!! but yeah Joyce with Jacob and Sarah was…..kind of intensely creepy

        i think that maybe Anna could be super refreshing for Leslie? like she’s pretty clearly a good communicator, if not a tactful one. she’s someone who is additionally already attracted to women, which is rare enough that it’s got to be like a well in the desert. if nothing else, they can bond over the ins and outs of being lesbians. i mean. they at least have a friggin’ chance. and Leslie seems well up for some rabble-rousing. and also it’s not like she has to live with her, so she can take Anna in small doses

        Personally my call is that Leslie and Anna date long enough for Robin and Anna to meet; maybe they don’t work out longterm, but they’re good to each other while they’re with each other, even if they aren’t exactly soulmates. arc ends with leslie/robin and anna/mindy, somehow. becky facepalms in a corner and dina remains bemused by social interactions

        I am absolutely one hundred percent with you that this has to be about Leslie reclaiming her agency, tho, because that is something she did not get in her last romantic subplot

    3. Cerberus

      All of this and also an *appropriate gesture of support* for having gone through all that. Pushy real-life shippers can be really frustrating, especially parents.

      1. zoelogical

        -huuugs-

  71. Bunivasal

    I haven’t been been following the comments. Have we talked about how much Leslie likes people who are bad for her?

    And how much Mindy looks like Joyce?

    1. StClair

      Just a bit.

      1. Lingo

        Your facepalm kind of says it all there.

    2. Eldritch Gentleman

      I think it might be a case of like-parent-like-spuse. Like when a child from abusive home subconsciously seeks a partner similar to their opposite-gender parent, because they subconsciously believe that the abusive relationship of their parents is what a proper relationship should look like. And considering her parents tossed her out the moment she came out… yeah not very good role models.

  72. Tom T.

    When I first saw panel 1, for some reason it looked like Leslie was riding a Segway.

  73. Reltzik

    ….. and why SHOULDN’T Leslie be interested in Anna? This fits my theory that she likes strong, dominant women.

    (Don’t ask me how she knows this quickly. Subliminal signals in personal style or something.)

    1. Pigeon Pollyx

      also she’s got a cool hairstyle, is pretty confident in her stance and, yknow, has never interacted with her before? how’s she supposed to know she’s a grouch if she’s never seen it happen? Plus Anna seems pre-tty charmed right about now, I doubt her reaction to obvious flirtation is gonna be to insult her.

      The worst offense you could accuse Leslie here is blatantly ignoring the enthusiastic telegraphing of Mindy, which is a shut down of extreme proportion. But then again I don’t know how attraction at first sight works, so whatevs.

    2. Cerberus

      Plus it looks like there might be mutual chemistry. Mindy is excited, yes, but Anna has got the hip sway and the soft smile going on which is pretty impressive especially as we know she’s been cranky and in a hurry, which means Leslie is intriguing enough to her to linger on.

      1. Li

        I can’t completely read Anna’s expression at this side, but I tentatively agree, she might be into Leslie too.

        I am sure Mindy is a bit ??? and might be hurt if she is indeed still carrying a torch, but I also think her smile was as nervous as anything else. She might not even be super into Leslie; she might have just been excited by/nervous about the idea of dating itself.

        (Like I’m just saying that big strained smile doesn’t convey as much attraction to Leslie me as Leslie’s face conveys attraction to Anna. If that makes sense?)

  74. BenRG

    Two things:

    1) Everyone’s expressions in panel 5 turns the whole thing into a laugh riot;

    2) As I suspected, Leslie’s radar aims her right at potentially abusive partners.

    1. That Damn Rat

      That’s a fairly long bow you’re drawing there? She’s thus far only been kind of abrasive. Like not even Sarah levels of abrasive, and mostly due to annoying people.

  75. MM

    I hadn’t thought about there not being any pink goo cats in this universe until the alt-text pointed it out, and now I am sad. 🙁

    1. zoelogical

      :////

      maybe she will investigate the alternate universe and find a second home where she gets second breakfasts

    2. CJ

      She can slip in, I’m sure of it.

  76. Pl0x

    For some reason I’m reading Leslie’s dialogue with Pearl’s voice.I think it works.

    1. Rosstifer

      Wow, it really does!

  77. OnyxIdol

    Leslie no

  78. Tnoy

    Swing and a miss.

    And the ball was on a tee, Leslie. Bad show.

  79. Ton

    Sorry Princess Luna, you have achieved Negative Game!
    http://orig02.deviantart.net/81d3/f/2015/044/e/0/the_dating_game_by_theelinker-d8htbmd.gif

  80. Bickendan

    I’m having flashbacks to Seymour Skinner falling for Patty instead of Selma.

  81. Rotunda

    Becky, by fantasy gripped,
    Thought Leslie with Mindy was shipped.
    But actual desire
    Pulled Leslie right by her—
    Why didn’t Les follow the script?

  82. AlexDenton

    Leslie, no XD
    Bah, why are we surprised. “Oh, this is taking a good path, it’s gonna be nice and fluffy” and then suddenly Willis happens ^^

  83. Teddae

    ….damn you willis?

  84. Eldritch Gentleman

    It’s official, Leslie’s taste in women is SHIT XD
    This reminds me that old theory like-parent-like-spouse. The one where a child picks a future partner based on their similarity to their opposite-gender parent… though in Leslie’s case she’d probably pick the one like her mother…
    Long story short. Her parents must have been shit extraordinare O_o

    1. BBCC

      Well, they apparently tossed her ass out when she came out of the closet so…yes?

      1. Eldritch Gentleman

        Yeah, shitlords extraordinare… and now she is subconsciously charging straight into a relationship like that…

    2. Kamino Neko

      To be fair to Les, she hasn’t actually interacted with Anna, yet, so she only knows ‘hey, attractive girl’.

      OTOH, after Robin ‘merely unaccountably rude’ would still be a step up.

      1. Eldritch Gentleman

        She is probably reading body language too. I mean just look at Anna. She is screaming “One wrong word and my boot will be up your bottom”

  85. newllend(henryvolt)

    REALLY !? I’m starting to think Leslie has shit taste.

  86. Zaidyer

    Wish I could say I saw it coming!

  87. CJ

    Gosh, Germany has now marriage for all, though restricted to two persons and still maintaining the clause of “for life”.

    The decision was roughly 2/3 to 1/3. It will be interesting to see if someone tries to stop the law through the courts. As no heterosexual is in a worse position than before, no individual person can do that. The people against it either need a 1/4 of parliament to invoke the Bundesverfassungsgericht or a Bundesland can (only Bawaria is likely to do that). We’ll see.

    I wonder why Merkel pushed for this decision now (she voted against).

    I never was interested in marriage in the first place, so it doesn’t feel like the break-throu stuff it does for the people campaigning for it for the last 25 years.

    Ages ago, when participating in a Green Party survey on what I think about marriage, I voted for the possibility of people taking responsibility for each other not based on sexual relationships (also on having an expiration date to such agreements so they have to be consciously renewed). ?

    1. OnyxIdol

      Wait, Merkel voted against? I thought she had a change of heart after visiting a lesbian couple and their kids?

      1. OnyxIdol

        Yep, she did.

      2. CJ

        She did. But she asked for “respect for the different positions”. 75 people from the conservative parties (CDU and CSU) voted for it.

      3. nobilis

        She voted against marriage for all, but said that she was in favour of adoption rights equality.
        (After the constitutional court had already pushed parliament to remove discrimination in taxation and inheriting, adoption rights was the remaining thing – and of course the name of marriage.)

    2. Cerberus

      Yay Germany!

    3. PlainMarie

      Thanks for the update! Very interesting.

  88. brasca1

    She was attracted to Robin so I’m not surprised by this in the least. It’s still some improvement since Anna isn’t in the closet.

  89. Rosstifer

    And Leslie is attracted to the asshole one. Of course.

  90. NinjaNick

    And Mindy’s heart breaks into a thousand pieces.

    1. JessWitt

      Darn it, I want Mindy to be happy.

    2. Shadow Eagle

      Now she has to find a date for Mindy since she set her expectations up…. this could become a thing for her….

      1. Eldritch Gentleman

        And so began the Legend of Becky the Lesbian Matchmaker… whose clients always picked the girl standing Next to the one Becky picked for them.

  91. Galdan

    Okay, Leslie, I think we are starting to understand your problem: You are drawn to horrible people with incompatible personalities (with you in particular, but also with the rest Humanity in general) who will hurt you a lot…

    Sucks to be you, I guess…

    1. Eldritch Gentleman

      At least she has no-students clause or she might have gone after Mary… And if she was hetero it’d probably be Mike…

    2. Joe Covenant

      Yeah, it’s ‘almost’ comforting to know that the problems arise no matter what one’s orientation… The women you like are always attracted to jerkfaces!

      🙂

    3. Zaxares

      Heh, you beat me to it. XD I was going to make that exact same observation.

  92. Emily

    Oh right, Leslie has terrible taste.

    1. Arianod

      Yep, that’s another multiversal (walkiversal?) constant.

  93. Hellespont

    I keep forgetting why I don’t read the comments section. Oh yeah, extreme reactions to everything.

    1. Clif

      Oh, right.

      1. Clif

        Course that’s half the fun.

    2. Spencer

      How could you say that to me

  94. phildog

    Leslie. Come on! What the fuck?

  95. C.T Phipps

    I *LOVE* Leslie and Anna as a potential couple. Lots of awesome drama there and she’d have a partner who’d stand up for her.

    1. Kamino Neko

      Why do you think that Anna would stand up for her, when the only sign of how she treats her girlfriends is repeatedly insulting her ex-girlfriend/current roommate?

      1. C.T Phipps

        Mindy comes off as very passive aggressive, honestly. In their brief interaction she’s put down Anna as much as the reverse.

        1. Kamino Neko

          No, she hasn’t. She made a comment about Anna once, in response to being insulted by her.

          So far, Anna has insulted Mindy for being polite to people, reacted like the idea being with her was horrifying, and claimed that she’s single because she’s got bushy eyebrows.

          Mindy, on the other hand has mentioned that her parents didn’t like Anna, then made a comment that suggested she wishes they were still dating.

        2. Fart Captor

          The only thing she’s said about Anna is that her parents didn’t like her, that’s a gentle acknowledgement that Anna is rather abrasive, at the worst. Frankly, even if she meant to insult Anna with that comment, it would strike me less as passive aggression, and more like “being too timid to openly stand up for herself”

          Anna on the other hand has repeatedly and very directly insulted Mindy to her face for no apparent reason.

    2. Li

      Agreed. /o/

    3. Emily

      Anna seems more like the “berates you for not standing up for yourself” kind of person.

  96. JessWitt

    Suh-prise!! I’d like to hope the LesAnna pairing will go smoothly despite all rough expectations.

  97. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Panel 1: Oh Becky… No. I know you are all excited to do “something to earn your keep” but meddling in other people’s love lives tends to end really poorly and is bad taste and bad boundaries when the other person explicitly told you to stop.

    Panel 2: That said, this is adorable, especially the callback to Joyce saying she’d name the first 5 of Billie’s children when she found out she was in love. Makes one wonder if Becky and Joyce tried to play cupid a lot in their church.

    Also, the first half of Becky not realizing that she’s describing her own type rather than Leslie’s. Rookie mistake, Becks, rookie mistake.

    And the second half makes me a little sad because it confirms that Becky still likely views the idea of a queer single lady as some far-fetched and uncommon thing that one must move immediately on lest you have no other chances. Hopefully connecting more with her community will help with that.

    Panel 3: Again, oh Becky, no. Actually pay attention to what people are saying and respect that. Bulldozing over people for your ships is a thing you and Joyce have in common and not in a good way.

    Panel 4: Oh dear, Mindy looks excited but nervous to meet her. Given the torch she’s still carrying for Anna, she probably had to summon up a lot of courage to go “ok, yeah, I will try going back in the dating scene”.

    So the rejection hits doubly hard for her, because Leslie not only ignores her (a common fear among people worried about re-entering the dating scene), but goes after the person she’s still in love with and whose single status (not confirmed, but I feel likely) has been the thing sustaining her hope that things could one day be repaired.

    *And the whole thing might be triply hard on Mindy, because it’s very possible Anna is only here because “she wanted to watch the disaster” that this sort of setup was setting up to be.

    Panel 5: But it makes sense that Leslie would go after Anna instead. She tends to like slightly butch confident people with a strong presence to them and it’s understandable why. Confidence can be very sexy.

    And it’s also, I’m ace, so I can’t say for certain, but it looks like Leslie and Anna might have some mutual chemistry given Leslie’s arm grab and shy nervousness and Anna’s warm smirk (especially given that we know she’s cranky and seems to be in a hurry) and for allo people that can be critically important in a decision to try dating or hooking up.

    It might be a disaster ready to unfold if Anna actually just is a jerk or it might be something that is mutually beneficial for a time if Anna is just a confident person with some social anxiety and some baggage.

    Either way, it’d be healthier than two people trying to force each other to click like Mindy and Leslie would be.

    1. Bagge

      Panel 2: Of course they did play cupid in church. You don’t think the six Jennifers went unshipped, do you?

      1. Cerberus

        Becky always felt super conflicted because she totally thought the 6 Jennifers paired best up with each other and so wished half of them were men instead so as to resolve the awkward feeling.

        1. Bagge

          She is currently re-writing A LOT of those “friend-fics” in her head, with a much more satisfactory resolution.

        2. Bagge

          “Don’t be silly, Becky. You can’t ship Jennifer with Jennifer, they are both girls, just like you and me.”

          “… Just like you and me, Joyce.”

          #FormativeMoments

        3. Pablo360

          Little do they know, two of the Jennifers are trans. And dating each other.

          They also make novelty macarons.

          Look, I make very specific ships

      2. Li

        Agreed.

        And I don’t think either of them have ever been discouraged in shipping before they got to IU. I think that matchmaking good Christians together is actually VERY strongly encouraged by their brand of fundamentalism.

        “Go forth and multiply”, PLUS all of the special focus on how marriage is where you get to have hanky panky and also an emphasis on how being a good wife is the ultimate way a Christian woman can do her godly duty.

        For Joyce and Becky, romantic love is what all women desperately want all the time, so it’s only a favor to set them up with as many partners as you possibly can, as fast as you possibly can, to help them reach the “end zone” of holy matrimony.

        I understand why people keep calling it shipping, and I’ve probably called it that myself, but I think this behavior is deeply embedded in their particular flavor of Christian culture, and I think that other girls at church also shipped Becky and Joyce with various appropriate boys, and both of them think they’d be thrilled to be similarly set up (if Becky was single I mean) with people, so……

        It’s just a hard gap to mentally cross, I think. Realizing that behavior you’re sure you would 100% welcome from other people isn’t… 100% welcomed _by_ other people.

        1. Jengoci

          Oh never thougjt it that way, because I hace se en that kind of match maker behaviour evento on atheist people

        2. Li

          Yeah me too, but in their case it’s like encouraged up to 11, you know?

  98. Sam

    Hahahahah

    (awwww Mindy)

  99. Arianod

    I just realized that Becky’s facepalm in the last panel is actually a facefist.

    Same, Becky, same.

  100. Sam

    This is the exact thing I didn’t want to happen. That must be exactly why Willis made it happen. But either way, I still don’t want it, take it back.

  101. BenRG

    Hopefully, Anna won’t be able to resist milking this for everything it’s worth before telling Leslie: “Sorry, Blondie but you’re not my type. My roomie here, on the other hand? She’s really into the helpless loser type, like you.”

  102. Reltzik

    As an overlooked detail, I count at least two boxes of mac and cheese in that cart.

    1. John

      And… laundry detergent?

      Leslie, you and Becky cannot live on mac and cheese and laundry detergent. I mean, at least get some Pop Tarts.

  103. NF

    As a lesbian, the 4th panel seems shockingly accurate to me.

  104. Commodore Jeep-Eep

    Stay away Anna; you don’t want to get on the wrong side of Robin, as she strikes me as the type to take revenge on anyone ‘Stealing’ her lesbian.

    1. Scar Man!!!

      wow, just wow.

      1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

        She’s a literal home invader; if you don’t think that kind of narcissist won’t strike at someone taking what she sees as hers, you’re pretty naive.

  105. Tommy Fresh

    Does anyone else thing Leslie is standing with her feet on the cart (like I always do when I’m rolling to my car in the parking lot!) while Becky pushes her around the store?

  106. Torra

    Its OK Becky, not everyone likes girls who look like Joyce

    (though Mindy is hella cute)

  107. Scar Man!!!

    I think Leslie being attracted to jerks is a universal constant

  108. Lulu

    No, just no, just no, no,no.

  109. a snow ʍousɐ

    Too many L’s in that first “broccoli,” I believe.

  110. Liliaeth

    Just wondering, but did I miss something in Anna’s behavior that marks her as either a bad person, or a wrong choice?

    Yes, she was a bit rude to Becky and impatient. But well, everyone can have a bad mood at times. Not like I can remember seeing the character before, so judging her as a bad person just based on this set of scenes, seems well… more than a bit premature.

    1. Spencer

      She’s been introduced acting like a complete piece of shit, so that’s how people will think of her.

      1. Li

        Spencer, Liliaeth asked if they’d missed something. They didn’t say they hadn’t read the same exact comics you have. Your interpretation of her behavior is not the only valid one.

        1. Spencer

          Right, I forgot that this place bends over backwards when it comes to abusive queer women.

        2. Li

          I can assure you that if I agreed Anna was abusive I would be less of a fan, having been abused by three separate parties in my life, two of them women, but sure. Every single person who disagrees with you must support abusive women in RL. That tracks,

        3. Li

          *. Sigh.

        4. Spencer

          I’m not sure what you call emotionally browbeating your friend with how physically unattractive she is, and how she’s stupid and annoying for being polite to people in public.

        5. Li

          I don’t agree that’s what she’s done, but thanks for in no way walking back your wild accusation machine.

        6. Spencer

          Probably because “you enact this same behaviour in real life” wasn’t what I fucking said.

        7. Li

          No, just “this place bends over backwards when it comes to abusive queer women,” which by the way is obvious, demonstrable crap.

          (How can you even claim that when every single time there’s been an abusive white guy introduced, the comment section has ACTUALLY bent over backwards to say “no no I’m sure he’s just a Strict Dad” or “I’m sure this guy Ryan has good intentions”… meanwhile Anna’s had like three lines and people are literally calling her an abuser. But sure, it’s totally queer abusive women who get defended beyond all reason.)

          (Also, find me the panel where Mindy looks hurt or even mildly annoyed by anything Anna has said. I’ll wait.)

          But hey, Spencer, if you’re just being this mean to people because you’re annoyed they like a jerk — if you DON’T actually think that we’re being abuse apologists — then what on earth is your excuse for it?

        8. Li

          Ugh, why did I ask you for textual evidence. I don’t actually want to demand that anyone LIKE Anna. I don’t want to tell anyone they’re wrong for DISliking her. I just would love it if every single person who says “I like Anna” would stop getting swarmed in these comments with “cool but she’s an asshole” and, today, “right I forgot this place bends over backwards for abusive queer women”.

        9. Indy

          Yikes on bikes. I’m with you, Li. I’m not saying I like Anna, (I think she’s ten butts) but the knee-jerk reaction towards queer characters with flaws is kind of telling.

        10. Li

          Thank you. And for what it’s worth, I fully support you in not liking Anna!

          I was talking about this with friends the other day, and thinking about My So-Called Life, and how Joss Whedon (stay with me) did a bit of a foreword for the DVD collection that was released a while back where he talked about how he’d been saying there ought to be a TV show like that, a more realistic show that presented teens as they really were:

          “And when the pilot aired, idiotic America turned the show right off. And so did I. My shame is not small. The opening scene was middle-class teenage girls panhandling, being deliberately unlikable. So I… didn’t like ’em. And I thought, ‘I’ll watch this later.'”

          He talks about how embarrassing that is to admit and how he loved the show when he got a kick in the pants to give it another shot, but the point of what he wrote about that show, and the reason why it made its characters deliberately unlikable while introducing them, and the reason why I’ve got so much hope for Anna…

          …is because “unlikable” characters can sometimes make a thing feel more real. Richer and deeper for just… showing up, not putting their best foot forward, not trying to make us like them — just existing, possibly having a crappy day, in a grocery store.

          The longer this stretches on the more I really like it as a moment of that.

          It’s still completely possible that I’ll wind up disliking Anna too and in real life maybe I wouldn’t like her. (I think a lot of how I’d feel about what she’s saying kind of depends on her tone of voice. I can imagine a tone of voice where I genuinely wouldn’t find her abrasive, but as I said a couple of days ago I’m also personally kind of hypersensitive to that kind of ‘friendly sniping’ where two people insult each other but in good humor. So I might be begging Anna to stop by now, if I were there in real life.)

          But I don’t, presently, think Anna is abusive; I just think she’s unlikable. Time will tell if I’m right or wrong, of course.

        11. Li

          Also, going back to the start of the comic? Willis actually introduces new characters this way a lot. Billie’s first appearance is 100% focused around her telling Walky not to get any of her nerd cooties on her AND establishes her DUI; Ruth’s first appearance is threatening to rip Joyce’s femurs out; Danny and Dorothy’s first appearances had about equal numbers of people dismissing her as cold-hearted and him as a clingy Nice Guy ™.

          I would not say that these first impressions held accurate over the long haul? Even in Ruth’s case, even though she was genuinely abusive to Billie before they started dating and even though their relationship still has unhealthy aspects to it. (Mostly now in terms of codependency.) None of them are just Awful People For No Reason, yet Willis was not in fact extremely careful to introduce them all in ways that made sure the readership would like them immediately.

        12. Halpful

          The comments offered a plausible alternative explanation for her awful first impression. in RL I’d probably nope the fuck out anyways, but in a comic I’m willing to wait and see.

          They also reassured me yesterday that Anna isn’t being given a free pass to do as she likes. “I like Anna” != “I will support Anna unconditionally” (although the human race has a bit of a shitty track record there, we seem to be getting better)

    2. Pigeon Pollyx

      It’s just a first impression thing here, really. There is definitely some prematurity to everyone’s reactions, but it’s not necessarily unjustified, as by what we’ve seen she’s mainly acted unnecessarily acerbic and grouchy without much provocation. Most notably is her rude and downtrodding comment on Mindy’s eyebrows, which given her reaction may be something she’s self conscious over, and the general over the top rudeness.

      And because first impressions are so important-for a piece of media especially-we have to assume that this is this character’s natural state of being and not due to some unknown circumstances-IE, kind of a grouch, disproportionately vitriolic to her closest friend so far. Compared to Mindy that’s not very charismatic of a first impression.

      With that being said, jerk doesn’t necessarily mean bad person, or at least wholly bad person. There’s plenty of sympathetic and likeable jerks in fiction and reality-Sam Vimes, Ron Swanson, even Sarah at times in this comic. So people are being judgy because that’s really all they have to go off on.

      1. thejeff

        Exactly. Unlike reality, fiction comes with intent. If the character is presented as rude and obnoxious in their first appearance, that’s not a coincidental bad mood. It’s the author choosing to portray the character as rude and obnoxious.

        It’s possible the intent is kind of a bait and switch, where the reasons become important later.

      2. Liliaeth

        I guess I just find it odd that Ana gets such immediate bad reaction, when Carla, who to my opinion often behaves just as badly, is generally loved (including by me, but that’s beside the point)

        Not saying I’m a huge fan of Ana’s behavior, but I just feel that being rude, does not necessarily equal being abusive. But that might be, because a lot of the most abusive people I know, are the kind who seem on first impression, nice and sweet.

    3. Li

      The character is brand-new, both to DoA and the Walkyverse — she’s not an expy.

      People are hating her based SOLELY on what we’ve seen, which not only seems premature to me but also unlikely to bear out, because if everyone judging Anna poorly were wrong, she’d be an Angry Black Woman stereotype, and… yeah. Just seems unlikely that’s where Willis is going.

      1. Li

        *were right… sigh mobile posting.

    4. Sam

      Well considering what we have seen of her is generally being abrasive, fairly rude both to strangers and her roommate, and downtrodding on Mindy’s physical appearance and on Becky’s phone usage (based on assumptions that she was on it for no reason as keep in mind, Anna had no reason to think that, she could have been checking grocery notes or allergy notes on her phone), it makes sense that people would not like her currently.

      From her first impression, she might not be a bad person, but she’s certainly not been pleasant so far which in many people’s minds yes, would make her a ‘wrong’ choice, not because she’s definitely a bad person, but because unwarranted rudeness and insults is a major red flag and turn off for most people at an initial encounter.

      And I say this having made friends with four people that initially rubbed me the wrong way – it doesn’t mean they can’t turn around and reveal a mostly great person, but it can form a strong initial reaction of ‘no, stay away’ and given that Leslie can be a doormat that we’ve already seen walked over by Robin, of course no one who is seeing her behaviour as red flags wants to put Leslie at risk of having her needs and boundaries be walked all over again.

  111. Sunny

    Close enough, Becky, it wouldn’t be a romantic comedy without a misunderstanding or two anyway.

  112. Vulcanodon

    Anna does have a certain set of keys about her.

  113. Nym

    Awww, panel four Mindy’s hopeful expression and body language is so adorable. Poor, poor Mindy.

    “I’ve already named all of your cats.” A+ shipping, Becky.

  114. LooksLikeDaniel

    Am I crazy, or is the alt-text a reference to Girls With Slingshots?

    1. Kamino Neko

      Not directly, but sort of.

      It’s a reference to Shortpacked! where Roz gave Les a pudding cat kitten – who was the offspring of GWS’s Sprinkles and Something*Positive’s Choo Choo Bear.

    2. Kamino Neko

      Oops. Should probably include the link again, shouldn’t I?

  115. Indy

    I’ve got no strong opinion on Anna yet, but Y’all don’t deserve Mindy or her glorious eyebrows.

  116. ailorn

    I think Mindy is cute. It may be because she looks/dresses like me though… she seems pretty awesome so far.

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