139

Weight stack
Posted on November 21, 2023 by David M Willis

139 thoughts on “Weight stack”

  1. DarkoNeko

    Sarah NO.

    1. Animedingo

      Sarah YES

      1. Doctor_Who

        Jacob MAYBE

      2. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Please!

        Use your manners.

    2. Angel

      given that it’s not a full size gym i’m surrpised Jacob wouldn’t hear the last thing that sarah’s shouting out lol

      1. Alan Lafond

        Cartoon physics. Sound only travels as far as what’s convenient for the plot. LOL!

  2. Ana Chronistic

    that’s why I use the free gym at work that’s almost always empty! no getting kicked out!

    (also no one to be kicked out over I guess, but I use gym time to watch Crunchyroll so idk)

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      This is why I don’t use the gym.

      … no, that’s a lie. I don’t use the gym because I hate formal exercise. Bleck.

      1. Yotomoe

        I also hate informal exercise. Exercise of all formality levels.

        1. Daibhid C

          I don’t go to the gym because I feel like people are judging me.

          I don’t use Wii Fit as often as I should because I feel the same way about the cartoon balance board.

        2. Plaaaaaa

          I don’t mind being judged, I just prefer being suspected but no one really being sure if I’m guilty or not.

        3. Needfuldoer

          I don’t go to the gym because I have a treadmill.

          I don’t use the treadmill because outside is less boring.

          I don’t go outside because there’s people there.

    2. Yumi

      I love an almost empty gym. When i was in college, I lived in one of the older dorms, and there was a “gym” in the basement that was really just a couple machines in a basement room that was at the end of a hallway with nothing else in it. But they were machines I was okay with using, and it seemed like very few students even knew about it, so i was frequently alone when I went.

      1. Thomas

        The gym where you wipe off the machines *before* you start on them, to remove layers of dust. Also, when someone broke a toe there, they died …of starvation and dehydration.

    3. Kazuma Taichi

      dang, didn’t expect to hear someone still using crunchyroll in the year 2023, and certainly not in the DoA comments section

      1. Ana Chronistic

        JujuKaisen is still updating

      2. Roborat

        I still use it, they have a pretty good library of anime.

  3. BBCC

    Sorry Sarah, you gotta tackle her.

    1. Plaaaaaa

      “Tackle him” was literally the advice my future wife as given as to how she should get my attention after she first met me.

      1. Sere

        That is how I got my husband. Legit strategy.

  4. Ryan

    Joyce got her monologuing. Classic hero maneuver.

    1. Thag Simmons

      She’s a sly devil

    2. Jamie

      By getting her to expound on her evil plan, no less.

      1. John Campbell

        “There is no one on the side of Evil this tactic doesn’t work on.”

  5. Dana

    Planet Fitness’s whole business model is slimy. All gyms count on a lot of patrons not actually showing up to use the gym, but Planet Fitness directly caters to them.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Of course! It’s free real estate money.

  6. Sirksome

    Women get kicked out for that too actually. We live in the social media age. I’ve seen gym goers get kicked out just for filming themselves in the mirror.

  7. jeffepp

    How is it that Joyce is about the least socially awkward member of the cast?

    1. Angel

      and has had more college relationships than sarah at this point as far as we know

    2. Needfuldoer

      She’s extroverted and well-socialized, but most of that socialization was at church. She’s awkwardly good with people.

      Sarah’s a pretty, hardcore introvert.

      1. thejeff

        It’s funny how the comma in that last sentence completely changes the meaning, but remains true either way.

    3. Mturtle7

      Hey now, there are plenty of cast members who aren’t *usually* super socially awkward. People like Joe, Jennifer, and Sal, for instance, who, from what I can tell, actually manage to pass as “normal people” in about 80% of their daily social interactions. Granted, as soon as you take them remotely out of their comfort zones, they start acting like the most awkward and embarrassing clowns imaginable, but UNTIL THEN they’re quite socially competent!

    4. Kazuma Taichi

      the power of medication

      1. thejeff

        “Medication”?

        Only thing she’s taking is birth control.

  8. Jonathan

    In comic punchlines, you can yell at someone about someone else in the same small room as you, without them hearing. It’s just physics.

    1. FlamestAndLight

      I reckon it’s a Stage Whisper

      1. milu

        Or rather whatever the opposite of a stage whisper is

    2. Angel

      i don’t think he is but he could’ve put in ear phones in between frames lol. or hes just going to politely pretend he didn’t hear til they approach

    3. Daibhid C

      The same principle also applies to Shakespeare and musicals. If Sarah was in a musical, she could sing about her plan to get Jacob’s attention, in duet with Jacob, and he’d still be none the wiser.

    4. Mark

      The entire architecture department was called in to design this room as an Inverse Whispering Gallery because the admin.s just knew this sort of scene would happen frequently.

    5. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Time distortion, like how the monsters don’t attack or run away during magical girl transformations or how you can spout paragraphs of dialog between punches in comic books.

  9. HueSatLight

    let’s call that plan B, for butt

  10. DailyBrad

    I love whenever you can do a meta-joke that still totally works within the confines of the strip.

  11. Yotomoe

    So what you’re saying is….that comic I made is 200% in character for Sarah?
    Good to know. Good to know.

    1. PirateTawnee

      Any Jacob POV drawing you might happen to draw that also features Sarah “grunting and groaning a whole bunch” is literally canon.

    2. Yossarianduck

      A comic you say? I believe I would like to see that.

      1. Yotomoe

        This one

    3. Needfuldoer

      Willis is basically handing you art prompts.

      Should we call you Yotojourney or Midtomoe?

      1. Li

        Neither? He’s an actual artist. Those programs would just spit out approximations of things Willis has already drawn. They’re high tech collage machines.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Yeah, in hindsight that wasn’t a good punning opportunity. 🙁

        2. Needfuldoer

          Sorry. 🙁

        3. Li

          Aww! ? Hey, everybody loves a good pun. You’re good by me, at least. ♥

  12. NGPZ

    You sly dog! You got her monologueing! XD

    1. Opus the Poet

      We villains do love to talk.

  13. shrub

    How the hell do they expect you to lift a decent weight without letting out a decent grunt

    Don’t get me wrong there are definitely some douches out there grunting on bro curls and what not but it’s hard to deadlift some decent weight without letting out some noise

    1. Sirksome

      I’m a bit on and off at the gym, but you can definitely tell the difference between real effort and what’s obnoxious. It’s usually not grunting in my experience, it’s lifters just dropping their weights which is both loud and unsafe, when staff starts warning you.

      1. shrub

        Agreed, unless you’ve lost control of the weight theres no real reason to drop the weight.

        Lower it under control

    2. Angel

      i imagine she was more going to do squats or so versus using a machine but (tho i’m sure some ppl are into it) i’d imagine a workout grunt sounds diff than a sexual/seductive one, although suddenly moaning in public outside of in a group of friends just messing around/trying to embarrass each other is a bit diff isn’t the ideal plan outside of like a one night stand lol

      1. shrub

        Imagine the sound you make when you’re attempting to move a couch or push a car

        So not very sexy imho

      2. LiamKav

        It’s actually a skill voice actors (especially female voice actors doing action anime) have to get right. Those shows often have lots of grunting and groaning and it’s important for them to not sound, well, dirty.

  14. True Survivor

    Does Sarah do rodeo sports?

  15. UrsulaDavina

    Which one gets you kicked out? Is staring at a persons tush while the other person grunts while they excersie or is it grunting while presenting one’s tush to another person while excersing? beacuse I am just going to play it safe and say both would.

    1. Yotomoe

      I guess the question is how egregious you are in doing either. Like if you’re disturbing the peace and really going all in with the thrusting then yeah kick them out. Also if someone is staring holes in your ass or rubbernecking super hard then yeah probably kick them out too. But a grunt now and then and a glance in that direction every so often and you’ll probably be fine assuming nobody’s watching you like a hawk.

      1. shrub

        Well if these guys can’t get kicked out…

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ULXs_cPP4

        1. Nymphie

          I don’t think those guys even went that far. Yeah they moaned like dying goats, but the staff did go and check it out. My guess is that when they got confirmed they did it for a YouTube reaction video, the staff didn’t want to bother making a bigger scene out of it since it’s become an entire meme challenge to attempt to get kicked out.

          I have seen people getting confronted (on vids, no PF here) but it has also been in combination with long drops of heavy weight

      2. Decidedly Orthogonal

        I find I’m still unclear. Please sir, would you be willing to provide diagrams of these? Perchance they could feature the characters currently present in the gym?

        1. Yotomoe

          hmm. You are the third person to ask for such a thing.

        2. David DeLaney

          why, this is a job for … Faz-man!!1!

          –Dave, er, Faz-boy, he’s still in sidekick territory. so kick him inna side when he’s halfway done

    2. Angel

      there was an office ep where dwight went to the gym and grunted to try to ‘seduce’ micheal’s gf to find out if she’d cheated on him lol

    3. Tan

      Some years ago, Planet Fitness advertised their “Lunk Alarm” which was an alarm which would go off when someone lifting weights grunted with effort, under the rationale that this was intimidating to gym newcomers.

  16. Yotomoe

    Also goddamn Joyce and Sarah’s fits are hot as hell.

    1. Kim

      Oh Yeah! Really inspiring my wardrobe over here <3

  17. Yotomoe

    Here’s a question.
    How do you flirt/Let someone know you’re available?

    (My method is being awkward and terrible and dying a virgin.)

    1. Sirksome

      Let me know when you figure it out. I think everyone would like to know the secret to flirting.

    2. Dday

      The trick is to make sure they are in direct view of your butt and grunt and groan a whole bunch.

      1. Yotomoe

        OF COURSE. HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO BLIND.

        1. Dday

          Practice at Planet Fitness. You’ll know you’re doing it right if you get kicked out.

    3. HueSatLight

      during a freshmen orientation floor meeting, our RAs asked this question, I guess to guide us not to be creeps or something. But you know, nobody really wanted to participate, and it was silent. Then my future roommate volunteered “wink at them” and we all had a good laugh, and I’m laughing right now. But it’s not terrible advice.

      1. Yotomoe

        Especially if you bring it up at an RA meeting cuz now everyone knows that’s the “hi sign”

    4. Dara

      Amulet of Mara, isn’t it?

    5. Dr. Sharks

      Hm. Tell someone who just finished a project that their project looks like they pooped on a posterboard. Naturally, they will throw a shoe at you and miss. You have to pick that shoe up and throw it in the trash can, and also miss.

      It worked for me 15 years ago and now we’re married, so clearly this is the ultimate strategy.

    6. Bash

      Establish common ground to create a friendly feeling. Admire something (non-sexual) about them. Joke around together and tease them lightly. If they respond well to all of that, trying asking them out. I’m not saying I can execute all of this perfectly, but that’s the usual outline of things.

    7. Angel

      i would rather have a friendly convo with a person and not be flirted with even if they compliment me/would only feel comfortable to ‘flirt’ with a group of close friends but other than joining dating apps it’d be kinda hard to find someone versus going to a bar but even then usually the guys do more approaching or some ppl might only be caring about a one night stand for it

      overall for everyone, just compliment something about them that'[s not necessariloy their looks (well maybe their smile) but i guess it depends on the person

    8. Yak

      Being very explicit and straightforward about my feelings is the only thing that’s worked for me.

      1. Taffy

        The worst that can happen is a crushing and humiliating turn-down, and then the planet will keep spinning, the sky will stay where it’s at, and you’ll still be alive.

    9. Lamppost

      I prefer just talking to people, and feeling out if I’m comfortable with them and if they seem comfortable with me. Maybe drop in some hints that I’m single, and try to pick up if they’re dropping any hints. I also don’t love physical touching, kissing, hand holding etc unless I’m _really_ comfortable with the person, so if they try before I feel ready, I will sometimes say flat out that I’m interested but I need more time to be at ease. Most people take that well! (I’m a woman btw, but this will apply to any person I’m interested in)
      But seriously, nothing beats a good, long conversation with a person I like, about whatever interests we have. It’s a way to feel out the chemistry.

    10. Amós Batista

      I don’t know, I’m just here to take notes.
      (Praying for a hot one find you next year, ?)

    11. Taffy

      “By the way, I’m available and flirting with you. Is that okay?”

  18. Puppeteer Nessus

    Joyce is really appealing here

    1. StClair

      Seconded.

    2. Yotomoe

      What’s she appealing for?

      1. Thomas

        She’s appealing for Sarah to apply a less appalling strategy to win Jacob’s appraisal.

  19. Francoinblanco

    ok Sarah’s game of being hogtied and being used as a weight in a gym machine beats laundry with Dorothy

    1. Opus the Poet

      Plus there’s the thing that the weights are multiplied by the leverage of the machine so Joyce will weigh more on the weight stack than alone, plus the rest of the weights times the leverage because if she’s at the bottom of the stack they have to pick up all the weights and her…

  20. FlamestAndLight

    . . . . i’ve never been attracted to Joyce in the many years i’ve read this comic. But panel 3 Joyce is . . . hot??????

    1. Steelbright

      Yeah IDK, i feel like Joyce has actually been getting hotter lately? Also, great avatar ✨

    2. Francoinblanco

      Its “taken” aura, when somebody have boyfriend/girlfriend they are more attractive

    3. Amós Batista

      Her eyes are from someone with confidence. And confidence is sexy.

  21. Steelbright

    You know, i really like that Joyce’s plan to manipulate Sarah’s love life is like the hilarious and straightforward opposite of Sarah’s frantic plotting to get her to leave Joe earlier. Which i hope Sarah’s abandoned, and i hope she notices the parallel and feels bad, haha

    1. Kim

      Great point! ?✨

    2. Angel

      Imagine if she ends up being more subtle about it like instead of “Sarah liiikes youuuu~” it’d be something like “joe and i are going to ___ for lunch after this, do you wanna join us?” as a double date thing lol

      1. morleuca

        This is exactly what I was thinking!

      2. Mturtle7

        And then Sarah runs up yelling “JOYCE NO HOW DARE YOU TELL JACOB I LIKE HIM AND WANT HIM TO F*CK ME oh wait oops”

    3. Amelie Wikström

      Well, Sarah hasn’t had any reasons to stop thinking Joe is a serial abuser whose hobby is pretending to be whatever gets him laid which is going to hurt Joyce when he disappears five minutes after orgasm instead of marrying her like she thinks he’s leading Joyce to expect. And as long as Joyce can’t come up with any better answers for that than “he said he’s trying to change”, hell, in Sarah’s shoes I’d be trying to get child protective services to take Joyce away from Joe because it looks like she’s so naive she needs a conservatorhip.

      1. HueSatLight

        Jacob did vouch for Joe and his feelings. So not no reason.

        anyways, yikes for conservatorship for an 18 year old because their relationship might not last.

        1. thejeff

          How do you read that and get “because their relationship might not last”?

          Because that’s not at all what was said.

  22. David DeLaney

    Sarah have you not yet learnt not to take your eyes off Joyce for fifteen seconds gaaah

    –Dave, Joyce uses Distract (sfx = eyes type = lust-filled)! it’s super-effective!

    1. David DeLaney

      ps: Dina will turn out to have been standing behind one of the weight machines this whole time, taking notes

      1. NGPZ

        I really hope so

  23. Evil Fairy

    I like the visual effect of the last panel. The negative space makes it kind of look like the corner’s been torn off, and it goes well with Sarah cutting herself off.

  24. cbwroses

    I didn’t realize Joyce was so acrobatic.
    But it makes sense given how great a climber she is.

    1. NGPZ

      She’s gonna make a fine pokemon trainer ^^

  25. DashWallkick

    Joyce is fixing Sarah’s “I don’t like people knowing things about me” problem the only way she knows how — walking right over boundaries!

    1. Big Z

      “I learned it from you! (and Becky!)”

      1. DashWallkick

        Sarah is being tsundere about it anyway. She *wants* Jacob to take an interest in her, but is obviously scared of vulnerability. So Joyce is doing her a solid.

  26. thumb

    Just wanna tell Willis that I think the art in this strip is extra good.
    Carry on.

  27. milu

    What up freaks ?

    Here’s part 3 of Space Captain Julia Gray’s exclusive and quite NSFW adventure “Peace Treaty”

    … Ok the title sucks i put zero thought into it. Any ideas for a better, sexier, campier, sillier title?

    ?✨️

    1. milu

      Part 1 ✨️ (nsfw)

      Part 2 ✨️ (nsfw)

      More DOA fansmut avb by clicking on my pseud ?✨️

    2. NGPZ

      “Not Without My Private”? XD

    3. Yotomoe

      Really dig your anatomy!

      1. Taffy

        Phrasing.

        1. milu

          *blushing*
          it’s okay i’ll take the compliment whichever way it’s meant

  28. Chris

    Is there meaning in the layout of the comic? Panels 1, 2, & 4, 5, are all in the same line, visually and have inked borders. They also have visual backgrounds. Panels 3 and 6, however, don’t have borders, backgrounds, and are offset down a bit as well. Just visual, to keep interest? or is there significance, such as a red background, etc.

    Darn it, now I have to start backtracking to follow the visuals.

    1. Mark

      I always thought it was simply a version of the old “vary your style” advice, but I’m willing to learn.

    2. TerribleTransit

      No particular significance has been observed, it’s just to break up the strip visually

    3. Chubsius

      I’ll take a crack at some analysis, but I’m no expert. Panel three is borderless, and that kind of draws my eye in and makes me pause a little in my reading. Having no border also helps the panel linger in my mind, because there is no border to tell me this moment/subject has ended and time is moving forward. I think that helps create a feeling that Joyce is still there while Sarah is talking, and sets up the punch line. I also see it as a little visual cue that Joyce is still sneaking away, as she has literally escaped the borders that confine Sarah and is moving away slowly, backing away so such that even her speech bubbles are behind the the other panels. It’s similar to how panel two is wider as she walks away, but it’s sneakier. And when Sarah notices that she’s gone we get another borderless panel that acts as a shortcut to show us Joyce has out some real distance between them while sneaking away. If the last panel was bordered, it would kind of feel like Joyce was just off panel, like, a foot or two away. I think it would feel less like a reveal/punchline and more like there was some action or cue missing. TLDR: The layout of the panels gives the scene some temporal and physical depth and perspective to a scene that is otherwise just talking heads.

      Of course, I might be reading too much into it, but it was fun to do so.

    4. Yotomoe

      It’s funny because I noticed Willis will usually have one or 2 borderless panels per comic. In fact I can’t think of any strips that don’t have any. So I copied that style for my Walky/Billie comic. It is kinda fun figuring out which panel is the “splash page” to not have the borders.

    5. HueSatLight

      I thinks it’s sort of a varying the look so it doesn’t look too uniform, but then they probably put in some thought if there’s a narrative purpose for the panel style.
      In panels 4&5, Sarah is in her own head, not paying attention to where Joyce is, in panel 6, she’s back to aware of her surroundings and interacting with Joyce, in a borderless panel like panel 3, where she was last aware of Joyce.

  29. Suet

    Yoooo, no background check on whether Jacob’s taken or not? Look before you leap, er, squat.

    At this point, I’d just heed Walky’s words if Sarah continues to play chicken on directly flirting

    1. Mark

      Yup, failing to do the research was always my problem.

  30. Amós Batista

    Sarah: grunting on gym are so gross!
    Me, at Kendo class: Well, you better cover your ears…

    1. Daibhid C

      How are you getting “Sarah thinks this is gross” from “This is what Sarah is going to do to attract Jacob”? Has it previously been established that Sarah thinks Jacob is attracted to gross things?

  31. Yeet

    you could probably just exercise normally and ask him to spot you or teach you something sarah
    he’s not made of stone and showing an interest in his interests might be helpful to you here

  32. Adept

    Subtle plan Sarah

  33. Pun-ter the Harharharbarian

    At least Sarah acknowledges the double standard

  34. Roborat

    Well, considering how nearby Jacob is, and how loud they are talking, he probably is overhearing this conversation, so he likely knows of the continued interest anyway.

  35. Kazuma Taichi

    Dang Joyce’s meds really do be working well

    1. David DeLaney

      that manic smiiile

      –Dave, did she bring enough for everyone? … for Sarah?

  36. Hinoron

    How does the addition of blue glasses somehow enhance Joyce’s ability to look smug?

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