122

Hyperfocused
Posted on September 19, 2024 by David M Willis

122 thoughts on “Hyperfocused”

  1. NGPZ

    Lizard Power, MAKE UP!!!! ^^

    1. Nicepainter

      [Insert Sailor Moon Transformation Here]

      Also kinda cool to see a Sailor Moon reference here

  2. Sirksome

    I thought lizards just gave a plus to charisma.

    1. Yumi

      Maybe it’s a +10 to your lowest stat

      1. Doctor_Who

        Does that mean if we put it on Mary’s head, she’ll develop empathy?

        1. Yumi

          Fuckface doesn’t deserve that.

        2. Sirksome

          Empathy isn’t actually a stat so no. That’s more of an alignment. Mary’s lowest stat is probably wisdom or maybe charisma as well, but charisma isn’t always just people liking you. Charlie’s lowest stat is probably perception which is why she’s getting the situational awareness buff if Fuckface in fact buffs your lowest stat and not just whatever is convenient and funny.

        3. Agemegos

          That depends on your RPG. Empathy is a stat in ForeSight.

        4. Azhrei Vep

          Was gonna say, there’s a handful out there where it most assuredly is a stat. Not familiar with that one, but it’s all over White Wolf’s various games.

        5. CombustibleLemons

          Empathy’s also a stat in Disco Elysium!

        6. Bryy

          It’s not a stat *yet*.

          *Whips out game dev notebook*

        7. Michael Steamweed

          So when’s DoA: the RPG coming out? Is it out yet? This a Backerkit or Kickstarter thing yet? (*looks at watch; looks back at you)

        8. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Pretty sure we’ve been watching a session playing it from the start.

        9. NGPZ

          currently I am working on a game not set at all in the DoA universe but is something Dina would love ^^

          I must get stronger at game dev if I want any DoA game to happen. Training resumes now.

        10. Michael Steamweed

          Playtesting is an important part of the process! 😀

        11. Needfuldoer

          Buffing whatever’s the most convenient and/or funny would be more entertaining!

      2. Tan

        Are you suggesting that charisma (or perhaps “persuasion”) is Joyce’s LOWEST stat?

        1. Yumi

          She’s just so powerful

    2. Deanatay

      Most lizards, yes. Fuckface is no normal lizard.

    3. Wereg

      According to Pathfinder, they actually give you +2 to armour class and +2 to perception.

      1. spriteless aunty

        woah woah woah she’s not committing to a familiar here!

  3. Proxiehunter

    Maybe she needs a weighted blanket for her head.

    1. NGPZ

      or one of Dina’s hats! ^^

    2. Mollyscribbles

      Maybe a heavy hat?

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        She’d have to avoid sharp cattle grates.

        1. Agemegos

          Hah!

      2. SarahTerra

        Pachycephalosaurus hat!

      3. bubba0077

        Or her own emotional support iguana.

      4. BarerMender

        There is such a thing as a weighted hat. They put pressure around the rim of your head. I was going to try one, but I couldn’t find one big enough for my great melon head.

        1. Taffy

          Make your own, with a section of a purple bowling ball and some kind of scarf or other cloth wrap. Like Piccolo.

    3. Carla's #2 Fan

      Weighted Plushie! I have one that often helps me fall asleep.

      1. Kimi

        Do you use it on your head or just hold it?

  4. Davus

    Honestly, this might be a huge realization.
    Maybe Charlie just needed something to ground her??
    IDK.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      So her problem is the rubber soled shoes?

    2. Regret

      Yeah, I glibly and only half-seriously said that Charlie needed medication, but this kinda proves my point. Except that Charlie needs an Iguana instead of meds, but meh, same diff.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        If your local pharmacy doesn’t carry iguanas for prescription, then what good is that pharmacy?

      2. Theluxland

        It’s literally that.
        I had ADHD and actually medicated myself without knowing by taking coffee, without knowing. My doctor said to me ”With this, you won’t have to take coffee anymore” and he was right.
        Now coffee is just a guilty pleasure once or twice a month, not an obligation.

        1. Uly

          That’s very common.

          My mother, passionate coffee drinker, used to take coffee to fall asleep. She didn’t argue with me that much when I told her that’s practically diagnostic.

    3. Lux

      Wouldn’t surprise me if Davus is right. The effort of balancing the iguana on their head might functionally work like stimming

    4. Bittersweet

      I feel like I’ve said before that Charlie seems like she might need a service animal of some sort!

  5. BBCC

    My Little Iguana: Friendship is Magic!

  6. Dana

    Good to see that Charlie is on board with Carla’s being ace.

    1. staszu13

      Yes. Liked Carla in panel three: “Maybe I need to explain this better”

  7. EtchJetty

    omg the power of fuckface. charlie has reentered the timestream

  8. shadowcell

    the POWER of FUCKFACE comPELS YOU

    PUHHHH-RAISE FUCKFACE

    1. Michael Steamweed

      I never wanted in on the Hypnotoad bandwagon, but I’m here for the Fuckface bandwagon.

    2. Schpoonman

      “It’s not that compelling,” said no one, ever.

  9. staszu13

    Do I detect a slight smile of pride on the iguana?

    1. Dara

      You’re not the only one xD

    2. Needfuldoer

      Fuckface has a perpetual smirk when you see him from most angles. It’s part of his charm!

  10. RassilonTDavros

    Fuckface has so many magical powers that I’m beginning to think I should start keeping a list.

    1. NGPZ

      We have yet to discern whether or not the powers are his or are merely drawing out his head-hosts’ own innate abilities.

      1. Strain of Thought

        Wait, wait, wait. Is… is Fuckface a mini-con???

        DAVID WILLIS HAS THIS ALL BEEN A HOT SHOT JOKE

        1. NGPZ

          What is this thing you earthlings call a “mini-con”?

          I know alien parasites are also sometimes capable of drawing out their hosts’ innate abilities, hence my suggestion.

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      It is one of those modular powers things where there is a different effect on each person.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Before we know it, he’ll be water-skiing over sharks and fixing things by hitting them.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        I understood that reference!

      2. Arbi

        I give this reference one thumb up.

  11. VolticEXE

    Relationships like Carla described can definitely work out (See ex.: Me & my soon-to-be Husband after 10 years), but its good they recognized that for their case, it wouldn’t. It can take a lot of work & meeting in the middle.

  12. Bobcat

    Iguanadderall

  13. Yumi

    I wonder how Malaya and Marcie are doing post timeskip. We saw them getting cuddly before the jump, and they’ve been shown hanging out since, but more recent appearances haven’t been clear on relationship status.

    1. NGPZ

      I think not too long ago post-timeskip there was a bonus comic of them?

      1. HueSatLight

        bonus strip for July 2021 (book 11 I think). They’re making out.

        1. BorkBorkBork

          That’s great to know. For the rest of us – it just kind of ended on a final will-they-won’t-they and we didn’t *really* get something confirming whether they have a relationship or not.

          … actually, considering what Carla says here about Malaya’s attitude, I still wonder what their relationship is. We still haven’t seen much of Marcie post-timeskip.

        2. HueSatLight

          first panel in Willis’ comment block: https://www.dumbingofage.com/intrusive/
          Also a first panel of Marcie+Malaya back in their October: https://www.dumbingofage.com/smol/

          Book 11 is post timeskip. They’re not just making out, btw, they’re fucking. Another book 11 bonus strip.

    2. Sirksome

      I’d be interested in that too. I wonder if Malaya’s experimentation with gender expression has created a hurdle for them as a couple. It was brought up once by Malaya and Marcie shrugged it off, but we never got much after that. We don’t really see Marcie much in general anymore.

      1. NickG

        There’s a Patreon bonus comic in which Marcie clearly finds Malaya adopting a more ‘masculine’ look a massive turn on.

  14. Nono

    Charlie is a time traveler!

  15. Taffy

    Oh, was the fourth panel censored? It looked different earlier.

    1. Clif

      You slipped worlds again.

  16. IntangibleMatter

    This reminds me of a lecture given by my 9th grade math teacher (who also taught psych) where he used a metre stick, and wobbled it slowly, while explaining that by taking up “multiple channels” he can take more attention of people who have ADHD, making them focus better.

    It helped me a lot, but because I didn’t have ADHD I brushed it off as an anomaly.

    I was diagnosed with ADHD three years later.

    1. Agemegos

      I saw something recently — on YouTube, maybe — in which a teacher said that he always kept a lavalamp on his desk in his classrooms for the help of students who might benefit from something to stare at other than him. No questions, no diagnoses, no labels. Just a lavalamp on the table.

      1. Esolo

        It’s hard because while I can absolutely see how that would be super helpful for some students, I personally would find it to be a distraction that would make it harder for me to pay attention, and I can’t imagine I’m the only person who would have that issue.

    2. anonymsly

      I’m not formally ADHD and I don’t believe I ever will be, but I used to fidget or try to fall asleep in corporate trainings and meetings even when I was interested in what was happening. As soon as I started bringing my knitting to class/meeting (with permission), no more problem.

      1. cory

        Yeah, sometimes I think ADHD testing is just way over-complicated. Just see whose notebooks are full of short hand notes about the subject squidged in between detailed doodle dioramas of fantasy battle fields and zombie hands and spider schoolgirls who solved crimes (they weren’t anime, they were spiders with berets and hockey sticks. There’s a lot of lore, we can’t get into it now).

        Yep! Diagnosis delivered!

        (I am being facetious…I mean, even I was sometimes just bored and maladaptive daydreaming didn’t work in the slammy teachers classes…but I think it is a pretty good tell.)

    3. Kimi

      I have never really had any trouble with classes (maybe because I can fidget through taking notes), but I have found that I cannot pay attention while doing exercises with weights or machines. Talking a walk or a hike is fine (things to see or look at), but just trying to keep track of reps while doing muscle exercises is too boring for my mind. I get so easily distracted, thinking about other things and not paying attention to what I am doing, which isn’t safe. If there is someone there to talk to me, or something else like an interesting thing on tv or music, I find that I can do the routine better. Otherwise, doing any mundane repetitive task (like sorting colored sticks) would be easier, since I can think about other things while doing it. Having something to fidget with also helps me in conversations, especially if the person is very slow in telling the story or getting to the point of the matter (aka sys that they have a funny story but it requires 5 minutes of backstory first). It isn’t that I don’t want to pay attention, but just having something helps me to focus. It is odd in the situations that it emerges in and the ones that it doesn’t.

      1. Mark

        Yup, formal exercise is booooring. Perhaps because it’s too simple. I’d much rather do some hard work that takes some planning and study while doing it.

  17. tomorand

    not a lot of talk about Carla’s possible past(?) crush(?) on malaya… does seem like something that’ll be addressed soon, and not an angle i’ve thought of!

    1. Amós Batista

      Did they date before? I want to see it.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        Appropriate gravatar is appropriate!

  18. JessWitt

    Thinking caps are out, focus iguanas are in.

    1. Jesse

      I’ll take twelve!

  19. dalniente

    The power of the focal split, baybeee

  20. Jesse

    Ohh, she really isn’t stupid, she’s just ADHD as fuuuck.

    1. Taffy

      Was that in question?

    2. Nymph

      I’m actually not sure where you got “stupid” from in the first place.

      1. Needfuldoer

        It’s what an unfortunate number of people who don’t know what ADHD is mistake its signs for. :\

        1. Mark

          I though it was just that there’s so much interesting stuff in the world to think about.

    3. Michael Steamweed

      Booster and Charlie have similar perceptive skills. Charlie is a tad more attention-superposition. Booster is a tad more focused.

    4. Jesse

      In my defense, I’m a lapsed reader and knew almost nothing about this character.

      1. Queen Anthai

        So the very first thing you went with was “stupid”? Wow.

        1. Taffy

          Oh, a new character is on-panel? Must be a knuckle-scraping Cro-Magnon with a taste for crayons.

      2. Nymph

        This was not a good defense. As a heads up for next time.

  21. Professional asexual

    GET CHAR A WEIGHTED BEANIE STAT

    1. Professional asexual

      Hehehehe perfect gravatar

    2. Holly

      I was thinking a bowler hat with a weighted headband

  22. Lory

    Now I wish I had a brain focus iguana too. Linear events?! I have witnessed people act in this strange way, like there was only one thing on their mind, or maybe two. Alien. First I thought they were some kind of master monks, then I thought they were really dim. Then I forgot about them because something came up

  23. Reltzik

    … I’ve tried concocting something like 5 different “lizard-brain” puns and they all ended up feeling like they might be taken as insulting towards neurodivergent folk, so I’m just going to call it quits for the night.

    1. Reltzik

      But before I go I will say that this is playing out a lot better than a chicken on your head. … and I’m pretty sure at least one geek here will get that reference.

      1. morleuca

        They’ll never pick it up

      2. Taffy

        Is this a reference to that Munchkin card game? I haven’t played it, but the Google result looked familiar.

      3. Lawzlo

        I have no idea what you are referencing, but I will counter with a different reference: “Randy was only afraid of two things: chickens, and that funny hat the Pope wears, but only because he thought there was a chicken under it.”

  24. Da Boy

    It’s like the thinking helmet for Detritus.

    1. Adept

      Clearly

  25. Maddie B

    My Little Dumbing: Fuckface is Magic

  26. darkoneko

    it IS kinda weird

  27. Amós Batista

    Dumbing of Age’s storyline new title: “Iguana dares you to change”

    1. Needfuldoer

      “I Guana” by The All-American Rejects.

  28. Michael Steamweed

    Fuckface is the best weighted blanket of all time.

    1. BorkBorkBork

      Look at that expression in the last panel. He’s downright bashful.

  29. goggleman64

    “Events are occuring linearly” is the most relateable Charlie’s been for me ~

  30. thumb

    Carla is tragically attracted to people ignoring her.

  31. Mustachio

    Don’t pee down my back and tell me it’s raining.

    1. Meeks

      What?

  32. Hof1991

    As foretold in the Animal Alphabet. I want an iguana.
    https://youtu.be/0nspuSDshHs?feature=shared

  33. Yeet

    I wonder if that can count as a service animal

  34. HueSatLight

    I hope Charlie’s “I’ve had relationships like that” means the compatible thing and not the incompatible thing for these two.

  35. anon

    lol i’m curious what kinda exes charlie has , but hurray for Fuckface Focus buff 8D;

  36. Dday

    Man, wish it was that simple… never had great experiences with meds, gimme a Rx for head iguana.

  37. Mr.Morningstar

    And it def wouldn’t work in an alternate universe where I am a car

  38. Throwatron

    i actually dont remember when it was established that carla was ace but thats cool

    1. Throwatron

      sorry i just wanna clarify i meant that enthusiastically, by lazily skipping all formatting i realized it could read otherwise

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