399

Single
Posted on June 28, 2017 by David M Willis

399 thoughts on “Single”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    [Maurice LaMarche]YESSSSS…[/Maurice LaMarche]

    1. Maveric1984

      I get the feeling Becky is pondering what I’m pondering.

      1. carl320

        But where are we going to find a duck and a hose at this hour?

        1. 0kami

          And if Jimmy cracked corn and nobody cared, why did he keep doing it?

        2. Pablo360

          Because Jimmy firecracked corn and he don’t give a fuuuuuck

        3. Rukduk

          He’ll take this job, he’ll take your job, he’ll take everybody’s job!!!
          …
          I honestly didn’t expect Jimmy Firecracker to be one of my favorite parts of the Cell Games, but dammit he is.

        4. Chrissy

          Because Jimmy was not cracking corn for external validation

        5. Pablo360

          I’m pretty sure they sell them at Meijer. I’ll buy; I have a coupon. But I’ll need to borrow a truck.

      2. Lorcan Nagle

        But me and Pippi Longstocking? I mean, what would the kids be like?

        1. thecerpent

          I think so, but this time you wear the tutu.

      3. Grethelwveir

        But we’ll never get a monkey to use dental floss.

        1. 3-I

          I mean, yeah, but if we didn’t have ears, we’d look like weasels.

      4. Emptycaster

        I think so, but burlap chafes me so.

      5. Ferret

        Yes, but don’t worry, the Martians need the sun too.

      6. BagFaceMan

        Yeah, she is.

        I’m really starting to dislike her. She has good intent, but she really shouldn’t be doing this.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Love Mindy looking up in the last panel. Can she actually see her own eyebrows, are they that big?

    Becky’s plotting face is what I think every fanfic writer wears when they formulate a new ship.

    1. Ferdinand Rosenthal

      I can see my eyebrows. But I don’t see why big eyebrows would bar one from having a partner, especially with Mindy’s (so far) character!

      1. Ferdinand Rosenthal

        My eyebrows (and I fancy them not that large*), so sure, Mindy could?*

      2. Pablo360

        Turns out Mindy is usually an asshole, she’s just totally stoned right now

        1. Pablo360

          And Anna is only frustrated because she can’t put up with stoned Mindy for more than five minutes at a time. That amount of saccharine pleasantness can be grating.

        2. Pablo360

          You’ve actually been reading all of Mindy’s lines in your head five times too quickly.

      3. Doctor_Who

        I can’t see my eyebrows.

        Or my forehead.

        1. Ferdinand Rosenthal

          I have a heavy-ish brow, and my eyes are deep-set, so I see my eyebrows. If I saw my forehead I’ll probably be concerned.

        2. Makkabee

          I can see my eyebrows when I furrow my brow hard enough.

        3. Pablo360

          I can’t see my face at all, even in the mirror. I’m actually a vampire.

        4. Reltzik

          Does that no-reflecting thing also apply to photographs and webcams?

          …..

          …. hey, wait, if a heat lamp warms your undead flesh, and ALSO shines through you so as to be seen by a mirror, then I think we can harness your vampiric curse to violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics and create an unlimited power source.

        5. Pablo360

          Pretty sure being able to see while being invisible in mirrors already violates thermodynamics somewhere along the way but w/e

        6. strictly speaking

          Naw. It just means that all light that you emmit is polarized, so that when hitting a reflective surface at the brewster angle it doesn’t get reflected.

        7. strictly speaking

          This hypothesis can be tested by crossing two vampires at an angle to each other and seeing if they block light when you vary the angle.

        8. Booyahman

          I remember that class

      4. Halpful

        I’m gonna go with “Anna’s just being a dick”. Also, standards of beauty are ever-changing and irrational and fuck that judgmental shit.

        1. Pablo360

          That’s what Mindy used to do, anyway.

        2. Doctor_Who

          *snrk*

        3. Meta

          Whoa

        4. iforgetwhatiputhere

          Ba-dump TSSSH

      5. Tawdry Quirks

        Anna missed the memo that giant caterpillar eyebrows are totally in right now.

        1. Oberon

          She also missed the memo that when you’re single you tend to spruce up a bit more. Because eye of the tiger. It’s when you’re in a secure-feeling relationship that you tend to relax a bit about things like eyebrow maintenance and such.

      6. Reg Robson

        I think everyone is assuming that Anna is being metaphorical. But what if she has actual caterpillars on her face and Willis just hasn’t drawn in the details yet? Would you date someone with larval insects on their face? I don’t think I would.

    2. Reltzik

      *scowls* *squints* *puts face through all sorts of probably-uglifying contortions*

      …. okay, if I do it just right, I CAN see my eyebrows.

      …..

      …. damn you.

  3. Emperor Daniel

    Becky no

    1. TheAnonymousGuy

      Wait… these two are ex-girlfriends and they live in an apartment/dorm(?) together?

      1. Elsendor

        I’ve lived with an ex. It’s been known to happen.

        1. Fridge_Logik

          Yeah, especially if you were friends before the relationship there’s a decent chance you’ll be friend after the relationship.

      2. Chupicron

        I was roommates with one ex for a few years, though we’d been exes for like, 8 first. Currently been roommates with another for a year now, and we broke up- huh, also 8 years ago. Point is, it’s not that weird if you’re good enough at choosing partners that you break up on good terms.

      3. Sophran

        I’ve been friends with and lived with exes as well. Friendship was just better than the relationship ever was, and we all knew that.

      4. Leadsynth

        Maybe they were never actually girlfriends. More of a prom date and hookup situation. You know how it is.

    2. MatthewTheLucky

      Becky yes!

  4. MissFortune

    Becky yes

  5. AnvilPro

    Those eyebrows are pretty perfect

    1. Cholma

      Yes. Mindy is gorgeous. She should definitely meet Leslie!

      1. Krys Brynhildr

        Thats the plan. Well, Becky’s plan at least?

        Probably not Leslie’s plan, or Mindy’s plan. Though it sounds like both of them could use….someone of that sort in their life, so they aren’t pining over questionable congresswomen or the romance they no longer have with their roomate?

        I mean, it could end in tragedy. It’s always super hard to tell with Becky plans.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          What was her last plan, anyway? I feel like it ended in someone going to jail.

        2. dn3s

          that was pretty mcuh the opposite of a plan

        3. Reltzik

          Her last plan involved having Dina expose her to science and rationality. Instead of rationality, she was exposed to the Duke of Thingie.

        4. MatthewTheLucky

          Reginald, Duke of Thingly, would prefer that you get his title right.

        5. NickG

          ‘Thingley’ with an ‘E’, thank you.

        6. Krys Brynhildr

          Wasn’t her last plan the one she’s still working on using the phone in order to continue directing Robin’s new campaign policies after having basically secretly mostly destroying Robin’s career?

          I mean that plan has worked out pretty well for Becky at least, so far anyways.

        7. Cholma

          And then… due to a series of unlikely and contrived circumstances, Mindy ends up with Billie, Anna ends up with Ruth, and Leslie wakes up in Daisy’s bed. :O

        8. Clif

          New characters create an exponentially increasing number of ships.

    2. Aviana

      Agreed, they really work for Mindy!

  6. HeinousActsZX

    Big eyebrows are a great facial feature because you get to see all their wonderful expressions.

    1. Leorale

      They’re like an exclamation point, for your face!

      1. Fart Captor

        Oh my god I love that

      2. Oberon

        For your faaaaace?

    2. Krys Brynhildr

      They’re also a sign that you love JUSTICE. According to Japanese media that deals in JUSTICE in all caps at least.

      1. Jamie

        If you have large enough eyebrows, you can shave them to say JUST ICE.

        And then cock only one at a time.

    3. ValdVin

      Cartoon physics time: Are the eyebrows so big they can’t float a couple inches over her head when Mindy’s surprised or very happy?

      Because most.everyone in this strip expresses in that way.

      1. Deanatay

        ‘unno, those eyebrows may be too heavy for casual levitation. She’d have to be pretty surprised.

  7. shadowcell

    the face that launched pretty much just one ship but i mean and how

    1. Reltzik

      Oh, please, we’ve already seen Becky/Mindy, Mindy-Anna, Leslie/Mindy.

      … and now Mindy/Billy. Thank you very much, Cholma.

  8. Spencer

    Mindy in the last panel is cute.

  9. BBCC

    Becky, no, you’re combining Mary’s plotting faces with Joyce’s shipping and lack of boundaries. Please stop.

    1. Pablo360

      Mary doesn’t own those plotting faces. #TakeBackThePlottingFaces

  10. Some1

    Becky maybe

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      Becky… Okay, fine.

      1. Orion Fury

        Becky, eh, whatever.

    2. Reltzik

      Becky Heisenberg Uncertainty.

      1. Clif

        Wait till it all collapses.

  11. Doopyboop

    Hey I have caterpillars on my face too!

    *remembers that I am single*

    …Touche.

    1. TheAnonymousGuy

      Hey, at least you don’t have a rookie lesbian trying to pick you out a date the DAY AFTER she meet you.

      1. Kamino Neko

        The day after? She met Les 3 days ago, and just met Mindy now…

        1. TheAnonymousGuy

          Now I might be wrong but, according to Breakfast it’s only afternoon the next day.

        2. Orion Fury

          Moved in, meet a few days prior, assuming that she never went with Joyce to Gender Studies class, to which if I recall the comment section for the last year or so, I’m gonna say no.

        3. Kamino Neko

          There was a three day time skip between when they met and this story. This is just the morning after the first night where she actually stayed at Les’s place.

    2. Chris

      Indeed. I also bear the caterpillars, although my hair color makes them sorta invisible. Too bad this wasn’t a few weeks ago, otherwise I could’ve proven Anna wrong as I had a girlfriend with caterpillars

      1. Chris

        Correction: I had the caterpillars, sorry worded that badly

    3. Grethelwveir

      stage whispers: Caterpillar eyebrows are scruffy and cute, and so are you!

  12. Pablo360

    <burns>Excellent…</burns>

    1. Doctor_Who

      Hey, don’t go using burns tags irresponsibly. You want this webpage to block out the sun?

      1. Conuly

        Only 54 days to go….

      2. Pablo360

        Yeah, then we can gripe in the shade.

      3. Reltzik

        Are you perhaps referring to Daystar, Bringer of Cancer, Banisher of Sleep, and Agonizer of Eyes?

        ….. yes, please.

  13. Kernanator

    Well, well, well, Bad Idea Becky is in the house.

    1. Shaunock

      I’m pretty sure we’re about to meet Chaotic Evil Becky.

      1. Deanatay

        Let’s go with Chaotic Neutral. It’s played just as bad, and we still get to love her.

    2. Arianod

      Hijinks gonna intensify.

    3. Jinxed44

      Chaotic good!!

  14. Andy

    Becky -Yesssssssss
    Also, I like everyone better in this comic strip, though I could do without the big eyebrows comment…

  15. Pablo360

    Becky idk

  16. Emoroffle

    I may be slightly drunk tonguit but I comepltetly argee with Becky’s plan. Mindy is nice and I would deffos liekt o see her more often.

  17. Deadlinedance

    Buzz off with that, Anna. It’s a distinctive feature. Adds character.

    And anyway, it works for Jennifer Connelly.

    1. Lingo

      Exactly who I was thinking of!

    2. Arianod

      Jennifer Connelly’s eyebrows aren’t even that thick. I was thinking more of Cara Delevingne.

  18. DinaWho

    So from the information in this strip, we can infer that Mindy and Anna are at least 28.

  19. Stephen Bierce

    *plays Louie Armstrong’s version of “Hello Dolly” on the hacked Muzak*

  20. Zaidyer

    Ten years living with someone who treats her like that?
    What happened to Buttons?! He’s supposed to keep Mindy out of trouble!

    1. Lingo

      They kinda have an Ethan/Mike sort of relationship, don’t they. It’s not a perfect parallel, but there are similarities!

      1. Lingo

        Actually, it’s more Ken/Malaya now that I think about it.

        1. Bonnie

          A big point being not a whole lot of people like malaya, who is mean because she thinks she’s better than everyone else, whereas Mike is mean to make people acknowledge their own hypocrisies.

        2. Fart Captor

          I would like you to name one hypocritical thing Mike has actually forced someone to acknowledge, because I’m not sure you understand what that word means.

          Malaya is a much better person than Mike. She might be an insufferable jerk, but she doesn’t go around saying and doing needlessly cruel bullshit because she smugly thinks she’s some kind of pure, brilliant mastermind who is somehow helping people rather than viciously fucking with their heads.

        3. Fart Captor

          Like, the ONLY time Mike forced someone to confront their hypocrisy was this:

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/profane/

          And it was accomplished by simply spelling it out with words, like a normal goddamn person. Not by being a mean asshole.

        4. BBCC

          Also – name ONE needlessly cruel thing Malaya’s done in DoA. I can almost get the hate on in Shortpacked, but what did she do here?

        5. zoelogical

          sal doesn’t like her, i guess

          but sal literally only has one friend so -shrugs-

        6. BBCC

          Sal not liking her isn’t a thing Malaya did wrong though (especially since Sal was usually the one making petty comments at her more often than not – frankly I’d probably have blown up at her too).

        7. zoelogical

          yeah.

          Malaya was hard to like in Shortpacked, so it kind of makes sense in that context, but otherwise it doesn’t, really

        8. Krys Brynhildr

          She also was basically the only one who actually threw down with Amazi-Girl in the parking lot, and apparently is kind of abrasive towards her roommate at least.

          Maybe just abrasive in general, though we’ve mainly seen her around Sal and they don’t like each other at all.

        9. BBCC

          Yeah, not liking her because she’s mean to Lucy is fair.

          I can’t really get being more annoyed with Malaya for fighting back than at AG coming up to people and threatening them over petty bullshit like underage drinking – and if Malaya has to retreat before she’s allowed to hit her after a threat (which, no, she doesn’t, not in Indiana) than AG needed to back off before hitting Malaya (which would’ve solved the whole issue tbh since it was AG’s fault anything at all went down).

        10. Sam

          She did drop books next to Sal’s head to wake her up which Sal had no way of provoking because she was literally asleep.

        11. BBCC

          Considering Sal’d been a huge dick to Malaya for 2 weeks until that point and not that long before that tried to hit her because Malaya wasn’t having her passive aggressive olive branching, I can’t find myself being too mad about that.

        12. davidbreslin101

          A few DoA get a lot of flack for stuff their mirror-universe twins did. Which is a little unfair. Like, if he’d been in this storyline, Walkyverse Danny would have rolled up his eyes in pious dismay and said “Joe, why don’t you ever think of consequences?” Come to think of it, he’d’ve been right to.

        13. emusam

          Wasn’t Mike involved in Joyce’s series of revelations about how she treated Ethan? I think the pajama jeans also caused some revelations, though not necessarily hypocrisy-related ones.

        14. Spencer

          He was not. That was Roz.

        15. Emily

          Mike is mean because he’s a sociopath who is entertained by others’ suffering. Any “lessons” people learn from his abuses are at best secondary goals to his primary goal of fucking with people.

        16. Clif

          And he’s so good at it.

        17. Oz

          People sometimes feeling like he was right in some level only makes them more confused and angry and feeling bad abt themselves which is probably part of his goal of fucking people up o.o

        18. Tomas

          That’s a popular theory, but it doesn’t explain his behavior toward Walky. If Mike were merely a bully he would be messing with Walky all the time; the two share the same room and Walky’s such an easy target. Instead we’ve seen Mike come to Walky’s defense at least twice. He bought Walky pajama jeans when everyone else thought they were stupid, and he publicly told Dorothy how disrespectful it was to treat her relationship with Walky like a dirty secret.

        19. Fart Captor

          Except he didn’t buy them to HELP Walky. He did it to get him to self-destruct his relationship. That’s the reason he made this comment afterward about the jeans being the best thing in his life

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/thank/

          There isn’t ONE single type of bully. Not all of them feel the need to bully people all the time. Mike just does it when he’s bored. He doesn’t seem to do it out of hatred either, but out of contempt, because he’s a dick.

        20. Fart Captor

          I’d also LOVE to hear what “lesson” this was supposed to impart on Walky:

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/stufftodo/

        21. bubba0077

          Also, based on panel 3, I get the feeling Mindy is still pining over Anna.

        22. Clif

          Yeah, same here.

        23. Tomas

          I’m glad someone else sees it. I tend to read too much into things.

    2. StClair

      So I wasn’t the only one thinking that.

    3. 3-I

      aww, silly puppy

  21. brionl

    I predict, wacky hijinks to ensue as Becky tries to fix up Leslie & Mindy.

    1. Pablo360

      Wacky hijinx, dramatic confrontation vis a vis the shattered remnants of Leslie’s boundaries, either is a possibility

    2. showler

      I predict Leslie ends up dating Anna.

      Leslie’s “type” does not appear to be nice people.

      1. Clif

        I predict Marcie ends up dating Anna.

  22. Vinny

    10 years past high school? Wouldn’t that make Mindy about 9 years older than Becky the ex-Freshman? Girl doesn’t do much the easy way, does she?

    1. Conuly

      She’s not interested in Mindy for herself, she wants to hook her up with her landlord!

    2. Vinny

      Crap – never considered that she was shopping for Leslie. Kinda forgot about Dina, too. Damned lack of short/medium term memory.

      1. Halpful

        I’m betting Mindy will interpret it the same way you did, since she doesn’t know either of those things 🙂

        1. CJ

          I don’t think Mindy will read the plotting face as Becky being interested in her. It’s very obvious she has someone else in mind.
          There’s no harm in creating opportunities, is there?

  23. ObiKemnebi

    I get the feeling Mindy’s less than satisfied with that “nothing more” bit. *pats her shoulder* If nothing else, she and Becky have something in common they can talk about (beyond surface level, heeeeeeey, GIRLS!)

  24. Tacos

    [Megatron]Yesssss[/Megatron]

    1. Orion Fury

      There it is.

  25. Passchendaele

    I will always like the becky-with-a-huge-smile panels like panel 4 – they’re the equally fun opposite of the joyce freak-out panel, each summarizing part of their personalities in the clearest way possible. :p

    In this case, it just screams “Mission accomplished, begin shipping!” I can foresee no possible problems with this. XD

    1. Bagge

      “Schenanigans intensify”!

    2. Passchendaele

      Also Mindy’s appearance and rellationship status seem waaaaay too convenient for her appearance shortly after becky’s mission began, so I’m curious to see if there’s some kind of catch or conflict that could appear. I’m not cynical and distrusting, noooo. ‹.‹

  26. John

    She doesn’t have “caterpillars on her face”. She has MIGHTY EYEBROWS.

    (Though not as mighty as Smitty’s.)

    1. Pablo360

      Actually, her eyebrows were burned off in a fire a few years back. Those are literally caterpillars on her face. She found them in a bush, and she wants them to grow into beautiful moths.

      1. davidbreslin101

        “Earn $$$ by farming silkworms on your face!!!”

  27. DailyBrad

    Mindy’s a cuteypie. Additionally, thick eyebrows are a little more en vogue now. Ask Cara Delvigne or however he last name is spelled, or Maisie Williams.

  28. Foxhack

    EXCUSE YOU LADY I HAPPEN TO FIND THOSE CATERPILLARS TO BE VERY PRETTY.

    *coughs*

  29. ValdVin

    Is there such a thing as Too Much Becky?

    Because the glee and the plotting (panels 4 and 6) are giving me about all the Becky I can handle.

    1. Fart Captor

      Becky’s completely unrestrained happy grins are the best

      1. CoMa

        I think I’ve never seen one of them exactly like that before. But I like them!

    2. Kamino Neko

      This is more Too Much Joyce and Becky’s Upbringing, I think.

    3. Emily

      Yeah, she really needs to pull back on the reins pretty hard because I can’t see this turning out well for anyone.

  30. BBCC

    10 years out of high school, so yeah, hopefully not flirting with Becky. But perfect age to flirt with Leslie~

  31. Pigeon Pollyx

    DOUBLE TWIST

    I was kind of a vapid douche yesterday and I’ll apologize now, I been having anxiety attacks left and right for the past few days and it’s been making my emotional responses go haywire. I’ll try to tone it down

    1. Pigeon Pollyx

      anyhoo comment party still up, this arc looks nice and pleasant and let’s not be overtly pedantic about it

      1. Orion Fury

        Hooray for comment party?

        1. Pigeon Pollyx

          Fair reaction, I just mean I’m happily surprised in the direction this arc is going and anyone also happy about it, come on over let’s gush

    2. zoelogical

      -pats gently-

      please do the self-care activities

  32. AgentKeen

    I’m sorry, but I will never understand Anna. Mindy’s eyebrows are adorable.

    1. Pablo360

      Those aren’t eyebrows. Mindy doesn’t have eyebrows. Those are literally giant brown caterpillars. She found them in the bush as she was walking off a hangover. It took her a week to work up the nerve to get back to civilization. Conveniently, during that week the rent came due.

      Hence Anna’s frustration.

    2. Emily

      Apparently in addition to being a jerk Anna also has no taste.

  33. Bagge

    A Joyce lever shipper with Becky level plotting & scheming.

    Now, that is scary.

  34. timemonkey

    I could get on board with Mindy/Leslie. She seems nice.

  35. Sporky

    her eyebrows are lovely how dare you

  36. Dave

    Well, this doesn’t seem like a toxic friendship at all. :\

    1. C.T Phipps

      I’m going with the idea Mindy has been essentially latched onto Anna this entire time and it’s both creepy as well as weird. There’s a reason Anna seems to be genuinely horrified at the prospect of a relationship with Mindy.

      1. Clif

        The eyebrows?

  37. Keulan

    I don’t think I’d be able to be roommates with an ex for years after we’d broken up.

    1. CJ

      Depends on the ex I suppose.
      I once met an ex couple running a small pension together. I just learned they were an ex couple, because a heterosexual women in the biking tour group I was with had asked me in tones of confused disbelief if they could possibly be a couple and I mentioned it to them.
      Also, probably, on the reason you broke up.

  38. Rukduk

    Wow. I’ve been wrong on like, every assumption I’ve made during this grocery interaction. Also, I’m guessing Anna and Mindy went from dating to vitriolic best friends? Was it one of those things where they were friends and tried dating, then realized they were better off as friends, or did they just go to prom together as a way of publicly coming out?

    1. zoelogical

      lmao same

      THERE’S SO MUCH COMPLICATED BACKSTORY

    2. Emily

      The only assumption I’ve made so far is that Anna is unbearable and all evidence points to that being 100% accurate.

    3. Li

      “just as a way of publicly coming out” — that hadn’t occurred to me. :|a I did feel like Mindy was more implying they’d dated, but that is definitely a thing people sometimes do…

      I feel for Mindy with that lingering panel on no longer being an item, though.

      Also, sidebar, but I don’t think I realized until this moment how neat it is to have completely new characters, where no one can use knowledge of the Walkyverse to fill in the blanks. No one in these comments so far has been able to say “Oh, well, they were ____, so probably now they’re ____.” IT’S ALL NEW.

      I wonder if that’s nervewracking for Willis at all, after writing so many expies? Like, he introduced new characters in Shortpacked too, obviously, but it’s been a while, and he’s grown so much as a storyteller as well as as a person.

  39. 0kami

    Becky.

    BECKY.

    You already have Dina!

    Oh, wait… You’re thinking about hooking her up with Leslie, right?

    In that case, go on~ :3

  40. Delicious Taffy

    Becky, no.

    1. Chris

      Becky, yes.

      1. Abel Undercity

        Becky, maybe?

  41. Tenzhi

    That’s almost a Grinch grin…

    1. Rukduk

      Never go full Grinch grin. That way leads only to darkness.

      1. Orion Fury

        Or stealing a yolder’s outfit.

        1. Rukduk

          There’s only one good joke in that version, and it’s the one involving the taxi. Honestly, I blame the writers.

        2. Orion Fury

          So much potential there. I think I got what they intended, and like most remakes, it’s better to view it on it’s own.

        3. Rukduk

          Oh most definitely. Jim Carey’s performance is really the only reason to watch that movie but by god it is a good performance. And I like that they gave the Grinch a much more sympathetic backstory. Also, yay for inclusivity because the Grinch is actually raised by a lesbian couple if I remember correctly. But still, so much of it falls flat or feels like filler. I feel like Jim Carey did his damndest to save that movie, and he almost, almost succeeded, but nostalgia was just too strong a force to overcome. And I speak as someone who legitimately enjoys that movie.

      2. JessWitt

        Hence Mary.

    2. Chris

      No. You see, this: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=SKrlgAuF&id=5FCED9E9090869762746D25137A5E2C880AAFCDF&thid=OIP.SKrlgAuFXUdWiNQ0piFZuAEsEs&q=grinch+smiling&simid=608048717921321439&selectedIndex=0&ajaxhist=0 is a Grinch grin. Sorry, I don’t know how to use tags and attach stuff

      1. Needfuldoer

        Here’s how! The comments use regular HTML tags, so it works like this:

        [a href=”http://www.google.com”]Words you want your link on go here[/a]

        Except change Google to your link and use greater-than and less-than signs instead of brackets.

        “No, you see this is a Grinch grin.”

        1. Chris

          Okay thanks

    3. hof1991

      Just so long as she avoids cackling. Grinch grins and Mr. Burns finger steepling is Ok though.

  42. Rukduk

    Also Becky in panel six is demonstrating the face of manipulation. Nothing good happens from combing steepled fingers with the face of manipulation. Casually introduce Mindy and Leslie, nothing more, nothing less. Also, I’m betting Anna’s going to intitially protest any hijinks but go along with said hijinks anyway because she’s bored and she still cares about Mindy on a best friend type level.

  43. Opus the Poet

    Anna isn’t commenting about eyebrows. She’s saying there are literally two caterpillars on Mindy’s face, same age and species even.

    1. Pablo360

      Monarchs. Poisonous. It’s all part of a very complicated revenge plot against a stingy librarian.

  44. Lizzie

    I’m not gonna say Anna is the worst because Mike acts in a similarly terrible fashion toward his friends, and it would be hypocritical to hate the female character more when there is a male character who has done much worse for longer. But she is putting down someone who is supposedly close to her, so like Mike many a time, she is grating on me. But it could be a sort of relationship where Mindy will tolerate anything to the point of inconvenience, but Anna will be the one to say she shouldn’t have to and pitch a fuss on her behalf. Or maybe Mindy does desperately need to get close with someone else, anything is possible here. Following comics will tell, I suppose.

    1. Pigeon Pollyx

      Doesn’t Mike actively and emotionally manipulate and abuse the people around him, playing directly into their psyches to create the most amount of strife and agony possible.

      I don’t think being generally haughty and acerbic is quite in that ballpark.

  45. Gojira

    Three caterpillars is the desired amount.

    1. Pablo360

      Or one giant Gippsland earthworm.

  46. drs

    2 strips ago: “Mindy’s flirting with Becky!”

    1 strip ago: “Oooh, couple, guess not.”

    this strip: “Flirting is back!” Though with a likely 10 year age difference, but maybe Mindy can’t tell for sure. Or doesn’t care. Or wasn’t actually flirting. (It did look like it, though. Not just the lingering interaction, but her eyes two strips ago. Non-verbal cues are a thing.)

    1. Anowan

      Remember the older lesbian Becky has decided to pair ANYBODY WHO HAPPENS TO BE A NICE WOMAN-LOVER WOMAN with ?

      Her name is Leslie Bean and she was there at the beginning of this storyline.

      1. drs

        Yes, I remember her. What’s that got to do with anything? I wasn’t shipping Becky and Mindy, I wasn’t saying Becky was flirting with Mindy, I was saying Mindy was flirting with Becky.

    2. Tacos

      Pretty sure Becky is trying to set Mindy up with Leslie.

      1. Joe Covenant

        Said this the moment she stepped into the frame.

    3. Pigeon Pollyx

      nonverbal cues are corporate lies

  47. Reltzik

    Geez, Anna. If you love her, even as a friend and roommate, and she’s got a physical feature that she might regard as unattractive, you should not be browbeating her for it.

    ….

    *flees for dear punning life*

    1. tyersome

      I’m not sure Anna can help being supercilious and lashing out …

      1. Orion Fury

        Ah, I see you went with the hyperlink tag instead of the abbreviation or acronym tag. Not unheard of; strong.

  48. BBCC

    I personally can’t hear Anna’s last line as anything but ribbing, if irritated ribbing, tone wise. Like one of those things you can say to a friend.

    1. zoelogical

      a really really close friend, haha. i guess in this instance, a friend you’ve made out with! presumably. at least taken to prom.

      it’s like “remember you’re just as much of a mess as i am”

  49. Pablo360

    Next comic: the caterpillars form chrysalisses

    Chrissales

    Chrissaleople

    1. 3oranges

      Chrysalides, with the same stress as octopodes. 🙂

      1. Delicious Taffy

        I love ocypodes.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Realised you said something different. Still love ocypodes.

  50. pjeseb

    Fourth Panel Becky is every Leslie fan right now.

  51. Black

    I’m not sure how she could last ten days rooming with congazilla there, and I certainly can’t believe she’s spent ten YEARS with her!

    1. BenRG

      Mindy definitely seems to be like Leslie in that she’s a nice person who, unfortunately, tends to be a doormat for her friends.

  52. Pl0x

    They’re still in front of the deli. Quit holdin’ up the line, yo.

  53. zoelogical

    omfg

    ….literal galpals

    i cry

    1. Arianod

      Cry not, for that means that Mindy doesn’t have a horrible girlfriend.

      1. zoelogical

        bite me i like anna

        1. Jago

          People can be great, but not always in combination with another person.

        2. zoelogical

          no doubt

          i’m not sure how that’s relevant at all to this conversation but i’m sure in a general sense i’m sure it’s true

          thanks for the platitude, i guess

        3. Doki

          I think what Jago’s getting at is that it might not have been healthy for Mindy to date someone as abrasive as Anna, and that incompatibility in personality may have possibly been a reason they didn’t end up together long-term? So, like, they’re saying it’s fine that you like Anna but that she wasn’t that great for Mindy? I guess???

          (But hey, IDK why they’re not together anymore. We don’t know much about either of them yet so I won’t get ahead of myself guessing. |D)

        4. zoelogical

          yeah but none of that does anything for me and is, in fact, distinctly irritating. especially in light of the fact that if you want to talk about how much you think Anna and Mindy’s relationship could be toxic there are plenty of other people to talk to about it on this very page

          instead of, y’know, someone who’s sad that they aren’t more than galpals

          (thank u for not getting ahead of yourself <3)

        5. Emily

          Cool, she’s still an asshole.

        6. Li

          Dunno what this reply is supposed to accomplish. Congrats on being more right because you like the objectively correct characters to like I guess…?

        7. Emily

          The point is that whether or not they like her isn’t actually relevant to whether or not she’s horrible.

        8. Li

          But they didn’t say it WAS. They just have no interest in being TOLD she is horrible constantly, as has been happening EVERY TIME anyone tries to say they like Anna.

          No one SAID “Anna isn’t a jerk”, although I maintain we don’t have enough information for that yet — what they said was “I like her, bite me”.

          And you come in and say “cool story bro but the character IS a jerk”.

          It’s not productive. It’s just tiresome.

        9. Emily

          If you’re looking for productivity the comments section of a webcomic is probably a bad place to start.

        10. zoelogical

          thank you, so much

          you are the wind beneath my wings Li

        11. Li

          OK, just… gonna ignore you completely, I guess. Since at this point you are actively entering troll-level “continuing to reply to me proves that you’re fine wasting your own time too” conversation.

        12. Li

          @zoelogical: You’re very welcome! I don’t know why some people are being so rude to you, it’s really uncalled for.

          And like. I am increasingly confident that Willis didn’t, in the year of our lord 2017, create a brand-new Black female character whose entire existence in the strip can be summed up as “rude and awful and thank god Mindy dumped her so that she can date a nice white lesbian instead”.

          I mean. I’m sure it’s partially just because I’m so put off by all the knee-jerk reactions to her, but I am definitely on the verge now of taking bets on how long it will take before Anna’s heart of actual gold is revealed.

        13. Li

          (And none of this means it would AUTOMATICALLY be Unfortunate Implications for Mindy to wind up liking Leslie? But it would definitely kind of suck if that was combined with “and Anna is the fucking worst and was emotionally abusive and no one likes her”. You know? There’s plenty of middle ground where Mindy dates Leslie while Anna is instead a protective friend who wants to make sure Leslie treats Mindy right, and Mindy awkwardly pines for Anna for a while before accepting that Anna will never want that again… not entirely dissimilar to Becky/Dina.)

          (or, because Becky cannot control anyone’s libido, Anna is who Leslie’s actually interested in, and Mindy gets a different girlfriend down the road…) (And we still don’t know what either of these ladies’ deals is, whether they’re bi or lesbians… Anna could be aroace. We Just Don’t Know.)

        14. Halpful

          Well.

          This has been…. educational? Like, it’s interesting to watch how much my brain *feels* like people are saying there’s nothing wrong with Anna’s insults even when they’re only talking about *why* she might be saying the mean things she said.

          But like, omfg Emily stop digging. The irony of getting judgmental about a character who’s been judgmental just… *facepalm*

          The comments about friends who jokingly insult each other reminded me that my high-school friends did a little of that too. sometimes it was all fine, sometimes it did hurt my feelings even when I knew it wasn’t meant to (my brain’s weird like that at times). There are… pros and cons to that way of interacting.

          Still, I hope we can all agree that the condescending remarks about becky’s cellphone were not cool? Becky was a stranger in a grocery store, *not* a friend, and Anna made a lot of assumptions there.

        15. zoelogical

          @Li: i’m really not sure either!!! but like it’s worth it to meet people who aren’t that way, SO i guess overall i’m fine with it haha. i mean, ultimately, they’re just showing us who they are!!! which is, as halpful said, educational.

          but yeah there’s a level of which….I do feel like a lot of the reaction to Anna stems from racism. because she’s a person of color taking up space and being abrasive. it feels kind of like the original reaction to Becky except turned up to eleven. it’s just….wow, i didn’t realize how many societal norms were being stepped all over

          @halpful: yeah, I don’t think I ever said that Anna wasn’t being rude, or even hurtful. I just am liking her openly!! I am not entirely sure why this is anybody else’s business, or what harm I am doing anyone. I don’t think that what she says is all that she is, and I am choosing not to see what she says as her main character trait. Although it’s certainly a vivid one.

          Condescending remarks about how people spend their time are usually pretty uncalled for, yeah, whether it’s with a cellphone or otherwise. like. Anna was super rude, and it’s fair if people don’t like her for it. I just don’t have to dislike her for it, because there is something I value in people wearing their flaws on their sleeves.

        16. Li

          @Halpful

          Pretty much what zoelogical said.

          Like, in real life, I am even someone who finds this particular type of bonding (acerbic bonding, where for example you call each other bongos… I really don’t like that word and am happy to just type the drum name honestly) really uncomfortable and a little bit scary, because I’ve been in crappy “friendships” with people who forced that on me when it was not the kind of thing I wanted, and now, in real life, I’m hypersensitive to it and try to make sure that it’s not being directed at other people who aren’t 100% cool with it.

          I just… don’t think this is all there is to Anna. I think it’s depressing how many people were, yesterday, willing to say “100%y yes, Mindy’s disapproving parents! You were right to want a different girlfriend! Get this horrible and probably abusive person out of your life immediately, Mindy!” based on 1.5 strips.

          I’m also just… really tired of the ‘you cannot like Problematic Characters or ships’ narrative. Anna seems to be kind of jerky. No one is obligated to like her, but there is a weird amount of pressure in these comments to dislike her.

          And in this, I’m not talking about the people who are scrolling down to the bottom of the page to make their own comments saying things like “Wow, what a jerk Anna is.” I’m talking about the people who are seeking out comments where someone else dared to say, “I like Anna,” and telling that person that Anna is a jerk, obviously with the intent of conveying, your opinion is wrong and should be corrected.

          It’s frustrating. It might be a little bit racist. (Not in the vein of “people who are saying this Hate Black Women”, but in the vein of “racism is deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeply embedded into the fabric of our society and even if you’re consciously fighting against that you’re probably still being influenced by it”. The same reason why people keep bringing up Mike and asking why he gets so much more leeway than was afforded Becky, Carla, the list goes on. Statistically, we’re all just a bit more likely to dismiss Anna completely instead of giving her time to even prove this is how she is typically, let alone allow her a chance to ‘redeem’ herself.)

          (‘Redeem’ is in quotes there because again Anna is not eating kittens, she is not a villain as things stand right now. Saying that she needs to redeem herself for being an ass in a grocery store when seemingly in a bit of a hurry to leave is going a bit far, you know?)

          No one who likes Anna is saying she is not a jerk.

          We are saying we like her anyway. Which is not an endorsement of being rude to teenagers in grocery stores, but having to carefully disavow her present behavior in order to be allowed to like her is kind of weird, and also not working. zoelogical has acknowledged that Anna is a jerk both today and yesterday, and it didn’t stop the Corrections from coming in. :\

        17. Halpful

          hmm.

          @zoe:

          personally, the people Anna reminds me of are very white, but it’s still useful to be reminded of that context. Li seems to have explained why already 🙂

          your liking Anna does make me feel a bit insecure, because my brain is going “but what if she hurts me, will that get ignored because you like her?” and forgetting she’s fictional. 🙂 It’s reassuring to hear you agree about the cellphone thing.

        18. zoelogical

          @halpful:

          haha like…the person that first came to mind is, like, the Old White Dude who complains about millennials and their phones and can’t be bothered to catch up to the present. but that clearly can’t be Anna’s deal because she doesn’t come from that place of privilege. so it feels more like her defiantly planting her existence in everybody’s faces to me

          i’m sorry it made you feel insecure!! there is a level of which, like, i choose to like her because so many people disliked her and it felt. kind of hive-mindy. but also a lot because of the racial context. and then, like, i do have that experience where i’ve met people who do this but are just. really rough around the edges

          it dances along a lot of things that could be dangerous, but i don’t know whether or not it actually is yet. and it feels just too pat to be as clearcut as “mindy is nice and anna is not”, i guess.

          the thing that i do appreciate about anna is that she lets you know exactly what’s on her mind. which has its benefits and downfalls! but like…you don’t have to wonder, is what i’m saying.

          but tbh if someone said “hey, Anna hurt me,” i would one hundred percent listenbe supportive of the hurt party and also take that into consideration. it’s just – that hasn’t happened here.

        19. Li

          @Halpful

          Yeah, I just… I like Doctor Doom. Does anyone think that means I endorse world domination and the Fantastic Four, or is this strictly limited to liking more realistic antagonists (like say Clint), or is it further limited to grouchy non-antagonists like Carla, Sarah, Malaya, (I’m coming up slightly blank for more examples — Ruth was antagonistically grouchy back when that described her, and Mike is on a different level too)…

          But like, what are the rules here? Which characters are okay to like without explaining at length that you wouldn’t necessarily want to be around that person in real life?

          I feel bad asking you these questions, because you’ve been nothing but nice about it, but I do think fandom culture has gotten a bit polarized if late. There very much are fans who think you’re only allowed to like characters who are not only consistently good but also consistently nice (not always the same thing), and I’m a bit done with it :/

          This attitude directly feeds into fans who feel the need to contort themselves into pretzels to argue that Snape was a perfect cinnamon roll who “only did what he did to protect the children” (real quote), because the cognitive dissonance has gotten so bad that you’re only allowed to LIKE perfect cinnamon rolls, and liking bad / mean / villaneous / etc characters is something only bad/mean people do… because you can’t like any fictional character unless you’d help them accomplish all their goals in life, or otherwise endorse their crappy behavior… so, in order to prove to others & yourself that you’re not a Bad Person, it becomes desperately imperative to prove that Snape has never done anything wrong.

          I know you don’t mean any of this in this way, but I like Problematic characters. I like loads of them. It doesn’t mean anything at all about what type of person I am, what sort of friend I am, or how well I defend my friends when I see their feelings getting hurt. (Friends both off and online will attest that I’m pretty good at defending them. Also often at defending strangers I see getting ganged up on.)

          I am genuinely sorry that the comments are making you feel crummy right now. I know that the sincerity of that sympathy was probably negatively impacted by all that preamble, but I do mean it.

          It’s just that… really and truly, liking Anna as a fictional character has nothing to do with how seriously I would take her hurting your feelings in real life. There’s just no correlation at all. 🙁

        20. Li

          I’m sleepy and the first bit of that at least needs edits —

          *and murdering the Fantastic Four

          Also when I was asking about Clint vs Malaya, what I mean is, “do we assume that any fan of Clint is a fan of him as a villain, how he functions in the story, whereas fans of jerky protagonists are assumed to like them as people & want to be their friends?”

        21. Stella

          The point is that your judgement is incredibly skewed if you think Anna’s snarky irritation makes her a “horrible asshole.”

          I know a lot of people who talk like Anna. “Are you seriously befriending every idiot in the grocery store?” sounds almost to a T what one of my best friends would say. And you know what? My friends AREN’T “objectively awful.” They’re pretty amazing actually. They’re courageous, loyal, compassionate, fierce, amazing people. Too bad you’ll never get to see that, since you’re too caught up in judging everyone the first five minutes you meet them.

          So, believe whatever you want, believe you’re a perfect judge of moral action. Believe that insult in irritation is an unforgivable character flaw. But know that your judgement, in the end, does nothing but shoot you in your own foot. It makes you unkind.

          To me, that unkindness in spirit is worse than any snarky sense of humor could ever be.

        22. zoelogical

          oh god, same

          sometimes you just have people in your life who have put up with so much from you (and you have from them) that you can engage in that kind of ribbing

          it’s a very particular kind of relationship

          thank you, I Appreciate You

        23. Li

          +1 to this, too.

          I just. DON’T UNDERSTAND. Anna is not eating kittens on panel! She’s just kinda rude! What about that makes “Anna is a bad person, and if you like her you are also a bad person”, which is literally happening below in response to something else zoelogical said………..

        24. zoelogical

          cool, so are you

        25. Emily

          Says the person making personal insults over whether or not someone likes the same fictional character as them.

        26. zoelogical

          :)))

          out of all the posts on this page and you chose to come onto mine and make it about yourself

          yes, congratulations, you’re an asshole. it doesn’t make you a bad person. but definitely an asshole! they should be sending you out a club invitation any day now. look for the swan shitting all over your front porch and then expecting you to clean it up for them

        27. Emily

          I can see why you identify with Anna so much.

        28. zoelogical

          you literally do not understand the first thing about me and it’s hilarious

  54. lia47

    HER CATERPILLARS ARE HER BEST FEATURE

    1. Chrissy

      AGREED

      1. OnyxIdol

        ABSOLUTELY

        1. Chris

          UNDENIABLY

        2. Arianod

          EYEBROW GAME STRONG

  55. ESM

    Becky looks suspiciously like the grinch, there.

    1. zoelogical

      -endless cackling-

  56. ProfessorDetective

    By the Crawling Chaos, that FACE! It’s both adorable and intimidating at the same time.

  57. zoelogical

    is it just me or does mindy seem genuinely sad that she and anna haven’t been more than roomies for the past ten years

    1. OnyxIdol

      Yes, there is definitely some regret there. Glob knows why.

      1. Chrissy

        I know, I’m trying so hard to like Anna… But I identify with Mindy and I think if someone I’d carried a torch for 10 years talked to me that way I’d be so sad.

        1. C.T Phipps

          My prediction is Mindy is a crazy stalker type who has been following Anna this entire time hoping she’ll revert to romance again. In short, yes, Mindy is a Nice GirlTM and poor Anna is missing it.

        2. Pigeon Pollyx

          My man liking a character doesn’t mean you gotta vilify another out of spite and speculation

        3. zoelogical

          it’s okay!! you don’t have to like Anna, haha. i would say that she is very definitely an acquired taste, where acquiring is a little more like letting mold grow on you

          i would imagine that Anna is probably not the kind of person you would want to crush on, though, so i’d think you probably wouldn’t end up in that situation anyways

        4. Stella

          I don’t think either Mindy or Anna is in the wrong necessarily. But, just my personal experience: it’s easy to lie to yourself and say you no longer have feelings for someone because you would do anything to keep that person in your life. You can lie to yourself for ten years, maybe.

          And that…man, that’s painful. It’s painful and *crap* because you don’t want to look and see where the pain is coming from, so you ignore it and try so hard to focus on the good, happy things in your life.

          But friiiiiig that doesn’t work long term. In the end (in my experience) to truly move on from an ex, you’ve really got to physically be away from them. Maybe for years. You need to build up new things in the spaces where they aren’t.

          Otherwise a little bit of your heart is always going to be broken. It’s never going to heal.

          Which is why Mindy should move out of Anna’s and move in with Leslie and they should get married and adopt ten orphans!

          (I ship it, I ship it already, I ship it SO HARD and they haven’t even met yet)

        5. Chrissy

          Well I only lied to myself for 1 but yup! Exactly

        6. Li

          sobbbb, this is also true, re: lying to yourself and sticking around. 🙁

      2. zoelogical

        i guess it would be the reason they have a ten year relationship!!

        1. Li

          High school girlfriends… I’m thinking they knew each other at least in middle school, too.

        2. zoelogical

          that is entirely possible, haha. but that is a really, really long time to keep a galpal around

        3. Li

          It IS but I was thinking more like “best friends for a long time, Mindy eventually carrying a torch,” versus “Mindy in love the whole time”.

        4. zoelogical

          maybe more of an “if only” than an “always maybe”. never quite in the right place at the right time

  58. OnyxIdol

    And what a great roommate she is! /s

  59. Chris

    That face Becky has in the last panel is me whenever I come up with a great idea to write or maybe draw about. Now just add some mad cackling and it’ll be a perfect mirror image of me

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Replace “great” with “maliciously nonsensical”, and you’re right on my level.

  60. Orion Fury

    Becky: “They also seem to be up pretty high.”

    Mindy: /looks surprised

  61. RacingTurtle

    Becky in that last panel is everything good in this world.

    1. C.T Phipps

      I’m kind of disappointed her reaction is to immediately go with the white girl as a potential Leslie match.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Consider their first impressions, is it any wonder she’s aiming for Mindy?

  62. Jaybie

    Damn Anna, rude.

    /also has rather thick eyebrows. Course I have a BF too for what its worth.

  63. Cmd1095

    That face in the last panel… I’m dying here lmao

  64. Fire_daws

    Becky yusssss

    1. Arianod

      What? No! D: She’s related to Sidney? Since when???

  65. BenRG

    Anna, it may not be my place to judge but do you think that Mindy being single just might have something to do with you living with her? Some room-mates are just not conducive to romance, you know! Especially ones who find a virtue in being acerbic to everyone that their friend meets.

  66. NinjaNick

    Two caterpillars are better than one.

    1. Kamino Neko

      Hey, unibrows aren’t that bad!

      It helps if you have Freda Kahlo’s personality and talent, of course…

      1. JessWitt

        Frida made it work for her.

  67. C.T Phipps

    Shameful Becky. You look at the person who looks like your crush grown up and not Anna in order to set Leslie up. Maybe Leslie is an Anna type, did you ever think of that?

  68. Reltzik

    So, um, possible snag in Becky’s plan.

    …. how is the local queer community going to feel about DeSanto, and by extension the lesbian who wooed her?

    1. BenRG

      About Robin? Probably raised eyebrows and exchanged mutters of “I thought that she was a bit too loud!” with ironic smirks.

  69. Danni

    becky no, becky stop.

  70. Remmington Steele

    Daenerys Targaryen comes to DOA?

  71. C.T Phipps

    I know I’m shipping Leslie and Anna. 🙂

  72. Nenja

    You know, Becky, you don’t NEED to set Leslie up with a girlfriend immediately. It could be just you and her, a gay single mom and her gay daughter.

  73. zoelogical

    i’ve been thinking about why i don’t super mind anna’s…loudmouth abrasiveness

    and like. i used to know a woman who called her son “a son of a bongo”, in his hearing! in that area, with some people, you could have this sort of bonding through abrasiveness – through just, like, being that out-loud and openly insulting, but you had to do it with, like, love. like. you embrace the other person’s faults and weaknesses, and you do it out loud, but you do it because you’re going to be the person holding the line when it goes south. but if like literally anyone else did the same thing, you’d turn on them in an instant, haha. unless they had that same sort of deep contextual relationship.

    there’s a certain level of which – if you’re used to rough treatment, rough treatment is what you know how to deal out. and maybe your rough treatment is gentle in comparison to the treatment you’ve known, but it’s still rough in comparison to other people. but like – it’s what you know how to do. it’s who you are. and if you’re like this, you don’t apologize for who you are.

    and it’s kind of a rough thing to deal with? it can be a hard thing to love. but usually when people are like this they can take as much as they deal. sometimes. i mean, it doesn’t work as well without that deep contextual relationship, which is why Anna didn’t get personal with Becky the way she gets personal with Mindy.

    1. zoelogical

      haha like. other things that lady called her kids: dumb mofo, stupid asshole, and…other stuff. but like there was no doubt in her kids’ minds that she loved them? and they loved her back, but also like. they fought her just as much as she did them. and it was like loving was fighting, sometimes. idk. it was interesting to watch, because her daughter worked with us. and there were ways it was really fucked up, but other ways it was pretty healthy. but tbh i have no doubt that everyone was doing Their Best, even if their best wasn’t very Brady Bunch-ish.

    2. Pidgey

      I can relate. It’s like that in my family. But Iunno, not as rough as your interpretation? I call my dad all sorts of names and he returns the favour. We’ve had people in public say ‘you can’t say that to your daughter (or father)!’ and the other would respond to the stranger ‘it’s okay he (or she) is just an asshole’. But no one else is allowed to say those things about or to us. And they sound like terms of affection in our family. Everyone knows where the line is and everything else is water off a ducks back.

      1. zoelogical

        this lady grew up as an army brat so…i would assume that’s why it was rough

        but, yeah, sometimes people develop real tough skins and that’s how they interact/bond

      2. Doki

        See, this is all fascinating to me because I’m the COMPLETE opposite. I seriously can’t bring myself to be harsh to anyone, like… ever. And if I say something that sounds mean at all, I say it in a suuuuper joking tone that I don’t think anyone could ever mistake as authentic. (I do actually know someone who relates to his mom sort of like how you guys are describing – they’re both super loud and come off a bit abrasive – and he actually had to tone it down around me because I’m so sensitive even though he and I are super close. OOPS.)

        IDK, hearing people describe relationships like that is like hearing about people describing what it’s like to live on another planet OMG. It’s really trippy to hear about aggression being done affectionately, since to me aggression always = bad. Though I guess I do have characters who relate to each other in a more abrasive way than I relate to my friends so I guess it’s not completely alien haha.

        (Sorry for jumping in with a TL;DR post OMG)

        1. Pidgey

          Naw Doki cuz that’s as interesting to me as the other side must be to you. I remember once I went of to a friends house and he said ‘hi mum, howre you?’ and she said ‘fine thanks and you?’ and i looked at them like they were insane. I couldn’t believe there was a family that talked like that.

          I once brought a friend over and my mom had just come home (she’s a nurse):
          ‘Hi mommom wassuuuuuuuuuuuuup’
          ‘ugh, old man wouldn’t stop s***ing himself and pulling out his IV. Blood and s*** everywhere!’
          ‘f that noise, i’ll never be a nurse’

          Friend was gobsmacked. like genuinely.

        2. Pidgey

          I know that’s not even aggressive but it sticks out in my mind as an example of a great juxtaposition in family communication

        3. Grethelwveir

          It’s kind of like the verbal equivalent of rough-housing/wrestling. Like you know when a parent and a child are sitting together, and the parent puts an arm or leg around/over them “You’re trapped!”, or when parents play “the villain” for their kid’s make believe, and playful tussling ensues? Or when someone starts a tickle-fight? You know how much to pull your metaphorical punches (cause actually hitting the other person, even holding back, usually means “stop”) due to familiarity. And you have respect for tells that it’s time to knock it off; an unhappy expression, displays of actual aggression (mostly younger children), tone of voice, exclamations of pain or discomfort, words, the use of slightly too much force, any violent act (hitting, kicking, etc.) whether forceful or not, cessation of fighting by the other person. You pay attention to make sure everyone is on the same page (which you just do in any functional relationship whether familial, platonic, or romantic). TBH, my brother doesn’t always understand subtext, so if I think something I said might have been even a bit much, I follow it up by clarifying that I’m teasing and that I love him. Sometimes I wonder if it’s an evolution of the play-fighting animals do to prepare for adult life. Like a subconscious, “We’re going to pick on each other in a way that’s gentle and affectionate so that hopefully we’ll have more confidence if someone really tries to hurt us”. In any case, this has turned into a ramble, so I’m gonna stop here.

        4. Felis Leo

          I understand the point you are trying to get at. When you roughhouse with friends or family, its bonding. On the other hand, when you engage in roughhousing with strangers who don’t know you, it is assault and battery. Some people are rough and tumble when it comes to speaking to their friends and family. However, when Anna spoke to complete strangers in that same manner (calling Becky an “idiot” to Mindy without knowing anything about her besides holding up the line at the deli counter), I think that at that point she is just being an utter anti-social jerk.

        5. zoelogical

          or, like, when you call your cat an asshole. and he can’t understand you but he reads your tone but you are still calling him an asshole, and that is your main means of interaction

          but yeah it’s the kind of thing that builds up a tough skin for anything else anybody may ever say about you

        6. zoelogical

          haha i personally always find myself erring on the side of being more…specific? and trying really hard to be gentle. but that’s because those are things that i happen to value, and that i’ve trained myself to do. and i don’t mistake that for other people being obligated to do the same thing

          but it is really weird to watch!! it’s like watching aliens interact, o.O. people who are joking about being assholes vs. people who are actually being assholes as their main mode of interaction.

          but i totally feel any sort of aggression as coming off badly. but i guess i can also see people being openly assholes as kind of…reassuring? in that they wear their flaws on their sleeve and you can see exactly who they are from the getgo, haha

          there is something about carefully crafting an insult that really appeals to some people, tho

          (you are good, there was nothing TLDR about this!!)

    3. Li

      +1

      I mean just yesterday Mindy was saying MY PARENTS WISHED I HAD PICKED A DIFFERENT GIRL and mostly the comment section just agreed with these parents because fuck Anna

      but anyone who can’t see that that is at least as roughhousing a thing to say as “of course she’s single, look at those eyebrows”…

      idk I suspect they’re looking at this relationship through the lens of having already decided that Anna is a jerk and Mindy is a cinnamon roll who deserves better.

      1. Pidgey

        I mean, Mindy might find it amusing and endearing as many people do for abrasive/loud/etc people but the only thing that really bothered me about Anna was the “Whoa no no no!”
        Someone who freaks out like that at someone thinking they’re in a relationship with a friend is not secure. I think both Mindy and Anna are not fully okay with the just friends thing. And maybe for different reasons.
        Maybe, benefit of the doubt, Anna freaked cuz she doesn’t want to lead Mindy on?

        1. Li

          I don’t quite know why this is in reply to me… I didn’t mention anything about that, and I don’t disagree with your take on it? I think there’s more baggage here than Becky knows.

      2. zoelogical

        exactly!!!

        i mean, i kind of have to wonder if this is a Persuasion sort of situation where they had to break up because Mindy’s parents didn’t approve and they were financially supporting her. or something. being roommates isn’t exactly splitting up but it is running all over the galpals initiative, and it’s clearly still emotionally entangled.

        i kind of wonder if that is as mean as Mindy is capable of being. which, it is passive aggressive mean, in a “bless your heart” kind of way. but that’s still pretty aggressive! and a shitty thing to say about your friend/ex in their presence.

        god. it’s kind of like “this is why u can’t find dates, hey look at me i’m telling u this is why u can’t find dates, so let’s go home and watch netflix while we moan about not being able to get dates”. like. this mix of sexually frustrated and emotionally satisfied while not being able to go through and be physically together

        which is, actually, really freaking compelling. it’s like an endless will they-won’t they, the type of relationship network television can only dream of

        1. Li

          Oh man, that’d suck. I can see that, though. It was ten years ago, so… you wind up being able to do a self-deprecating grin and say, “Oh, yeah, my parents would’ve rather it was a different girl,” when the actual situation was in fact terrible.

          I was assuming more teasing, more genuinely “my parents were totally supportive, but ha they didn’t get along with Anna and vice versa”, but it could also be the other thing.

        2. zoelogical

          i mean like Mindy is kind of preternaturally polite. and that’s not something you learn without a lot of effort and reinforcement. i could easily imagine that that kind of politeness was equally important to her parents, and i can easily see how Anna can draw that kind of response of dislike from somebody. pretty easily!!! if Mindy’s parents were like half the commenters today, I can see them reacting even more dramatically.

          to me it feels like a joke that is made out of real conflict, but idk, it could also be more teasing

          i just keep seeing all these teasers of backstory and i am kind of ravenous hahaa

  74. Jago

    Best possible outcome yet.

  75. Carms

    Mindy seems a little… something about that ’10 years nothing more than roommates’ thing.

    1. BenRG

      Two possibilities:

      1) Mindy hoped that, if she spent long enough living with Anna, either Anna would get less acerbic or she would get more at ease with it and they could have their ‘happily ever after’;

      2) Anna is just simply too effective at scaring away people Mindy is interesting in (possibly not even intentionally).

  76. Beef

    Nothing gay people love more than being set up with somebody because “You’re both gay, you’ve got so much in common!”

    1. Doki

      Haha, yeahhh, now that you say that I wonder if this’ll come up at all? I could see Leslie snarking about it a little LMAO

    2. BenRG

      “You’re both gay and you both have weakness for abusive partners; frankly, I think you need each other!”

    3. Jimmy

      That’s what I was thinking. It feels exactly like when Joyce first tried to hook up Sarah with Jacob because “they had so much in common”.

    4. Pidgey

      My mom’s last attempted set up between me and a boy included “He’s male and he’s single! He’s perfect!”

      Like that was literally it. Not attempting to railroad with my moms heteronormativity but I felt this comment on a spiritual level

    5. Li

      I think it.. reaaaaaallyyyyy depends on how scarce date options are in the ground, and in Indiana they might be very scarce. (Not because there are fewer queer people in Indiana, but because it’s harder to be OPENLY queer in Indiana, and therefore harder to find the other queer people.) I actually appreciated it a LOT the one time a friend set me up.

      Also, @Jimmy, it’s really not like that at all, though. Like, yes, it’s a bit awkward if the only thing you both have in common is being gay, but at least the one thing you have in common is being attracted to other women, which IS actually a trait that might make you at least slightly more likely to be interested in dating each other.

      1. Jimmy

        I don’t know. I feel like if that’s the ONLY thing they have in common that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll like each other.

        1. Li

          well, yes, “it’s a bit awkward if the only thing you both have in common is being gay”. I already agreed with that! 🙂

          I just think it’s very different from trying to hook up the only two Black people you know, which has racist undertones. There’s nothing homophobic about introducing your only two gay friends. It’s not at all guaranteed to work, but the question, “What made you think we’d even conceivably be interested in each other?” isn’t met with, “Well, I made what I’m only just now realizing was kind of a weird assumption based on skin color. Oops, never mind.”

  77. Eldritch Gentleman

    Satsuki-grade eyebrows only add to her charm!

  78. Bagge

    Quick, Mindy. What are your thoughts on broccoli?

  79. JessWitt

    Oh I wouldn’t have guessed Mindy and Anna were that old. Someone, gravatar that sinister Becky smile!

    1. Sunny D

      D o n e

      1. Bagge

        You, Sunny D, have an EXCELLENT gravatar.

        1. Ferdinand Rosenthal

          Justa load of happy Beckys.

        2. Sunny D

          Why thank you, Bagge, your gravatar is also quite excellent

        3. Bagge

          Now when you mention it, I think it is 🙂

          What did we call a Beckies in multitude, again? A school of Beckies? A pride of Beckies (I kinda like that one), a bunch of Beckies?

        4. Schpoonman

          …Tactical orbital nuclear strike of Beckies? Her every action contains at least as much energy.

        5. Bagge

          An entire pride of Beckies ending with that Joyce-face is just perfect! 🙂

          Now all we need is a suitably awe-struck Dina.

          (also, we need fart captor down here)

        6. Sunny D

          Yes, fart captor nEEDs to join the pride

        7. Fart Captor

          Huh? What’s happening I heard my name

        8. Bagge

          All the Beckies united!!!

        9. Sunny D

          “Pride of Beckies” is a good one, I agree

        10. a/snow mous/e

          A pride of queerfolk :3

  80. Nightsbridge

    Careful Becky! If you keep this up you’ll be telling Leslie to get in the robot.

    1. Orion Fury

      Quick! No time to explain!

  81. Emily

    Fuck you Anna.

  82. Solenoid

    I think Becky’s face might get stuck like that. Or it might not get stuck, but she’ll decide to keep wearing it all the time anyway because that’s how she feels. As an observer, it would be impossible to tell which.

    A good face though

    1. Eldritch Gentleman

      Just give her a dark office and cat to pet and we are set.

  83. Zaxares

    Although I normally detest matchmakers trying to set people up, I’m kinda tempted to cheer Becky on if only to spite Anna. That last line of hers seriously made me roll my eyes and go “Oh, like YOU’RE such a catch with that attitude.”

    1. Emily

      Not to mention Mindy’s eyebrows are killer.

      1. Tommy Fresh

        Yeah anybody hating on this eyebrows needs to gtfo

  84. L!ghtn!ng

    That panel 6 face!!!!

  85. showler

    Leslie’s gonna like Anna.

    1. showler

      Not sarcasm. “like” like.

      1. Li

        That’s one of my guesses. (And then it turns out Anna isn’t interested in seeing ANYONE, and Mindy’s heart is broken twice, albeit the second time in a very surface crush way because in this hypothetical she thought Leslie was cute.)

  86. Reltzik

    Okay, I’ve decided on how to collapse the “Yes/No, Becky” quantum waveform.

    If Becky’s next words are full disclosure, something along the lines of “I’m staying with a super-nice lesbian about your age who I’ve decided to play matchmaker for, let me introduce the two of you and set you up on a date,” then that’s a yes, Becky.

    Anything significantly more manipulative and/or convoluted would be a no, Becky.

    1. Reltzik

      (Yes, I know that’s not how quantum waveforms actually work. Yes, I know they’re actually called wave functions. No, I don’t care.)

    2. BenRG

      I’ll laugh my butt off if Becky says something like that and Anna’s reply is: “Yes, please! Anything to get her out of the house!”

    3. zoelogical

      agreed

      i’m super uncomfortable about her doing this when leslie has displayed zero (0) interest anyways

  87. BenRG

    Whoa, whoa! I just realised something: How will Robin react if Leslie starts dating Mindy? She’s demonstrated terrifying stalkerish tendencies already. Might seeing ‘her lesbian’ in a relationship with someone else lead to more focussed and malicious aggression? She may be a lame duck but she must still have a few months to make Leslie’s life difficult (or get attack the whole LGBT community to have revenge on Leslie by proxy) before being kicked out of DC!

    I don’t want to believe that she would do something like this but people with entitlement issues like Robin can lash out in pretty ugly ways when thwarted!

    1. zoelogical

      well, robin did say when she left that leslie would find a new girlfriend, so i don’t think she doesn’t understand that it’s in the cards. she’s not that far disconnected from reality

      but she was also saying that to look more noble and self-sacrificial. and because the fantasy of living in leslie’s home and being her wife was really important to her. so…i think she would fight for leslie. in whatever way she could.

  88. Rosstifer

    Wow. Anna is an asshole.

  89. Vulcanodon

    Leslie: [stern lecture about boundaries to Becky]
    Becky: “Sorry, I was just trying to earn my keep”
    Leslie: “That’s OK, just concentrate on getting your own feet on the ground”
    Becky: “OK.”
    (As they leave, Leslie looks over her shoulder, makes eye contact with Mindy)

    1. BenRG

      I’m thinking that Leslie will probably lose track of what she was saying because she keeps turning to Mindy, apologising for her fosterling and getting into small talk with both smiling and laughing awkwardly.

      ANNE: “Kid?”

      BECKY: “Yeah?”

      ANNE: “Let’s go somewhere else and leave these two love-birds alone together.”

      1. a/snow mous/e

        Nah, Anna probably would be like “oh gross, are you seriously flirting in public, get a room you guys”

    2. Lily

      I support this development.

  90. Pidgey

    I just imagine Becky dragging Mindy towards Leslie screaming “I FOUND ONE. TRY TELLING HER FACTS ABOUT DINOSAURS”

    1. Bagge

      Then it will be 30 minutes before either Leslie OR Mindy has the chance to say anything, because Becky and Dina will take turns prompting them with interesting Dinosaur facts.

      (Why just 30 minutes? Because after all that, Dina and Becky will need some time for themselves.)

    2. Deanatay

      Becky: OMG She’s perfect for you! Go glomp her FAAAACE!
      Leslie: Whaa? No, I barely know her! Maybe, a movie or something…
      Becky: OOOH!! You should hold hands and look at pictures of dinosaurs!!
      Leslie: *blushes furiously* *whispers* On the FIRST DATE???

  91. Jinxed44

    Yesssssss

    1. Jinxed44

      Also Anna is now a person I sincerely dislike.
      That eyebrow comment was my line, who knew?

      1. SonicBlueRanger

        I feel like there’s a reason they broke up.

        1. Jinxed44

          Honestly its sounding like Anna dumped Mindy.
          She sounds frustrated by there not being a relationship in the ten years they’ve been roomates?
          Which raises a few flags… 🙁

  92. Lulu

    Nice, so we can start Leslie dating trials and errors presented by our favourite Becky.

  93. Matt

    Becky. Stop helping.

  94. Seregiel

    Becky is their average in both mannerisms and hair.

    1. Schpoonman

      Goddammit.

  95. hof1991

    Serious eyebrows are OK, but don’t go full Andy Rooney. Caterpillars are OK, but not the hairy kind.

  96. a/snow mous/e

    Becky is prepared to make Leslindy happen.

    Instead, it will all go horribly wrong and we’ll somehow end up with Mindina, Robinna, and Beckslie. And nobody will be happy about it.

    1. Pigeon Pollyx

      I don’t know what you mean by Mindina but if the other two are any indication I politely request you cease and desist, foul imp, else you may make it true

  97. a/snow mous/e

    If Mindy can actually see her own eyebrows when they’re raised like that, they must be huge… Like, at least half an inch/1 cm thick.

  98. nobilis

    Cross your fingers, hold your thumbs … on Friday, the German Bundestag will vote on marriage for all. (At the moment, we have only registered partnership for homosexual couples here.)
    Should be a majority for yes, but we’ve heard that before …

    1. a/snow mous/e

      Good luck, QUILTBAG Germans! (“Hold your thumbs”? That must be a German thing. *crosses fingers and holds each thumb beneath ring finger and pinky* Am I doing it right?)

      1. nobilis

        Thanks!

        Yes, “Daumen druecken” is a German thing. You make a fist and press your thumb on the lower part of the index finger.
        (Some people say that you have to put the thumb inside your fist and press it there.)
        No finger-crossing needed, but your combination is probably twice lucky.

    2. CJ

      All the entitled assholes are going to have fourty fits if this passes.
      The archbishop of Berlin just recently spouted nonsense about only one man and one women with a lifelong commitment making a marriage and said this statement wasn’t homophobic ?. He just heavily implied that homosexuals were less likely to have a lifelong commitment that heterosexuals. He also said that marriage included the possibility of procreation. Maybe he should read up on current statistics about the probable length of marriages and the number of marriages with children. Verpartnere (marriage-light for gays as it is now) compared to marriages miss out on adoption rights, fiscal equality, inheritance rights and some other details, though most of the couples I know do have children.

  99. Kathleen

    I know David loves his lady jerks, but Anna is just being awful. Just unnecessarily putting down her friend in a way where if this was real life I would put a red flag and watch for signs of emotional abuse. Feels really unhealthy.

    1. Kathleen

      actually, David probably knows exactly what he’s doing. But I don’t like it! Be nice to Mindy!

      1. Bagge

        He sure does, and introducing Anna like this is NO mistake at all. I have no idea where this is going, but I know enough to expect a second shoe to drop.

        1. Indy

          All eyebrows are beautiful. I won’t stand for this.

  100. Roborat

    Oh no, Becky is using Grinch smile. In the name of all this is holy, run! Run for your lives!

  101. Goki

    Mindy, you can do SOOOO much better than Anna. I don’t know who broke up with who, (I have an idea though) but you dodged a bullet.

  102. Deanatay

    Dina: *frowning* You seem to have having a lot of… FUN… with your new lesbian friends…
    Becky: Well, yeah… but it’s not, like, romantic fun! They’re, like in their 30’s, ew. Leslie’s more like my new lesbian Mom!
    Dina: Your new lesbian SINGLE mom… who you’re trying to fix up?
    Becky: Well, yeah…
    *door slams open, Joyce storms in*
    Joyce: You’re… you’re PARENT TRAPPING… without MEEEE?? *breaks into tears, runs off*
    Becky: Aw, jeez! Wait, Joyce! Of course you can help!! *runs after her*
    Dina: *sigh* They are SO married…

  103. Puckish Rogue

    Not sure what Annas about but she is right, those are some pretty big caterpillars Mindy has roaming on her face

    and now those are the first thing I focus on when I look at her

  104. Galdan

    Are Anna and Mindy a lesbian version of Faye and Marten from Questionable Content?

    1. Puckish Rogue

      Geez I hope not

  105. Sam

    How about we let Leslie choose whether she wants to date right now instead of going along with Becky’s scheming.

    I really don’t want it to be a ‘Becky tries to set Leslie up with Mindy, ends up liking Anna’ thing either because I don’t like Anna so far, but I’m also not big on MindyxLeslie either yet as it needs to be something Leslie wants too.

  106. Bart

    Is Becky looking into cheating on her new girlfriend, or is she planning on setting up a teacher/senator with someone?

    1. Fart Captor

      She’s trying to set Leslie up. How could she possibly cheat on her adorable dinosaur girl?

      1. John

        Seriously, it was only a week ago that Becky outright said that she was trying to hook Leslie up.

  107. TrueVCU

    Oh, Becky.

    Simple Becky.

    Simple, horny Becky.

    1. Heavensrun

      She’s not horny, she’s happy with -her- girlfriend. She’s trying to hook up Leslie, remember?

  108. shammers

    aw, i like mindy’s eyebrows!

  109. KingOfGreyfell

    Anna’s kind of obnoxious.

  110. Heavensrun

    I kinda hate Anna a LOT.

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