Dumbing of Age Book Twelve
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Global data networks

Posted on October 5, 2024 by David M Willis

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Tags: becky, carla, dorothy, joyce, sarah

Discussion (134) - “Global data networks”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    10/05/2024, 12:01 am
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    sarah: i have loved Mankind
    dotty: you fucked up my perfectly good identity is what you did. look at me. i’ve got anxiety

    1. NGPZ

      10/05/2024, 12:04 am
      • Reply Report comment

      anxiety is right

      im almost expectin Sarah to pull a “knock knock” soon XD

      1. Clif

        10/05/2024, 12:22 am
        • Reply Report comment

        How has no-one realized that Sarah has totally snapped?

        1. Queen Anthai

          10/05/2024, 3:31 am

          I’m pretty sure they have and just have no idea what to say or do.

          Jacob at least confronted her about it, but it clearly didn’t have an effect.

        2. Disastroid

          10/05/2024, 6:04 am

          Just because you know someone’s going to crash their car doesn’t mean you should jump in front of it.

        3. Decidedly Orthogonal

          10/05/2024, 11:02 am

          Jumping in front is not the only way to stop a car. A spike belt works remarkably well. There are also run-away lanes, safety barricades, and shrubberies. (There’s cops too, but well… the point is to keep Sarah alive)

        4. Fuzzy

          10/05/2024, 3:14 pm

          All of those take considerably more time to set up.

        5. thejeff

          10/05/2024, 7:21 pm

          I suggest jumping onto it from the car behind and throwing caltrops under the tires while using your grappling hook to cling to the roof.

        6. S.R.

          10/05/2024, 7:53 pm

          You kinda need to both have those on hand (or on nearby roadside) and know how to safely and effectively use them.

        7. Laura

          10/05/2024, 10:57 pm

          ?

    2. Synnerman

      10/05/2024, 1:03 am
      • Reply Report comment

      This post is perfect… so perfect.

    3. Yet_One_More_Idiot

      10/05/2024, 1:50 am
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      I don’t know Dotty, Sarah’s reply sounded waaaaaaaay sarcastic to me. ^^

      1. Davus

        10/05/2024, 11:28 am
        • Reply Report comment

        I thought that this was legitamite, because she’s a smile vampire and everyone’s being angsty.

  2. Nono

    10/05/2024, 12:02 am
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    Over/under on the time before Sarah’s face cracks?

    1. chuckroast

      10/05/2024, 1:16 am
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      I’ll give it a week.

      1. John Campbell

        10/05/2024, 1:29 am
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        Their time or ours?

    2. Laura

      10/05/2024, 10:58 pm
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      “Your face is badly sprained.”

  3. Thag Simmons

    10/05/2024, 12:03 am
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    You can probably wait Sarah out, I’d be shocked if she can maintain this for more than 48 hours.

    1. tim gueguen

      10/05/2024, 12:19 am
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      Yeah, Sarah is not going to be able to keep this going for much longer. We’re probably overdue for a Raidah encounter, which would send Sarah back into sneer mode.

      1. mindbleach

        10/05/2024, 8:53 am
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        With the height advantage, a good punch might bury Raidah to the waist.

        To the knees if the ground is frozen.

    2. shadowcell

      10/05/2024, 12:21 am
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      fortunately for us that’s probably another six weeks

  4. Nathan

    10/05/2024, 12:05 am
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    Is she……rollerskating down those steps? Now THAT’S superiority.

    1. Dara

      10/05/2024, 12:07 am
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      Yeah I wanna see her try to skate in the snow xD

    2. Doctor_Who

      10/05/2024, 12:08 am
      • Reply Report comment

      She can also ice skate uphill.

      1. Proxiehunter

        10/05/2024, 12:11 am
        • Reply Report comment

        Both ways.

        1. Clif

          10/05/2024, 12:23 am

          In the dark.

        2. Laura

          10/05/2024, 11:05 pm

          Four Yorkshiremen:

          https://youtu.be/sGTDhaV0bcw

          (On the hacked Department-store TV, watched through a pane of store glass window, as we shivered in the street…)

      2. cbwroses

        10/05/2024, 1:35 am
        • Reply Report comment

        Nobody tell Blade!

      3. Azhrei Vep

        10/05/2024, 5:29 am
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        Some motherfucker always tryin’ that.

  5. BBCC

    10/05/2024, 12:05 am
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    It’s the balance of the universe, Dorothy. 😛

    But really, you’re not.

  6. RassilonTDavros

    10/05/2024, 12:05 am
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    Carla is polycaperic confirmed.

  7. Cmasta1992

    10/05/2024, 12:07 am
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    Sarah is gonna have an all time crash out before the end of the year (real life time)

  8. Jammy

    10/05/2024, 12:09 am
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    Pissyball is probably only a little bit worse than pickleball.

    1. Clif

      10/05/2024, 12:24 am
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      Almost the same, but less sanitary.

  9. Adam Black

    10/05/2024, 12:10 am
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    Theory: after 15 years Willis is just bored and wants to break the remaining characters personalities beyond recognition.

    killing Dina is probably the fastest way to break Becky.

    1. Thag Simmons

      10/05/2024, 12:18 am
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      I really don’t think the stakes here are death.

      1. NGPZ

        10/05/2024, 12:30 am
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        Yeah and if breaking Becky gonna happen, it’d probably be via an involuntary break-up.

        1. Clif

          10/05/2024, 12:38 am

          I don’t know. They are in a locked bank vault. Starving to death would probably be a straightforward development.

        2. NGPZ

          10/05/2024, 12:48 am

          Do you know how long it takes for a human body to starve?

          It would be YEARS IRL considering how slow this comic goes XF

        3. Adam Black

          10/05/2024, 3:50 am

          dehydration would occur much quicker.

          Since once can eat the other you could last a while for food

        4. Adam Black

          10/05/2024, 3:47 am

          Dina disappers is an involuntary breakup.

      2. Adam Black

        10/05/2024, 3:52 am
        • Reply Report comment

        They werent… UNTIL they were.

        the stakes werent about superpowers for 10 years;
        until they were.

        Now its about Author interest.

      3. Jeremiah

        10/05/2024, 11:17 am
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        For once I don’t what Adam was meant to be taken seriously. It looks absurd enough to be a weird joke.

    2. eh, whatever

      10/05/2024, 4:43 am
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      No main characters die. Dina is mainer than Mike.

  10. Derek

    10/05/2024, 12:11 am
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    Sarah is talking so weird; who the heck says “I, for one, [person’s name]”?
    Saying “I for one” is starting a statement about yourself or your opinion, why would you call attention to a specific person in the middle of that sentence?
    It doesn’t flow naturally.
    It would be better to say “Well Carla, I, for one” or “I, for one, would be grateful to be included in your capers, Carla.”

    1. Davus

      10/05/2024, 12:21 am
      • Reply Report comment

      In this case, “for one” is a descriptive phrase describing “I”, and it is not necessary for the the sentence, so it is offset by commas. “Carla” in this case, is a vocative expression, clarifying that she is addressing Carla.
      With the correct intonation and circumstance, this would be a clear and reasonable declaration to make.
      I, for one, Derek, think that it is something that I myself would say.

      1. Lee

        10/05/2024, 1:17 am
        • Reply Report comment

        My husband def speaks that way too

    2. Taffy

      10/05/2024, 12:26 am
      • Reply Report comment

      Sometimes people talk like lunatics.

      1. Clif

        10/05/2024, 12:27 am
        • Reply Report comment

        Though, in fairness, many of those people are lunatics.

        1. Clif

          10/05/2024, 12:29 am

          I for one, Taffy, welcome our comma wielding overlords.

        2. eh, whatever

          10/05/2024, 4:44 am

          Hyphen-wielding, too.

        3. Effie

          10/05/2024, 12:45 pm

          I welcome our lunatic overlords

        4. Opus the Poet

          10/05/2024, 7:19 pm

          Take, Clif, my imaginary upvote!

        5. Aura

          10/07/2024, 9:12 pm

          “Some people talk, like lunatics.”

      2. Mark

        10/05/2024, 8:01 am
        • Reply Report comment

        [raises his hand]

    3. Yumi

      10/05/2024, 12:48 am
      • Reply Report comment

      It does seem a little weird to me, but I could hear someone speaking that way. Mostly, I’m distracted by the weirdness of Sarah’s whole thing today.

    4. Doki

      10/05/2024, 1:57 am
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      I think that might be part of the point. This IS incredibly forced for Sarah LOL

      1. Daibhid C

        10/05/2024, 5:59 am
        • Reply Report comment

        That’s pretty much it. Sarah is talking weird because she doesn’t really know how to not be sarcastic, so she seems to be aiming for something between Joyce and a public service anouncement.

    5. Michael Steamweed

      10/05/2024, 7:27 am
      • Reply Report comment

      Some years ago, the “I, for one, welcome our new invading overlords” meme went around some circles on the internet. With many variations.

      1. thejeff

        10/05/2024, 9:26 am
        • Reply Report comment

        Yeah, but the “for one” isn’t really the problem. In fact, it illustrates why Sarah’s version is weird. That meme reads fine if you remove the “for one”, though it’s less funny: “I welcome our new invading overlords”.

        Sarah’s doesn’t: “I, Carla, am grateful to be included in your capers”.

        1. Michael Steamweed

          10/08/2024, 6:40 am

          I thought it just helped to clarify whom Sarah was addressing.

    6. Ana Chronistic

      10/06/2024, 11:57 pm
      • Reply Report comment

      Actually it’s weirder if everyone speaks PERFECT grammar at all times; who talks that way in normal conversation 100% of the time without fail??

  11. thakoru

    10/05/2024, 12:13 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Yeah, Carla, Joyce is right here, conspicuously not lost.

    1. Davus

      10/05/2024, 12:24 am
      • Reply Report comment

      It took me way to long to realize what you were talking about. I would counter that their relationship is purely queerplatonic. (Although I know both that you are joking and that I want Dorothy to happen to be a little bi so that we can have a Dorothy/Amazi + Amber/Walky + Dorothy/Walky thing go on.)

  12. Alongcameaspider

    10/05/2024, 12:22 am
    • Reply Report comment

    The balance must be maintained, if Sarah’s not going to be the grumpy sarcastic one someone has to be Dorothy

    1. Clif

      10/05/2024, 12:31 am
      • Reply Report comment

      Someone has to be Dorothy in any case.

      It might as well be Dorothy.

      1. Mark

        10/05/2024, 8:03 am
        • Reply Report comment

        Just as well — I am much too busy to be Dorothy just now.

        1. Tesset

          10/05/2024, 10:33 am

          Sounds like you’re already halfway there!

  13. Dan

    10/05/2024, 12:22 am
    • Reply Report comment

    For some reason Sarah is reminding me of the Joker’s conversion to the side of good in the Harley Quinn animated series…

  14. EtchJetty

    10/05/2024, 12:24 am
    • Reply Report comment

    aw, poor beckster lolol

  15. Charles Phipps

    10/05/2024, 12:27 am
    • Reply Report comment

    You’re becoming a politician at last, Dorothy!

    You’ll get to committing war crimes!

    1. Newlland(Henryvolt)

      10/05/2024, 1:12 am
      • Reply Report comment

      Dread it, run from it, destiny still arrives.

      1. Mark

        10/05/2024, 8:07 am
        • Reply Report comment

        The Appointment in Samarra

  16. TrueVCU

    10/05/2024, 12:32 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Becky: I AM BEING VERY CALM AND NORMAL RIGHT NOW

  17. Sirksome

    10/05/2024, 12:35 am
    • Reply Report comment

    I’m liking the energy trade these ladies have. Seems very productive. Great girlfriending all around!

  18. Yumi

    10/05/2024, 12:35 am
    • Reply Report comment

    In universe, I think I’d have done my best not to comment on Sarah’s presented changes this day, but with her response here, I’d have a hard time not turning to her and going, “What the shit?”

  19. Wraithy2773

    10/05/2024, 12:39 am
    • Reply Report comment

    A reminder that Carla’s parents will still be among the first up against the wall when the revolution comes, but they’ll at least get a blindfold since they are genuinely good parents. 😀

    1. IntangibleMatter

      10/05/2024, 1:13 am
      • Reply Report comment

      As apparently the only non-transphobic billionaires, can we give them a pass on the execution and just like… throw them in prison or something?

      1. Uly

        10/05/2024, 1:43 am
        • Reply Report comment

        How about we confiscate and redistribute all their wealth, but in a friendly way?

        1. Da Boy

          10/05/2024, 8:21 am

          Oh please do! I’ll have fun watching as you denounce each other and report to the secret police for having a pair of shoes more than others.

        2. Jeremiah

          10/05/2024, 11:07 am

          What does that have to do with anything?

        3. Da Boy

          10/05/2024, 11:21 am

          It’s how it will go, sincerely, a guy from a country that broke free of communism.

        4. jflb96

          10/05/2024, 7:24 pm

          So much better to have five people richer than God, everyone else starving or dying of exposure, and the planet on fire

        5. Da Boy

          10/05/2024, 8:08 pm

          Read up on the Aral sea and get back to me. Sorry but I’m just kind of annoyed that for American kids there seem to be only two options, Evil Capitalism vs One of the most murderous ideologies on the planet. I don’t know, look up European governments maybe? They seem to be working quite well without murdering millions of people.

        6. Taffy

          10/05/2024, 8:51 pm

          It’s probably fine to take the biggest hoards and give them to the people they’re taken from, every so often. Like, fuck the Soviets and all that, they really screwed things up for everyone. I just don’t think it’s a guarantee that we’ll have Secret Police the instant Jeff Bezos doesn’t have more money and assets than some countries.

        7. milu

          10/05/2024, 9:34 pm

          western europe was built off of colonialism and still largely relies on institutionalized and enforced worldwide neocolonialism. it is also disproportionately contributing to global warming.

          just because our governments aren’t currently murdering their own populations in droves does not make them exemplary by any stretch.

        8. jflb96

          10/05/2024, 7:26 pm

          People think that ‘authoritarianism through paranoia and/or legitimate self-defence is synonymous’ with ‘socialism’, because they refuse to read a book

        9. Jeremiah

          10/06/2024, 12:45 pm

          It’s so strange when this comment section veers towards unrelated political arguments out of nowhere.

      2. jflb96

        10/05/2024, 7:26 pm
        • Reply Report comment

        No.

    2. yak

      10/05/2024, 3:03 pm
      • Reply Report comment

      Indeed, we must cleanse society of the parasites!
      Oh wait, no, that’s someone else’s schtick.

      1. Da Boy

        10/05/2024, 3:54 pm
        • Reply Report comment

        No, it was done by both sides, they both used cattle wagons and concentration camps too… the painter probably got the idea from the Soviets… they were buddies before operation Barbarossa.

        1. milu

          10/05/2024, 5:12 pm

          -concentration camps were a colonial invention, the germans had already done a genocide in Namibia, the nazis took inspiration from the US for their racial policies as well as the genocide of the indigenous peoples
          – the nazis were absolutely anticommunist and racist towards the slavic peoples; the german-soviet pact was only ever meant to buy them some time while they conquered europe.

        2. Da Boy

          10/05/2024, 5:21 pm

          Look up Sybirak. My people were being exiled to Siberia before US was even born. Russians have far more experience with it.
          That part was partially a joke. Soviets were still as bad as Nazis.

        3. milu

          10/05/2024, 5:29 pm

          ok

        4. yak

          10/06/2024, 10:12 pm

          Is “the painter” a new code? This is the second time I’ve seen someone who is Totally Not a Nazi refer to adolf hitler as such.

  20. Bogeywoman

    10/05/2024, 12:44 am
    • Reply Report comment

    After discovering optimism can be just as off-putting and disconcerting as pessimism,, if not more, Sarah is able to commit to the bit for the rest of her life.

    1. Da Boy

      10/05/2024, 5:45 am
      • Reply Report comment

      “I can make people uncomfortable with socially-approved and even desired methods? Oh Yeah!”
      They told Sarah she would be prettier if she smiled more… so she did and it haunted them for the rest of their lives.

  21. keet

    10/05/2024, 12:48 am
    • Reply Report comment

    lolz sarah i continue to get ya

  22. Chaucer59

    10/05/2024, 12:49 am
    • Reply Report comment

    When the real Sarah breaks through this Pollyanna façade, the shards of flying shrapnel will likely take out anyone within a quarter-mile. That distance estimate doubles for every day she remains locked within this cheery, Sarah-shaped container. On the bright side, this incident will finally provide a logical excuse to use Herb Morrison’s famous Hindenburg exclamation.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      10/05/2024, 3:58 pm
      • Reply Report comment

      So, Sarah smiles are a weapon of mass destruction that should be placed under close supervision by an international agency?

  23. Freezer

    10/05/2024, 12:53 am
    • Reply Report comment

    * checks to see if “Pissy Ball” has a trope page *

    1. Taffy

      10/05/2024, 1:34 am
      • Reply Report comment

      Best I can do is Jerkass Ball.

  24. Qube

    10/05/2024, 12:57 am
    • Reply Report comment

    it’s your turn 🙂

    1. NGPZ

      10/05/2024, 2:33 am
      • Reply Report comment

      IunderstoodThatReference.gif

  25. IntangibleMatter

    10/05/2024, 1:12 am
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    Carla in the first panel has summed up why I struggled to make friends in high school

    1. LiamKav

      10/05/2024, 7:16 am
      • Reply Report comment

      You kept trying to hack in to global monitoring systems owned by your parents?

      1. IntangibleMatter

        10/05/2024, 3:05 pm
        • Reply Report comment

        No, that’s why I struggled to make friends in university. High school was about doing stuff “in the fun way that proves my superiority”

  26. Suet

    10/05/2024, 1:18 am
    • Reply Report comment

    But it’s better than being self-destructive…

    Maybe it’s like a curse. However, would Dorothy’s girlfriend be immune to having it?

  27. TheKelliestKelly

    10/05/2024, 1:36 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Sarah, jesus, don’t strain yourself

  28. Ophidiophile

    10/05/2024, 2:18 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Oh! Oh! It’s Opposite Day!

  29. Dean

    10/05/2024, 2:53 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Wash your hands after holding the Pissy Ball.

  30. foducool

    10/05/2024, 3:19 am
    • Reply Report comment

    soon : RIP Sarah, killed by an insane amount of stomach ulcers
    (the coroner said it was a medical curiosity)

  31. Shaith86

    10/05/2024, 3:25 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Carla continues to give me Vegeta vibes, especially during the Cell saga.

    Dorothy: Do you live in your own little world?
    Carla: Yes but, unfortunately, I have to share it with all of you.

  32. Adam Black

    10/05/2024, 3:42 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Dotty,
    Are you SURE you didnt lose your girlfriend ? Are you sure

  33. Needfuldoer

    10/05/2024, 4:11 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Becky: EVERYTHING IS FINE NOTHING IS THE MATTER

  34. Techhead

    10/05/2024, 4:45 am
    • Reply Report comment

    I’m not sure but I think this might actually be Dup-o-Matic Sarah pretending to be “turned over a new leaf” original Sarah

  35. Amelie Wikström

    10/05/2024, 4:45 am
    • Reply Report comment

    DOA book 15: Every moment with my fellow friends is a gift!

    1. Mark

      10/05/2024, 8:18 am
      • Reply Report comment

      Artwork: a big argument involving the entire main cast.

      1. Needfuldoer

        10/05/2024, 7:57 pm
        • Reply Report comment

        The desaturated background art is a huge argument between as many characters as can fit on the page.

        Sarah’s the featured character, rendered in full color. One eye’s visibly twitching and her smile’s beginning to crack.

  36. Da Boy

    10/05/2024, 5:01 am
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    Becky didn’t lose her girlfriend either, one bad dinosaur fact from Joyce and she’ll be right there.

  37. Maddie B

    10/05/2024, 5:21 am
    • Reply Report comment

    So Dorothy is saying she’s open to having a girlfriend she could not lose?

    1. Heavensrun

      10/06/2024, 3:12 am
      • Reply Report comment

      She has one, she’s *right there*.

  38. staszu13

    10/05/2024, 6:46 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Dorothy, no one HAS to call Danny

  39. darkoneko

    10/05/2024, 9:17 am
    • Reply Report comment

    This is fine.

  40. Stephen Nedland

    10/05/2024, 12:08 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    Hot take, Dorothy was always jaded and sarcastic, but when standing next to Sarah, she appeared to be more renewed and sincere.

  41. wolfbeckett

    10/05/2024, 12:42 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    You know what? Good for Sarah. I don’t think she needs to be quite this extra about it but she COULD stand to be somewhat more pleasant of a person. And forcing herself to behave this way can be the start of the process of really becoming nicer. Fake it ’til you make it, girl!

    1. Taffy

      10/05/2024, 3:17 pm
      • Reply Report comment

      At the very least, taking it a little far can help her find a happier medium.

  42. CianM1301

    10/05/2024, 4:27 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    Dorothy: holds the Pissy Ball
    Ominous voice: A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON

  43. TheFlamingonator

    10/05/2024, 4:53 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    Passing the jaded, sarcastic torch.

  44. Carla's #2 Fan

    10/05/2024, 7:08 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    The pissy ball is like that bug that but Vicky in Fairly Odd Parents

  45. morhek

    10/05/2024, 10:41 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    “Why do I have to be the portrait to Sarah’s Dorian Gray?”

  46. Yakumo

    10/06/2024, 2:10 am
    • Reply Report comment

    Oh Dorothy, maybe you can claim this is the first time on the “one” side of things, but it is not the first time you you have been both jaded and sarcastic. And I’m pretty sure not the first time when you were the only one at the moment, but I’m not spending the time to check.

  47. Jennifer Bak

    10/06/2024, 7:53 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    I don’t think you ever name the books from the alt text but “Everyone gets a chance to hold the Pissy Ball” is a great title. 😉

  48. Deanatay

    10/06/2024, 11:36 pm
    • Reply Report comment

    Anyone checked the Book of Revelation lately? No mention of “The bongo shall become sweet and pleasant, and enjoy spending time with friends”? No? You sure? Cuz this seems like apocalypse shit to me…

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