275

Acquainted
Posted on May 29, 2015 by David M Willis

275 thoughts on “Acquainted”

  1. Jen Aside

    didn’t expect Dina to be the first one to undress Ethan

    (other than with one’s eyes)

    1. AgentKeen

      Dangit, of course you beat me to that.

      1. otusasio451

        The thought of hundreds of DoA readers every night.

        1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Dina is overwhelmed by the feels. And so many faces.

          (I nearly put an extra “e” in faces, that would’ve been…bad)

        2. Unkind fish

          I use to have the same problem. Kinda suprizes that Willis
          did it right. Not because he doesn’t usually,
          but because that is exactly how I fixed such a
          problem.

    2. Doctor_Who

      How much do you think needs to be removed before Danny becomes the NEXT one to hit the floor?

      1. Adam Black

        Boo-yah!

        1. Solenoid

          Just the shirt.

      2. Dean

        One shoe.

        1. modernpython

          Only a single shoelace. That’s how pent up Ethans feelings are

        2. modernpython

          Oops meant Danny. Sorry.

        3. Doctor_Who

          He will steal the shoelace and incorporate it into the statue of Ethan made out of gum in his closet.

        4. David

          That’s not gum. While you are on the right track, it is not hardened secretions from a rubber tree we are talking about here.

        5. Karen Lynn

          Would they be hardened secretions from a flesh tree, then?

        6. Gigafreak

          So basically “gum” is one letter off, then.

        7. Booyahman

          It’s things like this that remind me why I read the comments.

    3. Church

      #sameAF

  2. otusasio451

    She’s overwhelmed because she’s realizing that people travel in herds. They DO travel in herds.

    1. Nono

      A herd of nerds?

      1. Stephen Bierce

        Revenge of the Herd

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Nerd herders!

        1. otusasio451

          Are they scruffy looking?

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          But of cause!

        3. Stephen Bierce

          ‘Cause when the going gets Scruff…

        4. otusasio451

          The scruff gets growing.

        5. No Name

          Okay, Plasma, I have to ask, why do you say “cause” instead of “course”? Is it dialect? A personal quirk? A surprisingly consistent typo?

        6. Scribbles

          ‘Cause = short for “because.” “Because when the going gets tough, the tough get GOING.” Course wouldn’t make sense in that sentence.

        7. Severing

          If you ever see this Scribbles, No Name was referring to Plasma saying “of cause” rather than “of course”, not Stephen’s reply to that comment.

        8. Ghostforge

          which you can mainly find assisting you at your local Buy More retailer

        9. otusasio451

          Huh. A Chuck reference. Not something you see very often.

        10. Bill

          But is it like herding cats?

        11. Opus the Poet

          more like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNfLcXPc0ZY

        12. Roborat

          That was brilliant.

    2. Tommy Fresh

      They’re herding this way!

      1. otusasio451

        Then, a couple strips later, after a twist ending:

        LOOK AT THE BLOOD.

      2. Cholma

        Billie: Uh, which side of the party room are you planning to stay on?
        Dina: Amber said I should party with you ’cause it’d be good for you.

    3. Rebecca

      I feel like Dina’s gotten trapped in enough people-herds in the past few weeks that she should already know that….

      1. otusasio451

        Well, there’s TONS of pre-1990 fossil evidence of dinosaurs traveling in herds, both in migration routes and in communal breeding grounds, but Alan Grant SOMEHOW didn’t realize that! Seriously, that always bugged me. HE’S A PALEONTOLOGIST, HE ALREADY KNOWS THIS.

        1. Viktoria

          Yes, but there’s a difference between fossil evidence and seeing it yourself.

        2. otusasio451

          Yeah, I got that concept from the film, but it’s not like they were surprised to see that the Brachiosaurus was eating plants, or that the raptors were hatching from eggs. There are just some things that aren’t speculation, and herbivorous dinosaurs traveling in groups is one of those things. Now, if he said that about a pack of raptors, I wouldn’t have been as miffed.

        3. 3oranges

          I didn’t get the impression he was surprised, so much as amazed seeing how perfectly it worked out.

        4. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          Dinosaurs travel in flocks, not in herds.

  3. shadowcell

    it’s just as well, the other alternative when there are too many faces is what we call the optimus prime solution

    1. Doctor_Who

      Maybe she would get along with Vos once he took his face off.

      It could happen. The DJD getting along surprisingly well with tiny adorable females is canon.

      1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

        Or she could carry faceless masks with her. When amongst a group and experiencing too many faces, she could hand out the blank masks to everybody around her and then she wouldn’t have to see so many faces. They could all just look like blank grey masks with eye, nose and mouth holes and nothing at all to distinguish them.

        1. Doctor_Who

          It’s Dina. She would hand out dinosaur masks and it would be the best party ever.

  4. Nono

    Wait, how does the logistics of that work? She de-hoodied him without him bending his head to get it through the neckhole?

    1. Viktoria

      Texas gay dudes have assless chaps, maybe Indiana ones have backless hoodies?

      1. Captain Batson

        Aren’t all chaps assless? I’m fairly certain they are.

        1. parkrndl

          HA. I had this conversation with some coworkers one drunken night not long ago.

          It culminated the following week with one of said coworkers bringing real actual chaps to work and another taking a picture of me wearing them. (With non-assless pants under them, of course.)

        2. No Name

          I’ve also seen this conversation being discussed not too long ago in the comic forum. I believe we eventually agreed the term is redundant.

        3. Deanatay

          Yes, but chaps are meant to be worn with pants. The phrase ‘assless chaps’ usually refers to wearing chaps without pants.

        4. Boom

          But, wait, if assless chaps are chaps worn without anything under them, then why are they ‘assless’. Shouldn’t they be ‘assed’?

      2. Opus the Poet

        Well the TX Lege is chapless asses, so I guess that makes for a kind of symmetry.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Stripper jacket perhaps?

    3. brumagem

      That is the magic of gutters (the gap between panels). However your mind can fill in the blanks, that’s how it happened.

      1. Doctor_Who

        I’m good at that. My mind is always in the gutter.

    4. MM

      It is a little-known velociraptor skill. Largely because they didn’t have jackets.

      1. Someone

        Actually they did, unfortunately their Jackets degraded over millions of years and now are completely gone.

        1. Rycan

          I am now imagining a gang of velociraptors in black leather jackets on the prowl.

        2. Dean

          Bunch of velociraptors in letter jackets, harassing a velociraptor nerd by the lockers.

        3. Rich

          Who grows up to master crystal technology and fights a robot, no doubt.

        4. Roborat

          And attacking another gang by aggressively singing show tunes.

        5. Rich

          The other gang being composed of megaladons, I assume?

    5. JessWitt

      It’s best not to question the phenomenon that is Dina.

    6. Cephalo the Pod

      Maybe it has a zipper?

      1. Rich

        It does. Page back to where he and Danny were walking over to the party and you can see it’s zipped.

    7. vlademir1

      Considering the look on his face, Ethan may be asking himself that as well.

    8. Kennerly

      Dina has been absorbing Amber’s Amazigirl powers by being in close proximity to her.

    9. Kryss LaBryn

      Oh, hockey players manage it all the time. You grab it by the back hem and over the head she goes!

      –Maybe Dina’s secretly Canadian? 😀

      1. Opus the Poet

        I’m sure Ruth would know that…

    10. Willoughby Chase

      And keeping his hair perfectly coiffured at the same time.

      The magic of comics.

  5. brumagem

    Yes less clothing on Ethan is very good thing A++

  6. Stephen Bierce

    *plays the Hoodie Ninja jingle for the Honda Civic commercials on the Muzak*

    1. Stephen Bierce

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1uG03JRQiU
      As a service to you.

  7. Doctor_Who

    There is no way this scene is scored by anything but the Jurassic Park theme. The lovely bit where it swells and sounds magical.

    And then Joyce turns it off because that movie claims the earth is more than 6000 years old, and she has no idea how the theme got on her playlist.

    1. John

      Alternatively:

      Open the door Dina’s on the floor everybody hug the dinosaur.

      https://youtu.be/zYKupOsaJmk?t=50

      1. Deanatay

        Behind the door
        She’s on the floor
        Everybody avoid looking at the Dina-saur

        BOOM BOOM AKA LAKA LAKA BOOM

    2. Nono

      Consensus on whether Jurassic World is going to turn out well?

      1. vlademir1

        It’ll be another dumb fun type blockbuster. It’ll be fine for what it is. Mind you, I say that having had over twenty years to come to terms with the adaption decay of that franchise from Crichton’s novels. Those who liked Spielburg’s version may well have it rougher.

      2. Captain Batson

        Depends. From what I’ve seen, at least some of the dinosaurs were “designed” (whether they were being figurative or not I do not know) and are rather intelligent, so either this is used to explain paleontological inaccuracies, or it isn’t. For me, it really depends on how accurate the dinosaurs are.

        1. Doctor_Who

          Intelligent Designed Dinosaurs? Joyce may enjoy this one after all.

        2. Tacos

          From what I know, only one was genetically engineered. All the other inaccuracies are just the director not caring about being scientifically accurate.

        3. Random832

          Or it’s stuff that people actually didn’t know about in the early 90s, such as dinosaurs being warm-blooded and many having feathers.

        4. Regalli

          The handwave for the inaccuracies grandfathered in from the 90s is that they filled the DNA gaps in with amphibian and lizard DNA. It even gets a mention on the “park’s” website’s fictional reviews that they cut corners there and dammit, these dinosaurs are supposed to be feathered. (The amphibian DNA is also how the ones in the second movie reproduced, I think.)

          Any remaining inaccuracies can probably be chalked up to something like “we bred/designed them to be non-haggressive.”

        5. Aletheia

          Eh… the original book went into more detail about it, but there was a lot of meddling with the DNA of the dinosaurs. The frog/amphibian DNA addition to fill in the gaps was just the beginning, but they also did things like made the dinos dependent on a certain amino acid that they added to their food in order to “ensure” that they couldn’t survive off the island (spoiler: said amino acid can be found in plenty in the flora of the area. Surprise, surprise.) and so on…

          Like someone said before, the inaccuracies were in major part because the source and the resulting movies were written when much less was actually known about dinosaurs, so it’s understandable that they were there. But the extra DNA could explain a lot (including the lack of feathers?) – though it would explain a lot more if they showed other aspects of the added DNA, such as modified/not-quite-dino shapes, different skins, random mutations, etc. Though I guess if people have managed to get dog breeds relatively consistent in shape, form, colourings, etc, through selective breeding, scientists with dubious morals in labs can achieve a lot more in a short amount of time…

      3. Bill

        But why do they call it “Jurassic (whatever)” when most of the dinosaurs were from the Cretaceous period?

        1. Joseph

          That’s the most accurate part of all! Because it was named by a marketing department. Apologies to anyone who works in marketing (I have a friend who does, and if I was offered a job there right now I would take it), but marketing is a cancer on the world.

        2. Willoughby Chase

          It’s dinosaury-ish, and that’s close enough 🙁

        3. No Name

          Because “Jurassic” sounds cooler. Heck, I’m surprised they didn’t replace that c with a k.

        4. xKiv

          Jura’s sick park/world.

  8. Sinn Ami

    Dina! You’re so much more optimistic then the others, it’s too cute.

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      She’s like Yuki Nagato. Seeing any emotion from her is a big deal.

      1. vlademir1

        I presume you’re not watching The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan yet then, seeing as it’s filled with her showing emotions. ;D

        1. Keroshino

          Isn’t that a different universe?

          Original series Yuki Nagato didn’t usually ever show any emotion.

        2. Rich

          She’s pretty emotional in Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, although you make an argument that’s an alt-universe as well.

        3. DarkoNeko

          Eh, in the novel, Kyon managed to pick them after a while. They’re subtle but they’re there.

      2. Doctor_Who

        I always imagine Dina with Michelle Ruff’s voice for exactly that reason.

  9. chris73

    Well everything went better then expected

    1. Rich

      Agreed. Dina is happy, Ethan has less clothing on, Dorothy’s glasses are unbroken, all is well.

  10. Plasma Mongoose

    Dina is a social butterfly and now she’s making herself a jacket cocoon.

    1. otusasio451

      Wait…that’s backwards. Either you mean Dina’s a social caterpillar, or…she’s the only reverse-butterfly (or insect with complete metamorphosis) in existence.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I wasn’t thinking 4th dimensionally.

        1. otusasio451

          Wh…what? Neither was I! I was thinking BIOLOGICALLY.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          Well there is that I guess.

        3. otusasio451

          Yup. As a biologist, I tend to be rather sensitive about biological impossibilities.

        4. Tacos

          But were you at least thinking 5th dimensionally?

        5. otusasio451

          …Mr. Mxyzptlk?

        6. Kennerly

          Kltpzyxm?

        7. Rich

          He’s just a dried-out version of Qwsp. Although the derby does lend a certain touch of class.

        8. otusasio451

          Yeah, except Mxyzptlk was a thing WAY before Qwsp popped up on the scene. So was Bat-Mite, if I recall.

        9. Rich

          Mxyzptlk showed up in 1944. His repeated “pranks” in Metropolis take a much darker tone when you realize they were indirectly helping the Axis hold out a little longer. Dirty rotten 5th dimensional Nazi sympathizer.

          Bat-Mite was 1959. Qwsp was 1962. I prefer the latter on the basis that being a fanboy of Batman is taking the easy road, especially in the era when Aquaman was still running fish hospitals and teaching octopi to be one-man bands. Bat-Mite never had to live with the cancellation of his idol’s books.

    2. Ranthog

      Wouldn’t that make her a social caterpillar?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Better than a very hungry caterpillar.

      2. JessWitt

        Dinosaur metaphors would be more preferable.

        1. otusasio451

          …A social Caudipteryx?

        2. Tacos

          Like what? A social Sinosauropteryx?

        3. JessWitt

          I’m not a dinosaur expert so yeah sure, whatever tickles your Tricerstops.

        4. otusasio451

          ExCUSE me (*pushes up dinonerd glasses*), but Triceratops isn’t a thing! Brontosaurus, on the other hand, IS.

        5. JessWitt

          Not a dinosaur expert! ?

        6. Kelly

          What do you mean? The “Triceratops is a juvenile” thing? That hasn’t really received a lot of love in the community…

        7. otusasio451

          Yeah, I know. I brought it up more to make a joke than anything else. I did hear that the whole “Triceratops is a baby Torosaurus” thing lost some traction in recent years, but I also know that it hasn’t been completely disproven. Mostly, at this point, but not completely. However, Brontosaurus being a thing? Hasn’t been disproven! Yet.

        8. insomniac

          Either way, ‘triceratops’ got named first, so they stay a thing however it shakes out.

  11. Jayax

    I think this is the first a comic has made me like Dina.

    1. JessWitt

      So prior, you were indifferent to her, yes?

      (Say yes for god’s sake or incur the wrath of her fans.)

      1. otusasio451

        Meanwhile, at their armored keyboards, and wearing their dinosaur pajamas and hats, the Dinarmy are awating Jayax’s response, ready to strike at any moment.

        1. Rycan

          The raptors demand an answer!

    2. John

      There is something terribly wrong with you, sir.

    3. MM

      First…you…what…I don’t understand.

      1. otusasio451

        RIGHT????

      2. TheHorseCouncil

        This looks like every other girl ganging up on Joyce about Dina. How appropriate somehow.

        1. otusasio451

          Plus the Mad Hatter and Sarah’s clone.

      3. Rycan

        If we were talking about Walkyverse Dina, I might understand. But this Dina?

    4. otusasio451

      Dude, take my word here.

      RUN. The Dina fans are coming. I mean, I’m amongst them, but I’m just the introductory vanguard. Be wary Be wary of the nurdrage. Or nurdconfusion and misunderstanding, to be more accurate.

    5. JessWitt

      Listen to otusasio! Run or be devoured to bits!

      1. otusasio451

        And by devoured, we mean “annoyed and pestered.”

        Or possibly actually devoured. Who knows WHO reads this webcomic?

      2. Opus the Poet

        Umm, “rent” to bits, torn apart but left behind, “devoured” consumed quickly and completely.

        This has been another service of the Vocabulary Patrol.

    6. timemonkey

      It’s okay to not like characters everyone else does.

      1. Jaco

        Except in the case of Dina.

        1. Zatar

          I’m honestly indifferent to her as well. I mean yeah she’s a good character and she’s funny, but I just never liked her nearly as much as some of the other characters.

        2. Chris G.

          I agree with you on that. I think she’s alright but not a big time love for her.

  12. Kernanator

    I don’t have “social” anxiety so much as I have “I really want to talk to people, but I’m afraid of looking like an idiot” anxiety.

    1. Rich

      I believe the name for that is “perfectly normal human being.”

    2. Sarah-2

      Or…social anxiety (like how else would you define it?)

  13. otusasio451

    Dina…God, I love you Dina. You will always be my favorite character.

  14. Tacos

    DAAAAWWWW

  15. GoogerGeiger

    Who do you think will be on the floor next? I’m voting for Walky.

    1. timemonkey

      Likely, he has zero tolerance for alcohol.

      1. Someone

        lets see here:
        Dina
        Walky
        Billie
        Danny
        Amber (will have shown up by this point)
        Ethan
        Dorothy will survive

        thats my guess

        1. Deanatay

          Wait, wasn’t Willis doing some sort of ‘Hunger Games’-esque elimination trial between all of his characters? Who actually won that??

        2. elielh

          Sarah, if I remember right.

  16. gkheyf

    well, some genuine concern from becky there. i think i like her better now than when she’s busy being awesome. i would like to advocate the idea of becky and dina striking up an unlikely bromance. becky is always a lot to process, so it’d be a heart-warming puppy-in-a-slipper scenario. there’s also a ‘coming out of the closet’/’hiding behind the door’ joke in there somewhere

    1. TSB

      Becky’s next act of rebellion against her fundamentalist upbringing: asking Dina to tell her more about this “Mesozoic Era” business.

    2. Foxhack

      I think Dina liked Becky because of their first interaction back when she was telling people to attend Joyce’s party. I mean look at her, she’s smiling in those two strips. She -rarely- smiles in this comic, most of the time she’s got a neutral looking face. (The only other time I remember her smiling was in the cereal comic.)

      And Becky probably thinks she’s cool because of her hat.

      1. Rich

        Stop before the Dina-Becky shipping begins.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Too late, they are already buying a cottage on the outskirts of town so they can both get to their jobs, Dina’s teaching job, and Becky’s… Say what is Becks good at that she can use to earn a living?

        2. Leorale

          Loudly smashing closets. So, demolition?

        3. Nightsbridge

          I’m with willis in this one. Seualizing dina is weird.

        4. Eudae

          There’s nothing inherently sexual about shipping becky and dina tho

        5. Joseph

          Activism? She’s got plenty of person experience of things being shitty, and putting up with bongos, so she might, especially once she’s on her own two feet and not dependent on her unrequited love, be good at relating to other queer Christians.

      2. Bagge

        Becky would be correct. That hat is very cool

      3. Greenygal

        Well, it’s the party invitation that’s making Dina smile, not Becky per se; she doesn’t know Becky beyond passing her in the halls a couple times. (Assuming for a minute that Dina hasn’t been hiding behind Joyce and Sarah’s door, which one can never entirely rule out.) But she may well have positive associations with Becky now as The Deliverer of Party Invitations.

    3. Someone

      Dina and Becky would make an awesome tv show.

      ♫One’s gay and the other likes dinosaurs♪

      1. Captain Batson

        I would watch the HECK outta that.

  17. Mandy

    This is so sweet and sad. I just hope she continues to have fun. :3

    1. JessWitt

      Maybe the party will devolve into a camp circle with pillow-blanket tents?

      1. Tacos

        Woot! Pillow tents/forts!

    2. Rich

      Now I’m really looking forward to Amber showing up.

      “Why is my roommate huddled on the floor under a man’s jacket?”

      1. DarkoNeko

        Plus she’d probably recognize it’s Ethan’s

        1. Rich

          “Ethan, didn’t I give you that hoodie for your birthday?”

  18. SUGauthor

    Ethan rules.

  19. Rich

    Useful Ethan is useful.

  20. Kris

    Eh? Jurassic World comes out in like two weeks so she won’t be down long.

    1. otusasio451

      I both can’t wait for it, and dread the inevitable SUCK that it will carry with it.

      1. Kris

        Chris Pratt trains raptors and they somehow explain away the absolute idiocy in creating a super dinosaur. I see no potential for suck here.

        1. otusasio451

          God, the fact that this is a movie starring Chris Pratt with swords, riding a motorcycle, and leading his own raptor pack, is WAY more than enough to get me hyped for the movie, because THAT is GODDAMN AMAZING IMAGERY.

        2. Kelly

          as an action/monster movie it looks fine. I just pretend it has nothing to do with JP or dinosaurs 😛

        3. otusasio451

          In my head, I’ve been thinking of it as an alternate reality JP, taking place in a universe where none o the negative events of the previous movies have ever happened. After all, there is NO WAY it would get the go ahead after all of the crap that went down in the three movies preceding it.

          Now, not associating it with dinosaurs…that might be more difficult.

        4. Deanatay

          I saw it as taking place in the distant future of JP, maybe by then the negative press of the first three stories died down. The tech certainly seems futuristic.

        5. Rycan

          They aren’t dinosaurs. They’re the products of bizarre DNA mashups that somehow strongly resemble certain species of dinosaur. I mean, the dinosaur DNA they would have to work with would have degraded down to a soup of nucleotides by now, with zero information content left. So, ‘filling in the gaps’ with the DNA of other species just means recombining DNA from different species until you get something that somehow resembles a dinosaur.

        6. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          The “no feathers” thing makes some sense in the context of visitor protection. No feathers mean that the dinosaurs cannot preserve their internal body temperature as efficiently, which means that they’d get very exhausted very quickly and be significantly more lethargic.

          On the other hand, there is no excuse for pterosaurs carrying off people using their feet.

        7. Captain Batson

          Except it looks scary if you don’t know how wrong it is.

      2. Jen Aside

        I had to sit through the trailer for that for Mad Max, and I kept thinking… shit, it would be pretty damn cool having a movie about giant griffins.

    2. Kamino Neko

      It’s still some time in October in-universe…she’s got a few months before Jurassic World comes out…or else she saw it months ago. It hasn’t been confirmed WHICH relatively-contemporary October it is. >_>

      1. Captain Batson

        I thought it was mid-September, since it’s been 28 days and IU’s fall semester starts in late August.

    3. DarkoNeko

      2 weeks in comic time so… 6 months ?

  21. advancecasette

    all right, tops comin’ off

    turnin’ up

  22. Darth

    Yeah that’s the opposite reaction I have. I usually wind up going to the nearest restroom, locking myself in a stall, hyperventilate and browse my phone.

  23. Idon'tcarenomore

    This made me actually laugh at loud.
    Dina is the cutest damn thing and Ethan can be very good guy.
    Dina is going to be fine, she needs to ‘process her new data’. She’s happy.

    1. A Scientist

      She is a scientist. Clearly, with this successful new experiment and the influx of important observations, she cannot afford distractions until she has thoroughly analyzed it and reached conclusions consistent both with these data and past information.

      Look for the publication in Science or Nature in the coming weeks.

  24. Idon'tcarenomore

    Drat no edit. Laugh OUT loud. sigh

    1. Someone

      poor loud

      1. Rich

        Always mocked and derided. It’s volumism, I tell you.

        1. Rich

          Not loud’s fault at all. He has a decibility.

        2. boomwolf

          That sounds like problem… sheesh that was weak. Guess I’ll just stay quiet. Maybe turn down for the night… ok I’m done.

        3. Someone

          Its a sound problem

        4. Rich

          So I hear.

        5. No Name

          We have to find the way to soften the blow.

        6. Tenn

          That pun is worth at least two internets.

  25. TheLurkerAbove

    Who needs a door when you’ve got Ethan?

    1. Keroshino

      Ethan is best door.

      1. JessWitt

        Ethan is more door than man now. He’s … Doorman.

        1. boomwolf

          I am the Doorman. My doors are delicious.

        2. Rich

          Spoon?

        3. Opus the Poet

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcm-J7lQT3w

        4. Rich

          I couldn’t find video of Doorman himself, confound it all.

        5. Deanatay

          Doorman Senses… tingling! Hold it right there, SIDEKICK!

      2. A5PECT

        I hate to say it, but I think Danny is the better door.

        He swings both ways and he’s easy to push around.

        1. Rowen Morland

          And prior to becoming Doorman he trained for many years as Doormat.

        2. Rycan

          A door that can turn into a doormat is a pretty shoddy door, to be honest. I find that doors work best when they stay on their hinges.

        3. Opus the Poet

          But the reverse, that of a doormat turning into a DOOR!

        4. Gigafreak

          A trapdoor, then? I find it unlikely that Danny can sweep anyone off their feet. (Amazi-girl is the one doing that to him most of the time.)

        5. Rowen Morland

          Maybe Danny will be revealed to be a reverse trap (door).

      3. timemonkey

        Ethan’s not just a door, he’s an entire closet.

  26. Keroshino

    Aww…the image of Dina using Ethan for comforting is just too damn adorable.

    …even if she is just using him for his hoodie!

  27. Anywhere

    #gpoy

    Dina is perfect.

  28. Hoodiecrow

    We aspies are problem solvers. Of course, not many see that those problems exist, and not many find the solutions intuitive.

    1. Jenny Islander

      I am enjoying this concert! I really am enjoying it very much! Yes, I am hunched over with my face in my lap and my fingers in my ears. This is what “enjoying the concert very much” looks like on me. I am in fact having a good time.

      Also, if I’m in a room full of people all talking and I have my headphones on and you notice that whatever they are connected to is turned off? No need to point it out to me. Everything is functioning as I require it to function.

  29. Speedball

    Dina’s dislike of contractions makes me imagine everything she says is in Teen Titans Starfire’s voice.

    1. Fred

      No, I hear Adventure Time’s Princess Bubblegum voice 🙂

  30. Lord Stoneheart

    Panel 3 Dina may be the most adorable thing in the entire comic so far.

  31. LiaHansen

    this party is off the chain

  32. Kennerly

    OMG. I love Dina. Overload is fun!

    1. Rich

      You can always tell a Shaman player.

  33. Rycan

    It’s not a real party until you have drama, alcohol, and somebody hitting the deck.

  34. nothri

    Dammit Dina, stop being the best character ever. I have only so much room in my heart, you know.

    1. otusasio451

      Like Jello, there’s always room for Dina.

      1. Leorale

        Usually behind a door.

  35. Boojum

    First time ever I’ve had an overwhelming urge to comment.

    Dina is absolutely the best.

  36. Sam

    OMG. WHAT’S THAT PUDDLE ON THE FLOOR!? MY HEART YOU SAY!? *Dies*

    1. otusasio451

      It…it melted?

      Yeah, that holds up.

    2. Rich

      I think it’s just that drink your gravatar spilled yesterday.

  37. Cee

    I’ve always loved Ethan, but I didn’t realize until now how much I fricking adore him. I guess I can relate to him way more than I thought I did. That’s what I love about this comic! ♥
    (also…. been reading for over a year, but first time commenting..?!)

  38. Captain Batson

    This made me emit a sound that I can only describe as a “squeeee”

  39. Keroshino

    Open the door…Dina’s on the floor.

    1. Gigafreak

      Everybody… stop having faces near the dinosaur?

  40. Bagge

    Did Ethan just take charge of the situation? I’m impressed, and Dina’s clear instructions are. Awesome

    I love Becky being overdramatic. You can just feel that she wants to add a “NOOOOOOO”

  41. Crash

    …. Everytime I look at the slipshine promo I think it’s Walky and Mike.

    1. Keroshino

      Oh god…i see it now!!!

  42. TheZachariah

    OH. MY. GOD.

    1. timemonkey

      Becky, look at her butt.

  43. Torra

    awwwwwwwh dinaaaa

  44. Stifyn Baker

    Dinah is definitely my favourite character in this strip. I work with autistic kids, including one who reacts socially just like this. He loves it and wants to be a part of it, but the processing is really difficult for him.

    1. Brian Boyko

      As a 36 year-old autistic kid, I have to agree! 😀 David Willis, you are doing a great job!

      1. ischemgeek

        I’m an autistic woman, and yeah. Pretty classic sensory/information overload (except I would be in a closet, if a bathroom were not in evidence. Yes, at 27.) with shutdown.

        Except I can’t word in shut down in full sentences. And sometimes not at all. Which in fact is why I don’t do loud parties much, and when I have to, I take bathroom breaks so often people think I have a bladder condition.

    2. zee

      I create curriculum for an autism center, and this is a very excellent portrayal of someone with high functioning autism (Asperger’s perhaps). The coat over the head is literally what I tell people to look for if they’re wondering if their child has undiagnosed autism.

  45. Lulu

    Am I a really bad person that I want to see Dina in Slipshine moment out of curiosity to witness how that would play out?

    1. Mr. Morningstar

      honestly ever since willis started doing porn of his characters im pretty sure everyone is curious what everyone would do in that situation

  46. notlegato

    woo, actual character development for her. so good.

  47. overdosed

    i have to say this is a very accurate representation of what i do when i suffer badly with social anxiety XD

  48. Kraken

    Never before has Dina’s hat looked more sinister. Clearly it thrives on Dina having fun in social situations.

  49. DarkoNeko

    Well dina, you could go settle down in the closet, but I’m afraid it’s already a bit overcrowded already.

    1. DarkoNeko

      Also at this rate she may associate Ethan’s scent/clothes with feel safe.

      1. DarkoNeko

        a weird love hexagon ensues.

        1. Rycan

          Diagram of said hexagon gets presented by Congresswoman DeSanto. Nobody notices on account of it being on C-SPAN.

  50. Jen

    OMG. Dina is the most adorable thing ever! 🙂

    1. Rheios

      Dina is adorable AND ONLY GOOD THINGS SHOULD HAPPEN TO HER WILLIS…but I already kind-of felt that way about Joyce (beyond needing to acclimate to the different personalities in the world) to an extent and look how that turned out.

      1. Rheios

        Sorry this was meant to be its own comment…still works I guess?

  51. JBento

    The Dinasaru has learnt tool use! Soon, there shall be fire!

    I wonder if, as an alternative to hooding, Dina’s is going to take a breather in the bathroom and her interaction with Sarah is what pushes her to the next step of her Destroy Raidah plan (or away from its pettiness).

    Also, Dina is the most bestest character ever.

  52. Mike (no relation)

    I said it on Twitter about yesterday’s strip and I’ll say it today –
    I’m an aspie and there is officially no way you can tell me Dina isn’t on the spectrum.

    1. Clayton

      I’m a late diagnosis but you are damn right this is aspie behaviour. I used to do this as a kid, but didn’t get the help and eventually turned it all into panicky shivers and soft kitten mews to cope. I’m a 20yo male and I STILL do that.

  53. Ritch

    Very happy with how this is turning out for her. Go Dina!

  54. Willoughby Chase

    Great comic, cheers! I’ll have to do something similar the next time I get societal anxiety!

  55. Greenygal

    I really appreciate Ethan here, especially how he asks Dina what she wants, instead of trying to make decisions for her.

  56. Val

    You young kids…
    Open the door, get on the floor, Dina is doing the Dinosaur.

  57. Glitchmebaby

    I’m so happy she’s having fun <3 I love Dina so much.

  58. biggo

    Dina’s smiling. All ‘s right with the world.

  59. Ingrid

    So I’m a teacher for individuals with autism, I showed this and the previous comic to one of my coworkers, and she just *beamed* This kind of behavior is totally within the range of “normal” for us. Seeing good representation is GREAT.

  60. showler

    Elliot’s Coat of Solitude has Traveled.

  61. Jeff

    Everyone loves Dina, but Ethan’s “Oh, okay, this is my life now” face in the last panel is adorable.

    1. DarkoNeko

      Ethan would make an awesome dad.

  62. Sam

    Dina is happy. Ethan is taking clothes off.

    WE ALL WIN!

  63. Seth

    Well, that brings back memories. I haven’t done the hiding in sweatshirts thing since middle school.

  64. Charlie

    I really like the showing that there is a difference between being overwhelmed from sensory stuff and having an anxiety attack. A lot of writers who portray sensory overload tend to write it as though it’s exactly the same as an anxiety attack, but they’re both very very different feelings. I like that Joyce is talking to Dina normally as well, without judging her for the coat as well ?

  65. Onion

    That look on her hat’s face makes it look like it’s got a diabolical plan to suck the life energy out of her or something

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