218

Guilt trip
Posted on March 26, 2016 by David M Willis

218 thoughts on “Guilt trip”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    maybe racist Grandpa

    1. Ana Chronistic

      or a bear

      1. inqntrol

        That would be so unbearable to watch.( I’ll show myself out)

      2. Kris

        I’ll take the bear for 500 Ana.

      3. Amazi-Stool

        A racist bear that is.

  2. Hawke

    Carla’s secretly a stock market agent.

    I KNEW IT!

    1. gkheyf

      better take it. doa stock is growing like a soiled diaper. soon, it shall encompass all existence.

      1. void

        It’s always been Wankershim! I mean doa stock.

      2. DinaWho

        Soggies will rule?

    2. Doctor_Who

      Invest in ConHugCo today!

      1. JustCheetoDust

        I’m considering short selling physical contact from Faz.

  3. Mr. Mendo

    Yeah, I think Ruth and Carla are totally gonna be besties! ^_^

    1. Vagabond J

      With a common enemy? Heck yes.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        The Judean People’s Front?!

        1. Leorale

          I prefer the People’s Front of Judea.

        2. caesaria82

          Splitters!

        3. Deanatay

          -NO! The MARY!!
          -Oh, right, yeah, her, sure.

    2. caesaria82

      I would be so here for that.

  4. DSL

    Sympathy by paid proxy physical contact.

    1. Clif

      All the plusses.

      1. Emperor Norton

        You only say that because you know we only have two pluses left in our inventory, but you want to make it sound more impressive.

        On a different note, who’s in charge of restocking the pluses and the internet points this week?

        1. Dana

          Plus.

  5. MatthewTheLucky

    Carla’s not dumb, you know.

    1. Orion Fury

      Only if she doesn’t utilize stock options before they tank.

  6. Wheelpath

    Getting to hug a cute ginger and diversify my portfolio, score!

    1. Cacturne

      Keep an eye on your femurs, people tend to walk out of Ruth’s room with those missing.

      It’s an amazing sight, seeing someone walk without femurs, though.

      1. JustCheetoDust

        Keep an eye on your femurs, people tend to walk out of Ruth’s room with those missing.

        She must have been lying the last time those were brought up.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Well… technically confiscating them and then discarding them might not count as collecting…

      2. Bad Monkey

        Here I’m just sitting here wondering how one can “walk out of Ruth’s room” with their femurs missing. Yeah. I’m dense.

        1. Bad Monkey

          AUGH. Grammar nerd moment. *they can OR *one’s femurs. Freaking pick one, woman. Sorry.

        2. ObiKemnebi

          Technically, that wasn’t grammatically incorrect, as “they” (and its derivitives, such as “their”) can be singular, so “one” is perfectly allowed to have “their” femurs. It looks weirder, but it’s not incorrect. English really needs to get a proper gender neutral pronoun; it would really solve an irritating number of issues…

    2. Historyman68

      Which cute ginger?

      1. DSL

        The one that’s about to snap.

  7. Anna

    I relate to carla so much right now,
    Your my best friend I can cope with you being emotional
    Total stranger, I can’t make it much worse
    Person I barely know and have to deal with again, no idea what to do

  8. Kris

    Carla has stock options?! She’s like 19!….I gotta get my life together. ö_ö

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      Her mom is like, an executive or something for the Ultra Car cartoon, right?

      1. Dana

        Rutan Technologies, I think.

        1. Cerberus

          Yeah, Carla’s parents are rich engineering types probably and definitely at least have a company named after them, so probably CEO or close to it. Class privilege is definitely one of the few privileges Carla has.

        2. Amazi-Stool

          Well, we know the answer in the other ‘verse!

        3. Opus the Poet

          Well in this ‘verse that would be Scaled Composites, and Daddy’s first name would be Burt. Nice guy, met him at Oshkosh ’91 I think it was. Had to be either that or ’95. those were the only times I was at the Fly-in.

      2. Orion Fury

        Serious or joke? ’cause if serious, I missed that plot thread. Or good job takin’ a piss on me.

        1. Clif

          Not her mother, her father. Who is also Joe’s dad.

  9. Betty Anne

    Me! Pick me! I’ll do it for a nickel! (I’ve heard that’s the going rate for moms.)

  10. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Isn’t there an app for ordering hugs now? Part of the “gig economy” thing?

    1. Thalass

      I hear there are hug cafes in some parts of the world. No euphemism either, just hugs.

  11. Wolf

    Dumbing of Triangle: DAY 9

    http://imgur.com/8G0KAyX

    Old strips now being ported: http://imgur.com/a/7FHYX

    1. Wolf

      Day 10, Actually.

    2. Emperor Norton

      Ruth is soooo ready for the hug there.

    3. Spencer

      Panel 5 Ruth can’t mask how much she wants the Carla Hugs.

  12. Saaaam

    *shoves counseling center pamphlets under Ruth’s door*

    1. TamiDOA

      This floor needs a full-time live-in counselor. And maybe some padded rooms and a pharmacist.

      1. Cerberus

        Carla does have something medicinal…

  13. TamiDOA

    Let’s all go ask Mary for a hug! 🙂

    1. inqntrol

      I think they’d rather hug a cactus.

      1. Some1

        and now the top 5 people most likely to cool down hug Mary from most to least likely

        6.Ruth
        5. Billie
        4. Carla
        3. Dina
        2. Becky
        1. Joyce.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          What, no Danny?

        2. JustCheetoDust

          There’s always the honorable mention.

        3. TamiDOA

          (Danny would do it for a nickel’s worth of stock options.)

        4. Amazi-Stool

          No Joe, also!
          (Hugging for him is the prelude to f…)

        5. Just Saying

          “Top 5″…presents a list of 6 people.

        6. Amazi-Stool

          The two most difficult problems in programming:
          1. Naming things
          2. Cache consistency
          3. Off-by-one errors

        7. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          +1 Internet

    2. TamiDOA

      If all the people Mary considers evil threaten to hug her, maybe Mary herself would demand to be moved to another floor/dorm.

      1. Some1

        everyone is in a massive battle, Mary has been working for Ross and has just undergone a villainous break down. Joyce drops her weapon, and offers to hug her. Mary accepts, but slowly pulls a knife out her pocket. Ruth tries to warn her, and Joyce looks in horror as Mary pulls out the knife….and throws it directly into Ross’s skull, right before he can kill Joyce. Mary then dies. *Cue dramatic music*

  14. Stephen R. Bierce

    Looks like somebody stole my copy of Rick Springfield’s “The Human Touch”. Nevvahmind.

    1. Vagabond J

      Darn you, Thief.

    2. fogel

      But not someone, right?

  15. Just Me

    Ruth’s eyes, they glow..aha! I knew she was a vampire!

    1. JessWitt

      Hey don’t jump to conclusions!

      She could also be a robot. Ask Carla, she’d know.

    2. Tacos

      Naw, she’s just training to learn how to shoot Death Lasers from her eyes. She’s almost figured it out by the looks of it.

    3. No Name

      Those are just her future-seeing laser-eyes. We saw those before.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        I know you’ve deceived me, now here’s a surprise
        I know that you have ’cause there’s magic in my eyes

  16. Rukduk

    Aw, this is how friendships form. Sorta.

  17. Vagabond J

    I didn’t know Carla invested in the stock market.

    Or she’s probably gonna give them bad options and convince them they’re good.

  18. Shiro

    1.) Carla’s family confirmed for SUPER RICH probably owns a corporation, and 2.) honey sweetie sugar child just MOVE HER TO A DIFFERENT FLOOR and then move her back in with you just like before, why is this not Smarting of Age?

    1. Rycan

      I think 2.) sorta answers itself.

    2. Orion Fury

      Because then everything would be perfect and we’d grow bored with it and leave and Willis’s babies would go hungry?

      Did I use proper possession there?

      1. Shiro

        Once, a friend wrote a fanfic so sad that I had to remake the characters in The Sims 3 and give them the happiest lives I could manage. I’m about getting to that point with DoA.

    3. Showler

      Carla is so rich she incorporated herself. She was offering shares in CarlaCo.

  19. Palamdrone

    Sorry Carla, your cheeks are too round and inviting to resist. There will be cuddles!

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Beware of inviting cheeks.

  20. caesaria82

    LMAO. This is very funny. I love Carla so much. And I know there’s something awful going on with Ruth and she is so very much NOT OKAY, but Carla’s delivery here is priceless. Bless.

    That said, oh Ruth, I am so worried about you.

  21. rachel

    oh my god MARRY ME CARLA (heart eyes emoji)

    1. Rycan

      She’d pay a stand-in to walk down the aisle, though.

      1. JustCheetoDust

        No proxy for the open bar, though.

  22. Tacos

    I’m not sure getting stock advice from a college student is the smartest thing to do. Unless Carla’s majoring in economics and stuffs I guess.

    1. Clif

      Um. You do realize that stock options and stock opinions are two different things, right?

      1. achallenger

        well played

  23. Some1

    What will probably happen: Carla and Ruth outsmart Mary and manage to get her expelled.

    What I really wish happens:

    Mary: Carla I am your daughter from the future!

    Billie: that really doesn’t make any sense.

    Mary: Wait, is this Joyce and Walky?

    Billie: No…Dumbing of Age

    Mary: dammit Im in the wrong friggin comic!

  24. Tomas

    FreeHugs dot murdercave

  25. captainswift

    Is there a word like “shipping” for non-romantic interactions? Like, “I want these two characters in scenes together forever”?

    1. Shiro

      Friendshipping!

    2. Tacos

      I think it’s called “friend-shipping.”

      1. Rycan

        Is that where you pack your friend in a crate and ship time to Timbuktu?

        1. Shiro

          No, this is the wrong universe for that.

        2. No Name

          I thought that was the Amazon.

        3. HMRC4EVR

          The web company, geographic location, or the Kamen Rider?

        4. Amazi-Stool

          geographic location!

        5. Opus the Poet

          Nope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3br0tDqW3r8

    3. StClair

      It sometimes really dismays me that this has to be asked. And that the default assumption for fandom seems to be that a close relationship means the participants are, or should be, having sex.

  26. Derek

    Carla was going to outsource a hug, I dunno if I approve but that’s definitely in character for her

    1. Orion Fury

      When in doubt, throw money at something to make something else happen?

      1. Clif

        Hey, it’s worked for Billie.

  27. Yotomoe

    Panel 1:
    Carla. That’s not at all what happened. Correlation does not imply causation. Mary was studying on her own and was being annoyed by you. And while it definitely escalated further than it needed to, reaching its apex at Mary misgendering you, this wasn’t Mary’s plan. She wasn’t USING Carla. She was mad at Carla, and Ruth happened to show up.

    Mary had dirt on Ruth before this incident happened. It just so happens that this is the confrontation where she decided to use it as a get out of jail free card. Carla is both overselling her involvement in this situation, as well as absolving herself of instigating the confrontation. I’m not saying what Mary did was right. I’m saying pretending Carla was just hanging out in the hall and Mary just walked up and started talking shit is highly inaccurate.

    Panel 4:
    Let’s be honest here. Carla guilt tripped Ruth hard as hell a while back.

    1. Uniqueantique

      Agree all points.

    2. Nev999

      Not touching the first one, but not sure what your point with the second one is. Yep, she guilt-tripped Ruth…for not doing her job. A perfectly logical thing to guilt trip someone over and an honest bad thing Ruth did.

      Ruth is worried she’s basically complaining to Carla for being a target of bigotry and thus making her decide to lose a relationship so she could actually do her job. Which is not a bad thing Carla did at all. So it’s logical to not want to guilt-trip someone over that.

      So I’m not sure how bringing up Carla guilt-tripping Ruth (by virtue of…being honest) for totally legitimate reasons is at all relevant here. It doesn’t mean Ruth has the right to guilt-trip Carla for existing.

      1. Yotomoe

        My point is, guilt tripping is kind of a shitty thing to do in general. I don’t particularly care for it, even if it’s “deserved”.
        Alternatively, Carla has no risk of being fired or penalized for fighting back against Mary. When she saw Ruth lash back at Mary and then get very visibly blackmailed, she still decided to make it all Ruth’s fault. She just stood there and watched Ruth get shit on and then twisted the knife, as if Ruth doesn’t have her own problems going on. It’d be one thing if Ruth just ignored Carla being persecuted. She made an immediate attempt to help her and got shut down. Carla’s taking it personally.

        1. Charles Phipps

          Uhm, what now? As far as Carla knows, Ruth is just the horrible bongo RA who threatens people with violence and does a shitty job making people feel happy and comfortable and safe in the dorm–even when there’s a shooting. She’s also someone who wanted her to beat on Mary rather than address it as far as she knows. Carla is now getting all of Ruth’s emotional baggage dumped on her and is too nice a person just to exit.

        2. Nev999

          Okay, so Carla shouldn’t have pointed out the obvious fact that people don’t tend to have trans people’s backs in the first place and she’s used to it? Carla didn’t say anything when she stopped by. Ruth was the one who initiated talking about it and basically blamed Carla for being misgendered and then, even after realizing that was wrong, started trying to justify herself.

          Carla stated a fact. “Don’t worry about me, I don’t expect support.” She communicated she was let down and was used to being let down. I was being generous before, but calling that a guilt trip or saying “reasons don’t matter” ignores…a lot of nuance to that situation. Carla has every right to take it personally.

          Ruth is the RA here, it’s her responsibility to do her job, how on Earth is it Carla’s problem that she broke a rule and now she’s so afraid of losing her job she won’t do it? Ruth having problems just means she should give the job to someone else who CAN do it.

          Not to mention Carla made it pretty clear she’s only now understanding what Mary was saying and she already said she wasn’t listening (and though she says it was because of disdain for Mary, I imagine it was more likely she was experiencing emotional turmoil).

        3. Nev999

          (Also, note I do have a lot of sympathy for Ruth and her situation, but it’s still true she’s not doing her job, pointing that out is a not a bad thing and expecting Carla not to say anything about it or be hurt is unfair).

        4. Yotomoe

          Alright, I concede that. I’m not gonna take my opinion back though. Even with all of this in place, it’s a shitty thing to do,at least from my perspective. I would probably never say anything like that to someone who attempted to stand up for me, even if they ended up backing down, especially if it’s because they got talked down by a more realistic threat. It’s such a self important attitude to act as if it’s someone else’s job to make sure no one says anything hurtful to me. Sure, Ruth SHOULD have talked Mary down. I’m sure being RA means you should solve conflicts and make sure people aren’t being totally awful. However, if one of them tried and failed I’d probably ask more questions about their situation. Making someone feel shitty for backing down out of self preservation is a bit selfish, imho.

          Ruth’s a shitty RA in a lot of ways, don’t get me wrong. And Mary’s a shit. But Carla bugs me because she’s also a terrible person just like everyone else but we’re forced to gleam over it. I don’t like how Carla handled that situation any more than the other two. I find it rude and unfair to Ruth. And I doubt you’re even denying that. But we have to emphasize how blameless Carla is by putting that storyline under the assumption that Carla is justified.
          Her actions are understandable, sure. But I don’t agree with them, and it’s the most annoying aspect of her character (And keep in mind that Carla’s one of my favorite characters).

        5. Shiro

          Okay, I’m far too tired to touch any of the rest of this, but…

          “It’s such a self important attitude to act as if it’s someone else’s job to make sure no one says anything hurtful to me.”

          It’s not just hurtful, it’s hate speech. Ruth is employed as an agent of the school, and it literally is her job to make sure the students under her authority aren’t doing that. It’s not self-important to expect that of her.

        6. Yotomoe

          Fair enough. Hate Speech is shitty. I’m not particularly affected by it (I guess I’m just not as bothered by it as other people). It is literally her job to make sure people aren’t doing that. Personally I feel privileged to have anyone try to defend me. I don’t really expect much.

        7. trlkly

          Why the fuck does how you feel have any relevance? It’s about other people, not you. Hate speech doesn’t bother me either. But I know it bothers others, and thus it is immoral for me not to stand up for those people when I see it.

        8. Spencer

          Well that’s just uncalled for. It’s a forum, trlkly. Yotomoe’s allowed to share his view.

          And to be frank, it is super douchey to just assume that people have no experience with hate spech.

        9. Cerberus

          All of this.

          In the comic where she’s supposedly guilt-tripping Ruth:
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/antagonize/

          She doesn’t open up the conversation and only says what she does when Ruth decides to deal with the turmoil she’s feeling from being blackmailed by blaming Carla for “antagonizing” Mary, essentially victim-blaming her after she’s just been slammed with some nasty transphobia.

          Which, yeah, Carla should have snapped back at that, because victim-blaming is a really shitty thing to do to someone that makes things really worse.

          She then notes that the expectation that to receive humanity she should have to be perfect is unfair. Which is just a simple statement that implies no fault on Ruth’s part.

          Ruth then counters by guilt-tripping herself, beating herself up about “failing Carla”. Carla then counters that by straight up letting her off the hook, going, hey whatever, that’s all on you, I’m used to this shit so don’t do me no special favors.

          Which isn’t guilt-tripping, it’s actually letting her off the hook, just letting her know the reality of Carla’s experiences. That this is normal. Ruth is the one to take that to heart because learning about that wonderfully awesome aspect of trans life shook her up.

          Hell, Carla has been pretty consistent about deflecting people’s attempts to guilt-trip themselves on her behalf, either dismissing it or distracting into a different conversation. It’s kind of clear she’s had a number of people promise to be there for her and not be and then apologize and beat themselves up afterwards but still never come out and physically support them.

          She’s learned how to rely on herself and no one else and that’s become part of her identity and where she stores her pride. In her mind, victims need someone else to step up and protect them, and she has refused to be a victim anymore.

          So yeah, not actually sure what Yotomoe is seeing on the guilt-tripping point (not to say Carla is flawless, she’s definitely not good at comforting people in their pain, shies away from emotionally intense conversations by making jokes, and so on…)

        10. transgressingwaffle

          Incredibly well put!

    3. Spencer

      I think Carla is just referring to what happened in a general sense, rather than putting herself in the center of it, because as you stated, Carla did start it. If the point of that sequence was “Carla is an innocent wacky free spirit pixie” then it changes the message from “misgendering is fundamentally unacceptable regardless of circumstances” to “misgendering is only bad as long as they don’t deserve it.” Carla was being an annoying jerk, because she’s Carla and Carla is an annoying jerk, and I feel taking that away from her does her character a disservice, so I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.

      As for the second part, it is Ruth’s job to do something, at the very least she needs to report Mary to an authority and get them to sort this shit out. It’s just that after making a big show of being Big Bad Ruthless she immediately caves over stuff Carla has no idea about, and then Ruth abandons her there right next to Mary with a line about how “I hope someone else takes care of you.” Carla’s anger at Ruth over that, I feel, is perfectly justified, and it’s almost certain something she’s dealt with before. Carla doesn’t actually know that Ruth had a reason to back down, and just figured it was just another example of someone deciding Carla isn’t enough of a person to defend from hate speech.

    4. trlkly

      Yotamoe, you just described what Mary did. And yet you say that Carla instigated the confrontation. As you said, Mary went up to Carla and demanded that she stop. She did so in a way designed to create confrontation. And Carla rightfully responded by not giving her what she wanted, since she was being an asshole. Mary instigated the confrontation.

      Sure, Carla could have been the better person and ended it. She could have tried to work out something with Mary. But Carla’s whole arc int the comic has been about how she isn’t perfect, and that’s okay!

      What bothers me is that you say you like Carla, but you refuse to try and understand her as anything but some sort of horrible asshole. There are so are so many other ways you could choose to look at the situation, and you choose the one that makes her horrible.

      Rather than seeing her as she’s portrayed–someone who puts up a bongo-y exterior because she’s been hurt too often, you see her as someone who is deliberately trying to hurt other people. She starts the confrontation with Mary, even though Mary is the one who confronted her. She’s “guilt tripping” Ruth, not expressing her very understandable dismay that Mary got away. And her casual summary is her trying to absolve herself of any guilt.

      And despite the comic flat out saying that Carla is an asshole (even though I would argue that’s an exaggeration–she’s a lovable brat), and saying she’s not going to be perfect, you think the comic is saying that she is perfect and never does anything wrong.

      And despite the fact that it’s clear we’re finding out she’s got a heart of gold, you continue to only want to find fault with her. If this is what you do to your favorite character, I’d hate to see what you do to someone you dislike.

      1. Yotomoe

        I avoided coming back because honestly, I don’t like arguing in comments. Especially because I know that if I’m arguing any point I make, It usually means I’m going to be thoroughly outnumbered and that’s not fun.

        But I’ll say this.
        I don’t think Carla is shown to be perfect. It’s one of my favorite things about her. I love that she’s, for the most part, an unapologetic asshole. I feel that’s her character’s strength. I don’t think of Carla as someone who “Deliberately tries to hurt other people”. I see Carla as a character who in this specific situation isn’t completely innocent either. And that makes people mad. I’m not supposed to call attention to Carla and Mary being a confrontation started mutually(I’m not implying it takes away from the climax but leaving that out doesn’t help either). And if I think Carla is being WAY too hard on Ruth people get upset. There’s very little leeway and it makes these moments much more annoying to me because I feel like I’m supposed to NOT find fault her actions.

        I find what Carla says in the first panel of this comic wholly untrue. And I have a pet peeve for the bending of information and perspective as a way to assist the victim. Because it’s still lying. Even if Mary’s still in the wrong (oh and trust me, she is), Carla’s own assessment of the situation is not accurate to the events that took place. I’m simply calling bullshit. Honestly, half the stuff I complained about doesn’t even bother me as much as that aspect of it.

        I don’t “want to find fault with her”. I find fault with certain aspects and then have to fight through a torrent of people hating me because I have the “wrong opinion”. It’s just an example of a lack of nuance that I have a distaste for.

  28. Cholma

    Carla knows that if she hugs Ruth, a new ship would launch and no iceberg in the ‘verse would be able to sink it!

  29. Rycan

    Carla knows how to delegate emotions.

  30. Ryan

    But who will Carla hug in order to get the stock options?

  31. Tandel

    Thinking about it, I am curious about Carla’s parentage considering who it was in the last continuity. Maybe she will be our bridge into sci-fi, and she still is their child from an alternate this comic future for a spin off series, Dumbing of Age: Forever Dumb.

    1. John

      My theory which I invented just now: Carla is actually Ruth and Billie’s secret lesbian baby, and she’s come back in time to make sure her moms get together so she can be born.

      I mean, seriously, look at her. Tell me that’s not what you’d get if Billie and Ruth had a daughter.

      1. Charles Phipps

        My theory is she’s someone Joe based Ultracar’s female body on.

      2. Wublub

        Well, let’s see. Billie and Carla both try to use money to make people feel better. (“Joyce, let me buy you these clothes.” “Don’t worry, Ruth, I’ll pay somebody to hug you.”) They both have ponytails and glasses and are both pretty athletic. They’re both sarcastic and like gingersnaps.

        …

        Yeah, I think Carla could be Billie’s baby.

        1. thejeff

          I read them very differently, despite some similarities. Billie uses the money to try to buy friends or to placate people for blowing them off. Carla’s using it here to deflect suspicion she’s not the asshole she’s supposed to be.
          At least as I read it, that was a real offer of a hug. It’s only when when Ruth questioned it that she pulled back “Oh no, not from me of course. Ha Ha.”
          Because Carla makes a lousy asshole.

    2. fogel

      Everybody else has the same parents, yes?
      I recall Joe and Rachel being pretty good parents in helping UC’s transition. I wonder if Carla’s parents are equally so, supportive parents being in such short supply in this universe.

      1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        They’d apparently build the Ultracar from the cartoon for her if she asked for it, so yeah, probably pretty damn supportive.

  32. dailybrad

    I am just picturing Carla leading a girl back to the room, and Ruth still has no pants on
    Girl: “Gonna need more than a 5 if “hug” is a euphemism, pal”

    1. Rycan

      Five dollars only gets you a five minute hug.

      1. Skizz

        Hell, I give em away.

      2. JustCheetoDust

        For just a hug? Portland (with its $60/hour spooning industry) laughs at this.

        1. StClair

          spooning industry?
          1. I can see it, actually.
          2. Learn something new every day…

        2. Dana

          Portland is kind of like New Orleans except instead of a church and a bar on every corner it’s a bookstore and a strip club.

  33. Zayar

    Carla is officially the best.

  34. JessWitt

    Billie is Ruth’s small ray of happiness: Confirmed.

  35. Uniqueantique

    Carla is a sociopath isn’t she? Couldn’t possibly be this self-centered (and not just with Ruth, so far with anyone she ‘runs’ into), and be just another entitled kid or something.
    Gotta match up to all the rest of DoA, so sociopath sounds about right.

    As to Ruth, she is on the path up I think. She is detoxing. She is admitting how much she needs Billie. Both of these are awfully hard to face alone.

    1. Shiro

      No, she’s just tough and quippy and still kind of pissed at Ruth, understandably. Not everyone is good at the showing sympathy thing, doesn’t mean they’re not capable of it.

    2. Charles Phipps

      Honestly, the issue is Ruth isn’t her friend. She doesn’t like Ruth but Ruth is having an emotional collapse and unfortunately poor Carla is left to pick up the pieces. To say this is an awkward situation dumped in her lap is terrible. Say, for example, if the bully you hated in high school was contemplating suicide and you ended up being talked to him during said moment. Yeesh.

    3. Spencer

      For starters, that’s not what sociopath means and we need to stop using it as a shorthand for Evil Jerk Person.

      Second, Carla has frequently shown empathy over the course of the series, almost as much as she acts like a wacky butthole. That she’s having this conversation with someone who let her down should speak to that.

      1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        Thank you for those statements.

    4. trlkly

      No. Mike is the sociopath of the comic.

      You seem to be taking Carla way too literally. Carla is cracking jokes in order to lighten a heavy situation. She is being compassionate, albeit in a clumsy way. And she would have given Ruth a hug if she needed it.

      And I will again point out that there are only two people with mental illness in this comic (3 if you include Mike as being in this comic). Ruth has depression. And Amber has a whole host of issues: PTSD, compartmentalization disorder/DID, depression, anger management issues, probably an attachment disorder, social anxiety, and probably more I can’t think of.

      Mike, if he were a real character and not just a plot device, would probably have anti-social personality disorder. But it’s hard to tell without him being fleshed out.

      1. Tunasammich

        I know a few people who don’t like to be hugged or touched, when I read this I assumed Ruth knew this about Carla and the offer to get someone else to hug her was her way of commiserating through humor. I agree with you, I’m surprised everyone thought she was being a jerk.

  36. Skizz

    Stock Options? What do we know about Carla’s family? Are they, perhaps, wealthy car manufacturers with an interest in new technologies?

    1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

      Apparently they’re engineers that are as close as you can get to Walkyverse Joe in terms of skill level without the comic becoming sci-fi.

  37. Tenzhi

    I think stocking options might be the way to go.

  38. TamiDOA

    Ruth must be really rung out to let her guard down by confiding in someone she doesn’t know she can trust. Carla, on the other hand, never seems to let her guard down even when stressed or angry. Probably due to all people like Mary she’s encountered.

    1. DarkoNeko

      As pointed yesterday, the cat was pretty much out of the bag the day prior so…

    2. Charles Phipps

      Ruth doesn’t actually have a guard, which is part of the problems of depression. You can and do lose it in the worst possible times.

      1. TamiDOA

        A lot of Ruth’s abrasive bluster is her guard. Threaten their femurs and they’ll never notice your weak spots.

        You’re right about depression and losing your guard. I call them “blue avalanches”. They can cause anyone in the vicinity, even total strangers, to be buried in an outpouring of things they don’t want or need to know. Carla’s risked being sucked in, but her guard kicked in in the last panel.

  39. DarkoNeko

    Stock options, uh.

  40. Teddae

    stock options for a hug? count me in!

  41. Charles Phipps

    Poor Carla. She doesn’t like Ruth (in all likelihood), thinks she’s a shitty RA, and also knows she threatens people with violence or wants her to do violence (Ruth wanting Carla to beat up on Mary even though that isn’t Carla’s bag). Then she reluctantly brings Ruth some cookies in exchange for a bribe and suddenly is the only person standing in the way of a suicide. It’s beyond awkward.

  42. jy3

    I think this is the first time a comic has reminded me to check my portfolio.

  43. Willoughby Chase

    Just hug her, goddamnit

  44. Coco Pommel

    Carla is quickly becoming my favorite side character.

    1. Osopescado

      +

  45. Osopescado

    Hahahaha that was supposed to be +1

    1. Osopescado

      SHIT >.> …. That was supposed to be a reply to the post above where I already replied. I’m doing great tonight, go me.

  46. Charles Phipps

    “Well, I already have my own room but Becky needs one and I’d rather not have to share mine with her so if you could go ahead and die then it’d be convenient for us all.” – Carla if she was a sociopath.

    As is, she’s not.

    1. Dana

      Nah, that’s too much empathy for Becky.

  47. Needfuldoer

    Carla doesn’t care.

  48. DarkoNeko

    me doeth think Carla protest too much.

    “me ? I kinda offered a hug, but if you say I don’t have too, sure, I’ll say I’d have had someone else do it. Of course I didn’t offer anything, I hate everyone. Yes Ma’am.”

    1. thejeff

      Exactly. That’s definitely walking back a real offer.

  49. Sigurther

    Geeze, that irises through the bangs thing is disconcerting.

    1. DarkoNeko

      Makes her look like a litteral démon.

  50. Lord of the Realm

    I find it increasingly hard to believe that this person would freeze up at misgendering and need someone else to fight her battles. Or that she’s supposed to be sympathized with for that matter.
    Trans or not, Carla is simply not a very endearing person. But you’d think she’d be perfectly capable of dealing with a little bigoted girl herself after she’s been antagonizing her for a while now.
    But then it was really just a plot device to make Ruth aware of Becky anyway.

    1. thejeff

      And by “antagonizing her for a while now”, you mean “skating in the halls, like she always does”, right? Was it secretly to antagonize Mary all along?

      1. Lord of the Realm

        Even Ruth called Carla out on directly antagonizing Mary, it was right after the incident, pull the other one.

        1. thejeff

          Yeah, and that was bullshit. Carla calls her on it in that very strip and Ruth agrees: “Yeah. Okay. You’re right.”

          Carla can be annoying. She doesn’t have to be the “perfect girl” to be sympathized with. That’s a huge part of the point of this sequence.

        2. Charles Phipps

          Carla antagonizes and annoys people all the damn time. Mary responded with hate speech and shes a terrible person. Carla was still trying to disrupt and annoy Mary because, well, she’s a self-styled asshole. Which doesn’t in any way shape or form make what happened to her justified.

      2. Matt

        Ya even after rereading the incident a few times Carla really doesn’t get a lot of sympathy. Sure mary is a terrible human in general. But Carla does get act like an ass and and break rules for the sake of just being an ass.

      3. John

        It started off innocent, but at the point where Carla’s response to Mary complaining was not to flip her a triple bird and take it outside, but to do it harder, it became deliberately antagonizing her. Not that that excuses Mary’s response.

        1. Spencer

          This, and doubly This to the last sentence.

          There is a middle ground between “Carla is a blameless perfect angel who did no wrong” and “Carla wasn’t a perfect contrite victim so that means she’s fair game for hate speech.”

        2. thejeff

          It’s also worth remembering that Mary’s response from the very beginning was likely influenced by her prejudice. And that Mary escalated easily as much as Carla did.

        3. trlkly

          NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          Carla’s response was the correct one. If you read the read the sequence without prejudice, you see that Mary makes an assholish demand of Carla. Carla doesn’t acquiesce.

          If someone is a jerk to you and demands you stop something, you have absolutely no obligation to do what they want. In fact, it is often better to not do what they want, so you don’t wind up enabling assholish behavior.

          This is what pisses me off more than anything. For some reason, you guys think she should have to bow down to Mary, no matter how big an ass she is.

          It’s been shown repeatedly that what Carla was doing wasn’t loud. All Mary had to do was turn on some music or something and she wouldn’t hear it. No one thinks well of the one person who demands everyone in the college be quiet for her.

          Mary was an ass, but Carla has to be the perfect girl and acquiesce to the asshole’s demands. Or else she’s horrible.

          Nevermind that we see how she responds when someone isn’t a jerk to her. That’s irrelevant.

        4. Charles Phipps

          “It’s been shown repeatedly that what Carla was doing wasn’t loud.” No it wasn’t. I think it was pretty clear Carla was also doing it to be annoying rather than just skating. It’s just it was to Mary, which is like being annoying to well….the crazy mean bigot.

        5. thejeff

          It’s pretty clear that in the beginning Carla was doing it for exactly the reason she said “New skates!”.
          Once Mary confronted her, it’s arguable whether Carla just continued doing what she’d been doing before or whether her motivation changed to trying to annoy Mary. The hopping was definitely to annoy Mary, but by that time Mary had done real damage, ruining the skates she’d been so excited about getting. Sure Carla could have backed down at any stage, but so could Mary.
          It’s also worth noting that Carla’s always been on skates, except when they were broken. It’s nothing new and no one else seemed to have a huge problem with it.

          And that as I said earlier, Mary’s reactions to Carla were certainly shaped by her bigotry, long before she actually used the specific transphobic attack.

        6. Charles Phipps

          Ehhh, any suggestions for talking about the scenario which doesn’t in any way involve Mary or transphobia? I grew up victimized by fundamentalists and while am a Christian themed theist, have no fondness for Mary or her bigotry. I do, however, think Carla would be annoying as hell in RL because I’ve often dealt with people who think they’re incredibly fun and entertaining but ruin your day. It may simply be you can’t separate the transphobia from the incident, though, in which case I should just drop it.

        7. thejeff

          It’s difficult to talk about a scenario involving a transperson and a bigot without involving transphobia, just like it’s difficult to talk about a situation involving a black person and a racist that don’t in any way involve racism. It’s part of the scenario. Deal with it.

          That said, I made several points in that post that had nothing to do with transphobia. Starting with “New skates!” and also pointing out that Carla is known to always be on skates without that seeming to cause problems for anyone else.

        8. Charles Phipps

          Yeah, it’s the case of Mary’s bigotry being the fact it’s an unpleasant awful person who should not even be in this school being the person who unfortunately is the one who was being harassed. If you say, “NEW SKATES” and Mary asked her to be gone which Carla is like, “Ehhh, no!” To which I think is not appropriate in a respectful environment. Unfortunately, any issue is complicated by the fact Mary is a vile person so it’s not a hill I want to die on.

        9. Charles Phipps

          So yeah, I suppose being concerned about the fact I really-really hated my loud and disrespectful roommates in college when there’s issues of transphobia is caring about the grass on the grassy knoll being overgrown.

        10. thejeff

          You may also be taking Carla’s behavior as worse than it was, since it reminds you of your loud and disrespectful roommates.
          Don’t get me wrong, there’s no doubt that Carla isn’t a quiet, polite, respectful person. She tries to maintain a reputation as an asshole, but near as I can tell isn’t actually very good at it. To quote from the start of the Whiteboard Dingdong bandit sequence “Sometimes we forget you’re an asshole”.
          My original point here is that her skating in the hall was at first not intended as harassment of Mary or anyone else. She was just excited about New Skates! When Mary came out and was a jerk about it, it’s hard to say whether Carla just ignored her or started trying to deliberately annoy her. From then on, both of them escalated – which, I suspect, doesn’t match the situation with you and your roommates.

        11. Charles Phipps

          Point taken and conceded.

        12. John

          I have to question your definition of “without prejudice”. “With prejudice, just for the other side,” is not “without prejudice”. I also really don’t appreciate your implication that anyone who disagrees with you can only be doing so because they’re a transphobic bigot.

          And just because one side is wrong doesn’t mean that the other side is automatically perfectly in the right.

          Carla shouldn’t have been skating in the hallway to begin with. Not because of the noise, which is pretty negligible. Not because she’s trans, which I don’t give a damn about. Because it’s not safe. We’ve already seen Carla almost run into people because they were doing stupid shit on the public walkways and not paying attention to traffic. On a public walkway, I’d say that’s on them, but Carla’s floormates should not be expected to have to look both ways before they step out of their rooms or risk being the next contestant on Involuntary Roller Derby.

          Mary was perfectly in the right to ask Carla to stop, and she wasn’t even particularly rude about it.

          Carla at that point should have gone outside, where roller-skating is appropriate. If it had been anyone else asking her, I’d say she should’ve at least tossed off a half-assed apology on the way out, but it’s Mary, so flipping her off just on general principles would be perfectly acceptable. But she should be doing it on her way outside.

          Instead she decided to escalate her unsafe rule-breaking activity specifically to annoy Mary. While a laudable goal, her method of doing it put her squarely in the wrong.

          At that point, Mary should have gone to report it to appropriate authority, either Ruth, or since she had good reason to believe Ruth wouldn’t do anything about it, further up the chain of command. Instead, she took it upon herself to try to physically prevent Carla from skating, further endangering both of them in the process, which put Mary also squarely in the wrong, and guilty of escalating the situation.

          Carla’s response to that at least didn’t escalate matters any further, but she didn’t de-escalate, either.

          And then Mary escalated further to not just rule-breaking but law-breaking with destruction of property and a real chance of personal injury, which made her way, way more wrong than Carla ever was, and that’s even before the bigoted remarks came into play. And then she topped it off with a blackmail cherry. But that still doesn’t mean that Carla was in the right.

        13. John

          I’ll also add: Mary is a bad person. Carla is not. But believing that that makes everything Carla does automatically good, and everything Mary does automatically bad, is exactly the kind of thinking that makes Mary a bad person. Just flipped the other way around.

        14. Kamino Neko

          Literally nobody is claiming everything Carla does is good.

          They’re just calling bullshit on the idea she was violating any noise rules (until the stomping after Mary gummed up her skates) or harassing Mary.

    2. squiggles

      I don’t know, have you ever experienced dysphoria? When it comes at you suddenly, even if you’re tough, it can be very stunning.

    3. Spencer

      Hating Carla for being an annoying butthole is okay.

      It’s just, y’know, being an annoying butthole doesn’t suddenly mean all the bets are off and she deserves to have hate speech leveled at her.

  51. Untes

    Carla, still the worst.

  52. Tomas

    Egad, is Ruth being tsundere in panel 5?

  53. Eric

    So I’m always gonna love Dina the Dinosaur Girl cause I love dinosaurs myself and have ever since I was a kid, but Carla is becoming a close second with this arc.

  54. FMan

    Is Carla supposed to be the ‘lovable asshole’ character? Because if so, you might want to up the ‘lovable’ part.

    1. Spencer

      Carla, like all the characters in the series, is what you make of her.

    2. trlkly

      Yes. And if you choose to see her as an asshole, that’s on you. I’ve already went over how she’s not actually an asshole so many times that I won’t bother again.

      She’s a brat. And she’s quite lovable. You liked Simba in the Lion King, right? He was a bigger brat.

      1. Charles Phipps

        Actually, I thought Simba was a jackass I didn’t much care for until he matured out of that stage. I enjoy Carla as a character but she’d be insufferable to be around in real life. Sort of like the majority of interesting characters in fiction. Carla is a great fun character but she’s like House. I’d go to another hospital to avoid him.

      2. thejeff

        Carla is sad. More mindshare lost. More people who don’t know she’s an asshole.

  55. Deanatay

    “Hey, Billie, got a sec? Yeah. Thing is, i think Ruth, like, needs a hug, and I got five bucks – ”
    *Billie runs off towards Ruth’s room*
    ” – that I’ll keep for myself, thank you!”

    1. Moonshine McGee

      “How do you know she needs a hug?”

      “Well, it looked like she was going to shoot lasers out of her eyes.”

  56. Martin Smith

    Oh hey, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen the term “fiver” used in American fiction. I approve of this greatly.

    1. Deanatay

      Clearly, you don’t read enough American fiction. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

  57. heyman

    Fiverr dotcom!

  58. HMRC4EVR

    I wonder if the solution to where Becky is going to live when she gets back is she ends up rooming with Carla since she’s in a room by herself?

    Seems like the easiest solution

    1. Charles Phipps

      Albeit, that will have the problem of the fact Becky is probably incredibly ignorant of things like transgenderism as she doesn’t even know bisexuals exist.

  59. BrokenEye, The True False Prophet

    Wait… stock options in what?

    1. Ana Chronistic

      gift cards

  60. LimeSheep

    ruths jumbled mass of manipulative personality traits and legitimate breakdown is no match for carlas indifference!

    also this whole conversation is really really weirding me out

  61. trlkly

    And with that last comment of “You want a hug or somethin’,” Carla now has a voice in my head.

  62. Carms

    Haha Carla. I like her.

  63. Eldritch

    Can Carla please get at least one redeeming quality? I struggle to sympathise with her as it is, even though I’m supposed to. The only real quality she has is that she’s a jackass, and that makes it difficult to side with her on anything. Not siding with Mary either, but If they started ripping lumps out of each other I wouldn’t give a damn.

    1. Zatar

      You mean like the redeeming qualities she’s clearly showing in this scene?

  64. RandomRedMage

    carla is one of my favorites lately.

  65. Cerberus

    It’s a lot of the threads above that make me say that I think Carla is becoming the next queer redhead to get the comment section Becky treatment.

    By that, I mean, receiving a disproportionate amount of hate that seems to oddly increase in comics where she’s actually not doing anything objectionable and accused of things that are the exact opposite of her current arc in comic.

    With Becky, we had no shortage of “look how selfish Becky is” comments when she was in the midst of literally sacrificing herself to save the lives of others in comic. With Carla, we have a rash of “does she have no redeeming qualities” and “look how she’s just dumping her shit on Ruth” when she’s in the midst of deliberately not seeking aid or comfort for having faced hate speech and has let others completely off for helping her and instead being the first external emotional support Ruth has gotten from someone she isn’t alternately fucking/cursing out.

    And while everyone may have their personal reasons for it, I can’t help but notice that its queer characters who have recently been victimized who usually get the torrent of bullshit shortly after. And that fits into an overall culture of victim-blaming and demands for perfect victims that leads to shit like the Jian Ghomeshi court case and whatnot.

    And that’s somewhat frustrating not just because I really like Carla and Becky as characters and identify with them, but because Carla’s recent arc is all about how trans people are expected to be perfect victims or survivors to be granted humanity. That they can’t be snarky or upset or seek help or really much of anything without being blamed for their own victimization and looked down upon.

    And those making some of these comments don’t seem to realize that they are fully demonstrating her point. And that shit like that explains way more about the way she is than anything else.

    1. Flax

      Carla’s a good deal more casual than Becky, though. I see her causing less extroverted things than going through the hall declaring her sexuality. And yeah, rollerblading counts in my book. She seems more chilled about matters in general, & doesn’t remind me of Walky sans the novelty.

      Its the sexual minorities getting the flak in the comic though because of dogmatic authoritarians as well, as we all know. This is the true defining characteristic amongst them. Which is why I feel Raidah’s the next antagonist, been a while since we’ve seen her.

      Now, to the important question: Is Carla from overseas? Because I have never heard of an american say ‘fiver’ unless they’ve been living over here.

      1. Cerberus

        My personal theory is that she was a BBC addict growing up and so her speech is littered with britishisms despite growing up in the States.

  66. Sammael

    I’d give Ruth a hug.
    I’d just need to get my cat bathing armor first.

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