167

Sad feelings
Posted on March 12, 2022 by David M Willis

167 thoughts on “Sad feelings”

  1. Kyrik Michalowski

    Walky, do you have no spine?

    1. Nevermaker

      When it comes to Dealing With Emotions™️, no, no he very much does not.

    2. Thag Simmons

      not if he can help it

      1. Clif

        The power of emotions is stronger than chicken nuggets.

    3. Alaric

      He tries very hard NOT to have a spine. Occasionally, he discovers, to his horror, that he actually DOES have a bit of one, but he does his best to forget that fact later.

      1. Spencer

        Yeah, the series is full of that kind of character.

        If you’re not Joyce, Dina or Danny, you’re probably some degree of emotionally constipated.

        1. Prince Mech

          Joyce and Danny are *also* emotionally constipated though.

        2. Spencer

          Are they? Joyce is pretty upfront about her emotions, it’s her specific status quo she felt the need to keep under wraps.

          And Danny knows how to lie about his feelings about as much as a golden retriever after you’ve been gone an hour.

  2. Ana Chronistic

    *now pondering the effectiveness of crying girls as perimeter security*

    1. Doctor_Who

      Imagine the chaos if every bouncer at a club was partnered with a girl who starts sobbing if you cause any trouble.

      One intimidates you physically, the other makes you feel horrible emotionally. Everyone would be on their best behavior as the alternative is their brains oscillate between extremes until they are fetal on the ground.

      1. davidbreslin101

        “Rory! She’s having an emotion!”

      2. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Neat idea, but there are serious doubts that the assholes who cause trouble at clubs have any appreciation for the emotions of those around them.

      3. Mturtle7

        When you put it that way, this actually sounds like a really good replacement for the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” routine as an interrogation tactic. All we need is an equally catchy name for it! “Bad Cop, Crying Girl Cop”? “Muscles Cop, Feelings Cop”? Someone help me out here.

    2. Sirksome

      How would you keep them crying all the time though? I feel like the logistics of that wouldn’t be worth the benefit. Not to mention the bad optics of justifying, keeping women in emotional distress for long periods of time just for security.

      1. FaerwenOfValenwood

        hire actors!

        source: am struggling actor, can cry on command

      2. Delicious Taffy

        Onions. Powerful onions. In their hoodies.

      3. Mturtle7

        Maybe just have a subtle water-drip device in order to fake the crying?

    3. Pilgrim

      Yeah, no. The sorts of persons that would attract would be far worse than the sorts of persons that would repel.

      1. Morleuca

        What about clove oil dabbed onto their lower eyelids?

      2. Ana Chronistic

        so your answer is “not effective”

        fair enough

  3. Doctor_Who

    If we put up posters of people having feelings at all the less healthy dining establishments on campus, we can create a Pavlovian response. Walky will soon have a body to make Joe and Jacob green with envy.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      That’ll only work for so long, and what is to stop him from just geting it delievered?

      1. Doctor_Who

        Campus meal plan food can be delivered? If so, man was I young at the wrong damn time.

        1. Madock345

          Some campuses have these little robots, like a wheeled cooler that drives itself around. They can bring you food.

        2. Bicycle Bill

          You mean like this poor little guy?
          Autonomous food delivery pod at Oregon State University meets fiery end under train

        3. Bicycle Bill

          GRRR… let’s try that again.
          Autonomous food delivery pod at OSU meets fiery end under train

        4. Bicycle Bill

          Well, shit.  Just Google it, OK?

        5. not someone else

          Looks like the issue is the word in the subreddit name getting autoreplaced.

        6. Bicycle Bill

          I believe you’re right.  I forgot about the ‘bongo’ filter, and even if I had remembered it I would have figured that when the offending word was part of a cut-and-pasted URL the filter wouldn’t mess with it.

          Now we know.

        7. Needfuldoer

          If you un-replace the offending word in the address bar after clicking the link, it works.

          That said, was that shot by a crow waiting for the free pizza inside? Say no to vertical video. Press F for the food robot.

        8. ValdVin

          Wait, there’s a subreddit for Mitford, CT?

          (I’ve seen that get scrubbed in an email filter.)

      2. Thag Simmons

        Make the delivery process awkward and emotional too

  4. Sirksome

    Hmmm. They dated once.

    1. Kim

      I was thinking the same thing! They were actually reslly emotionally availible with eachother </3
      Thought he’d chose to be there for her this time too. Dissapoint

      1. zee

        Last time he tried to talk to her she volunteered to get mauled by Dina so hard it destroyed her overalls just to get out of it. Shes made it pretty damn clear she doesn’t want to talk to him and it’d honestly be weird if walky kept trying

      2. seregiel

        I mean, if it’s talking about Mike that made her cry just introducing her to Booster put her in oh this is Mike’s replacement mode… and the fact he is with Lucy and has had a whole 2 girlfriends before – the first he couldn’t emotion with and Ambs who he over emotions with… kind makes sense to me. He and Danny basically averaged out with him being slightly more aware and Danny being slightly more avoidant after the whole mike thing.

    2. Mturtle7

      Thank you for reminding me why he’s so much more affected by Sad Amber than Sad Ethan!

  5. Stephen Bierce

    Does Doordash deliver to Garbage Roof?

    1. Sirksome

      Probably depends on the driver. “Meet me on the roof” is going a bit beyond what most are willing. Maybe if you tipped or something?

      1. Needfuldoer

        Maybe they’re a discus thrower.

    2. Azhrei Vep

      As a part-time DoorDash Driver myself … not unless there’s a hefty tip upfront on the order. If I want to make anything decent, I can’t be wasting time. And that’s without getting into the potential risk, because that sound sketchy as heck.

  6. Thag Simmons

    strategic retreat!

  7. BBCC

    He’s upholding his family values!

    Those values are ‘refuse to discuss feelings and retreat’.

    1. newlland(Henryvolt)

      It was a good thing that was cut short but hey what could be done about it? Sometimes life do be like that.

      1. newlland(Henryvolt)

        Oops I was trying to reply to Yoto below me.

  8. Yotomoe

    I know Walky’s got Lucy now but fuck it I still ship him with Amber.

    1. Sporky

      I kind of feel like he only started going out with Lucy because it’s convenient for him, not because he was really interested in her. Like, clearly he doesn’t think there’s anything WRONG with her and even probably thinks she’s cute, but I feel like if he actually was into her, it would be pretty obvious.

      Which sucks a lot for Lucy, so for her sake I kinda hope this works out, but I also think Walky and Amber is the ship I like more.

      1. EpochFlame

        yeah, feel pretty much the same. amber and walky bounced off each other quite well

      2. Yotomoe

        He’s going out with Lucy for the same reason Scott Pilgrim dated Knives. It was easy and convenient. Social inertia.

        1. Spencer

          I do actually believe this but I don’t necessarily think the conclusion is that bad.

          Walky finds out his cute nerdy friend has a crush on him so, what the hey, he goes for it. That just seems easy because this universe is a perpetual drama generator and so he didn’t have to date her superhero alter ego or throw a toy at her head to make it happen. Moreover, even if starting the relationship was easy, Lucy’s fairly blatant self-esteem problems and Walky’s own attempt at withdrawing from growing up can make things a lot harder in the long run.

          Scott dating Knives is actually a pretty good comparison, in that Scott dated her because change felt impossible. With Walky and Lucy, I think, unintentionally, he’s approached a relationship with someone who doesn’t prompt him to change the way Dorothy did or how the first thing he ever said to Amber was “up here we can be garbage” and he immediately provided her more meaningful support than Ethan or her mom ever had or could. Walky has things he can do that provide for other people, but he doesn’t recognize them because of his own cocktail of emotional walling.

          For Walky and Lucy to stay together, though, would involve plumbing the question of what happens when Walky dates someone who hasn’t seen his deeper aspects. I do actually think the idea there is that Lucy is dating the surface level Walky, a loud dipshit who does whatever strikes his most immediate impulse, because she thinks that’s all she’s worth.

        2. Andy

          Also she was 17 and didn’t realize that Scott was objectively a garbage fire.

      3. Proto

        “because it’s convenient for him” is basically Walky’s mission statement/life goal so this wouldn’t be shocking in the slightest

      4. Needfuldoer

        She almost literally fell into his lap.

        Lucky bastard doesn’t realize how good he’s got it.

        1. Mano308gts

          Funny story… I met an ex-girlfriend because she *literally* fell into my lap. XD

          It was at a bonfire hosted by mutual friends, there were some camp chairs set around the fire, I took one when it was empty and refused to get up, so she just sat down on top of me. 10/10 way to meet a girl, would recommend. XD

        2. Yotomoe

          I feel like something like this has happened to me but it didn’t end in dating.

          Still would recommend though.

    2. Nono

      I’m going for the future ship of… *spins the wheel* Walky and… Other Rachel?

      1. Sporky

        Walky only makes passes at girls who wear glasses

        1. Needfuldoer

          Can’t say I blame him.

        2. Schpoonman

          heh heh heh heh heh

          Obligatory “Fuck you, Tall Rachel.”

      2. Thag Simmons

        She’d fit with the trend

        So would Rose, come to think of it

    3. Sirksome

      Honestly I ship them more now then when they were together. No offense to your taste, but they weren’t a strong example of a couple back then beyond maybe looking good together. Amber wasn’t very emotionally available and they only came together over mutual attraction and self loathing. Not really a strong base for long term relationship, which is probably why they broke up. It ran its course. Now though they’re both in better places emotionally and have matured a bit. Of course now Walky is taken. Maybe Lucy can come around to polyamory?

      1. Sporky

        I don’t know. I think Lucy definitely likes polyshipping in her fanfics (and is extremely based for it), but I’m not sure that would translate to real life. She seems kind of emotionally needy?

      2. Yotomoe

        I think they were a compatible couple because they were so broken. Walky and Amber were both full of self loathing because they were really capable but had all these bad feelings and impulses they couldn’t really talk about with anyone else but they could vent into each other. It wasn’t healthy but I feel like they both needed it. Even if they weren’t making out their friendship is something I feel like they both needed.

        But I liked that they made out.

        1. cbwroses

          Same.

        2. StClair

          see also, Ruth and Billie.

    4. Jay

      Wally x Dotty I will sink with this ship!

      1. zee

        The superior ship tbh, they were cute. I never really got the garbage ship.

  9. Delicious Taffy

    Fuck it, he ain’t her therapist. He’s got absolutely zero responsibility or qualifications to deal with that. Isn’t that how we do things, now?

    1. Schpoonman

      Considering Amber seems to want to avoid Walky based on their interactions this semester so far, I’d say he did the right thing here.

    2. Nono

      Neither is Ethan, but people have been really slagging on him.

      1. Sporky

        It’s because he keeps being kind of nasty toward other people unprovoked. And I get it, his grief is making him lash out, but he’s still being an asshole.

        1. Reaver

          Unprovoked? The first thing Amber said to him in MONTHS was really gross, creepy fetishy things about him and Danny, and then proceeded to diddle herself to the thought.

        2. Thag Simmons

          that definitely wasn’t their first interaction in months

        3. Spencer

          It’s not really that absolutionist.

          The Reason for “being an asshole” can be more important The Act of being an asshole, like, say, when you’ve spiraled into grief after the death of someone you loved for years and only got to act on it before they died, so now Ethan’s either curt to someone who’s also coping poorly with Mike’s death or extremely burnt out and and unable to care for someone he associates with a lifetime of trying to run emotional support to no avail.

          “Upset, but still being an asshole” isn’t contingent on whether or not someone’s mood inconveniences me. People are more than their worst emotions.

      2. Delicious Taffy

        Maybe if Ethan hadn’t taken a stiletto knife out and stolen Walky’s fingernails between panels yesterday, people would be more understanding.

        1. Spencer

          Oh so that’s where all the fingernails in the comic have gone.

          Ethan collects them.

    3. Amós Batista

      Liking him or nor, Walkie is most human from all DoA cast.

      1. The Wellerman

        So human, he might even be a replicant! ?

        Not that he’s gonna look behind his eye for a serial number any time soon….

    4. Ashley

      No one’s expecting him to be her therapist.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        So? I’ve made no claim to the contrary.

      2. Sombrero

        No one expected the Spanish Inquisition and see how that went.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          I never did get around to looking up what exactly the Spanish Inquisition was, but it sounds Catholic.

        2. Shadowsnail

          No one’s inquisitive about the Spanish Inquisition!

        3. Clif

          As expected.

        4. zee

          Iirc the inquisitions involved discovering and rounding up all the heretics for punishment? Idk it’s been like 8 years and i can’t bother look it up.
          I guess the Spanish were real good at it

        5. Roborat

          Yes, all those soft cushions and comfy chairs.

  10. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Now the question here is would Walky be the best person to send to have an encounter with someone when they’re getting emotional. Especially when he has no clue what the exact conversation was that caused them to get emotional.

    1. Sporky

      It may seem a bit selfish but I think he’s 100% right not to try to talk to Amber right now. He’s in no way equipped for that conversation

      1. True Survivor

        Yeah, David is basically Tom Hanks from Big. A little kid in an adult body. He can be a little selfish and immature but he means well.

        1. Sporky

          I mean, I haven’t seen Big, so maybe Tom Hanks’s character is surprisingly mature than most kids his age, but I feel like Walky isn’t that immature…

      2. zee

        It’s not even selfish. The only times we’ve seen them together since the skip, amber made it clear they did not break up on good terms and she doesn’t want him around. Maybe this had something to do with her emotional blockage at the time, maybe not. As far as he knows she hates him and he’s respecting her boundaries

    2. Wraithy2773

      Definitely not. Walky’s been burying his own emotions relating to Mike’s death under a metric ton of steel, there’s nothing he can say that will help Amber without actually addressing his own deeply repressed emotions.

    3. Yotomoe

      I would literally always want to hang out with Walky.

    4. Thag Simmons

      He wouldn’t be the worst but he definitely wouldn’t be the best either

  11. Roe

    What’s the opposite of trauma bonding?

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Bauma tronding.

    2. Shadowsnail

      trauma estrangement
      contentment bonding
      contentment estrangement

      … or maybe pleasure solvent?

      1. Clif

        euphoria splitting.

        Or since this is a comic, maybe gnidnob amuart.

  12. Bagge

    Just invite her up on the roof, coward

  13. mrnoidea

    Hey Walky, when’s the last time you’ve been up to garbage roof? Just curious, I swear. >.>

    1. True Survivor

      Hey, I’m sure its not easy to get up there. He keeps raising the ceiling.

  14. Amós Batista

    This looks like a job for Nightguy, who can deal genuinely with his emotions.

  15. Ashley

    Came here to see the justifying of Walky being actively awful and gotta say y’all did not disappoint.

    1. Sombrero

      Walky didn’t come back for the term. Linda Walkerton got him out of IU after the kidnapping. Mike adopted Walky’s persona to hide from the Korean mob.

    2. Spencer

      “I should go talk to my ex, who I broke up with under circumstances that she blames me for, while she is looking miserable and crying.”

      – Walky, someone who is definitely capable of sorting that out.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        While we’re at it, let’s duct tape two RC cars to a plastic skeleton’s feet, give both controllers to a blind crow, and instruct it to make the skeleton write a novel with its hands.

      2. zee

        “oh hey amber it’s me, that ex you hate! I know you literally opted to get tackled rather than have to talk to me last time but you seem upset and i decided that there’s no one you’d rather talk to about this than me!”

        1. Spencer

          Yeah.

          Not only would he be making Amber upset, he’d totally be interrupting Becky/Dina time.

    3. alongcameaspider

      How exactly has walky been awful these past few strip, the worst he’s done is ask a mildly insensitive question

      Amber’s emotional state is not his responsibility, it stopped being his responsibility when they broke up, he is under no obligation to go and comfort her

      1. Ashley

        No one’s saying Amber’s emotional state is his responsibility. And, honestly, this isn’t even about Amber or Ethan. Walky asks mildly insensitive questions all the time (how the person reacts to this depends on their emotional state at the time) and avoids most situations in which he might have to show empathy.

  16. Amelie Wikström

    Hey, being aware of your shortcomings in the emotional intelligence department and going out of your way to avoid inflicting them on vulnerable people is the most good thing we’ve seen anyone do here or like a month at least.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Knowing you have limits and acting on that knowledge makes you a war criminal. Only forcefully doing every single thing for every single person in your life is acceptable. Also that makes everyone in your life evil for accepting help. Also it makes you evil for lording over people. Every single human interaction is inherently wretched and deserving of death. That should cover everything, yeah?

      1. milu

        @Amelie: I just wanted to thank you for your good work in pushing back on that one infuriating troll on the GGAR rerun page, but also,

        @Taffy this is kind of perfect as a pastiche of what’s currently going on over there actually XD

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Now, there’s a comments section I don’t miss. Great comic, but goddamn.

        2. Amelie Wikström

          I wouldn’t bother if he was just dishonest, belligerent and shitting on the comic and everyone who he thinks might enjoy it. The super insistent rape apologia on the other hand.

        3. Delicious Taffy

          Ooh, lemme guess. Matt appeared on panel?

        4. Amelie Wikström

          Obviously.

        5. Delicious Taffy

          That old song and dance. Every fandom has one, and none of them are fun.

  17. LovelyMonsters

    Ugh, what a completely useless human being. Barf.

    1. zee

      I’m just gonna start copy pasting the link of amber calling Dina to maul her to get out of talking to walky at this point since no one seems to remember she doesn’t want to be around him

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/04-hompk/selfdestructing/

  18. Opus the Poet

    Still more evidence of how the dorm residents are a mass of traumatized persons because of the kidnappings and murders and desperately need therapy.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      You mean irredeemable villains who can do no right and need to be incinerated at the first opportunity?

  19. Needfuldoer

    Brave Sir Walky ran away.
    Bravely ran away away.
    When danger reared its ugly head,
    He bravely turned his tail and fled.
    Yes, brave Sir Walky turned about
    And gallantly he chickened out.
    Swiftly taking to his feet,
    He beat a very brave retreat.
    Bravest of the brave, Sir Walky!

    1. Queezle

      Okay this made me think of Rincewind. And now I want to read a Discworld novel. And it is your fault. I hope you are happy.

      1. Needfuldoer

        It’s part of Sir Robin’s song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but any excuse to re-read Discworld!

      2. Spencer

        Oh hey, I just bought the first two. I”m trying to write a fantasy comedy so I thought the best place to see how it works would be the ur-example.

        (also it involves playing tour guide for a shut-in, so I figured if I was plagiarizing the premise of Colour of Magic before I even knew about it, I might as well go all the way)

        1. Shadowsnail

          I also recommend Elizabeth Scarborough. Songs from the Seashell Archive or The Godmother.

        2. UnDrewsual

          The first two are good, but I think the third one (and all the ones thereafter) are where Pratchett really hit his stride with the series.

        3. Clif

          Do not decide you don’t like Discworld based on the first two! Ricewind is not the most compelling character. The best place to start is with Equal Rites. Gives you an introduction to Granny Weatherwax, the Librarian, etc.

        4. Adam Black

          First two are great.

  20. Darkoneko

    Run awya run away leave you lemon drop

  21. Suet

    Sunday’s the day for eating out

    14 years of Willis in Twitter? Condolences to those tweets.

  22. Rabisch

    Walky still has feelings for Amber.

  23. Shadowsnail

    Feelings of social anxiety: the feelings Amber appreciates most.

  24. Keulen

    Walky’s gonna have to get those chicken nuggets sometime. He can’t keep avoiding the place forever just because he might encounter someone he knows there having emotions.

  25. nothri

    Right after Mike’s funeral this exact behavior almost caused Walky to starve to death.

  26. Clif

    Who else is looking forward to a Halloween flashback where we get to see all the characters in costume, we get to see Amber and Walky break up, we get to watch Billie and Ruth’s relationship hit its final emotional train wreck and we get to watch Mike die.

    Or fake his own death, as the case may be.

    Who else is looking forward to being disappointed?

    1. King Daniel

      One of the upcoming chapters in this book is titled “This Was Halloween”, as it happens…

    2. Adam Black

      I feel cheated we didnt get a Halloween , thanksgiving or Christmas, New Years.

  27. Deviant

    The day Walky actually drops his guard and shows whats going on inside of him will be a dark day indeed.

  28. Juanoku

    Walky aren’t these people your friends

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Knowing a person’s name and/or face legally requires you to interact with them whether they want you too or not. Boundaries don’t exist, only blame.

    2. Azhrei Vep

      Not really. There’s an ex-girlfriend who would rather anger Dina than talk to him, and … … that’s about it, really.

  29. zee

    The takes are fucking apocalyptic today good God

    Man walkys such a coward for respecting his ex’s boundaries and not forcing himself on her when she’s upset.

    Did everyone collectively forget that Amber doesn’t want him near her or does that just. Not matter?

    1. Ashley

      Jesus Christ, the mental gymnastics y’all do for Walky.

      1. King Daniel

        My Cheese, the mental gymnastics you do to hate Walky.

        1. Ashley

          *walks in a straight line*

        2. King Daniel

          I think your allegedly-straight line’s had its trajectory run askew by a planetary-sized Ego…

      2. zee

        I’m very curious how you think he should’ve gone about this when amber did this the last time they had a conversation
        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/04-hompk/selfdestructing/

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Well, clearly, he should have uh…. Deliberately bothered his ex because the has some kind of moral obligation to do so? He’s definitely a coward for respecting her explicit boundaries.

          No, really, I wanna see someone spell out in no uncertain terms why the fuck he’s required to interact with Amber right now. I’m really fucking curious what the reason is.

        2. Ashley

          He isn’t. But y’all are kidding yourselves if you think Walky is avoiding her out of consideration for her feelings or boundaries.

        3. Delicious Taffy

          It really doesn’t matter WHY he’s leaving her alone, at the end of the day. Assigning moral weight to it is worthless.

        4. Ashley

          Woah, you moved those goalposts real quick! Any other magic tricks you can do?

        5. Delicious Taffy

          Nothing quite as impressive as your trick. How’d you fit your head so far up your own ass?

        6. Adam Black

          Simple: walky must interact with Amber .

          The reason is, you are being a tiresome bore about it.

          Thats it.

          You demanded the reason, now swollow it

        7. Delicious Taffy

          Jesus swallowed for your sins.

      3. Delicious Taffy

        Instead of sniping at people, you could explain why it’s Bad, Actually that Walky avoids the ex who doesn’t want to be near him. It might require slightly more effort that making a big blanket condemnation of real-life people based on their opinions of a fake person though.

        1. Ashley

          Because Walky isn’t avoiding Amber because it might make her feel bad, he’s avoiding her because it might make him feel bad.

          Also, not sure what you’re trying to accomplish by diminishing our involvement using the “fake person” thing? You’re also here discussing his fake actions. It’s a story, this is how people relate to stories.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Haha lol peepee poopoo

        3. Adam Black

          This is False. That was a “walkys exes dont want to fall back into banging him cuz hes too sexy to resists with long hair story”

    2. Spencer

      That’s not important now, zee. What’s important is figuring out whose fault this is.

      1. StClair

        Anyone got a blamethrower?

      2. alongcameaspider

        I’m pretty sure this whole thing is somehow Raidah’s fault

        1. Azhrei Vep

          Don’t be ridiculous. Everything, everything in this comic has been but a small part of the grand master plan of SIDNEY YUS! Come the end of the year, the full scope of their plan will be revealed, and we will all quake in terror of the power of her grand machinations!

  30. RedCat

    Fuck Walky for not always being emotionally available, I guess.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      He has a moral duty to “man up” as they say, and immediately launch himself into every possible difficult situation. Picking your battles is for cowards and wimps, he has to do everything all at once, no matter how badly it’s guaranteed to turn out.

  31. Someone

    You know how people used to feel about IW!Danny?

    I’m starting to feel that way about DoA!Walky. Absolutely the worst.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.