Go on ahead
Posted on November 2, 2013 by David M Willis

182 thoughts on “Go on ahead”

  1. David Herbert

    But the question is, can she pick up on being told she’s awful at things?

    1. Yotomoe

      She hasn’t responded to it so I guess no.

    2. timemonkey

      She knows she’s awful at these things.

      1. Neospector

        Wel…it’s a start.

        1. Neospector

          Typo! Hideous typo!
          Can’t be erased. NOOOOOOOO! D:

        2. Pat

          Most people would be so distracted by the correct “it’s” that they wouldn’t have even noticed the “wel” if you didn’t point it out.

        3. Colin

          Crap, now I’m ‘most people.’
          …does dismay at that make me a ‘hipster?’ …eh, who cares.

  2. Keroshino

    Ethan will have none of that sarcasm!!!

  3. GoogerGeiger

    Jeez Ethan. Just come barging in why don’t you.

    1. Yotomoe

      Well he was worried about his friend. The noblest reason to barge in.

      1. Mr. Random

        Wrong, a more noble reason would be barge in before they die with a life saving antidote in your hand.

        1. Gordon Blvd

          not necessarily “more” noble…………………………..more timely, YES! 🙂

        2. Renshear Blade

          But for all we know he could be like Kramer and just busting in because he can.

        3. Kryss LaBryn

          To be fair, the door *was* wide open.

    2. Lani

      Yes, how dare he come barging in through that open door to check on his sad looking friend. The bastard!

    3. Ourorboros

      It’s happened in this strip before. At least Ethan has non-shelfish reasons. Plus Amber was his pre-gay girlfriend.
      Joyce has done this twice and woken up Billie and Sal.
      She had no relationship to Billie, just an shared bathroom. She barely knew Sal.
      Her reason was to wake Billie up for Church – she just assumed.
      She woke up Sal to bug her for a ride on her motorcycle and to confirm she is cool.

      Amber did ask for some space, but Ethan does want his friend back.

    4. Jenny Creed

      Barging in on a lady is manly and impulsive. Right?

    5. Whittier

      This is a dorm. If it’s anything like the dorm I lived in, this is just more or less how things are done.

  4. Doctor_Who

    “She’s been in this position for ten minutes now. She isn’t responding to outside stimuli, I think she might be sleeping with her eyes open.”

    1. Yotomoe

      If I poke her she’ll fall on her back.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Apropos of nothing, ever see Azumanga Daioh? That dream sequence where Osaka imagines that if she removes Chiyo-Chan’s pigtails her brain will stop working and she’ll just fall over rigid?

        I fully believe that will happen to Dina if you remove her hat.

        1. Yotomoe

          Nope, but I read that in the manga.

        2. Leorale

          My favourite part of it was the toothy cat. CHOMP

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Rebooting while updating can take ages when you haven’t done so for a number of years you know.

      1. Aeron

        IT’S BEEN ‘1 MINUTE REMAINING’ FOR THE LAST HOUR AND A HALF!!!

        1. Foxhack

          OH GOD THE PROGRESS BAR JUST STARTED MOVING BACKWARDS!

        2. CthulhuPanda36

          Suddenly power outage.

        3. nick

          *Download at 1%*
          “YES!”
          *Download at -1%*
          “NOOO!”

        4. BlackCatGodess

          And I, Mr. Crocker, will prove the existence of FAIRY GOD PARENTS!

        5. Kernanator

          I REMEMBER THAT EPISODE!!!

  5. Ryune

    On Sundays we wear teal.

  6. Yotomoe

    She keeps trying to Vulcan Nerve pinch me.

    1. Keroshino

      I keep telling her that it doesn’t actually work!

      1. Rheinman

        Actually, the Vulcan death grip does not work either. You’d think the Romulans would have known that, being the more warlike branch of the family.

        1. Wack'd

          Perhaps their different internal biology makes them vulnerable to it?

        2. Cybersnark

          The Vulcan death grip worked fine after Soleta invented it.

          #NewFrontiers

    2. Ourorboros

      How else are you going to audition for a superhero sidekick?

  7. Plasma Mongoose

    This whole knowing how to touch people the right way is a gaddamned minefield, that’s for certain.

    1. Yotomoe

      Yeah. When comforting people, do not touch the boobs.
      Never the boobs.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Which is a shame as boobs are one of the nicest parts to touch.

        1. Ocbrad1

          Could not agree more!

      2. Doctor_Who

        What do you mean, touching boobs works great!

        Oh, you mean it doesn’t comfort the person whose boobs I’m touching. Well, it comforts me just fine.

        1. Zap Rowsdower

          So THAT’S why almost all of your Companions are young nubile females.

          Well, I mean, we were all pretty sure, but its nice to get some confirmation.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          I bet he uses the old justification “Touching boobs is normal in Timelord society” shtick.

      3. Tenn

        Actually, when doing almost anything that isn’t sexy times, do not touch the boobs.

    2. AJBulldis

      I find that the shoulder is pretty safe territory. Just keep any motions with the whole hand. Finger stuff just gets weird.

      1. adinfinitumspero

        Thumb CAN work but make sure you’re close enough that if it moves into stress massaging this isn’t weird territory for the two of you or it could get creepy

  8. Zach

    How did I miss that? Dina is the scanner

  9. Doctor_Who

    Dina’s a Scanner? Makes sense, I could see her making someone’s head explode by staring at them too hard.

    It would explode from cuteness, and out would pour velociraptors riding rainbows, but explode nonetheless.

    1. Yotomoe

      No it would be velociraptors rinding on velocirpators.

      1. ninja_jesus

        Whoa, that sentence was one letter away from being really, really bad. >___> No grinding raptors, please.

  10. Wonder Wig

    I’ve dreamed of Dina and Data dating and discovering human behavior.

    1. AgentKeen

      I don’t know, I think Data would be too into humans and not enough into dinosaurs for Dina.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Pre-emotion chip Data I hope.

    3. Jack Finch

      But Data would have soooo much, well, data on dinos. I think it would work out.

  11. Gram91

    Dina’s learning face XD

    1. Doctor_Who

      She’s very focused. She is gonna get this physical contact thing if it takes all day.

      1. Rhy

        I wonder how much Dina would change if/when she got laid.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Can’t say but if my experience with (female) aspies is anything to go by the experience will be highly unpleasant for her for several encounters, and “total immersion” instead of “gradual escalation” works better/faster.

        2. David

          It works faster for drowing people as well. Please don’t encourage any “it’s for her own good” sex creeps.

        3. GoSpeedRumpist

          I think Joe does a good enough job of that.

        4. Opus the Poet

          I can guarantee that I only did that by request from the female in question, and it was still unpleasant for a while, for both of us.

          Not something I wish to repeat.

        5. planetnom

          …*is waiting to see if dina ever decides to get mike drunk in this continuity.*

        6. Blue Dragon

          I totally misread a single letter of Rhy’s response to Doctor_Who.
          I reread both posts three times trying to wrap my head around it.
          Finally, I spotted my error. ‘change’, not ‘charge’. Ah. Got it.

        7. isitsevenyet

          I made the same mistake at first, too!

          I really should be wearing my dollar-store reading glasses more often when using the computer.

          (I really just need to get my eyes examined again, but lactating has odd effects on vision, so I have to wait until my now-9mo weans. Oh well.)

        8. Em

          Ooo lets not talk like that about Dina please!

  12. Alyssa

    … light physical contact… WHY. Why would anyone ever want that?
    /don’t mind me, I’m just an autistic person with sensory issues being just as awful at this.

    1. Dierna

      Aspie powa! *high fives*

      But seriously. Some people like to be hugged and stuff. My family forced me for years before I was diagnosed autistic…now they know better. 😛

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        It cant be strictly an aspie thing surely, some of just are just naturally uncomfortable hugging humans, even ones related to us, right?

        1. Kladeos

          Yep. Me.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          YAY, I feel ever so slightly less alien now. 😀

        3. Kelly

          I am the only in my family diagnosed, but we are all (both sides of the family) very non-physical. Not a lot of touching going on.

          I am generally adverse to touching but am fine with it, even enjoy it with a few people. All women, I can never figure out what that is about…I am not really particularly interested in them romantically/sexually, aside from my ex-girlfriend.

        4. adinfinitumspero

          I’m sorry , but with that avatar that statement just crossed so many wires in my brain

        5. kelticat

          My oldest nephew too. The only one who could hug him was his Grandma.

          I can’t have anyone go near my sides. Trust issues there.

        6. isitsevenyet

          Speaking from personal experience, sometimes it’s simply that people have built really thick emotional walls out of self-defense and that messes up how you interact with everyone. So there’s another possibility.

        7. isitsevenyet

          Forgot I wanted to say that, for myself, I don’t usually mind being touched in such a way as in this comic, but it rarely does me any good. The only person I can even think of whose hand on my shoulder would actually help me is my husband. I still struggle with the mindset that everyone else is just being “nice” and doesn’t really care.

          Yeah… childhood issues.

        8. Whittier

          I’m naturally a bit of a huggy person (in a way, as I’m about to explain) and had to learn to back off some over time. I have a friend–she has some developmental disabilities and some boundary issues–and in the beginning of our friendship, she was a little hurt that I only hugged with one arm. To her, that meant that I didn’t really want to hug her. I explained that, to me, a two-armed hug is what you give to a significant other when you want to be intimate. So we agreed that when we hug, she uses two arms and I use one, and we’re all fine.

    2. Kladeos

      I don’t like my family touching me, but I’m okay with close friends and my girlfriend. Hmm.

      1. Doom Shepherd

        I don’t like (instinctively react negatively to, to be more accurate) anybody touching me, but I’ve learned to tolerate it from people I have managed to be capable of caring about.

        So, like, three people.

        1. Doom Shepherd

          Irony of Joe.

    3. Foxhack

      I used to be like you – but once I got into college I ended up getting classmates that would have none of it. They hugged the physical contact anxiety out of me. Though one of them punched-me-in-the-arm out of it.

      I got used to physical contact enough to not flinch when most people do it, but there are some things that I still can’t tolerate from anyone other than very close friends – not even from my siblings.

      Curiously, I had a friend who has Asperger’s and who was also very fond of rubbing and patting my head / hair. I was okay with that since she didn’t mean any harm by it and it was a way she had of expressing affection.

      Don’t get me wrong, if complete strangers still touch me in certain areas (like my arms or part of my shoulders) I still flinch like crazy. I dunno.

      1. Kladeos

        I really hate being touched by strangers or even their possessions (like on a crowded bus), or being tapped/poked/whatever by my mom. Touching my mom is only okay if I initiate it, like helping her down stairs or something. It just seems really uncomfortable and sometimes taboo to touch someone or be touched.

        I actually do a close-contact martial art, and I’m pretty comfortable touching and being touched by people I know through it, both in the dojo and out. I got way better at being touched after I started.

        Really the only person I actually initiate contact with though is my girlfriend.

    4. ninja_jesus

      🙁 I like hugging.

      1. The kid

        :hug: I know that feel. and I actually have few fairly cuddly aspie friends.

        1. Batman

          I’m not the hugging type.

        2. someguywithakatana

          Perfection

        3. Batman Says

          If Batman is the best at hugging, and Batman isn’t the hugging type, then, then… 🙁 I like hugs.

        4. Narf

          You’re… batman?

        5. nothri

          No. I’m batman.

  13. KingMabel

    Shippers, have your way…

    1. nothri

      I dunno if I wanna make “she’s awful at making light physical contact” into innuendo. It implies these characters have a highly unsatisfying love life, and if I want to deal with that I’ll just think about my own.

      ….Aw. I made myself sad.

      1. MR K

        Amber should help her with heavy physical contact, if you know what I mean.

        1. nothri

          Okay, that’ll work.

  14. The_Master

    Christ do none of you people have lives?!

    1. The_Master

      How have you commented before me already!

      1. The_Master

        Please don’t ban me willis I’m being ironic.

    2. CthulhuPanda36

      I have many lives. I keep them in a jar labeled cookies.

  15. Plasma Mongoose

    *reads ALT TEXT* Does that mean that Dina is an Moe Anthropomorphic Personification of a tricorder??

    1. nothri

      Character reference to Itswalky. Also, your idea sounds terrifying.

  16. Kladeos

    Today’s strip is really cute.

  17. Cliff

    Ok, so I haven’t read Roomies (don’t really plan to either, nothing against it, just prob not going to) but I have read It’s Walky, and some of Joyce and Walky. That being said, i only read those two at joyceandwalky.com, and just based on a few promotional images and stuff, I can tell that there’s a little bit missing from my “It’s Walky” knowledge and a ton missing from my “Joyce and Walky”knowledge, and I was wondering if there’s a place to find this elusive knowledge. Like, for example, I’ve never seen J & W’s wedding 🙁

    1. timemonkey

      Joyce and Walky had pay strips where things like the wedding were dealt with. You can still pay for them now and see it all but I believe the series isn’t actually done yet. Just on hold. If you just want to reread the comics as they were they’re all still up.

      1. Cliff

        J & W just seems so short though, like, is J&W just much shorter and much, MUCH less plot driven than It’s Walky, or is it that the full set isn’t posted on joyceandwalky.com? Also, what about the alternate walkyverse? Where we meet Dorothy and stuff, when does that happen? And when is walky’s alternate future kid’s story explained?? Like Arghhhh, I’m so confused!

        1. Beefcube

          Only one strip a week got put on joyceandwalky.com, the rest (Two more a week, I’m pretty sure) were part of the pay strips. Those actually had plots and are where all of the other things you mentioned occur. It’s still much shorter and has less of an overarching story than It’s Walky!, but there’s a lot more than the free strips.

        2. Cliff

          Ah, I see, well I may look into those pay strips, once my finances pick up (cross your fingers for me guys!)

        3. Kelly

          *crosses fingers*

          As someone who bought those strips recently after reading Willis’ stuff for years, I can say they are well worth it! When you can afford it, don’t delay like I did.

        4. Wack'd

          Seconded.

  18. Kernanator

    What could possibly go wrong?

    1. nothri

      “This is the best I could do….”

      “What the fu-” BOOOOOOM!

      1. Yotomoe

        Dina blew up trying to touch Amber’s shoulder.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Anything now you gone done tempted fate with a phrase like that. TSK TSK!

    3. CthulhuPanda36

      This phrase is only second in the category of “Last words” to “Hey guys, watch this!”

      1. Zap Rowsdower

        Third, the first is “Hold my beer”.

        1. Yotomoe

          “Don’t worry guys, I’m a professional”

        2. CthulhuPanda36

          “I can jump that far for sure!”

        3. Kernanator

          “Of course I know what I’m doing!”

        4. Foxhack

          “I took an online course on this!”

        5. Kyrros

          I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express™ last night.

        6. The Candyman

          “Ah! I was wrong! I was horribly horribly wrong!”

        7. Yotomoe

          “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s friendly.”

        8. The Phantom's Belch

          “Don’t worry. I’ve only had three beers.”

        9. buckybone

          “I got this, I learned all about it on the Internet!”

        10. The kid

          “Lets go to taco bell.”

        11. Yotomoe

          I need you to know, I laughed out loud.

        12. Narf

          “Hey guys, I just had an awesome idea… LET’S DO SOME TEQUILA SHOTS!”

          Oh god, EVERY TIME I look back on someone saying those words I can pretty much follow it up with “…and that was the point that the night began to turn ugly.”

  19. Rani

    THE FELLOWSHIP BEGINS ANEW

    1. Zap Rowsdower

      Hmm, but which is which? Dina, as the most adorable, is obviously Frodo.

      1. timemonkey

        So she’s going to go crazy and lose a finger?

        1. Joebo

          Well, she could go out with a bang, would that be better?

        2. John

          It’s the best she could do.

        3. Kamino Neko

          That means something so much different in this universe than the prime universe…

      2. nothri

        That would make Faz into Gollum, I have to say.

        1. Zap Rowsdower

          Which does fit. Pitiable, but only insofar as you don’t have to deal with him personally.

        2. Varangian

          “The stupid fat hobbit should turn his attention to useful chart that Sméagol has made, yes, precious. It clearly demonstrates that the goodness of fish increases with rawness and wrigglyness, gollum, and decreases with grilling time and addition of nasty chips.

          Sméagol is great.”

        3. Chris Phoenix

          Hardest I’ve laughed in at least two weeks. Still laughing as I type this. THANK YOU!

        4. Tenn

          Have all my internets!

        5. Alex

          AND MY AXE

        6. Kelly

          No way, Gollum is awesome, and Faz sucks!

      3. spaceinvader42

        I suppose that would make Amber Sam, and Ethan and Mike Merry and Pippin.

        1. Entropy

          I think that Dina and Amber have more of a Frodo and Gandalf friendship.

        2. Entropy

          No, wait… Ruth stood against the Balrog, so that makes her Gandalf. I retract my previous comment.

        3. Kelly

          Mike as Peregrin Took? Could work maybe… Ethan is too boring to be Meriadoc Brandybuck though.

      4. Kelly

        Meh. I don’t think Frodo is adorable in any way. Frodo is one of my least favorite characters, just above Sam, and some real stinkers like Boromir and Denethor.

      5. David

        Dina would be an ent, being fascinated in old life forms. And anyway, her bark is worse than her bite.

        1. The kid

          PINEing for the ent wives.

      6. The Candyman

        I think Joyce and Dorothy would be good as Frodo and Sam, actually. Or Danny and Amber, if we’re going by the movies.

  20. Foxhack

    As someone who had to learn (and still has much to learn) how to do things like these, I find this strip oddly cute.

  21. Gottawonder

    I don’t like being hugged either. I do put up with it from family. When I hug attacked, I go stiff as a board. That seems to discourage ninja hug attacks without a whole lot of discourse.

    1. RobJustRob

      You mean like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9v0SYn7T8w

  22. Nono

    I just checked back through the archives, and I think this is the first time we’ve seen Ethan and Amber together post-haircut?

  23. Gottawonder

    Mike is Sauron.

    1. The Phantom's Belch

      No, Galasso is Sauron. Mike is Boromir.

      1. Kyrros

        Galasso is Saurman – there are far more evil things out there than he
        Mike is Treebeard – Neutral and hostile/distrusting of anything until it proves itself… “I’m on nobody’s side, because nobody is on mine”

        1. Kelly

          Hm, good one! It has potential, I am now envisioning Treebeard flipping Saurman the bird!

        2. adinfinitumspero

          A very determined Treabeard digging up the grave of Saruman’s mother

        3. Varangian

          “The Entwives all vanished long ago. Except your mom, because for a nickel I can make her an Entwife anytime I want.”

        4. Jack Finch

          Mike doesn’t have the patience to be treebeard. Mike is Smaug.
          Force of nature, diabolical cleverness. Not beholden to anything.
          Who’s bombadil? Sierra?

  24. Wack'd

    Wow, and not a couple of weeks ago I was saying that the Sensitive Scanner doodle in my Dumbing of Age book must be specifically for me because I’m obsessed with the Walkyverse and she hasn’t been mentioned here yet. I somehow completely failed to consider that hey, yeah, Willis is three months ahead and has the ongoing plot thread of Joyce being a Dexter and Monkey Master obsessive.

    If you’ll excuse me I’ll be over here, exhaling deeply to let all that hot air out of my head.

    1. David Willis

      I think I’d forgotten she was mentioned. SS was just a nerdy thing I figgered you’d like. The designs were Walkyverse, IIRC.

      1. Wack'd

        I’d been puzzling over that, actually. It’s a bit difficult to tell without the coloring or finer details.

        I just pulled up a pic of this ‘verse’s Monkey Master for comparison, and between the more circular ears and fragmented headshape I think you did use the Walkyverse designs. Either way, though, thanks, and I really appreciate it.

  25. Aizat

    No, Joyce. The show hit it’s stride during the Ape Wars arc.

  26. Sam

    Dina appears very focused.

  27. TonalDesigns

    Is Dina Autistic? This isn’t a joke or an attack on autism, I have Aspergers it was more of a curiosity than anything.

    1. NIghtsbridge

      She has not been diagnosed with anything. Which could just mean no one has looked into it in-universe.

      1. Norah

        That could easily happen to someone in Dina’s situation. Her parents are very quiet and maybe very introverted, so Dina’s not being social might seem “normal” by their standards. If she did well in school and didn’t have meltdowns or other behavioral issues, her teachers might have just thought she was a very quiet, good student, and not thought that she might be autistic or Aspie.

  28. Super Duper

    She’s a scanner alright. Last person she touched ended up like this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-03vYYAjA

  29. Maki P

    Oh, I love the Sensitive Scanner!

  30. Sir Robin

    Sensitive Scanner was an unnecessary Mary Sue character that was forced into the show by the toy companies just to sell more toys

    1. The Candyman

      And the way all the other characters kept fawning over her was just annoying.

      1. RobHagen

        That was only in the first six or so episodes she appeared in. Once the writers got her “Is or isn’t she a spy?” subplot going, she mellowed out greatly…

    2. David Willis

      Sensitive Scanner is a girl and a box, so I dunno if that’s really the case.

      1. xKiv

        Could the toy companies even get away with mentioning a girl box?

    3. John

      Sensitive Scanner is as much an original comic character as Monkey Master and Head Alien himself, though her role in the comic books was not nearly as large – mostly just an occasional foil to contrast HA and MM’s methods of dealing with her.

      She was introduced in Season Two of the show, but her role didn’t really take off until Season Three and beyond. I think she was originally introduced just as a wink and nod to us old-school comic book fans, but the show creators were surprised by how popular she turned out to be, and reacted by expanding her role.

      You might notice that while she got a lot of toys – especially for a character that has few to no moving parts – it wasn’t until Season Four that she started getting toys in her own right rather than just appearing as an accessory packaged with Dexter or MM. (Except for the terrible Season Two Happy Meal toy, of course.)

      1. Narf

        I just LOVE how the D&MM cartoon is getting fleshed out in the comments – wouldn’t it be cool to see a compiled/edited/”official canon” version of all the stuff tossed around about it – with Willis’s own additions, of course (say, as bonus content in a future book? Ehhh? Willis? Ehhhhhhh?? :D)?

        Well, I think it’d be cool, anyway.

      2. RobHagen

        Some of those Happy Meal toys to go for a lot eBay, despite the low quality. Wasn’t until the fourth wave that fans could get a Head Alien with a trench coat wig.

  31. jonathan

    this is brilliant. I love this.

  32. Mr K

    I don’t think that Amber, an antisocial vigilante with daddy issues, is the first person I’d go to learn social skills. Well, at least she isn’t learning them from Faz.

    1. Pope William T Wodium

      A certain fundamental understanding is required to learn effectively from a master. The clueless and ignorant often benefit from the tutelage of someone who has struggled to learn in the past.

      1. Narf

        A very apt statement I think, your holiness.

  33. Sir Robin

    I just realized … Ethan is Jared Padalecki now

  34. Rognik

    to be fair, facial expression and tone is most of what indicates sarcasm instead of context.

  35. CleverTrousers

    Dina has very good posture.

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