I was! Of course, a chain smoker dying young(ish) of lung cancer doesn’t take a lot of work to make convincing. It’s more like, “Yeah, that’s about right.” xD
Dina is a scientist. She observes/researches, voices a hypothesis, then acts accordingly. She recognises others are black box systems to her and this is something she actively works on because people interest her. (With the exception of Becky, not as much as dinosaurs, but she is very fond of Sarah and Amber too, and Joyce may well be growing on her (possibly like a fungus? But Joyce’s “You hit Dina! She’s Becky’s girlfriend! Grraaargh!” revenge attack was pretty endearing)…
Deanatay
This is another example of someone having no natural talent at something (in this case, social interaction) applying logic and analysis to understand and figure out how it works, and slowly becoming better at it than someone who simply coasts on their natural abilities. Dina’s got this!
Rogue
This is why I, as an autie, still excel at customer service, because I observed my mom interact with customer service people and internalized it. (My mom can be a very low key Karen.)
Sam
I find that I’m pretty good with people too because I’ve observed a lot and absorbed a lot. I still get surprised when people call me wise or funny or intelligent or convincing though because of it.
It’s pretty much a combination of hard work and personal understanding of Amber. The issue will be when something unexpected occurs and Amber is incapable of enough awareness to answer her questions or when she’s dealing with someone new.
You would be surprised how often the same expression and tone in different people mean different things. Tiny minutia like that really throws me off.
People like Amber and Becky are willing to work with her, and help her learn how to deal with them, specifically (it helps that they’re both a bit askew from social norms, too), so it’s easier.
Wait? So Blaine hadn’t seen Amber in five years before just randomly deciding to crash freshman family weekend and starting off this whole saga’s worth of bullshit?!
Not suddenly, per-se. Likely he had been required to pay child support. However, many support orders carry to whenever the child finishes college. SOooo, had Amber not gone to college, Blaine would have been able to stop paying. Instead, by going to college she was actually increasing his obligation from basic support to plus extraordinary expenses (tuitiin books, dorm etc ….). That was likely the trigger that drove him to act.
Why the hell he had a kid he wasn’t prepared to raise (twice) is a mystery. He’s such a control nut you’d think he’d have been more on the ball.
Mae
Honestly I’d put money on Blaine having the whole ‘real men don’t use condoms’ mindset. Plus he’s such a narcissist that he can’t even IMAGINE himself failing, hence why he made so many bad moves during an already inherently-flawed kidnapping plot. I imagine he got Amb’s and Faz’s moms pregnant, respectively, and then just wasn’t available enough in their lives until it was too late to strongarm them into an abortion / the women hid their pregnancies from Blaine until it was impossible for him to force them to have abortions. Either that or both the moms were able to successfully refuse Blaine’s insistence on abortions—but tbh I doubt that, given his penchant for violence and intimidation.
MatthewTheLucky
He might just have a complex about abortion while being fine with murder. He wouldn’t be the only one by far.
Cybersnark
So, a Republican?
Schpoonman
They don’t have complexes with abortion versus murder, they just hate women. Which, hey, could be Blaine, too.
He Who Abides
Truth.
HeySo
“They don’t have complexes with abortion versus murder, they just hate women.”
That’s unfair..
..Republicans hate ALL minorities. >.>
Regalli
We know some things have changed, but given over in Shortpacked Blaine was apparently of the ‘Amber apparently had half-siblings across the west coast’ philosophy with condoms… and given the implications Yuri was a teenager when she had Faz… yeah no he was probably way too vain and impulsive for condoms.
Cyrus
It could be he wanted to have kids: as a narcissistic extension of self, to ensure his legacy, as a tool to further control and abuse “his” women. Honestly, I think he’s more likely to coerce someone into going through with a pregnancy than force her to have an abortion.
HeySo
I was going to comment much the same thing. There’s a certain satisfaction for either sex, when it comes to producing offspring, and that satisfaction is untempered by rationality and empathy when it comes to individuals who are obssessed with controlling others. Rather, those individuals are even more instinctual/impulsive when it comes to satisfying spontaneous desires (even going to extreme lengths for such). This differs of course from someone who is obsessed with self-control, who may actually have inclination to limit any indulgence in reproductive urges.
So no, this is entirely to form for Blaine (or any of the many, many real world counterparts I’ve come across- well, in the controlling, abusive, likely psychotic, rather unhinged sense of similarity. Fairly sure I’ve never met anyone from the Korean Mob before :P).
Nymphie
Blaine himself has said in the comic that he agreed to pay for college in exchange for not paying regular child support. And the only reason he did that was because he assumed Amber’s social anxiety would make her not go to college, so he thought he had found a loophole out of paying for her at all.
That’s when Mick Jagger puked on a car rental place, right?
thejeff
He might have been willing to raise her if she hadn’t been such a pathetic disappointment. Of course his methods of raising lead directly to that disappointment.
Not entirely sure how you get a strong willed tough kid who never challenges you on anything. Seems incompatible to me, but it’s what many abusers seem to want.
Regalli
That strong-willed, tough kid just has to agree with you on everything, naturally. Because of course you’re always right. (Gag me.)
I just realized freshman family weekend probably lines up pretty well around the time Blaine would have to cut his first check or I don’t know get deducted from his salary or something. So dude only made one maybe two payments tops before deciding this had to stop and that kidnapping was on the table!
bryy
Yeah, that Blaine went to kidnapping and murder from the get-go really says a few things.
Either that or he’s going to turn out to be a lawyer who will try to talk Amber into letting him represent her in a claim against her mother for a share of Blaine’s estate when it goes into probate.
Bicycle Bill
Sorry — that should have been ‘step-mother’ (Yuri). I doubt that Blaine left any sort of provision for either Stacy or Amber.
159 thoughts on “Relief”
Screwball
A “sorry your evil kidnapping sperm donor is dead” high 5? I think I can understand that…
Regalli
It’s an impulse I can find familiar.
Deanatay
Down low?
Too slow!
hash
Yeah, he didn’t duck quick enough. Too much?
Dandi_Andi
I have asked at certain funerals and divorces whether congratulations or condolences were more in order.
MaximumZero
Sometimes it’s both, and that’s okay.
Source: I’m twice divorced.
temperaryobsessor
My condolulations.
Some Ed
My congratulences.
Jon Rich
Imagine failing at being a dad so hard that when you die, your daughter’s response is, “Oh, good, now I don’t have to plan a murder.”
Doctor_Who
Hey, even if you get nothing in the will you saved the price of a tarp, a shovel, and some quicklime.
Always a silver lining!
anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness
Or just a chummer and a commercial lobster farm…… not like that was the plot from a murder mystery on the BBC.
Dara
As I told a few people at the time, my only regret at my adoptive father’s death was that I had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Fela
I hope you were convincing 😉
Dara
I was! Of course, a chain smoker dying young(ish) of lung cancer doesn’t take a lot of work to make convincing. It’s more like, “Yeah, that’s about right.” xD
Bagge
and here Dina thinks she doesn’t understand social interactions while she totally nails this social interaction.
Cass
Really, she’s the one doing best so far with both Amber and Becky. A+ condolancing, Deens!
Roborat
The way you spelled that, I had a mental picture of a knight jousting with a townhouse.
HeySo
I got the image of two rich people jousting in a high-end condo’s pool.
Meanwhile, your interpretation.. well, Eric & The Dread Gazebo, anyone? :3
Regalli
Dina is really, really good with the people she knows. It’s wonderful.
Miri
Dina is a scientist. She observes/researches, voices a hypothesis, then acts accordingly. She recognises others are black box systems to her and this is something she actively works on because people interest her. (With the exception of Becky, not as much as dinosaurs, but she is very fond of Sarah and Amber too, and Joyce may well be growing on her (possibly like a fungus? But Joyce’s “You hit Dina! She’s Becky’s girlfriend! Grraaargh!” revenge attack was pretty endearing)…
Deanatay
This is another example of someone having no natural talent at something (in this case, social interaction) applying logic and analysis to understand and figure out how it works, and slowly becoming better at it than someone who simply coasts on their natural abilities. Dina’s got this!
Rogue
This is why I, as an autie, still excel at customer service, because I observed my mom interact with customer service people and internalized it. (My mom can be a very low key Karen.)
Sam
I find that I’m pretty good with people too because I’ve observed a lot and absorbed a lot. I still get surprised when people call me wise or funny or intelligent or convincing though because of it.
Alyssa
In this case, unfamiliarity with the standard condolences script would be an advantage.
ArthurDB
It’s pretty much a combination of hard work and personal understanding of Amber. The issue will be when something unexpected occurs and Amber is incapable of enough awareness to answer her questions or when she’s dealing with someone new.
You would be surprised how often the same expression and tone in different people mean different things. Tiny minutia like that really throws me off.
Kamino Neko
People like Amber and Becky are willing to work with her, and help her learn how to deal with them, specifically (it helps that they’re both a bit askew from social norms, too), so it’s easier.
Doctor_Who
The Todd approves of this grieving method.
JetstreamGW
Sad-five.
abacuswizard
Oh dude, The Todd, I haven’t seen you in ages! Been-a-while-since-I-binge-watched-the-whole-series five!
bjams
Do it and listen to Zach Braff and Donald Faison’s rewatch podcast, “Fake Doctors, Real Friends”! It’s great!
Sirksome
Wait? So Blaine hadn’t seen Amber in five years before just randomly deciding to crash freshman family weekend and starting off this whole saga’s worth of bullshit?!
The Aussie Bloke
Probably because suddenly he had to contribute financially (court order, y’know)
Me et al.
Not suddenly, per-se. Likely he had been required to pay child support. However, many support orders carry to whenever the child finishes college. SOooo, had Amber not gone to college, Blaine would have been able to stop paying. Instead, by going to college she was actually increasing his obligation from basic support to plus extraordinary expenses (tuitiin books, dorm etc ….). That was likely the trigger that drove him to act.
Why the hell he had a kid he wasn’t prepared to raise (twice) is a mystery. He’s such a control nut you’d think he’d have been more on the ball.
Mae
Honestly I’d put money on Blaine having the whole ‘real men don’t use condoms’ mindset. Plus he’s such a narcissist that he can’t even IMAGINE himself failing, hence why he made so many bad moves during an already inherently-flawed kidnapping plot. I imagine he got Amb’s and Faz’s moms pregnant, respectively, and then just wasn’t available enough in their lives until it was too late to strongarm them into an abortion / the women hid their pregnancies from Blaine until it was impossible for him to force them to have abortions. Either that or both the moms were able to successfully refuse Blaine’s insistence on abortions—but tbh I doubt that, given his penchant for violence and intimidation.
MatthewTheLucky
He might just have a complex about abortion while being fine with murder. He wouldn’t be the only one by far.
Cybersnark
So, a Republican?
Schpoonman
They don’t have complexes with abortion versus murder, they just hate women. Which, hey, could be Blaine, too.
He Who Abides
Truth.
HeySo
“They don’t have complexes with abortion versus murder, they just hate women.”
That’s unfair..
..Republicans hate ALL minorities. >.>
Regalli
We know some things have changed, but given over in Shortpacked Blaine was apparently of the ‘Amber apparently had half-siblings across the west coast’ philosophy with condoms… and given the implications Yuri was a teenager when she had Faz… yeah no he was probably way too vain and impulsive for condoms.
Cyrus
It could be he wanted to have kids: as a narcissistic extension of self, to ensure his legacy, as a tool to further control and abuse “his” women. Honestly, I think he’s more likely to coerce someone into going through with a pregnancy than force her to have an abortion.
HeySo
I was going to comment much the same thing. There’s a certain satisfaction for either sex, when it comes to producing offspring, and that satisfaction is untempered by rationality and empathy when it comes to individuals who are obssessed with controlling others. Rather, those individuals are even more instinctual/impulsive when it comes to satisfying spontaneous desires (even going to extreme lengths for such). This differs of course from someone who is obsessed with self-control, who may actually have inclination to limit any indulgence in reproductive urges.
So no, this is entirely to form for Blaine (or any of the many, many real world counterparts I’ve come across- well, in the controlling, abusive, likely psychotic, rather unhinged sense of similarity. Fairly sure I’ve never met anyone from the Korean Mob before :P).
Nymphie
Blaine himself has said in the comic that he agreed to pay for college in exchange for not paying regular child support. And the only reason he did that was because he assumed Amber’s social anxiety would make her not go to college, so he thought he had found a loophole out of paying for her at all.
Nymphie
Oh, it was to replace alimony, not the child support https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/money-2/
RowenMorland
Remember the Alimo-ny!
He Who Abides
That’s when Mick Jagger puked on a car rental place, right?
thejeff
He might have been willing to raise her if she hadn’t been such a pathetic disappointment. Of course his methods of raising lead directly to that disappointment.
Not entirely sure how you get a strong willed tough kid who never challenges you on anything. Seems incompatible to me, but it’s what many abusers seem to want.
Regalli
That strong-willed, tough kid just has to agree with you on everything, naturally. Because of course you’re always right. (Gag me.)
Regalli
She was costing him money so he had to actively acknowledge her existence again.
bryy
oh damn. This, too.
Sirksome
I just realized freshman family weekend probably lines up pretty well around the time Blaine would have to cut his first check or I don’t know get deducted from his salary or something. So dude only made one maybe two payments tops before deciding this had to stop and that kidnapping was on the table!
bryy
Yeah, that Blaine went to kidnapping and murder from the get-go really says a few things.
BBCC
Hadn’t seen for five and hadn’t spoke for three, according to her.
Used to make her babysit for Faz too before the robbery.
butts
“mourning” an abusive parent? yeah sometime it be like that
Chris
I’ve seen the word “congratudolences” used for this sort of thing.
Newllend(henryvolt)
That’s a new one to me to be honest, doesn’t really role of the tongue though.
temperaryobsessor
I’m going with my condolulations.
Sunny
I, too, like that word.
BigDogLittleCat
Mourning the parent we should have had, when we finally accept that the parent we have is what they are.
BBCC
Fuck yeah, Dina. Dina is a gift.
Kyrik Michalowski
Dina is definitely in my top 3 best characters in this universe, the other 2 being Sal and Sarah.
Stephen Bierce
*Throws on a new-to-me groove with the hacked Muzak*
Geneseepaws
Thank you for that.
Chris
Who’s that in the background of panel 5?
Regalli
Either some random visitor/nonessential person who could be cleared out or a nasty surprise to come, I suppose.
tim gueguen
Random passerby most likely. You can just see the hair of someone else in panel 1 between Amber and Becky.
Bicycle Bill
Either that or he’s going to turn out to be a lawyer who will try to talk Amber into letting him represent her in a claim against her mother for a share of Blaine’s estate when it goes into probate.
Bicycle Bill
Sorry — that should have been ‘step-mother’ (Yuri). I doubt that Blaine left any sort of provision for either Stacy or Amber.
Leorale
I don’t recognize the hair colour of any characters we know, and there’s a different person in panel 1. Could be random crowd people.
Opus the Poet
That mushroom dude in Super Marioland.
NotPiffany