150

Pride
Posted on April 11, 2020 by David M Willis

150 thoughts on “Pride”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    memories of imaginary brain [various celebrities here] who visited me in my sleep and knew my name somehow, aww =(

    1. clif

      Of course they knew your name. There’s an entire Society for Creative Ana Chronistic-isms.

      1. Fogel

        OMG!!! Thanks for your Creativity: I’m having my 1st Happiness-bolus of today!

  2. ValdVin

    “You’re less of a jerk than the real Mike. That’s how I know!”

    1. clif

      Everybody’s got a tell.

    2. Opus the Poet

      Now you have to roll to save (yes I recognize your avvie as Max from a very recent episode of that comic and also Leftover Soup)

  3. auroki

    Big Imaginary Mike Energy

  4. Mada

    Imaginary Brain Mike needs his own tag now.

    1. Doctor_Who

      I suppose he’s an aspect of Amber’s mid, and Amazi-Girl gets her own tag, so that would make sense.

      1. Merbrat

        Amazi-Mike

    2. Foxhack

      He probably will once real Mike returns.

      1. Khyrin

        or this IS ‘Real Mike’ and being positive while using Socratic teaching methods suits his endgame. (Something something “Motherfucking Spite”)

    3. Strangeshapes

      I choose to believe this is simply a dimension-hopping Force-ghost version of Mike from a different timeline coming to check in.

  5. Ryan the Cool

    this comment was going to be a dissection of real mike vs imaginary brain mike but he’s always just a personified 4chan thread that sometimes like monkeys on typewriters makes an excellent point

    1. Zee

      Oh come on, Mike’s bad but he’s not a raging misogynistic, racist nazi

      1. Chris

        “I’m not a raging misogynistic racist nazi, but I play one on the interwebs.”

        -Motto of 4chan before the actual raging misogynistic racist nazis took over.

  6. Ray Radlein

    Imaginary Brain Mike still not casting shadows might be another hint, of course

    1. ValdVin

      I want to know if Imaginary Brain Mike is like a vampire. For example, can we see him in a mirror?

      PS If your gravatar is you, tell us about your cat, please?

    2. Doctor_Who

      Or Mike’s been a vampire all along.

      Instead of blood, he feeds on people’s self-esteem.

      1. vlademir1

        *Gestures vaguely in the general direction of Colin Robinson and Evie Russell*

    3. Needfuldoer

      Not to mention the teleportation.

  7. Nono

    I’m not sure I get what Imike’s gambit is, here.

    1. JetstreamGW

      Blaine lies when the truth hurts his pride. He called Amber weak and worthless. He was lying.

      1. Bunny

        So… think Blaine is afraid of Amber?

        1. clif

          He should be.

        2. jmsr7

          He definitely is. The question is: does he know Amber=Amazi-girl?

        3. Catman

          I think he knows but refuses to accept it since Amazi-girl beat him up (twice?) so surely it couldn’t be Amber

        4. Needfuldoer

          Don’t forget the mean uppercut Amber gave him on freshman family weekend.

        5. jmsr7

          Yeah, that’s what i’m thinking of. Being beat like that in front of witnesses is MORE than enough justification for his attitude; the fight in front of the McDonalds in the rain is hardly necessary.

          I’d be interested in seeing if he knows Amber=AG; and i lean towards thinking that he does (Faz’s thumbdrive theft, donning a supervillain costume), but i don’t think it changes anything.

        6. Agemegos

          He refuses to believe.

        7. Deanatay

          Because it would hurt his pride.

        8. Bagge

          He invented the Mighty Ball-Peen(tm) who is immune to be beaten up by teenagers (or so he think)

      2. thejeff

        So was Blaine telling the truth about Mike being comatose in the hospital, since that would be a thing that made him feel powerful and thus no need to lie. Or lying about it, since the truth would make him look weak.
        Does suggest Mike isn’t dead – since that wouldn’t make Blaine look weak.

        And why doesn’t Amazi-Girl know?

        1. KJ

          This is what I want to know. Why doesn’t AG know what happened? What HAPPENED after that cutaway?

        2. Jezi

          The emphasis in NotMike’s speech bubble yesterday — “He said HE threw ME” —

          Did Mike throw Blaine off the stairway? And that’s why he’s so busted up and breathing funny? This doesn’t answer where the fuck Mike’s at, but…

        3. Zee

          We saw what happened. Mike tackled Blain off the stairway but Blain caught the ledge so only Mike fell

    2. ensiform

      I’m astonished at how few readers understand this obvious point that Willis was intending to be dramatic.

      Blaine lies to hurt you.
      Blaine lies.
      He called you weak and worthless.
      Therefore you are not weak and worthless.

      Simple. Very very easy and obvious. Why is it do hard to understand what the point is?

      1. thejeff

        Well, there’s the connection to yesterday’s strip where Blaine lying is first brought up, in the context of Mike being comatose in the hospital.

  8. Rose by Any Other Name

    Noice!

    Imaginary Brain Mike needs an Imaginary Mike to drop.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Mike dropping is what got us into this mess.

      1. clif

        It wasn’t so much the dropping as the abruptly stop dropping that was the problem.

  9. lightsabermario

    Imaginary Brain Mike is so sweet!

    1. abysswatcher1993

      He is as sweet as you don’t want him to be.

      1. KryssLaBryn

        Maybe he’s just drunk. Or on narcotics back at the hospital. Either or.

  10. abysswatcher1993

    I prefer Imaginary Brain Mike than Brain Ghost Dirk.

  11. brumagem

    Imaginary Mike is the best version of Mike we’ve yet seen.

    1. clif

      Alt-text Willis seems to agree.

    2. khn0

      Even McAwesome’s Mike?

      1. Deanatay

        You mean Drunk Mike.

        1. Sombrero

          Ergo, Imaginary Mike is drunk

    3. ego

      hawaiian shirt mike way, way better, imo

  12. BBCC

    Damn, imaginary Mike with the clap backs.

  13. Kyrik Michalowski

    What is “Mike’s” point in asking her if she remembered when her dad called her weak and worthless? Is this a motivation thing, or something I’m not getting?

    1. raaabr

      Basically, it’s imaginary brain Mike being supportive. He points out that Blaine is the type of person to lie when his pride is threatened…and that thus, his claim about her being weak and worthless is similarly a lie, because she hurts his pride by being better.

    2. DailyBrad

      Yeah, he’s motivating her by pointing out she *isn’t* weak and worthless, that Blaine is lying to soothe his ego when he calls her stuff like that.

    3. Sam

      ‘Your dad lies when the truth hurts his pride.’ Linked to his next statement this essentially means ‘the truth about this hurts his pride’ e.g. that Amber being weak and worthless is a lie he tells because it would hurt his pride to acknowledge her capacity for strength and worth as a person.

      I’m not sure if he is directing it at AG as if she is Amber because they knew he didn’t know of the split (so mental/hallucination Mike sees no distinction) or because they’re communicating and working together right now.

    4. ktbear

      I was thinking that Amazigirl may not remember her dad just called Amber weak and worthless?

    5. showler

      I kind of feel like we’re seeing Amber, Amazi-Girl and IMike work through the kind of weird shit that the rest of us process in our dreams.

    6. ensiform

      Wow.

  14. nobodybasically

    So what Imaginary Mike is saying is that Blaine will be elected president?

    1. Agemegos

      More probably than Dorothy. 🙁

      1. jmsr7

        No kiddin’ eh? They rejected the most qualified person they’ve ever had to lead the free world and picked a git not competent enough to run a McDonalds. Would YOU eat at a restaurant managed by the orange menace?

        The only bright side i can see to the Trump presidency is that the monied class (i.e. the wealthy as represented by Wall Street) actually took a hit on his watch. Any boy howdy were they howling about that.

        Anyway, Blaine-Ross 2028 🙁

        1. Schpoonman

          See, they “took a hit” in the way that losing a penny for my $12/hr self is taking a hit. People will die while they lose nothing.

        2. jmsr7

          Sure, a loss of 1% of one’s net worth is nothing worth caring about, but these people are complete psychopaths. Having ANY of their shit taken away makes them scream. One of them even seriously suggested giving the coronavirus to everyone so that the economic disruption would be done in a month. He may have been exasperated, but i doubt it.

          …and whadda ya know, i can’t find it (just spent the last 20 minutes searching). He was being interviewed by video from the floor of the stock exchange on one of those american financial shows in march, soon after one of Trump’s speeches that caused huge drops in the stock market.

          Keep in mind that the monied class largely lives in a world of cardboard cutouts. There may be a few people in their lives, but most humans are just people-shaped cardboard. And no one cares what happens to cardboard.

        3. Wizard

          There was someone running for President who was actually qualified for the job? When was this, ’cause I didn’t hear about it.

        4. thejeff

          Clinton. Like her or not, she had the resume.

        5. jmsr7

          Yeah, her. Now, i’m Canadian so a US with her in charge would definitely increased america’s power and standing in the world (which is not exactly in Canada’s best interests, nor working class americans) but if there’s one thing the last few years make abundantly clear it’s that putting DT in charge is bad for absolutely everyone. Except, possibly, the russians and chinese.

          Interestingly, he’s turned out to be bad for wealthy americans, which is a new development. Not only has his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic utterly trashed the economy for years to come but also he’s actually managed to put their lives at risk. That’s unprecedented!

          Finally, he’s also managed to derail what should be a fascinating discussion about the Amber/Amazi-girl dynamic. The pain never ends 🙁

    2. Deanatay

      Imaginary Mike 2024.

      (Crap, it just occurred to me that Trump has Mike Hair.)

      1. Opus the Poet

        Agent Orange wishes he had hair as nice as Mike.

  15. Greylurker

    nice call Mental Mike

  16. Badgermole

    “No, he called Amber weak and worthless, which she is!”

    1. A Fan

      Ooooh Imaginary Brain Mike is goooooood.

      And no, since Amber is the one that stabbed Sal, 60xStabbed Rapey-McRaper, AND beat the tar out of Blaine, she is definitely NOT weak and worthless.

      It is also interesting that BOTH Amber and Amazi-Girl are seeing IBMike.

  17. Jamie

    Okay. I don’t know anything useful about DID, but I’m starting to wonder if seeing Mike go over the stairwell made Amazi-girl spin off an internal Mike (to memorialize him) that represents a lot of the good that Amber-as-a-whole is too smart to be unaware of, but ironically without Amazi-girl’s terribleness, which I don’t know how to describe using my words.

    It’s like… guilt-tripping, but without put-down? I’m having trouble actually expressing what I think I’m seeing here.

    1. kaiforest

      It’s very possible that the trauma caused a third headmate to appear in the form of Mike, whose role is to tell truths they don’t want to acknowledge or haven’t figured out yet, which is a better version of what Mike did irl. I don’t know how common it is for headmates to visually appear outside headspace though, so it might be just a hallucination which is unrelated to DID.

      1. Jamie

        Yeah, it definitely does seem like at least a hallucination since AG is specifically saying she sees him. It IS notable that he’s appeared to both Amber and AG, though, is perfectly aware of both of them, and is aware that they recently started talking. I feel like that’s too complex for just a hallucination, but an expert I am not.

        1. Needfuldoer

          At first I thought Imaginary Mike was on screen for our benefit, and to Amazi-ber he was more like Obi-Wan telling Luke to use the Force instead of the targeting computer.

      2. Sombrero

        Imaginary Mike is taking Real Mike’s role, and if we have to believe the hovertext, in a way that Willis likes better, so maybe he will decide that Real Mike is a spare. But you shouldn’t trust hovertexts.

    2. bibulb

      The backwards of Garbage Roof.

    3. Jon

      It’s just kind of weird that this trauma spun off a third person in that brain, based on about the meanest guy she knows, and he’s the healthiest voice in the place…

      1. Jamie

        Trauma is definitely a commonly cited catalyst for extra personalities, no idea how legit that is; remember that Amber also knew Mike from back when he was a smiley boy who took Blaine down a notch before; and healthiest voice is not exactly a high bar.

        And whatever happened off that stairwell, AG doesn’t feel good about it.

  18. Moon

    “blasted”

  19. Ghastly

    He’s certainly more supportive than most Brain Ghosts.
    Wait, is Amber a Heart aspect?

    1. Sporky

      I was literally just about to bring up Brain Ghost Dirk LOL

    2. Exarch

      I think this would make Mike the heart aspect and Amber a hope aspect!

      1. Zee

        Wait why does that work so well-

  20. ValdVin

    I already liked how you can follow Mike from below Amber in panel one to above and past her in panel three without even reading the dialog. That’s even before he’s christened “Imaginary Brain Mike”.

  21. Bicycle Bill

    Willis is dropping us a clue that this is all in Amber’s head …. the change of scene.  Yesterday she was talking to Ghost Mike on the front stoop of the building Becky was in.  Today it looks like she’s scrambling up to one of the landings on the fire escape of Kirkwood Hall.

    1. Rotunda

      It’s the stairway to Robin’s apartment, which we’ve seen before in scenes of people leaving the party.

  22. AntithesisConundrum

    brain ghost dirk

  23. AntithesisConundrum

    brain ghost mike

  24. kaiforest

    I spent a really long time trying to figure out whether mike was trying to benefit people around him via harsh truths, or whether he was just an asshole. I think his last arc showed that he was both – his idea of himself was someone who helped others by not coddling them, but in truth he was just awful 95% of the time. Then in his confrontation with Blaine, who had the same idea, he realized that was a terrible way to operate, and switched gears. I don’t think imaginary brain mike is better than mike, but is reflecting his change in character. I just hope he actually is alive, so we can see the improvement.

    1. SuperZero

      Blaine wasn’t trying to help anyone.

      1. Fart Captor

        Also this pretty clearly ISN’T actually Mike, who cannot simply teleport back into view. As someone in the Patreon comments noted, Imaginary Mike is the benevolent asshole dealing harsh truths and tough love that Real Mike only thought he was being

        1. SuperZero

          It’s also explicitly stated in the comic. And in kaiforest’s comment.

        2. Fart Captor

          So it was. I appear to need to read slower

        3. A Fan

          Oh Real Mike was definitely dealing in harsh truths. Nobody seems to like him for it, since he was caustic and abrasive, but we can see him considering his words always. And yes he certainly seemed to be re-evaluating himself in that flash of self-awareness before the leap. Real Mike didn’t only think he was benevolent, he was, even if he wasn’t very good at it. Brain Mike seems to have dropped the asshole entirely. He don’t sugar coat, but I haven’t seen him being an asshole.

        4. thejeff

          I think that flash of self-awareness pretty clearly showed that even if that was his intent, it was still abusive and harmful.

        5. Schpoonman

          Remember when Mike told Amber she would become her father? Fuck off with this “Well, he wasn’t REALLY an asshole,” shit.

        6. Fart Captor

          Mike was dealing out emotional abuse. That shit wasn’t benevolent

        7. Sombrero

          Real Mike thought he was benevolent? I always assumed that he dealt with truths because they were the most painful for the others. Only the flashbacks hinted that maybe with Amber his intentions were somehow better.

  25. Viktoria

    So…Imaginary Brain Mike is this universe’s answer to Drunk Mike?

    1. Needfuldoer

      Buzzed Mike, maybe. He’s still not as nice as Walkyverse Drunk Mike.

  26. C.T Phipps

    This is a great plot, albeit a bit silly.

    Mind you, I hope the next one is a bit more grounded with finding out who published the Do List and other important topics!

    1. clif

      Maybe I’m misremembering, but I thought we established Rachel released it.

      1. King Daniel

        Rachel vehemently denied doing so, stating – to Danny’s and Joe’s faces – that she wouldn’t be so stupid as to release “a predator’s map to every single woman in the building”, as I recall.

        So yeah.

        1. King Daniel

          *Yeah, she didn’t do it.

          (and as ever, I bemoan the lack of an edit button)

        2. khn0

          In my memory I always had it Danny do it (and if I remember enough, blush from the realizeation he has indeed leaked this map).

        3. BBCC

          For context, this was a few days after Ryan was stabbed.

        4. C.T Phipps

          Joyce being the Ding Dong Bandit Do List Hacker would make sense.

      2. Agemegos

        What leak? Joe was handing out access to the RSS feed.

        1. temperaryobsessor

          Yea I’m with you.
          I blame the person who gave the link to the list to any guy who would talk to him for 10 seconds whether they wanted it or not and any girl he didn’t believe would be offended. I blame the person who brought it up every chance he got.

        2. Deanatay

          So what you’re saying is, Joe is the leak.

        3. Bagge

          That’s what I think too – or to be more precise, the whole notion that the list was secret to begin with was Joe being stupid.

        4. BBCC

          For real, even if the intent was for it to be a secret, secure, ‘underground’ help guide for guys to get laid, he gave it an RSS feed and subscribers. It only takes one guy to see it, see something mean or creepy about one of the girls he’s friends with and go ‘hey, that asshole said X about you, you should definitely avoid that guy’ and then they can see it and they probably notice a bunch of the girls they live with on there and by morning everyone knows.

        5. thejeff

          I think it was Raidah – she was disgusted by the concept and he offered her the password.

          We’ll probably never find out. It’s not really important to Joe’s growth.

        6. C.T Phipps

          Joe’s growth? No. However, it’s someone who published a lot of personal information about other women.

        7. thejeff

          Personal information that Joe was already happily handing out, but sure, blame whoever “hacked” it.

  27. NinjaNick

    Real or not, I like how he’s picking her brain a bit. Could be a motivational tool against Blaine and his thugs.

    1. Rikunda

      That Mike is obviously trying to give her an epiphany. The dad lies when it hurts his pride… Now remember when he said you were weak and worthless? Connect the two. He is afraid of your strength.

  28. DJTsurugi

    OH SNAP! ~<3

  29. Bagge

    I’m really glad amber has a part of her brain that tells her that she is not weak and worhtless.

    I’m just sad she need a third voice to tell her that, since neither of the two she already got will say it.

    1. SuperZero

      He didn’t tell her she’s not weak and worthless. He told her that her dad doesn’t really think she is.
      I’m not quite sure what he’s hinting at, though. That Blaine might believe she’s really Amazi-Girl?

      1. Schpoonman

        Yes, he did. Blaine lies when the truth threatens him. Amber is fully capable of murdering Blaine with her bare hands, and to a certain extent Blaine knows it (like when she sucker punched him during FFW), and to protect himself he calls Amber weak.

        You wanna dance around “Well, he didn’t say that explicitly,” fine, but the rest of us are more than capable of reading the barely-subtext.

        1. Schpoonman

          Actually, I shouldn’t have implied that you didn’t read the subtext, should have just said that you were ignoring it because… I don’t actually know why you would.

        2. SuperZero

          I don’t know what you’re talking about.

        3. SuperZero

          My point wasn’t that Mike was implying things rather than stating them outright (that’s true but it would be kind of nitpicky for me to bother pointing out).
          My point was that Mike was implying that Blaine knows Amber is strong and was lying about it, which is different from simply that Amber is strong.

          I… think that’s your objection?

        4. Needfuldoer

          Amber rejects praise, even if it’s deserved. She wouldn’t believe Imaginary Mike if he just said it, so he backed it up with evidence (and leverage against an adversary) to make it palatable to her.

      2. A Fan

        @Schpoonman, ease up on SuperZero, there appears to be a miscommunication between you both regarding the pronoun “he”. And it appears you are both in agreement.

        SZ was pointing out that Mike’s dialogue, in quoting Blaine after explicitly stating that Blaine lies when threatened implies that Blaine feels differently than he says about Amber. So SZ meant [Mike didn’t call Amber weak and wothless, Mike meant that Blaine was lying by calling her weak and worthless.].

        Then you, Schpoonman, seemed to think SZ meant that Blaine didn’t call Amber weak and worthless, which clearly wouldn’t be true.

        More than anything else, I think this highlights the importance of being kind to each other, and also not forgetting to use proper nouns to introduce a pronoun, especially in a forum.

        1. Zee

          I’m sorry but that’s not the issue here. Schpoonman’s (writing that hurt my dyslexic brain) “yes he did” was quite clearly referring to SZ saying that Mike didn’t say amber wasn’t weak and worthless.

        2. Schpoonman

          No.

  30. JessWitt

    Oh wow, so the Mike Amber talked to in previous strips after their fight with the dumb dads isn’t real?! Looking back, his exit from her room did seem sudden.

    If he is hospitalized I wonder if his personality will shift for the better.

    1. SuperZero

      You mean back when he suddenly appeared sitting on her bed, and then didn’t mention the fight the previous night that Amber didn’t remember?
      Yeah, he probably wasn’t.

  31. RedCat

    I like Imaginary Brain Mike.

    1. RedCat

      He is the emotionaly support Mike.

  32. Keulen

    Is Imaginary Brain Mike trying to hint that real Mike is not in a hospital where Blaine can have him killed with a phone call?

    1. Ron again

      I have the same question. On one hand it would not hurt his pride if he carelessly said he “killed” Mike on impact, so why mention the hospital? On the other hand, it would hurt his pride if he lacks the power to kill someone with a phone call…

      Really shitty that Amazi-girl didn’t show us how that night ended. I think we’ll get a flash back at some point showing toedad rushing Mike to the hospital while AG fights Blaine to keep him from finishing Mike off.

      1. thejeff

        What’s weird is that Amazi-Girl doesn’t seem to know how that fight ended. If she did, she’d know what happened to Mike.

    2. Sombrero

      It seems like he’s trying to tell her that she should not operate on the assumption that Blaine can easily execute his threats, so maybe she should focus on releasing her coeds instead of on getting Becky. This, or the strip is about to be invaded by the Walkyverse, I dunno.

      1. Sombrero

        Koms said it better a while ago. My fault for not scrolling down to the end.

  33. Schpoonman

    The second time that Mike has ever been useful in this continuity.

  34. Koms

    Your dad lies when his ego is threatened. Remember he lied about getting beat up at McDonald’s? Remember he told you you were weak and worthless? Remember he told you I was at the hospital where he could end my life with a phone call? He probably can’t. So you don’t need to kidnap Becky. It would be wiser to save your friends/ call the police.

  35. DarkoNeko

    OooooOOOOOOH Mike the most unexpected lifecoach.

  36. Archivist

    Brain Ghost Mike makes some points, also teleports.

  37. Rabisch

    I can’t understand. This Mike is an ally or an enemy?

    1. Bagge

      He is a jerk.

    2. Zee

      I mean, in this case brain ghost Mike is pretty clearly an ally. He just said Blaine was lying when he said amber was weak and worthless, ie Mike was saying she’s strong and important

  38. PB

    Wait if the truth would hurt Blaine’s pride, that MUST mean Mike is alive, right?

  39. someone

    Me too, alt-text. Me too.

    1. WikiDreamer

      Same

  40. Roborat

    So Sal doesn’t use doors, and Amber/AG doesn’t use stairs.

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