253

Invited
Posted on May 4, 2015 by David M Willis
carla2013magnetpreviewForty-eight hours left in the Dumbing of Age Book 4 Kickstarter, and Carla character magnets have been unlocked!  There's now a pledge level where you can get a book and a Carla magnet, plus there's a new pledge level where you get a book and both a Carla and a Sal magnet!  And don't forget that with every mailable (non-PDF) pledge, you get a free Joyce magnet!  Time's dwindlin'!

253 thoughts on “Invited”

  1. Jen Aside

    you’ll be fine, Dina, I’m sure there’ll be a door just for you

    1. madock345

      But what will Dina do if the door is closed?

      1. saki

        Hope she sees the window open ahead~
        (sorry, song reference, couldn’t help myself)

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Fridge doors count right?

      1. Doctor_Who

        I am now picturing Dina sitting in the fridge, handing people cold sodas and coldcuts when they open the door.

        It’s awesome, and only slightly marred by the fact that I’m pretty sure dorm rooms only get a mini-fridge, if that.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          That is actually a pretty cool image now you mention it. ^_^

        2. JustCheetoDust

          Unlike just about any other imagery of people in refrigerators.

        3. Arianod

          *Ba-dum-tssh!*

        4. Someone

          Only one problem, I’m fairly certain that Dina is Cold-blooded. She would freeze to death in the first five minutes.

        5. Tacos

          This is where the evolution of feathers comes into play.

        6. Plasma Mongoose

          Only down feathers are suitable for keeping her warm.

        7. Tacos

          Well the first feathers were down-like.

        8. Random832

          I thought the current scientific consensus was that dinosaurs were warm-blooded.

        9. Tacos

          As I understand it, the larger dinosaurs could still have been cold-blooded due to gigantothermy.

        10. Plasma Mongoose

          Which is why they needed those giant heat-sink scales.

        11. Lucina

          Dina would never have allowed a comment implying dinosaurs were coldblooded to exist.

          @Random832 Last time I researched the subject, the current consensus was actually somewhere in between. Not quite warm-blooded, not quite cold-blooded, and possibly varying between groups. Warm-blooded/cold-blooded is not a dichotomy so much as a spectrum. Theropods, of course, being the group that contains birds, would be closest to what we call warm-blooded (which I have just learned is a term scientists don’t actually like to use anymore because better understanding of metabolism and the like has rendered it pretty much obsolete.)

        12. John

          I think the term is “endothermic”. Which I discovered in an earlier discussion of this topic in these comments means exactly the opposite thing in biology as it does in thermodynamics.

        13. Agemegos

          Then I was doing high school biology the terms were “poikilothermic” and “homoiothermic”. A lot changes in 35 years.

        14. Rycan

          Yeah, I was wondering what the ΔH of an organism had to do with anything, and if this meant we were lighting them on fire or something.

        15. saki

          Aah, the beauty of scientific terminology.

        16. Rycan

          The irony is, scientists are so particular with their terminology precisely to avoid this kind of confusion.

        17. Jerden

          @ Rycan – lighting organisms on fire is completely different. That’s ecology.
          Well, how else do you calculate the energy content of an ecosystem?

        18. Roborat

          @Jerden, ecology? I thought that was barbeque.

        19. Kelly

          Probably no dinosaurs were ectothermic, poikilothermic, and bradymetabolic (which is what most lizards are for example – aka “fully cold-blooded”). It is possible that some had a mix, and or relied on gigantothermy.

          In living animals you see variations in animals like tuna, swordfish and sharks, which all have some limited “warm-blooded” attributes, and you see poikilothermy and bradymetabolism in some small bats and hummingbirds that go into torpor in the part of the day they are inactive.

          Maniraptora were so very birdlike, and seem to have universally had feathers, so chances seem good they could have been just as warm-blooded as any modern bird – that is, endothermic, homeothermic, and tachymetabolic (at least when not in a torpor. But we haven’t found any non-avian dinosaurs as small as hummingbirds).

          Even crocodiles have a heart more complex than lizards, and it was recently shown that their lungs are more bird-like than previously thought. Advanced heart and lungs may therefore be primitive to all archosaurs, which certainly helps with warm-bloodedness.

        20. Rebecca

          I learned so many new words from this comment. @_@

        21. Koms

          The Kinsey scale of blood temperature.

        22. Mollyscribbles

          From my memory of a Magic School Bus episode, when cold-blooded animals are in a cold environment they’ll hibernate rather than die, so maybe it’d be like a nap she stirred from when the door opened.

        23. Bill

          I was thinking the same thing.  When the temperature gets cold enough, reptiles go dormant.  Think of turtles burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the pond and holing up there for the winter, for example.

        24. Jerden

          I looked into this, and they’re fine as long as they don’t actually freeze. Snakes can survive occasionally sub-zero climates by simply hiding in burrows deep underground.

        25. Mollyscribbles

          So bottom line, fridge is okay but keep her out of the freezer.

        26. DarkoNeko

          Hm, I’m not sure they have a fridge at all. I don’t remember seeing any.

        27. saki

          Oh wow. I can picture it so well! If only I had drawing skills I would get right on that. *hopes an artist comes along and does it* (pwetty pwetty pwease. it would look so awesome and adorable)

        28. Dibullba

          Pretty much like those things that were in the fridge of the sitcom Dinosaurs.

    3. Spencer

      They’ll leave the door mostly open to give her plenty of space to hide behind it.

      1. Rycan

        I was gonna object that doing so would give away the party, but I remembered that we’re talking about the Masters of Subtlety here.

    4. Rycan

      The half-bath would just be weird – well, more weird. So, I guess Dina will have to literally be in the closet.

      1. DarkoNeko

        It may be kinda cramped with Ethan and Danny in there too.

        …

        ooh, the mental image.

        1. Koms

          Ooh the yaoi

      2. Cory

        She won’t be there for long. Becky will see to that.

  2. Mr. Random

    Dina… Is more social… Than Amber?

    1. saki

      She has a scientific interest in the art of socialising Amber doesn’t share.

      1. Stephen Bierce

        Then she definitely needs to boost her sample size and designate a control group.

        1. Deanatay

          Amber IS the control group – people who don’t socialize. She can compare Amber’s behavior to those that she socializes with at the party.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Amber understands how normal people socialise more than Dina does but she chooses not to.

    3. Captain Batson

      Not MORE social, just DIFFERENTLY social. Gosh, didn’t you learn anything about inclusion in kindergarten?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I was in kindergarten back in the 60s, the main thing we learnt was switching from currency like shillings, pennies, pounds and florins to dollars and cents.

        1. fogel

          Australian currency is so much better than American. So much!

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          And a lot more colourful, heck, if you use a $2 coin, instead of calling heads or tails, you can call male(Elder) or female(Queen).

        3. fogel

          If you use a Canadian nickel you can call “The Queen” or ” The Queen’s beaver”

        4. Rycan

          Better safeguards, maybe. I have no idea why we’re so slow to update our currency. No, that’s not true – I have a pretty good idea that politicians are involved.

        5. Incomitatus

          Hmmm… in the 80s we were learning the alphabet and colors. Maybe school has gotten easier…

        6. Plasma Mongoose

          And if that results of the No Child Left Behind policy is as bad as I have heard, in the 00s, the kids learned that if you remember to turn up in class, you get a trophy.

        7. Jon Rich

          It wasn’t quite that bad. But due to pressure from schools, a lot of teachers began “teaching to the test,” with the goal of boosting standardized test scores rather than actually teaching the kids things they need to know.

      2. timemonkey

        In kindergarten I learned that if you have problems socialising you spend a lot of time being punished.

        1. Rich

          A lesson reiterated throughout grades 1-12 as far as I recall.

      3. Opus the Poet

        When I was in kindergarten they were still celebrating having become a state of the US (Hawaii).

  3. Dreadhawk177

    Dina’s eyes 😐

  4. madock345

    I’m happy for Dina. She got to get invited to a college party while also avoiding being traumatized by normal college parties.

    1. Doctor_Who

      I’m just wondering if “The List” actually said “Dinosaur Girl”.

      1. MrPotamus

        I don’t think she would really mind if that became her nickname.

        1. Cory

          It’s a lot better than “HOLY SHIT! WHERE’D YOU COME FROM. I almost had a heart attack.”

      2. Deanatay

        Joyce: “Then there’s Dina. You can call her ‘Dinosaur Girl’ – she’ll take it as a compliment. What she does not know, will not hurt her.”

    2. saltchocolate

      Thanks to the fact that Joyce did get traumatized by a normal college party.

      1. Rycan

        Oh, Joyce wouldn’t have hosted that kind of party even before that incident.

        1. DarkoNeko

          tis a dry campus, no way Joyce of all people would dare bring alcohol.

        2. drs

          I’m guessing roofies are tasteless and don’t need to be masked by alcohol, so dry isn’t a perfect defense, though it might make woozy behavior more noticeable.

        3. Rich

          Joyce was drugged by a spiked Sierra Mist, so no, going dry is not helpful.

        4. Plasma Mongoose

          Joyce just needs to follow Billie’s advice on the subject this time.
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/jesus-2/

        5. Rycan

          The reason why this should be safer is a restricted guest list, not an assumed lack of alcohol (besides, the latter won’t be true if Billie is invited).

        6. Charles

          Depends on what they hit you with – benzodiazepines, like flunitrazepam (Narcozep/Rohypnol) are generally active in milligram quantities; all one tastes is whatever they pad the pill with to make it large enough to grasp and swallow. An amount of Narcozep you could taste of itself would almost certainly be lethal.

          Not sure about anything else that might be used, but I’ve ingested several kilos of benzos over my lifetime…

        7. fogel

          Important for college kids to know: roofies are real but rare; alcohol is by far the most common rape drug.

  5. Doctor_Who

    Can’t tell who I relate to more in this strip, Dina or Amber.

    1. KingMabel

      I am both.

  6. Maxy

    I appreciate the subtle change from Amber playing a DS to a 3DS. It’s the little touches. 🙂

    1. David M Willis

      She has always had a 3DS.

      1. KingMabel

        I know I do, I and playing mine right now.

      2. Opus the Poet

        Oceana has always been at war with Eastasia.

      3. GoogerGeiger

        When will Amber get a New 3DS?

      4. Maxy

        This sounded wrong, so I went back and looked.

        Whelp, okay, so she did have a 3DS, apparently. Derp.

        (In my defense, though, she just calls it a ‘DS’, not a ‘3DS’. I was just remembering the text.)

        Either way, it appears that I was wrong.

      5. Random832

        I think people are confused since she has a DS in the flashback.

        Which makes me wonder, if the comic runs long enough, will she have a 3DS in the flashback?

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          If this comic runs long enough, a 3DS will be something her parents used when they went to college.

        2. bodmans

          ”If the comic runs long enough”

          Do you have ANY idea how long it has been running, and how much in-universe time has passed?

        3. Rich

          I know I’m worried about dying before they get to Halloween of freshman year at the current rate. Maybe I can have myself cryogenically frozen and thawed long enough to marathon through when he’s finished the series.

        4. Spencer

          We’re at the end of Week 4 now, so give it another four years.

        5. Random832

          The more relevant question is when the flashback ran: December of 2013.

  7. boomwolf

    Hey, Amber and I have the same socializing techniques! … Yeah, I’m no good at parties.

  8. NinjaNick

    You can always stand around doing close to nothing.

    1. Rich

      That’s work, not recreation.

  9. Kris

    Dina’s A-list baby! She gets invited to all the parties but turns em down. That should tell you how awesome this Joyce party is gonna be.

    1. Rycan

      Well, any party with 100% fewer roofies counts as an awesome party in my book.

  10. Cerberus

    Dina looks so happy in panels 2 and 3.

  11. otusasio451

    Dina travels in herds. She DOES travel in herds.

    1. boomwolf

      Dina is the herd.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Herd is the word that you have heard.

        1. buckybone

          Don’t you know, the herd is the word?

        2. KingMabel

          Is this a brony joke? Can I join?

        3. Plasma Mongoose

          I don’t believe it was originally an MLP joke but it is now.

        4. otusasio451

          It went from a Jurassic Park joke to a Family Guy/Surfin’ Bird joke. Don’t see why I can’t be a brony joke now, too. WELCOME TO THE HERD.

        5. Kelly

          Welcome to the HURD

          HURD = Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons
          HIRD = Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth

          Double recursive acronym, welcome to GNU (GNU’s Not Unix)!

        6. Tenn

          @Kelly:

          I like the way that the seemingly innocent GTK+ unfolds:

          GTK+
          GIMP ToolKit
          GNU Image Manipulation Program ToolKit
          GNU’s Not Unix Image Manipulation Program ToolKit

          And that’s before the infinite recursion (GNU’s Not Unix’s Not Unix’s Not Unix’s…) starts.

          The best part is that after all that, the plus sign isn’t even in the expanded phrase. 🙂

  12. Doc

    It’s almost hard to read that Dina is more social than Amber, who maintained three whole friends at once.

    And Kudos on 60k Willis, kudos.

  13. Wonder Wig

    Wallflowers, scientifically known for their poisonous barbs and acid glands.

    1. Tacos

      ‘least they don’t got any Death Lasers…. yet.

    2. Rycan

      Dunno about the barbs, but Dina certainly has acid glands. Granted, so does everybody else with a functioning stomach.

      1. Ollie

        This is false. We have parietal cells in the lining of our stomach but an acid gland it is not.

        1. Rycan

          True, parietal cells are the cells responsible for secreting gastric acid. They are, however, located in fundic glands in the stomach wall. So I’ll admit that ‘acid gland’ isn’t a very good term for them (they do a lot more than secrete acid), but we do have glands that secrete acid. They’re just really tiny.

  14. Catullus

    I’m curious about why Joyce decided to invite these two. Granted, Joyce and Amber have had somewhat of a reconciliation at the end of 4-4, but as far as I recall, Joyce and Dina’s recent interactions have all been arguments about evolution…

    1. Shrugs

      I think that, despite the evolution arguments, Joyce sees Dina as harmless. There was one comic were Joyce mentioned she wanted to “teach Dina the ways of the world”

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Now that last part sounds like a double entendre. 😀

    2. John

      She knows from experience that Dina’s going to somehow be there anyway, so she might as well invite her.

    3. Rycan

      Dunno about Amber, but Joyce may have figured out that Dina would show up anyways, so she might as well invite her.

      1. saki

        Rycan & John. Both Sarah avatars. Both with almost the same comment. *squints* Suspicious. Very suspicious indeed.

        1. fogel

          Well, Sarah.

        2. John

          My Sarah is the fastest Sarah!

    4. Yumi

      It’s also possible Joyce might be becoming more open-minded to ideas that go against her upbringing because of what she learned from Becky. Maybe she’ll look into sources from people who believe in evolution and the Bible, and if she doesn’t go for that, at least she might not hold it against Dina.

      1. chris73

        Maybe Dinas arguement managed to take root

        1. Rycan

          With her approach? I doubt it. Joyce is immune to your ‘facts’.
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/02-guess-whos-coming-to-galassos/proven/

        2. chris73

          Maybe one managed to slip through a recently-formed crack, Joyce has shown a great ability to question her beliefs

        3. Lord Stoneheart

          I’m not sure if there’s a crack available for science to slip through. Nothing has happened to make Joyce wonder if the Bible is anything other than 100% literal truth. She’s willing to accept her parents/pastor/everyone else around her when she was growing up could be wrong about how they interpret the Bible with regards to homosexuality. But she still bases her view on a literal interpretation of the Bible. If young Earth creationism is going to get dislodged from her brain, something unrelated to homosexuality is going to have to put in the first chip.

          I’m interested in seeing further Becky/Dina interactions, mainly because of the strong contrast in personality. Though I could also see Becky getting into a heated argument with Dina regarding dinosaurs. She seems less likely to do the “Well we can’t really know, so we’ll agree to disagree” thing that Joyce did back at Galasso’s.

        4. Rycan

          ‘Let’s agree to disagree’ and ‘we can’t really know’ have been getting pretty popular with the creationist crowd, though. But I bet that would be getting too close to claiming your position can’t be disproven (that is, unfalsifiable). And if anything is bound to set off Dina, it would be pitting an unfalsifiable position against a scientific theory.

      2. ThatGuy

        Well this entire party is because he long time Christian best friend got kicked out of Christian college for kissing girls and she spent several hours trying to look for loop holes before saying “fudge it”.

        So she is very much in the “open to new things” mindset rightnow.

        1. Rycan

          Joyce changed her mind on homosexuality because Becky coming out to her forced her to reevaluate. In the end, Joyce put Becky before what she’d been taught. There is no such conflict forcing her to reconsider her stance on evolution. And empirical evidence has been showing that a barrage of facts from Dina is pretty ineffective at changing Joyce’s mind.

    5. DarkoNeko

      Strikes me as weird, too. I men, she’s litterally a creationist’s nemesis.

    6. Rich

      Go back and look at Dina’s appearances. She was along with Joyce on the beach trip, at Galasso’s, and the shopping mall. Joyce gets along with her despite the disagreements about evolution, and Sarah stood up for her in the past. Quoting Joyce from a ways back:

      “I like her, though! It’s nice having someone around who’s less socialized than me.”

      Might be wrong, but I think Joyce has had more shared panels with Dina than anyone except her roomie Amber. People can disagree and still be friends. Look at her friendship with Dorothy – the atheism thing didn’t stop that from happening.

      1. Bill

        I don’t think it was entirely Dina’s choice to go along on the beach trip.  It looked more like she got caught up in the exodus from the dorm, much like getting caught in an avalanche.

        1. Rich

          Same goes for the mall – she gets caught up with the herd a lot. Doesn’t mean she wasn’t there and interacting, though. Even played Catch very badly at the beach – maybe Joyce wants a rematch, since Dina “won” their game.

      2. Catullus

        This comment inspired me to check the tags and see where Dina/Joyce interactions fell, and it actually turns out that Dina has more panels in common with Joyce than with anyone else, as of today.

        (More than Amber, even— Dina/Joyce yielded 45 results, Dina/Amber yielded only 43.)

        1. Rich

          That’s over 40% of Dina’s total appearances, and she’s got a lot of “face in a crowd” strips where she’s just an extra. Amber might scrape up a few more if you include the Amazi-Girl strips, but not very many – she’s usually in her secret ID when dealing with Dina.

        2. Catullus

          I didn’t even think of checking Amazi-Girl; as it turns out though, Amazi-Girl has only two strips in common with Dina. Still, in conjunction with the latest strip, that puts Amber/Amazi-Girl ahead of Joyce for now…

    7. jy3

      Why wouldn’t she invite her transitive sister?

      1. jy3

        Drat. That last one should have been to here.

        1. Crumplepunch

          Because the party is in her dorm.

          Sarah is already going to be there.

        2. jy3

          What I meant was:

          Sarah and Joyce are sisters (first link).

          Dina and Sarah are sisters (second link).

          Therefore, Joyce and Dina are sisters.

      2. Yumi

        I read that as “transvestite” the first few times, and my god I was confused.

        1. Rycan

          Maybe they’d qualify as transvestites a couple centuries ago, when women simply could not wear pants in Western society.

  15. nothri

    “And on top of that, it occurs to me I’ve never donned a mask and cape and performed feats of vigilante justice. How foolish I have been.”

    1. John

      Dina has donned mask and cape, and this may qualify as vigilante justice. She just hasn’t done them both at the same time.

      1. Rycan

        That’s just humane pest removal.

  16. blackhat64

    okay you know nice comic and all but for real though WHERE THE FUCK IS THE BOTTOM SCREEN ON AMBER’S 3DS

    1. Doc

      I… you… Dammit random internet guy.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Eh, all portable consoles look the same anyway.

      2. Tenn

        Is this a meme or something? Because the bottom screen is right there. *points*

    2. JessWitt

      Maybe she’s playing the future Nintendo thingy being developed?

      1. Tacos

        Amber has somehow gotten her hands on a 5DS >.>

    3. Luzahn

      Look, it’s just a weird mutant Gameboy SP. Probably…imported from Japan or something, I don’t know.

  17. Rich

    Yay, Party Dina upcoming. So happy.

  18. Yumi

    I’m just so happy that Dina is on Joyce’s invite list.

    1. KingMabel

      Dina can get more experience being ‘social’

      1. Carriethedragon

        Joyce is anxious to teach her the ways of the world.

        1. Rich

          I believe swaddling was mentioned as well.

    2. Opus the Poet

      Likewise

    3. Rycan

      Well, Joyce needs a bouncer to keep out the undesirables.

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/theraptor/

      1. fogel

        You wouldnt want him at the party, but mike would be an awsomebouncer.

  19. Rycan

    So I was wrong. Joyce is willing to invite Amber.

    I wonder if Becky will be able to find Billie – and manage to inform her of the party without tipping off the RA.

    1. saki

      And if she finds her, what state will it be in? Last we saw her she was buttnaked in the hallway if I remember correctly~

      1. Captain Batson

        She will be hiding in her room, upset at herself for not leaving a set of emergency clothes there for when she needed to appear to not live with Ruth.

        1. DarkoNeko

          I was going to say she could always use Sal’s clothes, but I’m not sure she’ll fit in those.

      2. Rich

        I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Billie wasn’t naked. You can clearly see she had socks on in the strips before Ruth grabs the jersey off her.

        1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          Note that it was said that she was buttnaked.

        2. Rich

          No hard evidence she wasn’t wearing panties under that jersey either.

  20. saki

    Aww, happy Dina is so cute! Not that she’s not always cute but here she’s even more cute. 🙂

    And dammit Amber, it’s one party. A dorm party. Hosted by Joyce. Just go. 🙂

    1. Kate

      Amber and Joyce aren’t really friends, though, are they? I’d feel more comfortable in my room, too.

      1. saki

        Eeh, they’re on friendly terms.
        But what I meant by accentuating the part about being hosted by Joyce is that it won’t be your typical college party with underage drinking and all that stuff, but more just a comfortable social gathering between nice people. Provided no one crashes it of course.

        1. saki

          (I’m looking at you, Willis-)

        2. thebatman22

          Mike waits in the distance…

      2. Bagge

        Friends enough for Joyce to invite her.

    2. Someone

      And leave the city unprotected, surely you jest.

      1. Rycan

        Hmm, that’s probably why Amber doesn’t want to attend.

      2. saki

        (insert retro video game fonts here)
        ≥ Stay in and play on 3Ds
        ≥ Go to dorm party with Dina
        ≥ Protect Goth- uh Indiana University

        /retro video game font
        Amber’s already chosen option one, leaving the city unprotected. And anyways, as we’ve seen before she’s pretty quick at changing into her Amazi-girl costume, I’m sure if something happened she would have no trouble intervening from the party.

        1. Someone

          She could always wear the costume under her regular clothes, superman style.

  21. Jones

    The most social of my friends with agree with Amber on how to socialize. So maybe this is a good lesson for Dina.

  22. DarkoNeko

    Tht smile on panel 2 is just adorable.

  23. fogel

    How many people can these dorm rooms fit? And iasume thses kids are not going to worrh sbout fire code limits.

    1. saki

      So many typos. Beautiful.

    2. Kamino Neko

      Don’t know if this school and mine were that similar, but where I went, at least in my residence, a double could quite easily hold a dozen people – more if they didn’t mind occasionally getting a bit cozy, or occupying the floor, rather than bringing in chairs.

      1. Rich

        Mine too. We always ended up with 3-4 people on each bed and at least twice that on the floor. The chairs we usually moved out of the room altogether – threw them in a neighbor’s room for the duration. Seems to me I recall “cozy” being half the point of most parties, but I sincerely doubt Joyce is going to be hosting anything that turns into a group make-out session.

    3. Roborat

      Go watch the movie “Duck Soup”.

      1. Rich

        There are very few times when that would ever be bad advice.

  24. saki

    Oh, before I forget! May the Fourth be with you all. 🙂

    1. Deanatay

      Nithe lithp!

  25. Captain Batson

    Dina’s eyes in the last panel look… wrong. This bothers my soul, but I shall deal, yo.

  26. Architex

    Wow, I feel like we haven’t seen Amber in quite a while.

  27. chris73

    Panel two just made my day that much better but does the invite include boyfriends? If it does then hopefully Danny goes…

    1. Carriethedragon

      No no, see, Danny is /Amazi-Girl’s/ boyfriend. Definitely a separate entity from Amber. …Or at least she tries to keep it that way.

      1. chris73

        Ah yeah I forgot (its a little…confusing) i wanted Danny to turn up just to see the look on Beckys face

    2. Rich

      She’d have to attend as Amazi-Girl to bring Danny as a boyfriend. Which might be a Thing That Happens.

      1. Rich

        D’oh, beaten to it.

    3. Rycan

      Walky was mentioned by name. Danny wasn’t. So, unless he’s decided to take up party crashing, I doubt Danny will be there.

      1. Someone

        What if Joyce invited Amazi girl but being unable to go, as both Amber and Amazi girl she “sends Danny to attend/scout/protect the party for her”

        1. Someone

          Also it’s too bad that Danny doesn’t have his own secret identity yet.
          Random criminal: who are you?

          Danny: I’m Wonder-bread

        2. saki

          Okay this is like at least the 5th time I’ve seen Danny called Wonderbread. Could someone explain this to me please? ^^”

        3. Someone

          Sure, Sal called him that at one point. Hears the link
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/horrorshow/ 🙂

        4. saki

          Ooooooooooh wow my memory sucks. I’m sorry. D:

        5. saki

          Thank you 🙂

          (my ice cream reserves for a comment editing system)

        6. Doc

          Wonderbread is what Sal calls Danny.

        7. saki

          Thank you 🙂

        8. saltchocolate

          It was (is?) an actual brand of loaf bread. Associated with the ’50s (aka The Golden Age of Americana). This bread was sliced thin, stripped of all nutrients, and bleached as white as white could be. It was boring bread.

        9. saki

          Hm. How did it get from that to being (according to what I’ve now seen on urbandictionary) a derogatory term for white folks though? Slang is weird. XD

        10. Tacos

          Because the bread is really white so yeah.

        11. Rycan

          Most slurs are like that. For instance, I see no harm in calling somebody a bundle of sticks, yet I would never call anybody a faggot. And you can describe people as being black or white, but you should never describe them as being yellow. I think it should be okay to describe someone who ingested too much vitamin A as being orange, but that’s just a guess.

        12. fogel

          Wonderbread is white AND bland as can be. There are tasty substantial white breads

        13. fogel

          Someone who is orange is called a “John Boehner”

        14. Rich

          Wonder Bread is still in production and sold throughout Canada, Mexico, and the US. It’s historically noteworthy for being one of the first pre-sliced brands for sale, way back in the early 1920s when that was a novelty. Bleached breads were very popular originally because they were perceived as being “cleaner” and having less random unhealthy junk in them – which was not an unreasonable concern given the total lack of oversight on what went into bread before the mid 20th century. My father (who’s in his Seventies) swears by the stuff to this day, and will eat almost no other bread.

          Never though that paper I had to write in Home Economics would come in handy. Wish I could remember this much calculus.

        15. saltchocolate

          Good stuff! (Your knowledge bank, not the bread.). The irony, of course, is that now, “white bread” is understood to be the least desirable from a health standpoint—no offense to your dad. It’s hard to stop liking the things that were comfort food in your childhood.

          My food nemesis is McDonald’s fries. I know they’re horrible, but if I get too close I’ll order them anyway, like a mindless zombie. I just stay at least 50 yards away from all McD’s.

        16. Rich

          My weakness is Coca-Cola. Used to be a serious addict, still fall off the wagon now and then. It’s weird, not a fan of any other type of soda. Although 7-Up’s a good mixer.

        17. Roborat

          Also it would never get stale, or go moldy.

      2. Lord Stoneheart

        Doesn’t one of the preview panels on the Dumbing of Age tumblr show Ethan and Danny in Joyce’s room?

        1. Catullus

          May 20, get hype

        2. Nono

          On the other hand, no Amber.

  28. Someone

    Don’t they have to keep the dating thing secret. Danny is dating amazi-girl and he told anyone he could. If Amber said that Danny was her boyfriend than it would make her secret identity pretty obvious.

  29. DarkoNeko

    Ah come on Amber, join them ! It’ll be fun, Sal is invited too !

    (but will probably decline)

  30. horrorshow88

    Her smile! So cute and excited.

  31. Bagge

    Refreshing to get a look at Amber being Amber, not Amazigirl.

    Awwww. Dina just got so HAPPY. I kinda think she liked that name too.

  32. Koms

    Oh my… second panel Dina sqeee. And yes, that’s the way to socialize. I’ve been doing it right all my life.

  33. Clif

    I’m waiting for her to invite Walky and accidentlly inviite Mike.

  34. Daisy

    Amber, Amber, c’mon, this is important. Dina needs someone there that she can trust, that can help divert attention if she gets stressed, that can give her encouragement. Dina has only very recently become aware that she lacks social skills in a noticeable way and she’s still trying to navigate that new problem, and she knows that Amber can help her.

    On top of this, you can see how happy she is that someone is including her in a friendship gathering. This is really new. If she goes to the party it will be the first time she has deliberately socialised with others, the first time she’s gone willingly instead of being swept along. The first time that she’s put herself out of her comfort zone. For socially anxious people, that means indicating that you care what others think of you, which feels vulnerable.

    So yeah in short I really empathise with Dina, and Amber had better go! For what it’s worth I imagine that Dotty can be the helpful friend/mediator for Amber that Amber needs to be for Dina.

  35. Charles Phipps

    I wonder if either Dina or Joyce will be upset about the fact the former was invited to the latter’s party. I don’t think Becky is being too discriminatory other than, “invite everyone in the dorm.”

    1. Rich

      There’s nothing weird about Dina being invited. If you look at the strips under Dina’s tag, she’s spent more time with Joyce and Sarah than anyone else other than her own roomie Amber. And Joyce likes her, partly because Dina makes her feel like she’s better socialized by comparison. The bickering about evolution doesn’t prevent them being friends any more than Dorothy’s atheism does.

    2. Bagge

      What? Becky works from a list (all but stated to be authored by Joyce) and is making sure to online invite people on it – So far Dorothy, Dina and Amber but NOT Danny.

      1. Bagge

        *only

      2. Makoto

        Yeah, I agree with Charles – she’s likely not working from a list. Becky’s most likely intended to make this a girls-only party (especially after learning what happened to Joyce), and that’s why she ‘snubbed’ Danny.
        Granted, it’s going to be harder to find boys in a girls’ dorm, but I’d still wonder what would happen if she encountered Walky.

        1. Evie

          She told Dorothy that Walky was invited. But she does know already that Joyce feels Walky is safe, so that might not disprove your point.

        2. Tacos

          She’s working from some sort of list at least. I mean, she does tell Dina that her name is on the list in panel 2.

        3. Makoto

          Bleah. (Note, self: make sure you read the current comic before commenting, okay?)
          I’ve seen instances like this where people say they have a list, but they’re just trying to make the party seem like it wasn’t an idea they had just five minutes ago, or for other reasons. 🙂 Only David would be able to tell us for sure (unless the comic posted today actually has Becky crossing people off the list ^_^)

          That does bring you right back to wondering if Joyce would indeed have any issues with Dina being there, though. 😐

  36. Pierre-Eric

    I just realized what I like so much about Becky’s new hairdo…

    It’s Cybersix’s!

    Except on the other side.

    1. DarkoNeko

      …oho.

  37. robyn

    See, when I’M at parties I sit in the corner and play with my PHONE. MUCH more socially acceptable.

  38. Scolopendra

    Ah, Dina. It’s been too long. :3

  39. Crumplepunch

    So, this is when Joyce and Amber last shared a panel:

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/cleaning/

    And this is when they last exchanged words:

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/coercing/

    I assume Amber was invited because she is Ethan’s friend.

    1. Rycan

      How about the page just before the first one you linked?
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/rubbingalcohol/

  40. Mandy

    Dina in panel 2 is the cutest thing ever. :3

  41. DuckDuckMoose

    Joyce inviting Dina is just classic Joyce. Anyone who seems nice, no matter how alien their beliefs (or knowledge) might seem, you try to be nice back. That’s how Joyce has always rolled.

    But her wish to invite Amber is surprising and really, really sweet. It’s tricky to mend fences sometimes. So good on her.

    1. Bagge

      Agreed – and inviting Amber is also a sign of that “do the right thing, even if is hard” mentality. Amber is NOT the crazy, hateful ex that it would be so easy to paint her as, so now Joyce prefers to mend fences.

      Of course, it helps that Joyce has learnt the hard way where Amber comes from vs the whole helping Ethan to hide he is gay thing.

      1. DuckDuckMoose

        Yeah. “bongo, where do you get off?” might have begun to sound like a more reasonable question in the last two days.

      2. anonymsly

        Well, Amber did show up to help Joyce clean the ding-dongs off the whiteboards, too, and I believe that also involved or constituted (as far as Joyce was concerned) an apology from her for how she’d acted before. I took that as fence-mending, so I’m not surprised to see Joyce inviting Amber now.

  42. Deanatay

    Amber knows more about socializing than Dina, but has less interest. Dina is ignorant, but curious.

  43. Alexx

    Ouch. Little twinge of sadness, seeing the Transformers Animated poster. Good times, man. Feels like it was longer ago than it really was.

  44. Arianod

    “This is how I socialize. Usually. Then there’s also the times when I put on a suit and cape and beat people up.”

  45. JBento

    Those Dina eyes in the last panel… Bad Willis, BAD!

  46. TK

    Dina’s “Mind*Blown” face!

  47. Zatar

    I’m basically Amber here, but with books.

  48. OmegaDez

    I’m starting to understand why people like Dina.

  49. Bill

    I suspect that the way Willis writes Dina’s dialog — very precise, with a marked like of contractions and American idioms and slang — he is trying to intimate that English is not her original tongue, like she had originally spoken Japanese, for example, as a young child but then emigrated to the US with her parents and only then learned English.  Has this ever been confirmed or am I reading too much into this?

    1. Bill

      That should have read “…a marked LACK of contractions…”.

    2. David M Willis

      Both Dina and her parents were born in the United States.

  50. Chrissy

    So long as no one brings booze, this party should be totally within the rules, right?

    1. John

      Becky’s not supposed to be there at all, but other than that…

      1. luxlucis

        She is not supposed to be saying with Joyce but she totally can be there. Though that might be different if the dorms have rules against visitors after a determined hour.

  51. Church

    It’s always good to work on your hand-eye coordination

  52. Rutee

    Amber! You know her well enough that you should say “But that’s just me” XD

  53. Kriven

    H-hey! That 3DS wasn’t invented at the beginning of the strip!

  54. Kyle

    willis dont think u can pull the wool over our eyes we can tell thats a pokemon game amber is playing and we demand to know which one and what her team is

    1. SwanBlossom

      It kinda looks like she has an Onix

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