137

Confident
Posted on March 13, 2017 by David M Willis

137 thoughts on “Confident”

  1. factorsofx

    The dinosaur has found her prey…

    1. Doctor_Who

      I had to.

      1. factorsofx

        It’s perfect.

      2. Needfuldoer

        All it needs is a little music!

        1. 3oranges

          I read “a little music” and assumed it was going to be Seagulls. It isn’t – but before I noticed that out I was wondering why you might pick it.

          And I realized: that song actually is about dinosaurs finding their prey. And poking its head. Nothing it could do but yell.

  2. Ana Chronistic

    “though dying WOULD be a great way of preserving my secret”

    “not if both of you die, people might put two and two together”

    “okay, it’d be a great way of it not being my problem anymore”

    1. Passchendaele

      “I can probably get Sal to follow my legacy, nobody will suspect the difference.”

      1. John

        And Billie suddenly, and through no fault of her own, becomes right!

        1. Bagge

          That’s how Billie usually becomes right.

      2. BBCC

        Sal would probably throw a rock at the tomb and make her get out of there. Sal’s a lousy enabler for AG.

  3. Doctor_Who

    From adorable to scary in 0.2 seconds.

    Time for Amber to change her name, move to another country, and grow a mustache.

  4. Reltzik

    At last, Amber realizes that combining the cube chairs was a grave mistake.

    ….

    *flees for dear punning life*

    1. Solenoid

      The gravest mistake in all cremation.

      1. tyersome

        … and with nothing to cushion the blow recovery will take a truly marbleous intern-vention …

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Puns like this need to be buried. 😛

        2. Reltzik

          That’s one inter-pretation.

        3. Daibhid C

          I see nothing funny inhume-our like this.

        4. tyersome

          Have we urned your ire? This comment procession remains all rites with me …

        5. Reltzik

          I think we’ve just hit the marker of tomb any puns.

  5. Emperor Daniel

    And Amber becomes Tomber.

    *flees for deer-pun stealing-life*

    1. Amazi-Stool

      Tombing of Age!

  6. Kernanator

    Here lies Amber. She died as she lived: trying to avoid interacting with others.

    1. Reltzik

      And here lies with her her best friend, who insisted on being present to highlight through contrast by proximity the flaws in her isolationism.

      In other words, her attempts to avoid interaction were foiled again.

      *flees for dear punning life*

  7. butts

    and here we see the wild dina, silently stalking her natural prey.

    1. Hellespont

      Cereal?

      1. N0083rP00F

        There is not too much that is natural about cereal unless you get that stuff pounded flat with a rock.

  8. shadowcell

    it will be the comfiest tomb

    1. lia47

      maybe if you got some pillows and blankets in there, but as is its literally a cube

      1. JessWitt

        It would be like a genie bottle.

      2. Truk2

        A single chair formed a cubes dimensions. Two pushed together formed an open rectangle twice as long as it’s with. With a cover it’s the same but higher.

        So not a cube, and good enough to lay down in if other occupants can be convinced to cuddle. Where were those pillows and blankets again???

        1. Reltzik

          You’d need 8 chairs to make a cube.

          … or 1.

          …. or 27.

          … really, any cube number.

          …. I don’t know if that counts as a pun or not.

        2. Random832

          Except it’s closed on four sides, so you can’t get a single cube. They’d need one that only has three sides to make an 8-chair cube, and it’d need to be combined with armless chairs and ottomans to make a 26-furniture-unit cube (the middle would obviously be hollow)

  9. Danni

    bonding by talking about sex!

  10. Passchendaele

    The tons and tons of raw sexual power of dina sarazu.

    Alternatively: “Can we viking funeral this.”

    1. Passchendaele

      And, for the comments section: everybody was pun-fu fighting…

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        Those quips were fast as typing.

        1. Mr. Bulbmin

          And the people think Mike is frightening

    2. Random832

      Her last name in DOA is Saruyama.

  11. Keulan

    I love Dina’s faces in this strip. And I’m glad Amber’s actually building this fort/tomb now.

  12. BBCC

    It was only then that young Amber realized her anxiety disorder would TRULY be her enemy.

    Also Dina calling her on her (unintentional?) condescension.

  13. UltraKyrie

    Dina Saruyama: Sexual Intimidator

    1. DonDueed

      I’d stream it.

    2. Deanatay

      RAWR.

  14. Danni

    if someone searches for amber in the chair tomb, are they a tomb raider?

    1. UltraKyrie

      Chair-a Croft?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        +1 for PUN

    2. Passchendaele

      Anyone who can do that sounds…crofty.

      *ba dum tiss*

  15. Stephen Bierce

    *plays some Doors on the hacked Muzak*

  16. Rukduk

    From nice smile to scary eyes in the blink of an eye. Either that or Dina determined that that was the proper lie to tell Amber in order to constitute a proper joke. If that’s the case, you haven’t yet quite perfected the art of comedy Dina.

    1. Fart Captor

      Considering how strongly she reacted when people thought Becky putting the moves on her sounded wrong, I’d say she was genuinely offended there.

      1. Rukduk

        Good point. Although, to be fair, I’ve always thought that petite women can still be very intimidating, sexually or otherwise (I’m judging from comparing her height to other characters that Dina is somewhere between the range of 4’10” and 5’1″, which I believe puts her in the “petite” category), which is why I’m a bit bewildered by other people finding Becky being sexually intimidated by Dina amusing.

        1. Fart Captor

          It’s not just that she’s petite, but that she looks younger than she is, and her unusual mannerisms lead people to infantilize her.

          Sadly, Amber still doesn’t want to see Dina as a sexual being, despite being really good about treating her as an equal otherwise.

        2. BBCC

          Exactly, and even if its just ‘ew, ew, ew, I don’t want to think about my friend’s sex life’, it has a larger, more harmful, impact when your friend is neurodivergent because of the history of desexualizing and infantilizing them.

        3. TSB

          Great points. I also think that Dina’s race may be relevant here. My understanding of American culture is that Asian women in particular are stereotyped as passive objects of sexual desire, rather than people with sexual agency.

        4. thejeff

          Unless they flip it around as the Dragon Lady, that’s the common stereotype.

        5. C.T. Phipps

          A Korean friend of mine said it was funny that Ada Wong was the only sexually active Asian woman she could find in video games, even if most of them were made in Japan.

    2. Deanatay

      “Untrue! I believe I have mastered the art of… comeDina.”

      *snerk*

      Dina is amused, therefore it is comeDina.

  17. Hellespont

    Been a few years now, it is still both funny and adorable that tiny Dina views herself as a raptor and expects others to as well.

    1. Goblin Scribe

      Raptors are very small!

      1. Hellespont

        With razor teeth, aggressive attitudes and, y’know, tails.

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        “You’re the size of a turkey, not a lion” — The Doubleclicks, “Velociraptor”

        Raaawr!

  18. Hellespont

    Also. The problem with building a cube tomb is that final piece going up and your being inside.

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      The trick is to balance the top chairs at a mostly-closed position, carefully crawl in, then pull your tomb shut.

      But try not to stay for too long. After a few centuries… getting out is a real lich.

      1. John

        Shouldn’t that be “longo”?

      2. Hellespont

        I thought the same thing. Those chair backs may be wide, but humans are wider, the angles don’t work for that idea. Even with Ethan holding them the RL geometry is against them.

        1. Hellespont

          Amber completes the cube. Ethan stands up, holding the chair above his head. That would provide enough of a gap for Amber to carefully crawl in, without bumping the other top chair off. In the same spirit Ethan lowers the chair.

          Job done.

  19. DarkoNeko

    Right. it’s one hour earlier now. forgot.

    1. Egg

      My entire being howls in rebellion against this unnatural subversion of time’s passage 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      (RIP sleep schedule)

    2. Reltzik

      Don’t think it’s one hour earlier.

      Think that all the clocks are one hour liars.

  20. All-Purpose Guru

    Gawd, even MORE adorable Dina.

    GAAAAH

  21. Gesc

    Fluff aside, Ethan feels like such a zero the the left.

  22. Plasma Mongoose

    Sexually intimidating are not the first things that cross my mind when I think of Dina.

  23. Professor Fate

    Since it’s near the windows will it be a Tomb With A View?

  24. Clif

    Few tombs get good reception.

  25. Doopyboop

    Dina and Becky are too cute. (also I found my new gravatar)

    1. Positron

      I was thinking the same thing, but can’t bring myself to give up this one.

      1. Doopyboop

        oh man smug Joyce is a good one

        1. zoomer296

          Mine’s not going anywhere, that’s for sure.

  26. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Panels 4-6: Ah, yes, the difference between the soft joy of knowing someone close to you is excited by your presence even if you lack similar urges to them and having someone view you as a being incapable of being lusted after.

    One is flattering, the other is insulting.

    Panel 7: And since Amber didn’t mean to insult, she goes way overboard in trying to escape her accidental misstep. And that’s the tragedy of Amber. When she was being abused by her dad, her every statement and action were poured over for justification for him to blow up at her. Every misstep a justification for an attack and every regular step analyzed until it could be called a misstep.

    And the end result is a blind panic when she fucks up and a desperate clawing fear and need to escape the situation entirely. And the sad part is that response makes it hard to respond in an actually helpful way with a simple apology, because the mental wheels are already flying down the self-pummeling rails.

    Panel 3: And that’s a shame, because this panel is one Amber should be proud of, as she should her reaching out to Ethan. But I fear all she’s going to take away is that she shouldn’t be allowed to interact with others because of that one misstep later on.

    That her sweet supportive statement about Dina’s happiness, her gentle check on Ethan’s self-destructive tendencies. That they’ll be washed away in her remembering of this day by the one statement later on.

    Panels 1-2: Dina makes a good point. Becky is a person who blurts her mind a lot. Which makes sense, she’s been sheltered her whole life not allowed to say one thing that was going on in her mind lest she be abused. But, now she’s free and in a land that feels like a utopia to her.

    And so Amber fears that new Becky. But the old Becky is still there and Becky knows how to keep secrets when she understands the stakes. She’s told no one what happened to Joyce, she’s hidden a huge swath of her mental suffering surrounding Toedad, and faked being straight and in university her whole big visit with Joyce.

    If Becky knows this is important to Amber/AG, she’ll let nothing slip. And as Dina notes, she’s in awe of the magical superheroine who helped save her. She’s never going to want to do anything to betray her in any way.

    But I understand Amber’s hesitation. That’s a big risk to take for no guarantee of safety. And it’s perfectly reasonable to decide it’s too big a risk to take, because if it does go wrong, there’s no fixing that.

    1. Bagge

      Amber is doing good in panel 3. She’s growing as a person – reaching out and forming connections. Her friendship with Dina is something to take pride in. And it’s extra heartwarming because that contradicts her idea of herself as a total loss.

    2. DonDueed

      Not sure if somebody made this point yesterday, but… it occurs to me that Amber would be in much greater danger if Becky didn’t know her secret (and was sharing the room with her and Dina). Without the knowledge Becky would be likely to give it away accidentally, perhaps at the moment of surprise when she figured it out.

      So if Becky moves in, Amber’s best strategy is to tell Becky directly and make sure she understands the importance of keeping it quiet. But that still makes yet another person who knows. And you know what they say about secrets, and the number of people who know about them.

      1. Bagge

        That’s a good point, and that of course means that allowing Becky to sleep with Dina does not only mean trusting her ability to keep her mouth shut – it means entrusting her with Amber’s deepest secret and asking her to keep it hidden from everyone, including Joyce.

        No easy question indeed.

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        “Three may keep a secret, if two are dead.” – Benjamin Franklin

        1. DonDueed

          Yep, that’s the quote I was referring to 🙂

    3. thejeff

      I suspect Becky’s wacky blabbermouth persona is directly tied to keeping her secrets. No one would suspect a person who obviously just says whatever comes into their head of keeping anything hidden.

  27. Cerberus

    Panel 4 extra analysis (Ace focus): But on a more narrow focus, I’m going to once again swing my ace spectrum Dina theory and just bask in a very relatable moment here. It’s… nice, when you’re ace and you know that you don’t have the sexual attractions in those ways for your sexual partner and you worry that that will leave them unsatisfied and then you realize that despite that, you’re still exciting them in that certain way.

    Or at least, I like it. Cause I like that direct connection to know I have a means of creating a feeling of specific joy in my partner and that I can turn their crank and leave them feeling all wound up and libidoified. So I relate a lot to Dina softly smiling here thinking of Becky lying on the steps in mortification to how turned on the possibility of sharing a bed with her makes her. Feeling pride that she can summon that in her partner despite not being able to take the easy mode of shared chemistry.

    And that’s fucking adorable.

    1. Emily

      At the end of the day it really depends on your attitude towards actually fulfilling those desires because if you don’t mind yeah, it can play out pretty much exactly like you say here but if you do mind it can feel more like unmanageable expectations being put upon you and make you feel like an inadequate partner who can’t take care of your loved one’s needs.

      1. Cerberus

        Oh very much agree. I find it flattering, but I have a very deliberate relationship structure that diffuses pressure to perform. Without that, I’d probably find it terrifying and anxiety inducing.

        And even with it, I’ve freaked out before about not being able to connect to that mutual chemistry in the same way a sexual would.

  28. Bagge

    Heh, methinks Cerberus had a point describing Dina and Becky as dom and sub. When they are ready, I think they will find each other very sexually interesting indeed.

    Embarrassing as it is for her, I’m actually glad when Amber have problems that have to do with AMBER rather than Amazi-girl, if nothing else because that allows her to take space.

    1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      I pity their neighbors in the dorm, as the noise might be alarming.

      1. Bagge

        “Mammals are weird”

        1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          Well… either Cerb’s headcanon is correct, or I suspect Dina has one of the most spectacular and head-titling porno collections in the dorm, because childl-looking autistic Asian girl with previously terribad dating prospects and depths beyond dino-girl.

        2. Fart Captor

          +1

      2. Pablo360

        Their neighbors, IIRC, are Dorothy & Sierra, with whom they share a half-bath. I’m not entirely sure but I think they might be on the end of the hall and thus not have neighbors on the other side.

  29. Kinoko

    Doesn’t Dina also have math with Joyce, Mike, Walky and Sal?

    1. nightsbridge

      I don’t think so? She might be in a different class, isn’t that why she was able to go walking with Becky on the day of the bad?

    2. TheGrammarLegionary

      No, Dina’s taking Professor Rees’s class, but not at the same time.

    3. thejeff

      No, but I thought she had bio at the same time. A bio quiz was why Becky wasn’t hanging out with her.
      Unless the bio class is later, but then why’d Becky go to class with Joyce today?

      1. Nightsbridge

        …To spend time with her best friend?

        1. thejeff

          Except she specifically commented about not going to biology because of the quiz.

        2. Bagge

          She still have that time-share thing going on between Dina and Joyce, and it’s adorable!

      2. BBCC

        Her teacher might let them leave as soon as they complete the quiz. Dina might have finished already.

      3. John

        The bio class is later. When the Duke of Thingley tripped over Dina and Becky during Walky’s math class on Monday, they were hanging out on the grass with Becky telling Dina horror stories. Dina’s bio class was after that.

        1. John

          More direct reference to their schedules.

  30. BenRG

    Dina, honey, you’re just going to have to face the fact that you’re intimidating, full stop!

    In Amber’s defence, Dina did a pretty poor job in communicating that the proper response was “You go girl” and not “You’re right, that’s very amusing”. It didn’t help that I’m not sure that Dina knew that was the right response until Amber gave the wrong one!

  31. rectilinearpropagation

    I’ve been on both sides of that, “It’s only funny when *I* think it’s funny” interaction.

    And yeah, sometimes you don’t know that it’s going to hurt your feelings until someone else agrees, agrees too much, or is agreeing for the wrong reasons.

    I think this is a “wrong reasons” moment. Dina is chuffed that Becky finds her sexually intimidating in a general “my SO thinks I’m hot” kind of way. (It may also be the fact that Becky doesn’t seem to get intimidated by much so being able have that effect on her feels extra impressive.) When Amber laughed it probably reminded her that her friends would find this funny because they don’t see her as being capable of being sexual at all.

    It’s like someone saying, “I got the lead part, can you believe it?” and the other person going, “I can’t believe it! You’re terrible at acting!” The disbelief is supposed to be over something that good happening, not that someone would think you worthy of the good thing happening.

    1. Cerberus

      Yup, all of this!

      And that’s the exact distinction that’s bothering Dina there.

  32. Nico

    I mean, as a person who stands at 4’11” and is very un-curvy… one of my greatest insecurities is that I am fundamentally sexually undesirable to my peers because I essentially have a “child’s body” and do not attempt to augment my appearance in pursuit of conventional beauty via makeup or dressing in a more typically feminine manner.

    And I already live outside of America, in a nation where I am not THAT much smaller/less physically developed than most other people in my age group! And (part 2) while I am neuroatypical, I come off as professional and mature and don’t get infantilized for reasons other than my appearance! So I have a lot of sympathy for Dina, her baggage about it must be so much heavier.

    1. C.T. Phipps

      Are you sure you’re not Dinah? Do you like dinosaurs? If so, you may put your fears to rest and know the only thing you must do is wear a green hat to let your desire for mating be known.

  33. nobodybasically

    I see Dina saying “Aha, Yes” and wonder if her lines were meant to be read in Jeff Goldblum’s voice the entire time.

  34. brasca1

    I suppose lifting a cubicle chair shouldn’t be a difficult feat for Amazi-Girl, but for someone trying to maintain their secret identity they should be a little careful.

    1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      *Bantam Elemental Intensifies*

  35. Deanatay

    I hope my tomb has WiFi. I want to be able to read all the tweets of people mourning me.

    1. JBento

      No morning. When I’m dead, I intend to sleep late.

  36. JBento

    This looks exactly like what led to Beckasaurus first kiss – Becky admitting she was attracted to Dina, and everyone else finding it odd, because it was Dina.

    I’m think everyone else (in comic) is blowing Blabbermouth Becky out of proportion – there’s only one secret she was entrusted with (Joyce’s attempted rape) and she kept pretty mum about that. She DOES say a lot of stuff that everyone thinks she shouldn’t, but nothing that has actual stakes involved.

    Also, feels for Amber’s self-loathing rearing its head up again in that last speech bubble. 8(

    1. BenRG

      Amber has trust issues of her own. Having to regularly deal with what is more-or-less a stranger would be highly stressful for her. Becky can,/i> blurt things out, especially if its’ new to her so the only way forward would be for Amber to explain Amazi-Girl to Becky and explain why she can’t say anything to anyone about it.

      That would be fantastically difficult to her, especially as this would require her to lie to Joyce about someone with who she has dealings.

    2. thejeff

      But of course, since that’s a secret, no one but Joyce (and Sarah?) know she’s keeping it. Blabbermouth Becky is very much her apparent persona. It’s not surprising Amber, who doesn’t know her well, only sees the surface.

      Becky’s actually a very good liar. She’s done it all her life. She kept her secret from Joyce when she first arrived. Didn’t even let on a hint that anything was wrong for the whole day, until the kiss and everything came out, even though it had to be tearing her up inside.

      My biggest reservation about Becky & Dina early on was precisely that – Becky’s a great liar and Dina has no ability to read people. Obviously, Becky’s since removed all my worries on that score.

      1. JBento

        This is true. More communication would make the lack of communication clear, one might say.

  37. Joe Covenant

    Three Chairs for Amber…
    Hip Hip…!

    (sorrysorrysorry!)

  38. Commodore Jeep-Eep

    So who’s getting their ashes hauled in the ad?

    1. JBento

      Skin tone suggests Walky and (therefore) Dorothy? I think? At least that was my initial inclination.

    2. BBCC

      Walky and Dorothy.

  39. Joey245

    Waaaait a minute, doesn’t Dina have class the same time as Walky, Joyce, and the others? Whaat is she doing skipping class?

    1. JBento

      Making sure her girlfriend isn’t homeless.

    2. BBCC

      Dina doesn’t have the same class as the others do. Well, she does, but she’s in a different section. Her section meets on Tuesdays and (presumably) Thursdays.

      1. JBento

        Did she switch at some point or something? Otherwise, that shines a really big light on the incompetence of her getting handed Walky’s paper by mistake.

        1. BBCC

          Nope. They really were that incompetent.

        2. JBento

          Is that why we’ve never seen them again? Their incompetence landed them a nomination for Trump’s cabinet? Because I can totally see Penny as Trump’s secretary of ethics or the like.

        3. BBCC

          Oh lord. XD

          We do know that Penny is the TA for Dina’s section (Patreon canon), so presumably Jason misplaced Walky’s notes and they ended up in her student’s pile somehow. All we know for sure is Dina was in the class on the first Thursday of the year, so she definitely did not switch.

        4. John

          Or Penny saw the notes in Jason’s pile and assumed that they had been misplaced, because it was obvious whose they were.

        5. BBCC

          That could be it, if she saw the dinosaur and Jason just assumed later he misplaced them.

  40. Tenn

    “Sexually intimidated”, taken out of context, sounds… not so hot. *understatement*

  41. trlkly

    I don’t think it has to be that Amber thinks she’s not sexual. Amber knows about Dina’s social anxieties. She knows Dina well enough that she’s not going to be aggressive with things like that.

    But, on the other hand, that doesn’t mean that Dina wasn’t reminded of that, or that Amber wasn’t also thinking she wasn’t sexual under the surface.

    BTW, I bristle at assuming Dina is a hard ace for the same reason. She made a big deal about being a sexual person. Maybe she’s gray ace, and only has eyes for people she’s already in a relationship with, but I don’t think we should assume she’s asexual.

    That assumption seems like the very thing she’s a bit upset about now.

    1. BBCC

      Amber’s said before though that she prefers not having to think of Dina as a sexual being.

      Also – sexual attraction does not equal desirability. Dina can be ace, interested in sex, and still want to be seen as desirable. She’s said before she’s never had sexual urges before, but finds them clinically fascinating. That definitely sounds like a sex positive (or sex neutral) ace to me.

      She got mad when people had a hard time believing someone else found her sexually desirable and were really obnoxious and infantilizing about it – which is common among Asian women, neurodivergent folks, and, again, ace folks.

  42. Amanda Mask

    idk if anyone has said this, but I bet that stoned dude with the third chair is Sarah’s old roomate’s ex.

  43. kboyx1

    *Plays suspenseful Jurassic Park music on the hacked Muzak*

  44. Morrison

    That moon faced kid.

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