226

Hadto’ve
Posted on November 4, 2023 by David M Willis

226 thoughts on “Hadto’ve”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Sex Ed coming in clutch

    …

    er

    1. Wraithy2773

      Honestly, at this point I’m rooting for Walky and Lucy to be end-game just to stick it to Linda and Charles, who clearly prefer the white girl who broke the law to cheat the university to bail Walky out of his own fuckup.

      1. Wraithy2773

        …er, this was supposed to be a brand-new comment, not a reply. Sorry!

      2. Archieve

        It’s honestly disheartening how fast Charles forgave the white girl who maimed his daugther. Walky had a harsher reaction when in a relationship with her. Charles meets her once and is all she seems fine! Meanwhile thinking Danny is his daugthers only key to redemption.

      3. Warcodered

        Yeah I get the hate rooting for them, being realistic besides the added problems that dynamic adds, Walky before this whole thing has never seemed to be in sync with Lucy as to where they are in the relationship.

    2. Paradoxius

      Their names are Charles and Linda, IIRC

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Bravo. ??

  2. Yotomoe

    Feels like a joke I would’ve made.

    1. NGPZ

      Perhaps Willis be takin a note from your book :p

      1. Stephen Bierce

        I imagine Mike applauding from the Great Beyond and saying “Well played.”

        1. NGPZ

          Pika pika?

        2. Mym

          Would have been the best time for Mike to show up, proving he never really died

        3. clif

          No,no. Mike will time it perfectly for maximum impact.

          And will be sure that initially he is seen only by Walky.

        4. Nicoleandmaggie

          If Lucy and Walky ever start having sex? Mike pops out of Booster’s closet.

        5. Kammon

          If Lucy and Walky ever start having sex?
          Mike pops out… 9 months later
          https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/funky-creepycreepy

        6. Mym

          ?

      2. Ryan

        I am heartened to know that comic creators spy on other people too.

    2. thakoru

      Personally, I would have seen the opportunity, panicked, and muttered “That’s what she said,” a beat too late, even though that doesn’t actually make sense.

    3. Laura

      Reminds me of the old stand-up line where the comedian meets his long-lost father:

      “I’m not glad you’re here, but I sure am glad you came!”

      1. Yotomoe

        HEHEHEH

      2. Just_IDD

        This scarily describes my paternal relationship perfectly. Fortunately I don’t eVer need to address it since he died in February. (I’ll probably end up with blowjobcat which makes it better and worse)

  3. Thag Simmons

    Not complaining that we skipped most of that awkward family interaction.

    1. Decidedly Orthogonal

      did we though? Or did they bail when Linda cranially vomited from her hate orifice?

    2. clif

      We can wait to learn why Linda and Charles were on Campus and what Linda’s new job will be.

      1. Mym

        CONGRATS ON THE SAL GRAVATAR

      2. Thag Simmons

        I guess we never did find out what Linda did for a living.

        I’d been assuming a corporate consultant type gig, something mundane, white collar and thoroughly evil.

        1. Mym

          I personally think she just has a bunch of sugar daddies, telling Charles they’re all very important business meetings

        2. BSD

          That’s sort of what corporate consulting is. Have lunches an expensive dinners, bill for hanging out at their place for a couple of days, tell some high-level executives what they want to hear to boost their ego, never get attached.

  4. Bruno

    Oh it’s so over between these two.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Depends. Spite can be a hell of a motivator

      1. Wraithy2773

        Spite motivated the creation of a charity with 8 digits of proceeds over the last decade plus.

        Also, for the record, Desert Bus, connected with said Child’s Play Charity, starts up for its yearly internet telethon in a couple weeks!

        1. Jamie

          Desert Bus Begins Nov 11th, 2pm PST

      2. NGPZ

        Indeed. And both of them are aware that a break-up would only be giving Linda exactly what she wants.

      3. Yotomoe

        It’s a shitty motivator as far as romance is concerned.

    2. Animedingo

      One can only hope

    3. Marvelman

      There’s nothing in this conversation to suggest that Walky and Lucy are breaking up, but my guess is that Lucy is at least considering it, and good for her! She deserves someone who will really appreciate her.

      1. Samniel

        We spent so long wondering how badly Walky would have to screw up or how intense Lucy would have to be for them to break up, we didn’t consider Lucy meeting his parents and absolutely noping out.

        1. Leorale

          She’s certainly majorly turned off right now, on account of being racist-ed at. Who wouldn’t be!

          If Walky had stood up for Lucy, or if Lucy had gotten to tell Linda off, we would’ve gotten to see it, so I figure that means Walky didn’t do anything, and that Lucy just swallowed the racism, and her feelings about it. Ick.
          Yeah, I hope they break up.

        2. Leorale

          –oh yeah, and there was a whole day today, after Walky saw his mom racistly rip up Lucy’s feelings, where Walky ignored Lucy’s texts and did nothing to support her. Hrm. Bad call, Walky.

        3. Laura

          Hmm? I missed that.

        4. Leorale

          I tend to have difficulty remembering what order things happen in. Was it like this?
          – Sal comes to lunch without Danny, Linda is crappy, Sal walks out.
          – Walky and Lucy meet Charles and then Linda, to watch the game. Among other things, Linda calls Lucy “slumming it”.
          – Walky wakes up the next day, goes to play videogames with Amber and Dina, ignores Lucy’s texts.
          – This scene, which I assumed was nighttime but I guess it doesn’t have to be.

        5. Bash

          Walky playing video games with Amber and Dina was before all that. The previous day was the disaster date with Amber.

        6. thejeff

          Yeah we got all upset with Walky for ignoring Lucy and blowing her off to play games with Amber and then they met up for the game with his parents.

        7. Leorale

          Ohh. Thank you both.

          In that case, somebody in Walky’s situation may have one more shot to save this: realizing he froze up, and showing up for Lucy the next day. Lucy would probably take him back if he took good care of her feelings. (Because she was so head-over-heels for him, and because it’s not Walky’s fault his mom is a horror show.)

          But so far, that looks unlikely. Just a meh joke about parent-sex, to avoid feelings.
          He’s gonna get dumped.

        8. Laura

          Urgh. Tummy hurts.

        9. NGPZ

          same :/

        10. clif

          They said their good nights. Walky initiated no goodnight kiss, no goodnight hug. After standing there Lucy extended the conversation. Still no intimacy. I doubt very seriously this is lost on Lucy or is what she wants. But now Walky represents a sunk cost, and won’t be abandoned easily.

          Eventually she may get frustrated and cut her loses, but that day is not today.

      2. Wraithy2773

        I’m struggling to see the jump from “Linda is a shitty person” to “Walky doesn’t appreciate Lucy”.

        Yeah, he’s not napalming his bridges on sight here, but we can recognize that he’s in a fucking shitty situation regarding his racist parents and that he doesn’t have unlimited options.

        Lucy wanting to opt out of that hellscape is entirely justified, but it’s not Walky’s fault at all.

        1. Mym

          I mean, did he stand up for her? Or did he silently sit by as his mother said he was “slumming it” by dating her? Angry eyebrows don’t do shit

        2. Wraithy2773

          He’s only stuck up for Sal, his sister, once, and in a fairly minor way that he immediately fled from.

          This isn’t a situation where Walky doesn’t care about Lucy because he’s not willing to stick up for her. It’s a situation where he’s afraid to cross Linda because she goes fucking nuclear at the drop of a hat.

        3. Mym

          He had the chance to apologize for the situation and chose to make a sex joke about his dad

        4. Wraithy2773

          He made a bitter-but-evasive joke that acknowledged how awful his mother is. There’s more to the joke than just “lol sex”.

        5. Mym

          Because he doesn’t want to step up for Lucy’s feelings

        6. Wraithy2773

          @Mym He only barely, hesitantly did so for his twin sister, whom he’s known most of his life. This isn’t about Lucy.

        7. Mym

          Or maybe he could have started this day by sitting in his ex’s room playing video games while she was in her undies. He also could have ignored his phone in his room, acknowledging that Lucy’s nothing is always something, and that she probably blew up his phone while he was ignoring her. And then finished the day like this

        8. Wraithy2773

          There was explicitly nothing sexual about his hang-out with Amber. That was kinda a whole part of the scene, even.

          And we’ve seen Walky stand up for Lucy, when meeting with his brother.

          Just… stop rooting for a ship to die because you’re rooting for a different, conflicting one.

        9. Regina phalange

          That is not at all good enough for this situation. The absolute least he could do is explicitly acknowledge that his mother was terrible to Lucy—but instead he went with indirect sanctioning of Lucy’s opinion. Not good enough; she deserves direct support, regardless of whether it is in front of Linda. As someone who has been the Lucy in this kind of dynamic, I genuinely hope she bails for her own sake. It isn’t worth the trauma when your SO refuses to stand up to mommy for you.

        10. Li

          I mean, nah, it’s totally fine to root for Ship A to die if someone prefers Ship B. That’s fine lol. It doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s a bit rude to do it *at* someone who likes Ship A, but these are cartoon people without feelings. Nothing wrong for rooting for Ship A to die for petty reasons.

          It’s not why *I* think Walky and Lucy is doomed either (I thought he was cute with Dorothy but I don’t have any Big Walky Ships *or* any Big Lucy Ships: no real dog in this fight, as the saying goes), but. It would be fine if it was.

        11. Miri

          So he’s not disagreeing with Lucy at all, pointing out that his dad coming with Linda at least once was kinda an essential part of his existence… If his response to “Your dad is kinda nice … Too bad he comes with your mom” was “Hey now – I know she was being a bit snippy because she’s annoyed about the whole grades thing and you may have got caught in the crossfire slightly – but she is still my mom!” I would see an angry door slam in his face in the immediate future.

          Tomorrow’s comic (or Monday’s if Patreon says no) could involve a big sigh and an apology and an acknowledgement that his mother’s flaws extend beyond racism and she is A LOT and that probably a lot of his conflict-avoidant behaviours and difficulty being genuine and facing up to emotions stem from her..? Pretty sure Lucy won’t hold things he can’t control against him. Whether ultimately she decides she can’t deal with Linda/that she and Walky are a “works on paper but just don’t quite click right” couple – she is kind and patient, and seriously into him.

        12. Jon

          “I’m sorry for what my mom said, that wasn’t okay at all.”

          That’s all he had to say, but he didn’t. Lucy set him up to acknowledge his mom’s shittiness and instead of validating his girlfriend’s hurt feelings, he deflected.

          Sure, he didn’t stand up for Linda. But he didn’t stand up for Lucy either, even when it was just the two of them and he had no parental approval to risk.

          Lucy can do WAY better.

        13. Mym

          Literally what other ship do you think I want? This ship sucks. I also think Amber/Walky sucks. But sexual or not, he said Lucy is too much, and we see that she IS. She misconstrues and twists everything he says to fuel her delusions.
          Example: “I love that about you, Lucy” translates to “I love you”
          Or how about her thought that this day was going to lead to marriage and her being part of the family.
          This relationship is doomed.

        14. Jeffrey

          I mean, clearly Walky cares some amount. I don’t mean that in a belittling way, either. It’s an unknown quantity, but it’s there. The question isn’t ‘does he care’, it’s ‘does he care enough to do or say anything?’ It appears the answer is ‘no’. In fact unless I’m forgetting something (and I might be), Walky said basically nothing in defense of Lucy while Lucy was being bigoted at.

          Which isn’t surprising, or even much worthy of condemnation, so long as he tries and grows. His mother is, to a young man raised by her, a frightening and oppressive presence blended with love and support, a profoundly toxic and confusing mix. But…none of that is Lucy’s problem. Or, well, it is if she decides to continue trying to Seriously Date Racist-Momma’s son Walky. I suspect an entire basketball game of being shit on with no one making mare than oblique remarks in her defense might have served as a wake up call ‘wait, I am giving way more than I’m getting here!’

        15. Mark

          I think it’s “does he care enough to take serious damage from a fight in which he knows he can win nothing?” He has no power to change the situation. His only tool is moral suasion, and he knows from experience that Linda is invulnerable to that.

        16. Marvelman

          It isn’t an even relationship. Lucy was… available. She was head over heels with him and she was accessible. He didn’t have to try. Walky is settling for Lucy. She deserves better than that.

      3. Bruno

        That’s just it, there’s nothing in this conversation. There’s absolutely nothing here. They’re just both kind of silently asking why Lucy had to go through that. Walky’s dealing with how racist his parents are and the effects that has on his relationships with other. Lucy spent all day basically being called slurs. And there’s no emotional support. No common ground. These two have nothing.

        1. Archieve

          I feel like the subtext of their conversation is along the lines of Lucy: I thought you said they learned their lesson after amber?? Walky: I thought so too…Lucy: you should have called your mom out. Walky: I don’t know how…. do you? Lucy:…..

      4. Thomas

        Worse. There’s nothing in this conversation to suggest that Walky & Lucy are attracted to each other. Not even a kiss? Walky’s double entendre just bounces off the wall. Linda’s presence must have been really off-putting.

    4. Mym

      Sad no one punched Linda’s lights out

      Glad it’s over tho

      1. Angel

        that would prolly just validate her beliefs more

        a more boring approach but ppl also do say “the best revenge is a well-lived life” lol

        1. Mym

          Mike should’ve come back to life and punched her lights out then

  5. Schpoonman

    Aw, jeez, you two.

    1. Coatl

      It was inevitable

      1. Schpoonman

        It definitely is/was not, but Lucy is not in any way prepared for the shrieking racist stain that is her boyfriend’s mother.

        1. Steve C

          I know this is lame, but the thought that keeps going through my head is “Walky tried to warn her.” Come to think of it, so did Sal. That said, I wouldn’t blame her if she decided to cut her losses. As someone upthread pointed out, it’s possible that Lucy is starting to realize that she wants things (note the plural form) from Walky that Walky is either unwilling or unable to give.

      2. Mym

        Even better with the Sarah gravatar

  6. quark

    is walky going for a world record in most words abbreviated into one? is he working on a frankensteins monster of a contraction?

    1. Schpoonman

      Someone get the meme of Wojak’s brain expanding as he’s “y’all’d’ve”ing and whatnot.

    2. Thag Simmons

      I’m given to understand this sort of thing is fairly common in German and other languages.

      1. RassilonTDavros

        Sometimes I invent new words by stringing German words together specifically because no one would believe me if I strung two English words together and claimed it was a “real” word.

        The downside to this strategy is that only I know about 25 or so German words.

        1. clif

          Well maybe so, but if you look at combinations of three of those twenty-five words you have well over fifteen-thousand possibilities.

        2. Allen Alberti

          fun fact that pedants don’t like. if you make up a word, it’s a real word. it doesn’t matter if you are the only person experiencing it. that’s what words are. the hard part is getting it to meme (in the Dawkins sense, not the LOLCAT sense).

        3. John Campbell

          I would submit that it’s not a real word unless you can say it to people and have them understand what you mean by it. Doesn’t have to be a lot of people. But if it doesn’t convey meaning, it’s not a word, it’s just a noise.

        4. Mark

          +1

        5. HueSatLight

          FEED FACE DEAD BEEF is one word.

        6. Jamie

          Exotypik you.

        7. Uly

          English does that too. It’s just that when we write down our strung together lexical units, we usually include spaces.

    3. RassilonTDavros

      I mean, “hadto’ve” is only a contraction of three words, two of which are fully intact. That’s barely scratching the surface. Consider the sublime elegance of “I’mma,” which is not merely a contraction of “I’m gonna” as is subconsciously understood on the surface level but a secondary contraction of “I am” and “going to” via the intermediary contractions. The possibilities are endless!

    4. miz

      “y’all’dn’t’ve” would like a word with you. or five

  7. sakamism

    Thought we were gonna get something more dramatic out of that interaction, honestly.

    1. Schpoonman

      I was hoping for something, but I noticed that the end of the strip where Linda called Lucy “slumming it” had a similar “Lucy is hurt but doesn’t know what to do because what the fuck do you say in the face of such bullshit?” vibe as when Sarah went off on her. Lucy didn’t say anything to a random asshole there, she definitely wouldn’t to her boyfriend’s mother’s face.

    2. Wraithy2773

      Scene’s not entirely over yet. When we cut, figured we weren’t going to get an immediate response, but there’s still a fuse burning here.

      1. Thag Simmons

        The arc isn’t over, but unless there’s a flashback the scene at the game definitely is.

      2. clif

        That’s fair. The onversation could continue. Lucy could invite him in. Much drama could yet happen.

  8. Yumi

    I’m loving this attitude from Lucy, but I still wish we could’ve seen it go down between her and Linda at the game (even though it probably wouldn’t have worked out).

    1. Thag Simmons

      Clearly didn’t go down at the game, but I think the Walkertons are going to be in town one more day, so there’s still time for shit to hit the fan.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Yeah, “Lucy just absorbs all of Linda’s microaggressions without even saying anything about it to Walky later when they’re alone” isn’t the way I want to see this arc end. If not for their relationship, for Walky’s character growth. He needs to get past the passive “this is how she is and she’s not going to change so we just have to take it and keep the peace” attitude or he’s going to end up like his father.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Then again, “absorb abuse without standing up for yourself to placate and avoid conflict” seems to be something Lucy does. (Unless she blows up in a tirade off-panel.) She should work on that.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/treat/

  9. RassilonTDavros

    I think the funniest Dumbing of Age strips tend to fall into one of two categories: strips where the joke is flat-out hysterical but only really lands if you’re familiar with DoA and its characters, and individual strips that tell you everything you need to know and could almost function as a self-contained work of art. This falls into the second category.

    1. Puppeteer Nessus

      Agreed. My favorite strip is an example of the first type: Sarah realizes who Sal is for Halloween.

      1. Bash

        Is that a joke? I genuinely don’t remember that.

        1. clif

          SPIFFY SPACE-STRONAUTS!

        2. Needfuldoer

          Ooh, comment-Gravatar synergy!

  10. Sirksome

    You know it’s been a bad night cause Lucy isn’t using this as an excuse to finally smash.

    1. Grimey

      I feel like Linda just murdered any ideas of that for the time being. She may have ironically bailed Walky out of any further relationship development.

    2. Angel

      an unpleasant parenti sn’t rly much of a turn on lol

      Unless she was specifically like “don’t date my son” and the reply being “i’m going to start dating him even harder” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G2pzuPE27Q)

  11. Qube

    the punchline is ejaculation

    1. David DeLaney

      BOOK TITLE

      –Dave, carefully not specifying an integer

  12. William

    Looks like Lucy’s losing sight of the Walky Magic due to his mother. Probably for the best.

    1. Coatl

      It had to happen, but I’m surprised it was so soon

      1. Mym

        For real. The girl is great at blinding herself through her own boy craziness

  13. butting

    Aw yeah, Monty Python got it too.

    “But it’s the same with us, Harry.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I mean, we’ve got two children… and we’ve had sexual intercourse twice.”

  14. DailyBrad

    I’m not really convinced this means it’s over the same way some others are, though I do think Lucy’s optimism took a big blow here.

    1. Mark

      +1

  15. Coatl

    It’s the first blow, now we have to wait if she is willing to resist

    1. David DeLaney

      i do not think they are currently going to
      come to blows

      –Dave, so to speak

  16. HueSatLight

    Sarah was right. And I was really hoping Lucy or Walky would stand up to Linda and Charles.

    1. Mym

      I love the phrase “Sarah was right”

    2. Sirksome

      I think that moment was less about whether Sarah was right and more about Sarah being a jerk, even if she was indeed a correct jerk.

    3. DailyBrad

      In a really generous reading, sure. She was certainly partially right, that confronting probably would have been the right move. She was definitely not correct about the other shit and basically ended any chance her message was going to be received because she *seriously* needs to work on that shit if she wants to be a lawyer someday.

      1. anonymsly

        Right? A lot of courtroom anything seems dependent on making people like and trust you in not a lot of time and Sarah’s not even starting to pretend to care about that.

        1. Jeffrey

          Not all lawyers are courtroom lawyers, which is a good thing if Sarah wants to be one. But…she was right. The entire ‘approach’ to dealing with Racist Mom was completely, laughably ridiculous. Only two kids rather desperately straining to avoid considering the true issue-Racist Mom, and now to deal with her either as Mom or Boyfriend’s Mom-would have ever thought of it as more than a joke. Much less tried to implement it.

          Sarah was right, and it’s probably one of her favorite kind of ‘right’: she gets to offer helpful but meanly advice about something important to someone who was probably never going to listen to her in the first place, because they already didn’t like her.

        2. HueSatLight

          “don’t put up with a boyfriend’s racist parents” is laughably ridiculous?

        3. Li

          P sure Jeffrey means that Walky and Lucy’s sitcom plan was laughably ridiculous (note the line that follows it).

        4. HueSatLight

          [dons dunce cap]

      2. HueSatLight

        Sarah was right, and when Lucy was a jerk to her, she responded in kind, but still thought Lucy shouldn’t put up with racist parents. If Lucy wasn’t going to listen, it’s because Lucy decided to copy the “popular people”.

    4. Hoboturtle

      Honestly i was worried that Lucy would. As fun as that would’ve been to see she’s would be the one who’d have to live with the fallout of it.

  17. Angel

    no confrontational ‘blowing up’ argument?

    1. Keldas

      Lucy seems to be stewing. The fact she’s not initiating third date sex but rather escaping this situation feels like the equivalent of a Lucy glass shattering moment

    2. Bruno

      Blowing up requires a level of emotional depth that just is not a part of this relationship.

  18. Bittersweet

    And thus Lucy and Walky have fizzled out with the exact same level of chemistry and wow as their entire relationship, which is to say that it ends with the whimper it rode in on.

    Which idk, I feel bad for Lucy but for someone who was 150% on board with “we’re potentially getting married” just 3 hours earlier it seems strange that parental disapproval is such a hard dealbreaker for her. Not that she’d be wrong for feeling that way, as someone whose parents were the Monster-in-Laws, it is a verrryyy hard thing for a partner to deal with unless they can crack the secret code. For my husband it was physically ejecting my mother from the apartment, Jazz style (she values only strength), for Lucy it may as well be making Walky an actual doctor or becoming ultra wealthy herself (Linda values only power). Much more difficult. It’s just shocking that she’s so quick to jump ship, all her desperation tends to make her colorblind to the red flags surrounding her in basically every single other person in her life.

    I mean, they could still come back middling tomorrow. I’d be surprised if their relationship genuinely ends without them hooking up once, but it definitely feels like Lucy’s gotten the wind taken out of her sails a smidge. Which it sucks that it came from Linda of all people.

    1. Coatl

      Wait, if Linda values ​​power.
      So she married Charles because he came from a high-born family?

      1. Bittersweet

        No, it was because he won’t confront her on issues and because she probably found him extremely handsome. I’ve known enough Lindas to know that they only value power and utility in most people *except* their partners who absolutely cannot have enough agency to disagree with them on anything.

        To make another comparison to my Mom, she’s been married 7 times to 6 different people and not once has the dude ever “worn the pants” in the family so to say, and three of them lacked even enough spine to keep her from cutting out their own children. They were almost all nice guys like Charles.

        Linda values power in other people because it turns them into things she can use. People she can point at and say “look at all these important people I know!” Ways that she can pull strings to get her kids out of trouble—and she might tell herself that’s the only reason she cares so much is because of how it can help her kids—yes, even Sal. We can clearly see that isn’t her motive, but she might genuinely believe it is. Or she might not.

        I compare her to my mom a lot, but one way that I think her and Linda differ greatly is that Linda seems very grounded. She doesn’t seem to live in a fantasy world at all, and that means that she might be more self-centered. Mine is straight up delusional (not helped by the fact that she has cheats turned on or something), but Linda seems to be very well aware of how the world actually works around her. Unless Lucy achieves something exceptional or becomes willing to be a driving tool for Linda’s agenda, Lucy is just an anchor. Linda would probably approve of someone like Raidah.

        Which, a weirdly dark possible turn since Lucy is normally so desperate to be liked would be that she completely sells Walky out and decides to try to push him in all the ways his mom wants. It won’t win Linda’s love, but it’ll win her civility and tacit approval until he upgrades in med school to someone with actual utility. Plus it would DEFINITELY lead to them breaking up and hopefully Lucy analyzing her people-pleasing nature.

        But I doubt that will happen. I don’t see a Lucy villain arc anytime soon and she seems to just be exhausted and giving up on the prospect of pleasing her entirely. Which is much better imo.

        1. Coatl

          Wow, what a comparison, I hope you’re okay.

          Well, now that you mention that idea of ​​Lucy and a possible desperate attempt to please Linda, it doesn’t sound completely crazy, maybe she seeks the “wisdom and great advice” of her “blameless idols” (Raidah and Jennifer), maybe that horrible forehead use that to have fun with all the evil in the world, and I dare say that even Jennifer may stop to think for once and use her head correctly and realize that Raidah only appreciates mommy and daddy’s money.

          Think about it, this is DUMBING OF AGE and something that can be expected from this comic strip is that anything can happen.

    2. DailyBrad

      I think you’re maybe calling it on the relationship being over a little too early here.

      1. Bittersweet

        This relationship was over when it left the dry dock, I don’t think they’re gonna break up soon, I just think this is the end of Lucy’s honeymoon period. Which never started for Walky lol.

        I just don’t believe this is a slow burn, narratively this relationship looks like it’s limping and every time Walky fails to stand up for Lucy in a meaningful way or does his best to completely avoid her is just it losing a wound. Despite my cynicism in my comments, I have legit been trying so hard to try and find the fat and meat to Walky/Lucy and I am repeatedly disappointed lol. Sucking on a shirt and being playful with Raidah cannot sustain a ship for me, not when it’s also coupled with Walky having more chemistry with a dude he punched and him trying to avoid being alone with her at every turn to avoid intimacy.

        I can be convinced, but it would require a lot of conversations with Walky and Lucy that they haven’t had yet that explain those issues beyond “He’s just not into her.” They can be easily explained, but Walky hasn’t said anything about it, so I’m left to look at the relationship as it is.

        And Lucy, who believed Walky loves her and jumped the gun at saying “I love you” not saying “night, I love you” is an another big hole in the hull for this ship.

    3. Archieve

      I think Lucys mental tiredness comes from her finally having to acknowledge someone whoes approval she desperately wants dispises her for stupid reasons out of her control. Sitcom dinner scheme did not work as Walky told her, he still doesnt know how to stand up for himself because a part of him still wants his parents approval and Lucy in the same boat, she doesn’t know how to confront peeople when it counts. I think a part of her is angry Walky didn’t say anything even though she was equally unwilling to rock the boat further with Linda.

      1. Jon

        It’s not her responsibility to rock the boat, though: Walky should be the one who has to stand up to his parents. That’s not on Lucy (much as I did want to see her throw down with Linda)

        1. thejeff

          It’s definitely not her responsibility. I guess it is his, but it’s also a huge ask, with enormous potential consequences and almost none of them good. “You’re not worthy of me if you, as an abuse victim, don’t go into a full blown confrontation with your abuser for me, while you’re still dependent on them.”

          Best plan in this kind of situation is really to keep the girlfriend away from the parents, especially when the relationship is only a few weeks old. But Lucy really wanted the meet the parents bit to happen.

    4. Mark

      You’re sure they both are not simply exhausted from dealing with Linda’s bizarre behavior for an entire evening?

    5. thejeff

      Dramatic gestures to change the relationship with the partner’s abusive parents work best once they’re no longer dependent on them. At least if things aren’t so bad that cutting ties at a young age is necessary for safety.

      Walky clearly recognizes the problem, even if he can’t change them and isn’t willing to directly confront Linda over her racism at this point. Give him a few more years to stew and out of college and supporting himself and he’ll be in position to go no contact if necessary or at least threaten it.

  19. Kyrik Michalowski

    Too tired for roulette tonight, saw FNAF movie. No spoilers, but it was great. Will roulette tomorrow. Good night everyone.

    1. David DeLaney

      but but but what could be better than THAT avatar

      –Dave, I stick with mine because it has 3 decades of ‘net history

      1. Rowan

        Yeah, I usually try to get Becky.
        Your avatar is awesome; is there a story behind it?

    2. anonymsly

      It really was, I liked it a lot too. 🙂

    3. Bash

      Interesting, I heard someone say they didn’t like it at all.

      1. PirateTawnee

        The duality of mankind.

    4. HueSatLight

      With grav roulette, is the fun in the thrill of maybe getting it and then you do it’s like winning at gampbling? Or is it more fun to have the avatar you want ASAP, and roulette is what you have to go through to get it? Because if it’s the second, I have ideas.

  20. Archieve

    Doesn’t look like Walkys clued into the fact that Charles was good coping him and Lucy though I get it. He’s probably still processing how his personal relationship with his loud parent will never be the same. Might be some time bevfire he has the mental energy to acknowledge Charles isn’t on his side either.

  21. Archieve

    *before

  22. Sirksome

    Is it irony that this would’ve been a better day for everyone if they had blown off the Walkertons to play Mario Kart in their underwear? Lucy might have even gotten laid.

    1. Archieve

      Next time Walky should just text Charles that he and Lucy found a place Linda wouldn’t like and see how much time that can buy them.

      1. Bash

        They weren’t obligated to hang out at all, Lucy was just excited about meeting the parents because that means the relationship is serious.

        1. Archieve

          I agree that they aren’t obligated and they dont care for Lucy hanging out but for Walky by himself Linda is the sort of parent who would hold his tuition over his head if she felt she was being denied his time at all.
          Plus making excuses for not spending time together is the example his parents have set so I suspect that will be Walkys first response to his parents wanting to get lunch with him next time.

        2. Bash

          I thought Walky had reached out about seeing each other again, not the other way around. But that’s just my impression I suppose.

        3. Archieve

          Linda still sees Walky as an extension of herself that needs to succeed so even if they don’t want further visits this weekend it’s almost certainly not going to be the last one. I was referring more to the future visits though Linda being disappointed in Walky could lso mean spending more tine scrutinizing him this weekend.

  23. Bryy

    Lucy has been given a wake up call.

  24. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Plays “It’s Not You” by Blotto on hacked Muzak.

  25. Yotomoe

    Worth noting.
    Walky defended Amber.

    1. Mym

      Oh damn, you’re right! He totally did!!

    2. HueSatLight

      noting.
      So it’s not just a goofus and gallant less goofus, between Walky+Lucy and Joyce+Joe. It’s also Walky+Lucy compared to Walky+Amber.

      1. HueSatLight

        wonder if Sal’s going to find out about his non-defense of Lucy.

    3. DashWallkick

      Oh jeez, this ship is teetering over isn’t it.

      1. Alan in DC

        Huh-huh-huh…
        “Teeters”…

    4. Bruno

      It wasn’t really even necessary for him to do so. Amber was more than capable of handling herself the whole conversation. Like, it was nice of him, but she wasn’t in anywhere near the same position of vulnerability Lucy was. Amber rolled with those punches and Lucy absolutely didn’t.

      1. NickG

        Also Amber could physically subdue Linda if she had to (or Amazigirl could, Amber might just beat the living shit out of Linda), and I’m not sure Lucy is the type.

    5. TerribleTransit

      Also worth noting he did that during a scheme where antagonizing his parents was the whole point. Trying to play nicer with them and the girl he ostensibly wants them to actually get along with makes a kind of sense. It clearly didn’t work out — at bare minimum both of them seem to be completely emotionally exhausted from the interaction, and at worst it might have caused long-term damage to their interest in each other — but I’m not sure there’s any strategy that would when Walky is still dependent on his parents and really can’t afford to cut contact with his mother.

      1. thejeff

        It also wasn’t a direct confrontation over Linda’s racism, which is likely much more dangerous territory.

        1. HueSatLight

          Standing up for Lucy didn’t have to be a direct confrontation over Linda’s racism. A verbal “what the fuck!” and then they both storm or even just walk out would have been so much better than bottling it up and doing nothing.

    6. Amós Batista

      Hope Lucy valuate herself and get hid of him. It’s sad to say something like that.

  26. DashWallkick

    I don’t think we’ve seen Lucy have a bongoy face before. Linda really upset her bad.

    1. TulipKitten

      I mean, we saw it with Sarah.

  27. Suet

    The milk of love! It’s soured!!

    No not that kind of milk!!!

    1. NGPZ

      ?

    2. TulipKitten

      That kind of milk already tastes a little sour ?

  28. Needfuldoer

    Honeymoon’s over already, Lucy?

    1. NGPZ

      How many dates in a Honeymoon?

      1. Mym

        I think 4

  29. Anon A Mouse

    So, uh, how many dates is that?

    1. Amós Batista

      At least 2 years of marriage.

    2. Mym

      Tbh my wife and I are still honeymooning, and we’ve been married almost 7 years

  30. C.T. Phipps

    Honestly, this is the best Walky. You were never interested in her as a girlfriend and the people you do want to date were people you couldn’t while Lucy wanted you.

    Lucy, date Jacob.

    1. Mym

      Lucy could throw us all for a curveball and secretly date the dean, if only to hold her power over Linda (please no one take my joke seriously this time)

      1. HueSatLight

        hear me out. Lucy + Tony

        1. C.T. Phipps

          Lucy could end up dating Walky’s half-brother.

  31. DarkoNeko

    Well it certainly feels cold in there suddenly

  32. morleuca

    So unless Lucy suddenly decides to develop an “I can save him!” mania…

  33. Daibhid C

    So the overall message I’m getting from today’s comments is that if a date ends awkwardly and non-romantically, because one of the participants has horrible parents, that relatoionship is basically over. Which is a shame, because I liked Danny and Sal together.

    1. Chubsius

      Yeah, there’s a lot of ways this could play out. Walky could confront his parents tomorrow. Lucy could talk to Jennifer and either make thing better or worse. She could run into Sarah, talk about it, and Sarah could offer the service of her baseball bat. Who knows? But one things for sure, both Wally and Lucy got a bit of a reality check. And they’re both mad and sad.

      Sal and Danny will be fine, I believe, because the situation is fundamentally different. Linda likes Danny, so Sal doesn’t need to stand up for him. She only has to stand up for herself, and she did so the next morning. We haven’t seen anything to suggest Danny wouldn’t support Sal standing up for herself.

    2. Chubsius

      Yeah, there’s a lot of ways this could play out. Walky could confront his parents tomorrow. Lucy could talk to Jennifer and either make thing better or worse. She could run into Sarah, talk about it, and Sarah could offer the service of her baseball bat. Who knows? But one things for sure, both Wally and Lucy got a bit of a reality check. And they’re both mad and sad.
      Sal and Danny will be fine, I believe, because the situation is fundamentally different. Linda likes Danny, so Sal doesn’t need to stand up for him. She only has to stand up for herself, and she did so the next morning. We haven’t seen anything to suggest Danny wouldn’t support Sal standing up for herself.

      1. HueSatLight

        One thing Danny excels at is not holding his tongue.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Danny doesn’t hold his tongue, he kicks it.

    3. Jon

      Danny explicitly said “I’m sorry your parents suck” when they made Sal feel bad.

      Walky completely avoided comforting Lucy when they made her feel bad.

      Walky does not deserve to be compared to good egg Danny.

  34. Mark

    Aw! She understands him so well already!

    1. Steve C

      I hear that’s something he loves about her.

      1. Needfuldoer

        “I hear that’s something he loves about her.“

        – Lucy’s selective-until-recently hearing

  35. Allison Branford

    Stay classy, Young Walky.

  36. Uly

    Walky, you’re even failing this conversation. Lucy didn’t say your dad’s cool. She said he’s “kinda nice”, which is the very faintest of faint praise to be damned with.

  37. JessWitt

    Darn I was hoping to see Walky and/or Lucy tell off Linda.

  38. Buli-Buli

    Dotty: Hey Walky, lets watch cartoons and eat junk food together instead of studying.

    Linda: She dresses professionally. Obviously she is going places and will take Walky with her.

    Lucy: Hey Walky, let me encourage and support you in becoming a published amateur artist.

    Linda: This lazy piece of trash is ruining my son.

    1. Amelie Wikström

      Accurate, but that’s not how Linda reasons. It doesn’t matter what they do “with” Walky or how their relationships might work, it matters that Dorothy is (as far as Linda knows) an obsessively hard working resourceful highly motivated go-getter with future captain of industry written all over her, and Lucy is black. (Yes, that was really all it took to write her off.)

      Children are raw materials, that’s all. Under Linda’s sage guidance they will be molded into shapes that fit together into a puzzle perfectly designed to maximize their (and her) fame and fortune, and this will make them happy, and they will love her for it.

      1. Coatl

        Well, it seems that Linda is only interested in Walky being with a white girl, when she showed up she saw Joyce and assumed that they were now together.

  39. Bogeywoman

    Ooft. That is all.

  40. Matt

    I feel like I got a Monkey Paw wish. I don’t particularly like Walky and Lucy together (I dunno, I just don’t really see “religious, somewhat personally conservative partner” as a satisfying outcome for that character).

    But “Walky dooms his own relationship by failing to do even the barest of standing up to his mother’s racism” really wasn’t the way I wanted to see that play out. Back to garbage roof, my guy.

    1. eskimolos

      Right? There was walky and his dad there listening to this and hearing Linda suggest walky was slumming it in part by hooking up with Lucy, and neither of them did a damn thing.

    2. Jon

      Back to garbage roof for one thousand years.

  41. Amelie Wikström

    I know one way to salvage the situation. Lucy dumps Walky (by text probably) and tells Sarah she was right about him, but wrong about her bad reasons for dating him, and they should be friends because “we both jettison people as soon as they’re inconvenient”, Sarah says she doesn’t want anyone who eats up Raidah’s bullshit in her life, on Lucy’s insistence they compare notes and sort out how just how much Raidah keeps lying about the Dana affair, and they become best friends! (Or more than friends, wink wink.)

    Okay I just want those two to catch a break.

    1. Bittersweet

      I can’t see them breaking up before they’ve done anything with each other, but if Lucy did suddenly dump Walky tonight that would be wild and this is the only way I’d be happy with that resolution lol

  42. poyo

    aaaand this is where Lucy realizes walky is not THAT great of a boyfriend that she’s willing to deal with THAT for the rest of her life. and that’s okay ??

  43. Hof1991

    Walky showed her who he is and what she could expect in a long term relationship. She should get out of this dead end one-sided relationship now.

  44. thejeff

    The more I think about this the weirder it seems to me that we’re focusing so much on how bad this is for Lucy and how bad Walky is for not defending her and completely ignoring that this is his own abusive family trauma. He’s the actual target here and the one vulnerable to it, even if Lucy’s also catching fire. If you look at his expressions here and back at the last strip with the dinner, he’s easily as shaken by it as she is.
    But the commentariat doesn’t seem to spare a thought for him, only for how bad a boyfriend he’s being.

    1. HueSatLight

      It would also have been good for him, had he said “WTF” and left.

      1. Schpoonman

        That’s not a fight Walky should pick. Not as an abuse victim still largely in Linda’s power. Walky takes Lucy and leaves, and then what? His tuition dries up? His RA (who is apparently useless if I’m remembering Ethan’s take on the guy correctly) lets Linda into Walky’s dorm when she says “I’m his mother and I’d like to see him”?

        We’re straying back into “Actually, Linda is correct when she said Walky, the traumatized abuse victim with an untreated mental illness, makes poor decisions” victim-blaming territory.

        1. Bittersweet

          As someone who was in Walky’s situation, you still have to have that conversation. Granted, I was always more willing to argue with my mom (I was never the golden child) than my brother was, but even he would tell her to stop. And that’s what the situation called for, no screaming, no insulting, just a “Mom, stop.” Whatever happened after wasn’t going to be pretty, but he’s not gonna be disowned for saying it and it was already a bad day.

          And if he couldn’t manage it, he needed to talk to Lucy about it right now. Relationships are dependent on communication and if he cannot communicate that he fears for too much of his future by standing up to his mom for Lucy, then the relationship deserves to end. Lucy doesn’t have to hold on for someone who cannot communicate.

          Also, if you’ll remember, he somehow managed to do that bare minimum with Amber.

      2. thejeff

        Sure. That works really well in abusive families that you’re still dependent on.

        Just leave. That won’t have any consequences. It’s an easy step.

        1. HueSatLight

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/unimpressive/

  45. Quinn

    If this strip has taught us anything about bad parents, it is that Linda will be either dead, in jail, or divorced by the end of this storyline.

    If only consequences actually worked that way…

  46. Hrodvitnir

    I feel like a lot of people are missing how in the first panel Lucy is still smiling up at Walky. And he does nothing. Comic strip or not, that’s some pretty clear body language between the first and second panels IMO.

    So the energy of this strip to me is that despite the shit show that was his family, she was still hoping he would kiss her goodnight – or show any active interest. But he doesn’t. And that lack of response was impossible to ignore after the night they just had.

    So they exchange an awkward joke, and she goes to bed alone.

    1. Bittersweet

      I have no clue why people are so quick to say that us saying the Walky/Lucy ship is in bad water are completely misreading the situation. I’m a serial shipper, I’ll ship two characters that look cute next to each other, but I just feel like there are a lot of people deliberately ignoring the narrative framing.

      1. Li

        Agreed. A lot of the “you’re overreacting! in real life relationships take longer than this to be revealed as good or bad!” folks seem to be ignoring that this isn’t real life. It’s a story. The fact that we’ve had multiple years of Lucy consistently being way more into Walky than Walky is into her — two years and the most passion he’s displayed in her direction was that one time she sucked Taco Bell sauce off his shirt — was a deliberate choice by the author.

        In a real slow burn, we would have some indication that Walky’s feelings are tending towards deeper or… anything. So far it’s just one long sustained note, and that note is “yeah she’s like, pretty, I guess”… when it’s not something much worse, like the times Walky’s made off handed comments that show he’s not seeing Lucy so much as “Dorothy Mk II”. (“Can’t fumble that ball twice”, for example.) (And then Sal told Linda that Lucy is basically another Dorothy, just to drive the point home.)

        (She’s NOT really another Dorothy, either, which makes the comparison that much more striking. Lucy’s similarities to Dorothy would seem to be limited to “smart”, “pretty”, “shares some of Walky’s nerd interests”…)

        TL;DR: it would definitely be too soon to call this relationship doomed if it weren’t in a deliberately crafted story and hadn’t been going on for multiple years.

    2. Li

      This.

      Not standing up for Lucy to his mom sucks for Lucy (and she’s not obligated to put up with it), but it’s understandable…… albeit somewhat at odds with the general trajectory of his relationship with his mom. (He’s been pushing back against Linda more and more, so not standing up for Lucy was kind of a noticeable break in the more recent pattern, even if again understandable.)

      But Linda isn’t in this scene and isn’t the real reason this particular strip reads badly. The real reason is as you say: we see Lucy transition from still being at least a little bit excited about dating Walky in that first panel to disappointed and then, finally, exhausted by him in the last panel. The vibes are just not great here.

      She wanted a kiss; Walky didn’t even go in for a hug. She offered him an opportunity to say literally anything about his parents’ treatment of her, and he opted not to.

      (It’s been pointed out elsewhere that “your dad’s kinda nice” is a very weak compliment, not really meriting “Yeah he’s cool” as a response, but I’d like to further point out that while Charles has been less awful to Walky than Linda, he hasn’t really been “cool” about Lucy. If Lucy knew Charles had directly told Walky to reconsider dating her because “Amber committed a crime for you”, would she not be hurt to hear Walky call him “cool”?)

      All of this and Walky doesn’t really seem to register Lucy’s mood at all? Her expression shifts from a smile to neutral to disappointed to exhausted right in front of him, but Walky never stops being blank.

      Is Lucy about to dump him? I dunno. Depends on whether this scene is over. But I do think she’s reached the end of the honeymoon period where everything they do is endearing.

      This was her first relationship, and a lot of Lucy’s expressed thoughts and feelings are in line with someone who had just REALLY wanted a boyfriend for a long time, excited to finally have one. Yes, she was definitely attracted to Walky specifically, and they’ve been friends for a while now, but I think it would be fair to say Lucy has been more in love with the idea of being in love.

      1. Coatl

        Lucy has been more in love with the idea of ​​being in love.

        That is exactly what is happening, Lucy unfortunately took the idea of ​​a university life that they show you in entertainment media, and well, she is already receiving the first blows of reality.

  47. Yeet

    Goddammit Walky.
    About the not yelling at your mom, not about the joke. The joke was good.

    1. HueSatLight

      The jokes are what he does instead of engaging.

  48. Mr D

    Poor Lucy. Booster was right.

  49. Dot

    Lucy is perhaps reconsidering her romantic commitments

  50. Felian

    I’ve got a feeling Lucy would have tried to suggest Walky to come into her room and do fun stuff with her, but after that comment, she has lost that desire very quickly and has stepped inside. Lol.

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