Nah, it’s more like those scenarios where someone wants to wallow in their martyr complex and someone else has to go and ruin it by being a decent human being to them…
While Dotty raises a valid point, I can’t really see Roz throwing Becky out either, if the situation was explained to her. She’s unpleasant in some ways, but not “toss LGBT teen with her only parent in jail (and also a violent asshole) into the street” unpleasant.
I don’t think that she would though? Considering the fact that Becky staying there is already kind of an open secret (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/steplightly/), Roz would have no audience to make a big deal out of it to. /Everyone/ already knows she’s there. That’s kind of part of how Mary got under Ruth’s skin, because she was literally the only person on the floor who didn’t know Becky was there.
Besides that, if Roz did make a big deal out of Becky staying there, all that would do would draw attention to Becky and give cause to her getting kicked out of the dorms, making her literally homeless again. And what purpose would that do? Roz may be all about big productions, but she knows how to be discrete and to keep a secret, evident when she found out something bad happening to Joyce at the party, didn’t push her about what happened, and immediately handed her a card to a counseling service and then never brought it up again to rub in her face or to brag about herself. If Roz knows the whole story of why Becky’s there (runaway homeless gay teen whose only surviving parent is in jail bc he tried to shoot up the school/kidnap his daughter), I REALLY doubt she would be so awful as to use that as some sort of leverage, given how much she cares about LGBT+ issues and considering the fact that she went off on Joyce about homeless gay kids in class before.
You know, this is the first comment that makes me think that Dorothy might actually be the better RA. I’ve been firmly in Roz’s camp, but you’re right, she does like her media spectacles and Becky doesn’t need that.
Nono
Dorothy’s also far more likely to protect Amber/Amazi-Girl. If Roz found out, she’d find some way to make use of it.
I’m hoping this doesn’t end up being one of those cases where Roz ends up finding out she’s “more like her sister than she wants to admit” after she tries to use Becky and somehow gets her kicked out of the dorm…
Weyland
Eh, but honestly I could entirely see Roz doing something like that.
Roz likes to create media spectacle where SHE is point of contention. I may be mistaken but I can’t recall her ever dragging someone into a media circus against their will unless she was trying to highlight their wrongdoings. I think you’d have to have a pretty majorly warped perception of Roz as a character to think she’d throw an innocent marginalized person under the bus just to make a point.
thejeff
Joe: Not technically against his will, but uninformed that it was likely to be a media circus.
Leslie: This varies depending on what she actually intended, but at the very least she doesn’t seem to have given a single thought, even now, to how Robin’s outing will affect Leslie.
Roz couldn’t care less that her sister (and by extension Leslie) was outed (whether true or not) because it was for ‘the greater good’.
I’m not yet convinced that Roz doesn’t view making the point more important than learning. Her attitudes towards Leslie’s teaching and Joyce learning about life haven’t always been the friendliest.
She just recently told Dorothy her plan was for Robin to come out of her own volition. She might be okay with Robin being outed, but she seems to care enough that it wasn’t the preferred result.
I doubt that the consequences for Leslie have even occurred to her yet. This fits with what she says her plan was. If Robin had simply realized she was attracted to womanfolk and changed her stances and/or came out, Leslie would not have been impacted by it. It makes sense that she wouldn’t immediately realize what fallout there would be from result she never intended.
thejeff
Yeah, it’s mostly a sign on not thinking things through and considering the possible consequences. Which probably has more to do with being 18 than anything else.
Greenygal
Yeah, I think it’s mostly that the implications for Leslie haven’t occurred to her yet–and I’ll be curious to see her reaction when they do–but she also doesn’t know the full situation yet, and that Robin has now made things substantially worse for Leslie.
But Billie’s not upset that Dorothy’s butting heads with Roz, just that Dorothy independently “took advantage” of Ruth’s situation (long before anyone even knew Roz was competition, mind you).
Sure, Billie’s rebuttal here could’ve been “If that’s your only concern, then it would be fine to concede to Roz.” That would’ve probably “won” the argument for her, because I suspect that the Becky thing is not Dorothy’s primary motivation, and she’s just using it to defuse Billie’s anger. But that aside, Roz doesn’t have much to do with this conversation because it’s tangential to why Billie’s upset.
Billie’s going to be upset at anyone whose in the running to replace Ruth. It’s a reality she doesn’t want to accept so she’s lashing out, it’s just Dorothy is the only one she interacts with and cares about her emotional state of the two that are out to get the job so she’s the one getting the frustration vented at her.
Dorothy’s personality would not, even if protecting Becky was her *only* motivation, allow her to concede outright to Roz. She’s particular and thorough, and I think she’d most trust herself to protect Becky, even if someone else would do it, too.
I have the same personality as her, and it shows up mostly when I’m cooking. Even though someone else *could* help me out by chopping the onions or something, I won’t ask for help (or accept it unless I’m already struggling to balance all the dishes I’m making), because I know I’ll cut them the way I want them, and there’s no guarantee someone else would. It’s not that I don’t trust them as cutters of onions, it’s just that I have something very particular in mind for how they should be sliced.
Obviously, that example is far more trivial, but Dorothy can simultaneously acknowledge Roz is likely to protect Becky and still be motivated by protecting Becky to take the job either because she thinks her plan to do so is the best, or because she wants the responsibility on her shoulders.
I do think Dorothy is motivated by other things, but I also think this is a bigger motivation than a lot of folks are giving her credit for. She’s pretty connected to Joyce, after all, and Joyce would be crushed if Becky were thrown out in the streets. Protecting someone you care about can be a very powerful motivator, and one which (in general, not just for Dorothy’s personality type) isn’t fond of passing that responsibility to anyone else.
I don’t think that statement has anything to do with Roz, I think it’s defending her ambition in the first place, saying essentially “I kickstarted my personal push not only for my own ambition which I shouldn’t have to apologize for, but also because I trust me to do things like protect Becky which was something that was important to Ruth and you as well.”
As for which of the two is more likely to hold that true… well, both of them would. Like, yeah, Roz is abrasive and goes in hot a lot, but we’ve seen her practice subtlety before in service to someone’s need in her “hey, if something happened, here’s a resource specifically designed for that thing” offer of post-rape counseling services for Joyce.
And she has never since used that as ammo nor has she sought to exploit the tragedy that happened on campus.
Like, people are free to dislike Roz or find her abrasive, but she’s not the evil supervillain so many seem to want to paint her as.
She wasn’t even expecting Roz (or anyone else on the floor) to be interested in the position when she decided to go for it. She probably figured that the other candidates would all be total strangers, and Dorothy is definitely a safer bet in terms of allowing Becky to stay than some complete unknown.
That’s very true. Dorothy is not pitching herself against Roz here, she is pitching herself against some unknown last-minute-replacement Chloe will cook up. Someone who doesn’t live on the floor, someone who doesn’t know the people and someone who has a much more vested interested in following the rules than some homeless kid.
I think it’s more than likely that Roz will be just as thoughtful to Becky’s situation as Dorothy. In fact, if Roz knew about Becky’s situation she would most likely be worried about how sincere goodie two-shoe Dorothy would be breaking the rules for her.
Killian
And Roz probably knows actual resources for Becky, in case the whole “hiding in a college dorm” doesn’t actually work out. I mean, at the very least she’d probably try to put her in touch with Leslie, who has been in the “homeless teen raised by fundies” boat.
thejeff
Well, anyone of them could put her in touch with Leslie, but they’re too worried about letting anyone with authority know. Leslie even tried to approach Joyce about it, but get brushed off.
And Roz really should already know about Becky, since most of the floor does, and could offer her those resources without being RA.
I wonder if that reaction might be the strong post-election memories influencing people. Dorothy’s “Too Prepared” “Always Right” traits as negatives seem almost prophetic in light of Clinton being bashed for being “Too Prepared” at the debates against Trump.
People may just be subconsciously comparing Roz to Trump in this run.
I assume Roz knows about Becky. Everyone else seemed to and to be conspiring to keep her hidden. If she doesn’t, she’s far more out of touch with the floor than she claims to be.
But yeah, when Dorothy decided to try for the RA job, Roz wasn’t in the picture. Now that she is, there’s still no reason to step aside. Roz trying for the job isn’t any better from Billie’s point of view than Dorothy doing so.
No one will vote for Mary because it’s well established that literally everyone on the floor hates Mary, and also because the RA job isn’t an election.
The fact that it’s not an election, of course, means that Mary could actually get the job somehow, and become some kind of President Trump analogue. This actually creates the most dramatic possibility, gives Mary some credibility/power she desperately needs if she’s ever going to be taken seriously as a major villain ever again, and opens the door of someone blackmailing Mary ironically. It also causes Mary’s recent fall from grace to make sense narratively, because right now Mary’s so powerless it almost comes off like everyone’s bullying her, so giving her the power to get “revenge” can kickstart a lot of stories and probably carry a whole book before she gets a satisfying defeat.
The only other dramatic option is Roz, who’s outing of Robin seems to have had some rather selfish motivations in this regard.
Ruth getting her job back makes this entire arc a waste of time, and Dorothy’s simply too competent to get the role, because she’d be able to solve a lot of problems.
That could be good, though I feel Mary has several routes to being a threat (she still knows Becky’s secret and could out it, especially if it’s an anonymous way, she can sic her church on the campus leading to protests, she could decide to attack the source of the person currently keeping her in check and try to do the whole trap and harry method to Billie about her alcoholism).
And hell, she doesn’t even need to be a credible threat to still be a nasty thorn in the side of the other characters, serving as a narrative foil to their happiness.
That all said, I think if it doesn’t go back to Ruth on a short leash, the job’s going to go to a new character or obscure Walkyverse character who was passed over for the position who will somehow manage to be infinitely worse than Ruth at doing the job.
Spencer
I mean.
It’s hard to be worse at this job than Ruth. She has literally assaulted people.
And I think it’d be super tacky if the way this plays out is that the dorm corrals around Ruth because she was a jerk, but she was their jerk. Ruth is inept on a good day. At her worst she is actively abusive to her peers.
And, well, I agree with ESM. Ruth getting her job back makes this entire arc pointless. It just puts every single character involved back in the same place. That’s pretty much why I don’t think it will play out that way.
Andy
I bet Sydney Yus because of preview panels on Willis’ Tumblr.
Is it just me or has the comic been updating later and later every day again? I think the…logistics or whatever you call it is getting off-kilter or something.
290 thoughts on “Buzzard”
Ana Chronistic
“DAMN YOU, RUINING MY PERFECTLY GOOD TANTRUM”
Mr. Mendo
This is one of those scenarios where someone’s *correct*, but maybe not *right*, if that makes any sense?
iforgetwhatiputhere
Nah, it’s more like those scenarios where someone wants to wallow in their martyr complex and someone else has to go and ruin it by being a decent human being to them…
Clif
But since Billie pointed this out, does that mean she won the argument?
Reltzik
Is the tantrum really ruined if it just got heightened?
Doctor_Who
While Dotty raises a valid point, I can’t really see Roz throwing Becky out either, if the situation was explained to her. She’s unpleasant in some ways, but not “toss LGBT teen with her only parent in jail (and also a violent asshole) into the street” unpleasant.
Foxhack
I also wouldn’t trust Roz to not keep things quiet. She’d probably make a whole thing about Becky’s situation.
Emperor Norton II
Or to put it another way: There’s a reason Dorothy is emphasizing the words “in secret”.
the final pam
I don’t think that she would though? Considering the fact that Becky staying there is already kind of an open secret (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/steplightly/), Roz would have no audience to make a big deal out of it to. /Everyone/ already knows she’s there. That’s kind of part of how Mary got under Ruth’s skin, because she was literally the only person on the floor who didn’t know Becky was there.
Besides that, if Roz did make a big deal out of Becky staying there, all that would do would draw attention to Becky and give cause to her getting kicked out of the dorms, making her literally homeless again. And what purpose would that do? Roz may be all about big productions, but she knows how to be discrete and to keep a secret, evident when she found out something bad happening to Joyce at the party, didn’t push her about what happened, and immediately handed her a card to a counseling service and then never brought it up again to rub in her face or to brag about herself. If Roz knows the whole story of why Becky’s there (runaway homeless gay teen whose only surviving parent is in jail bc he tried to shoot up the school/kidnap his daughter), I REALLY doubt she would be so awful as to use that as some sort of leverage, given how much she cares about LGBT+ issues and considering the fact that she went off on Joyce about homeless gay kids in class before.
Nono
Maybe not, but Roz is far more likely to make use Becky as a public spectacle.
‘Look congresswoman, see how your policies are throwing poor innocent women like her onto the streets and jobless!’
‘Actually I just got a jo-‘
‘Shhh poor thing, it’s all gonna be okay.’
LeslieBean4Shizzle
You know, this is the first comment that makes me think that Dorothy might actually be the better RA. I’ve been firmly in Roz’s camp, but you’re right, she does like her media spectacles and Becky doesn’t need that.
Nono
Dorothy’s also far more likely to protect Amber/Amazi-Girl. If Roz found out, she’d find some way to make use of it.
Durandal_1707
Is that a good thing though?
iforgetwhatiputhere
I’m hoping this doesn’t end up being one of those cases where Roz ends up finding out she’s “more like her sister than she wants to admit” after she tries to use Becky and somehow gets her kicked out of the dorm…
Weyland
Eh, but honestly I could entirely see Roz doing something like that.
Emily
Roz likes to create media spectacle where SHE is point of contention. I may be mistaken but I can’t recall her ever dragging someone into a media circus against their will unless she was trying to highlight their wrongdoings. I think you’d have to have a pretty majorly warped perception of Roz as a character to think she’d throw an innocent marginalized person under the bus just to make a point.
thejeff
Joe: Not technically against his will, but uninformed that it was likely to be a media circus.
Leslie: This varies depending on what she actually intended, but at the very least she doesn’t seem to have given a single thought, even now, to how Robin’s outing will affect Leslie.
Clif
Leslie.
Nono
Roz couldn’t care less that her sister (and by extension Leslie) was outed (whether true or not) because it was for ‘the greater good’.
I’m not yet convinced that Roz doesn’t view making the point more important than learning. Her attitudes towards Leslie’s teaching and Joyce learning about life haven’t always been the friendliest.
Fart Captor
She just recently told Dorothy her plan was for Robin to come out of her own volition. She might be okay with Robin being outed, but she seems to care enough that it wasn’t the preferred result.
I doubt that the consequences for Leslie have even occurred to her yet. This fits with what she says her plan was. If Robin had simply realized she was attracted to womanfolk and changed her stances and/or came out, Leslie would not have been impacted by it. It makes sense that she wouldn’t immediately realize what fallout there would be from result she never intended.
thejeff
Yeah, it’s mostly a sign on not thinking things through and considering the possible consequences. Which probably has more to do with being 18 than anything else.
Greenygal
Yeah, I think it’s mostly that the implications for Leslie haven’t occurred to her yet–and I’ll be curious to see her reaction when they do–but she also doesn’t know the full situation yet, and that Robin has now made things substantially worse for Leslie.
StClair
What they said.
Regina Phalange
But Billie’s not upset that Dorothy’s butting heads with Roz, just that Dorothy independently “took advantage” of Ruth’s situation (long before anyone even knew Roz was competition, mind you).
Sure, Billie’s rebuttal here could’ve been “If that’s your only concern, then it would be fine to concede to Roz.” That would’ve probably “won” the argument for her, because I suspect that the Becky thing is not Dorothy’s primary motivation, and she’s just using it to defuse Billie’s anger. But that aside, Roz doesn’t have much to do with this conversation because it’s tangential to why Billie’s upset.
timemonkey
Billie’s going to be upset at anyone whose in the running to replace Ruth. It’s a reality she doesn’t want to accept so she’s lashing out, it’s just Dorothy is the only one she interacts with and cares about her emotional state of the two that are out to get the job so she’s the one getting the frustration vented at her.
A Scientist
Dorothy’s personality would not, even if protecting Becky was her *only* motivation, allow her to concede outright to Roz. She’s particular and thorough, and I think she’d most trust herself to protect Becky, even if someone else would do it, too.
I have the same personality as her, and it shows up mostly when I’m cooking. Even though someone else *could* help me out by chopping the onions or something, I won’t ask for help (or accept it unless I’m already struggling to balance all the dishes I’m making), because I know I’ll cut them the way I want them, and there’s no guarantee someone else would. It’s not that I don’t trust them as cutters of onions, it’s just that I have something very particular in mind for how they should be sliced.
Obviously, that example is far more trivial, but Dorothy can simultaneously acknowledge Roz is likely to protect Becky and still be motivated by protecting Becky to take the job either because she thinks her plan to do so is the best, or because she wants the responsibility on her shoulders.
I do think Dorothy is motivated by other things, but I also think this is a bigger motivation than a lot of folks are giving her credit for. She’s pretty connected to Joyce, after all, and Joyce would be crushed if Becky were thrown out in the streets. Protecting someone you care about can be a very powerful motivator, and one which (in general, not just for Dorothy’s personality type) isn’t fond of passing that responsibility to anyone else.
Cerberus
I don’t think that statement has anything to do with Roz, I think it’s defending her ambition in the first place, saying essentially “I kickstarted my personal push not only for my own ambition which I shouldn’t have to apologize for, but also because I trust me to do things like protect Becky which was something that was important to Ruth and you as well.”
As for which of the two is more likely to hold that true… well, both of them would. Like, yeah, Roz is abrasive and goes in hot a lot, but we’ve seen her practice subtlety before in service to someone’s need in her “hey, if something happened, here’s a resource specifically designed for that thing” offer of post-rape counseling services for Joyce.
And she has never since used that as ammo nor has she sought to exploit the tragedy that happened on campus.
Like, people are free to dislike Roz or find her abrasive, but she’s not the evil supervillain so many seem to want to paint her as.
Fart Captor
She wasn’t even expecting Roz (or anyone else on the floor) to be interested in the position when she decided to go for it. She probably figured that the other candidates would all be total strangers, and Dorothy is definitely a safer bet in terms of allowing Becky to stay than some complete unknown.
Cerberus
Yeah, Roz wasn’t even a factor when she was making this decision.
Bagge
That’s very true. Dorothy is not pitching herself against Roz here, she is pitching herself against some unknown last-minute-replacement Chloe will cook up. Someone who doesn’t live on the floor, someone who doesn’t know the people and someone who has a much more vested interested in following the rules than some homeless kid.
I think it’s more than likely that Roz will be just as thoughtful to Becky’s situation as Dorothy. In fact, if Roz knew about Becky’s situation she would most likely be worried about how sincere goodie two-shoe Dorothy would be breaking the rules for her.
Killian
And Roz probably knows actual resources for Becky, in case the whole “hiding in a college dorm” doesn’t actually work out. I mean, at the very least she’d probably try to put her in touch with Leslie, who has been in the “homeless teen raised by fundies” boat.
thejeff
Well, anyone of them could put her in touch with Leslie, but they’re too worried about letting anyone with authority know. Leslie even tried to approach Joyce about it, but get brushed off.
And Roz really should already know about Becky, since most of the floor does, and could offer her those resources without being RA.
LeftWingFox
I wonder if that reaction might be the strong post-election memories influencing people. Dorothy’s “Too Prepared” “Always Right” traits as negatives seem almost prophetic in light of Clinton being bashed for being “Too Prepared” at the debates against Trump.
People may just be subconsciously comparing Roz to Trump in this run.
thejeff
I assume Roz knows about Becky. Everyone else seemed to and to be conspiring to keep her hidden. If she doesn’t, she’s far more out of touch with the floor than she claims to be.
But yeah, when Dorothy decided to try for the RA job, Roz wasn’t in the picture. Now that she is, there’s still no reason to step aside. Roz trying for the job isn’t any better from Billie’s point of view than Dorothy doing so.
Leorale
Plus, even if Dorothy concedes to Roz, Roz might not get the job.
AnvilPro
Dotty can’t take much more of this passive aggressive stuff
Mordecai
Ooh, what if she snaps? What if the unknown evil is…her?
Bagge
“You have replaced a dark Ruth with a dark KEEEEEEENER!!!!”
Deanatay
*fetches Dotty a hissing respirator mask*
shadowcell
so everyone ends up voting for Mary, right, because reasons? i feel like i’ve seen this story before
Dana
She is the moral center of the floor, after all.
MM
Can’t be. The poll said “Unknown Evil.” Mary’s an all too familiar evil.
Foxhack
Plot twist: Sidney somehow infects the girl that wears no shoes and turns her bubbly attitude into pure EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL.
(Sorry, can’t remember her name a the moment.)
Leorale
Sierra! Watch out if she starts calling everyone foooools.
Weyland
Noooo!! Not Sierra! We mustn’t let sydney anywhere near Sierra.
ESM
No one will vote for Mary because it’s well established that literally everyone on the floor hates Mary, and also because the RA job isn’t an election.
The fact that it’s not an election, of course, means that Mary could actually get the job somehow, and become some kind of President Trump analogue. This actually creates the most dramatic possibility, gives Mary some credibility/power she desperately needs if she’s ever going to be taken seriously as a major villain ever again, and opens the door of someone blackmailing Mary ironically. It also causes Mary’s recent fall from grace to make sense narratively, because right now Mary’s so powerless it almost comes off like everyone’s bullying her, so giving her the power to get “revenge” can kickstart a lot of stories and probably carry a whole book before she gets a satisfying defeat.
The only other dramatic option is Roz, who’s outing of Robin seems to have had some rather selfish motivations in this regard.
Ruth getting her job back makes this entire arc a waste of time, and Dorothy’s simply too competent to get the role, because she’d be able to solve a lot of problems.
Cerberus
That could be good, though I feel Mary has several routes to being a threat (she still knows Becky’s secret and could out it, especially if it’s an anonymous way, she can sic her church on the campus leading to protests, she could decide to attack the source of the person currently keeping her in check and try to do the whole trap and harry method to Billie about her alcoholism).
And hell, she doesn’t even need to be a credible threat to still be a nasty thorn in the side of the other characters, serving as a narrative foil to their happiness.
That all said, I think if it doesn’t go back to Ruth on a short leash, the job’s going to go to a new character or obscure Walkyverse character who was passed over for the position who will somehow manage to be infinitely worse than Ruth at doing the job.
Spencer
I mean.
It’s hard to be worse at this job than Ruth. She has literally assaulted people.
And I think it’d be super tacky if the way this plays out is that the dorm corrals around Ruth because she was a jerk, but she was their jerk. Ruth is inept on a good day. At her worst she is actively abusive to her peers.
And, well, I agree with ESM. Ruth getting her job back makes this entire arc pointless. It just puts every single character involved back in the same place. That’s pretty much why I don’t think it will play out that way.
Andy
I bet Sydney Yus because of preview panels on Willis’ Tumblr.
Reltzik
No one votes for her, but she gets the job anyway because it’s not an election.
…. except, you know, she won’t.
Mr. Mendo
Dorothy’s finally encountered someone who doesn’t want her to fix everything. It will be interesting to watch this play out… :/
AngelBadMan
I know, people that are right when I am trying to be angry at the whole world upset me no end.
Magdalana
Is it just me or has the comic been updating later and later every day again? I think the…logistics or whatever you call it is getting off-kilter or something.
Shut up you kids get off my lawn
tim gueguen
Yeah, it used to update at 2 minutes after the hour, but it’s gotten later as of late.
Reltzik
At least it’s consistent. It would be an outright oxymoron for it to have gotten earlier of late.
3oranges
The winter solstice is over, so now each day ends a little bit later.
onetwoduck
Can confirm this is how servers work.
Dana
She’s not always *frustratingly* right.
Emperor Norton II
Sometimes she’s annoyingly right. Then there are the times when she’s aggravatingly right. Then she might mix it up a bit and be perplexingly right.
Reltzik
Don’t forget all the ways in which she’s left!
Cerberus
Behind?
Roborat
Well, as long as she is left three times, then she will be right anyway.
Stephen Bierce
Winchester Cathedral
You’re bringing me down…
Cholma
Wow. Bring out the OLD Muzak tonight!
Keulan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKc1OCJ7iXk
Hadn’t heard this one before, interesting song.
Kamino Neko
Goddammit, this is the first time you’ve managed to earworm me.
Stephen Bierce
Muahahahahahaaa!
achallenger
i hate it when the only winning move is to lose
John
No, no, it’s not to play.
Emperor Norton II