Dumbing of Age

Huh...

Just reposting the link to today's comic, since it's a new page

Still messy, albeit not in a form I predicted.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

And my opinion on Jacob has somewhat lowered.

• 1. Kissing her after he said he'd dump Raidah only to then make a point? Kinda cruddy.
• 2. Blaming the fact he lied to Harrison on Joyce when no one made him lie, and that as a fully functional human being with a mind of his own, he decided to lie? Way to shift the blame.
• 3. Still going on about a list even when it was implied he didn't need the list? Getting flashbacks to Joe's "Do List".
• 4. Telling Joyce outright that his new list is gonna be a lot like her only to say "Minus some stuff"? Way to Kick Them While They're Down.

Again, I feel Joyce needed to be called out. But not like this. She needed to be called out on what she had done wrong. Except that's barely a footnote here. Most he says is that they aren't gonna work out because she lied to Harrison, despite him having multiple opportunities to tell Harrison she was lying. Nothing else is addressed though. Not the fact Joyce pretended to be Jacob's girlfriend overall. Not the fact Jacob ended up cheating on Raidah because of said lie. No, just the lie itself. Instead, most of this is just Jacob's own hangups being projected onto Joyce, after he forcibly kissed her only to then Kick Them While They're Down. Joyce needed a real call out to grow, not this.

Honestly, I hope Joyce tells Sarah about Jacob's little list and overbearing need to please Harrison. Would certainly let Sarah know she dodged a bullet with him.

Edited by RebelFalcon on Oct 21st 2019 at 5:33:54 AM

Vegeta: I'm back bitches!

I didn't feel so much that he was putting the blame on her. It felt to me like he was calling her out on her actions in the third panel, and then calling himself out on the fourth, as if he just realized mid-sentence that he fucked up as well because he was too emotionally compromised to act straight, and that that's not a good way to start a relationship.

The last panel I can call down to the heat of the moment: he likes her, but is doing a huge effort to back out of this because it's caused him to do stuff he wouldn't normally do, so he's simultaneously trying to create distance and admitting he doesn't entirely want to.

The speech feels to me more like a realization of what just happened and a knee-jerk reaction to all of it than a thing he planned in those few seconds between shoving Harrison into the lift and kissing Joyce.

Mind you, I could be entirely wrong, but it's what it felt like to me.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Oct 21st 2019 at 7:53:48 AM

I'd certainly say that kissing her was wrong. Come to think, was that Joyce's first kiss? If so, and her being Joyce, this is likely to give her issues beyond the dreams of analysis.

= Spindriver =

It's Joyce's third kiss, actually. Ethan and Becky have Jacob beat.

I took the checklist comment in the last panel as him reevaluating what he actually wants in a romantic partner - "roping me into a situation where I have to lie to my brother" not being one of those things.

Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.

Yeah I kinda forgot they were still there watching all this drama

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

I can hear the sitcom music playing in the background.

Since I hate Sitcom music and Laughtracks with a passion, I now have a legitimate reason to hate Drew.... Okays its not legitimate, its just I now associate those things with him because of these comments, and as such now hate him like I hate those things.

Vegeta: I'm back bitches!

Danny is going to steal Drew away from Ethan somehow.

I'm Charlie Owens, good night and good luck. PSNID: CEOIII 1117

On the one hand, she's not wrong, on the other, "MAGA ass"? Joyce wouldn't come within 20 miles of Trump.

I'm Charlie Owens, good night and good luck. PSNID: CEOIII 1117

Joyce has likely made a very dangerous enemy.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

And once again I say Raidah can sit on it and spin.

Seriously bitch, you're being dumped by Jacob and you inferred he had an affair, a proper affirmation based on his choice of words, but you put all the blame on Joyce? WTF? Most people I know would blame both parties for an affair, especially something like a college relationship, yet she blames Joyce for this over Jacob, even when she admitted she was aware Joyce had a thing for Jacob and decided it would be better to try and assert dominance and challenge Joyce rather than just tell her off like a normal person, and even when she went and told Jacob-

Yet she's clearly not moving on. She even pretty much says she wouldn't move on, but not because of Jacob, but because of Joyce. Notice she overtly focuses on Joyce in that description. Not Jacob and Joyce. Just Joyce. It's like she had no emotional connection to Jacob period, but is instead more focused that she was slighted in anyway by Joyce.

This I why I feel like Raidah is written to be a Hate Sink. She isn't sympathetic in how she's presented, she has little depth or nuance, and ultimately seems like she's less a character and more a plot device/antagonistic force for the characters.

• She basically made it her mission to make sure Sarah has little happiness over a misunderstanding involving Dana and constantly belittles her.
• She treats Jacob less like a person and more like a prize, having said she knows whats best for him and how he needs her.
• She belittles Joyce and treats her like a child then proceeds to acknowledge Joyce has feelings for Jacob, effectively challenge her, then blames her for the breakup when Joyce and Jacob predictably click as if she hadn't seen this coming.

Raidah seems like she's written to be overall self-centered, vindictive, and petty. That since Sarah inadvertently hurt her by getting rid of Dana for whatever reason, Sarah has to suffer. That Jacob was only a prize for her. That Joyce daring to slight her by making Jacob break up with her means she's now Raidah's enemy.

Edited by RebelFalcon on Oct 22nd 2019 at 2:12:57 PM

Vegeta: I'm back bitches!

You may be reading into this more than there is to read. If a relationship fails and there's a rival involved, then of course the rival is the enemy and everything is their fault. After all, the relationship was going perfectly until the rival came along, or so the spurned lover likes to think.

And then, after the rival dies in an unfortunate accident, the spurned lover is dumbfounded that the loved one isn't coming back into their bloodstained arms.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

Raidah seems possessive. How dare you take a fun buddy away from me?! How dare you steal my date?!

Yes, it is a massively hateable character, but it's not an unrealistic character.

Edited by Adannor on Oct 23rd 2019 at 11:10:01 AM

Yeah, Raidah is pretty self absorbed in how she looks at people. When someone that’s “hers” goes away, it has to be entirely the fault of someone else, and she has to make that person’s life a living hell.

She never did treat Jacob like a boyfriend. He was another possession. A status symbol. That doesn’t make what Jacob and Joyce did okay, and it doesn’t negate Raidah’s anger, but that she’s reacting like this, which is similar to how she reacted to Dana and Sarah, is pretty telling.

And it’s a long shot, but I could see this maybe setting up for her to play a part in the stuff with Ross and Blaine. I don’t think she’ll actually help them, but I think we’ll be led to believe that she will.

I don't see that Raidah has actually declared war on Joyce. Not yet, anyway. We'll see, right?

And while she's written as a generally horrible person, I don't see getting pissed off at being broken up with as an especially unusual or horrifying response. People do that. Blaming Joyce might not be objectively admirable, but she already had Joyce down as a problem, and now, oh look, the problem has come to fruition, so of course she continues on that track. She could also call Jacob an idiot for falling for that puritan-hussy, of course, but whatever.

And credit where it's due, "bubble-brained MAGA-ass choir girl" may not be strictly correct, but it's a painfully precise summary of Joyce.

Edited by Spindriver on Oct 23rd 2019 at 1:16:35 PM

= Spindriver =

I don't think she'd join the gang, but she'd gladly throw Joyce under the bus if their paths cross.

Like

Ross: "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER OR HER FRIENDS"
Normal student: "ohcrap it's the shooter guy, SECURITYYY!"
Raidah: "Joyce got class in that building, have fun, byee"

Honestly, Raidah comes off as more resigned than anything else to me. Not fighting, not yelling, not pleading for him to change his mind. Were this not "Dumbing of Age", I could see her getting that best revenge of living well.

Edited by FuzzyBoots on Oct 23rd 2019 at 12:11:26 PM

I kinda doubt we're in for Raidah joining the League of Evil Parents Enacting Revenge.

Oh I don't think she's going to. I think that we'll be led to believe that she's going to help them, only for her to call the cops or something because while she may be a jerk, she's not a monster.

Nice anagram there.

Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 23rd 2019 at 11:26:20 AM

I try.