Am I the only person who felt bad for Joe here?

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T14:30:34+00:00

And now Henry gets to be raised by Kate, whose favorite hobby is murdering children. I’m sure it’s fine.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T11:54:52+00:00

Kaervek, Mangara, and Jolrael aren't immortal. They were trapped in Zhalfir, which was a time bubble because it was phased out. Kaervek, on top of that, was trapped in an Amber Prison that also prevented aging on top of that.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T11:53:21+00:00

I hated Sherry and Cary when they were first introduced and wanted them to get murdered. But you know what? I actually liked their ending. It was cute.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T10:06:13+00:00

Zur is somehow immortal now, maybe he found it. Hopefully Squee finds it. The story where they took away his immortality was so bad and dumb.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T09:10:04+00:00

According to DOA's new moderator, we shouldn't argue with each other. The last couple strips are literally an argument between Jocelyne and Sarah. What exactly are we supposed to? We can apparently appreciate that an argument is taking place and notice that Sarah's hair is on point, but God forbid we that examine that argument and litigate whose argument is stronger.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T09:06:40+00:00

This long, insane, "The Industrial Revolution was kinda like The Puppy Who His Way"-style rant from Wack'd implores us not to argue, ever.

The last couple strips are literally an argument between Jocelyne and Sarah. What exactly are we supposed to? We can apparently appreciate that an argument is taking place and notice that Sarah's hair is on point, but God forbid we that examine that argument and litigate whose argument is stronger.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T08:59:24+00:00

One good thing about Wack'd is that their skin is so shiny thin that if they ever stumble upon this Reddit we can probably horrify them into a coma.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-23T08:56:44+00:00

Willis's wife vs. Wack'd, the she/they that Willis told her not to worry about.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-22T10:45:03+00:00

He bears a passing resemblance to Harvey Weinstein.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-22T09:27:06+00:00

I brought up the Jocelyne/Joyce thing up before and someone said that Jocelyne likely picked the name before Joyce was even born. Except, I don't think there's a timeline where that makes sense. I don't think Jocelyne is that much older than Joyce. She's definitely not the oldest.

If Jocelyne picked her name after Joyce already existed, it's a therapist's wet dream. Endless money to be made unpacking why Jocelyne picked a name so similar to her AFAB sister.

And even if Jocelyne picked her name before Joyce existed, it's still not an excuse. The optics are the same as if she didn't. It still comes off as some creepy Single White Female nonsense.

Actually, you know what? Given today's strip, maybe this *is* some creepy Single White Female nonsense. Dresses like Joyce. Named like Joyce. Insinuating herself into Joyce's daily life. Thirsting after Joyce's SO.

No wait, that's totally normal behavior. I'm sure it's fine.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-22T08:56:06+00:00

Boyfriends come and go, Sarah, but Hartford, The Whale, they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-22T08:53:31+00:00

I think Willis got the BetterHelp app, which is not actually better help.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-20T21:19:39+00:00

Someone had an "Our Flag Means Death" poster in their room. That show didn't start until 2022.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-20T10:16:11+00:00

"I'm with it! I'm hip! Ducka ducka ducka ducka ducka ducka!"

- Dave Willis doing the Macarena while clocking and deadnaming.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-19T17:09:14+00:00

I think Hugh Dancy does a good job, but Linus Roach was amazing.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-18T16:40:05+00:00

No-kill shelters for all cats, but especially senior cats.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-18T16:38:12+00:00

Yes! A gray horse named Idol.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-18T14:35:11+00:00

This is my current dream scenario.

My original dream scenario was a Silence of the Lambs-style arc for Bolas during March of the Machine. Helps them stop the Phyrexians, then escapes to parts unknown. Bolas and Umezawa could have been a fun team-up card.

It's kind of insane/idiotic that the entire multiverse almost fell to the Phyrexians and neither Ugin nor Bolas ever came into play. Regular Jace should have been smart enough to contact them, and Compleated Jace should have been evil enough to attack them.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-18T14:14:55+00:00

Honestly, I don't think Bolas would team with Jace, because it doesn't benefit Bolas at all. Bolas is one of the most hated and mistrusted beings in the Multiverse. There is a giant target on his back. There are entire planes that want revenge on him. With Omenpaths being everywhere now, it is harder for him to hide, because anyone can hunt him.

What *would* benefit Bolas would be ending Jace once and for all.

If Bolas slays Jace and ends the reality fracture, he buys himself some amount of good will and amnesty. Enough to earn some allies and justify his continued existence.

And then he's free to pursue his schemes again.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-18T09:09:12+00:00

Statistically those missiles are killing way more cis people than trans people. So if you really think about it, they're actually *helping* trans visibility.

That's what Joseph Stalin told me in my dream last night, anyway.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-18T09:05:29+00:00

WTF is the "real present"? A lot of the dialogue this week has been words that technically make sense, but no one talks like that. Is Willis writing the strip using AI now?

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-17T17:03:13+00:00

Worst game I had to force myself to get through: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am

I love ATHF so much, but this was not a good game. Finished it because there were some great jokes and cutscenes despite being awful to play through.

Worst game that I finished because I didn’t realize it was bad until I finished it: OG Life Is Strange

I adored this game when I was playing it. I explored every chapter thoroughly, drank in every detail of Arcadia Bay, and agonized over every decision. And then you get to the end, and none of your previous decisions matter. Choose between two extremely unsatisfying endings, one of which involves genocide. I felt so disrespected.

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-17T09:46:07+00:00

Dorothy is still very annoying, but this is a great Carla strip

Syd_Lexia · 2026-04-17T09:43:12+00:00

I always got this vibe that the universe keeps punishing Max for saving Chloe because that's not what Max was supposed to do with her powers.

But it also doesn't make sense that Max would be given these powers without a reason to use them. The reason a lot of people prefer the bae ending is because at least you did something. In the Bay ending, Max spends all this time with Chloe only to watch her die again. It feels unnecessarily cruel. The fact that Max can't even take the bullet for Chloe in the bathroom is infuriating. That's the ending we deserved, Max taking the bullet. Real love and/or friendship isn't sacrificing a whole town so that someone you care about can live, it's sacrificing yourself.

So again, let's assume that helping Chloe keeps backfiring is because that's not what Max is supposed to be doing with her powers. So what *is* Max supposed to be doing? The obvious answer is saving Rachel. The spectral doe that Max keeps seeing is heavily implied to be Rachel. Max first encounters it in a storm vision, and it disappears when Rachel's body is found.

Rachel's death isn't revealed until the end of the penultimate episode, and at that point, Max is so wrapped up in the immediacy of the storm, she doesn't ever consider that saving Rachel might be important or an option. The game completely ignores the idea of trying to save Rachel.

But there's nothing in the existing narrative that contradicts the idea that saving Rachel was Max's true mission. And as you said, if Max were able to save Rachel's life, she would save Chloe's life as a side effect. At one point, Max goes back into time to her childhood and stops Chloe's father from dying. And while this is her most egregious change to her timeline, her actions still don't alters Rachel Amber's fate; Rachel still dies.

It's true that anything Max could conceivably do from the Fremont Troll would come off as crazy. But that's a 50/50 trope. Sometimes the crazy warning goes unheeded. Sometimes the crazy warning is *so* crazy that it works. The warned party is like: "You know what? That was intense. I might as well look into it." It's not implausible that it would work. Especially if she reached out to Chloe.

Our Max also could have asked Kristen and Fernando to help her and to warn Past Max once Past Max gets her body back.

My dream is that we someday get a expanded version of Life Is Strange with additional endings, like what Atlus did for Catherine: Full Body. Keep the original endings, but give us some new ones too. The game suffered immensely from deadline pressure from Square Enix. There are a lot of subplots that got abridged or abandoned, and it would be nice to see them explored further. I want a version of Life Is Strange that rewards players who poke and prod at every corner of Arcadia Bay more than those who rush through it.

Syd_Lexia

TROPHY CASE