Fifteen
on October 29, 2021 at 12:01 amFor the fifteenth anniversary of Roomies!, Mike gets tricked into showing up at his own wedding!
Dang, pretty sure I’m gonna be tagging some folks for the first time here. We get to see toddler Machete, the Wilcoxen’s kids grown up a bit more, we learn that Sal’s wedding attire (when she’s not in the wedding party) is really just her Dumbing of Age motorcycle jacket.  Danny’s grown a beard! Joe busts out a tie! Had I really not given Ken a last name yet? And, yes, the resurrected, historical Yeshua ben Yosef.  Not many weddings get to boast Him as a guest.
Amber is wearing a corset-style wedding gown, because there was a story years ago in which she wore a corset. It was a thing.
Joyce is a bridesmaid because, I guess, Amber doesn’t really know any other girls, but she knows Mike, so sure. (I mean, there’s a very very good reason why she might be considered important enough for this, but Amber doesn’t know it quite yet, so)
Should Danny and Billie really be there? Do they even know Amber or Mike very well? Was this a fun trip for them to make from Denver to San Francisco with two small children to attend the wedding of two strangers? Are they there really because this is a Roomies! anniversary thing?  Yes.
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Amber, Billie, and Danny bonded as the Normal Humans at the Walkerton Wedding. (For that matter, so did Leslie.) There was an epic roast session afterwards about just how fucking weird their lives had become.
Also no-prizing: Joyce and Amber did eventually chat on the My Little Pony forum at some point offscreen. Friendship established enough for these purposes?
It was magic.
“Hey we were in a foxhole together, wanna come to my wedding?”
I mean, it was convincing enough for them later, apparently. (Sure, Billie had slightly more interaction with Robin before that, but not a ton.)
We’ve officially reached the Shortpacked! strip from the day these reruns began.
Space is warped and time is bendable.
… Dear god, that WAS the BringBackRoomiesversary. Time is an illusion that helps things make sense and I am nonetheless Not Okay With That.
AGH
Your only option now is to begin a new website, bringbackbringbackroomies dot com, and begin the cycle anew.
Damn, I totally forgot I used to be checking all three comics each night.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.
It’s perfectly reasonable to ask a friend to perform your wedding ceremony. That said, if you personally know Jesus, it kind of feels like you should ask Jesus. You don’t want to miss out on the chance for that flex.
Robin and Leslie actually did ask him to (partially to spite Les’s asshole religious parents)… Les eventually talked him into it, after assuring him the ‘spite’ part wasn’t the whole thing, and despite his objections that he wasn’t a rabbi in the modern sense, and thus had to go through the trouble of getting deputized by the state. I don’t think Amber could have, even if she had wanted to.
Later on we find out that Historical Jesus didn’t have the qualifications to perform a wedding yet, but we don’t know if Amber knew that.
He got ‘ordained’ by a sketchy online ‘church’ so he could do the job though.
Any particular reason Ken ended up with the name Ichikawa?
You and David are confused; there is no character named “Ken”. That guy’s name is “Ryu”. 😀
P. sure that’s Blanka. You can tell by the spiky hair.
After checking to make sure there isn’t a notable Street Fighter creator with that name, I assume it’s Transformers designer Hirofumi Ichikawa.
Ah! I did not think to check Transformers people.
(I still kind of half hope it’s after filmmaker Kon Ichikawa, even though I have no idea if Willis is even familiar with his work, just for the one-vowel-off almost-homophony of their names. >_>)
Forget sandwiches, do they have enough wine?
DoA Danny would be relieved to know he does not in fact lose his hair like he was concerned about in one strip.
I like this “Wedding at Register 3” thing
Where better to ring them up than a shop register?
I always liked your take on Yeshua.
Different from the take in my novels where she’s a socially awkward redheaded bi woman who really likes swords, but still, a good take none the less.
Well, the conceit behind Willis’s character is that Galasso somehow nabbed the actual historical person. Somehow I don’t think there were very many redheaded sword-wielding Jewish ladies in first-century Judea. 😛
ETA: “who also had a religious following of some sort.”
I’m sure Salome knew how to wield a sword.
Hence my ETA. 😛
Or a plate.
Well no.
As someone who loves Sailor Moon and Xenogears/Xenosaga, I went with a reincarnation route.
I was gonna say Fate with the King Arthur as girl thing
Yeah, I’m also getting strong Fate vibes from that description.
Ooh, this sounds interesting!! Are these novels I can read somewhere?? What are they called?
Danny’s beard somehow makes him look even douchier.
It’s kind of hilarious seeing the toddler with the Joyce-eyes who’s clearly about to attempt to jam his finger far enough up his nose to touch his brain (or possibly has just finished doing so) tagged as “Machete”.
I really can’t remember if this was covered or not. Joyce didn’t take Walky’s last name? Or Walky hers?
Danny’s smile is terrifying. His teeth are almost the same color as his face, so it looks like his lower lip is his entire mouth.
It’s kind of like how Toedad’s chin looks like a huge grin.
Huh, you know I just realized that despite Danny being mentioned by name in the commentary, he isn’t actually tagged as part of the wedding party as of this comment.
So what you’re saying about Danny is…
…he’s a Phantom.
He’s tagged; he’s just not in the Characters section. He’s down where stuff like oversized comedy props goes.
At the time I think it made sense to me that Mike got one on each side (Jason and Joyce) and Amber got one on each side (Ethan and Leslie.)
‘ Danny’s grown a beard!’
That’s not a very nice thing to say about Billie!
I preferred Robin and Leslie’s wedding, but it’s good to revisit this one too.
The only person who looks not happy to be at this wedding (besides Mike with his perma-scowl of course) is Galasso.
No one seems to be bringing this up, but I’ve always liked that Roz somehow converted the only shirt she owns into a dress. I picture her pulling the shirt down until, like a magic trick, it has extended to dress length.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think DoA is the best Willisverse comic overall, but I think this is the best “anniversary page.”
Faz has now made his first appearance on this site.
I like that DJ is a miniature Billie with Danny’s hair color, while Stephen looks on track to grow into a miniature Danny with Billie’s hair color.
I got my Dumbing of Age Book 10 in the mail the other day and am experiencing MAJOR mood whiplash.
Joe looks a lot more like his Dad than normal (being used to seeing him in Dumbiverse).