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Author Topic: Moving Out?  (Read 18715 times)

braverman

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Moving Out?
« on: 23 May 2012, 06:07 »

I've been getting a vibe from QC for the past month or so that big change is coming.  Am I alone in that?  I don't have anything to base this on by a gut feeling so I could be quite wrong.  It seems that all the characters are resolving so many of their past difficulties, or at least beginning to.  Almost as if they're all starting to grow up.  When they were all so dysfunctional before, they were in larger groups, three or more usually.  Lately we're seeing them all in groups of two.  Also, a lot less drinking now.  Less drama too.  Everything feels more serious.  Am I the only one seeing this?
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #1 on: 23 May 2012, 07:51 »

I'm tempted to say yes, but I can't speak for the others. 

But I can say, Welcome!  Be sure to read the stickies, especially since this is a good topic for the current WCDT. 


Enjoy your stay. 
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #2 on: 23 May 2012, 12:59 »

Welcome, new person!

I feel like this is a much broader long-term topic than fits in the WCDT.

The story has depended on the characters healing and growing up, as you point out, and that does raise the question of what happens if they become functional.

Simply introducing some new main characters with their own problems could keep things going, but the cast is already pretty crowded.

On the other hand, fixing one set of personal problems simply makes it possible to do more in life and therefore encounter new problems. Imagine, for example, any of the characters reproducing.
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jwhouk

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #3 on: 23 May 2012, 13:44 »

Which has been kiboshed by Jeph, since he refuses to do a pregnancy arc.

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #4 on: 23 May 2012, 13:46 »

Yes, but we do have Sam, learning various skills from Faye. 
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #5 on: 23 May 2012, 17:40 »

A fascinating arc I hope Jeph explores one of these days is Hannelore interacting with Sam -- at Sam's age, it's now established, Hanners hid from the world in antiseptic terror. How would she interact with a child who not only embraces life, but mud-wrestles it if needs be?
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Carl-E

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #6 on: 23 May 2012, 20:03 »

We'd see a lot of

0_w

in that arc. 


(pretend the w is a twitching eye...)
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jwhouk

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #7 on: 23 May 2012, 20:17 »

Every time I open this thread, I hear Billy Joel music being played in the back of my brain...

(In case you young whippersnappers have NO idea what I'm talking about: Movin' out)
« Last Edit: 23 May 2012, 20:22 by jwhouk »
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #8 on: 23 May 2012, 22:11 »

Ak-ak-ak-ak
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #9 on: 24 May 2012, 01:14 »

QC: The Next Generation?
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #10 on: 24 May 2012, 03:00 »

Every time I open this thread, I hear Billy Joel music being played in the back of my brain...
I thought it was going to be this one.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #11 on: 24 May 2012, 03:35 »

I've been reading through the archives again lately (around 500 to 600) and I agree. There is a distinct lack of simple free-form drinking or hanging out without it being tied to a plot-agenda.
Overall it feels much more scripted than it used to and that could be because the characters have started to "settle down" into more of a state of "normalcy"... °O
Only semi-sure thing that will eventually have to happen is Marten entering a new relationship. (He is the protagonist, after all, right?)

Not to say this is a bad development. I am still enjoying QC the most out of all the many WCs I read.

But instead of a "big change" I just keep expecting a sort of apocalyptic fallout. (Kind of a dramatic kickstart into the second stage turbine blade when it all begins anew ... in a way.)
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #12 on: 24 May 2012, 05:56 »

Well, the whole appearance (and indeed appeal) of QC is the whole "slice of life" aspect. The characters are (mostly) human, they have human interactions (even with the AnthroPCs), and they have human problems (non-frequently caused by AnthroPCs. One AnthroPC mostly, anyway...). Like most human problems, they don't last forever, but like most human problems, another one is probably going to take its place. All of these make up the human condition, and that, to me anyway, is part of QC's appeal.

It's hard to say what will happen next. Will a main character move away? It's happened before (not exactly "main" but Padma was around for quite a bit). Will a relationship form (I know the "no shipping" rule, but that doesn't apply to Jeph himself now, does it...)? It's happened before (I was looking through the archives to have one link for each word, but I got lazy and it's getting late here). All in all, for good, bad, and damn uncertain, we'll just have to wait and see.
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jwhouk

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #13 on: 24 May 2012, 06:42 »

Of course, there's a huge WHAM that could happen very easily... Angus gets a job offer in California.


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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #14 on: 24 May 2012, 06:59 »

Meh... I just now thought: As long as there's owls and butts, I won't complain.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #15 on: 24 May 2012, 10:32 »

Wow. That would step straight on the land mine of Faye's abandonment issues.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #16 on: 24 May 2012, 10:41 »

Ak-ak-ak-ak

You oughta know by now!
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #17 on: 24 May 2012, 13:24 »

If you can't drive with a broken back, at least you can polish the fenders.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #18 on: 25 May 2012, 04:52 »

You should never argue with a crazy man
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #19 on: 25 May 2012, 06:01 »

You should never argue with a crazy man
Mi-mi-mi-mi-mind, not man

You oughta know by now.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #20 on: 25 May 2012, 10:24 »

Jeph could do reproduction without a pregnancy arc, but that one be one bold time skip.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #21 on: 25 May 2012, 13:54 »

It was funny with roombas, but may be not so with humans.

I really, really, really wouldn't mind seeing a happy ending, though.

Not necessarily one fulfilling YB's prophecy.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #22 on: 25 May 2012, 16:31 »

Happy ending, but I'd hope for a spinoff strip.
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cesariojpn

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #23 on: 26 May 2012, 19:15 »

Which has been kiboshed by Jeph, since he refuses to do a pregnancy arc.

We already know Marten can't impregnate robots.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #24 on: 27 May 2012, 14:30 »

Which has been kiboshed by Jeph, since he refuses to do a pregnancy arc.

We already know Marten can't impregnate robots.
We only know he didn't get Momo's mother (Not sure on the actual term for an anthro PC, as Pintsize has referred to a machine as Mom, so staying safe here) pregnant, not that he can't get a robot pregnant. I'm not sure if it would be possible, but it would make for a good fanfic story.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #25 on: 27 May 2012, 23:17 »

I just noticed we're currently at 2195.  Jeph usually adds plot twists when he gets to the century mark.

Marten's Padma drama took off around 2100.

Marigold got a new chassis in 2000.

Hannelore met Clinton in 1900.

Dora and Marten broke up in 1799 (he tells Faye in 1800).

I can go all the way back to Faye's scar in 100.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #26 on: 27 May 2012, 23:45 »

Marigold has wished for a new chassis, but I think you meant Momo.
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Toe

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #27 on: 27 May 2012, 23:58 »

Maybe Marigold really is a robot, and just never realized it. Hanners never actually verified that Marigold is human, did she?
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #28 on: 28 May 2012, 00:10 »

Maybe Marigold really is a robot -- now.

The real Marigold is off somewhere, wondering where she is and trying to prove she's NOT a robot.

Maybe Northampton is the Matrix.

Or Diaspar.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #29 on: 28 May 2012, 08:05 »

So Hannerdad was right to fear that she was a secret robot?
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #30 on: 28 May 2012, 08:35 »

He just didn't want to replace a secret robot with another one. 


Kinda ruins the experiment, you know?
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #31 on: 28 May 2012, 13:12 »

You should never argue with a crazy man
Mi-mi-mi-mi-mind, not man

You oughta know by now.
And it seems such a waste of time
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #32 on: 28 May 2012, 15:55 »

Wil in his cloak wrote a poem 'bout dongs
At night he becomes a bartender
'Cause Penelope said he can't get in her bed
Unless he can earn legal tender
Though he traded in his loafers for a motorbike-ike-ike-ike
No one knows where or how
But even if he can't quest for a vision,
he's dressed in Edwardian splendor.
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jwhouk

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #33 on: 28 May 2012, 18:03 »

That's a win.

By the way, apparently the Robot Boyfriend inspired someone years down the road...
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #34 on: 28 May 2012, 18:05 »

Marigold has wished for a new chassis, but I think you meant Momo.

It's not Momo's until she finishes making payments on it.  :-)
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #35 on: 28 May 2012, 22:03 »

Jeph said Momo is the legal owner.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #36 on: 29 May 2012, 02:48 »

I'm guessing it was bought with some kind of robot mortgage.
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #37 on: 29 May 2012, 07:11 »

A loan secured with someone's body is a disturbing concept.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #38 on: 29 May 2012, 07:15 »

I doubt Jeph will bring Padma back for the same reason that he's not going to do a pregnancy arc -- you write about what you know, or at least what you're very passionate about.  Jeph writes about Northampton / slacker life, and he's heavily into speculative scifi. But unless he has an Indian-American acquaintance, it'd be hard to write about an interracial dating situation accurately, or the challenges of pregnancy and caring for an infant. 

flamed in 3, 2, 1...
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #39 on: 29 May 2012, 07:26 »

It would, on the other hand, be easy to find source material to inform a story arc about a long-distance dating disaster.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #40 on: 30 May 2012, 00:01 »

I doubt Jeph will bring Padma back for the same reason that he's not going to do a pregnancy arc -- you write about what you know, or at least what you're very passionate about.  Jeph writes about Northampton / slacker life, and he's heavily into speculative scifi. But unless he has an Indian-American acquaintance, it'd be hard to write about an interracial dating situation accurately, or the challenges of pregnancy and caring for an infant. 

flamed in 3, 2, 1...

What you're saying is we won't see a pregnancy arc for another few years, and an infant arc until a year (give or take a few months) after that?

>_>
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #41 on: 30 May 2012, 02:06 »

If you're getting at Jeph will have babies then write about babies, then you don't know much about Jeph. =B

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #42 on: 30 May 2012, 06:13 »

As in,
(click to show/hide)
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #43 on: 30 May 2012, 20:25 »

Is it possible that some of us may obsess about all things QC just a little too much?
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #44 on: 30 May 2012, 22:10 »

It was all through the newsposts at the time. 

Not to mention the little aside in the newspost for the recent comic where Jim mentions getting snipped.  Or lasered.  Whatever
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #45 on: 30 May 2012, 23:03 »

That doesn't really make it any better.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #46 on: 01 Jun 2012, 15:59 »

Is this the thread for wacky speculation? Because if so, I have to state that I believe we haven't seen the last of Lt Potter. She may have heard that there are fine beer outlets in Northampton (possibly from random chit-chat with Hanners) and decides to go there on her next permission. Not necessarily only for the booze, mind you: she also finds Marten is a chill dude, even though she isn't attracted to him. And so they go for an evening at the Horrible Revelation, and she meets Elliot, who's actually totally her type of guy. Cue hilarously angsty drama in which Marten feels bothered by it, and even more bothered by the fact that he feels bothered. "THIS SHOULDN'T BOTHER ME, DAMMIT!"

No, really, there's plenty of room for new drama.
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #47 on: 01 Jun 2012, 18:12 »

A loan secured with someone's body is a disturbing concept.
It is one with a long history. For example. Arguably all personal loans are ultimately secured by the borrower's labour, so not much has changed.

The real Marigold is off somewhere, wondering where she is and trying to prove she's NOT a robot.
I hope it is not in the world of the underrated film "Impostor".
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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #48 on: 01 Jun 2012, 20:59 »

As a kid I read a sf short story  (and it was already old then, so maybe half-a-century old by now)  told from the POV of a man who had a robot doppelganger everyone was trying to find. Robot had identical memories and believed it was the original. Doppel was found and destroyed; twist ending was what you've already guessed. I doubt that story was the first to use that theme.
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Carl-E

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Re: Moving Out?
« Reply #49 on: 01 Jun 2012, 23:02 »

You're thiking of Clifford Simak's Goonight, Mr. James  which was made into an Outer Limits episode called The Duplicate Man

Simak was always bothered by the popularity of this story...
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