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"That's awful... and divergent ... and I want you to give me a 'how to' guide!"

17 (31.5%)

"You electronic witch! You knew he was my crush!"

12 (22.2%)

"You went with a human? Ewww! They have STICKY FLUIDS!"

1 (1.9%)

"Details. Full. Details."

8 (14.8%)

"I'm kind of over Bianchi now, so go wild!"

0 (0%)

"So, are the rumours on the Internet about him true?"

2 (3.7%)

"You're saying it wasn't a petting zoo? DAMN! Now I owe Dale ten bucks!"

6 (11.1%)

"That's why you smell of watermelon, isn't it?"

7 (13%)

"Are you in a relationship with a human? If so, can I arrange a time-share?"

0 (0%)

Other (please specify in comments)

1 (1.9%)

Total Members Voted: 53

[Tai Fanboi]

Now the KY and watermelon stained shoe drops...  Was kinda hoping it wouldn't go this way.  But I also hope they can resolve it quickly and the two still be friends. 

[TheEvilDog]

Calling it now, the rest of the week Momo and May have an argument about May having sex with Sven, which they resolve by Thursday. Friday's comic, Momo goes home, goes to a crawlspace in the walls which reveals a shrine to Sven. And thus we see Momo go into full stalker mode!

And if that does happen, I'll eat my hat!

I do not have a hat.

[Somebody]

Let's just remember - for a long time #1658 was the most-linked strip in these threads. And May has just taken that away... (It doesn't matter whether Momo could ever have made the move.Just that the possibility is gone...)

[traroth]

Obviously the C in Anthro-PC stands for Companion.

Anthro Personal Companions.

Yes, that works. That works fine!

It's not "AnthroPC"!

I miss PT410x...

[shanejayell]

Poor Momo.

[cybersmurf]

Obviously the C in Anthro-PC stands for Companion.

Anthro Personal Companions.

Yes, that works. That works fine!

It's not "AnthroPC"!

But it is, though.

Does it matter though? indeed, it does.
To oversimplify and adding hyperbole: it's probably, to an extent, being able to call a certain ethnic group a certain N word.

[TheEvilDog]

Although you'll also notice in that particular comic, Pintsize and Winslow aren't taking PT410x the slightest bit seriously. I mean, they all but mock him at the end with the neckbeard comment.

Pintsize and Winslow and Momo have all referred to themselves as AnthroPC. But they aren't computers, they're companions. That's the word that matters.

[oddtail]

I... can't help but notice that the joke in the strip linked, in the context of more serious issues related to AI being explored recently, has become considerably less funny.

I mean, the fact that a sapient creature has a large problem with being owned is played for laughs. It made sense when AnthroPCs were treated by the story as something between faithful pets and house appliances. Now that the comic treats them as independent beings, and there have been comics noting that AI companions generally enjoy and want to be companions... an AI that does *not* enjoy that, or at least feels the need to protest, is somewhat disturbing.

Or is it just me?

EDIT: that wasn't the case, obviously, when the comic was first published. It's only unsettling to me retroactively - the comic world's "rules" have evolved, there have been retoolings and retcons and some things got quietly ignored. Which is normal for a long-evolving story. But still.

[JoeCovenant]

Obviously the C in Anthro-PC stands for Companion.

Anthro Personal Companions.

Yes, that works. That works fine!

It's not "AnthroPC"!

But it is, though.

Does it matter though? indeed, it does.
To oversimplify and adding hyperbole: it's probably, to an extent, being able to call a certain ethnic group a certain N word.

Oh, please....

[JoeCovenant]

Calling it now, the rest of the week Momo and May have an argument about May having sex with Sven, which they resolve by Thursday. Friday's comic, Momo goes home, goes to a crawlspace in the walls which reveals a shrine to Sven. And thus we see Momo go into full stalker mode!

And if that does happen, I'll eat my hat!

I do not have a hat.

If that happens... I'll BUY you a hat!

(But, that will have been such an ENORMOUS display of insight, it would have to be a Nacho Hat! - Fair's, fair!))

[JoeCovenant]

I... can't help but notice that the joke in the strip linked, in the context of more serious issues related to AI being explored recently, has become considerably less funny.

I mean, the fact that a sapient creature has a large problem with being owned is played for laughs. It made sense when AnthroPCs were treated by the story as something between faithful pets and house appliances. Now that the comic treats them as independent beings, and there have been comics noting that AI companions generally enjoy and want to be companions... an AI that does *not* enjoy that, or at least feels the need to protest, is somewhat disturbing.

Or is it just me?

EDIT: that wasn't the case, obviously, when the comic was first published. It's only unsettling to me retroactively - the comic world's "rules" have evolved, there have been retoolings and retcons and some things got quietly ignored. Which is normal for a long-evolving story. But still.

YES!!!

I mean, we could, should we wish, go down the route of "But we're ALL computers! Our's is just organic in nature!"

And, as has been correctly noted by many above, (or below) the term AnthroPC has been used liberally (in it's on-political sense) thorughout the strips histoery, indeed, even calling the AI/Metal People/InsertCurrentIndicatorHere 'computers' has also happened often, and fairly recently...

I'm actually down with Castlerook's stance that the PC in AnthroPC should more be viewed as Personal Companion, nowadays.
In fact, I had to go and look up "AnthroPC" before I made my first post on this matter to see if it WAS defined as "Companion"... which, unfortunately, it's not...

In context of the characters in the strip - maybe it should!

[TheEvilDog]

it would have to be a Nacho Hat!

I do like nachos...

[Raptorofwar]

I'm confused as to how May is that unfamiliar with Sven. I mean, she knows Momo has a crush on him, and May has met him before, where she told him to admire his own balls if I'm not mistaken.

[Y]

I'm confused as to how May is that unfamiliar with Sven. I mean, she knows Momo has a crush on him, and May has met him before, where she told him to admire his own balls if I'm not mistaken.

Could it be that May simply forgot that it was the same person(he's wearing his hair long now), or forgot about the entire event? For us it's 4 years ago, but I'm not sure how much time has passed since then.

[TheEvilDog]

Or it could be May's misanthropic tendencies coming to the fore again.

[OldGoat]

Let's just remember - for a long time #1658 was the most-linked strip in these threads. And May has just taken that away... (It doesn't matter whether Momo could ever have made the move.Just that the possibility is gone...)

Momo's daydreaming of herself with no neck seam.  Interesting.

[traroth]

Let's just remember - for a long time #1658 was the most-linked strip in these threads. And May has just taken that away... (It doesn't matter whether Momo could ever have made the move.Just that the possibility is gone...)

Momo's daydreaming of herself with no neck seam.  Interesting.

But beside that, what she imagines is remarkably close to the body she chooses later...

[hedgie]

I'm pretty sure that the neck and shoulder seams were retconned in shortly thereafter.

[David F]

I'm pretty sure that the neck and shoulder seams were retconned in shortly thereafter.

Looks like the shoulder seams were always there (#2028 is the first time we can see them, before that her clothes cover them), but up until #2237, Momo was always drawn without a neck seam.

[bhtooefr]

it would have to be a Nacho Hat!

I do like nachos...

But you said you're going to eat your hat. If it's nacho hat, it doesn't qualify.

[TheEvilDog]

What if I wore it on my head as I ate it?

[Case]

What if I wore it on my head as I ate it?

Wearing your hat and eating it?

Your first name isn't Boris by any chance?

[jwhouk]

Let's just remember - for a long time #1658 was the most-linked strip in these threads. And May has just taken that away... (It doesn't matter whether Momo could ever have made the move.Just that the possibility is gone...)

1658 was the Rickroll of QC strips...

[OldGoat]

I'm pretty sure that the neck and shoulder seams were retconned in shortly thereafter.

Not exactly retconned.  I've been going clicking through and the first mention of AnthroPCs apparently doing human type tasks is a couple strips before Marty and Hanners discover the Secret Bakery.  (I think that's when the Northampton Fairy first appears, too.)  I'm up to #1920 and no eyes on of a really humanoid robot. 

(I always thought of "android" as meaning human-like, but Star Wars changed all that.  C3PO is humanoid while R2D2 is only by a huge stretch of the imagination, yet he's now forever considered a 'droid too.  Pintsize is only slightly more human-like than R2D2 with a clear head and four bilaterally symmetrical limbs.)

I'm gonna go do other stuff.  If anyone else feels like looking up the first QC appearance of a human-size humanoid android, have at it.

[Tova]

QC is sci-fi to me. Yes, it's true it's not JUST sci-fi, but it does explore situations that couldn't be explored quite the same way without the sci-fi elements. Those are often minor or played for laughs, but there's plenty of them. I don't think that's just for flavour, either. Roko's feelings about her new body are an example. Human-AI relationships are an example. Heck, the fact that AI use "QWERTY" as a swear word is an example. There are a *lot* of things that are very peculiar to the comic's setting, in my view.

You made a well-considered and strong argument, and I can't argue. You changed my view.

I'm also now more aligned with IICIH?'s view that the lack of stronger differentiation between AIs and humans is a missed opportunity. In fact, I'm also wondering why we don't see more non-humanoid AIs interacting with the cast. Winslow represented, perhaps, a move in the wrong direction, viewed from that point of view.

I wish we could see a story arc based on Momo's fight for AI rights as well.

[Stoutfellow]

Comic's up.

Momo's mad.

The penny just dropped for May, and she does look a little abashed. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to the realization.

[Raptorofwar]

Well. I guess May really didn't know it was Svarn! Huh.

[TheEvilDog]

I'd say "raise your hands if you saw this coming", but I think so many hands would shoot up that someone would get injured...

[hedgie]

Le sigh.  I'm just rather annoyed that Patreon is down right now.

[shanejayell]

Yup, not unexpected. It does raise issues on how android memories work... she literally didn't recognize Sven without bun? Or is May just a bit ditzy?

[War Sparrow]

Maybe she didn't care enough to remember him. I wouldn't be surprised.

[Scarlet Manuka]

Yup, not unexpected. It does raise issues on how android memories work... she literally didn't recognize Sven without bun? Or is May just a bit ditzy?

Some people do have a lot of trouble with faces, and a change of hairstyle can be very confusing for a while. So it makes sense to me that some AIs could have similar issues. In a world that contains Melon, this seems well within the normal range of variation.

[zisraelsen]

Yup, not unexpected. It does raise issues on how android memories work... she literally didn't recognize Sven without bun? Or is May just a bit ditzy?

Well, computers are historically bad at being able to tell when images are similar but not the same. Maybe May's confusion is because of an undiscovered weakness in whatever algorithm controls facial recognition for AI? Honestly though, seems more likely that it's part of her personality. Everything we've seen about the sentient experience for AI's suggests it's comparable to a human's, so we don't have reason to believe they access memory in a radically different way.
 

[sitnspin]

Momo, we all know you were never going to act on your attraction. And it was just attraction. If my friends weren't allowed to date or bang anyone I found attractive, there would be no women available to date anywhere.

[Case]

Momo, we all know you were never going to act on your attraction. And it was just attraction. If my friends weren't allowed to date or bang anyone I found attractive, there would be no women available to date anywhere.

In the name of gynophiles everywhere: Thank you for your generosity.

[brasca]

So apparently even though most AI's have built in facial recognition software they selectively use it.  That explains it and actually takes May off the hook.  As obnoxious and abrasive as she is this wasn't malicious.  She genuinely didn't recognize Sven was the same man Momo was attracted to. 

[OldGoat]

So apparently even though most AI's have built in facial recognition software they selectively use it.  That explains it and actually takes May off the hook.  As obnoxious and abrasive as she is this wasn't malicious.  She genuinely didn't recognize Sven was the same man Momo was attracted to.

And her visual sensors were probably from a lowest bid supplier, just like the rest of her chassis components.  C'mon Jeph, write a way for the poor girl to get a new body.

And I THINK I've found the first instance of an adult human sized AI appearing in the strip.

[BenRG]

Here's a theory that I've put together from the whole of this arc so far. I think that May did remember who Sven was and Momo's reaction to him. However, May herself found Sven attractive, not physically but rather because of his witty banter. So, I'm going to posit that she looked for reasons for believing that she wasn't 'poaching' from Momo. So, it was a case of: "No, this can't be the guy Momo's crushing on because he doesn't have a man-bun! So, let's do this!" Panel 5 is May just realising what a thin layer of justification and sophistry this was.

Ultimately, this will go into May's list of: "How my lack of impulse control has and continues to screw up my life." At that point, she'll also recognise that she actually likes Clownboy and things may go forwards from there.

Yup, not unexpected. It does raise issues on how android memories work... she literally didn't recognize Sven without bun? Or is May just a bit ditzy?

As I say, I've got a feeling that May at least suspected that Sven was the same person that Momo was crushing on. However, she wanted him now and so told herself that it couldn't be the same guy. Well May, congratulations on joining the human race with our tendency to tie objective reality into knots so it matches our desires and beliefs.

Finally, yes, people do change hairstyles. For example, I've suddenly realised that Momo is wearing her hair in a Weiss Schnee-style sideways ponytail.

[cybersmurf]

Yup, not unexpected. It does raise issues on how android memories work... she literally didn't recognize Sven without bun? Or is May just a bit ditzy?

Some people do have a lot of trouble with faces, and a change of hairstyle can be very confusing for a while. So it makes sense to me that some AIs could have similar issues. In a world that contains Melon, this seems well within the normal range of variation.

I usually don't have issues with faces, but there is that one instance when I heard someone talk, I knew it was them, but couldn't see them. Reason? Long hair with dreads had turned into roughly chin to shoulder length "normal" hair, and glasses. She said even her dad only recognized her by voice at first.

[traroth]

So May actually didn't recognize Sven. And also, Sven didn't recognize May, or so it seems...

[BenRG]

As I've already posted, I think that May didn't want to recognise Sven and, quite honestly, if Sven did recognise May, why should that be significant for him? We know that he likes strong-willed and witty ladies! I certainly can't see any reason why he should think that Momo's very obvious crush is anything important; he must have dozens of young fans who look at him worshipfully like that!

[Zebediah]

I’m not sure Sven did recognize Momo’s crush on him. He seemed to categorize Momo as “underage girl” based on her appearance and therefore had zero sexual interest in her. And therefore had zero interest in her.

It’s one of the few good things I can say about Sven: he is not a predator.

[Tai Fanboi]

The man bun issue aside, I don't think May really recognized him because she didn't really care about him.  She's always been flippant and dismissive and generally uninterested in things and people who aren't of importance to her.  I mean, most times she explains anything it's more to do with the actions she got into or want's to get into with a person as opposed to physical characteristics of the person themselves.  As far as Momo's anger goes...  Well I'm really hoping this is going to be a quick thing.  Momo feels hurt by it then realizes she had no claim on Svern and didn't do anything up to now to pursue him.  May realizes that impulsive actions, even though impulsive, can cause drama or hurt the few people she does care about.  Then cut to Hanners coming back and offering May an upgrade so she doesn't have to worry about her AI Body falling apart anymore 

[cybersmurf]

I opt to disagree with you on the Hanners part. Although she probably could afford it, I consider it completely out of character. But who knows.

[BenRG]

Personally, the end state I'd like for May is one similar to that in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda or, for the more sci-fi literature-focussed, Anne McCaffery's The Ship That Searched. Basically, May is uploaded into a body... Say a super-advanced single-stage Earth-to-Lunar transport that Dr Ellicott-Chatham designed for a moon base project. May routinely uses a holographic avatar but also buys (from her work credits) a high-fidelity anthropomorphic chassis that she remotely controls through the ship's drone control link.

So, she gets both the high-performance aerospace chassis and the opportunity to enjoy the occasional suitable human.

[TheEvilDog]

Can people try to stop making excuses as to why May didn't recognise Sven.

She has misanthropic tendencies, we know that. I wouldn't be surprised that she forgets the faces of most of the people she comes across. In fact, I'd be even less surprised if her memory had a specific file regarding Dale as "Okay guy, did me a solid, remember him." and Marigold as "Dale's girlfriend, Momo's friend. Try not to piss off."

And stop with the Svern misnaming. We've had this before with Tilly during their arc with Hanners and its a little galling that its happening again, just because Sven is something of an asshole. Look, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. He might not be likeable but there's no need for that.

[Cornelius]

She has misanthropic tendencies, we know that. I wouldn't be surprised that she forgets the faces of most of the people she comes across. In fact, I'd be even less surprised if her memory had a specific file regarding Dale as "Okay guy, did me a solid, remember him." and Marigold as "Dale's girlfriend, Momo's friend. Try not to piss off."

Creating Nice_List.txt. Entering "Marigold". Saving and closing.

[Theta9]

Jesus Christ, Momo... You don't fucking have dibs on Sven. Please allow me to direct you toward Mount Everest; feel free to climb it and GET OVER YOURSELF.

[TheEvilDog]

She has misanthropic tendencies, we know that. I wouldn't be surprised that she forgets the faces of most of the people she comes across. In fact, I'd be even less surprised if her memory had a specific file regarding Dale as "Okay guy, did me a solid, remember him." and Marigold as "Dale's girlfriend, Momo's friend. Try not to piss off."

Creating Nice_List.txt. Entering "Marigold". Saving and closing.

See, I told you I wouldn't be surprised.

[Is it cold in here?]

Momo is reacting emotionally.