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[jwhouk]

No poll, but one big D’awwwwww.

[Farideh]

Adorable indeed. Long may it last

[zioninavision]

i am very glad to be finally seeing and reading how Jeph will creatively present a long distance relationship! 
Veronica moved to Northampton very quickly, and of course Angus and Faye did not attempt to stay together!  Hanners being on her travels was a type of long-distantly relating, but also quite different! 

[shanejayell]

Brun: "Do I still need to wait in the bathroom?"

[Farideh]

Brun: "Do I still need to wait in the bathroom?"

"People keep giving me funny looks"

[Oenone]

Lmao. This is adorable. I can’t wait to see how they both contribute to each other’s growth.

[badbum61]

Brun: "Do I still need to wait in the bathroom?"

How much cocaine does she have, exactly? 

Also, do I really wanna know how the "S game" improves on one's A game?

(yes. yes, I do.)

[wiserd]

At the risk of appearing naive... what is an "S game?" Is it like "giving 110%?"

[BenRG]

Well, we've got to this point eventually (at last).

Jeph should be less gamer. Not all of us are into the lingo, or even recognise it for what it is. Someone on Patreon had to explain this strip to me.

[Eversist]

At the risk of appearing naive... what is an "S game?" Is it like "giving 110%?"

Correct. Lots of video games have a score rating system with your traditional ABCDF structure, with S being above all; the best of the best.

Probably originally comes from the Japanese grading system in school, but I don't know that for certain.

Jeph should be less gamer. Not all of us are into the lingo, or even recognise it for what it is. Someone on Patreon had to explain this strip to me.

I know you're probably at least being partially sarcastic, but it's okay to not always get the punchline right away. Different characters have different interests so it sorta makes sense in-context, too.

[Farideh]

I didn't even get that punch line, just figured that 'S game' meant 'sex game'

[BenRG]

Jeph should be less gamer. Not all of us are into the lingo, or even recognise it for what it is. Someone on Patreon had to explain this strip to me.

I know you're probably at least being partially sarcastic, but it's okay to not always get the punchline right away. Different characters have different interests so it sorta makes sense in-context, too.

Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic. I literally had no idea what Renee was talking about. It's something that an author should be wary of. If your audience can no longer understand your characters and/or follow the story, then there are problems on the horizon.

[Eversist]

Jeph should be less gamer. Not all of us are into the lingo, or even recognise it for what it is. Someone on Patreon had to explain this strip to me.

I know you're probably at least being partially sarcastic, but it's okay to not always get the punchline right away. Different characters have different interests so it sorta makes sense in-context, too.

Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic. I literally had no idea what Renee was talking about. It's something that an author should be wary of. If your audience can no longer understand your characters and/or follow the story, then there are problems on the horizon.

Ah okay, forgive me. I was assuming in good faith that you maybe were being sarcastic, because I think it's a little silly/unrealistic to think one is always going to understand a punch line in a comic, especially a comic that leans on pop culture occasionally.

QC used to have a lot more music humor and references. I missed out on a lot of those, but I don't feel like it really diminished my enjoyment of the comic or made me feel like it was going in an obtuse direction. Agree to disagree.

(Edited for clarity.)

[sitnspin]

I didn't (and don't) know what it was a reference to, but I picked up its meaning from context.

Not every piece of fiction has to be universally digestible by every audience member, and in fact it impossible to be so. And asking a creator to appeal to your specific tastes and perspectives seems a bit presumptuous and entitled.

[Tova]

Jeph inserted a pop culture reference into today's comic? Heavens.

[Oenone]

I thought it was a Sailor Moon reference lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon_S:_The_Movie?wprov=sfti1

[Marco]

Jeph should be less gamer. Not all of us are into the lingo, or even recognise it for what it is. Someone on Patreon had to explain this strip to me.

I know you're probably at least being partially sarcastic, but it's okay to not always get the punchline right away. Different characters have different interests so it sorta makes sense in-context, too.

Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic. I literally had no idea what Renee was talking about. It's something that an author should be wary of. If your audience can no longer understand your characters and/or follow the story, then there are problems on the horizon.

I hope we won't need for QC something like "explain xkcd" (which I consult regularly, by the way).

[Tova]

Really. Jeph could have left that speech balloon blank, and I am pretty confident most of us, maybe even all of us, would have had no trouble inserting an equivalent joke. Especially Ben. I don't buy for a moment the claim that he had no idea what it meant.

We should have a new type of caption contest, except a fill the blanks contest:

That was my ____. You should see my ____.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Huh. Google wanted to babble about the Oakland A’s and the Xbox series S.
Google is less hip than I thought.

[SpanielBear]

Really. Jeph could have left that speech balloon blank, and I am pretty confident most of us, maybe even all of us, would have had no trouble inserting an equivalent joke. Especially Ben. I don't buy for a moment the claim that he had no idea what it meant.

We should have a new type of caption contest, except a fill the blanks contest:

That was my ____. You should see my ____.

“That was my Piltdown Man. You should see my Lucy.”

[de_la_Nae]

eat it nerds

[Farideh]

New comic.

Wow, that voice actor won't run out of work anytime soon.

[Gnabberwocky]

One of the perks of writing your own webcomic is you're VERY familiar with the characters' voice actor.

[shanejayell]

Brun: "Can I come back now?"

[cesium133]

It'll be the new "eaten by an allosaur": Brun is "doing cocaine in the bathroom."

[Tova]

I kinda wish Jeph would put less energy into trolling is audience and more into his storylines.

[shanejayell]

I kinda wish Jeph would put less energy into trolling is audience and more into his storylines.

Huh?

[Oenone]

I kinda wish Jeph would put less energy into trolling is audience and more into his storylines.

I don’t feel especially especially trolled. Voice actors sometimes will take on a lot of characters in one show, like Hank Azaria in The Simpsons.

It’s not trolling if it’s a joke based how an industry works in what seems to the audience to be contradictory or surprising ways.

[DaiJB]

Brun: "Do I still need to wait in the bathroom?"

"People keep giving me funny looks"

"Then when I try to do the socially acceptable thing and start up a conversation - usually something about clocks - they leave very quickly. Am I doing something wrong?"

[BenRG]

Well, it looks like we're at the end of this mini-arc at least. I'm expecting a few filler strips before anything else comes along and so this is a good point to make this 'announcement' of sorts.

Questionable Content isn't quite as enjoyable to me as it used to be at the beginning. Maybe Jeph's thinking and the things he enjoys have moved on to places where I can't really understand or enjoy the ideas that direct the strip anymore. Maybe, as some alledge, he's moved on creatively and he's just 'phoning in' the strip because it has been the core of his creative life for so long. Either way, I'm not not getting the interest I used to in thinking about what's happening in the story and following the characters' lives.

I'm not quitting by any means. If an interesting strip comes along, you will probably see me occasionally commenting on an interesting strip. Hell, the next arc might be brilliant and drag me in but, as matters stand, I won't be anywhere near as regular as I used to be. QC simply doesn't engage me as it used to and it is hard to take time out for something that occasionally feels more a chore or social obligation than anything else.

There have been good times and wonderful stories to remember and cherish but those times seem to have passed.

[badbum61]

wait, so Ralph Wiggum does their interior monologue?

[awkwardness]

Now every time I read their inner monologues I'll hear the voices of Fred Tatasciore and Kevin Michael Richardson...those two are the go-to for deep voiced voiceover actors in my head

[oddtail]

Now every time I read their inner monologues I'll hear the voices of Fred Tatasciore and Kevin Michael Richardson...those two are the go-to for deep voiced voiceover actors in my head

My brain immeditely went to the narrator from The Stanley Parable for some weird reason.

[Datalore]

QC used to have a lot more music humor and references. I missed out on a lot of those, but I don't feel like it really diminished my enjoyment of the comic or made me feel like it was going in an obtuse direction. Agree to disagree.

(Edited for clarity.)

Yeah, same. Maybe it's because I'm younger than the (apparent?) typical forum crowd, but I grew up with QC and the most recent couple years have been the strips I relate with the most. Everything I ever learned about Indie music (or music in general) came from this comic, and of all of that the only thing that stuck through the years was that "Panda panda panda panda pan-- PANDA" song.

Just wasn't [and isn't] an area of interest for me, but I stuck around because the characters were fun and they clicked with my kiddo internet edgelord brain, and they grew at roughly the same rate I did.

Now we have a more diverse cast, and they're starting to talk increasingly about gaming (including V-tubing, of all things) and for once I feel like I'm actually the target audience for the jokes and references. I used to just skim over the last panel because it was usually a punchline that relied on a reference I was 10-20 years too late for. So I wasn't really ever expecting to be in the "gets the jokes" demographic of the readership, but hey! Pleasant surprises do happen.

That said, gaining something you never expected and then potentially losing it is a very different experience from losing something you've always had and had potentially taken for granted. So I can understand how leaving the "gets the jokes" demographic can feel like a bummer and infringe pretty critically on one's enjoyment.

[drewdane]

Good to see the requisite hipster backlash against IPAs is covered.

[Mr_Rose]

Wouldn’t hipsters be all over new-gen IPA’s? You know, small unknown brewery, extreme hoppiness, fuck actual flavour, sounds like perfect hipster bait to me…

[drewdane]

Wouldn’t hipsters be all over new-gen IPA’s? You know, small unknown brewery, extreme hoppiness, fuck actual flavour, sounds like perfect hipster bait to me…

Naw, IPAs are so mainstream now that even over-hopped garbage from obscure breweries that have no business being in operation aren't edgy enough.  They were supplanted by sours for a while, but now I think those are losing their "I was into it before it was mainstream" cachet as well.

[Roborat]

Hercules voice actor? Ok, but never Newton.

[awkwardness]

Good to see the requisite hipster backlash against IPAs is covered.

It's low-hanging fruit for comic writers, it's like attacking the use of comic-sans. At least it's not her being a snob about beers that aren't European

[awkwardness]

New comic, same obsession with short hair...it ruined a great look for no reason whatsoever

OK I'll bow out before I get banned for not following the herd

[Gnabberwocky]

New comic, same obsession with short hair...it ruined a great look for no reason whatsoever

OK I'll bow out before I get banned for not following the herd

No need for that. That's a perfectly legitimate opinion to hold. I happen to like the hair, personally, but I'm not gonna jump on you for it.

[shanejayell]

HOW did Beeps get her hand stuck in the printer anyway? 0_o

[Farideh]

Beepatrice has many hidden talents.

And I like Roko's short hair, but I might be biased since my hair isn't long either.

[Sorflakne]

Yeah, Roku's new hair doesn't fit her character.

Questionable Content isn't quite as enjoyable to me as it used to be at the beginning. Maybe Jeph's thinking and the things he enjoys have moved on to places where I can't really understand or enjoy the ideas that direct the strip anymore. Maybe, as some alledge, he's moved on creatively and he's just 'phoning in' the strip because it has been the core of his creative life for so long. Either way, I'm not not getting the interest I used to in thinking about what's happening in the story and following the characters' lives.

I've felt this way for awhile. Habit is pretty much the only reason I still read QC, with May getting a new body the first time in awhile where I was looking forward to the next comic.  Relationship arcs do nothing to hold my interest, mainly because in QC the stakes aren't high, if they even exist.

IMO when the Secret Bakery was introduced and the second main cast started becoming prominent, that would've been a good time to have started either planning a spin-off comic or just ending QC altogether and starting a new storyline with them, seeing as they and characters introduced post-SB have become the new cast.  Other than Faye, none of the original cast or original B cast make regular appearances anymore.  The comic has moved from its roots of random arcs of music, silliness, and hints of magical realism to, well, whatever it is today. I get it, long-running works need to evolve and change it up to stay fresh, but going back and reading the early strips even into four digits is like reading a completely different comic, in tone, delivery, pacing, and atmosphere.

HOW did Beeps get her hand stuck in the printer anyway? 0_o

Printers are of the devil.  Never underestimate their diabolical machinations and ways.

[Elder Sign]

New comic, same obsession with short hair...it ruined a great look for no reason whatsoever

Oh, there's always a reason, but these days it seems to me that Jeph does it more to just periodically troll the audience (i.e. us) rather than out of any actual need to change a character's look.

Count me in with those who preferred Roko's former 'do, but we may as well get used to it.  This is the way.

At least Jeph didn't revamp her to have a near-brush-cut, unlike multiple other characters.

[Gnabberwocky]

-snip-
Relationship arcs do nothing to hold my interest, mainly because in QC the stakes aren't high, if they even exist.
-snip-

Who needs stakes and storylines? Pure fluff, especially fluff with well-developed and relatable characters, is one of my favorite things to read.

[Farideh]

Just goes to show that we all enjoy different things. I quite like the current story arcs, since it's nice, lightweight entertainment and I have enough to worry about in my day-to-day life. I need my escapism. Like Datalore, I didn't really get many of the punchlines in the earlier strips (even if I was the right age group) because I've never been into Indie music. I listened to some of the bands mentioned and didn't like them much.

Then again, if Jeph could put a bit of 'random riffing on a subject' back into the comic, I'd love that. Tiny hypoallergenic cows bring a smile to my face

[Gyrre]

I kinda wish Jeph would put less energy into trolling is audience and more into his storylines.

I don’t feel especially especially trolled. Voice actors sometimes will take on a lot of characters in one show, like Hank Azaria in The Simpsons.

It’s not trolling if it’s a joke based how an industry works in what seems to the audience to be contradictory or surprising ways.

Look up Scott McNeil's VA credits. He was 3/4 (or more) of the Ruby Spear's Megaman cartoon cast and at least 3 separate characters in Beast Wars.

[SeattleCrochetWoman]

I like Roko’s hair too. I get so tired of the idea that women have to have long or at least shoulder-length hair. It used to be acceptable for women,mercenary young women, to have short hair. Now if you’re a woman under 70, your hair has to be at least shoulder length or you get negative comments. And the same thing if guys let their hair grow. I’m sick of it. Why do we all have to have the same hair length?

[St.Clair]

My problem is not that any one person has short hair.
It's that, over time, all of them end up with short hair.
It reduces the diversity of character design.
To return to an extreme example I've used before, imagine if everyone was represented by circles of various colors and/or sizes, otherwise featureless and identical.  Just... circles.