THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: BenRG on 31 Jul 2016, 11:11
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The various housing crises of the various characters in Questionable Content have created some pretty weird room-mate situations with people whom you can't imagine being compatible... or even able to resist killing each other for a few minutes at a time. So, who do you think is the strangest pair of house-mates in the comic?
After thinking about it, I've decided upon Marigold and Momo. They may be contracted companions but you couldn't imagine two personalities less compatible and less likely to even like each other if they were to meet casually. I think that it is a tribute to Momo's essentially saintly personality that she's stuck with Marigold for so long and has done her so much good even though, at times, Marigold has been a shitty friend to her.
On the subject of this week's strips, I have only one prediction. A few weeks back, Jeph Tweeted (https://twitter.com/jephjacques/status/757275779147436036) that he was drawing a strip about a sexy female robot. My understanding of his posting schedule isn't so good but I suspect that we'll see that strip this week and I can only think of one thing that his message could mean - we're going to see Bubbles out of her armour at last (wearing street clothes, of course, you dirty-minded people)!
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Definitely punchbot.
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Are you sure drawing sexy robots isn't just something Jeph does in his downtime?
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Bubbles and Faye
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If it weren't for the fire, would Faye and Marten have become roommates?
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Marigold and Momo are THE definition of "The Odd Couple."
Marigold = Oscar, Momo = Felix.
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Comic!
And Jeph has answered the poll. :lol:
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Marigold and Momo are THE definition of "The Odd Couple."
Marigold = Oscar, Momo = Felix.
This is the first time I've ever read a thread and realised that my poll choice was wrong.
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I wish I had a massive armored battle droid to hug.
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I think we all wish that.
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Funny, adorable and a little sad all at once. There is a small detail that I find interesting that could easily just slip by though. Before the sudden hug by Faye, Bubbles was styling her hair, giving it a part. That's something we haven't seen her do before. Up until now it's just been straight bangs. Simple, easy to deal with. Yet, here Bubs is paying more attention to her appearance. That's another good sign that she's pulling herself out of her self-imposed exile. When you spend all your time avoiding other people, you tend not to care about your personal appearance. Especially when suffering from depression. I love that Jeph can inform us about his characters emotional state in such quiet, subtle ways.
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I think we all wish that.
That leads to a common problem, though, doesn't it? Do you love me for me, or do you only love me for my massive ... battle armour?
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Jeph seems to have slightly remodelled Bubbles's face for today's strip as well as show her redoing her hair. Meanwhile, Faye needs to be reminded that Bubbles' armour is kind of... hard. That said, I think her first thoughts upon seeing Bubbles probably weren't of that practical mien.
Poor Bubbles though! I think that she needs to get used to blushing when Faye is around her! :-D
There is a small detail that I find interesting that could easily just slip by though. Before the sudden hug by Faye, Bubbles was styling her hair, giving it a part.
It's subtle but significant. Possibly for the first time since she was demobilised, Bubbles finds she has a reason to care about her personal appearance beyond 'hygienic'.
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While I have no trouble with Bubbles re-inventing herself and changing hair styles every now and again, I still feel it is not a job for avarage hair styling tools (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3086). Steel chisel, hammer and angle grinder, yes. Comb or brush, no. Today's 'DONK' only strengthens my belief.
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"I was not programmed for this."
"Don't AI mostly program themselves though?"
"Yes."
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On reflection, two things jump out to me about today's strip
Firstly, in the previous strip, Faye was joking and punning with Marten and Claire. Yet, today, presumably when she gets into work on the same day, she's down again; down enough that she needs a hug from Bubbles, no matter how much that hurts. This suggests to me that she's got very, very good faking being in a happy mood to keep Marten from worrying about her. That's more than a little worrying because people who get good at lying about their feelings are the ones who store them up for destructive outbursts of one sort or another.
Secondly, Bubbles's reaction to the hug is simply adorable! She's so rigid and unresponsive; she literally doesn't have the first clue how to respond! I'm anticipating the next move to be an awkward pat on the back that is totally devoid of any natural smoothness or personal warmth because, quite frankly, Bubbles really isn't sure how one goes about doing those things even when she wants to!
Now, the question is this: Does Bubbles also have anaesthetic boobies?
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The Donk! of love ...
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On reflection, two things jump out to me about today's strip
Firstly, in the previous strip, Faye was joking and punning with Marten and Claire. Yet, today, presumably when she gets into work on the same day, she's down again; down enough that she needs a hug from Bubbles, no matter how much that hurts. This suggests to me that she's got very, very good faking being in a happy mood to keep Marten from worrying about her. That's more than a little worrying because people who get good at lying about their feelings are the ones who store them up for destructive outbursts of one sort or another.
I'm not sure I agree with this interpretation, yet. Faye is clearly going through a difficult time, but I think she might not be faking being happy, she just doesn't need that sort of interaction with Marten. Bubbles understands her the way Marten doesn't, and she needs support from Bubbles and is ready to show affection for what Bubbles has done for her.
Not going to a given person with your difficult stuff and opening up to another person is not necessarily a sign of hiding one's true feelings or faking anything. You just don't interact the same way with everyone, I find.
On a related note - today's strip is one of the most adorable and heart-warming things I've ever seen in QC, and the comic has had many well-done, emotional moments, too!
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There is a small detail that I find interesting that could easily just slip by though. Before the sudden hug by Faye, Bubbles was styling her hair, giving it a part.
It's subtle but significant. Possibly for the first time since she was demobilised, Bubbles finds she has a reason to care about her personal appearance beyond 'hygienic'.
The first time we do see her style her hair is the morning after (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3086) the infamous party Faye invited her to. So, it's still heartwarming that she's getting more adventurous but it's been a long road :)
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There is a small detail that I find interesting that could easily just slip by though. Before the sudden hug by Faye, Bubbles was styling her hair, giving it a part.
It's subtle but significant. Possibly for the first time since she was demobilised, Bubbles finds she has a reason to care about her personal appearance beyond 'hygienic'.
The first time we do see her style her hair is the morning after (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3086) the infamous party Faye invited her to. So, it's still heartwarming that she's getting more adventurous but it's been a long road :)
Up until that point I thought she had literal helmet hair. Perhaps she has special hairs that can fuse together to form a helmet as a reflex and then relax it so it can be combed later.
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Ok, emotional, check; but the 'donk' and the last panel also made me laugh. Jeph captures the blend of life so well... I'm quite sure the only reason my wife & I are still together after thirty years is that we're able to laugh together at life.
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On reflection, two things jump out to me about today's strip
Firstly, in the previous strip, Faye was joking and punning with Marten and Claire. Yet, today, presumably when she gets into work on the same day, she's down again; down enough that she needs a hug from Bubbles, no matter how much that hurts.
I don't think Faye is down; as a matter of fact, I think she's way, way up. The hug is the hug you give to a person you're seeing for the first time after they they pulled you out of the water when you were drowning.
Also, I think the donk is less a matter of Faye discovering something she would have already known than Faye giving Bubbles and emotional 'out' of the situation. She blushes when the hug comes, and she's still blushing as she wryly gives her apologies for wearing armor plate.
Faye is not only in a good mood, she's being considerate.
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People... You did notice how sad Faye looks in panel 2, didn't you?
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People... You did notice how sad Faye looks in panel 2, didn't you?
I don't see "sad" there, I see "I don't know how to show you how much what you did means to me."
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Gotta appreciate whoever took the time to apparently hand write the "all employees must wash hands" sign.
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Firstly, in the previous strip, Faye was joking and punning with Marten and Claire. Yet, today, presumably when she gets into work on the same day, she's down again; down enough that she needs a hug from Bubbles, no matter how much that hurts. This suggests to me that she's got very, very good faking being in a happy mood to keep Marten from worrying about her. That's more than a little worrying because people who get good at lying about their feelings are the ones who store them up for destructive outbursts of one sort or another.
I'm with other posters in disagreeing with this interpretation. For two reasons.
Firstly, as others have noted, she's not down here. Merely emotional. 'Tis a different thing.
Secondly, even if she were down in this scene, you're drawing a long bow in concluding that her happy mood must therefore have been faked. Have you not heard of mood swings? When I've been in a bad patch in the past, my mood was up and down like the Assyrian Empire. I don't think that my experience was in any way unusual.
Edit: looking back at panel two as suggested, first point is debatable. Second point still stands.
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I love this strip, mainly because it shows Faye getting outside of her own head, and aligning her emotions with someone else's behaviour in a healthy way. Not only did she hold off drinking during a very emotional mess for her, but she woke up the next day and dealt with last nights happenings by relating to other people: With Marten by being honest but "light", with Claire by being a darn sight more polite than she (Faye) would've been a while ago, and with Bubbles by truly expressing gratitude.
I've always been a bit of a cheerleader for Faye in my own head, for reasons I can't pinpoint (Faye's almost nothing like me IRL), but it's often very difficult to keep liking her due to her needless aggression, general rudeness, and sometime selfishness to the point where she can't see past her own nose. This strip makes me happy because it shows Faye as someone who's not only capable of battling demons, but someone who genuinely understands the part that her friend played in her battle. And rather than marching in, stoic and cold, she's actually expressing directly to that friend that she's grateful. I think it's a huge step forward for her.
Obviously it's not going to be sunshine and roses from here, but I feel like the latest comic shows that Faye is truly getting somewhere.
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What sort of hazardous waste do they have round the robot fight-club, I wonder? Leakage from damaged batteries? Cadmium is nasty stuff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_poisoning), for example, if any of the fighters still use NiCd batteries.
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Firstly, in the previous strip, Faye was joking and punning with Marten and Claire. Yet, today, presumably when she gets into work on the same day, she's down again; down enough that she needs a hug from Bubbles, no matter how much that hurts. This suggests to me that she's got very, very good faking being in a happy mood to keep Marten from worrying about her. That's more than a little worrying because people who get good at lying about their feelings are the ones who store them up for destructive outbursts of one sort or another.
I'm with other posters in disagreeing with this interpretation. For two reasons.
Firstly, as others have noted, she's not down here. Merely emotional. 'Tis a different thing.
Secondly, even if she were down in this scene, you're drawing a long bow in concluding that her happy mood must therefore have been faked. Have you not heard of mood swings? When I've been in a bad patch in the past, my mood was up and down like the Assyrian Empire. I don't think that my experience was in any way unusual.
Edit: looking back at panel two as suggested, first point is debatable. Second point still stands.
To partly agree with Tova, I saw the scene with Marten (and then Claire) as Faye being mature enough to realise that a) Marten isn't necessarily her best confidante anymore, and b) even if he was, that she (Faye) shouldn't attempt to monopolise Marten's emotional support at this point. I think both Faye and Marten are holding back a bit, flying casual as it were. I get a lot of tension from that strip, but I think it's good tension, because they both know that they can't be each others final port of call, as it were. It would hold both of them back.
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What sort of hazardous waste do they have round the robot fight-club, I wonder? Leakage from damaged batteries? Cadmium is nasty stuff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_poisoning), for example, if any of the fighters still use NiCd batteries.
Hardly anything today uses NiCd batteries anymore. Many devices now use Lithium based batteries, or NiMH, which contains no Cadmium. All this happened largely because of concerns such as the one you've expressed. I'm sure that not all modern batteries are entirely environmentally sound but they're a lot less hazardous than in the bad old days of Cadmium.
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Why am I not surprised that today's punchline is a trope? BoobsOfSteel (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BoobsOfSteel)
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That Faye is thankful to someone who helped her is not unexpected.
What may be unexpected is what becomes of Bubbles shortly.
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BoobBonk
:-D
*Walks away whistling innocently*
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This is weird, but I'm not surprised that Faye would make the mistake of thinking boobs to be comforting. Little surprised she forgot said boobs were metal and painful.
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When in doubt, apologize.
That buys you time to figure out why you needed to.
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Yeah, I'm seeing glad-to-see-you gratitude-and-thanks-for-sticking-with-me hugs there, not down-and-need-comforting hugs.
On the topic of power supplies... NiMH, due to disposal, lifetime, and manufacturing issues, still isn't as environmentally-friendly as internal-combustion engines running on Alcohol. Which we don't usually do for vehicles because for the moment anyway, petroleum is cheaper and we prefer to use the arable land for crops rather than fuel. But if you want to be green, alcohol-converting your vehicle is as valid an approach as getting an electric, and a heck of a lot cheaper. But fuel will be more expensive rather than less. On the other hand NiMH batteries just plain die. They spoil like rotten fruit after a few years and you have to replace them no matter what. Not true of alcohol generators.
You find alcohol-fueled internal combustion engines at monster-truck rallies where you have 300HP motors on multiple vehicles running indoors in colosseums etc. They suck up a lot of oxygen, but you don't get people falling over from carbon monoxide and other poisons in the exhaust.
Anyway.... it could happen that some of the combat robots use alcohol motors. It wouldn't seem likely, but it could happen; it's good power density and a viable choice for a combat chassis.
But it would sort of suck to be a recovering alcoholic working in a place where half your coworkers run on vodka.
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I am betting Bubbles wants to blow a unicorn out of that glass
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I like the half-human/half-robot speech bubble.
Looks like a slice of bread.
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Looking forward to what Bubbles makes of the destroyed liquor bottle.
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What Bubbles has is a very particular set of skills. Skills she has acquired over a very long career. Skills that make her a nightmare for objects like that bottle. If it had let Faye go at the start of the evening, that would have been the end of it. She would not have looked for it, she would not have pursued it. But instead...
What now? Let me tell you what now. She'll call a coupla fine, Glass-blowin' robots, who'll go to work on the bottle here with a sand-blaster and a blast furnace. You hear her talkin', Whiskey boy? She ain't through with you by a damn sight!
She's gonna get *Venetian* on your glass!!!
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That pun was pane-ful
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That pun was pane-ful
The fact you have such an issue gives me a window into who you are as a person*
*it likely does not, but dude. Puns.
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Whoa, Faye can change fonts? Impressive.
Edit: Wait, and change the shape of her speech bubbles*?
*heh
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Okay, that's... worrying. It's pretty clear that Bubbles has few enough friends that she takes any threat to their happiness and well-being more than a little personally. Maybe this is something she needs, though. It has been speculated before that her problems revolve around a sense that she failed her dead comrades-at-arms so maybe she needs to do something now to reassure herself that she's destroying Faye's enemy. I mean, look at panel 2! She's pretty much on her own, remembering a fight!
I did like how Jeph portrayed Faye imitating Bubbles's voice. I think that this is the first time we've had it confirmed that the squared speech bubbles isn't just an aesthetic indicator but that Synthetics have a particular timbre to their voice.
So, anyway, I'm predicting that Faye will take Bubbles out after tonight's shift just because it's obvious that, firstly, she has too much time on her hands and, secondly, really, really needs something to distract her from her darker thoughts!
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If it weren't for the fire, would Faye and Marten have become roommates?
I still suspect Faye set the fire deliberately.
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I was going to say that I didn't think that was in-character for Faye, even in the early realty-deficient strips. At least, I don't think that she would have done it just to have an excuse to move in with Marten.
That said, I suspect that Faye's low self-esteem has gone the way of serious self-harm in the past. Could it have gone so far as her to set fire to her apartment and she just stood there, looking at the spreading flames for a few minutes before her self-preservation instincts kicked in?
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It's good to see Bubbles being creative as well as environmentally creative with symbolic destruction.
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This strip is a reminder that if Bubbles ever went postal, you would not want to be around. Luckily for QCland, she seems to be benign, just like their AI singularity.
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Get her angry enough, though, and brick walls explode in shards next to people's heads.
Eric Greiten's book _Resilience_ talks about how veterans can feel set adrift by not having a meaningful job. "Meaningful", for people on the sharp end, included protecting the lives of friends from one day to the next. Dr.(*) Greitens's answer was to create a non-profit hooking up veterans with community service opportunities, called "The Mission Continues".
(*) Ph.D., not M.D. Plus passing SEAL training. People like that make me feel lazy.
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PhD and a SEAL? I mean, SEAL training is basically a PhD in badassery, but still, that's some serious commitment there.
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If it weren't for the fire, would Faye and Marten have become roommates?
I still suspect Faye set the fire deliberately.
By contrast, did we, or anyone in the strip, ever have solid evidence that the fire actually happened?
Seriously, the first, and last, thing we ever hear of it is Faye's original intro; no newspaper clippings, no news reports, not even Dora (who was Faye's friend/boss before she moved in with Marten) asking if she was able to get much out of her insurer…
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Well, it's official: I have a new favorite QC character to fanboy over: Bubbles.
(PS: Loved her in The Whiteboard crossover)
Because her treatment of that bottle is a set of feelings and behaviors I know...uh...intimately.
But yeah...Bubbles is my new Comic Bestie.
And yes, I did notice the bit about the speech bubbles and the underlying subtleties...I just chose to focus on Bubbles...
Mmmm...Bubbles...Bubbles...Bubbles...
...I wonder if I can still buy those little bottles of soap with a bubble wand in them...?
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Calling it here: Bubbles and May will switch chassis. Hilarity, hugs and destruction ensue.
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Hmmmm
Between Faye's artistic welding skills and Bubbles soon to be revealed glass blowing skills these two could go into business together.
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Amazing strip today. It's made me laugh multiple times today as I hear Faye's impression in my head.
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I'm starting to get the feeling that Punch-bot is the QC-verse version of the Zen Master, Ryokan.
Good thing that Punch-bot doesn't wear pants. :roll:
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Okay, I thought that this was the case but this is the proof: Punchbot isn't interested in 'winning', he's only interested in hitting things and suffering serious chassis damage. If he were human I'd call him a masochist with an injury fetish but he's not so I'm just going to call him weird. It also explains why Punchbot had no hard feelings about Bubbles tossing him. To him, it was an act of affection from which he gets pleasure! :-o
I was reading back through old threads and I noted something I said about the fighting ring when it was first introduced which this strip makes me want to revisit. Just how many of Corpse Witch's 'employees' does she not have to pay because either inflicting violence or having violence inflicted on them is what they want out of life?
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Not sure why you think that doing something you want out of life means you wouldn't or shouldn't be paid for it.
Punchbot's probably their star attraction.
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I think that Hank the Dismemberer is probably a bit more popular. But Punchbot is quite fun.
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Okay, I thought that this was the case but this is the proof: Punchbot isn't interested in 'winning', he's only interested in hitting things and suffering serious chassis damage. If he were human I'd call him a masochist with an injury fetish but he's not so I'm just going to call him weird. It also explains why Punchbot had no hard feelings about Bubbles tossing him. To him, it was an act of affection from which he gets pleasure! :-o
I was reading back through old threads and I noted something I said about the fighting ring when it was first introduced which this strip makes me want to revisit. Just how many of Corpse Witch's 'employees' does she not have to pay because either inflicting violence or having violence inflicted on them is what they want out of life?
I'm actually more curious as to why May would want Punchbot's autograph on her butt if he never wins a fight.
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I think Punchbot getting damaged and dismembered is just part of the Robot Fight kayfabe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe)... The fans expect to see some hydraulic fluid flowing, so the fighters deliver.
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He may choose to be what is known in RASSLIN as a "jobber". It's not glamorous but someone has to be a consistent loser so there's a consistent winner and makes others look good.
There's been nothing to suggest the fights are predetermined but with the names and chassis designs, there seems to be a bit of intentional showmanship.
While you were searching through gifs for ten minutes, someone else made a post making a related point in a more succinct way. However you didn't find that gif for nothing so click post anyway.
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Not sure why you think that doing something you want out of life means you wouldn't or shouldn't be paid for it.
Punchbot's probably their star attraction.
A very good question for all those folks that offer to "pay" artists with 'exposure' and expect them to be greatful for it.
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Ok, emotional, check; but the 'donk' and the last panel also made me laugh. Jeph captures the blend of life so well... I'm quite sure the only reason my wife & I are still together after thirty years is that we're able to laugh together at life.
“Lots Of Laughter And Sex”
You said, when we embarked on this great adventure together, that lots of laughter was essential in a relationship.
I agreed.
You also made the point that a great deal of sex was of equal importance.
Again, I agreed. Wholeheartedly.
In fact I remember your exact words: laughter and sex are the barometers of a relationship. This was the statement you made, if I remember correctly.
Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t agree more. But no at the same time, ya fucking cow.
(Irvine Welsh, "The Acid House", 1995)
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At least Punchbot's doing what he loves?
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While you were searching through gifs for ten minutes, someone else made a post making a related point in a more succinct way. However you didn't find that gif for nothing so click post anyway.
...where's the gif?
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It was there but I had to take it out because for some reason the link kept breaking. Forgot to edit the post to explain that.
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It ain't about how hard you get hit
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He may choose to be what is known in RASSLIN as a "jobber". It's not glamorous but someone has to be a consistent loser so there's a consistent winner and makes others look good.
Nah, the more I see of Punchbot, the more I'm convinced he's a masochist. He's like a demolition derby driver, except he is also the car.
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You can always depend on Punchbot. A day without punches is a day without purpose.
The shards of that whisky bottle will become --- what? Perhaps a snowglobe, suggesting manifold possibilities...
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It might just be me, but Faye almost seems a little flirtatious in today's strip? Most especially her actions and her expression in the third panel.
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Synthetic musculature, hmm... I never really thought about it, but now I'm curious about Bubbles's inner workings.
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It might just be me, but Faye almost seems a little flirtatious in today's strip? Most especially her actions and her expression in the third panel.
No, I kind of thought so, too. Tickling someone is... well... The closest I can think is the gay dude in denial on IT crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQpjS-dMjro
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I wonder if this is slowly leading up to one of Jephs famed 'Relationship Bombshell' moments
And will we see Bubbles dump the armor
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Poor Bubbles! I do think that she's a bit of an innocent abroad when confronting Faye's increasing intimacy and boundary-crossing.
In some ways, Jeph is writing this as a human/Vulcan relationship story. Bubbles has emotions but generally has them under a tight rein so that, when they get loose, it's pretty dramatic. She's also inexperienced enough with human social interaction that she has some difficulty judging accurately what Faye's intentions are. She responds with this cute, innocent and polite confusion that I find really endearing. :-)
Yes, Faye, Bubbles did explain that she had a 'skin' under her armour. Just a note, I'm pretty sure that it's as much a social faux pas to ask to see it as it would be with a human.
P.S.
AIs can download a patch to make them ticklish? I wonder whose idea that was? I'm betting that it was an AI who wanted a more complete physical experience; it doesn't sound like the sort of thing a human scientist or engineer (or even marketing person) would come up with!
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Synthetic musculature, hmm... I never really thought about it, but now I'm curious about Bubbles's inner workings.
well, from the joke at the bottom of the comic, we might infer that there are ball bearings to help facilitate the movement in her hip joints. I wonder how small they are.
EDIT: How small the ball bearings are.
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AIs can download a patch to make them ticklish? I wonder whose idea that was? I'm betting that it was an AI who wanted a more complete physical experience; it doesn't sound like the sort of thing a human scientist or engineer (or even marketing person) would come up with!
I could see a human who was friendly with an AI coming up with the idea. If they tried to tickle their AI friend like Faye just did and were told that AIs couldn't be ticklish, I can imagine a few characters in the QC universe immediately pulling out their laptop to remedy that situation. Emily, for example. or Hannelore's dad.
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Wonder if this is similar to the app that turns Momo's hair different colors whenever her belly button is touched.
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AIs can download a patch to make them ticklish? I wonder whose idea that was? I'm betting that it was an AI who wanted a more complete physical experience; it doesn't sound like the sort of thing a human scientist or engineer (or even marketing person) would come up with!
No? I'm absolutely sure there are people who have sexual fantasies about tickling robots, just like about everything else... :psyduck:
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Admittedly, a slinky filled with ball bearings is a really solid engineering practice for the kind of range of motion you'd expect from that portion of Bubble's armor.
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So, what does everyone expect for tomorrow? I'm thinking of some kind of cliffhanger where we are left to wonder over the weekend what direction Faye and Bubbles will jump. Maybe Faye and Bubbles will get a bit too into poking and prodding each other's meat and realise they may have crosssed a line? Or, maybe, Bubbles will tamely indulge Faye's curiosity about her actual body under her armour and will end the strip by saying something that makes it abundantly clear that Faye holds a very, very important place in her emotional life?
Admittedly, a slinky filled with ball bearings is a really solid engineering practice for the kind of range of motion you'd expect from that portion of Bubble's armor.
Jeph does like to reseach his scripts and art; it's reasonable to assume that he tried to figure out Faye - who now has three or so months practical robotics engineering experience - would likely actually say.
well, from the joke at the bottom of the comic, we might infer that there are ball bearings to help facilitate the movement in her hip joints.
Based on the arc where Bubbles and Faye are fixing May's chassis, I think it was pretty much established that bearings are commonly used in robot limb-to-torso joints. That said, I'm thinking that Jeph was making an indirect 'literal buns of steel' joke.
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Synthetic musculature, hmm... I never really thought about it, but now I'm curious about Bubbles's inner workings.
well, from the joke at the bottom of the comic, we might infer that there are ball bearings to help facilitate the movement in her hip joints. I wonder how small they are.
EDIT: How small the ball bearings are.
I see two basic styles of chassis here with a whole range of variation in each category and some possible overlap.
Punchbot seems to be more industrial.
The chassis lacks any extraneous sensors or accessories like hair or ears.
Design seems to be very industrial with a mixture of internal framework and external shell both providing structural support.
Limbs have full freedom of movement based on how they are assembled.
Hydraulics would be the most practical for speed and power though fine motor control is also doable.
Most likely it is a mix of hydraulic and electromagnetic servos.
Full anthropomorphic chassis like Momo and possibly Bubbles, are modeled on a humans skeleton and musculature structure.
Ranges of movement and strength levels will therefore be similar or regulated to keep them scale-able to the human norm.
So dermal layers are more like organic skin and provide a protective layer as well as having the option of embedded micro-sensors of the required types like pressure, temperature, light, etc.
As for locomotion there are already in existence various technologies based on memory metals and plastics that can be assembled as fibers to look and behave like muscle tissue.
So no need to go all industrial with a rotating asymmetric ring design.
TL:DR
Full Anthropomorphic AIs have synthetic muscles and can be as sculpted as a Greek statue.
Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to revise your engineering speculation. Also a micro black hole drank your coffee.
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Admittedly, a slinky filled with ball bearings is a really solid engineering practice for the kind of range of motion you'd expect from that portion of Bubble's armor.
Personally, I can't get my head around the concept. To me a slinky is mostly transversal motion,
while ball bearings perform radial/circular motion.
How is that supposed to work or even look, what is it supposed to achieve? :?
At most I can imagine a slinky attached to two bearings, for the torso to bend over and sideways, perhaps,
"filled with" just plain confuses me.
Or is it stacked ball bearings we are talking about here? "Slinky" invokes some helical structure, and, ah!, I think I kind of get the idea as I write:
balls sliding along a helical band to allow for both helical and transversal motion, somehow? I was thinking of multiple separate circular bearings, that
concept specificially didn't parse.
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It'd look like some models of expensive squirmy dildo.
I'd link a picture, buuuuuut-
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I just went to vote in the 'odd couple' poll and I found "Faye and Bubbles" wasn't there!
I want to vote Faye and Bubbles.
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Muffins.
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I guess yesterday's donuts are already gone.
Seriously, I can only imagine what it would be like to go to work to the smell of fresh baked bread everyday. Would you get sick of carbs? Have cravings for steak and salad?
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So how late am I to the party where I just now realized that this is the same Renee from Secret Bakery?
I guess she drastically changed her personality and looks.
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I guess yesterday's donuts are already gone.
Seriously, I can only imagine what it would be like to go to work to the smell of fresh baked bread everyday. Would you get sick of carbs? Have cravings for steak and salad?
Sometimes. I worked in a pizzaria and after awhile you do get tired of the free pizza. Thankfully they also had a saladbar and pasta.
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I wonder if Renee and Brun will run into any of the main cast at the Secret Bakery. Mayhaps some COD staff will be there facilitating a coffee/baked goods trade.
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I wonder if Renee and Brun will run into any of the main cast at the Secret Bakery. Mayhaps some COD staff will be there facilitating a coffee/baked goods trade.
If we're still following Renee and Brun, then there must be a junction with the main cast coming up. And not just Pintsize on Tinder.
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So how late am I to the party where I just now realized that this is the same Renee from Secret Bakery?
I guess she drastically changed her personality and looks.
We've been speculating she was THAT Renee for a while, this just confirms it.
...(unless Jeph throws us a curveball and they walk into a different bakery)
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This doesn't confirm anything that hasn't already been confirmed - we learned that she worked at a bakery way back in the second comic she featured in.
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3244
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The new design is certainly more inspired than "Tai palette swap", which is good.
Still, that hip to waist ratio on Brun in panel 4. Dang.
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She's scrunched down in the seat there MrNumbers, that can sometimes distort things
And I'd prefer Bacon and Cheese Rolls.
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Seriously, I can only imagine what it would be like to go to work to the smell of fresh baked bread everyday. Would you get sick of carbs? Have cravings for steak and salad?
At the coffee shop I worked at, I only had to take a bake shift once, maybe twice a week.[1] I'll never eat a muffin or scone ever again.
[1] Even then, I still had to smell it every day.
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I've never worked as a baker, but I did go through a phase of eating muffins almost daily during a time when they were kind of trendy (kind of like the way doughnuts, then cronuts, then ... etc became trendy, only back in the days when there was no Instagram around to magnify the trend). And yes, I did eventually get sick of them. I almost never eat them even now. It doesn't help that commercial muffins are almost always waaay too big.
I hope I never get sick of scones. I only ever eat them when I've made them myself, which isn't nearly often enough for any chance of that happening.
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Nice of Renee to invite Brun to work, but what does she expect her to do there all day other than feast on day old baked goods. Unless they got a computer or tablet handy it's not like she can apply for jobs while there.
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I think we can definitely apply the old phrase "The lady doth protest too much" to Brun today. Quite frankly, Renee had her at 'muffins', no matter how much she grumbles about it. :lol:
As for what she's going to do all day? Well, she doesn't have to stay at The Secret Bakery all day! Renee was just using the lure of muffins in an attempt to normalise Brun's sleeping patterns so something vaguely diurnal-seeming. It is also possible that she's hoping that, after she sees it, Brun will like it enough to ask for a job there.
That said, Brun is free to roam the early-morning Northampton if she so wishes. If Jeph chooses to go that route, she can be our point of view as he takes us through the various characters' morning routines.
I just went to vote in the 'odd couple' poll and I found "Faye and Bubbles" wasn't there!
I want to vote Faye and Bubbles.
Are you sure that you understand the poll? An 'odd couple' are room-mates who are so unlikely and incompatible that they are a possible threat to each other's health and safety. Do you really think that about Faye and Bubbles?
Speaking of Faye and Bubbles, it looks like I was right to predict some kind of cliffhanger about them. I suspect that the next we'll know about them is when they turn up at Coffee of Doom for a post-work coffee (Faye) and tea trip (Bubbles).
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....I want muffins now.
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At what age does a muffin cease to be a muffin?
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When it becomes stale and dry enough to pass for a rock cake.
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If we're still following Renee and Brun, then there must be a junction with the main cast coming up. And not just Pintsize on Tinder.
All I could think of once the word junction was mentioned was peticoat and then my thoughts went plaid from there.
Warning - while you were typing 11 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post because you forgot to hit send last night.
At what age does a muffin cease to be a muffin?
When it gets classified as a building material.
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If we're still following Renee and Brun, then there must be a junction with the main cast coming up. And not just Pintsize on Tinder.
I should warn that this post has some wild guesswork. It also contains what could be seen as spoilers from Jeph's Twitter feed.
It's always difficult to assess timelines in Questionable Content; sometimes arcs are parallel and sometimes they're sequential. However, right now, I'm feeling confident that Renee and Brun are going to The Secret Bakery on the morning after Faye expressed an interest in Bubbles' internal engineering.
My guess is that Brun is going to get roped into delivering the day's muffins to Coffee of Doom. The general feel of the flow of events feels good for at least a large number of the the cast to be present (it's morning and we know that at least Tai and Marten get their morning coffee there before starting at the Library). I suspect that, at the very least, we're going to get some interaction between Brun and the team of Emily and Hannelore (https://twitter.com/jephjacques/status/760070017627066368).
Clinton may or may not appear in this sequence. It might be interesting if Claire is also present and she has to deny that she somehow arranged for Brun to be present (something that Clinton finds hard to believe until Brun asks him who Claire is).
However, the main event will be Faye and Bubbles' arrival. I'm sure that we're going to find out precisely what happened between them last night (if anything). Possibly, their behaviour will be... atypical and this leads to some interesting interactions, espeically with the blunt-to-the-point-of-rudeness Brun giving her own opinion. The multiple interactions will lead to Emily questioning why the gods mock her thus whilst Hannelore wonders whether what she is seeing and hearing can really be a Thing (https://twitter.com/jephjacques/status/760523815076134912).
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At what age does a muffin cease to be a muffin?
I suppose some time after Faye hurls it at a busker.
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So how late am I to the party where I just now realized that this is the same Renee from Secret Bakery?I guess she drastically changed her personality and looks.
You're far from the only person who thought she was a different Renee. There was a fair bit of back and forth about it.
I guess yesterday's donuts are already gone.
Seriously, I can only imagine what it would be like to go to work to the smell of fresh baked bread everyday. Would you get sick of carbs? Have cravings for steak and salad?
Homemade raspberry cinnamon oat muffins the size of both your fists together and drizzled with real honey.
Screw donuts
Possibly, their behaviour will be... atypical and this leads to some interesting interactions, espeically with the blunt-to-the-point-of-rudeness Brun giving her own opinion. The multiple interactions will lead to Emily questioning why the gods mock her thus whilst Hannelore wonders whether what she is seeing and hearing can really be a Thing (https://twitter.com/jephjacques/status/760523815076134912).
IDK, Brun seemed fine with the idea of Renee going on a date with Pintsize (clearly she's never met him).
Pretty sure that's a reaction shot of the assorted deliscious non-factory baked goods spilling on the floor. Her favorites likely being most of what's not salvagable (according to the health code).
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Or both could be reacting to a harpoon in the ceiling to complement the broadsword.
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Did Hanners used to straighten her hair when it was longer? Cos it was never that fluffy when it was long.
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I suspect that the current floof is author appeal. Even if we can explain away pre-haircut Hanners as something early that was retconned, in strip 2134 (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2134) we see a flashback to her as a little girl. I suspect that in that state, she wouldn't sit still and stop either flailing or trying to kill long enough for anyone to straighten that.
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Also, long hair is heavy. This obviously hasn't affected the floof on Claire, but Hanners may have the kind of floof that is unsustainable when her hair gets too long.
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Or they pass through The Floof Event Horizon and end up looking like Cousin It.
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Still, that hip to waist ratio on Brun in panel 4. Dang.
(Emphasis added.)
She's scrunched down in the seat there MrNumbers, that can sometimes distort things
What seat? In panel 4 they're standing outside on the sidewalk.
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If it weren't for the fire, would Faye and Marten have become roommates?
I still suspect Faye set the fire deliberately.
By contrast, did we, or anyone in the strip, ever have solid evidence that the fire actually happened?
Seriously, the first, and last, thing we ever hear of it is Faye's original intro; no newspaper clippings, no news reports, not even Dora (who was Faye's friend/boss before she moved in with Marten) asking if she was able to get much out of her insurer…
Uhhh wowzers.... Maybe she just got evicted and that was an early warning sign of her alcoholism
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So, Renee is REALLY, REALLY starting to worry me in her relationship with Brun, and i'm not sure why. but this comics last panel has kind of hammered it home for me again and i think it's to do with the way she treats her. She seems to be making, or trying to make, All of Brun's choices for her and making her friend adapt to her lifestyle, with genuine good intentions, i don't see any malice in it, but the whole way she's treated Brun since the two started interacting just does not sit right with me.
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Offering free muffins is hardly manipulation. She made an offer, Brun accepted, because she likes muffins.
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Offering free muffins is hardly manipulation. She made an offer, Brun accepted, because she likes muffins.
I agree. While Renee has some boundary issues she needs to work on (and her off-comic backstory wasn't great), she's striking me as a good friend to Brun in this arc (even though she has her annoying moments). I think it's very easy to fall into depression when you lose everything. By encouraging Brun to get up and go out with her, she's actually keeping her from falling into that pattern. I've had friends/family who've done that for me in the past and it really helped me a lot.
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Might just be me but that third panel looks really creepy