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Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: BenRG on 22 Feb 2020, 07:20

Title: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 22 Feb 2020, 07:20
We've seen many characters in Questionable Content either run their own business or take charge of some organisation. Some have done well, some have done badly and some have shown a complete lack of suitability for the role.

This poll is for you to tell us: If you had to work under a Questionable Content character's management, which one would you prefer?

Me? I'd prefer Dora. Okay, she's a bit of a paranoid terror sometimes and I think that I'd very quickly earn her wrath because of my problems with slacking off at quiet moments. However, I think that she knows where the company is going and isn't so egoistic as to completely refuse to accept other's thoughts and suggestions.

What do you think? Let us know below!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: shanejayell on 22 Feb 2020, 08:01
Also Dora, as I work retail and would want a capable but not micro-managing boss.

Admittedly, if I was in sciences I'd want Robot Dad as my boss.

And if I worked a charity or maybe a political campaign, Roko....
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Zebediah on 22 Feb 2020, 12:06
I’ll go with Dr. E-C, because:

1. I’d get to work IN SPACE.

2. There are advantages to having an absent-minded boss who can provide unlimited funding. “Hey Doc! I could use a budget increase!” “What? Oh, sure, what were you working on again?” “Vacuum-hardened spider droid chassis for exterior station maintenance.” “Oh, that does sound cool! Tilly, give him a hundred million.”
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 22 Feb 2020, 18:35
Thanks for making the poll this week, BenRG.

My sleep cycle is too janky to think up anything.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 22 Feb 2020, 20:09
Bubbles was a close second because of her leadership qualities and integrity. Jim has the practical experience and I'd get to work with slightly less crazy people than Dora would hire.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: notStanley on 23 Feb 2020, 09:01
Should not the "crazy people Dora would hire" be counted on the plus side?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 23 Feb 2020, 12:47
YMMV
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 23 Feb 2020, 14:32
YMMV
Fair. But they'd be a nice break from the Walmartians I currently have as coworkers.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Zebediah on 23 Feb 2020, 18:30
Comic's up.

Beepatrice has turned benevolent incompetence into a performance art.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Scarlet Manuka on 23 Feb 2020, 18:38
I think it's being taken too far. Nobody's this inept all the time.

More to the point, how does their chronically underfunded agency have money on hand for Beepatrice to go out and buy an expensive pen? Surely they don't have it just lying around in petty cash.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: shanejayell on 23 Feb 2020, 19:06
I think it's being taken too far. Nobody's this inept all the time.

I have had co-workers like this. So, yeah...

More to the point, how does their chronically underfunded agency have money on hand for Beepatrice to go out and buy an expensive pen? Surely they don't have it just lying around in petty cash.

It's not like they're spending the cash on acomplishing anything....
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: DSL on 23 Feb 2020, 19:18
I understand, Beeps. I'm a sucker for a nice fountain pen, myself.
However, my wallet's counsel is not to be ignored.

EDIT: And my wallet would definitely be counseling me against the Pilot 74. Not a cheap pen. (https://www.google.com/search?q=pilot+custom+74&rlz=1C1CAFA_enUS635US635&sxsrf=ALeKk02NtEC5jT456Un7V5TwG4767Vij5A:1582572093758&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_8uq79OrnAhUSbq0KHShaD10Q_AUoAXoECAwQAw&biw=1280&bih=551)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 23 Feb 2020, 20:00
I think it's being taken too far.

Yeah, not the first QC character that's prompted this thought. Jeph seems to lean into some of his characters' indiocynracies a little too heavily, like he doesn't quite trust his audience to get the message.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Killspree on 23 Feb 2020, 20:44
It makes writing easy breezy!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: cybersmurf on 23 Feb 2020, 21:49
Given the general naivité Momo shows, and Raven's gullibility, it was obvious there would be some combination of both at some point.
Beeps is not that, as she's not gullible. It's more like a lack of confidence and trying to do right by everyone?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 23 Feb 2020, 23:13
I'm pretty sure that Beepatrice's monologue in panel 5 is word-for-word the salesman's patter on the pen. She might have even used his voice tone, inflections and other characteristics.

The problem here isn't that she's gullible or incompetent (although she is the latter - Remember that printing out the forms seems to have been an outgrowth of learning to install a printer rather than a necessity). The problem is that she's too nice. She doesn't like disappointing or disagreeing with anyone. She just doesn't like generating any sort of conflict, no matter how much she should and how much it's a harmless sort of conflict that leads to balanced interactions.

I also think that she maybe over-thinks things when it comes to choices. That is actually a bit more worrying because I could see her fatally delaying simply because she's overwhelmed by multiple options and possibly feeling that choosing any particular one would be slighting those involved with the other choices!

More to the point, how does their chronically underfunded agency have money on hand for Beepatrice to go out and buy an expensive pen? Surely they don't have it just lying around in petty cash.

"Does not understand that petty cash is finite" is a completely valid characteristic. I encounter it enough at work!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: pwhodges on 24 Feb 2020, 02:01
It makes writing easy breezy!

So Jeph is still referencing the same anime as he did with that recent picture of the three AIs.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: JoeCovenant on 24 Feb 2020, 06:12
It makes writing easy breezy!

So Jeph is still referencing the same anime as he did with that recent picture of the three AIs.

I thought that was quite a clever little call-back! :)

Would be interesting to see how he incorporates Roko's pose though...

(Holding out something horrific/dead/slimy away from herself?)
:)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 24 Feb 2020, 07:04
I wanted the bag to say 'the PEN Store'. That would make Beeps sound less ditzy in 4201.

Now I want to make a wallpaper of Beeps selling pens. She should do commercials!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Pogopotamus on 24 Feb 2020, 07:27
Not sure about where this current storyline is going, but it's odd that bakery boss who doesn't seem to have the vaguest comprehension of appropriate personal or sexual harrassment boundaries when it comes to her employee Elliot, is full of lectures directed at him about his past associations.

On a separate note, Brun was kind of interesting once as a newly introduced quirky unknown quantity, but as we have gotten to know her.... she's honestly really not all that interesting as a character. She's just a convenient bag of Aspie behavioral tics that others play off of. I get that she has her challenges but if her response to Elliot's semi-infatuated, hovering behavior is utterly disinterested obliviousness where is that supposed to go as a story dynamic?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Zebediah on 24 Feb 2020, 18:02
How about we stay away from words like “aspie”? Just an idea.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: shanejayell on 24 Feb 2020, 18:21
New strip up.

Ah, Beeps....
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Case on 24 Feb 2020, 19:17
"I hereby promote you to being my boss so I can beg you not to fire me"

Remarkably ... practical?  :psyduck:
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 24 Feb 2020, 20:14
I think it's being taken too far. Nobody's this inept all the time.

More to the point, how does their chronically underfunded agency have money on hand for Beepatrice to go out and buy an expensive pen? Surely they don't have it just lying around in petty cash.
Intellectual lazinessness is easily argued to be worse than actual stupidity. Anybody who's had to work with or slightly above temps in the 'States in the past decade can probably back me up on that. (I'm a QA line inspector. Roughly adjacent to machine operator, but bottom rung of QA.)

EDIT: typo fix
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BarGamer on 24 Feb 2020, 20:16
Welp, Beeps just crossed the line into full-on submissive. Call Veronica, so she can teach you about proper dom etiquette!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: St.Clair on 24 Feb 2020, 21:22
Take the promotion, Roko.  It's the only way you, and this entire organization, are going to get anything done.  Beeps is manifestly unsuited for the position, and at this point I'm starting to question whether she's even capable of functioning as a legal adult.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: SeattleCrochetWoman on 24 Feb 2020, 21:32
I think it's being taken too far. Nobody's this inept all the time.

More to the point, how does their chronically underfunded agency have money on hand for Beepatrice to go out and buy an expensive pen? Surely they don't have it just lying around in petty cash.

I just thought the whole thing was exaggerated for comedic purposes. Maybe I’m just stupid or something though. I don’t seem to pick up on stuff like this.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: TRenn on 24 Feb 2020, 21:45
Take the promotion, Roko.  It's the only way you, and this entire organization, are going to get anything done.  Beeps is manifestly unsuited for the position, and at this point I'm starting to question whether she's even capable of functioning as a legal adult.

^^ This.

It would be one thing for Roko's normal agressiveness to cause her to unintentionally mount a coup in her workplace, but Beeps is literally asking for it here.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Scarlet Manuka on 24 Feb 2020, 22:36
I think it's being taken too far.

Yeah, not the first QC character that's prompted this thought. Jeph seems to lean into some of his characters' indiocynracies a little too heavily, like he doesn't quite trust his audience to get the message.

I know others have expressed similar views about certain characters in the past, but it hasn't been the case for me previously; this is the first time I've seen it taken far enough that I have real trouble believing it.

If she really is as she's been presented recently, how did she ever get hired for the job in the first place? Why isn't Nelson the manager instead?

(Now, that last one does present some possible answers. Nelson could be happy working as an employee; an employee with an ineffective boss and nobody else to answer to can get a lot done. Of whatever activity they prefer to do, which is sometimes a problem!)

I think I'd rather see Nelson take over than Roko, though. Nelson in authority might be able to teach Roko how to handle being under authority properly.

Not sure about where this current storyline is going, but it's odd that bakery boss who doesn't seem to have the vaguest comprehension of appropriate personal or sexual harrassment boundaries when it comes to her employee Elliot, is full of lectures directed at him about his past associations.

It's always easier to see other people's issues than your own.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 24 Feb 2020, 23:29
I think what we are dealing with here is what I think of as "situational incompetence". In her area of expertise - evidently materials engineering - Beepatrice is perfectly competent. However, working at the advocacy group requires her to go far outside her comfort zone. She needs to have negotiation and administrative skills, neither of which she has. Indeed, the scenarios in which she needs them make her really uncomfortable, even frightened!

It's sad because she really wants to help people but she doesn't have the skills to do so. I think that, even though she never knew it, she's been waiting for Roko to come along and take charge for a while!

Not sure about where this current storyline is going, but it's odd that bakery boss who doesn't seem to have the vaguest comprehension of appropriate personal or sexual harrassment boundaries when it comes to her employee Elliot, is full of lectures directed at him about his past associations.

Oh, she's aware, especially after Jim pointed it out to her! It's just that she's so attracted to Elliot that little intimate gestures and actions keep slipping out.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 25 Feb 2020, 16:39
Another reference to the unseen 'Arthur'. Perhaps Jeph meant 'Nelson'?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: DashaBlade on 25 Feb 2020, 18:40
Okay. I'm going to wild guess that the little guy is either named Arthur Nelson, or Nelson Arthur. Because with the newest comic, that's the same little guy, isn't it?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Autistic Vulture on 25 Feb 2020, 19:02
Maybe Bubbles renamed him.  (Would you disobey such an instruction?)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Killspree on 25 Feb 2020, 19:40
Poor Beebs, no wonder she's overwhelmed.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: shanejayell on 25 Feb 2020, 20:30
........

Well, that at least explains things. Youch.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 25 Feb 2020, 20:54
[snip]
On a separate note, Brun was kind of interesting once as a newly introduced quirky unknown quantity, but as we have gotten to know her.... she's honestly really not all that interesting as a character. She's just a convenient bag of Aspie behavioral tics that others play off of. I get that she has her challenges but if her response to Elliot's semi-infatuated, hovering behavior is utterly disinterested obliviousness where is that supposed to go as a story dynamic?
Some of us like having a character we can relate that's a human instead of another robot or alien character.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: St.Clair on 25 Feb 2020, 21:13
I suspected it might be something like this.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 25 Feb 2020, 21:19
Some of us like having a character we can relate that's a human instead of another robot or alien character.

You can't relate at all to the AI characters?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: awkwardness on 25 Feb 2020, 22:07
...is it too early to nominate Arthur as the best new character in the strip in 2020? He's a great addition and a nice counter to Beeps and Rokko
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 25 Feb 2020, 23:02
Somehow Beepatrice having been the person running the show up to now explains so much. Most importantly, it explains how Arthur got to be employee of the months for eight or nine months in a row. I mean - Can you see her risking offending someone by making a choice? She probably just cut-and-pasted the previous email and hoped that no-one would notice!

Something tells me that taking over this organisation would be a bit of a nightmare. From what I've seen of Beeps so far, just about everything must have been left on 'hold' whilst she has a panic attack over it!

Okay. I'm going to wild guess that the little guy is either named Arthur Nelson, or Nelson Arthur. Because with the newest comic, that's the same little guy, isn't it?

It is, to the point where I think we can safely retcon all mentions of 'Nelson' to mean Arthur. Jeph either decided to change the name or has totally forgotten that he ever named the character 'Nelson'. I wonder if any of the few contacts whom he listens to has mentioned this to him yet?

P.S.:
Something I forgot to mention: The thing is? I suspect that Beepatrice's role is as outlined in panel 3. She's going to be Roko's conscience. She's the one who is going to stop Roko's thundering sense of mission from steamrolling over everyone and everything and making enemies where they don't need to be.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 26 Feb 2020, 02:41
Some of us like having a character we can relate that's a human instead of another robot or alien character.

You can't relate at all to the AI characters?
I'm guessing that's meant in jest (it's been an off day). But if not, I meant within the broader scope of fiction. Data, Lal (his daughter), and Warf in Star Trek TNG, Spock and other Vulcans in the original run, Draxx in Guardians of the Galaxy (especially vol. 1 for me), Sonny from I Robot. Just to name a few. There are parts in the Terminator sequels where the T-1000 is relatable for some folks on the spectrum (no, not the murdery-fighty parts).

EDIT: Hell, Red brings up the easy autism comparison for some AI portrayals in this Tropes Talk.

EDIT2: adding some clarification to 'off day'.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Case on 26 Feb 2020, 04:15
Really?

I guess I can see Spock and Data - but the T-1000?

I'll admit that I don't have much contact to 'spectrumfolk' outside of this site, but it's not obvious to me that 'they' would naturally identify with 'robot' characters.

No critique or objections on the wish for representation, mind you - just curiosity.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Zebediah on 26 Feb 2020, 04:49
I’ve seen things like this happen at small nonprofit organizations that are mostly volunteer-run - sometimes the wrong person winds up in charge simply because there is no right person within the organization.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: JoeCovenant on 26 Feb 2020, 04:53
Personally, I generall y don't even think of the AIs as AIs until the context of the strip is something inherently robot-y .
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Somebody on 26 Feb 2020, 08:20
Beeps is manifestly unsuited for the position, and at this point I'm starting to question whether she's even capable of functioning as a legal adult.
I reached that point a while (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4028) back (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4029).
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 26 Feb 2020, 10:56
Some of us like having a character we can relate that's a human instead of another robot or alien character.

You can't relate at all to the AI characters?
I'm guessing that's meant in jest (it's been an off day).

Nope. My bad. I was genuinely confused but missed the fact that by "some of us," you meant folks on the spectrum, and by "can relate" you meant, I guess, more specifically "feel represented by." Apologies.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: David F on 26 Feb 2020, 11:00
Nelson's quip about "not" manipulating the straw-drawing process makes him feel a lot more like Pintsize to me.  Less of an outright jerk, but using similar approaches to get what he wants.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 26 Feb 2020, 11:10
Yes, I felt that way too, though I was probably influenced by the shared chassis design.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Blackjoker on 26 Feb 2020, 12:26
I half wonder if the kindness or support to beeps might also be him trying to avoid the shift rather than actual belief in her abilities
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 26 Feb 2020, 15:13
Does this comic need a third Arthur? We already have support-group!Arthur and Arthur!companion-of-Melon.

( did i do the !thing! right? )
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: dna_level_c on 26 Feb 2020, 16:33
Does this comic need a third Arthur? We already have support-group!Arthur and Arthur!companion-of-Melon.

( did i do the !thing! right? )

Bubbles' potted succulent is also called Arthur.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 26 Feb 2020, 17:26
Really?

I guess I can see Spock and Data - but the T-1000?

I'll admit that I don't have much contact to 'spectrumfolk' outside of this site, but it's not obvious to me that 'they' would naturally identify with 'robot' characters.

No critique or objections on the wish for representation, mind you - just curiosity.

Like 4 people I can think of offhand for seeing themselves represented in the T-1000, and I only actually met one of them. The others were in online forums.
Definitely watch the vid I posted.

EDIT: typo fix
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: cesium133 on 26 Feb 2020, 17:37
Does this comic need a third Arthur? We already have support-group!Arthur and Arthur!companion-of-Melon.

( did i do the !thing! right? )
I think at this point, "Arthur" is a code name for any character whose name Jeph can't remember.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Zebediah on 26 Feb 2020, 17:40
Very soon all of the characters will be named Arthur.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: cesium133 on 26 Feb 2020, 17:52
This is a comic about an indie-rock guy named Arthur, who has a roommate named Arthur, and previously dated a coffee shop owner named Arthur, who is now engaged to be married to Arthur, who is Arthur's boss at the college library. Arthur is currently dating Arthur, a former intern at the library. Arthur lives with her robot girlfriend, Arthur, and they own a robot repair shop together. Arthur's brother, Arthur, is a student at UMass, who has a crush on Arthur, who really likes clocks, and Arthur, who works at a local bakery with Arthur, who also has a crush on Arthur. Arthur lives in the same apartment building as a former police officer robot, Arthur, and her wacky friend, Arthur. Arthur has a roommate who is a horrible cook, but I don't remember his name.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: SmilingCat on 26 Feb 2020, 18:26
........

Well, that at least explains things. Youch.

Fun fact, volunteer organizations with little in the way of funding to pay people tend to end up with more enthusiasm than competence. It's all a fun noble cause until the world hits you in the face with a truckload of reality.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: alc40 on 26 Feb 2020, 18:38
The name has been fixed to Nelson in the most recent comic (4208), though the preceding ones still say Arthur.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: shanejayell on 26 Feb 2020, 20:22
And more backstory..

I'm amused that an AI can literally just go 'Fuck it, I'm a statue now.'
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Torlek on 26 Feb 2020, 20:57
Whatever his name, ArthurNelson has shown that he's the smartest one in the room.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Mr Intrepid on 26 Feb 2020, 21:11
Maybe Nelson and Arthur are siblings, like Lemon and Melon.  They each work there part time.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: SeattleCrochetWoman on 26 Feb 2020, 21:12
Personally, I generall y don't even think of the AIs as AIs until the context of the strip is something inherently robot-y .

Me either. Most of their problems are the same as ours. May’s problems with her chassis correspond to someone with no health insurance who has physical problems that aren’t life-threatening, but that negatively impact their day-to-day existence.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 26 Feb 2020, 23:14
If I believed in that sort of thing, I'd start saying that this advocacy group has some sort of curse. In truth though, it is just a reminder that 'fully funded' and 'well run' are not automatically intersecting sets. Just because you personally like someone doesn't meant that they can do the job that you want them to do.

I wonder if the 'existential crisis' was basically what Beepatrice has gone through a few times since we met her: "I don't know what I'm doing! Why am I even here? I'm a huge fake!"

For some reason, I can see Roko going to the museum to see her ultimate boss on occasion, talking into thin air about what is going on at the group for a while before getting annoyed and calling the garden statue a coward for abandoning the group and storming off. Final panel is the statue thinking: "Turing! I'm glad I retired when I did!"

In any case, they are now in a perfect position for Hannelore to step in to follow her own sense of responsibility. After all, we've not confirmed that there is no existing authority structure for her to subvert!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: St.Clair on 26 Feb 2020, 23:27
Hm.  (Golden Age of) Science Fiction author, female, deceased, probably lived/active on the East coast and the Boston area in particular, liked robots (though that may be more common in a world where they actually exist)... anyone care to take a guess?  Do you think Jeph had someone real in mind?

(If not for the 'she', I'd have gone with Asimov as the obvious pick.)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 26 Feb 2020, 23:56
Roko never stopped to wonder why she'd never been introduced to any other volunteers, I guess.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 27 Feb 2020, 00:08
Hm.  (Golden Age of) Science Fiction author, female, deceased, probably lived/active on the East coast and the Boston area in particular, liked robots (though that may be more common in a world where they actually exist)... anyone care to take a guess?  Do you think Jeph had someone real in mind?

Dorothy Fontana, one of the real creators of Star Trek, come to mind. She was a New Jersey girl.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Blackjoker on 27 Feb 2020, 01:24
Roko never stopped to wonder why she'd never been introduced to any other volunteers, I guess.

she may have assumed this was a central office type of thing or maybe just that a lot of ai weren't as directly interested as their status is still fairly new
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 27 Feb 2020, 01:49
Hm.  (Golden Age of) Science Fiction author, female, deceased, probably lived/active on the East coast and the Boston area in particular, liked robots (though that may be more common in a world where they actually exist)... anyone care to take a guess?  Do you think Jeph had someone real in mind?

Dorothy Fontana, one of the real creators of Star Trek, come to mind. She was a New Jersey girl.

Thank you. My brain went 'yes', then 'file not found'.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Killspree on 27 Feb 2020, 03:08
She wrote a fair number of the TOS trade paperbacks as well. D.C. Fontana
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 27 Feb 2020, 03:48
Someone on the Subreddit has suggested Ursula K LeGuin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin). Apparently, she wrote the story about the sexy starship captain and the sexy starship getting up to interesting things with robot manipulator arms that Millefeulle likes so much.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Stoutfellow on 27 Feb 2020, 03:58
Someone on the Subreddit has suggested Ursula K LeGuin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin). Apparently, she wrote the story about the sexy starship captain and the sexy starship getting up to interesting things with robot manipulator arms that Millefeulle likes so much.

UKL spent most of her life on the West Coast, though; why would she establish a nonprofit in Massachusetts rather than Portland, Oregon?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Wingy on 27 Feb 2020, 04:38
Asimov's last wife Janet is an SF author.  She died about this time last year.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Asimov
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 27 Feb 2020, 04:40
UKL spent most of her life on the West Coast, though; why would she establish a nonprofit in Massachusetts rather than Portland, Oregon?

To be fair, I don't think anyone's suggesting that Jeph was trying to write Ursula K LeGuin's biography. Just that he had some real SF writer in mind when writing this bit of backstory. I don't think that where she lived would have played on his mind.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 27 Feb 2020, 09:02
Being a garden sculpture is a nice low-pressure occupation. Especially if you're fond of pigeons.

Next time a barista asks for my name, I will stand tall and say "Arthur".
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Morituri on 27 Feb 2020, 11:22
Garden sculpture seems like a nice "retirement" kind of option.

Especially if you're genuinely interested in people and enjoy being around them, but just can't take the pressure of directly interacting with them.

Being a kinetic sculpture means being free of other people's expectations and social pressure.  Free to express yourself in movement, without any pressure to limit that expression to fit people's needs or requirements.  And, in some way, if you can express peace and beauty, to bring people happiness. 

I think of this described boss as a painfully shy person who has trouble communicating, creating a new (non)persona by taking up a career as a sort of performance artist.

It may still be possible to interact with them via email.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Baz_Yat on 27 Feb 2020, 13:53
I think it's Yay. Or... something related to them.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Romanticide on 27 Feb 2020, 14:27
Maybe my priorities aren't in order but... It doesn't sound that bad...
The organization is having growing pains, but having a big revolving door of volunters doesn't sound as terrible of having the lots and lots of people that are doing more harm than good, mistakes at the moment seem limited to four people and stakes seem limited at the moment at not having much be done.
Things might look not okay at the moment but aren't unfixable, and they are still trying and searching for the people that can do and can remain.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 27 Feb 2020, 19:14
The more I think about it, the more the idea of being a sculpture appeals to me. You're out in the sun and the fresh air, and in the public eye. It's a great reason to get yourself bronzed or gilded. And as a literal embodiment of Art, you can do Interpretive Dance in Ultra Slow Motion.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Emperor Norton on 27 Feb 2020, 19:19
I wish I had the energy at the moment to photoshop the Arlo meme to "I've only had Agatha for two panels, but if anything happened to her I'd kill everyone in this room and then myself."
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: shanejayell on 27 Feb 2020, 19:57
The more I think about it, the more the idea of being a sculpture appeals to me. You're out in the sun and the fresh air, and in the public eye. It's a great reason to get yourself bronzed or gilded. And as a literal embodiment of Art, you can do Interpretive Dance in Ultra Slow Motion.

Bird poop, tho.

Well, Roko now finds herself Boss by default. At least it'll look good on her resume?

Hi Agatha!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: BenRG on 27 Feb 2020, 23:25
I sort of guessed that Roko would end up boss because there was no-one else who wanted to do it and was capable of doing it.

I'm already fascinated with Agatha. What's the story behind the sort-of-bear chassis? It's not very high-fidelity so I'm wondering if she used to work at a family fast food restaurant in the animatronic entertainment hour section. Double-purposing entertainment and cleaning staff would make economic sense but I imagine that it would lead to a lot of bitter entertainers - Bitter that they have to clean and bitter that the cleaners are better with the little brats than they are!

Countdown started until Melon or Emily starts hugging Agatha and won't let go...

Also, will she be QC's equivalent of The World's Smartest Garbage Man?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: cybersmurf on 28 Feb 2020, 02:47
I sort of guessed that Roko would end up boss because there was no-one else who wanted to do it and was capable of doing it.


Well, duh!

Quote

Countdown started until Melon or Emily starts hugging Agatha and won't let go...

I rather expect something in the likes of Faye hugging armored Bubs - unexpected headaches.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: andrybak on 28 Feb 2020, 04:20
Okay. I'm going to wild guess that the little guy is either named Arthur Nelson, or Nelson Arthur. Because with the newest comic, that's the same little guy, isn't it?
The name has been fixed to Nelson in the most recent comic (4208 (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4208)), though the preceding ones still say Arthur.

For those, who want him named Arthur, there is #4201 (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4201), where he's still called Arthur.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Wingy on 28 Feb 2020, 04:49
Poor Roko.  Reality isn't what it seems, she's saddled with a bunch of extra responsibility, and right after a dissociative episode and a major disappointment.  I expect she'll embark on a wanderjahr shortly, at least mentally if not physically.  [Edit: fix speling]
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: awkwardness on 28 Feb 2020, 05:06
Giant robot bear? Might as well call her the security guard since nobody will break into the office with her working!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: awkwardness on 28 Feb 2020, 05:07
Poor Roko.  Reality isn't what it seems, she's saddled with a bunch of extra responsibility, and right after a dissociative episode and a major disappointment.  I expect she'll embark on a wanderjhar shortly, at least mentally if not physically.

I think she needs this more than she realizes: it grounds her in reality, helps her see that her issues pale in comparison with what others are going through, and she gets to help others while helping herself.

It's a win-win for her, therapy without knowing it's therapy
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: awkwardness on 28 Feb 2020, 05:11
The more I think about it, the more the idea of being a sculpture appeals to me. You're out in the sun and the fresh air, and in the public eye. It's a great reason to get yourself bronzed or gilded. And as a literal embodiment of Art, you can do Interpretive Dance in Ultra Slow Motion.

Bird poop, tho.

Well, Roko now finds herself Boss by default. At least it'll look good on her resume?

Hi Agatha!

And snow...and rain...and vandalism. Rain is a the mortal enemy of sculptures, it wears the metal or stone down especially if it's in a coastal location like New York or Boston.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Zebediah on 28 Feb 2020, 05:56
I'm already fascinated with Agatha. What's the story behind the sort-of-bear chassis? It's not very high-fidelity so I'm wondering if she used to work at a family fast food restaurant in the animatronic entertainment hour section.

You really don’t want a high-fidelity bear chassis in a place that has actual bears. Which Northampton does - I’ve seen them in my backyard, and they’ve been reported on the Smith College campus a few times. A realistic-looking robot bear strolling through downtown Northampton would cause a mild panic.

Shoot, even in that chassis she probably has Animal Control called on her at least once a week.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Mr Intrepid on 28 Feb 2020, 06:57
Agatha and the town fairie's reindeer could do an interpretive dance about the the eternal symbiotic relationship between hunter and prey.   Agatha wouldn't hurt the reindeer, of course.  Although , considering the reindeer's natural habitat, she could wear a white costume to simulate a polar bear.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: David F on 28 Feb 2020, 09:46
It may still be possible to interact with them via email.

Or interpretive dance.  It'd be interesting to see Emily try...
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 28 Feb 2020, 11:32
Giant robot bear? Might as well call her the security guard since nobody will break into the office with her working!
Lotsa folks wear two hats at their job these days.

I'm the QA line inspector and the QA lab assistant.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Case on 28 Feb 2020, 12:22
I expect she'll embark on a wanderjahr shortly, at least mentally if not physically.  [Edit: fix speling]

Huh? Is wanderjahr a regular Ameringlish term?

The original term refers to journeyman-years (it's three years plus a day), and ... it has very little to do with a sabbatical or similar.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Stoutfellow on 28 Feb 2020, 12:40
It's not a common word, but I've seen it used more than once, in the more expansive sense Wingy used.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Morituri on 28 Feb 2020, 13:26
The places I've lived (which excludes the north and eastern parts of the US) I never heard the word but occasionally saw it written. 

The far more common term for that sort of thing would be "walkabout," an imported word from Australia.

Thing is, we use that one differently than the Australians do, too.  It's not as though we're walking on routes we regard with anything like the reverence the aborigines put into it; those routes, and the landmarks along them, are mnemonics for a vast cycle of stories and devotions that an individual person on walkabout keeps stored in their head. 

Not the same stories for every person, but the same set of paths serve as mnemonics to string their stories along.  And their cultural memory gets preserved that way.

Whereas when we use the word "walkabout" we usually mean that we got bored and/or restless and needed to be up and doing something or out away from other people for a while.  Which has some similar elements to a pilgrimage, but it's very different from what the aborigines are doing on their walkabout.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: JimC on 28 Feb 2020, 14:27
Separated by an ocean and a common language: when I see the word custodian in connection  with a charity I tend to assume some kind of senior role, and I was wondering whether bear = garden sculpture = founder's AI friend, but I checked an online dictionary, so am I right in thinking the role is what the R side would call a caretaker?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Autistic Vulture on 28 Feb 2020, 16:00
Separated by an ocean and a common language: when I see the word custodian in connection  with a charity I tend to assume some kind of senior role, and I was wondering whether bear = garden sculpture = founder's AI friend, but I checked an online dictionary, so am I right in thinking the role is what the R side would call a caretaker?

That seems at least reasonably close.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Morituri on 28 Feb 2020, 16:15
I'll have you know there's nothing common about this language.  To begin with, English has a vocabulary the size of three reasonable languages.  Which, of course, it got by stealing words wholesale from dozens.  English also uses positional grammar, like most languages; but admits of a ridiculous variety of word orders, also stolen from every reasonable language on earth, for slightly different kinds of emphasis or mood.  English uses eleven to thirteen different vowels, depending on your dialect, which is absolutely ridiculous.  And we write them using only five letters.  Speaking of which, our phonology and orthography got a divorce a few centuries back, and are now hardly speaking to each other.

Common....  I swear, that's the sort of thing people can say if they've never seen the way ordinary languages work.

Oh, and in response to your question...  New England use?  Yeah, 'Custodian' is probably a building-maintenance job.  In the Midwest, the same job is a 'Janitor' and on the West coast of the US, it's a 'Sanitation Engineer.'  None of these actually stick very close to their region of origin; people move around and take their verbal tics with them. 
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Tova on 28 Feb 2020, 16:19
I'll have you know there's nothing common about this language.

Common as in, "shared by different countries," not common as in "garden-variety", Morituri.

Yeah. Language. Sheesh.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: jwhouk on 28 Feb 2020, 17:42
The more appropriate English term (at least in the US) would be "sabbatical."
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 28 Feb 2020, 20:09
Isn't that what Hanners just did?

When I saw "Agatha the giant robot bear" I did a Google search. And there is such a beast. But then the comments stopped making sense entirely -- so I realized I had missed an update.

English was nearly squeezed out of existence. So now it attacks preemptively.

And Beeps has definitely abdicated responsiblity to Roko.
"You don't have to run the place. Just tell us what to do."
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 29 Feb 2020, 08:59
Bubbles is tied down starting a new business now and that's more than full time, but I can't help imagining her leadership qualities being applied to energizing the charity.

Maybe she knows other veterans in search of purpose. There may even have been others like her. May they please not be named Blossom and Buttercup.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Wombat on 29 Feb 2020, 10:14
Maybe she knows other veterans in search of purpose. There may even have been others like her. May they please not be named Blossom and Buttercup.
Well, now they have to be, should they ever be introduced. If not, it's what I'll call them anyway.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Gyrre on 29 Feb 2020, 11:27
Maybe she knows other veterans in search of purpose. There may even have been others like her. May they please not be named Blossom and Buttercup.
Well, now they have to be, should they ever be introduced. If not, it's what I'll call them anyway.

Since QC Bubbles is red instead of blue, would Blossom be green and Buttercup blue?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Wingy on 02 Mar 2020, 05:10
The more appropriate English term (at least in the US) would be "sabbatical."
I could accept that, or even walkabout in it's most general sense.  I was thinking about the usage Heinlein made in THe Rolling Stones when I wrote that. 

Roko needs to wander off with no apparent goal in mind (tough for someone as goal-oriented as she seems to be) to see what she finds.  One would expect she'll find Roko, of course, but that's not guaranteed.

The only question is: will she accept Winslow as a traveling companion even though Winslow doesn't want to travel again.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4206 to 4210 (24th - 28th February 2020)
Post by: Thrudd on 02 Mar 2020, 12:51
I'm already fascinated with Agatha. What's the story behind the sort-of-bear chassis? It's not very high-fidelity so I'm wondering if she used to work at a family fast food restaurant in the animatronic entertainment hour section. Double-purposing entertainment and cleaning staff would make economic sense but I imagine that it would lead to a lot of bitter entertainers - Bitter that they have to clean and bitter that the cleaners are better with the little brats than they are!
I was thinking more along the lines of a dimensional shift by one of the bears from Girl Genius and hiding out in plain sight as a Robobear would seem to be the safest alternative.



Bubbles is tied down starting a new business now and that's more than full time, but I can't help imagining her leadership qualities being applied to energizing the charity.

Maybe she knows other veterans in search of purpose. There may even have been others like her. May they please not be named Blossom and Buttercup.
All powerpuff pun rehashes aside I would think that ED-210 or maybe Deathbot9000 even though his deployment was axed
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