WCDT - Strips 4796 to 4800 (30th May to 3rd June 2022)

BenRG · 29 May 2022, 23:52

Happy Platium week, fellow British folk!

Okay, there's an actual plot going on right now. How do you think that Jeph will work it out? Personally, I think that we're going to have a couple of weeks of Hannelore helping Faye seeing how she's being dumb followed by or interspersed with someone else (Melon, Roko or maybe even Yay) explaining to Bubbles how dumb she's being. You've got to admit that Melon pretty much fits smack in the middle of the 'wise fool' trope. So, I'm voting for the 'neutral party review'.

Farideh · 30 May 2022, 00:48

I do love Hanner's look in the 3rd panel.

I'm leaning towards 'neutral party' as well, the plot is already moving in that direction. It would be out of character for both Bubbles and Faye to just sweep this under the carpet.

Tova · 30 May 2022, 01:27

Quote from: BenRG on 29 May 2022, 23:52
Okay, there's an actual plot going on right now.

A bit of conflict, anyway. "Plot" might be overstating things.

I imagine both of them will receive a bit of perspective from Hanners/Melon, meet up again, apologise regretfully to each other, and end the week amorously.

John Allenson · 30 May 2022, 06:56

I empathize so much with Hanners in strip 4796.

Having to avoid expressing what one REALLY thinks about a situation to avoid becoming a lightning rod for someone else's anger.

shanejayell · 30 May 2022, 08:02

Couples DO argue occassionally. It's a thing. I think they'll get over it.

notStanley · 30 May 2022, 08:55

Sometimes Faye is a "good" example of Unreliable Narrator :{

Perfectly Reasonable · 30 May 2022, 09:07

With very little effort Tannelore could fade into the background here...

Oenone · 30 May 2022, 18:17

Idk — is it your fault if you don't always walk on eggshells with someone? I don't like Bubbles blaming herself.

Farideh · 30 May 2022, 18:59

I just realized that Melon's eyes have been mismatched since she set herself on fire.

'Being considerate' is not the same as 'walking on eggshells'. Snapping at a person hardly ever helps.

Gyrre · 30 May 2022, 19:46

Quote from: Farideh on 30 May 2022, 18:59
I just realized that Melon's eyes have been mismatched since she set herself on fire.

'Being considerate' is not the same as 'walking on eggshells'. Snapping at a person hardly ever helps.

Agreed.

Oenone · 30 May 2022, 21:33

Quote from: Farideh on 30 May 2022, 18:59
I just realized that Melon's eyes have been mismatched since she set herself on fire.

'Being considerate' is not the same as 'walking on eggshells'. Snapping at a person hardly ever helps.

I'm having a hard time seeing how to be considerate when you point out a mistake someone's made and they deflect and say you're being shitty to them or say you have an attitude. This is not me being flippant, I'm saying that I would have a very hard time not responding with anger, especially because Faye then says Bubbles ruined their little video thing. Wouldn't that already be ruined because recording a poorly handled repair?

It seems very stressful to have to couch any criticism of your partner's work in a very delicate way. How would you convey that it's a big deal they messed up if you have to be so careful of their feelings?

Oenone · 30 May 2022, 21:38

I just really want this to be resolved in a "Faye, these are people's bodies, please check your work" way, and not a "we were both wrong! You for not doing basic due diligence and me for asking you to do your job" way.

Tova · 30 May 2022, 22:01

Quote from: Oenone on 30 May 2022, 21:33
I'm having a hard time seeing how to be considerate when you point out a mistake someone's made and they deflect and say you're being shitty to them or say you have an attitude. This is not me being flippant, I'm saying that I would have a very hard time not responding with anger, especially because Faye then says Bubbles ruined their little video thing. Wouldn't that already be ruined because recording a poorly handled repair?

It seems very stressful to have to couch any criticism of your partner's work in a very delicate way. How would you convey that it's a big deal they messed up if you have to be so careful of their feelings?

You don't really have to be delicate, but it does help to be constructive rather than sarcastic. The latter is highly likely to invite a defensive response (which is what we saw). It's especially likely if this is all taking place in front of a customer.

Ideally, she simply would have said, "Let's go over everything again to be sure," and they could then have had a post-mortem (so to speak) after the customer has left the premises. "So, why do you think you missed that warping?" "What can we do differently to help prevent this from happening again?" If she continues to act like it's not a big deal, that's the time to have that discussion.

I'm not saying this is all Faye's fault by any means, by the way. Faye ought to have owned her mistake right up front. What I'm really saying is that Bubbles' first priority ought to have been the customer, and she should have deferred dealing with Faye until after the customer had gone.

Quote from: Oenone on 30 May 2022, 21:38
"we were both wrong! You for not doing basic due diligence and me for asking you to do your job"

That's passive aggressive, also not constructive.

Oenone · 30 May 2022, 22:24

Eek, that was me very much flubbing the "take job seriously.tude" line from Bubbles. That was where, for me, Bubbles really dropped the ball — Faye made an error of judgement, which doesn't warrant snark like that.

(In my defense it's 1a and my dog is very cute)

shanejayell · 31 May 2022, 00:02

MELON. NO. *LOL*

Tova · 31 May 2022, 00:15

I'm surprised the topic of the comic caption pun hasn't been raised.

Farideh · 31 May 2022, 00:37

I quite often don't read the caption 😊 Also got distracted by Bubbles pulling Melon's dermal covering into place - reminded me of putting a stretchy cover on our couch the other week.

Killspree · 31 May 2022, 00:45

Quote from: Oenone on 30 May 2022, 21:38
I just really want this to be resolved in a "Faye, these are people's bodies, please check your work" way, and not a "we were both wrong! You for not doing basic due diligence and me for asking you to do your job" way.

Totally agree, after the issues we see of Roko and her new body. I can imagine a bit of facial misalignment could creep out the AI wearing it.

traroth · 31 May 2022, 00:50

Is that a case of an AI not getting humans are doing mistakes? Otherwise I can't understand Bubbles' attitude. Faye did a honest mistake and Bubbles is giving her hell for that for no reason.

Gyrre · 31 May 2022, 01:16

Quote from: Tova on 31 May 2022, 00:15
I'm surprised the topic of the comic caption pun hasn't been raised.

I figured someone else would. We've a number of punsters here, but I guess we all opted to loaf about instead of fully rising to the occasion.

oddtail · 31 May 2022, 03:33

Quote from: traroth on 31 May 2022, 00:50
Is that a case of an AI not getting humans are doing mistakes? Otherwise I can't understand Bubbles' attitude. Faye did a honest mistake and Bubbles is giving her hell for that for no reason.

I read the interaction as Faye not really caring when the mistake was pointed out. If I said someone I was working with made a mistake, and the person said "huh, okay" and proceeded to film the work we were doing, I'd strongly suspect they weren't paying attention to my remark and were not taking me seriously.

I also would've reacted in a much more negative way than Bubbles. I wouldn't've been *right* to do so, but I'm an impatient person. From this perspective, I sorta take Bubbles' side (not that there should be "sides" in a conflict, given that the goal is not for one person to "win"). I don't think she reacted perfectly, but my read of the argument is that Faye is extremely sensitive to criticism and quick to take it as an attack on herself. In my opinion, needlessly so.

Killspree · 31 May 2022, 04:00

Quote from: traroth on 31 May 2022, 00:50
Is that a case of an AI not getting humans are doing mistakes? Otherwise I can't understand Bubbles' attitude. Faye did a honest mistake and Bubbles is giving her hell for that for no reason.

Brushing off a damaged part with a 'it'll be fine'.
Possibly figuring with Melon's quirky personality it wouldn't matter.

She was doing a shoddy job and attempting to gouge even more money out of a customer. I can see that getting to her.

John Allenson · 31 May 2022, 09:34

So I reread the interactions.
Faye does start off by saying the hands look fine but that Bubbles would be better at the face.
What Faye saw as a mild discoloration Faye realized was an important problem. That was a mistake on Faye's part and Faye doesn't dispute Bubble's assessment.

And that's where the tone starts going wrong. Faye had said "Oops, OK" while continuing to film. Instead of something like looking closer and "Thank goodness you caught it." Faye's attitude came across as dismissive - and she doubles down.

The argument was not about Faye's incompetence. They had agreed that Bubbles would do the face since she was better at it and that Bubbles would double-check. The argument was about Faye acting dismissive and uninterested, then getting defensive when called on it. Bubbles does get sarcastic and that sets off Faye's defences.

And neither of them stopped themselves from doing this in front of a client.

Marco · 31 May 2022, 12:13

Still lying at the bottom of Uncanny Valley with these Melon depictions. I hope next strip her face is finally in place.

Cornelius · 31 May 2022, 13:05

If it is an important problem, then did the replacement of the maxillary segment happen off screen? Or is the skin coming back off? It doesn't seem like much time passed between the workshop segments.

Farideh · 31 May 2022, 19:27

Maybe the segment needs to be replaced later, once they have the parts? I assume they can partially take the dermal covering off for that.

New comic! After the hyenas came the herd of stampeding rhinos.

Mr_Rose · 31 May 2022, 23:01

Quote from: Farideh on 31 May 2022, 19:27
Maybe the segment needs to be replaced later, once they have the parts? I assume they can partially take the dermal covering off for that.

New comic! After the hyenas came the herd of stampeding rhinos.

Well... at least they weren't hippos?

BenRG · 01 Jun 2022, 01:49

This is one of those occasions where 'tell, don't show' is actually better. Nine-tenths of the fun is imagining the things that happened around panel 4 and how Hannelore and Winslow got into this situation.

Tova · 01 Jun 2022, 04:24

Quote from: Mr_Rose on 31 May 2022, 23:01
Well... at least they weren't hippos?

Indeed. Hungry hungry ones.

traroth · 01 Jun 2022, 06:46

I must confess I don't really understand the last picture of today's comic. What happened? Are they the victims of the good ol' firecracker-in-cow-shit prank? (Yes, I grew up in the countryside...) What could possibly explain this?

What's a "wildbeest", by the way? My english skills are at their limits, there. Is it just "wild beast" with a funny syntax or am I missing a hidden meaning?

cesium133 · 01 Jun 2022, 07:16

They got trampled by antelopes. Wildebeest are a species of antelope native to Southern Africa.

Perfectly Reasonable · 01 Jun 2022, 07:19

In problem solving, the first step is to assign blame. That way you don't lose any time in opening the Recrimination Phase.

notStanley · 01 Jun 2022, 09:27

Quote from: Perfectly Reasonable on 01 Jun 2022, 07:19
In problem solving, the first step is to assign blame. That way you don't lose any time in opening the Recrimination Phase.

Had to give you a vote. Too often they try to act otherwise, but you can tell by the questions that they have already made up their minds about a scapegoat :{

snubnose · 01 Jun 2022, 10:44

Quote from: cesium133 on 01 Jun 2022, 07:16
They got trampled by antelopes. Wildebeest are a species of antelope native to Southern Africa.

Great.

But how exactly do you make an antelope trample YOU when they flee if they flee from a sound you made ?

Also, out in the wilderness of Africa, but no car and no gun ? The lions etc will love you ?

hedgie · 01 Jun 2022, 11:20

They're just sweet little kitties:

St.Clair · 01 Jun 2022, 18:33

(it's pronounced wil-deh-beest, by the way)

snubnose · 02 Jun 2022, 01:35

I had to look up what "fifth" and "bourbon" are, and what that means, and what the effects would be.

So it turns out that a fifth is a fifth of a gallon, or about 750 ml. Exactly 750ml is called "metric fifth" and the usual size used nowadays.

And bourbon is an american wiskey made of 51+ % of maize/corn, plus possibly other wheats, destilled to at least 40% alcohol, and stored for an unspecified amount of time but ideally apparently 4+ years in containers made from a specific wood, which results in the whole thing having a specific color.

So thats 750ml of american wiskey with at least 40% alcohol, or at very least 300ml alcohol.

According to an online calculator I goggled, assuming that Faye weight 80kg, she'd be at 4.95‰ , sober after 30 hours. With 100kg it drops to 3.95‰ and 25 hours.

According to another google about the effects of alcohol levels at 2.5‰ loss of consciousness happends and at 4‰ death is possible. So with 80kg she'd basically be dead for sure and with 100kg she might still have a chance of survival.

Possibly Faye stands better chances of survival because she's an experienced drinker and her body has adapted somewhat. Either way she'd be drinking herself into a stupor and beyond and not be able to properly function for a full day.

As someone who never drinks and to which "a fifth of bourbon" meant absolutely nothing it was very helpful to understand what is going on. Maybe somebody else felt the same way.

P.s.: Thanks to pwhodges for the permille sign ! 😁 I only know windows key + ".", which doesnt give you any special characters, only smileys. 🙂

traroth · 02 Jun 2022, 01:47

Quote from: cesium133 on 01 Jun 2022, 07:16
They got trampled by antelopes. Wildebeest are a species of antelope native to Southern Africa.

I couldn't say for the life of me why I didn't google it. It's a gnu, actually. More like a cow, I think.

I wouldn't like to be trampled by a hurd of gnu...

pwhodges · 02 Jun 2022, 05:53

Quote from: snubnose on 02 Jun 2022, 01:35I'm using "%%" as the permille sign, which isnt actually available in ascii.

But we are not limited to ascii: ‰
You could copy that back into your post if you want.

Of course, discovering specific Unicode characters can be a palaver, which is why I use WizKey - though I'm afraid it's not free. Another similar program is PopChar - also not free. I can't find a free program as useful as those.

Mr_Rose · 02 Jun 2022, 08:24

Windows Character Map will let you find the symbol at least, and that comes with the OS. I don't remember if there's a built in Alt-code to type it though. Also, if you have one, the default keyboard on iOS can type "‰" directly too.

hedgie · 02 Jun 2022, 09:24

Quote from: Mr_Rose on 02 Jun 2022, 08:24
Windows Character Map will let you find the symbol at least, and that comes with the OS. I don't remember if there's a built in Alt-code to type it though. Also, if you have one, the default keyboard on iOS can type "‰" directly too.

option (alt) + shift + r on Mac. One of these days, I'll set up a "proper" compose key on that thing so that I don't have to memorise a different set of binds than I use on Linux, since it gets annoying at times to, say want to type °, and remember that it's option +k on one machine, and compose + o, o on another.

Quote from: snubnose on 02 Jun 2022, 01:35
I had to look up what "fifth" and "bourbon" are, and what that means, and what the effects would be.

So it turns out that a fifth is a fifth of a gallon, or about 750 ml. Exactly 750ml is called "metric fifth" and the usual size used nowadays.
<snip>
Useful info, but it does leave out things like rate and amount of absorption (ie, not absorbed immediately, and plenty just passes through), and speed of consumption. Whilst it's a dangerous amount of booze if you're not Kieth Richards, Lemmy, or Shane MacGowan, that's also something that tends to take place over several hours.

flondrix · 02 Jun 2022, 13:22

I clipped out the last panel and imported Tannalore's speech bubble from the previous panel, after flipping the bubble but not the text.

Farideh · 02 Jun 2022, 19:48

Comic's up.

A peaceful resolution. Also, Melon has long hair now. Has she been hanging upside down in the vat? She probably enjoyed that.

flondrix · 02 Jun 2022, 21:00

Quote from: Farideh on 02 Jun 2022, 19:48
Comic's up.

A peaceful resolution. Also, Melon has long hair now. Has she been hanging upside down in the vat? She probably enjoyed that.

When you're getting your scalp replaced, perhaps there are other ways to install new hair along with it?

TV4Fun · 02 Jun 2022, 22:03

Whew, near-plot experience averted.

flondrix · 02 Jun 2022, 23:20

So, has no one noticed that Melon is nekkid?

Elder Sign · 02 Jun 2022, 23:54

Quote from: Farideh on 02 Jun 2022, 19:48
Also, Melon has long hair now. Has she been hanging upside down in the vat? She probably enjoyed that.

Wait, a character got longer hair in this webcomic? Are you sure it isn't a frigid day in the underworld, or a sign of impending apocalypse?

Mr_Rose · 03 Jun 2022, 00:08

Quote from: flondrix on 02 Jun 2022, 23:20
So, has no one noticed that Melon is nekkid?

What? But they just put that dermal on! How can she have lost it already?
Seriously though, she was a skeleton a few strips back. Merely not wearing clothes is nothing.

Also, she still seems to be heterochromatic; I suppose eyes are a completely different job to skin...

snubnose · 03 Jun 2022, 01:13

Quote from: flondrix on 02 Jun 2022, 23:20
So, has no one noticed that Melon is nekkid?

Everyone noticed, nobody cared.

oddtail · 03 Jun 2022, 01:20

I'm disappointed at the resolution of Faye and Bubbles' conflict.

If an argument ended that way between, say, two friends of mine, I'd be very happy for them.

As a resolution within a story - that's kind of a nothingburger. It doesn't tell me much more about them and it isn't interesting. I'm not saying they *needed* to have a big fight - a positive ending to their fight could've been more interesting, or at least more elaborate. As-is, it is ground that has been thread before, and honestly doesn't move things forward.

There isn't even implication Fay (or Bubbles) is avoiding conflict out of fear rather than for healthier reasons (as her conversation with Hannelore briefly indicated). No, it reads like "they were angry at each other, now they apologised".

I honestly hoped it'd go in a newer direction. Show something about them, or have their fight resolved in a uniquely Bubbles (or uniquely Faye) way, or notice something deeper about their relationship, good or bad, or anything like that.

I still have some leftover hope this is not entirely over, but right now I'm not too optimistic. I hope the comic doesn't just jump to something else. Not everything in the comic has to have a deeper point, but this has felt a bit *too* superfluous to me.

WCDT - Strips 4796 to 4800 (30th May to 3rd June 2022)

So, how will this end?