WCDT - Sept 5 to Sept 9, 2022 (strips #4866 to #4870)

[shanejayell]

New comic!

Marten, that's kinda AI racist. ACCURATE, mind you....

(Added poll, 2 votes per person)

[Jimor]

The Director is Penelope

[Scarlet Manuka]

Beepatrice!

It would explain a lot...

[Gyrre]

The Director is Penelope

Or Raven.

[Near Lurker]

Considering that Marten's initial exposure to AI is "masturbating in front of the family dog"...

[DaiJB]

The Director is Penelope

Or Raven.

No, it's Sara. I mean - "eaten by an allosaurus"? That's a little outlandish, isn't it? Even for the QC Universe's Northampton?

Fairy-girls, okay.
Highly advanced AI companions, okay.
Transformer-Vespas, okay.
Re-entry pizza delivery, okay.
But allosauruses? C'mon.

[BenRG]

Basically, at this point, Claire is saying: "I'm not entirely sure what I've done but I've got the feeling that I'm going to regret it."

[Near Lurker]

NGL, I'm hiccoughing from hell.

[Mr_Rose]

The Director is Penelope

Actually, it's Pizza Girl. The building is technically called "The Fortress of Pizzatude" but even she thinks that's lame and let the snarky AI assistant rename it.

[Prestwick]

New comic!

Marten, that's kinda AI racist. ACCURATE, mind you....

(Added poll, 2 votes per person)

The more I see of AIs in the QC universe, the more I'm convinced that they are the literal physical embodiment of ADHD.

[Stoon]

I had a passing thought The Director was Raven, but then I remembered the spreadsheet crashed them.  So, that would exclude a flesh receptacle.

[Gyrre]

I had a passing thought The Director was Raven, but then I remembered the spreadsheet crashed them.  So, that would exclude a flesh receptacle.

Oh! Good point.
Perhaps they started their research efforts alongside Raven?

[Torlek]

When they go up there, Marten's going to be appointed the head of AI research because he's asking the questions nobody has ever considered before. Claire and Clinton enter simultaneous meltdowns and destroy the world.

[derris_kharlan]

When they go up there, Marten's going to be appointed the head of AI research because he's asking the questions nobody has ever considered before. Claire and Clinton enter simultaneous meltdowns and destroy the world.

A butterfly flapping it's wings halfway across the world causes Claire to go into meltdown so it's not exactly a long shot to predict she'll do it.

[BenRG]

When they go up there, Marten's going to be appointed the head of AI research because he's asking the questions nobody has ever considered before. Claire and Clinton enter simultaneous meltdowns and destroy the world.

No, it's going to be Clinton who gets the AI research job. Hannelore will be appointed Claire's assistant and Chief Statistician and Elliot will get the Chief of Security job (and Moray will present him with a red shirt because that's what security guards wear).

As for Marten? Well, one of the research AIs is obsessed with whale-song and he'll end up working with the guy to develop variations on human musical instruments that work underwater and writing the music that they can play

[Perfectly Reasonable]

The Director resides in those cabinets with the blinky lights. The cambot is how he sees the world. Moray happened when somebody asked 'Suppose we had a mobile single cell organism capable of intelligent thought?'

I want to see Claire get down in the weeds of Library Science. She will totally transcend mundane databasery.

[JimC]

ACCURATE, mind you....

Socialisation of AIs is a topic so far untouched. Its established that the AI mental experience is not markedly different to human, and that the AI mentalities are only a very few years old. Humans get socialised over a period of about 20 years (some never!) although obviously the process is greatly extended due to lowered mental capabilities up to some point in teens. Nevertheless its clear that AIs have a much reduced socialisation experience. Naiveity or disfunctionality is therefore to be expected and, arguably, evident.

[shanejayell]

New comic up.

Well, Cubetown's staff seem nice...

[Near Lurker]

Is Faye even aware of this?  Only she's got her weird sort of codependence with Marten, which played a role in her breakup with Angus and subsequent ETOH near-overdose.  Her relationship with Bubbles seems more stable, but still...

[Gyrre]

The Director resides in those cabinets with the blinky lights. The cambot is how he sees the world. Moray happened when somebody asked 'Suppose we had a mobile single cell organism capable of intelligent thought?'

I want to see Claire get down in the weeds of Library Science. She will totally transcend mundane databasery.

Either that or just plain transcend. Though, Martin being followed around by a being of pure light would be kind of hilarious.

[BenRG]

It does seem to be Marten's fate to have lots of ladies flirting with him constantly. He's had Dora, Faye, Raven, Padma, Deidre (the punk girl he had a one-nighter with), Hannelore (in her bizarre way) and even Emily. Now it looks like it's going to continue in Cubetown.

[Mr_Rose]

Oh! I get it now; Cubetown is Northampton squared.

[St.Clair]

Oh! I get it now; Cubetown is Northampton squared.

Not squared, cubed.

[shanejayell]

New comic.

Wonder what Dora wants to talk to Matren about?
Or she's using this as a excuse to go see her girlfriend/wife.

[Stoon]

Penelope not working today?  She's the Assistant Manager.

[Near Lurker]

Hehe, she's pretty snuggly with her ex.  Wonder if her fiancée should worry?

[Ravenswing]

No, it's Sara. I mean - "eaten by an allosaurus"? That's a little outlandish, isn't it? Even for the QC Universe's Northampton?

Pfft.  They were driven out of their lair at Smith College when Hopkins A and B were torn down.

(Yes, I'm a townie dating myself.)

Hehe, she's pretty snuggly with her ex.  Wonder if her fiancée should worry?

While that would serve Dora right, given that her jealousy issues were what sabotaged hers and Marten's relationship, man, Tai took Marten with her when she got a hood piercing, for pity's sake.  It's a wash.

With that, I'm mildly surprised that when Marten wailed "Why are AIs LIKE this?" no one turned to Hannelore ...

[hedgie]

Hannelore Tyrell?

[BenRG]

Penelope not working today?  She's the Assistant Manager.

She got on a bus a long time ago without telling anyone.

[OttawaJohn]

I have no idea why but I think the Director will be her dad.

[immortalfrieza]

The more I see of Moray the more I become convinced she's another Emily. That is, a character whose only trait is being completely off the walls nuts, exists to say and do silly things for about a couple dozen comics at the most, gets little to no development, and that Jeph will have fun with for a while and then drop with a new Emily coming in a while after that. Emily herself, Punchbot, Melon, Willow and probably a few others I'm forgetting because they've had even less time than those. Actually I'd say Hanners would be the first Emily the comic has had if it weren't for the fact that Hanners has both stuck around and gotten loads of development since her introduction.

Claire sounds completely weirded out by this entire situation. On the one hand, this job in Cubetown is clearly setting off so many red flags both in universe and out that the Soviet Union could've just stamped their hammer/sickle symbol on them and supplied their whole country for a decade. On the other hand, getting to run an entire IS department right out of the gate might be good for her chances with other prospective employers after Cubetown crashes and burns if Claire doesn't take the fall for it. Given how this comic has had very very few genuinely malicious characters in it or anything truly horrible happen to anyone I doubt Claire and Marten would end up any worse off than they started even if Cubetown did fail.

Aw... Hanners! Don't sell yourself short, I think you're way past the point where you're going to freak out while taking over the coffee shop for a couple hours tops. This reminds me of the time Hanners got put in charge and just froze because she was "paralyzed by the responsibility" or something. She's come a long long way since then, to the point that her neuroses have all but completely disappeared.

Penelope not working today?  She's the Assistant Manager.

About half of the Coffee of Doom employees have all but completely disappeared over the last several years. They don't show up even when they should and the CoD itself has become less and less significant over time. Mostly it's just been a place for the crew to meet up, chat for a bit, and then go somewhere else now when things used to actually happen there. I get the impression that Jeph has stretched himself thin with all the loads of characters he's introduced over the years and has decided to all but completely phase several of them out even if they should technically still be around.

[Near Lurker]

I have no idea why but I think the Director will be her dad.

Dr. Ellicot, you mean?  That makes... way too much sense.

[OttawaJohn]

Actually I meant Claire's dad, but Hanners could work to!

[shanejayell]

New Comic

I figured there would be a Dora/Marten talk. Heh!

[Storel]

No, it's Sara. I mean - "eaten by an allosaurus"? That's a little outlandish, isn't it? Even for the QC Universe's Northampton?

Pfft.  They were driven out of their lair at Smith College when Hopkins A and B were torn down.

(Yes, I'm a townie dating myself.)

The nice thing about dating yourself is that you never have to worry about scheduling conflicts. 

[gprimr1]

I shared this in the other post too, but I think this was a missed opportunity to add a little drama. I know it would ultimately resolve, but just having Martin confess some concerns about the move would have added a little drama.

[hedgie]

The nice thing about dating yourself is that you never have to worry about scheduling conflicts. 

Yeah, but the breakup is no good.

[DaiJB]

"We'll jump into a hot air balloon and float away right as you say your vows."

If Cubetown is anything like as wild as I think it is, Marten will take out a remote device, press a button, then he and Claire will disappear as the teleporter activates...



Then the teleporter will malfunction and they will re-appear minus their clothes...

[Ravenswing]

I shared this in the other post too, but I think this was a missed opportunity to add a little drama. I know it would ultimately resolve, but just having Martin confess some concerns about the move would have added a little drama.

Yeah, but it may just be that Jeph wants to give the strip's original protagonist a gentle, quiet sendoff.  Twenty years, after all.

[BenRG]

Interesting suggestion made on the Salty Subreddit:

What if Marten and Claire aren't leaving the strip but rather the strip is moving to Cubetown and Northampton and its residents are being sidelined or even written out? So, we have Marten and Claire living in a weird semi-Culture futuristic AI collective with lots and lots of AIs with them acting as 'straight' characters to support all the jokes and the audience's point of reference for the extreme sci-fi? Today's strip could be as much seen as Dora's farewell to Marten as vice-versa.

It's not inconceivable. Almost all of Jeph's attempts to make new character groups and running arcs in the Northampton settling have fallen a bit flat and even the interesting characters like Roko and her friends seem to have run out of story to tell.

Jeph has always fancied writing himself a bit of hard sci-fi and this might be him taking the leap.

[immortalfrieza]

Alternately, Jeph could start a spinoff webcomic with Marten and Claire as the stars.

That said, it's not really necessary. Both Claire and Marten have barely been used for years and when they are they're bit characters whose only purpose is to facilitate the other character's stories rather than have any themselves. Having the two pop down to North Hampton for a visit every so often to do an arc wouldn't be much different from how Jeph utilizes them as it is.

[Mr_Rose]

Personally I’m looking forward to their return to the coffee shop, where they find that, between them, Claire and Hannelore have Dewey decimalised the entire place. Including the customers and the individual beans (that was Hanners’s idea).

[gprimr1]

Thinking about what BenRG said, and knowing Jeph has said he isn't ending QC, I do wonder if Jeph might be planning to bring the entire cast together for the wedding, then use the wedding and this possible job offer to make some resets the cast.

[KOODustin]

I never realize how much I miss the focus on Marten until he comes back.  They're always some of my favorites.

[shanejayell]

New comic

Oh hai, Station. *lol*

[Storel]

In which it is confirmed once again that Clinton has no chill.

Then again, none of the Augusti have chill. This is known.

[immortalfrieza]

In which it is confirmed once again that Clinton has no chill.

Then again, none of the Augusti have chill. This is known.

Except Ma Augusti. Ma Augusti is chill incarnate.

[St.Clair]

In which it is confirmed once again that Clinton has no chill.

Then again, none of the Augusti have chill. This is known.

Except Ma Augusti. Ma Augusti is chill incarnate.

no, she has weed.  there have been hints that without chemical assistance, she has no more chill than her kids.

[dutchrvl]

In which it is confirmed once again that Clinton has no chill.

Then again, none of the Augusti have chill. This is known.

Except Ma Augusti. Ma Augusti is chill incarnate.

no, she has weed.  there have been hints that without chemical assistance, she has no more chill than her kids.

Hints? I'd say a lot more than hints....she has been shown to have no chill rather clearly 

[Perfectly Reasonable]

We will definitely have an extensive Cubetown arc. Or Clinton will explode.

( i wanna phone with a holo emitter )