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Reprint of 258 (Milk Bath!)

2 (5.1%)

You should try having an ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP.

1 (2.6%)

Oh, God, that's actually TRUE.

3 (7.7%)

My therapist won't see anyone else in my social circle.

4 (10.3%)

Wait, you're seeing someone?

0 (0%)

He misses your body (AUGH!)

16 (41%)

Wow. I broke him.

2 (5.1%)

Warning label under the boobs.

6 (15.4%)

TAKE ME, OH OMNISCIENT MACHINE PANTHEON!

3 (7.7%)

Mister Peepers! NOOOOOOOO!

2 (5.1%)

Total Members Voted: 36

[Carl-E]

You know, like Steve. Nobody expects introspection from Steve.
<Gets up on a high, big, safe rock as the sharks (species Stephicus Franticfanius) come in towards the chum>

Hey!
You'd be surprised.

(I was!)

That's not introspection.  When a bunch of your friends, and  your SO tell you you're being stupid, and you finally give in and say, "OK, I was being stupid", that's not introspection.  That's a forced surrender! 

Sven on the other hand is being introspective.  Starting out with the afore-quoted strips where he asks Faye if they can still be friends because he misses hanging with her, was the first step.  Now, realizing that that's not all he misses about her (and unintentionally dumping it into Hanner's lap) was the next phase.  Unfortunately, further development has now been temporarily derailed by the Fangus train. 

I think I also see Pastor Vodka in Sven's immediate future - he's been writing country songs for so long, he may be starting to believe some of their purported remedies for a broken heart! 

Also, I was right about Faye getting more details from Haners - alright, so the grilling turned into a simple "WTF?" moment, but still...

I also had the impression that this is a bit of a social engineering experiment on Hanner's part.  While she's not used to dealing with people, and so keeping secrets (or just keeping quiet) for the sake of another may not be part of her mileu, I think this may be intentional information distribution.  Faye clearly looked disturbed by Sven's behaviour, and Hanners was trying to 'splain why.  Unfortunately, she caught Faye in mid processing (you know, that blank stare) and scared the crap out of her. 

One of my own talents, I'm afraid.  Im a very quiet person when I move, and tend to surprise people by being in a room for several minutes before they realize I'm there... usually by turning around and buping into me!

[Border Reiver]

Hanners strikes me as the kind of person who's actually read every warning label and sticker on everything she owns in the whole world... thrice. I'm sure she can come up with several new ones for Faye quite easily.

Caution:  May cause night sweats, shortness of breath, and dizziness.  If erection lasts more than four hours, you should be so lucky!

Fixed it for you.

[fixed11]

Cool, Faye is impressed that Sven misses her body more than the time spent with her. Jeph sure knows how to write realistic women, amiright?

[raoullefere]

How is she supposed to know otherwise? (Yes, Sven said something about it, but he was trying to make peace, and we all know, including Faye, that he's manipulative). And Faye has said before she thinks her breasts are one of the reasons people want to spend time with her. (She said 'tolerate' actually), so it's consistent.*

You know, like Steve. Nobody expects introspection from Steve.
<Gets up on a high, big, safe rock as the sharks (species Stephicus Franticfanius) come in towards the chum>

Hey!
You'd be surprised.

(I was!)

Nah. Like Carl points out, that was acceptance—you can see it in his expression in the first panel. The look in the last panel reflects that Steve is good-natured. I never said Steve wasn't a nice guy; simply that he'd not given to much reflection. Probably why he was recruited by the USDKYA. Introspection is probably not a desirable trait in their field agents.

*Edit: found the strip http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=801

[peterh]

That's not introspection.  When a bunch of your friends, and  your SO tell you you're being stupid, and you finally give in and say, "OK, I was being stupid", that's not introspection.  That's a forced surrender! 

Entirely true. It was a very lame (and intentionally lame at that!) attempt to disagree with Raoul, in order to justify his retreat to a safe rock.

And then you came along and defused it. You had to, didn't you? Mathematicians, they're all alike. Let not The Truth be sacrificed for the sake of a good joke...

[peterh]

Cool, Faye is impressed that Sven misses her body more than the time spent with her. Jeph sure knows how to write realistic women, amiright?

Um... maybe I am missing your point. Would you care to elaborate?

And, er, I do not read that Faye is impressed. Amazed? sure. But impressed?

Edit: on top of that, Faye very likely *knows* that it's not just her tits.
Why?
1. Because Sven told her so, and
2. Because she KNOWS about Hannelore's software quirks.

She may still be amazed that sdhe made that impression on him.

[Mr_Rose]

N.B. Depending on context amazed can occasionally be synonymous with impressed. It's mostly used these days to imply archaic speech in fantasy novels, however, so I don't credit this as the troll's intent.

[peterh]

<soapbox>
The nice thing about the English language is that, WHEN USED CORRECTLY, it enables you to very precisely say what you mean.
(spoke the stoopit forrinner, for whom English is only his third language, right after Dutch and C#...)

As I keep saying to my offspring, "if that wasn't what you MEANT, you shouldn't have SAID it."
</soapbox>

[Carl-E]

English also allows for obfuscation, subterfuge, and best of all, intentionally confusing your listeners! 

Like any fine tool, it's a matter of what the craftsman chooses to make with it that matters.  And in the hands of the less-than-capable, it can even be dangerous! 

[jwhouk]

Oh, there you go, blaming English for everything.

There's a lot of ways this could go:

• Sven tries to get into a "relationship" with someone (not of the current cast);
• Sven tries do the same, but with an existing cast member (Hannelore and Marigold are the two likely targets);
• Sven tries to woo Faye back -which could result in comedy gold; or
• Sven gets eaten by an Allosaurus.

Since there was a "hint" of it with the Helen of Troy reference back in 1732, I'm almost betting on the Sven vs. Angus over Faye situation. Unfortunately, that turns into a bit of a Archie vs. Reggie over Veronica kind of vibe.

[steveb]

There's a lot of ways this could go:

• Sven tries to get into a "relationship" with someone (not of the current cast);
• Sven tries do the same, but with an existing cast member (Hannelore and Marigold are the two likely targets);
• Sven tries to woo Faye back -which could result in comedy gold; or
• Sven gets eaten by an Allosaurus.

Sven uses his first genuine experience of heartbreak to write a GOOD country song for once. This fails to sell and
his career is ruined.

[peterh]

Or it could go yet another way:

• Sven has no idea what to do, and goes catatonic.

[IanClark]

There's a lot of ways this could go:

• Sven tries to get into a "relationship" with someone (not of the current cast);
• Sven tries do the same, but with an existing cast member (Hannelore and Marigold are the two likely targets);
• Sven tries to woo Faye back -which could result in comedy gold; or
• Sven gets eaten by an Allosaurus.

Sven uses his first genuine experience of heartbreak to write a GOOD country song for once. This fails to sell and
his career is ruined.

The Cowboy Junkies are still going strong...

I'm surprised no one in the strip has pointed Sven in the obvious direction: Just look for another girl with the same proportions. Faye's not unique in that. This would either a) lead him to find happiness again and maybe they could slowly work on the emotional connection part later or b) cause him to realize he's actually in love with Faye beyond just her body and even though this would leave him heartbroken he would at least come to the realization that he's not as big a douchebag as everyone thought.

[MaxS]

Or it could go yet another way:

• Sven has no idea what to do, and goes catatonic.

If love does that to Faye in qc-universe (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1725) then it wouldn't really be surprising at all for that to happen to Sven!

[iduguphergrave]

True. But the references to Faye's physical characteristits (typo intentional), and his insistance that that's what he is missing confuse me. I kept -- and in fact keep -- thinking that he's just confused, or suppressing his *real* feelings towards Faye.
That is, in fact, a lot more consistent with his behaviour in CoD this morning.

I agree, I also think he's partially in denial about his real feelings for Faye. He didn't look terribly happy admitting to Dora that Faye made him actually feel things, so now he could be trying to ignore it. But Faye's revelation that she's dating again probably wrecked that for him.

[hannahsaurusrex]

I predict Faye finding Sven mid-mope at a bar and trying to console him, then erupting into a RAAGE over on of his comments. (possibly to the tune of "I thought you'd get over Gina and come back") Southern brewed fury will take over.

By the way: Hello everybody! I had activation issues too, and I'm a supporter of the Dickbroom league (even if that joke has died)

[Deadlywonky]

If the text is to be believed, Sven has never once had to "figure out" a situation like this before because he's never actually felt anything for any of the girls he has slept with, he was actually developing real feelings towards Faye and has been in major denial. I think hannahsaurusrex is right, he'll go and get stone drunk, however I reckon that it'll be Faye and Angus, rather than Faye on her own, and he'll blurt out to her how he really feels, gets into a fight with Angus and gets KO'd by Faye, when it turns out that Angus is a really weedy fighter.

[aside] Really i just want to see Sven thrown across the bar like Angus was. [/aside]

[Border Reiver]

Nah, he'll end up blurting out something inappropriate instead, we've all seen what happens when his brain shortcircuits.

[jwhouk]

What do you make of Sven's reaction to Fayngus?

He is deeply troubled by this revelation.    - 8 (14.3%)
One shot, right to the ego.    - 15 (26.8%)
One shot, right to the 'nads.    - 9 (16.1%)
He's thinking, "Where's the nearest bridge?"    - 3 (5.4%)
"Where's that big-busted computer geekette I ran into?"    - 9 (16.1%)
Meh, just one more country music lyric.    - 5 (8.9%)
GOOGLE IT!    - 2 (3.6%)
A bedevilment of bunyips.    - 0 (0%)
Questionable Content Volume I - AVAILABLE NOW!    - 5 (8.9%)

Total Voters: 56

(No one got the "bunyips" reference?)

[peterh]

Dump Anugs and go back to Sven.

So... who's this Anugs guy?

I have to say I'm amazed that the Google it! option lingers longer in the polls than the QC Volume 1 option.

[pwhodges]

(No one got the "bunyips" reference?)

As Sven writes country music, I thought of this lot.

[Akima]

I think I also see Pastor Vodka in Sven's immediate future - he's been writing country songs for so long, he may be starting to believe some of their purported remedies for a broken heart!

Does anyone in country songs drink anything furrin' like Vodka?

One of my own talents, I'm afraid.  Im a very quiet person when I move, and tend to surprise people by being in a room for several minutes before they realize I'm there... usually by turning around and bumping into me!

Carl-E, the Agent Gibbs of the forum. 

No one got the "bunyips" reference?

The bunyip (a legendary creature from Australian Aboriginal folklore) is proverbially used down here for something that does not exist (hence the local insult "bunyip aristocrat"), so I'm not surprised that it got no votes.

a GOOD country song

Now there's a fine example of a bunyip!

[peterh]

a GOOD country song

Now there's a fine example of a bunyip!

LOL!!!

[raoullefere]

Since I dug up that quote, I've been thinking about Faye's fixation on her breasts' role* in her interpersonal relationships. Based on that, I think she's gonna … (if you want my marker, you know what to do. Jeph says he doesn't read the forums much anymore {a good policy for the most part, I imagine—hard to watch while we crudely vivisect his baby} and this is simply too good for me to risk that he's lying and turn him off on it.)

That's not introspection.  When a bunch of your friends, and  your SO tell you you're being stupid, and you finally give in and say, "OK, I was being stupid", that's not introspection.  That's a forced surrender!  

Entirely true. It was a very lame (and intentionally lame at that!) attempt to disagree with Raoul, in order to justify his retreat to a safe rock.

I don't need your pity, man.

(Okay, maybe I do, but you needn't be so obvious about it.)

Seriously, though, there was at one time a hardy cadre that, every time he hadn't appeared in over two weeks, basically chanted "where's Steve?" "what about Steve?" "we sure do miss Steve." "Steve? Oh, it's just Marten. I thought you were…" slinks off in disappointment. Okay, I exaggerate, but only a little. Are these souls no longer with us?

(No one got the "bunyips" reference?)

Of course I got it—I read Secrets of Power: Find Your Own Truth (Shadowrun novel) ages ago. But I didn't see how it applied. Say, you're not needing my pity, are you?

*Roles? I hate it when I'm not sure of number, especially since English has only two (unless it's dealing with modifiers, anyway).

[Is it cold in here?]

If only there were a well-endowed woman in the cast who was attracted to Sven and capable of surprising insights ...

I admit it, I just want Raven back.

[Heliphyneau]

Am I the only one who chuckled at the comic, but laughed aloud at the first line of the newspost? 

~
Nnnnooooo. It made me all but piss my pants.

It made me picture Ripley from Aliens in the forklift-suit-thing reaching out with a metallic arm to try and squeeze one of Faye's boobies . . . and then falling over in a shower of sparks and twitching.

I'm kinda surprised that Faye wasn't mad since she so often defaults to raaage, but maybe her emotional growth is allowing her to chill, or at least flip out less.  Growth is good!  Also, though it's possible that Hanners is looking straight at Faye's boobs in panel 1, she's pretty clearly looking at her face in the other panels.

And huzzah for the Synchronicity cupcakes!

[Heliphyneau]

Of course I got it—I read Secrets of Power: Find Your Own Truth (Shadowrun novel) ages ago.

Wow, mega-props to you for even knowing what Shadowrun is.  I used to play that with a group of regular gaming friends, one of whom actually wrote one of the guidebooks.  I only read one or two of the novelizations, though.

[AnAverageWriter]

If only there were a well-endowed woman in the cast who was attracted to Sven and capable of surprising insights ...

Marigold?

...

Marigold and Sven together! Shenanigan possibilities out the wazoo!


Addendum-
I know this may come a little bit late, but "good country" songs can be found... Just take a look at the work of Johnny Cash or the haunting "Midnight in Montgomery". It's like any medium- you have to toss out 99999999.9999% of the "popular" dreck to find the hidden gems buried within the massive pile of UBMEODs.

[jwhouk]

Of course I got it—I read Secrets of Power: Find Your Own Truth (Shadowrun novel) ages ago.

Wow, mega-props to you for even knowing what Shadowrun is.  I used to play that with a group of regular gaming friends, one of whom actually wrote one of the guidebooks.  I only read one or two of the novelizations, though.

That... was not... what I meant. *sigh*

(Was I the only one who got an "insert" featuring some Wondermark wisdom with my book?)

[Somebody]

And a [bizarrely-early?] Pintsize strip to end the week.

[laizeohbeets]

If only there were a well-endowed woman in the cast who was attracted to Sven and capable of surprising insights ...

Marigold?

Raven >>>>>>>> Marigold. I actually kinda miss her and her hobo ex-boyfriend.

[iduguphergrave]

Boy Marten sure does like Guitar Porn: http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1737

Pretty kinky how he likes to read it out in the open like that...

[Blackjoker]

Poor Winslow

[raoullefere]

I thought "Mr. Peepers" was some human-monkey hybrid Chris Kattan played on SNL. And isn't a walking computer having suchlike for a pet similar to a human raising hookworms? (I.E. something that can get into your innards and really screw things up.)

Of course I got it—I read Secrets of Power: Find Your Own Truth (Shadowrun novel) ages ago.

That... was not... what I meant. *sigh*

(Was I the only one who got an "insert" featuring some Wondermark wisdom with my book?)

I got an ad hawking other books on one of the endpapers, if that's what you mean, but I didn't, in my casual glance, notice any bunyip on the Wondermark entry. And Shadowrun simply supplied my first exposure to the critter.

Wow, mega-props to you for even knowing what Shadowrun is.  I used to play that with a group of regular gaming friends, one of whom actually wrote one of the guidebooks.  I only read one or two of the novelizations, though.

So I'm taking it he isn't the person who was subsidizing the six-sider production industry. Somebody who helped design that system clearly was.

[Akima]

Pintsize's motherboard is in his head? I thought it was in his torso. Of course Marten is a guitar nerd rather than a computer geek, so maybe the cricket actually immolated itself on some other circuit-board. Pintsize's robo-religious ecstasy is a bit creepy, but of course he has tried before to escape the cycle of silicon samsara. Poor Winslow.

[St.Clair]

WALL-E kept a pet cockroach.  It seemed to work out okay for him/them.

[AnAverageWriter]

Pintsize's motherboard is in his head? I thought it was in his torso. Of course Marten is a guitar nerd rather than a computer geek, so maybe the cricket actually immolated itself on some other circuit-board.

It would actually make sense that Pintsize's main operational motherboard be in his head- he can remain fully operational and aware even when fully disconnected from the chassis, as well as said chassis being completely hot-swappable as well. This leads me to believe that the head contains Pintsize's motherboard, RAM, a battery and a base amount of boot storage memory, while the chassis contains the main power supply, ports, at least one secondary drive, weapons and whatever other accessories might be mounted within. Since Marigold can "bypass the chassis hardware", that would seem to strongly suggest that AnthroPCs can operate with just the head being functional.

[Kugai]

Does this mean that Winslow will now embark on terrible and protracted revenge against Pintsize?

[Carl-E]

Pintsize's motherboard is in his head? I thought it was in his torso. Of course Marten is a guitar nerd rather than a computer geek, so maybe the cricket actually immolated itself on some other circuit-board.

It would actually make sense that Pintsize's main operational motherboard be in his head- he can remain fully operational and aware even when fully disconnected from the chassis, as well as said chassis being completely hot-swappable as well. This leads me to believe that the head contains Pintsize's motherboard, RAM, a battery and a base amount of boot storage memory, while the chassis contains the main power supply, ports, at least one secondary drive, weapons and whatever other accessories might be mounted within. Since Marigold can "bypass the chassis hardware", that would seem to strongly suggest that AnthroPCs can operate with just the head being functional.

This gives me images of the disembodied heads of Futurama...

And the strip has a familiar ring, harkening back to the first known computer "bug" (a moth wedged into a relay) in Harvard's Mark II computer. 

[Skewbrow]

Pintsize's motherboard is in his head? I thought it was in his torso.

Have we hit a comic singularity discontinuity?

Marten did use his torso as a cereal bowl at one point, while his head was vehemently protesting. That also suggests that the torso does not contain anything vital. I agree that in 1414 with the torso open it does look like the motherboard is in there.

[AnAverageWriter]

I agree that in 1414 with the torso open it does look like the motherboard is in there.

Could you point it out? I see an optical drive above where Marigold has plugged her laptop in (which would correlate with the positioning of Pintsize's drive slot) and above that I see something covered by RF shielding (I suspect it's the mechanics for Pintsize's arms). I don't see a motherboard in there.

[Deadlywonky]

Pintsize's motherboard is in his head? I thought it was in his torso...

It would make sense that his primary hardware is in the head because when Marigold thumped him for breast related terrorism in 1457 he starts to slur his words badly.

In addition to the other points already made about hot-swapping, decapitated protesting etc,

ps. also I think that if it was his torso then the cake frosting would have done some damage in 611 and Marten wouldn't have just left it to soak.

[peterh]

Seriously, though, there was at one time a hardy cadre that, every time he hadn't appeared in over two weeks, basically chanted "where's Steve?" "what about Steve?" "we sure do miss Steve." "Steve? Oh, it's just Marten. I thought you were…" slinks off in disappointment. Okay, I exaggerate, but only a little. Are these souls no longer with us?

They've been replaced, see?

I admit it, I just want Raven back.

I think the forum recycles them on a regular basis.

(Just imagine what would happen here if Jeph would decide to put Hannelore on a bus...)

[Skewbrow]

Could you point it out? I see an optical drive above where Marigold has plugged her laptop in (which would correlate with the positioning of Pintsize's drive slot) and above that I see something covered by RF shielding (I suspect it's the mechanics for Pintsize's arms). I don't see a motherboard in there.

Ok. Sorry. My ignorance on computer HW is thus officially revealed. I thought that the stuff sticking down from the covered part looked like a stack of cards on a bus, and so assumed that the top would be hiding the motherboard. I haven't dared to add anything to my PCs myself since '01 when I added a little bit of extra RAM to keep the old reliable '94 60 MHz Pentium up and running win95. A true collectors item! FDIV bug and everything. Boots up from a 3 and a half inch floppy in one tenth of the time used by this presumably reasonably up-to-date dualcore 2GHz laptop running XP.

The point still stands. Whatever is showing in 1414 should not stay there, when the torso is used as a cereal bowl.

[peterh]

While it's already remarkable that we collectively do reverse psychology on the human QC cast, reverse-engineering a fictional robot really takes fandom to new, unanticipated, levels!

[akronnick]

In refreference to Pintsize's architechture, two words: blue tooth.

His mother board could be cloud-sourced to the sub-etha network for all we know! He's a fictional comic relief robot, don't worry to much about where is parts go.  Newegg.com doesn't carry them. (I know, I've checked.)

[Delator]

If only there were a well-endowed woman in the cast who was attracted to Sven and capable of surprising insights ...

I admit it, I just want Raven back.

Me too... 

Also...

Mister Peepers: Never forget.

[Akima]

In refreference to Pintsize's architechture, two words: blue tooth.

Bluetooth (which is actually one word) is the arthritic* snail of wireless comms. Pintsize would need something way faster.

*Yes, I know snails have no joints, and so by definition cannot suffer from arthritis, but you know what I mean.

[AnAverageWriter]

I haven't dared to add anything to my PCs myself since '01 when I added a little bit of extra RAM to keep the old reliable '94 60 MHz Pentium up and running win95. A true collectors item! FDIV bug and everything. Boots up from a 3 and a half inch floppy in one tenth of the time used by this presumably reasonably up-to-date dualcore 2GHz laptop running XP.

A tool that does what you need it to do is useful even if old. I'm writing this post on a 1999 purple ("Grape") iMac I got for thirty bucks at a PC Salvage store. Stuffed in a ten-buck 512MB stick in it, and viola- my daily QC addiction without tying up an extra PC in the house.
My "main" writing computer is a circa 1994-1995 Mac 6400. Uses one of the most fantastic, heaviest keyboards I've ever used, the Apple Extended Keyboard.

The point still stands. Whatever is showing in 1414 should not stay there, when the torso is used as a cereal bowl.

Agreed. Hopefully that chassis was empty before he cerealed it.

[raoullefere]

Pintsize's motherboard is in his head? I thought it was in his torso.

Have we hit a comic singularity discontinuity?

Marten did use his torso as a cereal bowl at one point, while his head was vehemently protesting. That also suggests that the torso does not contain anything vital. I agree that in 1414 with the torso open it does look like the motherboard is in there.

When Hannelore foolishly stuffs Pintsize with too much RAM, Marten strikes Pintsize a good un' the back of the head, and the teeny terror spits the ramstick out. Where the RAM be, there be ye motherboard, me hearties! Although we be assumin' the wee monster's other ram be soldered on.