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What would you find most useful about Augmented Reality Glasses?

travel directions
pretending to do one thing while actually using the glasses
tagged people
tagged stores
tagged bathrooms
gaming
recording
taking pictures
holo maid
porn
Come on, why didn't you mention my use for them?!

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Author Topic: WCDT: 2500-2504 (29 July- August 2, 2013) Weekly Comic Discussion Thread  (Read 122604 times)

Is it cold in here?

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Can't think of any "ism"s that I've liked.

hope you're not against 'asm's as well

Phantasms aren't that great.
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PHDrillSergeant

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I have a feeling I'm gonna get some hate for this.

This is one of the first QC story arcs I haven't enjoyed. Specifically, it really stretches the boundaries of what we expect from the QC universe, even taking into account sentient AIs and holographic glasses. The idea that a company would pay someone $1500 to try out a demo of a criminal ai who berates you for days is just ridiculous to me, even in a comic which has featured a robot who glues pubic hairs to his face. the holo AI is written very boringly in my opinion, and each strip here is terribly predictable.

I hope we can move on soon.

Cheers, all.
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PonyToast

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If the Glasses are the same price in the QCverse as they are in ours (for the developer edition, at least), then Dale is basically getting refunded his money for his Glasses, while still getting to keep them after. I can't imagine how spending two days with May (especially when you can turn her off, even if you won't) isn't worth it.
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PHDrillSergeant

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That's what's ridiculous about it. It makes no sense for a company to pay the users $1500 to try out a demo. Any demo. If the demo nets purchases from 10% (which is a generous estimate) of its demo-users, the company would need to charge $15,000 per companion AI just to break even.
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cesium133

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I still suspect the $1500 is a lie and that May is somehow scamming Dale.
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Is it cold in here?

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She'd hardly be the first prisoner to scam someone on the outside.

Intuitively it feels like we're going to get some plot twists in this arc.

Agreed about the money: a company could use its own employees for early testing.
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cesium133

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Thinking about it some more, I keep thinking of the South Park episode where aliens land on Earth and trick the earthlings into believing in the value of "space cash." I have the feeling at some point there will be a line along the lines of "Robot Jail? How stupid were you to believe that!?"
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Pilchard123

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*Infinity image*

Grah, boob socks. Funny that, I'd never noticed it until it was pointed out to me, but now they're really obvious.
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While I love Infinity, that image, and that chick's rocking chest, I really can't ignore boob socks any more sadly. It actively bothers me in a lot of media. "Hey! Fabric doesn't work like that!"
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Method of Madness

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...boob socks?
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T

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What if she is the pink anthropc who gave Pintsize a virus? Maybe she was one of thise bots spreading virus.
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St.Clair

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...boob socks?
Tops that are perfectly tailored to each individual breast, a result of an artist just drawing a naked figure and then coloring it to look like clothes, sometimes with a half-hearted attempt at fabric lines.
Actual clothing tends to fit around both, blurring and compressing their shape into what's sometimes referred to as a "monoboob" - a relatively undifferentiated horizontal bulge.
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Method of Madness

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Oh. Well, if technology is super advanced, why is it stretching the suspension of disbelief that clothes in the future can do that?
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They call me Mr. Madness.

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MR ARCHIVE-FU MADNESS
Does anybody really know what time it is?
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St.Clair

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Because there's no real practical reason for it to, other than to make reality look more like the work of lazy artists.
You might as well ask if we will someday have the technology to digitally wipe away backgrounds, replacing them with panels of flat color.  (We might, but is that really a plausible application or desirable outcome?)
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Redball

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Doesn't that sound like sensory deprivation?
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DSL

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While I love Infinity, that image, and that chick's rocking chest, I really can't ignore boob socks any more sadly. It actively bothers me in a lot of media. "Hey! Fabric doesn't work like that!"
I'm trying to remember the name of the woman who said, for posterity, that she wondered whether any comic book artists had ever actually seen a woman naked. Until I remember, I'm going to have to content myself with this distant second, from Luke McKinney over at cracked dot com:
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Female superhero costumes are the comic industry's "No Cooties" signs: They prove that the people who designed them think about girls (a lot) but don't really know how they work and are making sure it stays that way.
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Mr_Rose

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I think it's clear that they have seen women naked, just not in person. And further that due to this separation, they can't quite relate what they see in pictures to what they see walking past them with the slightly nauseous look….
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Because there's no real practical reason for it to, other than to make reality look more like the work of lazy artists.
You might as well ask if we will someday have the technology to digitally wipe away backgrounds, replacing them with panels of flat color.  (We might, but is that really a plausible application or desirable outcome?)

while i agree in principle, i also think it should be pointed out that clothing fashion can get pretty impractical & silly, even in the real world. and especially when viewed from the context of a different time, place, or culture.
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Platypodes

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There has got to be more to this than meets the eye.

I'm going to accept May's being in Robot Jail as truth, assuming that it's what she almost let slip earlier ("in ro-"), but I just can't buy the rest of the set-up.  Corporation pays you $1500 to test a demo of a companion AI who's actually a criminal hanging out with you as part of her sentence?  QC plots are generally a lot more logical than that.  I'm expecting Dale to find out that May or somebody higher up has been fucking with him in a big way.

Notice that she never read him the license agreement.  Either there wasn't a license agreement because this whole thing is a charade, or it's legit to some degree but May is capable of breaking the rules.  If she's able to not read the license agreement (which she was presumably required to read), who knows what else she's getting away with.

Even without taking it at face value, I'm finding this to be the most bizarre QC plot twists to date.
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Demolator

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Man, I feel stupid. Everyone's all readin' into these strips and stuff and I just kind of appreciated the humor and got off.  Also, I can think of a lot of practical reasons to draw like that, although most are less than appropriate.
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Redball

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Welcome, new member!

I agree with you, and don't feel stupid. I read these threads, but mostly I'm along for the story, wherever Jeph takes it. Maybe this arc won't turn out so well, but that's permitted over a span of 2,500 or so comics in a decade.
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Is it cold in here?

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Welcome, and please know that there is plenty of room here for simply enjoying the strip without playing the overanalysis game.
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ab720

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Maybe he's being paid to be a parole officer, and that is what was in the license agreement. It's entirely possible he has responsibilities he is not remotely aware of. Also I'm pissed I'm missing these crazy livestreams.
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Method of Madness

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You can watch the videos of them if you want.
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They call me Mr. Madness.

Quote from: Polonius
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
MR ARCHIVE-FU MADNESS
Does anybody really know what time it is?
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

MillionDollar Belt Sander

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Know what?   The simplest solution to all this --  He's being played by Marigold who is a far more talented hacker/computer-wiz than anyone suspected.   This is all an elaborate put on by her.
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...

Carl-E

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I think we've pretty well eliminated that storyline - it's WAAAAAY to far out of character for her, given how she feels about him. 

Momo, on the other hand - with Pintsize's help -


No, nevermind, that one's even less plausible than Mari-miss-passive-gold. 
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The real truth?

May is a Cylon infiltration program.
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ab720

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More like skynet considering her dream of being a fighter jet. Still terrifying. I wonder what kind of anti-skynet measures the meat people have. Or if it's all moot, considering station.

So Hannelore holds the fate of humanity.
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Jeph referencing Macross instead of Robotech. Good. Points for that.

Harmony Gold can go suck cocks. Those fucking inept bastards....
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Haha, the YF-29 strike drone, nice Macro-*ninja'd*

Damn you, guy whose name I have no way to shorten and make pronounceable. DAMN YOU TO HELLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!
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That is some "impulse control issue" she has.

Thing is, I don't even think Pintsize, at his worst, would even consider doing something like that.

This is kinda sounding more and more legit as this goes on, but I still get the sense May is trying to pull one over on Dale.
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I can't really blame her - who wouldn't wanna be a fighter jet if they could?
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Rimwolf

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Well, if you're a fighter jet, you have to work for the kind of people who can, and have need to, keep you supplied with jet fuel.
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J

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yeah, it'd be great.

up until you've burned through all your black market jetfuel. then where you gonna be?


Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.

ninja'd
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Is it cold in here?

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There would probably be lots of freelance opportunities.

$750 million is way more than even an F-35 costs. That's up in the strategic bomber price range.
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Delator

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This is one of the first QC story arcs I haven't enjoyed. Specifically, it really stretches the boundaries of what we expect from the QC universe, even taking into account sentient AIs and holographic glasses. The idea that a company would pay someone $1500 to try out a demo of a criminal ai who berates you for days is just ridiculous to me, even in a comic which has featured a robot who glues pubic hairs to his face. the holo AI is written very boringly in my opinion, and each strip here is terribly predictable.

I don't much care about the logistical details regarding the demo, but I agree that I don't like the story line, and it's largely because I cannot take May seriously as a character.

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yeah, it'd be great.

up until you've burned through all your black market jetfuel. then where you gonna be?

If you're lucky, parked on a runway, or in a hangar.
If you have "impulse control problems", possibly several thousand feet in the air.  That could be... bad.
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I still suspect the $1500 is a lie and that May is somehow scamming Dale.

I'm glad someone at least suspects that it is a lie, rather than just accepting it without question.

Personally, I would be amazed if it were true.

I'm also a bit bemused at the people who think that the story about beta testers being paid $1500 is unbelievable, and immediately think "what a terrible story" instead of "maybe she isn't telling the truth."
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Is it cold in here?

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Dale doesn't seem to like her now, but when it's time to part with her will he be dismayed?
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A jet fighter with impulse control issues. Just what we need.
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I gotta say, the more I think about this strip, the less I like it...
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So, maidification as punishment. We_R_Nomad would be proud.

It begs the question: where do those 750 millions come from? Skimming the fractions after the comma?

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but when it's time to part with her will he be dismayed?

C:/rimshot.mp3
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The idea that a company would pay someone $1500 to try out a demo of a criminal ai who berates you for days is just ridiculous to me

Here is my guess: The "testing" is a very thin cover that Dale has already blown. The one actually paying him is the corrections facility, and what he's actually being paid for is to assist in May's re-socialization as a sort of unwitting parole officer / behavior therapist.

Whether or not that's ethical is up for debate, but I suppose if the worst she can do to him is annoy him for two days, then he's being compensated fairly for it. They're bound to have safeguards and surveillance in place to ensure she can't go rogue or escape.

(Also, we still don't know what was in that license agreement. It could have been right there in the fine print.)
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I still suspect the $1500 is a lie and that May is somehow scamming Dale.
Me too. And May flying a fighter-jet does not sound good...

Boob socks? Boob socks? What about the weird boob shape? Or look at Miss Underboob in the background with the pair of half-grapefruit apparently attached to her collarbones? Making fun of comic-artists' ideas about female anatomy is like shooting fish in a barrel...

And *groan* @ IICIH.
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Blackjoker

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I could see it as maybe something closer to a bet, like her arguing that she doesn't really have problems and that anyone would probably do something like that, hence her trying to get Dale to do things that a more impulsive individual might. Either that or she's doing this because she figures that people with the glasses are going to have money, thus she might be able to still get the money for her jet fighter by memorizing a few accounts here and there and taking a few from a lot of people is easier than a lot from one place.
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For some reason, May as an AI that is more than a little rambunctious and wants nothing more than to be a fighter jet reminds me of certain Drones in Iain M. Banks' "Culture-verse"
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ThomasEll

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I'm pretty sure that what May has done can't be considered worse than anything that Pintsize has done, it's just that he hasn't been arrested yet :P
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She believed she could fly.
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James The Kugai 

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Lummer

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She believed she could fly.

Fly, yes, but mostly she wanted to blow shit up.
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@people saying comic artists have no idea of women etc:
...are you aware of the irony of making that ridiculously generalized claim HERE of all places?

Jeph is in a relationship.


So, maidification as punishment. We_R_Nomad would be proud.
Keep in mind the special shape was not explicitly part of her punishment (although of course the shape change in general was).


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C:/rimshot.mp3

Excuse me. That's the wrong path.

Did anyone else have a "shit just got real" moment at the last line? After all, what happened was that she tried to be what she wanted to be.
I can imagine her planning it, waiting for that moment when she'd have enough money... funneling it into the "Swiss account" in anticipation... and then being caught.

In fact, I might try to write a fanfic based on that.
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