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Why Ardent is there

5 (10.9%)

Why Ardent loves hats

2 (4.3%)

Who Alice REALLY is.

18 (39.1%)

The price of Hats in wherever.

7 (15.2%)

Wherever this place is.

14 (30.4%)

Total Members Voted: 44

[jwhouk]

And, as it is a new month, here's your poll and Discussion Thread.

[ysth]

A second discussion thread...*sniff* our little baby's growing up so fast.

[BenRG]

I voted for Alice's real identity and I'm betting that we're all going to be startled just how mundane it is.

[Kugai]

General Purpose Maintenance Engineer Class II?

[Method of Madness]

Does "identity" include whatever superpower she has?

[FunkyTuba]

Waiting for QC cameos.... Any bets in when Harriet will put in an appearance?

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I'm better Alice's real identity is GSV.

[KOK]

Alice's secret identity is Pizza Girl.

[Kugai]

Well, that would explain why we haven't seen her in QC for a while


She's crossed dimensions

[Neko_Ali]

Or perhaps this is where people eaten by the Allosaur go? Does this mean Angus will be joining the cast? People need to know these things!

[Pilchard123]

What, like the Nethersphere?

[Zebediah]

I am more and more getting the impression that Alice is no more a native of this world than Ardent is. Perhaps even less.

[SubaruStephen]

Oh, I get it, we've got an M. Night Shyamalon's The Village situation going on.



(Yes, I know I spelled his name wrong)

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I'm telling you, Alice is the avatar of the General Systems Vehicle Alice Grove. The world is a spaceship and the spaceship is Alice.

[Method of Madness]

So Alice is still being a shitty xenophobe?

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Maybe. But, whatever's going on, Alice has something to protect here.

One could jump to conclusions about her, but one then skips the questions: Why is the harmony so balanced? What is doing the balancing. Who is managing the what? Is it Alice? And, most interesting, is "Not supposed to possible" a throwaway line, or does Alice know of something that would prevent extra terrestrial sight seers

[BenRG]

Called it: Ardy is a tourist (and, thus, a parody of every thoughtless thing that we do on holiday).

What is interesting is that "it isn't supposed to be possible". My guess is that someone is trying to build a perfect world and has psychotic robot defences in place to stop outsiders from getting in and 'infecting' the place. As for Alice? She's a caretaker. She keeps things working and in balance. Sometimes that involves removing things that disrupt the balance, so Ardent should watch his back!

Alternately, this is a simulation and Alice is an avatar of the system's maintenance algorithms.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Alternately, this is a GSV and Alice is an avatar of the ship's AI.

Improved that for you.

[BenRG]

Alternately, this is a GSV and Alice is an avatar of the ship's AI.

Improved that for you.

Is that a The Culture reference? I've never liked those stories. The Culture was always too OP and too self-righteous for my tastes.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

To me, the Culture is a modern take on the United Federation of Planets. Their attitude makes perfect sense for that perspective, and the way it clashes with things around it is fun to watch.

Alice's self-righteousness is certainly in keeping.

[BenRG]

The biggest argument against Alice being an all-powerful AI is that she can't do anything about Ardent. A Culture AI would disintegrate him on the spot and walk on before he even finished dissolving. No, she has some special abilities but she is mostly at the same level as the townsfolk and farmers. That's what makes me think 'Caretaker'.

She may be a very advanced AnthroPC but that's the top limit.

FWIW, I believe that she is capable of/authorised to use deadly force to protect The Experiment, so Ardent should watch his step. However, I suspect that he is a symptom of some far greater problem and may end up an unlikely ally in the tradition of Twoflower.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Oh, I know she's not a GSV. At the rate this story is moving it will be a good long time before we really know anything, so I came up with the most insane theory still vaguely consistent with the established story.

And I'm stickin' to it.

[BenRG]

I was thinking about this on my way to work this morning and realised that 'Caretaker' has some misleading implications. If Alice has a title, I've got a feeling that it is 'Guardian'.

[Zebediah]

Maintenance technician. Custodian. Janitor. Petty Officer Second Class.

[ysth]

Alice is Mindy and Ardent is Mork.

[Kugai]

For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky!!

[BenRG]

For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky!!

Or The Jack Show.

[Is it cold in here?]

Alice is not an android. She's a Druid.

An andruid?

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Alice is not an android. She's a Druid.

An andruid?

I'm copyrighting that.

[Schmorgluck]

Clothes are overrated.

[Is it cold in here?]

They seem to be expected in that society.

[BenRG]

ALICE: "Yes! It's a half-naked blue boy with a tail! SO?!? Get out of here, people! Nothing to see! Move on already!"

Seriously, the destabilisation Alice feared has already begun. She'll have to move fast to keep on top of it. Something tells me that this won't be pleasant for poor Ardent!

[mikmaxs]

I just realized that Alice Grove has no shading. I thought the art looked weird since it started, but I just now figured out why. Huh. Weird.

[Kugai]

Well, at least they don't have Pitchforks and Torches



Yet.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I just realized that Alice Grove has no shading. I thought the art looked weird since it started, but I just now figured out why. Huh. Weird.

THAT DID NOT OCCUR TO ME. WHY DID THAT NOT OCCUR TO ME?

[MooskiNet]

I dunno, are you kind of dumb?

Nice to meet you, too.

 

[DSL]

Great, now Reindeer's gonna make you balance a can on your head.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Nope.

I'm going to make you balance toucans!

[Kugai]

That'll just get him puffin'

[ReindeerFlotilla]

It's just a lark.

[Storel]

Praline: Lark's vomit?
Milton: Correct.
Praline: Well, it don't say nothing about that here.
Milton: Oh yes it does, on the bottom of the box, after monosodium glutamate.
Praline: (looking) Well, I hardly think this is good enough. I think it'd be more appropriate if the box bore a great red label "Warning: lark's vomit!"
Milton: Our sales would plummet!

[Method of Madness]

I just realized that Alice Grove has no shading. I thought the art looked weird since it started, but I just now figured out why. Huh. Weird.

THAT DID NOT OCCUR TO ME. WHY DID THAT NOT OCCUR TO ME?

What do you mean by shading? She doesn't look odd to me, am I missing something?

[MooskiNet]

It's like the difference between QC 2762 and QC 2763 - characters are colored, but there's no shading on the 2762 characters.  The shading you see again in 2763 isn't present at all in the Alice Grove comics.

[Method of Madness]

Oh! I thought you were referring to Alice Grove the character, and I was trying to find how she was different than anyone else.

[Kugai]

No, she is NOt a Vampire

[jwhouk]

THAT was what was wrong with the new art style: no texturing.

Compare May's hair in 2761 with the very next strip. That's what's missing in Alice Grove.

Alice's ponytail should have some texture to it, similar to what our red-headed avenger has in QC.

[ysth]

I would assume it's a conscious choice.  The question is why?  I guess it does make for a kind of pastoral look.

[FunkyTuba]

I think it makes for a brighter look overall to the comic and it has a nice side benefit of saving a fair amount of drawing time (which I think he uses to make the panels bigger)

[ysth]

I just noticed his tail is up; does that mean he's happy?  He doesn't look happy.

[Method of Madness]

He could be startled. Or stretching.