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More Emilton;

Back to Marten and Claire;

More Faye recovery;

Hannelore has a new adventure

Sam and Veronica bonding (figuratively, of course);

Momo and May save the day!

[Endellion]

In before Pintsize VespavengerBot rematch 

[chaospersonified]

More importantly, we need to meet Bubbles.


WHO
IS
BUBBLES

Uh, she's kind of hard to miss, being eight feet tall and kind of maroon-colored.

Oh, Zebediah, your name makes you sound ancient and wise, can't you see, I'm talking about the person on Bubbles, not her physical body! You could literally put Bubbles on Momo's chassis, but that wouldn't make her Momo! I repeat the question from earlier!

Who is Bubbles!?

I'm thinking, because I'm hyping this up, she's not even going to be a recurring character.

[cesium133]

New comic.

Well, you wanted to know who Bubbles is. 

[mustang6172]

Are all fighting robots supposed to be humanoid?  Seems like the best design would be some kind of self-aware tank.  Are there different classes?

[Gladstone]

Yep, Bubbles is definitely in the wrong comic.

[chaospersonified]

New comic.

Well, you wanted to know who Bubbles is. 

I am satisfied

[wlewisiii]

Neat strip.

And yeah, an undercut would look good on Bubbles.

[SubaruStephen]

"Her name's Bubbles."

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I can never get enough of Jeph's AI's.
This will be AWESOME!
(bounces up and down)

[ZoeB]

Proof against 3cm Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot.

Oh spit.

For my sins, I worked with 25mm APFSDS rounds in the past.

Good rule of thumb - AP can penetrate its diameter in armour steel.  APDS - twice. APFSDS - thrice.

Bubbles has rather better protection than a WWII Tiger tank. That had 8cm side armour.

[Akima]

I had no idea that it was possible to produce a discarding-sabot round in so small a calibre, but search-fu revealed that it is indeed so. A hyper-velocity needle ever ready to inject the depleted uranium of the people (with apologies to William Plomer).

So... Is Bubbles ex-military? One would assume so. An interesting filler comic.

[Zog]

Anyway, this must be Pintsizes wet dream: carried around by Faye clutched to her bosoms.

His grin says it all.
Surely panel 2 is a subject for the caption competition.

I thought that he was just very happy to be doing something besides just being entertaining/annoying.

[Indicible]

She looks like the perfect girlfriend for Sechs from Battle Angel Allita Last Order (Gunnm in Japanese and French).
The only worries we might have is the destructive nature of their frollicking...

[QuestionableIntentions]

Yay Bubbles 

Though I still want Deathbot9000 to show up again. With or without his canadian girlfriend.

[BenRG]

It's odd but some of Jeph's text today really does suggest to me that Bubbles' day job may be in child care.

That aside, an I the only one expecting a personality a bit like Faye's? I'm predicting her to be tough, determined to be independent and strong but with a soft heart. In the end, she wants to be accepted for what she is!

[pwhodges]

The tickle zone supports that.

[osaka]

Considering one of the screens on a nintendo DS is a touchscreen, I wonder how would that work for Bubbles. I assume the stylus means it's usable by non-humans but there's the weak construction of the stylus itself.

Also, I wonder how Bubbles feels / will feel about Iwata's death. Probably super-sad.

[MrNumbers]

I feel Jeph's comedic and Slice of Life mastery is let down a little by his art skills for this one.

If we're getting a pinup for a comic, I wouldn't mind if it was prettier than usual, rather than a character sketch with annotations.

On the other hand, they really good annotations.

[ZoeB]

I hope Bubbles is a Ref and not a Competitor.

Anything which requires that degree of armour protection is Bad News. Collateral Damage waiting to happen.

[ZoeB]

I had no idea that it was possible to produce a discarding-sabot round in so small a calibre, but search-fu revealed that it is indeed so. A hyper-velocity needle ever ready to inject the depleted uranium of the people (with apologies to William Plomer).

Tungsten. Cheaper, less controversial, easier to store.
25mm APFSDS using a 14.5mm long rod penetrator, designed to go into one end of an incoming armoured hypersonic missile, and out the other, transferring a significant quantity of its kinetic energy to the target as it does so, disrupting guidance, fusing, warhead and propulsion.

This is one scary piece of kit.

[Zebediah]

I hope Bubbles is a Ref and not a Competitor.

Anything which requires that degree of armour protection is Bad News. Collateral Damage waiting to happen.

Bubbles is a trainer/manager. She retired from the ring after an unfortunate accident in her last match - it turned out her opponent wasn't a bot after all, but a member of Daft Punk. She still has bad flashbacks every time she hears "Get Lucky".

[Welu]

I like Bubbles and her truthful hips.

[chaospersonified]

It's odd but some of Jeph's text today really does suggest to me that Bubbles' day job may be in child care.

She's labelled specifically as an autonomous combat droid in the top left. I suspect reference to kittens and kickball to be largely incidental, if only because who the goddamn hell would put military tech in charge of their child

[osaka]

My idea is quite the contrary to BenRG's. Those annotations go for her free time, which she enjoys either keeping herself active (hence the kickball reference) or staying at whatever she calls home with an assortment of different loving cats.

[DSL]

Or maybe humor.

I just want to know whether "slinky abs" means she's alluringly curvy -- or that she walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkety sound.

[osaka]

Why not both?

[Timemaster]

Bubbles! Bubbles!
My bubbles!!!

Remember the yellow fish from Finding Nemo? 

Oh, I can´t wait for tomorrow.
Bubbles raises a lot of interesting questions. Her chassis appears to be military hardware (like Pintsize). But a lot more powerful and advanced. I wonder how military ground combat is conducted in a world where humanoid warbots are used. Maybe her chassis is designed for special ops.
But how can such a chassis get out of militarys hands? How does an AI get to run around in civilian enivironment and even have it painted red "because it looks cool"?
OK, this is the USA, so it may be common, but for someone from Europe this feels quite strange.
I wonder how the NRA thinks about this.

Bubbles seems to be involved in organising the fights. Maybe she´s some kind of bouncer or referee, once the the fights get out of hand. But who is the manager then? Maybe May is involved here? I wouldn´t put it beside her.
Does Bubbles run around in this chassis in her free time? We know AI´s can change their chassis without too much trouble. Maybe she changes hers when she leaves the skate park. Maybe she even knows Momo, perhaps from the robot support group...

In a world with artificial intelligence, invisible aircrafts, space stations and Vespa- or deathbots some other new technology comes as no surprise. So the high-effective armour  and the artificial muscles are pretty logical in my oppinion.

Aaah, this is a lot of fun. I can´t wait for tomorrow. So many questions, so many possible answers. So much potential for hilarius fun here. 

TM
(Did I mention I can´t wait for tomorrow?)

[pwhodges]

or that she walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkety sound.

Or simply goes down like a Slinky:

[Rghfrgl]

With pressure against the inhumanity of self destruct buttons even among the robot fighting community the tickle zone was created as a alternative built in weakness should the robots go rogue and try to destroy their masters.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I don't think Bubbles's chest plate is supposed to be conforming boob. It looks more like sectional articulation, like the Nolan Batsuit.

Still not a good idea, because of impact guidance, but Bubbles probably doesn't have a heart and lungs under there. In fact, I'm thinking a missile emplacement ala Striker Eureka. Changes the meaning of "Nice rack."

[DSL]

or that she walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkety sound.

Or simply goes down like a Slinky:

I believe we're saying the same thing, there.

[Timemaster]

I don't think Bubbles's chest plate is supposed to be conforming boob. It looks more like sectional articulation, like the Nolan Batsuit.

Still not a good idea, because of impact guidance, but Bubbles probably doesn't have a heart and lungs under there. In fact, I'm thinking a missile emplacement ala Striker Eureka. Changes the meaning of "Nice rack."

This section of her chassis is probably the most heavily armoured. Because I suppose this is where the most important and vulnerable part is hidden: her CPU.
It doesn´t make sense to put the CPU of a warbot in his head. It is exposed, relatve small, has to be equipped with a lot of sensors and a speaker, plus the device that mimics facial expressions. Not so much place for a heavily armored "brain" left here. The chest provides a lot of space for the CPU and can be protected even better by additional external armour. Together with the energy source of the bot.

Hah, fictional robot technology. I love it. 

TJ

[Kugai]

I still want to know where Blossom and Buttercup are

[ReindeerFlotilla]

This section of her chassis is probably the most heavily armoured. Because I suppose this is where the most important and vulnerable part is hidden: her CPU.
It doesn´t make sense to put the CPU of a warbot in his head. It is exposed, relatve small, has to be equipped with a lot of sensors and a speaker, plus the device that mimics facial expressions. Not so much place for a heavily armored "brain" left here. The chest provides a lot of space for the CPU and can be protected even better by additional external armour. Together with the energy source of the bot.

Hah, fictional robot technology. I love it. 

TJ

As previously pointed out, the seam and contouring on Bubbles's chest actually makes that section of her body MORE vulnerable. While arguments can be made for placing the most critical systems there, there's no actual reason they have to be.

Assuming that seam is just a point of articulation, given the stated resistance of her armor plate, anything that penetrates that seam is going to stay inside. It won't be able to get out. To borrow a phrase, it will "rattle around in there like Pac-Man until [she's] dead."

Whether the head is a better or worse location depends on how it is built. There's nothing that said human level AI requires a human sized brain. There may be no need for a kilo of matter in 1.3 liters of space. It might be much much smaller. That means much more of the skull could be devoted to armor. Since the skull is largely not articulated, it can be a much sturdier set of thicker armor.

There might be advantages, as well, in keeping the signal distance between the "brain" and primary sensor groups short. This might be off set by the added distance between the brain and primary motor groups, but that could be addressed the same way as humans do it- have a lot of basic motor function directed by the spine.

While there are arguments to doing it either way, there's nt absolute best way to build a QC warbot, until Jeph says there is.

Until that point, I'm going to continue to imagine that Bubbles's chest is full of missiles and she's all Itano Circus up on any challenger.

[War Sparrow]

I still want to know where Blossom and Buttercup are

Now I'm sad cause she isn't blue.

[Zebediah]

For that matter, there's no reason that Bubbles needs to have her intelligence localized in a single processor. Spread the processing units throughout the body and you have a much more robust system.

[SubaruStephen]

Is it too soon to start thinking of Bubbles as a potential romantic partner for Pintsize?

Considering she could launch him into space with her bare hands, I'd like to see what happens when she decides she's had enough of his crap and dumps him. (My money's on Robot Jox level destruction.)

[katsmeat]

I wonder how the NRA thinks about this.

I can see this being their solution to any problems....
http://digital-art-gallery.com/picture/1716

[Omega Entity]

Considering one of the screens on a nintendo DS is a touchscreen, I wonder how would that work for Bubbles. I assume the stylus means it's usable by non-humans but there's the weak construction of the stylus itself.

Yup, they're just a touch screen, not a capacitative (the kind that require contact with skin to work). I always have to remind myself that I need to use my fingernail instead of the pad of my finger to get it to do anything.

[cesium133]

One person I know had a cheap iPhone clone that had a resistive touchscreen. He used his keys to touch the screen because they were sharp enough to put enough pressure on it.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I had no idea that it was possible to produce a discarding-sabot round in so small a calibre, but search-fu revealed that it is indeed so. A hyper-velocity needle ever ready to inject the depleted uranium of the people (with apologies to William Plomer).

Tungsten. Cheaper, less controversial, easier to store.
25mm APFSDS using a 14.5mm long rod penetrator, designed to go into one end of an incoming armoured hypersonic missile, and out the other, transferring a significant quantity of its kinetic energy to the target as it does so, disrupting guidance, fusing, warhead and propulsion.

This is one scary piece of kit.

The 'Hog nerds did a kinetic calculation on "upgrading" the Avenger with APFSDS and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't hit any harder. Apparently, 11inch 30mm (why they gotta mix metrics) shells are really all you need with the right gun.

I think the Russians built an even more powerful 30mm gun system, but it kept damaging the aircraft when fired, so they gave up. If Bubbles can stand up to that, she's a super hero.

[osaka]

I did not expect that response from Bubbles after the Pintsize comment.

Now being serious on her metalworking skill, an espressosaurus seems more than enough statement of metal shaping skills, but they didn't have joints.

[Zebediah]

And just what the hell is Pintsize doing up there anyway?

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I don't think Bubbles's chest plate is supposed to be conforming boob. It looks more like sectional articulation, like the Nolan Batsuit.

Still not a good idea, because of impact guidance, but Bubbles probably doesn't have a heart and lungs under there. In fact, I'm thinking a missile emplacement ala Striker Eureka. Changes the meaning of "Nice rack."

Um, Aphrodite A from Mazinger Z.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08VMDWRtn_I And Go Nagai has a lot to answer for.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I'm familiar with Aphrodite A. While boob missiles make a fine joke, in some sense, I was actually referring to the fact that Striker Eureka has an actual rack of missile launchers in its chest.

Not embedded, cuz it doesn't need to be. https://youtu.be/QLHGLn2PdyY?t=35s

Since Bubbles has a sectional chest, launching whole plate would be odd. Unless it is reactive armor.

I know I'm pooping on the joke, but I was never really fond of that particular bit of anime stupidity and must, therefore, distance my joke from it as much as humanly possible.

[electromgneticDstroyosaur]

Can this possibly mean what I desperately hope it means? I dare think that our lovers' tournaments are becoming mission-critical to the plotline.

[SubaruStephen]

In fact, I'm thinking a missile emplacement ala Striker Eureka. Changes the meaning of "Nice rack."

I'll just put this here....

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Speed, forearm blades, chest weapons... I suspect the Guyver may have had some influence on the Striker Eureka design.

[Kugai]

i wonder if Bubbles will wind up a regular character

It'll prove interesting if she does.

[Omega Entity]

Man, the art is really off tonight. Especially those last two panels.