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Claire and Marten

Dora and Tai

Clinton and Emily

Veronica and Jim

Hannelore and the local Fire and Rescue Company

Pintsize and Bubbles

Steve and Cosette

Momo and May

[electromgneticDstroyosaur]

I want to change my answer to a Sven and Faye drunk Vegas wedding.   It would be interesting to see them both hit rock bottom, and that seems like a reasonable (?) way of doing so.

>inb4 "Faye went to the hospital"  Let me say from personal experience that a hospital trip is not always a solid indicator of rock bottom, especially if relapses happen shortly thereafter.
>inb4 "Sven lost family ties"  Well we haven't really ever seen Sven have to work for something, and the very idea fails to enter his mind at this point.
>inb4 "You're a sadist"  Yes.  Yes I am.

[BenRG]

The real lesson of today's strip is this: Hannelore's inner reality of the future is a place of sunshine, flowers, rainbows and unicorns. As well as Hanners herself living in a castle and only communicating with her friends with written notes, but I digress...

If nothing else, this strip shows that Hanners' intervention was spontaneous. If it were otherwise, I think that she would have thought of answers to Dora's petty niggling questions!

[de_la_Nae]

While I appreciate your points, Akima, and while I also think Ben might be a little half-cocked on that definition of friendship, this does smack of Dora lashing out at the Image of Sven in her head, rather than dealing with the Sven in front of her. Especially going from Doll Reconciliation to Exile.

The funny thing is, while in a more perfect world they wouldn't have come to this, this may be something similar to what they both need, in the mid-term. It's implied that Dora's never went this far before, so perhaps this distance will help her exorcise the Image that hangs over her fear. And as for Sven, well, a few more kicks in the ass to remind him what the stakes of life are might not be the worst medicine he could be prescribed.

It's probably an injustice if this holds forever, if the wound never heals. But for now....eh. Sometimes we open up sores, so they don't seal up with infection.

[ohitsjustwill]

I'm finding it hard to understand why Hannelore cares so much about Sven at the moment. I understand her motives are geared more toward Dora's happiness, but Dora's shown no signs she needs Sven back in her life. Therefore, I'm at a complete and utter loss as to why Hannelore wants Dora to start talking to Sven again.

Also, Sven's last appearance made me hate him even more. The man-bun...it's...ugh. I've never met a dude who wore a man-bun who wasn't also a colossal asshole, and oddly enough, the description of my experiences with man-bun-wearers fits Sven to a T.

[katsmeat]

Ever since I changed it to this one, yeah. It's a .gif, the pup is trying to get the stick across the bridge, the shapes represent his mental calculations.

Ages ago, I had a conversation with somebody working on getting a computer to solve essentially the same problem - moving a very long ladder through a confined area filled with obstacles.

You construct in 3D a representation of all the allowable positions of the ladder - two dimensions for position and a third for angle. You can then treat this as a 3d maze and solve it for the shortest path through. Assuming there is a connected path and you can do it. If not you just have to saw the ladder in half.

Well I found it interesting. Thought I'd share.

[BenRG]

I'm finding it hard to understand why Hannelore cares so much about Sven at the moment.

Because he's her friend and has always been the perfect gentleman to her.

She's facing a situation where two of her friends - Sven and Dora - are both obviously unhappy and feeling isolated. She's trying to help because, to her, that is what friends do.

[Skewbrow]

For a while Monday's strip made me think that Sven may be moving out of town. There's a U-haul van in the background after all. Apparently it was just traffic on the street. Hanners would know and migt have given the news to Dora by now.

Ever since I changed it to this one, yeah. It's a .gif, the pup is trying to get the stick across the bridge, the shapes represent his mental calculations.

Ages ago, I had a conversation with somebody working on getting a computer to solve essentially the same problem - moving a very long ladder through a confined area filled with obstacles.

You construct in 3D a representation of all the allowable positions of the ladder - two dimensions for position and a third for angle. You can then treat this as a 3d maze and solve it for the shortest path through. Assuming there is a connected path and you can do ii. If not you just have to saw the ladder in half.

Well I found it interesting. Thought I'd share.

Somehow I think this should be turned into a video game. Multiple levels + time constraints. Many variations in the rules are possible.

[Akima]

Or, more completely:
- Has an affair with Faye
- Cheats on her with another woman, driving Faye away.

- Declares love for Faye in fairly Nice Guy fashion
- Baffled that this fails
- Dora calls him an asshole for being so insensitive to Faye when her and Angus are on the rocks, cuts him out of her life

Dora' bullshit-o-meter pinned in the red zone in the final panel.

I once walked into an Arby's in Chicago, and asked to see their vegetarian menu. What? D'you think Arby's is world-famous or something? I'd never heard of the place.

[snubnose]

I have no clue what Arby's is and I dont care. Pretty used to Hollywood movies expecting me to know all kinds of things, such as how Baseball works, that doesnt bother me much anymore.

[Wildroses]

I never got the impression Dora cut Sven out purely because of telling Faye loved her, that was just the final straw of a lot of incidents that individually wouldn't have made Dora decide estrangement was the way to go, but all together made estrangement seem an attractive option.

I think it speaks well for Hannelore's character that she is refusing to pick sides and staying friendly with both sides of the estrangement, and also for Dora and Sven that they are not forcing her to pick, and I really hope that in the coming strips I will not need to add a 'yet' to that sentence.

But trying to get involved with reconciling them is a terrible idea. BlueFatima spoke the reasons very eloquently on the last page. But at the same time I am not surprised Jeph is showing Hannelore trying to reconcile the Biachis as it is, alas, fully in character. Hannelore can be quite naďve socially and hates it when relationships change in her social circle. She cried when Dora and Marten broke up and cried again when Faye made it clear she would not be attempting to get her job back.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I watch, and enjoy, anime and foreign films, which constantly have things in them from cultures I don't live in. Some I understand from other sources, others I haven't the faintest clue about. I rather expect that.

I keep seeing this thing where non-Americans complain about Hollywood movies being culturally American, and it's just baffling to me. I really don't get a lot of stuff that comes out of Bollywood. I don't feel entitled to an explainer. The stuff that gets into the market here is doing as much to try to extract money from me as Hollywood is you, but the producers didn't have me in mind when they made the film.

Meh.

I do find it interesting that Dora's point of view on her brother is largely considered to be suspect by the readership. We've seen just the barest hints of what Sven was like before Faye, but that thin evidence (plus his post Faye introspection attempts) is considered more real than Dora's assessments of his character and his general agreement with those assessments. It goes to prove, I suppose, the wisdom of "show, don't tell."

[pwhodges]

You construct in 3D a representation of all the allowable positions of the ladder - two dimensions for position and a third for angle. You can then treat this as a 3d maze and solve it for the shortest path through. Assuming there is a connected path and you can do ii. If not you just have to saw the ladder in half.

Swop the ladder for a sofa, and you have a sub-plot of Douglas Adams's book: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

[Is it cold in here?]

BlueFatima, those are first-rate points, thank you.

There are some people here who have had to amputate toxic family members. It can be vital to do so and not something for well-meaning outsiders to butt in about. The people here had dramatically better reasons than anything we have seen yet from Dora.

We don't know yet whether Jeph is advocating the idea that reconciliation is always a good thing.  He might be, but it's sufficient explanation if he is just illustrating Hannelore's character. It's like when she tried to encourage Faye to re-apply for her job.

[Method of Madness]

Faye has a better job now, though. A much better job. I hope she doesn't hide it from Marten for long.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

We don't know if it's a better job. We just have hints it is one she's more suited to.

Better is going to imply greater satisfaction or similar satisfaction and greater compensation.

[BenRG]

Faye has a better job now, though. A much better job. I hope she doesn't hide it from Marten for long.

I suspect that, possibly at her employers' request, Faye is going to keep her new job secret or at least dissemble about what she's actually doing and for whom. Marten will eventually get suspicious because it's difficult to maintain a secret occupation for long periods with a close friend and room-mate not suspecting anything. Worried that she's in trouble, he covertly follows her to work and we get his POV of the robot fighting leagues.

It is possible that Jeph will have Marten suffer an ethical dilemma on his part between supporting Faye's choices and a personal moral distaste of her employer's business.

[Method of Madness]

I honestly don't see why a reasonable person would have any moral distaste of the business, considering the basically indestructible brains they have.

[de_la_Nae]

I keep seeing this thing where non-Americans complain about Hollywood movies being culturally American, and it's just baffling to me. I really don't get a lot of stuff that comes out of Bollywood. I don't feel entitled to an explainer. The stuff that gets into the market here is doing as much to try to extract money from me as Hollywood is you, but the producers didn't have me in mind when they made the film.

Doesn't *quite* pan out like you'd think; Hollywood has pushed more and more intentionally, and relied upon, international markets for some time now. And thus have driven the international market for quite a while as well. Probably since close to the inception of movies as a thing, now that I consider it.

There's some interesting reading on it here and about, particularly in the context of more recent movie offerings that can be argued that their manufacturers are leaning a little more on other cultures to make their money (Bay's Transformers movies, the remake of The Karate Kid, etc.).

[cesium133]

Faye has a better job now, though. A much better job. I hope she doesn't hide it from Marten for long.

I suspect that, possibly at her employers' request, Faye is going to keep her new job secret or at least dissemble about what she's actually doing and for whom. Marten will eventually get suspicious because it's difficult to maintain a secret occupation for long periods with a close friend and room-mate not suspecting anything. Worried that she's in trouble, he covertly follows her to work and we get his POV of the robot fighting leagues.

It is possible that Jeph will have Marten suffer an ethical dilemma on his part between supporting Faye's choices and a personal moral distaste of her employer's business.

That's an interesting idea. He may even go to Momo about it, and she might decide to get involved...

I honestly don't see why a reasonable person would have any moral distaste of the business, considering the basically indestructible brains they have.

An outsider like Marten doesn't necessarily know about this, though.

[Method of Madness]

Which is why I think Faye should tell him about it and make a case for it before he finds out otherwise.

[osaka]

Or maybe put it into perspective even. "These dudes are armor-plated. We regularly throw Pintsize at a dented wall and nothing's happened to him, they're barely scratching themselves. Also, meet Bubbles, Pintsize's new partner in crime"

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Doesn't *quite* pan out like you'd think; Hollywood has pushed more and more intentionally, and relied upon, international markets for some time now. And thus have driven the international market for quite a while as well. Probably since close to the inception of movies as a thing, now that I consider it.

There's some interesting reading on it here and about, particularly in the context of more recent movie offerings that can be argued that their manufacturers are leaning a little more on other cultures to make their money (Bay's Transformers movies, the remake of The Karate Kid, etc.).

It's still an export of an American movie. American movie. Look up why Big West Bandai intentionally makes no effort export Macross beyond Japan. It's very much part of the Anime business to look at international options. The specific case I mentioned has everything to do with some potentially shady legal business that went down in the 1980s before international anime was a standard business idea.

Every producer of media is looking or hoping for an international audience. Hell, Jeph is an international business. While he certainly doesn't do it often in your face, the comic is not only American, but it's straight up small town Massachusetts. Stuff happens or is shown, all the time in QC that makes no sense to anyone who doesn't live in the area.

Your example of Bayformers is instructive. There's a scene where human bad guys get into fisticuffs with some random dude. That scene makes no particular sense beyond random Chinese fight to everyone but Chinese people, where random dude is a famous boxer. That's almost pandering, when you think about it. But China is a Billion and half people with disposable income. The movie is still stuffed with Americana right up until it moves to China, and I expect there's a lot more than just that one scene of Chinese-specific that makes no sense to anyone else not Chinese there.

Like I said, it don't bother me none. Hell, China has produced some of my favorite stars who did their best work in Chinese (Hong Kong) films full of stuff that makes no sense to me, not being from Hong Kong (Chow Yun-Fat). BFD. I'm still not sure why American films, in particular, have to waste time explaining things, any more than Jeph needed to explain in detail the townie or Wicked-as-intensifier gags. But I guess that's me.

[tangerinewarrior]

Also, Faye doesn't need to give all the details. She can just say, "I'm doing some welding work," and leave it at that. Hell, Marten even suggested she get into that line of work.

[Neko_Ali]

For a very long time Sven has been Dora's insecurity complex made manifest. You know how people like to talk about whether Claire and Clinton have a good sibling relationship? Sven and Dora absolutely don't. And really, it's all on Dora's side. Sven has never shown himself to be more than doing typically sibling teasing (hiding a favorite doll that sort of thing). And when Dora need him, he was there. Dora on the other hand seems to blame Sven directly or indirectly for most of the bad stuff that happened to her growing up. In fairness it seems they had the 'golden child/pale shadow' relationship going on with their parents where Sven was the favorite. And he has pretty much coasted through life obliviously. Making ridiculous amounts of money for very little work that he then complains about, but can't be bothered to change. Absurdly easy time with women and just generally everything Dora was jealous of growing up. She feels that Sven has been just given everything she had to fight for and doesn't appreciate it. So there's always been a lot of jealousy and animosity there.

I also suspect there's been romantic rivalry between them as well. Rivalry in the sense that Sven often wound up with girls that Dora lusted after, through no real effort of his own. That's why him hitting on/dating her friends and employees is such a sore subject. It's something that's happened to often before. Sven on the other side seems far more clueless than malicious. I wouldn't say anything he does is out of mean spiritedness. He's genuinely a good person.. he's just had to easy a life and doesn't know how to deal with people. As I said at the time, his ideas of how romance work seem more in tune with romantic comedy movies than real life. "I confessed my love to Faye. Why didn't she drop her boyfriend and come with me? That's how it works, right?"

I understand why Dora cut ties with Sven. It's just the wrong decision, and unfair to everyone around them. It's just another of Dora's way of not dealing with her issues and insecurities, and finding someone else to blame.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

To put it in Temarian terms, "Sven and Marten, in the bathroom."

Amazing how useful that strip is lately.

The point being, in reference to my earlier "show, don't tell" comment, Sven's behavior in 669 through 680+ is typical of him pre-Faye. I think it is harsh and overly mushy-feel-good-hug-it-out to say that a decade of Sven's MO, especially wrt to people Dora cares about, is just jealousy.

What Sven tried to do to Genevieve, he has (per Dora) done to more than one of her friends. The only reason he didn't do it to Faye was that she knew what he was, and managed to guilt him into being honest about his actions.

Maybe it's unfair of Dora to view Sven through his past actions, but even his reformed self has been less than Emily Post. Dora likely is acting out of her own damage. Most people are. But that doesn't mean Sven's actions wouldn't constitute too much for a self-actualized Dora as well. As Genevieve said, he's a dick. Because for most of his life, that's exactly what he's been.

[katsmeat]

That's an interesting idea. He may even go to Momo about it, and she might decide to get involved...
An outsider like Marten doesn't necessarily know about this, though.

I'm fairly sure Momo, the exemplar "goody-two shoes helper AI" and Corpse Witch would not get on very well.

[de_la_Nae]

To put it in Temarian terms, "Sven and Marten, in the bathroom."

I had to think about that one for a moment, you sneaky Trekker you.

[cesium133]

That's an interesting idea. He may even go to Momo about it, and she might decide to get involved...
An outsider like Marten doesn't necessarily know about this, though.

I'm fairly sure Momo, the exemplar "goody-two shoes helper AI" and Corpse Witch would not get on very well.

Yeah, by "get involved" I was thinking along the lines of "try to shut it down."

[osaka]

It just came to my mind that there WAS a dude up on the space station that looked like knockoff Sven.

New headcanon is that the story is actually true and the names are just awfully unfortunate. Also, Svan is the girl.

[Zebediah]

And not-Sven on the station was redheaded. Given what we know about Claire's dad, it wouldn't surprise me if his last name turned out to be Augustus.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Now it's just got silly.

[Rghfrgl]

I'm finding it hard to understand why Hannelore cares so much about Sven at the moment.

Whether it's part one in a plan or just a subconscious thing I imagine it's more about Dora and Faye.

[de_la_Nae]

Maybe. I don't know what's difficult to believe or understand that she may just be setting out to be kind to someone who, as far as we have seen, has only shown her kindness.

No matter his other deeds, after all, in the story even Dong Zhuo had a mourner, to whom he had showed a kindness in the past.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Hannelore's experience with Sven is as a charming, attractive man who treats her with respect and is considerate of her boundaries.

While she has protective of friends reasons to be upset with him, she also considers him a friend. She's not fully confident in how social interaction is supposed to work, so she would be likely to listen to his side of the story before having her mother disappear him. Sven's side of the story has, pretty consistently, been "I fucked up." For all of her quirks and issues, Hanners is the most accepting member of the cast. Even without the charm, she'd be predisposed to forgive. With it, did she really stand a chance?

Keep in mind, for most of the time since he and Faye ended (that we have evidence for), Sven has been celibate, and generally inward looking, and self-critical. He's been bad at it, but Hanners is bad at life, too.

I'm sure this friendship is a retcon, but it is also a sensible one, given their history. Hanners is the first woman Sven has really treated as just another person. I suspect they have a strange form of mutual respect and are genuinely friends. Sven is Hanners's first date. Experiment or no, it was a good experience for the both of them.

I'm sure Hannelore is fully aware of Sven's shortcomings, but I think her emotional reaction to him is more akin to his defenders on the forum. She's intellectually aware, but she hasn't really seen it in action. It's not visceral to her.

[Zebediah]

Comic's up.

Momo is not very fast.

[Method of Madness]

Hell, even I'm faster than that!

[chaospersonified]

Hell, even I'm faster than that!

I was going to say something about how it's a kilometer-to-miles conversion in there, but apparently, that means she's got a top speed of 3.7 mph. For some reason, I thought it was faster. I'm partially paralyzed in my right ankle, and my average walking speed is about that.

[bhtooefr]

250 milliamps? Holy shit, Momo.

Her shock mechanism looks like it's got a good 2 feet of spark gap at least, in the old chassis: http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1474

Assuming a needle as the electrode (which is a best-case)... we're talking over 300 kV.

Momo's "self-defense" weapon could be straight-up deadly, at significant range, with that much current. (The typical rule, IIRC, is 50 mA is enough to stop the heart, and 50 V across dry skin is enough voltage to get that 50 mA across the heart.) Also, if she can deliver a 75 kW pulse for a decent amount of time... you'd think she has the power supply to move a hell of a lot faster than 6 km/h.

[cesium133]

That's a typo. It's actually km/s. Momo is almost, but not quite, capable of orbit.

[Rghfrgl]

For a burst of speed however, she can take her head off and throw it.

[Method of Madness]

Hell, even I'm faster than that!

I was going to say something about how it's a kilometer-to-miles conversion in there, but apparently, that means she's got a top speed of 3.7 mph. For some reason, I thought it was faster. I'm partially paralyzed in my right ankle, and my average walking speed is about that.

I'm hoping to sustain a pace of six miles per hour for my half marathon in two months. I'm so not preparing as much as I should, but either way I can definitely reach six km/hr

[T]

Hell, even I'm faster than that!

I was going to say something about how it's a kilometer-to-miles conversion in there, but apparently, that means she's got a top speed of 3.7 mph. For some reason, I thought it was faster. I'm partially paralyzed in my right ankle, and my average walking speed is about that.

I'm hoping to sustain a pace of six miles per hour for my half marathon in two months. I'm so not preparing as much as I should, but either way I can definitely reach six km/hr

Six km/h is just walking speed, not even walking fast. It is slower than those electric scooters for old people.

It would makes more sense for her to have better movement speed than beign an electric pokemon for self defense. be able to move faster would be useful against many more dangers.

[Neko_Ali]

Her left kneecap is rude as hell though.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

250 milliamps? Holy shit, Momo.

Her shock mechanism looks like it's got a good 2 feet of spark gap at least, in the old chassis: http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1474

Assuming a needle as the electrode (which is a best-case)... we're talking over 300 kV.

Momo's "self-defense" weapon could be straight-up deadly, at significant range, with that much current. (The typical rule, IIRC, is 50 mA is enough to stop the heart, and 50 V across dry skin is enough voltage to get that 50 mA across the heart.) Also, if she can deliver a 75 kW pulse for a decent amount of time... you'd think she has the power supply to move a hell of a lot faster than 6 km/h.

I suspect Jeph really means 250 volts. It takes very little current to stop the heart. You need that kind of voltage to get through the skin. So if you must work live, it's a good idea to keep one hand in your pocket.

[hedgie]

Actually, the 250mA has been canon even before she upgraded her chassis:

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1995

[BenRG]

The only thing that I really want to know at this point is under what context Momo learnt that she's a terrible dancer.

Regarding the maximum speed thing, I'm sure that is her walking speed. Running is rude as well as a potential safety hazard. Besides that, the forces jolting her components may invalidate her warranty!

[Pilchard123]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ugebzq3juE

[QuestionableIntentions]

That's a typo. It's actually km/s. Momo is almost, but not quite, capable of orbit.

Station pulled a few strings to get Momo that chassis so she could get Hanners to him in a pickle.


Sven and Dora: No matter how Sven acted, I just don't see how any of that is about Dora? Faye being angry, yes okay, although they never said they were exclusive and his love confession was really just stupid, not malicious.

And his relationships with other women are entirely his own thing and if he didn't lie to this women I see nothing wrong with it? Some people just like casual hookups and don't want a relationship.

[Omega Entity]

I'm more baffled by her stair-climbing ability. How is going up 3 flights of stairs exhausting? I can probably do twice that without breaking a sweat, and she's a robot.

[Storel]

Okay, I had never even heard of a "man bun" before Monday's strip, so I was wondering if it was just a Northampton thing. But lots of other people here seem to have strong opinions about them, so I guess it's more widespread than that. (Surprisingly negative opinions, too.) So I just googled for images of it, and found many many many more than I expected. Interesting. I guess if I watched more TV and movies I'd have heard about them before.

Weird thing is, some of the examples look kind of vaguely similar to what I've been doing with my hair. See, due to a number of factors I won't go into detail about, I haven't gotten around to getting my hair cut for, well, probably close to a couple of years now. And it's gotten long. Longer than I've ever had it before, and I spent five years in high school and college trying to grow it long, and it would never get past barely touching my shoulders. Now that I've been completely ignoring it, it's well past my shoulders and down my back. I mean, not way down my back, like Fabio, but down to my shoulder blades at least.

And it's hot. We keep the temperature fairly warm in the house anyway, because my wife and my mother are both very susceptible to cold for differing reasons, and that much hair is a surprisingly good thermal insulator. So my neck and upper back got hot and sweaty, and I started tying it back in a ponytail. But the ponytail still falls far enough down to get my neck hot and sweaty, so I started using the ponytail elastic thingy to tie up the end of the ponytail into something that looks vaguely like a half-hearted bun, just to keep it off my neck.

Is this a man bun??? Am I a completely unknowing example of this thing? I'm sorry, I didn't know!!