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Hannelore the Unemployed

Dora breaks down and cries unhygenically on Hanners' shoulder

Dora tells Hannelore to be quiet and then secretly goes to see Sven and/or Faye to make up

Dora is visited by Princess Twilight Sparkle who gives much Friendship Advice

Sven walks into CoD to propose to Hanners

Everyone gets together to tell Hannelore to butt out of their personal lives

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Getting a thrill out of violence doesn't require anger. Faye  is simply a violent person. I wonder if the is arc is meant to explore that. I'm not saying it is. In WCDT tradition, over analysis (I should make a new profile called OveurAnalysis. But I like my 5 stars, so meh) suggests Bubbles is the key to question about robot personhood (which would make me happy because I'd like the departures into Momo's head to have meaning and relevance). I think it is even possible that Bubbles has potential to fill a sort of companion role for Faye. One wonders why a military robot AI would have such objections to violence (Keeping in mind that military would select for AI that don't). Which suggest a backstory.

Of course, that's a lot to add to one statement and a degree of side-eye.

[Neko_Ali]

It could well be that Bubbles developed an objection to violence while in the military and left. However being in a military-grade chassis with no human partner to provide for her she may have found work somewhat difficult to come by. An intersection to robot-racist and how military veterans are sometimes seen. It's also possible she doesn't have any marketable skills other than 'beat people up'. Any of these reasons could explain why she is working in a robot fighting arena even if she finds violence grotesque. It's also possible that she works there in a support role, not a fighting one.

[Zebediah]

It is also possible that Bubbles is okay with necessary violence (i.e. in the line of duty, in defense of human life, etc.) but has a severe distaste for unnecessary violence. The fighting ring definitely falls into the "unnecessary" category.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

So many possibles. But is Mista J gonna tell us?

[swapna]

Or, or.. Faye's in a hard place right now, she needs money. Robo-Violence looks like fun (Faye herself is an expert in Punch-Fu, Savanna-Style) AND like dollar-signs since she's getting paid to patch them up afterwards. Not only patch them up, but put spikes on them. And maybe robo-junks.

[osaka]

I was going to chime in saying that Bubbles has seen things, but it'd cheapen the analysis made.

Also, I don't have a gif to go with it.

[Neko_Ali]

You're welcome.

[osaka]

I was going for the comical approach but the serious approach also helps. Thx neko.

[aliensporebomb]

Well, I look at it this way: since Faye's recent hospitalization this is the first "visceral entertainment" she's been able to experience and watching robots walloping the snot out of each other might be enjoyable and let her forget her problems for a bit.  Maybe she can make the fights more entertaining with her modifications.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Faye's entire relationship with Padma was based around violence as a casual greeting. Given what she knows, I can't see a reason she wouldn't be enjoying this.

[Kugai]

You're welcome.

Ninjaed

I think Bubbles is a pacifist at heart

[hedgie]

Given that we're dealing with sapient computer hardware here, the version from the Scary Devil Monastery might even fit better:

... I've seen Sun monitors on fire off the side of the multimedia
lab. I've seen NTU lights glitter in the dark near the Mail Gate. All
these things will be lost in time, like the root partition last week.
Time to die...

Peter Gutmann

[SubaruStephen]

Getting a thrill out of violence doesn't require anger.

I'm not an angry person, and boxing, wrestling, and MMA repulse me, but during Robot Wars and Battlebots I'm yelling for more destruction. I'm Faye in the last panel....3 fold.

[WareWolf]

So it appears that Bubbles' MOS may very well have been medic/repair-bot, which would explain her attitude about this whole endeavor.

Also, as a practicing trial attorney, I completely understand Barry and Reggie's attitudes.

[Method of Madness]

That was adorable.

[mustang6172]

I hope that knee gets some kind of reinforcement.

[DSL]

They're professionals, that's all.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I like this! We are getting science fictional here. AIs give Jeph the chance to explore non-human situations. For instance, physical trauma can be completely separated from emotional trauma.

Also, the near destruction of Barry's chassis means that Faye can rebuild it from the ground up, an opportunity for her to express her own creative style. With spikes. And espresso.

[SubaruStephen]

Since Bubbles has a different text font in her speech..uh..bubbles, than the other robots/AIs, I keep reading her voice as sort of 1980's/early 90's computer vocalization (like Joshua from War Games, only more feminine).

[94ssd]

I can't be the only one who imagined Barry's lines being in this Barry's voice.

[Stanistani]

No more comics about smooching, just comics about ROBOT FIGHT from now on forever.

I'm in.

[Omega Entity]

Since Bubbles has a different text font in her speech..uh..bubbles, than the other robots/AIs, I keep reading her voice as sort of 1980's/early 90's computer vocalization (like Joshua from War Games, only more feminine).

I don't think that it's a different font so much as it is the usual AI font being distorted due to it being squeezed into the speech box.

[Rghfrgl]

No more comics about smooching, just comics about ROBOT FIGHT from now on forever.

I'm in.

Can love bloom, even in the robot battlefield?

[BenRG]

"Hey, lady ! It's only a job! There's no need for us to take it personally!" We're being reminded just how different an AI can perceive stuff because of the differing nature of their physical being. If you don't feel pain and can be hammered back into shape, what point is there worrying about what your opponent did to you?

I wonder if, like modern professional wrestling, there is a considerable element of theatre about this. The fighters may even rehearse!

It's interesting that Bubbles seems to have a repair tasking. It's also interesting that she is so much taller than the fighters. I really do wonder what her story may be.

No more comics about smooching, just comics about ROBOT FIGHT from now on forever.

I'm in.

I'm not. Too much of anything gets boring after a while!

[St.Clair]

Might as well ask if someone's upset that their friend just shot them in the face/back/leg, in a game like CoD or TF, when a respawn is only 5 seconds away.
Okay, so this repair process is a bit more involved (and possibly expensive), but when you take lasting physical harm out of the equation, attitudes tend to change.
It's no longer horrible tragic carnage, but a bunch of buds laughing at how far that rocket launcher sent their body flying.

[Zebediah]

Short story recommendation: Check out Paolo Bacigalupi's story "The People of Sand and Slag" for what life is like for humans (well, posthumans) who don't feel pain and who can quickly regenerate any injury. It's... on the disturbing side. These people are in some ways less human than Jeph's robots.

[Neko_Ali]

Actually, I don't think Barry and Reginald's attitudes are all that different than other professional fighters. Especially those in the entertainment field. We are talk a fairly small and close knit group of people with a specific and unusual job. To beat each other up and make it as entertaining as they can for the audience. You see these people every day and you are putting your well being and potentially life in their hands. Actual for real anger and hatred really don't have a place in the ring (Or octogon, or battle box or whatever). So yeah, fighters may be all 'grr I hate you!' when in character, but privately they are part of a small circle of people and some of the few people who really understand each other. Friendships are natural in this environment.

And then when you add in the impermanence of damage because these fighters are robots and really, what is there to get angry about? Maybe having to pay out for repairs or replacement parts, if the ring management doesn't cover all the cost of those. If the fighters get paid the same to fight as opposed to the winners making more then there is even less reason for it to become personal.

[Is it cold in here?]

Bubbles is the bouncer?

[DSL]

I'm thinking now of the old Benny Hill sketch of two professional wrestlers going at it in the ring, only the conversation ranges from "How's the wife and kids, Harry?" to "Come over Thursday for tea, then?" "Yes, that sounds lovely."

[BenRG]

Interesting little tidbit from Jeph's Twitter feed.

(click to show/hide)

Personally, I'm taking this as confirmation that Bubbles is a demobilised ex-military combat AI. It's possible that she's quite old, having been compiled in the era before AI civil rights and was demobilised when the government outlawed AIs built for military use staying in the service without their consent. My guess is that she prefers civilian life but has never really learned to fit in.

[osaka]

I want to note that Reggie's comment seems to have made Barry's entire day. The whole of it.

[WareWolf]

I'm thinking now of the old Benny Hill sketch of two professional wrestlers going at it in the ring, only the conversation ranges from "How's the wife and kids, Harry?" to "Come over Thursday for tea, then?" "Yes, that sounds lovely."

I was also thinking of the old "Sam the Sheepdog and Ralph the Wolf" cartoons. Like this one:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo7JNvVTMf8

(My favorite bit's the "lunch break" around 3:35).

[DSL]

Sam is clearly the "work smarter, not harder" type. (The "nothing personal" aspect was played up even more in later "Ralph and Sam" cartoons)

[Kugai]

It's nothing personal

[DSL]

It's nothing personal

[mustang6172]

I maintain that Jeph made a huge mistake in declaring AI to be people.  AI should have been kept as a slave class that's programed to enjoy being a slave class.

[Method of Madness]

That's fucking awful, dude.

[improvnerd]

So Bubbles is a conscientious objector?

[mustang6172]

That's fucking awful, dude.

No, awful would be AI as a slave class that resents it, but not a single human character is sympathetic to their plight.  That would also be the funniest course of action.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

"Cronenbergian?"
Dammit, Bubbles! Now I want a cronenburger with double fries!

[chaospersonified]

Yeah, Bubbles has a bigger vocabulary than I do, it seems.

[BenRG]

Yeah, it's more-or-less as I thought. Bubbles is anti-violence in some way. I think that she and Faye are about to have a very illuminating conversation that is going to help Faye come to understand AIs and the difference between 'chassis type' and 'chosen profession'.

Bubbles was made to be a soldier; a killer. It's beginning to look like she prefers being a healer.

Is there some connection between robots/ anthropcs and Cronenberg? The only other time I remember someone saying 'Cronenbergian' in QC it was Pintsize with his thumb-limbs.

A guess: Cronenberg wrote, directed and produced eXistenZ, a film about how constant use of virtual reality technology and immersive video-gaming would lead to people becoming disconnected with reality and uncertain of the division between the game world and objective reality. I've got a feeling that this would have a lot of extra meaning to AIs, whose hardware and data files would define their reality and, more importantly, how humans perceive their reality to be.

The lesson? Don't judge by what your senses initially tell you. Investigate and determine reality before reacting.

[Omega Entity]

Man, it's been forever since I've heard any reference to that movie, even though I think of it every time I misspell 'existence'. It was pretty neat.

[anahata]

I'd never heard of Cronenberg, but the summary at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cronenberg seems to fit.

Also, Bubbles is rapidly becoming a favourite character.

And I applaud Jeph for mentally researching the background behind sentient AI fighters.

working out the behind the scenes mechanics of your universe even if you never display them

...but even if he doesn't show the details, the fragments he does show us will consequently have a depth and consistency that will make it all look more real.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

It's perfectly possible to have mechanic underlying a fictional universe that just make it absurd.

And for most humans, this makes your fictional universe suck. Then there's Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. To paraphrase Cyberpunk 2020, they have world building skill at 11, but you never will.

[ZoeB]

Roh Ro.

I suspect Bubbles could do with a therapist - or a friend. Jeph's pretty good at characterisation, and the few times I've seen someone say something like that, something pretty darned horrific had happened to cause it.

[MooskiNet]

Roh Ro.

I suspect Bubbles could do with a therapist - or a friend. Jeph's pretty good at characterisation, and the few times I've seen someone say something like that, something pretty darned horrific had happened to cause it.

It would tickle me if Faye overcame her drinking habit by acquiring a drinking buddy that doesn't drink.

[theMarc]

No joke, if Jeph started doing a webcomic exclusively about the sociopolitical ramifications of sentient AI in the QC-verse, I would totally read it.

[Kugai]

I had a feeling she wasn't a fighter.

There's an interesting tale there I bet, especially from an ex MilSpec Combat Droid.

[DSL]

Did we just see the Pugnacious Peach show awareness of having crossed someone else's boundaries? I don't recall having seen that before.