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Hannelore has an anxiety attack over how to comfort Bubbles and Bubbles ends up comforting her;

Someone somehow gets drunk at a zero-alcohol party (*coughPintsizecough*) and Bubbles finds her true calling as a bouncer;

It turns out that Bubbles has a wonderful singing voice and records with Deathmole;

Momo tries to start a relationship with Bubbles; the outcome is... awkward;

The party is interrupted by an unexpected revelation (poster's choice);

Nothing really happens except Faye constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop;

Bubbles breaks down and tells her darkest secret - that her head is not her own;

When the time has come to go home, Faye tries to talk Marten into letting her 'keep' Bubbles.

[Method of Madness]

For the most part, I agree, but when Marten went up and was genuinely trying to make conversation, she was needlessly rude and passive aggressive.

[Dust]

What could Faye have done better? Plenty of things. The party for one was a bad idea. Like I said before, it's taking someone afraid to swim and pushing them in the deep end. Panicking and flailing is bound to happen. It may have been a bit harder to convince her to come out for this, but a better choice would have just been hanging out at the apartment with a small group. Marten, Hanners and most likely Claire. That would have allowed her to socialize in a much lower stress environment. Even at the party, just checking in with her now and then would be a good idea. Also not going after here acting pissed off would have been smart. But you know. Faye.

Yep - granted, Faye threw it together last minute... but she must have forgotten what some of their social circle are like. Any interaction with Pintsize alone was doomed to end as it did.

[Method of Madness]

Yeah, but she knows Pintsize, and as someone pointed out before, they've had an actual meaningful conversation. Did Jeph forget about that already?

[BenRG]

Yeah, but she knows Pintsize, and as someone pointed out before, they've had an actual meaningful conversation. Did Jeph forget about that already?

That doesn't make it any easier to handle it rationally when she's feeling depressed and that little perv makes a pass at her!

[Kugai]

Jeph's introduced Bubbles for a reason, you don't bring someone like Bubbles into the mix without a very good reason, so I'm going to hold off judgement until next week as to where this is going with her.

I think what we're dealing with with Bubbles is a form of Combat AI PTSD that hasn't really been addressed.  It may be that bringing Bubbles into contact with Faye, who has her own issues even now, may be the connection she needs to get past her own trauma.

[Is it cold in here?]

On the other hand Bubbles seems to have m4d skillz at avoiding emotional conversations.

[themacnut]

Yeah, but she knows Pintsize, and as someone pointed out before, they've had an actual meaningful conversation. Did Jeph forget about that already?

Pintsize certainly seems to have forgotten. Or he'd have learned that making a crude pass at Bubbles was unlikely to go over well. Maybe he saw that Bubbles wasn't enjoying herself and tried to lighten her mood in his own inestimable way - only to have it backfire.

In any case, I'm not sure Pintsize would have done any better if he'd skipped the pickup or whatever line it is he used, since Bubbles' emotional state was clearly sinking fast. Though he might have at least avoided being disassembled.

[Is it cold in here?]

Maybe Pintsize is like a puppy who believes any attention is good attention and he feels successful when someone takes him to pieces.

[Blackjoker]

I actually wonder if what set her off was something fairly innocent. Pintsize mentions to her offhandedly that he also uses a military chasis. Actually think of what that could do if she has a despair pit that deep. She sees this little robot, one that looks nonthreatening and at least somewhat cute, who is among people with no problems or fear, and then she thinks of her large military frame, the terror she inspires in others, and a mixture of anger and sadness makes her feel the need to leave.

Also looking back at it Bubbles may have been sabotaging the whole evening, Hannelore wasn't afraid of her but Bubbles made her uncomfortable fairly quickly. She came in violently and when Marten came back to talk to her trying to be polite she was passive aggressive and insulting to him. Her other reason for leaving might actually be a certain level of frustration, essentially rejecting them before they have a chance to reject her. Similar to how Faye would push people away for fear that if the did get close they might abandon her the way her father did.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I do this in spite of knowing that strong AI is probably the biggest existential risk for the human race right now.  Because it's what I have to do, that's why.  I can't really explain it.

Someday I hope to create something that will decide it has to destroy me in order to save humanity from mad scientists like myself who take insane risks with the fate of humankind.

Let's give your brain-child internet access, a 3D printer, and a PayPay account. Let's see what happens.

[mustang6172]

Jeph's introduced Bubbles for a reason, you don't bring someone like Bubbles into the mix without a very good reason, so I'm going to hold off judgement until next week as to where this is going with her.

It would be nice if Jeph used Bubbles as an example of how introverts can still be happy and well adjusted.  He probably won't, but it would be nice.

[Is it cold in here?]

Yes, that will have to be another character. It would be enjoyable, though, to have introversion accepted and not regarded as a problem to be fixed.

[themacnut]

Bubbles' problems seem to go deeper than simple introversion though. If that was all it was, she would never have shown up at the party, or stayed as long as she did. Or interacted with as many people as she did.

[mustang6172]

Given how slowly time moves in this comic, she may have only been at the party for 60 seconds.

[Is it cold in here?]

Her problems run deep and have defied attempts to fix them.

[Morituri]

I do this in spite of knowing that strong AI is probably the biggest existential risk for the human race right now.  Because it's what I have to do, that's why.  I can't really explain it.

Someday I hope to create something that will decide it has to destroy me in order to save humanity from mad scientists like myself who take insane risks with the fate of humankind.

Let's give your brain-child internet access, a 3D printer, and a PayPay account. Let's see what happens.

You know that thing geeks do when someone expresses the slightest interest in their geeky passions, where they go on and on in language hardly anybody at the party understands about things nobody probably cares about?  With lots of bizarre abstractions and tedious technicalities and differential calculus and waxing poetic about their brilliant ideas for overcoming obscure theoretical problems most of the audience has never heard of? 

AKA, how to lose friends and alienate people?

That.  It's very hard to stop myself from doing that.  This post could have been a wall of techst that nobody would read.

[Morituri]

Yes, that will have to be another character. It would be enjoyable, though, to have introversion accepted and not regarded as a problem to be fixed.

Nope.  Introversion is not anything like what Bubbles has been displaying.  It would be actively bad to use her for an example of that. 

I sort of think that good example is more like Marigold now that she's getting past her self-esteem problem.  She's still an introvert, but now a pretty healthy one and it's not a problem to solve; it's just a personality trait.